BRING ON THE DEBATES

                                   BY  BILL JUNEAU 

                                       

                                             There  are at least three good reasons why Joe Biden cannot weasel out of debating President Trump where his  mental agility and that of the incumbent will be on display for citizens to watch and judge. Debates are traditional, and Americans want them and expect them.    

                              Reason One is that Biden  himself is on record guaranteeing that he'll be there. "I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I am running against,.....Just watch me," Biden has said.  

                               The personal commitment and word of the challenger seeking to take over the highest and most prestigious office in the United States, in fact in the entire world, is a sacred pledge not to be discarded like an old hat. His 40 years as a U.S. Senator and another eight as vice president must have taught him that his word is revealing of his character. 
                               Presently, there exists a huge question in the minds of Americans whether the former Vice President may have slipped mentally and become incapable of handling the job. The suspicion is based upon his often befuddled demeanor and frequently inane and foolish comments. Likewise, his refusal to campaign as a Presidential candidate raises doubts in some voters' minds about whether he is hiding something. 
                             Currently, the 77-year-old Biden remains hunkered down in the basement of his Delaware home declining  interviews and eschewing news conferences with questions from aggressive reporters. He has been hidden away in that lair since about last March.  His main activity and method of campaigning is by sending out statements (prepared for him) and making commercials blaming the President for causing problems for the country. 
                                A few days ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an octogenarian clearly fighting a bad hangover or a denture problem, admonished the former vice president that he should not debate as his appearance would have the effect of "legitimizing a conversation with Trump."
                            Joe Lockhart, a former Bill Clinton press secretary,  said that Biden should skip Presidential debates because of Trump's track record of lying. "Whatever you do, don't debate Trump,"  he wrote in an  OpEd  page column.
                               When it comes to lying, "Slow" Joe Biden has been a pro at the job, and Lockhard and all of Washington is well aware of that.  In addition to having been a frequent plagiarizer who kept getting caught, he has boasted of his days at law school at the University of Delaware which he attended on an "academic" scholarship, finishing high in his class. 
                              Biden has acknowledged that he had been fudging after fact checkers discovered that he finished near the bottom of his class, 76 out of 85; and that his "academic" scholarship was actually a piece of financial aid given him because of his contention that he was penniless. One classmate remembered him as the "dumbest s.o.b. in the class."  The Washington Post has called Biden the "Lamborghini of Gaffes" as a kind way of assessing his disingenuous behavior.  
                              According to Lockhard's logic, two liars should cancel each other out and the debate should go ahead.
                              A few weeks ago, a CBS reporter managed to connect with Biden by way of a virtual hook up. Biden jumped all over him when asked if he intended to take a mental test like one President Trump had taken and passed. Biden said he would let the public decide at the debates if he had the mental fitness. "Why the hell would I take a test--that's like saying you (reporter) should take a cocaine test before going on the air.  "C'mon man, I am tested every day, and I am perfectly willing to have the public judge my mental fitness."
                             "Lets scrap the debates" ran a headline in the New York Times' Opinion Page on which only opinions consistent with positions taken by the Times are permitted.  CNN and NBC pundits also are commenting that debates are not necessary, even superfluous.  Nothing surprising there since the media has become  an arm of the Democratic National Committee, and has abandoned all journalistic ethics when it comes to politics.                               
                              But with all that Democrat scrambling to keep the authentic "Slow Joe" in his basement bunker,  the debates have been scheduled by the Presidential Commission on Debates, and that is Reason Two that canceling is highly unlikely. The debates are scheduled for Sept. 29, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22.
                          Jen O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign manager, committed to that schedule in a letter of agreement to the Commission. Trump advisers are asking that the debates begin sooner and that there be a fourth and a fifth debate, but Biden's people would be unlikely to agree to extra showcasing of the authentic Biden.
                          Reason Three why the debates will not be stopped and will proceed as scheduled is that Biden's wife, Dr. Jill, has said that her husband of 44 years will debate.  "Joe will be there," asserted Mrs. Biden in a July interview with Fox News'  Dana Perino.  It's sort of unscripted law in American folklore that when a wife speaks, her word is gospel, and when the wife is a "doctor" well, in Biden terminology, "That's it man...period.".   
                            Mrs, Biden, 67, is the recipient of an "EdD" degree in 2007 from the University of Delaware.  Her field is education.   
                                             

