military news, national news, national security

Well … at least this war won’t last forever

I am going to give Donald Trump a shot-glass full of credit for the war with Iran — that he started — but which is about to come to an inglorious end.

The war that Trump began was thought to be a “forever war,” which he said during the 2024 campaign he would avoid. It’s coming to an end, but with Trump getting virtually nothing from the Iranians.

I am delighted to see progress moving clumsily forward on a peace deal with Iran. We lost 13 American service personnel’s lives. Thousands of Iranians died during the course of our bombing and missile strikes and I am sorry about that terrible loss of life. The war, though, appears to nearly over.

The Strait of Hormuz will reopen soon, one hopes. But get a load of this: The Iranians will be able to sell their oil on the open market, earning billions of dollars to shore up their shattered economy. The sides are arguing over an inspection protocol designed to ensure that Iran keeps its promise to not seek to develop a nuclear bomb.

Trump called the deal hammered out over years of negotiation to deny Iran a nuclear arsenal the “worst in history.” He tore it up upon taking office in January 2017. The only problem with that deal — in Trump’s view — was that it had President Obama’s name on it, along with Secretary of State John Kerry. But here we are, nine years later, and we’re back to where we began with an arrangement that looks a great deal like the one that Kerry and the president hammered out with out allies in the region.

Trump wanted regime change in Iran. He didn’t get it, although he is able to boast about killing the ayatollah in an airstrike during the first week of the war.

All the while, we hear from Trump about that moronic idea of dying the DC Mall Reflecting Pool blue to commemorate the nation’s 250th birthday; we watch the JFK Center for the Performing Arts take down Trump’s name from the edifice and Trump launching into this idiotic wee-hour social media rants about Cabinet officials and Democrats seeking to undermine him.

This isn’t anyone’s definition of “winning,” Mr. POTUS.

At least the war he started, though, is about to end. I would offer a wish that we could get down to actual governing … but I know that’s an impossible task.

local news

Sharing a bit of cheer

The world appears to be splitting at the seams, yes? A U.S. president keeps reaching beyond his grasp for more power than he deserves … or is entitled. There’s more crap to ponder.

With all that laid out there, I want to share with y’all a bit of personal good news. Perhaps you can relate. Here goes.

A few months ago I took a spill in my garage as I was exiting my pickup truck. My feet got tangled up and I fell on my left smack onto the concrete slab on the garage floor. My knee has been hurting ever since. I made an appointment with a radiologist recently and the doc determined I had a torn meniscus tendon in my left knee.

My friends and family have been watching me gimp around for a while now. Occasionally I can be seen with a cane to relieve pressure on my bad knee.

All that changed about 2 p.m. today. I visited an orthopedist in Plano. He took a picture of my knee and confirmed what I knew. “You have a torn meniscus,” he said … then came the magic words. He said he could give me instant relief with a shot in my knee.

So … he did. The shot contained a cocktail of drugs, one of which was a steroid. He injected the stuff into my knee.

Then came “presto!” The pain vanished. It was instantaneous.

I am able to proclaim that as a result I have full motion in my injured knee. I have no pain. I am able to walk at more than a snail’s pace. When someone asks me “How you doing?” I can answer with something a good bit more than “Just OK.”

This message is aimed at others who have experienced similar aches and pains. I know you’re out there.

My lesson to those who care about such things? Don’t ever give up. I might just try to chase my puppies around my yard.

Uncategorized

Talarico making more sense

1 Comment

The more I hear from James Talarico, the more appealing he sounds as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Texas.

Here is why. Talarico is a young Presbyterian seminary student who (a) wears his faith openly and expressses it freely and (b) is taking aim at Christian nationalists who are seeking to pervert the U.S. Constitution into something the nation’s founders expressly forbid … which was to make religion a part of our governing structure.

Talarico hails from Austin. He is running for the Senate against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s lugging so much legal and ethical baggage into this race I am surprised he is able to catch his breath long enough to make any sort of logical statement.

Talarico doesn’t fit the norm of modern Texas Democrats. He speaks openly of his Christian faith. He cites Scripture at campaign rallies and has opened his campaign with the slogan that it is time to “flip a few tables,” referring to the Biblical reference of Jesus being so angry he tossed tables to get his disciples’ attention.

Right-wing evangelicals are critical of Talarico, suggesting he is perverting Christianity to fit neatly into his political message. They believe the founders intended to create a Christian nation and want the current government to reflect those founding ideals.

I have chosen to take a different view, for if the founders wanted  Christian theology to take root after the Revolution, they would have written it into the Constitution. The nation’s government document is quite clear that it is a secular framework. There isn’t a single mention of Jesus Christ, the New Testament or Christianity to be found in it. In fact, the First Amendment to the Constitution declares that Congress shall make no laws establishing a state religion.

These are the things that James Talarico will seek to make clear to Texas voters. I am going to wish him all the success in the world as he carries out that mission.

Sports news

FIFA World Cup? Not for me

We”re a couple of weeks now into the World Cup matches spread across the United States of America and try as I might, I have to admit that I cannot join the rest of the world in embracing this activity.

Soccer just isn’t my bag, man. Full stop.

Before you accuse me of being provincialist, or of resisting a worldwide phenomenon, just understand that I am approaching my 77th birthday. I am long in the tooth and I understand fully the saying about how hard it is to change one’s habits and desires at an advanced age. So, there you go.

I remain a dedicated baseball fan, although even that has been trying for this old guy who just doesn’t quite grasp the kind of money these athletes make. I remember when icons like Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron all thought they had died and gone to heaven when they were offered contracts that reached $100,000 for a season. The same can be said for professional basketball and football athletes.

They went through a lot to get AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home for the Cowboys of the NFL, ready to play host to the World Cup matches. They had to remove artificial turn that covers the ground and replace it with grass, they had to remove all the corporate logos and teams have to rely solely on national pride to lift them to victory.

I have one earlier experience with the World Cup. In 2006, my bride and I were in Copenhagen, Denmark to attend a conference. We looked for dinner one night with some friends from Amarillo. That night we walked for blocks and blocks looking for a place to eat. The problem was that Denmark was playing Germany in a World Cup match and every eatery and watering hole was packed with soccer fans cheering themselves hoarse. The Danes and Germans simply adore their national soccer teams. That’s their call.

It’s not mine.

national news

Emoluments clause? Pfffttt!

I thought I understood much of what the Constitution allows and prohibits. One of the things the nation’s governing document disallows is the president accepting gifts from foreign governments while in office.

It’s called the “emoluments clause” and is as unambiguous as anything in the nation’s governing document.

So, I am forced to wonder aloud: How does Donald Trump get away with accepting a $400 million jetliner that he will keep grounded until he finishes work on his presidential library?

Trumpkins say he won’t actually use the aircraft while he’s in office. Therefore, the aircraft doesn’t fall under the emoluments clause prohibition … they say. Well, such “logic” is pure crap. Trump accepted the gift while serving as POTUS. Thus, in my view he has violated the clause without question.

Trump denies any wrongdoing. Qatar officials who gave him the aircraft were thanking him for standing strong in the Middle East against terrorists and terrorism. But dammit! — they still gave him the gift. The Constitution says he cannot accept it.

How in the name of constitutional clarity does this clown get away with this?

local news

Stand tall, police chief/city manager

Jim Waters is doing something I am quite certain I could never do, which is to take on two vital public service jobs for the price of one of them.

Waters is serving as Princeton’s interim city manager, while at the same time suiting up as the city’s chief of police. He told the Princeton Herald is will not seek a pay increase while performing both jobs at once. “I’m a Princeton boy, born and bred,” Waters said. “They offered me a stipend but I’m a firm believer in what’s best for the city and did not think I should accept it.,” he added.

I wish now to tip my proverbial cap to the police chief/city manager for exhibiting one of the true blessings of committing to public service.

The Herald reports that Waters is spending most of his time doubling as the city manager while delegating PD leadership tasks to three lieutenants and an administrative assistant. He said that “our people are taught to manage up, so they are getting the job done.”

I remain anxious, though, for the city to find a permanent city manager. Waters earns a handsome salary as the city police chief. That job alone will require to earn every penny of it. The Princeton Police Department is understaffed already, trying to keep the peace in a city that continues to go through explosive growth.

I just feel compelled to thank the chief/city manager for his service to the community.

national news

Obama center is now open!

Barack H. Obama today opened his presidential library, museum and educational center in Chicago … and it seems to carry an extra layer of significance.

It’s likely not the contents within this center, but rather the atmospherics surrounding its opening.

The Obamas — Barack and former first lady Michelle — invited three former presidents and their wives to the event. They stood proudly with the 44th president. They were President Bill and Hillary Clinton, President George and Laura Bush and President Joe and Jill Biden. And, yes, there was a conspicuous absence. There was no sign of Donald and Melania Trump.

Therein lies the atmospherics that tend to give this presidential museum opening its special significance.

Donald Trump, through his hideous conduct over the course of more than a term in office, has disqualified himself from event of such joy and accomplishment. Now we have the war he started with Iran, which is about to end (in a fashion) and the belief by many Republican pols and leaders that this country got taken to the cleaners. Think for a moment about this notion: Trump started a war, then backed away from it without gaining anything from the stated goals Donald Trump sought when he started dropping bombs and firing missiles.

Trump’s absence from this joyous event should serve notice to him — not that he’ll pay a shred of attention — that the world is going to function without him. He is becoming more of a lame duck every single day he remains in office.

national news

Let us honor Watergate

Fifty-four years ago today, Washington, D.C. police caught some burglars breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters building. They were rifling through DNC files looking for dirt on the party that opposed President Nixon’s re-election effort that was shaping up that year.

It was 1972. Nixon would win re-election to the presidency in historic fashion, winning 49 of 50 states and rolling up a 23-point popular vote majority over Democratic nominee Sen. George McGovern.

It begged the question: Why would a politician who was guaranteed such a stunning victory squander it on a break-in that produced far less benefit than the consequence that eventually would topple the president? They’ll debate that one forever.

It gave rise to a suffix that has attached itself to scandals big and small ever since. It happened at the Watergate Hotel. Thus the term “gate” lives on in the names of various misdeeds. This one was different. It showed how much damage can occur when politicians seek to cover up their misdeeds.

President Nixon sought to fend off the media, and law enforcement. The fundamental difference between then and now is that the Republican Party comprised people of principle. When it became clear that Nixon’s coverup would lead to his certain impeachment, several GOP senators went to the White House to tell Nixon the truth. He would lose a Senate trial and would be removed from office. Nixon heard that and on Aug. 9, 1974, he turned his office over to Vice President Gerald Ford, who then told us our “long national nightmare is over” and that “our Constitution works.”

I am relying on President Ford’s statement about the Constitution as my hope that we’ll get through what we’re enduring today. The Constitution is as strong today as it was during that earlier time.

national news, Uncategorized

Enough is far more than enough

OK, where do I start with this brief blog comment on a racist, vile, evil, heinous, despicable epithet spit from the slobbering puss of a UFC fighter from the front lawn of the White House?

I have run out of ways to condemn such statements … which I won’t call “free political speech.” The dipshit won his cage match, grabbed a microphone and questioned the gender of former first lady Michelle Obama.

I suppose I could bellow that “Enough is enough!” Except we crossed that line years ago with some ghastly comment from Donald J. Trump. It’s way beyond “enough is enough” territory.

Why, I cannot even summon strong enough language to condemn Trump’s absence of anger at the hideous blathering of the UFC numbnuts. Maybe I have become numb to these blatherings.

I have no need to explain to you what you already know or believe about the former first lady. She served in an office she never sought with dignity, grace and class. Her response to the moron who desecrated the people’s house with his idiocy only illustrates what we know about her.

As for the shit for brains who said what he said, I’ll let him slither into the dung heap from which he emerged.

International news

Wait for the boasts from POTUS 47

Wait for it, ladies and gents, because I am fairly certain they will fly out of the mouth of POTUS 47.

That would be … what?

Donald Trump is likely to declare he is the greatest negotiator in human history by ending the Iran war … which he began some weeks ago with missile strikes and aerial bombardments.

What Trump will be hard pressed to answer is this: What did we get out of this ill-advised war. My guess? Not a damn thing.

It appears that we now are just about where we were when Trump took office and tore up the agreement that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry worked out to deny Iran the nuclear weaponry it had sought for decades.

Trump did manage to all but destroy the world economy by sending the price of oil into outer space, causing inflation across the board to skyrocket and inflicting pain on U.S. families. Oh, wait … he said he wasn’t thinking about that.

Trump is a master at seeking to spin any argument to make him look better. The astonishing aspect of that skill is how he gets so many Americans to believe it. That’s what he will do with the pending end of the Iran war. He will seek to cast the end of the war as a product of his negotiating skills.

I will shake my head out of sheer astonishment.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience