The theme today is going to be the fun of watching Democrats, the news media, and your Trump-Deranged friends (and mine) freak out, spin themselves dizzy, and go whataboutism bat-crazy after yesterday’s one-two punch combination to Joe Biden’s hopes of staying in the White House. Almost lost in the stunning indictment of Biden’s mental state and the prospect of a genuine and justified invocation of the 25th Amendment’s disability clause was the fact that the report probably doomed the prosecution of Trump for mishandling classified documents.
I almost dedicated this installment of the Friday Open Forum to “The Simpsons'” Nelson Muntz (“Ha ha!”) I have no sympathy for Biden’s enablers, allies, paid liars, puppeteers, party or family. None. Zilch. They deserve to be mocked mercilessly, as does everyone who voted for a President who was so obviously in the twilight of senility at least as far back as 2019.
The assessment of Biden’s DOJ’s special counsel and Biden’s disastrous public address trying to debunk it arrived late enough yesterday that reeling pundits had an excuse not to write about their humiliation immediately, but Paul Krugman, the NYT’s shamelessly biased Nobel Prize-winning hack, dived right in:
“When the news broke about the special counsel’s hit job — his snide, unwarranted, obviously politically motivated slurs about President Biden’s memory — I found myself thinking about my mother. What year did she die? It turned out that I didn’t know offhand; I knew that it was after I moved from Princeton to CUNY, because I was regularly commuting out to New Jersey to see her, but before the pandemic. I actually had to look into my records to confirm that she died in 2017.
I’ll bet that many readers are similarly vague about the dates of major life events. You remember the circumstances, but not necessarily the precise year. And whatever you think of me, I’m pretty sure I don’t write or sound like an old man. The idea that Biden’s difficulty in pinning down the year of his son’s death shows his incapacity — in the middle of the Gaza crisis! — is disgusting.
As it happens, I had an hour-long off-the-record meeting with Biden in August. I can’t talk about the content, but I can assure you that he’s perfectly lucid, with a good grasp of events. And outside that personal experience, on several occasions when I thought he was making a serious misjudgment — like his handling of the debt ceiling crisis — he was right and I was wrong.
And my God, consider his opponent….
Glorious.
You can write about any ethics issue you want, as always. But pop that popcorn….
Ethics Alarms 
What remains to be lost in all of the comparisons of mishandling documents is that VP’s do not have the authority to declassify documents.
Hurr is part of the gang associated with Comey and Rosendtein so his report may suggest incompetence but far too much in the report claims to know how a jury would decide that this likeable old man knowingly did something wrong.
So is the fact that they can easily find a jury in DC to convict Trump why the DOJ wants to vigorously prosecute Trump for what it calls mishandling documents when Trump was the only one with the authority to declassify documents?
Chris,
Does the fact that a DC jury awarded Michael Mann $1,000,000 in punative damages against Mark Steyn (see https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/02/09/a-bitterly-disappointing-verdict/), when Mark Steyn has consistently held he believed Mann’s work was trash for decades, answer your question?
Getting a fair trial in DC appears to be a thing of the past.
Agreed
What troubles me is that Hurr’s rationale for not prosecuting does not pass legal muster as I understand the law.
I can understand that Hurr could say that Biden lacks capacity NOW to assist in his defense but most pundits seem to interpret the lack of prosecution because Biden was lacked capacity before he was elected president.
Hurr’s commentary could theoretically insulate Biden from any future prosecution should evidence of bribery from China or Ukrainian oligarchs. I believe this is all orchestrated to protect their puppet and the puppet masters should the Dems lose in November.
I am a truly a cynic these days.
He’s saying that Biden presents such a pathetic figure that he’s unlikely to be convicted. That’s a legitimate basis not to prosecute. But the decision isn’t his anyway.
Well he does present a pathetic figure but if age is a determinant why is the DOJ prosecuting some 70 year old grandmas using the FACE act? I am convinced that this assessment will be used to defend against future charges of Biden’s influence peddling activities.
The wording of why no charges will be brought is very similar to the rationale used by Comey stated that no reasonable prosecutor would charge HRC for her email server and destruction of data on that server.
All of this suggests that the District court, the Appeals court in DC and the jury pool will do what is needed to protect favored politicians and destroy any politician without a D next to their name.
Was not Burisma the subject of Trump’s first impeachment.
Largely ignored among the riches of Bidens gaff-riddle rant was his Greta Thunberg- worthy “How dare they!” performance regarding being asked about his son’s death. He promptly concluded it by going blank on where he got the precious rosary he supposedly carries in memory (ha!) of Beau. He also bizarrely mentioned Memorial Day, which is for the remembrance of those who died in military service, not just any random relative. He’s told the lie that Beau died in combat so often that he may well not be able to distinguish it from truth any more, either.
Now for something completely different.
GUN NEWS FEBRUARY, 2024
Item the First:
Proving that imbecile senator Mazie Hirono has high-level company, the Hawaii Supreme Court has reversed the dismissal (based on the SCOTUS “Bruen” decision) by a lower court of a firearms carry case.. The brilliant rationalizations of the court included quoting lines from the TV show The Wire, stating that the SCOTUS decision was wrongfully decided, and opining that firearms carry violated “the spirit of aloha”. I don’t think they noted which Constitutional Amendment guarantees “aloha”. A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the state.
Item the Second:
Also likely counter to Bruen, the Virginia House of Delegates has passed, by a party-line vote of 51-49, a bill which would ban the sale, procession, or transfer of semi-automatic firearms within the state. The Virginia senate is also narrowly controlled by democrats, though some have voted against similar measures in the past. Should it pass, they still wouldn’t have enough votes to overcome a veto by Republican governor Youngkin.
Item the Third:
Pennsylvania, and others in the usual suspects group, such as Massachusetts, have also been toying with various “assault weapons” and other firearms related bans, including attempting to ban 3D printer files and their sharing. This is also likely counter to not only Bruen, but the First Amendment. From a PA effort to ban: “Any computer or other electronic file distributed for any firearm or part of a firearm that is intended or capable of being manufactured or printed by a 3-D printer.”
WTH is wrong with WordPress’ formatting these days?
I can understand rank-and-file support for these measures.
They fear the street thug.
They fear the gangbanger.
Sadly and tragically, too many of them have compelling reasons to fear the street thug and the gangbanger.
The side pushing for these measures is the same side that calls for decarceration and defunding the police, tweeted #HandsUpDontShoot, accuses police of habitually hunting down and gunning down unarmed Black men, accuses the criminal justice system of being systemically racist.
For that side, it is not about street crime.
That, and I’ve heard it speculated – believably to me – that the gun control lobby is trying to flood the court system with as many limits and testing of the Bruen decision in an attempt to keep pro-gun supporters too busy running around putting out legal fires to get involved in the election in any way. I know in Colorado, they’re trying to define ‘sensitive spaces’ as any public space, or area adjacent to a public space.
“I can understand rank-and-file support for these measures.”
But there is no real widespread grassroots support for additional gun control laws in most parts of the country. Calls for gun control are primarily driven by the roadshows of anti-gun advocacy groups that manage to cobble together enough “citizen” support from various pearl-clutchers to give the illusion that the people generally want gun control. It is not true.
Frankly, those who “have compelling reasons to fear the street thug and the gangbanger” need to arm up, not further restrict their ability to defend themselves in the gravest extreme. Gun control measures do little to nothing to disarm criminals, merely their victims the law abiding.
Most people aren’t aware that the prominent gun-control groups like “Everytown” are not member supported grassroots entities like the various pro-2A groups (NRA, FPC, GOA, NAGR, etc.). They’re Astroturf organizations supported almost entirely by megalomaniac billionaire antis like Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg, George Soros & such.
I don’t think this falls in the world of ethics, but I thought it so bizarre, it warranted sharing for Friday’s free forum:
How do you lose a 200 foot tall radio tower over night?
https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/news/radio-station-baffled-after-200-foot-radio-tower-disappears/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
I have a friend who works in this line of business and has a history of weird shit happening to/around him (his name has been reported in the NYT). Glad to report he categorically denies any involvement.
His categorical denial is proof he did it.
jvb
The thought crossed my mind.
That’s quite an argument for Krugman to make. “Sure, Biden has the mental acuity of an aubergine, but who doesn’t? I know I do. My editor obviously does. So what’s the big deal?”
I like the part of Krugman suggesting that Biden knows more about economics that he does. I have a question, has Krugman ever been right about anything? I mean, it seems his Nobel Prize work is now not widely accepted.
I liked that, too. I would say, “Uh, Paul? That is not a ringing endorsement of Biden’s economic acuity. You know even less about economics than I do, and that’s saying something.”
jvb
Years ago when Krugman started popping up as a commentator, I hunted around to see what those in the economics field had earlier thought about his Nobel. The prevailing sentiment (apparently without any personal rancor & not from competitors) had been mainly some version of “Huh? That guy? Why/how?”.
Who needs Krugman with his admittedly fading memory when we got Chris Marschner?
Joel
not really sure how to take that
lol
chris
Yeah, I probably could have worded that just a bit better, but just to clarify, it was meant in the most complimentary way.
I need to look more through the transcript of Carlson’s interview with Putin, but it seems that Putin made Carlson look like a naive, poorly educated fool. I am not surprised.
I was expecting this interview to be important because it will let the US see the story that the rest of the world has heard. The rest of the world knows that the US deposed the Russian-puppet government of Ukraine with their own puppet government. They also know that the US-puppet government was shelling the ethnically Russian parts of their country, killing men, women, and children. Putin objected to this, protested it, put a bunch of troops on the border, threatened to invade if the shelling of civilians didn’t stop, invaded and secured the Russo-philic parts of Ukraine, then asked for negotiations. They know that Ukraine was ready to sign and treaty that would have given them their country back in exchange for not joining NATO (essentially) and Boris Johnson stopped it. The rest of the world has heard this and it is all true. Now, it doesn’t include Putin’s desire to regain control of Ukraine, his rivalry with the west, his shelling of civilians since the war began…but it is true and it does not paint the West in a good light. It is important that the US understands this and understands that a LOT of people in the world see us as the villains here and they have decent reasons to.
I am amused about the part where Carlson is shocked to find out that Putin knows he tried to work for the CIA and was rejected. That is almost as funny as Carlson being shocked that the CIA taps his phone and is aware of even his encrypted communications.
In the realm of analysis of Biden’s mental decline and his disastrous press conference meant to confront the idea of his mental decline, here is an analysis (https://jdanielsawyer.substack.com/p/a-simple-moment-of-weakness) that has expressed a great many of the factors that have me awake at night, before I finally succumb and grab a glass of bourbon. This J. Daniel Sawyer (I haven’t looked up his history; a link from Holly Math Nerd (https://hollymathnerd.substack.com/p/grandpas-interrupted-nap) led me to him) touched on the political divide, the debt crisis, the insular nature of our elite, and a host of other factors that seem ready to blow up in our face. He argues that we teeter on the brink of a collapse in the US that will drag the rest of the civilized world down with us, and it is now blatantly apparent that the one man who is supposed to stand in that breach is too mentally incompetent for the job.
So here is some unalloyed good news as we get ready for pitchers and catchers to report.
Eric Nadel, long time voice of the Rangers, will be returning to broadcast their games in 2024, as they try to defend their title of WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!”
They have also signed Adolis Garcia, ALCS MVP and all around post season star to a two year extension through 2026.
Who knows, perhaps my Rangers and Jack’s Red Sox will meet in October this year. 🙂
https://x.com/historyinmemes/status/1756641479710159358?s=46&t=hYBRdyKc75ixaD6bBbzJZw
Is this permissible in court?