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Another week, another election. Trump cruised through South Carolina and Clinton slipped by Sanders in Nevada. As I understand it, the Democrats and Republicans trade states, and repeat the process on Tuesday.

Jeb Bush dropped out, leaving only one of the original eight governors running for President, John Kasich. I doubt if anyone ever spent more per vote received than Jeb. Will Rogers might have had him in mind when he wrote, “Politics has got so expensive nowadays it takes lots of money to even get beat with.”

Pope Francis seemed to comment on our presidential race saying he favored someone who builds bridges instead of walls. Of course he was speaking in Mexico and he knew his audience. See, Mexico favors more bridges across the Rio Grande so their workers can go north and then send their paychecks south without either one getting wet.

The State Department released another batch of classified emails from Secretary Clinton’s personal server. Scott Pelly, on CBS, asked her if she always told the truth. She said, “I always tried to tell the truth.” As she said it, and tried to explain further, I could swear I heard a dog barking. Really loud.

The funeral for Justice Scalia was Saturday. President Obama decided not to attend because he wanted to spend all weekend going through binders of potential replacements. I can imagine Mitt Romney wanting to ask him, “Do you have any women in those binders?”

With a bunch of primaries in the next month, I’m sharing more wisdom from Will Rogers. These political quotes may remind you of current conditions even if they don’t help you reach a decision. (If you want to read a whole slew of ‘em at one sitting, go to WillRogersToday.com, click on Quotes, then click on Politics.)

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Personally, I am in favor of money being spent on elections.  The more money the better.  If they can get contributions from rich men and distribute them around among the poor and needy I think it’s a good thing.  It puts money into circulation… Besides, the fellow may not get elected, and in that case the vote they sold did no harm and didn’t break the fellow that made the contributions.  So my slogan is: Bigger and higher?priced elections.”  Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to his President, May 20, 1926

“I would love to see Mr. (Henry) Ford in there, really. I don’t know who started the idea that a President must be a Politician instead of a Business man. A Politician can’t run any other kind of business. So there is no reason why he can run the U.S. That’s the biggest single business in the World.” WA #5, January 14, 1923

“A Republican moves slowly. They are what we call conservatives. A conservative is a man who has plenty of money and doesn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t always have plenty of money. A Democrat is a fellow who never had any, but doesn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t have some.” WA 535, March 26, 1933

“Coolidge made less speeches and got more votes than any man that ever run. (William Jennings) Bryan was listened to and cheered by more people than any single human in politics, and he lost [3 times]. So there is a doubt just whether talking does you good or harm.” DT #673, Sept. 21, 1928

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died yesterday.  Discussion immediately turned to his replacement. Scalia believed in the Constitution the way it was written, refusing to consider rulings that would go against it. He figured the job of a Supreme Court Justice is to interpret the law, not rewrite it. If you want to change something in the Constitution, or add something new, then write an Amendment and get it passed.

Isn’t that what every Justice should believe?

Oil is around $30 a barrel, down from $100 a couple of years ago. Everybody who drives is saving money. However, the oil industry and states that depend on oil and gas production, including Oklahoma and North Dakota, are hurting. North Dakota has one-fourth the drilling rigs that it did two years ago. The governors of both states are struggling with a deficit of over a billion dollars.

When President Obama got the news that thousands of people have lost jobs, oil companies are going bankrupt, and several states are hurting, did he offer assistance? No, he wants to add a 33% tax on oil (actually $10 a barrel). Instead of offering the proceeds to the states that are hurting, he wants it to go to wind and solar companies. There’s nothing wrong with those two when the sun shines and the wind blows, but when it comes to fueling a Ford or Chevy, they can’t compete with oil, even when it’s $100 a barrel.

Is the Great Recession still with us? Is the economy starting to feel like 2008 all over again? The stock market is down, not as much as oil, but it has dropped more than 15 percent. The Chinese economy is stagnant. In Europe the Central Bank is charging banks (not paying interest) to hold money for them. Can you imagine asking someone for $10,000 and they tell you, “Great. In 12 months you’ve got to give me back $9800.” You know, if one of those big banks wants me to hang on to $10,000,000 for a year, I’m pretty sure I can give ‘em back $9,800,000.

The Presidential campaign has moved into South Carolina. Bernie Sanders, in order to get the African-American vote in the southern states, put out a TV ad showing him in 1963 at a civil rights protest, getting arrested by the Chicago police. Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton is arranging to have a video shot when she gets arrested by the FBI.

Secretary Clinton is frustrated that so many young people, especially young women, support a Socialist instead of her. I agree with her. Have they been taught nothing about Communist Russia, Cuba and Venezuela?

Will Rogers traveled across Russia (USSR). From Moscow he wrote, “You have heard of equality of the sexes in Russia. That’s not so. The women are doing all the work.” (DT #2516, Aug. 28, 1934)  Years earlier he wrote, “Communism is like Prohibition. It’s a good idea but it won’t work.”  (WA #254, Nov. 6, 1927)  He also wrote, “The idea was that the fellow managing the bank was to get no more than the man that swept it out. Well, that talked well to a crowd, but (Russia’s) got no more of that than we do.” (Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 6, 1926)

If you’re thinking of vacationing in Iowa, this week might be a good time to go. The state will be practically empty. All the Presidential candidates, their volunteers, pollsters and news hounds will abandon Iowa and invade New Hampshire. Farmers who have stayed around to vote in a caucus will sell enough corn to go to California for a week or two.

You may not read this until after Iowa votes, so I’m not going out on a limb with wild predictions. Trump, Cruz and Rubio seem to be a lock to make it to the next round. A couple of governors, Christy and Kasich, have taken up residence in New Hampshire and will welcome their fellow Republican survivors.

Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton will continue their tight race in New Hampshire. I will go out on a limb concerning Clinton. Her future depends on the vote of one person, and only one: the FBI Director. She still says the thousand emails from her server that were determined to be classified top secret were not marked top secret. This includes the 22 that were “over-the-top secret.” She was Secretary of State but had no clue the information might create risks to national security if Russia or China or Iran read them.

A former Attorney General of the United States was asked for his assessment of someone who could not tell the difference between routine emails and ones like the 22 that demand ultimate secrecy. He said, “Only a low grade moron would not know the difference.”

If the FBI knocks Hillary Clinton out of the race, don’t bet on Senator Sanders getting the nomination. The Democrats will open the door to other candidates including Vice-President Joe Biden, Gov. Jerry Brown of California, and maybe even Mrs. Obama.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

          “I guess the truth can hurt you worse in an election than about anything that could happen to you.” WA #470, Dec. 27, 1931

This campaign for President is giving us quite an education. Not about the candidates, but rather the inner workings of government and politics. For example, if you’re born in another country to American parents you might not be allowed to run for President. And a surprising number of Democrats don’t know the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist.

The biggest surprise is that “Top Secret” is not really the top secret; there’s another whole level above “Top,” and it’s called Special Access Program (SAP).  These SAP messages are so secret that you pretty much have to be the President or Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State to ever lay eyes on one of ‘em.

But that changed in 2009 when Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State. For the next four years those SAP and (previously) Top Secret classified messages were available to hackers in Russia, China, and probably a few Junior High computer whiz students.

Of course, Secretary Clinton says none of her emails were marked as classified or top secret or SAP. I believe her. And that makes the problem even worse for her and the country.

So here’s one more thing we’ve learned during this campaign: there ought to be a standard test for candidates for President, or Cabinet positions. Ask ‘em 100 questions to see how much they know about economics, foreign policy, energy, food production, and most important, top secret classified information. Here are 3 suggested questions:

1. If you as President wanted to discuss a report by a named CIA agent in the Middle East with the Sec of State, would you suggest: a. face to face meeting; b. secure telephone call; c. email message on gmail; or d. posting on Facebook?

2. As President, how would you communicate with the Defense Secretary on including Saudi Arabia leaders in a plan to attack ISIS: (same four choices)?

3.  Someone gives a kitten to you at the White House, how would you ask for suggested names for the new White House cat: (same choices)?

Ok, other than that third question any answer other than a or b is disqualifying. Adios. Goodbye.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

          “The more people study about you, nowadays, the less they think of you.” WA #25, June 3, 1923

“There is two places where what a person says should not be held against ‘em in a court of law. One is at a dinner, and the other is on the witness stand of a Washington investigation.” DT #2405 April 18, 1934

In the last week, we heard President Obama give his State of the Union speech, followed by both parties holding presidential debates.

The State of the Union speech was less a state of the union as it is today, and more of what Obama would like it to be in 20 or 30 years.

The 10 Republicans in their debates (yes, there are still TEN candidates) talked about what they would do to change the state of the union without waiting 20 years. Defeating radical Islamic terrorists, including ISIS and al-Qaida, canceling Obama’s “non-constitutional” Executive actions, and “putting America back to work” seemed to be important to all of them. There were minor scuffles between Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, with a few jabs thrown by Christy. But they all agreed that any of the ten would be better than any Democrat.

Three Democrats debated, although Gov. O’Malley seldom got a word in edgewise. Senator Sanders wants universal health care, free college tuition, and higher wages. At the same time he wants to break up anything that is big and/or rich, especially banks, Wall Street firms, drug companies, oil companies, and gun manufacturers. Ironically the individuals and companies he expects to pay for all the free stuff are mainly the same ones he wants to break up. Secretary Clinton made it clear she is running as a continuation of the Obama administration, and therefore all the Democrats that voted for him should now vote for her.

Iran jumped into the news. They televised the capture of 10 U.S. Navy sailors and the apology of the boat captain. After 13 hours Iran released them. Next they released 5 hostages they had imprisoned for several years. You might wonder, what did Iran get in return? Well, we released 7 convicted Iranian terrorists, and then let Iran have $150 Billion that was being held to keep them from developing a nuclear bomb. We may have even given them an extra half a billion for each of the 5 Americans released. It’s great to have them home, but the price is pretty steep.

The National Football League playoff is down to 4 teams, Denver vs. New England and Arizona vs. Carolina. These are the 4 best teams in the NFL which means that the winner of Super Bowl 50 can truly claim to be the best NFL team.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“There is one thing you can bet on this year. No voter is going to do anything that a politician thinks he will do. The way most people feel, they would like to vote against all of ‘em, if it was possible.”  DT #1797, Apr.27, 1932

“Politics is the best show in America. I love animals, and I love politicians, and I like to watch both of ‘em at play, either back in their native state, or after they’ve been captured and sent to a zoo, or to Washington.” Notes (undated)

President Obama is back in the White House from two weeks in his home state of Hawaii. While there he had time to ponder the most important issues facing the country in his last year as president: stagnant wages, stagnant stock market, high unemployment rate for minorities, higher costs of health care, soaring national debt, Islamic terrorism in America, Russian aggression, Chinese cyber-attacks, Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, and the sad state of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Well, after all that pondering he announced that the biggest issue is… gun control. Yes, gun control. He is meeting with his Attorney General immediately to figure out how to reduce the number of guns owned by law abiding citizens. He won’t present it that way, but criminals and terrorists pay no more attention to laws than bootleggers did during Prohibition.

Meanwhile, the economy appears headed for another lackadaisical year. Unemployment is down to five percent (that’s great), but we have more people working part time and more people not working at all than ever (that’s not great). Since the ones working in the private sector have to support everybody else that’s a heavy burden.

The higher costs for Obamacare are crimping plans for business expansion. The lower prices for crude oil and natural gas are a huge benefit, unless you’re in the oil and gas business. Food prices are stable but income for the farmer is way down. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, but the interest old folks earn on savings accounts is unchanged. The EPA continues to expand control over farmland despite opposition in Congress.

In the 2016 Presidential race the Republicans still have about a dozen candidates and the Democrats have three. As expected Hillary Clinton is leading the Democrat race while most “experts” are shocked that Donald Trump is leading the Republican race. Both races could change in the next couple of months depending on early primary and caucus results for the Republicans and on possible FBI indictments for the Democrats. Even the current conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia could play a role.

It promises to be an exciting year in politics even if it’s a dreadful year for the Lakers.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Well, New Year is here… I bet there is not a single person that knows any more about what (this year) has in store for us than a billy goat. Ten million people have gone without work for three years just listening to ‘big men’ solve their problems.” DT #2000, Jan. 1, 1933

        “We’ll show the world we are prosperous if we have to go broke to do it.” DT #413, Nov. 18, 1927

You have heard President Obama and other folks talking about the Climate Change agreement reached in Paris.

But did you know that farmland is part of the solution? One reason our soil can help solve the problem is because farming has helped cause the problem in the past.

Before I get too deep in the dirt, you may be wondering, what is the connection between carbon dioxide in the air and farmland? We know that climate scientists say that carbon dioxide in the air is increasing. And it is reaching worrisome levels which cause global temperatures to increase. And those higher average temperatures cause polar ice and glaciers to melt and the oceans to rise.

Well, the carbon in the air is the same carbon that is in our soil. Or used to be in our soil. The carbon in soil is organic matter, sometimes called humus. Before our ancestors figured out how to grow crops by tilling the ground, the native prairie and forest land contained a fair amount of organic carbon. In Iowa or Illinois, for example, the deep, black ground probably included at least 5 percent carbon among the soil particles. Now, because the land has been plowed for more than 150 years the soil has only about half as much carbon.

The good news is that if farmers stop plowing, and instead use practices that add organic matter to the soil, mainly no-till farming with cover crops and chemical herbicides to control weeds, then the world’s farmland becomes part of the solution. The added carbon comes from the roots of corn, wheat, soybeans and other crops, plus the roots of plants grown in the off-season, such as clover, ryegrass and sunflowers. By not plowing the ground, the carbon stays in the soil, adding carbon year after year. Soil with more organic matter is healthier and produces better crops.

What about ranch land and cattle? Well, cattle do not contribute nearly as much to global warming as the vegetarians would have you believe. Most cattle spend at least three-fourths of their life eating grass, usually from land that is too steep, too dry or too poor to grow other food crops. They are only fed grain for 3 or 4 months before you get served steak on a plate or hamburger on a bun. And many ranchers will sell you beef raised only on grass, no grain at all. Another practice that helps store more carbon in the soil is rotational grazing because it lets the grass grow more roots.

A few modern day no-till grain farmers are grazing cattle on their cover crops, which ends up adding more organic matter to the soil.

Plants take carbon out of the air to grow and they give up oxygen. This is mighty convenient for us because we take oxygen out of the air and give up carbon dioxide. I don’t know much about “plant population” but in the last 150 years our human population has gone from about 1 billion up to 7 billion. Nobody ever mentions that the extra 6 billion of us walking around every day, spewing out carbon dioxide, might be a cause of rising temperatures.

Well, this is my feeble attempt to explain in a few minutes what a university professor could lecture on for a whole day.

Another bit of good news, according to our President, is that this agreement to end climate change will cause ISIS to cease terrorism and pledge to live in peace with the civilized world. Isn’t that what we’ve been told?

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“I am on a ranch of 600,000 acres, belonging to W. T. Waggoner, with 25,000 cattle… He is one cowman that was smart enough to solve the low prices of cattle and make ranches pay. Every cow has got her own oil well.” DT #1847, July 6, 1932
“When you ever have any doubt as to what might happen in these United States, go to the country and talk with (cattlemen) and you will come back reassured.” DT # 2430, May 17, 1934

In a Thanksgiving Day message, President Obama reminded us that 400 years after the Mayflower landed, we still have Pilgrims wanting to come to America. He implied we should welcome the pilgrims from Syria the same way the natives (“Indians”) welcomed the ones from England.

Well, our president could use an American history lesson, from the viewpoint of the Indians. Here is part of a Will Rogers radio broadcast in 1935, “As a race there has never been any comparison between the Pilgrim and an Indian.  Now I hope my Cherokee blood is not making me prejudiced.  I want to be broad minded, but I am sure that it was only the extreme generosity of the Indians that allowed the Pilgrims to land.  Suppose we reversed the case.  Do you reckon the Pilgrims would have ever let the Indians land?  Yeah, what a chance!  What a chance!  The Pilgrims wouldn’t even allow the Indians to live after the Indians went to the trouble of letting ’em land… One thing about a Pilgrim, he would pray.  I bet you’ve never in your life seen a picture of one of the old Pilgrims praying when he didn’t have a gun right by the side of him. That was to see that he got what he was praying for.”

Protests are breaking out all over. And it’s not always clear what folks are protesting. College students in Missouri, at Yale, and other institutions of higher learning are marching for free tuition and a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Must be because the liberal arts majors figure the only jobs available to them will be minimum wage. They also want a guarantee that no one on campus will call them names or say anything that might upset the feelings of a ten year old.

In Paris, where the police are working day and night to round up radical Islamic killers, protesters arrived in force to divert their attention. They seem to be protesting the global climate change conference, but are they for it or against it? There’s plenty of Republicans who would like to protest it, and we know which side they are on. I heard that 160 countries have a plan to fight global warming and at least 150 expect us to pay the bill.

President Obama says the global warming conference is a powerful rebuke to the ISIS terrorists because the world stands as one to build a better future for our children. Since ISIS was not invited, I doubt they are giving it much thought, other than to figure that if the world spends a trillion dollars on climate change, that leaves a trillion fewer dollars to be spent trying to destroy ISIS.

We heard this week that our military destroyed about 500 tanker trucks hauling ISIS oil, after Russia and France showed us how to do it. We could have done it months ago, but President Obama was concerned that setting fire to the ISIS oil trucks, ships, and oil wells would make global warming worse. That’s not a joke, he really believed it. Here we thought the theme of this administration was “leading from behind.” But it’s really “trailing from behind.”

The world is weeping with France, at least the civilized part of the world is. The uncivilized part is celebrating.

There seems to be some disagreement over who the perpetrators are in the attacks that killed over 130 and injured hundreds more in Paris. Most of us know who they are: Radical Islamic Terrorists.

President Obama and the three Democrat candidates for president admit they are terrorists but refuse to utter the word Islamic. They don’t want to risk upsetting the 99% of Muslims who are peaceful by pointing out that 100% of the radical terrorists are in fact Muslim. Now, I happen to be Methodist. If the terrorist attacks for the last twenty years had been carried out by radical Methodist terrorists I would not object to them being referred to as Methodist. In fact if they were Methodist, we would find out some way to identify them, round ‘em up, and kill ‘em. We might recruit some Baptist sharpshooters and Episcopalian trackers to help, and we sure wouldn’t sit around and watch ‘em wreak havoc on the world.

France has started bombing the headquarters of the radical Islamic terrorists in Syria and they hope NATO and Sunni countries will join them. Meanwhile, President Obama announced that the folks responsible for the “crime” in Paris should be prosecuted. Crime? No, it is war, according to the president of France. And President Obama ordered the release of five of the most dangerous prisoners from Gitmo by sending them to the United Arab Emirates. I suppose that is intended to appease ISIS.

By the time you read this, the situation may change. These murdering terrorists (and their friends) need to be wiped off the face of the Earth no matter where they are or what name they go by.

Last week, after a six year delay, President Obama signed the “Railroad Prosperity Act.”  It is also known as the “Warren Buffett Enrichment Plan” since Mr. Buffett owns the railroad that prospers most, the BNSF. The RPA-WBEP has been forced on us by radical environmentalists who don’t want us to get any oil from Canada, unless perhaps it comes across the border by rail, tanker truck or in 55-gallon barrels. These folks probably don’t know that while they have blocked the Keystone XL Pipeline there are 19 other pipelines, secretly buried years earlier, that bring contraband Canadian crude across our border daily.

On Saturday night CBS held another debate with the three Democrat candidates. Former Secretary of State Clinton announced confidently that the FBI will find nothing on her email server that will concern Democrat voters. She and the other two candidates agreed that high income folks should be taxed between 70 and 90 percent with the exact number depending on which one gets elected. They differ on how many refugees we should accept from Syria, but somewhere between 25,000 and 65,000. If you asked the average American, the answer would be zero.

Senator Bernie Sanders said the biggest threat is Climate Change. Yes, that’s what he said. France is more likely to be decimated by rising seawater than by radical (blank) terrorists.

The Republicans held another debate. The ten candidates in the prime time debate spent as much time debating the three moderators as they did debating each other. The candidates agreed on one thing: every one of them would be a better president than Hillary Clinton. Actually they agreed on another thing: Hillary would get the vote of all 3 CNBC moderators. That debate was on the same time as a World Series baseball game. As Will Rogers said in October 1928, “My idea of the height of conceit would be a political speaker that would go on the air when the World Series is on.” (DT #683)

The Republicans have another debate next week, on Fox Business Network. They are expecting better questions. The viewers are hoping for better answers, at least answers that can help separate the herd of candidates.

The three remaining Democrat candidates have another debate four days later on CBS. The most intriguing question is this: Will Sanders and O’Malley really take on Clinton, or will they take it easy on her?

None of these candidates has to be concerned about the World Series. The Kansas City Royals won tonight, beating the New York Mets 4 games to 1. They came from behind to win, which gives a glimmer of hope to most of the lagging candidates. It also shows that a New Yorker can be beat.

In Congress, the Republicans finally agreed on Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House. John Boehner shed a few tears as he handed over the gavel and headed home to Ohio. Ryan assured his family he will spend weekends at home playing with the kids… and hunting deer.

The economy continues to limp along, but it’s better here than about any other country you can name. Our big retailers are hoping folks finally decide to spend the money they have been saving with cheap gasoline. Up to now, these drivers have been paying old bills instead of taking on new credit.

You probably know about the tragedy a week ago in Stillwater, Oklahoma. At the homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University, a woman drove her car into the crowd, killing four and injuring dozens. This was Will Rogers’ favorite college, then known as Oklahoma A & M. On Feb. 5, 1931, Will spoke at the school. Here are comments he wrote about it in his newspaper columns. “(I spoke) at the best agricultural school in America, Oklahoma A and M. Their cattle win all the shows, and their (students) win all the judging contests. It’s not a raccoon coat college… I had a nephew graduate from there and he has turned out mighty good, and it’s a great school.”