Category Archives: political news

national news, political news

Chaotic campaign becomes even more chaotic

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You want chaos on the election trail? Pandemonium in the board room? Shock in our living rooms?

Welcome to Presidential Election 2016, which is heading for what looks like the wildest finish in history. Why, this might even top the 2000 election, where Al Gore won more popular votes than George W. Bush, but lost the presidency because Bush got one more Electoral College vote than he needed.

I’m not going to predict that this campaign will end with that scenario. The grenade that FBI Director James Comey tossed into the middle of this fight has the potential of upsetting everything we thought about the bizarre nature of this bizarre campaign.

He said he’s found more e-mails that might have something to do with Hillary Clinton’s on-going e-mail controversy. We don’t know what’s in them. We don’t even know if she sent them.

Donald Trump calls it the “mother lode.”

I keep hearing two things: (1) The polls are tightening and (2) few voters’ minds have been changed because of what Comey has said.

Are we really and truly going to elect someone — Trump — who has admitted to behaving boorishly? Are we going to elect an individual with a string of failed businesses, lawsuits, allegations of sexual assault leveled against him?

We’re going to do this because the FBI director has inserted himself and his agency into the middle of a presidential campaign while saying virtually nothing of substance about what he might — or might not — have on one of the candidates?

Am I happy with the choices we face? No. I wish the major parties had nominated different candidates for president. We’re stuck, though, with these. We’re left with a choice. Of the two major-party nominees, the choice is clear — to me.

If only we could rid ourselves of the chaos.

media news, national news, political news

KKK newspaper ‘endorses’ Trump: enough said

donald

Hillary Rodham Clinton has loaded up on newspaper endorsements.

Donald J. Trump has gotten, well, just a few of them.

Then he received a most telling send-off from — I trust y’all are sitting down for this one — the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan.

This one takes my breath away.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/01/the-kkks-official-newspaper-has-endorsed-donald-trump-for-president/

Check this out from the Washington Post:

“While Trump wants to make America great again, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What made America great in the first place?’ ” the article continues. “The short answer to that is simple. America was great not because of what our forefathers did — but because of who our forefathers were.

“America was founded as a White Christian Republic. And as a White Christian Republic it became great.”

I guess the publisher of the Crusader needs to read the U.S. Constitution, which he obviously hasn’t read. The “forefathers” created a secular nation … but I digress.

The Crusader speaks for the Klan, arguably the nation’s most infamous hate group.

The guy who runs the Crusader said the paper isn’t “endorsing” Trump. OK, but the paper sure likes what the Republican presidential nominee is peddling.

I’m out.

national news, political news

No yard signs for this voter

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I actually considered putting a yard sign in front of my house this year.

Then I thought better of it.

The last yard sign I put out on my property was for U.S. Sen. Frank Church, the Idaho Democrat who ran for president … in 1976! That was four decades ago, you know? I was living in Oregon, the state of my birth and where I lived until 1984.

It also was the year before I became a full-time journalist, which — believe this or not — usually does compel one to surrender a semblance of First Amendment guarantees of free speech and political expression. Why is that? The newspapers where I worked frowned on employees wearing their partisan leanings on their sleeves. We need to at least present the veneer of objectivity while covering political issues.

Well, I no longer am practicing journalism on a full-time basis. My career ended in August 2012, but I’ve been involved in various aspects of journalism on a part-time basis on and off ever since.

Still, I toyed with the idea of displaying a yard sign this year. Then I kept reading social media posts from friends and acquaintances about the signs that had been stolen and/or vandalized.

What’s the point? I suppose it’s because this year’s presidential campaign has been so intensely personal — on both sides of the political divide.

Given also that I live in Texas, where folks are allowed to carry guns in the open as well as concealed under their clothing, I shudder to think what might happen were I to confront a vandal or thief seeking to rip off or damage my yard sign.

I’d like to reveal my political choice for president with a sign proclaiming my preference. I’ll just have to settle for doing so with this blog.

national news, political news

Trump has concluded: Hillary’s guilty of everything

donald

Politics too often enables public figures to say the damnedest things about their opponents.

Donald J. Trump has concluded, therefore, that based on what he has heard about FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress — Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States.

What does the Republican nominee know? Not a damn thing! What evidence does he have to pre-judge Clinton’s guilt? Nothing at all, man!

Comey has said only that he has some more material to review regarding some missing e-mails. Has he revealed the goods on Clinton? Has he declared any intention to seek an indictment? Has he told the nation anything of substance about what he has uncovered? No to all of it.

Trump, though, is not to be dissuaded by anything resemblance fairness, due process or any presumption of anything but absolute guilt.

He’s called the e-mail controversy a “bigger scandal” than Watergate. Good bleeping grief!

The Trumpkins throughout the country keep insisting that Clinton deserves to be tossed into prison. For what?

Trump the demagogue/liar is ignoring willfully this fact: Comey already has determined that Clinton did not commit any crimes while using her personal e-mail account while serving as secretary of state.

What the FBI director has revealed at the 11th hour of the most miserable presidential campaign in anyone’s memory does not suggest one iota of criminality.

None of that, however, is going to give Donald Trump pause. His response to Comey’s so-called “October surprise” has been nothing short of reprehensible.

local news, national news, political news, State news

Let’s hope big early vote equals big overall vote

early-vote

Texas elections officials are beside themselves.

Early voting is setting records throughout the state, they say. In the part of the state where I live — the Panhandle — Potter County elections officials also report record turnout for the early vote.

Now, the question: Does the big early vote translate to a larger overall vote? My concern is that record-setting early vote means only that more Texans are voting early … period!

We hear similar reports around the country, where state and local elections officials are crowing about all this early-vote interest.

What in the world is driving it?

Well, I suppose it might have something to do with the news of late this past week, with FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that he might have some more information to reveal about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s e-mail controversy. Legal experts across the spectrum do not anticipate any penalty will come Clinton’s way. The focus now appears to be on Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged dirtbag husband — Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner and his hideous sexting scandal.

Democrats want voters to cast ballots early — perhaps before they change their mind. Republicans are seizing on it, too, before more stuff comes out about their nominee, Donald J. Trump.

As for the Texas turnout, the Lone Star State generally ranks among the poorest turnout states in the country.

I thought early on that because of the two major-party candidates’ low esteem among voters that this year’s presidential election turnout might set an all-time low.

I would be delighted to be wrong about that prediction, too.

International news, national news, political news

Here’s the first and last question for next secretary of state

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Reports indicate that if Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected president next week that she is ready to start vetting a short list of potential secretaries of state.

Vice President Joe Biden reportedly is at the top of that short list.

Biden served six terms in the U.S. Senate before being elected vice president in 2008. He retains many close personal friendships with his former Senate colleagues, given that as VP he served also as president of the Senate.

He’s also a first-cabin foreign policy expert.

So, what do you think would be the first question the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will ask when it begins its hearing to determine whether to confirm Biden — or anyone a President-elect Clinton would nominate?

“Do you intend to use a personal e-mail server to communicate with staffers while serving as the next secretary of state?”

I think I know the answer.

 

legal news, national news, political news

GOP looking to make Hillary’s service difficult

cruz

Ted Cruz has joined his Senate Republican colleague John McCain in declaring war on a potential — if not probable — new president’s appointment powers.

Cruz, the former GOP presidential candidate, says there is “precedent” for the Supreme Court to operate with only eight members. That is a form of code for saying that it it’s OK for the Senate to block anyone that a President Hillary Clinton would nominate to fill the vacant ninth seat on the nation’s highest court.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/27/cruz-says-theres-precedent-keeping-ninth-supreme-c/

McCain was wrong to say such a thing.  Cruz is equally wrong.

Assuming that Clinton wins the presidency in eight days, the Senate Republicans are digging in as they seek to block any appointment the Democratic president might make.

President Obama already has felt the sting of raw politics in that process. Antonin Scalia died eight months ago while vacationing in Texas. Obama selected federal judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Supreme Court justice — one of the conservative titans on the narrowly divided court.

The reaction from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was shameful in its political nature. Within hours of Scalia’s death, he declared that the Senate would block anyone President Obama would nominate; he declared that the nomination should be handled by the next president.

Well, Mr. Majority Leader, the next president is likely to be a Democrat, too. That has prompted Sens. McCain and Cruz to suggest that the next president won’t be able to nominate anyone, either.

Who’s playing politics with the U.S. Constitution? Republicans keep insisting that Democrats are doing it. They are shamefully lacking in self-awareness … as the continuing vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated all too graphically.

national news, political news

Do the e-mails mean anything … or not?

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FBI Director James Comey is going to have a busy week.

He’s going to face immense pressure from Democrats who are incensed at the letter he sent to Congress declaring that he might have some damaging information regarding Hillary Clinton’s e-mail controversy.

Does he have the goods or not? He’s not saying. All he’s saying is that he has found more missing e-mails.

B … F … D!

I get that Comey might be constrained to reveal the details of an ongoing investigation. What I do not get is why this fellow decided on the eve of a presidential election to reveal the existence of the e-mails — that well might contain no new information regarding Clinton’s use of a personal server while she was working as secretary of state.

He’s made a mess of it, man.

What’s more, he has given Donald J. Trump license to convict Clinton of “crimes” and “corruption” on the campaign stump — while not being privy to a single shred of evidence that the Democratic presidential candidate has done anything wrong, let alone illegal.

Oh, and one more point: Comey isn’t “reopening an investigation” of Clinton, which is another lie that Trump has proffered while trying to rescue his floundering presidential campaign.

For that matter, none of us knows what Comey has discovered.

He might be unable to pore through all the contents, but at the very least he now owes it to the public to explain whether he has found anything that might contradict his earlier finding that “no reasonable prosecutor” would call for an indictment against Clinton over her use of the personal server.

We’ve got a week and a day before we go to the polls, Mr. FBI Director.

Let’s clear the air … immediately!

national news, political news

Do political junkies have identifying marks?

In this Sept. 29, 2016, photo, local residents receive their ballots at the Polk County Election Office on the first day of early voting in Des Moines, Iowa. Many Americans have at least some doubts about votes in this year's presidential election will be counted accurately, and a significant number are concerned about the possibility of interference in the election by foreign hackers. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

PIEDMONT, S.D. — I’m wondering if I have some kind of mark on my forehead that identifies me as a “political junkie.”

Here’s what happened at a convenience store in what more than likely is Trump Country.

I picked up a copy of the Rapid City Journal and then met a young man standing in a short line waiting to pay for some items.

“Hey, the election is almost here,” he said, then he asked, “Have you voted?:

“No,” I said. “I don’t believe in voting early.”

“What the heck,” he said. “Our votes won’t be counted anyway.”

“Aw, yes they will,” I replied.

“Who do you think will win?” the young man asked. “Hillary,” I said.

“Do you want her to win?” he asked. “I just told you who I think will win, so I will just leave it at that,” I responded.

Other than the first takeaway I gleaned from this chance meeting — the one about any potential identifying marks — there’s another one.

Donald J. Trump’s repeated — and ridiculous — assertions about a “rigged election” seems to have taken root in the skull of at least one young voter.

As we left the store, I encouraged the young man to vote — despite his doubts that they’ll count his ballot.

media news, political news

Pondering a Facebook decision

facebook-like-button

This shouldn’t cause me to suffer any heartburn — proverbial or real — but it is.

I’m pondering whether to take an extended break from Facebook. I’m writing this post on my blog, but it will go to Facebook as well, which brings me to my point.

I am addicted to blogging. I also have become addicted to Facebook. I don’t mind spending the time it takes to write these messages on High Plains Blogger. I do get a bit annoyed with the time I’m spending on Facebook reading responses to these posts.

Then we have the back-and-forth that occasionally ensues.

They wear me out. I don’t have the emotional stamina or energy to engage my friends/”friends” ad infinitum.

I won’t get too deeply into the other things that annoy me about Facebook: the profanity, the nonsense, the hate.

I haven’t yet made up my mind. Other members of my family have declared their desire to do the same after the election. I might join them in their Facebook moratorium. Or …. I might not.

I’ll keep pounding out these messages on my blog. I do not want to wean myself of this particular fix. It’s too much fun.

If I make the big decision — and cure myself of the heartburn in the process — and forgo Facebook for a time, then I’ll just ask those interested in reacting to these blog posts to do so on the “reply” tab attached to the bottom of those posts.

You’ll see one here. Let me know if you think I’m all wet.