I cannot help but wonder how many people in this country can be taken in by the buffoons in charge of the Republican presidential candidates’ ship of fools.

Let me be clear (oh, oh, there’s that Bernie Sanders quote burned into my system): The extremist candidates ― Trump, Cruz, Christie and Rubio, and to a lesser extent Carson ― have more supporters (as shown by polls) than I would ever have thought possible.

John Kasich and Lindsey Graham, who has since dropped out, share a reasonable approach to government but have garnered little support. Graham’s weak point is his hawkish stand. Kasich’s weakness (from the Republican standpoint) is his common-sense, proven approach to government.

Whether or not you like Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, you have to admit that just like Kasich, they stick to things that matter to this country. For the most part, they have not participated in the childish name-calling and the one-upsmanship occurring on the sinking ship of fools.

Now, lest you think I’m being unfair to the candidates I don’t admire, let’s look at the accomplishments of a politician I do admire and respect: Barack Obama, president of the United States and all the people who live therein. I’m concentrating on recent accomplishments here ― the very achievements that basically torpedo that leaking ship I’ve been referring to.

Iran: While delivering his State of the Union, the President made no mention of the Iran boat drama that was playing out even as he spoke.

* Donald Trump was tweeting, “We want our prisoners back now.” Unknown to the captain of the Clown Ship, they had been released.

* Dr. Carson tweeted, instead of complaining about global warming, “10 Americans are being held in custody.” Wrong again. They’d been released.

* Jeb Bush, who has taken over his brother’s title as the least intelligent of the Bush children, tweeted, “If our sailors aren’t coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obama’s humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again.” Yup, it sure was. The prisoners had already been released when he spouted off.

* What of Ted Cruz? Not to be outdone, this Canadian wannabe president said, “Our prayers right now are with the sailors and with the families of the sailors,” Cruz told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday night. “I think what the president should say is that the sailors are coming home and they’re coming home right now.”

Cruz continued: “Now, I don’t know that he will say that, and the fact that Iran feels emboldened enough to capture two U.S. Navy ships and to take 10 sailors into custody is really a demonstration of the unbelievable weakness of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. We have a commander-in-chief where the bad actors of the world have learned that he will not stand up to them. Remember, this is the same Barack Obama who is trying to send Iran $150 billion.

Cruz concluded, “When you follow the path of appeasement, it only emboldens the bad actors, and our prayers are that these sailors are released and they’re released quickly.” The sailors had already been released.

* Marco Rubio linked Tehran’s move to the nuclear arms agreement, which could be implemented as early as this week, and pledged to revoke it, should he be elected to the White House this year.”You’re only seeing this accelerate since the deal was signed with Iran,” he told Brett Baier, who, of course, is on Fox News. “They’ll use that money to build up their conventional capability, including their navy, to continue to build their long-range missiles, to sponsor terrorism.”

Now, what none of these contenders tell you is that the “billions” being released to Iran, which they theoretically plan to use to blow us up, is in fact their own assets that we and our allies tied up. It does not constitute cash, but other assets which, when released, will allow Iran to pay its bills and try to rebuild its economy.

The young people of Iran are pro-Western. This helps them and their cause.

What our American Cossacks don’t tell you is that the Iran deal they claim is so bad was actually a work of diplomatic art. The Iranians didn’t ship some their fusion materials to Russia; they shipped all of them. Then the whiners complain that they didn’t send them to us. Perhaps we should remind them that Russia is considerably closer to the militant leaders of Iran than we are. It figures that they would send the material there rather than to the decidedly unfriendly U.S.

To top off that shipment, Iran filled in it nuclear reactors with concrete.

So consider this: When you have no nuclear reactors, and you send your stock of fusion materials out of country, you no longer have the means to create weapons of mass destruction.

And the ship of fools thinks this is a bad thing.

We have too many wannabe presidents who think nothing of wanting to send other peoples children off to war. When war is necessary, it should be declared … and then we should go all out or don’t go. Yet the ship of fools won’t even support a vote on a war resolution.

Our president just demonstrated that diplomacy is much better than war. All parties save face. No one is hurt. Now, if his critics would just accept this as fact, we’d all be better off. The greatest military in the world stands behind our president. Our enemies know it. The results show.

Guns in America This subject is so exploited, and apparently gun owners are so gullible, that the NRA wins this debate too often. Sooner or later, the American people will wake up and finally note that we kill more of our own with guns than any terrorist group anywhere in the world.

Gang members kill each other and innocent bystanders. Parents with no gun knowledge still own guns ― and accidentally kill each other and their children. States with strict gun laws get nowhere because guns are shipped in from out of state. Existing gun laws aren’t enforced to any large degree because of lack of resources.

Just think,  President Obama has ended his seventh year and started the final year of his term, and yet no one has come for our guns. And no one ever will. This whole subject represents the dumbing-down of America. The beneficiaries of the hysteria are the gun manufacturers and gun dealers across this land.

The uninformed would have you believe that any gun regulation is the first step to gun seizure. They talk endlessly about gun ownership and the Second Amendment. Well, read the amendment, and you will find it provides for a well-regulated militia. In laymen’s terms, that means police departments, the National Guard and the federal military. That’s what the folks who wrote the Constitution were thinking.

The 14th Amendment extended the Second by court interpretation to provide for weapons for self-defense. Common sense goes out the window when states like Texas have buffoons walking the streets with their guns in hand, in their pockets and slung over their backs. I’d bet very few veterans who actually used guns to fight for our freedoms are among them.

Whatever your political persuasion, read this fact sheet on executive actions to reduce gun violence and make our communities safe. Not one word in the president’s actions will hurt any citizen, gun dealer or gun manufacturer. The president is simply doing what the coward in Congress will not: He is acting to protect his country.

I hope people will remember that almost 150 years ago, the proclamation freeing the slaves was an executive order signed by a Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Had he done that today, the same people who complain about President Obama would have attacked Lincoln. Read what the president proposes, and then let me know what you see that is unreasonable.

Now, on to court business: I just checked the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals website, and it would seem that North Dakota Sens. John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp are asleep at the switch.

Judge Kermit Edward Bye, husband of the lovely lady Carol Bye, took senior status April 22, 2015. That means Judge Bye can work if he wishes, when he wishes and where he is assigned.

One of Byron Dorgan’s great successes was nominating Judge Bye, who was then confirmed upon nomination by President Clinton and received his commission March 9, 2000. Since that time, Judge Bye has served honorably and well. Since assuming senior status last year, has actually been volunteering his time, full-time, until his successor is appointed.

That’s very nice of the judge, but not so nice of Sens. Hoeven and Heitkamp. Please get off of your respective behinds and nominate someone to fill the vacancy! Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad would have had already a name in nomination for the president to act upon because both of them had intelligence, courage and the guts to get things done. I suggest their pattern is something that Sens. Heitkamp and Hoeven would be well advised to follow.

Ha … if I could insert the ghost of William Langer into the mix, the appointment would have been made by now.

There are too many vacancies at all levels in the federal court system because of political stalemate.

With diplomacy winning on the international level, wouldn’t it be nice if that could also occur on the national and local levels? Amen.