Stop Trump!

 (NOTE: This is my opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of my employer. This is a column I wrote before Donald Trump’s ICE agents murdered two Americans in Minnesota. This column has not been published in print or anywhere other than here.)

Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again. Don’t believe him. He wants to make Donald Trump great. He is fixated on himself; the country be damned. The evidence is overwhelming. The man is a menace and needs to be stopped.

Trump returned to the presidency as a criminal convicted of 34 felonies. He was twice impeached by the House of Representatives in his first term. Despite what he wants you to believe, Joe Biden did not steal the 2020 election. He won and Trump lost. That has been proven in recounts and court challenges. Keep these things in mind because it’s important to remember his motivation as we review some of his actions in the past year.

Among the first things Trump did when he returned to office was fire anybody and everybody who remotely had anything to do with any of the prosecutions against him and replace them with Trump loyalists. He stacked the courts in his favor. He issued pardons for everyone convicted of or facing charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.

This is nothing more than an attempt to cover up and erase his crimes. He’s doing the same thing now by resisting the release of the FBI’s Jeffrey Epstein files. Now that they’re slowly being released, he’s trying to dismiss it as a “Democrat hoax” and a distraction. It’s kind of like the Wizard of Oz telling Dorothy to not pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.

Assault on the First Amendment

Trump is assaulting the First Amendment in his attempts to silence his critics. First, he booted The Associated Press out of the White House press pool because it wouldn’t go along with his name change of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

He got Congress to cut $1.1 billion from public broadcasting because he disagreed with NPR and PBS. He sued The Wall Street Journal, the BBC and the New York Times for billions of dollars. He called the Times “a threat to national security” and “a true enemy of the people” that “must be dealt with and stopped.”

He threatened to yank the broadcast licenses of networks if their late-night shows are “almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party.”

Trump even wants to eliminate American Sign Language translators from his press conferences because he says they intrude on his ability to control his image. His efforts to stifle the free press should chill every American to the bone. What he is doing is unconstitutional.

Abuse of power

Unfortunately, Trump doesn’t seem to let the Constitution get in the way of his abuses of power. He ordered domestic invasions of major cities by the National Guard. The attack on Venezuela and the snatching of its president is of highly questionable legality. His administration has been bombing boats and murdering their crews in international waters without due process, making him judge, jury and executioner without the benefit of a trial and in violation of international law.

Trump purports the boats are Venezuelan drug smugglers. He claims to be saving American lives in this war on drugs. Yet he pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced to prison on massive cocaine distribution charges. In the wake of the raid on Venezuela, Trump rapidly turned his focus from drugs to oil.

Vengeance

When Trump embarked on his reelection campaign, he made it crystal clear that revenge was one of his goals. He has been relentless in going after his enemies, real or perceived.

In my home state of Colorado, Trump attempted to pardon former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters who was convicted in a state court on election related charges. The state has refused to free Peters claiming Trump lacks jurisdiction to pardon her. In retaliation, Trump has refused three requests for disaster relief funding and threatened to eliminate the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

In a further affront to Colorado, Trump has vetoed a unanimous, bipartisan bill to provide clean drinking water to communities in the eastern part of the state reportedly because Rep. Lauren Boebert broke ranks with him over the release of the Epstein files.

When six Democratic lawmakers – former military and intelligence officers – made a video reminding members of the military they can refuse illegal orders, Trump went ballistic on social media, calling it seditious behavior punishable by death. He ordered the FBI to investigate them.

SNAP decisions

Remember the government shutdown that put SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) payments in jeopardy? Trump was so adamant in blaming Democrats that he threatened to pull funding from states that tried to supplement SNAP funding so people could eat. All the while he was doing this, he threw a huge Great Gatsby themed party at his Mar-a-Lago home. He wined and dined while forcing poor Americans to go hungry.

What’s in a name?

Given his history of naming buildings and things after himself, it should come as no surprise that Trump is naming and renaming government buildings and programs after himself. The most egregious is the plastering of his name atop the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The Narcissist in Chief has ordered construction of a new “Trump-class” of battleships. He has the TrumpRx prescription drug website, Trump Accounts for children, and the Trump Gold Card, a $1 million visa for wealthy immigrants. There is a much longer list of current and proposed namings that I won’t list for the sake of brevity.

Traditionally a building or program is named for someone in recognition for work they have done. The name is normally proposed by others as a way to bestow honor. Trump dishonorably names things for himself.

Dignity slips to a new low

Just when you think Trump couldn’t be more full of himself, he sunk to a new low in a social media post the day Rob Reiner and his wife were found slain in their home. Their son has been charged with their murders, but Trump said they died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Trump did the most childish thing any president has ever done while in office when he created the Presidential Walk of Fame. It features gold framed pictures of each president (excluding Biden whom he replaced with a picture of his autopen signature). Under them he posted plaques in typical Trumpian language describing how good or bad they were in Trump’s opinion.

In another of his Truth Social posts, he claimed Jesus spoke to him, singing his praises for making America great again, saying “The whole world owes you a debt of gratitude for being so Christian and having perfect morals.” That is so wrong on so many levels I’d have to say the devil made him do it.

Redecorating the White House

It’s not unprecedented for presidents to add their personal touch to the White House. Trump has taken things to a new extreme. Without undergoing any kind of approval process, Trump had the East Wing of the White House demolished to make way for a proposed $400 million ballroom (undoubtedly to be named after Trump). He paved over the Rose Garden to make a patio. He redecorated the Oval Office with garish gold embellishments.

Stop Trump

Keep in mind that he has committed these and numerous other atrocities in just his first year back in office. There are three more years to go unless he is stopped. The only way to do that is to pull out the props from beneath him.

The House and Senate will not take any action against him because they have a majority of Trumplicans (or Trumpuppets) who are beholden to him. They’re either afraid to stand up to him or are so drunk on the Trump juice that they can’t tell right from wrong anymore.

This means we need to use ballot power to get rid of them. We need to vote every Trump supporter out of office at every level of government. The upcoming midterm elections is the perfect opportunity to do that. We can replace them with people who will stand up to Trump, stop his shenanigans and possibly impeach him from office.

Any candidate that has Trump’s endorsement or who touts support for Trump will automatically lose my vote and hopefully yours as well.

Survey says: Stop sending stupid surveys!

It seems these days you can’t even blow your nose without the tissue company wanting you to complete a survey about their product and your experience.

Them: On a scale of one to 10 with one being the worst possible experience and 10 being the absolute best possible experience, how would you rate the performance of the tissue you just used?

Me: I don’t know and I don’t care.

Them: On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate the strength of the tissue you just used?

Me: It caught the snot, isn’t that enough?

Them: On a scale of one to 10, how likely are you to recommend our brand of tissues to your friends?

Me: I’ve never recommended a brand of tissue before. Why should I start now?

Them: Please provide any additional feedback that might help us improve your nose-blowing experience using our product.

Me: Yeah, how the heck did you even know I just blew my nose?

Them: Please consider leaving us a review at (insert name of online service here).

Me: Leave me alone. Go away! Shoo!

Seriously, it seems you can’t go anywhere or do anything without getting hit up with a survey. Grocery store and restaurant receipts try to bribe you to take their survey with the chance of winning cash or free food. If you eat out, go to the barber, get gas, buy groceries, shop for clothes or walk across the street, you’re going to get an email and/or text asking for your opinion in a survey. Enough already!

I’ve had the experience of going through some minor surgeries lately. Guess what? The hospital wants to know how they did. The surgeon wants to know how he/see did. The anesthesiologist wants you to take their survey. And they text and email until you finally relent.

At first filling out surveys was kind of a novelty. It was fun to do. Now it’s annoying. I’m to the point of grading service providers much harder than I used to. I mean, if the purpose of the surveys is to improve customer service and satisfaction, then I expect five-star service everywhere I go. Trust me, it ain’t happening.

Now, the only time my wife and I look forward to filling out surveys is when we’ve had a bad experience. If we leave a restaurant or someplace where we’ve had poor service and my wife says, “I hope they send me a survey,” you can bet it’s not going to end well for someone.

There are times when we get outstanding service and we’re more than happy to express that. Our preference, however, is to express it in the tip rather than in a survey. I had a restaurant job many moons ago and I know from experience that tips directly correlated to the quality of service I provided. That told me enough. As an assistant manager, it was easy to tell which waitresses did a good job and which ones didn’t. No survey required.

Whenever you call a customer service person on the phone, nine times out of 10 you will be asked to hold on the line to take a short survey. Nine times out of 10 I will simply hang up unless I had really, really good or incompetently horrible service. Seriously, if my call is being recorded for quality and training purposes, what more does a supervisor need?

Sometimes I wonder what companies actually do with the information they gather in their surveys. Do they lord it over employees? Do they joke about it with other companies?

Company A: Hey, look what we got this moron to do.

Company B: Wow, you rejected his refund and got him to like it?

Company A: Yeah, people will do anything for free widgets.

Company B: Well, look at this. We caught this person blowing his nose and now he’s recommending us to everyone he knows.

Company A: How did you get him to do that?

Company B: It was simple, we gave him a survey.

New book looks at Texas Revolution from the other side

 

It is said that history is written by the victors, but in terms of the Texas Revolution, the vanquished Mexican army has a lot to say about the subject.

Some of what the Mexicans recorded in documentation conflicts with the accepted Texian narrative about the war that gave Texas its independence from Mexico. That is the gist of what author Gregg Dimmick of Wharton has to say in his three-volume book about the Texas Revolution from the perspective of the Mexican army. The first book, “Santa Anna’s Army in the Texas Revolution, 1835,” was published in December by Texas A&M University Press.

The 406-page book details events in Texas up through 1835 from the Mexican perspective using rare Mexican military documents. Last April Dimmick gave a talk about his new books at a meeting of the William Joel Bryan Chapter of the Sons of the Republic of Texas. He said he finished writing the three books four or five years ago, but the COVID pandemic and other issues got in the way of publication.

“I tried to just use Mexican army sources. About 15 years ago for their 200th anniversary, the Mexican government digitalized the military archives, and they put it online,” he said. “And a good friend of mine, an archeologist in Houston, told me about it, and I got in there, and I got on their site. I searched Texas, Alamo, San Jacinto, and all this kind of stuff. I downloaded about 2,000 documents. They’re all handwritten in Spanish.”

Among Dimmick’s findings are documentation proving that the cannon on display in the Gonzales Memorial Museum is not the actual Come and Take It cannon and that the number of Mexicans killed in the Battle of the Alamo was not in the hundreds, but only 60.

“I had good documentation required on this that the Come and Take It cannon was not the little bitty thing in Gonzales. I’m not very highly thought of in Gonzales. I keep telling people that’s not the Come and Take It cannon.

“I have a documentation from Green DeWitt saying ‘I’m sending a wagon, and I hope it’s big enough to hold the cannon.’ So that little cannon they have in Gonzales wouldn’t have needed a wagon. They could have taken it on horseback. And so I have good documentation that the cannon in Gonzales is not the Come and Take It cannon. The Come and Take It cannon was probably a four pounder, a six pounder and [made of] brass. And was taken back to the Alamo and was probably the one that was melted down [to make a church bell],” he said.

As for the Alamo, the subject of the second book in the series, he said both sides exaggerated numbers significantly, but documentation, including lists of names, shows that there were far fewer than 2,000 Mexicans attacking the Alamo on the morning of March 6, and fewer wounded or killed than what most people believe.

“I have it well documented from several sources that there was 60 Mexicans killed at the Alamo on March 6th. There were 311 total killed and wounded at the Alamo,” he said.

Dimmick said he found several sources confirming that the number of Mexicans killed that day was only 60, although some of the 251 wounded would have died from their injuries later.

“Santa Anna, on the day of the battle, said about 70 dead and 300 wounded,” he said. “There were probably 2,000 Mexicans there, but only 1,450 attacked the Alamo. There were another 250-300 cavalrymen waiting for the Texans that fled; and there were Texans that fled. I’ve got the report of the cavalry commander, and he talks about where they chased them down, and how many they killed.”

This first volume by Dimmick sets the stage for the part of history that Texans know well. It goes through the Battle of Gonzales and the Siege of Bejar.

Using source material, he looks at communications and movements of Mexican forces in defense of their land.

“I always try to correct people that say that the Mexicans invaded Texas. You can’t invade your own country. That was not an invading army that came up here. That was an army trying to preserve their country,” he said.

Just over a third of the book is the appendix, which includes pictures of the documents on one page and the English translation on the adjacent page. Dimmick had translation assistance by John R. Wheat and illustrations by Manuel Hinojosa. Dimmick’s best known work is the book “Sea of Mud,” which details the retreat of the Mexican Army after the Battle of San Jacinto. He is also an amateur archeologist, having uncovered numerous artifacts lost by the retreating army.

Copies of his documents and some of his artifacts have been donated to the Cushing Library at Texas A&M. His second volume will cover the Battle of the Alamo through the Goliad Massacre. The third edition will go through the Battle of San Jacinto.

Join the homesteading rebellion

How would you like to stand up to the government and join the rebellion?

I’m not talking about confronting ICE agents or holding signs in a No Kings protest. I’m talking about eating healthily, supporting your neighbors and throwing off the shackles of government regulation over your food. Sandy and I are part of a nationwide movement to restore natural, healthy, locally sourced foods to our diets. It’s called the homesteading movement.

When we bought our small acreage here in 2023 it was with the intent of starting a hobby farm, mostly for sentimental reasons. Both of us grew up on hobby farms as children and we enjoy gardening and raising small farm animals. What we didn’t realize at the time is that we were becoming involved in a much larger and fast-growing movement.

The homesteading movement is hiding in plain sight. Although there is no formal organization or membership, many in the movement operate both publicly and underground. The public side can be seen at farmers markets, roadside stands, or on signs in front of one’s property advertising fresh fruits and vegetables or eggs for sale.

It’s the underground side that gets exciting and becomes an act of rebellion against Big Ag, Big Food and Big Brother. The most rebellious thing we do is buy raw, unpasteurized whole milk from a local supplier! The most dastardly thing we do with this legally obtained contraband is make fresh butter and homemade yogurt!

The horrors, you say! I know, right! We’re taking our lives into our own hands and spurning industrially produced, ultra-processed, additive-infused store-bought milk. The government put the kibosh on raw milk because people were getting sick from it when dairy farming became industrialized. In a small way it became part of government control over our lives.

What they don’t tell you is that the milk you get in the store is not natural and it has been stripped of many of its nutrients and things we need to feed a healthy gut biome. But enough about raw milk for now. It’s just a gateway drug to get you into healthier living. Soon we plan to get into heavier stuff like fresh, organic meat from animals that have never been medicated or fed growth hormones, and that have been fed a natural and varied diet. Shh, don’t tell anyone, but some of this we are even raising ourselves.

Homesteaders are basically people who run a small family farm on an acre or two on up to a few hundred acres. Homesteaders grow fresh produce, raise chickens and other poultry for meat and eggs, and have other livestock, such as cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and rabbits. We have started raising rabbits and are in the market for more if anyone out there is selling. We will consider getting hooved creatures down the road.

For some, homesteading is a hobby or a side job. Some do it full time. Some go to the extreme of becoming completely self-sufficient and going off grid. Kudos to them. The more people we can get out of the grocery stores and onto the land the better. I’m not saying grocery stores are bad. They are important and we need them. It just that the closer we can bring the consumer to the farmer the better off we are.

Shopping at a farmers market, like the ones in Bryan and College Station, or buying directly from local sellers generally gives you healthier, organic, whole foods. We need to get away from packaged processed foods, especially things made from a long list of unpronounceable chemicals.

In doing research on hobby farming, Sandy came across the Homesteading Monthly magazine. One of its regular contributors is Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia. He is arguably the best-known homesteader and is very prolific, having written several books, columns and other materials. He has a podcast and other social media outlets for sharing information.

Salatin clearly has issues with governmental control over our food and regularly takes issue with Big Ag and Big Food. One of his books is titled “Everything I Want to Do is Illegal.” I love his whimsical and irreverent style of writing. His love of the land and all things natural is inspiring.

You don’t have to have a lot of land to get into homesteading. A small garden plot is a good way to start. Get a few chickens if you can or a breeding pair of rabbits. These small steps can lead you into a bigger world of healthier living. You can join the movement and become an agricultural rebel yourself. 

Celebrating 20 years a Texan

 A milestone snuck past me last fall. I have been a resident of Texas for 20 years.

That’s one third of my life. I guess it’s finally time to stop thinking of myself as a Texas newbie.

As improbable as it was for me to move to Texas, it seems even more unlikely that I would ever leave (knock on wood). I wasn’t born in Texas. I was dragged here kicking and screaming. I’m a Colorado native and have lived there for a combined 32 years. I grew up loathing all things Texas.

That Texas braggadocio may play well in the Lone Star state, but it hits a sour note in the other 49, which I’ve come to understand is the whole point. After I graduated from college, I moved to Minnesota for two years and North Carolina for seven before returning to Colorado for nine years. Not only wasn’t Texas on my radar of places to live, it was in my forbidden zone – one of the places I swore I’d never move to.

It wasn’t until things went really bad for me in Colorado that the Houston native I married was able to nudge me toward a job in Amarillo. We moved there at the end of 2005 and spent the next three years longing to go back to Colorado. Fortunately, God had other plans for us.

In December of 2008 we moved into Sandy’s grandfather’s house in Rosenberg and stayed there for 10 years. We later bought a house on the outskirts of town but then fell in love with Aggieland and moved here in 2023.

In the 20 years that we have lived here I have gone from disliking Texas to accepting it and now fully embracing it. I’ve become a bonified barbecue eatin’, Buc-ee’s lovin’, HEB shoppin’, Whataburger and Blue Bell proud Texan. I’d throw in Dr Pepper, but I ditched soft drinks in 2016. That being said, it is my favorite Coke.

My relationship with Texas has been reciprocal. It seems the more I give the more Texas gives back. We have always been active in the churches we’ve belong to. It doesn’t matter where we live, God’s people are the best but there is something special about the ones in Texas.

Since moving to South Texas, I’ve become a member of the Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer Organization where I’ve been able to assist visitors and hold snakes and baby alligators for people to touch. I’ve been credentialled to photograph professional football and baseball from the sidelines. I’ve covered launches and landings of the space shuttle from NASA. I’ve flown in vintage aircraft. I’ve met countless celebrities, athletes, and politicians.

In the Boy Scouts, Sandy and I both completed Wood Badge training and raised two Eagle Scouts. In 2023, as we were wrapping up our decades of involvement with the Boy Scouts, Sandy was honored as a Yellow Rose of Texas. Last year I was knighted a Knight of Texas for my work with the Texas Army. Those are huge honors, and we are grateful and don’t take them lightly.

My interest in Texas really took hold when I discovered the world of historical reenacting. I started following the Texas Army and other reenactment/living history groups to different events related to the Texas Revolution. I was recruited to join the Texas Army in 2018 and am now on the command staff as the communications officer.

My interest in history led me to do some genealogical research that ultimately led to me becoming a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Sons of the Republic of Texas. I’m now the historian for the William Joel Bryan Chapter No.14 of the Sons of the Republic of Texas.

I know this sounds like I’m bragging (and maybe I am), but the thing is, Texas took in a reluctant resident and granted him friendship and kinship. We’ve had opportunities in Texas that we never would have had anywhere else. I am proud and grateful to be able to call this great state my home.

Those first 20 years went by fast. I just hope the next 20 slow down a bit so I can savor and enjoy every moment I get to spend as a Texan. And if all y’all think I’m just blowing smoke up your backside, well, bless your heart!