national news

Conservatism turned upside-down

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As I watch Donald Trump and his No. 1 suck-up Elon Musk, I am wondering how it is that the new administration can possibly describe itself as “conservative.”

The budget strategies being developed by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency is slated to increase the national debt by $4 trillion. Yep, that’s “trillion” with a “t.”

DOGE members also are boasting about how they’re acquiring power normally reserved for members of Congress. Roll that around for just a second, ’cause that’s all it’ll take. Conservatives used to rail, rant and rage over consolidation of power. Now? Why, it’s cool, if you buy into the MAGA morons’ world view.

Conservatives formerly fought for the need to reduce the size of the federal government. DOGErs say they intend to reduce government’s size by putting millions of Americans out of work through layoffs, buyouts and firings. They are stretching the rules of legality by firing federal employees for — and this is rich — doing their jobs!

None of this is “conservative government” as I have long understood its meaning and application. It’s the reverse, for criminy sakes!

But … the MAGA goons who govern us now don’t know or care that they are redefining our government structure into something none of us recognizes.

Think of it as the ultimate conflation of ignorance and apathy.

State news

Ex-governors relegated to obscurity

Texans elected two men to be their governor and they served, in retrospect, with considerable presence and gravitas.

George W. Bush and Rick Perry served back to back in the early 2000s. Bush got elected president in 2000 as Texas governor, then resigned to enter the White House. Perry, the lieutenant governor, succeeded Bush and served longer than any man in state history.

Let me be clear about one thing. I didn’t vote for either man. Looking back, though, I find them both to be men of considerable stature. What earned them this belated praise from little ol’ me? They both are right on immigration. They both have argued for reforming the nation’s immigration system. They have favored treating foreign-born Texas residents who entered the country as children as Texans. Perry and Bush both argued to allow those residents to enter Texas public universities as in-state students, thus, reducing their costs.

Both men espoused views on immigration that reflected their experiences governing a big, important border state. Perry ran for president in 2016 and was pilloried by the MAGA morons for actually speaking out in favor of the DACA program: Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals. This is an executive order from President Obama that granted amnesty from deportation for those who came here as children of undocumented immigrants, were raised in the United States and became de facto Americans who got educated, landed good jobs and paid taxes.

Perry did become energy secretary in Trump’s first go-round in the White House … and has said or done virtually nothing of significance ever since!

No one should doubt these men’s Republican credentials. Now, they’re considered RINOs — Republicans in name only — for reasons that baffle me.

education news

Vouchers coming: get ready

Oh, how I wish Texas Republican legislators can do what they did a legislative session ago and kill a plan to gut the state’s public education system in favor of sending tax money to pay for private education.

It doesn’nt appear it will happen. During the 2023 Legislature, rural Texas lawmakers, including some in North Texas, railed against the idea of siphoning off public money to pay for private school vouchers. They said public schools are the heartbeat of their communities and they should be strengthened with more funding, not have it taken away.

The Texas House managed to kill the legislation. To their credit, the GOP legisltive caucus stood firm against Gov. Greg Abbot’s effort to gut the public education system.

I am a big believer in public education. I agree it’s damaged, but depriving it of valuable resources that can be spent to improve it is not the way to go.

I just wish the rural Texas GOP lawmakers can make the case once more that the state must not do irreperable damage to communities that rely on public education to hold cities and towns togeteher.

International news

Trump to abandon Ukraine

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Donald J. Trump is on the verge of abandoning a longheld U.S. foreign policy, which calls for this nation to stand firm against aggression from nations that seek to undermine democratic sovereignty.

He’s going to meet soon with Russian thug/goon Vladimir Putin to “negotiate” a deal to end the war in Ukraine. The two pals no doubt are going to stick in the ear of Ukraine President Volodymr Zellenskyy, who’s been fighting his heart out against the Russian aggressors for the past three years.

How was he able to keep the Russians at bay while inflicting grievous casualties on the aggressors? Because U.S. support provided by President Joe Biden in concert with our NATO allies.

Well, Trump is now sitting in Biden’s former office and he and his MAGA cultists appear set on flattening Zellenskyy’s efforts against the Russian invaders.

I have no clue the direction these “negotiations” will take. I’m not smart enough to figure that out. I sense, though, that NATO, the EU and much of the free world is going to feel betrayed by the new administration’s cozying up to Putin.

I also believe Putin will see this suck-up policy as giving him license to continue his aggression in eastern Europe.

local news

Complex defies logic

Suppose someone had placed a loaded pistol to my noggin, cocked the hammer and told me to predict the future of a long-abandoned 360-unit partially built apartment complex in Princeton, Texas.

I would have said, under duress, that it would be knocked down, the rubble scraped up and the site turned iinto a park.

Silly me. The City Council instead decided to give the developer some grace and told him to finish the job.

So, the Princeton Luxury Apartment complex is being built again on U.S. Highway 380 just east of the Wal-Mart store.

Let me be clear. I still question the wisdom of granting the permit years ago to proceed with this complex, given the growth occurring in Princeton and the incredible strain on traffic that this complex is going to bring to an already-stressed traffic thoroughfare. I heard about the pending project immediately after my wife and I moved to Princeton. My first reaction was muted, but then I grew to wonder: What was the City Council thinking?

The contractor and the developer got into a snit about three years ago. The contractor walked off the job, leaving it about 30%-ish complete. It sat there vacant, only turning into more of an eyesore with each passing season of inclement weather.

Then, something of a miracle happened. The developer was able to find a contractor to finish the task. Three buildings, though, were knocked down because they were beyond redemption.

The site, though, is humming once again with construction through the winter wind chills.

I’ve noted already that a city’s progress occasionally brings some pain along the way. Princeton is one such city that is a work in progress. Its populaton far exceeds the 17,027 Census figure on the signs entering Princeton. City Council has enacted a building ban on residential developments at least until this summer.

The apartment complex in question is going to open about the time work begins to widen U.S. 380, turning the highway into the last place on Earth you want to be during morning and evening rush hours.

Princeton’s progress is proceeding. I only hope now that the apartment complex, once it’s finished, will add another jewel to the growing city’s crown.

crime news, national news

Explain this to me … please

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Almost every aspect of today’s political climate requires an understanding that I apparently do not possess.

We used to seek and expect the best among our political leaders. Today we are settling for, well, clowns, misfits, felons and numbskulls. How can this happen to us? Why are we letting it happen?

Donald Trump, the felon in chief, is close to getting a Cabinet he selected that fits the description I have just laid out there. Americans elected this guy despite the felony convictions, two impeachment trials, multiple scandals, a defeat at the polls four years earlier and litany of lies that cannot be compared to any other in U.S. political history.

I will concede this point. Which is that we have witnessed the most astonishing political comeback in recorded history … in my view.

I just cannot fathom how this guy managed to pull this off.

And now he is setting about doing what he vowed to do and then some. He seeks to dismantle the federal government and has brought on board an unelected zillionaire guru to take the government apart piece by piece.

I am seriously frightened.

local news

Parks may define city’s ID

Six years living in Princeton, Texas, and I still am trying to find the “thing” that makes this city so attractive to newcomers.

I learned this week, for example, that the city estimates its population at around 43,000 residents based on the number of registered water meters in operation. The number comes from City Manager Mike Mashburn, who I am going to presume knows these things quite well.

Still, the figure astounds me. The population sign read 6,807 when my wife and I moved here in February 2019. The 2020 Census boosted the figure to 17,027 residents. Now it’s well north of 40 grand? Holy cow!

What kind of identity is the city forming? Mashburn believes it is going to come in the development of its park system. He knows about that direction of growth, too. He came here a year ago after serving as an assistant city manager in Farmers Branch, where he specialized in park development.

Princeton voters in November 2023 approved a $109 million bond issue to develop parks, green space and recreational opportunites for the exploding population that continues to pour into the city. I supported the bond issue, as I believe parks and green space are important places for residents to escape the tribulations of busy lives.

The city has embarked on several park projects, one of them happens to be quite close to my home. The JJ Book Wilson Park is being expanded along Beauchamp Boulevard to include a skate park, playground, trails and water recreation. That’s just one.

Mashburn apparently believes that enhanced park development can become a key part of Princeton’s effort to establish its identity, making the city a place that attracts people for a specific reason. That is not a bad call at all.

Therefore, Princeton’s evolution from tiny burg along the longest continual U.S. highway in Texas, to a city of signifcance is continuing. If park development is the catalyst, how in the world can we be critical of more green space for residents and their children and grandchildren to relax?

national security

Gabbard as DNI? Ugghhh!

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Tulsi Gabbard, the one-time “far-left Democrat” who switched parties and then backed Donald Trump’s candidacy for POTUS, is the new director of national intelligence.

It’s fair to ask: What would Republicans think of her had she been nominated as DNI by a Democratic president? Today she garnered 52 of 53 GOP votes in the U.S. Senate, with only Mitch McConnell of Kentucky showing a semblance of courage in bucking his party.

Yep, make no mistake that the MAGA wing of the Republican Party — led by the aforementioned POTUS — has taken complete control of a once-great political organization.

Gabbard has no business leading the 18 intelligence-gathering agencies under her command. She cozies up to dictators, such as Vladimir Putin, despite the Russian thug’s illegal and immoral war in Ukraine. She once called whistlebower Edward Snowden a traitor but now wants him pardoned for his treasonous acts.

She is as unreliable a Cabinet official as one can imagine. What’s more, her unreliability puts all of us — you and me — in dire peril.

Today was a dark and dangerous day with Gabbord’s confirmation.

national news

Stunning Oval Office image

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The optics from Tuesday’s Oval Office event were stunning in their delivery.

You had Donald J. Trump, the incumbent president of the United States, sitting at the Resolute Desk. To his right was Elon Musk, the billionaire high-tech guru who’s taken on the role of co-POTUS.

Musk pontificated for several minutes about the need — in his mind — to slash billions of dollars from the federal budget. With him was one of his 11 children, sitting on Musk’s shoulders, playing around and acting like a charmiing little boy.

All the while, Trump sat there silently, letting Musk prattle on about what he intends to do to make government more efficient.

Wait just a second, shall we?

Who in the world was elected president in November? It damn sure wasn’t Musk, a foreign-born richest man on Earth. Trump got more votes than his opponent.

And yet … the incumbent president sat at his desk, acting for all the world like a bit player in a scheme to restructure the nature of our democratic republic.

Of course, we need to understand that Musk has Trump’s blessing to take center stage. Still, the Oval Office image is beyond weird.

It scares me sh**less!

legal news

Another public task snatched away

Another opportunity to serve my community has been taken away from me … not by a government denying me the right to serve, but the lack of need for the service I intended to provide.

I waited all day to learn whether I needed to report for jury duty Wednesday morning at the Collin County Courthouse jury room over yonder in McKInney.

Then came the message. My services aren’t needed. There will be no need for a jury.

I’ll be frank. The news disappoints me. I want to serve on a trial jury. I realize it’s the luck of the draw that determines whether I get the chance. Every time I have received a jury summons in Texas — whether in Jefferson or Randall counties, and now in Collin County — district clerk staff has waved me off.

I know none of this really is huge news to those who are reading this post. I want to share with you, however, that I keep reading reports from district and county clerks that they often cannot seat enough people for juries when the need arises.

Texas offers a variety of reasons for people to excuse themselves from jury duty. One of them provides a permanent recusal for old folks like me. I reckon the state figures that some of us might not live long enough to report for duty once we get the summons.

I am 75 years of age. My hope that a permanent recusal would not be because I wouldn’t live long enough to serve. One of my life’s goals has been to serve on a trial jury. We all think we know what goes on when 12 people deliberate over a verdict in a case … but we don’t know until we’ve been in the room. I want to learn what happens when they shut the door.

It won’t happen this time. Maybe it will the next time I get the call to serve the cause of delivering justice.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience