Monthly Archives: April 2021

national news

Jordan’s tirade reveals arrogance

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s tirade against Dr. Anthony Fauci this week underscores a chronic condition that afflicts politicians who think they hold the keys to power.

Jordan decided that because he is an “elected official” that he has some political right to be dismissive of experts in a given field. He shouted down Dr. Fauci, barely giving the esteemed doc the chance to answer questions that Jordan had asked of him.

To be fair, this is a bipartisan affliction that shows itself in Democratic and Republican pols alike. However, since we’re talking today about a GOP blowhard in Jim Jordan of Ohio, we’ll concentrate on the men and women of his particular party.

Jordan indeed should have demonstrated some humility while discussing the COVID pandemic and its impact on our lives with the nation’s leading infectious disease expert. In fact, he should be mindful that his boorishness might not play as well with all his constituents back home in Ohio’s Fourth Congressional District as he thinks it does.

Jordan is a GOP bully cut from the same cloth that produced Donald J. Trump. He just cannot stop yelling at witnesses when they appear before the committees on which he serves. He must possess some demonic creature that compels him to talk down to others, even those who are many times more expert than he is on whatever subject he has chosen to pontificate.

Jim Jordan is a volatile young man who needs to show some respect.

medical news, national news

Waters is right: Shut your mouth, Jim Jordan

2 Comments

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

So help me Almighty God in Heaven … I want to slap Jim Jordan bald-headed.

The Republican congressman/blowhard from Ohio’s Fourth Congressional District took it upon himself this week to scold, badger, hector and seek to intimidate the nation’s pre-eminent infectious disease doctor.

Jordan decided that he knows more about the nature of the COVID pandemic than Dr. Anthony Fauci. All he did, though, was demonstrate that he is a cheap, craven, loudmouthed political hack who — on matters of public health — can’t find his a** with both hands.

He bellowed and blustered over Dr. Fauci’s efforts to answer when the nation might be able to return to some semblance of normal living. Along the way, he felt the need to remind Fauci that he is elected by his congressional district constituents to represent their interests, while Fauci isn’t elected to anything.

Brilliant, Rep. Jordan.

You ought to take a few minutes to watch it here. It’s a hoot! Only you won’t want to laugh.

Rep. Jim Jordan yells at Dr. Fauci during heated exchange – Bing video

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters was right to tell Jordan to “shut his mouth.” Then again, the more he blathers the more revealing he becomes to those of us who detest his conduct.

national news

Anglo-Saxon caucus?

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

In the stunning but not surprising category of news items comes this report out of Washington, D.C.

A group of far right Republican members of the House wants to form a cabal, er, caucus comprising those who want to push forward a political agenda that calls attention to the Anglo-Saxon tradition of some of those who preceded us to these shores.

This group includes some real doozies: QAnon believer Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, accused sex trafficker Matt Gaetz of Florida and the lunatic birther from East Texas, Louie Gohmert.

Why is this so pernicious? As the grandson of immigrants who came to this country in the early 20th century from Greece and Turkey, I am appalled and aghast at a provision in the draft policy statement that declares that “mass immigration” would spoil the “unique culture” built in the United States.

Now, give that a moment’s thought. This nation’s uniqueness, the way I see it, is the built on its welcoming of immigrants from around the world. The Statue of Liberty’s inscription tells immigrants that this nation embraces their arrival.

What in the name of all that is decent are the far right wingers trying to do? I think I know. They are trying to slam the door shut on people of color, on the oppressed and fearful. They want our culture to remain true to some myth that we are an Anglo-Saxon nation first and foremost.

Nothing, not a damn thing, could be farther from that version of the truth about the founding and settlement of this country.

I am heartened to see some push back from GOP congressional leaders on this frightening notion. Can they deliver a kill shot to this right wing idiocy being pushed by the Donald Trump/America First wing of the Republican Party? I am going to hope so.

local news

Masks are … everywhere!

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

As long as we’re still politicizing the issue of mask-wearing and keeping our distance from each other, I feel the need to offer a good word about what I am seeing in my neighborhood.

Look, I live in a conservative, Republican-leaning county in North Texas. They make jokes about our part of the nation, about how Texans don’t like being dictated to by the federal government.

OK, as long as we’re clear about that, I want to say that I continue to be pleasantly surprised/impressed that so many folks I see in the city of Princeton where I live still wearing their masks, still observing social distancing, still doing the things that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us to do to avoid getting sickened — or killed — by the COVID-19 virus.

Yep, I see it when I venture out among the masses. At the grocery store. At the convenience store. When I fill my truck with fuel. When I stop for an occasional egg roll at the truck stop west of us on the highway toward McKinney.

I find myself wondering what in the world happened to that myth that Texans bristle at government mandates. Perhaps it’s because it is a myth. That it doesn’t really exist. That we’re just as concerned as other Americans that the danger of the virus is real and that we need to do what we can to protect ourselves.

Imagine that, eh?

crime news, national news

Insurrection + 100

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Where in the world does the time go?

It’s been 100 days since The Insurrection. I am not celebrating this momentous landmark. I will note it with shame and with disgust that the Big Lie that precipitated it lives on in what passes for the hearts and minds of those who followed Donald Trump’s exhortation to “take back the government” on Jan. 6.

We usually note the first 100 days of a new presidential administration. I’ll be happy to get to that in due course. Today, though, I want to commiserate over the Big Lie that needs to plowed asunder.

Donald Trump is holed up in Mar-a-Lago. He’s playing golf, entertaining allies, followers and friends. He steps out occasionally to say things in public that demonstrate just how evil — and yes, I’ll stick with that epithet — he truly is.

This individual’s evil intent foreshadowed The Insurrection of Jan. 6. He sought to derail the constitutional duty under way at that moment with Congress meeting to certify the result of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Why in the name of human decency is it seemingly lost on the Trumpkin Corps that this individual has not yet condemned the violence that killed a Capitol Police officer, injured dozens more and resulted in the deaths of four more participants in that horrifying event?

It’s been 100 days since The Insurrection. Congress awarded members of the Capitol Police force the Congressional Gold Medal over the objections of 12 House members who disliked the term “insurrection” contained in the resolution. What the hell? That’s precisely what it was!

The Insurrection will remain in a state of dormancy for as long as The Big Lie exists, for as long as Donald Trump continues to insist that the election was “stolen” from him, for as long as his minions continue to believe it.

Why doesn’t Donald Trump just kill it dead by declaring he was wrong to launch The Insurrection and that Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States? Because he is consumed by evil intent!

national news

‘Violence must end’ … do ya think?

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke for millions of us.

As The Hill reported: “Yet again we have families in our country that are grieving the loss of their family members because of gun violence,” Harris told reporters as she greeted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. “There is no question that this violence must end and we are thinking of the families that lost their loved ones.”

Eight people died in a massacre at the FedEx distribution center in Indianapolis. The shooter then killed himself.

Harris on Indianapolis shooting: ‘This violence must end’ | TheHill

I won’t identify the lunatic on this blog. I choose to keep his name to myself; besides, you probably already know it.

I don’t know about you, but I am running out of ways to express my outrage over this kind of violence. I am left to throw up my hands, to shake my noggin back and forth, to offer a quiet prayer for the families of those latest victims of this madness.

President Biden has called on Congress to enact laws tightening background checks. He has issued an executive order banning “ghost guns” that have no serial numbers. He and others are imploring Congress to step up. I join them in that effort.

My hope is giving way to a cynical belief that we are being governed by cowards. Shame on them. Shame on those among us for putting them in power.

local news

Say it ain’t so, David

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

David Dewhurst might be in trouble. Or … he might not be.

I don’t know. What I do know is that Texas’ former lieutenant governor was arrested by Dallas cops the other day on a domestic violence accusation. I want this to end well for Dewhurst, but if it doesn’t, well …

David Dewhurst arrested on domestic violence charge in Dallas | The Texas Tribune

You see, he and I had a professional relationship that I recall with fondness. He is a Republican former politician who rose to prominence out of virtually nowhere back in the late 1990s. He had been a big-time political donor/back bencher in Houston when he ran for Texas land commissioner. He then gravitated to the lieutenant governor’s office in 2003, where he served until losing a re-election bid to Dan Patrick in 2015; Patrick is still the lieutenant governor.

David Dewhurst proved to be a formidable fellow while he served in state government. How so? He is the type of fellow who, when asked what time it is, is prone to tell you how to build a watch. He is as detail- and minutiae-oriented as any public official I’ve ever known.

I want to relate a quick story about Dewhurst that I think illustrates what a good guy — at a certain level — he can be.

My wife and I were in Austin once touring the State Capitol with my sister and her husband. We came upon a conferenceĀ  room that was closed to the public. I asked a young man standing at the door what was happening inside. “Lt. Gov. Dewhurst is conducting a closed-door meeting,” he said. I cannot remember with whom. I gave the young man a business card and told him to say “hey” to Dewhurst for me. He said he would do that.

I got back to Amarillo and found a phone message from Lt. Gov. Dewhurst. He had called my office phone number and sought to find me so he could take me, my wife and our family members on a tour of his office complex in the Capitol Building. Dang! I’m still kicking myself that we didn’t hook up that day.

That’s the kind of relationship I had with him.

All that said, I hope David Dewhurst didn’t do what has been alleged.

Cruz gets fascinating Texas endorsement | High Plains Blogger

Uncategorized

‘No’ on ‘constitutional carry’

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Theyā€™re calling it ā€œconstitutional carryā€ legislation.

I will call it foolishness that carries some dire peril for many Texans.

The Texas House of Representatives has voted along partisan lines for a bill that will allow any Texas resident to carry a handgun around with them even without a permit issued by the state. Yep, the House ā€“ led by its Republican Party majority ā€“ wants to liberalize (if youā€™ll excuse that verb) the stateā€™s concealed-carry law to enable anyone to pack heat on their person.

House Bill 1927 passed on an 84-56 vote and now goes to the Texas Senate, where it might meet some needed resistance, particularly from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senateā€™s presiding officer and a politician who has expressed serious reservations about the bill.

I canā€™t believe I am going to say this, but I concur with Lt. Gov. Patrickā€™s squeamishness.

Texasā€™ concealed carry law has proven to be nothing close to the monster that many of us thought it would be when the 1995 Legislature enacted it. I opposed it then but grew to accept it over time. I feared an outbreak of road-rage violence involving those who were licensed to carry weapons. That hasnā€™t happened. For which I am glad and grateful.

Now this new law might be on the horizon. Texas does not require stringent knowledge of firearms to issue a concealed carry permit. Applicants need to take a brief course on firearm safety and pass a proficiency test with the firearm while of course clearing the necessary background check to ensure they lack a criminal record.

Why in the word, then, do legislators feel the need to allow everyone who lives here to pack heat without so much as a rudimentary test to acquire a permit?

As the Texas Tribune reports: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick … has previously expressed hesitation over the measure, saying in 2017 … that “with all the police violence today we have in our state … law enforcement does not like the idea of anyone being able to walk down the street with a gun and they don’t know if they have a permit or not.”

I hope Patrick hasn’t swilled the gun-toting Kool-Aid and become a convert to the cause championed by gun-rights activists. Indeed, he ought to heed law enforcement officials who oppose this nutty notion. Newly hired Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia was among those speaking against the legislation, along with members of the clergy and veterans.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/15/texas-constitutional-carry/

Texas has more than enough guns out there already. We already have a concealed-carry law that seems to work well enough.

The U.S. Constitutionā€™s Second Amendment guarantees our right to ā€œkeep and bear arms.ā€ The stateā€™s provisions requiring Texans to take a test to demonstrate that they know how to handle a firearm ought to be enough to help keep these weapons out of the hands of those who shouldnā€™t have them.

NOTE: A version of this blog was published originally on KETR.org.

crime news

Matt Gaetz: Lock him up?

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Congressional Republicans need to get their priorities in order.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, one of the GOP bomb throwers, is being investigated for sex trafficking charges and whether he had a sexual relationship with an underage girl.

House GOP leadership’s response? He deserves “the presumption of innocence.”

Now … how does that compare with the Republican response to Hillary Clinton’s email kerfuffle? They were chanting “Lock her up!” Due process? Presumption of innocence? Hah!

So, which is it? The Republican Party’s political leadership hypocrisy is on full display once again.

It makes me sick.

legal news

Don’t add to SCOTUS

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Listen up, my progressive friends. I am going to say something that will pi** you off.

U..S. Senate Democrats are seeking to do something that I fundamentally oppose. They want to add four seats to the U.S. Supreme Court, packing it with justices more to their liking.Ā  That is a bad call.

What we have here is a slippery slope that can do as much harm over the longer haul than any “repair” that Democrats think will occur were Congress to actually agree with packing the court.

I now feel compelled to stipulate that I do not like the philosophical composition of the Supreme Court. It comprises six conservative justices and three liberals. Donald J. Trump nominated three of the justices and got them approved during his term in office. Did it infuriate me? Yes. It did, particularly after Senate Republicans denied President Obama the opportunity to have a justice seated after the sudden death in early 2016 of conservative icon Antonin Scalia.

As they say, elections have consequences. Trump was elected in 2016 and then Republicans who ran the Senate were able to confirm three Trump SCOTUS nominees.

But is the proper response now to expand the court, allowing President Biden to nominate justices who would grant liberals the judicial edge on the Supreme Court? No. It must not happen.

Why not? Because such a dramatic notion gives conservatives an opening to respond in kind were they to regain the White House and regain control of the Senate. Might they want to add another two seats, expanding the court to, say, 15 justices, allowing a GOP president and Senate to construct a conservative majority?

Let’s be real. The Constitution does not specify how many justices should sit on the high court. Indeed, the number has changed over the two centuries of our republic. Nine of them have presided for many decades. The number of justices is sufficient.

As for the court’s philosophical makeup, elections and attrition ought to be allowed to determine the SCOTUS composition.

President Biden is on record opposing court packing. He wants a commission to study high court procedures. Biden plans to set a 180-day period for a panel to make its recommendations on how we might reform the court.

Let’s tinker around the edges of that process. Packing the court with four new seats, though, is the wrong path to take.