media news

Media knife plunges deeply

The media butchers who now run more newspapers than any other single group in America has done it again, cutting even more deeply into a newspaper that, for my money, had been decimated already to the point of no return.

I have just learned that the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas, where I spent nearly 18 (mostly) glorious years writing opinions and managing opinion pages for the publication of record for the Texas Panhandle, has terminated the fellow who was managing those pages.

Doug Hensley, a fellow I do not know, was cut by GateHouse Media. Hensley was among the 400 or so employees cut by GateHouse in the latest round of staff butchery. He held the title of associate regional editor and director of commentary for the Globe-News.

The corporate owners have reduced the opinion pages to one per week. I don’t know who’s tasked with writing editorials, or even if the company publishes editorials on local issues any longer. We used to publish two full pages of commentary daily. Occasionally we would collect so many letters to the editor from readers that we would clear the decks of all the syndicated commentary just to give the locals a chance to sound off on the pages of their newspaper.

The sad truth is that the longer I am away from the full-time career I pursued with great glee the less aware I am of what is happening at the place where I spent my longest single tenure. I am left only to watch my heart fill with sadness over what I know has occurred.

The newspaper that I once knew no longer is as relevant to people’s lives as it once was. I get it. You may spare me the explanation of what has become of community newspaper journalism. I know what has happened.

I also know that young journalists are still entering the field and are doing some version of what I did for nearly 37 years. There’s just so damn fewer of them now than before and that their work is appearing on computer screens rather than on newsprint.

It’s just a sad story to report that the media butchers keep cleaving off huge chunks of what made our craft so special.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news, political news

Election deniers win now .. but rejection is in order

All those wacky Republican election deniers appear to be winning their primary election battles, setting them up for contests against serious political candidates in the fall.

The task now falls on responsible voters in states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and the Dakotas to toss them out on their ear and elect individuals who haven’t swilled The Big Lie concoction being offered by Donald J. Trump and his cabal of cultists.

I am going to endorse the notion — admittedly with an abundance of caution — the idea that the election deniers’ presence on the fall midterm election ballot is tailor-made for Democrats wishing to put the Big Liars in their place.

My caution isn’t because I dispute their notion. It is because I am not sure that American voters necessarily are smart enough to rise up against these threats to our democratic process.

Think of what might happen. A GOP candidate for Pennsylvania governor could appoint a secretary of state and have that individual actually reject the outcome of the 2024 election if it happens to go in Democrats’ favor. Same thing could happen in Arizona.

The task now is for voters in several key states to deny them the power to enact such craven policies. I won’t surrender to their political idiocy. Neither should anyone else.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news, national security, political news

House panel faces deadline

The select committee that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose to investigate the 1/6 assault on the U.S. Capitol is facing a deadline.

It needs to finish its work and present its findings prior to the start of the next Congress. Or else … the Republican leaders who might assume control of the chamber could pull the plug on the whole enterprise.

I say “might assume control” because a GOP takeover of the House isn’t as much of a lead-pipe cinch as it was, oh, six months ago.

However, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson cannot even begin to presume that Democrats are going to maintain control of the House of Representatives. If I were the chairman, I would be making damn sure the panel’s work gets done a whole lot sooner than later.

Thompson has indicated that the committee is going to resume taking public testimony on Sept. 28. There is a damn near certainty to be more fireworks ignited in the hearing room after the chairman gavels the proceedings to order.

But looking forward it will be imperative for the committee to present its complete findings prior to the new Congress taking its seat. It then can submit those findings to the Justice Department — which already is conducting its independent probe.

What causes me great alarm is the revenge rhetoric coming from the likes of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who has made no secret of his desire to protect Donald Trump’s ample rear end if given the chance.

Make no mistake that McCarthy has been a profile in cowardice as it relates to the insurrection that Trump incited that day on The Ellipse. McCarthy once said the right thing in blaming Trump for causing the attack, only to take it all back and resume his role as legislative suck-up to the 45th POTUS.

I hope Chairman Thompson is on the same page cited in this blog post. He needs to get the work done and then hope Democrats can hold on to reins of power in the House.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news

Queen Elizabeth: constant is gone

It seems odd for me to believe this, but as I watch this morning the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, I am struck by the realization that for my entire life she was among those world leaders who remained a constant presence in my life.

Now she’s gone … forever.

I am not a “royalist.” Nor do I fixate on the comings, goings and happenings with all the members of the British royal family. I was saddened, certainly, by Diana’s death 25 years ago, but I got over it. I have been chagrined by the Andrew’s behavior, but I’ll get over that, too. The so-called rift between Harry and the rest of the clan? Pfft! That’ll pass.

Queen Elizabeth II, though, has been front and center of all things British for almost my entire life, which means that for as long as I have been aware of anything other than my immediate needs as a toddler, she’s been well, just there.

King Charles III is now the man, the head of state. It’s going to take some time for Charles III to assume the role of ever-present figure on the world stage. He might not live long enough to achieve the status that his “mummy” assumed.

I just am filled at this moment with a strange sense of something — or someone — missing from my conscious thoughts.

It has to be Queen Elizabeth II. I’m going to miss her.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news, military news

Talk to us, Mr. VPOTUS

(AP Photo/Chase Stevens)

Mike Pence has some things he needs to explain to Americans. The former vice president of the United States tried like the dickens to squash the insurrection that damn near succeeded in overturning the 2020 election.

Except that the orders he issued to the military brass violated the U.S. Constitution. But … did they?

Pence reportedly issued the order for the active-duty military to put down the assault on Capitol Hill; he issued one for the National Guard, too. He did so in the presence of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley. But only the president has the authority to issue that order. Then again, the president was doing nothing to end the violence. It well could have fallen, then, to the VPOTUS to take command in that extraordinary circumstance.

Pence was being threatened explicitly by those who were carrying signs and yelling “Hang Mike Pence!” Donald Trump did nothing to quell that hideous act. It well could have fallen to the VP to do what the head man refused to do.

Pence well might be called to testify before the House 1/6 select committee. I do hope the panel members are able to pull some answers from Mike Pence on what happened on that horrifying day.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, FBI, legal news, national news, political news

Believing now that indictment is coming

From virtually the moment that he skulked out of town prior to the ceremony celebrating the guy who defeated in the 2020 presidential election, I have resisted the notion that Donald J. Trump would be indicted on charges of criminal behavior.

Today, though, my thoughts have changed … dramatically, I must add.

I believe that Attorney General Merrick Garland is going to indict the former president of the United States, making a huge bit of history in the process. The charges that Garland might level against Trump, though, remain an open question.

They include the most serious, say, obstruction of justice or conspiracy to commit sedition. Those are felonies that carry enormous prison terms if someone is convicted of the allegation.

There might be misdemeanor charges leveled, dealing with the handling of those classified documents that Trump squirreled away in his glitzy Florida estate.

Friends of mine who live in faraway lands have speculated that Trump would be hauled off in leg irons and handcuffs. Other friends of mine — those who are loyal to Trump — have said quite the opposite. They don’t defend the individual’s character, saying he “never would do” the things that have been alleged already. Instead, they challenge the motives of the federal investigation.

I believe Merrick Garland is as fine a public servant as we can find. His career as a federal judge was marked by universal praise — from the left and the right — for his judicial scholarship and the meticulous nature of his court rulings. Even when the Senate GOP leadership blocked his nomination to the Supreme Court in early 2016, they didn’t question his qualifications or the quality of the man; they were motivated by pure politics.

I am unaware of the particulars of the AG’s investigation. All I have to assess it is my belief in the character of the man leading it.

He has said that “no one is above the law.” By “no one,” he means, well … no one!

Therefore, I believe he has compiled enough evidence to cobble together a prosecutorial complaint against Donald John Trump.

Then we shall watch the full-scale implosion of a man deluded with notions of grandeur. It cannot happen to a more deserving individual.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, national news, political news, State news

Empower Texans: worst PAC ever

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Were you to ask me to rank the worst political action committee active today in Texas, I would have little difficulty identifying my public enemy No. 1.

That would be Empower Texans.

Empower Texans took form in West Texas, which arguably is the birthplace of the modern state Republican Party. It’s a conservative region governed essentially by conservative politicians. Empower Texans, though, sees as its mission to carry its arch-conservatism across the state.

The PAC routinely “primaries” Republican pols who don’t adhere to Empower Texans’ rigid view of the world. I’ve seen this PAC in action in the Panhandle region, where I lived and worked for more than two decades before relocating in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex; indeed, Empower Texans is busy here, too.

Empower Texans has a number of its preferred candidates on the ballot in 2022. Many of them will get elected. What they do once they get elected to Congress or to the Legislature remains to be seen. However, if they are faithful to Empower Texans’ creed, they will seek to undercut policies that many Texans favor, such as being pro-choice on abortion and favoring sensible legislative solutions to gun violence.

Those, in my view, are the two issues of the day that have drawn Empower Texans into the fight. This group needs to be stopped.

The PAC wants a total ban on abortion, and it opposes any legislation that it deems capable of “disarming law-abiding Texans.”

That, in short order, is why this is the worst PAC working in Texas.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news, local news, medical news, State news

Personhood debate enters absurdity level

A North Texas woman got pulled over by a police officer because she was the sole occupant in a vehicle that was traveling down a high-occupancy vehicle lane — which requires two or more passengers to qualify.

Except that the woman is pregnant, so she has contested the citation issued in Dallas County, contending that her unborn child is a person, which makes the HOV restriction moot.

Hmm. How do I say this? This incident goes beyond absurd. It is ridiculous in the extreme, but it surely opens the door to endless debate over the whole “personhood” issue brewing now that Texas has made abortion illegal.

The driver in question, Brandy Bottone, said she isn’t trying to make this a “political” issue. Yeah, sure thing. It’s like the pro athlete who holds out for more money who then says, “It’s not about the money.” Of course it is … about the money. Bottone’s bitching about the traffic ticket is most certainly a political issue.

The Texas Tribune reports: Bottone argued that under Texas’ abortion laws, which went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, a fetus is considered a living being. She argued the same should be true when it comes to the state’s traffic laws. “I’m not trying to make a political stance here,” Bottone said, “but in light of everything that is happening, this is a baby.”

Fetal personhood law is complex and Texas is only beginning to untangle it | The Texas Tribune

I have a fear that other would-be political activists are going to test this law and well could clog up municipal courts with ridiculous arguments that suggest that even though a woman is, say, six or seven weeks pregnant that she is therefore allowed to flout a reasonable law aimed at helping motorists who have actual passengers sitting next to them navigate their way through traffic congestion.

This whole matter appears to be taking an absurd turn.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, economic news, local news

Gas prices are cheaper … not yet cheap

As I scan the main drag through Princeton, Texas — the four-lane federal highway U.S. 380 — I see evidence of something I had hoped to see.

It’s the price of gasoline receding. At virtually all the fuel dealerships along the highway, the price of regular unleaded gas is now selling from $2.93 per gallon to $2.99.

Hmm. It’s a far cry from the $4-plus we were paying this past spring and summer, yes? I know that other parts of the country were paying a good bit more than we were in Texas. Their gas prices are coming down, too.

It’s cheaper, for sure. It damn sure isn’t “cheap.” We’ve all become accustomed to a sort of new normal ever since gasoline spiked up in the 1970s in response to the Arab oil embargo. Prior to that we were paying double-digit prices to fuel our vehicles; after that, well, we haven’t seen double digits since.

Now we are going to “salute” gas prices inching below 3 bucks per gallon? I won’t go that far. However, it is a relief and I welcome it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

International news, military news, national security, political news

Equipment, training pay off for Ukraine

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A little known or discussed aspect of our nation’s relationship with Ukraine is that we essentially have been training the Ukrainian army for eight years, which is about the time big, bad Russia sought to reannex the Crimean Peninsula.

Russian henchman Vladimir Putin wanted Crimea back, so he invaded it to take it from Ukraine.

It then fell to administrations led by Barack Obama, Donald Trump and then Joe Biden to continue to train the Ukrainians in using the sophisticated equipment it had shipped to them to fight the Russian aggressors.

All that training — plus President Biden’s insistence on additional equipment — is paying significant dividends as the Ukraine army is showing signs of beating back the aggressors who launched another invasion more than seven months ago.

The Russians are retreating from territory they seized.

I cannot stress this point enough, which is the amazing unity that President Biden was able to build among the nations comprising the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance formed to protect Europe against potential aggression from what once was known as the Soviet Union.

Putin, therefore, helped Biden keep NATO intact by threatening the alliance if it interferes in what the Russians call an “internal dispute.” It is nothing of the sort. Ukraine is as sovereign a nation as Russia.

That unity has buoyed the Ukraine armed forces as they have fought back hard against the Russian aggressors.

With that I intend now to give Joe Biden considerable credit as he has responded with resolve and determination in assessing what is plainly obvious … that Vladimir Putin’s criminal invasion cannot be allowed to stand.

It stands to reason, too, that Ukraine is drawing strength from the immense aid that is pouring into that country as it battles a once-fearsome military power.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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