Monthly Archives: June 2022

crime news

My outrage is real

Mr. President, I have some news for you: I happen to be ahead of your call to make my “outrage” over gun violence central to my vote.

I made that call actually long before the Uvalde tragedy. Or even before the Buffalo slaughter in the supermarket.

You see, Mr. President, I am as outraged as you are — maybe even more so — at the cowardice exhibited by your Republican “friends” in Congress and their unwillingness to enact what you refer to as “sensible” gun-control legislation.

I listened intently to your remarks the other evening and I continue to stand with you as you grapple with the myriad crises that have befallen us.

President Biden Speech On Mass Shootings: “Make Your Outrage Central To Your Vote” In November | Video | RealClearPolitics

Our governor and lieutenant governor are up for re-election this year. Mr. President, I have heard your pleas for “unity” among Americans. I just cannot support either of these guys, Greg Abbott or Dan Patrick, because of their stubborn resistance to even discuss or debate gun legislation.

I also am going to ask our Third Congressional District candidates where they stand on gun control. I know what the GOP candidate will say; he’ll be a solid “no” on any legislative measure.

Furthermore, I also stand firmly on the notion that legislation does not have to mean we trample on the Second Amendment. I get it, Mr. President! So, to that extent you are preaching to the proverbial choir in our North Texas home.

I just feel the need to assure you, Mr. President, that you have many of us out here in your corner. Keep fighting, sir.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

‘Rule of law’ strikes

That darn “rule of law” keeps rearing its head in the 1/6 probe into the insurrection on Capitol Hill.

The latest target of the rule of law is former Donald Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, who’s been slapped with a contempt of Congress indictment for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena demanding he talk to the 1/6 panel.

Don’t all those Trumpkins say they honor the rule of law, that no one is above it? Oh, wait! They also say the 1/6 committee examining the insurrection is not legally constituted. Of course, they are full of sh** when they say such a thing.

The House select panel chaired by Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson is charged with finding the whole truth behind the insurrection. Navarro was in the White House that day. He knows a lot of what went down as the crowd stormed Capitol Hill and threatened to kill the vice president.

Navarro is refusing to obey the rule of law. Therefore, the Department of Justice has indicted him.

I believe there will be a lot more indictments to come. They will demonstrate to everyone that the Trumpkins are just like their hero, the ex-POTUS. They’re all liars.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Cruz: loathsome to the max

There is no way for me to deny what I have believed firmly since the day Ted Cruz took office in 2013 as a U.S. Republican senator representing my family and me in Texas.

It is that he is the most loathsome politician I can think of this side of, say, Donald John Trump.

Cruz continues to make gurgling noises about wanting to run for president in 2024. He tried it once already, in 2016, He remained the last man standing in a crowded field that eventually succumbed to the cult following that gathered around Trump.

He once called Trump a “sniveling coward.” He then climbed aboard the Trump hay wagon, where he’s been sitting ever since.

The latest capper — gosh, there have been so many low points in this clown’s Senate career — is still unfolding. The lunatic shot up Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. He killed 19 precious children and two of their teachers. President Biden is trying to rally a grief-stricken nation to “do something” about gun violence.

Cruz’s response? He bloviates that the “radical Democrats” are seeking to “disarm Americans.” Oh, and then the rat boasts about his visit to Uvalde “the day after the shooting.” Big … deal!

The moron has zero public standing with me on that one, given how he hightailed it out of Texas in February 2021 while Texans were freezing to death in that horrific winter blast. Where was Ted? Basking in the sun with his family in Cancun!

I am sick and tired of this clown masquerading as a responsible public official when he is nothing more than a self-serving frontrunner seeking to further his own agenda.

Someone will have to show me a single piece of meaningful legislation with Cancun Ted’s name on it. Anyone?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

You tell ’em, Cancun Ted

Rafael Edward Cruz’s lack of self-awareness is simply stunning in scope.

The man aka Ted Cruz, the junior Republican senator from Texas, bloviated overnight about Democrats’ “far left-wing agenda” regarding gun violence. Then he inserted the notion that he ventured to Uvalde the day after the madman opened fire in Robb Elementary School, killing those 19 children and two teachers.

My first thought — so help me! — about his appearance in Uvalde was: Sure, like you stood your watch in February 2021 when hundreds of Texans were freezing to death in that winter storm.

Remember that one … Ted? I do! I recall how you jetted off to Cancun to soak in some Caribbean rays while the rest of us were suffering from Mother Nature’s winter wrath.

Spare me the drivel about your so-called concern about Americans’ gun rights. President Biden, contrary to what Cruz said, is not going to “disarm law-abiding Americans.”

Pathetic.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Once more, what about that ‘no’ vote?

My cheap-seat perspective has me wondering once again about what is transpiring in Amarillo.

My mind keeps asking: If city voters said “no!” to a bond issue to spend $275 million for a new civic center and City Hall, what makes it better for the City Council to act without voter perspective on the very thing they rejected nearly two years ago?

The council has issued $260 million in something called “anticipation note” to pay for the project that voters rejected. A local businessman, Alex Fairly, has challenged the city with a lawsuit filed in 108th District Court. Someone sent me a copy of the lawsuit and I have looked it over. It’s pretty straightforward. It alleges that the city is acting illegally with those anticipation notes, contending they aren’t meant to be spent on this enormous project.

Back to my question about that earlier vote against this idea.

Mayor Ginger Nelson said she wants the city to act in a way that doesn’t overload taxpayers. Hmm. The city tax rate would increase 29.5% with the anticipation note. The municipal tax rate would increase from 44 cents per $100 valuation to 57 cents. Is that too big a burden? Some folks might think so.

Amarillo City Council vote to fund Civic Center; challenged in court

I don’t believe cities, when handed an electoral defeat of the magnitude that occurred in Amarillo, should conduct the kind of razzle dazzle we’re seeing taking place. Voters who take their roles seriously as the “bosses” of those they select to govern have good reason in this case to wonder: How can the city’s governing council believe it can get away with this?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

2nd Amendment will hold up

If I sound repetitive with this brief blog post … well, that’s just too bad, because I have to get something once again off my chest.

It is that gun-owners’ rights activists are misstating the perceived threat to the Second Amendment as the nation seeks a legislative remedy to the spasm of gun violence that keeps rocking the nation.

U.S. senators are conducting bipartisan talks to find some solution to this crisis. We are locked in a death struggle against those who continue to deliver horror to innocent victims, such as the lunatic who did that very thing in Uvalde just the other day.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Murphy of Connecticut says he’s never seen such Republican “interest” in ending this crisis until now. He is working with GOP senators, such as John Cornyn of Texas, in that search for a solution.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to “keep and bear arms.” It makes no declaration that legislation is prohibited, that Congress can enact no laws that seek to control who can acquire firearms.

We hear a lot of talk these days about efforts to “disarm” Americans in the wake of tragedies such as the one that struck those children and teachers in Uvalde. I have heard nothing that disarms any law-abiding American.

We can enact laws that require universal background checks for all firearms purchased; we can require Americans to be, say, 21 years of age to buy guns; we can approve red-flag laws that allow authorities to seize weapons from those deemed to be dangerous to own them.

None of those options jeopardizes the Second Amendment! Each of them seeks to enact common-sense solutions that allow every American who plays by the rules to own as many firearms as he or she can afford.

Let us cease with the demagoguery on guns.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Tragedy transcends politics

Some moments of crisis would seemingly dispel any notion of partisanship, or of division between the major political parties and those who lead them.

Such as, oh, the massacre of school children and their teachers.

It happened again the other day in Uvalde, Texas. President and Mrs. Biden came to Texas to hug the necks of victims of the madman who walked into Robb Elementary School and slaughtered his victims before a Border Patrol tactical squad shot him to death.

My question, though, is this: Why weren’t the Democratic president and the Republican governor, Greg Abbott sitting next to each other, sharing in the nation’s grief, pledging a joint effort to rid the nation of this scourge of senseless, insane gun violence?

Abbott has decided to forgo any such appearance with a man he criticizes at will. Biden deserves a brickbat, too, as he could have extended an invitation to meet with the governor while he was visiting the victims in Uvalde. He didn’t.

I don’t expect these men to share a solution. They damn sure should share the goal of ending the violence. Of seeking common ground. They could proclaim their joint dedication to putting an end to this madness while vowing to work out the details later. Is that an impossible task?

The great chasm seems only to widen these days when crisis strikes. It mustn’t be that way.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Explain yourself, city council

2 Comments

The fecal matter is going to hit the fan in due course once the word gets out in Amarillo about what the city council has done regarding expenditure of vast amounts of public money.

Here is what I think ought to happen.

Mayor Ginger Nelson and City Manager Jared Miller need to conduct a press conference and explain themselves fully to the media and to voters about what is transpiring at City Hall. I am a distant bystander, but I would like to hear their side of the story.

The story is this: The city has embarked on the issuance of $260 million in “anticipation notes” to pay for a lot of construction work. The city wants a new entertainment and business complex and a new city hall. Voters said “no” to a bond issue in November 2020, but the city council decided in late May to issue those anticipation notes. It was done, according to a lawsuit being filed in the 108th District Court, without proper public notification.

I don’t know how you define “breach of faith” with voters in legal terms, but it is looking to me — sitting out here in the peanut gallery — that the city has breached that faith. I don’t yet know how the community is reacting to what is transpiring.

The best defense for the city would be to get ahead of this story before it runs off the rails, if it hasn’t already. How does it do that? By offering a full and thorough explanation.

The suit poses a lot of questions that need answers. Did the city violate any laws by enacting this measure with just a single reading? Did it post adequate public notice in advance of its action? Is it legal to spend “anticipation notes” in this manner?

Voters already have made their feelings known on this project. The city needs to explain how it can proceed against the will of its bosses … the individuals whose money pays for all of it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Trouble is brewing?

2 Comments

If what I have read has legs, there might be a serious storm brewing on the Texas Caprock.

The Amarillo City Council, according to a message that one of my Amarillo spies has delivered to me, has decided to circumvent the will of the voters while seeking to build a new civic entertainment and City Hall complex.

Voters in Amarillo rejected a $275 million bond issue in November 2020 to pay for the project. More than 60% of them said “no.” That apparently didn’t dissuade the council from moving forward.

This past week, the council approved a proposal that piles on $260 million worth of debt on taxpayers. The money is intended to pay for the aforementioned entertainment complex and City Hall. It has been shoved through with something called Anticipation Notes. Those notes are supposed to be set aside for short-term repairs, not the kind of long-term projects envisioned by the City Council.

There appears to be a lawsuit in the making to stop this foolishness.

As one who generally supports Amarillo City Hall, I am left to wonder: What in the world are they thinking up yonder?

Voters have spoken their piece. The people who are supposed to do the voters’ bidding appear to be seeking to perform a bit of razzle-dazzle.

So, how does this work? It appears to my nearly blind eyes that we have a City Council that wants to break faith with the bosses. According to a message distributed on a site called “Inspire Amarillo”: When government leaders try to impose taxes without notice or a good-faith discussion, flashing red lights should be going off for every citizen, no matter which side of an issue you are on. And it’s especially concerning when elected officials contradict voters and potentially circumvent the law to do it.

Here’s the entire statement, as it paints a clearer picture:

Inspire Amarillo | City of Amarillo Lawsuit

I admit to a lack of knowledge of the particulars. I thought I would raise the issue here to call attention to what well could be interpreted as a serious abuse of trust in a city that has boasted over many years that residents harbor an implicit faith that City Hall works on behalf of the residents whose tax money pays the bills.

I have witnessed municipal recall efforts triggered for less than what might be transpiring in Amarillo.

Stay tuned … shall we?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Stop the presses … no, wait!

This bit of news from the Texas Panhandle hit me like a punch in the gut. It comes from the company that owns the newspaper where my daily journalism career came to a screeching halt nearly a decade ago.

The Amarillo Globe-News is ending its daily page of opinion. It will run that form of community journalism one day each week: Sunday only, man! I want to emphasize the term “community journalism” for a reason you’ll notice in just a moment as you finish reading this post.

The newspaper announced it today. The statement includes this item: This comes as we make a more concerted effort to re-invest in local journalism, with the recent addition of a reporter dedicated to covering breaking news and trends along with agriculture and West Texas environmental issues.

It wants to “re-invest in local journalism.” What that statement tells me is that dodo birds who run the newspaper place little “local journalism” value one editorials. That is a terrible shame.

You see, there once was a time when communities relied on opinion pages to lead them, to provide some form of wisdom, to offer talking points, if not outright ideas for solving community issues.

Those days appear to have been cast aside.

Read the entire statement here: Amarillo Globe-News shifts to Sunday-only opinion section, re-invests in local news – Amarillo Globe-News (newsmemory.com)

I wrote opinion pieces and edited opinion pages for the bulk of my 30-plus-year career in daily journalism. That is why this news hurts, why it cuts me to the quick.

You can spare me the lecture about how “this is the national trend” and that “the Internet has changed everything.” Man, I know all that.

There once was a time, not many years before I got reorganized out of my job as opinion page editor at the Globe-News, when I made a concerted effort to limit all of our editorial commentary to local and state affairs. That was our contribution to furthering the cause of community journalism to a region that still sought leadership from the newspaper.

It now appears that people who did that job for the communities they served — as I did with great joy and commitment — have been placed on an endangered species list.

Wow!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com