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Compromise can work

Ted Cruz keeps demonstrating why he is such a loathsome politician, suggesting repeatedly why it’s better in his sick mind to go down on principle rather than seeking common ground.

The Texas Republican junior U.S. senator was one of 34 GOP senators to vote “no” on a bill crafted in part by his Texas Republican colleague, John Cornyn.

Cornyn was the lead GOP negotiator on a bipartisan effort to seek legislative remedy to the gun violence that continues to break our hearts, such as what happened not long ago in Uvalde.

OK, the bill ain’t perfect. It’s a start, though, toward curbing violent outbursts.

The National Rifle Association, naturally, has condemned the effort. The NRA doesn’t want anyone to mess around with what it says are constitutional guarantees of firearm ownership. Except that the bill doesn’t stop law-abiding Americans from owning a firearm. Ted Cruz is in the NRA’s hip pocket.

The Texas Tribune reports: The legislation does not restrict any rights of existing gun owners — a nonstarter for Senate Republicans. Instead, it would enhance background checks for gun purchasers younger than 21; make it easier to remove guns from people threatening to kill themselves or others, as well as people who have committed domestic violence; clarify who needs to register as a federal firearms dealer; and crack down on illegal gun trafficking, including so-called straw purchases, which occur when the actual buyer of a firearm uses another person to execute the paperwork to buy on their behalf.

The legislation includes $11 billion for mental health services and $2 billion for community-based antiviolence programs. It also includes money to help young people access mental health services via telemedicine, money for more school-based mental health centers and support for suicide hotlines.

U.S. Senate advances bipartisan gun legislation backed by Cornyn | The Texas Tribune

Is this the stuff of radicalism? Hardly. It’s a reasonable start.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Gun deal appears done

U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans have come together to approve a deal that takes some important baby steps toward curbing the gun violence that has claimed so many innocent lives.

It isn’t the perfect deal. Then again, as the saying goes, senators sought to avoid letting “perfection become the enemy of the good.”

The package does a number of good things. As the Detroit News reports: The legislation would toughen background checks for the youngest firearms buyers, require more sellers to conduct background checks and beef up penalties on gun traffickers. It also would disburse money to states and communities aimed at improving school safety and mental health initiatives.

It isn’t perfect. I would have liked to see increasing minimum age requirements for buying firearms and strengthened universal background checks.

However, what has come out of the Senate deal negotiated by a bipartisan group of lawmakers is better than what we had already.

Which was nothing.

President Biden is going to sign the bill when it arrives in the Oval Office. The proposed legislation isn’t all that he wanted, either. However, he served long enough in the Senate to understand that compromise at times is the only way to achieve important goals.

Progressives want more legislative remedies. Archconservatives want nothing done. Neither extreme is correct.

The best answer lies in the vast middle ground. Senate negotiators have cobbled together a decent start on the quest to restore sanity in a nation plagued by senseless gun violence.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Indict him, Mr. AG!

The more I consider the ramifications of what is transpiring in Washington, DC, the more convinced I become that Attorney General Merrick Garland must hold Donald Trump accountable for his actions as president of the United States.

Reporters asked Garland if he is watching the televised hearings of the House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection. He said he cannot watch all of it live, but will catch up with all of it later; then he said we can “rest assured” that his prosecutors are watching it intently.

The evidence, to my eyes, appears to be mounting that implicates Trump in conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. He knew The Big Lie was wrong, but kept telling it. He knew that Vice President Pence had no authority to overturn the electoral result, but kept hectoring the VP to do it. The mob of traitors threatened Pence’s life, and Trump knew that, too, but he did nothing to stop the violence.

Merrick Garland said no one is above the law. Where I come from, when someone says “no one,” he means every human being on Earth … and that includes the president of the U.S.A.

So, if the evidence leads the attorney general to the former POTUS’s mansion in south Florida, that compels him to ask a grand jury to indict the crooked man.

House committee members keep talking publicly about having “enough evidence” to recommend a criminal prosecution. My one wish is that they would stop saying such things so loudly; it tends to make my heart flutter in nervous anticipation.

Still, I have listened to the evidence presented during the three days of televised hearings and have concluded that AG Garland has enough to proceed.

Donald J. Trump needs to be held accountable for the hideous crisis he has launched. He has broken the law by pressuring state election officials to “find” votes that would reverse an electoral result. He has threatened the existence of our democratic process by telling The Big Lie.

Now he has possibly engaged in witness tampering by suggesting that he would issue blanket pardons to the 1/6 insurrectionist traitors if he (God forbid!) returns to the White House.

I am waiting anxiously to see if the attorney general agrees.

Please, Mr. AG, make me happy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Let’s hear from Pence!

After the testimony concluded today in the House select committee’s televised hearing, some of the after-action commentary posed a fascinating question.

Why haven’t we heard a word from former Vice President Mike Pence about what went down on 1/6? 

So, here’s a corollary question: Can the committee ask for the VP to testify to set the record straight on what he heard, what was said, what he did and what Donald Trump pressured him to do on that day?

Today’s testimony focused on the VP’s role on the day of the insurrection. It was to perform a ceremonial duty in counting the Electoral College ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election. The traitorous mob sought to end that process by storming Capitol Hill on 1/6.

Donald Trump pressured Pence to “show courage” by throwing out the votes cast for Joe Biden and insert phony votes cast for Trump. The vice president resisted. He told Trump that was a non-starter.

So … why not hear from the vice president directly? Why not summon the VP to Capitol Hill to tell the committee what it needs to hear about the measures Trump took to pressure Pence to break the law and violate the U.S. Constitution?

Pence already has said out loud that “no man” can change the votes of the people, that there’s nothing “more un-American” than seeking to override will of the voters.

The former vice president has a political future to consider. Testifying before the committee and condemning the former Imbecile in Chief would rile the GOP base that Pence would need were he to run for president in 2024.

Then again, Pence and Trump have returned to the non-relationship they had prior to Pence running as VP on the ticket led by Trump in 2016.

My wish? Issue a summons to the former vice president, set him down in front of the House select committee and get to testify — under oath — to what went down on 1/6.

A lot of people already have put words in Pence’s mouth already. We need to hear from the man himself.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Criminality: it’s everywhere!

One of the takeaways I am getting from the televised hearings of the 1/6 House select committee on the insurrection is one that I didn’t quite expect.

It’s the presence of criminality in the hearts and minds of many principals involved with the Donald Trump administration during that horrible time in our nation’s history.

You might recall when Trump was running for president how he said anyone who sought to proclaim Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination was certainly guilty of a crime. Then several of his key aides did that very thing when they answered summons to testify before the House select committee.

Now we hear during the televised hearings that many other Trumpkins sought presidential pardons in the immediate aftermath of the 1/6 insurrection that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump granted some pardons. Not all of ’em got the mercy extended from the POTUS as he was preparing to exit the White House.

Still, it is worth pondering: Why would anyone ask for a full pardon from the president if he or she didn’t have a fear of being prosecuted for criminal acts? 

It looks as though there was a whole lot of criminality going on in the White House during the insurrection. I feel confident the legal eagles at the Justice Department are paying careful attention.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Uvalde cops are stonewalling

The term “stonewalling” became known to Americans during the Watergate scandal of the 1970s.

We are seeing it play out once again in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman walked into an elementary school and opened fire with an AR-15 rifle. Nineteen precious children and two educators died in the carnage.

Police didn’t respond as they should have to stop the madman. Meanwhile, the families of the victims are horrified because they don’t yet know what happened. Nor will they learn the truth if police and politicians have their way.

Stonewalling remains the tool of those who seek to cover up the truth, to withhold it from the public that has every right on Earth to demand it from those who know it.

However, we are not getting the truth.

Were there cops in the building? Did the Uvalde school district police chief — Pete Arredondo — know he was in charge of the response, and why did he wait so damn long before taking action?

We need the truth! We need it now!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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How does town recover?

I continue to grapple emotionally with the tragedy that has cloaked Uvalde, Texas, the site of the hideous slaughter of 19 fourth-grade children and two teachers.

Twenty-one innocent victims lost their lives to a madman.

What seems to give this story an extra dose of pain is the reporting about the tightly knit nature of the city of 15,000 residents.

We heard in the immediate aftermath of the massacre at Robb Elementary School that the entire town seems to know someone involved in the school, and how the entire community is feeling a sort of visceral pain as a result of the madness.

Yes, there remain questions about the police response, the horrifying length of time it took for officers to storm the structure and engage the shooter. The Uvalde school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, is still perched on the hot seat and for the life of me I am puzzled as to why the school board hasn’t gotten rid of the chief.

But the pain still throbs as it emanates from Uvalde.

The Uvalde Independent School District is going to tear down the school that is the site of the massacre. That won’t eliminate the intense pain being felt in a community that, I fear, is going to remind everyone who hears its name will think first of senseless gun violence.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Is this the tipping point?

U.S. senators from both parties are actually saying something few of us thought possible, which is that there might be some legislation coming forward that could impose some limits on gun purchases.

A gunman killed 10 shoppers at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. Then just a few days later another gunman slaughtered 19 fourth-graders and two teachers.

Americans have taken to the streets in protest. They are demanding something be done. President Biden has joined the chorus for gun reform.

Republicans in the Senate aren’t budging on a couple of key points: raising the age limit to purchase a firearm and extended universal background checks.

But … there appears to be some movement. Something might come forth. There could be a “red flag law” enacted allowing states to withhold possession of a firearm if a buyer comes up suspicious.

I guess I am heartened only a little by the apparent change of heart among some lawmakers. Get a load of this: Some Republican senators, such as Mitt Romney of Utah, said he now supports raising the age limit from 18 to 21 years of age to buy a firearm.

I won’t call this a tipping point. Indeed, many of us thought that the Sandy Hook Elementary School (Conn.) tragedy a decade ago — when 20 second-graders and six teachers were massacred — would have spurred some action. It didn’t.

Some in the Senate, naturally, are blaming reformers of “politicizing” events such as Buffalo and Uvalde. What an utter crock! Their refusal to act in the wake of this senseless violence in itself is a highly political demonstration. Therefore, they can cease the “politicization” argument … OK?

A little bit of movement, though, toward a legislative remedy — no matter how timid — is far better than what we’ve had so far. It gives me a glimmer of hope.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Are we no longer shocked?

The thought occurred to me a little while ago, which is that I cannot remember my reaction to the first incidence of mass slaughter, the first time I heard about a gunman opening fire and killing dozens of innocent victims.

There have been so many of them, it appears I might be hardening somewhat to these tragedies. I do not want to harden my heart.

The Uvalde massacre in Texas has hit me harder, perhaps, than most of the recent events. Nineteen fourth-graders were gunned down along with two of their teachers. President Biden has implored Congress and state legislatures to “do something” to stop the carnage. I have some hope this time that we might get something done, although not nearly enough.

But, my goodness, there have been so many communities linked by these horrific events. There are too many of them even to list. Doing so would likely result in my forgetting one or more of them. They all have broken our hearts.

Abcarian: Endless mass shootings make our outrage dim. We can’t let gun violence harden our hearts (yahoo.com)

It’s just that these events are occurring with such sickening frequency that I fear we’re becoming — odd as it seems — numbed to them.

If left to a choice between frequency and shock value, I would prefer to be shocked.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Why not make the fight?

My thoughts on a New York Republican congressman have changed a bit in the past couple of days, and I want to express my new feelings here.

Chris Jacobs was running for re-election to his suburban Buffalo congressional district. Then he said he favored banning AR-15 rifles, one of which was used by the gunman who killed 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket; another gunman several days later then used an AR-15 to slaughter 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, grade school.

Jacobs’s support of an AR-15 ban and support for increasing the minimum age to buy weapons from 18 to 21 years of age drew the rage of New York conservatives. Jacobs then pulled out of his re-election effort.

Wait a second! Why not stay in the fight and argue vigorously for your position? If he knew he was doomed to lose his re-election effort, Jacobs could have stayed the course and fought until Election Day to make his case.

He didn’t do that. Instead, he took the path of least resistance … and denied voters of his district a chance to hear an honest debate about what is arguably the most compelling issue of the 2022 midterm election season.

It saddens me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com