crime news

Let’s have that speedy trial

Donald Trump has been characterized as the master of delay, of foot-dragging and one who would employ any tactic necessary to prolong the search for the truth where it involves his alleged criminality.

But wait! He also says the indictments handed down against him — one in New York and the other in Miami — are baseless. They are political witch hunts, he contends.

Here’s an idea. How about we proceed with all deliberate speed and knock these trials out in a “speedy” manner prescribed in the Constitution?

Special counsel Jack Smith, who delivered the south Florida indictment in the case involving those classified documents, said he would work toward a speedy trial.

If the former POTUS is innocent, he shouldn’t object to getting these matters adjudicated in a timely fashion. After all, he has a presidential campaign awaiting him, correct?

The first Republican primaries are just a few months away. Trump says he wants to return to the White House and has promised his supporters that he will be “your retribution.” That, in itself, is a frightening thought. He doesn’t need to say another word about whether he is fit for public office. He clearly is not!

If he is not guilty of the allegations leveled in the hush money case involving the adult film star or in the classified documents case, then let us proceed to a quick disposition of this matter.

You know and I know the same thing. It is that the evidence for a conviction has piled up all around Trump, particularly in the documents matter.  Oh, we still have the 1/6 insurrection probe that will conclude in due course and which likely will produce even more indictments.

Hey, an innocent man would have no reason to delay an outcome … correct?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail

national news

Christie gives up ‘favorite’ status

Chris Christie nearly had me … then he nearly lost me.

I was prepared to anoint the former New Jersey governor as my favorite Republican running for president in 2024. Then he popped off with a statement on TV this weekend in which he declared Joe Biden to be the “most incompetent president since Jimmy Carter.”

Ouch, man!

OK, let me try to clear a couple of things up. First, President Carter was far from an incompetent chief executive. He scored a couple of huge foreign-policy triumphs, starting with the Israel-Egypt peace treaty as well as turning over the Panama Canal to the Panamanians. Carter has gotten a bum rap for the past 40-plus years and I am one American who is sick of it.

Second, I am still trying to determine where in the world these GOP pretenders keep seeing “incompetence” on the part of President Biden.

Joe Biden has managed, while facing the MAGA-led caucus in Congress, to do a number of memorable deeds. With the help of Democrats, we have an infrastructure improvement bill enacted; Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act that saves jobs and cuts the deficit by billions of bucks; we have policies aimed directly at battling climate change; the president and the GOP speaker of the House cobbled together a package that takes the debt ceiling non-crisis off the table for two years; the jobless rate has dropped to historic lows.

On Biden’s watch, we are adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month; we are aiding Ukraine in its war against naked aggression by Russia; our European alliances are stronger than ever.

To be clear, Biden’s term hasn’t been perfect. I have never said it has been.

Chris Christie is repeating the MAGA mantra about presidential incompetence because it plays well with the slobbering GOP base that buys into issues such as The Big Lie and goofy QAnon conspiracies.

I will give Christie credit for taking on directly the immense personal and political failures of the 45th POTUS. It doesn’t give him license, though, to repeat the lies about POTUS No. 46, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

C’mon, Gov. Christie. If you expect many of us to take you seriously, you need to stick with the facts. Here is one fact worth remembering: Joe Biden has gotten more done in the first half of a term than any president in history.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news

What is the point about these vehicles?

I hereby offer a stern and sincere pledge, which is that I won’t belabor the point I am about to make in this brief blog post.

That commercial for the pickup that drives itself is giving me the creeps. You ask: Why? Here goes.

When I get into a motor vehicle, I do so intending to take — and retain — control of it. I want to drive the vehicle. Which means I want my hands on the steering wheel and free to manipulate the transmission (if it is of a manual variety, of course).

The last time I posted a piece on this subject, I was called down by those who suggest that driver-less vehicles are safer than those operated by human beings. I am not going to quibble and quarrel over that. I know next to nothing about the technology or the test results that suggest such a thing.

It’s just that I cannot fathom the need to push some “auto-pilot” button and then let go of the steering wheel. What do I do with my hands? Read a book? Talk on my phone? Send text messages to hither and yon?

Oh, I know! I can clap like the actors in the commercial.

Sheesh …

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Keep your distance, Mr. POTUS

Joe Biden has issued a directive ordering White House staffers to maintain a vow of silence regarding the indictments surrounding his immediate predecessor as president of the United States.

The president did so as a show of respect for the isolation he honors between political matters and those involved with administering the rule of law.

Many Democrats want President Biden to speak out, to take the fight to the Republicans, to — in effect — ignore the isolation.

Wrong! That is a fool’s option.

It is clear that Biden’s predecessor never would honor such a principle. Indeed, he says if he’s elected (God forbid!) in 2024 that he’s going to appoint a special counsel to go after Hunter Biden, Joe Biden and possibly any other Democrat he considers a worthy target.

I will interject that the current special counsel, Jack Smith, was selected by Attorney General Merrick Garland, that the White House had no role in finding this individual. AG Garland felt the need to separate himself from the twin probes into the 1/6 assault on our government and the classified documents caper that has produced a 37-count indictment against the former POTUS.

I believe President Biden’s fealty to the rule of law must stand. He won’t offer personal comment on his predecessor’s plight. Nor should he.

Nor should the White House staff weigh in with cheap shots and innuendo. Let’s just allow the process to do its work … according to the United States Constitution, which all elected public officials take an oath to “defend and protect.”

As for the leading 2024 GOP pretender for the White House, let him yammer on. The more he says the deeper he seems to sink into an abyss from which he might not escape.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, State news

Abbott displays petulant side

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is showing Texans a ruthless streak that some folks might claim they never witnessed.

It comes in the form of the veto pen. Abbott is vetoing legislation left and right … because he wants the Legislature to settle its differences on property tax reform.

So, you see, here is what happens. Legislation that Abbott otherwise would be glad to sign is being vetoed because they aren’t as important as property tax reductions that Abbott says must be priority No. 1.

Ridiculous, if you want my opinion on the matter.

One of the bills that Abbott vetoed came from state Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford. Senate Bill 267 would have helped more Texas police departments receive accreditation, which was a proposal that came as a result of the botched police response to the 2022 Uvalde school massacre that resulted in the deaths of 19 second-graders and two educators who sought to protect them from the lunatic shooter.

Gov. Greg Abbott continues his veto campaign, axing 21 more bills | The Texas Tribune

Abbott is trying to cover his backside by adding a statement to many of the vetoes he has delivered: “This bill can be reconsidered at a future special session only after property tax relief is passed.”

This isn’t how you govern, for crying out loud!

Why does the governor want to punish recipients who would reap the benefits of legislation approved by their elected lawmakers? Don’t answer that! I know why. He is doing it to score a political point or two. He also is deepening an apparent feud that is developing between himself and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Meanwhile, the governor is inflicting plenty of collateral damage by vetoing legislation enacted by men and women who travel to Austin to do the bidding of Texans in their home districts.

And … why? Because he wants to get his way.

Childish.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Our sense of entitlement is, um, bottomless

Just how deep does our sense of entitlement go? I’ll share this item that showed up today on my Facebook feed.

So help me, I cannot add to this. These reportedly are actual examples of travelers’ complaints.

Enjoy …

1. “They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax.”
2. “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food.”
3. “We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish.”
4. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price.”
5. “The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.”
6. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow.”
7. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallarta to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time — this should be banned.”
8. “No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared.”
9. “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers.”
10. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.”
11. “The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun.”
12. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair.”
13. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends’ three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller.”
14. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the resort.’ We’re trainee hairdressers and we think they knew and made us wait longer for service.”
15. “When we were in Spain, there were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners.”
16. “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning.”
17. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”
18. “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes.”
19. “My fiancée and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”
local news, Sports news

Cheers to this inductee

As the saying goes, what goes around comes around … or words to that effect.

It is with interest that I saw the name of Kori Cooper Clements on the list of the latest group of sports figures to be inducted into the Texas Panhandle Hall of Fame. Who is this person?

Well, she found herself in the midst of a tempest when she resigned after coaching for one year at Amarillo High School, citing interference and meddling from a school board trustee.  She accused the trustee of forcing her to quit because she — the coach — wasn’t giving the daughter of the trustee enough playing time for the Sandies.

The school board never owned up to the conduct of the trustee, who eventually resigned from the board and has moved on to — oh, I don’t know — somewhere else.

Clements was a standout volleyball player in high school and in college and surely deserves a spot in the Panhandle Sports HoF. She became coach of one of Texas’s premier high school volleyball programs.

I just had to recall the turmoil that surrounded her departure from what she described as a dream job.

Clements has ended up in the right place … for certain.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Sham ‘hearing’ worthy of scorn

You may take this straight to the bank because it is the unvarnished  truth, which is that I could have lived my entire life without hearing about a sham “hearing” conducted by MAGA cult members of Congress that actually saluted the criminals who stormed the Capitol Building on 1/6.

There they were: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar, among others, pretending to conduct a congressional hearing on the events of that terrible day.

All the while, the MAGA cultists insisted that the traitors who stormed the Capitol that day were being treated as political prisoners. The government, they said, wrongfully prosecuted them for crimes against our democracy because the 2020 election indeed was “stolen” from the guy who lost it legitimately.

What’s just as horrifying, of course, is that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — who owes his speakership to these MAGA morons — let it happen in the first place.

None of these yahoos hold chairmanships in any actual House committee. The hearing they conducted today was made up to look like an official event, when in fact it was nothing of the sort. It was a staged propaganda performance designed to denigrate the prosecutions that have put many of the “witnesses” who spoke today behind bars.

And why are the convicted felons? Because they stormed the Capitol, assaulted police officers assigned to protect members of Congress from the frothing mob, they smashed windows, defecated on the floor of the Capitol Building and threatened to execute Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over a congressional hearing to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election.

Oh, did I mention that that the Republican incumbent lost that election to Joe Biden?

The traitors who answered the call to assault the government from the guy who took an oath to “defend and protect” the Constitution do not deserve anything other than the nation’s scorn for the crimes they committed.

That goes as well for the president who incited them.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

My favorite Republican is … ?

Eight years ago I took up for a man I labeled my favorite Republican running for president of the United States.

He is John Kasich, a former Ohio governor and a former chair of the U.S. House Budget Committee who, working with President Clinton, helped the nation achieve its first budget surplus since the 1960s.

Kasich had an impressive resume of accomplishment and I declared during the 2016 GOP primary campaign that were he to emerge as the party’s presidential nominee I just might cast my vote for him that fall.

It didn’t happen. The nomination instead went to a serial liar/philanderer/bomb thrower.

It was a large GOP field, as you recall. Too bad Gov. Kasich didn’t make the grade.

Another large field of Republicans is gathering to run for the party’s nomination in 2024. I am going to stick with the Democratic incumbent, Joe Biden, this time around … but I do have a favorite GOP contender emerging from the field.

It’s Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, who is the only GOP candidate willing to speak clearly, unequivocally and without hesitation against the party’s seeming frontrunner, the guy who got elected in 2016.

Christie ran against the field in 2016, along with Kasich. He got drummed out. He then became a sycophant for the guy who would be elected. Christie led the transition team for a time before he got pushed aside.

I am not yet clear on what kind of policies Christie would adopt were he nominated next year to run against President Biden. If he adheres to a more moderate tone than the MAGA cult’s wishes, then I just could consider him as a recipient of my ballot-box support.

I need to hear more. For now, though, I am delighted to hear him peel the bark off the GOP frontrunner. We’ll see how he holds up when the Big Dog bites back.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

That was some storm, sweetheart!

My dear Kathy Anne …

Several friends of ours have suggested I write to you personally. They say I should put pen to paper. But as you know, my penmanship has gone straight to hell, thanks in no small part to the journalism career that ruined my once-graceful hand.

I hope you’ll settle for a typewritten note, sweetheart.

Know for starters that I miss you every waking hour of every day. We all miss you. It’s been a struggle since you left us. That damn cancer was brutal beyond anything I could imagine.

It’s been a dark journey so far, but I have been able to write about it on my blog and it has given me some comfort along the way.

But … I have some good news. I am able to smile a bit when I think of you. Take what happened here last night. We had a whale of a thunderstorm roar through Collin County. Tornado sirens were blasting. I saw some walnut-sized hail on the yard.

I thought of the many times we talked about missing the Gulf Coast storms we witnessed when we first moved to Beaumont in the spring of 1984. Remember how they boasted in the Panhandle about the thunderstorms there? Well, we always joked between ourselves that the coastal storms had the Caprock storms beat all to hell.

We lost power twice during the night. Not to worry, though. Peter and I had flashlights ready. Toby the Puppy got a bit anxious, as did the kitties that came with Peter. Just so you know, Macy and Marlowe are acclimating nicely in their new digs here. They have reached a sort of an accommodation with Puppy: It’s his house, but they are free to roam about.

We are adjusting to life without you, my darling bride. Indeed, I don’t believe I’ll achieve that level of normality as I once defined it.

When life was “good” for me, it was because of you. I cannot claim to be “good” these days. I am getting better. I get rocked back occasionally, but I understand now that it’s to be expected.

I’m just trudging along. I’ll write you again. I promise. Just know that I miss you beyond all humanly measure.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience