90-second Book Review: Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is a Fine book About The Dust Bowl Years

 Kristin Hannah's novel, The Four Winds, published in 2021, is a fine book on the Dust Bowl years in America's Heartland.

I like the book for two reasons. First, Hannah's description of what it was like to live on a Dust Bowl farm is harrowingly accurate. I wasn't born until after the Great Depression, but my mother grew up on a farm in northwestern Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years. Her description of that time confirms the accuracy of Hannah's narrative.

The sky turned black when the dust storms rolled through, and visibility was restricted to just a few feet. Although my mother's family stuffed bits of newspapers around the windows and door sashes to keep the dust out of their farm home, it got in anyway, covering every surface with a layer of fine, gritty sand.

My grandfather had a small herd of cows but no forage. Finally, he was forced to sell them to the government for a pittance. 

To reduce the glut in cattle, government shooters came onto the family farm, gathered up grandfather's cows, and shot them. My mother saw that happen, and she remembers a line of cars filled with scavengers who followed the shooters and harvested the meat.

My mother's family often went to bed hungry. The drought made it impossible to grow a vegetable garden, and their fruit trees died for lack of water.

My grandfather came to Oklahoma from Nebraska in a covered wagon, and he prospered for a few years when the price of wheat was high. He owned three horse-drawn harvesting machines. I remember those old relics rusting away in front of his home.

As a child, I imagined those machines as Christopher Columbus's ships: the Pinta, the Niña,  and the Santa Maria. And I remember walking through one of my grandfather's pastures. No cows; nothing but sagebrush and sand.

The Great Depression broke my grandfather's spirit. He spent his last days sitting in a rocking chair and masticating Swisher Sweet cigars like chewing tobacco. I don't recall ever having a conversation with him.

I also liked Hannah's book for its description of the reception the Dust Bowl refugees got when they migrated to California. My mother's family stuck it out, but over a quarter of a million Oklahomans migrated to California in the 1930s.

Californians tried to keep them out, and when they got in anyway, California's big landowners hired them to pick fruit, vegetables, and cotton for starvation wages. Whole families worked all day just to buy their daily food.

Any review of Four Winds must include a comparison with John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Both books have a feminist theme. Elsa Martinelli, Hannah's protagonist, goes to California as a single mother with two children. By the novel's end, Elsa becomes radicalized and helps organize a farm workers' strike.

In The Grapes of Wrath, Ma Joad assumes the leadership of her extended family after the menfolk break under the strain of their flight to California. When the going gets really tough, Steinbeck implies, you gotta rely on the women to survive,

Every American should read The Grapes of Wrath and The Four Winds to understand rural Americans' desperate lives during the 1930s. They should also see John Ford's epic movie, The Grapes of Wrath, which won two Academy Awards in 1941.

It is fashionable today to view all Americans living in the Heartland as "white Christian Nationalists" who have prospered by exploiting people of color. Of course, that's not true. Most people in  Flyover Country work hard, practice their religion, and lead modest lives.

Moreover, the descendants of the Dust Bowl refugees claim a heritage of suffering, exploitation, and unbearable hardship--as harsh as any American has suffered in the twentieth century--regardless of color. This is my heritage, and I'm proud of it.

90-second food review: Ode to Jim's Barbecue in Waskom, Texas (and a Shout-Out to T.S. Eliot)

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot 

Years ago, I regularly traveled back and forth from Dallas to Baton Rouge. It was a grueling seven-hour drive on Interstate 30 and Interstate 49, with state troopers lurking in the wooded median strips, fiendishly designed to be perfect speed traps.

For years, I searched for a good place to eat on my weary travels, a country diner close by the highway that served comfort food at a reasonable price.

 Unconsciously, however, I  was looking for a 1950s diner like the cafes I knew in rural Oklahoma when I was a kid. I wanted to find a place that smelled like frying onions and hamburgers sizzling on a greasy grill. I wanted a country restaurant with a juke box playing songs sung by Lefty Frizzell.

Unfortunately, I only found fast-food chain restaurants: McDonald's, Burger King, Whataburger, and Dairy Queen.

One day, I stopped for gas in Waskom, Texas, the last Texas town on Interstate 30 before you cross the border into Louisiana. There, partially obscured by a McDonald's, I spied Ed's Barbecue with a sign that advertised barbecue and fried catfish. Could this be the end of all my exploring?

