Category Archives: national news

national news

Worse than Watergate!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The toxic presidency brought to us by the 45th POTUS has been shoved into the dust bin, but its legacy lives on.

I fear it will be with us for a good while. Although I will pray to God in heaven it won’t last forever. If the Good Lord is listening, he will consign it to that place where no one dare venture.

The 45th POTUS’s legacy will be a presidency that became engulfed in a scandal that far eclipses Watergate, that other great constitutional crisis that enveloped the nation nearly 50 years ago.

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon told the nation he would resign the office effective at noon the next day. Vice President Gerald Ford — who took office the previous year when the previous VP resigned in another scandal — would take the reins of government; President Ford became the first man to hold the office without ever being elected POTUS or VPOTUS.

The 45th POTUS — whose name I refused to publish on this blog — was a disgrace to the office from the moment he took his hand off the Bible while taking the oath. He got impeached twice by the House of Representatives; yes, he dodged expulsion because Senate Republicans refused to convict him of the crimes he committed.

As bad as his term as POTUS was, the worst would come after he lost his bid for re-election. He incited an insurrection against the government on 1/6, the day it set aside to certify the 2020 election result. He instigated a riot by terrorists, plowing asunder the notion of a “peaceful presidential transition.”

He has continued to foment The Big Lie about the election being stolen. We are seeing reports now about an alleged “coup attempt” promoted by the power-hungry POTUS. The former Insurrectionist in Chief’s company has been indicted by a district attorney’s office. There might be more indictments to come … involving the head of the company (the ex-POTUS) himself.

All of this adds up to a legacy that — as my memory serves  to remind me — makes Watergate look almost tame by comparison. It wasn’t tame as it was unfolding. Nearly five decades later, Watergate has a different feel and look to it juxtaposed to what continues to unfold with regard to the most recent former POTUS.

My fervent desire now is for President Biden to continue to strengthen his grip on the presidency and deliver us all from the wreckage that his predecessor has left behind.

national news

How do they deny it?

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Hell will freeze over, Earth will spin off its axis and the sun will rise in the west long before I ever will understand how some congressional leaders can justify their resistance to investigating the events that lead to 1/6.

I want to mention a couple of them specifically: Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives and Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader of the U.S. Senate.

Why those two? Because both of them spoke eloquently in the days immediately after 1/6 about the complicity exhibited by the former president of the United States, the nitwit who incited the insurrection that sought to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

McConnell said POTUS “provoked” the riot that stormed Capitol Hill. McCarthy reportedly was on a phone call with the Numbskull in Chief, who told him that the rioters “care more about the election than you do, Kevin.” They both aimed their rhetorical fire straight at POTUS 45.

Then they turned tail and scampered into the tall grass.

They both against the impeachment and against convicting the president of inciting the insurrection. They have resisted calls to form an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the 1/6 riot. When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nixed two GOP members of the select committee she formed, McCarthy pulled the rest of the Republicans he selected for the panel and then said Pelosi was playing politics with the investigation.

Neither of them will call the events of 1/6 what the rest of us know to be true: that it was an insurrection.

These two men lead the GOP caucuses in their respective legislative chambers. Sadly, too many of their minions agree with them. But not all of them, I am happy to declare. There really are Republican politicians who are able and willing to stand for the Constitution and for the rule of law. Most of them? They appear to be hopeless.

Thus, we have my lack of understanding of what has happened to a once-great political party.

I guess I’ll just wait for hell to freeze over.

medical news, national news

COVID verbal battle heats up

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden is getting into a nasty spat with a fellow who likely will seek to run for the office Biden occupies in 2024.

The president said this over the weekend about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “The escalation of cases is particularly concentrated in states with low vaccination rates. Just two states, Florida and Texas, account for one-third of all new COVID-19 cases in the entire country. … Look, we need leadership from everyone. And if some governors aren’t willing to do the right thing to beat this pandemic, then they should allow businesses and universities who want to do the right thing to be able to do it.”

DeSantis fired back, suggesting — without evidence — that the COVID virus spike is caused by the president’s “open-border policy” and that refugees are bringing with them as they stream into the country illegally.

PolitiFact | Ron DeSantis’ effort to blame COVID-19 spread on migrants is short on evidence

Ah, yes. Politics arguably is the most infectious element in this discussion.

DeSantis said he doesn’t want to “hear a blip” from Biden about COVID until he controls the border.

Except for this little item: President Biden is correct to single out Texas and Florida as the two states producing the most COVID outbreaks since the arrival of the Delta variant … which came from India, which is nowhere close to Latin America.

Can’t we start pulling together for a change on fighting this virus? How about it?

Joe Biden, national news

Tan suit, then and now

(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I think I know the answer to this question, but I’ll post it anyhow in just a second.

The picture you see here is of President Biden. It was snapped on Friday as he prepared to make some remarks about the job growth posted for July and about the drop in the unemployment rate. He is proud of the progress we are making on the economy.

Do you notice the tan suit? Sure you do!

OK. Now, flash back to the time President Obama appeared in public wearing a tan suit. Do you recall the reaction then to Obama’s sartorial choice? The right wingers out there threw a hissy fit not seen or heard since the time President Lyndon Johnson picked his beagles up by their ears.

What’s been the right wing response to Biden’s tan suit? Nothing, man! The Question: Why do you think the right wing is silent on Biden’s tan suit while they bitched out loud about Obama’s tan suit?

My answer? I believe it’s because President Biden is a white guy and President Obama is not.

Disgraceful.

national news

What did he know … and when?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The U.S. House select committee probe into the events leading up to 1/6 and, of course, the calamity of the day itself is bound to uncover some seediness the likes of which we might never have seen.

This notion, as has been reported by major newspapers, that POTUS 45 urged the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, to “call the 2020 election ‘corrupt’ and leave the rest to me” is of particular concern.

It suggests to me that this probe is going to grow many more sets of legs before too long.

The investigation must go on and it must be done fairly and without bias. Is it possible? I believe it is if Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., understands fully the gravity of what is at stake. He’s a smart man and he gets it. Of that I am certain.

There has been considerable reporting in recent days about the former Insurrectionist in Chief’s “coup” attempt and how close it allegedly came to succeeding. I am wondering, though, whether the closeness of that dastardly act is real.

Still, the notion that he would mount daily pressure on the acting attorney general to simply label an action to be “corrupt” without a hint of evidence is disturbing in the extreme.

Oh, there will be much more to examine.

The committee is taking a break from its public hearings. It is gathering evidence behind the scenes. It is mustering material to issue subpoenas for witnesses to testify. Would one of those witnesses, by any slim chance, happen to be the former Liar in Chief? Oh, I do hope that comes to pass, given that he cannot invoke the power of the office he once occupied to slither his way out of testifying.

This will be fun to watch. Yes?

DC riot, national news

‘These officers are heroes’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Yes, they are, Mme. Vice President.

So it was today when VP Kamala Harris along with President Biden conducted a White House ceremony to honor the Capitol and Metropolitan DC police officers who stood up against a rioting mob of terrorists who on 1/6 stormed the Capitol Building.

The mob’s intent was clear: to prevent Congress from doing its constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Was that an insurrection against the government, against our democratic system? Yes. It was. There can be no doubt.

The president and vice president today honored the men and women who stood in the breech against the mob, those who were incited by the individual who lost the 2020 election, the 45th POTUS.

I was struck today by three aspects of the event as I watched Biden sign the resolution that honors the police with the Congressional Gold Medal.

One was the presence of the children who took part in the ceremony. President Biden took a moment to hand out the ceremonial pens to the children and then instructed them to give the pens to the officers gathered behind the desk where the president sat and signed the resolution.

Another was the presence of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican — the only GOP lawmaker present at a ceremony meant to honor the officers who protected all the members of Congress who were threatened by the terrorists. The absence of other key GOP leaders — such as Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell and House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy — is a shameful example of their political fealty to the twice-impeached former POTUS.

A third key point was the strong language that Biden and Harris used to describe the events of 1/6. They didn’t pussyfoot around what the whole world witnessed that day. We watched a frontal assault on our democratic system. We watched an insurrection take place in real time.

And yet, there are members of the very legislative body those officers protected who refuse to acknowledge the heroism and the patriotism of the officers who stood in harm’s way. They have disgraced their high office.

Enough about them. The men and women will be honored forever and ever for their courage in the face of blind anger and hatred.

national news

Drama isn’t pretty … and it must end

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The drama being played out at this moment in Albany, N.Y., is not pretty to watch.

However, it is real and it has been seen many times before throughout our nation’s history. It has to end and — sad to say — it likely won’t end well for the man on center stage of this drama.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo cannot possibly stay on in his elected position. Eleven women have accused him — seemingly with great credibility — of sexual harassment and of actions that border on sexual assault. It is consuming the governorship.

Cuomo is facing intense pressure from the media, from politicians within his own Democratic Party — not to mention Republicans — to resign from office. The New York Times calls Cuomo “unfit” for office. The Albany Times-Union — in the city where Cuomo works each day — has implored him to resign.

Every single thing that Cuomo touches from this day forward will be tainted by the scandal. It’s big, too. The New York attorney general, fellow Democrat Letitia James, has concluded that the women’s accusations are credible.

Cuomo blames all of this on politics. Really? C’mon, governor. When politicians with whom you are supposedly close — one of whom is President Biden — call for your resignation, well … it ain’t political.

None of us should take pleasure in watching a once-shining political career crash and burn. That is what is happening. Indeed, the more that comes out about Cuomo, about how he treats his foes and the bullying tactics he has been known to employ, the less admirable a man he becomes in many of our eyes.

If he doesn’t walk away on his own, he is likely to be impeached. The way I see the wind blowing in upstate New York, a trial won’t end well, either.

It’s your call, governor.

national news

Impeach Biden over … border? Really?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Chip Roy has signed his name to the Republican Party’s loony bin caucus roster.

The Texas U.S. representative wants the House to impeach President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas because they haven’t done enough to secure our border against illegal immigration and — I will presume — all those criminals who are “pouring” into the country.

Impeach them? For that? Is this guy serious? He thinks he is. I happen to believe he is nuttier than a Snickers bar.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy calls for impeachment of President Biden, DHS Secretary Mayorkas (msn.com)

If we’re going to apply that so-called “logic” as grounds for impeachment, than every president who came before Biden should have been sent to the House gallows to be impeached. Dare I mention that should include Republican presidents as well as Democrats? There. I just did.

Rep. Roy needs to get a grip on reality.

President Biden inherited a mess when he took office. His presidential predecessor had not stemmed the illegal immigrant flow. Neither had the man who preceded him, Barack Obama, or the man who was on the watch before that, George W. Bush.

Republicans along our southern border — and that is the crux of the argument here — are yapping and yammering about the pi**-poor job Biden allegedly is doing. I agree he needs to take a stronger grip on the border issue and, yes, it is a “crisis.”

Impeach him and the DHS boss for it? This matter doesn’t even begin to rise to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor.

national news

Cuomo to be swallowed whole

By John Kanelis / johnkanellis_92@hotmail.com

You may take this straight to the bank.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tenure is about to be swallowed whole and digested by the allegations that have been confirmed by an independent investigation led by the New York attorney general.

That is why — among other reasons — Cuomo needs to resign as governor.

How can this individual propose any legislation without the storm cloud brought by AG Letitia James’s findings on the allegations leveled by dozens of women? How does this guy enter a public debate without someone asking him out loud about allegations that he touched women inappropriately?

The New York governorship of Andrew Cuomo has been turned to burnt toast. Period. End of story.

And it’s the end of his governorship.

Andrew Cuomo can deny it all he wants. It won’t matter. The suspicion that the New York governor is a slug just won’t go away.

national news

It’s over, Gov. Cuomo

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I feel fairly confident in asserting that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a political heir and son of a prominent East Coast dynasty, is likely finished as a politician.

The state attorney general has issued a blistering report that said Cuomo violated federal and state law by sexually harassing state employees. The behavior included, according to AG Letitia James — a fellow Democrat — unwelcome touching and kissing. Several women filed complaints against the governor.

The attorney general vowed to get to the bottom of it and today she asserted that Gov. Cuomo did what the women have alleged.

Why does this matter to me, your friendly blogger way down yonder in Texas — a good distance from Albany, NY.? Because the New York governor has been a national figure since before he was elected to his current office. He was born the son of Mario Cuomo, the fabulous orator and former New York governor. He served in President Clinton’s Cabinet as housing secretary.

During the current pandemic, Cuomo emerged as an eloquent spokesman for the way his state was handling the crisis.

Now we have this. The rest of it, all the good stuff? We might as flush it away. See ya later, governor.