media news, national news, political news, Uncategorized

MAGA’S message works

Every so often I get a criticism on this blog that rings true, that the critic makes a good point.

I am going to acknowledge one of those critics right now.

He challenged a blog post that suggested that voters can reject the MAGA movement simply by voting the MAGA dipshits out of office. My critic pointed out that parthy shift from Democrat to Republican is the most significant he has seen in his lifetime. I can’t challenge that, so I’ll accept it.

But I believe the underlying message of his critique is correct. The MAGA movement has perfect its messaging, its content and its delivery of it to Americans. The anti-MAGA gang is floundering. They cannot seem to speak with a limited number of voices, let alone with a single voice.

Think about this. I’ve used the term “MAGA” as an actual word. It’s in reality an acronym for Make America Great Again. Right there is a victory for the MAGA movement. It has established its identity to such a level that the acronym now doubles as a word, kinda like SCUBA diver and TEA party.

I disagree that we need to “make Ameria great again.” We have been a great country for my entire life. Even longer than that. We continue to lead the world in research and development, in Nobel laureates, we are the strongest military machine in human history. We remain the sole indispensable nation on Earth. The MAGA cult has persuaded enough of us to believe that none of that is true.

How did they do it? I believe it is from MAGA’s lack of ambiguity. It has a clear message and it delivers it with passion and the belief that they are right and the rest of us have grown a second head or a third eye.

The anti-MAGA crowd must develop its own message technique in a hurry. The result will be catastrophic for our nation as the MAGA goons continue to make mincemeat of the rest of the world’s greatest nation.

 

local news

Future is in our hands

The future of our democratic republic well may lie in the hands of those of us who care enough to vote to preserve it. That’s my call, ladies and gents.

I now shall explain.

We have an election coming up in a little more than a year. We are going to elect a new House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. A lot of incumbents who have swallowed the Donald Trump swill are on the November 2026 ballot in all 50 of our United States.

Now comes the question. Are we going to continue to stand silently by while both congressional chambers cede their constitutional power to an overreaching, overzealous, overheated POTUS who sounds and acts like a man intent on tossing aside the limited powers granted in the Constitution?

The correllary question is whether we’re going to use the power granted to us by the founders and vote out the gullible goons who comprise so much of today’s Republican Party. I hate saying this, but that has to include a man I had hoped would know better, my congressman, Keith Self.

Self is a retired U.S. Army combat infanty officer. A West Point grad. He’s a man who understands the value implied in the oath he took to defend the Constitution. Donald Trump does not honor the oath he took to honor the governing document, and yet Self — who I consider to be a good man — continues to stand with the numbskull masquerading as president.

The county is chock full of others just like Self. We need to rid ourselves of the men and women who follow the dictates of a charlatan blindly and with no regard to the sacred oath they took. After all, they end their recitation of the oath by declaring “so help me, God.”

legal news

Vengeance effort picks up steam

Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution appears to be gathering a head of steam and for those of us worried about the future of this great country, serious worry is settling in … rapidly.

Today brought news that former Trump national security advisor John Bolton has been indicted on 18 counts by a federal grand jury on charges stemming from allegations that Bolton mishandled classified material. More bullshit from the Justice Department.

Former FBI director Jim Comey is indicted in the slimmest indictment in human history. New York Attorney General Letitia James is indicted for alleged real estate fraud crimes. What do Bolton, Comey and James have in common? They all are Trump critics!

Good grief, man! Who’s next? Sen. Adam Schiff of California is reportedly a target. Same, perhaps, for Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona?

Trump is out of his mind. He’s fu**ing insane!

He’s now presiding over a government that has shut down because Republicans don’t want to fund Affordable Care Act subsidies. The shutting down of the government is depriving Americans of services they paid for. It is endangering travelers at airports because traffic controllers aren’t getting paid. Trump is sending troops into the streets of great American cities to crack down on crimes that don’t exist.

Donald Trump 2.0 is far worse than Trump 1.0. He told us he would do precisely what he is now doing. And yet he got elected president in 2024.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s the small plurality of Americans who voted for this numbskull who need their heads examined.

Donald Trump

Why do they hang with this guy?

Men and women of good will, a deep faith in God, of conscience and commitment to public service all swear allegiance with the same oath of office.

They all pledge to serve the Constitution of the United States without fear or favor.

Why then — I have to ask — do so many of them stand behind a man who has become the embodiment the perversion that has overtaken so many men and women who get into public service? Donald Trump has become the antithesis of what we once called the better angels of our society.

His vengeance campaign against his political foes is beginning to make many of his Republican allies squeamish. The longer we watch the GOP leadership back away from their unconditional support for Trump, the more concern I feel for the very fabric of our democratic republic.

I stand behind my earlier assertion that the Constitution will hold up under this intense pressure. That it will show how well it works even as the president does all he can to undermine it. That doesn’t mean I will enjoy seeing the Constitution being stretched beyond recognition as it faces pressure from all three government branches.

Through it all, we have 535 members of two congressional chambers who take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies. Too many of them don’t seem to realize that the founders implied strength for them by ensuring that their power matches that of Congress and the courts.

The sooner they snap out of their daze, the better for the nation.

national news

No on ‘War’ Department

Vice President J.D. Vance has joined Donald Trump’s name-change cabal by declaring the Defense Department as the “War” Department.

This American patriot, who once got a glimpse of war back when I suited up for duty in the Army, will not join the MAGA cultists in making such a reference. I will continue to call it what it is and what it should remain, the Department of Defense, with a mission to “defend” the nation against foreign enemies.

I just don’t understand what enters Trump’s vacuous noggin. Think for just a moment about this.

When he was eligible to serve in the military when we were fighting a war, he chickened out. He claimed bone spurs. Has anyone ever seen him walking the aid of a cane? A doctor said he had them, so he backed out of serving the nation he said he loves.

Since becoming a politician, he has denigrated those who have served. He once said he didn’t want to be photographed with service personnel wounded in battle. He has insulted the likes of the late Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam War prisoner whom Trump once said he didn’t deserve to be called a hero. He said he likes only those who “aren’t captured.” The bastard …

Now he wants to rename the Defense Department the War Department because it sounds tough. It has a sort of manly ring to it. This blog never will refer to the Defense Department in that new context, any more than it will attach the word “President” directly in front of Donald Trump’s name.

A department of “war” is overtly provocative and should be tossed aside as a reminder of the smallness of the individuals who support this cockamamie notion.

International news

Don’t forget: Hamas is a terrorist regime

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Amid all the hype and hubbub over the ceasefire that has been declared in Gaza, it is wise to remember an essential element about this situation.

One of the combatant forces, Hamas, is a terrorist regime committed to the destruction of Israel. Hamas has released hostages held since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack. That’s fine. The world is heralding their release. The world also is heaping praise on Donald Trump for his role in brokering the deal.

However, the world has many miles to go before this matter comes full circle.

The task for Trump and his team is to remain laser focused on the obstacles that lie before them.

How do Hamas and Israel reach an understanding that presumes Israel is a permanent player? What assurances do the Israelis expect if they are to exist without the threat of further violence? What about a two-state solution that requires an independent Palestinian state functioning alongside an independent Israel? Who will pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, which the Israelis destroyed when they went to war after the terror attack?

Donald Trump has exhibited a remarkable skill in recent weeks by bringing the warring sides to this stage in their conflict. I wish him well, which is to say I wish the world well, as this process proceeds.

Just don’t forget with whom we are dealing. Hamas is first and foremost an organization that aims to terrorize the world.

International news, Uncategorized

If they can do this, why not do that?

Maybe you’ve uttered this expression of frustration yourself over the years … and it goes something like this: If they can land a man on the moon, why can’t they solve this problem here on Earth?

I’ll admit to expressing such a thought myself in the past 24 hours in the wake of Donald Trump’s brokering of a deal that well could lead to an end of centuries of bloodshed in the Middle East.

If the president of the United States can clunk the heads of Israeli and terrorist leaders together to get them to stop killing each other, why can’t he do the same with Republicans and Democrats who are digging in while the federal government remains shut down?

House Speaker Mike Johnson is keeping the House off the clock until Senate Democrats agree to a stopgap spending plan to reopen the government. No can do, say Democrats, who contend the GOP plan will gut insurance benefits for many thousands of Americans.

Meanwhile, Trump is basking in the deserved glow of success in the Middle East. The government he has been tasked to running, though, remains dark with no solution in sight.

What the hell? Let’s get busy and fix this matter … shall we?

International news

Congrats to Trump, but wait …

High Plains Blogger readers know of my intense dislike of Donald J. Trump, his policies and the very idea that he is sitting in the Oval Office. Yet I have stated my intention to offer him praise when he has earned it … and I did so with the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza that well could end the bloodshed between Hamas and the Israeli Defense Force.

Why, though, does Trump insist on stepping on his own applause lines by saying the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a Venezuelan political dissenter, said that he had earned the prize over her efforts? My question is: Did she do so or is Trump making this up to cast himself in some pseudo-heroic light?

I saw a video of then-President Barack Obama declaring that he had won the Peace Prize in 2009, about two weeks into his presidency. He acknowledged freely that he felt uncomfortable having his name posted alongside “transformative figures” who had won it previously. He mentioned Albert Schweitzer, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Wiesel as historic giants who had earned the prize. Obama saw his award as a testament to the expectation that he could deliver on his promise to bring a new world order.

Trump lobbied aggressively for the Peace Prize. I won’t begrudge him that effort. He isn’t the first to do so. He won’t be the last. He is just so damn awkward as he seeks to put words in other people’s mouths. I want to hear from the 2025 Peace Prize winner herself what she told Trump. I mean, the POTUS’s penchant for prevarication overtakes every single word that flies out of his mouth.

crime news, legal news

Irony runs thick

You want irony? I’ve got a huge dose of it for you to ponder. It comes via testimony from a sitting U.S. senator from Rhode Island.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, reminded his Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues the other day of the irony committed by AG Pam Bondi in testimony before the panel.

She had just secured an indictment of former FBI Director Jim Comey on a specious charge that he lied before the committee, committing an act of perjury. The indictment is so flimsy it likely won’t be tried. It was handed over on a total of two pages. That’s it! Comey allegedly lied about who told him what about a pending hearing. It’s pure crap.

Oh, but wait. Bondi then told the same Senate panel that Whitehouse accepted a favor from a donor, a charge that Whitehouse says is “demonstrably false.” He said a first-year law student could have looked up the facts and determined that the favor didn’t occur.

Therefore, Whitehouse said, Bondi committed the very same crime for which Comey has been indicted.

Do we indict the attorney general? If she isn’t above the law … then why not?

national news

Trump steals ridicule from jaws of praise

Donald J. Trump did the virtually impossible this week when faced with a seeming foreign policy success he managed to restore the ridiculousness of his vengeance campaign.

Trump has appeared to have helped broker a peace deal between Hamas and Israel, ending a two-year war that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians. What does he do, just as word gets out about the ceasefire in Gaza? The Justice Department indicts New York Attorney General Letitia James on a seeminly specious charge of real estate fraud.

The POTUS then shifted the talk away from a landmark peace deal in the Middle East to yet another example of the ghastly retribution he is seeking against political opponents. James is a foe of Trump. Her office obtained a conviction on 34 felony counts a year ago against Trump, making him the first felon ever elected president of the United States.

Trump directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to secure an indictment against James, just as he did when a grand jury indicted former FBI Director Jim Comey on a phony charge of perjury before a Senate committee.

Thursday should have been Donald Trump’s day of triumph. I am one American who is delighted at the prospect that peace might finally be on tap for the Gaza Strip. Hamas threw the region into a bloody cauldron when on Oct. 7, 2023 it launched a hideous missile attack against Israeli civilians, killing more than 1,000 victims. Israel’s response was to invade Gaza with armor, artillery, infantry and air power. The result has been carnage not seen since, oh, the Vietnam War.

Trump’s team was able to persuade Israel and Hamas to stop the killing. There appears to be a deal in the works to make this deal possible. Trump stepped on his own applause lines by indicting the New York AG who was doing her job as a prosecutor.

The guy has multiple loose screws rattling around in his over-coiffed noggin.

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