Monthly Archives: December 2022

national news

Warnock wins! I can breathe now

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OK. There will be plenty to say in the days to come about what the nation has just witnessed in Georgia.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has been re-elected to a new six-year term. It was a nail-biter. Frankly, I did not believe Sen. Warnock would have this kind of difficulty securing his victory over Republican Herschel Walker.

But … he did.

What I am going to try to assess over the immediate term is how in the world Walker held up as a serious candidate for the Senate.

I am shaking my head at the prospect that Walker actually could win this race. I am delighted, though, to know that Sen. Walker is returning to his post in the Senate. He is a good man who — as he pointed out during his campaign — actually “knows what he is doing.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news

Now comes the 1/6 panel

Donald J. Trump’s business organization is guilty of tax fraud. That appears to be the prelim to the main event, which is ready for the bell-ringing any day now.

The House select 1/6 committee examining the insurrection and Trump’s role in inciting it is set to make its findings known to the public. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson has spilled the beans, telling us that there will be “criminal referrals” contained in the report.

Hmm. Let’s see. Who might the committee “refer” for indictment? My hunch is that it will include Trump his own self.

Let us be clear. The committee cannot indict anyone. It must hand that duty over to the Justice Department, or the agent DOJ has chosen to represent it. That means the special counsel Jack Smith is likely to get the referral, given that Attorney General Merrick Garland has recused himself from any direct investigation into the insurrection or the document theft from the White House.

The only curiosity left to satisfy is learning whether fire-breathing Republican committee member Liz Cheney got her way in singling out Trump’s role. There reportedly has been something of a rift between Cheney and other panel members over how to focus its final report; others reportedly wanted to shy away from Trump’s role in the insurrection and focus instead on the systemic failures that led to it.

Whatever …

If the committee is going to make a criminal referral, it ought to go all the way to the top of the food chain. That would mean Donald John Trump.

I believe it has collected more than enough evidence to take this remarkable step toward seeking full accountability for that terrible day in our nation’s history.

Let ‘er rip, committee members.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, crime news

Clean sweep: guilty on all counts!

Donald J. Trump’s life just got a whole lot messier than it was just a few days ago … if that is even possible.

A New York jury today delivered the news that the Trump Organization — Donald’s cherished business “empire” — is guilty on all 17 counts of various forms of tax fraud.

To be sure, Trump himself isn’t going to prison for the crimes committed by his organization. His former chief financial officer, Alan Weissenberg, already has pleaded guilty to some of the charges leveled against the Trump Organization.

This just spells trouble with a capital “T” for The Donald.

The trial that concluded only after a few days centered on how the TO monkeyed around with its assets to seek favorable loans and to avoid paying taxes. The company overpaid its top executives without paying taxes on their income. It lavished gifts on them in the form of luxury lodging and motor vehicles.

What is so very weird about all of this is how Trump himself has managed — so far — to stay above the fray. Why is weird? Because Trump is known to be a mega-micromanager of his business dealings. Nothing gets done, no transaction is completed, no money changes hands without Trump’s personal knowledge or even his imprimatur.

Trump is sure to denigrate the judge and the jurors. He is certain to lay waste to the prosecutors.

He will not be able to expunge the record of what the jury found, which is that the once-mighty business empire he commanded has been revealed to be run by cheaters.

Come to think of it, the Trump Organization is the mirror image of The Donald.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Pollyanna? No, an idealist

One of the harshest criticisms I have received over many decades offering commentary on issues of the day came from a colleague of mine.

He called me a “Pollyanna.” I cannot remember the specific issue that prompted the dig, but it likely had something to do with the political climate of the time and my wish for a return to a kinder time. I guess my critic/friend didn’t ascribe to the same ideals as I did then … and still do today.

I might invite the Pollyanna brickbat once again by declaring that no matter how desperate the current environment appears, I am going to rely on my faith in the U.S. Constitution … yeah, the same Constitution that Donald Trump said we should suspend.

For starters, the Constitution is far stronger and more durable than the insane rants of a disgraced politician. Moreover, we have been through many crises that rival or even exceed the current tempest brewing over efforts to reject election results, or return Trump to the White House.

We endured two world wars, and in the past 75 years two other wars — in Korea and Vietnam — that tore at our fabric. We went to war in the Middle East, prompting yet another crisis of confidence.

We have endured presidential assassinations dating back to President Lincoln’s murder in 1865, presidential scandals — one of which forced a president to resign — the Great Depression and a Civil War.

What has been the common denominator, the one political structure that survived? The U.S. Constitution. It has held the nation together, albeit while showing plenty of wear and tear around the edges.

It will continue to hold us together. No matter how hard the MAGA cultists/traitors seek to undermine it, the Constitution will endure. So will our democratic republic … and so will the electoral process that is taking its share of heavy hits from those who have declared war on our founding document.

This is not the feel-good wish of a Pollyanna. It is the assertion of an old man, a veteran who went to war for his country and a patriot who remains committed to the glorious idealism that our nation’s founders envisioned.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Those books … they’re all true!

I have been able to purchase and read several volumes Donald J. Trump’s political career and the term he served as president.

“Rage,” “Betrayal,” “Peril,” “Confidence Man,” “One Damn Thing After Another” all seem to harp on a single theme. They speak to Trump’s narcissism, his arrogance, his ignorance of the law and of government, his lies, his lack of compassion or empathy, his phony faith.

They all come from differing perspectives. Even the book by William Barr, the former attorney general in the Trump administration, touches on all of those “qualities” exhibited by Trump.

Here’s the amazing thing about it all. They’re all true! They speak accurately, as we all have watched this individual’s behavior before, during and after his single term as president.

Yes, that first draft of history is being written. It looks to me as though the final form is taking shape.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, State news

Bipartisanship is best for Texas

Dade Phelan has survived a challenge to his role as speaker of the Texas House of Representatives … and for that I am glad he did.

Why? Because the challenge came from a fellow Republican who doesn’t much cotton to the way Phelan doles out House committee chairmanships. You see, Phelan — a Beaumont Republican — handed chairmanships to some of those dreaded Democrats with whom he serves in the Legislature.

The insurgency came from Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Tarrant County Republican, who sought to replace Phelan as speaker. The final vote was 78 to 6.

Phelan’s bipartisan handling of the speakership is not unlike so many of the individuals who preceded him. Speakers Joe Straus, Dennis Bonnen and Tom Craddick all handed chairman’s gavels to Democrats. The most recent Democratic speaker, Pete Laney, also was generous in sharing power with Republicans.

According to the Texas Tribune: In response to the vote Saturday, Tinderholt said on Twitter he is “undeterred in my fight to ensure we have strong conservative leadership this session” and added that he will “look forward to the floor vote on the first day of session.” The 88th Texas Legislature begins meeting on Jan. 10.

Texas House Republican Caucus endorses Dade Phelan for speaker | The Texas Tribune

The endorsement by the Republican legislative caucus only strengthens Phelan’s hand as the entire Legislature will vote next month to select the next speaker. Phelan needs 76 votes and the GOP endorsement would seemingly ensure Phelan has them.

Phelan merely is following a tradition set long ago in a legislative body that works best when Democrats and Republicans can find common ground on legislation that works for all Texans. Sharing some of the power in the manner Phelan has chosen is a step toward achieving that legislative success.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Day of reckoning for GOP?

There should be no doubt about it, that the Republican Party’s hierarchy needs to stage a “come to Jesus” meeting on an issue involving the titular head of the party … the immediate past president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump has all but declared war on the Constitution, the document he once swore to defend and protect. He now believes that it is time to “suspend” the cherished governing document so that he can be reinstalled as POTUS.

So far —and it’s still early in this game of political chicken — too many Republican honchos have remained silent on this utterly frightening call from the former POTUS. There has been hardly any direct condemnation of this kind of rhetoric. Indeed, when pressed Sunday on the “This Week” TV news show, GOP Rep. Dave Joyce said he could support Trump if he is the party’s nominee for president in 2024. ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos pressed the congressman several times to disavow and condemn the language that came from Trump; he refused. Simply astonishing!

This is an unacceptable world view. To say out loud that it is time to suspend the Constitution is so beyond the pale it defies any sort of logic or reason.

Is there a chance on this good Earth that Trump will succeed? Not a chance! This idiocy, though, does fan the embers of those who continue to believe The Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election and it keeps alive the moronic view that Trump actually won an election that he lost.

Donald Trump needs to be chopped down and tossed into the political trash heap. The only viable means to ensure he is silenced is for the Republican Party leadership to condemn him — by name! — and turn its back on the trash he continues to sputter.

One obstacle stands in the way. It is the collective cowardice of those who purport to cherish the Constitution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

 

crime news

Trump: Constitution hater

national news, political news

What is wrong with Rs?

For as long as I can remember I have shied away from lambasting those who adhere to a political party’s ideology or follow its guidance over the cliff … just because party leaders tell ‘em to do it.

I can’t remain silent now as the Georgia runoff for the U.S. Senate approaches. My question is this: What in the world is wrong with Georgia Republicans who continue to stand behind the moron masquerading as a candidate for the Senate seat held by Democrat Raphael Warnock?

Herschel Walker is without question the most unfit, unqualified individual to run for the Senate in the past century. Hell, maybe ever!

And yet … we see political polls showing the race still in the neck-and-neck category.

My goodness! The list of disqualifiers for Walker is approaching the list that accompanies Donald J. Trump.

He preaches a strong anti-abortion stance, but has been accused by at least two women of forcing them to abort babies conceived by Walker himself. He stands as a “family guy,” but has nothing to do with many of the children he brought into this world. Walker claimed a tax exemption in Texas that goes to “primary residents” of this state … but he’s running for political office in Georgia. Walker recently spent several minutes on the stump mumbling nonsense about whether it’s better to be a vampire or a werewolf. Finally, Walker cannot speak with any semblance of intelligence about any serious policy matter.

Yet he continues to run close to Sen. Warnock.

This phenomenon makes me wonder out loud what I have kept to myself for virtually my entire adult life: Are grassroots Republican voters really that stupid?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Get ready for rapid growth

Four years ago, my bride and I made what we knew at the time would be one of the most important decisions of our married life: We found a home in a community in the midst of a population explosion.

We chose to move into a newly built home in Princeton, Texas, which is in Collin County, nearly 40 miles north of downtown Dallas. We downsized from our previous abode in Amarillo. It’s perfect for the two of us.

What’s the point? It is that Princeton’s growth rate is unlike anything I’ve ever seen up close. The city’s population effectively tripled between the 2010 and 2020 census. The house we chose is in the middle of a subdivision that is still growing.

I came out of retirement to work as a freelance reporter for a weekly newspaper group. Only recently, my bosses at the newspaper assigned me to cover goings-on in Princeton. I am delighted to cover the news of the community I now call home.

But there’s a huge assignment awaiting me. It will enable me to cover plans for the Princeton Independent School District to deal with the population growth that is placing enormous strain on the district’s ability to keep pace. It looks as though Princeton ISD is going to present the third bond issue since 2017. Voters approved a bond issue election that year and again in 2019. I don’t want to get ahead of myself on what I project will occur in the weeks to come. I do, though, feel comfortable asserting that PISD has a raging tiger on its hands.

Our house is two blocks from an elementary school that opened in 2019. Three school years later, it has two portable classrooms assembled next to the playground. I was told that Lowe Elementary School basically was over capacity when the doors opened for the first time.

So it goes in a city that is bursting at the seams. The school system needs places to put its exploding student population. The city recently received voters’ endorsement of a city charter, which is a sign of municipal maturity for Princeton. Traffic in Princeton grinds to a halt during morning and afternoon rush hours along the major highway that intersects the city; the state has plans to improve traffic flow that cannot be realized soon enough.

My bride and I, frankly, are happy to witness our city grow, to mature and to change its identity from tiny burg to a community of significant consequence.

This is a first for us. We are anxious to see how our city grows up.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience