Tag Archives: MAGA

local news

This is no ‘distinguished gentleman’

Now we have bodycam footage of a member of Congress, a Texas Republican, being wrestled to the ground by a sheriff’s deputy.

The incident involved someone at a rodeo who reportedly was under distress. The congressman, Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, reportedly was “trying to help” the youngster. The cops paint a different picture, alleging that Jackson was interfering with police efforts to control the scene.

Word to the wise: The following contains some very rough language blurted out by Jackson as the incident unfolded.

“You are a fu**ing full-on dick!” Jackson told the trooper after being brought off the ground, according to bodycam footage provided by the Department of Public Safety. “You better recalculate, motherfu**er!”

Bodycam video shows confrontation between U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, officer | The Texas Tribune

You know who I thought about when I read this? Mac Thornberry, the Republican whom Jackson succeeded in 2021 as the 13th Congressional District representative for the Texas Panhandle.

Try to imagine Thornberry ever getting involved in this kind of situation. Try to ponder Thornberry using that kind of language when speaking to a law enforcement officer.

The Texas Panhandle is now represented in the halls of Congress by a maniacal hothead. Makes you proud … right?

crime news

Waiting for FBI to say: POTUS has broken the law

Donald Trump hired his share of clunkers during his term in office, but Christopher Wray, the head of the FBI, is not one of them.

Indeed, Wray has served the nation honorably and with as much dispassion as possible, given the immense pressure he must endure from the right-wing MAGA goon squad that occupies so much of the congressional Republican caucus.

I offer that as my declaration that if FBI director Wray says that the president of the United States has done something wrong, that he has broken the law, that he has done any of the misdeeds associated with the right-wing slime machine … then I’ll believe the crap being tossed around about President Biden.

Does it occur to anyone out there that Wray is a Trump guy, that he is known to be a lifelong Republican, that he harbors no particular favor toward Democrats, let alone to the current president?

None of that seems to matter to the right wingers who insist that Wray is part of the “deep state” who has “weaponized the FBI,” turning it into a cudgel to whip Donald Trump.

He is nothing of the sort. His agency has acted responsibly and within the parameters of the law in seeking evidence involving the former POTUS.

So, until Christopher Wray determines that Joe Biden has committed a crime, I am going to give the phony allegations against him all the attention they deserve.

Which is nothing!

media news

‘Protecting’ Bidens? Seriously?

The conspiracy theorists who populate the MAGA crowd really and truly just crack me up!

They contend with a straight face that journalists are “protecting the Bidens” from exposure for the crimes they reportedly have committed. Bribery, extortion, money laundering. They say it all leads to the top of the family food chain, which in this instance means also to the top of the U.S. government.

Wow! I now want to explain a little something about journalism and those who practice an honorable craft.

I keep my hand in the career I pursued for nearly 37 years. My days as a full-time journalist are long gone, as I am now an old man who still reads the news daily and enjoys the rough and tumble of journalistic combat.

OK, what do I know about the craft? It is populated by highly competitive individuals. Newspapers compete against each other. So do TV networks, streaming services, digital outlets. Those who continue to work in journalism vie with each year for recognition among their peers for the good work they do.

I offer this as my way of telling you the conspiracy theorists ignore the competitive nature of journalism, even in the form it is taking these days. No journalist worth a damn is going to sit on a story involving a politician with whom he agrees politically because he doesn’t want to “embarrass” him or her.

A journalist is going to expose anything he or she believes is worth reporting to the public. That is part of the job they all sign on for when they hit the streets in search of the next big scoop.

I also must remind everyone who reads this blog that journalists are not bound by ideology. They do not just “seek out conservatives” because they work for the “liberal media.”

Let me toss out a few names for you: John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, Jim Wright. Oh, wait … Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton! These all are prominent politicians, all are Democrats, all are so-called members of the “liberal elite.” They all were targets of aggressive journalists looking for the truth behind the assorted allegations that rocked their respective careers.

You can spare me the bullsh** notion that the media are “protecting” President Joe Biden and his son because they want to protect the president. In the real world of gumshoe journalism, such an allegation is as phony as it gets.

local news

Slaton’s successor needs to be faithful

Northeast Texas voters will get a chance in November to elect someone to represent them in the Texas House of Representatives.

This isn’t your ordinary election, though. Whoever is chosen to represent House District 2 will succeed a man scorned and eventually expelled from the House for his sexual abuse of an underage staffer.

Former Rep. Brian Slaton of Royse City took office in 2021 after defeating Rep. Dan Flynn, who later died. Slaton distinguished himself mainly by being a fire-breathing, flame-throwing conservative intent on pushing the MAGA-style cultural agenda. Then he decided to consume alcohol with a 19-year-old female staffer in his Austin apartment and then have sex with her.

That disgusting episode caught the attention of ethics watchdogs in the Legislature. They examined the allegations, determined they were true, recommended expulsion and the House followed suit.

Republicans running in the deeply conservative district vow to “restore integrity” to the office. That isn’t a huge hill to climb. All they have to do, in my view, is behave professionally and avoid having sex with anyone other than their spouse. 

Ousted Rep. Bryan Slaton’s tarnished legacy looms over special election | The Texas Tribune

Slaton’s legacy, though, lives on in the support some of the candidates are getting from former Slaton allies. Be careful, folks.

I am one Texan who is glad Slaton is outta there. I talked twice with him while writing stories for KETR-FM and I found him to be obnoxious in his fealty to that MAGA agenda. The guy had nothing constructive to offer.

Let’s hope the next state representative can provide an actual vision for where he or she wants to take the region.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Judge is in charge … period!

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan today told the entire world just who is in charge of Donald J. Trump’s life.

For starters, it is not Donald J. Trump. That role now falls on a jurist who was selected randomly to preside over a trial involving charges that the former POTUS conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Chutkan reportedly doesn’t suffer fools at all, let alone lightly. She delivered a ruling today that is both fair and it tells the criminal defendant, Trump, that he needs to cease hiding behind a “free speech” argument in his defense. He is free to say the 2020 election was rigged, she said, but he is not free to issue veiled threats against the prosecutors, jurors or the judge.

Chutkan told Trump that free speech is not “absolute” and that criminal defendants — such as Trump — have limits on statements they can make.

Thus, we have just received a sterling civic lesson on how an individual who prides himself on being “in charge” of all he sees, who once boasted that “I, alone” can fix the nation’s ailments, is now beholden to a federal judge.

Therein lies the wisdom of the founders who created a federal judiciary that has the authority to keep anyone — even a former president — on a short rhetorical leash.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news

Conviction = condemnation

One almost can predict with metaphysical certitude what will happen if a federal jury convicts Donald J. Trump on any of the charges being brought before them.

The MAGA mob of morons will condemn the jury. It will blast the presiding judge to smithereens. It will cast doubt on the integrity of the federal judiciary. It will demonize the Justice Department, starting with the attorney general and the special counsel.

None of will — or at least it shouldn’t — have any material effect on the outcome. We still would have a former POTUS standing as a convicted felon facing years in prison.

I won’t wager which of the charges holds the most potential for conviction. My opinion on all of that changes with the direction of the wind.

Oh … and then we have the two state trials that Trump is likely to face. He’s got the one in New York City and quite likely one in Fulton County, Ga. Both of those prosecutions are being led by Black district attorneys, which of course feeds into Trump’s racist wheelhouse. We damn sure can look forward to hearing Trump bloviate on the racial component of those actions.

Now, of course none of this will matter if he’s acquitted, if he walks away cleanly, if the feds and the states cannot persuade juries to convict beyond a reasonable doubt of Trump’s guilt in his effort to steal the 2020 presidential election and of his hiding of classified documents taken from the White House. Then we have the hush money payment he made illegally to the adult film star to keep her quiet about a tryst the two of them had … but which Trump denies ever occurred.

We are heading for a major storm. Let’s all hold on.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

OK, I am ‘woke’

I am so busted. The meme you see here helps describe the individuals who are being demonized by politicians and their sycophants on the far right.

They detest “woke” policies. It has taken me some time to grasp fully what the term even means. I still am not entirely comfortable tossing it around so casually the way, for instance, that GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is able to do.

He said he intends to “rid the nation” of woke policies. And turn it into what? A nation of intolerant a**holes? Are we going to be so closed-minded that we cannot stand to hear opposing points of view?

I won’t stand for a nation that becomes a one-think state.

Thus, I do stand as someone who is proudly “woke.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, political news

How does he get elected?

One of the key questions I have difficulty answering involves the junior U.S. senator from Texas … Raphael Edward Cruz.

Friends from all over the country keep asking me: How does this guy keep getting elected? 

I presume they’re asking in good faith, given his outspoken and often outlandish statements. My short answer, though, is: I just don’t know.

The Cruz Missile, a Republican, has been elected twice to the U.S. Senate. In his dozen or so years in the body, I cannot point to a single significant piece of legislation with his name on it. I can, however, look at many instances of grandstanding, of preening, of demagoguery, of sucking up and — of course — of public affairs disasters.

My all-time favorite Cruz blunder involves that ill-fated trip he took to Cancun, Mexico during the February 2021 killer freeze that took the lives of hundreds of Texans. He sought to take his family to the sunny beaches of the Mexican Riviera … until he was caught. Then he scurried back and then blamed his daughter for talking him into taking the trip in the first place.

Cruz is a doofus of the first order … albeit a well-educated buffoon.

He ran for POTUS in 2016, calling Donald Trump a sniveling coward. Then he lost and became Trump’s most ardent ally in the Senate. He was right the first time!

He almost lost his Senate seat in 2018 to the young upstart, Beto O’Rourke.

Now he’s up again for re-election. Two Democrats are vying for the chance to knock this clown off his stool in 2024. I like them both: Congressman Colin Allred of Dallas and state Sen. Roland Guiterrez of San Antonio. Indeed, I keep reading analysis that suggests that Cruz might be among the most likely GOP senators to be shown the door next year, which would — to my way of thinking — be so very sweet.

Cruz, by many accounts, is universally detested in the Senate. He cannot craft legislation. However, he can bloviate with the best of ’em. Which might explain how he keeps getting elected. Although I have difficulty believing Texans actually prefer pomposity over positivity. 

Here’s hoping — one more time — for an electoral result that will put a smile on my face.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news

All this legal trouble makes me dizzy

Allow me this admission … which is that I am having a bit of difficulty keeping straight all the legal battles awaiting the immediate past president of the United States.

He has three indictments sitting in front of him: two from the federal government he once pledged to protect and another from a New York district attorney.

A fourth indictment from the Fulton County (Ga.) DA appears imminent. They all appear to be serious to the max. If he gets convicted on all the charges, Donald J. Trump could spend the rest of his life in prison. Given his advanced age, it well might be that even a partial conviction could imprison Trump for the duration.

What is most astonishing as I watch this drama unfold is witnessing how Trump no longer is in control of his own future; control rests with three judges who are presiding over the various trials awaiting the former POTUS.

One of them, U.S. District Judge Tanya  Chutkan is the most interesting. She is an immigrant from Jamaica appointed to the federal bench by President Obama. Thus, she presents a challenge to Trump; she hails from a “sh**hole country,” as Trump once said and she owes her lifetime job to a man Trump despises. Trump is likely to anger her beyond all measure before this case gets resolved.

Special counsel Jack Smith wants the indictment he obtained regarding the 1/6 assault on our government to be tried quickly. Judge Chutkan holds the key to that matter.

Well, I am sitting out here in the peanut gallery watching and waiting with a good bit of anticipation on what could happen to the most unfit man ever elected to the presidency. I’ll just have to keep my mind clear to stay caught up with what appears to be a whirl of activity for the rest of the current year and into the next one.

I will have to hold on with both hands.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

‘Fake’ vs. ‘alternative’

Donald J. Trump’s defenders are playing a stupid game of semantics as they try to defend the thrice-indicted, twice-impeached former POTUS against charges that he sought to overthrow the government.

They now call the “fake” electors put forth by Trump and his minions “alternative” electors.

Memo to the MAGA morons: They aren’t “alternative” anything. They are fake electors trotted out to cast votes for Trump when he didn’t earn certain state’s electoral votes.

The fake elector scheme is a major part of special counsel Jack Smith’s latest round of indictments. The fake electors were gathered up with the hope that Vice President Mike Pence would somehow — despite the illegality of the effort — be able to declare that state that Joe Biden clearly won in 2020 would swing to Trump’s column. Pence said the Constitution gave no authority to do such a thing, but Trump ignored the then-VP’s insistence.

He insisted on the fake electors.

Thus, there was nothing “alternative” about them. The word games remind me a bit of those who refer to “gambling” as “gaming” as a way to soften the activity of those who like to gamble on winning big at, say, the poker or blackjack tables.

I’ll stick with “fake” over “alternative” as this discussion moves on

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com