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Thursday, August 30, 2018

Pope Francis: Holier Than Thou?



Friends, in my latest appearance on the Newsmaker program, hosted by Brian O'Neil, we delve into the top issues of the day, including: Lanny Davis and media bias, the politics of grief surrounding the death of Senator John McCain, the fate of Paul Manafort, judicial activism and the subversion of legislative control over Congressional redistricting, the nomination battle surrounding Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and the debate over Pope Francis's role in the alleged coverup of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.  As always, we leave no stone unturned!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OyxWT1rhzI&feature=youtu.be

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Socialism and Your Kids


Friends, I recommend to you this very interesting article which appeared on the FoxNews website.  It claims that "democratic socialists" are targeting the teaching profession, because they believe that turning children into leftists will ultimately bear fruit for their movement.  Of course, they're right, but in reality this is something of a non-story, because leftist radicals and Marxists have been infiltrating our public school system (to say nothing of higher ed) for decades.  It's not a conspiracy, so much as it's a titanic cultural shift in education to the left.  Already, conservatives are pointedly not welcome in many school districts, and the curriculum includes a strongly leftist bias.  Many Christians and conservatives are choosing to home-school their kids, or send them to private schools, because the liberal indoctrination in the public schools has become so pervasive and severe.  The examples are legion.

My advice?  Don't send your kids to public school, if you can avoid it, and if you must send them to public school try to make sure that the local school administration is at least remotely commonsensical.  In addition, get out there and serve on school boards, volunteer, and perhaps even enter the teaching profession yourself.  We need more conservative patriots in our schools, even if they feel a bit besieged at first.

It's trite to say that "children are the future," but inevitably they are, so let's not abandon them to leftists!

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/08/25/young-democratic-socialists-america-releases-pamphlet-targeting-teachers-unions-michael

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Elegy for Silent Sam: Twice a Victim of History



Friends, while the mainstream media obsesses about the legal travails of Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort -- and obfuscates the inconvenient fact of President Trump's innocence of any crime -- my eyes have been turned to recent events in the Tar Heel State: North Carolina.  There, days ago, a mob of left-wing activists tore down the statue of "Silent Sam," who was a memorial to Confederate war dead.  The disrespect these protesters showed, not only to fallen Confederate soldiers, but also to the rule of law, American history and heritage, and basic standards of decency, is profoundly shocking.  Actually, I take that back -- it is disgusting, but not shocking, because the passion for silencing their opponents, and destroying all symbols of a hated past, seems to infuse the modern Left.  We have seen it before, and we will see it again.  At any rate, I wanted to register my disapproval.

Silent Sam” Wasn't Silent Enough for a Liberal Mob

Recently we witnessed the tragic and grossly illegal toppling of the “Silent Sam” statue on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by a crowd of enraged protesters. Silent Sam had stood for over 100 years as a memorial to fallen soldiers of the Confederacy. He represented not a single, specific individual, but a great mass of several hundred thousand Confederate soldiers who died fighting for their homeland, albeit a homeland that practiced slavery. He especially stood for the UNC alumni who died in the Civil War.

A campaign to have the statue removed from campus had been active for years, but the mob that formed on August 20th was not inclined to wait. Silent Sam was knocked to the ground and stomped on by euphoric radicals. All this was done in the name of anti-racism and to defeat “white supremacy,” which in point of fact receded as a meaningful force in American politics decades ago. Besides a tiny fringe of genuine hardcore racists and “Nazis” in the U.S., white supremacy has become, more than anything, a rallying cry for the Left, and an excuse to bully, silence, and even physically assault conservatives. Racism is and ought to be condemned by the vast majority of Americans, but the use of violent and illegal tactics to achieve one's political goals is never acceptable.

The Left's rationale for the removal of the Silent Sam statue rested largely on the fact that it was dedicated by, among others, the avowed racist Julian Carr, who saw Silent Sam as embodying the “Anglo Saxon race” in the South. This was indeed an inauspicious start for the statue, but the fact is that Silent Sam himself had no explicit connection to white supremacy – he is, or was, simply a weary Rebel soldier, who represented ordinary combatant Southerners, the vast majority of whom did not own slaves, but who did feel a duty to defend their homeland from what was perceived as “Northern Aggression”. Regardless of the justice of their cause, these men fought and died in appalling numbers, and it is not unreasonable that the people of North Carolina, and the state of North Carolina, would honor their courage and their sacrifice.

While we must concede that the Left is correct that Silent Sam does have some potentially negative associations, the bigger problem is that the Left's desire to expunge historical symbols with such “baggage” is extremely selective. Very few historical personages rise to the level of moral purity and perfection demanded by the modern-day acolytes of political correctness. And, if all historical heroes and heroines are flawed, who are liberals to decide which of these luminaries are to be consigned to the dustbin of history?

To take an obvious example, liberals are united in celebrating the contributions of Susan B. Anthony to the cause of women's liberation and female suffrage. The fact of the matter is, however, that Anthony was a racist, who opposed passage of the 15th Amendment, which enfranchised black men, because she believed that white women, due to their superior “intelligence, justice, and morality”, should received the vote first, and “the negro” last. She referred to newly emancipated black men as “densely ignorant”. That racist philosophy, however, has never prevented leftists from lauding Susan B. Anthony, from erecting statues in her honor, or from pushing for her face to appear on the currency of the United States.

Liberals seem to take the view that, if an historical personage was, in the main, “on the right side of history,” then his or her sins, no matter how inexcusable by modern standards, can be forgiven and forgotten. In fact, even to raise questions about his or her virtues, as I have with Susan B. Anthony, is to invite a charge of racism or sexism on oneself. Simply put, the heroes in the liberal pantheon are effectively beyond reproach. They occupy holy ground on which no critical thinker may tread.

If, by contrast, liberals simply don't like an historical figure, or they associate him or her with retrograde or conservative beliefs, that individual's flaws becoming defining features, and he or she can never be celebrated or memorialized, and can only be discussed in the context of evil, oppression, and injustice. The fact that even people who do bad things can have good qualities, worthy of examination and even admiration, offends the black-or-white moral code by which liberals live. To them, the verdict of history is an all-or-nothing affair: you are either with us, or you are against us, and “us” means the modern Left itself, the views of which are the only (self-referential) standard of rectitude liberals recognize. No higher law exists than this: the Left must prevail – over the past, over the present, and over the future.

In the end, conservatives must oppose the toppling of the Silent Sam statue for two reasons. First, because it is an affront to the rule of law and an instance of mob rule. Second, because how we interpret history is a reflection of the cultural and moral values that we practice and hold dear. We simply cannot afford to hand our nation's heritage over to leftists, who will expunge and destroy everyone, and everything, that fails to live up to their totalitarian vision of the perfect society. After a few years, we would have nothing left but a jerry-rigged gallery of purported heroes and villains, useful only as props in liberal propaganda.

Sadly, Silent Sam was twice a victim of history. He died first on the battlefields of the Civil War, fighting for a cause that was arguably doomed from the start. Last week, he died a second time – a victim of liberal rage and intolerance, and of political correctness gone berserk.

Let's do all that we can to make sure that the next chapter in American history won't be written by a left-wing mob.

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears weekly on the Newsmaker program on WLEA 1480.

And here's the version that appears in The Daily Caller:

http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/25/silent-sam-silent-enough/ 

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

David Hogg: The New Face of the Left?



Friends, don't miss my latest Newsmaker interview with Brian O'Neil.  We cover a lot of ground, including the political aspirations of David Hogg (I opine that his arrogance might make him the ideal Democratic candidate for high office), the toppling of the Silent Sam statue in North Carolina, the banning of Alex Jones from many social media platforms, Governor Cuomo's "America was never that great" gaffe, the revocation of John Brennan's security clearance, and more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCU9xC32gGU&feature=youtu.be

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Unhinged: Is the Left Losing Its Grip?



Friends, your reactionary hero, Dr. Waddy, has been in Florida for the past week, so this blog has been quieter than usual.  Let's put an end to that right now!

I recommend two articles to you today.  The first is by Dan Gainor, and it aptly summarizes some of the most recent incidences of leftist lunacy and media bias.  Note that the inflammatory rhetoric about the dictatorial aspirations of President Trump supports one of the other themes we are seeing in liberal discourse these days: the idea that extreme rudeness, even violence, may be justified in combating "hate," i.e. conservatism.  The remark by Governor Cuomo that America "was never that great" is also to be expected, given that leftists tend to assume that any country that produces Donald J. Trump, and gives him executive authority over hundreds of millions, is beyond salvation...

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/08/19/dan-gainor-summertime-and-media-are-embarrassing-from-hating-america-to-loving-antifa.html

The next article is about Michael Avenatti's potential White House bid in 2020.  Now, stop to ponder this: the press could not be more contemptuous of the man who was duly elected President of the United States, but they take seriously the words and moral claims made by a lawyer who represents a money-grubbing porn star.  (Don't think for a moment that I deprecate the integrity of ALL porn stars, but Stormy Daniels?  Please!)  Truly, we are living in a time when all bets are off...when anyone, ANYONE who feeds the beast that is the anti-Trump media will be welcomed with open arms, no questions asked.  Omarosa is the incontestable proof of that!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/19/avenatti-mulling-wh-run-tells-anti-trump-dems-in-new-hampshire-to-fight-fire-with-fire.html

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Cuomo vs. Trump: Battle Royale?



Friends, forget the Trump-Omarosa feud.  2020 could be dominated by a battle between Donald Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo!  If only.  Frankly, I don't think even the Democrats are dumb enough to nominate Cuomo, but you never know...

In my latest interview with Brian O'Neil on the Newsmaker program, we give you the skinny on New York politics, as well as the rise of "democratic socialism", the decline and fall of Trump-hating FBI agent Peter Strzok. and the leftist obsession with race-baiting.  You'll get all this and more! 

Hop on the truth trolley with Dr. Waddy (you'll like it way more than Bill Clinton's "peace train")!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30C4oD0Kb1Q&feature=youtu.be

Friday, August 10, 2018

America the...Ugly?



Friends, my latest article addresses one of the least likeable traits of leftists: their loathing for America, the country that nourishes and protects them and guarantees their liberties.  Why do so many liberals hate America?  Why do so many of those who don't hate America nevertheless love it conditionally, and sometimes only when it gives them what they want?  Read on, and see if you agree with my analysis...

Why Do So Many Leftists Reject America?

The United States of America is, among many other things, a nation, and the Left has long made clear its contempt for nationalism, patriotism, and other relics of what it considers to be humanity's benighted “tribal” past. It is partly for this broad ideological reason that many liberals reject the symbols of America – the Stars and Stripes, the pledge of allegiance, the Constitution, or a statue of George Washington, for instance. 

Nationalism is not the only reason, however. Leftists also believe that America is not merely a nation, but a bad nation – a nation defined by oppression, which liberals see everywhere. It is telling that, as racism and sexism have ebbed in this country, by any objective measure, the Left nonetheless perceives an increase in prejudice and discrimination. No wonder, then, that many liberals feel justified in rejecting the most popular symbols of America. They have concluded that ours is a country beyond redemption. The election of Donald Trump as president confirms them in this belief.

The result has been a cratering of liberal patriotism: the gap between the percentage of Republicans and Democrats who are “extremely proud” to be Americans has ballooned to 42 points (74% compared to 32%) in 2018. Just 23% of self-described liberals are “extremely proud” of this country. (Incidentally, even during the Obama years, conservatives and Republicans were more patriotic than liberals and Democrats.)

Consider the anecdotal evidence as well: recently a government-funded charter school in Atlanta abandoned the pledge of allegiance in deference to the negative “emotions” it evokes in students and parents. A local elected official in Connecticut has begun to kneel during the pledge of allegiance, in imitation of the protests that recently swept through the world of professional sports. On Thursday we witnessed a renewal of those protests by NFL players, who seem indifferent to the lasting damage they are inflicting on “America's game”. Meanwhile, churches, municipal parks, schools, and universities are reconsidering their public memorials not only to Confederate heroes, but to Founding Fathers like Washington and Jefferson. The New York Times published an article on Thursday claiming that the U.S. Constitution is an “outdated relic” and that “the subversion of democracy was the explicit intent of the Constitution's framers.” The American flag was recently desecrated at a demonstration in support of firebrand Congresswoman and Trump-hater Maxine Waters. The much-reviled “War on Christmas” is being replaced by a “War on America”, or so it seems.

One of the most telling pieces of evidence that anti-American sentiment is viewed as legitimate on the Left is the oft-repeated threat by liberal celebrities, and even ordinary Democrats, prior to November 2016 that they would leave the U.S. if it elected Donald Trump as president. Virtually none of them were foolish enough to follow through, of course, but the mere fact that they would give voice to such ideas is a testament to their lack of faith in American democracy, the American people, and the American spirit. Quite a few leftists are more loyal and devoted to their cherished ideals of political correctness and creeping socialism than they are to the United States of America as a nation and as a people. That is a sad thing to have to say about one's fellow countrymen, but it is inescapably true.

The last time that the symbols and basic institutions of America were under such sustained assault was during the Johnson and Nixon years, when the U.S. public was sharply divided by the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights era. The Left succeeded in ushering President Nixon out of office, yes, but it didn't succeed in pulling the wool over the American people's eyes. 

Americans saw every night on their television screens confirmation of the extremism, spitefulness, and anti-American apostasy of left-wing activists. In those days, as is the case now, liberal rage boiled over and produced criminality and violence, usually on a small scale, but sometimes in the form of mass protests, riots, and terrorism. 

The result was predictable: the American people recoiled. They increasingly turned to the right, to the voices of patriotism and “law and order”, and to the Republican Party, which flourished and achieved its greatest electoral successes since the 1920s in the ensuing decades. The ultimate product of the leftist descent into anti-Americanism and radicalism was therefore the election of President Ronald Reagan, a principled conservative, in 1980.

One has to wonder whether the American people's response to the stridency, extremism, and disloyalty of the modern Left will be the same as it was in the 1970s and 80s. President Trump says that the 2018 midterm elections will bring a “red wave,” and Americans will definitively reject liberals' hysterical Trump-hatred, their obsession with impeachment, their advocacy of open borders, their dalliance with socialism, their ill-considered embrace of identity politics and political correctness, and, perhaps most of all, their contempt for America itself.

The talking heads guffaw, but history suggests that Trump may be right.

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears weekly on the Newsmaker program on WLEA 1480.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Trump=War, or Trump=Peace?



Friends, don't miss my latest interview with Brian O'Neil on WLEA 1480's Newsmaker program. We cover a lot of ground, including New York politics and the prospects for Governor Andrew Cuomo and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, US relations with Iran and North Korea, the US-China "trade war", and the role played by non-citizen voters in "foreign meddling".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Bqaclnj50&feature=youtu.be

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Ah, the Tricks the (Leftist) Mind Plays...On Itself



Friends, feast your eyes on my latest article, which appears in Townhall. It's about the leftist critique of President Trump as childish and prone to bullying. I deconstruct this critique and show how it very often applies to...Trump's critics! I think you'll be amused and edified.

https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2018/08/04/is-trump-emerging-as-the-grownup-in-the-room-n2506252

Thursday, August 2, 2018

The New Normal on the Left: Imprison the Police, and Let the Criminals Go Free



Friends, I recommend to you two great articles today. The first is about the statements by Democratic candidate for New York Attorney General Zephyr Teachout (the name alone should warn voters to stay away) to the effect that she believes ICE should not only be abolished -- in addition, its officers should be prosecuted for unspecified crimes. Teachout says ICE has become "a tool of fear and illegality". Now, let's ponder this for a moment.  What this leftist is saying is that enforcing the law can itself be a crime.  In addition, causing those guilty of a crime to fear they will be arrested is, presumably, criminal behavior.  In effect, she objects to our current immigration laws so much that she seeks to invalidate them by prosecuting those who execute them.  Again, the contrast with President Trump's criticism of the FBI could not be more stark.  Trump has attacked rogue FBI agents who abused their authority -- not the institution itself.  He has not called for the abolition of the FBI.  He has not suggested that FBI agents performing their normal duties are guilty of criminal acts.  He has not called the FBI a "terrorist organization," as Cynthia Nixon has (she is challenging Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in New York this year). It all goes to show you -- radicalism is blossoming on the Left, and they are inching ever closer to declaring it illegal for President Trump, and perhaps Republicans and conservatives in general, to speak, or even to draw breath.  To the Left, "the law" means whatever they want it to mean.  That's a scary thought, and it's the number one reason why it was so critical that we avoided a Clinton presidency in 2016.  If the Left had won that election, people who believe that it's illegal to enforce the law would have been...running the country!  Incredible.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/02/new-york-attorney-general-candidate-wants-to-prosecute-ice.html

The second article is about the union movement's divisions over whether or not to support Trump, or, more realistically, over whether or not to treat Trump like a leper. Not surprisingly, there are many leftist union officials who see Trump as the devil incarnate. On the other hand, there are those who understand that some of Trump's actions, like his tariffs against China, help many American workers. As a union member myself (though perhaps not for much longer), it saddens me that unions have become so captive to the radical agenda of the Left. All too often, unions involve themselves in political issues and races that have nothing to do with advancing the interests of their members.  Hopefully, the Janus decision will help change this, but in the meantime the debate in leftist circles, and union circles, seems to be largely one of: is Trump merely bad, or is he monstrous?  Should we just campaign against him, as in days of yore, or should we ratchet up our "resistance" and seek to imprison, dismiss from employment, or pillory anyone who says a kind word about him?  It tells you something about the Left that, these days, simply failing to excoriate Trump vehemently enough BY ITSELF can make you persona non grata.  And yet these are the times we live in.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/02/trumka-blasted-by-teachers-union-boss-for-keeping-door-open-on-trump-2020-endorsement.html

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Non-Citizen Voters: The Ultimate Form of "Foreign Meddling"?



Friends, you may have noticed that there is increasing support in "blue" cities (is there any other kind?) for the idea of allowing non-citizens to vote in municipal elections. Many Democrats believe immigrants, even illegals, should be allowed to vote in ALL elections. But here we are talking about changing the law.  From the Left's perspective, though, why change a law when you can simply ignore it, and thus tacitly invalidate it? Evidence is strong that non-citizens are already voting, because the encouragements to vote are myriad, and the mechanisms in place to prevent non-citizen voting are often very weak.  Probably we are only talking about small numbers of voters at this stage, but there are elections, like the Senate election in New Hampshire in 2016, where the result is extremely close, and fraud of various kinds could easily be responsible for determining the outcome. This is a problem that we need to keep on top of, if for no other reason than because it is part of the pattern of lawlessness that the Left seems to feel it is entitled to perpetrate.

Here is a FoxNews piece about the issue:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/01/names-non-us-citizens-increasingly-found-on-voter-rolls.html

And here is my latest interview on the Newsmaker program on WLEA 1480 in Hornell.  Brian O'Neil and I discuss the issue of our growing "trade war" with China, and I highlight China's attempt to interfere in our 2018 midterm elections. We also discuss the potential for violence against conservatives, as well as against the police and ICE agents.  Don't miss out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x62AllIGQ20&feature=youtu.be