Before, some of the States wanted to change the name. They went to war to do it. It was a little more than that because they also sought to have a new nation for themselves. Not happy with the word united, they wanted to be confederated. That is another word for united or for banding together. We saw how that worked out. There were 600,000 deaths before that matter was settled.

That was over 160 years ago but for many the desire still lingers for the separation and name change. We know how much people rue or celebrate old events. If we forget we will be reminded of that next month when the hundreds of Orange Parades take place in Northern Ireland, mostly on July 12th, which celebrated the 1690 victory of William of Orange at the battle of Boyne.

It is true. I still can see the Jesuit priest who taught the class. Even though he had closely shaven, his face showed the outline of a very heavy black beard. He seemed quite severe. It was a required course. I recall learning one thing – it was something about supply and demand. If the supply went up the prices went down; if the demand went up the prices went up.

How I regret the folly of my youth that rather than buckling down I put myself on cruise control hoping to learn just enough to get by the examinations. I barely did. I was glad to go on to other things that would not challenge my brain too much.

Therefore when it comes to economics I am an ignoramus. That I regret. Especially do I regret it after reading Senator Edward Markey’s proposal. He wants the government to “direct cash payment of $2,000 each month to individuals with an income below $120,000 until three months after the coronavirus pandemic ends, as well as provide $2,000 for up to three dependents per family, regardless of age.”  This would continue until three months after the pandemic goes away which the last time I looked would be when the vaccine was developed.  Of course, there is no guarantee a vaccine will be developed which means everyone may receive that amount of money until the cows come home.

Hugh Hewitt is a very big Trump supporter. He finds gold in Trump’s leadership where others would see pyrite. He writes for the Washington Post and on June 11, 2020 he wrote about Trump and why we would want to choose him come November as our leader providing that  Trump doesn’t have to walk down anymore ramps.

Here are some of the things he  tells us about Trump.

“Trump is chaos theory contained in a man,  an explosive combination of complete candor as to what he thinks and feels, a willingness to brawl, an almost animal energy for the fray.”

Is this what you want in a president who has to deal with many different problems: “a willingness to brawl.” Or is it something you’d expect to see in a barroom drunk who after tossing down a few has the “in vino veritas” moment where he tells someone his less than deep thoughts, usually far from being complimentary, and then wants to fight the other person which begins with an  animalistic assault on the other. I’ve seen enough angry and mean drunks to know I’d like the leader of our country to be devoid of these characteristics that Hewitt seems so proud Trump possesses.

Remember Covid-19?  What ever happened to it.  It’s pretty nice to be able to go outside and know we no longer need masks or keep  social distancing. Bing-bang, just like that, if we believe Trump and company it has gone away.

Of course I am exaggerating a bit. For Trump it never seemed to come. He and his lap dog Pence did not fall for the scam of the scientists and wear masks. They knew the scare tactic suggesting a pandemic had come to America was put out there by the enemy of the people in the – what does Trump call it – “the Lamestream Media” – pushing a fake narrative on the easily duped leftists in America. What Trump was trying to get across despite the narrative put out by the  scientific community was that if Covid-19 had in fact come to America it could be easily wished away?

Anachists often point out the inequities in our country. They advocate the overthrow of our present system rightfully complaining that under it most people don’t get a fair deal. It doesn’t require  being a  – well I used to say “brain surgeon” but after watching Ben Carlson I stopped saying that. Now I say – nuclear physicist to know the top one-fifth of 1% control the wealth and the country itself so they run everything for themselves to the detriment of the great majority of Americans.

The problem that anarchists have is that when you are motivated to inquire of them what do we do after we tear down the present capitalistic system and find ourselves standing there in its ruins  with the question “Now What?”the best answer any of them gives Is that they’ll figure it out once it happens. It’s an answer that appeals to few. Most people want to know what’s going to replace what is essential to them before they give it up. It’s the old story of not buying a pig in the poke,

Enough talk of everything other than the present state of affairs in America. Let us concentrate on the mind of the person elected to the presidency by a minority of the voters. You have seen the video I assume.

It was in Buffalo, New York. The police are walking in a line toward the protesters. A man who appears tall, slim and elderly walks up to talk to a police officer. He appears to be offering him something and then he turns to an officer to his right and has his hand out toward him. The first officer pushes him back with his baton and the other pushes him. He falls over. His fall is so hard and loud his head slamming into the sidewalk it is noticed by other police officers at the other end of the police line.

Then something that is beyond understanding occurs. The man is lying on the sidewalk. Blood is coming from his ears. The officers who shoved him and their fellow officers walk on past him. Not one. Not one went to his aid as he lied there obviously unconscious and bleeding. Is this something that you like as an American?

In 1999 Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker  complained about the deal that  John Martorno was offered by the federal prosecutor. He wrote: “You can commit one of the worst massacres in this city’s bloody history and pay no price at all. The lives of Smith, Dickson, and Barrett meant virtually nothing.”

I’ve written before about this. I wrote on April 26, 2016, “Did you read about that young Boston woman Elizabeth “Liz” Dixon (sic) a 19-year-old student who recently graduated from St. Joseph’s parochial high school in Roxbury? She was murdered on Saturday morning January 6, 1968. Her murder was on page 17 of the Sunday Globe and the next day on page 34. It never was mentioned again in that newspaper. It was far from national news. No one talked about how horrendous it was.” 

The murder was first mentioned the day it happened in the evening Globe on Saturday, January 6, 1968 on page one. It did not include the name of Dixon, the proper spelling of her last name being Dickson, because she had not been identified by that time. It only had that of Herbert Smith, age 47  who was identified as the assistant manager of Basin St. South.