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Henry Olsen:
China clearly is building its capability to invade Taiwan sometime in the near future. That effort will succeed unless the United States stands firmly behind the island’s rulers. Biden is right to put us in that position, and he should act firmly now to end the uncertainty his aides are sowing.
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Ron DeSantis’ Martha’s Vineyard gambit is being investigated by Texas law enforcement, questioned for its budgetary appropriateness, and deemed politically motivated (!).
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Wall Street Journal news section:
President Biden’s assertion that the pandemic is over is rankling both Republicans and some public health leaders who say it is premature to announce victory over Covid-19 and that the declaration could undermine the administration’s efforts to secure more funding from Congress.
Wall Street Journal ed board:
Mr. Biden seems to want it both ways. He wants to reassure Americans tired of restrictions on their way of life that the pandemic is over and they can get on with their lives. But he wants to retain the official emergency so he can continue to expand the welfare state and force states to comply. Covid can’t be an emergency only when it’s politically useful.
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A “frustrated” McConnell needs to worry about this:
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John Podhoretz says Joe Biden was “lucid and coherent” on “60 Minutes.”
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A former Trump aide says his old boss mused about being too old to run in ’24.
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Have a great day!
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A reader email:
Hello Mr. Halperin,
I really try hard not to jump on the email app every time I'm hit with a thought prompted by your daily observations, but here's something that I've been mulling over for the past week or so.
Living in Marin County, north of San Francisco, surrounded by similar demographics to my own, age 60+, moderate to liberal to mildly progressive on the political spectrum, economically fortunate insofar as not sweating my next meal and rubbing conversational elbows with like-minded residents on my daily walk down and back on a bike path, I've suddenly become aware of an increasing number of people who are articulating loose plans to deal with a potential national violent uprising should the radical MAGA gang resort to conflict after a November election and certainly after a potential 2024 Trump led resurrection. My most recent interaction of this nature was with a woman neighbor who revealed she and her husband have made a quiet pact with a friend of theirs who owns a big, improved plot of land with a home and utilities north of Sacramento, to take refuge in an Airstream trailer should there be threats of violence.
This is in addition to others I come in contact with who are researching becoming ex-pats in a place like Belize or Panama or parts of Mexico or Asia should things get weird after 2024. And, I too will cop to clicking on occasional 'catnip' web ads that promote an escape route to some refuge haven or another, where cost of living is far less than what we're now experiencing and safety and good health care are selling points along with the ability to live well on Social Security and Pension and dividend payments.
Now I don't profess to be at the vanguard of some massive movement, but the number of interactions I'm experiencing from people who may have felt they were radically changing the world back in the late '60's and now feel the need to articulate a potential lifestyle plan B should there be a deterioration of a safe and comfortable lifestyle within these borders is speaking of a creeping group thought process.
It may not be as telling as conversing at the lunch counter at 6th Street Filling Station in Wausau, Wisconsin, but you still may want to file it away in your reporter's notebook.
Thanks for what you do every day,
Anonymous
