science news

We just didn’t know about this

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Mary Wallace Funk is my newest hero.

She goes these days by the name of Wally Funk. She became a household name this morning when she rocketed for a few moments into space aboard Jeff Bezos’s rocket that took off from the Trans-Pecos region Texas.

Why is she my hero? Because as a boy I was keenly interested in the space program created during the Eisenhower administration, developed later during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. However, there appears to have been huge gap in my knowledge of the early years.

I did not know a thing about the women who took part in those early developmental years. Wally Funk was one of them. She trained right along with the Mercury Seven astronauts selected to be the space pioneers. Then the National Aeronautics and Space Administration canceled the women’s program. So help me I do not recall ever hearing about this program as I was being taught in public school way back then in Portland, Ore.

Wally Funk becomes oldest person to fly to space 60 years after she was denied the opportunity (nbcnews.com)

Wally Funk never got to fly into space.

Until this morning a little after 8. She and Bezos and his brother Mark and Oliver Daemen, a teenager from The Netherlands rocketed off the desert floor near Van Horn. They zoomed to the edge of space. They were weightless for a few moments. Then they returned.

She trained right along with the Bezos brothers and Daemen. Jeff Bezos joked that just as Wally Funk outperformed her male colleagues in the late 1950s and early 1960s, she did the same while training for the rocket ride aboard the Blue Origin ship named New Shepard.

What’s important to note here is that Funk now is the oldest person to fly to space. She broke a 23-year-old record held by a fellow who flew as part of the Mercury program in 1962 and then took part in 1998 as a crew member aboard the shuttle Discovery. You’ve heard of this guy: the late John Glenn. As an aside, I still get chills when I watch the shuttle blast off with Sen. Glenn aboard and the NASA communicator announces the launch of the ship carrying “six astronaut heroes and one American legend.”

Well, Wally Funk likely won’t ascend to legendary status.

However, as of this morning this intrepid pioneer is my newest hero.

Well done, Wally Funk.

medical news

Hypocrisy? Anyone?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Democratic politicians have made quite a bit of hay about their Republican colleagues’ effort to lie about the efficacy of various COVID 19 vaccines and have blasted them to smithereens for refusing to wear masks in group settings.

As the saying goes … oops!

At least six Democratic politicians — all Texas pols holed up in Washington over a dispute involving voter suppression efforts in Austin — have tested positive for the coronavirus. They haven’t worn masks in their own group settings. Are they going to get sick and possibly die? Probably not. All of ’em have been vaccinated, but they reportedly have come down with the delta variant that now accounts for the vast majority of new infections being reported.

I mention this only to call attention to the harsh rhetoric that flies back and forth across partisan lines.

The Democrats who have tested positive are members of the Texas Legislature. They left Austin to stop a voter overhaul effort launched by Texas Republican lawmakers. Clearly they should have known better than to expose themselves to the variant that is creating considerable havoc across the nation, accounting for the increases in infection, hospitalization and death.

They no doubt will get a snootful from their Republican colleagues.

Sadly, they have it coming.

national news

Rep./Dr. Jackson channels AOC

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It didn’t take Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez long at all to make a name for herself after she got elected to Congress in 2018.

Suddenly, this New York City progressive lawmaker became all the media’s No. 1 TV, radio and print “get.” They wanted to know what this rookie congresswoman thought about any issue of the moment.

So, now it’s 2021. We had a congressional election in November 2020. Who among the crop of rookie congressmen/women has emerged as the latest go-to individual? None other than Ronny Jackson, the Republican who now lives in Amarillo, Texas — where my wife and I lived for 23 years before we moved to the Dallas ‘burbs in late 2018.

Jackson wants to make a name for himself, too. He is using the same medium that AOC used to elevate her profile a couple of years ago: Jackson has become a Twitter tyrant. He shows up on Fox News and other right-wing media outlets, sorta the way AOC showed up on liberal outlets in 2019 and 2020.

I called AOC out then because I didn’t believe she had earned her spurs. She needed more seasoning to be considered any sort of authority on congressional matters. I tend to listen more intently to those with years — rather than weeks or months — of experience legislating at the congressional level.

As for Rep. Jackson, the one-time presidential physician who now represents the 13th Congressional District of Texas … well, he just needs to shut his trap.

medical news

Ignore the know-nothings

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

While visiting with a family member this afternoon, chatting about this and that, I made a command decision about how I will treat the yammering that comes from the anti-vaxxers out there who say we should ignore pleas to inoculate ourselves against the COVID-19 pandemic.

I will ignore them.

When Fox News blowhard Tucker Carlson says we should forgo the vaccine, I will ignore him. When such nonsense spills from the pie holes of politicians wedded to the nonsense spouted by POTUS 45, I will ignore them, too.

FYI, my family member happens to be on my side in this argument.

Now, that said … if a learned physician with the skill and knowledge credentials of, say, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says we should refuse the vaccine, I’ll give it all due consideration. Then I’ll disregard what he or she says, too.

The blowhards are know-nothing gasbags. They make handsome livings by being able to articulate half-baked opinions in a witty, reasonably articulate manner. They have their followers. I am not one of them. Thus, I do not take their blathering seriously; hell, I usually choose to avoid listening to it in the first place.

I established long ago my own bias. We all have it. You do, too. I am going to accept the opinions of those I trust. Dr. Fauci — the nation’s premier infectious disease expert — says the vaccines are safe and effective. That, dear friends, is good enough for me.

As for those who refuse to get vaccinated, or refuse to inoculate their children against the killer virus and its variant(s), they are putting themselves in dire peril. Worse, they are endangering their children.

All of them — every single one of them — should be ashamed.

national news

GOP House members join key panel

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy came through with the names of five of his GOP colleagues to serve on the select committee that is going to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection.

One word of advice now goes to the committee chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi: Keep a tight leash around the neck of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of the five GOP members McCarthy has selected.

Of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has veto power over any selections for the panel. If she decides to allow the loudmouth Jordan to serve, then it falls on Chairman Thompson to keep Jordan focused on the task at hand: finding the truth behind the riot that killed five people, injured dozens more, damaged the Capitol Building and sought to overturn the results of an election that chose President Biden over the GOP incumbent.

Jordan was one of the GOP caucus members, you will recall, who voted against certifying the election results. The dude is a loose cannon. He tends to come unhinged while defending his hero, POTUS No. 45. He also tends to badger witnesses, not allowing them the opportunity to respond to his hectoring.

Jordan is likely to object to using the term “insurrection” to describe what happened on Jan. 6. Except that’s precisely what it was. Chairman Thompson, don’t let Jordan get away with trying to change the subject or trying to persuade the nation that the mob of domestic terrorists were not intent on doing harm to officials who were doing their constitutional duty, which was to certify the results of the Electoral College tally.

The GOP congressional caucus wouldn’t go along with an independent commission. The House select committee is the next best step toward determining what happened, why it happened and seeking ways to prevent a recurrence.

This panel needs room to do its job. It must not tolerate diversions from some members of its ranks. Listen up, Jim Jordan: Listen with your ears for once … and not your mouth.

national news

‘Club’ door will slam shut on this guy

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

One of the more exclusive clubs on Earth currently comprises just five members. However, only four men are being allowed inside whatever passes for a clubhouse frequented by its occupants.

I refer to the Former U.S. Presidents Club. It once was a revered de facto institution. The men who once served as commander in chief occasionally would huddle together, talk among themselves, perhaps even offer some advice to the current president of the United States.

Four of these men seem all willing to engage in this kind of time-honored camaraderie. Then there’s the fifth former POTUS. No. 45 is wired so differently. It defies any form of logic to understand how the 45th POTUS — whose name I will continue to refuse to publish on this blog — ever can assimilate with his colleagues, all the men who once had the nuclear codes, who lent aid and comfort to the nation in grief, performed the myriad written and unwritten duties of the high office.

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama represent different political parties. Three of them are Democrats; one is a Republican. Even among the Democrats didn’t always walk in lockstep with each other. They all had a serious common thread that binds them at several levels. They all were humbled by the office. They all are true-blue patriots. They all carried themselves with dignity. They all accepted political defeat when fate turned against them.

Then there’s the fifth former POTUS.

He embodies none of that. He won’t accept publicly that President Biden defeated him. He continues to lie. He denigrates fallen heroes of past wars.

The most immediate past POTUS likely never will be welcome inside the Former Presidents Clubhouse. Why should he be welcome? The former Numbskull in Chief has worn out his welcome to the political arena. He continues to hurl insults and invective at all of the men who preceded him.

I wouldn’t object one little bit if the other POTUSes simply kept the clubhouse door locked to prevent No. 45 from entering it.

medical news

Pandemic ‘not over’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy today told us a horrifying truth. The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, he told Fox News Sunday.

“We’re seeing increases in cases, particularly in parts of the country where the vaccination rates are low,” Dr. Murthy explained.

I’ll embellish a mere sigh with an anguished “arrrgghh!”

We now hear Facebook firing back at President Biden who blames social media platforms for spreading lies about the pandemic vaccines. I am going to stand with the president on this one.

There needs to be greater accountability among social media outlets and the disinformation they distribute. Such as the phony claims of danger posed by the vaccines. There can be no denying the link between the surge in cases and the fact that they are occurring in parts of the country where vaccination rates are low.

It ain’t happening in regions where vaccination rates exceed state and national averages.

Hmm. Is there a message to be learned? Uhh, yeah. Get vaccinated!

national news

Protect DACA recipients

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The young men and women who reside in the United States need not be kicked around in a political skirmish that involves a decision made by their elders.

I refer to those who live here under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals provision that was enacted through executive order by President Obama, but has been ruled unlawful by a federal judge in Texas.

DACA recipients comprise several hundred thousand U.S. residents who were brought here illegally by their parents. They grew up as Americans; they came of age as Americans; the U.S. is the only country they know; many of them have flourished.

President Obama sought to give them some sanctuary from deportation by enacting the DACA program. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen — nominated for the federal bench by President George W. Bush — declared the DACA program to be illegal.

President Biden vows to appeal the ruling. I will take the president at his word. He should appeal it.

DACA is a humane and effective policy that should be codified  under law. Congress has the power to do that. My hope would be that enough fair-minded Republicans could join their Democratic colleagues in ensuring that these men and women — who came here as children and who have grown into responsible U.S. residents — can receive a clearer path to citizenship or permanent residency status.

Oh, but wait! That might require comprehensive immigration reform, which Republicans in Congress are unable or unwilling to enact. Why? Well, beats the hell out of me!

DACA recipients have been kicked around for too long already. Two former Texas governors — George W. Bush and Rick Perry, both Republicans — have spoken in favor of allowing so-called “Dreamers” to attend Texas colleges and universities; moreover, they have supported allowing them to attend under in-state tuition rules, given that they have been Texas residents of long standing. I consider that to be a fair and decent public policy.

The federal judiciary has intervened, though, in the effort to help these folks assimilate more completely into the society they adopted as their own when they came of age.

For the life of me I cannot understand why some politicians prefer to punish these individuals because of something their parents did when they were too young to fend for themselves.

national news, national security

Bolton discounts POTUS 45 return

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It is no secret to anyone who reads this blog that John Bolton is far from my favorite public official.

He served for a time as national security adviser to the one-time Liar in Chief. Then he got fired, or he quit, or something in between happened.

He now says that the 45th POTUS won’t run make another run for the White House in 2024. He also said recently that the former Imbecile in Chief is “unfit for public office.”

Hmm. Really? Do ya think?

Of course Bolton is correct on that presumption. He found out the hard way, I suppose, when he took the job as national security adviser. He sought to give advice to the POTUS on threats to the nation, only to be rebuffed for reasons no one can quite grasp.

I am inclined under normal circumstances to wonder why Bolton didn’t declare his former boss’s unfitness for office in real time, while he was serving in the White House. Then it occurs to me: It wouldn’t matter to the base of Republicans who continue to hang onto POTUS 45’s every hare-brained pronouncement.

Whatever, Bolton’s view today of the ex-POTUS is worth more than a bucket of spittle.

local news

Puppy Tales, Part 91: Still learning about skills

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Toby the Puppy cannot speak English, at least as I understand the language. He does, however, “speak” in a unique way that I have learned to comprehend.

He answers “yes” to questions by doing something in the moment that he does not do any other time.

“Are you hungry?” I might ask. “Do you want to go for a walk?” “Do you want to ride in the truck?” “Do you want to go see Emma?”

If the answer is “yes” to any or all of those queries — which almost always is the case — he responds by grabbing one his many chew toys that he has thrown around every room in our house.

He then shakes the toy. He throws it in the air. He growls at whatever toy he grabs. He might even bark at it.

That is how Toby the Puppy communicates his agreement with whatever question my bride and I would pose to him.

Oh, how do I know when he says “no”? No sweat. He doesn’t do anything. He might offer us a hang-dog look. What question produces something akin to a negative response? “Do you want to take bath?” He doesn’t fight the bath, but clearly it isn’t among his favorite things to do.

He joined our family more than seven years ago. We learn more about him almost daily. I am quite certain Toby the Puppy has his Mommy and me figured out.

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