Monthly Archives: July 2022

environmental news

Biden to use his power

President Biden has made a vow that many of us will seek to ensure he keeps it.

He pledges to use all the executive authority contained in his high office to wage war against climate change, which he labels — quite correctly — as an “existential threat” to the nation’s security.

Biden cannot depend on Congress to enact legislation. Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who seems to take pleasure in torpedoing Biden’s agenda, signaled yet again he won’t back any legislative answers to climate change.

That means, according to Biden, that he will use the power of his office to take whatever measures he can legally take.

Let’s understand that only one person is elected on a national scale: the president of the United States. The Constitution does distribute power to the legislative and judicial branches of government. Individual senators, House members or judges, though, do not have the authority bestowed on the individual who is elected by the entire nation.

Thus, President Biden is spot on in his effort to deploy the power of his office to do what Congress is unable — and unwilling — to do.

That is to declare war on climate change. Many of us are keeping our eyes open to ensure he follows through.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

environmental news

Fix the damn grid!

Hey, didn’t Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promise to fix the electrical grid after it nearly failed during the February 2021 deep freeze that killed all those Texans?

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas wasn’t very “reliable” then. Abbott made the grand promise to ensure the grid wouldn’t fail.

Well, that was then.

Now we keep getting these advisories from ERCOT asking us to turn the air conditioners up to 78 or80 degrees … even though the summer heat is cooking us crispy. The temp hit 107 degrees today in our North Texas home in Princeton. There is no long-term relief in sight!

Now comes the question: When will we get the grid fixed to avoid the potential for electrical failure … Gov. Abbott?

We do not yet have a totally “reliable” electrical grid in Texas. It came close to collapsing nearly two years ago during the Texas deep freeze. Now we are getting warnings of potential failure as temperatures set records for summer heat.

We all should stand up and take a bow, though, by saving ERCOT from dealing with demand eclipsing the supply of electricity. ERCOT’s initial hot-weather conservation request helped the grid managers from having to implement rolling blackouts to conserve energy; the success came because Texans responded by shutting down non-essential use of electricity. Good job, y’all!

Back to the point …

Greg Abbott told us when we came out of that February 2021 deep freeze that he would ensure the grid is fixed, that ERCOT would live up to its “reliability” promise.

I am not yet convinced that the governor has kept that promise.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Back to the beginning on marriage?

Wow. I didn’t ever think we would reach this point after the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that men could marry men and women would marry women.

We’re now watching the U.S. House of Representatives enacting legislation that makes same-sex marriage — and same-sex intimacy — legal all over again. A bipartisan bill seeks to head off a possible future Supreme Court ruling that could make gay marriage illegal in this country.

What in the world are we doing to ourselves?

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently said the SCOTUS ruling legalizing gay marriage was wrong. Cruz is wrong. Not the court, which ruled that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to due process and equal protection under the law.

But wait a second! The nation’s highest court struck down the law legalizing abortion and is sending signals it could do the same thing to gay marriage and perhaps even interracial marriage.

Yikes, man!

The House vote doesn’t codify what shouldn’t even be on the table. The Senate has to approve it but needs 60 votes to make it law. A 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans, though, signals that the Senate might not have the votes to do the right thing.

That would be to enact a federal law that strengthens the high court’s decision legalizing gay marriage.

I am shaking my noggin utter disgust.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Buckle up and wait for these results

There likely will be no clearer referendum on the health and status of today’s Republican Party than a primary vote set to take place next month in Wyoming.

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, the state’s lone representative in the House, is running for re-election. She has been as staunch a conservative lawmaker as any in the House. She is fervently pro-life and pro-gun; she is anti-tax and has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

But she’s being called a “dead woman walking” in the upcoming GOP primary because she is being challenged by a Trump cultist who has earned the endorsement of the twice-impeached former president.

Why worry about this election? Because Cheney has committed an unpardonable sin in the eyes of the cult cabal that follows Donald Trump. She has joined a select House committee seeking to know the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection and attack on the Capitol. She has said Trump is criminally liable for what occurred that day. She has been faithful to her oath, which she took to defend the Constitution.

That has earned her a spot on the Donald Trump sh** list of politicians who would dare to challenge him for, oh, breaking the law and doing something no other president in history has ever done … which is launch a coordinated attack on the peaceful transition of power after an election that he lost.

If the Wyoming primary voters oust Cheney, then I am certain it will signal the death of the Republican Party as we have known it. If Cheney fends off the challenger, which appears unlikely, then there might be hope that the GOP can cleanse itself of the soiling that Trump has brought to it.

I am pulling for Rep. Cheney. Not because I like her politics, but because the Republican Party needs someone in its ranks who will stand for the rule of law. It is fundamental to the success of this democratic experiment the nation’s founders left us.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Fire the chief!

Let’s get straight to the brass tacks of this discussion: Pete Arredondo’s name is mud within the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District.

He needs to be fired from his job as the ISD’s police chief. The Uvalde CISD board is meeting Saturday to decide whether to fire him.

Yes. By all means imaginable, the chief needs to go. Immediately. There must not be any separation agreement. Just can the chief. The man has no support within the grieving district.

He failed in responding appropriately to the shooter who walked into Robb Elementary School and slaughtered19 children and two heroic teachers. Arredondo said he didn’t know he was in charge. Well, he should have known. He should have taken command. He should have ordered his officers into the room where the shooter was murdering his victims.

He didn’t do any of it. He dawdled and waited around as the shooter kept on killing his victims.

I am not going to suggest any criminal prosecution for Arredondo. He will, however, likely be served with plenty of wrong death lawsuits from the families of those he betrayed by his failure to protect those children and their valiant educators.

This is a no-brainer, school trustees.

However, bear in mind that a legislative report labeled the incident a “systemic failure” at all levels. Firing the Uvalde CISD chief of police is just one step needed to repair what went so tragically wrong.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Garland intrigue is building

Hey, what’s going on with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who’s signed a memo declaring that any indictment of a president or former president running for the same office must be signed off by the AG himself?

Garland has revived a Donald Trump administration policy, which brings me to why this is significant now.

Donald Trump — the twice-impeached and defeated former POTUS — is dropping hints of running again in 2024. Think of the campaign slogan he could use.

Vote for me, ’cause it’ll keep me out of prison.

Trump well might be indicted for various felonies against the government connected to the 1/6 insurrection and attack on the Capitol as officials were counting 2020 election Electoral College ballots certifying Joe Biden the winner over … yep, Donald Trump.

Garland’s memo seems to suggest to some observers to signal a reluctance to indict Trump for anything prior to the midterm election this fall.

Trump might decide to run for POTUS prior to the midterm election.

Yeah, it’s going to muddy up a lot of things.

Personally, I do not believe he’ll be nominated. Also, I do believe that Garland will have enough to prosecute Trump for something, although I dare not predict what that would be.

This disgraceful excuse for a politician — Trump — is trying to work every angle he can to keep his sorry backside out of the slammer.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

What would happen if we did this?

I watched Steve Bannon’s tirade outside the courtroom today as jury selection in his federal contempt of Congress trial was completed. I was struck by this question: What would happen if you or I thought to thumb our nose at a congressional subpoena?

If it were me, I would be locked up and kept in the cooler until my trial began.

The House 1/6 committee summoned Bannon — a former Donald Trump senior political adviser — to testify before the panel in its quest to find the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection. Bannon said, in effect, “f*** you” to the committee. The Department of Justice, acting within its authority, then indicted Bannon on contempt of Congress.

Well, today Bannon challenged the legitimacy of the House committee’s very existence, let alone its legal authority to subpoena him. Then he launched into The Big Lie mantra that “Donald Trump won the 2020 election” and that “Joe Biden is an illegitimate president.”

That is his opinion. Bannon also is full of horse dookey … but that’s just my opinion.

It astounds me beyond measure how these individuals think they can defy what I am certain is a duly and legally constituted congressional committee charged with the task of investigating what most of us believe is a crime against the government.

Yet there is Steve Bannon, a fire-breathing ideologue who spews The Big Lie about vote fraud — which has been thoroughly and roundly discredited — while giving the middle finger to a congressional probe.

I shudder to think what would happen if I were to demonstrate such arrogance.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

Hearings have changed my mind

No one has asked me my opinion on whether the 1/6 insurrection hearings conducted by the House select committee has changed my mind about what happened on that horrible day.

I am going to offer an opinion anyway.

Hell yes, I have changed my mind on the insurrection. After listening to several days’ worth of testimony, I am even more convinced than before that Donald J. Trump needs to be charged with any variety of federal crimes.

I thought he was guilty long ago. I still believe in Trump’s guilt. What has changed, though, has been the passion with which I believe this stuff about the former POTUS.

Does that count as a “changed mind?” If not, then it should. Therefore, I will conclude that my mind has changed about who is responsible for the insurrection.

I believed in Trump’s guilt when the hearings started. I believe in them even more as they grind on toward a conclusion.

What never will change in my mind is a demand for accountability and a prison sentence if the ex-president ever gets convicted.

http://johnkanellis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Hail to this ‘good guy with a gun’

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The National Rifle Association’s mantra on gun violence is that the only way to stop a “bad guy with a gun” is to put more guns into the hands of “good guys.”

It’s a bogus argument, given the infrequency of good guys responding in times of peril. However, this week, a good guy with a gun did so and I want to offer a shout-out to the young man who took out the shooter at an Indiana shopping mall.

His name is Elisjsha Dicken, a 22-year-old from Seymour, Ind., who was shopping at the mall with his girlfriend when a lunatic opened fire. The gunman killed three people before Dicken shot him to death.

While Dicken is being hailed as a hero by police and bystanders who watched it happen, I want to caution against relying too heavily on these kinds of circumstances. I would hope that more “good guys with guns” would deter shooters from opening fire in the manner we have seen in all too many cases. Tragically, they don’t.

As Fox News reported: Dicken’s attorney, Guy A. Relford, said his client acted heroically in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“He is a true American hero who saved countless lives during a horrific event that could have been so much worse if not for Eli’s courage, preparedness and willingness to protect others,” Relford said.

Yes, he is a hero. I salute him for acting with cool, calm dispatch.

Let’s not put too much faith in these kinds of incidents repeating themselves. Let’s face it, we hear too few of these reports already even as more citizens are packing heat while shopping at the mall.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Thank you, Dr. Fauci

I hereby want to be among the first Americans to offer a word of thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci for his dedicated service to the nation as its leading infectious disease expert.

Fauci said he is going to retire by the end of President Biden’s current term. Frankly, he’s earned some peace and quiet and some time with his family.

The good doctor, who’s 80 years of age, has become a punching bag among those on the right who have objected to his constant lecturing to us about masks, about social distancing, about the need to vaccinate ourselves against the COVID 19 virus. He has been on the front pages of newspapers and on our TV screens endlessly since the pandemic broke in late 2019.

Now, to be clear, Fauci hasn’t always gotten everything spot-on correct every single time. Do I blame him for that? Do I expect this learned medical scholar to get every single detail correct upon its first utterance? No. The man is a human being.

He has sought to educate himself along the way about the pandemic and for my money he has given us solid advice along the way. He is not, as Donald Trump once described him, a loser or an idiot … or some such epithet.

Joe Biden has shown the good sense to let the scientific team led by Fauci do the speaking for the administration on the pandemic.

You can take this to the bank, too: Right wingers are going to say something like “Just wait until we get Congress back under our control and we’ll launch investigations into how Fauci ‘lied’ to us.” Bullsh**!

The man has served through seven presidential administrations and has devoted his career to public service. Anthony Fauci has served the public in the finest tradition imaginable.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com