Category Archives: national news

national news, political news

Cruz-Fiorina: that’s the ticket

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz wanted to “shake up” the Republican Party presidential primary contest.

So, what does he do?

He selects a former fellow GOP candidate, a failed U.S. Senate candidate and (some would say) a failed business executive as his vice-presidential running mate.

Welcome back to the battle, Carly Fiorina.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/277956-cruz-rolls-dice-with-fiorina

I don’t have a clue how this will catapult Cruz to the GOP nomination at this stage of the primary campaign.

Donald J. Trump scored a five-state sweep Tuesday. He took several big steps toward cinching the party nomination. So, his main rival picks a has-been candidate to shore up his failing bid?

Go figure.

I’m going to give Fiorina some praise. I thought she was the best candidate of all the then-large GOP crowd during that first debate. When was that again? I can’t remember.

She was on the so-called “happy hour” roster of candidates who didn’t fare as well in public opinion polling as the leaders. I thought she killed it with her crisp answers and command of the facts.

I’m still trying to figure out how she gets past her failed effort at being elected senator from California and her forced resignation as head of Hewlett-Packard.

That initial debate performance was her high-water mark, as near as I can tell.

This is the first time in 40 years that a major-party presidential candidate has named a running mate in advance of the party convention. The last one to do so was former California Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1976, when he picked moderate GOP U.S. Sen. Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania. Reagan still fell short in his effort to topple President Ford in his bid for election that year.

I cannot fathom how this derails Trump.

At least Cruz has enlisted a fearless and ferocious critic of Hillary Clinton.

Come to think of it, that might be Cruz’s strategy: soften up Hillary for Trump.

Before you think that’s an utterly preposterous notion, then consider that Donald J. Trump is about to become the presidential nominee of a once-great American political party.

 

entertainment news, medical news, national news

There’s nothing funny about Alzheimer’s disease

3 Comments

BB74Dvn

Will Ferrell is one of my favorite comics.

His impression of President George W. Bush is priceless. His Ricky Bobby race-car driver character cracks me up.

But for the ever-lovin’ life of me, I do not understand the role he is about to undertake.

Ferrell is set to play President Ronald Reagan in a bleeping satire about Alzheimer’s disease.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/will-ferrell-to-play-ronald-reagan-in-alzheimer%e2%80%99s-comedy-%e2%80%98reagan%e2%80%99/ar-BBslxWs?li=BBnb7Kz

Maybe I’m a fuddy-duddy. Perhaps I need to dust off my funny bone.

The film reportedly will be set during President Reagan’s second term. Dementia sets in. His staff supposedly tells him he’s an actor portraying the president.

Gosh, that’s a real knee-slapper, right?

Actually, it isn’t.

Those of us who have intimate knowledge and experience with this dreaded disease might not see the humor in it. OK, maybe some of us will.

I don’t.

The disease is a merciless predator. It strips away people’s cognition, their memory. Everything!

My mother died of the disease 32 years ago at the age of 61. I watched her essence disappear over time.

And another beloved member of my family is in its early stages. He’s doing well at this moment. Time, though, is not on his side.

It’s a miserable, heartbreaking, tragic disease.

Someone now wants to poke fun at this killer that victimizes millions of Americans. Its victims include those who suffer from the disease and their loved ones who must watch them deteriorate.

How is that funny?

 

legal news, national news, political news

How does Hastert earn this kind of ‘support’?

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Something must have gotten past me.

A judge received more than 60 letters of support for a former U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives just before sentencing him to 15 months in federal prison.

It’s not the banking fraud that has everyone’s attention. It’s the reason for the charges to which former Speaker Dennis Hastert has pleaded guilty.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-dennis-hastert-letters-met-20160422-story.html

The letters reportedly were written mostly before the allegations of sexual abuse had been made public. They spoke to Hastert’s supposedly stellar character and devotion to his family.

Fine.

But what about the charges that he hid hush money he was paying to boys he purportedly abused sexually while he was a high school wrestling coach?

The terms of Hastert’s guilty plea apparently limits his sentence to no longer than six months in jail.

Speaker Hastert allegedly led a hideous double life. He was a respected coach and equipment manager at the Yorkville, Ill., high school. Meanwhile, he allegedly lured at least four boys into compromising situations while traveling with them.

It’s almost too disgusting to ponder that a man who once was second in line to the presidency of the United States likely had did terrible things to young boys at an earlier time in his life.

I get that Hastert is in failing health. I feel terrible about the toll this case has taken on his family. However, the responsibility for that toll falls squarely on the former speaker.

Did he deserve any sympathy from the judge?

Maybe just a little.

Maybe.

The judge, though, didn’t see it that way when he sent a “serial child molester” to the slammer.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dennis-hastert-former-us-house-speaker-sentenced-to-15-months-in-prison/ar-BBsiQsJ?ocid=ansmsnnews11

business news, media news, national news, political news

Journalist shows his chops … and quits

2 Comments

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John L. Smith had a problem I never encountered in my 37 years as a print journalist.

