local news

Hummingbird update

Not long ago I posted a blog item wondering what in the world was consuming the hummingbird food I have been putting in the dispenser hanging in my backyard patio.

I have lived in my Collin County home for more than five years and I had yet to lay eyes on a hummingbird. My wife and I had the same issue in Amarillo, where we lived for23 years before relocating to Princeton. Our friends all boasted of all the hummingbirds that flocked to their feeders. Our luck? Hah! Didn’t have any!

I am delighted to report that I saw a living, breathing, wing-whirring hummingbird two days ago in my backyard. It was hovering about three feet above my head in front of the freshly refilled feeder.

My tiny fine-feathered friend flew eventually to a neighbor’s tree, but I am thrilled to have actually seen one of these little critters.

I yelled at the bird to spread the word to his (or her!) friends and kin. I got more of this food I am happy to serve to my pals.

Uncategorized

Don’t demean your foes

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Hillary Clinton committed a potentially fatal mistake during her 2016 race for president against Donald J. Trump.

She referred to the MAGA cultists as “deplorables,” a description that energized the Trump voter base down the home stretch of a highly competitive contest.

My hone boy, Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times, says it would be a terrible mistake to denigrate the 2024 version of the mob hangs on Trump’s every word.

Do not sell them short, Kristoff writes.

Good advice, Nick. The question always becomes, “Will the voting public buy into it? And will the Kamala Harris campaign staff treat the Trumpkins with the respect they deserve? Indeed, they deserve a lot.

Kristoff hails from the Yamhill Valley of Oregon, not far from my hometown of Portland. He writes for the New York Times these days and has earned his spurs for many years writing for the Old Gray Lady.

My fond hope is that Harris won’t commit the egregious rhetorical error that Clinton committed.

Kristoff writes: By all means denounce Trump, but don’t stereotype and belittle the nearly half of Americans who have sided with him.

Hillary Clinton learned that lesson the hard way. Kamala Harris no doubt is paying serious attention.

military news

A day of supreme infamy

Today marks an event the world seldom seems to mention, let alone commemorate in any meaningful way.

Therefore, I now will give it a brief mention.

On Sept. 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered the Nazi German army into Poland to start the bloodiest conflict in world history. World War II began on that day as Hitler sought to strengthen his Third Reich, the empire he envisioned would last 1,000 years.

It lasted 12, ending just a few days after Hitler blew his brains out in his Berlin bunker.

I wanted to take note of this day because we keep hearing about threats of another “world war” breaking out if Russia continues its unjustified attack on Ukraine and with tensions continuing to boil in the Middle East.

May the world always be vigilant about what can happen when we let tyrants slither under our line of sight.

national news, political news

Harris ‘most qualified’ ever?

Michelle Obama could be excused for getting caught up in the cheering moment as she delivered her speech recently at the Democratic National Convention.

She called DNC nominee Kamala Harris the “most qualified” person ever to seek the presidency. The former first lady basked in the cheering endorsement of the 20,000 or so attendees … and she surely has earned the nation’s admiration as an accomplished first lady and ambassador on behalf of children everywhere.

But … is the 2024 Democratic nominee the “most qualified” presidential candidate? I’ll stick to my own guns and declare that my candidate for most qualified is a Republican, former President George H.W. Bush.

I now will tick off GHW Bush’s pre-presidential experience:

  • US Navy aviator serving in World War II; he was shot down in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
  • Business owner immediately after being discharged from the Navy.
  • Two terms as a congressman representing Houston from 1967 until 1970.
  • CIA director.
  • United Nations Ambassador.
  • Special envoy to the People’s Republic of China.
  • Vice president for two terms during the Reagan administration.

Pretty impressive background, don’t you think?

All that moxey he earned prior to being elected president in 1988 didn’t result in his re-election in 1992. Indeed, I do happen to notice one significant shortcoming in President Bush’s background: no government executive experience, although I could understand an argument that serving as CIA director required plenty of executive management know-how.

Fast-forward to the present day. Vice President Harris does bring plenty of her own skill to the office she is seeking. Prosecuting attorney, San Francisco County district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president.

I also believe her experience will serve her well if she — and we — are able to benefit from her election in November as the next president of the United States.

Uncategorized

Patience runs thin

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Patience is a virtue people tell me I possess and I am grateful for the kind words and, of course, for the quality they say I have.

I have to tell you, though, that some followers of this blog surely do test whatever patience I deploy.

One guy offers a good example. He is a critic of High Plains Blogger. He wails on me whenever I have something negative to say about Donald Trump or something positive I have to offer about Kamala Harris; my earlier support for Joe Biden also drew barbs.

FYI, this individual keeps insisting he isn’t a Trump cultist.

But … he is!

Sometimes this guy offers commentary that the Word Press platform approves automatically as a blog response. Others require me to approve them individually … which I generally do. I say “generally,” because I am beginning to axe some commentary that either is repetitive, or is patently false or provides criticism I might deem to be defamatory. Defaming someone exposes a lot of folks to litigation and as I have told critics over the years who insist that I publish such material: I don’t care if you get sued, but I damn sure care if I get sued. 

My blog also contains non-political material as well. I comment on goings-on in the community I call home and also speak to what I call “slice of life” matters of a more personal nature, Does my critic bother to respond to any of those commentaries? Hah! Which leads me to believe he is “trolling” me.

My patience has its limits. This guy — and some others as well — are testing it mightily. I shall remain strong.

crime news, legal news

No one is above the law?

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Supreme Court decisions notwithstanding, most of us have operated under the believe that the laws apply to everyone, regardless of occupation, wealth or social standing.

Have laid down that predicate, let’s suppose Kamala Harris is elected president in November, defeating a former POTUS who faces numerous criminal indictments for actions he allegedly committed to overturn the results of the previous presidential election.

Does the president-elect call off the dogs, ordering the Justice Department to cease and desist in its probe of the former president?

Abso(freaking)lutely not!

Donald Trump has accused DOJ of hunting him down because they want him out of office.  That, of course, is nonsense, covered in self-aggrandizing narcissism.

The high court earlier this year ruled that presidents are entitled to immunity from prosecution if the crime they commit falls in line with his action as president. Special counsel Jack Smith then reindicted Trump, resurrecting the indictments that were effectively rendered moot by the SCOTUS.

No self-respecting prosecutor is going to say his or her sole intent in pursuing a legal matter is to rid the world of a politician. I believe Jack Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland are far more than merely self-respecting lawyers.

If this election turns out the right way in November, we will have a president-elect who once served as a district attorney, a state prosecutor and a state attorney general. Something tells me she won’t let up on the gas for a moment in bringing Donald Trump to justice.

Nor should she.

national news, political news

Walz flubs simple test

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CNN anchor Dana Bash posed a simple yes-or-no question to Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz.

It went like this: You said you carried a weapon in war, but then we learned you did not. Did you misspeak?

Walz didn’t answer the question. Instead, he walked us through his 24-year career in the Army National Guard, expressed his pride in his service and said we shouldn’t denigrate any service person’s military record.

Bash asked him a second time: Did you misspeak?

And again, Walz didn’t answer the question, saying something about how voters “know about my record.”

Republicans have made a bit of noise about the Minnesota governor embellishing his service record. For me, it’s not a huge deal. I accept that he is proud of his service to the country and that he retired as a senior non-commissioned officer; that, too, has been a talking point the GOP has sought to use against Walz.

Bash’s interview with Walz and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was enlightening, to be sure. My own thought is that they both handled themselves coolly and with poise.

I just wish Gov. Walz would have spoken directly to the direct question that Dana Bash posed. I guess I can answer it for him.

Yeah … he misspoke!

national news

Some matters escape me

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Try as I do to stay ahead of the public policy curve, it continues to boggle my occasionally thick-skulled noggin just how Donald Trump continues to manipulate the MAGA cult that follows him off the cliff and into the sewer.

I told a dear friend today that Trump’s duplicity and hypocrisy seems to go over the vacuous heads of the MAGAites who think the guy is the best thing in politics since pockets on shirts.

Consider two elements in this moron’s narrative. Fake news and “rigged elections.”

He routinely blasts the media for putting “fake news” into print and on the air. And yet … this the very dimwit who fomented the former Big Lie about Barack Obama’s place of birth. He rode that pony until he realized, I reckon, that it was no longer useful to him. He accused Obama of being from Kenya and, thus, was constitutionally ineligible to run for president.

I shook my head in disbelief … not so much that he kept saying it but at the cult’s willingness to buy into it. They weren’t smart enough to call the dipsh** out on his lie.

Now for the rigged election. He said the 2020 result that elected Joe Biden over Trump was “rigged.” He said it was corrupt. He sicced the mob on the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop the peaceful transfer of power to the Biden administration.

And yet … here he is four years later plotting to rig this very election through the use of 2020 election deniers holding key state and local election offices.

What’s more, he still won’t commit categorically to accepting the 2024 election results even if Kamala Harris defeats him soundly.

Politicians generally are thought to shade the truth on occasion, I get it. This guy? I cannot believe a single, solitary sentence that pours out of his overfed pie hole as the truth.

Trump is the embodiment of fake news and rigged elections. We must not forget that when we troop to our polling stations later this year.

media news, national news

Harris, Walz seek to clear the air

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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic Party presidential ticket, have been criticized unfairly because they haven’t been interviewed extensively by the national media.

Oh, my ….

Republicans have seized on this as a campaign talking point, suggesting that Harris and Walz are too afraid to field “tough questions” from the media on their various policy positions.

They will be put to the test Thursday when they sit with CNN anchor Dana Bash.

This is a bit of a gamble for Harris and Walz. Why? Because Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, their GOP foes, are going to allege — and you can take this to the bank — that they were given softball questions. Trump plays that joker card all the time. Vance, the loyal VP nominee, no doubt will buy into that specious notion.

I continue to hold Harris and Walz in the highest esteem. They have energized their Democratic Party. Harris’s sudden and dramatic emergence as the frontrunner after President Biden ended his candidacy has been a sight to behold.

If I were to place a wager on why the delay, I would suggest that Harris and Walz needed some time to hone their policy positions before facing the national media. Harris only has been running for president for a few weeks and Walz, well, came out of virtual nowhere to emerge as her VP running mate.

Will Bash challenge Harris and Walz if they lie to us? You can bet your oldest child that she will.

I long have thought of Dana Bash as a journalism pro. She is there to seek the truth. Whether the candidates deliver the whole truth likely will be determined by the bias of those Americans who will watch … and listen.

local news, political news

We aren’t a battleground yet

Democrats in the state where I have lived for the past 40 years keep crowing about how we are becoming a “battleground state” for the candidates seeking the U.S. presidency.

Spoiler alert: Texas is not a battleground state. At least not in this election cycle.

How do I know that? Because if we truly were up for grabs, we would be seeing Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent as frequently as they are being seen in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.

It’s not happening. At least not yet.

Now, this isn’t intended to denigrate my wish that we would become a place where Democrats can compete statewide against Republicans. We’re inching closer to that day.

In 2020, Joe Biden lost Texas to Donald Trump by about 5 percentage points. That is tantalizingly close to the margin of error in most reputable political polls. I live in Collin County, just northeast of Dallas County, which — and this might be difficult to believe — has become a Democratic stronghold. 

Yes, I was aware that a lot of Democrats got all wound up when Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced he is a Republican. My reaction: B … F … D! He is elected mayor as a non-partisan; that’s all that should matter to the residents who are concerned about potholes and police protection.

I am going to presume that Trump will get Texas’s 40 electoral votes. I will be curious and anxious to see how the final results roll in.

If only Kamala Harris could get it through the thick and vacuous skulls of the MAGA cultists here about the danger of putting Trump anywhere near the Resolute Desk. If we continue to close the gap between Ds and Rs, then I might be able to accept that our days as a battleground state are closer than I fear at this moment.

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