The front page of the “El Paso Times” sent me over the edge this morning. Writing about a new building in town the headline was “Facility to has educational services, private events”. I understand that mistakes happen. Unfortunately the Times has significantly reduced their content. Now their lack of quality makes me wonder if they check anything before they publish it. I have supported the Times with my subscription for decades even while I disagreed with their favoritism. I can no longer justify spending almost $700 per year for a subscription. We deserve better Brutus ..read more

The city produces a five minute informative piece each week. I enjoy watching. It is available this week on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQQ7Rfptovk We deserve better ..read more

As we get older many of us slow down. I can report that I did something the other day faster than I have ever done it. I pumped $50 dollars of gasoline in my car. We deserve better Brutus ..read more

This slide came from a recent El Paso Independent School District presentation: If I am reading this correctly we got worse in every category. We deserve better Brutus ..read more

There was a time where upon landing at the airport one could walk down to the baggage section and find their baggage already waiting for them. The service was excellent. Many out of town travelers told me how much they enjoyed their experience at our airport. With the highest homestead property tax rate and the second highest industrial property tax rates of the 50 largest cities in the United States we don’t look too good to companies that might want to relocate here. Little things count. First impressions count. Couldn’t we at least make flying into El Paso a more enjoyable experience? We de ..read more

The El Paso Times recently shut down its El Paso based printing presses and moved their printing function to Juarez. ElPasoMatters.com included this from the Times in their article about the change: “Where the newspaper is printed does not impact our ability to provide outstanding journalism and service to our readers, advertisers and communities,” a company statement read. We now know that where the newspaper was printed was not the impediment to the Times providing outstanding journalism and service. It must be other things. We deserve better Brutus ..read more

This was the headline of a recent report on cnbc.com: 61% of Americans paid no federal income taxes in 2020, Tax Policy Center says The article went on to say: The top 20% of taxpayers paid 78% of federal income taxes in 2020, according to the Tax Policy Center, up from 68% in 2019. The top 1% of taxpayers paid 28% of taxes in 2020, up from 25% in 2019. So they want the “rich” to pay “their fair share”. “Fair” in this case evidently means more. We deserve better Brutus ..read more

Some in Washington believe that we should spend an additional $3.5 trillion on new programs. I copied this from the abc.com news site the other day: Defending a bill not yet fully drafted, Democrats are determined to avoid a deficit financed spending spree. They are growing frustrated by the focus on the proposed $3.5 trillion spending total, arguing far too little attention is being paid to the work they are doing to balance the books. Biden on Friday said he would prefer the price tag described as “zero.” “The idea is that [the] entire package should pay for itself.” “We pay for everything w ..read more

This slide is part of a presentation El Paso Water prepared for city council: Any questions? We deserve better Brutus ..read more

Title 5, Section 3331 of the United States Code defines the oath that each member of congress takes at the beginning of every session of congress. It reads: “I, [name] do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” In addition to taking the ..read more