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Welcome them, however …

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden said he is wants to “go big” on an immigration reform proposal for Congress to consider.

I agree with him, but with an important caveat. I want there to be strict border security and enforcement of immigrant-entry rules for those seeking to come to the United States.

The president has unveiled a sweeping reform that enables undocumented residents already living here an eight-year path to seeking citizenship or legal resident status; it seeks to speed up that path for agricultural workers and recipients of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program; and, yes, it seeks technology to help patrol the nation’s borders.

The childhood arrivals idea, aka DACA, became a favorite target of the Trump administration. Donald Trump rescinded President Obama’s executive order granting a form of amnesty from deportation for those who were brought here illegally as children. Joe Biden then rescinded Trump’s order in a kind of take-that approach to peeling back his predecessor’s policies.

Democrats unveil Biden’s immigration bill, including an eight-year path to citizenship (msn.com)

I am trying to take a longer view of the approach to immigration reform is taking. For sure I do not want to see a continuation of the heartlessness espoused by many of Donald Trump’s immigration advisers, namely that prince of darkness Stephen Miller who sounded for all the world like someone who wants to shut the door completely to all immigration. As the grandson of immigrants, I take deep personal offense at the approach that the Trump administration took and I welcome the more compassionate approach being expressed by the Biden team.

And no, I do not favor any sort of “open border” notion that has become a sort of whipping boy for those on the right who suggest that anything short of walling off the United States is an endorsement of welcoming everyone … legal and illegal immigrants alike. That is the stuff of demagogues.

I want President Biden to deliver on his 2020 campaign promise to fix the nation’s immigration policies. He has thrown a bold plan out there to ponder. Finding common ground is the basis for sound legislation. The president’s decades of experience as a U.S. senator puts him in position to lead that effort.

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Feeling ‘liberated’

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The thought occurs to me that I have been liberated from the tumult that marked the four years of Donald Trump’s term as president of the United States.

I have been invigorated in a way by being able to focus on other issues, villains and heroes. It’s not that High Plains Blogger will lack the ability to reap a generous harvest from a target-rich environment. The field is full of villains and heroes. Donald Trump will occupy far less of my attention than he did while running for president and then actually being president.

He’s gone now. Sure, he still wants to be a player. I doubt seriously that he will be able to resurrect his political fortunes. State and local prosecutors are busy examining the many criminal cases involving Trump, his family and his myriad business involvements. There well might be plenty of opportunities that arise if prosecutors in New York, or Georgia or Florida produce indictments. I’ll bide my time.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep this blog busy with commentary on active politicians, on current issues of the day, on the heroes who work to make our lives better and, yes, while still chronicling the retirement journey my wife and I continue to enjoy.

This liberation feels mighty good.

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Good news to report

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The number of Texans who are living with a boil-water advisory has declined by roughly 15,000 … or thereabouts.

That is the estimated population of Princeton in Collin County, where my wife and I live and which issued such an advisory when the city’s water treatment plant went down during the worst of the massive snowstorm that blanketed the state.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says the city has done what it should to make the tap water safe to consume. That’s good news, right? Right!

The TCEQ recommends we run the water for two minutes before using it. Hey, we can do that.

I just wanted to share this bit of cheer with you because we’ve all been deluged — no pun intended — with a torrent of misery brought by Mother Nature and worsened by the mismanagement of the state’s massive electricity grid.

We’ve got a way to go before we are totally free of the agony. It’s good to acknowledge that we are able to take baby steps toward that freedom.

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What can he do? Plenty!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Allow me one more shot at the Cruz Missile.

Ted Cruz went to Cancun to bask in the sun with his family while the state he represents in the U.S. Senate is suffering from a monstrous Arctic blast. He came home to face a torrent of well-deserved criticism.

But … he also has his pals on the far right. One of them is right-wing gasbag Ben Shapiro, who wondered what a senator could do. Should he fire up a blowtorch and start thawing frozen plumbing? Shapiro asked.

What a moronic notion.

Senators can do plenty. They have staffs who do something called “constituent service.” They can talk directly to FEMA officials, to their fellow senator, to members of Congress, to mayors, county judges, to utility bosses asking them what they need. He can show up at warming shelters to lend a good word of encouragement. He can demonstrate empathy, compassion and concern.

Cruz abandoned his post. Where I come from that is called “dereliction of duty.”

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‘Distraction,’ Sen. Cruz?

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(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ted Cruz is back home in Houston.

It seems that the Republican U.S. senator heard the hollering and got back quickly from his vacation in Cancun. His reaction to the media is disgraceful.

He called it “unfortunate” that the trip has become such a “distraction.” What a joke from a serious jerk.

Cruz jetted off to the Mexican resort while his constituents in Texas — and that includes my family and me — are suffering from the monstrous winter storm that paralyzed the state’s utility systems.

Instead of staying at his post, making sure the federal government could deliver relief for Texans, Cruz decided to fly away because he wanted to be a “good dad” for his daughters who wanted him to accompany them on a family vacation.

Good grief! He should have just told his children: Kids, I am sorry I cannot join you but I have a serious job to do and I need to stay home and make sure our state’s residents don’t suffer any longer from the storm. Go have a great time and I’ll see you and your Mom when you get home.

But, no-o-o-o-o! He didn’t say that. He chose instead to desert his post while the state is suffering.

This guy makes me sick.

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2021 channels 2020?

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

— Roger Daltrey, singing, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It seems like a lifetime ago. We said goodbye and good riddance to 2020. Remember that? I do!

Then we welcomed the new year with the hope that turning a calendar page meant we could turn the page on an era of tumult, turmoil, tempest … the works.

The pandemic had killed many thousands of Americans; we endured the nastiest presidential election campaign in memory; then we watched the outgoing president foment the Big Lie about the election outcome being the product of political thievery.

