Monthly Archives: July 2019

International news

Trashing allies: the latest ‘new normal’ in Age of Trump

British Ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch had some unkind things to say about Donald J. Trump.

The unflattering assessment became known only because of leaked memos. Darroch called the Trump administration “inept,” and “incompetent” and assorted other mean things.

The president’s response? He has not been a “fan” of Darroch, who he said has not served the United Kingdom well. He has declared, too, that he is done dealing with the envoy representing one of this nation’s strongest and — until this moment — most reliable international allies.

I am wracking my noggin trying to remember when I’ve ever heard a president of the United States and a leading allied diplomat trade barbs like this. To be candid, the Brit’s remarks weren’t intended for Trump’s eyes and ears; they were meant to be kept internally, within the British foreign ministry. Trump, though, has taken this fight into the public arena, which is he prone to do no matter what.

I am beside myself trying to understand how this continual back-and-forth between Donald Trump and our allies furthers the cause of international diplomacy and understanding. Or how it strengthens this nation.

Or, for that matter, how it makes America great.

local news

Time of My Life, Part 37: They used to actually like us

I have written on this blog about the good times and the fascinating characters I met while practicing journalism for nearly four decades.

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.

local news

Ross Perot: This man stood tall

My journalism career enabled me to cross paths with a lot of interesting, provocative and even great people over the length of its time. I want to include Ross Perot as being among the great individuals I had the pleasure to meet.

Perot died today of leukemia. He was 89 years of age. He died peacefully in Dallas, where he built his fortune and lived most of his adult life.

He wouldn’t have remembered me had anyone thought to ask. But I surely remember the time I had the pleasure of meeting him and visiting with him about one of his pet issues in that moment: the quality of public education.

He had mouthed off about how Texas was more interested in producing blue-chip athletes than blue-chip students. The Texas governor at the time, the late Mark White, challenged Perot to craft a better education system for Texas. Perot took up the challenge and led the Perot Commission to create a system that set certain achievement standards for all Texas public school students.

He then launched a statewide barnstorming tour to pitch his findings to business leaders, politicians, civic leaders and, yes, media representatives; I was among the media types Perot met.

He came to Beaumont and delivered a stemwinder of a speech to a roomful of the city’s movers and shakers.

As an editorial writer and editor for the Beaumont Enterprise, I had the high honor of meeting later with Perot along with other media reps at Lamar University.

That was in 1984. Little did we know at the time he would become a political force of nature as well, running for president twice in 1992 and 1996. At one time prior to the 1992 fall election, Perot actually led public opinion polling that included President George H.W. Bush and a young Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton.

He finished third that year. Clinton got elected. Bush served his single term and disliked Perot for the rest of his life, blaming him for losing the 1992 election to Bill Clinton. President Bush is gone now, but my own view is that Perot — contrary to popular notions — did not deprive a chance at re-election. He took roughly the same number of votes from both Bush and Clinton, meaning that Bill Clinton was going to win the election anyway.

Still, Ross Perot was a player, although he was prone at times to acting a little squirrely. He also was a patriot who loved his country and gave back many millions of dollars of his immense personal wealth to make his community and country better.

I am grateful beyond measure that his path crossed mine if only for a brief moment in time. Take my word for it, this man made a serious impression on those he met along the way.

national news

Another billionaire running for POTUS? Really?

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 been 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.

crime news

Change of venue? Sure, but move it far, far away

Amber Guyger is going to stand trial — possibly soon — for murder. The former Dallas police officer this past September allegedly walked into a Botham Jean’s apartment and shot him to death reportedly thinking she had entered her own apartment.

The case has riveted many residents of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, which makes a request for a change of venue so very interesting.

Guyger’s lawyers insist she cannot get a fair trial in Dallas County, where the case is set to be tried. They want a change of trial venue to a county other than Dallas County, citing “media hysteria” surrounding the case.

I am not going to argue for or against a change of venue. Indeed I can see why defendant’s legal counsel would want to change the trial location. However, the counsel should insist on moving it far away not just from Dallas County, but also from Collin County, Tarrant County, Rockwall County, Ellis County — or any part of the region served by the Dallas/Fort Worth media outlets that have been covering this case.

Send it to El Paso County, or to Orange County, or to Hidalgo County, or to Dallam County.

Yes, there is intense interest in this case.  A lot of the circumstances sound, shall we say, weird. Guyger was suspended at first from the Dallas Police Department and then was fired after she was indicted for murder in the death of Botham Jean, a native of St. Lucia who lived in an apartment on a separate floor from where Guyger resided.

Whatever the judge decides, my belief is that this case needs to go a lot farther away than just outside of Dallas County.

national news

Trump met Reagan, but Reagan never said this

Donald Trump’s lying is becoming more expected all the time, if not quite acceptable.

For instance, Trump today retweeted a message that contained this statement, supposedly from President Ronald Reagan:

“When I met that young man, I felt like I was the one shaking hands with a president.” 

Except that President Reagan didn’t say it. There is no quote attributed to the late 40th president making such a statement about the young real estate investor he met in the late 1980s. The Reagan Library says the statement is false. Politifact calls the statement a “Pants on Fire” lie.

Oh, but here’s the deal: Donald Trump’s glossary of Pants on Fire lies has grown to unfathomable proportions. Trump tells these lies and they seem to roll off our collective backs.

Trump tells a whopper? Hey, it’s no longer a big deal. He defames individuals with scurrilous gossip and innuendo? No sweat, man. Trump mischaracterizes historical events with more lies? Pfftt! Who cares?

Well, I care. So should you. So should any American who believes truth-telling ought to be an essential requirement in the individual who takes an oath to defend and protect us against our enemies and to honor the Constitution of the United States.

Telling the truth is not part of this president’s DNA. He cannot speak the truth. He dredges up fabrications, such as what he did today with that ridiculous lie about President Reagan. I am forced to ask: To what end? For what purpose? Why does this man insist on lying when he need not do so?

So help me, this man makes me sick.

national news

Favoring a more centrist alternative to Trump

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I am going to declare my belief that the next president of the United States of America need not take the country into the ditch lined with “democratic socialistic” policies.

I want the next election to produce a president who takes a more centrist, mainstream, traditional view of government.

Donald Trump got elected president in 2016 because he managed to appeal to enough voters looking for a radical change in the way a president did business. They got what he promised: radical change. The consequence is that it has produced chaos, confusion, controversy throughout, from top to bottom.

Democrats have lined up a thundering herd of candidates who want to replace Trump in the White House. Some of the loudmouths of the bunch want things like “Medicare for all,” they want to redistribute the wealth, they rail against “income inequality.”

These are the so-called progressives in the Democratic Party.

Among those who are running to be nominated by their party is a group of what I would call “traditional liberal” politicians. They talk about using government to lend a hand when needed. They speak about border security in terms that I can embrace. They want to maintain a strong military establishment, which I also embrace. They seek to shore up our international alliances. They understand the reality that the world is shrinking and that the United States cannot stand alone against the rest of the planet.

I think of Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker and perhaps even Kamala Harris as the candidates I find most appealing even at this early stage of the 2020 campaign. I’m still trying to wrap my head around Beto O’Rourke, Julian Castro, Pete Buttigieg.

I won’t embrace one- or two-issue candidates, such as Jay Inslee, Bernie Sanders, or even Elizabeth Warren.

I want this nation to elect a president with some practical political experience. Does this sound like an endorsement of, say, former Vice President Biden? It might but don’t take it to the bank.

This “experiment” we launched with the election of Donald Trump has proven — to my way of thinking — to be a bust, a loser, a festering pile of bullsh**.

I have expressed my desire for a newcomer to burst onto the scene. I wanted someone to burst out front the way a formerly obscure ex-Georgia governor did in 1976. Jimmy Carter’s election as president produced decidedly mixed results and he got thumped in the 1980 election. That was then. The here and now seemed to call out for another newcomer to upset the race for the White House.

I don’t think that candidate will emerge. We are left with a smattering of centrists who will fight it out for the presidency. That’s all right. I will await someone from that group to emerge as the individual I want to show Donald Trump the door in January 2021.

national news

Waiting for Democratic field to actually thin itself out

What’s going on here?

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell bowed out today from the Democratic Party presidential primary campaign in 2020. He was one of about a dozen or so zero-percenters who have no chance of being nominated.

But then what do we hear? It is that Tom Steyer, a gazillionaire whose sole purpose in being in public life is to impeach Donald Trump, now wants to enter the Democratic primary field.

To which I say: Huh? What? Are you kidding me?

How does this work, Tom? How does a presidential candidate run for office seeking to impeach and remove the guy who’s in the office now? I believe we have a case of extreme counter-intuitiveness. 

Steyer would bring nothing, zero to this campaign other than a burning desire to see Trump impeached and then kicked out of office. Foreign policy chops? Economic policy expertise? Environmental policy? Human rights? Immigration policy? Geopolitical relationships? Crickets, man!

The Democratic Party field remains far too full of folks just like Swalwell, who at least had the good sense to realize that he didn’t get any traction after that first Democratic primary joint appearance. He tossed one line out there that seem to stick to the wall: He told frontrunner Joe Biden it was time to “pass the torch” to a generation of younger leaders.

That was it.

Now he’s on the sidelines, presumably heading back to his actual job of representing his California congressional district.

For my money, the Democratic field needs to see a lot more of these pretenders head for the showers.

As for Tom Steyer, well, he might be the most unqualified Democrat yet to join this contest, if he actually follows through.

Maybe he can explain to us just how he would campaign for Donald Trump’s impeachment/conviction while seeking the very office the president now occupies. I’m all ears, Tom.

legal news

Trump and this guy are pals? What the … ?

What in the world is going on here?

Jeffrey Epstein, a New York financier, socialite and mega-rich guy has been charged with sex trafficking involving underage girls. The charges stem reportedly from a decade-old case.

Now we hear that one of Epstein’s BFFs, a fellow named Donald Trump, has yammered about what a “great guy” Epstein is and how Epstein likes the company of beautiful women, some of whom are, um, a good bit younger.

These are federal charges which — if you’re following the news over the past year or so — means that the president of the United States could actually pardon this guy of the crimes for which he has been charged. Of course, I refer to the president being the same Donald Trump who talked about Epstein being such a great guy.

It’s fair as well to wonder: Is there a connection of any kind between this individual’s alleged misconduct with girls and the president of the United States who’s been charged with assorted allegations of sexual assault?

Oh, I almost forgot. We have the matter involving a former Florida federal prosecutor who didn’t file charges against Epstein when they first surfaced. That ex-legal eagle is now Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta. It’s a tangled web, indeed … yes?

I just had to ask.

This Epstein matter has the potential of growing some serious legs, if you know what I mean.

local news

Downtown Amarillo Inc.: What happened to it?

As I continue to watch from some distance the evolution of downtown Amarillo, I cannot help but think of an individual and an organization that helped kickstart the city’s downtown district’s rebirth into something quite different from what it had been allowed to become.

The individual is Melissa Dailey. The organization is Downtown Amarillo Inc. Dailey once ran DAI. Then she got sideways with the City Council. Dailey resigned from her DAI post and eventually left Amarillo for Fort Worth. DAI then was swallowed up by other municipal entities that took over the organization’s role of masterminding the city’s downtown rebirth/revival/renovation/reinaissance.

I had resigned from the Amarillo Globe-News by the time much of this change occurred. So I wasn’t as plugged in as I had been prior to my departure from the world of daily journalism. I acknowledge a few holes in my memory of what precisely went down.

Dailey had critics in the city. Some of the then-newly elected City Council members didn’t like the way she handled DAI’s business.

But as I take the long view looking back over the span of time since Amarillo’s urban rebirth gained traction, I am left with this thought: Much of the progress we’re witnessing in the city began on Melissa Dailey’s watch as head of Downtown Amarillo Inc.

Were there some missteps? You bet. DAI took part in the hiring of an outfit based in Sugarland, a Houston suburb, that was supposed to oversee the overall management of the downtown effort. Wallace Bajjali fell apart quite literally when the principal owners parted company with each other, thus dissolving the company. There were reports of malfeasance in other communities that had bought into Wallace Bajjali’s grand promise of economic revival; they suffered serious financial harm. To my knowledge, Amarillo had managed to protect its interests sufficiently to avoid any financial liability when the company vanished into thin air.

The city has recovered from potential catastrophe and it has moved on. It has taken control of its own downtown management. They’ve got that ballpark, a minor-league baseball franchise, Polk Street revival, an ongoing hotel renovation of the old Barfield Building, new urban housing, businesses relocating and springing up throughout the core district, a new downtown West Texas A&M University campus … and some other things, too!

As for Melissa Dailey, someone I admit to not knowing well, I sense she is sort of a forgotten principal in the city’s effort to revive itself.

Perhaps one day when the city’s history is written and its downtown revival efforts are chronicled for posterity, Dailey will get the credit I believe she deserves for helping lead the city out of the downtown wilderness into a future that continues to look brighter with each completed project.