Monthly Archives: August 2016

legal news, State news

Court shows rare compassion, halts execution

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Jeff Wood isn’t going to die in the Texas execution chamber — at least not yet — thanks to a ruling from the state’s highest criminal appellate court.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — which I guess you can call the Killin’ Court — has sent the case of Jeff Wood back to a lower court.

Wood was scheduled to die because he was in a pickup truck while his friend actually killed someone while committing a robbery. But under Texas law and a provision called the “law of parties,” Wood was deemed as guilty as the shooter for the capital crime.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/08/19/execution-halted-jeff-wood-who-never-killed-anyone/

It amazes me that the CCA would halt the execution. This is the same body of jurists that at times has shown a remarkable lack of compassion for capital criminals. Sure, the criminals are bad guys and there are those who contend they don’t deserve anything from the state.

A trial jury sentenced Wood to death for the murder that was actually committed by Daniel Reneau, who was executed in 2002, just six years after committing the crime.

Wood’s role in the crime and the sentence he received has drawn national attention. Wood also drew support from an unlikely source, a conservative Republican lawmaker — state Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano — who intervened on Wood’s behalf while asking his sentence is commuted to life in prison.

The law of parties is an unreasonable provision in Texas law that needs to be removed.

That’s a fight for another day in another venue — which would be the Texas Legislature.

As for Wood, he’s been given a chance to defend himself once again. It fascinates me in the extreme that it would be the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that has exhibited a healthy dose of fairness.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/08/law-of-parties-may-kill-the-wrong-man/

 

national news, political news

A kinder, gentler Trump set to emerge … but wait!

manafort

Paul Manaford quit the Donald J. Trump presidential campaign three days after getting kicked out of his job as campaign CEO.

There appear to be some potentially difficult legal issues for Manaford to navigate. But I digress.

The issue today is how the Republican presidential nominee becomes a new man, a new candidate.

Honestly, this is all quite confusing.

Steve Bannon is the new CEO. Kellyanne Conway is the new campaign manager. Conway says she dislikes the personal insults that Trump has hurled throughout his campaign. Bannon, though, is a rough-and-tough character known for his take-no-prisoners style.

Trump has said publicly he plans “no pivot.” He’s not going to change his style.

OK, then.

How does his campaign get traction? How does he become a more “focused” and potentially gentler candidate for the U.S. presidency? His expression of “regret” over the “personal pain” he caused rings — to my ears — as hollow as his assertion that he’s going to “work for you.”

Moreover, how does he make these changes without pivoting … and without the public forgetting those astonishing utterances that have poured out of Trump’s mouth during the GOP primary campaign?

I won’t recite them here. You’ve heard ’em all. They fired up the GOP base. They’re still in Trump’s corner. What about the rest of the general election voters, though, who need convincing that Trump is their guy?

Trump’s campaign has gone through a remarkable set of changes in its high command quite late in the process of electing a president. They all seem to suggest a campaign in serious disarray.

And, oh yes, we have that organization issue to be resolved.

Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton has put — if you’ll excuse the ridiculous euphemism — “boots on the ground” in all 50 states. She’s got precinct chairs, workers, campaign staff, volunteers — and maybe even their pets, for all I know — lined up to work for her election. Trump? He’s got next to no one filling those essential line jobs in the field.

I’m waiting to see if Trump assumes Americans are as gullible and malleable as he hopes. My sense is that voters — those of us far beyond the GOP base — aren’t going to forget the lengthy string of insults and innuendo that propelled this guy to his party’s presidential nomination.

Sports news

Lochte set to soil a sparkling record

US swimmer Ryan Lochte holds a press conference on August 3, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, two days ahead of the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. / AFP / Martin BUREAU (Photo credit should read MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)

Ryan Lochte must not have been content to just be known as one of the world’s greatest swimmers of his era.

Oh, no. He allegedly sought to add something like this to an obituary that will be written about him … eventually:

“Ryan Lochte, a multiple gold-medal-winning Olympic swimmer, who got caught up in a controversy after competing in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro … “

That’s how it will be written, or in words to that effect.

Lochte and three of his swimming teammates reported to police that they were robbed at gunpoint. It appears to have been a bogus story.

Now the once-glorious American athlete has been indicted by Brazilian authorities for filing a false police report and faces possible extradition back to Brazil to face the consequences of his actions.

The new story that’s developing suggests that the swimmers were returning from an all-night bender in Rio, stopped in a gas station to relieve themselves and started trashing the place.

Now that one of his reputations — his athletic skill — has been all but obliterated, another one is getting traction: he’s an overgrown frat boy. He’s been known to have acted badly in public before.

One Brazilian Olympic official reportedly sought to excuse the swimmers’ behavior by saying “that’s what boys do.”

Boys? Lochte is a 32-year-old allegedly grown man.

This story is beginning to sicken me.

national news

President ought to take a look at the flood damage

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I am one of those who believes Barack Obama should take day away from his vacation to do something quite presidential.

He ought to take a jet ride south from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., to tour the flood damage of Louisiana. He ought to spend just a bit of time talking to local residents, local officials, state officials and his Homeland Security staff to get an up-close look at Mother Nature’s fury.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has said he’d rather have the president wait before going there.

Look, this isn’t written into the president’s job description. It’s understood, though, that when Americans are hurting their head of state sometimes gets called upon to offer personal words of comfort, love and support.

A historic flood, to my mind, counts as one of those times.

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post makes an interesting argument that the president famously doesn’t always do things just because they look right.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/18/heres-why-president-obama-isnt-stopping-his-vacation-to-visit-the-louisiana-flooding/

I get that, too.

However, this president did join the amen chorus of critics in 2005 when President Bush staged that noted flyover during in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which wiped out much of New Orleans. The critics all said Bush needed to set foot on the ground and the flyover became something of a symbol of alleged presidential nonchalance about the suffering that befell one of America’s great cities.

Cillizza writes: “Presidents don’t get vacations — they just get a change of scenery,” Nancy Reagan famously told critics of her husband’s regular trips to the family’s ranch. Work, especially in this digital age, follows you around.

I get that, too.

Presidents, though, assume the role of “comforter in chief.” Obama has performed that role masterfully many times during his two terms in office. Whether he’s embraced family members of those slain in spasms of violence or gone to natural disaster sites — such as when he went to the Jersey Shore after Super Storm Sandy devastated that region — he’s been there.

Some folks in Louisiana need comforting right now.

International news

War gets a new face

This little boy is likely to become the new face of humankind’s ability to inflict inhumane pain and suffering.

He is a 5-year-old Syrian boy whose home was bombed in an air strike in the city of Aleppo, where the youngster lives with his parents.

A CNN anchor broke down and cried today when she reported on the youngster’s wounds and on the carnage that’s occurring within his country.

The boy’s name is Omran Daqneesh.

I don’t know at this moment whether he is alive. Nor do I know the fate of his parents.

The Syrian civil war has killed at least a quarter-million people. The Islamic State is seeking to toss out the government of Bashar al Assad. The Russian air force is supporting Assad. The United States opposes Assad’s government and is working to destroy ISIS.

Who dropped the bomb that obliterated Omran’s house? We don’t know. It appears to have been a Russian air strike.

Will the image on the video attached to this post do anything to end the violence? Probably not.

It’s worth looking at this video, time and again, just to understand the hideousness of war and the irreparable damage it inflicts on the world’s most defenseless victims.

national news, political news

Innuendo machine getting cranked up again

trump and babies

Donald J. Trump has shaken up his Republican presidential campaign high command.

Many GOP experts are saying the same thing: Steve Bannon’s ascent to campaign CEO and Kellyanne Conway’s promotion to campaign manager means that they plan to “let Trump be Trump.”

Good. Bring it!

So what are we hearing now from the GOP nominee?

It’s that Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic nominee, is too ill to be president. She doesn’t have the stamina. She doesn’t have the intellectual goods. Clinton takes too much “time off.” She “takes naps” after appearing at national campaign events.

The innuendo machine is being re-fired.

That develop, I suggest, is one of the results of Trump being Trump.

Will this campaign tactic stick? Will the GOP nominee be able to ride this fundamental lie to victory? Count me as one who doubts it seriously.

Many of those GOP “experts” also say Bannon’s promotion portends a disaster for Trump and the party he is leading. He’ll be able to solidify his GOP base, but will fail to expand that base to include independents, frustrated Democrats or even “establishment Republicans” who detest the idea that Trump is their party’s flag carrier.

The innuendo, though, about Clinton’s health will make headlines.

It also will give the Democratic nominee some ammo I’m quite certain she’s going to fire back at Trump when the two of them meet for their joint appearance.

legal news, national news

Feds nix private prisons … good!

prisons

I have long disliked the idea of privatizing the prison system.

Whether it’s state prisons or throughout the federal system, the notion of turning the incarceration of convicted criminals over to for-profit business simply strikes me as wrong.

The U.S. Justice Department has decided to end its relationship with private prison companies … to which I offer a hearty cheer.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/justice-department-says-it-will-end-use-of-private-prisons/ar-BBvMrqX?ocid-ansmsnnews11

“They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates wrote.

I am not going to challenge any of that here.

I simply want to say — as I’ve noted before over many years in journalism — that my opposition to private prisons rests mainly as a matter of principle.

We ask our police departments to protect us from criminals; we pay officers’ salaries with our tax money. We ask the state and county district attorneys to prosecute suspects; we pay them for that, too. We then demand justice in our courts; and we pay judges’ salaries as well.

Then, when criminal defendants are convicted, we are able to farm out their incarceration to private businesses? The way I see it — and I’m open to discussion on this — the state has an obligation to finish the job that public entities began back when the suspect is arrested and charged with committing a crime.

That job ought to include keeping these individuals locked up. It also ought to include full public scrutiny of the job they are doing — on our behalf.

Texas hands over a fair amount of its incarceration responsibilities to private firms. I don’t expect the state to follow the feds’ lead in getting rid of private prisons.

However, I always can hope.

local news

Civic symbolism can have positive impact

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I noted recently that Amarillo’s Center City lit up a sign in front of the Paramount Building a decade ago.

Moreover, I noted that there might be some linkage between that singular act and the progress that’s occurred throughout the city’s downtown district since that moment.

There might have been some chuckles around the city over that observation.

But let me take this argument a bit farther.

Randall County performed something similar years ago when it renovated the exterior of its 1909 Courthouse building in the Canyon Square.

The county asked voters to approve a referendum to spend public money on refurbishing the outside of the building. The voters said “yes” to the request. The county then finished the job … and the exterior of that building looks spiffy, shiny and sits in the middle of a well-manicured lawn in the middle of the Square.

The building is still unoccupied. There’s no public business being done inside the building. It’s still rotting. Canyon city officials were considering renovating the interior of the building to move some City Hall functions into it — until they got the price tag for it. No can do.

But what’s happened on the Square since the courthouse building’s restoration? It’s blossoming. Businesses have moved into formerly vacant store fronts.

Randall County has moved some of its functions into the old jail and district attorney’s office building across the street. The bulk of the county’s business, though, is done at the Justice Center across the street from West Texas A&M University.

Did the act of restoring the exterior of a once-dilapidated building spur economic growth in the middle of the Randall County seat? County Judge Ernie Houdashell thinks so, as do Canyon city officials … not to mention many of the business owners who have watched the Square’s rebirth.

Does the lighting of a prominent marquee sign on Polk Street have the same impact on downtown Amarillo’s forward progress?

It could be. Who can doubt it with anything other their own bias?

Sports news

Lochte: from champ to chump?

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Jan 16, 2016; Austin, TX, USA; Ryan Lochte before competing in the men's 400 meter IM final during the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series at Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Say it ain’t so, Ryan Lochte.

The U.S. Olympic swimmer — a multiple gold-medal winner over several Olympics — appears to have been caught perpetrating a scam on the Brazilian police officials.

He and three American swimming teammates have been accused of fabricating a story in which they contended they were robbed at gunpoint.

The Rio de Janeiro cops bought the story initially. Then they had second thoughts. The Brazilians nabbed two of Lochte’s chums at their airport. Meanwhile, Lochte — the biggest name by far caught up in this matter — had made his escape back to the United States.

The allegation now is that video apparently shows the U.S. swimmers vandalizing the restroom of the business where they had said they were robbed. The robbery story, meanwhile, never added up to the cops’ satisfaction.

Lochte’s previous renown had come by virtue of his competing for the United States in swimming pools around the world. He and a guy named Michael Phelps — perhaps you’ve heard of him — had become great rivals and friends over many years.

Lochte was one of the best swimmers in the world. He still is, actually.

What might he be known for now? What could be his lasting legacy?

It appears it’s going to be this made-up robbery and the bizarre circumstances that are still developing.

Brazilian authorities are pursuing extradition proceedings to bring Lochte back to face justice.

Man, this makes me sad.

national news, political news

Should ‘short-circuited’ remain a talking point?

Clinton-and-Trump

A former colleague of mine scolded me once a few weeks ago over my criticism of Donald J. Trump’s gaffe when he referred the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians as “2 Corinthians.”

My critic reminded me that people who speak for a living could be excused for saying things improperly on occasion. He made an interesting and thought-provoking point.

So, I’m left to wonder about Trump’s opponent in the presidential campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said she “short-circuited” when answering questions about the e-mail controversy that continues to dog her.

She’s been pilloried for the statement by her foes, led by Trump, who’s now questioning whether Clinton’s got the intellectual snap she needs to be president of the United States.

Trump and Clinton will square off soon in the first of three joint appearances. It’s seems a good bet that Trump will bring up the “short-circuited” comment. He’s hired a new campaign CEO and manager, both of whom vow to “let Trump be Trump.”

Is the criticism of Clinton fair? Or did she — as a politician who makes her living these days talking constantly — merely say something in a less-than-artful manner?

As my ex-colleague/critic reminded me: He knows “how easy it is to say something wrong and even incredibly stupid despite knowing better.”

Politicians, though, usually aren’t allowed — for better or for worse — the luxury of a simple misspeak.