Month: June 2023

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in China to meet with their leader Xi Jinping. Only problem is that Xi doesn’t seem eager to talk with Blinken or anyone else from the Biden Administration.  He prefers to meet with prominent American leaders such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

When Bill Gates visited China, Bill handed Xi a check for $150,000,000. (It has something to do with eliminating malaria in Africa.) And Elon Musk got to see Xi because his Tesla EVs need batteries with rare Earth metals and solar panels, all from China.

So, what can Blinken offer Xi? Remember, the Chinese Communists gave $30,000,000 to the Biden family a few years ago. My guess is that Xi expects something big from the Big Guy. Maybe the Big Island. Taiwan.

Sec. Blinken should remind Xi that his economy depends on us buying $300,000,000,000 more a year from China than they buy from us.

This has been a tough week for President Biden. He didn’t fall again, but, verbally, he flubbed up a few times. While discussing investments in Africa, he said we have plans to build a railroad from the Pacific across the Indian Ocean (8000 miles). I think he meant we’ll build it across Africa to the Indian Ocean. But, why not just let Bill Gates build the railroad.

At an event in Connecticut, he ended triumphantly with, “God save the Queen, man.” Nobody can figure out which “Queen” he referred to. Maybe, because Biden’s Catholic, it’s one of those men dressed as a Drag Queen Nun in Los Angeles.

Considering the Dodgers honored Drag Queens at a game, and three “transgender” people stripped to show off their fake boobs and lack thereof at a White House ceremony, he should be saying, “God save America.”

President Biden gave his first campaign speech at a Union meeting in Philadelphia. It seemed odd that he got applause for bragging about his economic record which includes 14% inflation in 2 years and his plan to eliminate the gas, oil, and coal businesses where many jobs are Union.

For his next campaign speech, probably in 3 months at the current rate, he needs some help on his jokes and funny lines. To be certain that someone laughs, he needs to take along V-P Kamala Harris.

I had a good Father’s Day, starting with church. I’ve seen a lot of social media posts with praise for fathers. Maybe not as many as for Mother’s Day, but still…

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

       “I propose a Father’s Day. No flowers, no fuss – just let him use the car himself and go where he wants to. But we will never live to see such a contented day.” DT #1183, May 11, 1930

Donald Trump was indicted, facing 37 counts of illegal use of classified documents. If our former President is convicted on even one of those 37 counts, it’s a life sentence for a 76-year-old man.

Even Al Capone only faced 22 counts in a 1931 trial. The Chicago mob boss got away with murdering several rivals, including 7 in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but was charged with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was convicted on 5 counts and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

Attorney General Garland faced a tough choice. The same day Trump was charged, he could have charged President Biden with accepting a $10,000,000 bribe in 2014 from a Ukrainian company in exchange for getting an aggressive prosecutor fired. Of course, President Biden denies he and his son Hunter ever received the $10,000,000. He replied to a question about it, “Where’s the money?”

Smoke from forest fires in Canada blanketed our Northeast states for a couple of days. It’s interesting that environmentalists insist that vast forests be left alone: no timber harvests, no prescribed burns, and no roads constructed. Then when a massive fire occurs because of forest mismanagement, they blame global warming. Ironically, tree planting and woodland management is encouraged to fight climate change because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air. Trees are good for the climate, but not when they burn.

The environmentalists who run the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were jolted recently by the Supreme Court. The justices ruled unanimously, 9-0, that the EPA had no right to charge Michael and Chantell Sackett for adding fill dirt and rock to a wetland on their tiny 0.6-acre lot in 2007 in preparation for building a house. This wetland (a swamp to most of us) is a quarter mile from Idaho’s Priest Lake with a highway between them. Sixteen years later they can start construction.

The Clean Water Act that passed Congress in 1972 limited EPA jurisdiction to “navigable” water bodies and connected wetlands. The EPA’s 17,000 employees have worked to expand their jurisdiction to include dry ditches, playa lakes, backyard wet spots, and farm drainage tile. Farmers and ranchers have been worried that EPA wants to control how their land is managed just because water often runs off their property during heavy rains, and eventually drains into a navigable water body.

The Belmont Stakes set another record, 50 years after Secretariat won the race by 31 lengths. No, the horse, Arcangelo, did not beat Secretariat’s time, 2 minutes and 24 seconds. But the trainer, Jena Antonucci, is the first woman to win a Triple Crown race. So, congratulations to Jena.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“That was funny in Chicago yesterday that judge not knowing anything about the U. S. Government having a special treaty with Al Capone to let him off easy. This backwoods judge was trying to treat him like a criminal.” DT #1567, July 31, 1931  [Capone was convicted 3 months later.]

“The country has gone sane and got back to horses.” DT #2112, May 11, 1933

“Money, horse racing and women are three things the boys just can’t figure out.” DT #2679, March 7, 1935

(Will Rogers wrote “letters” to President Coolidge during a 4-month family trip to Europe in 1926. The short ones were published in the New York Times and syndicated as Will’s “Daily Telegrams.”)

My Dear Mr. President,

I saw that you spoke at the graduation ceremony at the Air Force Academy last week. Did you realize, after speaking for an hour, you would then be expected to shake hands with 900 graduates? Without a break? After standing all that time, naturally you were a bit confused, winding up in front of your lectern, where you tripped and fell.

Always stay behind the lectern, not in front of it where the stage is teeming with mic wires, teleprompters, and, yes, sandbags. Frankly, at my age, after all that time on my feet, I might fall flat also, with or without a sandbag to blame.

And about those stairs… Mr. President, you should always use a hand rail. It may not look “manly” or “presidential” but it beats banging up your knees, or worse. Please inform your “advance men” (or more likely, advance women in your Administration) to check out any future stairs you may be compelled to climb or descend. If no hand rail is present, tell ‘em to install one. Or, take the elevator.

Have you noticed that all other Americans get to walk comfortably on and off airplanes? Yet, you, the most powerful leader in the world, are forced to climb the stairs, 5-stories high, to get into your personal 747. And you’re OUTSIDE. Rain, snow, freezing or a hundred degrees on the tarmac. With all the elements to deal with, they make you salute, wave, and pause for photos.

And skipping. Do you really have to skip? Or is a trot? Is that because your heels are shaped like horseshoes? Just walk. We can see you are slim and trim. Congratulations on keeping your weight controlled and your muscles toned. You don’t need to show up other 80-year-olds.

If you stop skipping, and walk carefully, perhaps you can conserve enough energy to answer questions from reporters. I’ve noticed in the White House press room, the journalists all sit. No reason you can’t walk in there, grab a chair, and sit beside the lectern, and answer questions for a couple of hours. That should be less tiring than shaking hands with 900 cadets. And you won’t have to keep up with a script on a teleprompter written by speed-readers.

Yours devotedly,

Randall Reeder

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“(Newspapers) claim that the farmers are kinder losing confidence in you helping them out. Well, you are pretty wise; you know there ain’t many farmers… If it’s only the farmers that are against you, why, you haven’t lost much strength. You got to do more than just live in the country to be a farmer. Then again you got to figure that it’s a long time till the (election). A couple of good crops and any fair luck working along the line of supply and demand, and you will capture the farmers back again.” May 17, 1926.