Category Archives: national news

national news

Pelosi picks Kinzinger for select panel … yes!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Adam Kinzinger is going to join another courageous Republican on a select congressional committee with the aim of finding out what the heck happened on Jan. 6 when the Insurrectionist in Chief egged on a mob to storm the Capitol Building.

Kinzinger is one of a handful of Republicans who voted to impeach the ex-POTUS for that act. Another Republican House member, Liz Cheney, also is serving on the committee selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy blames Pelosi for politicizing the process. Hah! McCarthy needs to check his defiance at the door and ponder something.

Congress had the chance to select an independent bipartisan commission to examine the Jan. 6 riot. Republicans in both legislative chambers balked. They refused to appoint the commission. So this is what we get: a select panel chosen by a Democratic House speaker.

Pelosi vetoed two of five GOP House members McCarthy selected: Jim Jordan and Jim Banks. McCarthy’s response then was to yank the three who made the cut from the committee.

So … Pelosi is now moving ahead. She has a bipartisan select committee getting ready to do its work.

The insurrection of Jan. 6 was an unprecedented event. The mob of terrorists sought to overturn the results of a legal, free and fair presidential election. The committee will want to get at the root of what caused the riot and presumably seek ways to prevent a recurrence.

Reps. Kinzinger and Cheney believe in the rule of law. They are faithful to their oath to protect the Constitution, unlike most of their GOP colleagues, who proclaim their fealty to the ex-Moron in Chief.

I am looking forward to watching this committee slog through its task to reach a conclusion based on the evidence it will receive.

national news, political news

‘Fraudit’ proves nothing

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s call the Arizona “audit” of the 2020 presidential election what it is: a fraud.

Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, has declared her intense desire for the 45th POTUS to “accept the results” of the election — which he lost — and “move on.”

Well, good luck with that, Mme. Secretary. He won’t “move on,” at least not in the immediate or even long-term future.

What this whole exercise has demonstrated to those of us peering in from the outside is that the ex-Insurrectionist in Chief will stop at utterly nothing to hold onto the reins of power.

Reports are surfacing now that the “fraudit” that is concluding has found no demonstrable vote irregularity in Maricopa County, which helped deliver Arizona’s electoral votes to President Biden. The organization, which has zero experience with auditing elections, calls itself Cyber Ninjas. These goofballs have done nothing to advance the cause of voter integrity … because there is nothing to advance. The Arizona election was conducted fairly, cleanly, legally and was corruption-free.

So, the fraudulent exercise goes on. It appears to be nearing an end.

As The Hill reported: “The bottom line is that Arizonians are tired of being led by conspiracy theorists. They don’t support this fake audit, and they’re ready for leaders who are going to put those partisan games aside and deal with real issues,” Hobbs continued.

Arizona secretary of state to Trump before rally: ‘Take your loss and accept it and move on’ (msn.com)

President Biden has plenty of work to do. He need not be distracted for a single moment as he seeks to repair the wreckage left by his predecessor — who continues to deliver more wreckage by his idiotic quest for vote fraud that does not exist.

national news

GOP abandons Cheney?

(Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Even though I know in my gut this won’t happen, I feel the need to suggest it as a possible political explosion that could upend the whole damn clown show unfolding on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming is facing a potentially serious Republican primary challenge next year. Why? Because she voted to impeach a Republican president for inciting the insurrection that damaged Capitol Hill and killed five people.

The GOP fanatics who are faithful to POTUS 45 are livid with Cheney. House GOP leadership stripped her of her standing as chair of the GOP caucus.

Cheney remains a conservative lawmaker. I cannot help but wonder whether there is a limit to the insult and denigration she is willing to take from members of her own political party.

Might there be a partisan switch in Cheney’s future, on the basis that the party she joined has become a cult that adheres to the mindless rants of one man and has forsaken its responsibility to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law?

I get that it is as likely to happen as the sun rising in the west tomorrow morning. Still, the political tides have turned many politicians into members of the opposing party.

I remember when former state Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa, Texas, switched from Democrat to Republican. He said plainly that he is the same man he was when he joined the Legislature, but that the Democratic Party had changed its identity.

As for Cheney, she could continue to serve as a conservative in Congress … even as a Democrat. Congress over its long history has welcomed many conservatives to the Democratic caucus in both legislative chambers.

It’s just that the Republican Party now seemingly belongs to the twice-impeached former POTUS who incited a bloody riot on Jan. 6 that sought to overturn the results of the November 2020 presidential election.

How in the world does someone of Cheney’s strong Republican ties remain loyal to a party that no longer is loyal to her or to her belief in the rule of law?

OK. I know I am spitting into the proverbial wind on this one.

It’s worth pondering.

national news

Cheney’s star keeps rising

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Liz Cheney continues to confound me … in a good and surprising manner.

The conservative Republican congresswoman keeps saying things and keeps demonstrating that not all actual Republicans are as loony as the former Dipsh** in Chief. The Wyoming lawmaker today stood foursquare behind a decision by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to veto two GOP members’ involvement in a select committee assigned by study the Jan. 6 insurrection against the federal government.

Cheney also is a member of the select committee that next week will begin its task of rooting out the truth behind the insurrection/riot/mob attack on Capitol Hill.

My goodness, it makes me wonder whether Cheney’s fealty to the Constitution makes her a candidate for hands-down the most stunning party shift in the recent history of Congress. Would this longstanding Republican actually consider switching to the Democratic Party, given that the GOP she joined years ago no longer resembles the party that has been hijacked by the cultists who adhere to blathering of POTUS 45.

OK. It won’t happen. I get that Cheney remains a strong conservative. She is a Republican’s Republican.

She also is faithful to the oath she took to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution, which so many others within her party have failed to do. They are the villains in this drama that’s playing out. Cheney remains a hero in my book.

If only she could find it within her heart and mind that the party she joined has become an organization she no longer recognizes.

national news

GOP leader skulks away

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

That’ll teach ’em, right, Kevin McCarthy?

The U.S. House Republican leader decided today to pull all GOP members from a select committee chosen by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi objected to the presence of two men McCarthy had added to the panel, Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks. They were included on a panel that aims to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

These men are big fans and supporters of the guy who lost that election and voted to deny President Biden certification that he was the winner. Pelosi would have none of that.

McCarthy decided, therefore, to yank all Republicans. The only GOP House member left on the panel is Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach the former president for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 riot. Cheney, though, doesn’t fit the profile of today’s Republican Party, which is to pledge total, blind and unyielding fealty to the disgraced, twice-impeached former POTUS.

Cheney’s loyalty is to the Constitution, which makes her among the more inspired choices that Pelosi made to the select committee.

Here, though, is what really makes me scratch my noggin: How does McCarthy justify abandoning this select committee selection process, leaving this Jan. 6 probe solely up to Democrats, which he contends only will produce a “partisan” finding of culpability by the ex-POTUS and his GOP pals in Congress?

He could have selected five GOP members who aren’t as fervid in their defense of the indefensible, but no-o-o-o. He turned to Jordan and Banks.

Now he has abandoned any pretext of cooperation with Democrats. McCarthy has chosen instead to level accusations of “partisanship” and “politics” at Pelosi who, I feel the need to remind everyone here, has chosen a Republican to serve on this select panel.

Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, has left the field in a fit of petulance that doesn’t advance the search for the truth into what happened when the mob stormed the Capitol Building and sought to overturn the democratic process.

national news

The chasm widens

3 Comments

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Nancy Pelosi has nixed the appointment of two Republican House members to a select committee she formed to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.

The House speaker acted within her authority established under House rules. We clear so far?

OK, then House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy yanked all the rest of the Republicans he had chosen for the committee. He called Pelosi, a fellow Californian, a dictator who doesn’t give a damn about due process.

Here’s where I get a bit suspicious of it all.

Congressional Republicans had the chance to form an independent, bipartisan commission to conduct this examination. They chose to scuttle that idea. They knew what the result would be: that Speaker Pelosi would choose a select committee and would retain veto power over any GOP members selected to serve on the panel.

Why are they acting so outraged? Congressional Republicans are reaping what they have sown.

national news

Rep./Dr. Jackson channels AOC

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It didn’t take Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez long at all to make a name for herself after she got elected to Congress in 2018.

Suddenly, this New York City progressive lawmaker became all the media’s No. 1 TV, radio and print “get.” They wanted to know what this rookie congresswoman thought about any issue of the moment.

So, now it’s 2021. We had a congressional election in November 2020. Who among the crop of rookie congressmen/women has emerged as the latest go-to individual? None other than Ronny Jackson, the Republican who now lives in Amarillo, Texas — where my wife and I lived for 23 years before we moved to the Dallas ‘burbs in late 2018.

Jackson wants to make a name for himself, too. He is using the same medium that AOC used to elevate her profile a couple of years ago: Jackson has become a Twitter tyrant. He shows up on Fox News and other right-wing media outlets, sorta the way AOC showed up on liberal outlets in 2019 and 2020.

I called AOC out then because I didn’t believe she had earned her spurs. She needed more seasoning to be considered any sort of authority on congressional matters. I tend to listen more intently to those with years — rather than weeks or months — of experience legislating at the congressional level.

As for Rep. Jackson, the one-time presidential physician who now represents the 13th Congressional District of Texas … well, he just needs to shut his trap.

national news

GOP House members join key panel

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy came through with the names of five of his GOP colleagues to serve on the select committee that is going to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection.

One word of advice now goes to the committee chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi: Keep a tight leash around the neck of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of the five GOP members McCarthy has selected.

Of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has veto power over any selections for the panel. If she decides to allow the loudmouth Jordan to serve, then it falls on Chairman Thompson to keep Jordan focused on the task at hand: finding the truth behind the riot that killed five people, injured dozens more, damaged the Capitol Building and sought to overturn the results of an election that chose President Biden over the GOP incumbent.

Jordan was one of the GOP caucus members, you will recall, who voted against certifying the election results. The dude is a loose cannon. He tends to come unhinged while defending his hero, POTUS No. 45. He also tends to badger witnesses, not allowing them the opportunity to respond to his hectoring.

Jordan is likely to object to using the term “insurrection” to describe what happened on Jan. 6. Except that’s precisely what it was. Chairman Thompson, don’t let Jordan get away with trying to change the subject or trying to persuade the nation that the mob of domestic terrorists were not intent on doing harm to officials who were doing their constitutional duty, which was to certify the results of the Electoral College tally.

The GOP congressional caucus wouldn’t go along with an independent commission. The House select committee is the next best step toward determining what happened, why it happened and seeking ways to prevent a recurrence.

This panel needs room to do its job. It must not tolerate diversions from some members of its ranks. Listen up, Jim Jordan: Listen with your ears for once … and not your mouth.

national news

‘Club’ door will slam shut on this guy

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

One of the more exclusive clubs on Earth currently comprises just five members. However, only four men are being allowed inside whatever passes for a clubhouse frequented by its occupants.

I refer to the Former U.S. Presidents Club. It once was a revered de facto institution. The men who once served as commander in chief occasionally would huddle together, talk among themselves, perhaps even offer some advice to the current president of the United States.

Four of these men seem all willing to engage in this kind of time-honored camaraderie. Then there’s the fifth former POTUS. No. 45 is wired so differently. It defies any form of logic to understand how the 45th POTUS — whose name I will continue to refuse to publish on this blog — ever can assimilate with his colleagues, all the men who once had the nuclear codes, who lent aid and comfort to the nation in grief, performed the myriad written and unwritten duties of the high office.

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama represent different political parties. Three of them are Democrats; one is a Republican. Even among the Democrats didn’t always walk in lockstep with each other. They all had a serious common thread that binds them at several levels. They all were humbled by the office. They all are true-blue patriots. They all carried themselves with dignity. They all accepted political defeat when fate turned against them.

Then there’s the fifth former POTUS.

He embodies none of that. He won’t accept publicly that President Biden defeated him. He continues to lie. He denigrates fallen heroes of past wars.

The most immediate past POTUS likely never will be welcome inside the Former Presidents Clubhouse. Why should he be welcome? The former Numbskull in Chief has worn out his welcome to the political arena. He continues to hurl insults and invective at all of the men who preceded him.

I wouldn’t object one little bit if the other POTUSes simply kept the clubhouse door locked to prevent No. 45 from entering it.

national news

Protect DACA recipients

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The young men and women who reside in the United States need not be kicked around in a political skirmish that involves a decision made by their elders.

I refer to those who live here under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals provision that was enacted through executive order by President Obama, but has been ruled unlawful by a federal judge in Texas.

DACA recipients comprise several hundred thousand U.S. residents who were brought here illegally by their parents. They grew up as Americans; they came of age as Americans; the U.S. is the only country they know; many of them have flourished.

President Obama sought to give them some sanctuary from deportation by enacting the DACA program. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen — nominated for the federal bench by President George W. Bush — declared the DACA program to be illegal.

President Biden vows to appeal the ruling. I will take the president at his word. He should appeal it.

DACA is a humane and effective policy that should be codified  under law. Congress has the power to do that. My hope would be that enough fair-minded Republicans could join their Democratic colleagues in ensuring that these men and women — who came here as children and who have grown into responsible U.S. residents — can receive a clearer path to citizenship or permanent residency status.

Oh, but wait! That might require comprehensive immigration reform, which Republicans in Congress are unable or unwilling to enact. Why? Well, beats the hell out of me!

DACA recipients have been kicked around for too long already. Two former Texas governors — George W. Bush and Rick Perry, both Republicans — have spoken in favor of allowing so-called “Dreamers” to attend Texas colleges and universities; moreover, they have supported allowing them to attend under in-state tuition rules, given that they have been Texas residents of long standing. I consider that to be a fair and decent public policy.

The federal judiciary has intervened, though, in the effort to help these folks assimilate more completely into the society they adopted as their own when they came of age.

For the life of me I cannot understand why some politicians prefer to punish these individuals because of something their parents did when they were too young to fend for themselves.