[guest post by JVW]

Here is the least surprising development in the post-election era:

President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, after the first son was convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year.

The announcement was made by the White House on Sunday night. The pardon applies to offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

The president went on to claim that his son was “treated differently” by prosecutors.

“Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form,” Biden added. “Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”

Democrats like Biden, of course, are famous for continually preaching that we need more laws which prevent reprobates from owning and using guns. But in the end, it’s never in doubt that Democrats have a predilection for refusing to actually hold miscreants like Hunter Biden accountable for their irresponsibility with firearms, no matter how much they demagogue the allegedly lax gun laws which they insist lead to an epidemic of shootings. But even beyond that problem, we’re still left with the empty promises of President Joe Biden that he would not extend preferential treatment to his crackhead n’er-do-well son, an obnoxious whelp who spent his entire life trading in on his father’s position for his own ill-gotten gains. We all knew from the onset that it was a lie — that no matter what happened on November 5 there would be a pardon for Biden fils, it was just a matter of whether it would come over the Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday break. Today, the demented President announced the decision that others had no doubt made on his behalf, and forever consigned himself to the pantheon of dishonorable frauds who have so cheapened the standards for our nation’s leaders.

Of course the Trump family is awful and crooked, that’s a given. But let’s never overlook the fact that Joe Biden leaves office as one of the singularly most wretchedly dishonest men to have ever profaned the office once held by George Washington. After the debacle of November 5 it was pretty clear that the Biden Administration would likely disgrace themselves on the way out the door, and apart from the usual petty score-settling we now see fully what corrupt and disgusting people have led us for the past 46 months. Good riddance to poor trash, as Johnny Rotten (who is now apparently a Trumper, God help us) would say.

– JVW

[guest post by Dana]

I’ve only got one item today because a crisp, golden autumn day hike is beckoning. Have at it:

pic.twitter.com/xAx6kCo6I8

— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 29, 2024

May your Thanksgiving weekend be peaceful.

—Dana

[guest post by JVW]

Nearly eight years ago I related how the outgoing Obama Administration was taking out its frustrations at their recent electoral defeat by backstabbing our only consistent ally in the entire forsaken Middle East:

One can make a honest argument that Israeli settlements on the West Bank are hindering any sort of peace process. I might not agree with that particular assessment, seeing as how it is hard to take the Palestinians seriously as a legitimate peace partner, but I grant that it is a legitimate argument. But to advance this proposition now, after the Administration’s cluelessness towards events in Egypt, wrong choices in Libya, and ugly dithering in Syria has made things in that region far worse than they should be — to pivot and blame Israel for ruining the peace process under those circumstances is a level of delusional make-believe that I wouldn’t have thought even these vacuous narcissists would stoop to. The foreign policy of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry has been relentlessly awful for eight years, and good riddance to that horrid crew.

Now, two administrations later, the outgoing Biden Administration has chosen to take out their frustrations at not being able to reconcile their growing anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, anti-Jew caucus with supporters of the only worthwhile democracy in the region surrounding the Holy Land. Noah Rothman at NRO provides the story:

When it was initially announced, the cease-fire with Hezbollah via the Lebanese government, to which Israel acquiesced on Tuesday, didn’t make much sense to me.

Why would Jerusalem agree to put a halt to the war it was prosecuting so expertly with only some of its objectives secured and in response to security guarantees that look a lot like the failed architecture of the past? Now we know. Israel wasn’t persuaded to take a risk on peace. The Jewish state was blackmailed into it.

In a press release, Senator Ted Cruz alleged that the Biden administration muscled Israel into a cease-fire by threatening not just to choke off the aid and materiel flowing into Israel. He threatened to join the cast of Middle Eastern jackals set on throwing the Israeli people into the sea.

“Obama-Biden officials pressured our Israeli allies into accepting the ceasefire by withholding weapons they needed to defend themselves and counter Hezbollah, and by threatening to facilitate a further, broader, binding international arms embargo through the United Nations,” he wrote.

The Netanyahu government has largely confirmed the broad outlines of Sen. Cruz’s allegations, and though the Biden Administration denies engaging in this power play even the center-left anti-Netanyahu Israeli newspaper Haaretz acknowledges that the slowdown in U.S. aid to Israel and no-to-subtle threats by Biden Administration officials to allow anti-Israel resolutions to pass at the U.N. without a U.S. veto — exactly what the Obama Administration did to Israel some 95 months ago — are forcing Israel’s hand.

Joe Biden has always imagined himself as a wise and insightful foreign policy thinker when the truth is that he’s a pompous blowhard idiot who does nothing more than repeat whatever passes for conventional Washington thinking at any given moment. Now even with his increasingly failing mind he has to understand at least at some level that his Presidency will likely be considered an abject failure in so many key areas, a tough pill to swallow for a man who was being told just four years ago that he could be a “transformative” President in the FDR or LBJ mode. President Biden and the people with whom he surrounds himself have always been vindictive and vengeful. Now it seems that just like his former boss, Joe Biden seeks to shred Benjamin Netanyahu’s reputation as well. Jonathan Tobin doesn’t believe this initiative will be successful:

For all of his faults and his stubborn refusal to cede power after so many years in office, as well as the fact that he bears some of the responsibility for the Oct. 7 catastrophe that happened on his watch, what Netanyahu has done in the year since then is truly remarkable.

Only someone with his steely determination and savvy understanding of the tricky dynamics of the U.S.-Israel relationship could have navigated the long months of war so skillfully. No possible successor in his own Likud Party or among his opponents in the Knesset could have stuck to his goals—and do so much harm to Hamas and Hezbollah in the face of the desire of his country’s sole superpower ally to force Jerusalem to accept the continued rule of Hamas in Gaza and avoid direct conflict with Iran’s Lebanese auxiliaries.

Whatever comes next—whether it is a renewed war with Hezbollah caused by their refusal to keep the ceasefire or to abide by its terms that demand they withdraw their terrorist cadres and weapons north of the Litani River, or the bloody continuation of the mopping up of what’s left of Hamas’s terrorists in Gaza—Netanyahu’s leadership has been indispensable.

He may ultimately be judged by Israel’s voters as being too tainted by his association with the worst day in their country’s history to serve another term. But his service as prime minister during the last terrible year of intense battle will still deserve to be remembered with honor. It was a period during which it was only his insistence on sticking to a goal of eliminating Hamas and dealing deadly blows to Hezbollah and Iran—while cabinet colleagues, political foes and military advisers were willing to give in to the Americans and accept far more disastrous deals—that prevented a diplomatic and military defeat for Israel.

If, miraculously, Hamas and Hezbollah (i.e. Iran) both determine that their future is best served living in peace side-by-side with a Jewish state in the Levant then perhaps history will indeed see the Biden Administration has having been perspicacious and wise. Or perhaps history will conclude that even in their moral cowardice they lucked into a positive result. But reality suggests that it will not be long before Hezbollah and Iran resume their hostilities toward Israel, and the IDF will find itself back on the battlefield facing a rested and rearmed opponent. If that day should come, hopefully the United States will be led by a team who recognizes the threat that a collective of bad actors (including China and Russia) poses to the one functional political culture in the Middle East. For now, though, we can only hope that this questionable peace agreement somehow lasts.

Here’s wishing all Patterico’s Pontifications readers a truly happy Thanksgiving holiday.

– JVW

[guest post by Dana]

Apparently the President-elect intends to go through with his plans unless someone with influence can make him see the error of his ways:

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that one of the first executive orders he will sign when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, will be to charge Mexico and Canada with a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States.

“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price.” Trump posted.

. . .

In another post, Trump said that he will be charging China with an additional 10% tariff on top of any additional tariffs on products coming into the U.S., arguing the country wasn’t doing enough to stop the flow of illicit drugs.

“Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump claimed.

As of this writing, the stock market is not yet open. However, Americans will likely end up paying more for consumer goods (groceries), as well as automobiles and electronics, etc.

Remember, this is nothing new. Back in 2020, the news wasn’t good:

Already, Trump’s tariffs have been a net drag on the economy and have failed to achieve his stated goal of boosting domestic manufacturing, according to a new study by two Federal Reserve Board economists, Aaron Flaaen and Justin Pierce.

Any jobs saved or created in U.S. industries protected by tariffs are more than offset by jobs lost in companies that suffer higher input costs or lose export sales because of retaliatory tariffs, the study, which was released last month, concluded.

“The tariffs have not boosted manufacturing employment or output, even as they increased producer prices,” the study found.

As expected, China, Mexico, and Canada have not taken the news well.

Anyway, some food for thought:

"In 2022, Mexico and Canada supplied 51 percent and 2 percent, respectively, of U.S. fresh fruit imports, and 69 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of U.S. fresh vegetable imports" https://t.co/2YPxAv7egK pic.twitter.com/N1107Q5iKD

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) November 26, 2024

Enjoy your fruit & vegetable tax, everyone. https://t.co/5UP9CNeSMG pic.twitter.com/hU2P6k0rVl

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) November 25, 2024

So why would Trump want to sink the economy and have American consumers pay, oh, I don’t know, $10(!!) for an avocado???? Our starting point is: somehow this will make him look good, because we know every decision he makes is ultimately about making himself look good. . .

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

Going back to the Fox News well again?:

President-elect Donald Trump is eyeing another former Fox News host for a key role in his second administration, CNN reported — Dan Bongino to head the U.S. Secret Service.

Bongino was a police officer with the New York Police Department before serving as a Secret Service agent from 1999 until 2011. He first emerged on the political scene as a Republican candidate for Senate in Maryland in 2012. After losing that race, he ran for a Maryland congressional seat in 2014, lost, moved to Florida in 2015, and then ran for a southwest Florida congressional district in 2016. . .

Second news item

International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu:

The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

The White House mocked the ICC and by pointing out the absurdity of the warrant for Netanyahu:

The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.

Moreover:

This disgraceful ICC decision is the last nail in the coffin of the international order based on Yalta-Potsdam arrangements. Politicizing & criminalizing self-defense against terrorism also discredits previous judgments against real war criminals like Putin.

Third news item

Putin’s warning to the West:

The Kremlin said Friday that its attack using a new ballistic missile was a warning to Ukraine’s “reckless” Western allies, the culmination of a week of escalating threats from President Vladimir Putin.

But despite Moscow’s deployment of the new weapon, which carried multiple warheads, the United States and its European partners have vowed not to be deterred in their support for Kyiv.

. . .

Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Friday that the message sent by this should be clear.

“Reckless actions by the West, which supply missiles to Ukraine and later take part in strikes against Russia, can’t be left without a Russian response,” Peskov told a daily news briefing. “Russia has shown its capabilities and the nature of our future possible responses is also rather clear.”

Zelensky responds:

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia test-fired a new type of hypersonic intermediate-range missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

“This is an obvious and serious increase in the scale and brutality of this war,” Zelensky said in a statement published on Telegram.

. . .

Zelensky said it was “final proof that Russia definitely does not want peace.”

He also criticised the global response and warned other countries they could also become targets for Putin.

“The world must react. Right now there is no strong reaction from the world,” Zelensky said.

“You have to react. We must squeeze. It is necessary to urge Russia to a true peace, which is possible only through force. Otherwise, there will be relentless Russian strikes, threats and destabilisation, and not only against Ukraine,” he said.

The Western media intoning that Russia launched missile strikes into Ukraine “in response to” Ukraine striking targets in Russia seems to have forgotten that Russia has been launching missiles against Ukraine for 1.000 days of war. Pathetic weasels.

— Branislav Slantchev (@slantchev) November 21, 2024

Fourth news item

Plans for the near future:

Tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy outlined a plan Wednesday for President-elect Donald Trump to oversee a massive reduction in the federal workforce, arguing the employees won’t be needed after Trump eliminates “thousands of regulations” in his next administration.

Musk and Ramaswamy, who Trump last week named co-heads of a new Department of Government Efficiency, singled out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed federal employees “who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.”

The duo pointed to recent Supreme Court decisions to argue the incoming president has the executive power to nullify many regulations unilaterally without Congress, pursue “large-scale firings” of federal workers and relocate some agencies outside of Washington. They said “a drastic reduction in federal regulations” would require vastly fewer federal employees.

Have a good weekend.

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

It was just announced that Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, stepped down from the running:

Matt Gaetz withdraws his bid for attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Trump’s choice had been hindered by sexual misconduct allegations and a House Ethics Committee investigation.

I have two questions: Why does it matter if a man accused of sexual assault multiple times over, is our attorney general? After all, he’s no different than our President-elect. More than half of the voters clearly have no problem with that sort of “character flaw”. The report says that Republicans were uncomfortable with Gaetz as attorney general. Why? They’ve already evidenced that a functioning moral compass, and respect for the rule of law and the US Constitution, doesn’t matter to them. If Republicans find that Donald Trump is more than acceptable as our President, then why not Matt Gaetz as attorney general?

If you counter this argument of GOP hypocrisy with, “Yes, but the fact that he has stepped down because Republicans were not comfortable with him demonstrates a functioning, moral compass,” I would say to you: As long as Donald Trump is in office, that argument rings hollow.

Then, my second question is: With whom will Trump replace Gaetz?

Trump’s statement on Matt Gaetz’s decision:

I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!

—Dana

[guest post by JVW]

ITEM 1
The Biden Administration seeks to spend all appropriated funds before the Trump Administration can claw them back:

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is on an urgent mission: get as much high-tech spending out the door before Donald Trump takes office.

The Biden administration is aiming to commit nearly every unspent dollar in its $50 billion microchip-subsidy program before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January, an effort that would effectively cement a massive industrial legacy before the GOP can reverse course.

[. . .]

The effort to spend her department’s full CHIPS Act budget would put a capstone on a signature Biden economic policy.

It also speaks to the urgency facing a host of Biden’s historic raft of spending programs, many of which could be vulnerable to a Republican White House and Congress eager to pare back the most ambitious Democratic spending packages.

The Chips money alone is a massive undertaking. Congress allocated $50 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and R&D. So far only two companies have received binding awards from the Department of Commerce’s manufacturing program. To hit her target, Raimondo still needs to nail down contracts with Intel, Micron, Samsung and SK hynix — multi-billion-dollar deals that have, at times, been rocky and required renegotiations.

What a great idea: go on a mad dash to spend tens of billions of dollars over the next sixty days. What could possibly go wrong?

ITEM 2
Rank partisan Chuck Schumer now wants to reinvent himself as an advocate of bipartisanship:

When the Democratic convention took place in August, with new nominee Kamala Harris rising in the polls, Democrats were giddy with a sense of impending victory. In Chicago for the convention, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) visited with party officials and reporters to outline his plans for a glorious new age in Washington with Democrats in control of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives.

Schumer’s top priority in the new Harris administration would have been to eliminate the legislative filibuster that has long protected minority rights in the Senate. That way, even if the Senate were tied between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, those 50 Democrats, with the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Tim Walz, could enact far-reaching legislation without any input at all from Republicans. Washington would have true one-party rule, and the minority party would have no say in things whatsoever.

The story relates how in 2022 Senate Democrats tried to kill the filibuster, but the principled votes of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin prevented them from doing so. With Ruben Gallego expected to replace Sen. Sinema, the Majority Leader had hoped that Democrats would lose nothing more than the Manchin seat in West Virginia, ending up with 50 seats and Vice-President Walz as the tie-breaking vote. But of course the Dem losses in Ohio, Montana, and Pennsylvania (the latter subject to defending against Democrat vote fraud) have scotched that strategy, and now the incoming Minority Leader wants to make nice:

So this week, Schumer went to the well of the Senate and addressed some remarks to his Republican colleagues. “Another closely contested election now comes to an end,” he said. “To my Republican colleagues, I offer a word of caution in good faith: Take care not to misread the will of the people, and do not abandon the need for bipartisanship. After winning an election, the temptation may be to go to the extreme. We’ve seen that happen over the decades, and it has consistently backfired on the party in power. So, instead of going to the extremes, I remind my colleagues that this body is most effective when it’s bipartisan. If we want the next four years in the Senate to be as productive as the last four, the only way that will happen is through bipartisan cooperation.”

The short version of that is: Please don’t do to us what we were going to do to you.

It is probably a helpful trait for Senator Chuck Schumer to be so blissfully free of principles. Fortunately for him, in this one aspect of politics the GOP has held fast to tradition. In the immediate aftermath of the election, outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced that his party would not eliminate the filibuster. It is clear of course that eventually a Democrat Senate majority might end the practice, but I can appreciate that our country’s ostensibly conservative party refuses to engage in this naked power play and I salute them for this.

