Monthly Archives: September 2016

International news, military news

Thank you, Greatest Generation

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I feel moved at this moment to offer a word of thanks to roughly 16 million Americans who answered the call in the fight against tyranny.

It was 71 years ago today that General of the U.S. Army Douglas MacArthur accepted the terms of surrender signed by the Empire of Japan. World War II came to an end.

Those 16 million Americans were those who wore the nation’s military uniforms after Japan attacked us at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

My father was one of them. He went to the federal building in downtown Portland, Ore., in February 1942 to enlist in the Marine Corps. The door was locked, so he walked across the hall and enlisted in the Navy.

Dad shipped out shortly thereafter for San Diego, where he received three weeks — just three weeks! — of what passed for boot camp before shipping out for Europe. He learned his seamanship skills aboard the troop transport ship headed for England.

The great broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw chronicled what he called “The Greatest Generation” in a book that carried that title. I have re-read it at least three times.

Those men and women are dying rapidly now. They’re in the late 80s and well into their 90s these days. I love meeting them today and talking to them about their service and, of course, thanking them personally for it. Most of them just shrug and pass it off as ancient history.

Most of those I see with the “World War II vet” gimme caps are too humble to want to spend much time talking about what they did. Back then, they simply acted out of love of country and perhaps just a touch of fear for what might happen if they didn’t get into the fight.

The prophet Isaiah tells us in Scripture how he answered God by saying, “Here am I! Send me.” These great Americans answered that call in a time of international crisis.

That great struggle came to a formal end on the deck of the great warship USS Missouri. If only it would have signaled the end to all conflict … forever.

It didn’t.

However, the men and women who defeated the tyrants deserve our undying thanks and gratitude now and for all eternity.

national news, political news

‘Running out the clock’? Hardly

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I keep hearing reports of how Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton is “running out the clock” against Republican opponent Donald J. Trump.

The suggestion is that she’s got the Electoral College locked up and that she’s not going to do anything to put that sure thing in jeopardy.

She’s ceded the political stage to Trump in recent weeks. He’s taken full advantage of Clinton’s generosity.

In doing so, Clinton is giving Trump some more ammo to fire at her … which is that she “lacks the stamina” the be commander in chief.

Here’s what I’m thinking might happen.

We’re coming up on the Labor Day weekend. We’ll all grill some burgers, hot dogs and brisket, pay tribute to working men and women, watch a little college football.

Then on Tuesday, my strong hunch is that Hillary Clinton is going to launch her campaign full bore, going stride for stride with Trump.

You know and I know — and so does Trump and his team know — that Clinton’s brain trust has developed a strategy for dealing with Trump’s seemingly countless flaws as a national political candidate. They start with his utter lack of knowledge of, well … anything.

Is she running out the clock?

I doubt it.

Seriously.

national news, political news

Weiner saga getting weirder — if that’s at all possible

AAiorCY

The hits just keep on coming for Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner.

New York state child protection authorities are now investigating whether the former Democratic congressman might have endangered his young son by putting him in a “sexting” picture that Weiner sent to a woman he had never met.

The picture shows the man known formerly to other women as “Carlos Danger” lying in his skivvies next to a boy thought to be the son he had with top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Abedin has left her husband, announcing a separation hours after the latest sexting reports were made public.

This story probably ought to just go away. Weiner ought to just disappear, never to be seen or heard from in the public domain ever again. Abedin ought to be able to go on with her life as a key aide and adviser to the Democratic presidential nominee.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/child-welfare-agency-launches-investigation-into-anthony-weiner/ar-AAiomPQ?li=BBmkt5R

It has captured the attention — if not the imagination — of many Americans. Why? Weiner once was considered a rising political star. He was a brash congressional loudmouth who then quit Congress when reports first surfaced of his penchant for showing off his manhood to women other than his wife.

Yes, I wish this clown would disappear.

First, though, New York state authorities need to determine if anything untoward occurred with this man and his son.

In the meantime, many of Americans — likely yours truly included, I’m sad to admit — will stay tuned to see how this story plays out.

I’m hoping to learn that nothing bad happened. That would save the youngster from a lot of pain. It also would save the rest of us from having to read about the boy’s idiotic dad.

 

State news

Texas AG, truckers go after human traffickers

 

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The Texas attorney general isn’t generally considered a top-drawer crime fighter.

The AG’s office generally works on civil matters.

Heaven knows I’ve been critical of the current attorney general, Ken Paxton, over his allegedly lax ethical standard. Today, though, I want to salute the work he is continuing with truckers in combatting human traffickers.

Paxton is employing trucking organizations to put extra sets of eyes on those who might be suspected of transporting sex slaves across the state.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/01/state-looks-truckers-combat-human-trafficking/

Paxton calls human trafficking “modern-day slavery.” It’s a hideous crime against humanity. The Texas attorney general is to be commended for using his office along with civilians who are on the road constantly to be on the lookout for those who prey on defenseless human beings.

As the Texas Tribune reports: “(Paxton) said the partnership helps educate truck drivers on the signs of human trafficking and how to report it. Paxton added that such a focused effort will help ensure that victims will be identified and rescued, and that traffickers will be punished.”

Truckers Against Trafficking is one of the groups that is working with the state in searching for human traffickers. Founded in 2011, this organization helps educate truck drivers in identifying human traffickers and ensuring they report what they see to the proper authorities.

Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood calls this initiative a form of “community policing.” As the Tribune reports: “This is a wonderful way to show how community policing works – bringing in partners from the community, people who are in the trenches, on the front lines to be our eyes and ears for law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies.”

We live in a huge state with many thousands of miles of highways. The state doesn’t have an unlimited set of eyes to search for these criminals. Enlisting the truckers doesn’t provide a limitless surveillance capability. However, it gives the state a crucial ally in this important crusade.

national news, political news

Even the fact checkers have become suspect

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I’m puzzled about fact checkers.

These are the folks and organizations that check the accuracy of declarations that politicians make.

They were at it again after Donald J. Trump’s fiery immigration speech. They sought to parse many of Trump’s contentions about illegal immigration.

Why the puzzlement?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheckingthecandidates/fact-checking-donald-trump%E2%80%99s-immigration-speech/ar-AAilszb?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Well, many observers contend the fact checkers are as biased as the politicians, or the “liberal media,” or the print and broadcast pundits.

Hillary Clinton’s speeches get examined, too. The fact checkers “check the facts” relating to her declarations. She once proclaimed that she worked well across the aisle with Republicans to approve legislation that benefited the country. A fact checker determined that Clinton clearly overstated her bipartisan approach to legislating. Biased?

Trump’s “facts” get “checked” constantly. Indeed, there’s so much to verify, given the Republican presidential nominee’s penchant for saying that are demonstrably untrue. My favorite untruth is Trump’s assertion that he witnessed “thousands” of Muslims cheering the collapse of the World Trade Center. It didn’t happen, man.

I’m still trying to process this fact checking thing, though, to determine if the fact checkers are looking for holes in candidates’ statements because they disagree in principle with the politician they’re examining.

The ranks of the totally trustworthy are shrinking all around us.

International news, national news, political news

This humble immigrant became a great American

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Take a look at this gentleman.

He was an immigrant to the United States of America. He grew up in southern Greece. He found his way to Pittsburgh, Pa. He got married and started family.

He worked hard. He played by the rules. He was a simple man. He had little formal education. He wasn’t destined to achieve financial wealth or become famous the way we understand the meaning of the term “famous.”

His name was Ioannis Panayotis Kanellopoulos. He shortened his last name to Kanelis; his first and middle names, translated to English, were John Peter.

He was my grandfather.

As I heard Donald J. Trump’s screed last night about immigration, one passage jumped out at me, grabbed me by the throat and damn near throttled me as I heard it.

Trump laid down some markers that legal immigrants needed to meet before they would be “selected” for entry into the United States of America.

My grandfather wouldn’t have met the standard set.

My Papou wouldn’t be welcome in a country where Donald J. Trump would serve as president.

He toiled in a steel mill in Pittsburgh. He lost his job when the Great Depression decimated the Rust Belt in the early 1930s. He and my grandmother and five of their children gravitated to Vermont, where they ran a hotel; that venture failed, too.

Papou and his family — which grew to seven children in Vermont — then moved west, to Portland, Ore.

My grandfather then shined shoes in the basement of a high-end downtown Portland department store for the rest of his working life.

Would he have been “selected”? It appeared to me, based on what I heard Trump say, he very well would have been turned away.

I wrote about it yesterday in the blog post attached below.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/09/select-immigrants-based-on-skill/

Were that to happen, the United States of America would have lost a great patriot.

Donald Trump’s arrogance as it related to immigrants — illegal and legal — has disgraced the American political process.

International news, national news, political news

Mexico outraged over Trump’s wall proposal

wall

Donald J. Trump’s impromptu visit to Mexico went well.

Don’t you think?

Me neither.

The Republican presidential nominee flew to Mexico City and met behind closed doors with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. They talked about illegal immigration, but apparently did not discuss that “big, beautiful wall” that Trump wants to extend along the countries’ border.

Now comes word from Mexico that the plan is “outrageous” and that Mexico isn’t going to pay a nickel for it, as Trump insists they should.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mexico-calls-trump-wall-plan-outrageous-after-visit/ar-AAinv5Z?li=BBnb7Kz

So, where do we stand?

I believe we are precisely at the same point we were prior to Trump’s visit.

As near as I can figure, one sovereign country cannot dictate to another sovereign country how to spend its money. So, if the United States is going to demand that Mexico pay for construction of a wall, then Mexico is within its legal authority to refuse.

Here’s how Reuters reported an exchange between Trump and Pena Nieto: “On Twitter early on Thursday, Trump wrote, ‘Mexico will pay for the wall!’

“That prompted a Twitter reply from Pena Nieto later in the day: ‘I repeat what I told you personally Mr. Trump, Mexico would never pay for a wall.'”

This is Donald Trump’s view of international diplomacy.

“Yes, you will. No we won’t. Yes, you will, or else! I dare you to invoke the ‘or else.'”

Do you see how this is a ridiculous notion?

Trump’s build-a-wall theme played well to the Republican Party voter base that propelled him to the GOP nomination. He’s got those folks in his hip pocket.

The rest of the country? The voters of Latin American heritage who are becoming increasingly infuriated at Trump’s anti-Mexico rhetoric? Independent voters?

Whatever the GOP nominee hoped to accomplish with those folks has now, I believe, been flushed away.

national news, political news

9/11 to bring relief from campaign

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Now, for a little good news regarding the dismal campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Both major-party nominees — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Donald J. Trump — have agreed to suspend campaigning for a day.

That day will be Sept. 11, which happens to be the 15th year since the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crashed a third jetliner into a Pennsylvania field.

An aside: I hesitate to use the word “anniversary” to define this event … if you get my drift.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-clinton-september-11-campaigns-227559

We all remember how we heard the terrible news. We all remember the horror, the shock, the grief, the sickening feeling we felt as we watched the events unfold on that terrible day.

That day ought to be a day of reflection over what happened and a day of solemn prayer for the nation that continues to fight on against the evil forces that seek to destroy us.

It has become something of a tradition since 9/11. President Bush and Sen. John Kerry suspended their campaigns in 2004, as did Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008; indeed, Obama and McCain appeared together at an event at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. In 2012, President Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney held events, but those events memorialized the victims of the attack.

We need not hear the candidates’ yammering on this solemn date.

International news, national news

‘Select immigrants based on skill … ‘

1 Comment

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Buried deeply in Donald J. Trump’s fiery immigration speech last night was a series of provisions he set forth that hasn’t yet gotten much media attention.

Perhaps it will. It certainly should, in my humble view.

Here’s what the Republican presidential nominee said that caught my attention:

“The time has come for a new immigration commission to develop a new set of reforms to our legal immigration system in order to achieve the following goals:

“To keep immigration levels, measured by population share, within historical norms

“To select immigrants based on their likelihood of success in U.S. society, and their ability to be financially self-sufficient. We need a system that serves our needs – remember, it’s America First.

“To choose immigrants based on merit, skill and proficiency.

“And to establish new immigration controls to boost wages and to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first.”

Do you know what he said right there? You perhaps have your own interpretation. Mine is that my own grandparents, all four of them, quite likely could have been denied entry into this country had those principles been put in play at the turn of the 20th century.

Trump wants to screen all immigrants to ensure they meet certain skill levels, that they demonstrate certain proficiency and that they meet some kind of standard of merit.

I’m going to speak only about my own family, but my grandparents — as great and as loving as they were — were uneducated individuals. They came here from southern Greece and from Turkey. With the possible exception of my maternal grandfather, a merchant seaman who was fluent or conversant in about a half-dozen languages, none of them brought any “skill” to this country.

All they brought to the United States of America was a desire to live in the land of the free.

They also became the greatest American patriots I’ve ever known.

They were the living embodiment of the inscription carved into the Statue of Liberty. You’ve heard of Emma Lazarus’s poem that proclaims in part:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Donald Trump, with that remarkably arrogant proclamation that sets certain standards that go far beyond potential criminality or the threat of terrorists has just crapped all over that inscription.

local news

Streets need work all over Amarillo

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“SHALL the City Council of the City of Amarillo, Texas, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the City in the principal amount of $89,495,000 for permanent public improvements and public purposes, to wit:  acquiring, constructing, improving and maintaining streets, thoroughfares, alleyways and sidewalks within the City including related storm drainage improvements, traffic signalization and signage, street lighting, traffic management equipment, creek erosion, bridge and culvert improvements and utility relocations and the acquisition of land therefor, such bonds to mature serially or otherwise over a period not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from their date, to be issued and sold in one or more series at any price or prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates (fixed, floating, variable or otherwise) as shall be determined within the discretion of the City Council at the time of issuance or sale of the bonds; and whether ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon all taxable property in the City sufficient to pay the annual interest and provide a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity?”

Proposition 1 on the Nov. 8 Amarillo municipal ballot

Those of us who drive motor vehicles need streets that don’t rattle us as we make our way across our city.

Am I overstating the importance of this issue? I don’t think so.

Proposition 1 on the city’s municipal ballot on Nov. 8 is the most expensive single item to be decided by the city’s voters.

The price tag exceeds $89 million.

Streets have become a significant gripe among many of the city’s 200,000 residents. Proposition 1 seeks to repair the city streets.

Major arterials will be repaved. Streets in every quadrant will be repaired. The city plans to advance construction along Helium Road as the state transportation department plans to extend Loop 335 beyond Soncy Road.

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

The city also plans improvements to its street signalization. I totally and wholeheartedly endorse this idea, given the nonsensical delays motorists often face at intersections. I have one specific request: Remove the traffic signal coming out of the driveway at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, which often turns red on Buchanan Street, stopping motorists for no reason.

The city is putting seven of these propositions on the ballot. Voters will be asked to vote on them individually. If they all pass, then the city will do all the projects.

Street repair and rehabilitation are vital to our city’s health and well-being. This proposition puts forward a significant investment toward that end.

It is my hope that Proposition 1 gets the voters’ wholehearted endorsement.