I entered, and a cheery waitress greeted me with an expansive invitation to sit wherever I liked. The joint looked right. A framed image of John Wayne hung on one wall alongside a vintage photo of Hank Williams performing on The Louisiana Hayride, an iconic radio show broadcast out of Shreveport, Louisiana, in the 1930s.

I quickly perused the menu and ordered a cheeseburger and a glass of sweet iced tea. In the long tradition of Texas roadside restaurants, my waitress addressed me with a string of endearments: sweetie, honey, and darlin'.

I remember my cheeseburger came fully dressed with a generous side of fries.

During my visit, I entered the men's room and saw an image of Don Knotts' Barney Fife holding up a single bullet for inspection. Undoubtedly, this pleasing washroom decoration had been curated by a high-end interior design firm in Dallas.

My burger was excellent, and my sweet tea was prepared just as I like: so sweet that I would be a pre-diabetic by the time I finished my meal.

I paid my bill and bought a jar of pickled tomato relish from a stack piled next to the cash register. As my waitress handed back my credit card, she asked the golden question:

Would you like a go cup for your sweet tea, sugar pie?

I realized then that my lifetime of aimless searching had brought me back to where I started, a little Southwestern town. And this was where I belonged--not in the  Harvard Faculty Club or a stuffy university, but in Ed's Barbecue Restaurant, chowing down on a cheeseburger, catsup-drenched French fries, and a large glass of sweet iced tea.

 

 

Downwardly Mobile Millennials Voted for Zohran Mamdani, and That Makes Perfect Sense

 Zohran Mamdani won the recent Democratic primary in New York City's mayoral race,  handily defeating  Andrew Cuomo, the epitome of the Democratic Establishment. Many commentators were surprised by the types of voters who supported Momdani--Jews, for example, and the wealthy elites in Manhattan. After all, Zohran is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and has referred to some Israeli military actions as genocide. He has called for higher taxes on the rich, especially the ones living in "whiter neighborhoods."

Reihan Salam, writing for the Wall Street Journal, theorized why one particular segment of New Yorkers voted for Mamdani: downwardly mobile millennials. Salam defined downwardly mobile millennials as individuals born between 1981 and 1996 who are less well off than their parents or who perceive themselves as less well off.

Roughly 40 percent of millennials, according to research Salam cited, live in "high-cost, hyper-competitive metropolitan areas," where owning a home and paying off student loans can be "distant dreams."

Millennials in NYC and other Democratic strongholds often have college degrees and graduate credentials from prestigious universities, where they were groomed to believe they were preparing for high-paying jobs in glamorous industries and to take their rightful place among the urban elite.

Things haven't worked out so well for urban millennials. Housing costs are astronomical in NYC and other progressive Democratic strongholds. The job market for upscale jobs is fierce, and many millennials can't find jobs that allow them to pay off their student loans and still buy a home. 

Moreover, the crime rates are high in the blue cities, and the renter class bears the brunt.

No wonder so many urban millennials have turned to leftist politicians who promise to soak the rich. I say go for it!

However, Momdani supporters who are angry at the rich should reserve some of their rancor for the elite universities that charge outrageously high tuition for worthless diplomas, especially degrees in liberal arts, humanities, and the social sciences.

A few people who take out loans to get a degree from Swarthmore, Vasser, Columbia, Harvard, etc., can go to the Big Apple or other progressive cities and scramble to the top. Michelle Obama, for example, got her sociology and African American Studies degree from Princeton and is doing just fine.

However, many people who try to make the big time by taking out student loans to get a prestigious degree and going to New York, Chicago, or other expensive, crime-ridden cities, aren't doing as well. And it is these people who are voting for Zohran Mamdani and other leftist wingnuts.

If I were a millennial living in Manhattan on a salary of $90,000 a year, paying $4,000 a month in rent and $1,000 a month on my student loans, who would I vote for to be New York's next mayor?

 I'd vote for Zohran Mamdani.

Image credit Jonah Rosenberg/New York Times

"It's so cold that Bill and Hillary Clinton are sleeping together": CBS Cancels Stephen Colbert and It's the End of the World

For years. I was a big fan of The Late Show and watched it most nights when David Letterman was the host. When Stephen Colbert took over in 2015, I continued watching because I liked Colbert's comedy routines on The Colbert Report.

In time, however, I stopped watching The Late Show because Colbert got less and less funny. His monologues became snarky, and he mostly directed his witty barbs at Republicans.

Now, CBS is canceling Colbert and The Late Show franchise. Colbert makes $20 million a year, but his show was losing $40 million. You do the math.

