—An injudicious appointment: President Donald Trump really outdid himself last week by appointing Jeff Mateer, a top assistant Texas attorney general, to a federal judgeship. CNN reports that in 2015, Mateer gave a speech calling transgender children a sign that "Satan's plan is working."

He also denies that separation of church and state is mandated by the U.S. Constitution — never mind that pesky First Amendment. Further, he believes that same-sex marriage could return the country "back to that time where debauchery rules."

In a speech in 2015, Mateer said, "I submit to you that there'll be no line there. ... Why couldn't four people want to get married? Why not one man and three women? Or three women and one man?"

He added, "There are people who marry themselves. Somebody wanted to marry a tree. People marrying their pets."

The Senate Judiciary Committee should send Mateer packing. Trump should find himself a judge who's not a kook.

—The walls have ears: Back in the 1960s, whenever agent Maxwell Smart (a buffoon played by Don Adams in the hit comedy "Get Smart") needed to make a secret phone call, he would remove his shoe and begin talking into it. America's first cellphone. But when the conversation was so super-secret that no one else could be allowed to listen in, Smart invoked the Cone of Silence, a large plastic cone that kept anyone outside from listening in. Particularly the enemy agents from KAOS.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt apparently imagines himself as operating in Smart's super-secret realm. He has ordered the installation of a protective booth, at a cost of $25,000, that will allow him to engage in secret communications without fear of being hacked. EPA veterans suggest Pruitt is significantly overestimating the eavesdropping threat, as well as the need for secrecy in his agency. The original Cone of Silence malfunctioned almost always. And almost no one from KAOS was ever listening in.

—School pride: Students, faculty and administrators at four area schools, including a St. Louis public school, should be puffy with pride over being honored as National Blue Ribbon schools.

The award from the U.S. Department of Education goes to schools selected for high academic performance or progress in closing the achievement gap among racial and socioeconomic minorities.

Four more public schools in Missouri, including a Kansas City charter school, and 25 Illinois schools also will be wearing blue ribbons. Across the nation, 242 schools received the honor.

The St. Louis area's blue ribbon schools are: Mallinckrodt Academy of Gifted Instruction, St. Louis Public Schools; Mark Twain Elementary, Brentwood School District; Chesterfield Elementary, Rockwood School District; and Rogers Elementary, Waterloo School District.

—Worst. Refs. Ever: Four of what must be the most inept refs in all of soccer were banned for life last week by the Malawi Soccer Association after being found guilty of taking bribes to fix a national cup match between lower league team Nchalo United and Chitipa United.

The kicker (so to speak) is that the team doing the bribing lost anyway and demanded its money back.

Underdog Nchalo knew it needed some help, so it paid the refs $20 (Malawi is a very poor country). When Nchalo lost on penalty kicks, it demanded its money back. One of the four refs had already spent his $5, so Nichalo complained to authorities.

Imagine the complaint: Hey, we tried to bribe these guys but now they won't give us our money back.

The AP reports no sanctions have been announced against Nchalo, but there is a case pending. Possibly for being stupid enough to complain.

—Saudi chauffeurs in mourning: At long last, women will be able to drive in Saudi Arabia next year. The kingdom was the only country in the world that banned women from driving. This step will skyrocket the kingdom into the 20th century, (even though the rest of us are now in the 21st century) in terms of women's rights.

It'll probably still be a long time until women are allowed to show their faces, wrists and ankles in public, but at least this is a start toward a reversal of the archaic attitudes and skewed interpretation of Islam that helped inspire 15 Saudis among the 19 hijackers who launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

—Trash talk: If driving a trash truck for the city of St. Louis doesn't already have enough ups and downs, AT&T Missouri is adding another. The company is suing the city for more than $42,000, alleging trash truck drivers have ripped down wires, broken telephone poles and caused other damage at 50 properties since 2013.

With 1,000 miles of streets, and 600 miles of alleys within the city's limits, that damage figure doesn't sound so bad. Katie Nagus, a spokeswoman for the company, told the Post-Dispatch's Lisa Brown that they've been trying to resolve this problem with the city for the past three years.

Homeowners and businesses also have alleged damages from trash truck drivers, and last month a driver struck a large neon sign that hangs over Manchester Avenue at the entrance to The Grove entertainment and business district.

A city attorney says AT&T has sued over damages in the past and that the cases were settled. The attorney says the company doesn't hang its lines at the height required by ordinance. Good to know those trash truck drivers aren't aiming to clip AT&T's wires.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH