Friends, there's so much going on in terms of current events that this week's Newsmaker Show didn't even make it as far as "This Day in History". Brian and I considered recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with an eye to forecasting the degree of danger we face of nuclear war. My intuition tells me that we'll probably step back from the brink, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it, with "statesmen" like Sleepy Joe at the helm... Brian and I also tackle the declining toll of the COVID pandemic, the import of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter for the future of free speech and pluralism, and the lessons of the French presidential election.
Allons-y! Pull those baguettes out of your ears and listen in to this week's broadcast...
https://wlea.net/newsmaker-april-27-2022-dr-nick-waddy/
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Some of you may be wondering what my reaction is to Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition... Well, the Newsmaker interview says it all, but in a nutshell I'm cautiously optimistic. Yes, Musk appears to value free speech more highly than most Democrats do. Maybe most Republicans, for that matter. That's all to the good. However, many complications will remain. How much will content still be moderated, and how fairly? How relevant is Twitter, since it has far fewer members than several other social media platforms? Isn't a multiplicity of platforms preferable to one mega-platform, even one controlled by a benevolent autocrat like Musk? To what degree can Musk overcome institutional resistance to his advocacy of free speech, i.e. will Twitter employees and/or advertisers sabotage his attempted transformation of Twitter? Assuming Twitter does become an unbiased, fair-minded public square, will the Left mobilize all its forces to destroy Twitter (and Musk), as it did with Donald Trump and his movement? Finally, what are the prospects for a rediscovery of the value of free speech at Facebook, Apple, Google, etc.? I don't have answers to these questions, but, as I heard Glenn Greenwald say yesterday, the recent changes at Twitter can hardly put conservatives in a worse position in the digital realm. The likelihood is that we'll be better off, and that's a small miracle, in this day and age!
In other news, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis looks looks more and more appealing as a 2024 GOP nominee, but he's got one giant hurdle ahead of him: DJT. If I were Ron, I'd try to co-opt Trump and charm him into staying on the sidelines. I sure as heck wouldn't take him on mano a mano.
https://spectatorworld.com/topic/can-desantis-get-past-the-donald/
We don't mention it nearly as often as Facebook or Twitter, but it's worth remembering that one of the world's most trusted sources of information is a "social media" entity called Wikipedia. And -- you guessed it! -- it leans way to the left.
https://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2022/04/27/wikipedia-bias-n2606403
Russia's economy is being buffeted by Western sanctions, but you wouldn't know it looking at the value of the ruble. Thanks, in part, to rising gas prices, the ruble is at a two-year high. That could help keep Russia in the fight in Ukraine.
No less an unimpeachable authority than Dr. Fauci now says that the COVID pandemic is over in the U.S. of A. Wow! Does this mean I can finally leave my house???
https://fox2now.com/news/national/fauci-says-us-is-out-of-the-pandemic-stage/
Good news! You can now sign up for a credit card that is explicitly conservative and supports conservative causes and organizations. What a refreshing change!
Finally, the prestigious University of California system is promising free tuition, plus free room and board, for all Native Americans who matriculate. In other words, it's racial discrimination galore in the UC system! What else is new? I predict yet another lawsuit based on the obvious argument that offering scholarships solely on the basis of race is...racist, and it's prohibited by anti-discrimination laws. Duh!
Dr.Waddy: re the broadcast: So dilettante Obama enjoins us to get "misinformation" under "control" ehh?! Can it be though, that he considers "misinformation" to be the product only of expression contrary to his airily conceived vision of correctness?
ReplyDeleteDr.Wadry from Jack : I would hope the consummate leftist bigotry, obvious to all who view California's educational.regime, from infancy (and perhaps even before), would convince prospective "university" students that an"American" leftist , politically "correct", extended "struggle session" isall that awaits them!
ReplyDeletestudents that therein they would enter a doctrinal dictatorship!
Dr Waddy from Jack: Once again we are being warned by the Russians: "You are going too far in your resupply of military equipment to Ukraine!" And once again,itappears, we scoff, just as we did in our presumptuous and reckless advance to Russia's borders in the years prior to the invasion of Ukraine. Our officialdom still does ken how fundamental this is to Russia. The actual consequence so far has brought hell on earth to Ukraine! What more could be in store? Since the West will not relent in even increased material support to Ukraine's war effort, we must EXPECT, we must not doubt, that Russia will up the ante! How?
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: How indeed; it is the only question as we persist. I think the Russians will advance an all out conventional onslaught on the marshalling centers and supply lines withinUkraine but what if they see this as inadequate (and I think they are close to such a view when considering the effects their already stepped up attacks on rail centers are having; that is why they are warning us of catastrophic consequences should we persist, as we do)?. I do not think they are bluffing. To them this is all! Imagine what a China, Iran, Mexico alliance on the Rio Grande would mean to us!?What then in Ukraine now?Tactical nukes on transportation centers in Ukraine? The same without Ukraine, on nearby Nato itself, a measure Russia would take only under extreme duress ?Without suggestion of moral equivalence let us not ignore the lessons of past wars in their emphasis on interdiction of supply?
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Though Twitter does not now dominate social media, Musk's coup and President Trump's effort may well provide a massively influential fillip to the every day more promising and terribly encouraging red wave building in our culture, our society and our polity!Remember how Rush dealt the "American" left a BODY BLOW by insolently taking the part of the real America against the then prevail
ReplyDeleteling sneering dominance of the radicals? I'm certain that the real America craves and will flock to, an analogous common sense onslaught on the heretofore leftist polluted social media world!
Dr.Waddy from Jack: In saying this I do not dismiss your concerns for the risks Musk's apparent intent to bring intellectual objectivity to Twitter might well hazard (which would by definition defy the left's totalitarian intent). But Rush's example gives me much optimism!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack:Three comments above I meant ". . .does Not ken..."
ReplyDeleteJack, the vast quantities of "misinformation" flowing out of the mouths of leftists, which never seem to attract the ire of any "misinformation" expert, lead me to believe that the term is being used with, oh, just a touch of cynicism...
ReplyDeleteYes, it does seem that Russia is escalating. So far, the Ukrainians are the perennial targets, but one has to wonder when/if NATO/U.S. trainers or logistical support staff or "diplomats", on the ground in Ukraine, might be targeted. If I were Russia, I would seriously consider shooting down Western civil airliners visiting Ukraine. Once again, perversely, the least risky scenario from the West's perspective may be one in which our Ukrainian clients go down to rapid defeat, because otherwise Russia may get desperate and go bonkers, militarily speaking.
Absolutely! Twitter's migration to the "center", or, relatively speaking, the "far-right", of the social media universe is consequential and cannot but assist the right in making waves in November. What we need now is some more billionaires, and some social media companies, to follow in Musk's footsteps... Facebook is the ultimate prize.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Speakingof misinformation: Fox says the administration is considering an office within Dept. of Homeland Security, to combat "misinformation". A Fox commentator said"its not misinformation these people fear, its information!" Excellent! But then we know the intent of such an office could not be to repress expression contrary to the partisan beliefs of the administration or, horrors, to label dissent as being by definition terrorist ( for is not defense against terrorism DHS's primary duty?) Why certainly. Its merely a creditable effort to restore the "balance"so rudely threatened by Musk's insolent private coup,which has generated so many Maalox moments among the elect! Just so, just so!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Shooting down Western civil airliners entering Ukraine (on the presumption that they carry military supplies, perhaps?) One is reminded of Germany's WWI unrestricted submarine onslaught , its rationale (not entirely unreasonable; eg. Lusitania) and the consequences. I think Russia's intent and consequential plans are rational, though so far pursued with inhuman force. I DO NOT think they seek war with Nato and would not hazard it ,iUNLESSthey were
ReplyDeleteconvinced they had NO CHOICE! Again: their CERTAIN, UN RELENTABLE purpose IS: no Nato in Ukraine!! Once again: is it in our VITAL, immediate national security interest to push Russia, RUSSIA, to this, to them, existential wall??!!
purpose IS: to remove ANY possibility of Ukraine in Nato!!!
Dr.Waddy from Jack: You lauded the possible multiplicity of many platforms in the social network world. But did not Rush, in galvanizing the real America's intent, motivate a a very successful, DEMOCRATICALLY, prominent conservative view which now bids fair to relegate consummately leftist social media to the same powerless gutter to which it sent leftist radio?This is the free market at work, for which the left has all encompassing fear and resolve to seek purely totalitarian empowerment! They dread the American public!
ReplyDeletethat a multiplicitynof
Jack, I find it curious that the "Ministry of Truth" was placed in the Department of Homeland Security, of all places. As you say, it's a law enforcement agency formed to protect the "homeland", first and foremost, from terrorism. But then I suppose, from the Left's perspective, "terror" naturally ensues whenever a conservative opens his mouth?
ReplyDeleteTrue, shooting down civil airliners would risk NATO's ire...although there's been so much ire already that I find it hard to believe that NATO would react in any consequential way. After all, one could give a warning in advance, and then let the missiles fly. The comparison with unrestricted submarine warfare is somewhat apt, except that the seas are neutral ground. Can we really assert an absolute right to access the airspace of a country at war? BTW, Russia's failure to establish aerial supremacy explains, in large measure, why this war has dragged on.
Hmm. Interesting perspective, Jack, but I would say the difference is that leftist talk radio has always been commercially unsuccessful. Leftist social media companies have been ENORMOUSLY successful -- mainly because they're the only game in town. Now, with Twitter's migration to the center and Trump's Truth Social, the public really will have some choice. And that's all to the good!
Dr.Waddy from Jack: Re :your 4/20 broadcast: Whew! Sea attacks by Russia upon presumably Ukraine intended supplies even in the Atlantic? From the Russian point of view, why not attack such warlike provision at the point of delivery? BUT! Should Russia prosecute a conflict at sea with Nato as a demonstration of its outrage at Nato's present intercession in Ukraine,even if nuclear (at sea not at land) it could be decisive but not worldly strategic!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: You are right: the Twitter infrastructure, no doubt doubt terribly polluted by the left, will react with viciously
ReplyDeletedefiant resolve to any effort on his part to disarm leftist cadre esconsed in the organization. Does he have the resove to gut them?Musk has so far demonstrated an exceedingly formidable personality!
Jack, I very much doubt that Russia would attack any Western ships -- military or civilian -- at sea, for the simple reason that Russia's navy is at such a disadvantage. In the skies over Ukraine, though, Russia is comparatively strong, and the precedent for "no-fly zones" over conflict areas has already been set (by us).
ReplyDelete