Tag Archives: Joe Biden

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‘Missing the boat’ on terror?

At first, I wasn’t sure I heard correctly what a North Texas congresswoman said about President Biden’s responsibility for the terrorist attack on a Colleyville synagogue.

She said Biden is paying “too much attention” on “far-right domestic terrorists” and ignoring the threat from foreign terrorists. Biden is “missing the boat” on the terror threats, she said.

So said Beth Van Duyne, a Republican whose congressional district includes the Colleyville community that is home to the synagogue where a British citizen took four people hostage.

In a House floor speech, Van Duyne proposed a resolution citing the heroism of the rabbi who tossed a chair at the hostage-taker, giving himself and his three congregants a chance to escape. FBI agents then stormed the Congregation Beth Israel and shot the hostage-taker to death; Van Duyne wants to honor their heroism as well.

Yes, indeed, there is plenty of heroism to honor and I am glad Van Duyne wants to bestow that recognition.

However, I will not accept that President Biden is to blame for allegedly ignoring the threat of terrorists who come to this country to do us harm. My goodness, Biden responded quickly with a statement that declared the man’s threats in Colleyville to be a “terrorist act.”

I guess my question of the moment is: How in the world does one stop someone from doing what the lunatic did? He wasn’t on terrorist watch lists of which I am aware. He walked into the synagogue, shook hands with the rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, and then surprised everyone with demands that the Justice Department release a woman held in a federal prison on terror-related crimes.

Van Duyne said that the loon didn’t take hostages “at an Applebee’s,” that he targeted a synagogue because he intended to commit a hate crime.

I will point out, too, that FBI Director Christophe Wray — appointed to his post by Donald J. Trump — said in 2019 that domestic terror presented the gravest threat to our national security.

There’s a saying we hear in Washington from time to time about how officials are able to “walk and chew gum at the same time.” I believe President Biden is devoting ample attention to threats from all corners … be they foreign or domestic.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Incursion = invasion

How about we cease the rhetorical pussyfooting regarding whether a nation stages an “incursion” into another nation’s territory, rather than a full-scale “invasion?”

I see no difference.

At issue is what Russian troops might be ordered to do now that they are massed along the country’s border with Ukraine. We hear about the 100,000 armed forces who reportedly are staging for some sort of military action against Ukraine forces on the other side of the border.

President Biden seemed to suggest that a mere “incursion” would result in a less-severe reaction from the United States than an invasion.

This is nonsense. I wish the president would cease seeking to make a distinction between the actions.

The first time I remember hearing the term “incursion” was in 1970 when U.S. troops moved into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. I had just returned from that conflict, and I was horrified then at the thought of our troops marching into another country to wage battle against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military forces.

My dog-eared American Heritage Dictionary defines incursion as “a raid or an invasion.” I guess, therefore, that the terms are interchangeable.

Whatever our response is to what the Russians do shouldn’t depend on the nature or the scope of their military action against another sovereign nation. My hope is that Joe Biden will establish that whatever economic sanction we level against Russia will be severe … no matter the level of the Russians’ military action.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Wait for pandemic to ease

I want to offer a bit of unsolicited — and possibly unwanted — advice to those who worry about President Joe Biden’s dismal poll ratings.

Just be patient and wait for the coronavirus pandemic to loosen its grip on the national psyche.

I don’t have any solid evidence of this, but my strong hunch is that Americans have grown most weary of the constant bombardment of news about the pandemic and they — meaning we, in our family — are waiting anxiously for tangible relief from the effects of the disease.

The constant flood of frightening news surely has an impact on our collective state of mind and our emotional stability. It surely must translate to our feelings about how our national government is doing in its pledge to protect our health, welfare and our pursuit of happiness.

President Biden promised we would declare our “independence” from the virus by the Fourth of July 2021. It didn’t happen. Obviously! Many Americans remember what the president said then and are holding it against him that he was unable to deliver on that pledge. It’s not fair. It’s just the way it is.

Our government’s initial response in early 2020 was horrendous. If we take cold, hard look at what we did or didn’t do then, we can presume correctly that President Biden inherited a mess and has sought to straighten it out. He hasn’t done nearly as well as many of us hoped he would.

Now he is paying the political price.

So, the future could hold a critical key to Joe Biden’s political survival. If the pandemic starts to recede — and soon! — then I have good reason to believe we could witness a historic revival in the president’s standing among American voters.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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I hear ya, Joe

Mr. President, allow me to say that I happen to agree with you about one aspect of the presidency that has dragged your approval rating down among Americans across the land.

I also agree that I — along with others of us — didn’t anticipate the stubborn refusal of Republican members of Congress to work with you for the common good of all of us. I mean, so help me, I actually thought that your experience as a senator and your eight years as vice president would have bought you some good will once you took over the presidency from the fraudulent imposter who occupied the office for the four previous years.

I have seen the video of Republicans and Democrats singing your praises in the Senate near the end of your term as VP. For God’s sake, even Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said it was a pleasure to work with you. What’s he doing now? He is standing in the way of damn near everything you are trying to do.

The moron you succeeded keeps hurling epithets at McConnell, but the senator won’t accept the notion that POTUS No. 45 is unfit for office and must be derailed in his attempt to influence the political discussion going forward.

Then again, Mitch isn’t the worst of ’em. The idiot brigade among the GOP congressional caucus is being led by the likes of Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida. I could go on, Mr. President, but you get my drift, right?

I am going to stand with you, sir. I voted for you, and I am proud of my support for the agenda you are pitching. Be strong, Mr. President.

It well might be that the obstructionists in Congress will realize they are harming their own base. As you know, these tactics have this way of exacting revenge on those who enact them.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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‘I don’t believe the polls’

(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Let us be clear about something President Biden said today at his first formal press conference of the new year.

He said he doesn’t “believe the polls” that indicate moderates are dropping away from him after they voted for him in 2020.

Uh, Mr. President? Believe the polls, sir.

I understand that all politicians say such things when the public opinion polling casts them in a negative light. When pols are riding high, then the polls become pearls of wisdom and discernment.

Indeed, Donald Trump constantly railed at the polls that showed him continually lagging in overall public support. He would suggest that crowd size at his rallies put the lie to those polls. Well … they were accurate, too.

President Biden is being victimized by the continuing pandemic, inflation, pressure from overseas adversaries. However, the economy isn’t in nearly the dire straits that his foes have suggested.

Yet, the polls continue to show him lagging among some key voting blocs.

The only course for President Biden is for the polls to start ticking back up. How does that happen? He needs to pitch strongly the successes he has produced during his first year in office.

For instance, jobs are coming back. Almost nothing soothes a restive public better than a vibrant economy. Joe Biden’s economic team can take some credit for the rebound that is occurring.

If the polls show some improvement, my hunch is that President Biden will learn immediately to endorse the wisdom of his fellow Americans.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Still hoping for results

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

You can count me as one ardent supporter of President Biden who is still waiting for him to deliver on his multi-pronged pledge to repair the national soul, unify the United States of America and enact legislation that will deal with the existential threats to our great country.

We’re almost a year into Joe Biden’s term as president. I want him to succeed.

Do I blame him singularly for the problems that seem woven into our national fabric? No. I want to lay most of the blame on the obstructionists in Congress who won’t work with the president, who continue to block every initiative that comes from the White House simply because they can.

Too many Republicans appear wedded to the notion that the 2020 election was stolen from their guy. It wasn’t. Yet they won’t let it go. They refuse to accept the truth of the result: 81 million Americans voted for Joe Biden, granting him 306 Electoral College votes. It wasn’t a smashing triumph, but it was decisive enough for there to be no doubt as to the outcome.

The pandemic has flared yet again. It has hampered Biden’s agenda. It has cast a pall over damn near everything. I cannot possibly blame the president for that, either.

The next year is as unpredictable as the first year has been. I don’t know what the future holds. We have a midterm election coming up. Republicans say they are poised to take control of Congress. What happens if that occurs? Will there be more revenge in store? I sincerely hope not.

Then again, we’re dealing with a party controlled by an individual who cannot concede defeat.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Another big date looms

We have just marked the first year since the 1/6 assault on our democratic system of government and now we’re about to take a look back at another landmark date that — to my mind — is actually worth celebrating as an “anniversary.”

This coming Thursday will be one year since Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. became the 46th president of the United States. His predecessor wasn’t there for the ceremony. He had jetted off to south Florida to stir up the brew known as The Big Lie about President Biden’s election in November 2020.

The very idea that we’re still talking about POTUS 45 is remarkable in the extreme. I don’t know if that’s by the ex-Liar in Chief’s design or if it is the result of the media’s lust for sensational headlines.

But … here we are, talking about the seditious moron who masqueraded for four years as our head of state and our commander in chief.

Good grief. So help me I want him to disappear. As long as he continues to make news — and I am afraid it’s legitimate news, given the stakes involved — I will feel the need to comment on what he’s doing, saying and plotting against the government he once swore an oath to protect.

My fondest hope is that the feds come up with enough evidence to warrant his arrest. I am actually fantasizing over the sight of him being hauled off in cuffs and leg irons.

Hey, do you remember how he ridiculed police for protecting bad guys’ heads when they loaded them into police cruisers? Another fantasy would be to see the cops rough him up the way he wanted them to treat street thugs.

Well, I want to wish the current president well as he embarks on his second year in office. Yeah, the first year has had its ups and downs. I remain strongly in his corner as he moves us farther away from the dark era of his immediate predecessor.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

How does POTUS reach the other side?

President Biden today — and I shall borrow a phrase — was “preaching to the choir” when my wife and I tuned in to listen to his speech commemorating the year since 1/6.

We believe what he said about the cause of the riot on Capitol Hill; we endorse the notion that his presidential predecessor is more interested in “power than in principle”; we shudder at the belief that we witnessed a year ago the first direct assault on our democracy by those loyal to the individual who lost a free and fair election.

My question as I watched the president and Vice President Harris speak to us this morning was this: How in name of all that is sacred in our democracy do these officials reach those who need to understand the truth of what they are saying?

Those would be the cultists who continue to believe The Big Lie that the former POTUS keeps alive, that the 2020 election was stolen.

I simply want to highlight briefly something to which Biden alluded during his remarks given in Statuary Hall … that Republicans actually performed well down the ballot in November 2020 and that no one has challenged the results of those returns. Oh, no. Biden reminded us that the only challenge has come from the former president and his cultists regarding the race at the very top of the ballot. How come?

Oh, it’s because the former president lost that one and that his “bruised ego” won’t let him accept that he lost the most secure, most examined election in our nation’s history.

President Biden need not convince those of us who live in this North Texas home. He needs somehow to reach those who continue to believe The Big Lie.

I wish the president all the very best as he embarks on that effort.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, State news

Cruz misfires with impeachment threat

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Ted Cruz has lost his marbles. His butter has slipped off his noodles. He has gone ’round the bend. He is nuttier than a Snickers bar.

The junior U.S. senator from Texas — the guy who once described Donald Trump as a “sniveling coward” but then became Trump’s primo suck-up senator — believes President Biden can be impeached if Republicans take command of the House after the midterm election.

According to the Texas Tribune: “​​Democrats weaponized impeachment,” he said, referring to House Democrats twice voting to impeach former President Donald Trump. “They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him. And one of the real disadvantages of doing that … is the more you weaponize it and turn it into a partisan cudgel, you know, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/04/ted-cruz-joe-biden-impeachment/

Wow! I am trying to catch my breath.

The Cruz Missile has misfired — again! Democrats didn’t impeach Trump for “partisan purposes.” They impeached him for trying to persuade a foreign leader to do him a political favor; then the House impeached Trump for inciting the riot on 1/6. The weaponization of the impeachment process occurred on the Republican side of the great congressional divide when all but a dignified handful of GOP House members and senators decided to give Trump a pass when he clearly committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

For Cruz to suggest that President Joe Biden faces potential impeachment if the GOP takes command of the House is tantamount to inviting a constitutional crisis where none should exist.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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Prepare for shellacking

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(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Dear Mr. President … it’s been a while since I’ve addressed you in a blog post, but here comes a warning for you.

Prepare for an electoral “shellacking,” to borrow a phrase, in the midterm election later this year. President Obama called a similar event in the 2010 midterm that cost y’all control of Congress; Republicans seized control of the legislative chamber. But I don’t need to remind you of that.

Nor do I need to remind you what happened in 2012, when you and the president got re-elected.

The shellacking you can expect to take this year doesn’t portend political doom for the administration you lead. Yes, I am aware your polling doesn’t reflect lots of good cheer for you.

Bear in mind, though, that the liars on the other side of the great divide continue to keep outshouting the truth-tellers.

The economy is recovering at a brisk pace; I feel it and sense it. We have been hit once again by another variant spawned by the coronavirus pandemic, but my gut tells me we’re going to end 2022 in much better health than we are entering it. We have some challenges around the world with which you must deal, but I will continue to have faith in your own legislative leadership experience that I believe will guide you as you confront them.

Much depends, surely, on whom Republicans nominate for the presidential run in 2024. I am sure you heard what Sen. Lindsey Graham — the guy who once described you as one of the “most decent men God ever created” — said about Donald Trump. He said the next election is “Trump’s to lose.” I am maintaining my faith in Americans’ good sense that we won’t go down that path again.

Then again, I also am going to cling to my skepticism that Trump actually runs again.

So, I wish you well in this new year, Mr. President. I stand with you.

I just want you to prepare early for the remarks you will have to give when they count the votes for the midterm election. A “shellacking” appears to be coming your way. Don’t feel you’re the only POTUS to suffer such an indignity. Others have been dealt serious defeats during their first term in office.

Don’t surrender. There well could be a revival at hand, too.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com