Month: September 2025

Plenty of important News this week. A government shutdown is looming Sept. 30. Republicans want to continue the same budget for a few more weeks, postponing a shutdown. But Senator Schumer insists on adding an extra Trillion to cover, among other expenses, Medicaid for illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, mayors in several cities, including Chicago, Portland, New York City, and Boston, (plus Gov. Newsom of California) are determined to keep all of their illegal immigrants, including known criminals.

These mayors and Sen. Schumer have a plan. Stores and banks have to hire guards to keep from being robbed. If thousands of immigrants are sickly, more Medicaid dollars pay doctors and nurses. Police are leaving, frustrated because anyone they arrest is set free. These mayors are smart; more tax dollars flowing into city coffers and paying fewer police means more money is available to raise their own salaries.

If Congress can’t agree on a budget, don’t be overly concerned. Essential employees will be working, continuing essential services. Any that are laid off for a few days or weeks will get all of their salaries. A shutdown always costs money instead of saving it. They waste a lot of time preparing for a shutdown.

The ones hurt are private citizens or businesses who have “non-essential” contracts providing goods or services to the government.

Now, I don’t pretend to know all the details about shutdowns and ICE removing criminal illegal aliens. I wish there was more common horse sense in Washington and “sanctuary” cities and states. Politicians are riling up radical protesters to keep ICE agents from arresting criminals. I doubt there were any protesters decades ago when the federal “G-men” were tracking and taking out John Dillinger, Al Capone, and Bonnie and Clyde.

Former FBI Director, James Comey, has been indicted on two federal charges. It’s strange. Instead of charging him with actions that affected Presidential elections since 2016, he is charged with lying to Congress related to those actions. This trial won’t go anywhere because juries know that everybody lies to Congress. And Congress turns around and lies to everybody.

In case you older folks are wondering, J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director for 48 years, did not directly lie to Congress, but he often misled them.

Farmers are hurting financially. This may be a surprise because you’ve seen the meat case with steak at $20 a pound and hamburger at $7.50. Widespread drought for a few years has reduced the cow herd. And a dangerous insect called a screwworm in Mexico is also reducing the amount of beef for sale.

The farmers hurting the most are growing corn, soybeans, wheat or cotton. Those commodities are selling for bargain prices while the inputs these farmers buy (fertilizer, seed, machinery) are all expensive. By the way, the corporations and local businesses serving these crop farmers are also hurting.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to help. President Trump faces the same quandary President Coolidge had in 1923, “He wants ‘help for the farmers.’ But don’t want anyone to have to pay more for their food.” (WA #53)

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

       “If I was [Secretary of Agriculture] Wallace I would say, ‘Boys, you all are just too good farmers. You just raise too much. If you just wouldn’t be so expert for a few years… Your efficiency is driving you to the poor house. So please don’t be such good farmers.’” DT #2439, May 28, 1934

Across the country, students are failing. Schools are failing our students.

Third graders who can’t read; they don’t even recognize the letters. They don’t know the numbers. Seniors graduating who can’t read the cursive words on their diploma.

It’s not about the money. We invest more money in education than ever before. And some of the worst scores are from districts with the highest investment per student.

Several years ago we ranked No. 1 in the world. Now, at least 25 countries have jumped ahead of us. Other countries are doing a better job of educating students, while we are declining.

I come from a long line of teachers. And family members who are not teachers are strong supporters of education.

A hundred years ago schools taught the basic 3 R’s: “Readin’, Ritin’, and Rithmetic.” Students learned Geography, History, Music, Citizenship, Grammar and more. Many of those students were in a one-room school for grades 1 to 8. And they succeeded in life. (Have you seen a typical test required to “graduate” from 8^th grade? If not, you’ll be amazed.)

It seems easy to argue that students today need different skills. Critical thinking instead of memorizing historical facts, geographic locations and the multiplication table. But, no! Facts are the foundation for critical thinking. A student needs to learn about WWI and WWII to think critically about Russia/Ukraine or Israel/Hamas. Is an 18-year-old voter going to understand our $36 Trillion national debt if they can’t make change for a $10 bill?

One essential skill we can all agree on is knowing how to read. Will Rogers said, “We learn by two things: one is reading, the other is associating with smarter people.” Will is also known for saying, “All I know is what I read in the newspaper.”  (Of course, he learned from other sources, but not smart phones.) Will also wrote in 1924, “We are getting to be a nation that can’t read any more. If the [newspaper article] hasn’t got a picture of it, we are sunk.”

If Johnny (or Emma or Jamal or Liam) can’t read how can he learn math, science and history? How did grade school students learn to read 100 to 150 years ago? McGuffey’s Reader was a series for the first 6 grades. (Will Rogers joked that he spent 8 years in McGuffey’s Fourth Reader.)

Can you imagine the howl from the Department of Education in Washington if we suggested going back to McGuffey’s Readers? Of course, we would update some stories and change objectionable text. (One teacher with AI could finish that job in a week.)

For math, Ray’s Arithmetic and The Appleton Arithmetic are possible replacements for “new math,” whatever that is. Take those books (and others of that era for geography and science) and update numbers and facts. For example, if a math problem asks “if eggs are 5 cents a dozen how many eggs can you buy for 65 cents”, change the price.  Add new countries. Update science books; the basics of chemistry and biology haven’t changed. The air we breathe is still Nitrogen, Oxygen, and a little Carbon Dioxide.

Ok, that’s my contribution to solving the education problem.

I’ll let you folks figure out the rest. How do we get parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and the whole community to support the schools and students? Why do kids skip school? How do we attract and reward more good teachers? Are private schools fair competition for public schools? Are trades (electrician, welder, plumber,…) promoted adequately? How can AI and other technology improve student learning?

The memorial service for Charlie Kirk was held today in Arizona. Regardless of whether you agreed with his views on faith, family, free speech, the Bible and the Constitution, you have to admit he has had a huge influence on young people, especially young men. Other men in their thirties, two I could name, have been murdered and their influence continued to grow exponentially.

The Jimmy Kimmel suspension (update, back on air after 6 days) continues to be debated. ABC says it was a business decision. Others blame Trump for “cancelling free speech.” In a nutshell, Jimmy said the killer of Charlie Kirk was MAGA (a supporter of Trump) when he and his whole team should have known the killer was the opposite of MAGA. And he refused to correct the error. Kimmel is paid $17 million to be funny, tell jokes and be entertaining. Here is Will Rogers’ explanation: “Every Gag I tell must be based on truth. No matter how much I may exaggerate it, it must have a certain amount of Truth.” (WA #65, March 9, 1924) and “I have always noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on truth.” (WA #103, Nov. 30, 1924)

You have already heard or read hundreds of comments about Charlie Kirk. My observations may not add to your knowledge or understanding. And that’s ok.

I never met Charlie Kirk. My opinions are based on two sources. One is videos of him speaking and engaging in intelligent debate with individuals on college campuses.

The second source is based on opinions of people who not only met him, but knew him well. So far, from those folks, I have heard only praise for Charlie Kirk.

Like you, I’ve heard and read plenty of negative comments about him and what he stood for. Those comments include that he was racist and hated transgender people and Jews. There is a common thread among the people with negative views: they never met Charlie Kirk or listened to him at length.

Let me take you back a few decades. On college campuses it was common for a person to stand at a prominent open space and start talking loudly. Often, they were promoting a religion or a deeply held opinion. They exercised their right to speak freely. They might attract a dozen students, but were generally ignored. None of those campus speakers, with perhaps a couple of exceptions, ever caught on. They never got the attention of any prominent group or organization.

Then along came Charlie Kirk. A young guy, without a college education, began speaking to students his own age about what was important to him: faith, family and country. He started attracting decent-sized crowds. Eventually he had a following on social media of millions, mostly teenagers, college students, and those in their twenties. (And several older folks, too.)

Why did this matter? Until a few years ago, most “voices” young people heard were liberals. Yes, we had conservative voices, including Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh, but their main audience was adults. (A young Barack Obama, a liberal voice who became a Senator then President, attracted young folks.) The primary voices students heard were teachers and professors. Probably 90% were liberal and voted for Democrats. That’s logical since Democrats in power were more likely to favor raising their salaries than conservative Republicans. But instead of keeping their political views out of the classroom, many openly taught persuasively for liberal causes.

Along came Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA with conservative views on sex, gender, marriage, love of country, capitalism, and other topics. He knew U.S. and World history, the Constitution, the Bible and basic beliefs of other worldwide religions. He welcomed debate.

Millions of young people adopted conservative practices. They became more interested in religion. After listening to Charlie and learning about his family, they saw value in getting married and having children (in that order).

And they VOTED for conservatives. This raised the ire of Democrats because young voters were supposed to belong to THEM. Charlie Kirk had become an “existential threat to democracy.”

By the way, that phrase and threatening words like Nazi, Fascist, and Hitler should never be used against anyone! You’re welcome to add derogatory words used by the other side. But I doubt if any of those “words” murdered 6 million people.

Why would anyone want to kill Charlie Kirk when they would have been welcomed to the microphone to present their point of view? How could an intelligent 22-year-old from a well-to-do religious family turn 180 degrees into an assassin?

Apparently, it has happened to several others. They leave home, either physically or emotionally, spend their time on vicious “gaming” platforms, communicate on obscure internet channels the rest of us never heard of (Discord), and become “friends” with the wrong crowd. They hear someone described as a “Fascist” (which they could never define) or “phobic” and decide to kill ‘em.

Utah Governor Cox asked us to stop the hateful rhetoric, have conversations with those we disagree with, and resolve differences peacefully.

As my friend LaDonna Gatlin asked, “Let us reach out in love to those in this hurting world who don’t necessarily agree with us.” And, in her beautiful singing “voice” she closed with the hopeful hymn, “Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with Me.”

Randall Reeder

President Trump is always making big changes.  He changed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. He paved the Rose Garden and is adding a huge Ballroom to the White House.  He wants to eliminate the Dept. of Education. This week he switched the DOD back to its original name, Department of War.

While he’s in a changin’ mood, I have another suggestion. The USDA, formed in 1862, has outlived its service to farmers. Yes, it’s shameful. Less than 20 percent of the USDA budget goes to support farmers and ranchers. Since the other 80 percent is for SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) the Department of Agriculture needs to be renamed. From now on it’s the U. S. Dept. of Free Food.

Now, Secretary Rollins is an agriculture person. But even she will admit that very little of her budget is to provide relief for the farmer. Four-fifths goes to SNAP, providing free food to over 40,000,000 people.  And the part of the budget for soil conservation (which you’ll remember originated 90 years ago because of the Dust Bowl), is down to $100 million. That’s a pittance of the total USDA budget of $230 Billion.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a direct line to President Trump. Maybe I can get Senator Markwayne Mullin to suggest the change. He’s part Cherokee and is from Will Rogers country in Oklahoma. New York Senator Chuck Schumer is another possibility. He represents a lot more SNAP recipients than he does farmers so he should favor the change to USDFF.

In Chicago… have you ever heard of anyone as proud of their criminals as Governor Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson? And thousands of people joined them in protesting against any federal assistance in reducing crime. But the protesters were smart; they gathered in a safe part of the city, several blocks from where 60 people were shot last weekend. Mayor Johnson is complaining that the Legislature won’t give him an extra $1.6 Billion. Not for more police, but to reward the teacher’s union for their support.

Chicago politicians are determined to retain their reputation from a hundred years ago. John Dillinger robbed banks, and when jailed, a crooked judge and two guards helped him escape. Al Capone made millions on bootleg liquor and killed rivals, including the St. Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929. (See the quotes)

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

          (Radio broadcast from Chicago) “… broadcasting from a sound-proof studio, barricaded in the Wrigley Building. Now I will try to describe what is going on down on the street. The Bugs Moran gang are holding down the east side of Michigan Boulevard and the Capones are entrenched on the other side… There must be a thousand racketeers; there is not an empty gun in the place… Now, folks, you are not going to get me coming out here telling any jokes about these racketeers and gangsters. It is all right to scatter good humor at the expense of the Senate, for they are harmless. But these boys carry a gun.” Radio, June 22, 1930

         “America’s favorite ‘prodigal son,’ Scarface Al Capone, has returned to us and in his honor, we killed two fatted gangsters… Capone goes free to take up his useful life’s work.” DT #1137, March 18, 1930

        “See where they convicted Al Capone on five counts [evasion of federal income taxes]. Now comes the out-on-bail, new trial, change of venue, habus corpus, stay of execution and twenty-one other things that the law has invented to hinder justice. This case is a great boost for (Treasury Secretary) Mr. Mellon and his deficit, for if bootleggers and robbers are liable for an income tax, why our treasury will be richer than France.” DT #1634, Oct 18, 1931