A stupid idea from POTUS

Another stupid idea from POTUS - "ENDORSED ARMING SCHOOL TEACHERS." (Announced Wednesday (2/21/2018) night. 

This is the absolute dumbest idea I have ever heard. A teacher is an instructor, a mentor, a friend, a caring, loving person in the lives of hundreds of children every school day of every year, and this idiot (yes, Mr. Trump, I am referring to you) in the White House endorsed arming them with guns so they can stop a shooter before he starts shooting up a classroom, school hall or playground. (Such ideas I believe are evidence of mental instability.) I will wager that more than 98% of teachers will think this a terrible idea, and would no more strap on a gun all day in the classroom than drink hemlock at breakfast. (Many detectives put their weapons in their desk drawer when they are in the station handling paperwork and such.) Why should teachers have to go around strapped all day?

STOP SELLING AUTOMATIC WEAPONS is a better idea. And don't tell me about the 2nd amendment which was designed to provide for an armed militia if one is needed. We have armed police, local, state and federal. We have National Guard troops in every state. We do not need a citizenry mobilizing in the town square to fight.

Trump Parade

Letters to the Editor (Published February 20, 2018)

The Post & Courier

Charleston SC

Dear Editor

We can assume that somewhere in the Pentagon some field grade officers are hard at work on “the parade” President Trump said he wanted.

This is not a good idea for the United States.  We do not need a parade to entertain or convince our citizens, or the world, we are the most powerful nation on earth. 

Consider also, for example, how unlikely we would compare to India’s celebration of Republic Day on January 26. According to one account, Prime Minister Modi and his 10 chief guests, the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, watched an hourlong parade of a “mishmash of tanks, marching sailors in spats, kilted bagpipers, female motorcycle daredevils, camels, ballistic missiles, dancing school children, and a tableaux representing such abstract concepts as ethical taxpaying.”

Sincerely

/s/ Francis X Archibald

A good day in February

Sunday, February 18, 2018

This was a good day for me. In the morning I put on a suit I have only worn four times since I retired in 1993. The first was for my wife Mary’s funeral in 2010, then my marriage to Joyce in 2013, and since then a friend’s wedding, and the funeral of another friend. In fact, I found a religious service memorial card in the inside pocket from the funeral.

When I went to brunch I felt the suit was too big for me to wear comfortably at dinner in the evening. So I took it off and wore some slacks and a  sport coat to the evening dinner. 

This was the annual dinner for the poker players’ wives at Frankie at Seaside. We had as our guests the wives of deceased poker players, and Franke Manager, Mark Lee and his wife Barbara. We had close to 60 people at the dinner. It was a special affair and the food and service was top of the line. I was the MC and told several humorous stories and one-liners. (Received several favorable comments afterward.) We raffled off bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates and every lady present got something to take home. It was a wonderful night and I thoroughly enjoyed. I also felt better with regard to my clothing.

I have another suit similar to the one I had on this morning which I also bought back in the 1980s when I served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. The suits have not gotten much use since I retired in 1993. I intend to try that on and if it fits like the first one I will donate them to Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity. 

An ice pick in your brain

How would you like to have an ice pick stuck in your brain? 

Would your feelings change if you were a lobster? 

Would it make a difference if you lived in Switzerland?

Of course, if you were a lobster you couldn’t answer those questions. But fear not, Swiss authorities have answered for you and beginning on March 1 a lobster cannot be dropped into a pot of boiling water until it has been knocked unconscious with electric shock or had its brain destroyed with an ice pick or a knife.

The Swiss, like New Zealanders, believe lobsters have feelings like humans. There is no scientific evidence to support this assumption, but like so many other things people speculate. This is why we have movements to save the whales, save the snails and don’t cut puppy dog tails.

It is harmless to let the Swiss and New Zealanders have such thoughts.  After all look at some of the strange ideas and thoughts we have in the United States.  

At this point, for example, you can pick and choose any of the weird things President Trump has said since the election in 2016. The Washington Post has compiled a list anyone may choose from. 

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"serve the governed, not the governors."

I saw the movie, The Post, and highly recommend it. This Steven Spielberg film, starring Meryl Streep (Kathryn Graham) and Tom Hanks (Ben Bradlee), is a fascinating tale of the right of the people to know what its government has done. Graham and Bradlee put their careers on the line and faced possible prison time.

In 1971, The New York Times and The Washington Post were publishing the Pentagon Papers, a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents. The study, commissioned by the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, conducted by the Department of Defense, covered thirty years of history about how we got involved and what we had done in Vietnam. The study was classified Top Secret. Daniel Ellsberg worked on the study and ultimately leaked it to the newspapers.

The Nixon administration citing national security sought and got injunctions in lower courts against publication. The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision ruled otherwise. 

Justice Hugo Black, often regarded as a leading defender of First Amendment rights such as the freedom of speech and of the press, refused to accept the doctrine that the freedom of speech could be curtailed on national security grounds. Thus, in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), he voted to allow newspapers to publish the Pentagon Papers despite the Nixon Administration's contention that publication would have security implications. In his concurring opinion, Black stated,

In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. [...] The word 'security' is a broad, vague generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment.

— New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713, 717 (1971).

Friday, January 5, 2018

Friday, January 5, 2018

I ventured out of doors today for the first time since Tuesday. First, the rain, then the snow and the below freezing temperatures kept me inside my apartment. I have lived in South Carolina since 1959, and cannot recall any other three days where the weather was so inhospitable.

The streets in my apartment complex are still hazardous with snow and ice. The public streets were better, except where tall trees kept the sun from melting the snow and ice on the streets. The major highways, US 17 and I-26, were much more favorable with only a little snow along the edges and against curbing. Most of the roads were still damp with water.

I stopped complaining about the monthly rental cost when I opened my garage and did not have to scrape ice off the windshield or snow off the roof, hood or trunk of my Lexus. Many of my neighbors who park out in the open have done so and some have still to do it.

As I rode on my journey I saw automobiles with snow still packed on the roof and one pick-up truck had a couple of inches of snow covering the entire plastic liner in the back of the truck. I wondered if the driver was taking this somewhere to show someone, or just didn’t have the time to shovel/sweep out his bed truck. Maybe it was too cold to bother. 

On I-26, a car ahead of me shed its roof of accumulated snow unexpectedly and caused several other drivers to slow down. Only on one spot on US 17 did my car slide on ice for a moment while driving home late in the afternoon.

I got where I wanted to go, did my shopping, and got home safely. Then I read in The New York Times that the real feel temperature in a park in New Hampshire tonight is going to be minus 100 degrees.

When my sister moved East from California last year she settled in Rhode Island. When we asked why she did not go to New Hampshire where her daughter lived she said, “Oh, it’s too cold in New Hampshire.” Who knew 50 years in California would make one so intelligent? 

Archburger and The Bridge

I was not consulted. I did not get a memo, a phone call, a comment on my Facebook page or a Tweet. The news came to me this morning as a total surprise while I was on my first cup of coffee and my second slice of cinnamon raisin toast ladled with peanut butter. 

A three-paragraph article inside the business section of the local newspaper reported McDonald’s “says it is using fresh beef in another 🍔, the latest test by the chain to swap out frozen beef as it seeks to improve the image of its food.”

The new burger, being tested in seven stores in Tulsa, OK, is named…drum roll, please, the Archburger.

McDonald’s did not ask if they could attach my nickname to fresh meat intended to be sold all over the world. Nevertheless, I hope the Archburger catches on, it would be embarrassing to have one’s name and reputation attached to a fast food flop. 

✍︎

Moving on to the Letters to the Editor of  The Post & Courier (Jan. 3, 2018) was my:

Letter to the Editor

The Post & Courier

Dear Sir:

Over the weekend I drove I-526 from Mt. Pleasant to West Ashley. As I approached North Charleston a blue bar appeared on the horizon and I had one of those ‘what’s this’ moments. 

As I got closer I realized it was the Don Holt bridge painted a magnificent, light blue from one end to the other. I have never seen a prettier bridge.

Kudos to the SC Highway Department and the contractors who, thinking outside the box,  rejected the traditional silver and grey paint used on bridges and chose instead this bright, warm and friendly blue. Magnificent!

Welcome to the NewYear

Fireworks have been fired off for about 15 minutes somewhere near my apartment in midtown Mt. Pleasant, S.C. I suspect from the brilliant flashes in the sky and the noise this is an organized event by the government or some organization. In any event, it is a celebratory prelude to the coming of the New Year.

I wish 2018 is an even better year than 2017; that as a Nation we enjoy peace, prosperity, and mutual respect for one another; that as persons we will live in good health, and enjoy the benefits and pleasures offered by families, friends, jobs, schools, and fresh opportunities. 

Welcome, 2018!

