Monthly Archives: March 2020

national news

Trump is writing a prescription for disaster

Donald John Trump is full of sh** if he thinks reopening the nation’s businesses by Easter is smart, given the still-accelerating rate of infection by the coronavirus.

That isn’t derailing the president’s rush to get the economy up and “rarin’ to go” by the time the Easter Bunny shows up.

Good grief.

Trump’s stated aim is coming in light of medical experts’ advice to the precise contrary. They want to keep the lid on business as usual for a while longer. Americans are still getting infected by the coronavirus. Oh, and they’re still dying.

What is Trump trying to do here?

He can count me as one who is far more interested in preserving human lives — and avoiding contamination — than in juicing up the economy.

Do I enjoy watching my retirement account disappear? Of course not. However, I also am enough of a realist to know that the fund will restore itself eventually.

Local officials here in North Texas are invoking shelter in place policies. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is imploring us to be careful, to put our health concerns first. Governors such as New York’s Andrew Cuomo are trying to beat some sense into us about the danger that still lurks with this disease.

Then we hear from the president of the United States urging us to get back to business. That pandemic response team that stands with him at those moronic White House briefings is quite likely telling Trump to slow down, dummy up on the “rarin’ to go” nonsense.

If only he would listen to someone who knows more about these risks than he does.

medical news

Speak for yourself, Lt. Gov. Patrick

I’m not living in fear of Covid-19. What I’m living in fear of is what’s happening to this country. And you know (Fox News host) Tucker (Carlson), no one reached out to me and said, “As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on our survival, in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’ And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.

Those words of idiocy came from Texas Lt. Gov. Dan “The Dipsh**” Patrick, who said in effect that elderly Americans ought to be ready to die in order to preserve our national economic infrastructure.

Well, pardon me for breathing, Dan. But I ain’t willing to make that “exchange.”

Patrick bloviated on Fox News and offered what I believe to be a despicable observation about what is at stake.

Patrick is 69 years of age. For the record, I am 70. So this fellow is offering a bit of moronic logic that doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Let’s play that idiocy out just a bit.

If an old man like me or Lt. Gov. Patrick wants to resume normal living, interacting with other human beings as if nothing is wrong, then we are endangering not just ourselves, but we could be putting other Americans at risk, too. Yep, that would be young folks. Hmm. Maybe children. Are they to be sacrificed, too, in the of restoring the “America we all love”?

I do fear the coronavirus, Dan Patrick. I fear for my health and for the health of my family.

To hear that kind of tripe coming from a supposedly responsible leader of a great state such as Texas is sickening in the extreme.

national news

Public health vs. the economy

It’s worth wondering out loud what I think can become a serious conflict among state and local leaders and the president of the United States.

Donald Trump says he is considering lifting the lid on Americans’ activity, to “reopen the economy” while a coronavirus pandemic is killing human beings all around the world.

In the meantime, governors and county officials across the land have imposed shelter in place rules, or have shut down their states and counties. Why? They are motivated by a desire to keep people apart, to enforce “social distancing.”

The governors and other local folks are placing the public health at the top of their priority list. Donald Trump appears to be placing the economy at the top of his list. The president said that a floundering economy will cost even more lives than the pandemic, that people will “commit suicide” by “the thousands” as their nest eggs are smashed to smithereens. Really, Mr. President? That is what passes for your “logic” on this matter?

My goodness. The president, to borrow a phrase my late mother used to say, is “nuttier than a fruitcake.” 

He’s also dangerous.

My hope would be that governors that have shut their states down would ignore the president’s idiotic rant about the economy. That they would listen to their own medical advisers. That they would continue to place the public health ahead of the economy.

My strongest hope yet, indeed, would be that those governors who are well-known supporters of Donald Trump would stand firm against the moronic rants of the president.

That would be you, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

national news

Turning my back on POTUS

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I made a decision today that I intend to follow for as long as the coronavirus pandemic is dominating our news cycles.

It is that I will no longer listen to Donald John Trump’s incoherent riffs when he stages those White House “briefings” alongside his coronavirus response team.

I’ll turn the TV channel. Or I’ll turn the TV off. I might indulge in a Netflix show or some other production showing on the plethora of channels I have available.

You see, I have reached the saturation point of Trump’s idiocy. I do not believe a single word that flies out of POTUS’s pie hole. Nor can I stomach the sound of his voice when he says things that are ridiculous on their face. Yes, I’ve seen the viral video of Dr. Anthony Fauci grimacing and wiping his forehead while Trump referred to the “Deep State Department.”

I want to hear only from medical or emergency response experts when the subject deals with the pandemic. I also want to hear from local leaders — state and county government executives, mayors and law enforcement and medical officials — who are doing battle on the front lines of this response.

I do not want to hear from an ignorant politician who is wholly untrustworthy at every level I can imagine.

I feel liberated.

local news

Cities in our county are going to take action

I asked in an earlier blog post for Collin County Judge Chris Hill to issue a shelter in place order for the county where I now reside.

It looks as though he won’t do that. However, it appears we’re going to get the next best thing, which is more or less like the real thing. The cities within Collin County are going to issue shelter in place guidelines for their residents.

My wife and I live in Princeton; our younger son and his family live in Allen. Our daughter-in-law’s parents live in Plano. I am going to presume for a moment that our respective cities are going to act on a conference call that mayors participated in today.

That means individual cities will be initiating policies aimed at reducing person-to-person contact as a way to stem the coronavirus outbreak that has been termed a worldwide pandemic.

I’m good with what appears to be coming.

Governments have a responsibility to act. It has been argued — and I agree with the complaint — that the federal government hasn’t been doing enough to coordinate a national response. The states are stepping up; Texas has stepped up. Counties within our state have answered the call.

In this particular county that we now call home, cities are going to invoke a shelter in place policy.

I want to stipulate once again that shelter in place does not resemble a form of house arrest. As it has been invoked so far, residents are able to travel to the store to purchase essential items. Residents are able to step outside, to walk around the neighborhood … something my wife and I do daily with Toby the Puppy.

We merely are being asked to adhere to “social distancing” guidelines. We need to do our part to stem this pandemic.

Collin County’s communities appear set to answer the call.

national news

No doubt about it, these are bizarre and frightening times

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I have seen a lot in my 70 years on this Earth, but to be candid, nothing so far in my life experience has equipped me for what we’re going through at this moment.

I am not frightened for my own health, although I do harbor plenty of dread for my family. This coronavirus pandemic is getting closer and closer with each passing hour.

We’re all taking necessary precaution. We’re practicing the “social distancing” that’s become so common at this time. Our local governments are telling us to “shelter in place.” We’ll do what we’re told.

I don’t know what the immediate future holds. However, I take considerable comfort and solace with this knowledge: This crisis won’t last forever.

Moreover, I also take comfort in understanding that what we’re all going through now pales in comparison to what others over the arc of history have experienced. My wife reminded me of something we saw during a trip we took to Europe in 2016.

We rode the train from Nuremberg, Germany to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. A friend greeted us at the train station and took us to his home near The Hague. The next day we returned to Amsterdam to tour a museum.

It was the home where Anne Frank once lived. It was there that we learned in detail about the pure and unadulterated horror Anne Frank and her family experienced during World War II. Shelter in place? Hah! They were hostages in their own home. Nazi occupiers were looking for Jewish citizens. When they found them they took them into captivity and hauled them off to death camps.

Anne Frank and her family were outed eventually. The SS broke in, they took the young girl and her family into custody. Anne Frank died at age 15, after chronicling the horror she endured.

We’re living a bit uncomfortably. The coronavirus pandemic will pass eventually. Our government is asking us to do certain things. It is asking to avoid doing other certain things.

I’ve never lived through anything quite like this. The feel-good phrase of the day is “We’re in this together.” Yes. We are.

We also will pass through it together.

national news

Trump doesn’t seek former POTUS advice? No-o-o-o!

No surprise here: Donald Trump says he hasn’t asked any of his predecessors for guidance, counsel or advice on how to handle the coronavirus outbreak that’s infecting tens of thousands of Americans.

Indeed, he said over the weekend that he’s doing a fabulous job. Besides, Trump said he likely wouldn’t “learn much” from any of the former presidents.

What is a bit surprising, though, is his phony magnanimity when he said he doesn’t want to “disturb” any of them.

What a fu**ing joke!

All the former presidents have expertise to share. Barack Obama went through a couple of health scares on his watch; George W. Bush was thrust into war against terrorists and he had to deal with natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina; Bill Clinton had to undergo trauma caused by the Oklahoma City bombing; Jimmy Carter had that 444-day hostage crisis in Iran.

President Bush sought help from his father — another former president — and from President Clinton in helping victims of Katrina; President Carter has engaged in many worldwide missions to promote human rights and free elections in the years since he left office.

Trump won’t reach out. To do so — in what passes for his mind — would be tantamount to admitting failure. Why, we can’t have that, not from this “stable genius,” the guy who knows “the best words” and surrounds himself with “the best people.”

Preposterous.

medical news

Shelter in place: Do it now and save lives

I want to call on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to do what he was elected to do, which is protect Texans against some of their more careless impulses.

The world is being attacked by an “invisible enemy,” the coronavirus. Local governments in the United States are issuing shelter in place orders. Many nations have done the same thing. Donald Trump is now reportedly considering going in the opposite direction; he is pondering whether to lift some of the restrictions businesses are facing in this time of peril.

Gov. Abbott ought to declare a statewide shelter in place mandate. Only a fool would want to put endanger himself or herself or put others in peril by exposing them to the virus. Yet we have too many fools among us.

Counties have imposed shelter in place edicts. The order limits Texans’ movement from their homes to stores to purchase food and other essential items. Dallas County invoked a shelter in place order over the weekend. Others have done so, too. Others are likely to issue similar orders.

Meanwhile, the state can simply override all 254 counties and make that declaration. Gov. Abbott can make that call.

My wife and I are prepared to follow such an order to the letter. We know it won’t last forever.

It’s time to step up, Gov. Abbott.

legal news

Judges seek permission to violate their oaths of office

Two Texas judges, Brian K. Umphress in Jack County and Diane Hensley in McLennan County, are suing the state because their religious faith compels them to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

Hmm. OK. Let me pose this question: What part of the oath of office you took that says you shall obey all the laws of the state and be faithful to the U.S. Constitution don’t you understand? 

These individuals both swore to uphold the secular laws of the counties they were elected to govern. The oath demands that they are faithful to those laws. It makes no mention of their religious beliefs or gives them any room to say, “Well, I’ll obey only those laws that do not conflict with my faith.”

This is nonsense.

Both of these judges are empowered by the Texas Constitution to perform marriage ceremonies. The Constitution, though, does not require them to perform every single service that shows up on their agenda.

These individuals have sued the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, which has sanctioned them for refusing to perform the duties to which they swore their oath. The Dallas Morning News reports, by the way, that even though Umphress presides over the Jack County Commissioners Court, he is not a “law judge.”

Justice of the Peace Hensley also is empowered to perform marriages. She has refused for the same reason that Umphress cites. I should tell her the same thing: Such empowerment is not a requirement.

Both of these folks can hand those duties off to other duly empowered county officials if they cannot in good faith perform that duty.

I also need to remind them both — although they know it already — that the U.S. Supreme Court, citing its belief in the equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution, has declared gay marriage to be legal in all 50 states. 

If the laws of the land do not comport with these judges’ religious beliefs, then they shouldn’t be serving in their respective public offices.

local news, medical news

Hey, Judge Hill, it’s time to invoke ‘shelter in place’

This note is directed at Collin County Judge Chris Hill: They have done it in next-door Dallas County, so it’s time for Collin County to follow suit and invoke a shelter in place mandate.

I want my county to become even more proactive in fighting the spread of the coronavirus. One measure is to order residents to stay at home and leave the shelter of their dwellings only to purchase food and other essential supplies; you know, things like fuel for our vehicles and medicine for those who need it.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued the order over the weekend. The county of some 2.4 million residents is facing some serious hassle and heartache stemming from the pandemic. Jenkins saw the need to act and, so … he did.

Collin County is home to about 1.1 million Texans. My wife and I, along with our son, daughter-in-law and two of our grandkids, are among them. We want added protection orders invoked immediately.

I don’t know if Chris Hill will see this message. I intend to email it to his office. My concern is not unlike many others around the nation and the world. I am fearful that this pandemic can get totally out of control. Indeed, it might already be at that point.

However, if our local government can take measures to stem the tide where we live, then I am all in.

Shelter in place isn’t a case of being under house arrest. We can leave our homes to, oh, walk around the block, or simply get some fresh air. And, yes, we can make purchases at the store.

There isn’t any entertainment opportunities available now as it is, with restaurants, bars and other such venues closed for the short- and perhaps medium-term.

Issue the order, Judge Hill. I know of several of your constituents who will comply.