Category: Uncategorized

It’s been two looonnngg years since March 12, 2020. Here are a few highlights from the “Weekly Comments” I wrote that day.

“In the last couple of weeks, the Dow Jones has dropped from 27,000 to 21,000 because of the China virus and our reactions to it. Everything is being cancelled or postponed. Businesses and college classes are online instead of face-to-face. People who are sick or have the virus are supposed to self-quarantine. NBA games are cancelled. The NHL, baseball spring training, and all NCAA basketball tournaments and all other sports being CANCELLED.

“Yes, these actions, including shutting down schools for a few weeks, make sense to slow down and tamp down the illnesses and deaths from the China virus. Let us not forget this started in China and became a pandemic because the Communist government avoided actions that could have contained the virus instead of letting it spread out of control.

“In January when the ‘medical professionals’ in the Trump administration became aware of the virus and started planning, where were the Democrats in Congress? They were concentrating on Impeachment. When Trump cut off all incoming travel from China, did they agree? No, they complained that Trump was being xenophobic against Chinese people.

“Let’s avoid crowds as much as possible. Wash our hands for 20 seconds. Use sanitizer. Don’t contaminate your older relatives. In case you have not noticed, farmers will continue to take care of their livestock, milk the cows twice a day, and prepare for spring planting.”

Ok, back to 2022. Last week we had 300 farmers and agricultural professionals at our annual Conservation Tillage & Technology Conference in Ada, Ohio. Many of the 70 presenters and panelists focused on practices to improve soil health, water quality and assist with climate change issues. The most interest this year was on speakers who helped answer the question, “How can I reduce the cost of raising a crop? Thanks to inflation, supply chain issues, and Putin’s war on Ukraine, our farmers are dealing with high prices for diesel fuel, plant protection chemicals, and animal feed. Fertilizer is two to three times higher. We had better pray they don’t cut back on these expensive inputs because we’ll need every bushel, pound, and gallon they can produce. The world will suffer shortages of the vast amounts of grain that farmers in Ukraine and Russia normally grow and export.

Do you realize our corn growers could help replace the banned crude oil from Russia? We’re all used to filling our gas tanks with fuel that is 10% ethanol. If President Biden would allow that to raise to 15% ethanol, we can grow enough corn for ethanol to replace the Russian oil. However, Biden is determined to create shortages and raise the price of gasoline and diesel so high we’ll all want to trade for an expensive Electric Vehicle. The joke’s on him because 60% of our electricity is generated by fossil fuels he wants to eliminate: coal and natural gas.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, President Zelensky, the former comedian turned statesman, is setting a defiant standard unseen since Churchill during World War II. While the rest of the world leaders are quivering at Putin’s threat to unleash nuclear weapons on Europe and the US, he is leading his over-matched citizens in standing tall against Putin’s evil invaders. When the nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize are opened, there should be only one. We hope and pray Zelensky lives long enough to accept it.

Here’s Will Rogers, 90 years ago, “People are taking their comedians [Zelensky?] seriously and politicians [Biden?] as a joke, when it used to be vice versa.” (Nov. 22, 1932)

The State of the Union speech last week fell flat. Instead of the President trying to tell 330 million Americans what shape we’re in, they should have reversed the process. They should have selected a dozen ordinary citizens from across the country and had them each speak for 5 minutes on the “State of the Union” as they see it. And President Biden, V-P Harris, the Cabinet, Congress, and top staff people would have to sit there, listen, and take notes.

St. Patrick’s Day is this week, a day celebrated by many Americans, even if they aren’t Irish. You probably know that Will Rogers was proud to be one-quarter Cherokee. He was also proud of his Irish heritage. In 1800, his great-grandfather, Robert Rogers, immigrated from Ireland to what is now West Virginia. In 1815, he married Lucy Cordery, who was one-half Cherokee. Interestingly, a small community in the middle of West Virginia, named Ireland, will celebrate all week, culminating with the arrival of Spring next Sunday at 11:33 a.m. EDT.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Ireland’s got ’em all beat for beauty, romance, humor and hospitality, and the best horses in the world.” DT #1450, March 17, 1931

“Ireland treats you more like a friend than a tourist.” DT #36, Sept. 8, 1926

 

Yes, it is Putin’s War. Events on the ground in Ukraine are changing by the minute so a few of the points below may be outdated by the time you read it.

There are several ironies about the Putin war on Ukraine.

For almost a year, Putin built up his military presence on Ukraine’s border. Meanwhile, our military leaders were “booting out soldiers without Covid vaccinations,” planning for “demographically diverse leadership”, allowing woke “gender pronouns in email signatures” and designing uniforms for “non-binary service members” and “pregnant airmen.”

The actor/comedian who is President of Ukraine stated boldly, “I’m staying and fighting,” while our President, a self-proclaimed experienced master of dealing with Putin, said, “I’m going to my Delaware beach house for the weekend.”

Ukraine fights to hold back Putin’s invasion a day at a time. President Biden replied about the effect of sanctions on Putin, “I’ll check back in a month.”

Biden said his Administration will use “every tool at its disposal to protect Americans from rising prices at the gas pump.” It’s ironic he didn’t mention the best tools: encourage drilling more wells, installing more pipelines and maximizing production of our oil and natural gas to also supply Europe.

A young mother in Ukraine, holding her baby, reports tearfully on television about the war around her. Here in the US, television host Joy Behar of The View complains, “I’ve been wanting to go to Italy for four years, and now this.”

European countries, especially Germany and France, pressured us in 2015 to join the Paris Climate Change Agreement to reduce fossil fuel production, which we did (with a 4-yr interruption under Trump). The irony is, until yesterday Germany was balking at aggressive actions against Putin because they depend on Putin for heat, transportation and electricity from… FOSSIL FUELS.

Putin is the cause of this ongoing disaster but is the main beneficiary because he’ll make Billions more from higher priced oil and gas exports, including oil he is selling to us.

John Kerry is really mad at Putin for invading Ukraine with tanks, aircraft, missiles, and warships because they aren’t powered with renewable energy, thereby setting a terrible example for the rest of the world. “The northern two-thirds of Russia is frozen tundra. Thawing puts the people of Russia at risk.” Putin might respond, “If it thaws, we can grow more wheat. That’s less risk of starvation.” See, ironically, Russia might benefit from global warming.

It is NOT ironic that German leaders changed their minds about helping Ukraine. The people of Germany rose up, recalling how Hitler’s Nazis ransacked and stole from Ukraine during WWII. They probably mentioned that Ukraine President Zelensky is Jewish.

It is NOT ironic that Ukraine’s military and civilians are fighting fiercely for their country. There are many examples of bravery and sacrifice reminiscent of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Or General McAuliffe’s reply to the German demand to surrender, “Nuts!”

As I’m finishing this, it’s about daybreak Monday in Ukraine. Let’s pray for a peaceful solution.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

(Dateline: ODESA) “Who hasn’t pictured Odesa on the Black Sea? Russia and Turkey have been fighting over this for a thousand years.” DT #2520, Sept. 2, 1934

“People don’t change under Governments; the Governments change, but the people remain the same.” There’s Not a Bathing Suit in Russia, 1926

 

Fifty years ago, a new law known as Title IX gave female college and university students who wanted to compete in sports equality with male students. If I remember correctly, excluding football, schools had to provide roughly the same number of scholarships and equal treatment for women’s teams as for the men.

For 50 years, girls and young women have had the same opportunities as boys and young men to compete for First Place.

Lately, a change occurred. You probably heard of records being broken in swimming, track and other sports. And not just broken by a few seconds, but smashed! Without exception these new records have been set, not by extraordinarily athletic women, but by biological men transitioning to be female. Top male athletes are better than top female athletes in head-to-head competition. If a biological male is in the race, the females are competing for Second Place.

This is not against transgender females. Create a category for them to compete against each other. Not a perfect solution, but it would let them enjoy sports and compete fairly for First Place.

A family member is a high school Freshman on the swim team. As she improves over the next few years, I hope she won’t have to swim for Second Place, like the women in the Ivy League and NCAA championships.

