In 2006, before she was a Fox TV star, Laura Ingraham wrote the book Shut Up and Sing, which took on loony leftist Hollywood performers who belabor us with their political views.  Her book reminded these know-nothings “we don’t care what you think, so just shut up and sing.”  While Laura’s book was refreshing, and entertaining, it hasn’t stopped mindless entertainers from inflicting their numb-scull beliefs on us.  It’s gotten even worse.  We’re not only treated to leftist delusions from the likes of Robert DeNiro and Bette Midler, but now have to endure civil rights and international trade lectures from athletes whose only qualification is the ability to stuff a ball in a hoop.  “You better listen to him, he was pre-med.”  Uh huh.  An even more troublesome development is the alarming degree to which aging 1960’s radicals and former civil-libertarians have abandoned their former principles in favor of support for government repression.  I’m old enough to remember the 1960’s.  The hippie ancestors of today’s Wokesters were told, “Turn on, tune in, and drop out.”  “Never trust anyone over age 30.”  They opposed  government regulations, and government generally.  Their motto was “Challenge Authority.”  The Wuhan virus changed all that.  Their transition from champions of personal freedom to boot-licking sycophants can be attributed to Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Anything Trump said had to be opposed.  Ergo, if Trump wants schools and businesses open, the Left wants them closed; Trump advocates therapeutics, so the Left must trash them.  Trump’s against masks, so masks are mandatory.  Which brings us to the ongoing Joe Rogan/Spotify/Neil Young, et al. dispute.  But first, a disclaimer.  I don’t listen to podcasts.  I’m neither a Joe Rogan supporter nor detractor, I’ve never heard the man.  In any event, Rogan has a podcast, for which Spotify reportedly has paid $100 million. (Why am I doing this.  What I really need is a podcast).  Rogan apparently interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, the vaccine scientist whose research led to the MRNA Wuhan virus vaccines.  Malone said official COVID figures are not to be trusted because hospitals get bonuses if patients have the virus, the government is ‘out of control’ and suppresses data.  While all these things are true, this led to calls for Spotify to implement a “misinformation policy.”  Let me translate.  In Woke-speak, “misinformation policy” means censorship of any opinion, even that of the scientist who invented the MRNA science that led to the Wuhan vaccines, if it conflicts with conventional opinion, or jeopardizes profits.  Enter Neil Young.  If you’re under 60, you may have said, “Who?”  Neil Young is a burned out Canadian rock singer, who once was a 1960’s activist.  Mr. Young has a perfectly Orwellian notion of the way to protect our freedoms, “To protect our freedoms, it seems we’re going to have to relinquish some of our freedoms for a short period of time.”  He didn’t say to whom or for how long.  Young also has been quoted as saying, “It’s better to burn out, than to fade away,” and “The thing about my music is, there really is no point.”  I’m going to give him that one.  Anyhow, Young issued an ultimatum to Spotify, “Either cancel the Joe Rogan podcast,” which is heard by tens of millions of listeners, “or remove my music from your platform.”  Balancing their $100 million against Neil Young, Spotify chose the money, and removed Neil Young.  The Left leapt to Neil Young’s defense.  The World Health Organization announced it supports Neil Young’s attempt to censor unapproved opinions.  The WHO is controlled by China, and China would like to suppress the fact that it poisoned the entire world, so that figures.  The media hailed Young as a hero for taking a stand.  The fact that he’s taking a stand against the dissemination of the truth was lost on these morons.  Other musicians followed Young, Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren for two. (I can almost hear the echos of “Who? and Who?”)  Here’s the rogue’s gallery –

Are you sensing a pattern here?  Yes, Virginia, all three are burned out refugees from Woodstock, with lots of mileage on them, all city driving.  Especially Neil Young, who by his own admission spent 40 years “smoking marijuana like others smoke cigarettes.”  The weed alone can fry your brain, but also can lead to strokes and aneurysms.  Young suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm in 2005.  The event helped him change his life.  Only seven years later he gave up pot and alcohol in order to recover sufficient memory to write an autobiography.  If this seems a bit cruel to Mr. Young, remember, we’re being asked to rely on his word that fellow brain aneurysm patient Joe Biden’s decisions should override the Constitution.  This is a tough call.  After all, if Neil Young, Joe Biden and the Chinese Communist Party are for it, it must be good for America.  