Opinion

COVID-19 turned aggressive to the point last week that the Department of Defense activated U.S. Army and U.S. Navy medical task force teams and assigned them to Texas at Gov. Greg Abbott’s request.

Listening to each other is one of the most important acts that anyone can do. However, it’s difficult to listen to some people. When we already know what they are going to say, then we zone them out … and miss the new important thing they are trying to say. This is rude, but also dangerous.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden released his very ambitious, and expensive, energy plan this week. The cost is an estimated $2 trillion, and the 23-page plan does not have a word about where and how he plans to raise this massive amount of funds.

My late father, T. J. Newbury, was a grand story teller. Friends and neighbors in Early, TX, gave him high marks for joke-telling, and so do I.

The recent tough times in the oil patch began in 2015 when rising oil and natural gas production, primarily in the United States, began to outstrip demand as worldwide economies began to slow down. The trend continued, and when the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020 economies around the globe shutdown and demand for petroleum products dropped as did their prices.

There are times in life when you just “should-a-stood” in bed. This is probably one of those.

It still lurks in my mind’s “crannies,” jumping to the forefront of my thoughts more often than I’d like. It was a single sentence--uttered by someone whose name I don’t know--imparting an important truth usually requiring paragraphs, chapters or even volumes.

Gov. Greg Abbott has again suspended elective surgeries in hospitals in 104 counties located within 11 of the state’s 22 trauma service areas.