Happy Tuesday!

Good news! Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is out of the hospital. The bad news? One step out of the hospital and a banking crisis falls on his head.

Biden Insists Banks are Safe, Blames Trump for Bank Failures

Joe Biden made an early day of it yesterday, rising to assure Americans that our “banking system is safe” and secure, despite the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank over the past three days. Signature, a key player in the crypocurrency industry, was shut down by regulators Sunday.

Naturally, Biden blamed Trump for the bank failures, citing the rolling back of some of the Dodd-Frank regulations that had been put in place after the 2008 collapse. Left unsaid: Democrat Barney Frank … the “Frank” of Dodd-Frank … was on board with the changes and disagrees with liberals blaming Trump. And he was also on the Board of Directors for Signature Bank.

But don’t worry. Somehow it’s Trump’s fault. In fact, Trump’s also to blame for Angela Bassett losing Best Supporting Actress Sunday night.

Biden did say “The management of these banks will be fired.” Does that apply to the management of the economy? Certainly didn’t apply to the management of our Afghanistan withdrawal or management of the supply chain or management of the airlines or management of our one-time energy surplus.

All told, Biden spoke only three minutes and took zero questions. Was it enough? What do you think?

Here’s a new Stream poll.

After the @POTUS speech, how are you feeling regarding #Bankcollapse, Inflation and Economy?

— The Stream (@Streamdotorg) March 13, 2023

If you are not inclined to believe Biden, maybe you can ask, “What would George Bailey tell me?” Watch the Mr. Potters of the banking world. Are they panicking?

FDIC Has Only About Half the Cash Needed to Secure Deposits at Failed Bank

Biden said U.S. taxpayers aren’t going to foot any of the bill for backing the deposits at the failed banks. That amount is said to be $264 billion. Unfortunately, according to FDIC’s latest quarterly report, FDIC has only $128 billion on hand.

So they’re about $130 billion short. Think somehow we’ll be on the hook for protecting Biden’s rich Silicon Valley donors?

It’s a pretty safe bet Biden will fix a way to keep SVB’s customers happy. Post Millennium reports that SVB was vital to the climate tech sector, a heavy lender to green start-ups. The White House keeps calling climate change an existential threat, the greatest threat we face. So propping the bank’s customers no matter what the cost to taxpayers seems like an obvious Biden move. Once again the Green New Deal will prove a raw one.

Hmm… any chance we can hit up Ukraine for some of the scratch?

Meanwhile …

I can’t believe it’s financial collapse season already…

I still have my spy balloon decorations up.

— Judianna (@Judianna) March 13, 2023

Can we take a second to give thanks to God for His gift of humor?

Biden: Banning Sex-Change Surgeries and Chemical Castrations on Children is “Cruel” and “Close to Sinful”

Last fall, Florida banned puberty-blockers and sex-change operations on children. Or, to use the euphemistic term, “gender-affirming” surgeries. Yet, according to Joe Biden, Florida’s law is not only “cruel,” it is “close to sinful.” Yes, according to Father Joe, it is “close to sinful” to prevent the healthy breasts of young girls from being chopped off. A sin to prevent boys from being pumped with drugs with lifelong side effects. Sinful. That’s the word he used in an interview with Comedy Central’s Daily Show.

“What’s going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, close to sinful. I mean it’s just terrible what they’re doing,” Biden told guest host Kal Penn.

“It’s not like a kid [just] wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I want to become a man’ or ‘I want to become a woman.’”

Well, actually with the onslaught of grooming, pressure from activist doctors, and other social contagions, yes, there are innocent kids — usually dealing with other emotional issues — who become quickly convinced they are the wrong gender.

He went on: “What are they thinking about here? They’re human beings, they love, they have feelings, they have inclinations.”

Yes. They’re human beings. They love. They have feelings. Feelings that in over 80% of the cases they will grow out of.

Biden is calling for legislation to stop states from banning “gender” surgeries and drugs on kids. One thing’s for sure. There won’t be any gray in the 2024 election. You’re either encouraging the manipulation and mutilation and sexualization of children or you are not.

Kamala Won’t Talk to Elizabeth Warren Because of Subtle Warren Diss?

After dealing with bank failures and White House sanctioned sex-changes for children, we can use a little levity. Seems Kamala Harris is refusing to talk to Elizabeth Warren. Kamala is miffed by a January comment Warren made suggesting she wasn’t 100% on board with Kamala returning as VP.

Warren was asked by Boston Public Radio if she thought Harris should be on the ticket in 2024. Warren responded:

I really want to defer to what makes Biden comfortable on his team. I’ve known Kamala for a long time. I like Kamala. I knew her back when she was an attorney general and I was still teaching, and we worked on the housing crisis together, so we go way back. But they need — they have to be a team, and my sense is they are — I don’t mean that by suggesting I think there are any problems. I think they are.

So much for sisterhood. Warren tossed Kamala under one of those school buses Harris so loves.

Warren insists she fully supports a Biden-Harris ticket. She has tried calling Harris to apologize, but the VP is not returning her calls.

According to CNN,

the Warren moment is infuriating many in Harris’ circle: To them, it’s the latest in a long string of snubs to a vice president whom they say has never gotten the respect or support she deserves. Warren’s words sting even more, they say, because they came from a former rival who in 2020 hoped to be picked as Biden’s running mate instead.

However, it is not true that Sen. Warren made a peace offering of a Venn Diagram made completely from wampum. Seriously, Kamala. Accept the apology before some tribal group accuses you of being anti-pretend Native American.

Thank You for Responding to Pence Question!

Finally, a big thanks to those of you who responded to my question yesterday about Mike Pence’s joke about Trump’s lack of Bible reading: “Just curious. Is going after a person’s lack of Bible reading, whether for political points or a cheap laugh, something a pious Christian should do?” Almost unanimously, you Streamers didn’t think much of Mike Pence’s joke.

This take was well put: Loose lips….. not a good look for Mike Pence, who I do believe is a committed Christian. It reflects on the body of Christ and also his testimony. Disappointing. And also puts him in the crosshairs of the very loose lips of Donald Trump.

Nancy agreed it “hurts Pence’s testimony more than it hurts Trump.”

She added, “As they say, humor at the expense of another is never humor.” Is that true? Or is it more accurately, “humor that aims to hurt another”? What is the heart behind it? Are you trying to keep the powerful honest? Is it coming from a place of superiority or a place of “we’re all in this together and we have to laugh at each other and ourselves?”

Richard left us with this thought: “So my question is; what is a pious Christian? Is that someone that gives the Bible credit where credit is do because they try to live by it, or is it someone that quotes the Bible to show how much they know?”

Along The Stream

Our latest “Conversations With Christians Engaged” is up. The latest in the series “Everything Local” finds Bunni talking with Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux on “Impacting Our Cities.”

Stream contributor Raymond Ibrahim returns with “There is No Right or Left, Only Right and Wrong.”

Albin Sadar has a passionate take: “America Needs ‘Founder’s Nationalism’”

Also a heads-up. We will be out of commission for tomorrow’s Brew. But don’t worry, we’ll have something special for your inbox!

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.