Tag Archives: Joe Biden

media news, national security, political news, State news

Do as I say, not do …

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This is the opening paragraph of a story published today by the Texas Tribune …

Monica De La Cruz, a firebrand Republican running in a fiercely competitive South Texas race, received thousands of dollars for personal business interests from federal COVID relief programs despite disparaging federal assistance programs as harmful to the U.S. economy.

Man, you just have to love the kind of reporting that exposes politicians’ hypocrisy in this Age of Hypocrites.

Here’s the rest of the story. Take a peek. It’s worth your time.

Monica De La Cruz cashes in on COVID aid, trashes programs | The Texas Tribune

The Tribune points out that De La Cruz is the latest Republican — yeah, this is mostly a GOP affliction — to criticize Democrats’ policies while scarfing up the goodies for their own gain.

So it is with this GOP candidate for Congress.

Do you recall in 2020 when Republicans railed against President Biden’s efforts to pump money into repairing and upgrading our infrastructure? Then, once Congress approved it Biden signed it into law, they stood up and boasted about all the money that was coming to their states and congressional districts.

The Tribune reported further about De La Cruz’s duplicity: “Monica De La Cruz raged against relief funding for Texas small businesses, but what she didn’t mention was that she and her family happily took nearly $200,000 of that same aid for themselves. Her hypocritical agenda of ‘Help for me, but not for thee’ is politics at its worst and South Texans deserve better,” said Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Where I come from, such blatant hypocrisy is a deal-breaker.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Cheney should rethink this notion

Lame-duck Liz Cheney is considering a run for the presidency in 2024. On one hand, I endorse the notion of the Wyoming Republican congresswoman running for the GOP presidential nomination.

On the other hand, the prospect of Cheney running for POTUS as an independent candidate — a notion she hasn’t yet ruled out — could prove disastrous.

Why? Well, Cheney said she is going to commit her remaining time in public life to ensuring that Donald Trump gets nowhere near the Oval Office ever again. I applaud her noble goal. And it is a noble calling, given the damage that Trump could deliver to the presidency were he sent back to the White House. Oh, jeez, the thought makes my gut tighten.

If Cheney were to run as an independent, from whom does she draw her votes? Those who would vote for President Biden only because they, too, cannot stomach the thought of Trump returning to power would be inclined to vote for Cheney. So, if Cheney runs as an independent candidate for POTUS, her presence on the fall 2024 ballot could serve as a major spoiler.

A part of me wants to see Cheney stand on a GOP debate stage with Trump and other Republicans seeking the White House. She would eviscerate The Donald. However, that doesn’t preclude Trump from winning the GOP nomination … presuming he runs, of course.

And therein lies the danger of Cheney staying in the hunt for the White House if she doesn’t win the GOP nomination. Does she run as an indy and, therefore, likely siphon votes from President Biden?

She wouldn’t like this comparison, but a Cheney presence as an independent reminds me of what Ralph Nader did to help elect George W. Bush president in 2000. The consumer advocate, Nader, drew votes that would have gone to Al Gore in that election, serving as legitimate spoiler in many states where his total exceeded the difference between Bush and Gore.

Play it carefully, Rep. Cheney. I am proud of the stand she has taken in this effort to investigate Trump’s role in the 1/6 insurrection. My pride would disappear, though, if she manages through her own hubris to help Trump blunder his way back into power.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, economic news, Joe Biden

‘Old jobs’ not as good?

A frequent critic of www.highplainsblogger.com decided to weigh in with a comment about President Biden’s job performance.

He disagrees — not surprisingly — with my assessment of the job growth that has occurred during the Biden administration. My critic says Biden has created “no real new jobs.” That the only jobs being “created” are the old jobs that are being filled again.

Hmm. I rolled that one around for just a moment.

It occurred to me that the old jobs are just as valuable as the new jobs. I mean, those who are filling the old jobs are paying taxes and contributing to the nation’s economic well-being just as much as they would be had they occupied “new jobs.” Isn’t that right?

The critic just cannot seem to grasp that I remain as faithful to Joe Biden as he does to Donald Trump. Except for this important qualifier: Biden defeated Trump in 2020. Oh, and Trump is in a deep pile of dookey over, well … you know.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, national news

MAGA = serious threat

President Biden is correct to assert that the MAGA wing of the Republican Party poses an existential threat to our democracy.

These are the fruitcakes, the adherents of the Make America Great Again wing of the once-Grand Old Party, who continue to insist that The Big Lie is the Big Truth, that the 2020 election was stolen from the MAGA Liar in Chief and that there must be hell to pay for a transgression that did not exist.

The president has kicked into 2022 midterm election campaign mode. I welcome his return to the fight. Of course, the mainstream Republican Party — which ought to hail the president’s message as a comforting elixir — is condemning him for speaking the truth.

Donald Trump this week called for the immediate removal of Mitch McConnell as GOP Senate leader. Why? Because McConnell — belatedly, of course — is now speaking the truth about Trump, that the ex-POTUS poses a dangerous threat to the democratic process.

Milquetoast Mitch likely won’t fight back with the ferocity that such an insult deserves. He probably doesn’t want to pi** off the MAGA cultists who continue to consume the swill that Trump serves them about The Big Lie and how he’s being “persecuted” by those “far-left Democrats.”

Trump is becoming unhinged daily by defections from his ranks, by continuing negative developments into the investigation of his effort to steal the 2020 election.

There can be no doubt Joe Biden is right on this one, calling MAGA Republicans the nation’s greatest political threat.

They sicken me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, national news

Expectations have let me down

My expectation of a transfer to smooth governance from an administration that prided itself on chaos, confrontation and confusion perhaps might have placed too large a burden on the new guys who took over in January 2021.

President Biden’s term in office so far has been anything but smooth, seamless and serene. Indeed, the administration has found itself fighting with Republicans in much the same manner its immediate predecessor fought with Democrats.

Except for one little factor that I had hoped would come into play: President Biden brought decades of legislative and government administrative experience to a task to which Donald J. Trump brought none of the above.

Silly me. I didn’t count — as I should have — on Republican obstructionism born out of the GOP’s anger over the way Democrats responded to Trump getting in the way.

But … it has.

To be sure, the president has been able to claim bipartisan victories on gun legislation and on infrastructure renovation. The number of Republican lawmakers to join their Democratic colleagues has been nominal … and that’s the nice way of saying it.

The recent enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act more or less illustrates a point I intend to make, which is that it is dangerous to govern only with the endorsement of those within your own party. Biden received zero Republican support in the House for the IRA. It took a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Harris to put the bill over the top in the Senate.

I had placed a great deal of faith in my belief that Joe Biden’s many decades in government would buy him some political capital that he could spend on behalf of our needs. My faith was misplaced, I am sorry to acknowledge.

Indeed, the president found himself in hot water with Democratic Party progressives because — and this just kills me — he boasted about how he was able to work with narrow-minded Republicans in pushing through legislation.

I continue to stand with President Biden because I believe in the crux of where he wants to lead this nation. He told us he wants us to treat each other with fairness and compassion. He wants to steer us away from the bitterness we heard daily from the four years his predecessor occupied the White House.

That’s all worth endorsing, at least in principle.

Except that Republicans continue to adhere to the politics of meanness and retribution. I hoped that a better day would have dawned by now. Maybe it will … eventually.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

Student debt decision? Eh …

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You can count me as one American who has categorically mixed feelings about President Biden’s decision to forgive a portion of student debt across the nation.

Biden today said that anyone who earns $125,000 or less annually will see $20,000 taken off their student loan debt obligation. The president’s decision appears to be a compromise of sorts. Progressives want Biden to forgive a whole lot more; maybe even every penny that every American owes when they borrowed the money to pay for their college education. For my money, that was a non-starter.

As for what the president has decided, it doesn’t do much for me one way or another. Twenty grand is no small amount of change.

However, consider this aspect of the debt that these former students incurred: They did so willingly when they enrolled in college. Thus, aren’t they obligated to pay back what they borrowed?

Thousands of Texans could benefit from student loan forgiveness | The Texas Tribune

My sons didn’t incur huge debt when they obtained their college degrees. My wife and took out a parent loan for one of our sons. We paid it off many years ago.  We never one time considered asking for any sort of waiver or request a suspension of our payback obligation.

I get that the pandemic brought a lot of havoc to families. Thus, to the extent that the president can seek forgiveness of debt on that basis, I guess that’s an acceptable reason.

I just don’t understand fully the notion of forgiving the debts of those who incur them willingly and with a clear thought about the consequences of refusing to pay it back.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Twice elected? He’s out!

This thought didn’t come from me, but I want to share it anyway … because it’s too damn funny to ignore.

Donald Trump won election to the presidency in 2016 by securing more Electoral College votes than Hillary Clinton. It was legal and constitutional.

Trump says he was re-elected in a landslide four years later. Of course, he wasn’t. He lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, who pulled in 7 million more ballots than Trump and won with an Electoral College majority that virtually mirrored Trump’s win four years earlier.

But …

If Trump is right — which he isn’t! — that he won re-election in 2020, how can the former Dipsh** in Chief, with a straight face, purport to consider running for POTUS in 2024? The Constitution allows two terms. That’s it!

Hit the fu**ing road, Donald!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

environmental news

Climate change: legislative target

President Biden’s recent success has prompted plenty of discussion about whether his political standing will hold up through the 2024 election, presuming he actually runs for re-election.

I want to look briefly at one aspect of Biden’s hot streak. It’s the Inflation Reduction Act and the provision contained in it that deals straight ahead with what I consider to be the nation’s most serious existential threat: climate change.

Forbes magazine has taken a good look at specific aspects of the IRA. Here is its summary of the climate change aspect of the law:

The bill includes numerous investments in climate protection, including tax credits for households to offset energy costs, investments in clean energy production and tax credits aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Now, I have to ask: Why is any of that such a bad thing?

The Inflation Reduction Act is a slimmed-down version of Biden’s Build Back Better legislative ideal. He couldn’t get all Democrats — let alone any Republicans — to buy into the initial version of the bill. So, he settled on this dialed-back facsimile.

What I find horribly disconcerting from GOP critics is their insistence that efforts to curb carbon emissions is a “job killer.” In a way, yes, this emphasis will reduce jobs … in the fossil fuel industry. The payback, though, comes with investment in new clean-energy jobs. 

Here’s What’s In The Inflation Reduction Act – Forbes Advisor

You might recall a statement that 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said about her plan to convert to clean energy. She pledged to virtually eliminate fossil fuel jobs; her foes led by GOP nominee Donald Trump hammered her mercilessly. Except that she said in the very next sentence that she would want to replace those fossil fuel jobs with clean energy jobs.

Here’s a bit more from Forbes: Though the bill may fall short of bringing immediate price relief to consumers, it’s monumental in other ways. According to The Wilderness Society, a nonprofit land conservation organization established in 1935, the Inflation Reduction Act is described as a “breakthrough” on climate policy.

A “breakthrough on climate policy”? I agree about whether this bill bring much immediate relief on inflation. However, I am going to retain a belief that tax breaks and household incentives are going to bring immediate relief to the stresses humankind is putting on our fragile planet.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Quibbling over concession?

It’s come down now to this: We’re now left to wonder whether a defeated candidate for Congress called an opponent to offer “congratulations” on the victory.

Let’s see. What have we heard?

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming lost the Republican Party primary election this week to Harriet Hageman. Cheney is an avid foe of Donald Trump; Hageman received Trump’s endorsement because of Cheney’s stand on the rule of law.

Hageman thumped Cheney, who then stood before the nation and told us she called Hageman because the challenger got more votes than Cheney did. There was no mention of good wishes, an atta girl, statement of support from Cheney.

Then Hageman’s staff leaked something about Cheney reportedly calling the victorious candidate. The call reportedly lasted five seconds, with Cheney actually congratulating Hageman.

Cheney reportedly left a voice mail message.

Right-wing media, naturally, are all over this snippet. They contend that Cheney should issue a public statement congratulating Hageman and even offer to support her as she prepares — as expected — to take her seat in Congress next January.

Cheney has been vilified, demonized and otherwise termed into a GOP pariah simply because she remains faithful to the oath she took to protect the Constitution and our democratic process.

To be honest, she doesn’t owe Hageman anything more than a concession call. She delivered it. The story is over.

However, I do not expect it to be over. I fully expect right-wing media to continue harping on what should be a non-starter. Cheney deserves to be torqued over the treatment she has gotten from those who accuse her of being a “traitor” to a president who — dare I say — has broken multiple laws.

Then again, I need to remind everyone reading this message that Donald Trump himself lowered the standard for electoral decency by refusing to concede his own defeat in 2020 to Joe Biden, who whipped his sorry, overfed backside.

Therefore, we are witnessing more of this nonsense playing out in Liz Cheney’s valiant attempt to win re-election to her congressional office.

Our political process has gone bonkers!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, Joe Biden, national news

Are we better off … ?

The Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives sought to make some political hay by asking if we are “better off today than we were two years ago.”

Well, Kevin McCarthy of California, your effort to denigrate Joe Biden’s presidency deserves a look. So … here goes:

  • On Biden’s watch, Congress approved a bipartisan bill — the first in 30-something years — that seeks to stem gun violence.
  • When Russia invaded Ukraine this past February, President Biden was able to present a unified NATO and European Union front in response to the illegal and criminal act of war.
  • The president was able to shepherd through Congress a massive infrastructure improvement bill that seeks to repair our nation’s roads, bridges and airports.
  • Joe Biden nominated and then welcomed the nation’s first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
  • We have turned the corner on the international pandemic.
  • Fuel prices, which skyrocketed and led the inflationary surge of recent months, have retreated dramatically.
  • The United States has created more private-sector jobs in the first two years of President Biden’s term than at any similar time in its history.
  • Unemployment currently stands at 3.5%.
  • Congressional Democrats — fighting unanimous Republican opposition — managed to pass the nation’s first-ever meaningful law dealing with climate change; it also seeks to curb health costs and reduce inflation.
  • We have cut by roughly half the nation’s annual budget deficit.

So, taken together, I think I have an answer to Leader McCarthy’s question.

Yes. We are better off than we were when President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took office.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com