Month: May 2025

News from Washington lately has highlighted a total contrast. President Trump was in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE) and brought back promises of billions of investments and a new airplane for the Defense Department. With a lot of arm twisting, a big budget bill was passed by the House Republicans. Whether Senate Republicans will agree on the 1100-page bill is yet to be determined. Note that I said “Republicans” because so far, no Democrat has dared a ‘yes’ vote on it.

In contrast, news about Joe Biden and his Presidency has been sad. He is suffering from advanced prostate cancer. And half the country is just now learning that he suffered from declining mental capacity for most of his 4 years as President. I said “half the country” because their favorite TV news networks and newspapers failed to report the news. The other half were getting their news from the much-derided (faux) Fox News. (I realize this statement will upset some readers. But can you point to any newscaster on the traditional TV networks who questioned President Biden’s mental condition before the June 2024 debate?)

President Trump with his “tariff diplomacy” is causing financial gyrations around the world. Oddly, a lot of folks think Trump invented tariffs; that they did not exist previously. But the reality is that other countries have had higher tariffs on our goods than we had on theirs. That was a financial disadvantage for us. Most Americans would prefer zero tariffs everywhere.

Democrats are scrambling. With no apparent leader, they are left with only anti-Trump messaging. Oddly, Will Rogers noticed the same situation in November 1934, two years after FDR was elected. Switch party names, and FDR for Trump, and you are looking at 2026: “The Republicans have had a saying for some time, ‘The Roosevelt honeymoon is over.’ If there is one thing the Republican party has got to learn it is that you can’t get votes by just denouncing. You got to offer some plan of your own. They only had one platform, ‘Elect us, and maybe we can think of something to do after we get in, but up to now we haven’t thought of it, but give us a chance, we may.’”

Then two days later, Will wrote this: “The day after election I said the Republicans lost because they had nothing to offer but criticism. No plan. Denounce, but don’t suggest…It’s nothing but the old saying, ‘You can’t beat something with nothing.’… I imagine Roosevelt is wrong, but there ain’t nobody just smart enough to tell where he is wrong.”

On Memorial Day I’ll be attending a special memorial to a veteran of World War I. On Wildcat Road in Lewis County, West Virginia, a bridge will be dedicated to PFC William Lowther. Better known as “Uncle Bill” to folks around Walkersville, Ireland and Duffy, he lived to age 105. (And for me and my cousins, he really was our great-uncle.) I don’t know much about his experience in Europe, except that he learned how to take a rifle apart, clean it, and put it back together in total darkness. Uncle Bill was a sharpshooter. Even at 100, he could pick off a squirrel, groundhog or a buck deer.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

 “Another Decoration Day passed and Mr. Abraham Lincoln’s 300-word Gettysburg Address was not dethroned. I would try and imitate its brevity if nothing else. Of course, Lincoln had the advantage; he had no foreign policy message to put over. He didn’t even have a foreign policy. That’s why he is still Lincoln. (signed) Yours for shorter and better speeches,” DT #268, May 31, 1927

“From what I can gather from everyone I talk with, things are definitely picking up. If they just get more folks to working, there is no way to stop this country. Just quit listening to the politicians…. The Constitution will remain as is.” WA #655, July 14, 1935

COLUMBUS, Ohio: Will Rogers was good friends with Henry Ford. That friendship gave Will “permission” to joke about the Model T Ford. At one time, half the cars on the road were Model T Fords, not counting the ones on the side of the road, broke down.

Here’s Will, on his radio program, June 1, 1930: “You know, I was going to talk on Henry Ford last week, and I told you about mine going ‘Flooey’ on me when I started to drive in here last Sunday evening, and I was afraid I wouldn’t give Mr. Ford a fair deal. Well, the next morning I got a wire from Mr. Ford himself, saying ‘What was the matter?  Was the tank empty?’

          I know he has got quite a sense of humor.  A few years ago I was out to his home in Dearborn.  I was playing there with the Follies, and I went out to his home and it was the time when the Star car was supposed to be going to cut quite a dash in the Ford sales, so I asked him, ‘Mr. Ford, I know it is rather inquisitive, but in case these opposition things get to cutting the prices and all, just how cheap could you sell your car?’

          He said, ‘Well, Will, that is kind of personal but if the worst comes to the worst, I could give it away, as long as we retain the selling of the parts.  You know, Will, one of these things will shake off enough in a year to pay for itself.’”