The Russian Communist dictator, Vladimir Putin, is determined to take control of Ukraine. Why does he want Ukraine? Ukraine is a big European country, almost as big as Texas. Ukraine has tremendous natural resources, including iron ore, uranium, and natural gas. And I’ve already told you about the productive farm land, which potentially could feed 600 million people. (Do you realize the economy of Texas is much greater than the entire Russian economy?)

If Putin succeeds, it only adds about 3 percent to the size of Russia. He may envy the economic growth possibilities. But he grew up and served in the old USSR. He wants his legacy to be a return to the glory days of the Iron Curtain, when Russia ruled over Eastern Europe including a fourth of Germany. Putin never settles for second place.

A Presentation Piece from my talks as Will Rogers: “If any of you saw me roping back in the 1920’s… well, I’m not as good as I used to be. In fact, in 1934 I went out to a fine ranch at Hollister, California and was helping with calf branding. The next day in my newspaper column I wrote: ‘I didn’t mind all the men beating me at roping, but when a girl did it… (sigh) Well, it looks like it’s time to take up golf.’”

Historic quotes by Will Rogers (for Presidents’ Day):

“There wasn’t any Republicans in Washington’s day.  No Republicans, no Boll Weevil, no income tax, no cover charge, no disarmament conferences, no luncheon clubs, no stop lights, no static (radio), no head winds, no golf pants or Scotch jokes…My Lord, living in those times, who wouldn’t be great?” DT #803, Feb. 21, 1929

“Lincoln was great.  He freed the slaves and put the Southern whites in bondage for the duration of their natural lives.  He furnished General Grant with cigars to smoke and poor Lee had no gas mask so he had to surrender.   Lincoln tried his best to prevent that war between the Democrats and the Republicans. Since then, they have been settling their difficulties at the polls, with about the same results.” Radio, June 1, 1930

Will was introduced to President Warren G. Harding in the Oval Office and said, “Do you want me to tell you the latest political jokes?” Harding replied, “No, Will, I appointed most of them.”

On Calvin Coolidge: “As President, he did nothing and retired a hero, not only because he done nothing, but he did it better than anyone.” WA #326, March 24, 1929

On Herbert Hoover: “I always did want to see him elected.  I wanted to see how far a competent man could go in politics.  It has never been tried before.” Radio, Apr. 20, 1930

Introducing candidate Franklin Roosevelt in Sept. 1932: “This introduction tonight is not flowery or ostentatious… because I am wasting no oratory on just a prospect… Now after you’re elected, I’ll do right by you.”

Truckers in Canada have blocked traffic in Ottawa and on the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit. Prime Minister Trudeau needs to do something drastic and radical: Eliminate vaccine and mask mandates! He’ll do that eventually; why not now?

Stealing anything under $999 is not considered stealing by several highly compensated lawyers pretending to be prosecutors. I heard a great suggestion from a sports talk show in Lubbock, Texas. Stores can put $1000.00 price tags on every item in the store. Anything stolen results in burglary charges. For an honest customer, the store gives an immediate discount back down to the real price.

We’ve all seen the video of a man stealing a dozen packages of steak from a grocery. Walked right out and down the street. I doubt we’ll ever see a video of anyone stealing plant-based (fake) meat. Even petty thieves have pride.

Do you remember the California high-speed railroad that began as a $10 Billion project to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco? Construction has hardly begun and it’s now estimated to cost over $100 Billion. With the current inflation rate, a more accurate guess would be $200 Billion. To pay off this investment, a one-way ticket would cost at least $1500 for a 1.5-hour trip.

Gosh, could there be a less expensive way to make that 400-mile trip in a hurry? Here’s an idea for the geniuses in Sacramento: Build airports in LA and SF and hire some airplanes. What? Somebody already did that? Well, it must be really expensive to get there in only an hour. Only $300? And some deals for $49?

What if I don’t want to fly? How about building a limited access highway where I can drive 75 miles an hour? What? They already built I-5?

Ok, let’s get serious. California can build a 2-lane road for high speed streamlined buses only. They already own the right-of-way. Put it on concrete piers above the berm on I-5. Low cost because it would be only 20 feet wide, and no trucks. Only long articulated buses with 100 seats. Precise auto-steering with GPS. Go 150 mph. Do it for less than $20 Billion. California, you’re welcome. No charge. But if offered, I would accept a 1% gratuity.

President Biden called Putin of Russia on Saturday. He really laid down the law, “You invade Ukraine and there will be severe costs. We’ll cut you off from the rest of the world, except maybe China.” Then he whispered, “You’ll lose your stature on the world stage.” Putin yelled back, “World stature? You’re hysterical. The only stature that matters to me is in Russia. And my stature is far greater than yours in your country.” Ok, they probably didn’t say that. But it’s conceivable.

A New York Times investigative reporter wrote that President Trump flushed top secret, classified documents down the toilet. Here’s my question. What member of the President’s staff handed a plunger and a drain snake to an unfortunate employee in the White House and ordered him into the President’s private bathroom to, ahem, “dig up dirt” on him? And where are those flushed documents now? At the National Archives? Will we ever get to the bottom of this?

          The Cincinnati Bengals had the Super Bowl won with a few minutes to go. But Cooper Kupp made several key plays for the Los Angeles Rams to go ahead 23-20. Aaron Donald sealed it with a sack. Joe Burrow will have other opportunities.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I’ll celebrate tomorrow with my wife for the 54^th time.

Interestingly, Will Rogers never wrote about Valentine’s Day in his newspaper columns. After 8 years of an off-and-on romance, he and Betty Blake were married on November 25, 1908, in her hometown, Rogers, Arkansas. They had a loving marriage. Will had his own way of publicly expressing his love for her, “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.” (Radio, May 11, 1930)

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“If your time is worth anything, travel by air. If not, you might just as well walk.” DT #389, Oct. 20, 1927

Is the Covid 19 Pandemic over? Instead of persisting with divisive mandates to “get vaccinated or get fired” and wear masks in elementary school, President Biden should simply announce “It’s over. We’ll deal with other variants and the consequences.”

Then the President should devote his energy to force China to own up to the Wuhan Lab leak and start compensating us and all other countries for the Trillions of dollars in damage caused by Covid.

I rather doubt he will do any of this. Kind of the opposite: The President ordered 1,000,000,000 Covid test kits to mail to anyone who requests a few. Guess who manufactured and sold us the Covid test kits. Yes, China. And if they froze while crossing the Pacific or in your mailbox, the results can’t be trusted.

We’re just now learning, thanks to an investigative journalist, that many high officials (medical experts) told Dr. Fauci in January 2020 the new virus likely came from a Lab rather than occurred in nature. Within a week those same medical researchers had changed their opinion, agreeing with Dr. Fauci that Covid must have come from a bat cave to a meat market to a human. Why? In that brief interval our National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded those naysayers additional research funding of several million dollars each. Wow, what a country!

You probably remember in 2019 when Speaker Pelosi and the House impeached our President over a phone call with the Ukraine President. And one of the key witnesses against the President was our Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. But did the House impeach the wrong person?

For 2 years, 2014-2016, Vice-President Joe Biden was preventing our government from investigating corruption involving the president of Burisma, an energy company in Ukraine. So why was our VP acting against American interests in rooting out corruption? Maybe it was because his son, Hunter Biden, with no expertise in energy, was making $50,000 a month as a Board member of Burisma. Ambassador Yovanovitch hid the evidence of Biden’s interference with the investigation.

Two years ago this week, the Senate acquitted President Trump of charges he was pressuring the Ukraine president to investigate Burisma. If Marie Yovanovitch had been honest 7 years ago, VP Biden might have been forced to resign for preventing the Ukraine president from investigating Burisma.

Now, I’m not claiming that Trump deserved to be re-elected in 2020. He lost the election by several million votes and his January 6^th rally was a blunder. However, would life be different today if there had been no accusation of colluding with Russia in 2016, no impeachment demands by Congressman Adam Schiff, no blaming Trump for racism against the Chinese and refusal to wear a mask, and honesty by Dr. Fauci (and White House Covid Coordinator Dr. Birx) during daily press briefings?

Here’s another shocker. On the Mexican border, taxpayers (that’s us) are paying Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to encourage illegal immigrants to cross the border. Not only encourage, but pay ‘em! And the same taxpayers (that’s us) are paying the Border Patrol to try to keep them out. And once they sneak past the Border Patrol, or are released on political orders from the White House, other NGOs use our tax dollars to transport and house them here.

There’s a somewhat similar situation in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, and New York where their so-called Prosecuting Attorney is acting as a Defense attorney in coordination with actual Defense Attorneys. So, the criminals get legal support from both sides of the table and no one is representing the victims and law-abiding citizens. The same cities, and others like them, demand a reduction in the police force. May as well; no need to arrest a guy who’ll be turned loose immediately. And they wonder why violent crime has increased.

Ok, my rant is over. If I had more space I would comment on Bette Midler and the West Virginia Governor’s bulldog. Will Rogers wrote in 1933, “I love a dog; he does nothing for political reasons.”

A short Presentation Piece from my Will Rogers talks: “You’ve heard me say many times, ‘All I know is what I read in the newspaper.’ But really, ‘We learn by two things: one is reading, the other is associatin’ with smarter people.’  Actually, ‘we’re all ignorant, we’re just ignorant on different subjects.’ ‘There’s nothing as stupid as an educated man if you get him off the subject he was educated in.’ And in all the years I’ve been saying that, I’ve never yet had a woman ever disagree.”

Will he, or won’t he? That is the big question this weekend? Will Putin invade? No, no, no. The big question is: Will Tom Brady retire?

Russia has half the world worried. Putin has moved every soldier in the whole country to the border with Ukraine. He even sent a few thousand into Belarus to practically surround Ukraine. Is he scared of being invaded by Ukraine? I heard Putin moved in portable hospitals and a supply of blood, I guess to patch up his soldiers that the Ukrainians shoot.

You may laugh, but it would be smart for Ukraine to take over a chunk of Russia. See, Ukraine has about a quarter of the very best farmland in the world and an equal amount is right across the border in Russia. I saw a report that the world faces a severe shortage of food. If Ukraine controlled almost half of the most productive soil in the whole world, why, they could produce thousands of train loads of grain and other food products, perhaps equal to our Midwest farmers.

I don’t understand why Germany and France are afraid Vladimir Putin will cut off the natural gas lines serving Europe. Didn’t those European countries brag about the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, to get rid of fossil fuels? They complained and yelled at President Trump for four years because he insisted on drilling for more gas and oil. We became energy-independent while most of Europe became more energy-dependent. Then they chose to buy their natural gas from Russia instead of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from us. (See quotes below)

Where is the United Nations? That’s a logical question because a country invading another country is against international law. Why doesn’t the UN take a forceful stand against a potential Russian invasion? And what about protecting Taiwan from China?

Democrats don’t agree on much, but they did get together and persuade Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to resign because he’s 83. Speaker Pelosi (age 81) and other old Democrats feel anyone 80 or 81 or 82 is in their prime. But at 83, “you’re over the hill.”

So, President Biden will nominate a Black woman. You may recall that he made that political promise during the campaign and it helped get him elected. It is not a surprise for the President to follow through on that promise.

In Indianapolis, U.S. Customs officials intercepted a package from Hong Kong with 1200 counterfeit state driver’s licenses. Many were for college students wanting to appear older to buy liquor. Most counterfeit licenses are ordered by illegal immigrants, who are willing to pay at least ten times as much as the students. It makes you wonder how many “packages” sneak past Customs in the other 49 states, especially states where the Biden Administration is flying the illegal border crossers? A fake driver’s license let’s ‘em drive, and VOTE.

Tom Brady won’t be in the Super Bowl. But an exciting young quarterback, Joe Burrow, and his Cincinnati Bengals will be after upsetting Kansas City, 27-24. And the Los Angeles Rams beat San Francisco, 20-17.

Presentation Piece: For presentations in Oklahoma, I always include this bit, based mostly on Will Rogers’ syndicated newspaper column, on Feb. 5, 1928. “Well, this used to be Indian Territory. They sent the Indians to Oklahoma in the 1830s. They had a treaty that said, ‘You shall have this land as long as grass grows and water flows.’ It looked like a good treaty. And it was till they struck oil. Then the Government took it away from us again. They said ‘The treaty only refers to Water and Grass; it don’t say anything about oil.’ So, the Government moved the Indians again and they settled the whole thing by putting them on land where the grass won’t grow and the water won’t flow. There was some speculation recently in the papers about giving Oklahoma back to the Indians. Now I’m Cherokee and very proud of it, but I doubt if you can get them to accept it– not in its present state.”

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Russia don’t do as much harm to the rest of the world as they just worry ’em. She just loves to put a thumb in the soup and let the guests see it’s in there. The whole world’s nerves are ‘jumpy,’ anyhow, right now.” DT #1504, May 19, 1931

“If I wanted to start an insane asylum that would be 100 percent cuckoo, I would just admit applicants that thought they knew something about Russia.” DT #1291, Sept. 12, 1930

At his press conference last week, President Biden announced plans to go “out performing” around the country. His speaking tour will highlight all the major accomplishments where he “outperformed” expectations of 70 million Americans who elected him in November 2020.

So, where has he outperformed in his first year in office? Well, in several areas. Take energy for example. By simply blocking pipelines and eliminating drilling on some oil-rich lands, he raised the price of crude to $85 a barrel. That caused folks to drive less and, for those who can afford it, order a new Electric Vehicle (EV).

Somewhat related, President Biden supports authentic union jobs. To him, any job that’s not union, is not authentic. So EVs built with union workers are subsidized but others, like a Tesla, are not. Public school teachers who belong to a union are listened to and are able to set federal policy. That’s going way above and beyond expectations.

The President outperformed on our Mexican border. He wanted more immigrants and those numbers have skyrocketed. Oddly, while he supports Ukraine’s border against Russian’s crossing it, thousands of immigrants from Russia and a hundred other countries are crossing the Rio Grande every week. And if they get caught, they can use the arrest warrant as a photo ID to board a plane. What a country!

With help from California Governor Newsom, the President has resurrected the Old West custom of robbing a train. He had already slowed down imports from China, and now, once the goods are unloaded from a container ship to a train, criminal gangs are emptying almost a hundred containers a day before the locomotives get enough speed to escape Los Angeles city limits.

If Pinkerton agents happen to catch the thieves, city officials cooperate with the President by turning them loose so they can empty more containers. This is genius; a truly unique way to discourage Amazon and Walmart shoppers and instead promote goods produced in America with a union label.

He has outperformed in other areas, including: raising starting wages and Social Security checks to almost equal the rise in inflation; providing a $250/month salary to teenagers so they don’t have to work at McDonald’s or shovel snow; withdrawing from Afghanistan; increasing the value of farmland; and, oddly, increased production of coal for export. The Dow Jones average has gone up about 25% since his election (far above expectations), but the President doesn’t even mention that outperformance.

Of course, my ramblings are political satire. Did I outperform and exceed your expectations? Can you name even one other political satirist who has a better record in the past year? lol

A Presentation Piece (from one of my speeches): “I feel every speaker should leave at least one worthwhile tip with his audience, so here it is. It’s an economic plan, a plan to end all plans. It’ll work for you no matter who’s in the White House. ‘Don’t gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock, and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it.’”

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“The Democrats give us three bad years and one good one. But the good one always comes on the year that the voting is.” Radio, Oct. 18, 1931

“I don’t write [political] jokes.  I just watch the government and report the facts. I don’t even have to exaggerate.”  Notes, undated

The Winter Olympics in Beijing, China will begin February 4. Our athletes who don’t drop out because of Covid will compete. None of our government officials will attend because President Biden declared a “diplomatic” boycott. Most of our US sponsors are refusing to criticize China because they don’t want the Communist leaders to cut ‘em off from 1.7 Billion potential customers.

