Maxwell: Before Bondi, there was Gaetz … who's now talking about aliens

Plenty of ink has already been spilled about the downfall of Pam Bondi. In general, few people anywhere on the political spectrum seem to be shedding tears on her behalf.

Not many on the right, seeing as how President Trump himself booted her out of the attorney general's office. And definitely not those on the left or in the center who watched her embarrassing tenure in Florida blossom into a five-alarm dumpster fire on the national stage.

But it's worth remembering that Bondi wasn't Trump's first pick for A.G. Heck, she wasn't even his first pick from Florida.

No, that was Matt Gaetz - a guy considered toxic by so many people on both sides of the aisle that Republicans took their first big stance against Trump by refusing to confirm the former congressman.

I was reminded of all that over the weekend while reading this story: "Matt Gaetz reveals he was briefed on secret alien breeding program."

Yeah, you read that correctly. The piece from The Hill explained how Gaetz recently appeared on a podcast where he claimed a uniformed member of the U.S. Army briefed him on "a secret program where aliens that were living were in forced breeding programs with humans that had been abducted from war zones and from even caravans of migrants."

The goal, Gaetz said, was "to create some hybrid race that could engage in intergalactic communication."

That, my fellow Americans, was this administration's first nominee for attorney general of the United States.

It's almost enough to make you forget that the main reason Gaetz wasn't confirmed in pre-alien-exposé days is that he had more baggage than a bellman. A House ethics panel would later say it found "substantial evidence" that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl and used illegal drugs.

Trump, as you may recall, promised Americans to surround himself with "only the best and most serious people." And Florida continues to meet expectations.

Uthmeier vs. NFL

Last week, I wrote about how Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier had decided to make the NFL the latest target of his culture-war cannon, "demanding" the league stop making efforts to ensure coaches of color get interviewed for head-coaching jobs.

Uthmeier - a former campaign manager for Ron DeSantis whom the governor appointed as the state's attorney general - threatened to take legal action against the league if it didn't comply.

Well, it doesn't sound like the NFL is too scared.

A few hours after that column was posted, the NFL shared the following story on its website: "NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has no plans to scrap Rooney Rule, despite Florida AG pressure."

In that story, the closest thing to a bone that Goodell threw to Uthmeier was saying that the league was willing to engage "with the Florida AG or anybody else as we have in the past to talk about our policies.”

Note the "or anybody else" reference.

So, basically, the league says it will listen to virtually anyone, whether it's a fan, a job applicant - or, yes, even a 38-year-old politician who got his job via political connections and is now worried about other hirings that might not be based on "merit."

Maxwell: First Starbucks, now the NFL is targeted in Florida’s DEI crusade

Scrub-Jay vs. tech guy

For our final entry from the follow-up files, I wanted to circle back to last week's column about the "self-made tech entrepreneur" who's trying to strip Florida's beloved scrub-jay of its "endangered" status.

As you may recall, Florida newcomer Michael Colosi got mad after officials in Charlotte County told him he couldn't build his dream home in a way that might harm the bird - unless he also paid money to protect its habitat.

So Colosi decided to not only sue the county to avoid paying the fees, but also to sue the federal government to try to strip the scrub-jay of its "endangered" status. That way, aspiring builders everywhere would no longer have to worry about destroying the habitat of Florida's only uniquely native bird.

Well, let me tell you: That did not go over well in the court of public opinion.

Email responses were intense. And a tweet where I shared the column has received about 2 million views, comments and reposts. And the most remarkable part is that virtually everyone seems to loathe this guy, regardless of whether they are Republican, Democrat or independent.

Responses ranged from "I choose wild birds and all wildlife over selfish rich jerks" to "We need to get rid of billionaires and protect scrub jays."

It didn't matter whether the commenter had a MAGA motto or blue-wave emoji in their profile. Virtually everyone was on Team scrub-jay.

There were also a bunch of comments that were disturbingly over the top. But this is also X/Twitter, where bots are literally programmed to inflame tensions and promote violence.

Regardless, the public sentiment among apparent humans was intense and nearly unanimous. As one commenter summarized: When it comes to Floridians, "we do not mess around when it comes to animal conservation, even if we don't like the animals."

Yet in this case, people seem to really like the scrub-jay.

Maxwell: Florida scrub-jay may lose protected status if aspiring homebuilder gets his way

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