International news, military news, national news

Mattis at Pentagon? Not as bad as some others

mattis

James Mattis is Donald J. Trump’s pick to be defense secretary.

OK, from my perch here in the middle of the country, the retired Marine Corps four-star general looks to be not as bad as some of the other selections the president-elect has made to fill out his Cabinet.

He is just four years on from hanging up his greens, which means Congress will have to enact a law that gives him a waiver from existing law; current statute requires a seven-year interim between military and civilian service. Congress waived the requirement when General of the Army George C. Marshall was picked by President Eisenhower to be secretary of state.

Gen. Mattis has gotten some high marks. According to the Washington Post: “The president-elect is smart to think about putting someone as respected as Jim Mattis in this role,” said a former senior Pentagon official. “He’s a warrior, scholar and straight shooter — literally and figuratively. He speaks truth to everyone and would certainly speak truth to this new commander in chief.”

The new president will need some truth-tellers in his inner circle. I would hope that Mattis provides that role.

Mattis is a former head of the Central Command and has extensive experience plotting military strategy in the Middle East. He’s a tough dude.

He’s also a blunt talker who’s spoken ill of the nuclear deal hammered out by the Obama administration that seeks to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-chosen-retired-marine-gen-james-mattis-for-secretary-of-defense/ar-AAl18p1?li=BBnb7Kz

Still, I kind of like this selection as defense boss. Mattis is far superior for this post than Betsy DeVos is for education secretary, Jeff Sessions is for attorney general and — oh, perish the thought — Sarah Palin could be if Trump picks her to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.

It is rather fascinating, though, that an individual who said he knows “more about ISIS than the generals, believe me,” would pick one of those generals to lead the nation’s military establishment and, thus, carry the fight to the Islamic State.

My strong hunch is that Trump doesn’t know more about ISIS than Gen. James Mattis.

business news, national news, political news

Trump is redefining ‘populism’

don-trump

Donald J. Trump ran for president brandishing the label of a “populist” who understands how average Americans think and believe about the state of their country.

Then the president-elect starts his transition. What does he do? He starts enlisting some of the richest cats in the land. As the Washington Post is reporting, he is putting together the wealthiest government in modern history.

This is what Trump’s populism looks like?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-is-assembling-the-richest-administration-in-modern-american-history/ar-AAkYy02?li=BBnb7Kz

According to the Post: “Trump is putting together what will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history. His announced nominees for top positions include several multimillionaires, an heir to a family mega-fortune and two Forbes-certified billionaires, one of whose family is worth as much as industrial tycoon Andrew Mellon was when he served as treasury secretary nearly a century ago. Rumored candidates for other positions suggest Trump could add more ultra-rich appointees soon.

“Many of the Trump appointees were born wealthy, attended elite schools and went on to amass even larger fortunes as adults. As a group, they have much more experience funding political candidates than they do running government agencies.”

So, there you have it. The man who became a champion of the working stiff, the family looking for ways to make it in a tough economic climate, is surrounding himself with fellow rich folks, many of whom parlayed healthy inheritances — as Trump did — into even healthier business empires.

Is this the new definition of populism?

I prefer the historical definition, which means that a populist opposes putting too much power in the hands of the rich.

national news, political news

That darn popular vote is getting in the way

election-day-2016-in-united-states

I know I am sounding a bit repetitive to some of you. Maybe I’m far too repetitive to suit you.

That’s just too damn bad. I’m going to say it again … with emphasis.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s popular vote margin over Donald J. Trump is expanding. It’s now at slightly more than 2.5 million votes. It’s likely to grow even more, although I’m beginning to think we’re getting quite close to the end of the ballot tallying.

Oh, yes. We have that recount in Wisconsin with which to contend. Don’t expect much of a change there. Or in Pennsylvania or Michigan, two other states that might get their votes recounted.

Here’s my point. The president-elect is going to find a growing voice of discord among his constituents if and when he tries to foist his agenda on the nation.

Donald J. Trump’s vote deficit is approaching record levels among those candidates who won the presidential election while losing the popular vote. He and Clinton’s vote percentages are zeroing in on the Rutherford B. Hayes-Samuel Tilden contest of 1876.

http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/

What’s fascinating, too, is that Clinton’s popular vote total mirrors what the polls were indicating on the eve of Election Day. Trump, though, benefited by his ability to flip several states that had voted twice for President Obama, enabling him to win the Electoral College votes he needed to become president.

I am not calling for a wholesale reform of the electoral system.

I merely want to caution the president-elect to mindful of the hurdles he and his team are going to face governing a country with a widening vote deficit.

Go slow, Mr. President-elect. Stop playing to your “base” and remember that more of us out here voted against you than voted for you. Got it? Good. Now … proceed.

media news

Has the ‘war on Christmas’ recommenced?

war-on-christmas

I have grown weary of conservative media’s bogus assertion that liberals have declared a “war on Christmas.”

Fox News usually leads that chorus. And of the Fox commentators, the lead griper usually is Bill O’Reilly.

I have run out of ways to declare such a “war” doesn’t really exist the way that conservative media portray it. I’ll just re-post this earlier blog to make the point once more.

It’s from Nov. 30, 2013. I believe it holds up to this day.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2013/11/frenzied-shoppers-declare-war-on-christmas/

 

International news, national news, political news

How would Mitt take back all those things he said?

I cannot get past that 17-minute tongue-lashing that Mitt Romney delivered to Donald J. Trump during the heat of the Republican Party’s primary campaign for president.

Mitt let Trump have it, man. He delivered the most stinging rebuke of someone seeking his party’s nomination that I’ve ever heard.

Trump ended up winning the nomination and then winning the presidential election.

Now we see Trump and Mitt breaking bread at a posh New York City restaurant and Trump considering Mitt to become the nation’s next secretary of state.

What on Earth has Mitt said to Trump that enables the president-elect to consider him for this post? Did he take it all back? Did he admit to saying those things only for effect? Was he seeking to be “entertaining,” the way Trump said he was denigrating women only for entertainment sake?

A part of me thinks Trump needs someone of Mitt’s stature to carry the nation’s foreign policy forward. Whatever it is!

Then again, Mitt issued that blistering critique of the next president of the United States.

Here’s the video of Mitt’s remarks. If you haven’t seen it, take a gander. It’s worth your time. Then someone out there can tell me how the 2012 Republican nominee — whom Trump dismissed as a “loser” — can make nice with the guy who received these rhetorical bombs.

 

national news, political news

Palin emerges in Trump Cabinet search … finally!

aaky9hd

Therrrre she is!

Sarah Palin has come out of hiding. The former half-term Alaska governor — and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee — now might be in the running for a spot in Donald J. Trump’s Cabinet.

For what post, you might ask? Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

And what, you also might ask, are Gov. Palin’s qualifications for that post? About the only thing I can come up with is that her son served a couple of tours during the Iraq War, then came home and got arrested on weapons charges, to which he pleaded guilty. Palin then blamed the Obama administration for ignoring veterans’ health care issues and suggested that was the cause of her son’s legal troubles.

There you have it. That’s all the qualification the president-elect might need in this highly critical position.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-may-consider-sarah-palin-for-va-secretary-source-tells-nbc/ar-AAkY9HF?li=BBnb7Kz

Palin has not distinguished herself since she and Sen. John McCain lost the 2008 presidential election to Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She has starred in her own reality TV show, been a contributor to the Fox News Channel, been the subject of some gossip tabloids, watched a few of her kids get into trouble with the law.

My biggest concern for the president-elect, if he’s seriously considering Palin to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, is whether she’ll “go rogue” in the manner she did while running as Sen. McCain’s VP running mate.

We keep hearing how Trump doesn’t much cotton to subordinates stealing his thunder. The way I see it, Palin has made a bit of a habit of doing that very thing.

Still, the idea that Trump might even be thinking about placing Palin in his Cabinet suggests — to me, at least — that the GOP talent pool available to the president-elect is mighty thin.

national news, political news

Yep, Trump is ‘my president’ … for better or worse

trump-wins

I’m hearing some troubling notions from those who voted on the losing side of a presidential election.

Donald J. Trump, some of them are saying, “is not my president. I didn’t vote the guy and he ain’t my president.”

At the risk of sounding sanctimonious and self-righteous, I’d like to offer a rebuke to that sentiment.

I didn’t vote for him, either. I detest the notion that he is about to become the 45th president of the United States. My visceral loathing of him is deeper than anything I’ve felt for any of his predecessors.

He is my president, though.

Why? Because as president he will offer policy prescriptions that affect every American. I’m one of ’em.

I intend to fight him whenever I can through this blog. It’s my right as an American to speak my mind and to protest what my government is doing. I will do so vigorously when the moment presents itself — and so far, those moments are coming with stunning frequency.

Trump is my president, nevertheless.

This “ain’t my president” mantra is far from new. Republicans/conservatives yapped the same nonsense when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. Democrats/liberals yammered the same lame refrain when George W. Bush was elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2004. You can go back as far as you want in history and dig up statements from those who said the very same thing about past presidents.

Me? My inclination — no matter the outcome — has been to accept the result. I might not endorse it. Sure, I’ve swallowed hard plenty since the Nov. 8 election. I’ve done so before.

I won’t, though, accept the idea that the man who’s about to take the oath of office isn’t my president.

I detest the notion of Trump having the word “President” stated and/or written with his name. I also reserve the right to be critical — even harshly so — of my president.

national news, political news

‘Playing to his base’? What about the rest of us?

american-flag-burning

Light a match to Old Glory and go to jail and lose your citizenship.

Yeah, that’s the ticket. Never mind the constitutional guarantee that doing something so reprehensible is protected under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause.

The president-elect, though, ignored that fundamental truth when he blasted out a tweet that said those who do such a thing need to spend time in the slammer and forsake their citizenship as Americans.

The Washington Post and other media, though, say that Donald J. Trump is “playing to his base,” the voters who’ve stood with him through all the insults, innuendo and idiocy that have poured from his mouth.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-flag-burning-comments-trump-again-plays-to-the-voters-that-elected-him/ar-AAkW3eS?li=BBnbfcL

They helped elect him president and I guess that’s his way of saying “thanks, guys.” As the Post reported: “Trump won rural America, where support of the flag is a big issue,” said Scott Reed, a longtime Republican strategist who served as Bob Dole’s campaign manager in 1996. “A lot of those homes that had Trump signs out front were also flying American flags. This is clearly part of his base politics.”

But what about the rest of the country, Mr. President-elect, that didn’t vote for you? What about those of us who are appalled by your seeming ignorance of constitutional protections and your belief — if that’s what you truly believe — that the Supreme Court got it wrong when it ruled on two occasions that burning the Stars and Stripes is protected political speech?

My wife and I fly a flag in our front yard, too, by the way.

I won’t buy into the notion that Trump isn’t my president. I didn’t vote for him, but he’ll take office in January and will assume the role of head of government and head of state. I ain’t moving anywhere. I’m staying right here in the U.S. of A. and will continue to register my gripes — more than likely quite often — over policy pronouncements that come from the president.

Trump won’t be president just for those who stood with him. He’ll be my president, too.

Thus, I hereby demand that he stop making idiotic declarations. How about taking back that crap about flag burning?

local news

City manager search might get really complicated

tx-amar-city-hall

Amarillo needs a city manager more than its governing council might realize.

Then again, perhaps the five individuals on the City Council do realize it. Still, the search for a permanent chief municipal executive might get complicated in a major hurry.

Given that I don’t get out as much these days as I did when I was working full time for a living, I am not privy to all the chatter and clatter that rattles around the city. But I did hear a thing or two today that makes me think about the upcoming city manager search and the issues that might complicate it.

The City Council makeup might be changing. The buzz I heard is that Mayor Paul Harpole won’t seek re-election. He’s had enough. He’s done. It’ll be back to selling cars full time for His Honor. Councilman Mark Nair might be on the fence about running for re-election next May. I have heard that Councilman Elisha Demerson wants to be mayor. Councilman Randy Burkett, I’m told, is a cinch to seek re-election. No word on the newest council member, Lisa Blake, and her plans to seek election to the seat to which she was appointed.

The council has this reputation for dysfunction. The former interim city manager, Terry Childers, laid it on the line a few months back. He scolded the council for contributing to the “caustic” atmosphere at City Hall. He blamed council members for the “dysfunction” that infects local government. Does the headhunter the city hired to recruit a qualified pool of candidate expect to deliver a top-quality corps of candidates given what’s been transpiring at City Hall?

The city election looms large. Childers was supposed to stay on until after the May municipal election. Then he popped off at a constituent and quit. He cleared out his desk and returned to Oklahoma City, from where he came a year ago. If the council undergoes another wholesale change in its makeup in 2017 similar to what it got in 2015, that in itself might be enough to dissuade qualified manager candidates from seeking the job.

Why is finding a manager so critical? Well, the city is in the midst of a wholesale change downtown. I drove along Buchanan Street this afternoon en route to an appointment on the other side of town and I was struck once again by the incredible change in the appearance of the street.

From 10th Avenue north to Third Avenue, you see all that major construction: the Excel Building, the multi-story parking garage, the Embassy Suites convention hotel. Then you see the demolition of the Coca-Cola site still ongoing just south of City Hall to make room for the multipurpose event venue/ballpark.

The city is negotiating with a minor-league baseball franchise to relocate in Amarillo.

Amarillo needs a firm hand on the till to guide all this to a successful conclusion.

Dysfunction. Uncertainty. Continued change. It’s all there to make municipal government an even more complicated and challenging endeavor than it already is.

My optimism that the city can navigate through this mess keeps ebbing and flowing. At this moment, I’m feeling the ebb — but I am hoping for the flow.

national news, political news

Twitter tirade shows danger of Trump presidency

constitution-burningb

Donald J. Trump’s propensity for popping off on social media came into amazing, sharp focus with his latest rant about flag burning.

And it demonstrates why the president-elect’s on-the-job training for the office he is about to assume is so troubling to many of us … who didn’t vote for him.

Trump went on another Twitter tirade and said that those who burn the flag out of protest should spend time in the clink and possibly lose their citizenship.

Really, Mr. President-elect?

This goonish statement underscores as well as anything he’s muttered or sputtered during the course of his fledgling political career how — in a normal election year — he wouldn’t have won the presidency.

His ridiculous assertion ignores — willfully? — that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled time and again that flag-burning is a protected form of political speech. The First Amendment is pretty damn clear about it and anyone who has read that amendment ought to know it — and that makes me believe beyond a doubt that Trump has no clue as to what’s contained in the nation’s governing document.

And yet …

Donald Trump won enough electoral votes to defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton and become the 45th president of the United States.

It puzzles me to the max — even now, weeks after the election — just how this happened. Still, I accept the result, as distasteful as it is to my political palate.

I cannot help but wonder, though, how many more idiotic pronouncements the president-elect is going to make. How much more consternation is he going to cause with his utter ignorance of something so fundamental as freedom of speech and political expression?

I’ll repeat what I’ve said before and what others have said already: We have elected a dangerous man as our next president.

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