political news, State news

Beto tosses in towel?

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Photo by Richard W. Rodriguez/AP/REX/Shutterstock 

I can’t stand it when candidates I support say the kind of thing that came from Texas Democratic Party candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke.

O’Rourke responded to a question involving a recent poll showing that he continues to trail GOP Gov. Greg Abbott in the head-to-head race for governor.

“The only poll that counts,” said O’Rourke, “is the one on Election Day.”

I winced when I saw those remarks. You see, that is the kind of response one sees coming from trailing candidates who seem to secretly acknowledge that they’re cooked, that they have no chance of catching the opponent.

It’s a form of political code-speak.

I hope that’s not the case with O’Rourke. Quite clearly, I cannot read the candidate’s mind, unlike some pundits out there who believe they can do the impossible.

Maybe it’s just a throwaway line that O’Rourke decided to toss into the air. Whatever, we have a month to go before Midterm Election Day. Abbott still must be held accountable for his non-response to the Uvalde school massacre, for his showboating by sending migrants to New York and other “liberal” states.

I just don’t want to hear O’Rourke seeming to give up a fight that still is worth the struggle.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, media news

Twists and turns on journey

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This retirement journey I’ve been on for about the past decade keeps twisting and turning along a strange ride toward, well … I’m not entirely sure where it’ll end.

You might know that I have been working as a freelance reporter for the Farmersville Times for the past couple of years. The newspaper is part of a group of suburban weeklies owned by husband and wife who live in Collin County.

Well, beginning just the other day, my assignment changed. I am going to cover city government, school issues and writing features for Princeton, where my wife and I have lived for nearly four years.

Yes, the Princeton Herald is my new assignment headquarters. An opening occurred at the Herald, so I asked my bosses if I could be considered to fill the hole on the staff. They said yes. That was that.

This is an exciting new challenge for me, inasmuch as I do not yet know all that much about the politics that drive policy at Princeton City Hall. I now will get to learn about policymakers who determine the taxes I pay to live in my new hometown. I also will get to examine — and report on — the politics that drive public education policy in this rapidly growing community.

This is an exciting new venture for me. I have told my bosses how much I appreciate the faith they place in me. I won’t let them down. Furthermore, this post-full-time-journalism retirement will proceed along this course for as long as my bosses want me to keep reporting or — God forbid! — I am no longer able to do what I love to do.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

business news, crime news, Donald Trump, legal news, national news

Tax returns … still a viable question?

Hey, whatever in the world of high-powered accounting happened to the cries for Donald J. Trump’s tax returns? You remember that, right?

Many of us wondered why Trump wouldn’t release his returns, as presidents and presidential candidates had done since 1976. Trump at first said he would; then he backed off; then he pledged to release them once the taxman completed his audit; then he backed off … again!

Courts have ruled he had to release them. He continues to resist.

Wait a second, though. We’ve been buried up to here with other sorts of finance-related news involving Trump. The New York attorney general has sued the Trump Organization for $250 million, alleging that Trump falsified his net worth to obtain favorable loans.

And then — of course! — we have a myriad of criminal investigations into Trump’s conduct during the 2020 election and immediately after the election that he lost to President Joe Biden.

I remain one of the millions of curious Americans who wants to know:

  • Whether Donald Trump is as rich as he kept bragging about.
  • How much, if anything, he gave to charitable causes.
  • The extent of his foreign business dealings and whether he does business with despicable tyrants in, say, Russia.

Those are three items. You likely have more issues to resolve with this guy.

Trump has defied conventional presidential wisdom at so many levels. The tax return issue is just one of them.

The issue of the tax returns has been eclipsed, or so it appears, by all those other matters involving Trump, The Big Lie, the insurrection, falsifying assets, conspiracy to commit sedition.

Good grief, all those other matters seem to make Trump’s refusal to disclose his tax returns seem almost … quaint. Actually, though, it isn’t. Trump’s refusal to do what so many previous presidents and candidates for the high office have done speaks mightily of his lack of character.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Cheapening of values

Americans of all stripes are witnessing in real time how our political values no longer hang on politicians’ stated views of key issues and their actions juxtaposed to their stated policies.

Consider what is occurring in Georgia, where the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate — Herschel Walker — has been revealed to be a stunning hypocrite on an issue that demands absolute sincerity.

In any other era, revelations that a staunch opponent of abortion would allegedly have demanded a girlfriend abort a pregnancy would spell the end of a candidacy. Herschel Walker would have resigned his candidacy and left the campaign for someone else to salvage.

These days? Georgia GOP voters are shrugging it off. Party leaders are backing Walker, doubling down on their support for this ignoramus who actually has said that “there is no shame” in demanding an abortion “if I had done it.”

Oh, there’s more. It has been revealed that Walker has four children with four women and has been estranged from at least one of his sons since the young man’s birth.

Remember, too, that Walker is campaigning as an evangelical Christian who opposes — he says — abortion in all cases; he makes no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or the health of the mother.

Despite all of that, Walker remains a potential spoiler in the race against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the incumbent who is seeking election to a full term.

Walker could still win this race! Why? Because it’s all about power! Republicans want to get control of the Senate. They are driven solely by the prospect of Herschel Walker — an individual with zero knowledge of any public policy — defeating a competent senator who, by the way, also serves as senior pastor of Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta … the same house of worship where the great Martin Luther King Jr. preached to the faithful.

Yes, we are witnessing a degradation of policy and the ascent of power as this hideous issue plays out.

It is a sickening turn of events.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news, national news, political news

Fighting internal battle

Those among my friends who know a lot about me likely presume that I tend to think the best in people … until others prove my initial belief in them is wrong.

They would be correct in making that assumption.

With that said, I must declare that I have been in the middle of an internal struggle as I seek to maintain that generally optimistic view of our fellow travelers. Yes, I want to maintain what I consider to be a charitable view of others.

It’s the current mood out there that has tainted damn near everything for me. Political adversaries no longer are just friendly foes; they are enemies. Make no mistake about the source of that visceral anger. It comes from the MAGA crowd, the individuals who parrot the nonsense spewed forth by titular head of today’s Republican Party, the 45th president of the United States.

The anger is pervasive. It permeates so much of, well, damn near everything. The 45th POTUS told us during his inaugural speech about he intended to stop the “American carnage.” He waved the clenched fist, which has become a sort of symbol of the rage he embodies to this day.

Meanwhile, instinctive optimists such as yours truly are caught in the maelstrom that threatens to suck us under. We get pulled into the negativity that emanates from others. I can’t speak for others, but from my perspective, I dislike the feeling that keeps boiling up within me. It goes against my nature … you know?

A few of my journalism colleagues over the years have dismissed my optimistic view of others. They all cling to some notion that they needed to reserve a level of “cynicism” when encountering sources or assessing the context of a discussion. I would suggest to them that I know the difference between “cynicism” and “skepticism.” Accordingly, I was able to maintain a certain skeptical eye.

The mood out there has gone beyond simple skepticism and has devolved into a cynical view I find unhealthy.

Thus, I shall fight to retain — or recover — my instinctively positive view of the world … even as the forces around me seek to drag me down.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, State news

Definition of ‘derelict’?

Rafael Edward Cruz believes Alejandro Mayorkas is guilty of “dereliction of duty,” and should be impeached because he has allegedly mishandled the illegal migrant crisis on our southern border.

Hold on a second.

Cruz is the Republican U.S. senator from Texas; Mayorkas is secretary of homeland security.

Now I want to get down to brass tacks. First, though, is a full disclosure alert: The example of utter hypocrisy I am about to cite comes to me from a reader of this blog; I merely am appropriating it.

Those of us who live in Texas remember full well the Freeze of February 2021, when the state’s power grid failed. Millions of Texans lost power. Hundreds of them froze to death in sub-zero temperatures.

Many of us also remember what Sen. Cruz did in response to that crisis. He decided to take his family to Cancun, Mexico, where it was, um, decidedly warmer. Someone saw him boarding an airplane and ratted him out.

Cruz came back and then decided to blame one of his daughters for talking him and his wife into taking a vacation while his constituents were freezing to death.

Ladies and gentlemen, that right there is the definition of dereliction of duty. Sen. Cruz, therefore, has zero moral standing to lecture anyone on this good Earth about how you should stand your public service post in times of emergency.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, Donald Trump, national news

‘Gross dereliction of duty’?

Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham have redefined “gross dereliction of duty,” attaching a partisan label to conduct that should defy partisanship.

The two U.S. Republican senators have sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of “gross dereliction of duty,” and suggesting he might be impeached on those grounds if the GOP takes control of Congress after the midterm election. They suggest the “illegal immigrant” crisis has become too much to bear.

