Monthly Archives: January 2022

national news

Profiles in cowardice

(Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage)

Watching the congressional Republican leadership tie itself into knots over how to handle its relationship with the immediate past POTUS makes me wonder how on this good Earth these individuals can live with themselves.

I want to single out two of them: one from the Senate and one from the House.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina once declared that he was done with Donald Trump. “Enough is enough,” he said immediately after the 1/6 riot. “Count me out,” he added. He couldn’t stand the thought — allegedly — of associating himself with a president who had incited the riot that stormed onto Capitol Hill.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California once stood on the House floor and declared that Trump was singularly responsible for the attack on our democracy and demanded he be held accountable. He pleaded with Donald Trump during the riot to get the mob to stop inflicting damage on the Capitol, receiving the hideous response from the POTUS that “I guess, Kevin, they care more about the election than you do.”

Both men have turned tail from those remarks.

Graham has all but threatened other GOP senators with retribution if they don’t climb aboard the Trump clown car and back the former Liar in Chief. McCarthy has declared that he won’t submit to questions from the 1/6 House committee seeking answers to the riot and has said he intends to boot Democrats off key committees if he becomes speaker after this year’s midterm election.

Gutlessness, anyone? There it is in full view.

They aren’t the only exhibits of profiles in cowardice. They’re just two of the more notable examples of how members of Congress who swear to protect the Constitution now are pledging craven fealty to a twice-impeached individual.

Cowards. Every damn one of them!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Andrew gets defrocked

It looks for all the world as though we could be watching a one-time prominent member of the world’s pre-eminent royal family being excommunicated in real time, sent to the proverbial woodshed and given a public battering from his mother, her Majesty the Queen of England.

Queen Elizabeth II has stripped Prince Andrew, her second-oldest son, of his military rank and removed him from all his charitable causes. This is in reaction to the stunning news of his alleged involvement with an underage girl who claims Andrew had sex with her “multiple times” while she was being, um, “handled” by a notorious sex trafficker, the late Jeffrey Epstein.

I have no way on Earth in knowing what’s going through Her Majesty’s mind about this, but my gut and my trick knee tell me her decision to bust Andrew of his military standing and take his charitable causes away is based on her belief in the allegations that have been leveled against her son.

The end game? He’s likely done as a working member of Great Britain’s royal family. I doubt seriously at this moment that we’re going to see Prince Andrew attending any public functions involving the royals … ever again!

What lies ahead for the fallen prince? He is being sued by Epstein’s victim. He could challenge the lawsuit and possibly lose. Or he could settle out of court, which to my way of thinking is an admission of some level of guilt.

Either way, Andrew is likely finished.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sports news

Give it up, Novak!

Maybe I’m just slow on the uptake. Perhaps I am not studying this issue as closely as I should before popping off.

Novak Djokovic, the best men’s tennis player on Earth, should just give up his quest for a 21st major championship and go home rather than defying Australia, the host country of the Australian Open that — by the way — has imposed strict protocols for entering the nation in this pandemic age with which we’re all coping.

Djokovic is not vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Moreover, he lied about where he was and what he did and with whom he did it. Australia has been in virtual lockdown for more than a year and has imposed strict entry requirements as the nation seeks to rid itself of the virus that is still killing people around the world.

What in the world gives Djokovic any additional latitude to enter the country and then compete against fellow tennis pros? Don’t tell me it has anything to do with his standing as the No. 1 men’s player in the world or that his next major championship would break the record held by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

I think Martina Navratilova, the former No. 1 women’s player in the world, has it right: It’s not worth it to the game, or the host country for Djokovic to keep fighting this issue. “Just suck it up and go home,” Navratilova said.

Yep. Go home, Novak. You’ve broken the rules and lied to the world.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

DOJ files landmark sedition charge … wow!

So, just how serious is the U.S. Department of Justice in its pursuit of who did what and when during the 1/6 insurrection against the federal government?

It has filed sedition charges against the leader and founder of the ultra-right wing group Oath Keepers in an unprecedented allegation that the group sought to topple the government in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The main target is a North Texas resident, Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers who faces a potential 20-year sentence in a federal prison if he is convicted of the charges leveled against him.

This is a big deal, man!

According to CNN.com: Attorney General Merrick Garland had balked at the earlier efforts to bring the seditious conspiracy charge. But in the months since, people briefed on the matter say FBI investigators and DC federal prosecutors have spent much time building the case, at least in part with the help of cooperators and the benefit of internal communications among the Oath Keepers.

Takeaways from the landmark sedition indictment against the Oath Keepers – CNNPolitics

I have heard from critics of this blog who have suggested that there have been no “insurrection” charges filed against any of the defendants accused of participating in the riot on Capitol Hill. Attorney General Merrick Garland has rendered that point moot with the charge against Rhodes and others.

The DOJ probe took a year to complete, which suggests to me that the AG made damn sure to cover every possible detail before announcing the indictments.

The investigation into this hideous event is sure to pick up a head of steam. It certainly should. The House select committee is moving forward with its own probe into what transpired on that terrible day. It is issuing summons to members of Congress and is getting push back from the Trump cult members of Congress who are resisting requests to talk to the panel.

Are the walls closing in on the former president, the guy who incited the riot with his call on the Ellipse on 1/6 to “take back our government”? I certainly hope so.

I applaud AG Merrick Garland for demonstrating an astonishing level of courage in following the law, as he said he would, “wherever it takes us.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Thank you, Gov. Newsom, for denying parole to Sirhan

Sirhan B. Sirhan, the man who killed Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and likely changed the course of American political history, is going to stay in prison after all, thanks to a decision handed down today by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The state parole board had recommended parole for Sirhan, who was waiting for RFK in the Ambassador Hotel kitchen the night Kennedy won the state’s 1968 Democratic Party presidential primary. Sirhan fired his pistol into RFK’s head and was taken into custody immediately after the shooting.

I want to join Sen. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel, and six of her surviving children, in applauding Gov. Newsom’s decision. Two of Mrs. Kennedy’s sons — RFK Jr. and Douglas — want Sirhan paroled.

He should stay locked up. His premeditated murder of a leading American politician was an attack on our political system. Sen. Kennedy might have been poised after his decisive victory in California to claim the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. He could have then defeated the eventual winner of that election, Richard Nixon. Bobby Kennedy then could have ended the Vietnam War as he had pledged to do during his frenetic 85-day campaign for his party’s nomination.

Sirhan Sirhan, RFK assassin, denied parole (msn.com)

Robert Kennedy was the first politician I ever truly admired. I had the rare honor of shaking his hand a week before he was gunned down. His death saddens will sadden me for as long as I live.

Thus, I want to salute Gov. Newsom for rejecting the parole board’s recommendation. He wrote this of Sirhan in an op-ed that appeared in the Los Angeles Times:

“He does not understand, let alone have the skills to manage, the complex risks of his self-created notoriety. He cannot be safely released from prison because he has not mitigated his risk of fomenting further political violence.”

Well done, Gov. Newsom.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Pandemic = confusion

This blasted pandemic is confusing me to no end. Many things remain constant: masks work; vaccines are essential; social distancing is preferred.

Now, though, we hear that the Omicron variant — the latest such offshoot of the killer pandemic — is on the verge of petering out. It’s peaking soon, the medical pros tell us. We are going to see a dramatic reduction in infection, hospitalization and worse … quite soon.

Herd immunity. Do you remember that one? Now I hear that Omicron is going to infect damn near everyone. Not if we can help it in our North Texas home. We don’t want to test positive for anything resembling the virus. So far, so good on that one.

As for what lies ahead, we hear now that we might have this virus among us practically forever. We will have to treat it like the flu, or the common cold, nothing worse than that.

Hey, if that’s what lies ahead, I am OK with that.

I just am a bit puzzled as to what to expect, when to expect it and how to deal with it if and when it — whatever “it” is — arrives.

And, no … I do not blame Anthony Fauci for this, or the CDC’s Rachel Wallensky, or President Biden.

This world of ours is treading onto territory it hasn’t seen before.

I am going to deal with my confusion in due course and hope for the best as we battle through this pandemic.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Media landscape is rattling and shaking

If you had asked me to project when I became a newspaper reporter in the mid-1970s what the media landscape would look like, say, in the third decade of the 21st century, there would be no way on God’s good Earth I could predict what would transpire.

The landscape I once knew bears no resemblance to what is taking shape before our eyes right now.

I just heard that the Amarillo Globe-News — the final stop on my 37-year career — is going to suspend publication of its Saturday edition. The G-N is joining other newspapers owned by the media conglomerate in reducing its publication schedule.

Newspapers that are doing this are pledging to (a) commit to a digital delivery of news and (b) maintain its commitment to “local news.” Both pledges bode ill for the industry I once knew and loved — and which gave me untold pleasure in the pursuit of my craft. This looks to me like the next step before the newspapers reduce their delivery even more en route to ending their existence altogether.

I have lost count of the number of times people have told me how they “enjoy the feel of the newspaper in my hands.” Hah! If that were really true, the industry wouldn’t be sucking wind the way it is at this moment.

The Internet is destroying an industry that once employed thousands of people who were committed to “making a difference” in this world. Many of those folks now are pursuing “other interests.”

My wife reminds me of a fundamental truth that I accepted long ago. My career came to an abrupt end in August 2012. I was 63 years of age when the publisher told me that someone else would be doing the job I had done at the G-N for nearly 18 years. What is the truth that my wife reminds me? “I am just grateful that this happened at the end of your career, and not while you were in the middle of it.” 

And so, the landscape is shifting, rattling, rockin’ and rollin’ before us. People who formerly depended on newspapers to tell them the news of their community and the world now look elsewhere.

What lies in store for the future of print journalism in the Texas Panhandle … and in other communities across the land? More retreat as they surrender what they once saw as their exclusive territory to other media.

Therefore, I consider myself to be a media dinosaur. However, it’s good to be comfortable in my own skin.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Fauci has earned his spurs

Critics of Dr. Anthony Fauci have been asking a legitimate question about his credentials, which is: What makes his opinions matter so much over those of other infectious disease experts?

I’ll give you my take on that.

It is because Fauci, who serves as President Biden’s chief medical adviser involving the coronavirus pandemic, has survived through multiple presidential administrations — of both parties and all sorts of differing political ideologies.

Starting with the Reagan administration, then through the Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, Anthony Fauci has been a constant presence.

He has given sound advice to all those men. He has earned the respect of most of them (Donald Trump’s petulant response to some of the good doctor’s pronouncements notwithstanding). Trump’s political allies remain in Congress, and they have taken up the anti-Fauci cudgel on behalf of the ex-POTUS.

I am going to stand with the Ivy League-educated physician and researcher, though, as he seeks to explain the consequences of the pandemic and the assorted variants it has spawned.

What’s more, I applaud him for fighting back fiercely against what I believe are scurrilous and slanderous attacks on his character.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Let’s call him ‘Mealy-mouth Mitch’

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Mitch McConnell has more than just two sides of his mouth through which he utters nonsense that contradicts earlier statements.

The Senate Republican leader once hailed voting rights legislation as quintessentially American. He led a bipartisan effort in 2006 to approve an extension of the Voting Rights Act that passed the Senate in a 98-0 vote.

President George W. Bush, a Republican, signed it into law with McConnell standing there applauding along with the rest of the Senate … and the nation.

These days? It’s a different tune that McConnell is humming. The John Lewis Voting Rights Bill under consideration is a non-starter for Mitch and his GOP caucus. They don’t want to guarantee all Americans easy access to voting. McConnell is now the leading obstructionist who seeks to block this bill from becoming law.

He is fighting efforts to amend the filibuster rule that would “carve out” voting rights from the rule that enables a minority of senators to block legislation. Voting rights needs to pass with a simple majority, say proponents of the change. That includes President Biden.

McConnell, though, seemingly forgets his earlier position. His previous stance was the noble one. His current view is despicable.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Trump got more than he deserves

One aspect of the National Public Radio interview that Donald J. Trump gave deals with the conduct of the interviewer juxtaposed with the treatment he got from the subject of his interview.

I am going to presume Trump agreed to the NPR interview that was broadcast this morning to spread his Big Lie beyond the base of support to which he still clings.

The interviewer, Steve Inskeep, is a professional journalist who enjoys great standing among those of us who love the craft of journalism. Inskeep did a great job maintaining his composure while withstanding Trump’s bellicosity.

He also gave the ex-president far more respect than I believe Donald Trump ever deserved. That’s just me, I suppose, but I believe it to be true.

That’s what journalists do. The speak respectfully to their subjects and give them every opportunity to explain themselves in detail. Trump chose to avoid any detailed explanation of The Big Lie involving allegations of voter fraud, electoral theft and that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” to ensure Joe Biden’s victory.

A lesser man could have exploded at the viciousness of Trump’s lying. Inskeep, though, is a consummate professional. He knows his job is to give the subjects of his interviews the time they seek to explain their positions.

Except that Trump didn’t deliver any sort of detail. He did not attempt to offer any evidence of the specious allegations of vote fraud … because there is no evidence to offer.

Trump hung up the phone on Inskeep after nine minutes of haranguing and hectoring and interrupting him while he sought to ask probing questions.

Through it all, Steve Inskeep kept his composure and acted the part of the consummate professional. He did his job.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com