national news

Trump at war with experts

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Donald J. Trump has declared war … not against an enemy of the nation he was elected to lead, but against anyone who has a lick of knowledge of the myriad issues that need government’s attention.

Consider these choices for key Cabinet posts: Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence; Pete Hegseth as defense secretary; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary; John Ratcliffe as CIA director; Matt Gaetz as attorney general.

These are some of the serious clunkers Trump has chosen to lead these agencies. He’s tapped some folks with considerable promise. I like Marco Rubio as secretary of state, provided he holds the line on the illegal Ukraine war.

Trump, though, is managing to slap the crap out of all the mid- and lower-level professionals who do the work in the trenches. These folks get their fingernails dirty carrying out public policy. They are not political appointees.

I do not believe Gaetz or Gabbard will pass the confirmation gauntlet in the U.S. Senate. RFK Jr. also looks to be too badly damaged to lead HHS. Hegseth’s claim to fame is as a Fox Propaganda Channel weekend talk-show co-host.

Imagine you’re a highly trained defense analyst. You spend your days crunching numbers and trying to determine the most efficient ways to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to protect Americans from our enemies. Then you have a defense secretary — Pete Hegseth — who has spent much of his career advancing partisan political matters and who has no earthly idea what is happening deep in the bowels of the Pentagon.

Similar analogies can apply to many of the agencies that might be led by an assortment of fruitcakes, blowhards and know-nothings. They all have a single element in common. They are blindly loyal to a president … and not to the Constitution they took an oath to uphold.

crime news, local news

Allen PD officer: hero in truest sense

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It happens to me every time I drive by the highway exit in Allen, Texas: I think of the shooting that occurred in May 2023 at the Allen Outlet Premium Mall.

It was a hugely tragic event that ended when an Allen police officer, who happened to be at the mall answering an unrelated call shot the madman to death. However, the end came too late for nine victims who were gunned down by the shooter.

I am casting not a single stone at the police officer. He heard the shots and sprinted full speed toward the scene. He spotted the killer and fired his weapon.

What has happened since then is equally praiseworthy. The Allen officer has chosen to remain anonymous. Only his police department colleagues and his loved ones know the identity of this hero.

I have tried to wrap my noggin around that desire to keep his ID a secret. It might be easy for him to want the attention. He could cash in on his celebrity. This hero, though, has chosen another path. He has chosen instead to go about his work each day to serve and protect the public.

I went shopping at the mall a few weeks after the event and asked the clerk how she was getting along in the wake of the tragedy that unfolded not far from the store where she worked. “We’re doing OK,” she said with a hint of uncertainty about what “OK” really meant. I took her answer to mean “just OK. Not great, but we’re getting past it.”

And they will. Eventually. As for the police officer who still suits up each day, I am sure he will, too. None of us needs to know his name. All we need is assurance that heroes are among us and they answer the call to respond as only heroes can do.

national news

Gaetz as AG? Holy crap!

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Donald J. Trump’s Cabinet hit parade just picked up a huge head of steam today with his announcement of who he wants to serve as U.S. attorney general.

It is none other than Republican Party human grenade launcher Matt Gaetz, a Florida congressman who says the Justice Department is a cesspool of corruption. What’s more, he vows to clean the place up from top to bottom.

Oh, there’s more. Gaetz has been investigated by the very same DOJ on corruption charges himself. So now, the new POTUS wants him to run the DOJ? Is this for real? Don’t answer that. I know that it is.

Trump has been on a roll as he seeks to fill out the Cabinet. He announced today that former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard will be the director of national intelligence. And …. he has selected former North Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA. Gabbard and Ratcliffe both have negligible intelligence backgrounds. Indeed, Trump once picked Ratcliffe to be DNI, only to have his name pulled because of questions about his intelligence background.

The Gaetz pick clearly is going to spark a sh**storm on Capitol Hill as the AG nominee will be forced to answer questions about the ethics probe and what on Earth he intends to do about all the dedicated professionals who toil day and night to keep us safe.

Gaetz’s rhetoric about the agency he might lead is most troubling. He has levied specific accusations against FBI director Christopher Wray and a host of other officials. Gaetz has behaved like the right-wing blowhard he is and has brought nothing but shame and embarrassment to anything he touches.

How in the world is this guy going to get 50 Senate votes to confirm him as attorney general? Let the rumble begin.

military news

Defense pick raises eyebrows aplenty

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Well, ladies and gents, we’re likely going to get a taste of just how loyal the Donald Trump MAGA-cultists can be when the time comes for confirmation hearing of Trump’s choice to lead the world’s most powerful military institution.

“Fox and Friends, Weekend” co-host Pete Hegseth is Trump’s choice for secretary of defense. Wow! What a pick!

His credentials? He doesn’t have any. Oh, wait! Hegseth served in the Army National Guard, rising to the rank of captain. That rank doesn’t even rise to the level of “field grade officer.” But … here he is, slated to lead an organization with more than 1.5 million men and women in uniform and prepared to go to war when the commander in chief issues the order.

President Biden’s defense boss is Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general. Trump’s first defense secretary was James Mattis, a retired Marine four-star. Both of those men are eminently qualified.

The Hegseth pick reportedly has raised plenty of brows among Republicans and Democrats who are wondering: What the hell is Donald Trump thinking with this selection?

Hegseth says women’s combat roles hinder our military’s preparedness. Never mind that since 2016, when then-Secretary Ash Carter allowed it, women have served in the Army Green Berets and Rangers and as Navy SEAL operatives … and have held their own with their male colleagues.

Pete Hegseth clearly is not qualified to lead the world’s most lethal fighting force.

We’re going to see how loyal the U.S. Senate majority is toward the MAGA cultist in chief. My guess? It won’t be pretty.

local news

Sanity rules in Amarillo

Just when you think the world has gone mad and that the MAGA crowd is taking over our way of life … you hear about a Texas city where voters exercised their good judgment and put the brakes on the MAGA juggernaut.

Amarillo, where I once lived and worked, showed the nation how a community should react to zealots. The zealots in the Panhandle community weren’t going to let a city council decision to reject a proposed “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance stand. So they gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Voters then echoed the city council’s decision and rejected the cockamamie idea with 59% of voters saying “no!”

The idea was to prohibit pregnant women from traveling on public streets to drive to a place where could obtain an abortion. It would have empowered people to squeal on individuals they knew were planning such a thing. It would have subjected women and their doctors to criminal prosecution. It was an intrusive measure that could have created untold repercussion throughout the city.

It is an idiotic and totally unenforceable effort to interject government into people’s most intensely personal matters.

I have many friends still in Amarillo, where my wife and I lived for 23 years before we moved to the Metroplex. I, of course, couldn’t vote on that measure. I am just thrilled, though, to know that common sense and compassion ruled the day.

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‘Little Marco’ gets nod at State

As the world watches Donald Trump build a presidential administration, it is good to wonder: Who among these senior officials is going to have a lick of influence on the guy who selected them?

I ask as reports today tell us that Sen. “Little Marco” Rubio will get the nod as secretary of state. Rubio once was a ferocious critic of the next president. He ran against him for the 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination. He drew plenty of fire from Trump, who labeled him “Little Marco” in a successful effort to knock him down to size.

Marco Rubio also used to be a fierce hawk against Russia, against North Korea, China and once called for comprehensive immigration reform.

Hmm. Where is this going? Trump wants to make nice with Russia, likely seeks to resume the romantic correspondence with Kim Jong Un and will have nothing to do with reforming our national immigration policy.

The question of the moment is this: How will Little Marco be able to influence the POTUS on anything? Which one of these Rubio incarnations will show up for work, will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing? For that matter, how will any of the individuals Trump has chosen affect decisions that are coming down the road?

I will say this about Rubio. He is qualified to be secretary of state. He served for many years in the Senate and has shown a level of expertise on foreign policy that the new administration will need.

The question, though, remains the same. Will any of that experience and moxey matter when the new president faces critical mass at decision time?

local news, national news, political news

Get busy, Texas Democrats

Looks to me as if the Texas Democratic Party has some work to do — I mean plenty of work to do — if it hopes to regain its footing as a competitive political organization in this great state.

I lost count of the emails and text messages I got from Democratic senatorial nominee Colin Allred proclaiming how he had Sen. Ted Cruz on the run, that he had caught the Cruz Missile in the fight for his U.S. Senate seat.

On Election Day, Allred fell — shall we say — far, far short of the mark. Cruz rolled to re-election. Allred now has to find another job, as he surrendered his Dallas House seat to compete for the Senate.

That was the story across the state. Democrats everywhere met the same kind of electoral fate that befell Allred.

Oh, and the presidential vote total? Donald Trump rolled to an easy win over Kamala Harris, capturing the state’s 40 Electoral College votes that seemed to be in the bag since before Harris became the nominee this past summer.

Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa has resigned. Good! See ya around, Mr. Chairman.

Democrats have been talking bravely about a potential turnaround in Texas since 2018, when Beto O’Rourke came within 2 percentage points of defeating Cruz. It’s been downhill for Democrats ever since.

What’s the answer for Texas Democrats? How about starting from scratch? Perhaps the party should stop seeking to placate different racial and ethnic groups. Maybe it should forgo trying to warm up to LGBTQ groups. Perhaps the party should stop fighting the last key court decision.

A turn toward authenticity could be one answer. I remember when Texas Democrats were led by individuals who portrayed themselves as who they were. Shouldn’t that be enough?

The Democratic Party — and I am in their corner — need to get real busy real fast if it wants to be competitive in Texas.

crime news

Sexual register at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.?

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A fellow I have known for many years posed a notion on social media that I want to share.

My friend wrote: Now that Trump is president-elect will 1600 Pennsylvania Ave be listed in the sexual register.

I couple of things jump out at me to make such an appealing idea even possible.

First, none of the matters for which Donald Trump was involved occurred in the District of Columbia. Second, I doubt seriously that any of the jurisdictions where Trump misbehaved have imposed such a label on where he lives, nor do I think that such a designation would be transferrable.

Still, such an idea does sort of get my funny bone to act up.

Americans have elected a convicted criminal to the nation’s highest office. His myriad charges do include such sexual misconduct, the kind that ought to carry some serious repercussions.

Such as attaching a “sexual predator” sign on the door of where he will live for the next four years.

local news, military news, national news

Honor our vets … and the nation they served

My favorite veteran, my Dad, left this Earth 44 years ago. He never had the chance to grow old, as he was just 59 when he perished in a freak boating accident in British Columbia.

Pete Kanelis, though, was every bit a hero in my eyes and, yes, in the eyes of the nation he served with honor and distinction in one of its darkest times: World War II.  Dad’s heroism didn’t stand out among the 16 million men and women who suited up for that war. But he fought hard against the tyrants who sought to subjugate us all.

He was the farthest thing possible from being a “sucker” and a “loser,” if you get my drift.

Dad did not teach me many valuable life lessons during his time on Earth. Two things stand out. He valued family above all else. He also was an unabashed, unapologetic patriot who loved this nation and was prepared to fight to the death to preserve it.

He exhibited that pride on Dec. 7, 1941, the “date which will live … in infamy,” as FDR said the next day in the speech to Congress in which he asked for a declaration of war against Japan. The day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dad was listening to news reports at home in Portland with his parents and his six siblings.

He walked out of the house and went downtown to the armed forces recruiting office where he saw that the U.S. Navy was open for business. He enlisted that afternoon. 

Dad knew the fight for our national life was about to begin and he wanted to be a part of it. He got his wish … and then some!

He never boasted about what he did that day. In fact, my bride and I didn’t learn about it until 2019, when one of his brothers, Uncle Tino, told us what transpired that day. “I was 9 years old,” Tino said, “and I remember it vividly.” Dad was a 20-year-old college sophomore on that fateful day.

He taught me, without fanfare or bravado, that when your country needs your service, you step up and serve in any way you can. I would do so later … but this tale is about my favorite veteran and the heroism he displayed the moment he knew his country needed him.

Pete Kanelis embodied the best among us and on this Veterans Day, I salute all who served the greatest nation on Earth.

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Moral standards have vanished

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I will go to my grave flummoxed, flabbergasted and frustrated totally over the lack of moral standards we now require of candidates for president of the United States.

We have elected an individual who has admitted to serial philandering, admitted to grabbing women by their private area, been convicted of 34 felony counts associated with his campaign, been convicted of raping a journalist and convicted of paying an adult film actress $130,000 to keep quiet about a one-night stand that the president says never occurred.

That just scratches the top of my itchy head.

It’s OK for a candidate for the highest office in land to do those things, if you believe the horsesh** pushed by Donald Trump’s loyal cult followers.

What is going to happen when a politician from the Democratic Party side of the aisle gets caught committing any one of those things enumerated here? The MAGA crowd will go ballistic. So will the Oval Office occupant. They will engage in selective outrage because their guy got away with it.

It is disgraceful, disgusting and duplicitous conduct at its worst.

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