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!