Biden has Cancer

It has been reported that President Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones.  Was this only discovered since he left office or has this been kept under wraps for longer?  Back in 2022, President Biden claimed that he had cancer that had been caused by oil refinery pollution in Delaware.  Was this a case of the President going off script, but revealing something that was true?  Has he had cancer since 2022?  If the White House and the media were so busy keeping signs of senility out of the news, what are they odds that they also opted not to talk about a cancer diagnosis.

President Autopen

In recent days, it has been discovered that many of President Biden's signatures are identical.  Previous presidents have used an autopen.  For example, President Obama used an autopen to sign a law extension before a deadline while he was in France.  Generally, the autopen is used to sign correspondence, photographs, or other non-official documents.  Where most presidents issue only 50 or so executive orders a year, the use of an autopen would be unexpected.  Surely, the president can sign a document a week, especially an executive order that he crafted or a pardon he authorized.  Well, it turns out that President Biden couldn't be bothered.  Or maybe he wasn't even consulted.  The combination of President Biden's mental decline and that the autopen provided his signature on both executive orders and pardons is troubling.

Joe Biden was not calling the shots during his presidency.  He was a front man, a figurehead.  Much as it was eventually revealed that Joe McCarthy was right about communist infiltration of the government and President Wilson was an invalid during the last 18 months of his presidency, it will someday be exposed who was the guiding the executive branch during the last 4 years.  Until then, we can refer to that person as President Autopen.

The Border

Throughout the Biden Presidency, we heard that there was nothing he could do about the border.  He needed new laws to stop the flood of immigrants across the border.  Congress must pass new laws to stem the tide.  The president's hands are tied without additional legislation.  Really?

President Trump has been back in office for just over 6 weeks and border crossings have plummeted by 85% or more.  Amazingly, Congress has passed no new laws.  Nope.  Trump is just enforcing the laws that are already on the books.  It is illegal to enter the United States without permission.  The border crisis that Biden claimed to have no power to reverse somehow turned on a dime when a new president was inaugurated.  It is exactly events like this that destroy faith in media.  For the last four years, the media uncritically echoed the Biden Administration's claims of helplessness in the face of illegal immigration.  How does one trust what the media reports now when current events demolish previous reporting?  There is a reason that some have referred to the mainstream media as Democratic stenographers.

The Final Pardons

With his presidency coming to a close, President Biden slipped in a few more pardons.  There is retired General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, all the members of Congress who served on the J6 Committee, various DC and US Capitol police, and, of course, three of his siblings and their spouses.  No, nothing to see here, move along.  Unlike his son, who was convicted of crimes and indicted for crimes, these people are not.  What is being pardoned?  The claim will be to prevent Trump from taking revenge on his enemies.  You know, we wouldn't want the president to target political rivals with the power of government, like when President Biden's DOJ went after Trump, Giuliani, Steve Bannon, etc.  This tells us more about the thinking of Biden than the thinking of Trump, because Biden already did what he thinks Trump might do.

Generally, accepting a pardon is equated with admitting guilt.  What exactly would each of these folks be admitting?  For what crimes could Trump's DOJ pursue them?  Milley should have been fired for the Afghanistan debacle, but that isn't criminal.  His backdoor chats with the Chinese during the interregnum were a sore spot with Trump, who called it treason, but is that worthy of pursuing now that tempers have calmed?  Rand Paul has been particularly active against Dr. Fauci, indicating that he lied to Congress and participated in illegal gain-of-function research.  Is he someone Trump would pursue or is Fauci being protected from Senator Paul now that the control has shifted to Republicans?  Now the J6 Committee is an interesting one.  Once the tapes were released in 2023, a different picture of the 'insurrection' was painted.  The Q-Anon Shaman was escorted to the Senate chambers by the Capitol Police!  Was the committee impartial or did it cherry pick the evidence to reveal while hiding mitigating facts?  Did it do anything criminal?  Biden must think there could be something there or why the pardons?  As far as the pardons for his family, that is doubtless for the same shenanigans that surrounded Hunter.

These create a bad precedent.  Pardons should be for specific crimes, not a shield against any future prosecution.  When Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for all the draft dodgers, it was for evading the draft.  It did not pardon them for assault, murder, fraud, etc.  A specific crime was pardoned.  The Constitution states:

 

...he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Providing a pardon without the crime is a case of putting the cart before the horse.

The Blanket Pardon

Despite promises to the contrary, President Biden has pardoned his son for all crimes - whether convicted, charged, or even suspected - from 2014 through today, December 1, 2024.  Wow, we didn't see that coming at all.  What a huge surprise.  Sure, every political pundit predicted exactly this would happen, but otherwise this comes out of the blue.  Yes, with all the Trump cases dropping away, there is no longer any need to appear 'unbiased' and 'evenhanded' regarding justice.  Nope, now there is no political cost to President Biden for pardoning his son.  Yeah, it may look bad in the history books, but family is family.

Now the real fun begins.  Soon, there will be stories in the media why this was the right thing to do, a noble thing to do, and mostly Trump's and/or Republicans' fault.  Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, is going to have a stressful day tomorrow.  Good luck.

Acting-President Jill Biden

For the first time in nearly a year, President Biden had a cabinet meeting on Friday.  He offered a two-minute scripted statement and then gave the floor to First Lady Jill Biden.  Jill offered remarks on progress regarding women's health, which took about 5 minutes.  Joe answered a couple of questions before the press was ushered out.  The cabinet secretaries cannot be blind to the obvious decline in President Biden.  Literally everyone knows that President Biden is not up to the task.  He has taken more vacation time than any president in American history because he is not really the president.  He's a figurehead and every cabinet member and Vice President Harris are entirely aware of that.

Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

25th Amendment to the Constitution

Why has this not been invoked long since?  Everyone at that cabinet meeting and VP Harris know who is calling the shots and, so far, are happy to go along rather than remove President Biden.

However, this oddly timed and broadcast cabinet meeting does make one suspicious.  The ridiculously early June debate resulted in Joe Biden ending his re-election campaign.  Will this cabinet meeting provide similar basis for invoking the 25th Amendment and handing the presidency to VP Harris before the election?  Wow, that would be something.  Would a few weeks as President Kamala Harris improve her electoral chances?  This would be an unprecedented October Surprise.

Joe's Endorsement?

When I first saw this picture, I thought it was a phony.  Someone used photoshop to put a Trump hat on President Biden.  No, it turned out it was real.  So, then I thought he was so confused and out of it that he unwittingly wore the hat.  Wrong again.  Biden requested the hat from the man who was wearing it, placed it on top of the baseball cap he was wearing, smiled to the camera, then returned the Trump hat to the original wearer.  Wow, is someone maybe a bit miffed by how his party has treated him?  Coming after Trump stated in the debate that Biden hated Harris, the timing could hardly be worse.  Luckily, this incident won't get much play.  If it does, it will just be Joe Biden joking around.

The Cheney Endorsement

In much the way that President Obama's frequent calls for gun control caused gun sales to skyrocket, I suspect that former VP Dick Cheney's endorsement of Kamala is likely to have the opposite result of what he hopes.  From the very start of the George W Bush presidency, Cheney was viewed as the brains behind the administration.  After Bush picked him for VP, the word was that he brought 'gravitas' to the ticket.  Yeah, because George W Bush is not the most eloquent guy.  The Democrats heaped nearly as much blame on Cheney as Bush for the Bush Era.  Cheney spent 8 years as a prime Democrat boogieman, a villain beyond redemption, a former CEO of Halliburton!  Whatever he said was wrong or a lie.  Today, voters should listen to him about who should be president.  Really?

The Bush Administration got the US involved in Middle Eastern wars in a big way with Afghanistan and Iraq.  Though the Biden Administration pulls us out of Afghanistan, it has gotten us entangled in a far more dangerous war between Ukraine and Russia.  Trump wants to stop the war; Cheney endorses Kamala.  Coincidence?  You remember when the Democrats were anti-war?

If a Democrat from 2005 heard that Dick Cheney was endorsing a candidate, the Democrat would vote for the opposition.  Has the party drifted so far that Cheney is now a good guy?  Oddly, I am reminded of FBI Director Comey.  Throughout the 2016 Campaign, he was a hated villain for his pursuit of Hillary and her email server.  There was a natural distaste for him among Democrats.  On one of those late night shows (Colbert or Maher, I think), it was mentioned that Trump fired Comey.  The audience cheered.  They weren't supposed to cheer.  You see, Comey was undermining Trump, so he was a good guy now.  You bumpkins need to keep up with the times.

Topsy Turvy!

Ahead of My Time

Four years ago, I asked if Biden would bow out.  Why?  Because it was obvious that he was going senile.  What is interesting is what I supposed might happen:

Having won the nomination, he could admit to his mental decline and gracefully bow out. The Democratic Convention has a floor fight to pick the nominee. That could generate a lot of excitement though it does have the problem of nixing the primary results. ...  If Biden does bow out, Democrats will angle for a black woman. Then, any criticism of her - or her policies - will be either racist or sexist, possibly both.

Thanks to the Democrat-aligned media, Joe's dementia was kept under wraps for nearly his entire term.  Not until his ill-advised June debate - carefully timed to take place after the nomination was secured but still leaving plenty of time to boost his replacement - did the country have clear evidence of his mental decline.  The Democrats did not bother with a floor fight and simply elevated Kamala Harris - a black woman - to the top spot.

There is a new wrinkle though.  Joe was replaced because he was mentally impaired (and should be removed by the 25th amendment), but his replacement has adopted his 2020 campaign strategy: avoid the press.  Kamala Harris has not had an unscripted event since being named the nominee.  The basement strategy won last time; let's try it again. 

Ballot Access Problem

VP Harris may have an issue with getting her name on all the ballots.  Joe Biden won every race, which was how one gets his name on the November ballot.  By dropping out, that does not automatically change the name.  Nor does his endorsement after his dropout assure that the endorsee is listed on the ballot.  What if he had endorsed Trump?  Crazy, but we all know his endorsement in that case would be ignored and tossed.  Let's suppose all the delegates vote for Kamala at the forthcoming convention.  That would be a return to the old style of choosing candidates, back before we had primaries.  One of the reasons for the switch to primaries was to disempower the political bosses in the smoke-filled rooms from imposing a candidate.  The primaries chose Joe Biden; the party bosses have selected Kamala Harris.  Is that legal?

Bernie Sanders' supporters took the Democratic Party to court for putting a thumb on the scale against him.  The judge agreed that the party 'cheated' to make sure Bernie wasn't the nominee, but the party gets to do what it wants.  It's a political party, not a government agency or business that must follow laws.  It is not up to the courts to decide how political parties choose candidates.  With that in mind, the switch to Kamala is likely to be fine as far as the party is concerned but that still leaves the states.

States have election laws.  Do the states allow for a switch after the primary?  Most almost certainly do, but maybe not all.  That could be a problem.  Back in June, there was a concern that Joe Biden would not appear on the Ohio ballot.  Legislation was passed and the Republican governor signed it in order that Joe Biden would be listed on the Ohio ballot; there was a deadline, which is why it was a newsworthy issue.  Will there need to be additional legislation to switch to Kamala?  If so, should the Republicans oblige?  Lawfare is apparently fair play this year.

I have heard it asserted that Joe Biden will either resign or be forced out of office before the election.  Why?  Because that will make VP Harris the president and the sitting president is always listed on the ballot.  Here is the opportunity to overcome any legal issues and transform Kamala Harris into the incumbent president.  Is it likely?  Probably not, but I wouldn't rule it out.

