local news

Now … for some good news

We live in an era of delays, shortages, dashed hopes and frustration … correct? Not entirely.

I want to share a bit of good news that just arrived in my email inbox. It comes from the manufacturer of the pickup truck we ordered in March.

My wife and I went shopping recently for a truck to replace Big Jake the Pickup we have owned for several years. We ended up buying a brand-new Ford Ranger pickup. Except they didn’t have a vehicle in stock at the dealer in McKinney. We ordered it from the factory. We chose the bells and whistles we wanted installed on the vehicle and placed the order.

Ford told us the vehicle would be scheduled for production the week of May 23. Today came the message that told us the production schedule had “changed.” I cringed. Then I opened the message. Ford decided to start assembling the vehicle next Monday, the week of May 16.

I mention this because of all the negativity to which we’ve been subjected. Inflation, supply-chain crises, shortages of parts … blah, blah, blah.

Our retirement journey is trudging on regardless of when our new vehicle arrives. It looks for all the world, though, as if it will arrive ahead of schedule.

Who knew?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, Uncategorized

Rule of law faces test

My fellow Americans, we are going to witness whether the “rule of law” means anything to members of Congress who have been summoned to appear before the House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection.

The committee has subpoenaed five Republican congressman who were key allies to Donald J. Trump. The committee had asked them to appear voluntarily; they declined.

So, here come the lawful orders. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, along with GOP Reps. Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks and Andy Biggs all have been ordered to appear before the committee.

So, which is it? Are these dedicated Trumpkins going to comply with the rule of law, which they have at one time or another during their congressional careers said they honor? Or are they going to take one for their cult leader, The Donald?

The rule of law is as straightforward as it gets. A legally constituted congressional committee has issued a lawful order for five House members to talk to its members. Failure to comply with a lawful order should result in criminal punishment. Indeed, such a consequence anyone in the military who refuses to obey a lawful order. Your commanding officer tells you to do something, and you refuse? It’s off to the stockade where you would await adjudication of your offense.

I don’t know whether any or all of them will refuse to comply with the subpoena. Whoever says “no” to the House committee should face the potential consequence. The rule of law should stand in this instance as it should stand in all cases.

Let us never forget that each of these individuals swore an oath to keep faith with the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is on the side of the committee that has acted lawfully.

We well might learn whether these congressmen were sincere when they said they would uphold the Constitution and whether their stated fealty to almighty God was real or false.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Not a ‘mistake,’ Greg

“Take ownership no matter what it is. Look, we’ve all made mistakes, and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.”

So said Greg Norman, the one-time top-flight pro golfer from Australia. What was the “mistake” to which Norman refers?

Oh, just the gruesome murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who in October 2018 was sliced up and dismembered by Saudi killers in the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul.

I guess I should mention that Norman is now taking part in an international golf league run by — get ready for it — Saudi Arabia interests.

Thus, when Greg Norman calls a ghastly crime against a journalist a “mistake,” he only demonstrates his (a) ignorance of historical fact and (b) his own conflict of interest in even commenting on the dastardly act.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Blowhards just piss me off

Congress is filling itself with too damn many right-wing blowhards, individuals who — at the moment they take their oaths of office — start spouting nonsense without giving a second thought to the consequence of their fiery rhetoric.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is the latest right-winger to blather garbage about the president of the United States who, I hasten to add, answers to a much greater constituency that any of the 100 men and women who serve in the Senate.

Scott said President Biden should resign. That he doesn’t have the snap to do the job. He joins other right-wing nut cases — such as Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas — to offer a medical diagnosis of the president without any actual personal contact with him.

Scott joined the Senate in 2019 after he defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. He pushed himself immediately in front of TV cameras. Scott is now some sort of spokesman for the MAGA caucus within the Senate.

He’s another dipsh**! Pure and simple.

Just so you need to be reminded, I have spoken negatively about left-leaning political wannabe superstars, too. I have scolded them for blathering too frequently without first paying their dues. So, spare me the “what about the Democrats” canard.

I just am sick and tired of the yammering from the far-right wing of a once great political party about an issue — namely the POTUS’s fitness — that does not exist!

Stick to what the hell you know, Sen. Scott.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, local news

My heart fluttered … but wait!

This morning brought a bit of a surprise that I thought initially might mean a huge announcement involving a downtown Amarillo, Texas landmark-turned-community eyesore.

It appears my hopes are a good bit premature.

I refer to the Herring Hotel, the long-abandoned structure on the northern end of the downtown district.

My preliminary snooping this morning revealed a website;

Herring Hotel – Amarillo Investment (herringhotelproject.com)

It appears to be the creation of an investment firm that is looking for people to sink money into rehabilitating the Herring Hotel site. The site has lots of pictures of the structure as well as photos of other downtown hotel projects that have succeeded in other communities.

Does any of this signal the pending rebirth of the once-grand hotel? Not necessarily. Then again, lightning could strike.

I also reached out this morning to Bob Goodrich, who has owned the site for many decades. He pays the tax bill every year on it and has been doing what he can to entice someone — anyone! — to buy it from him. On at least two occasions over the years I have known Goodrich, he has told me of a pending sale only to see it fall apart.

I cannot speak passionately enough about how I want to see the building revived and brought back to life. It stands vacant and, truth be told, time has not been entirely kind to it.

Here’s the good news, though, for those of us who want a brighter future for the Herring: The Barfield Building at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Polk Street — which was actually uglier than the Herring — has returned to the world of functionality. It is now a boutique hotel. I haven’t seen it yet in its newfound glory; maybe one day soon.

Meantime, I will continue to send good vibes and karma to the Herring in the hope we hear of an announcement soon.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Ukrainians winning grassroots support

I am trying to remember a time when a nation involved in a war in a far-off land has earned the kind of support on American soil that we are seeing demonstrated for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia.

I am 72 years of age and have seen quite a bit during my time on this Earth. I went to war once myself while wearing my own country’s uniform and I have watched many conflicts erupt all over the world.

This one is so vastly different in terms of the response coming from rank-and-file Americans. I see it constantly.

Vehicles flying Ukrainian flags; they are adorned with bumper stickers proclaiming support for Ukraine; business owners are plastering Ukraine-flag posters on their windows.

My wife and I recently returned from a brief trip to the Texas Hill Country and when we parked our travel trailer at an RV park in Johnson City, we noticed a propane gas dealer flying a full-sized Ukraine flag on the lot next to Old Glory in Dripping Springs.

Judging by that overwhelming show of support for Ukraine over the butchery bring brought to that country by Russians, the only conclusion I can draw is that our politicians — who represent our needs and wishes — had better do what the folks back home are demanding of them.

Which is to give Ukraine all the help it seeks to beat back the Russian invaders.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Graham flip-flops … again!

Someone will have to explain to me why it’s such a big deal that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is now on record saying that Joe Biden was the “best man” to lead the country after the 1/6 insurrection.

Or that the South Carolina Republican had harsh things to say about Donald Trump in the wake of that hideous event.

Why am I questioning all of this? Because Graham once said Trump was “unfit” to become president, that he is a “nut case,” and that Trump is a pathological liar. Graham was correct in his initial assessment of Donald Trump. He said all of that before becoming one of Trump’s biggest suck-up sycophants in the Senate.

Audio: Graham said after Jan. 6 that Biden was ‘best person to have’ (msn.com)

Yes, he did say he was done with Trump, that he had “enough” of him after the insurrection. He has gone on to blather incessantly about how Trump is a shoo-in to be nominated by Republicans in 2024 and that he would support him if he ran — once again! — for president.

The latest revelations come from the new book by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, who’ve already revealed lots of quotes — with recordings to back them up — from The Donald himself. They make my hair stand straight up.

Sen. Graham, though, has been among the greatest disappointments for me as I have watched the Donald Trump era in D.C. unfold since the 2016 presidential election.

To be candid, I believe about as much that comes from Lindsey Graham as I believe what flies out of Trump’s pie hole … which is not a damn thing!

Thus, I am confused as to why anyone should take anything this clown seriously. To borrow a phrase from Graham, who said this about Trump after the insurrection: I’m out.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Biden is MIA over protests

President Biden needs to step up and issue some stern words of condemnation for those who are threatening bodily harm to Supreme Court justices over their draft opinion on Roe v. Wade.

You know the story by now. Someone leaked a draft opinion stating that the court could overturn the landmark abortion-rights ruling later this year. It has prompted stern and passionate push back from those who want to see the 1973 ruling stand as written.

They have marched in front of the home of the author of the draft document, Justice Samuel Alito, and some protestors have said out loud that physical harm should come to Alito and other conservatives on the court.

Hold on, here! I join them in their anger over the draft opinion. I part company over the calls for violence. So should President Biden, who sadly hasn’t said anything publicly about language coming from some of the protestors.

As we have learned painfully from the horrific events of 1/6, words do matter.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Words to live by

I shall be brief, but whoever wrote this message that showed up on my social media feed today deserves a high-five, an atta boy/girl, and some extra Brownie points for just being so damn spot on!

The sanctimonious among us just piss me off to no end. They seek to legislate sexual behavior, morality, whether women should remain pregnant. They tell us we live in a “Christian nation” when we clearly, categorically and without a shadow of a doubt do not; if they read the Constitution — which I have done countless times over my life — they would know that.

There. I’m done with this one. Thanks to whomever penned these words.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

War eclipses everything

War has this way of overshadowing all other concerns that should be at or near the top of our minds. Here in Texas, one of them involves undocumented immigrants and whether the state should allow them to attend public colleges and universities.

Gov. Greg Abbott has this thing against people who are illegally, even when they come here as children — perhaps even as infants or toddlers. They know no other country than the United States of America.

Abbott wants to ban undocumented students from our public colleges, despite a federal law that requires states to provide the education for all residents. He is right, though, to suggest that the federal government should do more to help the states. That’s a fair request.

However, he need not demonstrate some sort of false machismo by declaring Texas’s public university and college systems should be closed to those students who came here only because their parents wanted to create a safe environment for their children.

That, I dare say, is inhumane.

It’s an issue that deserves our attention, except that we are so terribly worried and appalled at the inhumanity being brought to Ukrainians at the hands of the Russian invaders. Hey, I’m concerned about them, too!

I just want us to turn our attention — perhaps if only for a brief time — to the many other important issues that need repair.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience