Tag Archives: insurrection

national news

Waiting on a probe

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The nation endured an insurrection on Jan. 6.

The Department of Justice has charged more than 400 people involved in the riot that sought to overturn the results from the 2020 presidential election. DOJ expects the count to reach 500.

The riot resulted in the second impeachment of a president, the death of a police officer and four others, injuries to hundreds of individuals.

It was a concerted, planned attack on our federal government.

The question: Why hasn’t there been a non-partisan, blue-ribbon commission named to root out the cause of the riot and to make recommendations on how we can possibly avoid future attacks on our democracy?

Congress is dawdling. The Justice Department needs to get more involved as well. Attorney General Merrick Garland knows how this process should work, as he has experience gained from his own probe of the 1995 domestic terrorist bombing of the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City.

You may count me as one American patriot who demands answers to what we witnessed that day as crowds stormed into the Capitol Building, yelling for VP Mike Pence and threatening to hang him; they defecated on the floor of our government; they were looking for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Do not tell me that the word “insurrection” is incorrect or too, um, strident a term to describe what happened. That is precisely what we witnessed.

We need there to be a commission patterned after the panel formed in the wake of 9/11 to give us answers.

crime news, national news

Insurrection + 100

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Where in the world does the time go?

It’s been 100 days since The Insurrection. I am not celebrating this momentous landmark. I will note it with shame and with disgust that the Big Lie that precipitated it lives on in what passes for the hearts and minds of those who followed Donald Trump’s exhortation to “take back the government” on Jan. 6.

We usually note the first 100 days of a new presidential administration. I’ll be happy to get to that in due course. Today, though, I want to commiserate over the Big Lie that needs to plowed asunder.

Donald Trump is holed up in Mar-a-Lago. He’s playing golf, entertaining allies, followers and friends. He steps out occasionally to say things in public that demonstrate just how evil — and yes, I’ll stick with that epithet — he truly is.

This individual’s evil intent foreshadowed The Insurrection of Jan. 6. He sought to derail the constitutional duty under way at that moment with Congress meeting to certify the result of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Why in the name of human decency is it seemingly lost on the Trumpkin Corps that this individual has not yet condemned the violence that killed a Capitol Police officer, injured dozens more and resulted in the deaths of four more participants in that horrifying event?

It’s been 100 days since The Insurrection. Congress awarded members of the Capitol Police force the Congressional Gold Medal over the objections of 12 House members who disliked the term “insurrection” contained in the resolution. What the hell? That’s precisely what it was!

The Insurrection will remain in a state of dormancy for as long as The Big Lie exists, for as long as Donald Trump continues to insist that the election was “stolen” from him, for as long as his minions continue to believe it.

Why doesn’t Donald Trump just kill it dead by declaring he was wrong to launch The Insurrection and that Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States? Because he is consumed by evil intent!

national news

Gut punches keep coming

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My gut has been getting punched repeatedly with news reports that just sicken it … and me!

It’s not enough that we had an insurrection against the federal government six days into the new year. Nor is it enough that we impeached a president for the second time as a result and then endured another acquittal of the guy who should have been convicted and tossed out of office the first time.

We keep hearing about and watching news reports of police officers shooting African-American men in incidents that make me wonder: Would this happen if the individual being rousted were a white guy? Protests are mounting. They have turned into riots.

It’s giving me tremendous anxiety as I watch this from my quiet neighborhood. All this unrest, this anger, this anxiety looks to me as if it has the potential of exploding into a hideous national crisis.

A former Minneapolis cop is on trial for murder in an incident that killed a black man; a young African-American was shot to death by a Minnesota cop, who then quit along with her boss, the chief of police; a black Army officer was pepper-sprayed in December by a white officer in Virginia.

The victim in Minneapolis was killed after he sought to pass a counterfeit bill; the young man died in nearby Brooklyn Heights after he was stopped because he hung an air freshener from his rearview mirror; the Army officer was pepper sprayed because he didn’t have a license plate on the rear of his motor vehicle, which he had just purchased.Ā 

These are just the most recent instances of violence being committed against black Americans by police officers who, um, are not black.

Man, this is disheartening and frightening. I am weary of all these gut punches.

DC riot

Mitch gets roughed up by his guy … Donald

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

How much more verbal abuse can Mitch McConnell take from Donald Trump?

That’s my question of the moment after hearing what Trump said about the U.S. Senate Republican leader at that GOP donors dinner in Florida this weekend.

Trump called McConnell a “dumb son of a bi***” and a “stone-cold loser.” Oh, and Trump also lambasted other Republicans in the House and Senate who said some mean things about him, not to mention the insults he hurled at Democrats. Let’s not forget that Trump also trashed former Vice President Mike Pence because Pence didn’t do Trump’s bidding, which would have required him to violate the U.S. Constitution.

I ask this about Mitch because of something McConnell said about Trump shortly after The Donald left the presidency. He said — and this is astonishing — that he would “absolutely” support Trump were he to become the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee.

He threw his support behind Trump after declaring that ex-POTUS was responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill, that he “provoked” the mob of terrorists to storm the Capitol Building and prevent the counting of Electoral College votes certifying the election of Joe Biden as the next president.

So, McConnell endorses a possible — but in my view highly unlikely — Trump presidential candidacy. What does he get in return?Ā Yet another verbal slap in the puss from the former Imbecile in Chief.

national news

Yep, Trump incited riot

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This lawsuit isn’t likely to go anywhere, but it still needs to be pursued and discussed openly.

Several members of Congress have sued Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani for inciting the Jan. 6 riot that sought to subvert the nation’s democratic process.

The latest congressional representative to join the suit is Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, who said in a statement reported by the Texas Tribune: InĀ Escobarā€™s statement, she recounts receiving text messages from her family asking if she was safe and noticing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other people being escorted away by law enforcement officers. She recalls hearing shouts, banging from the outside, being instructed by police to wear a gas mask and how ā€œher heart began racingā€ as the riot unfolded.

It’s not clear to me what the plaintiffs hope to reap from a lawsuit against the ex-president and his personal lawyer.

Veronica Escobar joins suit accusing Trump of inciting Capitol riot | The Texas Tribune

But you know what? This discussion ought to move forward.

ā€œPresident Trump did not incite or conspire to incite any violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6,ā€ according to Jason Miller, a key Trump aide.

Miller needs a serious reality check. For that matter, so does his boss, Trump … although no amount of reality ever is going to persuade the former Insurrectionist in Chief of his wrongdoing.

The entire world saw what developed on Jan. 6. Trump kept hurling the Big Lie about the 2020 election, that it was “stolen” by those who perpetrated a phony “widespread vote fraud.” The crowd stormed Capitol Hill, broke into the Capitol Building, threatened to “hang Mike Pence!” and defecated on the floor of the seat of our democracy.

For as long as this chilling episode remains relevant, I welcome the members of Congress who have the courage to take their grievances against Donald Trump and his lawyer to court.

DC riot, national news

Mulvaney calls it correctly

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald John Trump’s delusion continues even as he tees it up at his posh South Florida resort.

The ex-president told Fox News that the Jan. 6 insurrection from the riotous mob of terrorists posed “zero threat.”

That brought a sharp rebuke from one of Trump’s chief defenders/enablers, former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who told CNN that Trump’s remarks are “manifestly false.”

ā€œI was surprised to hear the president say that … Clearly, there were people who were behaving themselves and then there were people who absolutely were not,ā€ Mulvaney told CNN.

Mulvaney calls Trump’s comments on Capitol riot ‘manifestly false’ | TheHill

No. They were not behaving themselves.

And yet Donald Trump continues to lie incessantly.

The riot’s aim was to stop Congress from doing its constitutional duty on Jan. 6, which was to certify the results of the presidential election. It was a violent attempted insurrection. It was an act of sedition. It was profoundly violent and dangerous!

I am no fan of Mick Mulvaney. However, I am glad to hear him speak the truth about the delusion that rumbles around in the head of his former boss.

national news

Not an ‘insurrection?’ Are they serious?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The Terrible Ten members of the U.S. House of Representatives have shamed the Capitol Police Department officers who were injured in a desperate attempt to protect them from insurrectionists on Jan. 6.

Yep, their refusal to support honoring the police officers who fought off the mob still stick in my craw. Congress eventually voted to award them the Congressional Gold Medal over the objections of the 10 nut jobs who just didn’t like the word “insurrectionists” inserted into the resolution honoring the officers.

Oh, let’s not forget that one of the Capitol cops who fought the rioting terrorists died in the melee.

What in the name of democracy do you call a mob that stormed the Capitol Building, beat officers to a pulp with flag poles carrying Donald Trump banners and Old Glory? What do you call those who shouted “Hang Mike Pence!” while they stormed the halls looking for the vice president of the United States? What in the name of decency do you call those who defecated on the floor of our democratic institutions while seeking to do physical harm to Speaker Nancy Pelosi?

That isn’t an insurrection? They sought to stop the counting of Electoral College votes that certified the election of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president.

By any definition I can conjure up, that is an insurrection.

Every single House member and senator who seeks to call it something else should be removed from office. They have disgraced the very government they took an oath to protect and defend.

DC riot

GOP lawmakers shame themselves

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Twelve members of the U.S. House of Representatives should be ashamed of themselves.

These individuals, all Republicans, voted “no” on a resolution granting the Congressional Gold Medal to the Capitol Police officers who fought to protect Congress from a mob of terrorists who stormed the Capitol Building on the Sixth of January.

These lawmakers reportedly objected to language contained in the resolution that referred to the “insurrection” that occurred on that horrible day.

What? That is precisely what the nation and the world witnessed. The mob was provoked by Donald Trump to do precisely what it did do. If what we saw wasn’t an insurrection,Ā  then there is no active definition of the word.

Indeed, 12 lawmakers allowed there to be a bipartisan vote to award the gallant police officers — one of whom died in the melee — the Congressional Gold Medal. The stellar demonstration of bipartisanship is to be saluted.

However, the idiotic refusal of those dozen GOP legislators — and they include Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler, Texas — deserves our national scorn.

The resolution will go to the Senate for its expected approval. Let’s just wait to see who among the members of that chamber follows the moronic path being blazed by their House colleagues.

DC riot

Shades of ‘good people … on both sides’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ron Johnson has a screw loose in that vacuous noggin of his.

The Wisconsin Republican U.S. senator made a statement about the insurrection of The Sixth of January that truly makes me wonder about this clown’s fitness to serve in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.

He told a Wisconsin radio interview several things, two of which stand out in my mind.

One is that the insurrection didn’t “scare me at all” because the terrorists were Donald Trump supporters. But … had the shoe been on the proverbial other foot and Trump had won the 2020 election and had Black Lives Matters or antifa followers had rioted in that fashion, why, then he would have felt endangered.

The racist tenor of that remark stands alone. It is hideous in the extreme. Oh, but then he said something else that makes my spine shudder.

He said the terrorists were “law-abiding” citizens who “would never do anything” against the law. Look at the picture I posted with this blog. It shows terrorists storming into the Capitol Building. Hmm. Oh, and they killed a Capitol Police officer during the melee and injured several others, not to mention causing the deaths of about five other Americans.

To which laws were these lunatics abiding? None.

It reminds me of Donald Trump’s infamous declaration after the KKK/Nazi-inspired riot in Charlottesville when he declared there to be “good people … on both sides” of that deadly riot.

Someone needs to slap a straitjacket on Sen. Johnson.

crime news

Will they still follow ‘our president’?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s see how this plays out.

Many of the rioters/terrorists on Jan. 6 looked into TV cameras and said they merely were doing what “our president” wanted them to do, which was to storm Capitol Hill, threaten to kill the vice president and commit an act of insurrection against the U.S. government.

So, will those individuals now commit to doing what “our president” asks us to do by wearing masks, practice social distancing and follow infectious disease experts’ guidelines and recommendations so we can kill the coronavirus?

Or are they interested only in destroying the nation rather than trying to protect it?

Hey, I’m just askin’ … for a friend.