Tag Archives: pandemic

national news

Trumpkins hang tough … astounding!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I must admit to a certain astonishment as I watch Donald Trump seek re-election as president of the United States.

It comes as I watch those members of the Trumpkin Corps continue to make excuses for their candidate’s astounding behavior. I admit to watching Trump at those rallies he stages and am shocked and amazed at how little substance he offers. Indeed, his rants and riffs are bereft of any policy initiatives.

He prances and preens in front of those adoring fans of his as if he’s a TV star … oh, wait! I forgot that he once was one once upon a time. He mocks Joe Biden because the former vice president chooses to wear a mask while speaking in public. Hey, we do have a pandemic among us that is still killing Americans by the hundreds every day.

Trump gripes about the news coverage he gets. He has taken aim at the moderator of the next “debate” scheduled for later this week with Biden, NBC reporter Kristen Welker.

Trump continues to deploy his Twitter account relentlessly, ad nauseum.

And still … the Trumpkins out there think he’s just the bee’s knees, the greatest thing since pockets on shirts, the alleged “messiah,” the guy who “tells it like it is.”

They ignore the president’s failure to respond initially to the COVID-19 pandemic. They dismiss Trump’s unwillingness to challenge Russian loon Vladimir Putin for placing bounties on our American fighting men and women and paying real money to Taliban terrorists for killing them on the battlefield. They ignore his un-Christian behavior at every turn yet some of them keep suggesting that God dispatched Trump onto the campaign trail in 2016 to save the nation.

This individual has created a cult of personality the likes of which I have never seen in this great nation of ours. He cuddles (proverbially) with murderous dictators and denigrates our own intelligence professionals. Trump recently said FBI director Christopher Wray “isn’t doing a very good job” because Wray says white supremacists pose an existential threat to this nation. He challenges the expert advice given him and the nation by the world’s pre-eminent infectious disease guru, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who – for the life of me I don’t understand this – continues to serve at the pleasure of this goofball.

Through it all Trump sways the faithful who just cannot bring themselves to acknowledge what the rest of us have seen all along. It is that their guy is as phony as they come.

national news

Pathological narcissism?

1 Comment

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis)92@hotmail.com

We were chatting with friends tonight about this and that when the subject turned to Donald J. Trump.

Specifically, we chatted for a moment about Trump’s inability or unwillingness to mourn the deaths of more than 215,000 Americans from a killer virus.

I noted to our friends that the most astonishing aspect of Trump’s lack of empathy or compassion is that the man himself has lost a member of his family to tragic circumstances. His brother Fred died of alcohol abuse. So, Donald Trump — one could presume — could relate to the pain of others who have lost loved ones to a disease.

Then one of our friends offered an astute observation. “There is some serious pathology going on here,” he said. “Trump is a narcissist,” he said, and narcissism doesn’t allow Trump to exhibit the kind of empathy one would expect from most individuals.

Instead, Trump continues to insist, as he did again today, that we are “turning the corner” on the killer virus despite reports from more than 30 states that illness is surging right along with death from the coronavirus.

We are turning no corners. None. It’s worsening. We still do not have a national plan to attack the illness and to save lives.

Meanwhile, a president who should know better than to say “it is what it is” continues to exhibit an outrageous lack of concern for those among us who are suffering grievous misery.

medical news

Is he infecting his throngs deliberately?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This thought comes from a member of my family and I want to share it here.

Since the early 1980s, when the world first got acquainted with a killer virus known as HIV/AIDS, we have seen an interesting and regrettable trend develop.

Over the span of many years, individuals have been arrested and convicted of crimes relating to the deliberate infecting of other people with HIV/AIDS. Today it’s now known as “HIV non-disclosure,” meaning that someone passes the virus on to others without telling them they are infected.

Some HIV/AIDS-infected men have raped or drugged women while having unprotected sex with them. They have gotten caught, tried and sent to the slammer. History is replete with instances of this kind of prosecution.

My family members wonders — and I happen to concur with this view — why those who are infected with COVID-19 can get away with exposing others to a virus that is every bit as fatal as HIV/AIDS once was thought to be.

Listen to me, Donald J. Trump. I’m talking about you. I also am talking to the minion/morons who support your cockamamie notion that it’s OK to mingle with others without exercising proper “social distancing” and without wearing protective masks.

Trump is back to staging rallies. He has been infected with the coronavirus, along with literally dozens of key aides and staffers. They traipse around with masks, without observing the distance guidelines offered by health experts.

Isn’t there some criminal liability here in the fashion that has been ascribed to HIV/AIDS patients who infect others?

If not, then there damn well should be!

national news

Trump ‘cured’? Uh, huh

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald J. Trump says he is “cured” of the coronavirus that felled him and the first lady.

Do you believe him? Do you take anything that comes from Trump’s mouth at face value? Nope. Neither do I.

The doctors, though, do say he is no longer contagious, which I suppose Trump has interpreted as meaning he is “cured.”

Donald Trump has called his positive test for the virus that has killed more than 215,000 Americans as  “blessing.” Yet he continues to downplay it. He declares the disease will disappear. I have this flash for The Donald: More than 50,000 Americans are still getting sick daily from the virus, which is a trend that has spanned several days in a row. From my perch out here in Flyover Country, it doesn’t look like the disease is anywhere near disappearing.

This brings me to another key point. If Trump was “blessed” to have been stricken by the virus, one might hope he would have learned to keep his mouth shut and let the scientists, the medical doctors and the assortment of experts who comprise his White House COVID response team explain to us in detail what is going on with the disease.

I only can surmise that Trump’s blessing doesn’t extend to acquiring any wisdom about speaking out of turn and spewing lies that put Americans at risk.

He went so far as to declare himself “immune” from future positivity because he has caught the disease once. Not so fast, say the experts. COVID doesn’t respect previous afflictions, they tell us.

So now we’re back to where we were when Donald Trump tested positive for a serious disease. I am glad he appears to be on the mend. I only wish he would have learned something from it. He didn’t learn a damn thing.

national news

Leave the country?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This item showed up on my Facebook feed today. It makes me chuckle.

It reminded me of previous zealots who “threatened to leave” the country if a certain candidate was elected to high political office. Alec Baldwin said as much in advance of Donald Trump’s election in 2016; I believe Whoopi Goldberg did, too. Other celebrities pop off prior to election, threatening to do things they have no intention of doing.

To be honest, I have not heard any Trumpkins make such a pledge. It doesn’t bother me in the least were they to stay. I welcome them, actually.

In fact, I consider these statements about bailing on the country to be just so much nonsense from those who like to make idle threats.

Understand this: There likely was no one in America who was more adamantly anti-Donald Trump than I was during the 2016 presidential campaign. It never occurred to me — at least in any serious way — to pack up everything I own and move to some faraway land were he to actually be elected president.

I say that while acknowledging that my wife and I have friends in Germany who have offered to help us find a place to live there. If only the European Union would lift the travel ban on Americans because we have done such a sh**ty job handling the coronavirus pandemic. But that’s another story.

Yeah, these threats to leave the country make me laugh, and I do mean laugh. They aren’t to be taken seriously, even when high-profile celebrities make them.

So, let’s just chill out. Let us also allow the political system to run its course. If it turns out the right way, we can all rejoice in the return to sanity in our federal government. If it turns out badly, well, we can keep raising all the hell we want. Our beloved Constitution grants us that right.

national news

Trump endangers his followers

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Certainly long after this election has gone by — perhaps even forever and ever — I will remain baffled by how Donald Trump continues to hold onto his support when he puts his ardent followers at extreme risk of catching a virus that could have killed him.

Trump once again today called a rally at the White House. Supporters were arrayed in front of the balcony from which he spoke. Trump himself might still be contaminated with the COVID-19 virus that hospitalized him for a few days this week; at least he had sense enough to stay away from the fans.

There they were, though. Clustered together. Many of them wore masks. Some of them didn’t. They cheered the Old Man’s lies and invective just like they always do.

And there he was, in all his campaign-rally glory, exhorting the troops to march on as if nothing has happened to change everyone’s life for well past the foreseeable future.

Joe Biden continues to enjoy a comfortable poll lead. Do I believe the former vice president will win this election going away? Hah! No. I don’t! My hope remains strong that he will be able to win by a comfortable enough margin to dispel any doubt that Trump vows to concoct that the election is somehow “rigged.”

How in the world does Trump manage to hold tightly to that 40 to 42 percent bloc of voters, some of whom get to stand in front of him in crowds that defy medical experts’ recommendations — and admonitions?

It’s a mystery. Perhaps I should just let that mystery stand and cease trying to attach a semblance of reason to the irrational.

national news

Terrorism comes home

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Thirteen men have been charged with assorted crimes associated with a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and possibly do some serious harm to her.

These individuals are terrorists. They fit the description. They aren’t religious zealots. They do not march under some foreign flag.

They are home-grown, corn-fed terrorists and for the life of me I do not understand why Donald Trump won’t condemn them for what they are accused of doing.

The FBI busted them this week as Whitmer sought to manage the coronavirus pandemic that continues to ravage the state she governs. You’ll remember that other armed “militia” members stormed the Michigan capitol in Lansing, taking over the public’s grounds in a hideous display of armed defiance of the government.

These lunatics are members of something called the Boogaloo Boys.

The FBI has uncovered a plot described as an attempt to kidnap Whitmer, put her on “trial,” and punish her for whatever conviction they concoct.

Donald Trump’s response to all of this has been to criticize Whitmer’s handling of the pandemic. Whitmer told an interviewer on Friday that a “decent man” would have asked how she’s doing and inquired about the health and well-being of her family. Donald Trump is, shall we say, not a decent man.

Here we are. The FBI is now pursuing an investigation into a serious terrorist threat that resides in the nation’s heartland. Of course, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Recall what Timothy McVeigh did in April 1995 when he detonated a bomb in front of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 Americans … including several children. Back then, though, we had a president — Bill Clinton — who had the heart to call it then what we knew it to be: an act of terror.

These terrorists well could portend a wave that should frighten us all we move past this most consequential election.

local news

Here we go again with business reopening

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelils_92@hotmail.com

All righty. Here is what is about to happen in the county where I live with members of my family.

Collin County Judge Chris Hill has declared that bars will reopen to 50 percent of capacity early next week. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has left the decision up to county officials. It’s that pandemic thing that keeps getting in the way.

So help me I don’t know how I feel about this.

I do not intend to frequent any bars/lounges in the near future. I keep hearing from pandemic experts that bars and restaurants are among the most “dangerous” places to be, that they provide more opportunities to get infected by this potentially fatal viral infection.

We’ve been down this road before. I recall that bars did reopen for a time; then they shut down again. The pandemic continues to sicken too many Texans daily, let alone killing too many of us.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins isn’t reopening bars just yet. Tarrant County officials remain undecided on what to do. Collin County is moving ahead, although with due caution.

I want a return to “normal” as we used to define the term as much as the next guy. I do not want to see us rush toward that return if it means we’re going to sicken and possibly kill more Texans.

My message to Judge Chris Hill is simple: Be as quick to shut these places down if there’s any hint of a spike in illness. We’ve got a long way to go before declaring the pandemic to be over.

Never mind what the Dunce in Chief says in Washington, D.C.

national news

It surely still adds up

1 Comment

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I keep adding 2 plus 2 and I still come up with 4.

So, I therefore cannot stop thinking that the arrest of individuals in Michigan on charges of attempted kidnapping of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had something to do with the ultra-angry rhetoric of Donald J. Trump.

These 13 individuals reportedly are associated with far-right-wing groups. They were arrested and charged with plotting a bizarre kidnapping of Whitmer, a Democrat who has been the target of nasty tweets and other remarks from Trump over the state response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Do you remember the right-wing protesters who marched on the state capitol in Lansing earlier this year? Some of them were packing firearms openly; I mean we’re talking assault rifles, the kind used on battlefields to kill enemy soldiers.

Indeed, the suspects arrested today reportedly were among those who stormed the capitol.

The FBI reports that the suspects were allegedly planning to storm the capitol again, using Molotov cocktails on the police and grabbing the governor while intending to whisk her away.

Has it come down to this? Individuals have been accused of plotting terrorist acts against American politicians. Where is the president on all of this? He has said nothing to support Gov. Whitmer.

It makes me believe that 2 plus 2 really does equal 4.

national news

It’s official: Trump is nuts

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have concluded that Donald J. Trump is crazier than a loon, that his butter has slipped off his noodles, that he is certifiably nuttier than a fruitcake.

How else can one explain why in the name of civil discourse he has rejected a bipartisan presidential debate commission recommendation that he and Joe Biden “debate” each other online in a virtual town hall format next week?

I cannot.

The commission made the call because — yep, you got it — Donald Trump is infected with a potentially fatal disease, one that has killed more than 210,000 Americans during the COVID pandemic. Trump and first lady Melania Trump now are among the 7 million-plus Americans who have been diagnosed with the killer virus.

He isn’t out of the woods. Trump likely will not be out of the woods when debate time rolls around next week.

So what does the Macho Man in Chief want to do? He wants to meet with Biden in the same room in Miami. This is crazy. It’s nuts. It’s, um … insane!

There is now open speculation that the intense drugs Trump is taking has affected his judgment. He has been given, reportedly, a healthy dose of steroids to combat the infection. Some doctors have said the meds can alter a patient’s mental acuity. Trump, though, keeps bellowing and boasting that he hasn’t felt this good in “20 years.” C’mon, Mr. President.

Look, I want him and the first lady to recover fully from the illness. I do not want him, though, to put anyone else in jeopardy, which is precisely what he would do by insisting on an in-person face-off with the Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

Astonishing, man!