Monthly Archives: December 2017

local news

Resolutions remain a waste of time, effort

Here comes yet another new year.

It’s my 68th such occurrence. That means New Year’s Day is, um, no big deal — unless you consider that I have far fewer of them ahead of me than behind me. Those of you of a certain age might think that way. I’ll just take this new year as it comes.

2018 is an election year. That makes it special, particularly in this era of Donald John Trump. He’s rewritten the political playbook. His very presence on the political scene make any thought of prediction a dicey endeavor.

I’m out of the predicting game … politically speaking, that is.

As for those New Year’s resolutions, I’m out of the resolving business, too.

I declared years ago that I wouldn’t make any resolutions. I hardly ever have kept the resolutions I’ve made. At my age — which I’ve noted already — it makes no discernible sense for me to resolve to do anything.

Sure, I’ll be a good husband; I’ll continue to do what my wife tells me to do. I’ll help my sons when they ask for it; I’ll give advice, too, but only when they ask for it. I’ll be a doting grandfather. Whatever little Emma wants, she’s likely to get — no matter what!

I won’t resolve to do those things. They’re all a given.

I do look forward to the new year, though. They always present new challenges. This year will be markedly different for my wife and me. We’re likely to relocate soon to North Texas; that will depend on the speed with which we are able to sell our Amarillo house.

I’ll just resolve to get through the New Year celebration, however, without making a single resolution.

A new year awaits. I am ready to welcome it.

business news, national news, political news

Trump hogs credit he denied to his predecessor

Donald J. Trump was always oh, so quick to denigrate the economic successes of Barack H. Obama.

But … wait! Now it appears that with the nation’s economy continuing to rock along, he is seeking to take some — or most — of the credit for himself.

Politico reports that the president, faced with low poll ratings despite a brisk economic recovery, is staking more of his political fortune on the continuing spike in economic activity.

Thus, the success he refused to acknowledge during President Obama’s two terms in office is now becoming an opportunity for him to seize during his own time in the White House.

It’s almost laughable. No, actually it is laughable.

Trump derided the monthly jobs boost recorded virtually throughout Obama’s terms in office. He used to contend the job growth was phony; the Labor Department cooked up the numbers, he said, to make the president look good.

Now that he’s on the watch, the job numbers are like the Gospels, according to Trump. Which is it, Mr. President? Are they phony or are they holy?

Trump will deserve credit if his economic policies continue to produce healthy job and wage growth. He’ll deserve the credit in due course.

However, he shouldn’t try to scarf up the credit that rightfully belongs to the momentum built by his presidential predecessor and preceding Congresses long before he declared his presidential candidacy.

local news, political news, State news

‘Conservative Republicans’ are selling their wares

COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — Driving around this North Texas county revealed to me something I never appreciated until now.

It is that Republicans who call themselves “conservative Republicans” must mean they are seriously committed to their ideology.

You see, it’s always been understood that Republicans are more conservative than Democrats.

As we enter the 2018 midterm election season, I noticed a number of campaign lawn signs touting a candidate’s conservative credentials.

Now, when I see the words “conservative” and “Republican” displayed in that sequence, I conclude that the individual is seriously Republican.

I know that this suburban Dallas county tilts heavily toward the GOP. Indeed, all of North Texas leans in that direction, with the notable exception of Dallas County, which voted twice for Barack Obama and then for Hillary Clinton in the past three presidential elections.

I thought today of how campaign signage is displayed in Potter and Randall counties. There, in the Panhandle — the symbolic birthplace of modern Texas Republicanism — one doesn’t even see candidates displaying their party affiliation. In Amarillo — which straddles the counties’ common border — it’s simply understood that candidates are running in the Republican Party primary.

The differences in the campaign characteristics of both regions seemed to jump out at me. In Amarillo, the candidates don’t boast about their conservatism. Here? Boy, howdy! They shout it, man!

local news, State news

Happy Trails, Part 66

COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — It appears that my wife and I have quite possibly narrowed our field of choices where we intend to relocate … after we sell our house in Amarillo.

We did something this morning that proved to be quite fruitful.

We awoke today, ate a light breakfast and then headed south from the RV park where we’ve hauled our fifth wheel RV. We left the RV behind and took off on a tour of small towns between Sherman and Allen in North Texas.

We wound our way through Howe, Anna, Melissa, Princeton, Lowry’s Crossing, scouting out neighborhoods and looking for the type of house we might consider purchasing were it to become available while we are available to buy it.

Then we ended up in Wylie, Murphy and Parker.

You know what happened then? We ended up thinking that the Wylie-Murphy corridor is most suitable for us. It’s a fascinating thought, when I think about it.

We went to Wylie some time back, actually before we even thought too much about retirement. We liked what we saw then. We liked it again today. Perhaps even more than we did the first time we laid eyes on the city of 41,500 residents.

(My wife, incidentally, believes the next census in 2020 is going to record a substantial population growth for Wylie since the most recent census in 2010. I think she’s on to something.)

Now I say all this understanding that nothing is cast is stone. It all could change if we find a specific piece of property that bowls us over in an entirely different community.

Wylie and Murphy, taken together, represent a modern, well-manicured greater community where we could get quite comfortable in reasonably short order.

This retirement journey, of course, has some more distance to travel. We’ll make the most of it, but our destination appears to be taking shape. I am not yet comfortable declaring we’ve found it just yet. We have just moved a little closer to that declaration.

national news

Just … go away, Roy Moore

Don’t you wish Roy Moore would simply just vanish? I do.

The combative, zealous and allegedly perverted Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama lost an election to Democratic nominee Doug Jones earlier this month.

Moore hasn’t yet conceded defeat to the man who beat him by 1.5 percentage points. Ohhh, no. Instead, this goofball former judge has alleged “massive voter fraud” in Alabama cost him the election to Sen.-elect Jones.

To his credit, Republican Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill dismissed Moore’s bogus claim of voter fraud. There was none found, Merrill said. A judge tossed Moore’s complaint into the crapper. Game over, judge.

Merrill certified Jones’s victory and the new senator will be sworn in next month by Vice President Mike Pence.

But Moore — the former two-time Alabama chief justice and a man accused by women of sexual misconduct — isn’t going quietly away. He’s continuing to raise holy hell with non-existent controversies.

Moore is making a spectacle of himself by seeking some sort of redress while in effect defaming local election officials by contending fraud where none exists.

You know, it’s interesting in one way that Donald J. Trump would have endorsed this guy for election to the Senate, albeit belatedly. Moore is showing the same lack of grace and class as his chief political benefactor, the president of the United States.

Peaceful transitions of power are supposed to be one of the many hallmarks of this great country. Alabama had an election. It produced a clear winner. It’s now time for the loser to bow out.

If only this guy would simply go away. Never to be heard from again.

International news

ISIS: Perverts kill more Muslims

As if we needed more examples …

The Islamic State has taken responsibility for a bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed at least 41 Muslims at a Shiite center.

Let’s ponder that for a moment. Yes, ISIS — a radical Sunni cabal — has declared war on the United States of America. And, yes, the terrorists have killed many non-Muslims. However, the preponderance of this monstrous group’s victims have been Muslims.

This group, which claims its mission is on behalf of Islam, simply is an organization of religious perverts. They do not adhere to traditional Islamic faith. They adhere instead to a perverted version of their so-called “faith.”

President Barack Obama made the point quite clearly the night he announced the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He said that bin Laden was “not a Muslim leader. He was a killer of Muslims.”

The very same thing can be said of the Islamic State.

ISIS is on the run throughout the Middle East. To the extent that the United States has contributed to ISIS’s further degradation, we must continue that struggle and I welcome Donald Trump’s commitment to waging that fight to the fullest extent of our nation’s ability — which happens to be formidable, indeed.

Before we label Muslims as inherently evil, though, let us understand that the terror organizations, such as ISIS, are themselves the source of the evil. They do not represent the tenets of a great religion.

national news

Hoping — yet again — for a turn for the better

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I was so hoping that when 2016 disappeared that the next year might bring a brighter outlook.

It turned out that 2017 was no better than the previous year.

While it is true the world didn’t lose as many iconic figures in 2017 as it did in 2016, my hope was that a new president’s performance might not be as horrific as I feared.

I regret to say I was mistaken.

Donald J. Trump’s first year in office was worse than I feared.

He didn’t get anything done. He didn’t make America any greater than it already is. He didn’t unify the country. The president didn’t deliver on the vast bulk of his campaign promises — although he did make good on some of them; I’ll get back to that in a moment.

The president’s “America First” mantra has brought further isolation for the United States in an era that has produced a shrinking globe.

He pulled the nation out of a worldwide effort to curb carbon emissions; he scolded our NATO allies over whether they’re paying their fair share of defense against Russian threats; the president insulted key heads of state of allied nations; he has used his Twitter account to launch tirades against the media, pro football players, and to promote falsehoods on all manner of issues.

The tax cut? That’s a promise kept. The president is crowing about it and he has earned the right to boast. It remains an open question, though, about how it will succeed. Will millions of jobs be returned specifically because of the corporate tax cuts? Is the economy going to continue to accelerate as it has done during the year?

And will the tax cut explode the federal budget deficit, which used to be anathema to Republican politicians?

Yes, indeed, there’s also that “Russia thing.”

The investigation into alleged collusion with Russian agents seeking to influence the 2016 election outcome is getting hotter by the week. Trump calls it a phony story. Fine. Let it proceed and prove him correct, if that’s the outcome we get.

The year we are about to enter, I’m sad to say, doesn’t look any better than the one we’re about to set aside.

Sad.

national news

Trump needs help coping with his delusion

Donald Trump’s delusion is well-chronicled.

He keeps touting all the “success” he has enjoyed since becoming president of the United States. Trump keeps lying about having passed more legislation than any president in history.

If matters were going as swimmingly as Trump keeps insisting, then I am forced to ask this fundamental question:

Why do polls keep showing a tangible, real distrust among Americans?

The RealClearPolitics average of polls now stands at 39.3 percent approval of the president; 56.2 percent of Americans polled disapprove of the way he is doing his job.

I mention the RCP poll average because of its reliability. It factors in all leading public opinion surveys and averages them out. As near as I can tell, 39.3 percent approval stinks.

If I were in Donald Trump’s shoes, I’d be mighty concerned about it. I also would exhibit a ton of reticence in talking about the phony success rates.

This guy doesn’t get any of it. He doesn’t know most Americans feel about him. Sure, he has his base. The diehard Trumpkins around the country are standing by their man. The president is feeding off of that and conflating their support for his policies with the national mood — which reality should tell him doesn’t reflect the infatuation of those among his political base.

Indeed, the president is delusional.

national news

Alabama cedes national attention to … Utah!

Many Americans, including me, were fascinated by the election of a U.S. senator from Alabama.

The election turned out the correct way. It was a big surprise. Democratic nominee Doug Jones won and is now the senator-elect from one of the nation’s strongest Republican-leaning states.

Now we have another state. It’s out west. It’s Utah. Orrin Hatch is the U.S. Senate’s longest-serving Republican … in the history of the Senate! He is considering whether to run for an eighth six-year term. Sen. Hatch, though, does not have the backing of Utah’s largest newspaper, the Salt Lake Tribune, which named him “Utahn of the Year,” but said he earned the “honor” by demonstrating a new level of crass political ambition. The Tribune wants voters to choose someone else if Hatch decides to run again; the paper, obviously, wants him to retire.

If Hatch does call it quits, it opens the door for Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee and a man considered the odds-on favorite to be elected to the Senate in 2018.

Utah drama shaping up

Why is this so fascinating? I’ll tell you. Hatch is a Donald Trump ally; Mitt Romney is, um, not an ally of the president. Sen. Hatch gave Trump his backing on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act; he stood behind the president on the GOP-authored tax cut.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, calls Trump a “fraud” and a “phony.” He despises the way Trump has lied; he detests the president’s disparaging of individuals and groups.

Would a Sen. Romney be as closely tied to Trump as Sen. Hatch. I would hope not.

I have developed a significant respect for Romney since the 2012 presidential election. He was courageous enough to deliver a blistering speech during the 2016 campaign in which he hung the fraud and phony label on Trump.

Sure, Trump pondered whether to appoint Romney as secretary of state. The men shook hands. They seemed to bury the hatchet.

But my hope would be that Romney would travel down a more independent path than Hatch has trod.

My request of Sen. Hatch? Listen to what the Tribune said about you. Call it a career. As the Tribune noted, Hatch told Utah voters in 1976 — the year he was elected for crying out loud — that senators shouldn’t stay too long.

national news

Nothing to FBI/Mueller probe? Then back off, Mr. President

Donald J. Trump is ending 2017 by declaring war on federal law enforcement.

What a charming way for the president of the United States to sign off on an old year and welcome the new one with forbidding declarations.

He’s gone after the FBI. He is calling it a dysfunctional agency. He has labeled its investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians seeking to influence the 2016 election a “witch hunt.” He fired the FBI director, James Comey, this past spring.

Trump cannot stop yapping about how much he detests the investigation, how much he distrusts special counsel Robert Mueller — whom the Justice Department hired to take over the probe.

The president’s continual disparagement of federal law enforcement agencies is troubling at many levels. I’ll just cite a couple.

One is that the FBI has long been held in high regard by Trump’s fellow Republicans. But the party has become the Trump Party. Longtime Republicans have grown infatuated with the man rather than the party’s ideology.

Indeed, the president lacks an ideology. He doesn’t adhere to core principles. His seemingly sole interest is in boosting himself, his brand.

The other level brings me back to a point I want to make yet again. It is that if Trump is as clean as pure-driven snow on the “Russia thing,” he should welcome the special counsel’s probe, not condemn it.

He should allow Mueller’s probe to run its course. He should let Mueller reach a conclusion. If it finds nothing at the end of its journey, then Trump can crow all he wants.

His continual yammering and yapping about Mueller, the FBI and his foes, however, suggests to me that the special counsel may have something to keep pursuing.

And that is what is giving Donald J. Trump fits.