Category Archives: DC riot

DC riot

Ex-Trump aide takes ‘both sides’ argument too far

Sarah Isgur is a devoted former aide to Donald J. Trump; she also makes occasional appearances on TV news/talk shows to offer her sharp perspective on political issues of the day.

I enjoy listening to her. She makes me think about my own bias.

However, Isgur recently took a “both sides” argument many steps too far. She took it over the proverbial cliff.

“Both sides,” she said, are going to contest the result of the next presidential election in 2024. Both sides? She suggests that if a Democrat wins the White House — presuming it’s President Biden — that the GOP won’t accept the result any more than it did in 2020. She also suggested that if Republicans win the White House, Democrats are going to challenge the results, suggesting that whoever wins isn’t “legitimate.”

Isgur’s proof? She said that in 2017, defeated Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton didn’t accept Donald Trump’s election. I get it. Clinton refused to accept the legitimacy of Trump’s election, given the interference that occurred during the campaign.

Sarah Isgur: “People On Both Sides Are Not Ready To Accept The Results Of The Next Election” | Video | RealClearPolitics

However … Democrats did not storm any buildings. They didn’t invade Capitol Hill. They didn’t seek to stop the certification of the result with a violent riot. Hillary Clinton did not make a fiery speech exhorting her supporters to “fight like hell” to “take back the government.”

Do you see where the “both sides” argument breaks down? I hope so, because it’s quite obvious to me.

While both sides might think the other side’s victory doesn’t pass the smell test, only one side has demonstrated a willingness to launch a frontal assault on our democracy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

I’m proud of you, too, Rep. Kinzinger

I saw an item on NBCNews.com that I want to share on this blog. It’s a brief item.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Thursday he has no regrets about how he has approached the aftermath of Jan. 6.

“How does it feel to be a pariah within your own party?” Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked Kinzinger.

“You know, I don’t like the feeling,” Kinzinger responded. “But I would not change a thing that I’ve done particularly in the last year.”

“Because I know — I’ve got a son being born imminently, that’s why I’m in Illinois — I know that he’ll be proud of me someday, and I know he’ll be able to look and say I stood up in a tough time. And if it’s just me and Liz doing it, it’s just me and Liz. That’s fine. I wish it was more people, though,” he said, referring to Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

Kinzinger and Cheney are the only Republicans serving on the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. Both have been critical of former President Donald Trump’s role in the riot and of Republicans who have downplayed the events that unfolded on Jan. 6. Trump celebrated news earlier this year that Kinzinger will retire from his House seat at the end of his term.

Well, for the record, Kinzinger’s baby boy isn’t the only person who would be proud of him for standing up to the lies, deceit and dangerous treachery being exhibited by the former POTUS.

I am proud of him, too.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Who’s the coward, Ted?

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Hey, Sen. Ted Cruz, I want to give you a bit of advice. It is that you told the truth this week when you described the 1/6 mob that stormed the Capitol Building a group of “terrorists.”

Then you had to take back the truth you told and resume lying to us about what transpired on that horrible day.

What the hell is the matter with you … Ted?

I know you have to protect your backside against those supporters of yours who believe the insurrection against our government was just a bunch of “tourists” getting out of hand. Their “peaceful protest” turned into something, well, quite violent. I know you saw it. I mean, you were inside the Capitol that day, ostensibly doing your job, which was to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Oh, wait! I almost forgot. You were among Republican senators who resisted the certification of the results pending some phony “audit” of returns. You said something at the time about alleged concerns over The Big Lie (my words, not yours) that alleged “widespread voter fraud.”

Good grief, man! There wasn’t any fraud and anyone with half a brain would know the election was as secure as it could get.

As for the terrorists you described, well, you had it right when you called ’em out on Thursday. You got it wrong when you backed away the next day from the truth-telling spell and sought to soft-shoe around it on Tucker Carlson’s TV talk show.

Hey, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the cowardice you exhibited. I remember in 2016 when you got angry with Donald Trump over your then-GOP opponent’s tweeting that unflattering picture of your wife. You snarled at Trump, calling him a “sniveling coward” and an “amoral” individual who couldn’t tell the truth if you held a gun to his head.

Then you lost the party nomination fight and promptly began sucking up to the nominee who would become POTUS.

You know what? I believe you, senator, are the “sniveling coward.”

If only telling the truth could free you of the fear of being pilloried by the cultists who have hijacked your once-great political party.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

The ‘law and order’ party? My a**!

Can it truly be that the “party of law and order” — aka the Republican Party — has become the party of violence and chaos?

How else does one explain the absence of all but two prominent GOP members at the House of Representatives ceremony honoring the officers who sacrificed so much during the 1/6 riot?

Only U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and her dad, former Vice President Dick Cheney, thought enough of the officers to attend the House’s moment of silence honoring the valiant law enforcement officers who fought like hell to hold off the violent mob that stormed the Capitol a year ago.

The rest of ’em? They hid out. They were somewhere other than in the House chamber that came under direct attack by the domestic terrorists who sought to block Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election, the one that chose Joe Biden over the 45th POTUS.

This is the party that used to proclaim itself to be the “party of law and order.” It would fight like the dickens to protect the honor of our police officers. It would shame others who favor squishy social reform policies.

These days it’s a different sort of political party, or so one would presume. Every single member of Congress should have been present at the moment of silence event to honor the men and women who followed their oath to protect and serve the members of Congress. They were true to their pledge to protect them.

The Republicans who stayed away shamed themselves — yet again — with their denial that the world witnessed a direct assault on our Constitution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, local news

Rep. Taylor is ‘primaried’ for this?

Van Taylor is my congressman. I have spoken with him once or twice. He seems like an earnest young man. He also is a conservative Republican who favors policies that I happen to oppose.

The Plano lawmaker also has resisted the cabal of POTUS 45 cultists who refuse to let go of the notion that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from the GOP president.

That has opened the door for some nut-job GOP candidates who are running against Taylor in the 2022 primary campaign. They want to defeat Taylor because he voted in favor of an independent commission to examine the 1/6 riot that sought to block the certification of the Electoral College result of the 2020 election.

I need to parse this carefully. Taylor wanted an independent examination of the riot. He voted against the committee that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi eventually formed in the House to examine the riot. It’s that endorsement of the independent commission that has riled some on the far-right fringe of the GOP. Taylor also voted against the article of impeachment brought against Donald Trump after the riot.

The Texas Tribune reports: Taylor’s vote for the commission “is a huge issue,” said one of the challengers, former Collin County Judge Keith Self. “It is the red line for many people in their vote against Van Taylor.”

If I read that correctly, Self wants no investigation into the riot. He seems to suggest that nothing wrong occurred on 1/6. Huh? Is that right? Nothing to see?

Good grief! The Tribune reports: Taylor’s opponents have also largely sought to downplay the Jan. 6 attack, arguing it was not as dangerous as Democrats and the media have portrayed it to be.

Uh, yes. It was every bit the dangerous event that we are learning through dribs and drabs came shockingly close to succeeding.

U.S. Rep. Van Taylor faces heat over Jan. 6 investigation vote | The Texas Tribune

In addition to Self, Taylor’s primary foes include Suzanne Harp, a Dallas businesswoman whose son is chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. Two lesser-known Republicans, Rickey Williams and Jeremy Ivanovskis, are also running against Taylor.

These all seem to be right-wing yahoos who would yank the party too far to the fringe to suit many North Texas residents.

Rep. Taylor likes to be called “Mr. Bipartisan” because he works well with Democrats. I appreciate the outreach he employs with his House colleagues, which is just about the only reason I want him to fend off this intraparty challenge.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

Ready for grim remembrance

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Let’s be clear: Tomorrow will be a day of grim memories; there will be no cause for celebrating an “anniversary” of an event that still roils our political system.

It was a year ago that an angry mob stormed Capitol Hill. You know what happened next, so I won’t belabor the point with this blog post.

What we are learning in the year since has been Donald Trump’s response to it. How he did nothing for 187 minutes after the insurrectionists first breached the Capitol grounds. We also have heard about the multiple takes it took for him to complete a video in which he said he “loved” those “special people” who wanted to “Hang Mike Pence!”

What’s more, we have heard how his oldest children, Ivanka and Don Jr., implored Daddy POTUS to stop the rioters, to call them off, to end the violence. Daddy Donald did nothing. He is, therefore, complicit in the damage brought to the Capitol and to the lives that were harmed — and lost! — in the melee.

This gives us reason to cheer? Hardly! The men and women who stormed the Capitol were not patriots by any measure or any way you can define the term. They were intent on destroying our democratic process. They were traitors to the nation.

So, too, was the lunatic who incited the riot.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Liz Cheney gives him hell

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Donald Trump deserves every single hit he should be receiving from his fellow Republicans. The only issue, though, is that so damn few of them are willing to say the things that came from U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney this morning.

What in the world is happening to me in this crazy political world? I am in a state of unadulterated admiration for a conservative Republican member of Congress who is speaking the unvarnished truth about a twice-impeached carnival barker who once masqueraded as a single-term president of the United States.

Cheney, one of two GOP members of the U.S. House committee examining the events of 1/6, said this among other things this morning: “He crossed lines no American president has ever crossed before,” she said in an interview with “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “When a president refuses to tell the mob to stop, when he refuses to defend any of the coordinate branches of government, he cannot be trusted.”

She also said that said Trump is “clearly unfit for future office [and] clearly can never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again.”

The mob attacked Capitol Hill at Trump’s urging. Trump then said silently by, watching the mayhem overwhelm the Capitol building without ever telling the rioters to stand down, to go home, to cease the violence.

Holy crap, congresswoman!

As Trump weighs 2024 bid, top Republican calls him ‘clearly unfit for future office’ (msn.com)

She knows she is right. I know she is right. The crisis facing the Republican Party, though, is that most of its members believe Cheney is a loon and that Trump is a hero to some movement followers who adhere to that Deep State/QAnon/Big Lie horsepucky that keeps flowing from Trump’s overfed pie hole.

Cheney also said today that all 535 members of Congress — House members and senators — take the same oath of office, which is to “protect the Constitution” and follow the law. That oath, she said, makes no provision for following the dictates of a single individual.

If only others within her party would listen to the wisdom Liz Cheney delivers.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

1/6 is no 9/11, but still …

A critic of this blog recently suggested in response to a post I made that I was equating the events of 1/6 to 9/11. I feel the need to respond to him publicly with another post setting the record straight for those who might believe the same thing as my critic.

For the record …

I never have suggested that that Jan. 6 insurrection/riot rose to the level of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on this nation. 9/11 will stand alone as a heinous and horrific attack that killed thousands of innocent people from all walks of life, from many nations; they were young and old. We went to war against the terrorists who planned the attack and have killed many of the villains along the way — including the mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The 1/6 attack on our democracy was an attack of an entirely different type. It was an act of what I consider to be domestic terrorism. It was provoked by the then president of the United States, who encouraged the angry mob to “take back our government.” From whom remains a mystery.

The mob smashed into our Capitol Building; some of the mobsters were carrying “Hang Mike Pence!” signs in a direct threat to the vice president of the United States. VP Pence was presiding at that moment over a congressional certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count that produced a victory for Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

Trump would have none of it. He continues to this very moment to foment The Big Lie about a phony rash of “widespread vote fraud” that produced a victory for President Biden.

My aforementioned critic doesn’t like that I refer to the riot on that day as “1/6,” suggesting that doing so elevates that event to the same degree of violence as 9/11.

It does nothing of the sort!

My reference to 1/6 only establishes that event as a singular and dastardly attack on our system of government.

Furthermore, I will continue to refer to it in that fashion for as long as I damn well feel like it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

1/6: no ‘anniversary’

I want to offer a word of advice to media types who are going to commemorate the year that has passed since the 1/6 insurrection.

Do not call the year an “anniversary.” Please.

Why? Because my understanding of the word usually implies a happy event. An event that makes one smile. An anniversary is something to remember with fondness.

I recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of my marriage to my wife. We had a joyous celebration that day with family members who came to share it with us.

I cannot use that word to describe the events of 1/6. I do not have a word to replace the term “anniversary.” I’ll look to come up with one.

Just don’t look for that word to appear in this blog whenever I choose to discuss the events of that hideous day in our nation’s history.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Kinzinger calls out Trump lies

Adam Kinzinger’s lame-duck status in the U.S. House of Representatives gives him a shield against the attacks that are sure to come at him from Donald Trump and his cabal of cultists.

Why would they attack the Illinois Republican lawmaker? Because he is calling Trump out for what he is: a liar.

Kinzinger is one of two GOP members of a House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection. He said recently he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2022. So he is in his final term in the House. That means Trump cannot do him any political harm.

Trump recently blasted the 1/6 committee, declaring it is intent on “smearing him.” Kinzinger is having none of it. Nor should he.

If only other Republicans in Congress would grow the stones they shouldn’t have to grow simply to speak the truth about the former Liar in Chief, who is trying to prevent the select committee from obtaining White House documents it needs to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection.

Let us keep in mind: Donald Trump fomented that riot.

Thus, the House panel needs to know the truth behind what happened on 1/6.

Adam Kinzinger is speaking the truth by calling out Trump’s lies.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com