Category Archives: national news

national news

Lock him up?

Donald J. Trump used to relish hearing crowds chant “Lock her up!” when the issue turned to how Hillary Clinton handled her email operation during her time as secretary of state.

You’ve seen the video of the Republican presidential candidate just letting the cultists go on and on. Right? Sure you have!

Well, what do we have now? We have reports that as a lame-duck POTUS, the White House hauled 15 boxes of classified information out of the presidential residence and sent them to Mar-a-Lago, Fla.

The Justice Department is now in the midst of an investigation into whether someone broke the law when The Donald exited Washington for his glitzy resort. Hmm, do ya think?

Donald Trump was the most ignorant imbecile ever elected to the nation’s highest office. He had no respect for the law or the secrets he took a solemn and sacred oath to protect.

I am left to simply shake my head and to wonder whether I should lead a chant of my own to “Lock him up!”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, Uncategorized

Rule of law faces test

My fellow Americans, we are going to witness whether the “rule of law” means anything to members of Congress who have been summoned to appear before the House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection.

The committee has subpoenaed five Republican congressman who were key allies to Donald J. Trump. The committee had asked them to appear voluntarily; they declined.

So, here come the lawful orders. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, along with GOP Reps. Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks and Andy Biggs all have been ordered to appear before the committee.

So, which is it? Are these dedicated Trumpkins going to comply with the rule of law, which they have at one time or another during their congressional careers said they honor? Or are they going to take one for their cult leader, The Donald?

The rule of law is as straightforward as it gets. A legally constituted congressional committee has issued a lawful order for five House members to talk to its members. Failure to comply with a lawful order should result in criminal punishment. Indeed, such a consequence anyone in the military who refuses to obey a lawful order. Your commanding officer tells you to do something, and you refuse? It’s off to the stockade where you would await adjudication of your offense.

I don’t know whether any or all of them will refuse to comply with the subpoena. Whoever says “no” to the House committee should face the potential consequence. The rule of law should stand in this instance as it should stand in all cases.

Let us never forget that each of these individuals swore an oath to keep faith with the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is on the side of the committee that has acted lawfully.

We well might learn whether these congressmen were sincere when they said they would uphold the Constitution and whether their stated fealty to almighty God was real or false.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Blowhards just piss me off

Congress is filling itself with too damn many right-wing blowhards, individuals who — at the moment they take their oaths of office — start spouting nonsense without giving a second thought to the consequence of their fiery rhetoric.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is the latest right-winger to blather garbage about the president of the United States who, I hasten to add, answers to a much greater constituency that any of the 100 men and women who serve in the Senate.

Scott said President Biden should resign. That he doesn’t have the snap to do the job. He joins other right-wing nut cases — such as Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas — to offer a medical diagnosis of the president without any actual personal contact with him.

Scott joined the Senate in 2019 after he defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. He pushed himself immediately in front of TV cameras. Scott is now some sort of spokesman for the MAGA caucus within the Senate.

He’s another dipsh**! Pure and simple.

Just so you need to be reminded, I have spoken negatively about left-leaning political wannabe superstars, too. I have scolded them for blathering too frequently without first paying their dues. So, spare me the “what about the Democrats” canard.

I just am sick and tired of the yammering from the far-right wing of a once great political party about an issue — namely the POTUS’s fitness — that does not exist!

Stick to what the hell you know, Sen. Scott.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Graham flip-flops … again!

Someone will have to explain to me why it’s such a big deal that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is now on record saying that Joe Biden was the “best man” to lead the country after the 1/6 insurrection.

Or that the South Carolina Republican had harsh things to say about Donald Trump in the wake of that hideous event.

Why am I questioning all of this? Because Graham once said Trump was “unfit” to become president, that he is a “nut case,” and that Trump is a pathological liar. Graham was correct in his initial assessment of Donald Trump. He said all of that before becoming one of Trump’s biggest suck-up sycophants in the Senate.

Audio: Graham said after Jan. 6 that Biden was ‘best person to have’ (msn.com)

Yes, he did say he was done with Trump, that he had “enough” of him after the insurrection. He has gone on to blather incessantly about how Trump is a shoo-in to be nominated by Republicans in 2024 and that he would support him if he ran — once again! — for president.

The latest revelations come from the new book by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, who’ve already revealed lots of quotes — with recordings to back them up — from The Donald himself. They make my hair stand straight up.

Sen. Graham, though, has been among the greatest disappointments for me as I have watched the Donald Trump era in D.C. unfold since the 2016 presidential election.

To be candid, I believe about as much that comes from Lindsey Graham as I believe what flies out of Trump’s pie hole … which is not a damn thing!

Thus, I am confused as to why anyone should take anything this clown seriously. To borrow a phrase from Graham, who said this about Trump after the insurrection: I’m out.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Words to live by

I shall be brief, but whoever wrote this message that showed up on my social media feed today deserves a high-five, an atta boy/girl, and some extra Brownie points for just being so damn spot on!

The sanctimonious among us just piss me off to no end. They seek to legislate sexual behavior, morality, whether women should remain pregnant. They tell us we live in a “Christian nation” when we clearly, categorically and without a shadow of a doubt do not; if they read the Constitution — which I have done countless times over my life — they would know that.

There. I’m done with this one. Thanks to whomever penned these words.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Esper steps up … but why did he wait?

I would be willing to give former Defense Secretary Mark Esper unvarnished praise for calling out Donald J. Trump for the weirdness he fomented during his single term in office as POTUS.

Except that he is a bit late with the revelations he has laid out there for us.

He is trying to hype a memoir he has written. I get that and I have no problem with a fellow trying to make a buck; hey, it’s the American Way.

Esper now says he cannot back Trump if the former Imbecile in Chief decides to run for POTUS again. That’s fine, too.

He could have saved some lives, though, had he blown the whistle, forced Trump to fire him and then sounded the alarm as the nation approached 1/6 and the hideous aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Oh well. I suspect we are far from hearing the last of former Trumpkins who have tales to tell.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

How does he justify a return?

Donald Trump continues to rattle around out there, making speeches and issuing pronouncements and condemnations. He keeps yammering about the Big Lie and just cannot get past the fact that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Now we see an astonishing number of senior Trump aides turning on him.

The former attorney general, two former defense secretaries, a press secretary, aides to the ex-first lady, all have turned on The Donald.

He might be indicted for crimes committed during his term in office.

We keep hearing reports of totally bizarre notions coming from his mouth. How he considered bombing Mexico to stop drug traffickers. How he keeps talking about the size of his crowds and how all those cheering fanatics give his pronouncements credibility they do not deserve.

Oh, and how about the Mother’s Day message he sent out that was filled with epithets he hurled at left-leaning judges and anyone who opposes him?

This guy says he is thinking about running again for president. For the third time?

We’ve had one president serve two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland was elected in 1884, lost re-election to Benjamin Harrison in 1888, then defeated President Harrison in 1892. Cleveland lost in 1888 because Harrison got enough Electoral College votes while Cleveland garnered more ballots. Hmm. Did the defeated Cleveland claim electoral theft? Nope.

I cannot yet come to grips with the notion that the former Moron in Chief is actually being considered a frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024. Oh, but wait! Now we hear from actual GOP politicians who are finally speaking out against the idiot.

All of this leaves me shaking my noggin in disbelief.

I am going to stick with my previously stated view that all of this is a sham. The Donald ain’t gonna run. I just wish he would fade away.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news, national news

Esper tells surprising truth

Mark Esper, the latest member of the Donald Trump Cabinet to spill the beans on the chaos within the White House during Trump’s term, has given a surprisingly candid answer to a direct question.

He told “60 Minutes” about the thought Trump expressed about launching missiles in Mexico to stop drug traffickers. He said he pushed back on the notion that the POTUS was suggesting.

Why didn’t he reveal then, in real time what Trump was pondering, came the question from correspondent Norah O’Donnell.

“I was afraid I would get fired,” Esper said, adding that there was “no guarantee” that Trump would bring in a blind loyalist to succeed him, adding that then the nation would be in an even worse mess.

Hmm. Wow! Well stated, Mr. Defense Secretary.

Trump eventually did fire Esper because of the defense boss’s disagreement over invoking the Insurrection Act in response to D.C. protests over the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis. Esper said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows him Trump was unhappy with him because he was insufficiently loyal to Trump.

Esper said he responded, “I take my oath to the Constitution, not to a man.”

And yet … there remain voters out here who think it’s OK for a POTUS to demand personal loyalty over the oath all of them — even the president himself — take when they serve the public.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Esper joins the Trump tell-all brigade

You and I now may add former Defense Secretary Mark Esper to the list of chumps who have come clean on what it was like serving under the guidance of the most imbecilic individual ever elected to the nation’s highest office.

Esper writes in a forthcoming book that Donald J. Trump actually talked out loud and in the presence of others about whether he could fire missiles into Mexico to stop the drug traffickers … and then find a way to deny that he did it!

Trump ended up firing Esper as defense boss near the end of Trump’s term in the White House. I guess he might’ve gotten tired of Esper resisting such nutty notions coming from the man masquerading as our commander in chief.

My goodness, how many more of these revelations is it going to take to sink into the thick, gullible, vacuous skulls of the Trumpkins who continue to give this idiot a pass?

Former Attorney General William Barr has written that Trump refused to accept the fact that he lost the 2020 election. There have been countless other tales told about Trump’s obsession with voter fraud that did not exist, of his utter lack of attention to anything resembling the details of public policy.

The hits just keep coming. Ain’t it fun?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Reactions to leak tell us plenty

Could there be a more graphic illustration of the differences between the two major American political parties than their reaction to the leak of a draft opinion regarding the probable fate of Roe v. Wade?

Someone on the U.S. Supreme Court staff likely leaked the document to Politico, which then revealed it to the world. The draft, written by Justice Samuel Alito, suggests the court is ready to overturn the landmark January 1973 ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.

Conservatives have hailed the opinion. Liberals (such as me, your friendly blogger) have condemned it.

The back-story reaction, though, is most telling. Conservatives want the leaker’s head on a platter. It’s the thought that someone would violate the court’s privacy that has the right-wingers all worked up. Liberals, meanwhile, are less concerned about the leak than the contents of the opinion. I’m on the libs’ side.

Of course, I was surprised that it became known via a leaked document. It’s never happened before.

But, geez, there weren’t any national secrets revealed! Indeed, the privacy invasion strikes many of us as ironic, given that the SCOTUS’s conservative majority doesn’t seem at all concerned about a woman’s privacy in determining whether to end a pregnancy. But leak a draft document? The world is coming to an end!

I realize this is just one example of the chasm that divides the two major parties. It’s just too damn bizarre to ignore.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com