Tag Archives: MAGA

local news, political news

Democratic process is alive and thriving

We cast our ballots this morning for all the contests facing us in this midterm election, but I want to offer a brief immediate takeaway from what we noticed when we drove to our polling place.

We approached the Princeton (Texas) Community Center and noticed (a) a parking lot full of vehicles, (b) lots of signs extolling the virtues of candidates and issues and (c) a line at the polling station that was stretching out the door.

My thought? The democratic process is alive and well in our Collin County community.

I don’t know how many of our city of more than 20,000 residents voted early. I just was struck by the active Election Day participation we noticed this morning.

It gives me hope that our process will survive the onslaught it is enduring at the moment from those who seek to undermine it.

I am acutely aware that a momentary glimpse of a polling station doesn’t precisely qualify as a mountain of empirical evidence of what I have concluded.

I will accept it, though, as sufficient reason to have hope that our electoral process is working.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Democracy, indeed, is on the ballot

Make no mistake: Democrats across the nation have pegged the stakes in this election correctly.

Democracy itself is on the ballot in all 50 of our states. It falls, then, on voters to ensure that our democratic process survives the onslaught it is facing from the array of election deniers, MAGA adherents and political perverts who believe that violence is the way to settle political differences.

Many of them are threatening to take power in states where believers of The Big Lie are making noises about overturning election results; one of the big liars, Wisconsin Republican nominee for governor, Tim Michels, has said that Republicans never will lose another election in his state if he is elected governor.

Yes, democracy is on the ballot. Its well-being is facing direct peril. It is up to the voters of this great land to ensure it survives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, political news

Getting set for MAGA rep in Congress

It’s time to acknowledge the obvious, which is that the next congressman from the Third District in North Texas is going to be of the MAGA ilk.

Republican nominee Keith Self won’t get my support, but I am of a distinct minority in Collin County.

Self once served as Collin County judge. He stepped away, then returned to the political war this year when he challenged GOP U.S. Rep. Van Taylor for the seat Taylor has occupied since 2018. Taylor won the primary earlier this year, but then pulled out of the race after he acknowledged a months-long extramarital affair with a woman who once was married to an Islamic State political officer.

Self, who finished second in the primary, became the nominee by default after Taylor pulled out.

He is running against Democratic nominee Sandeep Srivastava. The Democrat has my support … but you knew that, right?

What troubles me about Self has been the fiery rhetoric he used during the primary against Taylor. Self sought to run to the right of one of the House’s more conservative members, which to my way of thinking puts Self on the fringe of a party that already has become a haven for fringe thinkers.

Self fits right in, near as I can tell, with the loons who hold much of the power within the GOP. He talks about curing the electoral system of “widespread fraud” … which doesn’t exist! He backs the right-wing effort to criminalize abortion. He will oppose any common-sense legislation to curb gun violence.

Collin County is considered one of those solid, rock-ribbed Republican counties. Except for this little nugget: Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in Collin County by fewer than 5 percentage points in 2020, which I suppose could make the county where we live a “battleground.”

Well, that doesn’t matter in this race for Congress.

Keith Self is likely to be elected next week. He’ll take his seat in January and then will ease into the crowd of Republicans who pledge their loyalty to the party dogma, while forsaking what is best for the country.

It’s a shame.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Support this guy to keep him out of jail?

Just suppose for a moment that Donald J. Trump actually becomes a presidential candidate in 2024.

What is this twice-impeached former POTUS going to use as a campaign slogan? He is facing the probability of being indicted by the feds or state prosecutors on a number of alleged crimes.

However, there is some chatter out there that a presidential candidacy actually might shield him from being prosecuted by the authorities.

I can see it now: Support Trump … your vote will keep him out of prison.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Waiting for the end

I am officially tired of the 2022 midterm election campaign.

There. Having gotten that off my chest, I now will explain what has drained me of my enthusiasm. Admittedly, it’s a partisan matter.

You see, I was filled with a bit of new enthusiasm when Democrats appeared poised to retain control of the Senate and possibly the House of Representatives. Then — pfftt! — they lost their momentum. Just like that!

All across the political landscape I keep seeing reporting that tells us of once-sure-fire Democratic victories becoming nail-biters. Republican dumbass MAGA-loving candidates actually appear to be poised to upset their foes.

It’s making me wonder: What the hell is wrong with this country?

I won’t sign any surrender documents until they count all the ballots next week. Some of these contests might not be decided until, oh, late next week … or maybe into the following week!

Whatever. My enthusiasm is waning. I fear a political bloodbath might be in store. I continue to have faith that our cherished Constitution will see the nation through.

It’s just going to be a rough, tough fight.

Now, having made all this gloomy prediction, the polls have been wrong a lot in recent years. Maybe they’re wrong now.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Debate becomes casualty

One of the casualties of the current political climate happens to be a major battlefield loss for those of us who long for a return of political civility.

It is debate. Yes, it is become virtually impossible to debate those with whom one might have a political difference. The nastiness and the doubling down by the Trumpkins who read this blog has forced me to hunker down and no longer engage in active and lively debate over the issues.

It has come down to this: What is the point?

I know too many people on the other side of the wall with whom I once might have been able to argue a point, but who now stand wedded strongly to their point of view.

Come to think of it, so do I!

Political debate too often — even in the halls of government — morphs into name-calling, epithet-hurling, threats of physical harm. The same can be said among friends out here in Flyover Country.

Too many friendships have been torn apart, tossed aside because of political differences. Man, it ain’t supposed to be that way … you know? But it is.

Given the toxic environment that exists today, I am going to resist the temptation to engage anyone in serious discussion about political differences. Almost immediately, we end up talking past each other.

The value of debate, therefore, is lost.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Cannot comprehend the stupidity

Make no mistake about it. I will go to my grave never understanding how supposedly mainstream Americans can buy into the stupidity being peddled by so many Republican candidates for public office.

Yes, the midterm election is coming up rapidly. It appears that the GOP is going to wrest control away from Democrats in at least one congressional chamber. The House appears to be vulnerable to the potential politics of revenge that awaits once Republicans seize the gavel and committee chairmanships from Democrats.

What just utterly astounds me, though, is the idiocy being blathered by the MAGA-loving, election-denying cult followers of the most recent former GOP POTUS.

They belong to what I should refer to as the Dumbass Wing of the GOP. The espouse treasonous views that seek to undermine the integrity of our electoral process. Some GOP candidates for governor and secretary of state vow to “overturn” the results of the 2020 election. Why? Because they have bought into the Big Lie about the election being “stolen.”

What is stunning beyond all measure is that so many Americans have signed on to that bullsh**, believing the rubbish being spread about election integrity.

We have utterly incompetent candidates running under the Republican banner who stand a good chance of being elected to important public offices. They will then be able to foist their idiocy onto the public that believes it. I am left to wonder how long their supporters will hang with them once we’re all exposed to the chaos and confusion their policies are likely to bring.

I am going to offer all kinds of karma and prayer that seeks to stop on the onslaught I fear might be about to swamp Congress, some of our statehouses and even some of our school boards, which could elect book-burners and those who believe we need to purge our public schools of that phony “critical race theory” principle.

I am feeling the pangs of fear … and I don’t like it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Violence has no place

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins today uttered what should be considered a platitude, a no-brainer, a throw-away line.

Except that we now live in an era of intense anger that brings insane reactions to political differences.

“Violence has no place” in today’s society, Jenkins said in offering an update into her investigation into the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.  Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture after being battered with a hammer by an individual who broke into the couple’s home.

Indeed, the DA is right to assert the obvious, that violence never should be used to settle political scores in a supposedly civil society.

The suspect, who faces a potential life sentence in prison if he is convicted of the myriad crimes for which he is being charged, was targeting the speaker, according to Jenkins. He was heard asking, “Where’s Nancy?” when he commenced his attack on Paul Pelosi. Hmm. Can we link that chant to a political cause, given that 1/6 Capitol Hill attackers were heard making the same request as they launched their insurrection against the federal government?

DA Jenkins should not have to remind us of the obvious, that violence never should be a solution to settling political differences. Sadly, the tenor of the times tells her to remind Americans what they already should know.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Trump: quiet on Pelosi attack

Imagine my (non)surprise that Donald J. Trump hasn’t said a damn thing about the brutal attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A moron attacked Paul Pelosi in the couple’s home in San Francisco, inflicting serious injuries, including a skull fracture.

The assailant entered the house asking, “Where’s Nancy?”

Although the SF police — who took the assailant into custody — haven’t established a motive, it appears clear the moron was acting on his political instincts.

Donald Trump’s Silence on Paul Pelosi Attack Sparks Anger (msn.com)

Of course, Speaker Pelosi and the former POTUS have been longtime foes. Trump would consider her “the enemy.”

Still, the ex-president should show some decency in expressing publicly his sorrow over the attack on Paul Pelosi. Oh, wait! I almost forgot!

Donald J. Trump doesn’t possess a single decency gene in his overfed body.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Is this the nature of our politics?

What are we to surmise about the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of the U.S. House speaker?

An assailant broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home, asking, “Where’s Nancy?” Then he and Paul Pelosi started struggling and the assailant beat his victim brutally, fracturing his skull and inflicting assorted other injuries.

The police came while the fight was underway and arrested the suspect.

The motive for the attack hasn’t been established officially, so I am left to offer a bit of conjecture that I believe is on point.

It is that the assailant was looking to harm the speaker of the House for political reasons.

I have put two and two together and have come up with four. My strong hunch is that the idiotic assailant is a MAGA-loving adherent to the far-right wing of the Republican Party.

Is this the nature of disagreement these days? That those who believe in a different world view are going to physically assault their foes?

I am acutely aware that violence has existed in the American political system since the beginning of the Republic. Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton to death in 1804 while settling some sort of political dispute.

But … that was then. We’re supposed to be a more “civilized society” these days. Now, though, we have instances of violence erupting, such as what occurred in the home of Paul and Nancy Pelosi.

I’ll conclude with this observation. I believe this sort of insanity should give all voters pause as they ponder for whom to vote during the midterm election. Do they really want to endorse the candidacies of politicians who espouse the idiocy that appears to have motivated the assailant to damn near kill the husband of a powerful politician?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com