Category Archives: national news

national news

Enter the Three Stooges

It is tempting, I suppose, to attach some sort of label to three U.S. senators who “distinguished” themselves with their pitiful performances at the Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson, selected by President Biden to join the Supreme Court.

Three Amigos? Nah! Three Musketeers? Nope.

How about … Three Stooges? Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley all were disgraceful in their own respective ways as they sought to tear down a distinguished jurist’s record by ascribing all sorts of phony nefarious motives to decisions she made from the bench and in practice as a public defender.

They all sickened me. Yes, I am on record as wanting Judge Jackson to take her place on the nation’s highest court. I also am on record as loathing the way Republican senators reacted initially to President Biden’s selection of Judge Jackson and then to the way they behaved during the confirmation hearing.

I will hold out a sliver of hope that some GOP senators — maybe two of ’em — will see fit to confirm her when the full Senate casts its vote.

As for the Three Stooges — two of whom (Hawley and Cruz) apparently want to run for POTUS in 2024 — I just will be content to scoff at their antics and to hope eventually they all get booted out of the Senate. I don’t want any of them voting on laws that affect my family and me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

‘No religious test’

Lindsey Graham today asked what in another era would have been considered a question worthy of scorn and instant rebuke. The Republican U.S. senator asked a nominee for the Supreme Court, “What is your faith?”

Ketanji Brown Jackson answered “Protestant.”

OK, why should Sen. Graham have been slapped down? Because of Article VI in the U.S. Constitution, which reads, in part: ” … no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

I watched Graham ask the question today in real time. I was troubled at the moment I heard it. Then it dawned on me. The Constitution disallows any sort of religious test for “any Office or public Trust.”

That includes the United States Supreme Court!

We witnessed today a remarkably ignorant performance by a member of the U.S. Senate who, had he understood the Constitution he took an oath to “protect and defend,” never would have asked a Supreme Court nominee a question that clearly violates the rules set down by the nation’s governing document.

Despicable.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

8 GOP lawmakers vote against Russia sanction

Eight Republicans stood in the way of legislation passing through the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously and, thus, sending another clear message of strength against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A bill that would have revoked U.S.-Russia normal trade relations sailed through the House on a clear and decisive bipartisan vote. Except for the eight GOP nimrods who opposed it.

I don’t know who all of them are, but I surely do recognize several of the dipsh**s over their past behavior and idiotic blathering.

GOP Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Thomas Massie of Kentucky all are familiar (more or less) to me. The others are Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina and Glen Grothman of Wisconsin.

The first five of are your standard, run-of-the-mill GOP nut jobs. Greene, Boebert and Gaetz perhaps are the most well-known. Gaetz, let’s recall, might be indicted soon on a sex-trafficking charge. Boebert and Greene are the twin QAnon queens of the House. Roy is just, well, a Texas Republican … so that’s all I need to say about him. Massie is another fruitcake.

What is so bizarre is that these eight GOP outliers stand in stark contrast to what I consider to be traditional Republican antagonism to anything dealing with Russia or its immediate predecessor, the Soviet Union.

They all seem to parrot the thinly veiled praise of Russian thug Vladimir Putin that comes from The Donald, who remains their hero despite his insistence on pushing The Big Lie forward about the 2020 presidential election and the non-existent “widespread vote fraud.”

Oh, well. I’ll just go on now and take care of the rest of the day’s activities that await me. I just had to get this little annoyance off my chest.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Conflict of interest? Hmm?

Good, ever-lovin’ grief. What in the world does one make of this acknowledgement from the wife of a sitting associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, that she attended a Donald Trump rally on 1/6 before rally attendees decided to storm Capitol Hill in that insane insurrection against the federal government?

I believe we have a serious breach of ethics steeped in conflict of interest.

The admission comes from Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. Mrs. Thomas stood in the crowd on the Ellipse that day prior to The Donald’s speech. She said she left because she got cold. Then all hell broke loose.

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, says she went to January 6 rally before Capitol assault – CBS News

Thomas’s political activism is well-known. She is a far-right believer in causes. She is an ardent political supporter of The Donald.

She also is married to one of the nine justices who voted 8-1 to disallow The Donald’s claim of executive privilege in an effort to keep him from releasing documents to the House committee examining the 1/6 riot; the document release was ordered by the National Archives.

Who cast the dissenting vote? None other than Justice Thomas?

I am putting together 2 plus 2 and I keep coming with up 4. Which is my way of saying that Ginni Thomas’s involvement with the 1/6 mob must have something to do with the way her husband came down on a key judicial decision.

This dot-connection stinks. It wreaks.

If I were speaker of the House of Representatives, I likely would be considering articles of impeachment against Justice Thomas. Not that they would result in his being removed from the nation’s highest court.

Too many Republican members of Congress have lost their spine.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news, national news

Shut up … ex-Rep. Gabbard!

You might recall a young woman, a member of Congress, who ran for president of the United States in 2020. Tulsi Gabbard was among a herd of Democrats seeking to run for POTUS. She lost the nomination … and then vanished.

Well, she’s back in the spotlight, only now she is spouting what critics call “Russian propaganda,” contending that the United States is running bio-chemical labs in Ukraine.

According to Newsweek.com: In a video, Gabbard claimed that the “undeniable facts” are that 35 to 40 “U.S. funded bio labs” in Ukraine that are conducting research into dangerous pathogens. Gabbard went on to express concerns that these “deadly pathogens” could be released if the labs in Ukraine are targeted amid the conflict with Russia.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tulsi-gabbard-labeled-a-russian-asset-for-pushing-u-s-biolabs-in-ukraine-claim/ar-AAV1LYt?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

Republicans and Democrats are accusing her of treason, for God’s sake! The critics run from GOP U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and GOP U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger to a host of Democrats on Capitol Hill who say Gabbard is giving aid and comfort to Russian forces who have invaded Ukraine and killed thousands of civilians on their bloody effort to conquer a sovereign nation.

Hey, didn’t Hillary Clinton — the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee — accuse Gabbard of being a “Russian asset” and wasn’t she vilified by those within the party of speaking out turn? Hah! It turns out HRC was right all along!

Newsweek.com reports:

The U.S and the Ukraine have been working together since 2005 to research deadly pathogens as part of the Pentagon’s Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP).

The partnership between the U.S. Defense Department and the Ukraine Ministry of Health is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (CTR), which began in 1991 with the aim of reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction following the fall of the Soviet Union.

OK, so there is some bilateral cooperation going forward in Ukraine, but it ain’t of the nefarious nature that Gabbard implies. She is spouting dangerous rhetoric in perilous times.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Big Lie involves just one contest?

to insist that the “widespread voter fraud” that allegedly prevented The Donald from winning re-election without also suggesting that other contests throughout the ballots in all states also deserve to be examined.

The Big Lie involves only one contest in the 2020 election. The race for president was the only contest that became targeted by voter fraudsters. No race for governor, or for U.S. Senate, or U.S. House, or state legislatures, or county clerks, sheriffs, district attorneys have been questioned.

Just the race for president.

Hmm. What is going on here? Don’t answer. I know the answer. What is happening is that The Donald’s cult is keeping this Big Lie alive. The Donald won’t concede that he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. His refusal to accept his defeat only has fed the anger that the cultists share with their leader. The anger is festering and threatens to burst, like a boil on the buttocks and it will infect the entire electoral system.

This is a monumental tragedy playing out in real time.

For anyone to accept that the cult leader is an acceptable candidate for the presidency — yet again! — after his disgraceful conspiracy-mongering is utterly beyond me.

I realize fully that I don’t understand a lot of things in life. The Big Lie, though, is easy to explain. It draws breath because one individual cannot accept the obvious fact that he lost an election. What is more difficult for me to grasp is how the single 2020 election can be separated from all the rest of the balloting. The casualties, sadly, are the dedicated state and local elections officials who worked damn hard to ensure that all the elections that took place were done fairly, legally and were free of corruption.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

A flash from recent past worth repeating

The picture you see here takes me back. It was taken in 1961. It shows two presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy and the man he succeeded, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Kennedy won the 1960 election by a razor-thin margin over Richard Nixon, who served as vice president in the Eisenhower administration.

What precisely are these men discussing as they stroll through the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.? Beats me.

But the picture came with some text that someone posted on Facebook. It reads in part:

This is not a political post. I am posting as a service to Facebook users too young to recall such times. This is a picture of President Kennedy, a Democrat, and former President Eisenhower, a Republican … It hasn’t always been, “I won and you lost.” We used to understand that we are all better together than we are when grouped in opposing camps. Competition is fine, as long as you understand who you are competing against. It’s not productive to burn something down, just so you can stand on the smoldering ashes.

This photo seems rather quaint, but it’s also instructive to those who have no memory of how we used to function at the highest level of our government. Men succeeded each other at the pinnacle of power and the individual who ceded that power to his successor made himself available to provide counsel and advice.

We haven’t seen this occur in recent times. The most recent presidential election, tragically, has resulted in perpetuating hatred among Americans of differing points of view.

The cause of that ill will is clear to me: It comes from the defeated candidate for president in 2020 refusing to concede that he lost. His refusal has fed the anger that still burns among those who follow him down some path to oblivion.

I am no Pollyanna. I know there is a way to restore the collegiality that formerly existed between those of differing political parties. It can start simply with the defeated former president doing what is right. He could stand before a crowd of journalists and call put an end to The Big Lie, the one he repeats by telling us about phony allegations of “widespread voter fraud.”

It won’t happen. I just thought it helpful to show you how it used to be … and how it could be once again.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

How can this riot stand?

No doubt about this: I will go to my grave never understanding how in the name of sanity can anyone justify what happened on 1/6, how anyone can possibly view the riotous mob of traitors as a demonstration of “legitimate political discourse.”

The mob stormed Capitol Hill on the urging of a president of the United States who had lost re-election, who then exhorted his fanatic followers to “take back” the government and to “fight like hell” if they felt the need to rough up whoever stood in their way.

So, the rioters did what they were encouraged to do.

Every time I watch video of that hideous demonstration of sedition, I get angry all over again. The traitors threatened to “hang Mike Pence!” per the signs they were carrying. Have you seen the pictures of the noose? Lovely, yes? Pence, the vice president on that day, was performing his constitutional duty by leading the certification of the Electoral College tally that elected Joe Biden as president. Biden’s predecessor would have none of it. Hence, he incited the rioters.

And yet, there remains to this very moment congressional Republicans — who fled for their lives in the face of the rioters on 1/6 — who deny what they witnessed in real time. They cast votes against impeaching the POTUS who fired up the mob. Some of them have said the mob was acting like any “tourist” group strolling through the Capitol Building.

You … bet. I don’t think any group of tourists would have sh** on the floor of the Capitol Building, or smashed through windows, or yelled profanities at police officers seeking to protect the House members and senators who were the traitors’ targets.

There needs to be some justice delivered for what happened on 1/6. We’re starting to get some trial results. A Wylie, Texas, man has been convicted of five felony counts related to his role in the riot. There will be many more trials and deals struck along the way.

The president who caused it all? His day is coming, too. He needs to be held to account for the insurrection he incited. I do not want to check out of his world knowing that he has slithered his way clear once again.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, national news

Riot fills me with rage

Without fail, whenever I watch video or hear audio from the 1/6 insurrection, my blood boils, my pulse quickens, my face gets a bit flushed, I get angry as hell at the perpetrators of that event.

Every time. Every … single … time.

So, when Wylie, Texas, resident Guy Reffitt got convicted this week of five felony charges stemming from his role in the treasonous act against our government, I got angry all over again. The news media showed me what that crowd of terrorists was doing.

My anger only worsens when I hear sh** fly out of the mouth of those who defend nimrods like Reffitt. His wife is one of them. She said the Justice Department is trying merely to make an example of her husband. What utter crap!

Guy Reffitt made an example of himself. The moron didn’t need DOJ’s help in that regard. He recorded his own participation in the riot. We have audio and visual proof of the things he said and did on that horrendous day.

And then for Republican members of Congress to suggest that they were engaged in “legitimate political discourse” offends me beyond any measure. They are causing the founding fathers to spin in their graves. The First Amendment, I hasten to note, mentions “the right of the people peaceably to assemble … ”

Was there anything “peaceable” about that riot? Nope. It was a violent act of treason.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news, national news

One down, more to go

Guy Reffitt is likely heading to prison, possibly for decades, for his role in the 1/6 insurrection. The native of Texas and resident of Wylie — a town just across Lake Lavon where my wife and I reside — sealed his own fate with his stupidity.

It took a jury three hours to return a five-count guilty verdict against Reffitt, who was ratted out by his 19-year-old son. What was the nimrod doing? He “lit the fire” that ignited inside the Capitol Building on 1/6 and then actually recorded his own fiery rhetoric on social media.

The Hill reported: A jury found the Texas native guilty of attempting to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election, transporting guns from Texas to D.C., bringing a firearm into restricted grounds of the Capitol, interfering with Capitol Police and threatening his son and daughter upon returning from the riot.

It was that compelling evidence that persuaded the jury to ramrod a guilty verdict against the guy who belongs to some nimrod group called the Texas Three Percenters. He went to Washington on 1/6 carrying firearms, such as rifles and handguns. What was he going to do with all that firepower? He was going to storm the Capitol Building and drag politicians out by their hair, or so he said, and do … something to them.

Hey, it’s all recorded for the entire world to hear.

What a dipsh**.

The federal government has arrested more than 700 people in connection with the insurrection. Reffitt is the first of them to be convicted. He will face sentencing on June 8. He could get 60 years in prison.

Whether it’s the max or something less, my strong hope is that he gets put away for a long time.

Then let’s get on with prosecuting the rest of the traitors.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com