Monthly Archives: September 2022

legal news, local news

Conflict of interest?

Ellen Skinner wants to be elected justice of the peace in Collin County, Texas. If the Republican nominee for JP wins, she will join her husband as an elected official in this fast-growing county northeast of Dallas.

Now, what do we make of these two folks holding elected office?

Well, Mr. Skinner happens to be Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner, which makes me scratch my head just a bit. You see, Ellen Skinner would be adjudicating cases brought into her court — as often as not — by Collin County sheriff’s deputies. Both of these individuals are Republicans.

I am not going to level any accusations here, because I don’t know either of them … although I did shake Ellen Skinner’s hand several months ago at a meeting in Farmersville.

I reached out to a friend of mine, a former Democratic JP in Potter County. I asked my friend if she perceived a conflict of interest if the judge is making a judicial decision on a matter brought to her by the sheriff’s office. My friend believes a conflict could exist.

Hmm. I need to pursue this matter a bit further. I don’t want any conflict of interest. The JP candidate is a lawyer. The sheriff is an experienced law enforcement officer. Surely, they have discussed this matter at home.

From my seat, though, I have difficulty imagining how the JP avoids a complaint from someone who comes up on the short end of a judgment brought to the judge by the sheriff’s department.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Democrats playing with fire

I remain concerned, but not yet frightened, over the prospect of Democrats working overtly to help nominate MAGA-loving, election-denying, fruitcake Republicans to high public office.

It’s going on all across the country, with Democrats contributing actual cash money and casting actual votes for Republicans believing that nominating the weakest candidates guarantees a victory for Democrats this fall.

Not so fast, folks.

This is a game fraught with peril.

What in the world is going to happen if voters actually elect these election deniers to, say, governorships? There are individuals on some state ballots who promise to overturn the results of the 2024 presidential election if the “wrong” candidate wins. These are the folks Democrats are helping win their party’s nomination. Holy cow!

This kind of electoral tomfoolery can work. It also can backfire.

It’s the kind of act that makes me nervous.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sports news

Transfers give me pause

I remain steadfast in my athletic fuddy-duddyhood, in that I don’t much like some of the trends I see occurring in college and pro sports.

For example, the designated hitter rule in baseball is for the birds. Nor do I like playing football or baseball under a roof. I dislike “artificial turf” and I believe baseball players need not suit up with body armor befitting a combat soldier when they are hitting. Instant replay? Let the refs and umps call the game and stop the endless “reviews” on the field! They get damn near all the calls right as it is.

There. Now let’s turn to these “transfers” I keep reading about in college football. They generally are young men who have graduated already from one university, but with “football eligibility” remaining, they transfer through some sort of “portal” to another school.

Again, call me old-fashioned but I prefer to see a college football player play for the school where he enrolls, then after four years he is done; he either can turn pro or pursue another line of work, presumably in a profession related to the degree he is supposed to have earned at the college of his choice.

These “transfer athletes” seem to carry a bit of a mercenary aura about them. I guess they want to burnish their college career stats enough to make a pro team want to draft them higher and presumably offer them more money.

Sheesh!

This stuff makes my head hurt.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, economic news, education news, International news, local news, national news, State news, Vietnam War

Blast from violent past

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The tumult and tempest arising from the arrival of immigrants and, yes, refugees from Latin America have in their way taken me back to an earlier time in Texas when such new arrivals spawned violent protests and outright hatred.

Republican governors have taken great joy in sending migrants to Democratically held jurisdictions in a ploy to stick it in their ear. You favor welcoming these folks? Here, you can have ’em!

The Vietnam War ended in 1975 and with the end of the shooting in Vietnam thousands of refugees fled from Southeast Asia to the United States. They didn’t want to live under communist rule, so they found their way to the Land of Opportunity.

Many of those refugees settled along the Texas coast, seeking to resume their lives as fishermen and women. They sought to capitalize on the shrimp harvest opportunities. Not everyone welcomed them.

The Ku Klux Klan reared its ugly and evil head, raiding the Vietnamese shrimp fleets, cutting their nets and threatening the newcomers with violence if they didn’t leave the country. There was violence. Klansmen were charged with bringing physical harm and death to the Vietnamese.

Over time, though, the violence subsided. Today, in communities such as Port Arthur — with its substantial Vietnamese-American population — you find the influence of the descendants of those refugees in a most remarkable way. Check out the honor rolls of public high schools and you see plenty of names such as Nguyen, Phang and Lam. Yes, the children and grandchildren of those refugees excel academically and take that excellence with them into successful careers as adults

Do we really want to deny the current refugees — who flee communist tyranny in places such as Nicaragua and Venezuela — the same opportunity to succeed?

Let’s get real.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, media news, medical news

Blogging: preventative measure

I have read countless articles over many years about the value of maintaining one’s interest in matters such as, oh, national and world affairs can help stave off mental decline.

I mention this today because I just marked the 38th year since my dear mother died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. You surely know what that ailment entails. My family and I had little knowledge of it in the early 1980s when Mom was first diagnosed with it. She left us on Sept. 17, 1984 at the age of 61.

I have learned since then, though, that mental stimulation can be used as a preventative measure to fend off the symptoms of a decline in cognition. To be brutally frank, Mom’s life essentially ended when she no longer could work. She didn’t have interests outside of home or away from her profession as an administrative secretary, a career at which she excelled for many years.

It’s strange to say this out loud, but I will anyway: I think about Alzheimer’s disease almost every time I sit in front of my computer keyboard and pound out thoughts on this or that issue. My interest in these matters has outlived my career in print journalism by more than a decade. My full-time career ended on Aug. 31, 2012. The end came suddenly but given the state of decline in newspapers at the time, it wasn’t a surprise.

I have been able to transfer my modest skill at stringing sentences together to this avocation I have enjoyed. I also am able to continue writing for other media outlets: I freelance for a weekly newspaper in Collin County and for a public radio station affiliated with Texas A&M University-Commerce. I have told my employers at both places I intend to keep writing for them until (a) they no longer want me or (b) I lose my ability to string thoughts together … whichever comes first.

If the first event occurs, at least I will have this blog to keep me engaged. My hope now is that all I have read about how intellectual stimulation can stave off Alzheimer’s-related dementia is true.

So … let’s continue to enjoy the ride.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, International news, military news

Ukrainians uncover more war crimes

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As the Ukrainian armed forces take back large swaths of the nation taken by invaders from Russia, the world is getting an even more graphic look at what the Russian aggressors have done to civilians caught in their initial advance.

We are seeing mass graves containing the remains of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians. Yes, women and children are included in the remains of what Ukrainian soldiers have found.

Ukrainians are collecting testimony from surviving civilians who are recounting tales of horror and torture at the hands of the soldiers who captured the territory.

It’s hard to predict how the Ukraine War will end. There might be a negotiated settlement, with Russian thug/goon/strongman Vladimir Putin seeking to save face. Although it seems difficult to imagine how Putin has any more “face” to save, given what we know about the war crimes his forces have committed on orders from the Kremlin.

That turns the discussion toward what Putin might do on the battlefield, given Ukraine’s energized counteroffensive. CBS News “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley is going to ask President Biden what he’ll do if Putin resorts to chemical weapons or tactical nukes. “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” Biden said, telling Pelley that such a move would “change the face of war.”

What does the president intend to do? Pelley asked. Biden responded by saying, “Do you think I’m going to tell you?”

We all are left to lament the horror of war as it is being revealed even more to us by the advancing forces seeking to reclaim the country they thought they lost to the invaders.

I have said already that Vladimir Putin has exposed himself to be a war criminal. As the Ukrainians continue their advance, the world needs to summon the courage to put Putin, a hideous tyrant, on trial for the crimes he has committed against humanity.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, media news, national news

CNN ‘demotes’ Lemon? Hmm

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Don Lemon reportedly has been demoted by CNN in the latest move by the cable network to reshape its image and re-cast its brand.

I won’t comment on Lemon’s politics. Frankly, they don’t bother me as he and I think a lot alike. However, I cannot think of Don Lemon without recalling a question I understand he asked a guest regarding the disappearance a couple years ago of Malaysian Air 370, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

You’ll recall that the Boeing 777 jetliner with several hundred passengers aboard disappeared without a trace. Lemon was interviewing some aviation expert and asked, with a straight face, whether the plane could have flown into a “black hole.”

The question took Lemon’s guest aback. He then reminded Lemon that if a black hole is involved in the disappearance of Malaysian Air 370 that it would have “swallowed the entire solar system.”

I guess Lemon was asking … “for a friend.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, International news, Joe Biden, national news, national security

How much longer must the immigrant stunt go?

Two Republican governors — Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida — are doing a fine job of turning human beings’ hardship into a political stunt that they believe will resonate with Americans.

They are engaging in some of the cruelest policy decisions many of us have ever seen. They have decided to send migrants seeking entry into the United States to more liberal-leaning states to … seemingly make some kind of political point.

I wanted to toss a heavy object at my TV earlier this week when I witnessed the image of DeSantis laughing at the torment he is inflicting on immigrants from Latin America. He put 50 of them — including families with small children — on a chartered jet and flew them to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

He told them they would begin processing for entry into the United States. The migrants instead were delivered to an empty parking lot. Ah, but there was DeSantis in Florida, yukking it up over the game he is playing with the lives of desperate human beings fleeing tyranny.

Greg Abbott isn’t any better. He is shipping migrants out of Texas on buses, delivering them to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other communities known to be friendlier toward these migrants.

I understand fully that President Biden’s immigration policy so far is not dealing adequately with the numbers of people seeking asylum and even a safe place to escape the horrors of life in their home countries. However, is the Republican response any better? Do these governors offer any policy alternatives?

No! Instead, they play games with human lives in a disgraceful display of callousness.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, economic news, Joe Biden, national news

Biden helps avert crisis

(AP Photo/Michael Virtanen)

Hey, let’s heap a good bit of good cheer on the Joe Biden administration, shall we? Why the high-five and the back-slap? Because the administration did what Americans expect it to do by stepping in to broker a deal that averted a potentially catastrophic blow to the nation’s economy.

As President Biden might say, this is a “big … fu**ing … deal,” if you get my drift.

Had the strike gone forward, as it was slated to do on Friday, valuable shipments of grain, food, all sorts of commodities, heavy equipment — you name it — would have come to a halt. You want a “supply chain crisis?” There you have it … in spades!

But the tentative agreement, presuming it’s ratified by the unions and the rail lines, means the goods will keep rolling and the crisis will have been averted.

You all know that this blog supports President Biden and the work he is doing on our behalf. I will offer a word of good cheer to the president, because I believe he deserves it. However, the big winner of this deal happens to be the 330 million Americans that the president represents.

Americans keep getting buffeted by doomsayers who suggest the economy is tanking, that “socialists” are poised to take over the government, that the U.S.A has become the “laughingstock of the world.”

The news about the White House stepping up to provide its good offices to end a potentially horrendous labor dispute demonstrates that the opposite of all that is so very true.

As The Hill reports: “It’s a big political risk. If it all blew up, the administration was going to be left holding the bag,” an industry source familiar with the talks said.

How Biden helped avert a rail strike – and another economic crisis | The Hill

It appears at this moment that nothing has blown up. I want to thank the federal government led by President Joe Biden for averting disaster.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Media knife plunges deeply

The media butchers who now run more newspapers than any other single group in America has done it again, cutting even more deeply into a newspaper that, for my money, had been decimated already to the point of no return.

I have just learned that the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas, where I spent nearly 18 (mostly) glorious years writing opinions and managing opinion pages for the publication of record for the Texas Panhandle, has terminated the fellow who was managing those pages.

Doug Hensley, a fellow I do not know, was cut by GateHouse Media. Hensley was among the 400 or so employees cut by GateHouse in the latest round of staff butchery. He held the title of associate regional editor and director of commentary for the Globe-News.

The corporate owners have reduced the opinion pages to one per week. I don’t know who’s tasked with writing editorials, or even if the company publishes editorials on local issues any longer. We used to publish two full pages of commentary daily. Occasionally we would collect so many letters to the editor from readers that we would clear the decks of all the syndicated commentary just to give the locals a chance to sound off on the pages of their newspaper.

The sad truth is that the longer I am away from the full-time career I pursued with great glee the less aware I am of what is happening at the place where I spent my longest single tenure. I am left only to watch my heart fill with sadness over what I know has occurred.

The newspaper that I once knew no longer is as relevant to people’s lives as it once was. I get it. You may spare me the explanation of what has become of community newspaper journalism. I know what has happened.

I also know that young journalists are still entering the field and are doing some version of what I did for nearly 37 years. There’s just so damn fewer of them now than before and that their work is appearing on computer screens rather than on newsprint.

It’s just a sad story to report that the media butchers keep cleaving off huge chunks of what made our craft so special.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com