Monthly Archives: March 2021

national news

FBI boss: They were domestic terrorists

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

FBI Director Christopher Wray today said what many millions of Americans have thought — or known — since we saw it occur.

The mob that stormed Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 comprised “domestic terrorists,” Wray told a congressional committee.

I do not intend here to denigrate the FBI boss … but duh!

Look, I respect this man a great deal. He has the toughest job imaginable, which includes investigating the crimes committed on the day the terrorist mob stormed into the Capitol Building while committing an undeniable act of insurrection against the U.S. government.

The fact that the FBI director has made this statement aloud and in public gives the discussion the kind of impetus it needs. Wray gives the domestic terror element an element of gravitas.Ā 

Indeed, I am not at all surprised to hear Wray hang this label on the riotous mob. He has stated already that domestic terror presents the greatest existential threat to our national security. It poses a greater threat than any foreign terrorist organization; that includes ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban … you name it.

What happens now with the investigation of criminal suspects? My hope, and I am can speak only for myself, is that the FBI is able to ratchet up the charges against those it arrests, that they are able to prosecute the suspects on suspicion of committing terrorist acts.

They were whipped into a frenzy on Jan. 6 by a president who was two weeks from leaving office. Donald Trump told them repeatedly on the Ellipse that the election he lost was “stolen” from him and he urged the crowd to take back the government from some nefarious forces he said were committing electoral thievery.

Yes, he got impeached for it and yes he avoid conviction in the Senate. The imprint left behind by the terrorists is indelible and the scars will take years, maybe decades to heal — if they ever do heal.

The terrorists wanted to execute Vice President Mike Pence; you can hear them shouting their intent as they stormed into the Capitol Building where the VP was doing his constitutional duty, which was to preside over the counting and certification of the Electoral College votes that elected President Joe Biden.

Man, if that ain’t terrorism, then it doesn’t exist anywhere.

I am relieved to hear that the FBI director has called it what we have known all along.

It well might be time to declare a new “war on terrorism.”Ā 

medical news, science news, State news

Abbott invites danger

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, I listened to most of Gov. Greg Abbott’s talk at the Lubbock restaurant.

The Texas governor has rescinded a statewide mask mandate and told all business owners who cater to all clientele that they are now free to open “100 percent,” despite the presence of COVID-19 virus that is still infecting Texans and other Americans.

I have decided to ignore Abbott’s recommendation. I am going instead to heed the call of President Biden who is asking us to wear masks at least for the first 100 days of his administration.

Biden is making the more prudent decision. As for the business reopening, most of ’em will have to make that trip back without me, and likely without my bride as well.

I’m staying the course in mitigating the effects of the killer virus. It could have claimed a member of my immediate family and the memory of that frightening experience is too damn fresh in my mind to ignore.

Be careful.

State news

No thanks, Gov. Abbott; I’ll keep wearing the mask

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Gov. Greg Abbott has declared that business will be 100 percent open and is ending the statewide mask mandate.

Fine. You go ahead with that call, governor. Me? I’m going to keep wearing my mask when I venture outside. I plan to keep wearing the mask probably for the entire year and — who knows? — maybe the next year, too. I also plan to minimize my appearance in local businesses while the pandemic is still raging around the world.

Abbott wants Texas businesses to resume “normal” activity. I do, too. I don’t like wearing a mask. I don’t like keeping my distance from everyone out there. I don’t like having to slater sanitizer on my hands every time I roll out a shopping cart or pump fuel into my truck. I just do all of it to stay safe from the COVID virus.

I do worry about whether Abbott’s declaration opens the door to yet another spike in coronavirus infection, hospitalization … or worse!

He went to Lubbock to make the announcement at a restaurant. I guess he wanted to show us all that it’s OK to go out and spend money to support local businesses. Hey, I am all in with that, too!

In due time. In due course. Not just yet.

My bride and I have been vaccinated. We are happy about that and we feel a good bit of relief knowing our systems contain the Pfizer medicine that we hope will fend off the virus. We are only about 10 percent of the entire U.S. population that has been granted that immunity. We need tens of millions more Americans to join us so we can meld into that “herd immunity” crowd that strengthens our chances of staying free of infection.

So, thanks for declaration, Gov. Abbott. I am going to say a prayer for all of us that we can avoid what I fear might be a consequence of yet another rush to returning to normal.

national news

Gov. Cuomo … you’ve messed up

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Andrew Cuomo isn’t your run-of-the-mill governor of one of our 50 states. He has a famous political name; he once was married to a member of the Kennedy clan; he became a national media star with his COVID pandemic press briefings.

However, he appears to have messed up big time.

Three women have accused him of sexual harassment. The New York Democrat is under fire from his fellow Democrats to resign in the face of the accusations that appear to be credible.

What gives them credibility is his non-apology. Cuomo has declared that he didn’t intend his actions to be “flirtatious,” that he was trying to be “funny,” and that he apologizes for any “misinterpretation” that was derived from the way he talked to these women.

Oh, brother.

The 60-something governor has had a very rough couple of weeks. It started with reports of how he undercounted the deaths at nursing homes of COVID victims. It then got worse with the accusations of sexual harassment.

Gov. Cuomo is known in New York as someone who treats others badly. He reportedly can be downright mean and belittling in his confrontations with those who disagree with him.

So, as I watch this drama play out I am inclined to give the accusers the benefit of the doubt. As for that ridiculous, phony “apology” that Cuomo offered, well … it only worsens matters.

Were he to ask for my advice, I would say Gov. Cuomo needs to find something else to do.

International news

Open borders? Bullsh**!

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Demagogues make a handsome political killing by throwing out key words and phrases that have little to do with any sort of reality.

Let’s look at the term “open borders.”

Right-wing demagogues are fond of accusing those who oppose their policies of favoring “open borders.” They suggest that any view that opposes construction of walls means by definition that one favors just throwing the borders of this nation open to anyone who wants to enter the United States of America.

These demagogues should be ashamed of themselves.

I dislike building a wall along our border, namely our southern border, which has gotten all the attention during the past four years. I also dislike the notion of throwing our borders open to everyone. I happen to believe in border enforcement. I believe we must insist on legal entry for those who want to live in the United States.

What’s more, I am not going to tolerate any notion that those of us who oppose the build-the-wall fanatics favor “open borders.”

The term is a canard. It seeks to drive wedges between Americans. “Open borders” implies favoring lawlessness. My goodness, let’s not go there.

The demagogues among us are going to keep throwing that inflammatory term out there just to gin up support for a policy that seeks to wall this country off from the rest of the world comprising individuals who believe the United States should stand for opportunity.

Do we need comprehensive and total immigration reform? Absolutely. President Biden has brought back the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program enacted by President Obama but rescinded by Donald Trump. Biden wants to streamline the legalization process for undocumented immigrants to obtain citizenship or permanent resident status.

I do not hear Joe Biden espousing an open-border policy that allows anyone into this country. Demagogues need to be called out when they suggest their foes favor a lawless border policy.

medical news

Getting a vaccine … is a secret?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

How does one process this bit of news?

Donald and Melania Trump, the nation’s former president and first lady, received a COVID-19 vaccine in January, being among the first Americans to get the shot. But they kept it secret! They did it under the cover of secrecy!

Compare that with the public display by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the current POTUS and VPOTUS, who along with their spouses got their shots in front of cameras.

President Biden and Vice President Harris wanted to make a public show of them getting vaccinated against the killer virus. They chose to lead by example, as opposed to the modus operandi followed by Trump, who continued to give the notion of vaccination the short shrift.

I am scratching my head. Not in disbelief, mind you. I am baffled by the idiocy of the protocol followed by the former administration.

This is how you politicize an action that in a more perfect world should be utterly free of politics. Getting a vaccine against a disease that has killed 500,000-plus Americans ought to be something to be hailed, for government leaders to pronounce loudly.

The news about Donald and Melania Trump, along with Mike and Karen Pence, getting the vaccine in January has just been made public. I am wondering whether the ex-president and ex-VP ever intended to say whether they got the vaccine.

The politics of this news tracks the same way as MAGA followers and others on the far right have sought to denigrate mask-wearing as a deterrent against the virus. They disparage those who wear masks, preferring to congregate closely among themselves, shouting loudly and proudly their approval of rhetoric they endorse.

This past week’s meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., could provide some evidence of the folly of those who continue to disrespect the notion of masks and social distancing. The crowds that gathered in the meeting hall comprised individuals who shunned the masks. Will there then be an uptick, or even a serious spike, in infection rates among those who attended the CPAC gabfest?

Time well could reveal much about the wisdom of politicizing vaccinations and taking measures to prevent illness or even death.

Donald Trump’s secret is now known. He got the vaccine. How might that bit of news play among those who (a) follow Trump’s rhetoric over the cliff and (b) denigrate the very action their hero took to keep himself safe.

Hmm …

national news

Just a hunch about Trump

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Hunches usually aren’t very reliable barometers of political trends and Lord knows my own hunches have let me down a time or three.

However, I am going to toss one out there for you to ponder. It is that Donald John Trump will not run for president in 2024.

He stood before the Conservative Political Action Conference crowd over the weekend and said he won’t form a third political party. Trump wants to remain active in GOP politics. They took a straw poll of CPAC attendees and Trump finished first with 55 percent of those attending who said they wanted him to be the Republican Party presidential nominee in ’24.

The ex-president no doubt took all of that to heart. He might run again for the office he lost bigly after a single term to Joe Biden.

But … why? How? To what end?

Trump is facing multiple crises unrelated to politics. They are totally related to whether he will face criminal charges regarding his business “empire.” How in the name of rational thought does someone run for president if he is indicted by a grand jury for, let’s see, campaign finance violations? Or income tax fraud?

How does even someone as slippery as Donald Trump do that?

Trump once boasted that he could “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes.” A lot of us laughed when he said it in 2016. His acquittal in the Senate trial of inciting an insurrection wiped that smile off my face.

None of that means he will be able to win the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. Yeah, he’s got that faithful base. Is it sufficient to carry him to victory in the primary with the potential crises exploding all around him?

That hunch of mine says, um, “no.”

I just hope it doesn’t let me down again.

national news

Die, Big Lie … just die!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Some lies take on lives of their own.

The Big Lie from the 2020 presidential election is one of them. It won’t die. It can’t die. It lives in what passes for the hearts and minds of millions of Americans who are willing to swill the poisonous notion that Donald Trump actually won that election despite the numbers that tell us he lost it … bigly!

President Joe Biden beat Trump soundly. Trump, though, keeps feeding the Big Lie to those who are willing to swallow it. He did it again at the Conservative Political Action Conference this past weekend.

Trump repeats false claim he won 2020 election, teases potential future White House bid during CPā€¦ – YouTube

He recited the Big Lie. The faithful cheered him on. He kept it up. They cheered some more.

The Big Lie lives on for as long as there are people among us who believe it.

State news

Special legislative session awaits

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am not a huge fan of special legislative sessions in Texas.

We send our legislators to Austin for 140 days every other year to take care of legislative business. We don’t pay ’em very much money; I mean, they’re “citizen legislators” and we pay them a pittance to do our work.

The 2021 Legislature has a huge task ahead of it that it might be able to finish in time for the regular session to adjourn sine die.

Gov. Greg Abbott needs to ensure they finish the one major task: That would be finding money to pay for a major overhaul/reform/strengthening of our state’s electrical grid.

The grid came within about four minutes of collapsing a couple of weeks ago. It damn near failed the entire state, throwing us into prolonged darkness and cold. How did that happen? Well, the jury is still pondering that one, but one element seems clear: The state has not “winterized” its generating system to cope with the zero-degree temperature that blanketed much of the state.

Special legislative sessions too often are the product of lawmakers running out of time because they spend so much time dawdling at the beginning of these regular sessions. The 2021 Legislature doesn’t have time to waste. It has begun some key hearings peppering utility officials with questions about what went so damn wrong this past month.

Texas has a Rainy Day Fund that it can use to help pay for the cost of weatherizing its energy plants. There needs to be some serious priority-setting as well.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the electrical grid, is under intense fire from critics who wonder about some of the bone-headed decisions that reduce energy output at critical times during the deep freeze.

We have lots of energy in this state. We also have some pretty good minds in key places that can figure out what went so terribly wrong and find solutions to fix it.

If it takes a special session to finish the job, I would hope — and I expect — Gov. Abbott will be quick to summon legislators back to get it done.

national news

Trump talks to CPAC

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Well now … that was no surprise. Or was it? Nah. Not even close.

Donald Trump strode to the stage in front of the Conservative Political Action Conference and tore into President Biden and his critics within the Republican Party.

As The Hill reported: “We all knew that the Biden administration was going to be bad, but none of us even imagined just how bad they would be and how far left they would go,ā€ Trump told a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Fla.

Sigh …

Trump tears into Biden, GOP critics in first post-presidency speech | TheHill

The ex-president also let it be known that he won’t form a third political party and that he plans to remain active in Republican Party matters well into the future.

I think I’ll just sigh again.

The twice-impeached, the defendant in multiple lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct and the target of potential criminal indictments vows to be a GOP player.

What is undoubtedly most astonishing to me and others is that the GOP faithful appear to be lining up behind this clown. Good luck with that.

My favorite line from Trump’s speech? “If Republicans do not stick together, the RINOs that we’re surrounded with will destroy the Republican Party,ā€ he added. Yep, he called his critics RINOs, Republicans In Name Only.

Wow, man!

I won’t predict it, but I have difficulty understanding how someone so deeply flawed at every level possible can be a factor on the American political stage. It surely must speak to the nature of the modern Republican Party, which is that it is totally without any moral compass.

That fits Donald Trump to the letter. Don’t you think?