Monthly Archives: June 2024

national news

Stop at nothing? Oh … really?

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The gallery of politicians who have become the masters of the obvious has grown by one … a member of the U.S. House Republican caucus, Nancy Mace.

She told the Fox Propaganda Channel that the “left will stop at nothing to ensure” President Biden’s re-election.

My jaw damn near hit the deck as I thought: No … sh**!

You see, the MAGA right wing cult is gearing up to do precisely the same thing as they tell lie after lie to ensure that Donald J. Trump wins the election.

These right-wing pols can cease with the declarations about the mean ol’ woke politicians on the left.

political news

Stakes are um … huge!

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One week out and I am trying to recall the last time I looked forward to a presidential debate with such trepidation.

I cannot remember when that occurred. Maybe it never did.

President Joe Biden and Donald J. Trump will go toe-to-toe next week in the first of two planned joint appearances.

Biden and Trump are running neck-and-neck. Why is that? That’s beyond me. However, the polling suggests a photo finish this election cycle.

Here is my hope for a debate outcome.

My hope is that President Biden brings his “A” game. That he remains cool, calm and collected. That he reminds viewers of what lies ahead if voters are dumb enough to send the former numbskull in chief back to the Oval Office. That he reminds us that we cannot possibly elect convicted felon to the nation’s most glorious public office. That he tells us of the existential threat to our democracy if Trump is able to give Russian goon Vladimir Putin a free hand in his immoral invasion of Ukraine.

And that he just lets Trump zoom into orbit with his nonsensical rants about The Big Lie and how much “love” was shown during the violent assault on our Capitol on Jan. 6.

This debate could be the game changer that many of us hope occurs.

religious news

State enacts illegal law

A one-time colleague of mine used to argue that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t declare a “separation of church and state.”

Yeah … I know, I would tell him. The point, though, is that the Constitution’s First Amendment is as clear as it gets on this point: Government must not impose religious doctrine.

Thus, Louisiana has enacted a law that is patently, explicitly and absolutely in violation of the Constitution. It should be repealed forthwith.

The state has declared that every public school classroom must contain a display of the Ten Commandments, or else! I presume the “or else” would result in a loss of funding from the state.

To no one’s surprise — certainly not mine — Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared that in the 2025 legislative session, he will work to enact a similar law in Texas. Given this state’s hard-right tilt, there will be no surprise when the Legislature approved it and Gov. Greg Abbott signs it into law.

The founders created a governing document that makes zero mention of religion. Not Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhist. Nothing, man. It’s a secular document, meaning that every citizen is free to follow whatever deity he or she chooses. Or follow none at all!

Why in the world cannot our government officials allow us just to worship God in church and leave our public institutions just the hell alone? That is what the founders intended!

local news

Blog nears milestone

Time for a little bragging, if that’s all right with you. If you object, too bad. I am going to boast … just a little.

High Plains Blogger will surpass in just two days a significant milestone. I am proud to announce it will mark 1,000 consecutive days in which I have posted something on the blog.

I know better than to brag about the quality of the posts. I’ve enjoyed many of them. I haven’t liked so much many others. As for whether all my posts have been welcomed, that depends on those who read them. The political posts have their friends and their foes. The friends generally are quiet; the foes pull the long knives out of their scabbards.

My blog took a dramatic turn in the past year. I have used this forum as a form of therapy for my broken heart. My dear bride, Kathy Anne, lost a fight with cancer and I have told you the story of the journey I undertook to emerge from the darkness. My chronicling of that journey has been well-received, and it has helped me find the light, which today shines brightly.

I will soldier on. Why do this? Well, it’s what I do.

For those who have stayed with me for all this time, I offer a humble and heartfelt thank you.

High Plains Blogger means a lot to me. I hope you get something from it as well.

Uncategorized

Ex-POTUS knows nothing about job he wants

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Donald J. Trump, I believe it has been established, knows nothing about government. He knows nothing about the office he once held and wants to reclaim. He knows nothing about policy.

And yet …

He somehow manages to cling to that vocal base of support that he hopes will propel him somehow to the presidency.

He proclaims himself to be a devout Christian. And yet he’s now convicted of paying a porn star hush money to keep quiet about a fling the two of them had weeks after his third wife gave birth to his fifth child.

How does that even begin to compute? It doesn’t!

The ex-POTUS senior staff no longer support his newfound candidacy. That includes the man who served as vice president, Mike Pence … the man Trump once said lacked the “courage” to do the right thing. Which was to refuse to certify the 2020 election that Trump lost fairly and squarely to Joe Biden.

If this individual had done what has been documented he’s done while working for a private company, he would have been fired long ago. Politics, though, is that strange animal that enables a convicted felon who’s awaiting trial on three other felony indictments to seek the nation’s highest public office.

This individual is not fit for anything other than a jailhouse jump suit.

media news

Warning labels on social media devices? Sure!

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is onto something with his proposal to place labels on social media devices warning parents and their children of the emotional harm that comes to those who use those devices excessively.

The idea, according to Murthy — an internist by training — is to put labels on these devices the same way a previous surgeon general mandated the placing of warning labels on cigarette packs. Those warnings, which began with a sort of milquetoast message about the potential harm that cigarettes bring, have gotten more direct.

It’s not yet clear whether children would heed the warnings on social media devices — smart phones, I-pads and various apps they can download onto their computers.

My own children are now grown men. I do have an 11-year-old granddaughter who is pretty darn social media savvy already. She doesn’t access the sites that can do harm to her and for that I credit her parents for keeping sharp eyes on what she watches and reads.

Dr. Murthy’s message is aimed at the emotional harm that does befall many children in this social media age. They are bullied mercilessly. They are driven to do harm to themselves and to others.

This well could be one of those rare moments when political foes can actually agree that warning labels, if taken seriously, can actually save lives and preserve society’s sanity.

Sports news

RIP, ‘Say Hey Kid’

Willie Mays has passed away. He was 93 years of age. He lived a full, fruitful and joyful life.

I am going to share on this very brief blog post something I once read about Willie Mays, considered by many baseball experts to be among the greatest athletes ever to play the Grand Old Game.

Someone once said — I cannot remember who it was — that Mays never made a mistake playing baseball. He had the sharpest baseball mine of anyone on the field. He never threw to the wrong player. His mind was always completely in the game.

He played the game with flair, his hat would fly off as he raced around the bases after connecting on one of his 3,283 base hits.

He always was the smartest player on the field … always!

International news

Biden restores compassion to immigration

Joe Biden has been vilified unfairly by his critics for what they contend is the president’s so-called “open border policy” on immigration.

The president is seeking, as of today, to strengthen our borders while seeking also to treat immigrants with compassion. He issued an executive order that aims to give undocumented spouses of immigrants a greater pathway to US citizenship.

The Texas Tribune reports: “President Biden has consistently used his executive powers to create additional legal pathways for immigrants, and today’s joyous announcement will help keep many of these mixed-status American families together,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a statement. Escobar is a national co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign and introduced legislation, the American Families United Act, that would offer similar protections for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.

What is in his plan? Biden wants to make it easier for so-called Dreamers to qualify for work authorization; undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens will have to have lived in the United States for10 years to qualify for the authorization; those who qualify can apply for a three-year work permit.

None of this smacks of an “open border” policy to my eyes.

One of the major beneficiaries of this policy are those who came here as children when their parents entered the country illegally. The United States is the only country they have known. However, many Republicans — such as Donald Trump — want to deport them immediately. The don’t give a damn about keeping families together, or allowing them to continue to prosper in the only country they have known.

Biden announces protections for undocumented spouses of citizens | The Texas Tribune

I refer here to Deferred Action on Childhood Arrival, an executive order issued by President Obama that aims to grant a form of amnesty to those US residents who came here as children. Obama left office in January 2017 and Trump threatened to deport them all. Then Trump got defeated in 2020 and Biden seeks to restore compassion to our immigration policy.

DACA recipients and their spouses deserve to be treated with kindness, not with blind anger.

local news

More on the monstrosity

That partially built apartment complex around the corner and down the street from my Princeton home just doesn’t leave my mind.

I want it gone. I no longer want it to be finished. Why? Traffic! That’s it, man.

You see, the 360-unit apartment monstrosity sits alongside US Highway 380, a multilane highway that already is congested beyond reason. The city is hoping to bring in a gigantic retail complex not far from where the apartment complex now sits fallow.

The Texas Department of Transportation wants to expand 380, adding more traffic lanes and, thus, making the traffic woes even worse.

I can remember when the Farmersville City Council nixed an apartment complex near the Brookshire’s grocery story complex some years back. The reason for the rejection? Traffic. Council members were concerned what the increased traffic would do to that area. Thus, I now wonder what the Princeton City Council must have been thinking when it approved the proposal to build the huge complex next to Wal-Mart.

The complex appears to be headed for the trash heap. I have no proof of that belief. I just believe it.

It’s just as good. We do not need any more traffic congestion to give us headaches as we do battle with the legendary D/FW traffic woes.

environmental news

Summer solstice on tap!

Hey, gang … got some good news to share: The summer solstice, the longest 24-hour period with daylight, is just around the corner.

It occurs on Thursday. It’s the first day of summer. Officially. On the record.

After that, the daylight period shrinks daily by about a second. In December, we get the winter solstice.

Is this a huge deal? Sure it is! We bitch about being too cold in the winter. We long for warmer temps. Then it gets too damn hot! There’s just no pleasing fickle human beings.