medical news

Team is ready for fight

My wife’s medical challenge is being met with a stellar team of doctors and I want to sing their praises in this brief post.

You know about the tumor the surgeon dug out of her brain two days after Christmas. It was cancerous. He sent the tissue sample off to be tested, then it went to the Mayo Clinic — yes, that Mayor Clinic — for further analysis; we have yet to hear back from the brainiacs in Rochester, Minn.

But we now have a team of oncologists assembled here in North Texas and they assure us they are ready to wage all-out war against the tumor that remains inside her brain.

We have a medical oncologist who will administer the chemotherapy treatment, which will come in pill form. Then there is the radiation oncologist who will develop the strategy to burn the daylights out of what’s left of the tumor. We also have a neuro-oncologist who will oversee the chemo and radiation treatments.

The past few days have been hectic as we have visited doctors throughout McKinney and Plano. To be brutally honest, my head at times feels as though it will explode. We are seeking to process a lot of information as we await the final pathology report on the tissue being analyzed.

Then the radiation will commence simultaneously with the chemo pills my bride will consume daily.

There will be more MRIs, CAT scans and seemingly countless other tests to take along the way. I’ll be candid about one more point: My lovely bride is as ready to commence this fight as the team of docs that is surrounding her.

I have never been as proud of her over the course of our nearly 52 years together as I am at this moment.

She is ready for the fight.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Texas GOP turns on one of its own

The late Texas state Sen. Teel Bivins of Amarillo once lamented how Republicans have this way of “eating their own.”

I didn’t quite understand what he meant when he said that to me. Now I am beginning to get it.

The Texas Republican Party has sanctioned a radio ad lambasting GOP Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan for continuing a longstanding Texas legislative tradition, which is to appoint legislators of the minority party to committee chairmanships.

What the hell?

Phelan is a Beaumont Republican serving his second term as the Man of the Texas House. Is he doing something radical? Something so completely out of the ordinary? Is he capitulating to those dreaded Democrats on policy? No, no and hell no!

He is doing what speakers of both parties have done for a lot longer than any of the whippersnappers who oppose this concept have been alive.

The Texas Tribune reports: In the minute-long ad, a narrator says the speaker is “teaming up with Democrats to kill our Republican priorities.” 

What in the name of good government is that narrator talking about?

I spoke this week with one of the GOP insurgents, state Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City, about his vote against Phelan’s bid to retain the speakership. He said Phelan is rewarding Democrats unduly with legislative power they didn’t earn at the ballot box. Slaton is one of the fiery members of the Texas Freedom Caucus who seemingly doesn’t understand the longstanding Texas political culture.

Republican Gov. George W. Bush forged a tremendous relationship with Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock and Democratic House Speaker Pete Laney when he took office in January 1995. Their cooperation with the governor continued a hallowed Texas tradition of good-government compromise between the parties. Laney made sure to appoint Republican legislators to committee chairs, as did his GOP successors appoint Democrats to chairmanships.

The current GOP caucus seemingly wants to change all that. Many of them believe Democrats should be ostracized. Not all of them share that view, according to the Texas Tribune, which reported:

Phelan’s office declined to comment on the ad. But by Friday, at least two of his allies in the House had fired back on Twitter.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, tweeted a screenshot of a recent fundraising email from the Texas GOP and wrote, “Wow! [Texas GOP]’s hypocrisy knows no boundaries! They are fundraising off the passage of the Heartbeat and Trigger Bills — to fund their attacks on the Speaker who helped make them law!”

Texas GOP launches radio attack ads against Republican state House speaker | The Texas Tribune

That takes me back to an earlier point, which is that Phelan isn’t a closet progressive masquerading as a conservative Republican.

The Texas Republican Party has lost its mind.

Wherever he is, Teel Bivins is laughing out loud.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

Culture war is brewing?

Well now, might there be a culture war brewing in the school district where my wife and I reside and where we pay taxes?

If it erupts into what I fear, then we are heading for some mighty rough times in a growing public education system.

The Princeton (Texas) Independent School District board met last night to discuss whether to prohibit all outside groups from using school venues for activities not related to the school system. The board voted unanimously, as I understand it, to refer the matter to legal counsel for guidance.

The catalyst for this discussion appears to be a request from a local gay group to stage an LGBT Pride event this summer at Princeton High School. So, what did the school do in reaction? It came up with a notion to ban all outside groups from using school facilities.

Princeton ISD school board considers not letting public rent facilities (yahoo.com)

Hmm. Let’s ponder that for a brief moment. If the school board opposes using the high school to play host to an LGBT event, why does it want to punish, say, the local Scout organization, or a 4-H club, or even a veterans’ group by denying them use of the school system’s venues?

Is that fair? Doesn’t it punish all taxpayers who, after all, finance these structures with their hard-earned income?

To be clear, I don’t have any children enrolled in Princeton ISD. So, by all rights, my voice is muted a bit. However, our property taxes do pay for these facilities. Therefore, I have some proverbial “skin in the game.”

Oh, brother. Princeton ISD needs to tread very carefully around this matter. I am one red-blooded, patriotic American taxpayer who does not want to see my school district torn apart by a culture war.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Her independent streak is alive and well!

Pssst … I want to let you in on a little secret, so here goes.

The therapists at Medical City/McKinney (Texas) Hospital prepared me thoroughly to be at my wife’s side every step on her recovery from brain surgery. She came home early this week, and I was ready, willing and oh, so very able to be there as she took her baby steps back to full speed.

The secret? She doesn’t need me to be there to the extent the therapists had prepared me.

Now, don’t misunderstand. I still flinch and get the nervous jerks when she gets up to walk from one room to another in our house. She insists that she’s doing just fine. I believe her. I do not, though, want to get complacent about it … you know?

The surgery that the doctor performed to remove part of a cancerous tumor was successful in this important regard: It restored her balance and her ability to walk without the constant fear of falling. It was the series of falls she took that prompted our son and daughter-in-law to insist that she visit the hospital ER the day after Christmas.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Now the rest of the journey is about to begin. We are seeing doctors and are getting a full rundown of what lies ahead for my bride.

She fancies herself as an independent sort, and she is all of that. What I am learning in real time is that not even the kind of surgery she endured will change that aspect of her character.

She is truly amazing.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Does one ‘scandal’ affect the other?

Donald Trump’s classified document scandal is the real thing; a president leaves office and takes with him hundreds of pages of documents that do not belong to him.

Joe Biden’s classified document matter is different: he served as vice president, left that office, and squirreled away a few pages of classified documents.

Trump has challenged efforts to retrieve them; Biden has cooperated fully with the feds.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed two special counsels to examine these matters. Question of the day: Should one scandal affect the investigation of the other? My answer: No.

More specifically, special counsel Jack Smith’s work on the Trump matter should proceed with all deliberate speed. Robert Hur’s work on the Biden matter also should proceed.

One investigation must not affect the other one. More to the point is that Smith’s probe into the Trump scandal — which differs, in my mind, greatly from what is occurring with the Biden matter — must continue to its conclusion.

In my view, that conclusion should include an indictment of the ex-POTUS on allegations that he has obstructed justice and committed an illegal theft of government property.

But … that call belongs to AG Garland and his team of legal eagles. He vows to proceed with meticulous caution, which is all right with me. Garland has to get it right, understanding as I am sure he does the gravity of indicting a former POTUS and charging with enough criminal behavior to put him behind bars — if he’s convicted — for the rest of his sorry-ass life.

The Biden matter might complicate the probe into Trump’s scandal, but it must not derail it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news

Who holds key to debt?

1 Comment

A fascinating statistic is making the rounds out here in the Land of Ordinary Americans.

It involves the national debt, which is at its breaking point, and it speaks to the hypocrisy among Republicans who insist on spending cuts to counteract increasing the nation’s debt limit.

It’s this: One-quarter of the nation’s total debt was acquired during the four years that Donald Trump served as president. Furthermore, let us never forget — after all, Donald Trump damn sure won’t — that he is a Republican.

Thus, it becomes imperative to put this GOP yammering about spending cuts in its proper perspective.

Republicans in Congress were all but stone-cold silent during the time Trump was amassing the enormous debt. They weren’t demanding spending cuts the way they are these days with a Democratic president sitting in the Oval Office.

Why do you suppose that’s the case? Oh, I know! It’s politics, man, pure and simple.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Love abounds from … strangers!

Our English language lacks the words to describe adequately the feeling that fills my heart at this moment.

My bride is ready to do battle with the cancer the team at Medical City/McKinney found inside her brain. Her resolve is remarkable, indeed.

What has been astonishing has been the love that has poured in from people we know quite well but, more to the point of this brief blog post, from those who barely know either of us or do not know us at all.

It is coming from individuals who are friends of friends of ours, or those who know our sons and our daughter-in-law. They are Facebook “friends” who read this blog.

Their support, prayers, good thoughts and karma coming toward us fill us both with gratitude beyond all humanly measure. It has been astonishing and in this challenging time it has helped sustain us as we seek to make sense of the changes in our life.

So … I want to offer a heartfelt thank you to those who have taken a few seconds or minutes to express their love and support for my heroic bride as she prepares to bulldog this latest of life’s challenges.

She is a champion of the first order. Her stellar and steady outlook is buttressed by the “thoughts and prayers” that come her way.

Thank you.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Speaker’s deal may prove costly … to him!

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s deal with the GOP “devils” well might come back to take a huge chunk from his backside.

Consider what he has done. He has allowed some of the most radical members of his party’s caucus to take seats on key committees assigned to protect our nation’s secrets. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar will serve on the House Oversight Committee …sheesh! Then we see that Rep. Lauren Boebert, another QAnon princess, will gain a key committee assignment after voting against McCarthy’s bid to become speaker.

Let’s not forget that McCarthy also has seated Rep. George “Serial Liar” Santos on committees, too … never mind that he lied to the voters in New York who elected him about every aspect of his personal and professional life.

Get this, too: Many of these MAGA cultists insisted on power to remove the speaker at the behest of just a single House member. What will happen when he pisses one of them off enough to call for his removal?

All of this seems to provide demonstrable evidence that McCarthy very well might be the least intelligent individual ever to serve in an office that is second in succession to the presidency.

God help us!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Come clean, Mr. Speaker

The White House has made a perfectly reasonable, rational and realistic demand of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Come clean, Mr. Speaker, on the deals you struck with House conservatives to persuade them to vote you into the speaker’s office.

That’s what the White House — and many of us out here — want to know. What did McCarthy give away to the Freedom Caucus, the MAGA cabal?

They had formed a clique of “Never Kevin” House members. Then they became supporters, hugging his neck after he won the speakership after 15 votes among House members. How did they transform from Never Kevin voters to supporters?

The Hill reports: Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates warned that the extent of the deals between McCarthy and the roughly 20 Republicans who initially opposed his bid for Speaker are not fully known, but that they could wreak havoc on the economy and key government programs.

Yeah, no kiddin’.

White House calls on McCarthy to publicize details of deals with conservatives | The Hill

So, come clean, Mr. Speaker. What precisely did you give away to obtain that gavel? Hmm? C’mon! Tell us!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Again, put Putin on trial!

Russian war criminal and all-round nasty individual Vladimir Putin is showing the world — yet again! — why he needs to stand trial in the International Court for crimes against humanity.

Witness the Russians’ bombardment of an apartment complex in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. They are still digging bodies out of the rubble. I lost count of the number of civilians who died in the missile blast; last I heard it was about 30, including at least three children.

It’s good to ask: Why in the name of the rules of warfare do you target an apartment complex? It contains no military value. It is not a part of the country’s infrastructure. It contains housing for families.

Yet the Russians are continuing their assault on these so-called “soft targets” while waging a losing war against Ukraine.

They act on orders from the Kremlin. Who runs the government? Vladimir Putin!

There is plenty of precedent for putting a head of state on trial in absentia. Putin must stand trial for the crimes he is committing against humanity, as the world is witnessing during the Ukraine War.

Putin has been committing crimes ever since he sent his troops in to launch his illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainians have fought back heroically and have actually gained the battlefield advantage against the Russian aggressors.

That only has accelerated Putin’s desperation, resulting in the kinds of attacks that have leveled civilian targets … killing civilians, to boot!

This individual needs to stand trial for the crimes he is committing!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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