Check Your Heart

This week has been historic. There’s been so much already said about the attempted assassination of the Once and Future President Donald Trump that any additions I make are not necessary—except for my personal understanding. So I’m writing a few things, and you’re welcome to read them.

The iconic moment of Donald Trump, after being shot in the ear,
before being ushered offstage, photo credit to Evan Vucci/AP

I am among those who see God’s hand in the preservation of this man. The slight turning of his head at exactly the right moment was the difference between a flesh wound to his ear and a kill shot to his head.

diagram found on Facebook here

Here's a bonus meme (source unknown) for my fellow Latter-day Saint friends, referencing Helaman 13.

How do we know that was the work of God and not just coincidence or luck? The simple (but not necessarily easy) answer is: ask God, and then listen to His answer.

Back in the 1940s there was an assassination attempt against Hitler—actually, there were dozens, starting in the early 1930s. German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was involved in a plot in 1944; he was imprisoned, and then put to death just days before Hitler’s eventual death and the end of the war. There’s a movie coming out soon about Bonhoeffer, and a very good book by Eric Metaxas. (I think the movie Valkyrie may be about this plot, which bore that name.) When it happened, a bomb in a briefcase failed to do the intended damage—to the furor who had already put to death millions of his own nation’s citizens and carried out death and carnage in a world war—because it was incidentally moved to the wrong side of a table leg.

Hitler himself saw he preservation from the explosive as God being on his side and protecting him. That seems to me a miscalculation, especially from someone who worshipped evil rather than God.

screenshot from Megyn Kelly's show July 17, 2024

I am not comparing Trump to Hitler; that is what the enemies do. I am contrasting the two. Hitler the mass murderer was eventually stopped. Trump is fighting for the return of our freedoms—away from tyranny and coercion. And he’s doing it by all legal and constitutional—peaceful—means. The enemy, which has made it a theme to call him “literally Hitler,” are lying to cover for their own murderous hearts. We will need to be vigilant, in action and in prayer, to prevent the next several dozen attempts on Trump’s life.

There is a lot about this incident worth talking about: how could it happen? Who really caused it? What would have been the result if the attempt had succeeded? Some of that I’ll get to below, mostly sharing resources I’ve been looking at. So much more comes out every day. It may take a while for details to be sorted out—especially when the government is lying to us.

For now, what I’m really noticing are the differences in reactions. These are the differences between civilization and savagery. Donald Trump’s response, you’ll note, is exemplary of civilization.

Donald Trump's statement

Biden came out with a bland but appropriate statement, and then he asked for a lowering of the political temperature, which would have almost been believable and useful, if he hadn’t continued his own inflammatory rhetoric within a day.

This difference between civilization and savagery is not political, although there are relevant probabilities related to political leanings. We laugh about people afflicted with TDS—Trump Derangement Syndrome. It appears to be so real. Maybe what it really is can be simply stated as hatred. Calling him Hitler is a way to give themselves a sense of righteousness for their hate.

There are plenty of samples of what I’m talking about.

Not the Bee, the sister publication to The Babylon Bee, put out a collection. https://notthebee.com/article/they-missed-trending-on-social-media-after-trump-assassination-attempt-because-of-course

screenshot from Not the Bee article

another screenshot from the Not the Bee article

Screenshots of various tweets or posts have been showing up online. Here are a few, some of which have been held accountable by losing jobs. Being murderous is frowned upon by most employers. (I got all of these from Facebook; my apologies for not identifying original sources.)

These people—and others who publicly stated they wished Trump had been killed by an assassin as well as those who said it or even just thought it to themselves—they have marked themselves with their murderous, hateful intent. Their behavior—including their way of thinking—is not acceptable in a civilized society. Their hateful hearts cannot be accepted and welcomed among us. And more importantly, they have declared their murderous hearts before God.

We need to call them out, to show they felt murder was worth wanting—and laughing about lamenting the miss—ignoring the injury to Trump, the death of a hero in the audience, Corey Comperatore, who died protecting his wife and daughter, and two others (not yet identified) who were hospitalized with injuries. And of course the shooter (the one we know about) was also shot dead, which means getting the full story about his actions and motivations will be hard to get.

If you feel the sense of our time, that time is running out, and the book of Revelation is in play, the declaration that you approve of murder puts these people in the most precarious of situations. If they could suddenly awake to the putridness of their decay, and made a 180 turn toward righteousness, there might be hope for some of these individuals. If you know and love such a person, I feel for you and wish you the best in getting their attention. Maybe some of them have simply been deceived into believing that Trump is “literally Hitler,” despite reality. But time is running out for them. Their eternal destruction is imminent. It’s a sad thing to see.

This meme states it well.

Found on Facebook linked to here

 

In Other News

There has been more news this week—big enough that in normal times would be the headlines endlessly. As they say, make sure you have your popcorn ready:

·        The classified documents case has been completely dismissed: Prosecutor Jack Smith was not lawfully appointed, nor has he been accessing lawfully appropriated funds. 

·        Donald Trump chose J. D. Vance as his running mate, the next VP of the United States.

·        Trump gave a powerful speech at the RNC Convention, thanking God for his preservation, and calling for unity and peace—following many of his family members, who also gave good speeches.

·        Biden, meanwhile, got COVID.

·        Rumors are that Biden is stepping down from the campaign (not the presidency) and will not be endorsing Kamala Harris. This is supposed to come out officially on Sunday (exactly 42 months after the inauguration). But there might be another play or two by Jill Biden to prevent him from making that decision, or allowing the surrounding party from making that decision for him. 

·        There was the biggest internet glitch in history, worldwide, on Friday, July 19, 2024, affecting airlines, banks, hospitals, 911 systems, and more. We’re assured this was not a hack; it was an error caused by a system update, and instructions for repair (which would require some physical one-machine-at-a-time procedures) were given out.

·        Alec Baldwin charges dismissed.

·        Democrat US Representative from Houston, Sheila Jackson Lee dies of pancreatic cancer. There will need to be a special election for her replacement in the remainder of her term, and an appointment for her replacement on the November ballot. 

 

Resources Related to the Assassination Attempt

We are not getting the truth from government. There are obvious and not-so-obvious lies, mixed in with the confusion that happens when an event is new and not all the details are known. A quote from the late great Alan Vera is apt here (he usually said it in the context of election problems):

"Incompetence is the perfect camouflage for malfeasance."

I am undecided at this point as to how much is incompetence and how much is malfeasance. But you have to believe the people who hate Trump the most because of his threat to their power also just happen to be unbelievably incompetent. Whatever it was, it was a massive security failure.

I suggest Dan Bongino’s daily podcast, on Rumble and elsewhere. As a former Secret Service agent, he has insider insights. I’ve also been following Robert Gouveia, a law vlogger, on YouTube or Locals, who is gathering information as it becomes available, with the eye of a defense attorney (always suspicious of government statements) building a case.

Robert Gouveia shows the official timeline, screenshot from here

And here, in no particular order, are some of the sources (mainly video) I’ve listened to and watched. (With some I’ve made comments, mainly to help me remember what was notable in that video). These are more or less listed newest to oldest.

·        Update on President Trump’s condition by his former Physician to the President, Ronny L. Jackson, July 20, 2024. 

·        “Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks' cause, manner of death revealed” Christina Coulter for Fox News, July 20, 0224.  There’s a 5-minute Fox News video within the article, which may be from earlier. This is a full week after the event. Other sources seem to have more detail.

·        “Bongino POINTS OUT something everyone missed |New Trump Shooting Facts!” Stephen Gardner, July 19, 2024. Adds that there were 10 separate reports from people saying they saw someone on the water tower at the time of the shooting. Also, we’ve learned that the perpetrator had multiple overseas encrypted bank accounts.

·        “Robert Barnes (Deep State Tried To Kill Trump: Conspiracy Theory Or Fact?)” Revel Capitalist, July 19, 2024. Barnes suggests certain people attended the RNC only because they’d planned for Trump to be taken out beforehand, which would be blamed on Iran. Deep State from both parties intended for Trump to be taken out before officially made the nominee at the RNC Convention.

·        Rooted.wings on Instagram, brief summary of the recent news, July 19, 2024. 

·        “Audio Analysis Is 100% Clear Trump& Crowd Were Shot At By Two Separate People” Peak Prosperity, Chris Martenson, confirms there was more than one shooting at President Trump, July 18, 2024. 

·        “Emergency Episode: Special Forces Sniper Explains Trump Shooting - Tim Kennedy” Chris Williamson, on YouTube, talks with Tim Kennedy, a Special Forces Sniper and Green Beret, July 16, 2024.   A lot of good inside info. However, this one disagrees with others who say the various groups (Homeland Security, Secret Service, and local police) would have been on a shared channel. And there continues to be disagreement about the existence of a ladder used by the attacker.

·        “DID THIS WOMAN KNOW?! Military Body Language Expert Reacts to Suspicious Woman at Trump Rally!” The Behavioral Arts, on YouTube, talks with body language expert Chase Hughes, about a woman in the stands who doesn’t react with fear. Since this video I heard, in the Stephen Gardner video (above in this list) that the woman has been identified as an FBI agent, bringing up more questions. July 20, 2024. [Correction July 21, 2024: Stephen Gardner, in this July 20 video, corrects an error; The FBI agent this was thought to be verified that she was not there. Gardner says they now know the identity of the woman and he has reached out to her and hopes to speak with her.]

·        “Secret Service COMPLICIT; FURIOUS Senators Confront Director; New Timeline DEMOLISHES Cover-up” Robert Gouveia, law vlogger, July 19, 2024.  He shows the official timeline and continues to go through the discrepancies in stories.

·        “Emergency Episode: Former CIA Agent On Trump Assassination Attempt - Mike Baker” Chris Williamson, on YouTube, talks with former CIA Agent Mike Baker, July 17, 2024. 

·        “Secret Service COVER-UP Underway; LIES to Local Police; Subpoenas to CHEATLE” Robert Gouveia, law vlogger, July 17, 2024. Secret Service chief Kim Cheatle gives implausible excuses. 

·        Tucker Carlson podcast July 16, 2024. Tucker interviews musician John Rich on his new song, “Revelation,” in response to Trump. 

·        “'That Doesn’t Add Up': Top Sniper Exposes the Biggest Holes in the Trump Shooting Narrative” Glenn Beck, July 15, 2024. Glenn talks with sniper Dallas Alexander about questions that need answers concerning the assassination attempt. 

·       Tucker Carlson clip, July 15, 2024. God made his presence known, and the whole world saw that.

·        “The Trump Assassination Attempt Explained” Michael Knowles, episode 1530, July 15, 2024. This one shows the inflammatory language Biden claims to decry. 

·        “Trump Assassination Attempt! RNC in Milwaukee! Baldwin Charges DISMISSED & MORE! Viva & Barnes Live!” Viva & Barnes, Sunday evening livestream, July 14, 2024. They talk with Lynn Westover, former sniper. Before bringing others in, Viva, who claims not to be religious, thinks about the America we are today, compared to the America we would have been today, had it not been for divine intervention. 

·        “Trump Assassination LATEST; Left Goes NUTS; Details & Reaction” Robert Gouveia, law vlogger, July 14, 2024. Early reactions and information. S

·        “Donald Trump is an American Hero” Mr. Reagan, on YouTube, Chris Kohls gives early reaction, stating what we all see: Donald Trump is a courageous and selfless man in ways that can’t be faked. July 14, 2024. 

·        Tribute to Corey Comperatore, husband, father, former fire chief, hero, July 14, 2024. 

·        BBC interview with a bystander who saw the man with a rifle on the roof and called attention to law enforcement, July 13, 2024. 

·        James O’Keefe tweets video: Trump stands up and calls “Fight! Fight! Fight!” before Secret Service ushers him offstage, July 13, 2024. 

 

Disasters and Responses

The Storm

We’re in Houston, recovering from Hurricane Beryl, which hit on Monday, July 8, close to sunrise. We are among the lucky ones who only lost power for about 12 hours—plus a bonus half hour on Tuesday. As of Wednesday night, about half of those without power had gotten it restored. The other half are still waiting. Estimates are there will still be about 500,000 without power going into next week. Today (Friday) is slightly cooler (upper 80s) with some rain, but Monday through Wednesday it had been in the 90s with a real feel into the 100s. Add in the humidity, and those are life-threatening conditions.

We have a portable generator, and used a fan, and dealt with temperatures in the 80s in the house. We were just about to set up a window air conditioner to get us through the night when the power came back.

We feel a bit targeted here. There was the derecho in May—our power was out from 6:00 PM Thursday until around 8:00 PM Tuesday. We’re thinking maybe some of the repairs—or the trees that had already fallen back then—made us better off this time. Both times we, at our house, were essentially undamaged, which has been a real blessing. But the targeting looks very real. That’s the path of the derecho in red and the path of Beryl in blue (I used weather maps to get the lines approximately right). And that’s us, targeted right in the middle of where they cross. Hmm. What is God trying to tell us? We’re believing that He’s telling us to trust Him; He will keep us safe through anything.

The May 16 derecho (red) and Hurricane Beryl (blue) 
crossed paths right over us.

I don’t want to underplay the suffering others are going through as a result of these two storms. Even in our own neighborhood, we were exceptionally spared while others were not, and there's a cul-de-sac right in our neighborhood still without power. I’m praying for those who have much worse to deal with than we have had. But I am also grateful for being protected.

 

The Other Disaster

I’m also recording today more about the disaster of our current national presidency. Long post warning—it's for the sake of recording history. I wrote about the June 27 debate already. Since then there was an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Friday, July 5, which did not dispel concerns as it was intended to do. And yesterday, July 11, there was a press conference—dubbed by his own press secretary as a “big boy press conference,” meaning he’d have to speak without a teleprompter and take questions. He did, however, have a list of who was being allowed to ask questions, and I believe he had their questions submitted ahead of time.

There is a lot of talk about whether/how to replace a presidential candidate at this stage of an election. All of it looks bad for Biden. But, more importantly, it looks dangerously bad for our nation.

Dan Bongino lists the three insurmountable challenges facing Biden.
screenshot from here

Dan Bongino, in his show Monday, July 8, laid out three insurmountable challenges concerning the Biden situation:

1.     Biden’s cognitive condition, whatever it is, will only get worse.

2.     Biden isn’t good at anything necessary in a campaign to persuade people to choose him.

3.    The media has turned on Biden.

We’ll cover mainly the first of those things, but the others will fit in there. Then we need to look at—if they abandon Biden, then who? And how to get there?

 

The Insurmountable Challenges of Biden’s Condition

Biden is only getting worse. You can find comparisons between this Stephanopoulos interview and an interview of Biden in 2020—when people already questioned his ability to function, hence his campaign strategy that year of hiding in his basement and avoiding campaign events—conveniently aided by a pandemic. A comparison of his speech then and the interview a week ago illustrates the decline.

Biden, immediately after an impassioned moment asserting
that he will keep running and win. This is Biden energized.
screenshot from Dan Bongino's show

We don’t know what the condition is. But we can see there’s a decline in cognitive function. We see the way he walks, the way he moves his arms. We see the vacant lost look in his eyes so much of the time. And we hear the lost train of thought, the inability to find words, the forgetfulness, the use of the wrong name or inability to come up with a name.

All of us have little lapses, especially when under pressure, in front of a group, or if we’re not totally focused on a conversation. But he has decades of experience to get over the pressure. Other politicians, at just about every level, learn to handle that part, and he has done so in the past.

In the press conference he referred to his VP as Trump, instead of Harris, and didn’t correct himself. Earlier he referred to Ukraine’s president as Putin instead of Zelinsky—but did correct himself. A few days ago he was, I think, trying to say how remarkable it was that he was VP for the first black president and now has the first female vice president. But what he actually said was that he was the first black female vice president—and seemed unaware of his gaffe.

The Behavior Panel, four experts in body language—at least one of whom has the very expertise to diagnose neurological disorders—all recognize he is suffering from some form of decline. They call attention to some symptoms they have observed. He has some things he still does well: repeating lists, for example. He can string together a list that he has repeated often enough to have it flow. He preparation team has coached him to use that to his advantage.

The Behavior Panel analyzes the Biden interview with Stephanopoulos.
screenshot from here

But he has difficulty finishing a sentence. I heard them say this before I watched his Thursday press conference and found it very noticeable. He starts a sentence, cuts himself off, starts it another way, changes course without finishing. To transcribe it, it becomes a series or short phrases followed by a dash, indicating an unfinished thought. And then comes another phrase and dash. And so on. And when he totally loses where he was going with that series of partial sentences, he says, “Well, anyway,” or some other verbal placeholder in an attempt at reaching a graceful stopping point.

I learned a new word from Chase Hughes, on the panel: anosognosia. Here’s how the Cleveland Clinic describes it: 

Anosognosia is a condition where your brain can’t recognize one or more other health conditions you have. It’s extremely common with mental health conditions like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. This condition isn’t dangerous on its own, but people with it are much more likely to avoid or resist treatment for their other health conditions.

Biden doesn’t know he’s showing any symptoms of decline. He’s in full denial. That’s why he so boldly suggests, “Just watch me.” He thinks we will see a vigorous, clear thinking, top-of-his-game world leader—which would have been delusional even during his best years, but you get the point. He challenges us to show him any evidence that he isn’t what he sees himself to be, and then he dismisses whatever you show him. He doesn’t know he has a cognitive disorder.

He, as well as his press team, have given mixed messages about his getting a full neurological exam. Did he get that during his annual physical? Well, not a thorough one including a mental status exam, like the public is asking for, but he says yes. Did he get checked out after the disastrous debate? Karine Jean-Pierre says no; he just had a cold. He says yes, his doctor says he was just exhausted—from a trip he’d returned from 11 days before the debate, and after 6 days at Camp David. And they checked him for COVID and other infections or viruses, and they were negative; it was just a cold. But a cold is a virus, so did they say he had a cold virus or nothing but failure to recover from a trip almost two weeks earlier? Unclear.

White House records show that a neurologist specializing in Parkinson’s Disease has visited the White House nine times in a year. The KJP version is that this doctor was there to give treatment and help to other staff and/or veterans, and she’s protecting their privacy by not revealing his name—which was already known, because the White House logs are public (it is Kevin Kennard). But, it’s clear she’s lying, because anyone else being visited by a doctor would go to the clinic nearby for those purposes, not to the White House. The clinic in the White House is for the exclusive care of the president. This was described by Dan Bongino, who used to work the Secret Service detail there. Why lie, unless there was something they intended to cover up?

Neurologist Kevin Kennard walks with the president,
screenshot from video here

I feel like I need to do more study of Parkinson’s. I haven’t understood it to be dementia-like. It is certainly a neurological disorder. But I understood it to affect motor skills. My grandmother died of it when I was two; I have just brief memories of her, in a wheelchair. But she could talk to me. I have a long-time friend who is suffering from it now. Her mobility is degenerating, and her emotions are affected; I don’t know if that’s because of the limitations on her life or as a symptom of the disease. But it’s painful and challenging for her and her loved ones. There’s also Michael J. Fox, who has been public about his affliction by the disease for a couple of decades. His mobility and movement control are affected, and there’s pain. But his ability to think and communicate have made him a good advocate for Parkinson’s awareness. It doesn’t appear as a form of dementia.

So why would we assume what Biden has is Parkinson’s? I don’t know. And if it is, why is that affecting his ability to think and communicate and find his way on and off a stage platform? There’s something there I don’t know.

Maybe the simplest answer (other than I just don’t know enough, which is also likely) is that the neurologist who specializes in Parkinson’s also has plenty of experience with other neurological cognitive conditions.

Megyn Kelly talked with Dave Marcus on her show earlier this week (episode 831). Marcus mentioned that he had said this in a post right after the debate: 

The question going into the debate was whether Joe Biden was fit to be president for four more years. The question after the debate was whether he was fit to be president for four more days.

He was already behind in the polls—more behind than any incumbent president has ever been, I believe. Biden told Stephanopoulos that he had closed any gap with his debate performance, when polling went from -3 to -9 points. So they’re in panic mode in Democrat world. But it is of their own making.

Megyn Kelly also quoted from an article by a Biden supporter, but who has been observing his decline for a while; she wrote a piece in 2020 that Kelly describes as “brutal,” and it caused some ostracization for a while. This recent piece by Olivia Nuzzi is for New York Magazine, “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden.” I couldn’t get to the original without a subscription, but Megyn Kelly quotes from it. (I’m transcribing from her reading, so punctuation and paragraphing are my best guess.) Nuzzi tells of a couple of examples of mega-donors, longtime Biden friends, who report to her—off the record, or course—that they were shocked to find he doesn’t recognize them or remember their names. Then she tells of her encounter with him at the recent White House Correspondents Dinner, in late April:

“In the basement, when I smiled and said hello, she [Jill Biden] looked back at me with a confused, panicked expression. It was as if she had just received horrible news and was about to run out of the room and into some kind of a family emergency. ‘Uh, hi,’ she said. And she glanced over to her right. Oh!

“I had not seen the president up close in some time. I had skipped this season's holiday parties and, preoccupied with covering Trump's legal political dramas. I followed the first lady's gaze and found the president. Now I understood her panicked expression.

“Up close the president does not look quite plausible. It's not that he's old. We all know what old looks like. Bernie Sanders is old. Mitch McConnell is old. Most of the ruling class is old. The president was something stranger, something not of this earth. My heart stopped as I extended my hand to greet the president. I tried to make eye contact, but it was like his eyes, though open, were not on. His face had a waxy quality. He smiled. It was a sweet smile. It made me sad in a way I can't fully convey.

“I always thought, and I wrote, that he was a decent man. If ambition was his only sin, and it seemed to be [Megyn: she's on the left], he had committed no sin at all, by the standards of most politicians I had covered. He took my hand in his, and I was startled by how it felt, not cold but cool. The basement was so warm that people were sweating—and complaining they were sweating. This was a silly black-tie affair. I said hello. [Megyn: She knew him well. She'd covered him for years.] His sweet smile stayed frozen. He spoke very slowly, and in a very soft voice. ‘And what's your name?’ he asked.

“Exiting the room after the photo, the group of reporters, not instigated by me, I should note, made guesses about how dead he appeared to be percentage-wise. ‘40%?’ one of them asked.

And we thought his debate was a bad night.

Megyn Kelly talks with Stu Burguiere and Dave Marcus about Biden's decline.
screenshot from here

If he has good, relatively lucid moments, that is probably due to it being a better time of day for him, and a cocktail of drugs to temporarily make him appear better off than he is.

As Dan Bongino puts it, “His best day is a series of yesterdays.” It’s not going to get better. And it’s pretty bad now. He is not running the country; someone else is.

We have historical precedence for coverups to prevent the American people to know of the serious health condition of the president. JFK had Addison’s Disease, and he was often on pretty potent pain medication. FDR was in a wheelchair, which was hidden from the public for years. But his near end-of-life condition was hidden from the public, pretty much surprising Americans with his death during his fourth term—or he would have run for another term. It was because of his way-too-long presidency that we limited the president to two terms.

But the most analogous is probably Woodrow Wilson, who had a stroke while in office, in 1919 (he was in office until early 1921). His wife, Edith, kept even his close advisors away. She would physically put a pen in his hand and then sign his name for him. She had every intention of keeping his incapacitation from the public indefinitely and have him run for re-election. But legislators and cabinet members got fed up and threatened an inquiry if he didn’t drop out of the race. The 25^th Amendment was created because of the Woodrow Wilson coverup.

Of all the guilty parties in the Biden coverup, Jill Biden is the most guilty.

I’m looking at Woodrow Wilson and Joe Biden, and thinking, they implemented more tyranny in our erstwhile constitutional republic than anyone. (Arguably, there’s Obama, but his was more setup, and Biden’s has been blatant.) So I’m wondering if being struck with incapacity of the brain is God striking them down. Just wondering.

Biden with wife Jill (left) and VP Kamala Harris, the elder abusers.
screenshot from Megyn Kelly's show

But there is plenty of blame to go around. Harris deserves plenty of it. So says Stephen Miller, here. And we need to remember that all the complicit media and all the complicit staff, cabinet members, legislators, and donors—all of them were willing to keep covering up, until that debate made it so they couldn’t. If they claim to be shocked, they’re lying.

Ashe in America (Badlands Media Brief, July 10, 2024) responds to that Stephen Miller piece with this advice:

Outrage is an effective driver of change in a world where everyone is ruled by their emotions. As such, never back off this message. A criminal conspiracy to hide an incapacitated president, to deceive the People and govern without oversight, is not lawful or just.

You might even say it’s a threat to ‘democracy.’ — Ashe in America

 

The Insurmountable Challenges to Replacing Biden

So, what are the options? Well, for removal from office, there’s impeachment; the 25^th Amendment, which is removal because of incapacitation; get voted out; or death. For removal from the Biden/Harris ticket, that requires one of the above and/or his choice to step away. If he doesn’t drop out of the race, that leaves only the removal-from-office options. If he does drop out of the race, that creates an array of other insurmountable problems.

Sunday, June 30, shortly after the debate, when suddenly the media was willing to talk about replacing Biden because of his condition, Robert Barnes went through the legal, financial, and political challenges.

The first hurdle is ballot access. Barnes explains,

Ever since Ross Perot in 1996, both parties have conspired to create laws in various states entirely intended to exclude another Ross Perot, to exclude a third-party independent candidate challenger. Right now they're using those same rules and laws to try to exclude Robert Francis Kennedy Jr from being on the ballot. Indeed, the Democratic Party has brought suit against him in pretty much every state in which he has sought to be on the ballot. Several of those suits are still ongoing. The existence of those suits was the pretext for CNN to deny and exclude Robert Kennedy from this past debate.

Because of these rules, there are currently about 15 states where there are legal impediments to substituting Biden’s name on the ballot. They can’t legally do it. In some cases, the date is past for making any change—barring death or legally declared incapacity (meaning the 25^th Amendment has been invoked by the VP). Even in those cases, they could not replace his name with another Democrat candidate; the ballot would either have no Democrat candidate listed, or it would still list Biden but any votes for him would not be counted. So that means, in about 15 states, Democrats could vote for either Trump or an independent or third-party candidate.

At their convention could they end up nominating another candidate? They could. The lateness of their convention is possibly designed to prevent that from happening, because it would leave such a short campaign window. But, also, that could only happen if Biden were to release his delegates. Otherwise all the delegates assigned to him from all the primaries in all the states would be required to vote for him on the first round. And since no other candidate got a challenging number of delegates, there would be no second round. It doesn’t matter how many superdelegates or other delegates they might try to finagle; they can’t overcome that first round unless he releases his delegates. And so far he—and Dr. Jill—seem firmly unwilling to do that.

Then there are the financial difficulties. Campaign funds are not transferrable. Donations to the Biden for President/Harris for Vice President campaign cannot be transferred to any other ticket—whether Harris is on that ticket in either slot or not. And since this is a second-term presidential campaign, the funds can’t be kept for Biden’s next campaign—as they might for a congressional campaign, for example. The funds have to be returned to the donors.

Is it possible they could get all their donors to immediately re-donate to a new campaign? Yes, if they’re all willing to get behind a particular candidate who has a possibility of being on the ballot. It’s possible. Improbable, but possible.

But in the interim, while Biden is still running, donors are much less likely to donate to his campaign, seeing as he could drop out at any moment, or because they want him to. So fundraising for either his campaign or some as-yet-imaginary campaign is likely to be low.

Then there’s the political hurdle. Harris was a DEI hire. She wasn’t liked. She had to drop out of the 2020 presidential race before Iowa. No one wanted her for her abilities. But she was black and female—and had the added bonus for Biden of being insurance against taking him out. That is, indeed, a sticking point for removing Biden from office now, as impaired as he is. What we have now is a disaster; but do we really prefer a Harris disaster to a Biden disaster? It’s a tough question, even if we’re assuming it would be only for a few lame-duck months.

But the fact remains, she’s black and female in a party that prizes intersectionality. And people who think that way would be very put out if their black female—however incompetent—were to be passed over for, say, some white guy. So, whatever we say about other possibilities, Harris is in their way.

Nevertheless, there are others spoken of as possibilities. Gavin Newsom is one. Those of us with eyes and common sense see what a disaster he has been in California, and we don’t want him californicating the rest of the country. But Democrats—and he, himself—see a younger, more attractive smooth talker, who might just be able to schmooze enough people into voting for him. But there isn’t incentive for him, or similar others (i.e., Gretchen Whitmer) to declare against Biden, risking alienation from the party, or to declare after successfully being pulled in by the party but then losing to Trump—when the better option for them would be to wait four years and come in aiming for the next one or two terms.

The exception might be Michelle Obama, who, by all reports, hates politics and has no reason to run. Also, at 60 or so, eight years starting now or starting in four years looks rather late for a first try. She happens to be black and female (we are assuming; I’m not questioning that, but there are some who do), has name recognition and general likability, at least by those who haven’t watched her and perceived her hatred of America. But she would be stuck doing this race she doesn’t want to do with minimal funding, or time, or ballot access.

from a Facebook post a day after the debate

The time to decide on an alternative would have been before primary elections. There was plenty of time. Enough people knew of the problems. If any of them cared about the country, they would have pushed Biden aside a year ago. They could have had the popular—even with independents and possibly some RINOs—Robert Kennedy Jr. But they chose instead to push him out of the party to run as an independent. So he’ll be on the ballot in a number of states—but not on the Democrat ticket, no matter what they do.

They will undoubtedly try something illegal to retain power. I can’t predict what they will attempt.

But what I can say is, we are in a disastrous position right now—with at least half a year before we get the relief of—hopefully—a new and better administration. Pray for our country. We will need God’s sustaining power to survive that long.

SCOTUS Finale

It’s that time of year, when we take a look at the just-ended Supreme Court session. I don’t really know if this session has been busier than usual. It may not be more momentous than the Dobbs ruling in 2022. But there does seem to be too much to handle. I’ll take a non-lawyer’s look at just a few. And I’ll share some of the “stack of stuff” I read or listened to.

We can’t—and shouldn’t—expect Court rulings to solve all our government issues. But it’s good when justice prevails. Although this year it’s a mixed bag, I think the country is in better shape after the 2023-2024 session than it was before.

Supreme Court building, image from Epoch Times

 

Presidential Immunity

Trump v. United States (23-939)   

This case seems to have generated the most talk this week. I agree it’s a big deal, and in general I think it’s a good ruling. This will affect possibly all of the cases against President Trump, including some of the concluded ones. For the 34 felony “convictions” on a dispute over how to classify a blackmail payment (the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case), sentencing has been postponed until September, giving the judge time to come up with a way to claim this was somehow a private action. And there is the weakness—instead of delineating more clearly a difference.

The case was never about “absolute immunity,” which could mean a president could, you know, target his political opponent, maybe with lawfare, raids on his home, or, God forbid, assassination. The president never had immunity from those things—or anything else for which he could be impeached. That is clear now.

The case is worth reading, for the details. Especially read Justice Thomas’s concurrence. He takes the extra step of pointing out that, if there is ever to be a case against a former president, at the very least it ought to be prosecuted by someone granted authority to do so. We can hope Judge Cannon, who is set to rule on whether Jack Smith can prosecute related to the Mar-a-Lago raid of documents will take note.

Here are some of the commentaries:

·       “Judicial Watch Statement on Supreme Court’s Immunity Ruling” 

Today’s commonsense Supreme Court immunity ruling is a victory for former President Trump, the U.S. Constitution, and the rule of law. The Biden administration’s political decision to try to put Trump in jail for simply being president was unsurprisingly rejected by the Supreme Court.

Make no mistake, the Supreme Court is imposing a virtually insurmountable burden on Jack Smith in his vicious pursuit of Trump over the election and document disputes. The unprecedented charges against Trump were frivolous to begin with and, after today’s decision, should be shut down completely by the Justice Department.—Tom Fitton

·       “Trump revels in political wins while Biden campaign reels from debate” Jill Colvin, Associated Press, July 3, 2024 

Trump’s run began last week during the first debate, when Biden delivered a performance so dismal that he has spent the days since fending off calls from alarmed Democrats to step aside to save the party from losses up and down the ballot.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, limiting the indictment against Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. It’s all but certain he won’t face trial before Election Day.

And on Tuesday, the judge in Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial postponed his sentencing to weigh the impact of the Supreme Court decision.

·       “Justices rule Trump has some immunity from prosecution” Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog, July 1, 2024    

·        “SCOTUS Didn’t Just Upend Jack Smith’s Plans for Pre-Election Trump Trial, They May Have Ended His Entire Prosecution”  Katelynn Richarson, The Daily Caller 7-3-2024       

·       “Judge delays Trump’s hush money sentencing until at least September after high court immunity ruling” Jake Offenhartz and Jennifer, Associated Press, July 2, 2024      

This next is a response to the above piece, by Ashe in America, Badlands Media Brief, Substack, which comes by email, July 3, 2024. I’ve highlighted a couple of points:

Our Take: The process is the punishment. It’s become a common saying in our current moment, explicitly calling out the weaponization of power against political opposition — by people continuously screeching about fascism.

Monday’s immunity decision was explosive, and it’s notably led to the fascists showing their true colors. Calls for Biden to unilaterally expand the Supreme Court are ubiquitous, as are demands that he channel his worst impulses and finish 45 by whatever means necessary.

MAGA has been so dehumanized in our society, that such overtly un-American demands are met with applause rather than condemnation.

It’s clear that, for the uniparty, the only way to fight Trump and MAGA’s theoretical future fascism is with actual fascism right now. Without a hint of irony. Yet, despite the hysteria, and for the first time I can remember, it seems the system is working.

The Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary are all in focus at their intersections, checking and balancing the execution of power against the Constitution’s guardrails.

Better, and more importantly, this is all being viewed prominently in the context of the 2024 election—the will of the People.

This is how it’s supposed to work.

The boomerangs are coming around now, and the Constitutionally prescribed processes for restoring the public will absolutely be the punishment for the enemies of liberty.

Think I’m exaggerating? Judge Merchan just vacated [postponed until September, not vacated] President Trump’s sentencing.

Never stop fighting.

We’re winning. — Ashe in America

 

·       Another response from Ashe in America, Badlands Media Brief, Substack, July 2, 2024  (response to an Axios piece), in this one about Sotomayor dissent; again I’ve highlighted a main point:

From Sotomayor, if the President “uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

Take a Xanax, Sonia.

Notably, the court affirmed that there is no immunity for unofficial acts. So, for example, crimes committed while running the country illegally behind the mask of a demented, geriatric puppet would not result in prosecutorial immunity for a former president.

Robert Gouveia breaks down the Immunity decision,
screenshot from here

 

·       “How the Supreme Court Decision on Presidential Immunity Could Impact Trump Cases” Catherine Yang, Epoch Times, July 1, 2024 

·       “Trump throws a Clarence Thomas-sized wrench into Mar-a-Lago case after Supreme Court immunity ruling” Alex Woodward, The Independent, July 5, 2024 

·       “Jack Smith in DANGER after SCOTUS Immunity Decision” Robert Gouveia law vlog, July 3, 2024  

·       “Trump Sentencing DELAYED after IMMUNITY Threatens Case" Robert Gouveia law vlog, July 3, 2024 

 

J6 Defendants Accused of Document Interference, Cases Dismissed

Fischer v. United States (23-5572)   

This one relates to the use, in hundreds of J6 cases, a law invented/legislated during the Enron era to make it a crime to ruin documentary evidence, which would prevent an investigation or prosecution—a government procedure. It was stretched beyond the point of elasticity to apply to protesters at the capitol, claiming they were disrupting a government procedure. It has never been used in this way, or for anything that isn’t destroying or hiding documents. And now the Court has made it clear that it cannot be so used.

Most J6 prisoners/defendants have multiple charges, so this ruling only sets them free if this is their only charge. Still, it is a step in the right direction in these cases, and it exposes the tenuous grounds used to prosecute peaceful protesters, which most of the defendants were.

·       “SCOTUS DISMISSES Key J6 Charge in 6-3 Decision” Robert Gouveia law vlog, June 29, 2024. 

 

Chevron Deference Removed

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (22-451)  

This one may turn out to be the most consequential ruling of the SCOTUS 2023-2024 session. It has been looming on the horizon since the appointment of Justice Gorsuch. It severely curtails (but doesn’t yet fully eliminate) the power of the administrative state. Here are a few words from Gorsuch’s concurrence:

“Today, the Court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss. In doing so, the Court returns judges to interpretive rules that have guided federal courts since the Nation’s Founding.”—Justice Neil Gorsuch

 

Tom Woods’ daily newsletter, Monday, July 1, 2024, quotes Spike Cohen, giving a good overview of the case and background:

A family fishing company, Loper Bright Enterprises, was being driven out of business, because they couldn't afford the $700 per day they were being charged by the National Marine Fisheries Service to monitor their company.

The thing is, federal law doesn't authorize NMFS to charge businesses for this. They just decided to start doing it in 2013.

Why did they think they could away with just charging people without any legal authorization?

Because in 1984, in the Chevron decision, the Supreme Court decided that regulatory agencies were the "experts" in their field, and the courts should just defer to their "interpretation" of the law.

So for the past 40 years, federal agencies have been able to "interpret" laws to mean whatever they want, and the courts had to just go with it.

It was called Chevron Deference, and it put bureaucrats in charge of the country.

It's how the OHSA was able to decide that everyone who worked for a large company had to get the jab, or be fired.

No law gave them that authority, they just made it up.

It's how the ATF was able to decide a piece of plastic was a "machine gun."

It's how the NCRS was able to decide that a small puddle was a “protected wetlands."

It's how out-of-control agencies have been able to create rules out of thin air, and force you to comply, and the courts had to simply defer to them, because they were the "experts."

Imagine if your local police could just arrest you, for any reason, and no judge or jury was allowed to determine if you'd actually committed a crime or not. Just off to jail you go.

That's what Chevron Deference was.

It was not only blatantly unconstitutional; it caused immeasurable harm to everyone.

Tom Woods adds this bonus info:

Harvard's Laurence Tribe feels sorry not for Americans who have been endlessly harassed by these semi-lawless agencies, but for his legal buddies who were trained to operate in this environment: "The ones I feel sorry for are my administrative law colleagues who built their courses and careers around the intricacies of Chevron deference."

That this kind of people will have to find something else to do is a wonderful bonus, not something to deplore!

So I said to Tribe on Twitter: "I already support the decision; you don't have to keep selling it to me!"

Woods ends with this happy outlook:

Whenever something like this happens, when a wicked but seemingly irreversible feature of American life is suddenly overturned, it should lift our spirits: things we assume are forever may not be so forever after all.

 

·       “Supreme Court strikes down Chevron, curtailing power of federal agencies” Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog, June 28, 2024. 

·       “Supreme Court overturns Chevron decision, curtailing federal agencies' power in major shift” Melissa Quinn, CBS News, June 28, 2024. 

·        Burning Bright on Badlands Media Brief, Substack, responds to the above CBS piece on this ruling, noting that it ends a really bad week for the bad guys. They had that terrible debate on Thursday. That same day they learned, from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Jarkesy decision, that defendants accused of fraud by the SEC have a right to a jury trial—gasp! Just as guaranteed in the Constitution! How can that be? And then the week ends with the Chevron Deference ruling. Here’s the CBS News comment from the piece by Melissa Quinn, followed by Burning Bright’s response:

"The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a landmark 40-year-old decision that gave federal agencies broad regulatory power, upending their authority to issue regulations unless Congress has spoken clearly."

Essentially, while the Collective Mind was sleeping, we were absolutely kicking a— on the Actual layers of the Info War, with the administrative state getting neutered to close out the week.—Burning Bright

Supreme Court illustration from Epoch Times

 

Censorship Allowed

Murthy v. Missouri 

This is a ruling we feel bad about, and may seriously regret down the road. It is a bit of a kicking-the can-down-the-road type of ruling. It concerns censorship by tech companies—which are getting the benefits of being common carriers, but are additionally treated as private companies that can decide what speech can show up on their platforms. There is some sympathy for such platforms, which feel like they are held accountable (but are not actually) for hate speech or bullying, or libel—in other words speech that could be handled through other legal means between the speaker and the victim. These tech companies broadly stretched that sympathy into full-on censorship. They continue to censor—sometimes without the speaker knowing they’re being censored, and almost always without knowing why. This was most apparent during COVID; you still see their stupid messages show up beneath posts that even tangentially oppose the elites' narrative. There’s a recent ad for a Hillsdale College online course about the Great Reset, in which they detail public statements and information about the WEF; Facebook deems it necessary to warn us that Hillsdale is lying to us about a secret conspiracy theory. Ridiculous!

The case is about government censorship, but it fails to recognize the pressure on (or tacit agreement with) private companies to carry out the censorship for them.

Tech companies used censorship to great effect during the 2020 election. During litigation they have been slightly less hesitant to outright censor. This ruling gives them carte blanche to knock out whatever speech they don’t like during this year’s election. 

·      “No Remedy for Censorship: The Perils of Murthy” Philip Hamburger, Real Clear Politics, July 2, 2024. 

Murthy is probably the worst speech decision in American history. In the face of the most sweeping censorship in American history, the decision fails to recognize either the realities of the censorship or the constitutional barriers to it. In practical terms, the decision invites continuing federal censorship on social media platforms. It thereby nearly guarantees that yet another election cycle will be compromised by government censorship and condemns a hitherto free society to the specter of mental servitude. 

·       “Supreme Court Punts on Florida and Texas Social Media Laws, Sends Cases Back to Lower Courts” Matthew Vadum, Epoch Times, July 1, 2024.  

·       “Rigged AGAIN? Biden's Censorship ALLOWED in 2024 after SCOTUS Ruling” Robert Gouveia law vlog, June 27, 2024.  

·       “Missouri v. Biden - SCOTUS Plays Pontius Pilate: NO STANDING on 1st Amendment Violations?” Viva Frei law vlog, June 26, 2024. 

 

Viva Frei (left) and Robert Barnes walk through multiple cases and other news,
screenshot from here. Note: there's a disinformation warning attached by YouTube,
which will continue to be allowed because of the failure in the Missouri ruling.

Extras

Here are a few extras that either cover multiple cases, or cases beyond what I’ve covered here: 

·       “Ep. 217: Biden Debate Debacle; SCOTUS Jan. 6;SCOTUS Chevron; Trump AND MORE!” Viva Frei & Robert Barnes, June 30, 2024.  

·       “Key Takeaways from Supreme Court Rulings That Curb Executive Power” Sam Dorman, Epoch Times, June 28, 2024.  

·       “Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Power of Federal Agency to Set Workplace Rules” Tom Ozimek, Epoch Times, July 3, 2024.