Monthly Archives: May 2025

national news

Some sign of rememberance

Memorial Day is a time for reflection, for honoring the lives and the service of those who died defending the world’s greatest nation.

Presidents of the United States historically have taken a moment to offer heartfelt statements that pay tribute to the fallen. Not so with the current occupant of the White House.

Here is Donald J. Trump’s Memorial Day message. I’ll post it here and walk away … letting you fathom what we have as a commander in chief:

“HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THEM BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE,THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDER, AND RAPE AGAIN — ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL. BUT FEAR NOT, WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS, AND AMERICA WILL SOON BE SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN! AGAIN, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

education news, local news

Texas GOP goes anti-rural

Glenn Rogers writes a column for the Dallas Morning News and in his most recent submission he makes an astonishing assertion about the direction of the state’s Republican Party.

He said the party has become “anti-rural” in its outlook and its policy priorities.

He writes: Based on my personal experience and discussions with rural-focused organizations, I would say the top priorities for rural Texas are supporting public schools, providing access to quality health care, improving the quantity and quality of water resources, and improving communication capabilities.

I want to focus on the first item he lists, “supporting public schools.”

Texas public education is taking it on the chin, in the gut and maybe even in the groin by policies that strip public money from public school classrooms. The GOP-dominated Legislature recently enacted a bill that allows parents to spend public money to send their children to private schools. I consider that a direct affront on the public school system that, in my view, has served Texas families well since, oh, maybe the beginning of time.

Lawmakers tried to foist this issue onto the books in 2023, but Republican lawmakers representing rural school districts resisted. Many of them represent districts here in North Texas, where life revolves around the health and well-being of the independent public school district.

Something or someone got to those folks during the current Legislature and they climbed aboard the school voucher bandwagon to approve it and sent it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature.

This is the kind of action that destroys rural communities. Rogers, a rancher and veterinarian in Palo Pinto County, served in the Texas House from 2021 until this year. He writes that public education is the “backbone and leading employer in rural communities.” He adds that “without their public schools, small towns … would be devastated.”

So, why do Republicans in the Legislature insist on gutting these communities? Why do they knowingly take money needed to bolster public education and allow parents to send kids to private schools?

This is a turn that a once-great political party has taken. I believe it will bite the Grand Old Party squarely in its backside.

Uncategorized

A positive result to report

I want to report to you some astounding news I received this week from my primary care physician … and it appears to be a result of the nutrition class I attended at home offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

My doctor has removed my daily dose of cholesterol medication from my routine. She told me my lab results are so positive that she doesn’t see the need to continue taking the pills each day.

I looked at her and said, plainly and simply, “Wow!”

I sought professional help from the VA because I had gained a lot of weight in the two years since I lost my bride, Kathy Anne, to an aggressive form of brain cancer … glioblastoma. I had been taking the anti-cholesterol meds for many years prior to that tragic event. The meds had done their job, reeling in my cholesterol and triglycerides to within range of normal. Indeed, when I first saw a doctor in Amarillo way back when, he told me the substance they drew from my arm “didn’t even look like blood.” My lab numbers were off the charts. He declared that I was fortunate to have avoided serious impairment or death by a stroke.

The VA nutrition program was intended to jump-start a weight loss effort. That didn’t happen. Although I have peeled a few pounds off this overfed old man’s body. What did happen was a change of lifestyle. I can state with clear honesty that I have changed my eating habits. I forgo the junk food that would formerly entice me.

This week, I got some hard numbers that told me my efforts have paid off. I want to share that with you because of the support I have gotten from Blogger Land from those who tell me they want me to stay in the game of commenting on world affairs.

So … there you have it. Life is good. I intend to keep living it for a while longer.

Uncategorized

‘MAGA’ takes root in vernacular

When an acronym becomes a word is when you know that the term has become ingrained in our skulls, even the noggins of those who abhor the meaning of the word.

The term “MAGA” appears to be the latest such term to have been given a sort of new life. When you simpy say “MAGA,” the rest of us know about whom you are referring … it is the cadre of individuals who believe in Donald Trump’s vow to “Make America Great Again.”

I long have considered that to be a preposterous notion, as the United States has been the world’s pre-eminent power since the end of World War II.

We now refer to issues as “MAGA policy,” or “MAGA ideas,” or the “MAGA crowd.” No need to insert the explanation of what “MAGA” means. I need to state that Trump isn’t the first politician to vow to “make America great again.” Bill Clinton did so, too, while running for president in 1992. Clinton’s followers, though, weren’t fervent or rabid enough to keep repeating or even to form the words into an acronym.

Did you know that “TEA Party,” one of MAGA’s predecessors, is an acronym that also became a word? The “TEA” in the party stands for “Taxed Enough Already.” TEA Party faithful formed the coalition because they were tired of paying what they believe is too much in taxes to the federal government. Hence, TEA Party was born about 20 years ago.

I also capitalize “SCUBA” when referring to divers wearing on their backs what stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I don’t know when the terms “SCUBA divers” or “SCUBA gear” became part of our language. It just did … a long time ago!

The language is full of such examples. Too many of them to delineate here. Because I’m a bit of a rhetorical perfectionist, I am going to continue to capitalize these acronomyical terms as a show of respect to their origins.

 

business news, economic news

It’s called “check and balance,’ Mr. POTUS

The U.S. Court of International Trade has delivered a lesson on check and balance to the president of the United States … if only he knew what it means.

A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that Donald Trump overstepped his constitutional authority by issuing across the board reciprocal tariffs on the entire world. The ruling effectively ends — for now, at least — the idiotic trade war that Trump launched against this nation’s strongest trading partners and allies.

This really shouldn’t matter, given what the founders intended when they created a federal judiciary, but it’s worth noting nevertheless. One of the judges is a Barack Obama appointee, another one was nominated by Ronald Reagan, the third was selected by — you ready? — Donald Trump.

They spoke with one voice on this notion that Trump has no authority to act unilaterally by invoking these moronic tariffs. Trump has vowed to appeal the ruling. No surprise. It is his right to do so.

He keeps losing these court fights, yet he still claims to be a “winner.”

He’s not! Trump is a big-league loser.

legal news

Why issue pardons?

Let us examine the issue of presidential pardons, which have risen in the public’s consciousness lately.

Donald J. Trump is issuing pardons to convicted felons, some of whom have committed violent crimes against law enforcement officers. He also is acting totally within his powers as president, as prescribed in the U.S. Constitution.

The founders granted the president virtually unlimited power to pardon anyone of a crime. Trump has been signing pardon documents left and right lately. The most recent pardon of some controversy involves a reality TV couple convicted of tax evasion and fraud against the U.S. government. The husband was sentenced to 12 years in the slammer; the wife got seven years. Trump set them free today.

What I want to examine briefly is the ramification of pardons such as this one, which undermines a jury verdict reached in a fair trial. Trump said the couple — convicted felons, mind you — are “fine people” and they deserve the chance to restart their lives.

No they don’t. They were convicted in a court of law.

I don’t want to expend a lot of emotional capital on this pardon. I do want to make what I think is a critical point. A pardon expunges the record. It removes conviction from a criminal’s past … officially. It does not wipe out the memories of those who were damaged by whatever crime is committed. Nor does it expunge from the memories of those of us who watch these matters with a degree of interest.

I became aware of presidential pardons in September 1974 when President Ford issued a full and complee pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon. Nixon had resigned the presidency but had not been convicted of any crime. He was about to be impeached by the House and would be assuredly convicted in a Senate trial for crimes related to the Watergate scandal. Ford’s decision, though, looked at the larger issue of the impact a continued pursuit of Nixon would have on the nation.

President Ford paid a political price for the pardon, losing his bid for election in 1976, largely it is believed because voters thought at the time he acted prematurely. The pardon, though, did not remove the stigma of Nixon’s resignation. Nor did it wipe away the public perception of the disgraced former president as someone who sought to cover up the wrongdoing done in his name.

If only the current president could understand what he’s doing to this enormous power he has at his disposal. He is making himself, his office and our government a laughingstock.

Uncategorized

Founders were right about secularism

Our nation’s founders were by and large brilliant men who gathered to craft a government from scratch at the end of our revolution.

They didn’t craft a perfect document, as it made white men the only inhabitants of a new republic with full rights of citizenship. We would amend our nation’s Constitution later to fix many of those shortcomings.

However, the founders got it exactly right on this point: They wanted to create a secular government that would not be governed by a particular religious belief. I wrote a blog item recently about concerns expressed in one North Texas community that Muslims in that city might want to legalize teaching of Sharia law in public school classrooms. That cannot happen. Why? Because the founders ensured the secular nature of our government.

You won’t see the word “Christian” anywhere in the Constitution. You won’t see “Muslim” there, either. Or “Judaism” or “Hindu” or “Buddhist.” The First Amendment to our Bill of Rights states clearly that “Congress shall make no law” that establishes a state religion or prohibits “the free excercise” of it.

The founders were direct descendants of those who fled European religious tyranny. They came across the ocean to start a new country that would be allow people to worship God as they chose, but did not mandate which god they would worship. They also left the door open for those who chose not to worship any deity.

So, when I caution against getting too worked up over the imposition of Sharia law in our public school classrooms, I also want to wave the ol’ red flag against placing Bibles in classrooms, which is what governors in many states want to do.

The founders weren’t perfect. No human being is. However, they got it spot-on correct when they said the government of the nation they created would be free of religious dictates.

Let’s just leave religion where it belongs … in houses of worship.

local news, religious news

Sharia law? It won’t happen!

I am hearing a rumbling or two from a community over yonder here in Collin County about what some folks assert is a growing Muslim influence.

It’s in Sachse, a city that staddles the Collin-Dallas County line. Sitting in a city council meeting the other evening, a woman rose to sound an alarm bell about Muslims, and about Islam. She said she is concerned that the community’s Muslim community is going to foist the teaching of “Sharia law” in our public school system.

Oops. Can’t happen. Sharia law is a strict Islamic interpretation of the Quran, the Islamic holy book.

As I read the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment prohibits any law that imposes religious teachings. This is a secular nation, according to the founders’ view. It is not lost on me that they would list the imposition of state religion first as the rights protected under the First Amendment.

So, when someone complains about “Muslim influence” in our community, they should disabuse themselves of any notion that Sharia law is going to be part of any public school curriculum.

It is not going to happen! Period! Moreover, if such a matter were imposed and it ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court, hell would freeze over before this court in particular would approve of such a stunning reversal of the First Amendment.

economic news, national news

GOP is finding some backbone?

Lo and behold, great day in the morning and whatever exclanation you can recall! Republicans in Congress might have discovered their backbones and are stiffening them in a fight against Donaldl J. Trump and his “big, beautiful” tax and budget bill.

What has happened to these men and women? They have rediscovered the mantra their forebears used to recite to beat the daylights out of their Democratic opponents, which is that budget deficits and spiraling national debt are unsustainable.

U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul have just signed on as “no” votes for Trump’s bill. It is looking for all the world as if the bill might be doomed. There are a few others who’ve also joined with their Democratic colleagues in opposing the legislation.

There’s a certain irony, of course, in Democrats opposing the bill on the grounds of deficit and debt expansion. Democrats used to scoff at GOP concerns over the deficit. Republicans led by Ronald Reagan blasted Democrats to smithereens because during the 1980 fiscal year, Democrats were calling for a deficit — get ready for it — of $43 billion! That amount today would hardly amount to anything.

The annual budget deficit is now in the trillions of dollars. The national debt has grown more under the Trump administration than during any other administration in U.S. history.

It is sounding to me as if congressional Republicans are getting the hint, based on their town halls and the ire they are hearing from constituents, that Trump’s notions aren’t worth backing.

What do you know about any of it?

national news

Our evolution continues

Americans live in an evolving nation, which compels them to strive toward achieving the “more perfect Union” our founders envisioned in the late 18th century.

Our evolution produced the greatest military and economic power in world history. It was our military power that is the subject of this post today, as it speaks directly to the wrong turn Americans took during its evolutionary journey.

You see, there became a time when Americans had become pampered by news of victory in warfare against enemies abroad. We became so pampered, in fact, that we simply couldn’t — or wouldn’t — tolerate the notion that we could suffer defeat.

The Vietnam War disabused us of our invincibility. We became intolerant not just of the men who set the war policy in Washington, D.C., but of the young men and women they ordered to carry out those policies in the name of the nation they were serving. Americans stopped respecting the men and women who bore that responsibility. Even to the point of disrespecting those who had fallen in battle.

I know that because I was a member of the generation of Americans who went to war during that time. No one spat on me. No one disrespected me. All I had to do was look around and see what was happening to others with whom I served. They were disrespected merely for following lawful orders.

Memorial Day has descended on us this year and we are going to honor the fallen in ways we always should honor them. We will pray for their souls and for the loved ones who still grieve their loss. We will thank surviving veterans for their service in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. We will listen to the high praise offered by those on what constitutes today’s political left — those who 50 years ago wouldn’t dare speak so kindly of our military personnel as they do today.

Our national evolution is continuing. We are back to honoring the men and women who serve. And on this holiday, we are expressing our eternal gratitude for the sacrifice that more than a million Americans have paid to keep us free and to make us the great nation we always have been.

We’re heading toward becoming a “more perfect Union.” Our nation’s founders would be proud.