Close to Home by John McPherson for January 22, 2024

naah, all that would prove is they’re good at games, and we already know that.

Agh! I’d never make it!

It would thin the herd, but more challenging puzzles must follow.

I had 2 different solutions figured out for that puzzle when I was a teen. Where do I sign up?

I’d settle for them passing a security background check for the office they are running for before they get their name on the ballot.

I would settle for anyone running for public office has to take a cognitive test

I want every member of Congress to take the citizenship test that immigrants have to take. If they don’t pass, they can’t run. Simple as that. NOTE: I am not talking about literacy tests for voters, nor am I talking about something arbitrary like the old literacy tests. I’m talking the standard test used across the country and only for candidates.

That would definitely be a major fail!!!

Good thing it’s not required of candidates for president…

I guess I qualify. I can solve it every time. Want to bet a cracker Barrel breakfast?

A better test would be Super Mario World…

… on a vintage 80’s GameBoy!

How about just seeing if they notice the flag is wrong?

Well now…that is a complete failure.

Well, alrighty then, Bleeb!

Just because someone can solve the golf tee puzzle doesn’t mean they are intelligent. Goodness knows I’m not overly intelligent.

What about the presidential candidates?

For the peg game, here are two solutions:Leave eight4/1,13/4,10/8,7/9,6/13,1/6

Leave one6/1,4/6,12/5,14/12,11/13,1/4,7/2,10/3,13/6,3/10,15/6,6/4,4/1

Start numbering from the top to bottom and from left to right.

I completed it once and haven’t been able to replicate it since.

If it’s so famous, why have I never heard of it?

I thought the qualification for being a politician was to have as low an IQ as possible, very sloping shoulders and an innate ability to dodge the question or lie so much that you can’t remember what the original question was as you battle what the hell he just said.

Should probably start with chewing gum and walking at the same time and work their way up to the golf tee puzzle.

This comic is just “asking for it” today. Like lighting a match in a roomful of farts.

I love that game. Takes a lot of thought and plotting four or five moves in advance. I beat it most of the time; not all the time, just most.

Congress would be totally vacant!

I’d be sweating too, with someone staring at me.

I remember hearing, back in the late 90s, a report of a congressman bemoaning the latest minimum-wage increase with the warning that it meant workers would have to work more hours to make up for it. Apparently didn’t understand the simple arithmetic of “hourly wage.”

PEE-SHAW! I think all we need is a list of FOUR pictures of animals, then the candidate can tell us what kind of noise it makes. That’ll bump off half the candidates right there.XD

So much for visiting Cracker Barrel…

That’s easy! What about putting a round block in a square hole test?

Even if they don’t play golf?

As previously mentioned, those are ubiquitous to all Cracker Barrel restaurants. I wish they would go there to play these and possibly rub shoulders with some ordinary folks whom they’re supposed to represent!

They can’t even balance the budget. Doubt that they could solve this

Tee hee, hee!

Long ago, I sat down and mapped out every solution for a different blank hole

Wrong target area, it’s the voters that need to be tested.

Eff that! They all need to pass a high school level (at least back when I was in high school in the 1970s) US Government/civics class final exam. It’s readily apparent too many were asleep or don’t understand their responsiblities and power.

Either that, or they have to memorize a really complex list:

Person, woman, man, camera, TV!

How about having to pass a civics test?

These days, I’d settle for a trace on all profits made during and after taking office. We’ve mainstreamed bribery by wrapping it in super PACs, lobbyists, and campaign contributions.

While Donald Trump thinks that a test where he has to remember three animals for three seconds is an intelligence test.