Posse Incitatus

A Dignified Memorial Day

I'm as guilty as millions of other people: In my younger days, I regarded Memorial Day as a day of fun -- parades, backyard barbecues, a day off from school, neighborhood baseball games, and maybe the NBA playoffs (back when I actually cared about the NBA). When I was in grade school, the Indy 500 took place on Memorial Day, not the Sunday before, and I can still recall the big names of the day: Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser, A.J. Foyt, et al. Up until 1971, Memorial Day always took place on May 30, but then it was rolled into the final weekend of May to make for a three-day weekend.

It took me too many years to appreciate the solemnity and gravity of Memorial Day, to realize that this day is set aside to honor the fallen who served with honor and gave their lives for each of us and for our nation. In the wake of the devastating Civil War, "Decoration Day" became a tradition (its origins disputed) during which relatives and friends of fallen soldiers would decorate the soldiers' graves. Eventually it became a federal holiday.

In a sense, Memorial Day is similar to the Christian holy day of Good Friday. It's not just another day; it's a day for somber reflection and gratitude. Our nation faces grave problems on so many levels, but we should never forget the sacrifices of those who enabled us to get to this point, to keep an incredible republic growing, prospering, thriving and positively influencing the world for well over two centuries. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be born Americans are deeply blessed, whether we realize it or not.

Each of us can honor the fallen service members, not just by decorating their graves, but through prayer, through donations to veterans support groups such as Wounded Warriors and Disabled American Veterans, and also by making the most of the liberty we cherish and enjoy.

This reminds me of something I heard in reference to those who inherit money from a deceased relative: The best way to honor that departed loved one is to use the money responsibly -- not just for the good of your family, but for others, too, including the downtrodden. In that spirit, I hope millions of Americans will show their gratitude to the fallen by using liberty and prosperity for good.

Let us never, ever forget the dear price others have paid for our freedom.

Elmer Davis, a journalist, author and Director of the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II, said it best: "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

 

Memorial Day amongst the ruins: 2021

One of the classic precursors to the collapse of democratic government is military defeat. 

 

This need not lead to dictatorship or civil war, simply a new constitutional order, as happened when the Fourth French Republic gave way to the Fifth.

 

That these are the thoughts that come to mind on Memorial Day is a telling indicator that something is deeply wrong with our country.  Congressional Democrats want to establish a permanent military garrison in our nation's capital.  This is not what a popular government with record-seeking vote totals normally does.

 

Readers may well point out that the United States hasn't been defeated in the way of Imperial Germany in 1918, but victory also can be a source of unrest, particularly if the costs seem to vastly outweigh the benefits.  Both Japan and Italy were on the winning side of World War I, and yet both experienced changes in government because of internal discontent.

 

All of these examples have as a core feature the population's loss in confidence in the ruling class.  As we pause to consider our honored dead, we cannot help but ask why their sacrifice was necessary.  If one reads through the archives pertaining to this date, there is an obvious trend: from grim determination to disillusionment and finally where we are today, bitterness.

 

The earliest years of this blog sought to defend George W. Bush's policies and his leadership from vicious (and often dishonest) attacks.  What's striking to me today is how all of his worst enemies - the very people screaming that he was a war criminal - are now his political buddies.

 

A full reversal has occurred on the right as well, and it's remarkable to see.  I imagine a dialog between the two sides much go something like this:

 

The Right:  You know what?  You were right.  Bush was a criminal.

 

The Left:  No, he's a respectable leader, not like Drumpf!

 

The Right:  Wait, what?!  You called him Literal Hitler for years!

 

The Left:  Yeah, but that's before he became useful to us.

 

The Right:  What about his crimes?!

 

The Left:  Oh, we were never serious about that.  It was all politics.

 

Watching the classic Orwellian rehabilitation of Dubya is an object lesson in the left's endless ability to betray its principles.

 

And yet our dead remain dead.  

 

Did they die in vain?  Were the wars worth the cost?

 

I think they could have been.  A punitive expedition to rout the Taliban and break up their networks was both worthwhile and feasible.  Unfortunately, that offered insufficient opportunity for graft, so we went another route.

 

Similarly, removing Saddam Hussein from power started out as a political masterstroke, cowing America's enemies and offering a new global order where state-funded terrorism would be traced back to its sources.  Alas, our rulers didn't see the profit in that venture, either.

 

Again, it's illustrative that Dick Cheney was reviled for years as a war profiteer through Haliburton and yet our current Secretary of Defense is an actual board member of a weapons manufacturer - and no one on the left has a problem with this.

 

For all that, there was a brief dawning of hope at the end of the Trump administration when the Arab-Israeli conflict finally achieved a resolution.  The Abraham Accords and the promise they hold were the kind of solution that made the deaths of soldiers like Capt. Sean Grimes worthwhile.

 

Naturally, that achievement was denigrated and the Biden Administration's top priority is to pour arms and dollars into Syria, Iran and Palestinian terrorist organizations. 

 

And the peace movement?  Nowhere to be seen.

 

Nothing lasts forever, and governments have an expiration date.  It is inevitable that in the distant future a people completely strange to us will walk amidst the tumbled stones of Arlington and ponder what it was and why it was built with the same curiosity we regard Stonehenge or Saxon burial mounds.

 

All we can do is offer prayer for the dead and solace for the ones they have left behind.

 

And maybe, for a little while, the wars of choice will pause.

 

 

 

 

Reversing Stupidity

On numerous fronts, the Sleepy Joe Biden administration is doing an about face while trying to save face. This is what progressives do when their previous positions proved untenable or inaccurate.

Policy reversals have come on the border wall, the investigation into the Wuhan lab, and providing law enforcement resources to crime-infested cities devastated by defunded police departments.

In general, the president hates Trump so much, he reflexively wants to reverse each and every one of Trump's policies. If the results make us worse off, so be it. As long as Trump's policies are no longer in effect!  This works -- until it doesn't.

After halting all border wall construction, the president a few weeks ago reversed course. Construction will resume on a 13.4-mile portion of the wall in the Rio Grande Valley. The administration claims it is solely because the wall is part of a levee system, and this action is necessary to prevent flooding. But take that with a grain of salt. The pressure has been building from property owners and Texas officials who are tired of having illegal aliens running roughshod across their property.

As for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Biden, the Democrats and the garbage media all mocked people who stated in early 2020 that there was a very real possibility Coronavirus infections started in the lab, not at a wet market. Big Tech censored and blocked those who espoused this theory.

Several months ago, Biden petulantly shut down a State Department investigation into the possible culpability of the Wuhan lab. But in the past couple weeks, the evidence has become overwhelming that the lab is the culprit, and the pressure to resume the investigation proved too great to resist. So Biden announced this past week that the investigation will be reopened.

In the matter of "defund the police," a qualifying statement: Biden himself did not say he favored this idiotic policy, but many of the puppet masters who pull his strings and support him are all in for defunding the police. For the most part, he's been a blank check for extremist left-wing views, giving them carte blanche. So he's presided blithely while major crime spiked across the nation.

But reality bites. Dozens of cities (many of them run by Democrats) have witnessed horrendous increases in homicides and other violent crimes. Constituents have been pressuring city councils, mayors, police chiefs and state legislators, all of whom have in turn pressured the administration to DO SOMETHING.

Turns out, the administration will do something. A few days ago, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that all U.S. attorneys offices are being instructed to draw up plans with state and local officials to address a surge in crimes such as murders, shootings and carjackings.

The AG announced new grants designed to shore up local police forces. In a press release, Garland announced a “comprehensive strategy to deploy our federal resources in the most effective way, disrupting the most dangerous threats and supporting the ground-level efforts of local law enforcement.” Gee, couldn't these cities have done this had they not defunded the police in the first place? Just asking.

