ITS THE GRIM REAPER, CHARLIE BROWN!
How many times do I mispell this guys name before pressing “publish”, I wonder…
American political advisor George Shultz has died aged 100. Shultz was Secretary of State under Reagan for 7 years in the 1980s and also worked under Nixon as Treasury and Labour Secretaries. He served in World War Two with the marine corps, and earned a PHD in economics from MIT in 1949. He had been an advisor to President Eisenhower in the 1950s. as Labour Secretary under Richard Nixon, he implimented the new Philadelphia Plan, where government contractors were ordered to hire minority workers.
After a run as a Bechtel Executive, he returned to Ronald Reagan’s cabinet, becoming one of the most powerful men in America. It was Shultz who championed friendlier relations with the Soviets, pushing for the eventual talks between Reagan and Gorbachev. Opposed to what become known as Iran-Contra (as he hated Ortega), he was seemingly one of the only aides not involved in selling arms to rebels.
However, he was a big supporter of pre-emptive war, and helped the Bushes come up with their Iraq road map. He took his Good Cop Bad Cop routine into his 90s, supporting fraudster investors Theranos, but also green carbon taxes to help fight climate change. Although in fairness, Shultz was a believer in man made climate change when people couldn’t point to it on a dictionary with pictures.
Shultz believed in bipartisanship. His successes came from getting both sides round a table and thrashing out a consensus, be they union bosses or Democrats and Republicans. In these Mitch infested days this is no longer a popular idea. He also spoke to the PLO when few would, in hope of finding a peaceful solution to the Israel/Palestine issue that would benefit both sides. He felt the War on Drugs did more harm than the drugs themselves, and was a big fan of George W Bush, as well as nuclear arm controls and lots more ideas now out of step with the modern Republican party. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2016.
He was picked by 13 teams, including Are You Still Dying Darling, Circling the Drain (a joker pick) and Eternity Tours.
Two of Grim’s K2 mountaineers also died. They don’t have an obit on the front page because frankly I ran out of things to say about the climb two deaths ago. They are huge favourites for the theme team league already though.
George Shultz
13 December 1920 – 6 February 2021
9 teams