Tag Archives: insurrection

crime news

Democracy scores big!

Democracy has taken it on the chin in recent years as elements of our society have sought to overturn legitimate presidential elections through force and intimidation.

Well … today our democratic principles scored a big victory when a criminal trial jury delivered guilty verdicts to four members of a group called the Proud Boys, convicting them of seditious conspiracy.

These dipsh**s now stand to serve many years in prison for their actions on 1/6, which included assaulting law enforcement officers while seeking to storm the Capitol Building as Congress was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

This attack was a direct frontal assault on the very tenet on which our democratic process was founded: the peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to another.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department has scored a major victory for all of us who love this nation and who adhere to the principles on which the founders created it.

What’s more, Garland dropped a bit of a hint of more to come when he declared that his “work continues.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Not wanting to climb aboard

You may count me as one of the few — apparently, it seems — observers of the 2024 presidential campaign who is unwilling to examine every little thing that flies out of the mouth of the 45th POTUS.

Why? Because I am not yet willing to buy into the harebrained notion that the immediate past POTUS is going to be nominated to run against President Biden next summer.

It’s not because I trust the judgment of Republican primary voters. I already have declared that I mistakenly overestimated the intelligence of the average GOP primary voter. He and she seem all too willing to give the twice-impeached and once (so far) indicted ex-POTUS a pass on his previous disastrous term in office.

They have forgiven him for denigrating a physically challenged New York Times reporter, for bragging about grabbing women by their private area, for applauding the “lock her up” chants at his campaign rallies, for admitting he never has asked for forgiveness, for disparaging the Vietnam War service of a genuine hero, the late John McCain.

Oh, and the insurrection he incited on 1/6? Pffft! Who cares, right?

I am going to place my faith on the indictments that are sure to come from Fulton County, Ga., and from the Justice Department. They are examining some mighty serious criminal behavior that Donald Trump (allegedly) committed. If he’s convicted of any of the crimes, he could spend a lot of years in prison … given the AG’s declaration that “no one is above the law.”

I just do not know how he can run for POTUS and fight to keep the hounds at bay.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope to have this one right.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Embrace embodies Pence’s problem

Donald J. Trump’s embrace of a woman who has declared that Mike Pence should have been “executed” for his actions on the day of the 1/6 insurrection highlights a serious problem facing the former vice president of the United States.

Pence likely wants to seek the presidency in 2024. Trump already is in the race. The two men, of course, once were partners as POTUS and VPOTUS for a single term prior to the 2020 election.

Trump incited the assault on the Capitol on 1/6. The crowd stormed into the halls of the government looking for Pence and others. Pence was presiding at the time over a joint congressional session to ratify the results of the 2020 election. The crowd wanted to string Pence up.

How in the world does Mike Pence, therefore, campaign against Donald Trump, who still commands the fealty of the traitors — such as the nitwit he embraced this week in New Hampshire? Pence has been a highly reluctant critic of Trump. Yes, he calls Trump’s remarks on 1/6 “reckless,” but he also urged the House select committee reviewing the incident to not bring a criminal referral against Trump.

For that matter, only one leading Republican — former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — has shown the jewels to criticize Trump actively. The rest of ’em are dancing all around the issue and that includes Mike Pence.

I am one American patriot who is aghast, but surely not surprised, to see Trump hug on that moronic traitor. He signed some sort of program she shoved at him, mugging for the cameras. The guy is disgusting in the extreme, given that he has all but promised to pardon those accused of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

So … the dilemma for Pence heats up as he ponders whether he wants to run for president in 2024. One of his potential foes happens to be the guy who endorsed the mob’s threat to kill him.

Nice …

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

1/6 assault makes me angrier

There can be no denying this fact about the 1/6 assault on the government, which is that the more I see video of that horrendous event, the angrier I become.

Former Vice President Mike Pence testified today before a grand jury that is examining that event and its cause. I have been watching video from that attack, listening to one traitor declaring that the mob would “drag Pence through the streets” if they were to find him.

Then I heard the chant to “Hang Mike Pence!”

Were the traitors serious about those threats? Did they really intend to lynch the vice president? You know, I am not clairvoyant, but the mob seemed pretty serious about the threat and whether they would follow through on it.

Juxtapose that with the knowledge that Pence wants to run for president in 2024, but he likely is going to seek to appeal to the very men and women who threatened to string him up.

What the hell?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Special counsel closes in

I am not a lawyer … and I don’t even play one on TV, but I have a hunch about a legal proceeding that I want to share.

It is that former Vice President Mike Pence’s testimony this week before a grand jury examining the 1/6 insurrection well might be the beginning of the end of Donald Trump’s idiotic quest for the presidency in 2024.

Special counsel Jack Smith summoned Pence to testify before the panel; Pence initially fought it, then he and the Pence-Trump legal team were told that the ex-VP had to testify.

Today, he did. Prosecutors sworn him to tell the truth and they then worked him over behind closed doors.

They likely asked Pence: What did Trump say to you in advance of the 1/6 assault on the government and what did you say to him?

I suppose it is possible that Pence could invoke the Fifth Amendment, which protects him against self-incrimination. Except that he isn’t the subject of the probe; Pence is a low-risk witness, given that on that terrible day he stood his ground and stood on the Constitution, which required him to do his duty that day, which was to preside over congressional certification of the Electoral College results from the 2020 presidential election.

Oh, yes, that’s the election that Joe Biden won over Donald Trump. 

Pence has told TV interviewers that Trump’s remarks that day were “reckless” and that they put “everyone in the Capitol that day” in dire danger. Indeed, traitors who stormed the Capitol threatened to assassinate Pence and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

What did Trump do to stop it? Not a damn thing!

That’s the kind of testimony that the former vice president of the United States can deliver to the special counsel and the grand jury that will determine whether to indict the former president of the United States.

My non-lawyerly gut tells me the special counsel’s hammer is about to hit home … as it must.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

What about those tapes?

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy turned over about 40,000 hours of video recording of the 1/6 insurrection to Tucker Carlson, the former star of the Fox Propaganda Network.

Fox canned Carlson this past week. My question now is this to the speaker: What about the video recordings you turned over to Fox? Are you going to get them back or is Carlson now free to use them whenever and wherever he pleases?

Carlson edited the video heavily while trying to develop a narrative on Fox that the insurrection wasn’t a violent attack on the government, that it was just a bunch of tourists out for a stroll through the Capitol grounds.

It was all part of The Big Lie that Carlson fomented after the 2020 presidential election.

Well, he’s gone from Fox. Speaker McCarthy must be compelled to get those recordings back … realizing, of course, that Carlson can reproduce them anyway.

The damage is done, but McCarthy needs to cut his losses — and the losses suffered by Americans concerned about what happened on that horrifying day of insurrection.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Predictable response

Politicians and other observers across the spectrum are reacting to Donald Trump’s indictment in totally predictable fashion.

The conservative media call the grand jury’s indictment of the 45th POTUS as a witch hunt, a “political persecution” and a case that won’t hold up. Other media suggest that Trump faces the prospect of actual prison time if a trial jury convicts him, presuming it goes to trial.

I don’t know what to think. I do believe that the hush money payment of 130 grand to Stormy Daniels is small potatoes compared to what is likely to come from other jurisdictions. The Fulton County grand jury might indict Trump on seeking to overturn an election result; the Justice Department is examining whether Trump sought to overthrow the government and obstructed justice by refusing to turn over classified documents he took on his way out of the White House.

The Manhattan indictment, though, is a big deal in this regard: It’s the first time in history that a former POTUS is accused of committing a crime.

This is going to be loads of fun to watch.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

How does he carry on?

I have been avoiding the use of the name of the immediate past president of the United States simply because I am sick of seeing it in print or hearing it stated on the air.

For the purpose of this post, I will forgo my boycott of his name and ask: How in the world does Donald J. Trump carry on as a former president?

He is more than likely going to be indicted for alleged criminal activity, although I am writing the word “alleged” only to be fair; I believe he is as guilty as they come.

It could come from the Manhattan, N.Y. district attorney, who has empaneled a grand jury to look into the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, the porn star with whom he had a one-night fling. The indictment could come from Fulton County, Ga., DA Fani Willis, who has seated a grand jury to determine whether Trump committed a crime when he demanded that the Georgia secretary of state “find” enough votes to help him win the state’s electoral votes in 2020.

Or … the indictment could come from special counsel Jack Smith, who is probing Trump’s incitement of the insurrection on 1/6 as well as the squirreling away of classified documents he took illegally from the White House upon leaving office.

Presidents usually spend their post-presidential time planning for their libraries. They take up good causes, you know … pursuing world peace, helping women find their way, being role models for our youth, working with our wounded veterans.

Trump is doing none of that. Zero. He is spending his waking hours fending off these prosecutors while seeking to run for POTUS a third time.

There won’t be an unveiling at the White House of an official portrait of Trump and his wife. There will be no official White House ceremony marking his tenure as POTUS.

Indeed, the first line of his obituary will mention either his two impeachments or his indictments … or both incidents!

The man’s legacy is shot to hell! Period!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

McCarthy: duplicity beyond belief

If there is a more duplicitous, hypocritical, cowardly and craven politician than Kevin McCarthy, then he or she will have to show themselves to me.

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives continues to carry the cudgel for POTUS 45, the man McCarthy said immediately after the 1/6 insurrection should be held accountable for the assault he incited on our government.

He said at the time that the ex-POTUS should be charged with crimes against the government. He condemned the former president’s inaction in the harshest terms imaginable.

What’s he saying now? That his hero did nothing wrong. That the Manhattan DA who’s about to indict the ex-POTUS should be investigated. McCarthy is standing with the MAGA cabal, which stands with the former POTUS and his threat to pardon all the defendants charged with crimes against the government … if he’s elected to office. (I can’t believe I just typed those final few words.)

It won’t happen, but that doesn’t diminish Kevin McCarthy’s craven display of cowardice.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

‘Protests’ … again? Good grief!

Let’s see how this will play out, given what happened the last time POTUS 45 called on his followers to “protest” an election result in which he lost.

The ex-POTUS appears to be headed for an indictment by a Manhattan, N.Y., grand jury on allegations that he misspent money to pay a porn star to be quiet about a tryst he said didn’t occur. Weird, eh?

Well, if an indictment is in this individual’s immediate future, we now can expect some “protests” from his MAGA followers. How might it end? Well, the 1/6 insurrection offers a glaring example of how “protests” such as what the ex-president is now calling for might end up. It will end badly.

The criminal justice system is doing its job. Pure and simple. There is no “rigging” of the system that is going to result in a former POTUS being indicted for criminal activity. The evidence is there. He directed his lawyer at the time to write a check to the porn star; the question is whether he violated the law in doing so.

I believe he did. But that’s just me.

As for the “protests,” the traitors who adhere to The Big Lie and who believe their hero did nothing wrong need to be very careful.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com