Death to America (But Less So When You Pay Up)!!!

 

Friends, everyone can agree that paying the Ayatollah not to murder us is a masterstroke of U.S. foreign policy.  Well, everyone can agree on that when Biden does it.  If Trump did it, presumably consensus would be more...elusive?  I expect so.  This is just one of many hard-hitting analytical flourishes that Brian and I pursue on this week's Newsmaker Show.  We also discuss the practicalities of potential Chinese aggression against Taiwan, the absurdity of the inflated rhetoric of Ukrainian warlord/President Zelensky, the growing Dem jitters about Candidate Biden, the acquittal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the politics of abortion in the Republican Party, the significance of the demise of the Senate's dress code, and the establishment media's contempt for the public's concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy.

Golly!  Can one twenty minute interview really get to the bottom of ALL of those hot-button issues?  Yes!  Yes, it can.

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-september-20-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other news, check out some of the early state polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, i.e. polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.  There's one clear theme: Donald Trump is way ahead.  There's another clear theme: the majority of voters in these critical states aren't sold on Trump, but, of those, they are dividing their support between a number of different contenders.  If that keeps up, DJT will sail to the nomination.  On the other hand, if the anti-Trump, or Trump-skeptical, wing of the GOP ever coalesces behind a single candidate, he/she could make a race of it.  In short, it ain't over yet!  In fact, it hasn't even begun.

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/ 

Here's an interesting analysis of international aid to Ukraine.  Of course, the U.S. tops the list, but many European countries are forking over many, many billions to support the Zelensky regime.  It's been a long time since the West was so united in advocating and funding any cause -- in this case, a rather dubious one!

https://www.bbc.com/news/66870559

 

Arguably, Americans won't care much about the progress of the Trump trials in 2024, or even their outcomes.  They might write all this off as "politics as usual", even though there's nothing terribly "usual" about 91 felony indictments against a former president.  Be all this as it may, the most important aspect of the Trump prosecutions may be efforts by prosecutors to muzzle Trump, which could limit his effectiveness as a candidate, or even incarcerate him for critical periods during the campaign.  Note the moxie of Special Counsel Jack Smith's stated reason for a gag order against Trump: he "has an established practice of issuing inflammatory public statements targeted at individuals or institutions that present an obstacle or challenge to him".  Oh really?  And Biden doesn't???  Every politician trashes those who "present an obstacle or challenge" them.  It's called...politics!  It's also called free speech.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-smith-gag-order/2023/09/20/id/1135261/

Question: How Many U.S. Senators Can You Fit in a VW Bug?

 

Friends, today's query is more germane than ever, now that Chuck Schumer has announced that the Senate's dress code is a thing of the past.  Of course, norms and rules and laws only mean anything to Democrats when they can obtain some advantage from them...and, darn it all, John Fetterman wants to wear gym shorts to Joe Biden's impeachment trial, so why shouldn't he?  From the Dems' perspective, dressing down, or hurling profane insults at their enemies, is a good way of expressing oneself, "speaking truth to power", and undertaking "social justice action".  In the process, our nation's esteemed legislators will, perforce, look more and more like the patrons at a laundromat, if we're lucky, and like court jesters, if we're not.  But perhaps all this is fitting, given the increasingly farcical nature of our politics.  After all, if you can't get a good laugh out of a U.S. Senator, what can you get?

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/09/18/come-as-you-are-schumer-gives-thumbs-up-to-end-of-senate-dress-code/

Here's a reasonably honest, if noncommittal, analysis of where Ukraine stands in its offensive versus Russian occupying forces.  The upshot: Ukraine isn't making much progress, but it can continue to feed young Ukrainians into the meatgrinder indefinitely, as long as Joe Biden remains president and U.S. dollars continue to flow.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66796358

Would You Like Fries With That, Sonny?

 

Friends, dining at McDonald's is one of the greatest delights that America has to offer -- no one questions that!  But is working at McDonald's what every senior citizen dreams of?  Alas, more and more elderly Americans are coming up short on their retirement savings, and, thus, they are compelled to work way past 65.  A little foresight goes a long way, of course, and, if more people were to start saving for their "sunset years" earlier on, we'd all be in a better place, especially considering that Uncle Sam is on the hook when oldsters fail to plan ahead.  My latest article is about an intriguing new trend at the state level that's encouraging private retirement savings.  I think it has real promise.  See if you don't agree.

https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2023/09/16/americas-most-popular-retirement-plan-shouldnt-be-work-til-i-drop-n2628306

Godliness is Making a Comeback...in Florida Schools

 

Friends, the presidential campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may be going nowhere fast, but many people don't even know that his administration has notched one of the most important victories won by conservatives at the state level in decades: it has created a nearly universal, state-funded school choice program.  As a result, parents are choosing where to send their kids to school, and many are opting for religious education over neo-Marxist indoctrination in the public schools.  I say: bully for Florida!  What's more, we need many more states to implement these far-sighted and life-changing programs.  They're, incidentally, the best and maybe the only hope of saving the next generation from slavery to "progressivism".

