Tag Archives: MAGA

national news

Cynicism is worrisome

So many of my friends have fallen into a world of acute cynicism, given the state of affairs in our great land.

They wonder if we ever can get back what we seemingly have lost in this Age of Donald J. Trump, which is a shared purpose, a sense of commonality and whether we ever again will be able to reach deep within ourselves to find it.

Some friends have said it’s gone forever. That the Trump cult — the MAGA morons as I have been calling them — has destroyed our national will.

I do not believe that’s the case. I do believe we have it within ourselves to pull our collective heads out of that dark place and find our way into sunlight. How do we do it? I haven’t a single, solitary clue!

I am left to rely on my belief in the Constitution as the sturdiest governing document ever crafted. It isn’t perfect. More work lies ahead, with amendments to be crafted, approved and ratified.

We have been through many crises over the 200-plus years of our national existence. They’ve included warfare, multiple presidential scandals, economic calamity, disease, dark impulses within the souls of many Americans. This thing we’re enduring now is unique in one regard, though: It seems to rest on the political fortunes of one individual.

I will not accept any notion that suggests that a doddering old man who once held the nation’s highest office is strong enough to take this country down.

Cynicism be damned!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Is this the worst week?

It is fair to wonder whether this week will be the latest “worst week” in Donald J. Trump’s life, given the myriad setbacks and stumbles he has suffered since leaving the only public office he ever has held.

He has been indicted on more charges related to the classified documents caper. There could be even more indictments coming from the 1/6 assault on our federal government. And, yes, we have a Fulton County, Ga., district attorney preparing to issue even more indictments on Trump’s alleged effort to rig the 2020 election.

It could happen this week, too!

Meanwhile, the dumb and dumber among the GOP primary electorate continues to glom onto this individual’s political fortunes, seeming to ignore the facts that (a) he’s been indicted already, (b) has been convicted of sexual abuse and (c) he’s been impeached twice by Congress for misconduct during his term as POTUS.

Trump continues to whip the MAGA morons into a frenzy, holding onto sizable leads in primary states.

It’s unbelievable.

Well, the good news — as I see it — is that if Republicans somehow manage to nominate this clown, he won’t win a 2024 general election. That base of MAGA cretins remains substantial, but it is shrinking.

I am waiting with bated breath for the next wave of “worst-week” developments to roll over this idiot.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Imagine being ‘sold’

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POPLAR FOREST, Va. — The thought came to me as I was touring Thomas Jefferson’s “getaway house” in rural Virginia that made me ponder the debate among Republicans over whether “slavery had its benefits.”

Of course it didn’t! The third U.S. president owned slaves. They were property, just like the farm implements he kept in his storage places, or the horses he let roam in his corrals.

Yet we’re hearing from a Republican candidate for president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suggests that students need to be taught about the “benefits of slavery.”

I was struck when I read about how President Jefferson needed cash to pay off a big debt. What did he do? He decided to sell the human beings he owned as slaves to help retire the debt.

Imagine for just a moment being sold. Imagine that you might no longer be the property of one man and would become the property of another, a stranger.

I cannot for the ever-lovin’ life of me wrap my head around such a thing. Nor can I see any benefit at any level the idea of being owned by someone who thinks of me as three-fifths of a human being.

My brief visit to this relatively unknown exhibit near Lynchburg opened my eyes even wider to the utter stupidity of such a pronouncement coming from an individual who wants to settle into the Oval Office and lead a nation that comprises descendants of slaves.

We venerate Thomas Jefferson to this day as one of our nation’s founders, but oh brother … he had his serious flaws. Owning human beings was one of them.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

environmental news

Heat wave: not a new issue

All this chatter about how hot the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean have become during this murderous summer heat wave reminds me of an episode my family and I experienced in the early 1990s.

We were living in Beaumont, Texas. One weekend I was mowing the lawn during a heat wave; the temperature was in the high 90s, the humidity was the same. It felt like 200 degrees out there.

Finally, I quit mowing. I walked inside and announced to my wife and sons, “We’re going to the beach!” We packed up our 1987 Honda Civic with coolers full of drinks, beach towels, a couple of folding chairs … and off we drove.

We headed south toward the Gulf of Mexico, we hung a left at Sabine Pass and drove to Holly Beach, La., one of our favorite — and unexplored — resorts on the coast. We drove our Honda onto the beach, piled out of the car and ran into the surf.

My … God! The water had to be 100 degrees!

So, this is my way of telling you that what we’re experiencing these days is nothing new. Am I dismissing the climate change/global warming arguments? Not … one … bit!

I am going to submit that the human impact on our climate has been decades in the making and that its effect has been felt long before what many of us are experiencing in the summer of 2023.

We are pouring carbon emissions into the air; we are ridding the planet of trees that replace the carbon dioxide with oxygen. Plenty of politicians have warned us that we are approaching — or have surpassed already — the point of no return. Others, including scientists, say we can still save this planet of ours.

We had better get busy. As of this very moment, it’s the only planet we have in this vast universe.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Paxton defense strategy takes shape

Ken Paxton’s defense strategy appears to be taking form, and it appears to have little to do with whether he committed the deeds for which the Texas House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach him.

The Republican Texas attorney general is getting ready to stand trial for a number of allegations sent to the Texas Senate. They involve abuse of office, bribery, obstruction of justice.

Now we have the archconservative group vowing to spend money to get back at those among Republicans who are weary of the right-wing dogma pushed by the state AG.

The Texas Tribune reports: “​The Paxton impeachment could be the most high-profile stumble for the far right of the Texas GOP,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. “Paxton was their shining star but now looks more like a shooting star.”

The far-right group called Defend Texas Liberty wants to protect one of their golden boys. Are they saying he’s clean, that he has done nothing wrong? I haven’t heard that.

Ken Paxton’s far-right billionaire backers are fighting hard to save him | The Texas Tribune

I am not able to predict how the Senate will vote at the end of the trial. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has issued a wide-ranging gag order on the Senate that will act as jury in Paxton’s trial. I’m fine with that.

I just have believed for as long as he’s been in office that Paxton is crooked. The House committee that investigated the myriad charges agreed and voted unanimously to recommend impeaching the state’s top law enforcer.

To hear now that right-wing billionaires are encircling the AG to defend him against those within his own Republican Party just sickens me to the max … particularly when no one is making the case for Paxton’s presumed innocence!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Chris Christie: the Terminator

What gives with Chris Christie? The former New Jersey governor is turning into a one-man wrecking crew as he campaigns for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2024.

He has taken on one by one, in order, Donald J. Trump (the GOP frontrunner … supposedly), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and now South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

He’s ripping them a new one as he seeks to show the GOP primary voting bloc how tough he is. Hey, make no mistake about Christie. He is a former federal prosecutor who wears his legal chops like a badge of honor. That’s fine.

He’s also exhibiting a level of fearlessness we haven’t seen among many of the GOP contenders, particularly as it relates to Trump. Most of ’em seem afraid of the twice-impeached, twice (for now)- indicted former POTUS.

Christie is beginning to stand out as the sole non-coward in this bizarre contest for the GOP presidential nomination.

He reminds me of the Terminator.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, Donald Trump, national news, political news

Trump is a sure-fire loser!

All this media hype and hand-wringing over Donald J. Trump’s apparent skate toward the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination has me on the brink of screaming at the top of my lungs.

I’ll refrain from that, but I will declare here — once again! — that Donald Trump will never enter the Oval Office again.

Let me say it another way. He will not be elected POTUS!

OK. I have said this before about this clown. He proved me, and millions of other prognosticators wrong in 2016 when he slipped past the conventional wisdom and squeaked out an Electoral College victory.

He then proceeded to embarrass himself, the country and endangered the lives of millions of Americans through his negligence in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was impeached twice. He has been indicted by two grand juries and a third indictment is coming up damn soon. There will be others in store.

I am going to place a great deal of faith in the American electorate that rank-and-file Americans are not so stupid that they would actually send this guy back for another turn as head of state and commander in chief.

This individual is profoundly dangerous.

You may stop laughing at me at any moment. Yes, he defied every oddsmaker once already. However, I want to dredge up the saying that President George W. Bush once famously flubbed: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Are we really, seriously ready to send this soon-to-be-convicted felon back to power?

I think not!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Judge hits ‘stand-up double’ with trial ruling

OK, it wasn’t a home run or even a triple, but the judge who is presiding over the classified documents pilfering by Donald J. Trump has issued a ruling that is giving me a glimmer of hope that we can get a trial without bias.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, nominated by Donald J. Trump to the federal bench in the final weeks of his term as POTUS, has set a May 20 trial date in Fort Pierce, Fla., on the indictment alleging that Trump broke the law by squirreling away classified documents in his Florida mansion.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team of federal prosecutor’s wanted to stage the trial in December; Trump’s team wanted an indefinite delay. Cannon split the difference — more or less — by setting the May date. Frankly, it appears to favor Smith’s side of the argument.

The New York trial in which Trump was indicted for the hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels will have concluded. Trump might get convicted of violating state law in spending campaign money keep Daniels quiet about a tryst she says occurred, but which Trump denies … go figure on that one!

The Republican Party presidential primary season will be all but over when Cannon commences the documents trial. Trump remains the favorite for the GOP nomination.

If it concludes prior to the start of the GOP convention, and Trump is convicted of federal felonies (which many observers believe is a probability), then delegates get to decide whether they want to nominate a convicted felon for POTUS.

The ex-POTUS’s legal difficulties are mounting seemingly by the hour, which makes me wonder — and I am serious about this — whether he’ll be able to continue to mount a political campaign while seeking to keep his sorry backside out of prison.

I get that Cannon should have recused herself from this trial, given her conflict of interest in being nominated by the criminal defendant in this case. She hasn’t. She likely won’t.

So, we are left then to hope she does right by the judicial system she serves. It looks to me as if setting the trial date is a step toward correctness.

Johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Exhibit recalls bygone era

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LITTLE, ROCK, Ark. — Well, I will now be able to check off No. 5 on my list of presidential libraries I have seen … and this one is quite special.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park is a gem. It shines brightly near the Arkansas River just adjacent to downtown Little Rock.

It reminds me foremost of an era when political leaders of different parties could squabble, take the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis and then work together for the common good.

That’s how it was during the two terms of the Bill Clinton presidency.

It has been said over the years that President Clinton is the master of “compartmentalization,” meaning he could put personal animus aside in one corner of his brain and work outside those emotions to craft constructive legislation with his ardent political foes. Clinton’s compartmentalizing was put to the extreme test during his second term as POTUS.

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives impeached Clinton for lying to a grand jury about an affair he was having with a White House intern. The library does not ignore that event. It mentions it on two panels displayed chronologically. It doesn’t mention the reason for the president’s commission of perjury, only that he lied to a federal grand jury. It also mentions that the House impeachment vote was virtually taken along partisan lines.

The president apologizes for his “conduct,” a display tells us.

Enough about that.

The library also tells of the myriad accomplishments that Clinton achieved: the peace treaty between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel; the ouster of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic; the balanced federal budget; his tireless work on behalf of racial minorities; a comprehensive crime prevention bill.

We have seen elements of this kind of cooperation between the GOP and the current Democratic POTUS. Here and there, though, is not sufficient to move the country forward constructively. President Clinton and the GOP congressional majority with whom he worked — while they were, um, testy at times — laid the groundwork for the way government ought to work.

The Clinton library tells us that story. I am glad to have seen it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

30 years? Already?

I was talking to a family member a while ago and told her of my intention to visit the Bill Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., when I pull into the city some time Thursday.

Then I said, “I cannot believe it’s been 30 years since he was elected the first time. Thirty years!”

I cannot guarantee I’ll get there, but I certainly intend to see it, given that I’ll be in Little Rock overnight.

I want to relive the days when Democrats and Republicans could find common ground, even as GOP lawmakers and their acolytes sought to dig up dirt on President Clinton and his wife, Hillary. Indeed, the Clinton administration, working with Republicans in Congress, crafted the first balanced budget in 30 years in 1999.

Remember, too, that the GOP took control of Congress with its Contract With America theme in 1994. The Republican victory gave us Newt Gingrich of Georgia as speaker, the guy who told us he intended to make Democrats the “enemy of ‘normal’ Americans.'”

Yes, I am acutely aware of the impeachment that fell on Clinton. The GOP was looking for reasons to impeach the Democratic president, and he gave it to them by lying to the grand jury about the soiree he was having with the White House intern.

All told, we witnessed one of the more successful presidencies in recent memory. President Clinton has assembled an exhibit that I am sure will accentuate the successes.

I hope to take it in … and long for a return of the good old days that in Clinton’s case are fading rapidly into the distant background.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com