Category Archives: national news

local news, national news, political news

Get busy, Texas Democrats

Looks to me as if the Texas Democratic Party has some work to do — I mean plenty of work to do — if it hopes to regain its footing as a competitive political organization in this great state.

I lost count of the emails and text messages I got from Democratic senatorial nominee Colin Allred proclaiming how he had Sen. Ted Cruz on the run, that he had caught the Cruz Missile in the fight for his U.S. Senate seat.

On Election Day, Allred fell — shall we say — far, far short of the mark. Cruz rolled to re-election. Allred now has to find another job, as he surrendered his Dallas House seat to compete for the Senate.

That was the story across the state. Democrats everywhere met the same kind of electoral fate that befell Allred.

Oh, and the presidential vote total? Donald Trump rolled to an easy win over Kamala Harris, capturing the state’s 40 Electoral College votes that seemed to be in the bag since before Harris became the nominee this past summer.

Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa has resigned. Good! See ya around, Mr. Chairman.

Democrats have been talking bravely about a potential turnaround in Texas since 2018, when Beto O’Rourke came within 2 percentage points of defeating Cruz. It’s been downhill for Democrats ever since.

What’s the answer for Texas Democrats? How about starting from scratch? Perhaps the party should stop seeking to placate different racial and ethnic groups. Maybe it should forgo trying to warm up to LGBTQ groups. Perhaps the party should stop fighting the last key court decision.

A turn toward authenticity could be one answer. I remember when Texas Democrats were led by individuals who portrayed themselves as who they were. Shouldn’t that be enough?

The Democratic Party — and I am in their corner — need to get real busy real fast if it wants to be competitive in Texas.

local news, military news, national news

Honor our vets … and the nation they served

My favorite veteran, my Dad, left this Earth 44 years ago. He never had the chance to grow old, as he was just 59 when he perished in a freak boating accident in British Columbia.

Pete Kanelis, though, was every bit a hero in my eyes and, yes, in the eyes of the nation he served with honor and distinction in one of its darkest times: World War II.  Dad’s heroism didn’t stand out among the 16 million men and women who suited up for that war. But he fought hard against the tyrants who sought to subjugate us all.

He was the farthest thing possible from being a “sucker” and a “loser,” if you get my drift.

Dad did not teach me many valuable life lessons during his time on Earth. Two things stand out. He valued family above all else. He also was an unabashed, unapologetic patriot who loved this nation and was prepared to fight to the death to preserve it.

He exhibited that pride on Dec. 7, 1941, the “date which will live … in infamy,” as FDR said the next day in the speech to Congress in which he asked for a declaration of war against Japan. The day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dad was listening to news reports at home in Portland with his parents and his six siblings.

He walked out of the house and went downtown to the armed forces recruiting office where he saw that the U.S. Navy was open for business. He enlisted that afternoon. 

Dad knew the fight for our national life was about to begin and he wanted to be a part of it. He got his wish … and then some!

He never boasted about what he did that day. In fact, my bride and I didn’t learn about it until 2019, when one of his brothers, Uncle Tino, told us what transpired that day. “I was 9 years old,” Tino said, “and I remember it vividly.” Dad was a 20-year-old college sophomore on that fateful day.

He taught me, without fanfare or bravado, that when your country needs your service, you step up and serve in any way you can. I would do so later … but this tale is about my favorite veteran and the heroism he displayed the moment he knew his country needed him.

Pete Kanelis embodied the best among us and on this Veterans Day, I salute all who served the greatest nation on Earth.

national news, political news

Harris became … boring!

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Theories have been launched all over creation over why and how Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign went from spectacular to one that took it on the chin on Election Day.

My theory, for what it’s worth? She became boring.

Here’s my point. As her campaign concluded, it began to dawn on me that I had heard it all before. Many times, in fact. She seemed to rely too heavily on applause lines and cliches.

To wit:

  • There’s more that unites us than separates us.
  • I know Donald Trump’s type.
  • I have only had one client in my years in public service: you, the people.
  • Donald Trump is an unserious man.
  • I never have asked what party people belonged to.  I only asked, “Are you OK?”
  • When we fight, we win!

I am sure there were many more examples. To be candid, I don’t remember them because I nodded off frequently during Harris’s rallies later on in the campaign.

I admit to being caught up in the excitement of Harris’s campaign after President Biden bowed out during the summer. My enthusiasm for her never waned and I voted proudly for her and for her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

But as I look back now just days after their loss, I am left only to wonder if Harris — and Walz, too — relied too heavily on the same ol’ applause lines that got our attention … but which had a limited lifespan on the trail that leads to the White House.

Make no mistake: Campaign-trail boredom is a deal breaker.

national news

Still can’t respect the man

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Allow me this simple declaration, which is that despite my being faithful to declining to refer to Donald Trump directly as president of the United States … I am going to keep pledge intact for the man’s second term as POTUS.

Why? Because even though I revere the office, I despise the man who is about to inherit it. Therefore, Trump has earned the right — in my mind — to have the word “President” published in this blog directly in front of his name.

My former media colleagues have bent over in every direction to ensure they refer to him as President-elect. Hell, I can’t even do that!

I accept his election. He won it fairly and squarely. I salute his campaign staff’s acumen in ensuring he visited all the right “battleground states” at the right time. His strategy paid off as he was able to win every one of them.

But damn! Dude conducted himself in the most disgusting manner imaginable down the stretch, with the worst demonstration of callousness occurring in the final week when he handled a microphone the way someone handles a male sex organ. Good grief! Remember, too, that did that in front of children who were scattered about in the rally crowd.

So … this man is elected president. He’s got four more years in the Oval Office. The Constitution forbids him from seeking office again.

I am going to commence holding my breath at noon on Jan. 20.

But I damn sure won’t be silent.

national news

Joe Biden: institutionalist

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Joe Biden’s love of tradition and his inherent grace were on full display today as he welcomed his successor to the job he is about to inherit.

President Biden, to put it bluntly, has demonstrated tangibly that he is a far better man than Donald J. Trump ever thought of being.

Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris continues to send tremors throughout the world as leaders seek to assess what all this means for U.S. standing in the world community.

I also need to remind anyone who needs reminding that Joe Biden today offered the very thing that his predecessor, Trump, denied him when Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election: a peaceful transfer of power.

Biden values the tradition associated with the presidency. He vowed today to provide a complete and peaceful transfer of power to the Trump team. I shake my head in amazement that President Biden would be so inclined. But that’s why he was elected POTUS in the first place. Biden represents the very best among us. Trump embodies, well, far less of American culture.

I don’t expect Donald Trump to reflect for a nano-second on what President Biden has pledged. He isn’t wired to reflect on anything other than how he can benefit. Still, I just want Joe Biden to know that his magnanimity has not gone unnoticed.

Well done, Mr. President.

national news

Americans deliver more darkness

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OK, I don’t have much to say about what happened last night across this great land … so I’ll just declare that most of the Americans who voted for president decided to send us into a period of darkness and despair.

Donald Trump’s election as president is being greeted with high-fives and back-slapping. It’s also being met with tears and worry about what this man’s return to the world stage means for this nation.

This much also is certain as I continue to ponder what might lie ahead for us, which is that Trump once again has turned your friendly blogger into a blithering idiot. Just when I thought Vice President Kamala Harris has revived her campaign down the stretch for a sprint to victory lane, she fell short.

Why on this good Earth we have chosen to elect a degenerate, a pervert, a convicted felon, an admitted philanderer and self-acknowledged sexual assailant to our grandest political office is utterly beyond my ability to understand. He denigrates our servicemen and women, and he expresses admiration for some of the world’s most ruthless dictators

We used to demand that we elect the best among us to public office. Americans have selected one of the worst among us as our president. What in this topsy-turvy world has happened to us?

I am still in utter shock.

national news

Nation will survive

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Allow me this opportunity to speak well of the system of government that our nation’s founders created more than two centuries ago.

Friends of mine have said — and they are only half-joking — that they are going to leave the US of A in case the wrong candidate wins the next presidential election. Me? I am staying put. Why? Because my faith in the Constitution will remain strong.

I voted early for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. I declared my preference for this contest a long time ago. I am a “never Trumper.” I never would cast my ballot for this totally unfit human being. I said so even before he rode the escalator in June 2015 to declare his intention to run for president in 2016.

Despite all the threats this guy has made, the Constitution has built in safeguards that those of us who oppose this individual can deploy. It does provide for impeachment. The courts — even with the right-wingers sitting on the bench — also can be summoned to make key decisions that could block what this madman would want to do.

I am hoping for a Harris-Walz victory. I make no bones about who I want to take the oath of office next January. However, I happen to love living in the greatest nation on Earth. I intend to stay here … for the duration of the time God gives me to breathe freely.

I have sought to use this blog as a weapon to defeat Donald Trump. The Constitution gives me the protection I need to continue using in case the worst event comes to pass.

However, I remain increasingly hopeful that the correct candidate will take her oath next January.

national news

Who’s up? Who’s down? Who can tell?

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Those damn political polls continue to confound me, as they tell conflicting stories all at the same time.

Vice President Kamala Harris is (a) on the verge of a blowout victory next week, (b) is locked in a dead heat with Donald Trump, or (c) might be facing a landslide loss to the former TV reality host turned POTUS.

I have quit trying to insert my own view into what I believe will happen. I am left with only offering what I hope will happen on Election Day.

My hope is that Harris is harvesting most of what is left of the undecided cache of voters who despite knowing all we need to know about the boorishness of Donald Trump remains on the fence.

He recently held that rally in Madison Square Garden that proved to be a hotbed of hate; he said former Congresswoman Liz Cheney should be executed by firing squad for opposing his election as president; he continues to defame Harris’s intelligence and the smarts of the senior military officers who have declared Trump to be a fascist.

I am going to go with what my heart wants to believe, that Harris is on the cusp of making history as the nation’s first female/first woman of color to be elected president of the United States.

I won’t venture into the guessing game of predicting the margin. Trump’s character has been revealed for all the world to see. My hope is that the world detests what it sees.

national news

Electoral College … explained

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A social media “friend” asked me to explain the Electoral College, so that is what I will try to do.

You ready? Here goes.

The Electoral College comprises 538 votes, the number of people elected to the US House and Senate. The electors aren’t the actual senators and reps, but they are chosen to cast votes for president.

Each state has electors equal to the number of senators and reps who represent that state in Congress. Texas has 40 electoral votes, which equals the state’s 38 House members and two senators.

We go to the polls on Election Day and whoever wins that state’s electoral votes is entitled to garnering the state’s electoral votes. Except that the electors aren’t bound to follow the will of the voters. Occasionally, we see electors casting their presidential vote for someone other than the candidate who fielded the most votes on Election Day.

Ideally, what is supposed to happen is that the candidate with the most votes wins the most Electoral College votes, which are tabulated and ratified every Jan. 6, two weeks before the president is inaugurated. So … the infamous assault on the Capitol in 2021 occurred during a “normal” transition of power.

Joe Biden won the 2020 election with 306 electoral votes compared to the 232 compiled by Donald Trump. The winner needs to earn 270 electoral votes to win the election.

I won’t venture too far into the weeds to explain why the founders set it up this way, other than to presume they intended to spread the power among all the states. It’s interesting, therefore, to realize that the “battleground states” where Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump are fighting for votes are not among largest states. Texas, New York, California and Florida are not considered battlegrounds; that title belongs to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina … and you can throw in Arizona and Nevada as well.

Hope that explains it. Now I’ll have to shake my noggin to clear out the fog I just developed trying to make a bit of sense of it all.

national news, political news

Shut up, Mr. President

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I have a simple, straightforward and admittedly painful demand to make of President Biden.

Shut … up, Mr. President. The 2024 election no longer is your fight, as you handed the Democratic Party banner over to VP Kamala Harris.

Biden decided to weigh in with a comment on the MAGA moron who called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage floating in the ocean.” The idiot made that remark while speaking to a rally at Madison Square Garden.

However, President Biden just couldn’t keep his trap shut. He said the “only garbage I see are Trump supporters.” Do you recall Hillary Clinton’s infamous “deplorables” comment describing Trumpkins pulling for the GOP nominee in the 2016 contest?

Biden’s gratuitous cheap shot reminded me immediately of another “deplorables” moment. Biden seemingly forgot one of the cardinal rules of politics: When the other side makes a hideous error, just let ’em stew in their own juices … and allow the political gods take care of matters.

Mr. President, you aren’t in this fight. Sit down and shut the hell up!