Tag Archives: Ronny Jackson

local news, political news

Congressman: a non-funny joke

Let’s just lay a couple of cards on the table and see how they play, shall we?

Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle — a region of the state I know well — are served in Congress by someone who doesn’t belong there. Republican Ronny Jackson became embroiled in an incident at a rodeo near Amarillo the other day. He got roughed up by cops patrolling the event and then used language that — to say the very least — is totally unbefitting a member of Congress.

Jackson said he was trying to help a teenager who was under duress. Police say he was interfering with their efforts to do the same thing. A tussle occurred and Jackson got handcuffed briefly.

After being freed of the cuffs, Jackson launched a series of f-bombs at the cops and threatened Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry politically, saying in effect he would ensure he loses the next time he runs for re-election.

I’ve heard the bodycam audio of the incident and, so help me, it sounds to me like something one doesn’t say if (a) he is an elected member of Congress and (b) is totally in control of himself and is not intoxicated. Per the latter point, Jackson has been known to imbibe … you know?

I have taken a dim view of Jackson ever since he moved to Amarillo in 2020 to run for the seat vacated by longtime U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, a native of Donley County and an individual who knows the region well. I can say without an ounce of equivocation that Thornberry never would be caught saying the things to a police officer that flew out of Jackson’s pie hole.

This incident likely will blow over eventually. Panhandle voters will move on to something else. Jackson’s behavior will be swept away and he probably — as much as I hate to acknowledge it — will be re-elected in 2024. After that? Rumors are flying that he might decide in 2026 to challenge John Cornyn for the senior Republican’s U.S. Senate seat. It all would be a shame.

My own belief is that he has disgraced himself.

local news

This is no ‘distinguished gentleman’

Now we have bodycam footage of a member of Congress, a Texas Republican, being wrestled to the ground by a sheriff’s deputy.

The incident involved someone at a rodeo who reportedly was under distress. The congressman, Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, reportedly was “trying to help” the youngster. The cops paint a different picture, alleging that Jackson was interfering with police efforts to control the scene.

Word to the wise: The following contains some very rough language blurted out by Jackson as the incident unfolded.

“You are a fu**ing full-on dick!” Jackson told the trooper after being brought off the ground, according to bodycam footage provided by the Department of Public Safety. “You better recalculate, motherfu**er!”

Bodycam video shows confrontation between U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, officer | The Texas Tribune

You know who I thought about when I read this? Mac Thornberry, the Republican whom Jackson succeeded in 2021 as the 13th Congressional District representative for the Texas Panhandle.

Try to imagine Thornberry ever getting involved in this kind of situation. Try to ponder Thornberry using that kind of language when speaking to a law enforcement officer.

The Texas Panhandle is now represented in the halls of Congress by a maniacal hothead. Makes you proud … right?

local news

More to the story? Hmm …

You can describe me as not entirely surprised that there might be more to a story involving a Republican congressman who — reportedly — helped someone in distress in a rodeo outside of Amarillo.

It turns out there might be more to examine in the conduct of Rep. Ronny Jackson.

Reports initially stated that Jackson rushed to aid a teenager who was having a seizure in a rodeo in Carson County. Now comes word from Sheriff Tam Terry that Jackson threatened him politically if he didn’t examine the incident further.

According to the Texas Tribune: After the congressman was released, he demanded Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry call him and investigate the incident. During that call, Terry, a Republican, said that Jackson warned him that he would “bury me in the next election.”

Moreover, we now hear from a police report that sheriff’s deputies tried to clear the area, but that Jackson refused their orders, screaming at deputies who — according to reports — were merely trying to do their job.

Jackson’s office also said that the congressman had not been drinking, but wait … now we hear that he was seen imbibing in adult beverages prior to all hell breaking loose.

“Congressman Jackson was not drinking and was prevented from giving medical care in a potentially life-threatening situation due to overly aggressive and incompetent actions by the local authorities present at the time of the incident,” said Kate Lair, a spokesperson for Jackson. “Again, he was asked to help the teenager when no other uniformed medics were present. Congressman Jackson, as a trained ER physician, will not apologize for sparing no effort to help in a medical emergency, especially when the circumstances were chaotic and the local authorities refused to help the situation.”

Ronny Jackson cursed at, threatened officers in altercation at rodeo | The Texas Tribune

What the spokeswoman does not acknowledge, of course, is that Jackson has been perceived by many as a political hothead since taking office in the 13th Congressional District in 2021. He has been heard many times making hysterical statements about the “Deep State” and vowing to investigate the Biden administration for misdeeds that never occurred.

All of this gives the latest updated information about what happened in Carson County a bit more credibility.

