local news

Elect the PUC of Texas? Let’s talk about that one

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A young Texas state legislator with whom I recently became acquainted has pitched a fascinating notion that needs some discussion. Heck, it might even need to become law.

Freshman state Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Royse City Republican, says we need to elect the Public Utility Commission of Texas, making its members “accountable” to the voters when they make mistakes.

Hmm. Do you think the PUC made a blunder or three as the state struggled against Mother Nature’s winter wrath in February?

To be sure, this proposal carries plenty of risk along with the reward that Slaton seems to think it also carries.

The PUC currently is appointed by the governor. It comprises three members. The chairwoman of the panel, DeAnn Walker, recently resigned under duress in the wake of the monster winter storm that shut down electricity for millions of Texans.

Slaton has this notion that the PUC should be elected, just like the 15-member Texas State Board of Education and the three member Texas Railroad Commission are elected. The SBOE sets curriculum requirements for our public schools, while the RRC — perhaps one of the more misnamed agencies anywhere — regulates oil and natural gas issues for the state.

An elected PUC might be a good idea, but I would offer this caveat: Its members should be non-partisan. We already elect the SBOE and the RRC on partisan ballots. Their decisions, sadly, are too often driven by party platforms and concerns about whether their decisions will anger those in their electoral “base.”

Would an elected PUC be subject to the same pressure as the Ed Board and the Railroad Commission if it is elected on party ballots? It’s something to ponder.

The PUC ‘s mission is to regulate the rates and transmission of utility power to the state. Somewhere in the mission statement, the PUC declares that its aim is to “protect customers, foster competition, and promote high quality infrastructure.” Is that a mission that requires its members to belong to one political party or the other? I think not.

Texans have not been well-served by their utility regulators. There needs to be some serious overhaul from top to bottom of the way they do their jobs. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has taken heavy fire for the role it played. The ERCOT board recently fired its CEO in the wake of the winter blast.

Do we need to put PUC policy making decisions in the hands of politicians who campaign for votes? Maybe … or maybe not.

Let’s have that discussion.

local news

It’s no ‘waste of time’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A fellow who once served on the Amarillo City Council believes the investigation into Rep. Ronny Jackson’s past as White House physician is a “waste of time.”

We need to “quit looking back and move forward,” said Randy Burkett in a brief Facebook post.

I beg to differ. We gotta look back, if only to find out the truth behind a scathing report issued by a non-partisan watchdog outfit.

The Pentagon inspector general has issued a report that alleges that Jackson, who was elected to the 13th Congressional District of Texas, engaged in bad behavior while serving as White House physician. He drank on the job, he overprescribed medication and bullied and sexually harassed employees, the IG report said.

There needs to be a thorough investigation of what Jackson (allegedly) did and whether he should be removed from the House of Representatives.

As for “moving forward,” perhaps Randy Burkett would like to explain why Republicans haven’t yet been able to move forward from investigating matters involving, oh, Hillary Rodham Clinton or the 2020 presidential election’s phony allegations of vote fraud.

It is no “waste of time” to ensure that the people elected to the legislative branch of government, the folks who make laws we all must obey are trustworthy and are of high moral standing.

That kind of investigation is especially relevant when it involves someone such as Rep./Dr. Jackson, who keeps popping off about his political foes, suggesting — among many other things — that President Biden was elected this past year on the basis of electoral theft.

Waste of time? We should move on? Get real. Let’s find out what happened when Ronny Jackson was working as the Doctor in Our House.

local news, medical news, State news

Safety trumps personal liberty

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is getting plenty of push back from critics of his decision to rescind the mask-wearing order he issued when the COVID pandemic broke out.

Others, though, are backing the governor’s decision. I hear it on the news, that they are relishing the notion of exercising “personal liberty” in choosing to go without a mask when they enter public places.

OK. I want to make a critical point.

I am all in favor of personal liberty. As an American citizen, I cherish it as much as the next red-blooded patriot. However, personal liberty should not trump community health and well-being. That is my way of saying that the mask mandate — along with social distancing and other activities — protect us all from the spread of a virus that is killing Americans to this day.

I want to be free of being told to wear a mask. I want a return to being able to stand next to strangers in the grocery line, or sitting next to someone at the movie theater, or going to an entertainment event and being able to yell at the top of my lungs without fogging up my glasses because of the mask.

But … first things first. We have to grab the virus with a stronger grip than we have at this time. More of us are getting vaccinated daily. We are getting closer each day to that thing they call “herd immunity.” But we ain’t there yet.

So, spare me the “personal liberty” canard. I don’t buy it when your liberty puts my family and me in potentially mortal danger.

media news

We all scream for ‘vaccine’

1 Comment

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There is this weird phenomenon occurring on social media.

