Biden after telling a joke that falls flat at Coast Guard Academy’s commencement ceremony:

"You're a really dull class. Come on, man.”

pic.twitter.com/80GWwbf1jI

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 19, 2021

This isn’t the first time that Biden has gotten peeved with the military for not giving him the attention he’s wanted, as my colleague Bonchie noted earlier. I reported on the last time — when he demanded that members of the Air Force in 2016 clap for him “you stupid bastards.” He then called them a “dull bunch,” saying “must be slow here.” //

Turns out that Biden not only couldn’t deliver a line to the Coast Guard properly, he also “borrowed” it from Ronald Reagan’s speech to the Coast Guard Academy at the end of Reagan’s presidency. Biden also talked about his aide and told the same joke that Reagan did. But Reagan, unlike Biden could deliver the line. //

Sorry, Joe. We all knew Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan was a friend of ours and you are no Ronald Reagan.

Kim Foxx, whom Harris mentored after Foxx became the first Black woman elected state’s attorney in Cook County, Illinois, said this is a learned reticence. “There’s a reality of doing this work as a woman and a Black woman—and it often isn’t talked about a lot publicly—that there’s a presumed resilience around people who are first,” Foxx told me. “There is a celebration of what it means to break the ceiling, and not nearly the conversation of what the cuts to your head look like.”

Are you freaking kidding me? This one of the lamest, most absurd, and self-defeating copouts I’ve ever seen in my life from a politician.

The left prides themselves on being able to declare “firsts.” Like the “first black president,” etc. They point to these as being evidence of significant progress in the push for wider recognition of minority groups. //

That she’s not addressing the media and her critics more tells us one of two things (or maybe both): She’s used to being coddled by a compliant press who are obsessed with left-wing “firsts” and avoids them as a way of punishing them for “not getting her” and/or she’s just winging all of this as she goes along and would rather avoid having to take pesky questions that would ultimately prove her critics right as to just how unsuited she is for the tasks she was given by President Biden. //

cafeblue32
5 hours ago edited
The writer misses the point. Kamala's gender and skin color is her job. That's why she was selected. Certainly not for personality and competence. She's doing all they want her to do until Joe plotzes, leaves voluntarily or he gets 25th Amendmented out to Happy Acres Rest Home. At that point, she will assume Biden's place as a brainless butt puppet mouthpiece for the shadow Obama government and their donors. //

Mildreds Oldest Son
5 hours ago
So, when are we going to be done with 'firsts' and start appointing people based on ability? First woman VP, first Native American, first Latino/a first LBGTMNOP, first, first first. How long is the 'first' list, how many incompetent/inexperienced 'firsts' do we have to suffer through until we can start using experience and competence as determining factor in appointments. How long is the 'first' list, how many so-called aggrieved parties will want their turn at being 'first' before the virtue signaling stops and competence is the order of the day? Anyone have an answer...? Anyone? //

albertconstantinejr Mildreds Oldest Son
5 hours ago
The democrat's first catholic justice of SCOTUS was Roger Taney, author of opinion in the Dred Scott case that required a civil war, hundreds of thousands of lives and multiple constitutional amendments to undo.

How'd that first work out? //

cafeblue32 Mildreds Oldest Son
5 hours ago edited
With intersectional identity politics they will never run short of firsts. I can't wait for the first multiracial androgynous paraplegic with social anxiety and Tourette's Syndrome. And maybe after that, the first Down Syndrome president to make the developmentally disabled feel represented. Because making sure all identities are represented is the prime responsibility of a chief executive.

The left doesn't see the culture as set of agreed upon principles as a vehicle to improve lives. It sees the culture as a mirror where everywhere they look they demand to see their own reflection.

NEW: President Biden plans to waive sanctions on the Russian-owned company in charge of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline https://t.co/cdRWmBoojn

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) May 18, 2021

According to Axios, the Biden regime will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany.

What does this mean? This means that Biden is giving Russia a huge lift to their struggling economy and gives them more advantage in Europe while harming Ukraine’s position. //

So who’s really in the pocket of the Russians? Well, it surely wasn’t Trump, who dropped bombs on their heads in Syria, built up that energy independence, strengthened NATO, armed Ukraine, and even tried to counter Russia’s moves in the Arctic. //

What was it that Obama Defense Secretary Robert Gates said? Biden has been wrong on virtually every foreign policy decision for the past four decades? Well, looks like here he goes again.

The fact that the White House has not acknowledged Netanyahu’s response is telling. They seem to have been under the illusion that Netanyahu, who is locked in a coalition government with his main political rival, would kowtow to Biden out of some sense of respect. They tried to play tough and got smacked down. The big question is will Biden’s staff move on and let their fluffers in the media continue to praise Joe’s genius, or are they under enough pressure from the anti-Semitic left in the Democrat party that they will ratchet up the pressure?

One of the things that’s been fascinating to watch, as Israel is being attacking by Hamas on Joe Biden’s watch, is who the folks on the left are blaming for the implosion.

Are they blaming Hamas? No.

Are they blaming Joe Biden? Most definitely not.

They are, through a process of twisted pretzel logic, blaming Jared Kushner: the bête noire of the left. //

George Takei
@GeorgeTakei
Two things are certain. Jared Kushner left a mess in the Middle East. And he’s probably gleeful at how the current awful situation pits progressives and liberals against one another.
8:55 AM · May 16, 2021

Yet, this is utter nonsense. If Kushner had “failed,” why is the Middle East blowing up under Biden and not under President Donald Trump? I realize this is a hard question for them because, logic. But it’s a simple one they can’t answer. //

So, yes, let’s funnel even more money to folks who want to obliterate Israel, because we think that money is going to make them more compliant? I feel think we’re in such a stupid part of history that anyone could really be dumb enough to think or say this.

Head of Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, Yaki Lopez, put it to George Takei plainly: what was bad with what Kushner achieved?

Yaki Lopez 🇮🇱
@YakiLopez
Replying to @GeorgeTakei
The Abraham Accords crated peace between Israel and two Arab countries (and later two more also came on board). This is something that hasn’t been achieved in almost 30 yrs (since peace with Jordan. How is this a bad thing?
8:58 AM · May 16, 2021

Pres. Trump decided that 43 waivers in a row were enough, and announced in December 2017 that there would not be a 44th waiver in the summer of 2018. So the folks in the Embassy started packing their bags, and they moved to Jerusalem when the summer of 2018 arrived.

The problem facing the Biden Administration is that the confirmation process for any US Ambassador is going to draw calls for moving the US Embassy from Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv, and the Biden Administration nominee is going to need to address that question.

But having the Embassy located in Jerusalem means it is now in compliance with US law, and any effort to force a relocation of the Embassy would be in violation of US law. So the nominee will not be able to join in the chorus that is certain to rise from the radical anti-Israel wing of the Democrat party.

Justin Baragona
@justinbaragona
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, somewhat confusingly, says they are aware of 223 people who have died with covid after being vaccinated.

"Not all of those 223 cases who had covid actually died of covid. They may have had mild disease but died, for example, of a heart attack." //

All I can do is shake my head at this. What Walensky is doing is trying to draw a distinction between those who died directly because they got COVID and those who may have tested positive, but ultimately died of another comorbidity or condition. Now, to most people, that would seem like common sense. After all, why would you count someone with terminal cancer or an already failing heart as a COVID death — just because they had the virus when they died?

But what’s so astonishing about this is that what Walensky is saying has previously been declared to be completely off-limits for over a year by the powers that be. In fact, it’s the kind of thing that has often gotten right-leaning sites in trouble with the social media censors. Yet, here is the Biden administration saying what was previously labeled as taboo, just because it fits their narrative. Meanwhile, the media don’t question it, and the social media overlords just shrug.

Obviously, what Walensky is saying is true, though. What we know about COVID — and who is hit the hardest — says that co-morbidities, including heart problems, lung problems, and morbid obesity, are the top factor. If someone is otherwise terminally sick, even a mild case of COVID could expedite matters.

As RedState has chronicled, the last week has been an absolute disaster for the Joe Biden Administration. It started with a disastrous jobs report which fell 700,000 below expectations. Then there was the report on inflation which showed a 4.2% rise in April alone, crushing the savings and buying power of normal Americans. Meanwhile, war has broken out between Israel and Palestinian terrorists at a level that hasn’t been seen since the year 2000. But if that weren’t enough, we also had a ransomware attack on a major pipeline that caused days of gas shortages.

Yeah, it hasn’t been a good week. That meant that a distraction was needed. Enter today’s CDC guidance changes.

The Biden Administration chose this past week to inform Congress that it would be releasing millions of dollars in US assistance to the Palestinians, as armed clashes between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas intensified in the aftermath of Jerusalem Day on Monday.

The funds are part of $100 million in aid the Administration has designated for Palestinian causes, which represented a huge policy reversal from the Trump Administration, which had cut off nearly all financial assistance for Palestinians. //

Here is the earlier statement issued by Secretary of State Nod — I mean Blinkin — on the resumption of the aid program announced last month.

The United States is pleased to announce that, working with Congress, we plan to restart U.S. economic, development, and humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people. This includes $75 million in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza, $10 million for peacebuilding programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and $150 million in humanitarian assistance for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). We are also resuming vital security assistance programs.

Advocates of the funding will no doubt claim that the money is targeted for groups involved in “promoting peace” with Israel, but those last 8 words sort of stick out.

With the gas shortage seeping more deeply into the public consciousness, in what was clearly a “Squirrel!” move, the CDC made a public announcement yesterday that fully vaccinated adults are safe to return to normal life activities without the need of wearing a mask or observing forms of social distancing we have all become accustomed to over the past 13 months.

As has been noted by many others, its comical how this revelation — “Neanderthal thinking” only two months ago — happened to fall so short in time after 1) a terrible jobs report for April, 2) a terrible inflation report, 3) outbreak of near-total war between Israel and radical Islamic forces in Gaza, and 4) the cyberattack on an energy products distribution pipeline that caused several states along the East Coast to pretty much run out of gasoline in less than 4 days.

The administration’s mishandling of these matters presents a prime opportunity for the GOP to go on the offense. However, the opportunity will be wasted if their strategy is only to criticize the president’s inability to properly address these issues. It is a mistake the party has made time and time again.

While it is important to expose the administration’s poor performance, it won’t matter if the right fails to put forth its own solutions to these situations. While pointing out the deep flaws in Biden’s handling of these problems, the GOP must also put forth viable solutions that would work better than the White House’s current strategy.

You might be thinking: “But won’t the Democrats just reject anything Republicans suggest?”

Of course, they will.

In fact, when they rebuff these recommendations, it will only work in the Republicans’ favor. As the Biden administration continues to ensure that these crises end up in a FUBAR-type situation, it will make the Republicans’ solutions look far more attractive, which will help them immensely in 2022 and 2024.

It is not enough to simply point out that the Democrats are screwing things up – conservatives must compete by coming up with sane, rational solutions. Instead of being only the opposition, Republicans must focus on being the competition. Otherwise, Biden’s incompetence might not be enough to ensure a GOP victory.

Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa asked Kerry a very direct question about pipeline transportation.

“Isn’t it true the pipelines are more carbon-delivery efficient than trains or trucks or other forms of delivery? If you could answer just that limited question,” asked Issa.

“Yeah, that is true,” Kerry said. “I, I think that is true, but it doesn’t mean necessarily you want to be adding another line when there are other alternatives.”

“But is it better than train, and better than that, yes it is,” he added.

That pipelines were better for the environment was already documented even before the Biden administration killed the pipeline’s construction, but getting this admission from the Biden administration itself cements two things. One, that the Biden administration went against the science, and two, that they knew they were going against the science and didn’t care.

This puts the thousands of jobs killed by the Biden administration into a much darker perspective, knowing that it killed these jobs under false pretenses. It’s made even worse by the fact that the Biden administration would say little to nothing about it with Biden himself literally walking away in silence when asked about the sacrifices he forced Americans to make with the cancelation of the pipeline.

Literally, every reason the left and the media used to convince Americans to support their geriatric prop of a candidate has completely disintegrated. The entirety of the lies, the hatred, the vitriol was to defeat Trump simply because they didn’t like him. They destroyed our prosperity, our success, and our nation’s greatness, just to defeat Trump. I wonder how many of them are starting to miss him.

I ask the left this:

Was It worth it? Are you happy and satisfied with what you’ve done?

Are we done being glad that Trump isn’t President anymore?

