Friday, May 2, 2025

100 Men Fighting One Gorilla........

 So, this is the latest question going around the internet

Who would win a fight? 100 men or the gorilla? 

Are we talking about 100 regular guys? 100 Sumo Wrestlers?  100 Navy Seals? 100 Crackheads? 

I doubt it ever takes places, but in all seriousness, I might actually PPV something like this....Just to see....

You can rest assure. Someone is trying to set this up....

No, This Was Never Going to Happen at Buna ISD........

 Or Silsbee, Vidor, LCM, or even Beaumont ISD,,,,,,

Or even places like Austin ISD.....

Thie Furry, Furrbie, what the hell ever you call it.....

There are no litter boxes in schools.....If there were don't you think we would have pictures of them in the schools....With every kid now having a cell phone, don't you think there would be one? And I looked this morning....None....

And if there were, who would they get to take care of the boxes? A janitor is going to scoop human poop from a litter box? A teacher? 

Both would quit.  

And I can just about imagine the field day I'd had making fun of the kid....Hell, I doubt I would get any actual teaching done. 

So, the Texas Legislature has taken up the issue......These guys meet 140 days every other year, and this is the pressing issue? 

Schools don't have litter boxes, even the most liberal ones.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Have Schools Changed This Much?

 So, I was greeted this morning with a story of a kid with a weapon in their vehicle. 

I thought an AK47....Or a AR15......Or a French made Mas 49/56. ( Shoots a round the size of a .308. ) Some sort of an assault weapon. It scared even me.

I would have been concerned if those had found. 

When law enforcement search the vehicle they found a " large knife and several vapes."

Good grief. 

I remember one of you had a M-1 bayonet in my class as part of their research paper.  M-1 bayonet is what the US Army, US Marines used in World War II on the end of their rifles. ( M-1 Garand).

Now, I know we have to be careful now days. 

And perhaps their were threats associated with the knife, but I remember when every boy at Buna High School had a pocket knife in their pocket. Heck, I remember when the  gubmint/economics teacher had a large yellow handle Case Stockman in his pocket he'd gotten from Mott's in Spurger, and may or may not have been known to loan said Stockman to a student, male or female for whatever......I remember when we had " Alphabet Arson" in which we burned letters at homecoming instead of a bonfire at homecoming and pocket knives were needed to cut, well, paper, cloth, other items, as the letters were being constructed. 

I understand the concern, I do, but have we come to this?

When I was in high school, I went duck hunting after school with my physics teacher. We kept our shotguns locked-up in his closet. On know on Saturdays, I met with several of you at a kid's house and we went to the gun range. We had a dad or two went with us, to show off his new rifle, or pistol. 

And I know that THC can be put in vapes, but in most cases, the vapes are for nicotine...

It hasn't been that long ago when high schools had ' smoke shacks' and or smoking areas. I remember having a 5-pack of cheap White Owl cigars in my shirt pocket in high school. Heck, students had packs of Marlboros in the shirt pockets, and boys all had 'skoal' rings on their blue jeans. 

I was sent to the store my senior year by a  teacher to get him a pack of Winstons and a box of matches. But of course that was 1975.  

And in college, heck everyone in the history department smoked, many trying to look academic had pipes....The cooler professors Woodbine British cigarettes or a French made cigarette with a yellow corn paper.... 

Even when our son was living here, there was a Chinese made AK47( I teased my daughter in law her cousin made it, until I found out she had a relative that worked for the company in an administrative position, again, her family is sort of fancy.) with a Hungarian Tanker Magazine fully loaded in his room. And was in 2006. The gun was there in case of an emergency. And he knew not to be carrying it around. Especially not carry it to school.  I wonder if we'd get in trouble today if he had that gun in his room? 

Am I not paranoid enough? Should I be more paranoid today? I know kids should not have guns at school in 2025, but I wonder, where did we lose our kids? Where/when did we no longer trust them? What has happened to us in this country? Where was the change?


 

Monday, April 28, 2025

BUNA ISD...Good????? Bad?????

 I was afraid that the Buna ISD would not talk about the students who went to Regionals in UIL Academics this past weekend. 

In the past, the Buna Schools had a Supt. of Schools that hated the academic teams. Saw them as a drain on resources....

The Ex-Supt. of Schools openly told others it was like sending the high school faculty members on a "vacation."

Huh? You want me to stay in a motel that I personally wouldn't take my family to on a trip of any sort, we get pretty much no sleep trying to stay up and check that a bunch of 15-18 year old students didn't slip out to each others rooms( Boys-girls) didn't sneak out down the road to the 7-11 type store and try and buy wine. ( And someone will now tell us, well, "we did."...when you have 50 kids spread all over the 100 room motel, 3 stories, well, you do the best you can.  In the end, glad no one was arrested, killed/seriously hurt, pregnant, or ran off.)

