Since there is so little distinction between reality and satire in modern politics, I am required to inform you that the rest of this article is fiction.

Two weeks ago I wrote about my visit to the 105-year-old professor of social science, Dr. Mattie Maddox, who informed me of the conditions that would exist in 2016.

Late this week, and late at night, I was working to improve the education of Iowa youths when there came a rapping on my window. Looking up, I saw a large black raven. With some trepidation, I let it in.

The raven flew over my head and landed on a bust of Ronald Reagan. It looked like a demon in the pallid light of my computer screen, but it never spoke, not even to say, "Nevermore."

There was a note attached to its leg. Opening it, I found a message from Mattie. All it said was, "Bring a cheeseburger."

I found my way back to the basement of the social science building and, pushing the cobwebs away, found Dr. Maddox at her desk reading John Rawls. This time I had brought the largest triple cheese on the market.

Mattie gave me a look that chilled my heart. "Want to know more, don't ya sonny?" she asked with a wicked smile.

I nodded. Mattie removed the bun and looked deep into the entrails of the burger. She looked shocked for a moment, but gained her composure and began to talk in a low monotone.

Here is what she saw in 2018.

Barack Obama is now in his third term. When he ran for re-election in 2016, some traditionalists protested and somehow got their case to the Supreme Court. Writing for the majority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor found that the 22nd Amendment did not apply to any member of a protected class who had suffered past discrimination.

At a news conference, both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid agreed that the 22nd Amendment had never actually existed. Pundits at both CNN and the New York Times looked up the Constitution on Wikipedia and reported that Pelosi and Reid were completely correct.

After the election, Obama had praised the patriotic citizens of New Jersey and Chicago, who came out to vote for him in record numbers. In both places the vote for Obama exceeded the population by over 130 percent.

Last year, Californians passed a resolution to leave the United States and become part of Mexico. The plan had to be scrapped when Mexico refused to accept the once Golden State.

In 2018, Texas and Alaska seceded from the Union. Following in the steps of Abraham Lincoln, Obama responded by having 786,512 people arrested.

He then declared war on Texas and Alaska over the objection of some who maintained that only Congress could declare war, but Obama clarified the issue by saying that immediate action was needed. Congress passed a resolution praising the president for his toughness in facing down constitutional reactionaries.

Plans to invade Texas and Alaska had to be put on hold when the troops refused to participate, and when it was learned that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had made secret visits to the new countries, begging them to buy more of the federal debt.

Global cooling continues (now called "global change"). Oranges that once grew in Florida now have to be found in other workers' paradises such as Cuba. "Top" scientists at both the Obama administration and the UN are seeking ways to put soot between the earth and the sun to block more sunlight before global change kills somebody somewhere. They warned that otherwise the earth will continue to warm to unacceptable levels.

After three cases of the Flying-Pig Flu, which is a combination of swine and the bird flu, were reported in the United States, the World Health Organization declared the new disease a pandemic, allowing immediate UN help over any objection of provincial local governments.

The president calmed fears by reminding everyone that health care is totally free.