Why Not Switch Again?

Donald Trump spent most of the last year attacking President Biden and his handling of the country.  Part of a campaign is defining your opponent and outlining how you would do things differently.  When Biden withdrew from the race, all the effort spent defining the opposition went away.  It was no longer important.  Biden's not the nominee.  Flush all that opposition research and campaign strategy.  A fresh nominee, largely untouched by Trump's long campaign against her predecessor, suddenly surged in the polls.  Where Biden was headed toward almost certain defeat, VP Harris is currently polling in the toss-up range.  Dumping Biden was strategic brilliance by the Democrats.  That astonishingly early presidential debate now looks like a Democratic ploy to sink Biden rather than inform the public.

It has been less than three weeks, and the Harris-Walz Campaign has stalled.  It's still in toss-up territory, but the Republican criticisms are sticking.  Walz may not have been the best choice for VP.  Harris is dodging the press, not having done an interview since her ascension to the top spot on the ballot.  What if she starts sinking?  She was such a weak candidate in 2020 that she withdrew from the campaign before the voting even began.  She is not a strong nominee and is only doing as well as she is because she's not Biden.  What if she is just a place holder, another false nominee for the Republicans to waste their ammunition on?

Are Joe Biden's delegates committed to Harris?  When the Democratic Convention convenes and the delegates vote, what is to stop them from picking someone else?  We are in uncharted waters with this nomination.  Do the rules say that the VP nominee automatically gets the delegates if the Presidential nominee drops out?  If not, it could be a free for all.  Here is another opportunity to dump a candidate that the Republicans have spent a month attacking.  A new nominee would clean the slate yet again.  With the election then less than 3 months away, the Republicans would have to once again adapt their strategy while the Democrats have been attacking the same person all along.

I think it is 50-50 that the Democrats choose a different nominee at the convention.  They need someone with less baggage than either Kamala Harris (Willie Brown's most favored mistress) or Tim Walz (the Afghanistan veteran who didn't go to Afghanistan).

A Ridiculous Comparison

From Michael Beschloss on NBC to an article in The Hill, historians are likening Joe Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race to George Washington's retirement after his 2nd term.  That's utter nonsense and any honest historian knows it.  It is this sort of drivel that has ruined the reputation of higher education.  George Washington could have been king!  He could have served as president for life.  He did neither.  Despite being in a position to dictate the future of the now free colonies, he stepped aside.  Unanimously chosen to serve as the first president, he accepted the burden.  When he retired again, he said to John Adams - the 2nd president - "I am fairly out, and you are fairly in.  See which of us will be the happiest."  He did not covet power, which is his greatness.

Biden withdrew because his party demanded it.  Campaign donations had dried up after his horrendous debate performance.  It would be better to compare him to Lyndon Johnson, who withdrew on account of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam.  Viewed as an American defeat, it was the straw that broke the camel's back.  LBJ was divisive yet effective.  Despite his overwhelming victory for re-election in 1964, he saw his odds of winning in 68 as long.  Yeah, that sounds a lot more like Joe Biden.  Biden's mental decline has been obvious throughout his presidency even as the media and his party have sought to hide it.  The debate wrecked that strategy.  His odds of winning in November were approaching nil.  The party needed to make a change or Trump would return.

Less partisan historians in the future will see that Joe Biden was a figurehead, an ambitious politician who achieved the presidency after his capacity to fill that role had faded.  He will be compared with Woodrow Wilson, who spent the end of his presidency as an invalid on account of a stroke.  Jill Biden will be compared to Edith Wilson; first ladies who sought to hide their husband's ailments from the public and perhaps exercise power in their stead.

BLM is Right!

Black Lives Matter has observed that their preferred candidate, Joe Biden, who won the nomination in a democratic process throughout the states, has now been replaced by Kamala Harris only 24 hours after Biden withdrew.  Where is the democratic process in that?  If a Democratic stalwart such as BLM openly points at the clearly undemocratic transition from Biden to Harris, it must be a valid argument.

Of course, BLM needn't worry.  The odds are that Kamala's poll numbers will sink as low, if not lower, than Joe Biden's.  Those delegates that she has 'secured' will suddenly become free to vote for other contenders.  Unless Kamala is polling strongly against Trump, the real nominee will be chosen at the convention.  The amount of democracy involved in the choice of the true nominee may not be much more than the level that was used to select Kamala, but the spin will be much better.

President Biden Explains

On Sunday, President Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential Campaign.  Today, he addressed the American people to explain why.  First off, it's been his greatest honor to serve as president.  In fact, he holds that his performance in the job clearly merited a second term.  On the other hand, democracy is at stake!  As such, he is handing the baton to a younger generation, namely Vice President Kamala Harris.  It is up to the American people to preserve democracy, honesty, justice, and unity by voting for VP Harris.

President Biden explained nothing.  He could not admit to deteriorating health without thereby justifying his removal by the 25th Amendment.  He indirectly admitted that he dropped out because he was likely to lose, and 'Democracy' is too important to risk.  I'm sure all those primary voters who voted for Joe would have instead voted for Kamala, right?  Joe was ousted by his own party, but he can't say that either.  Though the speech was only 11 minutes and the teleprompter clearly reflected in the window behind him, he still had trouble getting through it.  Who is really calling the shots?

"A republic, if you can keep it."

A republic is not a democracy.  The speechwriter either doesn't know that or thought the two are interchangeable.  The republic has already suffered some serious damage and the Democrats champion further demolition with talk of ending the electoral college, censoring 'hate' speech, letting non-citizens vote, including non-residents in census, expansion of the federal government to the detriment of state and local governments, etc.

The Trouncing, Part 2

I have viewed Joe Biden as unqualified from the beginning.  As such, his performance wasn't a shock to me.  Most of my news sources have revealed his plentiful gaffes, his difficulties with keeping his train of thought, his spaced-out expression, and so forth.  Coming into the debate with that viewpoint, I was not at all surprised.  However, for those who have been watching the mainstream media, which has continually reported that Biden was at the top of his game, a sharp cookie behind closed doors, a man with purpose and vision, the debate came as a shock.  His diminished capacity has been intentionally hidden by the very people who are supposed to inform the public.  This was a huge blow to the trustworthiness of the media, an institution that is already at record lows for trustworthiness.

It is clear that Joe Biden is not making the decisions in the White House.  We have a repeat of President Wilson's last year in office.  Is Jill Biden the true president, as Edith Wilson was from October 1919 until March 1921?  Or are there other actors?  It sure isn't Joe Biden.

Grumpy Old Men, 2024 Edition

This week, both Trump and Biden have secured the nomination of their parties by accumulating over half the delegates available.  When the conventions start, they each already have more than 50% of the voting delegates to prevent a brokered convention.  Now, they just have to be around for the convention.  Biden (81) and Trump (77) are not spring chickens.  We have the oldest president ever running against the 3rd oldest president ever (Reagan is currently the 2nd oldest).  Whoever wins, he is destined to be the oldest president ever.  If Biden, he retains the title.  If Trump, he will surpass Biden by the end of his term.

Maybe we should have an amendment that says you cannot be in government after the government-established retirement age.  If Social Security states that the retirement age is 67, then you leave government at 67.  The nice thing about such an amendment is it would be hard to break.  Those who want to remain in government would have to raise the retirement age for the whole country, which will be a hard sell.  This age limit should go for elective offices, appointed positions, and even everyday bureaucrats.  Yes, even the Supreme Court.  Out the door.  Go back home and suffer under the rules you have inflicted upon the rest of us.

Super Tuesday Fallout

Donald Trump and Joe Biden have each trounced the competition on Super Tuesday.  Trump won every contest except Vermont, while Biden won all but American Somoa.  With Vermont, Nikki Haley was bolstered by Democrats who voted in the open primary.  Jason Palmer defeated Biden in American Somoa by a vote of 51 to 40.  Yeah, not a big turnout and basically meaningless except as a funny footnote.

As of today, Nikki has suspended her campaign and Trump is effectively the nominee.  Both Trump and Biden should have their nominations officially sewn up by the end of the month.  The rematch is coming but now both candidates have presidential records to compare.  With illegal immigration as an issue, Trump wins that topic by a wide margin.  The economy is trickier since there are positives and negatives to examine from each of their presidencies.  With Trump as the nominee, Biden's age becomes less of an issue, though his mental health stays on the table.

Will 2024 be a repeat of Grover Cleveland or William McKinley.  Grover Cleveland ran twice against Benjamin Harrison, losing the first time but winning in the rematch.  William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and beat him again in the 1900 rematch.

Shoot the Messenger

This video from Tim Pool is troubling.  It does appear that the Biden Administration is going after its enemies with the full force of government, not unlike what Vladimir Putin has done.  Lawfare is being used against opponents, most notably Donald Trump.  The FBI can arrest an actual journalist who reported on January 6th, but has been yet unable to locate the guy who planted pipe bombs.  Interesting.  The government is governing against the people, which is best shown by the open borders - which it repeatedly states are secure - and the rising crime which too many DAs have declined to prosecute.  The Venezuelan illegal immigrant who is on camera beating a NYPD police officer was not only released without bail, but charges have been dropped!  But the FBI have time to arrest a reporter who is critical of the administration.  Something is not right here.

The Biden Administration objects to the news and has opted to shoot the messenger.

Primaries Over

Though it is unclear as of this writing if Nikki Haley will end her campaign for president, it is clear that she has no traction.  Her home state of South Carolina, where she served as governor for 6 years, has chosen Donald Trump by a 60-40 margin in today's primary.  If you cannot carry your home state, what chance is there anywhere else?  Trump is 5-0 in the contests so far.

On the Democratic side, Joe Biden is 3-0 vs. the only remaining opponent, Dean Phillips.  As only two states have awarded delegates for the Democrats so far, I won't call this one over yet but Phillips better have a good showing in the next 2 outings or he's also done.

RFK Jr. withdrew from the Democratic nomination even before voting began and is now running an independent campaign.  Independent candidacies rarely achieve anything.  Without a party to do ground work, he'll needed to create his own party apparatus to get the vote out.  Unlikely to achieve even the impact of the Green Party or the Libertarian Party.

It does look like we are headed for a rematch from 2020.  Both candidates now have presidential records that can be compared.  Which one looks better?  Does it matter?  Of course, a lot can happen in the next 8 1/2 months.

Not Criminal If the Government Does it

"When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal, by definition."

Richard Nixon

If Pablo Delgado the cartel coyote cuts razor wire along the US-Mexican border to allow illegal immigrants into the United States, that would be a crime.  Pablo would be subject to arrest and imprisonment.

If Greg Moss the fruit farmer cuts razor wire along the border and allows illegal immigrants into the country to pick strawberries, that would be a crime.  Greg would be subject to arrest and imprisonment.

If Officer Hernandez of the Customs and Border Patrol cuts razor wire along the border and allows illegal immigrants into the country, well that's just fine.  It's humanitarian and living up to our values.  Besides, Officer Hernandez is just following orders from President Biden.

The federal government has, for some inexplicable reason, decided to aid illegal immigration into the country.  The vast majority of Americans - around 67% - are opposed to this flood of immigration and yet the government is abetting the flow rather than stemming it.

Sometimes it is necessary for the government to govern against the will of the people, but when it does so, it needs to explain why.  It needs to lead and bring the people to understand the reasons why the unfavored course is correct.  President Biden has failed to do that.  His spokespeople have gaslit the American people by saying the border is secure and everything is fine.

Close the border or explain why floods of undocumented immigrants are a benefit.  Pick one.