Tag Archives: Joe Biden

Joe Biden

‘Sausage making’ continues

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REUTERS/Mike Blake

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Someone once said that crafting legislation is similar to making sausage, in that neither activity is attractive to watch as it takes place.

I will spare you the nuts and guts of sausage making. However, the infrastructure bill that is slogging its way through the U.S. Congress is another matter.

It is taking seemingly forever for congressional Democrats and Republicans to work through their differences. President Biden is waiting for some form of legislation to arrive at his desk. I will presume he’ll sign what Congress delivers to him.

But … man! This is getting painful to watch.

Senate negotiators are hammering out a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that aims to repair our roads, bridges and rail lines; it also will provide greater broadband Internet service. The legislation also figures to put millions of Americans to work, even though quite a few million of us are returning to the work force as the nation fights mightily to rid itself of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a bipartisan effort, with pols on both sides of the great divide finding ways to compromise. That’s what I call “good government.”

Some progressive politicians want to spend more money; some arch-conservative pols don’t want to spend any money on anything.

Government needs to step up. It needs to find ways to assist Americans struggling to pay their household bills. The infrastructure bill, with all its complexities, figures to lend a much-needed hand. Not to mention that it will repair crumbling roads, bridges and rail lines. We need ’em all to get from place to place … you know?

The only thing is that it ain’t pretty to watch taking shape.

DC riot, national news

‘These officers are heroes’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Yes, they are, Mme. Vice President.

So it was today when VP Kamala Harris along with President Biden conducted a White House ceremony to honor the Capitol and Metropolitan DC police officers who stood up against a rioting mob of terrorists who on 1/6 stormed the Capitol Building.

The mob’s intent was clear: to prevent Congress from doing its constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Was that an insurrection against the government, against our democratic system? Yes. It was. There can be no doubt.

The president and vice president today honored the men and women who stood in the breech against the mob, those who were incited by the individual who lost the 2020 election, the 45th POTUS.

I was struck today by three aspects of the event as I watched Biden sign the resolution that honors the police with the Congressional Gold Medal.

One was the presence of the children who took part in the ceremony. President Biden took a moment to hand out the ceremonial pens to the children and then instructed them to give the pens to the officers gathered behind the desk where the president sat and signed the resolution.

Another was the presence of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican — the only GOP lawmaker present at a ceremony meant to honor the officers who protected all the members of Congress who were threatened by the terrorists. The absence of other key GOP leaders — such as Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell and House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy — is a shameful example of their political fealty to the twice-impeached former POTUS.

A third key point was the strong language that Biden and Harris used to describe the events of 1/6. They didn’t pussyfoot around what the whole world witnessed that day. We watched a frontal assault on our democratic system. We watched an insurrection take place in real time.

And yet, there are members of the very legislative body those officers protected who refuse to acknowledge the heroism and the patriotism of the officers who stood in harm’s way. They have disgraced their high office.

Enough about them. The men and women will be honored forever and ever for their courage in the face of blind anger and hatred.

national news

Impeach Biden over … border? Really?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Chip Roy has signed his name to the Republican Party’s loony bin caucus roster.

The Texas U.S. representative wants the House to impeach President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas because they haven’t done enough to secure our border against illegal immigration and — I will presume — all those criminals who are “pouring” into the country.

Impeach them? For that? Is this guy serious? He thinks he is. I happen to believe he is nuttier than a Snickers bar.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy calls for impeachment of President Biden, DHS Secretary Mayorkas (msn.com)

If we’re going to apply that so-called “logic” as grounds for impeachment, than every president who came before Biden should have been sent to the House gallows to be impeached. Dare I mention that should include Republican presidents as well as Democrats? There. I just did.

Rep. Roy needs to get a grip on reality.

President Biden inherited a mess when he took office. His presidential predecessor had not stemmed the illegal immigrant flow. Neither had the man who preceded him, Barack Obama, or the man who was on the watch before that, George W. Bush.

Republicans along our southern border — and that is the crux of the argument here — are yapping and yammering about the pi**-poor job Biden allegedly is doing. I agree he needs to take a stronger grip on the border issue and, yes, it is a “crisis.”

Impeach him and the DHS boss for it? This matter doesn’t even begin to rise to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor.

legal news

Class-action lawsuit possible?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If ever there could be a case for a class-action lawsuit against a high-profile public figure, I am beginning to think that elections officials throughout this great nation might have one.

The former Slanderer in Chief has defamed the reputations of county, state and local elections officials everywhere by insisting that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” that it was fraught with “widespread voter fraud” and that it was “stolen” from him.

Class-action suits usually are filed by large numbers of people or groups who contend they have been damaged by allegations made in public that defamed their character.

POTUS 45 has done all of that, and more, by suggesting the 2020 election didn’t really deliver the presidency to Joe Biden, that the former POTUS actually won in a “landslide.” Has he produced a scintilla, a shred, a sliver, a smidgen of proof for any of this? No! He just says these things and others believe him.

I do not believe anything that flies out of the liar’s pie hole.  Nor should anyone else … but they do, to their shame.

I have known too many dedicated elections officials in counties where I have worked over nearly 40 years in daily journalism. They all take their jobs seriously. They all take an oath to defend the Constitution and have followed that oath to the letter.

I realize I am not King of the World. For that matter, neither is the former POTUS who once declared that “I, alone, can fix” what is wrong with the nation. The stark truth is that he hasn’t fixed a damn thing. Just maybe there might be enough justice left in this world for local elections officials whose reputations have been damaged to take legal action against an individual who embodies political corruption in its lowest form.

national news

Bipartisan deal is struck!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

They’re slapping themselves on the back, high-fiving each other all around and telling themselves that they’re all great statesmen and women.

Why the enthusiasm on Capitol Hill? They have announced the framework for a bipartisan infrastructure deal that now is going to endure an arduous amendment process before it’s voted on and sent to President Biden’s desk.

I haven’t read the details of the bill, but I want to make this brief observation.

President Biden’s immediate predecessor kept announcing that an infrastructure bill was coming; he never delivered. Why not? He didn’t know to legislate. He didn’t grasp the concept of working with legislators who had their own constituencies with whom they had to deal. We never saw an infrastructure package, even though POTUS 45 kept promising one would emerge.

He got tossed in the 2020 election. Then a new man moved in. Joe Biden is a man of the Senate, having served there for 36 years before becoming vice president in 2009.

President Biden knows many of the men and women in the Senate. He worked with them as senator and as VP. He knows how to legislate. He knows whose buttons to push and how to cajole compromise from senators.

Granted, it hasn’t always gone smoothly since he ascended to the presidency. He is dealing with GOP cultists who still adhere to the fantasy that POTUS 45 will get back into office.

However, a deal has been struck. I credit the president for rolling up his sleeves and working with the Senate — and the House of Reps — to get this deal done.

We have a president on duty who knows how to govern. 

local news, national news, political news

A silver lining in the vote fraud scam?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I want to make a declaration I never thought I could make, as it involves the 45th president of the United States, aka the ex-Moron in Chief.

All this scandalous nonsense about the security of the 2020 presidential election is going to produce future election cycles that no one is likely to be able to challenge at any level.

I credit the 45th POTUS for the security we will witness in real time of future elections: for president, for Congress, for state legislatures, for countywide office, for municipal and school district office.

Our attention has been riveted on the issue of election security. Granted, I do not buy for one second the veracity of the allegations that the 45th POTUS has leveled at the 2020 presidential election. I do, though, buy into the notion that our state and county elections officials’ alert levels have risen to unprecedented levels.

The future of our electoral system, I submit without reservation, actually looks brighter because we have spent so much time in this post-election period discussing the issue of ballot security.

I cannot begin to predict that there won’t be some crackpot in the future who will raise the noxious stink that POTUS 45 has raised since losing the 2020 election. He lost it bigly: 7 million ballots and a 306-232 tally in the Electoral College. He keeps yammering about vote fraud, but produces not a shred of evidence to substantiate his slanderous attacks on the electoral process.

There has been a positive result, though. I am quite certain the ex-Numbskull in Chief has elevated electoral security awareness all along the political chain of command. I have known many county clerks in Texas and Oregon who have worked themselves to near-collapse seeking to protect the integrity of the voting process. They have done their jobs well and with honor. Thus, they do not deserve to be slandered in the manner they have suffered from the mouth of POTUS 45.

They will no doubt redouble their efforts in the future.

I am certain our electoral process will remain secure, safe and legal.

national news

Struggle continues …

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Try as I am doing to maintain a forward-looking focus for this blog, events and news reports about the recent past keep pulling me back.

So help me, I do not intend to keep looking in the rear-view mirror.

However, we now have reports that the 45th POTUS pressured the Justice Department to declare the 2020 presidential election to be “corrupt.” Yep, the former A**hole in Chief wanted DOJ to effectively condemn the results per the 45th POTUS’s request.

Oh, my. It appears to me that the great conspiracy concocted by the former Traitor in Chief is unraveling one layer at a time.

This is the kind of thing that the U.S. House select committee assigned to get to the bottom of the events that led up to 1/6 is going to be compelled to examine. In detail. I want it to be unvarnished and unbiased, too.

As for this blog, I will continue to keep a fairly tight rein on it. I won’t be commenting on every single thing involving the ex-Insurrectionist in Chief. He has a boatload of trouble awaiting him.

The Manhattan (N.Y.) district attorney has indicted his company on tax issues. Georgia officials are examining whether he committed election law violations by pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory there; the Justice Department has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to turn the former Tax Cheater in Chief’s tax records over to Congress.

Yep, we have plenty of grist on which to chew.

We also have a president seeking to stem the tide of an outbreak of COVID virus infections; he is trying to put more Americans back to work; Joe Biden is seeking bipartisan approval of a massive infrastructure package.

All of that deserves your blogger’s attention as well. Stick with me. I’ll do my level best to stay focused on the future.

International news

Do right by these translators

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The effort to shield the men and women who worked with our fighting forces in Afghanistan is a noble effort that must be pursued at full throttle.

President Biden’s expedited withdrawal from the Afghan battlefield carries enormous risk. The Taliban will show no mercy to anyone left behind as we pull our forces out of there. Biden’s plan so far seems to lack the coherence one would expect from a seasoned political hand such as the president.

This isn’t the first time our nation has been forced to deal with the future of those who fought with us on these foreign battlefields.

I am thinking at this moment of a fellow I met in Vietnam while visiting that country in 1989. He drove what they call a cyclo — a motor scooter the Vietnamese use as taxi cabs. I hired this fellow for a day and we became friendly during my time in what used to be called Saigon, but which the government calls Ho Chi Minh City.

What made this guy so special is that he served with the 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War. He worked with the locals in the Mekong Delta and fought alongside our soldiers. We pulled out of Vietnam in 1973; the South Vietnamese army couldn’t hold off the North Vietnamese, who then conquered the nation in April 1975.

We didn’t rescue my cyclo driver friend. He ended up in what they called a “re-education camp,” a euphemism for prison.

I wrote about this fellow at the time of my visit. I couldn’t use his real name, as he was thought of himself as a marked man in Vietnam. He deserved better than what he got from the government he assisted during that long-ago war.

May the individuals who aided us in Afghanistan get the protection they deserve.

medical news, national news

Too much to expect victory?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It likely was too much to expect a new president, operating with a new medical team would be able to declare victory against the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

President Biden took a lot of credit — perhaps a tad too much of it — for the distribution of vaccines developed by Big Pharma companies. He made bold promises, such as vaccinating 70 % of Americans by the Fourth of July.

It didn’t happen. Then came the emergence of the Delta pandemic variant. More Americans have been getting sick. More of them are dying from the variant.

However, I cannot yet expect a return to the dark days of a year ago. We have come too far from the abyss that opened up when Biden’s predecessor gave short shrift to the consequences of the virus. He said it would vanish magically. It was all “under control,” he said even as thousands of Americans were being stricken daily.

That president lost his re-election bid in 2020. The new guy promised a new day, a new approach, a greater effort to fight the pandemic and rid the nation of its scourge.

We made progress. Then … boom! The Delta variant arrived. Now we’re being advised to mask up again; to maintain “social distancing”; we’re also being advised in the strongest terms possible to get vaccinated.

As disappointing as this setback appears I am not going to despair. I am not going to consign myself and my family to another round of anxiety or misery.

I’ll just have to remind myself that we cannot spike any proverbial footballs until we get eradicate the virus — and all the variants it produces. I remain cautiously optimistic that we’ll get to that finish line … eventually.

What’s more, I will take some measure of comfort knowing that we are being led by a government chief executive who will tell us the truth as we continue this fight.

medical news

Biden goes to war against liars

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden today all but declared war on fellow Americans.

These are the idiots among us who continue to peddle misinformation about the vaccines developed to help fight the COVID-19 virus.

I am rooting for the president to win this war.

He is seeking to stem the infection caused by the Delta variant, an offshoot of the pandemic virus that so far has killed more than 600,000 Americans. The vaccines are safe. They are effective.

And, no, as Biden said, they weren’t “rushed” into production. They were developed rapidly, yes, but under strict federal medical rules and regulations. The “rushed” argument has become a talking point among the anti-vaxxers who concoct reasons to avoid getting inoculated against the virus. President Biden today sought to bat that bogus argument away.

Biden is not sounding like a desperate politician. He is sounding like a pol who is concerned about lies diverting our attention from the truth at hand. It is that virtually all the new Delta variant infections are among those who haven’t been vaccinated against the virus.

To be sure, there are the scattered reports of fully vaccinated Americans being stricken by the variant. However, the refusal among Americans far outpaces those reports and the president today called out those — namely on the right — who continue to foment lies about the vaccines.

President Biden faces a monstrous reality, which happens to be the gullibility of Americans who are too willing to accept the lies and turn their back on the truth. Biden spoke the truth today. He invoked his executive authority to ordering all occupants of federal buildings to be vaccinated; I understand that number of could run into the millions.

That’s all fine with me. Joe Biden inherited a nation in dire medical peril. He had hoped to declare victory against the pandemic. It’s too early for that moment. First, he has to quell the lying and dissembling that is putting Americans at risk.