Tag Archives: MAGA

military news

‘Abundance of caution?’ Yes!

The Pentagon says it is employing a policy that stems from an “abundance of caution” over the sightings of these high-altitude objects it is shooting out of the sky.

Good! The more cautious abundance the better!

The Pentagon and President Biden have gotten roasted unfairly over the shooting down of the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean. Right-wing critics have said the president should have acted sooner than he did, forgetting that the Pentagon was able to disable the PRC balloon before it could collect much valuable intelligence. The military brass and the POTUS are taking no chances now, knocking these UFOs out of the sky damn near daily.

If they enter U.S. airspace — boom! — they take a missile from a fighter jet.

That is totally OK with me, given the dangers posed by assorted spooks and spies lurking out there, working either for foreign governments or by themselves.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

GOP now tolerates boors

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boorishness on the floor of the House the other evening was a sight to behold.

Why? Because in the not-too-distant past, other members of the Republican caucus were scorned for doing the kind of thing she did during President Biden’s State of the Union speech, which was to shout “liar!” at the commander in chief and our head of state.

GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina pulled a stunt like that during one of President Obama’s SOTU speeches and he was called down by the then-speaker John Boehner. Greene has become a living caricature of the MAGA cult that comprises much of today’s Republican Party.

As for the current speaker, Kevin McCarthy, he sought to shush the MAGA cabal of his caucus prior to the speech, to no avail. What has been his response to Greene’s defiant outburst? Well … not a damn word.

This congresswoman from Georgia is demonstrating to all of us just how dumb she is and just how gullible the people she represents are in sending her back to office for a second term.

Sickening.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

SCOTUS needs ethics rules

Leadership by example is the best kind of leadership I can find among those in position to assume positions that enable them to call the cadence for others to follow.

Why, then, doesn’t the nation’s highest court have a code of ethics and a strong enforcement policy in case the men and women who serve on that court mess up?

The U.S. Supreme Court is being drawn into the proverbial crosshairs of those who believe the highest court in the nation is failing itself and the judicial system by not leading by example.

Justices on the court have engaged in some mighty nasty side hustles of late. My favorite, of course, is Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni, being involved in the MAGA movement to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It coincides with Justice Thomas being the only member of the nine-justice court to demand that Donald Trump turn over his White House records to the Justice Department during its probe into the 1/6 insurrection.

Coincidence? I think not!

However, there is nothing on the books at the Supreme Court building that enables anyone to take any action against Justice Thomas. There must be some law enacted that compels the court to establish a code of ethics and then ensures that the court punishes its members when they violate that code.

I recently interviewed a candidate for the Farmersville City Council here in Collin County. I asked him to describe his leadership ability. He said he leads “by example,” that he “wouldn’t ask someone to do something I wouldn’t do myself.”

That kind of creed ought to apply to the Supreme Court. It decides on others’ ethics issues all the time. If they break the rules and their case ends up in front of the nine justices, then the court has the power to decide whether a defendant broke the ethics rules.

Furthermore, lower federal and state courts have ethics rules they demand that judges follow. When is it ever OK for the court that oversees those lower courts’ adherence to the rules to be free of following rules of its own?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Biden flexes his muscles

An 80-year-old president cannot possibly claim to have muscles as supple as they once were, but last night Joe Biden showed his opposition that he possesses plenty of fight as he prepares for the next phase of the presidency.

That involves what is lining up to be a spirited campaign for re-election.

The venue was a joint congressional session and the president’s annual State of the Union speech. The MAGA cult that comprises a good portion of the Republican caucus in the House decided to heckle the president at some curious and, frankly, dubious points. Such as when he talked about saving Medicare and Social Security.

He took ’em on in the moment. Frankly, we witnessed a side of the president I didn’t believe existed.

He was brilliant! He played the GOP fire-breathers like a cheap fiddle. Along the way he has set the stage for a 2024 presidential campaign that is going to be — at least for this partisan — fun to watch.

To be sure, the right-wing propagandists will portray the speech as nothing more than game-playing. They trotted out Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to deliver the GOP response. Instead of offering policy alternatives, she leveled attack after attack on the “woke mob,” against “left-wing Democrats” and otherwise painted a grim portrait of a nation in decline.

Good grief! The state of our Union is as strong as it ever has been!

That all said, I want to be among the many commentators to applaud President Joe Biden for taking the fight straight to the opposition. He showed me that he has plenty left to offer the world’s greatest nation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

What? Pentagon disabled the spy balloon?

How about this: It turns out that the spy balloon caper that has Republicans and MAGA cultists all a-flutter is turning out to be the nothing burger many of us have thought all along.

You see, now we get word that the Pentagon spooks were able to “disable” the Chinese spy balloon as it crossed over U.S. territory before a fighter jet shot the sucker down off the South Carolina coast.

Hmm. Those folks at the Pentagon are good … you know?

The military brass also counseled President Biden to hold off on shooting down the balloon to minimize threats to humans on the ground and damage done by falling debris. So, the president heeded the brass and then acted responsibly.

Oh, but not according to the GOP wingnuts who have all but accused President Biden of being a closet Chinese agent. Their response has been laughable and ridiculous.

I’ll throw in stupid just to make it a trifecta.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

MAGA cabal goes nuts over this?

Let’s see … I must be slow on the uptake this morning, because I am trying to wonder what in the world has the MAGA cabal cult so wadded up over the Biden administration’s latest action.

The Pentagon discovered that a reported Chinese spy balloon was floating over North America, from Alaska, through Canada and across the rest of the United States of America. The military brass decided to analyze what they found. They waited until the balloon had left our airspace over land and then shot the sucker down over open water.

The intent in waiting to shoot the balloon down was to eliminate civilian damage or — God forbid — human casualties.

The Chinese said it was a civilian device doing “scientific research.” You don’t believe that, right? Neither do I.

But the Republican MAGA propagandists now say that President Biden dismantled Donald Trump’s anti-China deterrence program to enable the People’s Republic to spy on us at will. That’s BS!

The Pentagon now reports that during the Trump term, the Chinese sent several such balloons over U.S. airspace, but the then-commander in chief took no action against the PRC.

Good grief, man! I am one American patriot who believes the president did the right thing in waiting for the spy craft to be over the Atlantic Ocean before shooting it down with jet-fired missiles.

I am pretty certain that once our debris recovery teams pick up what’s left of the balloon that we’ll learn that the Chinese were up to no good. As for the timing of the shoot-down, it’s another nothing burger being cooked up by the MAGA gang.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Just quit, Rep. Santos!

What you see with this brief blog post is an example of just why a disgraced Republican member of Congress should no longer serve in the People’s House of Representatives.

George Santos lied his way to election from a New York congressional district. Now we hear he might be guilty of campaign fraud and assorted other crimes.

It is no “crime” to lie to your constituents. Still, that this nut case — who lied about every aspect of his personal, professional and educational life on his way to winning a 2022 congressional election — would continue to serve as a member of Congress is offensive on its face.

Furthermore, he cannot be taken seriously, as this meme suggests. It is just one of countless such pictures depicting this fraudulent member of Congress being someone he clearly is not.

Resign from Congress, George Santos … and go far, far away.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

political news

Get lost, Kari Lake!

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When in the name of sore-loserhood is Kari Lake going to disappear from the public stage, never to be seen or heard from again?

The election-denying Republican candidate for Arizona governor hasn’t conceded that she lost to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and now wants the Republican National Committee to pay for part of the legal fees she is accruing by fighting the results of the 2022 election.

Memo to Kari Lake: You lost the election! There was no widespread corruption. No widespread fraud. They counted the ballots and you got fewer votes than your Democratic opponent.

Go home, Ms. Lake. Take a breather. Decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. Just stay the hell out of my sight!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Anger permeates our politics

Make no mistake that I will go to my grave never accepting the devolution of our nation’s political climate that has occurred in the past half-dozen or so years.

We have gone from a nation where political foes could break bread together, set aside their differences and act as friends to a nation where pols are afraid of those on the other side of the aisle.

Yes, that fear runs mostly among Democrats who are demonized by their Republican colleagues. The GOP side has taken to inciting physical threats to politicians’ health, to their well-being and to their family members.

What’s the source of this intense animus? Hmm. Let me think. Oh, gosh, it must be Donald John Trump, the former POTUS who stated publicly that it would be OK for rally attendees to “beat the crap” out of protesters. Or that he would be willing to “pay your legal bills” if the authorities brought them up on charges.

This stated expression of outright hostility by a leading politician has bled into the fabric of our system of government. Members of Congress — yes, chiefly Republicans — have echoed that mantra on occasion, suggesting that their opponents are to be reviled and scorned. They are the “enemy.”

To be fair, Democrats have responded with equally harsh rhetoric. Let me clear about something: Democrats have “responded” to their foes’ expressions of hatred. The response comes after the other side delivers the opening salvo.

The late Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush sought the presidency in 1988 by declaring his intention to seek a “kinder, gentler” political climate in Washington. I’m not sure he achieved that noble goal, but his intention was honest and forthright.

Let’s not misunderstand anything here. I don’t mind vigorous debate one bit. I welcome hearing both sides argue their points. I find it exhilarating. What I do mind is when one side accuses the other of hating America merely because they hold a contrary view on a policy matter. I long ago lost count of the number of times I have heard MAGA-leaning pols accuse others of hating this great land because they dispute the right-wingers’ world view.

This level of hatred, simply stated, is unacceptable.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

MAGA cult makes me yearn for Contract with America class

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I never thought it could happen … but it has. The MAGA cult that dominates what passes for today’s Republican Party makes me yearn for a time when another class of GOP officeholders seized power in Congress.

The famous 1994 election that brought us the Contract With America led to Republican control of both congressional chambers for the first time in 40 years.

What makes that revolution different from this one is simple: issues.

The Contract With America class ran on issues. They vowed to enact term limits for members of Congress; they wanted to make Congress live by the laws it enacts on the rest of us; they sought a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. There were others, but the point is that the CWA crowd did something that the MAGA cabal has failed to do.

The CWAers sought to enact issues. Do we hear anything coming from the MAGA crowd that speaks to issues? No. They are vowing only to punish Democrats. They want to put Dr. Anthony Fauci in the dock and question him about the COVID-19 vaccines he has championed. They want to bring charges against Hunter Biden, the president’s son. They intend to punish any Democrat who played a major part in impeaching Donald Trump twice.

The CWA crowd didn’t push issues that I particularly liked at the time. The fact that it did run — and win — on issues rather than vengeance makes me yearn for the “good old days” when we could debate policy matters rather than quarrel over punishing our foes.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com