It’s even rumored that Neil Diamond may demand Spotify remove his music too.  Let’s see, the First Amendment, or Sweet Caroline?  I think I’ll stick with the First Amendment.  The real tragedy is that the call for cancelling our Constitution isn’t limited to washed-up musicians who may be excused because they’ve smoked enough dope to turn their brains into guacamole.  Francis Collins, chief of the National Institutes of Health, says he wants to “track down” and deliver “justice” to those he thinks have distributed “disinformation” about COVID-19.  Shouldn’t we listen.  He is an “expert.”  Never forget an expert is a person who knows more and more about less and less, until ultimately, he knows everything about nothing.  Winston Churchill warned that “nothing would be more fatal” than putting experts in charge of government.  It once was the job of journalists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, by asking the questions and disseminating the information that the elites would rather suppress.  That’s what Joe Rogan is doing.  Sadly, the media has abandoned journalism for toadyism, and is willing to sacrifice your rights in the name of what they consider the public good, and all for one podcast they can’t control.  For its own good, the Left better hope its unsuccessful, lest “justice” be delivered to their interests.  Here a just a few Leftist podcasts it took me five minutes to find:  Know Your Enemy, “a leftist’s guide to the conservative movement”; Bad Faith, by Bernie Sanders’ press secretary; The Al Franken podcast, where Franken compares the U.S. to Nazi Germany; Coffee With Comrades, “current events, culture and action through a radical lens;” Good Morning Comrade, a Leftist/Socialist/Communist podcast that “shits on racists, misogynists, liberal wine moms, reactionaries, useless Democrats and other pillars of authoritarian western culture;” Doomed, “QAnon, white supremacists, Proud Boys, the alt-right…host Matt Binder guides you through all the conspiracy theories;” Sh*tty Christians, “a leftist comedy podcast about the people who exploit faith for profit and power.  Your sleeper cell in the Christian Right” (It’s comedy bashing Christians, so it’s alright.  How long would a podcast called Bat Sh*t Crazy Muslims last?  Now that’s funny).  I find all the foregoing podcasts to be repugnant, but I don’t want to cancel any of them, and therein lies the difference between conservatives and the Left.  Meantime, just ignore entertainers’ demands for tyranny.  They know not what they do.  Tell them, “shut up and sing.”  And to Neil Young, you burned out, now fade away.

The curious case of George Soros has been a puzzle to me for some time.  The 89 year old Soros was born György Schwartz, to a Hungarian Jewish family.   In 1947, Soros immigrated to the UK, where he studied at the London School of Economics.  Soros made his money in a variety of financial positions, including hedge fund manager and currency trader.  Soros is a multi-billionaire who funds organizations whose stated purposes are the destruction of the American government and society.  Why would someone who has so profited from capitalism seek its demise?  It’s complicated, and then again, maybe not so complicated.  At the end of the day, it all leads back to that progressive mental disorder, delusions of rectitude, and the curious progressive definition of “democracy.”  Soros has published a number of books detailing his political philosophy.  As a Guardian article has explained, his defining intellectual principle is internationalism.  Soros is a globalist who seeks to establish a world defined not by sovereign states, but by a global community.  He believes everyone shares an interest in “freedom, equality and prosperity.”  Unfortunately for the rest of us, however, Soros’s definition of “freedom” is a world where everyone is required to do as he commands.  Equality?  OK, I’ll give him that one, for if Soros gets his way everybody will be equally miserable.   And like other progressives, he confuses welfare with prosperity.  Soros envisions what he calls a “global open society,” and he believes that his highly regulated authoritarian dream society represents the only way to ensure that humanity can overcome the “existential challenges of climate change and nuclear proliferation.”  I might list them in opposite order, and of course, Soros doesn’t mention what he plans to do to stop Iranian and North Korean nuclear proliferation.  But no matter, Soros truly wants to transform national and international politics and society to fit his perverted notions of freedom, democracy and prosperity.  Although Soros took advantage of the Western capitalist system to amass his fortune (he once was known as the man who broke the Bank of England), he now believes that unregulated global capitalism undermines his open society plan. (He’s not giving his money back).  