 

national news

What’s fair is well … fair

Fairness is forcing me to hold back on my feelings about the MAGA crowd’s unwillingness to refer to Joe Biden with the title he won during the 2020 presidential election.

The right-wing extremists refuse to use the term “President Biden” when referencing the commander in chief. But yet — and this is where the conflict arises — they attach the word “President” in front of Donald Trump’s name.

Where am I going with this?

I acknowledge freely and without apology my own refusal to afford Donald Trump the same “recognition” the MAGAites refuse to grant to President Biden.

Years ago, when Trump took the presidential oath of office, I vowed publicly on High Plains Blogger that I never would place Trump’s name after the word “President.” I have delivered on that pledge. Spare me the lecture that Trump did get elected in 2016 because he garnered enough Electoral College votes to declare victory.

It is incumbent on me, therefore, to withhold any outward criticism of the MAGA cult members who refuse to bestow the courtesy of referring to Joe Biden as President Biden. I am acutely aware that none of this has a thing to do with policy differences.

I have been tempted, to be sure, particularly when I see the likes of Ronny Jackson, the Republican-MAGA member of Congress who represents my old haunts in the Texas Panhandle, harp continually on phony allegations regarding President Biden’s mental acuity.

But … I won’t go there.

I was taught all about leveling fair criticism long ago as a much younger editorialist. This critical reluctance on my part falls into the category of remaining fair.

Hey, if the other side is going to engage in the same behavior that I did, then who in the world am I to criticize ’em? I’ll keep my powder dry for the issues that matter.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Congressman: top-tier boor

Ronny Jackson has a bottomless pit from which he draws his boorishness and his uncanny ability to make an utter ass of himself.

The two-term congressman from the Texas Panhandle — a former White House physician to two presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — says President Biden’s doc is engaging in a “cover-up” of Biden’s actual health.

Jackson said — yet once again — that Biden must take a cognitive exam to prove he is mentally fit to run the nation. President Biden recently underwent a physical exam and was deemed fit and able to govern.

That ain’t good enough for the Republican fire-breather, Jackson. He continues to diagnose the president from a great distance, having never seen his medical history or providing a shred of evidence to back up the defamatory comments he makes about the commander in chief.

I just wish Ronny Jackson would shut his pie hole. That won’t happen. I just have to get this demand off my chest.

I also want to admonish my former Texas Panhandle neighbors and friends — many of whom voted for this dipsh** — for the mistake they made in sending him to Congress.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Defamation, anyone?

Defaming a fellow public official’s good name is difficult to fight in a court of law, I suppose, which might explain why we haven’t seen many defamation lawsuits filed in this age of extreme political anger and vilification.

I mention this because of the hideous lie that U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican, said regarding fellow Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat.

Jackson put a tweet out there that accused Porter of saying that pedophilia isn’t a crime. She didn’t say that. She said nothing of the sort. Porter said gays have been treated unfairly as pedophiles and “groomers.”

Has Jackson, the GOP rep who lives in Amarillo — the city I once called home — apologized to Porter? Hah! Nope.

That brings to mind the hideous statements that have flown from the pie holes of the QAnon/MAGA cabal of public officials. They have accused high-ranking Democrats of peddling children for sex. Yes, there have been lawsuits and the victims of that hideous epithet have won judgments.

Jackson needs to be slapped with a lawsuit for the constant barrage of moronic messages he has fired off via Twitter on any number of Democrats. The guy is a disgrace to the office he occupies and to the governing body where he serves.

What’s more, the overwhelming majority of Twitter messages that come from Jackson seek to denigrate those on the other side of the great divide. Any constructive notion, any positive comments about legislation he either authors or supports are not to be found.

All of this is my way of suggesting that those he denigrates — such as Rep. Porter — ought to ponder whether it’s wise to take this clown to court. To put words in someone’s mouth for the purpose of embarrassing her, as he did with Katie Porter, surely can be grounds for defamation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

OK, Ronny … apologize!

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Ronny Jackson shot off his big mouth — via Twitter, of course — and declared that a fellow member of Congress believes that pedophilia is not a crime.

Well, it turns out the person he accused of saying such a thing didn’t say it. Democratic Rep. Katie Porter made no mention of pedophilia in her comments, None of that stopped the Republican who represents the Texas Panhandle from popping off like the MAGA blowhard he is.

What did Porter actually say? She said gay people have been branded wrongly as “groomers” and “pedophiles.”

GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson’s false “pedophilia” attack on Katie Porter blows up in his face (msn.com)

But morons like Jackson aren’t about to reflect on the defamation they dish out on social media platforms. That is what Jackson did when he labeled Porter as someone who all but endorses sex with children.

It’s too much to expect Ronny Jackson to apologize to Rep. Porter for his incendiary comment on Twitter. Even though he won’t do so, I will take this brief moment to demand that he say three simple words:

I am sorry.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, political news

Rep. Jackson: MAGA fool

Ronny Jackson has me scratching my noggin bloody. The newly re-elected freshman U.S. representative from Amarillo has emerged as one of the nation’s premier MAGA election denying nut jobs in Congress.

And to think he represents what used to be my congressional district, where my wife and I lived for 23 years before we moved to the Metroplex.

What drives me just this side of the funny farm are his incessant Twitter messages questioning President Biden’s fitness for office. Indeed, I have wondered about Jackson’s fitness for the office he occupies.

It staggers me as well to believe the residents of the13th Congressional District would re-elect this guy, let alone elect him in the first place in 2020.

The 13th District was represented for the entire length of my journalism career in Amarillo by Republican Mac Thornberry of Clarendon. Thornberry was a back bencher for much of his time in Congress. Then he earned the chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee. For a time, Thornberry occupied a ringside seat of military policy, and he did his job with a huge measure of dignity and decorum I do not see in the individual who succeeded him.

What I continue to see in Jackson are the antics of a raving lunatic. I know that sounds strange to say, given that Jackson is a retired Navy admiral and is a former physician who served two presidents: Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Since being elected to Congress after moving into the 13th District, though, Jackson has gone mad. He is a frequent guest on the Fox Propaganda Network, spouting the trash about Joe Biden –without, of course, ever being challenged by his interviewers.

Whenever I read a tweet from Jackson that accuses the president of being everything but the spawn of Satan, I cannot stop wondering: What in the world would Jackson do if the 13th Congressional District needed a presidential declaration in the case of dire emergency? Would he ask for it?

It is as if Jackson is burning every bridge there is between the congressional district he represents and the White House.

I just don’t get it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, national news

Chill out, congressman

Ronny the Carpetbagger continues his Twitter rants with more nonsensical demagoguery.

This guy, aka Ronny Jackson, the Republican who purports to represent the Texas Panhandle in Congress, is now suggesting Democrats are out to “destroy” the U.S. of A.

Well, how’s that going to happen?

By enacting crucial climate change legislation? By seeking to legislate an end to gun violence? By working with Republicans to enact critical infrastructure legislation? By restoring employment to pre-pandemic levels? By unifying NATO in resisting rampant and illegal Russian aggression in Ukraine? By seeking to curb the effects of climate change on the world?

Good grief. Ronny the Carpetbagger needs to look inward. If anyone is seeking to “destroy the country,” it’s the former Big Liar in Chief who continues to insist that non-existent widespread vote fraud cost him re-election in 2020.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, political news

Brown vs. Jackson … no contest!

You might be able to read two messages into this proclamation: an election pitting Democrat Kathleen Brown vs. Republican Ronny Jackson is a “no-contest” affair.

One way is to presume that Jackson, a first-term congressman representing the 13th Congressional District of Texas will have little trouble winning re-election to a second term in about 41 days.

Another way is to suggest that there’s “no contest” between the quality of the candidates. To my way of thinking, that puts Brown far ahead of the blowhard Donald J. Trump toadie.

I got acquainted with Brown this morning. We had a nice chat over the phone. I told her of my continuing interest in the affairs of the 13th district, even though I no longer live there. I spent 23 years in Amarillo and became quite embedded in the politics and culture of the Texas Panhandle.

I also informed her that I am appalled by the conduct of Jackson, who moved to the Panhandle prior to the 2020 election in order to seek the seat that Mac Thornberry vacated after serving the district for 25 years.

I want to repeat a couple of things I told Brown about Jackson. One is that I consider him to be a “carpetbagging opportunist” who doesn’t “know Pantex from potting soil.” He’s also a blowhard who spends an inordinate amount of time tweeting diatribes against President Biden.

Those who know Brown understand that she is a lawyer who lives in Wichita Falls. She is married and the mother of three children. She claims — which they all do — that she isn’t a politician … but in reality she is, right?

Her top priority if elected to Congress? She said the 13th District needs water. Her hometown of Wichita Falls is running dry. The Ogallala Aquifer is receding rapidly. To be blunt, she didn’t offer any specifics on how to provide the Panhandle and her home region with water.

I reminded her that I now live in Collin County, which is one county too far from the eastern edge of the congressional district she wants to represent. I have been following Ronny Jackson’s rise to the front of the right-wing media chorus line and I dislike what I am hearing.

I don’t know if Kathleen Brown has what it takes to defeat Ronny Jackson, meaning I don’t know if she’ll be able to persuade enough voters to join her effort.

I do believe the 13th Congressional District deserves far better than it is getting from the interloper who claims to “represent” it. Kathleen Brown can do better. Then again, Ronny Jackson has set the bar shamefully low.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com