Category Archives: national news

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.

national news, political news

Awaiting the new year … and new challenges

The worst year of my life is inching closer to the back door and I will say farewell to 2023 without a trace of affection.

But … you know about the reason why, so I won’t belabor the point.

The new year is full of promise for me as (a) an adult seeking to rebuild my life, (b) a patriot who is proud of my country but recognizing it has work to do to become a ”more perfect Union,” and (c) a voter who will gladly exercise my right as a citizen of the world’s greatest nation.

I want to talk only about “b” and “c.”

My patriotism is nothing I choose to display by waving flags, or wearing lettered clothing or marching in the street. I am a quiet patriot. I pay my taxes without complaining. I generally trust my government to do right by me and my family. I do stand for the National Anthem and doff my cap if I am wearing one. I know all the social graces required.

I also use this blog as my venue for ranting on occasion when my government messes up. The Constitution allows me to do so without fear of retribution.

Now, for the “c” part of the promise that awaits. 2024 is a presidential election year. Every year, one or more of the candidates for POTUS declares it to be “the most important election of our lifetime.” The election coming up just might be it for this old-timer.

I continue to harbor enormous faith that our Constitution will weather the storm that is pummeling it. Two major parties are fighting for control of our government. Only one of them, though, is a “great” party. Republicans have ridden their party off the bridge and into the drink.

The lone great party happens to be run by Democrats. They normally would have a good story to tell about why we should return one of them, Joe Biden, to the White House. That message is going into the ears of millions of voters and out the other side … into the void.

What does that mean for the Democratic Party? It means they need to sharpen their long knives and tell the voters what is at stake. Do Americans want to retain a democratic republic or do we want to introduce a government that is run by an individual vowing to seek revenge against his foes? Against the press? Against anyone who opposes his (alleged) public policies?

The Republican Party has set the table exquisitely for Democrats to use their many talking points against them.

If I were King of the World, I would compel Democrats in power to start serving up what Republicans are offering. Many millions of us need reminding of what is at stake.

My eternal optimism tells me to believe we are better than where Republicans want to take us.

My faith is strong. So is my resolve to do all I can to spread the message.

May the new year bring us discernment to hear that message … and courage to act on it!

legal news, national news

Colo. court invokes 14th … wow!

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The Colorado Supreme Court has shown judicial courage that appears to defy precedent.

It has ruled that Donald Trump cannot run for the Republican presidential nomination in that state’s primary because he engaged in an insurrection against the U.S. government on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Constitution’s 14th Amendment says anyone who does such a thing cannot serve in public office. It doesn’t say a thing about “due process,” or “trial by jury,” or a “conviction” of a crime. The Colorado court said, in effect, that the amendment speaks clearly and loudly enough to disqualify the former POTUS from seeking the GOP nomination in Colorado.

I normally would cheer this decision and declare victory in the fight to keep Trump out of the White House. Except for this caveat.

Trump is going to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is packed with a 6-3 super-conservative majority. Three justices were nominated by Trump, so it is quite possible they will vote to overrule the Colorado decision; throw in similar votes from Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Chief John Roberts and then, well … there you have it.

I am left to hope that a couple of those conservatives might be able to break away from their political loyalty and read the 14th Amendment carefully. Then they can assess that what Trump did on 1/6 qualifies as an incitement of the attack that ensued that day.

Yes, I know. It’s a faint hope … but it’s all I have.

national news

Graham mounts pitiful defense

Lindsey Graham has mounted what only can be called a pitiful defense of the guy he once determined was unfit for public office.

The South Carolina Republican U.S. senator has become a first-degree, top-tier suck-up to Donald J. Trump.

Trump over the weekend used Hitleresque language to describe immigrants, saying they are “poisoning” out nation’s blood. “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker pressed Graham on what Trump said, asking him if the ex-POTUS’s rhetoric caused him concern.

Oh, no. Graham said we should watch his actions, that it doesn’t matter what Trump says. What a line of BS.

Trump’s actions, I need to remind the senator, mirror quite nicely what he has said about many individuals. So, when he says people “poison” our blood, or calls his critics “vermin,” he is charting a path straight down the steps of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Putin and other despots he reportedly admires.

Pathetic.

national news

What about Trump’s mental sharpness?

All this blather and nonsense about whether President Biden has lost a step or two mentally ignores or dismisses a key question.

Which is: Have you listened to the unhinged, uncontrolled and incompetent rants of the guy Biden succeeded as POTUS?

Donald Trump is 77 years of age. He is just a tad younger than the president. Trump bloviates about the Big Lie while Joe Biden is negotiating with world leaders. Trump cannot seem to get Barack Obama off of what’s left of his mind, mistaking Biden with the 44th president fairly routinely.

The ex-POTUS clearly is declining, as some medical experts are suggesting. Yet those who are critical of President Biden on the specious argument that he’s losing mental acuity fail to recognize the same thing in what is becoming apparent in the idiot who wants to replace him.

Try to nibble on this nugget: Trump also said that under his administration, shoplifters would be subject to extrajudicial execution: “We will immediately stop all the pillaging and theft. Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store.”

He said that President Biden’s policies will lead us into “World War two.” Hey, wait. We fought that one already. He said Army Gen. Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed; that he swept all 50 states in 2020; that he defeated Obama in 2016; and that windmills are killing whales.

Dude is losing it, man. To think that some Americans actually want this lunatic in charge of the executive branch of our government is, well … simply beyond belief.

Joe Biden, national news

Good government gone … not forgotten

Do you remember when government at all levels — from Capitol Hill, to state capitols, county courthouses and city halls — worked for the people who pay their bills?

It wasn’t necessarily a government run by liberals. There once was a conservative movement that railed against government, but whose adherents didn’t stand in the way of government seeking common ground.

Those days are gone. I hope, though, that good government as I recall it isn’t extinct, like the dodo bird and the woolly mammoth.

I long for its return.

Even during the Ronald Reagan era, government could rise to the occasion. The 40th president declared at his first inaugural that “government is the problem” and the cause for the nation’s ills in the early 1980s. President Reagan, though, found a way to work with his old nemesis/drinking buddy Speaker Tip O’Neill to find a way into the light.

We have an entirely different climate today in D.C. Those damn MAGA morons have taken obstructionism to a new level, almost turning it into an art form. The progressive caucus on the other side also has dug in deeply, seeking unaffordable government actions, such as Medicare for All and forgiving every former college student’s debt.

For the purposes of this blog, though, I am going to aim my rhetorical fire at the MAGA cultists.

Because of the MAGA crowd’s ignorance, the U.S. House this year required 15 ballots to elect a speaker … and then only after he conceded so much to the MAGA morons that he made himself vulnerable to the ouster vote that booted him out of office.

This Congress has proved to be among the least productive legislative sessions in history. Why? Because the MAGA crowd insists on seeking something on which to impeach President Biden.

This isn’t good government in any possible form.

Just maybe there will be enough Americans who are as fed up as I am to dropkick the MAGA crowd to the sh***er. I don’t have a problem, per se, with conservatives as long as they understand the value of outreach on occasion to the other side of the aisle.

President Reagan understood it clearly. If only he were around today to lecture the MAGA morons on how to govern while standing firm on their principles.

national news

Hunter Biden sticks it to ’em

Most of the time I would be inclined to chastise a public figure for refusing to answer a legally issued subpoena.

Not this time. The public figure of the moment is Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden. A congressional committee had subpoenaed Hunter Biden, demanding that he testify in private to the committee.

Biden is having none of it. He wants instead to talk publicly to the panel, in front of the world, on the record so that everyone can hear his answers to the questions that will come.

I am forced to wonder: What is wrong with that? I can’t think of a reason why Hunter Biden would want to go behind closed doors. I can think of plenty of reasons for him to insist on public testimony.

First of all, he wants to expose House Republicans’ efforts to find any sort of crime that can connect him to his father. He has said that Daddy Biden derived “no financial benefit” from his son’s corporate work.

Second, he wants the committee to seek to explain publicly why it is conducting the hearing in the first place.

Third, Biden would take an oath to tell the whole truth. Failure to do so would result in punishment. He could take the oath, speak the truth and let the public draw its conclusions over who is telling the entire truth.

The Hunter Biden probe is headed for oblivion, in my humble view … right along with the Republicans’ impeachment inquiry aimed at finding impeachable dirt on his dad.