Monthly Archives: October 2020

national news

A landslide in the making?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I cannot stop thinking about how this presidential election might turn out.

I won’t predict an outcome. Why? Well, the last time I tried to make such a prediction — Hillary v. Donald in 2016 — I got the surprise of my political life. I actually wrote on this blog that I thought Clinton would roll up a landslide against Trump.

Oh, how wrong that was … yes? So, I’ll move on.

The difference between then and now is stark in at least one key aspect.

Joe Biden is rolling up a lot of Republican endorsements. Clinton did not enjoy such a broad crossover appeal four years ago. Indeed, I am thinking at this moment of the last time we saw this kind of inter-party attraction.

Barack Obama didn’t have it in either of his successful presidential election campaigns; nor did George W. Bush; Bill Clinton didn’t, either; George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan depended on GOP votes; Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford had nothing of the sort.

That brings me to Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. That was the first year I was able to vote for president. I cast my ballot for George McGovern. It turned out I was one of the “few and the proud” who voted for Sen. McGovern, who lost the popular vote by 23 percent and got swamped in the Electoral College 520-17.

That campaign featured an unusual crossover event: the formation of a group called Democrats for Nixon. The leader of that pack was a Texan named John Connally, the former governor of Texas. Big John cobbled together an alliance of Democratic pols who just couldn’t throw their support behind the progressive candidate for president. McGovern was just a squishy liberal who would surrender to the communists in Vietnam.

They helped propel President Nixon to a smashing victory.

As we move closer to the 2020 election, I am left to wonder whether the Republican pols who have turned their back on Donald Trump will be able to persuade their fellow Republicans into the Democratic fold.

Trump clearly has a firmer hold on the GOP faithful than McGovern ever had on Democrats; after all, he was nominated in 1972 at a convention that was damn near torn apart by intraparty disputes. That’s not the case now.

However, the enormous number of GOP-backed political operations that has turned on Trump fill me with a glimmer of hope that there well could be a significant victory for Joe Biden in store.

It won’t be on the scale of the landslide that Richard Nixon rolled up in 1972 … but it could be significant.

Do not hold me to this. My heart is speaking more loudly at this moment than my head.

national news

Get ready for the Hunter Biden slam

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I guess we’ll have to buckle up and prepare for the onslaught against Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, given that Donald Trump can’t seem to lay a glove on the Old Man.

Joe Biden’s lead over Trump holds firm at 10 to 15 percent. His lead in “key battleground states” also appears solid. Trump is flailing. He likely knows he is in deep doo-doo with the electorate.

Now we hear from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who said something about digging up emails sent by Hunter Biden while he was doing business in Ukraine.

The rule of thumb appears to be this: If you cannot challenge the candidate’s record as a lifelong career politician, then go after his son as a way to smear/defame both father and son.

I will not be dissuaded from supporting Joe Biden. Hey, I’ve already voted and Biden is the direct beneficiary of my vote.

Yes, Donald Trump sickens me.

Let’s just remember what we heard when Hunter Biden’s first surfaced during the Trump impeachment inquiry. It came from Ukrainian prosecutors who said that neither of them — Joe or Hunter — did anything wrong.

medical news

Is he infecting his throngs deliberately?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This thought comes from a member of my family and I want to share it here.

Since the early 1980s, when the world first got acquainted with a killer virus known as HIV/AIDS, we have seen an interesting and regrettable trend develop.

Over the span of many years, individuals have been arrested and convicted of crimes relating to the deliberate infecting of other people with HIV/AIDS. Today it’s now known as “HIV non-disclosure,” meaning that someone passes the virus on to others without telling them they are infected.

Some HIV/AIDS-infected men have raped or drugged women while having unprotected sex with them. They have gotten caught, tried and sent to the slammer. History is replete with instances of this kind of prosecution.

My family members wonders — and I happen to concur with this view — why those who are infected with COVID-19 can get away with exposing others to a virus that is every bit as fatal as HIV/AIDS once was thought to be.

Listen to me, Donald J. Trump. I’m talking about you. I also am talking to the minion/morons who support your cockamamie notion that it’s OK to mingle with others without exercising proper “social distancing” and without wearing protective masks.

Trump is back to staging rallies. He has been infected with the coronavirus, along with literally dozens of key aides and staffers. They traipse around with masks, without observing the distance guidelines offered by health experts.

Isn’t there some criminal liability here in the fashion that has been ascribed to HIV/AIDS patients who infect others?

If not, then there damn well should be!

local news

Civic Center needs help

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I no longer live in Amarillo, but I have a lot of friends there, many of whom read this blog and might be inclined to (a) endorse my world view or (b) tell me to go straight to hell.

With that out of the way, I want to offer an opinion on a ballot measure that would seek to expand/improve/renovate the Civic Center.

I believe it’s a good idea that deserves community support.

It might be a tough sell in this Era of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Folks aren’t likely to be congregating at the Civic Center any time soon, or maybe in the distant future. Eventually, though, this pandemic will pass. The will return to what we think of as “normal.”

The Civic Center would benefit from a $200 million (or so) bond issue that is on the ballot Nov. 3. The idea is to expand convention space, make dramatic improvements to the Cal Farley Coliseum, such as raising the roof and adding seating capacity.

It’s not clear to me whether all of this work is going to put Amarillo on the same playing field as Lubbock, which manages to corral many more front-line, top-tier acts annually than Amarillo. At the very least the renovations to the Civic Center would make Amarillo more competitive in the hunt for top-drawer conventions and gatherings that draw deep-pocketed individuals and groups willing to spend lots of money to bolster the local economy.

The city wisely removed the City Hall relocation from the bond issue, given that it has not yet decided where it intends to put its government office.

Instead, the city has thrust the Civic Center job out there as a stand-alone project.

I feel the need to remind readers of this blog of some of the resistance to the ballpark initiative as it was being developed in 2015. The pushback came from those who thought the Civic Center needed to be tended to before the city built the venue now known as Hodgetown.

The measure’s proponents have enlisted lots of support to make the case, including my former Amarillo Globe-News colleague Jon Mark Beilue, who has written and spoken extensively about the city’s need to keep pushing forward. Standing still, Beilue argues, is a prescription for failure.

I encourage my many friends to take that leap of faith with an expanded, improved and revitalized Civic Center. The city has made enormous strides already in restoring its downtown district.

Why stop now?

national news

Poll shows NYT tax story makes little impact

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A New York Times bombshell report about Donald Trump’s taxes and the huge debt he owes to, um, someone apparently has made little impact on voters’ perception of Trump.

You know, I get it.

A poll by Hill-HarrisX says that the report makes no difference in how people intend to vote for president. It didn’t move the needle much at all, The Hill newspaper reports.

Duh!

I was adamantly opposed to Trump from the get-go, so the story didn’t influence me in the slightest. I sense that the Trumpkin Corps, which believes the New York Times conveys “fake news,” isn’t going to be moved, either. They believe the Liar in Chief no matter who contradicts him or no matter the mountain of evidence that Trump is a flat-out liar.

The reports, then, of the public opinion remaining static about the president really doesn’t surprise me. I only am baffled by the stubbornness with which the Trumpkins exhibit in expressing their undying love for this guy.

My wife pointed out a lawn sign near our house in Princeton, Texas, that proclaims support for Donald Trump, adding that he doesn’t “bullsh**” us. Really?

This individual is the King of BS, man!

local news, State news

Texans answer the call

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas started voting for president of the United States today.

How are we doing? How is the state responding to the mostly Democratic call to vote early? First indications suggest that we answered the call.

My wife and I became statistics in that effort. We voted early today. Indeed, we voted before noon today. We didn’t see a huge crowd, although voter traffic in our Princeton precinct appeared brisk.

Reporting statewide suggest that the larger counties experienced gigantic turnouts at polling places. Travis County? Big. Same with Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar counties.

I have long been a bit suspicious about early voting turnout and whether it indicates larger turnouts overall. In the past, we have seen only that larger early voter turnout means only that more voters cast their ballots prior to Election Day; the total number has remained static. In Texas, that overall turnout has remained among the worst in the nation.

That might be changing this time, given the panic that Donald Trump is trying to instill in voting Americans; he keeps yapping about “rampant fraud” in the election. There’s no such thing as “rampant” fraud anywhere.

The conventional wisdom suggests that large turnout helps Democrats, which is why Republicans are trying to suppress that turnout — with help from Russia.

Let’s see how his plays out until Oct. 30, the final day Texans can vote early. My ol’ trick knee is beginning to throb and it’s telling me we might see the dawn of a new political day in Texas.

national news

Litmus test, anyone?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I must have been dreaming it, but I always used to believe that politicians never admitted to requiring judges or judicial nominees to pass a “litmus test” to determine their fitness for a particular judgeship.

I suppose we can toss that truism out the window.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett is being grilled by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee over Donald Trump’s decision to nominate her to a spot on the Supreme Court.

She is known to be an avid anti-abortionist and a strong critic of the Affordable Care Act.

Trump has made it clear that he intended to nominate justices who were of that mind on both issues. He is now anti-choice on abortion after being pro-choice and he just cannot stomach having the ACA on the books because it comes from the president he detests with a passion, Barack Obama.

I am left now to ponder whether Trump asked Barrett — or two previous SCOTUS appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — questions related directly to those issues. I just wish I could have been a fly on the proverbial wall when he met with all three of them.

Trump’s lack of political savvy is well-known and well-chronicled at this point. A significant portion of me believes he likely asked them all directly: Will you rule against Roe v. Wade and against Obamacare? Just say “yes” and I’ll nominate you to the Supreme Court. Got it? Good!

It sickens me to believe this is possible. I fear that we’re now living in an era when the nation’s leading politician doesn’t give a damn about the appearance of litmus tests … other than to insist on applying them when they suit his political agenda.

 

local news

Deed is done!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It’s done! We voted today … on the first day of early voting in Texas.

I am proud of myself and of my wife for tossing aside our long-held objection to early voting and casting our ballots for president/vice president and on down through the various contests.

We had thought about traveling to the Allen Event Center, a spacious venue where we could be assured of maintaining proper social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Then we thought differently. We voted instead in Princeton, where the poll workers had set up an efficient procedure at First Baptist Church to guarantee social distancing and to protect us in various ways from getting infected by the COVID-19 virus.

The parking lot across the street from the polling place was full of folks, some of them candidates. We were approached by two of them, a Princeton mayoral candidate and a candidate for the Princeton school board of trustees. We walked by a table manned by Democrats who offered us a sheet showing the “Democratic slate” of candidates. No thanks, we said; we got ya covered.

We didn’t wait in line. However, my sense is that the traffic had been brisk all morning and that it would remain that way at least for the first few days of early voting.

This is a good thing for those of us who are concerned about the scare tactics being blurted by Donald Trump and his GOP minions who keep citing something called “rampant voter fraud.” In truth, there is no such thing as “rampant” fraud. It’s, um, shall we say — “fake news.”

So, our votes are now logged into the system.

We did our patriotic duty. I am a proud American today.

State news

Texas could determine this election

1 Comment

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I won’t predict this, given that my political predicting skills are quite suspect, but I want to offer a possible scenario to ponder as Texas prepares to commence early voting for the presidency.

If the state decides to grant its 38 electoral votes to Joe Biden when the ballots are counted, it will be “game over” for Donald Trump.

We keep hearing about astonishing early-voting turnouts in states where it has begun. The clarion call for early voting has come mostly from Democrats who encourage Americans to cast their ballots early to ensure they get counted. Five million-plus have done so, reportedly a huge increase over the early votes cast at this time in 2016.

Is Texas going to join the early-vote parade? I hope so.

Thus, it might be a harbinger of a major surprise for the Trumpkin Corps that believes — and they have some reason to hold onto that belief — that Texas will remain in the Republican column. The latest Texas Tribune poll puts Trump ahead by 5 percentage points; the Trump lead has been teetering a bit during the campaign, but that’s what it is at the moment, according to the Tribune.

Trump carried Texas by 9 percentage points over Hillary Clinton. A nice margin, to be sure, but far less than what Mitt Romney rolled up in 2012 against President Obama and even less than John McCain’s total in 2008 against Sen. Obama.

My point, I guess, is that Trump’s hold on Texans’ vote might not be as secure as he and the Trumpkins believe.

If Biden even cuts deeply into the Trump margin in 2016, then we still might be in store for a Biden blowout.

Please … don’t hold me to this. I’m just thinking out loud, man.

local news, political news

Don’t leave this matter up to someone else

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There once was a time when I worked for a living … and during that time of my life I would write newspaper editorials urging people at election time to be sure to vote.

My argument was simple. I tried to rejigger it to avoid repeating myself. It would go something like this:

If you do not vote, then you are going to leave this critical decision to someone else, someone who might not share your world view. Do you really want to cede that responsibility when you can take control of it in your own hands?

That argument is never more relevant than it is today.

I refer to the presidential election that’s coming up on Nov. 3. My wife and I intend to vote Tuesday morning on the first day of early voting in Texas. I once was adamantly opposed to early voting. I sought to hedge my bet, guarding against someone who gets my vote from messing up after I vote for him/her but before Election Day.

That rationale is no longer in play this time. I am concerned about what Donald Trump might do to muck up the election result. He is going to challenge the result, possibly, if Joe Biden gets more votes for president than he does. That’s why I intend to vote early. My wife, too.

We intend to get our votes recorded and logged into the system.

I also want to encourage everyone who can to vote early. If we do not vote ourselves for the presidency, then we are going to leave that decision to someone else who might want to (gulp!) keep Donald Trump in office for another four years.

The person you see at the other end of the church pew might be a Trumpkin. So might your next-door neighbor. Or the crowds you see at the grocery store.

Me? I am a die-heard Bidenista. I intend to cast my vote early. I don’t want to be the only person at our Princeton, Texas polling place. I want there to be a crowd of folks. I am prepared to wait in line.

I’ll be damned if I am going to leave this decision to someone who doesn’t agree with my world view.