Monthly Archives: June 2019

national news

Trump turning Fourth of July event on its ear

What in the name of Fourth of July tradition is Donald J. Trump doing to this year’s Fourth of July celebration?

Every Independence Day since, oh, perhaps The Flood, the nation’s capital has conducted a celebration aimed at inviting the public to cheer the birth of the United States of America.

It has been free of politics and, more importantly, of politicians. Spectators listen to music, poetry delivered by celebrities and, of course, fireworks. They cheer and shout and celebrate the nation we all love.

This year? Well, the president of the United States is going to take center stage. He will offer a “Salute to America” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. What’s more, there will be limited seating reserved only for reserved guests pre-approved by the White House; they will be seated from the Lincoln Memorial to halfway along the Washington Mall. The fireworks launch site has moved from The Mall to the Tidal Basin; vision will be partially obscured.

Perhaps the most unseemly aspect of all this will be the presence of the president. Tradition has kept presidents away because of security concerns. Not this year. Donald Trump was so smitten by a Bastille Day event he witnessed in Paris that he wanted to replicate it here. It’s the opening remarks that hold the greatest potential for this president saying something so totally inappropriate that has many of us cringing at the thought.

Do you think it is at all possible that Donald Trump would turn that opening event into a political campaign speech touting his re-election? Well, I do believe it is possible … if not probable that he would do that very thing.

I am willing to be proven wrong. If he delivers the kind of speech the Lincoln Memorial steps, then I will be glad to offer props for the president. I fear, though, that something quite inappropriate might be in store for us on the day we are supposed to celebrating the nation, not the individual who resides in the White House.

Prove me wrong, Mr. President.

International news

Powerful symbolism at DMZ

The event that occurred today at the so-called “demilitarized zone” that separates South and North Korea won’t matter substantively.

The symbolism — and its complete context — constitutes something potentially remarkable.

Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the world’s most reclusive nation. He walked across the DMZ into North Korea to shake hands with one of his BFFs, North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un.

On the one hand, the president’s brief foray into no man’s land deserves praise. The very idea of an incumbent president stepping onto the soil of a nation with which we still are technically at war is astonishing on its face.

What’s more, consider this: The president is a Republican, a member of a party that historically has been openly harsh and intolerant of policies espoused by diehard communists; indeed, Kim Jong Un is a Marxist to the core.

I am shaking my head.

The complete context of this weird relationship, though, inhibits full-throated praise of Trump’s tip-toeing into North Korea. Kim Jong Un is among the most despicable of world leaders. His people are starving, yet he continues to promote massive military buildups. He threatens South Korea, Japan and the United States.

How in the world can the president continue to heap praise on this individual? How in the name of diplomatic norms can this individual keep referring to the “beautiful letters” he get from Kim Jong Un?

Trump’s foray into North Korea made great optics. He didn’t get anything from it. The United States is not safer today from the blustering and bloviating that comes from Pyongyang.

Still, it was an astounding event.

business news, entertainment news, local news

Irony continues to provide a bit of sting

There might be a reader or two of this blog who will presume this brief post is an assault on a young woman who once lived in Amarillo, Texas.

It isn’t. Please accept the notion that I intend only to reiterate an astonishing irony.

Meghan Riddlespurger once was the front woman for what she called the “Amarillo Millennial Movement.” She fought for the voter approval of a proposed downtown Amarillo sports/entertainment venue. Her primary motivation, she said at the time, was to entice “millennials” to remain in Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle after they finished their education. She wanted them to stay at home and to enjoy the fruits of the entertainment offerings that the venue would provide.

She posted this message overnight on Facebook: When you build it, they’ll come. Please support your walkable downtown development efforts and give your heart to municipal efforts because this is where a difference can be made. Just a few years ago, people said none of this could happen. And then it did. Believe in the most and fight for the best. Your city loves you! Goodnight!

It’s a lovely message. I presume Meghan returned to Amarillo to take in a baseball game at Hodgetown, which is the direct result of her efforts to help rejuvenate her hometown’s downtown district.

But she left the city not long after the November 2015 non-binding referendum victory she had sought. She now lives in Fort Worth, where I presume she is doing well. What about the “walking the walk”?

I harbor no personal animus toward this young woman. I like Meghan Riddlespurger, even though we don’t know each other well. I left the city, too, but I’m an old man who merely comments on local matters through this blog. I wasn’t invested at the level Riddlespurger was invested.

I just find the irony to be so very remarkable.

I do have to say this, though, about the young woman’s effort: It is paying off with the Sod Poodles playing before nice crowds at the ballpark and the city reaping the reward of the effort Meghan and many others put into its downtown redevelopment.

national news

Time to start culling the big Democratic field

It likely won’t happen as soon as some of us would want, but it will happen in due course.

The 25 Democrats running for president of the United States need to begin thinning out. Some of the fringe folks need to call it a campaign, go home and resume doing whatever they were doing before they decided to seek their 15 minutes of notoriety.

Marianne Williamson, John Delaney, Andrew Yang … see ya around. It pains me to say it, but John Hickenlooper needs to go back to Colorado. That’s four of ’em.

More are likely to follow. I’m guessing Tulsi Gabbard is likely to pack it in as well. Eric Swalwell? Buh-bye.

None of these candidates is likely to get any traction based on their first debate performances.

The media and the political experts are focusing on the Main Eventers: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Julian Castro, Beto O’Rourke, Michael Bennet … good heavens, I know I am missing someone; maybe several someones.

Twenty-five is too many candidates, although I will never suggest the also rans shouldn’t have tossed their fedoras into the middle of the ring. The two-part Democratic debate marathon earlier this week did demonstrate how hard it is for all the candidates to be heard, let alone those with next to zero visibility.

If they stay in for a while longer, that’s fine.

The time is fast approaching, though, for the fittest of the bunch to start making their presence felt. The aim of the Democratic Party must include an agenda that involves defeating Donald J. Trump.

Let’s get real. Not all the Democrats running for president are able to do perform that essential task.

media news

Lose the ‘fake news’ gag, Mr. POTUS

It won’t happen. I know that. Donald Trump never will stop throwing around the “fake news” epithet whenever he sees fit.

He did so again the other day in Osaka, Japan, in the presence of his BFF Vladimir Putin, the Russian strongman/tyrant.

Trump sought to yuk it up about “fake news” media outlets in the United States and made some comment to Putin about whether he has the same argument with Russian media that Trump has with the media in the United States.

Putin mumbled something about his difficulty in Russia. Whatever.

What is so maddening is that Trump continues to get away with using the “fake news” insult with impunity.

This individual is the King of Fake News. Indeed, his “news” really is “fake,” not just because the consumers of the news disagree with its conclusions. It’s fake. As in lies. As in falsehoods.

My goodness, the list is longer than Black Friday shopping lines.

You know how it goes. Trump throws out whoppers, his followers buy into them, the media seek to correct him, the president calls the media “fake news” and the Trumpsters keep on cheering.

Trump cannot get enough of this stuff.

He is the King of Fake News. Yet he has stones to tell the media they convey “fake news.” He calls the media the “enemy of the people” while ignoring that the media’s only role is the report — and, when appropriate, comment — on the news of the day.

Donald Trump knows “fake news.” He didn’t invent it. He has just perfected it and turned it into an art form.

national news

Wondering how Trump will transition into a former POTUS

Former President Jimmy Carter’s surprisingly tart assessment of Donald Trump’s “legitimacy” as president has prompted me to start thinking about the future.

I’ll explain in a moment.

Carter said Trump was elected president only because the Russians hacked into our electoral system in 2016 and pushed him across the finish line ahead of Hillary Clinton. He is challenging the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency. Trump, quite naturally, fired back. He called Carter a “failed president” and has dismissed the former president’s assertions about the legitimacy of the 2016 election result.

“Look, he was a nice man. He was a terrible president. He’s a Democrat. And it’s a typical talking point. He’s loyal to the Democrats. And I guess you should be,” Trump told reporters in Japan, where he attended the G20 meeting. “As everybody now understands, I won not because of Russia, not because of anybody but myself.”

