Monthly Archives: October 2020

national news

The Russians are still at it

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Wherever he is ensconced in the Kremlin, Russian goon in chief Vladimir Putin must be a happy man these days.

He set out in 2016 to sow fear, discord and confusion in the American electoral system. If there’s a Russian equivalent to “mission accomplished,” then Putin is saying it over and over.

Now he’s at it again. FBI Director Christopher Wray agrees with two of his predecessors — Robert Mueller and James Comey — both of whom have said the Russians would do the same thing, only more of it, this time around.

I heard today that Donald Trump, Putin’s pal in D.C., might fire Wray after the election, I guess Trump means “win or lose” the election. He doesn’t like the job Wray is doing. All he has done to incur Trump’s reported wrath is confirm what the rest of the civilized world knows already, that the Russians are up to no good once again.

They wanted to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump invited them to look for Clinton’s missing e-mails, which they commenced doing the same day Trump made the public request.

They’re messing around now with Joe Biden’s campaign. I pray that Americans have wised up to the chicanery Putin is capable of performing.

All in all, though, Putin’s gang of crooks has enlisted the aid of none other than Donald Trump, who himself is sowing more doubt in our electoral process, claiming the existence of “rampant voter fraud” where none exists. Trump threatens to take the election to the Supreme Court if Biden gets more votes than he does. And, what to do you know, he is likely to have a fully staffed SCOTUS on hand to render some decision on whether to accept the results; that will include, in case you’ve been comatose, Amy Coney Barrett, who is about to be confirmed by the Senate in a railroad-job of a confirmation process.

I will hand it begrudgingly to Vladimir Putin. He played his hand perfectly four years ago. I am going to hope for all I am worth that we have wised up to the trickery and will send Vlad’s boy, Donald Trump, packing once we get the ballots counted.

national news

Simple decency, anyone?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am going to share something that arrived on my Facebook news feed. It comes from a friend of mine in Amarillo, Texas; he is a retired physician.

I will post it here … and then I will get the heck out of the way.

Oh, The Humanity!
I saw something on television yesterday that moved me greatly. Obama was standing outside the Philadelphia football stadium, waiting his turn to address a crowd in their cars in support of Joe Biden. No coat, shirtsleeves rolled up, mask on, clear space around him. On the periphery were a young black woman with a toddler, maybe four, both masked. The mother urged the girl to approach Obama, which she did very hesitantly, looking back to Mom. Obama recognized the problem: he is 6’1″ and a semi deity. So he squatted down to the child’s height, extended his arms and the child ran to him. What moved me was the simple decency of the act. I could easily picture George W., Clinton, George H.W., Reagan or Carter doing the same thing. Trump? No way.
national news

The ‘most important line’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza listened to Barack Obama peel the bark off Donald Trump’s hypersensitive hide Wednesday and came away with what he believes is the former president’s most cogent line about his successor.

Cillizza writes: “And with Joe and Kamala at the helm, you’re not going to have to think about the crazy things they said every day. And that’s worth a lot. You’re not going to have to argue about them every day. It just won’t be so exhausting.”

As Cillizza noted in his own analysis, the discussion won’t turn on specific policy statements. Instead, he writes, “It’s about a country absolutely exhausted by Trump — his norm-busting, his misinformation, his junior high school bullying, and his tweeting, his tweeting, his tweeting.”

There you go.

I admit to being worn out by Donald Trump. Every single day of the presidency on this individual’s watch has been exercise in “Can he top the previous day?” Sadly, Trump has managed to do it.

I don’t want, as President Obama said, to awaken every morning wondering what in the world the president has done to cast a pall over this nation.

I want normal behavior in the president. I want Joe Biden to restore the dignity that used to personify the office.

national news

Barr set to provide ‘last-minute dump’?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A newspaper editor for whom I worked for many years in the early part of my journalism career had a term I want to invoke here.

He called them “last-minute dumps,” which were letters to the editor submitted by those who wanted to inflict damage on politicians at the end of an election campaign. My boss would refuse to run them in the paper, saying they weren’t fair to the politician upon whom the writer was dumping.

The rules of fairness in journalism don’t usually apply in politics, so I am wondering at this moment whether Donald Trump is going to demand that Attorney General William Barr provide a last-minute dump on Joe Biden.

You see, he wants Barr to release information at the last minute of a losing campaign that will harm Biden’s chances of defeating him.

Were this early in Barr’s tenure as AG, I might be inclined to suggest that Barr wouldn’t stand still for this kind of overt political pressure. I had faith that Barr, who served as AG at the end of President George Bush 41’s term, would act honorably. That was then. Now … I am not so sure.

Barr has said he wouldn’t be pressured by anyone, and that includes the president. He has acted time and again more like Donald Trump’s “boy” than the chief law enforcement officer of the nation.

The race is staggering toward the finish line. Biden and Trump are set to meet again tonight in another televised joint appearance. Only the Almighty knows how Trump will behave.

As for the last-minute dump that might reveal itself between now and Election Day, an AG with honor and respect for the oath he took would resign on the spot rather than do the bidding of an individual who possesses neither “honor” or “respect” for the oath he took.

local news

No speakership for Price

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The word found its way to me far, far away from the hustle and bustle of Texas politics.

It is that state Rep. Four Price, an Amarillo Republican, is not going to seek to become the next speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

I am disappointed to hear that news. But not surprised.

I’ve known Price for a long time. He won election to the Texas House after David Swinford of Dumas decided to retire in 2010. Price was being talked up as speaker material in his first legislative session, in 2011.

I haven’t spoken with Price about this latest decision, which was reported by Quorum Report and relayed to me by a former Morris Communications colleague who remains wound tightly in the goings-on in Austin. I am, shall we say, decidedly less involved in keeping up with the nitty gritty of Texas government.

I happen to believe Four Price would be a splendid House speaker. I mean, anyone who can fend off a goofball challenge by Empower Texans — the right wing PAC that takes delight in challenging Republican officeholders — is OK in my book. Price got a primary challenge in 2018 and dispatched the Empower Texans-financed pretender with ease.

More than that, though, Price has been an effective legislator. He is diligent and hardworking. I hear from spies in the Panhandle that Price doesn’t think he has the allied strength among his fellow House members to be elected speaker.

The current speaker, Republican Dennis Bonnen, will leave the House at the end of the year. He didn’t seek re-election after being outed by Empower Texans chieftain Michael Quinn Sullivan who recorded Bonnen offering up fellow GOP lawmakers as potential targets in this year’s election. Not a good move, dude. So, Bonnen is a goner, which is fine with me.

A big part of me believes Four Price never would have allowed himself to be suckered into speaking so stupidly to someone such as Michael Quinn Sullivan.

Which tells me why he would be a terrific speaker of the House.

national news

Muzzle the Donald? Awesome!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The presidential debate commission has come up with a capital idea to restore some semblance of order and decorum at the next joint appearance featuring Joseph Biden and Donald Trump.

In a way, I am borderline glad it took a sh** show of the type that unfolded in that first encounter to get the commission to act.

You remember, yes? Trump hogged the air time by interrupting Biden a few dozen times during the 90-minute gabfest, prompting the former VP to say, “Will you shut up, man?” It was the quip of the night, I’m telling ya.

For this event, the commission has agreed to install mute devices on the candidates’ microphones. While the other one is speaking, the candidate who is supposed to listen quietly will be unable to blurt out an epithet. At least the TV audience won’t hear it.

To be honest, I am surprised the Trump campaign team agreed to this change in format. Why the surprise? Because the candidate calls the shots and Trump  doesn’t usually like to be dictated to by some rank debate professional who knows a thing or two about how these events are supposed to unfold.

It should be a show. For me, though, I’ll be unable to watch in real time. My wife and I are RVing it at a site with zero TV reception. I’ll just have to read all about it.

Still, I doff my cap to those who managed to cobble together a joint appearance format that has the potential of being conducted with a modicum of decorum and dignity.

Now, that of course will depend if Donald Trump decides to power through it. Or … he might he walk out as he did on Leslie Stahl, who was trying to interview him for a “60 Minutes” segment on CBS. I am looking forward to seeing how that debacle unraveled.

national news

The end is near

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, settle down. I don’t mean The End, as in … you know.

I mean the end of a presidential campaign is coming up. It’s right around the corner. They are calling this the “election season,” given that so many Americans are voting early.

My wife and I did. So did our sons. We are among the 30 million or so Americans who have decided to cast our ballots early to ensure they get counted, given the suspicion that Donald Trump is trying to lay over the entire electoral system. Think of that for just a moment: The doubt is coming from the individual who took an oath four years to protect the system. Now he wants to fear it, to believe it’s corrupt, that it’s fake, phony.

What a moron!

But the end of the season is coming along. We’re 13 days to go when they shut down the polls from coast to coast to coast and start counting those ballots.

I cannot speak for anyone other than myself. I want former two-term Vice President Joe Biden to win this election just about more than any single candidate I’ve ever wanted to win — with the possible exception of Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

My intense desire to see Sen. Obama win the 2008 contest had more to do with the historic nature of his election than his opponent, the late Sen. John McCain, for whom I had great respect given the suffering he endured during wartime in defense of this country. Eight years later the intensity ratcheted up again as Hillary Clinton sought to defeat Trump. I believed then and I do today that she is eminently qualified to serve as president.

Now it’s Joe Biden who has earned my undivided attention. I have been aware of him since he first won election to the U.S. Senate in 1972. I knew about the tragedy that befell him as he prepared to take office with the death of his wife and daughter in a motor vehicle crash.

He served in the Senate with distinction until Barack Obama tapped him to run as VP in 2008.

And yes, I am aware of his missteps, such as his failed 1988 presidential campaign when Biden got caught copying the rhetoric of a British politician.

Joe Biden is the man of the hour today. I want him to win bigly. I want Trump to be shown the door and I want Joseph Biden to be given the chance to deliver on his pledge to restore dignity to the presidency.

I want this season to end.

media news

Trump costs friendships

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Damn you, Donald Trump!

You are the cause of my loss of friends. So help me, I’ll never forgive you for that!

Since the advent of Facebook I have categorized friendships through the social medium into two forms. I have Facebook “friends,” and I have the real thing. My Facebook “friends” come and go. I have a number of those folks with whom I might have a casual acquaintance; or perhaps have no interpersonal relationship of any sort.

It’s the number of real “friends” that has begun to dwindle over time. What does this diminution of friendships have in common? The folks who have severed relationships with me are Trumpkins. I am not.

I want to bring to attention one actual friend who bid me adieu about six months ago.

We worked together in Beaumont, Texas. We became pals. We would spend about 20 to 30 minutes each morning chatting about issues of the day. He sat on one side of the fence, I sat on the other. We knew that about each other. We never let it interfere with our friendship.

Then along came Donald Trump. I detest Trump. My friend seems to think Trump is the man to solve all the problems of the nation. My friend and I parted company about 25 years ago, but we stayed in touch. We continued to chat over the phone and occasionally over social media.

My wife and I returned to Beaumont once and met up with our friend. We chatted amiably. Indeed, my friend told me his wife couldn’t understand how we could remain pals despite our vast political difference. My pal’s response to her? He said he told her that “our friendship transcends politics. I never will let politics interfere with that.” I am paraphrasing, but that was the clear message.

It turns out my friend overstated the value of our friendship. He severed his ties with me. We got into a Trump snit. I guess that was all he could take.

Who’s to blame for that? It’s the idiot in chief in the White House.

There have been others. This one, though, still stings a bit. I lay the blame squarely at the feet of Donald Trump, the man who should not be president and who I hope for all I am worth gets his a** whipped in the next 13 days.

I doubt the friendship about which I have just told you will revive itself. I am going to hope it does.

local news

Oh, the Internet!

2 Comments

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am receiving a real-time lesson on how dependent I have become to the Internet.

Our RV campsite is in the middle of the Davis Mountains of Far West Texas. Cell phone reception is gone, pfftt … nothing, man! That doesn’t bother me so much.

What drives me batty is my (lack of ) Internet connection. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, which runs the magnificent state park where we are holed up, has Wi-Fi service, but it’s lousy. I cannot sign onto the TP&W site. I can, however, sign onto Word Press, which is the platform that contains this entry. When I am finished I will post it to Word Press, but not onto the other social media platforms I use to distribute this blog.

Therefore, this entry will go to relatively few folks who normally would read these words.

I am expressing a frustration.

We’re able to go into town, where the cell service is a zillion times better. Thus, so is the Internet service.

I’ll just have to wait until our next foray into Fort Davis to reconnect with what we used to refer to in Vietnam as “The World.”

Bear with me. Please.

medical news

Trump speaks stupidly

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Forrest Gump had it right when he said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

With that want to I delve into Donald J. Trump’s latest volley of stupid statements, this time involving one of the world’s premier epidemiologists, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

You see, we have the Liar in Chief calling Fauci’s work on the coronavirus pandemic a “disaster.” What’s more, he threw in an epithet hardly befitting anyone, let alone a president of the United States. He referred to Fauci as an “idiot.”

I am left with three thoughts.

One of them is how in the name of presidential statesmanship can Donald Trump refer to his handpicked science adviser on the pandemic as being a “disaster” to the White House pandemic response team. Trump selected this individual to serve on that team, tasking him with providing cold, hard scientific data. Trump promised to listen to the experts on the team. He lied about that, too!

The second thought is the use of the “idiot” term to refer to Fauci, an Ivy League-educated scientist and medical doctor who has served every president of both parties dating back to Ronald Wilson Reagan. He has been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS research, has led efforts to fight previous epidemics.

Dr. Fauci is as brilliant a doctor/scientist on matters of infection disease as anyone on Earth.

Yet he now is being scorned and vilified by a politician who cannot find his backside with both hands when it comes to discussing intelligently the complicated matters of science and epidemiology.

Finally, how in the world does Dr. Fauci continue to work for this moron? Fauci would be able to provide unfettered scientific advice and counsel to the nation without having to answer to Donald J. Trump, whose abject stupidity continues to marvel me.