When crafting legislation, the first crucial step is to title the bill in a way that is agreeable to most. This legislative scheming was on display recently when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin renamed the failed Build Back Better Act to the more pleasant-sounding, but untrue: Inflation Reduction Act.

Such political conjuring was at work again when all Democrats in the House joined by 47 Republicans passed: The Respect for Marriage Act. Who wants to vigorously argue against such a longstanding institution like marriage in a bill that is so ambiguously titled?

There is plenty to say about brevity, but that would defeat the purpose.  Neither time nor space affords me the opportunity to opine on the many headlines, stories, and political twists that comprise an average news day – let alone an entire week.  With that in mind, let’s clear the ledger.      

“Things That Make You Go Hmmm” was a hit song by the group C+C Music Factory released over 30-years ago and adopted by The Arsenio Hall Show where certain lines in Hall’s opening monologue prompted you to think and consider.

In that spirit, breakout the cue cards…  

That special congressional election recently held in southern Texas along the Mexican border was just a blip on the national news’ radar, but its results have Democrats seeing red.

The election filled the seat left vacant by the retirement of Democrat Rep. Filemon Vela and was won by Mayra Flores, a 36-year-old respiratory therapist,who is no career politician.  That is only a small slice of the story that could be the initial ripple resulting in a November midterm GOP tsunami.  

As the lead-in to the November midterms gears up, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought it wise to delay passing legislation that would provide additional security for Supreme Court justices and their families saying, “nobody’s in danger.” This was after a gunman showed up in the middle of the night at Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home. For the first time a justice on the Supreme Court faced an attempted assassination.

As America celebrates the nation’s birth by taking inventory of the hotdogs, hamburgers, soda and beer, the most treasured and esteemed American stock lies forsaken along freedom’s continuum. 

There are some who argue, and with good reasons, that all politicians should have a military background. Such sentiments are certainly desirable but not always feasible. What is both desirable and feasible is that all politicos should have a thorough understanding of economics and budgeting. 

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers recently stated when inflation rises above four percent and unemployment drops below four percent, a recession is inevitable within two years. We are there now, according to The Economist. The Wall Street Journal’s recent headline was telling: “Inflation hit a four decade high in May.”

In the midst of the primary elections going on across the country, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that had near unanimous support. You would believe something so atypical would have gotten more ink than it received.

It didn’t.

What was blatantly missing in action during this much anticipated primary polling season was my time-honored conversation with my old Marine Polish paisan, the Jazzman – Robert Jasinski. During his six-decade run on this third post from the sun, he was an avid historian and a political sage who never hesitated to engage with anyone on any topic.

Of all the columns this space has hosted through the years, abortion has received plenty of ink.

Why?

Abortion gnaws at the American conscience because Roe v. Wade, which codified this horrific procedure into law, was the most egregious decision ever rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, 65 million lives have been lost and counting.  If leftists were honest, they would admit abortion is unconstitutional and a legal abomination – a result of judicial activism – that must be undone.