Category Archives: national news

national news, political news

GOP hotshot speaks for other GOPers

Chris Christie said something the other day that other distinguished Republicans reportedly think in private but are too chicken to say it out loud.

Christie, a former New Jersey governor, ex-presidential candidate and former confidant of Donald Trump, said this to radio gabber Hugh Hewitt:

“January 6 was a riot that was incited by Donald Trump in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week: overturn the election. He wanted the election to be overturned.”

There you have it. The truth spills out, again … this time from a Republican of some note.

Chris Christie said what a lot of Republican are thinking about January 6 (msn.com)

Perhaps the ex-governor is trying to restore his reputation as a tough talker who doesn’t give a damn about the consequences. Or perhaps — and this is likely a stretch — Christie is just plain fed up to his eyeballs with the incessance of The Big Lie that Trump keeps repeating, that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Good grief! It was the most secure election in history. The guy Trump hired to ensure its security said so — and then got fired for telling us the truth.

I am glad to hear Gov. Christie say out loud what he should have said all along. If only other Republicans — and that includes the voters out here in the cheap seats — would agree with the words of wisdom.

And then act on them.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Listen to Uncle Mitt, Ronna

Mitt Romney is as pure a Republican as anyone can find. The Utah senator carried his party’s presidential nomination banner in 2012 but lost to President Barack Obama in that year’s election.

So, when the distinguished lawmaker questions the wisdom of the Republican National Committee’s censure of two GOP lawmakers, it would do the party’s elite to rethink what they’ve done.

Mitt Romney’s niece, Ronna McDaniel, is chair of the Republican National Committee. Uncle Mitt said this about the censure, according to Business Inside:

Speaking at the US Capitol, Romney said the resolution condemning his fellow Republicans “could not have been a more inappropriate message.”

“One, to sanction two people of character as they did. But number two, to suggest that a violent attack on the seat of democracy is legitimate political discourse is so far from accurate as to shock and make people wonder what we’re thinking,” Romney said.

Mitt Romney says he ‘exchanged texts’ with his niece and RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel after RNC censure of Cheney, Kinzinger over January 6 investigation (msn.com)

Romney reportedly exchanged text message with his niece, suggesting the very thing he said at the Capitol Building.

Indeed, for the party to censure Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they want to seek the truth behind the 1/6 riot by itself is idiotic and illogical.

Moreover, for Chairwoman McDaniel to dismiss the riot as a show of “legitimate political discourse” ignores what the whole world witnessed on 1/6 in real time. It bore no resemblance to anything “legitimate.” It was a riot staged by a mob of thousands of traitors … incited by the fiery rhetoric of the cult leader who masqueraded as president of the United States.

Listen to Uncle Mitt, Ronna. He speaks with much more wisdom than the moron you are backing.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

You go, Marc Short!

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff has found his voice along with his former boss in the wake of Donald Trump’s Big Lie and his insistence that Pence could summarily overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Short told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd that “snake oil salesmen” filled Trump’s vacuous skull with notions that Pence had more authority than the Constitution allowed. That he could have overturned the results of several Joe Biden-won states into votes for Trump.

Uhh, No. He couldn’t do that. To his credit, the former VP didn’t do it. He stood on the rule of law, even though the POTUS pressured him to act way beyond his constitutional authority.

Pence has said that “Trump is wrong” to have made that demand. Now we hear from Pence’s No. 1 guy in the administration, his chief of staff.

What’s more, Short told Todd that President Biden was “duly elected president of the United States” in 2020. Well, it took him a while to come around. He did and for that I am grateful.

Short has now joined a sort of hall of honor in becoming a new target for Donald Trump’s brain-dead epithets.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

If only Trump knew …

I have sought to inform readers of this blog about the myriad reasons Donald Trump was so profoundly unfit to serve as president of the United States.

One of those reasons has been laid bare in recent weeks. It has been his total ignorance of the power of the presidency and vice presidency and the limitations placed on both offices by the Constitution of the United States, the document Trump and Vice President Mike Pence swore to uphold and defend.

Trump’s urging of Pence to “overturn” the results of the 2020 election on 1/6 illustrates so graphically the ignorance of Trump about the government he was elected in 2016 to lead.

Had he any notion of the limits of presidential power, or any understanding of what the Constitution allowed, he might not have demanded that Pence do what the VP knew in real time he could not do. Pence knew he could not overturn any state’s duly certified election returns. Pence knew the limits of his role on that horrible day, which was to preside over Congress’s task of certifying the results of a free, fair, legal and secure election.

I don’t want to say, “I told you so,” but Trump’s abject ignorance of government, mixed with his delusions of grandeur, have produced a case study in how unfit this guy was to have occupied the most powerful office in the land … and arguably the most exalted office on Earth.

Y’all saw it right here.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news, political news

RNC takes aim at wrong target

The Republican National Committee’s censure of two stalwart members of its own party is a profound demonstration of stupidity that transcends mere ignorance.

The RNC has scolded U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because — and this is remarkable in its idiocy — for serving on a House committee that seeks to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection.

Yes, Cheney and Kinzinger — two conservative members of a once-proud party — have placed their loyalty to the rule of law over any phony loyalty to an individual, namely Donald J. Trump … who incited the traitors to riot on 1/6.

So, because they have been faithful to their oath of office — the same oath that other members of Congress and the president take — they are being punished. They have been cast aside. They have been they are no longer welcome as part of the Republican delegation.

This is unbelievable!

RNC censures Cheney, Kinzinger for serving on Jan. 6 panel – Daily News

Where is the scorn that should be heaped on the rioters? RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel instead has called their actions that horrible day as a demonstration of “legitimate political discourse.” She didn’t separate anyone’s behavior on that day; she said the entire event was OK because it constituted a protest against the government. What utter bullsh**!

“If the price of being willing to tell the truth and get to the bottom of what happened on January 6 and make sure that those who are responsible are held accountable is a censure, then I am absolutely going to continue to stand up for what I knew was right,” Cheney said.

She called the censure a “sad day for the party of Lincoln.” Do ya think?

To be fair, some GOP officeholders, such as 2012 Republican presidential nominee Sen. Mitt Romney, have criticized the censure. “Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost,” Romney said in a tweet.

If Cheney and Kinzinger deserve honor, then the RNC deserves nothing but scorn and shame for its hideous action and virtual endorsement of the frontal assault on our democratic form of government.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

What? Pence tells truth? Oh, my!

What in the world has happened to former Vice President Mike Pence? The man who survived four years as VP in an administration led by a carnival barker masquerading as president suddenly has found a voice to tell the world the truth about the one-time Liar in Chief.

Which is, contrary to what Donald J. Trump keeps insisting while spouting The Big Lie, that Pence had no authority to “overturn” the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president, Pence said, “is wrong” to suggest that Pence could take that action.

Pence made the remarks this week in defense of his own actions on 1/6 but also to portray Donald Trump’s demand that he act outside the law as “un-American.” Indeed, Pence said there is nothing more un-American than to have a single individual overturn the will of the voters, who in November 2020 made their choice clear in selecting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over Trump and Pence.

Only the voters have the right to decide who wins elections, Pence said.

To be clear, my instinct to offer unconditional praise for the former VP is tempered by the knowledge that he served with craven fealty to Donald Trump. Even immediately after the mob of traitors stormed the Capitol on 1/6, Pence remained silent about what the POTUS failed to do in real time. He failed to put a halt to the violence that was erupting inside the nation’s Capitol Building. He failed to summon the National Guard to restore order. Trump failed condemn forcefully the actions of the mob that was reacting to the then-president’s own exhortation to “take back” our government.

Let’s remember, too, that rioters were shouting “Hang Mike Pence!” who at that moment was presiding over a joint congressional session to receive and certify the electoral votes that carried Joe Biden to the presidency.

Pence’s sudden conversion to sanity and reason isn’t likely to endear him to the Trump “base” that continues to adhere to The Big Lie about phony vote fraud. Indeed, Pence is considered a possible candidate for president in 2024 and a potential rival to Trump if the ex-POTUS decides to run again (which I continue to doubt will occur).

The very best thing I can say about Pence’s declaration — and I know this is cliche — is that it’s better late than never.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Not evolving? Sure thing, lady

Check out this Twitter message from one of the QAnon queens of the U.S. House of Representatives, Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican and conspiracy theorist who needs to be committed to the nut house.

I am going to argue that the U.S. Constitution has “evolved” no fewer than 27 times since the Founders created the framework that governs the United States of America. That’s the number of amendments we have tacked onto the Constitution since 1789.

Had it not evolved, Rep. Boebert wouldn’t be allowed to vote for the nut jobs she endorses for public office. That’s just one example of how the Constitution has changed over the years.

You see, this is where the so-called “strict constructionist” philosophy of constitutional interpretation breaks down, at least in my eyes. Simpletons such as Lauren Boebert seem to believe the Founders created a perfect governing document. They didn’t, even though in real time they might have presumed that the Constitution would stand the test of time as it was written. I wasn’t there to know for certain; for that matter, neither was Lauren Boebert.

I hasten to note that the preamble to the document does stipulate that the men who wrote it said the nation should strive to create a “more perfect Union,” which — once again — suggests to me that the Constitution begged for an evolution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Vote theft = profound irony

The irony of what we are learning through dribs and drabs of Donald John Trump’s culpability in the 1/6 insurrection is just too profound to ignore.

What have we learned? That Trump actually sought to “overturn” the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to his own words. That he pressured Vice President Mike Pence to disallow Electoral College votes that went to Joe Biden while Pence was presiding over the electoral vote certification on 1/6. That he allegedly met with White House staff prior to the riot to plot how he could “legally” call for the seizure of voting machines.

The best part is that we have a clear recording of Trump demanding that Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensberger, “find” 11,780 votes to swing the state from Biden’s corner to Trump’s. Voter theft? There it is!

And now think of this: Donald Trump’s Big Lie, that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him was being played out in real time by the then-president’s own effort to steal the election from the Biden, who won it fairly, squarely and legally.

Voter fraud? Vote theft? Trump alleges falsely that President Joe Biden’s team stole the election, all the while conspiring to do the same thing himself!

Wow, man!

The House 1/6 select committee is ramping up its probe into what occurred on that horrifying day. It is summoning key White House aides, including at least one member of Trump’s family — elder daughter Ivanka — to testify to what they knew and when they knew it. My creaky old bones are telling me that there could be some criminal indictments hurled by the committee in due course.

If so, then no one should be exempt. I shall repeat: No one should be exempt from the quest for the truth. That would include the man who masqueraded for four years as our head of state and commander in chief … the guy who sought to pilfer the election from the guy who won it honestly.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

The plot thickens

As if the plot wasn’t thick enough when Donald John Trump incited the traitorous mob to storm the Capitol Building on 1/6, seeking to stop the certification of a free and fair presidential election.

Oh, no. Now it’s getting even more serious than that.

Now we hear reports that Donald Trump was actively involved in plotting to seize voting machines in states that Joe Biden won in 2020. And do what with them? Manipulate them to reverse the outcome? To “find votes” that had been cast for the other guy and turn them into votes for his own need?

Oh, and then come Trump’s own words at that rally down yonder in Conroe over the weekend where he actually admitted to seeking to “overturn” the election result.

How much more of this do we need to start issuing felony criminal indictments against the former — and I hope never again — president of the United States of America?

I know the judicial process needs to play out. Fulton County (Ga.) District Attorney Fani Willis is going to seat a special grand jury to examine whether Trump broke state election law by demanding that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger “find” 11,780 votes that Trump could tack onto his own total in a state that Joe Biden won in 2020. Where I come from, that sounds all the world like coercion. Is it a criminal act? DA Willis will tell us in due course.

Trump keeps presenting all these serious danger signals that suggest if given the chance, he would do all over again what he tried to do at the very of his term as president. Now comes reporting that he tried to a whole lot more than has been reported already, that he sought to in effect seize control of the ballot-counting process. Arrrgghhh!

What in the name of democracy is it going to take for this country to put this clown down for the count? Do not put words in my mouth here. I am talking only about removing this imbecile from our public conscience. The system, whether it’s Congress or the courts, needs to expedite the search for findings that will answer all the questions that we have regarding the insurrection of 1/6.

If it means rounding up the one-time Insurrectionist in Chief, then so be it. Get it done! Quickly!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Cruz embarrasses me

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Ted Cruz just continues to pi**me off. I mean, the guy just cannot say a single, solitary sentence without sticking both of his boots squarely into his pie hole.

The junior U.S. senator from Texas, a Republican (naturally), said that President Biden’s decision to look only for a black woman to nominate for the Supreme Court “insults” other black Americans and also insults the senator.

He just cannot fathom that Biden wants to put someone on the court who embodies a greater swath of the American public. So he has chosen to look for an African American woman to fill that slot.

Cruz’s response seems to presume that Biden won’t find a qualified candidate to sit on the nation’s highest court.

I am wondering, as are others of my ilk: Why didn’t Cruz feel “insulted” when Donald Trump made the same pledge after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Didn’t the then-president say he would look for a woman to replace the iconic liberal justice?

Give me a break … Ted! Let the process play out and let the president make his decision. I am one of the senator’s constituents who wishes the junior GOP loudmouth would pipe down and stop pre-judging these matters.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com