Photos: Look What Was Spotted in Joe Biden's Hands During His First Solo Press Conference: President Joe Biden thought he was showing his critics that he was a competent leader by conducting his first solo news conference — instead, he showed the world he needed crib sheets just to get through it.
During Thursday’s news conference, the 78-year-old president shuffled through pre-printed cards, some with headings of key topics and relevant statistics and another with journalists’ headshots and identities, Fox News reported.
The much-anticipated event came more than 60 days into his presidency — later than any president in a century — and was only for 25, hand-picked journalists asking a handful of questions.
Still, Biden apparently couldn’t manage it without his cards to tell him what to say and who to call on.
“President Biden leaned on detailed notes, photos of journalists at first formal news conference,” a user on Twitter said with a photo of one of the cards in Biden’s hand with the heading “Infrastructure” with statistics about the U.S. and subheadings about “China” and “Bridges.”
The accused gunman in Monday’s mass shooting in Boulder was “laughing” as he murdered 10 people and terrorized shoppers inside a King Soopers grocery store, police and a witness said.
“We could hear a man chuckling,” shopper Angelina Romero-Chavez recalled hearing as she hid from the gunman while shots rang out around her.
“Gunshots were close. We believe it was him chuckling,” the 23-year-old told the Denver Post.
Police also radioed: “This guy is laughing at us,” according to records reviewed by the Denver Post.
Biden delayed his first formal press conference for 64 days, prompting speculation about his mental faculties being in decline. Biden did not fumble; neither was he challenged by reporters. The result? Much ado about nothing.
The legend of the founding of the White House Press Corps holds that the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was out wandering the White House grounds when he stumbled upon a group of reporters standing in the rain, waiting for their sources to feed them newsworthy information. Roosevelt invited them inside and took some questions. In the 100-plus years since, every one of the presidents that followed held a formal press conference shortly after taking office – an act of alleged transparency which became enshrined as de rigueur by the ever-changing ranks of the institution that has become the White House press corps.
Hours after President Biden was sworn in as the nation’s 46th commander in chief, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, met with the press corps and pointedly announced that she and Biden wanted to bring “truth and transparency back to the briefing room.”
The woke believe that people of color should stick to their own to be safe from ‘white supremacy’ – but no matter the reasoning behind it, this is nothing but racist segregation.
In a recent interview, American actress Olivia Munn revealed that she believes white men directing “Black stories, Asian stories, Latinx stories” is tantamount to “systemic whitewashing.”
In regard to HBO’s new documentary on Tiger Woods, Munn lamented that the coverage was so negative because “it was told through the eyes of two men who do not know what it is like to live life in a Black man’s skin, or see the world through the eyes of an Asian man’s eyes.”
And echoing Munn’s belief that races should stick to their own, Columbia University also went viral this month for featuring different graduation ceremonies for a variety of distinct identity groups, such as separate ceremonies for “Black” or “Latinx” students.
After receiving backlash online, the university clarified that attendance at these ceremonies was completely voluntary, and was in addition to, not instead of, the university-wide commencement. Officials insisted that “These events are important, intimate and welcoming spaces for students aligned with these groups to come together to celebrate their achievements, if they wish.”
In the wake of several tragedies within a short time span, too many people in power in the US want to talk about gun control – and too few are concerned with the real crux of the problem: spiraling mental health problems.
The human mind can be a very scary place. In the public health sector, it's hard to think of an area that has a worse stigma than mental illness. My belief, given what I've seen statistically and through personal experience, is that Americans have a cultural phobia about taking it seriously. Yet these mass shootings, along with the rise in suicides, make it obvious that something is being ignored here. Beyond that, the constant blaming of firearms is inane, because basic criminal psychology would tell you that it is the mind that makes the decision to use that tool.
Mental Health America’s recent report on the state of mental wellness in 2021 shows an increase in numbers across the board when it comes to psychiatric illness – 9.7% of young people now have severe depression, for example. From 2017 to 2018, 19% of all Americans had some form of mental illness, and in that same timeframe, the number of people who confessed to suicidal feelings had risen by almost half a million, to over 10 million. Yet, since 2011, almost a quarter of those suffering from mental ill health have not received any treatment, for one reason or another. And these are pre-Covid-19 numbers. The statistics in the same report conducted after the pandemic began are not good, showing a steady rise.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has challenged his American counterpart, Joe Biden, to a livestreamed online discussion, without a delay, and suggested they debate bilateral relations and issues of importance to the wider world.
The president named the fight against the pandemic, regional conflict resolution, and strategic stability issues as possible topics, noting that he would be ready to talk to Biden on Friday or Monday in an “open” chat.
“I would like to suggest to President Biden that we continue our discussion, but on the condition that we actually do it live, without any delays, directly in an open, live discussion,” Putin told the Russia 24 TV channel on Thursday. “I think it would be interesting for the people of Russia and the people of the United States and many other countries,” he added.
Putin replies to Biden's insinuation that he's a ‘killer’: Says US President is talking about himself but ‘I wish him good health’
“I wouldn’t put this off for too long. I want to go to the taiga [forest] on the weekend to get some rest, but we could do it tomorrow, or let’s say on Monday,” he suggested.
Biden ‘clearly doesn’t want good relations’ with Russia, Kremlin declares, after US President backs ‘Putin is a killer’ comments Biden ‘clearly doesn’t want good relations’ with Russia, Kremlin declares, after US President backs ‘Putin is a killer’ comments
Putin’s challenge comes a day after Biden agreed with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that the Russian leader is “a killer.” The US president also noted that he had warned the Russian leader that Washington would react strongly if it discovered evidence of interference in the 2020 presidential election.
Mayor Ted Wheeler appears to have finally worked out that the residents of Portland, Oregon might be losing patience with endless rioting and vandalism. If only he were in a position to do something about it.
Portland is a joke. The city has gone from being a byword for early-2010s hipsterism, replete with vegan bookstores and feminist interpretive dance studios, to a s**thole teeming with addicts and the homeless, where nihilist ‘Antifa’ rioters come out every night to smash windows, start fires, and assault police officers.
For nine months straight, the riots have been an almost nightly occurrence. In the past week alone, black-clad left-wingers set a federal courthouse on fire, vandalized downtown shopfronts, and pelted rocks and beer cans at police officers. Cops seized knives, hammers, and firearms.
More than 50 days into his presidency and Joe Biden is now officially scheduled to deliver his first formal press conference.
“President Biden will hold a formal press conference on the afternoon of Thursday, March 25th,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Tuesday.
The announcement comes after some noted that all of Biden’s 15 immediate predecessors had held a solo-press conference within 33 days of taking office.
On March 7, The Washington Post’s editorial board called on Biden to hold a press conference.
“Last month would have been better, and this week would be better than next. Avoiding news conferences must not become a regular habit for Mr. Biden. He is the president, and Americans have every right to expect that he will regularly submit himself to substantial questioning,” the op-ed read.
It added that while Biden has “shown galaxies more respect for the free press” than Trump and has done interviews with print and TV outlets, “These often perfunctory exchanges are no substitute for formal, solo news conferences at which reporters can ask follow-up questions, answers are supposed to be more than a couple of words long, and the president’s thoughts on a wide range of issues can be mined.”
Psaki has previously defended the lack of a formal press conference as she said, “This president came in during a historic crisis, a pandemic like the country had not seen in decades and decades and an economic downturn that left tens of millions of people out of work.”
“I think the American people would certainly understand if his focus and his energy and his attention has been on ensuring we secure enough vaccines for all Americans…and then pushing for a rescue plan,” she added.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey caused an international uproar.
Markle tried to cancel the British Royal Family as racists.
But Tucker Carlson shut down Meghan Markle with one brutal truth.
During the interview, Markle incessantly whined about how bad she had it after marrying into the British Royal Family.
Markle is a Duchess with every advantage and privilege at her disposal, but Markle told the global audience that her life was difficult because she got into a disagreement with her sister-in-law Kate Middleton, who is the Duchess of Cambridge.
Carlson blasted Markle for telling the world she was an “oppressed victim” because she got into a disagreement with a family member over the clothing for a wedding.
“But that’s not the whole story. What she is really saying is that despite her enormous wealth and fame, despite the fact she never has to cook her own dinner, or drive her own car ever again, as long as she lives, despite the fact that every time she heads to the gym, that journey is treated like the moon landing by an army of awestruck reporters, despite the fact that she’s literally a Princess, sorry, Duchess, she is and this is the headline here: she is actually an oppressed victim,” Carlson stated.
In another clip, Markle claimed she felt “silenced.”
Carlson laughed at the absurdity of a woman who could arrange a network interview with the most famous talk show host on the planet, and who also has a deal with Netflix, claiming to be “silenced.”
“I had bodyguards, but I was not protected. I was silenced, says the lady doing a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey. When I speak, only a hundred million people here and around the world, though, to be fair, that number rises considerably once you count DVR and internet views, but the point remains, I have been silenced. I am a victim,” Carlson sarcastically added.
Meghan Markle is a typical, entitled “woke” political activist.
Written By BlabberBuzz | Tuesday, 09 March 2021 08:30
President Biden falsely said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's title and Pentagon office during a ceremony at the White House praising two female military aviators for promotion to four-star commands.
"I want to thank Sec-, the former general, I keep calling him 'General.' My — the guy who runs that outfit over there," Biden said in remarks from the White House to mark International Women's Day.
Biden then immediately added, "I want to make sure we thank the secretary for all he's done."
The president had praised Austin earlier in his remarks for the secretary's work discussing sexual assault and violence against women in the military.
"So much of unit cohesion is built on trusting your fellow service members have your back," Biden said. "I know Secretary Austin takes this as seriously as Vice President [Kamala] Harris."
During the event, Biden welcomed Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost and Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson as “two outstanding and eminently qualified warriors and patriots.”
The 78-year-old
Biden's work has been interrupted by lingual blunders, unusual turns of phrase, and vague stories. As the president told an audience in 2018, “I am a gaffe machine.”
In Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’ recently released book “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency,” the authors wrote that the “broader campaign goal” of the man who would eventually become president was, “Don’t f*** up.”
If you ever wondered why he was hiding in the basement in Wilmington, Delaware, that was probably it. Ever wonder why his speeches were short and contained pro-forma rhetoric? Again, “Don’t f*** up.”
“One half of his low bar for success had been set by Trump, who told the public that Biden was an enabler of socialism and crime who couldn’t speak English in complete sentences,” Allen and Parnes wrote. “The other half came from an anti-Trump coalition that would forgive almost any Biden misstep.”
Yes, well, that corner of the “anti-Trump coalition” in the mainstream media can forgive what they want now, but there’s no basement in Delaware for Biden to hide in. That’s why we now have a president that doesn’t remember the name of the Pentagon or his secretary of defense, preferring, “The guy who runs the thing over there.”
The remarks came during an event Monday celebrating International Women’s Day. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was there, as Biden pointed out, for his effort to “take on sexual assault in the military” as well as to highlight that the armed forces were making important changes like maternity flight suits and “updating requirements for their hairstyles,” according to a transcript.
Biden was also announcing his nomination of two female generals for promotion to four-star commands, as CNN reported.
At the end of the speech, however, he thanked Austin, a former four-star Army general, for what he did at the Pentagon thusly:
“I want to thank you both and I want to thank the former general, I keep calling him general, but my — the guy who runs that outfit over there — I want to make sure we thank the secretary for all he’s done to try to implement what we just talked about and for recommending these two women for promotion,” Biden said.
The moment went largely ignored by the mainstream media — naturally — but social media users were all over it.
Joe Biden has gone longer without giving a press conference with questions and answers than any US president in modern history. Now the elation of his inauguration’s worn off, even his allied media are beginning to wonder why.
Monday marked Joe Biden’s 47th day in office, and also his 47th without appearing before the press to take questions. The president has sat down to several taped interviews, and has given brief soundbites to reporters at events, but not a single proper Q&A session has materialized.
He has gone longer without holding a press conference than any of his 15 most recent predecessors, all of whom faced the media within their first 33 days in office. Donald Trump waited 27 days, while Barack Obama – Biden’s old boss – held his first after just 20 days.
Many in the mainstream media were ecstatic when Biden was inaugurated, after four years of sometimes open hostility toward Trump. Yet even the most pro-Biden liberal news outlets are beginning to demand an appearance from the president.
Leaders of New York’s Assembly and Senate called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign just hours after he said stepping down because of rising sexual-harassment allegations by former staffers would be “anti-Democratic.”
New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who like Cuomo is a Democrat, said Sunday that with new accusers of Cuomo stepping forward seemingly every day and the governor embroiled in multiple scandals, focus is being drawn away from the business of government. “We need to govern without daily distraction,” she said. “For the good of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign.”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, also a Democrat, agreed with Stewart-Cousins, saying, “We have many challenges to address, and I think it is time for the governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York.”
The statements came after Cuomo continued to insist that he won’t step down from office, despite two more former staffers coming forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. “I’m not going to resign because of allegations,” Cuomo told reporters in a telephone call earlier Sunday.
The premise of resigning because of allegations is actually anti-democratic.
The Democrat governor apologized in a Wednesday press briefing for upsetting female staffers, but he denied ever touching anyone inappropriately and said he wouldn’t resign. At that point, three former employees had accused him of sexual harassment. Two more women came forward on Sunday – former aides Karen Hinton and Ana Liss – to accuse Cuomo of sexual misconduct.
A spokesman for Cuomo dismissed Hinton’s allegations as completely false and likened the actions alleged by Liss as typically affectionate behavior for a politician. “Reporters and photographers have covered the governor for 14 years watching him kiss men and women and posing for pictures,” the spokesman said.
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that Cuomo fostered a “hostile” and “toxic” workplace going back to the 1990s, citing comments by 20 former aides.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an investigation of the recent harassment allegations. “There is no way I resign,” Cuomo told reporters on Sunday. “Let’s do the attorney general, let’s get the findings and go from there.”
Cuomo’s statement that resigning because of allegations would be “anti-democratic” is ironic in light of the fact that he called for New York’s then-attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, to step down after assault accusations were made against him in a New Yorker magazine article.
“Given the damning pattern of facts and corroboration laid out in the article, I do not believe it is possible for Eric Schneiderman to continue to serve as attorney general,” Cuomo said at the time. “For the good of the office, he should resign.”
Cuomo’s office issued two statements late last month regarding the outside investigation of his conduct. In both cases, the statements ended with a vow that “We will have no further comment until the report is issued.” Nevertheless, he has repeatedly made statements about the allegations in the ensuing days.
While the harassment allegations have created the biggest firestorm, another scandal involving the governor has bigger consequences – life-and-death consequences. Cuomo aide Melissa DeRossa admitted last month that the governor’s office withheld data on New York’s Covid-19 death toll in nursing homes because the governor was under fire for a policy forcing such facilities to accept patients infected with the virus.
Tired of being ignored, or having their shouted questions at him half answered, a reporter in the White House media pool finally asked Psaki questions about her boss and his whereabouts.
“So we’re 45 days into the Biden presidency, and he has yet to hold a presser. At this point in past presidencies, every president, you know, from Reagan, had addressed reporters — some of them multiple times. So why the delay, and when can we expect the president to hold a press conference?” Psaki was asked.
Indeed, over the last 100 years, no president has gone longer than 33 days without taking questions in a formal environment with reporters. It’s historic and embarrassing, especially when you take into account that there are people who suspect Biden might not even be capable of taking questions, as there is a great deal of speculation about his cognitive health.
Two more women came forward Saturday to accuse Gov. Cuomo of sexually harassing behavior, including a former press aide who describes struggling to free herself from his repeated hugs, and a young assistant who now says he left her feeling like “just a skirt.”
Former press aide Karen Hinton endured a “very long, too long, too tight, too intimate” embrace from Cuomo in a dimly lit Los Angeles hotel room in December 2000, she told the Washington Post.
The married Hinton pulled away, but “he pulls me back for another intimate embrace,” she told the paper. “I thought at that moment it could lead to a kiss, it could lead to other things, so I just pull away again, and I leave.”
At the time, Cuomo led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A current rep for Cuomo strongly denied Hinton’s allegation to the newspaper, claiming “this did not happen.”
The five people who died during the US Capitol invasion included a military vet who was shot, a cop who collapsed while fending off rioters, and three protesters who perished from medical emergencies, officials said.
Along with gunned-down Air Force veteran and Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, pro-Trump protesters from Pennsylvania, Alabama and Georgia died after suffering medical episodes during the violent uprising — including one woman was trampled by a mob storming the building.
A US Capitol Police officer also died after “physically engaging with protesters,” according to a report.
One of the people who died from a medical emergency includes Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens, Ala., according to AL.com.
The last post to Greeson’s Twitter account, on July 28, cited a discredited claim by President Trump that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19.
“Trump 2020!” he tweeted one month prior.
Greeson, who had a history of high blood pressure, suffered a fatal heart attack during the protest. He was “a wonderful father and husband who loved life,” his family told the News Courier.
“Kevin was an advocate of President Trump and attended the event on January 6, 2021, to show his support,” the statement said.
“He was excited to be there to experience this event. Our family is devastated.”
A second medical emergency fatality was Benjamin Philips, 50, of Ringtown, Pa., the Morning Call confirmed.
Philips — a computer programmer who founded a social media site for Trump supporters, Trumparoo.com — died of a stroke, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Police said the third person was Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Ga, who was trampled to death by a mob as rioters stormed the building.
Boyland was “a really happy, wonderful person,” a sister told Atlanta’s 11Alive.
DC’s Metropolitian Police Department Acting Chief Robert Contee did not elaborate on the three who died, saying only, “They were on the grounds of the Capitol when they experienced a medical emergency.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without President Joe Biden being present, the latest in a series of calls to world leaders usually conducted by the president.
Harris spoke to Netanyahu on Thursday, with a White House readout of the call saying she “underscored the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to the US-Israel partnership,” and affirmed her opposition to the International Criminal Court prosecuting Israeli soldiers for alleged war crimes.
Nothing about the call was surprising, as unwavering support for Israel is a given no matter which party is in charge in Washington. However, Biden’s absence was notable.
Biden spoke to Netanyahu in February, and to President Alejandro Giammattei Falla of Guatemala on Thursday. Yet Harris has taken responsibility for several head-to-head calls with world leaders, most notably Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrisson, as well as World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
That Harris, who had next to no foreign policy experience before coming to the White House, would handle these tasks instead of Biden, who has two stints in the executive branch under his belt already, as well as decades in the Senate, is puzzling. A Politico report attributes Harris’ role as the administration’s international face to her own interest in foreign affairs, and to Biden’s efforts to groom her as a likely successor, given the fact that he will be 82 years old at the end of his first term.
US President Joe Biden said he would be “happy” to field live questions at the tail-end of a virtual event, but was swiftly cut off when the White House inexplicably dropped the video feed, leaving some viewers bewildered.
“I'd be happy to take questions if that's what I'm supposed to do, Nance. Whatever you want me to do,” Biden said to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the Democratic “Virtual Issues Conference” wrapped up on Wednesday night. But after a brief pause, the feed was brusquely taken offline.
While Biden appeared somewhat confused about whether a live Q&A was in store for the event, critics have suggested the White House ended the feed to keep him from ad-libbing his answers, as he’s been prone to gaffes during unscripted – and sometimes scripted – statements in the past.
Biden addressed fellow Democrats for Wednesday’s virtual sit-down, co-hosted by Speaker Pelosi, discussing issues ranging from the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccine rollout, as well as the economy and how the party can “restore faith” in the US government.
An FBI official on Wednesday testified at a Senate hearing that she has no knowledge of any guns being recovered from suspects who were arrested during the Jan. 6 Capitolbreach.
When asked by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) about whether firearms were recovered or if any suspect was charged with firearms offenses, FBI counterterrorism official Jill Sanborn responded: “To my knowledge, none.”
But in the hearing, Sanborn also said that before the Jan. 6 incident, “We knew they would be armed, we had intelligence that they would be coming to DC, but we did not have intelligence that they would be breaching the Capitol.”
“I believe that the only shots that were fired were the ones that resulted in the death of the lady,” Sanborn also testified, referring to the officer-involved shooting of Ashli Babbit.
Johnson previously told news outlets that the term “armed insurrection” used by some Democratic officials, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and mainstream news outlets is incorrect as no guns were recovered.
hroughout his presidential campaign and continuing since taking the White House, Joe Biden has promised a transparent approach to press and public relations. Yet in recent weeks, his administration has closed off — at least for now — several key avenues via which the press and public have for years gained a modicum of transparency, accessibility and accountability from the White House.
These moves to curb press and public access come as President Joe Biden himself has at times appeared to be struggling with the public demands of his job.
Notably, the White House has said that while it will divulge records of individuals who physically visit the White House, it will not be sharing virtual visitor logs. The Biden administration has relied heavily on virtual meetings out of concerns that COVID-19 might spread in face-to-face gatherings.
An unnamed White House official told Politico this week that the administration's refusal to release virtual meeting logs was in line with "the same way that previous administrations didn't release phone logs."
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki this week acerbically dismissed a reporter's query into the administration's lack of transparency on the issue.
"[Biden is] meeting with members of the Senate virtually today," she said. "There, I've released it for you. What else would you like to know?"
The White House has also shut down its comment line by which American citizens can call in to leave comments for the executive branch. A recording claims that the comment office is "temporarily closed" and urges callers to visit the White House's contact page instead.
The Biden administration has also removed the popular "We the People" petitioning platform originally started by President Barack Obama and continued through the Trump administration. As late as Jan. 18 of this year, the program was still active, yet now any attempt to reach the older URL simply reroutes users to the White House's main page.
Gone, also, are White House tours, which the administration claims have been "suspended until further notice." As late as mid-December, the Trump administration was still encouraging Americans to schedule tours through their congressional representatives.
Biden struggles with public demands of presidency
The rollback of public access comes amid the first six weeks of the Biden administration during which Biden himself has, at times, seemed to struggle with the rigorous schedule and public appearances demanded of modern U.S. presidents.
A CNN report last month stated that the president regularly returns to his private residence at 7:00 p.m. each day and is "more of an early-to-bed type" than both Obama and Trump. Biden has thus far failed to host a single West Wing news conference, though the White House hosts daily news briefings.
The president became well-known over the course of his presidential campaign for having difficulties speaking publicly, so much so that the New York Times in 2019 ran a feature report on his struggles to give public addresses. A fifty-year veteran of Washington politics, Biden has logged hundreds and hundreds of hours of public speaking, where he has been known to make gaffes on occasion, such as his remark in 2007 that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama was "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean."
His latest struggles, meanwhile, often appear less gaffe-like and more fundamental, such as at a recent Pentagon appearance when he struggled with teleprompter-fed words such as "Tuskegee," "because of," "defeated" and "dishonor."
At other times, the president has appeared to momentarily forget critical facts, as he did in a recent CNN town hall at which he incorrectly claimed that the U.S. "didn't have" a vaccine when Biden assumed the presidency. Biden himself had received a shot of the vaccine a month prior to taking the oath of office.
At a speech in Houston last week, meanwhile, the president stumbled through a series of mistakenly pronounced names, referring to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee as "Shirley" and referring to Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher as "Lizzie Pannilli.
"What am I doing here?" the president said at one point. "I'm going to lose track here."
