Tag Archives: Joe Biden

International news

What could go wrong?

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to the White House today supposedly to cement a deal over some mineral rights with the United States.

It didn’t end with anything signed. It ended instead with Zelenskyy storming out a shouting match with Donald Trump, who along with Vice President J.D. Vance, managed to insult the beleaguered Zelenskyy to the point of immense frustration.

This man is our ally, or at least he was our ally when Russian forces attacked Ukraine three years ago while Joe Biden was president of the United States.

It’s all changed now that Biden has retired and Trump has returned to power. Trump has buddied up to Russian goon Vladimir Putin, taking up where he left off when he lost his re-election bid to Biden in 2020.

That a meeting with Zelenskyy would crater as it did today should have surprised no one, given Trump’s propensity for saying the wrong things at the wrong time.

International news

Trump to abandon Ukraine

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Donald J. Trump is on the verge of abandoning a longheld U.S. foreign policy, which calls for this nation to stand firm against aggression from nations that seek to undermine democratic sovereignty.

He’s going to meet soon with Russian thug/goon Vladimir Putin to “negotiate” a deal to end the war in Ukraine. The two pals no doubt are going to stick in the ear of Ukraine President Volodymr Zellenskyy, who’s been fighting his heart out against the Russian aggressors for the past three years.

How was he able to keep the Russians at bay while inflicting grievous casualties on the aggressors? Because U.S. support provided by President Joe Biden in concert with our NATO allies.

Well, Trump is now sitting in Biden’s former office and he and his MAGA cultists appear set on flattening Zellenskyy’s efforts against the Russian invaders.

I have no clue the direction these “negotiations” will take. I’m not smart enough to figure that out. I sense, though, that NATO, the EU and much of the free world is going to feel betrayed by the new administration’s cozying up to Putin.

I also believe Putin will see this suck-up policy as giving him license to continue his aggression in eastern Europe.

crime news, legal news

No moral equivalence here

Right-wing MAGA fanatics need to take great care when attaching moral equivalence to two vastly different actions taken by two equally vastly different men.

In one of his final acts as president, Joe Biden issued pre-emptive pardons to members of his family, believing they would spare them from the hassles of being harassed by federal officials loyal to the incoming POTUS.

Those pardons were, shall we say, weird and kind of bizarre. As it has been said many times, innocent people do not need to be pardoned. The family members pardoned by President Biden hadn’t even been charged with any crimes.

Then came the horrendous blanket pardons issued by Donald Trump, freeing about 1,500 traitorous mobsters from punishment for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection against the government. They sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and attacked with all-due violence the Capitol cops seeking to protect members of Congress from the hysterical mob.

Some right-wingers have sought to attach the Biden pardons with the Trump pardons. Not a chance! There isn’t a scintilla of moral equivalence to be found!

One of the pardoned traitors, by the way, got into an altercation with Indiana police over the weekend and was shot to death by the cops. History seeking to repeat itself? Well … go figure.

What Trump did in pardoning all the convicted mobsters was send a clear signal that the president had their back in the event they might try to do something similar in the future. The president also gave the middle finger to cops who had suffered grievous injury in defense of our government.

Trump has taken the same oath twice to “protect and defend the Constitution.” He tossed that oath into the crapper the first time and there’s not a thing that I can detect that will prevent him from doing it again.

Therefore, let us end the idiotic attempt to equate the pardons issued by the departing president with those given by the individual who succeeded him.

national news

‘Great’ precedes ‘good’

Walter Isaacson, a political journalist of some renown, believes that Donald Trump already has established himself as a “great” president, but now must work on becoming a “good” one.

The difference, if I heard Isaacson correctly on a TV interview, suggests that Trump already has established his place in history as a politician of significant presence. He has reshaped the political landscape in a way that bears no resemblance to what it used to look like.

His task now is to do some “good” for the country he governs. Isaacson called Trump’s triumph over Kamala Harris a sweeping victory, in that he carried all seven of the swing states being contested. Granted, he didn’t win the “landslide” he keeps suggesting.

It was an important victory nonetheless, Isaacson contends.

Still, Trump — and this is my view — needs to channel the rage he still carries from his 2020 defeat at the hands of Joe Biden into constructive legislation. Dude needs an agenda on which he can hang his hat. I don’t see one. Nor do I see any evidence from Trump that he can craft anything of the sort.

All of this makes me doubt that Trump ever will achieve the “good” part of the office he has won.

national news

Custom gets flushed

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Customarily, presidential inaugural speeches are intended to appeal to Americans’ highest ideals, setting a tone for the incoming administration to follow.

But … as is always the case with POTUS No. 47, custom got flushed down the crapper today. Donald J. Trump took his oath of office and then launched into all the campaign talking points he used to win the election in November.

He didn’t bother to thank his predecessor, President Biden, for his five decades of public service, or to congratulate his 2024 opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for the spirited campaign she waged against him.

Oh, no. None of that grace was to be heard in Trump’s speech. He railed yet again over what he called the decline of our nation, vowing to “make America great agaiin.”

It was vintage Trump. Frankly, it sickened me.

I decided to watch his speech hoping I might hear a word of grace from the man who violated the very oath he took in 2017. I hoped he might have learned a lesson or two from what I consider to be a failed presidency the first time around.

I was disappointed.

Just maybe, though, I shouldn’t have set my hopes too high.

Uncategorized

Will new POTUS follow this custom?

Presidents take their oath of office and, dating back for a good while, often open their inaugural speech with a tribute to the man who preceded them immediately in the high and exalted office.

Americans have seen a lot in recent days of President Carter turning to his predecessor, President Ford, and thanking him in 1977 “for all he did to heal our land.”

Every president since then — except for one — has issued a word of thanks for their predecessor’s service to this land. The exception, of course, was President Biden, who in 2021 took office while his predecessor, Donald Trump, was flying to Florida after refusing to concede that he lost the 2020 election.

We have another presidential inaugural on tap. Monday at noon, Trump will take an oath and then will stand in front of the world to deliver a speech that normally sets the tone for the presidency. Will the new president thank his predecessor who, after all, has stayed the course and helped transition from one administration to the next one?

I won’t predict what Trump will do or say. My hope is that he will turn to his predecessor and finally — finally! — put the Big Lie to rest once and forever by declaring that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

I know. My expectations at times are unrealistic.

International news, military news

Is peace now possible?

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In this season of never-ending negativity, we now might be able to rejoice in some seriously good news … from the Middle East of all places!

Israel and the terrorists known as Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire that begins Sunday. Furthermore, they have agreed to a significant swap of hostages, meaning that the families of Israelis and Americans held captive since the Oct. 7, 2023, rocket attacks can be set free.

I am going to hold out hope that the cease fire agreement holds up and that the violence that erupted with Hamas’s brazen and bloody attack will end. Let us not call it a peace agreement, because the cease fire only means the bitter enemies will stop killing each other for the time being.

Let’s be clear on a couple of key points. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and said the only path to peace would require the destruction of the terrorist leadership; it appears that Israel has accomplished its stated aim. However, it has come at a horrific price for the Palestinians caught in the middle of the fight between Israel and Hamas. Thousands of innocent people have died since Hamas started this war.

Thus, the ceasefire — brokered in large part by President Biden’s team — requires an immediate rebuilding effort. It must commence fully, not on a piecemeal basis. It must include massive deliveries of food, water, construction equipment, medical supplies and personnel to help Gaza residents seek to restore their shattered lives.

To that end, Joe Biden and his team deserve the highest praise any of us can give for their tireless work in bringing an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.

Now, though, the hardest task of all awaits … finding a path to a permanent piece in a region that knows only heartache and despair.

Donald Trump

Trump’s angry because of this? What … ?

Donald Trump has expressed displeasure over the nation’s salute to one of his predecessors at the time of a presidential inauguration.

Small-mindedness has hit a new low.

President Biden ordered all flags to fly at half-staff for 30 days to honor the late President Jimmy Carter. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, while the flags will still be flying at half-staff. Trump thinks that disrespects his return to the presidency.

Give me a break … man!

Carter died near the end of the year just passed. President Joe Biden’s order was totally proper and in keeping with longstanding national tradition. Of course, Trump doesn’t respect any tradition that he deems diminishes his own role, which this one does not!

For the incoming president to bitch about flags flying in honor of a great statesman only sullies Trump’s already rotten reputation.

crime news

Biden guilty of loving his son

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Joe Biden should plead guilty only to a single “charge,” which would be that he loves his son so much that he is willing to take flak for issuing a pardon to possibly keep him out of federal prison.

President Biden this weekend issued a broad pardon for his son, Hunter, who was convicted by a federal jury of purchasing a handgun illegally and for some assorted tax charges.

Hunter Biden faced the possibility of prison time. I doubt he would have gotten it. Then again, I am a terrible predictor of such things.

The president had declared he would let the system do its job and he wouldn’t pardon his son. Then he changed his mind.

Here is what is most maddening about the criticism that has erupted. The MAGA crowd is attaching some false equivalency to what Hunter Biden and the actions of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol Building aiming to overturn the2020 election results. To equate Hunter Biden’s lying about drug use with the machinations of the traitorous mob is ridiculous on its face.

Donald Trump might pardon some of the mobsters when he takes office and the MAGA goons will applaud him for it.

Joe Biden’s pardoning of Hunter Biden is a demonstration only of a father’s love of his son. This story will disappear once Donald Trump takes office… and you can take that to the bank.

crime news

Biden pardons son … yawn!

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Joe Biden said he wouldn’t pardon his son Hunter on a federal conviction related to an illegal purchase of a firearm.

Then the president had second thoughts and issued the pardon. I know what some of you must be thinking. How dare the president renege on his promise. The son needs to do time!

My thought? So … what!

Hunter Biden likely wouldn’t go to the slammer for a piss ante conviction that was brought for political reasons in the first place. He lied about his drug addiction when purchasing a gun; it’s a crime and a jury convicted him of it.

His father vowed he wouldn’t issue a pardon for his son. Then a lot of things changed for Daddy Biden. He dropped out of the 2024 presidential campaign, making him a lame duck the moment he pulled out. Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss on Nov. 5 sealed the end of Joe Biden’s influence on national policy.

So, he pardoned his son. Big fu***** deal, man!

The pardon will give conservative talking heads some chatter grist for a while, then it will fade away … just like Joe Biden and his family.

The president served the nation with distinction for more than 50 years. This act of compassion for a son he loves beyond measure speaks only to his devotion as a father and family man.