economic news

Waiting for the next fiscal explosion

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Kevin Warsh has been approved as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Just like his predecessor, Jerome Powell, Warsh takes office with the highest praise possible from the president who nominated him. Donald Trump calls Warsh the brightest economic mind on the planet. Compared him, rhetorically, to the day they put pockets on shirts. He’s that good, according to the president.

Funny, huh? Trump kinda said the same thing about Powell when he got the job as Fed chair. Then Powell pushed back a bit on Trump’s insistence that he cut interest rates. Powell was concerned about whether such a move would spark an inflation outburst. Trump’s response was to denigrate Powell’s knowledge of fiscal matters.

OK. So … the new Fed chair has the wind at his back. I wish him well and hope — for the sake of my retirement account — he follows his fiscal instincts and makes decisions based on the facts as he considers them in the moment.

I am waiting, though, for the first time he decides something that get under POTUS’s skin. What will happen then? Will the POTUS declare that the most brilliant economist in world history has turned into the biggest chump of all time? Is the POTUS who has driven several business endeavors into bankruptcy declare he knows more about economics than the Fed chair?

Yep. He probably will. Wait for it.

science news

Anxious for the next manned space flight

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All right, kids. I might be the only red-blooded American patriot who thinks this way, but dammit … I am anxious for the next Artemis space flight to the moon.

Artemis III will launch in 2027 (I think) and will carry another four-person crew. The next flight is supposed to land on the surface and the astronauts will get to scurry around the lunar landscape doing an assortment of this and that experiments.

Why so anxious? Well, I want to cheer these men and women on to great success. I also want the TV airwaves and Internet channels to focus on something other than the political feces being tossed around. Yep, the news cycles are boring me out of my mind.

Space travel was put on the shelf for 50 years or so. Apollo 17 was the final lunar mission that NASA launched in 1972 … until Artemis II rocketed into space for that glorious lunar orbit mission and sent home those astonishing pictures of the dark sideof the moon.

I don’t believe I am the only American waiting for a return to space. Just know that this kind of adventure gets my heart pumpiing. So does some of the political rhetoric I hear, but the ticker pumps heavily for the wrong reasons.

Donald Trump, political news

Wanting to see more kids’ photo ops

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Five years into the current presidential administration — split, of course by the four years of Joe Biden’s presidency — and I am left to wonder what about the many things we’ve been missing as we watch Donald J. Trump stumble and bumble his way to oblivion.

We do not see any visual images of the POTUS enjoying his family. Where are all the grandkids we have heard about? Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany all have little ones, right? Yet the only images we see of Grandpa Donald are those of him dressed in a blue suit, that overly long red tie, with his pile of hair coiffed atop his vacuous skull.

Oh, and of course we see the POTUS in his golf garb, cheating at golf.

The overwhelming image of Trump is him chewing out reporters for doing their job, denigrating them for asking difficuilt questions.

I’m well aware that people in the public eye have private lives. But so many presidents have been more than willing to have their children be photographed doing whatever it is kids do. JFK, had his two small kids in the White House; LBJ’s daughters were frequent fixtures in front of cameras; so were Richard Nixon’s daughters; Gerald Ford had five kids and he was seen spending plenty of time with them; Jimmy Carter had daughter Amy living in the White House; George H.W. I Bush famously referred to his kids and grandkids; Bill Clinton was photographed often with little Chelsea; George W. Bush’s twin daughters often were in front of cameras; Barack Obama’s daughters grew up before our eyes in the White House; Joe Biden let the world watch him play with his grandkids.

I didn’t mention Ronald Reagan for a reason. He had a difficult relationship with his two youngest kids. His two elder kids both were politically active and led separate, equally visible lives.

I want the next president to reveal his family to us, and to demonstrate his commitment to them. I believe can derive his commitment to all American families if we get to see how they treat their own.

local news, media news

Honoring my favorite Mom

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You have said it. Surely you have thought it. Maybe many of you are thinking of it today.

It goes like this: Where would we be without our mothers? The one answer is obvious, in that we wouldn’t be anywhere without them.