Soros complains that nationalist interests foster domestic and international inequality, because industries are free to move to lower tax nations and lenders are free to make what he considers unsound loans that threaten his Utopian views. The true enemy for Soros is nationalism.  In Soros’s opinion, the only way to save capitalism from itself is to establish a “global system of political decision-making.”  Think of George Soros as a billionaire version of John Lennon, “Imagine there’s no countries.  It isn’t hard to do.  Nothing to kill or die for.  And no religion too.”  No countries, just your benevolent global dictatorship.  Surprising no one, the U.S. is Soros’s main villain.  The U.S. has a nasty habit of acting in its own national interest.  It’s free to unilaterally impose economic sanctions when and where it sees fit.  It’s called sovereignty, and Soros wants to put an end to that.  Soros wants the U.S. to change its ways, for its own good, of course, with George Soros as the arbiter of what is “good.”  To this end, Soros has given more than $32 billion to a number of left-wing organizations.  Here are some of them and what they stand for.   The American Federation of Teachers (leftists love nothing more than early indoctrination);  pro-Palestinian groups like Al-Haq & Arab American Institute (necessarily anti-Israel);  Alliance for Justice supports leftist judges and attacks Republicans as extremists (Sound familiar?); American Friends Service Committee supports amnesty for illegal aliens, dissolution of American borders, and repeal the Patriot Act;  Aspen Institute accuses the U.S. of structural racism; Campaign for America’s Future wants tax hikes, socialized medicine, and a dramatic expansion of social welfare programs (It doesn’t matter what the majority wants – democracy, right?);  Campus Progress stifles any dissent from leftist opinion; Center for Constitutional Rights (Don’t you just love that name?) is pro-Castro organization for open borders that opposes post-9/11 anti-terrorism measures, and alleges that American injustice provokes acts of international terrorism (No mention of 1st, 2d, 4th, 5th, or 6th Amendment rights);  He funds a number of climate organizations that condemn, logging, mining and ranching; MADRE  paints the U.S. as the greatest violator of human rights (No mention of China); National Committee for Voting Integrity, (Get a load of this one) opposes proof of citizenship and photo identification requirements for voters in American elections as the means of assuring election integrity (Right out of Orwell, “War is peace.  Freedom is slavery”).  Other groups back forced redistribution of wealth, higher taxes and more welfare.  NPP wants the government to use military funding for public education, universal health insurance, environmentalist projects, and welfare.  Ploughshares Fund opposes America’s missile defense system, and opposes U.S. foreign policies and military ventures.  Media Matters for America systematically monitors  print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for “conservative misinformation” (No dissent allowed, you see).  Prison Moratorium Project works for the elimination of all prisons in the United States and the release of all inmates.  So to summarize, Soros wants no borders, no citizenship, no law enforcement (except his own), no free speech, no national defense, high taxes, income redistribution, and no prisons.  Let the criminals out, and then send them their checks.  I don’t agree with any of the things Soros supports.  That being said, he’s got a right to fund what he chooses to fund, up to a point.  George Soros is a U.S. citizen.  Progressives are in the process of trying to restrict the rights of certain U.S. citizens (Republicans) to speak, act, or run for office, and even to imprison those who oppose them, painting  as “insurrectionists” or “urban terrorists” anyone who so much as dares to suggest that our current Democrat leaders are corrupt or illegitimate.  For my money, based upon the foregoing description of Soros’s activities, if a Capitol building trespasser wearing a Viking helmet deserves 4 years in prison, then they ought to hang Soros, especially in light of his most recent activities.  Soros has been funding leftist prosecutors in a number of States.  Prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law.  Soros DAs have turned cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore into criminal hellholes.  Unconvinced that the U.S. will conform to his will naturally, Soros has decided to use the prosecutors t0 destroy the fabric of our society.  No laws, no borders, economic collapse, a breakdown of government control, and we are ripe for dictatorship, right out of the playbook of the Nazis Soros managed to evade in his youth.  Whether he wears a Brown Shirt or a Saville Row suit, a fascist is still a fascist.

You have to admit, Democrats do a great job when it comes to fixing problems that don’t exist.  End systemic racism.  There isn’t any.  Protect us from white supremecists.  Name two.  Here’s my favorite.  Save our democracy, by destroying our form of government.  We need to define some terms.  Democrats constantly rail about threats to “our democracy” although our form of government is not now, nor has it ever been a democracy.  As he exited the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, Benjamin Franklin famously was asked, “What type of government have you given us?”  He responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”  We’ve managed to keep it for 235 years, but Democrats have decided that’s enough.  In a republic, you elect representatives to represent each district or State.  They go to Washington as advocates for the voters who sent them there.  That’s the point.  They’re supposed to carry out the will of their electorate.  Democrats oppose this system, favoring instead a system in which every member of the majority Party must vote as its leaders decree.  That’s neither a republic nor a democracy.  In a democracy, you don’t need a Congress.  When an issue comes up, you have a plebescite, and the majority rules.  Democrats clearly don’t want that either.  Take voting rights for example.  So-called progressive Democrats complain that any State law requiring that voters produce identification before being permitted to vote, is un-American, racist, undemocratic, and a remnant of Jim Crow.  They say the federal government must take over State elections to “save our democracy,” you know, the one we haven’t got.  Here’s the problem.  81% of Americans favor a voter ID requirement, including 77% of black voters and 78% of hispanic voters.  So, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and AOC, tell me again about our democracy.  Clearly, the progressive nuts have confused democracy with tyranny.  And the sad part is, it’s not even a tyranny of the majority, because they haven’t got a majority in the Senate.  Democrats Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema refused to vote to end the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass bills, by which Democrats hope to accomplish their unconstitutional take over of State elections.  The Constitution explicitly prescribes that the State Legislatures shall control the “time, place, and manner” of choosing representatives and presidential electors.  This isn’t a gray area, subject to interpretation.  It’s crystal clear.  What Democrats are trying to do is blatantly unconstitutional.  They’re doing it anyway.  Enter, Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden, who traveled to Georgia last week to plug the voting bills in typical Democrat fashion – with lies, threats and insults.  A year after an election in which more Americans voted than ever before, Biden has decided the right to vote is at risk.  The following are quotes from Biden’s speech.  I will provide translations of his false, misleading gibberish. “Black Americans were denied full citizenship and voting rights until 1965.” (By Senate Democrats like me who blocked every civil rights bill for 90 years).   “The United States Supreme Court, in recent years, has weakened the Voting Rights Act.” (By ending election monitoring because the problem was solved).  “Voting by mail is a safe and convenient way to get more people to vote, so they’re making it harder for you to vote by mail. (Just like in NY).  “The Bible teaches us to feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, the new Georgia law actually makes it illegal to bring your neighbors, your fellow voters food or water while they wait in line to vote.” (If the Democrats who control the city voting sites did their jobs, there wouldn’t be lines so long that you need to bring rations, but they’re incompetent.  What law prohibits is candidates trading of food for votes.).  “19 states not proposed but enacted 34 laws attacking voting rights.”  (How? 19 States took their constitutional duty seriously and wanted to avoid a repeat of the 2020 abuses).  “Jim Crow 2.0 is about two insidious things: voter suppression and election subversion.” (Jim Crow laws were the works of Democrats.  See above.).  Then Joe Biden took a page from fellow autocrat Joe Stalin.  “It’s no longer about who gets to vote; it’s about making it harder to vote.  It’s about who gets to count the vote.  Count the vote.  Count the vote.” (Didn’t Joe Stalin say that?  Da.).  “Pass the Freedom to Vote Act.  Pass it now, which would prevent voter suppression so that here in Georgia there’s full access to voting by mail.” (The new Georgia law makes voting by mail easier than in Delaware or New Jersey).   “It would get dark money out of politics (Uh, except money from the unions and the social media billionaires), create fairer district maps and end partisan gerrymandering.” (We won’t allow any Republican involvement in drawing district lines).  “Sadly, the United States Senate, designed to be the world’s greatest deliberative body, has been rendered a shell of its former self. (We’re not getting our way).  “Let the majority prevail. (I agree.  Dems have only 48 votes. They lose).  “And if that bare minimum is blocked, we have no option but to change the Senate rules, including getting rid of the filibuster for this. (Uh, we’re still 2 votes short, even without a filibuster.  And of, course, if we lose the Senate next year, we need the filibuster.).  “The United States Senate should be able to protect voting rights by a simple majority.”  (Too bad we don’t have one.  And even with 100 votes, it’s still unconstitutional. And by the way, Dems used the filibuster over 300 times against Trump, and used it last week after 55 Senators voted to sanction Russia.  Let the majority rule, right? ).  Biden then argued that all elected officials should be Republicans.  “So, I ask every elected official in America: How do you want to be remembered?  Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or (Democrat) George Wallace?  Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or (Democrat) Bull Connor?  Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or (Democrat) Jefferson Davis?”  The message was, “Do what I say, or else you’re a racist Democrat.”  Many, including some Democrats thought Biden went a bit far with the insults.  Official Mumbler Mouthpiece Jen Psaki disagreed, saying President Biden “stands by everything he said.”  As this is written, the detestable Chuck Schumer is still trying to ram through the unconstitutional election takeover.  So far, he has failed, just as Biden has failed to address any of the very real problems we face.  As usual, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy said it best.  “The Biden administration has mismanaged COVID, it has mismanaged inflation, it has mismanaged the border, and it has mismanaged foreign policy – all in one year.  If aliens landed tomorrow and said, ‘take me to your leader,’ it would be embarrassing.”

All our lives we got up every day, went to work, and looked forward to the day when we would be able to travel the world, to see the places we’d been longing to visit.  The day would come when we wouldn’t have to worry about the kids or the bills, and we could just travel.  We had big plans.  We could spend time in Italy.  See parts of Europe we hadn’t been to.  Sail away to exotic locations like Australia and New Zealand.  I wanted to go to South America.  My wife wants to see Japan.  I don’t.  She even talked about an African safari.  The whole world awaited us.  And now that we’re at the point when we can make some of these trips, our world has become dramatically smaller.  The Wuhan virus plague has a lot to do with it.  We love to cruise.  The Wuhan hysteria first broke out on cruise ships, which coincidentally had visited ports in Asia.  Naturally, the fear-mongers found no fault with Asia.  They blamed the cruise ships.  The entire industry was shut down for more than a year.  When the ships came back in 2021, there was no problem, until the advent of Omicron.  Now we’re getting stories of hundreds of positive cases on ships.  People are reluctant to return to cruising.  I understand, but how about a dose of reality?  Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has been in the news.  Positive tests on the ships.  55 on Oasis of the Seas.  110 on Harmony of the Seas.  173 on Jewel of the Seas.  My God!  It’s another seagoing pandemic!  Except it’s not.  Everybody on these ships, passengers and crew, are tested before and during the cruise.  The worst numbers were on Jewel of the Seas.  173 positive tests represents a positivity rate of about 5%.  On the other ships, its between 1 and 2%.  Ships are dangerous?  Care to guess what the Covid positivity rate for testing on dry land was this week?  According to the CDC, 29% of those tested came back positive.  Sounds like cruising is safer than staying home.  No matter.  For the time being, cruising is out.  The Wuhan hysteria has also soured us on some of the places we wanted to visit.  We were planning to go to Australia and New Zealand.  Given recent events, I’m not sure I want to go anymore.  Our view of Australia may have been colored by Crocodile Dundee.  Australians were a hardy, boisterous, independent lot, dedicated to democracy and freedom.  That impression clearly was wrong.  As an isolated island continent, the Australian shut down of tourism in 2020 made sense.  But then, we began to hear alarming stories of repression.  Australians are confined to their homes, harassed for vaccination cards on the streets, and hunted by police if they dare venture outside without permission.  These fascist tactics worked, for a time.  As late as the end of May 2021, there were fewer than 100 Wuhan cases in all of Australia.  It took from February 2020 to late September 2021 (20 months) for Australia to reach 100,000 Wuhan cases.  A good argument for draconian restrictions?  Not so fast.  In the last 4 months, thanks to Omicron, the positive case count in Australia has reached 1.2 million.  Due to the less virulent Omicron, only 0.04% of those infected are in serious or critical condition.  By contrast, in the Obese States of America, the serious/critical count is 0.12%.  For the mathematically challenged, this means for every 1,000 people infected, 988 are not seriously ill.  So is the Australian fascism justified?  Not to me.  I won’t be going there any time soon.  How about Europe?  The travel restrictions change so often, it’s difficult to make plans.  Will they let you in?  Once in, can you come back?  Do you have to wear a useless mask?  Too much uncertainty.  But we can still travel inside the U.S., right?  Not really.  Our own country has gotten smaller.  The Blue States have Wuhan restrictions that rival those in Australia.  In New York City, while no identification is required to vote, you need 2 shots and a booster to eat at Taco Bell.  Go West?  Not that I want to go to Washington State, but try this on for size.  The Washington State Board of Health wants to enact a Wuhan protocol which would allow health officers to hold people or groups of people in isolation or quarantine.  The State could lock up citizens who fail to comply with COVID vaccination mandates.  The proposal only mentions “citizens.”  No mention of the unvaccinated illegal aliens Biden is letting in.  A local health officer could ask a court to authorize the isolation or quarantine of a citizen for up to thirty days at an “isolation facility.”  Washington is trying to recruit strike team consultants to provide “guest” transport to and from the “facilities.” “Guest” transport shouldn’t be a problem.  The Dept. of Corrections has nice “guest buses” with cages over the windows.  Disney might be enlisted to update the Washington State Anthem, “Be our guest, be our guest, don’t complain that you’re repressed …”   It’s reminiscent of the Soviet Union, which “hospitalized” misguided citizens who refused to comply.  So, Washington State is out.  The rest of the West Coast?  Oregon.  They’re crazy.  You can forget California, and not just because of the Wuhan.  There always have been safety concerns in big cities.  But now that George Soros has installed prosecutors who refuse to prosecute, and since criminals don’t go to jail, concern has become calamity.  Crime rates are soaring.  Add to this the public health crises created by armies of the homeless, who are free to shoot drugs and crap all over the streets, and California has become a “no fly” zone.  Where to go?  Chicago, Philadelphia?  They’ve become criminal hellholes.  Well, there was that safari idea.   I guess we won’t have to go to Africa to see predators in the wild.  Want to do some upscale shopping?  Keep an eye out for the smash and grab gangs.  Where are Peter, Paul and Mary now that we need them?  “If I had a hammer, I’d pick up some jewelry.”  The National Parks?  They’re under federal control, so no.  Let’s face it, it’s a small, small world.  Back to Disney again.

It’s a world of crime, and a world of tears
They have dashed our hopes and have stoked our fears
There’s so much we have lost, by the Chinese we’re bossed
It’s a small, small world

Clearly, the buzzards are circling over the White House, in anticipation of the political demise of Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden.  It’s not unexpected.  Biden’s approval ratings are in the tank, with approval hovering near 40%.  Worse yet, voters have come to recognize the obvious.  Joe Biden is mentally unfit to be president.  Overall, a majority of voters question our president’s mental fitness to serve.  This issue breaks down along Party lines, with most Republicans finding him unfit, and most Democrats pretending he’s competent.  The verdict among Independent voters is alarming, however, with Independents finding Biden to be mentally incompetent by a margin of 23%.  The Biden competency issue is nothing new.  President Trump warned us that Biden wasn’t up to the job.  The Democrats’ treatment of Biden during the campaign confirmed Trump’s assessment, as they hid Old Joe in his basement.  Once elected, the Democrat handlers have kept Biden on a short leash, doing no press conferences, and preventing Biden from taking any questions when he does appear in public.  A President seeking to avoid answering difficult questions is certainly nothing new.  President Reagan was a master at avoiding questions yelled at him by Sam Donaldson as he walked toward his helicopter.  Remember?  He’d put his hand to his ear, “Sorry, can’t hear you.”  Classic.  Biden is different.  He doesn’t just say, “I won’t be taking questions.”  More than once, he’s told reporters, “If I take questions, I’ll be in trouble.”  Which begs the question, “From who?”  And it’s not as though any of the lap dog media members will ask a hard question.  We know Biden can’t catch up to the fastball, but it’s obvious he can’t even hit the softballs served up by the media sycophants.  Biden is being handled. That wouldn’t be so bad if the handlers themselves were competent.  They’re not.  Biden may be mentally incompetent, but the puppeteers pulling his strings are politically incompetent.  Whoever is working the switches behind the curtain has bungled everything, and then left poor old Sleepy Joe out there to take the rap.  Our borders are porous, and they want to pay illegal aliens hundreds of thousands of dollars in reparations for illegally entering the country.  They threw away energy independence, gasoline is up 60%.  They closed the Keystone Pipeline, and now they may close a second major gas pipeline.  Inflation is out of control.  The retreat from Afghanistan was a debacle.  Republicans have long been calling for Biden’s impeachment or removal.  Ted Cruz wants to impeach Biden for border policy and Afghanistan failures.  Senator Lindsey Graham also supports impeachment.  Senator Rick Scott said, “After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office.”  Congressman Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician, has repeatedly suggested invoking the 25th Amendment.  Jackson tweeted, “Biden is very OBVIOUSLY mentally incapable of leading during a crisis.  Something MUST be done!” The 25th Amendment allows the vice president, a majority of the president’s Cabinet, and two-thirds Congress to vote to remove a president whom they determine to be “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”  Democrats tried to use it to remove President Trump.  Nancy Pelosi wanted Trump removed because she said the drugs he was given for the Wuhan virus left him in “an altered state.”  Since the 25th Amendment requires a majority of a president’s own cabinet to declare him unfit, it’s employment by political opponents is highly unlikely.  Joe Biden faces two problems, however.  First, Biden didn’t choose his cabinet, his handlers assembled the cabal of extremists, nuts, and incompetent progressive near-do-wells that more resembles the Star Wars bar scene than a presidential Cabinet.  They don’t answer to Joe, but to the handlers who sold Joe Biden to us as the moderate who’d return us return to normalcy.  Secondly, Joe really is mentally incompetent.  More than once, he’s come to the podium and asked, “Why am I here?”  Good question.  Cognitive tests of the elderly typically ask the subject, “What year is it?”  This week, without being asked, Joe Biden proved he doesn’t know.  January 4th, Joe said, “Schools can and should be open this winter; we have all the tools to keep kids safe.  There’s a lot of reason to be hopeful in 2020.”  The reactions from Republicans are not surprising.  The trouble for Biden is that the questions about his competence are now coming from Democrats as well.  Journalist Al Hunt of the CNN Capitol Gang now admits Biden’s time in the White House has been plagued by “stupid miscues” and “fumbled” opportunities, and notes that prominent Democrats now have a sense of unease regarding whether the president is competent enough to do the job.  The competence issue really flared with Afghanistan, and the failure to anticipate the speed with which the American-backed government and military collapsed.”  Glad you just noticed Al.  A group of 124 retired U.S. military admirals and generals signed a letter questioning President Biden’s fitness for office long before the debacle in Afghanistan.  Now, as the 2022 mid-term elections get closer, the drumbeat for Biden’s removal will only grow louder.  Democrats would be perfectly willing to continue to ignore Biden’s failures and mental deficits if they could get their way.  That’s the idea.  The progressive nuts propose their ruinous programs, and then they have Joe to take the blame.  But now Joe Manchin has killed Build Back Better, and indicated he won’t vote to end the filibuster.  The nuts aren’t getting what they want, and in November, they will have to face the voters.  The pressure on Democrats to remove Biden will only become greater.  Blame Biden for everything, and get rid of him.  I have a different take on this.  Mad Maxine Waters spent 4 years yelling, “Impeach 45!”  I say, “Don’t impeach 46.”  As bad as Biden has been, better the imbecile you know than President Cackling Kamala, and a new vice-president, if any.  I say, “if any” because –  back to that pesky 25th Amendment again – the appointment of a new vice-president requires the votes of a majority of the House and Senate.  The Senate is now 50-50.  In the event of a tie vote, with no vice-president to break the tie, what happens?  Nobody knows.  Without a VP, next in line is Nancy Pelosi.  So don’t impeach 46.  Keep Old Joe locked in the White House basement.  If nothing else we’ll save fuel and wear and tear on Air Force One.