The pandemic muted many traditional celebrations. Times Square was not full of revelers on New Year’s Eve.

Then the new year arrived.

To be candid, 2021 seems to have just continued the misery we felt in 2020. The nation endured the insurrection at the Capitol Building; five people died. The House impeached the outgoing president for the second time; the Senate then “acquitted” him by failing to get enough votes to meet the high threshold required to convict him of inciting the riot.

That all happened within the first month of the new year.

Then came the Storm of 2021. We in Texas are suffering from this event.

I am merely venting. I mean, what else is there to do? I cannot make the weather change, other than wish it would as I desire. Perhaps a prayer or two will help.

That all said, I won’t dwell on the misery we are experiencing in this new year. I am going to look forward. For one thing, the weather is going to improve. Spring is on its way. The grass will turn green; flowers will bloom; the temperature will warm up; the ice will melt.

The pandemic infection rate is beginning to decline. I get that too many Americans are dying and my heart continues to break over it. More of us are getting vaccinated, protected against infection.

A new president will not lie incessantly. He is going to act the part of head of state and commander in chief. The POTUS will function the way the holder of that office is supposed to function. As we turn the corner from the pandemic, my sincere hope — and belief — is that our economy will rebound.

The new year looks a whole lot like the old year … so far. It is testing my patience, but my reservoir of hope is deep.

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They earn their keep

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My many years working as a daily print journalist put me in touch with a boatload of public service officials, many of whom I learned to respect and some of them actually earned my affection.

I have been thinking of them over the past few days as we Texas residents have grappled with the ravages of Mother Nature’s wrath.

City managers, fire and police chiefs, utility officials, EMTs, paramedics, mayors and city council members all have been facing immense pressure to answer their constituents’ questions and tend to their needs. Yes, we pay their salaries and they are responsible to us first and foremost. Most of the public service officials I have known over many years have done their level best to fulfill their public responsibilities.

I knew a fire chief in Beaumont, Texas — his name is Pete Shelton — who jumped into a culvert to rassle a gator out of someone’s yard; I cannot recall the size of the beast Chief Shelton pulled out, but I think it was, um, sizable. That, I submit, is going above and beyond the call of duty.

We don’t have alligators lurking in people’s yards in Collin County, but we have plenty of officials here who do their jobs with dedication.

This winter storm has provided plenty of sleepless nights not only for those of us who have suffered through extended periods of time without heat or water. The nature-induced insomnia also has affected those upon whom we depend to solve those problems. Make no mistake that those ranks also include the utility employees who answer calls to restore water flow or work on power lines.

I just feel the need to salute them all. They have earned their salary.

local news, State news

Get back to work, Ted

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, I just have to get something off my chest.

Ted Cruz is a worm, a snake, a weasel. The U.S. senator from Texas now has come clean on a report that he flew off to Mexico while the state he represents is undergoing a historic natural weather trauma.

He said today he flew with his daughters to Cancun because he wanted to “be a good dad.” He said his family in Houston has suffered, too, losing power and water right along with the rest of the state.

His children wanted to go on vacation with friends, as their school is shut down.

Ted Cruz flew to Cancún as millions of Texans endure power outages | The Texas Tribune

Look, Sen. Cruz, you get paid a six-figure salary to be on the job when your state needs you. I believe we need our senators and our members of Congress on the job imploring the federal government for help. I understand Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn have communicated with the White House on what they need and Cruz — who said he would return today to Texas — vowed to work hard.

He damn well better get back to work.

The Cruz Missile hasn’t exactly distinguished himself lately, helping lead a Senate challenge of the 2020 presidential election results and then voting to acquit a disgraced — and twice-impeached — former president after watching him incite a riotous mob to storm the Capitol Building.

Stay on the job, Sen. Cruz, and earn that salary we’re paying you.

State news

Take off the mask, Ted

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

What you see with this brief blog post is a picture of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz waiting to board an airplane.

It’s reported the junior Republican senator has jetted off with his family to Cancun, Mexico. Why is this a big deal? Because the state he represents — that would be Texas — is enduring the effects of a historic winter storm.

Millions of Texans are affected adversely by the storm. Pipes have frozen; the power has gone out; local water supply has been compromised; politicians are sniping at each other over who’s to blame; Texans are angry, miserable, hurting.

Cruz now reportedly is basking in the sun down yonder in Mexico while his state is suffering grievously.

If I were Ted Cruz — and I thank God I am not — I would have issued a press release to deny that the picture is me and that I am not vacationing in Cancun … were that the case.

His silence regarding this matter speaks volumes. Ted Cruz is shirking his duty.

local news, State news

Playing politics with people’s misery?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Oh, my. Here it comes.

Texas government officials are taking their lumps over the disaster that arose from the Arctic blast that blew in over the state. It has paralyzed entire cities. Power has gone out. Water supplies have been compromised. It has been a nightmare around here.

However, I am saddened to see this misery being politicized. I do not want to assess any blame based on partisan concerns. Nor do I want to hear prominent politicians or other political activists seek to make hay over the misery that so many of us are enduring.

I’m talking about folks such as, say, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a one-time presidential and U.S. Senate candidate from El Paso. O’Rourke says the failure of the power grid is attributable to “Republican policies.”

Really, Beto? You are going there already while a lot of folks — perhaps even some in your home town — are still sleeping in frigid conditions?

I am way more than ready to get through this emergency. I want it to end. I want solutions based on reality. I believe some individuals or groups of individuals have made plenty of mistakes while mismanaging the crisis.

The source of our misery is infinitely greater than any human being can control. Let us focus on dealing directly and exclusively with how we can find our way out of this mess. The politics of it can wait.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience