Tag Archives: social media

Right-wing response has been laughable

December 17, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

Our friends on the right wing of the political spectrum make my stomach turn with laughable excuses for why some of them seemingly justify Donald Trump’s hideous statement on the stabbing murders of Rob and Michele Reiner.

Some of them have speculated that the left’s response to the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk has given them justification to make crass comments out loud about the Reiners’ murder.

Let me be clear about something. Many GOP pols have criticized Trump’s response as being “callous,” “unpresidential,” “beyond the pale,” and “just plain wrong.” Some of the critics have been longtime MAGA supporters of Trump, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene … who’s now on Trump’s sh** list of former friends turned foe.

I just will add this. The president of the United States should always exercise restraint and good judgment when deciding to comment on matters such as the murder of celebrities whose fame spans the globe. Rob Reiner was an acclaimed filmmaker, director, actor, producer and, yes, a political provocateur. He despised Trump and said so regularly.

That was his right, as guaranteed under the free speech clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Believe it not, the president of the United States, by virtue of his very title, really isn’t entitled to speak as openly as Trump frequently does about his political opponents. Sure, he can do so without being prosecuted. However, custom simply means that just because he can do something that he really shouldn’t do it.

Trump crossed an important line of demarcation with that ghastly message sent out over Truth Social. One critic of this blog suggested to me that someone on POTUS’s staff likely wrote it and published it. Well, it still went out over Trump’s name and Donald Trump has seized control of its message.

It just goes to show what kind of individual this nation has elected to its most revered public office.

media news

MTG resignation outlives its importance

November 25, 2025 kanelis2012

There once was a time — in a long-ago political universe — that the resignation of a junior member of Congress would last about a day, maybe two, on the nation’s attention cycle.

Then came social media. Smart phones, websites, the Internet changed it all. Now we have a junior member of Congress resigning after five years on the job in the House of Reps and you’d think the world had just spun off its axis.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the one-time QAnon queen of Congress, the fomenter of lies and conspiracies and the leading lady of the MAGA movement, has announced her resignation from Congress effective Jan. 5, 2026. And we’re still talking about it! Hell, this blog is mentioning it!

She earned so much attention from the media that we’ve now assigned her an ID based on her initial. I have to admit that “MTG” does kinda roll off the tongue. This isn’t right. She has put forward virtually no constructive legislation. Yet MTG has become something of a household name.

She reminds me, to be ironic, of a political rival. Recall that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., burst onto the scene in a similar fashion. She, too, has been elevated to initial status. We call her AOC. She’s also been a fiery blowhard, talking about about the democratic socialism that drives her agenda. AOC, just like MTG, has become a media darling. I questioned at the time of her swearing in why the media were spending so much time on this one-time no-name member of the House. I’m still scratching my head over that one.

Social media do have their good qualities. Real news gets immediate attention. If it’s accurate, the news generally tends to draw quick response to questions raised.

Then again, it elevates back-bench members of Congress to immediate superstar status … e.g. MTG and AOC. For better or worse, that’s the world we have.

local news, media news

Better friends … than ever!

June 25, 2025 kanelis2012

Someone posted a question on social media that drew an out-loud laugh from this old man.

“How many of you are friends with someone you knew in high school?” this individual asked.

So help me I chuckled out loud … loud enough for my puppies to hear me and come running to see for themselves.

Here’s the back story …

I graduuated from Parkrose High School in Portland, Ore., in June 1967. They called it the Summer of Love. Whatever. The truth of my high school years was that I didn’t have many friends. I was painfully shy around girls and so I didn’t date. That’s right … I dated no one from my high school. I had a few close friends, maybe two or three. I met one of them the day I reported for junior high school in March 1962 after my parents moved us to the suburbs.

Dennis and I have been close friends ever since.

I change came over me in the 58 years since I graduated from high school. I snapped out of my shyness, thanks in large part to the girl I met in college in January 1971 and whom I would marry and spend 51 glorious years in her embrace.

We traipsed through life and along the way I came across men and women I knew back in high school. I was unafraid to chat them up, whereas before I wouldn’t have dared try to engage them in conversation.

Over the years as social media has advanced and taken over many millons of Americans’ lives, I now find myself with quite a few more friends from high school than I had in the olden days. Some of them are men with whom I share a common bond called “the Vietnam War.” Others are guys who just pop up from time to time on Facebook friend request feeds, enabling us to connect. Others still are women who these days are all grown up and understand why some of us boys were too shy to reach out before.

I cannot count a lot of high school-age friends, but my network of acquaintances surely has grown … thanks to social media.

Hey, it’s not all bad. You know?

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience