Tag Archives: Maxine Waters

crime news

Waters needs to shut her mouth!

2 Comments

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Just as U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters correctly admonished her House colleague Jim Jordan to “shut your mouth,” she ought to heed her own advice.

Waters, a California Democrat, decided to weigh in on a possible consequence of the trial of a former Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin, who is on trial for murder in the death of George Floyd in that infamous arrest that cost Floyd his life.

Waters said some highly inflammatory remarks about the possible outcome of the trial. According to NBC News: “We’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational,” Waters told reporters when asked what would happen if the Chauvin trial, which is wrapping up this week, ends in acquittal. “We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

Chauvin trial judge says Maxine Waters’ ‘confrontational’ protest remarks could fuel appeal (msn.com)

Get more confrontational? What in the world is Rep. Waters advocating? Violence? Good fu**ing grief.

Her remarks drew a sharp rebuke from the judge presiding over the Chauvin trial, suggesting her comments could end up as fodder for an appeal by Chauvin’s defense counsel if the ex-cop gets convicted of murder or manslaughter.

Maxine Waters long has been seen as a lightning rod for those on the left and the right. She tends to get in people’s faces, saying whatever she damn well feels like saying.

Look, I endorsed her comments about Jordan, who hectored and badgered Dr. Anthony Fauci about the pandemic. Jordan needed to be slapped down.

However, Rep. Waters stepped way beyond her sphere of influence in calling for “more confrontation” if a criminal defendant gets acquitted. The jury system well could produce an unsatisfactory verdict in this case. Let’s allow the jurors to do their civic duty to the best of their ability.

As for Rep. Waters, she needs to shut her mouth.

national news

Don’t go there, Rep. Waters

Donald Trump has plenty for which he must answer.

The abysmal initial pandemic response; the way he lashes out gratuitously; his incessant lying; his denigration of war heroes, of handicapped individuals; his monstrously boorish behavior.

The death of a Minneapolis man at the hands of rogue cops? No. Let’s not go there.

And yet, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has determined that Trump is “partially” responsible for George Floyd’s death this week when a Minneapolis police officer held his head to the pavement with a knee planted on the back of his head and neck.

Floyd has become a martyr for the cause of police reform.

However, to equate Donald Trump’s hideous behavior with this incident doesn’t fly with me.

Waters told TMZ: “My first thought was: ‘Not again, not one more killing,’” said the California congresswoman. “And I’m reflecting on all of the killings of young black men, in particular, but of course black women, too — at the hands of the police and at the hands of these white supremacists.”

“And I’m thinking about the way that the president conducts himself,” she declared. “In a way he’s dog-whistling, and I think that they’re feeling that they can get away with this kind of treatment.”

Trump needs to answer for a lot of things. However, the actions of the now-former cop isn’t one of them. The now-former cop had a history of discipline issues related to his treatment of civilians. The George Floyd incident is just the latest.

Let’s keep our eyes on the real issues. Let us also ensure that we hold Donald Trump responsible for the issues that matter to his conduct as president of the United States.

national news

Pipe down, Rep. Waters . . . will ya?

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters is dead set on impeaching Donald John Trump. She is so anxious to boot the president out of office she says it is “past time” to file articles of impeachment against him.

Well . . .

Allow me this brief rejoinder to the California Democrat: No, ma’am. It isn’t “past time.” Impeachment needs to wait for some work to be finished.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is up to his armpits in evidence that he is preparing for a final report on “The Russia Thing.”

Trump’s denigrating of our nation’s intelligence chiefs’ assessment of threats against the country got Waters’ temperature up. She’s been an ardent and vocal critic of the president. She needs little to get fired up over her desire to impeach him.

I oppose the president at almost every level, too. However, I am going to use this forum — my blog — to assert that we must wait for Mueller to finish his work before we decide whether to proceed with impeachment.

With that, Rep. Waters, I urge you to settle down and let the special counsel finish his important task.

national news

‘When they go low, we go high’

Michelle Obama’s wisdom has been lost on many of her fellow Democrats.

The former first lady offered the perfect antidote to the negativity, the insults and innuendo that became Donald Trump’s mantra while campaigning for the presidency in 2016.

“When they go low, we go high,” she said.

It isn’t happening. Trump continues to go low. Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California, are going low right with him. So, too, is the film icon Robert DeNiro, who yelled “f*** Trump!” at the Tony Awards.

Waters says it’s OK to harass and hassle Trump administration officials when they’re off the clock. Actually, it isn’t OK.

Michelle Obama’s formula is the correct one. Go high when the other side goes low.

national news

Here we go again with the insults

Donald J. Trump is at it again. A lawmaker criticizes him and his followers and he responds with … insults.

The target is a familiar one: U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California.

Waters flew off the rails over the weekend with a rant that called for harassing Trump administration officials, even when they are trying to enjoy an outing with their families. White House press aide Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for instance, was asked to leave a Lexington, Va., restaurant by the owner who polled her employees.

Trump’s response was to refer to Waters as “low IQ Maxine.” He warned her to “be careful what you wish for, Max.”

Hey, Waters was wrong to blurt out that ridiculous rant. Trump, though, cannot find it within himself to keep the discussion civil and dignified. He has returned to the insult gambit that plays oh, so well with his political base.

Donald Trump isn’t acting very “presidented.”

national news

Settle down, Rep. Waters

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters needs to settle down.

The California Democrat needs to develop a sense of decorum and decency in this overheated political climate. I know it’s hard, but it can be done.

She said the following Saturday at a rally. She was commenting on White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave a Virginia restaurant because Huckabee works for Donald J. Trump:

“For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him, they’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they’re going to tell the president ‘No, I can’t hang with you, this is wrong, this is unconscionable and we can’t keep doing this to children.'”

Waters is inciting potentially harmful — if not dangerous — confrontations.

She is angry over the president’s policy that took children from their parents at the southern border. I share her anger. It’s an outrageous effort to demonize illegal immigrants. It is punishing children because of something their parents have done.

The White House press secretary does not deserve to be hassled, harassed or hectored while she is in a public place with her family. Yes, Waters has walked back her comment just a bit. She says protest is a “democratic” process as long as it is peaceful. Fine. Protest in all sorts of ways.

However, the idea that she would encourage such confrontation of other Trump administration officials only inflames passion, drives deeper divisions between factions and creates even more hard feelings than those that exist already.

The president himself has shown himself to be the master of division and discord. There is no need to mimic what he has done to sow the seeds of anger among Americans.

Hassling officials from the administration while they are off the clock is no way to unite the nation.

national news

Look inward, Rep. Waters

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters needs to ask herself a critical question.

How would she react if someone were to approach her in a public place and began berating her over some statement she made? She wouldn’t like it one damn bit.

Thus, why in the world does the California Democrat believe it’s all right for anyone associated with the Trump administration to except — and possibly accept — similar treatment by Americans who are upset with the president’s policies.

Waters made that ridiculous assertion recently in the wake of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s experience at a Lexington, Va., eating establishment. The owners of the eatery asked Sanders to leave, expecting that she might be harassed by other patrons. Sanders got up and left the Red Hen restaurant.

The incident has provoked a partisan fight.

In reality, Rep. Waters is flat wrong to suggest that Trump administration senior staffers should have to expect such treatment.

As The Hill reported: “The people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they’re going to tell the president, ‘No, I can’t hang with you, this is wrong, this is unconscionable and we can’t keep doing this to children,’” Waters said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called it correctly. He labeled such a point of view as “un-American.” Again, from The Hill:

“I strongly disagree with those who advocate harassing folks if they don’t agree with you. …No one should call for the harassment of political opponents. That’s not right. That’s not American,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.

Schumer added that he understands the “frustrations” some members of his party feel when Trump “complains about bullying [and] harassment” even though the president uses it “as a regular tool almost every day.”

“But the president’s tactics and behavior should never be emulated. It should be repudiated by organized, well-informed and passionate advocacy. As Michelle Obama, a person who represents the same kind of fineness that we’ve always had in America … said, ‘When they go low, we go high,’” Schumer said. 

