Send in the clowns...

 "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you."

               – Jules Winnfield, a fictitious character reciting fictitious Bible verse remotely based on Ezekiel 25:17 in the movie Pulp Fiction.

               –  Also, Pete Hegseth, erstwhile Secretary of Defense, reciting fictitious Bible verse during a Pentagon prayer service last Wednesday.

 "And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them."

               – Ezekiel 25:17 (KJV) 

 So this is where we are.

Pete Hegseth, our pompous, self-righteous, full-of-himself Secretary of Defense, is now leading Pentagon officials in prayer by reciting a passage from the movie "Pulp Fiction" when he actually thought he was quoting Ezekiel 25:17.

A quick scan of the room showed some uniformed officials with heads bowed, eyes closed, as if Hegseth knew what he was doing. I don't know. Maybe he did.

The context for the actual scripture is said to deal with foreign nations who gloated over the destruction of Judah. It's supposed to emphasize God's role in executing justice. Hegseth somehow thinks this verse – either the cinematic or the Biblical – justifies the United States' current military misadventure in Iran.

Meanwhile, as this Hegseth nonsense continues, there are reports that the U.S military is dealing with morale issues, specifically a lack of proper rations aboard several ships deployed in the region. The U.S. Navy denies these claims, but just the suggestion that troops are being poorly fed might raise concerns about morale. The military, after all, marches on its stomach.

Navy chow. Yummm. (USA Today).

 Complicating matters is that the U.S. Postal Service has indefinitely suspended mail delivery to 27 military ZIP codes after the attacks on Iran, so for the time being, military families can't even send care packages to their relatives in uniform.

I guess you can believe Hegseth when he tells us there are no issues with morale, but I have a hard time believing anything this arrogant clown says. So do I believe there are substandard meals being served to sailors and Marines on the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli? I do.

 While all this mess (pun intended? Maybeeeee) is going on, we have the Vice President of the United States J.D. Vance warning Pope Leo XIV (warning?) that he, the Pope, should be careful when talking about theology.

OMG.

Vance apparently is upset that the pope is not in alignment with the administration's war of choice against Iran. You know, the war where children are blown to bits in their elementary school and civilians are killed by the thousands. Instead, Pope Leo responded with Blessed are the Peacemakers and pointed out that Jesus "is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs."

Vance, citing World War II as an example, said, "I think it's very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology."

This statement got a rise out of Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune. "When he (the pope) talks about matters of theology? Isn't that his job?"

Indeed.

The week didn't let up. We also learned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, continued his fascination with road kill. In a new book titled "RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise," revealed in a diary entry that he stopped his car on a New York highway in 2001 to cut out the genitals of a dead raccoon for further study, all while his kids waited patiently in the car.

So here's Kennedy, the vaccine denier who holds the very health of the nation in his hands (I hoped he washed them first), adding another chapter to his dead animal fetish. He's fascinated by dead seagull corpses. He once severed the head of a washed-up deceased whale. And he confessed to dropping a dead bear cub off in Central Park make it look like it was killed by a bicyclist (who I assumed would be pedaling as fast as he could in the opposite direction).

Then we learn that FBI Director Kash Patel's alcohol problem has staffers concerned about his well being. Apparently, according to a story in The Atlantic, Patel has dealt with bouts of excessive drinking, at times allegedly locking himself in a room.

These are the leaders of some of the most important departments in our government. All of this should make my head explode. Except that it already exploded several years ago.

Only 198 days until midterm elections.

Release the unredacted Epstein files.