MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Who’s our real president? Joe Biden — or the staffers who keep walking back his comments?

OPEN THREAD: Display your erudition.

CHANGE: DoD to end procurements of geosynchronous missile-warning satellites. “Over the coming years DoD will start transitioning to a proliferated architecture of smaller satellites in lower orbits, officials said.”

PRESIDENT COMIC RELIEF: ‘She was 12, I was 30’: Biden leaves viewers stunned in teachers speech. “The audience of teachers and union members laughed and cheered at the bawdy remark. The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for clarification on what the president meant.”

SCREEN TIME: Early Puberty in Girls Surged in The Pandemic, And We May Finally Know Why.

FROM THE EARLY HUNTERBIDENIAN PERIOD: Scientists discover earliest remnants of opium use.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: That Is a Ring Doorbell AND He’s Happy to See You. “On this week’s Florida Man Friday, we have a stolen scooter rage incident, how not to knock on someone’s door, and you don’t even want to know how Michigan Man plays 160 degrees of Kevin Bacon.”

IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Global warming may increase risk for heart failure.

MOBSTERS WITH BETTER SUITS: WEF Mafioso Threatens Climate Annihilation, Demands $2 Trillion as Protection Money.

WELL, GOOD: Implant may reduce OCD symptoms with electrical pulses.

READER FAVORITE: Merrell Men’s Moab 2 Vent Mid Hiking Boot. #CommissionEarned

RETIREES ACCOUNT FOR HALF OF ALL CAMPAIGN DONATIONS: That’s the claim of Insider’s Madison Hall, based on FEC data compiled by opensecrets.org, who points out that:

“For years, retirees supplied about $1 in every $10 that federal-level political candidates raised from those contributing more than $200. But since the 2016 election cycle, they’ve represented an ever-greater share of politicians’ campaign haul. By the 2020 election cycle, retirees accounted for more than $1 in every $5, amounting to more than $378 million.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. New York Crime Victims Denied Carry Permits Should Demand Apologies, Reparations.

HOW ABOUT PAUL THE APOSTLE? If I were asked to name the top 10 most influential people in the ancient world, Jesus Christ obviously would be on top of the list. Who would be second? Neither Julius Caesar, nor Alexander the Great, not Solomon, and not his father, King David, though these, plus Aristotle, Augustine, Plato and Thucydides, would definitely be somewhere on the list.

No, my choice for second on the list of the top 10 most influential people in the ancient world would be a guy I believe has long been rather profoundly underrated, Paul the Apostle. I explain why today on HillFaith. Who would be your choices?

THE DUKE TRUSTEE PUSHING GENDER INSANITY: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed legislation that will effectively put legions of people arrested for violent crimes in his state back on the streets almost as soon as the handcuffs click.

Guess what else Pritzker is behind? If you have elementary school age kids, they may already have been influenced by this guy. The Carolina Journal’s David Larsen explains how in “The Billionaire Duke Trustee Behind The Remaking of Gender.”

EVEN IF IT WERE, I’M STILL NOT DOING IT: Is swimming in ice water good for you? Sorry to throw cold water on your wellness claims.

WELL, GOOD: Researchers identify potential gene marker for treating pancreatic cancer.

BUT HE’S A REPUBLICAN, SO IT WILL PROCEED, AT LEAST UNTIL NOVEMBER 8: WaPo: Career prosecutors tell DoJ they have no viable case against Gaetz.

COOLING THE MARK: Vox: Will the polls be wrong again this year?

DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: ‘Godzilla’ lizard found climbing on Florida home’s window.

RUSSIA MOBILIZATION BLUES: Grumpy Old Men, Grumpy Old Tanks, Grumpy Ethnic Minorities.

SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Ex-smokers cut risk of dying early by adopting healthy behaviors, study says.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. “The more one considers the matter, the clearer it becomes that redistribution is in effect far less a redistribution of income from richer to poorer, as we imagined, than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State.”

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Why ‘Gutfeld!’ Matters Even More Than Conservatives Think. “It’s clear other networks could have served up their own ‘Gutfeld!’-like show but refused to engage with Red State USA. They left money on the table and continue to do so by failing to clone the ‘Gutfeld!’ model.”

MARK JUDGE: When Sting Put on the Ring: More Wisdom From a Holy Pastor.

Dear Mark,

I watched the “Synchronicity” concert on HBO the other night. I’m sorry to have to tell you that I was disappointed in Sting, though I thought the other two guys in the band were outstanding. I am afraid that your hero was a bit burnt out, perhaps from the bizarre lifestyle that superstars can get into. Especially when they are touring. Sting looked bloated and acted sloppy. It seemed to me that for the most part he was not interested enough in his songs to try and do them with all his attention. I wonder if Sting hasn’t been slipping on the Ring lately — and you know what happens to those who try to use the Ring.

Just before sitting down to write you I listened to a few numbers from the tape you made — songs like Don McLean’s “Crossroads” and George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness” — and they sent me on a train of thought — about pain. It just so happens that one of the songs Sting did well was “King of Pain.” Then there’s the piece by Don McLean — “Can you find my pain? Can you heal it?” What is this pain they are talking about, Mark? Do you know? I know a little bit about my own, and I know that everyone has it — but I know that each person’s pain is as personal as their name. And I know that it’s worse to try and cover it and hide from it than accept it.

I was very happy that you saw the movie Gandhi, and even happier that you were impressed by it. Gandhi could live as he did because deep down he had accepted the pain without protest. And he could do so because he found a Life strong enough to absorb the pain without needing to resist — and being able to live that way is what I call salvation. In case you’re wondering, I am driving at something. It’s the Eucharist.

I was fascinated that you asked me if I was still going to Mass — and because of that I can’t help mentioning it in connection with these other things. How do you think Gandhi could ever walk around the way he did and see people as he saw them and treat them as he did? For myself I am sure it was not simply because he was a very strong individual with great moral character. I am sure that is was because he was in touch with God. Like Jesus, it wasn’t just at his death that he offered the sacrifice of his life.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Gandhi wasn’t a saint, he was a lawyer. Literally. And if you look at famous statements of his, it’s obvious, like when he was asked what he thought about Western civilization and responded that it would be a good idea. This was basically a sham: Indian civilization, of course, possessed all the flaws of Western civilization in spades — it was no stranger to imperialism, mass slaughter, exploitation, slavery, etc. — but Gandhi knew how that remark would strike his Western audience, which knew little of Indian history, and used that ignorance to put the knife in. That’s what an advocate does, but I wouldn’t exactly call it saintly.