Nevertheless, the Progressive Left is scandalized by Colbert's firing. The Writers Guild is calling for an investigation, and 200,000 people signed a petition accusing CBS of yielding to political pressure from the Trump administration. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren went so far as to point out that Colbert's termination "just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump[is] a deal that looks like bribery."

Colbert supporters demonstrated in the streets of New York City, chanting "Keep Colbert! Dump Trump!" One demonstrator said protesters were calling out "fascist censorship" against a Trump critic.

Here's my take. The legacy news and entertainment industry has been more liberal than the American public for half a century. Even as a kid watching the evening news on my family's Hallicrafters TV, I knew Walter Cronkite was a Democrat. Nevertheless, like most Americans, I trusted him to report the news fairly and objectively.

Likewise, Saturday Night Live and the late-night talk shows were populated by liberal Democrats, but they made fun of everybody--both Republicans and Democrats. I recall David Letterman observing that it was so cold that Bill and Hillary Clinton were sleeping together. And I remember Chevy Chase mocking President Gerald Ford for his clumsiness on SNL, and Dan Akroyd mimicking President Carter's apology for "flip-flopping on my flip-flop."

Those days of nonpartisan comedy are over. Now, Americans are in the streets demanding that Stephen Colbert, a sanctimonious sexagenarian, be reinstated to his $20 million gig on CBS, and Senator Warren hints darkly of bribery.

I miss the old days when Americans laughed at everyone in power--laughed at their pomposity, their hypocrasy, their venality, and their petty foibles that revealed their humanity. Don't you?

"Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost." The Democrats Hope to Regain Power Through Chaos

I have a lot of friends who are Democrats, and they're idiots.

Jamie Dimon

 Remember that great line from the Coen Brothers' classic movie The Big Lebowski? "Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost."

So it is with the Democratic Party. The bums lost. Despite all their skullduggery, their Russiagate scam, their malicious lawsuits, and the conspiratorial lapdog media--despite all that--Donald Trump won a second term.

And now the Democrats are in meltdown mode, reduced to spewing F-bombs and singing "We shall overcome" in the halls of Congress.

I agree with Jamie Dimon; the Democrats are idiots. President Trump has labeled AOC as being a person with a low IQ, but how smart are any of the Democratic leaders? How smart can they be if they continue to hang on to their transgender sports agenda after the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic Committee threw in the towel?

The Democrats have given up on regaining political power through the Democratic process. Like the Bolsheviks and the Nazis, the Democrats are counting on violence and chaos to grab the reins of power.

And violence and chaos are coming. We won't see elected Democrats throwing rocks at ICE officers, but they'll give aid and comfort to those who do. We won't see powerful Democrats deliberately destabilizing the economy, but their hysterical opposition to honest efforts to reduce fraud and waste will have the same effect.

The Democrats seem to believe they can drag down the Trump administration under a tide of litigation and bombast and somehow regain the power they had during Joe Biden's administration.

That ain't gonna happen. 

Americans have been bamboozled by the legacy media and sleezy Democratic politicians for almost ten years, but they've finally figured it out. Joe Biden was a corrupt, cognitively impaired president throughout his term of office while shadowy insiders ran the country into the ditch. Russiagate was a treasonous scam based on false documentary evidence and lies promulgated by an unscrupulous and deceitful intelligence committee, which may have been orchestrated by Barack Obama. 

The people of Flyover Country will never submit to be governed by this gang of criminals and caitliffs again. The Dems may think they can regain power through chaos and violence, but they are sorely wrong.

"Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost."

Froma Harrop Says That Debt Driven By Inflation Could Sink the National Economy: Yah Think?

For years, Froma Harrop has been a reliable spear carrier for the progressive Democrats, so when she speaks on a national policy issue, you can assume she is speaking for the Democratic establishment. Thus, it is noteworthy that her recent op ed essay sounded the alarm over rising consumer debt.

People are buying groceries and consumer goods under "Buy Now, Pay Later" programs that allow them to pay off their purchases in four monthly payments. Why don't these folks just charge their purchases on their credit cards? Harrop asked. Probably because their credit cards are maxed out.

Harrop also observed that car loan delinquencies are up, which is especially worrisome because the last thing people want to lose is their cars. 

And a high percentage of student borrowers are behind on their student loans. Harrop noted that 25 percent of the federal government's $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio is in danger of default, and 31 percent of student borrowers are delinquent on their monthly payments by 90 days or more. 

Harrop didn't mention the residential housing market, but there's also trouble in that segment of the economy. Everyone rejoiced when mortgage rates sank below 3 percent, but now they hover around 7 percent. 

In Florida, the bellweather state for residential housing, sales have slowed, and in some Florida markets, sellers have been forced to cut their prices to attract buyers. This trend is showing up in other states.

The federal debt is rising too- currently at $36 trillion, with interest payments absorbing more and more of the federal budget. Like the weather, Congress talks endlessly about the national debt, but lawmakers are not doing much about it.

Harrop believes the Trump administration is only making the nation's debt problem worse, and she may be right. Trump has been filibustering the Federal Reserve, hoping to bully Jerome Powell into lowering interest rates, which might only fuel more inflation.

Harrop's essay surely parrots the Democratic establishment's views, but what did the Democrats say about debt when Joe Biden was in office? Did they complain about all the military equipment the Army abandoned in Afghanistan--equipment that had to be replaced at great expense when the U.S. helped the Ukrainians fight the Russians? Did the Dems express concern about the federally funded NGOs that were transporting illegal immigrants into the United States and then putting them up in expensive hotels? Did Democratic congresspeople make any effort to reduce the cost of federal Medicaid programs, which now insure one-fifth of the American population?

The answer to all these questions is no. Now that the Democrats are out of power, they're complaining about inflation,  consumer borrowing, and the astronomical national debt--problems they are cheerfully blaming on President Trump.

Anti-ICE Protesters Arrested on an Ohio River Bridge: Don't Try That in a Small Town

Well, try that in a small town

See how far you make it down the road

Around here, we take care of our own

You cross that line, it won't take long

For you to find out, I recommend you don't

Try that in a small town.

"Don't Try That in a Small Town"

Performed by Jason Aldean

Protesters gathered on the Roebling Bridge a few days ago to protest the detention of a former hospital chaplain by ICE agents. The bridge spans the Ohio River and is a vital link between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky.

Some protesters stayed on the pedestrian path, and some obstructed traffic in the roadway. Police officers from Covington, Kentucky, arrived to deal with the disruption, and fifteen people were arrested.

Video of the event shows a Covington police officer hitting a protester repeatedly, and that officer was placed on administrative leave. A woman was also thrown down and restrained.

Police officers who use excessive force when making arrests should be disciplined. On the other hand, we can't excuse people who resist arrest or assault the police. 

From the video I viewed, I can't determine who was in the wrong during the scuffle on the Roebling Bridge. It may be months before the incident is sorted out.

This, however, I do know. Anti-ICE protesters have repeatedly vandalized property, set fires, and assaulted police officers in West Coast cities and have largely gone unpunished.

Folks in Flyover Country aren't as tolerant of disruptive protests as those on the Coasts. So, if you have a hankering to throw rocks at police, loot buildings, or set cars on fire, you should express yourself in Los Angeles or Seattle, where the Covington, Kentucky police have no jurisdiction.

Don't try that in a small town.

Don't Worry About Zohran Mamdani: How Bad Can He Be?

 Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary, and New Yorkers to the right of Joseph Stalin are in a panic. 

Mamadani promised to raise taxes on "whiter neighborhoods" like the one he lives in, but he assures us that he's not a racist.

He alarmed NYC's Jewish voters with his call for globalizing the intifada, but he's backed away from that phrase and denies being antisemitic. 

I don't think things will change much in the Big Apple if Zohran becomes mayor. He can't be any worse than other blue city mayors: Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Latoya Cantrell, whom New Orleanians lovingly refer to as Latoilet.

New York was already in the trash can before my dear old Mamdani showed up, and an outflow from the city was well underway. Sean Hannity recently urged New Yorkers to move to Florida, where the weather is better, taxes are lower, and crime rates are less alarming. But New Yorkers have been fleeing south for decades.

In my view, the number one reason to take the last stage out of New York is not taxes or weather. Rather, people should scram from NYC to escape a corrupt justice system--a system that is willing to prosecute people who pose a threat to the leftist Democratic machine. Just ask Donald Trump or Eric Adams.

Someone who runs afoul of Letitia James or Alvin Bragg could wind up being criminally prosecuted and could even do jail time. Even if a person defeats a politically motivated criminal case, that person could be driven into bankruptcy by the attorney fees. 

Even little people are at risk of being prosecuted unjustly. Daniel Perry was charged with criminal homicide after he defended fellow passengers from a mentally deranged man who had been threatening subway riders for years.

I suffered a stroke two years ago and need to walk with a cane, which signals to the world that I'm vulnerable. What if someone attempted to shove me onto the tracks at a New York subway station and I  injured my assailant by hitting him in the nuts with my CVS cane? I'd probably be more likely to be prosecuted for assault than the guy who tried to kill me.

Little people have been evacuating NYC for years for all the obvious reasons. Now, wealthy people- people with the resources to live comfortably and safely in our nation's largest metropolis--are getting out too. High taxes and onerous regulations are part of the motivation. Still, a corrupt and politically driven criminal justice system is undoubtedly a significant reason for businesses and rich people to pull up stakes.

It's only a matter of time before the New York Stock Exchange moves to Dallas and the Rockettes move to Chattanooga.

I'd walk a million miles for one of his smiles--Mamdani!

Was "Professor" Jonathan Anthony Caravello kidnapped at an anti-ICE Protest in Camarillo, California?

According to the California Faculty Association, Jonathan Anthony Caravelllo, "a respected educator" at  California State University Channel Islands, was "abducted" or "kidnapped" by federal authorities earlier this month at an anti-ICE protest in Camarillo, California. Caravello's employer, CSU Channel Islands, confirmed that "Professor" Camarillo had been arrested and that it was the university's "understanding" that  he had been "peacefully participating in a protest—an act protected under the First Amendment and a right guaranteed to all Americans."

The university's reference to Caravello as a "professor" implies that he's a scholar pursuing an academic career as a tenured or tenure-track academic. However, contrary to the CSU Channel Islands news release, Caravello is listed in the University  Faculty Directory as a Lecturer, not a Professor.

Of course, it doesn't make any difference in terms of his arrest whether Caravello is correctly described as a professor or a lecturer. Nevertheless, CSU Channel Islands apparently misrepresented Caravello's status, and the California Faculty Association incorrectly claimed that he had been "abducted" or kidnapped." Bill Essayli, the federal District Attorney in charge of the case, said Caravello was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents, which is a serious offense.

Caravello denies the charges and may be innocent. One observer said that Caravello had merely been attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister from under the wheelchair of a lawful protester. 

Anti-ICE protesters can reasonably argue that law-abiding and hard-working immigrants who are illegally in this country should be given legal status and not deported. But no one has the right to throw tear gas canisters at federal agents. And no one should say that a man who was arrested for allegedly assaulting federal officers has been kidnapped.

Violence against law enforcement officers is on the rise. People have been throwing rocks and heavy objects at ICE agents and the police. It's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or killed. 

And when that happens, someone is going to go to prison for a long time, where people aren't living their best lives and prison guards don't know a preferred pronoun from a billy club. On the plus side, federal prisoners can probably get a deferment on their student loan payments while they're in stir.

Many Americans have strong feelings about the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policy, which is a legitimate topic of debate. But we all have a responsibility to debate this issue rationally and to discourage violence.

Bankruptcy Relief for Overburdened Student-Loan Debtors: The Democrats Could Be Heroes

The Democrats are in a funk. Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris handily last November despite being outspent 2 to 1. Then Trump affirmed all his cabinet nominations, even RFK Jr., which was a miracle. And finally, the President got the Big, Beautiful Bill through Congress by his arbitrary deadline--July 4th.

Democrats have responded to their reversal of fortune by returning to their three standard tactics: First, they've filed hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration before friendly judges. Second, some elected Democratic politicians have contrived to get restrained or arrested for impeding Trump's deportation actions--great photo ops! 

 Finally, several Democratic politicians have unleashed a torrent of profanity. In fact, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett's status as the queen of gutter language is being challenged by several of her colleagues.

None of these tactics has increased the standing of the Democratic Party with American voters. Why not do something constructive?

I propose that Democrats engage with Republicans in a bipartisan effort to give bankruptcy relief to overburdened student-loan debtors. Our elected politicians need to acknowledge that the federal student loan program is an epic disaster that can't be fixed by income-based repayment plans or economic hardship deferrals. 

Distressed student borrowers need to be able to discharge their loans in bankruptcy like any other consumer debt. Currently, they are barred from relief by the "undue hardship" language in the Bankruptcy Code.

Not right away, of course. No one should obtain a lucrative undergraduate or professional degree and file for bankruptcy the next day.

No, every student-loan debtor should strive to pay off their college loans within ten years. Borrowers who are insolvent at the end of that period should be able to shed their debt in a federal bankruptcy court. And the same relief should be available to parents who took out Parent PLUS loans.

In other words, no more economic hardship deferments or income-based repayment plans. Instead, all student borrowers will be expected to pay off their college debt by the end of a decade. Those who fail to do so can walk over to the bankruptcy court and get relief.

Why hasn't Congress enacted this simple reform to the Bankruptcy Code? The explanation is simple.

Our elected politicians see the higher education industry as their most important constituency--not the millions of college students forced to take out burdensome loans to pay their outrageous tuition bills.

The colleges are okay with the status quo. They get juiced with federal student loan money year after year, regardless of whether their graduates can pay off the debt. 

If beaten-down student borrowers had access to the bankruptcy courts, millions would file for relief. Then, Americans would see just how much a college education is overpriced and how worthless those cheesy liberal arts and humanities degrees really are.

And, if the Democrats took the lead in getting bankruptcy relief for college borrowers, they would be heroes, instead of a bunch of bums, which is how they're perceived now.

Why Do Progressives Reject an Orderly Immigration Policy? LA Mayor Karen Bass Explains

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, with disarming candor, explained why California is fighting the Trump administration's efforts to deport illegal immigrants. If ICE removes undocumented workers, Bass revealed to journalist Katie Couric, Californians will lose their nannies, housekeepers, grocery store stockers, and hospitality workers.

Exactly. California progressives oppose an orderly immigration process because they enjoy cheap workers to clean their houses, pick up their kids after school, and mow their lawns. California businesses like having cheap construction workers, dishwashers, and grocery store stocking clerks.

Bass is correct when she says that most illegal immigrants perform vital services in the American economy. Nevertheless, all these people could be in the United States lawfully if we had an orderly process for granting work visas.

And if the U.S.had an efficient immigration system in place, we could admit hard-working people while excluding violent criminals, drug dealers, and child traffickers. Does anyone have a problem with that?

Apparently, some people do. Last month, rioters in Los Angeles forced California police officers to shelter under an overpass to protect themselves from rocks being thrown down on them--projectiles that would probably have killed them if they'd hit their mark. Earlier this month, ten people were charged with attempted murder after a police officer at an ICE facility was wounded by a bullet. Also, this month, a gunman opened fire at a Border Patrol post in McAllen, Texas, and was shot dead.

Anti-ICE violence is out of control, especially in blue state cities. President Trump recently called out the National Guard to protect federal officers and buildings in Los Angeles, which outraged progressive Democrats. 

If this violence is not brought under control soon, we will see more federal troops in American cities. Perhaps that's what progressive Democrats want--chaos, military intervention, and more chaos. 

California police huddle under a Los Angeles overpass

 

Who Are the Knuckleheads Charged in the Alvaredo ICE Attack?

Eleven young people were arrested in connection with a July 4th attack at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvaredo, Texas. A twelfth person, Benjamin Hanil Song, is charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting at ICE officers. Mr. Song is still at large.

The Alvaredo assault was a terrorist attack. The arrested suspects were dressed in black, military-style clothing and equipped with radios and body armor. Multiple gunshots were fired, and one police officer was wounded in the neck. If convicted on federal charges, all the defendants will serve long prison sentences.

What were these knuckleheads thinking? According to news reports, the group shot off fireworks to lure ICE agents into the open, and one or more of the suspects shot at the officers. Some of the assailants are said to have vandalized government vehicles and spray-painted anti-ICE epithets on them.

This doesn't make sense to me. If their purpose was to murder federal agents, why did this ragtag gang waste time by spray-painting cars?  

I found myself wondering whether all twelve suspects were on the same page. Did they all really plan to murder federal agents, or were some of them intent solely on vandalism?

I would like to know more about these individuals. How were these sad sacks radicalized? Did they attend college? If so, where? 

How have these young people supported themselves over the years? Did they have jobs?

Who procured the body armor, firearms, and radios for this project? Who paid for all this stuff?

If my ruminations suggest that I feel sorry for these clowns, it is because I do. If these miscreants did what they are charged with doing, then, like Charlie Manson's followers, they've thrown their lives away. 

Someone apparently talked these nitwits into embarking on a fool's errand. I hope the people who egged these alleged amateur terrorists on and bankrolled the Alvaredo escapade are found out and go to prison for a very long time.

In the meantime, we should remember that the allegations against the Alvarado 12 are just that--allegations. As more facts are revealed, we might conclude that none of the eleven people under arrest are guilty of attempted murder. Indeed, I hope that proves to be the case.

"People Will Die" is Not a Principled Response to the Big, Beautiful Bill

 President Trump signed the Big, Beautiful Bill, which had something in it for nearly everybody. Democrats didn't gripe about the expanded SALT tax exemption because rich people in the blue states were the primary beneficiaries. Instead, they focused their complaints on the modest cuts to Medicare, the supplemental food program, and other governmental services.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who cadged her way into Harvard by claiming to be a Cherokee Indian, is leading the histrionic charge, saying, "People will die" as a result of the bill's passage. 

Other Democrats have joined her in waving the bloody shirt to stir partisan rancor. Senator Bernie Sanders, a doddering old fool, claimed the bill would kill 51,000 people a year. The leftist media slyly hints that we can blame the recent Texas flood fatalities on Trump's budget cuts, a contemptible bit of propaganda worthy of Joseph Goebbels, and sleazy Senator Chuck Schumer wants a federal investigation of that outrageous allegation.

The day is fast approaching when the nation's debt--$36 trillion and growing by the hour--will pull down America's economy. The Trump administration's efforts to trim the cost of government can be legitimately criticized, but shrieking "People will die" is not a principled response. 

The Democratic Party and its co-conspirators in academia and the media are no longer interested in civil debate on national policy issues. Their aim is to sow chaos, and chaos they will likely get. 

They will be surprised, however, by Flyover Country's reaction when the Heartland has had enough. The forces that long for chaos won't like it when that chaos shows up in Silicon Valley, Martha's Vineyard, the Hamptons, and Harvard Yard.

Senator Elizabeth Warren: "People will die!"

Trump is Playing Musical Chairs With the Democrats, and He's Already Lost

Say what you like about Elon Musk; he's right about the Big, Beautiful Bill. This legislation, which was approved by Congress on a party-line vote, will increase the national debt and lead to recession.

Ignoring the nation's mountainous national debt that grows larger by the day, Trump and the Republicans approved a 1000-page bill that does nothing to balance the national budget.

Democrats unanimously opposed the bill, putting them in a position to say "We told you so" when the American economy collapses. Nevertheless, they shrilly denounced the bill's modest cuts to Medicare and the food stamp program. Senator Elizabeth Warren, growing more deranged as she ages,  repeatedly yelled "People will die" as a result of the bill's passage. 

The United States, like Ernest Hemingway, is going bankrupt, slowly at first, "then suddenly." We're in the slow stage now, and no one knows when our economy will suddenly collapse under unmanageable debt. 

However, that day is coming when no one wants to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. We don't know when our house of cards will implode, but I predict it will be during Donald Trump's presidency. 

The Democrats will smugly explain that our coming Great Depression is due entirely to Trump's economic policies, and he will be left holding the bag. Trump will take the blame for our coming economic meltdown, even though this catastrophe was decades in the making. 

Put another way, Trump and the Democrats are playing musical chairs with the economy, but Trump doesn't know that's the game he's playing. The Democrats plan to have a seat when the music stops, leaving Trump outside the circle of inside players.

That being said, I'm glad Congress passed the Big, Beautiful Bill. It does nothing to get the nation's fiscal house in order, but at least it gives some tax relief to the people who need it most--older Americans and the struggling middle class. 

In other words, people like me.

 

Saddle Up Anyway : The Exciting Sequal to The Dixie Apocalypse

 

Saddle Up for the exciting sequel to the cult-favorite dystopian satire, The Dixie Apocalypse.

Willoughby Burns never planned on becoming the Secretary of State for a breakaway Texan republic—but then again, the world ended weirder than he expected.

As the Second Texas Republic braces for war with the swaggering forces of the California People’s Republic, Willoughby finds himself stuck between his past as a wandering outsider and his uneasy future as a national figurehead. The battles aren’t just fought with bullets and bravado—there are deeper skirmishes at play: between loyalty and identity, progress and tradition, truth and spectacle.

When he’s thrown together with a captured Californian officer—Lieutenant Sandy Beech, equal parts soldier, smartass, and accidental philosopher—Willoughby is forced to confront the blurry edges of his own beliefs. Friendship, feral hogs, fried food, and a woman with a killer enchilada recipe all converge as Willoughby searches for courage, purpose... and maybe a second chance at love.

Saddle Up Anyway is a riotous, heartfelt road trip through the fractured politics of a future America— equal parts satire, spaghetti Western, and sincere tribute to all things Texan.

