Monthly Archives: April 2022

environmental news

Earth deserves more than a ‘day’

Mother Earth is going to have her “day” at the end of this work week.

They set aside April 22 as Earth Day each year, when we humans are supposed to keep Earth at the top of our awareness. We’re asked to commit to do whatever we can to save our planet from the destruction we have brought to it.

My goodness! Our fragile planet deserves far more than a single day to earn our honor, our attention and our concern over its health.

It’s the only planet we can inhabit! We have eight other planets circling our sun. None of them contains the combination of air, water and just the right atmospheric pressure and composition to allow human beings to live and prosper.

Beyond our solar system? Who knows what’s out there?

I know there’s nothing I can do from my cheap-seat perch to elevate this day, to turn it into something more meaningful. I only can lament that we dedicate only one calendar day to recognizing that Mother Earth deserves to be protected always.

The U.S. government founded the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970; Earth Day came into being that same year. The planet’s overall health has deteriorated since Earth Day’s founding. Our climate is warming and it is changing. Sea levels are rising. Ice caps are melting. Wildlife is threatened. Our air quality makes us cough and gasp.

OK, I don’t want to leave you with a total downer. We live in a community — Princeton, Texas — that encourages us to recycle material that otherwise would go into the landfill; we do so gladly. We live in a state that over the past 20 years has become a leading supplier of wind energy, which is a far better alternative than the very fossil fuels that contribute to our climate change.

Those matters give me a glimmer of hope that we might be able to forestall the destruction of our planet. I don’t want to believe human beings’ conduct will result in the inevitable demise of Planet Earth.

If we could devote more than a single day to honor our fragile world, then perhaps we can increase my hope from a glimmer to a bright light.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Ex-top doc sounds off

Now that he is free of the wrath that could come from the Oval Office, a former U.S. surgeon general has spoken out against a ruling that came from a federal judge that he says was delivered out of “animus” against the current president of the United States.

So said Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general during the Donald Trump administration. Adams said the ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizzelle, a Trump appointee, was not based on the law, but was based instead on her anger toward President Biden.

Mizelle ruled that the government’s mask mandate was illegal, allowing passengers on public transportation can travel without having to wear masks … even as COVID cases are ticking up yet again.

Dr. Adams wrote this on Twitter: Remind me – which schoolhouse rock explains to kids how a single unelected judge has the power to endanger their lives in public settings? I’m just a judge- I’m just a judge, and I’m hurting you cuz I’ve got a grudge…

Judge Mizelle came under intense criticism after she tossed aside the Biden administration mask mandate, chiefly because the American Bar Association had determined her to be “not qualified” to occupy a federal judgeship. Trump nominated her anyway, even after he lost the 2020 presidential election. Hey, I don’t begrudge Trump for fulfilling a duty to which he was still duly constituted to do. It’s just that he found a jurist with minimal experience for a lifetime appointment.

And if we are to believe the musings of the man who served as surgeon general — and I am inclined to do so — then we have a so-called judicial “conservative” who decided to “legislate from the bench.”

Aren’t conservative judges supposed to avoid crossing such a line?

There once was a time when even a medical professional, such as Dr. Adams, would have incurred the relentless wrath of a president for speaking the truth to the public. Jerome Adams faced that probability when he served at the pleasure of Donald Trump.

Those days are gone. Thank goodness … and thanks to Dr. Adams for speaking out.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

entertainment news

Cartoon characters ‘go at it’?

Ted Cruz is truly a reprehensible excuse for an elected public official. Consider the idiocy that flew recently out of the Texas Republican U.S. senator’s mouth.

He suggested that Disney characters — cartoon characters — could end up performing sex scenes. At some sort of forum, Cruz hinted that Disney Corp. could have Mickey Mouse and Pluto “going at it.” He was picking up on the GOP’s culture war against Disney.

What the hell is Cancun Ted talking about?

This bozo has an astonishing streak of lunacy that bursts forth with all too much frequency.

Ted Cruz cannot be taken seriously … for anything!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Why protect this guy?

Questions abound from reports that 1/6 insurrectionists sought to “protect” a U.S. congressman, a Republican who hails (now!) from the Texas Panhandle.

Recently released text messages reveal that Oath Keepers — the yahoos who helped lead the 1/6 riot on Capitol Hill — sought to shelter Rep. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo from being harmed by the rioters who stormed the Capitol at the urging of the then-POTUS.

Let us not forget that this same mob of traitorous rioters was shouting “Hang Mike Pence!” in a direct threat to the vice president, who was presiding at that moment over a congressional certification of the results that saw Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Gosh, do you think any of the Oath Keepers were among those seeking to kill the vice president, while at the same time were seeking to protect a member of Congress, a guy who had been in office about three days at the time of the riot?

We need some answers … as in right now!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Rioters sought to ‘protect’ Rep. Jackson? Well …

What in the name of insurrection do we make of this news? It turns out that the Oath Keepers, the right-wing radicals who took part in the 1/6 insurrection, sought to shield a Texas congressman from harm.

Why? Because he was on their side in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He voted in favor of efforts to resist certifying Joe Biden’s election as president.

The congressman in question is Ronny Jackson, an Amarillo Republican who represents the congressional district I called home for 23 years.

There’s a bit to unpack here. I’ll give it a shot.

Jackson has been adamant in contending the 2020 election was “stolen” from The Donald, who he once treated as White House physician; Jackson also served as WH doc for President Obama.

Jackson’s office said he doesn’t know anyone in the Oath Keepers group. The Texas Tribune reports:

“Like many public figures, Rep. Jackson is frequently talked about by people he does not know,” a Jackson spokesperson said in a statement. “He does not know nor has he ever spoken to the people in question. In fact, he stayed behind with Capitol Police to help defend the House Floor and was one of the last Members to be evacuated.”

“The liberal media’s attempt to drag him into a ‘story’ and make him part of something he has nothing to do with is yet another example of why millions of Americans are exhausted by the relentless, biased coverage of January 6th and its continued use as a political tool,” the spokesperson added.

C’mon! This isn’t a “liberal media” conspiracy! It presents a host of questions that need a congressman’s full disclosure about who or what he knows and when does he know who or what.

Here’s a bit more from the Tribune: The Oath Keepers claim to represent tens of thousands of present and former law enforcement officials and military veterans under the pretense of defending the U.S. Constitution. The group is, in effect, one of the largest far-right, anti-government groups that peddles in baseless conspiracy theories.

Oath Keepers involved in Jan. 6 wanted to protect U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson | The Texas Tribune

Does a member of Congress — such as Ronny Jackson — want to be affiliated with a group of radicals such as the Oath Keepers? This individual, Jackson, has said that those who rioted and “broke windows” on the Capitol Building must be “held accountable.” That’s not enough.

He needs to condemn the Oath Keepers in language everyone understands. My hunch is that such a condemnation won’t come from Ronny Jackson’s mouth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Why can’t these people heed the message?

My wife and I settled about three years ago in a lovely subdivision in Princeton, Texas. Our house is comfortable, our neighbors are kind and friendly. We are living happily in retirement.

We don’t make many demands. However …

We posted a “No Solicitors” sign next to our front porch. It’s visible to anyone who walks to the front door.

Maybe it’s a sign of the times, but it begs a question that seems to have no answer: Why can’t solicitors heed the message on the sign?

They don’t heed them. The latest spike in unsolicited business seekers happens to be the pest-control folks. We had a young man come to our door this afternoon. He laughed off the message on the sign. My wife told him she doesn’t do business with anyone who ignores the sign and sent the young man on his way.

I won’t belabor the point. It’s just a source of frustration that is fleeting in the moment. It passes and we go on doing whatever it is we are doing when the doorbell rings and someone wants to sell us something we don’t want to buy.

There’s no cure for this kind of ignorance. I just learned long ago that when I see signage that warns me to avoid a potentially angry response that I should heed the warning … and stay away!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Democracy under attack

Democracy is facing an existential threat in the very nation that holds itself up as the model for democratic freedom, liberty and the rule of law.

That would be the United States of America.

I keep reading about The Big Lie and the effort to launch what amounts to a coup against the government that the great Winston Churchill once called “the worst form of government ever created” but is better than anything else ever tried.

I continue to maintain faith that our democratic process will withstand the assault being launched by the far-right wing of the spectrum, led by the most recent former president. His legal team (and I use that term with extreme caution) has tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The court system, though, is doing its job by acting as a shield against such lawlessness.

It hasn’t stopped the former POTUS or his minions. They are continuing their assault.

As the nation and the world watches Ukraine defend itself against the bullets and bombs thrown at it by Russia, we are witnessing another sort of struggle in this country. It’s been bloodless — more or less — until now.

I do not expect blood to flow. However, I worry about whether our democratic process will be able to recover fully from the wounds being inflicted by the former POTUS and his cabal of cultists.

I am going to keep the faith that our democratic process is strong enough. Hey, we once fought a civil war and it survived.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Election consequence plays out

I cannot let this item go without a brief comment.

Federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled this past week that President Biden’s mask mandate violated the Constitution. Then the Transportation Security Administration decided to forgo its mask mandate — related to the COVID pandemic — on public transportation, such as airplanes, trains and buses.

So, who is Judge Mizelle? She is a judge whom Donald J. Trump nominated to the federal bench after losing the 2020 election and after he began challenging the veracity of that result with his baseless claims of voter fraud. You know … The Big Lie!

Mizelle also is just 33 years of age; I have no problem with her youth. However, she graduated from law school just eight years before becoming a judge.

Furthermore, the American Bar Association determined that Mizelle is “not qualified” to adjudicate from the federal bench.

Let that sink in for a moment: not qualified, according to the ABA.

Sheesh!

To think, therefore, that critics of Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee — Ketanji Brown Jackson — were quick to label a stellar jurist as somehow unfit for the nation’s highest court are now standing behind someone who tossed out a mask mandate while COVID infection rates are increasing in most of the states of this vast nation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Masks become a political weapon

There once was a time when the government told us to do something to protect our health, most of us would comply in relative silence. Few of us griped out loud.

No more, folks!

A federal judge this week overturned a mandate from the federal government to require airline passengers to wear masks to protect themselves against the COVID-19 virus. The Transportation Safety Administration has just decided it won’t require passengers to mask up before boarding planes.

I will go to my grave failing to grasp what in the world has happened to us. I will wonder forever and ever why we have begun fighting back with such anger at government’s desire to keep us safe from a disease that has killed nearly 1 million Americans.

Sigh …

It’s not entirely the “American way” to fight these efforts. Sure, we are a nation born from dissent against tyranny. Now we hear from those on the far-right wing of our political divide that “tyranny” has returned to government. It comes in the form of government ordering us to wear masks.

I scratch my noggin over that anger. Maybe I am just too passive. Some of you might think I’m a patsy, that I don’t stand up for my “rights” against an intrusive government.

I simply just comply with these mandates understanding that none of them lasts forever.

That anger has spread to visceral antagonism against medical professionals who advise the president on these matters. I have lost count of the rants I have read on social media from right-wing politicians who vow to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci over alleged “crimes” he supposedly has committed.

Crimes? What the … ?

It’s a new day, all right.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

War with Russia? No way!

Let us settle down for a moment or two, shall we? I want to offer a word of assurance, admittedly from the cheap seats, about the prospect of American fighting forces marching into battle with Russians.

It won’t happen!

The Russians are getting their butts kicked in Ukraine, as they try to subvert the sovereign nation along Russia’s western border. The Russians appear set to conquer the seaport of Mariupol. Their attempt to take control of the Ukraine capital in Kyiv met with failure.

Neil Steinberg, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, seems to think war with Russia is possible. He writes:

Is the United States heading toward war? It seems a very real possibility. Some arms convoy in Poland will be hit, and the gears of general conflagration will start to turn. It’ll all seem inevitable, afterward. Then we can be haunted aplenty.

Just to be clear. I’m not saying the United States shouldn’t continue arming Ukraine. We have to. Which means we must accept the possibility of war. We don’t like to think about that. The whole strategy of handing weapons to Ukrainians and letting them actually pull the trigger is a tactic designed to avoid dragging ourselves into actual fighting. The easy way.

Read his essay here: Are we going to war with Russia? – Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)

President Biden has pledged on numerous occasions that there is no way on God’s Earth that American forces will fight Russians … on the battlefield, or in the air, or at sea. I am going to take him at his word on that pledge.

Americans are sick and tired of war. We cannot tolerate another protracted ground fight with Russia. Period. Full stop.

We should continue to aid Ukraine with arms and related supplies. I have no trouble supporting that effort. That is as far as it should go. We can speed up delivery of the materiel and we should do so.

I can see no circumstance where we will commit young Americans to a ground war with Russia.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com