national news

Trump surrounds himself with dimwits

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It is as clear as the length of the day that Donald Trump’s premier broken campaign promise is the one that he pledged to surround himself with only the “best people,” the brightest minds and bona fide experts in every field known to humankind.

It also is clear as the deep blue sky that Trump has delivered us an executive team full of dimwits, nimrods, dipshits and kooks. I won’t name them all, as they likely would take too much time to finish these thoughts.

However, I want to explore briefly why Trump has scraped so low to fill his government executive team. It’s because the boss himself — that would be the POTUS — fits into all the pejorative descriptions I laid out in the previous paragraph. The last thing Donald Trump wants to do is have his team show him up by actually have an understanding of government, the Constitution and the limits the framers placed on the president.

In a strange, perverse sort of way I kind of get it if that is Trump’s desire. He doesn’t want to be shown up by underlings. We saw glimpses of that during his first term. He had a retired Marine Corps general, Jim Mattis, as secretary of defense. Mattis got the boot because he knew better than to just be a yes man to the president. The same can be said of John Kelly, another USMC general who took a spin at White House chief of staff. Mark Esper, another Defense boss, also got the boot in the. rear. I would even count Rex Tillerson, the first secretary of state to serve the Trump team.

The second term administration is filled with lackeys, yes men and women and assorted individuals who have no business serving in the highest levels of government.

We are getting the kind of government we should expect from a POTUS who brings to the highest office in the land zero background in public service.

local news

Princeton can follow neighbor’s lead

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Princeton and Farmersville are far from being twin municipalities. Princeton’s population has exploded to more than 40,000 residents, while Farmersville sits just a bit north of 5,000 … or thereabouts.

However, Farmersville just went through a city manager search that was done in the open, with as much transparency as the hiring firm could allow. Princeton’s search for a city manager is beginning and the larger community’s approach appears quite promising, in that it will be far more transparent than the sequence that produced the previous manager, who resigned after spending less that two years on the job

Then-mayor Brianna Chacon promised a transparent search. She failed to deliver on that pledge. Mike Mashburn jumped out of the tall grass and met the city council for the first time, and then was hired on the spot after meeting the council in executive session. Few people ever saw Mashburn coming. The city has hired a firm to conduct a national search this time around. It promises a see-through process.

The Farmersville model for hiring a city manager ought to be followed by their friends in Princeton. The Farmersville council narrowed the list of applicants down to three, brought them in to meet the public and to get acquainted with the council. Farmersville then settled on Angela Smith to replace former City Manager Ben White, who resigned after 15 years on the job.

The Farmersville search process included town hall meetings with the finalists and although the sessions weren’t exactly well attended, the council sought to expose the finalists to the community they all sought to govern. My hope for Princeton is that the council follow the lead set by Farmersville.

There’s another aspect to the Princeton manager search that deserves a hand-clap. The firm that produces the finalist who gets hired will perform a search do-over at no cost to the city if the manager leaves his or her job with a year of being hired.

That’s a pretty damn good deal. I look forward to seeing how this process plays out.

national news

GOP: out of ideas and running out of luck

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A political party that keeps harping on the past only can mean one thing about the present and the future, and it doesn’t bode well for the party I’m about to mention.

The Republican Party, led by Donald Trump, is flat out of ideas. It is running out of steam. Its luck is damn near spent.

What does this mean for its future? The immediate future is looking grim every passing day. The GOP small margin in the House of Representatives looks quite vulnerable these days, as Democrats appear poised to seize the majority from its “friends” on the other side of the aisle. The hill toward majority control in the Senate still looks more formidable than in the House, but there appear to be more avenues for Democratic success than for Republicans.

As for the Republicans’ leader, Donald Trump, well … all I can offer there is a word of caution that he is facing a near-certain impeachment in the House. It might come even during the first year of the pending Democratic victory at the ballot box. This individual has all but acted like he is committing impeachable acts on purpose, that he’s secretly hoping to be impeached. He violates the Constitution with impunity.

We can set aside the ridiculous nonsense he prattles on with regard to Presidents Biden and Obama; it’s the unconstitutional actions he takes regularly that ought to become the targets of those intending to file impeachment articles. The Iran war, the tariffs he imposes on all Americans are two actions that come to mind immediately.

Trump’s legacy is hardening each day. It is built on chaos, malfeasance and corruption. Thus, it is becoming virtually impossible for the POTUS’s political heirs to advance any sort of political agenda … even if they had one.

Uncategorized

Dubya looking better all the time

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A dear friend and I today visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It was my fourth visit; it was her first.

I want to stipulate something I believe is quite significant, given that I think this is the second time I’ve been to the Bush center during one of Donald Trump’s administration. It is that I cannot help but compare the incumbent POTUS to the 43rd president. With each comparison that comes to mind, Dubya comes off looking better than the previous time.

I didn’t vote for President Bush in either of his presidential elections; nor did I cast a ballot for him for governor in 1994. I will not apologize for opposing his election to the governor’s office or the presidency or his re-election to the White House.

But I’ll be deep-fried and damned if he doesn’t look like the Second Coming compared to Trump. The Bush library contains many images of President Bush huddled with children while touting his education reforms. Today I noticed a hand-written letter from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy thanking the president for his work to help children learn to read. There is quite an exhibit explaining Bush’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, notably through his federal initiative known as PEPFAR, which stands for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Indeed, I learned in 2004 while attending the international AIDS conference in Bangkok, that PEPFAR has pumped more money into AIDS research than all other worldwide government programs … combined!

The Bush center also puts this man’s humanity on display. We see it through his care for families whose lives were destroyed by the events of 9/11 and by his concern for poverty that continues to strike all families across the land.

Quite naturally, the Bush center says nothing about the mistakes made by going to war in Iraq in 2003 or the economic freefall that struck the nation at the end of his presidency.

I just look at George W. Bush’s life of public service and I am filled with the desire to thank him personally for all he sought to do to make this a better world. I compare that to what Donald Trump continues to do to destroy the very fabric of our great nation. I simply shake my head out of disgust and rage.

national news

Trump’s fixation with ‘things’ proves key point

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Donald J. Trump’s fixation with adorning the West Wing with gold trimming, his destruction of the East Wing to build a fancy ballroom, his plans to build an Arc de Trump, his decision to plaster his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts proves what many of us have said all along about this fraudulent “champion of the people.”

He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about everyday Americans, nor does he care a one tiny bit about the value of public service.

I used this blog to warn folks about supporting a man who has never spent a waking moment of his adult life thinking about improving the nation. His entire focus, every damn moment, has been aimed at enriching himself. He doesn’t care about the MAGA morons who proclaim his virtue … such as it exists.

He talks about our “great military,” yet he refers to warriors as “suckers” and “losers.” He desecrates the memory of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War hero who was tortured during his years as a prisoner of war.

The physical evidence of Trump’s real passion can be seen all over the nation’s capital. You hear it in his remarks. He cannot stop talking about that damn ballroom and he presumes to believe that Americans are in favor of spending more than $1 billion to build a place for the POTUS to entertain heads of state.

Well … we don’t want to spend more money on a fancy dining hall, Donald.

business news, local news

Princeton takes big step toward ‘adulthood’

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Well now … it appears that Princeton, Texas, the city I’ve called home for the past seven years, is taking its next big step toward municipal adulthood.

I am a happy taxpaying resident of this growing community.

They’ve broken ground on the Princeton Town Center development, meaning that construction is going to start soon on a major grocery outlet that will serve as an anchor store for the massive complex on the corner of US 380 and Beauchamp Boulevard. They say the Kroger store will be open for business in July 2027, with much more to come.

I have waiting seemingly forever for this news to break. It did so this week with a story on the Princeton Herald. Joining Kroger in the anchor category will be Home Depot and Hobby Lobby. All the anchor stores will be completed around the same time, says the developer. Dozens of other outlets also are planned for the Town Center.

This is precisely the kind of development that Princeton has needed since it began its growth explosion about the time my wife and I moved here in February 2019. We have welcomed lots of new neighbors, but damn few new businesses to spend our money. The Princeton Town Center, comprising 63 acres, is going to give this city a bit of a municipal identity I have thought has been missing.

If you mention Princeton to someone from a neighboring community, the response usually entails some mention of the hideous traffic that moves ever-so-slowly through the community of about 45,000 residents. The Texas Department of Transportation is working to alleviate that matter, too. It is expanding US 380 and  eventually plans to build freeway loops through cities along the east-west right-of-way.

But I am delighted with news that Princeton Town Center will begin to take root on property that’s been awaiting this kind of activity. Princeton has been underserved for too long as it continues to add new residents. May the construction about to begin conclude at a reasonable time … in the near future!

military news

War president, my ass!

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Donald Trump calls himself a “war president,” to which I say plainly, clearly and without apology: my ass!

To be fair, Trump isn’t the first POTUS to never have worn the uniform, but he needs to follow the lead blazed by men who have worn it and who have acted with considerable reluctance to commit men and women to battle.

I am thinking at this moment of seven such men. Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter have entered my mind. TR saw combat during the Spanish-American War, Ike was supreme Allied commander of forces in Europe during World War II, “Give ‘Em Hell” Harry saw combat in WWI. JFK served as a combat naval officer in the Pacific during WWII. GHW Bush was a naval aviator in the Pacific and was shot down by Japanese gunners. Jimmy Carter graduated from the Naval Academy and served on nuclear submarines.

Three Republicans and three Democrats all saw war as the same hideous endeavor. No partisanship entered their discussions about warfare.

Yet now we have Trump. He evaded service during the Vietnam War. He has referred to those who served there as “losers and suckers.” Thanks, Donald. I’m one of ’em. He has instructed his staff to avoid showing him in the presence of wounded warriors.

He promised the nation he would avoid future wars. He broke that pledge by launching the war against Iran. Eighteen Americans have died — so far! — in that war.

This individual has zero understanding of the cost of man’s most insane act.

military news

Trump ruins a presidential act

Donald Trump today performed a supreme presidential act by going to Dover, Del., to receive the remains of three American service personnel who died in our nation’s Iran war.

Then he ruined the moment by lying about what he said was coursing through the souls of these valiant American servicemen and women. He said all of them “said that Iran should not have nuclear weapons.”

My first reaction was one of horror. How in this war-ravaged world does the commander in chief know what fallen warriors believed to be right about the war that Trump started for reasons to be revealed? How in the name of God Almighty can he pretend to make such a declaration?

He doesn’t know and he cannot possibly speak for these brave warriors … because he made it up!

Allow me to speak briefly for the millions of Americans who have gone to war for our country. There could not possibly be unanimous in support for the policy that sends them to war. There damn sure wasn’t in 1969 when I reported for duty as part of an Army aviation unit at Marble Mountain, Da Nang, South Vietnam. I was confused about the war. My beliefs about the correctness of the policy we were following to prosecute that war were still forming. By the time I returned home in 1970, those feelings became clear: I opposed the Vietnam War.

I strongly believe such is the case now, decades later, with young Americans being ordered to do battle with an adversary. And yet, Trump decided in this moment of grief and mourning to put words into the mouths of young Americans he didn’t know and declare that they support his policy of going to war with no clear strategy for conducting it … and no idea of how to end it.

national news, political news

TDS is real … and I’ve got it!

My name is John and I suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

There. I’ve come clean. Critics of this blog might rejoice in my acknowledgement of what they have accused me of having. Fine. Let ’em crow all they want.

Donald Trump has afflicted me with a condition I’ve never experienced before. Richard Nixon didn’t do it. If Tricky Dick couldn’t bring about an NDS — Nixon Derangement Syndrome — I figured I might have been free of the affliction. Silly me.

Yep, Trump has done seemingly the impossible. I’m a pretty cool customer most of the time. But when it comes to this guy, well, just toss the playbook out the window.

He speaks in mindless platitudes. Trump is unable to offer a significant reason for endorsing or condemning an individual or a policy. He prattles on and on with nonsense. He makes promises he knows he cannot keep. Indeed, he has no intention of keeping them.

Remember the crap he said about ending “forever wars?” Dude just started one. He said he would end the Ukraine-Russia War on “day one” once he took office the second time. He couldn’t possibly do a thing about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Besides, the POTUS admires the Russian thug Vlad Putin who invaded Ukraine.

One High Plains Blogger critic has suggested I seek treatment for TDS. Hah! I have no intention of being “cured” of a condition I am proud to wear.

I detest Donald Trump. He has no business sitting in the Oval Office. He should be kept far away from the nuclear codes. Why in the world should I seek a cure for understanding the obvous?

national security, political news

Don’t underestimate this fool

For sure I have learned a lesson or two about Donald J. Trump, which is that never — not ever — believe he is finished when the whole rest of the world is saying as much.

He was supposed to have been done during the 2016 presidential campaign after a number of ghastly personal performances. He managed to pull off the biggest political fluke in U.S. history by scoring enough Electoral College votes while losing the popular vote by 3 million ballots to Hillary Clinton.

He lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden but has sown enough doubt about the integrity of our electoral system to cast a pall over it that lasts to this day.

Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2028 and this coming November we’ll have the midterm election. Control of Congress is at stake. The odds favor a Democratic takeover he House of Representatives. The odds of a Democratic coup in the Senate are longer, but still doable. Trump won’t be on the 2026 ballot, either.

Make no mistake that this charlatan, this election denier in chief, this ghastly pretender to the presidency is pulling out all the stops to deny Democrats the victory they deserve and are expecting. He’s seeking to nationalize the midterm, which I have noted already in an earlier blog post is an impossibility. However, it is a mistake to dismiss this moron’s ability to make it so.

That could result in the House flipping far fewer seats to the Democratic column. And it could mean the GOP keeps control of the Senate. Many of us want the Democrats to win the day in contests for both congressional chambers. I say that, though, knowing full well that Trump’s ability to dodge political freight trains is nothing to dismiss.

That’s what makes him so damn dangerous.

Beware, y’all.

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