national news

‘Speaker’ Jordan? Hah!

Jim Jordan is mining for votes among his U.S. House colleagues, who he wants to lead as the next speaker of the House.

To say he faces a major fight is to be guilty of gross understatement. Republicans nominated him to run for the speakership, but he got only 130-something votes. He needs 217 votes among House members to take the gavel. Where does he get them?

Jordan is a MAGA minion. He is a no-compromise hardliner. Democrats signing up? Hah! Establishment Republicans? Even more laughter!

The House Republican caucus is deeply divided. We have the MAGA clowns and those who oppose them. If Jordan were to broker a deal with Democrats, that would seem to doom any chance he has to win all the far-right votes he would need to take the gavel.

What’s more, and this is important, the very idea that a man who stood with Donald J. Trump on 1/6 and who has consistently cast aspersions on the results of the 2020 presidential election could then ascend to the third spot in presidential succession simply boggles my noggin.

Does Jim Jordan face a steep hill on his way to the speakership?

You bet he does … and he should.

State news

Regret seeps in

Occasionally I get a question from friends of mine who live far from Texas, where my family and I have called home for nearly 40 years.

“Do you regret moving there, given the politics of the state.”

I have been able to answer with a straight face, “No. I have made a nice living here as a journalist.  Besides, I don’t take my politics home with me at the end of the day.”

Some regret, though, is beginning to seep into my skull and into my heart. The source comes from the recent acquittal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton by the Republican-controlled state Senate.

From my vantage point, it appeared to me the multiple charges leveled against Paxton looked credible. I had hoped the Senate would ratify the Texas House’s overwhelming impeachment of the AG. It didn’t. Senators acquitted Paxton on every one of the 16 counts for which he was put on trial.

I have concluded that in this state, Republican are ouster-proof, no matter the evidence that piles up against them. House impeachment trial managers presented testimony from former assistant AGs, from political pals of the individual who gained from his relationship with Paxton.

It went into the ears of senators and out the other side. Why? I guess because most of them are Republicans, just like the AG. They listened more to their partisan voices than to whether the AG disgraced his office, which is what the charges against him implied.

The GOP grip on the political machinery in this state is ironclad, yes? It is that partisan loyalty that resulted in Paxton’s acquittal.

The result disappointed me greatly, so much so that for the first time since 1984, when my wife and I moved here with our still-young sons, I cannot shake the pangs of regret.

International news

Complicated … but simple

My unabashed support for Israel as it prepares to defend itself Hamas is both complicated and simple.

I will start with the simple part. The Israeli Defense Force is charged with defending the nation against foreign enemies. Hamas presents an existential threat of the first magnitude. It launched its attack on Israel a week ago and the violence has killed many Palestinians and Israelis.

What does Israel do? It must defend itself against a well-armed, massive terrorist organization whose mission is to destroy Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared he intends to make Hamas realize it has made a “terrible mistake.”

The second simple element of my support for Israel is because of my many Israeli friends. I acquired these friendships during the monthlong visit to Israel in May-June 2009. I have stayed in touch with many of them. I worry terribly that they might be victimized by the terrorists. Anyone with friends who live in these danger zones know of what I speak.

The complicated part? It deals with Netanyahu and the hardline policies his Likud party policies. I am not a fan of Netanyahu and his view that the Palestinians share some of the guilt for the crimes delivered by the terrorists. Likud refuses to grant Palestinians all the benefits of citizenship.

Is there any justification for Hamas acting as it did with its massive rocket attack against Israel? No. Then again, the Israelis could have ameliorated the concerns of the Palestinians by backing off on the hardline policies it has enacted against the Palestinians. Israel’s hard line seems to have given Hanas some form of perverted justification for acting as it did.

The Israelis’ response to this attack is likely to be bloody beyond measure. There is no way on God’s good Earth that the counterattack will be free of collateral damage. That’s largely because the cowardly Hamas strategy is to hide among the women and children who live in Gaza.

I must stand with the Israelis.

International news

How can Hamas gain support?

As I watch the images flashed from my TV screen and read accounts of what I am witnessing, I am left to ponder the imponderable.

Which is … how can anyone with half a brain or a smidgen of a heart justify what Hamas has done in the name of “territorial integrity”?

Hamas’s assault on Israel is a week old now. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians are dead. Many of the casualties, I hasten to add, are at the hands of the terrorists who launched the attack on Israeli civilians. And many of them are babies and old people.

Hamas doesn’t like the way Israel has treated Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Maybe the complaint is legit. However, the terrorists’ action against that policy is beyond anything I can imagine as being reasonable.

Thus, I stand with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that the military objective now is to destroy Hamas, to “wipe it off the face of the Earth.”

This will be a bloody effort, to be sure. The Israelis, who’ve been threatened since the creation of the nation in 1948, have no choice but to act.

International news

Halt the sideshows!

Sideshows can be found even in the deepest of international crises … such as what we’re witnessing now as Israel goes to war with a dreaded international terrorist organization.

Far from the field of battle, congressional Republicans are looking to blame individuals within the Democratic administration for the intelligence failures that produced the stunning surprise when Hamas opened fire on Israel.  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has called for the immediate resignation of national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who she said misled Americans about the threat posed by Hamas.

It’s another political sideshow.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formed a “unity government’ with his political foes with whom he will work to quell this assault on Israeli citizens by Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

It’s going to get even bloodier and more tragic, we all fear, as Israel prepares a massive counterattack to, in Netanyahu’s words, “wipe Hamas off the face of the Earth.”

Let’s put a hold on the sideshow, shall we, while Israel prepares to defend itself against a terrorist organization that says its No. 1 mission is to destroy our nation’s most dependable ally in the Middle East.

local news, media news

Dating apps: cesspool

The world is full of heartwarming stories about people who meet via dating apps, they develop relationships and then live happily ever after.

I have told you about my return to the world of social interaction since I lost my dear bride to cancer at the start of this year. Kathy Anne insisted I find happiness, but she made her feelings known long before the advent of the Internet, let alone these dating apps that have grown so popular.

What she couldn’t possibly know is that many of them have become cesspools, breeding grounds for individuals looking for victims on which to prey. How do I know that? I was targeted by one of those predators. My sons were able to sleuth around and discovered her bag of tricks; I confronted her … and poof! — she was gone.

This is my way of saying that I am likely to continue a more traditional path on my journey back to social interaction. It’s a much safer bet to just go out and, um …. meet people! I have joined a church in McKinney. I am meeting plenty of folks through my daily travels along my still-boring life.

I think Kathy Anne most surely would approve of my decision. She didn’t trust the Internet more than most reasonable human beings. Indeed, she was implicitly skeptical of strangers until they could prove to her that they were the real deal. Me? I tend to see the best in people until they demonstrate their evil intent.

I have learned a lot about dating apps, however.  I have learned to steer away from those who present pictures of people who are far from the age of the person who posts them. I also have detected certain language constraints from those wishing to “chat away from here.”

Most importantly, there’s a certain sameness — “How’s your day going?” — to the way many of these so-called women introduce themselves. I say “so-called” because I do fear the prospect that they could be some toothless biker chick or worse … some hairy-backed knuckle dragger.

This single life is a new thing for me. I am learning my way. The good news? I have some great family help who has my back.

national news

Why Jim Jordan?

Allow me this semi-confession — given that you might already know how I feel about these matters — but I don’t give a smelly pile of rat poop about the future of today’s Republican Party.

I do want to know, though: Why in the world would the U.S. House GOP turn to a certifiable flamethrower to become speaker of the House? That well might happen if Rep. Jim Jordan emerges to take the gavel and run the affairs in the House of Representatives.

My long-held desire was to see a return of the “old Republican Party.” The one that stuck to principles such as strong defense, low taxes, less government. One can debate those points with level-headed politicians.

Not so with the MAGA crowd that seemingly controls the agenda. Jordan is one of ’em. He is an election denier, a Hunter Biden predator, a Donald J. Trump sycophant.

The House is in disarray. It has an “interim” speaker, a gentleman named Patrick McHenry, who took the gavel after the House removed Kevin McCarthy from his short, but tumultuous tenure as speaker. McHenry has no real power.

House GOP caucus member nominated Steve Scalise to be its nominee for speaker, but Scalise only secured 113 votes; he would need 217 votes in a balloting of their entire House.

Scalise then dropped his speaker bid, sending the House into a frenzy — once more — in search of a new leader.

Jordan wants the job he shouldn’t ever have. You see, the House speaker becomes leader of the entire body, which means moderates within his own party as well as those who belong to the Democratic Party. He must work constructively with all sides to help craft legislation.

Does Rep. Jim Jordan possess that skill, or is he of that temperament? Bwahahaha!

national news

Scalise did what? Dropped out?

Occasionally these things happen under the strangest of circumstances.

Normally, I spend my evenings watching the news and seeking to stay current with policy events. This evening was different, as I was enjoying a nice dinner with a woman I had just met. So … what happens when I got home? I found out that Rep. Steve Scalise dropped out of the race for speaker of the U.S. House.

The decision merely sends the already chaotic Republican House caucus into even disarray. The MAGA wing of the GOP is now getting the kind of chaos and confusion that seemingly makes it fly.

The MAGA crowd got rid of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They rallied behind Jim Jordan to be the next speaker. Scalise, though, emerged as the frontrunner to be the next in line. However, he didn’t have enough GOP votes to guarantee his election as speaker.

Now he’s dropping out of the contest altogether!

The MAGA minions are led by Donald Trump, who today said that Hezbollah is “bright” for considering whether to launch attacks on non-Arab conspirators. Trump also said HAMAS wouldn’t have attacked Israel had he been sitting in the Oval Office. Dude is out of his mind. He’s nuts. Crazy. Not to mention stupid as a sack of hammers.

So here we are. House Republicans still don’t have a candidate to run as speaker, giving more credence than ever that the GOP caucus — led by the MAGA morons — do not know how to govern.

Uncategorized

Scalise: better of bad options

At least the U.S. House Republican conference can declare that it well might not have flown the coop completely … at least not yet.

The House GOP selected Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana as its candidate to be the next speaker. He’s not a good choice. Then again the House GOP caucus has a dearth of decent men and women I would want to be speaker of the House.

Then again …

House Republicans could have turned to Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker after McCarthy was booted out of the powerful post this past week. Jordan would have been far worse for the House and, more to the point, for the country had he been allowed to compete for the role of Man of the House.

Donald Trump endorsed Jordan, who has been one of the ex-POTUS’s major apologists since Trump lost the 2020 election to Joseph Biden. It is clear to me that Jordan would have taken the House toward the proverbial cliff, sending it off on even more probes to find alleged (and non-existent) wrongdoing among leading Democrats.

The Democratic caucus will nominate someone, too. The frontrunner appears to be House minority leader Hakeen Jeffries of New York. He likely won’t be elected speaker. However, Jeffries elevate the House’s cumulative IQ simply by serving in the chamber.

Congress is broken. The House GOP caucus needs to be tossed aside and reassembled into an organization that follows more closely what the framers had in mind when they crafted the “loyal opposition.”

OK, so I’ll damn the House GOP caucus with faint praise for nominating Scalise as the next speaker by declaring … that it could’ve been a whole lot worse.

national news

How to pick a House speaker

Do we have another multi-ballot marathon awaiting the U.S. House of Representatives as it seeks to find a new Man of the House?

Two frontrunners have emerged from the House GOP caucus: Bomb-thrower and Donald Trump sycophant Jim Jordan of Ohio and current No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana. I don’t know who has the stroke to be elected. I detest both of them, although Scalise does bring a bit of sympathy to this process by virtue of his being damn near killed when that moron opened fire on the Republican congressional baseball team as it practiced for its annual charity game with the Democratic members.

It took the House 15 ballots to choose Kevin McCarthy as its speaker. His tenure ended recently when one of the MAGA nitwits, Matt Gaetz of Florida, objected to McCarthy striking a deal with Democrats to keep the government running. Gaetz filed a motion to “vacate” the speaker’s chair … and he won!

Well, let’s just hold on with both hands as the GOP-led House seeks to find a way to actually govern. I am not hopeful!

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