The QT: Congress returns from vacation, Obama shills for broccoli, and more

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

By Zay N. Smith

last updated 8 January 2015

News Headline:"Recess is not a vacation for Congress"

But Congress is back in session this week.

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News Headline:"Mexico surpasses U.S. as world's fattest nation"

QT has done some research here.

It would take 3,439,040 exercise treadmills placed side-to-side to create a deterrence along the entire border.

This could be accomplished for less than $690 million.

Which is cheaper than all the proposed fences.

And approximately as effective.

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News Headline: "Is Obama losing the public's trust?"

News Headline:"Obama claims broccoli is his favorite food."

Bad timing, Mr. President.

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QT Trickle-On Economics Update:

CEOs of major U.S. companies made 273 times what their workers made in 2012, up from 20 times what their workers made in 1965.

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Modern Education + the Criminal Mind =

A man who broke into a house during a recent morning in Willoughby, Ohio, told police they had no right to arrest him because the crime of burglary can happen only at night.

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News Item:"Bangladesh's exports rose 16.3 percent in June to $2.7 billion on the year...as the low-cost country retains its allure for cost-crunching global retailers despite deadly incidents..."

Nothing more alluring than sweatshops on fire.

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News Headline:"Cockatoo stuns scientists by picking a lock"

Do our scientists stun too easily?

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QT Grammar R Us Seminar on the English Language:

News Headline:"Eliot Spitzer running for New York City comptroller"

L.S., a New York City reader, writes:

"I'm still waiting for the first TV news reader who understands that 'comptroller' should be pronounced the same as 'controller.' "

QT will wait with you.

Write to QT at zaysmith.qt@gmail.com

QT appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Zay N. Smith is a Chicago writer. Before starting the QT column he worked at the Chicago Sun-Times as a reporter, foreign correspondent and writer of major features. He has also worked as a bartender, having played a key role in the 1978 Mirage Tavern investigation, in which the newspaper operated an undercover bar to document the breaking of many laws by many officials.