I’m running out of pejorative nicknames to hang around jowly neck of Donald Trump … so I’ll just try this one out for grins and giggles.
Donald “the Crook” Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to declare the Alaska vote for US Senate void — if the Democratic nominee finishes with more votes than her Republican opponent. What the hell? Mary Peltola could win the contest against GOP incumbent Dan Sullivan. Trump is desperate to keep the Republican majority in the Senate, so now he is turning to the High Court to run interference for him. And to think this moron has accused Democrats of rigging elections. Good ever-lovin’ grief, man. I’m unclear what Trump’s legal concern may be. However, my strong hope is that even this court with its 6 to 3 conservative majority would realize that Trump’s real motive is a political one, not a legal one. This is the kind of political mumbo-jumbo that fuels everything the POTUS tries at this point of an election cycle that is looking increasingly desperate for the Crook in Chief. Donald the Crook has offered to bribe voters with public money, he already has demanded Georgia election officials — after the 2020 election — to “find” enough votes to flip that state, and is putting pressure on state officials across the nation to ensure a Republican victory on midterm election day. This is what we get when we elect a convicted felon to the nation’s highest office.Kim Jong Un has croaked? Good!
Word out of North Korea is that King Jong Un has croaked. We’ve heard nothing official from the government, but there sure are plenty of signs that the monstrous leader of the rogue nation is no longer among us.
The state media went quiet. Dark. Not a sound or a word. That reportedly foretells a dramatic announcement.
It kinda reminds me of the May 2011 news conference the White House scheduled — for a Sunday night — to tell the world that our special forces killed Osama bin Laden.
I don’t know how the North Korean media work. I hope Kim is dead. The world is a better place without him.
Here’s the question of the day: Would Kim Jong Un’s boypal, Donald Trump, attend a state funeral? Hey, why wouldn’t he? Trump has told us of the love notes he and Kim have exchanged. He’s praised the killer despot for his “political strength.” He called him a “smart cookie” once, remember?
I’ll just be content to cheer the reported death of one of the world’s most hideous leaders.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves
Every now and then, something happens near the end of an election campaign that jars me to the bone, reminding me of a fundamental truth about these campaigns.
Which is that we never should take anything for granted until they count the ballots.
Let’s flash back to 2016. Every pundit on Earth said Hillary Clinton would win that election. Polling had her leading to the very end. Then the ground rumbled under our feet and lo and behold, Donald Trump ended up being elected POTUS because of the narrow Electoral College majority he was able to sneak across the finish line. Clinton still captured more votes than Trump, but lost the election cleanly, fairly and legally because she lacked the Electoral College votes to secure the victory.
It was, in my view, the political fluke of our lifetime.
I want to mention this because as we head for the stretch run of the 2026 midterm election, every pundit in America — except, perhaps, for a few MAGA pollsters — is saying Democrats are headed for a big win. The House will flip from R to D, they say and it is looking more likely that the Senate will do the same. I keep hearing terms like “blue tsunami,” which of course troubles me. This of course would present Trump with a series of problems he might find insurmountable. I hope to be among those cheering the result if it comes to pass.
I am not going to depend on my ol’ trick knee to guide me. I have been let down too many times to depend on it.
I am acutely aware that we do not have the Electoral College in play for the midterm. However, I am not putting a single thing on Earth past the GOP in its effort to try to swing this election in their favor.
Putin is no ‘humanitarian’
One can hang many descriptive terms to describe Vladimir Putin. They include these, which describe the Russia leader:
- As a killer.
- As a war criminal.
- A despot.
- A tin-horn dictator.
- A bully.
- A spy.
Is he a “humanitarian,” which is the term Donald Trump’s friend Steve Whitkoff used to describe Putin after he released a man held illegally for four years in a Russian detention camp?
He is no such thing. He is nothing even close to anyone who recognizes human dignity.
Whitkoff is in Russia supposedly seeking to broker an end to the war that Putin started in 2022 when he invaded Ukraine. He sought to take the country over and return it to Russian influence. Hmm. Is that the work of a humanitarian? I think not.
Whitkoff doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He is yet another incompetent boob given authority by Donald Trump to do something he is unqualified to do.
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Best wishes and thanks … Marine
If you are anywhere near Steve Deffibaugh, you would have no trouble spotting him from a distance or in a crowd.
He would be the fellow with the long white beard, long white ponytail tied to run through he back of a bright red ballcap placed on his head. And the front of the cap would have some reference to the U.S. Marine Corps, where Deffibaugh served with enormous pride, the type of pride he proclaims to this very day.
Deffibaugh has ended his lengthy tenure in public service, resigning from the City Council seat he has occupied since 2009. He resigned after “much prayer” and likely considerable thought over the unfinished work that he leaves behind. Princeton remains a city under construction. It is growing at a still explosive rate. US 380 is being torn to pieces as it courses through the city. And work has begun on that gigantic commercial complex at Beauchamp Boulevard and US 380.
Deffibaugh’s time on the council, though, comprises a mere fraction of what he has given to the city. He served as mayor until May 2005. He served the Princeton Fire Department, which was a volunteer outfit when he joined it in 1989. He rose to the rank of assistant chief. The city hired its first full-time firefighter, Chief Tom Harvey. Deffibaugh said he made the “hard decision” to retire from the fire department in January 2018.
I met Deffibaugh while covering the City Council for the time for the Princeton Herald. I told someone nearby that I had just moved to Princeton after spending many years in Amarillo. That got Deffibaugh’s attention, as he told me he was from Borger originally. Borger is about 50 miles or so north of Amarillo and is home to an oil refinery where, when the wind’s right, carries “the smell of money” throughout the Panhandle.
Of course, I was struck by Deffibaugh’s eternal pride in being a U.S. Marine. He wore his USMC cap everywhere. He took part in all veterans services. He was proud of his city and he has high hopes for what it is becoming.
But I am sure you know the phrase, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” That’s Steve Deffibaugh.
Thank you for your service, Marine.
Trust the system we have
Well, kids, I did it first thing today … I woke up, gulped some coffee and headed for the polling location to cast my midterm ballot.
I did so out of implicit trust in the system we have in North Texas, believing my vote will be counted fairly and cleanly and there will be zero hanky-panky with my ballot. That belief, of course runs counter to the message that the national Republican Party would have us believe. The GOP is trying to sow enough doubt into the local voting process that they think they can cast shade over the entire national network.
Here’s some news for the doubt mongers among us. There is no national voting network.
The US Constitution is crystal clear that elections should be handled by the states. Last time I checked, I learned that we had 50 states in our Union and they all take great care to ensure that our voting system is above board, that it is as clean as your Mama’s wash and that every vote will be assigned to the candidates of our choice.
My intention going into this election was to wait until Election Day. I have spoken many times on this blog and other platforms that Election Day voting was my preferred method. My goal was to protect myself against some last-minute shenanigans by candidates. The trouble spot changed this time around, with Republicans threatening to gum up the works. So, I cast my vote early and when I was finished, I asked a poll worker in Princeton whether my ballot was being entered into the system. Her response: Your ballot became part of the record the moment we scanned it.
That’s going to have to be good enough.
I long have believed our statewide systems are clean and clear. I am aware of isolated cases of ballots being cast fraudulently. They comprise an infinitesimal portion of the total. I am sticking with what I know and what I believe. I know the system works well and I believe the GOP — the party that yells “vote fraud!” — is the outfit most responsible for the monkey business they claim to want to stop.
It’s all changed the way I vote
For decades I operated under a simple, but seemingly thorough, understanding of how to protect the sanctity of my vote.
I would wait until the last possible minute on Election Day before venturing to my polling place. The thought was to cast my vote late enough to prevent any last-second surprises from the candidates of my choice. I didn’t want to cast my ballot too early and then be shocked, surprised and disgusted by some end-of-the campaign surprise that disqualified the individual I had chosen for public office.
By an large, the notion served me well. Plus, I kind of enjoyed the pageantry associated with standing in line at the end of Election Day. I mean, casting a ballot in a democratic republic is a big … deal, you koow?
Then along came Donald John Trump and his phony voter fraud lie. It all came to a head on Jan. 6, 2021, with the armed assault on the nation’s Capitol. Trump called the election of Joe Biden as president a fraud. He said the presidency was “stolen” from him. The idiot hasn’t let that one go. He’s now all but vowing to cast aspersions on the 2026 midterm election if the result doesn’t go his way … and as I write this, it appears to be shaping up that Trump’s party is going to get a thorough pummeling.
But wait a minute. Now the Party of Trump is threatening to throw the whole process into chaos. They might challenge results in normally strong GOP areas that suddenly turn Democratic. Let me think … oh yeah, that means Collin County, Texas, where I have lived for the past eight years.
That is why I have changed my thinking, turned it on its head and decided that the better way to protect my vote is to cast my ballot early, get it logged into the system and then have it counted when they release the results on Election Day.
Trust the system we have
Well, kids, I did it first thing today … I woke up, gulped some coffee and headed for the polling location to cast my midterm ballot.
I did so out of implicit trust in the system we have in North Texas, believing my vote will be counted fairly and cleanly and there will be zero hanky-panky with my ballot. That belief, of course runs counter to the message that the national Republican Party would have us believe. The GOP is trying to sow enough doubt into the local voting process that they think they can cast shade over the entire national network.
Here’s some news for the doubt mongers among us. There is no national voting network.
The US Constitution is crystal clear that elections should be handled by the states. Last time I checked, I learned that we had 50 states in our Union and they all take great care to ensure that our voting system is above board, that it is as clean as your Mama’s wash and that every vote will be assigned to the candidates of our choice.
My intention going into this election was to wait until Election Day. I have spoken many times on this blog and other platforms that Election Day voting was my preferred method. My goal was to protect myself against some last-minute shenanigans by candidates. The trouble spot changed this time around, with Republicans threatening to gum up the works. So, I cast my vote early and when I was finished, I asked a poll worker in Princeton whether my ballot was being entered into the system. Her response: Your ballot became part of the record the moment we scanned it.
That’s going to have to be good enough.
I long have believed our statewide systems are clean and clear. I am aware of isolated cases of ballots being cast fraudulently. They comprise an infinitesimal portion of the total. I am sticking with what I know and what I believe. I know the system works well and I believe the GOP — the party that yells “vote fraud!” — is the outfit most responsible for the monkey business they claim to want to stop.
Not all political foes ‘hate’ each other
Two quick takeaways from my early-voting exercise are worth sharing with you … so here goes.
One is that Texas Democrats, based on what I witnessed in Princeton at the Deffibaugh Community Center, might get their wish for a big turnout in the 2026 midterm election. I don’t have any numbers, but my visual, visceral sense is that the enthusiasm level is high in Princeton. That’s an unusual thing to observe about this community, in that previous election turnouts have been limited only to the highly motivated voters among is.
We have nearly 30,000 residents eligible to vote in Princeton. The most recent municipal election saw a turnout of about 2,000.
The population here continues to explode. The main highway through the city, US 380, is under heavy reconstruction as TxDOT is widening the highway from four lanes to six. Still, the initial turnout on early voting was more than brisk this morning. I do hope is stays high.
The second takeaway speaks to the animosity that has built in DC between the MAGA morons on the right and the progressive movement on the left. My point is that the hatred hasn’t trickled to the local level in Collin County. This morning I watched known MAGA followers yukking it up with known progressives. They must be friends. They might attend the same church. They might live next door to each other. Their kids might be best friends. Who knows? Frankly, none of that matters to me.
What does matter is that the gut-level animosity between the MAGAn in chief Donald Trump and his “enemies” in Congress hasn’t found its way to the heartland. I feel better already just reporting on what I saw this morning.
Consequential day is at hand
Well, kids, here we are as Texans from Orange to El Paso, from Borger to Brownsville begin casting their ballots in what is being called — as they always are — the “most important election in our lifetime.”
I know you’ve heard that said before. This time the projection actually might be true.
Americans across the great state have a chance to change the frightening trajectory on which Congress appears to be headed. W’ere voting early beginning at 7 a.m. Central Daylight Time. We’ll be able to vote early until Oct. 30.
I’ll be one of them. Years of resisting calls to vote early have given way to a fear I have developed that Republican election manipulators will try to gum up the works. Our best defense is to cast our ballots early, get ’em recorded and then hope that they’ll be counted when the time comes to finalize the result.
Approximately 15 million Texans are qualified to vote. I don’t know how many of them are registered to vote. Those who are registered, here is your chance to have your voice heard.
I’m done bitching about the clown show the Republican Party has brought us. I will heed the words of President Obama, who urges us to forgo “booing.”
“Don’t boo,” he says. “Vote!“