The lunacy that is the daily news continues with stories so bizarre they sound as though they are ripped from the satirical pages of The Onion or The Babylon Bee. Alas, they are not.
NEWS: At a time of heightened world tensions, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin went MIA for nearly four days, an absence later explained as him being hospitalized. This does not explain the curious reality that the White House was oblivious to it all until after the fact.
VIEWS: At least Kathleen Hicks, Austin’s deputy, was on the job. Well, she was not exactly on the job. She was vacationing in Puerto Rico. But, according to reports, she did forego long walks on the beach just in case something urgent like World War III erupted and she might be needed to do her job.
NEWS: Chris Christie, who ran his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination by attacking Donald Trump nonstop, finally had a cogent moment when he said Nikki Haley was “going to get smoked” in an election and is “not up to this.”
VIEWS: It was fitting that Christie’s moment of clarity was not intended for public consumption, but instead was one of those hot microphone incidents in which the speaker (Christie) thought he would not be heard. At least Christie has dropped out of the nomination chase, confirming what has been evident since the start, that he had zero chance of getting the nod.
NEWS: The United States has reported a December budget deficit of $129.4 billion, about $40 billion higher than the estimated $87.5 shortfall for the month. Three months into this fiscal year, the U.S. already had added $509 billion to the national debt, on pace for an annual deficit of $2.36 trillion.
VIEWS: If the U.S. were an individual, it would qualify for bankruptcy. But the U.S. can print dollars and require much of the world to use those excess dollars either to repay dollar-denominated debts or to buy commodities such as oil that are priced in dollars. Our enemies in Russia and China are working feverishly behind the scenes to create their dollar-alternative payment systems. If and when that happens, our raging deficits will be a major problem.
NEWS: Reports Thursday night said U.S. and U.K. warplanes were striking Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.
VIEWS: I guess we were waiting for Austin to get out of the hospital since Hicks wasn’t cutting short her vacation.
NEWS: Hunter Biden has entered a not-guilty plea to Federal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in income taxes. Hunter also is facing trial on federal gun charges and a contempt of Congress charge for refusing to honor a subpoena.
VIEWS: At least Hunter has that lucrative side hustle as an artist, selling pieces reminiscent of zoo fund-raisers in which animals have brushes lashed to their tails or trunks to produce the art. It’s only a coincidence that the buyers of Hunter’s art seem to be big Democratic political donors.
NEWS: Students at a Brooklyn High School were put on remote learning when they were thrown out of that school to make room for illegal migrants to be housed there.
VIEWS: In a bit of irony, those illegal migrants were brought to the facility in school buses.
NEWS: A court filing by a co-defendant of Donald Trump alleges that the Atlanta Fulton County DA, who ran for office on a get-Trump platform and now is trying to follow up on that pledge, engaged in a clandestine affair with the married prosecutor she hired to prosecute Trump.
VIEW: Predictably, those on the left see no ethics conflict and bray “it’s only sex,” sounding a lot like the defenders of Bill “Likes them young” Clinton during that whole Monica Lewinsky business.
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