political news

If only we could repeat this

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The relatively brief nature of this presidential campaign has been refreshing in one critical aspect.

We have had little time to grow tired of the Democratic presidential nominee, given that she didn’t enter the contest until President Biden dropped out of it.

Of course, we cannot say the same of the Republican Party’s nominee, because we all know him too well. He’s been on the political scene only since the summer of 2015, but we knew about him beforehand by virtue of his TV show and his various high-profile social exploits.

Vice President Kamala Harris, if you believe the polls, has taken a slim — but growing — lead over Donald Trump. She is starting to apply even more pressure to Trump. Harris wants a second debate with him. To be honest, I don’t think a second debate is necessary, other than perhaps to enable her to finish off the former POTUS.

Trump actually said he won’t run again if he loses to Harris. To which I only can laugh. You see, this guy cannot tell the truth on any issue, on any level, at any time, or in any location.

We’re heading into the home stretch of a dramatically abbreviated campaign. For that I am grateful. The VP does represent a welcome change, even as she runs as the current vice president.

May she continue to tighten the vise around her foe and send him packing for the rest of his miserable life.

national news, political news

Once is enough for this clown

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Kamala Harris has accepted CNN’s invitation to participate in a second presidential debate with Donald J. Trump.

Trump, though, said he isn’t going to do it. Once is enough, he reportedly said. You know what? I actually agree with the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. Americans do not need to know any more about this former POTUS, the serial liar, the ex-philanderer in chief.

We know that Trump is a fraudulent numbskull. We know he’s been convicted of 34 felony counts, that he stands indicted on more criminal counts. He’s been impeached twice already by the House of Representatives.

He has admitted to grabbing women by their genitals because he’s “famous” and can get away with it.

Vice President Harris delivered an old-fashioned whoopin’ to Trump in their earlier encounter. What more can he do to alienate voters who already fear the possibility that he could return to power?

I am one American patriot who doesn’t need a single reason to hear another word from this loser.

Americans used to insist that our candidates for president embodied the best in those who comprise this great nation. Donald Trump embodies the worst in us.

I have heard enough from this guy’s overfed yapper.

local news

Jet lag isn’t permanent … but still

A strange notion came over me yesterday morning, one that suggested I had whipped the jet lag that plagued me since my return from a nine-day trip to Greece.

Silly me. It seems to be rallying inside this 74-year-old body of mine.

This is worth mentioning briefly because in all the international travel I have enjoyed over many years, jet lag hardly ever has been a problem I cannot shake.

This time it’s different.

I am going to attribute this stubborn case of jet lag to a couple of factors.

One is that I am generally sleep-deprived. I have had trouble getting a good night’s sleep for the past three or four years. Therefore, when I should be sleeping on an airplane … I am not! Among the many ways I heard to fend off jet lag, this one makes the most sense: Try to sleep on a jetliner when it’s bedtime at home.

Maybe next time.

Another factor is uncomfortable seats in the poor man’s economy class ticket I purchased. Don’t let the airlines fool you: Economy class seats are not comfy. The discomfort I felt on both long-distance legs of my journey has compelled me to declare that any future international airborne travel will be on a jetliner equipped with business class.

I’ll have to budget for it, plan ahead, because I know the biz class seats can cost me an arm and both legs.

So … I am fighting jet leg at this moment as I conclude this brief post.

What now? I’ll finish it. Post it.  Then I’ll take another nap. I can whip this.

local news

Moratorium imposed … for now

Princeton’s city council has taken an action that I wasn’t sure it would take … it has voted to impose a temporary ban on residential construction.

The council will take a final vote on a proposed ordinance next month.

You know what? I think the city has acted wisely. Four months might not be long enough, though, for the city to obtain the infrastructure it says it needs to serve the thousands of people who want to make Princeton their home.

Police Chief Jim Waters says he needs to hire 30 more police officers to protect and serve the city’s burgeoning population. The city needs to build more water towers to help regulate water pressure. And the city surely needs to finish its massive street repair and maintenance projects.

Princeton now is home to an estimated 33,000 residents, roughly double the number of humans counted for the 2020 Census. The number continues to skyrocket.

Mayor Brianna Chacon broached the subject of a moratorium a few months ago, saying the city has grown “too fast.”

So, the city has decided to put the brakes on its residential construction. It’s a short-term ban. Let’s hope it is sufficient to allow Princeton to catch its breath.

political news, religious news

They are ‘evangelical hypocrites’

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For those among us who continue to proclaim their fealty to the Bible while condemning their neighbors in the context of a heated political campaign, allow me this brief reminder.

The New Testament places no qualifier on whom we should love. It doesn’t tell us to embrace only those who look like us. It doesn’t say to feed only our political allies. It makes no qualifying statement on who deserves our grace.

So, when you hear the garbage being spewed by those who purport to be “evangelical Christians” while they heap all those caveats on who Jesus Christ instructs them to receive their care, please understand that these are religious perverts. They have twisted the words inscribed centuries ago to fit a political narrative that has zero place in understanding the tenets of faith.

