“When I see President Obama, I just want to say, ‘You have some frightening problems you’re dealing with … take off that tie!’” said Protsman, who retired from his Manitowoc School District teaching career in 1999.

Yes, indeed, Protsman is convinced ties, “that useless haberdashery frill,” are responsible for less-than-best critical decision-making.

He said his conclusions about impaired breathing and brain function when men are wearing ties is the result of synthesizing many scientific articles related to body-brain connections.

“A long time ago, physiologists who studied the respiratory function discovered that touching the larynx of certain experimental animals impaired their breathing,” said Protsman, a Sheboygan native who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.