28 April—It’s surprising that Donald Trump hasn’t ordered flags to be flown at half-staff today to commemorate the death of Benito Mussolini at the hands of Italian partisans on this very day in 1945. On the subject of Trump, last month he called himself “the fertilization president.” Further comment on that admission—or boast, coming from Trump—isn’t necessary. But it brings to mind a little doggerel about bullshit making the flowers grow.

That naturally segues to Pete Hegseth, Trump’s SCUMmy defense secretary, to whom national security and knowing what he’s doing are of secondary importance—if any importance at all. Pete is a Princeton bachelor of arts as well as a Harvard master of public policy (whatever that is). But evidently two highly selective, elite American Ivy League universities aren’t academically or socially prestigious enough for him. Because now, as you see in Pete’s official portrait (with his de rigueur Stars-and-Stripes pocket square, of course), he wants people to believe that he’s also an alumnus of Eton, a prestigious, highly selective, elite English so-called public school—by which the Brits naturally mean a private prep school.

Well, maybe you can’t see it unless you’re au courant with British old school ties. And/or old Etonians. And maybe the blue in Pete’s tie is a bit bluer and less green than accurately rendered Eton blue. It’s not impossible that the official portrait’s color balance may be off. Off color? Kind of like Hegseth and his fellow SCUM? We won’t go there. But, like them all, Hegseth doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.

In all events, assuming the color rendition of your computer, tablet, or phone screen is pretty accurate, here are some other blues rendered digitally through hex triplet numbers, which define the red, green, and blue components of colors. Yes, baby blue, sky blue, and robin egg blue are officially defined. Like everything else in life . . .

HEGSETH’S TIE (APPROX) BLUE 3493CA

ETON BLUE A0D1CA

CAMBRIDGE BLUE 85B09A

NAVY BLUE 000080

TIFFANY BLUE 81D8D0

ROBIN EGG BLUE 00CCCC

BABY BLUE 89CFF0

SKY BLUE 87CEEB

ISRAEL BLUE 0038B8