crime news

TDCJ inmates need not broil

The summer’s incessant and relentless heat wave has returned an issue to the front of the shelf that needs some examination.

It is whether to install air conditioning systems into Texas’s massive prison system. Think for just a moment about something. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hegar projects that the Legislature will convene in January with an estimated budget surplus of about $13 billion.

Well, how might we spend some of that surplus? Oh, here’s a thought. Perhaps we could install A/C units into at least some of our state’s prisons.

I sort of understand why Texas hasn’t chosen to give the state’s enormous state prison population some of the comforts others of us receive and take for granted. However, reports indicate that indoor temperatures at some of our prison units have reached 140 degrees during this summer’s intense heat wave.

That is unacceptable.

I became acquainted with the lack of A/C units during a tour I took in 1995 of the Clements Unit outside of Amarillo. Frankly, I hadn’t studied the issue much since my arrival in Texas in early 1984. However, I was acutely aware of how hot and hostile summer gets in all regions of Texas.

My first thought upon learning of the lack of A/C was: Hey, didn’t an inmate sue the state for housing inmates in “inhumane” conditions … and didn’t he win that lawsuit, forcing the feds to take run the state prison system for many years?

Putting A/C units in our state prisons surely doesn’t turn our lockups into “country clubs.” It simply provides a livable environment for inmates who, frankly, deserve to be treated like human beings.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news, national news

Go for it, Mr. AG

Given that I consider Attorney General Merrick Garland to be a man of high honor, integrity, honesty and candor, I will take him at his word when he declares …

That he would be willing to prosecute a former president of the United States for crimes against the government if the evidence he gathers leads him to that decision.

Even if it “tore the country apart”? asked NBC News anchor Lester Holt.

Yes, Garland said. Even that will not dissuade him from holding “everyone” accountable who has committed a crime involving the 1/6 insurrection.

“So, if Donald Trump were to become a candidate for president again, that would not change your schedule or how you move forward or don’t move forward?” Holt asked.

“I’ll say again that we will hold accountable anyone who is criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the transfer — legitimate, lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” Garland answered.

Merrick Garland does not rule out prosecuting Trump over Jan. 6 (msn.com)

OK. Are we clear? Must we continue to hector, pester and harangue the AG over his intentions? That is unwise.

President Biden chose a man of impeccable integrity to become the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. I remain committed to the belief that AG Garland will do his duty thoroughly and completely.

I also happen to believe that Donald J. Trump should be prosecuted. But …  that ain’t my call.

I am going to hold out hope that if the facts lead us to Donald Trump’s feet that the attorney general will do what he must do to hold “everyone accountable” for the dastardly deed of seeking to overturn a free, fair and legal presidential election.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

How does Pence remain silent?

Many things have been known to escape my occasionally meager skills at understanding certain matters, such as …

How in the world does former Vice President Mike Pence remain so silent when the whole world now knows that Donald J. Trump didn’t give a damn whether he got hanged by the mob of traitors who stormed the Capitol on 1/6?

Testimony has been revealed that on the day of the insurrection, with mobsters carrying signs that said “Hang Mike Pence!” the then-POTUS didn’t lift a finger to quell the violence. Nor did he call the VP to determine whether he was safe. Nor did he salute the VP for doing his constitutional duty.

Oh, no! All that Trump said that day about the vice president was that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage” to overturn the 2020 presidential election and that “Pence let me down.”

What a piece of sh**!

But the ex-VPOTUS won’t condemn in unambiguous language what many of the rest of us find repugnant beyond belief. That the president was derelict in his duty that day. That he violated his sacred oath of office. That he has never expressed a single public word of remorse over what happened on 1/6.

Pence has been at the center of this investigation. Yet he remains curiously silent about the behavior on that horrifying day of the man who incited the whole thing with The Big Lie.

Go figure.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Hey, libs: Pipe down and let AG do his job

To be sure, I have spent a lot of emotional capital chastising conservatives over a whole array of issues. Today, though, I want to take aim at the progressives among us who are growing impatient with the pace of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s potential probe into Donald Trump’s role in the 1/6 insurrection.

Summing it up, I want to say that progressives need to settle down and quit acting as if the world is going to explode if Garland doesn’t meet their deadline for a decision.

The AG is examining whether to prosecute a former president of the United States of America — for God’s sake — on charges that might include conspiracy to commit sedition. Think of the seriousness, here.

It’s never been done before.

Now, do I believe Trump committed crimes while refusing to stem the attack on the Capitol on 1/6? Yes! I do! However, I am just a chump layman out here in the peanut gallery. I use www.highplainsblogger.com to say what I believe, which is my right as a red-blooded American citizen.

