Monthly Archives: June 2020

national news

It’s not about civil liberties … fools!

The yammering from anti-face-mask loons who say the government has “no right” to force them to protect themselves and others from the pandemic is driving me just this side of batty.

You’ve heard ‘em at Donald Trump rallies, telling the media that government mask-wearing mandates infringe on their liberties. They have the right to go mask-free. It’s a civil liberties issue with them, or so they say.

Let’s take this idiocy a step or two further, shall we?

If we buy into that nonsense, then the government shouldn’t require motorcycle riders to wear helmets; they shouldn’t require us to buckle up while driving a motor vehicle; the government shouldn’t prohibit public indecency; cities, counties and states shouldn’t prohibit motorists from talking on cell phones while driving through school zones.

I think I’ll stop there. You get my drift, or so I presume.

The mask-wearing mandates are part of governmental responsibility to provide for the “general welfare” of the public. Yes, citizens are being asked to do things they don’t like doing. Too damn bad, man! If they won’t care for themselves – or more to the point, care for others around them – then government has a responsibility to act.

We are in the midst of a fight against a global coronavirus pandemic. It has killed more than 120,000 Americans. More of our citizens will die. They surely will get sick.

So, spare me the bullsh** about mask-wearing mandates infringing on our civil liberties.

legal news, local news

Let’s put the AG on trial … finally!

While the nation has been watching the machinations of a corrupt president and his minions, many of us in Texas have forgotten we have an attorney general who’s fighting criminal charges of his own.

Good news, fans and foes of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: A judge has ruled that the case should be returned to Collin County, where the Republican AG was indicted initially on allegations of securities fraud.

Have you forgotten about that? Yeah, me too … almost. The indictment occurred in 2015. That’s five yeas ago. The state and Paxton’s defense team have been kicking the case around ever since. Prosecutors succeeded in moving the case to Harris County because, they said, they couldn’t get a fair trial in Collin County.

Sure they could. A Collin County grand jury indicted Paxton, after all, which would appear to make it possible that prosecutors could secure a conviction of the attorney general were he to stand trail in the county he represented in the Legislature before being elected to statewide office.

As the Texas Tribune has reported: Paxton has been fighting charges that he misled investors in a financial services company from before his time as attorney general. Paxton has pleaded not guilty to all the allegations and was cleared in a similar civil case at the federal level. But when the Texas State Securities Board reprimanded him for soliciting clients without being properly registered, he signed a disciplinary order without disputing its findings.

This matter needs a resolution. I happen to be one Texas resident who doesn’t like our state attorney general operating under a cloud of criminal allegations. These things tend to inhibit the man’s credibility whenever he opens his mouth.

national news

He’s worse than I thought!

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I would like to take credit for being among those observers who predicted that Donald Trump would be a disaster as president of the United States.

But I cannot.

That is, I didn’t envision the level of ineptitude, incompetence and abject idiocy we would witness during the course of the time Trump was masquerading as head of state and commander in chief.

He actually is worse than I thought he would be.

Then again, I didn’t foresee a global pandemic storm ashore in this country, wiping out tens of thousands of Americans, sickening many more than that. Nor could I foresee the absolute ineptitude from the top of our governmental chain of command.

I had this notion up front that Donald Trump is incapable of exhibiting empathy or compassion. I mean, I recall writing early and often that Trump geared his entire professional life toward enriching himself. What has been stunning to me has been that Trump doesn’t even pretend to care about those who are suffering from the pandemic. My goodness, he speaks almost exclusively about the economic damage being done while virtually ignoring any mention of the human damage in terms of lives lost, families shattered by illness.

He is running for re-election on a platform that is virtually identical to the one on which he ran in 2016, which is to say he has no forward-looking plan.

I had harbored this thought – which I kept mostly to myself – that if Trump were to win that he might craft some sort of message on which to seek re-election. What, I have to ask, has happened to the message?

He had boasted about the economy. That is now off the table. He had bragged about how he would “put America first.” He tossed our intelligence community under a freight train by siding with Vladimir Putin’s stated denial that Russia interfered in our 2016 election; that ain’t putting America first, man.

I have said damn little about how Trump has (mis)handled the racial tumult that has erupted since the death of George Floyd.

And all of this has come after a series of blunders, gaffes, key staff firing and assertions from former Cabinet officials that Trump has behaved in a manner ranging from disinterested bystander to fu**ing moron.

I wish I could have predicted all this. I cannot. Nor can damn near anyone else.

national news

Please, please … no repeat of 2016!

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All these public opinion polls showing Joe Biden trouncing Donald Trump in the November election for president of the United States are beginning to tempt me beyond my strength.

