Tag Archives: GOP

national news

Go it alone, Mr. President

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If you put a gun to my noggin and forced me to make a prediction, I am likely to say that President Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress are on their own if they want to enact an infrastructure improvement package.

Biden is trying like the dickens to get Republicans to sign on. He is coming up empty.

The president has pitched a $2.25 trillion package. Republicans want to spend a lot less. Biden wants it to include job creation, climate change remedies and assistance to families. The GOP wants more emphasis on roads, bridges, airports, seaports.

They remain far apart.

Biden has been meeting with GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. They remain deadlocked.

Oh, what to do. I guess it well might fall on President Biden and Democrats in both congressional chambers to go it alone. Hey, they did it already with the COVID stimulus/relief package that Republicans resisted, only to then take credit for some of the programs it helped salvage.

Ayeee. It’s frustrating for those of us who want to see government work. We watch the president and congressional Democrats seeking to put government to work for us instead of against us. Then we watch Republicans dig in, resisting this and that, claiming that Democrats are playing “politics” with things such as, oh, the Jan. 6 commission that would find answers and solutions to the horrifying insurrection.

It occurs to me that Biden well might have offered a high-end proposal infrastructure knowing that Republicans would low-ball a counter-offer. Could it be that President Biden is aiming toward something in the middle, which is where he intended for this discussion to go?

That’s how you negotiate. If not, then I hope he and Democrats are ready to take off without their GOP friends.

DC riot

We need a probe into Jan. 6!

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If only the congressional obstructionist caucus — comprising Republicans, of course — would appreciate the gravity of the attack that occurred on Jan. 6.

They can’t or won’t accede to demands from Democrats that there needs to be a thorough accounting of the insurrection that occurred on that horrible day.

As many in Congress have noted: The nation’s Capitol has been attacked twice in its history and this attack, unlike the first one during the War of 1812, was done by Americans. It was an attack on our governmental process and it sought to overturn the results of a certifiably free, fair and legal presidential election.

Democrats are now left to weigh how they could proceed without Republican cooperation, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer have insisted on.

As The Hill reported: In a call this week with House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) floated four different routes Congress could take: have the Senate vote again on the House-passed bill to create an outside commission; form a select House committee, consisting of lawmakers hand-picked by leaders in both parties; allow several sitting committees to continue their probes into Jan. 6; or empower a single House committee, like Homeland Security or Oversight, to take the lead on the investigation.

Democrats debate shape of new Jan. 6 probe (msn.com)

Yes, we know the outlines of the event. Donald Trump held a rally on the Ellipse that morning. He revved up the riotous mob. The terrorists then marched on the Capitol Building. They stormed into the place. They injured many of the cops trying to protect members of Congress and the vice president from the mob. One of the DC cops died in the melee. Donald Trump did nothing to stop it.

A thorough investigation into the event can determine ways to prevent it from happening again. That solution lies at the heart of the need for this probe.

If only congressional Republicans would buy into the need to prevent a repeat of the attack that threatened them, too.

State news

You go, ‘P’!

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas needs an attorney general who:

  • Isn’t under indictment and is awaiting trail in state court for securities fraud.
  • Isn’t being investigated by the FBI on complaints leveled by former highly placed legal staffers that he is breaking federal law.
  • Doesn’t file lawsuits alleging that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from a crooked president who promotes the Big Lie about election fraud.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has declared he is going to run in the Republican Party primary next year against incumbent Texas AG Ken Paxton. Is Bush going to get my vote? That remains an open question, as I am unsure whether I will vote in the GOP primary next year.

However, I welcome P’s challenge of Paxton, who I consider to be an embarrassment as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

The Texas Tribune reports: “Enough is enough, Ken,” Bush said during a campaign kickoff at a downtown Austin bar. “You’ve brought way too much scandal and too little integrity to this office. And as a career politician for 20 years, it’s time for you to go.”

Good grief. Paxton was a mediocre lawyer and a back-bench legislator when he was elected attorney general in 2014. Then came the indictment from a Collin County grand jury alleging that he failed to inform investors of his financial connection to certain investments.

Arguably the most troubling episode occurred a year ago when high-powered AG office legal staffers blew the whistle on Paxton’s alleged misconduct, including a complaint that involved bribery.

Is this the kind of individual we want representing the state?

Hell no! I want the clown removed from office one way or another … whether by conviction in state court or a sanctioned complaint by the FBI — or by voters who have had enough of this clown’s monkey business.

George P. Bush isn’t exactly a legal heavyweight. He is a political player by virtue of his last name. He is the nephew and grandson of two former presidents and the son of a former Florida governor.

What’s more, he is able to campaign on his relatively clean background and the fact that he isn’t accused of criminal activity … which is far more than the incumbent can say as he seeks to win a third term as Texas attorney general.

national news

End the filibuster?

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The debate over whether to end the filibuster rule in the U.S. Senate gives me heartburn.

It’s a “reform” that is fraught with peril.

You know how it goes. Senators in the minority use the filibuster to block legislation. It was created with the notion of allowing senators to talk bills to death by blathering on and on about this and that. It has become more of a procedural maneuver these days.

The peril lies in the political future of the Senate and which party maintains the majority.

At this moment, Democrats control a 50-50 Senate split only because they have a Democratic vice president, Kamala Harris, available to break tie votes. Democrats are angry with Republicans because they filibuster legislation that Democrats want enacted; creation of the Jan. 6 bipartisan commission is the latest significant example.

What happens, though, if Republicans take control of the Senate after the 2022 midterm election? Democrats who today are screeching for an end to the filibuster are likely to sing a different tune if they are caught in the minority among senators. Meanwhile, are Republicans going to be as quick to stand with the filibuster if their Democratic colleagues begin filibustering in an effort to kill GOP-friendly legislation?

Control of the legislative branch is a fluid thing. It sways back and forth.

This is a rule written by the Senate. It is not a constitutional provision. Thus, I am a bit concerned that Democrats’ insistence on ending the filibuster might bite ’em all in the backside if control of the Senate — as tenuous as it is — slips away.

DC riot

Biden faces Jan. 6 challenge

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden is facing a quandary.

He wants Congress to create a bipartisan commission to examine the cause and impact of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Congressional Republicans have dug in deeply against it, wanting to protect themselves perhaps as well as Donald John Trump, the imbecile who instigated the riot that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

So, what does the president do? He could create a commission on his own. He could allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to appoint a select committee.

The U.S. Senate backed away from furthering a House-passed bill creating the commission. Newsweek reported:

On Saturday, Virginia Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly called on Biden to bypass Republicans and instead create a presidential commission.

“In light of the GOP’s cowardly filibuster of a bipartisan Jan 6th commission I urge President Biden to form and appoint a Presidential Commission to fully investigate the insurrection of January 6th at the US Capitol,” Connolly tweeted.

Calls Mount for Biden to Form Presidential 1/6 Commission After GOP’s ‘Cowardly Filibuster’ (msn.com)

Even though such an idea is fraught with concern over how impartial such a presidential commission can be — given that the current president’s victory in the 2020 election is the reason for the insurrection in the first place — I am willing to endorse its creation.

I have a caveat to offer: President Biden must ensure the bipartisan nature of a presidential panel and then he should simply back away and let the group do its job without any hint of interference from the Oval Office.

Joe Biden has been around the halls of power long enough to understand what is proper. My sincere hope would be that the president would ensure a thorough probe into the events leading up to the Jan. 6 riot by the mob of terrorists. If only he could persuade the Trumpkins out there of its honesty.

They are likely to hang instead on the Big Lie that their idiotic hero keeps telling.

national news

Nut Job Wing holds GOP sway

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter 

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It well might be that the Establishment Wing of the Republican Party is about to throw in the towel in its fight against what I am willing to call the Nut Job Wing of the GOP.

The Nut Jobs within the party are being led by a cabal of fruitcakes, know-nothings, airheads, conspiracy theorists, goofballs … dare I go on? You get the point.

Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the woman I have dubbed the QAnon Queen of the GOP caucus, is just the latest example of a nut job who has grabbed the party by its proverbial family jewels. She compares Democrats to Nazis and says mask and social distancing mandates aimed at protecting us from a killer virus are akin to what Jews suffered during the Holocaust.

Do you get the connection? Democratic “Nazis” are making us do things that compare to sending innocent people to the gas chamber.

The congressional GOP leadership condemned MTG for her idiocy, and then ran for the tall grass. The Georgia congresswoman has been stripped of her committee assignments, to be sure. That hasn’t silenced this idiot. She continues to spew hate-filled garbage, which of course is her right; we do have that First Amendment that all honor, even when it protects nut jobs such as MTG.

The Republican establishment just cannot bring itself to drop the hammer on the likes of MTG, Rep. Matt “The Alleged Sex Trafficker” Gaetz … or certainly not even the former Liar/Imbecile/Carnival Barker in Chief, Donald J. Trump.

It leaves me utterly flabbergasted.

national news

Six GOP heroes emerge

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Well, just as I was castigating the congressional Republican caucus for being packed with cowards and suck ups, we see six GOP heroes emerge from the Senate ranks to do the right thing regarding a bipartisan commission to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection.

These six Republican senators voted to advance the bill creating the commission; the problem, though, was that the bill needed 10 GOP senators to carry it out.

The six heroes are: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.

I had heard already that Romney would vote “yes” on the bipartisan commission bill; I also had surmised Murkowski would vote to move the idea forward. I couldn’t predict what Collins or Sasse would do, as they have been a bit up-and-down on this issue of holding Donald Trump accountable for inciting the insurrection.

Six GOP crossover votes, though, weren’t enough. The commission needed 10 Rs to advance the bill.

But I’ll stand and cheer the six GOP senators for forgoing the bullying and bluster that Trump no doubt will level at them and voting their conscience … and for doing the right thing in seeking the whole truth behind the insurrection.

national news

Party of Lincoln becomes Party of Cowards

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ah, yes. Here we are with the Party of Lincoln now standing tall as the party of cowardly fealty to a fraud posing as one of their own.

That’s all I can surmise now that the Republican Party leaders in Congress have torpedoed a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to study the causes, effects and consequences of the Jan. 6 insurrection that could have toppled our democratic government.

Congressional Republicans have stonewalled a move by Democrats to create a commission comprising members of both major parties that would have sought to lay bare all the events leading up to the insurrection.

The GOP is now the party that is beholden to the cultist who sat as president for a term that ended in January. Donald Trump has bullied, blustered and bellowed his way into the skulls of politicians who now do not dare do anything to anger the ex-POTUS.

We are witnessing a shameful abrogation of the oath they all took when they assumed office.

These men and women signed on to a once-great political party that used to fight for equal rights for all Americans. It now fights to protect the backside of a politician foments the Big Lie about alleged electoral “theft.” Donald Trump doesn’t want a bipartisan commission to examine the intricate details of an event that threatened the safety of politicians doing their constitutional duty, which was to certify the results of a presidential election.

The Republican Party has become a haven for cowards.

national news

Here comes the ‘tax and spend’ criticism

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s get ready for the standard Republican criticism of Democratic presidents.

Joe Biden’s proposed budget projects a $1.8 trillion deficit for the next fiscal year. Why? Because he wants to put Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. He also intends to seek tax increases on corporations and wealthy Americans who got a bit tax break during the Donald Trump administration.

The GOP is going to resist, to be sure. Republicans are going to level the boiler-plate criticism that Democrats are the party of tax and spend policies.

Biden budget to run $1.8T deficit to finance spending plans (msn.com)

Except that Republicans did a variation of the very same thing when they ran the show during Donald Trump’s term. They pitched spending programs, but didn’t want to increases taxes to pay for them.

So, what’s changed now? We now have a Democrat in the White House and Democrats running the show on Capitol Hill.

Ah, yes. Politics knows no shame.

State news

What’s the rush, Lt. Gov. Patrick?

(AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Dan Patrick continues to exhibit traits that just pi** me off royally.

The Texas lieutenant governor is trying to pressure another fairly loathsome politician — Gov. Greg Abbott — into calling a special legislative session in June. Why? Because the lieutenant governor wants the Legislature to enact some conservative bills that aren’t going to make it to Abbott’s desk when the regular session ends in a few days.

Dan Patrick calls for special session of the Texas Legislature | The Texas Tribune

Left undone are bills, for instance, that would ban transgender students from competing in high school sports activities, would prohibit local governments from using taxpayer funds to pay for lobbyists and punish social media companies for “censoring” Texans based on their political viewpoints.

Abbott calls Patrick’s demand “premature” and has urged legislators to get “conservative legislation to my desk” before the regular session adjourns.

Good grief! The Legislature is coming back to work later in the fall to work on redistricting and reapportionment — which is required under the U.S. Constitution. Special legislative sessions happen to cost a lot of money. That doesn’t bother Patrick in the least or so it would appear. It does bother me, given that they do all this work on my dime, as well as on yours.

I suppose if the Legislature is intent on getting this “conservative” agenda enacted, it could wait until after it finishes the redistricting work it is required to do. Although if I had my druthers, I would hope the Legislature would leave these issues alone.