local news, political news

Democratic process is alive and thriving

We cast our ballots this morning for all the contests facing us in this midterm election, but I want to offer a brief immediate takeaway from what we noticed when we drove to our polling place.

We approached the Princeton (Texas) Community Center and noticed (a) a parking lot full of vehicles, (b) lots of signs extolling the virtues of candidates and issues and (c) a line at the polling station that was stretching out the door.

My thought? The democratic process is alive and well in our Collin County community.

I don’t know how many of our city of more than 20,000 residents voted early. I just was struck by the active Election Day participation we noticed this morning.

It gives me hope that our process will survive the onslaught it is enduring at the moment from those who seek to undermine it.

I am acutely aware that a momentary glimpse of a polling station doesn’t precisely qualify as a mountain of empirical evidence of what I have concluded.

I will accept it, though, as sufficient reason to have hope that our electoral process is working.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Dreamers: collateral casualties

Let’s be clear about something: If Republicans take control of Congress after the midterm election, you can rest assured that their onslaught will inflict plenty of collateral casualties.

I want to look briefly at one category of casualty: Dreamers, those who were brought to this country as children when their parents entered the United States without proper immigrant documentation.

The Dreamers who live among us — and they no doubt are in more places than we realize — are going to singled out by Republicans who insist that they are here illegally and, therefore, must be deported.

Many of those Dreamers qualified under a program enacted by President Obama called the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals; Obama issued an order that protected DACA recipients from deportation, enabling them to seek citizenship or apply for permanent legal resident status.

Republicans detest DACA. They want it rescinded. The courts have dented the program along the way.

DACA recipients deserve to be protected against inhumane deportation, which would result in sending them back to the country of their birth. Why is that inhumane? Because they came of age in the United States of America. This is the only country the know. In many cases, they are U.S. residents who have contributed greatly to their country of residence.

Furthermore, I am saddened by the notion that some GOP pols want to punish these Dreamers for the sins of their parents. I get that the parents broke the law when they sneaked into the country when border security guards were looking the other way. It simply boggles my noggin that pols would want to punish the children — some of whom were infants and toddlers when they entered the United States — for something over which they had zero control!

Furthermore, many of those youngsters have grown into men and women who are contributing mightily to their nation of residence. They have excelled in the classroom; they have pursued professions and paid their taxes.

Punish them? Send them away? Someone will have to explain the logic behind that hideous form of revenge.

That is what might await many of these individuals if Republicans take control of our legislative branch of government. God help us all.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

50 years ago, my heart broke

It seems like just the other day. I was a young newly married man, recently separated from the Army, attending college and working on a political campaign in which I would be able for the first time ever be able to cast a vote for the candidate for president of my choice.

On Nov. 7, 1972, I voted for George McGovern and then went home to watch the returns come in. Then, just minutes after the polls closed back east, the networks called the winner of the presidential contest.

It was not Sen. McGovern!

I … was … crushed. Fifty years later, I remain keenly interested in politics and I await the next round of elections set to occur in about 24 hours.

In those days I took my politics seriously, even more so than I do now. The decades that have gone by have taught me a lesson or two about politics. One is that no matter how hard one works to win a contest, the sun will rise the next morning and the days will go on as if nothing happened at the ballot box.

The other thing is that I rarely see issues in stark colors. I have learned to accept a lot of gray shades in virtually every issue under discussion.

However, I still take voting seriously. So much so that I refuse to vote early, preferring to wait until Election Day. I actually prefer the pageantry, if I could use that term, associated with waiting in line at the polling place.

This election is, shall we say, a big fu**ing deal!

Politicians and pundits ascribe monumental consequences to every election, be it a presidential event or a midterm election, such as the one about to occur. This midterm well might be the most critical such event in my lifetime.

Joe Biden himself has said that “democracy is on the ballot.” I accept that description.

If it goes badly when the ballots are counted, I likely won’t be as heartbroken as I was 50 years ago when my guy, Sen. McGovern, lost 49 of 50 states. It would hurt, but the sun — as we all know — will rise in the east the next morning.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, State news

Standard or Daylight?

Now that many millions of Americans have been told to “fall back” to Standard Time, I want to revisit an issue that comes up about, oh, twice a year … or about the time we go to Daylight Saving Time or back to Standard Time.

At issue is whether we ought to keep switching between DST and Standard Time. For me, I don’t care. It never has bothered me to change the clocks in my house twice annually. I don’t feel sleep deprived after losing the hour in the spring when we, um, “spring forward.” Nor does falling back in the autumn give me any grief.

However, if we were to cease the back-and-forth, my preference would be to stick with a permanent Daylight Saving Time, I like the longer daylight hours in the evening.

The 2019 Texas Legislature was set to ask Texas residents what we preferred: permanent DST, permanent Standard Time, or keep changing back and forth.  The Legislature, though, couldn’t prepare a statewide resolution in time and the measure died a quiet death that hardly anyone even noticed.

Now we hear about Congress possibly enacting a federal law.  Same thing, folks. If we’re going to keep a permanent time on the books, I would ask our federal lawmakers to stick with a permanent Daylight Saving Time.

Absent that, well, then just allow us to change our clocks in the spring and again in the fall.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Now … we wait for the votes

OK, here’s where we stand on the eve of the most consequential midterm election I can remember … and at the age of almost 73, I can remember a lot of ’em.

Depending on who you ask or who is doing the talking, Democrats are either (a) going to get a serious, back-alley thumping at the polls or (b) might pull off the surprise of the century and hold onto the Senate and cut their expected losses in the House of Representatives.

I will not venture a prediction on what will occur. I don’t have a clue. I live out here in the middle of the country. All the political action is either back east or in the Deep South or out west in places like Arizona and Nevada.

My bride and I just returned from the western region of the nation; we spent a few nights listening to the news out of Arizona and Nevada. We heard the extreme negativity coming from both sides of the great divide. I didn’t ask anyone what they thought of the tone and tenor of the campaign being waged.

We’re home now. We are going to vote on Tuesday. No early voting for me … for reasons I have explained already.

What will the result be at the end of it all? Beats me, man. You know what I want to happen: I would prefer the Senate and House remain in Democratic hands, given Republicans’ refusal to offer any solutions other than to obstruct what President Biden wants to accomplish.

If the House flips to GOP control, then I fear a vengeance-filled period for the next two years and likely beyond. The best hope, I suppose, lies in the Senate, where Democrats appear to have a puncher’s chance of holding on to the committee gavels.

Is our democracy at stake? You’re damn right it is!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

GOP House member shows his conscience

What the heck? A member of the U.S. House Republican caucus has issued a stern warning to those election deniers out there.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Houston says the election deniers know they are fomenting a lie and it is going to hurt them … badly.

Finally, we are hearing from someone other than Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger that the GOP congressional caucus needs to pull its collective head out of its backside.

It’s progress, man. That’s all I can say about that.

The Big Lie is damaging our democratic process. It is sullying our nation’s most cherished right. It besmirches the reputations of state and local election officials who work diligently to ensure that our elections are safe, free, fair and legal.

Dan Crenshaw says election deniers know they’re lying | The Texas Tribune

“It was always a lie. The whole thing was always a lie. And it was a lie meant to rile people up,” Crenshaw said on a podcast, deriding some of his peers as “political personalities” rather than “politicians.”

If only more GOP pols would see the truth … and speak it loudly and clearly.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Democracy, indeed, is on the ballot

Make no mistake: Democrats across the nation have pegged the stakes in this election correctly.

Democracy itself is on the ballot in all 50 of our states. It falls, then, on voters to ensure that our democratic process survives the onslaught it is facing from the array of election deniers, MAGA adherents and political perverts who believe that violence is the way to settle political differences.

Many of them are threatening to take power in states where believers of The Big Lie are making noises about overturning election results; one of the big liars, Wisconsin Republican nominee for governor, Tim Michels, has said that Republicans never will lose another election in his state if he is elected governor.

Yes, democracy is on the ballot. Its well-being is facing direct peril. It is up to the voters of this great land to ensure it survives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, political news

Getting set for MAGA rep in Congress

It’s time to acknowledge the obvious, which is that the next congressman from the Third District in North Texas is going to be of the MAGA ilk.

Republican nominee Keith Self won’t get my support, but I am of a distinct minority in Collin County.

Self once served as Collin County judge. He stepped away, then returned to the political war this year when he challenged GOP U.S. Rep. Van Taylor for the seat Taylor has occupied since 2018. Taylor won the primary earlier this year, but then pulled out of the race after he acknowledged a months-long extramarital affair with a woman who once was married to an Islamic State political officer.

Self, who finished second in the primary, became the nominee by default after Taylor pulled out.

He is running against Democratic nominee Sandeep Srivastava. The Democrat has my support … but you knew that, right?

What troubles me about Self has been the fiery rhetoric he used during the primary against Taylor. Self sought to run to the right of one of the House’s more conservative members, which to my way of thinking puts Self on the fringe of a party that already has become a haven for fringe thinkers.

Self fits right in, near as I can tell, with the loons who hold much of the power within the GOP. He talks about curing the electoral system of “widespread fraud” … which doesn’t exist! He backs the right-wing effort to criminalize abortion. He will oppose any common-sense legislation to curb gun violence.

Collin County is considered one of those solid, rock-ribbed Republican counties. Except for this little nugget: Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in Collin County by fewer than 5 percentage points in 2020, which I suppose could make the county where we live a “battleground.”

Well, that doesn’t matter in this race for Congress.

Keith Self is likely to be elected next week. He’ll take his seat in January and then will ease into the crowd of Republicans who pledge their loyalty to the party dogma, while forsaking what is best for the country.

It’s a shame.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Support this guy to keep him out of jail?

Just suppose for a moment that Donald J. Trump actually becomes a presidential candidate in 2024.

What is this twice-impeached former POTUS going to use as a campaign slogan? He is facing the probability of being indicted by the feds or state prosecutors on a number of alleged crimes.

However, there is some chatter out there that a presidential candidacy actually might shield him from being prosecuted by the authorities.

I can see it now: Support Trump … your vote will keep him out of prison.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

GOP ‘fixer’ emerges as prime threat

Tim Michels has emerged as the No. 1 enemy of the nation’s democratic process. He is a dangerous man who needs to lose his effort to become Wisconsin’s next governor.

Michels is running against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. He said something this week that — no matter how you parse it — presents an existential threat to our democracy.

Michels has declared that if he wins the election next Tuesday, that Republicans will “never again lose an election” in Wisconsin.

Think for just a moment — if you can resist the urge to throw something heavy through a large window — about what Michels is suggesting. From my perch, Michels has said he would “fix” future elections to ensure that GOP candidates emerge winners. Every single time! That’s what he said.

How does he do such a thing? By rigging elections! By tossing out votes cast for candidates he opposes! This is the very thing that the Big Liar in Chief — Donald J. Trump — said (without producing a lick of evidence) occurred in the 2020 presidential election.

Tim Michels now wants to follow Trump’s lead over the cliff by pledging to ensure that Republicans never lose an election ever again in Wisconsin.

Does anyone out there see the utter irony in this kind of chicanery? I cannot remember a major-party candidate for public office ever pledging to rig elections. Until now.

I get that it involves only one of our 50 states. However, it reveals a mindset prevalent within the ranks of a once-great political party … which has been hijacked and co-opted by those who present a serious threat to the democratic process that once was immune from such attacks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience