Monthly Archives: February 2020

local news

Man, this technology thing is mind-blowing

GREENVILLE, Texas — It’s official. My mind is totally blown apart.

I ventured to Greenville today for a story I am going to write for KETR-FM’s website, KETR.org. I won’t divulge what’s going into the story. I merely want to take a moment to tell you that I have been bowled over by high-tech genius.

My visit was with the Greenville Electric Utility System brass. I met with GEUS’s general manager, Alicia Price; with marketing manager Jimmy Dickey; with Internet manager Jason Minter and with Terry Walthall, whose business card describes him as a “Headend Specialist,” which a kind of code for system operations manager … the guy who knows which buttons to push and which wires to connect.

Our visit was informative in the extreme and I look forward to posting my story about Greenville’s cable TV-Internet system on KETR.org next month.

However, my mind was blown as I tried to process all the technological expertise that was being demonstrated.

My session with Price, Dickey and Minter ended with me recalling how it was when I was a youngster, how we were able to watch three whole TV channels. How we had to get up off the floor or out of a chair, walk to the TV set and turn the knob on the front of the set to change the channel. I asked Minter if he remembers TVs that took about a minute to “warm up” as the tubes inside got hot. He quipped about how the “vertical hold” would scroll the image up and down.

I mentioned the rabbit-ear antenna on top of the TV set and how we occasionally had to wrap aluminum foil around the end of the antenna to get a stronger picture.

Then I mentioned how Dad sold TVs and other appliances in the 1950s and how our family acquired one of the first televisions in Portland, Ore. And then I told them about the time color TV came into being and how my sister and I would host “TV watching parties” in our living room with neighbor kids who gathered with us to watch cartoons in color.

I am 70 years of age, but those memories remain fresh in my noggin. Today’s session with the high-tech powerhouses at GEUS only reaffirmed what I knew, which is that we’ve have circled the solar system hundreds of times in our quest — and our discovery — of technical know-how.

It has blown my mind.

national news

Don Jr. ignites angry response to a real Republican’s outrage

I practically choked on whatever it was I might have been munching on the moment I read what Don Trump Jr. had said about Sen. Mitt Romney’s history-making vote in the Senate impeachment trial of Don’s dad, the current president of the United States.

Romney became the first senator in U.S. history to cast a vote against a president of his own party; the Utah Republican voted “guilty” on the charge that Daddy Donald abused the power of his office by soliciting a foreign government for personal political assistance.

Don Jr. said Sen. Romney, for voting his conscience and trusting in God to assure fidelity to the oath he took as a Senate juror, should be “expelled” from the Republican Party.

Yep, the No. 1 presidential grifter said that Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, should be kicked out of the party because he dared to honor the oath he took to be an impartial juror and to render justice according to what he understood to be his solemn responsibility.

I hasten to note that Mitt Romney has contributed more to the Republican Party — through his term as governor of Massachusetts and as an ongoing advocate for mainstream GOP policies — than Don Jr. or his father, for that matter, ever will contribute.

For a man who’s profited materially from his father’s business interests and in recent times his political standing to call for the expulsion of an actual Republican with serious policy chops is beyond reprehensible.

I get that Junior is angry. Fine. Keep it to yourself, chump.

national news

I should have known better

I have been advised that an item I posted on this blog is the product of a “fake” social media meme.

It involved Rush Limbaugh and a racist quote that had been attributed to him. I took the blog item down.

I let my outrage at Limbaugh getting a Presidential Medal of Freedom interfere with my better judgment. I sincerely regret my error.

Now … on to the next thing. I’ll take greater care.

religious news

POTUS drags politics into National Prayer Breakfast

I have been aghast at what I heard Donald John Trump say this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast.

The event is designed to be an ecumenical gathering of all faiths. From what I’ve seen of it in the past, it generally steers far and wide from politics. Then again, that was before the Era of Trump, who today dragged the Prayer Breakfast into uncharted territory.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” The target of that jab was U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the lone GOP senator to vote “guilty” on one of the impeachment counts leveled against Trump; indeed, Sen. Romney is the first senator in U.S. history to vote against a president of his own party in a Senate trial..

Romney is a devout Mormon, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. He spoke of his faith while announcing his findings that Trump had, in Romney’s mind, abused the power of his office. Trump was having none of it, actually challenging the sincerity of a fellow American’s religious faith.

Despicable, indeed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also drew some heavy fire from the triumphant president, who said he doesn’t like someone “who says ‘I pray for you’ when they not that is not so.”

What’s more, Pelosi was sitting on the dais just a few feet away from Trump when he made the catty remark.

I should say as well that Pelosi has been known for decades as a dedicated and devout Roman Catholic. She has said that she prays for the president, for the country, for its government leadership. I guess Trump was having none of that as well.

Sickening.

What I suppose makes this even more disgraceful is that this president has virtually no relationship with Scripture. He uses religion as a political tool, a doctrine to be bartered.

So he has decided to politicize what historically has been a non-political event that aims to cite the value and power of prayer.

God help us.

national news, political news

Hoping the Iowa SNAFU deals caucus a mortal blow

I am old-fashioned guy when it comes to elections.

My strong preference is to allow people to walk into a voting booth, look at a ballot, then select the individual they want to win the contest, or the issue they want to see enacted.

Thus, it is my equally strong hope that the Iowa Democratic Party caucus system has been dealt a fatal blow with the SNAFU that has thrown the entire process into an uproar.

The caucus was supposed to send one of the Democrats off on a clearer path toward their party’s nomination. Then came that goofy “app” that malfunctioned. Iowa Democratic officials were unable to tabulate the results in anything close to a timely fashion.

As it turned out, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have ended up in a dead heat. They’ve gone on to New Hampshire, where Democratic voters will actually cast ballots in secret.

That’s how we ought to do this presidential nominating duty. We need to declare the winner to be the candidate who gets more votes than the others. In Iowa, they have this multi-faceted system that separates tabulations that determine delegate apportionment and actual votes. It makes me cross-eyed trying to sort it all out.

I don’t have any problem with Iowa being the state that kicks off the presidential campaign season. Hey, one of the 50 states needs to be the first to go. Isn’t that right? If not Iowa, then which state gets the nod? You see, that issue doesn’t matter to me.

What does matter is the way the first state should commence this important process. I get, too, that an actual primary election could result in a tie vote, that there are instances in which no candidates could emerge as clear winner.

If so, then all we have to worry about is how we ensure that the votes are counted accurately. The “app” mess isn’t in the picture.

I am hoping we can say “goodbye” to the caucus system that has shown itself in this election cycle in Iowa to be a monumental failure.

national news

‘It was all bullsh**.’

There you have it.

The current president of the United States spoke that sentence out loud, in public, with TV cameras beaming images into millions of living rooms around the nation.

Donald John Trump’s unleashed his potty mouth in my house, your house, in our house! He spoke in the East Room of the White House describing the end of the impeachment saga that dragged on for far longer than most of us wanted it to drag on.

I cannot insist that presidents of the United States never pepper their language in private. Heaven knows I’ve been heard using profane language on occasion.

But here’s the thing: When the president of the United States speaks like this in what is supposed to be a solemn, serious event — commenting on the end of an impeachment trial that determined whether the POTUS kept his job — he chose to toss out foul language in the public’s house.

It should be obvious even to Trump that he doesn’t own the White House all by himself. It belongs to all Americans, even the president.

Still, Donald Trump is just a temporary tenant. He needs to clean up his act if he intends to stay there for the duration of his lease.

national news

Why not show just a touch of class, Mr. POTUS?

The nation’s current president can claim victory in the wake of the U.S. Senate acquittal on two charges leveled against him by the House of Representatives.

Donald John Trump will get to keep his job at least through next Jan. 20, thanks to the Senate voting not guilty on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges.

But then again, Trump — ever the boorish buffoon — managed today to display that he lacks not a scintilla of understanding why nearly half of Congress decided to convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors. Oh, no. Instead, he went straight on the attack.

Unlike President Clinton in 1999, who also was acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial, this president chose to express zero regret over what he did to launch the impeachment inquiry.

He blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for leading the House impeachment effort. He took aim as well at Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah for casting the lone GOP Senate vote to convict Trump on abuse of power, which Romney termed an “egregious abuse of the public trust.”

Then, of course, we had the sideshow commentary from Don Trump Jr., who called for the GOP to “expel” Romney from the party. Oh, never mind that Romney has done far more for the Republican Party in his many years in public life than Don Jr. or his father ever have done, or ever will do. But, I digress.

Donald Trump has demonstrated the absolute lack of grace he always shows. In moments of victory — if you want to call it that — he relies on his boorish instincts that his allies refer to his “counterpunching” style.

He did not need to say any of what flew out of his mouth today. He could have expressed relief that the impeachment matter has been laid to rest and vowed to craft a legislative agenda for the year ahead. But … he didn’t do that.

It’s over, Mr. President. You won this skirmish.

Take a look at this. Amazing.

national news

Why not honor Brig. Gen. McGee instead of Daddy Dittohead?

This isn’t an original thought that comes exclusively from this blog, but I’ll offer it anyway.

If Donald John Trump was so intent Tuesday night on handing out a Presidential Medal of Freedom, why didn’t he award one to the 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman, Brig. Gen. Charles McGee, who was in the VIP box listening to the president deliver the State of the Union speech?

I mean, Gen. McGee is far more worthy of the nation’s highest and most exalted civilian honor that Rush “Daddy Dittohead” Limbaugh, who received the medal in a surprise ceremony during the speech.

Yes, I am aware that Donald Trump saluted Gen. McGee for the heroic service he performed during World War II, in Korea and in Vietnam.

Gen. McGee surely deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

national news

Sen. Romney makes a historic decision

Sen. Mitt Romney made history today. To be honest, I was unaware of it in the moment I was watching him make it.

He became the only U.S. senator to vote to convict a president of his own party at the end of the Senate impeachment trial of Donald John Trump, the nation’s current president.

No Democrat bolted when the Senate put President Clinton on trial in 1999. Neither did a Democrat vote to convict President Andrew Johnson during his Senate trial in 1868.

Mitt Romney now stands alone as the only Republican to vote today to convict Donald Trump of abuse of power. He voted immediately afterward to acquit Trump of obstruction of Congress.

The Utah Republican has demonstrated that there really is honor in politics. I was proud of him today as I listened to his speech. He stood with the sacred oath he took, with the U.S. Constitution, with his conscience.

Sen. Romney, you may count me as one American who is immensely proud of the courage you demonstrated. If only it would have been contagious when he made his momentous decision.

national news

Does Rush Limbaugh deserve this exalted honor?

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Rush Limbaugh is arguably perhaps the most divisive and polarizing media figure in the United States.

Does he really and truly deserve to be honored with the nation’s highest civilian honor? Has this fellow really contributed to the cultural well-being of this country, has he really made a positive contribution to the furtherance of this country’s great ideals?

I’ll set aside the bizarre manner in which Donald John Trump bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Rush Limbaugh, having the first lady hang the medal around Limbaugh’s neck during the State of the Union speech.

I want to examine the actual impact that Limbaugh has had on political discourse. He has helped coarsen it. He has cheapened it beyond what I long have recognized.

Yes, the man is suffering from lung cancer. The nature of his public announcement earlier this week suggests he well might not have much time left. I don’t like watching anyone suffer from painful disease.

However, the stunt that Trump pulled off by honoring Limbaugh with the Medal of Freedom just cannot go unchallenged.

Limbaugh has been a spokesman for the “birther” movement that also included Donald Trump; you know, the movement that challenge whether Barack Obama was constitutionally qualified to run for president. Limbaugh has hurled countless racist taunts at critics. He has mocked the teenage daughter of a president. Limbaugh has trashed in the most personal terms public officials who adhere to policies that do not comport with his own.

Limbaugh’s public career has been built on division, rancor and anger.

This is worth saluting with an honor that has gone to likes of, oh, Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks?

I think not.

However, the deed is done. He won’t give it back. Donald Trump won’t demand he surrender this high honor.

I just fear terribly that for as long as he is president, Donald Trump is going to hand out this exalted tribute to other political hacks.