Longtime blogger Curt MacRae shares his thoughts on what’s going on in our world.
Rants by Mac: 15 months of campaigning.. are you tired yet?
In the Iowa Republican caucuses, which were held in January of this year, only about 110,000 voters caucused. That turnout represented less than 15% of the total number of registered Republicans in the state. Four candidates spent more than $123 million on primary campaign ads in Iowa, in an effort to sway those 110,00...
2h ago
Rants by Mac: We aren't cancelling student debt...We're just changing who pays for it
When someone applies for a loan, and signs a contract agreeing to the terms of that loan, why don't we expect them to meet the terms that they agreed to? According to CNN, Friday the Biden administration announced that it is using existing student loan forgiveness programs to cancel another round of student debt, total...
Apr 14, 2024
Rants by Mac: I'm Hooked
I really am hooked. The presidential campaign is heating up, and it is time to look at the critical issues that face Americans in 2024 and beyond. As Michael Douglas said in his title role in the 1995 movie, The American President, "We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them."...
Apr 07, 2024
Rants by Mac: The Gift of Grift
This was planned to be an April Fools column, where I could fabricate a couple of humorous ideas, try to get you to buy into some farcical notion, and then surprise you at the end by reminding you it is April Fool's Day. It would have been so clever. Then Donald Trump started selling bibles. We never considered sending...
Apr 01, 2024
Rants by Mac: Blurring the lines
Character counts. For me, as a moderate Republican for the past 40+ years, the last ten or so have been a struggle. I belonged to a political party that stood for smaller government and lower taxes, law and order and the rule of law, states' rights, a strong military, and equal opportunity for all. I was proud to consi...
Mar 10, 2024
Rants by Mac: Impeach Reach
How effective has the 2023-24 House of Representatives been? The House voted 749 times in 2023 and passed 27 bills that have become law. Could they be distracted? Do you expect more in 2024? We are trying to fund the government again this week, and again in another week or two (they split it up so we can now do this tw...
Feb 29, 2024
Rants by Mac: Person, Woman, Man, Camera, what?
That's it; person, woman, man, camera, tv. I did it. I remembered five items in order, which puts me in the top one percent of all people. It's a proud day. While I am not as old as Joe Biden or Donald Trump, I am getting older so it's nice to know that I'm still in the "genius" category when it comes to cogn...
Feb 17, 2024
Rants by Mac: It was SUPER!!!
Did you hear? There was a Super Bowl on Sunday. Let's get to it. PRE-GAME: There was lots of pre-game hype, as always, and some concerns that had us all on edge. Would Taylor Swift make it on time from her concert in Japan? While Spirit Air couldn't guarantee her a flight that would make it, we were told she'd take a p...
Feb 12, 2024
Rants by Mac: A Swift Effect
Stop me if you have heard this: Mega-pop-star Taylor Swift is a secret "psy-op" propped up by the Pentagon to influence public opinion to vote for Joe Biden. And, as you might expect in such a scenario, Swift's alleged romance with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end, Travis Kelce, is simply a scripted event, ...
Feb 03, 2024
Rants by Mac: It's been three years...
Much has happened since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. And as is the American tendency, short memories, partisan denials, and alternative facts have altered the recollection of the events that happened on that day. I would say, "let's not forget," but I think many already have. A new Washington...
Jan 07, 2024
Rants by Mac: Milking the issue
"We want only the most nutritional option for Santa," Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) argued on the floor of the House of Representatives, this past week. "Whole milk is the unsung hero of his Christmas journey." Foxx went on to say that Santa Claus likes to drink whole milk so that he can &quo...
Dec 18, 2023
Rants by Mac: Choosing sides...
Pick a side. In today's world, you cannot survive in politics, or in life it seems, without picking a side. And winning is all that matters. Remember when your mom and dad used to tell you, as a kid, that "it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game?" Today the message seems more li...
Dec 12, 2023
Rants by Mac: It was all good.. until it wasn't
Almost three years after a violent attack on the Capitol, in Washington D.C., people are still trying to downplay, to ignore, to rewrite history. This week, new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, has decided to release 44,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from January 6 to the public. He has the right. The prev...
Nov 27, 2023
Rants by Mac: Short Rants!!
There is just too much to rant about this week, so I have decided to opine about a variety of rant-able topics, in a short burst of rant-able ire. These bite-size rants are not in any particular order, hitting the list as each irritatingly creeped into my mind. Let's get ready to RUMMMMMBBLLLLLE!!! Am I ranting about ...
Nov 17, 2023
Rants by Mac: Praying for the victims
We knew it would happen again because it has happened more than 560 times this year. And we knew what the reaction would be - it's too early to talk about change. We are praying for the victims, we are celebrating first responders and the victims who died trying to stop another mass shooter, and we are mourning... agai...
Oct 28, 2023
Rants by Mac: This really IS unprecedented...
Last week I wrote about the term "unprecedented" and how we should be cautious with the term, because history is filled with stories that could help us predict today's events, if humankind could just learn from those stories of the past. But we don't learn. We are now heading into Week-4 of the Speaker-less H...
Oct 25, 2023
Rants by Mac: Unprecedented
Have you gotten tired of the word "unprecedented" yet? Or, as the ex-president is fond of saying, "the likes of which the world has never seen." If "unprecedented" was a drinking game, we'd all be pretty tipsy after watching the news. We are now heading into week-3 of the Congressional shu...
Oct 19, 2023
Rants by Mac: Who's in charge?
Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, is finding out how difficult it is to legislate with the majority. For the minority party in the House of Representatives, it is easy to say "No" to everything, blame the opposition party for anything that does get done, and then take credit when government money flows in...
Sep 25, 2023
Rants by Mac: Thank you, Senator Tommy
Exploring-USA ranks the top 100 Americans of all time. Three of the top 20 (Jefferson, Edison, and Paine) have a first name of "Thomas." Senator, Tommy (don't call me Thomas) Tuberville, R-Al., probably won't be making the list anytime soon. Tuberville, 69, in his first term, has been holding up promotions an...
Sep 21, 2023
Rants by Mac: Oh Mel; this is disappointing
Mel Tucker's first head-football coaching job came at the University of Colorado in 2019, where he compiled a win-loss record of 5-7. After his first season at Colorado, Michigan State University came calling and wooed Tucker away from Colorado. The team recorded a 2-5 record in Tucker's COVID-shortened first season at...
Sep 14, 2023