State news

You go, ‘P’!

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas needs an attorney general who:

  • Isn’t under indictment and is awaiting trail in state court for securities fraud.
  • Isn’t being investigated by the FBI on complaints leveled by former highly placed legal staffers that he is breaking federal law.
  • Doesn’t file lawsuits alleging that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from a crooked president who promotes the Big Lie about election fraud.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has declared he is going to run in the Republican Party primary next year against incumbent Texas AG Ken Paxton. Is Bush going to get my vote? That remains an open question, as I am unsure whether I will vote in the GOP primary next year.

However, I welcome P’s challenge of Paxton, who I consider to be an embarrassment as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

The Texas Tribune reports: “Enough is enough, Ken,” Bush said during a campaign kickoff at a downtown Austin bar. “You’ve brought way too much scandal and too little integrity to this office. And as a career politician for 20 years, it’s time for you to go.”

Good grief. Paxton was a mediocre lawyer and a back-bench legislator when he was elected attorney general in 2014. Then came the indictment from a Collin County grand jury alleging that he failed to inform investors of his financial connection to certain investments.

Arguably the most troubling episode occurred a year ago when high-powered AG office legal staffers blew the whistle on Paxton’s alleged misconduct, including a complaint that involved bribery.

Is this the kind of individual we want representing the state?

Hell no! I want the clown removed from office one way or another … whether by conviction in state court or a sanctioned complaint by the FBI — or by voters who have had enough of this clown’s monkey business.

George P. Bush isn’t exactly a legal heavyweight. He is a political player by virtue of his last name. He is the nephew and grandson of two former presidents and the son of a former Florida governor.

What’s more, he is able to campaign on his relatively clean background and the fact that he isn’t accused of criminal activity … which is far more than the incumbent can say as he seeks to win a third term as Texas attorney general.

Donald Trump

Donald won’t run … ever again

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelils_92@hotmail.com

Against my better judgment, I am going to offer something that to some will resemble a political prediction, except that I have given up on predicting things political.

So, here goes. It is my considered opinion that Donald Trump will decide that he cannot win the presidency back from President Biden. Nor does he even have confidence in winning the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2024.

You see, The Donald is now in command of the nut job wing of the GOP. So help me I am beginning to hear the faint stirring of establishment Republicans who finally are finding the voices that left them during Trump’s two impeachment trials.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan — one of the chief GOP weenies — has said the party is doomed if it gloms onto following an individual rather than adhering to a philosophy. Rep. Liz Cheney continues to pound Trump for inciting the riot on Jan. 6. Sen. Mitt Romney and five other Republican senators voted to create a bipartisan commission to examine the cause of the Trump-inspired insurrection.

Is there a pattern developing? Oh, I certainly hope so.

Trump might find it more to his advantage to pull some strings behind the scenes rather than expose himself to the possibility of losing the GOP nomination, let alone the probability of losing another general election in just a little more than three years.

I have no way of knowing any of this will play out as I hope it does. So I am going to avoid predicting such an outcome.

Oh, and we also have the prospect of criminal indictments in New York City and in Fulton County, Ga., involving Trump, his company and perhaps even members of The Donald’s family. Are there truly enough whack jobs among Republicans to nominate and elect the former chief imbecile to the nation’s highest office?

If so, then we’re in a whole lot more trouble than any of us imagined.

national news

‘Reinstated’ in August? Huh?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If this report is true — and I believe it has legs — then it needs to be said loudly and with maximum clarity.

Donald John Trump is certifiably and clinically insane.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who knows Trump as well as anyone in the media, is reporting that Trump is telling allies he believes he will be “reinstated” as president in August.

Yep. The election will be overturned. President Biden will be stripped of his office. It will be handed to Trump.

Hmm. Someone needs to call the paddy wagon. Fit the old ex-POTUS with a straitjacket. Send him to the loony bin. Let him talk to the walls about how the 2020 election was “stolen” from him and handed to the guy who beat him bigly by virtue of “rampant and widespread vote fraud.”

Trump is telling people he thinks he’ll be ‘reinstated’ as president in August, according to a report (msn.com)

Oh, my.

How in the name of political nuttiness does one escape the realization that Trump is out of his ever-lovin’ noggin?

I cannot. You can’t, either. No one can.

Let me be as clear as I can possibly be: There is no way on God’s good Earth that Donald Trump will be reinstated. Period. End of story.

Now, shut the hell up … Donald.

State news

‘Assault on democracy’ explained

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A critic of this blog wants to know how Texas’s efforts to restrict voting is an “assault on democracy,” as President Biden has described it.

I’ll take the bait and offer what I believe is an explanation for all to read.

It’s an assault because our form of representative democracy — as I have understood it — intends to make voting easier for all Americans. Thus, states and local governments have enacted early-voting laws; they have given citizens a chance to cast ballots in a variety of ways; they have sought to extend early-voting days and hours to enable citizens to have their voices heard.

Texas Republicans along with their GOP colleagues in several other states have determined that such voting initiatives also lead to corruption of the voting process. They have concocted the Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election about “rampant vote fraud” where it did not exist and have projected it onto efforts to restrict access to those who wish to vote. The Texas GOP legislative caucus also wants to give judges more power to overturn election results.

One of the tragic consequences of this effort is that the GOP is  targeting minority voters who — get a load of this — tend to vote Democratic. Shocking, yes? Rather than seeking to compete head to head with Democrats over their ideas and policies, Republicans instead are seeking to restrict access to all eligible U.S. citizens.

Where I come from, I consider all of that taken together to be an assault on democracy. The Texas Democratic legislative caucus has stalled the GOP assault — if only temporarily. The Legislature likely will  reconvene soon in special session to figure out a new strategy to continue its attack on our democratic process. I hope Democrats hold firm.

This brief response likely won’t persuade my blog critic friend of anything. I just felt the need to clear the air.

media news

Blog hits milestone

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This blog post represents a milestone for High Plains Blogger.

The moment I post this item it will mark the 700th consecutive day of blog commentaries from this platform.

I consider that a pretty big deal. So I thought I would pontificate briefly about what it means to me.

It means, simply, that I have been faithful to my boast that I although I cannot claim to be be an expert on anything, I have a lot to say about … oh, everything.

Some of my friends have called me “prolific.” I accept that description. I actually welcome it. I get that some posts sometimes do not measure up to what I would like to consider a high standard; perhaps this blog item qualifies as that kind of post.

The blog has kept me in “the game,” so to speak, since my daily journalism career came to a halt nearly nine years ago. I also have been able to write blogs for a public TV station, a network affiliate TV station, a public radio station and for the past couple of years a North Texas weekly newspaper.

So, while my daily print career crashed and burned, I have been able to keep my juices flowing through this blog and other media platforms.

Seven hundred consecutive days is a fairly big deal, the way I see it.

I now will try to add another 700 consecutive days, after which I intend to really brag.

State news

Stand tall, Texas Democrats!

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Well now. Lo and behold there is some fight left in the Texas Democratic legislative caucus after all.

The House Democrats walked off the floor of their chamber Sunday night to deprive House Republicans of a quorum they needed to enact a restrictive voter law that many of us out here interpret as a form of voter suppression.

The law would limit voter access to millions of Texans, mainly those in minority communities, and would serve, as President Biden noted, to further the cause of “un-American” efforts to restrict voting access for Americans.

To be sure, the fight ain’t over. Gov. Greg Abbott is now likely to call a special legislative session to bring lawmakers back to seek to finish the job that Democrats prevented with their walkout.

“We’ve said for so many years that we want more people to participate in our democracy. And it just seems that’s not the case,” Democratic state Rep. Carl Sherman said.

The Wall Street Journal reported: “I am disappointed that some members decided to break quorum,” said Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, who carried the bill in the House. “We all know what that meant. I understand why they were doing it, but we all took an oath to Texans that we would be here to do our jobs.”

Well, Rep. Cain, doing your job should not include acting on the Big Lie fomented by the former Liar in Chief, Donald Trump, about phony vote fraud. Yet that is what Cain and the Texas GOP caucus is trying to do. They seek to subvert access to the voting process by eliminating drive-through voting, restricting mail-in balloting, reducing early voting times all because they contend this activity is fraught with the potential for the vote fraud that Trump said occurred during the 2020 presidential election.

