DC riot, national news, political news

RNC takes aim at wrong target

The Republican National Committee’s censure of two stalwart members of its own party is a profound demonstration of stupidity that transcends mere ignorance.

The RNC has scolded U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because — and this is remarkable in its idiocy — for serving on a House committee that seeks to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection.

Yes, Cheney and Kinzinger — two conservative members of a once-proud party — have placed their loyalty to the rule of law over any phony loyalty to an individual, namely Donald J. Trump … who incited the traitors to riot on 1/6.

So, because they have been faithful to their oath of office — the same oath that other members of Congress and the president take — they are being punished. They have been cast aside. They have been they are no longer welcome as part of the Republican delegation.

This is unbelievable!

RNC censures Cheney, Kinzinger for serving on Jan. 6 panel – Daily News

Where is the scorn that should be heaped on the rioters? RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel instead has called their actions that horrible day as a demonstration of “legitimate political discourse.” She didn’t separate anyone’s behavior on that day; she said the entire event was OK because it constituted a protest against the government. What utter bullsh**!

“If the price of being willing to tell the truth and get to the bottom of what happened on January 6 and make sure that those who are responsible are held accountable is a censure, then I am absolutely going to continue to stand up for what I knew was right,” Cheney said.

She called the censure a “sad day for the party of Lincoln.” Do ya think?

To be fair, some GOP officeholders, such as 2012 Republican presidential nominee Sen. Mitt Romney, have criticized the censure. “Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost,” Romney said in a tweet.

If Cheney and Kinzinger deserve honor, then the RNC deserves nothing but scorn and shame for its hideous action and virtual endorsement of the frontal assault on our democratic form of government.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, media news

Phones make my head spin

Whenever I have to discuss telephone technology with anyone younger than, say, 30 my head starts spinning around like a top … kinda like Linda Blair’s noggin spun around in the “The Exorcist.”

It happened again today. I purchased a new cellular telephone. My old one croaked on me. It wouldn’t hold a charge. So, with my son’s help this weekend I found a juiced-up new phone and today I trudged to the phone store in Princeton to select what we had chosen.

Now, it got dicey when the young woman who I guess is in her late 20s began chattering in technospeak. I told her she might as well speak to me in Martian. My age was obvious to her, so she got it.

I then reminded her to ask her grandparents about the phones they used when they were her age. Her immediate response was, “My grandpa didn’t have a phone.” Well … there you go.

Furthermore, I told my young friend, there was a time when I was a boy that my parents purchased a new telephone for the kitchen wall plug-in that had a “coiled” cord that allowed whoever was talking on the phone to walk away from the wall a little farther; we weren’t restricted by the stiff cord that came with the previous phone. It was a big deal, I told her. She got it!

It’s a different era these days. I won’t call it a “new” era, because cell phones aren’t all that new.

I try to be a relatively hip old guy. At times, though, the language used to navigate through all this high-powered technology flies over my occasionally thick skull. I’m getting better at understanding some of it.

It’s going to take a good while longer for me to obtain total fluency … if that day ever arrives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Home-rule election is set

Princeton residents are going to get a chance to vote to establish a home-rule charter for the community that is exploding with new residents moving in almost daily.

It took a little hiccup along the way to make it official, but the city’s fifth try at establishing a home-rule charter is going to occur.

The hiccup occurred when, after voters in November approved the formation of a home-rule charter committee, the city couldn’t recruit the minimum of 15 members to serve on the panel that would draft a charter for voters to consider and decide. The city council had to hustle to find enough members. So, it met the other evening in executive (or closed) session to make the decision it needed to make. It then ratified its decision with a recorded vote.

And so, the work begins in drafting a charter that it will present to voter in May.

The charter is an important document for Princeton. Its population has exploded, from 6,807 residents in 2010 to more than 17,000 in 2020; the latter number is growing rapidly at this very moment.

Princeton governs itself as a general law city, meaning it has to follow the rules and laws established by the Legislature. Home rule gives the city greater latitude in deciding zoning matters and establishes a purely “local control” over the way it governs the residents who live here.

I am all in favor of a home rule charter for the city my wife and I now call home. I welcome this initiative.

Princeton is a city on the move and my hope is that Mayor Brianna Chacon is right in believing that the city’s changing demographics, with forward-thinking new residents populating the city, will turn the tide in favor of the city being able to determine its destiny with a charter of its very own.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Ex-POTUS shows his profound stupidity

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Donald J. Trump’s ability to demonstrate his abject stupidity has become the stuff of political legend, or at least the stuff of tittering and gossip.

Mike Pence, who served as vice president in the Trump administration, has said the former Insurrectionist in Chief was “wrong” to suggest that the VP had the authority to “overturn” a duly constituted election. What was Trump’s response? He decided to hurl epithets not only at Trump, but also at “Old Crow Mitch McConnell,” whatever the hell that means.

You see, all Pence did in his talk to the Federalist Society the other day was to declare that the law is clear, that the vice president had zero authority to do what Trump demanded of him, which was to reject electoral votes cast for Joe Biden and award them to Trump.

Pence said he couldn’t do that. So … Donald, for cryin’ out loud, you need to stop fomenting The Big Lie about phony vote fraud. I know he won’t stop. He likely will go to his grave bellowing nonsensical trash about “corrupt” electoral processes and “rigged elections.”

Donald Trump will check out more than likely on the wave of stupidity on which he rode to public office in the first place.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

Schools see exodus

A disturbing trend appears to be developing in North Texas as nine school superintendents have announced they are leaving their posts at the end of the current academic year.

It’s an unusual number of top public school administrators heading for the exits, according to officials, as reported by the Texas Tribune.

The culprit? It appears to be a combination of culture wars, pandemic politicization and perhaps some normal retirements. From my vantage point, it appears that the culture wars and the politics of the pandemic are playing too heavy a role.

North Texas superintendents leave as school culture wars heat up | The Texas Tribune

Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeanne Stone perhaps is the most notable resignation. She quit in the middle of the school year after being pressured by parents over mask mandates. She was mum at the time she quit, but she has opened up in recent days to the media.

“Heartbreaking is a pretty accurate way to describe this,” Stone said. “It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s all I’ve ever done. It’s all I ever wanted to do.”

The Tribune reports: Stone is just one of many public educators who have borne the brunt of a shifting culture war — filled with fierce accusations and rising tensions often stoked by state officials — about how K-12 students learn. And she is among at least nine North Texas superintendents who have announced they would leave their jobs since the start of the school year.

School administrators generally have a relatively short lifespan in their posts. However, the current climate seems to be quickening the exodus from public school admin buildings. It is a shame to see such turnover.

The other biggie appears to be this thing called “critical race theory.” Parents are fighting among themselves over whether schools should allow teachers to instruct students on racism and its impact on our national history; they also are fighting with school administrators and elected board members, too.

And, of course, we have the children who are being caught in the middle of all this tempest and turmoil.

They are suffering the most. It shouldn’t happen.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

What? Pence tells truth? Oh, my!

What in the world has happened to former Vice President Mike Pence? The man who survived four years as VP in an administration led by a carnival barker masquerading as president suddenly has found a voice to tell the world the truth about the one-time Liar in Chief.

Which is, contrary to what Donald J. Trump keeps insisting while spouting The Big Lie, that Pence had no authority to “overturn” the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president, Pence said, “is wrong” to suggest that Pence could take that action.

Pence made the remarks this week in defense of his own actions on 1/6 but also to portray Donald Trump’s demand that he act outside the law as “un-American.” Indeed, Pence said there is nothing more un-American than to have a single individual overturn the will of the voters, who in November 2020 made their choice clear in selecting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over Trump and Pence.

Only the voters have the right to decide who wins elections, Pence said.

To be clear, my instinct to offer unconditional praise for the former VP is tempered by the knowledge that he served with craven fealty to Donald Trump. Even immediately after the mob of traitors stormed the Capitol on 1/6, Pence remained silent about what the POTUS failed to do in real time. He failed to put a halt to the violence that was erupting inside the nation’s Capitol Building. He failed to summon the National Guard to restore order. Trump failed condemn forcefully the actions of the mob that was reacting to the then-president’s own exhortation to “take back” our government.

Let’s remember, too, that rioters were shouting “Hang Mike Pence!” who at that moment was presiding over a joint congressional session to receive and certify the electoral votes that carried Joe Biden to the presidency.

Pence’s sudden conversion to sanity and reason isn’t likely to endear him to the Trump “base” that continues to adhere to The Big Lie about phony vote fraud. Indeed, Pence is considered a possible candidate for president in 2024 and a potential rival to Trump if the ex-POTUS decides to run again (which I continue to doubt will occur).

