Happy Tuesday!

Welcome to today’s Morning Brew.

Or as my Jersey relatives call the java, “co-ahhh-feee…”

Biden at NATO

Joe Biden met with NATO leaders Monday in advance of tomorrow’s sit down with Vladimir Putin. Biden said Monday of the Russian leader, “He’s bright, he’s tough, and I’ve found that he is — as they say when I used to play ball — a worthy adversary.”

Putin described Biden this weekend as “a career man.”

Forget the traditional side-by-side press conference with Putin. Biden nixed it, saying “this is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other. It’s about making myself very clear what the conditions are to get a better relationship are with Russia.” Uh, he can’t be right next to you when you do that?

Apparently not. Biden said he doesn’t want get “into being diverted by, did they shake hands … who talked the most.”  So instead the international press will be talking about how you were unwilling — or unable — to share a public platform with him. That translates to weakness in any language.  

The real reason should be clear by his performance at the G7. Biden’s having enough trouble with softballs from his friends. Heaven knows what’d happen if thrown a curve ball by a rival.  

American news companies are complaining about the lack of access they are getting to Biden on this trip, relative to previous administrations. This is from a Washington Post reporter. It was retweeted by several major American news organizations.

Biden is abroad doing a big push on democracy v autocracy. BUT the U.S. press — a key part of any functioning democracy — has gotten less access than under previous administrations. And is now forced to resort to updates on from…the Turkish government Twitter account. https://t.co/Xa2jkUNnhI

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) June 14, 2021

Particularly amusing to see the Post and the others gripe, after all the work they did to get Biden elected, including burying the evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter’s foreign business ventures.  

Adding to the face slap, Joe kept reporters waiting three hours yesterday to answer a measly five questions from pre-selected reporters.

Trump at 75: Is Writing “Book of All Books.”

Donald Trump turned 75 Monday.  Well wishes came from all over, including the official GOP Twitter account.

Happy Flag Day and Happy Birthday to President Trump! pic.twitter.com/9BW9MqqvNp

— GOP (@GOP) June 14, 2021

Which reminds me: If yesterday was Flag Day, is today “I Saw American Flags Yesterday and I Got So Disturbed and Triggered I Have to Crawl into My Safe Space and Cry Day?” Or is that just for New York Times Editorial Board members?

Meanwhile, Trump is eyeballing a return to the top of the best-seller lists.

Trump said Friday he is “writing like crazy,” and “when the time comes, you will see the book of all books.” 

What do you think for a title? The Art of the Tweet? Miss Me Yet? Told You I Was Right? No War and Lots of Peace? A Tale of One Swamp? Orange Man/White House. I know. Just call it Huuuuuuge.

Trump also teased he is working on a “much more important project.”  A social media company? A reboot of Celebrity Apprentice featuring Omarosa and Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci? His re-election bid?

Stay tuned.

New Jersey School Board Votes to Remove Names from Holidays…Gets Angry Petition for Its Trouble

New Jersey … the state gave us the Chairman of the Board, The Boss, The Sopranos. A state with such attitude its unofficial motto is “Whatchu lookin’ at?” Whose state bird is a middle finger.

Oh, New Jersey. What have they done to you? What’s happened to the state of my kin?

The Randolph Township Board of Education has voted unanimously to remove the names of all holidays from the district’s calendar. Why? To be more “inclusive and equitable.”

Said board member Dorene Roche before the vote, according to Fox 5, “If we don’t have anything on the calendar, we don’t have to have anyone be hurt feelings or anything like that.”

Hurt feelings? In JERSEY!!!

First off, let’s state the obvious. A holiday everyone gets the same benefit for … in this case, a day off … is “inclusive and equitable.”

Second, if you’re a kid, you don’t care what a holiday is called as long as you get the day off.

Third, wiping the names off school calendars assumes kids are morons. Newsflash: If you give them something called a “day off” on Thanksgiving and Christmas. They’ll know it’s Thanksgiving and Christmas. All you are doing is signaling kids that giving thanks and honoring Jesus are somehow shameful. What about their feelings? 

Thankfully, residents are standing up. Although the vote to eliminate the holiday names was unanimous, public sentiment at the meeting was strongly opposed.

As Tap Into Randoph reported:

“The decision shocked those who were left in attendance, after many others had walked out or been asked to leave by security from a raucous public audience that had reached 125 people at one point.”  

Now, that’s the Jersey I know.

A petition is now up on Change.org calling for the immediate resignation of Board Superintendent Jennifer Fano and the entire board of education.

Follow-Up: More Coordinated Hits on Harris, But Team Harris is Starting to Fight Back

Last week, White House sources ran to CNN to smack down Kamala Harris over her performance on her first foreign trip. They were at it again Monday.

“Her instinct is to dig in: Kamala Harris’ struggle with border question seen as part of a pattern” ran the CNN headline. That’s CNN. Not Newsmax.

CNN talked to “several allies and former aides” who are “seeing the misstep as part of a broader pattern of messaging challenges that have dogged her since her presidential campaign.”

Axios has an almost identical article, noting how difficult it is to prep Harris, among her other chronic faults. (Odd how CNN and Axios are running such similar pieces. Somebody in the White House wants the message out.)

However, as predicted Harris isn’t going take the slaps from White House sources and “allies” lying down.

At the bottom of the Axios article we find a quote from a former aide. The aide claims Biden dumped the border crisis on her because he didn’t want to deal with it himself. In the former aides’ words, “If you give someone a s****ty assignment because the president doesn’t want to do it himself, you can’t be mad when the treacherous situation looks treacherous.”

What’s Harris’ next move? Given Biden’s performance at the G7 — confusing countries, losing track of his thoughts, wandering to the wrong eating area, etc. — we can guess. From Harris-friendly outlets a phrase will start crawling its way to the surface: “25^th Amendment.” 

 

Up on The Stream

Grab a hankie. And check out Nancy Flory’s latest Joy Break “Nightbirde Keeps Singing Despite Cancer.” If you have not seen America’s Got Talent contestant Nightbirde and heard her full story, this is a must.  And I’m serious about the hankie.

Tom Gilson has an absolutely brilliant article up called “Do Critical Race Theorists Believe Systemic Racism is Wrong? (It’s a Serious Question)” Tom demonstrates there doesn’t seem to be a way to define “systemic racism” that “doesn’t commit the absurdity of wiping away racism’s wrongness.”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl on Twitter and Parler, if his Twitter account is restored. You can also follow him @StreamingAl on Gab and MeWe.