Buna ISD 26-27 Calendar........Other Friday Thoughts

 This week, the Buna ISD School Board approved the 26-27 School Calendar. 

Easter is in March in 2026, so there is time off for that holiday. Good Friday, and one day earlier in March  for Redbud. 

There is a Winter Break like this year, which begins today and ends next Tuesday. 

In the 26-27 school year, there is a week long Winter Break and like all winter breaks, it is crap shoot. It might be cold or " sort of" nice like it will be during this year's 3 day break.  

Next year, the February break is a week long, the third week of the month...... 

And next year's Spring Break is the last week of April.....

Why?

Am I missing something here? 

When the kids return from Spring Break there are only 18.5 school days left. 

Do you know what kind of battle it will be for teachers to get kids, especially high school Seniors to do anything?  Heck, most kids are done. 

Now I know the April Spring Break is done that way because of state testing. 

Why didn't we just go ahead and end school a week early in May? Have graduation on May 21st? Start Summer early? 

 

 I will be shocked if they find Savannah Guthrie's Mother still with us. This whole thing is just "fishy."

The Epstein Files......Man, I need to talk about it at some point. Not going to be shocked if King Charles III abdicates due his brother Andrew's involvement and Charles III say it is due to his cancer. I have theories and you may think I have finally lost my mind. 

I need to talk about the economy. It is worse than we all think or even suspect. 

I have a fit on the Buna Schools coming in the next few days. Seriously glad I am on " Happy Pills" right now so I can handle it.....And yes, will talk about the " clique."  

 

 

Bad Bunny....Kid Rock......Commericials.....

 Bad Bunny,  don't get it......

Yeah, I could not understand it either...Yeah, it was in Spanish, and that is what they speak in Puerto Rico.... And yes, they are US Citizens. They hold US Passports. 

They became American Citizens in 1917 when the United States decided that they were eligible for the draft during World War 1. My father in law served with a guy from Puerto Rico in Vietnam. He was seriously wounded with along with John when their boat was hit by a rocket. 

Puerto Rico was acquired from Spain after the 1898 Spanish-American War. It was a colony of Spain from the 1500s until 1898.  The last referendum, they voted for statehood, but congress decides on statehood. 

 Kid Rock lip-synced his music.  Come on man. Robert Plant of Led Zep no longer can sing either. Plant at least tries to sing, or no longer even try.....When you get older, your voice changes. And sometimes, you cannot sing like you once could. 

I hated both of the halftime shows. 

And I only watched them this morning. 

Same with the Super Bowl TV Commercials.....

Most of you are younger than me, but most of the commercials had actors who were relevant 10-15-20 years ago.....They are have become professional pitchmen and pitchwomen. It seemed like they came out of their retirement home because they needed a paycheck. 

The only ad that came even close to interesting was the William Shat one, and even it was   sort of amusing at best. 

And the Kardashian-Jenner sisters, I just do not find them attractive. And I figure talking to them is pretty boring.  Find a girl ( or guy) who loves you for you...

Bud is trying too hard and their commercials with Peyton and  Post and Shane Gillis, who was funny for about 5 minutes, well, he thinks he's cute and no longer is. His humor is pretty much one thing....The Bud Light ad was, well, just stupid, were most of them. And it might not be so bad, but Budweiser products are just awful. 

All of them, they are pretty much taste like "Bug Urine." Then again, most American mass produced beers have gotten awful in the last 25 years, simply from cutting corners on product.  

The ballgame? Who cares? I've driven by both New England's stadium in Foxborough  and Seattle's. ( We drove by the one in Foxborough when we rented a car and drove from Boston Logan Airport to Providence, RI T.F. Green Airport when we flew to Shannon, Ireland. Seattle's when we were visiting the kids, this past year.....Norwegian Air to Ireland. Might be one of the worst airlines in Europe.) 

But in the score of life, Seattle won? I don't care. Fred don't care. In truth, I could not tell you who won the NBA title last year, or NHL, and while at one time I cared about who won MLB's title, so much money is spent to win, I don't care..... 

 

 

I Told Y'all I Might Do This.....

 And I spoke in my traditional East Texas vernacular not to run many of you off.....Or in East Texan, " You got Runt Off."

The Prime  Minster of Britain, the UK, whatever you care to call the nation is a man called Kier Starmer.  He is a member and leader of the Labour Party in the UK. 

Labour is similar to our Democratic Party. Conservative or Tory Party is similar to our Republican Party, There are fairly big differences, and will discuss those at a later date..... Also, the UK has many other parties with representative in their main legislative branch, the House of Commons....

There is a scandal in the UK involves the former British Ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson.  

Mandelson is a long time politician, longtime elected member of the House of Commons, he is also a British Lord.  

Mandelson was a close friend to Jeffery Epstein of the Epstein Files.  

Even after Epstein was convicted for running a prostitution ring, Mandelson remained friends with him.  

And Kier Starmer was aware of this, and still appointed Mandelson to the Ambassadorship in the U.S. 

In the latest release of  Epstein Files, it was discovered that Mandelson gave stock information to Epstein in 2008 while Mandelson was a cabinet member for another Labour Prime Minister. The information was confidential and could be used to help Epstein profit in the stock market. 

UK Police are investigating Mandelson for Misconduct in Public Office, which in Britain could carry a life sentence.  

While Starmer may not have been aware of the extent of Mandelson's ties to Epstein when he tapped him to represent Britain in Washington D.C., British lawmakers have sharply criticized the government's vetting process, stressing that some elements of Mandelson's friendship with Epstein were public at the time he was given the position.  

The leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has questioned Starmer's judgement in elevating Mandelson to such a key diplomatic post. 

"The Prime Minister cannot blame the process. He did know...it was on Google. If the Conservative research department could find this information out, why couldn't Number 10?," referring to the prime minister's office at 10 Downing Street in London. 

Because of this and the economy, immigration, many in the UK are calling for Prime Minister Starmer to resign, especially many in his own political party.  

It is not unusual that pressure for both the voting public and political leaders that a British Prime Minister resigns from office.  

Because of his unpopularity, the percentage chance that Kier Starmer resigns is now at 80%.  

In the UK, like other parliamentary style governments, the prime minister CAN dissolve the government and call for new national elections.... 

But we will see. The next man( Or in this case, woman) up, gets the role of Prime Minister. 

Trouble is, she is not liked very well at this point in time either.... 

If a new election is called in Britain, we will talk about UK politics in detail, and that should be interesting.... 

 

 

 

And Who Knew???

Was asked by someone, former student , who knows, I always have music blaring when writing the blog. Again, some of you will think, it shows my immaturity, got to have music going....But they asked what I listened to yesterday?

Sorry....But yesterday it was " Rage Against the Machine." " Alice in Chains" and "Audioslave..... "

Today, it is WA Mozart's " Requiem Mass  in D minor." ( Lacrimosa)   

Yeah, today pretending I am someone. 

It has gotten to the point, once again, a large number of people are " peeping" and joining the blog's site on Facebook. People, well, I do not know.  

Caveat Emptor

This blog is not what you may think it is. 

I often swear.  

I may turn around the next blog and talk about faith. 

I am going to write something that will at some point step on your toes.  

I often use mind altering substances. I take " Happy Pills."  Anything to keep me out of pain....

I now have a cat, and not going to lie, still not sure how I feel about it. A dog person all my life, at age 68 a cat shows up, and he's my cat. He's on the rug watching me type.  So, if I talk about Fred, you'll know who he is....

I often refer to my wife as " St. Debbie" or "Debbie the Good." Had a class give her that nickname a number of years ago, and she to put up with my lunacy....Stick around you'll understand. 

I have a Chinese daughter in law, so don't get too hard on the Chinese. ( China, Hong Kong are amazing places. We went and were shocked at how modern the country was....) 

I don't blog every day and while I write on Buna and Jasper County matters, I am not above writing on anything and everything from economics to history, to theology, to whatever strikes my fancy.  

I am a bit of an Anglophile, and often write on the UK. We've been 4 times in recent years. I am fascinated with British History,  politics and may write on British politics.

Yes, I call my " alter-ego" Govteach because I was a government teacher for many years. I find I have to include that because there are people who do not know my background.  

Welcome to the blog, and as I have written, I am working on a podcast sometime in 2026. It's going slower than first expected..... 

 

 

Buna ISD Story..... The First Amendment.

 As many of you know, especially those of you who took my class know, I am an absolutist on the Bill of Rights, especially the  First and Second Amendments. 

Look, I had a radio show, I write this publication on a regular basis. I am working on a podcast....

And again, if you took my class, you know I am an absolutist on Amendment 2. I still want a fully-auto German MG42 or a British Vickers.....

This story comes from a reader of the blog, who felt that they needed to share with me. 

Allegedly, they received a call from a local law enforcement officer(LEO) to stop posting on social media concerning school district leadership. That it was....

 " Against the law." 

It somehow was " harassment?  "

What the cornbread ??????

Look, I am a " Public Personality"( Public Figure) writing this blog.  You should get some of the stuff I receive. I even have people write me and tell me I am "Going to Hell" because of my religious beliefs.  I generally write them back and say, " See you down there."

It bothered me at first, but it got to where, I just ignored it and went on.... It's just part of writing the blog. I fully expect it when I start the podcast. Ain't no telling what people will say.....And I know this. 

When you take a job on the taxpayer teat, well, you are subject to criticism. This triply  applies if you are in a school or any government leadership position. 

When Harry Truman was President of the US, one of his sayings was ...."If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." 

In other words, can't stand the criticism that goes with the position YOU accepted, leave. Quit, go do something else. 

The patron, still pays Buna ISD taxes is my understanding who received the phone call from law enforcement, they of course were upset and went to LEO leadership and told them what happened and they( leadership) told them what they had written on social media was protected speech.  

If school leadership is using law enforcement to try and shut you up, that should scare the hell out of you..... 

I was about to recommend an attorney.  

So, my question is this, does the Buna ISD School Board know this was going on? If so, have they done anything about it? Or do they want that "pesky" Amendment 1 to go away?

My message to leadership? 

Toughen up. Grow some thick skin. What you going to do when something really bad happens? 

My understanding is board elections are later this year.  

Just saying..... 

 

  

Yeah, I Didn't Know Either......

 The Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy start this coming Friday....

Yeah, I did not know either....

I noticed the other day that NBC Sports Channel now has 3 channels on YouTube TV.  

I cannot tell you the last time I watch ANY Olympic Games.....Summer or Winter.....

While in recent years, we have actually seem snow, to us, ice is something we normally put in a Coca-Cola or Dr Pepper, perhaps sweet tea, in July in an attempt to cool down. 

So, while I MIGHT watch some Olympic hockey, I doubt I want the so-called games which are in 2026, professional athletes trying to win gold medals for their own ego.....Or whatever?

 

 

Again, I Hate to Go Here......I May Need a Second Blog? Teachers, You May Be Concerned.....

 Well, it is hitting the Texas economy. 

Dow Chemical is looking to lay-off 4500 people here in Texas. 

If Dow is going there, how far behind is Exxon-Mobil, Valero, Motiva, Chevron, Shell, etc?????? 

I know Lyon in Orange stopped operations. How many people will it be let-go at the Dow plants in our area? 

Again, and I know we all like paying lower prices for fuel, oil products, but in truth and you know this, Texas is still heavily reliant upon oil for the state to run all of its programs.  

And I notice that school districts around the country, lay-offs have started. Broward County in Florida, Sacramento Schools in California. Both very large districts in America. 

Makes you wonder, how long it will be before it comes to Jasper County districts? Quicker than you may know. Makes you wonder if they might have been better off saving that $2.5 million leftover cash for future hard times? 

But, I wasn't consulted. 

And if, I said "if" there are school lay-offs, that come to Buna Schools, and others, it won't be the first time it was caused by finances. 

Here are the lay-offs this week beside the 16,000 at Amazon and 4500 at Dow.....

Home Depot-850

UPS plans to cut 25 million working hours after the contract with Amazon ends. This will lay-off 30,000.

Nike-750

Pinetrest- 700 to 800 

Meta- 1500

Ericsson-1600

ASML- 1700 

Vimeo and Expedia announced cuts, but did not express numbers.  

This, is just this week......

I wonder when the "cats" in the Board Room will start asking, " Why is no one buying our product?"