Well, at least I consider it weird. It is that folks around the nation are proclaiming their individual triumph at getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Hey, I did the same thing when my wife and I received our second and final vaccine doses.

I’m not yet sure what to think of this recurring phenomenon. It does seem strange to me.

The last time the nation received a breakthrough vaccine, I suppose, occurred in the 1950s with the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. Then came the “sugar cube” vaccine developed later by Dr. Albert Sabin, which we consumed by swallowing it.

Was the nation overwhelmed by either vaccine? Did Americans get on the phone and call each other to boast about getting it? That was a long time ago and I do not remember it happening. Then again, I was just a kid when the Salk vaccine was injected into my arm.

We didn’t have “social media” in those days. Social media these days have become the messaging forum of choice for billions of human beings around the world. And a lot of us are using various social media platforms to declare a form of victory in the fight against the COVID pandemic.

I am interested only in knowing whether my actual friends on Facebook — which appears to be the primary social media platform folks are using — are obtaining the vaccine. The rest of my alleged “friends” on Facebook? I’ll be honest, I don’t much care on any sort of a personal level.

However, there is something worthwhile about knowing that more Americans are getting inoculated against this killer virus. Maybe it’s not as “weird” as I implied when I began this blog post.

national news

COVID relief stalled by obstructionist

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ron Johnson has joined the Ted Cruz Caucus of GOP Kooks.

Yes, the Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin is stalling the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package because … well, I don’t know what he is basing his objection.

I guess the senator thinks it’s too expensive. But is it? Really?

Ron Johnson grinds Senate to halt, irritating many (msn.com)

The pandemic that the relief bill attacks has claimed more than 520,000 American lives. It has put millions of Americans out of work. It has caused untold misery, grief and mourning.

Sen. Johnson is stalling the bill because he wants senators to read it aloud, word for word. Why? Beats the hell out of me!

This man is nuts. He is an obstructionist extraordinaire in the mold of Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas GOP moron who once stalled the government by reading “Green Eggs and Ham” on the floor of the Senate.

Oh, meanwhile, Americans continue to suffer. They continue to get sick. They keep dying. All the while, Ron Johnson is stalling a wildly popular relief bill that will put money in Americans’ pockets and ensure unemployment insurance for those Americans who need help while they seek new jobs.

Utterly disgraceful.

Uncategorized

What about small towns?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A headline in the Texas Tribune speaks loudly about some mayors’ response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to pull back his mask-wearing mandate.

It said: Texas’ largest cities will keep requiring masks in municipal buildings even after statewide mandate ends

I have no problem with what those mayors are doing, saying and how they are reacting to what I believe is a premature decision by Gov. Abbott.

My question is this: What are small-town and smaller-city mayors doing? Are they going to have the same reaction?

I live in a small town. Princeton, Texas, is home to about 13,000 residents, give or take a few hundred. We are perched along U.S. Highway 380 between McKinney to the west (population 200,000) and Farmersville to the east (population 5,000). I am acquainted with the mayors of Princeton and Farmersville. My strongest hope is that they, too, will invoke mask mandates in municipally owned buildings.

The Texas Tribune reports: Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso’s leaders announced Wednesday and Thursday that masks will be required to enter city-owned indoor spaces like libraries, police and fire department headquarters, convention centers and transportation hubs.

“I am going to issue an order mandating masks at all city-owned buildings. We have to do what we are legally allowed to do to get people to wear masks,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said on Twitter Thursday morning. “We also still need to practice social distancing. And we still need to avoid taking unnecessary risks. The pandemic is not over.”

Texas’ largest cities will require masks in municipal buildings | The Texas Tribune

No. It is not over. It is not yet close to being over. I will acknowledge, though, that the arrival of a third vaccine — from Johnson & Johnson — means that the end of this horror might be approaching.

Given that our smaller communities don’t get the kind of media attention that the big cities get, I want there to be a significant push by those city halls to get the word out immediately to their constituents. They need to let them know through any means necessary.

Of course, this strategy should apply to small cities and towns all across our vast state. Gov. Abbott can declare, I suppose, that state-owned buildings need not carry “Mask Required” signs. A state governed by politicians who adhere to the “local control is best” mantra should have no trouble allowing city halls to set their own rules regarding the best way to battle the COVID virus.

Let us not forget that President Biden has ordered masks and social distancing in all federal buildings at least for the first 100 days of his administration. My gut tells me he likely will extend that mandate well beyond that artificial deadline.

I will await word from my mayor, Brianna Chacon, on what she intends to do. I hope she stays the mask-wearing course.

medical news, State news

Abbott taking deserved hits

(Bob Daemmrich/Pool Photo via AP)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This needs to be said.

President Biden overreacted by declaring that the governors of Texas and Mississippi were engaging in “Neanderthal thinking” when they lifted mask-wearing orders while seeking to return their states’ business community to full occupancy status.

Yes, we’re fighting a pandemic. We need to maintain those orders. I agree that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision was ill-considered and, yes, he was one of the “Neanderthals” to whom the president referred.

Still, I wish that President Biden wouldn’t have used that particular description.

However, I’ll endorse the president’s view that Abbott shouldn’t have done what he did. Abbott has pulled back from previous orders, only to watch the infection, hospitalization and death rates from the COVID virus spike in Texas.

I am going to pray hard that we don’t see yet another repeat of those prior mistakes.

local news, national news

Will these allegations hold up?

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

We likely are going to witness a fairly significant difference in the way the public and the political establishment treat two public officials accused of misbehavior while holding public office.

They aren’t parallel examples, but pretty close.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has been accused by three women of committing acts of sexual harassment. Cuomo has apologized (more or less) for his misdeeds, declaring he “never intended” to act so boorishly. Calls among Democrats and Republicans are mounting for him to resign. Cuomo says he won’t quit.

Now, we have U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican, who’s been accused by a government inspector general of sexual harassment of employees while he served as White House physician. The IG also says Jackson, who represents my former congressional district in the Texas Panhandle, drank on the job and took sleeping pills while tending to three presidents of the United States. Jackson calls the IG report a hit job and blames it on partisan politics.

I haven’t heard anyone up yonder in the Panhandle of Texas declare that he should quit. Could it be that the GOP-friendly Panhandle, governed by a party that used to proclaim allegiance to the notion that “character counts,” no longer holds that view?

I believe Cuomo will have difficulty riding out this storm. Jackson should have at least equal difficulty.

Indeed, the IG report was issued after interviews with about 70 eyewitnesses who testified under threat of committing a felony for lying about what they saw Dr. Jackson do. Isn’t that credible enough?

The congressman’s dodge that it is a partisan hack job just doesn’t hold up, given the nature of the inspector general’s office … which is decidedly non-political.

medical news, military news

VA deserves shout out

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough has earned a shout out from one of his constituents.

That would be yours truly. Me. Myself.

He said today in the White House press briefing room that more than 1.4 million veterans have received vaccinations to protect them against the COVID-19 coronavirus. Of that total, he said, more than half of us have received both doses of the vaccine, meaning that we’re totally inoculated (or we ought to hope for the best) against a virus that has killed more than 500,000 fellow Americans.

I was able to get vaccinated through the North Texas Veterans Medical Center. The first vaccine required a bit of a wait, but I could spare an hour of my time. The second one was slick and smooth; in and out in 20 minutes.

As a proud Army veteran who signed up with the VA some years ago, I want to thank the Department of Veterans Affairs for the great care it has given me during my enrollment.

I get that Secretary McDonough has been on the job only a short time. He’s the man standing watch now, so he gets the shout out, as do his predecessors.

Thank you.

national news

Trump still commands attention

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Jack and I go back a long way, more than 50 years.

He is a friend of longstanding. He also disagrees with me politically. Jack is a supporter of Donald J. Trump; I am not. So, with that background established, he asked me over social media when I am going to look ahead and stop commenting on Donald Trump’s comings and goings. He wonders when I will start thinking critically of Joe Biden.

I will answer my friend here in this brief response. He reads this blog, so I hope he won’t object to my using this forum in that manner.

My intention is to put Trump away as soon as humanly possible. I desperately want to stop commenting on him through this blog. However, he remains something of a political player. He keeps fomenting terrible lies about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election and those lies keep the “base” of voters he commands stirred up. They have swilled the poison he is dispensing. Thus, they remain a political force with which we must reckon.

As for President Biden, I make no secret of my joy at his election. I have mentioned several times over the past year or so that he wasn’t my first choice to run against Trump, but he survived the Democratic Party primary donnybrook. He was nominated and he ran a successful campaign.

I also have been critical of one of Biden’s key Cabinet choices, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. So it is not as though I am going to give the president a pass on every single thing he does or says. Just this week he referred to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to life the mask mandate a sample of “Neanderthal thinking,” which I believe is a bit harsh; I will have more to say on that later.

As long as Donald Trump continues to be “in the news,” I feel compelled to comment on him. I want him to vanish from the headlines. At least, though, I can declare that he isn’t occupying as much of my time as he formerly did.

That’s progress.

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