All posts by kanelis2012

Joe Biden, national news, political news

What happens if … ?

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So help me I don’t like even thinking about this possibility, but the reality of the moment requires me to do so.

Here goes: What will happen if Joe Biden actually loses the election this November to the Republican presidential nominee, who at this moment looks as though it will be the dipsh** Biden defeated in 2020?

Specifically, will the president extend an olive branch to the man who has refused to acknowledge his own loss to Biden four years ago?

My gut and my trick knee tell me President Biden likely will do the proper thing. He would place the obligatory phone call; he then will invite the president-elect and his wife to the White House; he will smile and speak about “working with” the new president.

Given all the bad blood, the recrimination, the Big Lie, and all the things that POTUS 45 has said about POTUS 46, I wouldn’t be surprised to see No. 46 stick it in No. 45’s ear.

But then again, President Biden understands the process better than practically any of us. He also is a man who adheres to tradition.

Will the president’s adherence to custom force him to behave like the pro that he is? Probably.

However, if he falls victim to the hurtful blather of POTUS 45, well … I wouldn’t blame him one little bit if he told him to fu** off.

Uncategorized

What is MTG trying to do?

No need to answer the question I have posed in the headline … I believe I know what she is up to.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to make as much noise as possible, to disrupt the legislative flow in the People’s House and to prevent Congress from actually governing, which the Constitution allows it to do as a co-equal partner in the federal government.

MTG is a two-term congresswoman from Georgia who has managed to elbow her way to Americans’ attention simply because she is a certifiable nut job. I am left to wonder: How in the world did she get elected in the first place and then re-elected two years later?

She is calling for a motion to vacate the speakership held by fellow Republican Mike Johnson. Greene isn’t likely to succeed in the motion. It’s not that I really give a damn about Johnson. He is a MAGA cultist, just like Greene. His “sin” is that he has shown a desire to work with Democrats to actually legislate.

MTG will keep yammering, bellowing and carrying on. She will continue to obstruct in that bellicose manner she employs.

She also will continue to garner attention from folks like me who wonder: How does the House fulfill its constitutional duty to govern when it contains wackos like this?

Joe Biden, national news, political news

This is no normal year

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If only this were a normal presidential election year, but it is far from normal.

We have two major-party candidates who reportedly are the two most unpopular public figures since, oh, The Flood. We also have a third-party goofball, who happens to be a scion of one of the 20th century’s great political families.

Does all this portend a dismally low voter turnout? Not so fast.

We had the same two major-party guys running in 2020. When all the ballots were counted, 158 million Americans voted, a record. Joe Biden was elected president. The other guy called the election “rigged” and said it was “fake.” Never mind that the Republican Party presidential nominee tried like hell to rig the election in his favor.

Oh, and he hasn’t conceded that he lost to President Biden.

In steps Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the former U.S. attorney general and former U.S. senator from New York. RFK sought the presidency in 1968 and well might have been elected … except for the assassin who gunned him down in the Los Angeles hotel kitchen.

This isn’t a normal election any more than the previous one, or the one before that when the former Liar in Chief got elected.

Joe Biden promised a return to normal presidential behavior. He has behaved like the adult in the room. Unlike the guy he defeated,

Now they’re preparing to square off again. I get that they’re bold old men. Allow me this bit of candor: Time is on neither man’s side, although the chatter almost always seems to focus on Joe Biden’s alleged decline in acuity. I am prepared to argue that the GOP nominee in waiting is exhibiting even more frightening examples of unhinged behavior.

Does any of this mean a dismal turnout in this fall’s election? Hardly.

Both sides are going to gin up their respective bases. My fervent hope is that President Biden wins the day, the election and continues to restore our national soul.

legal news

Would he really jail an ex-POTUS?

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New York District Judge Juan Merchan well could exhibit the gawdiest stones imaginable if he follows through with a veiled threat against the 45th POTUS.

You see, the former POTUS just can’t keep his trap shut despite the existence of a gag order that Merchan has imposed on him while he stands trial on allegations that he violated campaign finance laws when he paid off an adult film star.

Merchan has declared the ex-Philanderer in Chief to be in contempt of court and said he might send the criminal defendant to the hoosegow.

Wouldn’t that be rich? Well … yeah, it would be.

International news, local news

Almost a perfect ending

My two-week sojourn to Germany ended today, and by golly it could have been a perfect landing for this weary traveler.

Except for one little thing … well, two actually.

My luggage didn’t show up!

Over many years traveling, some of it internationally, I have had extraordinary good luck when it involves luggage. I guess today my luck ran out.

I checked into the Nuremberg, Germany airport this morning two hours ahead of my flight to Paris. A two-hour layover there preceded my boarding a plane bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Two hours is plenty of time for the luggage to be transferred, right? I sat on the packed Boeing 787 for 10 hours. I got off the plane and went first to customs and then to baggage claim, where I waited and waited some more.

Two pieces of checked luggage didn’t make it.

The kid at the customer service counter looked at my claim tickets and said the bags were “still in Paris. I guess they must have had a weight issue for the plane.”

The luggage will get here in a day or two. Hey, no sweat. I have plenty of clothes hanging in my closet.

You know what? None of this hassle today is going to take a single, solitary thing away from the marvelous time I had with dear friends.

However, first things first. I need to take a nap.

political news, religious news

Tough to resist hating this guy

My dear mother taught me to avoid saying I “hate” someone. Mom wasn’t a particularly religious person, but surely she must have known what Scripture teaches us about Jesus “loving” his enemies.

Still, as I survey the Republican Party presidential nominee-in-waiting, I find myself wondering if the ex-POTUS knows a damn thing about what’s inside the Bible. Thus, I wonder if he refrains from telling those closest to him not to “hate” those who oppose him. If he is as ignorant of what the Bible tells us as I suspect he is, then he hasn’t exercised a moment of faithful restraint.

This is the kind of supposition that gives me grief as I wrestle with what I feel viscerally about the GOP nominee-to-be. If he has never sought forgiveness, as he once said, then should those of us who do follow Jesus’s teachings actually care about this guy?

At some level, I do care about him. “Care,” though, is as far as I go.

I’m going to continue to avoid saying I “hate” this clown. Jesus wouldn’t agree to it. More importantly, neither would Mom.

local news

Time is like a rocket

NUREMBERG, Germany — The past two weeks have flown by like a rocket shot into space.

But yet they have arguably among the best two weeks I’ve ever spent. I spent them in Bavaria, in southern Germany.

My vacation came from an invitation delivered by friends who thought when they extended it that I needed some time away from the house in Texas to clear my head. They were right. What they — or I — didn’t anticipate is the emotional distance I have traveled since losing my bride Kathy Anne to cancer.

Even though the time I spent with Martin, Alena and their three precious children was time well-spent, it wasn’t as urgent as it was when the invitation came my way.

However, my two-week stay in Germany is about to come to a conclusion. I will leave here fulfilled and enriched by their friendship, their hospitality and their love.

I am going home to a new life that is still under construction, but it is taking on a definite form. My friends all tell me they see a difference in me these days. Indeed, I am able to say I am ‘good,” which I couldn’t bring myself to say in the immediate aftermath of our loss.

That was then. And now? I awake each morning looking forward to the days that lie ahead.

I needed the time away to reconnect with these dear friends. They promised to shower me with love. They truly delivered the goods. It is time to go home.

Uncategorized

POTUS to debate … him?

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Joe Biden kinda/sorta put it on the record, which is that he will debate the likely Republican Party presidential nominee before we cast ballots this coming November.

No date, place or format has been decided, President Biden told Howard Stern. OK. Fine.

Work it out. Do I want the president to debate POTUS No. 45? I guess so, but I am not thrilled about it.

It’s not so much that I worry about the president’s ability to exchange views with the ex-Liar in Chief. It’s that Americans aren’t likely to learn anything new about (a) why POTUS 45 is unqualified and unfit for office or (b) what policies Biden will articulate.

Joe Biden is making the case for his re-election. His immediate predecessor, though, is making the case that he shouldn’t be found anywhere near the Oval Office ever again.

I fear that a one-on-one debate between these men will be an exercise in futility.

International news

One pledge unfulfilled

NUREMBERG, Germany — I had said my intention upon arriving in this beautiful part of the world was to rent a car and drive locally during my stay with friends.

I am hereby admitting I did not fulfill that pledge.

Why is that? I guess, to put it succinctly, is that I chickened out. There. I have made an admission that at 74 years of age, I no longer am willing to do damn near anything.

We drove to dinner last night. My friend Martin was at the wheel. He chose to take the autobahn to the restaurant we had chosen. The speed limit was 130 kmh, which is slightly more than 80 mph.

Did everyone follow that speed limit? Bwahahahaha!

Not even close!

Young drivers aboard motorcycles — aka “crotch rockets” — roared past us at speeds exceeding 100 mph. Same for every motor vehicle. I would flinch when they zoomed ahead. Martin would shrug and say, “Oh … that’s nothing.”

Nothing? Was he kidding? Yes and no. It’s “nothing,” I suppose to the police. It must be seriously “something” to the poor slob who crashes one of those machines.

I had intended to rely solely on local roadways, to stay off the legendary autobahn were I to rent a car. The train system that serves Martin and Alena’s neighborhood proved quite efficient and comfortable. So … I let the electronic machinery do the driving for me.

As for the next time, I’ll just keep my pledges to myself.

International news

Journey nears its end

NUREMBERG, Germany — My journey to Europe is nearing its conclusion. Very soon, I will be boarding a jet bound for home.

To be honest, I didn’t realize how much I needed the time away until after I arrived. What spurred the realization? Likely it was my friends who greeted me outside of baggage claim at Nuremberg’s international airport.

I have known Martin for 14 years; his wife Alena for about eight. I brought my bride, Kathy Anne, to Germany in 2016 to meet them both for the first time. In 2016, our friends had two sons and Alena was pregnant with their daughter during that visit.

They said something profound to me almost immediately upon my arrival. It was that I should not think of myself as a “guest” in their home, but as a “member of the family.” That was their way of telling me that anything I wanted or needed was mine for the taking inside their home.

They live in a peaceful village outside of Nuremberg. Weitersdorf is among many such villages scattered across this lovely landscape. I have gone without TV, very little “talk radio,” and the only newspaper I have read is the international edition of the New York Times; I don’t read German … you know?

We have talked American politics from time to time during my visit with them. We even have discussed German politics, too. Martin isn’t quite sure about the description I attached to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom I described as the “real leader of the Free World” during her time in public office.

I have informed them both that I am crafting a new life at home. My days are filling up with activity. I have made many new friends, one of whom stands out; there likely will be more to say about that relationship later.

My time away from the humdrum of North Texas, though, was time well-spent. Soon it’ll be back to the grind, which I am still seeking to define. I will be ready for whatever awaits.