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Wednesday, June 24, 2026

.Post #7738 M: Trump Gets Booed & Falls Asleep During NBA Finals; What is a "Confederate"?; A House Is Illegal in This Neighborhood. A Nightclub Isn’t.

Quote of the Day

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: 
Hard work, 
Stick-to-itiveness, 
and Common sense.
Thomas A. Edison  

Trump Gets Booed & Falls Asleep During NBA Finals

What is a "Confederate"?


A House Is Illegal in This Neighborhood. A Nightclub Isn’t.

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Steve Breen via US News

Musical Interlude: 1964 Top 100 Hits 

The Girl From Ipanema - Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Post #7737 Commentary: Trump's Sabotage of Sen. Cornyn's Reelection

 I've noted through the history of the blog that I was born in Texas as an Air Force brat who left a few months later with my Dad's reassignments, returning to Texas after my Dad's isolated tour to Southeast Asia just in time for high school. I then spent most of the next 17 years earning all 4 of my college degrees through my UH doctorate in Texas, except for my interim brief Navy service in Florida. I started working on my UH MBA part-time, looking to advance my IT career as a programmer/analyst. This means that my years as a young adult and my exposure to politics were spent in Texas, before Texas became the deep-red state it is today. (I also worked on two Texas-based gigs later, as a 1-year UTEP professor, and a couple of years later, after I left academia.)

As the familiar reader may know, I, as a young adult, was mostly a liberal Democrat, with a fusion of pro-life and military and fiscal conservative views. Texas had been solidly Democratic since Reconstruction, except that John Tower, a former Democrat, won LBJ's seat after the latter became VP. Clements became the first GOP governor (2 nonconsecutive terms) starting in 1979. By then, I was transitioning from my youthful naïve idealism into an increasing skepticism of the growing government; this grew as I took graduate economics courses during my MBA studies (which were not ideological in any way). I was more of a conservative Democrat, like Congressman Gramm, who switched parties during Reagan's first term and later succeeded Tower as senator. [Cornyn succeeded Gramm's 3 Senate terms.]  We (conservative) Southern Democrats found ourselves marginalized in an increasingly strident leftist party. For me, the breaking point was the defeat of Bork's SCOTUS nomination. Rick Perry, another former Democrat, switched parties in 1989 and succeeded Bush as governor when Bush was elected POTUS. Perry went on to be elected to 3 terms on his own, becoming the longest-serving governor in Texas history.

I don't speak for other Southern Democrats. I had been a student volunteer during the first Carter campaign (I was particularly attracted to his advocacy of zero-based budgeting), but I soured on the reality of Carter.  I wasn't really that partisan; I probably would have supported Ford's reelection, except I strongly disagreed with the Nixon pardon.

I have not lived in Texas since 1993 (although my folks retired near San Antonio, and at least half of my siblings have lived in the state for the last 20 years, so I've traveled there several times since). So I wasn't there when Cornyn won the battle to succeed Sen. Gramm in 2002 

Cornyn's public life began as a Texas District judge (1985). Texas Supreme Court (1991). Texas Attorney General (1999). and Texas US Senator (2002). I was registered in Illinois in 2002 and didn't vote in Texas. I was a big Gramm fan who would have liked him to extend his tenure, but I was impressed with Cornyn's Texas state-wide service, and keep in mind how motivated I was after the failure of Bork's nomination. Cornyn has a lifetime 85 CPAC rating, according to some accounts, among the most conservative senators. Cornyn drew some criticism for some bipartisan legislation and guns. spending and procedural votes (e.g., cloture votes).Via Google AI,


Paxton was not the first Texas "conservative" to try to primary "liberal" Cornyn (see FactCheck's account of Cornyn's 2012 primary challenger). Now, personally, I have concerns with professional political careers and politicians in their senior years, as a 4-term senator in his 70's. Cornyn's last general election was his closest, and he faced a difficult midterm with an increasingly unpopular Trump. Still,. Cornyn was a Senate GOP leader, one of the leading contenders to succeed McConnell as Majority Leader. There is no doubt that another Texas statewide officeholder would pose a primary challenge. I still did not expect the controversial Ken Paxton, impeached by a GOP state House on corruption and other charges, could prevail in a tough general election:


Cornyn narrowly won a plurality in the primary, in a 3-way contest. However, he needed a majority to win re-nomination without a runoff.  Trump seemed to want to use his coveted endorsement to pressure Cornyn on winning Senate approval of the SAVE Act. (See my earlier essays on that bill). But the Senate lacked the votes to thwart the filibuster or the GOP votes needed to weaken the rule. Trump then decided to endorse Paxton. I personally don't think the endorsement was a big deal. Given a close primary, a majority vote against Cornyn had made a Cornyn runoff victory unlikely, with motivated Trumpkins for Paxton. Cornyn primarily had to argue the electability against Paxton in the general election. 

It's difficult to definitively predict the outcome of an election just over 4 months away. Texas doesn't register voters by party, and primaries are open to all voters. More voters voted in this year's Democratic primary, and any polls between the fall opponents showed Paton losing or with statistically insignificant leads. Personally, I would have likely supported Cornyn this fall. Paxton is totally corrupt and morally unacceptable; I would support the LP candidate if I were a Texas resident this fall.

Via RCP:

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Post #7736 M: Trump's Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on Vanity Projects; McClanahan on The Supreme Court Doesn't Own the Constitution; Bernie and Trump want stock in America's AI companies

 Quote of the Day

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, 
should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim 
that 'a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.' 
So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him 
that you are his sincere friend. 
Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, 
which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, 
and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him 
of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one.
Abraham Lincoln  

Trump's Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on Vanity Projects


McClanahan on The Supreme Court Doesn't Own the Constitution

 

Bernie and Trump want stock in America's AI companies

 

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Political Cartoon



Courtesy of Pedro Molina via US News

 Musical Interlude: 1964 Top 100 Hits

A Summer Song - Chad & Jeremy

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Monday, June 22, 2026

Post #7735 M: Trump’s Childish Behavior with World Leaders; Bernie Sanders Is Wrong About Elon Musk and Trillionaires; Do Democrats Still Have a Big City Crime Problem?

 Quote of the Day

In the midst of difficulty 
lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein  

Trump’s Childish Behavior with World Leaders

Bernie Sanders Is Wrong About Elon Musk and Trillionaires

Do Democrats Still Have a Big City Crime Problem?

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Steve Sack via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1964 Top 100 Hits

Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying - Gerry & the Pacemakers

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Sunday, June 21, 2026

Post #7734 Social Media Digest

X/Twitter 

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Post #7733 M: Woke Jesus And The Woman Caught In Adultery; McClanahan on Is the FED Making Americans Unhappy?; What 1976 Got Right About America

Quote of the Day
A cloudy day is no match 
for a sunny disposition.
William Arthur Ward   

Woke Jesus And The Woman Caught In Adultery

McClanahan on Is the FED Making Americans Unhappy?

What 1976 Got Right About America

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Rick McKee via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1964 Top 100 Hits

The Little Old Lady From Pasadena - Jan & Dean

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Saturday, June 20, 2026

Post #7732 J

Endemic Report

CDC stats this week:

The major stats remain unchanged.

The Sick Times:



Undoubtedly, the biggest news over the past week was departing DNI chief Gabbard's release of newly declassified documents relevant to alleged COVID origins, including US funding of Wuhan research and Fauci's alleged involvement (re: Rand Paul).

The latest COVID-19 news:

Other Notes 

The blog continues to attract a seemingly new normal of about 1K pageviews daily. I'm still working on my first June essay. X/Twitter seems to be stabilizing; it has been a while since any tweets have gone viral or my followers have had a sustained push.

I've seen some movement in egg prices, with ShopRite breaking $1 for a dozen budget-brand eggs. Lidl's regular price is down to $1.46.

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