Tag Archives: insurrection

national news

How much can we take?

How many more lies, more deception, more hypocrisy must we endure before we — as a nation — declare that enough is enough?

The 1/6 House select committee is set to go public with its testimony on the events that led to the riot that sought to overturn our democracy. The panel that comprises seven Democrats and two Republicans has heard from scores of witnesses in private; it has received thousands of pages of documents in private. It is now going to take it all into the open for the entire world to see and hear.

The nation is going to mark the first year of that horrendous event on Thursday. Capitol Police have been alerted to the possibility of violence. Oh, and who might erupt? That would be the followers of Donald Trump, the cultists who stormed the Capitol a year ago.

Where is the former Insurrectionist in Chief? Will he call for calm? Will he beseech his cultists to stand down? Hell no! He’ll be doing whatever he does all day in south Florida.

The lying continues to flow from the mouths of those who insist that Trump won the 2020 election. He didn’t. They say it was stolen from him. It wasn’t. They say that Joe Biden isn’t the duly elected president. He is. They insist they acted on 1/6 out of “love of country.” No, they didn’t; they acted out of hatred for the U.S. Constitution.

How much more of this trash must we endure? I am one American patriot who has heard all I can stomach from these traitors.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, national news

Ready for grim remembrance

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Let’s be clear: Tomorrow will be a day of grim memories; there will be no cause for celebrating an “anniversary” of an event that still roils our political system.

It was a year ago that an angry mob stormed Capitol Hill. You know what happened next, so I won’t belabor the point with this blog post.

What we are learning in the year since has been Donald Trump’s response to it. How he did nothing for 187 minutes after the insurrectionists first breached the Capitol grounds. We also have heard about the multiple takes it took for him to complete a video in which he said he “loved” those “special people” who wanted to “Hang Mike Pence!”

What’s more, we have heard how his oldest children, Ivanka and Don Jr., implored Daddy POTUS to stop the rioters, to call them off, to end the violence. Daddy Donald did nothing. He is, therefore, complicit in the damage brought to the Capitol and to the lives that were harmed — and lost! — in the melee.

This gives us reason to cheer? Hardly! The men and women who stormed the Capitol were not patriots by any measure or any way you can define the term. They were intent on destroying our democratic process. They were traitors to the nation.

So, too, was the lunatic who incited the riot.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

1/6: no ‘anniversary’

I want to offer a word of advice to media types who are going to commemorate the year that has passed since the 1/6 insurrection.

Do not call the year an “anniversary.” Please.

Why? Because my understanding of the word usually implies a happy event. An event that makes one smile. An anniversary is something to remember with fondness.

I recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of my marriage to my wife. We had a joyous celebration that day with family members who came to share it with us.

I cannot use that word to describe the events of 1/6. I do not have a word to replace the term “anniversary.” I’ll look to come up with one.

Just don’t look for that word to appear in this blog whenever I choose to discuss the events of that hideous day in our nation’s history.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Kinzinger calls out Trump lies

Adam Kinzinger’s lame-duck status in the U.S. House of Representatives gives him a shield against the attacks that are sure to come at him from Donald Trump and his cabal of cultists.

Why would they attack the Illinois Republican lawmaker? Because he is calling Trump out for what he is: a liar.

Kinzinger is one of two GOP members of a House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection. He said recently he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2022. So he is in his final term in the House. That means Trump cannot do him any political harm.

Trump recently blasted the 1/6 committee, declaring it is intent on “smearing him.” Kinzinger is having none of it. Nor should he.

If only other Republicans in Congress would grow the stones they shouldn’t have to grow simply to speak the truth about the former Liar in Chief, who is trying to prevent the select committee from obtaining White House documents it needs to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection.

Let us keep in mind: Donald Trump fomented that riot.

Thus, the House panel needs to know the truth behind what happened on 1/6.

Adam Kinzinger is speaking the truth by calling out Trump’s lies.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Go after the man in charge, too!

Let’s not pussyfoot around this matter for a moment longer: It is time for the House committee looking at the 1/6 riot/insurrection to determine whether to seek criminal charges against the man who incited all of it.

That would be Donald J. Trump, who at that moment was still occupying the office of president of the United States. For the record, I won’t use the term “serving as president,” because he never had “service” in mind from the moment he took the oath of office.

Lame-duck U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of two Republicans serving on the House select panel, has broached the notion of Trump facing criminal charges. He said over the weekend that the committee would do well to ponder that possibility as it plods along in search of witnesses, documents and testimony into what transpired on 1/6.

There have been stunning and shocking emails released in recent days that reveal what Trump knew as the riot was unfolding and what he failed to do to stop it. The president had the singular authority to call off the rioters. He heard from a variety of individuals — starting with his own son, Don Jr. — who implored him, begged him in fact, to order the riotous mob to cease and desist.

Trump did nothing. Not a damn thing! And so, what was the result of his refusal to end the siege? Five people died in the melee. Dozens more were hurt. Millions of dollars of damage was inflicted on the Capitol Building.

Who was responsible for it? The guy who stood on the Ellipse earlier in the day and exhorted the already-angry mobsters to “take back the government.” They did what they were told to do by their cult leader. They are heard on audio recordings telling the Capitol cops they were acting on Trump’s orders.

Is there criminal culpability from the man at the top of the chain of command? Looks like it to me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

No more denials, please, about 1/6

It is becoming abundantly clear that what happened on 1/6 was a direct, full- frontal assault on our cherished democracy.

It was not, as more than a few GOP members of Congress have suggested, “a peaceful protest” over the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Thus, the sooner that the House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection can complete its work, the sooner that opponents of those members of Congress can assemble their campaign strategies to attack them for their foolish trash-talk.

Before you attack me for reminding of the obvious — that no one has been charged formally with an “insurrection” — I want to stipulate that I know what the criminal defendants have been accused of committing. It runs the range of criminal charges: aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, vandalism.

There well might be insurrection charges forthcoming. I would most assuredly support such an allegation being leveled.

What needs to happen foremost, though, is for the individuals at the top of the government in that moment to face criminal prosecution, too. That includes the man who was the POTUS on 1/6, Donald J. Trump.

I cannot predict what the House panel will decide. However, I can offer a request, or call it a suggestion.

Which is that Donald Trump’s rhetoric, spewed on the Ellipse on the morning of 1/6, incited the mob to attack Capitol Hill and the men and women inside who were doing their job, which was to certify the 2020 presidential election results.

There must be some accountability for that action.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

‘Fair and balanced’ now becomes ‘false and deceitful’

The hits just keep coming as they regard the Fox News Channel and the lies that continue to flow from a network that used to proclaim itself to be the “fair and balanced” presenter of news.

Wow! We hear now that Fox News personalities implored Donald J. Trump to stop the 1/6 insurrection. They emailed him, asked Don Jr. to tell Dad to make ’em stop rioting at Capitol Hill, urged White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get Trump to intervene.

Trump did nothing. He didn’t heed the pleas of his own son, his own chief of staff or those of his favorite network talking heads.

A more serious aspect of this, though, are the lies that kept flowing from the pie holes of those same personalities. They told their viewers that the riot was not a big deal. That Trump was being vilified unfairly. That he didn’t incite anyone to “take back the government.”

The credibility — if you want to call it such — of the likes of Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro et al has been shattered into millions of pieces.

Unbelievable!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Yes, contempt charges need to be filed

Now that Mark Meadows has declared his desire to be uncooperative with a congressional inquiry into the 1/6 insurrection, it is fair to ask: Should the House select committee with which Meadows once worked cite him for contempt of Congress?

Hmm. Let me think. OK, here goes: Hell yes it should!

Meadows served as chief of staff in the White House during Donald Trump’s final year as president. Prior to that, Meadows served Trump in another capacity: as a chief congressional apologist for the appalling conduct of Trump.

Former Trump policy adviser Steve Bannon has been cited for contempt of Congress and has been indicted on the allegation by a federal grand jury. He could spend a year in the slammer if he’s convicted. The penalty is far too light … but that’s another story for another blog post.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi need not waste too much time deciding whether to approve a motion to cite Meadows. It seems clearcut to me.

Meadows knows in intimate detail what went down in the White House on 1/6. He served at Donald Trump’s behest and knows what the president said and knew and when he said it and knew it.

Without a doubt Meadows possesses intimate knowledge of the president’s conduct. I daresay it’s relevant to what the committee needs to know and understand about what many of us consider a frontal assault on our democratic process. It was — in my humble view — an insurrection.

Mark Meadows knows what happened inside the White House that day. He needs to tell the world what he knows. The House select panel that is leading the search for the truth needs to force Meadows to spill the beans.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Meadows clams up to panel

You can just imagine how unsurprised I am to hear the news that former Donald Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is going to no longer cooperate with a congressional committee assigned to finding out the truth behind 1/6.

Tell me you’re surprised that Meadows has decided to clam up. If you do, I’ll call you a fool.

Meadows had revealed that he was cooperating “for now” with the House select committee appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to root out the cause of the 1/6 insurrection/riot/coup attempt and to recommend ways to prevent it from happening ever again.

Now he’s backing away. He’s not going to provide the information the committee wants.

Meadows is a Trump toadie. A slathering sycophant. A babbling buffoon.

He also might find himself in jail, where he could join former White House policy guru Steve Bannon, who’s been indicted by the Justice Department for contempt of Congress. Bannon hasn’t yet been tried, but if he’s convicted, he faces a year in the slammer. Meadows might as well, too.

The entire world witnessed a hideous assault on our democracy on 1/6. The House panel, chaired by Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is on a mission to find out what happened when Trump incited the crowd to attack Capitol Hill while officials were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Meadows knows more than he’s letting on. He needs to tell the truth. He vows to keep it from us. He needs to pay for his intransigence.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Fox News takes needed hit

The liars at Fox News have been given notice by two of their contributors, Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, that they — the contributors — will not tolerate the lies broadcast by Fox News talking head Tucker Carlson.

Goldberg and Hayes said they cannot stand with the network after it broadcast Carlson’s special on the 1/6 insurrection. Carlson called it “Patriot Purge,” and according to Goldberg and Hayes — two leading conservative thinkers and columnists — the program was full of lies, distortions and unfounded conspiracy rumors. They won’t be part of a network that allows such lying to go unchallenged.

Good for them.

To be honest, I didn’t watch it. I don’t need to watch what I know it contains. I have heard Carlson spew much of the trash I know he poured into the production of “Patriot Purge.”

According to The Wrap: Carlson’s “Patriot Purge” has drawn sharp criticism since its launch, with the Anti-Defamation League calling on Fox News to cancel it. “Let’s call this what it is: an abject, indisputable lie, and a blatant attempt to rewrite history,” ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a letter addressed to Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch. Greenblatt expressed alarm that the “false narrative and wild conspiracy theories” presented in “Patriot Purge” could “sow further division” and possibly “animate violence.”

Fox News has given itself ample reason to be ashamed of itself. Carlson’s phony documentary is just one more example of the lies that pour forth from a network that once boasted to be “fair and balanced.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com