                                        xxx


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MICHELLE TELLS WHOPPERS

                                                 BY BILL JUNEAU

                                           The four-day Democratic convention was a technological wonder, with remote speakers all over the country wired together like one big Zoom party. Only the content was sorely lacking.
                           It finished with acceptance speeches read by "Slow" Joe Biden and "Nasty" Kamala Harris in distant flag- bedecked rooms designed to look like stages. But like pro baseball and basketball  games in this age of Covid-19, there were no cheering crowds, no waving banners, none of the excitement that usually defines political conventions. And with that 1-2  lineup, this convention is not likely to light up history books.   
                             As proclaimed by the far left media, which is really an on-call army of the Democratic party,  former First Lady Michelle Obama was the shining star of this virtual convention.   
                            She was the keynoter and one of a number of speakers, all selected with care  to administer a full shellacking of  President  Donald Trump while extolling the skills and brain power of the 77-year-old Joe Biden, the party's standard bearer. Michelle did her job, in her determined and polished way, and she stood out and shone probably because she told the biggest whoppers of all.    
                             But all speakers, including nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and the former First Lady, had their  marching orders.  References to the  violence, lawlessness, arson, looting and shootings now sweeping the streets of cities in the hands of liberal Democratic mayors and governors, were not to be mentioned.  It was to be  "Hope and Love and Change" themes rich in make- believe patriotism, which had to be stressed.  That was the DNC agenda and it was followed to a tee.  
                             Other speakers included some disgruntled Republicans, such as former Ohio Governor John Kasich, along with former presidential nominees John Kerry, best remembered for throwing his Viet Nam medals in the trash and Hillary Clinton, long ago labeled as a "congenital liar" by a New York Times columnist.
                             And there was Bernie Sanders, the Marxist-Socialist who has been spreading liberal drivel around Washington and Vermont for 40 years. With Bernie was his distaff protege, Congresswoman AOC, the ex-New York bartender who wants to remake the United States from top to bottom, maybe even build a bridge to Hawaii. She only spoke for a minute or so, but apparently forgot where she was, and nominated Bernie to be the standard bearer for the Democrats.  
                                 But it was Michelle Obama who garnered real approbation for her praise of Biden, her husband's vice president for eight years. Her speech was called "historic" and unforgettable--one that will live forever, by liberal empty heads in the media. Many of her fans secretly wished  the sincere and  reality-twisting Michelle, and not the bull-tempered Kamala, would have been the vice presidential choice.                          .                                                                              Mrs. Obama's task was two-fold.  Rip apart the nation's president as an incompetent "racist" and praise Joe Biden for his masterful ways and recognition that America is a land of open borders and largess which can overcome its "systemic racism."  And she performed admirably, as she read from her prepared script while relaxed and seated at home as her disingenuous words were streamed throughout the nation. 
                             After touching upon her own background growing up on Chicago's south side and upon other memories, she got down to business.  She excoriated the nation's chief executive for not being "up to the job" of running the country; and for allowing innocent people of color to "continue to be murdered." In Trump's world, she added, the very mention of Black Lives Matter continues to be "met with derision."
                             She blamed the President for mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic and said that Joe Biden is prepared to tackle it.  We can do better, she insisted, and Joe Biden will do better.
                              She talked about the gaffe-ridden Biden's "clear-headed judgment" in contrast to President Trump, who "emboldens torch bearing white supremacists."                               She went on to define the job which Joe Biden will be undertaking even though anyone who has observed Biden attempting to put a sentence together knows that it is time for Joe to retire and leave the governing to others. 
                         In her calm and genteel way, Mrs. Obama detailed the job of President and told of how "when they go low, we go high.
                       "The job is hard. It requires clear-headed judgment, a mastery of complex and competing issues, a devotion to facts and history, a moral compass, and an ability to listen—and an abiding belief that each of the 330,000,000 lives in this country has meaning and worth," she proclaimed.
                       "I know Joe," she stated. "And Joe Biden is ready for that job." 
                           Joe Biden has these talents and skills?  Who is kidding whom?  Does Michelle Obama actually believe that?  Biden is clearly losing it, if he ever had it. He tells crazy stories about his hairy legs and the legendary "Corn Pop" who confronted him with a knife when he was at some swimming pool.  
                          Slow Joe Biden has been around Washington for 47 years as a senator and a vice president, but has nothing of substance to point to as his accomplishment. The Washington Post has dubbed him the "Lamborghini of Gaffes."  At a rally some years ago, Biden called out to a supporter:  "Chuck, stand up and take a bow."  Chuck waved, from his wheelchair.  
\                          Biden once described Barack Obama when he was running for office, as " the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy.  I mean that's a storybook, man." Michelle was not about to recall those Biden remarks.  
                             It was a stellar if widely spaced crowd of Democrats and Trump hating Republicans trying to spruce up the image of Biden, their flagging leader.  And they certainly couldn't do that by dwelling on the violence, looting and lawlessness on the streets of urban America under the guiding hands of Democratic mayors and governors.  Much easier to trash Trump for a Chinese-created pandemic that took the whole world by surprise.  

                                              XXX






                           
                          

SLOW JOE AND NASTY KAM--CONNECTING THE DOTS

                                                 BY BILL JUNEAU

                               The Democrat team is now official and a big  part of America is trembling---and with good reason.  "Slow  Joe" Biden and "Nasty" Kamala Harris  are announcing grandiose and bizarre "changes" in America for when they take charge.        
                                The four-day Democratic convention to officially anoint Biden and Harris as party nominees is underway  in Milwaukee and the attack on President Trump is pouring out. Acceptance speeches are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
                                  Biden, who is clearly an empty suit, will be leaving all decisions to his alter ego, the unlikable, far left  junior senator from California, Ms. Harris.  Well, that certainly is cause to make Republicans, conservatives, and tax payers nervous about the future. 
                              But the news of a victory for Democrats next November is a bit premature, and in my judgment, possible, but a long shot, despite unreliable Democrat commissioned polls.  In fact, my prediction is that Americans from across the USA will reelect President Trump handily, because the silent majority of citizens still prefer the blustery, pro-America, law-and-order loving incumbent waving Old Glory, to the weird duo of the befuddled Biden and the mendacious ultra-liberal Harris.  That duo is accusing the country of being "systemic racists," as evidenced by the death of George Floyd at the hands of one Minneapolis policeman. 
                               Slow Joe and Nasty Kamala, the pro-abortion twins who extol AOC and Bernie's idiotic, socialistic utopia, do not possess the ability and heart of a President and Commander-in-Chief.  In  fact, from appearances, Harris does not really like America where she avers that white cops cannot resist shooting innocent young black men, and the fewer the cops, the better.  Well, let's just say, their election is in no way a lock for Democrats, as some corners of the warped media are preaching.                           .  
                              Everyone who has watched Joe Biden over the past months and years, or have seen films of his asinine conduct and heard his inane yarns about "Corn Pop," and his own "hairy legs" has to know that Biden is no longer playing with a full deck.  As one professorial observer has noted, "Biden cannot finish a sentence"....."and is suffering a mental eclipse and sliding away at a geometric rate."  Imagine Slow Joe with his shaky hand on the nation's war buttons. 
                              So, what's this all about?   Let's connect the  dots.  
                             Biden is clearly incapable of functioning as President, but he is the only Democrat who has a following and possesses a name for which victory over President Trump is a possibility.  Other candidates in the Democratic party primaries, like Marxist Bernie and the Native American pretender, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are dead bang losers.  But Biden might be competitive based upon his name, although Biden, at 77, is now best known for hibernating in his basement. So Man, (as Biden himself would say) "Here's the deal."   
                             Biden picked for his vice presidential running mate the California Junior senator who is a former Attorney General for the state.  Kamala Harris is glib and fast talking and smart in her sultry way, and so far to the left that she is likely to tip over. And most important, she is, as Biden has promised, a woman, and a "woman of color," whose father was a Jamaican and mother was from India.  Harris was born in California in 1964 and became a citizen by birth on American soil, even though neither parent was an American citizen at that time. 
                              Septuagenarian Biden has said that he will never seek a second term, leaving the door open for Harris to be the presidential candidate in 2024.  But what if Biden cannot complete his first term in office, or if rich and powerful Democrats want him out?  He is already showing signs of suffering from dementia and it would not take much for him to be removed from office in accord with the 25th amendment.  But rather than be carted off for medical reasons, he could opt to resign and allow Vice President Harris to switch seats, and become President.  And that appears to me to be the plan.
                             As an aside, it is notable that Jeanine Pirro, an astute TV commentator and a former New York prosecutor and judge, has publicly opined that she does not believe that Biden who clearly is running on empty, will ever be on the ticket.  "I do not know how to explain it, but that is how I feel," she said.  But we will certainly have to see on that one. 
                               So the race to win on November 3 is on and  Republicans have their hands full, but its doubtful that Americans  want the snippy Harris with her endorsement of 16-year-old voters and the nonsensical, trillion dollar "Green New Deal" in the oval office---ever.  Socialism and Marxism do not play well with Americans who still want Democracy and not the repressive government which was tried and failed in Venezuela, and which is full throttle in Russia and Red China.  Harris acquired the "nasty" reputation as it seemed to fit her conduct prominently displayed on congressional committees while she questioned Republican witnesses like Attorney General William Barr, demanding "yes or no" answers to loony questions. 
                              President Trump has often pointed to her bellicose manner.  "I think that she is the meanest and most horrible and disrespectful senator of anyone in the United States Senate, he said, after hearing her question Supreme Court Nominee Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing.                                                                   Under the Kamala Harris way of doing things, citizens do not salute the American flag and do not stand with a hand on their heart at the playing of the national anthem. Under Trump, and in the tradition of past presidents, including  Honest Abe, Teddy Roosevelt, JFK  and Ronald Reagan  the United States is special and should never be allowed to be denigrated while in the hands of chameleons whose genuine love of America just isn't there.                               
                               Candidate Trump looks forward to the three scheduled debates with Biden in September and October in  anticipation of the November 3 election.  Democrats are trying to block the debates and the one sided media is saying that debates are superfluous and not needed.  But if the debates go forward as scheduled, and Americans see the authentic Biden in action, President Trump's win will be overwhelming. 

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COMEY TO TESTIFY

                                                 BY BILL JUNEAU
                                 
                                     He is a towering six-feet, eight inches tall, and he walks with the swagger of an untouchable.  He has written a book about his virtuous self and has acquired a net worth of about $14 million.  He used to be the Director of the FBI, the most respected police agency on the planet ---until he got fired for incompetence and the leaking of classified documents to the media. 
                                     That's James Comey, and now it's his turn at bat as a witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee which is investigating the origins and  machinations behind the attack on President Trump.  Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has said that the committee will continue "full steam" until it gets to the bottom of the shameful attempt to discredit and take down the nation's duly elected 45th President.
                                     In September, Comey, 59, will be testifying under oath, said Graham,  and the 22-member committee will have plenty of questions for him. He has been subpoenaed and will be there testifying, assuming he does not plead the fifth amendment against self-incrimination.  
                                     In the past few months, two other witnesses have delivered key testimony before the committee and they told of efforts aimed at the undermining of the President and his appointees with Comey as a participant.   
                                     Former acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testified in June that the $33 million dollar Robert Mueller investigation into alleged "collusion" with Russia was unwarranted, ill advised and unnecessary. 
                                     In May, 2017, the bespectacled Rosenstein  ordered the investigation and appointed his friend and former colleague, Robert Mueller, as a special prosecutor.  Rosenstein testified that he now regrets doing so, explaining that at the time he was unaware of the backstage fraud and dishonesty which was demanding the appointment.  In so many words, he gave credence to GOP charges that the investigation was a "witch hunt" and a "hoax" as it has been labeled by the President and other fair-minded Americans, Democrats, as well as Republicans. 
                                     Earlier this month, Sally Yates, an ill-tempered  Democrat who had served as a deputy attorney general before she was cashiered by President Trump for "insubordination," provided testimony which threw Comey "under the bus," said  Graham.  "I was upset that Director Comey didn't coordinate that (Flynn plan) with us and acted unilaterally, Yates said.  He went "rogue"  in his actions to bring down General Michael Flynn,  National Security Adviser, Yates explained.
                                      Without authority from the Justice Department, Gates recalled, Comey ordered an FBI interview of General Flynn.  After a sneak interview with the general, the FBI arrested him and accused him of lying to them.  The agents had been had-picked by Comey and one of them was Peter Paul Strozok, whose animosity for President Trump was well known among agents and grossly evident in his personal emails to fellow agent and paramour, Lisa Page. 
                                    After some 30 months of litigation, the prosecution of Flynn was terminated on order of  Atty. Gen. William Barr, who determined that Flynn had been "set up" via a preconceived plan hatched by Comey and Obama loyalists.  Barr's refusal to prosecute Gen. Flynn is being reviewed by the D.C. Appellate court, but Barr is expected to prevail.  Flynn is a retired army three-star general who served on active duty for 33 years.  
                                      Prior to his appointment by Trump as NSA chief  in December 2016,  Gen. Flynn had served as Defense Intelligence Director in the administration of President Obama.  Apparently, Comey feared that Flynn's strong presence on the Trump team would interfere with Democrat plans to discredit   President Trump.  In Comey's mind,  Flynn was a liability and had to be removed, and Sen. Graham avers that Comey will be asked to explain the entire Flynn charade.  
                                      Based on evidence, and investigations by Inspector General Michael Horowitz  and others in high places in government, Comey's hands are deeply stained as a leading member of the swamp gang which manipulated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), and fraudulently obtained warrants which allowed FBI agents to spy upon the Trump campaign and the Trump White House.  
                                     Also, it was Director Comey who led a "sham"  criminal investigation into the misuse of emails by Hillary Clinton and only winked as Clinton deleted 33,000 emails after receiving a federal subpoena to produce them. No Grand Jury was ever impaneled and Clinton friends were given immunity but still declined to answer questions.    
                                   Comey usurped the authority of then Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch when he announced at a news conference in July, 2016, that Mrs.Clinton, the Democratic standard bearer,  would not be prosecuted because, while she had broken many laws, she lacked the requisite criminal  "intent."    
                                   On May 9, 2017, with concurrence of  Atty. Gen. Sessions and members of his legal staff,  President Trump fired Comey and labeled him "incompetent" and a "leaker" of classified documents.  He also castigated Comey for his mishandling of the Clinton email investigation and for giving her a "get out of jail free" card.                              . 
                                    As a new assistant U.S.attorney,  Comey worked under the direct supervision of  U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani in New York's Southern District. Giuliani has been critical of Comey's attitude and ability. "He started work as a choir boy, but turned into a devil....and as FBI chief, he lacked respect from agents working for him," said Giuliani whose success as a New York prosecutor laid the groundwork for his election as a two term mayor of the nation's largest city. 
                                     As an attorney, and a 1985 graduate of the far left University of Chicago law school, Comey enjoyed the friendship of President Obama, a lecturer at the law school, who appointed him FBI director in 2013.
                                    Comey is among the more than 40 persons who have been subpoenaed to provide testimony as to when, why and how the swamp gang attempted to torpedo the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump.  Others who have been subpoenaed include Comey's deputy at the FBI, Andrew McCabe; former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of Intelligence,  James Clapper. 
                                    Some members of the Senate committee want subpoenas served upon Joe Biden and his son Hunter, but Chairman Graham has so far resisted calling them as witnesses. 
                                   We will keep going until everyone knows exactly what happened in those sordid times, and we hope that eventually, justice will be served, said Chairman Graham.                        
                                              XXX
                   Read Bill Juneau's blogs at www.rightsideonly.blogspot.com.  Juneau, a lawyer,  is a retired Chicago Tribune reporter and a night city editor                                                
                          


                  








                                

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Debates are "Game Over" for Biden

                                             BY BILL JUNEAU

                                         There is a clamor in the air about debates between President Trump and  Joe Biden.  Republicans backing the President  welcome them with open arms,  and Democrats, along with a media that no longer even pretends to be unbiased, have suddenly decided that maybe debates aren't all that important after all. 
                                 The unvarnished truth is that former Vice President Biden appears to have lost it mentally, and everyone knows it. The few times he has been on stage for all to see this year,  his memory blanks and faux pas' and  bizarre stories about the bristling hair on his legs and the legendary "Corn Pop" are a dead-bang give away that Joe Biden is running on empty.  It has become clear that our troubled ship of state cannot right itself with such a shaky hand of leadership at the wheel.  
                              Professor Victor Davis Hanson, a widely admired academic and assessor of the 21st century,  has noted that generally, when Biden speaks, he cannot finish a sentence. "Names are vague eddies in his mind’s river of forgetfulness" and he should not be running for any office, much less U.S. President.  
                              So the  emerging plan seems to be to keep Old Joe in the basement. In other words, no big speech at the convention in Milwaukee, no debates with the acid-tongued Trump. The Corona virus is a good cover to keep voters from seeing just how close to incoherent their candidate really is.                                                                                   But debates have been a part of American politics since at least 1858, when Abraham Lincoln took on Stephen Douglas.  
                             That doesn't seem to matter any more. Democrats have started pushing hard for no more debates--of course, because it will be too difficult with the pandemic and all. 
                            Both The Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN, all big Biden fans, are getting cooler every day to the idea of debates--no surprise there.  Who needs debates, asks the Post.  "Lets scrap the debates" ran a headline in the Times' sacred Opinion Page, where jobs are lost if stories are not compatible with Times preferences. Comments from CNN also fall into line with the "no debates" push.
                                But Democrats must have some kind of plan.  How about this? Let's get our fumbling candidate elected by whatever means necessary, and then keep him occupied with busy work and state dinners, while our hand-picked vice president steps in and runs things. Sort of a preview to her candidacy in 2024.  
                                However, no one has apparently told Biden yet of this strategy.  Biden himself  says he ready and willing to debate. 
                                 Biden, 77, was a U.S. Senator from Delaware for nearly 40 years, and Vice President in the Obama administration for eight, and is running for President for the third time.   
                               "I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I am running against," Biden, said recently. An odd phrasing there, perhaps Biden forgot his opponent's name? We can just imagine the shudders going on backstage among his management team. 
                               “I’ve been tested--I’m constantly tested,” the former Vice President said, while hunkered down in the basement of his Delaware home. “Look, all you’ve got to do is watch me, and I can hardly wait."
                             In a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, Jen O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign manager, committed Biden to face off with Trump in debates  planned for Sept. 29, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22, adding that a vice presidential debate is scheduled for October 7.
                            President Trump and his campaign want more debates than three.  That is not surprising since Trump and his team of advisers believe that "Sleepy, Creepy," Joe, as Trump calls him, has suffered a "mental eclipse and is sliding away from reality at a geometric rate."  Biden is incompetent and lacks the brains and the stamina to serve as President of the United States, Trump said during his recent interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News. Trump wants the public to see Biden in action. 
                            Not only are debates a part of American history, but televised debates have become the rule in modern presidential elections and often have had a huge impact on the election's outcome. 
                           Remember when President Reagan and Jimmy Carter went at it? Reagan grimaced and said, "there you go again"  indicating the Carter was misstating facts.  And it was Reagan, four years later, who at age 73, needled his opponent, Sen.Walter Mondale, by noting that he (Reagan) would not disparage his opponent by calling attention to his "youth and inexperience." 
                           There are example after example of the unintended consequences that flow from televised presidential debates--how can we forget how unkind the cameras were to Richard Nixon against the handsome John F. Kennedy? 
                           Americans expect to sit down in front of the television and get this early preview of how the candidates behave under pressure. It is not up to the  New York Times and the Washington Post to call these debates off. 
                          The presidential election is scheduled for November 3, and experts insist that date is frozen in the deepest concrete and cannot be pushed back.  The President has tweeted that maybe the election could be delayed, but that idea has been rejected by both Democrats and GOPers.                   
                         As of today, the debates  are still on, and Biden says he wants to showcase his mental acuity, and compare his skills with those of  President Trump. If that happens and if Democrat are unsuccessful in interfering in an established tradition for Presidential elections, well, it's "game,set and match" and congratulations to President Trump.
                          Read Bill Juneau's blogs at www.rightsideonly.blogspot.com.  Juneau, a lawyer,  is a retired Chicago Tribune reporter                                                

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AG BARR TAKES ON THE TRUMP HATERS--AND WINS

                                         
                                   BY FLORIDA BILL 

                                    Attorney General William Barr was the only witness, and 24 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives came to the hearing "ready to rumble."  
                                    Each one had a prepared menu of allegations that Barr had used his office to promote the president's re-election bid.  Many charged that General Barr had fired up the dissent on the streets caused by the death of George Floyd by directing police and federal officers to take down "peaceful" protesters in the name of law and order. 
                                    Seventeen Republican legislators also have seats on the committee and each asked questions of the nation's "top cop,"and he responded with full answers.  It was just the Democrats that were pumped up with animosity for the Republican Attorney General.  Each committee member was allotted five minutes for questioning the attorney general. 
                                    After watching the televised hearing which went on for most of the day, viewers must have been scratching their heads, as they saw Democrats in action. Are they for real? "Did I vote for any of them?"  
                                    It was all rather comical as hostile and unprofessional "legislators" yelled and berated the nation's foremost attorney with spurious allegations, and then refused to allow him to respond and explain the actions of the Department of Justice.  In many ways, we saw Curlie, Moe and Larry in skirts and pants, resurrected on a Capital Hill stage.  
                                    The hearing got underway after Barr delivered an opening statement in which he told of the policies and actions of the Department of Justice and his own personal commitment to be fair and impartial and to call things as he sees them.  He noted also that when he accepted the appointment, the President told him to do what you feel is right.  He said that since he has been Attorney General, the President has never asked him or suggested any decision or determination which he should make. 
                                    Confronted with questions from each of the 24, Barr remained poised. Typically, he would begin his answer, but within seconds, when he did not agree immediately with the allegation contained inside the question, he would be told by the legislator that "I am reclaiming my time."  In legislative parlance, "reclaiming time" translates to "shut up and let me talk and expose your transgressions."  
                                   Madeline Dean, a freshman congresswoman from Pennsylvania, was one of the nastier detractors of the attorney general.  She demanded to know why tear gas and chemical irritants were thrown at "peaceful" protesters in Lafayette Park, near the White House.  Tear gas and chemical irritants were not used, said Barr, but when he endeavored to describe the lawlessness of the mob there he was abruptly silenced by the 61-year-old Dean who said she was "reclaiming my time.... and I am surprised at your lack of respect for a member of Congress."
                                   In another exchange with Dean about the attack on "peace-loving men and women," by police, the Congresswoman demanded a "yes or no," as to whether it was proper to use law enforcement against peaceful demonstrators.  When Barr hesitated and prepared to  explain that tough responses are used only against lawlessness and criminals,  Dean interrupted and said a "yes or no" answer was called for.  "There are rules here by which we operate and I would ask you to respect them," she snapped.  
                                  Some committee members wanted to focus their questions on the pandemic sweeping the nation and let Barr know that he had done wrong-- big time.  In fact he was guilty of murder. 