I have to keep reminding myself: The polling said Hillary Clinton would cruise to victory over Trump in 2016; she didn’t cruise to the victory circle, but ended up making the concession phone call to the celebrity TV host/real estate developer/beauty pageant operator/rich kid who got the stake from Daddy. He was the guy who won!

I look back on that fiasco and I keep having to remind myself about this, too: If Joe Biden repeats the mistakes that Clinton made in ’16, then Trump is going to thumb his nose at the country once more … and we get this Bozo for another four years!

It is my fondest political hope at this moment that Biden’s team is smarter than Hillary’s team. That it knows to put the candidate front and center in “battleground states” that Clinton ignored as the candidates headed down the home stretch four years ago. I recall watching the returns in 2016 when Trump was declared the winner in Michigan and Pennsylvania and Bill Clinton’s election guru, James Carville, telling the nation that he didn’t like what he was seeing. Neither did many others, James.

The RealClearPolitics average of the reputable polls puts Biden up by 10 points. He’s been inching up and away from Trump ever since the president blew the pandemic response to smithereens and then threatened peaceful protesters with “thousands and thousands of heavily armed troops” as they marched against police brutality. I need to mention here that the RCP poll average called Hillary Clinton’s margin over Trump accurately in 2016; it just didn’t figure the Electoral College trickery – albeit all legal and constitutional – that Trump pulled off to win the election.

Oh, how I hope we don’t see a repeat of that fiasco, disaster, fluke .. and profound mistake that the nation made when it cast its electoral votes for someone who is unfit for the only public service office he ever sought.

medical news, State news

Abbott calls a ‘pause’ on reopening … gosh, who’da thunk it?

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Who could have thought this might happen?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott became arguably too anxious to reopen the state that had been shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. He did it anyway.

Then the state undergoes a serious spike in sickness and hospitalization from the worldwide pandemic. What, then, does the governor do? He dials back the reopening bit, only but in several of the state’s most populous counties. Abbott announced a rolling back of reopening in Dallas, Harris, Bexar and Travis counties. He called it a “pause.”

Folks in those counties have to wear masks when they venture into public places; they can’t crowd around each other; they must maintain social distancing; businesses that had expanded their capacity to 75 percent now might have to scale it back … significantly!

This is what happens, I venture to speculate, when we get too far ahead ourselves, trying to outrun a pandemic that takes no prisoners.

Indeed, Abbott is beginning to sound like someone who understands the nature of the “enemy” we are fighting. He has hung alarming labels on the increase in COVID infection throughout Texas, calling it “unacceptable,” “rampant” and “massive.”

I get all of this. Health concerns should – pardon the intentional pun – trump economic concerns. Let’s be real. An economy cannot recover if the people who make it run are confined to hospital beds … or they are no longer among us.

medical news

U.S. reaches dubious milestone

The United States of America has just logged the most sickening milestone in the current COVID-19 pandemic: the most cases of infection during a single day.

Here we are. Months into the pandemic and with Donald Trump continuing to bellow what a “fantastic” job he has done we are setting dubious records in medical futility. Vice President Mike Pence said that every day brings us closer to whipping the coronavirus pandemic. Really, Mr. VP? The numbers say something quite different.

Oh, and then the Veep said, “That’s leadership!” Sure it is, dude. Donald Trump is leading us into some form of medical oblivion.

Texas is now leading the way into the nation’s hideous and tragic response to the COVID-19 crisis. I heard something today that suggests that Houston — the state’s largest city — might become the most COVID-infected city in the world!

That is success? That is how Donald Trump defines the “fantastic” job he and his COVID response team — chaired by Mike Pence — are doing while fighting this disease?

Oh, my. God help us.

medical news

Texas, U.S. facing ‘massive’ COVID-19 outbreak

When you toss the word “massive” around, then you had better be sure that the condition or the event you are describing fits the bill.

So, then we have Texas Gov. Greg Abbott telling us that that Texas is facing a “massive” outbreak of COVID-19 infection. Yep, that comes from the governor who has yet to issue an order requiring us to wear masks in public, hasn’t declared cities and counties have the authority to do what they must to curb the infection rate.

The outbreak projection does give me the heebie-jeebies.

Indeed, Gov. Abbott is sounding more like Dr. Anthony Fauci — tha nation’s top infectious disease expert — than Donald Trump, the nation’s leading buffoon/carnival barker/con man/presidential imposter.

Are we going to shut down the economy again? If it means we can protect human lives, then I am all in. Do I want that to occur? Of course not! I am among those Americans who wants the economy to recover and who mourns the economic hardship that is befalling too many Americans. However, I also mourn the sickness and death that continues to strike Americans down.

Thus, when I hear our governor say that a massive outbreak of the killer virus is upon us, I get terribly concerned about my family.

Furthermore, I dismiss out of hand any phony pronouncement from Donald Trump or from his sycophants that we are whipping this “invisible enemy.” Trump is lying and he is instructing his minions to lie on his behalf.

The greater tragedy — apart from the deaths that are mounting up — is that they lie without any shame and expect us to believe them.

Let us prepare for that massive outbreak.

International news, medical news, national news

EU bans travel from U.S.? Wow!

Donald Trump can yap and yammer all he wants about all the “success” he is scoring against the COVID-19 virus.

His “allies” in the European Union have a different and damning view.

The EU is going to open its borders next week, but will ban travel from three key countries that it says haven’t done enough to stem the killer tide sweeping around the world. Those countries? Russia, Brazil … and the United States of America.

Axios.com reports: It’s an international rebuke of the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic. Millions of American tourists travel to the EU every summer, but that’s unlikely to happen until the U.S. gets the virus under control.

So, if you want to pack up and head for Paris, or to Rome, or the Greek Isles … forget about it! You ain’t going if you’re planning to depart from the U.S. of A.

It’s a preliminary recommendation to date. My hunch, though, is that the United States isn’t going to wrestle the pandemic to the ground between now and July 1, when the EU lifts its travel ban.

Infection and hospitalization rates are spiking in nearly half of our states, Texas included. Donald Trump’s response? He said we need to “slow down testing” because too many COVID tests produce too many positive infection results. We can’t have that in the middle of a presidential campaign, in Trump’s view of the world.

The EU’s decision isn’t going to sit well within the West Wing of the White House. Too damn bad! The EU wants to protect itself against further infection, just as Donald Trump wanted to protect this country when he banned travel from China when it dawned on him that the pandemic was a serious threat, except that he acted too late.

EU nations by and large have turned the tide against the medical nightmare. They want to ensure that COVID-19 remains suppressed, which the United States so far is failing to do.

business news, local news

Racism takes many forms

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I am seeing this drama unfold from some distance, but given my history with Amarillo, Texas, it isn’t as far as many other communities on which commented regarding similar issues.

A local lawyer, Jesse Quackenbush, wants to open a Mexican food restaurant called Big Beaners. It has, um, drawn considerable opposition within the community. Why? The term “beaners” is perceived by many Latinos to be an ethnic slur. Some of us Anglos see it that way, too.

Quackenbush, known for his feisty and occasionally combative nature, isn’t backing down. He wants to open the joint in early July; I understand he pushed the opening date back a few days.

He said he isn’t going to change the name because he already has ordered restaurant supplies — napkins, cups, plates and such — with the name Big Beaners inscribed on them.

This story, it seems to me, is a direct result of the rising public awareness of racial and ethnic sensitivity that has been pushed to the front of our consciousness. I haven’t spoken to Jesse Quackenbush about this, although I do understand he is digging against the racism allegation.

I just would suggest that the term “beaners” is a term that has racist connotations to many of us who hear it. I wish he would rename the restaurant he intends to open.

We return to Amarillo on occasion to see family and friends. I guess I should just acknowledge that I won’t darken his door as long as the establish carries a name that I find offensive.

Sports news

No ‘hate crime,’ but the love should remain

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Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports 

Bubba Wallace quite suddenly has become NASCAR’s most visible driver. He is the only top-tier African-American driver in the racing circuit.

It was thought for a few days that someone had hung a noose in his garage at the track in Talledaga, Ala., spurring outrage among drivers, their owners, many fans and politicians. Then we hear from the FBI that the noose had been in the garage since October 2019, well before Wallace and his crew took up space in the garage stall.

He had made his mark by calling for the removal of Confederate flags at NASCAR events. NASCAR heard him and took down the flags, which themselves in the eyes of many of us are symbols of hate, oppression and treason.

No hate crime has been committed, said the FBI.

What now?

NASCAR showed its love and respect for Wallace prior to the race the other day in Talledaga. Drivers and their crews escorted Wallace’s No. 43 car to the front of the line. The race started and Wallace led several laps before finishing in 14th place.

Wallace said he won’t be silenced by any threats. This particular threat apparently has been deemed a non-starter. The outcome of the FBI probe into what they found in that garage stall doesn’t diminish the message that a single driver sought to deliver about his sport. Yes, it was born in the South. Yes, too, the Confederate flag has been a key symbol at NASCAR events. Bubba Wallace simply has told us what many of us have known all along, that the symbol represents a dark and evil chapter in our nation’s history.

The young man deserves the love that has poured forth from his colleagues and from fans around the country.