Think of the Golden Rule, Rep. Waters, and ponder whether you would like to be treated in a way you would treat others.

national news, political news

How about waiting on special counsel’s finished report?

I have an idea I’d like to share with those who are clamoring for Donald J. Trump’s impeachment.

How about waiting for special counsel Robert Mueller to finish his work, write his report, issue that report for public review before deciding whether the president should be impeached?

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., one of Trump’s most vociferous critics, thinks the time has arrived to impeach the president. She’s getting way ahead of the curve, way ahead of Mueller and way ahead of what might transpire when Mueller’s work is done.

Contrary to what the president keeps insisting, Mueller’s investigation is no “witch hunt,” nor is it a “hoax.” Mueller is a serious man, a former FBI director and a career prosecutor known for meticulous preparation, whose selection as special counsel was hailed widely by both Republicans and Democrats.

Mueller also is a registered Republican who has served both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations.

Since Mueller’s appointment, many Republicans — led by Trump — have sought to poison the probe that Mueller is conducting. They keep yapping about conspiracies, leaks and now, based on zero evidence, so-called “spying” on the Trump presidential campaign.

To my eyes and ears, Trump is protesting far too much if he has done nothing wrong.

So, let the Mueller probe reach its conclusion. He’ll finish his work in due course and likely will issue a detailed report on what, if anything, he has found that might be cause for punishment.

Only then should we talk about impeachment. Until then, let’s allow Robert Mueller to do his job.

national news, political news

Hold on, Rep. Waters!

Donald John Trump Sr. isn’t the only American politician who needs to bind up his hands to keep him from abusing his Twitter account.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters? I’m talking about you!

The California Democrat is one of the president’s most vocal and consistent critics. She fired off a tweet that said Vice President Pence already is planning his inauguration in anticipation of Trump’s impeachment and conviction of assorted “high crimes and misdemeanors.” She said former White House press flack Sean Spicer and ex-chief of staff Reince Priebus will “lead the transition.”

Read my lips here: I take a back seat to no one in my disdain for this president and the way he has conducted himself. But impeachment is not even close to occurring.

Waters has been around Capitol Hill for a long time. I am going to presume she does an adequate job representing her California congressional district, given that she’s been re-elected numerous times since her first election to Congress in 1990.

She tends to make a national name for herself, though, by popping off during heated political debates. It’s getting pretty damn hot in Washington these days, as I believe we all can attest.

Waters isn’t the first anti-Trumpkin to talk openly about impeachment. Fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Green of Texas has filed articles of impeachment, but it isn’t going anywhere — at least not yet.

But this business of using Twitter as a platform to make these kinds goofy political pronouncements is beginning to annoy many of us. You may count me as among the annoyed.

media news

Cool the jail talk, Rep. Waters

2 Comments

Maxine Waters must still be angry over that tasteless joke about the “James Brown wig.”

The California Democratic U.S. representatives then popped off on her own, saying that Bill O’Reilly “needs to go to jail” over allegations that he sexually harassed several women.

Whoa! Let’s hold on here.

O’Reilly made a stupidly insensitive “joke” about Waters’ appearance, making some reference to her hairstyle as resembling the late singer James Brown’s hair.

He later apologized for the crass remark. OK. Fine.

Then came a flood of accusations from women contending that O’Reilly sexually harassed them. We’ve heard of settlements from O’Reilly and from Fox News to the women. From where I sit, a “settlement” implies a bit of fire under all that smoke.

Should the bombastic blowhard — O’Reilly — go to “jail” because of what he might have done? I don’t think so.

Do not misconstrue this as anything approaching an endorsement of O’Reilly. It isn’t. I cannot stand the sound of his voice, let alone the content that pours out of his mouth. He very well may deserve to be banished from TV airwaves. Fox execs aren’t likely to do a thing about it as long as O’Reilly’s loyal viewers keep watching him.

Rep. Waters, though, ought to show a bit of discretion when talking about this matter. Mentioning a jail term, instead, reveals a good bit of hysteria.