Tag Archives: social media

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.

Not wishing death

My comment in this brief blog post will be directed at a fellow who I must presume believes he is clairvoyant.

A Facebook friend — a member of my family — posted a ditty about Donald Trump not being seen for three days. I responded, “One can only hope.” This other guy, who I do not know, responded with a harsh rejoinder, telling me what I said was shameful and that “I want you to die.”

I couldn’t find the post when I looked for it, but I wanted to tell him that my death is inevitable, “but just not today.” Perhaps he took it down. Whatever.

Do I want Donald Trump to keel over? No. I don’t. My criticism of his policies has been harsh and I will not back away from what I believe are policies that will harm my beloved nation. But I damn sure am never going to wish death on the president of the United States of America. I am acutely aware that statements one posts find their way around the world in a manner of nano-seconds.

Therefore, I am not so stupid than to say such a thing out loud.

As for my private thoughts, that is where they will remain. Locked up and hidden from public view.

Pictures say everything

Social media have become, for better or worse, contemporary society’s premier method of exhibiting what’s on people’s minds and in their hearts.

One social media image popped up on my Facebook feed today. They are very expressive. One image shows Donald Trump lecturing Volodymr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office; Trump’s image is stern and the text next to the picture tells you Zelenskyy’s country has been invaded by Russia in an illegal and immoral military action.

The second image shows Trump shaking hands with Vladimir Putin, the thug who runs Russia and the text notes that Putin was given a red-carpet welcome, a rare private meeting with the president of the U.S.A., a ride in a presidential limousine. This is the invader! The bad guy! The alleged war criminal!

What is wrong with this picture? Just about everything that might cross your mind.

Trump is trying to get Putin and Zelenskyy to talk directly to each other. I give Trump credit for that effort, even though it has been haphazard and slap-dash. I have trouble grasping, though, how he can treat the victim of an illegal military actiion with disdain and disrespect while showering the aggressor with all the niceties afforded to a head of state.

Let us remind ourselves of this reality: Vladimir Putin has been accused formally by international legal authorities of committing crimes against humanity by invading Ukraine. Zelenskyy deserves the red carpet. Putin deserves to be arrested, handcuffed and forced to stand trial.

Better friends … than ever!

Someone posted a question on social media that drew an out-loud laugh from this old man.

“How many of you are friends with someone you knew in high school?” this individual asked.

So help me I chuckled out loud … loud enough for my puppies to hear me and come running to see for themselves.

Here’s the back story …

I graduuated from Parkrose High School in Portland, Ore., in June 1967. They called it the Summer of Love. Whatever. The truth of my high school years was that I didn’t have many friends. I was painfully shy around girls and so I didn’t date. That’s right … I dated no one from my high school. I had a few close friends, maybe two or three. I met one of them the day I reported for junior high school in March 1962 after my parents moved us to the suburbs.

Dennis and I have been close friends ever since.

I change came over me in the 58 years since I graduated from high school. I snapped out of my shyness, thanks in large part to the girl I met in college in January 1971 and whom I would marry and spend 51 glorious years in her embrace.

We traipsed through life and along the way I came across men and women I knew back in high school. I was unafraid to chat them up, whereas before I wouldn’t have dared try to engage them in conversation.

Over the years as social media has advanced and taken over many millons of Americans’ lives, I now find myself with quite a few more friends from high school than I had in the olden days. Some of them are men with whom I share a common bond called “the Vietnam War.” Others are guys who just pop up from time to time on Facebook friend request feeds, enabling us to connect. Others still are women who these days are all grown up and understand why some of us boys were too shy to reach out before.

I cannot count a lot of high school-age friends, but my network of acquaintances surely has grown … thanks to social media.

Hey, it’s not all bad. You know?

ABC acted correctly in firing journalist

ABC News had no choice but to take the action it took in firing veteran journalist Terry Moran who let his bias get in the way of his doing his job.

The network had suspended Moran over a social media message he posted declaring that Donald Trump and chief White House aide Stephen Miller were conveyers of hate. He said they both drew their “nourishment” from the hate they spew regularly.

That was a seriously bad call. On Moran’s part!

ABC’s decision to not review Moran’s contract became quite obvious immediately after the network suspended him. Moran had been with the network for 28 years and had drawn high praise for the work he did in covering politics, government and public policy. For him to reveal his contempt for Trump and for Miller betrayed every single tenet of fair-minded journalism imaginable. He took the message down immediately, but the damage was done. As a former colleague of mine used to observe: You cannot unhonk a horn.

Whether one agrees with Moran’s assessment of these two men is absolutely not the issue. The issue is that Moran can never be trusted to tell news viewers the objective, unvarnished truth about what he is reporting on issues involving the Trump administration.

I applaud ABC News for the decision it made regading Terry Moran. His job was to keep his personal feelings about the people he covers to himself. He failed miserably to uphold that commitment.

See you on the other side

I like making command decisions, given that I write primarily for myself, which means I can tell myself what to do … or not do.

Here’s my latest command decision: High Plains Blogger is going dark for a few days. I am taking some time away from the daily humdrum of commenting on issues of the day. And also from the more personal slice of life issues that pique my interest.

Why? Well, I am taking some time away from the house. I will be elsewhere for just a little while. The other reason is that I believe I am getting a bit stale. I kind of let that cat out of the bag a few weeks ago by suggesting I might dial it all back a bit.

I am doing so beginning when I sign off from this post. I just need some time away. I also might re-post some previous blog items. They likely would deal with current issues of the day. Or they might be of the human interest variety. I haven’t decided to post earlier items.

I occasionally go back through the archives to re-read those items. Candidly, they look pretty good to me. I might even mutter under my breath: Damn, I hit a home run with that one!

I long have prided myself on the volume of work I am able to produce each day. Some of my friends have expressed a sort of awe that I can crank this stuff out.

I’ll admit that I am running a little low on fuel. I need to fill the tank. I am taking some time away to do that very thing. I’ll see you on the other side.

Facebook goes off the rails

What to do about Facebook, the once ever-popular social media platform that has been prostituted by its zillionaire owner, Mark Zuckerberg?

I guess it’s time to announce a couple of command decisions I have made about the medium.

I am no longer going to purchase anything from it. I did purchase a t-shirt once showing Nolan Ryan pummeling Robin Ventura in that notorious mound-charging incident that Ventura regretted immediately after running into Ryan’s fist.

Nor am I going to engage in anyone purporting to support a political cause.

Zuckerberg announced recently he is doing away with
“fact-checkers,” relying instead on some sort of community watchdog panel. Furthermore, Zuckerberg has sidled up to Donald Trump, joining his cult cabal of MAGAites. Sheesh!

I will use Facebook to distribute High Plains Blogger. I will do so with this post. Facebook does perform a valuable service for me by allowing me to send my blog entries to the 750 or so friends and (mostly) acquaintances I have acquired along the way. Some of them are kind enough to distribute these entries to their friend network.

I joined Facebook around 2009, so I am pretty familiar with how it works.

The truth is, Facebook does allow me to stay in touch with actual friends and family members. I value that part of it, but I find little else of it appealing in any meaningful way.

21st-century media taking a grip

Time for an admission that I am not too proud to acknowledge … which is that I am becoming quite comfortable with much of his new-fangled communications platforms available to us.

“Texting” remains a thorn in my pie hole, as I still resist using the term in verb form when discussing it. I prefer to state that I “sent someone a text message.” But … that’s just me.

I good while ago, I suspended my self-imposed six-word limit on text messages. Why? Because I acquired two devices, one of which is an I-pad, the other is an Apple MacBook desktop computer.

Both devices contain text messaging apps and a keyboard that enables me to type out messages as I would type, say, an entry on High Plains Blogger.

To be sure, I do not like “conversing” via this platform. My intention in using it is to just inform someone of something, or to make a short, declarative statement about something.

Conversing over the text message platform denies the opportunity to express sarcasm or say something with a needed nuance.

Still, even with the down sides of “texting,” I am finding this communication platform to be of considerable value.

Just don’t ask me to talk about the weather.

Blog nears milestone

Time for a little bragging, if that’s all right with you. If you object, too bad. I am going to boast … just a little.

High Plains Blogger will surpass in just two days a significant milestone. I am proud to announce it will mark 1,000 consecutive days in which I have posted something on the blog.

I know better than to brag about the quality of the posts. I’ve enjoyed many of them. I haven’t liked so much many others. As for whether all my posts have been welcomed, that depends on those who read them. The political posts have their friends and their foes. The friends generally are quiet; the foes pull the long knives out of their scabbards.

My blog took a dramatic turn in the past year. I have used this forum as a form of therapy for my broken heart. My dear bride, Kathy Anne, lost a fight with cancer and I have told you the story of the journey I undertook to emerge from the darkness. My chronicling of that journey has been well-received, and it has helped me find the light, which today shines brightly.

I will soldier on. Why do this? Well, it’s what I do.

For those who have stayed with me for all this time, I offer a humble and heartfelt thank you.

High Plains Blogger means a lot to me. I hope you get something from it as well.

Warning labels on social media devices? Sure!

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is onto something with his proposal to place labels on social media devices warning parents and their children of the emotional harm that comes to those who use those devices excessively.

The idea, according to Murthy — an internist by training — is to put labels on these devices the same way a previous surgeon general mandated the placing of warning labels on cigarette packs. Those warnings, which began with a sort of milquetoast message about the potential harm that cigarettes bring, have gotten more direct.

It’s not yet clear whether children would heed the warnings on social media devices — smart phones, I-pads and various apps they can download onto their computers.

My own children are now grown men. I do have an 11-year-old granddaughter who is pretty darn social media savvy already. She doesn’t access the sites that can do harm to her and for that I credit her parents for keeping sharp eyes on what she watches and reads.

Dr. Murthy’s message is aimed at the emotional harm that does befall many children in this social media age. They are bullied mercilessly. They are driven to do harm to themselves and to others.

This well could be one of those rare moments when political foes can actually agree that warning labels, if taken seriously, can actually save lives and preserve society’s sanity.