legal news

Hoping judge’s ruling holds up

It is easy for me to cheer a ruling by a U.S. district judge in Texas that bans the state’s abortion ban.

I will cheer the ruling by Judge Robert Pittman. I fear the ruling won’t hold up.

Pittman said the state law that bans abortion after a woman has been pregnant for six weeks cannot be upheld. I agree with him. Then again, I am not a lawyer, let alone a judicial scholar.

The state law is cruel in that most women don’t even know they are pregnant until after six weeks. That didn’t stop the Legislature from enacting and Gov. Greg Abbott from signing it into law.

Pittman was selected for the federal bench by President Obama, which I suppose gives you a clue as to his political leaning … not that it should matter when it regards court rulings. Right?

The state is going to appeal Judge Pittman’s ruling. It will work its way through the appellate court system. It might even find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, with its 6 to 3 conservative majority.

At least for the time being, though, the judicial system has come to the aid of women desperate to maintain control of matters that only they should be allowed to decide.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

What will we say when it happens?

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My mind does have this way of wandering into strange places on occasion, which I think is a consequence of being retired; too much time on my hands and too much time for my noggin to venture where it doesn’t usually go.

For example, I have been thinking about the day Donald J. Trump departs this good Earth. Hey, it’s gonna happen!

Tradition and custom usually mean that when political figures check out, politicians of all stripes gather to say generous things about the newly departed. When President Nixon died, the current president, Bill Clinton — obviously no fan of the deceased POTUS — gave a stirring eulogy at his funeral in California. President Obama did the same when he spoke at the late Sen. John McCain’s funeral in 2018.

Then again, how does one muster up the good will to speak charitably about a president who has spent his entire political career trashing, denigrating, defaming others? Most of his victims have been fellow pols.

I am not really wishing it to happen any sooner than it inevitably will. I simply am thinking out loud about the prospects when the opportunity presents itself.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

A reckoning is on its way

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It’s impossible to predict that such an event will occur, but one can certainly hope that it does … which is what I am going to do.

I am going to hope that a day of reckoning will come to those who continue to resist mandates to (a) wear masks (b) maintain social distancing and (c) receive inoculations against a killer virus.

Local governments across this great land are requiring people to protect themselves — and others! — against the virus that has killed more than 700,000 Americans; the number is sure to increase.

I cannot determine how the reckoning will occur or what form it will take. I just have this hope in my ticker that it comes to those who continue to insist that government “has no business” dictating how people can protect themselves.

Which, of course, is nonsense.

The government is able to tell us to wear seat belts when we travel in motor vehicles; it can tell us to put out cigarettes when we enter indoor public place; it can set speed limits on our public rights-of-way; it can require we have auto insurance when we drive.

Do I go on?

You get my point.

The COVID-19 virus is a killer. It needs to be stopped. Government has a role to play in ensuring we protect ourselves and our loved ones. And, oh yes, even perfect strangers.

Let’s quit the politicking on this matter.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Yep, he said it!

Yikes! Aack! What the … ?

I don’t know quite what to say other than to post a quote attributed to the 45th president of the U.S. of A.

He said the following: “Nobody has done more for Christianity or for evangelicals or for religion itself than I have.”

I guess I could add a “wow!”

Donald J. Trump’s hold on the evangelical Christian movement continues to baffle me. It also enrages me. He is the least moral man ever occupy the office of POTUS.

He is a liar, an admitted philanderer, an admitted sexual assailant. He has done “more for Christianity” than any other human being? Did he say that to a religious broadcaster? I presume so.

Well, there is this notion, that he would order businesses to wish their customers “Merry Christmas.” Do you remember that?

Sickening in the extreme.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Better get the 1/6 probe done quickly

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(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

If past is prologue as it relates to the 2022 congressional election, then it’s wise to urge the U.S. House select committee to finish its investigation into the 1/6 riot sooner rather than later.

As in … before the 2022 election.

After that, again if history is going to repeat itself, Republicans are going to take control of the House of Representatives; Nancy Pelosi no longer will be speaker and the GOP will likely move rapidly to shove the results of the 1/6 probe into the crapper.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has issued subpoenas of several key White House aides who are privy to what occurred the day Donald Trump incited the riotous mob to storm Capitol Hill. I will call the riot what it was: an insurrection. The terrorists sought to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

The panel, chosen by Pelosi, wants answers. So do many millions of Americans. As for who might be speaker if the GOP takes command of the House, he is a 1/6 riot denier. I refer to Kevin McCarthy, also of California.

The reality is that McCarthy has talked out of both sides of his pie hole regarding that terrible event. He scolded the POTUS immediately after the crowd dispersed, but then reverted to form and voted against creation of an independent commission to study the matter.

Thus, it become imperative for the House select panel — which contains two key Republican lawmakers — to finish the job to which it has been tasked.

We cannot — must not — tolerate another cover-up.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Grisham owns it … good!

I want to give Stephanie Grisham some points for coming clean on a key matter involving her time serving in the Trump administration.

She owns the mistake she made in refusing to speak out in real time what she was witnessing while serving as White House press secretary and as chief of staff to the first lady.

Grisham, who’s written a reportedly stunning tell-all book about her time in the White House, also said today that her boss — the 45th POTUS — is “unfit for office” and she hopes fervently he never darkens the White House door ever again.

She spoke of the Secret Service code name for Melania Trump; the agents referred to her as “Rapunzel,” named after the fictitious character who was afraid to leave the castle. Melania Trump reportedly spent most of her time in the White House residence because, according to Grisham, she dared not venture out to be seen by the public or the dreaded media.

Listening to her discuss her book, though, filled me with a bit of admiration for a public figure who is willing to own her mistakes. She said she was wrong to keep quiet about the Trump chaos as it was occurring. I accept that acknowledgment as an apology.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Say it ain’t gonna happen

My ol’ trick knee has let me down too many times for me to count.

I used to rely on it to tell me about political trends. It throbbed most recently just prior to my suggesting that Donald J. Trump wouldn’t dare run for POTUS in 2024.

Part of me wishes my trick knee would restore its magic. Another part of me suggests it has let me down one more time.

I’m going to stay the course, though, at least until the former Nitwit in Chief sends us all a clear message that he’s in … again!

If so, then God help us.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

The Big Lie must die

I had hoped — seriously, I did — that the results of the phony Arizona “audit” of the 2020 election would signal an end to The Big Lie that Donald J. Trump keeps repeating.

That the election was “stolen” from him. It wasn’t.

I must be a shmuck. It’s only gotten even more preposterous.

Indeed, the phony audit conducted by Cyber Ninjas confirmed President Biden’s victory in Arizona. Indeed, Biden collected a few more votes than before the Cyber Ninjas started their forensic “audit” of ballots cast in Maricopa County.

That’s the end of it? Hardly. The 45th POTUS, the former Dipsh** in Chief, called for a forensic audit in Texas, which he won in the 2020 election. He continues to insist that The Big Lie is the big truth. He continues to denigrate our governmental process. It denigrates our local elections officials who worked tirelessly prior to the 2020 election to ensure its fairness, legality, its accuracy and the integrity of its result.

Think about this for a moment. A president who took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution has done everything he can to damage it. He incited a riot, an insurrection that sought to overturn the results of that election. POTUS 45 has yet to acknowledge publicly that he lost the election.

The most maddening aspect of this is that this clown continues to rally supporters who actually believe The Big Lie, that the election was so corrupt that President Biden couldn’t possibly have been elected fairly.

Their proof? The evidence? They don’t have any. The rely solely on the bellowing of the former POTUS, the king of sore losers, the guy who actually said after the Cyber Ninjas released the findings of their phony Arizona audit that he actually “won” the election.

The Big Lie needs to die.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Debt or investment?

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One man’s piling onto the national debt is another man’s “investment in the future.”

So it goes with the debate over Build Back Better, which is President Biden’s domestic spending initiative that is hung up in wrangling between congressional Democrats and Republicans and, yes, even between factions within the Democratic Party.

Whether it’s a $3.5 trillion spending package over 10 years or a $1.5 trillion package, it’s a lot of money.

What is so damn troubling, though, is that the GOP caucus is now worried about the national debt. It wasn’t worried one little bit about it when Donald Trump pitched an idea about cutting taxes for rich people, depriving the government of revenue it could “invest” in programs to help the rest of us. Now, though, it is all hung up on the debt and the cost of the infrastructure package that Biden and some within the Democratic caucus want.

Yeah, I know. It’s politics. That’s a family member of mine’s favorite rejoinder. It’s his fallback position when he can’t find any justification for the nonsense being bandied about.

It still stinks, man.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Watch out, social media!

Social media can be full of trickery, blind spots and occasional booby traps … which is why I like to use social media platforms primarily to convey thoughts I write on High Plains Blogger.

I kind of ran into one of those booby traps today with a post I shared on a private neighborhood group on Facebook.

The post had to do with an upcoming election in Princeton, Texas, where I live. The city wants to stage an election in November that will ask voters for permission to form a home-rule charter commission to draft a charter for the city to govern itself.

I wanted to share it on a neighborhood group to which my wife and I belong. I submitted the blog post, but it got kicked out. It was rejected by Facebook. The “administrator” of the group where I sent the item said the issue is publishing items on multiple social media platforms.

Hmm. No sweat. Now I hear that Facebook might be monkeying around a bit too liberally with social media content. It is “censoring” some items, one of my “neighbors” wrote.

Whatever. We live now in an era where social media has emerged as a primary source of information for millions of Americans. I have friends and members of my family to rely on social media to give them the “news.” The problem I see with that option is that they aren’t getting “news” the way I understand the term; they are hearing opinions on the news and if you agree with the slant, you listen some more; but if you disagree with it, well, you hit the road.

This the new age in media, my friends. It isn’t pretty. It is, as the late Walter Cronkite would tell us, “the way it is.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience