Category Archives: political news

political news, State news

House shines with glimmer of hope

There’s the slightest glimmer of hope coming from the Texas State Capitol Building after the House of Representatives selected a new speaker of the lower legislative chamber.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, will take the gavel and lead the House for the next legislative session that began this week.

Why the hope? Well, Burrows is an ally of Rep, Dade Phelan of Beaumont, who angered the MAGA crowd with his handling of (a) the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and (b) key legislative initiatives favored by Gov. Greg Abbott.

That suggests to me that Burrows might be more, um, moderate than the right-wingers of his Republican Party would prefer. Burrows, for example, is not slamming the door on selecting legislative Democrats to chair House committees. He said in December he prefers for the entire House to decide on those chairmanships, not just the speaker. Hmm, that sounds a tiny bit promising.

Burrows does favor Abbott’s school voucher notion, so he won’t scuttle that initiative.

Back to the chairmanship matter. It’s important to realize that the Legislature does contain members of both major parties. And that they represent Texans of all political stripes, principles and beliefs. I am one Texan who does not want to see the Legislature do the bidding of those who favor issues to which I am fundamentally opposed.

Besides, any legislator who can incur the wrath of super right-wing lobbyist Michael Quinn Sullivan — which Burrows has done — is OK in my book.,

local news, political news, State news

Abortion to ‘challenge’ Texas Legislature?

2 Comments

The headline atop the front page of the Dallas Morning News screamed out that the new Texas Legislature faces many “challenges” as it prepares to get to work on our behalf for the next five months.

One of them surely is going to be abortion and whether legislators are intent on banning all abortive procedures, all of ’em, making women, spouses and docs criminals.

Newly sworn in Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, says categorically that Texas must ban all abortion, citing what he said is “God’s creation” being sacred to merit legislation by mere mortal human beings. He appeared this morning on WFAA-TV’s “Inside Politics” program.

I will disagree with the gentleman. He doesn’t seem to take into account what happens to a child who is born with debilitating deformities. Who cannot care for herself or himself. Whose birth puts Mama’s health — and life — in jeopardy.

I offer those caveats as a pro-life Texas resident myself. I consider myself pro-life, however, I do not believe in legislating from afar whether a woman can take command of her own body or whether she must surrender her reproductive rights because some lawmaker in Austin forces her to do so.

Rep. Money is taking the seat once held by another right-wing extremist, Bryan Slaton, who was drummed out of the House because he got a female legislative staffer drunk as a skunk before having sex with her.

I am going out on a limb here, but I do not believe most Texans adhere to Money’s view that we need to ban all abortion, period.

There in could lie Texas lawmakers’ huge “challenge” as they prepare to convene their next session this week.

May the force of common sense and compassion be with all of them.

national news, political news

Is there another Carter?

7 Comments

Jimmy Carter’s death brings to mind something I wrote on this blog prior to a recent presidential election … I think it might have been the 2020 event.

I long have lamented that today’s Democratic Party is dominated by the same tired faces, speaking the same tired policies, appealing to the same tired constituencies. I wanted a new face to emerge from the crowd of 300 million-plus Americans.

I thought there might be “another Jimmy Carter” out there.

We all remember the 1976 Democratic Party primary, yes? The field was full of familiar faces. I actually put a Frank Church lawn sign in my front yard. Church was a U.S. senator from Idaho who had been on the national scene seemingly since The Flood.

He didn’t win the Oregon primary that year. Carter did! He went on to the convention that year and stood before the crowd and opened with that familiar refrain: “My name is Jimmy Carter and I am running for president.”

Many of us didn’t know this guy. He had that deep South drawl. He hailed from Georgia. He said he’d never lie to us. He vowed to fix the then-wounded economy. His opponent, President Gerald Ford, was running for election to the office he never sought but was handed it when Richard Nixon resigned ahead of certain impeachment and conviction for the Watergate scandal and coverup.

I still think there must be a Jimmy Carter out there. Certainly someone can emerge from the crowd of Americans and surprise us in 2028. History can, and often does, repeat itself. Someone brand new can capture our imagination the way Carter did. Hey, it’s a big country out here. Many of us are waiting for a fresh face and vigorous new voice.

I will hope for the best as we endure four years of Donald J. Trump.

political news

No, Steve, he can’t run again

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s go-to firebreather, now says the future president can seek a third term in 2028.

Hmm. Well, let’s see what the U.S. Constitution says about that. I looked up the 22nd Amendment in my handy-dandy pocket edition of the nation’s government document. It says, in part:

“No person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two hears of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.” 

Bannon’s reason for Trump standing for election in 2028 is that his two terms are non-consecutive. Therefore, the former federal prisoner says, Trump is eligible to seek a third term.

I did not see any reference to consecutive terms or non-consecutive terms in the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment.

Trump has won the office twice. After this term is finished, he’s done. Gone. Finished. And not a moment too soon.

political news

Trump can govern without a majority

I am going to do something on this blog I once deemed impossible: give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt as he prepares to take office as president of the United States.

Trump will be able to govern without winning an absolute majority of the ballots cast in the 2024 presidential election. His ability to govern doesn’t depend only on his winning percentage, though. It will depend on whether he is able to dispense with the rubbish that flows frequently from his mouth.

Eight times dating back to 1948, presidents have won election without earning a majority of the ballots cast. Trump has done so twice; so did Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996; Richard Nixon squeaked into office in 1968; John Kennedy did so in 1960; Harry Truman, who everyone in the country thought would lose the 1948 contest, managed to win election.

The most controversial election, of course, occurred in 2000 when George W. Bush waited for a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the recounting of ballots in Florida. The court ruled 5-4 to stop the recount … with Bush holding a 500-vote lead in Florida. He won the state and then the presidency.

Trump and his MAGA team, however, are overstating the “mandate” they say he won. He doesn’t have a mandate. He will need to tread carefully as he assembles his executive team and as he prepares to enact policies he has pledged to do.

The question we all must ask is this: Is Trump capable of adjusting his “I am your retribution” posture to being the leader of a team upon which he will need to enact a legislative agenda? I am a strong critic of this individual, so I am inclined to believe he cannot pivot from being a top-tier asshole to becoming a statesman.

However, there always is a glimmer of hope that he can figure it out.

I intend to hope for the best.

national news, political news

No mandate here, Donald

7 Comments

Donald Trump and his collection of MAGA goons/cultists keep yapping about a “mandate” that the Nov. 5 presidential election delivered to the GOP ticket.

Mandates are born from electoral landslides. Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris, while significant, doesn’t constitute a mandate.

To wit:

  • 1952, Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower scored a landslide win over Adlai Stevenson. His mandate was to build an interstate highway system that revolutionized motor vehicle travel in this nation.
  • 1964, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson won election huge over Barry Goldwater and then embarked on the Great Society effort that produced landmark voting rights and civil rights legislation.
  • 1972, Republican President Richard Nixon swept to re-election over George McGovern and then managed the following year to end our combat involvement in the Vietnam War.
  • 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan capitalized on President Carter’s bad luck with the Iranian hostage crisis and high inflation. His mandate enabled him to restore national confidence in our government. Same for the mandate he secured with his 49-state landslide in 1984 over Walter Mondale.

So, if Donald Trump is going to boast about mandates in the 2024 election, I must remind y’all that all the examples I cited came from campaigns that produced enormous popular vote margins, not to mention Electoral College wipeouts of historic proportions.

At last count, Kamala Harris is continuing to whittle Trump’s vote margin down to less than a majority and a plurality that stands at 1.55%.

Will the new president heed those numbers as he continues to assemble his executive team? Hardly.

local news, national news, political news

Get busy, Texas Democrats

Looks to me as if the Texas Democratic Party has some work to do — I mean plenty of work to do — if it hopes to regain its footing as a competitive political organization in this great state.

I lost count of the emails and text messages I got from Democratic senatorial nominee Colin Allred proclaiming how he had Sen. Ted Cruz on the run, that he had caught the Cruz Missile in the fight for his U.S. Senate seat.

On Election Day, Allred fell — shall we say — far, far short of the mark. Cruz rolled to re-election. Allred now has to find another job, as he surrendered his Dallas House seat to compete for the Senate.

That was the story across the state. Democrats everywhere met the same kind of electoral fate that befell Allred.

Oh, and the presidential vote total? Donald Trump rolled to an easy win over Kamala Harris, capturing the state’s 40 Electoral College votes that seemed to be in the bag since before Harris became the nominee this past summer.

Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa has resigned. Good! See ya around, Mr. Chairman.

Democrats have been talking bravely about a potential turnaround in Texas since 2018, when Beto O’Rourke came within 2 percentage points of defeating Cruz. It’s been downhill for Democrats ever since.

What’s the answer for Texas Democrats? How about starting from scratch? Perhaps the party should stop seeking to placate different racial and ethnic groups. Maybe it should forgo trying to warm up to LGBTQ groups. Perhaps the party should stop fighting the last key court decision.

A turn toward authenticity could be one answer. I remember when Texas Democrats were led by individuals who portrayed themselves as who they were. Shouldn’t that be enough?

The Democratic Party — and I am in their corner — need to get real busy real fast if it wants to be competitive in Texas.

national news, political news

Harris became … boring!

2 Comments

Theories have been launched all over creation over why and how Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign went from spectacular to one that took it on the chin on Election Day.

My theory, for what it’s worth? She became boring.

Here’s my point. As her campaign concluded, it began to dawn on me that I had heard it all before. Many times, in fact. She seemed to rely too heavily on applause lines and cliches.

To wit:

  • There’s more that unites us than separates us.
  • I know Donald Trump’s type.
  • I have only had one client in my years in public service: you, the people.
  • Donald Trump is an unserious man.
  • I never have asked what party people belonged to.  I only asked, “Are you OK?”
  • When we fight, we win!

I am sure there were many more examples. To be candid, I don’t remember them because I nodded off frequently during Harris’s rallies later on in the campaign.

I admit to being caught up in the excitement of Harris’s campaign after President Biden bowed out during the summer. My enthusiasm for her never waned and I voted proudly for her and for her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

But as I look back now just days after their loss, I am left only to wonder if Harris — and Walz, too — relied too heavily on the same ol’ applause lines that got our attention … but which had a limited lifespan on the trail that leads to the White House.

Make no mistake: Campaign-trail boredom is a deal breaker.

political news

Waiting with bated breath

Never in my entire — and admittedly lengthy — life can I remember waiting with such anticipation for the polls to close back east on Election Night.

That’s what I am doing today. It is mid-afternoon in North Texas. The polls close in New England and along the Atlantic Coast in about five hours. Once they do, we well might get an idea of whether the nation is returning to its old self of optimism and liberty … or whether we’re going to succumb to the dipshit notions pitched by a convicted felon, twice-impeached former POTUS.

You know what I want to happen. My gut and, yes, my trick knee are telling we might be going to sleep tonight with a hopeful smile. But it ain’t a lead-pipe cinch.

I heard enough of the campaign rhetoric. I have heard the sales pitches of both sides. I am now awaiting the results of what all those millions of campaign dollars have purchased for the candidates who spent them.

political news

Harris has the ‘big mo’

5 Comments

Momentum well might be the great predictor of who finishes first in the 2024 presidential race.

From my North Texas vantage point, in a county that borders Democratic Party hotbed in Dallas County, it looks for all the world as if Vice President Kamala Harris has the “big mo” as she and Donald Trump gallop down the stretch.

Harris has declared she is going “all positive” in the final hours of this most bitter campaign. Trump’s strategy? He’s going in the other direction. Harris talks about her momentum. Trump refers to Democrats as members of a “demonic party.” Harris speaks of “joy in the morning.” Trump says an assailant would have to take out the “fake news” staffers to get to him, which he said “wouldn’t bother me.”

Who is sounding like a winner? Who’s the loser?

I dare not say out loud what I am hoping in my heart.