            Here’s my own recent experience with one of Mr. Ford’s machines, my 7-year-old F-150. Is there anything more annoying than when the “engine light” flashes on? You have no idea whether it’s something simple like a gas cap too tight or a major overhaul. After driving for a few more days, with no apparent problem, I got it into my local Ford garage. They do wonderful work and I appreciate them because these modern-day vehicles are not built like the Model T.  Back then everything was simple. Ordinary men, and even women, could find and fix about any problem that popped up. (Except Will Rogers, who claimed he knew nothing about machines, “If I raised up the hood and a Rabbit jumped out, I wouldn’t know but what he belonged in there. I drive ’em, but I sho don’t try to fix ’em.”)

          So the head mechanic connected my smooth-running truck to a computer and a minute later discovered I needed a new catalytic converter. The labor charge for this discovery was $189, and the charge for the computer was $25. That was just to find the problem. The new catalytic converter cost $760, plus $4 for two nuts to hold it in place. Labor was $560. Now off hand, that seems a little steep when, by comparison, a rank-amateur thief can crawl under a car, remove a catalytic converter, and get away in 30 seconds. Even worse, I learned that a Ford F-150 has TWO of these $760 converters, meaning I can expect that annoying engine light to flash again in a few months.

The mechanic also recommended I get new spark plugs and rear brake pads. I know what you are thinking; didn’t you use to replace those yourself? Well, yes. By the time I was 14, I could replace the spark plugs in our 4-cylinder Ferguson tractor in about 20 minutes. In later years it was an easy job on our cars and Ford pickups. But now, the engine compartment is so full of chips and other paraphernalia that it can take an expert mechanic to even locate the spark plugs. This expertise comes with a price; labor cost was $50. For each plug!

Two brake pads and rotor assemblies cost $420 and labor was $280.

He also replaced the air filter element ($27) with labor only $23. (The air filter must be twice as easy to locate as a spark plug.)

With an oil change and a charge for miscellaneous shop materials the total bill was $3100 plus sales tax. That included $1600 for labor for a day and a half.

Now I ain’t complaining. I will point out, however, $3100 is more than the total cost for my first new car. You’ve heard the old joke about the customer complaining to the mechanic, “This cost is outrageous. I didn’t even pay my doctor that much to fix my migraine headache.” The mechanic replied, “Yes, that’s why I quit doctoring.”

I know that some of the charges for labor and parts goes to keep the lights on, heat or cool the huge shop, and pay the clerk who adds up all these charges and collects the money. The good news is that vehicles today get double the gas mileage compared to the years before anyone heard of catalytic converters and unleaded gas. And spark plugs, brake pads and catalytic converters last 90,000 miles.

A few closing compliments by Will Rogers about Mr. Ford, “There is more jokes told about it than any other thing. A Ford car and a Democratic Convention has kept a lot of us comedians alive.  He is the first man to realize that every joke sold a car and every joke bought one… A Ford car and a marriage certificate is the two cheapest things there is. We no more than get either one than we want to trade them in for something better…I always liked Mr. Ford. I think he is a great man, and I wish we had a lot more like him.” (Radio, June 1, 1930)

Will Rogers on his Sunday evening radio broadcasts paid tribute on Mother’s Day, in 1930 and 1935. Here are brief excerpts.

“This is Mother’s Day. Of course, it’s pretty late in the evening now to remind you of it. If you didn’t know it before, there’s not much you can do about it now, unless you, well, you might possibly shame you into going to a florist.

They’re keeping open this evening just to accommodate late consciences…

My own mother died when I was ten years old.  My folks have told me that what little humor I have comes from her.  I can’t remember her humor but I can remember her love and her understanding of me. 

Of course, the mother I know the most about is the mother of our little group.  She has been for twenty-two years trying to raise to maturity four children, three by birth and one by marriage. You know, there ought to be some kind of a star given to any woman that can live with a comedian.  Now, that little compliment ought to repay for the flowers that I forgot to get today…

Florists, they got mothers, too. But they’ve got more flowers than they’ve got mothers, and they’ve got a great organization.

The florists, they’ve just practically corralled this Mother’s Day business…

There’s nothing in the world more beautiful than flowers. The florists and the horticulturists, they’ve done great things to nurse these flowers along until they’re beautiful beyond anything we could possibly think of. 

And every home that can possibly afford ’em should have flowers all you can. But on the other hand, there’s an awful lot of need and want in the country, and I got a plan. My plan is not to eliminate flowers. I’m strong for flowers, but they’ve just got one drawback. You can’t eat ’em. And I imagine an awful lot of mothers today would not have rebelled if you’d sent ’em a ham. Yeah, a cut of beef or a whole lamb or something.

Suppose the meat growers had been on the job and linked Mother’s Day up with their organization like the florists have. If they’d done that, instead of receiving a bunch of hollyhocks, she’d receive a cluster of pork chops.”

If you are reading this as soon as I send it, you still have time to rush to the store. Based on what I saw yesterday at Walmart, Sam’s Club and Lowe’s, there should be plenty of flowers still available. And the grocery stores have meat display cases full of beef, ham, lamb, and pork chops. If you wait until tomorrow, the flowers might be half price. But not the meat.

I intended to also write about Henry Ford and my experience with the “engine light” flashing on my F-150. But I’ll save that for another Weekly Comments.

President Trump is celebrating his first 100 days. It has been a whirlwind of actions, often compared to the first 100 days of President Franklin Roosevelt.

Will Rogers totally supported FDR in 1933. On May 9 he wrote, “I don’t believe there is a thing that this man Roosevelt couldn’t put over if he was a mind to. He is so strong with the people, and so convincing over the radio, that if he ever got in a fight with Congress, all he would have to do is to take it to the people, via the air, and he would lick any of ’em.”

We may learn in the next 100 days if Trump is equally powerful. Meanwhile, during the first 100, he has made a lot of folks happy and a lot of others mad.

Trump has shut down the border and is rapidly deporting criminals who came here illegally. Most Americans support this plan. But others, including a few judges, seem to prefer the Biden policy. With a President Harris, 100 days would have seen a million more sneak into the country.

Trump, with help from Elon Musk and the DOGE crew, has discovered billions of dollars of waste and fraud. Most Americans appreciate the potential savings that amount to about $1000 for every taxpayer. Others are disgusted because it was their favorite fraud that’s being cut.

Many are convinced their Medicaid will be eliminated. Question: should young, able-bodied working age men be freeloading off of Medicaid and SNAP? Would you believe that 6 out of every 10 in that group are sitting on the couch all day, essentially stealing funds intended for others who deserve it?

Tariffs are causing a strong split in the country. Trump does not like that we imported $1.2 Trillion more in goods a year than we export. He seeks to balance our trade with other countries, especially China, by threatening them with high tariffs. The trouble is that means imports will cost individuals more. And we have angered our closest neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Farmers are concerned that China and other countries will cut back on imports of our corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, almonds, beef, chicken and other products.

Trump’s tariff announcements on April 2 caused a major drop in the stock market. And if you had to cash out stocks on April 9 to pay income taxes, you’re mad because you probably lost about 20%.

Trump announced plans for a huge military parade on Flag Day to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the Army. June 14 is also Donald Trump’s birthday. Many object to bringing 6000 troops and hundreds of Army vehicles to Washington. Will Rogers has a better plan, “If we really want to honor our (soldiers), why don’t we let THEM sit in the reviewing stands and make the people march by.”  Another idea is to have all these Army soldiers honored right where they are with parades on June 14. Or since so many towns have scheduled parades on July 4, include a special tribute to the Army at that time.

Trump took a jab at Harvard. He not only threatened their federal funding, but uttered the ultimate insult to the revered Ivy League institution by ranking the Harvard Crimson below the Crimson Tide of Alabama.

Now I have a personal request of President Trump and his DOGE team: Reduce the so-called “Medicare open enrollment” period to 2 weeks instead of 12 months. I’m sure other old folks are as tired as I am of getting a dozen robocalls calls every day from solicitors. If they refuse to limit those calls to only 2 weeks, I suggest putting a tax of $1.00 on every call they make. That should shut them down for 50 weeks a year. But, if they balk and the calls continue, that dollar tax could pay off the national debt.

The 80^th Anniversary of Victory in Europe is this week. On May 8, 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allies and is known as VE Day. (Japan did not surrender until August, ending World War II.)

This occasion may be a good time to remind the French and other Europeans of the dominant role the U.S. played in providing their freedom.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

      “The more I see of politics, the more I wonder what in the world any man would ever want to take it up for. Then some people wonder why the best men of a community are not the office holders.” WA #146, Sept. 27, 1925