Tag Archives: Joe Biden

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.

medical news

Most ridiculous political argument … ever!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There isn’t an official scorekeeper of these matters, but I want to offer a nominee for most ridiculous political argument in human history.

It’s the argument over whether wearing a mask in public should be allowed. Or should be discontinued.

I have grown weary of all the news reports we hear about individuals bristling at mandates to wear masks in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that, I hasten to add, is still killing people, albeit at rapidly declining rates.

Commercial air passengers are getting arrested; hospital employees in Houston filed suit against their employer for requiring they wear masks; people are defying government orders; they ignore business signs imploring customers to mask up and maintain social distancing.

This is absurd in the extreme! It’s also dangerous — and deadly!

You know how this argument breaks along partisan lines. Conservatives hate the mask mandates; progressives are more tolerant of them. What’s more, they’re fighting with each other, sometimes actually coming to blows.

Holy crap, man!

President Biden took office in January and said mask wearing was an act of “patriotism.” I thought in the moment that he was perhaps overstating a bit the importance of masking up. Now I believe that he was correct in seeking to appeal to our collective love of country.

As for the political disagreements, I will continue to stand with those who believe we haven’t yet crossed the finish line in this battle against the killer virus. It’s getting closer, but we aren’t there.

Not yet.

national news

Pipe down, Jim Jordan

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Jim Jordan is vying for the title of No. 1 U.S. House of Representatives A**hole.

I think he’s the favorite, given what he said today about President Biden attending summits in Europe.

According to Business Insider:

“While President Biden pals around with his buddies in Europe, the border crisis rages at home,” Jordan, a conservative lawmaker and staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, wrote on Twitter. This, despite Biden attending the same diplomatic summits that Trump did during his single term in office.

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan rips into Joe Biden for attending the same G-7, NATO summits with US allies that Trump went to multiple times (msn.com)

So, what’s the problem? Oh, I think I know. President Biden is a Democrat; Jordan is a Republican, as is his pal, the ex-POTUS to whom he preached blind loyalty even as he incited an insurrection that could have resulted in Jordan being harmed by the mob of terrorists.

Jordan needs to shut his trap.

national news

Yep, he’s a killer

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Vladimir Putin laughed when someone asked him if he is a “killer.”

Then the Russian strongman/dictator/despot told the interviewer that he has no interest in dealing with rumors and reports about what kind of guy he is.

President Biden hung the killer tag on Putin in an interview some weeks ago. The two men will meet in a couple of days in their first head-to-head encounter as mutual heads of state.

In actuality, Putin is the killer that Biden has described. Thus, it is imperative that President Biden refuse to give any quarter in their talks … not that Putin is going to pull a gun out of his pocket during the meeting and, well, you know.

Putin laughs when asked by NBC reporter if he’s a ‘killer’ | TheHill

I have some hope that Biden is going to present a different sort of approach to this bilateral relationship than the individual who preceded him as president of the United States. Whereas the previous POTUS extolled how Putin flattered him, I don’t hear such nonsense coming from President Biden.

To be sure, the country Putin leads is a formidable power, although it it falls far short of the U.S. standing as the world’s remaining military superpower. Indeed, Russia’s economic standing sits on its tenuous supply of oil, which is the driver behind the Russian economy.

I want to bring this up because Putin is not our equal. Yes, the Russians have plenty of capacity to perform havoc on our democratic system, which they have done through at least two presidential election cycles.

President Biden vows to confront Vladimir Putin on his nation’s interference in our elections, on its abysmal human rights record, its efforts to undermine independence in Ukraine and its paying of bounties to Taliban terrorists who have killed American service personnel in battle.

If the men are engaging in what is called “frank discussions,” perhaps President Biden will be able to ask Putin what’s so damn funny about being called a killer.

International news, Joe Biden, national news

‘America First’ gives way to alliance-building

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(Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A president of the United States who declares an “America First” foreign policy always must be mindful of a simple fact.

The United States of America cannot shirk its global obligations military, economically and environmentally, which means that the U.S. of A. must honor the alliances it has built over many decades with other nations who depend on our leadership.

President Biden is seeking to reconstruct the trust that his immediate presidential predecessor dismantled repeatedly during his tenure in office.

The term “globalism” has become a four-letter word in some sectors of this country. Whether in offices, or in coffee houses, barber shops or grange halls, we hear Americans dismiss the notion that this nation is part of a much larger — but oddly shrinking — global community.

That is why President Biden returned the nation to the Paris Climate Accords, to the World Health Organization, the Iran nuclear talks and reasserted our role as NATO’s senior partner immediately upon taking office.

It also is why Biden will sit down soon with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and, as he said the other day, “tell him things I want him to hear.”

Joe Biden is operating at the summit level from a position of immense strength. Whereas Biden’s predecessor coddled the likes of Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current president vows a vastly different approach. I do not expect President Biden to shake hands with Kim Jong Un for as long as Kim continues to murder his people.

And someone has to explain to me why such dictator-coddling in any form or fashion produces foreign policies that “put America First.”

It’s a new era dawning on the international stage with President Biden’s first foreign journey. In a way, though, it resembles a return to the way it used to be … which is all right with me.

environmental news

Climate threat is real and dangerous

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden is seeking to redefine the term “infrastructure.”

However, he is running into plenty of old-school resistance from his former friends in the Republican Party, who continue to insist that infrastructure should include roads, bridges, airports and ship channels.

Biden sees a wider world than that. He has reeled in climate change and the effect it has on our way of life. That, too, deals with “infrastructure,” according to the president.

No surprise, but I happen to agree with President Biden’s broader view of the world and the impact of factors that change it.

Biden and congressional Republicans have reached an impasse. Biden wants a massive infrastructure bill to include work on climate change; Republicans think it’s beyond the scope of the traditional definition of the term “infrastructure.”

What, though, happens to our coastal communities if sea levels keep rising? Or to our seaports? To highways, bridges and other thoroughfares threatened by the inevitable warming of the climate and the effect it has on our environment?

That is why in my view climate change must take a front-and-center place among the issues that need our government’s attention.

Joe Biden brought former Secretary of State John Kerry on board as a climate change adviser. Kerry is working with heads of state around the world to rivet their attention as well on the impact that climate change is having on their nations. We have returned to the Paris Climate Accords, from which we withdrew four years ago.

I can think of nothing at all more compelling than finding a way to preserve Planet Earth’s ecosystem for future generations to enjoy. It might already be too late to prevent all the destruction of our planet that is coming. None of that should preclude any effort to seek ways to head it off or to limit the impact it will bring to the only planet we can call home.

Yeah, infrastructure must include climate change.

Joe Biden

Biden: U.S. is back

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden arrived in the United Kingdom today delivering a message he intends to carry with him throughout his first trip abroad as the leader of the world’s greatest nation.

It’s a simple, but profound, statement: The United States is reasserting itself on the world stage.

I won’t belabor the point that’s been made here repeatedly, that Biden’s immediate predecessor damaged our nation’s alliances and emboldened our adversaries.

Instead, I simply want to extol the notion that the president of the United States is going to speak words of encouragement to our friends while offering words of warning to our foes. That, I submit, is how it should be.

Biden arrives in U.K. to press a message: ‘The United States is back’ (msn.com)

President Biden intends to parlay his intimate knowledge of the men and women who lead the world’s leading economic powers into effective relationships at the highest levels of government. That works for me. It also works for me that the leader of the world’s remaining superpower should speak strongly while admonishing those who would seek to do us harm. That would be you, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Joe Biden is going to speak to the world from a position of immense strength. The nation he leads has turned the corner on fighting the COVID virus; he intends to purchase hundreds of millions of vaccine doses and distribute them to nations around the world. Our economy is reviving at a rapid rate.

The president is not going to apologize for past mistakes. He intends to look forward. That, too, is all right with me.

I have said repeatedly for the past year or so that Joe Biden was not my first pick to succeed Donald Trump. He survived a brutal Democratic Party presidential primary and then thumped the incumbent president in the November election.

He didn’t take office as a novice politician. He is a seasoned hand who knows how government works. President Biden also knows the role that this nation must continue to play on the world stage.

I am heartened that he has pledged to bring this nation back to the center of the world stage where it belongs.