Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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A God who gets tired. That, my friends, is quite a picture. But it’s one of the amazing pictures hanging on the wall of the universe we inhabit. And, surprise, it hangs right there in the living room. I’d have expected to see a Do Not Touch sign prominently displayed, but, on the contrary, a rather amazing placard posted nearby informs and invites us: Please Note the Question Scribed on the Back of the Frame. So, before gazing at the front and center depiction itself, we rea...
“I’ve been everywhere, man/I’ve been everywhere, man…” – as sung by Hank Snow I was overjoyed to hear that one of my high school classmates and his wife recently completed their bucket-list project of visiting all 50 states. As I researched the 50-state accomplishment, I discovered that there is no universal standard for what constitutes a “visit” to a state. For instance, the Fifty State Club (founded in 2006 to celebrate and encourage travelers on their journey) sets a fairly low bar: put your feet on the ground and brea...
I am not a journalist. I have never pretended to be a journalist. The reason? I don’t pretend to be unbiased. I don’t usually do my own original investigation, unless the story has something to do with immigration, an area in which I can confirm my expertise. My primary job is lawyering. My hobby is opinionating. Which is why I find the so-called “journalism” of Lauren Windsor, the woman who lied her way into an interview with Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, to be as yell...
Here we are. Another year, another June and the nation is celebrating another Juneteenth holiday. On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed the bill into law making Juneteenth the 11th holiday recognized by the federal government. At a White House ceremony, Biden singled out Opal Lee, an activist who at the age of 89 walked from her home in Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., and called her “a grandmother of the movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.” On June 19, 1865, abo...
The term color revolution came into general usage in the early 2000s during a series of protests in the post-Soviet states. The purported aim of these revolutions was to rid the countries of corruption and to establish Western-style democracy. The revolutions were triggered by what the West viewed as falsified election results, and were highlighted by use of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the protests. Critics say that color revolutions constitute unlawful...
I often say politics makes people stupid. I’ve tried to think of a nicer way to say this, but there isn’t one. I don’t tie this to any specific political party, but observe it applies to all of them, through the effect they have on everyone who identifies with them. I’m embarrassed for people who pretend Joe Biden is mentally or physically capable and for those who imagine Donald Trump is a friend to gun owners. No one has a right to govern another person. There’s no way to...
Occasionally the evening news reports on people keeping more animals than they can handle. Other times children of deceased parents are astonished by how much “stuff” their parents or grandparents hang onto only to leave piles of unwanted things to be thrown out. The state of New Mexico is a hoarder. It hoards cash. One might think this is a good thing because, after all, isn’t keeping cash for a “rainy day” (such as a downturn in oil and gas) a good thing? Not really. Governm...
A few weeks ago, my 97-year-old friend Jean Grissom called to ask me if I could find out more information about a story that happened 82 years ago this month. Jean had been leafing through her journals, no small feat since she’s been religiously keeping a daily journal since Jan. 1, 1939. She was in the first of her five-year diaries — she said the cover is starting to crumble, so she’s very careful — when she came across an entry she had penned on June 17, 1942. Jean recorde...
I’ve got a question for you. And I’m not kidding in the least. Why is resting so hard? I understand that finding balance in life is a challenge. But if “too lazy to breathe” is on one end of the spectrum, most of the folks I know err very much in the opposite direction. I’d call that “rest-less.” They need to rest more. “Rest,” according to one definition, is “freedom from activity or labor.” That sounds rather appealing, almost like something worth an occasional try. It’s eas...
Earlier this month, during an event in Philadelphia supporting Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds made the attention-grabbing assertion that Black families were stronger and more conservative under the Jim Crow era. “You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together,” Donalds said. “During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — because Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted con...
So I turn on the news …. We’ve got wars raging in Ukraine and Israel. We’ve got nuke-carrying Russian warships visiting Cuba. We’ve got 4,000 illegal immigrants a day crossing our Southern border. We’ve got eight men from Tajikistan with potential ties to ISIS arrested this month in New York, Philadelphia and here in Los Angeles. We’ve got pro-Palestinian and antisemitic protestors making trouble on our college campuses, surrounding the White House, blocking traffic and...
Common sense is not as common as it once was. Used to be, good ol’ horse sense would tell you that if a jury found a businessman turned politician guilty of every damn charge brought against him, he must be guilty. But now, way too many people have suspended their reason to see the convicted felon as nothing more than a victim of some unimaginable conspiracy against him. It makes no kind of sense, but that’s the Republican Party these days. The fact is, Donald Trump paid a porn star to keep quiet about their sordid affair so...
I heard if one could walk a full hour every day, a person could knock a pretty good hole in that danged ol’ condition some folks call “The Sugar,” more widely known as diabetes, which I have. I’ve been concentrating so much on my walking I was neglecting my bicycle riding. And I like my bicycle riding: The relative quiet, the breeze in my ears. I would’ve written “wind in my hair,” but I don’t have much of that. So I went riding through Clovis around noon on a Sunday. Soon I found myself on L. Casillas Boulevard. My r...
Last column, I pointed out the injustice of Donald Trump’s conviction for violating nonsensical, arbitrary legislation. If such legislation even exists. Last week, it happened to someone else. Once again someone prominent has been convicted of a victimless “crime” while those in Congress and other government positions continue to victimize Americans with their felonious regime. Hunter Biden, the president’s son, has been convicted of breaking a federal gun rule -- they wi...
There’s the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice (sometimes called the World Court), Western Values and the International Rules-Based Order. These last two are capitalized to imply that they carry the same gravitas as the ICC and the ICJ. The International Court of Justice (ICJ or World Court) is a civil tribunal that hears disputes between countries. In theory, any state member of the United Nations, by signing the charter agrees to comply with a...
Two years ago, the Hobbs community in my district made national news when a newborn baby boy was found by dumpster divers inside an industrial garbage container. Following the discovery, the whole country watched the shocking video footage of the baby being discarded by his teenage mother just hours earlier. As a proud father and grandfather, this tragedy struck me to my core, and I immediately went to work to assist local authorities any way I could. By the grace of God, that baby boy survived and he is now a happy and...
’Tis the season for reunions … families, classes, schools, whole communities. When summertime rolls around, we seem to have a predisposition to gather with those with whom we share a commonality, whether it’s blood relatives or folks who happened to be living in the same school district as we did as young whippersnappers. I come from a small and widely scattered family, so our family reunions have been few and far between, but like about 200 others in this area, I’m fresh o...
Note: What follows is something I wrote in January 2000. As another Father’s Day is approaching, I’d like to share these words with you again. It’s been just a little over 24 hours since I got word that the kindest, gentlest, strongest, and best man I have ever known passed away. He was my father. Though many thoughts have been racing through my mind, I’ve realized that, if everybody had a father like I had a father, well, lots would be different in this world. If everybo...
It was a good week for the Reagan family. Not so much for the Biden clan. Last Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where my father is buried, there was a fine ceremony to mark the 20th year of his passing and recall the conservative principles that powered his domestic and foreign successes. And on Thursday, when the library marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day, it also celebrated the famous speech my father gave 40 years ago when he traveled to Normandy to ho...
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg deserves to take a bow following his undeniable victory. A New York jury delivered a guilty verdict in a trial largely devoid of political theater and intense media upheaval. That’s thanks to a judge who, during the multiple-week trial, managed to maintain civility and order and ensure the rights of all parties were upheld fairly. Former President Trump was convicted on not one, not two, but 34 felony counts. Supporters are outraged. D...
I must admit to a certain grudge against Californians who come rolling into New Mexico with an attitude of superiority over us poor souls. It’s a prejudice I developed after a few years living in the Land of Enchantment, after seeing more than enough arrogant Californians coming in and trying to tell the rest of us how best to live and behave. I’ve held the same grudge against Texas, but developed it years earlier while growing up in Arkansas. But I felt my own attitude of superiority when, within just a few years: the Raz...
Father’s Day is Sunday. I haven’t written much about my father. It’s only in the past few years I found the words to give him the praise he deserves. You see Dad was a mid-20th century career man. He worked his job constantly. Mom took care of us kids. And he was not to be bothered when he was home. What I remember most about Dad was he yelled a lot. It was tough having a conversation with him. He didn’t talk much to my brother, my sister or me. In our house if you wanted to talk to Dad, you talked to Mom. I finally underst...
The precedent is set. As of May 30, every presidential administration can expect to be convicted of felonies by the next administration from the other party. Congressional members of the opposition party could be convicted, as well. They all commit felonies, most far more real and serious than those for which Donald Trump was convicted. Democratic former presidents and members of Congress should be convicted of felonies as soon as there’s a Republican administration. Nor shoul...
The Eastern New Mexico University campus feels quiet this time of year with spring graduation in the rearview mirror and many students opting for online summer classes. Two community-minded librarians have decided that makes it the perfect time to lure local residents into Golden Library and the Golden Student Success Center and onto the beautifully manicured campus for some weekly free events. I met up with Hollie Bellinger and Alex Engels last week on the main floor of the G...
I have never been married, nor do I have any children. I grew up around married people. I descend from a whole line of married people. I have friends who are married people. I deeply admire married people, and I think they tend to be among the happiest folks in the universe. Marriage is a wonderful institution, but it does not mean the parties to that institution have actually been institutionalized and administered joint lobotomies where all semblance of individuality and...
