1/6 is no 9/11, but still …

A critic of this blog recently suggested in response to a post I made that I was equating the events of 1/6 to 9/11. I feel the need to respond to him publicly with another post setting the record straight for those who might believe the same thing as my critic.

For the record …

I never have suggested that that Jan. 6 insurrection/riot rose to the level of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on this nation. 9/11 will stand alone as a heinous and horrific attack that killed thousands of innocent people from all walks of life, from many nations; they were young and old. We went to war against the terrorists who planned the attack and have killed many of the villains along the way — including the mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The 1/6 attack on our democracy was an attack of an entirely different type. It was an act of what I consider to be domestic terrorism. It was provoked by the then president of the United States, who encouraged the angry mob to “take back our government.” From whom remains a mystery.

The mob smashed into our Capitol Building; some of the mobsters were carrying “Hang Mike Pence!” signs in a direct threat to the vice president of the United States. VP Pence was presiding at that moment over a congressional certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count that produced a victory for Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

Trump would have none of it. He continues to this very moment to foment The Big Lie about a phony rash of “widespread vote fraud” that produced a victory for President Biden.

My aforementioned critic doesn’t like that I refer to the riot on that day as “1/6,” suggesting that doing so elevates that event to the same degree of violence as 9/11.

It does nothing of the sort!

My reference to 1/6 only establishes that event as a singular and dastardly attack on our system of government.

Furthermore, I will continue to refer to it in that fashion for as long as I damn well feel like it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Resolution? Not from me!

For the umpteenth new year in a row, I have made a declaration … which is that I will make zero new year’s resolutions.

OK. Maybe one. I resolve to stay healthy and avoid getting sick from the COVID virus that is felling Americans at an alarming rate. What the heck. I woulda made that resolution no matter the occasion.

New year resolution? Hah! Not even close, man.

I don’t know if I ever kept a resolution when I was foolish enough to make them a zillion years ago. The older I get the more I realize that it is pointless, therefore, for me to make a resolution that likely never will be kept.

So, I won’t bother this year. Or next year. Or any year that I am still able to draw breath while I walk this good Earth.

This year will be a non-celebratory event. The Omicron variant spike has us alarmed. We ain’t going to party hard tomorrow night. We’re staying home.

With that I intend to ensure that I can be faithful to the faux resolution I will make for family wife and me simply to maintain our good health.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

1/6: no ‘anniversary’

I want to offer a word of advice to media types who are going to commemorate the year that has passed since the 1/6 insurrection.

Do not call the date an “anniversary.” Please.

Why? Because my understanding of the word usually implies a happy event. An event that makes one smile. An anniversary is something to remember with fondness.

I recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of my marriage to my wife. We had a joyous celebration that day with family members who came to share it with us.

I cannot use that word to describe the events of 1/6. I do not have a word to replace the term “anniversary.” I’ll look to come up with one.

Just don’t look for that word to appear in this blog whenever I choose to discuss the events of that hideous day in our nation’s history.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Kinzinger speaks truth

Adam Kinzinger’s lame-duck status in the U.S. House of Representatives gives him a shield against the attacks that are sure to come at him from Donald Trump and his cabal of cultists.

Why would they attack the Illinois Republican lawmaker? Because he is calling Trump out for what he is: a liar.

Kinzinger is one of two GOP members of a House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection. He said recently he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2022. So he is in his final term in the House. That means Trump cannot do him any political harm.

Trump recently blasted the 1/6 committee, declaring it is intent on “smearing him.” Kinzinger is having none of it. Nor should he. “As expected, the lies continue. Not in any way true. The truth however will be vindicated by the findings of the@January6thCmte,” the GOP lawmaker wrote via Twitter today.

If only other Republicans in Congress would grow the stones they shouldn’t have to grow simply to speak the truth about the former Liar in Chief, who is trying to prevent the select committee from obtaining White House documents it needs to get to the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection.

Let us keep in mind: Donald Trump fomented that riot.

