Tag Archives: Joe Biden

national news

Will new POTUS rethink whether to prosecute Trump?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President-elect Biden is on record saying he has no interest in pursuing federal charges against his immediate predecessor once he leaves office.

Now we hear from the Georgia secretary of state declaring that Donald Trump might have violated federal law by pressuring him to find 11,000 votes to flip so that Trump could put Georgia in the “win” column from the 2020 election.

I believe they call it election tampering, yes?

Secretary of state Ben Raffensperger — a Republican — doesn’t say he wants Trump to be prosecuted, but that he well might face scrutiny from the Justice Department.

The recording of the phone call aired over the weekend suggests Trump was intent on strong-arming Georgia to flip the outcome. Federal statute specifically prohibits such chicanery. No one is above the law, correct? That means the POTUS can be prosecuted if he violates the law.

The phone call is about as “perfect” as the call Trump made to the Ukraine president to solicit dirt on Joe Biden.

Yep, the lame-duck president of the United States is out of control and out of his mind.

I now am wondering if the new president should be rethinking the notion of forgoing a federal probe into this latest criminal act by the current president.

national news

Trump: Most dangerous POTUS in history

3 Comments

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The New York Times has published a story that begins with this paragraph:

President Trump demanded that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election, and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” during an hourlong telephone conversation with him on Saturday, according to audio excerpts from the conversation.

Trump Pressured Georgia Official to ‘Find’ Enough Votes to Overturn Election (msn.com)

Now, let’s ponder the consequence of that news article brings to us.

To me it tells of a president seeking to coerce a state election official to change the outcome of an election and to threaten him if he doesn’t do what the president is demanding.

Have you ever heard of such a travesty? Can anyone recall any president in any era of any political party doing the kind of thing that Donald Trump has done in the wake of an election he lost … by a lot?

What we have on our hands — for the next 16 days — is a president who is out of control. He’s also out of his mind.

Every move he makes to overturn an election, to subvert democracy, to violate the very oath he took to defend the Constitution and abide by the law only ratifies what many millions of us have known since before the guy became president.

It is that he presents a dire danger to the very nation that elected him as its president.

We have corrected that grievous error and I am awaiting the moment when Joseph Biden takes the oath and rescues this country from the madman he will succeed.

national news

‘Compartmentalize,’ Mr. POTUS-elect

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Part of President Clinton’s success in the White House involved his ability to “compartmentalize” his relationships with political foes, including the politicians who sought his removal from office via impeachment after he messed around with a White House intern.

Clinton was able to set whatever personal animus he had for those individuals and work constructively with them to, oh, balance the federal budget and keep the economy steaming merrily along.

President Biden might encounter a similar challenge when he takes office in 16 days. At this moment, 11 Republican senators and 140 House members want to challenge his duly constituted election as president of the United States. They are dancing to the tune being called by the Seditionist in Chief, Donald Trump, who continues to rouse the rabbles by insisting there was voter fraud … where there wasn’t. Not even a little bit!

I am appalled to say that the Senate GOP ringleader appears to be the Cruz Missile, Texas’s junior senator Ted Cruz, who has managed to make me detest him more now than when he first entered the Senate.

Joe Biden has built a lengthy list of professional relationships with members of Congress on both sides of the great divide. He served for 36 years in the Senate, eight years as vice president. The man knows the players, he knows what makes ’em tick, can find their hot buttons without even trying.

He also will have to deal forthrightly with their insurgency, with the aim of subverting a legal, free and fair election. They want an “audit” of the results in several states before certifying the Electoral College vote this week. They won’t get the audit, but those 151 members of Congress will be on the record insisting on getting it.

How will the new president work with them? He must be able to compartmentalize those relationships the way President Clinton was able to do during his two successful terms in office.

If he can do that and give Americans the kind of leadership and governance that’s been missing for the past four years, President Biden will be able to craft a highly successful tenure in the nation’s highest office.

Here is hoping for President Biden’s success right out of the chute.

national news

‘Lock him up’!

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Is it a crime for a public official to encourage another public official to break the law?

I kinda think it is.

What do you suppose Donald Trump was doing in that hour-long phone conversation with the Georgia secretary of state, asking him to “find” 11,780 votes cast for Trump so that he could reverse the outcome in Georgia of the 2020 presidential election?

From my vantage point, Donald Trump was berating the secretary of state into breaking the law.

This is further proof — as if anyone needed it — of Donald Trump’s supreme unfitness for the job he is going to surrender in just 17 days to President-elect Joe Biden.

Lock him up! Seriously!

Lock him up!

national news

Simply beyond belief

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A friend of mine calls them members of the “Sedition Caucus” of the Republican Party.

Indeed, the 11 GOP senators and 140 House of Representatives members have collaborated to form what has to be the among the most dangerous political cabals in American history.

They want to challenge the results of this past year’s election that chose Joe Biden to be president of the United States. They contend, without a shred of evidence, that the result is tainted by voter fraud in key states that Biden won over Donald J. Trump. They want to launch an emergency 10-day “audit” of the results in several states to determine whether their claims of fraud can hold up.

Spoiler alert: They won’t!

To make matters even worse — if that is even possible — they have persuaded Vice President Mike Pence to join them. Pence is slated to preside next Wednesday over a joint congressional session to ratify the results of the Electoral College vote putting Biden into the presidency on Jan. 20.

Pence Backs Republican Lawmakers’ Plan To Object To Electoral College Results | 88.9 KETR

What the hell is going on here?

There was no fraud. There was no corruption. Americans cast their votes. They were counted. Biden got 81.3 million of them; Trump collected 74.2 million. The Electoral College ended up with Biden winning 306-232. The election was conducted under strict scrutiny by state and local officials adhering to all the protocols necessary to prevent hanky-panky at the polls.

Courts have ruled against all the challenges of the result. The former U.S. attorney general, William Barr, has determined there was no fraud. 

Now these kooks who serve in Congress want to conduct an audit? They are challenging the result of a duly constituted election? They want to sow even more division, suspicion and doubt into this democratic process? With the blessing of the current (for now) president of the United States?

Outrageous!

national news

Loony bin adds 11 GOP senators

(Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The Republican congressional cabal of kooks today grew by 11 members.

I cannot believe these once-serious-minded individuals have done this, but they have declared their intention to object to President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory when the Senate and the House of Representatives meet Wednesday to, um, certify the results.

They have joined their moronic Missouri colleague, Josh Hawley, in filing some sort of empty-headed protest over Biden’s victory, citing “widespread voter fraud” for which no one on Earth has presented a shred of evidence even existed.

Here’s the best part: One of the Gang of 11 dipshi** is none other than Sen. Ted Cruz, the Houston Republican whom I long ago dubbed the Cruz Missile.

To his credit, John Cornyn, Texas’s senior U.S. Republican senator, didn’t sign on to this idiotic ploy.

What these clowns/morons/know-nothings/idiots are seeking to do is commit what I consider an act of sedition. They are staging an open rebellion against our democratic process. They have joined 140 of their House GOP colleagues in contesting an election that Joe Biden won — and Donald J. Trump — lost in what election officials have declared to be the most secure election in U.S. history.

The 11 GOP Senate nimrods want to delay the outcome for 10 days while they conduct an audit of the process. Good ever-lovin’ grief, dudes! The courts have tossed out every one of Trump’s own challenges to the veracity of the election. The Electoral College has met as prescribed by the Constitution and declared that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take office on Jan. 20.

11 Senate Republicans say they will oppose Electoral College results Wednesday | TheHill

We have a bizarre drama playing out on the world stage. Republican members of Congress want to make some kind of show about their resistance to a Democrat winning election over one of their guys. What they are revealing to the world is an absolute disregard for the democratic process, which until this election cycle was thought to be an impenetrable barrier against the kind of dangerous insurrection that appears to be taking shape.

Finally, think also of this reality: The individual for whom they are embarking on this moronic mission, Donald J. Trump, is encouraging them to commit what I consider to be a subversion of the electoral process we all should honor.

This is as reprehensible as it can get.

national news

None of the inaugural trappings on tap

Photo courtesy of Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

You likely can take this to the bank.

Americans will not get to witness President-elect Joe Biden and Jill Biden arrive at the White House prior to the inauguration. There will be no scenes of Donald and Melania Trump greeting them with smiles, handshakes and hugs.

There will be no informal briefing between the outgoing and incoming presidents. The current and future first ladies won’t tour the residence, with Melania Trump showing Jill Biden where to find the linens.

No. All of that is tossed into the crapper.

When Barack Obama was leaving the White House in 2017, he and Michelle Obama greeted the Trumps at the White House. They mugged for the cameras and went inside. Obama talked to Trump about what to expect. Their wives visited informally. It was all done according to long-established custom.

It’s not that the Bidens don’t know their way around the people’s house. They’ve been there many times already, visiting many presidents … not to mention the one with whom Joe Biden worked for eight years, the aforementioned Barack Obama.

I will miss seeing the photos. Still, it’s probably just as well, given the river of bad blood that has flown from Trump in the wake of his loss to Biden in the election.

The Trumps will be gone. The Bidens will walk in and make themselves at home. That’s OK with me.

national news

Insurrectionists abound!

DEBORAH CANNON / AMERICAN-STATESMAN

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Congress can provide many surprises.

One of them has surfaced in recent days. For instance, I did not know that the House of Representatives contained so many insurrectionists, people who are willing to contest a fundamental concept of the government they took an oath to defend and protect.

These are the idiots who have said they intend to contest the election of President-elect Joe Biden. They’ll get the chance to have their undemocratic voices heard next Wednesday when the House and Senate meet to ratify the results of the Electoral College certification of Biden and Kamala Harris’s victory over Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

At last count, 140 House members — all Republicans — say they intend to contest the results. They will join the Missouri moron in the Senate, Republican Josh Hawley, in contesting a result that on Nov. 3 produced a clear, decisive and legal victory by the Biden-Harris ticket over the Trump-Pence ticket. I am happy to report that my congressman, Republican Van Taylor of Plano, did not join the loony bin crowd; he remains loyal to the oath he took.

This, of course, is a disgraceful perversion of the democratic process. These dipsh**s continue to insist there was “widespread voter fraud.” There was none. The U.S. attorney general has said there was none. More than 50 courts across the land have ruled there was none. Donald Trump’s handpicked steward over the election process — whom Trump later fired for speaking the truth — said the election was the most “secure in U.S. history.”

Will that deter this cabal of kooks? No. They’re going to proceed with the clown show egged on by their guy, Trump.

I am somewhat heartened by the apparent refusal of Vice President Pence to play along with this idiocy. I say “somewhat” because Pence has remained silent for too damn long while Trump has continued his moronic claim of being “robbed” of a victory.

All of this sheer nonsense will end where it should. Congress will ratify the Electoral College result. VP Pence will gavel the results into the record and will declare that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been elected president and vice president.

And Trump and Pence more than likely will never speak to each other ever again. That’s fine with me … as long as they take their estrangement with them out the door and into oblivion.

national news

Obama 2.0? OK, what’s wrong with that?

2 Comments

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

We’re hearing from right-wing media pundits and other critics of President-elect Biden that his Cabinet and top staffers comprise too many folks from the Obama administration.

Yes, I have expressed a concern about that, but I have to ask: Why is that necessarily a bad thing?

Biden served as vice president for President Obama’s two successful terms. He knows the players who comprised his team. Biden knows their strengths. He wants to parlay those strengths toward building a team of his own.

The Obama administration, let us remember, took office in the midst of the Great Recession. The nation’s economy was in free fall, it was collapsing and President Obama needed to act immediately to help rescue it from permanent ruin.

The team he assembled, along with Joe Biden, got the job done.

So, the new president wants to rely on their knowledge, their experience and their skill to help him restore a nation beset by new economic trouble and, oh  yes, that damn pandemic.

That’s OK with me.

legal news

Content of character: does it still count?

1 Comment

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Make no mistake that I likely would feel differently were I of African-American or Latino or Asian descent. I am none of those.

Having laid that predicate down, I want to engage in the discussion over who President-elect Biden should select as the nation’s next attorney general.

I practically jumped out of my shoes the other day when I heard an African-American commentator, Jonathan Capehart, say out loud that the three individuals Biden is believed to be considering as AG are too white for his taste. Capehart wants more “diversity” among the finalists.

Hmm. Let’s examine this briefly. The three people Biden reportedly is pondering are U.S. District Judge Merrick Garland, former deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates and U.S. Sen. Doug Jones. They all possess exemplary legal credentials. They also all have committed through their careers to advancing the cause of civil rights.

Their only “shortcoming” is that they aren’t people of color.

President-elect Biden has kept his pledge to nominate executive branch team members who reflect the nation. Has loaded the Cabinet with and top-level staffers with African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, women; my goodness, he even has selected an openly gay man to serve in the Cabinet.

President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, only to have his nomination blocked in 2016 by Senate Republicans who wanted to wait for the presidential election outcome that year. Garland has been a champion for minority rights, for gay rights and has staked out a center-left course while serving on the federal bench.

Sally Yates has demonstrated her own commitment to fair and impartial justice as a deputy AG, striving to be sensitive to minority Americans’ concerns over whether the justice system was loaded against them.

Doug Jones, who lost his bid for re-election to the Senate from Alabama in 2020, served as a federal prosecutor and obtained the conviction of the Klansmen who blew up the Birmingham, Ala., church in 1963 that killed four precious African-American girls; it was one of the most notorious hate crimes of the 20th century. He, too, has earned his spurs in fighting for minority rights.

Is it essential that the next AG be a person of color? No. It isn’t. It is essential that the next attorney general refrain from engaging in partisan politics and administer justice dispassionately and in accordance with the law.

I want to remind everyone of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that day in 1963. He spoke of his “dream” that one day black Americans can be judged by “content of their character” rather than “the color of their skin.”

Shouldn’t that noble goal apply to any American?