Category Archives: political news

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GOP regrets all that power?

A saying comes to mind when I consider the infighting and back-biting within the Texas Republican Party’s political hierarchy.

Be careful what you wish for …

Gromer Jeffers Jr., who covers politics for the Dallas Morning News, refers to the “scrum” that has developed between Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Both legislative chambers are at odds with each other over Gov. Greg Abbott’s No. 1 legislative priority: school vouchers.

Republicans who command a super majority in both chambers cannot bridge the chasm that separates the MAGA/Freedom Caucus crowd from the more “establishment” elements within the GOP.

This thought entered my sometimes thick skull this morning as I read Gromers’ piece in the DMN: Might it be time for Texas Democrats to re-emerge from their decades in the wilderness to become a political force in this state? Ponder this for a moment: It could serve Republicans well to have a strong opposition party with which it could do battle rather than wasting time squabbling among themselves.

Phelan and Patrick’s alliance flew off the rails when the House impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton. The impeachment vote was heavily bipartisan; it was overwhelming. Paxton’s subsequent acquittal in the Senate trial brought out Patrick’s scorn for the decision delivered by the House … and he stated his contempt for the House immediately after Paxton’s acquittal.

Both sides are digging in. House GOP members dislike much of the voucher notion, much to the chagrin of GOP senators. Phelan backs his House colleagues, while Patrick stands with the Senate.

How do Democrats parlay all of this into political advantage that suits them? I suppose they can beat the drum over governmental incompetence, noting that Republicans are so damn entrenched in their dislike for each other that they let key legislation slip away. Then again, a united Republican Party would do Democrats little good … correct?

I am just one Texas resident who has grown tired of the Legislature’s inaction. I favor good government over no government. Republicans who own most of the Legislature’s seats — along with every statewide elected office — have continued to demonstrate big-league incompetence.

Democrats might have a way out of the darkness, but only if they can cobble together an agenda that doesn’t draw heavy fire from the demagogic wing of the Republicans.

national news, political news

What’s point of GOP debates?

I’ll concede I haven’t watched much of the three so-called “debates” among the Republican presidential candidates seeking their party’s 2024 nomination.

My disinterest boils down to two words: Donald Trump.

The prohibitive (ye gads!) frontrunner for the nomination hasn’t bothered to show up. Why should he? The MAGA cult continues to swoon over the twice-impeached, multiple indicted former POTUS … who stands a good chance of being a convicted felon before the 2024 GOP nominating convention.

The men and one woman who have shown up for these joint appearances have sought at varying levels to explain why they are better than Trump. I actually like what I hear from a couple of them: former Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Nikki Haley of South Carolina are beginning to float my boat.

They remain far behind the frontrunner.

The GOP field is left, therefore, to blather on about this and that with little chance of winning the party’s nomination.

Which brings me back to my original thought: What is the point of these debates? These all are pretenders, not actual contenders for the presidency.

The GOP clown show will go on without the Clown in Chief. We all know what would occur were he to show up at one of these events. Every question posed would result in a litany of accusations from the pretenders aimed at the Big Man … who then would turn the event into a blizzard of epithets and personal insults.

We are left, therefore, with a pointless series of joint appearances that contribute virtually nothing to the election outcome.

What a waste of time!

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GOP awash in contradiction

An astonishing array of competing opinions has gripped the Republican Party by the throat as its presidential stable of candidates prepares to debate on an Iowa stage.

The “star of the show” is a twice-impeached, four-times-indicted candidate for POTUS, Donald Trump … who isn’t even going to be there for the opening round of Q&A.

He’s the talk of the event in absentia. Imagine had he decided to take part. He’d be the talk of the event in that context as well.

I am going to presume this is what Trump has wanted. He is a media hog, even as he proclaims the media to be “the enemy of the people.” The truth is he loves the media and the media love him despite rumors to the contrary about media bias against Trump.

His presence on the political stage has thrown the entire process into chaos, which was one of the hallmarks of the time he held the office of president. His alleged “style” of governing hardly ever contained a moment of research of actual scholarship. He thrived on his “hunch” and his “belief” in what someone had told him.

What continues to astound me, truth be told, is that all of this is OK with the gullible MAGA morons who continue to back this clown’s latest presidential candidacy.

We are left, then, with circumstances in which Trump becomes the story. He’s not at the debate? He’s the story. Would he show up? He is still the story.

This is the environment that makes Donald Trump most comfortable. It saddens me to say it, but it also demonstrates most graphically one more reason why he is patently unfit to hold the office he is seeking.

crime news, national news, political news

Why not debate ’em … Trump?

You know, it doesn’t really matter to me whether Donald J. Trump will be on a Republican Party primary presidential debate stage with the other guys who want to knock him off.

Truth is, I don’t give a royal rat’s rear end about Trump, or today’s version of the GOP. However, his reported absence from the upcoming debate stage does pose a question or two for me, which I would like to speak to briefly. So … I will.

Some of the GOP frontrunner’s foes are taking aim at him. Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson all have spoken critically of him, his conduct, his lack of “vision” for the future.

I want someone to ask Trump this question: What in the world do you have in the way of agenda for the next four years and beyond? This individual has none. He doesn’t speak to the future. Instead, he chooses to relitigate the 2020 election … which he lost to President Biden!

Let’s not be coy, either, about the indictments. He’s got four of them stacked up, waiting for trials. The feds have indicted him twice; two states, New York and Georgia, have indicted twice as well.

Trump can spare us all the BS about “not wanting to elevate” the others’ standing. The truth is he has no solutions. He cannot speak coherently about the future. He vows to be his fans’ “retribution.”

He is the frontrunner among the MAGA morons who dominate the GOP. And why is that? Because his “base” is too damn ignorant and gullible to realize how seriously damaged he has become and how much damage he brings to a once-great political party.

OK, I fibbed about not giving a “rat’s rear end” about Trump. Of course, I do, which is evident in the frequency of my writing about him. I care about Trump’s future only because I love my country and I do not want it sucked down the toilet drain of Donald Trump’s so-called “ideology.”

As to whether he belongs on the stage with the other GOP presidential candidates … sure he does, but only because he needs to be held accountable politically for the nonsense he continues to barf onto the public stage.

crime news, national news, political news

This doesn’t happen every day

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Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we could conduct a presidential election in which one of the major-party candidates is under criminal indictment.

What’s more, never would I have imagined that the four-times indicted, twice-impeached former POTUS would actually — in the gullible “minds” of followers — be considered a viable candidate to return to the office he once held and disgraced.

To say we live in the craziest era imaginable is to commit a gross (and grotesque) understatement.

Yet here we are.

The Republican Party’s presumed frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination may actually run for the White House while awaiting a sentence after being convicted of trying to overturn the previous election. The conviction might come early in 2024 if prosecutors are able to stave off Donald Trump’s expected efforts to delay the proceeding until after the election.

The feds have indicted Trump on two matters: inciting the 1/6 assault on our government and squirreling away classified documents after leaving the White House. State grand juries have indicted Trump on making an illegal payment to a porn star to keep her quiet about a tryst she said the two of them had and for working to interfere in the Georgia presidential election returns.

He stands accused of committing 91 crimes. Ninety-one of them!

Just think of how stupid the Republican Party faithful can be if they actually nominate this individual next summer.

OK. I have said all that but now I must stand behind my initial reaction to Trump’s latest presidential candidacy. I am going to remain hopeful that the GOP will come to what’s left of its senses and turn to someone else. I say that even though it is less than my initial belief that Trump in no way would ever be nominated. I am not as confident these days in the smarts of the GOP MAGA electorate.

Still, to see this unfit liar in position to lead the party down the path of destruction in 2024 is something I never imagined seeing.

Who knew?

crime news, national news, political news

Irony runs through indictments

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The ironic aspect of the indictments handed down against Donald J. Trump is so rich one almost can choke on it.

Let’s consider what is happening in real time.

Two grand juries — one in D.C. and one in Fulton County, Ga. — have concluded that Donald Trump conspired to “rig” or “steal” an election he lost to Joe Biden in November 2020. The grand juries, I must point out, comprised just plain folks summoned to do their civic duty under federal law and laws of the state of Georgia.

The grand juries have accused Trump of doing precisely the kind of thing he has said occurred on Election Day 2020. He says Democrats conspired to rig elections in several states that Biden won. Yes, he made that assertion, but without offering any evidence of it occurring.

Indeed, “forensic audits” of election returns in several key states have determined there was no voter fraud. Trump ignores those findings.

Instead, he launched his own election-rigging effort, complete with rounding up individuals posing as Electoral College members who would cast their votes for Trump instead of for Biden, which is required under the Constitution.

Trump has accused the system of being “rigged” against him. But now two duly constituted grand juries — both legally assembled and following the rule of law — say the former POTUS did precisely what he accuses others of doing to him!

Remind you of anything? How about the “fake news” mantra that has become so popular in Trump world. How in the name of truth-telling can this clown say any of this “fake news” crap with a straight face, given that he birthed the “fake news” baby with his lies about Barack Obama’s place of birth?

More irony, indeed!

This individual is a liar … and a bad one to boot!

local news, political news

Congressman: a non-funny joke

Let’s just lay a couple of cards on the table and see how they play, shall we?

Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle — a region of the state I know well — are served in Congress by someone who doesn’t belong there. Republican Ronny Jackson became embroiled in an incident at a rodeo near Amarillo the other day. He got roughed up by cops patrolling the event and then used language that — to say the very least — is totally unbefitting a member of Congress.

Jackson said he was trying to help a teenager who was under duress. Police say he was interfering with their efforts to do the same thing. A tussle occurred and Jackson got handcuffed briefly.

After being freed of the cuffs, Jackson launched a series of f-bombs at the cops and threatened Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry politically, saying in effect he would ensure he loses the next time he runs for re-election.

I’ve heard the bodycam audio of the incident and, so help me, it sounds to me like something one doesn’t say if (a) he is an elected member of Congress and (b) is totally in control of himself and is not intoxicated. Per the latter point, Jackson has been known to imbibe … you know?

I have taken a dim view of Jackson ever since he moved to Amarillo in 2020 to run for the seat vacated by longtime U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, a native of Donley County and an individual who knows the region well. I can say without an ounce of equivocation that Thornberry never would be caught saying the things to a police officer that flew out of Jackson’s pie hole.

This incident likely will blow over eventually. Panhandle voters will move on to something else. Jackson’s behavior will be swept away and he probably — as much as I hate to acknowledge it — will be re-elected in 2024. After that? Rumors are flying that he might decide in 2026 to challenge John Cornyn for the senior Republican’s U.S. Senate seat. It all would be a shame.

My own belief is that he has disgraced himself.

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DA about to drop hammer?

For as long as Donald J. Trump has been out of office — and subject to criminal investigations — my thought during that time has been that the Georgia case was the most provable and possibly the most damaging.

Well, it now appears that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is about to deliver the goods to a grand jury that is going to consider whether to indict the 45th POTUS on allegations that he sought to rig the Georgia results of the 2020 presidential election.

Joe Biden won the state’s Electoral College votes. Trump, though, called Georgia Secretary of State Doug Raffensberger and demanded that he “find” enough votes to swing the state into the Trump column. Raffensberger said, in effect, “No can do, Mr. President. The Constitution doesn’t allow it.”

What did Trump do then? He threatened Raffensberger with criminal prosecution.

Here’s the best part: It’s all been recorded for posterity. 

There could be a huge surprise waiting for us, though, once the grand jury hears from the DA. The panel might decide against indicting Trump. I say “might” because, well … you just never know what they’ll hear and what they’ll decide.

But I don’t believe that will happen.

Trump already has accused Willis, a Black prosecutor, of conducting a “racist witch hunt.” It’s the same language he used to condemn the indictment issued in New York by a grand jury after it heard from another Black prosecutor, Alvin Bragg. Do you believe any of that goes down smoothly with either of these two officers of the court?

Obviously not!

If an indictment comes forward this week, it will be the fourth such pending criminal proceeding filed against Trump. Two come from state courts, the other two from the Department of Justice, the agency Trump once pledged under oath to “defend and protect.”

The man is in a world of pain. Am I going to worry about him? Not for a nano-second!

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Why now, RFK Jr.?

Many things get past this old codger, one of them being the Democratic Party presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I’ll stipulate once more that RFK Jr. was given the name of my first political hero, his father. His campaign for the White House, though, is based on conspiracies that, to my mind, do not exist.

Moreover, he expresses deep personal affection for President Biden, who enjoys the overwhelming support of RFK Jr.’s family.

He says the mandated COVID-19 vaccines were an overreach by the government, which he said should never have required us to be vaccinated against a virus that killed about 1 million Americans.

Hmm. Wow! What do you suppose the death toll would have been had the Biden administration not ordered the vaccines? My hunch: a whole lot more than those who perished.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not be elected president. Not this year. Not any year. Never. He sounds like a goofball nut case seeking to make a name for himself. Imagine that if you will … a man with arguably one of the most revered political names of the past century seeking even more attention.

I’m still trying to wrap my arms around this guy’s candidacy.

For now, I am left merely to shake my noggin in astonishment.

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How does he get elected?

One of the key questions I have difficulty answering involves the junior U.S. senator from Texas … Raphael Edward Cruz.

Friends from all over the country keep asking me: How does this guy keep getting elected? 

I presume they’re asking in good faith, given his outspoken and often outlandish statements. My short answer, though, is: I just don’t know.

The Cruz Missile, a Republican, has been elected twice to the U.S. Senate. In his dozen or so years in the body, I cannot point to a single significant piece of legislation with his name on it. I can, however, look at many instances of grandstanding, of preening, of demagoguery, of sucking up and — of course — of public affairs disasters.

My all-time favorite Cruz blunder involves that ill-fated trip he took to Cancun, Mexico during the February 2021 killer freeze that took the lives of hundreds of Texans. He sought to take his family to the sunny beaches of the Mexican Riviera … until he was caught. Then he scurried back and then blamed his daughter for talking him into taking the trip in the first place.

Cruz is a doofus of the first order … albeit a well-educated buffoon.

He ran for POTUS in 2016, calling Donald Trump a sniveling coward. Then he lost and became Trump’s most ardent ally in the Senate. He was right the first time!

He almost lost his Senate seat in 2018 to the young upstart, Beto O’Rourke.

Now he’s up again for re-election. Two Democrats are vying for the chance to knock this clown off his stool in 2024. I like them both: Congressman Colin Allred of Dallas and state Sen. Roland Guiterrez of San Antonio. Indeed, I keep reading analysis that suggests that Cruz might be among the most likely GOP senators to be shown the door next year, which would — to my way of thinking — be so very sweet.

Cruz, by many accounts, is universally detested in the Senate. He cannot craft legislation. However, he can bloviate with the best of ’em. Which might explain how he keeps getting elected. Although I have difficulty believing Texans actually prefer pomposity over positivity. 

Here’s hoping — one more time — for an electoral result that will put a smile on my face.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com