Monthly Archives: July 2025

crime news, media news

Blog finds new rhythm

High Plains Blogger had hit a slump, I am willing to acknowledge, but that slump might be about to reignite into a new energy.

That’s my hope.

I have found a new rhythm to writing and posting items on this forum. I shall explain.

For years I had prided myself in my prolific writing. I was able to crank out three, four, five entries daily. My friends said they marveled at the frequency of my blog posts. I appreciate the good word, but it wore me out.

I have decided to scale it back to a single entry on most days. Sometimes there will be two. Even less frequently you might see three entries. I also have decided I am going to rely more on issues rather than personalities. You know already that I detest the moron masquerading as president of the United States. Thus, there is little — if any need — to whip that already bloody carcass. Hell, it’s already been bled dry.

You’re likely to read observations about more local matters. The Texas Legislature is back in special session for the next month. Maybe it will stay on the job longer. I am going to watch our legislators carefully.

I also want to devote more time and attention to what I call “slice of life” matters. Maybe this blog post qualifies as a piece defining a slice of retired life. You know?

I recently posted a blog entry that discussed taking a break from blogging. Some supporters objected and told me they want me to stay in the game. I heard you. I’m not going anywhere.

I just want to tone it down a bit. I want to stay sharp enough to comment when the spirit moves me and when policy decisions demand it.

So, there you have it, kids. New rhythm, less pressure, more varied topics.

It’s going to keep me in love with what I do.

education news

‘Yes!’ to schools cracking down on cell phone use

I shall refrain from the lament that it took a long time to do the right thing, so I will applaud school districts throughout Texas that are taking direct measures to restore some decorum in our public school classrooms.

They are ordering students to ditch their cell phones when the bell rings to start the school day.

They’re doing it here in Princeton, where I live. Fort Worth is as well. Same for Dallas. And same for a whole lot of other districts acting on legislation approved by the 2025 Texas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Classrooms must be a place where students are focused solely on the lessons being taught. Teachers deserve that respect. Sadly, they don’t get it when students are sitting in their chairs, cell phones in their laps as they send messages back and forth. The law empowers individual school districts to use whatever disciplinary measures they deem appropriate to punish violators.

And to be sure, this initiative drew plenty of resistance from parents who insist foolishly that they must be in contact with their little darlin’s 24 hours each day. As Col. Sherman T. Potter would say: Buffalo bagels!

local news

Community journalism is alive and well

I was sitting in a city council chamber meeting room this evening when the thought occurred to me … that community journalism is where it’s at.

Sachse, Texas, is a nice city that straddles the Collin and Dallas County line. My bosses for whom I work part time have asked me to cover Sachse City Council for the time being. I said “sure,” so there I was taking notes on a budget workshop that was taking place. Council members are preparing the budget to run the city for the next fiscal year. It was a humdrum meeting.

But it was damn important and I was filled with a sense of honor that I was being allowed to report to the residents of this quiet city what their elected officials are doing to decide how to spend the money that comes from the pockets of the city residents.

Get this, too. The Sachse City Council doesn’t get paid a dime for conducting these meetings. The only pay they receive is to be reimbursed for expenses incurred while doing city business. Talk about a labor love!

And I get to report on these fine folks. I am privileged to engage in community journalism at its finest point.

With all the nonsense being kicked around about journalism, whether it’s fake, I am proud to report that the journalism I get to practice from time to time remains alive and well in the communities where I practice it. I do the same kind of community reporting in Princeton (where I live) and in Farmersville just east of my house along US 380.

It was just a brief revelation this evening. It’ll stick with me for as long as I can continue to string sentences together. I’ve said all along that I learn about the communities I cover. I am getting to know Sachse and whatever motivates its public policy. Best news? I get to report on it for the folks who pay for it!

crime news

Nation must ask this killer: Why?

Under normal circumstances, I would  not concern myself with this nagging question … but the nature of this crime compels all of to wonder: Why did Brian Kohberger kill those four precious college students in Idaho?

Kohberger will spend the rest of his life in an Idaho prison. Something tells me it might not be a long life, given the nature of the crime and the prison culture that exists in most lockups.

He stabbed three young women and a young man to death in a house they were sharing in Moscow, Idaho, home of the University of Idaho, where the victims were attending. He stabbed them in brutal and merciless fashion. He pleaded guilty to the crimes to avoid a sure-fire death sentence had he gone to trial and been convicted.

However, this monster has not disclosed his motive for robbing all those families of the future they hoped for in the young victims of this hideous crime. Several of the victims’ loved ones asked him directly during the sentencing hearing. Kohberger sat there in stone-faced silence.

