Category Archives: Joe Biden

economic news, Joe Biden, national news

Are we better off … ?

The Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives sought to make some political hay by asking if we are “better off today than we were two years ago.”

Well, Kevin McCarthy of California, your effort to denigrate Joe Biden’s presidency deserves a look. So … here goes:

  • On Biden’s watch, Congress approved a bipartisan bill — the first in 30-something years — that seeks to stem gun violence.
  • When Russia invaded Ukraine this past February, President Biden was able to present a unified NATO and European Union front in response to the illegal and criminal act of war.
  • The president was able to shepherd through Congress a massive infrastructure improvement bill that seeks to repair our nation’s roads, bridges and airports.
  • Joe Biden nominated and then welcomed the nation’s first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
  • We have turned the corner on the international pandemic.
  • Fuel prices, which skyrocketed and led the inflationary surge of recent months, have retreated dramatically.
  • The United States has created more private-sector jobs in the first two years of President Biden’s term than at any similar time in its history.
  • Unemployment currently stands at 3.5%.
  • Congressional Democrats — fighting unanimous Republican opposition — managed to pass the nation’s first-ever meaningful law dealing with climate change; it also seeks to curb health costs and reduce inflation.
  • We have cut by roughly half the nation’s annual budget deficit.

So, taken together, I think I have an answer to Leader McCarthy’s question.

Yes. We are better off than we were when President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took office.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, environmental news, Joe Biden

Democrats have earned it

President Biden is going to get a bill quite soon that won’t have any Republican votes attached to it. The blunt truth is that I wished for at least a smattering of GOP support from Congress to send the Inflation Reduction Act to the president.

Alas, it didn’t happen. However, I am going to say loudly and clearly that Democrats in the Senate and the House have done well for those of they represent across the land.

House Democrats today stood together to enact the IRA. It seeks to reduce inflation, seeks to reduce carbon emissions, seeks to reduce the cost of drugs.

Republicans, of course, say it doesn’t do anything to help us. I will disagree with their bloviating.

The Inflation Reduction Act represents a significant effort to curb climate change. Indeed, it is this nation’s largest-ever investment to help curb carbon emissions.

I have to ask: Why is that a bad thing?

It’s not a bad thing at all! Republican obstructionists, though, remain bound to their commitment to block anything President Biden and Democrats want to accomplish.

It is to their everlasting shame. Democrats, meanwhile, have earned the nation’s gratitude. They have, as Joe Biden once declared, producedĀ a big fu**ing deal.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, national news

Storm clouds brewing over Biden

“I’m working on my own election. And that’s all I’m focused on right now.
Ā 
We have got a little under four months here in Ohio, and we’re running a great campaign. We’re up in the polls and working really hard. So, I’m just going to focus on that, and then we can chat about that after I win and get in the United States Senate. I will be happy to comment.”

The above comment came from a candidate for the U.S. Senate, a Democrat and a longtime friend and political ally of President Biden.

And yet … Rep. Tim Ryan just couldn’t bring himself to say he supports the president’s re-election effort, which Biden has insisted is going to ramp up and that he is going ahead full throttle at seeking a second term.

Hmm. I don’t know about you, but the question from a Fox News anchor seemed straightforward enough. “Do you intend to support the president’s bid for a second term?”

There was nothing in the question, as I understood it, that required Ryan to go into detail about the level of support he would give to the president. Nor did it require him to offer specific strategies and tactics he intends to employ on the president’s behalf.

Will he support Joe Biden? Yes or no, congressman.

This tells me something I hate acknowledging, which is that Joe Biden’s support even among his closest allies may be evaporating. I won’t suggest for a moment that the president needs to surrender or declare he won’t seek a second term.

I am willing to acknowledge, though, that the road to another four years in the Oval Office is fraught with peril.

It is time to get busy, Mr. President.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, International news, Joe Biden, medical news

Mr. POTUS, tell Putin …

Joe Biden doesn’t need little ol’ me to give him advice as he talks to Vlad Putin, but I will offer it anyway and will make sure I send it to the appropriate place where someone on his staff might see it.

Mr. President, you need to remind Putin — as if he needs reminding — that he presides over a country with a third-rate economy. It is not a First World economic system. It is Third World at best, relying on oil and natural gas to keep it fueled.

Tell your colleague, Mr. President, that economic sanctions of the type we are able to level on Russia will bring great pain to himself and to the people he governs. We can cut off the oil and natural gas shipments to western Europe, which you have threatened to do if he invades Ukraine. We can freeze Russian monetary assets in banks in this country and we can persuade our NATO allies to do the same.

Also, the president ought to remind Putin of the terrible military cost his armed forces will suffer if they take on Ukrainian forces. Ukraine is not defenseless against the Russians. The Russians can win a ground war if they launch a full-scale invasion, but it will come at considerable cost.

And if Putin is interested in gathering up what’s left of Ukraine and annexing it into the Russian federation, he will do inherit a population that hates his ever-lovin’ guts.

The cost of an invasion — no matter its scale — is too great for the Russians to bear. Putin knows this. He just needs a not-so-gentle reminder from the leader of the world’s remaining military superpower.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, local news, national news

POTUS is up to the job

I am running out of ways to say what I believe in the deepest regions of my gut, which is that those who suggest that President Biden doesnā€™t have what it takes to do the job just arenā€™t paying attention, they arenā€™t listening to his words or watching how he interacts with other heads of state and political leaders here at home.

And yet ā€¦

I keep hearing from some of my own critics that Biden has lost a step. That he needs what Congressman Ronny Jackson of Amarillo keeps insisting is a ā€œcognitive test.ā€ That he lacks the mental acuity to figure out the myriad problems that plague the nation.

Good grief! Give me a fu**ing break!

The president is sharp enough to do the job. He remains engaged in the political process. He continues to remind us that heā€™s on top of matters. And, yes, the man can string sentences together and can communicate in a way that makes sense ā€¦ at least he does to me.

Now, to be sure I have been accused myself of being a little slow on the uptake. One critic recently said I am ā€œnaiveā€ to think that the inflated cost of goods and services are dragging down the presidentā€™s poll numbers; he said many factors have contributed to Bidenā€™s polling decline, that he cannot do the job.

Please. Stop this nonsense.

Is the president a flawless orator? Do the words flow like fast-moving stream from his mouth? No. They donā€™t. Remember this about Joseph R. Biden Jr.: He grew up fighting a debilitating stutter. He conquered it through tough persistence and patience. Anyone who has suffered through such a challenge can relapse on occasion.

Believe me when I say such a thing, because I know how that happens; it happens to me on occasion. I, too, suffered through some speech issues as a boy. I can get rattled when speaking in public. When that happens, the words at times do not flow freely.

Is the president of the United States immune from the occasional lapse? Of course not!

And if weā€™re going to compare how this president communicates with, say, his immediate predecessor, I encourage anyone to read the text of Bidenā€™s unrehearsed comments and compare them with what rolls out of Donald Trumpā€™s mouth.

President Joe Biden has all the snap he needs to do the job to which he was elected.

Case closed.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Standing with Joe Biden

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

I keep reading about polling that suggests that independent voters and even some who call themselves Democrats are abandoning President Bidenā€™s efforts to ā€œrestore our national soulā€ while enacting legislation aimed at putting people back to work and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

I am not one of either category of American citizen.

Therefore, I want to declare that I continue to stand with the president.

The mean tweets from those on the right annoy me to the max. The refusal by congressional Republicans to set aside their partisan anger when they can do something for the common good is beyond reprehensible.

Yes, there is plenty to frustrate us. Joe Biden predicted at the beginning of the year that we would declare our ā€œindependenceā€ from the COVID pandemic by the Fourth of July. I guess he got a bit ahead of himself on that one. Right? Is it the presidentā€™s fault? No. It isnā€™t. Nor is it the fault of the medical team advising him on how to battle this disease. The virus is as unpredictable as any we could imagine. Yet it persists on President Bidenā€™s watch.

I am not going to lay the blame on the recurrence of these virus variants on human beings who are trying their best to rid us of the killer.

Nor will I second-guess the president on myriad economic issues. I continue to endorse the agenda he has laid out. I support the infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law. I want the social spending package to get through Congress and I want him to sign that legislation into law as well. Our roads and bridges are crumbling; we pride ourselves on our transportation infrastructure in Texas but it, too, needs work and the feds are going to provide help to repair it.

Joe Biden continues to conduct himself the way a U.S. president is supposed to do. I admire that about him.

The man has been knocked down, endured tragedy that few others have suffered. Yet he persisted as he served in the Senate, later as vice president and now that he has reached the pinnacle of power and prestige, he continues to have my support.

So, spare me the knock that I am wearing blinders. I can see clearly where Joe Biden wants to take this nation. He can continue to count me ā€” a red-blooded American patriot ā€” to have his back.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Biden term tainted unfairly

Try as I am with my little olā€™ blog platform to set the record straight about the 2020 presidential election, I am wracked with fear that President Biden is going to be tainted unfairly over his election one year ago.

It is this idiotic notion that the presidential election is somehow corrupt, that Biden didnā€™t actually defeat Donald Trump.

Holy crap, man! He won! Biden collected 7 million more votes than Trump! He captured the Electoral College by the same ā€œlandslideā€ that Trump described as he won four years earlier against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Trump had hired an acknowledged expert at securing elections prior to the 2020 election. The expert, Christopher Krebs, managed to wipe out any doubt over the integrity of the balloting. They counted the votes; Biden got more of them than Trump and then Krebs declared the 2020 election was the ā€œmost secureā€ in U.S. history. Trump went ballistic.

The cultists who follow Trump seem wedded to The Big Lie that the former POTUS is fomenting. The newly indicted former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said 42% percent of Americans believe the election was corrupt. I donā€™t necessarily accept Bannonā€™s figures. Still, there seems to be a solid body of Americans who have swilled the Kool-Aid served up by the Trump cult of personality.

What does this mean for President Biden? It means, as I see it, that Biden will be dogged at least through his current term by this ridiculous trash talk being offered by the man he defeated in 2020. It is nothing more than trash. Garbage. It needs to be flushed away.

If the former POTUS had a shred of decency, or any love of country, or any sense of doing the right thing, he would have conceded the election a year ago. He would have called the new president, wished him well, offered his support and then skulked into the darkness. He would have gone about pursuing whatever it is he intends to pursue in his post-presidential years.

But,Ā oh no-o-o-o!Ā That ainā€™t Trumpā€™sĀ modus operandi.

He has behaved disgracefully every day since he left the White House the day before President Biden took his oath of office.

So help me Iā€™ll keep trying to persuade others of what I know to be true: Joe Bidenā€™s election as the 46th POTUS is on the up-and-up. He won fair and square and President Biden deserves to be free of the taint that is staining his term in office.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

POTUS dons legislator’s hat

This thought occurs to me, so I’ll share it briefly.

President Biden is trying to negotiated a legislative deal with moderate and progressive congressional Democrats. Then the following dawned on me.

Biden spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate. He then spent eight years as vice president. That’s 44 years negotiating experience with lawmakers.

The way I figure it, President Biden is the most experienced legislator in the meetings he is having with congressional Democrats. He knows how to cajole, coddle and convince legislators to do what’s right.

If only he could work his legislative skill on congressional Republicans who — sad to say — just won’t wheel and deal with a master of wheeling and dealing.

This is the value of having a POTUS who knows how government works. Let’s see if it pays off.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Biden pledges to save lives

2 Comments

President Biden today took on the role of commander in chief in our nation’s fight against a killer virus.

The president has issued an order that every federal employee shall be vaccinated against the virus. Moreover, he said that every private company that does business with the federal government will have its employees vaccinated. He signed an executive order and declared that he now is going to act like a wartime president in the fight against the COVID-19 virus and its assorted variants.

This is what presidents need to do!

Biden’s immediate predecessor as POTUS once famously — and wisely — declared that he saw himself as a “wartime president” when the pandemic took root. The problem, though, is that he didn’t follow through on the declaration. He didn’t walk the wartime walk.

President Biden is demonstrating that he understands the power of his office and the overwhelming priority he must place in protecting the health and the lives of Americans.

We have lost more than 600,000 of our fellow citizens to the virus. It has stricken more than 40 million of us.

Biden’s order figures to affect as many as 80 million Americans who aren’t currently vaccinated. Yes, there might be some out there who cannot take the vaccine on religious grounds. I understand that resistance. I don’t agree with it, but I accept that others have such sincere religious belief.

However, the obstinance being shown by those who want to make some sort of hare-brained political statement about the vaccine is ridiculous on its face.

The Hill reports:

A senior administration official told reporters that under a new executive order to be announced by the president, federal employees will have 75 days to be fully vaccinated, with limited exemptions for religious or medical reasons. There will be no testing option. The order will cover about 100 million workers.Ā 

“It’s simple; if you want to work for the federal government, you must be vaccinated. If you want to do business with the government, you must vaccinate your workforce,” the official said.

Biden to require COVID-19 vaccines, tests for millions of private workers | TheHill

I stand with the president.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, national news

Tan suit, then and now

(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I think I know the answer to this question, but I’ll post it anyhow in just a second.

The picture you see here is of President Biden. It was snapped on Friday as he prepared to make some remarks about the job growth posted for July and about the drop in the unemployment rate. He is proud of the progress we are making on the economy.

Do you notice the tan suit? Sure you do!

OK. Now, flash back to the time President Obama appeared in public wearing a tan suit. Do you recall the reaction then to Obama’s sartorial choice? The right wingers out there threw a hissy fit not seen or heard since the time President Lyndon Johnson picked his beagles up by their ears.

What’s been the right wing response to Biden’s tan suit? Nothing, man! The Question: Why do you think the right wing is silent on Biden’s tan suit while they bitched out loud about Obama’s tan suit?

My answer? I believe it’s because President Biden is a white guy and President Obama is not.

Disgraceful.