Category Archives: political news

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, 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.

 

 

local news, political news

Movement founder makes her exit

1 Comment

MPEV

A young woman with whom I am acquainted deserves a word of praise.

So I’ll give it to her in this blog post.

Meghan Riddlespurger has moved to Fort Worth to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer coordinator.

Riddlespburger made a name for herself in Amarillo over the past year. She became leader of a political action organization called the Amarillo Millennial Movement. She became as well a leading advocate for some big plans for the city’s downtown district.

AMM took the lead in promoting the multipurpose event venue, aka the MPEV or The Ballpark, which Amarillo voters endorsed in a referendum this past November.

I became a supporter of the young woman. I said so in this blog. Some comments responding to a few musings were quite critical of Meghan — and I’m quite sure some of the regular readers of this blog are going to toss a few more brickbats at her.

http://m.amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2016-04-22/millenial-movement-co-founder-leaves-fort-worth?v#gsc.tab=0

The only negative element I want to point out is that Riddlespurger chose to leave Amarillo after campaigning aggressively for a downtown revival concept she said ought to be aimed at keeping young residents here.

Her departure for Fort Worth would seem to take away some of the sincerity of her comments promoting the MPEV, the downtown convention hotel and all the other improvements being undertaken downtown.

I’m happy that Riddlespurger has answered a new calling by going to work for CASA. The organization does important work on behalf of children who need love, support and the protection offered by the state’s judicial system.

I also am delighted that, if only for a brief time, she rose to the challenge here and sought to get other young Amarillo residents involved in the political process.

I’m not entirely confident the push forward among some younger residents will retain its vitality.

For a time at least, Amarillo’s millennials had a spokeswoman who put herself front and center — and, yes, in the line of political fire — for a worthy and noble effort.

 

national news, political news

Speaker fails to perform ‘basic’ task

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Paul Ryan spoke the truth when, as chairman of the House Budget Committee, he said the federal government must perform its basic function, which he said is to approve a budget.

Now that he’s speaker of the House, Ryan is finding matters are getting complicated.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/paul-ryan-no-budget-votes-222270

Speaker Ryan said he lacks the votes to approve a federal budget.

He’s battling the TEA Party wing of the GOP, which wants to stick to the sequester provision that allows across-the-board cuts in many government programs.

Oh, the divisions within the Republican House caucus are deep and wide — and they might be getting deeper and wider.

What’s the speaker to do? How does he get his fellow Republicans to speak with a single voice? Isn’t that what leaders do?

Well, he’s finding himself in the same predicament that bedeviled his predecessor as speaker, John Boehner, who ended up getting so fed up with the TEA Party that he gave up the speakership — and then quit the House of Representatives.

Governing involves compromise. It means all sides give a little. Sure, they can cling to their principles.

The speaker, though, is unable to lean on House Democrats to bail him out. Why? That toxic environment on Capitol Hill has become seemingly terminal.

Government cannot function under those conditions.

 

political news, State news

What’s with this agriculture commissioner?

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There must be something about serving as Texas commissioner of agriculture that brings out the weirdness in some of those who hold the office.

Sid Miller is the guy in the office at the moment. He’s a Republican who seems to look for ways to make himself look silly. He makes goofy pronouncements, goes off on state-paid junkets and then spends public money on matters that should be financed out of his own pocket.

In a strange way he reminds me of another agriculture commissioner. Do you remember Jim Hightower? He served a single term as head of the agriculture department in the late 1980s. Rick Perry got elected to the office in 1990 and he was succeeded by Susan Combs, who then was succeeded by Todd Staples. Those three individuals managed to serve with a degree of decorum and dignity.

Hightower, though, was a jokester. The Democrat was quick with the quip and managed to say things just to get a laugh out of those who heard him say them.

Miller, though, is presenting some unusual problems.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/04/22/sid-millers-tenure/

As the Texas Tribune reports, Miller is making a spectacle of himself:

“Miller’s conduct in office has ranged from the cartoonish — revamping inspection stickers for the state’s more than 170,000 fuel pumps to more prominently feature his name — to the potentially criminal — allegedly bankrolling two out-of-state trips with public funds to receive what’s known as a ‘Jesus Shot’ and to compete in a rodeo.”

Miller won the office partly by campaigning as a fiscal conservative. So what does he do? He boosts the pay of top staff jobs.

He seems to look for ways to make headlines, to get his name out there. Remember how he lifted the state ban on deep fryers and soda machines? Why does an elected agriculture do something like that?

I much prefer that these folks simply do their job quietly. There’s no need to create spectacles.

The agriculture commissioner has a big job. The state has a gigantic farm and ranch community — and much of it exists out here on the High Plains.

Can’t this guy just promote the value of Texas’s myriad agricultural produces without being such a buffoon?

 

entertainment news, national news, political news

Tragedy produces unintended benefit

BBs6oIo

Gosh, I hate to say this.

But here goes: Prince Rogers Nelson’s tragic death yesterday has brought welcome relief from the barrage of coverage to which we’ve been subjected about the interminable Republican and Democratic presidential primary contests.

Do not misunderstand me.

I am in shock over Prince’s death. I join my younger friends and family members who loved the man’s music. Hey, I loved it, too, man! The man was a virtuoso performer. How many instruments did this music icon play? Five, six, seven? A lot.

strib pic

The morning news/talk shows today led with continued coverage of Prince’s death, just as the evening news broadcasts led with it Thursday.

MSNBC broadcast a special one-hour segment during the evening with priceless video of Prince performing, with interviews of his former manager. My favorite segment was the video of Prince surprising Bryant Gumbel on the newscaster’s last day on “Today” in 1997.

All of this is to say that I do not miss the incessant coverage of the presidential campaign.

What does that say about the political process? Or … what does it say about the media that cover this process?

I believe it says that the process is too long and too overbearing.

It also says the media have done a lousy job of covering this process and delivering information to viewers and readers who want to know more about the candidates’ policy views and less about, oh, their assorted body parts.

All that said, I’m going to watch some more Prince videos.

And continue my mourning …

 

legal news, political news, State news

Texas AG getting ahead of himself

paxton

Ken Paxton plans to run for re-election in 2018 for a second term as Texas attorney general.

Big deal? Sure it is. The Republican officeholder is facing criminal charges on a couple of fronts, which suggests to me that he’s getting way ahead of himself.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/04/21/despite-indictments-ken-paxton-plans-run-again/

I get what he’s saying. He’s proclaiming his innocence of charges of securities fraud brought by a Collin County grand jury. What’s more, the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against Paxton alleging the same thing.

The man could go to jail if he’s convicted.

What’s getting too little attention here is the context of the indictment that brought the charges against the attorney general.

The panel indicted Paxton for failing to report properly the compensation he received for providing investment advice for friends.

As for the context, let’s remember a couple of critical points. Paxton represented Collin County in the Texas Legislature before running for AG in 2014. The grand jury quite likely included individuals who voted for Paxton when he ran for statewide office. Collin County is a reliably Republican area just north of Dallas. It’s no bastion of liberals out to “get” GOP politicians.

Thus, it’s quite possible that the prosecutors who brought the complaint to the grand jury had the goods on Paxton and the grand jury agreed.

Now, though, the attorney general’s flack has announced he plans to declare officially his intention to seek re-election.

The man’s got some work to do before he even thinks about his political future.

national news, political news

Trump needs to play by the rules

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The Republican National Committee says it won’t change the rules governing its upcoming presidential nominating convention.

Nor should it — despite the wailing and whining from Donald J. Trump.

Trump, until this week’s New York primary, hadn’t been faring well in some of the recent primary contests. Sen. Ted Cruz has been scoring a lot of convention delegates through a rules process that’s been written in stone for some time by the RNC.

Trump’s assertion that the process is “rigged,” that it’s a “disgrace” and that it’s a “sham” must be taken with a huge dose of salt.

The man entered the Republican nominating contest knowing — at least he should have known — how the rules work. Had he studied the process he would have crafted a campaign team trained to work within that process and would have been able to compete head-to-head with Cruz’s more experienced campaign staff.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/republican-committee-reject-convention-rules-delegates-222285

Now his campaign’s inexperience has been exposed and so Trump wants to change the rules.

The RNC has declared that the candidate who earns a majority of the delegates at the convention will be nominated. It’s not a plurality contest, which Trump seems to want.

The real estate mogul/reality TV celebrity should have known what to expect going in.

Oh wait. He’s not a politician, right?

That doesn’t excuse his ignorance on how one party’s political process works.

 

national news, political news, Sports news

As Dandy Don would say: Turn out the lights, Bernie

Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont,, left, and Hillary Rodham Clinton laugh during the CNN Democratic presidential debate, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

The late Don Meredith had a couple of careers.

The first one was as a football player; he was a pretty good quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.

The second one was as a football announcer, where he became the folksy voice of “Monday Night Football.” Dandy Don — the pride of Mount Vernon, Texas — was fond of telling audiences during a blowout contest that it was time to “turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

So it is, apparently, with the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The party’s over, Bern.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/276935-team-clinton-to-sanders-its-over

Sanders got thumped Tuesday in the New York Democratic presidential primary by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

She took a giant step toward securing enough pledged and super delegates to become her party’s next presidential nominee.

Sanders and his team vow to fight on.

The question, though, is this: to what end?

The Democratic campaign has gotten testy in recent weeks. Clinton and Sanders have exchanged angry accusations. Sanders’ exit from the contest might not be graceful.

Then again, perhaps he could stay the course if only to keep Clinton sharp as she hones her strategy for the upcoming fall campaign against whoever the Republican Party nominates to run against her.

After the thrashing he took from Clinton, though, Sen. Sanders must be realizing his path to the nomination now has more obstacles than he can possibly remove in time for the convention.

It’s lights out, Bernie.

 

national news, political news, State news

Cruz didn’t expect sacrifice when running for POTUS?

cruz

Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren put a funny note out on social media this morning.

It concerns a fundraising message she said went out from the presidential campaign of her fellow senator, Republican Ted Cruz of Texas. It says in part, according to Warren:

“Yesterday, Ted Cruz sent a campaign fundraising email whining about the ‘significant sacrifice’ he’s made to run for President. He whined about facing constant attacks, nonexistent family time, his limited health and sleep, and having no personal time.

“Are you kidding me? We’re supposed to pity him because trying to be the leader of the free world is hard?! I’ve got two words for you, Ted: Boo hoo.”

She goes on to say that those who don’t work for a livable wage are suffering far more than Cruz; she added some other criticism as well.

I just want to focus briefly, though, on the “sacrifice” that Cruz is making while seeking the highest office in the land.

It is just this: He knew going in that he was going to give up family time and personal time, adequate sleep and, yes, he would face “constant attacks.”

He knew the price would be steep.

I’m guessing Cruz’s donors expected him as well to pay that price.

Presidential politics isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s a tough business.

As another Texan — the late, great U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen — used to say, politics is a “full-contact sport.”