Monthly Archives: January 2022

local news

Fireworks ban? Where? Not here … apparently

I awoke this morning believing I would suffer from sleep deprivation. To my pleasant surprise, it wasn’t so. Why the fear of being a zombie on this first day of the new year?

Because last night in our Princeton, Texas, neighborhood my bride and I — along with Toby the Puppy — were treated to a serenade of rockets bursting in air.

Which begs the question: I could swear I read somewhere that fireworks are forbidden inside the Princeton city limits, not to mention in our neighborhood, which is managed by a homeowners’ association. I mean, if the city ain’t gonna bust ya for blasting ’em, the HOA surely would do so. Right?

Not even close.

We turned in early last night, not wanting to watch the foolishness at Times Square in NYC. I had hoped for a good night’s sleep. Didn’t happen.

Our neighbors decided to blast away. Our puppy has quite a fear of loud noises, which means he hates the sound of fireworks. I don’t share that fear, but I do like to sleep when it’s time to turn in.

Well … that was then. The good news is that I did wake up this morning. The alternative was, shall we say, not acceptable.

To my neighbors out there who are disposed to blasting those damn fireworks, I just ask them to respect the wishes of those who live nearby who don’t care to join you in the revelry.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Dear Gov. Abbott: Get real, will ya?

You had me then you lost me, Gov. Greg Abbott.

Perhaps you might not remember when we had a nice professional relationship. You served on the Texas Supreme Court and then later as state attorney general. You would come see us in Amarillo when I worked at the newspaper as its editorial page editor.

I considered you to be a decent fellow. Thoughtful, not terribly partisan, reasonable.

Then you got elected governor in 2014. I was gone from the business when that happened, but I have been watching you closely ever since. Frankly, Gov. Abbott, you have disappointed me.

You keep hammering the federal government over Affordable Care Mandates, or border security issues, over COVID-19 protection measures. You just cannot stop blasting the feds over this and that.

I get that you might want to seek the presidency in 2024. You’re entitled to harbor your ambition. But what the hell? Now you want the feds to send more testing kits to Texas and more antibody material. You keep yammering that President Biden isn’t sending enough of them here. Hey, does it occur to you that Texas is one of 50 states and several territories that also require federal assistance during this pandemic?

I was hoping you might take your even-handed approach to government into the governor’s office when you got elected. Silly me. I was a fool for thinking that would happen.

What is so remarkable about your insistence on federal help now is how you have stiffed the feds — and the president — previously.  You didn’t even have the decency to show up for a photo op with Biden when he came to Texas. He’s the president of everyone and good manners would dictate that you could at least grace him with a handshake for the cameras. But you’re all over the former Liar in Chief when he visited the Texas. What a joke!

Well, enough of this note to you, Gov. Abbott. I just had to get this off my chest. I feel better now.

Happy new year … and stop trying to make political points by your constant bitching about Joe Biden.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

When will lying stop?

Someone once said — and I am going to paraphrase it — that a lie can lap the field before the truth jumps out of the starting blocks.

So it is with the myriad lies that continue to flood our minds, our airwaves, our newspaper columns. The lies deal with mostly with The Big Lie, the one that suggests that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. It wasn’t, of course.

When will the lying run its course? When will enough of us will say, “Enough is enough; enough, already!”?

Will that moment arrive sometime in this new year that is about to dawn on us? Someone needs to tell me, “Yes. It will happen.”

Too many Americans continue to kneel in front of the cult leader who once occupied the U.S. presidency. He is perpetuating The Big Lie. He has yet to say out loud that Joe Biden defeated him in the freest, fairest, most legal, most secure presidential election in U.S. history. He talks about the election being “rigged” in 2020 and yet he seeks to rig it in real terms by persuading state election officials to pursuing legal avenues to overturn the results of the most recent presidential election.

Do you see the irony in this “rigged election” scenario?

I am acutely aware of the naivete in wishing the lying will stop. I know that politicians of all stripes aren’t always truthful. They say they are, but we all know better. The lying that comes from the Trump cultists takes that truism an illogical step further.

Accuse me of being naive if you wish. I will declare right here that I want the lying to stop and I will express the hope that my wish will come true.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com