Monthly Archives: June 2018

International news

Trump defends a killer? Weird, man

Donald J. Trump’s infatuation with men who run their nations under heavy boots, heavy hands and sheer fright is shining more brightly than ever.

The president is defending his newest best friend, Kim Jong Un, by suggesting that his ruthlessness in governing North Korea is done out of necessity.

Here is how Politico reported some of what Trump has said about Kim: “He’s a tough guy,” the president said during a Fox News interview that aired Wednesday. “When you take over a country, a tough country, tough people and you take it over from your father — I don’t care who you are, what you are, how much of an advantage you have — if you can do that at 27 years old, that’s one in 10,000 that could do that. So he’s a very smart guy. He’s a great negotiator, but I think we understand each other.”

So, Kim’s father — Kim Jong Il — died in 2011, giving the young man a chance to lead his desperately poor nation. How does Kim Jong Un respond? By furthering the starvation, intimidation, abuses, crimes against humanity that his father and grandfather made infamous during their respective regimes.

Politico continued: Trump made his comments Tuesday aboard Air Force One on his return from Singapore, where he’d met with Kim and hailed the North Korean leader as a “smart” and “funny guy” who “loves his people.”

Smart? Funny guy? Someone who “loves” his people?

He is cagey, cunning and supremely frightening to his subjects, the citizens of North Korea.

I laughed out loud last night when MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell made this curious observation: He said Kim Jong Un is the only “overweight” North Korean because he — unlike his subjects — is able to eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants and in whatever quantities he chooses. North Korea’s citizens, meanwhile, are starving — many of them to death.

This is the guy Donald Trump calls “honorable”?

Disgraceful.

media news

Blog spurs tension among strangers

As much as l enjoy — even love — writing this blog, it produces at least one uncomfortable side effect.

I distribute High Plains Blogger’s contents along several social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, to name three. It’s the Facebook distribution that results in something that gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Blog supporters and critics read my entries. They respond to statements that come from the blog. Then someone else will respond to the individual who is commenting on the contents of the blog.

It doesn’t matter who starts the exchange. It can come from someone on either side. When it commences, though, it occasionally gets personal.

It’s an intriguing aspect of this community “discussion.” Strangers who have never looked each other in the eye presume to know the other person’s motives. For that matter, I have total strangers who read this blog regularly who presume to know my own motivations and they respond with some sort of faux knowledge. But … that’s OK with me. I let it slide.

When individuals start yammering at each other in response to High Plains Blogger, I find myself feeling badly when someone ascribes nefariousness to someone else’s point of view. Or, they accuse someone of ignorance.

I don’t intend to dissuade commenters from speaking out freely and passionately. It’s an American thing to do. I like that individuals get worked up. However, it does make me a bit queasy when the commenters get personal with their newfound foes over each other’s comments.

None of this will deter me from using this blog to speak out. It’s what I do these days now that I no longer am a working stiff.

I’ll just have to suck it up when readers of this blog — be they friend or foe — decide to go after those on the other side of the gaping political divide.

Stay tuned. Keep reading. And by all means, feel free to offer your own perspective. It’s a great country, yes?

national news

Mueller’s ratings take a dive? Imagine that

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s negative ratings have spiked to an all-time high. What a revoltin’ development that is … even though it shouldn’t surprise anyone at all.

Mueller is now in his second year investigating whether Donald J. Trump’s campaign for president “colluded” with Russians seeking to influence the election outcome in 2016; he’s also looking into other matters relating to the Trump campaign.

Let me offer a brief suggestion as to why I believe Mueller’s standing has taken a header.

Trump has assailed Mueller from the get-go. Sure, he says “there is no collusion.” He keeps harping on his innocence, meanwhile labeling Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” masterminded by the “13 Democrats” who are working on Mueller’s team of legal eagles.

The president’s criticism has been relentless, unending and persistent.

Politico has an extensive story on the poll results. Read it here.

Mueller’s response? He’s been quiet. You hear the term “crickets” when talking about political response. All we hear from Mueller are the proverbial “crickets.” Why is that? Because unlike the president, Mueller is careful and is dedicated to preserving the integrity of his probe.

Put another way: Mueller isn’t going to say a word in public until he is finished with his investigation. He is a former FBI director and lawyer known for meticulous evidence-gathering. He is not going to upset that effort by responding to every ridiculous assertion that comes from the Trump camp.

Trump is winning the shouting match so far but only because he and his minions are the only ones doing the shouting.

I’m waiting for the final report to come out.

As for the president’s constant yammering about witch hunts, “fake news” and bogus allegations, if there’s no “there” there, let Mueller’s probe reach that conclusion — without interference.

Something suggests to me — I cannot quite tell what it is — that Mueller is likely to reach a different conclusion.

Uncategorized

‘We knew what we were getting’

The person who made the above statement is a friend of mine. I’ve known him for many years. We’ve shared a lot of laughs and even a bit of heartache together.

The knowledge of which he speaks concerns the presidency of Donald John Trump. My friend has said that Trump wasn’t his first choice as president, but given the choice he had in 2016 he felt compelled to vote for him.

Baggage and all.

I think my friend speaks for a lot of Americans who continue to sing the president’s praises. The reasons for those praises likely will escape me for as long as this man is in office, or even perhaps even longer.

My friend is an educated man. He is erudite and sophisticated. I wouldn’t classify him as one of the “deplorables” who — in the infamous words of Hillary Rodham Clinton — back Trump to the hilt come hell or high water.

However, I have trouble understanding whether he actually accepts the idea that a presidential candidate would denigrate a Vietnam War hero by saying he likes “those who aren’t captured” by the enemy, as Sen. John McCain was in 1967. Or that he gives a candidate a pass for mocking the physical disability of a noted journalist. Or that it’s OK for someone to boast to a TV host about grabbing women by their genitals because he’s a “star.”

Then there’s the lying. Yes, I know about politicians’ penchant for exaggeration, or for self-aggrandizement, or how they twist the truth to take on different meanings. Trump lies. Flat out! He says things that are demonstrably false.

What’s more, his lies often border on defamation of others. To wit:

Barack Obama ordered the wiretap of his 2016 campaign office: wrong. Millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016: wrong. Ted Cruz’s father might have been involved in President Kennedy’s murder because he was seen talking to Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the tragic event: false. Trump’s investigators had “evidence” that Barack Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii, but that he was born in Kenya: false.

I won’t get into the serial philandering and the endless array of failed business enterprises and the thousands of Americans who lost everything investing in these deals.

Trump’s supporters knew all this and still they elected him?

Maybe so. It simply blows my mind.

But there’s good news to report. Our friendship will persevere despite our political differences. For that I am eternally grateful.

local news

Yearning for a simpler TV-viewing era

Our move from Amarillo to Fairview has been mostly seamless, mostly smooth, mostly simple and straightforward.

Except for one element that has become part of modern living.

TV viewing.

I am officially longing for the days when we sat on the couch, able to watch three — maybe four, if you include public television — programs on our TV. When you wanted to change the channel, you lifted yourself off the couch, walked to the set and turned the knob next to the big ol’ picture that was filled with hot tubes inside.

No more.

Today, we watch TV programs that are delivered on a variety of platforms, networks, “streaming” services. You name it, someone will have a way to get it to you.

If you can find a service that works well all the time.

We made the move to Fairview and installed an Internet/TV service packaged together. We were obligated to purchase this service. It ain’t cheap, man! But we did as we were instructed.

My problem at the moment is that we cannot get all the televisions in our new home to operate fully and flawlessly at the same time. Indeed, at this very moment, two of the three TV sets in our home have been rendered inoperable because of the technology associated with the TV service for which we are paying a handsome monthly fee.

I’m a fairly well educated individual. I consider myself to possess above-average intelligence. However, when I get a TV “technician” on the phone and he starts talking me through some of the issues that might be preventing us from getting TV service, my mind freezes up. My brain vapor-locks.

The young man might as well be speaking Martian to me.

High-tech gadgetry — which I consider this new-fangled TV service to be — is intended to expand our entertainment options. I get it. First things first, however. The first order of business is to get it to work right.

To get to that point, I guess I need to become fluent in Martian.

International news

No longer a nuke threat? Really, Mr. President?

Donald J. Trump needs to get over himself.

Well, I am aware that he won’t, but I thought I’d say it anyway.

The president has returned to the White House and has declared categorically, without equivocation, that the United States no longer faces a “nuclear threat” from North Korea.

Whoa! Let’s hold on here. Trump and North Korean killer/dictator/despot Kim Jong Un met in Singapore earlier this week. They signed a vague agreement to begin to talk about “denuclearization,” and now the president says the threat from the North is over? It’s gone? Finished? We can live in peace and harmony?

Pardon my skepticism, but I believe the president has gotten way ahead of his own dog-and-pony show.

I agree with many observers that Trump gave away far more than he got from Kim during their meeting in Singapore. The president ended joint military exercises — aka “war games” — with South Korea, which is precisely what Kim had demanded. The two leaders apparently said next to nothing about human rights atrocities that occur daily in North Korea. Then Kim said Trump promised to end economic sanctions against North Korea.

The two met with virtually no preconditions. Remember how Republicans — and, yes, Democrats — excoriated Barack Obama for suggesting he might do that? Now it’s OK. No sweat.

The president hasn’t removed any threat of nuclear war with North Korea, despite his boasting and bellowing.

He won’t control his impulse for self-aggrandizement. It falls on the many of his constituents to seek to lend some perspective to all the bellicosity.

International news

Are we witnessing a classic liar’s contest?

Donald J. Trump is known rather colloquially here in the States as the “Liar in Chief.”

I have no idea what they call Kim Jong Un in his country, North Korea. Certainly nothing out loud, given the junior despot’s propensity for offing those who speak — or even think — ill of him.

This much apparently has been established about Kim: He’s a liar. Maybe he’s even more adept at lying than Donald Trump, not that the president is any good at lying.

Kim has made plenty of promises. And broken them. That makes him a liar. He comes from good lying stock, given what his father — Kim Jong Il — promised in 1994: He’d get rid of nuclear weapons; the elder Kim didn’t do what he said he would do.

As for Trump, well, his lying has become legendary: He said he tracked down evidence that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and not in Hawaii; he did nothing of the kind. He said he witnessed “thousands of Muslims” cheering the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11; he lied there. Trump said President Obama ordered the bugging of his campaign offices in Trump Tower; another lie.

He lies constantly. The question now becomes whether he knows he’s lying, whether he thinks he’s telling the truth or whether he knows that we know he’s lying, but doesn’t give a damn.

Trump and Kim have looked each other in the eye. Trump made more promises than Kim did, or so it appears. How does Kim believe the president who I am sure he knows is the pathological liar he has proven to be? For that matter, how does Trump trust Kim to keep his own word, given that he no doubt knows about Kim’s behavior?

I am fond of referring to a “liar’s contest” involving two men who are prone to telling tall tales.

Something tells me this newfound Donald Trump/Kim Jong Un “friendship” is built on a body of lies.

entertainment news

DeNiro sinks to Trump’s level

They’re still chattering a bit about Robert DeNiro’s weird outburst against Donald John Trump.

DeNiro, the Oscar-winning actor, took the stage at the Tony Awards and then bellowed “f*** Trump!” He drew huge cheers, including a standing ovation from the crowd jammed into the theater.

No surprise there, right?

I have been stewing about it since Sunday night. Here’s my conclusion.

DeNiro sank to Donald J. Trump’s level of insult. At a time when we need to lift up the quality of discourse, we had an actor — and a noted one at that — decide to drop an f-bomb on national TV.

We need some nobility in our political discussion. We don’t need to answer Donald Trump’s frequently juvenile, puerile insults with profane rants. It lends not a single constructive element to anything other than to rouse cheers, hoots and hollering.

International news

Did POTUS give away the store to Kim?

Honest to goodness, I want to give Donald Trump props for meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and possibly start laying down the building blocks for a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

However, I gave some thought en route from Amarillo to Fairview about what transpired this week.

I am wondering plenty at this moment about what the president has given away.

  • Donald Trump has called this killer, despot and tyrant an “honorable” man. He has said his people “love” him. The president who once called Kim “Little Rocket Man” has now become his newest BFF.
  • Then he decided to end joint military exercises with South Korea. Did the president consult with, oh, South Korea? Or with his own defense secretary, James “Mad Dog” Mattis? Or the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Oh, no. Trump did it on his own. Hey, he’s commander in chief, so I guess he is entitled to do whatever the hell he wants. How do you suppose Kim Jong Un responded to that idea? He well might have jumped straight into the air, high-fiving his top aides; he got what he has demanded all along!
  • And did the president raise any issue about human rights, which do not exist in North Korea? Kim is starving his people. He is imprisoning them for no good reason. He orders the deaths of foes. Kim’s goons capture tourist and charge them with bogus allegations. Did the negotiator in chief bring any of this up with Little Rocket Man? I do not believe he did.

So, where do we stand?

Trump and Kim have signed a vague two-page letter committing to negotiate an end to nuclear weapons in North Korea. No promise that the North Koreans will actually get rid of them, just a vow to talk about it.

I’m still hoping to cheer the president. I still want him to succeed for the benefit of the country. I still await some sign that Donald Trump knows what he is doing.

I am afraid I must withhold the cheers.

International news

It’s only a beginning, however …

Well, so far so good. Maybe. Possibly. We can hold our breath now.

Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un — the leaders of two enemy nations — have met, shaken hands and have signed an agreement that commits North Korea to reaching a peace agreement on the Korean Peninsula.

That means eventual “denuclearization.” It means an end to “war games” with U.S. and South Korean forces practicing ways they can fend off a potential attack from the North; the president called the exercises “provocative.”

Where in the name of world peace to we go from here?

Perhaps the bigger question is whether we can trust the North Korean dictator — who’s killed dissenters by the thousands and ordered the murder of members of his own family — to keep his word.

The president, in an extraordinary — and frankly, incredulous — about-face, has called Kim an “honorable” man. He said his people “love” him. Really, Mr. President? They love this guy?

President Reagan used to invoke a Russian saying that translated loosely means “trust, but verify.” I am waiting for signs that our side has instituted any verification mechanisms to validate the pledges that Kim has made to Donald Trump.

Maybe they’re in there, somewhere, hidden from public view.

Then again, maybe the president of the United States has been taken for a ride.

Still, this first-ever meeting between a U.S. president and a North Korean despot holds enormous promise.

Or … it might all explode.

Now we wait.