Tag Archives: Joe Biden

local news

Abbott shows smallness

You know, I wasn’t sure I should offer a comment on this, but what the hey …

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s response to the prisoner swap that brought Texan Trevor Reed home to his family didn’t contain a single publicly uttered word in praise of the Biden administration. Abbott did thank the Texas congressional delegation for the work it did to secure Reed’s release from a Russian prison, where he had been held for more than 900 days.

My question: Why couldn’t the governor have offered a good word for the work put in by the folks at the State Department, in the White House, and oh yeah … even by the president of the U.S.A. himself?

It just troubles me that Gov. Abbott appears to be so small-minded when it comes to these national triumphs.

I should add that another GOP politician, Sen. John Cornyn, took a moment to “applaud President Biden and the State Department” for their work in securing Reed’s freedom.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Devastation eclipses motive

Our world is aghast at the depravity, depredation and destruction brought to Ukraine by invading Russian armed forces, so much so that we seem to have lost sight of the motive for the unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

Whatever the hell it was …

That brings me to my point, which is that the result of the Russians’ cruelty toward Ukrainians has eclipsed whatever motive the Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin might have concocted to “justify” this illegal and inhumane attack.

He said something about protecting Russian “security.” Against what? Or whom? What threat did Ukraine pose to a nation many times larger geographically than itself?

Putin sent his troops into battle. They have retreated from some sites, leaving behind evidence of the abject destruction he has brought to entire cities. He has killed entire families. Putin has subjected people to untold and unthinkable horror.

And for what reason?

President Joe Biden is correct in expressing his moral outrage. There can be no way on God’s good Earth that “this man,” Putin, can “remain in power.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Go ahead and sue, Mr. POTUS

President Biden’s administration has filed an appeal to overturn a federal judge’s ruling that tossed out the mask mandate ordered by the president as the nation struggles to contain the COVID pandemic and the virus’s assorted variants.

Go ahead and appeal all you want, Mr. President.

My wife and I are going to keep masking up. We’re going to keep maintaining our distance from strangers. We’re going to keep washing our hands frequently.

The judge, based in Florida, tossed out the mandate citing some nutty notion that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acted outside of its legal authority. Federal transportation authorities then removed the mandate on public transportation systems.

The president, though, is proceeding with his appeal. Fine. Go for it.

It won’t matter one damn bit to my wife and me. We’re going to keep doing what we can to prevent getting sick with the virus. We’re vaccinated to the hilt. That’s not enough, apparently. Masks are going to offer us protection. I’m all in on wearing masks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Election consequence plays out

I cannot let this item go without a brief comment.

Federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled this past week that President Biden’s mask mandate violated the Constitution. Then the Transportation Security Administration decided to forgo its mask mandate — related to the COVID pandemic — on public transportation, such as airplanes, trains and buses.

So, who is Judge Mizelle? She is a judge whom Donald J. Trump nominated to the federal bench after losing the 2020 election and after he began challenging the veracity of that result with his baseless claims of voter fraud. You know … The Big Lie!

Mizelle also is just 33 years of age; I have no problem with her youth. However, she graduated from law school just eight years before becoming a judge.

Furthermore, the American Bar Association determined that Mizelle is “not qualified” to adjudicate from the federal bench.

Let that sink in for a moment: not qualified, according to the ABA.

Sheesh!

To think, therefore, that critics of Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee — Ketanji Brown Jackson — were quick to label a stellar jurist as somehow unfit for the nation’s highest court are now standing behind someone who tossed out a mask mandate while COVID infection rates are increasing in most of the states of this vast nation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

War with Russia? No way!

Let us settle down for a moment or two, shall we? I want to offer a word of assurance, admittedly from the cheap seats, about the prospect of American fighting forces marching into battle with Russians.

It won’t happen!

The Russians are getting their butts kicked in Ukraine, as they try to subvert the sovereign nation along Russia’s western border. The Russians appear set to conquer the seaport of Mariupol. Their attempt to take control of the Ukraine capital in Kyiv met with failure.

Neil Steinberg, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, seems to think war with Russia is possible. He writes:

Is the United States heading toward war? It seems a very real possibility. Some arms convoy in Poland will be hit, and the gears of general conflagration will start to turn. It’ll all seem inevitable, afterward. Then we can be haunted aplenty.

Just to be clear. I’m not saying the United States shouldn’t continue arming Ukraine. We have to. Which means we must accept the possibility of war. We don’t like to think about that. The whole strategy of handing weapons to Ukrainians and letting them actually pull the trigger is a tactic designed to avoid dragging ourselves into actual fighting. The easy way.

Read his essay here: Are we going to war with Russia? – Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)

President Biden has pledged on numerous occasions that there is no way on God’s Earth that American forces will fight Russians … on the battlefield, or in the air, or at sea. I am going to take him at his word on that pledge.

Americans are sick and tired of war. We cannot tolerate another protracted ground fight with Russia. Period. Full stop.

We should continue to aid Ukraine with arms and related supplies. I have no trouble supporting that effort. That is as far as it should go. We can speed up delivery of the materiel and we should do so.

I can see no circumstance where we will commit young Americans to a ground war with Russia.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, environmental news

Biden energy policy undergoes big shift

It pains me to say this, but it appears that President Biden is flailing as he seeks to grapple with skyrocketing energy prices.

The president made a vigorous pledge during the 2020 campaign that there would “never” be drilling for oil on federal land were he elected to the nation’s highest office. I applauded the pledge when he made it.

Now he has changed his mind in a major fashion. The president now will allow that drilling to boost the supply of fossil fuel. He said times have changed since the 2020 campaign, requiring a pivot from that environmentally sound policy pronouncement.

The price of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products has zoomed skyward, causing considerable pain at the pump for millions of Americans.

Still, Biden’s decision has angered environmental activists. I am not officially one of the “angry” Americans. I am just disappointed in the president’s policy reversal, which isn’t likely to have much of an impact on the price of fuel we are paying.

Joe Biden has sought to steer the nation toward a more renewable energy posture. Critics suggest any diminishing of the fossil fuel industry deprives Americans of jobs. What they ignore, though, is that green-energy job creation can help soften such job losses.

What’s more, efforts to rely more on alternatives to fossil fuels free the nation of any dependence on foreign sources of oil … while creating a cleaner environment that helps stem the damage caused by climate change.

President Biden is feeling the heat — no pun intended — from those who want relief from high fuel prices. If only he could stop flailing.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

religious news

Easter greetings reveal plenty

Make no mistake about it: The differences between Joe Biden and the man he succeeded as president of the United States were on full display in the respective Easter greetings the two men sent out today.

President Biden’s message was full of hope, given the nature of the Christian holiday, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “As we reflect today on Christ’s Resurrection, we are reminded that with faith, hope, and love — even death can be defeated,” the president tweeted. “From our family to yours, we wish you hope, health, joy, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding. Happy Easter and may God bless and keep you.”

Biden and Trump release very different Easter messages (msn.com)

Then came this from Donald J. Trump, who used his Easter message to launch an attack on New York Attorney General Letitia James: “May she remain healthy despite the fact that she will continue to drive business out of New York while at the same time keeping crime, death, and destruction in New York!” reads a message from Trump’s Save America political action committee, which also calls James a “racist.”

Wow! Enough said.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

RNC loses will to fight

It is clear to me that the leadership of a once-great political party has lost its will to stand and fight for what it believes.

The Republican National Committee’s decision to bow out of future presidential debates — at the primary and general-election levels — has demonstrated to me that the party has been taken over by cowards.

Think of it. The titular head of the party, Donald J. Trump, is the former Coward in Chief. He bitched out loud during his term as president that the press is the “enemy of the people.” He yapped and yammered preparing for presidential debates with the fellow who beat him in 2020, Joe Biden, that the joint appearances were stacked against him.

Trump has managed to project his cowardice onto the leadership of the RNC, now led by Ronna Romney McDaniel. Here’s an example of how McDaniel shows her cowardly nature: She used to be proud to wear the name of her uncle, Mitt Romney; these days, because The Donald despises Romney, she has dropped the “Romney” from her name and now goes by Ronna McDaniel. It’s a little thing. Then again, it really isn’t.

Now the RNC has decided that it won’t rely on journalists to moderate future presidential debates. Its decision, therefore, to pull out of future events sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates — a non-partisan group — suggests it has swallowed the swill served by The Donald.

The nation has come to rely on these joint appearances to help voters make decisions on who is best suited to lead the country. And, yes, at times individuals emerge from these events whom no one expects. I am willing to argue that Donald Trump pulled off that very surprise during the 2016 presidential primary season.

So, what happened to The Donald? He lost re-election in 2020 and promptly blamed everyone else for his loss, ignoring the undeniable truth that the presidency he ran failed. He threw blame at the feet of the debate organizers.

Now we have the Republican National Committee continuing to adhere to the whims and machinations of the twice-impeached and defeated POTUS.

Cowards. All of ’em!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

When will denigration stop?

I cannot help but wonder how a member of Congress can continually denigrate the president of the United States, suggesting the president is mentally unfit for high office and then possibly expect that president to respond to a request — were it to come from the congressman — for help in any fashion.

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson is a freshman Republican member of the House from the Texas Panhandle. Ever since taking office after winning election in 2020, Jackson has been on a constant Twitter harangue over President Biden’s occasional verbal stumbles.

He doesn’t refer to Joe Biden as “President” Biden. He continually harps on what I believe is a red-herring argument that the POTUS would fail a cognitive test.

Jackson recently declared that the nation needs Donald Trump “more than ever.” No, Ronny, the nation does not need the serial liar and philanderer, the crook, the insurrectionist, the power-hungry narcissist, the a**hole who cannot articulate a single public policy with any degree of intelligence.

Back to my point. There could come a time when the 13th Congressional District of Texas needs immediate federal attention. Natural disasters do strike, you know. How does the congressman, the author of the string of idiotic, moronic and disgraceful Twitter messages ask the president for help?

Moreover, how does the president, who has been on the receiving end of these vile epithets, respond to those requests, were they to come?

I mention Jackson mainly because he represents a region I used to call home. He also has become a bit of a national media star, given his extreme anger aimed at President Biden; Fox News loves having this clown on air expressing himself in such a cavalier fashion … without ever challenging the veracity of the claims he makes.

Hey, I am just asking … for a friend.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Moskva sunk!

The Moskva — once the pride of the Russian navy — now apparently lies at the bottom of the Black Sea, sent to its watery grave by at least one missile fired from a Ukrainian battery.

The Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser, weighed in at 12,500 tons; it spanned 600 feet in length and carried a crew of 500 sailors.

Then it ran into trouble while Russian armed forces got bogged down in their effort to subdue Ukraine.

Info on Moskva, Russian flagship sank by Ukrainian missile (nypost.com)

What’s at stake now? Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin clearly is shocked that the Ukrainians would be able to inflict this most serious ship-sinking since World War II.

If only the Ukrainians’ stunning battlefield success would persuade Putin to give up his horrendous effort to subdue a sovereign state.

President Biden has labeled Putin a war criminal and accused him of committing genocide against the Ukrainians. Most of the world is reeling in horror at what Ukrainians are discovering on city streets as Russian troops retreat; they are finding corpses of civilians who were shot in the head.

Putin won’t give up the fight easily. That much seems clear. It also lays bare the brutality that lurks in what passes for this individual’s heart.

I am left only to hope that the Ukrainians can continue to inflict as much damage as possible on the invaders to the point that Russians will say “Enough is enough!” … and rid themselves of Vladimir Putin.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com