The loved ones of those precious young victims deserve some semblance of closure and it ought to come in the form of an explanation of what prompted Bryan Kohberger to commit such a horrific crime. A grieving nation joins them in demanding an answer.

local news

Town hall set … Rep. Self?

A good bit of the smart money, if any such thing exists these days in D.C., suggests that Republican members of the U.S. House will avoid anything resembling a town hall meeting with constituents.

They have taken the rest of August off presumably to collect their thoughts and prepare for what could be a miserable onslaught of anger when they return to duty in early September. House Speaker Mike Johnson sent them home reportedly to avoid forcing House members to stand for a vote on whether to require Donald Trump to release those Jeffrey Epstein files that might contain a smoking arsenal detailing who was involved in sex trafficking along with the late Epstein.

My congressman is a Republican, Keith Self of McKinney. He’s a good man. I happen to like him personally. He once served as Collin County judge after serving for 20-plus as an Army combat infantry officer. I hope he calls for a town hall meeting while he’s home. I also hope he doesn’t choose to partake of that other congressional tradition, taking off on one of those overseas “junkets” designed ostensibly to allow congressmen and women to collect facts about this and that issue.

Democratic members have been venturing into heavily Republican districts to feel the pulse of what’s driving GOP voters. They are learning that Republicans aren’t happy with the big ugly bill and the slashing and burning of aid to Americans who need it. Nor are they happy with the Trump team’s dodging of demands to release those Epstein files.

Indeed, I learned that a member of my extended family, who supported Trump with his vote, is now turning against the numbskull in chief. I suspect that Rep. Self might find many more like my family member out here in Trump Country were he to call for a town hall session.

Is Keith Self brave enough to face angry constituents or did he save his courage by facing down enemy fighters intent on killing him on the field of battle? If he’s not so brave, he wouldn’t be the first elected member of Congress to shy away from such a fight.

national news, national security

Gabbard and the ‘t’ word

Some words need never to be said given the extreme weight of what they mean … unless the object of that word has done something that deserves its use.

Former President Barack Obama has been called, essentially, a traitor to the nation he served for more than a decade. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tossed the word “treason” out during a discussion of what she was “proof” that Obama fiddled with intelligence reports that accuse Russia of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Gabbard doesn’t possess a shred of proof of that accusation. Instead of fixing like a laser on actual national security concerns, Gabbard is relitigating the 2016 election … which, I hasten to add, Donald Trump won! Trump garnered more Electoral College votes than Hillary Clinton. Period. Full stop. And all that rhetorical nonsense.

So, what the hell is Gabbard doing by seeking to bring up an issue that has been decided? Oh, wait! I know why! She wants to divert our attention from the Jeffrey Epstein matter and whether the late Epstein and Trump were besties during the time Epstein was shopping for underage girls to pawn off on clients in a sex trafficking scheme.

Gabbard is running amok with dangerous language that she should not use. Surely she knows the penalty for treason, right? If not, here it is: If convicted, it’s death!

I want to alert High Plains Blogger critics that I have refrained from accusing Trump of treason. Other have done so. That’s their call. Mine is to pull that punch … at least until we have evidence of a treasonous act.

To that end, DNI Gabbard needs to keep her trap shut!

media news

Trump swims in irony

Donald J. Trump likely doesn’t know or understand irony, but man, he is swimming in it with virtually every public pronouncement.

He has defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio, he said, because he wants to rid the airwaves of “bias” in its reporting. He would replace it with broadcasters who are favorable to Trumpian policy matters.

If you believe public TV and public radio are “biased” because they report the truth about policy matters, then what are you going to think of what comes from the Trump-sponsored media outlets who will flood our airwaves with propaganda? You want a definition of bias? I have just given you one.

Trump wants to ingrain in our skulls with only those views that satisfy his ego, his vision (such as it is) and his longterm objectives. NPR and public TV are not the incarnation of evil. I have had the pleasure of working with both media and I can assure you as certain as I am sitting here that public TV and radio go out of their way — and each other’s way — to avoid being called “biased” or “unfair.”

Foes of this blog have told me about polling that suggest that most Americans believe that public media are biased. I do not accept those polling results. It is a simple task to skew questions to receive answers you want to fit a certain narrative.

I have said all along that bias rests in the minds and hearts of the consumer. A right-wing MAGA cultist is going to see everything that disputes his or her world view as “biased.” They have swallowed the swill offered by Donald Trump.

The irony of what he seeks to replace public TV and radio is just too rich to let slide.

economic news, local news

Mixed feelings over airport expansion

How am I feeling these days as I learn about the expansion of McKinney National Airport just down the road a piece from where I live in Princeton?

My feelings are decidedly mixed. Although I tend to support the expansion as an economic driver for a region that already is undergoing a tremendous population explosion.

I shall explain myself.

Voters rejected a $200 million bond issue a couple of years ago to expand the airport, creating a third commercial air terminal in North Texas. It wasn’t even close, with 58% of the votes saying “hell no!” to the expansion. Had I been able to vote on the project, I would have voted in favor. Voters had their say.

Aha! But it wasn’t the final word. McKinney officials weren’t to be dissuaded from fulfilling their dream. They have broken ground on a smaller expansion, costing about $70 million. They’ll add an air terminal, expand parking and dress up the grounds to begin commercial air service sometime late next year. A low-cost airline already has signed up to begin servicing the airport to be known in aviation-speak as TKI.

It is mildly troubling to me that McKinney officials chose to ignore the voters’ wishes by proceeding with the airport project. Opponents cited the massive change such a project would bring to a community that they liked as it stands. There could be noise pollution, traffic congestion and all the various elements associated with rapid growth. At the groundbreaking ceremony, officials spoke affectionately about the growth that will come this way.

Princeton, where I have lived for six years, is the fastest-growing city in the United States. It currently is terribly underserved by commercial establishments. This morning, for example, I drove to McKinney to purchase a $6 part for my bathroom sink. I couldn’t find a store to serve my needs in Princeton. I am going to presume that economic expansion will bring those services and many others eventually to my city.

Indeed, the landscape in the greater McKinney/Princeton/Farmersville area is now slated for some monumental change once the airport expansion is complete. All of that produces a mixed bag of emotions for my neighbors and me. Thus, I can declare my feelings remain mixed as the airport construction is set to begin.

I am going to pray it goes well.

media news

So … what about WH communications chief?

I am going to call attention briefly to an individual who hasn’t received a whisper of chatter in the boiling controversy over Jeffrey Epstein’s files and whether they should be released for public review.

I refer to the White House communications director. That’s right. Donald Trump hired a guy to serve as communications director for his second term as president. His name is Steven Cheung, a native of Sacramento, Calif. He played football at Cal State-Sacramento,  but didn’t earn a degree there. Hmm. More on that in a moment.

The communications director role is to control the information flow from the White House, to ensure it is consistent with whatever message the president wants to convey. The communications chief must work with the press secretary and all Cabinet staffers and White House staff to deliver a cogent, reliable message from the White House to the public.

The Jeffrey Epstein communications flow has been a cluster fu** of the first order. What in the hell has Steven Cheung been doing? The White House changes its tune about whether to release the information contained in the files pertaining to Epstein, the late child molester/sex trafficker and his relationship with Donald Trump. It vows to be “transparent,” then reneges on its pledge to reveal all the information it has on Epstein.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has told the media she informed Trump in May that his name is in the files. Trump then said he didn’t hear about it until June. Or maybe it was July. Shouldn’t the communications director be able to tell the president keep the story straight?

Cheung is not a seasoned communications professional steeped in political tradition. His earlier stint as commo director for the 2024 Trump campaign was riddled with blowups with the campaign media. He quit the White House during the first Trump term over a snit he had with White House chief of staff John Kelly.

It all seems connected to the revelation that Cheung didn’t complete his college degree at Cal State-Sacramento. He looks for all the world to me to be a throwaway appointment, a sycophant whose fealty to Trump made him preferable to others who well might have more actual experience keeping the lines of communication untangled.

So, as the White House stumbles, fumbles and bumbles its way through this Epstein matter, Americans are entitled to ask: What is the White House communications director doing during the daylight hours … because he has lost control of the narrative?

crime news

Epstein isn’t going away

I can say this with crystal clarity … Jeffrey Epstein is not going away anytime soon.

He’s dead. He won’t come back. His name, however, won’t die along with his miserable body. With that in mind, the Congress is taking a monthlong break. I am sure they’re going to get a snootful from their constituents at home. Listen up, GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Self, I am putting you on notice, too.

Trump once pledged to release all the info on Epstein, the convicted child sex trafficker. Then he backed away. Now the Wall Street Journal says Trump sent Epstein a birthday greeting card with lots of lewd pics of underage girls. Trump denies it. He has sued the Journal for a billon bucks. He’s going to lose.

I am reminded of the trouble that caught up with President Nixon as he tried to cover up his involvement in the Watergate scandal. That matter never died, either. Nixon ended up quitting the presidency when the Supreme Court ruled he had to release the tapes that contained his instructions to cover the matter up.

Something tells me the walls might be closing in on Trump.