Boston Herald

Biden brings back misery index

Between Afghans, Haitians and COVID, everyone’s miserable

- Peter Lucas Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachuse­tts political reporter and columnist.

It is time to bring back the misery index.

No, not as an indicator of economic distress by everyday people faced with inflation and other economic concerns — although a good case can be made for that.

Nor is it in reference to a dictatoria­l President Biden policy over COVID-19 masking and vaccinatio­ns — although a good case can be made for that, too.

Technicall­y the misery index is determined by economists by adding the unemployme­nt rate to the inflation rate. It was made popular by Jimmy Carter in 1976 when he defeated Republican President Gerald Ford.

You may have recently noticed it by the soaring hikes in the price for groceries, gasoline and other consumer purchases.

But now, thanks to the lame and lamented presidency of Joe Biden, we have the return of the misery index. Only this time the misery is not based on economics, but human misery instead.

If nothing else, Biden has spread more misery around the country and overseas than any of our recent presidents. And it extends from the humanitari­an crisis at the southern border to the miserable confines of Afghanista­n.

While Biden can wave hundreds of thousands of unvetted, unmasked and unvaccinat­ed illegal immigrants into the country, he is unable or unwilling to rescue hundreds of Americans he left stranded in Afghanista­n.

He can sneak in the thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants, but he cannot lift a finger to help thousands of Afghan interprete­rs and allies he left behind to be killed in Afghanista­n.

Talk about misery. What can be more miserable for an American than to be abandoned by your country? Joe Biden is a master of misery.

We used to say — and believe — the phrase that we as Americans do not leave anyone behind. Only now, thanks to Biden, we not only do leave Americans behind, but we forget them too.

Think about the misery those Americans, or what the thousands of Afghan allies are going through now that Biden has abandoned them to the Taliban, ISIS and other terrorist groups hunting them down.

Misery? How about the misery the families of the 10 innocent Afghans, including children, killed in Kabul by a U.S. drone? Think about what they are going through because of a military mistake?

Biden, with the folly of his hasty and reckless pullout from Afghanista­n, has has killed more children (seven) than he has terrorists since he’s been president.

If the administra­tion of former President Donald Trump were responsibl­e for those civilian deaths, it would have been condemned as a war crime and he would have been called a war criminal. Did Biden, the commander in chief, give the order to launch that attack?

Instead, before calling it a “mistake,” hapless Gen. Mark Milley, the self-righteous chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, called it a “righteous strike.” It was apparently launched in retaliatio­n for the killing of 13 U.S. soldiers on duty outside the Kabul airport days earlier.

These soldiers were not in combat, but were dealing with Afghans trying to storm the airport to get out of Afghanista­n.

They were part of a contingent of troops flown in to help deal with the botched Biden evacuation mess. Think of the misery their loved ones are going through.

This is not even to mention the misery of all those Haitians and others down at the southern border in and around Del Rio, Texas, who have flooded across the Rio Grande.

Not only are thousands living in squalid conditions under a bridge, but they are still coming — all unvaccinat­ed, unmasked and unvetted.

Not only are they living in misery, thanks to Biden’s open borders, but they have caused misery for the residents of Del Rio as well as for thousands of other Americans living in other border towns.

If nothing else, Biden believes in spreading the misery around.

And where are the politician­s? Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who made a big deal out of seeing “kids in cages” when Trump was president, have yet to inspect the horrendous living conditions in Del Rio or anyplace else along the border since Biden became president.

Meanwhile, Biden administra­tion is secretly shipping these newcomers by bus to various parts of the United States, without anybody knowing anything about who they are or where they are going.

One thing for sure, though, is that they will not be transporte­d to Martha’s Vineyard because that is where Barack Obama and John Kerry live.

 ?? Ap ?? FORGET AMERICA: A Haitian migrant wearing a shirt with the American flag and Statue of Liberty on it wades across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas, to return to Mexico, on Sept. 20, to avoid deportatio­n from the U.S. The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico.
Ap FORGET AMERICA: A Haitian migrant wearing a shirt with the American flag and Statue of Liberty on it wades across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas, to return to Mexico, on Sept. 20, to avoid deportatio­n from the U.S. The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico.
 ?? Ap fiLE ?? CHASING ‘EM DOWN: U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants trying to cross the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 19.
Ap fiLE CHASING ‘EM DOWN: U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants trying to cross the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 19.
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