Tag Archives: Joe Biden

local news

Rep. Jackson: unhinged?

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If you think for just a moment about this, you might realize the irony that I am about to present.

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, the right-wing fruitcake who represents the Texas Panhandle, keeps yammering about President Biden’s mental fitness for the job he occupies. But yet … it is Jackson who sounds and acts like a man who needs an intervention.

He has posted a bizarre video on Twitter in which he dares the president to take away his AR-15. “Come and take it!” Jackson bellows while holding such a weapon, which he points at one of his feet … if you get my drift there.

Here’s my point. Joe Biden just signed a piece of legislation that doesn’t say a single thing about “taking away” our guns, let alone anyone’s AR-15. Jackson, though, seems to ascribe some sort of nefarious motive where none exists.

“I will NEVER give up my firearms. I will NEVER surrender my AR-15. If Democrats want to push an insane gun-grab, they can COME AND TAKE IT!,” Jackson wrote in the post accompanying the video.

Good grief! Settle down, dude!

Video of Ronny Jackson Daring Biden to Come Take His AR-15 Viewed 1M Times (newsweek.com)

I know the district Jackson represents pretty well. I lived there for 23 years. I moved there when another Republican, Mac Thornberry, took office. Thornberry retired in 2020, opening the seat up to all comers. Jackson moved to the Panhandle, having never lived there before, to run for Thornberry’s seat in Congress.

He once was a Navy admiral and White House physician to two presidents, Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump.

But he’s gone, well, bonkers since being elected. The guy’s butter has slipped off his noodle.

He keeps yammering about President Biden’s cognitive ability. He’s full of sh**! This latest Twitter tirade only tells me that Jackson is the one who needs a medical exam.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Biden update: Stay the course, Mr. POTUS

Joe Biden is feeling lots of heat these days from the far left as well as from the far right. The right-wingers’ criticism is to be expected. The lefties, though, present a unique concern for the president of the United States.

I am insisting, thus, that President Biden continue on a path toward finding common ground with both ends of the spectrum. It is how he has been wired since he hopped onto the national stage after winning the 1972 election to the U.S. Senate.

Biden has been on — or near that stage — for the past 50 years.

Am I concerned about falling approval ratings? Sure. Who wouldn’t be? The RealClearPolitics poll average puts the president’s approval rating at around 39%. Don’t remind me how bad that looks compared to what other presidents have experienced. I get it … totally!

Even though I won’t blame the president for all the issues that are dragging his poll numbers down, I certainly understand the need for the head of state and government and our commander in chief to get more aggressive in his use of the bully pulpit.

I remain a good-government progressive, which is how I describe a politician willing to compromise to achieve legislative success. Joe Biden has shown an ability to do such a thing over his many years in public service.

Yes, he is going to face pressure from the progressive wing of his own party and from the obstructionist wing of the Republican Party.

Stay the course, Mr. President.

johnkanelis_9@hotmail.com

national news

Stay strong, Mr. President

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Democrats are beginning to grumble about President Biden. They fret over his poll numbers, suggesting he isn’t showing enough decisive leadership in times of crisis.

Most of the griping comes from the progressive wing of the party, the fraction of Democrats who want to pack the Supreme Court with more liberal justices; they want to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate; they want the president to forgive all student debt.

They cannot understand why the president — who proclaims himself to be a progressive Democrat — isn’t joining them in their zealous quest for political perfection.

I’m going to give Joe Biden a bit more credit than progressives are giving him. The man has been a creature of government since before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. He knows politics and understands the value and the need for compromise.

Some progressive politicians say at this moment they cannot bring themselves to endorse President Biden for a second term should he decide to run in 2024. He has declared his intention to run for a second term, which — of course! — could change. I learned long ago that a pol’s “intent” doesn’t always translate into a forever condition.

Joe Biden has been dealt a tough hand. Vladimir Putin went to war illegally in Ukraine. That conflict has affected the price of fossil fuels. Inflation is raging. But, seriously, what can the president do unilaterally to bring it under control?

All that said, I am not going to acknowledge publicly that the economy is in the tank. We’re still adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month. Unemployment is down to pre-pandemic lows.

And, yes, we have those midterm elections coming and the prospect — although it’s not certain — that Republicans are going to win control of Congress.

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party, though, can count this chump blogger as one who is going to stand with the president.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Texas GOP: certifiably loony!

Here is a statement from the Texas Republican Party, the dominant political organization in a state that comprises 29 million residents and drives a world-class economic engine.

“We reject the certified results of the 2020 presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.”

OK! I’ve already declared that the Texas GOP has gone bonkers. Its leadership is certifiably crazy.

I just want to reiterate that The Big Lie as regurgitated by the Texas Republican Party is a poisonous dose of rhetoric that does absolutely nothing but harm our cherished democratic process.

For the Texas Republican Party to swallow that snake oil — to my mind — is too damn close to sedition for comfort.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news

Get a Plan B ready

Here’s a word of advice for you, President Biden: Get a Plan B ready in the apparently likely event that your fuel-tax holiday doesn’t make the grade in Congress.

I reluctantly endorsed your idea of suspending the fuel tax for 90 days, Mr. President, only because I want some immediate relief from these monstrous fuel prices. Hey, I just returned from an errand this morning, stopped to put some diesel fuel into my truck, stopped the pump at $35 … and then saw that I barely moved the fuel-gauge needle.

What would suspending the diesel fuel tax do for me? Not much, Mr. President. But it’s something!

Whatever you have on the back burner, sir, well … I am thinking you’d better dust it off and get it ready to present.

I am among those Americans who continues to seethe that Republicans continue to resist every single idea that comes from the White House, Mr. President.

I know that’s why we pay you the big dough, Mr. President. Still, just a little give from the “loyal opposition” would give me a glimmer of hope that good government is still possible.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news

Gas tax holiday? Sure, let’s do it!

President Biden is considering a temporary suspension of the federal fuel tax we motorists pay every time we put the go-juice into our motor vehicles.

I have kinda waffled on this one, but I’ve decided that it’s worth doing to give Americans — such as my family and me — some relief from the pain we are enduring at the fuel pump.

The “tax holiday” would save us about 18 cents per gallon of fuel with each visit to the service station. The savings over time isn’t a huge amount, but it’s significant enough to give us a little bit of a break from the gouging (I believe) that is occurring.

Energy companies are raking in huge profits while soaking us at the pump. Joe Biden is trying like the dickens to talk the oil company moguls into drilling for more fossil fuel, which would shore up the supply. He has ordered the release of 1 million barrels of petroleum each day for six months from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Surely, there’s a downside to the tax holiday. The federal fuel tax pays for infrastructure maintenance and improvement. That money will dry up, forcing the government to find other revenue sources to pay for the necessary improvements to our highways and bridges.

For now, though, I will — with reluctance — endorse the idea of a tax holiday … just go get some relief from the pain and sticker shock.

It won’t allow me to continue driving the way I did before this monstrous spike in fuel prices. It just won’t hurt quite as much whenever I park next to the pump.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Strange world, indeed

We have entered a strange time in our nation’s history when two sides of a great — and widening — divide cannot seem to make themselves heard by the other side.

I am going to refrain from the “both sides do it” argument; I will aim my fire at those on the far right of that divide, the Donald Trump cultists who — despite mountains of evidence to the contrary — continue to live in the fantasy created by The Big Lie.

That the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from their guy and that the theft lies at the heart of all that is wrong with the government. They refuse to cede an inch of that turf to reality, to the truth, to the facts that are spread before them.

Donald Trump brought in a fellow named Christopher Krebs to tighten the integrity of the 2020 election. Krebs did his job. He did it so well that when he declared that the most recent presidential election was the “most secure in the history of the nation,” Trump fired him. He didn’t want to hear the truth from his own guy!

And so … a needless, pointless and feckless battle rages on. There is no way in the world, or so it seems, to persuade the Trump Cultist Corps that their guy lost a free, fair and legal election to Joseph Biden Jr. They hang their message on The Big Lie that Trump keeps telling. Indeed, the Texas Republican Party just concluded its weekend meeting in Houston with a resolution that declares President Biden to be “illegitimately elected.”

Where in the world do we go from here?

I hate to think there is no way out of this blind alley. So, I won’t think it. I will retain my eternal optimism that eventually self-restorative sanity will take its resume in our national discussion. The alternative, as we have seen, is unacceptable.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

education news

‘No’ on loan forgiveness, Mr. POTUS

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I have declared that I would be critical of President Biden when the issue presented itself. It has done so.

Thus, I want to declare that I believe Joe Biden’s desire to forgive student loan debt is a mistake. Regardless of the push he is getting from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, I want the president to rethink this notion, as it serves as an incentive for future college students to borrow past their ability to repay their loans.

Then what?

The Dallas Morning News has weighed in on the subject, calling the forgiveness idea regressive, partisan and unfair. I want to focus on the fairness aspect.

The DMN editorialized today: Forgiving billions in current debt only incentivizes future students to borrow more, in hopes of their own free ride. And it sends a troubling message to former students who did not borrow. Those who worked two jobs, took night classes, or took on military service to pay for college.

Hey, I understand that these loans burden budding career-seekers. Not to mention their parents. My wife and I took out parent loans to help our sons through college. We paid those loans off, but there were times I wondered if we’d ever see the light again.

Student loans are skyrocketing. We shouldn’t cancel them (dallasnews.com)

I also am aware that higher education isn’t cheap, not even in Texas, which once used to grant in-state residents a big-time bargain if they enrolled in Texas public colleges and universities.

I don’t object to allowing these institutions to work out revised repayment plans with borrowers. I just am dubious of the idea of forgiving debts that students take on knowingly … with the expectation that they would have to pay them back — in full!

I am not concerned about the political consequences that President Biden and his fellow Democrats are facing in this year’s midterm election. As the DMN notes: Other than to curry favor with voters, there is little reason to pursue student debt forgiveness. Biden should abandon this plan and take his midterm lumps.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news

Fuel costs take big bite

Well, there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Consider, therefore, that for the first time in our more than 50 years of married life together, my wife and I are forced to amend our travel plans because — get ready for it — the cost of fuel is making extensive travel unaffordable.

I keep hearing about how the price of motor fuel nationally is averaging $5 per gallon. Then we hear from analysts who tell us there’s “no end in sight” to the skyrocketing price increases.

All I am left to do now is plead with the authorities who can control this madness to get a handle on the price of fuel.

Our sole vehicle — at the moment — is a three-quarter ton, diesel-fueled pickup. The price of diesel in Texas is selling for something a bit north of $5 per gallon. Out west it’s going for a whole more than that. We intend to travel out west sometime this year, but only if the price of motor fuel comes down.

We’re getting a new vehicle soon. It is a gasoline-powered pickup; it’s a smaller vehicle to boot. Its fuel rating is pretty good, about 22 miles per gallon. But that’s when it’s not pulling a travel trailer. Then the fuel-efficiency rating will decline.

I never thought I would have to lament how the price of fuel is affecting our retirement journey.

However … it damn sure is taking a bite out of our best-laid plans.

I am not going to blame President Biden for this cost spike. I do want to insist that the president do whatever he can to pressure whoever he needs to pressure to put an end to this madness.

My bride and I are not alone. We are among millions of Americans living on a fixed income who want to enjoy our time on this good Earth by venturing outside of our North Texas home community. We cannot afford to do much of it now.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

And the war slogs on

We have been fixated – and rightly so – on gun violence and ways to reduce it, if not end it altogether. I just want to remind everyone that we have a war underway on another continent that deserves our attention as well.

Those damn Russians continue to bombard Ukrainian targets and they continue to kill Ukrainian civilians in their attempt to further the aims of the dictator who sent them into battle illegally. That would be Vladimir Putin, the despot about whom Donald J. Trump used to speak so glowingly in his effort to make nice with a known killer.

Joe Biden has all but declared Putin to be a pariah among world leaders. Which is an apt description. He has called Putin a war criminal. By my reckoning, war criminals need to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and, if convicted, they deserve to be punished.

Does that mean Putin needs to go to prison for his crimes against Ukraine? For his targeting of hospitals, schools, churches and apartment complexes?

Well, uh, yeah! Do you think?

The Ukraine War slogs on. It continues to break my heart, which already is shattered by tragedy here at home.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com