Biden Actions ... And Reactions

[GURPS]

Biden’s Ending of the Covid Emergency Is a Public Health Disaster​

But two recent decisions—by a Democratic Congress and the Biden White House—break with that template, because they represent harmful action rather than harmful inaction. The first decision came in December, with the passage of the omnibus spending bill. The second came just this week, when the Biden administration announced that it will soon be ending the Covid-related public health emergency declarations. Both choices by the Democrats will hurt millions of people.


Let’s start with the omnibus bill signed in December. Many people haven’t paid much attention to the provisions of this massive piece of legislation, but one in particular is a disaster in the making. In 2020, Democrats and Republicans—yes, in bipartisan fashion—allowed people on Medicaid to continuously stay on the rolls until the public health emergencies that had been declared at the beginning of the pandemic were lifted. This was a momentous decision and a wise one. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “Total Medicaid/CHIP enrollment grew to 90.9 million in September 2022, an increase of 19.8 million or more than 27.9 percent from enrollment in February 2020.” That represents close to a third of all Americans who were protected from losing their health insurance for the past three years.

However, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and President Biden decided to do the inexplicable just in time for the holidays: They put a measure into the bill to delink the continuous enrollment provision in Medicaid from the public health emergency and end it as of March 31, 2023. According to Kaiser, “between 5 million and 14 million people will lose Medicaid coverage once the continuous enrollment provision ends.” Some of these people may find a way to get other health insurance coverage, but we are likely to see many who are left high and dry in the months ahead, even as the pandemic marches on. It is incumbent on the White House to tell Americans how it will address this crisis in coverage before the clock runs out in two months.

 

[GURPS]

Biden slammed after announcing official end to COVID-19 emergency: 'Trying to avoid embarrassment'​

Republicans reacted to the news and argued that the emergency had already been over. The Senate passed bipartisan legislation to end the state of emergency in November.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, tweeted "Republicans already getting results. This week we are voting to end the COVID emergency. In response, Biden announces HE IS going to end the COVID-19 emergency declarations. Now that Biden is trying to avoid embarrassment, how will democrats vote? What about the vax mandates?"

 

[GURPS]

Joe 'Angry Eyes' Biden Rants About Unity, but It Devolves Into a Bout of Senility​

Joe Biden dawned his angry eyes on Friday, which have notably shrunk into a very concerning size over the years, to deliver a rant on how he’s been a uniting force around the world.

The president is never more cringe than when he does his fire and brimstone preacher impersonation, and it wasn’t long before the entire act devolved into a bout of senility. This happened in Pennsylvania during a joint appearance with Kamala Harris.

As an aside, why does Biden spend so much time in Pennsylvania? Whenever he wants to “connect with the people” and brag about his non-successes, he goes there as if no other states exist. But I digress, you can speculate on that. Here’s the president going full Mr. Potato Man with my commentary in parenthesis.

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

Biden's Story About the Spy Balloon Doesn't Add Up; Here's What Most Likely Happened​

But is this true? Did Biden really authorize the balloon to be shot down on Wednesday? I have my doubts. The Biden administration has long pointed to the size of the balloon’s payload and the potential debris field shooting it down over land might cause. But, when Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder was asked on Friday if there were plans to shoot it down once it was over water again, and he didn’t rule it out, but it sure sounded like no decision had been made at that point.

“And once it’s over a body of water, will you shoot it down?” a reporter asked.

“Again, right now, we’re monitoring the situation closely, reviewing options,” Ryder replied. “But beyond that, I’m not going to have any additional information.”

The other problem with this story is that we know the Pentagon had been monitoring the balloon since it left China, and it had previous opportunities to shoot it down while it was over U.S. territorial waters when it crossed over the Aleutian Islands. The Biden administration most certainly knew what it was and where it might go, and the opportunity to shoot it down safely over the water was not taken.

 

[GURPS]

Now the Biden Admin Claims Chinese Spy Balloons Were Discovered AFTER Trump Left Office​

Do you know how investigators can tell if someone is lying? The perp keeps changing his story.


On Saturday, a Biden administration official told several news outlets that Chinese spy balloons briefly traveled over the United States at least three times during the Trump administration. There was only one problem with that statement: it left out some essential information.

As PJ Media’s Matt Margolis carefully documents, just about every major defense and intelligence official from the former Trump administration denied that there were any such incursions by Chinese spy balloons.

So, once again, the Biden administration was forced to change its story. They are now claiming that U.S. intelligence knew of the spy balloons, but sort of forgot to tell anyone — including Donald Trump.

Fox News:

A defense official on Saturday said Chinese spy balloons briefly traveled over the United States at least three times during the Trump administration.
Trump and a number of his top national security and defense officials refuted the claim, telling Fox News Digital that it “never happened.”
But on Sunday, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that “U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration” assesses that “PRC (People’s Republic of China) government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”
The official told Fox News that “this information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left.”
“They went undetected,” the official told Fox News Digital.

 

[GURPS]

Biden’s Ballooning Foreign-Policy Blunders



This statement to the media contains some disturbing elements. First, Biden suggests that he was initially briefed on the balloon on Wednesday. The problem with this claim is that the incursion into U.S. air space began on Jan. 28, as reported in the Bloomberg article quoted above: “US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28.” This means either that Biden is guilty of another of his trademark whoppers or, even worse, that his military advisers hid it from him for several days. The latter explanation seems eminently plausible considering that “they decided” when to shoot it down.

Regardless of who made the call, the decision to allow the balloon to traverse the entire continent before destroying it was allegedly based on the desire to avoid collateral damage if debris happened to fall on a populated area. That claim, however, is simply not credible. During its first four days over the U.S., there were vast stretches of virtually uninhabited territory over which it could have been shot down with no serious possibility of collateral damage. It could also have been shot down over water even before it entered U.S. air space in Alaska. As former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army Gen. Jack Keane told Fox News:

Remember, this was approaching the United States over water. It was approaching the Aleutian Islands over water. And we had plenty of opportunity to take it down then. And that’s when it should have happened. We had to be tracking it from mainland China across the Pacific Ocean, and we had plenty of warning to put together an operation that we are conducting now on the East Coast that should have been done there.

 

[GURPS]

Biden Official Admits U.S. Previously Unaware of Chinese Spy Balloons that Flew During Trump Administration​

A Biden administration official confirmed that the United States was unaware of the Chinese spy balloons that flew over the United States during the Trump administration until after he left office.

The unnamed defense official confirmed to Fox News that Chinese spy balloons traveled over the United States at least three times during the previous administration, specifically in Florida and Texas. The former president and his top security and defense officials have refuted this claim, but the Biden official noted that the balloons remained undetected until after he had left office. Per the report:

“U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration” assesses that “PRC (People’s Republic of China) government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”
The official told Fox News that “this information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left.”
“They went undetected,” the official told Fox News Digital.

 

[herb749]

Biden Official Admits U.S. Previously Unaware of Chinese Spy Balloons that Flew During Trump Administration​

A Biden administration official confirmed that the United States was unaware of the Chinese spy balloons that flew over the United States during the Trump administration until after he left office.

The unnamed defense official confirmed to Fox News that Chinese spy balloons traveled over the United States at least three times during the previous administration, specifically in Florida and Texas. The former president and his top security and defense officials have refuted this claim, but the Biden official noted that the balloons remained undetected until after he had left office. Per the report:

This is becoming, look he had 3 & we have had only one bs. How does a balloon only show up crossing Texas & Florida but not other states to get there.

 

[Hijinx]

Biden made sure that more than half of his cabinet were women just so he could make this statement which he believes will help him in an election.

I have seen his Press secretary and judge the rest of the women in his cabinet by her, and it doesn't look good.

 

[Clem72]

Biden made sure that more than half of his cabinet were women just so he could make this statement which he believes will help him in an election.

I have seen his Press secretary and judge the rest of the women in his cabinet by her, and it doesn't look good.

Wouldn't be the first to do that. Hell, I remember a certain famous dog walker that had binders full of women.

 

[GURPS]

 

[Grumpy]

 

[herb749]

Now the Biden Admin Claims Chinese Spy Balloons Were Discovered AFTER Trump Left Office​

Do you know how investigators can tell if someone is lying? The perp keeps changing his story.


On Saturday, a Biden administration official told several news outlets that Chinese spy balloons briefly traveled over the United States at least three times during the Trump administration. There was only one problem with that statement: it left out some essential information.

As PJ Media’s Matt Margolis carefully documents, just about every major defense and intelligence official from the former Trump administration denied that there were any such incursions by Chinese spy balloons.

So, once again, the Biden administration was forced to change its story. They are now claiming that U.S. intelligence knew of the spy balloons, but sort of forgot to tell anyone — including Donald Trump.

Fox News:

How do balloons that size go undetected.

 

[Ken King]

How do balloons that size go undetected.

It would depend on the materials used for the balloon and payload. Balloons with little to no metallic material are usually only visually detectable.

 

[RoseRed]

It would depend on the materials used for the balloon and payload. Balloons with little to no metallic material are usually only visually detectable.

Maybe they should have painted it a light blue.

 

[Ken King]

Maybe they should have painted it a light blue.

Hmm, interesting, but isn't most paint from China (at least on the toys they sell) lead-based?

 

[RoseRed]

Hmm, interesting, but isn't most paint from China (at least on the toys they sell) lead-based?

I have no idea. I haven't bought a toy in years.

Oh wait! A lead balloon!

 

[GURPS]

ABC: Sure Biden Lied About the GOP ‘But He Did It With a Smile!’​

Chief anchor David Muir clutched his pearls over how Republicans dared to push back on the President’s lies. “Their behavior was on full display tonight,” he chided. “You heard Marjorie Taylor Greene yell ‘liar’ when it came to Medicare and Social Security, but then -- this was an interesting scene we watched unfold.”

“And that display, you saw Marjorie Taylor Greene at times, and it wasn't just her, it was a large group of Republicans acting, heckling the president of the United States during his State of the Union. Not what [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy wanted to see,” chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl gawked.


Addressing Biden’s comments which drew the furious rebuttal, Karl admitted Biden was lying to the American people but said it was okay because he was “jovial” in doing it:

And from Biden himself, we've seen a hard-edged Biden at times talking about MAGA Republicans and dangerous extremists, that language was gone from this speech. He did poke the Republicans, he made some, you know, some, I mean, stuff he said about Social Security was over the top. There's nobody seriously talking about sunsetting Social Security in the Republican Party, but he did it with a smile. It was a jovial Joe Biden.

“And he provoked that behavior from the Republicans, clearly making Kevin McCarthy uncomfortable,” Karl boasted.

Ignoring how Democrats routinely used former President Trump’s State of the Union addresses to protest, heckle, make statements, and tear up his speech, Karl suggested only Republicans acted that way at such events:

But I got to say, David, the shouting and the "liar" and the pointing, it just tells you how far we come. You remember in 2009, when Joe Wilson, a congressman from South Carolina, stood up at a joint session, Barack Obama speech and said, "You're a liar," and he got censured, there was a widespread outcry. And here, how many members of Congress doing much more than that?

 

[GURPS]

'The public's not going to pay attention to that': Biden downplays House GOP's probes into Hunter and says he believes the classified documents in his home were 'things from 1974' and 'stray papers' in post State of the Union sit-down​

• President Joe Biden downplayed the impact GOP investigations into son Hunter and brother James would have on his presidency
• 'The public's not going to pay attention to that. They want these guys to do something,' Biden said. 'It's not going to go very far'
• The president sat down for a wide-ranging post-State of the Union interview with PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff
• 'I haven't made my decision, that's my intention, but I have not made that decision firmly yet,' he said about running for reelection in 2024