Monthly Archives: July 2019

Sports news

Sod Poodles become the Soddies?

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You perhaps recall that when the minor-league baseball franchise announced it was moving to Amarillo that it would leave the team-naming task to the fans.

The team released a list of five finalist names. Sod Poodles was one of the five names. My first reaction? I hated it! I mean, really hated the name.

Then I started thinking about it. I read something from the team owners — the Elmore Group — about what it intended to accomplish with whatever name it chose. They wanted the name to become a sort of brand for the team. They wanted fans in Amarillo and around the Texas League to talk about the name, whichever one they chose.

Then they announced the name: It would be the Sod Poodles. By the time the name announcement came, I had reversed my initial hatred of the name. It became my favorite among the finalist names.

It turns out the city has embraced the name, too. The Sod Poodles now have a nickname — if you want to call it that. They’re referred on occasion as the Soddies.

Sod Poodle is supposed to be some sort of old-time name identifying prairie dogs, the ubiquitous rodents that populate colonies throughout the High Plains region of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico — and all over God’s creation.

I lived in Amarillo for 23 years. It’s not as long as many residents have lived there. I never heard the term Sod Poodles used while mentioning the little critters. A lot of long-time residents said the same thing, that they’d never heard of the term, let alone used it.

However, the name of the AA baseball team has stuck. The team is pulling in big crowds to Hodgetown, the brand new ballpark they erected in the city’s downtown district.

It gladdens my heart to know that legitimate minor-league baseball is back in Amarillo.

national news

How does POTUS keep that grip on his followers?

The question keeps recurring whenever I hear Donald J. Trump blather something nonsensical, such as what he said during his Fourth of July speech intended to offer a “Salute to America.”

How in the world do the millions of Trumpkins out there continue to support this guy?

I am left to sigh in disbelief.

The president muttered something about the revolutionary soldiers “ramming the ramparts” and “taking the airports” in, um, 1775 … or about 128 years before the first airplane took flight in North Carolina. Then the president who said while campaigning for office in 2016 that he doesn’t use Teleprompters blamed the ignorant ranting on a malfunctioning Teleprompter. Go … figure, man!

That kind of idiocy doesn’t matter to the president’s allies. They stand behind him. They cheer him when he lashes out at “fake news” media outlets.

Of course, that latest example is actually timid and tame compared to the myriad other examples of utterly disgraceful comments and behavior that this man has exhibited since becoming president and in the years immediately preceding his entry into the political world.

It utterly astounds me at every level I can imagine.

His lying is incessant. His utter lack of understanding of constitutional principles is confounding beyond measure. Trump promises to make the best deals imaginable and then backs down. He has vowed to appoint the “best people” to populate his administration, but then cannot — or will not — fill key vacancies.

He demonstrates repeatedly an unwillingness to refrain from making policy via Twitter.

Trump insults his foes. He denigrates his intelligence agencies. Trump cozies up to tyrants, killers and despots. He castigates allies.

Through it all, he maintains that chokehold on his political base.

What in the name of a once-noble political craft has happened to this country? I still am baffled at how this guy got elected in the first place and how in the world his base continues to stand with him.

Ugh!

national news

Census: No mention of ‘citizens’ in U.S. Constitution

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With all this chatter and blather about the census and whether the government should ask whether U.S. residents are “citizens” of this country, I decided to turn to my handy-dandy copy of the U.S. Constitution.

So, I turned to Article I, Section, Clause 3 of the document with which Donald Trump needs to acquaint himself. It speaks to how the nation will count “free Persons” living within our national borders.

I was looking for a certain word. I looked for the word “citizens” in the Constitution. It’s not there. Not in this passage of the governing framework the founders built to create our government.

Donald Trump has given up his effort to include a citizenship question on the census forms that will be sent out. Indeed, the question seems to violate the U.S. Constitution, which refers to the enumeration of “free Persons.” That means residents. Not citizens.

The motive behind the citizenship question appears to be aimed at driving down the number of people living in this country. What does that mean? I guess it means to Trump and his fellow Republicans that a citizenship question would exclude non-citizen residents from being counted, which theoretically could deny Democratic-leaning congressional districts some elements of needed clout.

That brings up another question I believe is getting short shrift among those who debate this stuff in Washington, D.C. What would this have meant for those non-citizens who are in this country legally?

Trump has signed an executive order that he says will clarify and enhance the data gathering to determine how many non-citizens comprise the total U.S. population. My understanding is that the Census Bureau already keeps track of non-citizens.

For the government, though, to ask the question as part of its constitutional responsibility in counting all “free Persons” who live here would strike residents who must be counted … as the Constitution requires.

Donald Trump

‘Stable genius,’ or unstable imbecile?

Oh, my, Mr. President.

You call yourself a “stable genius,” but your latest Twitter tirade/rant suggests to me that your actions are more like those of an unstable imbecile.

What in the name of 21st-century telecommunication are you trying to say here?

I heard about your latest barrage of tweets where you challenge the “fake news media” and suggest that they’ll wither and die once you leave office. And what is this about your assertion about whether you would have been elected without social media?

Mr. President, I have refrained from offering armchair medical diagnoses, unlike other critics out here. Too many folks think they can parse through your babble and make declarations about the state of your mental health.

This latest bombardment, though, seems to lend credence to what the peanut gallery docs keep suggesting, that you’re off your rocker. That you’ve lost (what passes for) your mind. That the pressure is getting to you. That … oh, crap, I don’t know, that you’ve gone around the bend.

I won’t buy in completely with all of that, but these tweets of yours are troublesome in the extreme. They are absolute nonsense.

You are the commander in chief, the leader of the Free World, the man who occupies arguably the most revered office on Earth — with the exception of the Holy Father, of course.

What in the world is going on inside the West Wing?

I am now forced to ask those who still cling to your pronouncements: Are you still proud of the man you installed as president of the United States of America?

As for you, Mr. President … these moronic tweets give many millions of us cause for serious alarm about your stability.

Honest to God in heaven. They do!

local news

It was a long, painful goodbye

Every year that passes since my mother’s passing somehow doesn’t make it any easier to look back on that loss.

Yet I am going to do so again right now as I remember Mom’s birthday. She was born on July 11, 1923 in Portland, Ore. Her parents were immigrants from Turkey. They were of Greek descent. My grandfather was a merchant sailor; my grandmother came to the United States on her own. She was the embodiment of intrepidity. My grandfather eventually stepped off the boat and settled in Portland, running a bakery.

Mom was the first of three children they would produce. Mnostoula was her name. She was a pistol as a young woman. She used to recall that time in her life.

However, Mom was dealt a bad hand in life. She didn’t live very long. She died in 1984 at the age of 61. She didn’t get the chance to celebrate nearly enough birthdays.

Mom’s passing came at the end of an agonizing period for her family. We were forced to watch her disappear in the proverbial sense. Alzheimer’s disease took its terrible toll on Mom over the span of time.

I want to mention that today because I am acutely aware that we are not alone. We know that many millions of families just like ours have gone through this misery. They know how it is to watch your loved one change. Sure, they look the same, but they aren’t the same.

It’s hard for me to recall the good times because the sadness of the long goodbye was so overpowering.

Mom was full of quick quips. Mom didn’t guffaw at the punchline of a good joke, but instead she would giggle in a sort of charming way.

Then the giggles came less frequently. Eventually she was unable to produce the quips that I remember. Over time she lost the ability to write her name, or to drive a car. Then she couldn’t bathe herself. Or feed herself.

Mom eventually she lost her speech.

All the while, Mom’s physical presence remained essentially the same. Except that the essence of who she was disappeared. It was gone forever.

Alzheimer’s disease afflicts an increasing number of families. It is said that the disease has a far greater impact on the caregivers than on the actual patients. Take my word for it, that is so very true.

It also serves to remind those in power that as the nation gets older the more imperative it should become to dedicate resources to find effective treatments to stem the symptoms of this relentless killer. Is there a cure on the horizon? Oh, we are left to hope and pray.

Another birthday is about to pass without Mom being around to enjoy it. She’s been gone a long time. The struggles she faced during her time on Earth remain vivid in the hearts and minds of those who loved her.

Happy birthday, Mom. I still miss you.

national news

Steyer bowed out of 2020 race, now he’s in

Blogger’s Note: This item is being reposted after its original version was knocked out by a technological glitch. 

You must be kidding me. This isn’t funny. Not in the least.

Tom Steyer, the hedge fund billionaire who has made it is his life’s mission to impeach Donald J. Trump now wants to run for president of the United States.

And this announcement comes after Steyer said earlier this year that he had no interest in running for president, that he would be fixated only on removing the current president, Trump, from office.

This can’t be happening. Can it? I’m afraid it is.

Of all the candidacies for POTUS that have declared for the upcoming election cycle, this one makes the least sense of all of them. That is to say it makes no sense at all. None, man! Zero!

Steyer has no policy chops I can identify. He’s simply flush with lots of money that he intends to spend on trying to get Trump tossed out of office on his ear. On that point, I am actually on his side.

That is as far as it goes.

The most astonishing counter-intuitive aspect of this guy’s candidacy is the juxtaposition of his effort to impeach Trump and his effort to succeed him as president of the United States if lightning were to strike and the Senate would convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Someone needs to explain how that plays out.

national news

The chaos is driving me nuts

The chaos surrounding the president of the United States is relentless.

It is incessant. It is bottomless. It is infinite. It is the way Donald Trump governs. It is driving me out of my mind.

A British diplomat reportedly said in leaked documents that Trump is “incompetent” and “inept.” The diplomat, Sir Kim Darroch, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, resigned, but not before Trump leveled a barrage of Twitter messages, calling him “stupid” and assorted other epithets.

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta has been caught up in a sex scandal involving financier and Trump/Bill Clinton pal Jeffrey Epstein. Acosta sought to defend the kid-glove treatment he gave to Epstein when he was a federal prosecutor in Florida.

Trump can’t — or won’t — fill key Cabinet posts and still, after several months, hasn’t yet appointed a permanent White House chief of staff.

I don’t know about you but the chaos that continues to take huge bites out of Trump’s routine simply cannot lend any sense of comfort to anyone.

Trump threatens mass deportation of illegal immigrants, then backs off. He threatens to impose stiff tariffs on imported goods, and backs off of that, too. He formulates foreign policy via Twitter to the astonishment of his key aides.

Oh, and he lies through his teeth — about everything. The Trumpkins out there don’t care about that.

I am left yearning for a president of the United States who can govern with a working knowledge of how government works. I want my president to be above board. I want him or her to be competent.

I am sick of the chaos.

local news

Recalling an encounter with a courtroom legend

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A recent blog post noted one of those individuals, the late Ross Perot, who saw value in communicating with the media.

My writing about Perot brings to mind another sharp-minded Texan I had the pleasure of meeting. It was a spontaneous encounter in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Beaumont, Texas.

Perhaps you remember the late Richard “Racehorse” Haynes. He was a flamboyant trial lawyer who defended celebrities, big hitters and individuals of enormous wealth. He was, as I understood it, a tremendous courtroom thespian, known for a dramatic flair.

Here’s what happened during one sweltering day in downtown Beaumont …

I was walking toward the courthouse when I ran into a fellow I knew well, a lawyer named Gilbert Adams, who at the time also served as chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Party. We chatted for a moment. Then Adams asked if I wanted to meet Racehorse Haynes. Do I? Of course I would, I said.

Adams yelled at the gentleman standing about 30 feet away, “Hey Race! I want to introduce you to someone.”

We approached Haynes and Adams said, in effect, “John, this is Racehorse Haynes. Race, this is John Kanelis. John is the editorial page editor of the Beaumont Enterprise.”

Here is where it got real interesting in a hurry. When Adams told Haynes I worked for the newspaper, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s was still a significant media presence in the Golden Triangle, Haynes’ eyes expanded to the size of saucers. He opened them wide and seemed, as I recall, to nearly drop the pipe he was smoking out of his mouth.

He then regaled me about his relations with the media, how he generally trusted the media — if you can believe such a thing in today’s climate — to report matters accurately and fairly.

Haynes talked, talked and talked some more. He talked so much that I — not this famous lawyer — was forced to cut the conversation off. I had somewhere I needed to be; I guess Racehorse Haynes had a lot of time on his hands.

I remember meetings like that one with fondness, if only because it reminds of a time when journalism — and those of us who practiced the craft of journalism — played critical roles in telling their communities’ stories.

science news

Remembering a thrilling era of adventure

My sappiness came through once again this evening.

I just watched a PBS broadcast, the third part of a series called “Chasing the Moon.” It told the story of the Apollo 11 mission to land on the lunar surface, an event that occurred 50 years ago this month.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin stepped off a space ship onto the moon’s surface and took what Armstrong called “one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

My eyes got wet. I swallowed hard. I found myself smiling at the TV as I relived the images we had seen a half-century ago.

I remembered how I felt at the time in the summer of 1969. I felt proud. I was thrilled that we had kept President Kennedy’s pledge to “land a man on the moon and return him safely to the Earth” by the end of the 1960s. The president didn’t live to see it happen, but the program proceeded even after the young president’s shocking death.

I do wish we could regain that spirit of adventure. I fear we have lost it forever. Indeed, as the PBS program noted, interest in the moon missions began to dissipate almost immediately after Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins finished their final parade in the final foreign capital. They were treated as the heroes they were.

Then the money dried up. Sure, we conducted a few more missions, including that harrowing Apollo 13 mission that came too close to tragedy.

Maybe that thrill will come back to us if and when we prepare to launch humans to Mars.

Watching the PBS broadcast tonight, though, reminded me of how I used to swell with pride at our technological know-how and the courage of the individuals we would hurtle into outer space.

I am hoping to feel it again.

business news, national news, political news

Boycotts prove to be a counterproductive statement

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I’ll get this off my chest right off the top.

I hate boycotts of businesses because their ownership happens to adhere to a certain political point of view or supports a certain political officeholder.

Home Depot is the latest mega-business to feel the sting of boycott. Its owner and founder, Bernie Marcus, happens to support Donald J. Trump’s re-election in 2020; he is pledging lots of money to assist in that effort.

Social media have exploded over this development. Social media users are seeking to boycott the company because Home Depot just cannot possibly be allowed to support and endorse Trump.

Good grief, man!

Why do I hate boycotts? They inflict too much collateral damage on individuals and families who get caught in the crossfire.

Now, do I endorse Home Depot’s corporate view in support of Trump? Of course not! But that’s not the point here. My intense refusal to take part in such an activity is because I would be taking money away from the store employees who might share the view of their corporate ownership.

Why punish the store clerk, or the warehouse personnel, or the drivers, or service technicians, or the installers? For all any of us knows, they might be on our side in this dispute, but draw a paycheck from someone on the other side.

I would be inclined to join a boycott only if the store clerk demanded I give money to a political campaign or preached to me about the virtues of a candidate or an officeholder with whom I have strong disagreements.

Anything short of that? It’s a meaningless gesture.