media news

On same track as the Cruz Missile? Who knew?

Hell has frozen over, which is the only explanation I can find to explain how Sen. Ted Cruz and I are on the same page regarding the First Amendment.

Trifling with the very first civil liberty written into the U.S. Constitution is a “dangerous” exercise, Cruz said this week. He was speaking of the efforts to silence people who are critical of Donald Trump. People such as late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

Allow me this loud and full-throated cheer for Cruz, a dedicated Trumpkin to be sure, but also someone who understands what the First Amendment means, what it says and how it must be honored. Cruz served as Texas solicitor general before being elected to the Senate in 2012. He holds a law degree from Harvard University. I’ve never doubted his smarts. I just disagree with his policy views and detest the self-serving nature in which he carries himself.

On this matter, Cruz is right. He lamented the Trump administration’s thin skin regarding something Kimmel said that got ABC to suspend him “indefinitely.” Kimmel didn’t even criticize the Trump administration, which always seems to stand front and center in anything involving Trump’s criticism of the media and fellow politicians. Kimmel made some un-funny crack about provocateur Charlie Kirk’s killer possibly being a MAGA moron. That crossed some blurry line, ABC said.

Kimmel’s indefinite suspension lasted about three days. He’s back on the air tonight. I’ll be watching. I might even stand and applaud in my North Texas living room when he opens his show.

I just want to welcome the Cruz Missile into my world of protecting the nation’s governing document … even the part that gives us the freedom to criticize our government.

media news

Kimmel is back to stick it deeper

As a rule I don’t plan my day around what’s appearing on TV … but Tuesday night I am making an exception.

I am going to be sure to watch Jimmy Kimmel’s return to his 10:35 pm (Central Time) slot on ABC’s “Late Night” show. This is a big … deal, man!

Why? Because the network that suspended Kimmel indefinitely from his talk show made an egregious error in judgment. Its decision to fire Kimmel flew directly into the teeth of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the amendment that guarantees free speech.

Kimmel had made a crack on the air that Charlie Kirk’s murder the other day well could have been a MAGA-inspired event and not a deed done by a lunatic who disagreed with the right-wing influencer’s point of view. ABC determined Kimmel was out of bounds.

Wait a second! Kimmel didn’t offer an original thought. Almost at the moment Kirk was mortally wounded, some lefties sought to argue that the MAGA crowd was looking for way to tear our attention away from those Jeffrey Epstein files that allegedly contain Donald Trump’s name and suggest that the president and the convicted sex trafficker and pedophile were friends.

Look, ABC overreacted. Kimmel did not need to be punished in this manner. I am glad Kimmel is coming back.

To be clear, on the rare occasion that I stay up late enough to watch one of the after-hours comedians, i prefer Stephen Colbert on CBS-TV. He’s funnier — and more biting — than Kimmel. But that’s just me.

On Tuesday night, I will dial in to watch Jimmy Kimmel march triumpantly on stage and listen to what he has to say about what the network did to shame him. Without a shred of doubt, I will not be the only American who does so.

political news, State news

Texas primaries to take center stage in 2026

You read that headline correctly … it says “primaries” because both major parties appear set to field two utterly fascinating primary contests for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican John Cornyn.

Cornyn is running for his umpteenth term after serving as Texas attorney general and a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. His GOP challenger appears to be Attorney General Ken Paxton, the nimrod who was impeached by the Texas House and has been the subject of ethics complaints and investigations since he took office in 2015.

Cornyn already is going after Paxton hammer and tong. His campaign allies point out that Paxton has been sued by former senior staff lawyers at the AG’s office, his wife — state Sen. Angela Paxton — is divorcing him on “Biblical grounds” (translation: she accuses the AG of cheating on her) and that he has become an embarrassment to the party, to the state and to Texans in general. Cornyn’s own campaign touts his closeness to Donald Trump, saying he has supported Trump’s agenda more than 99% of the time.

Paxton is a MAGA favorite; Cornyn, not so much. Paxton jumped out to an early lead, but Cornyn appears to be chipping away at Paxton’s advantage.

This one, ladies and gentleman, is going to be a barn burner.

Then we have the Democratic primary for the Senate.

Colin Allred, the former Dallas congressman and former college and pro football player, lost to Ted Cruz in 2024. He’s back in the game. I like this young man. He is earnest and forthright.

But he has a mystery challenger who well could provide the most excitement of either primary campaign. He is state Sen. James Talarico, who is running a faith-based campaign that touts his Christian beliefs. Let’s see, the last Democrat of any note I can recall running such a campaign was, hmm, the late Jimmy Carter, who in 1976 emerged from nowhere to win the Democratic presidential nomination and then defeat President Gerald Ford’s bid for election.

Talarico points out Jesus Christ’s teachings of loving one’s foes, of giving shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry and how Christians who adhere to Christ’s word should carry that belief into the realm of public policy.

Of the four men I have singled out, only one of them deserves my scorn: Paxton. The other three all understand government, its limitations and appreciate the nobility of public service. However, I am going to watch with great interest as both of these primary contests take shape.

political news

You go now, Charlie Kirk

I am one American patriot — and I don’t believe I am the only one — who wants Charlie Kirk to disappear into the realm of political figures who somehow achieved more notoriety dead than he ever did when he was living.

Kirk was gunned down recently at Utah Valley University. He was leading a political rally. A gunman took aim and fired a single rifle shot, hitting Kirk in the neck. It was a gruesome moment.. He died in a local hospital.

Both sides — left and right — keep carrying on about this guy’s death as if he was someone who was actually important. As if he held a public office. Or served in an executive capacity in some level of govenment. Or was a paid political staffer. He was a guy who had strong opinions on issues of the day and as they say about those with opinions: Everyone has them; they are like certain body orafices.

He was a 31-year-old political hack who earned his spurs telling us that Black people were inferior to everyone else. He said President Biden should die for all the crimes he committed against the nation.

I mourn along with Kirk’s wife and young children over his death. The dude has gotten far more than his 15 minutes of fame. Can we just say farewell to this clown and get on with the rest of our lives?

Sports news

Covering pro sports requires an MBA

This blog post is a rant, but not the kind of rant that High Plains Blogger readers have come to expect … and some of whom actually like to read from little ol’ me.

This one deals with sports writing and the special expertise that has become evident in the facts that reporters have to possess. They need master’s degrees in business administration to report accurately on the comings and goings of pro athletes, on the decisions made on where they pursue their craft … and the huge amount of money they earn while hitting a baseball, shooting a basketball or tossing a football and tackling those who do.

I must restrict this blog to just men’s sports, because that is where the money issue is spiraling into outer space.

I was reading recently about the Dallas Cowboys’ decision to trade defensive lineman Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. I cannot even begin to recite the terms of the trade, because it soared way over my pointed noggin. I saw terms like “salary cap,” and “franchise tag” and assorted other rhetoric that made the facts of the trade totally foreign to me. I don’t even know the sticking points that made the Cowboys dicker for the trade, other than I presume Parsons wanted more money than the Cowboys were willing to pay.

Whatever …

This is just the latest such story that goes way over my head.

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when it was a huge deal to read about a pro baseball athlete earning 100 grand a year. Stan Musial was the first, I think, to crack that barrier. Then came Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron. Who else? I remember when quarterback Joe Namath signed with the AFL’s New York Jets for $400,000. You would’ve thought the planet had just spun off its axis.

It’s all chump change these days when we talk about that bygone era.

As for sports writers who have cover these issues for anyone with an interest in the amount of money that goes to these people, they now must bring financial expertise to be able to boil it all down to the lowest possible level. They used to tell us to write our stories so that a fifth grader can understand it.

Does a child actually understand the wealth that pro athletes command?

national news

What about Trump library?

Admit it boys and girls … we’re getting closer to the first year of Donald Trump’s second term in office, which puts us a little closer to his permanent exit from the Oval Office. Thus, I know you’ve been thinking the same thought that has crossed my mind: What will Trump’s library contain?

Or will he even have a presidential library and museum?

The first such exhibit I ever saw was in 1973 in West Branch, Iowa, home of the Herbert Hoover presidential library. I thought of President Hoover only in one context, that the Great Depression began on his watch with the collapse of the stock market and he lost his re-election bid in a landslide to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I learned, though, that Hoover also was a world-class humanitarian and he parlayed his compassion for the needy into legendary acts of good for humankind.

Fast-forward to the present day and we have Donald Trump. He’s been impeached twice. He has been vilified by world leaders for a variety of missteps. He now is trying to dismantle our democratic republic while seeking to form an autocracy. He has boasted of grabbing women in their private areas, has denigrated immigrants, the media, his political foes (who he calls “the enemy”) and has been caught telling outright lies by the tens of thousands.

You get the idea, I presume. How does he define his time in office? What will be the signature act of good he will have performed while serving as president?

This past weekend, I toured the George W. Bush library and museum in Dallas. I didn’t vote for President Bush in 2000 or 2004, but I do admire his commitment to the Constitution and his years of public service. I admire the president’s steadfast courage after 9/11 and I admire the investment his administration made in education reform and in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Believe it or not, I do wish for a signature moment that could define Donald Trump’s time in office in a positive light. So far, he’s coming up empty.

Uncategorized

Growth makes my head spin

Blogger’s Note: This item was published initially in the Dallas Morning News as a guest op-ed from … yours truly.

It wasn’t long ago, or so it seems, that few among us knew where to find Princeton, Texas.

My wife and I moved to the Collin County community in February 2019 and my stock answer to the question from asking where we had decided to sink our stakes, “Where is Princeton?” was, “We’re eight miles east of McKinney on U.S. Highway 380.” Then came the knowing nod.

Today, six years later, fewer of us have to ask where one can find Princeton. Because the city has become the fastest-growing city in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Here are some numbers. The 2010 Census pegged Princeton’s population at 6,807 residents. The 2020 Census elevated that number to 17,027 residents, except that the 2020 Census figure was obsolete before they posted the signs entering the city. The Census Bureau estimated the city population to be around 37,000 in 2024. But wait! Newly appointed Princeton City Manager Mike Mashburn estimates the actual population to be well more than 42,000 residents, based on the number of water meters that are online.

So, the city has exploded from 6,807 to more than 42,000 residents in 15 years.

And guess what … it isn’t letting up. Not even a little bit.

You might wonder: Why did we pick Princeton? It’s close to Allen, where our son and his family live, and his family includes our only grandchild. My wife found the subdivision one night while scrolling online. She told me about what she found. We found out the houses for sale were within our price range, we selected a house, we negotiated a deal. It was done! And I don’t regret making our investment in Princeton.

The City Council realized it didn’t have sufficient infrastructure to serve the burgeoning population. It enacted a moratorium in 2024 on new residential construction. The first ban lasted six months. Then the council extended it. The council likely will have to keep extending it until two things happen: It can have infrastructure in place and it completes all the pending building permits the city issued prior to declaring the ban on residential construction.

I am not an urban planner, but I do get a snootful from officials throughout my community about the perils associated with this rapid growth.

The Princeton public school system is in the midst of a building boom to accommodate the thousands of students expected to enroll in Princeton ISD. Superintendent Donald McIntyre rolls his eyes when he talks about the growth, saying he “can’t build these campuses quickly enough.” They open new campuses and learn immediately that they are stuffed beyond capacity. The district installs portable classrooms immediately to accommodate the overflow. Lowe Elementary School was erected in 2020 and installed two portable classrooms during its first year of operation. The district is now building an elementary school near the Lowe campus to give students moving into the neighborhood a second place to attend class.

Two middle schools are under construction and in 2027, PISD plans to start building a second high school … and has purchased land to accommodate a third high school eventually.

McIntyre agrees he’d rather have this problem than the kind facing other districts – such as Keller and Fort Worth ISDs – that are having to close campuses. However, the growth explosion makes projecting student population with any accuracy a virtual impossibility.

How does the city provide infrastructure? It must hire more police officers and firefighters. That process, of course, takes time, given that applicants have to complete certification training before they can suit up and report for duty. The Princeton Fire Department recently opened two new stations to serve the population north of U.S. 380 and farther southwest along Myrick Lane. It recently completed work on a water treatment plant near the western city limit. The police department, last I heard, was more than 30 officers short of what it needs to keep the peace and enforce the law in Princeton. Police Chief Jim Waters has his hands full, too, keeping pace. The city recently voted to cease providing fire protection for residents living in the unincorporated areas around the city because the city must provide coverage for the growing number of residents moving into homes inside the city limits.

On top of all this, Princeton faces is a stunning lack of commercial development. It recently rezoned a 90-acre parcel on the north side of US 380, expecting to break ground on a massive commercial project. No ground has been broken. The growth continues to be almost exclusively residential, with families being lured to Princeton by the relatively inexpensive real estate prices. And the city has struggled with a contractor and a developer who keep fighting while a massive apartment complex along US 380 seemingly – in the middle of construction — sits idle with little progress being made toward its completion.

I need to mention, too, that traffic has become a nightmare around here. The Texas Department of Transportation has laid out grand plans to build a freeway bypass around Princeton. The state’s road crews no doubt will slow traffic along US 380 even more than what is occurring now as the state seeks to divert through-traffic away from US 380 and onto the bypass.

And only God knows when the bypass will get done.

I have wondered on occasion over the years what it would be like to live in a rapidly growing city such as Princeton, Texas. Now I know. It’s not what it is cracked up to be.

The good news is that it eventually will get done. The city will mature fully and will become a place familiar to anyone seeking a place to call home. I hope I live long enough to enjoy it.

national news, political news

Charley Kirk Day? Are they serious …?

Did I hear this correctly, that congressional Republicans are lining up for an effort to create a national holiday honoring the memory of a man slain because he espoused right-wing nut-job policies and supported the agenda put forth by the MAGA moron in chief, Donald Trump?

I believe I did hear it. Yep. GOP members of Congress want to create Charlie Kirk Day. A national holiday, yes? This can’t possibly be serious. But wait! The GOP is no longer a serious political party. It is the mouthpiece for the MAGA movement led by Trump and his sycophants.

One of them was Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative influencer. Kirk was speaking the other day at a rally at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, when a nitwit with a rifle shot him in the neck. Kirk died almost immediately.

Yes, it was a shock. Yes, I condemn political violence. Yes, it was a political assassination. And yes, Kirk leaves behind a wife and two small children, which alone is enough to cause great sadness and sympathy.

He is no martyr. He blustered some highly offensive policies, such as saying that Black Americans aren’t as smart as white Americans. He wanted to deport all immigrants. He was anti-gay, anti-transgender. He spewed hate at every event where he was featured.

To elevate this young man’s memory to a level reserved for the likes of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and presidents of the United States (starting with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln) insults the intelligence of rank-and-file Americans, not to mention the memories of those truly great men.

I am sad that Charlie Kirk died in such a violent manner. I won’t ever justify the actions of the idiot who’s in custody and faces a death sentence if he’s convicted of aggravated murder.

But … c’mon folks! Settle down with this national commemoration nonsense!

local news

The beard: Making a comeback

The beard is back … or soon will be once I let a few days pass.

The beard has been something I grow and nurture for six months every year during the autumn and winter months. It comes off around first day of spring. I remain clean-shaven for the spring and summer seasons.

I suspended the beard this past season, choosing to keep my puss hair-free during the coldest months of the year. It might have been a bit of homage to my bride, Kathy Anne, who fought with me every spring when I announced the beard was coming off. She liked my face when I covered it in hair. I lost her in February 2023 to cancer and this past autumn and winter, I chose to forgo the beard because, well, she wasn’t around to enjoy it.

I have made a command decision to bring it back.

Now, my best friends, those who have known me the longest, tell me — and I cannot prove the veracity of this statement — that they can set their calendar on the basis of my facial appearance. When the stubble appears, they know it’s fall. Or so they tell me.

Hey, I won’t dispute it. I’ll just go with it and call it good.

 

local news, military news

Hail to the chief … and to the heroes

I want to share briefly with you an experience I had this past weekend while visiting with a member of my family who came to North Texas to visit my sons, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and me.

To be honest, I was drawn inexorably into making direct comparisons between what I saw over the weekend and what we are experiencing now in real time as events continue to unfold in D.C.

On Saturday, we drove to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. My brother-in-law had not seen it yet, but it was my third or fourth visit. I love going there, if only to allow my sappiness to show itself while touring the 9/11 exhibit at the Bush Museum. I visited with one of the docents at the front door when we entered and I told her how much I have grown to admire President Bush in recent years, particularly in light of what his most recent successor has done to denigrate the office he inherited. She nodded in agreement. She gets it.

As we walked through the myriad exhibits, I was struck by the wisdom the museum presented that came from Bush during not only in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, but in his speaking on behalf of HIV/AIDS research the investments made in the PEPFAR program that the Bush administration created, which Donald Trump wants to dismantle. Bush spoke eloquently about how the nation’s response to 9/11 was not a war “against Islam,” but a war against the terrorists who perverted a great religion.

Bush’s fingerprints can be found on efforts to reform public education during his presidency and on his efforts to enact comprehensive immigration reform.

All told, we had a wonderful experience reliving those turbulent years … and wishing for a return to the wisdom that Bush was capable of exhibiting during difficult times.

The next day we ventured to Arlington to tour the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’ve written already about that experience. I won’t repeat myself.

However, I do want to note that I found the absence of meaningful remarks from the current president about the heroism on display at the Medal of Honor Museum to be striking. He has draped the medal around the necks of several heroes during his terms in office, but in each ceremony I have watched from afar I cannot eradicate from my memory the insults he has hurled at wounded warriors, his refusal to visit American graves in France during the D-Day commemoration, the horrible things he has said about a Gold Star family — Iraqi immigrants — whose son died fighting in Iraq while wearing a U.S. Army uniform.

I know I am not not the only American patriot who thinks this way. It saddens me terribly. However, it did not a single thing to take away the respect, admiration and love I feel toward the 3,600 men who have received the nation’s highest military honor.

I am a proud American patriot who was thrilled to see these exhibits designed to bring out the love I have for my country and for the people who have served it.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience