Category Archives: national news

national news

Another hero has departed

A former U.S. senator, presidential and vice-presidential candidate, and World War II hero has left us and the world he leaves behind should mourn its loss forever.

I refer to Robert Dole, the one-time senator from Kansas.

Oh, my. He was a Republican tough guy who emerged from the crucible of world conflict to become eventually a statesman and a man who built solid relationships and friendships across the vast span of the political spectrum.

To be candid about Dole, he leaves behind a complicated legacy.

He was wounded grievously near the end of World War II. He lost the use of his right arm. He rehabilitated himself after the war ended. Dole would run eventually for Congress, ending up in the Senate.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford selected him to run as vice president as Ford sought election to the presidency. During a vice-presidential debate with his friend Sen. Walter Mondale, Dole blurted out a remark about how the nation had suffered during “Democrat wars,” saying that Democratic presidents were on the watch when World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War all broke out. It was an unfortunate analogy to make.

He snarled at Vice President George H.W. Bush on national TV — against whom he was competing for the 1988 GOP nomination for president — telling Bush to “stop lying about my record.”

Over time, though, Dole’s image softened. He morphed into an elder statesman, an individual to whom other politicians — of both parties — turned for advice and counsel. His good humor replaced the occasionally tart tenor of his comments.

He ran for president in 1996 as the GOP nominee, challenging President Clinton’s re-election effort. I did not vote for Dole. However, I want to stipulate in the strongest terms possible that I never lost my abiding respect for the service and sacrifice he gave to the country we all love.

His brand of politician, I hate saying, is vanishing before our eyes.

May this good and heroic man rest in eternal peace.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Elect a Nazi? Really?

Ponder this image for just a moment and then ask yourself: Would you want this individual representing you at any level of government?

The picture you see is of Chester Doles, a former Ku Klux Klansman. He is running for a county commissioner’s seat in Georgia. That gesture he is making is a Nazi salute, you know, the “heil Hitler!” thing we see on occasion at Klan rallies or gatherings of assorted white supremacist hate groups.

Doles is running as a Republican. Big surprise, eh?

I am thinking at this very moment of my father, who 80 years ago on Dec. 7 went to the armed forces recruitment center in downtown Portland, Ore., to sign up to fight the tyrants who (a) were trying to take over the world and (b) earlier that day attacked us at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Dad would be enraged at the thought of a dipsh** who flung out a Nazi salute running for any public office in the United States of America.

So should any conscientious American who knows what that salute represents. I get that the idiot ex-KKK’er has every right to express himself that way. It is prescribed in the Constitution that Dad and other patriots fought to protect during World War II.

Still, the expression shown here is as revolting and repulsive as any I can ever imagine.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Dr. Oz for Senate? Ugh!

Mehmet Oz wants to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania in 2022, which by itself shouldn’t cause any great shakes for little ol’ me out here in North Texas.

Except that it kinda does. I now shall explain.

Oz is a medical doctor. He made a name for himself by becoming a TV personality. His face is everywhere. I cannot testify to the quality of his medical practice; for that matter, I don’t know if he even still has a practice where he examines patients and does doctor-related tasks.

He is running as a Republican. He also is a known skeptic of the COVID-19 virus’s seriousness. He also has been critical of the vaccines that have been released to vaccinate Americans against the virus. That qualifies Oz, in my view, as a certified member of the crackpot cabal of the GOP.

There’s one more thing I want to point out. I believe he borders on medical quackery. Why?

Well, some years ago I heard him shilling for a product that was supposed to cure people of some ailment. Then he dropped the word “miracle” in his description of the product. He said that the results were a “miracle,” meaning that there is no Earthly explanation for why it does what it does.

I am no doctor, but no doctor I ever have heard has used the word “miracle” to describe a scientific procedure. By its very nature, science is predicated on knowledge of cause and effect.

Thus, for a medical doctor to use a term such as “miracle” to describe a medicinal product to my mind smacks of someone who is peddling some version of snake oil.

This clown doesn’t belong in the U.S. Senate.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Hands off of DACA

If I could rule the world for just a little bit of time, I would declare that an executive order issued by a former president of the United States should be left on the books … never to be trifled with ever again.

I refer to President Obama’s order creating the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program. DACA was set up to shield undocumented immigrants from being deported if they were brought here as children by their parents.

President Obama fought to keep DACA in force. He left office in January 2017. His successor, Donald J. Trump, removed the DACA order. Trump then left office in January of this year and his successor, President Biden, restored the DACA order.

So there you have it. It is there, then it’s not, now it’s back again.

I want the order to remain. Why? Because these recipients of DACA privilege know no other nation than the one where they live today. That is the U.S. of A. They are de facto Americans. They are U.S. residents. Many of them have achieved great academic and professional success.

DACA is a humane policy that seeks to give these individuals an avenue to achieve citizenship or permanent resident status.

As Democrats and Republicans battle over immigration, they simply need to remove DACA from the table. These individuals have done nothing illegal other than accompany their parents into this nation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Silence is destructive

When a member of Congress spewed hate speech about another member of Congress, there once was a time when the leadership of the offending members’ caucus would call him or her down hard, informing that lawmaker that such speech is unacceptable.

Not any longer. Oh, no. These days, political leadership — notably on the Republican side of the great divide — remains silent. You hear the proverbial crickets chirping in the House and Senate chambers. Politicians from the opposing party often rise up and rant loudly.

The latest pair of congressional members to square off are Republican Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Democrat Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Boebert compared Omar’s occasionally harsh rhetoric to the kind of trash that comes out of the mouths of terrorists. Oh, of course Rep. Boebert had to inject “Muslim” into the tirade because, well, Rep. Omar happens to be a faithful Muslim; Omar is a native of Somalia who emigrated to the United States when she was a teenager. Her parents came here looking for a better life. They found it and their daughter became a member of Congress after becoming a naturalized American citizen.

Boebert is part of the QAnon cabal of House members who have latched onto some of hideous notions put forth by that mystery movement.

She appears to hate Ilhan Omar’s faith and in expressing her extreme view that Muslims are inherently sympathetic to terrorist acts, she has engaged in a form of hate speech that in an earlier time never would have been given credence by the silence of her party’s political leadership.

We do have two living former Republican presidents: George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump. Bush has been vocal over many years to demand decency from his caucus. Trump, though, has remained silent.

Indeed, Trump’s followers in the current Congress far outnumber those who are loyal to Bush. Thus, we have the silent treatment greeting the kinds of hate speech that comes from Boebert … and others within the GOP.

We just have to find a way to repair the quality of our discourse and to hold politicians accountable for the garbage that flows too easily from their mouths.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Terrorist threat comes from within

All this chatter about Islamic terrorists and the “threat” they supposedly pose to Americans ignores a key point made in 2019 by the director of the FBI.

Christopher Wray, appointed to his post by Donald J. Trump, told Congress that the “biggest threat” to Americans’ security and safety comes not from foreign terrorists, but from the home-grown, corn-fed variety of domestic terrorist.

Wray offered that analysis, of course, prior to the events of 1/6 and the domestic terror attack launched against Capitol Hill, where Vice President Mike Pence was presiding over the Electoral College vote certification from the 2020 presidential election.

All of those yahoos were from right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Yet we hear from nut jobs such as U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., say that one of her colleagues, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is cozy with terrorist groups. Indeed, Boebert implied that Omar might be a terrorist herself, given that she’s a Muslim who emigrated to this country from Somalia.

Let’s keep our eye on the ball, shall we? FBI Director Wray is correct to suggest that the larger threat comes from within.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Standing with POTUS

First of all, I want to stipulate that I am not a fair-weather fan of President Biden.

Yes, I read the polling data. I am acutely aware that his approval rating among American voters has slipped badly since about the time of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Inflation has harmed the president’s standing. We cannot seem to shake the pandemic and we cannot declare our “independence” from the disease, which Biden projected we could do by the Fourth of July.

However, I voted for Joe Biden with as much enthusiasm as I have had for any presidential candidate for whom I have voted since 1972, when I cast my first vote for the leader of the Free World.

The man’s current difficulty will not force me to turn against him. I stand with him.

We are on the verge of receiving a big legislative push if Congress gets around to approving the Build Back Better package that President Biden’s team presented some months ago. Congress already has approved the infrastructure bill designed to repair our nation’s roads, bridges, airports, seaports and Internet availability. That is no small deal, man.

The economy is continuing to rebound from its pandemic low. Do I worry about inflation? Yes, I do! Am I a huge fan of Biden’s decision to pull oil out of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Not really. I don’t consider the SPR to be an inflation-fighting weapon; I consider it to be a safety net in the event of a severe shortage of fossil fuel. If the SPR flow helps stem the rising price of that fuel, then I suppose I can grit my teeth and back it.

Biden is committed to fighting climate change, which is a welcome change from the previous administration’s decision to turn its back on those efforts.

My support of President Biden is unflinching even in the face of crises. We elect someone to handle these issues as they arise. He has assembled a competent team of political pros and assorted experts. I am going to stand with them as they grapple with these crises.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news, national news

Racial justice: Has it arrived?

One jury verdict does not necessarily signal a trend, although some thinkers and analysts are trying to ascribe a trend to the Georgia jury that convicted three white men of murdering a black man.

The trend that some are asking: Does this verdict signal the arrival of racial justice in America?

Let’s hold on here. Ahmad Arbery was jogging through a white neighborhood when he was accosted by three men who seemingly though that Arbery, who was black, didn’t belong there. One of the men shot Arbery to death and that individual, Travis McMichael, was convicted of all the charges associated with the killing.

The jury, comprising 11 white people and one black individual, delivered a stern warning to anyone thinking they can hide behind a “self-defense law.”

What about the racial justice question? If it spells the end of verdicts that acquit white people of killing a black person on flimsy evidence, the answer is “no,” we don’t have racial justice. Nor do we have it if a jury acquits a black individual if he kills white victims, such as what occurred in 1995 when a mostly black jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of murdering his former wife and her friend.

I am not going to ascribe an abundance of significance to the Georgia jury’s verdict. I welcome it, but let’s wait a long while before we attach any historical significance to what the jury has ruled.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Once more about young Kyle Rittenhouse

OK. I just gotta weigh in with another thought about Kyle Rittenhouse before I move on to, oh, something else.

The young man heard about this protest occurring in Kenosha, Wis. What did he do? He got into his car and drove from neighboring Pleasant Prairie to the city on the Lake Michigan shore. He had an AR-15 and some ammo that he had put into the magazine.

He pranced along the street with the weapon and shot two men to death. Rittenhouse was arrested and charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty and went to trial, where he claimed — while sobbing — that he shot the men while defending himself against their attack on him. Self-defense, he said.

The jury believed him. Rittenhouse’s legal team did a stellar job of making him something of a sympathetic character. To be honest, it looked to me — based on what I heard and read — that the defense team out-lawyered the prosecutors.

So, young Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted.

I am still struck by the notion that he went to Kenosha in the first place as a 17-year-old looking to mix it up with protesters complaining about police brutality against African-Americans. He found what he seemed to be looking for; two men paid the price for their encounter with Rittenhouse.

I’ll accept the jury’s verdict, not because I necessarily endorse the defense narrative he delivered. I accept the verdict because I have a strong belief in our jury trial system.

However, if the kid had just stayed home and not rushed onto the Kenosha streets with that AR-15. He went looking for trouble and he found it.

I am out!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, national news

Vote ‘no’ and take the dough

I should direct these comments to the Republicans who comprise the Texas congressional delegation.

All of ’em, to a person, voted “no” on President Biden’s infrastructure proposal and on the $1.7 trillion package billed as Build Back Better.

Some of them have issued harsh policy statements criticizing Biden as well as their Democratic colleagues, calling them “socialists” and “spendthrift” liberals who don’t give a damn about the national debt.

Ah, yes. But … will they say “no” when the government starts parceling the money to their states or congressional districts? Hardly!

Indeed, I fully expect some of them to actually use these improvements as grist for their re-election efforts in 2022 and beyond. Will they realize or recognize the hypocrisy of that message? Not even, man!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com