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2023/09/15/florida_scholarship_programs_are_a_smart_investment_979804.html

In other news, this article suggests that the DOJ's indictments of Hunter Biden are all smoke and mirrors, and I agree!

https://thespectator.com/topic/beware-the-dojs-hunter-biden-distraction/

How bad can our porous borders get, and is the danger to Western Civilization and law and order existential?  Yes!  Sadly, even when a Western country elects a sensible leader, like Giorgia Meloni in Italy, she often can't do much to stem the flood of humanity coming from the developing world.  That's because the whole legal and bureaucratic infrastructure of the deep state wants unchecked migration, and is a long way from crying uncle.

https://nypost.com/2023/09/14/lampedusa-italy-shows-america-the-future-of-lawless-immigration/

Fox News's latest poll reveals plenty of good news for Donald Trump, which is ironic because his negatives are about as high as ever.  The bottom line is that doubts about Joe Biden are so strong that many Americans would vote for Trump regardless of their distaste for the man.

https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/09/Fox_September-9-12-2023_National_Topline_September-14-Release.pdf

Here's an interesting story about Ukraine (and Democrats) complaining because Elon Musk's Starlink satellites can't be used to kill Russians.  Why, failure to kill Russians is the most monstrous thing of which Musk has ever been accused!!!

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/elon-musk-ukraine-starlink/2023/09/15/id/1134622/

Lastly, the Trump Administration accumulated what could best be described as a mixed and ambiguous record on COVID.  Trump argues that, in the fog of biological warfare, as it were, he couldn't be expected to get everything right the first time.  On this score, I agree.  Needless to say, Trump got a lot of bad advice during the pandemic, and he followed way too much of it, but who among us understands COVID in all its complexities, and knows for sure what the best way to defeat it is?

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/09/15/trump-on-if-hed-like-do-over-on-supporting-mask-mandates-nobody-knew-what-covid-was/

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?

 

Friends, the vast majority of this week's Newsmaker Show, featuring me and Brian O'Neil, covers current events, but we briefly get into the lessons of history, and I reflect on the significance and legacy of the Berlin Wall.  Now, everyone remembers the Wall as a nasty feature of totalitarian communism, and it was, but it was also a cynically useful device for maintaining the stability of East and West Germany, which stood on the fault line between democracy and communism, NATO and the Warsaw Pact.  In a perverse way, the Wall may even have made life better (and possible!) for all concerned.  Well, most.  Not the several hundred who died trying to cross over (or under) it...

In terms of breaking news, Brian and I dissect the efforts to remove Donald Trump from the presidential ballot in 2024, and why they may have legs; Russia's newfound coziness with North Korea, and how China may be involved; the chronic inability of both parties to practice fiscal responsibility; and the looming impeachment inquiry re: Joe Biden and its likely political fallout.  

Now that's some top-grade radio commentary!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-september-13-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

***

But that's not all!!!  You also have access to Herr Professor Doktor Waddy's latest article, which discusses the fiscal crisis we now face, and the irony that young people, who are most impacted by our indebtedness, seem least bothered by it:

https://www.wnd.com/2023/09/red-ink-u-s-risks-falling-off-fiscal-cliff/

***

But there's more!!!

A prominent left-wing columnist is calling on Joe Biden to step aside and let someone else represent Team Blue in 2024 -- and for one simple reason: he wants the Dems to win rather than lose.  Does it matter?  That's up to Joe Biden and the Democratic Party establishment.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/12/biden-trump-election-step-aside/

A new Iowa poll shows Trump way ahead of Biden, but it also shows Biden performing worse when voters are given the additional choice of Cornel West.  I still haven't seen any poll giving voters the choices of Trump, Biden, West, Kennedy, or Manchin.  Now that would be interesting...

https://emersoncollegepolling.com/iowa-2024-biden-and-trump-remain-frontrunners-in-caucuses-but-both-losing-ground/

Finally, the Dems are scratching their heads, wondering why we aren't all in love with Bidenomics.  Well, this article might provide part of the answer: last year, real incomes fell, and by a lot!  Why would people feel good about an economy in which their real purchasing power is in decline?

https://fortune.com/2023/09/12/real-household-income-inflation/

Crazy Is As Crazy Does

 

Friends, as ludicrous as it may seem in the circles in which you and I move, there is a decent chance that Donald Trump can and will be excluded from the ballot in some states or localities because of his participation in an "insurrection".  But there was no "insurrection", you howl!  Well, what's an "insurrection"?  Answer: it's whatever a judge says it is.  There's a group trying to eject Donald Trump from the ballot in Colorado, and they believe that it's obvious that their interpretation of the 14th Amendment is correct.  And "top legal minds" agree!  What's more important is that a January 6th "insurrectionist" (actually, he was a trespasser, at most, and never even entered the Capitol) has already been removed from office and forbidden from ever running again.  This happened in the state of New Mexico, and the State Supreme Court has upheld the use of the 14th Amendment for this purpose.  Now, inexplicable to me is why the enforcement of the federal constitution would be the business of a county or a state judge in the first place, or why this alleged "insurrectionist" hasn't appealed to a federal court to overrule this capricious, anti-democratic action at the state level.  I mean, what's to prevent judges in a deep red state from removing Joe Biden from the ballot in 2024?  I mean, he's given "aid or comfort" to America's enemies on countless occasions.  Presto!  He's disqualified.  What's to prevent this?  A) Republicans' sense of fair play, and B) federal oversight.  My view is that the federal courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court, better weigh in on this issue soon, or else the 2024 election might be over before it's started.  I hasten to add that, even if Trump was only removed from the ballot in a handful of states, or a handful of counties, depending on which states and which counties did it, it would render the 2024 election completely meaningless and certainly unwinnable for Trump.  And that, naturally, is the idea.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/colorado-voters-want-ban-trump-2024-lawsuit-rcna104176

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-faces-14th-amendment-suits-cuoy-griffin-speaks/story?id=103009491

Why is such radical, unprecedented, irresponsible, undemocratic action necessary?  It's obvious, from a leftist perspective: they simply can't abide another four years of THE EVIL ONE, and they have declining confidence in the ability of Joe Biden to win a fair fight -- and for good reason!

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/van-jones-joe-biden-age/2023/09/11/id/1133982/

Do people (especially Americans) ever learn from history?  Well, if we study the lessons of history, we'd have to say...NO!  This article suggests that we're afflicted with some serious tunnel vision when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine War.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/afghanistan-war/

Taking a Header for Waddy

 

Friends, it has only now occurred to me that I forgot to post this week's Newsmaker Show interview between Brian O'Neil and myself.  Quelle horreur!!!  I feel indescribably crestfallen about this, especially since I can only imagine that, for many of my most ardent fans, a week without Waddy renders them (or you) a danger to themselves (or yourselves).  My deepest apologies!  I doubt very much that this oversight will ever be repeated, but, if it is, I implore you to delve deep into the Waddy archives as an alternative to self-harm.

 

This week's show, in any case, covers some deeply engrossing topics, like: what Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump have in common, whether the deep state can ever be tamed, our "least bad option" democracy, the staying power of Joe Biden, the terrifying growth in deficit spending, the prospects for Fani Willis' witch hunt versus Donald Trump, the politics of redistricting, the foreign policy advice of Viktor Orban, the death throes (?) of Ukraine, and the degree of Chinese control over the Panama Canal.  Historically, we also remember Germany's failed gambit to bully Britain into submission during the Blitz of 1940-41.

Can you believe I almost neglected to share these various analytical gems with Waddy Nation???  Oof!  Boy, do I have egg on my face.

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-september-7-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

"Saving Democracy" Comes in Many Flavors

 

Friends, perhaps the biggest piece of breaking news is RFK, Jr.'s declaration that the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is effectively "rigged" (no kidding!), and that therefore he might need to "look at other alternatives".  What does that mean?  It's hard to imagine it could mean anything except running for president as an independent, or forming a breakway faction of the Demcratic Party itself and then running for president as its candidate.  Either way, this could spell serious trouble for Sleepy Joe and Co., and could help to make the 2024 campaign one of the wildest and most unpredictable in history.  Bring it on, I say!  Giving voters more choices is, from one perspective, the very essence of democracy.  From the Democrats' point of view, however, the best form of democracy is that in which voters can choose from a maximum number of one candidate.  And they're steadily reframing American democracy to make it so!

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/09/08/robert_f_kennedy_jr_dnc_rigging_primary_for_biden_i_may_need_to_look_at_other_alternatives.html

 

A case in point: the rules of the game, in terms of how elections are run, have been turned upside down since 2020, and there's little sign that we're ever going back to the way things were.  Tens of millions of "low-propensity" Democratic voters will be voting by mail in 2024, and the only way to beat the dastardly Dems, therefore, is to find plenty of low-propensity Republicans and conservatives to match them.  And it can be done!

 

https://themessenger.com/opinion/democrats-2024-magic-bullet-mass-mail-in-voting 

Robert Reich is a loony, to be sure, and he equates guaranteeing Trump's loss in 2024 with the safeguarding of "democracy", which means, in other words, that he hasn't a clue what democracy is!  Be this as it may, he has some excellent advice for Democrats and Trump-haters.  Winning elections comes down to taking action, and, especially for our side, taking the right kind of action that won't shoot our cause in the foot.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/06/election-2024-beginning-how-to-stop-trump

 

There's one very good sign for 2024, and that's that the social media environment should be less hostile, or at least less uniformly hostile, to Republicans and conservatives than it was in 2020.  That's because of Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, and it's because the federal courts are getting serious about curbing the federal government's sponsorship of censorship.

 

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/biden-administrations-policing-of-online-content-likely-violated-free-speech-rights-court-rules-302cd37d?mod=hp_listc_pos3 

The stakes could not be higher!  We know that in part because recently a sitting U.S. Senator very narrowly escaped prosecution for merely asking questions and doing his job.  Fani Willis decided not to charge Lindsey Graham with any crimes related to the attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia in 2020, but you better believe that, if the trial of DJT and his codefendants creates a precedent that political speech can be recast as organized crime, many, many Republican elected officials will soon find themselves fighting off adversarial prosecutions.  We need to win this fight, or the dam will break and dissent itself will soon be criminal.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/sen-lindsey-graham-surprised-grand-jury/2023/09/08/id/1133781/

 

Finally, the integrity of our constitutional rights is facing a stern test in New Mexico, where a Democratic Governor is suspending the right to keep and bear arms.  She cites an "emergency" related to gun violence.  Well, "emergencies" come and go, and they can be manfactured on demand, as we all know.  One wonders, by the way, whether this Governor and her aides will be prosecuted for conspiring to subvert the people's democratic and constitutional rights...  Sounds like a good RICO case to me!  I rather doubt any Republican prosecutor has that much imagination.  Prove me wrong!

 

https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2023/09/09/new-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grishami-ssues-order-suspending-concealed-carry-self-defense/ 

Biden Fatigue

 

Friends, believe it or not, this post is not about how tired, old, and senile Joe Biden is.  Instead, it's about how tired America is of Joe Biden.  His numbers look increasingly shaky, even among Democrats, and, according to CNN, a long list of Republicans look like they could beat him, including Donald Trump -- especially when you consider that Republicans can win the electoral college even should they lose the national popular vote by a point or two or three.  And they aren't losing the national popular vote, according to the polls, at all.  The bottom line is that Biden is not in a strong position.  Is it time for the Dems to hit the panic button?  That's up to them.  I say...it's time to wheel out the impeachment battering ram and attack Joe Biden frontally.  That will draw Democrats closer to him and saddle the dastardly Dems with a dud of a candidate, which is okay by me!

 

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23940784-cnn-poll 

Judgement Day? Psh! Not Likely

 

Friends, it now appears that the DOJ will indict Hunter Biden for...something.  That doesn't entirely obviate the possibility that a future plea deal will let him off the hook, but it does suggest that Hunter will face criminal proceedings around the same time that Donald Trump is slammed by multiple trials in early 2024.  Gee, color me shocked!  The same justice system that seeks to OBLITERATE a former president for having the temerity to exercise his right of free speech is also, to its IMMEASURABLE credit, willing to try a guy for tax and weapons violations, and maybe even for failing to register as a foreign agent.  The logic is pretty straightforward, it seems to me: the prosecution of Hunter Biden will make the DOJ look like it pursues the privileged and powerful based on the principles of blind justice -- and therefore the multiple prosecutions of DJT will have enhanced credibility.  Only a fool would be taken in by this tortured logic, mind you, but elections have been waged and won based on less creditable schemes before.  Plus, the beauty of United States vs. Hunter Biden is that everyone, including Hunter, knows that the outcome of the trial doesn't matter, because, assuming his Dad wins reelection, he'll never face any form of punishment regardless.  One day after the election is over, Joe Biden can and will pardon his son.  Count on it.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/09/06/court-filing-david-weiss-intends-indict-hunter-biden-before-end-month/

 

How did the U.S. budget deficit double in the last year?  That depends on who you ask: Democrats or Republicans.  Here are two competing analyses.  My take: both are deeply flawed, because they barely mention entitlements, the biggest driver of government expenditures.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-deficit-explodes-even-as-economy-grows/ar-AA1gaEkm 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/democratic-deficits-could-doom-us-economy

 

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58888