national news

Paging Rex Tillerson … hello?

Of all the individuals from the Donald J. Trump administration who have fallen off the grid, one of them stands out to where I want to know what he must be thinking about the trouble that continues to swirl around the ex-POTUS.

Rex Tillerson. Perhaps you recall he was Trump’s initial secretary of state. Trump nominated the tough-talking Texan, the one-time Exxon-Mobil chief executive officer to lead our diplomatic corps. He didn’t last very long in the job, about 13 months.

He called Trump a “fu**ing moron,” never denied saying it and then got canned via Twitter message that Trump fired off.

Tillerson wasn’t an effective secretary of state, to be sure. How could he be, given that he reported to a numbskull who undercut him at every turn?

And, yes, he was right about the moronic status of the then-POTUS.

What in the world is this fellow thinking these days as we watch the 1/6 committee zero in on Trump, his key aides and the events that led to the insurrection against the government?

He probably doesn’t wish to be thrust back under the glare of the political spotlight. Some of us, though, want to hear what’s on his mind and in his heart.

Are you out there, Rex?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Cruz goes from hero to zero

Ted Cruz once was considered a hot-shot legal eagle, a former Texas solicitor general who has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, which for a lawyer is a big deal.

Well, the junior U.S. senator from Texas — a Republican (naturally) — now finds himself the target of an ethics complaint filed by Texas lawyers alleging he went too far in seeking to block the certification of President Biden’s election in November 2020.

The Texas Tribune reports: Lawyers with the 65 Project, an organization aiming to hold attorneys accountable for trying to keep former President Donald Trump in power despite his reelection loss, filed an ethics complaint with the association Wednesday. It cites Cruz’s role in a lawsuit seeking to void absentee ballots, numerous claims he made about voter fraud, plus an attempt to stop four states from using 2020 election results to appoint electors — all of which failed.

“Mr. Cruz knew that the allegations he was echoing had already been reviewed and rejected by courts. And he knew that claims of voter fraud or the election being stolen were false,” the complaint says.

Sheesh! The hits just never stop coming as they regard the Cruz Missile.

The guy who once called Donald Trump a “sniveling coward” has become his most ardent Senate sycophant. He has shrouded his effort to block Biden’s election victory as a search for answers into allegations of widespread voter fraud, that they deserve a complete airing.

Read my lips … Ted: The allegations have been proven time and again to be false. 

Ted Cruz target of bar complaint for role in undermining 2020 results | The Texas Tribune

As the Tribune reported: “The 65 Project is a far-left dark money smear machine run by a who’s who of shameless Democrat hacks,” a Cruz spokesperson said in an email. “They’re not a credible organization and their complaint won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on.”

We’ll just have to see about that. I am one Texan who wants some answers into whether this former legal hotshot has shot himself in both feet.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Can he declare victory?

The late U.S. Sen. George Aiken, a great Republican from Vermont, once lamented that the nation could conclude the Vietnam War simply by saying: “Let’s just declare victory and go home.”

The war was going badly, even though American forces were winning on the battlefield. Our victories were overshadowed by protests at home as Americans grieved over the casualties we suffered for a mission that no one at the Pentagon was able to articulate.

Russians are facing possibly the same the dilemma. Their forces invaded Ukraine months ago. The idea was to subdue Ukraine quickly, tossing out the government led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and installing a pro-Moscow puppet to dance to the tune called by Russian despot Vladimir Putin.

It didn’t happen.

The Ukrainians are fighting for their survival against Russians who are fighting to soothe the ego of a dictator.

Can the Russians now just “declare victory” the way Sen. Aiken saw many decades ago? It’s all right with me.

I want the bloodshed to end. I am sickened by the destruction brought to Ukraine. I am heartened, though, by the courage that Ukrainians are demonstrating — under Zelenskyy’s leadership — in fending off the invaders.

As for Putin’s possible victory declaration, I want to stipulate that none of that would preclude an international trial on charges of war crimes being leveled against this monstrous tyrant. By any measure one can make that charge against Putin, given that his forces have struck soft targets — schools, hospitals and apartment complexes — in direct violation of the Geneva Accords meant to govern the rules of war.

Let the bastard declare victory and then then commence a trial to convict him of crimes against humanity.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Step aside, Texas GOP

Texas Republicans have taken their share of hits from critics over the quality of the candidates they nominate for public office.

I am going to pronounce at this moment that the Texas GOP has been eclipsed in the loony bin category of political nut jobs by their colleagues in Pennsylvania, where a true-blue 2020 election denier has been nominated to run for governor of that great state.

Doug Mastriano is now the GOP nominee Pennsylvania governor. He served in the state senate. His foe this fall will be Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democrat who ran unopposed in his state’s primary.

Far-right election denier Mastriano wins GOP race for governor in Pennsylvania (msn.com)

Mastriano, to be brutally candid, is a seriously dangerous man to run one of the nation’s most populous and important states.

He believes President Biden and Democrats stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump. He would get to appoint the next secretary of state in Pennsylvania and would be likely to find a fellow denier to lead that state’s election in 2024.

He tried to get fake Trump electors seated for the certification of the 2020 results in Pennsylvania; Biden won the state’s electoral votes, but Mastriano sought to overturn those results.

Oh … my.

I now will declare my own preference for Pennsylvania governor. Josh Shapiro must win to preserve the rule of law and to save the democratic process in one of the states where it all began in the United States of America.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Biden delivers comfort, resolve

Joe Biden’s job description includes far more than signing documents in the Oval Office and making decisions that involve sending young men and women into harm’s way.

The president also must serve as comforter in chief. That role isn’t written anywhere. It’s just what presidents are called upon to do when the moment presents itself.

That moment arrived the other day when a white supremacist lunatic opened fire at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket; the gunman killed 10 Black Americans and injured three others.

Buffalo is shaken to its core. Its residents are horrified at the actions of a teenager who (allegedly) drove to the community, scope out the store and then committed the dastardly act.

Joe Biden demonstrated one of the key elements he brings to the presidency. He has suffered personal grief himself. He has buried two of his children and his wife. He spoke to Buffalo as a man who — and please pardon the phrase — feels their pain.

The president showed the entire world why many of us — such as me — are glad he is in the office he occupies.

Think for a minute of the Charlottesville, Va., riot in 2017. Klansmen, Nazis and assorted white supremacist goons gathered in that city to protest the taking down of a Civil War statue. A riot ensued when these individuals engaged with counter protestors. What did Donald Trump tell us? That there were “good people, on both sides.”

No. There were not.

The Editorial Board: Biden meets with survivors of the slain and lifts up a shaken and suffering city | Editorial | buffalonews.com

The Buffalo News offered an editorial that stated, in part: But it was Biden’s words that carried weight in Buffalo on Tuesday. He offered an emotional roll call of the dead, but promised their survivors that some unexpected day, a memory of their lost loved one would bring a bittersweet surprise: “It’s going to bring a smile to your lip before it brings a tear to your eye,” the president said.

The president of the United States performed one of those unwritten tasks. The goodness of this man was evident as he sought to lend comfort to a stricken community.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, local news

Herring rumbles persist

I keep hearing the rumbles from up yonder on the Texas Caprock about a landmark structure in downtown Amarillo.

It’s the Herring Hotel building. I need to add the term “building” because it hasn’t been an actual hotel since the 1970s. It has been rotting for decades.

Along comes a firm that is trying to market it to investors. One of my spies in Amarillo tells me the firm specializes in historic hotel structures. It is working, my snitch tells me, on the Le Meridian in Fort Worth. The theme of whatever happens to the Herring will be to honor the heritage of the region.

OK. Let’s see. That would be cattle, railroads, oil and natural gas exploration. Let’s throw in medical research and development, along with nuclear weapon assembly and disassembly, and — oh, yes! — with aircraft manufacturing and assembly.

That’s a varied history, don’t you think?

The Herring used to be the place to see and to be seen. It was the site of extravagant parties and was a gathering place for the rich, famous and those who aspired to be, um, rich and famous. These days it’s a place where homeless people seek shelter from the frigid Panhandle winter.

I want life to return to the Herring. The city has turned several important corners in its efforts to revive its downtown district. It has restored old buildings (turning two of them into hotels), built a baseball park, welcomed a glitzy new hotel near City Hall.

I am not going to predict that the Herring site is going to turn into shiny new jewel that towers over the north end of Amarillo’s downtown district. However, the rumbling just won’t stop. It leads me hope there’s something to what I suspect might be about to occur.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Headed to Land of Oz?

Pennsylvania’s Republican Party voters appear to be punching their tickets for a trip to the Land of Oz. God help them!

Mehmet Oz is leading — albeit barely — over Dave McCormick in the GOP primary balloting for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pat Toomey, who is retiring.

I won’t spend a lot of time on this nonsense, given Oz’s lack of credentials or credibility. He got the endorsement from Donald J. Trump for reasons that have nothing to do with public policy. Trump likes celebrities, and Oz fits that description.

I consider Oz, once a practicing physician, to be a quack. Trump thinks he’s the greatest.

I am going to pull hard for Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who won the Democratic primary easily, to defeat the GOP winner. Whether it’s Oz or McCormick, it matters little. They’re both repugnant.

If it’s Oz, then Fetterman can start with the fact that Oz doesn’t even live in the state he wants to represent in the Senate. He’ll figure out the rest of it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, International news

Putin’s big aim? Pffftt!

Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine those many weeks ago to prevent an expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Hah! What happened then? Oh, Sweden and Finland have applied for NATO membership. Indeed, if Finland is accepted as a NATO member, the Russian tyrant will watch his country’s border with NATO expand by roughly double what it is at the moment.

So, this begs the question: How is it working out for you … Vlad?

It ain’t!

Russian troops are getting their butts kicked on the battlefield by dedicated Ukrainian soldiers and militia. Putin sought to conquer Kyiv and Kharkiv — Ukraine’s two largest cities — only to watch those efforts literally go up in flames.

Russian soldiers are suffering from low morale, lack of ammunition, faltering equipment, resupply crises and are showing signs of insubordination on the field of battle.

None of this is likely to stem the assault that Putin launched against a sovereign nation. He now is threatening Finland with reprisal if NATO accepts the Finns and the Swedes.

I must point out, too, that NATO — thanks to the diplomatic efforts led by President Biden — is more united than ever in its mission to stand as one against any threats from Russia.

If I were advising Putin, I would consider offering a suggestion for a way to declare victory and just get the hell out of Ukraine.

Johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, media news

Take the man’s money, play by his rules

A friend and former newspaper colleague once told me after I left daily journalism and got my blog going full blast that my blog proved something about me he suspected from the day I began working with him at the Amarillo Globe-News.

It was that “you didn’t believe half the stuff you wrote for the newspaper,” my friend said.

Well, my friend — who’s also out of the daily journalism grind — is every bit as astute as I knew him to be when we first met in early 1995.

I make no apologies for writing editorials and for editing pages for a newspaper, the Amarillo Globe-News, with a strong conservative tradition. My friend was right, that I didn’t adhere to much of what I wrote on behalf of the publisher, to whom I reported directly.

I told my then-boss that there were some lines I could not cross. They dealt with capital punishment, gun control and abortion. The newspaper opposed gun legislation, it favored capital punishment and was anti-choice on the issue of abortion; I tilted in the opposite direction on all three issues.

He hired me anyway and for that I am grateful.

I made a brief return to daily journalism at the end of 2021. The Dallas Morning News hired me as a temporary, part-time editorial writer. To his great credit, the editorial page editor for whom I worked told me he “never would ask” me to submit an editorial with which I disagreed in principle.

I am grateful also for the leeway he extended.

This is all part of what I have known since another ex-colleague and still-friend told me years ago. “If you take the man’s money,” he said, “then you have to play by the man’s rules.” 

Fair point. I now work for myself writing on High Plains Blogger, although my freelance work for the weekly Farmersville Times and for KETR-FM public radio allows to go back to what I learned how to do at the beginning of my journalism career. Which is to write straight news stories.

I learned that skill a long time ago. I also have learned that one never loses one’s touch.

And so … this gig keeps on producing more fun than I ever thought was possible.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

GOP is capable of nominating weirdos, nut jobs

MAGA candidates are running amok in the Republican Party primary elections throughout the nation.

One or two MAGA goofballs are likely to be nominated for high public office by Republican voters in places such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina. There will be more of them.

They have earned the endorsement of Donald J. Trump — the MAGA in Chief.

My favorite candidate to earn the Trump seal of endorsement has to be Mehmet Oz, the one-time Dr. Oz who’s running for a U.S. Senate in seat in Pennsylvania. Get this: Oz doesn’t live in Pennsylvania. That didn’t matter one little bit to Trump, who gave Oz his endorsement because, I suppose, he’s a celebrity; Trump likes celebrities, right?

I’m not sure whether Trump’s anointing of Oz is going to work; he’s facing another MAGA-ite in Pennsylvania.

Republican voters have some key decisions to make. Do they want to throw their party over to the cult leader who keeps putting his ample ass into these primary fights?

Aww, hell. I don’t care if they do. Let them follow their cult leader over the cliff.

Trump is a menace to our governmental system simply by being on the fringes of a major party’s primary fight. Accordingly, it will fascinate me to no end to watch how the GOP primary season plays out.

Whether it becomes a MAGA haven or returns to semblance of its senses will depend on whether the voters have become intoxicated by the snake-oil swill served up by The Donald.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience