Monthly Archives: June 2022

State news

Where is the police chief?

Come out, come out, wherever you are … Pete Arredondo!

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District chief of police is missing in action. Meanwhile, the community he took an oath to protect — namely the parents of the students in the school system — are demanding answers from the embattled chief.

Arredondo was the man in charge of the police response to the madman who strolled into Robb Elementary School brandishing an AR-15 and who then killed 19 precious children and two heroic teachers.

Uvalde school police Chief Pete Arredondo faces calls for accountability | The Texas Tribune

A grieving community is demanding to know a number of answers relating to a blunder that Arredondo committed. He waited more than one hour before sending the cops in to confront the shooter.

To be clear, Arredondo shouldn’t bear this blame alone. The Department of Public Safety also was on hand. So was the U.S. Border Patrol. And, oh yes, we have the Uvalde municipal police department.

What we have developing is a clusterf*** of tragic proportions.

But we have one man who can provide answers to a grieving community, state and nation.

Pete Arredondo needs to speak to us.

As in right now!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

political news

Politics outshines politicians

I long have believed that politics is a noble profession, in that it is designed to serve the public, to do the public’s bidding. We pay for public policy decisions with our money, so those who enact that policy are doing noble work.

Except for this reality.

Politicians too often do not stand up under the standard set by their chosen profession.

I read in the Washington Post, for example, that U.S. senators say that a deal is within reach that would seek to curb gun violence in this country. However, what emerges from the Senate conference rooms will not contain all of the things on President Biden’s wish list. Therein lies the meaning of what I am suggesting.

The president — a lifelong politician, to be sure — has implored Congress to “do something” in the wake of the Uvalde school slaughter of those 19 precious children and two of their teachers. “Enough is enough,” he said the other evening.

Politicians heard him. Some of them ignored his plea because they are too beholden to the money that pours in from those who oppose any legislative remedy to the senseless slaughter. Others applaud the president.

What happens now? Some senators are huddling to find what they will call a solution. It won’t live up to the billing. Yet the politicians who cobble together this alleged remedy will praise themselves for their “bipartisanship.”

Pols do this every couple of years when the latest continuing budget resolution runs out. They take the nation to the brink of fiscal calamity, only to craft another continuing resolution. Oh, and then they slap themselves on the back and tell us all how great they are. They make me sick.

What will it take for politicians to live up to the standard set by the craft they pursue? Just stop playing games … especially now when lives are at stake!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Are we no longer shocked?

The thought occurred to me a little while ago, which is that I cannot remember my reaction to the first incidence of mass slaughter, the first time I heard about a gunman opening fire and killing dozens of innocent victims.

There have been so many of them, it appears I might be hardening somewhat to these tragedies. I do not want to harden my heart.

The Uvalde massacre in Texas has hit me harder, perhaps, than most of the recent events. Nineteen fourth-graders were gunned down along with two of their teachers. President Biden has implored Congress and state legislatures to “do something” to stop the carnage. I have some hope this time that we might get something done, although not nearly enough.

But, my goodness, there have been so many communities linked by these horrific events. There are too many of them even to list. Doing so would likely result in my forgetting one or more of them. They all have broken our hearts.

Abcarian: Endless mass shootings make our outrage dim. We can’t let gun violence harden our hearts (yahoo.com)

It’s just that these events are occurring with such sickening frequency that I fear we’re becoming — odd as it seems — numbed to them.

If left to a choice between frequency and shock value, I would prefer to be shocked.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Thank you, Rep. Rice

Tom Rice deserves a shout out, a high-five, even an atta-boy for standing firm in his decision to cast a vote to impeach Donald J. Trump.

Rice is a conservative member of Congress from South Carolina. He’s a Republican who’s been getting lots of grief from his own party for standing up for the rule of law and for casting what he calls a “most conservative vote” in favor of the U.S. Constitution.

He voted overwhelmingly for Trump’s agenda while The Donald was masquerading as POTUS. Then he said enough is enough and voted — along with nine other Republican House members — to impeach Trump when he incited the 1/6 insurrection.

Of course, and this is no surprise, Trump has called Rice a “disaster” as a member of Congress. Rice laughs it off. He faces a strong challenge in the upcoming state GOP primary.

GOP Rep. Tom Rice says impeaching Trump was ‘the conservative vote’ (msn.com)

If he loses his party’s nomination for another term in the House? No big deal, said Rice. He’ll stand forever on his vote to impeach Trump because it was the right thing to do.

I am proud of him. Thank you for taking a stand in favor of the Constitution. If only the ex-POTUS had any understanding of the importance of that vote.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Will this action rile ’em up?

For the nearly 18 years that I worked for the Amarillo Globe-News, I learned something about the population of the city where my wife and I lived during all that time … and then some.

It took a whole lot to rile folks up enough to take strong political action against local government.

That brings me to my point: Will the city council’s decision to pile on $260 million in debt to build a new civic center and relocate City Hall be enough to fire up the masses?

I don’t live there any longer, so I don’t have a dog in that particular fight. Thus, I’ll reserve judgment on what I believe my friends who remain there will do.

Amarillo voters cast ballots en masse during the November 2020 election in rejecting a bond issue to build a new civic center. It was roughly a 60-40% “no” vote. The council, though, decided to go after something called “anticipation notes” totaling $260 million. The debt will boost the municipal tax rate about 59% over a period of time.

If you own, say, a $250,000 home in Amarillo, the tax bite will be substantial.

I’ve already implored Mayor Ginger Nelson and City Manager Jared Miller to get ahead of this matter. Explain the thinking behind what appears to the untrained eye to be a slap in voters’ faces. I am casually acquainted with Nelson; I don’t know Miller. I cannot predict what they are thinking or pondering.

If they do not explain themselves, though, there might be enough latent frustration in the city to spur some sort of political uprising. Perhaps it will come in the form of a recall election. Or perhaps it will occur at the next citywide municipal election when a slate of candidates could run against the current council and, well, give ’em the boot.

It happened just a few years ago when some residents disliked the push to build the downtown baseball park now known as Hodgetown. That tempest turned out to be all for naught. The park rose up and they’re filling the stands most nights at Hodgetown with fans cheering for the Sod Poodles minor-league baseball team.

This dust-up won’t dissipate anytime soon.

Just remember that voters throughout the land are angry at government at all levels for reasons that at times make no sense. Raising people’s property taxes, though, over their expressed desire against it seems to be cause for some turmoil.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Waiting for an explanation

My patience is vast and deep … but it does have its limits. Particularly as I await a detailed explanation of how the Second Amendment to our Constitution is imperiled by legislation that mandates background checks for firearm purchase and adjusts the minimum age for buying a gun from 18 to 21 years.

Those two elements appear to be the crux of the debate that is now raging in the wake of the Uvalde school massacre. Our hearts remain shattered over the deaths of those 19 children and two teachers in Robb Elementary School.

The National Rifle Association, as expected, has dug in against any legislative solution to gun violence. The NRA and its Republican beneficiaries in Congress continue to press the idea that the Second Amendment is immune from any legislative action. In other words, anything at all damages the Second Amendment and, by golly, we just can’t have that.

Here I sit in the middle of Flyover Country, in gun-lovin’ Texas wondering out loud: What in the hell is wrong with requiring background checks and raising the age from 18 to 21? 

If someone can pass a background check, they get to purchase a gun. If they are 21 years of age and free of any felony conviction, they can buy a firearm. Law-abiding citizens of this country are in no jeopardy of losing their right to “keep and bear arms.” Period. Full stop!

The right-wing demagogues led by the NRA are continuing to throw out the “Democrats want to disarm Americans” canard. It is wrong. It is a shameful appeal to people’s fear over something that is not going to happen.

Once again, someone will have to explain to me as if I am a 5-year-old how the Second Amendment is put in any danger as a result of common-sense legislative solutions.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Will TV time enlighten nation?

The U.S. House select 1/6 committee is taking its show into prime time next week, causing me to wonder if national exposure to the testimony the panel has gotten already is going to enlighten a nation that ought to already have been enraged over what happened on the Sixth of January, 2021.

I am outraged. Make no mistake about that. The nation’s great political chasm, though, suggests that too many Americans continue to believe — wrongly! — that the 1/6 insurrection was, well, no big deal. Oh, man! It doesn’t get any bigger than a crowd of traitorous rioters seeking to overturn the results of a free, fair and legal presidential election.

What the nation saw unfold that terrible day was a coup attempt orchestrated, incited and provoked by the nimrod who lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

I do not need to be persuaded about what we saw. However, I intend fully to watch as much of the televised hearings that I can.

Just in recent days we have received some stunning reporting that Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, warned that Donald Trump was going to abandon Pence, strip him of Secret Service protection, if he didn’t unilaterally overturn the results while the Electoral College vote was being tabulated.

Good ever-lovin’ grief! What in the world does it take for all Americans to realize that we had a madman in charge of the nation’s executive branch of government on that terrible day!

I will hope, therefore, that televising these hearings and revealing what the committee has heard in private is going to open the gates to the truth behind the insurrection.

Then what?

First things first, I reckon. The nation will get a chance to hear in real time what many of the principals involved on that horrible day were thinking and saying while the insurrectionists were killing people on Capitol Hill in their quest to subvert our democracy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Why not make the fight?

My thoughts on a New York Republican congressman have changed a bit in the past couple of days, and I want to express my new feelings here.

Chris Jacobs was running for re-election to his suburban Buffalo congressional district. Then he said he favored banning AR-15 rifles, one of which was used by the gunman who killed 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket; another gunman several days later then used an AR-15 to slaughter 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, grade school.

Jacobs’s support of an AR-15 ban and support for increasing the minimum age to buy weapons from 18 to 21 years of age drew the rage of New York conservatives. Jacobs then pulled out of his re-election effort.

Wait a second! Why not stay in the fight and argue vigorously for your position? If he knew he was doomed to lose his re-election effort, Jacobs could have stayed the course and fought until Election Day to make his case.

He didn’t do that. Instead, he took the path of least resistance … and denied voters of his district a chance to hear an honest debate about what is arguably the most compelling issue of the 2022 midterm election season.

It saddens me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Gun lobby digs in on age requirement?

You have to be 21 years of age to buy a beer, a jug of wine or a mixed drink at your favorite watering hole.

To be emancipated from parental control? That’s generally accepted at age 21.

Some insurance companies won’t sell insurance to you until you turn 21, unless you’re in school.

What, then, is the reason we don’t require someone to be 21 years of age to purchase a firearm? The issue has burst onto the forefront in the wake of recent spasm of gun violence. The moron who shot those 19 precious children and two of their teachers to death in Uvalde turned 18 and then purchased an AR-15 rifle right after his birthday; he bought a second one days later.

President Biden has called on government to increase the age from 18 to 21. Republicans — naturally! — are digging in against even that modest notion.

The GOP is marching to the cadence called by the gun lobby.

These politicians are acting disgracefully.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Congressman quits … because he showed common sense!

An outrageous political development has just occurred that demonstrates how totally off the rails the once-great Republican Party has flown.

U.S. Rep. Chris Jacobs, a New York Republican, has ended his re-election bid because — and hold onto something with both hands — he said he favored a ban on assault rifles, a position that enraged GOP officials in his state so much that Jacobs has been forced to end his public service career.

Jacobs made the statement after the Uvalde school massacre and the Buffalo shopping market carnage.

“I want to be completely transparent of where I am in Congress. If an assault weapons ban bill came to the floor that would ban something like an AR-15, I would vote for it,” he said, according to Spectrum News 1. What’s more, Jacobs said he would favor increasing the minimum age of people purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21 years old.

That was too much for New York conservatives to handle. Jacobs, by the way, represents an area of suburban Buffalo, so he feels the community’s grief deeply.

What in the name of political sanity has gone wrong here?

According to The Associated Press: “The last thing we need is an incredibly negative, half-truth-filled media attack funded by millions of dollars of special interest money coming into our community around this issue of guns and gun violence and gun control,” he said, according to footage of his announcement. “Therefore today I am announcing I will not run for the 23rd Congressional District.”

GOP Rep. Jacobs to retire after backing assault weapons ban (msn.com)

This is an utterly insane development in the growing debate over gun violence in this country. A House member speaks honestly and candidly about his views on gun violence and he is then forced to withdraw because his views anger the rigid adherents to a philosophy that is on the wrong side of history.

Scary.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com