My Window Faces the Middle South: Climate Change is Prompting American Retirees to Relocate to the Middle of the Country

My window faces the south

I'm almost halfway to heaven

Snow is falling, but still I can see

Fields of cotton calling to me

Willie Nelson

For more than a century, older Americans have relocated to balmier climes to live out their golden years. Northern retirees often moved to Florida, attracted by better weather, no state income tax, and the reasonable cost of housing. Arizona and California also looked attractive because of their sunny climates.

However, in recent years, migration patterns for retirees have shifted partly due to climate change. Devastating hurricanes have driven up the cost of homeowner insurance in Florida, and California wildfires have made property insurance prohibitively expensive in the Golden State. In Arizona, water scarcity has made the state less attractive to retirees.

Climate change is causing Americans to rethink where they want to live out their last years. Many Americans are finding the Middle South increasingly attractive. West Virginia and North Carolina have benefited from this trend, as have Georgia and Tennessee.

These demographic shifts have political ramifications. Some commentators predicted that an influx of Californians to Texas and Florida would turn these red states blue because Californian immigrants would bring their progressive Democratic political values with them. 

That hasn't happened. Instead, newcomers to the predominantly red states like what they find: lower tax rates, decent weather, and a more benign and less strident political atmosphere.

In the years to come, the migration of older Americans to the Middle South will turn these states even more reliably red. Soon, radical progressive politics will be confined to urban enclaves as the recent presidential election presaged.

And we should not forget that working Americans are also leaving the blue states. In general, this outflow is driven by a rejection of crazed woke politics and urban violence, particularly in California, New York, and urban Illinois.

Dwight Yoakam's "I Sang Dixie" might be the anthem of this recent wave of emigres.

[W]ay down yonder
In the land of cotton
Old times there
Ain't near as rotten
As they are
On this damned old L.A. street

Most Americans don't define themselves in political terms. They only seek modest prosperity and a safe environment for their families.  For these Americans, I endorse Dwight  Yoakam's lyrical advice:

"Listen to me, son, while you still can,"
"Run back home to that Southern land!"
"Don't you see what life here has done to me?"

Image credit Raul Alonzo/Texas Standard

 

Trump Administration is Leaving Two Brutalist Office Buildings in Washington: Both Should Be Demolished

There's a reason God created dynamite.

Rich Lowry 

It's official. Washington, DC is home to some of the ugliest government buildings on the planet. 

Build World, a global design company, recently analyzed some of the world's worst architectural eyesores and decreed that the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the FBI headquarters in Washington, is the ugliest building in America and the second ugliest in the world. 

J. Edgar Hoover Building

However, the J. Edgar Hoover Building has competition as the nation's top eyesore. Newly appointed HUD Secretary Scott Turner said the Robert C. Weaver Building, HUD's headquarters, is the ugliest in the nation's capital.

HUD Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Both buildings are Brutalist structures, representing a soulless, depressing architectural style that was fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s. At the theoretical level, Brutalism championed "functionality, honesty, and social purpose," but the structures themselves mostly look like concrete, maximum security prisons.

The Trump administration plans to move government workers out of both buildings and sell them. However, decommissioning these monstrousities is not enough because they will remain a blight on the landscape of our nation's capital.

Rich Lowery, a syndicated columnist, believes both buildings should be blown up. "There's a reason God created dynamite, " he wrote, and I agree.

I worked as a professor for six years in Farish Hall, a forboding concrete building at the University of Houston.  I didn't know at the time that I had been assigned to a Brutalist building, but I knew on a subconscious level that I was spending my days in a dispiriting, oppressive, and prison-like environment.

Farish Hall at the University of Houston

I was pleased to learn that the University plans to demolish Farish Hall this year and will not replace it. That's a good start, but UH has other Brutalist buildings, and all of them should be razed. Agnes Arnold Hall, for example, where three students have leaped to their deaths, is nearly as ugly as Farish Hall.

Brutalist architecture has its defenders.  Indeed, some critics will praise the J. Edgar Hoover Building and the HUD headquarters simply because Trump wants to scrub them. 

In my view, Brutalist architecture is indefensible. Most Brutalist buildings appear indistinguishable from the Cold War bureaucratic structures of the Soviet Union. These eyesores are contrary to the American spirit, and all of them should be razed. Trump should demolish all the Brutalist government buildings in our nation's capital, and the universities should blow up the obscene Brutalist buildings that deface their campuses. 

What is the ugliest university building in America? I vote for the Claire T. Carney Library at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Claire T. Carney Library at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth