Monthly Archives: June 2021

Joe Biden

‘Normal’ looks so special

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A brief conversation with a member of my family brought to mind something I have thought since the Donald Trump Era came to a halt and we welcomed in a new era of “presidential normality.”

My family member couldn’t speak angrily enough about the way Trump conducted himself in office. I responded that my own view is that a “non-traditional presidency” wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if the president exhibited any form of competence. That is one of the many shortcomings that Trump brought to the office; he didn’t know anything about government and his actions reflected a knee-jerk, chaos-driven philosophy. The man is incompetent. Not to mention crooked, amoral/immoral and narcissistic. Oops, I just did.

Which brings me to this point.

President Biden’s normal approach to governing now looks special in its own right. It’s not that Joe Biden has scored dozens of key legislative victories. He has just one so far: the COVID 19 relief package that passed with zero Republican help. He well could roll up some more wins with only aid from fellow Democrats. That’s fine.

The Trump method just didn’t work. The Biden method — which features attempts at compromise and jaw-boning with the loyal opposition — holds considerable promise … if only the GOP members of Congress would cut the POTUS just a bit of slack. The problem, though, is that the GOP caucus is being dominated by the Loony Bin Wing, the Trump adherents who keep fomenting the Big Lie about 2020 presidential election vote fraud that did not exist.

I am going to stick with the guy who ran for office vowing to “restore our nation’s soul.” He’s got a ways to go before he can declare full restoration. The normal approach to governing, though, looks pretty good to me.

national news

Go it alone, Mr. President

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If you put a gun to my noggin and forced me to make a prediction, I am likely to say that President Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress are on their own if they want to enact an infrastructure improvement package.

Biden is trying like the dickens to get Republicans to sign on. He is coming up empty.

The president has pitched a $2.25 trillion package. Republicans want to spend a lot less. Biden wants it to include job creation, climate change remedies and assistance to families. The GOP wants more emphasis on roads, bridges, airports, seaports.

They remain far apart.

Biden has been meeting with GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. They remain deadlocked.

Oh, what to do. I guess it well might fall on President Biden and Democrats in both congressional chambers to go it alone. Hey, they did it already with the COVID stimulus/relief package that Republicans resisted, only to then take credit for some of the programs it helped salvage.

Ayeee. It’s frustrating for those of us who want to see government work. We watch the president and congressional Democrats seeking to put government to work for us instead of against us. Then we watch Republicans dig in, resisting this and that, claiming that Democrats are playing “politics” with things such as, oh, the Jan. 6 commission that would find answers and solutions to the horrifying insurrection.

It occurs to me that Biden well might have offered a high-end proposal infrastructure knowing that Republicans would low-ball a counter-offer. Could it be that President Biden is aiming toward something in the middle, which is where he intended for this discussion to go?

That’s how you negotiate. If not, then I hope he and Democrats are ready to take off without their GOP friends.

DC riot, national news

Rep. Cheney rules?

(Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. — As we approached the Utah border with Wyoming, I was hoping to receive a unique form of greeting from the state we were entering.

I wanted to see a sign that said something like: Welcome to Wyoming, home of Rep. Liz Cheney, one of the few Republicans in Congress with a backbone.

We didn’t see it. However, as we trekked through this state I am left to wonder a thing or two about the embattled congresswoman.

Allow to me clear the air a bit.

I did not much care for Cheney’s decision to run for the lone U.S. House seat in this marvelous, sprawling and so very scenic state. She is an arch-conservative thinker, the daughter of an equally conservative former Wyoming congressman, defense secretary and vice president. What’s more, I considered her a carpetbagger, given that she did not grow up in this state; she is a child of Washington, D.C., where her dad served for so many years prior to becoming VP during the Bush 43 administration.

She was elected to the House. Then she did something so remarkable that it has given me a reason to rethink some of my original dislike of her as a politician.

Rep. Cheney voted to impeach Donald J. Trump in his second House impeachment. She was one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who agreed with most of the country: Donald Trump incited an insurrection against the government, which at the time of the Jan. 6 riot was certifying President Biden’s election. Trump is still having none of that and Cheney is having none of Trump’s insistence in the Big Lie that he was the victim of some massive electoral theft conspiracy.

She has said so with vigor and passion, so much so that nitwits like Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz — the alleged child molester and sex trafficker — has come to Wyoming to criticize his fellow conservative colleague.

So it is with some measure of gratitude that I wandered through this state knowing that it is represented in the House of Reps by an individual who is willing to stand up the Trump cult of personality.

If only she could take the next step and endorse some of the progressive notions being kicked around by President Biden and his Democratic friends in Congress.

Well, we can’t have all that we want … right?

DC riot

We need a probe into Jan. 6!

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If only the congressional obstructionist caucus — comprising Republicans, of course — would appreciate the gravity of the attack that occurred on Jan. 6.

They can’t or won’t accede to demands from Democrats that there needs to be a thorough accounting of the insurrection that occurred on that horrible day.

As many in Congress have noted: The nation’s Capitol has been attacked twice in its history and this attack, unlike the first one during the War of 1812, was done by Americans. It was an attack on our governmental process and it sought to overturn the results of a certifiably free, fair and legal presidential election.

Democrats are now left to weigh how they could proceed without Republican cooperation, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer have insisted on.

As The Hill reported: In a call this week with House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) floated four different routes Congress could take: have the Senate vote again on the House-passed bill to create an outside commission; form a select House committee, consisting of lawmakers hand-picked by leaders in both parties; allow several sitting committees to continue their probes into Jan. 6; or empower a single House committee, like Homeland Security or Oversight, to take the lead on the investigation.

Democrats debate shape of new Jan. 6 probe (msn.com)

Yes, we know the outlines of the event. Donald Trump held a rally on the Ellipse that morning. He revved up the riotous mob. The terrorists then marched on the Capitol Building. They stormed into the place. They injured many of the cops trying to protect members of Congress and the vice president from the mob. One of the DC cops died in the melee. Donald Trump did nothing to stop it.

A thorough investigation into the event can determine ways to prevent it from happening again. That solution lies at the heart of the need for this probe.

If only congressional Republicans would buy into the need to prevent a repeat of the attack that threatened them, too.

DC riot

Pence and Trump ‘may never agree’?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Mike Pence continues to demonstrate the suck-up qualities he put to dubious use while serving as vice president during the Donald J. Trump administration.

Consider what he told an audience in New Hampshire this week:

“You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day. But I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years,” Pence said to applause.

“And I will not allow Democrats or their allies in the media to use one tragic day to discredit the aspirations of millions of Americans, or allow Democrats or their allies in the media to distract our attention from a new administration intent on dividing our country to advance their radical agenda,” Pence continued.

Just to remind the former VP: The riotous mob that Trump incited stormed the Capitol Building with signs that screamed “Hand Mike Pence!” What’s more, Trump did not a damn thing to stop the onslaught after it spiraled out of control. Oh, and he didn’t call Pence for several days after he got out of the Capitol Building while hiding in a secure location to protect himself from the terrorist mob.

Do I really believe he and Trump have spoken “many times” since that hideous event?

Not for one second.

Yeah, Mr. VP,  we’ll all “move on” once we get a full accounting of what happened that day. In case Pence has forgotten, the mob launched a full frontal assault on the very democracy he and Trump vowed to “defend and protect.”

local news

Farmland beauty! Who knew?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The picture you see attached to this blog post is of a field of grain near Walla Walla.

I snapped it while my wife and I waited for a flagger to signal us forward through highway construction. We waited a good while.

The picture really does little justice to what we saw as we traveled through the region in the southeastern corner of Washington. I want to share with you here, though, an observation we both made almost at the same time.

It is that I never thought cultivated farmland could be so damn gorgeous. We were amazed at the harmony among the plots of land. They were owned by various families. But so help me I was struck by how well-manicured all the farmland appeared to be.

What’s more, it was as if all the landowners got together and decided how their land would look to ensure that it didn’t conflict with the tract of terra firma next door.

The grow a lot of wheat in this part of the nation. They also grow plenty of grapes for the nearly 100 wineries that have sprung up in the Palouse region. A friend we visited in the area calls it the “Napa Valley of the North.” It is transforming the region in front of everyone’s eyes.

Did I ever think a patch of cultivated farmland would be worth sharing on this social media platform?

No. Not ever. Not until we saw it up close.

national news

Why do they think like this?

66699428 – divided usa patriotic old flag on a map with weathered wood background with copy space for message

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Traveling through the state of my birth I am astounded as I ponder an item I saw on the news the other day.

Residents of seven counties in rural eastern and southern Oregon, where I was born a million years ago, want to separate from the state to which they have belonged since 1859 and join — gulp! — Idaho.

Why? I guess those folks feel more akin to the thoughts, policies and political mores of their neighbors to the east. I had heard about petitions that are asking for the separation.

I was visiting with a high school friend who now lives near Walla Walla, Wash., and he and I agreed on two points: The folks in rural Oregon are fanatical about Donald Trump and — this is the more important element — a separation and joining with another state ain’t gonna happen.

I reminded my friend that we have this discussion in Texas now and then. Some nimrods talk openly about Texas seceding from the Union, which of course is illegal. Other nimrods insist that there is some language in the Texas Constitution that allows the state to partition itself into multiple mini-states. This kind of malarkey is heard occasionally in the Texas Panhandle, where we lived for 23 years before moving to the Dallas/Forth Worth Metroplex.

It’s also been a subject of coffee shop banter in the Oklahoma Panhandle, aka No Man’s Land, where folks feel next to zero connection with the policies handed down from the state capital way down yonder in Oklahoma City.

Back to my point about the seven Oregon counties.

The argument we hear in truth is not unique to Oregon. These seven counties all voted significantly for Donald Trump in the two elections for president in which he ran. They have no affinity for the politics of Portland, Salem or Eugene — those liberal bastions where the bulk of the population lives and which voted overwhelmingly for President Biden in 2020 and for Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016.

