Category Archives: political news

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A silver lining in the vote fraud scam?

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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, political news

‘Fraudit’ proves nothing

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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, political news

Pence a ‘traitor’? Wow!

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There can be no greater example of the hijacking of a once-great political party than to see what happened the other day when former Vice President Mike Pence stood in front of a crowd at the Faith and Freedom Conference.

A few in the crowd shouted “traitor!” at Pence, who served as VP during the administration that left office this past January.

Traitor? That’s right. One of the most conservative politicians active today, a man of deep religious faith and admitted devotion to the POTUS in whose administration he served is called a traitor. Why? Because the VP refused to break the law by following the dictates of the former POTUS who wanted him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Republican Party has become a cult. Its adherents no longer seem to believe in the rule of law. They believe instead in the Big Lie fomented by the ex-POTUS that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.

So now the cultists are hurling hideous epithets at Mike Pence.

Mike Pence Heckled by Conservatives Who Shout ‘Traitor!’ During Weekend Speech (msn.com)

Do not misunderstand me on this point: I would never cast a vote for Mike Pence for any office ever. I remain astounded beyond measure at what we are witnessing as the GOP transforms into an angry mob.

national news, political news

‘Theft’ of election drips with irony

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Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images, Mark Makela /Reuters, AP, Cheney Orr/Reuters, AP.

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The irony is so rich, so thick that you can barely cut through it with the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Think about this for a moment. The immediate past president of the U.S. of A. alleges that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. He preaches the Big Lie about rampant voter fraud that doesn’t exist. POTUS 45 and his minions keep yapping about how he will be “reinstated” and returned to power.

The irony is that they are proposing an element of electoral “theft” I never thought possible in this great country.

President Biden won the election, the results of which have been certified in every state and the District of Columbia. His Republican opponent keeps yammering about the 74 million Americans who supported his candidacy. Yes, the figure is impressive; it is the second-greatest number of votes ever cast for a presidential candidate.

However, Biden polled 81 million-plus votes, the greatest total ever amassed.

If the losing side of a brutal presidential campaign is going to suggest that electoral theft occurred, then why in the name of political sanity do they keep insisting on their own brand of thievery?

The irony in their argument simply forces me to dismiss it out of hand. You may take this to the pawn shop — or the bank — if you wish: I will never, not in a zillion years, cast the level of doubt on our nation’s electoral integrity we are hearing from right-wingers today.

They are denigrating the integrity of every state, county and local election official who work diligently to protect our most cherished democratic process. They have applauded the incitement of the insurrection that occurred Jan. 6. They have refused to honor the police officers who risked their lives to protect them against the riotous mob of terrorists who stormed the Capitol Building.

They are marching to the cadence being called by the individual President Biden defeated in the nation’s most secure election … ever!

For them to declare the election was stolen demonstrates willful ignorance of the very theft they seek to orchestrate.

The irony is astounding.

political news

Term limits turn politics on its ear

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

You know how this plays out.

Conservatives who are upset with government want to rewrite the U.S. Constitution to impose new rules that the founders never imagined when they drafted it back in the late 18th century.

What do they want to add to our Constitution? Why, they insist on limiting the terms of members of Congress, House members and senators.

But … wait a second!

Aren’t these folks the so-called “strict constructionists” among us? Aren’t they the individuals who supposedly honor what the founders had in mind when they cobbled together our nation’s government document?

Sure. As long as it suits their current political agenda.

It’s why I continue to resist the idea of term-limiting the legislative branch of government; I also oppose limiting the terms of the federal judiciary. For that matter, I am not at all crazy about term limits for the president of the United States. The founders didn’t limit the POTUS’s term, either. That came in 1947 when congressional Republicans, reportedly fearing an all-powerful presidency (given that Democrat Franklin Roosevelt won four presidential elections) decided to push for the 22nd Amendment; it was ratified in 1951.

However, again I must wonder what happened to the strict constructionist wing of the GOP, which is fond of suggesting that we need to honor what the founders intended originally when they built our country from the ground up?

Sure, we have corrected some of the mistakes the founders made back in the beginning. Women now can vote; we have made slavery illegal, to name just two midcourse corrections.

I continue to believe the founders got it right when they declined to limit terms of service. Indeed, as I long have noted: We already have term limits; we call them “elections.”

political news

Here he goes, calling for ‘reparations’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

No one with half a brain in their skull ever thought Donald Trump would go away quietly into the night once he left the White House.

With that the ex-POTUS has criticized President Biden’s myriad policy decisions and then in a fascinating twist has called for China to pay “reparations” totaling $10 trillion because, according to Trump, the COVID pandemic began with a leak in a Chinese laboratory.

There you have it. The ex-president drawing conclusions and assigning blame well well before the world has a clue as to source of the killer pandemic.

Trump vows to be a player in Republican politics and said the “movement” he founded has only begun. Reassuring, yes? No … it isn’t.

He blasted Biden’s border policies, his economic policies, his defense strategy.

According to the Wall Street Journal: The Democratic National Committee, in a statement, chided Republicans for sticking with Mr. Trump and said Mr. Biden is overseeing an economic recovery and “a return to normalcy.”

Trump Criticizes Biden Policies, Calls for Covid-19 Reparations From China (msn.com)

So the president will proceed. Trump will proceed, too, along his weird path toward what he believes will be a return to power. Trump will keep yammering. He will get the Trump Cult fanatics heated up.

Oh, and let’s not forget how Donald Trump will keep reciting the Big Lie about vote fraud and electoral theft.

national news, political news

Trump has tight hold on GOP … but he won’t run in ’24

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It is time to try to dispel any notion that Donald J. Trump is going to run for president of the United States in 2024.

I just cannot in any way, shape or imagined form see how the former president makes a credible case for his nomination by the Republican Party to run for POTUS.

Why not? Let’s see.

He is facing possible criminal indictments in two jurisdictions: Manhattan, N.Y., and Fulton County, Ga. One of them involves possible campaign finance and tax fraud; the other involves possible coercion and bullying of an elected official.

Trump has a huge debt coming due, on the order of $400 million.

He continues to spew the Big Lie about alleged “theft” of the 2020 election.

Trump lost re-election in 2020 because voters across the board had gotten sickened by his incessant lying, his insults, his bullying, the chaos and confusion and his complete and unabashed incompetence when it came to governance.

How does a former president parlay any of that into something positive? How does he sell himself to an electorate that already has been exposed to this idiot’s self-aggrandizement.

Spare me the idiocy that he “controls” a huge portion of the GOP electorate. I will place my bet that the Trump “base” is going to shrink particularly if indictments are brought.

Oh, and then we’ll see what happens if former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani squeals on Trump if federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York hang a federal indictment on him.

Nope, the stars aren’t aligning well for Trump to make another run for the presidency. Which is more than just fine with me.

This guy just needs to get the hell out of our sight.

political news

Show us fraud, GOP pols!

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Tom Cruise yelled famously in the film “Jerry Maguire” to “Show me the money!”

In that spirit, I am inclined to yell out to Republican politicians intent on perpetuating the Big Lie about the 2020 election: Show me the vote fraud!

GOP pols in states all across the nation keep pitching for “voter reforms” they contend will protect the electoral process from fraud that they imply is rampant. The keep feeding that fantasy that the 2020 presidential election was somehow, some way rife with corruption.

Holy cow, man! It was clean, free and fair. It also was the most secure election in U.S. history, according to a Trump administration official, Christopher Krebs, who was hired to ensure the election’s security.

I watched Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain today rail on and on about protecting the state’s electoral system against fraud. He didn’t cite a single shred of evidence that fraud even exists. Yet this GOP lawmaker is being charged with crafting vote-restriction legislation aimed at making it more difficult for Texans to vote.

He is far from alone. Republican members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House bellow and bluster continually about alleged voter fraud. It doesn’t exist in anywhere even close to the level that these pols keep implying.

It is maddening and infuriating in the extreme to hear allegedly responsible public figures make assertions that are patently untrue and then to foist legislation on us that they base solely on the lie they keep fomenting.

Our elections are the product of hard work at the local, county and state level. States such as Texas have worked diligently to protect our electoral system. Have they enacted a totally fool-proof process? No. Instances of fraud, though, are rare. They amount to an infinitesimal fraction of the millions of ballots that we cast.

When I hear politicians cite threats and fears of “widespread vote corruption,” I am left only to exclaim in the loudest voice I can summon to “Show me the vote fraud!”

political news

It’s a never-ending cycle

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It never ends.

We finish an election cycle and the next one begins. Immediately. There is no cooling off. No respite from the rhetoric. No rest for voters or for those of us who comment on these cycles.

As much as I enjoy being able to offer these comments, I admit that it wears me out.

I am not sure when it began to wear me down and out. Maybe it began with the 2000 election cycle. Or perhaps when social media began to take a firm hold on our attention, providing so much information and pseudo-information. It only has accelerated over the two decades since that time.

We finished the 2020 election cycle, which was a blessed event for those of us who wanted the presidential campaign to end the way it did. But now …

Lo and behold, the 2022 mid-term election campaign has begun. Republicans want to take back Congress from them nasty Democrats before turning their sights on the White House in 2024.

In fact, the 2024 campaign rhetoric already is getting ginned up. GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is seeking to obstruct President Biden’s nominees at every turn, offering pointed and wrongheaded criticism of Biden.

Give me a break … will ya?

It’s only going to ratchet up more rapidly as Election Day 2022 approaches and then, by golly, we’d better batten ’em down in preparation for the 2024 election.

Are you ready? I clearly am not! I had better get ready … or else!

political news

Expanding vote base a ‘power grab’? C’mon, Ted!

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ted Cruz says that efforts to allow more people to vote, to expand the voter base, is a “power grab.”

Hmm. Let’s parse that one for a moment, eh?

The Texas Republican U.S. senator was taken to task today by a letter writer whose missive was published in the Dallas Morning News. Richard Kidd of Dallas writes, “The only power grab is a party with minority support trying to hold on to power by disenfranchising as many people as possible … The right to vote is a pillar of a democracy and Cruz took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Congress has a duty to ensure as many citizens as possible have a right to vote and be represented.”

I get his drift. I trust you do, too.

A mantra I beat into the ground over many years as a full-time journalist was that a representative democracy works best when we spread the power out among more, not fewer, voters. That is one argument I sought to make in different ways for greater voter turnout at election time.

It also lies at the heart, I only can presume, at efforts to expand availability to as many voters as human possible.

At its base, increased voter participation shouldn’t ever become a partisan battle. It has become that, however. Republicans are seeking to restrict voter access to ethnic and racial minorities who tend to vote, um, for Democrats. The GOP just can’t have that happen, right? So in states such as Texas, Republican legislators are pushing for rules that make it more difficult for minorities to get registered and to actually vote.

The result will be to invest more power in fewer Americans. It will place more power in the hands of the few and the proud. It also, in my view, runs directly counter to the argument I have been yammering about since The Flood, which is that democracy works better when we spread the power among greater numbers of voters.

So, for Ted Cruz to lament a phony “power grab” while objecting to increasing voter access only reveals how cheaply he values our democratic process.