Month: June 2019

American farmers are hurting. Rain and flooding have affected farm land across at least 17 states. Millions of acres that would usually have corn and soybeans planted in April and May are bare, except for weeds. Millions more acres have late-planted crops that may not mature unless a killing frost comes later than usual.

Will you notice any difference at the grocery store? A few items may cost a little more. But nobody is going hungry.

The Mexican border is dividing, not just Mexico from the United States, but American citizens from American citizens. Is this as divisive as the slavery debate in the 1850s? Of course this current situation is nowhere close to the reality of slavery. But the arguments, on both sides, seem equally intense. Nobody will give an inch.

One side sees only desperate families seeking a better life. Let them all in, and provide free medical care, free education… pretty much anything they need.

The other side says we can’t handle 3 or 4 million random immigrants every year. We already accept 1 million immigrants through a legal process. Even that needs to be adjusted to assure these immigrants have the talents and skills to fit in and contribute to our economy.

The debates of the Democratic candidates for President highlighted the division. On the second night all ten agreed that, if elected, all “undocumented immigrants” will have free health care. (I think a couple of them announced it in Spanish. They did not want the message to be lost in the translation.) In other words, get up here, cross our border, and get free medical care for life. And then many candidates would add in free college and guaranteed jobs at a livable wage. Wow, who could resist that temptation?

So the country, and Congress, is at an impasse. Republicans want to allow in only those who have received asylum status. Democrats want more funds for more federal employees to speed up the screening process so they can all come in and not spend any time in “cages” or other detention facility.

The 2020 election will be decided on this “immigration” issue, government run health care, appointment of federal judges, and income tax policy.

The Fourth of July is Thursday. Celebrate Independence Day, but be safe doing it. We celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and some of us have even more reasons to celebrate.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“America is the land of opportunity and don’t ever forget it.” DT #1541, July 1, 1931

“That liberty that we got 159 years ago Thursday was a great thing, but they ought to pass a law that we could only celebrate it every 100 years, for at the rate of accidents yesterday we won’t have enough people to celebrate it every year. And the speeches. Did you read them? Never was as much politics indulged in under the guise of ‘freedom and liberty.’ They was 5 percent what George Washington did, and 95 percent what the speaker intended to do.” DT #2782, July 5, 1935

This is Father’s Day. Will Rogers commented on this day at the end of a loving tribute to Mothers on Mother’s Day (on radio) in 1935, “Father had a day, but you can’t find anybody who remembers when it was. It’s been so confused with April the First.”

Speaking of confusion, half of Americans are convinced that Russia coordinated with the Trump campaign to win the 2016 election. That’s after Robert Mueller spent thirty million taxpayer dollars on a two-year investigation and concluded there was no coordination between Trump and Russia. None. Oh, Russia tried. About 13 times. And, according to Mueller’s report two months ago, the Trump folks turned ‘em down every time.

So why do only 50 percent believe the Trump campaign is “innocent” and the other 50 percent blame Russia for Clinton’s defeat. And a lot of those want Trump impeached and thrown in prison. If you can figure out why half of American voters are fooled, I wish you would write a letter to our big newspapers and television networks and explain it to ‘em.

Our winter sports wrapped up in the middle of June. It was a peculiar, confusing ending. Our National Basketball championship was won by Canada (the Toronto Raptors). And for the national sport of Canada (Hockey), the Stanley Cup wound up in St. Louis. But this is great news. Those cities won a championship in those sports for the first time.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“Some of our big papers have so much in there about the subject till it gets you confused. These fellows [at small newspapers] pick out the main facts and hand it to you in concentrated form, but they get in all the main things.” WA #664 (written ~August 10, 1935; published Sept. 8)

President Trump returned from Europe and found that Mexico is more willing to deal than Congress. Now, there’s no guarantee Mexico will do everything they promised. Here at home a lot of folks still in Congress reneged on their votes a few years ago to tackle the onslaught of illegal immigration.

Folks are wondering where Mexico will get the money to hire the immigrants they have agreed to hang on to. Well, I heard a nub of an idea a few days ago and I think it’s a good one: pay those folks to build the Wall. Yes, and to do it at a bargain price, build in on Mexico’s side of the border. This only applies to the Wall along the Rio Grande River. See, our Texas ranchers and others depend on that river and don’t want to be cut off from it. And acquiring a right-of-way in Mexico would be way cheaper than in Texas.

I heard that Speaker Pelosi said she wanted to see Trump in prison rather than be impeached. Maybe she was joking. But if she is serious, what would she charge him with? Let’s see: destruction of evidence, endangering top secret documents, receiving millions of dollars from Russia. No, wait. That was Clinton.

Really, I think she would send Trump to prison for lying. He lies to his lawyers, lies about his golf score, lies to his wives; according to some counts, he has lied over 10,000 times since announcing his candidacy. For a man who brags that he is not a politician, he is getting close to the best of ‘em.

Joe Biden is the latest to announce his plan to eliminate fossil fuels and stop global warming. He plans to do it by 2050. That’s convenient because he would be 108.

You know, instead of the Presidential debates with 25 candidates taking shots at each other, here’s what I would pay to see: a debate on government policies on fossil fuels and climate change with Biden, O’Rourke, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez… in China. Do it in Beijing, or Shanghai, or on the Great Wall.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“If you ever injected truth into politics you would have no politics.” WA #31, July 15, 1923

“We cuss our elected officials and we joke about ‘em but they are all good fellows at heart and if they wasn’t in politics, why, they would be doing something else against us that might be worse.” May 18, 1926

My offer of sacrificing myself to serve as a VP candidate with a Democrat Presidential candidate has fallen flat. No emails. No phone calls. A handful of the 25 candidates have no need for a VP at this stage. The other 20 are not interested because their name recognition pales in comparison to Will Rogers. A person seeing the two of us together would ask, ‘Who is that stranger standing there beside Will Rogers?’ One said, “I think I’ve seen her, is it Gina Lollabrigida?” No, it’s Gillabrand. Of course it could be DeLaney or DeBlasio or DeNiro.

President Trump threatened Mexico with a 5% tariff on all their exports to the US.  We don’t like tariffs and all the discussion on television is about how bad the tariffs will be for us. Has anyone considered that Mexico might take actions to solve our border crisis? Any migrant that goes into Mexico expecting direct passage to and across our border will be stopped! Stay in Mexico, or go back where they came from. Is it ironic that the President has to negotiate with Mexico on our border problem because the Democrats in Congress refuse to act?

The President is in England meeting with Queen Elizabeth and other British leaders. On Thursday they will celebrate of the 75^th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. Oddly, a few Brits, including the London mayor, are protesting the presence of America’s leaders. Yes, protesting our presence. Let that sink in. Maybe they should talk with their parents or grandparents or read a history book. Back in 1944 a million Americans were “present.” To save England’s hide.

Our farmers who raise corn and soybeans are facing a severe weather crisis. Most of our grain-growing states are being hammered by rain, too much and too often. Even if fields are not flooded, before soil gets dry enough to plant, it rains again. More than half the fields that should have a crop growing are bare.

We’ve had record-breaking rainfall, but farmers have faced drastic conditions before. Here are two comments by Will Rogers: “What has the poor farmer done against the Almighty and the Republican administration that he should deserve all this?” (DT #`1258, Aug. 6, 1930) and, “If your crop is a failure and you don’t raise anything, why you are fortunate. Because it costs you more to raise anything than you can sell it for, so the less you raise the less you lose, and if you don’t raise anything you are ahead.” (WA #235, June 12, 1927)

Robert Mueller raised a ruckus in Washington when he went on television and said aloud what he had written in his 400-page report on Russia and Trump. Concerning obstruction by Trump while investigating possible collusion that did not happen, he said, “We did not have confidence that the president did not commit a crime. No way, no how.” While Republican lawyers said this totally clears Trump, Democrat lawyers interpreted this statement as proof that Trump committed a crime and must be impeached. (read the quote below)

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“If (a report) is plain and understandable only one way, it was written by a non-lawyer. Every time a lawyer writes something, he is not writing for posterity, he is writing so that endless others of his craft can make a living out of trying to figure out what he said.” WA #657, July 28, 1935