Tag Archives: insurrection

crime news

Criminality: it’s everywhere!

One of the takeaways I am getting from the televised hearings of the 1/6 House select committee on the insurrection is one that I didn’t quite expect.

It’s the presence of criminality in the hearts and minds of many principals involved with the Donald Trump administration during that horrible time in our nation’s history.

You might recall when Trump was running for president how he said anyone who sought to proclaim Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination was certainly guilty of a crime. Then several of his key aides did that very thing when they answered summons to testify before the House select committee.

Now we hear during the televised hearings that many other Trumpkins sought presidential pardons in the immediate aftermath of the 1/6 insurrection that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump granted some pardons. Not all of ’em got the mercy extended from the POTUS as he was preparing to exit the White House.

Still, it is worth pondering: Why would anyone ask for a full pardon from the president if he or she didn’t have a fear of being prosecuted for criminal acts? 

It looks as though there was a whole lot of criminality going on in the White House during the insurrection. I feel confident the legal eagles at the Justice Department are paying careful attention.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Have you heard enough?

Day Three of the House select 1/6 committee hearing has been — shall we say — illuminating … yes?

Its aim was to illustrate the pressure that Donald Trump poured onto Mike Pence to commit an illegal and unconstitutional act.

To his credit, the VP didn’t budge. He did what he was allowed to do under the Constitution, was to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. He had no legal authority to toss out those results, as Trump urged him to do. Vice President Pence acted solely within the law.

I have heard enough, therefore, to conclude that the Justice Department has enough evidence to proceed with a criminal indictment against the 45th president of the United States.

To be sure, it isn’t my call to make. That call belongs to Attorney General Merrick Garland. May the AG proceed with all deliberate discernment and reach the same conclusion that many of us out here have reached.

There will be more televised hearings to be conducted. I intend to listen to every hour I am able to consume.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Heads up, Liz Cheney

Liz Cheney no doubt watched with keen interest what happened to her Republican U.S. House colleague Tom Rice.

Rice got thumped badly in the GOP primary in South Carolina. Why would Cheney take such a keen interest in Rice’s defeat? Because the two of them were among 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Donald J. Trump, who along with the cultists, has been on the warpath ever since.

Rice paid the price politically when he lost the South Carolina GOP primary this week. So, now comes the question: Is the same fate awaiting Cheney out yonder in Wyoming, where she faces a Trumpkin challenger for her House seat?

I hope that’s not the case, given that Cheney has emerged as the rare Republican voice of sanity, reason and fealty to the Constitution in the ongoing probe into the 1/6 insurrection … that Donald Trump incited with that fiery speech on the Ellipse just two weeks before he would hand the presidency over to the man who defeated him, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

From my perch in North Texas, I must acknowledge that it doesn’t look good for Rep. Cheney. Then again, Wyoming Republicans aren’t necessarily clones of their colleagues in South Carolina.

That is my most fervent hope.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Learning a little about the law

One of the many positive aspects of watching the House select committee hearings on the 1/6 insurrection has been the in-depth discussion of the law and how good lawyering and bad lawyering are in conflict over the conduct of the losing 2020 presidential candidate.

Donald Trump lost the election that year to Joe Biden. He incited the insurrection on 1/6. He got impeached for the second time by the House over that act. Trump continues to foment The Big Lie about the election, alleging widespread voter fraud that did not exist.

The networks that are covering the televised hearings — that’s about all of them — are walking viewers through the aspects of the law that are coming into play.

It fascinates me to no end. I will never pretend to learn enough about the legalities of Trump’s ill-conceived effort to undermine the electoral process to argue the legal facts.

Still, the arguments being made by the commentators are educational to me. I long have said there are many things I don’t know. The legal intricacies of a former POTUS seeking to undermine our democratic process is one of them.

They are coming into sharper focus every day.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Liz Cheney: show stealer

Liz Cheney is stealing the show at the 1/6 House select committee televised hearings.

It’s a cinch that the Wyoming Republican member of Congress — one of its most conservative members — is emerging as the star of the hearing to determine whether Donald Trump should be prosecuted for inciting the 1/6 insurrection against the federal government.

I want to join a University of Texas professor in proclaiming that although Cheney is far from my favorite member of Congress, she has earned my respect and admiration for the way she has handled herself in the face of stern opposition … from those within her own party!

Richard Cherwitz writes in The Hill: Perhaps most noteworthy was Cheney’s withering message to her fellow Republicans. It was rhetorically powerful and no doubt will be remembered for a long time: “Tonight, I say this to our Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

I’m no fan of Liz Cheney, but she has earned my respect (msn.com)

Cheney is a right-winger, to be sure. I oppose her on critical issues of the day: on abortion, on gun control, on judicial appointments. You name it and I am likely to take a different view from those espoused by Rep. Cheney.

However, we do share a common interest. It is fealty to the Constitution. She has said repeatedly that she and her fellow members of Congress took the same oath, that they are faithful to the Constitution. She has parted company with most of her GOP colleagues, though, on whether they are more faithful to Donald Trump than they are to the nation’s governing document.

Compare her rhetoric to what we hear coming from many of the Trumpkins who are serving in the House. She argues that Donald Trump should be held accountable for his actions on 1/6; the Trumpkin Corps says “Pfftt! Why does that matter?”

Trump has endorsed a GOP opponent running against Cheney in the primary election this year. I don’t know whether Liz Cheney will lose that fight. I hope she survives. Why? Because we need more people in Congress who are loyal to the Constitution and who show courage when faced with political pressure from within their own partisan ranks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

My mind is made up

I don’t want the House hearings to end just yet; I want to hear more from the witnesses summoned by the select 1/6 committee.

This much seems clear to me: My mind is made up. It is settled in my own noggin that Donald J. Trump deserves to be prosecuted for seditious conspiracy, as he plotted to block the “peaceful transition” from his administration to the Joe Biden administration after the 2020 presidential election.

Truth be told, I really don’t need to hear any more from the witnesses. However, I want to hear more.

I must have some sort of political bloodlust coming into play. Well, I don’t care. I have the luxury of passing judgment without hearing all the facts, unlike Attorney General Merrick Garland and his team of prosecutors who are listening to every word during the hearings.

Do I believe AG Garland will do as I wish? I am not going to predict what Garland will do. I know, though, that were I in charge of the Justice Department, I would be drafting criminal complaints to deliver to a grand jury. I then would be preparing my arguments to grand jurors, seeking to persuade them to issue a “true bill” that means an indictment would come forth.

Let’s await the end of this televised portion of the hearings.

I will pray for discernment and wisdom from the Attorney General Garland and hope that it leads him to do what I hope he will do: Indict and then prosecute fully the former president of the United States for seeking inciting an insurrection against the government he swore he would “protect and defend.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Constitution still works

Gerald R. Ford became president on Aug. 9, 1974, and told the nation weary of scandal, “Our Constitution works.” 

It did then. It is working now as the House select committee assigned to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection slogs on in its quest.

A president resigned in disgrace and President Ford took control just as the Constitution prescribes. A future president summoned a traitorous mob to “take back our government” on 1/6 and sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Constitution gives the speaker of the House the sole authority to appoint a committee to examine that horrible event. Speaker Nancy Pelosi followed the Constitution, and we now are watching that panel continue on its journey.

Where the committee concludes remains to be seen. I have my hope for what I want to see happen. If that hope doesn’t come true, then I am going to accept the panel’s findings, given that it is legally constituted and has done its duty as it sees fit.

Thus, we are witnessing in real time once again the durability and strength of the nation’s governing framework.

Those framers were smart men … don’t you think?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Fox News = propaganda arm

First, I must make an admission, which is that I do not watch Fox News to get my “news” from a supposedly legitimate media outlet.

Now, though, comes the gut punch. The idea that Fox News executives would refuse to cover the House 1/6 select committee hearing simply galls me to the max.

I suppose I should take credit for being ahead of the curve by recognizing that Fox News isn’t the credible news agency it proclaims itself to be.

Do you remember how it hailed itself as the “fair and balanced” network, how the channel said, “We report, you decide”? I have said for the past decade or longer that it never has been “fair and balanced.” I long have suspected its “reporting” is of questionable value.

Now we have these reports of commentators such as Tucker Carlson pitching The Big Lie promoted by The Donald; moreover, Carlson has reportedly been standing with Russia in its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

Fellow right-wing zealot Sean Hannity is no better. He has been joined at the hip with Donald Trump since prior to the 2020 election. However, he sank to new lows by appearing as a guest promoter at Trump’s campaign rallies during the 2020 campaign.

Now we have the House select panel sending its evidence of wrongdoing into our living rooms via TV. All the other major networks are broadcasting the hearings live to those of us who want to watch them; I am one American patriot who wants to learn the truth behind what happened during the 1/6 insurrection.

Were I a Fox News devotee, I wouldn’t get that chance. As a method of deterring viewers from sneaking a peak on the hearing being shown on, say, CNN or MSNBC, Fox is airing programs without commercial interruptions. Clever eh? Sure, it’s also quite costly.

Fox News’s decision to forgo covering one of the biggest stories in U.S. history in truth doesn’t affect me in the least, given that I don’t watch the network. It does, though, have an impact on our nation’s political structure.

It feeds the gullibility exhibited by the cultists who still adhere to The Big Lie.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Eyes are fixed on … Trump

There can be no doubt that Donald Trump has returned — once more! — to the forefront of our political stage.

I wish it weren’t so. My wishing, though, simply cannot deny the obvious.

The U.S. House 1/6 select committee has convened public hearings on national TV. We’ll get Episode Two tomorrow morning. Who’s at the top of our attention span? The Donald! Of course he is! 

The House panel appears to be building a case for indicting Trump for inciting the insurrection of 1/6. Members of the committee have yapped about the panel having enough evidence to recommend an indictment; I hope that speculation will cease. It’s not productive.

I guess Trump must like being the focus of our attention. It’s his modus operandi, or so I’ve been led to believe. He is, after all, a supreme narcissist, which by definition means he relishes this attention.

Whatever.

For as long as the winds keep drafting over Trump, I’ll be forced to comment on occasion on issues that develop regarding this carnival barker. I pledge to look the other way when he blathers some nonsense. As it relates to the committee and its findings, I intend to offer my views — for whatever they’re worth — on what they mean to the future of our democratic process.

Still, if only Trump would just disappear.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves

I am beginning to wish that members of the House 1/6 select committee would stop speculating out loud about the “evidence” they say all but guarantees that Donald Trump will be indicted for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

You see, these folks are getting my hopes fired up.

Reps. Liz Cheney, a Republican, and Adam Schiff, a Democrat, are saying the same thing: the panel has enough evidence to recommend that the Justice Department indict Trump for inciting the insurrection on 1/6.

Then we hear from a former White House lawyer suggesting that Fulton County (Ga.) prosecutors are close to getting an indictment against Trump charging him with coercing Georgia election officials into “finding” enough votes to swing the state’s electoral result from Joe Biden to Trump.

Again … my heart gets to fluttering when I hear such things.

Oh, how I do not want to be let down.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com