business news, economic news

Tariffs come and go … and return

Donald J. Trump is in love with the word “tariff,” if only he understood what it means and who it penalizes.

He has just slapped another boost on the tariff he wants to charge India for goods imported into the United States. India now will pay a 50% tariff on everything that comes from that country into this one. So, if you want to buy a pashmina scarf from India, it will cost you basically half again the sticker price of the garment … which is pretty steep as it is!

That’s just one example of the inflationary pressure that awaits Americans who will pay for the tariffs Trump insists on leveling against the entire planet. He calls it payback for being “screwed” by the world’s nations. Good grief! You and I are going to pay for this nonsense. The weirdest part of all is that Trump is penalizing nations, such as Canada and Mexico, for engaging in trade practices that Trump himself worked out when he tossed aside the North American Free Trade Agreement. Go figure that one, ya know?

What does Trump have to pay? I don’t know nor do I care one damn bit. I am bitten by the “interest and apathy” bug.

All I can tell for certain is that when Trump gets done deciding how much of a tariff he wants to apply to this and/or that product or commodity, you and I are going to pay a hefty price for this numbskull’s obsession with a concept he doesn’t understand.

military news

This bomb was … huge!

Americans are on the verge of commemorating a huge event in our national military history … but it’s nothing to celebrate.

Eighty years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, a U.S. Army Air Force bomber took off from Tinian Island in the Pacific loaded with a single bomb. The Enola Gay would drop that bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, and it would kill tens of thousands of people in an instant. Three days later, a second B-29 flew to Nagasaki, Japan, and would do the same thing, killing tens of thousands more human beings.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945. World War II had ended … finally!

These events mean a great deal to me. It’s a visceral feeling, given that Peter John Kanelis, a boatswain mate in the U.S. Navy, was stationed in the Philippines, preparing to take part in the invasion of Japan by U.S. and Allied forces. He was my Dad. I don’t know what he would have done during that campaign. I thank God in heaven I’ll never have to know.

I do believe that the newly sworn in president of the United States, Harry Truman, might have saved Dad’s life by making the most terrifying decision of his presidency: to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Truman took office in April 1945 upon the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. The VP was a little-known U.S. senator from Missouri when FDR chose him to run with him in the 1944 election. There was little that Truman knew about war strategy when he became commander in chief. One of the secrets kept from him was the Manhattan Project underway in New Mexico to develop the A-bomb. As Truman was getting his presidential footing settled in, the brass informed him of the weapon they had.

I’m sure Truman blinked a few times while hearing about all this. But when the time came to deploy these weapons, he acted like the leader he became. He gave the go-ahead. He knew the political costs would be high, but in his mind, using this weapon would ultimately save many more lives than it would take.

One of those lives well might have been a sailor from Portland, Ore., who enlisted in the Navy on the very day the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and who would return home, marry a beautiful young woman and produce a family that included little ol’ me.

We won’t celebrate this event as a nation. Nor should we. It is an event we should commemorate nonetheless and pray to the Almighty that we never will experience it again.

However, I can say with metaphysical certitude that I well could owe my existence to a man who was willing and ready to lead a nation when it needed him the most.

local news

Diversity being tested

My family — immediate and extended — is a diverse lot, comprising “yellow dog Democrats” and “rock-ribbed MAGA Republicans.” So, I cannot say they influenced my own world view, as I have charted my own path over the course of my 75-plus years on this Earth.

One of my family members, who considers herself to be a mainstream, social and fiscal conservative Republican, has just informed me that, in her view, “Texas is really screwing the Democrats.” How so? In her mind, it’s the midstream reapportionment debacle unfolding in Austin that just gets her motor running.

My aunt is a kind and serious woman. She is not prone to latch onto cults the way many in both political parties seem prone to do on occasion. Therefore, the target of her anger is the MAGA cult that has attached itself to Donald Trump’s world view, such as it is. Trump has singled out Texas, with its strong GOP ties, to help him solidify the slim Republican majority in the U.S. House. He declares the Legislature, which is meeting in special session, can redraw five strong Democratic House districts into five GOP districts.

Trump wants to disenfranchise minority voters who are represented in Congress by representatives who reflect their views. We can’t have that, Trump has said.

The guy’s a maniac! And a dimwitted one at that! If he can piss off a reasonable Republican such as the member of my family I have just illustrated in this brief post, imagine how many others out there might be willing to rebel against the elected officials who are so damn willing to crater to this dipshit’s cravings.

national news, political news

Yes, block GOP effort to redraw boundaries

This will surprise no one who reads this blog regularly … but I am going to back Texas legislative Democrats’ efforts to stop the Legislature’s Republican majority from redrawing the state’s congressional districts to ensure the election of even more GOP members to Congress.

Democrats who comprise the Legislature’s minority have fled the state. At least 51 Texas Democrats are holed up somewhere to prevent a House vote on a plan urged by Donald Trump and endorsed by his GOP pals Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to re-jigger boundaries to bolster the Republican majority in the U.S. House.

This reapportionment matter takes place every decade when the Census is taken. It falls on the Legislature to redraw these lines. I remember the late state Sen. Teel Bivins, an Amarillo Republican, bemoaning the task. He said it gave legislative Republicans a “chance to eat their young.” I still am not sure what he meant by that, but I took it to mean partly that he didn’t like having to redraw the lines.

It’s not clear to me or to many others how long this strategy will hold up. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton calls Democrats “cowards” for shirking their duty. He vows to arrest them, although leaving the state in this fashion is a civil offense, so arresting legislators remains an iffy proposition.

Legislators have tried this before. Previous walkouts have ended when Democrats who vowed to hang tough forever gave in, enabling Republicans to get their way.

I am just aghast that Donald Trump would encourage this form of political bullying and I am delighted that Texas Democrats — so far! — are standing firm in opposition to this interference in Texas politics.  

environmental news, local news

Praise for twin-edged gesture

A company that does business in the North Texas community where I live has instituted an initiative I want to praise with this brief blog entry.

Community Waste Disposal picks up trash and recyclable material in Princeton and several Metroplex-area communities. This weekend I saw a public service announcement from CWD that kinda made my job drop. It encourages residents served by CWD to recycle material. Why? Because for every ton of material that CWD processes through its recycling program, it pledges to donate $10 for relief to aid the victims of the Fourth of July flooding in Central Texas.

Ponder that for a moment. The company is encouraging its customers to be more proactive in preserving the environment while at the same time pledging more money to repair the destruction that Mother Nature brought when the Guadalupe River wiped out families, businesses, homes and property.

The death count is something north of 100 people who perished in the river’s torrent. Many thousands more lives will need to be rebuilt, many of them without the presence of loved ones who perished in nature’s savage assault.

I have no idea how much CWD recycles each month. I am guessing it’s in the thousands of tons of material it picks up in front of Princeton houses — and elsewhere. Someone at CWD once told me that recycling efforts throughout the region has reduced landfill waste by something more than 30%. So, the region buys into the notion of recycling. It has become a way of life for many of us in North Texas.

I can think of no better reason to step up our efforts to send material to the recycling station than to raise money to aid our fellow Texans in distress.

Well played, Community Waste Disposal.

2016 election

Who’s rigging an election?

Follow me on this one so we can make sense of it together, OK?

Donald Trump never conceded the 2020 presidential contest to Joe Biden, claiming the 46th president rigged the election. He never offered a shred of proof to the allegation. He launched an insurrection that sought to prevent the Electoral College certification of the results.

President Biden served for four years. Then he stepped away from his re-election effort.

Trump got elected in 2024. What’s he now planning to do? He has instructed governors in so-called “red states” to ensure that they redraw congressional boundaries to elect more Republicans. In Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott has called for a special legislative session, the aim as delivered by Trump is to turn five Democratic-leaning districts into Republican leaners simply by redrawing the boundaries to include more GOP-friendly voters.

Where I come from, that smacks of rigging an election. He wants to deny voters the representation they sought with their ballots to suit a political aim that requires more GOP support than he currently enjoys. Trump’s main targets happen to be districts with heavy minority populations.

The corruption level in this dipshit’s vacuous skull knows no bounds.

Uncategorized

Trump will cook the jobs books?

Someone will have to help me understand how this will work, so bear with me.

Donald Trump received some grim jobs numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. His reaction was to fire the individual who ran the BLS, the same person who was approved by the Senate in 2024 with 86 “yes” votes. Trump shot the messenger, the individual who merely was reporting jobs data that reflects a slowing of the economy and the withering job market.

Trump said he doesn’t believe the numbers. They should be better than the 73,000 jobs added to the non-farm payrolls in the past month. Or so he said while firing the BLS chief.

Hmmm. What happens now?

Is Trump going to find an individual who will deliberately cook these jobs outlooks to make him look good? Will he tell the next BLS boss to lie to the public?

The numbskull in chief is off his rocker. This firing of someone whose job was to report jobs figures fairly and without favoritism tells us all just what we have in charge of our government’s executive branch.

We have elected a madman!

local news

What a visit!

Now, that’s what I would call an eventful visit … so that’s what I’ll do.

I ventured to West Texas and spent a couple of days visiting four of my best friends on Earth. They are members of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange team I accompanied to Israel in May-June 2009. We have stayed in touch for the past 16 years and they have become part of what we call our “familia.”

We enjoyed some barbecue, a steak dinner with another couple I have known for many years. We reminisced about the month we spent in one of the most marvelous places in this world of ours.

Then, this afternoon, after enjoying a fantastic lunch at a famed BBQ joint in Olton, Texas, we got in touch with a young man and his wife — two more friends of ours — in The Netherlands. The young man was part of a Dutch team that toured Israel with us and we also have remained close.

That wasn’t the end of the excitement … for me. I took off around 2 p.m. expecting to arrive home in Princeton around 8. Hah! I ran into two thunderstorms, one along U.S. 82 as I approached Gainesville, and then along U.S. 75 just as I turned south in Sherman. It was violent, full of lightning and thunder and deluge-scale rainfall. The wind that preceded that first storm was so intense I seriously thought I would witness a tornado. Yes … I was frightened.

My six-hour home turned into a nearly eight-hour trek.

I so thoroughly enjoyed seeing my good friends, people I love dearly. We all went through a lot together on our tour of Israel. It will stay with us forever.

crime news, media news

Blog finds new rhythm

High Plains Blogger had hit a slump, I am willing to acknowledge, but that slump might be about to reignite into a new energy.

That’s my hope.

I have found a new rhythm to writing and posting items on this forum. I shall explain.

For years I had prided myself in my prolific writing. I was able to crank out three, four, five entries daily. My friends said they marveled at the frequency of my blog posts. I appreciate the good word, but it wore me out.

I have decided to scale it back to a single entry on most days. Sometimes there will be two. Even less frequently you might see three entries. I also have decided I am going to rely more on issues rather than personalities. You know already that I detest the moron masquerading as president of the United States. Thus, there is little — if any need — to whip that already bloody carcass. Hell, it’s already been bled dry.

You’re likely to read observations about more local matters. The Texas Legislature is back in special session for the next month. Maybe it will stay on the job longer. I am going to watch our legislators carefully.

I also want to devote more time and attention to what I call “slice of life” matters. Maybe this blog post qualifies as a piece defining a slice of retired life. You know?

I recently posted a blog entry that discussed taking a break from blogging. Some supporters objected and told me they want me to stay in the game. I heard you. I’m not going anywhere.

I just want to tone it down a bit. I want to stay sharp enough to comment when the spirit moves me and when policy decisions demand it.

So, there you have it, kids. New rhythm, less pressure, more varied topics.

It’s going to keep me in love with what I do.

education news

‘Yes!’ to schools cracking down on cell phone use

I shall refrain from the lament that it took a long time to do the right thing, so I will applaud school districts throughout Texas that are taking direct measures to restore some decorum in our public school classrooms.

They are ordering students to ditch their cell phones when the bell rings to start the school day.

They’re doing it here in Princeton, where I live. Fort Worth is as well. Same for Dallas. And same for a whole lot of other districts acting on legislation approved by the 2025 Texas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Classrooms must be a place where students are focused solely on the lessons being taught. Teachers deserve that respect. Sadly, they don’t get it when students are sitting in their chairs, cell phones in their laps as they send messages back and forth. The law empowers individual school districts to use whatever disciplinary measures they deem appropriate to punish violators.

And to be sure, this initiative drew plenty of resistance from parents who insist foolishly that they must be in contact with their little darlin’s 24 hours each day. As Col. Sherman T. Potter would say: Buffalo bagels!

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience