An automobile company of some note--it goes by Ford--has introduced a new pickup model. This normally wouldn't require editorial comment here, but the new F-Series Super Duty Limited is notable because of its price tag: It's gonna run you more than 100K.
A tricked-out number starts at $80,835, but if you want super-tricked, it'll ring up closer to $95,000. And you'll have to come up with tax, title and license, so go ahead and expect six figures.
What do you get for your money? A 360-degree camera system, a panoramic sunroof, two-toned Custom Camelback leather seats, a microsuede headliner (whatever that is), and a 6.7-liter diesel engine.
Just in time for deer season! But be careful when driving through the thicket trails. Wouldn't want to scratch this one.
• There he goes again. This time Bill Clinton had his picture in Arkansas' Newspaper hugging the aging veterans of the truly heroic Little Rock Nine who'd made real history and real sacrifices during the Little Rock Crisis of 1957 six decades ago.
Don't be fooled. It wasn't until Bill Clinton was safely out of the governor's office that this state passed a Civil Rights Act of its own. So let this coming, innocent generation of Arkansans be warned: Don't trust preening politicians who wait till the dust has settled before taking a stand for what now appears to be have been the right side of history.
• When the national anthem began the other night at a football game in central Arkansas, a high school game on a local field, we couldn't resist the temptation to look around in the stands. Just to see.
The people were as diverse as ever. Young and old, male and female, black and white, home and visitors.
Every person stood. Every person put hand over chest, or else were former military and saluted. Not a single person in all the stands sat or knelt.
Who says NFL players set an example for everybody?
• The nomination and then confirmation of Cody Hiland to the U.S. attorney's post for the Eastern District of Arkansas was remarkable. That is, somebody should remark:
The vote in the United States Senate was 100 to zero. Unanimous consent. Who says there isn't bipartisanship in Washington, D.C.? Especially when there's a slam-dunk nominee like Cody Hiland.
• The North Koreans have recently demanded recognition as a nuclear power. They've recently demanded this country surrender to them. (How? Why?) And this summer it demanded that the president of the United States "kneel" down "before its army and people" and beg for mercy and forgiveness. Which seems unlikely to happen.
North Korea wants a lot. It wants to keep its nukes and improve the capability of delivering them. It wants a guarantee by the United States that it won't launch any attempts to overthrow its government. It wants all U.S. troops removed from South Korea, which might be the best guarantee of a second invasion from the North.
It also wants the world to lift sanctions on the hermit kingdom, to fall for its nuclear blackmail once yet again.
Which reminds us of a lesson from Kipling:
It is always a temptation to an armed
and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say:
"We invaded you last night,
we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking
for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em
the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich
and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:
"Though we know we should defeat you,
we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash
to go away."
And that is called paying
the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him
the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
Editorial on 10/02/2017