{"id":5277,"date":"2015-12-08T22:24:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T04:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=5277"},"modified":"2016-02-02T14:07:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T20:07:37","slug":"barbershop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/12\/barbershop\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Barbershop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shy of a Load<\/h2>\n

\"IllustrationIt’s December, and for a month\u00a0I’ve avoided writing about the state of national politics. Other blog-columnists\u00a0are doing a good\u00a0job. I’d do fine, but I have nothing to add that’s different.<\/p>\n

Until today?<\/p>\n

Yes, as it’s not me opining. This is reporting.<\/p>\n

I was at my barber’s this morning. He and I were talking about the latest pronouncement<\/a> of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, that as president he’d prevent all foreign Muslims from entering the United States.<\/p>\n

The next customer for\u00a0the barber’s chair had this to day:<\/p>\n

“I don’t like him, but I’d rather see a man like Trump as president than a woman like Hillary.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pulling down\u00a0a stranger’s comment\u00a0like this should be unusual, as I ought to\u00a0be quoting\u00a0my barber of 15 or so years. I have never done so, as he’s been a very good guy to me and it would violate my being a civilian in his chair. Otherwise, I’d quote him often. He’s eager\u00a0to be nonstop outrageous except when he’s spot-on common-sense or clever.<\/p>\n

On hearing\u00a0this guy’s\u00a0statement,\u00a0Eric<\/a> just looked at me with the corner of his left eye and sighed. I was leaving, and he was escorting the fellow to the shampoo sink. The guy was casually dressed in flannel and jeans, but better quality materials. There was a little gray among his sandy locks. He looked to be\u00a0in his 40s.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

My Facebook friends cover the gamut of my life, from grade school through senior year, college friends, Texas and Little Rock friends, and Northwest Arkansas friends. Also there are\u00a0columnists from everywhere. They’re all over the map politically, economically and spiritually. None<\/em> has said on Facebook he or she is supporting Trump.<\/p>\n

Some of them must<\/em> be: The mogul’s the front-runner for the conservatives. Is this sample\u00a0uncomfortable to be out\u00a0on Donald?<\/p>\n

With this Shy of a Load series, I normally have several briefs linking\u00a0to background\u00a0stories, separated by dot-dot-dots, on the Web. Today, this soon-to-be barbered fellow just might be speaking for all those who incredibly support Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

It’s clarifying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shy of a Load It’s December, and for a month\u00a0I’ve avoided writing about the state of national politics. Other blog-columnists\u00a0are doing a good\u00a0job. I’d do fine, but I have nothing to add that’s different. Until today? Yes, as it’s not me opining. This is reporting. I was at my barber’s this morning. He and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-items"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5259,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/11\/meta-trump\/","url_meta":{"origin":5277,"position":0},"title":"Never Meta Trump Like This","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Shy of a Load The Nov. 8 Saturday Night Live, hosted by magnate Donald Trump, was more significant than hilarious, although it was lots funnier than most\u00a0weekend pundits claim. A scan of\u00a0website headlines shows mine\u00a0is a minority view. I have not read their texts yet to prevent their influencing mine.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shy of a Load"","block_context":{"text":"Shy of a Load","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/items\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Saturday Night Live\" logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Saturday-Night-Live-logo-459x309-300x202.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5148,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/08\/coachs-wisdom-paint-dump-trump\/","url_meta":{"origin":5277,"position":1},"title":"Coach’s Wisdom, Paint Dump, Rhymes with Trump","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Shy of a Load I haven't thought of Coach Jim Rowland in ages, but apparently he's still there, now athletic director for Fort Smith, Arkansas, Public Schools.\u00a0 His address to the School Board there Monday the 24th inspired the editorial \"That Is All\" in The City Wire regional news website.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shy of a Load"","block_context":{"text":"Shy of a Load","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/items\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Contractor cleaned latex paint off brushes in front garden bed, formerly organic, Aug. 24, 2015.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Paint-in-bed-1000x750-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5700,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2017\/06\/trump-djt-digit-emollient-clause\/","url_meta":{"origin":5277,"position":2},"title":"DJT (Say Digit) Smooths on Emollient Clause","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Being acrimonious about acronyms is a worthy goal. Presidents used to be known by abbreviations. Now there are calls for the new president's term to be abbreviated by impeachment or the 25th Amendment. My suggestion as a longtime editor would be shorten by language. Now having worked\u00a0a year in academia,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shy of a Load"","block_context":{"text":"Shy of a Load","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/items\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Graphic of lotion pump bottle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/lotion-open-clip-art-800px.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5224,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/09\/biden-fox-geo-adjunct\/","url_meta":{"origin":5277,"position":3},"title":"Biden Exeunts, Fox Guards the Geo House","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Shy of a Load Joe Biden appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, in the show's debut week. Most\u00a0main media reports and commentaries seemed to agree this morning that the vice president\u00a0was favoring not running for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, but that his decision was not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shy of a Load"","block_context":{"text":"Shy of a Load","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/items\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Seal of the Vice President of the United States","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vice-President-Seal-800x800-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6453,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/01\/thats-what-he-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":5277,"position":4},"title":"That’s What He Is, All Right","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Official White House photos of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence From Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, to Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, neither spoken nor written have I ever used the phrase President Trump or any variation. That is I did not adjoin the word \"president\" and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8126,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2025\/08\/deconstruction-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":5277,"position":5},"title":"The Deconstruction Era","author":"Ben S. 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