Tag Archives: Joe Biden

military news

Transgender patriots welcomed back into uniform

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden’s stash of pens is getting a workout as he enters the Oval Office and begins righting some of the decisions delivered by his immediate predecessor.

Biden signed an executive order that restores transgender Americans’ right to serve in the military. Donald Trump nixed that notion with an earlier executive order.

President Biden has realized what we all know, which is that patriotism lives in the hearts of all Americans regardless of their sexual orientation of gender identity.

I am glad to see the president welcome back those who have changed their gender but still want to defend the nation against its enemies and protect our national security.

My own military service occurred long ago, from 1968 to 1970. For the life of me I have no memory of encountering anyone back then during my Army service who were born as someone other than who they were when we served. Then again, such gender-change medical procedures weren’t as refined as they have become in the decades since.

Whatever, my point is that gender identity shouldn’t be an issue for anyone other than the individual who has sought to change his or her gender.

Transgender patriots are every bit as qualified to serve their country in uniform as anyone else.

national news

Compromise anyone?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s see how this plays out.

President Biden wants Congress to approve a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that kicks out more money for families and helps educators, while speeding up the vaccinations aimed at killing the pandemic.

Congressional Republicans want a $618 billion package that is more “targeted” for specific needs.

Here’s a thought. Why not meet in the middle? Congress could approve a $1.2 trillion package, which is just about the mid point between the president’s pitch and the counter offer from the GOP.

Isn’t that what effective legislation is all about? Compromise, anyone?

national news

Elections have consequences!

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If I hear it one more time my head is likely to explode.

It is that Donald Trump’s supporters’ mantra that their guy pulled in 74.2 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, which means — by God — that they won’t be silenced.

OK. I got it. Here is another truth about that election: President Biden garnered 81.2 million votes, 7 million more than Trump; moreover, he won the Electoral College with 306 votes, needing 270 to win the presidency.

Biden won. Trump lost. Elections, as the saying goes, have consequences!

A democratic society requires that losing candidates accept defeat, congratulate the winner, pledge to work together … and yes, also keep pushing for whatever agenda he or she sought during a losing campaign. Donald Trump didn’t do that. He hasn’t done that yet. He apparently will never do any of it.

Instead, he is leading his minions on some sort of call of defiance, ginning up their enthusiasm for a campaign that did not resonate with most Americans who voted in record numbers.

I know what some of you might be thinking. What about the 2016 election when supporters of Hillary Clinton yapped about their candidate getting more votes than Trump? There is no parallel. Clinton pulled in about 3 million more votes than Trump, but lost the Electoral College by the same amount that Trump lost to Biden. There were those who said their voices needed to be heard. Why? Because their candidate collected more rank-and-file support than the actual winner. I was not one of those individuals.

Yes, I was highly critical of Donald Trump during his term as president, but I also recognized that the Constitution prescribes a certain way that candidates win presidential elections, and in 2016 Trump met that standard.

The 2020 result was clear cut. The actual vote comported with the Electoral College vote. So, when the Trumpkin Corps yaps about their guy winning 74.2 million votes, I am left to shrug and say: So fu**ing what? 

The other guy got more votes than your guy! Your guy lost. The Trumpkins have every right to express their point of view; the Constitution is clear about that. But … do not rely on the tired mantra that just because the losing candidate for president won a lot of votes that it means he can still have his way.

Donald Trump said it himself after hearing the gripes of those who supported his opponent four years ago: Elections have consequences.

medical news

Stay focused on COVID

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

One of the many — seemingly countless — blessings of the new presidential administration is its telling us the truth daily about the pandemic that is still killing too many Americans.

President Biden is letting the scientific team he has assembled talk to us about the COVID crisis; he is staying out of the way and out of the limelight.

We aren’t hearing happy talk from the White House about how we have the virus “under control,” nor are we hearing from the president how we should employ miracle cures, such as injecting household cleaners into our bodies.

I keep hearing snippets of good news, about how the hospitalization rate is showing a modest, but steady decline. The virus continues to sicken too many of us; it is killing too many of us as well.

We are hearing the truth, finally, from the people in charge about how this fight against the pandemic is proceeding. I will listen to the scientists and just like with his predecessor, I will effectively disregard any political diagnosis from President Biden about the status of that conflict.

Uncategorized

Get this trial done quickly

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden has gone on the record, saying he wants Donald Trump’s Senate trial done quickly, that there is no compelling need to drag this charade any longer than necessary.

I agree with him.

It’s probably no stretch to presume that Joe Biden shares the views of many millions of Americans who want the Senate to convict the former president, even though removal from office no longer is possible. I damn sure want him convicted. I also want the Senate to approve a provision that bans Trump from seeking public office ever again.

A 55-45 vote in the Senate the other day, though, likely spelled doom for a conviction. Only five GOP senators joined their Democratic colleagues in determining that the trial is constitutional.

Back to the president’s point about a speedy trial. Yes, I am weary of presidential impeachment talk, of the morass it creates. As for President Biden urging a swift outcome, it is because he has an aggressive COVID relief agenda he wants Congress to enact. He wants to get the legislative branch on the fast track to providing economic relief, not to mention getting the nation on the road to  full recovery from the killer pandemic.

A drawn-out impeachment trial would take senators’ eyes off the legislative prize.

Let’s get real for just a moment, too.

Gutlessness is alive in both houses of Congress. The 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump are facing the wrath of constituents back home. That electoral anger frightened other House members into doing what they likely know is right, that  Donald Trump incited a riot that could have resulted in many casualties than it did. Still, the House impeached Trump.

As for the trial, the Constitution requires two-thirds of senators to convict. The bar is high, as it should be. However, the cowardice that too many House members exhibited is showing itself in the Senate.

A second Senate acquittal of the corrupt, amoral and moronic former president now appears to be a fait accompli. There is no need, therefore, to drag this charade on.

What about Donald Trump’s political future? My strong hope is that he sealed it with his hideous post-election response, his fomenting of the Big Lie about widespread vote fraud that did not exist.

I stand with President Biden in wanting a quick end to this chapter. Then Congress can get to work seeking an end to the pandemic and rescuing a collapsing economy.

media news, national news

Vowing to hear all sides

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It is time for your friendly blogger to make a solemn, sincere and honest vow.

I hereby pledge to read more political commentary with which I disagree. The Age of Trump has given way to the Age of Biden. The change in political tone and tenor in Washington thrills me greatly.

However, I need to make a confession. I didn’t listen to as many arguments that favored the tone that Donald Trump set during his term as president as I should have done.

Now that Trump has holed up in his glitzy south Florida resort, I intend to examine more carefully the conservative antidote to the surprisingly progressive tone that President Biden is striking as he seeks to take control of the crises that awaited him.

I look at a number of Internet sites each day. The one that provides the widest range of views is RealClearPolitics.com, which I scan daily. The RCP site is chock full of progressive, centrist and conservative thought. They’re all reputable and I now intend to examine those views that differ from my own bias.

RealClearPolitics – Live Opinion, News, Analysis, Video and Polls

Do I expect to “come out” as a born-again conservative? Hardly. I just believe I should practice what I occasionally preach to those who take time to read my rants on High Plains Blogger. One of my occasional rant topics deals with narrow-mindedness.

As my dear mother used to say, “That guy is so narrow-minded, he can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”

I don’t intend to be “that guy.”

national news

What about this loon’s supporters?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

While the nation debates and wrings its hands over the rise of nut-job politicians in Congress, it is good to remember something critical: They all won elections by getting more votes than their opponents.

Which means that they obtained majorities among those who cast ballots. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the nut job du jour who has been getting the bulk of the media’s attention of late. And I do believe she is nuts.

The question we need to ponder is this: How do candidates who believe what this QAnon disciple says out loud gain the support of most voters in their political jurisdiction?

Greene represents the 14th Congressional District of Georgia, covering part of the northwestern part of the state. It went strongly for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. President Biden won the state’s overall vote, but not in the district that Greene won.

In 2020, she defeated John Cowan in the GOP runoff. Then she ran against Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal, who pulled out of the race in September 2020, meaning that Greene ran unopposed. So, she won with 75 percent of the vote.

As frightening as she is — contending that notorious school massacres were hoaxes and that Muslims are unfit for public office — what’s even scarier is that she pulled most of the voters in her district along with her.

It makes me ask: Are most of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District voters as crazy as their member of Congress?

If not Rep. Greene, then who is waiting in the tall grass to ascend to power in that part of the country?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious crisis on our hands if our fellow citizens continue to elect certifiable nut jobs such as Marjorie Taylor Greene to our federal legislative branch of government.

national news

Unify Congress? Hah! Good luck

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden’s stated intention to “unify” the nation is facing a major hurdle very close to the president’s new home.

Just down the street from the White house sits Congress. Its members are at each others’ throats. Democrats are angry and some are frightened of their Republican colleagues. Why? Because many of them have given tacit approval of the insurrection that could have produced casualties among members of Congress.

Meanwhile, GOP members are continuing their harangue against the election that President Biden won over Donald Trump.

Some members of Congress don’t want to work with their colleagues. Many of them want their offices relocated because of actual fear of how their colleagues might treat them.

Yes, there is a serious rift opening wide among members of Congress. As Politico has reported: Some House lawmakers are privately refusing to work with each other. Others are afraid to be in the same room. Two members almost got into a fist fight on the floor. And the speaker of the House is warning that “the enemy is within.”

Forget Joe Biden’s calls for unity. Members of Congress couldn’t be further divided.

‘I’m just furious’: Relations in Congress crack after attack – POLITICO

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declared that the “enemy is within” the halls of Congress. She is specifically pointedly of some House members who adhere to the QAnon lunacy that school shootings are hoaxes and that Muslims cannot serve in public office. Pressure is building to a full boil among Democrats to expel Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia, who said during the 2020 campaign that it is time to “shed blood” to reverse trends she opposes.

I want Joe Biden to succeed in unifying the country. I do not have an idea on how he should do so, other than for him to call on senior Republicans in the House and Senate — men and women he knows well — to persuade them to close the yawning divide between the parties.

It’s just that the president has to start seeking unity in the other co-equal government branch.

media news

Here’s how you brief the press

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If I could, I would direct this brief message to the four people who served as press secretary during Donald Trump’s term as president.

They are, in order, Sean Spicer, Sara H. Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany. They all fluffed the job of briefing the press on issues relating to the presidency; indeed, Grisham didn’t conduct a single briefing before she quit to join the first lady’s staff. They should take heed of the manner that the current press flack, Jen Psaki, is doing her job on behalf of President Biden.

To be sure — and to be fair — the press gathered in front of Psaki has been fairly tame in tossing questions at her. There hasn’t been the in-your-face kind of interrogation we saw so often during the Trump years. Then again, the media haven’t been lied to as baldly and blatantly as they were for the previous four years.

Do you remember Sean Spicer’s initial press briefing? Here’s a reminder: He told the country that Donald Trump delivered his inaugural speech before the largest crowd in presidential inaugural history. Except that it wasn’t the largest crowd. It was a fraction of the size of either of President Barack Obama’s inaugural audiences.

So … there you go. Right out of the chute, the White House press flack for Donald Trump lied to the public, more than likely at the behest of Donald Trump his own self.

You will not hear, I am willing to wager, President Biden label the media as the “enemy of the people.” Donald Trump played the media like a fiddle before he was elected, then demonized them when they questioned him aggressively about the lies he continued to spew.

Joe Biden’s press secretary — Jen Psaki — is restoring the value of the White House press briefings.

national news

No more POTUS spin in briefing room

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden made a hefty number of promises while campaigning for the office he won.

One of them involved his commitment to listening to the “science” as it regards the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

So … with that he said he wouldn’t step to the White House briefing room podium and try to speak on issues about which he knows nothing. The pandemic virus continues to rage across the nation. Joe Biden isn’t being seen at the briefing room rostrum talking about the virus, thinking out loud about possible “cures,” such as whether one could inject or ingest cleaning fluid that would wipe out the virus just like that.

Yes, until Jan. 20, we had a president who did that. He is now gone from office. President Biden is letting the scientists and the medical doctors speak on the details of the fight that continues.

I know we shouldn’t relish what should be taken as normal behavior by a president. It is difficult to resist commenting on it given the incessant pattern of lies and misstatements that came from President Biden’s immediate predecessor.

Indeed, it wasn’t as if I could take anything that Donald Trump ever told me seriously. I grew early in his term to disbelieve every single statement that he sputtered out.

The new president isn’t likely to create that credibility misery by saying things out loud that he has no business saying. President Biden will let the scientists speak about matters they studied. They are the folks with knowledge to pass on what they know to be true.