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I once rated FBI Director Kash Patel as the worst pick among Donald Trump’s inner circle of advisers … but I’ve changed my mind. The new “leader” that category happens to be an individual who wasn’t confirmed by the Senate, but he sure has Trump’s ear. He is senior White House adviser Steven Miller. And the more I hear from this moron, the more likely he seems to be cementing his place among the…

Today we wish our country a happy birthday. 250 of them have come and gone since the wise men who founded the nation gathered to sign the Declaration of Independence from the English Crown. The declaration in fact was a long list of grievances the Colonies had against the Crown. Thus, the nation was formed by an act of dissent from the edicts of another nation that governed us. And yet … we hear…

You might know that I will be traveling to Washington, D.C., for an overnight stay as part of an Honor Flight delegation that pays tribute to veterans for their service. The trip is set for Sept. 11; we’ll return to North Texas the evening of the following day. Part of the trip will be to tour the various memorials and monuments along the DC Mall that, as you might have heard, features the…

Sometime before the weekend expires, Americans likely can expect to hear from Donald J. Trump, who will speak ostensibly about the holiday we are celebrating. Yep. We’re going to blast firecrackers, fire up the grill, salute the flag and cheer the nation’s 250th birthday. It’s a big deal, one that usually requires a red, white and blue statement from the president of the United States. Oh, but…

You and I know that politicians keep telling us how they hate dealing with hypothetical situations, how they detest questions dealing with circumstances that might not ever occur. Well, here’s a hypotthetical matter that very well could play out. Bear with me for a moment. The midterm election this fall could result in a dramatic shift in congressional power, with Democrats reclaiming the…

I have been watching a video that went viral years ago, and it’s still making the rounds. It shows President George W. Bush welcoming his successor, President-elect Barack Obama to the Oval Office. Joining them were three former presidents: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The men are standing tall and straight and President Bush is addressing the cameras gathered. He turns to…

President Barack Obama occasionally would hang a medal around the neck of a warrior who fought in a long-ago-battle. And if that warrior served in Vietnam during the war that ravaged that nation, he would remind Americans of the mistake many of them made when those warriors came home. The nation has grown up since those days. Now we honor the men and women who fight our battles. We tell them we…

My phone rang Saturday morning and for a moment I tjhought it might be spam call. Oh … it damn sure wasn’t anything of the sort. A lady from Dallas was calling to inform me that I had been chosen to join a group of 40 to 45 fellow veterans on a whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C. The trip will occur the morning of Sept. 11 and we’ll return to Love Field the next evening. It’s an Honor Flight,…

I am ready to proclaim my cautious optimism in Princeton’s search for a new city manager to take the reins of a government that, to my eyes, appears to be flailing. The City Council appears ready to hire a search firm with some serious credential to lead the search effort. Compared to to slap-dash, and frankly underhanded, method that brought us the previous city manager, it looks as though the…

This has been clear ever since Donald Trump took the presidential oath on his first tour of the White House … the dude has too much serious work to consider, which is why he wastes so much time lampooning TV comics, critics of assorted importance and all the little things he ought to let slide. Barack Obama said it well recently when asked about Trump’s fixation with him, a predecessor in the…

I am hoping the day will arrive — and that I’ll be alive to watch its arrival — when we will understand how American voters got suckered twice into electing a known fraud, con man and imposter to the nation’s highest office. To be honest, I am still in a fog over that one. We once demanded the very best among us to serve in the presidency. With Donald John Trump we have gotten the worst among…

Watching Donald Trump fumble, bumble and blunder his way through a second term in the White House admittedly has become quite a painful spectacle to watch. To be brutally frank, though, many of us saw it coming long ago, long before he ever took the oath of office for his first term as the head of the nation’s exeutive branch of government. I feel the need to remind readers of this blog that I…

I am going to give Donald Trump a shot-glass full of credit for the war with Iran — that he started — but which is about to come to an inglorious end. The war that Trump began was thought to be a “forever war,” which he said during the 2024 campaign he would avoid. It’s coming to an end, but with Trump getting virtually nothing from the Iranians. I am delighted to see progress moving clumsily…

The world appears to be splitting at the seams, yes? A U.S. president keeps reaching beyond his grasp for more power than he deserves … or is entitled. There’s more crap to ponder. With all that laid out there, I want to share with y’all a bit of personal good news. Perhaps you can relate. Here goes. A few months ago I took a spill in my garage as I was exiting my pickup truck. My feet got…

The more I hear from James Talarico, the more appealing he sounds as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Texas. Here is why. Talarico is a young Presbyterian seminary student who (a) wears his faith openly and expressses it freely and (b) is taking aim at Christian nationalists who are seeking to pervert the U.S. Constitution into something the nation’s founders expressly forbid ……

We”re a couple of weeks now into the World Cup matches spread across the United States of America and try as I might, I have to admit that I cannot join the rest of the world in embracing this activity. Soccer just isn’t my bag, man. Full stop. Before you accuse me of being provincialist, or of resisting a worldwide phenomenon, just understand that I am approaching my 77th birthday. I am long…

I thought I understood much of what the Constitution allows and prohibits. One of the things the nation’s governing document disallows is the president accepting gifts from foreign governments while in office. It’s called the “emoluments clause” and is as unambiguous as anything in the nation’s governing document. So, I am forced to wonder aloud: How does Donald Trump get away with accepting a…