Category Archives: national news

national news

Look for common denominator

When we complain about policy disagreements and dysfunction in government, I am fond of reminding the complainers of a simple fact.

Look for the common denominator, I am bound to say. All the issues that erupt have something in common. It’s more or less like the dysfunction I have witnessed in my immediate family. I can point to an individual who is at the center of the dysfunction as the cause of it all.

So it is with government. What is the common denominator in the troubles that have befallen the federal government, which at this moment has shut down many offices that provide service to those of us who pay for it?

It’s the Republican Party, its leadership and in this moment the MAGA wing that just can’t find a way to negotiate with those dreaded Democrats. They are the common thread that runs through all of this. They were present when the government shut down during Donald Trump’s first term in office. Indeed, they were in power when Newt Gingrich was the GOP speaker of the House.

Government shutdowns don’t serve anyone any good. They simply deny essential services to millions of Americans whose tax money pays for the government to work for them. Right now, it ain’t working for anyone!

Democrats want to keep health care available for millions of Americans. Republicans don’t. Hmm. What’s wrong with this picture?

I am not going to predict an end to this latest shutting down of the government. I just want us all to understand who is responsible for its occurence in the first place.

Then we need to respond accordingly when the time comes to vote on whether to keep these dipshits in power.

national news, political news

Meanwhile, a shutdown looms … again!

As the political world frets and ponders the fate of the Epstein files, a James Comey indictment over a frivolous perjury allegation, Congress and the so-called president are locking horns over whether to allow the federal government to shut down … again!

No one is governing. Not on Capitol Hill. Not in the White House. Congress is grappling with yet another continuing resolution and whether to enact it and fund the government for a few more weeks. If not, then we shut the government down — or much of it, anyway — while Congress and the so-called POTUS argue among themselves.

This is a shitty way to run the world’s greatest democratic republic. I say that with caution, because our greatness is being whittled away by Donald Trump’s efforts to usurp power from Congress and grant himself power the founders never envisioned.

I continue to be utterly flabbergasted that this Congress allows a president to strip the legislative branch of the authority granted it by the founding fathers. The founders created a presidency with limited power. They limited the legislative branch’s power, too. A president proposes legislation, but Congress disposes it. That’s how it’s supposed to go. Presidents are asked to work hand-in-hand with Congress, including with members of the opposing party, to fund the government. Is any of that occurring? Hah!

The federal court system, meanwhile, is juggling issues that have nothing to do with governance, but everything to do with presidential conduct.

Our government is broken. I won’t say it’s destroyed, but man … the damage is piling up.

I know this sounds a little like a “both sides at fault” argument, but in the case of the budget shutdown, I have to lay blame at the two governing branches’ feet. It would be up to the courts to determine if either sides does something in violation of the US Constitution.

However, I am sickened by Trump’s ongoing petulance and the revenge he continues to seek against his political foes. It is Trump’s vengeance that is driving Democrats away. As the only politician elected by the entire nation, it falls, therefore, on the president to step up and do what is right.

Find a solution to this ongoing budget crisis!

national news, political news

Trump keeps promises, breaks a few others

Donald J. Trump fancies himself as being an atypical politician, but he’s just like all the others in this key aspect: He makes promises while campaigning for office and keeps a few and breaks others.

He ran for president in 2024 vowing to end the Ukraine-Russia war on Day One; he vowed to lower prices on goods. Trump fell short on those promises.

He also vowed to be voters’ “retribution” and said he would seek to punish his political foes. Bingo! He has kept those pledges.

It’s the pledges kept that cause me the most concern. Trump has launched probes in search of a crime. He has the targets, he just needs to find something to plaster onto them. Former FBI director James Comey today was indicted for perjury for testimony he gave to a Senate committee. Trump and Comey hate each other, but the evidence for an indictment doesn’t appear to stack up. That doesn’t matter to Trump. He’s going after Comey anyway.

Across the board, Trump is weaponizing federal law enforcement for the purpose of getting even with his foes.

Dang! He told us he would do it and yet a slim plurality Americans elected him POTUS anyway!

As for the other stuff, the policy matters that affect how much money we have to spend on food, transportation and housing, Trump is falling short. Oh, and the Ukraine war. Mr. Mind Changer now sings the praises of Ukraine’s effort at defending itself against the Russian invaders.

The charlatan in chief has gone bonkers.

local news, media news, national news

Sorry for not engaging

Here it comes … a qualified apology to the occasional critic of this blog who challenges me to engage them in debate, only to be rebuffed by me.

High Plains Blogger used to consume a lot more of my time than it does these days. As I grow older — and as I continue to rebuild my life after my bride’s passing from brain cancer more than two years ago — the blog has become less a part of my life. That’s by design. It’s my design.

I have my share of supporters who tell me they like what I have to say on issues of the day. I also have a number of folks who I know oppose my point of view. On occasion they will challenge me. They demand that I explain myself. If they present data they believe proves me wrong, they insist I say so publicly, or at the very least engage them in debate.

I once posted an item on this blog that declared that I see my posted opinion as my last word on a subject. Therefore, I have no particular need or desire to engage someone in a debate that will result only in boosting my blood pressure. Maybe even theirs, too.

Now that I am well into this next phase of my life, I have even less reason to go toe-to-toe with a political foe. There is no point. I choose only to let my critics have the last word, as I am not afflicted by what I call “last word-itis.”

I have asked on occasion if my foe and I could just “agree to disagree.” Some of them say yes. Some of them want to keep the rhetorical brass knucks handy.

Look, the loss of my dear Kathy Anne taught me a valuable life lesson. It is that life is too damn short to waste time on matters that won’t ever change. I never expect to change anyone’s mind with the posts I deliver on High Plains Blogger. They might think they can change mine.

They would be horribly mistaken. To those who wish I would engage them, I merely want to apologize … but only for staying away from the rough-and-tumble. I won’t apologize for whatever I say.

national news

What about Trump library?

Admit it boys and girls … we’re getting closer to the first year of Donald Trump’s second term in office, which puts us a little closer to his permanent exit from the Oval Office. Thus, I know you’ve been thinking the same thought that has crossed my mind: What will Trump’s library contain?

Or will he even have a presidential library and museum?

The first such exhibit I ever saw was in 1973 in West Branch, Iowa, home of the Herbert Hoover presidential library. I thought of President Hoover only in one context, that the Great Depression began on his watch with the collapse of the stock market and he lost his re-election bid in a landslide to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I learned, though, that Hoover also was a world-class humanitarian and he parlayed his compassion for the needy into legendary acts of good for humankind.

Fast-forward to the present day and we have Donald Trump. He’s been impeached twice. He has been vilified by world leaders for a variety of missteps. He now is trying to dismantle our democratic republic while seeking to form an autocracy. He has boasted of grabbing women in their private areas, has denigrated immigrants, the media, his political foes (who he calls “the enemy”) and has been caught telling outright lies by the tens of thousands.

You get the idea, I presume. How does he define his time in office? What will be the signature act of good he will have performed while serving as president?

This past weekend, I toured the George W. Bush library and museum in Dallas. I didn’t vote for President Bush in 2000 or 2004, but I do admire his commitment to the Constitution and his years of public service. I admire the president’s steadfast courage after 9/11 and I admire the investment his administration made in education reform and in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Believe it or not, I do wish for a signature moment that could define Donald Trump’s time in office in a positive light. So far, he’s coming up empty.

national news, political news

Charley Kirk Day? Are they serious …?

Did I hear this correctly, that congressional Republicans are lining up for an effort to create a national holiday honoring the memory of a man slain because he espoused right-wing nut-job policies and supported the agenda put forth by the MAGA moron in chief, Donald Trump?

I believe I did hear it. Yep. GOP members of Congress want to create Charlie Kirk Day. A national holiday, yes? This can’t possibly be serious. But wait! The GOP is no longer a serious political party. It is the mouthpiece for the MAGA movement led by Trump and his sycophants.

One of them was Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative influencer. Kirk was speaking the other day at a rally at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, when a nitwit with a rifle shot him in the neck. Kirk died almost immediately.

Yes, it was a shock. Yes, I condemn political violence. Yes, it was a political assassination. And yes, Kirk leaves behind a wife and two small children, which alone is enough to cause great sadness and sympathy.

He is no martyr. He blustered some highly offensive policies, such as saying that Black Americans aren’t as smart as white Americans. He wanted to deport all immigrants. He was anti-gay, anti-transgender. He spewed hate at every event where he was featured.

To elevate this young man’s memory to a level reserved for the likes of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and presidents of the United States (starting with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln) insults the intelligence of rank-and-file Americans, not to mention the memories of those truly great men.

I am sad that Charlie Kirk died in such a violent manner. I won’t ever justify the actions of the idiot who’s in custody and faces a death sentence if he’s convicted of aggravated murder.

But … c’mon folks! Settle down with this national commemoration nonsense!

national news

Ready, set … judge his place in history!

Some of you might think I am getting ahead of myself by posing this question … but I don’t think so.

The question: Is it too early to begin wondering how history is going to judge Donald Trump’s two terms in office as president of the United States?

Pay attention. Dude is a lame duck. He won’t seek another term in office because the Constitution won’t allow it. Congressional Republicans got alarmed in the 1940s after President Roosevelt was elected for his fourth term in 1944. They wanted to prevent what they feared would be an imperial presidency. So, Congress ratified the 22nd Amendment setting a two-term limit on presidential elections.

I wil concede that historians will have difficulty wrapping their arms around Trump’s two terms. How does history judge someone who wins a second term vowing to be his supporters’ “retribution” and then proceeds to follow through on that chilling pledge? It is clear to anyone with half a functioning brain that Trump wants to rewrite the rules of governance, seeking to scarf up more power for the chief executive than the Constitution currently allows.

Leading economists and constitutional scholars say he is breaking the law by invoking inflationary tariffs on imported goods.

There well might be a special category emerging for this guy. He won’t be judged by history purely by policies he supposedly favors. I say “supposedly” because he doesn’t seem to have a philosophical core that goes beyond what’s good for him.

His obituary will contain the word “impeached” in the leading paragraph. So, for that matter, will Bill Clinton’s obit. Trump went through two of them. You know what? There well might be more of them coming up if Democrats regain control of the House in the 2026 midterm election. The question, though, for Senate Republicans is whether they will find the courage to convict him and toss his sorry backside out of office.

You can bet your final buck that historians are preparing the first draft assessing what this guy has meant to the presidency and to the nation he was elected twice to lead. Therefore , it is not too early to begin that task.

International news, national news

Nobel Peace Prize? Hah!

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For the ever-lovin’ life of me I don’t know really why I am wasting my energy on this issue, but it seems to be getting traction in some circles … although nowhere near me.

Donald Trump appears to be lobbying for consideration to get the Nobel Peace Prize. I cannot think of a least worthwhile nominee for that cherished prize than that fellow.

I guess he sees his efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war as sufficient cause to award him the prize.

To be sure, the Nobel committee has misfired a time or two on these picks. I believe the Nobel prize panel missed the mark when it named newly elected President Obama its 2009 Peace Prize recipient. It did so on the hope he would bring peace after nearly eight years of war during President Bush’s two terms in office.

To his credit, Obama recognized what I think he realized was a mistake when he accepted the award. At least he acknowledged the unusual circumstances of his selection.

But … the idea that the Nobel panel could even consider Trump for this high honor simply boggles the noggin. Whatever peace deal emerges from the bloodshed likely will contain multiple concessions to the aggressor nation — which happens to be Russia. Surely the wise folks who hand this prestigious award to deserving winners can find someone who actually deserves it.

national news, political news, State news

Who’s rigging elections now?

Donald J. Trump spent a great deal of emotional capital — as well as other people’s valuable time — ranting and railing against what he alleged was a “rigged” election for president of the United States.

He even provoked an armed assault on our government the day Congress was to ratify the 2020 Electoral College result that elected Joe Biden president in 2020. Trump never provided a shred of proof of any rigging or corruption, but he damn sure had the MAGA crowd believing the mule dookey he was peddling.

Here are now, in 2025, and we have an actual tangible, provable case of election manipulation — or rigging if you will — of a 2026 congressional election. It is being orchestrated by Trump. He bullied the Texas Legislature into redrawing five congressional districts that were tilting toward the Democrats to places that now reportedly lean Republican. Trump wants to strengthen the GOP’s slim congressional majority and he talked Texas Republicans to sign on as election-fixing co-conspirators.

Where I come from, I believe they call that “rigging an election.” Texas GOP lawmakers bought the crap Trump offered and engineered the redrawing of the lines over the stiff opposition of Texas Democratic legislators who bolted the state for two weeks to avoid a quorum required for the Legislature to do any business.

The reaction in California was swift. Gov. Gavin Newsom persuaded that state’s legislative assembly to put a measure on the November ballot that would legalize an effort to flip several GOP-leaning congressional districts to Democratic-leaning ones. As much as I endorse the principle behind the effort, and the reason for it, I fear that we might be losing “free and fair elections” to the whims of politicians who are, in Newsom’s words, “fighting fire with fire.”

They do it differently in California than we do it here. In Texas, we entrust our Legislature to redraw the lines. In California, they appoint an independent commission to do it. Still, the Golden State remedy has the scent of revenge … and I don’t like the way it smells.

Back to my original point. Donald Trump’s allegation of a “rigged election” in 2020 rings hollower than ever when we witness the real thing taking place in Texas and elsewhere.

national news

Wanting a return, again, to normal

Every living, breathing, thinking American should join me in this simple request … a return to normal conduct by the president of the United States, his/her Cabinet, the political team that works for the individual in charge and a Congress that doesn’t demonize the other side as the spawn of Satan.

I soiught such a return at end of Donald Trump’s first term in office. Voters delivered it by elected Joe Biden president of the United States. Biden had spent his entire professional life in public service. He knew how the government works — or doesn’t work, in some cases — and sought to bring normal behavior back to the White House.

President Biden succeeded famously.

He served one term before the wheels flew off and he got caught in the mental acuity rumor mongering. Trump managed to parlay a weird public desire for weirdness into an electoral victory in 2024 and now we’re in the midst of a hostile dismantling of our democratic process.

Trump promised to exact revenge on his foes. He’s delivering the goods. All the while he is conducting himself in an amped-up version of his first presidential term. Who in the world knows where this is headed?

With all of that I want to wish out loud once again for a return to normal behavior. A return to what the late John McCain called “regular order.” I want spirited debate, but I don’t want recrimination and revenge when the lights go out.

The American political system appears to be broken. I do not believe it is beyond repair. Joe Biden managed — to the extent he could with GOP control of Congress — to restore a sense of normal behavior during his single term as president. He left the presidency after getting plenty of constructive things done for the country.

Trump is now well into the first year of his final term in office. I want him to succeed, too. I also want there to be a return to normal behavior, decorum, dignity and grace among opponents. With this guy in charge of the executive branch — and his penchant for surrounding himself with sycophants — my hope is fleeting.

However, I will keep the faith.