Category Archives: national news

national news

GOP earns sympathy

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It pains me to say this, but here goes anyway.

What has become of the Republican Party — a once-great political organization that has been hijacked by cultists — makes me miss the Grand Old Party we all used to know.

I say that as a card-carrying, true-blue good-government progressive who tends to favor Democratic Party policies over those proposed by the GOP. I have acknowledged on this blog that every presidential vote I have cast since 1972 has gone to Democrats … although the 1976 contest between President Ford and Jimmy Carter gave me pause to consider voting for the GOP incumbent.

What used to be normal among Republicans has become abnormal. GOP officeholders take the same oath of office as their Democratic colleagues. They swear to protect and defend the Constitution. They merely approach their defense and protection differently than Democrats. I accept those differences.

These days, that loyalty has shifted to an individual, to the former president who alleges vote fraud where it doesn’t exist. They stand with him and his idiocy. They ignore the actual oath they took to defend the Constitution. They call themselves “patriots” but their actions are far from patriotic.

The future of the Republican Party that I used to know remains clouded. I don’t know where it goes from here. Or how it rebuilds itself into a political party that can speak intelligently — as it used to do — about the differences it has with Democrats.

These days we see seasoned politicians giving way to a former president who cannot speak intelligently on the issues that matter. He blathers and bloviates. He spreads The Big Lie about vote fraud. The former POTUS cannot parse a single policy with the kind of clarity we used to hear from his fellow Republicans.

His base loves him nonetheless. They have taken the Republican Party hostage. Will the party leadership shed their bondage and escape? For the sake of sane and reasonable public discourse and debate, it must.

business news, national news

Who could have seen this coming?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Well now. A lawyer for the former Cheater in Chief says he will fight the order to release his client’s tax returns to Congress.

Who could have seen this coming? Oh, I don’t know. Just about … everyone!

According to The Hill: “There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the office of the president of the United States,” Ronald Fischetti, a lawyer for (Donald) Trump, told The Wall Street Journal.

Think about the irony of that statement for just a moment.

“No evidence of any wrongdoing here.” That’s what the legal eagle says. My question is straightforward: If there’s “no evidence of wrongdoing,” then what in the world is the reason for withholding those returns, for keeping them from public view?

Trump attorney says he will fight release of tax returns | TheHill

The custom of releasing those returns arose from the Watergate scandal of 1973-74. Suspicion was rampant throughout the land about politicians’ wealth. Beginning with the 1976 presidential election, candidates of both parties agreed to release their income taxes to show the public they had nothing to hide.

To be sure, plenty of mega-rich individuals have sought the presidency in the more than 40 years since that time. For instance, Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, released his tax returns without a whimper.

The custom has held up over time. Then along came the 45th POTUS, who ran for the office in 2016. When he initially balked at releasing his returns, alarm bells began sounding all over the place. What’s he hiding? Is he as rich as he says he is? Are there business dealings he doesn’t want us to see? How much has he donated to charity? Is he paying his fair share of taxes?

The last question perhaps is the most pertinent, given that a president — along with Congress — helps set tax policy that forces all Americans to pay their share of taxes. I don’t know about you, but I want to know whether the president is doing his part, too, in paying for the government.

Of course, the 45th POTUS’s business dealings have become the subject of civil and criminal investigations. The former Liar in Chief said the feds are auditing his tax returns, so he can’t release them. The IRS says that’s malarkey.

Now his lawyer pledges to fight. Good luck with that. The former POTUS no longer can use the power of his office to stonewall what look to me to be legitimate requests to see his tax returns.

Give ’em up, Mr. ex-POTUS.

national news

Newt sets new standard for idiocy

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Stand up, Newt Gingrich.

I want you take a bow and accept this dose of sarcastic admiration for the astonishing level of idiocy you have put forth.

The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has declared that one of his successors, Nancy Pelosi, is the greatest threat to democracy “in our lifetime.”

Here, though, is my favorite part. Newt writes: With the passive support of an apparently cowardly caucus, she is behaving as a dictator more like Fidel Castro, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, or Nicolás Maduro.

To those who don’t detect why that’s my favorite passage, I’ll explain. It’s the part about “apparently cowardly caucus.” You see, it is astonishing in the extreme that a Republican who has been beholden and blindly loyal to the most crooked, amoral, vengeful, venal and ignorant POTUS in history would declare that the other side is “cowardly.”

The Republican congressional caucus has blazed a new trail of craven cowardice during the term in office of the former Bully in Chief.

Here’s the entire essay that Newtie wrote for Fox News: Newt Gingrich: Nancy Pelosi is the greatest threat to constitutional liberty in our lifetime | Fox News

Pelosi is standing up for the rule of law. She is holding the ex-POTUS accountable for the insurrection he incited on 1/6. Pelosi is acting totally within her constitutional duties as the leader of the People’s House. It is the ex-POTUS who doesn’t follow the law, who flouted his executive limitations while in office, who stiffed the legislative branch of government at every turn, and who told the riotous mob on 1/6 to “take back our government.”

He got impeached twice by the House, the second time inciting the insurrection that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election … which he lost bigly to President Biden!

Now to listen to a former speaker of the House declare the current speaker is the “greatest threat to our constitutional liberty in our lifetime” is beyond reprehensible.

national news

Bipartisan deal is struck!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

They’re slapping themselves on the back, high-fiving each other all around and telling themselves that they’re all great statesmen and women.

Why the enthusiasm on Capitol Hill? They have announced the framework for a bipartisan infrastructure deal that now is going to endure an arduous amendment process before it’s voted on and sent to President Biden’s desk.

I haven’t read the details of the bill, but I want to make this brief observation.

President Biden’s immediate predecessor kept announcing that an infrastructure bill was coming; he never delivered. Why not? He didn’t know to legislate. He didn’t grasp the concept of working with legislators who had their own constituencies with whom they had to deal. We never saw an infrastructure package, even though POTUS 45 kept promising one would emerge.

He got tossed in the 2020 election. Then a new man moved in. Joe Biden is a man of the Senate, having served there for 36 years before becoming vice president in 2009.

President Biden knows many of the men and women in the Senate. He worked with them as senator and as VP. He knows how to legislate. He knows whose buttons to push and how to cajole compromise from senators.

Granted, it hasn’t always gone smoothly since he ascended to the presidency. He is dealing with GOP cultists who still adhere to the fantasy that POTUS 45 will get back into office.

However, a deal has been struck. I credit the president for rolling up his sleeves and working with the Senate — and the House of Reps — to get this deal done.

We have a president on duty who knows how to govern. 

national news

Diversionary defense emerges

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Those who seek to “defend” the attack of 1/6 on the U.S. Capitol do so in the form of a diversionary tactic designed to take our minds off the issue at hand.

Which is that a mob of terrorists assembled on the Ellipse that day and were incited to storm Capitol Hill to overturn the result of the 2020 election that delivered the presidency to Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Now comes the so-called “defense” of those actions by suggesting that law enforcement knew days ahead of time that an insurrection would occur but did nothing about it. The cops didn’t take any measures to defend the seat of our government, the argument goes.

And that is supposed to excuse what happened that day?

Good grief! The cause of the riot and its impact on our system of government is at issue. Whether the cops knew ahead of time that a monstrous riot was about to occur, in my mind, is beside what I believe is the fundamental point of the House select committee examination of the events of 1/6.

House committee members want to know what happened to produce the riot, what the 45th POTUS was doing as the riot was occurring, to whom did he speak and what he did tell them. The panel also wants to find solutions to prevent future attacks from occurring in the manner of the one that unfolded that day.

We all witnessed a history-shattering event. It was the first time in our nation’s history that a transition of power from one presidential administration to another erupted in violence. The attack was brutal, it was horrifying and it stained our national reputation indelibly. There surely can be some remedies found to prevent future eruptions if we can determine ways to make the police more responsive to terrorist threats.

However, I would prefer to spend far less time arguing over whether the cops did enough to stop an event  that well might have been unpreventable and devote the bulk of the committee’s time to examining what did, in fact, take place.

We need answers to a lot of questions.

local news, national news, political news

A silver lining in the vote fraud scam?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I want to make a declaration I never thought I could make, as it involves the 45th president of the United States, aka the ex-Moron in Chief.

All this scandalous nonsense about the security of the 2020 presidential election is going to produce future election cycles that no one is likely to be able to challenge at any level.

I credit the 45th POTUS for the security we will witness in real time of future elections: for president, for Congress, for state legislatures, for countywide office, for municipal and school district office.

Our attention has been riveted on the issue of election security. Granted, I do not buy for one second the veracity of the allegations that the 45th POTUS has leveled at the 2020 presidential election. I do, though, buy into the notion that our state and county elections officials’ alert levels have risen to unprecedented levels.

The future of our electoral system, I submit without reservation, actually looks brighter because we have spent so much time in this post-election period discussing the issue of ballot security.

I cannot begin to predict that there won’t be some crackpot in the future who will raise the noxious stink that POTUS 45 has raised since losing the 2020 election. He lost it bigly: 7 million ballots and a 306-232 tally in the Electoral College. He keeps yammering about vote fraud, but produces not a shred of evidence to substantiate his slanderous attacks on the electoral process.

There has been a positive result, though. I am quite certain the ex-Numbskull in Chief has elevated electoral security awareness all along the political chain of command. I have known many county clerks in Texas and Oregon who have worked themselves to near-collapse seeking to protect the integrity of the voting process. They have done their jobs well and with honor. Thus, they do not deserve to be slandered in the manner they have suffered from the mouth of POTUS 45.

They will no doubt redouble their efforts in the future.

I am certain our electoral process will remain secure, safe and legal.

national news

Struggle continues …

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Try as I am doing to maintain a forward-looking focus for this blog, events and news reports about the recent past keep pulling me back.

So help me, I do not intend to keep looking in the rear-view mirror.

However, we now have reports that the 45th POTUS pressured the Justice Department to declare the 2020 presidential election to be “corrupt.” Yep, the former A**hole in Chief wanted DOJ to effectively condemn the results per the 45th POTUS’s request.

Oh, my. It appears to me that the great conspiracy concocted by the former Traitor in Chief is unraveling one layer at a time.

This is the kind of thing that the U.S. House select committee assigned to get to the bottom of the events that led up to 1/6 is going to be compelled to examine. In detail. I want it to be unvarnished and unbiased, too.

As for this blog, I will continue to keep a fairly tight rein on it. I won’t be commenting on every single thing involving the ex-Insurrectionist in Chief. He has a boatload of trouble awaiting him.

The Manhattan (N.Y.) district attorney has indicted his company on tax issues. Georgia officials are examining whether he committed election law violations by pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory there; the Justice Department has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to turn the former Tax Cheater in Chief’s tax records over to Congress.

Yep, we have plenty of grist on which to chew.

We also have a president seeking to stem the tide of an outbreak of COVID virus infections; he is trying to put more Americans back to work; Joe Biden is seeking bipartisan approval of a massive infrastructure package.

All of that deserves your blogger’s attention as well. Stick with me. I’ll do my level best to stay focused on the future.

medical news, national news

Too much to expect victory?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It likely was too much to expect a new president, operating with a new medical team would be able to declare victory against the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

President Biden took a lot of credit — perhaps a tad too much of it — for the distribution of vaccines developed by Big Pharma companies. He made bold promises, such as vaccinating 70 % of Americans by the Fourth of July.

It didn’t happen. Then came the emergence of the Delta pandemic variant. More Americans have been getting sick. More of them are dying from the variant.

However, I cannot yet expect a return to the dark days of a year ago. We have come too far from the abyss that opened up when Biden’s predecessor gave short shrift to the consequences of the virus. He said it would vanish magically. It was all “under control,” he said even as thousands of Americans were being stricken daily.

That president lost his re-election bid in 2020. The new guy promised a new day, a new approach, a greater effort to fight the pandemic and rid the nation of its scourge.

We made progress. Then … boom! The Delta variant arrived. Now we’re being advised to mask up again; to maintain “social distancing”; we’re also being advised in the strongest terms possible to get vaccinated.

As disappointing as this setback appears I am not going to despair. I am not going to consign myself and my family to another round of anxiety or misery.

I’ll just have to remind myself that we cannot spike any proverbial footballs until we get eradicate the virus — and all the variants it produces. I remain cautiously optimistic that we’ll get to that finish line … eventually.

What’s more, I will take some measure of comfort knowing that we are being led by a government chief executive who will tell us the truth as we continue this fight.

national news, Uncategorized

Will the riot stand as ‘1/6’?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Here is my thought of the moment.

When you mention “9/11,” we know what you’re talking about. Same for when you say “Dec. 7,” as we all know what that date signifies.

My curiosity makes me wonder whether society will recall the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021 simply as “1/6.”

I happen to believe that the insurrection ranks right up there with the events of 9/11 and Dec. 7, 1941. They all stand as “dates which will live … in infamy.” 

I will not accept — indeed, I never have accepted — the reluctance among some Americans to refer to the riot of 1/6 as an insurrection. It most certainly was all of that. I consider it a full-out frontal assault on our democratic form of government.

On that day, members of both congressional chambers — led by Vice President Mike Pence — were in the process of certifying the Electoral College totals that resulted in President Biden’s election. The terrorists who stormed the Capitol Building intended to prevent that certification from occurring. My goodness, we have them saying so in recordings taking in real time as the mob stormed the Capitol and killed and injured several individuals who were trying to stop them.

Few events can be identified merely as dates on a calendar.

Let it be noted that on this day moving forward, your friendly blogger will refer to the assault on our democracy as “1/6.” The worst assault on our nation’s Capitol since the War of 1812 ranks right alongside the violence that brought us the war against international terror and the attack that dragged us into the Second World War.

national news

GOP duplicity: simply stunning

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The duplicity and hypocrisy being shown by congressional Republicans is an astonishing sight to those of us who believe in fairness and good government.

The GOP caucus in Congress is hell bent on supporting Republican-controlled state legislatures — such as in Texas — for their effort to curb “widespread voter fraud” that doesn’t exist. The GOP caucus is resisting efforts to approve the John Lewis Voting Rights Act named after the late civil rights icon. Why? They suggest that legislatures have the answer to how to ensure free and fair elections while preventing vote fraud that — I state again — does not exist.

Meanwhile, the same GOP caucus turns its back on the impact of the Jan. 6 insurrection incited by the former Seditionist in Chief. People were killed. They were injured. A mob comprising thousands of domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol Building that day to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

The GOP response? Nothing, man! They have been delivered tangible, visible, visceral proof of extreme malice among the rioters who wanted to “hang” Vice President Pence that day. Meanwhile, the former POTUS did nothing to stop the riot. He reportedly cheered them on from the safety of the White House.

And this doesn’t seem to bother most members of the GOP caucus in Congress? My goodness. I am ashamed of them all.