national news

Unity is elusive, but not impossible

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden laid down a critical marker that in any other time would sound like just another platitude.

This isn’t just any other time. Joe Biden has become president of a nation still reeling from the tumult, turmoil and terror of recent weeks. He stood on the steps of a Capitol Building that just two weeks ago bore witness to a violet insurrection of terrorists hell bent on inflicting grievous damage to our democratic process.

Biden’s inaugural speech spoke of unity, of healing, of reconciliation. He wants us to be able to disagree politically but not do so out of anger.

Yes, the president has set the correct tone as he now moves forward along with the history-making vice president, Kamala Harris, who becomes the first woman, the first African-American, the first woman of Asian descent to become VP.

It has been quite a day. A moment for the ages.

Can the president achieve the unity he seeks? Sure he can. It will be tough climb. He inherits the highest office in a deeply divided land.

Let’s not be coy about the barriers standing before him. President Biden succeeds a man — who he never mentioned by name in his inaugural speech — who sought to sow division and who governed with no sense of the diversity our nation’s citizenry.

Moreover, Biden offered a moment of silent prayer for the 400,000 Americans who have died from the pandemic. When did his predecessor ever do that?

President Biden’s immediate predecessor is now gone, but the cult that formed upon his election four years ago remains. Yet, Biden spoke to them today, vowing to work just as hard for those who opposed his election as he will for those who endorsed it.

Whether the opponents hear and heed that message remains to be seen and heard. Oh, man … I hope he can deliver the goods.

All in all? This has been a good day for the United States.

I want to make one final point: President Biden spoke of the fragility of our democracy. I concur to a point. Fragility, though, does not mean it breaks easily.

Thus, our democracy remains as strong as tempered steel. We saw that strength today.

national news

Riot likely kills Trump’s political future

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Whether the Senate convicts Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection quite likely is a moot point at this juncture.

Trump will no longer be president when the Senate convenes his second impeachment trial. The House impeached him on a single charge, of inciting the terrorist attack on Capitol Hill on The Sixth of January.

Democrats need 17 Republicans to join them in convicting Trump. It’s still a long shot for conviction, but it is not as long of a shot as it was, say, two weeks ago. If the Senate convicts Trump, then it needs a simple majority to ban him from ever seeking public office.

To be honest, it looks for all the world to me that Trump’s political future vanished the day he exhorted the mob to attack the Capitol Building and interfere with Congress doing its duty to ratify Joe Biden’s victory.

If what is left of the Republican Party has half a brain left, it will shun Trump. It will deny him any leverage at all. It will seek others to carry the party banner in 2024, which Trump reportedly is interested in doing.

I get that Trumpism will survive long after Trump’s term as president expires — which it will do in just a few hours from now.

I will hold out hope that Donald Trump inflicted a mortal wound on the movement that carries his name on the Sixth of January when he whipped up the terrorists to attack the Capitol Building … and assault our system of government.

national news

Will any terrorists show up at Mar-a-Lago?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I cannot help but wonder, given Donald Trump’s initial expression of “love” for the terrorists who attacked Capitol Hill on The Sixth of January …

Is the former president going to invite any of ’em to Mar-a-Lago for dinner and drinks with him and Melania?

Heavens no. Which directs me to the amazing irony of the lunatics who sought to disrupt Congress from declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.

It is that Trump doesn’t give a rat’s a** about the individuals who shattered the nation’s psyche in his name. They were mobsters, terrorists, rioters who poured into Washington because they swallowed the diet of lies that Donald Trump fed them. He said the election was fraudulent. That the result was “stolen” by hordes of illegal voters. That Trump, not Biden, won the election in a “landslide.”

We witnessed an amazing phenomenon on the sixth day of this month. Militants stormed into the Capitol Building. Many of them are known to be white supremacists; they are Holocaust deniers; they have KKK sympathies. They came from all over the nation.

One of them is a North Texas Realtor who said she was just doing her duty as a patriotic American. Hah! She committed an act of treason, in my humble view.

Meanwhile, their hero will be luxuriating in his posh resort in South Florida. He will have not a damn thing to do with any one of them.

They thought they were making America great again.

Uncategorized

Uh, Mr. POTUS … what about the rest of it?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald John Trump’s farewell speech to the nation is an exercise in the error of omission.

I have shared it with you already, but it deserves an additional comment. I listened to Trump’s speech a second time and I am struck by a glaring absence of reality.

If Trump had done all that he claimed to have done during his term in office he would have been re-elected with a 60 percent vote majority and a 40-state Electoral College landslide.

Yes, all those good things happened on his watch. I won’t dispute the economic skyrocket that launched on his watch. Joblessness plummeted, job growth soared, retirement funds exploded, the stock market went crazy.

But … wait! The jobs disappeared when the pandemic struck. Trump’s response to the viral attack? It was hideous. He downplayed its severity. Do you remember that? Businesses closed. Jobs vanished by the millions! Who is responsible for that? The lack of a coherent federal response must be laid directly at Donald Trump’s feet.

Trump didn’t acknowledge any of the mistakes he made in managing that response. He didn’t mention how he contradicted his science advisers’ recommendations. Trump didn’t tell us how he blurted out how ingesting cleansers might cure COVID patients of the virus nor did he mention the ridicule he received from the medical community over that hideous statement in the White House briefing room.

Trump lost the election because Americans had grown tired of his lies, of his incoherence, of the chaos associated with the rapid-fire turnaround in Cabinet officials and high-powered senior staff members. He lost because he couldn’t demonstrate a shred of empathy for a nation grieving over the pandemic.

Trump lost to Joe Biden because he did not know how to govern!

Error of omission? Yep. It was stunning in that farewell speech.

Had those positive items he mentioned today were allowed to stand alone, Donald Trump would have been re-elected in a walk. They cannot stand without challenge from  those of us who know better than to accept anything that Donald Trump says.

Farewell Address of President Donald J. Trump – YouTube

Finally, the man who lost has yet to demonstrate anything resembling class and grace in accepting defeat. A man’s man would extend his good wishes to the individual who defeated him … and would be man enough to say his name.

Donald Trump showed us once again — I hope for the final time — that he is a cowardly charlatan.

Uncategorized

Farewell and good riddance!

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I will present to you a link that believe you should watch.

It is of Donald John Trump bidding us farewell as he prepares to leave Washington, D.C. His time as president of the United States is about over.

He speaks of the “triumphs” he scored during the past four years.

I’ll insist only that you watch it and I will just get out of the way. Spoiler alert: You won’t hear one name mentioned during his soliloquy … Joe Biden.

Farewell Address of President Donald J. Trump – YouTube

The farewell address makes a passing mention of the suffering from the pandemic and of the riot that Trump incited. Contrition? Personal responsibility? An apology for mistakes?

It’s all MIA.

Goodbye, Mr. President. Good riddance!

national news

Biden to restore empathy to high office

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It looks as though we have received a sneak  preview of what I believe might become a hallmark of a Joe Biden presidency.

The president-elect today bid so long to his beloved Delaware and while doing so teared up, talking about his late son, Beau and how his entire family will have “Delaware” inscribed in their hearts forever.

He ended his speech with tears streaking down both cheeks. Joe and Jill Biden have arrived in Washington and will get ready for the biggest day of their lives, when Joe Biden ascends to the pinnacle of political power.

Empathy, compassion, heart-felt emotion. That has been missing for the past four years. It is the kind of quality we occasionally need to see in the president of the United States. We caught a glimpse of it today and I suspect that as we move forward into the Biden presidency we are going to see much more of it.

I have noted before how the term “consoler in chief” isn’t described in writing in the president’s job description. It is implied. It is understood that at times — such as these — we need a president who can wrap his arms around grieving families and offer them the kind of emotional support they need.

Heaven knows, a nation in the midst of a killer pandemic needs that kind of empathy from our head of state. We have lost 400,000 Americans  to the COVID-19 virus. Many more will succumb to this disease. President Biden cannot snap his fingers and cure it just like that. He can, though, speak to us about the pain many of us are feeling. Indeed, a man who has endured unspeakable tragedy in his own life can understand; his wife and infant daughter died in a car crash many years ago and then he buried his son, Beau, just five years ago.

Joe Biden knows about pain. He knows how to relate to others who are suffering from similar pain.

We saw a touch of it today. I look forward to seeing much more presidential empathy as we move ahead.

State news

Yes, governor, vet our Guard, too!

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has put his righteous indignation on full display and for the life of me I don’t get why he’s so angry about this effort to make us more secure.

Abbott is angry because the Department of Homeland Security is vetting Texas National Guard troops who are being deployed to assist in securing the nation’s capital in advance of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

He calls the vetting to protect against an inside conspiracy an “insult” to Texas Guard personnel. Abbott swears by the Guard’s love of country and just does not accept that someone within our state’s military ranks could be considered a threat to our government.

Really, governor? Are our men and women more patriotic than military personnel from other states? What in the world would Gov. Abbott think if someone from the Texas National Guard garrison was found to be a member of, say, the Proud Boys or is a QAnon supporter? Is that really and truly so out of the question that DHS and other national security team members shouldn’t check … just to be sure?

