State news

Bikers gather at an adult eatery? What could go wrong?

You’re a police official in a central Texas city. You hear that a group of motorcycle gangs is gathering at a place known as an “adult entertainment” business.

You know of the biker gangs’ reputation of criminal activity. You suspect many of them are packing guns. You know some of the gangs are rivals of the other gangs.

Gosh, what could possibly go wrong?

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/mix-guns-alcohol-and-criminal-biker-gangs-who-couldnt-have-predicted-sundays-shootout-in-waco.html/

What went wrong went terribly wrong.

The bikers erupted in violence in Waco. Nine of them were killed in the fire fight.

The cops did present themselves in some force at the scene prior to the outburst, which began with a fistfight and escalated into gunfire.

As Jim Mitchell writes for the Dallas Morning News, the restaurant management seems to be the bad guys in this terrible incident.

According to Mitchell: “It is really troubling that police say the local restaurant managers refused to cooperate in tightening security, a claim restaurant managers dispute. No shirts, no shoes, no service is standard restaurant fare. But weapons and a meeting to carve up turf for criminal activity is no problem?”

The restaurant is Twin Peaks, which is a chain of adult-oriented businesses.

Might there be some avenue for prosecuting a business for conspiracy in the commission of a deadly riot?

legal news, national news

Biker gang threat is quite real

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The federal government is worried about biker gangs.

So the headline says on the link attached to this blog post.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/why-the-feds-are-worried-about-these-biker-gangs/ar-BBjVBAs

Bikers erupted in a violent spasm in Waco over the weekend. Nine of them were killed in a fire fight at an adult club. Local police are investigating this bizarre explosion of violence.

News of this carnage brought to my mind a seriously distant name from my past. This individual warned in the 1970s about his fear of biker gangs and he said at the time he thought bikers could become the next great “organized crime threat” facing the United States.

John Renfro served as sheriff of Clackamas County, Ore., where I got my start in daily print journalism. I was covering police and other agencies for the Oregon City Enterprise-Courier, a suburban daily about 15 miles south of Portland. I met the sheriff when I moved from covering sports for the paper to working as a general assignment reporter.

He told me way back then of his concern over bikers. I cannot recall the precise quotes he uttered nearly 40 years ago. Suffice to say he believed that the county where he served as sheriff was a prime place for the bikers to congregate and to do serious harm to the community.

Clackamas County was far more rural than it is today. It still includes many many miles of secluded roads and highways criss-crossing through heavily forested territory. It offers good cover for gangs of individuals — be they bikers or other thugs — to engage in such activity as drug manufacturing and trafficking.

I can’t say today whether Sheriff Renfro’s projection is coming true.

Still, the federal government ought to be wary of these outfits and the fact — as the shootout in Waco has demonstrated — that they’re heavily armed and dangerous.

As the Los Angeles Times reported on the Waco incident: “‘This is not a bunch of doctors and dentists and lawyers riding Harleys,’ said Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton. The Department of Justice has identified seven motorcycle clubs that it believes are highly structured criminal enterprises, many of them allied in one form or another against the best-known gang, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.”

“Highly structured criminal enterprise.” Isn’t that the same thing as organized criminals?

 

entertainment news

Kanye does it again, whatever 'it' is

Critiquing entertainment isn’t part of my gig.

I can’t let pass a quick comment about Kanye West’s alleged performance last night on a televised awards show.

First of all, I don’t know Kanye West’s music. I understand he’s a rapper of some renown. He’s also made a spectacle of himself from time to time during televised events, such as when he sought to upstage Taylor Swift by saying Beyoncé deserved an award that went to Swift.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/17/kanye-west-billboard-music-awards-all-day

Whatever.

So, what’s with this guy doing a song on TV last night that was censored extensively because of excessive use of curse words not fit for television viewers? His fans are supposed to enjoy his music, but cannot do so because the censors couldn’t allow him to broadcast filthy song lyrics into viewers’ living rooms.

I only have seen online videos of this clown’s alleged “performance.”

Someone, somewhere must think he’s a serious entertainer.

I consider him a grandstander. Nothing more.

national news

Not exactly Felix and Oscar, however …

The Hill calls them Washington, D.C.’s newest “odd couple.”

They are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Barack H. Obama, the Democratic president of the United States of America.

McConnell has been saying nice things about the man he once pledged to make a “one-term president.” The one-term notion didn’t work out, as Obama was re-elected in 2012. But hey, life goes on.

Washington’s new odd couple: McConnell and Obama

I rather like the idea of these men becoming “friends,” even if it’s a relationship of convenience.

They aren’t the first national political leaders to link arms and find common ground in an Oscar Madison-Felix Unger sort of way.

Let’s go back to the 1960s, when Democratic President Lyndon Johnson and Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen teamed up to help enact the Voting Rights and Civil Rights acts. How about when Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill would bash each other in public, but then toast each other over whiskey after hours? Democratic President Bill Clinton and GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich worked together to balance the federal budget. Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy found common ground in pushing education reform through Congress.

See? It can be done, ladies and gentlemen.

McConnell and Obama are on the same page regarding international trade. The president, in fact, is finding his stiffest opposition coming from the left-wing base of his own party. But he’s got a pal on the other side of the aisle.

The arrangement doesn’t surprise some Capitol Hill hands. “It validates what McConnell has been saying for the last six and a half years. If the president wants to join us on something that’s good for the country, we will work with him. This is an example of that,” said Don Stewart, McConnell’s spokesman.

Well, for what it’s worth, some of us out here in the Heartland are surprised.

And pleasantly so, at that.

 

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national news

Jeb Bush channels John Kerry

Jeb Bush has had a tough time of it in recent days.

He said he’d go to war in Iraq knowing what he knows now about the absence of weapons of mass destruction.

Then he said he misheard the question from the TV journalist. Then he said he misinterpreted the question.

Finally, the former Florida governor and probable Republican presidential candidate said “No, I wouldn’t” go to war.

This all reminds me a bit of a scathing political ad that Jeb’s brother, President George W. Bush, used in his 2004 re-election campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry. It contained this snippet:

The “$87 billion” referred to the senator’s flip flop on his own vote to go to war in Iraq.

So, do you think Jeb Bush’s indecision on whether he’d go to war is going to show up in a political ad during the 2016 GOP primary, and again in the general election if his party nominates him?

I’ll bet “yes.”

national news, political news

Christie attacks Obama … on economy? Wow!

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new-jersey-governor-chris-christie

Chris Christie needs to read more.

The New Jersey governor, and a probable Republican candidate for president next year, thinks the economy has tanked under President Obama’s administration.

Interesting.

http://wegoted.com/2015/05/chrsitie-goes-after-president-obamas-economic-policies/

The stock market is at record highs. Unemployment is at its lowest level in about a decade. Jobs are being created at a rate not seen since the Clinton administration, when everyone — even Republicans — say the economy was booming. The banking and auto industries have recovered. Automakers have paid back the funds they borrowed when the government bailed it out shortly after Barack Obama took office as president.

“This president is failing because he cares more about redistributing wealth than he cares about creating and growing new wealth in our economy,” Christie said on a radio talk show.

Here’s a flash: The president may be criticized for a lot of things, but the economy is in full recovery mode. Even the New Jersey governor ought to understand that.

Has the president done everything he said he’d do? No. We haven’t stabilized Middle East politics. We haven’t brought a world of peace and plenty to places that have neither. It can be argued that the war on terror hasn’t progressed as the president promised it would when he took office.

The nation’s economy — while it isn’t perfect — is in far better shape than when the 44th president moved into the White House.

Then again, when has the economy ever been in perfect condition?

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Reaching out into the blogosphere

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My “new” life as a blogger really isn’t so new these days, as I’ve been doing it now pretty much full time for a couple of years.

But I do learn some things about the blog I created every so often.

For example, Saturday I looked at the network of sources of the page views and visitors I’ve acquired. I discovered something so interesting that I thought I’d share it here.

High Plains Blogger has been viewed by readers in 121 countries.

Why is that interesting? Well, the World Almanac and Book of Facts tells me the United Nations has 193 member nations. That means — depending on how you want to interpret it — this blog of mine reaches 62 percent of the nations of the world, give or take.

I’ve received page views from readers in Taiwan, which isn’t a member of the United Nations. So, the percentage might be skewed just a smidgen.

Still, 121 out of 193 isn’t bad.

Of the continents, Africa remains the least-penetrated. All I’m lacking in South America are Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. Europe is almost covered. North America? All that’s left is Nicaragua. Asia? A few former Soviet republics haven’t been logged yet on the blog; also haven’t gotten anyone from Iran to read the blog.

Traffic continues to improve. I had set monthly page view/unique visitors record for seven months in a row. Traffic fell off a bit in April, but it’s coming back strong in May. I might set another record by the end of this month. Here’s hoping, anyway.

I just want to thank everyone for reading this blog.

I know I don’t please everyone with the political stuff. That’s not my intention. Actually, I like it better when I draw disagreement, as it makes me think. The disagreements keep me humble, too.

But hey, just keep reading. Comment when the spirit moves you. Share these musings with others.

Many thanks, as always.

International news

World is better without Saddam, but …

Marco Rubio said that thing that all of us know to be true.

The world, said the U.S. senator from Florida, “is a better place” without Saddam Hussein walking among us. He told Fox News Sunday that President George W. Bush made the right call in invading Iraq in March 2003, even though he acted on intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be faulty.

Presidents, said Rubio — who’s running for president himself — don’t have the benefit of hindsight when they make critical decisions.

Again, true enough, senator.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rubio-iraq-invasion-was-not-a-mistake/ar-BBjTt0s

But here’s the issue, as I see it — and no doubt others will see it differently:

The world would be a better place without a long list of sovereign leaders. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe comes to mind. So does North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. How about getting rid of Vladimir Putin in Russia? Other countries are ruled by tinhorn dictators and despots.

Is it our place to invade any of those other countries to get rid of evil rulers?

Rubio was standing behind his fellow Floridian, former Gov. Jeb Bush, who (now) famously told Fox’s Megyn Kelly he would have invaded Iraq, too, even with what we now know about the missing WMDs. Bush also, let’s add, is likely to run for president as well as Rubio and a host of other GOP candidates.

The problem with the Iraq War and the precedent it set is that we’ve now laid down a predicate for future efforts to rid the planet of evil men in high places.

The tough economic sanctions we had imposed on Saddam Hussein after the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91 had contained that madman. The invasion was unnecessary, costly and far more troublesome than any of the president’s inner circle led the nation to believe it would be.

Oh, and one more thing: Saddam Hussein had nothing, zero, to do with 9/11.

Is the world better off without Saddam Hussein? Sure it is. Is it a safer place because we got rid of him? Only if you discount the presence of the Islamic State.

 

media news, national news, political news

Now it's Stephanopoulos on the block

What gives with media superstars who keep making serious professional “mistakes”?

Brian Williams fibs about being shot down during the Iraq War and he gets suspended by NBC News.

Bill O’Reilly fibs about “covering” the Falklands War while reporting from a safe distance … but he’s still on the job at Fox.

Now it’s George Stephanopoulos giving 75 grand to the Clinton Foundation and then failing to report it to his employers or to his ABC News viewers.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/the-great-stephanopoulos-mess-117971.html?ml=po&cmpid=sf#.VVjyylLbKt9

ABC calls it an honest mistake. It’s standing by the “Good Morning America” co-host and moderator of “This Week.”

It’s been known for 20 years that Stephanopoulos was an avid supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton. He worked in the Clinton White House as a senior political adviser. Then he made the switch to broadcast journalism and by most accounts — yes, some conservatives haven’t been so charitable — he’s done a credible job.

Why did he give to the Clinton Foundation — with one of its principals, Hillary Clinton, running for president? He said he’s deeply interested in two issues the foundation supports: the fight against deforestation and HIV/AIDS.

OK, fine. Has he not heard of, say, Greenpeace and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who fund efforts to fight those very causes? If he was interested more in the causes and less in the people who champion them, then he could have given to any number of reputable foundations to carry on those battles.

He didn’t. Now his reputation as a journalist has been called into serious — and legitimate — question.

Stephanopoulos isn’t the first political hired hand to make the transition to TV news. Diane Sawyer once wrote speeches for President Nixon and the late Tim Russert once was a key aide to New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. They made the switch. Others have gone into political commentary after working for partisan pols — or themselves been politicians — on both sides of the aisle.

None of them, though, gave large sums of money to overtly political foundations while working as journalists or pundits or commentators.

George Stephanopoulos has created a huge mess for himself — and for his colleagues.

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