Hmm. Interesting, yes? Mayorkas has presided over a Cabinet office that has taken charge of arresting and detaining more migrants than ever. I agree that the situation on our southern border needs immediate repair and reform, but impeach Mayorkas? He’s doing his job.

Ted Cruz says DHS chief could be impeached over rise in migrant crossings | The Texas Tribune

As for the redefinition of “gross dereliction of duty,” I want to remind Cruz and Graham that the immediate past president committed a “gross dereliction” of the duty he assumed when he took office in January 2017. The dereliction of duty occurred during the 1/6 assault on our government, when Donald J. Trump did not a damn thing to prevent the attack.

Cruz and Graham gave Trump a pass.

Dereliction of duty? There you have it. Indeed, I could argue that the senators, too, are guilty of dereliction of duty by refusing to make Trump accountable for inciting the insurrection against the government he took an oath to protect.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, education news, State news

Uvalde commences housecleaning

Well now, this was something I didn’t see coming … the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District suspending its entire police department and then learning that the superintendent is going to retire.

Whenever you think of “Uvalde,” you know the first thing that pops into your head: the slaughter in May of those 19 precious children and two teachers who sought to protect them from the madman who opened fire with an AR-15 rifle at Robb Elementary School.

The fallout from that horrifying event just continues to shower a school district that is searching deeply for answers.

The Texas Tribune reported that the Uvalde district fired a police officer after it learned he was one of the first Department of Public Safety troopers on the scene when the carnage exploded. The trooper, it turns out, has been under investigation by DPS for her conduct when the shooting erupted. The district also has fired former Police Chief Pete Arredondo. This week, it suspended two school district officers and reassigned all the others to various assignments within the district.

Now comes the report of a pending retirement from Superintendent Hal Harrell. Get a load of this: Harrell graduated from Uvalde High School and has spent his entire career as an educator within the school district, serving as superintendent since 2018.

There once was a time when you thought of “Uvalde,” you would have thought, perhaps, of Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey — a native of that community. No more.

Uvalde school district suspends its entire police department | The Texas Tribune

All of this makes this latest development so astonishing.

Our entire state continues to grieve over the horrendous loss of life on that day. This year’s campaign for governor has focused intently on the action — or inaction — by the state in response to what happened that day.

The Uvalde CISD has many issues to unpack and correct as it moves forward. I am going to believe the district will enlist officers from the city police department and the sheriff’s department to assist in securing its campuses.

The state and nation will be watching … intently.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news, national news, political news

Waiting for barrage to batter POTUS

Let’s all wait for what many of know is coming if federal prosecutors decide to indict Hunter Biden on allegations involving tax violations and the purchase of a firearm.

What I am sure we’ll see will be Republican efforts to link President Joe Biden to his son’s activities. They’ll seek to paint the president with the same broad brush that they’ll use to slather Hunter Biden.

It will be a shameful display of demagoguery, which many of us have come to expect from the Grand Old (Obstructionist) Party.

I will continue to pull for the president to weather this storm … if it opens up.

Reports indicate that investigators think they have enough to prosecute. It’s not their call. The decision rests with the U.S. attorney. If the attorney decides to go forward, I intend to ignore the rubbish that will pour fourth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news, political news

Younger Biden under intense scrutiny

Here we go. There well might be a criminal referral coming forward that suggests that Hunter Biden, son of the president of the U.S.A., could be indicted for tax fraud and for an allegation that he lied while purchasing a firearm.

A federal prosecutor in Delaware reportedly is wrapping up a probe. Reports suggest that the investigative team believes it has evidence of wrongdoing. The task now falls to the U.S. attorney to decide whether to bring charges forward.

Sigh … There appears to be questions about the probe. Chief among them might be whether the U.S. attorney, a Donald J. Trump appointee, is too jaded by the former POTUS’s loathing of the Bidens to render a fair and just decision on whether to indict.

I guess my major concern deals with whether the president is going to suffer needless political damage from whatever his son did to get indicted. I also know that the real world often acts in unjust and unfair ways. This might be one of those times.

There once was a time when we didn’t fixate on the political connections of career federal prosecutors. Those days are gone. Perhaps we can thank Trump for the change in attitude, as he was prone to criticize judgments against by labeling jurists as “Obama judges” or “Clinton judges.”

Are we now going to dismiss any indictment because it comes from a “Trump prosecutor”?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience