Monthly Archives: February 2023

national news

Such cynical times, indeed

Oh, how we live in an era full of cynicism and spite, as a friend posted on a social media message board overnight.

My friend Rick noted that upon hearing of former President Carter’s decision to commit to hospice care one of the first thoughts that entered my friend’s mind was the tasteless, tactless and narcissistic comment that is likely to come from Donald Trump.

Yes, despite the presence of several former presidents, most of whom possess grace and class, my friend had to mention what we might expect from the Election Denier in Chief who has become damn near legendary in his penchant for saying exactly the wrong thing.

I despise this cynical age.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

It’s OK to laugh while mourning?

2 Comments

I continue to mourn the passing of my bride and I figure I will do so for a good while.

However, some bizarre thoughts coarse through my noggin as I seek to find my way toward a new normal life without my beloved Kathy Anne. One of them involves laughter.

I am 73 years of age. We were married for 51 years. That means she was a major part of my life for most of my time on this Earth.

There are moments when I laugh out loud at something I see, or when Toby the Puppy performs one of this pooch tricks, or when I watch someone tell a joke. I told a friend on a social media message that I feel strangely embarrassed when I laugh out loud. It’s weird, man.

There is no way I will wear black in public the way my grandmother did after my grandfather died in January 1950. Yiayia mourned Papou in a formal matter for the rest of her life, which ended on July 4, 1978.

However, I don’t want to feel oddly self-conscious when I chuckle at something. Those who have been through this level of grief perhaps know of what I am mentioning.

Hey, I’ll get through this, too.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

‘News’ becomes propaganda

When does news become propaganda? It happens when an organization that purports to be “fair and balanced” in its reporting of the news allegedly hides the truth and foments The Big Lie.

A company that manufactures voting machines has alleged that Fox News — the aforementioned “fair and balanced” organization — knew that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election but rather than tell the truth it promoted the Big Lie offered by the moron who lost the election, Donald J. Trump.

The Fox propagandists continued to suggest that the voting machines had rigged the election by wiping out Trump votes and adding mythical votes to Biden’s total.

Dominion Voting sued Fox for a couple of billion bucks and is coming out on top in the preliminary court rulings.

To be clear, I do not watch Fox largely because the network is allegedly doing what I have suspected all along. The networks’ premier hosts — Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo — all have been heard furthering The Big Lie about the 2020 election.

What’s more, they all have said quite the opposite in private, according to court records. They have referred to the fraud allegations as so much bullsh**, that they were “seriously offended” by suggestions that fraud existed. With all those personal feelings being expressed in private, they still went on the air to promote the specious notion of “widespread election fraud” where none existed.

Indeed, investigators have determined that there was no election fraud in 2020, as the Fox propagandists have suggested. The lawsuit seeks to put an end to The Big Lie.

All of this gives credence to my belief that the right-wing mainstream media comprise liars and frauds masquerading as journalists.

Shameful.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

What’s fair is well … fair

Fairness is forcing me to hold back on my feelings about the MAGA crowd’s unwillingness to refer to Joe Biden with the title he won during the 2020 presidential election.

The right-wing extremists refuse to use the term “President Biden” when referencing the commander in chief. But yet — and this is where the conflict arises — they attach the word “President” in front of Donald Trump’s name.

Where am I going with this?

I acknowledge freely and without apology my own refusal to afford Donald Trump the same “recognition” the MAGAites refuse to grant to President Biden.

Years ago, when Trump took the presidential oath of office, I vowed publicly on High Plains Blogger that I never would place Trump’s name after the word “President.” I have delivered on that pledge. Spare me the lecture that Trump did get elected in 2016 because he garnered enough Electoral College votes to declare victory.

It is incumbent on me, therefore, to withhold any outward criticism of the MAGA cult members who refuse to bestow the courtesy of referring to Joe Biden as President Biden. I am acutely aware that none of this has a thing to do with policy differences.

I have been tempted, to be sure, particularly when I see the likes of Ronny Jackson, the Republican-MAGA member of Congress who represents my old haunts in the Texas Panhandle, harp continually on phony allegations regarding President Biden’s mental acuity.

But … I won’t go there.

I was taught all about leveling fair criticism long ago as a much younger editorialist. This critical reluctance on my part falls into the category of remaining fair.

Hey, if the other side is going to engage in the same behavior that I did, then who in the world am I to criticize ’em? I’ll keep my powder dry for the issues that matter.

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

local news

Grief journey takes new turn

My journey through the darkness of grief continues … but I am happy to report that it appears to be moving into a new phase.

It’s undefined at this moment, but I am sensing comfort in the company of good friends.

I met two dear friends today. One of them is recovering from major back surgery. She is in rehab at a Frisco hospital. Her husband is there, too, sleeping on an uncomfortable couch in her room.

I made the drive from Princeton to see them. I was anxious to (a) get out of the house for a couple of hours and (b) to enjoy the company of these two delightful individuals.

During our visit, we found ourselves not dwelling on my sadness. Yes, there was a moment when I talked about my dear bride, Kathy Anne, and couldn’t continue through the tears.

The moment passed quickly and we resumed whatever it was we were discussing. Our chat turned to political matters in Amarillo, where they have relocated after living briefly in the Metroplex before deciding their roots on the Caprock were too deep to abandon.

We looked back at a number of issues that I had been following during my years as a journalist in Amarillo. They remain involved in the life of the community. We chatted about their son and his wife. We talked about my sons and their lives.

Our visit took many fascinating turns during the hour-plus I sat with my friends.

Why bring this up? Because the journey on which I have embarked since my bride’s passing on Feb. 3 has been mostly dark. I had found myself thinking mostly about her final days on this Earth. I also have discovered that I am able to share others’ joy, such as my friend’s recovery from back surgery and their return to the community that gave them their identities.

I am thinking less about myself, especially when I am in the company of others. That’s a big deal, man!

The journey will continue. I don’t expect it to be an easy path toward the light, but I am beginning to see some glimmers.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Congressman: top-tier boor

Ronny Jackson has a bottomless pit from which he draws his boorishness and his uncanny ability to make an utter ass of himself.

The two-term congressman from the Texas Panhandle — a former White House physician to two presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — says President Biden’s doc is engaging in a “cover-up” of Biden’s actual health.

Jackson said — yet once again — that Biden must take a cognitive exam to prove he is mentally fit to run the nation. President Biden recently underwent a physical exam and was deemed fit and able to govern.

That ain’t good enough for the Republican fire-breather, Jackson. He continues to diagnose the president from a great distance, having never seen his medical history or providing a shred of evidence to back up the defamatory comments he makes about the commander in chief.

I just wish Ronny Jackson would shut his pie hole. That won’t happen. I just have to get this demand off my chest.

I also want to admonish my former Texas Panhandle neighbors and friends — many of whom voted for this dipsh** — for the mistake they made in sending him to Congress.

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

national news

What to make of this guy?

Donald Trump’s ongoing saga has produced a lengthy cast of characters, good guys and bad guys who are easily identifiable as one or the other.

Except for one fellow.

He is Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer-fixer-go to guy.

I don’t quite know what I should think of him. Is he a good guy because he now is firmly in the corner that opposes Trump and is working to ensure that the ex-POTUS get indicted for crimes he allegedly committed? Or is he bad guy because he did jail time because of the dirty work he did on Trump’s behalf and at his behest?

As I listen to Cohen these days refer to Trump as “the former guy” and as he details his hope that the Justice Department heaves Trump into the proverbial drink, I cannot get past what this fellow did while he worked for Trump.

He assisted in enabling Trump to cover up his so-called tryst with the porn star Stormy Daniels. He maneuvered Trump’s legal strategy at various turns to benefit Trump, which I am certain is why Trump paid him to be his lawyer.

But wait! Cohen did time in jail. He got out and now has become one of Trump’s fiercest enemies. He appears on TV to say frequently that he believes the Justice Department, state attorneys general and district attorneys have the goods on Trump. He makes that assertion with demonstrable glee in his voice and on his face.

I want to believe him, as I have been a Trump critic since long before he announced his 2016 presidential campaign.

If I could just set aside his past role as a Trump go-to fellow, then I would have a less difficult task trying to figure out what to think of his conversion.

For the moment, though, I guess I’ll have to declare myself to be a qualified ally of a guy who purports to know more about Donald Trump than most folks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com