Will new POTUS follow this custom?

January 17, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

Presidents take their oath of office and, dating back for a good while, often open their inaugural speech with a tribute to the man who preceded them immediately in the high and exalted office.

Americans have seen a lot in recent days of President Carter turning to his predecessor, President Ford, and thanking him in 1977 “for all he did to heal our land.”

Every president since then — except for one — has issued a word of thanks for their predecessor’s service to this land. The exception, of course, was President Biden, who in 2021 took office while his predecessor, Donald Trump, was flying to Florida after refusing to concede that he lost the 2020 election.

We have another presidential inaugural on tap. Monday at noon, Trump will take an oath and then will stand in front of the world to deliver a speech that normally sets the tone for the presidency. Will the new president thank his predecessor who, after all, has stayed the course and helped transition from one administration to the next one?

I won’t predict what Trump will do or say. My hope is that he will turn to his predecessor and finally — finally! — put the Big Lie to rest once and forever by declaring that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

I know. My expectations at times are unrealistic.

Donald Trump, national news

How did we regress this far?

January 16, 2025 kanelis2012 1 Comment

I will go to my grave never understanding how this nation has regressed as far as it has with the election of someone who is so fundamentally flawed as the man who is about to become the 47th president of the United States of America.

I can recall an earlier era in this nation when Republicans across the land were so livid at the election of a young governor from Arkansas. Bill Clinton was believed to be a serial cheater, a womanizer who violated the oath he took to his wife. They published defamatory videos about him, accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of killing a trusted aide who, in fact, took his own life.

Bill Clinton got elected president in 1992, but the hunt for impeachable dirt on him never let up. Finally, during a probe into a real estate matter, a special prosecutor found evidence of a relationship that existed between the president and a young White House intern. The prosecutor summoned a grand jury, which then asked the president about the affair. Clinton had taken the oath to tell the truth and then lied to the grand jury.

Aha! Republicans then had their impeachable offense: perjury before a duly sworn grand jury!

Good grief. Clinton lied about an affair and got impeached for it. He would be acquitted in a Senate trial.

Two decades later, we have a man in the White House who has admitted to marital infidelity but then sought political favors from a foreign head of state and then, after losing the 2020 election, incited an insurrection against the government as Congress was preparing to certify his election loss to Joe Biden. He went through two impeachment trials … but survived them both.

Republicans shrugged. No problem with any of that. He was convicted of 34 crimes involving the payment of money to a porn actress to be quiet about a tumble the two of them took in 2006.

We have entered a dark era where character no longer matters. We used to seek the very best among us to lead us. We have turned instead to giving a pass to someone who embodies he worst among us.

I never can accept what we are about to experience once again.

International news, military news

Is peace now possible?

January 16, 2025 kanelis2012 8 Comments

In this season of never-ending negativity, we now might be able to rejoice in some seriously good news … from the Middle East of all places!

Israel and the terrorists known as Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire that begins Sunday. Furthermore, they have agreed to a significant swap of hostages, meaning that the families of Israelis and Americans held captive since the Oct. 7, 2023, rocket attacks can be set free.

I am going to hold out hope that the cease fire agreement holds up and that the violence that erupted with Hamas’s brazen and bloody attack will end. Let us not call it a peace agreement, because the cease fire only means the bitter enemies will stop killing each other for the time being.

Let’s be clear on a couple of key points. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and said the only path to peace would require the destruction of the terrorist leadership; it appears that Israel has accomplished its stated aim. However, it has come at a horrific price for the Palestinians caught in the middle of the fight between Israel and Hamas. Thousands of innocent people have died since Hamas started this war.

Thus, the ceasefire — brokered in large part by President Biden’s team — requires an immediate rebuilding effort. It must commence fully, not on a piecemeal basis. It must include massive deliveries of food, water, construction equipment, medical supplies and personnel to help Gaza residents seek to restore their shattered lives.

To that end, Joe Biden and his team deserve the highest praise any of us can give for their tireless work in bringing an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.

Now, though, the hardest task of all awaits … finding a path to a permanent piece in a region that knows only heartache and despair.

political news, State news

House shines with glimmer of hope

January 15, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

There’s the slightest glimmer of hope coming from the Texas State Capitol Building after the House of Representatives selected a new speaker of the lower legislative chamber.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, will take the gavel and lead the House for the next legislative session that began this week.

Why the hope? Well, Burrows is an ally of Rep, Dade Phelan of Beaumont, who angered the MAGA crowd with his handling of (a) the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and (b) key legislative initiatives favored by Gov. Greg Abbott.

That suggests to me that Burrows might be more, um, moderate than the right-wingers of his Republican Party would prefer. Burrows, for example, is not slamming the door on selecting legislative Democrats to chair House committees. He said in December he prefers for the entire House to decide on those chairmanships, not just the speaker. Hmm, that sounds a tiny bit promising.

Burrows does favor Abbott’s school voucher notion, so he won’t scuttle that initiative.

Back to the chairmanship matter. It’s important to realize that the Legislature does contain members of both major parties. And that they represent Texans of all political stripes, principles and beliefs. I am one Texan who does not want to see the Legislature do the bidding of those who favor issues to which I am fundamentally opposed.

Besides, any legislator who can incur the wrath of super right-wing lobbyist Michael Quinn Sullivan — which Burrows has done — is OK in my book.,

economic news, local news

Princeton does the inevitable

January 14, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

Princeton’s City Council had no choice but to do what it did Monday night by extending the building moratorium it had placed on new single-family dwelling and apartment construction.

It voted to extend its four-month building ban another six months.

So, let’s see. That means it will be 10 months before the city could start issuing building permits on those types of dwellings. This is just me, but my gut tells me another extension could be in the deck of cards that council members would want to play.

Princeton’s population continues to explode, But ,.. wait! The city needs more police officers, more firefighters, more medical emergency personnel, better streets, more electric utilities, more natural gas lines.

Moreover, the city needs much more commercial development, which isn’t part of the public financing obligation associated with infrastructure development. That commercial development is on the verge of become a reality.

A Princeton resident told CBS News Texas Channel 11 last night that folks here have to go to places such as McKinney and Allen for entertainment or to just purchase needed goods and commodities.

Princeton has developed an ocean of single-family rooftops. That’s fine, but the strain on new residents’ tax obligation is more than many of the newbies would care to absorb.

The city has some catching-up to do and I’m not sure six months extra time is enough.

education news

Abbott to renew fight against public education

January 14, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

Gov. Greg Abbott is sharpening his long knives in the upcoming legislative fight against public education.

I will watch with intense interest at how his fellow Republicans, elected to their rural legislative districts, deal with the governor’s efforts to gut and dismember the institutions that long ago became the heart and soul of these lawmakers’ communities.

GOP lawmakers resisted the idea of peeling public money away from public schools and sending them to private schools. The effort failed in the 2023 Texas Legislature. The successful blockage cost House Speaker Dade Phelan his chance of returning as speaker.

I learned long ago, when I first moved to Texas in 1984, that rural districts breathe life into communities that otherwise might wither and die were it not for the strength of their independent school districts. Many of those districts produce dedicated legislators who vow to fight for them in the halls of power in Austin; and most of those legislators these days are Republicans.

Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick want to mess with that political chemistry by vowing to siphon money for public schools and allow parents to redeem vouchers they can use to pay for their children’s private education.

Well, I can say without equivocation that from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods and from Texoma to the Valley that rural communities that depend on the strength of their public school systems are going to fight for their very lives.

Will it matter in the end? Probably — and tragically — not … as long as the Republicans in the Legislature remain wedded to the MAGA view that public education is not worth saving.

Baloney …

national news

Small-minded governor shows his stripes

January 13, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

Greg Abbott is elbowing his way to the head of a long line of politicians possessed with small minds and equally small hearts.

Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, today said that next Monday, flags flying in front of state buildings will rise to the top of their staffs to honor the inauguration of our next president of the United States.

I must mention that the next POTUS will be Donald John Trump, a Republican. President Biden had ordered flags down to half-staff after former President Jimmy Carter died just after Christmas. The flags are to fly at half-staff for 30 days, per the presidential order.

Biden last month directed flags to be displayed at half-staff for 30 days at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds to honor former President Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100.

Not so fast, said Abbott. He wants to honor Trump’s return to the White House by flying flags at full staff next Monday.

To be fair, Abbott did offer a tribute to the late president in a statement. “President Carter’s steadfast leadership left a lasting legacy that will be felt for generations to come, which together as a nation we honor by displaying flags at half-staff for 30 days,” Abbott said in his statement. I guess that means the flags will be lowered once Trump’s celebration is completed on Monday … yes?

Whatever. The gesture to raise the flags dishonors the president’s declaration and the service that the former president delivered to the nation during his term in office and for more than 40 years since his return to civilian life.

national news

Mandate … shmandate

January 13, 2025 kanelis2012 1 Comment

I want to lay out a few numbers for you in the wake of Donald Trump’s insistence that he won the 2024 presidential election in a “massive landslide.”

Trump’s popular vote plurality sits at 1.47%. He won with fewer than 50% of the popular vote; to be clear, that’s not a huge deal, as other presidents have taken office after winning pluralities and not majorities. Trump’s vote count stands at 49.71%, with Kamala Harris’ total at 48.24%.

He said this past weekend he won the popular vote by “millions and millions” of ballots. The actual count is that he won by about 2.3 million votes out of more than 155 million ballots cast. Yes, he won more votes than any other Republican in U.S. history. The 155 million ballot count was the second-greatest total in U.S. history. The 2020 election is the record holder, with more than 158 million cast for president.

I just feel the need to keep Trump’s victory in some perspective … you know what I mean?

local news, political news, State news

Abortion to ‘challenge’ Texas Legislature?

January 13, 2025 kanelis2012 2 Comments

The headline atop the front page of the Dallas Morning News screamed out that the new Texas Legislature faces many “challenges” as it prepares to get to work on our behalf for the next five months.

One of them surely is going to be abortion and whether legislators are intent on banning all abortive procedures, all of ’em, making women, spouses and docs criminals.

Newly sworn in Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, says categorically that Texas must ban all abortion, citing what he said is “God’s creation” being sacred to merit legislation by mere mortal human beings. He appeared this morning on WFAA-TV’s “Inside Politics” program.

I will disagree with the gentleman. He doesn’t seem to take into account what happens to a child who is born with debilitating deformities. Who cannot care for herself or himself. Whose birth puts Mama’s health — and life — in jeopardy.

I offer those caveats as a pro-life Texas resident myself. I consider myself pro-life, however, I do not believe in legislating from afar whether a woman can take command of her own body or whether she must surrender her reproductive rights because some lawmaker in Austin forces her to do so.

Rep. Money is taking the seat once held by another right-wing extremist, Bryan Slaton, who was drummed out of the House because he got a female legislative staffer drunk as a skunk before having sex with her.

I am going out on a limb here, but I do not believe most Texans adhere to Money’s view that we need to ban all abortion, period.

There in could lie Texas lawmakers’ huge “challenge” as they prepare to convene their next session this week.

May the force of common sense and compassion be with all of them.

local news, media news

Remembering final big move

January 12, 2025 kanelis2012 1 Comment

Thirty years ago this week, I piled most of my worldly possessions into a 1987 Honda Civic and set out for what would be the final stop on my fun-filled career in print journalism.

I had spent nearly 11 years pursuing my craft in Beaumont, Texas, but then an opportunity presented itself in a community far from the Gulf Coast … but still part of this vast state of ours.

I moved to Amarillo. People have asked me over the years when I moved to the Panhandle, and I have been able to tell them the precise date. I reported for work at the Amarillo Globe-News on Jan. 9, 1995. I departed Beaumont on Jan. 6; it took a while to drive from the swamp to the High Plains.

I made one overnight stop in Fort Worth to see some dear friends before trudging northwest along U.S. 287.

But I got to Amarillo. I would learn later of a quip I adopted and have used many times: It is so flat in the Panhandle that if you stand on your tiptoes, you can see the back of your own head.

It helps, too, that the region is so barren that there’s little tall timber to block that view.

The point of this brief blog? It’s to highlight the flexibility and adaptability I didn’t realize I possessed when I decided to move from my native Oregon to Texas in 1984.

They used to run a tourism ad that called Texas a “whole other country.” How true it is. Beaumont not only is a lengthy mileage distance from the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast possesses a whole other culture. Whereas the Panhandle prides itself on its cowboy tradition, the Golden Triangle takes pride in its Cajun southern culture. Both places appeal to me greatly.

Life took another huge turn in March 2013 when my granddaughter came into this world. My bride and I set about preparing to move from the Panhandle to the Metroplex. It took a while, but we got here.

I guess I want simply to salute the journey my career enabled me to take. Kathy Anne and I saw much of this country and a good part of world on that trek. Texas gave us the opportunity to live a wonderful life.

We have been blessed beyond all measure. My journey continues.

High Plains Blogger