Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Won’t meet Beto … just yet

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

My temporary duty assignment with the Dallas Morning News came to an end and with it ended a chance to meet and possibly interview a man I hope gets elected governor of Texas later this year.

It saddens me to a significant degree. I was preparing to take part in what the DMN editorial board calls “rec meetings,” that enable the board to decide whom to “recommend” to readers the paper’s preferred choices for an array of public offices to be decided this year.

Beto O’Rourke, the former West Texas congressman and Democratic candidate for governor, is slated to meet with the editorial board during one of its “rec meetings.”

You’ll recall that O’Rourke came within a whisker of defeating the Cruz Missile for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He lost by just a little to Ted Cruz in 2018. He then sought to be nominated by Democrats for president in 2020 but flamed out fairly early in the primary campaign.

I hope to get to meet O’Rourke at some point in my life, maybe even this year as he treks across the state looking for voters who’ll cast their ballot for him instead of for Greg Abbott. I happen to live in a key North Texas community — in Collin County — where I expect O’Rourke and Abbott both will seek to mine plenty of votes.

I won’t have the pleasure of meeting him in an editorial board meeting. That’s OK. I do hope he is able to become our state’s next governor … and I hope it happens this year!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

Paul ‘kindles the crazies’

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci have become enemies. Whether their status reaches “mortal enemy” status remains to be determined, but something tells me they aren’t far from reaching that perilous state in their hostile relationship.

Fauci appeared today before a Senate committee that includes the Republican Paul as one of its members. He accused Fauci of lying about whether the COVID-19 virus had its origins in a lab in China. Fauci fought back.

According to NBC News: “What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue, is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family, and my children, with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me,” said Fauci during the Senate hearing.

Fauci says Sen. Paul ‘s attacks ‘kindle the crazies’ who have threatened his life (msn.com)

And so it goes. Paul, who also is a physician when he isn’t stirring up the GOP nut jobs out there, will continue to harangue the good doctor for as long as he is able.

To be candid, I will stand with Fauci. My goodness, he is the nation’s pre-eminent infectious disease expert. He knows a lot more about this stuff than virtually anyone else, and that includes Sen. Rand Paul. So, for Paul to question the credibility of a man who took an oath years ago to “first, do no harm” is laughable on its face.

To put a fine point on it, Rand Paul just pi**es me off.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

Can Paxton get beat?

If I had to choose one contest in this primary season coming up in Texas that interests me the most it would have to be the Republican contest for attorney general.

And for the life of me I cannot understand the notion being kicked around that the incumbent — Ken Paxton — might be in position to fend off the challenge that is coming from within his own Republican Party.

Good ever-lovin’ grief!

Paxton has been under felony indictment since the first year of his time as AG. A Collin County grand jury indicted him on a charge of securities fraud. The AG hasn’t yet stood trial.

He is facing three GOP challengers: Land Commissioner George P. Bush, former state Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert. They’re all well-known within GOP circles.

Then there’s Paxton. The man is an embarrassment. In addition to the securities fraud indictment and pending trial, seven former top legal assistants quit the AG’s office and filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Paxton has committed illegal acts while serving as attorney general; the FBI is looking at those complaints, too.

I want Paxton to get drummed out in the primary. If he manages to hold on and win the GOP primary, then he’s a seeming cinch to win re-election — again! — this coming fall.

The whole notion of Paxton winning a third term as attorney general makes me want to pull my hair out.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

Prepare for shellacking

1 Comment
(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Dear Mr. President … it’s been a while since I’ve addressed you in a blog post, but here comes a warning for you.

Prepare for an electoral “shellacking,” to borrow a phrase, in the midterm election later this year. President Obama called a similar event in the 2010 midterm that cost y’all control of Congress; Republicans seized control of the legislative chamber. But I don’t need to remind you of that.

Nor do I need to remind you what happened in 2012, when you and the president got re-elected.

The shellacking you can expect to take this year doesn’t portend political doom for the administration you lead. Yes, I am aware your polling doesn’t reflect lots of good cheer for you.

Bear in mind, though, that the liars on the other side of the great divide continue to keep outshouting the truth-tellers.

The economy is recovering at a brisk pace; I feel it and sense it. We have been hit once again by another variant spawned by the coronavirus pandemic, but my gut tells me we’re going to end 2022 in much better health than we are entering it. We have some challenges around the world with which you must deal, but I will continue to have faith in your own legislative leadership experience that I believe will guide you as you confront them.

Much depends, surely, on whom Republicans nominate for the presidential run in 2024. I am sure you heard what Sen. Lindsey Graham — the guy who once described you as one of the “most decent men God ever created” — said about Donald Trump. He said the next election is “Trump’s to lose.” I am maintaining my faith in Americans’ good sense that we won’t go down that path again.

Then again, I also am going to cling to my skepticism that Trump actually runs again.

So, I wish you well in this new year, Mr. President. I stand with you.

I just want you to prepare early for the remarks you will have to give when they count the votes for the midterm election. A “shellacking” appears to be coming your way. Don’t feel you’re the only POTUS to suffer such an indignity. Others have been dealt serious defeats during their first term in office.

Don’t surrender. There well could be a revival at hand, too.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, Uncategorized

Sen. Manchin is making me crazy

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin seems to know how powerful he is, being an influential “moderate Democratic member” of the Senate.

He is flexing his political muscle with glee.

Manchin speaks in favor of the infrastructure plan that puts a gleam in President Biden’s eye … and now he says Congress and the president need to “pause” on the effort to spend $3.5 trillion to fix our nation’s roads, bridges, rails, airports, ship channels, Internet and other matters.

Why? Because it’s too costly. Manchin, the cagey West Virginian, now stands as the one senator who can put the whole damn thing into dire jeopardy.

Which it is, Sen. Manchin? It looks to me, sitting out here in the peanut gallery, that Manchin is using his muscle to satisfy a politician’s ego.

That would be his own.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

Evac strategy is working

1 Comment

I want to share something on this blog that I just saw on another social media platform. It comes from someone who professes to have some knowledge about aviation-related matters.

This person writes:

I want people to think about this for a minute:
Pentagon: U.S. can get up to 30 C-17 evacuation flights out of Afghanistan each day.
16,000 people evacuated in the last 24 hours, about 11,000 of those on military flights.
Have you ever seen a C-17? I know most of my fellow aviation nuts have, but for my friends/family who have not, that is a HUGE aircraft. Absolutely immense. And the USAF is cranking out a full C-17 flight from Kabul every 45 minutes, using a SINGLE runway in enemy-controlled territory, non stop, 24 hours a day right now. This has literally never been done before in the entire history of aviation… the USAF is literally making history. They evacuated more than twice as many people YESTERDAY as we did in the entirety of the Saigon evacuation in 1975.
Anyone who wants to pop off about this being a failure needs to shut their piehole unless it’s to commend the incredibly hard working men and women of the US Air Force, and the ground forces supporting their mission. It started rough, no denying that, but in less than a week, the situation has been stabilized and the mission exponentially increased to a tempo never before seen, not even during WW2. The part that gets me is the logistics of supporting this mission – the ground crews are going full throttle right now, bringing in fuel, oil, fluids and servicing the aircraft as best and as fast as they can. What they are achieving right now is nothing short of incredible.
Thoughts to ponder. Yes?
education news, Uncategorized

Teachers deserve our honor and respect

My wife and I live one block from an elementary school in Princeton, Texas and each day when we take our stroll through the ‘hood, we see evidence of great things happening with the children who go there each day.

I want to salute the men and women who serve those children, their parents and, yes, the rest of us who don’t have kids attending that particular school or even in the school district where we live. What I witness often are teachers interacting joyfully with their students, who interact with equal amounts of joy with the teachers.

I know it’s a little thing. Then again, it’s not so little, particularly if the child gets too little joy when he or she goes home at the end of the day.

Some years ago I took a turn as a substitute teacher in Amarillo, where my wife and I lived before we relocated to Princeton. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I learned one thing about myself right away from that stint: I am not wired to teach children. 

More to the point is that I am not wired to take the abuse that kids dish out to subs who fill in for the regular teachers. Yes, I got a form of abuse from those kids. They were high schoolers. I won’t tell you which high school; just know that it was one of the public HS’s in Amarillo.

I am not casting aspersions on a particular generation of children, or on the community where we lived, or on the school system. It’s just the way it is and the way it has always been since the beginning of recorded human history. Kids look for ways to game the system in their favor. Their “victims” are their elders. I did some of it myself when I was that age.

My experience as a substitute teacher filled me with admiration for those who choose that profession. I also am amazed at those full-time substitute teachers who answer the call to report for work wherever the school district needs them.

The good ones are among the most special human beings I can imagine.

I salute you.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, Uncategorized

Will the riot stand as ‘1/6’?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Here is my thought of the moment.

When you mention “9/11,” we know what you’re talking about. Same for when you say “Dec. 7,” as we all know what that date signifies.

My curiosity makes me wonder whether society will recall the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021 simply as “1/6.”

I happen to believe that the insurrection ranks right up there with the events of 9/11 and Dec. 7, 1941. They all stand as “dates which will live … in infamy.” 

I will not accept — indeed, I never have accepted — the reluctance among some Americans to refer to the riot of 1/6 as an insurrection. It most certainly was all of that. I consider it a full-out frontal assault on our democratic form of government.

On that day, members of both congressional chambers — led by Vice President Mike Pence — were in the process of certifying the Electoral College totals that resulted in President Biden’s election. The terrorists who stormed the Capitol Building intended to prevent that certification from occurring. My goodness, we have them saying so in recordings taking in real time as the mob stormed the Capitol and killed and injured several individuals who were trying to stop them.

Few events can be identified merely as dates on a calendar.

Let it be noted that on this day moving forward, your friendly blogger will refer to the assault on our democracy as “1/6.” The worst assault on our nation’s Capitol since the War of 1812 ranks right alongside the violence that brought us the war against international terror and the attack that dragged us into the Second World War.

Uncategorized

GOP has gone bonkers

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Just how wacky has the Republican Party become in the Age of Trump?

Well, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, one of Trump’s strongest allies, got booed when he stood to speak before the George Republican convention. Why were the goober Republicans angry with Kemp? Because the governor wouldn’t force the secretary of state to break the law and “find” enough votes to turn the state from a Joe Biden win to a Donald Trump win.

So, for that the nut jobs have taken their vengeance out on a governor who happens be a Trump ally … but who just couldn’t bring himself to break the law or violate the U.S. Constitution.

This is the kind of goofiness that Republicans are facing as they do battle among themselves, not to mention when they face Democrats in the upcoming midterm election.

Trump loyalists boo Kemp at Georgia’s GOP convention (msn.com)

Of course, Trump is playing the GOP loyalists like the fools they are for following the dictates of the former Dipsh** in Chief. I mean, the ex-POTUS is even a real Republican, but he has fooled ’em into thinking he is one of them.

They are left now to boo and jeer actual Republican politicians — such as Gov. Kemp — only because they won’t follow Trump’s demands out the window.

Weird, man.

Uncategorized

Memoir in the works

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The question comes with surprising frequency when I tell folks what I did for a living for nearly four decades.

It goes something like this: Are you going to write a book about it?

My answer is usually the same: Well … not exactly. However, I am renewing a commitment I made some years ago not long after my career in daily print journalism came to a sudden halt, which is that I am going to finish a memoir I intend to write for my sons and any other family members who are interested in reading it.

You see, my career enabled me as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers in Oregon and Texas to do many things not available to other human beings. It also allowed me to cross paths with people I admired and, yes, loathed from afar.

I was able to meet a future president of the United States, a former POTUS, someone who was running for the high office. I flew over an erupting volcano, I endured a landing and takeoff from a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. I stood in the presence of one of the 20th century’s most iconic political figure.

My wife has been nudging me to finish what I have started. Yes, I got started some time back on this memoir. I have let the effort lapse, much to my dismay.

Then we met recently with one of my oldest and dearest friends. He, too, likes to write and has paid marvelous tributes to his late wife. My friend encouraged me with affirmation that the highlights of my career are worth sharing with my sons.

It’s a project that needs finishing. My only “problem,” if you want to call it that, is that I am not sure I ever will be able to finish it, to tie a bow around it and present it. Why? I keep recalling individuals and occurrences that filled me with so much joy.

But … the work will commence.