Settle down, Gov. Abbott. I share your respect for the men and women who sign up for duty to protect us. However, I also believe that given the attack we experienced on the Sixth of January, we cannot possibly be too careful in guarding against further outbursts of senseless violence.

national news

How to react to new POTUS?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The day is progressing and as Donald Trump completes his tumultuous term as president of the United States, I am left to grapple with a bit of conflict among my emotions.

Oh, make no mistake, my overarching emotion will be of happiness that this vile, venal, vicious human being will no longer represent me as president. Joseph Biden Jr. presents a return to a more “normal” head of state/commander in chief.

His predecessor will take off Wednesday morning from Andrews Joint Base. He’ll head to Florida. He will be gone from my house, our house. That is all good.

I am wondering now, on this day before, whether the moment Biden and Kamala Harris take their oaths will produce some sort of emotional response. You know … will I well up, swallow hard. Yeah, probably.

That’s OK. I also am trying to dial back my expectations of what President Biden will be able to accomplish. The pandemic is no respecter of who’s in charge of affairs in Washington. The 100-day mask-wearing request seems reasonable to me. Biden will order masks to be worn on all federal property; that, too, makes perfect sense.

He wants us to pull together as Americans, patriots, lovers of our country. Hey, I’m all in.

A big day awaits us Wednesday. It should be full of emotion for all Americans and I include even those who are sorry to see Donald Trump fly away into private life. I can’t speak to how they will react. It’s of no concern to me, frankly.

I am just looking forward to a new day.

Uncategorized

Hoping for a honeymoon

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald John Trump didn’t get one when he became president.

My hope is that Trump’s successor, Joseph R. Biden Jr., is able to reap a benefit usually bestowed to shiny new presidents of the United States: a honeymoon period with Congress and with the public.

To be sure, President Biden will take office after arguably the bitterest, angriest and contention-filled election in U.S. history. He ran against a relentless liar to then, after losing the election, fomented the Big Lie — that the election wasn’t free and fair, that it was “rigged” by “widespread vote fraud.”

The Big Lie resulted in what occurred on the Sixth of January, the attack on our nation’s Capitol Building by terrorists egged on by Trump, who now awaits a trial in the Senate after the House impeached him a second time, this time on a charge of incitement of insurrection.

I know what you’re thinking: That is hardly a backdrop conducive to a honeymoon period for a new president.

I am going to remain hopeful nonetheless.

Joe Biden inherits a government in crisis. He will speak to us Wednesday about unification, about healing, about restoring our national soul. Yes, we have a killer pandemic that has killed 400,000 Americans. Our economy is in free fall. Our nation continues to struggle with deep divides among the races that comprise our diverse population.

Is a honeymoon even possible? I believe so. It could commence with an inaugural speech that tries to tamp down the fiery rhetoric that exploded after the election and culminated in the riot that sought to overturn the democratic process. President Biden’s success in seeking that unity will depend in large part on the receptiveness of Republicans, a majority of whom swallowed Trump’s Big Lie about the integrity of the election; tragically, many of those GOP Big Lie believers serve in Congress.

A new era is about to dawn over a capital still reeling from the terrorist onslaught. May it produce at least a glimmer of a honeymoon period with a new executive branch team working with the legislative branch in searching for a way out of the mess the predecessors left behind.

national news

What do we call that riot?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have been grappling with how we should remember what occurred during the first week of this month, when terrorists invaded the Capitol Building.

Then I noticed a blog written by a friend of mine, a former colleague with whom I worked at the Beaumont Enterprise. Jon Talton, in his Rogue Columnist blog, called it “The Sixth of January.”

I read that and thought, “Hey, that has a bit of a ring to it.”

Rogue Columnist: Cold Civil War Turns Hot

It’s kind of like “9/11” has become a colloquial shorthand to which we refer to the attack on Sept. 11, 2001 by terrorists against the United States. When you say “9/11,” people know of what you are referring. I use that term all the time. Readers of this blog know to which I refer.

I am thinking now of using “The Sixth of January” as the new shorthand to describe the events of that hideous attack on our democratic process.

When you mention The Sixth of January, you will identify immediately with the attack that sought to prevent Congress — and Vice President Mike Pence — from ratifying the Electoral College vote that elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next POTUS and VPOTUS. It was an attack on our democratic process, on our very government … and it was incited by the lame-duck president of the United States, Donald John Trump.

Remember the Alamo. Remember Pearl Harbor. Remember 9/11. Remember the Sixth of January.

Hmm. Yeah, I might go with that.

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