Tag Archives: 2020 election

national news

POTUS 45 keeps The Big Lie alive

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There he stood before an adoring throng in Ohio.

The disgraced former president of the United States once again told The Big Lie, that he won the 2020 presidential election. He did not win. He lost it bigly.

And yet he trudges on, launching his “revenge campaign” against Republicans who voted to impeach him after he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overturn the results of a free, fair and legal election.

As others have said, this individual — who I have declared will not see his name published in this blog — has failed the supreme test of statesmanship. He cannot admit he lost.

Others have lost. Adlai Stevenson, Thomas Dewey, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Walter Mondale, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton all stood before the nation — before their supporters — and stated the obvious, that they lost. They threw their support behind the individual who defeated them.

What is with this political reprobate who the nation had the bad sense to send to the White House for four years?

He has launched his revenge tour. Fine. Let him speak. Thanks be to all that is good, though, that he has no constitutional authority left to do any further tangible harm.

national news

This conspiracy theory is truly dangerous

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This thought didn’t originate with me, but I want to share it here.

It goes like this: We suffer through plenty of conspiracy theories: faked moon landing; 9/11 was an “inside job”; Elvis is alive.

None of those “theories,” though, rise to the level of danger to the democracy than the one being perpetuated by those who believe that the 2020 election was stolen from the disgraced ex-POTUS who lost to President Biden.

Indeed, POTUS 45’s insistence himself that he is the victim of electoral theft is what gives this conspiracy nuttiness its dangerous quality. That a former commander in chief would suggest such a thing, given the security attached to the 2020 election, is beyond reprehensible.

He talks of electoral theft. He speaks of a “rigged election.” He tells us that he’ll be “reinstated” as POTUS by the end of the summer. How in the world does this lunatic look at himself in the mirror? How does he continue to live the lie he is preaching?

My absolute worst fear isn’t that he is right. He isn’t. Nor are the loons who follow his rants. My worst fear is that the conspiracy theories/nuttiness is going to live on and on … much like the other loony notions have lived on.

We’d best steel ourselves for a lifetime of insanity.

national news, political news

Pence a ‘traitor’? Wow!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There can be no greater example of the hijacking of a once-great political party than to see what happened the other day when former Vice President Mike Pence stood in front of a crowd at the Faith and Freedom Conference.

A few in the crowd shouted “traitor!” at Pence, who served as VP during the administration that left office this past January.

Traitor? That’s right. One of the most conservative politicians active today, a man of deep religious faith and admitted devotion to the POTUS in whose administration he served is called a traitor. Why? Because the VP refused to break the law by following the dictates of the former POTUS who wanted him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Republican Party has become a cult. Its adherents no longer seem to believe in the rule of law. They believe instead in the Big Lie fomented by the ex-POTUS that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.

So now the cultists are hurling hideous epithets at Mike Pence.

Mike Pence Heckled by Conservatives Who Shout ‘Traitor!’ During Weekend Speech (msn.com)

Do not misunderstand me on this point: I would never cast a vote for Mike Pence for any office ever. I remain astounded beyond measure at what we are witnessing as the GOP transforms into an angry mob.

national news, political news

‘Theft’ of election drips with irony

Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images, Mark Makela /Reuters, AP, Cheney Orr/Reuters, AP.

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The irony is so rich, so thick that you can barely cut through it with the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Think about this for a moment. The immediate past president of the U.S. of A. alleges that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. He preaches the Big Lie about rampant voter fraud that doesn’t exist. POTUS 45 and his minions keep yapping about how he will be “reinstated” and returned to power.

The irony is that they are proposing an element of electoral “theft” I never thought possible in this great country.

President Biden won the election, the results of which have been certified in every state and the District of Columbia. His Republican opponent keeps yammering about the 74 million Americans who supported his candidacy. Yes, the figure is impressive; it is the second-greatest number of votes ever cast for a presidential candidate.

However, Biden polled 81 million-plus votes, the greatest total ever amassed.

If the losing side of a brutal presidential campaign is going to suggest that electoral theft occurred, then why in the name of political sanity do they keep insisting on their own brand of thievery?

The irony in their argument simply forces me to dismiss it out of hand. You may take this to the pawn shop — or the bank — if you wish: I will never, not in a zillion years, cast the level of doubt on our nation’s electoral integrity we are hearing from right-wingers today.

They are denigrating the integrity of every state, county and local election official who work diligently to protect our most cherished democratic process. They have applauded the incitement of the insurrection that occurred Jan. 6. They have refused to honor the police officers who risked their lives to protect them against the riotous mob of terrorists who stormed the Capitol Building.

They are marching to the cadence being called by the individual President Biden defeated in the nation’s most secure election … ever!

For them to declare the election was stolen demonstrates willful ignorance of the very theft they seek to orchestrate.

The irony is astounding.

national news

‘Audit’ won’t change a thing

4 Comments

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Earth to the cabal of Republican Party fruitcakes who just cannot free themselves from the death grip of the cult of personality surrounding the recent past POTUS …

The phony audits that are wrapping up in places like Arizona will not “change the outcome” of the 2020 presidential election. Joe Biden won the election. It has been certified, verified, signed into law. The former Dipsh** in Chief’s assertion of widespread vote fraud will never bear fruit.

According to The Hill: A majority of Republicans in the poll, 51 percent, indicated they think reviews of the 2020 election will change its outcome, including 29 percent who “definitely” think it will change the outcome and 22 percent who think it “probably” will change the results.

Majority of Republicans think state reviews will change 2020 outcome: poll (msn.com)

Umm. How can I say this? No. Nothing will change. The fruitcakes need to have their numb skulls examined.

State news

State Bar examines AG’s conduct … wow!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Are you really surprised that this item has splashed its way onto the news cycle?

The State Bar of Texas is examining whether Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s frivolous lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election constitutes an offense worthy of his disbarment.

Well …

Who’da thunk that might happen? I sorta did.

Paxton sought to reverse the results of the election in four states that voted for President Biden over the Republican incumbent president. The U.S. Supreme Court tossed the lawsuit with nary a word, contending that Paxton had no standing to file such a lawsuit.

The Huffington Post reported:

Kevin Moran, the 71-year-old president of the Galveston Island Democrats, shared his complaint with The Associated Press along with letters from the State Bar of Texas and the Board of Disciplinary Appeals that confirm the investigation. He said Paxton’s efforts to dismiss other states’ election results was a wasteful embarrassment for which the attorney general should lose his law license.

“He wanted to disenfranchise the voters in four other states,” said Moran. “It’s just crazy.”

State Bar Investigating Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton | HuffPost

Yep. It’s crazy, all right. It also served to embarrass Texas in front of the entire world! It suggested to many of us that the AG’s fierce fealty to the former president blinded what passes for his better judgment.

So, here we are. The state’s top legal eagle is awaiting trial in state court on securities fraud allegations; the FBI is probing a whistleblower complaint of wrongdoing brought by several former top AG’s office lawyers; now the State Bar is looking into whether the attorney general should be stripped of his license to practice law.

Nice going, Mr. Attorney General.

Uncategorized

GOP has gone bonkers

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Just how wacky has the Republican Party become in the Age of Trump?

Well, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, one of Trump’s strongest allies, got booed when he stood to speak before the George Republican convention. Why were the goober Republicans angry with Kemp? Because the governor wouldn’t force the secretary of state to break the law and “find” enough votes to turn the state from a Joe Biden win to a Donald Trump win.

So, for that the nut jobs have taken their vengeance out on a governor who happens be a Trump ally … but who just couldn’t bring himself to break the law or violate the U.S. Constitution.

This is the kind of goofiness that Republicans are facing as they do battle among themselves, not to mention when they face Democrats in the upcoming midterm election.

Trump loyalists boo Kemp at Georgia’s GOP convention (msn.com)

Of course, Trump is playing the GOP loyalists like the fools they are for following the dictates of the former Dipsh** in Chief. I mean, the ex-POTUS is even a real Republican, but he has fooled ’em into thinking he is one of them.

They are left now to boo and jeer actual Republican politicians — such as Gov. Kemp — only because they won’t follow Trump’s demands out the window.

Weird, man.

national news

‘Reinstated’ in August? Huh?

1 Comment

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If this report is true — and I believe it has legs — then it needs to be said loudly and with maximum clarity.

Donald John Trump is certifiably and clinically insane.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who knows Trump as well as anyone in the media, is reporting that Trump is telling allies he believes he will be “reinstated” as president in August.

Yep. The election will be overturned. President Biden will be stripped of his office. It will be handed to Trump.

Hmm. Someone needs to call the paddy wagon. Fit the old ex-POTUS with a straitjacket. Send him to the loony bin. Let him talk to the walls about how the 2020 election was “stolen” from him and handed to the guy who beat him bigly by virtue of “rampant and widespread vote fraud.”

Trump is telling people he thinks he’ll be ‘reinstated’ as president in August, according to a report (msn.com)

Oh, my.

How in the name of political nuttiness does one escape the realization that Trump is out of his ever-lovin’ noggin?

I cannot. You can’t, either. No one can.

Let me be as clear as I can possibly be: There is no way on God’s good Earth that Donald Trump will be reinstated. Period. End of story.

Now, shut the hell up … Donald.

national news

Party of Lincoln becomes Party of Cowards

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ah, yes. Here we are with the Party of Lincoln now standing tall as the party of cowardly fealty to a fraud posing as one of their own.

That’s all I can surmise now that the Republican Party leaders in Congress have torpedoed a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to study the causes, effects and consequences of the Jan. 6 insurrection that could have toppled our democratic government.

Congressional Republicans have stonewalled a move by Democrats to create a commission comprising members of both major parties that would have sought to lay bare all the events leading up to the insurrection.

The GOP is now the party that is beholden to the cultist who sat as president for a term that ended in January. Donald Trump has bullied, blustered and bellowed his way into the skulls of politicians who now do not dare do anything to anger the ex-POTUS.

We are witnessing a shameful abrogation of the oath they all took when they assumed office.

These men and women signed on to a once-great political party that used to fight for equal rights for all Americans. It now fights to protect the backside of a politician foments the Big Lie about alleged electoral “theft.” Donald Trump doesn’t want a bipartisan commission to examine the intricate details of an event that threatened the safety of politicians doing their constitutional duty, which was to certify the results of a presidential election.

The Republican Party has become a haven for cowards.

local news

Yes, welcome them, but no need to embrace them

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

An earlier blog post compels me to make a declaration.

In no way at all do I object to Amarillo (Texas) Mayor Ginger Nelson welcoming New Mexico Republicans to her city; the NM Republican Party took its annual conference across the state line because of objections to the state’s ongoing COVID pandemic protocols.

Fine. Whatever they want to do is fine with me. That’s their call.

Nor should it bother anyone in Amarillo, even if they disagree politically with the GOP, or the Democratic Party … any political organization on Earth.

Ginger Nelson’s welcoming of the New Mexico GOP conference crossed a couple of important lines.

One line is that the mayor — by embracing the ideology expressed by the likes of Reps. Ronny Jackson (the former Navy admiral who moved to Amarillo to run for Congress) and Jim Jordan of Ohio — has thrown in with the nuttiest of the nut jobs of the current Republican Party. Nelson did not advertise herself as a 2020 election conspiracy theorist when she won re-election earlier this month. Now, though, she has aligned herself with those nut jobs. Jackson and Jordan stand among the few and the ridiculous in their view of Donald Trump’s Big Lie.

The other line involves the non-partisan nature of her elected office. Her cuddling up to the GOP in this manner reminds of the time a 1990s candidate for Amarillo mayor, Mary Alice Brittain, sought to recruit “good Republicans” to vote for her over the incumbent mayor, Kel Seliger. I called Brittain out at the time for poisoning the non-partisan nature of the office she sought. The good news is that she didn’t win and has disappeared from the Texas Panhandle political grid.

I shudder to think that Mayor Nelson, who I believe has done a stellar job as the city’s presiding elected official, is about to cross the line that separates her non-partisan duties from partisan political hackery. 

Please say it isn’t so, Mme. Mayor.