(Attached are pictures of General Charles Brown, nominee for Chairman of the Joint Staff and serving Senator John Fetterman. AOL will still not let us embed the images).

The United States Senate is the premier legislative body on this planet. They tell us that all the time, and it is worth remembering. Well-dressed members will sometimes rise at their individual seats to address this august body. There are other occasions when members are called to the rostrum at the end of the chamber and make important remarks that could transform the nature of human social order.

Or something. Part of that changed yesterday due to the wise leadership of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He took dramatic action yesterday that could change the nature of how business is done on The Hill. Neckties and suits are now a thing called “optional.” We don’t claim to fully understand what happened. Apparently it was about the dress code for the Senate Chamber.

Some of us used to work up there, and so there was a certain amount of poignancy in the event. We had to create entire wardrobes of civilian clothing to work efficiently up there. Apparently other people who actually work are still confined in dress clothing. But Senators themselves are now free to wear hoodies and gym-shorts while conducting the business of the American people.

We support comfort, of course. A look around the Patio crew would confirm our commitment to that goal. We assume there was pressure to relieve discomfort after some of the embarrassing recent moments in the Deliberative Body. Senator Feinstein had to be reminded on how to say the word “Aye” a few weeks ago. Talk was that her blouse might have been too tight and constricted her personal deliberations. That went along with the mysterious freezes suffered by Minority Leader McConnell. His motionless, expressionless demonstration devolved into more general discussion about age and engagement in the Chamber.

As you may have heard, there is an election coming up next year. There is talk about loss of capacity at the top of that ticket, regardless of which of the parties is under discussion. Thankfully, Senator Schumer listened to the careful commentary and took action to relieve a new member of his Caucus of some medical complications due to a major stroke and a bout of severe depression. In order to maximize his performance, we can now expect to see more sweat shirts, comfy shorts and athletic shoes in the Chamber.

We are not sure about how far this relaxation measure will be carried to further the interests of democracy. It seems that is the grounds for most of the activity across the river. There is other news, of course, and only some of it was delivered by a hulking figure from Pennsylvania. There is some controversy about the wide-open southern border and whether or not we should fund the government through the end of the fiscal year which looms in only ten days.

There are a lot of developments that have to be crowded in around the specter of midnight on the 30th of this transitional month. Some of them are breaking now and naturally others are reserved to have a crisis available on the back burner. The search for a more intriguing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs than General Mark Milley is now complete, which would be a relief if there was not the prospect of who will relieve him at the helm of the Joint Staff.

We heard that General Charles Brown’s nomination to replace General Milley is a triumph of critical personnel selection. One of the senators currently serving was Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville. He led a months-long blockade on Pentagon nominations. There was no word on what color sweatsuit Tommy decided to wear for the announcement.

There is some humor going around about the delay and the reason the nomination now looks like it will be approved. That is that Russian officers are being tested in the real combat of the Ukrainian Special Military Operation. The Chinese are flying formations of a hundred jets over the Taiwan Strait to remind us there is only one China, though there are many styles of athletic gear to be worn when describing how American military personnel will be eliminated. Training features a commitment to ruthless combat efficiency.

Brown’s confirmation also marks the first time that both of the Defense Department’s top leaders – SECDEF and Chairman- are African American.
General Brown was described as “a warrior” and a “fearless leader and unyielding patriot” when he was nominated, but it became ensnared in the Senate fashion show. The matter of combat-effective pronouns for serving troops is expected to go ahead and may intimidate the Chinese. There was no word from Moscow on what their officers will be wearing.

We hope there will some resolution on all these critical issues. What comforts us is that our legislators are going to be comfortable even if they are having some difficulty in articulating anything meaningful. We stand upright in our support for the reorganization of the military we served with pride. It is even more gratifying that our leaders are going to comfortable while they are doing it!

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com