Dear Friends + Interlocutors,

I’m currently traveling in Europe, where I am doing “research”. So I don’t watch television. I woke up this morning to see the goofy, smiling face of the New York Times' premier Wise Man, Tom Friedman, on the front page of the international edition. His column is entitled Sleepy Joe is making Putin blink.

From the first paragraph: “…If Vladimir Putin opts to back away from invading Ukraine, even temporarily, it’s because Joe Biden—that guy whose right-wing critics suggest is too deep in dementia he wouldn’t know Kyiv from Kansas or AARP from NATO—has matched every Putin chess move with an effective counter of his own.” Am I laughing. 🤣

Long live the Washington Establishment false narrative! I threw the newspaper into the air with a roar. I love a good laugh, even if it is first thing in the morning. I didn’t bother reading the rest of it. You can, if you have time to kill.

Then, from somewhere on the internet, I came across this item:

Maria Zakharova is the spokesperson for the Russian Federation foreign ministry in Moscow. She does a good job, backing up Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. If I had to pick whom to believe, who has more credibility, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, or Zakharova, in all honesty I would have to pick the latter. 

For one thing, Zakharova's superiors are more intellectually honest than Papa Joe Biden, who I consider to be an unlikeable gangster that is losing his marbles. An altogether dubious character.

For another thing, don’t forget that Psaki, a very talented and slick talker as well as a good-looking redhead, was formerly the press secretary for Hillary Clinton when The Hildebeest, as I call her, was the U.S. Secretary of State.

What does that tell you? I mean, really. Can you imagine anyone more slippery, more of a fraud in recent Washington history, than Hillary? I can’t. If instead, you say “The Donald”, well, I understand.

Patrick

=====