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jkanelis · 1 hour
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Nothing wrong with 'mainstream'
Conservatives far and wide take great joy in hurling the so-called “mainstream media” epithet at reporters and editors who tell them the truth about their favorite politicians. I disagree, therefore, that the term should be used in that context. If the right-wingers out there are going to toss the term “mainstream media” at those of us who are (or used to be) employed by media organizations,…
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jkanelis · 16 hours
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Who's the insane one?
I suspect we’re going to see social media images like the one that appears on this brief blog post. It gives anyone who backs the presumed Republican Party presidential nominee the what-for given the moron’s bizarre proclivities. The picture shows the ex-POTUS saluting a North Korean general, I presume in advance of his meeting with North Korean despot and murderer Kim Jong Un. I cannot predict…
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jkanelis · 18 hours
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What is RFK Jr. doing?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bizarre campaign for the presidency has me baffled and bamboozled. He announced his candidacy first as a Democrat; then he became an independent. This week he selected an entrepreneur/lawyer, Nicole Shanahan, as his vice-presidential running mate. Why the bafflement? Well, RFK Jr.’s father, the late Robert F. Kennedy, was my first political hero. I had the pleasure of…
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jkanelis · 2 days
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NBC pulls its head out
Just when I thought the world was going to hell, a major TV network has delivered the goods and thought better about a horrible hiring decision it had made. NBC News withdrew its decision to hire former Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel as an on-air political contributor. I want to stand and cheer out loud! So … I will. You see, NBC erred in hiring McDaniel after the former party chair had…
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jkanelis · 2 days
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Can it get worse for speaker?
I have asked a question in the headline atop this post that I believe I can answer. Yes. It can get worse. It seems to be worsening daily for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose majority in the congressional chamber is now down to a single member. Meaning that the dude has virtually no governing majority. Johnson is facing an insurrection — if you’ll pardon the use of the term — within his…
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jkanelis · 3 days
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NBC makes a bad hire
Ronna Romney McDaniel once held the job as chair of the Republican National Committee, which by definition is a legitimate political occupation. Were she just the RNC chair before NBC News hired her as a paid consultant, I would be fine with it, as would other journalists who today are howling like wolves at news of this hiring decision. However, she brings some serious baggage to her new gig.…
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jkanelis · 3 days
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He was a consummate pro
A friend and former colleague told me a brief story about a man whom I saluted with an earlier blog post; I want to share a bit of my friend’s story here. John Ward died recently at the age of 70. He served for 22 years as Amarillo’s city manager, which by itself is an astonishing length of time, given the brutal and unforgiving nature of the work one must do. He had to work with governing…
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jkanelis · 3 days
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Blogging invigorates me
I feel invigorated this morning. Why is that? For starters, I slept well overnight. Also, I have this blog to keep me fired up. For sure I hit a spell when I wasn’t feeling really “into it.” I didn’t have writers’ block … exactly. To be truthful, I don’t think I’ve ever suffered from the ailment that plagues people who write for a living.  Indeed, I can recall when the writer’s floodgates…
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jkanelis · 4 days
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Pardon the mobsters? Really?
Of all the campaign promises the presumed Republican Party presidential nominee has said, the hands-down deal breaker came when he pledged to issue a presidential pardon to all the criminals who stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021. So help me Almighty God in heaven, I cannot fathom how this moron can say such a thing. I cannot grasp, moreover, the mindset of those MAGA cultists who…
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jkanelis · 5 days
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Compromise: it works
President Biden signed into a law a $1.2 trillion spending bill that arrived at his desk after a deadline had lapsed. The president didn’t hesitate for a nano-second to sign the bill and issued a statement that stated the obvious: Not everyone is totally pleased with what’s in it, but Congress got the job done thanks to some serious compromise. Therein lies at the heart of what I call “good…
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jkanelis · 5 days
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Shut the hell up, MTG!
A follower of High Plains Blogger has posited an interesting theory on how we might rid ourselves of the nonsensical blather that flies out of the mouths of inexperienced members of Congress. This individual writes: ” … perhaps it’s time for us to have some actual criteria other than residency and age in order to run for a seat in Congress (or the presidency). Perhaps some relevant education and…
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jkanelis · 5 days
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Pelosi should laugh out loud
Of all the members of the U.S. House who should be laughing out loud at the shenanigans of the MAGA cult, it is the most recent Democrat to hold the office of speaker of the House. That is Nancy Pelosi, who now carries the title of “House speaker emerita,” which I guess is a way of declining to identify her as just another member of the House, representing her Bay Area, Calif., district. Oh,…
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jkanelis · 6 days
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ISIS rears its evil head
Joe Biden has been handed yet another crisis … as if he needs anything else to occupy his time. The Islamic State is taking “credit” for a massive shooting spree in Moscow that has killed at least 60 people; they were attending a music festival in the Russian capital. What does the president do? He’s already on record opposing Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s illegal and immoral invasion of…
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jkanelis · 6 days
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House speaker: world's worst job
There can be zero doubt — none whatsoever — that the worst job in the world has to be speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Particularly now, in this climate, with a slim Republican Party majority in the House being kicked around by a vocal minority mob of malcontents. The malcontent in chief, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has filed a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his…
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jkanelis · 6 days
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RIP, John Ward
To say that John Q. Ward was a “survivor” in a cutthroat, ruthless and unforgiving business is to commit the mother of understatements. Ward served as Amarillo city manager for — hold on! — more than 20 years. He served under several city commissions and city councils — the city changed the name of its governing board years ago.  The former city manager died the other day of a lung infection,…
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jkanelis · 7 days
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School vouchers: bad idea!
Gov. Greg Abbott keeps spitting in the faces of what should be his most ardent constituency, the rural Republicans who vote overwhelmingly to keep the GOP governor in office. That’s right. He continues to push for his school voucher plan that would take money from public school districts and give Texans the choice of sending their children to private schools. Why is that such a spitter? Because…
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jkanelis · 7 days
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Outrage keeps mounting
My wellspring of outrage seems to know no bounds, given the idiocy that keeps flowing from the overfed pie hole of the 2024 Republican Party presidential nominee in waiting. He said the following recently to a crowd of MAGA minions cheering his every ridiculous proclamation: He will pardon all the so-called “hostages” who are jailed for their assault on the U.S. Capitol on 1/6 … if he’s elected…
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