Tag Archives: Joe Biden

International news, media news

War fatigue sets in

Allow me this brief admission, of which I am not proud, to be sure: I am suffering from early onset of “war fatigue.” Yes, the Ukraine-Russia war has worn me out.

Understand this, though. Our hearts are breaking over the suffering that Russia’s bombing and artillery attacks are inflicting on people who are simply trying to defend their homeland against an invading military force. It’s not that I am going to dismiss their suffering and wring my hands over having to watch it on TV.

It’s merely that the brave journalists who are reporting from the front have saturated me with news that is beginning to sound repetitive. Russians are escalating their attacks; they are hitting civilian targets; they are inflicting casualties among civilians, including defenseless children; those who die are being buried in mass graves; Vladimir Putin keeps shunning pleas to stop the invasion. Over and over again.

We had our granddaughter with us for a couple of nights. My wife made the decision to shield her from the news.

Does this mean that High Plains Blogger is taking a break from commenting on information that leaks into your blogger’s noggin? Hah! Hardly.

I am likely to end my news boycott soon, given that I happen to be addicted to the news. I’ll certainly divert my attention fully to this unfolding story when something significant happens. The war might expand into NATO nations; Putin might deploy chemical weapons; President Biden might decide to ratchet up sanctions even more.

Or, and this would be the best news, there could be a cease-fire that paves a clear path to a peace treaty.

Until any of that happens, I’m tuning out the war … for now.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, International news

What else can we do?

President Biden is putting Vladimir Putin on notice: If the Russians deploy chemical weapons on Ukrainians fighting Russians in defense of their country, they will face “severe consequences.”

Now, I don’t expect the president to divulge what those consequences will entail before implementing them in the event the Russians resort to that hideous tactic. However, I am curious as to what precisely the United States can do to Russia that is more severe than what it has done already … short of launching a military counterattack.

Biden is adamant that U.S. forces will not engage Russians on the battlefield. So that’s not an option. At least that is my hope.

What’s next? What can we do? I am not in a position to speculate. Closing down our embassy in Moscow won’t amount to more than spitting into the wind. Kicking every Russian citizen out of this country won’t matter, either.

It appears to me that we already have levied severe consequences on Russia for its unprovoked aggression against a neighboring sovereign nation. Russian currency is worthless; Russians can’t export their oil to many nations that consume it; Russian assets are frozen around the world; Biden has delivered stern notice that an attack on any NATO nation will ignite a third world war.

I am not going to say that a chemical attack is coming simply because there is nothing else we can do to punish Putin and his thuggish partners in the Kremlin. I just hope that whatever President Biden has up his sleeve is going to matter and that Putin might be able to regret the next move he might want to take.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Sanctions should tighten

I won’t pretend that Ukraine has any realistic chance of actually defeating Russia on the battlefield. I can read reports as well as anyone and I am aware of how the Russian forces are advancing on the Ukrainian capital city.

It won’t be an easy conquest. It will be bloody, and it will cost a lot of Russian lives along with Ukrainian lives.

Whether the Russians form a pro-Moscow puppet government in Kyiv remains to be determined. Whatever the outcome, I am sure that President Biden will only tighten the screws even more on the Russian economy, which isn’t any great shakes, even with all that oil that Russia produces.

Are we going to continue to pay more for fuel? You bet we are. I am convincing myself today and likely longer into the future that this is going to become another “new normal.” We had better prepare for paying more to fuel our motor vehicles, heat our homes and light our backyard grills.

Vladimir Putin, the monster who runs Russia, likely will win the battle on the field. He won’t win any hearts of anyone who believes as I do that he is an abhorrent aggressor. Yes, he has his friends in dark states such as North Korea, Syria and Belarus.

I do not expect Putin and President Biden ever will meet to talk about mutual trade agreements or even to discuss arms control. The die is cast and Putin has acted as a man with no conscience. He is a heartless killer who has earned our eternal scorn.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Uncategorized

Biden deserves praise for bring allies on board

President Biden deserves a lot more credit than he is getting as he weighs his options on how to respond to Russia’s naked and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.

Part of the package of responses involves the president’s masterful diplomacy in bringing the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization collection of nations on board in a collective response to Russia’s ham-handed and brutal invasion.

The EU and NATO have signed on to the vast array of economic sanctions initiated by the United States. Who has persuaded them? The Biden administration diplomatic team led by our head of state. The remarkable show of unity lies in stark contrast to what the United States witnessed during the previous administration, when the POTUS would criticize NATO openly for other member nations not paying enough for the defense of Europe; the ex-POTUS also angered EU members repeatedly by imposing tariffs on goods brought to this country. He also led the international cheering squad that encouraged the United Kingdom to withdraw from the EU, a move that surely didn’t set well in EU capitals across Europe. It was all part of a half-baked and poorly conceived America First policy enacted by the president.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-joins-eu-g7-in-calling-to-strip-russia-s-trade-status-over-ukraine-allowing-for-new-tariffs/ar-AAUW8hb?ocid=msedgntp

Well, the world has shrunk some more. We see Russian troops bombing civilian targets in Ukraine. The Ukrainians are fighting for their country’s very survival. They need the help of the EU and NATO. They are getting that support.

President Joe Biden deserves high praise for ensuring our allies are lined up in unison.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Happy pandemic ‘anniversary’

Gosh, it’s been two years since the global killer virus pandemic arrived in North Texas, which is what the TV news anchors are telling us today.

Do I wish everyone a “happy anniversary”? Nah. I’ll pass on that one.

I will take note of the date the media are marking by stating that it has taken us two full years since the virus struck its first victim in this part of the world to get it under control … at least that is everyone’s hope.

The World Health Organization (which we have since rejoined since Joe Biden became president), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations and a slew of other medical experts are saying the “pandemic” has given way to an “endemic.” I think that is their way of saying that the coronavirus — aka COVID 19 — is here to stay, possibly forever, but that we’re going to have deal with it the way we deal with the flu and other common infectious diseases.

It will be my sincere hope that in the future we can wish ourselves a “happy anniversary” to mark the date that the COVID 19 virus is deemed no longer crucial to the way we conduct our lives.

I’m all for celebrating that day.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Let’s end the ‘dementia’ crap!

I am going to take dead aim at those who continue to toss a horrible and offensive epithet at President Biden. It’s the word “dementia” or some derivative of that term.

The term sickens me. It should sicken anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one to any sort of neurological disorder that results in the loss of cognition. My family and I have suffered such a loss and when I hear dimwits hurl the “dementia” epithet at the president, my blood comes to a full boil.

I hear it from some of my Facebook acquaintances. Those who read this post, therefore, can consider themselves put on notice. If I hear it from them from this moment forward, then I believe I will sever that “relationship” effective immediately.

I also hear it from public officials. The most notable of them happens to be a member of Congress who represents a district where I once lived, in the Texas Panhandle. Republican Ronny Jackson, a one-time physician and naval officer, keeps hurling that term at the president. I don’t know Jackson, but he makes me sick. He sickens me because as a physician, he should know better than to offer some form of “diagnosis” from afar, without any insider knowledge of someone’s health record.

Yes, the president is the oldest man to hold the office. I have noted before on this blog that the president is on top of his game.

I am just fed up to here with an epithet that is cruel beyond measure.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Putin won’t surrender, however …

Let’s not be swept away by reports of how Russian invaders are being “bogged down” in their advance toward key cities in Ukraine as this hideous ground war slogs on.

The Russian army is not about to raise the white flag of surrender, accept terms dictated by Ukraine and then skulk back across the border to the Motherland. However …

This is not to dismiss the tons of good will and support that is falling on the Ukrainians who are fighting for their lives and for the life of their sovereign country. The love is coming from throughout the world.

President Biden is tightening the economic screws on Russia, its oligarchs and certainly on the dictator, Vladimir Putin, who well might have reached a bit beyond his grasp by invading Ukraine in an effort to reel the nation back into what is left of the Russian empire.

Intelligence reports tell us of morale problems among Russian soldiers who marched into Ukraine believing it would be a cakewalk. We hear about Ukrainian forces shooting down Russian aircraft (fixed-wing and helicopters). The ghastliest reports of all tell us of Russian ordnance falling on hospitals, schools, houses of worship, inflicting grievous casualties on helpless civilians, including children.

Vladimir Putin doesn’t strike me as someone who gives a sh** about worldwide public opinion. He damn sure should care, though, about the opinion of Russians who hear the bad news from the media about what is going on in Ukraine.

Will the Russian populace rise up to protest what the strongman is doing? How inept leadership has relegated Russia to third-rate economic power status?

I don’t expect Putin to end the monstrous invasion in the next day or two. The longer this man’s military cluster-hump goes on, though, the worse he looks. As near as I can tell, Putin’s ego cannot tolerate the battering it is taking as the invasion he launched continues to fall short of the expectation he set for it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news, International news

Get set to pay … a lot!

I am swallowing hard as I ponder what I want to say about this, but … here goes. I am ready to pay a lot more for motor fuel if a U.S. ban on Russian oil can bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

President Biden is set to announce a total cutoff of crude oil from Russia. The announcement will come later today, just as the president comes to Fort Worth to talk about veterans’ issues.

Gosh, do you think he’ll field any questions about the Russian oil ban? More to the point, do you think he’ll answer them?

The POTUS has been getting plenty of pressure to “do more” to make the Russians come to what’s left of their senses. The dictator Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale, unprovoked, bloody and senseless attack on a sovereign nation at Russia’s doorstep. Oil revenue is funding this invasion. The United States happens to be a prime consumer of Russian oil.

President Biden is about to tell the world that the nation he governs is no longer going to purchase that fossil fuel. The consequence undoubtedly will be a continued spike in the price of petroleum products.

I am prepared to pay it if it helps bring an end to the bloodshed.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

War grabs media’s attention

War has this way of grabbing everyone’s attention, even yanking other compelling stories off the front page, pushing them off the air, relegating them to “old news.”

So it is these days with a ground war erupting in Ukraine. Russian armed forces have invaded a neighboring, sovereign nation on the orders of dictator Vladimir Putin. Media around the world are reporting on it to us who want to know how this war will play out.

I am unsure how I feel about our limited attention span. I remain deeply interested in the congressional inquiry into the cause of the 1/6 insurrection. Moreover, I want to know how the House committee is progressing in its search for the truth. It will get there in due course and I plan to be waiting with bated breath when the panel reaches its finish line.

President Biden has an aggressive agenda to help boost our already-recovering economy. It is stalled in the Senate. I want to know whether the president can parlay his extensive legislative experience into working out a compromise that can push the Build Better Back bill — or some facsimile of it — to a fruitful conclusion.

There remains a boatload of issues to be resolved, if only congressional Republicans can find a way to work the Democratic president instead of obstructing him at every turn.

OK, so all of that will still be there once our attention looks elsewhere, once we remove our gaze from Ukraine. I want that moment to arrive sooner rather than later. Not because I lust for a chance to see all those matters resolve … but because I want an end to the bloodshed.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Second gent? Really?

Forgive my nitpicking. I can’t help myself at times, so cut me some slack.

Never before has the spouse of a president or vice president been a man. Until now. Doug Emhoff is married to Vice President Kamala Harris. OK, so why do the media keep referring to Emhoff as the “second gentleman”?

We have a first lady in the person of Jill Biden. Emhoff’s marriage to the vice president, therefore, makes him the “first gentleman.” Isn’t that right?

If women occupied both the presidency and vice presidency and were married to men, then the husband of the VPOTUS would be the second gentleman. Not now. Doug Emhoff, so far, is the only male American to have been thrust into the political limelight by virtue of his marriage to the vice president.

Let’s be more accurate, eh? Or perhaps I just am not understanding something.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com