Monthly Archives: May 2019

religious news

‘Church/state separation’ surely is included in the Constitution

While the president of the United States renews his boast about how he has brought “Merry Christmas” back into fashion during the holy holiday, I am reminded yet again of a phony argument that many on the far right continue to use about what the U.S. Constitution says about religion.

A former colleague of mine at the Amarillo Globe-News was fond of saying how the Constitution does not contain the words “separation of church and state.” His argument, preposterous as it sounds, was that if the Constitution doesn’t state it declaratively then such “separation” does not exist.

I sought on more than one occasion to counsel him that the Constitution does not need to make an overt statement to stand on a principle.

The First Amendment says that Congress “shall make no law” that establishes a state religion. Right there, in plain English, is the separation of church and state argument.

I mention it because Donald Trump continues to extol the virtues of Christian belief in a nation comprising people of many religious faiths. It’s laughable that this president, given his sickening personal history, would even venture into that briar patch . . . but he does.

He told the nation just the other day that since he became president, people are saying “God” in public again, as if they ever stopped saying the word. Then he talked yet again about how business owners are instructing employees to wish customers “Merry Christmas” during the holiday season. That, by golly, is the way it should be, according to the president.

I need to remind those who read this blog who might be disposed to side with Trump on this matter that the Constitution is as clear as it can possibly be on the matter of religion.

The government does not require people to worship any deity. None. It declares that the absence of a state religion means that citizens are free to worship as they wish — or not worship at all, if that is their choice.

Church/state separation is a reality in our nation’s governing document. On that score — and, yes, they missed the mark on a few matters in the creation of this great nation — the founders got it exactly right.

national news

Trump tempts political fate by ordering witnesses to stay silent

I just have to ask: Is Donald Trump committing an act of potential political suicide by refusing to allow witnesses from his administration to testify before congressional committees?

Another president, Richard Nixon, sought to play the same card in 1974. It cost him bigly. President Nixon told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino he would get nothing more from the administration regarding the Watergate matter.

Rodino wouldn’t accept that. He was able to force the president to turn over pertinent material related to the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in June 1972. The rest, as they say, is history. The Judiciary panel approved articles of impeachment and then the president resigned.

Forty-five years later, Donald Trump is seeking to play the same hand. He is telling the current House Judiciary chairman, Jerrold Nadler, that he will withhold information from that panel as it seeks to uncover the truth into allegations of obstruction of justice into the Russia matter that’s been in all the papers of late.

Nadler doesn’t strike me as being any more likely to cave in to this president’s demands than Rodino was in 1974 when Richard Nixon tried to bully him.

I among those Americans who does not favor impeaching Trump. I want the House and the Senate to do their work. Special counsel Robert Mueller appears headed to Capitol Hill eventually to talk to both legislative chambers.

I want Mueller to state on the record whether he believes Trump committed a crime, whether he obstructed justice. If he won’t say it, well, we need to accept what we won’t get. Then again, if he says that president did commit a crime of obstruction, but that Mueller just couldn’t commit to issuing a criminal complaint, well . . . then we have a ballgame.

Richard Nixon’s stonewalling ended badly for his presidency in 1974. Donald Trump’s reprise of that strategy well could doom his own presidency.

religious news

God should not become a political tool, Mr. POTUS

Mr. President, I am having trouble understanding your relationship with the Almighty.

You invoke God in public speeches. You mention him by name. I heard you interpret a portion of God’s holy word at the National Day of Prayer event at the White House.

I hear all this stuff, Mr. President, but then I keep wondering: Does he really mean it?

It’s difficult for me to question anyone’s faith, Mr. President. It’s such a deeply personal matter. Whether you’re a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist, how we worship should be of no on else’s concern. Isn’t that what “religious liberty” is all about? Well, I think it is . . . but that’s just me, I reckon.

Here’s the deal, Mr. President, about why I wonder about your religious sincerity. You keep mentioning your own political ambition in light of these holy matters. You did it again at the White House this week.

I heard you say that the word “God” was rarely spoken in public before you took office, which I thought was a silly assertion. You made that goofy campaign promise in 2016 to ensure that business owners ordered their employees to wish customers a “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holiday” when they purchased items at Christmas time. No president can force anyone to do such a thing. Yet that was what I heard you imply.

I have to wonder, too, about one of the Ten Commandments and whether you violate it when you insert yourself into discussions about God. The Third Commandment instructs us — according to my New Living Translation of the Bible: “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” 

One of the many fascinating aspects of the Bible is how one can interpret its meaning. I take that passage to mean, Mr. President, that it is wrong to reap personal or political gain from the use of the Lord’s name.

Hey, it’s just my reading of the Bible, a book I’ve been reading since I was a little kid.

Thus, I run into this sincerity question whenever I hear these references come from you.

I will attach this link to this blog post, Mr. President. It speaks to the kind of questions I believe surface in the minds of many Americans when they hear you say such things.

Here it is.

Tread carefully, Mr. President. The Good Lord is watching. He knows every single thing about every one of us.

International news

What happened to the Trump-Kim bromance?

Kim Jong Un must have jilted Donald J. Trump.

The two leaders had exchanged warm greetings. Trump called the North Korean tyrant/despot/dictator/murderer a “sharp cookie” and a “strong leader.” I’m not sure what bouquets Kim tossed at the U.S. president in return.

Then the president made some sort of goofy assertion that he and Kim are “in love.”

Now comes word that the North Koreans have launched short-range missiles into the sea. They’re testing their hardware yet again. Oh, and other reports indicate that the North Koreans are stepping up their development of nuclear weapons, despite guarantees from Trump that they were “denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.”

This is what you get when you throw in with a Marxist tyrant, seeming to believe his vacuous promises.

Trump should have taken the posture of being unable to trust Kim Jong Un as far as he could toss his overfed torso. He hasn’t done so.

He “likes” the lunatic who starves his people while pouring money he doesn’t have into building a military arsenal he threatens to use against South Korea or anyone else who stands in his way.

Ah, but Donald Trump is “making America great again.”

Yep, that’ll do it, Mr. President.

national news

Stop the ‘what about-ism’ with election interference

I totally understand that the Russian attack on our electoral system during the 2016 presidential election occurred during President Obama’s administration.

I’ve noted as much in this blog.

That all said, I am growing weary of Donald Trump’s team reminding us of that while suggesting that the current president is taking steps to ensure that it won’t happen again.

Fiddlesticks!

It’s not happening. FBI director Christopher Wray has reminded us that the Russians conducted a comprehensive attack on our system in 2016; they doubled down in 2018; and they are now preparing to engage in what Wray called “the big show,” which is the 2020 presidential election.

The Trump administration needs to demonstrate graphically that it is in fact taking measures to ensure that the Russians will not do once again what they have done in our nation’s most two most recent election cycles.

White House press secretary — and serial liar — Sarah Huckabee Sanders told us yet again that the Obama administration is the real villain here.

No! She’s got it wrong! Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that Vladimir Putin is the No. 1 bad guy betrays the president’s lack of commitment to protecting the nation’s election system against a foreign hostile power.

national news

Planning to keep hammering until the end

Critics of High Plains Blogger ask me on occasion why I keep criticizing Donald Trump. They think I “hate” him. They accuse me of suffering from something called Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Some of them even have challenged me to stop criticizing him.

I’ll deal with that final item with this brief response.

No. I will not stop. I won’t stop calling this individual what I believe he is until he steps out of the Oval Office for the final time. Whether it’s after his current term or after a second term (please, no!), or whether it occurs at some point between those dates, I’ll keep harping on what I have long believed about this president.

Such as . . .

He is unfit for the office. His entire professional life has been geared toward self-enrichment. Trump has no moral compass. The president demands loyalty from his subordinates, but gives none of it in return. He lacks empathy. Trump has no understanding of history. The president lacks any understanding of his office, or the government, or the Constitution that was crafted to create that government. Donald Trump has no sense of decency, decorum, dignity.

I cannot sit quietly and watch this man seek to dismantle the infrastructure on which this government stands.

So, to my critics I want merely to advise them: I intend to keep speaking out against this president at any opportunity that presents itself. I will do so even if I have to look for those opportunities.

I want him removed from the Oval Office.

International news

Uh, Mr. POTUS, the Russia probe was no ‘hoax’

Donald Trump and his BFF, Vladimir Putin, reportedly chatted this week by telephone.

The U.S. and Russian presidents talked about a lot of matters, according to Trump, but they didn’t discuss the one issue that looms like a colossus over both of them.

It’s that matter of Russian interference/attack on our electoral system in 2016.

Oh, but then Trump said he referred to the investigation into that issue “the Russian hoax.” Trump still seems to ignore what every single high-ranking U.S. intelligence official has said out loud: The Russian attacked our electoral system.

Robert Mueller, the special counsel who looked into allegations of “collusion” and possible obstruction of justice, was the latest of them to say the same thing. He said the Russian attack was “sweeping and systematic.”

Trump isn’t buying it. He calls it all a “hoax.” The attack itself. The investigation into it. The impact it likely had on the result of the 2016 election. None of it happened, Trump appears to say.

Yep, he buys instead into Vladimir Putin’s alleged denial that he did anything untoward during the election.

I’m not altogether certain why I keep saying what is so patently obvious to everyone, but I’ll keep saying it. The Russians are bad actors. They are not our friends. They won’t be our friends as long as they governed by a former KGB spy whose job was built on lies and deception.

Yet the president said yet again after chatting with Putin that being “friends” with Russia is a good thing. Sure it is. Only if Putin is out of the picture. That, of course, won’t happen.

The Russians attacked us. It is the farthest thing possible from a “hoax.” Robert Mueller’s investigation sought to determine whether there was a conspiracy to collude with Russians who launched that attack. The investigation was no “hoax,” either.

It was done by a highly credible, dedicated, and heroic public servant. Robert Mueller deserves praise — not condemnation — from the president of the United States.

Trump and Putin deserve each other. This nation, the one Donald Trump supposedly leads, deserve far better than it is getting from its president.

local news

POWs helped build this N. Texas community

Note: I wrote this item for KETR-FM based at Texas A&M-Commerce. I want to share it on High Plains Blogger.

Who knew that German soldiers who fought against our guys during World War II would play a part in building a North Texas community?

Not me, certainly. At least until recently.

I followed some signs the other day in Princeton pointing me toward a World War II POW camp. About three left turns later, I found myself pulling into a city park that is still under development, with an estimated completion date of July 2019.

All I found was a Texas Historical Commission marker noting the existence of the POW camp that actually functioned as such from February 1945 until the end of World War II in August 1945.

Prior to taking prisoners of war from European battlefields, the site is described as a “migrant” camp established in 1941 with the help of the great Sam Rayburn, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives who hailed from nearby Bonham in Fannin County.

It fascinates me to realize that German prisoners of war – men who had been captured trying to kill Americans – actually were put to work on North Texas farms and in Princeton itself. According to the historical marker inscription: “While here, the German soldiers worked on Princeton area farms, providing valuable labor assistance. For many years following the prisoners’ release in 1946, the site again served as a camp for migrant workers.”

There’s a certain poetic irony in the work the Nazi soldiers did on our area farms. Why? The North Texas agriculture community’s ranks of able-bodied men had been depleted because those sons of farming and ranching families answered the call to fight in defense of their way of life against, oh, Germans, Italians and Japanese.

That’s not where the poet aspect of this historic episode ends, however.

Again, according to the Historical Commission plaque: “Not only did the prisoners work in the field, but they also did stonemasonry work in downtown Princeton. Others helped construct a park in Princeton built in memory of the men who served in the armed forces during WWII and a shrine to perpetuate the memory of those who lost their lives in the war.”

Ponder that for a moment. I do not know whether the German POWs knew in the moment that they were would build a park memorializing Americans who were sent to Europe to save the world from the tyrants who sent them to war against us.

I am going to presume that they had to know something was afoot when they went to work in Princeton.

Can it possibly get any more poetic than that?

national news

Barr has become a big disappointment … dang it!

William Barr came into office as U.S. attorney general bringing a glimmer of hope — even among some of the nation’s most vigorous foes of Donald Trump, the man who nominated him to be the AG.

I was one of those who had hope that Barr would be a grownup, that he would conduct himself with professional impartiality, taking seriously the oath to which he swore to be our attorney general, not be an a**-coverer for the president of the United States.

The AG has let me down.

Hard, man!

His testimony this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee was an exercise in obfuscation and evasion. Then he did something even worse: He refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee and answer questions from that panel’s team of legal eagles.

I don’t know what I was thinking, now that I look back on what happened prior to Barr’s nomination.

Trump fired Jeff Sessions as AG because Sessions refused to act as a Trump sycophant; that’s why he recused himself from the Russia investigation. He couldn’t under Justice Department rules take part in an investigation into an activity in which he was a principal player. Sessions served on Trump’s campaign team, then on his transition team, which the DOJ was probing with regard to allegations of collusion and other potential misdeeds.

So he walked away, handed the matter over to his No. 2 at DOJ, Rod Rosenstein, who then appointed Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel. All of that enraged Trump, as we have since learned.

Now he has installed his “boy” at DOJ, William Barr.

Barr’s record as attorney general near the end of President George H.W. Bush’s term suggested to me that he would be the right man for the country, not necessarily for the president.

Silly me. It turns out he is the right man for Trump and he is wrong for the country.

I wanted to feel good about Barr. Sadly, he has let me down.

Dammit, anyway!

economic news

Jobs report looks stellar; now, hands off the Fed, Mr. POTUS

Donald Trump has reason to smile this morning.

The U.S. Labor Department reports that the private sector added 263,000 jobs in April; the unemployment rate fell to a 49-year low of 3.6 percent.

This is the same Labor Department that Trump once disparaged as cooking the books when Barack Obama was president, when the Obama administration was presiding over similarly stellar job increases monthly.

The other guy’s success was a fabrication, said Trump. Not now. It’s all real now that Trump is in the saddle.

Hey, that’s all fine. He was wrong then to criticize the Labor figures when President Obama was in office. He is right now to hail them. It’s good news, Mr. President. Just say how much you appreciate everyone’s hard work and get on with “making America great again.”

One more thing, Mr. President. You should stop monkeying around with trying to seat lackeys and sycophants on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Stop trying to coerce Fed Chairman Jerome Powell into doing your bidding. The Fed is an independent agency charged with helping managing the economy.

The job figures indicate to me that the Fed is doing a damn good job.

Leave the Fed alone, Mr. President!