#devout catholic joe biden

[beardedmrbean]

Hunter Biden is appearing in person in an Arkansas courtroom Monday for a hearing in the child support case of his unclaimed 4-year-old daughter born out of wedlock. 

Lunden Roberts, the mother of 4-year-old Navy Joan Roberts, had reached an agreement with Hunter Biden in 2020 regarding the child's paternity and child support payments. 

But the case was reopened when Biden requested adjustments to the child support payments. In December, Roberts's lawyers filed a motion to have the girl's last name changed to Biden. 

HUNTER BIDEN ORDERED TO APPEAR IN-PERSON FOR ARKANSAS PATERNITY CASE HEARING FOR UNCLAIMED 4-YEAR-OLD-DAUGHTER

"The Biden name is now synonymous with being well-educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful," the motion said. 

In rebuttal, Biden’s attorney demanded "strict proof thereof that such request is in the best interest of the child."

BLINKEN AND WIFE EMAILED FREQUENTLY WITH HUNTER BIDEN, RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT ROLE IN LAPTOP COVER STORY 

Last week, Independence County Circuit Judge Holly Meyer ruled that Hunter Biden and Roberts must be present for every future hearing in the case. 

Meyer scheduled a bench trial for July 24-25 in Batesville, Ark. 

In a January 2020 order, Meyer declared "with near scientific certainty" that Biden is the father of the girl, referred to in court documents as "Baby Doe," following a DNA test. 

The girl was born in August 2018, and a paternity suit was initially filed in May 2019.

President Biden has refused to acknowledge the granddaughter born out of wedlock. Last Christmas season, first lady Jill Biden hung stockings for six of their grandchildren at the White House, excluding Navy. Those recognized were Naomi, 27, Finnegan, 21, Maisy, 20, Natalie, 17, Robert Hunter Biden II, 15, and little Beau, 1. 

___________________

[mysharona1987]

When you find a way to make everything about Joe Biden.

Now Hamas are going to Mexico?

Because devout extremist drug-dealing Muslim guys are going to get along so well with devout extremist drug-dealing Catholic guys.

The berserk Breaking Bad spin off we never wanted.

Poor Jesse is going have to learn “Yo, bitch” in Arabic now.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Drew Sheneman

* * * *

Both-siderism reaches new heights at NYTimes

We stand at a stark divide in the fight to protect the reproductive liberty of women. One candidate, Joe Biden, promises to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade if he is given a majority in both chambers of Congress. The other, Donald Trump, is okay with a total ban on abortion and jailing doctors as long as gerrymandered state legislators pass a law banning abortion. The positions of the candidates could not be more different.

So, imagine the surprise of receiving a newsletter from the NYTimes by Jess Bidgood with the headline, “Two Imperfect Messengers Take On Abortion.” (This article is accessible to all.)

The headline—and the article—create a false equivalency between President Biden and Donald Trump that does not exist. It is true that Joe Biden—a devout Catholic—has struggled with abortion as a matter of personal conscience throughout his fifty-year political career.

Biden indeed struggles to use the term “abortion” in his speeches—a sign of his sincerely held religious beliefs, not a sign of hesitancy in supporting the constitutional rights recognized in Roe v. Wade. At every opportunity, Biden promises to reestablish Roe v. Wade.

Over the last 25 years, Biden has been a staunch and vocal supporter of reproductive liberty for women despite his genuinely held religious views. That, in Bidgood’s opinion, makes Joe Biden an “imperfect messenger” on equal footing with the candidate who brags about killing the constitutional right to right to reproductive liberty and openly supports total bans on abortion.

Bidgood’s article is irresponsible journalism because in striving for balance, she distorts reality and does violence to the facts. Donald Trump is a menace to women’s rights, while Joe Biden is a champion for women in all things—including their right to reproductive liberty. Bidgood’s article is misleading in suggesting otherwise.

Read Bidgood’s entire article (linked above). If (after doing so) you want to share your thoughts with her, you can reach her at onpolitics@nytimes.com.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Noah Berlatsky at Public Notice:

Just three days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Harris has already secured enough delegates to be the presumptive Democratic nominee. The speed with which the party came together around her is inspiring. Harris has been endorsed by almost everyone who matters in Democratic politics — senators, governors, key organizations, unions. She’s also raised some $100 million and counting from more than 880,000 small donors, more than 60 percent of whom hadn’t contributed before this cycle. If anyone was on the fence about whether Biden stepping aside was the right move, they probably aren’t now.

The past three days have been a remarkable display of Democratic consensus and unity after a bitter intra-party argument over whether Biden should be the nominee. The rush to support Harris also indicates that the party believes she can beat the Republican candidate — giant orange fascist blight Donald Trump. New Harris-Trump polling started trickling out yesterday, and it contained good news for Democrats. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken entirely after Biden announced his decision to step aside showed Harris up two points nationally (and up four points when RFK Jr. is included). Another poll showed Harris and Trump tied. Given that Harris just had her first rally as the presumptive candidate yesterday, we’ll need more time to figure out exactly how the race has changed. But there are already a number of reasons to be hopeful about her prospects of winning this November.

Unifying looked easy. It’s not.

The first indication of Harris’s strength is … well, pretty much everything that’s happened since Sunday. Harris has been pilloried over the last four years as a middling politician, largely on the grounds that she suspended her 2020 presidential campaign before Iowa. The reliably confused Pamela Paul at the New York Times, for example, argued this week that “Harris is a fundamentally weak candidate” who “fizzled out” in the presidential race. As political scientist Jonathan Bernstein points out, though, Harris’s candidacy didn’t fizzle out. She had solid endorsements and decent polling — but she figured out that Biden was too far ahead to beat in a very crowded field and dropped out early. That allowed her to stay on good terms with party actors and put her in a position to get the vice presidency. That’s not losing. It’s winning.

[...]

Harris and abortion rights

Harris is also well positioned to run on some of the central issues of the election. In particular, she’s a good voice for the party on abortion, which has been an especially energizing issue since the Supreme Court gutted abortion rights in its Dobbs decision in 2022. The Dobbs decision was hugely unpopular and remains so, even in Republican strongholds — anti-abortion measures in deep red states like Ohio and Kentucky have gone down to defeat. Democratic strength in the 2022 and 2023 off-year elections have been attributed by most analysts to the electorate’s support for abortion rights. Democrats are fighting to get abortion referendums on the ballot in November in states like including Arizona, Nebraska, and Florida. Despite Democratic successes under his watch, Biden has always been an imperfect messenger on abortion rights. A devout Catholic, he started his career by arguing that the Roe decision protecting abortion rights “went too far.”

Biden is now solidly pro-choice, and his administration has of course defended abortion rights, most recently winning a Supreme Court case defending abortion pills. But his ambivalence lingers. Even in 2023, after Dobbs, Biden was careful to note his own personal discomfort with abortion procedures, stating in one speech, “I happen to be a practicing Catholic. I’m not big on abortion.” Immediately following the Dobbs ruling, Biden’s administration struggled to come up with a strong rhetorical or policy response. He’s also been weirdly reluctant to even say the word “abortion” in speeches. Harris has no such reticence. She visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in March; she’s believed to be the first president or vice president to ever visit a clinic providing abortion services.

[...]

Harris the prosecutor

On Monday, in her first big speech after Biden’s endorsement, Harris emphasized her experience as a prosecutor and said it put her in a strong position to make the case against Trump. “I was a courtroom prosecutor,” she said. “In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.” She hit the same theme yesterday during her first campaign rally as the presumptive Democratic nominee. It was so well received by her audience in suburban Milwaukee that the crowd broke out in “KA-MA-LA! KA-MA-LA!” chants.

The contrast here is glaring. A jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting writer and journalist E. Jean Carroll; he’s been accused of sexual assault and harassment by numerous other women. He was convicted of fraud for misvaluing assets in New York. A jury convicted him of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments before the 2016 election. He also faces charges involving mishandling of classified documents and illegally attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

Harris got her start in politics, as she says, as a prosecutor. As San Francisco’s DA and California’s AG, she went after fraudsters engaged in Trump-like scams. She obtained a $1.1 billion judgment against for-profit Corinthian College for fraud (Trump, for his part, agreed to a $25 million settlement after his so-called Trump University was sued for deceptive practices). She also won an $18 billion settlement against large banks for foreclosure misconduct. (Trump is promising massive deregulation of Wall Street.) Parts of Harris’s record in California are controversial with progressives. She threatened to prosecute parents of chronically absent children. No one was actually sent to jail, but as a policy, using prisons to threaten struggling parents is not a great precedent. Her record has also been criticized by sex workers and by drug law reformers (she prosecuted 1,900 people for marijuana violations). But Harris’s background as a prosecutor isn’t as much of a problem for her today as it was when she was running for president in 2019 — before covid, the George Floyd murder, and the ensuing spike in crime across the country. She’s also no longer running against Democrats — she’s running against Trump, whose criminal justice policies are nightmarish.

Project 2025, the Heritage Project blueprint for a Trump second term, is rabidly anti-sex worker; it proposes criminalizing porn as a step towards criminalizing trans and LGBT people (whose very existence the right considers pornographic). And Trump wants to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, a massive undertaking that evokes histories of police states and concentration camps.

Noah Berlatsky wrote in Public Notice about how Kamala Harris has united Democrats in her short time as the presumptive nominee.

Harris’s robust defense of abortion rights and her prosecutor record are her biggest assets this election.

[juniperpyre]

writing mid 50s priest!james in a fic set in the 1990s is writing from the pov of a devout catholic man in the silent generation. i just checked and this james was born the same year as joe biden. this james is an irish catholic american. he's fucking joe biden

[sedoretu]

Holy shit I need everyone to listen to the first half of this 15-minute podcast and the absolutely depraved, horrific things that Republican convention-goers say into a microphone with a smile on their face.

RAMEY: You know, I believe in some aid to other countries, but, you know, we need to support our allies. Ukraine is not really our ally. So - Israel's our ally and always has been. And when you turn your back on Israel, you're turning your back on God. So that's just the way I was always brought up. Israel's God's chosen people. The Jews are God's chosen people. And, you know, they need to be taken care of. They didn't ask to be assaulted. They didn't ask for people to come in and steal their women and children out of their homes. So I know, in West Virginia, if that would have happened, it would have been a war. So - right there in my own backyard. You're not stealing somebody's child or their sister or their brother or their grandma and torturing people without getting some repercussions. So I just believe people need to love each other more and more, you know? They need to read the Bible or whatever faith you belong to and figure out that, you know, we're all in this world together, struggling every day, trying to make it. Be kind to people, you know? Give the kindness, and the kindness will come back to you. I believe Donald Trump loves our country. I believe he - I know he loves our veterans. I know he loves our military. I think he loves me, you know? To be honest, I think he truly cares about the American people. Joe and Kamala - I get no warm, fuzzy feelings at all from those two.

or

KHAN: Well, coming from India, culturally, I'm pro-life. India has 1.4 billion people. And secondly, you know, I support - see, our foundational values are - in America are freedom and liberty and free market enterprise structure - capitalistic structure. It's not the perfect model, but it's an optimal model. I didn't come here for socialism or communism. And out of - you know, I don't want to disrespect any gender thing, but I did not come here to support the LGBTQ rights, to be very honest. Culturally, we don't do that. So my values resonate more with the Republican Party, which happen to be our foundational values as well.

or

DONNA VAN AUSDALL: Aloha. I'm Donna Van Ausdall. I am a kupuna, which is senior in Hawaii. I'm 71 years old. Well, I've been involved with the Hawaii Republican Party since I became a Republican back in 2016. I'm just so thrilled to be here. To see President Trump in person is a huge honor. KHALID: You said that you've been involved with the Republican Party since you became a Republican in 2016. So were you not always a Republican? VAN AUSDALL: No. I was a hard-core Democrat. And JFK was my childhood hero, like many of my generation, right? But my husband and I are devout traditional Catholics, so we made a heartfelt choice to become conservatives because of the abortion issue, you know? President Biden is a Catholic, and I'm very disappointed at his pro-abortion stance, you know? So - and I love the conservativeness of Republicans. You know, we want our country to continue to have its constitutional freedoms with the Second Amendment rights. You know, a lot of states are enacting gun laws that I think are too stringent.

I know some of y'all have beef with Democrats but if we don't organize and turn out the vote in November the government will be run by and for these hateful people

[little-catholic-diva]

This is the third year in a row in which the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See publicly celebrates Pride Month after Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a blanket authorization for U.S. diplomatic outposts around the globe to fly the rainbow flag on the same flagpole as the U.S. flag, underscoring support for LGBTQIAAP2S+ rights.

There is literally no reason to fly this flag on any embassy, let alone an embassy that is in a country that represents the Christian faith. Just more disrespect from the "devout Catholic" Joe Biden and his insane administration.

These same people who demand tolerance and acceptance from people who disagree with them refuse to give the same in return. Disgusting.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Joel Kotkin

Published: Jun 21, 2023

In an age of darkness, glimpses of light are rare — but all the brighter for it. As the censorious progressivism embraced by Joe Biden and much of his Democratic party grows into an increasingly pervasive quasi-religion, ordinary people are finding ways to push back. Like democratic Leftists in the Cold War, old-style liberals are becoming a key force in challenging today’s new orthodoxies.

And this rising tide of liberal apostasy, coupled with a growing pushback from grassroots businesses and consumers, represents a far more profound challenge to the established order than the one routinely mounted by conservatives. In the Renaissance, the impetus for change did not come from Jews, Muslims, devil-worshippers or pagans, but devout Christians such as Erasmus, Luther and Calvin.

In our era, the most powerful critics of progressive theology once again tilt to the Left: Andrew Sullivan, Matt Taibbi, Ruy Teixeira, to name but three. Their apostasy rises to uphold the basic principles once central to liberalism — equality of opportunity, free speech, and open inquiry. This battle is also reminiscent of the struggle waged by the Renaissance critics of the all-powerful Catholic Church. Today, it’s not bishops or popes who seek control, but the oligarchs and their media platforms which, with the sometimes exception of Twitter, favour a censorship regime that brands dissidents largely as purveyors of “misinformation”.

Like earlier apostates, religious or scientific, ours face an uphill struggle. They must contend with forces within the C-suite and, particularly, academia, where even the sciences are now constrained by ideological edicts. This is where the money flows, often to a host of non-profits, some secretly funded, that spread the gospels of censorship, police reduction, indoctrination in schools and an apocalyptic environmental agenda. One problem the apostates face is therefore an obvious one: despite often impressive media resumes, their research rarely makes it into the mainstream, their voices being carried no further than Twitter, Substack and the more broad-minded corners of the media.

This pushback comes at a propitious time, extending beyond a few dissident intellectuals to the grassroots and business moguls such as Elon Musk, Ken Griffin and Bernie Marcus. The latter, in particular, understand that the new progressive orthodoxy undermines the entire system by embracing anti-capitalist memes and reducing the role of merit in a system built around it. And so a critical front has been the rebellion against ESG (environmental, social, governance) standards. Many US states have moved to take their pension funds out of firms that embrace this ideology; some investment houses, notably Vanguard and upstart Thrive Asset Management, are eschewing corporate policies that stress climate change and other issues over fiduciary obligation to investors.. The fact that returns to ESG firms have been poor, when compared with those tied to fossil fuels and basic industries, could presage a further awakening among financial and business leaders that the balance sheet, rather than ideological back-slapping, constitutes the primary mission of business.

More important still, apostasy is also rising among the general population. The pressure for reparations, for example, is opposed by upwards of two-thirds of Americans. All major ethnic groups, notes Pew, reject race quotas, including African-Americans; overall, almost three in four oppose this, as do a majority of both Democrats and Republicans.

In the race debate, the role of black apostates is particularly critical. As John McWhorter has long argued, preferential policies encourage “therapeutic alienation” among black people and other minorities — leading some to adopt a mentality of “anger and scapegoating”, instead of doing “the work needed for success”. In the bizarre world of modern progressivism, any opposition to this agenda is “racist”, even if it comes from people who support equal rights and access to opportunity. Critics of race-based discrimination such as McWhorter and Glenn Loury are far from Klansmen incarnate.

Similarly, assaults on European culture have proven unlikely to win over the masses in these countries, the bulk of whom still express some pride in their heritage. The notion that Western societies are eternally oppressive and racist seems a bit of a stretch given that millions of Africans, Middle Easterners, and south Asians continue to flock to these countries, largely to experience higher levels of economic and cultural freedom. The progressive assault on heritage also is likely to stir up far-Right sentiment, as we can see in France, Denmark, and, perhaps most dangerously, Germany.

The ever-more edgy cultural agenda of the Left, particularly its obsession with transgenderism, provides additional fuel for apostasy. People generally believe in the existence of two genders, and are hostile to efforts to impose either sexual or explicitly political curricula on young people. The idea of parental rights, for example — making sure parents are informed if their child decides to transition — has broad support, including nearly four-fifths of Californians, reflecting what appear to be national trends. In defiance of the transgender advocacy from the White House down, the opposition to sporting categories based on gender, rather than sex, has actually grown over the last two years, with even more Democrats now opposed to the practice than in favour.

Critically — and, no doubt, shocking for some — many opposing the progressive agenda are themselves minorities. In Britain and Europe, for example, Muslims tend to be more religious and socially conservative than whites, and Indians, particularly Hindus, have been drifting Right-wards for a generation. In America, surveys show that foreign-born Americans are also more culturally conservative than the native-born.

Perhaps the most economically significant apostasy relates to climate-change policy. Despite growing moves to censor contrary opinions, here the liberal apostates are not classic deniers or oil company executives, but respected scientists such as former Obama advisor Steve Koonin, and climate scientists Roger Pielke and Judith Curry. Even some environmentalists — including Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore — openly denounce “Net Zero” and “de-growth” policies as both impractical and deeply flawed. They recognise that these policies are already leading to the immiseration of poorer people, particularly in California and Germany. They are not calling for an end to climate change mitigation, but for policies that are more realistic and less economically damaging for the working and middle classes.

And then there are grassroots protests at European governments’ attempts to impose emission reductions on farmers and ban chemical fertilisers — regulatory moves at a time when food prices are rising throughout the West. Efforts to reduce agricultural output, now being suggested in the United States and Canada, also could have dire consequences for billions in the developing world. It’s hardly surprising, then, that there is growing scepticism about climate policies globally; in surveys, it barely registers as a priority for people either in Africa or the US where, according to Gallup, climate is stated as a primary concern for barely 2% of the population.

Other troubles, notably the loss of industry amid soaring energy costs, are already creating a popular backlash, which has been a boon for the far-Right in Germany and Italy, among others. Some centrist regimes have taken fright, with France’s Emmanuel Macron stepping back from climate extremism. Less than a year ago, Germany signed an EU target to ban the sale of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, but quickly backtracked.

Overall, for all the talk of ideological polarisation, public opinion may well be tilting more towards the apostates than those of the progressive zealots. Despite the media profile of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow “Squad” members, the majority of Democrat members consider themselves moderate or conservative, while barely one in four sees themselves as “very liberal”.

Of course, even with public support, supporters of traditional liberal values face a number of challenges when it comes to enacting meaningful political change. But there is some good news. Many companies are now rethinking their marketing strategies in the face of negative consumer reaction. There are even glimmers of hope for liberal apostasy in some big cities, as demonstrated by the election of New York’s pro-police Eric Adams and San Francisco’s recall of progressive school board members.

As was the case during the Reformation, the apostate’s course is still not an easy one. But their critique remains critical to undermining the current progressive theology — a far more effective weapon than the reactionary antics of DeSantis, which are focused primarily on Right-leaning GOP voters. In contrast, the apostates speak the same language and share many of the values that once constituted progressive ideals. They are, in other words, both the key to restoring rationality — and to keeping liberalism alive for future generations.

==

I'm a-Woke for the exact same reasons I'm a-theist.

[rosecorcoranwrites]

”where does anon get the idea/they’re not reacting to any external stimuli”- look a decent amount of “well educated devout Catholic men” I know are of the saddening opinion that women legitimately should not do anything (and I do mean anything, including just hobbies/mental improvement, ie “women shouldn’t even study God unless they plan on becoming a nun”) besides childbirth and manual labor around the home (unless the family is literally starving to death and they have to out of necessity) and occasionally I start worrying that this is actually what God/the Church wants in their “ideal world”. Yes I do read the magisterial documents and stories of holy female saints, they don’t help me. The magisterial documents (even the more recent ones by John Paul II) seem to treat women doing anything outside of domestic duties as “technically permissible but we’d prefer you’d not” and saints are exceptional, saints aren’t the average member of the laity. I am concerned that God and the Church believe that the average member of the laity, whether male or female, shouldn’t go outside of specific roles whenever possible. That maybe God does not actually care about the uniqueness of every person He made and just wants us all to be exactly the same while also “virtuous”

Yes the confused person asking questions about your religion is definitely a narcissist absolutely 100%

First off, I never said you were a narcissist? Nor anything about “they’re not reacting to any external stimuli”. I think you might have sent this ask to the wrong person?

Regardless, I’ll bite: What magisterial documents “seem to treat women doing anything outside of domestic duties as “technically permissible but we’d prefer you’d not” ? What specific quotes from them have you concerned? Because what you think they seem to say may not be at all what they mean. Two more points:

As for “saints are exceptional, saints aren’t the average member of the laity”, that’s not at all how Catholics see them. We are literally all trying to be saints. There have been exceptional saints, but there have also been ordinary men and women who lead holy lives, and have still been sainted by the Church. In no way, shape, or form, are we—who are all striving for sainthood—meant to “not actually care about the uniqueness of every person” and be “exactly the same while also “virtuous”. If this were the case, why would we esteem exceptional saints? Plus, there's the idea of us making up Christ's Body, and each playing a different role in the way each body part has a different function. Again, please provide the magisterial documents which indicate that "the average member of the laity, whether male or female, shouldn’t go outside of specific roles whenever possible".

And as for non-magisterial sources, I noticed that even you put “well educated devout Catholic men” in quotes. Who says they are well educated? Them? Who says they are devout? Them. Goodness, even Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden describe themselves as "devout"; the word has almost become meaningless at this point. From context, I assume the men you’ve spoken to are probably radtrads, ie radical traditionalists, who are by no means a reliable source on what the Church actually teaches. I would not give the opinions of such men the time of day, to be honest.

[textingaboutprometheus]

It’s entirely possible to have religious beliefs and not be hateful. As democrats we need to remember that. Mayor Pete speaks every well on this. The right doesn’t own god or religion and we shouldn’t let them feel they do. And remember Joe Biden is a devout catholic and was one of the first democrat politician to support same sex marriage.

True. He fumbled the ball for Obama in 2012 and that's why Obama legalized it.

[bllsbailey]

Pictures of Jill Biden With Donald Trump at Notre Dame Cathedral Spark Quite a Bit of Discussion

The re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which suffered extensive fire damage in 2019, occurred on Saturday, and dozens of world leaders were on hand for the festivities. There was one notable absence, though. President Joe Biden was nowhere to be found.

Instead, Jill Biden showed up with her daughter. That alone spurred questions given the president has long claimed to be a "devout Catholic." Yet, he couldn't be bothered to show up for a once-in-a-lifetime event that other world leaders flocked to? 

ALSO SEE: Jill Biden's Role in Hunter Biden Pardon Situation Is Revealed

Of course, while the White House will likely claim a scheduling conflict (there was nothing on the president's schedule for Saturday), we all know the real reason. Enter Donald Trump, who was a guest of honor, sitting in the front row next to French President Emmanuel Macron. Does anyone doubt that Joe Biden's handlers (including his wife) did not want the contrast of him meandering while Trump confidently struts around?

That's where things get even funnier. Guess who Jill Biden sat next to? That would be none other than the incoming president himself, and they seemed pretty dang chummy. 

Kind of wild to see the sitting president chatting up the next Hitler, but here we are. 2024 has never promised to be anything but crazy. 

Seriously, though, this does put to bed all the silly White House proclamations throughout the campaign about "fascism," doesn't it? If Jill Biden really believed Trump was a "threat to democracy," she wouldn't be seen within a hundred feet of him. That's politics, I guess. These people are nothing if they aren't completely inauthentic and willing to say anything to maintain their power. 

I mean, come on. Does this look like someone gazing upon Hitler to you? 

You know, I'm only half-joking when I say that Jill Biden voted for Trump. Don't underestimate the disdain she has long had for Kamala Harris. Those two women really don't like each other, and it's shown in how happy the Bidens seem to be since the vice president crashed and burned. 

Trump is pretty obviously the acting president at this point. He's the one out meeting with world leaders and making power moves while Joe Biden sends his wife in his place. That she spent her time chatting up the incoming president only adds to the dynamic. It's a bit surreal, but also refreshing. For at least a moment, it feels like people are returning to some semblance of normalcy in politics, where people treat each other with some modicum of respect. Will that last? Of course, not, but I'll take what I can get. 

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

Biden heads to Florida

April 20, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

President Biden will be heading to Florida next week as that state’s most infamous resident is otherwise detained in a Manhattan courtroom. Biden will arrive in Florida one week before the state’s six-week abortion ban goes into effect. The President will deliver a speech that focuses on abortion access, a topic that has rarely served as the main subject of a Biden speech. See Politico, Biden to deliver abortion-focused speech in Florida.

Over the last two decades, Biden has been a strong advocate for women’s reproductive rights. He has advocated for those rights despite his deep devotion to a religion that teaches abortion is wrong. As described in Politico,

Biden’s addressing of abortion head-on is also significant, as the devout Catholic has often displayed discomfort with the issue. Instead, he’s regularly leaned on other messengers, including Vice President Kamala Harris and women who have been directly affected, to argue for abortion rights. His campaign has released several testimonial-style ads that feature women sharing personal stories about abortion.

The dichotomy between Biden’s personal beliefs and political stance has resulted in criticism of Biden among some abortion rights groups. Biden re-ignited those concerns when he skipped over the word “abortion” in his State of the Union address and instead emphasized restoring Roe v. Wade and protecting IVF and pregnancy-related emergency healthcare.

The Biden campaign is expanding the debate to include all aspects of reproductive rights to bring “pro-life” Republicans and independents into the 2024 Democratic coalition. For example, The Guardian reported that anti-abortion laws have prompted emergency rooms to refuse treatment to women experiencing pregnancy-related medical emergencies—a healthcare crisis that affects all women without regard to their beliefs about reproductive liberty. See The Guardian, Rise in pregnant women turned away from US emergency rooms, papers show.

By going to Florida to address the imminent six-week abortion ban, Biden is stepping into the breach as Floridians are supporting an initiative to amend Florida’s constitution to protect abortion rights. See Florida Amendment 4, Right to Abortion Initiative (2024) - Ballotpedia. 

A 60% super-majority is required to pass the initiative to amend Florida’s constitution. Current polling shows that 57% of likely voters in Florida support the initiative to include abortion rights in the state constitution. But 78% of Democrats in Florida support the initiative, demonstrating that turnout will be the deciding factor. See Nearly three in five registered voters in Florida favor expanding abortion access via ballot measure | Ipsos.

As I noted at the beginning of this week, I will attempt to keep attention focused on President Biden’s activities so that Trump's trial in Manhattan does not overshadow Biden’s accomplishments and campaign activities. A reader recommended a new Substack newsletter, What Did Joe Biden Do Today? It is well-written and informative. I have subscribed to the What Did Joe Biden Do Today newsletter. Check it out!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[buttercupkg66]

Report: 70% of Biden's education enforcement took aim at Christian colleges and trade schools

[t3r3sa-p]

'Devout Catholic' Joe Biden Awards Medal of Freedom to Former President of Planned Parenthood | The Gateway Pundit | by Ben Kew

HOW SICK IS THIS, A FAKE CATHOLIC AWARD A MEDAL TO A BABY KILLER.

PLANNED parenthood should be helping women NOT TO GET PREGNANT instead of KILLING BABIES WICH 🔥ARE OFFERINGS TO MOLOCH.

👿‘DEVOUT CATHOLIC’ Joe Biden Awards MEDAL of Freedom to Former President of PLANNED PARENTHOOD

[deblala]

'Devout Catholic' Joe Biden Bans Christian-Themed Designs From White House Easter Art Contest | The Gateway Pundit | by Ben Kew

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/devout-catholic-joe-biden-bans-christian-themed-designs/