He worked for a media mogul who is far more than just a mere newspaper titan. Smith was a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Then he quit when he was told his boss was off limits. He couldn’t comment on his doings.

Is that fair? I don’t believe so.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2016/04/8597612/las-vegas-review-journal-columnist-resigns

And just who was this man’s boss? Sheldon Adelson bought the R-J in 2015. He’s also a big-time casino owner and a political money man for Republican politicians.

Smith thought that he could comment on Adelson’s casino business and his political activity.

No can do, came the directive.

At one level, I’m somewhat relieved I never encountered that problem while working as a reporter and editor for three corporate owners.

The first one was in Oregon City, Ore., where my corporate boss was Ed Scripps, owner of Scripps League Newspapers. Then I moved to Beaumont, where I worked for the Hearst Corporation, which bought the paper late in my first year on the Gulf Coast; the mogul then was William Randolph Hearst Jr. Then I went to work in Amarillo, where the Globe-News is owned by Morris Communications; the head man there is William Morris III.

They all had tremendous influence within their spheres. The issue never came up on whether I could comment on their outside activities.

Although …

The current Globe-News publisher’s involvement with certain civic activities has raised questions in some quarters about whether the paper could look critically at those activities. Yes, I worked there during some of that time, but the issue didn’t present itself so directly that I ever considered quitting over it.

John L. Smith’s dilemma is quite interesting, given Adelson’s huge impact outside of the business he owns. It’s his political influence that ought to make the R-J’s owner fair game.

It’s not to be.

The case isn’t entirely simple. Smith had written about Adelson before and the casino mogul sued Smith for libel. The suit was dismissed, but Smith went bankrupt defending himself. The two men had issues.

Smith wrote in a letter to his colleagues: “In Las Vegas, a quintessential company town, it’s the blowhard billionaires and their political toadies who are worth punching. And if you don’t have the freedom to call the community’s heavyweights to account, then that ‘commentary’ tag isn’t worth the paper on which it’s printed.”

My hope for Las Vegas is that other media organizations will fill the vacuum left by John Smith’s resignation.

I applaud the man’s guts in quitting over a journalistic principle.

 

national news

No singing at memorial? Oh, please!

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An overzealous security guard at the 9/11 memorial and museum in New York City deserves a serious reprimand by the New York Port Authority that employs him.

The guard told a North Carolina middle school class to stop singing — here it comes — the National Anthem at the memorial.

It seems that singing isn’t allowed at this sacred site without someone or some group paying for a special permit to do so.

To which I would add: what pure baloney!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/nyregion/guard-stops-students-from-singing-national-anthem-at-9-11-memorial.html

The museum staff has issued an apology to the students and their adult chaperones. It said the guard acted inappropriately.

Gee, do you think?

Perhaps the most stunning element of this story might be the reaction from the teachers. They said they viewed the incident as something of a teaching experience for the children. It taught them to “respect authority,” according to the New York Times.

I give huge credit for the teachers for their restraint and their respect for the authority of the guards.

However, it wasn’t as if the kids were singing some kind of raunchy rock song or a ’60s protest song that criticized the federal government.

The students sought to honor the nation with their rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

It seems the museum brass ought to rethink the rules it has set out. Some clarity at the very least is in order, given that the teachers who led the students were told it would be OK to sing the anthem.

Whatever the outcome, the 9/11 museum and the Port Authority deserve the criticism that is coming their way.

 

International news, military news, national news, political news

Syria fight to get some U.S. ground help

mccain

I have great respect and admiration for U.S. Sen. John McCain.

The Arizona Republican, though, needs to stop insisting that it’s time to put more American “boots on the ground” in places where they don’t belong.

President Obama has ordered 250 U.S. Special Forces to Syria to “assist and advise” frontline troops who are battling the Islamic State.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/277529-mccain-250-more-us-troops-in-syria-insufficient

McCain’s reaction was quite predictable. He called the deployment a “welcome” development but then said it is “insufficient” and is doomed to fail.

I happen to disagree with the failure prediction.

Having said that, I am troubled by the way the president has described the troops’ assignment. He said they aren’t going to be “combat” troops. I am forced to say, merely, “Huh?”

The troops will comprise mostly Army Special Forces … Green Berets and Rangers. These folks are trained to the hilt to, um, fight.

I strongly suspect that if, in the process of advising and assisting the Syrians, that these special operations troops find themselves engaging ISIL terrorists that they’ll know what to do.

The soldiers who are joining the fight against ISIL are going to deliver maximum damage to the terror organization.

On one hand, Sen. McCain should reel back his desire to send thousands more ground forces back into battle.

On the other hand, the president of the United States ought to quit soft-pedaling the threat of combat that awaits these forces.

 

national news, political news

Hell freezes over for one Republican

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It’s official: Hell has frozen over.

A friend called me today. He lives in Gray County, Texas. He’s a long-standing Republican. He then warned me about what was about to come out of his mouth.

“I’m going to vote for Hillary,” he said.

To say I was taken aback would be to commit a profound understatement.

He’s getting ahead of himself just a little bit. My friend presumes that Donald J. Trump will be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee and that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the Democratic Party’s choice.

He doesn’t like Clinton. My friend said she lies too much and that he doesn’t trust her.

Still, according to my friend, she remains preferable to who he believes — and so do I — is the probable GOP nominee.

“I am not a Trump guy,” my pal said.

There was another element that drove my friend over to the other side. It was the non-aggression pact agreed to by Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich. My friend doesn’t think much of Kasich and he said he voted for Cruz in the Texas GOP primary at the beginning of March. He said he liked Cruz’s claim of being an “outsider.”

Then Cruz struck the deal with Kasich in this last-chance bid to derail Trump. To my friend, that smacked of “establishment politics.” So, his support for Cruz disappeared when he teamed up with Kasich in this stop-Trump gamble.

At one level, his acknowledgement surprises me. At another level, my friend seems to symbolize the national mood about the upcoming contest for the presidency.

He vowed to vote for one of the major-party nominees. He said he didn’t want to “waste my vote” on a fringe candidate; he also said he didn’t want to sit this election out.

Trump’s candidacy has produced this kind of impact with Republicans all over the country. They don’t buy his newfound “conservative values.” They don’t trust him. They are horrified at the things that he has uttered along the campaign trail.

With that, Hillary Rodham Clinton has gained at least one vote from someone in the Texas Panhandle where she likely never thought she would.

Go figure.

national news, political news

‘Tag team’ gangs up against Trump

cruz and kasich

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio have formed a tag team.

The want to stop Donald J. Trump’s march to the Republican Party’s presidential nomination so badly they’re willing to forget the mean things they’ve said about each other.

Will it work? I am not holding my breath for this strategy to cause the sky to crash down on Trump’s campaign.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/ted-cruz-john-kasich-team-up-222377

It is an interesting alliance and an interesting strategy.

Kasich is going to bow out of campaigning actively for the Indiana GOP primary in two weeks, intending to leave the field more open to Cruz. Meanwhile, Cruz said he’s going to cede the anti-Trump vote in Oregon and New Mexico to Kasich.

What does this to — or for — Trump? It gives him some ammo to fire in his effort to suggest the GOP primary nomination selection process is “rigged” against him.

Yep, it’s going to fire up those devoted Trumpsters — or should I call them Trumpkins? — who are standing by their man through thick and thin.

My nagging question, though, is this: Suppose this strategy works. Who between the tag-team partners is going to emerge as the top dog in this fight for the party’s presidential nomination?

 

national news

Sen. Wofford to get married … big deal? Well, yes

wofford

Two blog posts in a row on a matter that makes me uncomfortable …

Bear with me on this one.

Former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford was married to a woman for 48 years. Then his wife, Clare, died of leukemia in 1996. Sen. Wofford was despondent.

Then he met someone else five years later.

The someone else is Matthew Charlton. Wofford and Charlton fell in love. And so, quite soon, the two of them are going to get married.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3556283/Former-senator-married-wife-48-years-reveals-marry-new-male-partner-fifty-years-junior.html

Wofford is now 90 years of age. He served with distinction in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He and Clare produced three children.

I get that people of Wofford’s generation who were gay perhaps were afraid to reveal their sexuality in that earlier time. I also believe Sen. Wofford’s statements about how deeply in love he was with Clare.

Then he has this new love interest enter his life. Is it a big deal that the new significant other is of the same gender? It’s not nearly as big a deal as it would have been a generation or two or three ago.

The truly weird part of this story to my way of thinking is that Matthew Charlton is now 40 years old. He is five decades younger than Sen. Wofford.

Wofford said he never attached the terms “gay” or “straight” to his sexual orientation.

He said he’s now just happy to have found love once again. That it happens to be with a man must be just, well, the way it is.

A lot of us out here in the peanut gallery who are watching this latest chapter in the life of a one-time public man are left to wonder: What in the world is up with that huge age difference?

 

national news, political news

Transgender bathrooms become a POTUS campaign issue?

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What in the name of bathroom breaks has happened to the presidential campaign?

Let’s see: Donald J. Trump said something about it being OK with him if a transgender individual wants to use a bathroom that makes him/her comfortable.

Then we hear from fellow Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who starts peppering Trump with criticism over his statement.

Holy mackerel, man!

First of all, I am not dialed in to this transgender issue. If I were king of the world — which Trump seems to aspire to become — I wouldn’t waste a moment of time worrying about this issue.

Transgenderism isn’t on my radar. I guess if I had to make an argument for it one way or the other, I’d oppose allowing transgender individuals to use whatever rest room they wish.

People are born with certain physical attributes that make them either male or female. I guess physiology rules out over emotional psyche.

OK. That said, why are presidential candidates even talking about this issue?

It won’t matter one bit to any president. This is a state issue exclusively. If there’s a law to be enacted, it will be done by state legislatures and signed into law — or vetoed — by governors.

The LGBT community seems to want to make an issue of it. While I oppose laws aimed at discriminating against Americans based on their sexual orientation, this transgender bathroom issue that has blown up in some states takes this tempest a step too far.

And for the life of me, I don’t understand why presidential candidates are talking about it now.