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?"   

I know I am Going to Sound Like an Elitest Overeducated Fool......Concerning Public Schools....And Yes, it Includes Buna.....

 I reading things that don't make a lot of sense to me concerning public school, and it isn't just Buna, or Kirbyville, or Vidor, or the rich folks over in Lumberton or down in PNG. 

Right now, no one is happy . 

Well, let me rephrase that.....

A lot of people are unhappy with their schools, the district in which they reside. ( Of course there are people who pleased with their ISD. There always will be people pleased.)

But more people are just , well, they have had it with schools. 

And it is more than you know. 

A lot of it is school taxes and why it costs so much to fund the school and look at the product they are receiving. 

I know a lot of people were beyond upset at the TEA score that Buna ISD received this past school year, and again, are questioning, just what are we paying for, both in academics and athletics. 

And a lot of people are asking, just what do some of these people do at the distinct?  " I understand teaching history, or math, or English......But some of these extra teachers, that don't even see kids?"  And that is how it was described to me. 

I know some people are upset with the extra-curricular activities and are moving their kids out of schools, including Buna.  

Perhaps the biggest complain I get is that the schools are they just don't like "us" at the school district.  So, we are moving.....

Rarely , if ever,  do I heard complaints about the school is " Too rigorous."  

Those of you who took gov/eco from 93-11 at Buna understood a little academic rigor. And I had been at schools before where I was the " easy teacher" especially concerning so called " Honors " or even AP classes.  ( I taught an AP European History class that the kids read their eye-balls out.)

I don't know, there is an anti-intellectual movement going on right now. 

And I know everyone in my family has all this education and well, I look at things a little differently. 

Yeah, I know, college is not for everyone, and the cost ratio of colleges, well, they make no sense whatsoever. 

But, there will be a need for college educated folks, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc......And the problem is, so many folks take foundational K-12 educated for granted. It is like we are all concerned about everything else but the actual classroom.

Don't get me wrong, extra-curricular are important, but for some of you,  it is the be all. Too hell with that classroom nonsense. 

This element has always been there, but somehow, it seems to be getting worse.  

Public school is America is at a crossroad. Right now 33% of new teachers in Texas quit their first 3 years. There is a large number of older teachers about to retire, and no one is really training to replace them, and the teachers who left, well, they are are not coming back. 

Just something to think about this morning.....  

 

 

 

 

Having a Hard Time Writing on BISD, So You'll Get This Slop......

 -I am in the process of writing a blog on Buna ISD.........But my creative juices just ain't working right. So, here is today's blog.....I have already written the blog 4 times and once I was up to about 1700 words. Too wordy for this blog, and so I've started again 4 times now and in my opinion, they all were not what I wanted to convey. 

I am trying to throw a fit and well, it just isn't coming out like I want.....Stay tuned, I'll eventually get it written..... 

-Look for their to be a strike on Iran very soon. I know I've been saying this, but everything just wasn't in alignment and taking a while to move stuff literally around the globe. 

-Saw a guy complaining about why water fountains are always by the bathroom in public areas> This was a a Gen Z person........Have they not thought, that is where they ran the water lines? ( Same principal in England, Scotland. The washing machines " across the pond" are always in the kitchen. This is because many houses were built before they had washers, clothes were washed at laundries or by hand, and rather than run a new water line, they just put the washer in the kitchen....Yeah, we had to find out too......Also, to use an electrical plug, you generally have to flip a switch to turn it on....)

"Okay you learned something, you can go to bed tonight " as my old father said.....

-I heard a Yankee use the phrase " Fixin' to" I use that phrase at least once a day, after I heard them use it, I sort of wanted to stop....

- Those "Happy Pills" are doing a number on me. I was singing show tunes yesterday......If anyone had been here, they would have questioned my sexuality. And in truth, I really don't care.....

-I saw the Drudge Report this morning was talking about UBI ( Universal Basic Income) and it already supporting people involved in the arts in Ireland and Scotland. 

I am going to tell you, at some point in many of you younger readers lives, that will exist. Specially if AI/Robots come into being like they are predicting.   

They are even talking about giving UBI to people with jobs, as an incentive to keep their position. 

Again, who is going to buy product if no one has money? 

- Do I need to write a blog warning people that the blog often has bad words? I upset someone the other day with my salty language. Or can I just stop writing warning on the Facebook posts? I assume most of you know there is a given " Buyer beware" when you read the blog....Also, because I never really write on Beaumont ISD, and when I do I write Beaumont ISD.....I think I will start using BISD hence forth when discussing Buna Schools. 

 - They are already talking about a Ft. Sumter moment happening in America, possibly this coming Summer start off a 2nd civil war.....Ft. Sumter in in Charleston, SC. It is where the Civil War started. I've never been to Charleston and not sure why I've not. I really want to visit the only Huguenot Church in America. French Calvinists, most Huguenots assimilated and became Presbyterians in this country. 

I don't know, I just feel we are at some sort of breaking point, and when it does, no one will be immune. Things just are no longer right....And the future looks spooky. And in truth, it is worldwide.  

- Okay, let me think about how I am going to write the intended blog as mentioned above......Maybe I can write it where I like it?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Results Are In.....

And all of a sudden the " Happy Pills" the doctor prescribed for me three weeks ago kicked in....

In the last 24 hours two events occurred pretty much at the same time in the past, I would have handled, but with stress. I have handled both, and in truth, did not get too upset and in the end, I had a " Don't Give a Good Shit" reaction.  

I could not have taught you with these anti-depressants. 

I couldn't have been the " Mr. Thomas" you all encountered when I was teaching Gov/Eco.....I would have sucked....Sucked bad....

I've found myself listening to a lot of Grateful Dead.....Yeah, they got off tune, all pretty much same key, but good, I don't care music....

Here is the  trouble, I need to write a blog on the local district, but can't get stirred up to do it.....

Not sure if that's good or bad?  

I go to the doctor next week. I'll talk to him then....