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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION

50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

Joe Biden’s mental capacity is diminishing before our eyes By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/03/joe_bidens_mental_capacity_is_diminishing_before_our_eyes.html

The worst kept secret in Washington, D.C., is that Joe Biden is suffering from serious age-related cognitive decline. In January, although some people predicated he would remain in office for up to two years before he was gently ushered out to make room for Kamala Harris, I looked at the man and thought he was going to be retired by June. Lately, though, Biden looks as if he’s heading for an April or May retirement. On Monday, he had his worst public appearance yet, when he was unable to remember either the name for his Secretary of Defense or the Pentagon.

Anybody who’s dealt with aging relatives unlucky enough to suffer from a cognitive decline, whether Alzheimer’s or age-related senility, recognizes what’s going on with Joe Biden. Sally Zelikovsky wrote with great compassion about what’s happening in Biden’s life right now:

Stress and anxiety don’t cause dementia but can exacerbate a dementia patient’s confusion. It can be brought on by something as mundane as a large family gathering, a change in routine, a fall, a visit to the hospital, or stress from a job.  While “sundowning” or decompensating after a family event are common fallouts from stress, the real challenge is the accumulation of stress and anxiety over time that leads to confusion and, ultimately, delusions, which, in turn, can foster increased levels of anxiety that can exacerbate the confusion experienced and result in even more delusions, and so forth and so on.  It’s a hellacious cycle.

Biden’s minders, including Mrs. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, are doing their best to insulate Biden from the stress. However, his title means that he must get out of the bedroom periodically and play at being president. That effort must be wreaking havoc with Joe’s tenuous grasp on memory and reality.

Jill Biden, the Meghan Markle in the WH, is egregiously guilty of elder abuse By Patricia McCarthy

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/03/jill_biden_the_meghan_markle_in_the_wh_is_egregiously_guilty_of_elder_abuse.html

The millions of Americans who were paying attention throughout the 2020 election campaign all became painfully aware of the fact that Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities were slipping and slipping fast.  His wife, as the person closest to him, should have been the one to call the campaign quits in order to reduce stress on the man.  

Instead, apparently so anxious to become the First Lady by any means necessary, Mrs. Biden continued to push her failing husband’s campaign forward as if he were mentally qualified.  Of course all those around him knew as well that he was in the throes of dementia; it was impossible to miss the signs.

They too ignored the obvious and because they always believe the American people are, as a collective, an order of fries short of a Happy Meal, they thought we wouldn’t notice.  Not only was his progressive neurological dimming clear, so was the fact that at no time throughout the campaign could he draw a crowd.  We all saw that he could not give even a short talk without a giant teleprompter.  The man was toast then.  Now he is burnt toast.  He no longer ever credibly read that jumbo teleprompter.

Each attempt to speak since Inauguration Day has been an embarrassing disaster.   And there is the not-Dr. Jill to step in to complete his sentences when she should be making the announcement that we all know is coming.  She must be waiting for the Democrats to implement that 25th Amendment they had hoped to use to get rid of President Trump.  She should be very, very ashamed of herself for allowing poor Joe to suffer the indignities of encroaching dementia in public.

Obama’s Wingmen Set to Take Over Justice Department Again If Joe Biden and the Democrats claim they want an “independent” Justice Department, Republicans should force the White House to be true to their word. By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/08/obamas-wingmen-set-to-take-over-justice-department-again/

In his first public remarks, Joe Biden’s acting deputy attorney general promised he would spare no resource in the nationwide manhunt for anyone involved in the Capitol breach on January 6. 

“The investigation into those responsible is moving at a speed and scale that is unprecedented, and rightly so,” John Carlin said in a February speech on the threat of domestic terrorism. “Those responsible must be held to account, and they will be.”

Carlin referred to the Capitol melee as an example of “violent extremism.”

If Carlin’s name rings a bell, here’s why. Carlin headed Barack Obama’s National Security Division at the Justice Department for more than two years; his office handled all the evidence presented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) seeking permission to spy on suspected enemies of America. 

Just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Carlin’s shop persuaded the court, based on the so-called Steele dossier authored by a British operative paid by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton, that Carter Page, a Trump campaign advisor, was a “foreign agent” of Russia. The dossier—consisting largely of unverified opposition research—was central to validating the FBI’s investigation into Donald Trump and his campaign.

Carlin left the agency on October 15, 2016—the FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page was approved by FISC on October 21, 2016, and reapproved three more times. An inspector general’s report later concluded the original FISA applications were filled with “significant errors and omissions,” to put it charitably; the secret court itself blasted the many failings of the Page FISA process.

Carter Page’s life was nearly destroyed, yet not one Obama-era government official responsible for initiating the crusade against him has so much as apologized. Instead, Carlin continued to perpetuate the phony Russian collusion myth by vilifying other Trump aides, including Lt. General Mike Flynn. In 2017, Carlin condemned Flynn’s “secret” conversations with a Russian ambassador as posing a threat to the country that must be investigated. 

He warned career Justice Department employees would resign if Trump fired Special Counsel Robert Mueller. As Democrats considered impeaching Trump in 2019, Carlin described Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president as “corrupt.”

The “Independence” Canard

Another Biden Bumble – He Can’t Remember the Name of His Own Defense Secretary By Stacey Lennox

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2021/03/08/another-biden-bumble-he-cant-remember-the-name-of-his-own-defense-secretary-n1430938

President Joe Biden appears to be fumbling and bumbling with increased frequency. Despite fawning reports of how he is early to bed following a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream, he seems to have difficulty whenever he speaks after lunch. Today, even with Vice President Kamala Harris at his side, as she often is to help direct him, Biden called Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “the (pause) former general (pause) the guy who runs that outfit over there.”

Biden could not come up with the position, Austin’s name, or the agency he leads, despite Biden having appointed Austin to head the Pentagon. Even more disturbing is that he appears to have written information in a folder and either doesn’t reference it or doesn’t know to reference it. More extended footage shows him closing the binder and leaving the podium without putting his mask on. Harris has had to remind him to do this before in keeping with the administration’s pro-mask stance.

The fact that this keeps happening is not what should bother Americans. Instead, the problem is no one in the corporate media is talking about it. In the last several weeks, Biden mangled the names of longtime Democrats in Texas and had had his live feed cut when he offered to take questions following a virtual meeting. His press secretary has had to answer questions about when he will have a solo press conference.

Jew-Hatred’s Many Strains What the BDS movement really wants. Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/anti-semitisms-many-strains-joseph-puder/

The collective hatred of Jews can be defined as anti-Semitism. Like the coronavirus, it has developed many mutations. Anti-Semitism is the oldest hatred, which does not seem to fade away. It is found in the liberal United Kingdom, with the likes of Rev. Stephen Sizer, a vicar in the Church of England. In 2015, he posted an article on Facebook, accusing Jews and Israel of “responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.” Sizer has joined a long history of Jew-hatred. The Catholic Church’s anti-Judaism turned to rabid anti-Semitism by Martin Luther, which laid the foundation for Hitler’s Nazi genocidal efforts against the Jews. 

In the late 1990’s, while a graduate student at Seton Hall University (a Catholic institution), I was invited by the courageous and legendary late Sister Rose Thering to attend an address to the faculty by Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, President at the time, of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and head of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews. In his presentation, the Cardinal made a distinction between anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. He pointed out that the Catholic Church and its followers might have been anti-Judaic in history, but posited that anti-Semitism was not part of it.  

Sister Rose, who recruited me to Seton Hall, prodded me to ask a question of the Cardinal. She was not convinced that the Cardinal’s thesis was entirely accurate, and neither was I. So, I raised my hand and when acknowledged I asked, “Your Eminence, how do you define the July 4, 1946 pogrom in Kielce, Poland, in which 42 Jewish men, women, and children, all Holocaust survivors, were murdered? Was that an example of anti-Judaism or anti-Semitism?” The Cardinal appeared rather perplexed, was silent for a moment, ending up politely avoiding my question.  

Exposing the Media’s Protection Racket for Biden An Australian commentator ventures where American journalists don’t dare to go. Joseph Hippolito

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/exposing-medias-protection-racket-biden-joseph-hippolito/

Barely a month into Joe Biden’s virtual presidency, a political commentator on a major cable network said the ostensible winner of November’s election is too mentally incapacitated to serve.

What network transmitted those comments? Fox News? Newsmax? One America News? Perhaps even CNN or MSNBC? 

No. It was Sky News Australia, a conservative outlet.

And who made those comments? Cory Bernardi, a former Australian Senator from that nation’s conservative Liberal Party.

On Feb. 19, during his 5-minute commentary, Bernardi not only criticized Biden. He castigated the Democratic Party and traditional mass communications outlets in the United States for refusing to confront the issue.

“Never before has the leader of the free world been so cognitively compromised,” Bernardi said. “It’s clear to me at the least that U.S. President Joe Biden is struggling with dementia, and is clearly not up to the task he’s been sworn in to do.”

This was apparent to many during the election campaign. But such was the hatred of Donald Trump by the partisan and poisonous mainstream media, they chose not to highlight anything that may have derailed a Biden victory.  Even now, after he’s been sworn in, many of them are still refusing to speak the truth about Biden’s lack of capacity.

The Walls Close In on Cuomo Impeachment resolution filed. Jeffrey Lord

https://spectator.org/cuomo-resignation-impeachment/

Gov. Cuomo is in trouble. Big trouble.And he knows it.

Uh-oh.

Here’s the headline at Fox News:

New York Republicans announce Cuomo impeachment resolution: ‘We believe the time has come’

Cuomo is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and a federal probe into his administration’s tally on COVID-19 deaths tied to nursing homes

The Fox story begins this way:

Republicans in the New York State Assembly on Monday announced an impeachment resolution against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying they believe the Democratic governor has lost “credibility and trust” and has an “inability to lead” the state of New York amid sexual harassment allegations leveled against him and investigations into his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

New York State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, alongside other Republicans, laid out the plan to introduce an impeachment resolution on Monday.

Gov. Cuomo insists he will not resign. He was elected, he says, not by politicians but the people of New York.

Alas for the governor, those very same people of New York elect the members of the New York state Legislature. And a lot of the members in the Legislature — alarmingly for the governor — are Democrats saying they want him out of the governor’s office.

Bad Judgment and Biden’s Pentagon Colin Kahl is the wrong choice to be chief Defense strategist.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bad-judgment-and-bidens-pentagon-11615246787?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Another Biden nominee with a record of intemperate tweets is at risk of sinking in the Senate, and the press is comparing him to Neera Tanden, the President’s withdrawn first pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Yet whoever replaces Ms. Tanden is unlikely to change the trajectory of the Biden Administration’s progressive policies.

The Pentagon nomination of Colin Kahl, a dogmatic proponent of the Iran nuclear deal, is another story. A no vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee could push the Administration toward a Mideast approach that better serves America’s national interest.

President Biden has tapped Mr. Kahl for undersecretary of defense for policy, one of the most important non-cabinet jobs in the federal government. While the Secretary of Defense handles high-level defense politics, and the deputy secretary manages the department day-to-day, the undersecretary plays the leading role setting strategy—including representing the department at National Security Council deputies meetings.

Mr. Kahl’s strategic Mideast misjudgments have been pronounced. In 2015 as Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, Mr. Kahl argued for sanctions relief on Iran, declaring they “are not going to spend the vast majority of the money on guns, most of it will go to butter.” In the event, Tehran took advantage of the windfall to increase its financing for proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

One Shot Is Better Than None Giving more people a single dose of mRNA Covid vaccines saves more lives than giving fewer people two doses. By Roger Marshall

https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-shot-is-better-than-none-11615250588?mod=opinion_lead_pos10

Dr. Marshall, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Kansas. He is a physician.

In my four years in Congress, the phrase I’ve heard most regularly abused is “Follow the science.” Politicians, bureaucrats and reporters in Washington—many of whom, based on their comments, seem to have last attended science class in eighth grade—have a penchant for developing policies and then lecturing the opposition on the “science” that follows their agenda. Like my granddad used to say, “figures lie and liars figure.” Covid-19 policy is no exception.

In medical school, my classmates and I were taught to apply the science practically to the messy world around us, not merely follow theories as if we practiced medicine in a vacuum. Once we got out of the classroom, many of us quickly found that not every patient’s clinical course was exactly what the textbooks said. The medical school graduates who quickly became the best physicians were those who listened to their patients, called on their experience, and, yes, applied the science only as made sense in particular circumstances.

Nothing is harder for a physician to manage than a virus. Human papillomavirus, for example, often causes cervical precancer and cancer. Our obstetrics and gynecology residency program studied HPV as far back as my internship in 1987. From 1997 to 2003, by combining pap smears with HPV strain identification, doctors could employ technology that identified which patients were truly at risk for cancer, versus those who should merely be observed. But finding the correct application took roughly a decade, and as doctors struggled to use the data to distinguish who was at high and low risk, I observed the condition was often overtreated.

Is America at Risk from Domestic Terrorists? By Philip Carl Salzman

https://pjmedia.com/columns/philip-carl-salzman/2021/03/07/is-america-at-risk-from-domestic-terrorists-n1430573

Seriously, can we possibly believe anything that Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats say? Has anything that they have said during the past four years been true?

The collusion in the Russian collusion scandal was between the Hillary Clinton Campaign, the Democrat leadership, the entire Democrat press, networks, and cable news, and our own intelligence and security agencies. Nor was there any predicate for the accusations against President Trump, but rather it was a rationalization of “The Resistance” that Democrats proudly announced, as if it were not a violation of the most basic principle of democracy: a peaceful transition of power. From 2016 through 2018 there were enthusiastic daily reports confirming President Trump’s collusion with the Russians, him being an agent of Putin, and claims that the definitive evidence was about to be revealed. Of course, as we know, there never was any evidence, in spite of two years of investigation by a special prosecutor and a platoon of partisan Democrat lawyers. Since 2018, there have only been sporadic outbursts claiming that Trump was doing Putin’s bidding by Pelosi and her minions, for why let a good lie die? 

Then there were the two—two!—impeachments of Trump, for entirely imaginary offenses, one being a telephone call with the leader of Ukraine, and the other for urging his followers to express their concerns “peacefully and patriotically.” The impeachments of course were really for Trump having beaten the female Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton, and having pro-America policies that clashed with Democrat pro-Chinese and pro-United Nations policies from which Democrats have gotten rich, e.g. the Biden crime family. In other words, the impeachments were just the next initiatives in the unconstitutional “Resistance.” 

For the 2020 presidential election, the Democrats activated a wide array of dirty tricks, many unconstitutional in the states where they were carried out, which undermined election security and opened many opportunities for manipulation of the vote. Was the election stolen from Trump? We cannot know for certain, because the substantial evidence has not been considered and adjudicated. Rather than take up the challenge to protect American democracy, courts, including the Supreme Court, flinched and dodged. And now the Democrats are hoping to pass H.R.1, a bill that would put control of elections into the hands of the Democrats in perpetuity, so that there would never be an honest election in America.