Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) demanded that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) verbally address constituents and demonstrate his ability to serve or resign his seat in a blunt letter sent to the senator and his staff.The big picture: It's been more than 40 days since 84-year-old conservative stalwart McConnell has appeared outside of pictures released by his office after being hospitalized. His lengthy absence and past health scares are fueling speculation about his capacity to serve.Driving the news: Beshear said in the letter that it was also being sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), whom Beshear urged to investigate McConnell's capacity to serve."I understand anyone's desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state's two U.S. senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy," the letter read. "That's the deal, and we all know it when we run."Beshear concluded the letter, "All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency," adding, "Kentuckians are just asking you to be honest."Thune's and McConnell's offices did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.State of play: Under Kentucky law, Senate vacancies — which can occur due to resignation, expulsion or death — are filled by a special election. McConnell will retire after his term ends in January 2027.Catch up quick: The letter, dated Monday, is the second that Beshear has sent to the senator's office requesting updates on his health. McConnell is still recovering from a June fall at his home, according to a Monday statement from Congress' physician's office, which was released alongside a statement from the senator and a photo of him and his wife.The physician said McConnell has undergone "strenuous" physical therapy and rehabilitation, adding that the senator's childhood bout with polio plays a "significant factor in his mobility."Friction point: Rumors and conspiracy theories have snowballed in the wake of McConnell's disappearance, fueled by influential MAGA voices. But McConnell said in the most recent statement issued by his office that he's "still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky."Go deeper: Scoop: Democrat wants reckoning over McConnell, Kean absences
Gov. Andy Beshear issued his ultimatum in letters to McConnell and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, warning that he may begin the process of replacing him.
Sen. Mitch McConnell's this week released another photo claiming to show him on the road to recovery, but according to one professional psychologist, the photo is still littered with "red flags" that cast doubt on his condition.McConnell has been hospitalized since mid-June after reportedly being found unconscious at his home. Due to his office's lack of transparency about his condition, conspiracy theories have exploded about his true health status, including claims that he is close to death or dead already, and that his status is being hidden to prevent a special election for his Senate seat.In the latest statement released by his office, McConnell claimed that he was still undergoing intensive physical therapy at home after being discharged from the hospital, and was not yet cleared by his doctors to return to the Senate.In a new video reacting to the photo, Dr. John Paul Garrison, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist with a specialty in body language, highlighted the numerous "red flags" that were still evident in the photo.First and foremost, Garrison noted that the composition of the photo was deliberately chosen to keep McConnell's hands out of frame, to hide any possible "edemas" that they might show, or anything else concerning about them. He also noted that, in general, the photo was designed to answer as few questions about the senator as possible, and communicate only that he is alive and smiling."They don't want you to ask any other questions; they don't want to give any other information," Garrison said.He also noted that, just like in the first photo, McConnell and his wife are looking in two different directions, a notable point of concern. However, this time around, he admitted that it was much less obvious, and that a casual viewing of the photo would not suggest anything was wrong with where they were looking. Chao, he explained, appeared to be properly looking at the camera being used to take the photo. McConnell, in contrast, appeared to be looking instead at the person taking the photo."Once again, this is the best that they could do," he explained. "It doesn't seem that they're able to get him to be with it enough to take a decent photo."Chao, Garrison observed, also appeared to be applying a good amount of pressure as she held her husband's arm in the photo. This suggested that she was putting in effort to keep him still, either because he could not manage to do so himself, or because he might be struggling to sit up properly."The amount of pressure that she has on his arm right there is not affection," Garrison argued. "This is not demonstrating closeness. This is demonstrating that she is providing stability."McConnell also appeared to have the top button on his shirt undone, despite typically having his shirts buttoned all the way up. Garrison said that this could be a sign that his team wanted to have that area of his body easily accessible, which could be for a number of medical reasons. It could also be because the senator would not be comfortable with it done up all the way."I think that tells you just how precarious this situation is," Garrison continued. "And to use the word I used last time, just how fragile he actually is. I think that McConnell is so fragile and so frail that they did some very, very subtle trickery to try to show some degree of liveliness. I do think that this is a very, very carefully positioned picture, and it doesn't show robustness or strength. It just shows that he is alive, basically."
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Anthony Fauci’s newly released diary contains a perfect little monument to bureaucratic vanity.On April 24, 2021, Fauci noted that BlazeTV host Steve Deace and Todd Erzen had published “Faucian Bargain,” which dubbed him “the most powerful and dangerous bureaucrat in American history.”This is how institutions manufacture ignorance. They don’t always bury the evidence. More often than not, they simply declare the people seeking it disreputable.Fauci had a devastating rebuttal. He did not read it.“It is a cheap paperback of 179 pages which I will not even read,” Fauci wrote, before announcing that it contained “the same sort of nonsense that the other conspiracy theorists have been saying about me.”Splendid! “Science” had spoken!No evidence needed review. No argument required an answer. Fauci glanced at the title, identified the authors, and reached a conclusion with the serene confidence of a man accustomed to having cable news anchors treat his opinions as tablets from Sinai.Two months later, Fauci explained the theology to NBC’s Chuck Todd.“Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science,” he said.The arrogance of this guy!Louis XIV supposedly declared, “I am the state.” Fauci updated the formula for the administrative age: I am science. Question my judgment and you have attacked knowledge itself. Ask about my agency’s grants and you have declared war on reason itself. Publish a critical paperback and the scientific method goes into cardiac arrest.My friend Lloyd Billingsley has a term for this: “white-coat supremacy.”It describes the belief that credentials confer not merely expertise but authority — political, moral, and sometimes almost priestly authority. The white coat becomes a vestment. The bureaucrat wearing it may issue commands, avoid scrutiny, and treat dissent as heresy. Citizens are not expected to weigh his arguments. They are expected to comply.Sadly, millions did.Fauci’s diary reads like the private scripture of white-coat supremacy.Presidents praise him. Governors seek his counsel. Famous people call at all hours. Diners applaud when he picks up hamburgers. Fauci records each ovation with the dutiful embarrassment of a man cursed to remember every compliment.Critics receive less delicate treatment. They are “crazy,” “far-right,” “preposterous,” “dishonest,” or simply beneath his notice. Deace and Erzen wrote a book criticizing the scope and consequences of Fauci’s power. Fauci refused to read it and then waved it off as irrational. Their standing settled the argument before the argument began.RELATED: ‘Conspiracy theory’ is just media code for ‘we hope this never comes out’ Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesThe same method governed Fauci’s use of “conspiracy theory.” Some claims aimed at him were a bit out there: that he was Hillary Clinton’s “mole,” that he and Bill Gates put microchips in vaccines, or that he personally created the coronavirus and carried it into the United States.But Fauci placed fantasies alongside legitimate questions about a Wuhan lab leak, NIH money reaching the Wuhan Institute of Virology, gain-of-function research, deficient oversight, his testimony before Congress, and government pressure on social media companies.Those claims do not belong in the same category.A microchip in a syringe might be a fantasy, but NIH funding reaching Wuhan is a fact. A deliberate bioweapon release remains unsupported. A laboratory accident remains unresolved but perfectly plausible. Even the FBI favored a laboratory origin. Federal investigators found serious lapses in monitoring the EcoHealth Alliance grant.Fauci knew — or should have known — the distinctions.His diary records that on January 31, 2020, serious scientists discussed unusual features of SARS-CoV-2, possible deliberate insertion, and accidental laboratory release. He distinguished that conversation from a flimsy paper claiming HIV sequences had been inserted into the virus.At first, the categories remained intact. One claim was crazy but the other warranted investigation.But once the political stakes became obvious, the categories fell to pieces.Soon, congressional oversight became evidence-free conspiracy theorizing. FOIA requests came from cranks and conspiracy theorists. Scientists who challenged the approved account became ideologues, attention-seekers, or villains subject to censorship. The FBI, which favored the lab-leak hypothesis, supposedly had “no idea” what it was talking about.RELATED: Fauci diaries reveal shocking behind-the-scenes relationship with Jake Tapper Skip Bolen/Getty ImagesAnd Steve Deace wrote a book Fauci refused to read.That little detail gives away the game. “Conspiracy theory” did not describe the evidence. It determined whose evidence could be considered.
A former Republican congressional staffer called out Sen. Mitch McConnell's lack of transparency as his mysterious absence stretches into its sixth week.The 84-year-old senator's office issued a second photo Monday showing McConnell seated in a hospital bed alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, and explaining that he was undergoing "intense physical therapy" on a doctor's orders, but Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear expressed doubts about his claims and demanded more clarity."The attending physician’s written statement does not discuss your actual condition, including whether you can speak, reason, or carry out your duties as a senator," the governor stated in a letter. "I understand anyone’s desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state’s two US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy."“As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign,” Beshear added.T.W. Arrighi, a former communications aide to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), agreed that McConnell owed his constituents a stronger explanation for his continued absence from the U.S. Senate."I think every American wants more transparency," Arrighi told "CNN This Morning." "Even the Republicans of Kentucky would like it. I'm not saying Mitch McConnell is lying or being deceitful. I just think he should be more forthright and put out a quick video.""But look, let's put this in perspective," Arrighi added. "He's not running again, which was a good thing. I wish we had all old politicians say they aren't running again. He's not running again. We have three or four weeks, maybe, of the Senate calendar left. Everything else is operating, and they have a Democratic governor in Kentucky, so resigning is out of the option, out of the playbook." - YouTube youtu.be
