The QT: Donald Trump's political flirtations, Obama's Keystone indecision, and more

News Headline: "Trump's Iowa trip sparks speculation on presidential bid"

You can be forgiven if you greet the news with disbelief.

Then will come anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

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News Headline: "Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act"

And the court doesn't want to hear a lot of whining.

Who do these would-be voters think they are, corporations?

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The Case for Zero Tolerance of Modern School Administrators:

A primary school in Aveley, England, will ban parents from a children's sports day because the presence of onlookers might prove "stressful" for the children.

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News Headline: "Pelosi booed for defending NSA surveillance"

Yet another overreaction to scare talk about a surveillance society.

And do the people who booed realize how it will look in their dossiers?

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+ G.K., a Channahon, Ill., reader, regarding Kim Kardashian and Kanye West naming their baby girl North, writes:

"Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt should name their next child Gravel."

+ Mike Oelrich, a Chicago reader, writes:

"Should NeNe Leakes have named her son Wiki?"

Stop it.

Stop it now.

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News Headline: "Obama hints at Keystone approval"

News Headline: "Obama hints that Keystone XL may be rejected"

Say this about our president: Like him or not, you know where he stands.

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News Item: "Beijing police have recently started cracking down on a prohibition against 'large and vicious dogs' — a ban that includes breeds such as golden retrievers, Labradors, and Dalmatians."

Not a surprise from a government that likes to keep 1.3 billion humans in a sit-stay.

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News Headline: "Man found running naked, screaming"

As reasonable response as any to the news of the day.

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QT Grammar R Us Seminar on the English Language:

Bob Crystal, a Rochester, N.Y., reader, regarding another reader's mention that Roman Catholic bishops often put a + in front of their names, writes:

"Episcopalians also indicate ordination with a + added to the name, and we do it with women, too."

QT has been talking with church officials.

It comes down to this:

Roman Catholics bishops may put a + in front of their names, while Episcopalians put a + after a name as a sign of ordination and a + in front of a name for bishops, while presiding bishops rate a ++ before their names.

Q+T will take all this under advisement.

There is always a "the" in front of Rev., as in the Rev. John Jones, by the way.

Just as there is always a "the" in front of the Mahatma Gandhi.

While we are at it.

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Write to QT at zaysmith.qt@gmail.com

QT appears Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.