Category Archives: national news

national news, national security

Who’s the hero and who’s the fraud?

Let’s see … Donald Trump laid out his boorish qualities after Robert Mueller died today at age 81.

Mueller was the former FBI director who served as special counsel tasked with examining whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won by a whisker.

Trump responded to Mueller’s death by declaring on social media, “Good. I’m glad he’s dead.”

Let’s take a brief look at the men’s history, shall we?

Young Donald Trump couldn’t be bothered with serving his country during the Vietnam War. He found a doctor who could tell the draft board that Donald suffered from bone spurs in his feet. He didn’t serve during the war. Trump went on to inherit a bunch of cash from his father to start his own real estate business and pursued a career in self-enrichment prior to his election in 2016 as POTUS.

Young Bob Mueller heard that his best friend and roommate had died in battle in the Vietnam War. Mueller then enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in combat during his entire tour in ‘Nam. He received a Purple Heart for battlefield injuries and was cited for valor throughout his career in the USMC.

Mueller came home, graduated from law school and then was appointed FBI director by President Bush right after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Mueller turned the FBI into a terrorist-hunting organization and helped lead the war against international terrorism.

I am compelled to ask: Who between these men is the patriot and who is the patsy? Who has contributed to this nation’s greatness and who is leading it into oblivion?

Donald Trump has said he’s glad Mueller’s life has ended? What a disgrace!

national news

How did we ever make this mistake?

This much is certain, which is that every one of us is headed to the same place … some version of the Great Beyond. None of us gets out of here alive.

What is far from certain, I am afraid to conjecture, is trying to determine before they throw dirt on my face how in the world Americans managed to elect a certifiable dimwit to the highest office in the land. Not once, but twice!

The imbecile took office in January 2017 and immediately declared a ban on Muslims entering the Land of Opportunity. He never accepted that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and then launched a violent insurrection to stop the peaceful transition of power.

Then he got elected again and on the first day of his second term, in January 2025, the moron pardoned every one of the violent traitors who took part in the assault on the federal government. He has surrounded himself with nincompoops, imbeciles, unfit individuals and called them the “best people” he could find to run the executive branch of government.

All the while, the self-described “king of debt” has piled trillions of dollars onto the mountain of red ink that towers over the federal budget. He gives tax cuts to the mega rich, takes money away that pays for health insurance for millions of others, he threatens the very alliances that keep us safe from the bad guys of the world.

And then? He gets caught in a scandal involving the pedophile and sex trafficker who hanged himself in a jail cell.

We once sought to elect the very best among us to the nation’s highest office. We have elected the most corrupt, immoral and despicable among us.

I realize I am walking across well-traveled ground. Retirement gives me time to allow my mind to wander a bit. I have granted my mind some idle time today. So, I thought I would share once this goofy notion that we all are responsible at some level for the hideous government we have produced.

national news, political news

Time for some ideas, Gov. Newsom

It pains me a bit to say this, but here goes: California Gov. Gavin Newsom is beginning to bore me … as in bore me enough to ignore what he’s saying.

Why? Well, for one thing it is quite obvious the man wants to run for president of the United States in 2028. Everywhere you turn, and he turns, he’s speaking into a microphone. His message is always the same: Donald Trump is corrupt to the core; his family has earned billions from business ventures made possible by Trump’s position; he runs the “most corrupt” administration human history.

Blah, blah, blah … I’ve heard it already, governor. I know Trump is a crook. I know he is unfit for public office. Hell, I’ve been saying since before he announced his candidacy the first time.

Democrats are likely to field a huge slate of candidates for the 2028 party primary season. So will the Republican Party, given that the incumbent is barred from running again.

I do like Gov. Newsom. However, if he’s going to run for president, he will need to lay out an agenda he intends to follow. I believe it’s time to see and hear it now. There is no need to hear from any of these pretenders what millions of Americans already know … that Donald Trump has been a disaster as president.

Dispense with telling us the obvious. How are Gov. Newsom and the others planning to repair and restore our democracy?

media news, national news

Trump’s words have zero value

Once, long ago when I was a much younger man, I used to hang on the president of the United States’ every word. When he spoke them, I just knew he was telling me at least his version of the truth.

Was he shading the truth a little to make himself sound better and feel better? Oh, probably. It didn’t matter as long as the fundementals of his statement were based in fact.

The current president? The guy we’ve got in power for the next three years? I have turned 180 degrees in the opposite direction.

I believe nothing that comes from Donald Trump’s overfed pie hole. Zero. Nothing he says means anything to me at this stage of his time in office or in my life as an American patriot.

Please understand that I take no joy in harboring this cynical view. I am not a cynic by nature, unlike some of my former journalism colleagues who actually used to boast about their cynicism. A cynical approach to covering the news or commenting on it is as unhealthy as being gullible enough to believe every single word that comes from a politician.

The current White House occupant, however, has filled even me with cynicism that I find uncomfortable. How can that be? His lying over any issue imaginable — from the epic to the trivial — has become the stuff of legend. The Washington Post counted something like 30,000 instances of lying during Trump’s first term in office from January 2027 until January 2021. No telling how many more thousands of lies he has told just in the first year of his second term.

I will stipulate one more time that I do revere the office of president. It is noble, grand and powerful. Donald Trump has done all he can do to diminish the office in my own mind’s standing. He’s done so by lying whenever he has something to say.

national news

Boycott still standing

I am feeling the need to offer readers of High Plains Blogger a brief update on one of the boycotts I announced the time Donald Trump became POTUS in January 2017.

Furthermore, I should acknowledge that the boycott has seen some strain and I have been tempted to forgo it when I saw him acting (more or less) presidential.

The boycott was to never attach the word “President” directly in front of Donald Trump’s name. I don’t consider him to be my president. Indeed, he acts as though he doesn’t give a Texas ruby red damn about me, my politics, my beliefs. Indeed, he seems to govern as if the only the people who matter to him are those who voted for him.

I ain’t one of them.

I am not alone in that view. I heard a U.S. senator grilling a Trump Cabinet official and he referred to Trump to the official as “your president.” There you have it. I am not the only American patriot who believes Trump doesn’t care to be president for all Americans.

There have been times when I have agreed with Trump. Those times occasionally have caused me to rethink for just a fleeting moment whether I should maintain that boycott. The moment flashes before me and then disappears, usually when Trump says something so ridiculously unpresidential … which he does with flair and panache.

I have begun watching TV news, but only sparingly. It’s usually during prime time. During the day? Nope. TV stays off most days.

I don’t like refusing to refer to Donald Trump with the title to which he was elected. My conscience tugs hard at me when I start to teeter. My best guess is that the boycott will stay put until the day Trump heads for the door from the White House for the final time.

national news

Listen to your predecessors, Donald!

Barack H. Obama and Joseph R. Biden have been laying waste to Donald Trump’s performance in the office they once held … and with ample reason.

They both left legacies worth cherishing and emulating. Trump has called them two of the worst presidents in U.S. history. I beg to differ. I consider them both two of the best men to serve as commander in chief and head of state.

Obama has been particularly eloquent in his assessment of Trump. He chastises the POTUS for feigning toughness by being “rude to people” and denigrating others. A third Democratic former president, Bill Clinton, has been a bit quieter than his successors. Clinton did speak about some of the subjects he covered in a closed-door congressional committee hearing. It is clear that Clinton thinks next to nothing about the mess that Donald Trump has concocted.

The fourth living ex-president, George W. Bush, has been relatively quiet. He once told a TV talk show host, Ellen Degeneres, that he wouldn’t “be chirping” his criticism of presidents who follow him. He said that presidents hear enough criticism during the normal flow of business during the work week. He said a president needs to be strong to lead this massive, diverse and sophisticated nation. Criticism only weakens that person.

In a way, I kind of prefer the George Bush method. Sure, he can think ill thoughts of Trump. He needs not express those thoughts out loud. It’s always been understood that presidents walk away not just from the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. They also turn their back on the debates that rage on.

Those who speak out, though, have wisdom to back them up. If only Trump would listen and heed them.

national news

Trump’s damage will last longer than the POTUS

Donald Trump’s time in the Oval Office has an end date, and I am grateful for that deadline.

However, the damage Trump has done — and is doing — is likely to last longer than his time in office. That consequence saddens me to no end. The damage is being done to the public perception of our electoral process.

He has been hammering at the credibility of that process since he lost his re-election bid during the 2020 election. Joe Biden beat his sorry behind but Trump never accepted the beating he took. His constant yammering about electoral credibility has sown plenty of doubt among too many Americans.

I believe none of the nonsense that Trump has fomented since 2020. Too many state legislatures, though, are controlled by Republicans and they have acted to make voting an arduous task for many citizens. They call it “voter suppression” and it appears to be working.

I hear from friends and aquaintances in North Texas about the doubt they say lingers over the election process. I have heard too many of them say something like “if it counts” when describing the act of voting. My answer always is, “Yes … it counts!”

The lasting damage to the public’s perception of our cherished voting process is troubling in the extreme and it serves as a damning testament to the harm committed to our public service by an imbecile who has no understanding or appreciation of the work done to further our democratic process.

national news

Trump: madman at work

The longer we remain at war with a nation that poses no direct threat to this nation, the more convinced I become that the man who started this war is a certifiable madman.

OK, so that’s not a huge flash to many of you who read this blog regularly. I have stated already my loathing for the POTUS and for most of the policy decisions he makes. What troubles me beyond all that is reasonable in this war with Iran is that the decision came seemingly in the dead of night, with no one next to the POTUS to caution him of the terrible risk he is taking.

What’s more, Donald Trump took this action without seeming to comprehend fully the enormous responsbility he bears when he sends young Americans into harm’s way ostensibly to protect our national interests.

Which interest is Trump protecting with this foolish and feckless act?

Iran’s leadership needed to be wiped out. The initial strike took care of the Ayatollah Ali Khameini. What follows remains anyone’s guess. Will the new ayatollah be any better? Will he assume power with his hand out in a gesture of peace? I can’t continue down this path because I will be laughing too hard derisively at such a notion.

Trump won the 2024 election vowing to end our involvement in “needless war,” only to break that promise and immediately put thousands of young Americans at risk of death or injury.

Yep. Make no mistake that Donald John Trump is out of control. He wants to seize Greenland from Denmark, wants to annex Canada as the 51st state in the U.S.A., wants to run Venezuela as if it’s a casino and now — and this is totally rich — is considering whether to take control of Cuba.

Oh, and let’s not forget reports that the POTUS is giving serious thought to sending ground troops into Iran.

He’s out of what passes for his mind.

national news

Tillis makes his point with DHS boss

Thom Tillis was pissed off — as in royally pissed off — when his time arrived to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem before a U.S. Senate committee.

I watched a bit of Tillis’s performance, and I have to tell you, the North Carolina Republican brought his A-game to the hearing. He believes Noem is incompetent and doesn’t deserve to be in the job she holds. He wants Donald Trump to remove her if she doesn’t quit. If that won’t happen, he wants the House to impeach her.

Tillis is angry over the behavior of Immigration and Customs Enforcement goons who have been arresting children in schools, U.S. citizens and other on suspicion that they might be out to do harm to Americans. What a crock of bull dookey!

Here, though, is another remarkable aspect of Tillis’s remarks to Noem. The DHS secretary took it. She absorbed the blows quietly. She didn’t fire back with filibuster-like responses. There were no insults hurled at Tillis from the witness chair. She didn’t lie to suggest that ICE thugs were acting appropriately.

I only can conclude that unlike the Democratic members of Congress who have challenged Noem’s handling of this immigration matter, Republican members are getting the respect they deserve … and which all members of either party deserve when they question witnesses who take an oath to tell the truth.

Other appearances by Noem and other Cabinet honchos have been exercises in futility as Democrats and witnesses talk — and scream — over each other. The hearing I watched today was educational, given that Kristi Noem knew her place in the moment and reacted accordingly … for once!

national news, national security

Border crisis need not produce this solution

Critics of this blog have long accused its author — that would be me — of being a “yes man” to all policies Democratic and a “hatchet man” to ideas that come from Republicans.

Wrong! As in really wrong!

I was the rare President Biden supporter who said long ago that the president needed to call the situation along our southern border what I believed it was: a crisis. He refused to do so. Instead, the president masked the situation in gauzy terms meant to disguise the reality along our southern flank, which was that people were continuing to seek refuge in the “land of opportunity, freedom and good fortune.”

Donald Trump came along and then sicced the Immigration and Customs Enforcement goons on our cities and border towns. The result of their heavy hand has made us even less safe. I want, therefore, to declare that Trump’s answer to the crisis is the wrong answer.

If the current POTUS had an ounce of compassion coursing through his overfed body he would have told the ICE agents to use extreme discernment in rooting out the bad guys. He didn’t. The ICE goons have picked up on the message from the top, which is that it’s OK to roust everyone, to beat many of them to within an inch of their lives, to separate children from their parents.

I like quoting one of my favorite philosophers, who happens to be fictional character on a once-popular TV show. You remember Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s sidekick who used to tell the world that “Two wrongs don’t make it right.”

Tonto is correct. It was wrong for President Biden to avoid declaring the southern border mess a “crisis.” It is wrong for Donald Trump to hire heavily armed and masked thugs to beat the living daylights out of U.S. citizens while searching for criminals.

It no longer matters what we call the border mess. We can fix the second problem and force ICE to rethink the way it enforces the law.