politics

POTUS

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

Though not a college history major, I bill myself as a “continuing student” of the subject. Unfortunately, schools tend to teach English, Art, Music, and History as separate subjects; it just makes so much more sense when all of them are taught together. For example, one can’t really grasp A Tale of Two Cities, nor Oliver Twist, without a knowledge of history at the time. However, this is an aside to my blog today, which concerns Executive Orders–those ordered by POTUS with a stroke of a pen.

Now I don’t know about you, but there’s a number of things about which I’m concerned–and it ain’t the price of eggs! It’s about the climate, the abject disregard for science and medicine, the abolishment of special education and school food service, the wipe-out of university research grants, the random firing of qualified professionals, the flip-flop tariffs, and the supposed declaration of martial law on 4/20. (An absurd “smoking idea.”)

Executive order: NO more paper straws! Frankly, I could care less about straws since they would be odd in beer bottles. However, paper straws are ecologically preferred over the plastic ones that kill off our wildlife.

Executive order: Gulf of America! Really? Who cares? I’m too old to change that tune.

Executive order: No more low pressure shower heads. A ludicrous, infantile mandate from a very obese Lothario who is unable to wash away his dalliances without copious amounts of water.

Executive orders: Dismantle departments, terminate any one who disagrees, tax penguins, etc.

To this “student of history,” it seems that The President of the United States has much more pressing issues than these inane executive orders. Issues like, “beautiful bag of groceries,” winning a golf tournament, or the superlative results of his health exam where he’s been declared the smartest, best, greatest, healthiest 78-year-old in the world. (Curious, when one of his professors at Wharton labeled him the “most stupid person he ever taught.” Think about it. Why else would he have threatened to sue UPenn if they released his college transcripts?)

Since none of us are infallible, we will stand in judgment in front of St. Peter and/or historians. Sadly, as future generations engage in their study of US Presidents, the monikers of Honest Abe, Father of our Country, and The Great Society, will pale when children read about the 47th President, dubbed PT Barnum and The Greatest, Golden American Liar.

The Scrabble Game

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Unlike many of young folk today, I’m very proud of my public school education. Not only, did I learn to read and write, but I learned phonics–nothing more than sounds and letter patterns. Thus, it was not a real brainer when I became and English teacher and a formidable Scrabble player. While the game relies heavily on “the luck of the draw,” it also necessitates the player see patterns, such as ea, ing, ed, re, etc. in the attempt to play all seven tiles at once.

Curiously, the current resident of my casita is also an English major, and we’ll play a game or two once or twice a month. (Since both of us are highly competitive, the stakes are $20 a game. After all, why would I waste my time playing some game?) Last night, the score was tied. She had two tiles left; I had six, but it was my turn. I needed to play all of mine to seize her Hamilton. My remaining letters were: DHAETR. I shuffled the tiles. I had READ, not good enough. I still had the four-point H. I shuffled them again: RED HAT. Damn it!

Think, Sue. If you don’t play these last six letters, she’s going to take your $20. You won’t be able to afford to buy eggs. Once again I shuffled: HATRED.

Any questions?

The New Agenda for The New Year

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For months I heard ad infinitum about the poor, failing economy. America needed new leadership to turn things around. Now, on the cusp of the inauguration, the priorities have suddenly changed. Of utmost importance is: the flag at half-mast, the renaming of Mount Denali, seizing the Panama Canal, buying Greenland, making Canada the fifty-first state, and mandating the existence of two sexes. What happened to the economy?

Of course, the massive deportation of immigrants is festering in the background. I suspect some rational folk have calculated the cost and the consequences of the issue. Farmers, ranchers, and the service industries are wondering who will pick the strawberries in California, the lettuce in Arizona, the apples in Washington, or the citrus in Florida. Hotels are wondering who will do the daily housekeeping, tend to the grounds, and mow lawns. Who will man the kitchens, bus the tables, wash the dishes? The sermon has turned to “selective deportation” because the farmers and service industries need immigrants, and “selective importation” because Musk needs to import engineers. So much for that campaign promise.

The other agenda item that has paled is tariffs. Thirty-nine years ago, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, his economics teacher(Ben Stein) railed, “Tariffs did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression.” Tariffs and mass deportation make for the classic double-edged sword. US produce rots in the fields without workers, and 90% of the produce America imports from Mexico is taxed with tariffs. Sure, gas may cost five cents a gallon less–a mere dollar a tankful, but we’ll pay $10 for a head of lettuce. What will happen to the economy?

Forty-nine per cent of America saw through the smoke and mirrors, the blustering, the outrageous lies of PT Barnum; sadly 49.5% of his faithful believed. My seat belt is fastened in anticipation of a most interesting ride.