Be advised …

High Plains Blogger is taking a break from writing fresh posts. Keyboard issues have made writing difficult. You will be reading classic posts from years gone by.

Enjoy.

On a day when Donald Trump preened and proclaimed that George Floyd would be “happy” with the huge job gains registered in the wake of the global pandemic, a group of Princeton, Texas, residents gathered at a park under a sweltering sun to honor Floyd’s memory.

Floyd, as the world knows, died more than a week ago when Minneapolis cops arrested him for a non-violent offense, put face down on the pavement and then snuffed the life out of him. The officer who killed him is white; Floyd was black.

Floyd’s death has triggered a national protest response that today found its way to this Collin County community.

They called a “unification rally,” given that there was no parade that required a police presence, although the Princeton Police Department dispatched about three patrol cars on the edges of the park just to stand by in case.

The rally drew a gathering of about 100 residents. Some of them were carrying signs: Black Lives Matter. Vote for Change, Silence is Violence, There Comes a Time when Silence is Betrayal; one sign asked, “What are you going to do to combat racism?”

The unification rally was organized by Princeton High School students. No one from City Hall was there. No one from the Princeton Independent School District (at least no one that I could recognize) came to the rally at J.M. Caldwell Sr. Park. It was an overwhelmingly white crowd of folks.

Off to the side members of the Princeton Veterans of Foreign Wars post handed out bottles of water. Jason Ash, a life member of the VFW post, said he was there “to support people’s consititutional right to protest. That’s why we served.”

I pointed out the voter registration table and Ash said, simply, “I hope everyone turns out to vote this November.” Indeed.

The climax of the unification rally occurred under the shelter when participants were asked — if they were able — to lie on the pavement, place their hands behind their backs and be silent for 8 minutes, 46 seconds … which is the amount of time that former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin pressed his boot into the back of George Floyd’s neck. Floyd cried out for his mother, he pleaded with Chauvin to let him get up, saying “I can’t breathe.” 

George Floyd is the latest African-American to die a martyr for the cause of racial justice and equality. Tragically, he won’t be the last one. However, his death has spawned a movement that has found its way to communities of all sizes and backgrounds.

I am glad — and proud — that Princeton High School’s young people have declared to the world: Enough is enough.

I don’t think I misunderstand what has happened here.

Michael Flynn, who served for 24 days as Donald Trump’s national security adviser, lied to the FBI and Vice President Mike Pence about the Russian interference in our 2016 presidential election.

Then the retired Army lieutenant general pleaded guilty to charges brought by the FBI. He admitted to breaking the law!

Oh, but wait! Now the Department of Justice says Flynn’s admission of guilt is insufficient for him to be punished for committing a federal felony. So the DOJ declares it won’t prosecute Flynn.

I agree with what a friend of mine said on social media: Attorney General William Barr needs to be disbarred! This an absolute travesty of justice!

Barr’s rationale reportedly is that the lie that Flynn told the FBI and Pence wasn’t “material” to the Russia probe, which had been started by former FBI Director James Comey and continued by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Wasn’t this clown asked directly what he told Russian operatives about their attack on the election? Didn’t he then lie to the FBI and to Pence? And didn’t he then admit to lying?

This looks to me — and, yes, others — like a systematic dismantling of the Comey/Mueller probe into the Russian attack on our electoral system.

It’s not necessarily a done deal. The DOJ needs approval of its recommendation by the judge to whom Flynn entered his guilty plea. I don’t know what the judge will decide. My hope is that he tosses William Barr’s request aside and then chews the AG out for trying to circumvent justice.

Ridiculous.

The federal government has been getting a lot of much-deserved criticism and condemnation for its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

I want to set that aside for a moment and offer a good word to the feds for something it did correctly: the census.

We received a mailing from the Census Bureau the other day. I opened it and saw some instructions on filling out the census form online. I followed the instructions, completed the form and then submitted it electronically to the agency in Washington in charge of counting every U.S. resident.

Boom! Done!

I have to say that this year’s census-taking is a lesson in one of the things government can do well for us.

Moreover, I want to say that I appreciated the fact that none of the questions we answered had anything to do with whether we are citizens, that we are Americans.

You might recall the hubbub that erupted when the Trump administration considered whether to add the citizenship question to the census form. The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the government should count all U.S. residents every decade; there is no requirement that we must identify ourselves as citizens.

The census form has been completed. It was easy as it could possibly get. It was clearly worded, concise and direct.

My wife and I are now counted as among the 300 million-plus residents of this still and always great nation.

Thanks, feds, for making it such a simple process.