The very best thing I can say about Pence’s declaration — and I know this is cliche — is that it’s better late than never.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

COVID cases falling everywhere except …

U.S. health officials report good news on the fight to curb infection, hospitalization and death from the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

It is that infection rates are falling in 49 of the 50 American states. Which state is the anomaly? Alabama. Oh, there’s also this: Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate of any state in the Union.

Hmm. What does that tell you? It tells me that vaccines are doing their job. It tells me that those who refuse to be vaccinated are putting themselves, their loved ones and their friends at potentially dire peril from the virus.

I have several good friends in Alabama, so I am going to send good thoughts to them and their families. As for those who refuse to heed the wisdom passed down by the medical experts about the efficacy of the vaccines, well, I hope they don’t get unduly sickened by a preventable disease.

The nation is beginning to reap the reward of vaccines that were fast-tracked in 2020 and that are now establishing their value against a virus that has killed nearly 900,000 Americans.

There might never be a day when the COVID-19 virus is eradicated. At the very least we are going to have to learn to live with it, deal with it and protect ourselves and our loved ones against its infection.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

RNC boss is flat wrong on 1/6 riot probe

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has declared — incredibly! — that the probe into the 1/6 insurrection is a “Democrat-led” persecution of citizens exercising their constitutional right to protest their government.

Well … I’ll start by declaring that Chairwoman McDaniel couldn’t be more wrong if she declared the sun was going rise in the west tomorrow morning.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel says January 6 committee is a ‘Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse’ (msn.com)

The investigation aims to prosecute those who smashed into the Capitol Building, defecated on the floor, sought to “hand Mike Pence!” and do physical harm to Speaker Nancy Pelosi — all while seeking to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election result. They did all this in the name — and at the urging — of the nitwit who lost that election, Donald John Trump.

Now she and her RNC minions want to censure GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney because they have joined the truth-seekers and have decided that Trump was wrong to incite the treasonous mob. They are rightfully outraged at the assault on our democracy and on the law enforcement officers who sought to protect the cowardly members of Congress who now refuse even to honor them with the Congressional Gold Medal.

What in the hell is the matter with the chairwoman?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Salute the heroes

Today is one of those days when I am delighted I never wanted to be a utility crew member toiling in frigid weather to restore electricity, or natural gas, or water to stricken residents of my community.

They are heroes functioning as I write these few words throughout North Texas. I am hearing stories of crews working all night in zero-degree weather to get the lights turned on in homes from Farmersville to Granbury and all points between.

They deserve their communities’ eternal thanks for the work they do. So, too, do the police officers and firefighters who we ask to lend a hand when our cars spin out, when we have medical emergencies or when we have difficulty navigating along our icy streets.

We are coming out on the other end of another nasty storm to roll in over Texas. We remember what happened about a year ago to the region. We don’t want a repeat of that catastrophe. Gov. Greg Abbott told us today the electric grid that failed us in 2021 is holding up, that we have enough power to see us through to warmer days, which weather forecasters tell us will arrive a couple days from now.

Meanwhile, I am going to use this blog to say a word of thanks to the brave men and women who are battling the elements so that we can keep those elements at bay.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Not evolving? Sure thing, lady

Check out this Twitter message from one of the QAnon queens of the U.S. House of Representatives, Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican and conspiracy theorist who needs to be committed to the nut house.

I am going to argue that the U.S. Constitution has “evolved” no fewer than 27 times since the Founders created the framework that governs the United States of America. That’s the number of amendments we have tacked onto the Constitution since 1789.

Had it not evolved, Rep. Boebert wouldn’t be allowed to vote for the nut jobs she endorses for public office. That’s just one example of how the Constitution has changed over the years.

You see, this is where the so-called “strict constructionist” philosophy of constitutional interpretation breaks down, at least in my eyes. Simpletons such as Lauren Boebert seem to believe the Founders created a perfect governing document. They didn’t, even though in real time they might have presumed that the Constitution would stand the test of time as it was written. I wasn’t there to know for certain; for that matter, neither was Lauren Boebert.

I hasten to note that the preamble to the document does stipulate that the men who wrote it said the nation should strive to create a “more perfect Union,” which — once again — suggests to me that the Constitution begged for an evolution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience