Monthly Archives: April 2022

Sports news

Sign-stealing: part of the game

Don’t hate me for what I am about to say … but in my ever-so-humble view, stealing of signs in baseball is, shall we say, part of the game and is the most overrated story of Major League Baseball in the past 50 years.

MLB now is going to outfit players with electronic devices designed to prevent sign-stealing. Are you kidding me?

The Houston Astros got caught stealing signs after they won the 2017 World Series. You’da thought they were guilty of grand theft or some such actual crime. They were caught doing what teams have been doing since the invention of the Grand Old Game.

I make no apologies for the old-fashioned outlook I continue to have for baseball. I hate the designated hitter rule, indoor stadiums, fake grass, batters’ body armor, instant replay.

Now they want to eliminate the practice of stealing signs.

Does anyone out there realize that when a hitter steps into the batter’s box, peers down at the third base coach and receives all those hand signals that 99% percent of them are meaningless? They disguise the signs to prevent the other team from interpreting what they mean.

Sign-stealing has been called “cheating.” Good grief! Teams have been cheating, therefore, since the turn of the 20th century.

I know I will get some blowback for this brief blog post. I don’t mind. Someone will have to persuade me that this is an actual scandal. It isn’t. It’s part of the game.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

GOP exhibits astounding hypocrisy

As the nation prepares to hail the U.S. Senate confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court, I want to call attention briefly to something that became so evident during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Republicans who oppose Judge Jackson’s nomination to the court have dredged up bits and snippets of decisions she has delivered and then accused her of not telling the whole truth about why she made those decisions.

Here is where the hypocrisy shows itself in all its ugliness. These same GOP senators voted twice for a man who during his single term as president told an estimated 36,000 lies, according to a survey done by the Washington Post. They voted twice for a serial liar in 2016 and again in 2020. The good news for the nation is that in 2020, most American voters cast ballots for Joe Biden, sending the former Liar in Chief out the door.

What will stick in my craw likely until the day they throw me into my grave will be the hypocrisy exhibited by the likes of Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn, Thom Tillis, Lindsey Graham and others as they concocted reasons to oppose an eminently qualified candidate for the nation’s highest court.

They should be ashamed. Except that they have no shame.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Obama reminds us of positive era

Barack Obama today darkened the door of the White House, stood in front of a microphone and declared that the government can be a force for good and is not the bogeyman that Americans should fear or hate.

The former president came back to where he lived for eight years to hail the Affordable Care Act along with one of his successors, Joseph Biden, who served as vice president alongside President Obama.

The two men reminded us today of how the government can be put to good use for those who pay for it.

It’s good to remember that the man who served between these two individuals tried multiple times to repeal the ACA. He and his Republican colleagues in Congress failed. They filed lawsuits. They also failed.

Donald Trump kept telling us that he had a plan to replace the ACA. We never saw it. Americans never saw a hint of a replacement to a government program that — despite some hiccups at its inception — has become popular with a solid majority of Americans. Who knew?

I must remind you, too, of the moment that then-Vice President Biden turned to President Obama after the ACA cleared Congress and whispered to him: “This is a big f***ing deal.” The utterance was caught on a hot mic. I, for one, laughed it off … but it was a big deal.

It was gratifying today to hear from a former president that government can be — and has been — a force for good. The Affordable Care Act provides a demonstrable example of what President Obama meant.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sports news

Tiger to tee it up!

The wait for a lot of golf fans — such as me — is about to end when Tiger Woods tees it up at the 2022 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga.

I am glad to see the 15-time major championship winner back in the game. His presence brings a level of excitement that, frankly, has been missing from golf since that horrifying accident more than a year ago that reportedly could have cost him one of his legs.

Woods tells us constantly that “no one is bigger than the game.” Actually, though, this fellow is the closest thing we have at the moment to someone who actually is bigger than golf. They don’t come around very often.

He has had his personal difficulties, his injuries. He has been forced to cope with unimaginable pressure.

Tiger Woods is a competitor through and through. I am glad he will be part of the Masters.

I just hope his legs hold up. Tee it up, Tiger.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Get off the AG’s back!

Allow me this additional demand of congressional Democrats and even some within the White House who are getting — allegedly! — annoyed with the pace of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s examination of the 1/6 insurrection and whether he intends to file charges against the former president of the United States of America.

Let the man do his job!

Democrats in Congress are reportedly peeved that Garland isn’t moving quickly enough. They want to see The Donald brought before the Bar of Justice for inciting the 1/6 insurrection and for doing nothing to stop it when it was occurring on Capitol Hill. Hey, so do I want to see the former A**hole in Chief brought to account for his action and inaction.

However, I am going to stand with the AG on this one. He said he won’t be pressured by Congress or by the White House to finish his task before he is ready to declare it finished.

Garland is on record many times already declaring he won’t be pushed, prodded or pressured by political forces. I am OK with that.

His career as a judge prior to becoming attorney general was marked by steady-as-you-go deliberation. What is so wrong with that as he works diligently with his staff of legal eagles at the Justice Department to ensure that they have all their ducks lined up before making a public decision?

Let us not lose sight of what else is at stake. Indicting a former president on felony criminal charges would set an astonishing precedent. Don’t you think? The AG must get it right and getting it right makes it imperative he run every trap he can find before delivering the goods.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

That was some storm!

We have lived in Texas long enough to know the value of being proactive in our preparation for storms when they erupt. Our proactivity paid off tonight.

How do I know that? Because my bride and I are convinced that when we are prepared for the worst, the worst quite often doesn’t arrive.

The weather forecasters were pretty excited tonight as they issued tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings. There were plenty of watches, to be sure. However, we don’t get overly concerned when they issue watch alerts; the excitement arrives when the “watches” turn to “warnings.”

Although we are relatively new to North Texas weather advisories, we did live for 23 years in the Texas Panhandle and nearly 11 years along the Gulf Coast, regions where the spring season brings plenty of explosive weather.

My wife made sure we were ready to hunker down in the bathroom, in the interior of our Collin County home. We had a mattress that we would pull over us.

Ahh, yes. The worst of it all has passed. We were ready for the worst. It didn’t visit us.

We are grateful beyond measure.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

KBJ to make history

Forgive me for using the initials to describe the next associate justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. KBJ, of course, is the distinguished judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who today stands poised to join the nation’s highest court as the first Black woman ever nominated for the post.

Judge Jackson will make history when the full Senate casts its vote to confirm her. Indeed, she received a needed boost toward a bipartisan confirmation when Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in announcing their support for Judge Jackson’s nomination.

With all 50 Senate Democrats set to hold firm, KBJ will be confirmed later this week.

This is a big deal, folks. Even some Republican senators noted the historical significance of President Biden’s nomination of Judge Jackson in announcing their intention to oppose her joining the SCOTUS.

Many Republican senators have noted Jackson’s stellar qualifications, her background, her temperament, her courage, her legal brilliance. They cannot support her, they said, because of her “judicial philosophy.”

Yeah … whatever.

Leave it to bomb-throwers like Ted Cruz of Texas, though, to say that Judge Jackson will become the most “far left” judge in Supreme Court history. I don’t take seriously anything that comes out of Cancun Ted’s pie hole these days. I mean, anyone who would abandon his constituents who are freezing to death by jetting off to Cancun — as Cruz did a year ago — only has earned Texans’ scorn.

Back to Judge Jackson’s pending confirmation …

This is a gigantic event. I applaud President Biden for keeping his 2020 campaign pledge by appointing a supremely qualified African American woman to the nation’s highest court. I applaud those senators who have supported her nomination. And I salute Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the service to the country she is about to deliver.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Biden says it clearly: Putin committed war crimes

President Biden has said it clearly and without equivocation: The world has seen with its eyes the depravity and destruction that Russian armed forces have brought to Ukraine, that they have committed crimes against humanity and that the man who rules Russia, Vladimir Putin, needs to be held accountable for those atrocities.

Russian forces have withdrawn from many areas, repositioning in the eastern parts of Ukraine. They have left behind unmistakable evidence of executions committed by those soldiers against civilians. Ukrainian forces have uncovered mass graves containing the bodies of victims shot to death with single bullets in the back of their heads.

Putin’s forces did that. The man who commands them, therefore, must be held to account for what those forces have done.

The withdrawal of Russians also has revealed the immense destruction brought to Ukraine by the bombs, artillery shells and rockets sent against civilian targets. We look at those pictures and are aghast at the devastation of entire blocks of buildings. Apartment complexes are blown to bits. So are hospitals, schools and houses of worship, for God’s sake!

Those who have a hint of an understanding of how the Russian military is set up should have no illusion of the independence of the field commanders. They don’t have it. They act on orders from the top of the chain of command.

The man at the top? Vladimir Putin.

He has committed war crimes.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news, State news

Don’t spend my money, Mr. AG

The hits just keep mounting for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Not only is Paxton in a Republican Party runoff to keep his job, he is being pounded for spending taxpayer funds to pay for his legal defense against complaints over the way he conducts his office.

What a joke! Except that I ain’t laughing.

Paxton reportedly spent at least $43,000 in public money to pay for legal defense fees. The Texas State Bar filed complaints alleging misconduct over Paxton’s specious lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. Critics have noted that the Texas Constitution does not require AGs to be members of the State Bar and they contend it is inappropriate for taxpayers to foot the bill for a public official’s private law license.

There is that, as well as the pending state trial over allegations that Paxton committed securities fraud violations. He has been under felony indictment since 2015, the first year of his time as attorney general.

My own wish is that Paxton just resign. He is an embarrassment to the state.

Now comes the news that he is using public money — my money and your money — for private use.

Keep your grubby mitts off my dough, Mr. AG!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Blunt said this about KBJ?

Roy Blunt, the lame-duck Republican U.S. senator from Missouri, said some strange things about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson today while being interviewed on ABC News.

Blunt said Jackson’s expected confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court will be a “high point” in U.S. history; he said she is well qualified; that she has a good educational background; that it is past time for the SCOTUS to have an African American woman among its ranks; that she has a good legal mind.

Then he said he will vote “no” on her confirmation. Why? Because of her judicial philosophy.

Good grief!

It was a bizarre recitation that exhibited Blunt’s political cowardice as he prepares to retire from the Senate at the end of the year.

I cannot recall ever hearing someone say so many positive things about a political appointee before declaring he wouldn’t support that person to the seat to which she has been nominated.

Weird. Simply weird.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com