Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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What is going on with Tucker Carlson? In private messages unearthed by lawsuits against Fox News, the fiery host was a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump, even as he continued to praise and defend him on television. “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson wrote in one message, adding, “I truly can’t wait.” “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump,” Carlson wro...
Banking must have been next on the to-do list of the things the Biden administration is planning to destroy. In two years, President Biden and the wrecking crew of crazies, wokesters and career incompetents he has put into his government have screwed up every corner of America. Everything from the economy and our military to our kitchen gas stoves has already been wrecked or is under threat from the Biden White House. Even the entire world is in danger, thanks to the wizards in his state department. They did nothing to deter Putin from invading...
We sprang our clocks forward of this past weekend to start Mountain Daylight Savings Time, and spring begins at 3:24 pm MDST this coming Monday. So we’re between the springing forward and the spring equinox. The recent changing of the clocks and the upcoming first official day of spring brought a few things to mind. That is, moving the clock forward means getting up an hour earlier in the morning and makes the day seem longer, at least for a brief period, because it gets dark later. Then, the onset of spring leads to an increase in activities,...
Amazon.com Inc.’s pause of its plans to expand its second headquarters in Northern Virginia reflects some deep underlying trends — not just for metropolitan Washington, where I live, but for regional development more generally. First, with the end of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy, many developments are being canceled or postponed. Long-term projects are less profitable than they used to be, and capital is harder to come by. As the major technology companies lose market value, their urban and suburban refurbishment plans...
It’s been a few weeks since Dilbert creator Scott Adams was canceled by hundreds of newspapers across the nation, as well as Canada, for racist tirades he unleashed on his own YouTube show. Adams, who is white, suggested that white people “get the hell away from Black people,” referring to Black Americans as a “hate group.” “It makes no sense whatsoever as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore,” Adams said. “White people trying to help black America for decades and decades has completely failed. And we should just...
Elected officials who use the power of government to “help” people often fail to account for the possible unintended consequences of their actions. Even the noblest of intentions can unintentionally hurt those it’s meant to aid. Such is the case with New Mexico’s new law imposing a price control on the interest rate that lenders are allowed to charge on a short-term loan. Proponents claim it will make a “real difference” for people, but the only difference it’ll make is in the ability for people to access credit. On Jan. 1, H.B. 132 “Interest...
In Acts 16:1-12 we have the story of Paul and Silas on a missionary journey. Compared to the rest of Acts, this narrative seems a little dull. There are no shocking miracles; no devilish opposition; and no riots. It contains, however, some good lessons on decision-making, and these are badly needed, especially for the younger folks around us. We’ll talk about one such lesson. Not everyone grew up with wise parents who taught them how to govern their lives or make important choices. Even fewer have that in our day. I think especially of the r...
The saga of the comic strip “Dilbert” and the racist rants of its creator, Scott Adams, isn’t the out-of-control cancel culture that Twitter boss Elon Musk and others on the right claim. It’s actually an example of the free market in action — the free market of newspapers responding to readers who are appalled at Adams’ outspoken racism. Adams has the right to those views, but no newspaper or reader has an obligation to support them with attention and money. Adams has promoted Trumpian conspiracy theories for a while now, but last month he cr...
John Fetterman’s announcement that he has checked himself into a hospital was met with bipartisan praise. Far right politicians from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to fellow Pennsylvania centrist Rep. Susan Wild to New York left wing Congressmen Richie Torres lavished support on the senator for publicly disclosing and confronting his illness. Reaction to Fetterman’s predicament demonstrates the dramatic transformation of perception and attitudes toward public health and mental illness. For decades, it was seen as a stigma to be afflicted with such an ail...
The poor Democrats trapped in the bloody and broken city of Chicago finally came to their senses. In their primary election for mayor last week they gave the boot to their goofy and dangerously woke mayor, Lori Lightfoot. Unfortunately, when Lightfoot leaves office, Los Angeles, where I live, will have the honor of having the worst mayor in the country – Karen Bass. Elected only last fall, Bass has already proven she is just as clueless as Lightfoot when it comes to fighting crime and cleaning up a city. For example, to get more cops to join t...
My last article was about Valentine’s Day in regard to maintaining our love for God by showing others his love for us all (John 3:16; 13:34-35). I also love the season of twitterpation that follows Valentine’s Day during the onset of spring. I’m not referring to the date of the spring equinox — March 20 — but rather the greening up as grasses start growing and trees sprout leaves. I recall when I moved to Tucumcari from central Kentucky in December 1996 that I came from green to brown. I was depressed until about March 1, when I looked to...
Grief is a sneaky beast. There I was, scrolling through social media mostly minding my own business, when it hit. It started out innocently enough. I was knee-deep in fancy chocolate blends and extracts. Google seems to think I have a baking problem, and regularly throws things of interest my way. This time it was a cookbook. A triple layer chocolate something or other flashed on the screen, topped with the title, “50 Things to Bake Before You Die.” Challenge accepted, I thought. And then I immediately thought of my dad, who lived by the “tw...
One year into Russia’s assault on Ukraine, a few things are clear. Ukraine remains highly motivated, punching well above its weight against a far bigger and more experienced foe. The Russian military, meanwhile, has underperformed to nearly the same degree, though it continues to muster bodies and ammunition to throw at the front. It is also clear that the U.S. role has been essential in giving Ukraine a fighting chance. Thanks to a successful American campaign to become the indispensable nation, we are the only ones capable of leading that c...
Here we are. Another year, another February and another Black History Month in the books. Every year, for 28 days (29 in leap years), we are rightly introduced to and reminded of the innumerable contributions Black people have made to this nation. Corporations make bold and brazen acknowledgments, educational institutions salute Black history, and churches sponsor dinners representing a culinary smorgasbord undeniably definitive of recipes that originated in the African diaspora. All of this is good. Black people have a complex and vibrant hist...
Donald Trump and a lot of cameras flew into East Palestine, Ohio, last Wednesday. Yes, it was a typical Trump photo op. Yes, they were his MAGA people. The mostly white working-class town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border has nearly 5,000 souls and about 70 percent of them voted for him in 2020. But Trump did something for the people of the polluted town on that Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg had not yet done – he showed up and showed them he cared. Whatever you think about his style and personal flaws, Trump did a good thing by forcing the Biden a...
It’s ironic that forgiveness is so misunderstood among believers, given the place that it holds in the whole scheme of biblical thought. Jesus routinely explained forgiveness in economic terms. He compares it to forgiveness of a debt in Matthew 18. Forgiveness means no longer demanding repayment for what is owed. It doesn’t require a particular feeling. When Jesus demands we forgive each other from the “heart” that’s not saying we are required to feel a particular emotion: it just means we must be sincere. People get tripped up on the requi...
If you’re ever going to write your life story, there are two things you need to do first. Number one is to stall for about 20 years. Writing your life story is one big, scary feat, after all. Just keep in mind the longer you stall, the longer your book is going to have to be. Number two is make sure you have experienced all that life has to offer – and that definitely includes goats, Clovis and Tucumcari. If you get one of the three, you’re on the right track. Two out of three is golden. But three out of three is where it’s at if you want th...
One of Vladimir Putin’s strategies during his brutal, illegal war in Ukraine has been to ensure that Russians only hear one version of reality. His. Last week, the world learned that he’s also applying that tactic to Ukrainian children. The Russian government has put thousands of Ukrainian children into what the Kremlin pitched as “recreation camps,” but in actuality are re-education facilities aimed at Russifying the children with a pro-Moscow lens into Russian culture, history and society, according to a report released by Yale Univers...
Let’s face it, when Fox News gives Democrats a B+, you know they really delivered an exceptional performance. That was the grade the rabidly right-wing media network gave President Biden on his State of the Union address. As someone who usually doesn’t watch these annual speeches to the nation, I did buck my previous trend and decided to tune in for this one. Admittedly, I harbored some degree of apprehension wondering if Biden would be up to the task. If they were forced to be honest, I’d imagine most Democrats harbored similar conce...
Train wreck. That’s a perfect way to describe the dismal record of the Biden administration. We’ve already seen a series of major disasters at home and abroad. And now we have a literal train wreck in eastern Ohio that is, yet again, exposing how incompetent, laughably dumb and out-of-touch the president and his gang in Washington are. The derailment of the Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 started out as a small news item from a Trump corner of Flyover Country. But it quickly became a major story when it was...
Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day, which I love as a celebration of love. But there’s a lot about its origin I didn’t previously know. First, there are more than one Saint Valentine and the Feb. 14 holiday honors at least two — one in Rome and one in present day Terni, Italy, and maybe a third in Africa, although numerous martyrs were named Valentine. Some churches honor the different Valentines on different dates. The Romans martyred all of the Valentines for their acts of love and service to God by ministering to persecuted Christians. The Valentine...
President Joe Biden, his approval ratings underwater for most of the past two years, made his case for a second term last week. It’s doubtful he changed many minds. The 80-year-old Democrat droned on for 73 minutes during his State of the Union address, urging voters to let him “finish the job.” He insisted that all is well, that his economic policies have put the nation on a prosperous path. “Two years ago our economy was reeling,” Biden said. “As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs — more jobs created in two yea...
Term limits can be incredibly liberating, as former Republican Gov. Gary Johnson demonstrated when he professed his love for marijuana shortly after winning reelection in 1998. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has the twin advantages of not having to run again, and going into her second term with financial resources that are beyond the wildest dreams of her predecessors. The state exceeded revenue estimates by $3.6 billion during the last fiscal year. The proposed $9.44 billion budget now under consideration is up by $4 billion from when Bill...
The problem with young people today is no one teaches them history. If they knew what the East German government did to their Olympic women athletes in the 1970s and 1980s, for instance, they might understand why it’s not fair for transgender men to compete against women in sports like swimming, tennis and surfing. It’s ancient news now, but before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, East Germany was arguably the most evil communist country in Western Europe. It wasn’t just the lack of political, economic and social freedom or the fact that half...
Jesus said in Matthew 10:32, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” This seems like a pretty big deal. If you want Jesus to confess you, you need to confess him. Of course, that’s from a translation that was completed in 1611, so it’s not surprising that the key word there, “confess,” may not mean to our ears what it meant to theirs. We tend to think of admitting to our sins, when we talk about confession. That’s certainly what it means legally and in major religious tra...