Category Archives: national news

national news

Biden finally set to fulfill longtime ambition

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 BBy JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It is no stretch at all to presume that Joe Biden has wanted to be elected president of the United States for a very long time.

He won election to the U.S. Senate in 1972 and for all I know he might have harbored presidential ambitions even as he took his Senate office at age 30.

He ran for president in 1988, but then fell out when he got caught plagiarizing speeches from a British politician. Biden tried again in 2008, but got buried early and pulled out … only to get a call from that year’s presidential nominee, Barack Hussein Obama, to run with him as vice president.

Now he has reached the pinnacle of political power.

It is times like this when I try to imagine how a normal human mind processes this marvelous achievement. Biden is facing roadblocks and assorted obstacles from the man he defeated in this year’s election. Donald Trump not only has failed to assure us of a peaceful transfer of power, he has delivered a transfer that is anything but the kind of peaceful transition the world usually looks on with awe and wonder.

However, the president-elect who at many levels likely has prepared himself for this moment is no doubt trying mightily to put the resistance aside as best he can. He is trying to cobble together a governmental executive team that will do his bidding and will work for the benefit of all Americans.

How does someone wired like Joe Biden process as well the notion that his many years as a senator and then as VP set him up to take on this task? I am left to wonder if he has doubts about whether he has dotted all the “i’s” and crossed all the “t’s.”

I have known about Joe Biden since he first became a U.S. senator. I was a young college student with a keen interest in politics. I watched him take office after enduring the tragic deaths of his wife and baby daughter in a car crash. I sort of kept an eye on him as he grew into the job. I watched him chair Senate confirmation hearings and listened to him debate opponents on the other side of the Senate chamber.

I was aware of Sen. Biden’s devotion to his sons, to his new wife and the little girl the two of them produced. I watched his first presidential campaign flame out and watched his embarrassment displayed before the land as he sought to explain how he could portray another man’s story as his own.

Somehow this fellow survived. He flourished. He got knocked down. He buried another child. And he steadied his feet under him.

Now he is about to ascend to the very top of the political summit. Not bad. Still, as I watch him I am left to wonder with all due amazement: How does one really prepare for what lies ahead as he becomes head of state and commander in chief of the world’s mightiest nation.

We are about to learn whether he has studied well.

national news

Tuberville making an a** of himself

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville, the Alabama Republican who exhibited a profound ignorance of government while campaigning for the office to which he was elected, seeks to make a dubious spectacle of himself even before he takes his seat in the next Congress.

Tuberville couldn’t identify the three branches of the federal government but managed to get elected this year because he is a Republican in a deeply Republican state. Now he wants to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Tuberville is hinting broadly that he intends to challenge the result when Congress meets Jan. 6 to ratify the Electoral College’s certification of Biden’s clear and decisive victory.

Good news, though. Senate Republicans are resisting Tuberville’s goofy notion that the election is illegitimate because of phony allegations of voter fraud.

He has joined another Alabama nut job, Rep. Mo Brooks, in challenging the results. If they succeed, the House and Senate will have to stage two-hour debates before deciding to do what they must, which is to declare President-elect Biden the winner.

We are being disserved by this kind of idiocy in the halls of our elected Congress.

 

medical news, national news

Merry COVID Christmas, America

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This will be a Christmas for the ages.

Not necessarily because Santa Claus was especially generous or because we all are filled with holiday joy and gratitude … although many of us will express our thanks and will honor the religious significance of this time of year.

Oh, no. This will be a Christmas we’ll remember because of a disease that keeps lashing out at Americans.

It has felled neighbors of ours here in Collin County, Texas. Friends of ours all across the nation have taken ill. Then came the chilling news that members of our family have been stricken with the infection. They aren’t hospitalized but their Christmas cheer has been dampened by the fear that comes with knowing they are infected with a virus that has taken far too many lives and sickened far too many others.

I have reported to you already that we in the clear in our house. That doesn’t give us license to, um, party like there’s no tomorrow. My wife and I intend to see many tomorrows as we continue our journey together. To ensure that future we intend to play by the rules set for by the infectious disease gurus who tell us constantly what we need to to do to stay safe and healthy.

We are resigned to the notion that our beloved nation is in the throes of a pandemic that has changed millions of lives — and not for the better.

It’s a bit of a chore today to wish everyone a joyful and Merry Christmas. I’ll add the word “COVID” in front of Christmas with the hope that next year at this time we can cheer the fact that we are celebrating a COVID-free holiday.

national news

Waiting for a ‘presidential’ president

(AP Photo/John Minchillo)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

While the nation remains ensnared by the machinations of a president who cannot admit to losing an election, I find myself yearning for the moment the current president exits the stage and makes way for the guy who’s going to replace him.

At the crux of my yearning is a belief that the new fellow, Joseph Biden, will restore the term “presidential” to the office he inherits from Donald Trump.

You see, the sight of Trump continuing to insist that the election was an act of thievery performed by Biden and his  team is painful to the core. It shows the world that the United States of America, whose people like to think we live in an exceptional nation, is capable of behaving like a Third World banana republic. That is what Trump is providing the world: a glimpse into the dark side of politics and into the man that managed to get elected president of the United States.

He’s about to go away somewhere. Likely to Florida. He’ll play a lot of golf soon. He might form a new team  to plot a return to politics down the road. He’ll keep yammering about Biden, about the election, about whatever filters into his vacuous skull.

Through it all, we’ll get to watch a president actually act like the man who has walked into the world’s most visible and powerful office. Yes, a lot of it will be symbolic and not of much substance.

It will be important, though, to know that our president is in control of the situation and most of all in control of his own impulses. Joe Biden is going to become a “presidential” president.

I await that moment anxiously.

national news

Can’t make the good-stuff pledge

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The holiday season usually spurs me to make some sort of pledge to limit my commentary to just good stuff, positivity, to lay off the barbs, slings and arrows.

Not this year.

Yes, I am filled with sufficient Christmas spirit. My sons are nearby, along with my wife, our daughter-in-law, our granddaughter and her two brothers. We plan to have a quiet but still somewhat festive day to celebrate Christmas.

It will be more of a secular celebration of the holy day, although we certainly are cognizant of its spiritual meaning and the impact of Christmas on Christians. We honor the birth of Jesus Christ to be sure.

I cannot make the go-easy pledge for this blog. Not this year. We are in the midst of a horrible political transition, which is made that way by the conduct of the man who lost a presidential election. Donald Trump is erecting roadblocks to Joe Biden’s transition into the presidency. Why do that? Because Trump cannot stand the notion of being labeled a “loser.” Which he is. He lost the election, bigly.

So I intend to keep firing away at Donald Trump. I seek to keep a civil tongue — proverbially speaking, of course — as I criticize this individual’s conduct, but there are times when I am just unable to restrain myself.

I apologize in advance for any offense I might bring. Just understand that we are living in extraordinary times that require equally extraordinary analysis of what is occurring before our eyes.

It ain’t good. I intend to say so with all due vigor.

national news

POTUS-elect faces major repair work

(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden might be facing the biggest challenge ever to confront a newly sworn in president of the United States.

The wreckage being left by his immediate predecessor is mounting daily. Donald J. Trump is doling out pardons and commutations that have the nation scratching its head and many legal scholars are questioning the correctness of rewarding his friends, political allies and those who might have the goods on him.

This is occurring on top of the mess that Trump has made of the transition process. It was supposed to be a seamless transfer of power from one administration to another. It has been anything but seamless. Indeed, the seams are strained and torn as the president-elect seeks to build his governing team.

Donald Trump, indeed, is inflicting real and sustained damage to the democratic process that is supposed to govern us.

All is not lost, it needs to be stated, for the president-elect. Joe Biden has an important ally on his side as he takes office in less than a month. It’s the U.S. Constitution, which I continue to believe remains virtually indestructible, even in the face of the assault on it being mounted by the outgoing president.

Donald Trump remains committed to making his successor’s presidential life as miserable as he can possibly make it. Whether he succeeds in delivering that misery remains to be seen. My hope is that President-elect Biden’s vast governmental/public service experience will serve him well as he grasps the reins of power.

All that stated, his repair work looms as enormous.

I trust President Biden will be ready go on Day One.

national news

Hey, Mr. POTUS … just stay in Florida

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Mr. President, this is likely the final blog entry I will direct to you, but I have something I want to get off my chest.

I get that you and the first lady are in Florida enjoying the Christmas season. Good deal, but here is what I want to ask you: Why don’t you just stay there and not bother returning to the White House? 

You have left a mess in Washington. The COVID relief bill contains some help for Americans who need it; it also funds the military; it also keeps the government running. Yet you say you won’t sign it. You screwed this up royally with your surprise reversal after your team negotiated the deal that ended up on your desk.

The chaos we all predicted would be the lowlight of your tenure as president is coming home to roost. Thanks to you!

So, just stay away from Washington. You don’t do any work there anyway, other than concoct traitorous methods to overturn an election that you lost handily. Just don’t bother darkening the door of our house, OK?

Hey, just stay near a phone. Someone can call you in case an emergency arises. You’re still the president until Jan. 20. Just remain available to make a decision that only you can make. Movers can pack up your stuff and send it to you and the first lady. They’ll know where to find you.

Beyond that, we don’t need you any longer. President Biden will be ready to step in when he takes his oath of office. What’s more, he is certain to honor the oath, which you have failed miserably to do.

I’ve had enough of you in my house. Stay away.

Merry Christmas … numbskull.

national news

Ready for return of presidential symbolism

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

You can take this little item to the bank and remember that you saw it here for the first time.

President Biden will have a full plate of crises to confront when he settles in behind the Resolute Desk. He also must find time to engage in some of symbolism involved with the high office of president of the United States. Part of that involves conducting ceremonies; you know, the kind that honor Americans for the work they do on our behalf.

The nation’s highest civilian honor is called the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the waning days of his time as vice president, Biden received the medal in a surprise ceremony at the White House. President Barack Obama stunned him during an event aimed ostensibly to honor the work that Biden had done as VP during the Obama administration.

Can there be a more fitting recipient for the Presidential Medal of Freedom than Barack Hussein Obama? And can there be a more fitting person to drape the medal around the former president’s neck than the current president, who after Jan. 20 will be Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.?

Obama has been vilified and ridiculed unjustly for the past four years by his immediate successor. I am one American patriot who would find it most appropriate for him to receive the nation’s highest civilian award to honor the work he did as a successful two-term president of the United States.

Just remember … you saw it here first.

national news

Waiting for it to hit the fan

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Oh, my.

The fecal matter is likely to hit the fan. Donald Trump has jetted off to Mar-a-Lago to spend Christmas with his wife and children and, presumably, his grandkids.

You know what? He might not return to the White House after the holiday. That doesn’t bother me in the least. I don’t want him in there in the first place.

He is issuing pardons like there’s no tomorrow. Indeed, as far as the presidency is concerned, there are damn few of them awaiting Trump.

I’m not waiting for him to pardon his sons, his daughter, his son-in-law and maybe even himself. Were he to do that he would engrave his presidential legacy with the words: “Most Corrupt Man Ever Elected to the Nation’s Highest Office.” 

national news

Trump goes ballistic … but why now?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Do I have this right?

Didn’t the White House negotiate with congressional leaders on the nuts and bolts of a COVID-19 relief package and spending bill? Did they act with Donald Trump’s imprimatur? Or didn’t they?

And where was Donald Trump his own self during all of this back and forth over the course of several months?

Didn’t Trump say once or maybe twice that he would sign the bill when it arrived at his desk?

So, what the hell is happening now? Trump says Congress needs to clean up the legislation, provide $2,000 payments per person and get rid of unnecessary add-ons before he would sign it.

At one level, I don’t really disagree with what Trump wants. I do disagree, though, with the timing of it and the appearance of his demand. His negotiating team hammered out the particulars and now Trump says he opposed to it.

His refusal to sign it now puts the whole process in dire peril. He is threatening to shut down the government. Folks who need the help won’t get it. The COVID pandemic is raging on and on. Trump is doing nothing to speak to the issues relating to the virus.

What the hell is going on? Chaos, anyone?