Dumb Move of a Lame Duck, Joe’s Dismal Pay of Weakness, and Other Comments

Libertarian: Repression in the United Kingdom in. . . Silent Prayer

It sounds “Orwellian—but a handful of people have been arrested or charged” in Britain “simply for praying silently near abortion clinics,” marvels Emma Camp of Reason magazine.

Adam Smith-Connor this month “was convicted of criminal charges” thanks to the “Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014”, under which “local authorities can obtain special status for some public places” where they can “ prohibit a wide variety of conduct,” including silent prayers.

In sentencing Smith-Connor, “the court argued that her prayer amounted to ‘disapproval of abortion’” because “her head was seen slightly bowed and her hands were clasped.” And he is “far from the first” in Britain to face prison for such prayer.

Hawk: lame movement of a lame duck

“As a one-term president, Joe Biden seems eager” to do reckless things, like apparently pressuring Britain to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, grumbles John Bolton in The Wall Street Journal.

The Chagos archipelago “hosts a critical military base between the US and the UK” in the Indian Ocean, and although the base remains under British control, Mauritius is “increasingly friendly to China”.

If Parliament approves the transfer, China could spy on the base and conduct military operations.

“There is no compelling logic” for ceding the islands, except that the Labor Party and former leader Jeremy Corbyn have long sought it; The Chagossians might even have preferred to become a US commonwealth.

However, Biden gave in to the Corbinistas. “Let’s hope there are no other foreign policy surprises” before Biden leaves office.

Foreign Office: Grim Wages of Joe’s Weakness

“The most salient national security aspect of Bob Woodward’s new book, ‘War,’ is his revelation that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely encouraged to invade Ukraine in February 2022, following President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan”, argue Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet in The Colina.

In fact: “The ‘permissive environment’ established by Biden and his national security team was considered a green light by the Kremlin.”

The next beneficiary of Biden’s weakness “will likely be Iran’s nuclear weapons program.” Although “Biden has repeatedly promised that Khamenei will not obtain nuclear weapons on his watch,” clearly “Iran is on the brink of a nuclear explosion.”

Biden “is encouraging Putin and his Axis of Evil allies to continue to intensify their war against Western liberal democracies.”

And our “allies – particularly Ukraine and Israel – are paying with their lives”.

Albany Watch: Cuomo’s Misinfo Campaign

Regarding his administration’s COVID nursing home scandal, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his team have repeatedly stated “how their policies have worked, understating death counts, falsifying official reports, and blocking data requests from the Legislature and the public,” angers Bill Hammond of the Empire Center.

“This misleading pattern continued through Cuomo’s testimony” to a House subcommittee, as he and former aides repeated “his previous false or misleading statements.”

They claimed that the “controversial March 25, 2020, directive sending infected patients to nursing homes followed the guidance of federal health officials” while omitting the feds’ “special precautions” to ensure safety. He also testified that he had no involvement in a July 2020 Department of Health report “that downplayed the impact of the March 25 directive.”

False: The media shared “documents showing his intimate involvement in writing and editing the Department of Health report.”

Conservative: Democrats desperate as Elex approaches

“Liberals panicked. It seems the agreed-upon tactic for the final days of Harris’ campaign is — to quote former First Lady Michelle Obama — ‘go low,’” quips David N. Bossie in the Washington Times.

His “closing arguments were reduced to weak criticism of Mr. Trump for not having another debate, complaining about why he isn’t doing an interview on the biased ’60 Minutes,’ and daring him to release his medical records like some schoolyard game .

The problem is that “Americans are suffering from the policies she has implemented since January 2021. It is clear that voters want change, and Ms. Harris is the candidate of the broken status quo.”