It was anything but a holiday for teachers.....

You need to thank any teach this week. It is a busy time for everyone, and trying to teach the kids is like "Trying to herd cats."

But, Buna High School is sending 2 kids to UIL State in Austin, next month...

That's a big deal. 

A big deal. It shows other schools there are some smart kids, and there is some sort of academics going on in Buna Schools. It impresses other teachers in your academic district.  The other school's may not say so, or laugh it off, but it's a big damn deal. 

I'm proud of the kids, their academic coaches, heck everyone affiliated with UIL Academics. I am hoping they are honored at some point in a board meeting. I know in the past, Buna's Supt. of Schools didn't have the time, or didn't want to "Fool with it."  I know if was on the district's Facebook site this weekend, and I am very happy the district did that. 

( BTW- Saw on Llano ISD they had a high school Barbecue Team and a Meat Judging team....A HS Meat Judging team like Bobby Hill was on in the TV Show " King of the Hill." But it is Llano and they love their smoked meats.....and a lot of kid's families are still in a serious ranching business. More in agricultural pursuits than Buna even dreams of.... But you've got to admit, HS BBQ Team, HS Meat Judging Team? That's pretty cool.....And both going to state? Along with Llano UIL Academic kids? Man that all is pretty cool...)

Second, I hear from a lot of people from the Buna ISD. 

Faculty, staff, and especially patrons, and patrons are the taxpayers. 

And while there is some "cleaning house" going on, there are people who are doing everything they can to "take the eyes off over here, and look over here instead......"( I am trying to figure out what we are missing?)

People, whoever you are, trust no one. 

Especially in this day and age of instant posts on the internet. 

Already I am hearing of 'cliques' forming in an attempt to  influence the Supt. of Schools. 

Of course of there are other people who think that the public at large should only hear good things about the district.....That Buna ISD can "Do no wrong." ( I threw up in my mouth a little writing that. I know what goes on behind the curtain, to steal a scene from the Wizard of Oz.)

If you work for the district, heck, live in the district, trust no one. You MUST remember that school districts are a political entity. They have elected officials. They are a taxing agency. In Jasper County they raise huge sums of money through taxes. 

Watch your back....

Will try and write a bit more this week. 


 

Friday, April 25, 2025

Pope....End of Times?

 I write this before pope francis' funeral, which will be tomorrow, Saturday, April 26th, 10AM Vatican time, 3AM CDT.

So, as I promised I would talk a little about Catholic Prophecy and what they are saying. 

Of course, there are people who base their entire doctrinal beliefs on the 'End of Times.' 

In 1844, a Protestant denomination still in existence today, predicted that Jesus was about to return. In Upstate New York, the leader of the denomination, William Miller said that Jesus was going to return October 22, 1844. People sold their homes, the farm, whatever they had and waited on Jesus. This became know as the " Great Disappointment."

In more recent times a radio Bible teacher by the name of Harold Camping predicted the date of Jesus' return. 

Camping through donations to his 'ministry' became a millionaire, and bought 150 radio station throughout the U.S. One was in Beaumont. An FM station. 

His radio show in the evenings, was a call in show about Bible verses, and more times than not, he told the caller why they were going to Hell for their question, or what they had been taught in Sunday School. 

Again, you can't make this stuff. 

Camping had a Civil Engineering degree from Cal-Berkley and  his math background, he claimed allowed him to figure out the date of the rapture, and Jesus' return. 

He claimed the rapture would be in 1994. Even wrote a best-selling book on the topic.....Of course, nothing happened in 1994.

Camping then claimed that he made a math mistake and Jesus would be coming in May 21, 2011. And millions of people would die every day for the next 5 months. When nothing happened in May, he changed the date to October 2011. ( Just what I want, an engineer who's trained to bridges who can't get his math right.)

Camping died before October. 

So, this leads us to Catholic prophecy.  

We of course are talking about the "Prophecy of the Popes" by St. Malachy a Archbishop in Ireland ( Armagh, in Northern Ireland, I've traveled through, nothing to write home about.) 1094-1148. 

Malachy wrote a set of prophecies concerning the next 112 popes. Each pope had , written in Latin, a short description of what they were going to be like. 

Many of the descriptions were 'dead on' others, well, you had to push it a bit for it to work. and for many they were close enough. 

These prophecies were found in a vault by a Benedictine monk in 1590, and were published. 

Malachy said there would be 112 popes from his time until the end of time. 

Trouble is Francis was Pope number 112......And so called Catholic prophecy experts are saying 112 before the last pope...

Which would mean the coming pope would be the last pope....And the last pope would be 'Peter the Roman' ( Petrus Romanus) whose reign would end in 2027.  

And three of the front-runners who might be pope are names 'Peter.' 

According to the final entry by Malachy, surrounding Peter the Roman, the 'last pope' will preside over the Church during a time of great turmoil, culminating in the destruction of Rome and the end of the papacy.

There are also people who think that the person won't be named "Peter" but in will take the name of "Peter"......There has not been anyone called Peter who was a Pope according to the Catholic Church other than Peter who walked with Jesus. So, if he calls himself Peter, or if his birth name was Peter, it might give cause for pause. 

Now, remember, Matt 24:36 said- "No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows."

Take any end times prophecy for what it is worth....

That said, if we have a Peter named as a Pope, well, might be worth keeping an eye on Rome....If anything, to see who loses their minds, and really might need to keep an eye on them...

 




Thursday, April 24, 2025

Buna ISD Grades- Did the School District Fail???

 The Texas Education Agency( TEA) has released the 2023 grades for the school districts in the state. 

And here are the latest scores for the Buna Independent School District. 

Overall= C 78/100

Buna Elementary= B

Buna JH= C

Buna HS= C

Buna HS went down from a B to a C.

Now, would we like it higher? Yes, of course, but the way things are taken off the score now, including things that really don't have anything to do with academics. I am not shocked....

And, the scores/rating has changed since 2022. 

And this is coming from the TEA. So, unless they are talking about a take over, I would not panic.  Again, we'd like the scores higher. 

And the Wichita Falls ISD according to the Texas Tribune is in danger of having the State of Texas take over the district due to scores. And where was the present Supt. of Schools at Wichita Falls ISD, Supt. of Schools right before he was hired at WFISD?  Yep.....You are correct...

Quick story on scores- One year during Inservice training, the Buna Supt. of Schools had Region 5 Service Center, a part of the TEA come out for training to increase out districts test scores. 

The Buna High teachers were all sent into separate groups , classrooms, for training to increase our scores. The Social Studies teachers were, at best not really paying attention to the witch teaching our course told us, "She was going to increase our scores by at least 5-10%. "

The Asshole who was the History/ Social Studies Department Chair told the witch " You're not going to be able to help us any." 

Incensed, and turning red, she said, " Yes, I am certain."

To which the Asshole Chair said, " No, we scored the highest score in Region 5 that past testing period, we scored a 100%." 

BTW- I was so proud of that dept.  Best in Region 5? And here is the thing, no one cared but us.....Didn't hear a word from an administrator, not a word from the damn school board....

Later that day, the witch from Region 5 went to the Supt. of School and ' Told on me.' 

BTW- Every Supt. of Schools wants to move to a Region Service Center for a job, be it Region 1 or Region 20.  Easy job, little pressure, big paycheck. 

Yeah, I got into trouble. 

Yeah, I'd do it again.....


Wednesday, April 23, 2025

So, I Make People Mad Writing the Blog...And Get Ugly Threats, Cussed Out....

 You knew after yesterday's post on getting into trouble for tell people what is going on, the truth, how this author really feels about things, well, it gets me into trouble. 

I lost a few subscribers to the blog after the DWI article. 

And the thing is, most have joined back on the Facebook The Govtach Part Deaux group page.

And yesterday, I got a long, long email from someone on "Why don't you have positive pieces on the community?"

"Why don't you talk about only good.?" "Why don't you try and lift us up?" 

" Why don't you talk about the schools winning, or kids getting scholarships?"

Do you know why? 

NO ONE READS IT.........OR CARES. 

Literally, my readership is terrible when I post articles on that/those subject(s). 

Other than family and friends, no one cares your kid is valedictorian. Or your kid won a medal at One Act Play. They really don't. 

It is sad, but true. 

And already the Buna ISD's Facebook, The East Texas Banner, KJAS publishes articles on these things. 

It is part of the reason why I don't and can't have advertising. I can write news, I can write opinion pieces that often make at least one group of people in the community mad. 

And the thing is, while one group is mad this time, and swear  " I'll never read that shit Thomas is publishing again." Two weeks later, they are back reading,  either what is going on back at the school, community, or news other people can't really publish, or say, no matter it's the truth, or it is something everyone else is thinking, but only I can say.... 

Yeah, I wish I mad a few quid as the British would say, from the stuff I write, and again, I've thought about putting paypal, Venmo link on the page so perhaps you can buy me a cup of coffee, or perhaps Deb and I a pizza. And may do that at some point....

Okay, you want to know the background on what "Behind the Scenes" at the blog is like...

I am writing a blog right now on Francis' death and Catholic Prophecy....End of Times???

100 Men Fighting One Gorilla........

 So, this is the latest question going around the internet Who would win a fight? 100 men or the gorilla?  Are we talking about 100 regular ...