RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/569973-kamala-harris-the-absentee-vp-by-design

She was supposed to be a major player in the Biden administration after being lauded as an historic, consequential figure in her role as America’s first female vice president. 

“Harris Has the Potential To Change the Face of U.S. Politics,” read a November 2020 Politico headline that echoed many others at the time. And not long after Joe Biden was sworn in as the nation’s 46th president, the administration insisted she should be known as her boss’s equal. 

“Please be sure to reference the current administration as the ‘Biden-Harris Administration’ in official public communications,” a March directive read, emphasizing Biden-Harris in boldface.

Kamala Harris may have crashed and burned as a 2020 presidential candidate, dropping out well before the first votes were cast in Iowa. But Biden chose her as his running mate anyway. It’s not clear exactly what Harris brought to the ticket outside of checking off a few demographic boxes. 

Foreign policy credentials? Nope. Business experience? None. A track record of working with Republicans to pass important legislation? Not even close. In fact, an analysis by the non-partisan GovTrack showed that she was the most liberal member of the Senate, even further to the left than democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

But she had been California’s attorney general, so perhaps Team Biden felt her record on crime could help her lead the way in reducing the violent crime that has engulfed American cities since the summer of 2020, resulting in mass resignations and retirements among the police.

Not at all. In fact, during the presidential primaries, Harris’s Twitter account publicly promoted a bail fund for rioters in Minneapolis, a city that’s seen violent crime spike under the current administration. 

“If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota,” it tweeted in June 2020 as Minneapolis was under siege to the tune of more than $500 million in damage. 

https://jimtreacher.substack.com/p/whos-telling-biden-not-to-answer

Kanye just dropped an album, war rages in the Middle East, a hurricane is hitting Louisiana, and everybody hates the president.

Welcome to 2005.

Again and again, Joe Biden keeps telling us he’s not supposed to answer questions. “They told me not to answer questions.” “I’m gonna get in trouble if I answer questions.” Over and over, the most powerful man in the free world insists he’s not the one in charge.

He did it again over the weekend:

“I’m not supposed to take any questions, but go ahead… I’m not gonna answer Afghanistan now.”

Why isn’t Joe Biden supposed to take any questions? Who’s telling him not to take questions, and what’s the rationale? (We all know the real reason: He’s an idiot. But his own aides can’t say that.) What happens to him when he disobeys? Is this sort of thing normal for a POTUS to say? Shouldn’t he be the one to decide whether or not he takes questions?

And why don’t any of these reporters want to know? Their whole purpose for being there is to ask the president questions. Shouldn’t they wonder why he’s expressly telling them he’s not “supposed to”?

If my job was to follow the president around and write down what he says, and he told me he’s not supposed to take questions, I would ask why not. Wouldn’t you?

Just kidding. Biden is a Democrat. That sort of self-righteously aggrieved hectoring is reserved for Republicans in power.

In Joe’s defense, he’s a busy guy with a lot going on right now. Just look at how he was able to multitask as he paid his respects to the 13 Marines who died because of his incompetence:

Nicholas Fondacaro @NickFondacaro
It’s true. Joe Biden checked his watch during the dignified transfer of the servicemembers killing in Afghanistan at the airport. You can see him jerk his left hand to pull the watch out from under his sleeve, then look down at it.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/last-flight-from-kabul-afghanistan-joe-biden-antony-blinken-11630361902?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

The last American troops left Kabul on Monday—before the Aug. 31 deadline as the Taliban and President Biden had insisted—ending a 20-year conflict but also diminishing the hope of escape for tens of thousands of Afghan interpreters and others who helped America. The frantic evacuation flights managed to get many out, but this was a shameful day in American history, no matter how much the White House wants to spin it otherwise.

Aug. 31 was the arbitrary deadline Mr. Biden set when he thought he would be able to boast on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 that he had ended a “forever war.” He refused to extend the date despite pleas from NATO allies and knowing the date was too soon to evacuate the deserving. Mr. Biden nonetheless told Americans that he would evacuate all Americans who wanted to leave.

His deadline meant that the evacuation failed as much as his withdrawal strategy did. An unknown number of Americans—perhaps a few hundred—weren’t able to leave on the last flights. Nonprofit groups estimate that as many as 60,000 Afghans who fought or assisted the NATO mission were left behind.

Many are in hiding amid reports that special Taliban squads are searching for the names on lists they may have acquired in the willy-nilly U.S. withdrawal. Many will be tortured and killed, and their families too.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jim-webb-afghanistan-withdrawal-debacle-american-founding-constitution-accountability-11630357157?st=wcdqzs63qmahfv6&reflink=article_email_share

Former Sen. Jim Webb (D., Va.) writing for the National Interest, Aug. 29:

In a perverse way, perhaps we should look at the calamitous blunderings in Afghanistan as an opportunity to demand a true turning point. Americans know that a great deal of our governmental process is now either institutionally corrupt or calcified. . . .

Even the very best among those who come forward to serve often find that the good they came to do is stultified by distracting debates over the very premise of why the American system of government was created and whether the icons of our past were truly motivated by the words incorporated in our most revered documents. The military itself is increasingly being used by leftist activists as a social laboratory to advance extreme political agendas. Congressional oversight leans heavily toward social issues, with too many members struggling without success to focus on accountability at the very top when, for instance, good people at the bottom have to implement poorly conceived plans that might kill them.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/08/29/did-biden-fall-asleep-during-meeting-with-bennett/

Video posted on social media Saturday, which showed United States President Joe Biden seemingly falls asleep during a meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, had users speculate whether that was indeed the case.

Footage was posted on Twitter by Knesset member for Likud Galit Distal Atbaryan. “For some reason, the Israeli media itself fell asleep and did not notice this historical moment,” she wrote. “I thought that you should know about this. The man fell asleep and simply does not care.”