I am not going to lose any sleep, expend any emotional capital or worry one little bit about it all. Other than to lament that this kind of nonsense is bound to pick up some steam for as long as Donald Trump is alive and willing to fan the flames of such idiocy.

national news

Stop the demagoguery on guns!

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am on the verge of pulling my hair out!

The hysteria mounted by those who oppose legislative solutions to the national gun violence epidemic is driving me to the edge of insanity.

The gun lobby keeps yammering about how those of us who want to make it even more difficult for nut jobs to obtain firearms are actually intent on “taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.”

I can think of fewer contemporary discussion topics that are farther from the truth than that one. I know what the Second Amendment says about the right to “keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” I also know that it would be political folly for any reasonable politician to suggest that the amendment be stricken from the U.S. Constitution.

To say, though, that our intent is to disarm Americans is flat out wrong. It is frightening. It also is dangerous.

The danger comes in the form of those who believe such bullsh** and who react by storming government buildings, fully armed, threatening to do bodily harm to elected officials who are trying their level best to make us safer from the nut jobs among us.

We have witnessed such incidents in Oregon, Michigan, Texas (where my family and I live) and throughout the nation. The gun lobby has latched onto people’s fears and is exploiting it to the maximum degree. The whole lot of them are being led by the immediate past POTUS who foments the nonsense by declaring that “Democrats want to destroy the Second Amendment.”

I will not tolerate such utter trash. I remain committed to the notion that there remains a sensible legislative answer to the gun violence plague that retains the integrity of the Second Amendment. Anyone who suggests it’s all an effort to “disarm law-abiding citizens” is flat-out crazy.

State news

You go, ‘P’!

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas needs an attorney general who:

  • Isn’t under indictment and is awaiting trail in state court for securities fraud.
  • Isn’t being investigated by the FBI on complaints leveled by former highly placed legal staffers that he is breaking federal law.
  • Doesn’t file lawsuits alleging that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from a crooked president who promotes the Big Lie about election fraud.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has declared he is going to run in the Republican Party primary next year against incumbent Texas AG Ken Paxton. Is Bush going to get my vote? That remains an open question, as I am unsure whether I will vote in the GOP primary next year.

However, I welcome P’s challenge of Paxton, who I consider to be an embarrassment as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

The Texas Tribune reports: “Enough is enough, Ken,” Bush said during a campaign kickoff at a downtown Austin bar. “You’ve brought way too much scandal and too little integrity to this office. And as a career politician for 20 years, it’s time for you to go.”

Good grief. Paxton was a mediocre lawyer and a back-bench legislator when he was elected attorney general in 2014. Then came the indictment from a Collin County grand jury alleging that he failed to inform investors of his financial connection to certain investments.

Arguably the most troubling episode occurred a year ago when high-powered AG office legal staffers blew the whistle on Paxton’s alleged misconduct, including a complaint that involved bribery.

Is this the kind of individual we want representing the state?

Hell no! I want the clown removed from office one way or another … whether by conviction in state court or a sanctioned complaint by the FBI — or by voters who have had enough of this clown’s monkey business.

George P. Bush isn’t exactly a legal heavyweight. He is a political player by virtue of his last name. He is the nephew and grandson of two former presidents and the son of a former Florida governor.

What’s more, he is able to campaign on his relatively clean background and the fact that he isn’t accused of criminal activity … which is far more than the incumbent can say as he seeks to win a third term as Texas attorney general.

Donald Trump

Donald won’t run … ever again

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelils_92@hotmail.com

Against my better judgment, I am going to offer something that to some will resemble a political prediction, except that I have given up on predicting things political.

So, here goes. It is my considered opinion that Donald Trump will decide that he cannot win the presidency back from President Biden. Nor does he even have confidence in winning the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2024.

You see, The Donald is now in command of the nut job wing of the GOP. So help me I am beginning to hear the faint stirring of establishment Republicans who finally are finding the voices that left them during Trump’s two impeachment trials.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan — one of the chief GOP weenies — has said the party is doomed if it gloms onto following an individual rather than adhering to a philosophy. Rep. Liz Cheney continues to pound Trump for inciting the riot on Jan. 6. Sen. Mitt Romney and five other Republican senators voted to create a bipartisan commission to examine the cause of the Trump-inspired insurrection.

Is there a pattern developing? Oh, I certainly hope so.

Trump might find it more to his advantage to pull some strings behind the scenes rather than expose himself to the possibility of losing the GOP nomination, let alone the probability of losing another general election in just a little more than three years.

I have no way of knowing any of this will play out as I hope it does. So I am going to avoid predicting such an outcome.

Oh, and we also have the prospect of criminal indictments in New York City and in Fulton County, Ga., involving Trump, his company and perhaps even members of The Donald’s family. Are there truly enough whack jobs among Republicans to nominate and elect the former chief imbecile to the nation’s highest office?

If so, then we’re in a whole lot more trouble than any of us imagined.