local news

Nazis would spur Dad to action

My father wasn’t an overly political individual, in that he didn’t wear his politics on his sleeve or bellow his views out loud.

However, if there is a cause that might spur Dad into action, it well could be the emergence of these Nazi groups showing up at rallies to protest things like drag shows or those who are accused of mass shootings in schools, shopping malls or churches.

Dad was a proud Navy veteran who fought the Nazis from 1942 until 1945 in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. He endured 105 consecutive days of aerial bombardment from German and Italian warplanes.

He enlisted on Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed our fleet at Pearl Harbor; he wanted to join the Marine Corps, the USMC office in Portland was closed that Sunday, so he walked across the hall and joined the Navy.

Dad didn’t boast about his service to the nation or the role he played in ridding the world of tyranny, but he did speak easily about that time — when someone asked him!

I have been thinking of Dad lately as I see these stories about Nazis rearing their ugliness across the country, seemingly feeling comfortable and “mainstream” in spewing their vicious hatred.

This was the kind of monstrosity that the Greatest Generation suited up to fight after the United States entered World War II.

Dad was one of the 16 million Americans who answered the call.

And this non-political American patriot — the late Pete Kanelis –would be aghast at what he is hearing from the mouths of those whose forebears sought to kill him.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Paxton calls on speaker to quit? Huh … ?

Wow! That’s all I should have to say on this matter, but of course I’ll add a couple of cents’ worth.

Of all the elected officials serving in this great state of mine, it falls on an indicted Texas attorney general to call for the resignation of the speaker of the Texas House.

What in the world is wrong with this picture?

AG Ken Paxton, who’s been under criminal indictment almost his entire time as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, said this week that Speaker Dade Phelan was drunk while presiding over the House. Paxton said Phelan should resign at the end of the current session of the Legislature.

For the life of me I cannot fathom what in the world is happening to this state.

A Collin County grand jury indicted Paxton in 2015 of securities fraud, stemming from an allegation that he failed to notify investors of his relationship with a securities firm. Eight years later and the case hasn’t gone to trial … yet!

Then we have allegations of corruption within the AG’s office. There has been a settlement on that matter, but several top lawyers in the office resigned after blowing the whistle on what they said were improper relationships between Paxton and a key political supporter and donor.

Paxton is a joke! Actually, he needs to resign his office.

Now he declares that Dade Phelan has been sipping the sauce. A video of Phelan has gone viral, showing him slurring his words a bit while conducting the House’s business.

“After much consideration, it is with profound disappointment that I call on Speaker Dade Phelan to resign at the end of this legislation session,” Paxton said in a statement posted on Twitter. “His conduct has negatively impacted the legislative process and constitutes a failure to live up to his duty to the public.”

Ken Paxton calls on Dade Phelan to resign, citing apparent intoxication | The Texas Tribune

I suppose, of course, that Phelan’s resistance to some of Paxton’s top legislative priorities has nothing to do with the AG’s call for the speaker to resign. Texas’s top Republican officeholders have been squabbling a good bit of late. They can’t agree on some of the priorities being pushed by, say, Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott.

Now it has come down to this, with the state’s indicted attorney general offering an armchair medical diagnosis of the House speaker.

Ridiculous!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Flags are symbols, nothing more

So faux patriots like to “wrap themselves in the flag,” as if that is a demonstration of their love of country.

It is a demonstration only of their ignorance of what Old Glory means.

I see the flag as a symbol of the principles on which the founders created the nation when they convened a constitutional convention after we won the revolution. The liberties contained in the nation’s governing document imply a belief that we are free to protest when our government messes up.

Thus, when I see someone burning Old Glory in a public square, I shrug it off. Hey, that’s their right. Now, does flag-burning mean I will embrace whatever cause is being protested? Hardly. If anything, such an act will turn me off.  Then again, the flag symbolizes that, too.

I recall the time Donald Trump attended a political event, walked out onto the stage and just gave the Stars and Stripes hanging nearby a good, old-fashioned hug. He meant to demonstrate that he, too, is a patriot, that he just loves the flag so much he wanted to embrace the stitched cloth … as if such an act really matters. It doesn’t.

This is the same man who urged rally crowds to “knock the crap” out of protesters. Hmm. Is that in keeping with what the founders intended? I think not.

The faux patriots also should be mindful of the ignorance they demonstrate when they fly the Stars and Bars next to Old Glory. Remember that the Confederate States of America went to war with the United States of America because some states wanted to keep slaves in bondage.

