Monthly Archives: July 2023

national news

‘Fourth’ was prelim to great main event

Americans today are marking the 247th birthday of this nation’s Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

Yes, it is a date worth commemorating, worth celebrating and worth honoring. The reality, though, is that this day was a preliminary event to the real thing, which occurred after the American Revolution ended in 1781.

Our Declaration of Independence launched a war that took thousands of American lives. It is a masterful document penned by a man who would become our third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson. It speaks to the many issues that forced the United States of America to declare its existence … and to go to war with the English Crown.

After the last shots were fired at Yorktown, Va., the hard began. It would take several years. Finally, there emerged a Constitution. The nation’s governing framework was given life.

It is under assault today, which brings me to the point I want to make with utmost pride and vigor.

Which is that the Constitution, i believe fully, is strong enough to withstand these challenges from within our borders. A presidential candidate lost an election three years ago but refused to concede the obvious. He sought to overthrow the government as it sought to certify the results of the 2020 election. He failed only because members of his own political party refused to do his bidding.

They were faithful to the Constitution and the oath they took to honor, defend and protect it.

Our Constitution has withstood many challenges over its more than two centuries of life. I will stand foursquare on my belief it will stand firm against this challenge and — I will hope — against any that arise in the future.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

World has gone bonkers!

I am not usually prone to wondering about the state of play in today’s world, wondering out loud about contemporary trends.

But so help me, I cannot fathom these public opinion polls showing Donald Trump actually defeating President Biden in head to head matchups prior to the 2024 presidential election.

The guy — that would be Trump — was impeached twice while he worked in the White House. He has been indicted twice for felony crimes; one of the indictments came from the Manhattan District Attorney, the other from the U.S. Justice Department.

It all makes me wonder: what the hell is wrong with this nation of ours?

I am heartened by the knowledge that we are a long way from Election Day. Polls can change.

Yes, I tend to trust polling as a stop-gap measure of the national mood.

I am just shaking my noggin.

Johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Oh, how she loved this land

The lady you see in this picture passed away 45 years ago on this very day; therefore, I want to take this opportunity to salute her while honoring the birth of the nation she loved with all her heart.

She was my maternal grandmother. Her given name was Diamondoula Panesoy. She married my grandfather after being betrothed to him for many years. This intrepid Greek woman made a harrowing journey from Marmara, Turkey, to the United States, boarded a train from New York City to Portland, Ore., and got married.

They produced three children, one of whom was my mother. The kids you see in this picture with our Yiayia are my sisters and me.

She chose to become an American, which to my way of thinking makes her an exceptional citizen of this great land. Yiayia — which is Greek for grandma — would repeatedly brush off suggestions that she return to “the old country” to visit, to see her “homeland.” She would answer, “But I am ‘home,’ where I belong.”

She never looked back once she left southeastern Europe.

Yiayia died on July 4, 1978. She had been battling many illnesses. My late wife, Kathy Anne, quipped not long after Yiayia’s passing that “She chose to die on this date just to make sure you would remember.”

Yiayia was without question a most memorable individual. Everyone knew her as “Yiayia.” That included the kids in her Southeast Portland neighborhood, the kids’ parents, the mailman, the milkman, the guys who picked up her trash, the clerks at the grocery store where Kathy Anne and I would take her on occasion.

Above all, she was a dedicated American citizen. She worshiped FDR and JFK. She always remembered to vote. As one of my uncles once noted, she probably was a closet socialist. She believed that government should help every American.

She made our nation better simply by being among its taxpaying, voting, red-blooded American citizens. Yiayia strengthened this strong land by loving it openly and without a hint of reservation.

So … this is my way of offering a heartfelt birthday wish to a great land, which opened its doors to a woman who — in my view — would become one of its greatest Americans.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

science news

AI: a frightening prospect

None of the technical advances that have come along over the years has given me the willies the way “artificial intelligence” has done.

Yep. This whole AI commotion has sent me into the weirdest feeling of insecurity I have ever experienced.

AI — which is now the term of art for this technology — is about to call into question virtually every spoken word uttered in public. Is it the real person or is it some artificially produced of the voice we are hearing?

Those of us who toiled in the craft of journalism have reason to be concerned about this so-called technological “advance.” We have relied on the sources we develop during our years telling the stories of the communities where we live. What might happen to those sources now with artificially produced voices being able to sound like the real thing?

Look, I don’t believe I am pushing any panic buttons here.

I am sure you have heard about the pending release of the final song The Beatles have finished, right? It started with a demo tape recorded by the late John Lennon. I have heard it was a rough tape. Sir Paul McCartney got hold of the tape and with aid of artificial intelligence has been able to blend in the voices of the late George Harrison, along with his own voice, to produce a song that will carry the name of The Beatles.

Except that John and George have been dead for 43 and 22 years, respectively.

What we have will be an AI version of The Beatles. Not the actual musicians.

I don’t know. This AI technology simply gives me the creeps. I know I sound like a fogey resistant to change. I am not that kind of person. I have learned — and am learning — to adapt to changes every single day.

However, I fear the day will arrive when I will doubt whether I am hearing the real thing or some manufactured version of it.

It’s frightening.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

A hero forever

There’s something profoundly poetic about the Allen Police officer choosing to remain anonymous after his heroic action a few weeks ago to take out a killer who opened fire at the Allen Premium Outlet Mall.

He has been labeled a true-blue hero by media all over the country. And … he surely fits what anyone would describe as a hero.

He was talking to a young woman and her two small children when he heard gunfire at the mall. He reached for his rifle and sprinted toward the deadly sound.

He saw the killer and then shot him to death, but not before the madman had taken the lives of eight innocent victims.

Too often society tosses the word “hero” around, hanging the term on superstar athletes, for example. Nothing they do comes close to the heroism displayed that day in Allen.

Moreover, the officer’s decision to remain anonymous only heightens his heroism. He doesn’t appear interested in calling any attention to himself.

We are left, then, as bystanders to wish this hero well as he copes with the intense stress he clearly must have felt that day at the Allen mall.

A true hero doesn’t want to bask in his glory. He or she goes about living their lives. As the Dallas Morning News said in an editorial published this past Friday: “We don’t know his name. But we are grateful to him and all like him who give themselves to the protection of their communities.

“We need true heroes among us. And in Allen, we have one.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Happy birthday, USA!

I am a flag-waving patriot, for which I make no apology. Indeed, it seems odd that I even feel the need to offer that ridiculous qualifier, but I do feel compelled to say as much.

Old Glory flies over the front porch of my Princeton, Texas home. It comes down if the weather threatens to get too windy; I don’t want the wind to rip the flag off the holder my son bolted into the brick and mortar for my wife and me.

Where am I going with this? The nation celebrates its 247th birthday on Tuesday. So-called phony patriots have been in the news over the past recent years, proclaiming themselves to love our country while standing under the Stars and Bars banner, the symbol of the Confederate States of America, the organization that declared war against the government in 1861.

Enough about them.

I stand by my flag and my nation because I was taught, primarily by my father, to honor the country and to serve the country if it calls your name. Dad served his nation with honor and heroism when, on Dec. 7, 1941, we were attacked by a foreign power. He enlisted that day in the Navy and in about a month was on his way into the fight of his life — and the fight of the nation’s life.

A generation later, my country called on me to don the uniform. I joined the Army and served with far less heroism than Dad did. However, the lessons I learned as a boy carried me through a couple years of active duty, including a stint in Vietnam.

I grew weary long ago of the faux patriotism of those who literally wrap themselves in the flag of our great nation. Our pride in our country isn’t about a piece of cloth. It is about the principles on which the founders created the nation.

They founded a nation on one principle in particular, which is the freedom to dissent, to protest government policy. We do so peacefully — most of the time! I am OK with that. Hell, I have protested my government’s policy at times myself.

It doesn’t make me love my country any less. It makes me love it even more. It also enables me to wish my country a heartfelt happy birthday as it approaches one more Independence Day.

Happy birthday, America. I love you more than I can express.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Hits just keep coming for Paxton

Ken Paxton, the impeached Texas attorney general, just can’t stop making “hits” that cause state House of Representatives investigators to keep dancing.

Now the House is examining some potentially dicey real estate purchases Paxton made with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton. They total more than $3 million. Paxton’s lawyer said the couple merely was looking into purchasing the property while interest rates were low.

But wait! Is this the kind of thing we can expect from our state’s chief law enforcement officer? Good grief!

He is set to stand trial beginning Sept. 5 in the Senate on allegations that he has abused his office. The House has until early August to determine whether to add to the impeachment articles already on the Senate’s trial agenda.

The Texas Tribune reports: The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Paxton, his wife and a family trust doled out nearly $3.5 million on six properties from July 2021 to April 2022 in Oklahoma, Florida, Utah and Hawaii. The timing and amount of money drew the attention of House investigators, according to the newspaper.

In late September 2020, several of Paxton’s top aides reported to the FBI that they believed he was misusing his office to help a wealthy campaign donor, Austin real estate investor Nate Paul. Those allegations are tied to most of the 20 articles of impeachment that the House approved last month.

Texas House looking into Ken Paxton real estate buys, report says | The Texas Tribune

If it isn’t securities fraud allegations, or the accusations of bribery and corruption, or reports of doing favors for political donors … it’s this.

This guy is a joke!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news, national news, political news

Time limit on campaigns?

Does it seem like an hour or so ago that the 2020 presidential election came to a conclusion … and already we are in the midst of the next campaign for the U.S. presidency?

It does to me. It also makes me wonder whether the Europeans have the right idea on how to manage these campaigns.

It varies from country to country, but many nations — and I am looking at Europe at the moment — place a time limit on when candidates can campaign actively for high office.

I cannot recall the specifics, but I have heard anecdotally about campaigns for head of government or head of state lasting no more than six weeks or so.

Given the nature of our presidential campaigns, including the incessant and relentless fundraising that must occur to pay for them, I am willing at least to consider implementing such restrictions here.

The 2020 campaign began almost immediately at the end of the 2016 campaign and on and on it has gone through the past many presidential election cycles.

It never ends!

The news media feel compelled to report on the comings and goings of candidates in and out of, say, the early primary states. They speculate on who’s in and who’s just out for a weekend eating bad fair food and kissing children.

I lose interest in the early reporting of these campaigns. I get it back closer to the stretch drive. In the meantime, though, I have to suffer through endless news reports of what this potential candidate is saying about himself or herself and about the other candidates.

Hey, I consider myself a political junkie. Maybe I should change that to “recovering political junkie.” My recovery, though, is made more difficult by the non-stop campaigning that just won’t cease.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Grief: individualized, indeed

All of my friends and family have told me this repeatedly since I ran smack into the worst day of my life.

Do not put a timetable on anything as it regards how you will mend your shattered heart, they have said. Grief is as individualized an emotion as any human being ever will experience.

I have learned that lesson as time marches on since the passing of my bride, Kathy Anne, to the ravages of cancer.

It’s coming up on my five months since she passed. It remains a struggle, to be sure. Friends who lost spouses a lot longer ago than I have tell me they still break out in tears without warning. They still struggle to hold their emotions together when certain dates come and go.

They all assure me that time will make it easier to cope with it, but that I should not expect it to disappear. It will stay with me for as long as I walk this Earth. I get it!

You see, this is the first such experience that I have felt. The loss of my parents was in one instance shocking and in the other was expected. The shocking loss of Dad in that boat wreck in September 1980 caused my blood seemingly to drain from my body the moment I got the news. Mom’s passing from Alzheimer’s complications four years later saddened me, but in a different way.

Time eventually mended my heart after their deaths.

This one feels unique. Kathy Anne and I were together for 51 years as husband and wife. Her diagnosis came the day after Christmas 2022. She was gone six weeks later. How am I supposed to cope with that, given the optimism to which we clung after hearing about her potential prospects once she began her treatment.

We didn’t anticipate the aggressive nature of the cancer that had struck her and the savagery it exhibited as it grew back.

All of this has contributed to my continued pain as I trudge along on this journey.

I know my family and friends are right. I know what to expect and I know what not to expect as I move ahead. I’ll just ask everyone to bear with me … and I know they will.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, Sports news

MLB game on tap … woo hoo!

1 Comment

I’ve just received a marvelous invitation from a friend of mine … and I have to share it here.

In a couple of weeks I am going to see my first Major League Baseball game in nearly 60 years.

My friend called to tell me he purchased a couple of tickets for the Texas Rangers game in Arlington. We’ll meet before the game and head for the seats. The last MLB game I witnessed was in August 1964.

It occurred at Candlestick Park. The San Francisco Giants played host to the Cincinnati Reds. It featured three future Hall of Famers, two of whom played that game; the third one, Willie Mays of the Giants, sat it out.

But the two H of F’ers who did suit up delivered big time. Willie McCovey of the Giants hit a home run into the SF Bay cove that now bears his name. Frank Robinson of the Reds hit a couple of dingers out that day. The Reds won 7-1.

I want to thank my friend profusely for inviting me to this game.

I have heard plenty about the Rangers’ new ballpark. My son and I attended a Sir Paul McCartney concert in the “old” ballpark in the summer of 2019 and to be honest, I do not quite understand why they had to build a new ballpark, because the old park looked pretty nice to me.

Whatever … I’ll be like a kid again when the Rangers take the field.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com