Here are my observations on items in the news.

YOU CAN FOOL SOME PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME – Especially if they watch the fake news network MSNBC. Get this … MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” tried to fool viewers into thinking Friday’s pre-taped show was live and hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski even discussed their Thanksgiving meals though the holiday hadn’t occurred yet when they taped the show. Brzezinski opened the show by saying, “Day after Thanksgiving … I’m stuffed,” as Scarborough nervously laughed.

While all of the networks program reruns or pre-tape programs for airing over the holiday, MSNBC carried it too far as it deceived its viewers into believing the high-paid hosts would come to work in the early morning hours following the holiday.

Brzezinski even joked about forgetting to remove the bag of innards before cooking the turkey, while Scarborough remarked about the football game making up for it. And both hosts continued the scam by asking guests about their holiday as the subtle “live” graphic was missing from the screen.

REMEMBER THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE? – Anti-Trumpers would prefer that you didn’t, because its approval by President Trump in March represents another campaign promise kept.

The good news is that the Nebraska Public Service Commission voted to allow TransCanada to continue the pipeline across a small portion of the state. That, of course, is the first step as they must now negotiate with property owners and face further attempts by environmental wackos to further delay the project.

They’ll surely use the 5,000-gallon South Dakota spill in their propaganda, even though it was isolated within 15 minutes. More than 1.5 billion barrels of oil have been delivered safely since its opening in 2010. And moving oil by pipeline is considered much safer than movement by rail or tanker truck.

Federal and state governments have deemed occasional spills as an acceptable risk, given the enormous economic benefits, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. “Keystone XL amounts to a shovel-ready, $8 billion investment in American infrastructure – without taxpayer money,” the Journal states, adding editorially that “Unfounded pipeline alarmism has stymied this project for years, and it would be a pity if such dishonest tactics succeeded again.”

TRUMP’S FEDERAL JUDICIARY APPOINTMENTS – President Trump will add twice as many lifetime members to the federal judiciary in the next 12 months (650) as Barack Obama named in eight years. “American law will never be the same,” writes popular blogger Don Surber. No more legislating from the bench. How many times have Clinton or Obama-appointed judges interfered with Trump’s immigration measures? Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can be credited with moving the approvals through the aging Senate process.

MARK CUBAN REVISITED – In my October 22, 2017 blog, “No to Cuban,” I wrote of his decision to run for president of the United States “If I felt I had solutions to offer,” as if President Trump didn’t propose solutions on a wide-range of issues while running for the highest office.

After witnessing the obstruction President Trump has faced as an outsider, I believe it would be even worse under Cuban, whose brashness top’s Trump’s.

My decision to revisit Cuban came this week, when the Fox Business Channel carried a quote that reminded me of his lack of business acumen. As election day neared, Cuban stated that he believed a Donald Trump victory would be a big loss for everyone with money in the stock market, adding “I can say with 100 percent certainty that there is a really good chance we could see a huge, huge correction.

It reminds me of Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman’s warning in The New York Times that, “The economic fallout of a Donald Trump presidency will probably be severe and widespread enough to plunge the world into recession.”

TALK ABOUT SCROOGE AND THE GRINCH – Phoenix resident Lee Sepanek and his wife have decorated their home with some 250,000 lights for the past 30 years. It has been Lee’s hobby that begins with preparation in October, working nine to ten hours a day until finished. The Sepanek’s home has been a “must see” every Christmas.

This October city staff from the Neighborhood Services and Street Transportation departments called for a meeting to see if neighborhood complaints could be alleviated. There was the traffic situation. Could the Sepanek’s hire five or six people to direct traffic? They could not sell cocoa and cookies without a license, but they couldn’t give them away either.

The 66-year-old Sepanek was so disheartened by the experience that he decided his home would be dark this year. Now, get this … Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sgt. Vince Lewis said that the police received a total of two complaints about the Sepanek home in the past five years and there were no outstanding safety concerns.

Sepanek is helping neighbors with their lighting projects.

RETIRED AIR FORCE SERGEANT SPEAKS OUT – George Roof, who attained the highest enlisted man’s rank in the United States Air Force – Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force – has written his thoughts on presidents beginning with Lyndon Johnson in a piece being circulated in the Internet.

I found his remarks directed at Congress quite pointed:

“For staunch Republicans, don’t gloat so much yourselves. You’ve been put on notice by the American people that we’re fed-up with all you bastards and if you don’t start putting America first, you do so at your own peril. This election was pure unadulterated American. Hillary got beaten and American won this election. You can claim he’s (Trump) not your president all you want, but unless you forfeit your American citizenship … yes he is!”