Monthly Archives: March 2022

Sports news

March Madness? Oh, yes!

Whoever on Earth was able to predict that St. Peter’s College men’s basketball team would defeat the University of Kentucky men in that shocker of an NCAA men’s tournament game deserves some kind of special mention … wherever they are, or if anyone like that actually exists.

That’s why they call it “March Madness,” correct?

It also goes to show why I never enter any sort of bracket contest. One cannot avoid having the bracket busted into smithereens with an upset such as that.

However, I am not going to shed a tear for those who did fil out their bracket only to tear it up into little pieces. Instead, I am going to cheer the young men of St. Peter’s for their amazing victory over the mighty Kentucky Wildcats.

Let us also remind ourselves of this tried-and-true cliche: This is why they play these games.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news

Ukrainians fight back

Fox News’s Stuart Varney has a theory about why Russian soldiers are bogging down in their advance on Kyiv. It has to do with Ukrainian citizens taking up arms and killing the invaders with grenades, rockets and assorted high-tech weaponry.

Varney notes that the Russians are poorly trained and have “low morale” among the troops.

You know, it sort of reminds of me another military action many decades ago.

In 1941, not long after they conquered Greece during World War II, Nazi Germany decided to invade the Greek island of Crete in the world’s first airborne assault operation. Paratroopers bailed out of aircraft and landed by the thousands on Crete.

They were met by rampaging Greek citizens who stormed onto the landing fields with shovels, pitchforks, rifles and pistols and slaughtered many of the invaders; in some instances, they beat the paratroopers to death with their bare hands. The Greeks couldn’t stave off the invaders over time, but they fought literally like their lives depended on their success.

This is the kind of reaction Russian thug Vladimir Putin should have anticipated as he launched his unprovoked and shameful assault on Ukraine. For all I know, maybe he did anticipate stern resistance, but placed too much faith in his troops’ ability to subdue the Ukrainians.

Well, you know what they say when one assumes too much.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news

Is the Russian ‘bear’ without teeth?

Can it possibly be that the supposedly vaunted Russian military machine is, well, not so vaunted after all? Or that the Russian “bear” is a critter without teeth?

We hear reports of the Russian assault on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and how it is stalling, and that Russia is having difficulty resupplying the troops who are caught in the offensive that isn’t making much progress.

CNN.com reports that “thousands of Russian troops” have died in the month-long invasion of Ukraine. The Russians aren’t having the battlefield success we all believed was theirs for the taking.

Then again, few of us foresaw the fight that the Ukrainians would put up even in defense of their homeland against the Russian aggressors.

CNN reports: One such assessment found that approximately 7,000 Russian troops have been killed so far, said one of the sources. But that figure, first reported by The New York Times, is on the higher end of US estimates, which vary because the US and its allies have no precise way of counting casualties. Some estimates place the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine at about 3,000, whereas others suggest more than 10,000 have been killed.

Are the Russians going to run up the white flag of surrender, flee back to Moscow, lick their wounds and let Ukraine declare victory? I don’t believe that will happen.

Although I do believe Russia is going to pay a grievous price for Vladimir Putin’s desire to expand the nation’s empire.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

‘Walking hate crime’

Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, is a Democrat; Texas’s AG, Ken Paxton, is a Republican.

Nessel, though, also believes Paxton is something quite weird. She calls Texas’s top legal eagle a “walking hate crime” because Paxton decided to refer to Rachel Levine as a “man.” And why did the indicted Texas AG make that scurrilous reference? Because Levine is a transgender individual who now is a woman; Levine also happens to serve as an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration and was named one of USA Today’s women of the year.

Therein lies what I believe is an essential problem with too many Republican politicians of Paxton’s ilk. He hurls insults at individuals gratuitously.

“When people ask me why I don’t attend National Association of Attorneys General events anymore, it’s this. Paxton is a walking hate crime,” Nessel said.

Michigan AG: ‘Paxton is a walking hate crime’ | TheHill

Yes, Mme. Attorney General. Ken Paxton most certainly is a walking hate crime.

He and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have decided, for instance, that parents who seek to pursue “gender-affirming care” for their transgender children are committing “child abuse,” which is utter nonsense on its face. It’s also cruel and inhumane.

For what it’s worth, I consider Ken Paxton to be an embarrassment to this state, even though he has been elected twice as AG — for reasons that escape me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Is he ‘best’ we can offer?

I happen to believe in public opinion political surveys, even if they produce results that confound me. I am no expert on polling, but I do know that the best surveys are done without bias and they seek to reach the broadest sample of respondents possible.

That all said, I am officially beyond all reason at surveys that continue to show Donald J. Trump to be Republicans’ favorite for the 2024 presidential nomination. Why the confusion, the bafflement, the dizzying emotions?

Allow me to list some aspects of The Donald’s life in and out of politics. To wit:

  • He has admitted to mauling women, to assaulting them sexually because of his “fame.”
  • While campaigning for president, he mocked a physically disabled New York Times reporter.
  • He denigrated a Gold Star family, whose son died in combat during the Iraq War; the family happens to be Muslim.
  • Trump also denigrated the late Sen. John McCain’s heroism during the Vietnam War because, he said, McCain was a “hero only because he was captured. I like people who aren’t captured, OK?”
  • He has admitted to cheating on his first two wives and was accused of taking part in a one-time tumble with a porn star shortly after his third wife gave birth to the couple’s son.
  • He claims to be a man of faith, but denies a basic Christian tenet of seeking forgiveness; he said he never has sought to be forgiven for any sin he has committed.
  • Trump told a former associate that anyone who served during the Vietnam War was “stupid,” because the war was so politically unpopular at home.
  • He cannot tell the truth; Trump lies about … everything.

I am likely missing something, but you get my drift, I am sure.

It is this, for those to whom I should explain: If we are going to insist on restoring American “greatness,” is this the man we should follow down that path? Does this individual appear to the best we have to offer?

No! A thousand times no! He embodies the worst among us and for that reason I am totally and completely baffled as to how this cult leader manages to hold such sway with so many Americans.

I am shaking my head in disbelief.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Alliances hold firm

It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of the alliance that President Biden has crafted as the world seeks to pressure Russian goon/despot/tyrant Vladimir Putin to end his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Sure, there are holdouts, nations that remain committed to supporting Putin’s act of aggression. However, the alliances that matter are holding firm. I want to talk briefly about NATO and the European Union.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization came into being after World War II. NATO’s mission was to act as a deterrent to potential Soviet expansion from Eastern Europe into the western part of the continent. NATO did its job then and it is doing the same now as Russia – the descendant of the Soviet Union – seeks to bring Ukraine under its influence.

The European Union also has formed a tight bond among its members as it stands united against the Russian aggressors.

What do NATO and the EU have in common? They all have been pressured by President Joe Biden to ensure that Putin’s power grab does not stand. Whether NATO and the EU, along with the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and other great powers are able to force Putin to give up his assault on Ukraine remains to be determined.

It’s just amazing to watch a U.S. president employ his decades of experience dealing with foreign leaders as a tool to craft alliances that hold firm in the face of a tyrant.

Johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Zelenskyy gathers more allies

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought more help today from the United States of America in his fight against the Russian invaders who are seeking to pummel Ukraine into submission.

If the Ukrainians are following the lead of their president, Russia remains a huge distance from achieving its goal.

Zelenskyy made an appearance today before Congress, getting a bipartisan standing ovation. In his virtual speech, Zelenskyy asked for more weapons, even more stringent economic sanctions and for the United States to endorse the idea of establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine; President Biden has adamantly opposed the latter strategy.

However, the U.S. president did pledge to spend $800 million in additional aid to Ukraine.

I want to offer a good word yet again for the skill that Biden has used in unifying NATO in opposition to the unprovoked Russian attack on Ukraine. NATO comprises nations with widely different cultures and political points of view. On this score, thanks in large measure to the pressure put on them by Joe Biden, NATO is singing in unison.

President Zelenskyy, therefore, has an ally at his front doorstep as well as across the ocean.

I wish him well as he seeks to stand firm against the Russian aggressors.

Johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Yes, on permanent DST!

Great day in this glorious North Texas morning! The United States Senate has voted unanimously — via voice vote — to enact a law making Daylight Saving Time a permanent policy.

No more switching back and forth, springing forward in the spring and falling back in the fall.

Let me stipulate, though, that I never have had a strenuous objection to this twice-per-year time change. I learned long ago to let my body adjust to the time change.

However, if given the choice between having permanent Standard Time or permanent Daylight Saving Time, I much prefer the latter. I like the extended daylight in the afternoon.

The Texas Legislature tried a couple of sessions ago to enact a statewide policy change. It sought to put the matter to a vote: either keep the back/forth or switch to one time schedule or the other. Had I been given the chance to vote on it, I would have opted to keep the plan as is. It didn’t get out of the Legislature, which ran out of time; lawmakers were too busy dawdling around with other foolishness to finish work on the legislation in time.

The U.S. House of Representatives now must decide. It ought to follow the clear and distinct lead set by their Senate colleagues and go along with the change to permanent DST, which would be effective in 2023.

It’s remarkable that the Senate — given its deep divisions on damn near everything — would be so united on this matter.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

‘Enemy of people?’ Hardly!

Let’s take a brief moment — shall we? — to ponder the stupid utterance of a former U.S. president who declared on more than one occasion that the media and those who work for them are “the enemy of the American people.”

OK. Now, let’s juxtapose that stupidity with what we’re hearing from the battlefield in Ukraine.

We are hearing of casualties being inflicted among journalists who are covering that battle between Ukrainian forces and those from Russia who have invaded their country.

A Fox News Channel reporter is hospitalized after being wounded seriously in an attack that killed one of the producers from that network. Journalists from other news-gathering organizations have been wounded and killed while covering the war for their readers, viewers and listeners back home … where “home” might be.

The former president is fond of hammering the media for purportedly producing “fake news,” never mind that he also produces fake news simply through his own stupidity, his own lying.

Journalists who thrust themselves into harm’s way to cover world events — regardless of the danger they pose to those who get too close to the action — are heroes. Their only “enemy” rests in the hearts and minds who deny — or denigrate — the value they bring to a civilized society.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Stand tall, first responders

Forgive me if I seem as though I am repeating myself, but I feel this overwhelming need to offer a word of thanks to men and women who answer the call to protect my family and me.

What brings this about? Well, my wife and I took our granddaughter to a petting zoo here in Princeton, Texas, the other day. We were standing in line waiting to look at some exotic critters housed in an indoor area. A young man with his wife and baby daughter was standing next to me; he extended his hand and, after looking at my Vietnam War veteran gimme cap, offered a word of “thanks for your service.”

I accepted the thanks and asked him what he did for a living. “I am with the fire service. In Plano,” he said. “Oh, so you’re a firefighter?” I responded. He nodded. With that I extended my hand and thanked him for his service to the community and to the country.

We must thank these individuals whenever we can. My service, as limited as it was in the old days, is over. The military personnel who are serving us now carry on that tradition of service. The young Americans who suit up to fight fires, or to patrol our streets and highways in police cruisers, or work on ambulance crews, or tend to the sick and injured in hospitals, or care for older Americans in assisted living centers … they’re the heroes who need to know the rest of us appreciate what they do.

Our hearts should break whenever we hear of a police officer shot or hurt in some fashion by someone who is breaking the law. So should we mourn the loss of firefighters who rush toward burning buildings.

The brief encounter at the critter exhibit in our city was welcome. I always appreciate the good word from those who recognize that I am an old man who once served in the military. As I told the young man the other day, the nation has grown up and matured since the time we were coming back into civilian life during the Vietnam War … and I am thrilled to see that we have gotten past the bitterness of that terrible era.

Those days are long gone. Today’s heroes are the men and women who suit up to protect our nation against those who would do us harm as well as those who answer the call when we’re in trouble.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com