They are not “evangelical Christians.” They instead are evangelical hypocrites lurking among those of us who understand –and honor — the messages contained within our holy book.

Uncategorized

‘Greatest selfless act’

George Clooney is known for a lot of things: accomplished actor and filmmaker, bona fide “hunk,” noted family man in an industry not known for such a lifestyle.

Political scholarship doesn’t come to mind when I think of George Clooney.

Yet the actor has offered what I believe is a spot-on critique of President Biden when he calls the president’s decision to step down from his re-election campaign the “greatest selfless act” perhaps since the time George Washington decided that two terms as POTUS was enough.

Biden’s withdrawal from the campaign and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris is the rarest of all acts, given that Biden surrendered the enormous power he possessed as POTUS.

That act of selflessness is going to ensure, in my mind, historians’ verdict on Biden’s presidency and his willingness to surrender the power that goes with occupying it.

Biden did not want to step aside after that debate performance that prompted the tongue-wagging that questioned his mental acuity. He faced enormous pressure from Democrats, his friends and allies … and from George Clooney, whose op-ed column in the New York Times shook the political world at its core.

It is President Biden, though, who deserves the bouquet, as his decision to surrender power well might save this country from madness and mayhem.

local news

Getting used to a pooch

Even though it hasn’t been too terribly long since I lost Toby the Puppy to cancer — and I should be familiar with a pooch’s particular behavior– I am finding that those pooch-handling skills had gotten a bit rusty.

I now have Sabol prancing through my North Texas home. I anticipate a smooth transition to a dog-friendly environment for my newest family member. She is 6 years old and needs to shed some weight.

I do have some quite good news to report: the distance between Sabol and our kitties, Marlowe and Macy, is closing. The cats seem increasingly comfortable sharing their home space with Sabol. As for the puppy? Pfffttt! She couldn’t care less what they think or what territory they claim as their own.

Meantime, I am having to get used to tending to a puppy’s needs. That’s never been an issue in all the years my wife and I were exclusively kitty parents.

I’m getting the hang of it.

local news

Pooch makes progress

I want to be clear that I do not intend to write about every little moment of progress that my new pooch, Sabol, demonstrates as she learns to navigate her way through her new house,

I just want to share a couple of things for those who care about this journey I’ve taken.

Sabol moved in with my son, our kitties and me. She sprinted out the front door on Day One. I had to run after her.  I am more alert now to her presence when I open the door.

I put food out for her. Guess what … she’s eaten a good bit of it. I worried that she might be so unsettled that she wouldn’t want to eat it. She’s settling just fine.

Sabol also has figured out how to work the doggy door.

Sabol tonight has stared down our kitties, Macy and Marlowe did not sprint to the farthest place in the house as I thought they might. Sabol’s reaction? No problem. She knows this is their house, just as the kitties got schooled by Toby the Puppy when they moved in more than a year ago,

Bottom line? It’s all going to work out just fine.

national news

Trump-Vance’s racism on full display

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Let it never be denied that the 2024 Republican Party presidential ticket is virulently racist to its core … meaning to what passes for the hearts of the two men who are leading that political enterprise, Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance.

For them to single out Haitian refugees for committing a heinous act of barbarism in an Ohio city that has welcomed them only drives home the point of the men’s racist core.

Haiti is a country that comprises a Black population. Thousands of Haitians have moved into Ohio. Then, during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump asserted that Haitian refugees are eating pet dogs and cats.

Proof of it happening? Trump produced not a shred of it. Indeed, Ohio officials have declared it to be a vicious rumor.

However, this brand of idiotic racism goes straight into Trump’s wheelhouse. He has singled out ethnic and racial groups — and individuals — for this kind of “fake news.” Remember the Barack Obama “birther” malarkey? How about recently when Trump wondered out loud “when Kamala Harris became Black.”

This idiot has no place preparing to knock on the White House door yet again.

Trump is racist to his rotten core. And Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, is just following the racist in chief’s lead.

local news

Welcome to our family, Sable

Listen up, ladies and gentlemen, for I am about to announce an important decision in my life and in the life of my family.

I have just welcomed a new pooch into my house. She is Sable, a 6-year-old mix of … something, and I have no clue about her ancestry.

I have a ton of good news to report about Sable. First, and with apologies to Sally Field, she likes me, she really likes me. Second, she loves traveling on the road. Third, she settled down right away in my truck when I welcomed her into my family.

You know the story of Toby the Puppy and the devastating loss I suffered at the end of 2023 when cancer took him. He was 9 and had become the perfect companion. Sable won’t replace Toby, but I am going to say right here that she is off to a good start in charting her own course.

Her previous family member told me she is overweight and a bit disheviled. I can take care of both of those issues.

I am looking forward to getting re-acclimated with a pooch around the house.

Oh … one more thing. I have been advised Sable “really loves cats.” Be on guard, Macy and Marlowe.

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