Monthly Archives: August 2020

national news

WH used as political prop

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Donald Trump pulled it off.

He managed to violate federal law, flout political custom and turn the White House — along with the Marines on duty at the presidential residence — into political props.

He accepted his party’s nomination to a second term as president. He had that crowd gathered on the lawn. They were generally mask free and they ignored social distancing recommendations. They cheered Trump’s applause lines.

Hey, it’s a given that Trump would lie through his teeth. Not much to say about that at this moment … likely later.

The use of the White House, the Marines, one of his daughters who serves as a government official is a blatant violation of the Hatch Act, the law that bans federal employees from engaging in political activities.

But … will it matter? Will there be an outrage by voters who have seen and heard enough from Trump? Probably not.

This misuse of the White House is galling at every level imaginable. The flags, the Trump-Pence campaign signs in front of our house. All of this while we are fighting a still-losing battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

We aren’t supposed to condone this kind of abuse. I certainly don’t. Donald Trump, though, doesn’t give a damn about any of this. He demonstrates his contempt for the law, for tradition and for time-honored political custom damn near daily.

He did so again with that hideous political spectacle at the White House. As a part-owner of that building, I object in the most strenuous terms possible!

religious news

What about ‘religious freedom’?

I want to discuss religion briefly, as it well might become an issue in the rapidly unfolding and accelerating presidential campaign.

The issue has come up in a public way and in a way near to my own heart.

Former college and professional football coach Lou Holtz told the Republican National Convention that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is a Catholic “in name only.” Coach Holtz, who once guided student-athletes at Notre Dame University, received immediate pushback from the renowned Catholic school. He spoke for himself, ND officials said, not for the university.

Biden is far from a CINO — Catholic In Name Only. His faith is well-known. He speaks openly about it, about how his faith has helped steer him through unspeakable tragedy.

This topic makes me uncomfortable. Religious faith is deeply personal. It’s not something I like sharing, and I won’t do so here.

However, I do want to challenge an implication that a fellow I know made to me directly. He said in a social media post that I “probably” am comfortable with doing away with “religious freedom.” This fellow seems to believe, according to his world view, that we should be allowed to worship openly and freely without any interference.

I could not agree more with this fellow. He and I actually share a devotion to “religious freedom.” I want to add a caveat, however.

The Constitution spells out quite clearly that we also are free to not worship if we choose. It is a secular document written by men whose direct forebears fled religious persecution in Europe.

While I am committed to religious freedom, I also want to embrace what I believe is a broader view of what that term means and what it entails.

So, when a noted public figure, such as former coach Lou Holtz, says a leading politician is a “Catholic in name only,” he crosses a line he shouldn’t cross. He shouldn’t purport to know what rests in Joe Biden’s heart. That is a dangerous assumption Holtz makes.

As for the fellow who jabbed at me by assuming I “probably” would want to do away with religious freedom, he also is crossing a precarious line.

I am all for granting Americans the right to worship as they please. I also believe we are free to forgo religious faith … if that’s how we want to roll.

Just think that we’re about to be force-fed a large dose of religion in a presidential campaign that already has gone from harsh to ugly.

local news

Accepting the new normal

I just completed an errand run that took me to a grocery store, an automobile parts department, a battery shop and a bank lobby.

What do these places have in common? Every customer and business employee were masked up.

This is the new normal, or at least part of the new normal that I am finding more acceptable by the day. Actually, wearing a mask before entering a business has become virtually second nature to me.

This is how we must cope with life in the Age of the Pandemic. Or, at least until they find a vaccine that makes us (more of less) immune from it.

I don’t wear my mask out of some patriotic fervor, as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has suggested as a reason to wear a mask. I don’t wear it to make a political statement of any sort, which is what fans of Donald Trump have suggested.

Oh, no. I wear the mask because I subscribe the theory promoted by medical experts that they help keep us clear of the killer virus.

I maintain social distance whenever possible; at times it isn’t, such as at the parts department today when several of us got crowded in a corner of the room. But we were all masked up!

Of all the new normal activities that still annoy me, I have to say this fist-bumping, and elbow-bumping when we greet people drives me a bit nuts. I am a handshake guy. I have a firm handshake and I enjoy grasping someone’s hand — be it a stranger or a friend — just to let them know I am glad to see them. I don’t have a bone-crushing grip … you know, like the one Superman used in “Superman II”  where he pulverized Zod’s hand.

The mandates about masks, social distancing and all the other preventative measures are OK by me. Indeed, it seems a bit strange to look around and hardly even notice that everyone is wearing a mask.

It’s called adaptability, man.

national news

Why do we care?

A friend of mine in Amarillo posted a question on Facebook that wonders whether we should care about what pro football, hockey, baseball, soccer and basketball players think about police brutality.

I told him “I do” care. A lot.

Pro athletes are protesting the shooting of a young black man in Kenosha, Wis., who police shot at seven times, hitting him with four rounds in the back. The young man, Jacob Blake, is paralyzed; it might be permanent paralysis.

Meanwhile, a white teenager allegedly killed two protesters who were marching for justice in the earlier mentioned case. He walked past police officers with an assault rifle. He was allowed to go home that night. He surrendered the next day. I won’t mention the alleged shooter’s name because I don’t want to give him any more publicity than he deserves.

The first incident involved a man who was fleeing the cops. He had turned his back on them. They shot him with a Taser, then with a pistol. The other one involved a young parading down the street brandishing a rifle, yet no police officer thought to question him.

Again, the first man is black; the second man is white.

That is why the pro athletes are upset. It is why they are boycotting the games they are supposed to play.

It also is why their voices are worth hearing and heeding as they seek justice in an unjust world.

national news

Hoping to unpack all the lies

This is likely an unreasonable expectation, but I will express it anyway.

It is my hope, at least, that those who want to see Donald Trump defeated for re-election can unpack all the lies he has told during his brief time in politics and expose the man who told them as a fraud who is unfit for the office he occupies.

Take it away, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Trump no doubt will pile a load of more lies onto his huge pile of prevarication tonight when he speaks to the faithful scattered on the White House lawn. The location of his partisan speech, of course, creates a whole other set of ethical — and maybe legal — concerns.

I have chosen to look away from Trump tonight when he accepts the Republican presidential nomination. He lies incessantly and relentlessly. The GOP convention has ignored the multiple crises that are enveloping the nation: the coronavirus pandemic, the Black Lives Matter rebellion, climate change, the Gulf Coast hurricane.

Trump will tell us it’s all going just swell. It ain’t.

He will lie repeatedly tonight. He will seek to portray Joe Biden as a tool of the far left, which of course is utter nonsense.

I expect there to be some serious examination of the lies Trump has told and will tell again and again. I have no hope of persuading the committed cultists who have bought into the baloney that Trump dispenses.

It’s those undecided voters, or fence-straddlers who need to be persuaded that the nation cannot afford another four years of this individual’s lying.

There is just so much to unpack, to reveal, to expose. Good grief. It might be too much for the voting public to consume.

I do want to see this effort unfold that seeks to reveal finally the fraudulent nature of this man’s political existence.

I turn it over to you, Vice President Biden and Sen. Harris.

local news

Sad about Holly Beach’s fate

Hurricane Laura has done its damage to the Louisiana coast.

Truth be told, the place that felt the storm’s full wrath is near to my heart. I hate to think of what likely has happened to Holly Beach.

The Cameron Parish resort used to be one of the best-kept secrets along the Gulf Coast. My wife and I would visit Holly Beach on occasion during the nearly 11 years we lived in Beaumont. We found it the first time almost by accident. We drove south to Port Arthur, hung a left, drove over the gaping mouth of the Sabine River and found Holly Beach sitting on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Hurricane Rita, which stormed ashore in 2005, did a serious number on Holly Beach. I understand that it came back after Rita’s destruction. Now it might be gone, maybe forever, according to state emergency management officials.

One story about Holly Beach comes to mind.

It was a blistering, hot day in Beaumont one summer. I was working in our yard. I finally had enough of the heat. I told my wife I wanted to go to the beach, to jump into the sea water. We threw some beach accessories into our car and drove to Holly Beach. We drove onto the beach. We out of the car and ran into the water … which was about 95 degrees! The punchline? We didn’t get any sort of relief from the 100-degree heat.

But we stayed. We swam in the Gulf. We had a blast.

The storm has exited the Gulf Coast. It is still bringing rain far inland. The damage it has done to Holly Beach? I fear it’s permanent.

It saddens me terribly.

local news, national news, political news

Mind made up: going to vote early

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I will vote early, but certainly not often, which would be corrupt, yes?

My wife and I have talked about whether we should vote early in this election cycle. We both have decided that, by golly, yes we will.

It gives me the nervous jerks to admit such a thing. I have written often over many years about my aversion to early voting in elections when I can vote on Election Day. This year, under certain circumstances, we have decided we’re going to avoid the crowd and vote early at a polling place to be announced soon by Collin County election officials. My concern centers on the fear that the candidate who gets my vote might mess up between the time I cast the ballot and when they count the ballots.

The coronavirus pandemic has frightened me sufficiently to forgo my usual Election Day routine.

I am not sure whether we’ll have vote by mail in Texas. Our state attorney general, Republican Ken Paxton, is vowing to resist voting in that fashion. He has swilled the Donald Trump Kool-Aid that makes him think all-mail voting is corrupt. It isn’t.

If Texas is not going to allow voting by mail, then I intend to vote early to ensure that my ballot gets logged in and that my wife and I can have our voices heard on who we want elected president of the United States.

Spoiler alert: It ain’t Donald J. Trump! It will be Joseph R. Biden Jr.!

The president is seeking to undermine the integrity and efficiency of our state and local election systems. He keeps harping on the specious and phony threat of corruption.

Our household intends to vote early to protect ourselves against exposure to the killer virus from a big Election Day crowd. I don’t expect Texas to join those states that have used all-mail voting with great success. We do a good job in Texas, though, in conducting early voting.

So … early voting will have to do.

local news, media news

No coverage for Big Beaners

Given that I no longer live in Amarillo, Texas, I am at times prone to ask some of my snitches/sources/former colleagues about news events that occur there.

I did so the other day, inquiring with a media friend of mine about the status of the Big Beaners restaurant — opened by flashy and occasionally controversial Amarillo personal injury lawyer Jesse Quackenbush. My friend was pretty blunt: He chooses not to cover the story for his organization. Why? He believes it’s a non-story and that Quackenbush doesn’t deserve the publicity he is getting from all the hubbub surrounding the story.

You know … I kinda/sorta see my friend’s point.

Big Beaners is now closed. I had thought the city of Amarillo might have closed it on some sort of violation. My friend said a lack of business led to its closure.

Big Beaners had come under pretty intense fire because the term “beaners” is considered in many circles to be a slur against Latinos. It was a Mexican food joint, so I guess Quackenbush thought he would, um, push the envelope a bit by attaching that name to it. He stood by the name, which, by the way, I find offensive.

The strategy, if you want to call it that, didn’t work.

Is the story worth covering? I believe it is to some extent. I mean, I have devoted about four blog posts to it. This, though, likely is the last one. I don’t expect Quackenbush to reopen it. He is a smart enough fellow to know how to measure the consequence of a failed effort.

local news, national news

Power of prayer works again?

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I never have been one to dismiss out of hand the power of prayer.

I pray all the time. I did so, along with millions of other Americans, that Hurricane Laura would spare our friends living in the Golden Triangle region in the southeast corner of Texas.

Guess what happened? Laura stormed ashore in Cameron, La., a good bit east of the Golden Triangle. I don’t wish bad things to happen to anyone caught in the middle of nature’s fury, and I have continued to offer prayer to those who were hammered by the Category 4 force of the killer storm.

The National Weather Service issued a most unusual warning prior to Laura reaching shore. The NWS said the storm would produce an “unsurvivable” surge of Gulf of Mexico water. Unsurvivable? Yep, that’s what they said.

Then I heard this morning that the storm surge wasn’t as monstrous as the NWS projected. Did the prayer work for those good folks, too? Well, suffice to say that the answer is one that cannot withstand empirical examination. You either believe it did … or you don’t. I choose to believe in the power of prayer.

Hey, I’ll take all the credit I deserve for that one. So should the rest of us. To be sure, there have been at least two fatalities reported in the past few hours, so the storm has inflicted terrible misery on the families and friends of at least two individuals.

I also should point out that the NWS wasted no time in retiring the name “Laura” from its roster of future storm names. The storm was strong and fearsome enough to join the ranks of Katrina, Rita, Ike, Maria and Harvey — among others — in the pantheon of retired storm names we’ll never see again during hurricane season.

Speaking on behalf of our friends in the Golden Triangle, I want to extend a heartfelt, sincere and profoundly authentic sigh of relief that they averted the worst of what Mother Nature can dish out.

national news

Errors of omission aplenty

Republican National Convention speakers have been criticizing their Democratic convention colleagues for what they have called an egregious error of omission.

Democrats, they say, should have talked about the violence that has erupted in many of our cities as Americans have protested police conduct in the wake of the deaths of African-Americans.

That’s a fair point. The DNC should have spoken to that issue at their virtual convention a week ago.

However, let’s not let the RNC escape similar critiques of its message. The GOP that has nominated Donald Trump and Mike Pence for a second term has yet to address the terrible heartache, misery and death associated with the COVID crisis. Yes, they have acknowledged the existence of the crisis. They have said nothing about how it has affected the loved ones of those who have died or the economic collapse that has occurred as a result of the pandemic.

Therein, I submit, exists the error of omission on the Republicans’ part in this political game of Can You Top This?

Republicans continue to portray Donald Trump’s initial pandemic response as courageous, forceful, bold, proactive … all that happy horse dookey. It was none of that. They know it as well as you and I know it. Do not expect them to come clean by the time the convention wraps up.

I just want Democratic nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to remind voters of the start choice awaiting them. Do they want more of the same chaotic incompetence or a return to compassion, empathy and actual presidential leadership?

You know already where I stand.