State news

Texas trooper goes under the glare

Now this. What in the world … ?

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia pulled a young woman over for what some media actually reported was a “routine traffic stop.”

He told the young woman, Sandra Bland, to douse a cigarette. She refused. The trooper then became agitated. So did Bland. They argued. He threatened her with his Taser. She got even angrier.

The “routine stop”? Well, it became un-routine in less than two minutes.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/21/video-officer-became-enraged-bland-over-cigarette/

Bland was arrested … forcibly. She was taken to the Waller County jail. Bland then died in her cell by hanging.

And the stuff has hit the fan.

This case is looking for all the world like some other police cases involving the arrest of African-American suspects. Eric Garner was choked to death by a New York City police officer, who sought to arrest him for selling cigarettes illegally. Walter Scott was shot to death by a Charleston, S.C., police officer as he was running away from the officer. Freddie Gray died in jail from a broken neck after he was arrested in Philadelphia.

Now we have Sandra Bland arrested and rousted out of her car by a police officer. For what? Because she mouthed off?

Sure, Bland shouldn’t have sassed the trooper. But aren’t police officers taught in the academy to look past rude behavior? Aren’t they schooled on how to respond with coolness and calm?

Was the young woman drunk? No. Did she brandish a weapon? No. Was she using an illegal drug? No.

And what in the world happened in that jail cell?

Oh, my. This case is troubling in the extreme.

local news, State news

Texas drought is over? Really?

drought

Usually, I am likely to accept the word of experts when they proclaim something about which they’ve acquired lots of knowledge.

My instinct is being tested, though, just a tad by a report from the U.S. Drought Monitor’s office.

It says Texas’s drought is over. Finished. Kaput. Drowned out.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/20/texas-drought-done/

Hey, I know we’ve had a lot of rain. The Texas Tundra — aka the Panhandle — has been blessed beyond measure by abundant rain this spring and well into the summer.

We’re barely halfway through the year and we’ve already surpassed by a significant margin the region’s annual average precipitation amount. More rain is sure to come. Late in the year, we can expect snow.

But the Drought Monitor says the drought is over.

Our playas are full. Our reservoirs are filling up. Lake Meredith, the region’s primary surface water source, now is well more than 50 feet deep, about double its depth from the worst of the drought in 2013. Water authorities are pumping water out of the lake and supplying it to cities, such as Amarillo.

My wife and I drove to Allen — just north of Dallas — this past weekend and were blown away by the vast expanse of green we saw every mile of the way. We had to remind ourselves that this is the middle of July, in Texas, for crying out loud!

Is the drought over? Well, the experts say it is.

I think we’re going to keep acting, though, as if it’s still got its grip on us.

political news

Does one ‘choose’ to be gay?

3 Comments

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has entered the Republican presidential field.

He’s also said he doesn’t know if people choose to be gay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-i-dont-know-presidential-candidate/2015/07/20/12fd3aba-2f08-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html?hpid=z2

The columnist Richard Cohen posed what I presume to be a rhetorical question: “At what point did he (Walker) decide to be heterosexual? At what age did he decide that he would not be homosexual or, if he had the energy, bisexual? I know for myself that I am unaware of making such a decision and did not mark it down — as I now would — in my Google Calendar or tweet it to much of America and the ships at sea.”

It’s a question that’s likely to dog the governor as he campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination.

I keep falling back to another question posed by a gay friend of mine. His name was Tim. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1994. After he revealed to his friends and colleagues that he had contracted HIV, he and I discussed his sexual orientation. “Why would I choose to be vilified and condemned?” Tim asked.

Why, indeed?

Tim said he didn’t choose his sexual orientation. He considered it to be part of his DNA, of his character, of his very being

I don’t know when, or if, Gov. Walker will ever reach a conclusion on people’s sexual orientation. He’ll likely have to decide before his presidential campaign gets too far down the road.

military news, national news

Thank you, Mr. President, for honoring those victims

President Obama heard the critics and he responded.

Today, the president ordered the White House flag, along with flags flying over all other federal buildings, to be lowered to half-staff in honor of the five men slain in Chattanooga, Tenn. The five men — four Marines and a sailor — were killed by a gunman who then was shot to death by police.

Many had criticized the president for not lowering the flags immediately. His reasons for the delay aren’t clear, but now that he’s acted, I’m glad that he did. Yes, I was one of the critics who said the White House flag needed to be lowered.

Obama lowers White House flag

U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, who happens to be my congressman, urged the president to “do the right thing” and lower the flag.

I’m not sure whether this announcement and the president’s stated tribute to the young men will assuage the criticism of those such as Thornberry, who’s been a constant critic of Obama, but we all should now take heed of the act and honor these men’s memories and their dedication to the country they loved.

political news

Should all these governors quit?

Let’s count ’em up.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich just joined the Republican Party’s ever-expanding presidential primary field.

He joins Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — am I missing anyone? — as the sitting governors seeking to become the 45th president of the United States.

Of the gaggle of current governors mentioned, only Christie appears to be the target of those who want him to resign while he runs for president. It seems that some in the Garden State don’t think he do both things — run for president and devote enough time to governing the state.

Of course that’s utter nonsense.

But hey, why stop there?

Several Republican U.S.senators are running as well. They include Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky. While I’m at it, let me mention that Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Should they all quit their day jobs while they run for president?

I don’t think so.

I’ve long fired back at critics of presidents — past and present — who gripe about the frequency and length of presidential vacations. I’ve noted that presidents are never off the clock. I will say the same thing about governors and senators.

They’re hooked up continually to whomever and whatever they need in case of emergency.

So, welcome to the field, Gov. Kasich. Good luck trying to be heard over the ruckus created by a certain loudmouth real estate mogul.

local news

Mayor offers residents another chance to speak out

3 Comments

There’s been so much talk — much of it unfounded — about secrecy, lack of communication and even some nefarious motives associated with downtown Amarillo’s revitalization.

Well, tonight at 5:30, at the North Branch Library, Mayor Paul Harpole is going to expose himself — quite likely — to perhaps some more of that kind of disinformation.

He’s going to speak to residents who come to the library about some ongoing city projects. Yep, they’ll include downtown work, state highway construction, parks, perhaps some utility billing issues.

Then he’s going to open the floor up to questions.

I’m pretty sure residents will come prepared to pepper the mayor with questions about downtown, which likely will dominate the nature of the inquiries from the public.

I mention this because Harpole has taken some unfair criticism in recent months.

It’s come from individuals who haven’t been paying attention. The mayor, City Council members, senior city administrators, business leaders, civic leaders and anyone else involved in trying to move the downtown project forward have been talking to us about their vision for the city and trying to sell us on the notion that they have the city’s best interests at heart.

The naysayers haven’t listened. They don’t care to listen. They care instead to hear their own voices and aren’t going to be persuaded of anything that goes against their ingrained opposition to the kind of change being discussed for our city.

I understand fully that the contention of closed-mindedness goes the other direction as well.

For now, I am willing to give the mayor credit for seeking to push the city toward something quite different and exciting as it looks toward the future.

I also am willing to salute him for exposing himself to the barbs that are sure to come flying at him.

national news, political news

Sen. Franken’s ‘joke’ gets a fresh look

Fifteen years ago, before he was a United States senator, Al Franken was a comedian.

And a pretty funny one at that.

He also hosted a radio talk show on the progressive Air America network.

In 2000, he wrote an essay in which he said this about Sen. John McCain: “I have tremendous respect for McCain but I don’t buy the war hero thing. Anybody can be captured. I thought the idea was to capture them. As far as I’m concerned he sat out the war.”

The statement is getting some added attention these days in light of what Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said of his fellow Republican’s service record.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/al-franken-criticize-jon-mccain-captured-donald-trump-120359.html?cmpid=sf#ixzz3gS3qJiW9

Franken was elected to the Senate in 2008 in a razor-thin margin. He has become a leading progressive Democrat in that body. According to his spokesman, he made the statement about McCain as a joke. He told McCain that very thing when McCain was a guest on Franken’s Air America radio show.

Well, whatever Franken’s motives were in his pre-Senate days, I don’t find a single thing funny about what John McCain endured for five-plus years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Yes, he’s saluted his Senate colleague since then. I’m sure the tributes have been sincere.

But here’s an example of how one’s words never disappear.

national news, political news

Most entertaining campaign in history is on tap

So help me, I didn’t think it was possible for any campaign to be more entertaining than the 2012 campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

Thank you, Donald Trump, for smashing my expectations for the 2016 campaign.

The Donald has managed to do what I thought was impossible: He’s managed to make the likes of Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain look and sound almost reasonable, rational and mainstream.

He’s shot off his mouth about Mexican immigrants who come here illegally, stereotyping them as murderers, rapists, drug dealers — along with “some good people.” He’s called Mitt Romney a “loser” because he got beat in a campaign that he should have won; he’s challenged whether Ted Cruz of Texas is a legitimate candidate for the presidency, given that he was born in Canada.

And now he’s said John McCain isn’t really a war hero, even though he was held prisoner by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War, while saying in the next breath that he likes “those who weren’t captured.”

Other Republicans have condemned Trump’s buffoonery. So have Democratic candidates.

It’s been an amazing campaign to date and we’re still months away from those Iowa caucuses and the lead-off New Hampshire primary.

Trump has managed to suck all the air out of every room he enters. The other candidates? They can’t be heard above all the ruckus created by Trump’s amazing ability to call attention to himself.

Four years ago, Bachmann and Cain — along with Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and even Rick Santorum — tried to raise a stink about this and/or that. They all were “frontrunners” for a time. Then came Romney, with all of his money and political connections, to win the GOP nomination.

Now we have Trump, who reportedly has much more wealth than Romney — and who brags about his portfolio incessantly — making a lot of racket.

But here’s the deal. He won’t be nominated. He’s going out with his guns blazing (figuratively, of course). Someone else will be nominated. If I had to bet on the next GOP nominee, I’d put my money today on either former Florida Gov. John Ellis (Jeb) Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. But they’re so boring.

Trump has turned this campaign into a circus.

Way to go, Donald. You’ve made the preceding cast of GOP contenders/pretenders look like statespersons.

medical news, military news, national news

Shooter was a drugged-up nut case?

The man who killed those five U.S. servicemen in Chattanooga, Tenn., now appears to have been a disturbed fellow who might have had a drug problem.

Police killed Mohammad Abdulazeez after he gunned down four Marines and a sailor.

CHATTANOOGA SHOOTER: ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS, SLEEPING PILLS, MUSCLE RELAXANTS

He was a Muslim, which of course brought out the usual calls for doing such things as banning all Muslims from entering the United States.

However, the FBI has not yet found a single terrorist link to the young man. What’s been learned instead is that he was a deeply troubled fellow with a history of emotional trauma and drug abuse.

Indeed, his medical condition sounded like it could be anyone capable of doing what he did.

It’s depressing enough that someone would kill five American servicemen in cold blood. It’s made even worse when we start jumping to conclusions that seek to intensify an already-intense worldwide situation involving international terrorists.

Abdulazeez likely wasn’t a terrorist. Yes, he committed a despicable act. However, until we find evidence that he was involved with terrorist organizations, we ought to stop the demagoguery until we collect all the facts.

political news

Crowd size is overrated … trust me

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is blown away by the size of the crowds greeting Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders as he campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Here’s what Reich posted on Facebook: “What amazes me, frankly, are the crowds. Not since Robert F. Kennedy sought the Democratic nomination in 1968 has a candidate for the nomination of either party generated such large numbers of people eager to see and listen to him. None in living memory has summoned such crowds this early, before the nominating season even begins. Even Sanders’ advisers are amazed (I spoke with one this morning who said they never expected this kind of response).

“What’s the explanation? It’s not his sense of humor. It’s not his youth. He isn’t a demagogue, bashing immigrants or pandering to hatred and bigotry. It’s that he’s telling Americans the unvarnished truth about what has happened to our economy and our democracy, and he is posing real solutions. And it seems that America is ready to listen.”

I guess I need to remind Reich — who I’m sure is aware of a lot more than I am — about a reality.

It is that big crowds don’t translate necessarily into votes.

The late U.S. Sen. George McGovern drew big crowds as well when he ran for president in 1972. I stood among a throng of thousands of people in a plaza in downtown Portland, Ore., as McGovern fired up the masses. That crowd was big, boisterous, enthusiastic — and it mirrored many of the political rally crowds McGovern was drawing all across the nation.

Sen. McGovern lost the election that year by 23 percentage points, as President Nixon rang up a 49-state landslide victory.

Yes, Sanders is telling voters his version of the “unvarnished truth.” Indeed, RFK did much the same thing in 1968 as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Kennedy’s message was different; it dealt more with issues of the heart, such as peace abroad and justice at home for all Americans.

Sanders’s crowds are impressive. Let’s remember, though, that he remains a still-distant second to the Democrats’ frontrunner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who’s got another all-important edge over the rest of her party’s primary field: money.

We now live in an era where money matters far more than massive crowds.

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