Tag Archives: Nancy Pelosi

national news

Speaker McCarthy? Let’s get busy!

I find it strange and a bit discomfiting to refer to Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the U.S. House, but sure enough, he’s got the title and the gavel.

Now comes the test to see if he has the skill to manage a sharply divided legislative chamber that required 15 floor votes to decide on whether McCarthy should succeed one of the greater speakers in U.S. history, Nancy Pelosi.

The only thing these two individuals have in common is that they represent California in the House. Pelosi serves the people of San Francisco, while McCarthy hails from Bakersfield.

Furthermore, I am trying to imagine — and I can’t get close to realizing it — Pelosi getting herself trapped in the embarrassing spectacle that unfolded as McCarthy battled the MAGA wing of his party in trying to secure enough votes to become speaker.

I would not have occurred during Pelosi’s two runs as speaker.

Yet here we are. Speaker McCarthy has suffered heavy injury to his reputation by giving away damn near the whole power structure to the MAGA cult cabal in the House.  Hey, didn’t Pelosi once scold the Democrats’ progressive caucus by ordering its members to back off and let her run the House? Yep. She did!

McCarthy squeaked — or perhaps slithered — his way into the speaker’s chair by the narrowest margin possible. He is de-fanged, de-clawed and de-balled as he seeks to get the House apparatus lined up.

The MAGA clowns will take seats on key committees. Good luck with that … Mr. Speaker.

It’s a new day in Congress. May the forces of good government eclipse the morons who wrangled all those concessions from the gutless coward who now serves as speaker of the House.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

‘Shameful low’? Is he serious?

U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy calls the approval of a $1.7 trillion spending bill a “shameful new low” in Congress.

I damn near did a spit take when I read that.

Then I practically nodded visibly when I read House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s response to McCarthy’s overreaction to a bill that keeps the government running.

“Does he not remember Jan. 6?” Pelosi asked.

Indeed. Now that was a “shameful low” for all of us, Mr. GOP Leader.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Boehner shows touch of grace

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Just to let us know how things used to be in Washington, D.C., where Democrats and Republicans could say nice things about each out loud and in public, up stepped a former GOP House speaker to offer high praise to the individual who succeeded him.

John Boehner got misty while saluting the career of Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Boehner said he wished for his daughter to emulate Pelosi, who is stepping down as speaker in January as the Republicans prepare to take control of the House of Representatives. Imagine any of the MAGA morons doing such a thing.

It’s not yet clear who among the GOP lawmakers will succeed Pelosi. Suffice, though, to acknowledge that whoever it is likely won’t show nearly any of the grace and class that Boehner has shown.

You see, Boehner — who battled hard against President Obama’s agenda — is able to set aside partisan differences to honor the service and love of country shown by a political adversary.

To think as well that Boehner only stepped away from the speaker’s chair in 2015. In just seven years, the atmosphere in D.C. has gone from relatively clear to damn near toxic in the partisan vitriol that fills the air.

I should point out that in today’s world, the attack on Pelosi’s husband, Paul, by a deranged moron who was looking to do physical harm to the speaker, has actually drawn snide and snarky comments from some prominent Republicans.

Thanks, therefore, belong to former Speaker Boehner for demonstrating a needed touch of class.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

McCarthy is no Pelosi

Having declared my faint hope that the cowardly U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy will find the courage to stand up to the MAGA cabal within his congressional caucus, I want to offer a brief comparison to the woman he hopes to succeed as speaker of the House.

McCarthy will march to the MAGA cadence, I am quite sure. The current speaker, McCarthy’s fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi, also felt pressure from her progressive House members. They wanted her to impeach Donald Trump far sooner than she eventually did.

Pelosi stood firm against the likes of The Squad and other ultra-progressives. She, in effect, told them to pipe down and let her lead the House as she saw fit.

Pelosi eventually announced the impeachment inquiry after the then-president sought a political favor from the Ukraine president, seeking him to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The speaker was not going to be pushed into acting prematurely.

Will the man who wants to be speaker show the same courage?

I am trying to stop snickering at the notion.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Will the coward find courage?

I have gone on record calling Kevin McCarthy, the man who wants to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, an unmitigated coward.

The House Republican leader is trying to muster enough House votes to be elected to the post he wants to inherit from Democrat Nancy Pelosi. He doesn’t have 218 votes yet, as some of the 222 GOP House members have said they want someone else to lead the body.

How can the coward demonstrate some needed courage in the event he takes the gavel from Speaker Pelosi? He can stand up against the MAGA wing of his GOP caucus, telling them to settle down and learn to work with Democrats if they hope to get anything constructive done in the118th Congress.

Some of the MAGA-ites have declared they do not want to work with Democrats. They say working with the other party is similar to surrendering to their philosophy.

The MAGA Republicans are feeling their oats these days, despite so many like-minded candidates losing in the midterm election to Democrats. They hold plenty of power as itis, but they want more.

Whoever ascends to the speakership — and it well could be McCarthy — can show significant courage by telling the MAGA cabal to, um … stuff it.

Will it happen? I am not holding my breath!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Pelosi bows out with class

Nancy Pelosi has made her share of foes — as well as friends — over her many years as a leader in Congress.

Today, though, the lame-duck speaker of the House demonstrated a rare form of grace and class as she declared her intention to stay in Congress while forgoing any future attempts to remain a leader within the Democratic Party caucus.

Pelosi can consider me a friend and a fan, for sure.

She spoke to a nearly full House of Representatives chamber today to announce her political future. Pelosi declared her intent to remain loyal to her San Francisco constituents … also while remaining loyal to the oath she took as a member of Congress to protect and defend the Constitution against “all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

She soon will hand the gavel over to whomever becomes speaker.

As is always the case, one side of the chamber stood and cheered at the appropriate time. The other side, the one occupied by Republican members, didn’t always stand, but one could see some GOP members clapping politely.

They all stood and cheered as Pelosi paid tribute to her husband, Paul, who is still recovering from injuries he suffered in that brutal attack at the couple’s SF home in what clearly was a political assault.

Pelosi called herself a “proud Democrat,” a mother, grandmother and a patriot who loves our country to the fullest. I believe in her faith and devotion to our beloved nation.

Yes, the Pelosi era in the House is about to come to an end.

May this classy and devoted public servant continue to serve her constituents with the same honor and dignity she served the nation as the speaker of the House.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Where is protection for speaker?

The moron who broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and assaulted her husband, Paul, should have been stopped before he ever set foot in the place.

He wasn’t. Why? Because the individual who is third in line for the presidency of the United States doesn’t get the level of security afforded to the president and vice president.

That ought to change.

The speaker of the House arguably is the most powerful person in Congress. He or she calls the tune for legislation that flows from the chamber. Plus, the speaker is just two heartbeats away from assuming the powerful office in the land … if not the world!

Paul Pelosi was injured critically with a skull fracture. We all should wish him a complete recovery from his grievous injury.

As for the whether the speaker of the House deserves Secret Service protection, I am all in on calling for that upgrade in security protocol. The speaker’s power and influence in our government is too important to ignore.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Violence has no place

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins today uttered what should be considered a platitude, a no-brainer, a throw-away line.

Except that we now live in an era of intense anger that brings insane reactions to political differences.

“Violence has no place” in today’s society, Jenkins said in offering an update into her investigation into the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.  Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture after being battered with a hammer by an individual who broke into the couple’s home.

Indeed, the DA is right to assert the obvious, that violence never should be used to settle political scores in a supposedly civil society.

The suspect, who faces a potential life sentence in prison if he is convicted of the myriad crimes for which he is being charged, was targeting the speaker, according to Jenkins. He was heard asking, “Where’s Nancy?” when he commenced his attack on Paul Pelosi. Hmm. Can we link that chant to a political cause, given that 1/6 Capitol Hill attackers were heard making the same request as they launched their insurrection against the federal government?

DA Jenkins should not have to remind us of the obvious, that violence never should be a solution to settling political differences. Sadly, the tenor of the times tells her to remind Americans what they already should know.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Is this the nature of our politics?

What are we to surmise about the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of the U.S. House speaker?

An assailant broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home, asking, “Where’s Nancy?” Then he and Paul Pelosi started struggling and the assailant beat his victim brutally, fracturing his skull and inflicting assorted other injuries.

The police came while the fight was underway and arrested the suspect.

The motive for the attack hasn’t been established officially, so I am left to offer a bit of conjecture that I believe is on point.

It is that the assailant was looking to harm the speaker of the House for political reasons.

I have put two and two together and have come up with four. My strong hunch is that the idiotic assailant is a MAGA-loving adherent to the far-right wing of the Republican Party.

Is this the nature of disagreement these days? That those who believe in a different world view are going to physically assault their foes?

I am acutely aware that violence has existed in the American political system since the beginning of the Republic. Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton to death in 1804 while settling some sort of political dispute.

But … that was then. We’re supposed to be a more “civilized society” these days. Now, though, we have instances of violence erupting, such as what occurred in the home of Paul and Nancy Pelosi.

I’ll conclude with this observation. I believe this sort of insanity should give all voters pause as they ponder for whom to vote during the midterm election. Do they really want to endorse the candidacies of politicians who espouse the idiocy that appears to have motivated the assailant to damn near kill the husband of a powerful politician?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Pelosi riles PRC needlessly

Nancy Pelosi generally has my support in her role as speaker of the House of Representatives and the person who is third in line to the presidency.

However, the California Democrat has stepped in some serious diplomatic dookey by visiting Taiwan during her multi-stop tour of Asia.

Why did the speaker choose to rile the People’s Republic of China by becoming the first speaker to visit Taiwan in a quarter-century? To what end? For what purpose?

Pelosi knows about the “one-China policy” this country has followed since it bestowed diplomatic relations on the PRC back in the late 1970s. When it did that, the United States cut off Taiwan, which prior to that period had been recognized as “China” by this country.

The PRC calls Taiwan a “renegade province” that it intends to return to the fold … one way or another.

I have been to Taiwan five times dating back to 1989. I am going to tell you that it is a vibrant, robust, militarily stout nation. However, it occupies arguably the most complicated diplomatic place on Earth. It has little diplomatic link with the rest of the world, which also operates under the one-China policy.

So, for Speaker Pelosi to in effect bestow some sort of blessing on Taiwan and anger the PRC in the process doesn’t make much sense.

The White House opposed her stopping in Taiwan. However, in our government system, the White House can object all it wants; there’s nothing it can do to stop the leader of a co-equal government branch from visiting the nation if she desires.

From where I sit, Pelosi could have accomplished what she intended to do — which was to affirm our nation’s economic and military support — over the telephone in a private conversation.

Instead, she chose to make a spectacle of herself and likely angered the president of the United States.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com