Tag Archives: insurrection

crime news

Expunge impeachments? Huh?

Allow me this full-frontal criticism of the U.S. speaker of the House: Kevin McCarthy has rocks in his noggin.

McCarthy, a Republican, is considering seeking an expunging of the record that shows Donald J. Trump has been impeached twice by the House.

As if that is going to erase the memories of every living American who witnessed the House impeach the ex-POTUS for (a) trying to get a political favor from a foreign head of state and (b) inciting the mob that attacked the government on 1/6 in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

He was impeached twice, man!

What does McCarthy hope to accomplish? Does an expunging of the record mean that Trump wasn’t impeached? Of course not! The record will stand forever.

McCarthy is certifiably loony.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Who ever thought this could happen?

Of all the political integrity I have witnessed over many decades of politics-watching, I never in a million years believed I would witness what might occur sometime in 2024.

It is that Republican Party primary voters might have to wrestle with deciding whether to nominate a convicted felon to run for the presidency of the United States.

Yes, it is entirely possible that we could have that choice presented to millions of American voters.

Donald Trump already has been indicted twice: by the Manhattan, N.Y., district attorney and by the U.S. Department of Justice.

There now appears to be that more indictments are sure to arrive … soon! The special counsel, Jack Smith, has advised Trump that he is a target of a probe into the 1/6 assault on the government. Indictment coming? Looks like it!

If Smith is able to persuade a judge to set a trial date, then it is possible we could get a decision to convict a former POTUS, who is running for the office again. That would put the burden clearly on GOP voters: Do they really intend to nominate a convicted felon?

Wow …

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Walls closing in — again!

I heard it said today that federal prosecutors would “rather not bring a case than bring one that they cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”

With that in mind, I am astonished today to learn that special counsel Jack Smith well might have the goods to drop on Donald John Trump as he concludes his probe into the 1/6 insurrection and assault on the federal government that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election … which Trump lost to Joseph R. Biden Jr.

I say “astonished” not because I am surprised, but because I am overwhelmed by the gravity of what I now expect to happen.

Which is that Smith is going to indict Trump on a whole array of charges, which might include conspiracy to commit sedition, obstruction of justice and Lord knows what else.

Trump revealed over the weekend that he got a “target letter” from Smith, acknowledging that the special counsel has targeted the former president in his criminal probe.

Oh, brother.

What’s important to note there is that this case will not be tried by the same federal judge — Aileen Cannon — who is thought to favor Trump, who nominated her for the federal judgeship. It will fall onto the lap of another jurist. Cannon is presiding in south Florida over the case involving the classified documents — for which Trump has been indicted.

We are about to enter some mighty rough waters, ladies and gentlemen. Strap yourselves in.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news

Prosecutor vs. Perpetrator

Watching the drama building as the prosecutor pursues the perpetrator, I cannot help but be struck by the profound differences in  the way these men act in public.

Let’s look first at the prosecutor. His name is Jack Smith, appointed special counsel to investigate alleged crimes committed by the perp.

Smith has been studied, measured, professional, discreet, reticent. He has been faithful to his pledge to grant the perp in this case the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled. Yet he has compiled an astonishing array of evidence that the perpetrator knew he lost an election in 2020 but tried to overturn the results. He also has assembled a mountain of evidence that the perp took highly classified documents to his home in Florida and kept them in highly unsecured locations.

The perpetrator is Donald John Trump, the former president of the United States.

Trump has been, well, shrill, venal, vile, deceitful, defamatory, profane, highly vocal in his objection to the investigation that has taken place. He ignores lawyers’ advice to keep his trap shut. He continues to denigrate the prosecutor’s reputation, asserting that Smith has it in for him. He’s also chosen to hurl epithets at Smith’s wife who, as near as I can tell, has nothing at all to do with the probe underway.

Even if I didn’t already believe that the perpetrator is guilty of the crimes for which he has been indicted, I would be rooting for the prosecutor. Why? Because I believe strongly in the criminal justice system for which the prosecutor is working. I believe in the rule of law.

The prosecutor is facing a form of competition, as has been reported, from local district attorneys who are conducting their own probes into the perp’s post-2020 election behavior. They, too, might file indictments alleging criminal activity involving the search for votes that didn’t exist and for attempts to coerce and bully state election officials to overturn an election.

Do we hear the prosecutor telling the local DA’s to back off? That they should let the feds have first crack? The prosecutor is a seasoned pro with many years of experience under his belt. Granted, the perp in this instance happens to be the first of his kind ever held under investigation … given that he is a former POTUS, for crying out loud!

But my money clearly is on the prosecutor to deliver the goods in due course.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Sham ‘hearing’ worthy of scorn

You may take this straight to the bank because it is the unvarnished  truth, which is that I could have lived my entire life without hearing about a sham “hearing” conducted by MAGA cult members of Congress that actually saluted the criminals who stormed the Capitol Building on 1/6.

There they were: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar, among others, pretending to conduct a congressional hearing on the events of that terrible day.

All the while, the MAGA cultists insisted that the traitors who stormed the Capitol that day were being treated as political prisoners. The government, they said, wrongfully prosecuted them for crimes against our democracy because the 2020 election indeed was “stolen” from the guy who lost it legitimately.

What’s just as horrifying, of course, is that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — who owes his speakership to these MAGA morons — let it happen in the first place.

None of these yahoos hold chairmanships in any actual House committee. The hearing they conducted today was made up to look like an official event, when in fact it was nothing of the sort. It was a staged propaganda performance designed to denigrate the prosecutions that have put many of the “witnesses” who spoke today behind bars.

And why are the convicted felons? Because they stormed the Capitol, assaulted police officers assigned to protect members of Congress from the frothing mob, they smashed windows, defecated on the floor of the Capitol Building and threatened to execute Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over a congressional hearing to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election.

Oh, did I mention that that the Republican incumbent lost that election to Joe Biden?

The traitors who answered the call to assault the government from the guy who took an oath to “defend and protect” the Constitution do not deserve anything other than the nation’s scorn for the crimes they committed.

That goes as well for the president who incited them.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Must stay on top of ex-POTUS

If only I could rid myself of having to say another word about the machinations of the 45th president of the United States.

Except that I cannot. Not while he remains at or near the top of the Republican Party presidential nomination hunt in 2024.

If only he’d go the hell away. He won’t. He lusts for attention and, boy howdy, he’s getting it now as the twice-indicted (for now!), twice-impeached ex-POTUS.

I am confident in predicting that there appear to be at least two more indictments coming his way. Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis is sending up signals that an indictment is imminent. All the ex-POTUS did there was demand that the Georgia secretary of state “find” enough votes to give the loser the state’s Electoral College tally.

The other indictment also appears set to come from the feds — again! — as special counsel Jack Smith continues his work on the ex-POTUS’s role in inciting the 1/6 assault on the government as Congress was preparing to ratify the Electoral College victory rolled up by Joe Biden in 2020.

All of this, I am saddened to say, puts bloggers and assorted commentators such as yours truly in an awkward place. We have to keep commenting on these goings-on. To be sure, I am not going to weigh in — per an earlier pledge — on every single campaign utterance that flies out of the crook’s pie hole.

I won’t apologize for believing I must comment on the issues surrounding this horribly unfit, immoral and disgraceful politician. I simply must explain myself and recognize three facts that are beyond dispute.

First, he is a former president of the United States. Second, he is the first POTUS ever indicted by the very government he once led. Third, those two facts make it impossible for me to ignore what’s happening — or what is about to happen — to a guy who ought to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

My wish? Ban Trump from public office

As strange as it might seem for readers of this blog, I want to declare that I have no burning desire to see Donald J. Trump tossed into prison if he is convicted of the crimes for which he is under indictment.

My stronger wish is to ensure that Trump never again is allowed to seek — let alone hold — public office.

The 37-count indictment handed down by a south Florida grand jury is damning in the extreme. It looks to be ironclad. Special counsel Jack Smith has a mountain of evidence to pore over and present a trial jury eventually.

If Trump is convicted, then I suspect there will be prison time involved. He stands accused of taking classified documents in violation of the Espionage Act; he is accused of obstructing justice and of abuse of power. He is the first former POTUS to be charged in a criminal indictment by the Justice Department.

Dark days lie ahead for this individual.

He never should have been elected president in 2016. But he was. He got the rebuke he so richly deserved in 2020 when he lost to Joe Biden.

I do not want him anywhere near the Oval Office ever again.

You know what? There might be a deal to be had to help this crook avoid prison time. It might involve a permanent ban from seeking public office. I don’t know what Jack Smith is inclined to pursue, nor do I know what Trump is inclined to accept.

But as a red-blooded American patriot, I am fine with ensuring we keep Trump away from any public office. I want him out of public life altogether. He sickens me to my core.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Pence boxes himself in

It took no time at all for former Vice President Mike Pence to box himself into a corner from which he will find it next to impossible to escape.

He said while announcing his 2024 presidential candidacy that no candidate should put himself above the Constitution and that anyone who does is “unfit” to be president; moreover, he said that anyone who demands others to do the same should “never be president again.”

Hmm. Who is he talking about? Oh, yeah: Donald John Trump!

But when CNN’s Dana Bash asked him if he would support the GOP presidential nominee if it happens to be Trump, Pence said, well, he would support him.

What the hell?

The former VP is going to stumble and fall flat on his face as he continues this bizarre tap dance around political reality.

Either he means what he says about Donald Trump being unfit for public office … or he is lying.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Will the ex-POTUS implode?

As I watch the media cover the myriad investigations into Donald J. Trump, I am left to wonder this about the former president of the United States:

How is he going to react when — and I have no doubt that it will occur — the special counsel indicts him for felony crimes? Will he lose what is left of his mind? Will he say something we could deem as a direct physical threat to the special counsel, Jack Smith? If he does, will the feds then decide on the spot to arrest him for issuing such a threat?

I am growing increasingly concerned about Trump’s behavior as news keeps leaking about the state of Smith’s probe. Trump is running for POTUS again, but as a candidate under federal — and state — investigations, he places himself in considerable jeopardy by shooting off his pie hole.

This guy not only cannot tell the truth. He also cannot control himself. He doesn’t heed lawyers’ advice to stop talking about these legal matters. On and on he goes, blathering lie after lie.

My goodness. He has admitted to others that he kept “classified documents,” despite denying he did the obvious.  Trump then offered a jaw-dropping response to a question as to whether he told anyone about the documents: “Not really,” he said.

Huh? What the … ?

He has given the special counsel the ammo he needs to unload on the former POTUS when the time comes to indict him.

Back to my question: What will he do the moment he hears that Smith has asked the grand jury to indict him?

This individual’s behavior suggests to me that we need to watch him ver-r-r-r-ry carefully.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Believe in the system

James Comey has come out of a form of hiding by writing a book of fiction and today was on the air promoting that book.

I want to discuss briefly, though, something that the former FBI director told an MSNBC interviewer about the lengthy, complicated and elaborate examination of allegations leveled against Donald J. Trump.

Comey said today that he believes in the system that is seeking the truth behind the insurrection of 1/6 and on the issue of those classified documents that Trump took with him to Florida when he left office.

The 1/6 insurrection might — or might not — result in a criminal indictment against Trump, according to Comey, who then added that he would accept a “no indictment” decision. Why? Because it’s his belief in the system.

I happen to agree with Comey’s belief in the system that is at work. I have stated already on this blog that if special counsel Jack Smith’s team cannot produce enough evidence to indict Trump on the insurrection — and it is a complicated case, to be sure — then we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that the ex-POTUS won’t be charged.

Now, to be clear, that doesn’t in any way suggest that Trump will walk away from the classified documents probe. Comey said today what others have been saying for some time, that the documents case is the stronger one that Smith is finishing.

We also have the Fulton County, Ga., probe into election interference and the indictment already delivered by the Manhattan, N.Y., grand jury involving the hush money payment to an adult film performer who says she and Trump had a fling in 2006, but that Trump paid her 130 grand to keep quiet … about an event he denies ever occurred! Go figure.

I am not going to join the conspiracy chorus that suggests only an indictment would satisfy them. Do I think Trump should be prosecuted for the insurrection I believe he instigated? Yes!

However, the probe is being handled by seasoned, experienced and hard-bitten pros. It’s their call exclusively. Therefore, I will place my trust in them to come to a just conclusion … even if I disagree with their findings.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com