 

Terror Suspects

Published Friday, Nov. 10, 2017

Letters to the Editor

The Post & Courier

Charleston, SC

Dear Editor

Marc A. Thiessen’s column (Nov 6) criticizing President Trump for treating terrorists like former President Obama, is truly off the mark and implies the United States would do better to treat these terrorists as “enemy combatants” and send them to Guantanamo, rather than read them their Miranda rights and try them in civilian courts  He wrote this would assist intelligence agencies in gathering data. 

The organization Human Rights First provides reliable information more likely to make Americans sleep better at night. For example, consider just these four points they make: 

(1) Federal civilian criminal courts have convicted more than 620 individuals on terrorism-related charges since 9/11. Military commissions have convicted only eight, three of which have been overturned completely and one partially.

(2) Federal prisons hold hundreds of individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses. None have ever escaped.

(3) Prosecuting terror suspects before military commissions makes them look like warriors rather than the criminals that they are. As Judge William Young said when sentencing Shoe Bomber Richard Reid, “You’re no warrior….You are a terrorist. A species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders.”

(4) Miranda is an effective law enforcement tool that provides valuable information. Phil Mudd, former deputy director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center and a senior intelligence adviser to the FBI, wrote that he “sat at hundreds of briefing tables for nine years after Sept. 11, 2001, and I can't remember a time when Miranda impeded a decision on whether to pursue an intelligence interview.” 

Living long is the best revenge

Last Wednesday a young lady kept her hand in my groin for about 30 minutes. Normally under such circumstances, you would expect some pleasure, but there was none to be had.

It was a nurse who pressed on the inside of my right leg to close a puncture made by my cardiologist who did a heart catheterization to evaluate my heart function. During the procedure, a second stent was put in my heart. 

Dr. Matthew O’Steen also went into my heart through my right wrist but the puncture there was closed with minimal effort.

My heart and Dr. O’Steen are not exactly strangers. He put an earlier stent in some years year ago and I have great confidence in his skills and abilities. 

As we age, it is often one thing or another. As a child, we can’t wait to grow up and when we get older we wish we were younger.  Whoever said a man is “never satisfied” was “spot on.” 

I am pleased to admit to being 86. When I was a child I could not imagine being 65. That was a long way off and “old” in a child’s mind. 

It will take a few weeks to adjust to my procedure and follow-ups with the doctor have been scheduled. Nevertheless, I am optimistic. I am a believer in a comment attributed many years ago to Bette Davis, one of Hollywood's greatest and most ferociously independent actresses, who was born in Lowell, MA., where I was raised: “Living long is the best revenge.”

"Ring" The Video Doorbell

September 20, 2017

Within hours of my last blog being posted a friend, JH, in Florida, sent me information on a doorbell called “ring.”

I was amazed to find this was what my friend who talked from his hospital bed to me standing on his porch about 15 miles away was using. This technology will allow a homeowner traveling in, say, California to talk with and view someone (via his smartphone) on his porch back home in South Carolina. 

This is a great security weapon for homeowners and it comes with a battery pack so it need not be hard-wired at the point of use.  

As a retired security director, I would recommend this product as something to look at for your home or apartment security.

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From the hospital bed to the front porch

(Note: To protect my friend's name and home I am not using such personal data in this post.)

One night last week I went to a friend's house for a meeting of a group we belong to. It was a nice evening, the sun was moving into the West and I was looking forward to being with friends and exchanging stories about what we did while threatened by Hurricane Irma. I had gone north and visited my son and daughter in law in Virginia. 

When I arrived at my friend's house there were no lights on in the house and no other cars around. I thought this was strange because a couple of people always show up early and help set up the refreshment table. I went to the porch and tried the door. On meeting nights the door is unlocked and you enter, sit on a bench and remove your shoes. The door was locked. 

Hmmm. On the wall to the right of the door was a bell. Beneath the bell was the word "ring." A bit of overkill, I laughed: everybody knows what to do with a bell. I pushed the button and heard a bit of a chime. In a few seconds, my friend said, "Hello."

"Hi, friend. This is Archie and I am outside on the porch and here for the meeting." I assumed my friend was inside and talking to me through a speaker. 

"The meeting was canceled a couple of days ago."

"I've been gone and missed the message."

"I am in the hospital, had a heart attack and am going to be here for a few more days."

"IN THE HOSPITAL, right now? Where?"

"In downtown Charleston."

"You are in a hospital in downtown Charleston, and I am on your porch 15 miles away and we are talking like you are inside the house?"

"Yes."

Did I mention my friend is an electrical engineer?

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"Tote that barge"

Published August 20, 2017

August 15, 2017

Letters to the Editor

The Post and Courier

Charleston, SC

Dear Editor,

The Aug. 15 story about the State Ports Authority steaming ahead with new cargo records is a wakeup call to the S.C. congressional delegation to get behind the request of the SPA to federal officials for authority to run a barge capable of moving 1000 freight containers from Wando Terminal across the Cooper River to a rail facility for further transport across America. The P&C reported on this request a couple of weeks ago. 

As the SPA volume increases the risks to all motorists also goes up. Three recent experiences bear this out. I entered I-526 at Hungryneck Boulevard in Mt. Pleasant and headed west. At the next entry point, Long Point Road, six tractor- trailers with containers were coming up the access ramp and entering the westbound traffic on I-526. Three similar containers had just hit their stride on the Interstate.

A day later, I was on I-526 late in the afternoon heading east toward Mt. Pleasant. From the Don Holt bridge onward it looked like every five or six personal vehicles were bracketed by tractor-trailers carrying containers in both west bound lanes. 

Recently, I was on Long Point Road and needed to make a left hand turn. Eleven tractor-trailers carrying cargo containers came from Wando Terminal and blocked my turn before a traffic light further down the road interrupted the flow of traffic and I (and others) could proceed. 

These examples illustrate how the problem of tractor-trailers carry containers will only grow and seriously impact the traffic and vehicular safety in the Mt. Pleasant area. 

Kudos to the SPA for the effort to increase their operations. The SPA brings in money to the state and provides good jobs. 

It is time, however, to start a modern day version of “tote that barge.”

Sincerely

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Failing as President and Father

Subsequent to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend of August 12-13, President Trump failed in the moral leadership Americans have the right to expect from their President. 

His failure to outright positively condemn the outrageous behavior of the Nazis, Kluxers, and white supremacists, at Charlottesville which among other tragedies cost the life of an innocent woman and two police officers, has brought criticism from responsible political, business, cultural, and religious leaders, and men and women on the streets across America. And he deserves all of it. 

On top of that he failed as a father and a father-in-law to his daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism nine years ago, and her husband Jared Kushner. A Nazi thug was seen in a video criticizing the President for giving “ his beautiful daughter to that Jew.” Mr. Kushner is the son of Holocaust survivors. 

And he failed the memory of Americans who fought and died to rid the world of Nazis. 

President Trump has said frequently how much he admires ‘his Generals'. And he should, the generals serving in his administration have rendered outstanding service to the country, some over 40 years.  

At the same time, he ought to remember the 177,100 Americans who died from battle casualties fighting the Nazis in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, the South Atlantic and Europe. These Americans gave their lives so we who live today in this great Nation can enjoy our freedom and liberties, and don’t have to learn German. 

James Murdoch, the Chief Executive of 21st Century Fox and the son of Rupert Murdoch, a frequent ally of President Trump, summed it up most eloquently in an email sent Thursday, August 17, 2017, to “Friends.” He wrote:

“These events remind us all why vigilance against hate and bigotry is an eternal obligation — a necessary discipline for the preservation of our way of life and our ideals. The presence of hate in our society was appallingly laid bare as we watched swastikas brandished on the streets of Charlottesville and acts of brutal terrorism and violence perpetrated by a racist mob. I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so.” (My emphasis.)

Mr. Murdoch in the same email said he and his wife were donating a $1,000.000 to the Anti-Defamation League. (Correction: An early edition said the gift was to the ACLU.)

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The day got better

August 15, 2017 - 

Monday did not begin on a good note. It would be later in the day before President Trump - coming late to the party - called out the alt-right Kluxers, white nationalists,  neo-fascists and other bigots reportedly yelling “Russia is our friend,” for their atrocious acts at Charlottesville two days earlier. 

Then I went for an early walk and it turned hot real fast. Next on the list was an appointment with the dermatologist. Among many men this is the second least favorite medical necessity, being dreaded only by a visit to the proctologist. 

The dermo doc looked me over good, froze a couple of spots (that hurts) and biopsied one. I left there wondering what else could go wrong. Would North Korea fire a nuclear-armed missile? 

Right then and there I decided I needed a treat of some sort and, strangely enough, a pedicure and manicure topped the list. So on I went to Nails and Spa. A friendly beautician from Saigon, named Le, took me by the foot and got started. 

“I had no idea how much it would tingle when my feet were soaked in ankle-deep warm water. The pleasant feeling of skilled hands carefully rubbing each foot. The pulsating tickle, like a feather carefully tracing my toes, arches, and heels,” This was also my experience. 

When she finished I decided a pedicure would be a continuing experience for me. About 25% of American men get a pedicure regularly and I decided to join that number.I am tired of having to use long-handled hedge clippers to do my toe nails. 

The manicure also went well and I left a happy man. My outlook was picking up. In the interest of fairness, I posted President Trump’s press performance earlier in the day on my Facebook page and was heartened by statements of the Generals that war with North Korea was not imminent. 

Later in the day, I confided in a lady I favor about my day and asked her not to laugh at my pedicure and manicure. To her credit, she wrote: “I think your manicure and pedicure is wonderful.  Relaxing, healthy and nails all look nice.”

So the day turned better as the evening came on and all is good with my world.

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"Ta Ra Ra BOOM dee-ay"

I got mine yesterday, did you get yours today?

I got this letter yesterday in my email thanking me for taking the time "to express my views regarding our country's domestic policy." The problem is I did not write to the President, nor anyone else at the White House expressing my views on President Trump's domestic policy. (Much of it, in my opinion, is not in the best interests of all the people in America.) Sending out this form letter with a facsimile signature is proof of how our email addresses are so vulnerable to capture and misuse that it makes one wonder if we should go back to writing each other with pen or pencil, (depending on your grade school skills), licking the envelope and increasing the workload of the USPS. 

And another thing. How dare someone at the White House address me by my first name? We are not on a first name basis. I don't know the President, nor any of his staff, and if they want to write to me they should stick to "Dear Mr. Archibald," until, in the unlikely event, we become pen pals. In the past, I made exceptions for President George Bush the First when he penned in his own hand a personal note thanking me for a newspaper column I wrote about him. I also made an exception for President Clinton who sent a 8 X 10 photo inscribed "To Francis." 

I believe emails like this sent out by staff with access to the presidential signature signing machine  give the Commander-in-Chief his daily happy ego massage when staffers report X number of people have been sent "thank you letters." So, if it makes him happy it is harmless unless he (and the staff) begin to believe their own bulls**t. 

Dear Francis: Thank you for taking the time to express your views regarding our country’s domestic policy. I am committed to unleashing America’s full potential through domestic policies that drive opportunity and economic growth, while ensuring the safety and security of the American people. My Administration will work each day to advance an America First agenda, and we will do it while remaining committed to a responsible fiscal policy that addresses our Nation’s mounting deficit and debt. My 2018 Budget, A New Foundation for American Greatness, will eliminate job-killing regulations, drastically shrink the size of the Federal bureaucracy, prioritize the safety and security of American citizens, and reduce our unsustainable $20 trillion debt, while protecting programs that our senior citizens depend on, like Social Security. My budget puts America first by investing in a stronger, safer America. That means making our communities great again by supporting law enforcement, rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, fixing our education system so that workers can get good jobs, and fighting to eradicate the scourge of drugs that is spoiling the promise of our youth. We must also return to the values and protect the Constitutional freedoms that made America a beacon of hope and opportunity to the world, including the right to keep and bear arms. My America First policies will bring a new wave of opportunity to this great land. You can learn more about my budget by visiting www.WhiteHouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/13/president-donald-j-trump-protecting-taxpayer-money. For more information about the steps my Administration is taking to keep America safe, visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/law-enforcement-community. Thank you again for your suggestions. Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define the next generation of American greatness. Your courage, goodness, and love will guide us along the way. As we look to the future, we know that no challenge will outmatch the resolve of the American people to overcome. Sincerely, Click to see complete blog.  Send comments here.

Voter Data

Letters to the Editor (Published July 6, 2017)

The Post & Courier

Charleston, SC

Dear Editor,

I am 110% opposed to South Carolina sending any voter information to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, beyond what is available to any South Carolinian and only if the Commission pays for it like a citizen would have to do.  

There are approximately 175,000 voting precincts in America. No one knows the exact number, as it may vary from year to year. But every one of these is usually staffed by good, local people volunteering to oversee the most important act of citizenship. 

To allege, as President Trump does, that widespread fraud in voting across America deprived him of a plurality in the popular vote, is nonsense. It is not supported by any facts from any state, or by anyone or any organization who conducts legitimate poll watching. 

The President’s comments are a vicious, undeserved slander on the good, hard-working, women and men who voluntarily staff the polls.

I have run for local and state office and won and lost. I never questioned the integrity of the process or the counting of the votes.

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Send comments to:  arch@archibald99.com