crime news, FBI, legal news, national news

Do they really mean ‘civil war’?

What in the name of certifiable insanity is happening along the rightward fringe of political discourse, with individuals and groups yammering about the prospects of “civil war” if certain events don’t go the way they want them to go?

There well could be multiple indictments coming from at least two states, and the U.S. Department of Justice over the conduct of the most recent former president of the United States. Donald Trump’s cult followers are vowing to take to the streets. They will exact revenge if their leader faces criminal prosecution.

Some of ’em have said they expect a civil war to erupt. What the … ?

Hey, we all know what happened when we had a Civil War in this country. Six hundred thousand Americans died on battlefields throughout much of the eastern United States. The war ended. President Lincoln vowed to bind the wounds that tore us apart … only to be assassinated.

Now some among us are predicting a return to that horrifying chapter in our national history. And why? Because the Justice Department is doing its job in accordance with federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

Oh, and then we have two states — Georgia and New York — looking as well into possible criminal behavior. They, too, are operating legally and ethically in the search for the truth.

Oh, my. These threats frighten the daylights out of me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news, national security, political news

MAGAites churn my stomach

Reaction to President Biden’s speech in defense of the “soul of America” from the MAGA cabal of kooks has been, to say the least, more than a bit unsettling.

The treasonous cultists who adhere to the phony philosophy that seeks to Make America Great Again now are ascribing to President Biden the very characteristics we all have seen exhibited in real time by Donald J. Trump.

They are pissed off because they allege Biden has declared war on “half the country.” How do I say this clearly? No, he is not! Biden has sought to wage rhetorical warfare against a shrinking element of the MAGA base that continues to buy into The Big Lie about alleged widespread voter fraud … that does not exist.

Think for a moment about the cultists who buy into one thing their “esteemed leader” said this week: Trump said that if hell freezes over and he is returned as president that he will give “serious thought” to issuing blanket pardons for those who took part in the 1/6 attack on our government. (Actually, the “hell freezes over” reference is mine, not Trump’s … as if you didn’t know.)

My point is that nothing makes my blood boil more at this moment than the notion of the traitorous mob being pardoned for their assault on our democratic process, when they smashed through windows, threatened to “Hang Mike Pence!” and crapped on the floor of our Capitol Building.

Biden made several points with crystal clarity. The one that stands out for me was when he declared that you “cannot support our democracy only when you win.” 

The Big Lie believers cannot accept that the Big Liar in Chief lost the 2020 election. Nor can they accept the righteous and deserved scolding they received from the man who defeated their cult hero.

Yes, they pose a threat to our democracy. The rest of us must — and I use this term metaphorically — put them down.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news, national news, political news

The docs ain’t yours, Donald

Donald J. Trump had this annoying habit during his time as president of referring to the Cabinet, the official White House staff, even the Joint Chiefs of Staff as his own.

Recall how he would refer to “my attorney general,” or “my generals” or “my presidency.”

Now comes word that the former POTUS has referred to the classified documents he took from the White House as “my documents.” How they “belong to me.”

Uhh, no, Donald. They belong to me and all other Americans. The president with no knowledge of the Constitutional or the limits it places on the presidency has seized those documents and claimed them for his own use. That’s what the evidence so far has been revealing.

To be fair, Trump isn’t the only POTUS to take such ownership of public figures, public documents and public offices. I have lost count of the number of presidents refer to “my presidency,” or “my vice president” or “my national security team.” I seek while writing on this blog to avoid ascribing ownership of the presidency to the individual who occupies the office.

That said, Trump’s claim of ownership of top-secret and other classified papers sends chills up my back.

Listen up, Attorney General Merrick Garland: The man has to pay for such hubris.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Puppy Tales, Part 97: Cuter than ever

The picture you see here is of Toby the Puppy when he joined our family in early September 2014.

He is five months of age in this photograph. We took him to the veterinarian almost the moment we decided he would join us; the vet took one quick look in his mouth and without blinking or pausing for even a second told us “five months old.” 

There you have it.

Eight years later I am thrilled to tell everyone who reads this blog that Toby the Puppy continues to make us laugh every … single … day.

I have boasted incessantly on this platform and when we meet people with Toby the Puppy in our presence that he is the perfect addition to our family. Jeez, I have trouble even referring to him as a “pet.” He is much more than that.

He joined us when we had two cats, siblings Socks and Mittens. They have since left us and we miss them terribly. Toby, though, has managed to more than fill the void left by our kitties’ departure.

He is a road warrior who loves to travel with us. Our granddaughter, who’s now 9 years old, fell in love with him when she was a toddler and has treated him ever since with tender, loving kindness … which he clearly appreciates. Indeed, he gives her much love in return.

We love this puppy to the stars in the sky … and back again.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

Biden goes for MAGA’s throat

If you are wondering at this moment whether President Biden is up for a fight with those who seek to undermine our democratic process, well, you weren’t paying a lick of attention to what the president said in a speech delivered in front of Independence Hall.

He went straight after who he called “MAGA Republicans” and their leader, Donald John Trump. He called the MAGA wing of the GOP opposed to democracy, he accused them of fomenting political violence, he said they want to establish an authoritarian regime.

Game on!

Meanwhile, we hear from Donald Trump, who told a right-wing radio station that if he is elected POTUS — God forbid! — he would likely grant full pardons for everyone who took part in the 1/6 attack on our government.

Is there possibly a greater reason to work like hell to keep that moron out of the White House … for the rest of his sorry life?

President Biden looks to me to be ready to wage political war against those who already have declared war against the government.

Well done, Mr. President.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news, local news, State news

Praying for DACA recipients

I am going to say my prayers tonight. Yes, I think often of my family and pray for their good health and safety and for my friends, many of whom have suffered death in their family.

I also am going to pray for the survival of a humane and to my mind a  totally acceptable public policy. The Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals needs to stay on the books. Why? Because it grants U.S. residents who were brought here as children protection from being deported … even though they have done nothing wrong as de facto Americans.

The Texas Tribune reports: In 2018, Texas and other Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that the Obama administration overreached its power by creating an immigration program without Congress’ approval. The lawsuit has led to a yearslong legal battle.

DACA recipients prepare for possible end of program as court ruling looms | The Texas Tribune

DACA came into being as the result of an executive order issued by President Obama. It is meant to protect those who came here as children, some of whom were infants and toddlers. Many thousands of these children have grown into responsible adults; they have paid their taxes; many of them have achieved academic excellence.

What’s more, they did all of this in the only country they ever have known. Those who were brought here as children only did so because they were too young to act independently.

And now some of us want them deported? To a country they don’t know? It is inhumane to the max to punish these DACA recipients in this manner.

Therefore, I will pray that they can be allowed to stay in this country, allowed to seek citizenship or permanent legal resident status and be allowed to continue to contribute to the country where they came of age.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, legal news, national news

Are they pro-cop or not?

Thomas Webster has just become the latest symbol of the hypocrisy we hear coming from the mouths of politicians and their supporters who purport to be “pro law enforcement.”

Webster has just received a 10-year prison sentence for his participation in the 1/6 assault on our government, on the attack on Capitol Hill.

Webster happens to be a former New York police officer who was convicted of assaulting a Capitol Police officer during that heinous attack. A judge sentenced the ex-cop to the longest sentence yet coming from the myriad trials emanating from the 1/6 assault.

But where are the statements of support for Webster’s sentence from those on the right, those who — until the Age of Trump — were known to be pro-law enforcement, pro-police, pro-lock ’em up and toss the key.

These days we hear them condemning the cops, the FBI, the intelligence community.

The world has been upside-down. It’s making me dizzy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Some traditions matter

Traditions do matter, regardless of how some of those in power might eschew them, cast them aside and act with an air of self-proclaimed unpredictability.

For instance … we have this event that occurs when presidents move into the White House that features the current first couple welcoming the previous first couple to the White House to unveil official portraits.

President and Mrs. Biden are going to welcome back to the White House former President and Mrs. Obama for the unveiling of the Obamas’ portraits.

The Obamas, under tradition, should have been invited back to the house where they lived for eight years by Donald and Melania Trump. That didn’t happen. Donald Trump saw no need to bring back the man whose constitutional credentials he questioned for years, the man he criticized incessantly during his term in office.

So, the Trumps never chose to make nice with the Obamas. Indeed, President and Mrs. Obama oversaw a marvelous White House ceremony to unveil the portraits of President and Mrs. Bush, who preceded the Obamas in the White House.

Now, the current president and first lady will welcome back the 44th president and his wife.

This begs a two-part question: Is there an official portrait being painted of the Trumps and who — in their right mind — would invite them back for an unveiling? This is a wild guess, but it damn sure won’t be Joe and Jill Biden.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Democrats get big gust of wind from the Arctic

Whoever in the world would have thought that Democrats — already feeling energized as the midterm election approaches — would get a big gust of wind in their sails … from the Arctic Circle?

Yep, that is where a Democratic candidate for Congress scored an upset over a one-time Republican darling, former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP’s 2008 nominee for vice president of the United States.

Mary Peltola will take her seat in the House, succeeding the late Don Young in the state’s only U.S. House seat. Palin was thought to be a shoo-in for the post. Then they counted the votes and it turns out that Peltola got more of them than the former Sarah Barracuda.

What’s most astonishing is that Peltola becomes the first Democrat to serve in the House from Alaska since the beginning of Alaska’s statehood. Alaska is as reliably Republican as any state in the Union.

And to be brutally candid, it’s good to see Palin knocked down a peg or three from her imagined towering perch.

Palin became a sort of caricature of herself over the years, with her assorted high-profile family issues erupting here and there. She quit the governorship halfway through her first and only term in office.

I’ve always thought of Palin as an empty vessel, someone with hardly an original idea in her noggin. That the late Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008, would choose her as his running mate turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of McCain’s long and distinguished career in public service.

Peltola now must go through a general election campaign, having knocked Palin out of the race. May the new congresswoman serve her state well. I have this feeling she’ll do so with the dignity that Palin usually was unable to find.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news, national security, political news

‘Trump is done’

Brian Karem, a writer for Salon, is preaching to the proverbial choir when he declares the storm that’s a brewin’ might be the one that takes out Donald Trump, sends him home to … wherever.

And then he’ll be gone from our consciousness. Presumably for the rest of his time walking this good Earth.

That’s my hope. That’s the hope, apparently, of a growing number of Americans who have grown sick, tired and bored out of their skulls at Trump’s one-note samba that kicks out the lyrics to The Big Lie.

Read Karem’s latest essay here:  A storm is coming: It might sweep Trump and the GOP into history’s dustbin (msn.com)

I have been struck by the stone-cold silence from the Trumpkin cabal of cultists over the documents the FBI seized at Trump’s posh estate. Not even the likes of Jim Jordan, or Rand Paul, or Lindsey Graham, or any other of the Trump cult followers can come up with an explanation on how top-secret documents found their way from the White House to Trump’s South Florida pad.

Then we hear from Trump himself, saying in a totally insane social media rant that the FBI grabbed the documents from his desk and scattered them on the floor for the world to see.

What the hell? That is a defense of what Trump did? Good grief, he just admitted to breaking federal law!

As Karem said in his essay:

So, yes — there is a storm coming. It’s not a civil war. It’s a reckoning — and I reckon the GOP would rather not face it. All the Democrats have to do is show up and vote, and the Republicans’ beloved Supreme Court gave them an excellent reason to do so.

The FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was merely an affirmation that those eager to flee the GOP needed, to let them know their instincts were right. When the facts are understood, Donald, it turns out that nobody likes a traitor.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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