Monthly Archives: April 2020

local news, medical news, State news

Gov. Abbott climbs aboard the stay-at-home wagon

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I suppose you could accuse Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of being a bit slow on the uptake in his statewide response to the coronavirus pandemic.

I will not join that chorus.

Gov. Abbott today issued a stay-at-home order for Texans. Don’t leave the house except to purchase essential items, such as food, fuel and assorted necessary household items. We can venture outside, walk around the neighborhood but we just need to keep our distance from our neighbors. Abbott’s order is in effect at least through the end of April.

There likely will be a decision soon on whether public schools will open on May 4, which the governor set as the return date for millions of students and their teachers. I am getting close to being able to bet the farm that Abbott will close the schools for the remainder of the academic year. A May 4 return date — at this moment, with the cases of COVID-19 still skyrocketing — seems far too early.

Only 10 states are left that haven’t issued the kind of order that came from Austin today. Perhaps they, too, will join the rest of the country. It well might be that the federal government will issue a nationwide order, pulling everyone off the street and closeting all Americans in their homes. I’m OK with that order if it comes.

So far the nation’s response has been a bit of a hodge-podge of reaction, depending on the state or the county or the individual community. My wife and I live in a city, Princeton, that doesn’t to my knowledge have any known cases of COVID-19.

However, I did get a chilling response from Farmersville Police Chief Michael Sullivan, who I interviewed for a story I am working on for the Farmersville Times. He said local officials depend on information released by county health officials, which does not account for those who might be carrying the virus but who haven’t yet been tested by public health authorities.

This story is far from showing signs of letting up. I am going to applaud Gov. Abbott for stepping up the state’s response, even if he was a bit slow to take action.

national news

Trump to Sessions: I don’t love you any longer

This is a political story I don’t recall ever seeing … until now.

Donald Trump’s presidential re-election campaign has told U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Sessions to cease saying that he’s a 100-percent Trump supporter as he campaigns for election to the Senate from Alabama.

You see, Sessions once served as attorney general in the Trump administration. Then he recused himself — properly, in my view — from any active role in the “Russia thing” involving allegations of collusion with Russians who were interfering in our 2016 presidential election. He enraged Trump, who fired him.

Sessions had served previously in the Senate. He was the first senator to endorse Trump. He and Trump were joined at the hip.

That was then. The seat he once occupied is now filled by Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. Sessions has been declaring how much of a Trump fan he remains. The president is having none of it. He wants Sessions to stop using the Trump name in his campaign ads.

Trump’s campaign says the president does not favor Sessions’ election to the Senate. He has backed Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach at Auburn and Texas Tech.

I just want to note that none of the Sessions ads I have seen has said a word that declares that Trump wants the former AG back in the Senate, only that Sessions is with Trump all the way.

Hmm. I guess the grudge-bearing president wants to make a point that one would figure he wouldn’t need to make.

local news, State news

Any chance Texas can restore sanity and reinstate helmet law?

I chatted the other day with a former colleague about someone else we both know, a woman whose son was grievously injured in a motorcycle wreck about a decade ago.

The young man was speeding along a street in Amarillo when he crashed his motorcycle. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. The young man suffered permanent brain damage.

The chat with my friend spurred a thought in my own brain: What was the Texas Legislature thinking in 1997 when it repealed the state’s mandatory helmet law for motorcyclists? I sniffed around a found an article that talked about how motorcycle wreck-related deaths have increased dramatically since the Legislature gave cyclists the option of endangering themselves.

Republicans took control of the Legislature and in 1997 took over as the majority party. The “limited government” crowd then saw fit to repeal a law that I always thought was a reasonable requirement for anyone who sat astride a “crotch rocket.” The motorcycle law is no more onerous that requiring every passenger in a car to buckle up for safety with a seat restraint.

Legislators saw the helmet law differently, I reckon. They made a mistake, in my humble view.

To be fair, children still must wear helmets if they’re riding a motorcycle with Mommy or Daddy.

What’s more, the state now requires motorcycle owners to have an accident insurance policy worth at least $10,000. That’s fine, I guess, except that one can go through 10 grand in about 10 minutes when you check into a hospital with a traumatic brain injury.

As we get through this coronavirus pandemic and the next Legislature convenes in January, I am somewhat hopeful that Democrats might retake control of at least the House of Representatives. Maybe a House chamber controlled by Democrats might seek to restore some sanity to our roads and highways by bringing back a helmet law. I know it still has to go through the Texas Senate and it still needs the signature of a Republican governor, Greg Abbott.

My hope does spring eternal.

media news

Newspaper industry is changing even more rapidly

To those of you who either have worked in newspapers, known someone who has worked for them, or has had either a passing or passionate interest in the information that newspapers convey … you need to read the article I have attached to this blog post.

A former colleague of mine, a one-time production director for a Texas newspaper, brought it to my attention.

Read the article here.

It’s lengthy, but take my word for it: If you have any interest at any level in a changing — and likely dying — industry, it is worth your time.

I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I will offer this nugget of what the article tells us:

The coronavirus pandemic that has shuttered businesses around the world and probably changed our lives forever and ever has brought about a rapid acceleration in the changes that await the newspaper industry.

Ken Doctor, author of the essay, writes: Make no mistake, though: Many of the decisions being made right now and in the next few weeks will be permanent ones. No newspaper that drops print days of publication will ever add them back. Humpty Dumpty won’t put the 20th-century newspaper back together again. There can be no return to status quo ante; the ante was already vanishing.

The trends that were supposed to occur in, say, 2023 or 2025 are occurring right now.

It ain’t pretty, ladies and gentlemen.

I am a former newspaper guy. I spent nearly four decades practicing a craft that I loved. I am officially saddened by what I fear is coming at us much more rapidly than I ever envisioned.

medical news, national news

Crisis producing a new level of heroism

The coronavirus pandemic is producing an entirely new level of heroism all around the world.

Let’s ponder what we’re witnessing in real time as the coronavirus infection scores new hits every minute.

  • Hospital workers are donning makeshift masks and are wearing garbage bags on their bodies to protect themselves against infected patients. They lack the protective gear they need, but they stay on the job.
  • Police officers and firefighters are falling ill because they lack the appropriate personal protection equipment to stave off infection.
  • Children are singing to patients, seeking to cheer them up as they fight for their lives.
  • Neighbors are helping neighbors cope with their formerly “routine” errands.
  • Teachers are crafting in-home study plans for students who’ve been banned from classrooms because governors are closing schools.
  • Building maintenance crews are working day and night to disinfect structures, exposing themselves to infection.
  • At least one naval officer, the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt — a nuclear-powered attack aircraft carrier — has decided to allow most of his crew off the ship to deal with infection; four of his crew members have died.
  • Cruise ship crews are battling infection among passengers.

I hope you understand my point here. This pandemic is producing the very best in many of us. The United States does not lack heroes, people who do extraordinary deeds under great duress. Indeed, nations on every continent on Earth are discovering heroes among their midst as well.

None of this will lessen the pandemic by itself. That lessening will occur over time as we continue to practice “social distancing.” Meanwhile, researchers are working 24/7 in laboratories searching frantically for drugs they can use to inoculate human beings against the ravages of this “invisible enemy.”

Many of us are distressed. Our lives are being disrupted beyond measure. I just want to offer a heartfelt expressing of gratitude for all the heroes out there who are stepping up in this time of dire peril.

national news

Beginning to look past the pandemic

One of the ways I occupy my mind during this coronavirus pandemic is to consider what lies on the other side of this crisis.

Namely, I think about the issues I want to ponder once we are able to push the pandemic a bit toward the back of the shelf. Yeah, I know it sounds more than a little bit nerdy.

A few things come to mind.

  • The presidential election is probably Issue No. 1. I want to see a new president take office next January. It looks like my choice will be Joseph R. Biden Jr. He’s way ahead in the march toward the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He’ll get nominated somehow, even if it’s not in the standard way: going to a convention full of delegates, having them barter and bicker over campaign platform planks. Then I want to focus on ways to encourage Biden to defeat Donald John Trump.
  •  The 2021 Texas Legislature will convene in January. Democrats might be able to wrest control of the House of Reps from Republicans. Not so sure about the Texas Senate. Democrats need to flip just nine of the 150 House seats to become the new majority. Perhaps a new House majority can enact some smart laws that can survive a veto by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.
  •  Climate change needs our undivided attention. I worry about what’s happening to our polar ice caps and the wildlife they nurture. Polar bears are in dire peril if they cannot hunt for seals on the Arctic ice. I want a robust debate on climate change, but I fear that won’t happen if Donald Trump gets re-elected.

I know there’s a wide range of issues to discuss once we “socially distance” the pandemic to a manageable problem. I don’t believe the virus is going to disappear until we find a vaccine and manufacture enough of it to inoculate every human being on Earth. I’ll say a prayer to the scientists who are working on that matter at this moment.

That would be the way I define “returning to normal.” I hope it’s not a pipe dream.

medical news, national news

Looking for more good-news signals

I find myself awakening each day and searching for good news among all the coronavirus pandemic gloom and doom.

Then we get snippets of signs of relief, or so we should hope:

Wuhan, China, where the pandemic was first hatched, is considering whether to relax the societal shutdown; Italy, which became the world’s second epicenter, is experiencing a slowdown in new cases; China reports several consecutive days with no new coronavirus cases.

The news from the U.S. of A. isn’t so positive, but maybe the good news will find its way to our shores. The rate of new cases is increasing exponentially, along with the rate of death from the coronavirus.

Then I have to remind myself of what the medical experts keep telling us: Let’s not be swayed by the glimmers of good news; there well might be more spikes in new cases once we relax the “social distancing” methods we’ve been practicing.

And so it goes. The good news is temporary. It vanishes. Then we face more grim news.

Then I find myself looking for long-range good news in what the medical experts tell us: social distancing is the best way to reduce the spread of the killer virus.

I am now beginning to accept that social distancing is going to be with us for a long time after the medical minds determine that the pandemic has passed. If it’s meant to be, I’m all in … even though it will inhibit the way I greet friends after not seeing them for a good while. Indeed, this shelter in place/stay at home policy is keeping my wife and me away from our family members and our friends.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep looking for good news and will keep seeking that which turns the glimmer into a full-blown flash of brilliance.

national news

Just pick up the phone and call, Mr. VPOTUS

Joe Biden reportedly is considering whether to talk to Donald Trump about how the president can — or should — respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s campaign team has been commenting on the possibility of the phone call. Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway has been openly critical of Biden for not calling her boss. I guess her needling got through to the former vice president, the frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination.

Here’s where I come down on this matter.

All Biden has to do is call the White House. He knows the number. He and the president can talk privately; there is no need to blab all over creation about what they discuss. It could be just the two of them.

I cannot predict how either of them would handle such a conversation. I don’t know who between them would spill the beans to the media.

To be frank, I don’t care what they say to each other. They’re both grownup. Biden has sat at the center of power, the place now occupied by Trump. He knows a thing or two about how to wage the kind of fight that this struggle requires. I don’t know with any certainty what Trump understands, other than what he says about his alleged knowledge of these medical matters.

If there’s going to be a conversation between these two politicians, let it happen … even it if is out of sight and out of hearing.

national news

Strange to be complimented for showing proper seriousness

Donald Trump is getting some curious words of praise over the past couple of days.

Why? Because he is showing the appropriate emotional response to a worldwide tragedy. Imagine that. The president of the United States is being saluted by the media and even from his critics for taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously.

Is he being “damned with faint praise”? I suppose so.

I will give Trump a quiet golf clap for acting finally the way he should have been acting all along. His “briefing” on Tuesday night contained all the appropriate body language from Trump, not to mention the sight of his emergency response team actually demonstrating appropriate “social distancing” as they watched and listened to Trump say whatever he was saying.

All of this is good, as far as it goes. I remain reluctant to heap the praise on Trump because I also remain committed to the notion that he should have swung into action long ago. Say, perhaps in January and/or February when the coronavirus first presented itself. He didn’t. He dawdled and delayed. He disparaged the threat and denigrated those in the media who were issuing dire warnings.

I can’t get the image of Trump standing in front of us telling us that the 15 cases diagnosed early would disappear as if by some miracle or by magic. It’ll take a whole lot of a more serious-sounding and looking Donald Trump to erase that memory … if you get my drift.

None of this change of modus operandi, to be sure, is a game changer. It most assuredly won’t persuade me to endorse Donald Trump’s re-election when the time comes for Americans to cast their ballots.

Critics of this blog and supporters of the president just will have to accept that your friendly blogger only will say what needs to be said: It’s about damn time!

national news

Hey, Sen. Sanders, stop the delusion!

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders apparently is clinging tightly to an illusion, which is that he thinks he still can win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination this year.

Earth to Bernie: No! You cannot!

The democratic socialist/independent senator from Vermont who masquerades as a Democrat has no path to the nomination. Former Vice President Joe Biden has trounced Sanders in a series of party primary elections and has piled up an insurmountable lead in delegates selected for the Democratic National Convention this July in Milwaukee.

Sanders cannot overtake Biden. Yet he continues to stay in the hunt, continues to insist that while the path to a nomination is “narrow,” he can walk it carefully. I have to ask: How in the world does that happen?

Joe Biden has emerged as the overwhelming favorite among Democrats whose main mission this election year is to defeat Donald John Trump. Thus, this nomination is all but in the bag for Biden.

I realize at this moment that virtually no one is talking seriously about the presidential election. The nation is fixated instead on more pressing crises presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of Americans have died already from the virus; many thousands more are expected to succumb to it.

Indeed, the crisis has frozen the election in place … for the moment. Which makes me think that the stalling of the nominating fight is the only thing that is preventing Sen. Sanders from making the patently obvious decision to drop out of the race and endorse Joe Biden.

Bernie is deluding himself if he actually thinks what he has said publicly, that he can still be nominated by the Democrats to take on Donald Trump. Get real, Bernie. End it now.