Bill Melugin
@BillFOXLA
BREAKING: .@FoxNews has confirmed via the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that construction on a 13.4 mile stretch of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley will RESUME after pressure from local residents & politicians.
The Biden admin previously halted all wall construction in Jan.
6:43 PM · May 12, 2021

Carter inherited the inflation from Gerald Ford. He made it worse because he had no idea what he was doing, but he didn’t create it.

Biden was stuck with the pandemic, but the underlying economy prior to the pandemic was a terrific economy, the border was in check, Israel was largely peaceful, gasoline was plentiful and cheap. He’s managed to screw up everything that Trump had left in relatively good order in the span of four months. That takes real talent for incompetence.

We are in trouble. This man is not up to the job, and that has never been more clear after the events of the last week. Biden has taken a recovery that was on cruise control and run it into a tree. Inflation is killing the middle class, job growth is stagnating, and we’ve lost the gains we made against Iran, the Palestinians, China, and Russia. None of this is going to work out well

The government report on inflation has been released, and it’s not good. Inflation hit 4.2% in April, a crushing blow to the poor and middle class especially. This followed on the heels of stagnating hiring shown by last week’s jobs report (see New Jobs Report Is the Worst Miss in History as Biden Administration Failures Mount). //

Remember, the consumer price index doesn’t even include things like lumber so this number is likely lower than reality despite still showing an out-of-control rise. That rise is directly timed with Biden passing his COVID “relief” act that printed trillions of largely unnecessary dollars. //

This is the result of Democrat economic policies. We tried to warn the cocktail-sipping establishment class that thought Trump was too icky. Policies have consequences, and they matter a lot more than mean tweets and disagreements about rhetoric. Real people are now getting smoked while Joe Biden is nowhere to be found (see We Don’t Have a President).

Of course, you can expect the media to spin this.

Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
So, the inflation report wasn't a nothingburger, but it was sort of a White Castle slider — not a very big deal. //

These people live in a bubble, and they aren’t going to leave it. They truly believe you don’t matter. Vote accordingly.

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
Absolutely ghoulish. Never let a crisis go to waste!

White House reporter eagerly asks Energy Secretary Granholm how these gas shortages due to the Colonial pipeline will help the administration push people toward accepting renewable energy. //

The reporter asks how does this fit their overall effort toward renewable energy, how does this “speed up” that effort? In other words, how can you use this crisis to your advantage? That’s why Granholm is smiling because she thinks this helps their case, hang who it hurts or the threat to the infrastructure. She also taunts Americans who drive gas-powered cars, with a little smile, “If you drive an electric car, this would not be affecting you.”

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
Don't worry, folks. Joe Biden has got this situation in Israel under control. 🙄

Psaki say's he's "directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials" and are in "support of de-escalation" while also "candidly" telling off Israel on settlements. //

It’s absolutely disgusting to draw an equivalence between what the Palestinians are doing and what Israel is doing, yet that’s what Psaki does here on behalf of the Biden administration. Israel spent decades litigating those settlements. They didn’t just walk in and throw people out. They gave the people squatting a chance to pay restitution and stay. They refused to do so and were removed. That is in no way comparable to Palestinian terrorists indiscriminately launching hundreds of rockets at Israelis, already killing several. Further, Israel retaliating with airstrikes to an act of deadly aggression is also not comparable.

The Palestinians had not fired a rocket at Jerusalem since 2014 until this week. What changed, exactly? Well, Biden’s handlers decided to reinstate “aid” payments to the Palestinians. They are emboldened, knowing that Donald Trump isn’t there to push back anymore while Biden is happy to play into his own weakness, coddling the terrorists who are currently killing Jews in the streets.

And speaking of Trump, could you imagine the gnashing of teeth that would occur if he just disappeared the day Israel basically went to war and hackers shut down gasoline distribution to the Southeast and East Coast? He’d be accused of being derelict in his duty. Yet, no one in the media seems to even be concerned that Biden is MIA during one of the most consequential, complicated weeks the country has seen in quite some time. In fact, they seem to be far more obsessed with fluffing Liz Cheney than the fact that the jobs market is stagnating while inflation remains out of control.

There are consequences to electing a senile old man to a job that requires at least some level of coherence. The country is receiving those consequences good and hard right now. Voters should take note because this isn’t going to get better. The only way to turn this around is to stop voting with your emotions and start paying attention to the things that really matter.