media news

Will Fox change its tune?

What does the settlement between the Fox Propaganda Channel and Dominion Voting Systems mean for the network that once called itself “fair and balanced”?

Only this, as far as I can see: The network will cease pushing the Big Lie about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election; the rest of its agenda appears to be intact and it will continue to appeal to the right-wingers who adhere to the narrative the network pushes out there.

Dominion sued Fox for $1.6 billion, contending the network defamed the company over unproved allegations that it manipulated ballots to deliver the 2020 election to President Biden. Fox knew the allegations were phony, yet its on-air talking heads kept spewing the lie. Dominion said “enough is enough” and sued Fox. The settlement means Fox will pay Dominion $787.5 million. It hasn’t issued an apology.

Frankly, though, I don’t care about the apology. I do care about Fox being held accountable for the lie it fomented. The judgment issued by the court holds the network accountable in the clearest terms possible.

Fox’s agenda remains fully assembled. The network does lay claim to a loyal base of viewers who listen only to their on-air personalities for the “news” they consume. Fox will continue to spew its propaganda, which I suppose is their right.

Lying to the point of defaming others, though, is off limits … to which I offer a hearty “amen.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Grief takes different course

Grief is the most unique and perhaps most intimate feeling one can experience, which I believe I am learning as I continue to process the loss of my bride, Kathy Anne.

Forty-three years ago, I received word of my father’s passing in a freak boating accident north of Vancouver, British Columbia. My initial reaction was strange, in that I could seemingly feel the blood drain from my body as I pondered the news that hit me like a punch in the gut.

Then came this notion that I could not look at photos of Dad. It took me some time to be able to look at his face captured forever in those photographs.

Not so with my bride. I find myself wanting to look at her smile, which could light up a room. She had a wide, somewhat toothy smile. She laughed easily.

These days, as I still struggle with my emotions, I find myself gazing at her. I have several photos of my bride scattered around the house. Some were taken at our wedding more than 51 years ago; some were shot at our son’s wedding; there’s a lovely picture of the two of us at our niece’s high school graduation in 1999.

I draw comfort in those photos, unlike the dread I felt when Dad was taken from us in that shocking manner in September 1980. I was just 30 years of age then. Today, well … I obviously am a whole lot older. Maybe my emotional mechanism is more defined than it was when I was a much younger man.

I wanted to share this item with you just to give you a quick update on my progress. I appreciate very much the expressions of thanks I am getting from those who are following this journey.

Truthfully, I am beginning to see glimmers of light as I trudge through this darkness. The pictures of Kathy Anne are helping.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Fox settles; now … tell the truth

The Fox Propaganda Network is going to pay a lot of money to Dominion Voting Systems, thanks to a settlement announced today just as Dominion’s defamation trial was set to begin.

Dominion sued Fox for $1.6 billion. The network agreed to pony up $787.5 million, roughly half the amount Dominion had sought.

Then we’ll have a statement from Fox. Maybe soon. Fox will have to make some sort of apology to Dominion, acknowledging that it lied when it continued to broadcast phony allegations that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election results to elect Joe Biden.

Dominion did nothing of the sort. Fox’s on-air talking heads knew they were spreading The Big Lie. Yet they did it anyway. Therein rests the primary reason I will forever refuse to put the word “news” in Fox’s title; it does nothing but spread propaganda designed to promote a certain point of view and denigrate others who adhere to different views.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

 

local news

Big Lie claims a new victim

1 Comment

The adherents to the Big Lie notion of non-existent widespread election fraud have claimed another victim, and it is a shattering blow to election officials who take their jobs seriously and do them with integrity.

Tarrant County elections director Heider Garcia is quitting his job effective June 23 because of a dispute he is having with County Judge Tim O’Hare, who campaigned for the office in 2022 pledging to rid the county of fraud he said tilted the 2020 presidential race in the county to President Biden.

Garcia was on duty at the time as the county’s chief elections official. He has been praised for his work to conduct safe, secure and legal elections.

Heider Garcia, Tarrant County elections chief, resigns | The Texas Tribune

Garcia wrote a letter to county officials, saying, “When leadership respects the team’s values and shows trust, members of the team become the best version of themselves. … Judge O’Hare, my formula to ‘administer a quality transparent election’ stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me. You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different, thus, my decision is to leave.”

O’Hare pledged during his campaign for county judge to clean up the election process. Except that the process in Tarrant County has been well run under Garcia’s tenure as election administrator.

“I want to say all things are on the table,” O’Hare said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I know there are a lot of people that want to get rid of the machines. I’m not telling you I’m a fan of the machines, want to keep the machines. I’m telling you you can cheat in paper ballots. You can in machines. You can cheat in all sorts of things.”

Sure, you can cheat … but has it occurred to the level that O’Hare says it has? No. It hasn’t.

Now the county is looking for someone to take on a responsibility that is fraught with unnecessary tension, as the county judge is looking for a cause to a made-up problem.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Santos to run again?

Why in the name of political sanity does anyone outside of a New York congressional district care about this moron’s decision to seek re-election to a second term in the House of Representatives?

I guess it’s because of the circumstances of his election in the first place and the fact that he actually votes on legislation that affects you and me far away.

George Santos announced he is running for re-election to the House in 2024. Santos is the dipsh** who lied his way to election in 2022. He lied about damn near every aspect of his life: his parentage, his faith, his work background, his education, his marital status.

The Republican has become a laughingstock. He embarrasses all Americans who are concerned about electoral integrity. I am one of those Americans.

This clown needs to lose his re-election bid next year. Indeed, many within his own GOP are saying the same thing.

But … here’s the thing: Santos has zero shame. Were he to actually win re-election, I fear it could open the door to even more frauds traipsing through the halls of Congress, a place that already suffers from abysmal public opinion ratings.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Praising intel-leaker?

The MAGA wing of the Republican Party is making me sicker by the day. Consider what some of them said about the Air Force National Guardsman who leaked the sensitive intelligence info to the world.

They offered praise for Jack Texiera. The right-wing firebreather Marjorie Taylor Greene said the young man has “told the truth” about the war in Ukraine.

Good grief. U.S. Rep. Greene needs to be stripped of her Homeland Security Committee spot, censured and sent to the back bench where she belongs.

As for Texiera, he should face severe punishment. I won’t call for his execution, as some have done. The young man does need to spend time in prison if he is convicted.

Rep. Michael Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Texiera is no one to be admired. At least some reasonable Republicans are treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves.

How does the Biden administration deal with this? Again, it cannot blow it off as a simple mistake. It needs to crank up its investigative tools to get to the bottom of how this reservist got his hands on intelligence that only the top members of the chain of command should be able to see.

I am going to place my faith in the administration’s efforts to stop this kind of travesty from repeating itself.

The MAGA cult, meanwhile, needs to shut its collective mouth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Clown show plays poorly

The Jim Jordan Clown Show opened and closed after the U.S. House Judiciary Committee chairman sought ostensibly to examine crime in New York City.

Except that the clown show wasn’t at all about NYC crime. It was an attempt to embarrass Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who had the temerity to ramrod a grand jury indictment of Donald Trump. Jordan, the Ohio Republican, would have none of that.

What did the GOP fire-breather do? He convened a “field hearing” in NYC that he said would seek to examine the crime in the nation’s largest city. Oh, wait! He didn’t mention that New York’s crime rate is among the lowest per capita of any large city in the country.

NYC’s violent crime rate is lower than, say, Columbus or Cleveland, in Ohio — where Jordan lives.

What the nation witnessed in New York was a blatant effort to politicize a legitimate criminal investigation, which the Manhattan DA concluded with the grand jury indictment of the former POTUS. And to listen to Jordan and his fellow GOP Trumpkins accuse Democrats of playing politics is enough to make me hurl.

What’s more, Jordan decided to conduct this so-called field hearing after he sought to summon Bragg to testify before his committee at the Capitol Building. One problem: Jordan has no legal or constitutional authority to require an elected official from one of our states to make such an appearance.

Alvin Bragg did his job according to the oath he took when he became district attorney. The grand jurors also did their jobs in accordance with the oath they took when they surrendered their time as working citizens to examine the evidence presented to them.

I am not going to take anything that comes from Jim Jordan or his Trumpkin cabal seriously until he — and they — take their public offices seriously. I doubt it will happen.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

WT boss awaits no-confidence vote

Walter Wendler and I are strangers. We’ve never met. I mention that only because I worked for 18 years at a newspaper in the Texas Panhandle where West Texas A&M University is located, which means Wendler got there after I left my job.

But the WT president has stepped on some sensitive toes by canceling a drag show that had been planned at the campus. Faculty senate leaders are preparing a vote of no confidence against Wendler and plan to submit their results to Texas A&M System regents and Chancellor John Sharp, demanding they take action against Wendler.

I believe the WT boss made a mistake by injecting his personal religious beliefs into his decision to cancel the show. The Texas Tribune reports: In a letter to the campus community last month, Wendler canceled a student drag show fundraiser and drew criticism from students when he argued that the performances are “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny.”

The “demoralizing misogyny” statement, to my eyes, is most troubling. Oh, brother.

Let’s just stipulate that WT is a public university. It is funded by the state, which is a secular government, no matter how hard those on the right wing seek to inject religion into government functions. Wendler, therefore, is an agent of the state. Thus, he should have exercised more discretion than to make such a bold declaration against an activity being conducted by students of the public institution.

West Texas A&M University president faces no-confidence vote after canceling drag show | The Texas Tribune

The Tribune reports further: “We do not take this step lightly,” Ashley Pinkham, faculty senate president, wrote in a letter to all professors Monday announcing the vote. “However, we believe that the mission to provide intellectually challenging, critically reflective, and inclusive academic programs at a well-respected, high-quality institution of higher education is at jeopardy. We believe we must act now to restore the reputation of West Texas A&M University.”

I hate seeing this fine university being dragged through the social commentary mud … only because its president has overstepped his boundaries as the leader of a publicly funded educational institution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

‘Better,’ but not yet ‘good’

I believe I have made a reasonably profound conclusion upon returning from my westward journey to clear my head in the wake of my beloved bride’s passing from cancer.

It rests in an answer I give to those who know me and who are acutely aware of what happened to Kathy Anne on Feb. 3.

They ask: How are you doing? How are you feeling?

My answer: I am better. I am not yet good.

The conclusion I have reached? It is that I might never be “good” the way I used to define the word. Does that mean I am going to wallow in my grief? No. It means — as I perceive it — that I will have to accept that the pain that shattered my heart will remain with me for as long as I live.

My task, therefore, will be to carry on even as I continue to hurt. The two elements are not mutually exclusive, as those who have been through it have told me.

One dear friend — a fellow I have known since we were in high school — counseled me on my trip out west to “not be afraid to move forward, but never forget where you’ve been.” He speaks from his own experience of having lost his wife to cancer just a few years ago. My friend is a wise man and I take his advice seriously.

My trip was a good tonic for me. I returned home to North Texas feeling more peaceful than I did when I departed with Toby the Puppy. I am feeling better today than I did a month ago.

And you know what? I am not going to look for the “good” feeling. I will know if and when it shows up … kinda like the moment I first laid eyes on the girl of my dreams.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Right-winger needs close scrutiny

How many times has this happened before? A politician who proclaims fealty to his wife, who stands on the shoulders of those who wrote holy scripture finds himself the subject of a possible investigation into conduct unbecoming of such a God-fearing human.

So it is with Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, who has been accused of having sex with a legislative intern. Slaton, through his lawyer, calls the allegation trash. You would expect him to say such a thing.

Look, I am not going to presume this young man’s guilt. I do not know him well, but he and I are acquainted, if only through a couple of telephone conversations we have had since he took his Texas House seat prior to the start of the 2021 Legislature.

It’s just that pols such as Slaton open themselves up to extra-keen-eyed scrutiny when these allegations surface.

Former U.S. Rep. Van Taylor of Plano admitted to engaging in an affair with a woman while running for re-election in 2022. He, too, is a conservative Republican who touted his love for his wife. He made a big mistake, which he admitted to doing; Taylor then dropped out of his GOP primary race.

Do you remember the case of John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president, who cheated on his late wife while she was battling cancer … all while parading her in front of crowds, telling them how much he loved her? Sickening!

These are just three examples of the danger of boasting about martial fidelity. I always find it offensive when a pol uses his wife as a political prop, declaring that we should vote for him because he’s been faithful to the vow he took to “love, honor and cherish” someone “for as long as both of you shall live.”

I hope for a quick resolution to this Bryan Slaton matter. Someone on his staff has corroborated the allegation. It falls now to a House committee to complete its probe into the veracity of the allegation.

It’s serious stuff, folks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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