My bride and I brought two boys into his goofy world of ours. I cannot tell you where they would be without Kathy Anne there to guide them through life’s trials I can assert, though, that they wouldn’t be the two finest men in the world. My pride in them is real, it is visceral, it is — to whatever degree one should ascribe to it — my legacy.

But none of this is about me. It is about Kathy Anne.

I lost her to glioblastoma a little more than three years ago. Her fight against this aggressive brain cancer was brief, but it was savage. I lost her six weeks after getting the diagnosis of a mass on the right side of her brain.

We were married for more than ever 51 years. She was 71 when she took her final breath.

God put her on this Earth to be a Mom. She was a natural. Her mothering instincts were virtually perfect. She always could comfort them when they hurt. She knew how to tease them without damaging their emotions. She always couched her advice into phrases that reminded our sons to trust their own instincts … and that no matter their decision, they would have their parents’ backing.

Kathy Anne taught them to be respectful to adults. She imbued in them a sense of humility. She laughed and cried with them.

And the moment she and I learned we were going to be grandparents was one for the ages. She shrieked, giggled and cried all at once.

Mother’s Day is not the same without my bride. I am continuing to build on the life she and I started. One of the key results of that life-building has been that my family and I are closer than ever.

That is how she would want it.

local news, media news, political news

Voter turnout sinks into the crapper

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Hey, fellow Princeton residents, we had an election this past weekend … although hardly anyone took part.

And when I say “hardly anyone,” I mean precisely that. Election Day came and went and the entire city didn’t give a crap. What an absolute disgrace!

Check out these stats: Princeton is home to 18,923 registered voters. Of that total, only 476 residents bothered to vote. That gives us a municipal turnout of 2.52%. Roll that around for a moment.

Two point five-two fu***** percent of registered voters cast ballots in the election to find a replacement for Place 4 City Councilman Ryan Gerfers, who resigned because of health concerns. Here’s some more grist for you to gnaw on: That total dismisses the eligible residents who are registered to vote, but they haven’t even bothered to register with election officials.

The city will conduct a runoff election to determine whether Planning & Zoning Commissioner Jan Goria or Home Rule Committee Chair Jaisen Rutledge — the top two finishers in the May 3 election will succeed Gerfers.

Princeton Mayor Eugene Escobar Jr. expressed disappointment in the turnout. “I want to improve how we engage with the community and increase participation in our elections so we can actually bring the changes you are wanting,” Escobar told the Princeton Herald. I agree that the city needs to do much better.

Here’s an idea for the mayor to consider. Conduct a series of town hall meetings around our growing city. Explain to residents the importance of casting ballots in municipal election. Do we really want to cede the decision to how much we pay for services we say we want to our neighbors? We are a city on the move. We are adding new residents almost daily. It falls on City Hall to reach out to our new neighbors to tell them about our city and the process we use to keep it functioning.

City Hall, meanwhile, needs to deploy social media messaging services to tell us about the election and explain why deciding these contests keeps us involved in the process of local governance.

A turnout of 2.52% cannot be allowed to stand!

local news, media news

Once towering presence has vanished

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You know some things are inevitable, but when it happens, well … you’re still stunned.

I ventured to Amarillo this week to see some friends and take care of a little personal business. Then it hit me like a punch in the puss. The newspaper where I worked for 18-plus years no longer exists. The Amarillo Globe-News, whose owner once committed to serving the community for as long as he walked this Earth, has vanished. It now operates — kinda/sorta — out of Lubbock.

My first reaction? Wow, man!

The newspaper once was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1961 for exposing public corruption in government. The public service award is the highest honor given to print journalists. Well, gang, the newspaper didn’t maintain that level of admiration. It was a solid paper when I joined it in January 1995 and we did good work there. Then the shit hit the fan. The Internet took over. The group to which the G-N belonged began bleeding money. Advertisers pulled out. Circulation plummeted. Staff members were sent packing.

The newspaper group that bought the paper in 1972 surrendered to the inexorable tide of change and sold the entire group for next to nothing.

Now it’s gone.

I lament the demise of a once-grand institution. No, it’s worse than that. I feel at times — like right now — like crying.

national news

On the verge of letting go

Just to be clear, the headline on top of this post doesn’t mean I am going to leave this world. I intend to stick around.

I am about to “let go” of efforts to shame Donald Trump with harsh rhetoric. I have found that my vocabulary isn’t descriptive enough to capture the attention of the POTUS, nor that of his closest aides and fans who live near in the heart of Trump Country.

Instead, I believe I shoudl rely on the moxie and the smarts of a former politician. Ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – a former Trump ally — recently noted that it’s foolish to pile onto a politician who is committing political suicide. Christie asserts that Trump is committing suicide at thi moment. Therefore, Christie said, it’s good to let the POTUS continue to inflict the wounds that eventually could spell the end of the nimrod’s life as a politician.

It is clear as the deep blue sky that Trump isn’t as sharp as the guy who burst onto the political scene in 2015. Listen to his public comments then and compare them to what he says now. In the old days he at least was able to string sentences together. Today? What flies out of his overfed yapper is a colletion of non-starters and at times is utter and absolute jibberish. Criticism of this guy now is useless. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t understand why so many of us are horrified by the nonsensse that poisons the air we breathe.

He is dying politically. I find no need to join the amen chorus of critics. I’ll be ready to weigh in when he goes way beyond the pale. The guy is a has-been.

local news

Headin’ for ‘home’ in the morning

I put quote marks around “home” for a reason, which is that I always consider where I get my mail, hang my hat and sleep at night to be home.

Tomorrow, though, the sun will rise in the east but I plan to be on the road traveling in the other direction, heading for Amarillo.

My bride and I lived in Amarillo for 23 years before moving to North Texas to be nearer to our granddaughter. We retained many dear friends over the years, just as we did in our prior Texas stop in Beaumont, where we lived for nearly 11 years before relocating way up yonder. This trip will be brief, but it’s one I am anxious to make.

I used to joke that we made the trip between the Metroplex and the Panhandle that we could identify with every water tower, cattle crossing and wind farm on the 300-plus mile journey. I think it’s still the case, although I won’t be looking specifically for those landmarks.

It’ll be a good day for me. A change of scenery also cleanses me. This one will produce the same effect.

But … let me be clear. I’ve never learned the lyrics to “Amarillo By Morning.”

local news, media news

Who gets the next insult?

Do you remember a time when you cast your eyes on the president of the United States? You felt good about whom you were seeing … is that right?

I want that feeling to return to me. Honest. I do!

I also remember expecting the president to be better than the people he leads. These days? We’re getting much worse. It comes in the form of an insult to the person asking the question. He or she is not a messenger for the “worst people” of the media world.

These are just a few of the qualities I want in the next POTUS.

I used to believe we produced the best among us at election time. I have been profoundly disappointed and saddened by the results of two of the past three election cycles. In 2016, we elected a guy through a fluke in our system that enables a candidate to win with fewer votes than his opponent. We fired that candidate in 2020 … only to bring him back four years later after swallowing a gut full of lies and promises he made.

And it has gotten worse the second time.

Don’t label me a “snowflake.” I have seen my share of scoundrels over many years covering these events.

The current POTUS, I have to concede, is the worst among them.

Donald Trump, International news

Who gets the next insult?

Do you remember a time when you cast your eyes on the president of the United States? You felt good about whom you were seeing … is that right?

I want that feeling to return to me. Honest. I do!

I also remember expecting the president to be better than the people he leads. These days? We’re getting much worse. It comes in the form of an insult to the person asking the question. He or she is not a messenger for the “worst people” of the media world.

These are just a few of the qualities I want in the next POTUS.

I used to believe we produced the best among us at election time. I have been profoundly disappointed and saddened by the results of two of the past three election cycles. In 2016, we elected a guy through a fluke in our system that enables a candidate to win with fewer votes than his opponent. We fired that candidate in 2020 … only to bring him back four years later after swallowing a gut full of lies and promises he made.

And it has gotten worse the second time.

Don’t label me a “snowflake.” I have seen my share of scoundrels over many years covering these events.

The current POTUS, I have to concede, is the worst among them.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience