Quick Hits

Senator John Kennedy: Putin invaded Ukraine because he saw Joe Biden was a demented, weak, mentally-incompetent fool who would never have the energy or force of personality to lead a resistance against him.

Former President Joe Biden's cognitive decline was so pronounced that it imperiled US foreign policy by providing an "invitation" to dictators like Russia's Vladimir Putin, Sen. John Kennedy told "Pod Force One."

"I remember when Putin was lined up on the Ukrainian border, thinking of going in, weighing his option, watching President Biden have a short press conference and say, 'Well, if it's a small incursion, it might be OK,'" Kennedy (R-La.) told The Post's Miranda Devine on the latest episode, out Wednesday.

"I'm thinking, Holy Moses, that's an invitation," added the Louisiana Republican, reflecting on the January 2022 press conference, during which Biden went off the rails while responding to criticisms of his agenda raised by the White House press corps.

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"It depends on what [Russia] does," Biden said at the time when asked about Putin's plans. "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do."

Kennedy recalled thinking at the time that the president's rhetoric "was dangerous."

"I think he just started rambling," the senator said, before rattling off other foreign policy flubs. "Afghanistan. [Biden] removed the sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He removed the sanctions on Iran from selling their oil. Now, President Xi in China is working with Putin and Russia and the Ayatollah in Iran, they see all this.

"They're working together, and they saw the president, who was not clearly in grasp -- didn't have a clean grasp on all of his faculties. They saw the weakness, and they made their move. And that's how Ukraine started," he added.

Kennedy also claimed that he could see the Democrat's "neurodegenerative disease ... got worse" over time.

"I figured his staff was getting maybe four hours, five hours of work out in the day. He couldn't help it," The Republican claimed. "His staff cleverly hid it until they couldn't anymore. He had the debate in front of God and the country and the American people -- and the American people saw it, and they said, 'Look, this man is just, he's like my grandpa, you know, who I just took the car keys from.'"

Trump is now laying sanctions on China and India to get them to stop buying (and reselling) Russian oil. Biden never took this step. Trump is also authorizing Ukraine to use missiles against targets in Russia. Again, Biden never took this step.

But Trump's a foreign agent under the control of Putin, huh?

The unemployed madwoman Rosie O'Donnell demands a "blackout embargo" of the entire US economy.

The former co-host of The View posted on Instagram Wednesday, promising to launch "the largest economic blackout protest in U.S. history."

...

In the post, O'Donnell calls for workers to refuse to go to work and stay home instead. She also asks for them not to attend any events and to stay away from restaurants. The message scrawled on the meme reads, "We're not asking. We're shutting it down."

...

Hundreds of Instagram users told O'Donnell exactly what they thought of her radical left-wing call to action. And it wasn't pretty.

One user said, "That's so nice of you to pay my rent and car note since my check will be short a week."

Another user, fuming over her assault on restaurants, replied, "What did restaurants do to you? You wrote it 2x. Lots of mom and pop places will go under. Service staff survives on the tips. Many of those workers live pay check to pay check."

"This is great for people that are privileged enough to be able to do this," one commenter noted. "A lot of small biz will suffer with a week of no sales, myself included. Maybe not even be able to pay rent or employees with that much revenue loss."

I've come around to crediting Trump for his many wins. But I cannot forgive the broken promise he made to me in 2006, when he vowed he would send one of his attractive female friends to steal Rosie O'Donnell's lesbian girlfriend away from her.

"I'll send one of my friends to pick up her girlfriend and I think it would be very easy."

Still waiting, Donald. Still waiting.

Glenn Reynolds: "No Kings" isn't a pro-democracy movement. It's an overtly anti-democratic movement, made up of fading, aging former elites who are angry that the public no longer allows them to manage the American decline.

Watching the "No Kings" protests, a friend commented: "Democracy dies when the other side wins. Another rule they wouldn't want to have turned back on them."

That does seem to be the animating spirit not only of the various marches around the country, but of the entire anti-Trump resistance.

President Trump's crime isn't anything he's said, or done, or even believed (which, all too often, anti-Trump protesters can't cogently describe anyway).

It's that he won, and he represents the other team.

As Batya Ungar-Sargon put it: "The 'No Kings' rally isn't protesting Trump but rather the agenda the majority of America voted for. The Left isn't protesting a king but their fellow Americans. They aren't standing up for democracy -- they are protesting against it."

This is entirely correct. Trump isn't a king; he's a popularly elected president who won in something of a landslide, delivering exactly the policies that he promised the electorate.

His actions generally involve invoking various statutes passed into law by Congress over the past several decades.

His enforcement of immigration laws and deportation of criminal aliens is very popular.

His ending of DEI policies is also very popular. So is his slashing of federal payrolls, and his cuts to foreign aid.

Then there are his cuts to federal regulations. And his support for law enforcement.

In fact, Trump is a "king" -- or "dictator," as we're often told -- whose actual program seems to involve shrinking the government he heads. That's not the usual thing for autocrats.

I don't know why Trump insists on allowing the Chicom propaganda operation TikTok persist:

Prison:

ICE raided illegal street vendors in NYC's Chinatown and the left freaked out.

Federal immigration authorities arrested multiple people, including illegal vendors and enraged protesters, on Tuesday afternoon in a targeted operation on Canal Street in Manhattan's Chinatown, authorities and law enforcement sources said.

ICE agents descended on the block between Lafayette and Centre streets, which is typically crowded with merchants selling knockoff designer bags and other items, around 4 p.m., according to the sources.

Some vendors tried to flee, with some seen running and falling as agents closed in, according to WABC.

The operation turned chaotic as protesters shouted obscenities and blocked vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to The Post.

At least one "rioter" was arrested for assault on a federal officer during the "targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation" that involved multiple federal agencies, the DHS said.

During the arrest of one vendor, bystanders became enraged and yelled in ICE agents' faces, calling them Nazis and fascists, AMNY reported.

ICE agents reportedly began slamming people to the ground, leading other bystanders to join the mob, the outlet said.

Federal officers responded by pulling out batons and riot shields, striking some protesters, according to the report.

The exact number of arrests, including the breakdown of how many vendors and protesters were cuffed, is not yet known.

"I saw this live in real time and real history," said Manhattan resident Kaden Cummings, 23. "They just started grabbing people and putting them into vans."

Edwin Jean, who is from Brooklyn, told The Post he was briefly cuffed by the feds when he refused to hand over his ID.

He then became enraged and began swearing at the agents.

This will shock you: It turns out that the people arrested weren't Darling Babies Who Didn't Do Nuffin', but were in fact -- get this -- illegal aliens with criminal warrants.

Adam Carolla is always pointing this out: He, as a law-abiding, tax-paying American citizen, has to spend tens of thousands of dollars and wait ten years to get a minor zoning variance to put in a pool, but an illegal alien can open an unregulated, uninspected taco stand on the street without any permits and the government doesn't bother him at all.

Strange country, where the citizens are bullied and the illegal alien criminals are allowed to live like kings.

posted by Ace at 06:10 PM

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