Just remember that the flag is nothing more than a symbol. It conveys many complicated messages, some of which involve granting citizens the right to protest our government and to, yes, burn that very flag.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

They aren’t ‘patriots’

Long ago, I grew weary of the right-wing fanatics, white supremacists, MAGA adherents and others of their ilk declaring themselves to be “patriots.”

They are nothing of the sort.

A patriot would understand that this nation came into being as a result of those seeking to build a nation on the basis of civil liberties. That the United States would comprise individuals of varied backgrounds, orientations, races, ethnicities and that everyone is entitled the same liberties.

Now, it is understood that the founders’ work needed some improvements along the way. They allowed slavery to stand; they didn’t grant Black Americans the same civil liberties as the rest of the country; women had to wait until the 1920s to get the right to vote.

But the Constitution was amended to fix those — and other — shortcomings.

Here we are, well into the 21st century, and we are being treated daily to news reports of white supremacists proclaiming themselves to be patriots.

They sicken me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

‘New normal’ still out there

My search for the “new normal” life I intend to live remains an active endeavor. I haven’t found it just yet, but I am putting some pieces together that I hope will create the normal life I am seeking.

One piece fit nicely. I joined a gym. Actually, I have returned to a gym where my wife and I once belonged before we quit.

Why did I quit? I wasn’t achieving the results I wanted. It was my fault. I had no one else to blame. And I didn’t level any blame; I accepted it. So did Kathy Anne

My new normal is going to include making a commitment where I failed previously. The workout club in Princeton, Texas, has a wide array of equipment. My intention will be to use as much of as possible.

I long have had this problem with food. I adhere to what we all call a “see food diet.” You know the punchline.

The new normal also involves me forgoing some of my culinary guilty pleasures. I have done that. As it was more than 43 years ago when I quit smoking, it is imperative that I give up these food items cold turkey. I cannot snitch a little here, a little there, any more than I could sneak a drag on a cigarette after I quit.

So, that part of the new normal isn’t so new, right?

The rest of it remains new to me. I am an old man, so I am acutely aware that it will take some work to shed the weight I have gained.

My task now is to adopt this new normal as part of every-day living.

I can do this.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news

GOP goes phony on budget concern

Congressional Republicans’ phony concern over federal government standing would be laughable if the consequences of their stubbornness in lifting the debt ceiling weren’t so catastrophic.

Let us remember this fact. When Donald Trump sought to raise the national debt ceiling during his term as POTUS, Republicans went along with their Democratic colleagues. No questions asked. Not a single concern raised about spending, the national debt, the annual budget deficit … all of which grew during Trump’s time in office.

Trump lost the 2020 election to a Democrat. Now the MAGA crowd in Congress who controls the agenda in the House of Representatives has become all worked up over spending. Now they want to cut spending dramatically before lifting that debt ceiling.

To his credit, President Biden isn’t swallowing all the bait whole, although he appears willing to give up some of the high ground he has staked in this standoff with the GOP caucus.

The president has proposed a budget that reduces the budget deficit, bites into the national debt and meets many of the GOP’s demands for “fiscal responsibility.” He also wants to force the mega-rich to pay more in taxes. Is Joe Biden seeking to make billionaires less than rich? Hardly. They will continue to be richer than God.

All of this posturing, though, appears to be for show. The MAGA crowd is not interested in governing. It is interested instead in making a spectacle of themselves and of the Constitution they took an oath to “defend and protect.”

Thus, we see House GOP leadership marching to the cadence the MAGA cabal is calling.

I will hold on to my sincere belief that there will not be a default on our national debt. The consequence of any of this is just too dire to fathom.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

City bustles … to what end?

As I drive through the community I call home I am filled with wonder — that to be truthful borders on awe — at all the construction activity I am witnessing.

Princeton, Texas, is a city on the move. I am still trying to wrap my arms around understanding its destination. I don’t yet know where Princeton is going or even how it intends to get there.

I know I am going to miss a project or three, but I am witnessing …

Burgeoning neighborhoods sprouting up south of my home. There’s a new development rising out of the North Texas dirt just west of the subdivision where I live; that subdivision, by the way, is now officially “closed” to new development.

Just north of a bank branch on U.S. 380 I have witnessed work crews preparing a large section of land for development. I asked a banker at said branch the other day what’s going on. I am reluctant to give you the specifics of what she said, but spoke with authority in telling me of two major businesses going onto that property.

A gigantic luxury apartment complex is rising next door to Wal-Mart just east of us.

Car washes are going up, along with storage warehouses. The Princeton Herald recently published a story about a complex of single-family rental homes being built south of me along FM 982.

Oh, and then we have all that street work along Second Street, Main Street, and next to Veterans Memorial Park in what I refer to casually as “downtown” Princeton.

The city is undergoing explosive growth. Every demographer, economist, urban planner knows what’s happening here. What I want to learn more about, though, is where it ends up.

What kind of a city will Princeton become? A commercial hub? A recreational destination? A bedroom community with lots of homes filled with families who will need travel to Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Allen to “do something”?

My wife’s recent passing has produced a spate of phone calls and other messages from real estate investors asking if I want to sell the home we purchased in February 2019. Are you kidding me?

I have to stay and watch this city continue to evolve.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Poignancy added to this exhibit

FORT WORTH — I have visited this exhibit many times over the years, dating back to the time before my wife and I relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

You’ll find it across the street from the Fort Worth Convention Center and in front of the hotel where President and Mrs. Kennedy spent the president’s final night on Earth before flying to Love Field in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

We all know what happened next.

My son and I went there this weekend to gander and gawk at downtown Fort Worth, just take in the sights of the place. I saw the pictures behind JFK’s statue and was struck immediately about their poignancy.

They were taken literally hours before a gunman killed the president. The president was smiling, as was his wife. One photo shows JFK standing in front of then-Texas Gov. John Connally, who also would be injured by a gunshot on that horrible day in downtown Dallas.

The poignancy was heightened, strange as it might seem, by the loss I have just suffered in my own life. A little more than three months ago, cancer took my bride, Kathy Anne, from me, robbing my sons of their mother, my daughter-in-law of her good friend and confidante and my granddaughter of Grandma, who loved her beyond measure.

Seeing pictures such as what my son and I saw reminded me as well of how precious life is and how we must treat it as a gift we should treasure.

Just a short time — a few weeks, actually — prior to the terrible diagnosis we got regarding Kathy Anne, we were returning from a lengthy RV trip out west and we were looking forward to spending the rest of our life charting new journeys and adventures.

My life without my beloved bride is taking an entirely different course. I don’t know where it will lead me. I am just intending to be ready to embark when the time comes.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Why the hoodie and shorts?

I have spoken in the past about the value of decorum in public life and service, which prompts me to offer a brief comment on the criticism being leveled at a freshman U.S. senator from Pennsylvania.

Democrat John Fetterman stood before a microphone the other day in the presence of his colleagues … while wearing a hoodie and shorts. The other guys were dressed in their customary dark suits, slacks and ties.

Conservatives, quite naturally, jumped all over Fetterman over his, um, attire. They make a good point.

Fetterman has recovered from a stroke. He said he’s been treated for depression. He also says he’s cured and is feeling “great.”

Therefore, I do not understand why a grown man, a sitting U.S. senator, cannot dress himself appropriately while representing his constituents and speaking to the rest of the nation about important public policy matters.

What in the world gives with this guy?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Missing the GOP

You may choose to believe or disbelieve this; it doesn’t matter to me. However, I am going to speak the truth about something that has troubled me since the arrival of the MAGA/QAnon/Big Lie crowd.

It is that I miss the Republican Party I used to know and that I grew up studying and seeking to understand.

The Republican Party has been consumed, swallowed whole and re-cast into a political organization I don’t recognize.

It’s not that I am a closet Republican. Indeed, I consider myself to be an independent who tilts more toward Democratic policies than to Republicans’ world view.

I do favor a strong national defense; I generally support nuclear energy; I am a strong family values American patriot.

I also believe rich Americans should pay more in taxes; that government can be an instrument to help those who need assistance; and that American Civil Liberties Union’s mission to embrace our Bill of Rights should be a model for all pols to emulate.

The Republican Party is now run by a cabal of kooks who insist that our 2020 presidential election was stolen from the most recent GOP president; that a tyrant in Moscow is somehow justified in invading a sovereign nation; that we should overturn a standing law that legalized abortion in this country; that conservative judges indeed can legislate from the bench; that climate change is a hoax; and that globalism — in a world that is shrinking — means we are surrendering our sovereignty.

How in the world does one debate with that crowd?

Thus, it is that Republican Party that once stood for principles worth defending no longer exists. The Grand Old Party is being run by wackos, fruitcakes and extremists. What’s more, the GOP insists that everyone else in this great country join them! Those of us who disagree with ’em are the “enemy,” and must be destroyed.

I want a return to some semblance of what we used to have in this land: two major political parties that could debate their differences and then honor the decision of the voters who then decide which side has won the argument.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience