Monthly Archives: November 2022

Joe Biden

Run, Joe, run!

As a general rule, I am not inclined to presume what incumbent officeholders should do, whether to run for re-election or call it quits.

I’ll make an exception right now: President Joe Biden should run for re-election in 2024. 

OK, so why the change? It’s because I believe he is doing a good job as president and that he is prepared to take on another four years as our head of state and commander in chief.

I do not buy into the rumors about alleged cognitive decline. I know about the verbal gaffes. He’s been making rhetorical mistakes for decades. It’s nothing new; it’s likely an after-effect from the stuttering condition he suffered as a child.

I have no earthly idea who the Republicans will nominate in 2024. Given the GOP’s obstructionist nature since they lost the presidency in 2020, it likely won’t matter who carries the party banner into the political battle against the Democrats.

To that end, I hope it’s the president who carries his party’s flag onto the field.

Joe Biden has managed to get Congress to approve gun violence legislation, to back his infrastructure revamping plan, to help reduce the cost of prescription drugs. On his watch, more jobs have been created in a single presidential term than any time in history. The jobless rate is now at pre-COVID pandemic levels. President Biden has persuaded our allies to back the U.S. economic sanction effort to fight the Russians’ illegal invasion of Ukraine. NATO is more united than ever.

Yes, Joe Biden has worked to do to combat the illegal immigration problem. My belief is that he is working daily to fix it. Yes, despite the threats of impeachment and further obstruction, I am going to retain my faith in Joe Biden’s ability to work the complexities of government in search of a solution.

He’s been at it for decades. Joe Biden isn’t ready to stop.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Put Putin on trial!

Vladimir Putin needs to be tried for war crimes against civilians in Ukraine … of that I am utterly certain.

The Russian goon/thug/strongman/despot/tyrant has stooped to even lower lows than I thought possible.

His military is now targeting heating infrastructure in Ukraine as the temperatures start to plummet to below-zero temperatures. Who suffers from such hideous attacks? Women, children, elderly people.

Russian propagandists insist they are targeting military operations. Bullsh**! Their aim is to bring the civilian population to its knees. It’s the only target left, given that the Ukrainian military machine is making mincemeat on the battlefield of what once was considered an invincible Russian army.

Putin is now turning his weaponry on civilians. Thus, he needs to stand trial. In absentia if need be.

There is plenty of precedent for putting war criminals on trial in absentia. The International Court needs to step in –and step up — to do its job by holding this Russian despot accountable for his obvious crimes against humanity.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Man becomes hero … household name

Richard Fierro’s life may have changed forever simply because he and another individual acted on instinct in a moment of extreme peril.

Wow. What does one say about someone who confronts a lunatic in a nightclub who has just opened fire on the patrons of the club, killing five of them … including the boyfriend of the hero’s daughter?

The suspect who killed those five individuals in the Colorado Springs gay bar is now in custody. He went to court Wednesday looking for all the world like someone who got beaten to within an inch of his life. Who did the damage? Richard Fierro!

It’s been reported that Fierro is an Army veteran. He said he acted instinctively when he heard the gunshots in the Q Club. He took the shooter down and began beating him with his own weapon.

The gun tragedy, which sadly isn’t even the most recent event to grab our attention, has rallied the gay community across the nation. Not much is known about the suspect, although a video has gone viral with a man who said he is the shooter’s father proclaiming he is glad his son isn’t gay; no mention of the victims.

Sickening.

I am going to keep the families of the victims in my thoughts today as we partake our Thanksgiving dinner. I also will say a prayer of thanks for the heroes who stopped the lunatic before he could do more damage.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Don’t take it personally, Donald

Donald J. Trump needs yet another lesson in civics … so here goes.

The ex-POTUS reacted quite predictably to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for the House Ways and Committee to see his tax returns, the ones he withheld from public view for the past six years.

He said the court’s decision was “no surprise” that it “ruled against me.” Wait a second, Donald.

The court didn’t rule against you. It studied the law and determined that there was no legal basis to keep the records away from Congress. It wasn’t a decision based on any antipathy toward the ex-president.

I should remind The Donald that three of the court justices were nominated by him and that the 6-3 conservative majority on the court is presumed to look favorably on right-wing arguments that come before the panel.

It’s about the law, Donald, not about you.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Giving thanks once again

I have lived a blessed life … of that I am more certain than anything that has ever crossed my mind.

Therefore, I am going to offer a word of thanks and gratitude for the blessings I have enjoyed in my nearly 73 years on this Good Earth.

I learned at a young age to avoid “looking for the girl of my dreams.” What I also learned was that the individual would just show up. I was 21 years of age when she appeared. We found ourselves sitting at the same table with a mutual acquaintance; we exchanged winks and smirks as this fellow made a fool of himself.

We ended up soon after that going on a date. The rest is history. Fifty-one years later I am proud to say that I hit the first pitch out of the park. I give thanks every day for the girl who became my bride.

Our two sons have grown into the finest men you’ll ever know. They have remained close to my bride and me and to each other. One of them found the girl of his dreams and they have produced our lovely granddaughter.

I give thanks to the career I pursued with great joy. It provided some modest success for me. It also gave me a good living. Together, with my wife, we were able to provide for those two boys of ours. My craft enabled us to travel around the world, allowing us to see things we never thought we could see when we started our life together.

I long have enjoyed the blessings of living in the greatest nation on Earth. I gripe a bit about our government, The blessing comes, though, in that I am free to gripe without recrimination. There’s nothing like liberty … you know?

My family means everything to me. So do the friends I have acquired over the years. My blessings are countless. I give thanks for all that I have every single day, not just on Thanksgiving.

Today, though, I am paying a form of tribute to all that I have.

Happy Thanksgiving.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Thank you, Dr. Fauci

While we’re giving thanks to this or that person, I want to offer a word or two of gratitude for the public service delivered by someone who served seven U.S. presidents.

Anthony Fauci has retired from his post as chief medical adviser to President Biden. He is calling it a career after serving as the nation’s chief infectious disease expert.

I want to offer him thanks for taking on a job that earned him as many foes as friends over the years. Why is that? Because he was unable to predict the course that infectious diseases would take, but he still managed to save literally millions of lives over his many years of service.

Republicans who are about to take control of the House of Representatives have promised to bring Dr. Fauci back to Capitol Hill to answer stern questions about his service during the COVID pandemic. The good doc likely will stand strong against the GOP onslaught.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Fauci while attending the International Conference on HIV/AIDS in Bangkok back in the summer of 2004. He was there to provide wise counsel to those seeking answers to that disease. I was in Bangkok as part of a journalist contingent traveling through Southeast Asia to learn about the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in that part of the world.

Fauci served with distinction in presidential administrations dating back to Ronald Reagan. He served under the administrations of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and finally, Joe Biden.

Yes, there were some rocky times, particularly during the Trump years as the administration sought to get its arms around the COVID virus. The vitriol hurled against Dr. Fauci from those on the far right has been unfair and just plain wrong.

I just want to take this brief moment to express one American patriot’s deep thanks for the service Anthony Fauci delivered. Those who survived illness from the killer virus well might owe this good man their lives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

No ‘non-politics’ pledge this year

Years past have seen your friendly blogger — that’s me! — pledge to move away from politics during this holiday season.

I won’t make that pledge this year. I had only mixed success in keeping previous promises. This year I will forgo doing what appears to be the impossible … which is set politics aside in this period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

However, I am making this pledge, which I am comfortable with, as I believe I can keep faith with it. Blog posts during this period will not contain the occasionally personal rhetoric I spew when referencing Donald J. Trump, the man I still consider to be an existential threat to our nation’s political fabric.

Accordingly, I don’t expect to be so visceral and angry even when referencing those who follow what passes for the former POTUS’s ideology. It is terribly tempting to speak the ugly truth about those who I believe hold treasonous views about our democratic process.

I’ll refrain from snorting fire.

That all said, I will continue to speak what I consider to be the truth about them, their cult leader, the misguided notions that come forth. I just won’t use angry rhetoric.

I also realize that having laid down that stipulation, readers of this blog will interpret my comments as being, well, unkind. That is their problem. Not mine.

If I sound unkind or mean, it’s all unintended. Therefore, I will offer a pre-emptive apology of a type I detest hearing from those in the news. If I offend you, I am sorry.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Trump allies dropping off

Now it’s William Barr who has incurred the wrath of the man who selected him to be — ostensibly, at least — the nation’s attorney general.

The reality, though, was that Barr turned out to be a Donald Trump loyalist who misinterpreted the Robert Mueller special counsel findings on whether Trump colluded with Russians in 2016. There were many other times when Barr acted more like Trump’s lawyer than the nation’s chief law enforcer.

Now we hear from Barr that Trump is likely to be indicted for allegedly violating the Presidential Records Act and the Espionage Act by pilfering classified documents, taking them from the White House and storing them at his home in Florida.

Trump is angry, man. He is outraged. How can Barr say those things? He can say them because he is pretty good lawyer who likely has a good sense of what prosecutors know.

There have been a long and growing list of former Trump loyalists who now are speaking out — belatedly — about the hideous conduct of the 45th POTUS.

The list will grow. Bet on it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Deniers make no sense

The election deniers who continue to yammer about “theft” of elections and the rigging of outcomes that deliver losses to Republican candidates simply baffle me.

I do not understand how this alleged “rigging” is supposed to work. In Arizona, the election denying GOP candidate for governor, Kari Lake, refuses to concede that she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs. Republican county officials in Cochise and Mojave counties refuse to certify the results because, they allege, of irregularities in the balloting.

This is nonsense. It is foolishness. It is dangerous.

These believers in The Big Lie have declared war on our democratic process. They cannot be allowed to spread their lies and do potentially irreparable harm to our cherished republic.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news

SCOTUS clears way for Trump tax return

How does the saying go? Oh, I know: Inquiring minds want to know … actually those inquiring minds need to know and have a right to know.

Know what? They have a right to know how much a former president of the United States paid in taxes. They have the right to know how much he gave to charity. They are entitled to know the nature of his business dealings. They also have a right to know whether Donald J. Trump is as wealthy as he claimed to be while running for POTUS in 2016.

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee to get its hands on Trump’s tax returns. The court didn’t disclose any details of its decision or reveal how the justices voted on it. Now, that begs the question: Does that mean you and I will see them? Not right away.

However, given the sieve quality of Congress, my guess is that we’ll get a peek at them in due course. Maybe soon.

Why is this a big deal? It’s a big deal because Donald Trump made it a big deal in 2015 when he announced his intention to seek the presidency. He rode down the Trump Tower escalator and said, among many things, that he would release the returns as other candidates have done.

Then he backed off. Then he said he would release them when the Internal Revenue Service completed its audit of the returns. We never learned whether the IRS was actually auditing them; Trump never produced any evidence of an audit. The IRS said it couldn’t confirm an audit but said that an audit didn’t preclude someone from releasing the returns.

Then he balked again. He’s been fighting release of the returns ever since.

Many of us want to see the returns. We are entitled to see them. The man worked for us. Trump was our “employee” for four years.

He wants to run for POTUS again. He likely will bellow, blather and boast more about his wealth. I long have known that the truly wealthy among us don’t brag about it. Thus, I am suspicious of Trump’s dubious claims of fabulous wealth.

Let us see for ourselves.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com