Category Archives: national news

national news

So long, Chris Christie

Well … there goes my favorite Republican Party presidential candidate.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie today announced he has “no path toward the nomination,” and declared he is “suspending” his presidential campaign. I am going to ask one thing of the two-time presidential candidate: Keep up your relentless attacks on Donald Trump, and seek to remind the Trump cultists what the rest of us know … that Trump is “unfit for public office.”

Christie’s message simply had the reverse effect on the Trump base. It energized the MAGA cult, made ’em even more intent on working to ensure the crook’s nomination. Christie, I am sad to observe, simply never got out of single digits in polling data.

What, then, was the point, he asked today while speaking to a gathering of supporters in New Hampshire.

He said he won’t endorse President Biden. I get that. He continues to have a valuable message that is worth heeding. It is that Trump presents an existential threat to the nation.

Sorry your campaign never gained traction, governor. Stay vocal … and stay strong.

economic news, national news

Are we better off these days?

What in the world is it going to take to persuade Americans to shed their gloomy-Gus outlook on the U.S. economy?

You don’t need to answer that one. Just hear me out for a brief moment while I vent a bit of my frustration.

Here we are now officially in an election year. President Joe Biden is seeking another term, but he is facing headwinds that befuddle me. He is unable to persuade Americans that we are better off now than we were when he took office in January 2021.

Joblessness is down; employers are hiring tens of thousands of employees each month; inflation is down; interest rates are beginning to inch downward as well; retirement accounts are healthy; the stock market is setting records.

OK, I am going to set aside commenting on the border crisis and the phony investigations into alleged corruption involving the president.

Joe Biden has plenty of goods to sell Americans as he seeks re-election. He cannot seem to shake loose from Republicans who continue to feed the lie about the state of our economy.

They said we would plunge into recession. That the Dow would plummet. That inflation would gobble up Americans’ hard-earned savings accounts.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I am doing far better economically today than I was doing in 2020.

Should the president re-purpose the query that Ronald Reagan posed during the 1980 campaign against President Carter? He shouldn’t even consider it. I am certain that a similar question can be presented this year that would produce a far different response than the one Reagan used to devastating effect.

The very future of our nation depends on whether President Biden can find a way to vanquish forever the forces that keep lying to us about our nation’s economic health.

Donald Trump, local news, national news

No arguing with MAGAites

Command decisions come easily for me these days as a lone wolf who runs his own blog.

So … I am proud to announce that beginning this very moment I no longer am going to argue with the MAGA cultists who continue to back the idiocy preached by Donald Trump.

I just visited with a West Texas friend, who is far from a MAGA adherent, and we determined that there is no avenue of reason available when we engage a MAGA moron on policy matters.

They have swilled the Kool-Aid offered by Trump. It has seeped into their brain’s soft tissue. They are contaminated by the lies, the absolute lack of authenticity, the distortions blathered by Trump.

What, then, is the point of even trying to persuade them that their guy is a crook, who likely will be convicted (eventually!) of felonies relating to his denial of the 2020 presidential election, his theft of classified documents and the conspiracy to “find 11,780 votes” that would enable him to steal the electoral result in Georgia.

Does anyone see the irony? Trump accuses Democrats of trying to steal the 2020 election, but the only thievery taking place comes from Republicans!

From this moment forward, I no longer am going to debate with the MAGA morons. See y’all in the next life.

media news, national news

Now, for social media’s negatives

Not long ago I spoke glowingly about social media’s ability to keep friends connected. Today, I want to offer a dart at social media’s ability to lift the celebrity profiles of politicians beyond where they deserve.

I am stunned at how freshmen and women in Congress become overnight celebrities, how their every utterance becomes headline news.

Progressives mined that wellspring a few years ago when Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez took her seat in the U.S. House. She got airtime, inches in print and attention usually reserved for much senior members.

She didn’t deserve it! Same with other progressives such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Now, it’s the MAGA cultists getting this outsized attention. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert all can be seen and heard everywhere. They have become leaders within their Republican Party, just as AOC emerged as a leader within the Democratic Party.

Who or what is responsible? Social media. These pols have mined social media with cunning. Their celebrity status is both cheap and costly. It cost them little to attain this status. It has cost our system of government, though, to give these loudmouths attention they clearly do not deserve.

Joe Biden, national news

Raucous SOTU on tap?

President Biden … you are about to receive some more unsolicited advice from little ol’ me, one of your many supporters who wants to see you re-elected in November.

House Speaker Mike Johnson invited you to speak to a joint congressional session about the State of the Union. I am delighted you accepted the March 7 speaking engagement.

Be prepared, sir, to be heckled, harangued and harassed by a handful of MAGA morons sitting on the Republican side of the House chamber. You have a marvelous message to deliver. The state of our Union is strong. I expect that declaration to come with force during your speech.

It won’t matter to the likes of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Lauren (The Carpetbagger) Boebert, Sens. Ted (the Cruz Missile) Cruz or John (no, not that …) Kennedy.

They will hoot, holler and hiss as you extol the virtues of your term in office.

The challenge, Mr. President, will be in how you deal with it in the moment. One of your predecessors, President Obama, had a masterful sense of timing as he swatted away such idiocy arising from the GOP side of the chamber. Some advice? Why not call the man you call your “brother” and ask him for a tip on how to handle such juvenile behavior. Hey, no one needs to know you made the call.

Use your personal cell phone. Slip him a text message. He’ll call back, right?

Yes, this speech will be seen through a political lens. You know that, as you have sat through many other such SOTUs as senator and vice president.

As you declare the strength of our Union, though, it is imperative that you deal forthrightly with some of the issues that do plague this great nation. You know what I am talking about: the southern border crisis stands out; a solution to that difficult matter can come from you and the SOTU is an ideal forum to offer it. Wars in Israel and Ukraine also are deep concern for your fellow Americans. We need some glimmer of an “end game” strategy and again, the SOTU can provide the venue for it.

I am delighted with the state of our economy and you need  to remind Americans that the recession the “experts” predicted hasn’t come … and isn’t likely to come.

And, finally, you need to frame this upcoming campaign as a battle to retain our cherished democracy and resist the rants of those who want to turn the presidency into an autocracy.

I am with you, Mr. President.

As for the delinquents in the crowd who will toss decorum into the dumper as you stand before the nation, you’ll know how to handle them, too.

Joe Biden, national news

Biden is now engaged … fully

Joe Biden has decided to engage the individual who is believed to be his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.

As a chump bystander perched in North Texas, I merely want to say: Bring it, Mr. President!

President Biden marked the 1/6 assault on our federal government in a most fascinating way. He traveled to Valley Forge, Pa., where George Washington was encamped with his chilled revolutionary forces who were battling the British while trying to create a new democracy.

President Biden spoke on behalf of democratic principles and draw a straight line between those principles and the authoritarian theme sung by the presumed Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. Biden said Trump poses a direct and existential threat to democracy.

I am one American patriot who wants us to continue on the democratic path forged by our founders and continued through the two centuries-plus since the American Revolution.

Biden told us in 2020 that he was campaigning for our nation’s soul. Sadly, much of that soul has been hijacked by Trump’s idiocy. Biden plans to seek to recover it, breathe new life into it and expose Trump — as if he needs the exposure — for the fraud he has shown us to be.

Go for it, Mr. President!

national news

Wanting a return of real Republicanism

Here comes a confession that might surprise some readers of this blog who presume I hold a partisan bias against Republicans.

I want the real Republicans who favor small government, low taxes and a strong defense policy to return to power.

They have been pushed aside by the MAGA cultists who adhere to the lunacy promoted by Donald Trump, the so-called “populist” who in reality would have nothing to do with the people he purports to “protect.”

We have the likes of Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, Chris Sununu, John Kasich being vilified as Republicans In Name Only. Why? Because they stand on the principle of fealty to the oath they take, not to a moron who vows to suspend the rule of law on Day One of a presidency were he allowed to return to the White House.

I am not a partisan. I want justice delivered to Trump. I want Republicans to snap out of their sleep-walking through the 2024 presidential primary campaign. They continue to give Trump a pass on some serious allegations that have been leveled at him.

Real Republicans are as aghast at what he faces as the rest of us.

national news

Cheney victimized by her own party

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As I continue to listen to former congresswoman Liz Cheney the more appalled I get as I ponder what the Republican Party has done to one of its most influential members.

Cheney is as conservative as any member of the House, where she served for three terms. Then she determined that Donald Trump violated the oath of office he took when he became president in January 2017.She has written a book chronicling the peril we face if Trump somehow manages to worm his way back into the White House.

Just like that, she became persona non grata within the GOP. The Wyoming chapter of her party kicked her to the curb. Then she lost in the 2022 GOP primary to a MAGA-loving cultist.

I am left, along with others to ask … why? Why did he party toss aside an elected official who voted with Trump 93% of the time and whose policies mirror to the letter standard doctrinaire Republicanism. Cheney is on their side on the issues that matter. Every … single … time!

Still, none of that matters to the cultists who are highly critical of this principled member of Congress who stands by the oath she took to “defend and protect” the Constitution and is demanding accountability from the POTUS who violated it.

All of this speaks grimly of what has become of a once-respected great American political party. It also speaks well of one Republican who still believes that loyalty to the nation matters more than loyalty to an individual who appears intent on destroying our system of government.

Joe Biden, national news

Talk to us, Mr. POTUS!

President Biden doesn’t need or want unsolicited advice from a North Texas blogger … but he’s going to get it anyway.

Mr. President, you say you don’t follow the polls, that they are meaningless this far out from an election. However, they are not trending in your favor.

Here’s what I believe you ought to do: talk to us, as in stand in front of the nation and tell us — in detail — what in the world you are doing to resolve the myriad problems facing this nation.

Do not rely so heavily on your Cabinet members, or on the vice president, to explain the administration’s policies.

Mr. President, you need first and foremost to call the immigration matter along on our southern border what it is: a crisis! You, sir, need to tell us in no uncertain terms that we are facing a crisis with thousands of undocumented immigrants seeking entry into the United States.

Do not let Secretary or State Antony Blinken spell out your policy; do it yourself. Don’t rely on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speak on the issue, either. He’s damaged goods among many Americans who believe he has turned his back on securing the border.

Same is true for the war in Ukraine, and with Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. Mr. President, your relative silence on these matters is giving grist to the phony narrative that you have slipped a step or two.

Women’s reproductive rights also require the president’s voice. I admire Vice President Harris, but she’s No. 2 in the executive branch of government; we need to hear from No. 1 … that would be you!

Mr. President, I offer this advice as someone who voted for you in 2020 and who wants to see you re-elected next year. I am troubled by the lying that comes from those who suggest you don’t have the snap to talk to us intelligently about these issues. I believe you are fully capable of handling the job to which we elected you.

I just want you to hear more from you and less from those who speak for you.

How about it, Mr. President? Talk to us!

national news, political news

OK to change my mind …

Let me be clear: I am not changing my mind one bit on whether Donald Trump should be elected to the office from which he was drummed out nearly four years ago.

I am, though, going to pivot on the notion on whether states should boot his sorry ass off the GOP primary ballot this coming year.

Colorado has done so. The case is under appeal. Other states are considering it, too. My own thought is tracks along two trails.

One is that the courts should leave it up to voters to decide whether Trump is fit for public office. This voter has decided already he is not fit in the least for the office he seeks.

The other is that Trump well could be a convicted felon by the time the GOP primary season gets ramped up to full speed. Analysts are suggesting that Trump’s poll numbers well could plummet if a jury decides to convict Trump on any one of the four trials that are pending.

I happen to believe that Trump is unelectable. He is a madman masquerading as a Republican. He has admitted he wants to be a dictator on “Day One” of an administration were he elected. Gulp! I am choking on the thought.

This election should revolve around whether we want to remain a democratic republic or whether we want to hand the POTUS the authority to, oh … seek to execute the former Joint Chiefs chairman, pardon all the 1/6 traitors who stormed the Capitol; pardon himself for anything he did wrong.

Let the numbskull run once more and try to sell his idiocy to voters who’ve already seen what he can do. It would get many times worse a second time around.

Let’s all chew on what might lie ahead. I shudder at the frightening prospect.