High Plains Blogger

economic news

Debt ceiling: set to lift?

May 18, 2023 kanelis2012

Is it too early to proclaim that the politicians in charge of setting federal budget policy have come to their senses?

Man, I hope it’s true what I believe I heard President Biden say about talks to lift the debt ceiling.

The president said the men with whom he has been negotiating — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer — all agree on one thing.

The United States cannot, and will not, default on the debt it owes. There you have it. Republicans and Democrats can agree on something!

That’s what Biden said. I believe he spoke in good faith.

Therefore, I will take that as a commitment to reaching a compromise in this battle that shouldn’t even be occurring.

I won’t bother to heap praise on whoever deserves credit for a potential compromise. However, I need to point out that Joe Biden spent 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president working both sides of the aisle in search of common ground on all manner of issues and policies.

He knows how to navigate his way.

The debt ceiling cannot go unattended. Doing so would mean we default on our obligations — in direct violation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Moreover, default spells economic catastrophe.

If I were an elected politician, I would truly hate for such a cataclysm to occur on my watch … you know?

Thus, we well might be closer to a deal that Republicans are suggesting, with their yammering about Joe Biden heading off to an overseas conference. Hey, he’s coming back sooner than planned to work things out.

local news

Why no remorse?

There likely isn’t a good reason to ask this question of a disgraced former Texas state legislator, but I’ll ask it anyway.

Is Bryan Slaton a dyed-in-the-wool sociopath?

Here’s the deal. Slaton, a Royse City Republican, was caught having sex with an intern. He filled her with alcohol and then had his way with her in his apartment in Austin. The House General Investigations Committee got wind of it, examined the allegation, and then recommended his expulsion from the Texas House.

Slaton testified before the committee and according to sources on the scene, he expressed zero remorse, contrition or offered nothing resembling an apology for his hideous action. He resigned his House seat, but the House expelled him anyway in a unanimous vote.

Isn’t that the behavior of a sociopath?

Contrast that with the reaction that came from another Republican politician, former U.S. Rep. Van Taylor of Plano. Taylor was running for re-election 2022 when it was revealed he had an affair with a woman who once was married to an Islamic State officer.

When word of his misbehavior got out, Taylor issued a statement calling his action the “worst decision I ever have made.” He apologized to his wife and children and then backed out of his re-election campaign.

Taylor at least had the good sense and appropriate contrition to apologize to everyone involved.

Not so with Slaton, who ran for election and re-election as a “Christian conservative” dedicated to the family values espoused by the Republican Party.

He’s nothing more than a sociopathic chump.

crime news

Shut up … Elon!

Elon Musk needs to stick to making lots of money, manufacturing cars, shooting rockets into space and whatever else he’s “expert” at doing.

For the zillionaire to suggest that allegations that the Allen Premium Outlet Mall shooter was not motivated by white supremacist attitudes means he is getting way ahead of himself and the investigation.

Musk refers to a website that “no one follows” that is being offered as evidence of these views. He calls it “bullsh**.”

I must mention the Nazi tattoos they found on the moron’s body after the Allen police officer shot him to death. I agree that the probe is ongoing. To say it’s all BS, though, is to draw conclusions that no one is able yet to draw.

I would bet real American money that when all is done the authorities are going to find nefarious motives — such as white supremacy — as lurking behind the madman’s motives.

national news

Santos could survive expulsion effort

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia put in on the table with these words: “I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House. … Rep. George Santos be, and hereby is, expelled from the House of Representatives.”

Simple, yes? Santos is the liar who lied his way to winning public office. He also is under indictment for mail fraud and wire fraud.

Santos lied about virtually every aspect of his personal, educational and professional life while campaigning in 2022. He duped the voters his New York district to elect the Republican.

Yes, he deserves to be booted out. It’s complicated. Why?

Because the Republicans hold a slim majority in the House; Santos represents a district that is traditionally Democratic. Speaker Kevin McCarthy needs Santos’s vote to advance MAGA Republicans’ agenda.

Compare that with what happened earlier this month in Texas, where state House members voted unanimously to kick GOP state Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City out of the House.

The Republicans in Texas have a significant majority in the House. There is no political price for the GOP to pay for booting someone out of a safe Republican seat.

The GOP is walking a fine line in Washington. Thus, a vote to kick a serial liar out of the House — I am sad to report — appears doomed.

economic news

Debt-ceiling fight enters critical phase

Congress and the White House are fighting over an issue that doesn’t deserve this level of political bloodshed.

I refer to the debt ceiling. Congress should increase it as it has done always since the beginning of the Republic. But no-o-o-o! The Republican caucus in Congress, led by the MAGA cultists among its members, are seeking to make some sort of idiotic statement about the need to cut spending before increasing the ceiling.

How can I state this more clearly: If the nation defaults on its debts, the economy is going to crash; we will lose millions of jobs; interest rates will skyrocket; the world will feel the pain this nation will inflict on itself.

Do congressional MAGA cultists really believe this is sound fiscal policy? It is nothing of the sort!

I say all this as a way to suggest that I believe President Biden and the congressional leadership are going to find a solution before the June 1 deadline believed to be when the ceiling must be lifted.

If they do, and I believe it will happen, we are surely going to be treated with all kinds of back-slapping, high-fiving and self-congratulations from our political leaders over the courage they showed in ending this crisis.

It’s all crap!

I am afraid that the end will last only until the next debt-ceiling crisis arrives.

Uncategorized

‘Yes!’ on park investment

Texas House approves bills to spend up to $1 billion for more state parks | The Texas Tribune

Finally, I’m tellin’ ya — finally! — I get to offer unabashed enthusiastic praise for a Texas legislative policy decision without qualifying it in any fashion.

The Texas House has given final approval for a $1 billion investment in the state park system, seeking to add more parks to the state’s already impressive network of public recreational sites.

It’s not entirely done deal just yet. The Texas Senate has approved it already. It heads for Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature. Then it comes to us — you and me — for a final vote this November as an amendment to the Texas Constitution.

I am going to vote enthusiastically for the measure.

“This would create a new golden age for our state parks,” said Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas. “We have a lot to celebrate. What a great birthday present to give all Texans for the state parks system’s 100th.”

Indeed, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is celebrating the centennial of the state park system.

The Texas Tribune reported: According to a report by Environment Texas last year, Texas lags behind most others states in state parkland: The state ranks 35th in the nation for state park acreage per capita, with about 636,000 acres of parkland for a population of over 29 million as of 2019. The report suggests that Texas needs to add 1.4 million acres of state parks by 2030 to meet the needs of its residents.

The Trib also noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state park system became even more popular with Texans, who faced interstate and international travel restrictions.

So … they packed up their gear and headed for our state parks.

My late wife and I were among those Texans who have embraced all that the park system has to offer. By my unofficial count, we visited roughly two-thirds of the state parks during the years we were hauling recreational vehicles behind our pickup.

I am distressed to learn, of course, that the state has lagged behind other states in dedicating resources to state parks. I hope that can change with this investment.

I just want to offer a heartfelt “bravo!” to both legislative chambers for the decision they have made to set aside more land for development into state parks.

We need them … and Texans will use them.

crime news

DOJ calls it quits on Hunter Biden

Well now, the U.S. Department of Justice has sent its investigative team — the one working on whether to charge Hunter Biden with a crime — home.

Something tells me the DOJ has decided what many of us have believed all along, that Republican questions about the president’s son have produced a serious nothing burger.

Shades of Benghazi, it looks for all the world to me.

You’ll recall that the GOP congressional caucus looked high and low for something on which to charge then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wake of the terrorist raid on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It was a tragic event, to be sure. The GOP found nothing it could hang on Clinton or her diplomatic team.

Now comes this baloney involving Hunter Biden. He made a lot of money working for a Ukrainian oil company. That’s a crime? Hardly!

I don’t expect the GOP hounds to be called off. They’ll keep looking. I mean, we have an election coming up and President Biden’s foes need all the dirt they can find to sully the president’s re-election effort.

local news

Kitty is finding her way

I just cannot let an incident that occurred last night go without a brief comment here.

You know about the change in my life with my son arriving from Amarillo and moving with me into my North Texas home. He brought two cats with him, Macy and Marlowe, siblings he has had since they were, well, much younger.

We have avoided a major confrontation with Toby the Puppy. The kitties have hit their stride, as has Toby the Puppy. They keep their distance from each other. All is good.

Well, about midnight I was sound asleep. Toby had slipped into his kennel, which he does on occasion.

Without warning, Macy — the female kitty — jumped onto my bed and began nuzzling me. She meowed and snuggled and wanted to be scratched, stroked. It was the first prolonged contact I had with either of them.

This went on for about an hour. So help me, I was thrilled beyond belief to have Macy warm up to me in that fashion.

Marlowe remains a bit of a work in progress. He stays away most of the time. He’ll come around, too … eventually.

But this new era of pet relationships is taking a heartwarming turn.

I just had to share …

national news

Get ready for bruising fight, Mme. VPOTUS

Kamala Harris, this message is directed at you, for your benefit and for — I hope — your political survival.

It appears, Mme. Vice President, that the Republican smear machine might be targeting you in unprecedented ways, using heretofore unseen and unheard messages aimed at denigrating you, your husband, and perhaps even your extended family.

You know your place in history as the first Black, first woman, first South Asian ever elected to the nation’s second-highest office. No need to remind you of that.

However, it is those trailblazing traits that will become targets for the GOP smear mongers. They’re out there.

We saw them try to demonize Barack Obama — the first Black man elected president — in 2008. There was the lie about his birthplace and about his associations with certain political luminaries. The GOP, led by Donald Trump, sought to make Barack Obama somehow unqualified to run for president, let alone serve in the office.

I can feel the same sort of thing happening to you, Mme. VP, as you campaign for re-election alongside Joe Biden.

I feel the compelling need to tell you that I consider you eminently qualified to serve as vice president. Yes, President Biden’s age is going to be a campaign issue, too. Get ready for the onslaught, Mme. Vice President, questioning whether you are up to the job if the need should arise. That will be the sexist element of the campaign against you.

I watched you during your time in the Senate as you took down political foes with steely questioning. I have no doubt — none at all! — that you brought that same backbone to the office you now hold.

I will just implore you to ensure that it holds up under what will be relentless attack. I have faith in you.