Monthly Archives: July 2021

national news

QAnon queen praises secessionists

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A young man has declared his candidacy for Congress in Georgia.

His name is Marcus Flowers, who calls himself an Army veteran who spent a good bit of time deployed in combat zones. He says he recognizes a “threat” to the nation when he sees it and he declares that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a threat to the nation she ostensibly serves as a member of Congress.

Flowers posted this item on Facebook: First it was sedition, now itā€™s secession. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is praising Americans who want to secede.Ā 

Wow! Who’da thunk that?

Greene, a Republican, is the uncrowned QAnon queen of Congress. She was elected to her seat in north Georgia in 2020 and then promptly got stripped of her committee assignments because of the utter hideousness of her public comments.

I thought I might be done with this lunatic. I guess not.

She has spoken out to praise those who wish to secede from the U.S. of A. Well now, a few states in the South tried to do that in 1861. It didn’t work out well. The nation went to war with itself.

Greene continues to make an a** of herself despite being deprived of her committee posts. The thing that is so remarkable is that the Constitution she took an oath to defend grants her the liberty to speak what passes for her mind. Now she is offering praise for those who wish to break away from a nation that allows nut jobs like her to speak out in the manner that she does?

Unbelievable. Outrageous. Disgusting and disgraceful. It’s all of that and more!

Marjorie Taylor Greene is making the case as the runaway winner of the Congressional Numbskull Award. Although I believe East Texas’s Louis Gohmert would give her a serious challenge.

I know I shouldn’t be concerned about what a congresswoman from Georgia thinks and does while strolling through the nation’s Capitol. Except for this bit of hard truth: This loon votes on laws that affect every American. That means her conduct in office is as much my business as it is the business of those who vote on whether she stays in office in 2022.

I know nothing about Marcus Flowers, other than he is an Army vet. I wish him well in his effort to boot Marjorie Taylor Greene’s sorry backside out of Congress.

national news

Why support this POTUS?

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(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

No one has asked for my opinion on this matter, but I feel the need to offer it anyway.

Pollsters overlook our household when asking Americans this question: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of President Biden?

Here’s my answer in the event someone would ask: I have a highly favorable opinion of the leadership he is providing this country.

Do you want to know why? Here it is.

President Biden has restored dignity, decorum and a sense of normal behavior to the White House. He has signed a number of executive orders that have sought to reverse some bone-headed policies enacted by his predecessor. He has shown an ability to perform a sort of two-track function while working his Republican colleagues in Congress: He talks to ’em, listens to ’em and then if they don’t see things his way, he turns to his more dependable Democratic allies to move legislation forward.

Joe Biden was able to send us payments in a COVID relief package over the objections of his GOP friends in Congress. I appreciated the cash, just as I appreciated what came to us in the final year of POTUS 45’s tenure in office.

What I have learned to appreciate most of all, though, has been the restoration of the presidency as an office with dignity. President Biden vowed to restore our “national soul” when he ran for the office. I am not yet sure whether our soul has been brought back to life as we knew it just yet.

I do know, though, that the president no longer denigrates war heroes. Nor does he stiff our nation’s allies. The president no longer scolds public officials for certain policies while their cities and states are fighting nature’s wrath. The president now is able to step into his role as consoler in chief and he performs that role flawlessly.

Has the 46th president had a hiccup-free entry? Of course not. The crisis on our southern border needs to be called as such and it needs to come from President Biden.

I am willing to give this individual my support because — and this is critical — he is willing to conduct himself with the dignity that his high office demands from him.

That is why I believe we are heading in the right direction under President Biden’s leadership.

medical news

End the vaccine politics

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My request is simple and straightforward.

Let us end the politicization of the COVID-19 vaccines … shall we?

I am sickened to the core at the yammering of right-wing talking heads/blowhards/gasbags who continue to insist that the government is trying to force us to do something we don’t want to do, such as take the vaccine that protects us against a virus that continues to kill Americans.

For starters, no one is “forcing” anyone to do anything of the sort. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to tell us until they run out of breath that all the available vaccines are safe, they are effective and they will protect us from infection, sickness and death.

And yet we hear from right-wing politicians and their pals in the right-wing media continue to insist that President Biden should “fire Anthony Fauci” because the good doctor — and senior administration pandemic medical and health adviser — is trying to frighten us into taking the vaccine.

Good grief, man!

I interpret Dr. Fauci’s message differently. He seeks to speak to us using common sense. If you have a vaccine that works, and is safe, it makes sense to take it to ward off the effect of a virus that has killed 4 million human beings worldwide and more than 600,000 Americans. Why is that such a frightening concept?

Don’t answer that. I know why. Because it serves as political grist for those who adhere to the misplaced skepticism and deception about the virus expressed by President Biden’s immediate predecessor, the former Moron in Chief.

Joe Biden says the virus “is on the run.” I believe him. However, we are not out of danger. Indeed, the danger is heightened by those who continue to wage a political war in the middle of a fight for our lives against a virus.

International news, military news, national news

Biden keeps key promise

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

One of the few policy notions from the 45th president of the U.S. with which I agreed dealt with pulling out of “endless wars.”

He made the pledge while running for the presidency in 2016. He kept saying he would do so while serving in the office. He didn’t quite deliver on the pledge.

Today, his successor — President Joe Biden — announced that our involvement in the Afghan War ends on Aug. 31. Period. Full stop.

There will be no more U.S. troop presence on the battlefields there, President Biden told us.

And so, our nation’s longest war — which commenced our war against international terrorism — is coming to an end. There will be no victory declaration. Nor will there be, as Biden told us, any helicopters lifting off from rooftops as there was in Vietnam in April 1975.

Biden has pledged to help provide shelter for the Afghans who helped our military effort during the two decades we fought there, although the plan for providing that aid hasn’t yet been fully developed.

I endorse the pullout. The time has come for the Afghans to defend themselves. We have trained an army, provided an air force and are leaving them with resources to fight the Taliban terrorists who do present an existential threat to the government in Kabul.

Our longest war is about to end. It fills me with relief.

national news

It was an ‘insurrection’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

For several months now, I have been referring to the Jan. 6 riot as an “insurrection,” a term that reportedly gives congressional Republicans a case of the heebie-jeebies.

Senate Republicans didn’t like the term inserted into legislation that called for creation of an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the cause and effect of the insurrection; it also would have sought remedies to prevent it from happening in the future.

Well, you know what? I will continue to call it what it was: an insurrection against the government of the United States of America.

It was nothing short of that. It was a direct frontal assault on the very democratic process which on that day was certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election that resulted in Joe Biden and Kamala HarrisĀ  being elected president and vice president of the United States.

The ticket led by the 45th POTUS incited the insurrection, for which the House of Representatives impeached him for a second time. It was a big more of a bipartisan impeachment than the first go-round, with a handful of Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues in impeaching POTUS 45; what’s more, some GOP senators ended up voting to convict the disgraced ex-POTUS at trial.

My point, though, is that no one should shy away from calling the DC riot what it was: an act of insurrection against the government of the United States. For the GOP congressional caucus to dig in against the investigative commission because they dislike truth-telling language is a cheap and shallow attempt to deny the obvious.

The effort to get at the truth behind the insurrection must not end. The House has formed a select committee. It already includes one Republican House member; others should join the effort.

Let’s not be coy about what’s at stake. It is to find a way to prevent future insurrections from occurring.

Ever!

medical news, national news

Pandemic isn’t ‘over,’ doc

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If you thought a physician is an individual who uses common sense and scientific evidence to form opinions, then you haven’t heard the rantings of a congressman from the Texas Panhandle.

Republican Ronny Jackson, who represents the 13th Congressional District, put this gem out there on Twitter:

The pandemic is over. Itā€™s time to FIRE FAUCI and let America open up again! Choose FREEDOM over Fauci, and liberty over government bureaucrats!

Earth to Carpetbagger Jackson: The pandemic isn’t over … you well-educated moron!

The delta variant is still sickening Americans. Granted, the big picture is a lot brighter than it was a year ago, or even six months ago. The variant, though, accounts for roughly half of the new cases of COVID-19 infections being reported.

As for “firing” Dr. Anthony Fauci, I would rather hear from him than hear from a loudmouth GOP politician who once served as White House physician, most notably for the 45th POTUS who continues to foment The Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election.

Jackson is a doctor, a retired Navy admiral. I get that he’s well-educated. He also is an interloper, moving to the 13th District of the Texas Panhandle only to run for public office.

He also hasn’t distinguished himself since taking office, blasting out ridiculous Twitter taunts and tirades daily … in the mold of the disgraced former Moron in Chief, the guy who lost his bid for re-election to President Biden.

Rep./Dr. Jackson is disgracing himself.

media news

These aren’t my ‘friends’

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have just finished chucklingĀ  under my breath at a “friend” request I received on my Facebook page.

Why am I chuckling?

I admit that I probably spend too much time on Facebook. I use the social medium to distribute my blog; I have plenty of actual friends and even more than a smattering of Facebook “friends” with whom I have a casual relationship. Many of them are kind enough to share my blog posts with those on their networks. To them I say “thank you.”

What about these “friend” requests I keep getting?

They usually are from individuals who present themselves as attractive females. I delete them immediately for a number of reasons.

None of them provides me any background info on them. No places of birth; no work history; no relationship information; no educational background info.

A word to the wise: Do not bother to send me these requests if you decline to tell me anything about yourself.

One more aspect of these “friend” requests gives me pause. If they do not send me any background info, then I immediately grow suspicious that the individual whose picture appears on the request is actually, um, that person. Do you get my drift? Is the young woman in fact an overweight knuckle-dragger with half his teeth missing?

If you’re going to solicit me for my “friendship” on social media, at least prove to me that you are who you say you are … not that I will accept the request, mind you.

Are we clear? Good!

national news

GOP heroes do emerge

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I once asked — during one of the crises involving the 45th POTUS — whether there were any Republican heroes among members of the GOP congressional caucus.

Two of them have stepped up in the months since that individual left office.

One of them is U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, about whom I have written already on this blog. The other is Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

Kinzinger is standing tall and firm in the effort to explore and examine the Jan. 6 insurrection that the 45th POTUS incited with his Big Lie comments on the alleged theft of the 2020 presidential election.

The young congressman wants to know why his fellow Republicans wouldn’t want to look into the cause of the riot if they believe that Antifa, or Black Lives Matter or some other left-wing outfit provoked it. Nor does he understand why they won’t look into the cause of an event that could have put every member of Congress in dire danger of being harmed … or worse.

Kinzinger does pose the question that has piqued many of Americans’ curiosity. He wonders if GOP resistance to a thorough exploration of the insurrection would expose potential Republican complicity in the event.Ā 

Hmm. Makes you wonder, yes?

Because he and Rep. Cheney are searching for the truth behind the assault on our democracy, they are being vilified by the cult followers who refuse to accept the legitimacy of the free, fair and legal election.

The challenges they face quite possibly could tell us plenty about the Republican Party to which they both remain faithful. Except that the party now has been hijacked by the con man who masqueraded as POTUS for four years.

Political heroes who seek to defend the Constitution and the democratic process do not deserve to be treated as pariahs. They should be honored, not pilloried.

national news

Rescue turns to recovery

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The call that no one doubted would come has arrived.

Emergency services officials in Surfside, Fla., have told loved ones waiting to learn the fate of those caught in that June 24 condo collapse that there is no virtually no hope of finding survivors.

The effort now is to recover the remains of those trapped under the mountain of rubble.

Search at Surfside condo collapse switches from rescue to recovery, a devastating announcement for families of missing (msn.com)

It becomes a cruel waiting game at some point in these operations. To that end, while our hearts break for the victims of that tragedy and the loved ones seeking to learn their fate, the higher-ups among the officials in charge of the operation have made the correct call.

My family and I understand the grief and the pain of waiting word on a loved one who is missing and “presumed to have died.” A presumption never brings closure. You find yourself playing strange mind games, waiting for the miracle that doesn’t occur. Our wait was brief those many years as we sought to know what happened to my father. It came and with it came a certain relief that we no longer had to worry and wonder.

So it is with those waiting to know the fate of their loved ones.

A nation prays for their healing.

local news

Honor officers’ memory

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Dallas is paying tribute today to five brave men who, when they went to work five years ago today, expected fully to finish their shifts and go home to their families.

They didn’t get that opportunity. A madman gunned them down.

It was July 7, 2016 when these men paid the ultimate price while fulfilling their oath to “protect and serve” the people of their community. The city has honored them every July 7 since that tragic incident. May the city of Dallas and its residents always remember these men.

Their names are: Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, Officer Michael Krol, Sgt. Michael Smith, Dallas Area Rapid Transit Officer Brent Thompson and Dallas PD Officer Patricio Zamarripa.

I won’t offer the name of the loon who shot them in keeping with my policy of declining to identify the shooters by name on this blog. I will say only that the shooter died when an explosive device detonated during the standoff with Dallas Police Department officers.

Cops have been getting a lot of heat these days. Much of it, sadly, is deserved. However, I continue to believe the best in the men and women who suit up every day to make our communities safer.

Not a single task they perform can be called “routine.” They all know it, yet they continue to thrust themselves potentially into harm’s way when they respond to every traffic stop, every domestic disturbance, every call for help.

I wish today to honor the memory of those five men who died five years ago today … and to pray for the safety and well-being of all the fine police officers who continue to protect us from those who would bring us harm.