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.... 

Just Dumber Than Sh*t.....

 Perhaps I am expecting too much? I did expect a good deal when many of you took my class, but this is on another level. 

 I got to talking to a recent person with a degree in history. 

They didn't know shit. 

Now, I know the areas of study have changed from when I was teaching, but this soul said, that many of their classes were covering Asia, particularly, China.  

50 years ago when I was in university( Sounding all British this morning) most of our classes were either American or European history.  So, in 2026, I expect that there has been an expansion of historical studies. 

And because I now have a daughter-in-law who is from the People's Republic, I have done some research on Chinese history. And trust me, I am far from an "expert" on the subject. 

They did not know shit about China. 

Basic stuff, like who was the European nation who controlled Hong Kong as a colony? ( Great Britain) Or a little harder, Macau? ( Portugal) 

They did not even know the capital of China. ( Beijing) 

Now, I have been to China, but I knew this shit as a youth, long before university.  

So, where did this recent graduate get their BA degree?

The University of Texas at Austin.... 

Texas WAS the school to study history in this state at one time.  Especially their PhD. Ralph Wooster, Paul Issac, Lamar professors, had their doctorate degrees from UT.  And many of you know what I think of Ralph Wooster, (he and Penrose St. Amant Church History prof at the seminary, he had 3 doctorates including one from the University of Edinburgh. ) were the most amazing teachers I ever had. 

And this person wants to teach high school...... 

What the actual cornbread fuck? 

Yes, working on a local blog, a source however has me holding off, and out of respect for them.....Well, may have to write it another way.....We will see.  

 

 

 

Wonderments......Just Wonder.....

 Been a little while since I have done one of these blogs on the economy......

I am wondering how many billions of dollars the winter storm we just had will cost? In just rebuilding the infrastructure in places will cost a pretty penny, and we got luck down here.  

The rice farmers in this country export most of their rice overseas and with tariffs, that market has shut. I read an article that Mississippi rice farmers were thinking about the rice they harvested this year just rot. 

BTW- The largest producer of rice in the US? Arkansas, followed by California.....

Amazon is to announce this week lay-offs of between 14,000-16,000 workers. 

Citi Group- 1,000.

Tyson Foods- 5,000

They are saying that on average, 258 workers at tech companies are being let go every day in 2026. 

My question is this, after all these people are replaced by AI, who is going to buy the products being produced? And I will continue asking that question. 

Watch the metal markets. They are going bonkers. 

Gold is right at $5100 an ounce-

Silver is right at $109 an ounce-

I hope you were not looking at buying any serious jewelry right now.  

Copper is at an all time high..... 

Natural gas prices are nuts right now, mostly due to the cold here in the South. And I use propane for certain items here at the Compound.  

With beef prices as they are, I looked at the profitability of turning the Farm into cattle production.  My luck, I'll get started and the market will drop like a rock. Plus, to seriously get anyone to work in that field for you anymore, well, ICE will ship them off. 

May write on something local later today. Let's see if it pans out. 

Stay warm folks. I see it will be pretty cold through the weekend.  

 

 

 

 

  

School Closed? Other Rants.....

 Going to be cold the next few days. 

And, when I saw that Liberty County schools had closed, I wondered how long it would be before Region 5 schools including Buna ISD closed......Well, they did and the thing is, it looks dry for Monday....Cold? Yes, and I don't know, we are closing because it is 19F.....

I don't know, I remember going to school and teaching in colder temps in the mornings.....Wet is another story....But dry? 

Kinda makes you wonder just what we are teaching Gen Z, Gen Alpha....Cold? Stay home, lay around,  and play Call of Duty or Madden and eat Campbell's chicken noodle soup? 

I know, a " Get off my grass" old man moment.....

Speaking of schools, I see Nederland ISD has already approved their calendar for 26-27......Seems early to me..... 

-Yeah, I have been not around. Certainly not written in a while...

Literally had a missionary going to Africa staying at the house. 

Had him for a week. 

Yep, after about 2 days, I was going, " I won't allow this again...." and " Man, I literally can't stand non-family at my house" And in many cases, it has to be certain family I even want here. 

Makes me wonder what circle of Dante's Hell I will wind up in because I was at that point, " It's time for you to get the Hell outta here man...." 

I got my bathroom back is all I could think yesterday afternoon when he left. .....

- College basketball is now allowing grown ass men who have signed pro contracts with the NBA with college eligibility play college ball again.....Come on, LeBron  James has 4 years left of eligibility to play college ball. When he retires, can he come back and play for UCLA or USC? 

-  I ordered C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. Have not read it in 45 years.....Maybe there is some redeeming to the read? It's only about 145 pages. I'll bang it out in 90 minutes.....

-  Stay warm the next week folks....