Politics

Joe Biden emerged from his cave, saw his shadow, and told us there will be three more years of winter. That winter, descending on America’s position in the world, was on public view at Biden’s Friday press conference about Afghanistan. Standing behind him was the Vice President, the secretary of defense, the secretary of state and the national security adviser, a stark contrast to the sad photo of Biden alone on a video call from Camp David with those advisers. Why have them stand there, mute? To convey to the public that the administration was united...and to convey to his advisers that they were all on this sinking ship together.

Don’t let this relatively Fauci-free week fool you. The Biden administration is still laser-focused on the coronavirus. In fact, as reporters waited anxiously to ask the President about stranded American civilians in Kabul and Afghans falling from Air Force planes, Baghdad Biden stumbled through a teleprompter address about vaccines and left without taking a single question. America is back! In his brief remarks, the President assured the American people that he would stand tough against the Taliban. Oops sorry, scratch that. The President assured us that he would stand tough against Republican governors. See, these red state politicians are 'setting a dangerous tone', according to Joe.

It’s a national disgrace, a catastrophe nearly two decades in the making. In a just society, everyone involved would be severely punished, but in the fallen state of modern America there will be no consequences, only more humiliation. Cockburn refers, of course, to Twitter, that monstrous invention where America’s politicians, journalists, ‘experts’, and ordinary people compete with one another to see who can be the most profoundly pathetic, unimpressive, and cringeworthy. Naturally, the ongoing debacle in Afghanistan allowed every player to put in their best performance.

This evening, President Joe Biden finally addressed the American people from the White House on Monday after Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban. The speech should have been given much sooner. We did not hear publicly from the President for three days as the Taliban seized Kabul, the US Embassy was evacuated, and Afghani president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Biden finally left Camp David for the White House on Monday morning amid mounting pressure. He did not take questions from the press and will return to Camp David on Monday evening. Trotting out the President for a 10-minute scripted speech and then sending him back on vacation doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the commander-in-chief.

The American right nominally has the support of half the country, but it is its own persistent self-inflicted curse that it appears far weaker and smaller than that. Despite having more than 70 million voters, the right struggles to get them outdoors holding a sign for virtually any cause. At the drop of a tweet, 5,000 liberals can be mustered in almost any city for even the most insane of causes: abolishing police, abolishing Trump, abolishing the internal combustion engine, pretty much anything. If you can think of it, a liberal has probably marched over it. Conservatives, on the other hand, are rather languorous even for important issues and those that directly impact their lives. Cities turning into vast homeless camps? Illegal immigration?

The prodigal son returns without his pants. Hunter Biden, the male heir of the 46th president, was caught hanging brain with a prostitute, again. The creeps over at the Daily Mail obtained the video which was recorded in January 2019. In a chyron, Fox News described the footage of Hunter as ‘new’ and ‘shocking’ — but frankly it’s neither. In the clip, Hunter recounts how he lost a laptop filled with his raunchy sex tapes while passed out in a pool. According to the Daily Mail, the conversation occurred after Biden and the unidentified woman had sex. So romantic. And you thought your pillow talk was awkward. 'They have videos of me doing this. They have videos of me doing like fucking crazy [expletive] sex [expletive],' Biden said in the video.

Isn’t it odd how progressives constantly emit platitudes like words matter, yet can never resist a chance to indulge in hyperbole of the highest order? On Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher, former navy officer and current MSNBC crank Malcolm Nance made the absurd claim that 40,000 people stormed the Capitol on January 6. Though conservative pundit Ben Shapiro aggressively rebutted this falsehood, Nance did not back down. So what if he was lying? Insisting that ‘40,000 people’ entered the Capitol sounds a lot more dramatic — or melodramatic — than ‘1,000 people’ and it helps bolster Nance’s asinine storyline. The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (a Democrat) used to say, ‘You’re entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts.

Caitlyn Jenner's Twitter account is having an identity crisis. It’s not particularly rare for a political campaign to create fake social media accounts to drum up ‘organic’ support online. If anything, it’s a dark open secret. What’s rarer, however, is when a campaign is caught in the act. On Tuesday night, Jenner replied to her own tweet with a message that suggested another Twitter user wrote it. The wannabe California governor first ran into trouble after calling out the current governor Gavin Newsom on Twitter. Jenner responded to a tweet that opposed the state’s recall saying, 'Why? Do you want more unemployment? More from? More illegal immigration bringing COVID? Schools closed? BS! Forget #GavinNewsom.

The announcement that Andrew Cuomo will resign in two weeks follows the total collapse of his political support among Democrats in New York State and Washington. His advisers told him impeachment was now certain, and he resigned just ahead of the inevitable, as President Nixon did when he was given the same message by his erstwhile congressional supporters. The headlight of that oncoming train has been visible in Albany for months. The crash became certain when Attorney General Letitia James of New York issued her damning report on Cuomo’s behavior, buttressed by testimony from 11 accusers. After James’s report and press conference, all the top Democrats in the state and country began calling on Cuomo to resign. The major papers, which always support Democrats, did the same.

Forget about Hunter, where's Joe? Biden took a long weekend at his Delaware retreat but hasn't been seen since Saturday after a round of golf and evening Mass. The White House did not release its normal weekly guidance to reporters on Sunday so they could be prepared for the President's movements, nor did it release a full schedule for the President on Monday, instead calling a lid before noon. Biden had a meeting bright and early at 10 a.m., but we don't know what he did today after that. Perhaps Biden finally taught Major not to defecate on the rug or bite the help — who knows! https://twitter.com/warddpatrick/status/1424755624416534533?s=21 The move shouldn't shock anyone familiar with the 46th President's living habits.

California Republicans are not falling in line behind a single candidate in the recall against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The California Republican party voted not to endorse any of the candidates running in the state's upcoming recall during a Saturday morning online convention. The decision comes as right-wing firebrand Larry Elder has surged in recent polling, overshadowing the establishment favorite, former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer. The candidate who received the endorsement would have been given additional funding and campaign infrastructure. Instead, none of the candidates on the September 14 ballot will have the party's backing.