                                      Congresswoman  Debbie Mucarsel-Powell who was elected in 2018 in Florida, accused the Attorney General, and the President, of being directly responsible for the deaths of thousands who succumbed to the Covid-19 virus because they caused these persons to be denied  medical insurance. 
                                     As she was expanding on her nonsense, Congressman Mike Johnson of Louisiana  called out to Chairman Nadler to sanction Powell for having called Barr and President Trump murderers.  
                                       Committee Chairman Jerrold "Fat Jerry" Nadler ignored Johnson's point of order noting that Powell had the floor.  
                                      Rep. Nadler, 73, acquired the monitor of "Fat Jerry" in the 90s when he tipped the scales at about 340 pounds packed onto his 64 inch frame.  He had his innards rewired and shed about 150 of those pounds, but has retained the nickname in the halls of Congress. Observers have remarked that "Fat Jerry" must have had the same dieting guru as his friend, the Rev. Al Sharpton.
                                       On the House floor, Nadler has been a  fierce critic of General Barr and has called for his "impeachment."  It was Nadler, and Rep. Adam Schiff and Speaker Nancy Pelosi that promoted the partisan impeachment articles against President Trump.  In a trial in the Senate, President Trump was vindicated of any alleged wrongdoing, and the impeachment was labeled by Washington insiders as a "hoax," pushed by Democrats who wanted revenge for Trump's beating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.                                             Another strident Democrat at the hearing  was Pramila Jayapal of Washington and she came gunning to take Barr down and make him cry "uncle." 
                                      "Was  it appropriate," Jayapal asked Barr, to foster an "unprecedented escalation of violence against concerned and peaceful protesters in LaFayette Park and to use tear gas, chemical bombs,  pepper sprays, batons and even horses  against nonviolent men and women by law enforcement? And it was all done on your order to clear the deck for a photo Op of you with the President. Yes or No question," she said. 
                 Barr said no tear gas was used and he attempted to explain that the demonstration was not peaceful and that he saw projectiles thrown.  It was a "yes or no" question the congresswoman repeated, visibly annoyed.  She wanted an answer. Barr attempted to explain, and Jayapal snapped, "I am starting to lose my temper."   
                                       Congressman Henry "Hank" Johnson of Georgia used his five minutes to excoriate the attorney general in a gentler manner than most of his colleagues, for recommending a lower sentence in the Roger Stone case and for interfering in the Michael Flynn case.  
                                        Barr said the judge had agreed with him in the Stone case, and that Gen. Flynn had been set up. Barr sought to explain further, but Johnson "reclaimed his time," and asked another question but then "reclaimed" again before Barr could say more. 
                                         After a very long day of unintended comedy  provided by Democrats, and near the end of the session, Attorney General Barr asked Chairman Nadler for a "five minute break."  Nadler responded in a loud voice, "No."  His loud, cold response seemed to startle others in the room, but Barr remained in place and the hearing was adjourned shortly thereafter.
                                         The ranking Republican member on the committee, Jim Jordan of Ohio, said later that the hearing was ridiculous, because none of the Democrats would allow the witness to answer questions put to him.  Any one who watched the hearing, said Jordan,  got a preview of inept, unprofessional and unrestrained Democrats in action. 

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