I’ve decided to begin a new weekly review of inane things I read and hear about in newspapers and on TV. I’ve named the endeavor, “Stupid Things In The News.”

Every day there are a few stories that have me scratching my head. The crazy things our leaders and other Americans do are too bizarre not to showcase.

Here are the items for this week:

-Congressional leaders are battling with each other over a painting by an 18-year old African American boy from Missouri. His work is being exhibited in the Capitol Building. A black congressman representing his state sponsored it.

To make a long story short, the picture was being criticized as being offensive towards police officers because the artist portrayed a police officer as a pig.

Another congressman took the picture down and brought it to the sponsoring congressman’s office, who in turn re-hung the picture. This has occurred several times. Some expect the antagonists will eventually have a physical confrontation, or maybe a duel with pistols.

The sponsoring congressman thinks the painting should not be censored, and it is protected by the right of free speech.

The dissenting congressman says the picture is offensive towards our brave first responders. He doesn’t think his actions are violating the artist’s rights by insisting it not be displayed in this venue.

Monstrous issues are at stake, freedom of speech, censorship, artistic interpretation, etc. Yet, it seems to some that art that is offensive to anybody should not be exhibited in a government facility. Would Congress allow paintings by the controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe to be exhibited at the Capitol? I doubt it.

I have a great idea. Why don’t these lawmakers spend more time worrying about national security and health care?

-Soon to be ex-president Obama is still trying to convince the world that he is a great leader and did many things to improve our lives over the last eight years. This wouldn’t be so bad if the Obamas were planning to move away from Washington once and for all, but they are not. We will be hearing from Obama on many issues prospectively.

A large number of Americans have had it with the president’s obsession with his legacy. As stated in a recent piece I wrote on this blog, Obama’s principle legacy is that he was not capable of governing a true democracy.

-Jeff Sessions is currently being vetted by the Senate Judiciary Committee as nominee for Secretary of State. The process is totally bogus because several of the members of the committee have served along side of Sessions for as many as 20 years. They know he is intelligent. They know he’s an honest and hard working person. They know he is not a bigot. They know he prosecuted and put to death a Klu Klux Klan member who murdered a black person. Why waste time with a long process when all the facts are already obvious? Sessions should be confirmed with a voice vote.

-North Korea has indicated that it will test an intercontinental ballistic missile in the near future. The crazy person that rules the country wants the U.S. to know that soon he will be able to attack our homeland (Hawaii). The idiocy is that Kim Jong-un is daring the U.S. to act, which we should do with or without concurrence from China. The question is whether American leaders have the courage to stop this maniac before he actually uses a weapon of mass destruction.

-Meryl Streep thinks she’s a diplomat. Actually all she does is memorize lines written by others and repeats them in front of a camera for millions of dollars.

I stipulate she’s a great actress whom I admire. But why would any American give a crap about her political commentary, which she delivered at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony earlier this week? Similarly most voters didn’t care what Jay Z, Beyonce, Springsteen, Chance the Rapper, Katy Perry, or Bon Jovi had to say about Donald Trump. By the way I’m not refuting the fact that the president-elect is a tad eccentric.

Let me know what you think about this new initiative. Also if you want me to address something you believe is stupid, let me know.