education news

Abbott to renew fight against public education

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

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

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?

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

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.

crime news

He stands as a convicted felon!

2 Comments

Donald J. Trump’s list of “firsts” to be included in his obituary already comprises an unbelievable litany of disgraceful episodes in this man’s truly bizarre life.

First president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.

First president to boast about his martial unfaithfulness.

First president to be accused of seeking to overthrow the government.

And now this: First president to enter his second non-consecutive term in office as a convicted felon.

New York District Judge Juan Merchan today issued a sentence that finalizes Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of paying a porn actress $130,000 to keep quiet about a tryst the two of them had … but that Trump denies ever occurring. Merchan could have sent Trump to prison. He didn’t. He chose instead to issue what they call “unconditional discharge,” meaning that Donald Trump is free to take the oath of office in 10 days.

He will, though, be indelibly stained by the felony conviction on his record. Not that it matters a bit to this narcissistic sociopath who doesn’t exhibit a scintilla of contrition for the verdict delivered by a jury of his peers.

He plans to appeal the conviction.

I am going to accept the judge’s decision to take the action he took. I won’t do so gleefully. I am saddened by the reality that Trump was elected this past November after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Voters “fired” Trump from his first job as president, only to send him back … even after he promised to pardon many of the Jan. 6 mobsters who stormed the Capitol that day to stop the certification of the election that Trump lost.

We have just witnessed a dark day in our nation’s rich and varied history.

crime news

We’re going to get a felon as POTUS

3 Comments

Thanks to a narrow ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, it now is a cinch that on Jan. 20, a convicted felon is going to take the office as the next president of the United States of America.

Donald John Trump won’t do any time in prison, but his conviction on 34 felony counts will stand. The judge in the case involving the hush money that Trump paid to an adult film actress is going to sentence Trump on Friday morning. He won’t send Trump to the slammer. At this point, though, Trump’s incarceration is a side issue.

He will take office as a convicted felon.

Trump had sought to delay the sentencing. SCOTUS voted 5-4 to reject Trump’s appeal. Conservatives John Roberts and Any Coney Barrett joined the court liberals in telling Trump: It’s time to suck it up, big fella.

As they say, it only takes one vote.

And so …. Donald Trump will avoid slammer time, but he’ll still carry the label of felon.

environmental news

Heroes emerge to battle fire

6 Comments

Where does someone far from the action weigh in on a catastrophe unfolding in one of our 50 states?

Fires have consumed tens of thousands of acres of land in southern California. At least six people have died in the inferno. The federal government has declared the area to be a major disaster requiring the government’s full effort.

And yet we hear rumblings that the new presidential administration might be getting set to scale back dramatically the work of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, which was established in the Carter administration to facilitate federal response to disaster.

This cannot happen. And yet the new administration is being led by an individual who believes climate change is a “hoax,” that doesn’t really exist. He is tragically wrong.

I want to concentrate this brief blog post on the heroes who have rushed to the aid of California’s beleaguered firefighters. They have descended on California from throughout the western United States; some have traveled even farther to lend their aid.

The wind has raged across the mountainous region, sending embers many miles to ignite more fire. Entire communities are destroyed, reminding many observers of what occurred in 2024 in Maui. Indeed, I once lived in a region — the Texas Panhandle — that in recent years suffered through the largest wildfire in Texas history, killing thousands of livestock and at least a couple of residents of the region.

The California fires are hard to watch even from some distance.

Is climate change a factor? I believe it is. Thus, we must double-down on our efforts to arrest the conditions that continue to contribute to the changing climate.

Meanwhile, I am going to do what a pastor friend of mine described as “the most we can do” … which is to pray for the well-being of those affected by the unfolding tragedy.,

national news

Carter gets loving sendoff

As far as presidential state funerals go, today’s event honoring the life and legacy of the late President Jimmy Carter was one for the ages.

I don’t generally choose to sit through a televised funeral from start to finish. Today, I did precisely that.

I was struck by several images. One was of Donald J. Trump chatting amicably with Barack H. Obama. Another was the sight of all the living former vice presidents and their wives in the row behind the two presidents. Still another was of the huge Carter family sitting across the aisle, with Amy Carter wiping tears from her eyes.

Steve Ford, son of the late Gerald Ford, and Ted Mondale, son of the late Walter Mondale, read their fathers’ eulogies to Carter, thinking they would outlive the former president who died at age 100.

One family, though, was notably absent from the proceeding today. Nor was there any mention of the patriarch’s name. Former President Ronald Reagan didn’t get a mention that I heard. I saw no evidence of any of Reagan’s three surviving children at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan, of course, defeated Carter’s re-election bid in a near-historic landslide in 1980.

That there would be nothing stated about Carter’s immediate successor, though, seemed odd and a bit bizarre.

All told, President Carter received a well-earned tribute to his humility, his Christian faith, and the great work he did in the four decades of a full life he lived since the presidency.

national news

How will next POTUS respond?

2 Comments

I harbor some reluctance to bring this up, but I am going to do so anyway and risk some blowback from MAGA cultists who read this blog.

It is to wonder how the POTUS-elect is going to respond verbally to the tragedy that is unfolding in Los Angeles County, Calif. The worst wildfires reportedly in southern California history are ravaging entire cities, forcing the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people.

We have heard how Donald Trump has responded before to disasters affecting communities that did not support him politically. He scolds their leadership for alleged incompetence. He does so instead of offering the government’s full support.

California suffered serious damage during Trump’s first term in office. He responded by lecturing leaders on how to keep the brush clear. Why did he do that? Because California is a “blue” state where most voters cast their ballots for Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.

I am one American patriot who wants to hear whether the president-elect can exhibit some semblance of compassion and grace. I fear he won’t … and that he will make me angry all over again.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience