Monthly Archives: November 2023

local news

Despair arrived … then vanished

Almost from the moment I began to shake myself loose from the intense pain I felt on the worst day of my life, I knew days like today would knock me back on my heels.

My worst day occurred on Feb. 3, when my beloved bride Kathy Anne was taken from us by an aggressive form of brain cancer. My journey since then has experienced its ups and downs; the good news is that the down periods are far less frequent these days as the light along my emotional trail gets brighter.

Then days like today arrive. This is Kathy Anne’s 72nd birthday. It’s the first such birthday without her. Those of you who have lost loved ones — and that includes just about every human being who’s ever lived — understand the difficulty of these “firsts.”

My sons and I went to the cemetery to pay our respects to her and to tell her we are doing OK. We miss her terribly. However, it is important for me to stipulate that Kathy Anne was a pragmatic woman. She dealt with reality often stoically. She wasn’t one to wallow in her own sorrow and didn’t like it when others did so.

She all but ordered me many years ago to get on with my life if she were to depart this good Earth before me. Like most husbands who enjoy successful marriages, I am doing what I was told to do. I have re-entered the world of social interaction. Therefore, I have reason to hope for many more brighter days and far fewer darker ones.

I believe today was about as dark as it is likely to get for me moving forward. My sons, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter are suffering through their own pain as well. The good news is that we all know we are there for each other.

So … my journey continues. The pain that returned when I awoke this morning was expected. I was ready for it. I got through it.

What’s more, I am quite certain tomorrow will arrive with the sun shining brightly. I will enjoy the day. Kathy Anne would insist on it.

national news

GOP gnashes its own throat

What in the world is happening to what passes for a once-great political party? Republicans cannot seem to rally around political leaders of any stripe, or so it seems.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a MAGA darling of the first order, is taking heat from those on the MAGA right wing of the party. Why? Beats the dickens out of me, man!

Former Fox propaganda network blowhard Tucker Carlson has gone after Johnson. According to Newsweek.com: On Thursday night, the House passed a proposal by Johnson that pairs $14.3 billion in emergency funding for Israel with $14.3 billion in cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The measure passed 226-196, largely along party lines, with most Republicans supporting the bill and most Democrats objecting.

Carlson is trying to shake something out of Johnson that suggests the speaker is “prioritizing” foreign aid to Israel … whatever the hell it all means.

My point in all of this is that Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants to be speaker for “all Americans,” but he cannot seem to rein in the disparate elements within his own party.

As for the IRS cuts, let’s remember that the more you gut from the budget of the tax-revenue-supported agency, the fewer dollars the government is going to receive to pay for the myriad government programs that Americans say they want and support.

The MAGA cult is learning in real time how difficult it is to operate a government as complex as the machinery that makes the government of the world’s greatest nation.

Then again, the MAGA cultists who call the shots in the House are more interested in making noise than in crafting laws.

Donald Trump, national news

Polls are testing my faith

All those national public opinion polls showing Donald J. Trump with surprising strength in the Republican primary are testing my stated belief on the outcome of his quest to become POTUS once again.

They tell us he is the favorite to be nominated by the GOP next summer … and that he well could defeat President Biden in the November2024 election.

I have said from the beginning I had serious doubts about either his nomination or his election.

You know what? I am going to stand by my earlier suggestion.

Trump is going to be a convicted felon before the primary season begins. He will stand trial on any number of allegations. He faces a civil verdict soon in the case of his defrauding the government over the value of his estate and property. He could be convicted of pilfering classified documents from the White House. He could be convicted also in Georgia court for seeking to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. He could face conviction over whether he incited the assault on our government on 1/6.

Is this country really going to elect a multiple-times convicted felon, allow him back into the White House, give him the launch codes to our nuclear arsenal, allow him to embark on a vengeance campaign against his political foes or back out of defending Ukraine against the immoral and illegal invasion by Vladimir Putin’s forces?

If it comes true and we elect this traitor to the nation’s highest office, then we are in the deepest trouble imaginable as a nation.

Many of us might be stupid, but I refuse to believe that most Americans are that stupid.

military news

Tuberville: Sen. Dumbass

Tommy Tuberville has distinguished himself in a most unflattering fashion, by establishing his place as the dumbest member of the United States Senate.

The Alabama Republican has finally — finally! — begun drawing the ire of his GOP colleagues over his insane, foolish and patently stupid campaign to use the military as a forum to express his strong views against abortion.

Because Senate rules allow it, Tuberville has single-handedly blocked the promotions of hundreds of senior military officers. They include the installation of the Marine Corps commandant as well as other general-grade and field-grade officers throughout the military.

Now we are hearing from a handful of GOP senators who say that “enough is enough.”

Tuberville dislikes the military’s willingness to provide abortion counseling for military personnel who might want to terminate a pregnancy. That’s a non-starter for Tuberville, who is so adamantly opposed to abortion that he is willing to compromise our nation’s military preparedness just to make a political point.

Sen. Dumbass must end this foolishness. The Senate needs to revoke the rule that empowers this stupid behavior and imperils the readiness of the greatest military powerhouse in world history.

I accept his opposition to abortion. But to hold the military high command hostage to his opposition is (a) stupid politics, (b) dangerous to our national security and (c) makes zero sense … given all the other political options that Dumbass can exercise if he wants to end abortion.

national news

GOP pols wising up?

Can it be that the Republican congressional caucus is wising up to the “Big Lie” and the party’s refusal to acknowledge the truth?

Two key GOP House members today announced their intention to step down when their current terms expire at the end of 2024: Ken Buck of Colorado and Kay Granger from over yonder in Fort Worth.

Buck’s announcement contained a criticism of GOP officeholders who continue to adhere to the Big Lie, that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. He said the GOP’s refusal to concede that President Biden is the real deal has inhibited its ability to advance its legislative agenda.

He’s had enough, Buck said.

Granger said it is time for new leaders to emerge. She is 80 years old and has been a force among GOP House members.

The party needs to be revived, to return to its former self as a serious political organization, not a cult wedded to the dictatorial fantasies of a lying, cheating, philandering business mogul.

Buck and Granger might not signal that the tide is turning against the cult leader. Then again … they might perhaps will trigger more statements of indignation against those who foment the Big Lie.

local news

Trek finds new traction

My bride once asked me — while we attended the 10-year reunion of my Portland, Ore., high school class — why I wasn’t reuniting with the female classmates gathered at a city park where we all met.

My answer to Kathy Anne: I was “painfully shy” as a teenager. I was uncomfortable talking to girls, I told her. Less than four years after graduating from high school, the sensational young woman whom I would marry broke me of my shyness … if you know what I mean.

I recently declared my intention to return to the world “social interaction” since losing my dear bride to cancer this past February. I am a lot more socially skilled than I was a teenager. I like talking to “girls” these days and if you’ll pardon my candor, I am pretty good at it.

I still get a bit jittery at the prospect of asking someone on a date. I still don’t always say the correct thing at precisely the correct moment.

I also realize something else. I am nearly 74 years of age. Thus, time is not my ally. I figure that if I am going to find someone with whom I want to spend copious amounts of time in my final years on Earth, I had better get busy.

Thus, my journey through the post-mortem grief of losing the love of my life is getting brighter seemingly each day. It isn’t quite so dark these days along the path I have been walking since I bid farewell to my beloved Kathy Anne.

My destination still is to be determined. As I shake off the shyness that inhibited me as a youth, I know I’ll find that place sooner rather than later.