Donald Trump

Time to work for all of us, Mr. POTUS

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Donald Trump keeps insisting wrongly — and stupidly — that he won the 2024 presidential election in a landslide over Vice President Kamala Harris.

He did no such thing. He finished with a couple million more votes than Harris. Yes, he did capture all those “battleground states.” However, his vote total didn’t add up to a majority; he won by a nominal plurality over Harris.

So … let’s toss the landslide talk aside. It just didn’t happen.

This is my way of saying, therefore, that it is time for Trump to govern as the only elected official — oh, yeah, so is VP J.D. Vance — who is elected nationally. If he is going to say that he won in a landslide, then he absolutely needs to pull away a bit from the MAGA cult that constitutes his base of supporters. It fascinates me to no end to watch the MAGA bloc begin to fracture, which tells me that Trump is even weaker than he lets on.

Still, he clings to the fantasy of a landslide victory. If he is going to continue to persuade himself of such idiocy, then he ought to govern accordingly. End the immigration crackdown in major cities; roll back those moronic tariffs; stop insisting we are a Christian nation when we clearly are a secular state; end the fixation with ridding the statutes of the term Obamacare, which MAGAites detest because it carries the name of the 44th president of the United States.

You and I know none of that will happen. Donald Trump isn’t smart enough to figure out that if he’s going to say he won big, then he ought to govern the same way.

local news

Two cities now in the hunt for new managers

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So … just like we have two neighboring North Texas cities looking for the right person to lead municipal staffs and guide their cities toward the future.

Ben White, who had served as Farmersville city manager for 15 years, resigned suddenly the other evening. I called him the day after to wish him well, but he said he couldn’t discuss the details of his departure, telling me he had agreed to a clause that keeps him quiet. I get it.

Mike Mashburn had quit the Princeton city manager’s position a few days earlier after serving just shy of two years. I didn’t know Mashburn well enough to call him and I doubt he would have taken my call. His departure has the scent of a forced resignation, although the city council noted specifically he had resigned “voluntarily.”

I have worked in both communities for the past few years as a freelance reporter for weekly newspapers that serve the communities. I know Farmersville a good bit better than Princeton, where I live.

My sense is that Farmersville’s council thought it was time for White to call it a career. I believe the city is well run and lacks much of the turmoil that bedevils Princeton.

I now shall reissue my call to both city councils as they begin their search for a new chief administrator, which is to insist they do so in the open. Do not spring anyone on the community without first giving us a chance to give them the once-over. Mashburn took the reins in Princeton without any prior exposure to the public. That was a bad call.

Ben White has been a dependable hand, but Farmersville does have nagging issues with which it must deal.

Streets! They are in terrible condition. Gotta get ’em fixed and made passable.

So, change is afoot in these two communities. I wish the city councils well as they embark on the search to find a new person. Just don’t mess up the process.

crime news, military news, national news

Impeachment: good for nation

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If the midterm election produces the result many millions of us want, I am quite sure we are going to get a needed boost to our constitutional democracy … which has taken a battering for the past year under the heavy hand of Donald J. Trump.

The boost well could come in the form of an impeachment of Trump. Yes, it is going to produce plenty of vicious anger. But I am OK with it. Why? Because we are going to have what I hope is an open debate on the usurping of power we have witnessed in real time since Trump took office in January 2025.

That power grab is in itself grounds for impeaching a president who, in my view, has violated the oath he took when he returned to the Oval Office for a second time.

He wants to censure a sitting U.S. senator for speaking the truth about following — or not following — unlawful orders. Trump wants the Justice Department to investigate the Fed chairman on the pretext that he oversaw cost overruns on remodeling the Federal Reserve Board. Trump has sent military personnel into harm’s way against Venezuela without seeking congressional approval. Trump appointed a U.S. attorney unlawfully to launch investigations into a former FBI director and the attorney general for the state of New York.

And this just happened in 2025, the year that has just passed into history’s dust bin.

Democrats appear poised to regain control of the House. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Senate control could flip, too, when they count the votes for the midterm election.

The debate over the charges that could come forth will be spirited. Probably angry. Maybe even vicious and personal. The Constitution will see us through the pending rough ride.

Our founders built a government that is resilient enough to bend a great deal … without breaking. It is strong enough to endure a presidential impeachment while allowing Congress to do the rest of the work to which the Constitution empowers it.

military news

War crimes mounting, too

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My noggin is being overwhelmed with reports that continue to boggle my mind. Here’s what I mean.

There are now fresh reports that the dipshit masquerading as defense secretary might have committed another serious war crime. Reports say that the United States disguised a military assault aircraft as a civilian plane. It snuck up on alleged drug dealers and smoked a boat.

The rules of war say categorically that disguising weapons of war in such a manner is a no-no. The law is meant to protect civilians who often get caught up as “collateral damage” in the middle of firefights between combatants.

Defense boss Pete Hegseth already is facing heat for ordering a “double tap” strike on survivors of an earlier rocket blast fired by U.S. jet fighters off the coast of Venezuela.

We well might be watching the consequence of Trump hiring an unfit, unqualified and untethered moron as defense secretary. His only saving grace in Trump’s perverted world view? He does what POTUS tells him.

crime news, legal news, local news, national news

Impeachment coming? Sure, bring it!

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Let’s assume for a moment that the political smart money is telling us the truth, that the next Congress is going to flip to Democratic control and that the House of Reps is going to launch an impeachment against Donald Trump.

We all have heard that Democrats might gain 30 seats on the Republicans who now control Congress. I can’t say whether the pundits think the 30-seat gain is at the top of their projection, at the bottom … or somewhere in the middle. If Trump continues on his slap-dash course it well could exceed the 30-seat turnover by a significant margin.

Is an impeachment necessary? I will allow my bias to peek through the haze and declare: Damn right it’s necessary! I will offer this caveat: I want Democrats to assure us that they can more than one thing at a time, that they can proceed with impeaching Trump and resume their constitutional role of making laws.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is likely to be elected speaker and he ought to take a page from the book followed in Texas by then-Speaker Pete Laney. The West Texas cotton farmer said he always simply allowed “the will of the House” to have its way. And so it went during the years that Laney served as the Man of the House.

The will of the U.S. House should be allowed to play the hand it is dealt. If most members believe — as I do — that Trump has committed an impeachable offense or three, then it should act. It also should not allow the legislative process to get caught in a political vise that will clamp down around the White House.

We’ve all heard them say that lawmakers can “do more than one thing at a time.” Impeaching a president is serious business. So is legislating.

economic news

Fed boss becomes latest Trump target

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Jerome Powell is the new man of the hour, designated victim in Donald Trump’s campaign against those who disagree with him on matters that go way over the pointed head of the president of the United States.

Powell is the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the nation’s central bank that is charged with making fiscal policy based solely on economic evidence and trends. The Justice Department issued subpoenas this week to Powell about remarks he made during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee … except the subpoenas have nothing to do with Powell’s testimony.

Oh, no. They have everything to do with Trump wanting the Fed to reduce interest rates. Powell is pushing back, to which I say, “You go, Mr. Chairman!”

Powell insists that the Fed remain independent and free from political pressure. The Fed was created to be immune from the pressure of the moment. It must act on trends it identifies and helps the board of governors decide when or if to adjust interest rates … up or down!

Trump believes it’s time to reduce interest rates. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Jerome Powell is the fiscal expert here, not Trump, who is nothing more than a tinhorn politician seeking to score points with the hope of staving off what looks like an oncoming wipeout in the midterm election later this year.

Some experienced political hands are suggesting that Trump compiling impeachable offenses at a breathtaking rate. I believe abuse of presidential power fits nicely into what Trump is trying to do with Jerome Powell.

national news

Trump: consquential POTUS

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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.

crime news

Hold it, masked men!

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Ask yourself this question, which I believe is pertinent to the issues discussion we are having these days in the U.S. of A.

How would I feel if I were stopped by a burly dude, armed to the teeth, wearing a flak jacket, with the word “ICE” emblazoned on his chest … and all the while he is hiding his face behind a pullover mask that only reveals his eyes?

My first response? I would be scared feces-less at the sight. I wouldn’t know what to say to any question this fellow might pose.

Now, look, under normal circumstances I couldn’t care less what a law enforcement professional is wearing. These days it’s different, so I am going to comment briefly on the public relations image these ICE agents are presenting to a public that has grown angry at their presence.

ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It has become a stand-alone word, kinda like MAGA and FUBAR.

These agents charged with finding undocumented immigrants, arresting them and then deporting them present a frightening image not just to those on their target list but to anyone, even those with nothing to fear.

It’s the masks, man, that give these guys their intimidating image.

I guess it must be the type of image Donald Trump wants to project, given his own stated admiration for world leaders who govern with an iron hand. He wishes he could do so in the United States, except for the Constitution that limits the power of the president.

As one of millions of Americans who are paying for this dog-and-pony show, I just have to declare my own disgust at the image these ICE agents are projecting while terrorizing fellow human beings. Those who are being terrorized deserve to see the faces of those who are bullying them.

local news

Frozen in time at museum

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My friend and I today toured the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, which is within a chip shot of Dealey Plaza in the city’s downtown district.

We got near the end of our tour when suddenly I froze, transfixed by the images being shown and by the voice attributed to one of the death camp survivors who had been freed by Allied soldiers near the end of World War II.

My friend asked if I was OK. I shook my head “no.” Did I want to leave. Again, I said “no.” I wanted to stay and listen to the voice tell me of the unimaginable deprivation inflicted on millions of Jews. My reaction to it all caught me by surprise.

Yes, I know all about the Holocaust. I know all about the extermination of 6 million human beings who happened to be Jewish. I had toured Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam with my bride in 2016 and knew of the suffering she endured after being turned over to the Nazis by her fellow Dutch citizens. In 2009, I had the high honor of visiting the famed Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem. So, none of what I learned today was a surprise.

Maybe it all just caught me in a moment of weakness. The exhibit reminded me of the depths that the human heart can plunge. And it surely plunged beyond what anyone could predict when Adolf Hitler seized power in Germany in 1933. He formed the Third Reich, which he said would last 1,000 years.

In April 1945, Hitler married his mistress Evan Braun and on their wedding night they committed suicide … ending the Third Reich after 12 of the most miserable years possible.

The museum in downtown Dallas reminded me of why the world must hold fast to its solemn pledge: Never again.

Uncategorized

Ohhh … the lack of humanity!

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Donald Trump’s lack of humanity, grace and forgiveness are on full display with every eruption of politically inspired violence that erupts in communities across this land of ours.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot a woman to death as she was fleeing a scene in her car. The jury is still out on whether the ICE officer committed a murderous act or whether he acted in self-defense. The video evidence suggests strongly the former.

The woman was the mother of three small children. She was present to protest ICE’s rounding up of residents for possible deportation. Minneapolis has been shaken to its muncipal core.

So, where is Trump? Has he weighed in with a comment expressing any sort of concern for the children of the woman whose death has left them as orphans? He hasn’t even offered a tepid platitude expressing regret over the incident.

One of the unwritten rules that falls on every president is to lend some level of comfort in times of tragedy, or duress, or tumult. Someone who gets shot to death by an agent of the government, it seems to me, is one of those tragic events that requires a president to step up and say something — anything! — that could lend a modicum of comfort to the nation.

He is silent while chief White House aides and at least two Cabinet officials have determined that the ICE officer was defending himself … against a woman who was driving away from him.

The current POTUS didn’t deliver. No, I am not surprised. I am still angered.

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