national news, national security

Get to the root of the Capitol Hill riot

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Those of us who are old enough to remember it likely would provide the same answer to this question: What is the most serious security breach in our nation’s history?

I would answer: 9/11. Terrorists flew three passenger jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and could have crashed a fourth jetliner into the Capitol Building were it not for the bravery of the passengers who fought them for control of the jet and crashed it into a field in Pennsylvania.

The tragedy of 9/11 prompted a thorough investigation into what went wrong and it produced some important reforms in the fight against international terrorism.

Now we have another monumental security breakdown staring us in the face. It occurred this past Wednesday when rioters stormed up Capitol Hill and ransacked the Capitol Building. They sent members of Congress – as well as Vice President Mike Pence – scurrying for cover. They were gathered to perform a pro forma constitutional act of ratifying the Electoral College vote that declared Joe Biden elected president of the United States. Donald Trump sought to contest that result and, well, he has contested it in hideous fashion!

Now comes the question: What in the name of national security happened and how did the D.C. Metro Police Department, the Capitol Police, and the Secret Service not respond more forcefully and quickly to the mayhem that was unfolding?

I am one American patriot who believes we need to create another blue-ribbon, bipartisan commission to study in detail what went wrong and provide solutions for how to prevent this kind of tragedy from recurring.

I also am one of millions of Americans who was horrified at what I watched on my TV screen. Donald Trump exhorted the rioters to march on Capitol Hill and “take back” the government. The rioters began their march and then all hell broke loose.

A commission charged with finding answers would have many questions to probe. They include:

  • Given Donald Trump’s threat that “something big” would occur on Jan. 6, why wasn’t the Capitol Building swarming with security personnel who could repel the advance of the rioters?
  • Why did some of the cops appear to many of us seem to assist rioters into the building?
  • Others have posed this notion, but I’ll repeat it here: Had the rioters been ransacking the Capitol been Black Lives Matter protesters, there is little doubt that police would have reacted much differently than they did with the pro-Trump mob. The question: Is that a valid assertion?

Was there a massive breakdown in security of our nation’s government? I want answers. I believe a blue-ribbon commission given free rein to search for the truth can provide the answers we need to hear.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: A version of this blog was posted initially on KETR-FM’s website.

national news

Is America ‘great again’ yet?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have some words to share with the MAGA-hatters who might be reading these messages of mine.

We all know what MAGA means. It has become the acronym du jour for “Make America Great Again.”

I have used it a time or two — and that’s about it — as a verb, as in “Let’s all MAGA!” It usually shows up as an adjective to describe those who adhere to the message made infamous by one Donald J. Trump.

Have we done it? Those who subscribe to the MAGA world view, I want to know whether we have “made America great again.”

I was astonished beyond my ability to articulate at the sight of MAGA-hatted rioters plundering the U.S. Capitol Building. Think of the ghastly irony of that, if you have the stomach for it; I am not sure I can quite process it fully.

The MAGA crowd stormed into the Capitol alongside others carrying the flag of traitors, aka the Confederate flag. Think as well of that particular irony. MAGA-hatters profess to want to return America to greatness while ransacking the heart of our democratic system along with those plundering with them under the banner of the flag representing a confederation of states that sought to destroy America. Oh, and why did they want to tear the nation apart? They launched the Civil War to retain their right to own slaves.

Wow, man! How does it feel, MAGA-hatters? Have you accomplished all you set out to do?

national news

Ulterior motive surfaces

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There appears to be an ulterior, but noble nonetheless, motive behind the House of Representatives’ effort to impeach Donald Trump a second time, just days before he leaves office.

The House will vote Tuesday or Wednesday to impeach Trump for inciting the riot that erupted on Capitol Hill this past Wednesday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knows the Senate won’t take the measure up until no earlier than Jan. 19; Joe Biden will take office the next day.

The Senate won’t consider the impeachment article possibly for weeks, maybe months from now. The aim I have read is to give President Biden some time to get the executive branch of government formed, confirmed by the Senate and then getting them all to work on solving the myriad problems confronting us.

The ulterior motive? It is to ban Trump from ever seeking public office again. House members could insert language into the single impeachment article that says Trump must not be allowed to run for president, or for that matter for a school board or county commissioner seat ever again.

He incited the riot that killed five Americans. He sought to overturn the results of a free and fair election. He needs to be punished for it. If the Senate trial won’t convict him and, thus, toss his sorry a** out of office, it has the authority to rule that he must be barred from seeking any public office.

We now shall see whether our federal lawmakers can complement that authority with the will to do what is right.

national news

So much good awaits the nation

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will confront many challenges when they take office in nine days.

A coronavirus pandemic continues to rampage across the land; an economy is still shedding jobs because of that pandemic; the nation must rebuild its alliances around the world; it also must confront our adversaries, including those who have attacked our nation’s cyber networks.

However, we also can await some good news from the new government executive team. One of them will include the lack of demagoguery from the new president.

Joe Biden pledges to be president for all Americans. I believe him. Yes, I voted for him and for VP Harris. Part of my vote came with my trust that he is a man of his word. We endured four years of listening to a president say certain things, but do other things in contradiction to what he said.

Mexico would pay for The Wall; not so. The “American carnage” would stop; it only has gotten worse, as evidenced by the insurrection this past week on Capitol Hill. The pandemic was “under control”; it is running wildly out of control.

The immediate past president tweeted hourly. His policy pronouncements and top-level firings have become damn near legendary. President Biden is highly unlikely to forgo that form of communication.

A president with no government experience made a shambles of our government norms. The new president with decades of government experience will  restore them. He pledges to restore our national “soul.” I also believe in the sincerity of that promise.

I look forward to normal behavior and an absence of blind, raucous demagoguery from our commander in chief.

Big challenges await. So does some major promise.

national news

‘Come and Take It’?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

While watching the hideous insurrection erupt on Capitol Hill this past week, I was struck by the preponderance of at least two banners toted by the rioters who stormed into the halls of our democratic government.

One was the Confederate flag. Imagine that for a moment. The flag of traitors waving “proudly” in the hands of those supporting Donald Trump’s call for insurrection against the government.

Another was a banner with the phrase “Come And Take It,” featuring an image of some sort of assault rifle. These are the Second Amendment enthusiasts who comprise a sizable portion of the mob.

I want to focus briefly on the Second Amendment.

I suppose those who carried that banner want to send a message to President Biden and the new Congress, which is: Don’t mess with my rights to “keep and bear arms.” 

That “come and take it” mantra disturbs me to the core. I am not aware of any serious proposal being considered that would “take” guns away from citizens who own them for the right reasons: to hunt game, to shoot at targets, to protect their homes and loved ones from those who would do them harm, or just to own.

No one is going to “come and take” weapons from those individuals. Yet the notion being put forward by pro-Second Amendment zealots is that government aims to raid our homes and confiscate every weapon agents can find.

That is pure demagoguery. It panders to fear mongers. It seeks to frighten Americans needlessly.

Do I believe we ought to toughen gun laws? Absolutely! I have used this blog as a forum to call for legislative solutions that specifically do not inhibit Second Amendment guarantees that we can “keep and bear arms.”

All of this is being ignored by the zealots who contend that any effort to enact stricter guns laws is inherently an attack on Americans’ gun-owning civil liberties. It is no such thing.

How about toning down the fiery rhetoric? How about commencing this discussion once again with a new president and a new Congress that can find solutions to the ongoing epidemic of gun violence?

No need to fly that “Come And Take It” banner … especially while the nut jobs among us are attacking our system of government.

national news

Trump ban is no violation of liberty

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Time for a brief civics lesson to the minions of Donald J. “Insurrectionist in Chief” Trump.

Many of them are yammering that Twitter’s decision to ban Trump permanently from the social media platform is a violation of the president’s First Amendment rights of free speech.

Ummm, no. It isn’t. Not even close.

Trump has made liberal use of Twitter to get his message out, to do an end-around the filter of what he calls “mainstream media.” He was wildly successful at it, collecting 88 million or so followers. Many of them hung on every pronouncement he made. To be candid, I followed him, too, but only to see what kind of nonsense he would send out there.

He also used it to foment lies, such as the voter fraud lie about the 2020 election.

Twitter took action as a private business and banned him. Why doesn’t it violate the First Amendment?

The amendment instructs Congress to pass “no law” that restricts a number of personal liberties; one of them is free speech. The founders directed the amendment at the legislative branch of government, ordering Congress to refrain from passing laws that inhibit free speech, religious freedom, a free press, freedom to assemble peaceably, to seek redress of grievances against the government.

The amendment does not prohibit a private business, such as Twitter, from blocking someone from using that platform to spew lies … which Donald Trump has done!

There. Civics lesson is over.

DC riot, Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Put ’em on the record

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I suppose it’s time to face reality.

The U.S. House of Representatives is going to impeach Donald J. Trump for a second time, making him No. 1 in the annals of presidential infamy as the only POTUS ever to be impeached twice.

Trump certainly deserved to be impeached and then tossed out for soliciting dirt on Joe Biden from the head of a foreign government. That didn’t come to pass in 2019. The Senate acquitted him because only one Republican senator — Mitt Romney of Utah — had the courage to stand up against Trump and stand for the Constitution.

Now, though, comes the second impeachment on a charge of inciting an insurrection against the federal government. As Trump’s former friend/ally/confidant Chris Christie — the former New Jersey governor — said, if that isn’t an impeachable offense, “then I don’t know what is.”

The reality though is that the House impeachment won’t result in a Senate trial in time for Trump to be booted out of the White House. He’s only got 10 days to go before President Biden takes the oath along with Vice President Kamala Harris.

An impeachment, though, does have value. Once the Senate gets the articles of impeachment, House and Senate defenders of Trump will have been forced to explain why in the name of love of country they oppose impeaching and/or convicting him of the crime for which the House will contend he committed.

They all will cast their votes. Some of them might make public statements. Whatever the case, the public will know who these individuals are and will be able to hold them accountable for their statements and (in)action.

Trump’s inciting of the mob this past Wednesday is, as CNN commentator John Avlon noted, “history book stuff.” That single act will be written into our nation’s history, where it will stand forever as a testament to the ugliness of the time that we ushered with the election of Donald John Trump as president of the United States.

So, let’s have that debate, shall we? I am looking forward to laughing my a** off listening to those try to defend such despicable — and seditionist — behavior from the president of the United States.

Joe Biden, national security

Senate steepens Biden’s hill to climb

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

As if President Biden doesn’t already have a steep hill to climb when he takes office in 10 days …

The U.S. Senate will not have confirmed a single one of his Cabinet nominees by the time he assumes the presidency. Why? Well, senators have been consumed by matters involving the hideous antics of Biden’s immediate predecessor, Donald Trump.

The president-elect has been rolling out his nominees systematically since winning the election. He has completed that task, along with naming top staff-level appointees who do not require Senate confirmation.

It would be in the nation’s best interest for senators — who return to work no later than Jan. 19 — to focus immediately on confirming the president’s national security team. That would include the secretaries of defense, state and homeland security along with the director of national intelligence and the CIA director. We also might want to toss in the treasury secretary for good measure, given that our economic strength remains a key component of our national security.

Too many Republican senators, I am saddened to point out, have swallowed the “widespread voter fraud” lie that Donald Trump fed them as he fought to cling to power. hey have taken their eye off the task at hand, which is to help ensure a smooth transition of power. One of those senators happens to be the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who now surrenders that title to Democrat Chuck Schumer when the next Congress returns to work.

I don’t have any doubt that President Biden, with his vast government experience, will be able to navigate through the initial stages of the presidency without a full complement of Cabinet officials on hand.

The onus belongs to the Senate, though, to ensure that the new president is staffed fully as soon as is humanly possible.

Because, unlike Donald Trump, the new president will actually listen to and heed the advice he receives. The national security team is foremost among the advisers on whom he will rely.

national news

Bring senators back now, Mr. Majority Leader

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

We have 10 days to go before President Biden takes office.

Donald Trump will be gone from the White House. The House of Representatives might impeach the current president a second time, say, by Wednesday or Thursday of this week. House members will consider at least one impeachment article: incitement of insurrection, which to many folks’ view is as impeachable an offense as one can imagine.

If the House impeaches Trump, then the Senate — led at the moment by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — would conduct a trial. However, McConnell said the Senate won’t convene until the day before Biden takes office.

Whoa! Hold on! The Senate majority leader can summon senators back to office immediately, declaring a national emergency. He can seek to suspend the rules and then fast-track the vote of senators to determine whether Trump stays in office for the remainder of his term.

I believe it is imperative for the Senate to act quickly, just as it acted to confirm Supreme Court justice after the Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death 11 days before the presidential election.

All of this presumes that Trump won’t quit, or that the Cabinet won’t invoke the Constitution’s 25th Amendment and remove him from office.

It can be done. It should be done. Majority Leader McConnell must not sit idly while Donald Trump — who incited the rioters to storm Capitol Hill this past Wednesday — to walk away from the presidency on his own terms. The riot, as if McConnell and other GOP members of Congress need reminding, put their own lives in peril had the rioters been able to storm the House and Senate while our legislators were doing their constitutional duty in ratifying Biden’s victory over Trump.

Time isn’t on the side of those who want Donald Trump to be held accountable. However, the Senate has the mechanism to move rapidly … which it must do.

national news

Biden finishes selecting a Cabinet … but wait!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President-elect Joe Biden has finished his first key test of governing.

He has selected the men and women who will serve with him in the executive branch of the federal government he will lead beginning Jan. 20. I believe he has selected an impressive array of talented individuals to help him implement public policy on behalf of the people who have elected him.

But wait! There’s a name missing from the roster of Cabinet-level nominees I was sure I would see: Jim Clyburn.

You remember Rep. Clyburn, correct? Clyburn’s endorsement of then-Democratic candidate Biden prior to the South Carolina primary this past spring propelled Biden to an easy victory in that contest. Biden’s primary campaign had faltered in Iowa, in New Hampshire and in Nevada. Biden was given up as political road kill.

South Carolina — with its enormous African-American voting bloc — loomed just ahead. Biden told us he would win that primary. He needed help. U.S. Rep. Clyburn delivered it with his endorsement.

Biden won the Palmetto State and never looked back.

I was certain Jim Clyburn could have virtually any job in a Biden administration he would want. It might be that the president-elect asked him and Clyburn declined. It might be that Clyburn, one of the House of Representatives’ senior members, wanted to stay put and help guide President Biden’s legislative agenda through the House’s legislative labyrinth.

Surely, the president-elect with vast knowledge of the importance of political alliances would not simply pass over someone who in this political climate and in the context of the campaign that Joe Biden won personifies the definition of “kingmaker.”

I am pretty sure if nothing else that Joe and Jill Biden will put Rep. Clyburn on their Christmas card mailing list.

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