national news

Here we go: Round 2 of MAGA incompetence

Mike Johnson lost his first bid to re-up as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

It is beginning to look like yet another intraparty donnybrook as Republicans, who control the House by the tiniest margin in memory, struggle to find a leader who can control the legislative flow in the congressional chamber.

This appears to be shaping up as arguably another leadership debacle that has become all too familiar to those of us interested in good government. Which is to say that good government doesn’t exist in the nation’s capital.

The House has a one-vote Republican majority. The GOP already has lost one vote, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who said he cannot support Johnson’s re-election as speaker. No telling what will bring this particular MAGA goofball around.

Remember when it took Kevin McCarthy 15 votes to finally corral enough votes to keep the speaker’s gavel? It was the MAGA crowd that stopped McCarthy from taking charge. It also was a MAGA House member who called for his ouster … which took place quickly.

This is what we can expect to see moving forward. Oh … boy!

Sports news

Season over … try again next time

OK, I’ll be candid: My interest in the college football playoff ended with the end of the Oregon-Ohio State game last night.

The Buckeyes brought their “A” game to the Rose Bowl, while the Ducks played like, well, they didn’t belong there. The final score was 41-21, but it easily could have been a wider margin than that.

I realize the season isn’t really over. We football fans have two more sets of games to watch. Since I have lived in Texas for more than 40 years, I have to toss my love at the Texas Longhorns to win the college football title when all is done.

Texas awaits the Buckeyes on the semifinal game next week.

I’ll have to admit that my allegiance to Oregon stems only from the fact that I was born in Oregon, came of age there, wanted at one time to attend college in Eugene and have rooted for the Ducks since I was old enough to know what “rooting” for a team meant.

Events got in the way of my attending school at U of O.

The other element that puzzles me is this “transfer portal” business. Athletes come and go using this method of transferring to various schools. The Ducks appear to be among the masters of attracting blue-chippers to Eugene to play ball. They aren’t necessarily students, having finished their academic requirements already. But they do play good tackle football.

There seems to be little local connection with these individuals. So, why cheer for them just because they fit into a uniform associated with the University of Oregon?

Whatever. The season is over. I moved to Texas at the age of 34. I have lived here most of my life. So, I’ll save my cheering for the Longhorns when they suit up — in the Cotton Bowl, no less — to play the Buckeyes.

Hook ’em, Horns!

Donald Trump, national news

Trump gets a bouquet … yes, believe it!

Get ready for a shocker, ladies and gents, as I am about to offer a good word for the next president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump said this week he plans to attend the funeral of the late President Jimmy Carter.

OK, it’s not a huge deal. Trump should be there. He says he will go. What’s remarkable is that he said so quietly, in a statement. He made no big splash, no grand proclamation calling attention to himself.

I am going to presume he’ll join the other men who have held the presidency: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The incumbent president, Joe Biden, will deliver the keynote eulogy honoring his predecessor, with whom he forged a remarkable friendship dating back to when Biden first entered the U.S. Senate in 1973.

In what has to be the most moving element of the funeral will occur when the sons of two high-profile politicians deliver memorials on behalf of their fathers. Ted Mondale, son of former Vice President Walter Mondale, will read his late father’s eulogy he wrote years ago. Steve Ford, son of the late former President Gerald Ford, will do the same.

Walter Mondale and Gerald Ford expected Carter to precede them in death. He outlived them both, but they wrote the eulogies in case he did.

I won’t be fixated on Donald Trump’s presence among the attendees. I am, however, glad to see him take a moment to honor a good, decent and most honorable man as the nation and the world bid him a fond farewell.

local news

Here’s to a new year, a new outlook

Here is a sample of the chatter I have seen on my social media circle of friends and acquaintances: I don’t remember ever wanting a year to end like this one. Don’t know what 2025 has in store but has to be an improvement.

You and I know what this individual is talking about. If not, I’ll spill the beans: It’s the presidential election and the result it produced.

This person is a former elected official, a friend of mine and someone with whom I share his disdain over the election result. I, too, wish it had gone differently. It went the wrong way. I am dealing with it.

I have been able, though, to compartmentalize events of 2024 and separate them from the events of the previous year. 2023 was the worst year of my life. I lost my dear bride to glioblastoma (cancer of the brain) at the start of the year; then near the end of the year I let my puppy, Toby, go because of the cancer that ravaged him.

I looked forward to 2024 being a far better year than ’23. For me personally, it damn sure was a lot brighter. If you include the presidential election result, why … even the year that is passing into history turned out better than its immediate predecessor.

I was able to travel in ’23 and in ’24. My trek in 2023 took me to both coasts, where Toby and I visited family and dear friends. The 2024 version allowed me to fly twice to Europe. In the spring, I visited beloved friends in Nuremberg, Germany. In September, I boarded another long-haul jetliner and flew to Greece, where I met my cousin and her son; we soaked up some late-summer sun on the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea.

Not only that, upon my return from Greece, I received another new member of my family: Sabol the Puppy, who needed someone to care for her. We fell in love at first sight. So … there you go! How can it get any better than that?

I am going to rely on the strength of our Constitution to withstand the pressure it will feel from the new government in DC. My faith in the founders’ wisdom is strong. So is my faith in my government to hold fast and steady in the tempest that awaits.

national news, political news

Is there another Carter?

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Jimmy Carter’s death brings to mind something I wrote on this blog prior to a recent presidential election … I think it might have been the 2020 event.

I long have lamented that today’s Democratic Party is dominated by the same tired faces, speaking the same tired policies, appealing to the same tired constituencies. I wanted a new face to emerge from the crowd of 300 million-plus Americans.

I thought there might be “another Jimmy Carter” out there.

We all remember the 1976 Democratic Party primary, yes? The field was full of familiar faces. I actually put a Frank Church lawn sign in my front yard. Church was a U.S. senator from Idaho who had been on the national scene seemingly since The Flood.

He didn’t win the Oregon primary that year. Carter did! He went on to the convention that year and stood before the crowd and opened with that familiar refrain: “My name is Jimmy Carter and I am running for president.”

Many of us didn’t know this guy. He had that deep South drawl. He hailed from Georgia. He said he’d never lie to us. He vowed to fix the then-wounded economy. His opponent, President Gerald Ford, was running for election to the office he never sought but was handed it when Richard Nixon resigned ahead of certain impeachment and conviction for the Watergate scandal and coverup.

I still think there must be a Jimmy Carter out there. Certainly someone can emerge from the crowd of Americans and surprise us in 2028. History can, and often does, repeat itself. Someone brand new can capture our imagination the way Carter did. Hey, it’s a big country out here. Many of us are waiting for a fresh face and vigorous new voice.

I will hope for the best as we endure four years of Donald J. Trump.

national news

Carter’s death shouldn’t signal ‘an end’

When the world heard of the passing of President Jimmy Carter, the tributes began flowing immediately into print and onto the airwaves and the Internet.

Someone said on TV that Carter’s death signaled “the end of an era,” implying that no one could succeed in building rapport among differing ideologies.

I am going to assert something different. I believe the former president’s passing at age 100 can reawaken the value of working together to enact laws and public policy.

Every former president has issued warm statements of gratitude for the struggle that Carter fought and saluted him for the humanitarian champion he became after leaving the White House in 1981. Republicans and Democrats alike all said essentially the same thing, that Carter personified the good in all Americans.

So … they recognize goodness in one of their own when they see it.

Congress today is vastly different than the body that served during the Carter years in the White House. It’s been reported that President Carter met with stern opposition to many of his more controversial proposals, such as giving the Panama Canal to the Panamanians. They reportedly also were chapped at Carter’s seeming moral superiority, given his deep born-again Christian faith.

Still, somehow the president and Congress managed to govern. We aren’t seeing much actual governance these days. Indeed, fissures are appearing within the Republican congressional caucus as the GOP struggles to determine whether to keep Mike Johnson as speaker of the House.

Good government always is possible when opposing sides realize it’s a team effort. I believe Jimmy Carter understood that tenet and, thus, was able — for example — to appoint more women to the federal bench than all the preceding presidents were able to do combined.

Does the 39th president’s death signal an end to good government? Not in the least!

local news, medical news

New year, challenge await

Long ago, I vowed to cease making New Year’s resolutions for reasons you’ll understand … I don’t follow through on them.

So, what the hell is the point?

However, 2025 is going to mark the start of a new journey I intend fully to complete. I wrote on this blog a while ago that I have sought professional help to lose the weight I gained since February 2023. I buried myself in comfort food after losing my dear bride, Kathy Anne, to glioblastoma brain cancer.

I packed on way too many pounds.

I reached out to the Veterans Administration Medical Center where I get my medical care. They have a nutrition program at the Sam Rayburn Clinic in Bonham. On Friday I will engage with a nutritionist to begin a 16-week class on building a better, healthier lifestyle.

The VA calls the program MOVE. I don’t know what MOVE means, although the all-capital-letter identifier suggests it’s an acronym; I’ll ask when I sign in Friday morning.

I used to have sufficient self-discipline to accomplish weight-loss goals by myself. That discipline has vanished. I decided to admit to a lack of self-starting ability. The VA has been most helpful in preparing me for the start of this class.

My weight-loss goal is substantial. I hope to achieve it by the end of 2025. I figure that if I succeed in meeting the MOVE goals during my class period, I’ll reach my target weight according to plan.

I won’t chronicle my progress regularly on this blog. I am taking a moment today to tell my friends and family members — and others who read my messages — that this old man is about to try a new approach to achieving what we all want … to live a long and fruitful life.

I am not yet ready to check out of this Earthly world. Therefore … I’ll see y’all at the end of the road.

national news

Carter’s speech, a tradition lost

Jimmy Carter opened his Jan. 20, 1977 presidential inaugural speech with these words:

For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.

Roll that sentence around for just a moment and think of the context in which the new president delivered it. He had just defeated President Gerald Ford, who was running for election, in a bitter, closely fought contest. Carter won 297 electoral votes to President Ford’s 241. It was a mean campaign, man.

But that gesture spoke about the decency of the two men who had just fought tooth-and-nail for the presidency.

President Carter died today at age 100. There will be more on this blog about the legacy that Carter leaves behind. One key element of this great man’s life is the gentleness of his spirit. He and Ford easily could have gone their separate ways after that bitter fight … but they didn’t.

They became the best of friends. They became allies working in tandem to promote ideas they shared. When Carter left the presidency four years later, in 1981, the two men worked together to help form the Carter Center in Atlanta. They became champions of the causes the Carter Center sought to elevate: the advancement of human rights and free elections.

Imagine that happening in today’s even more bitter political climate. I can’t imagine it. Today we are filled with outright hatred that cannot be bridged by a simple, declarative sentence such as the one Jimmy Carter delivered as he was about to assume the most powerful office in the world.

That is the mark of a champion.

national news

Jimmy Carter: great American

A truly great man has departed this Earth, which is a better place today because this man chose to serve the world from an office in Washington, D.C.

President Jimmy Carter died today at age 100. We’re going to hear a lot in the next few days and weeks about his being the “greatest former president in U.S. history.” He was all of that, but I am not going to use that as a measuring stick to denigrate the four years this man served in the crucible of power as president.

Jimmy Carter did not preside over a failed presidency. There. I have gotten that out of the way. This good man, who came out of virtual nowhere to win the office in 1976, embarked on a series of initiatives that changed the world forever.

  • President Carter negotiated the handing over of the Panama Canal to Panama, which had sought control of the key passage. It was a difficult and complicated negotiation, fraught with controversy at the time. Ultimately, though, it has proved to be the wise decision.
  • The 39th president initiated diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China. It meant severing our relations with Taiwan, but it was in keeping with this country’s “one-China” policy. Certainly, our relationship with China has had its ups and downs. However, it was the right call.
  • President Carter helped negotiate a lasting peace treaty between two sworn enemies, Israel and Egypt. He brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to Camp David where they hammered out an ironclad peace agreement that stands to this very moment. Please note that Egypt has been silent since Israel went to war against Hamas after the terrorists’ rocket attack against Israel.

Yes, there were some serious setbacks that plagued the Carter presidency, chief among them being the 444-day Iranian hostage crisis. I want to call attention to this fact: Jimmy Carter negotiated for the hostages’ release until the very day Ronald Reagan took office in Washington in January 1981.

Rampant inflation inflicted deep wounds on Carter’s term. Reagan promised a brighter future. Voters elected him in a 1980 landslide.

Carter’s post-presidency saw him earn a Nobel Peace Prize for his work promoting human rights and free elections. He built houses for the poor. He established the Carter Center in Atlanta and used it as a platform to promote his ideals of justice for all.

Carter was a deeply devoted Christian who didn’t use his faith as a prop. He believed in Jesus’s teachings and lived in full devotion to what Jesus taught his believers.

President Jimmy Carter’s legacy is firm. May this good man rest in the eternal peace he has earned.

national news

MAGA Nation at war with itself?

Heads up, MAGA Nation … there appears to be a multi-front battle forming among members of the cult that scored a victory in November but who amazingly don’t yet know how to spend the spoils of victory.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, one of MAGA’s chief proponents, could be in danger of losing his powerful post as second-in-line to the presidency. His sin? Johnson has deigned to work with Democrats on keeping the government from shutting down. The MAGA credo includes a prohibition against working with them dreaded Democrats.

Not only that, but Johnson’s performance in mishandling the budgeting legislation has pissed off the MAGA cultist in chief, Donald Trump.

High tech billionaire Elon Musk is wearing out his welcome at the White House’s waiting room simply by being in the news more than the guy who elevated him to the un-elected post he shares with GOP loudmouth Vivek Ramaswamy; the two of them want to cut trillions of dollars from the budget.

Ramaswamy has angered MAGA followers with some language they deem inappropriate for whatever cause they are seeking to put forward.

Now we hear elements of the TEA Party are entering the fray. You remember them, right? They were the “tax enough already” cult that used to rule the roost in Congress until they got shoved aside by the MAGA loyalists. (FYI, I choose to capitalize “TEA” because I see the word as an acronym meaning “taxed enough already.”)

Oh, and what about Vice President-elect J.D. Vance? Is he missing in action? Not word lately from the veep-to-be. Go figure where he stands on anything.

So, Donald Trump’s rocky start to ascending to the pinnacle of power continues. May the battle be as “bloody” as many Americans hope it becomes. I say that because I believe our government will survive … serious injury and all.

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