Thus, the House panel needs to know the truth behind what happened on 1/6.

Adam Kinzinger is speaking the truth by calling out Trump’s lies.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Investigate … what?

Rand Paul qualified in my view as the dumbest doctor to serve in the U.S. Senate. Indeed, his idiocy seems boundless, which could make him a candidate for being the dumbest doc in human history.

Sen./Dr. Paul said recently that if Republicans take control of the Senate after next year’s midterm election that he intends to investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s “coverups.” I am sitting here in my man cave wondering: What the hell is Rand Paul talking about?

Paul has been a constant critic of Fauci over the way Fauci has handled his role as medical adviser to two U.S. presidents in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Fauci went to work for the Donald Trump administration when the COVID virus first hit in early 2020; he stayed on during the Joe Biden administration after President Biden won the 2020 election.

Where was Rand Paul as the pandemic began to take more lives? Was he ever critical of Donald Trump’s downplaying of the severity of the pandemic? Did he ever call Trump out for refusing to acknowledge what medical professionals were telling him? Hell no!

Indeed, did the Kentucky Republican — a medical doctor — ever defend his fellow doc Fauci when Trump called him as being an “idiot”?

After Trump left the White House and after Biden settled in take command of the fight against the coronavirus, then we began hearing Paul pop off about Fauci’s alleged “lying” as it concerned the effectiveness of masks.

Now he threatens to investigate “coverups” that Dr. Fauci reportedly has engaged in? What in the name of Hippocrates is this moron suggesting?

Let’s hear some evidence … Dr. Paul!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

‘National divorce’ = civil war

Congressional Republican leaders had the good sense to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after she popped off about the COVID vaccine and the Holocaust.

Unfortunately, the Georgia Republican has been far from silent in spouting her unadulterated idiocy.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has called Greene a “traitor” for advocating civil war in these United States of America. He said via Twitter:

There is no “National Divorce” either you are for civil war or not. Just say it if you want a civil war and officially declare yourself a traitor.

Oh, brother.

Greene said this, according to Newsweek: Greene suggested in a tweet on Wednesday that “brainwashed” Democrats from blue states should be given a “cooling down period” where they are not allowed to vote if they move to a red state. Although suspending voting rights for people who have moved states based on political affiliation would be clearly illegal, Greene argued that a ban could be possible during a so-called “National Divorce,” prompting Gallego to blast her for promoting civil war.

A “national divorce”? Is that what she’s advocating?

Gallego said she is speaking some sort of cryptic code for “civil war.” I sorta get what Gallego is interpreting. It’s not surprising, even during Greene’s still brief time on the national stage, to hear such trash coming from this QAnon queen/conspiracy theorist/COVID vaccine denier.

She is unhinged, unglued and totally unfit for public office … at any level.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Rep. Cheney stands tall

Liz Cheney continues to fill me with conflicting emotions as he hits back at Donald Trump over his role in the 1/6 insurrection that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Wyoming Republican — one of two GOP members serving on the House select 1/6 committee — is standing on her belief in the rule of law and on her view that Donald Trump committed a potentially criminal act by inciting the riot on 1/6 and by doing nothing to prevent it.

The emotions pull me in different directions.

I feel compelled to salute her for standing tall against the idiocy that Trump keeps suggesting that the House investigation is nothing more than a “witch hunt” aimed at “smearing” his reputation … as if there’s anything anyone can do to smear this carnival barker’s standing.

Then again, she is doing her job. She is upholding the oath she took — along with Trump and every member of Congress — to defend the Constitution and uphold the law of the land. Is that worthy of high praise? Should she be praised simply for doing the job she is obligated to do?

“We will not allow him to hide the truth about Jan. 6, or his conduct, from the American people,” Cheney wrote in response to Trump’s latest fusillade.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rep-liz-cheney-hits-back-at-trump-over-jan-6-committee-demands-for-white-house-records/ar-AAShnwq?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

I will continue to offer her high praise, given the grief she is taking from her political party and the political peril she faces back home as she runs for re-election in 2022.

Rep. Cheney is a champion who believes in seeking the truth. In this climate, truth-seekers should be held up for singular praise.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Year ‘without form’ comes to its end

New York Times columnist David Brooks has this way of offering unique perspectives on issues and moments that make me think: Dang, I wish I had thought of that!

PBS NewsHour host Judy Woodruff asked Brooks this past Friday to sum up the year that’s about to pass into history. He called 2021 a “year without form.” I guess that was his way of saying he has difficulty describing it in a concise manner.

It was a year of continued suffering around the world from the pandemic that has taken on a new, unpredictable and potentially dangerous new life.

A new president took office in January and in the spring, Joe Biden promised we would be celebrating our “independence” from the pandemic by the Fourth of July. It didn’t happen. We are farther today than we were then from that independence.

Then again, maybe we are closer than we think. Vaccines are coming out. More Americans are partaking of them. Just maybe we can turn the corner for good soon on the virus that has killed more than 800,000 Americans.

Six days into 2021 we witnessed an insurrection. The House has convened a select panel to get at the root cause of it and find solutions to prevent a recurrence. That work remains to be finished. It has been ongoing for most of the year.

Meanwhile, the immediate past president continues spewing The Big Lie. His followers continue to swallow the swill that pours out of his pie hole.

All this went on during the year.

I am going to hope that 2022 takes on a form, let alone a positive form, as we continue down along journey together.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Bishop Tutu: rare breed of leader

Desmond Tutu’s death the other day served to remind the world of the rarity of leadership he provided and how the ranks of statesmen and women on Earth is diminishing with the passing of these great individuals.

The South African archbishop of the Anglican Church fought hard for justice for those in his country who didn’t enjoy the fruits of liberty and justice they deserved. Tutu’s work earned him the Nobel Peace Prize as he fought tooth and nail to rid South Africa of its apartheid policy, which elevated white citizens and kept its black citizens in a form of bondage.

He stood with Nelson Mandela as the future South African president emerged from prison in 1990. Tutu’s mantra as he fought for justice was to do so without violence. Indeed, he wrote the proverbial book on civil disobedience, to which other great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. would adhere.

We lament the lack of statesmanship in this country. In reality, the dearth of statesmen and women is a worldwide problem. Too many political leaders allow themselves to be snookered into spouting crazy ideology. Worse, they create crazy talk and try to snooker their “followers” into believing the nonsense they espouse.

Desmond Tutu would have none of that. He spoke with quiet eloquence. Indeed, he spoke the truth to those in power. He lent his powerful presence and his voice to the debate over the evils of the apartheid policy that kept black South Africans from the fruits of full citizenship.

The great man is now gone. The entire planet was enriched that he graced it for as long as he did.

If only the political leaders who remain can emulate the formula that enabled Desmond Tutu to find the greatness he deserved.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Smooth drive into downtown Dallas

I made a trek Tuesday morning from my home in Collin County to downtown Dallas.

Along the way I was struck by a couple of thoughts.

One was that, “Dang, it’s nice to drive along the Central Expressway during morning rush hour and not have to slow down.” Previous trips along U.S. 75 from Princeton to the heart of Big D would last as long as 90 minutes; the trip includes plenty of serious slowdowns and occasional traffic stoppages. I made this particular trek in less than an hour.

OK, I get that it was just the second workday between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, which means a lot of traffic was, shall we say, elsewhere. School is out. Kids are with Grandma and Grandpa, along with their parents.

The second thought was whether it is a precursor for what might lie ahead if businesses have to shut down — again! — in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’re in the midst of another spike in infections from the Omicron variant. The first business shutdown in early 2021 was no picnic for businesses that had to close their doors and keep employees at home. It was a picnic, though, for those who had to travel through the Metroplex during that time.

Our highway network often is choked with traffic during rush hours — morning and evening. I relished the drive this week. I don’t expect to relish it very much in the future.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com