Thanks for letting me take a week off. I attended the annual conference of the National Speakers Association, called “Influence,” in Austin, Texas. Then, I flew to Arizona to relax as guests of wonderful friends (former NSA members) in Cave Creek.
Will Rogers was a professional speaker and author. If the National Speakers Association had existed back then, he would have received all of the top awards currently presented to outstanding speakers who are role models. Will understood effective communication.
He wrote this compliment a week after FDR was inaugurated: “Mr. Roosevelt stepped to the microphone last night and knocked another home run. His message was not only a great comfort to the people, but it pointed to a lesson to all radio announcers and public speakers what to do with a big vocabulary: leave it at home in the dictionary. Some people spend a lifetime juggling with words, with not an idea in a carload.” DT #2061, March 13, 1933
(The first “Historic quote” below reflects Will’s views on comedy and humor in speaking and writing.)
I was hoping that Congress and the President would wrap up a few important issues while I was ignoring them. But they disappointed me, and probably you too, because nothing changed in two weeks. Iran is still shooting at ships while pretending to have a cease fire. Congress can’t agree that only US citizens should vote in US elections. And Democrat leaders can’t conjure up enough nerve to denounce “Communist-leaning” candidates and anti-Jew hatred in their Party.
Meanwhile, President Trump is learning why politicians like to run on an issue, but never solve it. After the problem is solved, voters move on to another troubling issue, forgetting to give thanks for the one solved. You can probably name a few examples over the years. The current one is illegal immigration. Trump “solved” it, and now the voters have jumped to a “newer” issue, the cost of gasoline, electricity, and food. That one is harder to solve.
You may have heard that Dr. Fauci appeared at a Senate hearing. I say “appeared” because he refused to testify. He used the Fifth Amendment over 100 times in responding to questions from Republican Senators. His repetition reminded me of the old commercial, “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” He could have used a Memorex cassette tape, on continuous loop.
Dr. Fauci has many supporters. They credit him for making bold recommendations that saved millions of lives. Of course, his detractors blame him for shutting down the country, closing schools, destroying businesses, and separating families from terminally ill relatives. He claimed that vaccinations were essential to save lives and would assure you would not get Covid.
My questions relate to Dr. Fauci’s actions before we ever heard of him, or Wuhan, China. If Dr. Fauci believed that “gain-of-function” was important to create an extremely dangerous virus, why would he ever send millions of tax dollars to fund that research in a Chinese Communist location? Shouldn’t we do that here where we have reasonable controls? Did he believe the Chinese scientists were 100% loyal to the US?
Then after Covid “escaped” and one or more Chinese workers at Wuhan got sick and died, why did Dr. Fauci keep insisting that Covid had no connection to the Wuhan Lab research that he funded?
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“I am not going to tell you any jokes today, as jokes are not good for you to read every Sunday. You will have to look to the Washington (news stories) from Congress for your Humor this week. A comedian is not supposed to be serious nor to know much. As long as he is silly enough to get laughs, why, people let it go at that. But I claim you have to have a serious streak in you or you can’t see the funny side in the other fellow.” WA #13, March 11, 1923
“There is quite a big communistic hold in certain parts of China. The influence is growing rapidly.” WA #520, Dec. 11, 1932