All posts by kanelis2012

national news

Head vs. heart

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My head and my heart have declared all-out war against each other and today I got a chance to verbalize my concern over that inner struggle with a good friend of mine.

Tom asked me today about how I think the current political struggle is going to play out. He meant the presidential election … even though he didn’t say it. He didn’t have to say it.

My ticker is pulling hard for Joe Biden’s re-election as president of the United States. He remains on top of his game. Do I worry about the occasional gaffes, misstatements? Hell no! I make many of the same mistakes as he does. I happen to believe I am still bringing my “A game” to this business of blogging.

My noggin, though, suggests a different outcome could be on tap this November. The man President Biden defeated in 2020 wants his old job back. What he intends to do with it simply scares the living sh** out of me!

He vows to sic the Justice Department on the media and on his political “enemies.” He said he might pardon those accused of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6; he calls them “political hostages,” and not the criminals they have been accused of being and in some cases convicted of being.

POTUS 45 pledged to bring in the “best people” to serve with him when he was elected in 2016. The “best people” turned out to be a gang of bumbling nimrods who didn’t know whether to sh** or wind their watches. The next batch would be a gang of blind loyalists who will swear an oath to be loyal only to the man who selects them and not the Constitution they all should swear to support and defend.

I told Tom that my heart hopes for all its worth that this country is smarter than to allow this moron anywhere near the Oval Office. I also said my head tells me I might be overselling out nation’s collective intelligence.

God help us if my noggin wins this war!

Donald Trump

Some issues defy reason

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Some issues in this world of ours simply defy the human brain’s ability to process certain facts.

For example: How does one justify supporting an admitted sexual assailant, a serial philanderer, an individual who never has sought forgiveness, and someone who denigrates prisoners of war, people with handicaps and a Gold Star family whose son died a hero?

I will go to my grave never understanding how POTUS No. 45 continues to generate the kind of support he gets from the MAGA cult base that latches onto his every lying pronouncement.

It does, though. And throughout all of this weird presidential campaign, the former dipsh** in chief is continuing to cling to a small, and statistically insignificant lead over the current president who in actuality has accomplished more in his first term than any other POTUS in US history.

I am done making political predictions. I have told friends and loved ones far and wide that the former liar in chief cannot possibly be elected POTUS again. I might be wrong. I am holding out, though, for some truth-telling to finally crack this numbskull’s veneer.

I will admit that my hope is beginning to take on an air of desperation. The puzzle, though, remains as to precisely how this moron continues gin up the support he has out here in Voterland.

local news, media news

It’s like riding a bike

One of the things I discovered immediately upon taking up this gig as a freelance reporter is that I retained my ability to craft a human-interest feature story.

I spent the bulk of my nearly 37-year career in print journalism as an opinion writer and editor. Before that, though, I broke in the way most reporters do, writing general-assignment news stories and features about interesting individuals.

My full-time print journalism career ended in August 2012 and I was, to borrow a phrase, sent out to pasture. Then my wife and I moved to North Texas and I started working on a freelance basis for a husband-and-wife-owned group of weekly newspapers. My beat, such as it is, covers mostly Princeton and Farmersville.

That’s when the realization struck. I hadn’t lost the touch I acquired when I was starting out pursuing this joyous craft. I am not going to fill you with false bravado about the quality of the work I have done for my new bosses. Suffice to say, though, that they can depend on me to deliver them what they seek in a timely fashion. Deadlines, man, are everything in print journalism.

I also have determined that communities such as those I cover in Collin County still depend on local newspapers to tell their stories. It certainly is true that the digital age of journalism, the COVID pandemic and political pressure from on high all have had an impact on our influence in people’s lives.

However, community journalism is still kicking in Collin County, Texas. I am delighted to be able to continue to contribute to the telling of those stories to people who constantly tell me they still relish the feel of an actual newspaper in their hands.

national news

POTUS 45 wants a ‘third term’?

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POTUS No. 45 says he would like to hold the presidency for three terms. He said that? Oh, wait. He must’ve been “sarcastic.”

That cannot happen without amending the U.S. Constitution.

The 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two elected terms. The former Liar in Chief won election in 2016. He got defeated in 2020. He could — God forbid! — win it again this year.

That’s two terms, dude. You’re out after that.

I suppose he wants a third term. Maybe even a fourth.

C’mon.

The 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt won election to four terms; FDR died about a month after taking office for his fourth term in April 1945. Congressional Republicans had become alarmed at what they feared might become an “imperial presidency.” So, the GOP pushed the 22nd Amendment through.

Most of us know these days about the grandeur that No. 45 seeks, what with declarations about becoming a “dictator” for one day. He expresses admiration for dictators around the world. He wants to be one of them, I reckon.

However, our Constitution prohibits such nonsense from actually occurring. No., 45 needs to read the document. Oh, wait! He doesn’t read anything!

local news

Some topics way off limits

I want to elaborate for just a brief moment on something I mentioned in an earlier blog post.

It deals with human sexuality.

A friend of mine died of HIV/AIDS in 1994. He had been sick for about six years before the virus took its gruesome toll. Tim was a colleague with whom I worked at a newspaper in Beaumont, Texas.

One Sunday morning, my phone rang at home. It was Tim. He wanted to meet me at the office to discuss something very important to him. I agreed. I hung up and told my bride that “I think Tim is going to tell me he has AIDS.”

Those who knew Tim had noticed a significant change in his appearance over the years. He lost weight. His color had gone quite pale. He didn’t look right.

Sure enough, that’s what he did. He and I sat in the vacant newspaper office and he informed me had been stricken with the then-deadly virus. He told me he had drafted an op-ed column and wanted to know if I would consider publishing it. I answered with an emphatic “yes!”

Then he said the following related to how he contracted the illness., “You know that I am gay.” My answer was the best I could produce in the moment. I told Tim that he and I never discussed his sex life. I also told him that is a subject I dare not broach with anyone. So … my answer was “no,” I could not possibly know for certain about his sexual orientation. Did I suspect it? Yes, but suspicion is far from knowing.

My point is this: I am uncomfortable talking about sexuality, be it with a gay person or a straight person, When I see people, or groups of people, bellowing about their sexual “pride,” it is a turnoff to me. This notion of having to identify people with a string of letters meant to be sure we cover all the sexual orientations available, to put it bluntly, leads me toward a discussion topic with which I am in no way comfortable.

It’s why I generally stay away from the topic on this blog.

Is this the old-fashioned version of me telling you this? It is! It well might be the final time I raise this issue in this forum.

entertainment news

Alphabet keeps growing

I am going to need to carry a glossary with me eventually while referring to a certain segment of our society.

OK. Here we go.

The gay community a while back began using the term LGBT to define itself. It stood for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; the way I see these things, the terms lesbian and gay mean the same thing, as it defines those who are attracted sexually to others of the same gender.

Then LGBT added the letter Q, meaning queer. When I was a kid, queer was thought to be an epithet; no more, apparently.

Let’s throw in the letter P, which stands for pedosexual. I understand there’s a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, although I understand that pedosexual refers only to boys. Sheesh!

Now we see the letters “I” and “A” added along with a plus sign.

So … the identity of some of us is now expanded to read LGBTQPIA+

What the hell? Is your head spinning? Mine sure is.

I am not comfortable even talking casually about individuals’ sexual orientation. It’s none of my damn business. I have never discussed sexual intimacy with strangers.

But this growth in the alphabet-soup listing of individuals with a seemingly endless list of sexual orientations borders on the ridiculous. What about the I and the A? Here’s what I found:

  • Intersex: A term to describe individuals who are born with variations of sex characteristics that do not fit with binary definitions of male or female bodies.1
  • Asexual: Sometimes shortened to “ace,” this term refers to someone who has little or no sexual attraction; they may, however, experience romantic attraction.

Oh, and how about the +? It means: The ‘plus’ is used to signify all of the gender identities and sexual orientations that are not specifically covered by the other five initials. An example is Two-Spirit, a pan-Indigenous American identity.

Are you confused now? I damn sure am.

crime news

Don’t mess with this guy

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POTUS No. 45 is getting an object lesson on a fact of life, which is that he cannot control every single environment.

I haven’t been following this hush money trial too closely, but I have chuckled — sometimes out loud — at the examples of the judge not standing for the shenanigans that the former sexual assailant in chief has tried to pull in the courtroom.

And yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan told Robert Costello, a witness for the defense, to stop staring him down … or else face the consequence that the judge could level on him and the criminal defendant.

The former philanderer in chief is on trial for paying the adult film star known as Stormy Daniels 130 grand to keep quiet about a tumble that he denies occurred. Go figure … yes?

Now his future is in the hands of the judge and the jury impaneled to hear this tawdry case. As to the discomfort he might be feeling because he isn’t in charge of a damn thing, I don’t give a sh**.

The overfed crook will just have to suck it up.

Uncategorized

These weren’t ‘distinguished gentleladies’

My wife was a wise woman who used to share with me this notion: She would much rather work with men than with women.

Why? Women too often get into backbiting and back-stabbing. Kathy Anne would have none of it.

Well, my bride’s wisdom went on full display the other day in a U.S. House committee hearing that erupted into a verbal free-for-all among three female House members. It was, to say the least, shameful in the extreme.

It started when GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a tasteless crack about the “fake eyelashes” she said interfered with Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s ability to read the legislation before her. Crockett took extreme exception to Greene’s gratuitous boorishness.

They began arguing loudly. It degenerated rapidly into an epithet-filled fit of rage between Crockett and the QAnon queen.

Then, in stepped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to offer her cheap assessment of the goings-on. It became a three-way shouting melee.

Committee Chairman Republican James Comer sought to gavel some order to the proceeding … to no avail.

Crockett responded to Greene by referring to her as “baby girl.” It was either AOC or Crockett — I couldn’t decipher it all among the din — who referred to Greene’s “blond hair and butch body.” I was struck at that moment by the look of confusion that came across Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin’s mug when he heard that put down.

Jumpin’ Jehosaphat, man!

These women well might have set back the cause of feminism in politics a fair step or three with this senseless and idiotic tirade.

If only MTG had a sense of decorum befitting the office she occupies.

Now I understand fully what Kathy Anne meant.

national news

Collegiality? It’s a goner!

What the nation witnessed the other day in a congressional committee hearing room was a sterling example of how political adversaries have become “enemies” to each other.

What’s more, we also bore witness to how a divided Congress cannot govern when Democrats and Republicans — by and large — hate each other’s guts.

One rogue Republican, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, lit the fuse that ignited this storm with a tasteless remark about a Democratic colleague’s “fake eyelashes.” The colleague, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, took exception to it and fired back with equally tasteless put downs of MTG. Another Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, joined in the mud-slinging.

It was a hideous display of disgraceful manners.

Which brings me to a key point. Governing requires people on opposite sides to work together on occasion. That is how a representative democracy is supposed to work. It is how it has worked for centuries.

Until now.

Some of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s best friends and allies in the Senate were Republicans who helped him push through civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Republican President Ronald Reagan often relied on his friendship with his drinking buddy, Democratic House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, to push legislation through the House in the 1980s. Democratic President Bill Clinton worked with GOP lawmakers to produce a balanced budget in the 1990s. GOP President George W. Bush worked with Democratic Senate icon Ted Kennedy on education reform in the early 2000s.

Were there sharp differences between these principals at the time? Of course there were! But they got it done.

What the hell happened to our government? It cannot work like this. It cannot benefit taxpayers like you and me — whose money pays for our government.

I don’t know about you, but I have had it up to here — and then some — with this kind of behavior.

education news, local news

GOP needs psychiatric help

Two pieces of campaign literature ended up in my mailbox this weekend that sent out a loud and clear message.

The Texas Republican Party is suffering from a form of schizophrenia I never have seen …. at least not to this degree. The examples showed up in competing flyers for two Republicans vying for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education.

Follow me for a moment on this, because it’s a beaut.

Pam Little is running against Jamie Kohlmann in the May 28 GOP runoff for SBOE’s District 12 seat. Little is the incumbent. She finished first in the primary but didn’t gather enough votes to win the GOP primary outright., Hence, the two of them are running off for the nomination.

Little has garnered the endorsement of GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a loud-and-proud MAGA Republican who also has endorsed the election of POTUS No. 45 this fall.

What does Self say about Little? She’s a “strong conservative” who has taken a “bold stance against radical ideologies and focused on positive outcomes for students.” Little helped bring back “cursive writing,” she fought and won “to keep the woke agenda out of our social studies standards. Kohlmann, according to Self, has endorsed a “liberal Democrat” for the Dallas ISD school board and gave him money to assist him in his effort to be elected.

Let’s turn to Kohlmann’s ad. She accuses Little of “voting for radical DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies” on the SBOE. Kohlmann accuses Little of contributing to “our kids … being brainwashed by woke liberal ideology.”

Sheesh, man!

I am baffled, bamboozled and befuddled. I know Rep. Self a little bit. I know him to be a staunch conservative. He’s a retired Army officer, a West Point graduate and a combat veteran. He speaks forcefully and with a full-throated ferocity in favor of the agenda pitched by POTUS 45. I am left to ask: Is this the kind of fellow who would endorse a thinly veiled “liberal Democrat?” I think not.

All of this simply demonstrates to me that the Texas Republican Party is as aimless, feckless and lacking in ideas as the national GOP.