The dishonesty of the gun control mob

It’s so predictable, maybe we should start calling it “Gun Control Day.”

Like the movie “Groundhog Day,” it happens again and again after a mass shooting, like the one at a July Fourth parade near Chicago that killed seven people and wounded two dozen.

The professional anti-gun mob — i.e., liberal Democrats and the major media outlets — immediately spring into action and exploit the tragedy as much as they can.

As they did this past week, they automatically blame guns, renew their calls for stricter gun reforms or dream about completely outlawing the private ownership of guns.

It doesn’t matter if the mass shooter was crazy, a terrorist or just plain evil, the gun control nuts are as unrealistic and dishonest as they are predictable.

If we’d only outlaw handguns and “weapons of war” like the semi-automatic AR-15, they cry again and again, these bloody mass killings and street shootouts would virtually disappear.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

But in the real world, the one we 330 million Americans live in, there are nearly 400 million guns in the hands of private citizens.

Guns of all kinds are virtually in every corner of America, thank the Lord.

About 44 percent of U.S. households contain at least one, according to the 2021 National Firearms Survey.

About 32 percent of people older than 18 own a firearm — that’s 81 million people.

About 42 percent are female, 58 percent male. About 25 percent of Blacks, 28 percent of Latinos and 34 percent of whites own guns.

The average gun owner owns five firearms. Handguns are the most common type, but 30 percent of gun owners — 24.6 million individuals — have owned an AR-15 or similarly styled rifle that looks like an assault weapon.

About 20.7 million gun owners have a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public, and that number is growing, notably among Black women.

The gun-controllers like to mock conservatives who say guns don’t kill people, people do. But last time I checked, Glocks and AR-15s don’t pull their own triggers.

Fewer than .005 percent of America’s 400 million guns were used to commit a murder in 2021.

Only about half of the year’s 20,000 homicides involved handguns — and far more people were killed by knives, fists and rocks than rifles of all kinds.

We know who — not what — is responsible for most of America’s gun violence.

It’s not law-abiding gun owners. It’s criminals, gang members and other lawbreakers who laugh at the idea of abiding by any tougher gun law.

The liberal media are generally quiet about the gang-related gun violence that kills dozens of young black men each weekend in cities across the country.

They don’t give us Monday morning body counts from deadly places like Chicago — where 70-plus people were shot and killed during the July Fourth weekend.

In case you haven’t heard, over the holiday weekend, at least 220 Americans were shot to death and about 570 were wounded, according to the GunViolenceArchive.com, which documents each incident.

It’d be nice if the country’s top journalists would do their jobs and challenge the gun control mob when they say they want to rid America of guns.

“Whose guns will you take away exactly?” the media might ask. “Everyone’s?”

“And how do you plan to do it? Are you going to go to the south side of Chicago or South Central LA, knock on doors and take people’s guns away?”

“Who will actually take the guns? The National Guard? The Marines?”

“Realistically, how many of America’s 400 million guns do you think you’ll collect?”

It’s a certainty that a whole bunch of good Americans will refuse to cooperate with the totalitarian dream of the gun control mob, but my son Cameron has a deal he wants to make with them.

“As soon as they disarm the inner city neighborhoods of Chicago, St. Louis and East LA, the rest of us will all turn in our guns. Let us all know when you’re done with that.”

Biden Getting Lost and Confused Leaving Air Force One

It’s only a very short clip of Presidentish Joe Biden getting lost and confused after exiting Air Force One in Israel today, but it reveals so much.

The video hasn’t broken widely yet, so some might doubt its authenticity.

I did at first, too.

But Biden is clearly wearing the same suit and tie seen in “legit” news stories seen today, and the announcer to my ears sounds Israeli.

Also, I don’t see any of the weird motion artifacts you usually see in deep fake videos, like that doctored video supposedly showing Biden putting a Medal of Honor recipient’s medal on backward.

Here’s the clip; judge for yourself if it’s fake or he’s increasingly senile:

“What am I doing now?” Biden asks before being guided — first visually and then with a physical prompt — to his place on the red carpet.

“YOU. WALK. ON. THE. RED. CARPET.” I wanted to shout at my computer screen.

This guy holds the nuclear codes, or at least presumably does, and he has to be reminded to walk down the middle of the carpet laid down just for his arrival. It would be sad if it weren’t so frightening.

UPDATE: Yikes. It isn’t just real; it’s worse than we first thought.

It’s a testament to the human body’s autonomic systems that can sustain life even when the brain is nothing more than cottage cheese.

Biden Dismisses Record-High Inflation News As ‘Out-Of-Date.’

President Joe Biden responded to news of inflation reaching a fresh four-decade high by arguing that the report is outdated.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 9.1% between June 2021 and June 2022, according to a Wednesday morning report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, exceeding the Dow Jones estimate of 8.8%. While Biden acknowledged that the inflation reading was “unacceptably high,” he deflected by asserting that the data are “also out-of-date.”

“Energy alone comprised nearly half of the monthly increase in inflation. Today’s data does not reflect the full impact of nearly 30 days of decreases in gas prices,” he said in a statement, noting that gas prices have fallen by $0.40 since June. “Those savings are providing important breathing room for American families.”

Indeed, gas prices fell to $4.63 per gallon as of Wednesday, according to AAA. Yet national average gas prices in early June surpassed $5.00 per gallon — a reality reflected in the most recent inflation report. Gas prices were $2.38 per gallon ahead of Biden’s inauguration and $3.53 ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Biden added that “other commodities like wheat” fell sharply since the June report, which showed the price of cereals and bakery products rising 13.8%. However, high fuel and fertilizer prices are levying heavy cost pressures on farmers across the world.

However, Biden assured the nation that “tackling inflation” is his “top priority.”

“Inflation is our most pressing economic challenge,” he continued. “It is hitting almost every country in the world. It is little comfort to Americans to know that inflation is also high in Europe, and higher in many countries there than in America. But it is a reminder that all major economies are battling this COVID-related challenge, made worse by Putin’s unconscionable aggression.”

While responding to the May inflation report last month, Biden likewise characterized inflationary pressures as “Putin’s Price Hike.” Biden also claimed that inflation is “worse everywhere” than in the United States — even though the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, South Korea, and Japan are all seeing lower rates of inflation, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Among other actions, Biden committed to bringing down the price of gas by continuing his “historic release of oil from our strategic petroleum reserve.” Though the policy of releasing one million barrels of oil per day was touted by the White House as an “unprecedented” move to “provide a historic amount of supply” to Americans facing high prices, a report from Reuters showed that at least five million barrels of oil were exported to European and Asian nations during the month of June — including to a Chinese firm with links to Hunter Biden.

Referring to declining oil prices, Biden also asserted that “oil and gas companies must not use this moment as an excuse for profiting by not passing along savings at the pump.” He has also called on gas stations — which earn margins as low as 1.4% on their fuel — to bring down their prices.

Biden vowed to “urge Congress to act, this month, on legislation to reduce the cost of everyday expenses that are hitting American families,” including prescription drugs, utility bills, and health insurance premiums. Many Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow Biden to control prices, such as by declaring an “energy emergency” to stop fuel companies from selling at prices deemed “unconscionably excessive.”

Onondaga County DA on new concealed carry social media review law: “it’s unenforceable”

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick is calling a new law set to take effect September 1st “unenforceable.” Anyone who wants to apply for a license to carry a concealed weapon in New York State will have to hand over access to their social media accounts, starting September 1st. “I thought it was somebody pranking me, but sadly it’s true,” said Fitzpatrick. He says he and other leaders in law enforcement were not included in decisions about this law. His biggest worry is how to enforce it.

“You know how much money was allocated to the sheriff’s departments in the state of New York to enforce this, and the state police? Not a dime,” said Fitzpatrick.

John Jay College Associate Professor Adam Scott Wandt says he can see where state leaders are coming from in response to signs allegedly missed from mass shooting suspects on their social media accounts; despite this, the law might not be practical. “They’ll need money, they’ll need training, they’ll need ways of enforcing the new law, and that’s something that always should be taken into account by the legislature,” said Wandt.
They will also need people to do research on all the accounts that come in. Fitzpatrick says he will meet with police departments and the Sheriff’s office in the coming weeks to figure out what they can do, but it very well could be nothing. “People are being shot out there and I’m sitting here in an office reading about your trip to Disney World? It’s unbelievable the lack of thought and foresight,” said Fitzpatrick.

Professor Wandt says the weeks and months after the start date in September will be telling, and pushback could make way to the Supreme Court. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there will be challenges in the near future to this new law. Whether or not they’re successful, is a whole other story,” said Wandt.

A spokesperson for the Governor’s office got back to CNY Central Monday, with a statement saying “Governor Hochul signed landmark legislation to strengthen New York’s gun laws and bolster restrictions on concealed carry weapons. The comprehensive new law—drafted in close collaboration with the Legislature—is devised to align with the Supreme Court’s recent decision inNYSRPA v. Bruen and provides licensing officials with relevant information to complete thorough background checks for individuals seeking concealed carry permits.” Hochul’s Office also saying this is one various tools that are now in their toolbox to determine whether an applicant can obtain a gun permit.

Real-World Study Shows The Risk of Getting ‘Hangry’ Is Very Real.

The term ‘hangry’, a combination of hunger and anger, has been a part of the common lexicon for a while. Now there is some scientific basis behind the term, according to a new study involving 64 adult participants from Europe.

Over the course of 21 days, the volunteers were asked to record their emotions and hunger pangs five times a day via a smartphone app. What the researchers found was that hunger is associated with a higher level of anger and irritability, and fewer pleasurable feelings.

These links were significant even after differences in age, sex, body mass index, dietary behavior and personality traits were all factored in. In other words, how well fed we are seems to have a notable influence on our feelings of anger.

“Many of us are aware that being hungry can influence our emotions, but surprisingly little scientific research has focused on being ‘hangry’,” says social psychologist Viren Swami, from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.

“Ours is the first study to examine being ‘hangry’ outside of a lab. By following people in their day-to-day lives, we found that hunger was related to levels of anger, irritability, and pleasure.”

Across a total of 9,142 data points submitted by those taking part in the study, hunger was associated with 48 percent of the variance in anger, 56 percent of the variance in irritability, and 44 percent of the variance in pleasure.

The researchers also found that the negative emotions could be linked to eating patterns averaged out over several days, as well as individual day-to-day variations. ‘Hanger’ is something that can persist over time.

While the study relied on subjective reports given by the participants in regards to how hungry they felt at specific times, it’s still what the team calls a “robust” link between hunger and anger.

“The results provide a high degree of generalizability compared to laboratory studies, giving us a much more complete picture of how people experience the emotional outcomes of hunger in their everyday lives,” says psychologist Stefan Stieger, from the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences in Austria.

The same sort of ‘hangry’ behavior has been seen elsewhere in the animal kingdom too, and scientists are hard at work trying to understand the cues from biology, personality and our environment that might be behind the association.

Previous studies have suggested a lower blood glucose level might be something to do with our tendency to get ‘hangry’, but as yet there have been no definitive conclusions about why hunger leads to anger and irritability in this way.

Knowing more about how these feelings and emotions develop in relation to the contents of our stomach can ultimately help us manage them better, the team suggests – even if it’s just a case of recognizing what’s happening within our own bodies.

“Although our study doesn’t present ways to mitigate negative hunger-induced emotions, research suggests that being able to label an emotion can help people to regulate it, such as by recognising that we feel angry simply because we are hungry,” says Swami.

“Therefore, greater awareness of being ‘hangry’ could reduce the likelihood that hunger results in negative emotions and behaviors in individuals.”

The research has been published in PLOS One.

Japan’s Gun Restrictions Are Far From Sufficient To Explain Its Low Crime Rate
While gun control enthusiasts rushed to defend Japan’s firearm restrictions after Shinzo Abe’s assassination, copying that approach in the U.S. is legally, politically, and practically impossible.

The improvised weapon that an assassin used to murder former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last Friday suggests both the impact and the limitations of strict gun laws that make it nearly impossible to legally possess firearms. If it were easier to buy a gun in Japan, the killer presumably would not have resorted to a homemade, jerry-rigged device consisting of two metal tubes bound together with electrical tape. At the same time, the incident demonstrates that no amount of legislation can prevent someone from obtaining a firearm if he is determined to do so.

Abe’s killer constructed a double-barreled weapon that was about 16 inches long, capable of firing two rounds without reloading. The New York Times reports that “it is unknown what kind of ammunition was used.” But in a video of the assassination, “two shots can be heard, approximately two and a half seconds apart, with a deep report that suggests they came from a cartridge such as those fired by a shotgun commonly used by civilian hunters.” The Guardian reports that police found “several similar homemade weapons” in the killer’s home.

While they are less reliable and accurate than factory-produced firearms, such guns can be readily made with materials commonly available from hardware stores. A bigger investment is required for more satisfactory results. But even without prefabricated parts, Reason‘s J.D. Tuccille notes, a CNC mill like the Ghost Gunner 3 “can turn a raw block of metal into an AR-15 receiver.” People also can “use widely available designs to craft a firearm with 3D printers,” with results somewhere between the two other options.

“Japan has exceptionally strict regulations that prohibit the average citizen from obtaining a factory-manufactured firearm,” the Times notes. “Civilian ownership of firearms, except for those used for hunting purposes, is generally prohibited by the country’s Firearms and Swords Control Law.”

Times reporter Max Fisher suggests that the assassination, which might look like a failure of Japanese-style gun control, “is a reminder of, and maybe even underscores, those restrictions’ success.” He notes that the attack was shocking not just because of the high-profile target but also because gun violence is extremely rare in Japan, where civilians owned an estimated 377,000 registered and unregistered firearms in 2017, or about 1 per 300 people. The U.S. ratio at the time was estimated to be about 1.2 per resident, or 400 times as high. Taking into account gun sales since then, the current U.S. ratio is even higher.

That comparison reflects a stark difference in public policies, but it also reflects a stark difference in the facts that policy makers must contend with. Even leaving aside the constraints that the Second Amendment imposes on gun control in the United States, the fact that Americans already own more than 400 million firearms means that copying Japan’s approach is not a feasible option.

That reality also means that politically possible options—including widely popular proposals such as “red flag” laws, bans on particular kinds of guns or magazines, and expanded background checks for gun buyers—will have only a marginal impact on access to firearms in the United States. Furthermore, that impact will be felt most by peaceful, law-abiding Americans, since criminals are highly motivated to obtain weapons and have many extralegal ways to get them.

Keeping those points in mind, what does Japan’s experience tell us about the effectiveness of gun control? “The country experiences fewer than 10 gun deaths nationwide in most years, compared to tens of thousands in the United States,” Fisher writes. “Since 2017, Japan has recorded 14 gun-related deaths, in a country of 125 million people.”

Fisher overstates the annual number of firearm homicides in the United States, which in the decade from 2011 through 2020 averaged about 10,500. But he is certainly right that people kill each other with guns much more often in the United States than in Japan. And not just with guns.

In 2017, Japan had the world’s lowest homicide rate: 0.2 per 100,000 people, compared to 5.3 per 100,000 in the United States. Nearly 11,000 of the more than 15,000 murders recorded in the U.S. that year, or about 73 percent, involved firearms. Even if none of those gun murders had happened, in other words, the U.S. homicide rate still would have been more than seven times as high as Japan’s. And taking into account substitution of weapons, even the impossible feat of eliminating all civilian-held firearms would leave an even larger gap between the two counties.

The relative prevalence of guns clearly is not enough to explain the enormous difference in lethal crime between Japan and the United States. That much is also apparent from comparisons between Japan and other countries with strict gun laws. The homicide rates in Australia, Germany, and the U.K., for example, are several times as high as the homicide rate in Japan, although still a fraction of the U.S. rate. In Russia, which has gun laws substantially stricter than the ones Americans face, homicides are even more common than in the United States.

Japan’s gun restrictions do not explain why murders committed with alternative weapons, including knives and blunt objects as well as homemade firearms, are so unusual in that country. Japan’s remarkable peacefulness clearly goes far beyond the firearm regulations its legislators have decided to impose.

“Pressure to conform and internalized willingness to do so are much stronger in Japan than in America,” Independence Institute gun policy scholar David Kopel noted three decades ago. Kopel argued that “the spirit of conformity provides the best explanation for Japan’s low crime rate.”

Japan stands out in another way: Its suicide rate is relatively high. In 2019, the rate in Japan was 14.6 per 100,000 people, compared to 13.9 per 100,000 in the United States, 10.5 per 100,000 in Canada, 8.5 per 100,000 in the U.K., and 4.6 per 100,000 in Greece. When it comes to suicide, the scarcity of firearms in Japan does not seem to have had the effect you might expect.

In any case, the urge to defend Japan’s firearm restrictions after Abe’s assassination, while predictable in the context of the U.S. gun control debate, is beside the point when it comes to practical policy discussions. The same “spirit of conformity” that Kopel saw as important in explaining Japan’s low crime rate, he suggested, “also explains why the Japanese people accept strict gun control.” By contrast, he said, “a gun ban in America similar to that in Japan would be alien to our society, which for over 300 years has had the world’s strongest gun culture.” He argued that “Japan’s gun laws are part of an authoritarian philosophy of government that is fundamentally at odds with America’s traditions of liberty.”

Whether or not you buy that analysis, more than 400 million facts on the ground vastly complicate any practical lessons that American policy makers can draw from Japan. Neither those facts nor the constitutional constraints imposed by the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments can be wished away, no matter how much American gun control enthusiasts might like to pretend otherwise.

Father shoots 2 16-year-old suspects accused of trying to rob family in NW Harris County

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A father fended off a pair of suspected teenage robbers who tried to break into his family’s vehicle in northwest Harris County.

ABC13 spoke with the family, who didn’t want to go on camera, but said they are all doing OK.

Video from the scene shows a bullet hole in the side of the car after the father shot through the back window where his infants were still in their car seats.

The shooting unfolded around midnight in the 6800 block of Feather Creek Drive.

Investigators said the family had just pulled up to their home, with two infants in the backseat, when two 16-year-old suspects tried to rob them.

The suspects tried getting into the car from the back doors, deputies said.

That’s when the father shot at the suspects multiple times from inside the car and the wife drove away.

Deputies said the suspects were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds by two private vehicles.

Security video from a nearby home captured the incident. One teen suspect can be seen running away, while the other lies on the ground. Both eventually got picked up and were driven to the hospital.

“One of the parents inside the vehicle, as the suspects were attempting to enter, one of the parents fired off several rounds and shot both of the male suspects,” Sgt. J. Wheeler said. “They were transported to area hospitals.”

According to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, the teen suspects are both stable and in fair condition.

Investigators spent time looking for video and additional evidence.

The investigation is ongoing.

Offender shot while attempting to rob business in Rosemoor

CHICAGO (CBS) – A man is shot while trying to rob a business in Rosemoor Sunday afternoon.

The incident happened in the 10300 block of South Calumet around 12:01 p.m. Police said the offender tried to rob the business at gunpoint when someone inside the business shot him.

The offender fired shots back but did not strike anyone, police said.

The victim was transported to Christ Hospital in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the chin. Area Two Detectives are investigating.

Where does anyone read ‘Need’ anywhere in the 2nd amendment?

An Expert Answers Democrats’ Most Burning Question: Why Does Anyone Need an AR-15?

It’s a cry we hear time and again: Why does anyone need a black, spookily-shaped, mysterious “weapon of war” — which has never been used by the U.S. military?

Contrary to frequently wild framing, the AR-15 is simply the modern iteration of a basic rifle. Take Daniel Boone’s “Old Tick Licker,” fast-forward 270 years, and you get something lighter, more capacious, more accurate, and more easily accessorized.

But why should you — or Daniel’s great (times six) grandchildren — own one? Via a recent video, gun guru Colion Noir fights that burning question with a well’s worth of water.

In case you’re unfamiliar, the Houston-based activist and attorney has hosted NRATV and spoken at the National Rifle Association’s convention; his pro-2A YouTube channel boasts over two million subscribers, and he’s appeared as featured guest on The Joe Rogan Experience as well as Real Time with Bill Maher.

As for why anyone needs an AR, Colion offers a handful of reasons — one for each finger.

But first, he makes clear, “The Second Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights and not the Bill of Needs. … [T]here isn’t a ‘need’ requirement for which gun you can use under the Second Amendment.”

Now on to the list…

Continue reading “”

‘They would have to kill him’: Safford man fatally shot after breaking into neighbor’s home with a knife
The Safford Police Department said that Miguel Garcia entered his neighbor’s home after killing another victim in his own house.

SAFFORD, Ariz. — The Safford Police Department is investigating the events around a homicide and attempted double murder that ended with the killer dead in his would-be victims’ home, officials said.

Police responded to a burglary call near 1200 Central Avenue at 1:52 a.m., police said in a post on the department’s Facebook page.

The homeowners told officers that their neighbor, Miguel Garcia, had broken into their home armed with a knife, police reports said.

As the two homeowners fled into a bedroom, then later a bathroom, Garcia continued to approach saying that “they would have to kill him,” officers said.

One of the victims was able to retrieve a pistol and shot Garcia, killing him.

While trying to reach out to a next of kin to inform them of Garcia’s death, officers were unable to get a response and entered Garcia’s home. There, they found another victim dead in one of the home’s bedrooms.

Police did not share the victim’s identity or cause of death beyond being connected to Garcia.

Officials said that evidence suggests that Garcia acted alone. The investigation is ongoing and details are subject to change.

Neighbor fatally shoots 22-year-old accused of opening fire on mother in N. Harris Co.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Deputies said a good Samaritan saved a woman’s life when her son began shooting at her point-blank in north Harris County.

Investigators said they counted more than 20 bullet holes in one door at an apartment in the 300 block of Highland Cross. It’s unclear why the son allegedly targeted his own mother, officials said.

The 58-year-old woman was transported to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and underwent surgery. She is expected to survive.

The 22-year-old gunman was shot to death by someone investigators described as a good Samaritan.

Things reportedly took a bad turn during a Fourth of July barbecue overnight, where neighbors said the son was starting to act weird.

The mom and son went back to their apartment, and investigators believe the son injured his mom. She was reportedly bleeding from her face.

That’s when shots rang out at the apartment around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday. Harris County sheriff’s deputies said at least 20 bullets went flying into the door of a neighboring apartment.
Inside that apartment was a 16-year-old who was very close to getting hit, officials said. Thankfully, she was not injured.

Investigators believe the son was armed with an AK-47.

At some point, the mother managed to get out of the apartment. That’s when another neighbor saw what was happening and grabbed his gun to try and help her. Investigators said gunfire may have been exchanged between the son and the neighbor, but no one was hit.

The mother was trying to hide behind a tree, but the son found her and stood over her, firing several shots, deputies said. That’s when the neighbor shot and killed the son, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
“The way the suspect was just firing indiscriminately, just point-blank shot the mother apparently as he stood over her, was a dangerous individual that likely could have continued shooting. He was already shooting. He damaged not only his apartment, but the neighbors,” Gonzalez said. “The neighbors are shaken up because a 16-year-old daughter was sitting at the table where the shots rang out into the main living area. Another apartment was also shot up. Thankfully, that owner, we’re told, was away from the apartment at the time.”

Deputies applied two tourniquets to the mother before she was taken to the hospital.

Two firearms, a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle, were found on the ground next to the son, investigators said.

Gonzalez said this case will now be turned over to a grand jury who will ultimately decide if any charges will be filed against the neighbor.
(Texas state law requires all cases of homicide be presented to a Grand Jury)

 

The answer is that he’s too senile.

Biden Is Too Old to Be President Says — the New York Times?

When the New York Times begins to question your fitness for office, maybe retiring to your Rehoboth beach house doesn’t look like such a bad idea.

It’s extraordinary for a partisan news outlet like the New York Times to publish an in-depth look at such an “uncomfortable” issue as the president’s age. But the 2,500-word article makes a case that Republicans could never make without being accused of partisanship.

Joe Biden is too old to be president. The Times doesn’t come out and say it, but they quote plenty of other people — close aides, friends, and Democrats — who admit that Biden is showing his age and that it might not be such a great idea for him to run for president in 2024.

Mr. Biden’s public appearances have fueled that perception. His speeches can be flat and listless. He sometimes loses his train of thought, has trouble summoning names or appears momentarily confused. More than once, he has promoted Vice President Kamala Harris, calling her “President Harris.” Mr. Biden, who overcame a childhood stutter, stumbles over words like “kleptocracy.” He has said Iranian when he meant Ukrainian and several times called Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, “John,” confusing him with the late Republican senator of that name from Virginia.

It’s not a state secret. Biden’s difficulties with age are well known to foreign leaders, who tried their best to cover for him last month during his trip to Europe.

During his European trip last month, foreign leaders followed his lead while protectively treating him like a distinguished elderly relative. At a photo opportunity, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany gently pointed Mr. Biden in the direction of the cameras. Just before a meeting, a reporter twice shouted a question about getting grain out of Ukraine. When Mr. Biden could not hear the question, Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, rescued him. “We’re working on it,” Mr. Johnson responded.

Those aides closest to Biden try their best to hide his infirmities, but it’s a nerve-wracking job to prevent the president from embarrassing himself.

But they acknowledged Mr. Biden looks older than just a few years ago, a political liability that cannot be solved by traditional White House stratagems like staff shake-ups or new communications plans. His energy level, while impressive for a man of his age, is not what it was, and some aides quietly watch out for him. He often shuffles when he walks, and aides worry he will trip on a wire. He stumbles over words during public events, and they hold their breath to see if he makes it to the end without a gaffe.

“I do feel it’s inappropriate to seek that office after you’re 80 or in your 80s,” said David Gergen, a top adviser to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. “I have just turned 80 and I have found over the last two or three years I think it would have been unwise for me to try to run any organization. You’re not quite as sharp as you once were.”

Experts on age say there’s no evidence Biden is incapacitated, but even partisan “experts” question whether he should run again. Jay Olshansky, a longevity specialist at the University of Illinois Chicago, told the Times that “there’s no evidence that the age of Biden should matter one ounce” in your vote for president. But what if he wins re-election?

Still, Professor Olshansky said it was legitimate to wonder if that would remain so at 86. “That’s the right question to be asking,” he said. “You can’t sugarcoat aging. Things go wrong as we get older and the risks rise the older we get.”

OK, professor. It won’t matter “one ounce” that Biden is going to be 86 after his second term. We’ll just cross our fingers and hope that things won’t go wrong in his second term.

Biden’s approval rating has dropped off the edge of the earth. It’s down to 30%, according to the Civiqs tracking poll. Biden is deep underwater with voters in every age bracket, every educational level, and both genders. Biden’s age may be of secondary concern to Democratic Party primary voters given Biden’s hugely unpopular stewardship of the nation.

Of course, Biden’s age is a legitimate issue — now that Democrats are making it one. It may be a little premature, but it’s a pretty safe bet that Biden is not going to run for re-election. The question now becomes one of timing. Biden may wait until after the midterms. He may even want to give Kamala Harris a leg up and resign from the presidency “for health reasons.” Giving Harris the “incumbent” tag may help her in the primaries, but she’d still be toast in the general election.

The Democrat’s gamble of presenting Biden as a “sane” alternative to Donald Trump has failed. And there’s no one on the horizon for Democrats who have the heft or stature to fill the leadership void.

The story was a lie. Ginned up by one person for political effect.

WASHINGTON POST LATE TO THE PARTY ON FACT-CHECKING POORLY SOURCED ’10-YEAR-OLD RAPE VICTIM’ ABORTION TALE, But Proves Us Right.

The Washington Post’s fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, finally tried to fact-check the highly suspicious tale of the 10-year-old reported to have had to travel to Indiana for an abortion due to abortion restrictions in Ohio. The story first appeared in the Indianapolis Star and quickly went viral. Why did he wait so long? I had the story on July 5 in a tweet showing my research into the story that relied on one highly biased source named Dr. Caitlin Bernard.

 

Today is July 9, and the WaPo finally decided to weigh in.

“Patients head to Indiana for abortion services as other states restrict care,” the article was headlined. That was a benign headline. But it was the anecdotal beginning that caught the attention of other news organizations.

Kessler didn’t bother to name those “other news organizations,” which were literally me, myself, and I. After my tweet showing my research into this story that didn’t add up went viral, the only news about it linked to my research. Kessler didn’t bother to give me any credit for that. It probably hurt too much to admit that a conservative news outlet and an independent journalist smoked the Washington Post.

On the same day as my research into what I believe is a political hit job, the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin (who, unbelievably, used to work here) wrote a hysterical opinion piece on the “forced births” that furthered its spread. Kessler didn’t bother to fact-check the story at that time. He let Rubin’s piece run without question as she relied on the thin tale to spread her pro-abortion propaganda.

Two Republican governors, Kristi L. Noem of South Dakota and Tate Reeves of Mississippi, were asked on Sunday news talk shows about the case of a 10-year-old girl impregnated by her rapist. Are they really insisting that, regardless of the physical harm that giving birth could cause someone so young, the child be further tormented and forced to have the baby? Yes…The monstrous cruelty of such bills shows how little many conservatives care about the well-being of women and girls who have already experienced the unbelievable trauma of sexual violence.

It took four more days, my viral tweet, Joe Biden weighing in, and a RealClearPolitics reporter asking the White House press secretary about it for Kessler to get interested in fact-checking this story. He didn’t do a terrible job. With the headline that says “A one-source story about a 10-year-old and an abortion goes viral,” Kessler threw cold water on Dr. Bernard’s claims.

The only source cited for the anecdote was Bernard. She’s on the record, but there is no indication that the newspaper made other attempts to confirm her account. The story’s lead reporter, Shari Rudavsky, did not respond to a query asking whether additional sourcing was obtained. A Gannett spokeswoman provided a comment from Bro Krift, the newspaper’s executive editor: “The facts and sourcing about people crossing state lines into Indiana, including the 10-year-old girl, for abortions are clear. We have no additional comment at this time.”

Rudavsky never responded to me either; nor did Krift. Krift’s response to the Post is pretty revealing. He refused to answer direct questions about how the information was vetted. I can’t resist: Clearly, Bro, the info isn’t “clear,” or you wouldn’t have the WaPo, Snopes, and a hundred other outlets asking you to clarify your vetting process.