– JVW

[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

President-elect Donald Trump makes a joke floats a trial ballon:

President-elect Trump floated the prospect of seeking a third term in an apparent joke to House Republicans on Wednesday as they met ahead of internal leadership elections.

“I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you do something,” Trump said, according to pool reports and audio shared with The Hill. “Unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we have to just figure it out.’”

Raise your hand if you think he’s just joking.

Obviously the Constitution prohibits anyone being elected to the office of the President more than twice, yet Trump is not known for his respect or adherence to the Constitution. When he has his hands on the levers of power and Republicans control the House and Senate, I’m just saying, it would be foolish to assume this is only a joke.

Second news item

Ed Whelan’s warning about Trump and recess appointments:

President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to turn the Constitution’s appointment process for Cabinet officers on its head. If what I’m hearing through the conservative legal grapevine is correct, he might resort to a cockamamie scheme that would require House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to play a critical role. Johnson can and should immediately put an end to this scheme.

. . .

It appears that the Trump team is working on a scheme to allow Trump to recess-appoint his Cabinet officers. This scheme would exploit an obscure and never-before-used provision of the Constitution (part of Article II, Section 3) stating that “in Case of Disagreement” between the houses of Congress, “with Respect to the Time of Adjournment,” the president “may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.”

Third news item

Republican members want to see the details of the the House Ethics investigation into Matt Gaetz:

Republican senators are preparing for a robust vetting of Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, with a keen interest in details from a House Ethics Committee investigation into the former congressman from Florida.

The ethics panel has been investigating Gaetz off and on since 2021, most recently focusing on alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, obstruction and other allegations. But the results of that probe may not become public because Gaetz resigned from the House at noon on Thursday. The Ethics Committee has jurisdiction only over sitting House members.

. . .

Many Republican senators, including members of the GOP-led Judiciary Committee that will oversee Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general, said they’ll want to see the details of the House Ethics investigation into Gaetz.

There’s a lot of talk from Republicans that Gaetz is not a good candidate for attorney general, but I’m laying down a marker here: Gaetz will still be approved because Republicans are not willing to go against Trump. My goodness, they were afraid to go against him when he wasn’t in office, how much less willing will they be now that he is in power. As reported this morning, and for example:

“It’s a given Trump’s going to beat us into submission,” said one House Republican.

.
.
.

The soon-to-be president, who vowed to shake up Washington, this week tapped several highly unconventional candidates for his Cabinet, pressured Senate leadership candidates to back his plans for recess appointments, and is pushing lawmakers to back policy positions that violate traditional Republican orthodoxy, such as tariffs.

Early signs point to a House and Senate largely unwilling to buck his will, at least publicly.

And yet behind closed doors:

One person familiar with the conversations among Republican senators said “significantly more than four” of them are opposed, which would be enough to tank Gaetz’s chances. “People are pissed,” the person said.

Other estimates ranged from more than a dozen Republican “no” votes to more than 30. “It won’t even be close,” another person said.

P.S. Also announced this morning:

The House Ethics Committee won’t be meeting after all on Friday as pressure builds to release the findings of its report on Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Anticipation was high for the closed-door meeting after Donald Trump announced he was picking the Florida member of Congress to be attorney general. . .

No reason was given for the “abrupt” cancellation.

Ah, okay, here we go:

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that he does not think a House Ethics Committee report on allegations related to Matt Gaetz should be released and is “going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report.”

Johnson called on the ethics panel to withhold the report shortly after returning from visiting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and said he plans to speak with the panel’s chairman, GOP Rep. Michael Guest. . .

“I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report because that is not the way we do things in the House, and I think that would be a terrible precedent to set,” Johnson told reporters on Friday.

Raise your hand if you are surprised.

Fourth news item

How is this *not* seriously problematic:

The Times—citing two unnamed Iranian officials—reported Musk met with the ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, for more than an hour at a secret location in New York on Monday.

The two Iranian officials said Musk and Iravani discussed how to defuse tensions between the U.S. and Iran and that the meeting was “positive” and “good news.”

Since Trump became the president-elect last week, Musk—who was one of Trump’s most prolific supporters, donating more than $118 million toward Trump election efforts after endorsing him in July—reportedly has taken on a significant role in Cabinet appointments and conversations with other world leaders.

A civilian meeting with a member of a terrorist state? What’s the problem, eh?

Have a good weekend.

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

The hits just keep coming:

I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 14, 2024

This is going to be a tough one for Republican pro-lifers who believed that they were voting for the pro-life candidate. Consider Kennedy’s latest comments on abortion:

*Do you support a federal ban on abortion?

No. “Mr. Kennedy supports a woman’s right to choose. He believes the issue of late-term abortions is being used to artificially divide the American public. Practically speaking, these are exceedingly rare, and almost always done in situations of medical emergency. While they are both tragic and disturbing, Mr. Kennedy believes it is not up to the government to intervene in these difficult medical and moral choices. That should be left up to the woman and her doctor,” Kennedy’s campaign said in an email. He backtracked on a statement made in August 2023 suggesting he supported a 15-week federal abortion ban.

*At what point in a pregnancy do you believe abortion should be banned? At all points? At 6 weeks gestation? 15 weeks? Some other time?

In August 2023, Kennedy suggested he would support a 15-week federal ban, saying, “I think the states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases.” He later disavowed that standard, with his campaign saying in an email: “Mr. Kennedy supports a woman’s right to choose.”

*Do you support exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape, incest, threat to the life of the mother and/or health of the mother? If not, do you support any exceptions?

Yes. Kennedy says on his campaign website, “abortion is a tragedy but I don’t trust the government to make these decisions for Americans. I’m for choice and medical freedom.” He supports codifying Roe v. Wade, which established a fundamental right to abortion.

*Should the FDA approval of mifepristone be revoked? How, if at all, would you seek to restrict abortion pills flowing into states where abortion is illegal?

No. Kennedy supports the FDA approval of abortion medication mifepristone, his campaign said in an email.

And more from Kennedy:

Kennedy’s baseless claims have included that Wi-Fi causes cancer and “leaky brain”; that school shootings are attributable to antidepressants; that chemicals in water can lead to children becoming transgender; and that AIDS may not be caused by HIV. He’s also long said that vaccines cause autism and fail to protect people from diseases.

No one should be surprised by Trump’s selection of individuals to head up various agencies. Given everything we have seen Trump say and do over the past 10 years, he is doing exactly what we should expect him to do. This is who is and always has been. If you’re shocked, then you haven’t been paying attention.

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

President-elect Trump named the former Democrat, Trump-loyalist and conspiracy kook for director of National Intelligence:

If confirmed for the role, Gabbard would oversee all 18 of the nation’s intelligence agencies.

In a statement Wednesday, Trump highlighted Gabbard’s background as a former Democrat, saying, “she has broad support” from both political parties. Her political turn means she’s not likely to gain support from Democrats.

“I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength,” he said.” “Tulsi will make us all proud!”

Let me remind you of Gabbard’s, uh, embrace of Syrian leader Bashar Assad after meeting with him and saying that she would meet with anyone necessary to achieve peace:

The former Hawaii congresswoman has taken stances that have been at odds with US foreign policy, including meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria in 2017, and saying in 2019 that he was “not an enemy of the United States.”

And more currently regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

There are 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which if breached would release & spread deadly pathogens to US/world. We must take action now to prevent disaster. US/Russia/Ukraine/NATO/UN/EU must implement a ceasefire now around these labs until they’re secured & pathogens destroyed pic.twitter.com/dhDTH5smIG

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 13, 2022

This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) February 24, 2022

Thus, I am in complete agreement with this House member:

As a former CIA case officer, I saw the men and women of the U.S. intelligence community put their lives on the line every day for this country — and I am appalled at the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to lead DNI.

Not only is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she traffics in conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators like Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin.

As a Member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am deeply concerned about what this nomination portends for our national security.

My Republican colleagues with a backbone should speak out.

Yeah, we’ve already seen previously, that aside from a handful of Republicans (who paid a hefty political price for speaking out), backbones remain in short supply with Congressional Republicans.

Hardest hit if Gabbard confirmed: Ukraine.

Praying for her confirmation: Putin.

—Dana