Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Periodically, while perusing my local newspaper, I discover some latest piece of news or what purports to be news that fascinates, startles, or amazes me. Below are two examples of these. Dany Werfel has recently been sworn in as the new IRS commissioner, and while I’ve never met Werfel, I’d like to shake his hand. In an article by AP reporter Fatima Hussein, Werfel is quoted as saying, “This is our moment in history to transform the IRS. We have a great deal of work...
China brokered a truce between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March. Tensions had been high between Iran and Saudi Arabia since the kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016. This deal should impact the civil war in Yemen, where Houthi insurgents with links to Iran took control of Yemen’s capital Sana’a, demanding a new government. In March 2015, a coalition of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia, began a campaign of air strikes against the insurgents with U.S. logistical and...
Last month, what has been called everything from “troubles in the banking sector” to a “banking crisis” became apparent when the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank notified shareholders the bank needed to raise $2.25 billion after suffering substantial losses. This precipitated a run on the bank and bank regulators placed the bank into Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. receivership. Shortly after that, the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC announced that New York-based...
During President Bill Clinton’s administration, the U.S. signed a treaty to establish the International Criminal Court. The U.S. said it strongly supported “international accountability,” but believed the treaty, known as the Rome Statute, had “significant flaws” that still needed addressing. The court investigates and brings to justice people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, intervening when national authorities cannot or will not p...
Approximately two months ago, the Seymour Hersh article, “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline” appeared on Substack. No major newspaper chose to publish this extensive, detailed look at one of the most shocking acts of terrorism since the destruction of the Twin Towers. More recently, articles have appeared in the “New York Times,” “The Washington Post” and “The Times” (used to be “The Times of London,”) from a variety of authors alleging that a...
Approximately two months ago, the Seymour Hersh article, “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline” appeared on Substack. No major newspaper chose to publish this extensive, detailed look at one of the most shocking acts of terrorism since the destruction of the Twin Towers. More recently, articles have appeared in the “New York Times,” “The Washington Post” and “The Times” (used to be “The Times of London,”) from a variety of authors alleging that a...
Last week I discussed Seymour Hersh’s charges that Nord Stream was destroyed by the U.S. government, acting under the direction of President Joseph R. Biden. These charges have resulted in Illinois College of Law Professor Francis A. Boyle, preparing a Resolution of Impeachment against the president of the United States. In an interview on YouTube with American journalist and political commentator Don DeBar, Boyle notes that he delivered copies of his resolution to every...
In late September of last year, a series of explosions destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines that connected Russia with Germany. After several weeks of investigation, the Swedish government ascertained that the pipeline was destroyed by sabotage. Initial media reports implicated Russia as the perpetrator of this disaster, but the Swedes declined to name any particular nation state as the culprit. Since that initial investigation, Sweden has refused to share any information on...
There is little hope that 2023 will usher in a new era of peace throughout Europe. Ukraine shows no indication of abating and as I write this piece, news reports reveal that several Western countries have “sent an ultimatum” to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, demanding that Serbs in the northern part of the breakaway territory, Kosovo, end their stand-off with local authorities. Serbia is one of the six separate nations that evolved as a result of Yugoslavia’s...
The Christmas season always makes me think of music. Not “Jingle Bells,” or “Frosty the Snowman,” but the sacred music that I grew up with in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska: “O Holy Night,” “When Blossoms Flowered Mid the Snows,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Adeste Fideles,” “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella,” “What Child is This,” “Joy to the World,” and the most loved, “Silent Night,” to name a few. To really get the full impact of...
I thought John McCain was a terrible politician, and a worse presidential candidate. He never met a war that he didn’t back and his campaign was a disaster. The only bright spot I remember about it was Sarah Palin, and he threw her over the side when he thought she became a distraction and an inconvenience. Kind of a harsh requiem, huh? On the other hand, John McCain was a bona fide U.S. American hero. His father and his grandfather were both admirals in the U.S. Navy. That...
My early predictions for the winners in 2023: USA Whoever decided to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines created what Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described as a “tremendous opportunity.” Blinken was correct in his assumption. Without Russian gas, Europe turned to the U.S. to provide Liquid Natural Gas. The U.S. was happy to provide LNG to Europe at a cost 6 times what they had been paying for it. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act provided subsidies for any...
My early predictions for the losers in 2023: Ukraine Ukraine is running out of ammunition, manpower and time. Ukraine currently fires about 2,000 rounds of artillery a day, while the Russians fire between 20,000 and 50,000 rounds. The casualty rate is reported to be as high as 8 or 10 to 1, favoring the Russians. The Ukrainians are being subjected to missile and drone attacks on an almost daily basis that are wrecking fuel, power and transportation systems. These attacks will...
Several weeks ago, the world was closer to WWIII than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. Although everyone has heard the phrase, “the fog of war,” it really is extremely problematic to grasp what is happening in the middle of hostilities. Having said that, anyone who arrives at a conclusion with any degree of certainty for a movement or action that happens in any given moment should think carefully before initiating counter action. Rather, they...
I have written before about the George Santayana quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I’ve also noted that when I first became aware of that quote, I assumed that the “cannot remember the past” part referred to some significant length of time, maybe a century or two. Alas it’s much less than that. Recently the Pentagon confirmed that there were, indeed, American troops on the ground, in Ukraine. These troops were not combat troops...
In spite of the fact that Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations started going up in the stores in early October, often times confusing the Halloween parties, I’ve always looked at this week as the start of what we call the “holiday season.” It’s still a little too early for Christmas music, but I could stand to hear that old Thanksgiving classic, “Over the River and Through the Woods,” a time or two. As I ponder what I just wrote, it dawns on me that today’s...
This week we will celebrate Veterans Day, on Nov. 11. As I’ve written before, when I was a child we celebrated that day as Armistice Day. During the Great War, on the Western Front, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, after fighting more than four years, an armistice was signed, and the guns on the Western Front fell silent. Also, as a child, we were required to memorize a poem from that conflict written by a Canadian doctor and teacher who served in...
The conflict in Ukraine continues to drag on. Regardless of how the conflict began or who was responsible for starting it, the fear remains that the war may get out of control, or may already be at that point. Whatever happens, the war may very well have unintended consequences just as most wars do. One of these consequences may be the impoverishment of Europe for many years to come. At the onset of the struggle, the strategy of the Collective West as explained by its leaders...
At the onset of the television age, most Americans remember Walter Cronkite as the go-to guy when it came to getting the real scoop on what was happening in the news. Ending each show with, “And that’s the way it is …” Cronkite made CBS News No. 1in its time slot. Numerous television reporters of that age got their start in newspapers, then went on to radio and had a wide range of diverse experiences before they came to television, including many from the world war....
A number of cities have established some sort of safe enclave by resolution or public signage from the local governing body of these cities that purports to show how warm and caring these communities are for groups of people that they consider down-trodden or ill used by society in general. Usually, these resolutions or signs have no mechanism for enforcement, nor do they carry any penalties should a citizen disregard the dictates of the declarations. An example of one such...
It appears that the votes are in as to who is responsible the Nord Stream pipelines and most of the media agree. Russia did it. I don’t know who did it, and what follows is an attempt to look at the situation through the normal investigation process that includes means, motive and opportunity. MEANS: News reports specify that the damaged pipes are constructed of steel that is five inches thick and coated with concrete. These pipes lie on the seabed at depths of between 230...
As a data point, I write these missives early in the week and they get posted on Sunday. As such, they may appear a bit dated or missing the very latest facts and figures of the subject matter I am covering. Having said that, it would be absurd to discuss anything other than the sabotage of Nord Stream 1 & 2, the two pipelines that provide gas to Germany and originate in Russia. As I write this it appears that both pipelines have been disabled by explosions that will result...
Over the last several years, I have asked the question, “Who will decide when the COVID pandemic is over?” In an interview with Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes” last Sunday, Joseph Robinette Biden stepped up to the plate and declared that, “the pandemic is over.” Immediately after the program, a plethora of medical experts beginning with the head of the World Health Organization begged to differ, when he stated, “we’re not there yet, but the end is in sight....
The president of the United States is the only member of the executive branch of government who is elected. Constitutionally, he operates as the chief executive officer of the U.S. government and the commander in chief of the U.S. military. The president appoints cabinet secretaries and agency heads and these folk serve at “the pleasure of the president.” Any power these positions may claim flows from the presidency. Over the last several years, there has been a movement...
The United States left Vietnam in April 1975. We lost more than 58,000 Americans in that war. Most Viet vets are getting a little long in the tooth now, with the youngest ones in their 70s. That war is another story for another day. Today marks the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, commonly known as 9/11. These attacks consisted of four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda against the United States, and...