Texas Democrats Prevent Republicans From Passing Restrictive Voting Bill (msn.com)

If and when Abbott calls the special session, my strong hope is that Texas Democrats continue to stand as one body to prevent this kind of legislative chicanery from becoming law.

national news

Memorial Day: not a ‘happy’ holiday

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Many millions of Americans are taking an extra day off from work while the nation honors the sacrifice that allows them to take day off.

I am retired, so I don’t get that extra day; indeed, every day is a “weekend” for my wife and me. But I digress.

Memorial Day came into being as Decoration Day. We honor the sacrifice given by those who fell in battle over the course of our great nation’s history.

I came of age during the Vietnam War. I graduated from high school in 1967. Many of us went to Vietnam not long after walking across the stage at our high school football stadium. To the very best of my knowledge, we lost no one in our high school class in that war. Thus, none of my classmates paid the ultimate price in defense of our country and for that I am grateful.

However, I do know about the significance of this holiday. It’s not a happy occasion. So, when a gentleman saw my “Vietnam War veteran” ballcap over the weekend, and extended his hand to thank me for the service I performed, I was a bit taken aback when he wished me a “happy Memorial Day .” He meant well and I hold no hard feelings toward him.

I just want to express my own sincere gratitude for the millions of Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion to the country we all love.

Yes, I am a happy fellow today because I can enjoy the gift that those men and women bequeathed to me when they fell in battle.

State news

Texas joins ‘un-American club’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden calls Texas’s new anti-voting law “un-American” and “an assault on democracy.”

You know what? I happen to agree with him. Big surprise, eh?

As the Texas Tribune reports: Senate Bill 7, a Republican priority voting bill, would limit early voting hours, curtail local voting options and further clamp down on mail-in voting, among several other provisions.

Let me be clear about one point: One of those “other provisions” involves proof of identification when you go vote. I have no problem with requiring photo ID or some valid documentation to prove that we are who we say we are.

As for the much of the rest of it, President Biden is correct to presume the Texas anti-voting legislation is anathema to what we stand for as a democratic nation.

Joe Biden criticizes Texas bill that restricts voting hours | The Texas Tribune

“Today, Texas legislators put forth a bill that joins Georgia and Florida in advancing a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote, ” Biden said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year — and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans.”

There you have it. Biden has identified what many of us believe has been a frontal assault by Republican Party officials against efforts to encourage voting. Their response has been to restrict avenues for Americans to cast ballots.

Think of this for just a moment. A nation that has suffered through low voter turnout — compared to many other industrialized nations — has taken a state-by-state approach to restricting voters’ access to the ballot box. To think, therefore, that Texas — where turnout is below the national average historically — wants to discourage voters from casting ballots.

Disturbing, indeed.

Texas Republicans are hiding behind the Big Lie about alleged “vote fraud.” The 2020 election was the most secure in our history. That hasn’t dissuaded the GOP from clamping down on access to voting.

Sickening.

DC riot

No need to ‘re-litigate’?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Memo to Mitch McConnell …

The effort to form a bipartisan commission to examine the cause and consequence of the Jan. 6 insurrection is not intended to “re-litigate” the event.

Its intent is to establish the whole cause and to work toward ways to prevent such a thing from recurring.

Donald Trump incited the riot that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The ex-POTUS fueled the anger in the mob assembled in front of him that day by declaring the election had been “stolen.” It wasn’t. President Biden won the most “secure election in history.”

McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, is playing politics with what should be a bipartisan/nonpartisan effort. Police officers were injured as they sought to fend off the mob. One of them died during the melee; another one took his own life.

McConnell is shaming himself, his office and the federal government he swore to protect and defend.

national news

VP goofs with Memorial Day greeting

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This news item came from Fox News, but you know what? The right-leaning news network makes a point in mentioning an error of omission that came from Vice President Kamala Harris.

The VP offered a Memorial Day greeting that wished us all a happy “long weekend.” The criticism comes from those who wondered why Kamala Harris didn’t mention the significance of the “long weekend,” which is the significance of the fallen warriors we honor each year.

The critics are correct. The vice president certainly understands the significance of the Memorial Day weekend. Yet for a sitting VP to fail to recognize it publicly with a social media greeting just makes many of us a bit chapped.

This is a somber weekend. Yes, we should enjoy each other’s company, the fellowship we are engaging in as we come out of the COVID pandemic. Let us also pay tribute to the Americans who paid the supreme price so we can enjoy “the long weekend.”

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