90-Second Food Review: An Excellent Hospital Breakfast for a Cardiac Patient (A Day Without Grits Is Like a Day Without Sunshine)

I underwent a catheterization procedure at a Baton Rouge hospital this morning. By the time the procedure was over, I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours, and I was hungry.

"Would I like some breakfast and a cup of coffee?" a nurse asked.

"Yes, I would," I replied, silently wondering what a cardiac patient gets for his hospital breakfast. Low-fat cottage cheese and a carrot stick?

Soon, the nurse returned with a Styrofoam tray and a cup of strong, black coffee. I knew from the first sip that I was drinking Community coffee, the only coffee people in South Louisiana drink. Indeed, the F word in Louisiana is not F---; it's Folger's.

My Styrofoam tray was separated into three compartments. One compartment held a single link sausage. The second compartment contained hot scrambled eggs. The third and largest compartment was filled with grits, a food I came to love after moving to Louisiana more than 30 years ago.

How about condiments? I examined a Styrofoam bowl containing packets of butter, salt, pepper, and grape jelly for my toast. I was disappointed not to find a little bottle of Tabasco sauce, but my condiment bowl contained the next best thing: a packet of Cajun seasoning, which I sprinkled on my eggs and grits.

All in all, I had a great hospital breakfast, and I was grateful that the hospital dietitian had approved me for a hearty helping of grits. 

My hospital care team included seven or eight young, energetic, and efficient people. Thank God, I thought to myself, that the folks bustling around me had chosen a medical career instead of majoring in gender studies or sociology.

Millions of Americans lack skills or training for a worthwhile vocation.  Seven million working-age men are unemployed and aren't even looking for work. Millions of others are pursuing college degrees in fields that don’t lead to a well-paying job. 

Every day, I meet workers in the service industry who are lethargic, sullen, and resentful because they work in menial jobs they don't want to do. I wonder how many hold bachelor's degrees in fashion design or art history.

Americans should be grateful to everyone who has chosen to pursue a healthcare career. I am constantly astonished by how cheerful and competent most of these people are.

At this stage of my life, I'm convinced that universities should close their liberal arts and humanities programs and focus solely on training young people for useful and meaningful jobs. In the future, America will need marine biologists, environmental engineers, and medical technicians. I don’t think we will need many people with degrees in philosophy, anthropology, sociology, or diversity studies.

If the U.S. Department survives the Trump administration's commitment to shut it down, I hope it will stop issuing student loans for worthless college degrees in liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences. Too often, borrowing money to get an education in these fields doesn't lead to a good job and leaves graduates with mountains of debt--debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. 

Image credit: Jake West

Colleges peddling expensive liberal arts degrees are engaging in fraud

My professors defined sociology as the painful elaboration of the obvious and psychology [as] the painstaking study of human behavior by people who need to be studied.

Dan E. Dunlap

As Mike Rowe pointed out recently, "Nothing has gotten more expensive in the last 40 years than a 4-year degree. Not real estate, not healthcare, not energy, nothing.” Indeed, it now costs around $90,000 a year to attend a private college.

And it is not just the exclusive schools that charge nose-bleed prices.  Columbia University costs $93,000 a year, including tuition, housing, and books. Landmark College, a tiny, obscure Vermont school, is almost as expensive. The total cost of attending Landmark for one year is $86,000. 

Is a college degree worth a quarter of a million dollars? No, of course not. And though a case can be made that an undergraduate degree in accounting or business will eventually pay off, no one can defend the insane cost of obtaining a liberal arts degree at a private school.

Columbia, for example, a university riddled with anti-Semitic racism, offers degrees in sociology, gender studies, and Yiddish studies. What kind of job will a Columbia grad be qualified to fill with a degree in those fields?

Colleges across America fund degree programs in the humanities, liberal arts, and social sciences that don't give graduates useful job skills. Why aren't these programs closed down?

Two reasons. First, universities continue to offer degrees in these fields because they have tenured professors who staff liberal arts departments who are very difficult to fire. 

Second, hundreds of private colleges define themselves as liberal arts colleges. It would be tough for these schools to justify their existence if they scrapped their liberal arts majors.

In my view, colleges that charge outrageous tuition prices that force students to take out loans to obtain low-value degrees are engaging in fraud.  College students are beginning to figure that out, and that's why enrollment in liberal arts programs is declining.

"Deserve Ain't Got Nothing To Do With It": The Dems Refuse To Be Realistic About the Ukraine War

 President Trump is trying to end the Ukraine War. Earlier this week, Vice President J.D. Vance proposed that the fighting stop with Russia keeping the ground it's gained and Ukraine pledging not to join NATO.

Obviously, President Trump's hand is strengthened if the mainstream media and the nation's political leaders are united behind him. Unfortunately, Trump's detractors don't like the Vance peace proposal. German Lopez, writing for the New York Times, implied that Trump favored Russia over Ukraine: 

Russia invaded Ukraine, but you wouldn’t know that from the peace negotiations. At every step, President Trump has pushed the victim to give ground, while the aggressor has given little of substance.

Prominent Democrats have also criticized Trump for not being more supportive of Ukraine and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Last month, Senators Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Chris Murphy denounced President Trump and Vice President Vance on television talk shows for supposedly ganging up on Zelensky when he visited the White House.  As reported by the World Socialist website, all three "backed the Democratic Party’s pro-war line, calling for stepped-up military aid to Ukraine and intensive efforts to defeat the Russian forces . . . ."

Zelensky insists there can be no peace until Russia withdraws from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.  He surely takes solace from the Democrats' opposition to Trump's peace initiative, which gives him some cover for stubbornly resisting a reasonable end to the war.

Zelensky and the Democrats argue that prolonged warfare is justified because Ukraine is the innocent victim of Russian aggression. But of course, Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't see things that way. 

From Putin's perspective, the United States meddled in Ukrainian politics in 2014, when the CIA engineered the overthrow of a popularly elected, pro-Russian Ukrainian president. Russia, reasonably alarmed, invaded Crimea, where it had a significant military presence, and annexed it to the Russian motherland.

Zelensky and the Democrats believe Ukraine deserves better than Trump and Vance's proposed peace deal. But, to quote Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven, "Deserve ain't got nothing to do with it."

The Ukrainians can fight on indefinitely so long as the U.S. provides them with financial assistance and copious military aid. But the casualties will be enormous, and Ukrainian cities will lie in ruins.

Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. will all be better off if the Ukraine war is brought to an end. Unfortunately, Zelensky and his Democratic Party allies have selfish motivations for opposing a reasonable peace deal.

 

Zelensky must agree to abandon claims to Crimea, or the Ukraine war will end badly

 As reported in the New York Times, Vice President J.D. Vance proposed an end to the Ukraine war on these terms: Russia will keep the Ukrainian territory it now holds, including Crimea, and Ukraine will abandon its efforts to join NATO.

Vance's proposal is reasonable. Indeed, all parties must agree to a settlement somewhat under these terms, or the war will drag on indefinitely and thousands more Russians and Ukrainians will die.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Ukraine will never agree to allow Crimea to return to Russia, arguing that his nation's constitution forbids it. This is nonsense.

Crimea has been part of Russia since the 18th century, and Russia continued to have a military presence there even after Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. Eleven years ago, Russia annexed Crimea, and the Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia.

Russia will never give Crimea back to Ukraine, and everyone knows that. Zelensky's refusal to consider the issue means he is willing for the Ukraine war to go on indefinitely, with the U.S. footing the bill.

The world is well aware that Ukraine suffered mightily under Russian rule. The Holodomor and Stalin's terror campaign are still in Ukraine's national memory. Nevertheless, Russia's claims on Crimea and the largely Russian-speaking regions of the Donbas are reasonable.

The fighting will either end this year or escalate. If Zelensky refuses to bargain in good faith, I believe the U.S. should wash its hands of the Zelensky regime and end all military support.

Now is the time for the Democrats to pause their hysterical criticism of the Trump administration and show their support for President Trump's peace efforts. 

Democrats will have plenty of time to call Trump a Nazi, a criminal, and a rapist after the Ukraine war is concluded. Until that fighting stops, the Democrats need to behave like grown-ups and support Trump's peace efforts.

90-second Movie Review: "The Last Stop in Yuma County" is a Cautionary Tale for Handgun Owners

 The Last Stop in Yuma County is a sleeper. The film was made on a pauper's budget of only $1 million, and has no big-name stars. Almost the entire movie takes place in a rundown Arizona diner, which gives it the feel of a stage play. Although Last Stop won some regional film-festival awards, it was not nominated for a single Oscar.

Now the film is streaming on Paramount+ and other platforms to strong reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 97 percent rating on its Tomatometer. Matt Zoller Seitz, a reviewer on rogerebert.com, gave Last Stop a three-star rating.

I won't summarize the plot, which is so simple that I would give the whole story away if I attempted a summary. Suffice it to say that the movie features a lot of people carrying handguns, which they use to disastrous consequences.

States have liberalized their handgun laws in recent years. According to the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), 46 states allow adults to openly carry handguns,  including 31 states that don't require a permit. In Mississippi, where I live, an adult can openly carry a gun or wear it concealed without a license or training of any kind.

Fortunately, few citizens exercise their right to openly carry a pistol. Over the last two years, I've only seen three people carrying a holstered handgun, including one guy openly carrying a .380 autoloader at Sunday mass. 

Carrying a handgun is a bad idea, which The Last Stop in Yuma County repeatedly demonstrates. Some folks fantasize about pulling a 9 mm pistol to stop a mugger or save innocent bystanders from a crazed mass killer. Indeed, USCCA reports that armed civilians have saved 220,000 lives.

However, I'm skeptical. Although heroic outcomes occur from time to time, I believe an untrained civilian with a gun is more likely to shoot an innocent bystander than a villain. And I've read several news stories about people who killed an armed attacker and found themselves charged with murder or reckless homicide.

If you think carrying a handgun in public is a good idea, watch The Last Stop in Yuma County. I think you'll change your mind.

Image caption: United States Open Carry Association

90-second Music Review: My Top Ten List of Songs about Texas

 Texas Monthly recently did a tremendous public service when it published a list of 71 songs titled "Texas, " ranking them from worst to best. I consider myself an authority on Texas music, yet I was astonished by the number of songs on the list, most released in the last 25 years.

In this same civic spirit, I am listing the best ten songs about Texas. If you are a recent immigrant to the Lone Star State, I urge you to memorize these songs because they will be on the test when you die and seek admittance to Texas Heaven.

1. "Waltz Across Texas," sung by Ernest Tubb, is undoubtedly the Texans' favorite song. When I hear it, I always envision a cowboy and his sweetheart dancing from Beaumont to El Paso, only stopping at Buc-ee's occasionally, where they can always count on a clean bathroom.

2. My second favorite song is "The Eyes of Texas," the University of Texas school song. The lyrics are simple but stirring. 

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn --
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
Til Gabriel blows his horn.

3. "Deep in the Heart of Texas" is another excellent song--a patriotic paean to America's largest state, if you don't count Alaska, which Texans don't count.

Texas Monthly considers "Deep in the Heart of Texas" the State's unofficial state anthem, and I agree. There are at least three films with the same title. The 1996 movie, a whimsical look at Texas culture, is my favorite.

Hint: You're supposed to clap your hands three times before you sing the words "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

4. "That's Right, You're Not From Texas," Lyle Lovett's musical assurance that everyone is welcome, is a good tune to play when your Yankee relatives visit. The song contains a handy sartorial guide. Remember to wear your cowboy hat squarely on your head and not tilted. And be sure your jeans are long enough to cover the shaft of your boots.

5. "Texas Trilogy," Steve Fromholtz's ode to the gritty West  Texans, is a profoundly moving song and should be played every time you cross the Brazos River going west.

If the Brazos don't run dry
And the newborn calves, they don't die,
Another year from Mary will have flown.

6. "All My Exes Live In Texas" contains the only acceptable reason for a native son to leave the Lone Star State. If your ex-wives live in Texas, moving to Tennessee is permissible.

7. "Miles and Miles of Texas," sung ably by Asleep at the Wheel, tells you what you will see when you look into your True Love's big blue eyes: Miles and miles of Texas, of course.

8. "Ballad of the Alamo," written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Webster and sung by Marty Robbins, is a blood-rousing song about the siege of the Alamo. If you listen to this song when you are twelve years old, as I did, the song becomes embedded in your DNA, and you will never be able to think of the Alamo without weeping. 

 9. "There's a Little Bit of Everything in Texas," sung by Ernest Tubb, Hank Thompson, Willie Nelson, and others, is the most jingoistic Texas song ever written, and that's saying something. But really, why travel when Texas has mountains, beaches, and verdant forests? Admittedly, you can't ski in Texas, but that's why God made New Mexico--to give Texans a place to ski.

10. "Texas, Our Texas," is the official State song, and the state's equivalent to Great Britain's "God Save the Queen."

Texas, our Texas! All hail the mighty State!
Texas, our Texas! So wonderful, so great!
Boldest and grandest, Withstanding ev'ry test;
O Empire wide and glorious, You stand supremely blest.

I know what you're thinking. How could I have skipped over "San Antonio Rose"? That song is about a city in Texas, not the state as a whole. That's a separate list, which I'm still working on.

Three Canaries in the Coal Mine of the American Economy. That's Two Canaries Too Many

 One day after the Easter holiday, the stock market is swooning. Is this the big sell-off--the start of a long decline, maybe this century's Great Depression?

Who knows? The market may rally tomorrow. If so, what will that mean--long-term stability in the equity markets or a dead cat bounce?

I see three gasping canaries in the coal mine of the American economy:

First, prices are falling in the Florida housing market as Floridians struggle with relatively high mortgage rates and the ballooning cost of property insurance. 

Florida real estate has long been the leading indicator for the American housing market.  Trouble in the Sunshine State may portend trouble nationwide.

Second, the yield on 10-year treasuries is rising due partly to investors' concerns about tariffs and President Trump's public criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. If rates keep heading north, it will eventually mean higher mortgage and corporate borrowing rates.

Third, investors' interest in private equity funds is souring, and fund managers are having trouble selling assets to meet payment obligations to their clients. These funds own a lot of businesses and real estate. It will mean trouble for the broader economy if the equity funds run into trouble.

These three canaries are related because tariff concerns and interest rates affect them all. The feds could be relied on in past financial crises to sweep in and bail out the big players. This time may be different.

The federal government is running an annual budget deficit of $2 trillion, which isn't sustainable even in the short term if interest rates rise significantly.  Remember that this year's budget deficit adds to the nation's accumulated national debt of $36 trillion.

Some Americans are doing fine and still buying luxury cars and high-end real estate. Others are obsessed with the deportation of one guy from El Salvador and indifferent to storms on the nation's financial horizon.

Overall, Americans have adopted the philosophy of the Beach Boys: We'll have fun, fun, fun 'til Daddy takes the T-bird away. 

By the way, who is Daddy? Some people think Daddy is Donald Trump. But they're wrong, Daddy is the Chinese.

When did the Beach Boys become our financial advisor?

Pope Francis is dead. God help the Catholic Church if the cardinals elect a pope who is harsh toward divorced Catholics

 Pope Francis, the man who shocked the world with his sympathetic comment about the gay community and his humility, is dead. A new pope will be elected soon. If you've seen Conclave, you know how that works.

Most Americans are aware of Francis's saintly modesty, but they don't know that Pope Francis tried to reunite the Catholic Church with divorced Catholics. 

In Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), Francis's lengthy Apostolic Exhortation, Pope Francis wrote that divorced and remarried Catholics "need to be fully integrated into Christian communities in the variety of ways possible, while avoiding any occasion of scandal." 

Indeed, Pope Francis emphasized:

Such persons need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church and experience her as a mother who welcomes them always, who takes care of them with affection and encourages them along the path of life and the Gospel. This integration is also needed in the care and Christian upbringing of their children, who ought to be considered most important.

Pope Francis recognized that divorced Catholics "have entered into a new union" that "should not be pigeonholeed or fit into an overly rigid classification leaving no room for suitable personal and pastoral discernment." Nor should the Church see itself as a "tollhouse," but as "the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems."

Some Catholic priests have embraced Francis's call for compassion and inclusion toward divorced Catholics, allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments. However, others have forced these individuals to undergo a rigorous annulment process that hearkens back to the spirit of the Inquisition. This haughty and judgmental attitude has alienated millions of Catholics and driven them out of the Church.

The cardinals will almost certainly elect a new pope who will be kindred in spirit to Pope Francis and the good Pope John XXIII.  Let us all pray that the next pope has the compassion and courage of these two saintly predecessors and will bestow the mercy of Christ on divorced Catholics and welcome them to partake of the sacraments. 

 

Photo credit: Children of the Inquisition

 

90-second Movie Review: Warrior is the Ultimate Fight Movie

 Fight movies are an enduring cinematic subgenre. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Anthony Quinn),  Raging Bull (Robert De Niro), the Rocky series (Sylvester Stallone), Cinderella Man (Russell Crowe), and Fight Club (Edward Norton and Brad Pitt) are the standouts. But let's not forget The Quiet Man (John Wayne) and From Here to Eternity (Montgomery Clift), in which boxing is the powerful subtheme.

These are all great movies, full of pain and heartbreak, but they are little more than animated Disney flicks compared to Warrior, Gavin O'Connor's ultimate fight movie, released in 2011.

 Nick Nolte plays Paddy, a ravaged and lonely old man who lost his wife and two sons due to his alcoholism and abuse. Joel Edgerton plays Brendan, Paddy's older adult son.  Brendan tries to build a sane life as a school teacher with a wife and two children, and wants nothing to do with his father. Tom Hardy plays Tommy, Paddy's younger son, hopelessly alienated from both his dad and older brother. We learn that Tommy and his mother escaped from Dad and fled to the West Coast when Tommy was a youngster. Mom died in degraded poverty, and Tommy joined the Marines.

Both of Paddy's sons are deeply traumatized by their childhoods and utterly estranged from their father. Filled with existential anguish and seething anger toward Paddy, the sons collide in a shockingly violent mixed martial arts tournament. 

Nolte, Edgerton, and Hardy all deliver outstanding performances, as does Jennifer Morrison, who plays Brendan's devoted wife. It is Hardy, however, who stands out. His face exquisitely conveys Tommy's rage, pent-up violence, and psychic pain.

Warrior may be Tom Hardy's greatest movie performance, and that's saying something. His character conveys a message we should all take to heart, which is this: People who survive abusive childhoods carry scars that never completely heal.

Pain

 

"Yes, we can read. A few of us can even write. " Yankees should reconsider Mississippi as a good place to live

Mississippi has been the whipping boy of the liberal media for decades. When the states are ranked in terms of education, healthcare, or quality of life, Mississippi is often ranked near the bottom.

Moreover, white Mississipians are often caricatured as narrow-minded, uneducated, and racist. Hilary Clinton would probably say the people of our state are at the very bottom of her "basket of deplorables." And the media elites might well point to Mississippi as the state where all those "white Christian nationalists" are clustered.

I think the widespread prejudice against Mississippi is unfair. Mississippi has a rich literary and musical heritage, which is too often disregarded.  The state has produced several famous writers, including Eudora Welty,  Tennessee Williams, Richard Ford, and Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner. The state is the birthplace of the blues and boasts such famous musical artists as Elvis Presley. Tammy Wynette, Jimmy Buffett, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, and Faith Hill. 

Even in the field of education, where Mississippi is almost universally disparaged, the Magnolia State is doing pretty well. A California organization recently pointed out that Mississippi's NAEP reading scores were slightly better than California's, even though California's per-pupil expenditures are twice as high as Mississippi's.

Of course, every region of America has distinctive attractions, but Mississippi's are often overlooked. The state's cost of living and housing costs are below the national average. The climate is benign, and the Mississippi legislature recently passed a law phasing out the state income tax. 

As housing and property taxes increase in Florida, people have begun to discover the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a good place to retire. Bay Saint Louis, on the Gulf Coast, is attracting retirees. The town has a vibrant arts and restaurant scene--every bit as quaint and inviting as Cape Cod.

Further north, Oxford is a classic college community and a good retirement spot. Oxford is the home of the University of Mississippi, which Architectural Digest listed as having one of America's most beautiful college campuses.

As widely reported, people are leaving California and New York in droves, and many leavers are resettling in Texas and Florida. In the years to come, refugees from the northern Blue states will also be choosing other Southern states as good places to work, raise families, and retire.

Mississippi's day in the sun is just around the corner. Get here early and avoid the rush.

In the Age of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, The Center Cannot Hold

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold ...

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

William Butler Yeats (1919)

"The Second Coming," Yeats's famous apocalyptic poem, has been cited in every era since he wrote it more than a hundred years ago. Now, however, things are really falling apart.

As reported in Barron's, our federal government's budget deficit is $1.3 trillion, driven higher by rising interest costs on our national debt--now more than $36 trillion. Interest rates on U.S. bonds are creeping higher, as foreign investors grow wary about financing America's spending spree.

Politically, the center cannot hold, or as Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett might phrase Yeats's observation, "The fuckin' center cannot fuckin' hold."

Progressive Democrats, full of "passionate intensity," are behaving like lunatics. Senator Cory Booker, the Sparticus of the U.S. Senate, has accomplished very little over his political career. Earlier this month, however, he broke the record for the longest Senate filibuster speech, achieving absolutely nothing other than demonstrating the strength of his bladder.

Democrats displayed more "passionate intensity" at a rally in Washington last February, organized to protest Elon Musk's cost-cutting activities. Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley called Musk a "Nazi nepo baby," and Congresswoman LaMonica McIver of New Jersey called for shutting down the U.S. Senate. "We are at war," McIver cried out. Congresswomen Maxine Waters and Jasmine Crockett were present as well, spewing profanity.

Our nation has lost all semblance of an orderly two-party political system. Progressive Democrats see themselves as guerrilla fighters, indulging in violent rhetoric and launching a blizzard of lawsuits in friendly federal courts. Critics view this malicious litigation as lawfare; indeed, it is a quasi-military form of sabotage against the nation's justice system. And many federal judges are complicit.

Will things calm down? Will our political process revert to a culture of civility and decorum? Will the nation get its fiscal house in order?

I don't think so. Unless our government addresses its fiscal crisis very soon, interest rates will rise precipitously, the housing market will collapse, and inflation will accelerate the destruction of the middle class. All that will happen shortly.

Is America slouching toward Bethlehem as Yeats envisioned? No, but we're definitely slouching somewhere, and the place we are slouching toward is dark and scary.

The center cannot hold.

Poison Ivy is God's Message to be More Careful

 I live off a gravel road in the floodplain of the Mississippi River. No levee protects my side of the river in southwest Mississippi, and floodwater inundates my property every spring with melted snow and rainwater from up north. 

When the Mississippi River is at flood stage in Cairo, Illinois, my neighbors tell me, my four-acre yard will be flooded ten days later. So far, my neighbors have been right.

However, my patch of earth was dry last February, and I decided to build a fire in the fireplace to ward off a slight chill rising from Lake Mary. I selected sticks and twigs from the kindling basket on the hearth and constructed a small pyramid of dry wood that became the foundation for a crackling fire of oak and pecan logs.

All went well, and my living room was soon suffused with a warm glow and the pleasant aroma of woodsmoke. Ah, the country life!

Unfortunately, my kindling basket contained a chunk of poison ivy. When I acquired my little corner of southern Mississippi two years ago, many of the trees on my property were strangled by poison ivy vines.  These vines can grow 15 feet high in the alluvial soil and are as thick as my wrist.

I severed these monstrous vines from their roots with my mini chainsaw, and all the poison ivy died. Problem solved, I told myself, and watched the dead vines drop from my trees over the coming months.

On the ground, however, these dead vines look like tree branches. I carelessly sawed them up for kindling along with branches from the oak, hackberry, and pecan trees that populate my woodlot. Then I put these noxious vines in my kindling basket along with the other sticks and twigs.

As I built my fire one winter night, a poison ivy branch brushed my right leg. By the end of the evening, my leg looked like it had sustained a second-degree burn. And my leg itched maddeningly, causing me to involuntarily scratch so hard that I broke the skin, which drew blood and made the poison ivy burn worse.

That was February 1st. The next day, I visited Our Lady of the Lake urgent care center, where an able doctor gave me a steroid shot and prescriptions for an anti-itching pill and a medicated ointment.

My problems are over, I told myself as I drove home. Indeed, the itching subsided, and the medications allowed me to sleep. 

I was wrong. The blistering spread to my left leg, and two months later, my poison ivy burn has yet to completely heal.

God made the world, and I'm ever grateful for the beautiful Lake Mary sunsets and the flocks of waterbirds that gather in the sloughs along Lake Mary Road--the great blue herons, snowy egrets, ibises, and the fantastic pink roseate spoonbills. 

But did God go too far? Did he have to create alligators, moccasin snakes, and poison ivy? If so, why?

As my poison ivy burn gradually fades away, I've concluded that God made poison ivy to remind us to be careful as we make our way through this troubled world.

Evil is everywhere, and the most vicious evils don't come from God. They come from the hearts of men and women driven by the lust for fame, power, and money.

I'm provincial enough to believe that a lot of the evil that plagues America comes from Washington, DC, and the urban lairs of the coastal elites. I'm not so naive as to think I can escape this evil by dwelling on Lake Mary Road in rural Mississippi.

No, evil can reach me anywhere. Thus, God left me a message in the form of poison ivy to watch my step.

Gene Lyons, Esteemed Columnist, Calls It Quits Over Trump: My Flyover-Country Response

In an op-ed essay that appeared in my local newspaper yesterday, Gene Lyons wrote that he is retiring mainly due to Donald Trump, whom Lyons described as an "incompetent sociopath and career criminal."

Lyons believes President Trump "will bring the American experiment to ruin," and he doesn't want to spend any more of his life writing or thinking about the President.

Although I disagree, I'm not shocked by Mr. Lyons's views about Trump. I have several friends who have gone further in denigrating the President--calling him an insurrectionist, a rapist, and a fascist.  Merely calling the President a sociopath and a criminal is mild by comparison.

However, I take umbrage at Lyons' description of the people who voted Trump into office. He quotes Amanda Arcotte, another columnist, who describes "median [American]voters," by which she means Trump voters, as having "a pathological aversion to reality" and an addiction to "BS".

Basically, Lyons is criticizing the millions of voters in the Heartland who cast their ballots for Trump last November. Whom does Lyons think they should have voted for?

Should they have embraced the presidential candidate that the Democratic Party hacks endorsed, the same hacks who pushed Joe Biden over the finish line in 2016, a brain-dead, geriatric grifter? Should the good-natured and practical people of Flyover Country have voted for Kamala Harris, an incoherent sluggard?

Lyons needs to understand that the people of Flyover Country no longer listen to the moribund legacy media about politics.  The media elites aren't respected, they're not trusted, and they're not believed.

So, Gene, you picked a good time to retire. I hope you take some of your buddies with you--all the self-righteous and arrogant blowhards who work at CNN, MSNBC, The View, WaPo, and The New York Times. Their time in the sun is over, and Americans are looking elsewhere for journalistic integrity.

Does Gene Lyons have Trump Derangement Syndrome?

Towing Our Lifeless Kubota to High Ground as the Mississippi Floods for the Second Time This Spring

Millions of Americans are worried about the stock market, which tanked last week. People saw their retirement accounts shrink dramatically, which is scary.

However, no one is thinking about the stock market on Lake Mary Road this week. Instead, our minds are focused on a more immediate threat. The Mississippi River is flooding for the second time this spring, and my neighbors are fleeing to high ground. 

Hour after hour, I watched guys in trucker hats driving pickup trucks by my home, towing trailers loaded with household cargo. Nobody wants to be trapped on low ground when the river overflows and covers Lake Mary Road, cutting off our only route to safety.

My family was one of the last to leave. Nevertheless, we knew we had a few hours before the mighty river overflowed into our yard--plenty of time to execute our escape plan.

At first, all went well. Charlie towed our party barge to the parking lot at the Lake Mary Store, where it would be safe. Then we loaded the four-wheeler and my beloved Toro lawnmower (a Time Cutter Max model) onto our utility trailer.

We still had room on the trailer for the Kubota all-terrain vehicle, but the damn thing wouldn't start. 

Leave it, I suggested. After all, its engine had suffered some mysterious breakdown several months ago and was just a pile of junk. If the river inundates it with filthy flood water, what's the harm? We can repurpose it as Mississippi yard art.

But I was overruled. This family doesn't abandon its wounded, someone sternly reminded me. Indeed, we were experiencing a Blackhawk Down moment and were honor-bound to extract our inert Kubota from the river's voracious maw.

Plan A. We hitched the four-wheeler's winch to the Kubota's front bumper and attempted to pull the dead beast onto the trailer. No go. The Kubota was too heavy for the winch and didn't move.

Plan B. Using the pickup truck, we towed the Kubota to the top of a brushpile in the yard, hoping to get it elevated enough to be above the waterline when the floodwater arrived.

Again, no go. The Kubota's weight flattened the brushpile, and our moribund recreational vehicle sank all the way back to ground level.

Plan C. We decided to tow the Kubota to Lake Mary Store, a four-mile journey. With some trepidation, I volunteered to steer the Kubota as it was being pulled behind the truck. 

Could I do it? After all, I'm partially incapacitated by a stroke and wasn't sure my left arm was strong enough to manage the steering wheel, which is very hard to turn when the engine isn't running.

We would soon know. Charlie pulled out on the gravel road in his truck, doing about 20 miles an hour, dragging me and the Kubota at the end of a tow rope.

By this time, night had descended, and I rolled along in the darkness, unable to see anything other than the tailights of the truck.

It was an exhilarating experience. The Kubota steered easily after it got moving, and I effortlessly maneuvered around the potholes. My vehicle glided through the darkness in perfect silence.

This, I thought to myself, must be what it feels like to drive a Tesla. When the engine's off, the Kubota is as quiet as an electric vehicle, and of course, it gets great mileage when it's being towed.

In a few moments, we arrived at the Lake Mary Store. We unhitched the tow rope and rolled the Kubota downhill until it nested safely next to our party barge.

Success! Once again, our family outfoxed the Mississippi River, and we celebrated with a few Bud Lights.

No one gets left behind.

First, it was Russia! Russia! Russia! Now, it's Social Security! Social Security! Social Security!

 Democrats have morphed from being the Party of Chaos to the Party of Chicken Little. For years, the Dems accused Donald Trump of colluding with Russia, in a desperate attempt to kill him politically.

That didn't work because Trump, rising like a phoenix, was elected President for a second term. So, Trump haters switched tactics. Like Chicken Little warning the barnyard that the sky is falling, they're hysterically accusing Trump of destroying Social Security.

This gambit may be working. Last week's anti-Trump rallies featured thousands of oldsters holding signs proclaiming "Hands Off Our Social Security."

It would indeed be a calamity if Social Security collapses. Four out of ten retirement-age Americans rely on Social Security as their sole source of income. If their monthly benefit checks stopped coming,  they'd be in the soup lines within a week. That's a scary thought.

Moreover, it is theoretically possible that Social Security will go belly up in 1935, when SS trust funds are depleted. That's another scary thought.

Why is Social Security on shaky ground financially? First, Americans live longer than they did when the program was introduced, so they're drawing benefits for longer periods. In 1940, the life expectancy of a 65-year-old was 14 years. Today, a 65-year-old can expect to live 20 more years.

 Secondly, the ratio of workers making Social Security contributions to the people receiving benefits has decreased dramatically from 16 to 1 in 1940 to 2.7 to 1 today.

According to the legacy media and leftist think-tank wonks, Trump's policies are further threatening Social Security benefits for millions of Americans. But that's not true.

On the contrary, Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is working hard to reduce the national budget deficit, which is expected to be $2 trillion this year. That's on top of the cumulative national debt, now topping $36 trillion. 

If the U.S. doesn't get government spending under control, myriad government services will be reduced or eliminated--not just Social Security.

It seems evident that eliminating waste, mismanagement, and fraud in the federal government is essential to balancing the nation's budget. Part of that effort must include trimming the number of federal employees, including nonessential Social Security Administration workers.

Sadly, that means the federal government will have less money for housing illegal aliens in 5-star hotels and less cash for promoting transgender sports.

Image credit: Portsmouth Herald

Matt Taibbi sues Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove for defamation: She should apologize pronto

Over the past several months, Congressional Democrats have descended into demogagery, profanity, and clownisness as a way of expressing their hatred and contempt for President Donald Trump and his political agenda.

Representative Al Green disrupted a joint session of Congress to wave a cane and rant against the President. The House of Representatives censured him for his behavior by a vote of 224 to 198.

Remarkably, only ten Democratic representatives joined in the censure. The rest all voted no, and a few sang "We Shall Overcome" in the House Chamber during the censureship proceedings.

More recently, Representative Jimmy Gomez degraded a congressional hearing by asking CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Homeland Security Director Tulsi Gabbard if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been drinking during a high-level security discussion.  This was a gratuitously offensive question that Ratcliffe initially refused to answer.

Green's behavior and Gomez's interrogatories were rude and unprofessional, but not actionable in a court of law.  They enjoy a legal privilige to behave like jackasses when acting in their official capacities.

However, a Congressperson who defames a member of the public through social media can be sued, as Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (SKD) found out this week. During a congressional hearing last Tuesday, Kamlager-Dove described Matt Taibbi, a nationally renowned journalist, as a serial sexual harasser. Specifically, she said this: "To distract from the dumpster fire this administration is pursuing,[the majority is] elevating a serial sexual harasser as their star witness." 

Kamlager-Dove went further by introducing materials into the Congressional Record that implied Taibbi had a history of sexual misconduct, and she repeated her reckless charges through social media.

Unfortunately for Kamlager-Dove, Taibbi is not a sexual harasser, and no woman has ever accused him of being one. Yesterday, Taibbi sued the congresswoman for defamation.

To prevail in the courts, Taibbi must prove that Kamlager-Dove's words were false and were made maliciously, which he can probably do. He's seeking $10 million in damages, which he may receive.

Here's my advice to Kamlager-Dove. If Taibbi's charges are accurate, then you should quickly and publicly apologize for what you said about him and put your apology in the Congressional Record. Saying you're sorry may not get Taibbi to drop his lawsuit, but it may reduce the damages award he will receive.

Alternatively, you can double down and repeat your accusations on MSNBC and The View. If you do that, you should consider contacting George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Oprah and ask them to organize a fundraiser to cover your litigation expenses. I'm sure the pious billionaires in Silicon Valley will be more than happy to contribute.

Time for a Silicon Valley fundraiser?

Removing a biased federal judge from a case: The need for a streamlined appeal process

 Donald Trump and his supporters have repeatedly been battered by biased or hostile judges in the DC Circuit--a rat's nest of hacks for the Democratic Party. The January 6 protesters were treated horribly by some of these judges, and the Trump administration is routinely knocked about by federal judges intent on denying the Executive branch the ability to carry out the People's business.

What can be done? Litigants who believe their judge is unfair can file a motion in federal court, asking a judge to reassign a case to another judge due to bias, but such motions are routinely denied. Few judges will admit having prejudicial views toward the Trump team, and most are cunning enough to conceal their political views.

In fact, a recusal motion is likely to do nothing more than outrage the judge. How dare you accuse me of being unfair!

Of course, a party whose case is assigned to a hostile judge can appeal the denial of a recusal motion; however, appellate courts are reluctant to rule that a trial judge is unfair, especially the DC Circuit, where judicial abuse is most rampant.

We should look to the federal bankruptcy courts for a solution to this serious problem. Parties wishing to appeal an unfavorable ruling by a federal bankruptcy judge have two avenues for appeal. They can appeal to a federal district court judge, who may have limited familiarity with bankruptcy law.

  Alternatively, a losing party can appeal an unfavorable bankruptcy court decision to the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP).  These panels exist in some federal circuits and consist of three federal bankruptcy judges.

I followed student-loan bankruptcy litigation for many years. I observed that the BAP courts were more likely than federal district judges to rule in favor of insolvent student loan debtors.

Why? I think the bankruptcy judges are more sympathetic to college-loan borrowers than the district court judges, who often know nothing about the student loan crisis and have little sympathy for a debtor who took out loans to get a worthless degree and winds up owing two or three times the amount borrowed due to penalties and accumulated compound interest.

How about a similar panel to hear appeals from litigants who believe their cases have been assigned to an unfair judge?

This is how it would work. After a motion for recusal is denied, the litigant is given ten days to appeal the denial to a Recusal Denial Appellate Panel (RDAP), composed of three federal district judges. The panel would decide the appeal promptly, within ten days, based solely on the appellant's written brief.

To further ensure a fair review, an RDAP would only hear recusal motions coming from outside the panel's own circuit.

For example, President Trump's administration is fighting an attack on the Department's deportation efforts, and the case has been assigned to Judge James Boasberg, whom Trump believes is unfairly prejudiced.

The Department of Justice lawyers defending the Trump team's deportation efforts can file a motion asking Judge Boasberg to reassign the case to another judge. Still, he would likely deny such a motion.

If a Recursal Denial Appellate Panel existed, Trump's lawyers could appeal on the issue of bias, and the matter would be heard by a panel of federal district court judges from another circuit, such as the Fifth Circuit of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

This reform won't completely solve the problem of bias among the judges of the First Circuit, but it would help. 

Judge James Boasberg: What, me biased?