Sports news

Talking football with stranger

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For those of us who have watched folks from all over the country enjoy college football success, I was struck this morning with an opportunity to talk a little tackle football with a guy I didn’t know from the Man in the Moon.

I was riding an elevator at a Barnes & Noble Booksellers store in Frisco, Texas, when a fellow wearing a bright green shirt with a bright yellow “O” emblazoned on its front walked into the elevator.

I looked for just a second at the guy’s shirt and blurted out “Go, Ducks.” His face lit up like my Christmas tree at home … or likely at his home, too. “Yeah, it’s going to be a great game on Wednesday,” he said. Yep. The “great game” will feature the No. 1- ranked Oregon Ducks against The Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl.

We both chuckled at the notion that the Ducks now belong to the Big Ten football conference, which he and I admitted we had learned to hate growing up in Oregon. He hails from Klamath Falls; I was raised in Portland. “All my friends have moved from K Falls to Portland,” he said, “so I still have a lot of friends in Oregon.”

Why hate the Big Ten? Because the Ducks belonged to the Pac-12 but then gravitated this past year to the Big Ten. The Ducks won the Big Ten championship and will represent that conference as its champs against Ohio State, a perennial Big Ten powerhouse. The Ducks had beaten the Buckeyes earlier this year in Eugene, a 32-31 nailbiter. Our goal every year was to cheer on the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl, which historically pitted the Pacific Coast conference against the Big Ten champs.

The Pac-12 is now down to the “Pac-2,” with just Oregon State and Washington State remaining in what once was a proud football conference. “It’s better than being in the Pac-2,” he said. Indeed …

We went our ways. I am sure we’ll end up metaphorically in the same place on Wednesday afternoon, in front of our respective TV sets cheering on the University of Oregon against Ohio State.

Go, Ducks!

Donald Trump, national news

Do not disbelieve Trump’s warnings

Donald Trump’s pathological lying makes it impossible for me to believe virtually nothing that flies out of his yapper.

Except for one thing.

That would be the warnings he has issued about what he intends to do when he becomes president of the United States of America.

When he has said he lost “many friends” on 9/11, we learned he attended zero funerals for his friends after that tragedy. He boasts about his “landslide” victory in 2016 when in fact he lost the popular vote and was elected solely on the basis of the Electoral College. He inflates his net worth, his intelligence and says he hires only “the best people”; all lies.

But he says he will toss the Constitution aside on his first day in office and will govern “like a dictator” for one day. That kind of boast … I believe.

He has said he intends to pardon many of the Jan. 6 traitors imprisoned after being convicted of seeking to overturn the 2020 election. He vows to let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” with Ukraine. He intends to “drill baby, drill” even though we’re now producing more petroleum than ever in our history.

Trump will take office with plenty of executive authority at his disposal. He says his 2024 victory gave him a “mandate” to use that power. Well, it did nothing of the sort. His victory was narrow. He will deploy that authority immediately upon taking office, or so he has vowed.

I will take him at his word on that, but on nothing else.

national news

Trump shows true self

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When word came out that Donald Trump had issued a “holiday greeting message” to the world, I immediately became reluctant to read it, as I thought I knew what the next POTUS would say.

I read it anyway and, sure enough, my instinct was correct.

This individual is utterly and totally incapable of demonstrating an ounce of grace during this holy season. His message contained epithets toward his predecessor in the White House, toward the three men who weren’t pardoned from execution by the president and for all the critics who continue to lament this dips***’s election this past Nov. 5.

He couldn’t simply say “Merry Christmas” and call it good. No mention of Jesus’s birth, no mention of the joy Christians feel toward that event.

I don’t why I bothered to read this message. It simply affirmed what I knew already … that this clown cannot perform the simplest tasks we seek from the leader of our great nation.

business news, International news

No, you cannot just ‘take back’ canal

Donald J. Trump is all bluster and fake bravado and zero substance and knowledge of the limits of the power of the office he is about to inherit.

He said he wants to “take back” the Panama Canal from the country that owns it outright, Panama. Why? Because he doesn’t like the steep fees the Panamanians are charging U.S.-flag ships using the canal.

Good grief! Panama took over the canal decades ago in a deal worked out with the U.S. government. It belongs to them! Panama is a sovereign nation that can do whatever it chooses with its assets. The United States has zero legal authority to seize property owned and operated by another nation.

I get that Trump doesn’t like the fees being charged U.S. shipping. I don’t particularly like it either. However, disliking another nation’s policies does not give us the inherent right to do the kind of thing that Trump is suggesting.

Let’s all get ready for this kind of nonsense to repeat itself for the next four years.

national news

POTUSes don’t ‘own’ these offices

I have heard enough of media commentators adding possessive adjectives to public offices … and so I want to vent briefly.

Repeatedly I hear news talking heads say things like “Donald Trump’s attorney general,” or “Joe Biden’s vice president,” or “Barack Obama’s secretary of state.”

Let me declare in the loudest voice I can muster: Presidents do not “own” these individuals or the public offices they occupy. We do. You and I. We pay for them with our tax money. We, I submit, are the bosses.

To be sure, this isn’t a major policy gripe. It’s all about style. I am willing to take swipes at presidents of both parties for committing what I believe is an overreach.

President Obama had an annoying habit of referring to “my Cabinet,” or “my national security team.” He seemed to take undue possession of the office he inherited on a temporary basis … although I do acknowledge he said he knew he was there just for a brief period.

The most egregious offender of this style lapse? As my Mom would say: I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. Donald J. Trump!

During his first tour in the White House, Trump would refer routinely to “my generals” when talking about military matters. He also routinely smothers Cabinet officials — all approved by U.S. senators — in the personal possessive adjectives I find so objectionable.

What do I wish presidents would say? I prefer the plural possessive description, you know … “our administration,” or “our Joint Chiefs of Staff.” We’re on the same team, at least that’s how the nation’s founders designed it.

national news

Why explain who rules the roost?

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When a man waiting to become president of the United States feels the need to explain that, yes, he’s in charge and not some hireling, well … then the next POTUS might be in serious jeopardy.

Donald J. Trump has been dogged by chatter that Elon Musk, the zillionaire businessman brought on board to offer Trump budget-cutting ideas, has emerged as “co-president.” Trump told a group of supporters that Musk is not a co-president and that he — Trump, that is — is in charge of the incoming administration.

Trump also had to remind his cultists that Musk won’t become president because — get ready for it — he wasn’t born in the U.S.A. Musk is a native of South Africa, born to South African parents.

When does a president-elect feel the need to explain himself in that manner? It seems to me that the Musk talk is getting under Trump’s skin. Oh, and he has a vice president-elect, J.D. Vance, who has been pushed aside and barely mentioned out loud as being an active player in the transition from the Joe Biden administration.

This is a bizarre phenomenon we are witnessing in the chaos that is preceding Donald Trump returning to the White House.

God help us.

local news

Christmas diverts my attention

One of the many joys of the Christmas season is the way this time of year diverts my attention away from mere politics, public policy and the lunacy attached to all of it in these wacky times.

I won’t mention any names in this blog post. You know about whom I refer. So, I’ll leave it at that.

Christmas gives me a chance to enjoy my family. They gathered with me today in my North Texas home for a little bit of Christmas Eve cheer. We didn’t utter a single sentence about politics.  I’ll see them again tomorrow morning, when we meet once again to open gifts, munch on some snacks, sip a little coffee and fruit punch. I might even indulge in a root beer float with my granddaughter.

We’re going to laugh like we’ve gone insane. We’ll watch my puppy, Sabol, traipse in and out of her doggy door. If it’s raining tomorrow, no worries there. Sabol loves rainfall and she’ll likely spend the bulk of her day outdoors.

But soon enough — too soon, to tell you the truth — Christmas will pass. My attention will direct itself to the news of the day. I will return to commenting on it, perhaps with a bit more venom than I normally would like.

Then again, that’s what I do. I also plan to finish my memoir by the end of the first quarter of 2025. You know about that, right? It’s something my bride talked me into writing for my sons and for my immediate family. It chronicles my nearly four decades as a print journalist and recounts the amazing people I was able to meet and the incredible things I was privileged to do during that span of time.

The end is far closer to me than the beginning. So that’s progress. I intend to send it off to a friend who has promised me to edit it at the “friends and family” rate.

