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While it is true that journalism and democracy are mutually inclusive, democracy also need another vital tenet if it is to thrive … that tenet is dissent. The fired “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley spoke eloquently the other day about the need for journalism to function without interference in a democratic society. I want to chip in with the notion that the 18th century founders of this…

Well … the swirling controversy over data centers has entered my North Texas city of Princeton, where the city council is laying the groundwork to begin a series of regulatory measures to ensure the protection of the commnity. It was a matter of time before we got caught up in the debate that has swallowed up a lot of cities’ attention. Data centers are those projects that manufacture chips and…

I know we’ll have to wait for Donald Trump to exit the White House for this to occur, but a major part of me wants a return to what used to be a bipartisan custom among those elected to the nation’s highest office. No matter the party of the outgoing president, they traditionally have extended congratultions and. expressions of good luck and will to their successor who often comes from the…

I am acutely aware that at times I can be painfully slow on the uptake, that things happen long before I realize it. However, I know a ceasefire when I hear about one. Two sides are exchanging fire, killing each other, then they say “Stop the shooting!” Then it stops, giving the sides time to talk to each other to settle the issues that resulted in the shooting and bombing in the first…

I have some good news and some news that we’ll need to consider as it takes shape First, the good news. Donald Trump’s time as the nation’s leading loudmouth politician is drawing to a close. It’s not just around the corner. Not yet anyway. But each week that passes means it’s getting a bit closer and for that I am extremely grateful we have a U.S. Constitution that won’t buckle under pressure…

On a normal Sunday evening in North Texas, I would be settling down for an hour of news analysis from “60 Minutes,” the heralded CBS News program that until this past week was a staple in my home for as long as I can remember. No more, man. Not since the MAGA morons who run the network fired “60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley for telling the truth about what could be happening in this great…

Jaisen Rutledge wants to serve on the Princeton City Council and he seems to think that a sweet-talk campaign is his ticket to City Hall. Rutledge, a longtime Princeton resident, joined Jan Goria in a candidate forum on May 30, hosted by the League of Women Voters. I was struck by something Rutledge said about the nature of the constituency he hopes to represent when the runoff election takes…

At 1:44 a.m., on June 6, 1968, a team of medical doctors gave up trying to save the life of a politician who suffered from a gunshot wound to his head. They declared this man dead. Shortly after that declaration, Frank Mankiewicz stood before reporters and said, “Robert Francis Kennedy died today … he was 42 years of age.” Mankiewicz served as RFK’s press secretary. He took no questions. He…

Some of you might recall that I blogged about my life becoming simpler, less complicated than before. Well gang, I’ve discovered that a simple life can get even simpler. I don’t have much to say today about what’s going on in the world of hard news. Yep. Simplicity is a good thing. At least it is for me. I get to devote blog topics to, oh let’s see, about blogging. This particular avocation…

At this very moment I am thinking of some of the titans of American broadcast journalism, men and women who sought the truth and told it to us without fear of recrimination. You know who they are: Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Leslie Stahl, Bill Whitaker, Bob Simon, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer, Diane Sawyer, Dan Rather and now … Scott Pelley. They all worked for “60 Minutes,” the premier TV news…

Legal scholars need not apply for any position within the Trump administration that requires knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. All you have to be is a pal to Donald J. Trump. Todd Blanche, who once served as Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, appears to be POTUS 47’s latest pick to be attorney general. He replaces the disgraced Pam Bondi, another dedicated Trumpkin who got canned a few weeks…

You might write this down if you’re inclined, but just keep it in mind as you ponder the future of Donald J. Trump’s political career. It’s now as clear as it gets that the 45th and 47th POTUS has lost what used to pass for what was left of his mind. Why? Because the dimwit in chief wants to unilaterally pull the broadcast license of ABC News because it has the temerity to broadcast “negative…

A letter to the editor that appeared in today’s Dallas Morning News dredges up an old saying that seeks to dismiss crooked politicians’ seedy behavior. The writer refers to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s behavior since taking office in January 2015. “If Paxton is a crook,” the letter writer suggests, “but he’s our crook.” The writer sought to draw a parallel between Paxton’s shenanigans and…

Before the MAGA morons who supported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Republican runoff victory over John Cornyn get too full of themselves, allow to briefly put a this victory into some perspective. Yes, the AG scored a decisive victory, beating the U.S. senator by 27 percentage points in the runoff. However, Paxton only tallied about 12,000 more votes in the runoff than he got in the GOP…

I have an interest in seeing the Iran war come to an end and it has nothing to do with whether I would be called up or whether my sons would face the same future. Hey, they’re both too old as I certainly am. My interest in the war’s end is rooted in my retirement account. I read just a few minutes ago that consumers are now bracing for the biggest monthly decline in oil prices in six years,…

Before you declare the death of our system of representative democracy, allow me — please — to offer these words in the form of a pre-rebuttal. The federal judiciary. The court system has stepped up and performed its constitutionally mandated duty in reigning in the overreach of the executive branch of government … precisely as the nation’s founders said it should. Federal judges have ruled…

This point deserves to be repeated, so … therefore I will do so. I will go to the Great Beyond never understanding how the American voting public could stop insisting on selecting the best among us for high office and settle for the worst among us. Our values have been turned on their ears. We no longer care if our president is a serial philanderer, or that he is a convicted felon, lacks any…