Expect to see more such reversals in the near future, starting with the southern border and probably including major compromises on massive tax increases Sleepy Joe has attempted to shove down our throats.

Biden hates Trump and believes he can simply wave a magic wand and revoke all of Trump's policies. But as usual, simpleminded, knee-jerk actions have painful consequences. And for the president, the embarrassment and humiliation of restoring Trump policies isn't as bad as the low poll numbers and criticism even coming from within the Democrat ranks.

Kudos to Notre Dame Students!

President Joe Biden is a hypocrite in so many ways, not least of which is his being an avid abortion supporter while claiming to be a devout Roman Catholic. 

He also supports gay marriage, believes gender is distinct from biological sex, and supports the alphabet soup lunacy of dozens of "genders" plus the often destructive transgender hormone therapy. All positions that conflict with Catholic dogma.

So major kudos go out to the students of Notre Dame University for circulating and submitting a petition with 4,300 signatures of students, faculty and employees who opposed Biden delivering the commencement speech this past Sunday.

In an open letter signed by more than 4,300 members of the college community, President Biden was accused of having a "pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty agenda." The garbage media is covering for him, of course, reporting that he "skipped" the commencement due to a "scheduling conflict." Astoundingly stupid! Do they actually think we buy this? (Well, yes, because they believe millions of us are dunces and rubes, but I digress.)

Normally, we hear so much about supposedly Catholic universities that are radically left-wing and have professors and even priests whose teachings stray far from Catholic orthodoxy. So-called "social justice" often takes top billing, and many of these universities host festivals, performances or speakers who are flagrantly anti-Catholic. But if the student body has been thoroughly indoctrinated, that's fine.

It's encouraging to realize that Notre Dame has many hundreds of students who are still grounded in reality. I'm no angel, and can honestly confess that as a Roman Catholic, I have received holy communion when I was not worthy. I've committed plenty of sins in my life. But one sin that I consider more grave and heinous than most others is to be an unabashed supporter of abortion.

In the past few weeks, I've been reading a chilling account of Dr. Hermit Gosnell's ghoulish abortion clinic in Philadelphia. Gosnell, now 80, was convicted of murdering seven infants who were born alive during attempted abortion procedures; he was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter of one woman during an abortion. (Believe me, these offenses are the tip of the iceberg.)

I'm not going to recount the gory details of infanticide in Dr. Gosnell's hellhole clinic.  It's a difficult book to read, but I don't shy away from brutal realities, because I try to be a realist, even if it's painful. All I will say is that the more I read about abortion, the more adamant I become that it is a modern day genocide, and the public's complacency in the wake of this atrocity is appalling.  

There is dignity in human life. And human life begins at conception.  If those who believe in the miracle of creation, as well as the existence, benevolence and majesty of a supreme being, agree to succumb to today's debased culture, we're lost.

If You See Something, Say Something

Today's headline harkens back to those strange years coming right after 9-11 -- roughly the late 2001-2005 period, when the Department of Homeland Security developed a cumbersome color-coded terror threat alert to keep the nation apprised of the likelihood of terror attacks on any given day. This was right after the Patriot Act was passed, and the intrusive Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began its over-the-top airport security regimen (remove belt and shoes, possibly be subject to a wand search, be herded like cattle.)

The joke at the time was, "If you see something, say something -- UNLESS it involves a Muslim." Another joke -- this one actually pretty accurate -- was that TSA officials would let young Muslim men waltz right through the inspection line, but harass blue-haired old ladies.

In the current climate of groupthink, wokeism and "cancel culture" -- an environment that attempts to stamp out dissent and critical thinking, it's more crucial than ever that conservatives "say something" whenever they see ignorance, hypocrisy, elitism, agitprop, despotism, speech suppression and wrongheadedness by the imperious left. Rest assured, all are in plentiful supply.

I'll begin doing my part right now:

• The Biden administration has played up attacks against persons of Asian descent -- within the context of its demonization of Christian, white male conservatives. The implication is that it's white racists who have been randomly attacking Asians on the streets. The truth is, as plentiful video evidence shows, it is usually African-Americans who attacked unsuspecting Asians.
• Shortly after 9/11, and during the Iraq War, the news media hyped "Islamophobia" as if it were a common affliction throughout the nation. The truth is, even when attacks on Muslims rose for a few years, attacks on Jews outnumbered attacks on Muslims by a wide margin, and they still do. But the media was reluctant or unwilling to report this.
• Attacks on Jews have been increasing in frequency and severity during the past few weeks. Palestinian supporters are usually the perpetrators (you can tell by the flags they fly from their vehicles). Incidents of vandalism against synagogues greatly outnumber incidents of vandalism against mosques.
• The garbage media has predictably stopped covering the crisis at the southern border. And when they do cover it, the focus is on the miserable conditions endured by the children crowded into what used to be called "cages," covering themselves when they sleep with pitiful looking solar blankets. But the harsh reality is that criminals are crossing the border without being caught; drug runners are bringing ungodly amounts of Fentanyl into our country that will kill hundreds if not thousands of Americans, and pedophiles and sex traffickers are having their way with girls and young women. This is a reprehensible outrage, but our inept VP has yet to visit the border, and the media stooges are ignoring a story that makes their guy look bad.
• St. Fauci, who a year ago was the hero of the left and the media jackals, has been all over the map with his predictions and proclamations, and frequently wrong. There is evidence he lied to Congress, and that he authorized funding of viral research in the Wuhan lab believed to have been the source of the Coronavirus that led to the worldwide COVID19 pandemic. Fauci is an egotist and narcissist, and his act has grown old.
• Even though there are already several investigations going on with regard to the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion, the House Democrats have voted for an investigatory commission that promises to be partisan and give the Democrats a cudgel and sensationalistic headlines with which to batter Republicans going into the 2022 election.
• The U.S. Capitol Police lied about the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, and have not revealed the identity of the officer who fatally shot unarmed Air Force Veteran Ashli Babbitt. (Could it be because he's black, which would harshly interfere with the narrative)? We do know that no disciplinary action was taken against the officer. Compare this with white officers who have been demonized, faced felony charges and had their careers ruined when they killed armed criminals who were resisting arrest. Babbitt's family is suing USCP
• USCP is withholding release of 14,000 hours of video tape (what are they trying to hide?) from the Jan. 6 incident, and the agency seems willing to serve as a political tool for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as long as Pelosi and her fellow Democrats in the Senate agree to shower money on USCP for all sorts of unnecessary pork.
• The U.S. Department of Justice is letting hundreds of inmates languish indefinitely in horrid conditions inside the Washington, D.C., jail, with many of them spending 22 or 23 hours a day in solitary confinement. There have been reports of guards beating some of them. This from the administration of the "devout Catholic" Joe Biden.

I thought about going on longer, but that won't be necessary. Talk show host Mark Levin, who is coming out with a book in July titled "American Marxism," has stressed repeatedly that freedom-loving Americans -- those who love our nation and respect its constitution and traditions -- must speak up loudly, frequently and fervently against the onslaught of totalitarianism threatening to engulf us.

I do what I can on forums, with letters to the editor and in blog postings. But the reality is it's a very tough time to try persuading people in person who exist on the other end of the political spectrum. That never ends well, and these days it could escalate into real ugliness or even a dangerous situation. Tensions are high, nerves are frayed, relationships rubbed raw.

This is the world we live in, and each of us must do our part to prevent our nation from going down the drain. The Marxist left is powerful, but not invincible. We, the opposition, are strong, well informed, AND well-armed, if things go too far. Don't be afraid to call out the other side. They'd like nothing better than for us to be cowardly sheeple, but if they think we'll do so, they're in for a rude awakening.

Dems Are One Big Happy Family -- NOT!

As usual, the garbage media is playing up Republican pissing matches such as the slap-down of the execrable Liz Cheney, and the criticism of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene by some of her fellow Republicans.

The media narrative is that the Republicans are gravely divided by Trump supporters and never Trumpers, and have little chance of reclaiming the House or taking the Senate in 2022. But the truth is, the Democrats are facing their own dissension in the ranks.

Several Jewish Democrats have stated they support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups. But you would be hard-pressed to hear any of the Dems denounce virulently anti-Semitic bigots in their own party such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Cori Bush for their statements and tweets. Meanwhile, attacks on Jews have escalated in recent days. What's the matter, Dems? Cat got your tongue? I thought silence was violence!

Turning to fiscal policy, the president's plans to raise the corporate tax rate back to 28 percent may be derailed by none other than commie Sen. Bernie Sanders. As part of the plan, Biden wants to remove the cap on deductibility of state and local taxes (SALT), set at $10,000 under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But the deduction primarily benefits wealthy voters in blue states. Sanders, being the Marxist he is, cannot bear to remove the cap and thus give a tax break to wealthy people. At least he's consistent with his Marxist income redistribution. Other Democrat senators don't want the corporate rate going all the way up to 28 percent.

An absurd offshoot of Biden's proposal to raise the corporate tax rate is an effort to get European nations to raise their corporate tax rates, too, so the United States won't be at a severe competitive disadvantage. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is promoting a global corporate tax rate of 15 percent under a typically utopian and idealistic scheme called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

So, while the administration claims that hiking corporate tax rates won't hurt American consumers or corporations (ignoring the fact it will cause companies to raise prices, cut wages and reduce dividends), it also is trying to prevent other countries from stealing American jobs away by offering lower corporate tax rates.

This anti-competitive bent also manifested itself in the administration's attempt to prevent states from using Coronavirus relief funds to offset tax cuts. Ohio sued to invalidate that restriction as an abuse of Congress’s power. A federal judge ruled last week that the state has a “substantial likelihood of success on that argument.” More to come.

Meanwhile, several Democrat senators are not on board with the so-called infrastructure bill, and hard-left Democrats are upset with Biden's support for Israel's right to defend itself. Democrats from domestic labor unions are non-too-pleased with the Keystone pipeline cancellation, while other Democrats want even more draconian actions taken against fossil fuel companies.

The Democrat Party is indeed a kaleidoscope of disparate special interest groups that have great difficulty finding unison. To them, Uncle Sam is a sugar daddy, and getting the biggest and best piece of the pie is the name of the game.

Sung to the Tune of a Tom Petty Song...

Classic rock fans surely recall "Breakdown," the 1978 hit by the late Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Now, more than four decades later, we could easily replace the title and chorus with "Lockdown."

The moronic progressives who love to be treated like four-year-olds and be told what to do by the nanny state; who claim to follow the "science" (really they're following the political science), could all stand in unison amidst yards full of Subarus and "We Believe" rainbow signs as they sing, "LOCKDOWN! Go ahead and give it to me; LOCKDOWN! Take me through the night. LOCKDOWN! It's all right... It's all riiiiiight!" (Masks and social distancing still mandatory, mind you!)

It turns out that lockdowns may end up being the --- (cringe) "new normal." Just when the CDC has announced we can ditch these ugly face coverings, states are opening up and venues are being permitted to host capacity crowds, along comes the climate lockdown. Well, not quite, but it's just a matter of time.

As you would suspect, this harebrained idea comes from Europe. WHY, I often wonder, does the left so admire the continent that gave us two world wars, the Holocaust, insane immigration policies that have created "no-go" zones in many European cities, and socialism with stagnant growth, high unemployment and bloated, corrupt governments?  But I digress. Here's an excerpt from an article posted by PJ Media:

Karl Lauterbach, a member of parliament for the German Social Democratic party, wrote in the German national newspaper Die Welt that ‘we need measures to deal with climate change that are similar to the restrictions on personal freedom [imposed] to combat the pandemic.’ How long before this theory makes its way into news outlets and politicians’ speeches here?

Of course this idea will be explained away as simply ‘following the science’. The lockdowns which began in spring 2020 contributed to what scientists are calling the largest drop in CO2 emissions in years. The largest reason for this was a decrease of approximately 40 percent in automobile and airplane transport. The World Economic Forum praised this figure in a blog post  titled, "Emissions fell during lockdown. Let’s keep it that way."

The Valley Girl AOC (one fourth of the Squad of Communist Bigots) along with commie Bernie Sanders and leftist Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, have introduced the National Climate Emergency Act. This totalitarian garbage would direct Sleepy Joe Biden to declare a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, allowing him to unlock sweeping presidential powers and to organize resources to mitigate climate change.

By now you should know: "Climate change" is a malleable concept -- just like blue state mandates on lockdowns, social distancing and mask requirements. They can be manipulated to the heart's content of any totalitarian. A year ago today (just a few days before George Floyd's death lit a spark to the combustible woke movement), I never would have dreamed how things would careen out of control in such a short period of time. I shudder to think of the summer of riots to come.

Sadly, we're pretty far gone, thanks to Democrat domination of K-12 and academia for decades, which has led to thorough brainwashing, rampant ignorance of history, and shocking gullibility among the masses. Millions of idiot Americans actually think Marxism is a good thing. They're too stupid and/or too ignorant to realize how precious the constitution is, what a gift liberty is, and how history shows that Marxism spreads misery, despotism and brutal repression far and wide.

If this insane climate emergency crap is somehow enacted (don't put it past Grandpa to implement it via executive order), expect more totalitarian rule from above. Only this time, it won't come from governors' offices; it will come from the White House. And beware, because DHS, FBI, Department of Justice, IRS and other overbearing federal apparatchiks will provide the "muscle" to back it up.

Shining a Light on Squad Stupidity

I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who stated it's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

In this age of inane, shoot-from-the-hip social media and public figures (mainly celebrities and politicians) with diarrhea-of-the-mouth, there are those who just can't shut up. And the more they blabber, the dumber and more ignorant they sound. Case in point: The hard-core leftist, anti-semitic Squad of Communist Bigots.

It's a given they're all economic illiterates, extremely limited in knowledge of history, and fail to realize that demonizing police and coddling criminals puts untold numbers of people -- including their constituents -- in serious jeopardy.

But hearing their whiny, overwrought accusations against Israel and their naive glorification of the Palestinians, it is shocking just how foolish they sound. AND to realize how destructive their views would be if put into practice. I guess by now, I should be used to it.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (R-Michigan) --- no, that's not a mistake; the "R" doesn't mean "Republican," it means REPROBATE, made the asinine statement that Israel is an "apartheid" nation. This is ignorance and stupidity on stilts, almost as preposterous as Sleepy Joe Biden's referring to the Georgia election reforms as "Jim Crow on steroids."

Once again, and I'll say it slowly to make it easy to understand: Palestinians and other Arabs are allowed to live, work and worship in Israel. They even serve in the Knesset, Israel's national legislature, and some serve in the judiciary. Mosques, as well as churches, exist in Israel.

Can anyone name one Muslim country where Jews and Christians can live, work and worship in peace, AND serve in the legislature, free of threats and harassment? While there are certainly Muslim countries on different continents that have churches and synagogues, it is doubtful that Christians and Jews could engage as fully in any of these societies as Arabs do in Israel.

Terrorist organizations in Gaza, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, are funded by Iran. Whenever naive people like Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry and Antony Blinken give money to Iran or the Palestinians, you can bet it's going to fund terrorist or military activities.

In the case of Iran, former President Obama sent pallets of cash to Iran, licking their boots obsequiously in hopes the pariah nation would accede to legitimate restraints (including a regular inspection regime) on its development of nuclear weapons. Aid to the Palestinians is supposedly to pay for better housing, schools, hospitals and healthcare. But we all know what it's used for: Missiles, weapons and ammunition. The level of naiveté inside the Beltway is disturbing.

And let's not forget: Terrorists hide their fighters, weapons, missiles and ammunition in residential areas -- in and around schools, hospitals and homes. They use humans as shields. When civilians are killed and mauled during a retaliation by Israel, this is a great propaganda tool for the Palestinian terrorists. And, of course, they have a compliant American media (and America haters like the Squad) to carry their water.

The media in this country is beyond disgraceful, stupid and partisan. In many cases, they are treacherous traitors -- literally playing for the other side. As I've noted before, the New York Times tried to cover up the Holocaust and touted Joseph Stalin as a reasonable guy. These days, the Times and Washington Post pretty much parrot the talking points of Tlaib, who has gone on record as saying that the Jewish nation of Israel should not even exist.

It's worth noting that the Associated Press is pretty awful, too. During the 1930s, as Hitler rose to power, AP agreed to be the Nazis' mouthpiece as long as Germany would allow it to keep its German office open and continue reporting from within that nation. The AP hasn't improved much since.

The Squad of Communist Bigots, along with many other Democrats, are downright traitorous (and massively uninformed). Sadly, they've got academia, the Democrat Party, Big Tech and a thoroughly corrupt media in their corner.

Biden Spreads Insults

I never for one second bought the media's false notion that ol' Joe Biden is a "nice guy" or "inherently decent." Observing him over the years, going way back to his failed 1988 presidential campaign, I've noticed he's just another unremarkable political hack. Of average intelligence, expedient, hypocritical, mendacious, crooked and often petty and sarcastic.

Everyone knows he got caught lying about his law school record, plagiarizing a British politician, and fabricating the circumstances of the auto accident that killed his first wife and young daughter (it did not involve a drunk driver).

In more recent years, I was disgusted with Biden's obnoxious and childish behavior when he, as vice president, debated vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in the 2012 election. Biden frequently interrupted, was condescending and rude. Recently, even the New York Times wrote a piece about aides complaining that Biden often has a short fuse and berates his assistants when they don't coddle him just the way he likes. He reportedly lacks patience when members of his team try to explain complicated issues to him during briefings. A sign of old age? Or perhaps more evidence of creeping dementia? Irritability, moodiness and unpredictability can be telltale signs.

And then there's the crooked stuff. Those who don't suspect he was on the take based on his son Hunter's sordid dealings and treasure trove of shameful revelations on his laptop are simply partisan Democrats in denial.

Well, the president's tendency to insult others has grown worse in recent years. Remember during the campaign when he told an auto worker who complained Biden wanted to confiscate guns, "You're full of shit!" Or when he called a Veteran "fat" and "a damned liar" in Iowa after the veteran questioned whether Biden sold White House access to Ukraine while Hunter sat on the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company (Burisma). Or how about when a black interviewer inquired about Biden taking a test to prove he had all his faculties, and Biden flew off the handle, comparing this to him asking the interviewer to take a drug test prior to conducting the interview. "Are you a junkie?" he asked rhetorically. (Can you imagine the media's reaction if a Republican candidate had said that to a black reporter?)

Well, Sleepy Joe's insults just keep coming. Here are a few, off the top of my head:

• He accused Republicans trying to prevent the banana republic mischief of HR1 of being bigots who advocated  "Jim Crow" policies to disenfranchise minority voters. A shameful and outrageous slur.
• He accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texans who favored ending the mask mandate "Neanderthal thinking."
• His Pentagon denied the motorcycle group "Rolling to Remember" a permit to gather in Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day weekend to pay tribute to fallen military personnel, P.O.W.s and those missing in action. The ride and rally were traditions going back 30 years. No doubt, many of these macho Veterans on Harleys voted for Trump and don't care for the wokeism nonsense. Okay then, no permit for you!
• During a week set aside to honor police officers, the White House issued an inappropriate statement that, while starting out with the cursory kudos to peace officers for their sacrifice and service, quickly denigrated into Black Lives Matter type propaganda. It was gauche, but we've come to expect such tasteless exhibitions from progressives.
• Meanwhile, the cringe-worthy press secretary, Jen Psaki, frequently resorts to condescension and imperious sarcasm whenever someone dares challenge her shallow narrative during media briefings. She's a real piece of work.

I'm sure other examples will pop into my head later on, but there's no need to list them all. Suffice it to say, Sleepy Joe Biden is an angry, nasty man. He is not a nice guy, or a charming grandfatherly type. Perhaps the public will wake up to that, just as they're now realizing that Donald Trump's policies in the Middle East and on the southern border were actually very good compared to the current chaos. The media's lies and propaganda can only go so far when few people are watching or reading. And based on the latest abysmal ratings for CNN and MSNBC, I do feel somewhat encouraged.

Middle East Mayhem

With each passing day, the Biden administration appears more and more to be channeling the miserable failure of the Jimmy Carter administration -- especially in its last two years (1979-80).

Aside from the domestic tumult and ominous economic signs besetting America, the Middle East is breaking out in war, and it's no surprise. Biden's administration is chock-full of anti-semites; Biden has disdain for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and as is typical of Democrats, his administration is dying to suck up to a pariah (Iran) and treat a loyal ally (Israel) with contempt.

We've seen it time and time again with Democrats: They idolize or at the very least refuse to criticize vile dictators like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Joseph Stalin, but they're quick to denounce allies. This goes for celebrities as well as swamp creatures. Recall that, during the throes of the Vietnam War, Jane Fonda posed with North Vietnamese soldiers aboard an anti-aircraft gun vehicle.

Domestically, the Democrats repeatedly coddle criminals and demonize police (think of the riots of 2020 -- aka "peaceful protests" -- and the effort to grant no bail or low bail to perpetrators, as well as the fund supported by Vice President Kamala Harris to bail out perps).

And in recent years, we've seen how Democrats administer uneven justice, letting their own crooks and thieves skate, while throwing the book at political opponents, even for seemingly mild offenses or simple political disagreements.

Well, in the wake of this horrendous administration's begging to rejuvenate the awful Iran nuclear deal, the mullahs obviously sense that Joe Biden is weak, spineless and naive. No doubt, they have contempt for him and mock him behind his back. And wouldn't you know, they've decided to start testing him -- through their Hamas and Islamic Jihad proxies in Gaza.

Following numerous disputes between the Israeli government and Arab residents of East Jerusalem in late April, stone throwing by Palestinians eventually led to some arrests and crackdowns by Israeli soldiers, and by early May the whole thing had blown up into Hamas launching rockets from Gaza into Jerusalem neighborhoods, killing many civilians.

While Israel has rightfully retaliated, many in the Democrat Party have taken the side of the terrorists and heaped bile upon the Netanyahu government. I will give the president credit for one thing: He stated publicly that Israel has a right to defend itself, although that was a rather weak statement. To their credit, some of the older Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Bob Menendez, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, echoed the president's sentiments.

The usual reprobates -- including the Squad of communist bigots -- Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and AOC -- have criticized their fellow Democrats for defending Israel. For the life of me, I don't get how so many Jews vote for Democrats time and time again. I guess this is what they call "self-loathing."

Is this an Intifada? Not yet, but it might become one. You can bet that bad actors including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian  President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's pint-sized pugilist, Kim Jong Un, are observing with great interest. They have to know that aside from his callow beliefs and policies, Sleepy Joe Biden is physically and mentally compromised. Most people who are not Democrat partisans and who are honest acknowledge that there are puppet masters behind the scenes pulling Joe's strings.

We live in dangerous times, and I shudder to contemplate the possibilities going forward. We're only four months into this wrecking ball of an administration, and things are looking bleak. For those who believe in prayer, pray. Please.