Monthly Archives: February 2022

local news

Power keeps me on edge

So … the power blinked off for a few minutes today in our North Texas community. The outage appeared to be widespread.

Then it came back on for a couple of seconds, then it went dark again.

It stayed dark for, oh, about 15 more minutes. It’s back on at this moment.

Truth is, though, I am getting the heebie-jeebies over the status of our electrical system. It’s not supposed to be this squirrely. I mean, we live in the energy capital of the universe. We’re supposed to be the highest of the high-tech regions anywhere on Earth.

Memories of the Winter of 2021 are too fresh in our minds. The power went out for several days during the killer freeze this past February.

I get that we cannot control every single aspect of our lives, given our reliance on technology that, after all, is developed by fellow fallible human beings.

Still, this brief power failure makes me nervous as all get-out.

Oh, I should add that the weather today is spectacularly gorgeous.

I am going to hope for the best.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

If only Trump knew …

I have sought to inform readers of this blog about the myriad reasons Donald Trump was so profoundly unfit to serve as president of the United States.

One of those reasons has been laid bare in recent weeks. It has been his total ignorance of the power of the presidency and vice presidency and the limitations placed on both offices by the Constitution of the United States, the document Trump and Vice President Mike Pence swore to uphold and defend.

Trump’s urging of Pence to “overturn” the results of the 2020 election on 1/6 illustrates so graphically the ignorance of Trump about the government he was elected in 2016 to lead.

Had he any notion of the limits of presidential power, or any understanding of what the Constitution allowed, he might not have demanded that Pence do what the VP knew in real time he could not do. Pence knew he could not overturn any state’s duly certified election returns. Pence knew the limits of his role on that horrible day, which was to preside over Congress’s task of certifying the results of a free, fair, legal and secure election.

I don’t want to say, “I told you so,” but Trump’s abject ignorance of government, mixed with his delusions of grandeur, have produced a case study in how unfit this guy was to have occupied the most powerful office in the land … and arguably the most exalted office on Earth.

Y’all saw it right here.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Law and order party? Hah!

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There once was a time when Republicans across the country were proud of their party’s stand in support of police officers, police agencies and their quest to enforce the law in an orderly society.

Law and order? That was the Republican mantra. That was then. These days? This is the party that has just issued a censure punishing two GOP members of Congress and whose chairwoman has declared that the 1/6 riot on Capitol Hill was a demonstration of “legitimate political discourse.” The censured lawmakers — Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — were slapped down because they are serving on a committee that seeks the truth and stands for the rule of law.

Oh, I now shall add that the treasonous insurrectionists attacked Capitol Police officers on Capitol Hill, injuring several of them, killing one of them.

Has the Republican National Committee condemned that act? Has it censured the rioters? Has it backed the congressional committee that seeks to find the truth behind what led to the riot, what happened during the event and how to prevent future events from occurring.

I damn near tossed something at the TV set this morning when I heard GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas accuse Democrats of “politicizing” the riot of 1/6. Good ever-lovin’ God in heaven! The riot was a hideous political act that was aimed at stopping the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

What’s more, the traitors who stormed the Capitol Building trampled over police officers whose duty was to protect the members of Congress who were targeted by the mob!

Why in the name of enforcing the law don’t Republicans in Congress stand up for those men and women and against the traitors who sought to do them harm?

Law and order party? My rear end!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news, political news

RNC takes aim at wrong target

The Republican National Committee’s censure of two stalwart members of its own party is a profound demonstration of stupidity that transcends mere ignorance.

The RNC has scolded U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because — and this is remarkable in its idiocy — for serving on a House committee that seeks to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection.

Yes, Cheney and Kinzinger — two conservative members of a once-proud party — have placed their loyalty to the rule of law over any phony loyalty to an individual, namely Donald J. Trump … who incited the traitors to riot on 1/6.

So, because they have been faithful to their oath of office — the same oath that other members of Congress and the president take — they are being punished. They have been cast aside. They have been they are no longer welcome as part of the Republican delegation.

This is unbelievable!

RNC censures Cheney, Kinzinger for serving on Jan. 6 panel – Daily News

Where is the scorn that should be heaped on the rioters? RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel instead has called their actions that horrible day as a demonstration of “legitimate political discourse.” She didn’t separate anyone’s behavior on that day; she said the entire event was OK because it constituted a protest against the government. What utter bullsh**!

“If the price of being willing to tell the truth and get to the bottom of what happened on January 6 and make sure that those who are responsible are held accountable is a censure, then I am absolutely going to continue to stand up for what I knew was right,” Cheney said.

She called the censure a “sad day for the party of Lincoln.” Do ya think?

To be fair, some GOP officeholders, such as 2012 Republican presidential nominee Sen. Mitt Romney, have criticized the censure. “Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost,” Romney said in a tweet.

If Cheney and Kinzinger deserve honor, then the RNC deserves nothing but scorn and shame for its hideous action and virtual endorsement of the frontal assault on our democratic form of government.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, media news

Phones make my head spin

Whenever I have to discuss telephone technology with anyone younger than, say, 30 my head starts spinning around like a top … kinda like Linda Blair’s noggin spun around in the “The Exorcist.”

It happened again today. I purchased a new cellular telephone. My old one croaked on me. It wouldn’t hold a charge. So, with my son’s help this weekend I found a juiced-up new phone and today I trudged to the phone store in Princeton to select what we had chosen.

Now, it got dicey when the young woman who I guess is in her late 20s began chattering in technospeak. I told her she might as well speak to me in Martian. My age was obvious to her, so she got it.

I then reminded her to ask her grandparents about the phones they used when they were her age. Her immediate response was, “My grandpa didn’t have a phone.” Well … there you go.

Furthermore, I told my young friend, there was a time when I was a boy that my parents purchased a new telephone for the kitchen wall plug-in that had a “coiled” cord that allowed whoever was talking on the phone to walk away from the wall a little farther; we weren’t restricted by the stiff cord that came with the previous phone. It was a big deal, I told her. She got it!

It’s a different era these days. I won’t call it a “new” era, because cell phones aren’t all that new.

I try to be a relatively hip old guy. At times, though, the language used to navigate through all this high-powered technology flies over my occasionally thick skull. I’m getting better at understanding some of it.

It’s going to take a good while longer for me to obtain total fluency … if that day ever arrives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Home-rule election is set

Princeton residents are going to get a chance to vote to establish a home-rule charter for the community that is exploding with new residents moving in almost daily.

It took a little hiccup along the way to make it official, but the city’s fifth try at establishing a home-rule charter is going to occur.

The hiccup occurred when, after voters in November approved the formation of a home-rule charter committee, the city couldn’t recruit the minimum of 15 members to serve on the panel that would draft a charter for voters to consider and decide. The city council had to hustle to find enough members. So, it met the other evening in executive (or closed) session to make the decision it needed to make. It then ratified its decision with a recorded vote.

And so, the work begins in drafting a charter that it will present to voter in May.

The charter is an important document for Princeton. Its population has exploded, from 6,807 residents in 2010 to more than 17,000 in 2020; the latter number is growing rapidly at this very moment.

Princeton governs itself as a general law city, meaning it has to follow the rules and laws established by the Legislature. Home rule gives the city greater latitude in deciding zoning matters and establishes a purely “local control” over the way it governs the residents who live here.

I am all in favor of a home rule charter for the city my wife and I now call home. I welcome this initiative.

Princeton is a city on the move and my hope is that Mayor Brianna Chacon is right in believing that the city’s changing demographics, with forward-thinking new residents populating the city, will turn the tide in favor of the city being able to determine its destiny with a charter of its very own.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Ex-POTUS shows his profound stupidity

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Donald J. Trump’s ability to demonstrate his abject stupidity has become the stuff of political legend, or at least the stuff of tittering and gossip.

Mike Pence, who served as vice president in the Trump administration, has said the former Insurrectionist in Chief was “wrong” to suggest that the VP had the authority to “overturn” a duly constituted election. What was Trump’s response? He decided to hurl epithets not only at Trump, but also at “Old Crow Mitch McConnell,” whatever the hell that means.

You see, all Pence did in his talk to the Federalist Society the other day was to declare that the law is clear, that the vice president had zero authority to do what Trump demanded of him, which was to reject electoral votes cast for Joe Biden and award them to Trump.

Pence said he couldn’t do that. So … Donald, for cryin’ out loud, you need to stop fomenting The Big Lie about phony vote fraud. I know he won’t stop. He likely will go to his grave bellowing nonsensical trash about “corrupt” electoral processes and “rigged elections.”

Donald Trump will check out more than likely on the wave of stupidity on which he rode to public office in the first place.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

Schools see exodus

A disturbing trend appears to be developing in North Texas as nine school superintendents have announced they are leaving their posts at the end of the current academic year.

It’s an unusual number of top public school administrators heading for the exits, according to officials, as reported by the Texas Tribune.

The culprit? It appears to be a combination of culture wars, pandemic politicization and perhaps some normal retirements. From my vantage point, it appears that the culture wars and the politics of the pandemic are playing too heavy a role.

North Texas superintendents leave as school culture wars heat up | The Texas Tribune

Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeanne Stone perhaps is the most notable resignation. She quit in the middle of the school year after being pressured by parents over mask mandates. She was mum at the time she quit, but she has opened up in recent days to the media.

“Heartbreaking is a pretty accurate way to describe this,” Stone said. “It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s all I’ve ever done. It’s all I ever wanted to do.”

The Tribune reports: Stone is just one of many public educators who have borne the brunt of a shifting culture war — filled with fierce accusations and rising tensions often stoked by state officials — about how K-12 students learn. And she is among at least nine North Texas superintendents who have announced they would leave their jobs since the start of the school year.

School administrators generally have a relatively short lifespan in their posts. However, the current climate seems to be quickening the exodus from public school admin buildings. It is a shame to see such turnover.

The other biggie appears to be this thing called “critical race theory.” Parents are fighting among themselves over whether schools should allow teachers to instruct students on racism and its impact on our national history; they also are fighting with school administrators and elected board members, too.

And, of course, we have the children who are being caught in the middle of all this tempest and turmoil.

They are suffering the most. It shouldn’t happen.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

What? Pence tells truth? Oh, my!

What in the world has happened to former Vice President Mike Pence? The man who survived four years as VP in an administration led by a carnival barker masquerading as president suddenly has found a voice to tell the world the truth about the one-time Liar in Chief.

Which is, contrary to what Donald J. Trump keeps insisting while spouting The Big Lie, that Pence had no authority to “overturn” the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president, Pence said, “is wrong” to suggest that Pence could take that action.

Pence made the remarks this week in defense of his own actions on 1/6 but also to portray Donald Trump’s demand that he act outside the law as “un-American.” Indeed, Pence said there is nothing more un-American than to have a single individual overturn the will of the voters, who in November 2020 made their choice clear in selecting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over Trump and Pence.

Only the voters have the right to decide who wins elections, Pence said.

To be clear, my instinct to offer unconditional praise for the former VP is tempered by the knowledge that he served with craven fealty to Donald Trump. Even immediately after the mob of traitors stormed the Capitol on 1/6, Pence remained silent about what the POTUS failed to do in real time. He failed to put a halt to the violence that was erupting inside the nation’s Capitol Building. He failed to summon the National Guard to restore order. Trump failed condemn forcefully the actions of the mob that was reacting to the then-president’s own exhortation to “take back” our government.

Let’s remember, too, that rioters were shouting “Hang Mike Pence!” who at that moment was presiding over a joint congressional session to receive and certify the electoral votes that carried Joe Biden to the presidency.

Pence’s sudden conversion to sanity and reason isn’t likely to endear him to the Trump “base” that continues to adhere to The Big Lie about phony vote fraud. Indeed, Pence is considered a possible candidate for president in 2024 and a potential rival to Trump if the ex-POTUS decides to run again (which I continue to doubt will occur).

The very best thing I can say about Pence’s declaration — and I know this is cliche — is that it’s better late than never.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

COVID cases falling everywhere except …

U.S. health officials report good news on the fight to curb infection, hospitalization and death from the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

It is that infection rates are falling in 49 of the 50 American states. Which state is the anomaly? Alabama. Oh, there’s also this: Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate of any state in the Union.

Hmm. What does that tell you? It tells me that vaccines are doing their job. It tells me that those who refuse to be vaccinated are putting themselves, their loved ones and their friends at potentially dire peril from the virus.

I have several good friends in Alabama, so I am going to send good thoughts to them and their families. As for those who refuse to heed the wisdom passed down by the medical experts about the efficacy of the vaccines, well, I hope they don’t get unduly sickened by a preventable disease.

The nation is beginning to reap the reward of vaccines that were fast-tracked in 2020 and that are now establishing their value against a virus that has killed nearly 900,000 Americans.

There might never be a day when the COVID-19 virus is eradicated. At the very least we are going to have to learn to live with it, deal with it and protect ourselves and our loved ones against its infection.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com