Monthly Archives: April 2021

State news

Gov. Abbott needs to settle down

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Did I read this right?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is so angry with President Biden that he is banning state agencies from issuing vaccine passports to prove Texans have been vaccinated against the killer virus. Is that right?

What in the world has gotten into the governor? Oh, I forgot. The pandemic has become a political talking point, with Republicans (such as Abbott) staking our positions that differ from Democrats (such as Joe Biden).

Oh, but the governor’s executive order dovetails off a popular GOP mantra, that the vaccine passports infringe on Americans’ personal liberty. Hey, what about the consequences of Americans infecting their fellow Americans? The documents are intended to provide proof that we have received both vaccine shots.

Spoiler alert: My wife and I are fully vaccinated and if the government wants to issue us a document that forces us to prove it, I have no problem at all with it. You got that?

The Texas Tribune reports: A handful of GOP-backed bills have been introduced in states across the U.S. aiming to restrict entities from requiring vaccines for their employees, including in Texas. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also prohibited state agencies from using vaccine passports but went a step further and said no business can require their customers to display them.

… “Texans are returning to normal life as more people get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. But as I’ve said all along, these vaccines are always voluntary and never forced,” Abbott said in a video announcing the executive order. “Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal health information just to go about their daily lives. That is why I have issued an executive order that prohibits government-mandated vaccine passports in Texas. We will continue to vaccinate more Texans and protect public health — and we will do so without treading on Texans’ personal freedoms.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans state agencies from requiring “vaccine passports” | The Texas Tribune

Vaccine passports aren’t intrusive. They help safeguard communities that have been ravaged by a disease that continues to kill too many of us.

Greg Abbott ought to get over his anger at Joe Biden. We’re all fighting the same enemy.

 

local news

Ike would be angry

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

EISENHOWER STATE PARK, Texas — There are times when our retirement journey intersects with current events.

It happened when we returned to a place near the birthplace of one of this nation’s greatest statesmen, military heroes … and politicians.

Dwight David Eisenhower was born just down the road from where we parked our fifth wheel. You recall the nation’s 34th president, yes? He graduated from West Point, served in the Army where along the way he took command of Allied forces in Europe during World War II and helped defeat the 20th century’s most despotic tyrant. He retired from the Army and then decided he would run for public office: the presidency.

He won election in 1952 and re-election in 1956. President Eisenhower wasn’t a natural politician, but he declared himself to be a Republican because he believed in the party’s basic principles.

He would be infuriated today at the behavior of the party he left behind. The party has become an organization he likely wouldn’t recognize. It has become the playground of one man, Donald Trump, who in a strange found his way to the presidency in a somewhat parallel path as the great man, Dwight Eisenhower. Trump hadn’t sought public office, either, before launching his presidential bid.

The similarity ends there.

Ike did things, such as launch an interstate highway construction program that revolutionized our way of life. Trump? Well, he hurled invective at his foes, at the media and finally at the government he took an oath to protect.

Our retirement journey is meant to remove us from from the hassles and headaches of the headlines. Sometimes, though, there can be no escape … such as when we venture to a park named after one of America’s greatest Republicans.

Yep, I do like Ike.

crime news

Chief stands for justice

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Medaria Arradondo stood tall today for the rule of law, for following policy and against the phony notion that police officers routinely cover for each other’s grievous misconduct.

Arradondo is the chief of the Minneapolis, Minn., Police Department. He is the same chief who fired Derek Chauvin in the wake of the hideous arrest — and death — of George Floyd this past year. Chauvin is now on trial on charges of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

I’ll be honest. I was waiting for Chief Arradondo to drop the hammer on Chauvin. He did when he said that in no way, shape or form did Chauvin follow MPD policy when he pressed his knee on the back of George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes 29 seconds, squeezing the life out of a suspect who was being arrested for passing a counterfeit bill in a convenience store.

He said Chauvin should have delivered first aid after the “first few seconds” of arresting him. Chauvin not only didn’t follow MPD policy on that matter, he killed a man who had been handcuffed and who was begging for his life.

I thought that Medaria Arradondo was the prosecution’s most compelling witness to date.

Yep. This trial has me hooked, man.

national news

Bipartisanship? It’s toast!

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

This pearl of wisdom came from a noted progressive commentator,  the brilliant Rachel Maddow.

She writes: Now that Mitch McConnell has made clear that no Republican will vote for the infrastructure bill, there is now no reason for Democrats to waste time trying to do the ultimately futile thing they might otherwise do of trying to make Republicans happy while compromising the bill, all in the hopes of picking up a few Republican votes.

The grown-ups can now work among themselves to craft a better bill.

Maddow is host of a show on MSNBC. She acknowledges per progressive political credentials. That all said, I am afraid she has spoken a brutal truth about President Biden’s search for unity and bipartisanship in our federal government.

Biden wants to enact a $2.25 trillion infrastructure package. He won’t get any Republican support for a project that in an earlier, more perfect, time would have transcended partisan political concerns.

This one won’t get there.

What, then, is the Democratic president to do? President Biden is left to deploy his partisan pals in both congressional chambers. They will get some version of the infrastructure package approved.

I wish them well. I want the bill to become law. We need to build things again. We need to put people back to work. If congressional Republicans don’t want to sign on to this monumental legislation, well … so be it.

crime news

Frantic moment turns out OK

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Our retired life had a moment of frantic activity this afternoon.

It involved a stolen vehicle and a seemingly endless line of police cruisers in hot pursuit. It played out, if only briefly, along our normally quiet street in Princeton, Texas.

It is good, therefore, to offer a word of thanks and gratitude that it didn’t end up tragically.

Someone had stolen an ambulance in Dallas and, thus, launched a lengthy high-speed chase through Dallas and Collin counties. The ambulance — with its motor vehicle thief at the wheel — drove north along U.S. 75, then turned west on U.S. 380. It bore down on Princeton.

We heard the sirens. And then the helicopter. I stuck my head out the door and noticed the ‘copter was hovering over us.

Then I looked east along our street and watched an ambulance make a high-speed turn and head west along our street. It zoomed past our front yard. Right behind it came the cops. Lights flashing and sirens blaring. They ripped along our street at a speed I could not calculate; I’ll just say they were exceeding the posted 30 mph speed limit … by a whole lot!

I am guessing about a dozen cruisers roared along our peaceful street.

Later, I learned they caught the dimwit in McKinney, near the airport.

As I have tried to process what we witnessed this afternoon, I find myself transfixed by a couple of realities. One is that our particular street in Princeton often is bustling with children. They play in their front yards; they ride their bikes; they toss balls around, often into the street. And ours wasn’t the only residential neighborhood to undergo this moment of fright.

The other is that our street runs adjacent to an elementary school, which at the time of the chase was still in session, meaning that the grounds might have been filled with youngsters.

Therefore, we avoided a serious tragedy. How in the world that happened is beyond me. I won’t spend another moment worrying about what might have been. I will give thanks that the incident ended without injury … or worse.

national news

Gaetz won’t quit; he certainly should

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Matt Gaetz says he isn’t going to quit his seat in Congress.

He said the allegations against him — that he had sex with an underage girl and might be involved in a sex trafficking ring — are the work of a conspiracy.

Forgive me for saying so, given that Gaetz ain’t my representative, but he needs to get the heck outta there. Why? It’s because he will not ever outrun the allegation, particularly if a federal investigation provides evidence that he, indeed, has been boinking little girls.

Why do I care, living as I do in North Texas, about the political future of a loudmouth who represents a Florida congressional district? Because … this blowhard actually votes on federal laws and regulations that affect all Americans. Members of the House and Senate vote on federal legislation. They propose these laws. They debate them in public. They influence how their colleagues should vote on them.

‘Absolutely not resigning’: Gaetz blasts Justice Dept. probe — and critics (nbcnews.com)

That’s how it’s supposed to work. We have, though, among those serving in the House a seedy cabal of miscreants, not to mention the wacky conspiracy theorists who adhere to the nonsense promoted by QAnon and other traitorous groups.

The scouting report on Matt Gaetz tells me he is interested only in promoting the political future of his former godfather, Donald John Trump. Gaetz keeps a seat warm on the House Judiciary Committee, which gives even more power than your average back-bench member of Congress.

I haven’t been following this story closely enough to be able to project how it will end up. Those who are close to the Gaetz matter suggest that there’s an indictment in the works. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has said that if an indictment comes down, then Gaetz needs to exit the Judiciary panel.

The bitter truth, though, is this: Matt Gaetz cannot outrun these allegations. Every issue he touches as a House member becomes tainted by a tawdry allegation. Pols call it a “distraction.” Yeah, it’s that and a whole lot more.

Get out of there, Matt Gaetz. You have sullied my House, young man.

local news

Wild ride through ‘hood

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Let’s just chalk this up to something one doesn’t see very every day.

My wife was tracking a high speed chase from Dallas, north along U.S. 75 toward McKinney. An idiot had stolen an ambulance and the cops were in hot pursuit. Then the moron turned east at McKinney down U.S. 380.

Where do you suppose he went? The dipsh** turned the stolen vehicle down our street … at a very high rate of speed. The sirens were blaring behind him.

Then came the cops. I counted about a dozen police vehicles. From McKinney, Texas Department of Public Safety, from Princeton PD, from the Collin County Sheriff’s Department, a couple of unmarked cruisers.

They roared west behind the moron, who had turned the ambulance south through some new home construction.

At this moment, I do not know the status of the chase.

This is when the cops earn their keep. Man, I hope they nab that lunatic. Oh, and if the ambulance missed a call that resulted in the death of a patient who needed medical attention, they need to throw — at minimum — a manslaughter charge at the loon.

***

This just in: The police caught the nimrod in McKinney. May they find the biggest book they can lift and toss it at him. Film at 6 and at 10 … 

local news, Sports news

Are we ready for a packed house?

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Gulp!

That is the sound of me swallowing hard in anticipation of what I hope doesn’t happen … if that makes sense.

They’re going to play some hardball tonight down the road a piece from us in Collin County. The Texas Rangers are staging their American League home opener at their brand new ballpark in Arlington, which they built right next to the park where they played for about 20 years.

Why am I gulping? Because the Rangers are going to play before a full house. Fans will be packed in there, about 40,000-plus of them. Sitting shoulder to shoulder. Yelling for their guys to win a game. They’ll be high-fiving each other, slapping each on the back, yelling their brains out!

Oh, did I mention that we’re still in the grip of a killer pandemic? I just did. Which makes me very nervous.

The Texas Rangers are the only Major League Baseball organization to open their venue up to everyone who can squeeze into it. The other teams are limiting ticket sales. Same thing for minor-league organizations — such as the Amarillo Sod Poodles up yonder in the Panhandle; Hodgetown will be three-quarters full when the Soddies open their home season soon.

To be clear, the Rangers are going to require fans to wear masks. I presume they’ll have hand sanitizer available.

However, social distancing is not at all possible when you jam fans together in a venue where they’re sitting right next to each other. We’ve had these spikes in infection rates and hospitalization, in case you hadn’t heard. They have occurred just as states and local governments lift restrictions created by the outbreak of the COVID virus which has killed more than 550,000 Americans — and that number is still climbing, albeit at a slower rate.

My goodness, I hope this isn’t a mistake.

Joe Biden

Biden still deserves benefit of doubt

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

Joe Biden is closing in on the 100-day mark of his term as president of the United States.

I remain hopeful that he will succeed in office. Just as I detested Donald Trump from the beginning of his term, I am willing to give Joe Biden the benefit of the doubt as he continues to secure his footing as the commander in chief.

There have been some missteps. The crisis on our southern border is one of them. Yes, it is a crisis. The unaccompanied, underage immigrants are causing a serious bottleneck at holding areas. President Biden needs to recognize what many of us already can see with our own eyes, that we have a crisis down there.

The president has been forced to pull the nomination of his first pick for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Surely, though, he will find a suitable No. 2 selection.

I have lauded Biden’s extensive legislative experience. He will need all of it as he continues to go big on his domestic policy program. The president already has delivered on a COVID-19 relief package. Now comes the infrastructure proposal that he should work extra hard to get done.

The economy is starting to rev up. The accelerated vaccination rate against the pandemic is helping restore confidence in our business community.

I want the president to succeed. Truth be told, I wanted his predecessor to succeed, too, even though I was consistently critical of his ignorance of government and of the way he treated his political foes. He called them “enemies,” whereas President Biden takes a kinder, gentler approach to speaking to and about his foes.

I am going to remain optimistic about the future of the presidency under Joe Biden and the course the nation will follow under his leadership. I just don’t want him — nor do I expect him — to mess up.

media news

Time of My Life, Part 55: Recalling this byline

By JOHN KANELIS / [email protected]

A brief exchange with a longtime friend reminded me of an aspect of my former career that inexplicably had escaped my top-of-mind consciousness.

My friend and I were exchanging views about the devolution of the Republican Party in my home state of Oregon. I mentioned how the Oregon GOP had produced giants such as U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield and Gov. Tom McCall. Then my friend threw another name at me: Norma Paulus.

And that triggered a remembrance that had gone dormant over many years.

In early 1977, I was working on the copy desk of the Oregon Journal, the now-defunct afternoon newspaper in Portland. I was an aspiring reporter at the time. I had worked as a freelance sports writer for a community weekly newspaper. The Journal was my first full-time job in a newsroom, which thrilled me to no end.

Then the city editor called me into his office and offered me a chance I snapped up with maximum gusto. Norma Paulus, who was Oregon’s newly elected secretary of state, was talking that night to a group of accountants. Would I be interested in covering that speech for the newspaper?

Well … yeah!

So I went to the meeting that night. I listened to Paulus, who then was a political superstar in Oregon, deliver a bone-dry speech to a roomful of bean counters. I cannot remember the precise content of her speech, but in the moment I managed to somehow weave a story and turned it in the next morning to the city desk.

That afternoon, when the presses started, I grabbed a copy and pored through the Oregon Journal and found my story: It was a bylined piece on Page 2.

Here’s another lesson from the good old days: Back then, reporters didn’t generally put their bylines on stories. That decision was left to the editor(s) to determine whether it merited a byline. If it didn’t pass muster or required too much rewriting from the editor, the reporter didn’t receive credit for writing it.

My story made the grade, I am proud to report. The editor put my name on it and it was published in all its (supposed) glory.

The next task that awaits me is to find that story, which I am certain I saved. It’s likely tucked away in a file cabinet. All I need to do is find it and read what I wrote. It must’ve been a doozy.