Category Archives: crime news

crime news

‘Something has to change’

Brett Baier, one of the propagandists who works for the Fox Propaganda Network, said this week, “Something has to change dramatically. There may be events that we don’t know. There may be other legal challenges that he faces” in order for Ron DeSantis to secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

OK, here’s a dramatic change for you to ponder. GOP voters have to come to their senses if they have any hope at all for their party to defeat President Biden next year.

By that I mean the Republican core of fanatics must abandon any thought of nominating a twice-impeached, indicted former POTUS for another go-round that is assuredly going to end in defeat for him and for what once was known as the Republican Party.

On second thought, if GOP primary voters are stupid enough to hang with Donald John Trump, they will deserve the shellacking they are going to get come Election Day.

And, yes, Trump is going to face “other legal challenges” along the way. You are welcome to take that straight to the bank. It’s gonna happen.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

GOP goes after the FBI?

Can this really be happening, that a once-great political party that spoke to the virtues of a strong system of law and order now wants to dismantle the FBI?

Yep. It is happening in real time. Frankly, it astounds me beyond my ability to comprehend.

I have a theory as to why it is occurring. Here goes.

The FBI became the Republican Party’s go-to federal agency when it was investigating anti-Vietnam War protesters, Black activist organizations, those who opposed big business.

These days? The FBI has been active investigating alleged criminal activity among prominent GOP politicians, starting with Donald John Trump. Now we hear yammering from the MAGA crowd and other right-wingers about how the FBI is “weaponizing” law enforcement.

These same GOP pols also are on the record opposing congressional resolutions honoring police and other first responders who acted heroically to — and this is truly astonishing — save the lives of the very politicians on 1/6 who now oppose honoring them!

What the hell is wrong with this picture?

How can it be that the political parties’ roles are so dramatically reversed? Republicans once chided Democrats for being “soft on crime,” for wanting to weaken our law enforcement agencies. These days we hear Democrats beating their chests as champions of democracy and strong police while needling Republicans as belonging to the party that favors foreign autocrats and seeking to disband nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

All of this provides one more example of how the principles that govern political policy have changed in such dramatic fashion. So help me, my head is spinning.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Shut up … Elon!

Elon Musk needs to stick to making lots of money, manufacturing cars, shooting rockets into space and whatever else he’s “expert” at doing.

For the zillionaire to suggest that allegations that the Allen Premium Outlet Mall shooter was not motivated by white supremacist attitudes means he is getting way ahead of himself and the investigation.

Musk refers to a website that “no one follows” that is being offered as evidence of these views. He calls it “bullsh**.”

I must mention the Nazi tattoos they found on the moron’s body after the Allen police officer shot him to death. I agree that the probe is ongoing. To say it’s all BS, though, is to draw conclusions that no one is able yet to draw.

I would bet real American money that when all is done the authorities are going to find nefarious motives — such as white supremacy — as lurking behind the madman’s motives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

DOJ calls it quits on Hunter Biden

Well now, the U.S. Department of Justice has sent its investigative team — the one working on whether to charge Hunter Biden with a crime — home.

Something tells me the DOJ has decided what many of us have believed all along, that Republican questions about the president’s son have produced a serious nothing burger.

Shades of Benghazi, it looks for all the world to me.

You’ll recall that the GOP congressional caucus looked high and low for something on which to charge then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wake of the terrorist raid on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It was a tragic event, to be sure. The GOP found nothing it could hang on Clinton or her diplomatic team.

Now comes this baloney involving Hunter Biden. He made a lot of money working for a Ukrainian oil company. That’s a crime? Hardly!

I don’t expect the GOP hounds to be called off. They’ll keep looking. I mean, we have an election coming up and President Biden’s foes need all the dirt they can find to sully the president’s re-election effort.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Trump: accountable

I have been trying to process the guilty verdict handed down in that trial involving E. Jeanne Carroll and Donald J. Trump.

Carroll had sued Trump alleging he raped her in the 1990s. She didn’t get the rape conviction she sought, but she got damn near everything else.

So, with a jury deciding in less than four hours after an eight-day trial, we now can call Trump a sexual abuser and a slanderer. He sexually abused Carroll and defamed her character.

The jury decided Carroll should get $5 million in damages.

Trump said he plans to appeal. Here’s the best part: Trump is accusing the presiding judge of being a “Trump hater.”

Hmm. Well, consider this: The judge gave Trump every opportunity to change his mind and testify in his own defense. He didn’t.

The judge went far beyond what is normal by giving Trump ample avenues to defend himself. That isn’t the action of a “Trump hater.”

I am glad for Carroll. She didn’t deserve to be treated in a defamatory manner by Donald Trump. And Trump doesn’t deserve to be considered the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

But if the GOP is going to nominate a twice-impeached, once-indicted (for now) and convicted sexual abuser for president, then the party is in far worse condition than any of us ever imagined.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

It’s time for politics

The massacre at the Allen Premium Outlet Mall has produced the usual mantra from politicians and others who want to ignore the issue of “gun regulation.”

They are telling us that “this is no time for politics.” Excuse me? It is past time for politics.

They purport to be speaking for grieving families in shock over the assault on their lives by a lunatic who opened fire with an AR-15 rifle. It was the 199th mass shooting in the country this year … on the 128th day of the year!

At issue is how to control the purchase of firearms and keeping them out of the hands of loons such as the moron who opened fire in Allen. That is purely a political solution.

It starts with enacting legislation that is faithful to the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. Is there a solution out there? I believe there is. Does a ban on weapons designed to kill people on the battlefield violate the amendment’s guarantee that we can “keep and bear arms”? No, it does nothing of the sort!

What about universal background checks that could flag individuals with histories of mental instability? The Allen mall shooter was discharged from the Army in 2008 because of “mental issues.” Yet he still owned an AR-15. Is it OK to wonder if a background check could have kept the gun out of his hands were he to seek to purchase it? What’s more, how does that violate the rights of anyone with zero such issues? It doesn’t!

I am weary of the refrain in the wake of these tragedies that “this is no time for politics.” These solutions reside in the halls of government, where politicians roam and where they — if they ever grow a spine — could enact laws that make us safer.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Rep. Self disgraces himself

Keith Self has taken no time at all during his first term in Congress to demonstrate a level of boorishness that astounds many millions of us.

Self, a Republican House member whose congressional district represents Allen, Texas — the scene this past weekend of the latest mass shooting — decided to declare that those who question whether “thoughts and prayers” are insufficient in deterring these acts of madness “don’t believe in an almighty God.”

“Well,” Self said in a now viral video, “those are people that don’t believe in an almighty God who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives. I’m a Christian, I believe that he is. We have people though, with mental health [issues] that we’re not taking care of.”

Rep. Self, I, too, am a Christian. I also believe in God’s infinite power. I also believe that human beings do things that are out of the Almighty’s control.

For this guy to say that everyone who wants legislative action to deter future acts of madness don’t believe as he does is demagoguery at its worst.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

These issues aren’t mutually exclusive

Let’s try to comprehend what I believe is a simple proposition, which is that fighting mental health issues and seeking to legislate meaningful laws restricting gun ownership are not mutually exclusive.

I touched on that in an earlier blog post in the wake of the shooting rampage in Allen, Texas, this past weekend; eight people were shot to death before an Allen police officer killed the loon who opened fire with an AR-15.

I salute the officer’s swift response. I also want to offer a comment on “competing” solutions being offered by leading politicians.

One of them, Democratic President Biden wants Congress to ban AR-15s outright; he wants Congress to enact universal background checks on those seeking to buy a firearm; and he wants Congress to increase the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years.

Is the president dismissing the need to deal forthrightly with mental health concerns? Of course not!

The other is Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who wants to concentrate on mental health research while shoving gun control proposals to the back burner.

Is the governor saying “hell no!” to any legislation? I didn’t hear him say that.

Let me state once more: These two approaches can be handled simultaneously. We need not ignore one while working exclusively on the other.

The issue continues, in my mind at least, to be the easy access to guns. The Allen mall shooter reportedly was discharged from the Army because of “mental health issues.” Why, then, was he allowed to reportedly own an AR-15, a high-capacity semi-automatic rifle capable of killing a lot of human beings in a matter of seconds?

If you have seen an AR-15 up close you might need to know that the weapon is eerily similar to an M-16, the rifle we were issued when we reported for duty in Vietnam. They are weapons of war.

Furthermore, there is nothing in President Biden’s priority list that contradicts the Second Amendment’s guarantee for citizens to “keep and bear arms.” He just wants to be sure that those of us who obey the law and who aren’t pre-disposed to harming other human beings don’t have access to these weapons.

What in the name of humanity is wrong with that?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

When is it enough?

When in the name of national sanity is enough going to be enough, that the latest case of mass slaughter at the hands of a madman with an AR-15 will prompt some legislation that could prevent future carnage?

The latest spasm of violence occurred just down the highway from my North Texas home — and even closer to my precious family members who live in Allen. The Allen Outlet Mall was the scene when a lunatic got out of his vehicle and opened fire. He killed eight people, including a 5-year-old before an Allen Police Department officer arrived and shot the gunman dead.

I want to shake the cop’s hand one day and thank him for his service to the community.

Meanwhile, we hear from President Biden who — once again — ordered flags to fly at half-staff and also called for a ban on AR-15s and asked Congress to approve universal background checks and increase the minimum age of purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21.

And what do we hear from Texas pols? GOP Gov. Greg Abbott said the answer lies in mental health treatment. Yes, governor, it does … but it must not be mutually exclusive to what the president is seeking.

Texas GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, said he and his wife are praying for the families and the community. Thanks, senator, but prayers aren’t working. Then comes newly elected U.S. Rep. Keith Self, another Republican who represents Collin County in the House, with a remark that “God is in charge” of everything. Right, Rep. Self. Explain how God continues to allow this kind of slaughter to recur.

I agree with Gov. Abbott about the need to wage war against mental illness. I also agree with President Biden about banning AR-15s and high-capacity magazines, background checks and raising the age of those who want to buy firearms. These approaches are not mutually exclusive!

I want to remind everyone that most Americans — of all political stripes — favor the approach that Biden seeks. Yet our governing institutions keep ignoring the will of the people.

All the while, lunatics keep slithering into plain view to slaughter innocent victims.

Enough is enough!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Democracy scores big!

Democracy has taken it on the chin in recent years as elements of our society have sought to overturn legitimate presidential elections through force and intimidation.

Well … today our democratic principles scored a big victory when a criminal trial jury delivered guilty verdicts to four members of a group called the Proud Boys, convicting them of seditious conspiracy.

These dipsh**s now stand to serve many years in prison for their actions on 1/6, which included assaulting law enforcement officers while seeking to storm the Capitol Building as Congress was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

This attack was a direct frontal assault on the very tenet on which our democratic process was founded: the peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to another.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department has scored a major victory for all of us who love this nation and who adhere to the principles on which the founders created it.

What’s more, Garland dropped a bit of a hint of more to come when he declared that his “work continues.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com