All posts by kanelis2012

local news, media news

Blog decision looms

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A possible decision might be looming for High Plains Blogger … that would be yours truly.

The decision involves whether I want to keep pursuing this daily goal of posting commentaries,. Yes, the daily goal. I have been writing blogs each day since The Flood, or so it seems. I have had good spells and slow spells.

I am deep in the midst of a slow spell. I have plenty of topics on which to comment. The response has been, well, rather sparse. As in very sparse. I’m in a slump.

I am unsure if my audience, such as it is, has grown weary of my rants. Maybe I’m not as sharp as I once claimed to be.

I believe I’ll know what to do soon after I post this particular item on Highs Plains Blogger. If the comments pour in from readers saying they want me to keep going, well, then I’ll respond accordingly.

If it remains quiet out there in Blog Land, I think that will tell me something, too. Maybe I can monkey around with the blog platform I use to get more response.

Just know that I truly enjoy sharing my world view with you. It’s my view only. I know it has its friends and its foes. Critics are welcome to offer their negative responses. I am a grownup and I can take it. I’ll be honest, I prefer to hear words of support.

I have sought to broaden the subject matter, to include more slice of life entries, rather than just relying on politics and policy.

I’ll know in due course what my decision will be. I’ll keep you posted on what I decide.

Meanwhile … have a great day.

International news, military news

Ceasefire? Just end it … now!

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OK, I am far, far away from the front in the war between Ukraine and Russia, so I don’t have a particular dog in that fight.

However, if Russian goon/strongman/thug Vladimir Putin is going to unilaterally declare a three-day ceasefire in the fight he is losing to Ukraine then why in the hell doesn’t he just end it? Now! Go back home, Vlad, and take your overmatched and outfought troops home with you!

I don’t even know if this ceasefire will hold. Russians must be frustrated beyond all that is reasonable. Ukrainians, must be too, given that they have spent thousands of lives protecting their sovereign homeland against an invading aggressor nation.

I will never accept — not ever in a million years — the notion that Donald Trump has pushed that Ukraine is to blame for the start of this war. He calls Ukraine President Volodymyr Zellenksyy a “terrorist” and chides him for — yes, actually chides the man — for continuing to fight for his nation’s honor.

Putin is making zero concessions to end the bloodiest ground war in Europe since WWII. Trump is demanding nothing from this killer. He called Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine the act of a “genius.” Good grief, man. It’s the act of a madman!

So now the Russian dictator wants to stop the shelling, shooting and killing for three days. To what end? Who in the hell knows?

I am far away from the fighting, but as an American patriot who fears for the world’s safety, I want this war to end.

media news

End of war … under dispute

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It was 50 years ago this week when a war we thought might never end actually concluded.

The end of the shooting in Vietnam occurred on Aptil 30, 1975 when Bui Tin reportedly accepted the surrender of forces commanded by Durong Van Minh, also known as “Big Minh.” I guess the gentleman was much larger than your average Vietnamese man.

Why bring this up? Well, in November 1989, I had the high honor of meeting Bui Tin in a dingy Hanoi conference room. I was touring Vietnam with fellow journalists and we arranged for a meeting with Bui Tin and heard his first-hand account of what happened the day North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, captured the enemy government, renamed the city after “Uncle Ho” Chi Minh and began to rebuild the nation torn asunder by decades of war against the Japanese, the French and, finally, the Americans.

Bui Tin eventually fled Vietnam and lived in France for the rest of his life. He died there on Aug. 11, 2018.

He was an unpretentious man, as I recall. He spoke matter-of-factly — through an interpreter — of when he accepted Big Minh’s surrender. His version of events has been disputed by the Vietnamese government in the decades since the end of the war.

For me? I’ll go along with Bui Tin’s story. I recall at the time that he sounded credible and I don’t recall any of my colleagues questioning the veracity of the story he told us.

Many of us among the journalists who made that journey are Vietnam War veterans and for those of us who returned to Vietnam after serving there during war, the whole return was an event that changed many of our lives.

It damn sure changed mine!

The U.S. war effort had ended in January 1973. We brought our remaning troops home, left the embassy in Saigon under fire and began to rebuild our own nation’s life once American blood stopped flowing.

Vietnamese continued to suffer from what we left behind. It’s been quiet there since 1975 and Vietnam is now an ally … of sorts. Yes, even the bitterest of enemies can make it right between them.

local news

City to assume unwelcome label

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Quite soon, Princeton, Texas — the city I have called home for the past six years — is going to assume a title I don’t think anyone ever wants for their community.

Princeton will become known as the City to Avoid at Rush Hour. 

How do I know that? Because the Texas Department of Transportatio is going to lay waste to the major east-west thoroughfare that runs straight through the middle of Princeton.

U.S. Highway 380 is going under the bulldozer’s front as TxDOT starts to expand the highway from four lanes to six. Here, though, is the kicker: To expand the highway, TxDOT is going to narrow it, turning it from a four-lane right-of-way to a two-lane.

None of this, I hasten to add, will have much to do with the construction of the freeway bypass TxDOT is planning along the 380 route from Denton to Greenville.

One can argue that Princeton already has the Rush Hour ban label already. Traffic slows to a near stop west bound in the morning and east bound in the aftenoon along U.S. 380. I try to wrap my noodle around what will happen when TxDOT decides to narrow the highway from four lanes to two. It boggles my noggin.

To be candid, at my relatively advanced age I don’t expect to live long enough to see the completion of the bypass route around Princeton. Or around any of the other cities along the 380 route for that matter.

The state is facing some serious property condemnation issues as it seeks to purchase the land on which to carve the new highway. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution does require government to give “just compensation” for property it takes as its own. It’s going to be mighty expensive to build it … you know?

I long have favored development. I want my community to grow and to prosper. I believe Princeton will prosper once the highway gets improved and once the state finishes its bypass project.

But damn! The nightmarish inconvenience of it will make it mighty difficult to anticipate good things when the end of the work arrives.

I believe Princeton needs an identity to give the city a personality. This isn’t quite the ID I anticipated for the city where I choose to live.

military news, national security

Hegseth: an unqualified disaster!

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Manning a post that puts someone in charge of the finest miliatary organization in world history requires an individual with immense talent and knowledge of the intricacies of geopolitics.

What did Donald Trump get when he selected Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense? He got a buffoon who has spilled the beans hither and yon about deeply classified military intelligence. Now we hear that Hegseth, the former Fox talking head, has let his phone number be known around the world.

This clown is a threat to the 1.5 million men and women who wear the uniform of this great country.

Hegseth’s top staff is bailing on him. The Pentagon has turned into a clown show. Think about that for a moment: the Pentagon has become a laughingstock!

And why? Because the president of the United States needed a blind loyalist to lead the world’s most lethal military force. He didin’t look for anyone with any smarts, any organizational skill, any sense of the gravity of the information he possessed.

Instead, he hired a dipshit.

And a dangerous one, too!

I guess we can set aside all the crap about his alleged mistreatment of women, or his alleged heavy drinking on the job. Now we need to worry that this moron is blabbing to anyone who will listen about top-secret military matters.

Get him the hell out of there!

national news

Trump’s ‘ratings’ are, um, tanking

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Donald J. Trump’s political career has been a testimony to his “ratings,” as he has said himself countless times.

Dude was a reality TV celebrity before becoming a politician, who he knows about ratings. He would boast that his political “ratings” were the best in human history … or words to that effect. He would chide his foes for their “failed ratings.”

We’re now 80-some days into the second term of Trump’s time in office. Know what? Man’s ratings are taking a header off the proverbial cliff.

Makes me wonder: Why is the Dumbass in Chief being so silent about them? No need to answer. I know that the charlatan cares only about news he deems favorable to him. Everything else is “fake,” or is a conspiracy of some sort.

This is what happens when a politician simply doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Meaning that Trump just doesn’t know, for example, that his tariff tantrum is going to result in a national tax increase for every living American.

He and his sidekick, Elon Musk, have set about cutting inspectors general loose, slashing the ranks of national park personnel, Social Security staffers, limiting veterans benefits, slashing foreign aid to countries that need assistance to fend off disease. Oh, and turning this country’s back on an ally in the middle of a ground war with Russia.

I don’t recall Trump ever boasting that he would do all these things while he campaigned for office in 2024. Do you?

Of course not. It’s because the Ignoramus in Chief doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

local news

Declaring victory in this fight

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I stand before you today to declare a conditional victory in the war I have been waging … with myself.

About 15 weeks ago, I joined a class of fellow military veterans who reportedly struggled as I have with weight control. I sought professional help because I was unable to come to grips with what I determined was my addiction to comfort food.

I smothered myself in comfort food after I lost my bride, Kathy Anne, to brain cancer a little more than two years ago. I reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs and  lo and behold, I learned that the VA medical center in Bonham has an online class it teaches to veterans just like me.

So, for the past four months I have been taking this course online with the help of a nutritionist who works for the VA. I learned a great deal on how to curb my impulses, how to control myself and how to change my life.

Therefore, I will declare victory in the “changing of my life” aspect. I have done so!

I know what some of you might be wondering: Have I lost much weight? No. I haven’t. The point is that I am able to maintain control of my impulses by eliminating certain snack foods from my diet. I no longer splurge on sugary treats. I measure my portions of meat and vegetables. I consume increasing amounts of veggies and fruits daily. I am drinking an adequate amount of water.

I am feeling like a million bucks.

I had set an ambitious weight-loss goal at the outset. I didn’t reach the finish line. I have dropped a few pounds, to be sure. However, I am going to keep striving. I feel energized if only by the knowledge that I can change my life and, in fact, have done so.

I feel a certain sense of accomplishment and I just want to share it with those of you who read this blog and know a bit of the struggle my family and I have endured. For me, it came in the form of that damn comfort food.

I am happy to declare victory. The time will come when I can declare a victory without condition. I just need to reach that goal I set. I’ll get there.

national news, political news

Chaos is back in form

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There once was a time when Republican politicians seeking to keep the party’s presidential nomination away from the guy who would win it spoke truthfully about the numbskull.

All of them who eventually became MAGA minions blindly loyal to Donald Trump would rant, rave and rail against him.

I harken back to the statement that came from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who called Trump the “chaos candidate.” He predicted in 2016 that Trump would govern in a boiling sea of chaos. That prediction looms quite large for me know as the world watches the way Trump is seeking to make his imprint on a second term as president.

Chaos is back. Bigger and more worrisome than ever!

The worrisome aspect comes from the observation of many that Trump’s team actually is more organized, which I translate to mean that it wants to foment chaos, they do it on purpose. They want to keep Americans and our nation’s allies off balance. They prefer for Trump to act when the spirit moves him. No plan. No strategy. No thought given to the consequences of decisions.

If that doesn’t alarm you, then you’re a MAGA moron. The rest of us, though, have reason to be alarmed beyond measure at the chaos that has made its return to the West Wing.

national news

No explanation needed, Mrs. Obama

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Former first lady Michelle Obama finds herself feeling the need to explain why she stayed away from Donald J. Trump’s inauguration.

Allow me this bit of candor. There is not a reason on Earth for Michelle Obama to explain a single thing. Not to me, or to you. Or to anyone.

She stayed away because, in my view, she could not stand the thought of making nice with those who have demonized her, along with her husband and all of the couple’s political friends. What is so mysterious about that? Not a damn thing!

Even more troubling came the whispering about the state of the Obamas’ marriage. OK, she stayed away from Trump’s inauguration. Then she went MIA for the funeral of former President Carter. Her husband was there, along with former President Clinton and President Biden and, of course, the incoming Trump.

Again, Mrs. Obama didn’t need to rework her schedule to fit in a public appearance with Trump. Yet, the questions persisted about the Obamas’ marriage.

Finally, it fell to the former president to declare publicly that he and his wife are fine and that the rest of the world needs to butt the hell out.

Michelle Obama conducted herself with class, grace, good humor and style during her eight years as first lady. She also recognized that as the nation’s first Black presidential couple, she had to do her job to perfection. And she did!

To her everlasting credit, the former first lady responded to pressure to explain her absence from the ceremony involving the return of a totally unfit human being to the presidency. It’s a shame that she deemed it necessary to explain herself.

education news, local news

Toughest job in North Texas? Yeah, probably!

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Donald McIntyre’s name possibly isn’t known much outside of Princeton, Texas, where I have lived for the past six years.

I am going out on a limb, though, with this post and declare that McIntyre might have the most challenging public service job in North Texas. He is superintendent of schools of the Princeton Independent School District.

Where is the challenge? Two words sum it up: rapid growth.

Princeton ISD is on the cusp of a growth explosion many of us have never seen. The school system keeps seeking to project what it believes will be its student population in a given academic year only to have those numbers blown apart by reality.

McIntyre — known as Mac to his friends — has to calculate those numbers and present them to the school board to enable the elected board to decide on how to respond to the growth.

A slight bit of personal history. My wife and I moved to Princeton in early 2019. We bought a home here. The population sign at the edge of town said Princeton was home as of the 2010 Census to 6,800 people. The 2020 Census figure was posted and the sign was changed to 17,027 residents. The 2020 Census figure was outdated immediately. Just recently, I heard Princeton City Manager Mike Mashburn say that, based on the number of water meters on line, the city population today stands at about 43,000 residents.

So, from 2010 to 2025, Princeton has grown sevenfold. Wow!

What’s more, most of those new families are bringing children with them. The kids have to attend school. Princeton ISD, therefore, must provide those students a place to learn.

McIntyre must ensure the kids can attend school. He is the chief administrator of a growing public school system and, believe this, he has expressed a hint of frustration at the many challenges he has to confront. The school district’s voters have stood with the district when it asks for money to build the schools it needs. The problem, though, is that the school system cannot build them quickly enough.

The elementary school built in my neighborhood in 2020 had two portable classrooms installed in the first year of its existence because the school had exceeded its capacity.

I want to doff my proverbial cap to Superintendent Don McIntyre for the examplary job he is doing just to keep pace.