In retaliation for Trump’s placing a travel ban on Muslims from several different countries in the Middle East, the Ayatollah has retaliated by banning Americans from entering Iran. Talk about win-win, Trump not only managed to keep a bunch of potential jihadists out of the U.S., but found a way to cut off Iran’s easy access to American hostages.

Although it pretty much went unnoticed midst all the big stuff that Trump managed to do during his first week on the job, I was delighted to see that he brought the bust of Winston Churchill back to the Oval Office from wherever Obama had exiled it.

Unlike his predecessor, who seemed to take delight in embracing America’s enemies, Trump has wasted no time in assuring us and our allies that he can tell the difference between friends and foes, and very much favors the former.

---

In case anyone was wondering if things would change now that there is a new sheriff in town, Trump is already changing the legal system for the better. For the past eight years, whenever the mobs ran wild in our streets, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder or Loretta Lynch would blame the cops and use it as an excuse to place various police departments under the direct supervision of the Justice Department; at most, the street rabble would get their wrists slapped, and then successfully sue the city over the slapping.

But in the wake of the Inauguration Day violence, the 200-odd cretins who were arrested for running wild, breaking windows and burning cars, during which six police officers were injured, have been charged with felony rioting and could face 10-year prison terms and $25,000 fines.

Although I can’t say that Trump played any active role in this belated return to sanity, I’m willing to wager that the prosecutor felt he could go ahead with these draconian measures with the full knowledge that the President would have his back.

---

Having said that, I am not so delusional as to believe that even now there is equal justice for all in America. Anyone who thinks otherwise apparently hasn’t noticed that Jane Fonda and Hillary Clinton are still walking around free, and that Bradley/Chelsea Manning will soon be joining them.

---

Some folks are still reeling over the fact that Donald Trump apparently told Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto to go suck eggs after Nieto insisted that his country would never pay for the wall. Frankly, after eight years of a president who only had the guts to stand up to Israel, it’s a relief to have someone in the Oval Ofice who isn’t embarrassed by America’s strength, wealth and history.

If Nieto doesn’t like it, he can always take out his frustration by whacking the hell out of a piñata. Trump understands that other countries don’t have to love us, they have to respect us, fear us and trust us, three things they haven’t done in a very long time.

---

I recently saw data that compared where we were when Barack Obama took office and when he left. Even for someone who hated every minute of the eight years, the comparisons were shocking.

For instance, in January, 2009, our national debt stood at $10.6 trillion; in January, 2017, it was $20 trillion. Labor participation was 65.8%, it’s now 62.8%. Home ownership was 67.3%; now it’s 63.5%. The average annual cost of health insurance for a family was $12,680; thanks to the whimsically titled Affordable Care Act, it now stands at $18,142.

Eight years ago, there were 32 million people dependent on food stamps; today, we’re feeding 11.6 million more mouths. Back then, there were 38 million Americans living in poverty, now there are 45 million.

And, yet, the man who had the most to do with bringing about the current sad state of affairs said, just prior to flying off to vacation in Hawaii: “The American people are much better off today than before I took office.”

If someone other than Barack Obama had said something so obviously delusional, his friends and relatives would hold an intervention and discuss the possibility of having him committed for his own safety.

---

In yet one more college sports scandal, 31 current and former Baylor football players have been named in a lawsuit accusing them of having taken part in 52 rapes, including gang rapes, of Baylor coeds, that the coaches and college administrators attempted to cover up.

I have no way of knowing the facts, which doesn’t preclude my suspicions, based on what I know about the corrupt nature of college athletics and craven college administrators.

But in this instance, something aside from the criminal violence caught my attention. It seems that two of the Baylor players whose names have gone public are Shamycheal Chatman and Tre'von Armstead. Understand, I am only asking, but what is it with blacks and those absurd first names?

Wouldn’t it be advisable for hospitals to have counseling centers where expectant mothers could be talked into selecting names that have previously existed in the real world?

Really, what possesses a woman to stick a label like Shamycheal on a newborn baby who’s done nothing to her? Did she just pick random letters out of a hat?

And what message exactly do black parents imagine they’re conveying when they stick apostrophes in the middle of names?

---

Speaking of black people, years ago, a black reporter for the NY Times wrote a wonderful article in which he stated that as horrible as slavery was, he was grateful that as a result of it, he was lucky enough to have been born in America.

I, the son of Russian immigrants, have always understood how lucky I was that two sets of grandparents decided to come to this country, thus saving me from the one-two punch of Stalin and Hitler. What I fail to understand is why every black American, who would otherwise be back in Africa, dealing with famine, drought and hungry lions, isn’t equally grateful.

Another thing for which I am eternally grateful is that my parents didn’t name me Bur'ton.