Tag Archives: Khan family

Check out this poll … from Texas, of all places!

October 14, 2016 kanelis2012

OK, as long as we’re talking about public opinion polls that are all the rage as the presidential campaigns heads for the stretch …

A WFAA/SurveyUSA poll puts Donald J. Trump up by 4 percentage points over Hillary Rodham Clinton … in Texas!

Trump, the Republican nominee, is reeling after revelations of that hideous recording of him boasting of what he tried to do and what he could do with — or to — women. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, is now beginning to put some distance between her and her foe in the campaign’s final weeks.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/13/poll-trump-leads-clinton-only-4-texas/

I’m not going to suggest that Clinton will win Texas’s 38 electoral votes. The WFAA/SurveyUSA survey, though, suggests some movement away from the GOP nominee in a state that has become as reliably Republican as they come.

And get this: The survey contains a 4 percent margin of error, which makes the Clinton-Trump contest in Texas a virtual dead heat.

Huh? What the hey?

Isn’t this supposed to be one of Trump’s “firewall” states, where he actually could shoot someone — as he once boasted — and still retain his supporters?

It is fascinating in the extreme that with all the utterly miserable statements Trump has made during his entire presidential career — which comprises this campaign — that a video and audio recording of Trump’s vulgar references to women has turned voters against him.

It wasn’t enough that he ridiculed Sen. John McCain’s service during the Vietnam War; or that he mocked a reporter with a physical disability; or that he said a U.S.-born federal judge couldn’t preside over a case involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage; or that he would ridicule a Gold Star family because of their Muslim faith.

Oh, no. None of that stuck.

He talks dirty about women? He boasts about his attempts to commit “sexual assault”? His constant berating of women’s appearance? Yep, now he’s done it. Clinton has been talking about Trump’s “unfitness” for the presidency. There it is, in plain view.

Now we’re talking some serious erosion of political support — even, apparently, in Texas.

Maybe …

International news, military news, national news, political news

Does this officer deserve the Medal of Honor?

August 4, 2016 kanelis2012

This isn’t an original thought. Others have said this on social media, but I’m going to chime in briefly.

The late U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan has been in the news lately. He was killed in Iraq in 2004 when an enemy explosive device detonated. Capt. Khan was trying to save his men when he was killed.

His parents, Kzhir and Ghazala Khan, stood before the Democratic National Convention this past week and Mr. Khan delivered a soliloquy that opposed the candidacy of Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

The firestorm that erupted from Trump’s crass response to the Khans’ support of Hillary Rodham Clinton hasn’t yet abated. Trump said the Khans, who are Muslim, had “no right” to criticize him. Actually, of course, they had every right as proud American citizens.

The thought I’m putting forward here?

Humayun Khan, from what I’ve heard acted with extreme heroism on the battlefield in Iraq. As one of my social media friends noted today, Khan’s action was tantamount to throwing his body on a hand grenade, which is the kind of action that has produced Medal of Honor recipients.

Therefore, it seems fair and reasonable to wonder whether Humayun Khan deserves consideration for the Medal of Honor.

Well … ?

military news, national news, political news

‘Unfit to serve as president’

August 3, 2016 kanelis2012

The headline atop this blog comes from the mouth of the president of the United States.

Barack Obama said that about Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

That an incumbent president would say such a thing about a candidate who wants to succeed him is astonishing on its face. Here’s the thing, though. The president is correct.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-trump-226564

Obama took the question today at a press conference with the Singapore president. Is Trump fit to be president? The president said the GOP nominee is “wholly unprepared” to occupy the most powerful office in the world.

But then the president got to the crux of his remarks in response to the question. When will the Republican political leadership decide it has had “enough” of Trump? he asked.

OK, it’s more or less a rhetorical question. It appears that folks such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other congressional leaders have no intention — at least not yet — of taking back their endorsements.

Ryan in particular has spoken strongly against certain statements and policy positions that Trump has posited. He’s called the GOP presidential nominee’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants a “racist” policy. He keeps insisting that he has significant policy differences with Trump.

Yet he endorses his candidacy?

Now we have the latest, the building feud between Trump and the Gold Star parents of a young Army captain who died in combat in 2004. The captain and his parents are Muslims. The parents have spoken out against Trump’s candidacy. Trump’s response to the parents’ criticism has been condemned from all corners, including from some Republicans.

That is the latest basis for President Obama’s assertion that Trump is unfit and “wholly unprepared” to become president of the United States.

When, indeed, will the leadership of the political party he is leading into political battle going to say “enough is enough”?

military news, national news, political news, State news

Gov. Abbott weighs in on Khan kerfuffle

August 2, 2016 kanelis2012

Now it’s Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s turn to speak out against remarks aimed at the parents of a slain U.S. Army hero.

Abbott, the state’s Republican chief executive who’s now backing GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump after backing Ted Cruz initially in the party’s presidential primary, said this, according to the Texas Tribune:

“The service and devotion of Gold Star families to America cannot be questioned,” Abbott said in a statement provided Monday to The Texas Tribune. “Captain [Humayun] Khan, like many heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice, will be forever remembered for their service in protecting the freedoms we cherish in America.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/08/01/trump-attacks-greg-abbott-muslim-soldier/

OK, governor. Good words. But like so many Republican political leaders who now are backing Trump — who’s been battling Capt. Khan’s parents, Kzhir and Ghazala Khan, over their statements against the GOP nominee — he declined to say the rest of what needed to be said.

If he would have asked me to write his statement, I would have added: “Therefore, it is disgraceful that our party’s nominee, Donald Trump, would soil Capt. Khan’s service in such a manner by criticizing his parents for exercising their constitutional rights — as U.S. citizens — to speak out in a public political forum.”

Capt. Khan, a U.S. Army officer who happened to be Muslim, died in Iraq in 2004 while protecting soldiers under his command from the enemy. His parents spoke out at the Democratic convention against Trump’s candidacy.

Trump has said Kzhir Khan had “no right” to criticize him.

Actually, as a U.S. citizen, Mr. Khan had every right.

military news, national news, political news

Thornberry weighs in on Khan kerfuffle … more or less

August 1, 2016 kanelis2012

U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry said this about the recent tumult over remarks that Donald J. Trump made about the parents of a fallen U.S. Army hero:

“I am dismayed at the attacks Khizr and Ghazala Khan have endured after they spoke about their son’s service and sacrifice… I believe that each of us are called every day to show our deepest respect and gratitude to all of those who protect our freedom and their families.”

That’s it? Yep. Apparently.

To my reading of the statement from my congressman — a man with whom I have had a good professional and personal relationship for more than two decades — seems, shall we say, more than a bit tepid.

Thornberry is a dedicated Republican congressman representing an equally dedicated Republican congressional district. His party’s presidential candidate, Trump, has managed to step deeply into a morass by criticizing Khizr and Ghazala Khan after they spoke of their son’s death in Iraq during an appearance at the Democratic National Convention.

The Khans are a Muslim family and Trump’s response to their criticism of him has been, to say the very least, well … despicable and reprehensible.

I wish my member of Congress would take a moment or perhaps two to share the outrage that other Americans are feeling about the comments that a major-party presidential nominee would make about a grieving Gold Star Family.

As a friend of mine noted in a social media post, Thornberry’s response is on a par with declaring his undying opposition to “child abuse.”

High Plains Blogger