Tag Archives: Joe Biden

State news

VP Harris to visit Texas … will Gov. Abbott be there, too?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s taken her share of hits for failing — so far — to visit the U.S. southern border after being put in charge of handling the immigration crisis, is coming to see it for herself.

She arrives Friday in El Paso.

OK, she’s been a bit late in laying eyes on the crisis. Some of the criticism is warranted. I won’t pile on here.

Kamala Harris is set to visit the border (msn.com)

I do want to know, though, whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will be on hand to greet her as she arrives. Will the Republican governor meet with the Democratic VP to discuss common problems and search for common solutions? Or will he continue to take pot shots at the Joe Biden administration, declaring its immigration policy to be a failure while asserting his desire to build a wall along the state’s entire border with Mexico?

Good government requires teamwork among state and federal officials. Here is a chance, I submit, for Gov. Abbott to join with Vice President Harris in ensuring that Texas is on the same page with President Biden and his immigration team led by the vice president.

I hope to see Gov. Abbott on hand to lend his voice to this important discussion.

national news

Compromise fuels good government

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The older I get the more I believe in compromise and the less weight I place on the value of long-standing ideology.

Which is my way of suggesting that the haggling that’s occurring over (a) voting rights legislation and (b) infrastructure legislation is a sign of good government trying to find its way into law.

Congress is wrestling with itself over both of those notions. Republicans seem wedded to the “just say ‘no'” theory of government. Anything that comes from the Democratic president, Joseph R. Biden, is deemed DOA the moment it leaves his mouth.

Biden has long prided himself on being able to work with the GOP. He did so with great effect while serving for 36 years as a U.S. senator and then as eight years as vice president. Now, though, he is deemed the enemy of the GOP, even among his once-good friends … such as Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Mitch McConnell. Oh well.

He threw a $2.25 trillion infrastructure package at the GOP. He apparently is willing to settle for a lot less than that. Still, most of the Rs ain’t budging. At least not yet.

As for voting rights, the GOP now has taken up the “states’ rights” mantra, contending that the feds shouldn’t interfere with states’ ability to write their own voting rules. Except that the Republican-led states, such as Texas, are seeking to disenfranchise millions of Americans who, as luck would have it, happen to vote mostly Democrat when they get the chance.

The GOP’s other mantra? Voter security, as if there was a huge breach in that security in the 2020 presidential election. Spoiler alert: There wasn’t any such breach!

But the two sides are slogging through an effort to find some level of compromise.

I am a good-government progressive. I am not wedded so much these days to ideology as I am to seeing government work. I want my federal government to work, to serve me and my family; we are paying the freight, along with you.

Stay busy, ladies and gentlemen who serve in government. We demand you find a way to compromise. Or else!

national news

This conspiracy theory is truly dangerous

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This thought didn’t originate with me, but I want to share it here.

It goes like this: We suffer through plenty of conspiracy theories: faked moon landing; 9/11 was an “inside job”; Elvis is alive.

None of those “theories,” though, rise to the level of danger to the democracy than the one being perpetuated by those who believe that the 2020 election was stolen from the disgraced ex-POTUS who lost to President Biden.

Indeed, POTUS 45’s insistence himself that he is the victim of electoral theft is what gives this conspiracy nuttiness its dangerous quality. That a former commander in chief would suggest such a thing, given the security attached to the 2020 election, is beyond reprehensible.

He talks of electoral theft. He speaks of a “rigged election.” He tells us that he’ll be “reinstated” as POTUS by the end of the summer. How in the world does this lunatic look at himself in the mirror? How does he continue to live the lie he is preaching?

My absolute worst fear isn’t that he is right. He isn’t. Nor are the loons who follow his rants. My worst fear is that the conspiracy theories/nuttiness is going to live on and on … much like the other loony notions have lived on.

We’d best steel ourselves for a lifetime of insanity.

national news

Shut the hell up, Rep. Jordan

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Jim Jordan is among many congressional Republicans who just piss me off. Pure and simple. The guy is a loon who needs to have a sock shoved into his pie hole.

He has managed yet again to make an ass of himself by suggesting that the rising auto fuel prices are the result of President Biden’s economic policies.

Good grief, dude! Get a fu**ing grip.

“Average gas price: June 2020: $2.21 June 2021: $3.07,” Jordan tweeted today. “President Biden’s economy!”

Then came the response from the White House press flack, Jen Psaki. “You forgot to mention that gas prices are the same now as they were in June 2018. Or that this time last year unemployment was 11.1% — today it’s 5.8%,” she said. “@POTUS agrees families shouldn’t pay more at the pump – that’s why he’s opposed to GOP proposals to raise the gas tax.”

The idiot Jordan refuses to acknowledge that supply and demand — simple economic policy — is creating this spike in fuel prices. Demand has returned as the COVID pandemic has receded. Supply of fuel remains limited because energy companies have yet to ramp up their production capacities to meet the pent-up demand.

So with that I simply want to offer a simple demand of the Ohio loudmouth/blowhard/gasbag member of Congress. Just shut the hell up.

religious news

No communion for POTUS?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The Bible is God’s infallible word, yes?

So, with that I want to venture briefly into some dangerous rhetorical territory. Some Catholic bishops want to deny President and Mrs. Biden communion because of their views on abortion.

Catholic Church doctrine opposes abortion. Period. It is not a debatable point. President Biden believes women deserve to have the right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy, which is against church doctrine. Some bishops want to deny serving him communion at Mass. Given that the first couple attends church regularly, well … that’s a big deal.

My quandary is this: The Bible I have read since I was a little boy does not set any sin above all others. Thus, abortion is no more serious a sin than, say, coveting someone else’s property or engaging in sloth.

How, then, do bishops justify weaponizing a particular sin by denying a politician communion which in effect declares that abortion is more punishable than any other sin? Is that in keeping with Biblical teaching?

national news, political news

‘Theft’ of election drips with irony

Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images, Mark Makela /Reuters, AP, Cheney Orr/Reuters, AP.

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The irony is so rich, so thick that you can barely cut through it with the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Think about this for a moment. The immediate past president of the U.S. of A. alleges that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. He preaches the Big Lie about rampant voter fraud that doesn’t exist. POTUS 45 and his minions keep yapping about how he will be “reinstated” and returned to power.

The irony is that they are proposing an element of electoral “theft” I never thought possible in this great country.

President Biden won the election, the results of which have been certified in every state and the District of Columbia. His Republican opponent keeps yammering about the 74 million Americans who supported his candidacy. Yes, the figure is impressive; it is the second-greatest number of votes ever cast for a presidential candidate.

However, Biden polled 81 million-plus votes, the greatest total ever amassed.

If the losing side of a brutal presidential campaign is going to suggest that electoral theft occurred, then why in the name of political sanity do they keep insisting on their own brand of thievery?

The irony in their argument simply forces me to dismiss it out of hand. You may take this to the pawn shop — or the bank — if you wish: I will never, not in a zillion years, cast the level of doubt on our nation’s electoral integrity we are hearing from right-wingers today.

They are denigrating the integrity of every state, county and local election official who work diligently to protect our most cherished democratic process. They have applauded the incitement of the insurrection that occurred Jan. 6. They have refused to honor the police officers who risked their lives to protect them against the riotous mob of terrorists who stormed the Capitol Building.

They are marching to the cadence being called by the individual President Biden defeated in the nation’s most secure election … ever!

For them to declare the election was stolen demonstrates willful ignorance of the very theft they seek to orchestrate.

The irony is astounding.

medical news

Biden falls short … so what?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden vowed to have 70 percent of Americans inoculated against the killer virus by the Fourth of July.

Well … he’s gonna fall a bit short. Not by much, but we won’t hit the magic mark.

The New York Times reports that it appears that 67.6 percent will be totally vaccinated by that date, which has forced the White House to recalibrate its celebration of the progress they have made in getting us past the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new mantra is 300 million vaccinations in the first 150 days of the Biden administration.

You know what? It’s still — shall we say — a big f****** deal!

The Biden medical team has faced some push back from Americans on the vaccines. Some folks are reluctant to get vaccinated because of concerns about side effects. Or they have perhaps deluded themselves into thinking their immune anyway. Or — and this is the tough part — they adhere to a political notion that the pandemic is overrated in the first place.

The Times reports: Experts say that from a disease control perspective, the difference between 67 percent and 70 percent is insignificant. But from a political perspective, it would be the first time Mr. Biden has set a pandemic-related goal that he has not met. Mr. Biden has continually set relatively modest targets for himself and exceeded them, including his pledge to get 100 million shots in the arms of Americans by his first 100 days in office.

Biden Likely to Fall Just Shy of His July 4 Vaccination Goal (msn.com)

Whatever the case, President Biden’s lofty goal is just a tad out of reach. No sweat. We’re still a long way closer to eradicating the pandemic than we were a year ago.

I’ll accept that.

local news

How about taking the test yourself … doc?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson keeps making a name for himself as a rookie member of Congress. It’s not the kind of “name” that should do him, or the folks he represents, proud.

Jackson, who represents the Texas Panhandle’s 13th Congressional District, wants President Biden to take a cognitive test. Jackson, who once treated President Obama and the fellow who served as POTUS just prior to Joe Biden taking office, declared POTUS 45 to be in excellent health. He said Joe Biden needs to prove he has the mental capacity to do the job.

Good grief! This clown — Dr. Jackson, that is — is making an ass of himself.

Instead of working on legislation pertinent to the residents of the sprawling congressional district he represents — and about which he knows next to nothing — this goofball has taken to Twitter to make pronouncements such as the ridiculous notion calling for President Biden to prove his mental fitness.

Jackson is far from free of any controversial baggage of his own. POTUS 45 nominated him to become secretary of veterans affairs, only to pull his name out when we learned that he misbehaved while serving in the Navy. He had this habit, allegedly, of prescribing medications a little too generously. He also, again allegedly, drank too much.

If it were up to me, I would suggest that Rep./Dr. Jackson take a cognitive test himself … just to make double darn sure he’s up to his job.

I worry that my many friends and former neighbors in the 13th Congressional District — where I lived for 23 years — aren’t getting the kind of representation they deserve. Then again, many of ’em well might have voted for this clown. So, maybe they’re getting precisely what they deserve.

International news

Biden to Putin: Shape up or else

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Well, that went about as planned.

President Biden said he would confront Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on issues that obstruct warm-and-fuzzy relations between the nations. He did what he vowed to do.

Putin’s response? It was to suggest — among other things — that the Jan. 6 insurrection was just an example of Americans seeking to have their grievances heard. I’ll get back to that one.

Biden vowed to deal directly with Russian interference in two presidential elections. He delivered on that one. Biden said he would challenge Putin on his invasion of Ukraine. Ditto on that one, too. President Biden promised also to challenge Putin’s harsh treatment of political dissidents. Bingo, Mr. President!

It was on that final point that produced Putin’s strange suggestion that the Jan. 6 riot was just a demonstration of Americans’ desire to have their grievances addressed. Uh, Mr. Dictator, that was a frontal assault on our democratic process … not that you would understand the value of democracy.

I continue to believe that it was smart for Biden and Putin to stage separate news conferences. Putin went first. Then it was Biden’s turn. The sequence enabled President Biden to correct the record when and where he deemed it necessary.

Both men have called their initial head-of-state summit as productive and constructive. That’s a good thing, to be sure. What must not happen ever again, though, is for the U.S. president to roll over when Russia’s leader denies doing what our intelligence experts concluded he did — which was interfere in our election. We saw that disgraceful display in 2018 when Putin met with Biden’s predecessor.

So, now they have parted company. My strong hope now is that Putin understands that President Biden — with decades of foreign-policy experience under his belt — will not be played the way he was able to manipulate the former Sycophant in Chief.

International news

Biden-Putin summit sets up drama

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden has made the right call in deciding to conduct a separate press conference after he and Russian goon/strongman Vladimir Putin conclude their first summit on Wednesday.

You’ll recall the time in Helsinki when Putin stood next to Biden’s predecessor after the two of them met in their initial meeting in 2018. Reporters asked the former POTUS about Russian interference in our 2016 election and the ex-Suck Up in Chief said there was “no reason why” Russia would interfere. It was a downright disgraceful denigration of our intelligence network that concluded the Russians did what everyone knew they did.

Joe Biden won’t give Putin a shared platform. He is dealing with the Russian dictator from a position of strength. President Biden’s predecessor sought to elevate Putin’s standing by appearing with him in Helsinki.

What I find particularly appealing about the Biden approach is that his presser will occur after Putin speaks. That will give President Biden a chance to refute whatever lies fly out of Putin’s pie hole after the men have their meeting.

The president and the Russian despot will have plenty to discuss. I trust they’ll get to cover some of the issues that went unspoken when Putin met with the previous POTUS.

I look forward to what we can learn about the nature of U.S.-Russia relations.