A few sponsors are trying to get their money back from the International Olympic Committee. The IOC could go broke because they chose to hold the Olympics in China despite all the Communist Chinese actions against their own citizens (especially the Uyghurs), Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I suggest we all boycott China by not watching. Crash the NBC Nielsen ratings. (See first quote below)

President Biden is determined to force a national takeover of elections. Only problem is he has a 48-52 minority in the Senate on this issue when he needs 60 votes. Democrats in Congress say American citizens have the right to vote, either in-person or by mail. Republicans say those votes should not be canceled by votes cast illegally. Does your state, or any state, have laws against these ideals?

Yesterday I met with my professional speaker friends at the Ohio Chapter of the National Speakers Association. These NSA professionals speak “after dinner” and any other time, day or night. Continuing a new feature in Weekly Comments, here is a short bit from one of my speeches. It is based on a Will Rogers’ comment in March 1923 when he took a friendly jab at the bankers.

“I was raised on a cattle ranch and I never saw or heard of a rancher going broke, except the ones who had borrowed money.  You can’t break a man that don’t borrow. He may not have anything, but he can look the World in the face and say, ‘I don’t owe you Birds a nickel.’ You might ask, if the farmers and ranchers and the rest of you, quit borrowing money, what will all the Bankers do? Well, I don’t care what they do. Let ‘em go to work, if there is any job they could earn a living at. Banking and After Dinner Speaking are two of the most non-essential industries we have in this country.  I’m ready to reform if they are.”

Tomorrow we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King. Will Rogers was part Cherokee and would definitely agree with Dr. King’s encouragement to judge a person by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“(In the Olympics) Our high diving (skill) is inherited from our politicians. Our public men do nothing but high dive. They climb up the ladder on promises, just before election, then dive off after they are elected.” DT #1921, Sept. 30, 1932

“If I was running for office, I would rather have two friends in the counting room than a Republican Slush fund behind me. More candidates have been defeated after 6 o’clock in the evening than were ever defeated during election day.” WA #100, Nov. 9, 1924

This week we have an “elephant in the room” that cannot be ignored. Actually, it’s more like “donkeys in the House.” The “elephants” were there last year, storming the Capitol on January 6.

Although we won’t all agree on this first anniversary of January 6, I trust we will treat each other with mutual respect. Do you know anyone, personally, who doesn’t agree that the incursion of the Capitol Building was an embarrassment for the country? Probably not. At least 99% wish it had never happened.

Perhaps half the people you know would say last January 6 was a deadly Insurrection by hundreds of well-armed radical domestic terrorists directed by President Trump, comparable to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Islamic attacks on 9-11.

The other half likely claim it was mainly a peaceful protest by people frustrated at how President Trump and his family were treated for four years. And a few dozen QAnon and Proud Boys radicals organized a brutal attack on the Capitol to coincide with the Trump rally.

There are several questions that need explanations during the House committee hearing. Explain why, of the 700 arrested, not one has been charged with insurrection. Explain why the attackers were armed with flag poles, bear spray and bike racks instead of rifles and machine guns. Explain how no Police, Senators and Congressmen were shot. Explain how Trump could ever believe he could force VP Pence and Congress to nullify the election results. After the FBI intercepted information about the impending Insurrection, why wasn’t secure fencing installed and a thousand extra armed guards brought in? Was this really an attack on democracy?

You probably have other questions. Do you think we’ll get answers?

This past week I attended the annual National No-Till Conference in Louisville. This was the 30^th year of this conference that educates farmers across the country on a farming practice that started 60 years ago. You may be unfamiliar with this “no tillage” method of growing crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton. “No tillage” means no plowing or any other tillage operation before planting a crop. Weeds are usually killed with a few ounces of herbicide per acre. No-till farmers often plant a cover crop after the main crop is harvested. This protects the soil from erosion over the winter, improves the health of the soil, and means the soil can absorb and hold more rainwater which reduces flooding.

Did you know this farming system also takes carbon out of the air and stores it in the ground? Would you believe, if ALL cropland around the world were farmed with these no-till, conservation agriculture methods, so much carbon dioxide would be sequestered in soil that global warming would be eliminated? Yes, that’s a huge challenge. But it’s no more of a challenge than trying to live without fossil fuels.

Since I attended the no-till conference, here is a short piece from one of my typical presentations, based on Will Rogers’ comments on his weekly radio broadcast April 14, 1935. “You know, we’re always talking about pioneers and what great folks the old pioneers were. Well, I think the pioneer wasn’t a thing in the world but a guy that wanted something for nothing. He wanted to cut a tree down that didn’t cost him anything, but he never did plant one. He wanted to plow up the land that should have been left to grass. We’re just now learning that we can rob from nature the same way as we can rob from an individual. All he had was an ax, and a plow, and a gun, and he just went out and lived off nature. Well, he thought it was nature he was living off of, but really, what he was living off of was future generations.”

Historic quote by Will Rogers: (during the Dust Bowl)

          “Flew through these dust storms with the pilot flying entirely by instruments… It’s a terrible thing, and it’s going to bring up some queer cases in law. If Colorado blows over and lights on top of Kansas, it looks kinder like Kansas ought to pay for the extra top soil, but Kansas can sue ’em for covering up their crops…In the Middle West now you got to put a brand on your soil, then in the Spring go on a roundup looking for it.” DT #2697, March 28, 1935

No predictions for 2022. I blew it a year ago when I wrote this: “Here’s a safe prediction for the new year: 2021 will end better than it started. Maybe not in all areas of your life, but COVID should be under control.”

I failed to understand that COVID-19 could outsmart any political promises by Joe Biden (as a candidate in 2020) and a variety of ever-changing recommendations by Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and the WHO.

Will Rogers had it right in January 1930, “Last year we said, ‘Things can’t go on like this’, and they didn’t, they got worse.”

I doubt you’ll read many optimistic predictions for 2022. A year ago, we were optimistic. We had vaccines for Covid and were assured if we got the shots, we were protected. And if 70 percent of us got vaccinated, herd immunity would wipe it out. Get vaccinated and stop wearing a mask!

We knew Covid came from a Lab in Communist China and were shocked when a variant was discovered in India. Knowing that many people didn’t appreciate the name ‘China virus,’ and to avoid upsetting people from India, someone who remembered symbols from advanced mathematics decided the Greek alphabet could fit and wouldn’t make anyone mad.

So, India became Delta and just when we thought we had Delta defeated another version broke out in southern Africa. Because of 12 other less severe variants, they had used all the Greek letters up to Xi. But to avoid upsetting the Chinese Dictator who released the original Covid on the world, they jumped over Xi to name it Omicron.

Let’s hope we don’t get to the next letter, which is Pi. You’ll remember that Pi starts as 3.1416 but keeps going FOREVER.

We lost a great one this week. Betty White was a few days short of 100, and for 70 of those years she was one of the best humorists on television. She promoted racial equality and loved animals. She was married to Allen Ludden who passed away in 1981. She said recently, “All my life, even as a kid, I have preferred men older than I am. Unfortunately, today I don’t think there is anyone older than I am.”

A new feature for 2022. In Weekly Comments, I plan to include a short (non-political) piece from one of my typical presentations as “Will Rogers.” Currently, thousands of cattlemen from across North America are in Oklahoma City with 10,000 prize animals in 20 breeds for Cattlemen’s Congress. I know they will enjoy this one. “In 1932 I learned the secret of success in the cattle business. And I’m going to share it with you. I was on the W. T. Wagoner Ranch, down in Vernon, Texas… Six hundred thousand acres with twenty-five thousand head of cattle. Now Mr. Waggoner was one cowman that was smart enough to solve the low prices of cattle and make ranches pay…and here’s the way he did it…  Every cow had her own oil well.”

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“There’s not a single person that knows any more about what [this year] has in store for us than a Billy goat.” DT #2000, Jan 1, 1933

“Do you think the world leaders can get us out of this? They might; ignorance got us in.” DT #2002, Jan. 3, 1933

“There is not a better day in the world to be spent than with a lot of wise old cowmen around barbecued beef, black coffee and good ‘free holy’ [refried] beans.” DT #2430, May 17, 1934