Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Biden expands disaster list

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Someone must have gotten to President Biden, or perhaps to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Biden administration today added 31 Texas counties to the president’s list of 77 counties that fell within the major disaster declaration he issued over the weekend.

Gov. Greg Abbott had called the initial disaster declaration a good start. FEMA, though, added the counties that now are on track to receive greater federal assistance to help them recover from the monstrous winter storm that blanketed and ravaged much of the state.

We’re basking  today in 70-degree sunshine in North Texas. A week ago we were freezing our backsides off with temps plunging to near zero degrees. Our electrical grid failed; our water supply went kaput. Millions of Texans — my wife and I included — were suffering from the cold.

Counties included in this latest approval are Anderson, Austin, Bosque, Bowie, Burnet, Cherokee, Colorado, Erath, Fannin, Freestone, Gonzales, Grayson, Gregg, Harrison, Hill, Houston, Hunt, Jackson, Jim Wells, Jones, Limestone, Lubbock, Medina, Milam, Navarro, Rusk, Taylor, Tom Green, Val Verde, Washington, Wood.

I am particularly heartened to see Hunt and Fannin counties added to the disaster-listed jurisdictions. My joy, though, pales compared to what officials there and in the other counties are feeling.

The list of 77 counties now has grown to 108 out of a total of 254 Texas counties. As Gov. Abbott said: It’s a start.

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Getting through the crisis

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It has been fascinating to me to follow my social media friends’ struggles to get through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The various social media platforms out there have kept me informed on their progress. To be candid, some of them are actual friends, while others are just, oh, “friends” in the social media contact sense of the word.

However, social media being what they are, we get to share in the ups and downs, highs and lows with folks who play no particular role in our lives.

Still, the vaccinations are mounting  rapidly each day. Which tells me that if my social media contacts are any indication of the larger trend, we well might be on the verge of whipping the disease.

These keeping up with our networks of acquaintances and actual friends reminds me of the blessings that social media have brought to our modern society. Sure, the platforms spread lies, conspiracy theories and can be used for all sorts of nefarious purposes.

Informing the larger world of our progress in whipping a killer virus remains a distinct positive aspect.

I am delighted to hear the good news.

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‘Unity’ still awaits POTUS

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden’s quest for national unity keeps finding speed bumps.

He’s hitting many of the right notes, but a month into the presidency he continues to encounter Republican resistance. GOP senators aren’t exactly embracing many of his selections for the Cabinet. One of them, budget director nominee Neera Tanden, is likely to be derailed.

National unity, though, isn’t entirely based on whether a president enjoys a full-blown honeymoon with Congress. It also reveals whether the POTUS enjoys widespread support among the population. That, too, seems to be a bit of a stretch, given polling that suggests some still dark impulses among GOP voters.

Most of the GOP voting public still seems to believe that President Biden “stole” the election from Donald Trump. That really troubles the daylights out of me. Trump continues to divide the nation by perpetuating The Big Lie about the integrity of the 2020 election and it undermines any serious effort to bridge the divide between the major political parties.

So, the search for unity goes on and on.

I am pulling for the president to find the common ground he seeks with Congress. Attaining that commonality will go a long way toward uniting the nation that all of them — President Biden and the 535 members of Congress — govern together.

Donald Trump once infamously proclaimed that “I, alone” can fix the nation’s problems. I don’t believe we will hear that kind of boastfulness from Joe Biden. He knows that teamwork requires giving and taking.

As for the nagging doubt that lingers in the minds of those who voted for Trump about the integrity of the election that Biden won — fairly and squarely — the president might just have to rely on the passage of time to let their fervor subside.

Meanwhile, the quest for unity continues.

Good luck, Mr. President. I am in your corner.

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Trump to be revealed as fraud?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It occurs to me that the U.S. Supreme Court decision that clears the way for prosecutors to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns is going to make the ex-POTUS an extremely nervous individual.

Why? Because I believe we are going to learn that Trump is every bit the phony and fraud that Sen. Mitt Romney said he was during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Yep, if I were Donald John Trump, I would be extremely nervous … maybe even frightened.

He bragged about being an uber-rich guy. I’ll bet we’re going to learn he isn’t nearly as rich as he has claimed to be. That’s just for starters.

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Garland: an impressive presence

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Surely I am not the only red-blooded American patriot who watched U.S. Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee to have this thought.

It was that he would make a terrific U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Oh, but wait … he could’ve gotten there had the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate not blocked his confirmation in 2016 after President Barack Obama nominated him to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Oh well. Garland will make a stellar AG by employing the same temperament that would have served him well as a SCOTUS justice.

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Memories of recent past still resonate

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Whatever he does, President Biden’s actions are compared to those of his immediate predecessor.

Biden calls for a moment of silence to commemorate the deaths of victims of the pandemic; we think of Donald Trump’s lack of empathy. Biden says he intends to guide the nation back toward our allies; Trump sought to “put America first” while angering our allies. Biden wants to restore a sane and humane immigration policy; Trump sought to separate children from their parents.

Biden’s action are held in direct contrast to Trump’s actions.

I am hoping to shed the shadow of Donald Trump very soon.

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Biden shows empathy

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This shouldn’t matter, but in the current context it surely does matter … a lot!

President Biden today delivered a heartfelt message to Americans, aiming his comments directly at those who have lost loved ones to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The numbers are horrific. More than 500,000 Americans have died from the disease. The president sought to deliver his message in personal terms.

Why does all of this matter more than it usually might? Because it shows in sharp, vivid contrast to the lack of empathy we have heard from the White House while the nation has battled this killer virus.

Biden’s presidential predecessor just couldn’t bring himself to call for a moment of silence, or to speak to us from the deepest recesses of his gut about the pain so many of us are suffering. Instead, he lied to us initially about the threat the virus posed and sought to provide happy talk about having it “under control.”

Joe Biden has not performed flawlessly in his first month in office. The rollout of vaccines has been clumsy in some locales; he hasn’t been helped, either, by the inclement weather in some places, such as in Texas.

This president, though, understands the pain that many Americans are suffering in this moment. He, too, has lost loved ones. He has buried two of his children and his young wife. President Biden is trying to speak to us as someone who knows our pain.

I am an American patriot who appreciates the message the president is trying to deliver.

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AG pick vows to take aim at domestic terror

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

America’s greatest enemy well might live, work and play within our own borders.

That potential enemy is going to be the No. 1 focus of the man picked to be the next attorney general. Merrick Garland, a federal judge selected by President Biden to lead the Justice Department, today vowed to battle domestic terrorists wherever they seek to do their evil deeds.

He also vowed to pursue those on extreme left as well as on the extreme right. More to the point, Garland told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that he considers the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill by the riotous mob be the most heinous attack on our government in our nation’s history.

The Wall Street Journal reported: “I think this was the most heinous attack on the democratic processes that I’ve ever seen, and one that I never expected to see in my lifetime,” Judge Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. He added that the current investigation into the riot—which has led to around 250 people facing criminal charges to date—appeared to be “extremely aggressive and perfectly appropriate.”

Merrick Garland Puts Focus on Domestic Extremism (msn.com)

Garland spoke to the Judiciary panel; he is likely to be approved strongly by the committee and confirmed with a significant bipartisan vote by the full Senate. Then he can get to work.

Indeed, there must be plenty of work done. The nation witnessed a horrific attack on our democratic system of government on Jan. 6. The House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump just as he was preparing to leave office a week after the attack. He incited the insurrection, but a Senate trial ended with his acquittal when senators fell 10 votes short of convicting him.

The probe must go on. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declared the need for a bipartisan investigation into the events leading up to the attack. Now we hear from the presumptive attorney general, declaring that he considers domestic terrorism to be his top priority. That, too, is welcome news.

What’s more — and this is critical — Garland told senators that he won’t be cowed by political pressure from anyone, including the president.

“I do not plan to be interfered with by anyone. I expect the Justice Department will make its own decisions in this regard,” Judge Garland said. “I would not have taken this job if I thought that politics would have any influence over prosecutions and investigations,” he said.

William Barr made a similar pledge as well, but it didn’t turn out that way while he ran the DOJ. Merrick Garland’s reputation commends him for the task he has been asked to undertake.

Rest assured, there will be plenty of American who are watching to ensure he makes good on his pledge to pursue the truth behind the heinous attack on Capitol Hill.

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Let go of ‘Big Lie’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald John Trump just cannot — or will not — let go of the Big Lie.

The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down his attempt to shield eight years worth of tax returns from Manhattan, N.Y., prosecutors who are examining whether he committed campaign finance crimes.

It means that they are now entitled to subpoena those  returns to pore through them in search of potential evidence.

Trump said: “I will fight on, just as I have, for the last five years (even before I was successfully elected), despite all of the election crimes that were committed against me. We will win!”

Election crimes? Are you serious … Donald?

Once more with all due hostility: There were no “election crimes” committed against Trump in the 2020 election. There was no “widespread vote fraud,” no “illegal ballots cast,” nothing that would swing the result.

He is living the Big Lie and is fomenting it among the wild-eyed fanatics who continue to support the former Liar in Chief.

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This is success? Hardly!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s face facts.

The United States of America comprises 5 percent of the world’s population.

However, our great nation accounts for 20 percent of the worldwide death toll attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These two statistics are worth noting because of a third number: 500,000, which is the number of Americans who have died from the pandemic in a year.

I mention this yet again because we were told a year ago by the then-president of the United States that we had the disease “under control.” It wasn’t.

Is the disease under control now? There exist signs that it well might be starting to be corralled. Vaccinations are being delivered. Americans are wearing masks, are keeping their distance from each other and avoiding what doctors all “congregant settings.”

That is progress. If only we could have been spared the lies about having a killer “under control.”