Monthly Archives: September 2016

national news, political news

Trump makes weird pitch to black voters

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So much about Donald J. Trump’s bizarre presidential candidacy confounds me.

Let’s start with the fact that he’s making a race of it against Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Republican nominee has insulted his way to this competitive situation. In other election cycles, it would be a deal-breaker.

Now comes his bizarre “outreach” to African-American voters.

He tells white audiences that black voters are living in the worst neighborhoods imaginable; he tells them blacks attend inferior schools and are getting an inferior education; he says African-American neighborhoods are more dangerous than cities and towns in Afghanistan.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/is-trump-racist-228472

But here’s the best part.

He says — again to white audiences — that President Barack Obama is the worst president in history and that race relations are at their lowest ebb “ever, ever” under the president’s leadership.

Yep, he tells a key American demographic group that holds Obama in high esteem that the man they adore is leading the nation straight to hell in a handbag.

This is how Trump seeks to win the hearts and minds of voters who — according to those pesky polls — cannot stomach the notion of this guy becoming president of the United States?

State news

Still waiting to see guns on hips

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Texas became the latest state to allow residents to carry their guns in the open.

I’m going to make an admission that won’t surprise readers of this blog: I don’t like the new law. I dislike the idea of making loaded weapons more visible on our city streets, at the grocery store.

The law took effect on Aug. 1; the irony was rich, given that the effective date fell 50 years to the day after the gunman opened fire from the University of Texas Tower in Austin, killing 16 people.

I dislike the idea of requiring public colleges and universities to allow students to carry guns into the classroom.

No, I do not oppose the Second Amendment. I just happen to believe there are ways to restrict gun ownership while remaining faithful to the amendment.

All that said, I’m frankly surprised — and pleasantly so — that I haven’t seen anyone packing a gun on his or hip.

The open-carry law is restricted only to those who are licensed to carry weapons concealed. So, perhaps the concealed-carry licensees are still packing heat under their jackets or in their purses.

That suits me all right. What I cannot see doesn’t bother me as much as it would if I were to walk into a crowd with those who are showing off their guns.

I don’t expect this absence of guns in plain sight to continue.

I’m just grateful that, so far, I haven’t been forced to see them.

International news, national news

Condi Rice’s role on 9/11: How did she escape blame?

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Americans commemorated recently the 15th year since the 9/11 attacks.

It was a life-changer for many of us. It certainly changed the way we view our place in the world, and whether we are as “safe” as we thought we were.

There’s been plenty of blame tossed around in the decade-and-a-half since that terrible day.

Lots of reputations have been soiled and sullied.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, CIA director George Tenet all have taken their share of hits over what happened.

One person, though, skated through it. And for the life of me, I am baffled over how this happened.

We had a national security adviser on duty. Condoleezza Rice was that person. Rice’s task, as her job title declares, was to protect our nation. It was her duty to ensure that we remained alert and vigilant against any threat.

On Sept. 11, 2001, barely nine months into the Bush administration’s first term, it all fell apart.

Why didn’t Condi Rice take the hit? How did she escape the blame that was leveled at so many of her colleagues?

As near as I can discern, her national reputation remains largely intact.

The Afghan War that developed shortly after the attack is still under way. We’ve gotten out of Iraq, ending a war that President Bush started based on false information about Iraq’s non-existent role in the 9/11 attack.

Still, of all the finger-pointing — at Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Powell, Tenet and the rest — no one has laid a hand on the individual, Condi Rice, whose primary responsibility was to ensure that this kind of attack doesn’t occur.

She failed.

How is that she’s never been held accountable for that failure?

business news, national news, political news

Tax returns, Trump, tax returns … release them!

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I am taking a bit of a leap here in challenging the New York Times on an editorial … with which I happen to agree.

The Times says Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump needs to release his tax returns. He needs to do what candidates of both parties have done since 1976. There’s no law requiring him to release the returns; it’s merely been customary for candidates to do so to reveal to the public just how they conduct their personal financial business.

Here’s the editorial. Take a look. The Times raises excellent points.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/opinion/mr-trumps-stupid-excuses-on-taxes.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

What the Times missed, though, is a simple point: It didn’t challenge Trump’s assertion that he’s being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

The audit is the lame excuse he and his campaign team — mainly his sons — have used to keep the information from public information. The IRS, though, says an audit doesn’t preclude releasing the tax returns.

More to the point, though, is that Trump hasn’t even provided evidence that the IRS even is conducting an audit. He hasn’t given us any indication of a letter, or a notice, or a note tossed in over the transom alerting him of the audit.

He is asking us to take his word for it that the IRS is conducting an audit.

All of this is a shameful, disgraceful display of hypocrisy and duplicity from someone who for years demanded proof of President Obama’s place of birth and his academic records … not that any of it matters to those who have backed his candidacy.

OK, Donald Trump. The time has long passed for you to come clean and do what you have demanded of Barack Obama.

business news, national news, political news

Wealth an issue in this run for the White House

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One candidate for the U.S. presidency, the Republican, keeps harping on his “fabulous” wealth.

Donald J. Trump likes to boast about all the dough he has made in business, erecting tall buildings and getting his name slapped on the sides of them. It’s that boasting and braggadocio that make the release of his income tax returns a campaign issue … that and the questions about whether he’s paying his fair share of taxes and with which foreign governments he’s been doing business.

Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, on the other hand, has said a number of other things about her wealth. She has claimed to have been “dead broke” when she and her husband exited the White House in January 2001.Then she said she isn’t “truly well off.”

https://highplainsblogger.com/2014/06/not-truly-well-off-mme-secretary/

She’s pretty damn “well off” now. Collecting six-figure speaking fees every time she or her husband, the former president, stands before a microphone adds up quickly.

Now, am I as concerned about her wealth as I am about Trump’s stubborn refusal to release his tax returns? Not at all.

Hillary and Bill Clinton have released their returns. The public has seen where and how they have acquired their wealth. They haven’t enriched themselves through the Clinton Foundation or the Clinton Global Initiative.

Yes, the “dead broke” statement was troubling. You know and I know she and her husband weren’t “dead broke” in the way many Americans understand the meaning of the term. Heck, they were able to secure financing to purchase a high-end home after they left the White House; lenders don’t dole out money to those who are “dead broke,” if you know what I mean.

However, her financial portfolio is an open book. Hillary Clinton’s role in the various works of the foundation and the CGI have been scrutinized to the nth degree.

Trump, on the other hand, remains a man of mystery regarding his supposedly vast holdings.

He keeps bragging about them. In public. For all to hear.

Inquiring minds want to know the truth behind the bluster.

business news, national news, political news

Trump’s wealth called into question once more

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Wait a second!

How can a presidential candidate who keeps crowing about his fabulous wealth spend a six-figure amount of dough to pay off legal debts from a charity he founded.

That’s what the Washington Post has reported in connection with Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

The Post reports that Trump dipped into his charity foundation’s pool. He snatched $258,000 out of it to pay off some legal bills he had accrued.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-used-258000-from-his-charity-to-settle-legal-problems/2016/09/20/adc88f9c-7d11-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html

Doesn’t that betray a trust he made to the donors of his charity? Is this the way to spend money dedicated to do “good work”?

And how does someone with the kind of wealth he keeps telling he has need to use charitable foundation money in the first place?

The Post has compiled a thorough investigation of the story. Trump’s campaign, of course, declared it was full of errors. No one has specified the errors, or even said the story is false.

We all know, of course, that Trump can prove his wealth simply by releasing his tax returns to the public as other presidential candidates have been doing for the past 40 years.

Oh … wait.

local news, political news, State news

Panhandle Day: Does it produce tangible benefit?

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I’ve long wondered about a Texas Legislature tradition.

It involves various regions of our state sending “delegations” to Austin during the Legislature’s regular session. They pack themselves into various modes of transportation and go to the state capital. They schmooze with their legislators. They slap themselves on the back. They enjoy meals and an adult beverage or three with each other.

They lobby their legislators about their regions’ needs.

The Texas Panhandle does it every other year. The Amarillo Chamber of Commerce is a key partner in this venture. Chamber bosses proclaim it a “success.” They have their voices heard.

I’ve been watching this spectacle from a distance for the past two-plus decades here in the Panhandle; I watched it — also from a distance — during the nearly 11 years I lived in the Golden Triangle.

Panhandle Day occurs every legislative session, along with Golden Triangle Day. Austin sends a delegation; so does San Antonio; same for the Metroplex; Houston-Galveston sends one.

My wonder involves how we measure the success of these schmooze-fests.

In my nearly 33 years living in Texas, I have yet to see an accounting of how these events actually benefit the region that sends these delegations.

Sometime next year, the Panhandle is going to gather up several dozen business, civic and local political leaders. They’ll go to Austin and talk about regional issues with state Reps. John Smithee and Four Price, both of Amarillo, and with state Sen. Kel Seliger, also of Amarillo.

Is it me or does anyone else wonder if we’re getting the bang for the buck we’re spending with the public money that’s spent sending these folks to Austin?

Is there tangible legislation being enacted? Are these groups able to persuade legislators to send money our way? Do certain regions of the state have more pull than others?

Are these “days” that the Legislature sets aside for various regions worth the effort?

Hey, man. I’m just wondering. I also am hoping to get a conversation started well in advance of the next Panhandle Day back-slap session.

International news

Where is the fear in Europe of terrorists?

train

A journey to Germany and The Netherlands didn’t produce many surprises, truth be told.

My wife and I know they are beautiful countries. We know that many — if not most — citizens of both countries speak English. We know that they generally like Americans.

We also assumed something about their view of international terrorists that might have been a bit overblown.

I, at least, had this notion that Europeans were outwardly, demonstrably fearful of terrorists. The media have portrayed the continent’s mood as wary, bordering on angry at the refugees who have gone there while fleeing oppression in the Middle East.

Donald Trump keeps talking here at home about that fear and he’s seeking to promote more of it among American voters as he seeks the presidency.

But here’s what we discovered.

We boarded a speedy train in Nuremberg, Germany on Sept. 10 bound for Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

We saw our share of Muslim women with their heads covered according to Islamic custom. Many of them were accompanied, I presume, by their spouses and children.

They sat quietly as the train sped toward Frankfurt and then on to Amsterdam.

Funny. They behaved, oh, quite normally.

The return trip on Sept. 14? Same thing. We changed trains in Hannover, Germany, where the terminal also had a number of Muslims scurrying about in search of their connection.

I didn’t spot a single shady-looking character among ’em.

Oh, and one more thing.

Not a single security agent demanded to rifle through my wife’s purse or demanded that I empty my pockets. Were the terminals devoid of security? Oh, no. We noticed the video cameras peering down on everyone as they walked through. We also saw our share of heavily armed uniformed personnel making sure all was well.

This element — the lack of hands-on enhanced security — proved to be the biggest surprise of our vacation. It wasn’t nearly as intense as I expected it to be, given the terror tragedy that has befallen Europe ever since 9/11.

I must say that it was a pleasant one, indeed.

Is there something to be said, therefore, about our politicians in the States — and one prominent individual in particular — who keep stoking the embers of fear?

medical news, national news, political news

‘Room service’ in hospital? Really?

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Donald J. Trump needs to get out more.

A man is arrested for setting off bombs in New York City and in New Jersey. The police inflict non-life threatening injuries on the guy in a shootout.

The suspect is taken to a local hospital.

The response from the Republican Party’s candidate for president of the United States?

The suspect is going to get “room service” at the hospital.

Room service. At a hospital.

In Trump’s world, hospital “room service” is a perk.

Good … grief.

business news, local news

Downtown changing its nature, one resident at a time

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I’ve been enjoying the changes I see occurring in downtown Amarillo.

We all know about the construction underway: the Xcel office building, the Embassy Suites Hotel, the parking garage.

Another element is taking shape. It’s potentially the deal-maker for downtown’s revival.

It involves the continued development of urban residences.

The recently Lofts on 10th have received some recognition for their creativity. Other residences have been completed in an old warehouse not far from City Hall. The Eagle Center at the corner of Seventh and Tyler has housed downtown residents for years.

Where does this end? Does all this portend a growing new demographic among Amarillo’s population, which now sits at 200,000 … and growing?

My wife and I recently returned from Germany and The Netherlands, where one at times is hard-pressed to find single-family dwellings in the middle of great cities. There, urban life is a long-standing reality.

It has led to the “gentrification” of many neighborhoods, according to our German friends, who note that formerly run-down neighborhoods have become places that ooze with charm.

Sure, gentrification comes at a price. In many American cities, it drives up the cost of real estate and makes such property less affordable to those who cannot pay the cost of living in high-dollar downtown lofts or condos.

Amarillo’s transition — as I see it — appears to be well under way.

The ballpark construction will begin soon. Xcel Energy’s new office complex is entering its final stage of construction. The convention hotel will open soon, as will the parking garage.

Amarillo voters will get a chance to vote on seven propositions aimed at financing several key construction projects; one of them involves the Civic Center, which many foes of the ballpark said needs dramatic improvement.

It’s invigorating to see the changes that are afoot in a city that at times has resisted it.