‘Rather sad’: Douglas Murray roasts Joe Biden over latest ‘gaffe’

‘Rather sad’: Douglas Murray roasts Joe Biden over latest ‘gaffe’ (youtube.com)

"President Joe Biden accidentally calling Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi the “president of Mexico” is not just “another Biden gaffe”, author Douglas Murray warns.

"The President made a national address after he was found to have “wilfully” retained and disclosed highly classified documents in the garage, offices and basement den of his home in Delaware.

“ 'The idea that the same man is in the most powerful position in the world is something which is just a scandal you and I have talked about before,” Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“The Democrats have clearly been trying to cover it over.

“ 'They've been hoping he'll get better, or something like that. It'll become less noticeable, and they can just they can just allow him to, to roll on.”

Unfortunately for Joe Biden, not only was the report bad news for him in a pivotal presidential election year, but the way he responded to it with his disastrous impromptu presser, where he angrily denounced Hur, yelled at reporters, and then confused the names of world leaders (again), only made it so much worse

Former President Barack Obama's name is usually first on the list, with good reason: Obama craves power, he always considers himself the smartest person in the room, and he knows Biden's a fool. Speaking to a fellow Democrat about Biden being the party’s nominee in 2020, Obama famously warned: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.”

 Joe Needs Visiting Angels, Not A Second Term (townhall.com) . . .The President has always been a fabulist, which is a polite way of pointing out that someone lies an awful lot. Mostly about his own life, Biden has a career’s worth of lies all designed to make him look important. He’s lied about participating in the Civil Rights Movement to black audiences, when the truth is he could not have cared less about it, admitting he’d never even bothered to show up to a single march. He claimed to have been arrested in South Africa, in Soweto, trying to visit Nelson Mandela in prison, when in reality he was directed by police to exit the airport through a separate set of doors because of apartheid (apparently he didn’t object to this segregation) and never explained why he’d fly to a city fully a 15 hour drive away from Mandela’s prison when Cape Town, where he was held, has an international airport. 

"Those lies at least make political sense –" . . .

 Does Obama Need a Weakened Biden? By Mike Miller "Noodle on this for a minute before we begin: Given Joe Biden's steadily declining mental acuity and Barack Obama's insatiable desire for ultimate power, does the former president need the current president to remain precisely where he is — in the Oval Office — in a reliably-weakening role?

"If the answer is "yes," then this question follows: Would the Democrat Party — still enamored beyond rationality with Barack and Michelle Obama — allow the above scenario to continue into 2025 and beyond?

"While I'm mostly a "No way," the possibility is worthy of discussion.

"Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, believes it's worth discussing, as well. Greenfield recently wrote:

 Obama’s 2020 efforts on Biden’s behalf didn’t end there. He was also instrumental in creating the so-called party unity commissions that brought [Bernie] Sanders’ staff and allies together with Bidens’ — a move that has had a lasting impact on Biden’s first-term policy agenda. 

Obama's best access to power is through President Michelle Obama. TD 

Even Democrats Realize How Catastrophic Thursday Night Was for Biden (townhall.com)

Even the liberal mainstream media, including outlets particularly friendly to Democrats were freaking out, as Matt covered, while what spin the Biden team puts out there looks increasingly desperate.

Ireland's team refuse to shake hands with Israel players

Not for what you might think.

Ireland women's basketball team refuse to shake hands with Israel - BBC

. . ."Basketball Ireland's statement prior to the start of the game read: "Basketball Ireland informed Fiba Europe yesterday that as a direct result of recent comments made by Israeli players and coaching staff - including inflammatory and wholly inaccurate accusations of anti-Semitism, published on official Israeli Federation channels - that our players will not be partaking in traditional pre-match arrangements with our upcoming opponents.

" 'This includes exchanging of gifts, formal handshakes before or after the game, while our players will line up for the Irish national anthem by our bench rather than centre court.

" 'Basketball Ireland fully supports our players in their decision."

"In an interview on the Israeli Basketball Association's website, United States-based student Saar said: "It's known that they are quite anti-semitic and it's no secret, and maybe that's why a strong game is expected.

" 'We have to show that we're better than them and win. We talk about it among ourselves. We know they don't love us and we will leave everything on the field always and in this game especially.' " . . .

 Ireland refuse to shake hands with Israel players (msn.com)

Blow-up after Irish basketball team refuses to shake hands of Israelis | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site   "Geo-politics has been thrust into the centre of a basketball match between Ireland and Israel after the Irish team refused to shake the hands of their opponents.

"Competing in the first match of EuroBasket Women 2025, a qualifier in Latvia, the Irish team made a public display to snub the Israelis as tempers flared over an “inflammatory” interview.

"The Irish players were incensed over comments made by Israeli player Dor Saar in an interview published by the Israeli Basketball Association (IBA)." . . .

Does Biden Even Understand Why He Wasn’t Charged?

  Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com) 

 Joe Biden, no matter the politics, is simply mentally incapable to be President of the United States. It’s been clear for years but it is now in writing. It is not a debatable question anymore. Yet, he still may get re-elected. 

Toon added by TD

 "Joe Biden, even though he did take and secrete away secret documents and such, will not be charged with any crime related to what are acts quite similar to those for which Donald Trump was charged with crimes.

"In his report explaining his decision, Special Counsel Robert Hur said today that Biden was too far removed from reality for a jury to convict him of a crime.

"In other words, Biden did it, Biden broke the law, but he is too mentally deficient for anyone to believe he either really did it on purpose or, after the fact, could possibly have remembered what he did, let alone pass along the information (of course, that does leave aside Hunter’s possible use of the documents but maybe that will come up in his tax case.)

"The report read, in part, as follows:

“In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’),” Hur wrote. “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him.”

"Because of his obvious inability to think coherently, Hur wrote that a jury would merely see a  “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” rather than be able to see him as an intentionally bad-acting criminal.

"Putting on my public relations hat and warping myself into the White House, I will state clearly and succinctly: The administration would have preferred Biden be charged with a crime it could fight rather than be publicly outed as non compos mentis .

" 'How do we pull a crooked Biden across the finish line?” is a question his team has prepared for. “How do we drag a Biden who has been called a mental basket case by his own Department of Justice across the finish line?” is not." . . .

Too incompetent to be prosecuted but not too incompetent to rule?

 "It’s time for those same Democrats who lied to get Biden into the White House to tell him that he must step aside before the 25th Amendment is invoked. It’s a humiliation, and it’s one that they themselves caused. Jill Biden did this to her husband. His children, his staff, all the people who enabled this charade — this is on them. And Americans won’t soon forget it."  NY Post Editorial Board

Too incompetent to be prosecuted but not too incompetent to rule? - Marcus Ebenhack   . . ."This brings to mind the story of Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, a mafioso who feigned insanity to avoid prosecution.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Mr. Biden, at this point, has the capacity to feign anything, least of all competence.  But he wasn’t a pathetic, senile caricature of his current self when these crimes were committed.  Hur’s decision to not charge reminds of James Comey’s speech exonerating Hillary Clinton of her national security breaches." . . .

‘A nightmare’: Special counsel’s assessment of Biden’s mental fitness triggers Democratic panic (nbcnews.com)  . . .“It’s a nightmare,” said a Democratic House member who asked to speak anonymously to provide a frank assessment, adding that “it weakens President Biden electorally, and Donald Trump would be a disaster and an authoritarian.” . . .

Is Joe Biden’s staff sabotaging him or saving the nation? - Patricia McCarthy   "The special counsel’s report on Joe Biden’s illegally hoarded documents from the time he was a senator and vice president was devastating on several counts.  Special counsel Robert Hur found that Biden “willfully and intentionally” took classified documents and stored them carelessly.  He also shared them illegally with ghost writer, Mark Zwonitzer.  But, he won’t be charged with a crime because his memory is now defective—in other words he is elderly and too feeble-minded, and making him a defendant would be cruel!  This is not how the legal system is supposed to work.

"Never having been president at the time, Biden had no right to take any of said documents into his possession.  But, as everyone knows by now, the report also described Biden’s serious cognitive decline, a fact anyone who has been paying attention knows only too well." . . .  "So, the question is: what was Biden’s staff thinking, letting him speak to the nation at a time past his known bedtime, when he was clearly agitated, angry, defensive and obviously disoriented." . . . 

Jill Biden and Dems committed elder abuse on Joe -- now they must force him to step aside (nypost.com)  . . ."What Hur has proven is that Joe Biden’s cognitive decline is not new, and it certainly wasn’t a secret.

"Jill Biden knew. His aides knew. Heck, James Clyburn, the entire Democratic establishment knew.

"Yet, terrified that Bernie Sanders would win the nomination and then fail to take down their mortal enemy, Donald Trump, they propped up Biden like he was a Potemkin candidate — or, more accurately, “Weekend at Bernie’s” — to try to capture some Obama nostalgia. 

"With the benefit of pandemic lockdowns, they could imprison Old Joe in the basement, limit his interactions with the press, and keep him tied to a teleprompter between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. It worked." . . .

Biden insists 'my memory is fine' as he angrily criticizes Special Counsel report (youtube.com)   If Joe sat for a five-hour interview can't he do three minutes during the Super Bowl softball questions?

Colorado Lawyer Flails As Clarence Thomas Calmly Destroys His Trump Disqualification Argument

 Thomas Destroys Lawyer's Argument For Kicking Trump Off The Ballot (thefederalist.com)

“What I would like to know, is do you have any examples of this?” Thomas asked. Unable to provide a definitive answer to Thomas’ question, Murray fell back on his talking point that “elections worked differently back then.”

"By merely asking for examples, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calmly destroyed respondents’ argument for disqualifying former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.

"The moment came on Thursday morning, during oral arguments on Trump’s appeal to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 decision to keep him off the Centennial State’s 2024 primary ballot. Colorado’s highest court claimed in its ruling that the former president can be “disqualified” from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which stipulates that “[n]o person” who has previously sworn an oath as an officer of the United States and has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion shall” serve in any of an enumerated list of offices of the United States.

"The president and vice president are not included in this list of positions.

"During Thursday’s hearing, respondents’ attorney Jason Murray argued that Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and therefore, engaged in insurrection. He also claimed that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment uses broad language, and thus that states possess the authority to include the presidency — and by default, Trump — as one of the positions eligible for disqualification." . . .

Civil War Confederate Veteran in the Senate  "Charles S. Thomas of Colorado was the last Confederate veteran to serve in the Senate. Born in Georgia, he served briefly as a teenager in the Confederate Army. He settled in Denver after the war, where he built a law practice and pursued a Senate career. Following three failed attempts to gain a Senate seat, the 63-year-old Thomas finally became a U.S. senator in 1913, a position he held until 1921." . . .

Confederates in Congress: Gen. Joe Wheeler (americanheritage.com)  "After the war, he became a planter and lawyer, and served briefly in the House of Representatives, where he was said to have worked to heal the differences between Northern and Southern interests." . . .   Confederates in Congress: More here, both good and bad.

The absurd Dem border con - Victor Davis Hanson

  Victor Davis Hanson (jewishworldreview.com)

Still, it remains somewhat unclear why Biden and his Homeland Security chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, destroyed what Trump had achieved. Why would they ensure such misery for both American hosts and millions of illegal immigrants?

"In 2021, President Joe Biden opened wide an inherited, secure southern border that had finally stopped mass illegal immigration.

"When he overturned former President Donald Trump's efforts, a planned flood of over 8 million illegal immigrants entered the U.S.

"Almost all arrived without background checks, health screening, or vaccination certificates — but with massive needs for free housing, education, healthcare, and food entitlements and subsidies.

"For four years, Trump battled the courts, his Democratic opposition, and the open-border establishments within his own party to ensure legal-only immigration. Somehow, he rebuilt some of the old porous border fence. He had begun to build his long-promised new wall to the Gulf of Mexico. He had ended Obama-era catch-and-release.

"Would-be refugees had to apply for asylum in their home country. Trump leveraged Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to police his own border and stop cynically transiting millions of illegal aliens into the U.S.

"There was general Democratic Party opposition to all of Trump's measures, both through Congress and via the courts.

Leftists Disconnected From How Things Work Are Destroying Everything

 Vince Coyner - American Thinker    (Known in New York as "Vinnie", I'm sure.) TD

. . ."Thomas Jefferson understood the problem, saying in 1824: “I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.” That is 2024 incarnate." . . .

. . ."The left today is largely government employees, students, college-educated white women working inside large corporations, Wall Street, academia, the cabal of NGOs, the media, the 40 million who suckle on the government teat through programs like SNAP, and the 47% of the country who either pay no tax or get “refundable tax credits”.

"Few of those people do anything remotely productive for the economy. Few understand that the government doesn’t have money beyond what it takes from taxpayers or prints via taxpayer IOUs. They have no appreciation for Capitalism, the thing that gave us our prosperity. They flush the toilets and expect them to work, flip the light switch and expect the room to illuminate, and go to the store to pick up a pound of beef without knowing how it gets there. Few of them have any real connection to the basic functionality of life.

"The result of this societal bifurcation is that half of our population has little understanding of or vested interest in the country’s or the economy’s continued functioning. More regulations and higher taxes are always the answer because none of them are affected. Regulations make it harder to open a business or keep one running, but they’re easy promises for politicians to offer as the solution to every problem because their voters never pay the price for the consequences." . . .

If I may digress: McCormick "Battle of Shiloh" Advertising Poster | Poster | Wisconsin Historical Society (wisconsinhistory.org)  

". . ."advertising poster produced for the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company showing a McCormick binder stored in a shed in the middle of the battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War. The poster was based on an 1885 cyclorama by French artist Theophile Poilpot. Includes the text "the 'McCormick' machines come victoriously out of every contest and without a scratch." The battle occurred on April 6, 1862. The advertising poster was produced in 1885 and features a machine that did not exist until the 1880s."

Israel's American frenemy. From Carter through Obama, there is this yellow streak in Democrat character

 Melanie Phillips

 One consequence of that feebleness was last month's drone attack by Iranian proxies in Jordan, which killed three U.S. service members and injured more than 40. America's strikes in response to that attack have mostly been laughable, with copious warnings ensuring that they largely hit only empty camps.

"Astonishingly, Israel has to fight right now to defend its existence not just against a line-up of mortal foes doing the bidding of Iran but also against the Jewish state's most important ally, America.

"U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who came to Israel this week to bully it into a ceasefire in Gaza, preposterously demanded a one-to-one private meeting with the Israel Defense Forces' Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi.

"At the meeting that took place instead with the war cabinet, Blinken was reportedly put out when Halevi said the war would continue for months because of the challenge mounted by the vast extent of Hamas's underground military infrastructure.

"Put out, that is, by Israel's refusal to leave itself once again at the mercy of Hamas's genocidal agenda.

"Blinken then publicly bared America's teeth. Although in his remarks alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog, he was careful to say that he appreciated Israel's emphasis on protecting civilians and providing humanitarian assistance, he gave vent at a press conference to accusations that echoed the malevolent demonization of Israel around the world.

"He declared "the daily toll that [Israel's] military operations continue to take on innocent civilians remains too high"; urged Israel "to do more to help civilians"; and said although Israelis had been dehumanized, "that cannot be a license to dehumanize others. The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of Oct. 7."

"This was all breathtakingly malign. Since the ratio of civilians to terrorists killed in Gaza is running at around two or three civilians to one terrorist — far lower than the proportion of civilians killed in U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan — on what conceivable basis is the number of Gaza civilian casualties "too high"?" . . .

Hostage Rescue Less Vital to Many Israelis Than Defeat of Hamas

 Bloomberg

"(Bloomberg) -- The Hostage Families Forum occupies three floors of a high-end Tel Aviv office building. Under the motto “Bring Them Home Now!” the group generates millions of dollars in donations and gets worldwide publicity from international tours by stricken relatives. 

"With so much global attention on the hostages — about 100 remain in Gaza after being taken by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 — it may seem from afar like the main obstacle to their release is the will of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose war aims have become central to his political survival.

"US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week toured the Middle East for a fifth time since the start of the conflict to try to broker a deal to end the Gaza war, which has been raging for four months since the initial Hamas attack on Israel. Any agreement between the sides would include the release of hostages in return for a cease-fire, yet no deal has been reached.

Read More: Netanyahu Balks at Israel-Hamas Deal Even as Blinken Voices Hope   

Biden avoids documents charges, gets roasted on memory loss

 A long-awaited report cleared President Joe Biden of any wrongdoing in his mishandling of classified documents Thursday but dropped a political bombshell by painting the Democrat as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

. . ."However, in a shock for the Biden campaign, special counsel Robert Hur said his probe had found a president with such reduced mental capacities that he could not remember the dates of his vice presidency under Barack Obama and the death of his son Beau to cancer in 2015.

"Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republican leaders of the House of Representatives called the report “deeply disturbing” and said it showed Biden was “unfit” for the presidency.

“ 'A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” they said in a statement.

"The 81-year-old Biden, speaking at a Democratic Party meeting, said he was “pleased to see they reached the conclusion… that no charges should be brought.' ” . . .

The Morning Briefing: Maybe Karine Jean-Pierre Doesn't Actually Know That Biden's Lost It – PJ Media

"One way to bolster a mentally iffy leader is to surround that leader with a cast of idiots who make him look good. That would certainly explain why Pete Buttigieg has a job in Biden's cabinet." Stephen Kruiser

. . ."Because Doocy is one of the last members of the White House press corps who is interested in doing real journalism, he brought up Biden's convo with the dead guy to KJP. Matt wrote about it for us:" 

On Tuesday, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the incident.

“How is President Biden ever going to convince the three-quarters of voters who are worried about his physical and mental health that he is OK, even though in Las Vegas he told a story about recently talking to a French president who died in 1996?” he asked.

“I’m not even going to go down that rabbit hole with you, sir,” an exasperated Jean-Pierre replied.

But Doocy wasn't about to let it go. “What is the rabbit hole? He said he talked to Mitterrand."

“You saw the president in Vegas, in California. You’ve seen the president in South Carolina. You saw him in Michigan. I’ll just leave it there,” Jean-Pierre said.

“How is that a rabbit hole?” Doocy asked, but Jean-Pierre moved on, unwilling to address the issue.

Freed hostage recounts torture of women in Gaza's terror tunnels - Washington Post

The Jerusalem Post  

"In an interview for international media, Agam Goldstein-Almog discussed Hamas's psychological torture, starvation, and her encounter with other female hostages in the tunnels beneath Gaza."  J Post

"Hostages had been drugged with Clonazepam upon release so they would look happy, an official from Israel’s Health Ministry told the Knesset. As the drugs wore off, nightmares, anxiety, and tantrums became the new normal." 

"As soon as Agam Goldstein-Almog (17) was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7 in Gaza, she was forced to put on a headscarf and a long dress, commanded to look at the ground, was forced to recite Islamic prayer, and her abductors gave her a name from the Quran, Salsabil, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

"In an interview with international media, Agam described the horror she experienced for nearly two months as a hostage inside Gaza while speaking from a kibbutz in central Israel that has largely become a temporary refuge for displaced Israeli civilians. 

"In the interview, Agam addressed the female hostages still in Gaza. She asked, “Have you eaten enough today? Are you together, or have they separated you? Has he harmed you again? Has he asked you, again, if you’re married, if he could set you up with someone from Gaza? Has he entered your shower again, stripped the pajamas that he gave you, touched the wound from the bullet that he shot, that really hurt you? But his control hurt more.” 

Agam was taken to the Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza, to apartments and a school that was also a rocket launching site. Her captors allowed her to shower five times in the 51 days she was in Gaza, the Washington Post reported. 

"At Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Goldstein-Almog’s father and older sister were shot dead by Hamas terrorists in their family home. She was taken in her “tiny shortie pajamas,” half sleeping in Gaza with her mother and her nine and 11-year-old brothers." . . . 

Hamas drugged hostages to look happy, Israeli officials say | National Post

Hamas Hostage Chen Goldstein-Almog on Her Time in Gaza: "Crying Was Forbidden" - DER SPIEGEL  . . ."I know that these girls experienced very serious sexual assaults. There was a young woman who was crying and one of the men took advantage of her weakness, he stroked her, touched her upper body. That is despicable and disgusting. Another guard held a gun to a woman's temple, kissed her and touched her all over her body. There are also other experiences that I can't recount because the women want to tell their families first." . . .

Houthis sentence 13 to public execution on homosexuality charges - report

 

Houthis sentence 13 to public execution on homosexual charges - report - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

MEMRI photo; ISIS

"A court of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen has sentenced 13 people to public execution on homosexuality charges, the French wire service AFP reported on Tuesday. Another 35 people have been detained for similar charges.

"The ruling was made in Ibb, a Houthi-controlled province from which the jihadist group has been launching attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, opening a war that reached its four-month mark this week. 

"The Houthis have a history of sentencing more people to death than they actually execute, according to a 2022 report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, which counted 350 death sentences by the group since 2014, only 11 of which have resulted in execution. But the group's attacks on global trade could change this calculus.

" 'The [Houthis] are ramping up their abuses at home while the world is busy watching their attacks in the Red Sea," said Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen researcher for Human Rights Watch.

"A UN Security Council report in 2023 relayed that "the Houthis are [reportedly] detaining children as young as 13 years old," some of whom "are accused of 'indecent acts' for their alleged homosexual orientation.'"