That task awaits me in 2025. Meanwhile, y’all have a joyous Christmas. See you on the flip side.

local news

Christmas … time for joy and reflection

Kids, the day is almost here. Santa will take off soon from the Pole and head to every house on Earth with small children inside. Christians will attend Christmas Eve services sometime tonight and we’ll celebrate the birth of a child who we believe would later die to redeem us of our sins.

The hassles, such as they exist, are behind us. The gift-shopping, the crowds, the occasional short temper will give way to what we know will be a happy time.

Me? I long ago swore an oath to never let Christmas consume me. I don’t believe any holiday is worth the hassle of “getting ready” for it. So, I don’t. I haven’t let it bother me for some time.

I am going to sit back and enjoy my family, who I will see later today and again tomorrow. And, yes, we will reflect on the person whose absence still hurts. My bride has been gone for nearly two years. Kathy Anne loved this holiday season. She took great joy in decorating our home.

I will reflect, though, with joy in the 51 years we had as a couple and will take huge pride in the family we produced.

Yes, her absence will hurt. I also refuse to be saddened by it.

This is a time to be happy. I will be among those who will enjoy it.

Merry Christmas.

crime news

Ex-Rep. Gaetz: Serial lawbreaker?

OK, here is what we now have learned about a fellow selected by Donald Trump to be the nation’s next attorney general.

The House Ethics Committee report has issued a scathing report of former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., engaging in sex with underage girls, of paying women for sex, illicit drug use, receiving improper gifts and granting special favors to personal associates … and for obstruction of justice.

The dude no longer will be attorney general, as he pulled out of consideration for the chief law enforcer’s post. But you know what? Many, many questions remain about what in the name of careful analysis was Trump thinking when he tossed Gaetz’s name into the hopper?

Good … grief, man!

The ethics panel chose to not file a criminal referral on Gaetz. It surely should have done so. The report suggests that the bipartisan committee found substantial evidence of Gaetz violating Florida’s statutory rape laws. Still, no charges? What the hell … ?

Let’s look briefly at the cavalier attitude Trump exhibited in nominating Gaetz in the first place. The POTUS-elect chose to forgo any criminal background check of his Cabinet nominees, choosing instead to rely on his own, um, instincts. Well, those instincts have revealed plenty about the individual who’s about to become the next president.

And they aren’t good.

Gaetz won’t be AG and for that we all can breathe easily. We still will have Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office, making decisions affecting our lives.

What has been revealed about Trump’s selection process for a key Cabinet post should make all Americans very afraid of what’s to come when the huckster takes his oath of office.

ABC News reported: In its report, the committee concluded that it did not find substantial evidence that Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, finding that while Gaetz “did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex,” investigators did not find evidence “that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

But … Trump surely knew about this behavior and still he picked him to be AG.

Disgusting.

national news

Churchill would be appalled

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Winston Churchill once described democracy as cumbersome, awkward, prone to mistakes but still the best system of government ever devised.

The British statesman who led the UK through its darkest hours during World War II would be appalled at what is transpiring these days in the world’s foremost democratic republic, the United States of America.

The world’s premier democracy cannot approve a long-term budget to fund its massive government. It depends on those damn “continuing resolutions” that keep the money flowing for three to six months. Then our Congress returns to hassling among its members over whether to extend the debt ceiling, spend money on essential government projects, protect the environment, engage in foreign relations … all those kinds of things.

What’s happened to our government? For one thing, a once-great political party, the Republican Party, has been hijacked by the MAGA cabal of rabble-rousers who have less interest in government than in raising hell. Democrats, meanwhile, have staked out positions on the far left that remain out of reach for anyone in the middle, let alone the far right, to reach.

The MAGA cultist in chief, Donald Trump, has brought on board two unelected know-it-alls — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — to offer advice on how to slash trillions of dollars from the federal budget. One of these yahoos, Musk, is the richest man in the world. Do you think he cares about or understands the importance the federal government has for millions of ordinary Americans? Of course not!

But they’ve got Trump’s ear. That’s all that matters to a man about to take the reins a second time as the nation’s chief executive.

Winston Churchill died in 1965, long before Trump entered the political world, so he didn’t get to witness what the rest of us have seen. He believed in his view of democracy … but I have to wonder what he might say about the mess that the MAGA crowd has made of the “best form of government” ever devised.

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