Tag Archives: insurrection

crime news, national news

Will we actually ‘lock him up’?

A gentleman I have known for more than two decades — a retired journalist who lives in South Australia — has mentioned a particular scenario he would like to see play out regarding the 45th president of the United States.

My friend wants to see Donald Trump arrested, dressed in an orange jump suit and tried for treason against the United States of America. Indeed, my far-away friend believes it’s still possible even as Trump wiggles and writhes in the face of growing pressure from federal and state authorities looking into his myriad business dealings.

Oh, and then we have the 1/6 riot, the insurrection that Trump incited that horrendous day in the final two weeks of the presidency he was about to vacate.

My friend and I exchange messages from time to time and he regales me with his view that Trump presents an existential threat to this great nation. He and I are on the same page as it regards the former Insurrectionist in Chief.

I am still clinging to the notion that an indictment might be coming — perhaps soon — from the Department of Justice. It might involve a charge of sedition against the individual who once swore to protect the Constitution. Sedition, of course, is the act of undermining the government, which Trump — to my mind, at least — did on 1/6 when he exhorted the rioters to “take back” the government.

I am going to wish the best for the investigation into Trump’s knowledge of the 1/6 riot. The “best,” in this instance, would be for congressional and DOJ investigators to cross enough t’s and dot enough i’s to bring a criminal indictment against a man I consider to be a rotten criminal.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Profiles in cowardice

(Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage)

Watching the congressional Republican leadership tie itself into knots over how to handle its relationship with the immediate past POTUS makes me wonder how on this good Earth these individuals can live with themselves.

I want to single out two of them: one from the Senate and one from the House.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina once declared that he was done with Donald Trump. “Enough is enough,” he said immediately after the 1/6 riot. “Count me out,” he added. He couldn’t stand the thought — allegedly — of associating himself with a president who had incited the riot that stormed onto Capitol Hill.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California once stood on the House floor and declared that Trump was singularly responsible for the attack on our democracy and demanded he be held accountable. He pleaded with Donald Trump during the riot to get the mob to stop inflicting damage on the Capitol, receiving the hideous response from the POTUS that “I guess, Kevin, they care more about the election than you do.”

Both men have turned tail from those remarks.

Graham has all but threatened other GOP senators with retribution if they don’t climb aboard the Trump clown car and back the former Liar in Chief. McCarthy has declared that he won’t submit to questions from the 1/6 House committee seeking answers to the riot and has said he intends to boot Democrats off key committees if he becomes speaker after this year’s midterm election.

Gutlessness, anyone? There it is in full view.

They aren’t the only exhibits of profiles in cowardice. They’re just two of the more notable examples of how members of Congress who swear to protect the Constitution now are pledging craven fealty to a twice-impeached individual.

Cowards. Every damn one of them!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

DOJ files landmark sedition charge … wow!

So, just how serious is the U.S. Department of Justice in its pursuit of who did what and when during the 1/6 insurrection against the federal government?

It has filed sedition charges against the leader and founder of the ultra-right wing group Oath Keepers in an unprecedented allegation that the group sought to topple the government in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The main target is a North Texas resident, Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers who faces a potential 20-year sentence in a federal prison if he is convicted of the charges leveled against him.

This is a big deal, man!

According to CNN.com: Attorney General Merrick Garland had balked at the earlier efforts to bring the seditious conspiracy charge. But in the months since, people briefed on the matter say FBI investigators and DC federal prosecutors have spent much time building the case, at least in part with the help of cooperators and the benefit of internal communications among the Oath Keepers.

Takeaways from the landmark sedition indictment against the Oath Keepers – CNNPolitics

I have heard from critics of this blog who have suggested that there have been no “insurrection” charges filed against any of the defendants accused of participating in the riot on Capitol Hill. Attorney General Merrick Garland has rendered that point moot with the charge against Rhodes and others.

The DOJ probe took a year to complete, which suggests to me that the AG made damn sure to cover every possible detail before announcing the indictments.

The investigation into this hideous event is sure to pick up a head of steam. It certainly should. The House select committee is moving forward with its own probe into what transpired on that terrible day. It is issuing summons to members of Congress and is getting push back from the Trump cult members of Congress who are resisting requests to talk to the panel.

Are the walls closing in on the former president, the guy who incited the riot with his call on the Ellipse on 1/6 to “take back our government”? I certainly hope so.

I applaud AG Merrick Garland for demonstrating an astonishing level of courage in following the law, as he said he would, “wherever it takes us.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Feeling unprecedented anger

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What in this weird world is it about Donald J. Trump that makes me respond with such visceral anger at anything that expresses support for this guy?

And what is it that makes me do things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing in response to other politicians with whom I have disagreements?

Case in point …

I ventured into a convenience store the other evening in Princeton, Texas, where I live. I went there looking for a bag of chips to satisfy my munchy craze. I picked up the chips, turned to pay and then I noticed a rack full of Trump propaganda. There were Confederate symbols, bumper stickers that said, “Let’s go, Brandon,” one that said, “Fighting terrorists since 1861,” one that pitched a “Trump 2024” campaign. There were an assortment of other materials pronouncing support for this clown.

I put the chips back on the shelf and walked out. I have since vowed I never will darken that convenience store ever again.

So help me, I have not yet come to grips with the intense anger I feel toward this guy. My goodness, he came within a whisker of destroying the presidency, he lost an election and then sought to overturn the results of that free, fair and legal balloting. Why? Because he cannot stand the notion of losing an election to a better man.

He is vengeful. Trump is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. He is an amoral narcissist with delusions of godhood.

Wow! OK, I feel better now that I got that off my chest.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Cruz needs to grow a spine

(Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

A most interesting thread has appeared in many of the critical comments about Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

It’s that he doesn’t have a spine. He is gutless. A coward, even.

He most recently blurted out a fundamental truth, which was that the 1/6 insurrection was the act of domestic terrorists. Then the GOP base loyal to Donald Trump — the insurrectionist who incited the riot — got all fired up; it blamed Cruz for abandoning the MAGA mantra, whatever the hell it is.

Cruz then ventured onto the Fox News program hosted by Tucker Carlson to walk it back. Cruz said he misspoke. Carlson wasn’t buying it. Cruz stumbled over his clumsy feet. He looked and sounded predictably pitiful.

The other time that rivaled Cruz’s latest exhibition of spinelessness was when he jetted off to Cancun while Texans were freezing to death in February. He came back when the crap hit the fan and then he sought to blame his decision to flee the state on his daughter, who wanted to get away with Mom and Dad. Ridiculous!

The guy is one of two men who represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. It’s no surprise to regular readers of High Plains Blogger that I detest him. He serves his own interests over all else. He doesn’t give a sh** about me, my family or my friends.

He wants to be president. My question is this: Do we really want someone without an ounce of integrity or courage to represent us on the world stage? Hell no!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Cheney seeks redemption?

Richard Bruce Cheney has done the virtually impossible; he has ingratiated himself to Democrats across the nation simply by doing something that damn few Republicans are able to do in this terrible, divided political climate.

The former vice president stood with his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, on the floor of the U.S. House this week and participated in a moment of silence to honor the brave men and women who fought with the 1/6 rioters.

Think for a moment about this. Dick Cheney once was considered the most loathsome politician in the nation, according to Democratic partisans. The VP in the George W. Bush administration was seen as the shadow architect of our foolish Iraq War. Indeed, he was thought by many critics to be a “shadow president” who called the shots in secret.

However, Dick Cheney today stands on the right side of history. He has condemned the disgraceful conduct of the current Republican congressional leadership and its handling of the 1/6 riot and its aftermath. He told reporters this week that Congress doesn’t “resemble the place” he knew during his service in the House before becoming defense secretary and then vice president.

I won’t forgive Cheney for what I consider to be some horrible decisions he made. However, I want to applaud the former vice president for participating with Democrats in a solemn ceremony to honor the police officers who fought to defend members of Congress and the Constitution of the United States.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

I’m proud of you, too, Rep. Kinzinger

I saw an item on NBCNews.com that I want to share on this blog. It’s a brief item.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Thursday he has no regrets about how he has approached the aftermath of Jan. 6.

“How does it feel to be a pariah within your own party?” Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked Kinzinger.

“You know, I don’t like the feeling,” Kinzinger responded. “But I would not change a thing that I’ve done particularly in the last year.”

“Because I know — I’ve got a son being born imminently, that’s why I’m in Illinois — I know that he’ll be proud of me someday, and I know he’ll be able to look and say I stood up in a tough time. And if it’s just me and Liz doing it, it’s just me and Liz. That’s fine. I wish it was more people, though,” he said, referring to Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

Kinzinger and Cheney are the only Republicans serving on the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. Both have been critical of former President Donald Trump’s role in the riot and of Republicans who have downplayed the events that unfolded on Jan. 6. Trump celebrated news earlier this year that Kinzinger will retire from his House seat at the end of his term.

Well, for the record, Kinzinger’s baby boy isn’t the only person who would be proud of him for standing up to the lies, deceit and dangerous treachery being exhibited by the former POTUS.

I am proud of him, too.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

The ‘law and order’ party? My a**!

Can it truly be that the “party of law and order” — aka the Republican Party — has become the party of violence and chaos?

How else does one explain the absence of all but two prominent GOP members at the House of Representatives ceremony honoring the officers who sacrificed so much during the 1/6 riot?

Only U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and her dad, former Vice President Dick Cheney, thought enough of the officers to attend the House’s moment of silence honoring the valiant law enforcement officers who fought like hell to hold off the violent mob that stormed the Capitol a year ago.

The rest of ’em? They hid out. They were somewhere other than in the House chamber that came under direct attack by the domestic terrorists who sought to block Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election, the one that chose Joe Biden over the 45th POTUS.

This is the party that used to proclaim itself to be the “party of law and order.” It would fight like the dickens to protect the honor of our police officers. It would shame others who favor squishy social reform policies.

These days it’s a different sort of political party, or so one would presume. Every single member of Congress should have been present at the moment of silence event to honor the men and women who followed their oath to protect and serve the members of Congress. They were true to their pledge to protect them.

The Republicans who stayed away shamed themselves — yet again — with their denial that the world witnessed a direct assault on our Constitution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, local news

Rep. Taylor is ‘primaried’ for this?

Van Taylor is my congressman. I have spoken with him once or twice. He seems like an earnest young man. He also is a conservative Republican who favors policies that I happen to oppose.

The Plano lawmaker also has resisted the cabal of POTUS 45 cultists who refuse to let go of the notion that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from the GOP president.

That has opened the door for some nut-job GOP candidates who are running against Taylor in the 2022 primary campaign. They want to defeat Taylor because he voted in favor of an independent commission to examine the 1/6 riot that sought to block the certification of the Electoral College result of the 2020 election.

I need to parse this carefully. Taylor wanted an independent examination of the riot. He voted against the committee that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi eventually formed in the House to examine the riot. It’s that endorsement of the independent commission that has riled some on the far-right fringe of the GOP. Taylor also voted against the article of impeachment brought against Donald Trump after the riot.

The Texas Tribune reports: Taylor’s vote for the commission “is a huge issue,” said one of the challengers, former Collin County Judge Keith Self. “It is the red line for many people in their vote against Van Taylor.”

If I read that correctly, Self wants no investigation into the riot. He seems to suggest that nothing wrong occurred on 1/6. Huh? Is that right? Nothing to see?

Good grief! The Tribune reports: Taylor’s opponents have also largely sought to downplay the Jan. 6 attack, arguing it was not as dangerous as Democrats and the media have portrayed it to be.

Uh, yes. It was every bit the dangerous event that we are learning through dribs and drabs came shockingly close to succeeding.

U.S. Rep. Van Taylor faces heat over Jan. 6 investigation vote | The Texas Tribune

In addition to Self, Taylor’s primary foes include Suzanne Harp, a Dallas businesswoman whose son is chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. Two lesser-known Republicans, Rickey Williams and Jeremy Ivanovskis, are also running against Taylor.

These all seem to be right-wing yahoos who would yank the party too far to the fringe to suit many North Texas residents.

Rep. Taylor likes to be called “Mr. Bipartisan” because he works well with Democrats. I appreciate the outreach he employs with his House colleagues, which is just about the only reason I want him to fend off this intraparty challenge.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

How does POTUS reach the other side?

President Biden today — and I shall borrow a phrase — was “preaching to the choir” when my wife and I tuned in to listen to his speech commemorating the year since 1/6.

We believe what he said about the cause of the riot on Capitol Hill; we endorse the notion that his presidential predecessor is more interested in “power than in principle”; we shudder at the belief that we witnessed a year ago the first direct assault on our democracy by those loyal to the individual who lost a free and fair election.

My question as I watched the president and Vice President Harris speak to us this morning was this: How in name of all that is sacred in our democracy do these officials reach those who need to understand the truth of what they are saying?

Those would be the cultists who continue to believe The Big Lie that the former POTUS keeps alive, that the 2020 election was stolen.

I simply want to highlight briefly something to which Biden alluded during his remarks given in Statuary Hall … that Republicans actually performed well down the ballot in November 2020 and that no one has challenged the results of those returns. Oh, no. Biden reminded us that the only challenge has come from the former president and his cultists regarding the race at the very top of the ballot. How come?

Oh, it’s because the former president lost that one and that his “bruised ego” won’t let him accept that he lost the most secure, most examined election in our nation’s history.

President Biden need not convince those of us who live in this North Texas home. He needs somehow to reach those who continue to believe The Big Lie.

I wish the president all the very best as he embarks on that effort.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com