Tag Archives: GOP

International news

Joe Biden: ‘wartime president’

Joe Biden has done the impossible by becoming a “wartime president” without a single American fighting man or woman engaging in combat with a foreign enemy.

How did the president do it? By sneaking into war-ravaged Ukraine and delivering one of the more stirring speeches in recent memory, assuring Ukrainians that the United States and our many allies worldwide stand with them in their fight against the immoral invaders from Russia.

“Kyiv stands. Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” Biden told the Ukrainians. Yes, it’s all true.

It was a remarkable feat for President Biden to venture into Ukraine under the cover of darkness. He strolled the streets of Kyiv, the capital city that just a few months ago was under siege by Russian artillery. Yes, there were sirens blaring to warn Ukrainians of pending danger from Russian artillery. Joe Biden would not be deterred … nor should he.

The visit reportedly buoyed the Ukrainian troops who are fighting valiantly — and successfully — against Vladimir Putin’s armed forces.

To be sure, the president’s visit drew expected criticism from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party back home. These are the nimrods who express skepticism about Ukraine’s ability to fend off the Russians, who invaded their country on multiple phony pretexts uttered by Putin.

Biden, though, has stitched together a strong alliance comprising NATO and EU nations committed to opposing Putin’s land grab in Ukraine as he seeks to reincarnate the Soviet Union-style of ham-handed rule. Putin sought to weaken NATO. Thanks to Joe Biden’s leadership, all he has done is strengthened the alliance formed after World War II to protect Europe against the kind of aggression the world is witnessing at this moment.

Joe Biden spoke like a man in the middle of a struggle. Indeed, he is. President Biden is fighting to preserve democracy, which is fighting for its life against the authoritarian instincts of a brutal killer.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Shut the hell up, MTG!

Under normal circumstances, I would be inclined to ignore the rants of a back-bench member of Congress who represents the fringe of a once-great political party.

Except these times ain’t normal … you know? That once-great party, the Republicans, are dominated these days by the idiots on the far-right wing. One of them, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has proposed that the United States split between liberals and conservatives. She criticized President Biden for visiting Ukraine in a show of support for the nation fighting against the illegal invasion from Russia.

Why do I care about this moron? Because she and her ilk are positioned to take control of the House of Representatives agenda, thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s tolerance of their wackiness and outright un-American policies.

The country tried to split in two, remember? It didn’t work out. President Lincoln — the greatest Republican in U.S. history and for my money the greatest president — kept the Union together.

Now we hear one of his political descendants spewing trash such as what comes from Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Shut the hell up!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

Define ‘CRT,’ please

I need someone to offer a definition of “critical race theory.” From all I have been able to discern, I have determined it is made up, fiction, something created from nothing.

And yet … culture warriors on the right wing of the political divide keep tossing CRT out there as some sort of “enemy” of what they perceive to be “normal.”

What the hell is it?

I get that it’s become a target of the likes of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is banning it in public schools there. Same for Texas, where another Republican governor — Greg Abbott — with possible White House ambitions is furthering the debate against CRT. He’s got a mostly Republican elected State Board of Education on his side to aid in the fight against an unseen and unknown adversary.

CRT is seen by some as a method to denigrate the nation’s history. What? They don’t like discussing such issues as, oh, slavery, which — yep! — existed in this country until we went to war with ourselves in 1861. Remember what you learned? White slaveowners held Blacks in bondage, owned human beings like property; Blacks were considered to be three-fifths human.

Our children aren’t supposed to learn about that? Teachers are instructed to avoid talking about it? Ridiculous! It’s part of our nation’s mostly glorious history.

Still, I am waiting for someone to define CRT to me in a manner that I can grasp.

I’m all ears.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

DeSantis: No. 1 GOP target

As I wend my way through Collin County’s back roads, I have seen precisely one 2024 campaign flag flapping in the North Texas breeze.

It has Ron DeSantis’s name on it; the flag flies in the yard of someone living off Farm to Market Road 546 between Princeton and McKinney.

So … with that I want to say a few words about the Florida governor who, I presume, is going to declare his candidacy for the presidency of the United States.

He’s every bit the charlatan as his political daddy, Donald J. Trump.

The dude wants to ban any discussion in Florida’s public schools about Black history. He has launched a “don’t say ‘gay'” campaign in the state’s public school system. DeSantis is dismissing the vaccines that have saved millions of American lives in the wake of the COVID pandemic. He attacks the mythical “critical race theory” curriculum he says is being taught.

The guy is a right-wing, MAGA-loving nut job of the first order.

In a way, though, I am kinda/sorta pulling for him to defeat Trump for the GOP nomination, although I cannot quite explain why. They’re both stomach-churning demagogues. Furthermore, I am still not yet convinced that Trump is going to get his campaign off the ground, given what I believe will be a series of criminal indictments coming down that will accuse him of some very serious crimes against the government he once swore to protect.

DeSantis, though, is a goofball who needs to be exposed for what he is. A fraud and a fruitcake.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

political news

What’s so terribly wrong?

Listening the past two days to Nikki Hailey makes me ask: What in the world is she talking about by proclaiming the need to repair a broken nation?

The declared Republican presidential candidate — and former South Carolina governor — is talking up some goofy notion about the alleged “failures” of the nation during President Biden’s time in office.

Let me think. Record numbers of jobs created; a historically low jobless rate; alliances affirmed around the world; infrastructure bills enacted; anti-gun violence legislation approved; tax cuts for middle-class Americans; reductions in the budget deficit.

What am I missing?

We aren’t cratering, Ms. Hailey. Indeed, the nation is doing quite well. Really! We are!

What is it that Hailey proposes to repair? The only drawbacks I can discern are coming from the right-wingers who insist on banning abortion, who want our kids to stop studying racial bias in school, who are going to war against what the call a “woke” society.

Nikki Hailey also refuses to condemn or even criticize any policy promoted by the other Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump. Is she going to run against him, or not? If she is, then spell out differences. If not, then just say so … dammit!

Hailey is just a chump.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Rick Perry earns a bouquet

I am going to do something I never envisioned doing when this politician was serving in public office.

Rick Perry has earned my admiration for the job he did as Texas governor, even though I was reluctant to say so in real time.

Two issues stand out for me in the wake of the current trends we are seeing in the Republican Party. Neither of them is a “social issue,” but they appeal to two policy issues that are near and dear to my ticker.

Wind energy and Dreamers.

On Perry’s watch as a Republican governor — which seemed to go on forever — Texas became the nation’s leading producer of electrical energy from wind. Think about that for a moment.

A state that has prided itself on the production of fossil fuels is now the nation’s leader in generating electricity through a clean and renewable source. The wind that howls across places like the Caprock, the South Plains and the Trans-Pecos is producing an increasing amount of electricity.

The explosion of wind farms throughout West Texas occurred on Perry’s watch as governor. I want to applaud the former governor for enabling and allowing wind-generated electricity producers to lift the state’s environmental awareness profile. If only he would have been more out-front on wind power while he served as energy secretary during the Donald Trump administration.

Dreamers? You know who they are, right? These are the individuals who entered the United States as “illegal immigrants” because their parents sneaked them into the country in search of greater opportunity.

Although he didn’t exactly boast out loud about this policy stance, Perry stood firm for the notion of allowing these Dreamers to attend our public colleges and universities as “in-state residents.” That gave them a break on the cost of their higher education. Perry treated Dreamers as Texas residents … which they most certainly are!

That view has become anathema to the MAGA crowd that dominates today’s GOP, which is driving the state’s current lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, to push for a more rigid legislative agenda. Gov. Greg Abbott is marching to the same cadence.

Republicans such as Rick Perry are becoming an endangered species. Believe me when I say that it isn’t easy for me to write that previous sentence.

It is just that Perry’s view of the value of harvesting wind for electricity and his compassionate view of those who were brought here as children make him sound downright reasonable and rational.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

GOP now tolerates boors

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boorishness on the floor of the House the other evening was a sight to behold.

Why? Because in the not-too-distant past, other members of the Republican caucus were scorned for doing the kind of thing she did during President Biden’s State of the Union speech, which was to shout “liar!” at the commander in chief and our head of state.

GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina pulled a stunt like that during one of President Obama’s SOTU speeches and he was called down by the then-speaker John Boehner. Greene has become a living caricature of the MAGA cult that comprises much of today’s Republican Party.

As for the current speaker, Kevin McCarthy, he sought to shush the MAGA cabal of his caucus prior to the speech, to no avail. What has been his response to Greene’s defiant outburst? Well … not a damn word.

This congresswoman from Georgia is demonstrating to all of us just how dumb she is and just how gullible the people she represents are in sending her back to office for a second term.

Sickening.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

GOP suffers short-term memory loss

Congress’s newly minted Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives clearly is suffering from some form of collective dementia, or amnesia … or at least some short-term memory loss.

The GOP caucus formed this committee assigned with investigating what it calls the “weaponization” of the executive branch by the Democratic administration led by President Biden.

It makes me want to shout: are you fu**ing kidding me?

The Donald Trump administration managed to weaponize the Department of Justice at every turn imaginable. Where was the outrage then among the GOP allies of the disgraced, twice-impeached POTUS? Oh, wait! They cheered the liar on!

Now they want to “investigate” whether the DOJ has “weaponized the FBI” because it sought — and received — permission from a federal judge to look for classified documents in Trump’s home in Florida. What a crock!

Indeed, the very existence of a committee assigned to do what the GOP wants from this panel in itself is a weaponization of the legislative branch of government.

So, for the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to proclaim its piety in search of the truth is laughable on its face. Except no one ought to be laughing.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Biden flexes his muscles

An 80-year-old president cannot possibly claim to have muscles as supple as they once were, but last night Joe Biden showed his opposition that he possesses plenty of fight as he prepares for the next phase of the presidency.

That involves what is lining up to be a spirited campaign for re-election.

The venue was a joint congressional session and the president’s annual State of the Union speech. The MAGA cult that comprises a good portion of the Republican caucus in the House decided to heckle the president at some curious and, frankly, dubious points. Such as when he talked about saving Medicare and Social Security.

He took ’em on in the moment. Frankly, we witnessed a side of the president I didn’t believe existed.

He was brilliant! He played the GOP fire-breathers like a cheap fiddle. Along the way he has set the stage for a 2024 presidential campaign that is going to be — at least for this partisan — fun to watch.

To be sure, the right-wing propagandists will portray the speech as nothing more than game-playing. They trotted out Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to deliver the GOP response. Instead of offering policy alternatives, she leveled attack after attack on the “woke mob,” against “left-wing Democrats” and otherwise painted a grim portrait of a nation in decline.

Good grief! The state of our Union is as strong as it ever has been!

That all said, I want to be among the many commentators to applaud President Joe Biden for taking the fight straight to the opposition. He showed me that he has plenty left to offer the world’s greatest nation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

What? Pentagon disabled the spy balloon?

How about this: It turns out that the spy balloon caper that has Republicans and MAGA cultists all a-flutter is turning out to be the nothing burger many of us have thought all along.

You see, now we get word that the Pentagon spooks were able to “disable” the Chinese spy balloon as it crossed over U.S. territory before a fighter jet shot the sucker down off the South Carolina coast.

Hmm. Those folks at the Pentagon are good … you know?

The military brass also counseled President Biden to hold off on shooting down the balloon to minimize threats to humans on the ground and damage done by falling debris. So, the president heeded the brass and then acted responsibly.

Oh, but not according to the GOP wingnuts who have all but accused President Biden of being a closet Chinese agent. Their response has been laughable and ridiculous.

I’ll throw in stupid just to make it a trifecta.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com