Pen-pricks

• The Cowboy Hall of Fame is planning events for its 60th anniversary on Persimmon Hill in Oklahoma City. What an era in America. However, it recently occurred to me that the Wild West would’ve been a lot less violent if the cowboy architects had made the towns big enough for everybody.

• President Trump nominated cybersecurity expert Kirsten Nielsen to be his Homeland Security Secretary. The post was vacant over a month and it showed. In response to the recent outbreak of Bird Flu overseas, President Trump just banned all immigrants from the Canary Islands.

• Senate Republicans negotiated options to Obamacare with each other while President Trump threatened to negotiate with Democrats in order to reduce health care costs. As it’s turned out, Obamacare gives you a choice in your health care coverage. You can sell your house or buy the farm.

• The Pentagon budget request to Congress includes funding for U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. We just love to fight. If you don’t think the world tells America jokes, we are a country that produces citizens who’ll cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won’t cross the street to vote.

• Senate Democrats and anti-gun advocates debated furiously with NRA spokespeople and GOP lawmakers on cable news over anti-gun legislation. Their premise is, if we make guns illegal, nobody will get shot anymore. That’s how we stopped everybody from doing drugs.

• Hillary Clinton made the talk show rounds last week plugging her book “What Happened” and claiming in interview after interview that sexism played a big role in her defeat. It’s everywhere. Women were just allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, a year after cars were allowed to drive themselves.