Tag Archives: Jill Biden

International news

Trump reveals his smallness

Donald J. Trump just can’t help himself, as he takes every opportunity he can find to reveal his smallness, his pettiness and shows with graphic clarity why he is so profoundly unfit to serve as our nation’s head of state.

Consider what he said about President and Mrs. Biden’s attendance at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. Trump just had to denigrate the current president by taking note that he didn’t have a front-row seat among the dignitaries invited to attend the service.

Trump went on social media to declare that had he been POTUS, he would’ve had a much better seat than those offered to the Bidens.

Is there anything more remarkable than this, anything that demonstrates more just how idiotic the ex-POTUS can be? Yeah, there probably are other examples. I just cannot let this demonstration of moronic self-indulgence pass without mentioning — once again! — how unfit for public office this guy has been for his entire adult life.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, national news, political news

Love the tradition

You at this moment are reading the words of a sucker for pageantry, ceremony and even a little bit of pomp. It was with that bias that I was able to watch the return of a longstanding White House ceremony laced with good humor, good tidings and gratitude.

President and Mrs. Biden invited former President and Mrs. Obama back to the White House today to unveil portraits of the Obamas that will hang in the people’s house alongside — as President Obama noted — “George and Martha.”

OK, this isn’t normally the stuff that would fill a blog such as mine. Except for the proverbial elephant that one could almost hear trudging through the White House room where they unveiled the Obamas’ portraits.

That was the memory of the single term of the man who served as president between the terms of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Donald J. Trump could have had a ceremony honoring the Obamas. He chose to throw that tradition aside, alongside other traditions that Trump chose to ignore.

No one mentioned Trump’s name in their remarks to the nation as the pictures were unveiled. There was no need. The Obamas and the Bidens all referred to the “tradition” they were honoring, just as the Obamas did when they unveiled portraits of President and Mrs. Bush, and just as the Bushes did when they welcomed back President and Mrs. Clinton for precisely the same ceremony.

I should point out that in both those instances, presidents of one party honored his predecessor from the opposing party, setting aside partisan differences and disagreements over policy to honor their service to the country.

So, now for The Big Question: Would there be such a ceremony in which Donald and Melania Trump come back to the White House for a portrait unveiling? I almost laughed out loud when I typed those words.

Given all the hatred and the violence that preceded the transition from Donald Trump to Joe Biden’s administration … do not hold your breath waiting for the Trumps to return to the White House.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Bidens coming to pray and to seek solutions

President and Mrs. Biden — both of whom are familiar with the intense grief of burying a child — are coming to Texas to grieve with the families and friends of the 21 people who died in that horrific massacre that erupted at Robb Elementary School.

For the Bidens, this marks the second such community they will visit in the past two weeks. Recall that they went to Buffalo, N.Y., to extend the nation’s sympathy to the families of the10 victims of the shooter who walked into a supermarket and opened fire.

Now comes this latest unspeakable event.

Nineteen third- and fourth-graders died at the hands of the madman along with two teachers who were trying to shield the children from the bullets.

What does the president say? What can Jill Biden tell them? Yes, they buried an adult son who died from cancer in 2015. What’s more, the president’s infant daughter died in a tragic 1972 car wreck just before he took office as a U.S. senator from Delaware.

They have walked this lonely path before.

Their task, though, ought to be as well to mobilize men and women in Congress to do what they can to prevent future occurrences of this scope and misery. That, I dare say, will be a much steeper mountain to climb than merely hugging victims’ family members.

Still, it is good that they will come to Texas to express the nation’s sorrow over this hideous tragedy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Bias against The Donald? No-o-o-o!

Can it be that we’re now going to see a first lady feud develop between two women; one is married to someone who served as POTUS, and the other is married to the current president of the United States?

Melania Trump didn’t get to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. Now she is blasting the magazine because if put Jill Biden on its cover.Ā She blames “media bias” against her for the alleged slight against her.

According to The Daily Mail: In her first interview since leaving the White House, Melania Trump told Fox Nation that she believes media bias against her is the reason for the discrepancy.

I don’t think there was a bias against her, necessarily. Her husband, though, is another matter. Donald J. Trump engendered plenty of “bias” against him for a host of reasons.

His denigrating of prisoners of war, his mocking of people with disabilities, his admitted philandering and the admission that he sexually assaulted women. Oh, there’s more. You get the point.

Melania Trump ought to pipe down and maybe — if she dares to do so — have a serious discussion with her husband about the way he has conducted himself since he became a politician.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Second gent? Really?

Forgive my nitpicking. I canā€™t help myself at times, so cut me some slack.

Never before has the spouse of a president or vice president been a man. Until now. Doug Emhoff is married to Vice President Kamala Harris. OK, so why do the media keep referring to Emhoff as the ā€œsecond gentlemanā€?

We have a first lady in the person of Jill Biden. Emhoffā€™s marriage to the vice president, therefore, makes him the ā€œfirst gentleman.ā€ Isnā€™t that right?

If women occupied both the presidency and vice presidency and were married to men, then the husband of the VPOTUS would be theĀ second gentleman. Not now. Doug Emhoff, so far, is theĀ onlyĀ male American to have been thrust into the political limelight by virtue of his marriage to the vice president.

Letā€™s be more accurate, eh? Or perhaps I just am not understanding something.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

POTUS = Consoler in Chief

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It shouldn’t be worthy of a comment here, but given what we have seen for the past four years, well … I’m going to offer a brief observation.

President Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, today performed an unwritten role of being the nation’s first couple. They flew from Washington, D.C., to south Florida. Their duty was to console the loved ones waiting for word on the fate of those still missing in that horrible building collapse in Surfside, Fla.

Biden’s immediate presidential predecessor didn’t see much good to be had in performing that role. He was bad at it. He lacks empathy and compassion. Not so with President and Mrs. Biden.

The people still listed as missing in the debris left by the collapse have loved ones waiting to know their fate. Those loved ones needed a word of warmth from the president and first lady. They got it today.

It won’t produce a tangible result. The presence of the president and first lady only will tell the bereaved loved ones that their head of state stands with them. That’s good enough.

national news

POTUS to speak to sparse ‘crowd’

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden campaigned for the presidency in the midst of a pandemic, meaning that he avoided staging big campaign rallies.

As president, he is getting set to speak to a joint session of Congress this week. Hmm. Guess what … the House of Representatives chamber will contain a fraction of the number of people who usually listen to these speeches.

The Cabinet won’t be there. Only the Supreme Court chief justice, John Roberts, will be present, with the rest of the court staying away. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley will represent the military brass. Members of the House and Senate will be there. First lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in the VIP section, but they will be virtually unaccompanied.

But … the event will show off a bit of history-making. Sitting behind President Biden will be two women: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris.

I understand they’ll be masked up, as will the audience in the chamber.

An earlier blog post wondered how the partisans will react. Will they cheer the president’s arrival? Will they stand and applaud when Speaker Pelosi introduces him?

I am not going to obsess over things we cannot control. I am, however, going to applaud the precautions that the powers that be are taking to avoid creating one of those “super spreader” events.

After all, the pandemic is still raging.

national news

Wanting to purge Trump

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Oh, how I long for the day when I can purge my conscience of any thought of Donald J. Trump as I watch the current president of the United States carry out his myriad duties … such as what occurred last night at the service honoring a slain Capitol Police officer.

President and Mrs. Biden walked into the Capitol Rotunda to honor the memory of Officer Brian Sicknick, the young man who died in the horrendous riot of Jan. 6, when the terrorists stormed Capitol Hill in a blatant, bald-faced act of insurrection against the U.S. government.

I watched the first couple place their hands over their hearts. I watched President Biden cross himself as they moved away from the officer’s remains.

Then it hit me: We haven’t yet heard a single word of grief, mourning or regret from the man on whose watch the riot occurred and which cost Brian Sicknick his life. Donald Trump continues to remain silent. He continues to demonstrate fully why he was so hideously unfit to hold the office of president of the United States.

The terrorists attacked the Capitol Building at Trump’s urging. The blood that was shed that day splattered all over Donald Trump.

Brian Sicknick died because Donald Trump exhorted the terrorists to do what they did. And yet … theĀ  former president remains stone-cold silent.

One of these days — and I hope it is soon — I won’t think of Donald Trump when I watch President Joe Biden comport himself appropriately in times of grief.

education news

Still stewing over the ‘Dr. Biden’ dust-up

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I admit to being a bit miffed over an essay that appeared in the Wall Street Journal that takes Jill Biden to task for her generous use of the honorific term “Dr.” in front of her name.

The author of the piece refers to her as “Jill” and “Kiddo,” the latter term I cannot imagine him ever using while referring to a man. But the future first lady was fair game, I suppose, for the writer and for the editors of what I consider to be one of America’s great newspapers.

I watched Biden and her husband, the president-elect, last night on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. Colbert asked her about the controversy and she brought up the “Kiddo” comment with something of a pained expression on her face. She didn’t belabor the content of the op-ed column, other than to take offense at the sexist nature of the criticism.

She kept her day job as an educator while serving as second lady during Joe Biden’s vice presidency and hinted that she will do so again once she becomes the nation’s first lady. Jill Biden once said that teaching young people isn’t just what she does, it is “who I am.”

She is well-educated, having earned a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware. Suffice to say, moreover, that she is far from the first doctorate-level academician to use the “Dr.” term in front of his or her name.

If she wants to call herself “Dr. Biden,” well … that’s OK with me.

media news

Criticism is sexist to the core

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sexism stinks as badly as racism, ageism or any form of prejudice that poisons the human spirit.

Sexism revealed itself in a pointless essay published in the Wall Street Journal that questions why Jill Biden, wife of the president-elect, keeps referring to herself as “Dr. Jill Biden.” The author of the screed, Joseph Epstein, said she should stop doing so, calling it “fraudulent.”

Umm. No. It isn’t. Good grief, dude.

Jill Biden earned a doctorate in education long ago. She has every right to call herself “Dr. Biden,” as does anyone who chooses to use the honorific title to her.

Just as a point of personal privilege, I don’t necessarily like tossing the term around for anyone and I routinely decline to use the term to describe “academic doctors”; I reserve the title to describe in initial references to medical doctors.

That said, any suggestion that a great newspaper such as the WSJ would publish such a hideous screed smacks of sexism.

Does anyone really believe the newspaper would have allowed such a thing to see print if it referred to a man who calls himself “Dr. So and So”?

Read the screedĀ here.

Stupidity still festers.