May 20, 2025

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Joe Biden’s WH doctor was a longtime family friend who once worked with his shady brother — as cancer ‘cover-up’ speculation mounts.

The White House doctor who previously gave President Joe Biden a clean bill of health is a longtime family friend — as speculation of a cover-up over his new cancer diagnosis continues to ramp up.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor served as the 82-year-old’s official physician during his White House stint — and repeatedly insisted for years that Biden was in top mental shape despite his obvious cognitive decline.

Now, in the wake of Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis, O’Connor’s longstanding relationship with the Biden clan has come under renewed scrutiny.

O’Connor — a former Army surgeon who Biden affectionately refers to as “Doc” — has been caring for the former president and other members of his family for more than a decade.

* * * * * * * *

Critics have, in the past, criticized the close relationship between the doctor and former prez — with Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) telling The Post just last month that “he’s part of the Biden family.”

“He would do or say anything to cover up and protect that family, regardless of what it meant professionally for him,” Jackson said at the time.

President Trump, for his part, honed in on O’Connor’s prior positive health assessments just after the cancer diagnosis came to light.

Trump pointed to how the doctor had given Biden the all-clear during their last physical in February 2024 — just months before the public saw his diminished capabilities on full display during their first presidential debate.

“If it’s the same doctor that said there’s nothing wrong there, and that’s being proven to be a very sad situation,” Trump said Monday.

In yesterday’s edition of the Commentary newsletter, Abe Greenwald wrote:

The Tapper and Thompson book, Original Sin, details how the Biden family and his closest aides colluded to illness-proof the day-to-day job of the presidency and keep outsiders in the dark. On the prospect of getting Biden diagnosed and treated, they get this telling quote from a physician who worked with the White House Medical Unit: “If there’s no diagnosis, there’s nothing to disclose.” The doctor was referring to a potential cognitive diagnosis, but the quote is only more resonant in the wake of Biden’s prostate cancer revelation.

In other words, for those on the case, it’s now time to dig deeper—not retreat.

But not for the DNC-MSM; they’d much rather demonize Republicans than investigate their own party: Amid Serious Questions About Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis, the Press Has Learned Absolutely Nothing.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 31

WOW:

Posted at 12:02 pm by Glenn Reynolds 54

SUSTAINABILITY: Ray Dalio says the risk to U.S. Treasurys is even greater than what Moody’s is saying.

Bridgewater Associates founder and billionaire Ray Dalio warned Monday that Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating understates the threat to U.S. Treasurys, saying the credit agency isn’t taking into account the risk of the federal government simply printing money to pay its debt.

“You should know that credit ratings understate credit risks because they only rate the risk of the government not paying its debt,” Dalio said in a post on social media platform X.

“They don’t include the greater risk that the countries in debt will print money to pay their debts thus causing holders of the bonds to suffer losses from the decreased value of the money they’re getting (rather than from the decreased quantity of money they’re getting),” the Bridgewater founder said.

Moody’s on Friday cut the U.S. credit rating one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, citing the federal government’s ballooning budget deficit and soaring interest payments on the debt. It was the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade the U.S. from the highest possible rating.

U.S. stocks fell Monday as the 30-year Treasury bond yield jumped to 4.995% and the 10-year note yield climbed to 4.521% in response to Moody’s downgrade.

“Said differently, for those who care about the value of their money, the risks for U.S. government debt are greater than the rating agencies are conveying,” Dalio said.

Well, we’re still in the “gradually” phase of going broke. The “suddenly” will catch a lot of supposedly very smart people completely off-guard.

Posted at 11:41 am by Stephen Green 92

COLORADO: Defending Education Sues Colorado Over Sick Trans Law. “You might remember the recently passed Colorado legislation to fund castration of “trans” kids with taxpayer dollars and in spite of parents’ wishes, to mandate pro-trans policies in schools, to criminalize ‘deadnaming,’ and to take supposed ‘misgendering’ into account in custody cases. Defending Education, an organization that stands for parents and against woke indoctrination in schools, is suing the Democrat-run state over the extremely harmful legislation. Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm, and Dr. Travis Morrell also joined Defending Education in the suit.”

Posted at 11:10 am by Stephen Green 53

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: Secret Service, DOD, Coast Guard, Border Patrol applications surge under Trump.

In the first four months of the administration, U.S. Border Patrol received 34,650 applications, representing a 44% increase over the same four-month period in 2024, The Center Square reported. Under U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, Texas’ first border czar, the first quarter of 2025 marks “the most successful four-month recruitment stretch in the agency’s history.”

The U.S. Coast Guard also saw a massive spike of applications after failing to meet recruiting targets every year under the Biden administration.

Since January, the Coast Guard is on track to exceed its recruitment goals by 110%, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says. So far this fiscal year, the Coast Guard has already recruited more than 4,700 new members, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. Under Trump, the Coast Guard has surged resources to secure U.S. borders and is seizing record amounts of illicit drugs, The Center Square reported.

The U.S. Department of Defense is also seeing a record number of recruits. After failing to meet recruitment goals every year during the Biden administration, in February 2025, all five military services met their recruiting goals.

During an April 30, 2025, cabinet meeting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described what was happening as a “recruiting renaissance.”

Leadership matters.

Posted at 10:39 am by Stephen Green 52

WE ARE NOT LED BY THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST:

Posted at 10:01 am by Glenn Reynolds 144

DECOUPLING: China’s retail sales disappoint as stimulus fails to spur demand; industrial output defies tariffs.

Retail sales rose 5.1% from a year earlier in April, missing analysts’ estimates of 5.5% growth, according to a Reuters poll. Sales had grown by 5.9% in the previous month.

Industrial output grew 6.1% year on year in April, stronger than analysts’ expectations for a 5.5% rise, while slowing down from the 7.7% jump in March, indicating the impact from U.S. tariffs was not as harsh as was being expected.

“We should be aware that there are still many unstable and uncertain factors in [the] external environment,” the statistics bureau said. “The foundation for sustained economic recovery needs to be further consolidated.”

Fixed-asset investment for the first four months this year, which includes property and infrastructure investment, rose 4.0%, slightly lower than analysts’ expectations for a 4.2% growth in a Reuters poll.

The urban unemployment rate in April eased to 5.1% from 5.2% in March, at a time when U.S.-China trade war had led economists to warn about substantial job losses in China.

We have to rely on polls to try and figure out what’s going on in China because Beijing stopped reporting key economic figures in recent years.

Posted at 9:37 am by Stephen Green 42

#JOURNALISM:

Posted at 9:10 am by Glenn Reynolds 144

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Finally, Consequences Are Making a Comeback. “We don’t know how this is all going to play out, but one thing is certain: Democrats aren’t going to stop their scofflaw ways unless some repercussions are doled out. Now that a we have a leftist county judge and a Democratic congresswoman in legal hot water for not letting ICE do its job, perhaps others with think twice before joining the resistance.”

Posted at 9:06 am by Stephen Green 32

THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE DOESN’T LOVE STAND-YOUR-GROUND LAWS:  I missed this when it came out:  California is apparently considering an anti-Stand-Your-Ground law.

The Commission on Civil Rights undertook a study of the racial impact of Stand-Your-Ground laws a little while ago.  When the research indicated that Florida’s SYG law didn’t have the anti-black effect that my progressive colleagues thought, they threw out the research.  I had fun writing about it.

Posted at 8:43 am by Gail Heriot 64

HMM: Voters: Trump protects Constitution better than Biden.

Voters have a message for liberals charging that President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy: former President Joe Biden was worse.

In its latest poll to reveal how wrong America views Trump’s Washington critics, Rasmussen Reports said that a majority of likely voters believe that the president is “preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution.”

Rasmussen said that 52% feel Trump is upholding the Constitution.

Biden, however, didn’t get a majority to agree when he was president. In May of last year, just 44% said Biden was doing a good or excellent job of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution.

Doing a better job than Biden is a low bar, but it’s comforting that so many people ignore the 24/7/365 media drumbeat about Trump being a fascist, a threat to democracy, etc.

Posted at 8:35 am by Stephen Green 43

ICYMI: Epstein Suicide Confirmed by Kash Patel and Frankie Five Angels. “MCC’s failures made it at least look like someone was sure that Epstein would have a wide-open window of opportunity to kill himself. The hint, delivered in the form of missing guards and plenty of alone time, was no more subtle than Hagen mentioning what happened to those caught plotting against the emperors of Rome.”

Posted at 8:04 am by Stephen Green 110

SALENA ZITO: The Future of A.I. is in Western Pennsylvania.

At EQT Corp., the country’s largest independent natural gas producer, business is good — and it’s about to get better thanks to a surging local industry that needs all the Appalachian energy it can get: Artificial intelligence.

“I mean the size of this thing, it’s crazy,” Rice says. “We are hearing estimates for power demand for AI that’s anywhere [from] 50 to 75 gigawatts of power, which is the equivalent of the power needed to power 10 to 15 New York Cities.”

As David Friedman keeps pointing out, A.I. isn’t like the software revolution, it’s more heavy metal. “If you want to understand where AI is really going, ignore the hype cycles and product demos. Watch the grid.”

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds 59