tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85111481879409330622024-03-18T22:42:18.962-04:00Waddy Is Right
Welcome to the official blog for Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy, political commentator, historian, patriot, novelist, and wise man extraordinaire! Here you will find Dr. Waddy's latest musings on the political scene, as well as links to published articles, tv/radio appearances, and more...Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.comBlogger1421125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-44972523179060185412024-03-17T15:29:00.003-04:002024-03-17T15:29:58.129-04:00NATO? None For Me, Thanks!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_w7Tv5qewbzhmfd2BU22XzQR3EyIE5LThHysgeCsNKMlX8_hzeoq1rGDooAUz14QcztEH89dSZo7_ouJbkbgwfvH2kpiUC6Eal0sZgftGuJ1lFrCL5zgk4d8RJqElgZjf2kpHtVUFhR0Pm64JpJ8LVfGUP5LIu5ikVTgUC_SvxcR14EATjz6o3dwjew/s774/230418-flags-hq_rdax_775x440s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="774" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_w7Tv5qewbzhmfd2BU22XzQR3EyIE5LThHysgeCsNKMlX8_hzeoq1rGDooAUz14QcztEH89dSZo7_ouJbkbgwfvH2kpiUC6Eal0sZgftGuJ1lFrCL5zgk4d8RJqElgZjf2kpHtVUFhR0Pm64JpJ8LVfGUP5LIu5ikVTgUC_SvxcR14EATjz6o3dwjew/w400-h228/230418-flags-hq_rdax_775x440s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, my latest article is hot off the digital presses, and it's an argument for why NATO is making European and global security worse, not better -- and why the the U.S. should therefore withdraw from the alliance. I say it's about time those mealy-mouthed Eurocrats stand up straight and provide for their own defense! Who's with me?</p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>NATO Has Lost Its Way</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Way back in the
year 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed for the
excellent purpose of defending the West (meaning mainly Western
Europe) from attack from the USSR. Formally and legally, NATO was a
defensive military alliance. All members agreed that, if one of them
were attacked, all would rush to its defense. In practice, this bound
all Western Europeans together, forbade them from going to war with
one another (a rather important proviso, given recent
unpleasantness), and, most importantly, committed the the United
States to remain engaged in European security and to place all member
states of NATO under its nuclear umbrella.
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> There was, in a
sense, an implicit transaction here: the Europeans would acknowledge
and respect American military and strategic supremacy, even placing
their own forces (usually) under the command of an American “Supreme
Allied Commander”, and in return the U.S. would provide the bulk of
the armed forces and the financing that would keep Europe free.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> This was, at the
time, a very elegant solution to an extremely pressing problem: the
aggressive posture of the Soviet Union, a conventional and nuclear
superpower and a communist pariah. By these methods, the security of
the West was maintained – if not exactly “guaranteed”, because
no one knows what would have happened if the Soviets had called
NATO's bluff – for the next 40+ years.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
1989-91, the </span><i>raison d'être</i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of NATO suddenly disappeared. The USSR released its grip on its
Eastern European satellites, which sloughed off communist
overlordship in record time, terminated the Warsaw Pact, and it even
officially dissolved itself, freeing its constituent “republics”
to become newly independent states. All of these states, moreover,
abandoned communism, demilitarized themselves (to varying degrees),
and established friendly relations with the West.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> Now, at this
point, you would think that a defensive military alliance that had
been formed in opposition to the expansionist tendencies of an empire
that had entirely ceased to exist would...itself disband. If it chose
to wind up its operations slowly, out of an abundance of caution, you
would think that it nonetheless would – in line with its
commitments to the leaders of the new “Russian Federation” –
avoid any moves that would threaten to reignite old tensions, such as
expanding to the east.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> You
would be wrong, however, because, almost as soon as the USSR's death
rites were performed, the Western political and military
establishment began to plot the enlargement of NATO – almost as if
growth, in itself, could counteract the newfound pointlessness of the
organization. Not for the first time, Western elites refused to take
“Yes!” for an answer from their erstwhile enemies. NATO expansion
was duly pursued, with the clear corollary that Russia would be
permanently unwelcome. The unmistakable message to the Russians was:
NATO is still in business, and its business – its only business –
is containing </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">you</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is in this context that the current war between Russia and
Ukraine should be viewed. American, Canadian, and European leaders,
having secured more than a dozen new members for the NATO Bloc in
Eastern Europe, decided to push even farther to the east. A coup was
engineered that overthrew the Russian-friendly administration in
Ukraine, and the political, military, intelligence, economic, and
cultural elite of the West committed itself to the seduction of
Ukraine and its incorporation into a now sprawling web of Western
dominance. Russia's timid response to previous waves of NATO/Western
expansion lulled these inveterate Russophobes into the naive
assumption that Ukraine, too, could be annexed without difficulty. We
all know what consequences this arrogant and shortsighted policy has
had for the people of Ukraine.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Two
things must be made absolutely clear: one is that NATO, for all the
bluster about it being as strong today as ever before, has literally
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">never</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
been put to any practical use. Throughout the Cold War, and in the
years since, it has never gone to war on behalf of any of its
members, which is its only formal and legal purpose. Its only
military operations to date have been symbolic contributions to
Western misadventures in places like the Balkans, Afghanistan, and
Libya, unconnected to its core responsibilities. It is still, to this
day, a defensive military alliance, even if it behaves sometimes more
like an expansionist empire. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Second, because of its defensive institutional focus, NATO has no
bonafide commitments in Ukraine, and no legal standing to intervene
in the conflict. Thus, NATO's support of mostly American, British,
and German military and economic aid to that country is purely
rhetorical, not practical. Just like during the Cold War, the
Europeans expect America to solve their perceived strategic and
military problems for them – but, unlike during the Cold War, this
time the U.S. is under no treaty obligations to oblige, since the
relevant “victim” of Russian aggression is a non-member state.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The lesson here is simple: NATO has long since outlived its
usefulness. In fact, NATO and the Western military alliance have, by
their aggressive, intemperate, and inept machinations in Ukraine,
placed both that country and all nations of the world in much greater
peril than they would have been in had Western leaders had the
foresight to disband NATO in the early 90s.
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only things that continued U.S. membership in NATO will achieve
are: the prolongation of unnecessary conflict in Eastern Europe, the
encouragement of Western Europe's most destructive fantasies about
its ability to dominate the entire continent, the financial
overcommitment of the United States to the provision of security to
various European countries wholly capable of achieving it (and paying
for it) themselves, and the stoking of a toxic animosity between
Russia and the West, which is quickly metastasizing into distrust and
resentment that most of the non-Western world feels towards the
United States and its European allies.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
For all these reasons, the next president of the United States
should do what George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton did not have the
wisdom or the courage to do in the early 90s: he should withdraw the
U.S. from NATO. He should also suspend aid to Ukraine and
definitively end the program of Western strategic expansion that
began almost as soon as the Soviet Union fell apart.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
For the first time in almost a hundred years, let us abandon the
architecture and the mindset of incessant conflict, and let us
instead give peace – or at least minding our own business – a
chance.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dr.
Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred
and blogs at: </span></i><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.waddyisright.com/"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">www.waddyisright.com</span></i></a></u></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.</span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">***</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In other news, the mainstream media is clutching its pearls over Donald Trump's colorful allusion to a "bloodbath" in the auto industry if he isn't reelected, because of Chinese competition. Well, as usual, the establishment journos are spinning these remarks to make DJT look like a bloodthirsty fascist maniac. To be fair, his exact wording is open to various interpretations, but the only one that leftists cotton to is the one that's the most scary, needless to say. The depths to which Trump's detractors will sink in the next few months to portray him as unhinged and dangerous will, we assume, set new records for mendacity and hyperbole, which is saying something, given the long record of willful distortions to which Trump has been subjected. Will any of it move those stubborn independents? Maybe. Of course, they've heard it all before, but we can't deny that even the most shameful lies acquire a certain currency in public discourse, if they're repeated often enough...</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/17/biden-campaign-establishment-media-attack-trump-with-fake-interpretation-of-bloodbath-comments-in-ohio-rally/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/17/biden-campaign-establishment-media-attack-trump-with-fake-interpretation-of-bloodbath-comments-in-ohio-rally/</a> </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Finally, a <i>Washington Post </i>columnist<i> </i>is getting worked over by "progressives" after she had the temerity to suggest that it might be in the best interests of Democrats, and the country, if Kamala Harris were to make way for a more competent and politically popular running mate for Joe Biden. No kidding! It shocks me to the core that the Dems are seemingly hellbent on retaining BOTH of the clunkers at the top of their ticket. That's so unnecessary and reckless. They claim that nothing matters except keeping the demon Trump out of the White House. Well, if that's what they think, how about putting up a candidate (or two) that people actually want to vote for? But what do I know...</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/03/16/post-columnist-calls-on-kamala-harris-to-step-aside-quickly-learns-why-you-cant-do-that-n3784830" target="_blank">https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/03/16/post-columnist-calls-on-kamala-harris-to-step-aside-quickly-learns-why-you-cant-do-that-n3784830</a><br /></span></p>
Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-23371829542329410932024-03-14T20:57:00.000-04:002024-03-14T20:57:44.861-04:00Tick-Tock for TikTok<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaU5iB-5_8-_pFtMfKPwTE8zbvgUm_-DiilZIyQ8cjcnFJCOI-pkOkrVZ3We8P485GedipyaeOhBOsCqEar83zop0gXYOzJoYV_PsBl3aec4r_ojspnDMoX7GkcgNWr1SKlo7gLL6iMqDmZ8hEKDN-VO6L1k5wy5BWBleG6_WzqHvS2ELrhYnoxn1guJc/s2400/STK051_VRG_Illo_N_Barclay_10_tiktok.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2400" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaU5iB-5_8-_pFtMfKPwTE8zbvgUm_-DiilZIyQ8cjcnFJCOI-pkOkrVZ3We8P485GedipyaeOhBOsCqEar83zop0gXYOzJoYV_PsBl3aec4r_ojspnDMoX7GkcgNWr1SKlo7gLL6iMqDmZ8hEKDN-VO6L1k5wy5BWBleG6_WzqHvS2ELrhYnoxn1guJc/w400-h266/STK051_VRG_Illo_N_Barclay_10_tiktok.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, Congress may be getting closer to forcing the sale of TikTok by its Chicom parent company. Would that company, in fact, sell, and if so who would buy TikTok? That's a critically important question, because we decidedly don't want the U.S. government forcing the sale of a major social media platform to a bunch of leftist creeps, which is a horrifyingly plausible scenario, I fear... Elon, are you listening???<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/14/former-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-is-putting-together-an-investor-group-to-buy-tiktok.html" target="_blank">https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/14/former-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-is-putting-together-an-investor-group-to-buy-tiktok.html</a></p><p> </p><p>In other news, Democrats and progressives are, as usual, whipping up fears that Republicans will gut Social Security and Medicare. Of course, Trump and his GOP allies are highly unlikely to trim these popular programs, although part of me wishes they would, because unless they are put on a firmer fiscal foundation they're both in danger of insolvency in the medium or long term.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/14/donald-trump-i-will-never-do-anything-jeopardize-hurt-social-security-medicare/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/14/donald-trump-i-will-never-do-anything-jeopardize-hurt-social-security-medicare/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, those dastardly Dems aren't dumb. Evil, sure, but not dumb. They realize what the polls are telling them: the presence of a wide range of third party candidates in the presidential race is lessening Joe Biden's chances of victory. The solution? Attack those third party candidates as "spoilers" and, if possible, sue them into oblivion and/or get them off the ballot. Oh, these Democrats sure do love "democracy", as long as the people get only one choice at election time.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/dnc-war-third-party-candidates-rcna143290" target="_blank">https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/dnc-war-third-party-candidates-rcna143290</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-36180467570845128392024-03-13T12:36:00.004-04:002024-03-13T12:36:58.456-04:00El Presidente Kennedy<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVyVtJVxZZrSsVSM2ajOVbx_FlgX4XdWj7kzN0NGl2yq-Mavk6mKvv9eO2EwiJrvo-ywio8ISGFMLZepdvJBKTqNWj8UYkX1P-QyfEqGO4gvjiqcSc1S0kCiz-0R_ZiNIgRegnqfXFBRFCQBFCr91a1P3FJViBzKN5e4M6kJL_-bmEIJk4LZuRIRWqFBY/s458/671430031.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="458" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVyVtJVxZZrSsVSM2ajOVbx_FlgX4XdWj7kzN0NGl2yq-Mavk6mKvv9eO2EwiJrvo-ywio8ISGFMLZepdvJBKTqNWj8UYkX1P-QyfEqGO4gvjiqcSc1S0kCiz-0R_ZiNIgRegnqfXFBRFCQBFCr91a1P3FJViBzKN5e4M6kJL_-bmEIJk4LZuRIRWqFBY/w400-h297/671430031.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Hola, amigos! No, that title isn't a reference to the near certainty that RFK, Jr. will be our next president (ha!), but to John F. Kennedy's "Alliance for Progress", a form of outreach to Latin America. That's just one of the topics that Brian and I cover on this week's <i>Newsmaker Show</i>. We spend most of our time knee-deep in current events, including rank-and-file Democrats' (un) surprising openness to a strategy of refusing to certify a (hypothetical) Trump win in November, the persistence of inflation and the ambiguity of the country's overall economic situation, the sticky question of what to do about TikTok, the unserious nature of Democratic proposals to raise taxes on the rich, the high cost of migration, the No Labels phenomenon, and more!</p><p><br /></p><p>You give us twenty minutes -- we give you the world!*</p><p><br /></p><p>*"The world" could mean any planet, chosen at random, inclusive of "Earth", depending on the whims of the producers.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://wlea.net/newsmaker-march-13-2024-dr-nick-waddy/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/newsmaker-march-13-2024-dr-nick-waddy/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>***</p><p><br /></p><p>What would a second term for Trump look like? To me, the first term often looked like a political newbie fumbling in the dark. Leftists assert, naturally, that on his second try Trump will tyrannize the U.S. more horribly than a thousand Hitlers, but to conservatives the bigger question is whether Trump has learned any lessons from the failures -- yes, they were failures -- of Act One of his presidency. This article suggests that the reign of Viktor Orban in Hungary could be a model for what Trump hopes to achieve in the U.S. Well, maybe it could. but this analysis is remarkably short on specifics. How <i>exactly</i> did Orban establish himself as a right-wing colossus in Hungary, and how <i>exactly</i> would Trump go about duplicating his success? It's unclear to me that Trump has any elaborate plans for entrenching conservative rule in this country, but, if he lacks them, I would suggest that he find a reactionary brainiac to think them up ASAP, because bluster alone won't even put a dent in the modern Left and its comprehensive domination of our major political, cultural, and economic institutions.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/12/trump-viktor-orban-reelection" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/12/trump-viktor-orban-reelection</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-51150415133573803562024-03-08T10:47:00.000-05:002024-03-08T10:47:07.179-05:00Oopsie!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdm9yEuZtw9CVDDJLK08Z1UFussiG1_s69ecZVM-lD9E29Iw5GZzSAjCT3II-uPz3iV_SkD87oDvUoqwbyHbjITUg7mE66eLgzlf9Pa5Av7YjxxE0Qj89VDn46tEdEqDGY3S5UY5KkFHv-WtgQZxrvG7sb50VGtB7Rf-jEtZWeHyqNNDsLknNNQ6S89A/s1800/PS1_44.500_3QtrLftDetA_DD_T14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1761" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdm9yEuZtw9CVDDJLK08Z1UFussiG1_s69ecZVM-lD9E29Iw5GZzSAjCT3II-uPz3iV_SkD87oDvUoqwbyHbjITUg7mE66eLgzlf9Pa5Av7YjxxE0Qj89VDn46tEdEqDGY3S5UY5KkFHv-WtgQZxrvG7sb50VGtB7Rf-jEtZWeHyqNNDsLknNNQ6S89A/w391-h400/PS1_44.500_3QtrLftDetA_DD_T14.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Boy, do I have egg on <i>my </i>face! But I'm the legendary Nick Waddy, right-wing <i>raconteur</i>, so it's a <span><span>Fabergé</span></span> egg, and no doubt you'll still be very impressed. Yesterday, I forgot to post this week's <i>Newsmaker Show.</i> No matter -- here it is. Brian and I delve into the rapidly evolving dynamics of the 2024 race for president, of course, and we also cover the ambitions of Nikki Haley, the recent SCOTUS decision on Trump's ballot access, the constitutionality of state laws against illegal immigration, the fading mythology of "President Michelle Obama", and the curious loyalty of Democratic Party primary voters to Sleepy Joe.</p><p><br /></p><p>When we turn to "This Day in History", Brian and I cover Hitler's reoccupation of the Rhineland and the great solace that interventionists have always found in the lessons of "appeasement", the punishing nature of U.S. bombing in North Korea and North Vietnam, and the legacy of Ayn Rand's brand of libertarian conservatism.</p><p> </p><p>It's one day late, but it's no less riveting for that!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://wlea.net/links/the-waddy-newsmakers/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/links/the-waddy-newsmakers/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-76018811268960573812024-03-07T20:51:00.001-05:002024-03-07T20:51:35.743-05:00Talk to the Hand, America!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_GLT1paegj5s_m4a-h1LR3SIXCjDaskJj4OiOLVpenqbNb7k9p1pZZcCr24nGhRNT8ShGOlqf72__lFl77FJcNQTwlb0YtwZt4A0FXlrsRjeXrDqoy6RhUQEQfhBuL2PC-FsHnDZqiO3Bh0ydfX9U9pyey303Jk3If34IamfJELoafNLld0Q3TUzJIo/s1200/s-l1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1200" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_GLT1paegj5s_m4a-h1LR3SIXCjDaskJj4OiOLVpenqbNb7k9p1pZZcCr24nGhRNT8ShGOlqf72__lFl77FJcNQTwlb0YtwZt4A0FXlrsRjeXrDqoy6RhUQEQfhBuL2PC-FsHnDZqiO3Bh0ydfX9U9pyey303Jk3If34IamfJELoafNLld0Q3TUzJIo/w400-h268/s-l1600.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, you may have noticed that President Trump recently challenged President Biden to debate him, and, in an ordinary election year, we could count on the two major party presidential candidates mixing it up on the debate stage, probably three times or more. This, however, isn't an ordinary election year. If the Dems had their way, it would be a <i>pro forma</i> election year, because the Republican candidate would be ejected from the ballot, and third party candidates would be bureaucratically stymied and thus prevented from accessing the ballot. Ergo, Emperor Joe would win by default. It may not turn out quite that way, but the incumbent president still seems to regard himself as above participating in any kind of dialogue with Donald J. Trump. Presumably, Biden wouldn't want to acknowledge the existence of other candidates in the race either. Biden will say that Trump is a boorish barbarian, so there's no point in debating him. Will the American people buy that? Or will they think that Biden is dodging the debates because he's not up to the task? We shall see. In any case, it would be fitting for a progressive president to refuse to debate, since progressives in general seem to regard any and all dissent as beneath contempt. Not a very "democratic" attitude, but there we are.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/03/07/biden-co-chair-coons-i-wouldnt-encourage-biden-to-debate-you-can-watch-sotu/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/03/07/biden-co-chair-coons-i-wouldnt-encourage-biden-to-debate-you-can-watch-sotu/</a></p><p> </p><p>I've said many times that, the more candidates there are in 2024, the more likely Trump is to win, and Biden is to lose. It's thus highly problematic for Team Blue that the No Labels sideshow appears close to naming a presidential candidate. Most of the leading contenders have taken themselves out of the running, so it's not clear that No Labels can be competitive, but, even if it drew 1% of the vote, that could easily be decisive in some states. I say: bring it on, "centrist" cranks!</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/no-labels-candidates-selection-third-party-ea3f28a5e35f0789e873ac42369b0a77" target="_blank">https://apnews.com/article/no-labels-candidates-selection-third-party-ea3f28a5e35f0789e873ac42369b0a77</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, in what will be an interesting test for free speech in the U.K., authoress J.K. Rowling has been reported to police for calling a transgender "woman" a "man". I particularly appreciate Rowling's observation that "there is no human right to universal validation". Amen to that!</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/07/world-news/jk-rowling-reported-to-police-for-misgendering-trans-tv-anchor-india-willoughby/" target="_blank">https://nypost.com/2024/03/07/world-news/jk-rowling-reported-to-police-for-misgendering-trans-tv-anchor-india-willoughby/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-3196917608454139202024-03-05T11:50:00.000-05:002024-03-05T11:50:29.947-05:00Miracles Happen<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKS2bXCgC6zee4-LhJol1NNE1ULqikpkZXvSTh3Md3jnvBxtxkStsFO5tPdL3fn47uX0X75yGHXzOsA_omSQmm8QnX4o5qbwrk0SYN51_4cMQF5GYu3Gs5PGof1mfolAdK9eN4zg57yCOjQHE7Cf9pQUtxW-y-bROMi-2Vk2-9_zNCsEAgPqtwHIxeE0/s760/231220-donald-trump-se-110p-b6fd85.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="760" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKS2bXCgC6zee4-LhJol1NNE1ULqikpkZXvSTh3Md3jnvBxtxkStsFO5tPdL3fn47uX0X75yGHXzOsA_omSQmm8QnX4o5qbwrk0SYN51_4cMQF5GYu3Gs5PGof1mfolAdK9eN4zg57yCOjQHE7Cf9pQUtxW-y-bROMi-2Vk2-9_zNCsEAgPqtwHIxeE0/w400-h266/231220-donald-trump-se-110p-b6fd85.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, DJT is exulting in his big win at the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that Colorado cannot unilaterally invoke the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause to strike him from the ballot. The three liberal Justices were a bit peevish in their concurrence, but basically they agreed that it would be sheer chaos if every state, and every judge, in the country can craft its, or his, or her, own rationale for who's an "insurrectionist" and who isn't. No doubt today a lot of Dems and lefties are looking like deer caught in the oncoming headlights of a tractor trailer. Well, don't say we didn't warn you! Now, will this end attempts to win the 2024 election by alternative means? No way. All the court cases against Trump are still alive, as far as I know, and we can't rule out other maneuvers, like canceling the election, declaring martial law, assassinating Trump, the intimidation or bribery of Trump electors, passing laws at the state level designed to prevent the election of "felons" (which Trump will soon be), etc. I would still be (pleasantly) surprised if Trump were <i>allowed</i> to win the election and become president again, but at least the Supreme Court is on record that the American people ought to have some say in the matter. And, BTW, I'm genuinely SHOCKED that the three liberal Justices concurred in the opinion. That took real courage. They are going to get some cold stares at the next D.C. cocktail party.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1230453714/supreme-court-trump-colorado-ballot" target="_blank">https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1230453714/supreme-court-trump-colorado-ballot</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/03/04/trump-supreme-court-colorado-ballot-super-tuesday/72838766007/" target="_blank">https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/03/04/trump-supreme-court-colorado-ballot-super-tuesday/72838766007/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>In other news, SCOTUS will also be taking up Texas' new law designed to criminalize, at the state level, illegal immigration. That will be interesting. Previously, the high court has always held that immigration policy is a federal prerogative. Will anything change now that we have bedlam at the border...and a 6-3 conservative majority on the court? Maybe. Maybe not.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-texas-law-that-allows-police-to-arrest-migrants/ar-BB1jkgGY" target="_blank">https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-texas-law-that-allows-police-to-arrest-migrants/ar-BB1jkgGY</a></p><p> </p><p>Michelle Obama has been the GREAT BLACK HOPE to which many a lefty has clung as Sleepy Joe descends into obsolescence. She is now making her position clear: she will <i>not</i> be running for president, and supports Biden and Kam-Kam. Oh, the humanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/05/michelle-obama-addresses-call-for-2024-presidential-run/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/05/michelle-obama-addresses-call-for-2024-presidential-run/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>It's just a small state, but it gives Trump extra momentum as he heads into Super Tuesday. I'm referring to Trump's massive win in the North Dakota caucuses. One wonders whether, after today, Nikki Haley will finally see the writing on the wall? Relatedly, will she pivot to a different kind of presidential run? Maybe a prolonged flirtation with the No Labels folks, at the very least?</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/03/04/donald-trump-wins-north-dakota-presidential-caucuses/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/03/04/donald-trump-wins-north-dakota-presidential-caucuses/</a></p><p> </p><p>Finally, Taylor Swift broke Joe Biden's heart yesterday. No, she didn't refuse to go on a date with him. She omitted any mention of Biden, or the Democrats, or indeed any political controversy, as she urged her legions of Swifties to vote. Swift's (potential) endorsement won't amount to a hill of beans in '24, if you ask me, but you can see why our octogenarian president sorely wants it. Is Swift smart enough to demure, and to keep her brand squeaky clean rather than sullying it with old man stink? We shall see. (That's no offense to all the old men reading this blog, which I think is about 95% of my audience. YOU have a delightful Trumpy musk to you, whereas Old Man Joe smells like socialism, which is, so I'm told, a mixture of the aromas of boiled cabbage and cigarette smoke.)<br /></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68482442" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68482442</a> <br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-30082202949408134822024-03-03T23:26:00.000-05:002024-03-03T23:26:53.925-05:00On A Roll, Baby!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEjRJmT3w07QT6Syx8yyEZCeC-ooHvo9KbjCR3U7lFS07c4Mz259VmdaEPCOSzSHIEo3ZdNsY-oYROFVyx1WgYGdF7h5H-XWoOD84Iy79xTTGNln5X3bNYVIVcIClJyFWYefIvwSg7fT2oIGr6-PuChyFBRF1ywZcKuKPVTAS6CrPVa1g3VUItOXM-Nhs/s1024/nikki-haley-dc-primary.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEjRJmT3w07QT6Syx8yyEZCeC-ooHvo9KbjCR3U7lFS07c4Mz259VmdaEPCOSzSHIEo3ZdNsY-oYROFVyx1WgYGdF7h5H-XWoOD84Iy79xTTGNln5X3bNYVIVcIClJyFWYefIvwSg7fT2oIGr6-PuChyFBRF1ywZcKuKPVTAS6CrPVa1g3VUItOXM-Nhs/w400-h266/nikki-haley-dc-primary.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, kudos to Nikki Haley, who won today's Republican primary in the District of Columbia. Let rhe record show that Haley had accumulated a massive string of defeats, including in her home state, but she is nonetheless the preferred choice of Washington swamp creatures who call themselves Republicans, which of course is a very select group, but still... Haley's chances of being the GOP presidential nominee evaporated a while ago, but assuming she's running out of stubbornness, or for personal profit, or because she likes attention, or because she plans to say "I told you so" after Trump loses, then this result in D.C. will put something akin to wind in her sails. Say what you want about Nikki, but she's right about one thing: a lot of Republicans would prefer a nominee other than Trump. Count me among them. Having said that, when it's New York's turn to have a Republican primary, I won't be pulling any lever for Nikki. She ain't my cup of tea.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/haley-wins-republican-primary-washington-dc-rcna140421" target="_blank">https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/haley-wins-republican-primary-washington-dc-rcna140421</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-85590703206261067452024-03-01T20:16:00.000-05:002024-03-01T20:16:14.792-05:00The Tulsification of the GOP?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTX8HcDoHMQkcO2YFPFvOvFqbrQeymh_cvb_GA_pQFzmvAivVH54kx0iyVf1-BtWhumgA1S-5kanaZtnp2wDR3f_c4piQ55iIHH5hFZvNhblGSnBwwTNu8mqEwdkZUGsnQUADu5hVdrfs2EMCEWfOQ3ZnVoU1SuTsAVWO8rXxU7xqNo6Lq_3Q7TOm4n5s/s512/pKa8fVBdUAgz8Vd60ngn--1--bz076.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTX8HcDoHMQkcO2YFPFvOvFqbrQeymh_cvb_GA_pQFzmvAivVH54kx0iyVf1-BtWhumgA1S-5kanaZtnp2wDR3f_c4piQ55iIHH5hFZvNhblGSnBwwTNu8mqEwdkZUGsnQUADu5hVdrfs2EMCEWfOQ3ZnVoU1SuTsAVWO8rXxU7xqNo6Lq_3Q7TOm4n5s/w400-h400/pKa8fVBdUAgz8Vd60ngn--1--bz076.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, this A.I.-generated image of Tulsi Gabbard says it all. She's heroic, for sure, but is she blue, or is she red? Well, she's purple, or rather...ambiguous. She's whatever you want or need her to be! My latest article considers her future, and specifically a variety of paths that she could take in 2024. See what you think!</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.wnd.com/2024/03/tulsi-gabbard-enigma-options/" target="_blank">https://www.wnd.com/2024/03/tulsi-gabbard-enigma-options/</a></p><p> </p><p>In other news, Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, trying to force the company to be true to its non-profit, altruistic founding vision. Musk claims that OpenAI has been seduced by Microsoft and is no longer trying to "benefit humanity". You may scoff, but it matters a great deal who steers the evolution of AI, and for what general purpose. I hope Musk gets his way, because it would be nice to see the world of AI stay as transparent and as widely accessible and as democratic as possible.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68445981" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68445981</a> <br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-8819880838262236362024-02-29T13:58:00.000-05:002024-02-29T13:58:17.520-05:00Throwing a Haley Mary?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNesjFazkfRCSeUr_7B37WXPyrDRROUWjiGQHJ2bzH0EqgKsTLWGFeJ6BRQInoL7IwXpoB1ChSPvTUWuCB23QZfRa6cC0ejqIo9AN6ui_isQ3u86SZ_ErX1DGaxcDmnYPMKxWAww4GIVkXhbd6oO6UpivmdpUEm9-7y9uQhp-wzRpBScvCzeYuaNNjIaM/s602/main-qimg-1c1712f96c3c82b2ef026d637fb78b9a-lq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="602" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNesjFazkfRCSeUr_7B37WXPyrDRROUWjiGQHJ2bzH0EqgKsTLWGFeJ6BRQInoL7IwXpoB1ChSPvTUWuCB23QZfRa6cC0ejqIo9AN6ui_isQ3u86SZ_ErX1DGaxcDmnYPMKxWAww4GIVkXhbd6oO6UpivmdpUEm9-7y9uQhp-wzRpBScvCzeYuaNNjIaM/w400-h301/main-qimg-1c1712f96c3c82b2ef026d637fb78b9a-lq.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, this week's <i>Newsmaker Show</i> sets a new standard in analytical excellence. Brian and I cover captivating and critical themes, such as: Nikki Haley's curious stubbornness about pursuing her quest for the GOP presidential nomination, despite an 0-6 record in the primaries and caucuses; French President Macron's wild suggestion that NATO troops might need to deploy to Ukraine; where responsibility lies for the escalating border crisis and the American casualties it produces; whether or not the Chicom elite is losing its grip in the PRC; the social ramifications of the widespread digitization of commerce; the prospects for Tulsi Gabbard as DJT's running mate; the prospects for RFK, Jr. as a Trump ally and possibly even a cabinet officer after the 2024 election; the shocking resurgence of standardized testing; and the marvelous renaissance in lunar exploration, led by the private sector.</p><p><br /></p><p>Where else on the various "internets" can you find a discussion this wide-ranging, and that takes just 20ish minutes of your time??? You tell me!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-28-2024-dr-nick-waddy/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-28-2024-dr-nick-waddy/</a></p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>In other news, Mitch McConnell had a brainstorm yesterday and decided to retire as the GOP leader in the Senate. Maybe it was something he ate? Whatever caused it, I, along with most Republicans, applaud his sudden mental clarity and thank him for his past service as we anticipate a new (and improved) Senate leader in the years to come!</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/28/mitch-mcconnell-replacement-battle-00143910" target="_blank">https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/28/mitch-mcconnell-replacement-battle-00143910</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, in a move that will surprise no one, especially Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a federal judge has placed an injunction on Texas' new law criminalizing illegal immigration (at the state level). This naturally offends the Biden Administration, which believes -- probably rightly -- that it has the Constitutional prerogative to enforce, or ignore, whatever federal immigration laws it wishes, and the states can just sit there and take it. Alas, we won't get much progress on this issue, as I've said, until we have an ultra-MAGA president in the White House again.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68441657" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68441657</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-50200842364174782462024-02-26T21:40:00.000-05:002024-02-26T21:40:13.600-05:00Bolstering Bolsonaro<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovlJxuq79K7eumEoTfjqagocyhl2n_k6auhclJMIvAQpHNMzAn9DY9_BLP5yuD_AGVCm1k36_nD5Fy_Tn2bgQu-keapp4-IZHTYqGrjxUuC9YvQ1cztRiupZtVFMz7S7hr8qJnY3DGvfU1Oe8z98tGWDAi1j6-pw5DQ89c_9TTfCtnD0Jxovaptijf2w/s2000/-1x-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovlJxuq79K7eumEoTfjqagocyhl2n_k6auhclJMIvAQpHNMzAn9DY9_BLP5yuD_AGVCm1k36_nD5Fy_Tn2bgQu-keapp4-IZHTYqGrjxUuC9YvQ1cztRiupZtVFMz7S7hr8qJnY3DGvfU1Oe8z98tGWDAi1j6-pw5DQ89c_9TTfCtnD0Jxovaptijf2w/w400-h266/-1x-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, I don't know if you've been following the absurd, anti-democratic persecution of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's former president, and indeed many other members of the opposition, by the socialist government of "Lula", the country's new (and also old) gangster-president, but you should be. It's providing a road map for how to undermine democratic institutions in the name of "democracy" that so-called progressives in this country will be sorely tempted to follow. The key difference is that, in Brazil, the Left controls the (very assertive, even dictatorial) courts, whereas in the U.S. there is still, for now, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, and Democrats, for now, obey the high court's rulings. In any case, perhaps the only card that freedom-loving Brazilians have left to play is mass action. Possibly, the current rulers of Brazil will hesitate to stifle an opposition that is clearly popular. Possibly, they would be afraid to trample the people of Brazil and their rights openly and brazenly. And, in the end, we may come to a similar pass in the United States as well. How to counter leftist "lawfare" against conservatives and dissidents? Massive public rallies, like the one we saw in Brazil this past weekend, would go a long way. So far we haven't seen any big demonstrations in defense of Trump or other victims of lawfare. Maybe we should, and maybe we must.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/02/26/hundreds-thousands-flood-brazils-largest-city-protest-persecution-of-ex-president-jair-bolsonaro/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/02/26/hundreds-thousands-flood-brazils-largest-city-protest-persecution-of-ex-president-jair-bolsonaro/</a></p><p> </p><p>And this article poses a most intriguing question: could Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat, become Donald Trump's running mate in '24? The author makes a strong case for Tulsi, and she may even be angling for consideration. Personally, though, I consider it unlikely, because, above all, I suspect Trump will be looking for someone predictable and loyal. Tulsi has shown great independence and courage in the past, which is to her credit in many ways, but those qualities don't necessarily recommend her as a running mate.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://spectator.org/will-tulsi-gabbard-be-donald-trumps-vp-pick/" target="_blank">https://spectator.org/will-tulsi-gabbard-be-donald-trumps-vp-pick/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-73276826467646318962024-02-22T22:27:00.000-05:002024-02-22T22:27:17.399-05:00Let's Party Like It's 1972!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_t2BHa_BAzMKjS5IuXm9cbeVTNDPMsmt76E-RxeDkc_pijm-B25n0wBcSLgaZ8Vw-QP8yy8Cceq9UxUyL_uuT0pjZ84al0NaKd-_PE-eQEH0NtIS4B4bxsE9AUHuLeLjmuxB3mhE9JZGbr3tKDSUAlPurADD5Mxdx9fj6uhfRvE8DazVcpdb9ccK7f-4/s1200/Apollo%2017%20commander%20Eugene%20A%20Cernan%20is%20holding%20the%20lower%20corner%20of%20the%20American%20flag%20during%20the%20mission's%20first%20EVA%20December%2012%201972%20Photograph%20by%20Harrison%20J%20Jack%20Schmitt%20banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1200" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_t2BHa_BAzMKjS5IuXm9cbeVTNDPMsmt76E-RxeDkc_pijm-B25n0wBcSLgaZ8Vw-QP8yy8Cceq9UxUyL_uuT0pjZ84al0NaKd-_PE-eQEH0NtIS4B4bxsE9AUHuLeLjmuxB3mhE9JZGbr3tKDSUAlPurADD5Mxdx9fj6uhfRvE8DazVcpdb9ccK7f-4/w400-h214/Apollo%2017%20commander%20Eugene%20A%20Cernan%20is%20holding%20the%20lower%20corner%20of%20the%20American%20flag%20during%20the%20mission's%20first%20EVA%20December%2012%201972%20Photograph%20by%20Harrison%20J%20Jack%20Schmitt%20banner.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, no American craft has made a soft landing on the Moon since 1972. Sad, isn't it? Well, today we broke the spell and "Odysseus" parked itself near the lunar south pole. Tellingly, it wasn't NASA, primarily, that despatched Odysseus. It was a private company: "Intuitive Machines". Let's hope this means that free enterprise will pick up where the U.S. government left off, because NASA's performance in space exploration has been sub-par for a long time. I want a summer home on Mars, darn it! And I strongly suspect that Elon Musk will deliver it to me way sooner than Joe Biden will.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68377730" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68377730</a></p><p> </p><p>In other news, there's an emerging trend in elite higher ed: standardized test requirements, which were abandoned during the pandemic, are being reinstated! This is a small miracle, because wokeness dictates that objective measures of "merit" are part and parcel of "system racism". But don't worry: Ivy League institutions will still be gaming the system, either overtly or covertly, to ensure that their demographic and ideological goals are met.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/yale-reinstates-standardized-test-scores-for-admissions-d9eb6b70" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/yale-reinstates-standardized-test-scores-for-admissions-d9eb6b70</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, this article argues that recent judgements against Donald Trump in New York, and Elon Musk in Delaware, are based on judicial animus towards these brazen dissidents against orthodoxy. No kidding. What's interesting is that the co-author of the piece is none other than Jeb Bush -- he who was defenestrated by DJT back in 2016! If Democratic lawfare is scandalizing even members of the Bush family, you <i>know</i> the Left has gone too far...</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-musk-cases-imperil-the-rule-of-law-new-york-delaware-courts-business-266a5559?mod=opinion_lead_pos8" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-musk-cases-imperil-the-rule-of-law-new-york-delaware-courts-business-266a5559?mod=opinion_lead_pos8</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-59647872987560378272024-02-21T16:47:00.000-05:002024-02-21T16:47:08.353-05:00Death By A Thousand Cuts (They Hope)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdxuwZduliW0P46NJrSLHAdwr-G9hKYD4AH4ln8TCRXrbQ8CamBltu0UshTH3qHu37FrpTOHyiLiep6ArHLIo4dDRUs-bERbxSvhJ5tv1SE40ZXPVsPE62CoCi0irwEac-b8EnV7o1AvCxwWU-w_rx1CvxEHjCqWc-IhNdLtNWMsMG_M8ksI9wZu4q2Lw/s640/trump-trial-nyc-10-17-23-getty-640x480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdxuwZduliW0P46NJrSLHAdwr-G9hKYD4AH4ln8TCRXrbQ8CamBltu0UshTH3qHu37FrpTOHyiLiep6ArHLIo4dDRUs-bERbxSvhJ5tv1SE40ZXPVsPE62CoCi0irwEac-b8EnV7o1AvCxwWU-w_rx1CvxEHjCqWc-IhNdLtNWMsMG_M8ksI9wZu4q2Lw/w400-h300/trump-trial-nyc-10-17-23-getty-640x480.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, lefties are loving every minute of the Trump trials, and those multimillion dollar judgements against him are like candy to them. Be that as it may, there's little or no evidence that thus far any of the cases have achieved their primary, essentially political, objective: to damage Trump as a candidate for the presidency. Oh, he was already damaged and widely unpopular, but his favorables and unfavorables have barely budged overall -- and, given Biden's struggles, Trump is still in a very strong position to win in November. The presence of so many candidates in the race makes his job even easier.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>On this week's <i>Newsmaker Show</i>, Brian and I discuss Trump's travails, as well as the significance of the death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison, Democratic efforts to capture control of the redistricting process via the courts, how Republicans and conservatives are increasingly assuming the role of persecuted dissidents in America, Nate Silver's surging anxiety about Biden's electoral prospects, the future of the No Labels movement and the question of why Americans refuse to vote for third party candidates, Nikki Haley's defiant tone about staying in the race, the outrageousness of the phony "fraud" case against Trump in NYS, and the prospects for Joe Sempolinski as a potential candidate for the New York State Assembly.</p><p><br /></p><p>From the Southern Tier of Western New York to the frozen wastelands of Siberia, we here at WaddyIsRight bring you the world! And at no cost to you, I might add -- what a deal!</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-21-2024-dr-nick-waddy/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-21-2024-dr-nick-waddy/</a></p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>In other news, the <i>New York Times</i> is reveling in Democrats' crafitness in using state courts to advance their leftist agenda, and indeed the Dems have captured control of many critical purple state Supreme Courts. The <i>Times</i> didn't mention that the first priority of many of these state-level judges is redrawing legislative and Congressional district boundaries so that Democrats can win the maximum number of seats. As usual, the Dems are outperforming Republicans strategically and tactically, and we would do well to remember that, because of "judicial review", i.e. judicial supremacy, ultimately he who controls the courts controls everything.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F02%2F20%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fdemocrats-judges-states.html" target="_blank">https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F02%2F20%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fdemocrats-judges-states.html</a></p><p> </p><p>Finally, among Republicans, apparently Ron DeSantis is the top choice to be Donald Trump's running mate. Now, whether DeSantis is Trump's top choice is another matter. I personally would love to see an alliance between these two men, first and foremost because it would put DeSantis at the head of the line of succession. Right now, it's very unclear who will, or could, seize the Trumpian mantle after DJT himself goes to MAGA heaven.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/2863188/desantis-the-choice-for-trumps-vice-president-tucker-carlson-sixth/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/2863188/desantis-the-choice-for-trumps-vice-president-tucker-carlson-sixth/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-52983437131626299432024-02-20T23:48:00.000-05:002024-02-20T23:48:27.259-05:00The Silver Bullet?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKN2LgD4_S_tyFGrCo43RWUO9MTZ-3tjlip_jlVFSVro_hAxyI1TrmE77J0v8ncz-h6MqS7Ohl9ppMgIsO4ga1YzLbQMqDvFkgFjpT0KOkMX3-dgX_IDBQ6s-iugg9WyTz8tYZ3jE0XFBUDNQ00F6Lz0dWMfqeaeZVbNqyynxyPeKgKOF4SPqobS2JPc4/s317/RangerSilver.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKN2LgD4_S_tyFGrCo43RWUO9MTZ-3tjlip_jlVFSVro_hAxyI1TrmE77J0v8ncz-h6MqS7Ohl9ppMgIsO4ga1YzLbQMqDvFkgFjpT0KOkMX3-dgX_IDBQ6s-iugg9WyTz8tYZ3jE0XFBUDNQ00F6Lz0dWMfqeaeZVbNqyynxyPeKgKOF4SPqobS2JPc4/w252-h320/RangerSilver.webp" width="252" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, I highly recommend to you this article by Nate Silver, who is an election guru highly respected by leftists. He studies polls and election trends like the nerd he is, and his evolving view of the 2024 presidential contest is most interesting. Basically, what he's claiming is that Joe Biden is losing, and he's very likely to lose in November unless he can dramatically improve Americans' perceptions of his energy level, dynamism, and competence. As Silver points out, he's avoiding unscripted public appearances like the plague, which doesn't suggest that Silver's challenge is likely to be met. Ergo, what Silver is really saying is that...Biden has got to go, and leading Dems need to approach him and convince him to pack it up. The question, of course, is whether any "leading Dems" have the courage to tell Biden this to his face. So far, they have not.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.natesilver.net/p/its-time-for-the-white-house-to-put" target="_blank">https://www.natesilver.net/p/its-time-for-the-white-house-to-put</a></p><p> </p><p>New York State, once known as the "Empire State", and now known as the state that was formerly an empire, but is now a smoking ruin, has lost another business. No, I'm not talking about Trump, Inc. I'm talking about gun manufacturer Remington. Do the people of New York care? Well, no doubt some of them do, but the truth is that the majority of voters in deep blue cities and states will gladly watch whole industries go down the tubes, along with their demographic standing, as long as Republicans and conservatives in general, and Donald Trump specifically, are screwed in the process. It's asinine, yes, and, increasingly, it's the American way.<br /></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2024/02/20/remington-ceo-cites-legislative-environment-new-york-company-moves-georgia/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2024/02/20/remington-ceo-cites-legislative-environment-new-york-company-moves-georgia/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Nikki Haley, in case you haven't noticed, is growing more and more critical in her comments about Donald Trump, and she's growing more and more defiant when asked why she isn't dropping out of the race. It looks like Haley is determined to "go the distance", and it's somewhat baffling why. My guess is that Haley thinks the GOP will totally reinvent itself once the bad dream that is the Trump era, from her perspective, ends. In the meantime, she's enjoying the plaudits of the GOP establishment and the media, so why not carry on?</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68351923" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68351923</a></p><p> </p><p>Finally, did you know that there's one acre of sacred ground in the U.K. that actually belongs to the United States of America? Consider it a beachhead of sorts if we ever decide to conquer our erstwhile "mother country"... The story behind it is most intriguing.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0ftrxhx/the-tiny-piece-of-the-us-hidden-in-england" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0ftrxhx/the-tiny-piece-of-the-us-hidden-in-england</a> <br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-38272832414440835462024-02-19T15:45:00.000-05:002024-02-19T15:45:23.924-05:00Not Dead Yet<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkSt4jjcYYSafisck2QjAcFJimvZjfma24AdtGwPwFz8FTOAJAMLQMLsikkqu-Z_HTBsbywuWhkkK8EKxVRO0canPWkEPtGKi6PoHONI_IShtEAbVmKxi0MDGlksX_Jgz0BUJejT5byC5BwPZ0S7rC9qXxyZBqXpq3l6eYLTr61z8vUTyvQA_kOekTMo/s1280/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkSt4jjcYYSafisck2QjAcFJimvZjfma24AdtGwPwFz8FTOAJAMLQMLsikkqu-Z_HTBsbywuWhkkK8EKxVRO0canPWkEPtGKi6PoHONI_IShtEAbVmKxi0MDGlksX_Jgz0BUJejT5byC5BwPZ0S7rC9qXxyZBqXpq3l6eYLTr61z8vUTyvQA_kOekTMo/w400-h225/maxresdefault.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, it's part of the human condition, alas, that we'll all die eventually -- especially <i>you</i> -- but the "No Labels" movement is at pains to prove to us that, despite Joe Manchin's decision not to run for president, they still have options and may yet find someone to loft their banner in 2024. I hope they do, because my philosophy of American democracy is: "The more, the merrier!" Who knows -- it's conceivable that a third party or independent candidate could win. It's far more conceivable that electoral confusion will pave the way for a second term for Trump, and/or it may delay our country's seemingly inevitable slide into leftist dictatorship. Who will No Labels seize upon as their presidential candidate? I'd like to suggest Liz Cheney. She's ever so "moderate", she <i>loves loves loves</i> our Constitution, and no one could accuse her of carrying water for Donald Trump (except back when that's all she did). Sure, her presence in the race would make it even easier for Trump to win, but luckily she's delusional and probably won't notice. Cheney-Kristol '24, that's the ticket!!!</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-labels-pursuing-third-party-candidates-manchins-decision-not-run-president" target="_blank">https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-labels-pursuing-third-party-candidates-manchins-decision-not-run-president</a></p><p> </p><p>In other news, the tone of this MSNBC article about Biden's extraordinary oldness is most interesting. It repeats the soothing refrains from many Democratic insiders, to the effect that Biden is ever so sharp -- why, he probably holds the world's record for all-time sharpest knife in the drawer -- and accusations to the contrary are all Russian misinformation. On the other hand, the authors are surprisingly realistic and even acidic when it comes to Biden's limitations, even entertaining the idea that pure "ego" is keeping him in the race. This suggests to me that some Dems and lifelong leftists are nearing the end of their tether...but to what effect???</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/bidens-allies-are-stepping-forward-vouch-age-questions-rcna138124" target="_blank">https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/bidens-allies-are-stepping-forward-vouch-age-questions-rcna138124</a> <br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-30535199823576729832024-02-17T16:14:00.001-05:002024-02-18T01:02:05.496-05:00A Blue Dog Is A Sad Dog<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGpUB2tmfRYqjFUMsIRRdn074DzC6YSwFnOrDq74I3Ibc0wdBx9GCBrpwD-ZfexDgnt8ndMnXZHlCZEzCm93QAxUcbAJqwPWFgrPEhP0dGm3ZEH6Z641B54lqFkT8pyo6T6DH59LDhTWV5KvRvTjiW1-ruW2Nr27a4QuhR7x08z_D9NPKZcJHjCnCZPA/s1200/www.politico.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGpUB2tmfRYqjFUMsIRRdn074DzC6YSwFnOrDq74I3Ibc0wdBx9GCBrpwD-ZfexDgnt8ndMnXZHlCZEzCm93QAxUcbAJqwPWFgrPEhP0dGm3ZEH6Z641B54lqFkT8pyo6T6DH59LDhTWV5KvRvTjiW1-ruW2Nr27a4QuhR7x08z_D9NPKZcJHjCnCZPA/w400-h266/www.politico.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, my latest article reflects on the pathetic, abortive presidential pretensions of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, and more fundamentally on the strange, stubborn refusal of American voters to consider any choice other than a Democrat or a Republican (both of which they despise). What a country, huh?</p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>No Labels=No Hope for Victory...Or
Does It?</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Friday
brought crushing news for allegedly conservative Democrats hiding out
in the hills of West Virginia – a paltry demographic that may, at
this stage, include only one person: Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin
announced that </span><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/16/joe-manchin-puts-speculation-rest-will-not-launch-presidential-bid/"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-weight: normal;">he
will </span></u></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">not</span></i></u></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
be running</span></span></u></span></span></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
for president in 2024, as the “No Labels” candidate or in any
way, shape, or form. Since even the people of West Virginia have been
flagging in their enthusiasm for the last of the Blue Dog Democrats,
this is no great loss, but it does raise the question: in this year
in which the large majority of Americans express disgust with the
presumptive presidential candidates of the two major parties, why
couldn't a third party or independent candidate break through and win
it all?</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One is tempted to answer: because it's never been done, and indeed
the Democratic and Republican parties have maintained a stranglehold
on Congress and the presidency since the 1850s. This is puzzling,
because few democracies, no matter how they are structured, have
maintained stable two-party systems for so long. And yet, in America,
the two parties enjoy so many advantages, in terms of perceived
legitimacy, preferential access to the ballot, media exposure,
fundraising, and the like that it often seems that the task of
building a new party that could compete at the highest level is a
fool's errand.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
On the other hand, the fact that something is unprecedented does not
mean that it is impossible. Few imagined that an actor could become
president before Ronald Reagan made it happen in 1980, or that a
brash real estate baron turned game show host could win the highest
office in the land, but Trump proved definitively that it could be
done in 2016.
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In point of fact, we live in a time when robust levels of public
cynicism (and poor knowledge of history and current events) make the
violation and overturning of norms fairly easy. Witness the fact that
impeachments at the federal level, which used to be extremely rare,
are now almost yearly events, and are expected political maneuvers.
Likewise, while it was once virtually inconceivable that a former
president would face criminal charges, now President Trump is
wrestling with 91 felony charges all at once! It would seem that,
nowadays, when we decide to break with convention, we go all out.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Be this as it may, the biggest argument against a third party or
independent run for the presidency has always been: why would anyone
vote for such a candidate when they would have no chance of winning?
Why “throw away” your vote? That is to say, Americans perceive
third party and independent bids as futile, and they do not enjoy
voting for candidates destined to lose – except, apparently, when
voting for Democrats in a red state, or Republicans in a blue one,
which they do all the time!</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> When
one considers that a single voter, casting a single vote, has,
statistically speaking, essentially zero leverage over the selection
of the next president, the popular concern with a candidate's
viability makes little rational sense, but it is, nonetheless, an
important psychological factor that any ambitious third party or
independent candidate would have to overcome. Either he/she would
need to convince the American people that voting for a “protest”
candidate – that is, a loser – was a respectable and principled
thing to do, or he/she would need to convince voters that </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">this
time</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
unlike every other time, the third party or independent candidate
could win the big prize. Changing such ingrained perceptions about
American politics would be no easy task.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> If
we </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden-vs-kennedy-vs-west-vs-stein"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">look
at the polls</span></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
we see that, currently, when Americans are prompted to choose between
Biden, Trump, Kennedy, Stein, and West – the declared candidates
for president – they give, on average, only 13% of their support to
Kennedy, and 2% each to Stein and West. Those are historically high
numbers, when one considers the long-standing dominance of the two
major parties, but they are nowhere close to </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">winning</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
numbers, so there is, as yet, little statistical evidence to support
the idea that a partisan sea change is upon us, and the next
president is likely to be neither a Democrat nor a Republican.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Probably the biggest hurdle that a third party or independent
candidate faces is the fact that, absent a political vacuum that
needs filling, new political constellations are speculative, at best.
To put it another way, unless one of the two major parties collapses,
it is hard to see why a new party, or a new political movement,
would, could, or should arise to take its place, or to assume an
important and permanent role in American politics.
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We know that in 2020 Joe Biden and Donald Trump received,
respectively, the most and the second most votes that any
presidential candidate in U.S. history has ever gotten – and that
in 2020 we notched the best turnout rate since at least 1960. While
the public does not seem to hold either Biden or Trump in especially
high regard, the ability of their respective party apparatuses to
turn out massive numbers of voters on their behalf is not in doubt –
and, in fact, seems to be improving with every comparable election
cycle. The Democratic and Republican parties, in other words, are
alive and well – and can afford to sneer, for now, at those
candidates, parties, and movements that dare to challenge their
dominion.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> And
so we confront the essential, inexplicable contradiction that looms
over our country's political life: never have the parties themselves,
the presidential candidates who they select, and the </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/Confidence-Institutions.aspx"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">key
institutions</span></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of our constitutional system in general, been </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">less</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
popular and esteemed by the voters – but, at the same time, never
have those same voters been more willing to turn out to vote in huge
numbers for the major parties and their candidates, and to write
checks and to otherwise signal their loyalty and devotion to these
immensely flawed and in many ways outmoded organizations.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> If,
as they say, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results,” then what level of madness is
America's current political </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">modus
operandi</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">:
we do the same thing over and over again, expecting bad results, but
hoping that, if we keep at it, we'll at least avoid something even
worse. You would think that this strange species of political
fatalism might be conquerable by the right kind of third party or
independent candidate, no? No, apparently not. Or maybe yes. But
probably no.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
All we can say for sure is that Joe Manchin will not be the man to
save us from ourselves.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dr.
Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred
and blogs at: </span></i><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.waddyisright.com/"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">www.waddyisright.com</span></i></a></u></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2024/02/18/no-labelsno-hope-for-victoryor-does-it-n2635387" target="_blank">https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2024/02/18/no-labelsno-hope-for-victoryor-does-it-n2635387</a></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></i></p>
Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-59834541966081892702024-02-16T11:39:00.001-05:002024-02-16T11:39:14.329-05:00Impeachability<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKldkKcwCeg1WwoHcCTekI8aqG8VVdNxALLrVxc6qeDOlWuSHFyEYPwndn9XxGkZ4ORvPbyG_gSauULAYFoUTuDJ7BgEJaEQ_1xDJZlbGKZHpbdzSngtNJ5tGHtIsmhrfIjQwicZAso_oIsgI8f5GAGHuvJW5utcmKVgXDrdvBCPOoD9sDck7SvqVRfxs/s1024/STC-L-Cartoon-0115.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="1024" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKldkKcwCeg1WwoHcCTekI8aqG8VVdNxALLrVxc6qeDOlWuSHFyEYPwndn9XxGkZ4ORvPbyG_gSauULAYFoUTuDJ7BgEJaEQ_1xDJZlbGKZHpbdzSngtNJ5tGHtIsmhrfIjQwicZAso_oIsgI8f5GAGHuvJW5utcmKVgXDrdvBCPOoD9sDck7SvqVRfxs/w400-h265/STC-L-Cartoon-0115.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, the frequency with which House Democrats impeached Donald Trump, and the fact that House Republicans have now impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on somewhat speculative grounds, increases the danger that impeachment will be wielded casually in the future as a political cudgel -- and that the process and status of impeachment will become cheapened as a result. In fact, I would say it's not just a "danger". It's an inevitability. And I <i>do</i> say it, and so much more, on this week's <i>Newsmaker Show.</i> I also converse with Brian about the likely fate of the Ukraine aid bill percolating in Congress, the troubling antics of Travis Kelce, the sensation of RFK, Jr's Superbowl ad, the chances that Joe Biden will make it as the Democratic presidential candidate as far as November, the dynamics that produced Mazi Pilip's loss in the House special election, the necessity of Republican efforts to promote mail-in voting and ballot harvesting, and SCOTUS's final word on whether Donald Trump can and will appear on the presidential ballot in 2024.</p><p> </p><p>It's a scorcher, folks! Scorchingly insightful, that is. <br /></p><p><i> </i></p><p><i></i><a href="https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-15-2024-dr-nick-waddy/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-15-2024-dr-nick-waddy/</a><i> </i></p><p><i> </i></p><p><i>***</i></p><p><i> </i></p><p>And, in a move that will surprise no one, the special counsel in charge of nailing Hunter Biden to the wall has decided instead to go after the whistleblower who alleged that the Bidens accepted bribes from a Ukrainian businessman when Biden was Vice-President. After all, the purpose of the "justice system", as Democrats understand it, is to punish and silence their enemies. They're moving down that "enemies list" systematically, I must say!</p><p><i> </i></p><p><i></i><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68313086" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68313086</a><i> </i><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-2979924911080663282024-02-14T16:37:00.000-05:002024-02-14T16:37:01.931-05:00Happy Trumpentine's Day!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SMW77UFSURwKpDqouvMpdgIaOdSfgaTjz6BAJ1uwFGOS_m0dz5doWw2RLFxBntvUbuOlTe3am9ZImEaC-5y8PaQb6tFbNNVsqNSPH6WinSsE6L-n8SGP_molDywU1QhEA0HB67GfDWEGxXAogdFkSpSNLT7bF0GFTy_xDZrDQTpuiwg8HXCIz0UlhBM/s1000/papergc,500x,w,f8f8f8-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.u1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SMW77UFSURwKpDqouvMpdgIaOdSfgaTjz6BAJ1uwFGOS_m0dz5doWw2RLFxBntvUbuOlTe3am9ZImEaC-5y8PaQb6tFbNNVsqNSPH6WinSsE6L-n8SGP_molDywU1QhEA0HB67GfDWEGxXAogdFkSpSNLT7bF0GFTy_xDZrDQTpuiwg8HXCIz0UlhBM/w300-h400/papergc,500x,w,f8f8f8-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.u1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p></p><p>Friends, I hope your favorite presidential candidate blows you lots of kisses this Valentine's Day, because you're ever so lovable and cute as a button! In fact, I'm so smitten with you that I've decided to give you -- not flowers or a box of chocolates -- but the incomparable gift of my latest article, which focuses on hospitals' fradulent claims to be "charitable", which undergird their avoidance of local, state, and federal taxes. Shame on them! Check it out:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/02/14/waddy-hospital-non-profit-charity-new-york-presbyterian/" target="_blank">https://dailycaller.com/2024/02/14/waddy-hospital-non-profit-charity-new-york-presbyterian/</a></p><p> </p><p>Well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! That's what House Republicans did vis-a-vis Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and it worked! Yesterday he was impeached, necessitating a "trial" -- be it ever so perfunctory -- in the Senate. I have mixed feelings about this impeachment effort, and I certainly don't think it will amount to much in the end, although it may encourage lots more impeachments, based on essentially political and policy-based disagreements, in the years to come. In any case, no matter how you feel about impeachment, Mayorkas' role in denying Secret Service protection to presidential candidate RFK, Jr. is absolutely reprehensible. Shame on Mayorkas and the Dems for perverting the law -- consistently and shamelessly -- and ignoring it altogether whenever it conflicts with their progressive ideology and their narrow political interests.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2853744/alejandro-mayorkas-impeached/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2853744/alejandro-mayorkas-impeached/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2855320/mayorkas-personally-rejected-rfk-jr-secret-service-protection/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2855320/mayorkas-personally-rejected-rfk-jr-secret-service-protection/</a></p><p> </p><p>Finally, I have to agree with much of the analysis of President Trump, who says that the GOP lost the special election in New York's 3rd Congressional district because they chose a weak, only vaguely "Republican" candidate. Establishment Republicans seem to think that all you have to do is choose a candidate of the right gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or national background -- in other words, outdo the Left in identity politics -- and you'll win by default! Well, it doesn't work that way. The Left will <i>always</i> accuse us of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. no matter what. And, above all, to win elections you need to satisfy the base and get them to turn out and vote. We neglected those fundamental lessons in this special election, and we lost. We also, of course, got massively outspent, as per usual.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/14/news/trump-lashes-out-at-mazi-pilip-calls-for-real-gop-candidate-to-face-tom-suozzi-in-november-election/" target="_blank">https://nypost.com/2024/02/14/news/trump-lashes-out-at-mazi-pilip-calls-for-real-gop-candidate-to-face-tom-suozzi-in-november-election/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-3920552951882895432024-02-13T16:51:00.000-05:002024-02-13T16:51:01.992-05:00A Case of Mistaken Identity, or a Brilliant Campaign Strategy?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildwscIQUo9yXaDr-6nv6gaOunbRwak6TNwzQVX9buvnYaX27WZJg-ivVtFmrO3-fFtkXMYwiOeFTb0kMbOEpD5yNNPETYdZQx9-ZMp6yi7nh_fPfUG7lMlCJL4IsfCo1eV43Sz3K4ujdorUcBHHzgckmSLg2oIOWiwVgHSDMtLCDHyX_RI_Z7xhPMr9k/s1200/240212-rfk-not-jfk-hero_omqiez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildwscIQUo9yXaDr-6nv6gaOunbRwak6TNwzQVX9buvnYaX27WZJg-ivVtFmrO3-fFtkXMYwiOeFTb0kMbOEpD5yNNPETYdZQx9-ZMp6yi7nh_fPfUG7lMlCJL4IsfCo1eV43Sz3K4ujdorUcBHHzgckmSLg2oIOWiwVgHSDMtLCDHyX_RI_Z7xhPMr9k/w400-h225/240212-rfk-not-jfk-hero_omqiez.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, if you watched the Superbowl, you should have seen a 30-second ad for independent presidential candidate RFK, Jr. It was an ad produced and paid for by a Super-PAC supporting Kennedy, and therefore not produced and paid for by the Kennedy campaign itself. Ergo, Kennedy had no role in creating the ad, but he seems generally pleased by its messaging. And that messaging is...remarkably unsubtle. It makes a direct analogy between the candidacy of JFK in 1960 and RFK, Jr. in 2024. In fact, it simply repackages a catchy pro-Kennedy ad from 1960 and turns it into a plug for RFK, Jr. in 2024. Fair enough. The strategy behind it is intriguing. It suggests that the Super-PAC supporting Kennedy believes that his number one selling point is his pedigree. It might even suggest a hope on the part of Kennedy's backers that people will vote for him mainly because they can't distinguish between him and his uncle. Then again, maybe it's based on the theory that a little harmless nostalgia, if it gins up enthusiasm for RFK, Jr. and encourages people to take a first or second look at him, can only be a good thing for his campaign. In any case, I liked the ad, and I especially like the fact that it will appeal to geriatric Democrats. They're exactly the kind of people who we <i>don't</i> want voting for Joe Biden. The more they consider Kennedy as an alternative, the better. I wish RFK, Jr. all the best, and, if his slavishly Democratic family members are offended by his outside-the-box thinking, hard cheese!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1756852942379045085" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/i/status/1756852942379045085</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-73522190860054822052024-02-10T16:43:00.003-05:002024-02-10T16:43:50.250-05:00The Geezer Protocol<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxzm36HbxkKqeTbOeZhK-GLdMC2SJFnnoJvuA5ssQEKGHcpA3V9JOe6XJjRnsKLLXfPSB0kMLjn7IRqlhVHxQ_wXopi1eOq-_o6_r2j53m4bnRTrneMFBGugneA4i6fvdCPIyGyYQ_TcIZTrEVnPZ-VQ9IyAZW3QZqP8po55dca_4owkEkZ3Fxk-HWNo/s525/AP23283667549567.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="525" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxzm36HbxkKqeTbOeZhK-GLdMC2SJFnnoJvuA5ssQEKGHcpA3V9JOe6XJjRnsKLLXfPSB0kMLjn7IRqlhVHxQ_wXopi1eOq-_o6_r2j53m4bnRTrneMFBGugneA4i6fvdCPIyGyYQ_TcIZTrEVnPZ-VQ9IyAZW3QZqP8po55dca_4owkEkZ3Fxk-HWNo/w400-h266/AP23283667549567.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, the Left is mighty indignant about Special Counsel Robert Hur's recent report -- you know the one! It cited the president's poor memory and creeping senility as reasons why he shouldn't be indicted for crimes that no one really denies that he committed. The potential liberal/Democratic responses are legion. Why, Hur was "politically motivated", according to Kamala Harris. If that doesn't fly, they'll say that criticisms of President Biden amount to "ageism". Good luck with that! If that doesn't work, they'll say that being an octogenarian isn't a liability -- it's an asset. I mean, Sleepy Joe is so experienced and crafty! If that doesn't work, they'll say that, yes, Biden's mind might be going, but take a look at Trump, who was crazy to begin with and is just getting crazier. If that doesn't work, they'll just change the subject, which is naturally what they've been trying to do all along. I agree with J.D. Vance's assessment: the root problem here is ego -- Biden's very robust ego. He is unwilling to admit that he may be "past it", as the Brits say, and he's prepared to risk losing an election to Beelzebub to prove his point -- America be damned! He reminds me a lot of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in that respect, and we all know how that turned out. But I also agree with the <i>New York Times</i>, which has leavened its usual pro-Biden propaganda with a rare bit of honesty: it points out that Biden has been less accessible to journalists and ordinary Americans than any other president in modern times. That suggests that Biden's own handlers don't regard him as particularly capable, and that they believe he needs to be shielded from the public (and <i>vice versa</i>) and spared the full rigors of the presidency. If that's the conclusion that his own aides and Democratic Party insiders have reached, then why on Earth would Americans reelect him? "Because he's been so great for America," the lefties will say, "and because Trump would be a million times worse." That's been their line from the beginning, and I doubt very much that it will change. I know a lot of conservatives expect the Dems to dump Biden. I don't think they can, and I don't think they will -- and I don't think, if they did, that it would be remotely helpful to Republicans. Sleepy Joe remains the best friend that candidate Trump ever had, and, on the strength of his weaknesses, the future of the GOP and conservatism look very bright indeed.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/democrats-anxiety-over-bidens-age-grows-after-special-counsel-report-faf6578c" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/politics/democrats-anxiety-over-bidens-age-grows-after-special-counsel-report-faf6578c</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68259335" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68259335</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/politics/biden-age-concerns-analysis/index.html" target="_blank">https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/politics/biden-age-concerns-analysis/index.html</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2847828/do-democrats-have-a-plan-b-b-not-for-biden/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2847828/do-democrats-have-a-plan-b-b-not-for-biden/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/09/the-challenges-of-an-aging-president/" target="_blank">https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/09/the-challenges-of-an-aging-president/</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/10/j-d-vance-biden-defiance-on-health-questions-all-about-ego/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/10/j-d-vance-biden-defiance-on-health-questions-all-about-ego/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, I applaud the decision of Meta to stop its obnoxious habit of promoting selected (i.e. woke) political and news content. It would seem that some social media companies are retreating from political activism and attempting to be less offensive to conservatives. Hooray! Let Americans decide for themselves where to get their news, and what is "news", I say. Facebook and Zuckerberg should mind their own business.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/02/10/zuck-wants-you-distracted-instagram-threads-to-stop-recommending-political-content/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/02/10/zuck-wants-you-distracted-instagram-threads-to-stop-recommending-political-content/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-55923883531713253292024-02-08T20:29:00.002-05:002024-02-08T20:31:44.089-05:00The Great Ballot Purge of '24<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxpJ6XeABik3ZwHEg2877c_2H1ro_4l2VFzzxAupqzYhc3hf0Jl6O7MVWRJRUqBwr625LrbzdcK4k6W4-N0SjZTu_nEPzlTugrqGkvlc9J7R3zEkTQ6AuV0T1qbTxDJavZmXM_8pS0Q6y9_ebRz60JkwlGWtL8_jtlNPNLRNwdkQKDcklu9Nzk1O5b0S4/s1200/3f6b8300-7ae6-11ec-9f36-51cd8410de59.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxpJ6XeABik3ZwHEg2877c_2H1ro_4l2VFzzxAupqzYhc3hf0Jl6O7MVWRJRUqBwr625LrbzdcK4k6W4-N0SjZTu_nEPzlTugrqGkvlc9J7R3zEkTQ6AuV0T1qbTxDJavZmXM_8pS0Q6y9_ebRz60JkwlGWtL8_jtlNPNLRNwdkQKDcklu9Nzk1O5b0S4/w400-h225/3f6b8300-7ae6-11ec-9f36-51cd8410de59.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p> </p><p>Friends, this week's <i>Newsmaker Show</i> considers whether the latest Democratic Party/leftist effort to render American democracy null and void -- by removing Trump from the ballot -- will succeed. In addition, we cover King Charles III's battle with cancer, Tucker Carlson's controversial decision to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nikki Haley's awkward appearance on <i>Saturday Night Live</i> and what her next move might be, Elon Musk's support of a lawsuit against Disney that alleges it fired a conservative actress without cause, DJT's hints about who he might choose as his running mate, the bungled effort to impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas, and the plausibility of Pentagon claims that we are bombing Iranian proxies in the Middle East.</p><p><br /></p><p>When we get to This Day in History, Brian and I talk about the significance of the U.S. victory early in 1943 at Guadalcanal, and the plight of dissidents in the Eastern Bloc.</p><p><br /></p><p>Boy oh boy -- what a lineup! What a show! What a history-making analytical feat! No wonder it's the highest-rated radio show in the entire world involving a guy named Nick Waddy...</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://wlea.net/newsmaker-feb-8-2024-dr-nick-waddy/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/newsmaker-feb-8-2024-dr-nick-waddy/</a></p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Will SCOTUS let Colorado (and other states) purge Trump from the ballot? Based on the skeptical questions asked by many Justices, there's hope tonight that sanity may prevail.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/supreme-court-takes-up-donald-trumps-ballot-eligibility-725f2fa0?mod=hp_lead_pos2" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/supreme-court-takes-up-donald-trumps-ballot-eligibility-725f2fa0?mod=hp_lead_pos2</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>And here's a shocker: Joe Biden broke the law when he retained secret documents as Vice-President, but he won't be charged with any crime. That's the conclusion of prosecutors, who also pointed out that bringing charges against Biden would be futile, because, as a confused old man, he would likely be viewed sympathetically by jurors. Ouch! The bottom line: Trump and Biden arguably broke the same law, but only one of them will face any legal consequences. Justice ain't blind, folks. Not while Merrick Garland is running the show, anyway.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68245617" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68245617</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/08/special-counsel-blisters-joe-biden-for-memory-conduct-in-classified-documents-scandal-but-will-not-prosecute/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/08/special-counsel-blisters-joe-biden-for-memory-conduct-in-classified-documents-scandal-but-will-not-prosecute/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>As we all know, Democratic lawfare against Trump, and other conservatives, is escalating, but the right-leaning majority on the U.S. Supreme Court serves as a check on the ability of leftists to crush their enemies underfoot, regardless of what voters think. Well, in Brazil, the political right enjoys no such advantages. In fact, the country's highest court is in the hands of backers of their new socialist president (who is also their old socialist president), Lula. Lula's tame judges have already forbidden the former conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, from running again for the presidency. Now they're gearing up to prosecute him and many of his top lieutenants as "coup" plotters. Brazil looks more and more like a banana republic every day, but the truth is that we aren't far behind in the race to the bottom. We're a couple of retired, or seriously ill, or assassinated Supreme Court Justices away from the complete collapse of pluralistic democracy, if you ask me. I just thank heaven that DJT, when he was at the helm, guided SCOTUS sagely to its present configuration. It's not a body in which I repose complete confidence, but it's a million times better than the gaggle of progressive automatons that the Left wants to turn it into, and would have turned it into, had Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/02/08/brazils-top-court-bans-jair-bolsonaro-from-leaving-country/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/02/08/brazils-top-court-bans-jair-bolsonaro-from-leaving-country/</a></p><p> </p><p>Finally, I know nothing about Joe Rogan, but I strongly agree with his views about the Biden Administration's stubborn refusal to afford RFK, Jr. Secret Service protection. I guess the Bidenist line is that you can't shoot a candidate who doesn't exist, but, with all due respect, RFK, Jr. continues to exist, and he continues to battle bravely for many of the principles on which this country was built, even if Democrats would prefer that he be eradicated, either physically or psychologically.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/02/07/joe_rogan_egregious_that_they_wont_give_bobby_kennedy_secret_service_protection.html" target="_blank">https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/02/07/joe_rogan_egregious_that_they_wont_give_bobby_kennedy_secret_service_protection.html</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-91599978057310927652024-02-07T20:05:00.001-05:002024-02-07T21:19:57.650-05:00Banished!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85eMoUAYnQoamiQtz8cchO-ddno4ZDojBIt7znXx0VrIPwg7P9azLElRkckG_j8GH0IYDMsBGp-RwieCQDmluZiW6XScE5TQdzQXDE6cnQ5k6QHcZ0WE7TDTAmwWkD2DlXeVoSBDVcUPKVanv3az2wchyphenhyphenmTqpflClsUlzCJHH48FQWgoao-yAyOueL0M/s600/English_School_-_Banishment_of_Adam_and_Eve_from_the_Garden_of_Eden_(chromolitho)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1324174).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="406" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85eMoUAYnQoamiQtz8cchO-ddno4ZDojBIt7znXx0VrIPwg7P9azLElRkckG_j8GH0IYDMsBGp-RwieCQDmluZiW6XScE5TQdzQXDE6cnQ5k6QHcZ0WE7TDTAmwWkD2DlXeVoSBDVcUPKVanv3az2wchyphenhyphenmTqpflClsUlzCJHH48FQWgoao-yAyOueL0M/w271-h400/English_School_-_Banishment_of_Adam_and_Eve_from_the_Garden_of_Eden_(chromolitho)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1324174).jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>Friends, once upon a time, Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden because of...an unfortunate misunderstanding, exacerbated by feminine wiles. Now we have to ask the question: will a smiliar fate befall American conservatives, as an inevitable leftist dictatorship inflicts a form of "civil death" on us to punish us for our manifold sins? Civil death is an interesting concept explored by the article below. While I hate to give the lefties ideas, there are many ways to pull the rug out from under a potential opposition or dissident movement. The use of violence against political enemies, and their incarceration, are only the bluntest and least imaginative tools available to be a would-be tyrant. Why not practice greater subtlety and censor one's adversaries instead -- or, better yet, expel them from social media altogether? If that doesn't work, target their reputation, their finances, their family members, their livelihood, etc. A lot of conservatives talk as though we're already living in a left-wing dystopia, but, believe you me, things can and will get a lot worse, if the neo-Marxist Children of Light have anything to say about it. Remember, you're a "MAGA extremist", so you <i>deserve</i> the very worst that life has to offer. Frankly, you deserve to die, but, in the meantime, you deserve to writhe in agony, and, if the "progressives" ever get their way, you will!</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/02/07/the_invisible_chains_of_civil_death_150449.html" target="_blank">https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/02/07/the_invisible_chains_of_civil_death_150449.html</a></p><p> </p><p>And here is some absolutely fascinating data on the changing demographics of those who support the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Many of the most recent trends look positive for Republicans, but we should bear in mind that the fortunes of the GOP and the fortunes of Donald J. Trump, while linked, are nonetheless distinct propositions.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/609776/democrats-lose-ground-black-hispanic-adults.aspx" target="_blank">https://news.gallup.com/poll/609776/democrats-lose-ground-black-hispanic-adults.aspx</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-23168496259087531852024-02-06T22:02:00.000-05:002024-02-06T22:02:53.622-05:00A Pyrrhic Defeat?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_QrWW-y25T8xkG7kGRuqNzK508IKj5IoM941EtmtHJDXPt5wpjz3iBeiVQYM2AgHLyXygN6dw9BUa5nu0700W3cgpr0yjB6XrP3vU-jXqoQuaeBidBYE-ZFr3Mig4DetvtcWPihmh68DLgwHYutGP4j1EHcEGGkgPex4xa7c7PCo3nbN8f9n2o8TPUI/s2048/mrz012124dAPR_s2048x1488.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1488" data-original-width="2048" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_QrWW-y25T8xkG7kGRuqNzK508IKj5IoM941EtmtHJDXPt5wpjz3iBeiVQYM2AgHLyXygN6dw9BUa5nu0700W3cgpr0yjB6XrP3vU-jXqoQuaeBidBYE-ZFr3Mig4DetvtcWPihmh68DLgwHYutGP4j1EHcEGGkgPex4xa7c7PCo3nbN8f9n2o8TPUI/w400-h291/mrz012124dAPR_s2048x1488.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, no doubt Dems are crowing because the House GOP narrowly failed to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Four Republicans voted with all the Democrats to scuttle the two articles of impeachment. This is, in fact, an embarrassing defeat for Republicans, insofar as it's hard to understand why impeachment would even be on the table if the House GOP were not more or less certain that it would pass. Putting that aside, however, the failure to impeach Mayorkas will have no practical effect and precious little long-term political significance either. Mayorkas, even if impeached, was never going to be convicted and removed by the Senate, controlled as it is by Democrats. In fact, I doubt whether the Dems even would have bothered with a trial. Moreover, with Mayorkas left in place as head of the Department of Homeland Security, and with Joe "Open Borders" Biden left as president, no significant changes to border policy would have flowed from impeachment either. The <i>only</i> hope that a tougher stance will be taken against the current wave of migrants is this: the Dems may feel that it is in their narrow, short-term political interests to make it <i>appear</i>, temporarily, that they can control the border when they really, really try. That would make a potentially winning issue for the GOP in 2024 disappear -- or at least become less acute. I view the impeachment effort against Mayorkas as little more than political theater, therefore, and his mighty "vindication" today is equally hollow. He remains a terrible liability to the Biden Administration and the Democrats, but not because he's incompetent -- oh no, he's all too competent. He's been expertly administering a migration policy that was designed from the start to roll back Trump's tough measures, literally deconstruct "the Wall", and thus facilitate and encourage an upsurge in migration. Mission accomplished! And now the Dems will have to live with the political fallout.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68172247" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68172247</a></p><p> </p><p>Here's an interesting case of a journalist receiving a big payout because of a civil finding of "defamation", which bears some eerie similarity to the E. Jean Carroll case against Trump. Apparently, it's getting easier and easier to bring suits for defamation in the U.S. of A., and we may all ultimately lose out because of this development. That's because defamation cases can have a chilling effect on free speech, and let's not forget that the arbiters of these cases are not really jurors, but judges and lawyers. Do we really want to entrust the future of our constitutional rights to the legal elite? I say no thanks!</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2024/02/06/oklahoma-broadcaster-awarded-25-million-after-newspaper-wrongfully-called-him-racist-for-on-air-comments/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2024/02/06/oklahoma-broadcaster-awarded-25-million-after-newspaper-wrongfully-called-him-racist-for-on-air-comments/</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-83992028353717146932024-02-05T21:40:00.001-05:002024-02-10T00:11:59.605-05:00An Election Like No Other<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrky5nkOfSsMsmQ92SarIhm_QdM-wlz3UFjawtN57nrhbwRw3DYChPgWfU-yKiM60hFmo21UIw6Tw4AoCTsLRPRJZVoWeOFcQoI1nUbgq_Xl5s-zG1T_EOKq9Xcr6SonYxHX7O-mxHzWCIDpkhVT3IWqfKFu5G5sDR9RT5cHpXZWV_ra3qehz0KtcQlI/s1200/West-Trump-Biden-Kennedy.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrky5nkOfSsMsmQ92SarIhm_QdM-wlz3UFjawtN57nrhbwRw3DYChPgWfU-yKiM60hFmo21UIw6Tw4AoCTsLRPRJZVoWeOFcQoI1nUbgq_Xl5s-zG1T_EOKq9Xcr6SonYxHX7O-mxHzWCIDpkhVT3IWqfKFu5G5sDR9RT5cHpXZWV_ra3qehz0KtcQlI/w400-h225/West-Trump-Biden-Kennedy.webp" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, while the media fixates on Donald Trump, as per usual, and to a lesser extent on Sleepy Joe, the bruised and battered incumbent president, Americans will actually have a broad range of choices in 2024. Now, if you're listening to the mainstream media, you could be forgiven for not knowing that most of these choices exist, and, of those you are permitted to acknowledge as existing, only one -- Joe Biden -- has been rated "acceptable". Well, I predict that many Americans will vote for independent and third party candidates this year, and I further predict that this dynamic, as Democrats fear, will be enormously helpful to Trump and may well give him the edge he needs to prevail. See if you don't agree with the reasoning in my latest article...</p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Re-Slicing the Electoral Pie in 2024</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
most recent </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24402843-240037-nbc-january-2024-poll_2424-release"><span style="font-weight: normal;">NBC
News poll</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
had very good news for Republicans, conservatives, and Trump
supporters: looking forward to the 2024 election, it put him five
points ahead of President Joe Biden among registered voters. On the
other hand, the poll also exposes a critical weakness for Trump,
mirrored in almost all other polls: less than 40% of the electorate
“likes” Donald Trump, “approves” of him, or rates him
“positively”. In the NBC poll, it was just 38%.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> The upside for
Trump, therefore, and for those who support him, is that Joe Biden's
unpopularity is dragging him down into the depths and making it
possible for Donald Trump to catch up with him and even surpass him
in public support. The downside for Trump and Trumpers, however, is
that Trump himself is not popular – he is arguably toxic to a
majority of the electorate – and future developments, like felony
convictions, could render him even less electable.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Fortunately
for the GOP, conservatives, and Trumpists, the 2024 election is not
shaping up as a simple repeat of the 2020 election, in which
President Trump, arch-villain, faced off against a vaguely defined,
putatively moderate “Anti-Trump”, who was supposed to </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/17/us/biden-trump-soul-nation-country.html"><span style="font-weight: normal;">restore
America's “soul”</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
as he brought integrity, competence, and dignity back to the White
House. No, in 2024, Joe Biden is the incumbent, and he has
accumulated a record and crafted a brand with which the vast majority
of the electorate is dissatisfied – and about which even the
Democratic base is unenthusiastic.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> This dynamic,
however, does not guarantee Trump victory, because his high negatives
may ultimately overwhelm public doubts about Joe Biden – at least
that is what Democrats are hoping. What may cinch the deal for Trump
is the wild card in 2024: the presence of numerous other candidates
in the race.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> Already, Robert
F. Kennedy, Jr. has announced his independent presidential candidacy,
and Jill Stein and Cornel West have launched bids under the Green
Party and the Justice For All Party, respectively. Add to this motley
crew the certainty of a Libertarian Party candidate, and the strong
possibility of a No Labels candidate, and throw in the public's
marked disdain for Trump and Biden, the presumptive major party
candidates, and you have the essential ingredients for a much more
fluid and pluralistic contest than this country has experienced, at
least since 2016, when third party candidates won roughly 6% of the
vote, and possibly since 1992, when Ross Perot and various other
candidates won almost 20% of the vote.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> Why, though,
would this dynamic necessarily help Trump?
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Partly,
this is because of the nature of the extra candidates themselves.
Kennedy, West, and Stein all come from the political left, and they
are therefore more likely to appeal to disaffected Democrats and
left-leaning independents, although Kennedy's appeal is more
broad-based and harder to pigeonhole in partisan terms. The No Labels
candidate is most likely to be Joe Manchin, who is also historically
a Democrat. Only the Libertarian Party candidate could represent a
genuinely conservative alternative to Trump, although there is some
speculation that the Libertarians </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/robert-f-kennedy-jr-mulls-running-for-president-as-libertarian/ar-BB1hsBK2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">might
endorse Kennedy</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
in which case Trump would face no true conservative opposition at
all.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> The other reason
why a large field of presidential candidates helps Trump is because
Trump has struggled in the past, and is still struggling in current
polls, to get to 50% support. With the electoral pie more subdivided
than usual, Trump will not need to convince a majority of the
electorate to support him, or even 46% or 47%, which is what he got
in 2016 and 2020, respectively. Instead, in 2024, 40-45% of the vote
could be more than enough to notch a national victory in the popular
vote and local victories in the critical swing states.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
last reason why the presence of numerous candidates in the race helps
Trump is that Biden's public support, though considerable, is
“softer” than Trump's. Many Democrats are unimpressed by Biden's
accomplishments and lack confidence in Biden's abilities and his
fitness for office. They may hate Trump, but that does not
necessarily mean that they are motivated to show up to vote for
Biden, as we saw in the </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-carolina-democratic-primary-turnout-2024-joe-biden/"><span style="font-weight: normal;">low
turnout</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
for the recent South Carolina Democratic primary. Neither does
Trump-hatred exclude the possibility that someone would vote for a
left-leaning candidate like Kennedy, Stein, West, or Manchin, instead
of for Biden. Any support that these candidates receive could easily
be fatal to Biden, who needs to hold together all, or almost all, of
the anti-Trump coalition from 2020 to succeed in 2024.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Incidentally,
polling averages compiled by RealClearPolitics bear out the
assumption that a bigger field of candidates helps Trump. In polls
where only Trump and Biden are named candidates, Trump leads by an
average of </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden"><span style="font-weight: normal;">2.1%</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
In polls that give voters the choice of Trump, Biden, Kennedy, Stein,
and West, Trump's lead expands to </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden-vs-kennedy-vs-west-vs-stein"><span style="font-weight: normal;">4.8%</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
This is a very significant difference!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Of
course, the mainstream media, as well as Biden loyalists and agents
of the institutional Democratic Party (three categories that overlap
to a considerable degree) will do their best to undercut the public
appeal of third party candidates. Journalistic hit pieces will
discredit them, political ads will point out the futility of voting
for them, the debates (presumably) will exclude them, and even their
ability to appear on the ballot, especially in swing states, will be,
and has been, </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-allies-plot-thwart-third-party-bids-that-threaten-his-reelection-2024-01-18/"><span style="font-weight: normal;">sabotaged</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Nonetheless, these also-rans do not need to attract much public
support – a few points in total would be more than enough – to
upend the political dynamics of a critical election cycle. </span>
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> For this reason,
those who wish for a Trump victory would be wise to lend their
support, rhetorically as well as financially, to some of these other
candidates for the presidency, no matter how quixotic and farcical
their candidacies may seem. A million dollars sunk into the coffers
of the Trump campaign would barely be noticed, at the end of the day,
but a seven-figure shot in the arm to the West or Stein campaigns, by
contrast, could dramatically improve their visibility and their
ability to poach votes from Biden and the Democrats.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"> This year,
Republicans, conservatives, and Trumpers cannot afford to become
mired in obsolete binary thinking. The 2024 presidential election
will be a dynamic multiplayer game, and only those who understand
this will be in a position to win it.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dr.
Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred
and blogs at: </span></i><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.waddyisright.com/"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">www.waddyisright.com</span></i></a></u></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.</span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.wnd.com/2024/02/candidates-will-benefit-trump-november/" target="_blank">https://www.wnd.com/2024/02/candidates-will-benefit-trump-november/</a></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">***</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In other news, speculation is rife about DJT's choice of a running mate. He appears to like the cut of Tim Scott and Kristi Noem's respective jibs. I can see why. Either one would be a solid choice, politically. Now, whether either is ready to assume the duties of the presidency is a somewhat different matter.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/04/trump-vp-pick-tim-scott-kristi-noem" target="_blank">https://www.axios.com/2024/02/04/trump-vp-pick-tim-scott-kristi-noem</a> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mitch McConnell appears to be sounding the death knell for the compromise "border" bill now circulating in the Senate. It's hard to know which analysis of the bill to believe, but obviously I'm rooting for a fundamental change of direction at the border, and we're unlikely to get that unless we have a change in presidential leadership. My strong suspicion is that all Biden and Mayorkas want to do is temporarily reduce the flow of migrants so that they can take a bit of the political heat off themselves.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/05/mitch-mcconnell-turns-border-bill/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/05/mitch-mcconnell-turns-border-bill/</a></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Finally, it looks like China's losses are India's gains, at least financially. That's fine by me. It's about time that the Chinese economic miracle lost some steam, and I would much rather see the West pumping investment dollars into democratic and peaceable India than authoritarian and (rhetorically) aggressive Red China. I invested in India years ago, and I may have been a bit early, but any fool can see that the growth potential there is vast. Let's hope that the Indian government won't do anything to blunt the country's momentum.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2024/02/05/investors-turn-to-india-as-chinas-economy-flounders/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2024/02/05/investors-turn-to-india-as-chinas-economy-flounders/</a><br /></span></p>
Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-43099554664866488532024-02-03T13:43:00.001-05:002024-02-03T13:43:32.098-05:00What Goes Up Must Come Down?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxWAUUdU_kqEY_Nbwevj8hy0FBLl24_B9CLhFlLq_oBIByi3cA5D8gRsTTTSzTS59iRedQjjmP1zopmKyHwci2k2wIZdp4TDl83Z1sv0jsDrXc733Y2_9ZQesAAv5kqjDTXvw1UWzWqHamgSUGnOvEXMKVWTEm-E5nHjdgzgCpJmsjsDblKg8opUWZdg/s951/japan-flag-with-stock-market-finance-economy-trend-graph-digital-technology.jpg-s1024x1024wisk20cVpXBdb1tse26uDq_PuPZdN4f4XPHDE_7vWGhoipVj-4-951x634.jpg.optimal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="951" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxWAUUdU_kqEY_Nbwevj8hy0FBLl24_B9CLhFlLq_oBIByi3cA5D8gRsTTTSzTS59iRedQjjmP1zopmKyHwci2k2wIZdp4TDl83Z1sv0jsDrXc733Y2_9ZQesAAv5kqjDTXvw1UWzWqHamgSUGnOvEXMKVWTEm-E5nHjdgzgCpJmsjsDblKg8opUWZdg/w400-h266/japan-flag-with-stock-market-finance-economy-trend-graph-digital-technology.jpg-s1024x1024wisk20cVpXBdb1tse26uDq_PuPZdN4f4XPHDE_7vWGhoipVj-4-951x634.jpg.optimal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, today I share you with this intriguing economic analysis, which compares the current bull market for stocks in the U.S. with the bubble that burst in Japan in 1989, and from which that country has still not recovered. In essence, Japan has spent more than a generation without any appreciation in stock values whatsoever -- if one measures current performance against the all-time high. What does all this mean? Not necessarily a lot for the United States, because the two situations are so different, but what it does mean is that one of the verities of American investing -- that the stock market is a good bet, because "in the long run" it always goes up -- is not entirely bulletproof. National economies and equity markets <i>can</i> stall over the long run, with very serious consequences for investors and for society as a whole. Japan has been doing a lot of soul searching because of its economic and financial malaise, not to mention the prevalence of depression and the low birth rate, which also seem symptomatic of a culture that's run aground. Note that one problem that hasn't afflicted Japan, despite its economic woes, is a lack of credit. Interest rates have remained low, and government borrowing hasn't been constricted, despite the fact that Japan shoulders public debt levels considerably higher than ours. That may mean that we spendthrift Americans can fritter away a whole lot more public money before that particular chicken comes home to roost.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/stocks-for-the-looong-run-could-japans-lost-decades-happen-in-america-71d9e17c?mod=hp_lead_pos5" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/stocks-for-the-looong-run-could-japans-lost-decades-happen-in-america-71d9e17c?mod=hp_lead_pos5</a><br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8511148187940933062.post-86222902910006752162024-02-01T11:02:00.000-05:002024-02-01T11:02:32.502-05:00Deutschland Uber Nichts<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebf4ar6vXNp8hcxvruIqlQeY4zJaD2z6MpwpXnua5ZYgHzqvGk-O4rywapVlqsIPflnqmQbEVzAiP4veB6_dv0SjdfIxZPyKv-s_u5MCLV-N0lDpY9w0PwHg06ievER3N-rR2dp4DLrsEQD3MGndwoGYoMfhNPE_q5ctAPBuXuu2WTll4PGbODyBeuTo/s780/_methode_times_prodmigration_web_bin_9444ed72-fca0-3929-9870-54a1375c1674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="780" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebf4ar6vXNp8hcxvruIqlQeY4zJaD2z6MpwpXnua5ZYgHzqvGk-O4rywapVlqsIPflnqmQbEVzAiP4veB6_dv0SjdfIxZPyKv-s_u5MCLV-N0lDpY9w0PwHg06ievER3N-rR2dp4DLrsEQD3MGndwoGYoMfhNPE_q5ctAPBuXuu2WTll4PGbODyBeuTo/w400-h266/_methode_times_prodmigration_web_bin_9444ed72-fca0-3929-9870-54a1375c1674.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Friends, this week's <i>Newsmaker Show</i> trolls through all the hot topics: Trump's ongoing tussle with E. Jean Carroll, the prospects of a U.S. retaliatory strike against Iran, RFK Jr.'s views on political corruption, and the likely campaign strategy of Sleepy Joe, given his obvious, uhh, weaknesses.</p><p><br /></p><p>When we get to This Day in History, we consider Richard Nixon's big political comeback in 1968, Germany's fateful and ultimately disastrous decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, the contentious process that led eleven states to secede from the Union in 1860-61, and the cultural significance of racial integration in the decade of the 1960s.</p><p> </p><p>In short, we leave no stone unturned in the effort to enlighten YOU. <i>You're welcome!</i></p><p><i> </i></p><p><i></i><a href="https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-1-2024-dr-nick-waddy/" target="_blank">https://wlea.net/newsmaker-february-1-2024-dr-nick-waddy/</a><i> </i></p><p><i> </i></p><p>***</p><p><i> </i><br /></p><p>In other news, Michael Barone aptly summarizes in this article some of the reasons why the establishment's guardians of the "truth" are increasingly distrusted by many average Americans.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2829997/systemic-lying-corrodes-once-great-institutions/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2829997/systemic-lying-corrodes-once-great-institutions/</a></p><p> </p><p>Our old pal Cornel West is starting his own party, and you may be inclined to scoff, but the fact is that every vote West wins is, in practice, a vote for Trump and the GOP...so get out your checkbooks and be generous in your support for "Justice For All"!</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/01/presidential-candidate-cornell-west-announces-new-justice-for-all-party/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/01/presidential-candidate-cornell-west-announces-new-justice-for-all-party/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>For better or worse, House Republicans are moving forward with articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Mayorkas. Presumably, that means they believe they have the votes to impeach him in the full House. Oh boy! Mayorkas certainly won't be convicted in the Senate, if it evens deigns to hold a trial, but I predict this will indeed "open the floodgates" and lead to many more impeachments of many more federal officials in the years to come.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mayorkas-impeachment-articles-house-homeland-security-vote/" target="_blank">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mayorkas-impeachment-articles-house-homeland-security-vote/</a></p><p> </p><p>Finally, despite the fact that the global establishment has ganged up on Russia in an attempt to punish it economically for invading Ukraine, Russia's economy seems fairly unperturbed. Of course, this is partly because major economies like those of China and India aren't playing along, but all the same Russia's resilience is impressive and suggests that the Russian war effort in Ukraine can be sustained -- and escalated -- indefinitely.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/21a5be9c-afaa-495f-b7af-cf937093144d?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9" target="_blank">https://www.ft.com/content/21a5be9c-afaa-495f-b7af-cf937093144d?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9</a> <br /></p>Nicholas Waddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14650770835328089297noreply@blogger.com15