Historians are still chronicling Jimmy Carter’s single term as president, from 1977 to 1981. However, the jury has returned a verdict on the 39th president’s time since leaving the White House. It has determined that Carter’s dedication to humanitarian causes, to free and fair elections, to his work with Habitat Humanity, his return to a modest lifestyle and his dedication to biblical teaching has made him arguably the greatest former president in U.S. history.

While the current president fires off tweets and makes preposterous statements about President Carter’s legacy, I am left to wonder: What kind of former president will Donald Trump become?

The good news for all of us is that Trump will not be president forever. He’ll either be gone after the 2020 election or he’ll exit the White House, per the Constitution’s requirement, after the 2024 election. I shudder at the prospect of Trump winning re-election.

It is fair to wonder, though, about several aspects of a Trump post-presidential era.

What will this individual do to further the agenda he has sought to build as president? Is this man capable of dedicating himself to good work, to establishing a foundation that seeks to promote some noble endeavor? Can you imagine him working with poor nations, the places he once referred to as “sh**hole countries” as they seek to rid themselves of violence or repression? Is it within anyone’s realm of imagination to picture Donald Trump throwing himself into inner-city turmoil, working with young people to help guide them to productive lives?

Thus, when I hear Donald Trump denigrate a former president, such as Jimmy Carter, who has become the epitome of character, grace, humility, integrity and dignity I am forced to ponder whether No. 45 is even in the same league as No. 39.

I keep coming up with the same answer.

Hell no!

local news

Is there another AMM in Amarillo’s future?

1 Comment

As I watch Amarillo, Texas, morph into something different from what it has been since the Santa Fe Railroad opened up shop on the Texas Panhandle, I am wondering about who or what will shape the city’s future.

It won’t be me. I have moved away along with my wife and our pooch. We live in the Metroplex these days, but I retain a keen interest in the city we called home for more than two decades.

My curiosity turns to the creation of a one-woman “movement” that sought to win approval of what we used to call the “multipurpose event venue,” or MPEV. You remember it, yes? It was called the Amarillo Millennial Movement.

The AMM made a bit of a splash when it jumped onto the front page of the local newspaper and got some air time on local TV stations.

AMM was the creation of one individual, Meghan Riddlespurger. I was able to shake her hand once, and we got to know each other from some distance.

She had a bit of help from others around town to get a referendum placed on the local ballot. The referendum asked residents if they supported construction of the MPEV. They said “yes.” The City Council then honored the residents’ wishes and proceeded with development of the project.

The MPEV is now called Hodgetown. It is a magnificent ballpark in downtown Amarillo. It is home to the Texas League’s Amarillo Sod Poodles, a minor-league baseball team that is playing before healthy crowds. Hodgetown recently was named the nation’s top AA ballpark; the Sod Poodles were named the best baseball team nickname in America. The city is proceeding toward its future.

Meghan Riddlespurger? She bailed long ago. After the 2015 election, she moved to Fort Worth. The AMM exists no longer.

Might there be an actual “movement” on the city’s horizon that emerges to promote the kind of thing that Riddlespurger espoused, which was to promote Gen-Xers and millennials to stay in Amarillo?

Riddlespurger had a noble goal. I am dismayed that she decided against following her own campaign theme. It was perhaps the height of irony that she would form this “movement,” talk up the virtue of staying put and helping Amarillo reap the reward … only to, um, head for a big city far away.

Whatever the case, Amarillo is moving ahead. That’s a good thing for the city and for those who are staying put.

Given that my hope springs eternal, I’ll keep hoping for an actual “millennial movement” to sprout way up yonder on the Caprock.

environmental news

Climate change gets the attention it deserves

If there was an issue that won the day during the two nights of Democratic presidential candidates’ joint appearance, it had to be climate change.

The Republican president these men and women want to replace has ignored the issue, other than to declare it is a “hoax.”

It is no such thing. The Democratic candidates have spoken at varying levels of enthusiasm about the need to deal with climate change and the existential threat it poses to our national security.

I am glad to hear these candidates raise the level of attention to this dire issue. I am delighted they have elevated the issue to the front rank. I want to them to keep the issue in front of us for as long as it takes.

Donald Trump’s non-response to the climate change crisis is to promote exploration of fossil fuels, the burning of which is one of the primary sources of carbon emissions that are warming Earth’s atmosphere and, thus, are changing the climate that surrounds the planet.

Climate change is the signature issue of one of the Democratic presidential candidates: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. He makes no apology for his intention to make the issue his front-and-center talking point as he campaigns for the White House. Nor should he.

Climate change won’t elect Jay Inslee in November 2020 to the presidency. However, the issue will continue to be discussed openly and fully by the Democratic contenders for their party’s nomination.

Whoever emerges as the nominee to face Donald Trump must keep the climate change volume turned up. I trust that nominee will continue to sound the alarm.

local news

Happy Trails, Part 161: Meeting the neighbors

I am living, breathing, talking proof that rear-entry driveways have helped damage neighborly relations among folks.

How do I know this? We sold our house in Amarillo more than a year ago after living in it for more than two decades. We had it built from the ground up. It had a rear-entry garage that allowed us to drive our vehicle from an alley that ran along the rear of our homes.

We had infrequent exchanges with our neighbors. Why? We hardly ever saw them.

It’s different these days. Our retirement journey has taken us to Princeton. Our new home has a driveway that faces onto the street.

Here’s the benefit we have accrued from this new arrangement: We have gotten acquainted early with several our neighbors on our side of the street and also across the street.

My wife and I know the names of folks living in two residences across the street; we know the names of both our next-door neighbors, as well as the neighbors two and three doors to our east.

I have concluded that with front-entry driveways we have returned to a more neighborly environment than what we experienced for 22 years living in our Amarillo home.

It’s not that our neighbors in Princeton are friendlier than they were in Amarillo. Indeed, we became good friends with several of the families living on our street in Amarillo. It took some time, given the rear-entry garages that prevented a lot of regular face-to-face interaction with them.

Make no mistake that Panhandle residents pride themselves on their friendliness, their sense of community. We would hear about it regularly as we went through our day over many years.

Now, though, our daily routine as we go about our day in the home with our front-entry driveway includes a lot more frequent interaction with our neighbors along our street.

It’s nice to know the folks with whom we share this neighborhood.

legal news

Chief Justice Roberts merely shows his independence

Political conservatives are angry with one of their own.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has turned on them, they say, because he is siding with liberals on the court … on occasion.

Interesting.

The chief justice, to my way of thinking, merely is showing what happens when these men and women get lifetime appointments to the federal bench. They toss aside their partisan labels and start deciding cases on matters relating to the law.

That’s not good enough for many conservatives who believe Roberts should remain the conservative they knew he was when President Bush appointed him to the high court in 2005.

Roberts this week joined the court liberals by turning aside the Trump administration’s insistence on including a “citizenship question” when taking the 2020 census.

The previous day, according to Politico: “Roberts was the sole GOP appointee to side with the liberal wing in a case many legal conservatives were hoping would deal a major blow to the much loathed administrative state by overturning decades of precedent allowing federal agencies wide leeway to interpret their own regulations.”

Roberts earlier was the swing vote on the court that helped save the Affordable Care Act, which the right wing in Congress — and the president — detest merely because it was proposed by a Democratic president and enacted by congressional Democrats.. He also sided with the court progressives in declaring gay marriage to be legal in all 50 states.

Conservatives are angry. Some activists want him impeached. Why? Because he isn’t true to their cause.

This is utter nonsense! The founders established an ostensibly independent judiciary understanding that judges who take the federal bench well could upset the proverbial “conventional wisdom.”

Roberts has not flown off the rails in the 14 years since he joined the Supreme Court. So, he sides with liberals from time to time. The chief justice is entitled under the provisions set forth in the U.S. Constitution to interpret the law and to rule according to his understanding of what the law tells him.

Will there be rulings from Roberts that disappoint me? Sure. Am I going to yammer for Chief Justice Roberts’ impeachment?

No. Never.

Get a grip, righties.