Monthly Archives: July 2022

national news

Political frenzy is upon us

We have entered into a type of season with which I will need to familiarize myself. I want to call the Season of Political Frenzy.

It seems like only yesterday that the 2020 presidential campaign ended. Joe Biden won the presidency over Donald J. Trump. Except that Trump didn’t concede, didn’t acknowledge publicly that Biden is the new president, didn’t offer any support for a “peaceful transition.”

It’s now two years later. The midterm election is upon us. Republicans have stars in their eyes about taking over control of the Senate and the House. The campaign is ramping up rapidly.

The midterm campaign isn’t even over and already the speculation is beginning to overtake many of us over whether President Biden will bow out, whether Donald Trump will make yet another run for the highest office in the land, who among Democrats might want to succeed Biden and who among Republicans might want to become the “anti-Trump” within the GOP.

I enjoy politics. I take a great interest in following the ebb and flow of the political tide. I have my favorite candidates and my preferred stance on the issues of the day.

The frenetic nature of the coverage, though, seems to be worsening with each election cycle.

Truth is, I want a return to boring politics.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

We need answers!

No one, it is quite safe to say, wants to be embarrassed before people who expect more from you.

So it was when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sang the praises of law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of the Uvalde school slaughter, only to learn the next day that he had been “misled” by the cops who had given him the wrong information about what happened when the shooter began killing those precious 19 children and their teachers.

Governor Greg Abbott comments on the leaked surveillance video from inside Robb Elementary School (msn.com)

Now he’s even angrier. The public now has seen the video of the stumble-bum response of police as the shooter was killing his victims. They didn’t know what to do, despite their extensive “active shooter” training.

“Obviously, it’s disgusting to see what happened,” said Gov. Abbott this week. “It’s been clear from the time of Columbine that whenever there is a shooting, like what was happening in this school, you run towards that danger and encounter that danger and you have to eliminate the shooter as quickly as possible. From what I have seen, from the video, it looks like that policy was not followed.”

To be fair, two officers did run toward the gunfire, but retreated when the gunman opened fire on them.

What happened over the next 77 minutes, though, makes our blood boil. The cops armed with shields and an array of weaponry failed to take the shooter out when they had multiple chances.

We have a truckload of issues to peel away. Time, though, is not on the side of anyone who must provide answers to parents, spouses and siblings of those who died in that horrific massacre.

They want answers to what happened and why it went so terribly wrong. They want them now.

They deserve to get what they are demanding.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Biden update: Stay the course, Mr. POTUS

Joe Biden is feeling lots of heat these days from the far left as well as from the far right. The right-wingers’ criticism is to be expected. The lefties, though, present a unique concern for the president of the United States.

I am insisting, thus, that President Biden continue on a path toward finding common ground with both ends of the spectrum. It is how he has been wired since he hopped onto the national stage after winning the 1972 election to the U.S. Senate.

Biden has been on — or near that stage — for the past 50 years.

Am I concerned about falling approval ratings? Sure. Who wouldn’t be? The RealClearPolitics poll average puts the president’s approval rating at around 39%. Don’t remind me how bad that looks compared to what other presidents have experienced. I get it … totally!

Even though I won’t blame the president for all the issues that are dragging his poll numbers down, I certainly understand the need for the head of state and government and our commander in chief to get more aggressive in his use of the bully pulpit.

I remain a good-government progressive, which is how I describe a politician willing to compromise to achieve legislative success. Joe Biden has shown an ability to do such a thing over his many years in public service.

Yes, he is going to face pressure from the progressive wing of his own party and from the obstructionist wing of the Republican Party.

Stay the course, Mr. President.

johnkanelis_9@hotmail.com

national news

Prediction record remains in the tank

Well … it looks as though my miserable record of political prognostication remains in the dumper, given what’s being reported about what Donald J. Trump appears likely to do — maybe soon.

Major media organizations are reporting that Trump has made his decision. That he will seek the presidency again in 2024. Oh, my … be still my outright rage!

The twice-impeached crook who held the office for a term between 2017 and 2021 reportedly wants the office back in his grimy grip.

Against my better judgment and my horrible record, I went out on the ol’ limb and said Trump wouldn’t run in 2024.

But you know what? I am not going to wave the surrender flag just yet. All we know at this moment is that Trump is planning to make “an announcement.” Hmm. What will that “announcement” reveal? Any thoughts?

I just cannot get past the notion that Trump actually knows deep in what passes for a heart that he actually lost the 2020 election. Or that he understands that he is grievously damaged political goods, no matter the blathering of the shrinking mob of zealots who continue to stand by their cult leader.

Oh, and then we have what looks as though is a seriously legitimate possibility that the Department of Justice is going to indict the former Insurrectionist in Chief of serious crimes against the government. How does, oh, “conspiracy to commit sedition” strike you?

Thus, I find it strange in the extreme to believe that a former president who well could face a many-decades-long prison term actually will seek to sell himself to voters.

Then again … this is The Donald.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Time for heads to roll

I’ve seen and heard enough, even from some distance, about the failure of the Uvalde, Texas, school district chief of police to protect the children and teachers in that grief-stricken district.

Pete Arredondo needs to find another line of work far away from law enforcement. Thus, it is up to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees to fire him. Send him packing. He didn’t do his job.

Whenever I see the term “administrative leave,” I tend to cringe. All that means is that whoever is being “punished” for failure to do his or her job is still getting paid even though he or she is not performing the duties of the job. That describes Arredondo’s status at the moment.

A gunman walked into Robb Elementary School and slaughtered 19 children and two educators. About the only thing of consequence that Arredondo has said is that he didn’t know he was in charge of the police response to the massacre.

Really? If not you, then who should have been in charge. This happened on property you took an oath to protect. The chief didn’t do his job.

The dilly-dallying by the school board has gone on long enough. The whole grieving world now has seen the video of the cops standing around, trying to figure out what to do while the lunatic was killing children in the classroom.

This tragedy is on Pete Arredondo’s hands. He failed to do his job. Arredondo needs to go.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Staying away from initialized responses

I want to say a few words about a trend that became prevalent with the advent of social media and about how — as a general rule — I choose to communicate like a semi-normal human being rather than relying on this social media trend.

The trend is the use of initialized phrases. You know what I mean: LOL, SMH, LMAO, BTW, ICYMI … whatever. I can’t remember ’em all.

What’s more, I am not at all nuts about other abbreviated word forms that appear on my Twitter text messages: plz and ur come to mind immediately.

I prefer to write in complete sentences, using actual words with real definitions that one can find in a standard desk dictionary.

Why mention this at all? I guess it’s because I fear we are bastardizing our language, turning this complex language called English into something not entirely recognizable.

It was bad enough that my journalism career contributed to the destruction of my penmanship skills. My fellow journalists out there know of which I speak. I was forced over many years to write as rapidly as I could to be sure I can publish the quotes accurately from the individuals who were doing the speaking.

The result was a gradual decline in penmanship … for which I received good grades when I was in elementary school. I once was proud of my handwriting. No more, man.

Social media have taken that destruction to another level.

I am somewhat active on social media. I use email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn mostly. I just want to resist the urge to type those silly initialized references to phrases I normally would write or speak, although I do understand the reason for their existence in the first place: Twitter allows only a few characters to generate a message, so these are space-savers.

Oh, this modern method of communicating. It drives me nuts.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Teachers with guns? No!

The video of the police freezing in place while a gunman slaughtered fourth-graders and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school classroom has me thinking about one thing.

It’s the notion proposed by Republican politicians that we need to arm teachers, allow them to carry handguns into the classroom so they can take out shooters who did what the lunatic did in Uvalde.

My mind and my memory also are drawn to a comment that a North Texas educator told me just recently. He said teachers’ sign on to educate children. They do not become educators to pack firearms into school.

This educator told me in no way would he allow teachers to carry guns to work. What he didn’t say is what he would do if the local school board voted to authorize the arming of teachers. I think I know what he would do. He would resign.

Republican pols are wrong to suggest that teachers with guns is the correct response to this kind of carnage we have witnessed in Uvalde, or Newtown, Conn., or Littleton, Colo.

Meanwhile, our rage mounts as the video of the cops’ non-response to the Uvalde shooter burns ever more deeply into our soul.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Lesson in ethics

I watched an interesting bit of ethical correctness play out this week at a city council meeting I was covering for a newspaper for which I work on a freelance basis.

The Farmersville City Council made several appointments Tuesday night to citizen boards and commissions. One of the appointees was Sue Williams, who happens to be married to Terry Williams — who happens to serve on the City Council.

What did Terry Williams do prior to the vote? He motioned to the city attorney and asked to recuse himself from the vote. Terry Williams walked out of the council chambers and the council then voted to put Sue Williams on the board to which she had been nominated.

Why mention this? Ohhhh, because a member of the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t have the semblance of ethical propriety to recuse himself from court matters involving his wife.

Justice Clarence Thomas has voted on matters related to The Big Lie promoted by Donald J. Trump, the defeated and disgraced former president who — to this very moment — hasn’t yet conceded that he lost the 2020 election to President Biden.

The most recent ethical transgression occurred a few weeks ago when the Supreme Court voted 8-1 to require Trump to turn over White House records to the House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection. Who voted “no”? Justice Thomas.

Why did he vote no? It might have something to with the fact that his wife, Ginni, is an ardent MAGA follower of Trump and a believer in The Big Lie who attended the 1/6 rally but left before it turned into a violent frontal assault on the U.S. government.

Clarence Thomas clearly should take a page from the ethical book followed by a small-town city council member in North Texas.

Whereas Terry Williams saw the potential for conflict of interest were he to vote to accept his wife for a spot on a citizens panel, Clarence Thomas continues to ignore that gigantic blind spot.

Indeed, the justice would solve the problem altogether by resigning from the nation’s highest court — which he clearly should do.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Uvalde video: outrageous!

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott once proclaimed he was “livid” over what he said was a misleading report from police in their response to the Uvalde school massacre.

Well … I have to ask whether the governor is even more livid having no doubt seen the video of police officers scrambling like a group of Keystone Kops as the shooter opened fire in the Robb Elementary School classroom.

I mean, Abbott sat before us and praised the heroism and professionalism of the cops who responded to the slaughter of 19 fourth-graders and two of their teachers.

The video we have seen now tells us a radically — and tragically — different story. Stated briefly, the cops didn’t know what the hell they were doing!

They supposedly were trained to respond to “active shooter” incidents. Yet they did not seem to know how to take down the gunman. Some of them were protected by shields but they still didn’t storm the classroom.

The loved ones of the victims? Oh, they are royally enraged. As they should be!

They still demand answers. The cops aren’t giving them. They want the truth. They want closure. They demand to know who to hold accountable.

They need to know the whole truth behind this horrific tragedy.

Gov. Abbott needs to summon his reported anger at the cops and join the chorus of those demanding to know the truth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Damned if he does … or doesn’t

1 Comment

Merrick Garland is facing a serious case of twin damnation as he ponders whether to seek a criminal indictment against Donald J. Trump in the matter pertaining to that insurrection that the former POTUS incited.

The attorney general is going to balance his commitment to the law with the obvious pressure he will feel from both ends of the great divide.

The House of Representatives select committee that is looking at the insurrection, its aftermath, its cause and its result is going to decide whether to refer criminal charges to the Justice Department.

What does the AG do?

He will face certain recrimination no matter what he decides.

If AG Garland decides to prosecute Trump on, say, conspiracy to commit sedition, he will face the wrath of the far right and the Trump cultists. They’ll wave the “witch hunt” banner and proclaim that the “far left Democrat Party” is out to get their guy.

If, however, he decides against charging Trump with a crime, he will face the wrath of others who believe the president should not be allowed to walk away … again! I mean, he did skate through two impeachment trials and it well might be that a third successful avoidance of accountability could be too much for some of us to handle.

Then again, the attorney general could indict Trump on a host of lesser charges, which I am sure would bring its share of teeth-gnashing as well.

This is sort of my way of saying that I would not want to be in Merrick Garland’s place at this moment in history.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com