“Don’t Underestimate Joe’s Ability…”

“…to [mess] things up.” That’s a characterization of Joe Biden attributed to ex-President Barack Obama (D) during Biden’s 2016 campaign for the Presidency.

Now comes the latest example of that…talent. Recall that now-Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden agreed to lift economic sanctions on Venezuela in return for Venezuelan capo di tutti i capi Nicolas Maduro’s promise to hold free and fair elections.

Following the request of preventative protection and in consequence, all the effects of the distinct phases of the electoral process conducted by the National Primary Commission are suspended[.]

Maduro won’t even allow the opposition party to pick its candidate for future defeat in a rigged general election. This should have been easily predicted, even by Biden and his “advisors.” Isaias Medina III, who resigned from a number of diplomatic posts he held in Venezuela’s name at the UN in protest of Maduro’s policies, had this on the matter:

Anticipating elections without a strong foundation of the rule of law is akin to expecting an apple tree to bear figs; a fundamental principle must be in place for the desired outcome to manifest[.]

But Biden says Maduro is an honorable man whose word is gold.

Who are Domestic Terrorists?

NSC spokesman John Kirby was asked at a recent press conference, point blank, by Fox News‘ Peter Doocy,

The people in this country making violent antisemitic threats. Are they domestic terrorists?

Kirby’s answer was stark:

I don’t know that we’re classifying people as domestic terrorists for that. I mean, that’s really a question better left to law enforcement. I’m not aware that there’s been such a characterization of that[.]

Apparently, such people aren’t even extremists. When Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that question at another presser, she answered,

I have been very, very clear.  We are calling out any form of hate, any form of hate. It is not acceptable. It should not be acceptable here. And we are going to continue to call that out[.]

But apparently such folks aren’t even extremists, just deserving of opprobrium for their rude talk.

Mothers zealously, loudly, objecting to school board policies while at school board meetings, though, are domestic terrorists, according to AG Merrick Garland.

Go figure.

Another Counterproductive Union

This one is ad hoc, but it’s no less destructive of consumer well-being. That’s especially ironic here, given who this group is: a collection of pharmacy employees at chains like CVS and Walgreens, and soon-to-be-defunct for a variety of other reasons, Rite Aid.

From Monday through Wednesday workers at Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid have pledged to call in sick[.]

A fake-sick move that they’re calling, in their manufactured angst, “pharmageddon.” Never mind that the employees’ lying about the reason for their absence should itself be a firing offense.

One pharmacist, who organized a prior, smaller walkout, and who now is cowering behind anonymity, exposed the cynicism of the current move:

Our stores are still thousands of prescriptions behind. Our patients are still going days, weeks, or even months without their needed medicine. And they’re pretending that there’s not a problem. Until they acknowledge that there’s an actual problem and work to address the actual problem…we have to keep pushing.

So: the way to solve the problem of patients going with their meds for extended periods of time—a supply chain problem as much as anything—is to deliberately deny patients access to their meds for extended periods of time by simply not showing up for work. And absenting themselves with their own false claims.

Poison Pill

The Republican-led House of Representatives is set to vote on a stand-alone aid bill for Israel Thursday or Friday (as I write on the preceding Wednesday), a bill whose spending is paid for by reallocating monies from elsewhere—here by reclaiming money allocated for an IRS expansion from the Progressive-Democratic Party-passed Inflation Reduction Act.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, NY) is crying foul over that. That pay-for provision constitutes

poison pills that increase the deficit and help wealthy tax cheats avoid paying their fair share.

Imagine that. The Progressive-Democratic Party—because Schumer, a senior leader of Party, is typical of Party members—thinks actually covering expenses rather than just spending away without regard for where the money will come from is a poison pill.

This is what the Progressive-Democratic Party and its Congressional and Presidential members and candidates stand for.

Tommy Tuberville is Right—and He’s Wrong

Senator Tommy Tuberville (R, AL) says that

the war in Ukraine is “costing American taxpayers an arm and a leg[]”

And

We have to get this conflict over with.

He’s right, so far. But then he said

Right now would be a great time to negotiate over in Ukraine and Moscow to get this thing stopped, because they pretty much have a stalemate as we speak[.]

This would be a terrible mistake. Aside from the fact that there’s no stalemate in Ukraine—they are making slow, grinding progress against the barbarian—now is a terrible time to negotiate. Forcing Ukraine to a negotiating table with the barbarian would be as big a betrayal, if not bigger, as was our betrayal of Ukraine regarding the Budapest Memorandum. It would reward the barbarian for his invasion by giving him a path to retain Ukrainian territory. On top of that, it would tell the barbarian in unequivocal terms that the rest of the prior Russian—Soviet—empire, Poland, the Baltic States, etc, are fair game for his conquering.

No. Contra Tuberville, the way to stop our own financial bleeding and to get this conflict over with, is for the Biden administration to stop its own timidity in the face of barbarian bluster and get Ukraine the arms, ammunition, and logistics support it needs, in the amounts it needs them, and at the pace it needs them so it can decisively defeat the barbarian and drive him back out of Ukraine. Out of all of Ukraine. As a side note, that complete expulsion is the clearly stated, by Ukraine, pre-negotiating position.