Monthly Archives: April 2019

Donald Trump

Too early to call Trump worst POTUS in history?

Is it fair to ask whether Donald John Trump Sr. can be judged the worst president in U.S. history?

Events of just the past few days suggest he is making a run at being called The Worst Ever.

He cannot make up his mind. For instance, just in the past couple of days, the president:

  • Has declared his intention to push for immediate repeal of the Affordable Care Act and then has changed his mind, saying he intends to wait until after the next presidential election.
  • Ā Vowed to shut down the U.S. border with Mexico and then decided to back off, citing Mexico’s efforts to stem the tide of migrants coming through that country en route to this country.

That’s just two matters. They are so illustrative of the way this man governs. He issues policy pronouncements via Twitter, bypassing “the best people” he vowed to hire. He confounds allies, key aides, senators and House members, Cabinet officers, everyone.

He has made a hash of our international alliances.

Trump has burned through multiple Cabinet members in just the first half of his four-year term. He cannot fill critical posts.

The president trashes Americans who live in a severely damaged U.S. territory, Puerto Rico.

And then . . .

We have this Russia stuff. He cozies up to the Russian dictator and refuses to acknowledge that the dictator’s government has interfered in our electoral system.

He hails the exploits of dictators, disparages the work of U.S. intelligence officials. Trump vows that he “likes” a North Korean tyrant who starves his people.

My goodness, I have just scratched the surface.

The nation has elected a bunch of doozies during its 200-plus years of existence. James Buchanan is generally regarded as the worst president in history. My money, though, goes to William Henry Harrison, who caught pneumonia in Inauguration Day, 1841, was bed-ridden for a month and then died.

Donald Trump, through his series of unbelievable and astonishing missteps, gaffes, broken promises, insults and feuds is mounting a serious bid to become the worst U.S. president in history.

Stand tall, Mr. President.

education news, local news

Casting my gaze over my shoulder

I love my life in my new home. There’s much to explore about Collin County, the rest of North Texas, the Metroplex. The growth all around our home is astonishing.

However, I remain committed to casting my gaze backward, perhaps for beyond the foreseeable future. I know that might seem counterintuitive, looking backward as we move forward.

However, the community my wife and I departed in 2018 has some issues that are boiling. Two of them stand out:

  • Downtown Amarillo is moving into a new existence, with a new energy and a new purpose. I want to keep my eye on how that progresses. I have high hope that the city’s future is looking brighter week by week.
  • The Amarillo Independent School District is facing some potentially critical policy debates over the short and perhaps the medium terms. The board of trustees is suffering a lack of community confidence. It has fumbled — in my view — in its handling of the resignation of a high school girls volleyball coach and the alleged misconduct by one of the elected trustees.

I am in touch with Amarillo ISD residents who are intent on getting to the bottom of matters. I intend to stay in touch with them and I intend to keep talking about those issues on this blog. I want the Amarillo ISD to resolve these problems constructively and permanently.

But I have to tell you that based on what I am hearing, there well might be some more AISD issues to tackle than what I’ve laid out with this brief blog post.

I also intend to get more involved with the community where my wife and I — along with our precious puppy, Toby — have settled. Princeton is a community on the move. My still-developing relationship with KETR-FM public radio will allow me a chance to get more deeply acquainted with the individuals and groups who are calling the shots in Collin County and throughout KETR’s listening area.

So . . . retirement has brought some new challenges my way. They involve getting involved with our new surroundings.

And keeping tabs on the community we recently departed, but did not leave behind.

national news

Mr. POTUS, if there’s nothing to hide, then let us see the report

I cannot understand in the least the president’s resistance to releasing special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to the public.

Donald Trump says there’s “no collusion, no obstruction.” There’s “nothing there,” he says. There’s no there . . . there.

But then in the very next breath he said today that Democrats’ insistence on seeing the full report is a “disgrace.” He doesn’t want the report released, or so it now appears. He is bristling at House Judiciary Committee members’ scheduled vote Wednesday to force the release of the full Mueller report into alleged “collusion” with the Russians.

If there’s nothing in it, Mr. President, then just let Attorney General William Barr release the full report and let Americans — such as me and millions of others of us — determine for ourselves whether what you say is the truth.

national news

No collusion? OK, but let’s probe obstruction

I accept fully Donald Trump’s assertion that special counsel Robert Mueller has found “no collusion” between the president’s campaign and Russian government officials who hacked into our electoral system in 2016.

So let’s put that one away. It’s gone. Done. Finished . . . more than likely.

However,Ā  we do not yet know squat about the other Big One: obstruction of justice.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr is going to release some version of Mueller’s findings to the public, perhaps in just a few days. The AG has told us already that Mueller has found no credible evidence that the president obstructed justice, but did not “exonerate” him.

Barr has Mueller’s full report locked away somewhere in the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building. He’s gone through it, or is going through it. He said he will release as much of it as allowed by law. I hope it’s much more than he intends to hide from us.

Somewhere in those nearly 400 pages will be information that will tell us how Mueller reached his conclusion. There also might be information that tells us that Donald Trump is an immoral, corrupt, lying individual who is unfit for the presidency . . . but that he didn’t commit any crimes, that he did not conspire to obstruct justice.

We need to see all that we are allowed to see. I am alarmed at the AG’s growing list of topics he intends to redact.

None of us needs to see classified information. Nor do we need to see direct grand jury testimony. The rest of it ought to be fair game.

Americans need to know whether the president is as corrupt and venal as many millions of us already believe him to be.

military news

Many thanks for the remembrance

A national day of remembrance came and went and it got by me until it was all gone.

Still, I find it necessary to offer a word of thanks for it.

Yep, it was a long time coming, but I’m glad it’s here.

I’m talking about the National Vietnam War Veterans Day, which is celebrated on March 29 annually. It’s not a longstanding tradition. It was enacted initially in 2017 after a group of Vietnam War vets presented Donald Trump, the president-elect, with a request to set aside the day to remember those of us who answered the call to duty during a terribly conflicted time in our national history.

Our combat exposure during the Vietnam War ended in January 1973. We turned the fight over to the South Vietnamese. However, on April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, crashed through the gates of the presidential palace and accepted the surrender of the South Vietnamese government. They renamed the city after Ho Chi Minh.

However, the American involvement was hardly a source of pride for those back in the United States of America. Oh, no. Those of us who went to war weren’t treated the way we treat today’s veterans. We got blamed (and I use the term “we” in a sort of inclusive way, as I did not suffer this particular indignity) for following lawful orders. Americans blamed the warriors for the policies they were ordered to follow by their military high command, who received them from presidential administrations dating back to the early 1960s.

I landed in Bien Hoa, South Vietnam 50 years ago this past month. I spent a bit of time in-country, assigned initially as a mechanic with an OV-1 Mohawk surveillance aircraft company at Marble Mountain, Da Nang; I then was sent on “temporary duty” to the I Corps Tactical Ops Center in the city to scramble aircraft missions and to manage a helipad.

I didn’t fire my weapon in anger at the enemy, although I — like all of us — had to scurry into bunkers when the mortar shells went “boom” outside.

I was well aware of the hostility being heaped on my brethren when they got home.Ā That went on for some time.

The Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 changed all of that. We actually won that brief battle in Kuwait. The nation was relieved and it showered the returning warriors with the affection and respect they deserved. Vietnam veterans generally didn’t receive it when they returned home.

But that was then. The United States of America has grown up since that time. We’ve learned, I hope, to deal better with adversity on the battlefield.

National Vietnam War Veterans Day appears to be an attempt to reconcile some past mistreatment of individuals who did what they were ordered to do and who did not deserve the scorn they received when they came home.

Hey, I harbor no hard feelings. I am just glad to receive a bit of recognition — along with many others who contributed far more to that effort than I ever did.

To the rest of my Vietnam War colleagues, I simply want to offer them a greeting a lot of us never got in the moment.

Welcome home.

national news

No, Mr. POTUS: Mueller hasn’t ‘disappeared’

1 Comment

“Robert Mueller was a God-like figure to the Democrats, until he ruled No Collusion in the long awaited $30,000,000 Mueller Report. Now the Dems don’t even acknowledge his name, have become totally unhinged, and would like to through the whole process again. It won’t happen!”

OK, Mr. President. Let’s chill out for a moment.

This Twitter message you fired off this morning is, shall we say, another lie. But that’s not news, given that you lie whenever your lips move.

I lean toward the Democrats. I have been more than willing to mention Robert Mueller’s name whenever possible. I happen to think much more of him than I do of you.

I also have declared my intention to accept whatever findings Mueller would reach as it regarded allegations of collusion. He has ruled that you and your 2016 presidential campaign didn’t conspire to collude with Russians who attacked our election system.

But he surely has recognized that the Russkies did it. He joins your national security team — which you continue to disparage — in saying that Vladimir Putin’s government sought to influence the election outcome. Putin wanted you elected over Hillary Clinton. He got his wish.

As for Mueller, I must remind you that he made no conclusion about obstruction of justice. At least that is what Attorney General William Barr told us.

You also ought to avoid the “unhinged” talk, Mr. President. If anyone has spiraled out of control over the past couple of years, it’s you.

How about shutting your trap until we see the entire report that Mueller plopped on AG Barr’s lap?

I don’t know why I bother mentioning this to you, given that you have zero shame, zero self-awareness, zero character, zero redeeming qualities that commend you for the office you currently occupy.

I just can’t help myself.

national news

Security clearance plot thickens

So now the plot continues to thicken inside the White House.

A longtime White House staffer who works on issuing security clearances for key administration personnel has told congressional investigators that the Trump administration has issued top-secret clearances to individuals who had been denied them for a variety of reasons.

Tricia Newbold has worked under four administrations, Democrat and Republican, dating back to 2000. She said the Trump White House has been amazingly lax in its security-clearance procedures. Imagine that, will ya? Who knew?

As the New York Times has reported:

Described as both ā€œno nonsenseā€ and ā€œintenseā€ by people who have interacted with her during the clearance process, Ms. Newbold has served under four presidential administrations, beginning with the Clinton White House in 2000. Eventually she worked her way up to adjudications manager, a job that required her to help make determinations about the security clearances of administration employees. Her office is filled with holdovers from other administrations, and it is meant to be nonpartisan.

Yet in the Trump administration the office was filled with people who had little experience in vetting employees in the interest of national security, Ms. Newbold said in a nine-hour deposition with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform last week.

I keep thinking of presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, garnering clearances even though neither of them had a lick of national security experience prior to Daddy Trump becoming president of the United States.

The president denied running interference for either of them. Others have reported, though, that he most certainly did.

Again, from the NY Times:

John F. Kelly, the president’s former chief of staff, wrote in a contemporaneous internal memo about how he had been “ordered” to give Mr. Kusher the top-secret clearance. In her interviews with the House committee, Ms. Newbold said that Mr. Kelly and Joe Hagin, the former deputy chief of staff, had been attentive to the national security issues she had tried to raise.

Gosh, do you think there might be a national security risk being presented inside the White House’s West Wing?

I do. It frightens me.

medical news

ACA repeal effort pushed back . . . to what end?

1 Comment

Donald Trump thinks of himself as a master political strategist, the consummate dealmaker, the toughest guy on the block.

Of course, he is none of that.

He is the president of the United States, who also keeps changing strategies, his mind, his goals. He confuses me to no end.

Now he says he wants Congress to withhold plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act until after the 2020 presidential election. This comes after he declared — with the most conviction he could muster — that he wanted it done now. He didn’t have a replacement plan, but he damn sure did promise that the Republican Party would become the “party of health care.” Yep. That’s what he said.

How will that occur? That’s a mystery. To Trump. To congressional Republicans. To the White House staff. To the Department of Health and Human Services.

The strategy du jour is to wait until after the election next year. Trump says the GOP will retake the House of Representatives, strengthen its control of the Senate and, let’s not forget, re-elect him as POTUS.

There you have it. Trump predicts that the GOP will regain total control of two of three co-equal government branches.

But wait! They had that control before. They couldn’t repeal the ACA, let alone come up with a suitable replacement. Why do you suppose that happened?

I think it’s because the ACA has become more popular with Americans, the folks who are the actual “bosses.” It ain’t Congress and it certainly isn’t the White House.

Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing.

national news

Biden’s actions do not constitute sexual assault/harassment

I’ve been thinking a good bit about the allegations concerning former Vice President Joe Biden’s “inappropriate” kissing and hugging of women.

My initial thought that the allegations could — perhaps should — doom Biden’s expected bid for the presidency in 2020. Now I’m not so sure.

A Nevada politician told New York magazine about an event that occurred in 2014 where Biden kissed her on the back of her head and put his hands on her shoulder. She felt uncomfortable. She said it was not appropriate behavior.

A second woman has made a similar accusation. Then we have seen the viral photo of the ex-VP whispering into the ear of then-Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s wife.

Does any of this rise to the level of (mis)behavior that Donald Trump has admitted doing? Not by a long shot!

I do not disbelieve the accusations that have come forth. I believe they happened, even though Biden says he doesn’t “recall” the first incident I mentioned here.

He will need to explain himself. Yes, we have entered a new age. Women are standing up to men who actually do abuse them, assault them, harass them.

I just don’t believe Joe Biden’s behavior fits any of those descriptions.

State news

Texas might be a battleground? One can hope

Beto O’Rourke’s near-electoral miss in November 2018 has managed to turn Texas from a reliably red, staunchly Republican state into a potential battleground state in the 2020 presidential election.

Maybe . . . that is.

O’Rourke is now running for president of the United States. He damn near was elected to the U.S. Senate this past year. He came within 2 percentage points short of beating Ted Cruz. His close finish energized a once-moribund Texas Democratic Party.

So he decided to parlay that enthusiasm into a national bid.

Now, does his presence amid a gigantic — and still growing — field of Democratic presidential contenders automatically convert Texas into a battleground? Of course not.

He is going to campaign like all hell for Texas convention delegates. If he somehow manages to become the party’s presidential nominee –or even end up on the Democratic ticket as a VP nominee — then the state becomes the site of pitched battle between the two parties.

This is a dream come true for many of us. Me included.

I long have wanted Texas to become a two-party state. Even when Democrats controlled every public office in sight. It shifted dramatically over the past three decades. The GOP has control of every statewide office.

Presidential candidates haven’t given us the time of day. Why bother? The state’s electoral votes are going to the Republicans. So, the GOP has taken us for granted; Democrats have given up on us.

Beto O’Rourke well might have changed all that.

So, we might be in store for a barrage, a torrent, a tidal wave of political ads as we enter the summer and fall of 2020.

Forgive me for saying this, but I would welcome it.