Tag Archives: Congress

national news

They talk and yell over each other

I am going to express one of the many frustrations that have erupted in this Age of Trump in Washington, D.C.

Have you spent any time watching Cabinet officials testifying before a panel of House members or senators? Until I started a boycott of the national news, I admit to spending time trying to learn something from congressional questioners and officials sitting before them.

The frustration with the hearing process has driven me away.

I am going to blame congressional Democrats along with the Trumpkins they have summoned to testify for the confusion and chaos that too damn often dominates these so-called hearings.

Here’s how it goes. The Donald Trump acolyte takes an oath to tell the truth, sits down and begins fielding questions from members of Congress. The acolyte often seeks to preface his or her answer to an explanation. The Democratic questioner has none of it. The member of Congress interrupts. “I don’t need a filibuster,” the questioner might say. “It’s a simple question, requiring a yes or no answer.”

The bickering often escalates into name-calling. In one exchange, a Republican senator actually challenged a Democratic witness to a fistfight. Man, that was a treat!

But I have to tell you that Democratic congressional questioners seem to enter these hearings with little if any patience with the witnesses they summon for testimony. As for the Trumpkins who get the summons, they ought to refrain from speechmaking and stick solely to answering the questions they get. And if the questioner says up front that the question requires only a yes or no answer, well … they ought to stick to the script.

The frustration cuts to the heart of the value of these hearings. They ought to be of immense value. They instead have become sh**shows … and a monumental waste of time and money.

national news

GOP finds its spine

Great day in the morning … as it appears the congressional Republican caucus has discovered its spine and perhaps even grown a collective set of stones.

What prompted this late-blooming coming of age for the GOP caucus? It’s the slush fund founded by Donald J. Trump, the lame-duck POTUS who has found a way to potentially reward the traitors who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Trump settled a $10 million lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service claiming the IRS violated his rights by demanding he release his tax returns. But he also managed to squirrel away nearly $1.8 million for a slush fund he can use for whatever purpose he wants.

This act has actually enraged congressional Republicans. They seem sincerely angry about it, avoiding milquetoast terms like “unacceptable” or “disappointing.” Oh, no. Sen. Thom Tillis, the retiring GOP member from North Carolina, calls it “stupid on stilts.” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who lost his primary bid for re-election to a MAGA fanatic, predicts this act is going to push the House and Senate into Democratic hands this November. GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas predicts that millions of Republican voters will cast their ballots for Democrats, ensuring a flip of congressional power.

It’s futile to ask, “What the hell took ’em so long?”

What is remarkable, though, is that the GOP is speaking out even as Trump continues to flex his muscle and doom otherwise faithful GOP candidates’ chances against even more radical foes. Indeed, Cornyn might face that fate tonight in his runoff race against scandal-ridden Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

I don’t know where all this is heading. I hope it produces a congressional result that suits my bias. Time will tell on that matter. Still, it does make me smile at the thought of Republicans finding their voice as it relates to the shameless corruption that continues to flow from the White House.

national news

Trump: consquential POTUS

Donald Trump declared almost at the moment he became a politician that he intended to become a “consequential” president of the United States. Nearly one year into this second term, I am going to declare that he has become a president of consequence.

Bear with me as I seek to chronicle some of the consequences of his actions.

  • Trump has added more to the national debt that all of his predecessors combined.
  • The annual budget deficit now numbers in the trillions of dollars.
  • He is the second man to be elected to two non-consecutive terms as president.
  • Trump is the only president to be impeached twice by the U.S. House and, by golly, he is staring at the prospect of a third impeachment — or more — once the next Congress takes office a year from now. That’s all pretty consequential, don’t you think? There’s more.
  • He hired the world’s richest human being to oversee the destruction of several government programs, including USAID, the Affordable Care Act and is threatening to slash Medicare, Medicaid and even Social Security payments.
  • Trump has taken aim at critics who have spoken the plain truth about following orders, ensuring that military personnel only are bound to follow lawful orders. He wants to demote one senator, a retired Navy captain, combat aviator, former astronaut and then subject him to a court martial for speaking that truth.
  • He has threatened to go to war with Venezuela, he wants to seize Greenland from Denmark and has talked openly about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state.
  • And speaking of war, Trump is the first U.S. president to openly switch our alliance from a nation that was attacked by an aggressor state to the aggressor state. You want consquence? Trump’s got it in spades.

I won’t cheer any of these consequential acts. I will acknowledge, though, that Trump has delivered on his stated desire to be a consequential president.

We’ll be talking about Trump long after he’s gone. That’s consequential, too.

media news, national news

Change of heart on pledge

A few years ago — I cannot remember precisely when — I pledged to no longer make a resolution to begin the new year.

Why promise to do something that I didn’t expect to be able to do, or so I thought in the moment. Today I am taking back that pledge and declaring a new year resolution for 2026. I believe I can keep this one alive and functioning. I am pledging to use High Plains Blogger to make life as miserable as possible for Donald J. Trump, his administration of yes men and women and the MAGA crowd that remains loyal (for reasons that escape me) to the pretender in chief. I am acutely aware that my reach is somewhat limited. I don’t have a huge audience that reads my rants. I’ll start by asking those who do read them and who agree with my view that Trump is a threat to this country, that he is unfit for the office he occupies and he must be stopped … well, you can share those thoughts on your social media network of friends and acquaintances. Those of you who read this blog but who continue to support the dipshit in chief, you can react to my rants any way you see fit. It’s your call. I’ll be commenting throughout the year on issues that present themselves. My immediate aim is to flip the U.S. House from Republican to Democrat when the ballots are counted for the midterm election. One more word on this issue. If Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents knock on my door, I’ll have my birth certificate and passport handy to prove that I am an American patriot who has read the Constitution … and who understands the free speech liberty it grants for all citizens of this great country.
media news

MTG resignation outlives its importance

There once was a time — in a long-ago political universe — that the resignation of a junior member of Congress would last about a day, maybe two, on the nation’s attention cycle.

Then came social media. Smart phones, websites, the Internet changed it all. Now we have a junior member of Congress resigning after five years on the job in the House of Reps and you’d think the world had just spun off its axis.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the one-time QAnon queen of Congress, the fomenter of lies and conspiracies and the leading lady of the MAGA movement, has announced her resignation from Congress effective Jan. 5, 2026. And we’re still talking about it! Hell, this blog is mentioning it!

She earned so much attention from the media that we’ve now assigned her an ID based on her initial. I have to admit that “MTG” does kinda roll off the tongue. This isn’t right. She has put forward virtually no constructive legislation. Yet MTG has become something of a household name.

She reminds me, to be ironic, of a political rival. Recall that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., burst onto the scene in a similar fashion. She, too, has been elevated to initial status. We call her AOC. She’s also been a fiery blowhard, talking about about the democratic socialism that drives her agenda. AOC, just like MTG, has become a media darling. I questioned at the time of her swearing in why the media were spending so much time on this one-time no-name member of the House. I’m still scratching my head over that one.

Social media do have their good qualities. Real news gets immediate attention. If it’s accurate, the news generally tends to draw quick response to questions raised.

Then again, it elevates back-bench members of Congress to immediate superstar status … e.g. MTG and AOC. For better or worse, that’s the world we have.

national news

Pols run close to ruining their own careers

Politicians dismiss public opinion polls all the time, especially those that tell them things they don’t want to hear.

They do so at considerable risk. Why say such a thing? Public opinion polls are speaking with one voice on this issue: the government shutdown. They are telling us that Americans are disgusted with Congress and the president over their refusal to reopen the government because Democrats insist on preserving elements of the Affordable Care Act that will provide insurance for millions of Americans.

Without the ACA — aka Obacare — tens of millions of Americans will lose their health coverage.

One party controls both congressional chambers; and the White House. No laws are being legislated. The House hasn’t even been in session. Speaker Mike Johnson decided to let ’em all go on vacation rather than stick around and do their job. Get this: All members of Congress are getting paid for their inaction. Listen up, gang: You and I are getting ripped off! None of us likes it.

I get that pollsters get a bum rap. They are right in many instances. Such as now. When they measure citizens’ angst over their government’s performance, Congress’ ratings head straight for the crapper.

We all know that members of Congress depend on their performance to guarantee they’ll continue their political careers. If they don’t get busy in a major hurry, my hunch is that voters in November 2026 will look for candidates who can step in and do the job for which the do-nothings are being paid.

national news, political news

Meanwhile, a shutdown looms … again!

As the political world frets and ponders the fate of the Epstein files, a James Comey indictment over a frivolous perjury allegation, Congress and the so-called president are locking horns over whether to allow the federal government to shut down … again!

No one is governing. Not on Capitol Hill. Not in the White House. Congress is grappling with yet another continuing resolution and whether to enact it and fund the government for a few more weeks. If not, then we shut the government down — or much of it, anyway — while Congress and the so-called POTUS argue among themselves.

This is a shitty way to run the world’s greatest democratic republic. I say that with caution, because our greatness is being whittled away by Donald Trump’s efforts to usurp power from Congress and grant himself power the founders never envisioned.

I continue to be utterly flabbergasted that this Congress allows a president to strip the legislative branch of the authority granted it by the founding fathers. The founders created a presidency with limited power. They limited the legislative branch’s power, too. A president proposes legislation, but Congress disposes it. That’s how it’s supposed to go. Presidents are asked to work hand-in-hand with Congress, including with members of the opposing party, to fund the government. Is any of that occurring? Hah!

The federal court system, meanwhile, is juggling issues that have nothing to do with governance, but everything to do with presidential conduct.

Our government is broken. I won’t say it’s destroyed, but man … the damage is piling up.

I know this sounds a little like a “both sides at fault” argument, but in the case of the budget shutdown, I have to lay blame at the two governing branches’ feet. It would be up to the courts to determine if either sides does something in violation of the US Constitution.

However, I am sickened by Trump’s ongoing petulance and the revenge he continues to seek against his political foes. It is Trump’s vengeance that is driving Democrats away. As the only politician elected by the entire nation, it falls, therefore, on the president to step up and do what is right.

Find a solution to this ongoing budget crisis!

local news, State news

Collegiality? It’s toast!

It is virtually impossible to visualize this, given the intense partisan toxicity that exists in government at many levels, but there once was a time when Texas’s diverse congressional delegation was held up as the gold standard for bipartisan collegiality.

That was a long time ago. Congressional Quarterly, the Bible for many reporters who cover Congress for their media organizations, once reported on how the Texas delegation set the standard for getting along despite deep philosophical differences among its members.

Jim Wright of Weatherford, near Fort Worth, was speaker of the U.S. House. Every week, CQ reported, the entire delegation would meet for breakfast. Their agenda was to go over the issues important to the entire state. Republicans and Democrats broke bread together. They sought common ground in the search for legislative solutions. Farm policy, transportation, crime and punishment … it was all on the table. The state had elected its share of radicals from both parties. The fellow who represented me in the House, Democrat Jack Brooks of Beaumont, was as mean as they came, as he detested Republicans. GOP Rep. Dick Armey, who hailed from the Dallas area, was equally disposed to detest Democrats.

Yet they joined in the weekly breakfasts. And for a brief period each week, partisans on both sides laid down their long knives and searched for ways to get things done for the state they all said they loved.

CQ, interestingly, held up California as the opposite of the collegial atmosphere that permeated through the Texas delegation. California lawmakers couldn’t agree on the color of the sky or the wetness of the water, CQ reported. I guess they were the trendsetters who paved the way toward the political climate we have today.

I am not going to suggest an immediate return to those halcyon days of fellowship. I do want to remind readers of this blog that it could become the norm once again … even in this time of intense anger, rancor and revenge.

 

national news

Wanting a return, again, to normal

Every living, breathing, thinking American should join me in this simple request … a return to normal conduct by the president of the United States, his/her Cabinet, the political team that works for the individual in charge and a Congress that doesn’t demonize the other side as the spawn of Satan.

I soiught such a return at end of Donald Trump’s first term in office. Voters delivered it by elected Joe Biden president of the United States. Biden had spent his entire professional life in public service. He knew how the government works — or doesn’t work, in some cases — and sought to bring normal behavior back to the White House.

President Biden succeeded famously.

He served one term before the wheels flew off and he got caught in the mental acuity rumor mongering. Trump managed to parlay a weird public desire for weirdness into an electoral victory in 2024 and now we’re in the midst of a hostile dismantling of our democratic process.

Trump promised to exact revenge on his foes. He’s delivering the goods. All the while he is conducting himself in an amped-up version of his first presidential term. Who in the world knows where this is headed?

With all of that I want to wish out loud once again for a return to normal behavior. A return to what the late John McCain called “regular order.” I want spirited debate, but I don’t want recrimination and revenge when the lights go out.

The American political system appears to be broken. I do not believe it is beyond repair. Joe Biden managed — to the extent he could with GOP control of Congress — to restore a sense of normal behavior during his single term as president. He left the presidency after getting plenty of constructive things done for the country.

Trump is now well into the first year of his final term in office. I want him to succeed, too. I also want there to be a return to normal behavior, decorum, dignity and grace among opponents. With this guy in charge of the executive branch — and his penchant for surrounding himself with sycophants — my hope is fleeting.

However, I will keep the faith.

national news

CR = crappy governance

Continuing resolutions keep bailing our Congress out of fiscal calamity.

Congress diddles and farts around trying to call the bluff of the folks on the other side of the aisle. They dicker over how much to spend and the rest of us hold our breath waiting to see if they can find common ground before the government runs out of money and closes down.

The CR is a crappy way to run a government. It’s got to stop!

The U.S. Senate agreed in a bipartisan vote to accept a Republican budget proposal. Ten Senate Democrats joined their GOP colleagues in agreeing to keep the doors open or another six months.

Then they’ll cue the music for the next budget dance in late summer.

And we’ll go through the same nonsense all over again.

Republicans usually have been the government shutdown culprits. They have screeched the loudest about budget issues and threatened to shut ‘er down if they didn’t get their way. This time, Democrats played that stupid game, resisting the Donald Trump-Elon Musk gambit for wiping out thousands of jobs in an effort to make government “more efficient.”

This so-called budgeting nightmare isn’t more efficient. It is a travesty that subjects everyone to unneeded heartburn and anxiety over whether the government will remain a force for good in people’s lives

Frankly, I hope Democrats can find a way to head off the disaster that awaits if the Trump-Musk tandem gets its way. They should operate from a position of fiscal responsibility, which to my way of thinking means they need to keep our government fully functional.

The ongoing string of CRs isn’t a solution.