I will not have to pay the price, though, were I to seek a flawed indictment of a former POTUS.

Therefore, I am willing to give the attorney general all the room he needs to roam in search of evidence he believes will result in a conviction of unnamed, unspecified charges against Donald J. Trump.

Earth will not spin off its axis if Garland doesn’t meet the progressives’ deadline … whatever it is! He is a studious, careful, meticulous, learned lawyer. Let him do his job!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

religious news

Christian nationalism? Ugh!

Christian nationalism is clawing its way back onto the political stage. If you’ll pardon my seeming hysteria, but … this notion frightens me.

Why? Well, the United States of America — despite the lies put forward by Christian nationalists — is not a Christian nation.

I have looked everywhere throughout the U.S. Constitution for the words “Jesus Christ,” or “Christian,” or “Chistianity.” I’ll be deep-friend and slathered in butter, but I cannot find any of those terms. Nowhere. The Constitution does not mention any of them. Not one time!

Why do you suppose that’s the case? It is because the nation’s founders were descended directly from those in Europe who fled religious persecution. They also fled governments that demanded that they worship a certain way.

Let’s also stipulate for the umpteenth time that the First Amendment to the Constitution declares that “Congress shall make no law” that establishes a state religion. Got it? Good!

Not everyone gets it, though. Take the recent blathering of the QAnon queen herself, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who said that she is a “nationalist” and also a “Christian.” Therefore, she said, “I am a Christian nationalist.”

She’s also stupidly misrepresenting the oath she took when she entered Congress in January 2021. The oath does not specify allegiance to a deity, let alone a Christian deity.

We must keep a watchful eye on Christian nationalists. They are a frightening bunch.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, education news

School cops get a bum rap

Let’s examine this issue of public school district police forces and whether they are equipped and trained to respond to tragedies such as what unfolded recently down yonder in Uvalde, Texas.

The Uvalde Independent School District chief of police, Pete Arredondo, commanded a force of five officers. They were all certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement that issues those certifications.

Put another way: Arredondo was not in charge of a corps of mall cops. 

The chief is on unpaid administrative leave pending a decision by the school board whether to fire him. My opinion? He needs to be cut loose and sent on his way to … somewhere other than another law enforcement job.

The officers under his command, though, do not deserve to be criticized — as they have been in some circles. Yes, other agencies’ officers responded to the slaughter of those children and their teachers. However, the Uvalde ISD officers were fully capable of responding appropriately when the need arose … and boy howdy, it arose that day at Robb Elementary School.

School districts throughout Texas are hiring police officers, putting them on school district payrolls and entrusting them to protect our children. I cover a school district in North Texas, Farmersville ISD, that has such a force. It is run by a veteran police officer with many years of experience.

Farmersville ISD, indeed, is set to hire at least one additional officer for its force of four officers — including the chief. Additionally, the district is considering the hiring of school campus “monitors” who will serve as eyes and ears on site for the police department.

I want to stipulate once more that the FISD officers are fully certified by the state and are fully qualified to respond to emergencies as they develop.

The Uvalde tragedy was a failure of leadership. Pete Arredondo, from what I have been able to discern, failed to act decisively in the critical moments early on as the tragedy unfolded. So, too, did other force commanders who arrived at the school to deliver assistance.

Let us not dismiss the actions of one small police force as emblematic of the kind of law enforcement that our children deserve and receive.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Hawley = chicken hawk

Josh Hawley has crossed some sort of threshold from mere MAGA-induced right-winger to cartoon character.

He’s now considered what one could call a chicken hawk. He talks a good game but is a scaredy-cat when the feces hits the fan.

Hawley is a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri. He was photographed the morning of 1/6 offering a clenched-fist salute to the mob of traitors gathering on Capitol Hill. The mob was getting ready to attack the government in an insurrection aimed at stopping the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

The mob got riled up. Then it attacked.

Ahh, but where was Sen. Clenched Fist? He hightailed it to an undisclosed, secure location somewhere in the bowels of the bastion of our democratic government.

Now the senator who contributed to the attack was nowhere to be seen or heard until the mob dissipated, the cops restored order and Congress was able to finish the job it is constitutionally mandated to perform.

Sen. Tough Guy now is the object of well-earned derision in many quarters. You may count me — no surprise! — as one American patriot who detests the young senator.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

 

media news

I saw ‘woke’ before I ever heard the word

Hey, something just occurred to me that I want to share with this post. It made me chuckle when the thought entered my pointed head.

You’ve heard the term “woke,” right. I take it to be a sort of put-down on those with progressive/liberal leanings. Here’s a quick story that I want to share.

I was working at the Amarillo Globe-News in the early 2000s when the publisher decided to move our opinion page operation into the newsroom; it had been next to the publisher’s office in an adjacent building.

So, we made the move. My two staffers and I set up shop in a corner of the AGN newsroom. I dug into my box of mementos and found a bumper sticker that one of my sons’ high school teachers had given him … to give to me! It said: I don’t believe the liberal media.

Maybe you’ve seen stickers like it. I taped it to a window on my new office.

It didn’t take 24 hours for a colleague at the newspaper to tell me how she was “offended” by it and that others in the newsroom were offended, too. She told me to take it down or else she would take it up with the management of the newspaper.

Like the dumbass I was in the moment, I reacted two ways. My jaw dropped because I couldn’t believe I was hearing such nonsense. I told my colleague that the sign is a “joke on me. It is intended as a barb that someone was leveling at me because of my political leanings.” She wasn’t convinced.

Well, I took the sign down. I put it away. I kept it hidden from view during the time we were stationed in the AGN newsroom. We didn’t want to offend anyone … you know?

Talk about an “I wish I woulda said this” moment. I should have dared her to take it up with human resources, or even the publisher. I should have shooed her away and told her to take it up with the executive editor at the time. But … I didn’t.

Now I understand better what “woke” means. It reared its ugliness in front of me before I knew what “woke” meant.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Constitution Boot Camp? Yes!

Liz Cheney is a busy woman these days, serving as a Republican member of Congress who is critical of Donald Trump and suggesting that all new members of Congress take a remedial course on the U.S. Constitution.

Yes, we are electing constitutional nitwits to the very body that writes laws we all are required to obey. The Dallas Morning News editorial today took note of two individuals who clearly need a refresher course on the document they took an oath to protect and defend.

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, according to the DMN, couldn’t identify the three branches of government, said that World War II was fought against European socialists and promised to use his Senate resources to campaign for Republicans, which the newspaper noted is illegal.

One more: Rep. John Yarmouth, a Kentucky Democrat, said the government “cannot go bankrupt because we have the power to create as much money as we need to spend,” the DMN said. Umm, wrong!

Liz Cheney wants to require freshmen members of the House and Senate to take a Constitution Boot Camp course to acquaint them with the document that serves as the governmental framework for our nation.

That’s a hell of a notion, right? These people swear on a holy book that they will protect the Constitution to the best of their ability but don’t know the basics of the document that our framers cobbled together to send this nation on its way to greatness.

As I survey the field of congressional candidates seeking to win their respective races in 2022, I shudder in fear that voters, indeed, are going to elect MAGA numbskulls. These people will be voting on measures that affect every single American. I don’t want them writing laws that affect me so directly.

The Morning News notes Cheney’s overflowing plate of issues and concerns, but adds, “When she gets done protecting our founding documents on the Jan. 6 House panel, we encourage her to implement the Congressional Boot Camp.”

We shouldn’t ever send dummies to Congress, but we continue to send these dipsh**s to Washington to vote on laws — and order us to obey them! — then make the new ones take a course on the Constitution.

The Constitution requires these folks to swear an oath to be loyal to the document. Shouldn’t they be required to know something about the document they will protect?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Cheney standing tall

It’s getting harder by the day for me to dislike U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, the conservative Wyoming lawmaker who is distinguishing herself by being one of the few Republicans in Congress who is willing to speak the unvarnished truth about Donald J. Trump.

She calls him — in no particular order — an existential threat to our democracy, a danger to the nation, a pathological liar, someone who has “no business being anywhere near the White House.”

There’s some other stuff, too, but you get my drift.

I once despised Liz Cheney. I didn’t like it when she declared her candidacy for Wyoming’s only House seat; I said at the time that she was a carpetbagger who spent hardly any time in the state her dad, Dick Cheney, represented during his House tour.

She’s also a bit too right wing for my taste.

Then along comes The Donald, who torches the Constitution and all but disavows the sacred oath he took to defend it. Cheney said, “That’s enough.”

She has said time and again that the sacred oath must stand over any fealty to a politician. Cheney also said that her work on the House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection fills her with pride in the duty she is performing in seeking the truth behind the attack that Trump incited.

Win or lose in her August GOP primary in Wyoming, Cheney said she will remain committed to the task before her. “The sun will come up the next morning,” she said, and she will keep pursuing her effort for the truth behind the attack.

Normally, a politician who vows to do his or her job isn’t worthy of extraordinary praise. The context of this time, though, makes it different. That context compels me to offer the highest praise I can to a politician who is showing exemplary courage.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience