Monthly Archives: May 2024

entertainment news

Alphabet keeps growing

I am going to need to carry a glossary with me eventually while referring to a certain segment of our society.

OK. Here we go.

The gay community a while back began using the term LGBT to define itself. It stood for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; the way I see these things, the terms lesbian and gay mean the same thing, as it defines those who are attracted sexually to others of the same gender.

Then LGBT added the letter Q, meaning queer. When I was a kid, queer was thought to be an epithet; no more, apparently.

Let’s throw in the letter P, which stands for pedosexual. I understand there’s a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, although I understand that pedosexual refers only to boys. Sheesh!

Now we see the letters “I” and “A” added along with a plus sign.

So … the identity of some of us is now expanded to read LGBTQPIA+

What the hell? Is your head spinning? Mine sure is.

I am not comfortable even talking casually about individuals’ sexual orientation. It’s none of my damn business. I have never discussed sexual intimacy with strangers.

But this growth in the alphabet-soup listing of individuals with a seemingly endless list of sexual orientations borders on the ridiculous. What about the I and the A? Here’s what I found:

  • Intersex:Ā A term to describe individuals who are born with variations of sex characteristics that do not fit with binary definitions of male or female bodies.1
  • Asexual: Sometimes shortened to “ace,” this term refers to someone who has little or no sexual attraction; they may, however, experience romantic attraction.

Oh, and how about the +? It means: The ‘plus’ is used to signify all of the gender identities and sexual orientations that are not specifically covered by the other five initials. An example is Two-Spirit, a pan-Indigenous American identity.

Are you confused now? I damn sure am.

crime news

Don’t mess with this guy

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POTUS No. 45 is getting an object lesson on a fact of life, which is that he cannot control every single environment.

I haven’t been following this hush money trial too closely, but I have chuckled — sometimes out loud — at the examples of the judge not standing for the shenanigans that the former sexual assailant in chief has tried to pull in the courtroom.

And yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan told Robert Costello, a witness for the defense, to stop staring him down … or else face the consequence that the judge could level on him and the criminal defendant.

The former philanderer in chief is on trial for paying the adult film star known as Stormy Daniels 130 grand to keep quiet about a tumble that he denies occurred. Go figure … yes?

Now his future is in the hands of the judge and the jury impaneled to hear this tawdry case. As to the discomfort he might be feeling because he isn’t in charge of a damn thing, I don’t give a sh**.

The overfed crook will just have to suck it up.

Uncategorized

These weren’t ‘distinguished gentleladies’

My wife was a wise woman who used to share with me this notion: She would much rather work with men than with women.

Why? Women too often get into backbiting and back-stabbing. Kathy Anne would have none of it.

Well, my bride’s wisdom went on full display the other day in a U.S. House committee hearing that erupted into a verbal free-for-all among three female House members. It was, to say the least, shameful in the extreme.

It started when GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a tasteless crack about the “fake eyelashes” she said interfered with Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s ability to read the legislation before her. Crockett took extreme exception to Greene’s gratuitous boorishness.

They began arguing loudly. It degenerated rapidly into an epithet-filled fit of rage between Crockett and the QAnon queen.

Then, in stepped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to offer her cheap assessment of the goings-on. It became a three-way shouting melee.

Committee Chairman Republican James Comer sought to gavel some order to the proceeding … to no avail.

Crockett responded to Greene by referring to her as “baby girl.” It was either AOC or Crockett — I couldn’t decipher it all among the din — who referred to Greene’s “blond hair and butch body.” I was struck at that moment by the look of confusion that came across Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin’s mug when he heard that put down.

Jumpin’ Jehosaphat, man!

These women well might have set back the cause of feminism in politics a fair step or three with this senseless and idiotic tirade.

If only MTG had a sense of decorum befitting the office she occupies.

Now I understand fully what Kathy Anne meant.

national news

Collegiality? It’s a goner!

What the nation witnessed the other day in a congressional committee hearing room was a sterling example of how political adversaries have become “enemies” to each other.

What’s more, we also bore witness to how a divided Congress cannot govern when Democrats and Republicans — by and large — hate each other’s guts.

One rogue Republican, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, lit the fuse that ignited this storm with a tasteless remark about a Democratic colleague’s “fake eyelashes.” The colleague, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, took exception to it and fired back with equally tasteless put downs of MTG. Another Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, joined in the mud-slinging.

It was a hideous display of disgraceful manners.

Which brings me to a key point. Governing requires people on opposite sides to work together on occasion. That is how a representative democracy is supposed to work. It is how it has worked for centuries.

Until now.

Some of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s best friends and allies in the Senate were Republicans who helped him push through civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Republican President Ronald Reagan often relied on his friendship with his drinking buddy, Democratic House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, to push legislation through the House in the 1980s. Democratic President Bill Clinton worked with GOP lawmakers to produce a balanced budget in the 1990s. GOP President George W. Bush worked with Democratic Senate icon Ted Kennedy on education reform in the early 2000s.

Were there sharp differences between these principals at the time? Of course there were! But they got it done.

What the hell happened to our government? It cannot work like this. It cannot benefit taxpayers like you and me — whose money pays for our government.

I don’t know about you, but I have had it up to here — and then some — with this kind of behavior.

education news, local news

GOP needs psychiatric help

Two pieces of campaign literature ended up in my mailbox this weekend that sent out a loud and clear message.

The Texas Republican Party is suffering from a form of schizophrenia I never have seen …. at least not to this degree. The examples showed up in competing flyers for two Republicans vying for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education.

Follow me for a moment on this, because it’s a beaut.

Pam Little is running against Jamie Kohlmann in the May 28 GOP runoff for SBOE’s District 12 seat. Little is the incumbent. She finished first in the primary but didn’t gather enough votes to win the GOP primary outright., Hence, the two of them are running off for the nomination.

Little has garnered the endorsement of GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a loud-and-proud MAGA Republican who also has endorsed the election of POTUS No. 45 this fall.

What does Self say about Little? She’s a “strong conservative” who has taken a “bold stance against radical ideologies and focused on positive outcomes for students.” Little helped bring back “cursive writing,” she fought and won “to keep the woke agenda out of our social studies standards. Kohlmann, according to Self, has endorsed a “liberal Democrat” for the Dallas ISD school board and gave him money to assist him in his effort to be elected.

Let’s turn to Kohlmann’s ad. She accuses Little of “voting for radical DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies” on the SBOE. Kohlmann accuses Little of contributing to “our kids … being brainwashed by woke liberal ideology.”

Sheesh, man!

I am baffled, bamboozled and befuddled. I know Rep. Self a little bit. I know him to be a staunch conservative. He’s a retired Army officer, a West Point graduate and a combat veteran. He speaks forcefully and with a full-throated ferocity in favor of the agenda pitched by POTUS 45. I am left to ask: Is this the kind of fellow who would endorse a thinly veiled “liberal Democrat?” I think not.

All of this simply demonstrates to me that the Texas Republican Party is as aimless, feckless and lacking in ideas as the national GOP.

local news

Weekend comes to an end

BROKEN BOW, Okla. — An all-too-brief weekend excursion is about to come to an end, as we are preparing to head back to “the house” in the morning.

To be clear, this outing didn’t produce a lot of memorable experiences. We didn’t come to this corner of Oklahoma to notch a belt-full of adventures about which we could reminisce.

We hiked a couple of rugged miles up and down a trail; we enjoyed some world-class pizza at a joint called Grateful Head Pizza; we took a dip in a still-frigid lake after the hike.

This outing in fact was much more about getting away and spending time with my sons. Just the three of us ventured a couple hours northeast of D/FW to this resort. We spent two nights in a plush cabin, which happens to be a whole lot more luxurious than my humble abode in Princeton.

We didn’t spend a lot of “guy time” together when my sons were smaller. I had this job that often kept me busy pursuing my journalism craft. The boys had their own interests that usually didn’t involve spending time with an old man … namely me.

We now are able to take some time away and, lo and behold, they actually seem to enjoy being in my company. I damn sure enjoy being with them. They are funny, successful men with whom I feel totally comfortable sharing an off-color joke.

We also are able to share some emotions and personal feelings that we all have experienced in the past month and some.

The weekend was brief. The good news is that there likely will be more of them to occur down the road — provided I don’t wear out my welcome.

local news

Is Bigfoot here? Somewhere?

BROKEN BOW, Okla. — My sons and I arrived in this corner of the Sooner State and found a sign that I personally found to be quite unbelievable.

It informs us of the presence of Bigfoot. Yeah, that Bigfoot! The one featured in all those blurry pictures that no one seems to be able to capture with crystal clarity.

We’re here for a “guys getaway.” We’ve had a tough year and some months, and we started talking several months ago about getting away for a brief spell just to spend some time together and to, um, collect our thoughts and emotions in the wake of their mother’s sudden and shocking passing from cancer.

Bigfoot is nearby, or so the signage seems to suggest.

Why is that unbelievable to these eyes. Because I grew up in the real home of Bigfoot, where he really and truly would exist … were he not just a figure of someone’s bizarre imagination.

I was raised in the Pacific Northwest, where Bigfoot sightings have been reported since The Flood. Do you recall the jetliner hijacking in 1971 when D.B. Cooper made off with a couple hundred grand in cash? The flight originated in Portland; Cooper bailed out and has never been seen again.

My theory? He ran into Bigfoot somewhere north of the Columbia River and, well … you know how it might’ve turned out.

So, we’ll spend a couple of nights here in the southeast Oklahoma forest, hike a few trails, enjoy some fine dining, relax in a hot tub and enjoy some fellowship with each other.

Do I expect to see Bigfoot amble out of the woods? Not a chance … but I’ll keep my doubt of his existence here more or less to myself.

national news

Answer these questions

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A reader of High Plains Blogger has responded with what sounds to me like a fascinating scenario regarding the June 27 debate agreed to by President Biden and his immediate predecessor … and the guy who wants to be his immediate successor.

He thinks it’s possible the former GOP POTUS will back out of the debate, despite his bravado.

My blog fan believes the president will press him on several key issues that he will have to answer. They are:

Lying about COVID being airborne; lying about the 2020 election being “stolen”; blocking the immigration bill; backing away from NATO; bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade; orchestrating the 1/6 attack on the Capitol.

Other readers of this blog, critics of it in fact, suggest that Joe Biden is toast, that his own show of bravado is nothing more than that, that the GOP nominee is going to eat his lunch.

Fat chance.

We all got a taste of the “debating skill” that POTUS No. 45 brings to the event. His performance in 2020 was, to put it mildly, shameful. He elicited perhaps the signature sound bite of that event when Joe Biden said, “Will you just shut up, man?”

No. 45 has not a policy idea to share. He cannot debate anything seriously, other than to repeat the lies he foments.

Yes, I am one American patriot who looks forward to what will develop at the end of next month.

 

local news, national news, religious news

‘No!” on travel ban

Barry Goldwater, I am supremely confident in asserting, is spinning in his grave out yonder in Arizona.

The late Arizona U.S. senator and father of the conservative movement would no doubt be aghast at what might be transpiring in Amarillo, where the city council is preparing to vote on an ordinance that would ban women from using local roads and highways to obtain an abortion out of state.

Goldwater used to preach that conservatism, as he understood the principle, kept government out of people’s lives. He was particularly leery of religion being used to dictate public policy.

Amarillo is pondering whether to knuckle under to far-right conservatives’ call to ban women from using local rights-of-way to obtain an abortion. Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley said he doesn’t believe the council will approve the ordinance, which is being brought to the council on the strength of petitions circulated throughout the city.

The city has validated enough signatures to call for a vote, the Texas Tribune has reported.

What now?

If the council rejects the ban the issue, then it can go to voters for a citywide referendum, as I read the Tribune story. That would give the anti-abortion fanatics room to persuade most Amarillo voters to endorse the ban.

Again, Barry Goldwater would come unglued at the notion.

The Tribune reports: The original ordinance supporters want to see passed in the city does not call for pregnant women to be punished for having an abortion out of state. However, anti-abortion legal crusader Jonathan Mitchell hasĀ filedĀ legal petitions seeking to depose women he claims traveled out of state for abortions. Mitchell is working with anti-abortion activists pushing the travel ban on a municipal level.

The proposed policy makes anyone who ā€œaids and abetā€ the procedure vulnerable to a private lawsuit from other citizens. The enforcement is similar toĀ Senate Bill 8, the Texas bill that banned almost all abortions in 2021, prior to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. This is the only enforcement mechanism for the ordinance, which some council members haveĀ criticizedĀ as creating a system for neighbors to turn on each other to collect reward money.

Amarillo City Council must vote on abortion travel ban | The Texas Tribune

Limited government conservatism has given way to all-hands-on-deck conservatism … as long as the issue reflects a certain religious principle. Come to think of it, the nation’s founders would be appalled as well.

national news

Joe Biden: Sure, let’s debate … as in now!

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You gotta hand it to Joe Biden. The man knows how to steal the thunder from the twice-impeached, indicted Republican nominee-in-waiting who’s on trial for alleged illegal campaign spending.

President Biden today agreed to meet the former POTUS in a debate in June; the former guy also agreed. The two of them reportedly will meet in a venue sans audience members. It’ll just be the two of ’em in a room, along with a panel of journalists.

I kinda like the notion of the two men going head-to-head like that.

It’s interesting that the former Liar in Chief wouldn’t debate his GOP rivals during the primary campaign but jumped on the chance to joust with the president.

I understand they’ll also meet again in September, probably in a format more like what we’ve seen in recent election cycles.

Whatever. I expect this first debate could smash viewership records, given what’s at stake, which I believe could be the future of our representative democracy.