Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show explores all the hot topics, including the dismissal of John Bolton, President Trump's erstwhile National Security Advisor, the ramping up of our trade war with China, the media's toxic fixation on President Trump, and the latest machinations in the political battle over Brexit. Brian and I also discuss the legacy of the 9/11 attacks -- on the 18th anniversary of that fateful day!
Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruFhd22zi1Y&feature=youtu.be
In other news, congrats to Dan Bishop, who won a critical House special election in North Carolina! The Dems spent millions, and they came close, but the good people of the Tar Heel state still did the right thing...
Finally, check out this article, which explores the relationship between conservatism and the environment. Chris Buskirk, a big wheel at American Greatness, makes some excellent points. Conservatives are caricatured as enemies of the Earth, but of course that isn't fair. We all have to live on this planet, at the end of the day, and we all want to protect the natural environment. Much of the time, we even agree on how to do it. What we don't agree on is the liberal assertion that anyone who questions their agenda of environmental extremism is, ipso facto, a monster. BTW, I like what Chris has to say about China. China is one of the worst environmental offenders around, and, as we limit our dependence on China for manufactured goods, we can look instead to companies and countries that engage in more responsible practices. You'd think this would be yet another argument for getting tough on China and supporting Trump's trade war -- but for some reason the Left has always had a soft spot for China and for the whole "developing" world. They can pollute to their hearts' content, because it's only Westerners who offend Mother Earth. Nonsense!
https://amgreatness.com/2019/09/09/how-conservatives-can-protect-the-environment-and-win-voters-too/
Dr. Waddy: Re; Your broadcast comments: Perhaps the nation was united (after a sort) at that moment (9/11)but I do remember America loving Dan Rather on CBS (well!), in reference to the President's presence on AirForce I on that DAY: "well, he's the President (I guess,from him I perceived)like him or not" Hardly an endorsement; actually a snide leftist swipe at him on a day on which his fellows on the left may well have rejoiced.(Just imagine the Squad's reaction had they been present) If there was unity, I would suggest it was fleeting indeed.
ReplyDeleteJohn Bolton out; I've always liked Bolton for his unapologetic defense of the U.S.while U.N. Ambassador. We should display a superior attitude in that setting. We host them and largely finance them and understandably, they scorn us. So would anyone of the gangsterish views which are so very much of so many U.N. nations have experienced. There is only one answer to this, as is the ongoing truth of resistance to domestic criminal behavior - consummate non tolerance! Bolton stood for that.
But, there is a larger issue apparent here. For the very first time we have a business leader in charge of the Federal executive branch. And his time proven methods may well include summary dismissal of advisors or subordinates with whom he has found he cannot work. Perhaps in the business world this is common(?). I cannot gainsay it.
Roy Cohn and McCarthy: Amusingly: I remember as a 7 year old being miffed by the constant broadcast of the "Army- McCarthy Hearings" on the TV I depended upon for juvenile entertainment (when it worked). In having subsequently read about Cohn I recall him having been accused of degeneracy surely that which would have condemned him in the '50's and '60's and perhaps hypocritically reprised by his latter day critics ,enough to generate credible doubt about that now.
Dr. Waddy: Lets get to the heart of the matter concerning McCarthy and Cohn. They opposed communism and of what did that consist? Lets speak bluntly. The book, Lenin's Tomb, written by a long term Newsweek correspondent no less, contains almost unendurable eyewitness accounts of the sufferings of those transported from far western Soviet ports to the Gulag. In my tenure as a NY prison staffer I heard felons freely describe the corporal reactions of unfortunates, to threats and confrontation with arms. Shall I go into the excremental and incontinental manifestations of these fears. Need I? Imagine having nothing but the consequently soiled rags of these experiences to wear on your epic journey. And for what?
ReplyDeleteSo Cohn, McCarthy and even Nixon were less than gentle in denouncing these since largely proven presumptions on American freedoms? SO WHAT!
Dr. Waddy: Your comparison of today's insane antiTrumpism to that is creditable and plausible.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Johnson is being "Trumped" and with the same discredited intent. God bless and keep him for his courage in standing firm. I'm sure that the UK majority is behind him but they'd better come through in the next 51 days.
The empirical evidence that our China trade deficit is down is of no moment to the "feelings" defined left. They cannot comprehend a President impudently willing to stand for the interests of a demonstrated opponent because their snobbish disdain insulates them from any understanding of the business world which is at the heart of the China/U.S. trade conflict. Its beyond their ken, the poor dears. Oh yes," Ho, Ho , Ho Chi Minh, make love, not war, no nukes (except for those who oppose the hated U.S.), unilateral American disarmament,enforced cultural and moral relativity, PC at all costs and if you don't like it, get ready to move to a nice warm camp in the Southwest!"
Wow, well said Jack. I just want to make one comment about Bolton. I do tend to agree with you, however, he was a war monger. It is no longer the early 2000's and times have changed. I wasn't that surprised to see him go. However, if I could reach the President, I would tell the President to just be quiet and let it go. Bolton is seemingly a good guy, so please quit tarnishing his image. The constant tweeting about this is enough.
ReplyDeleteLinda and Dr. Waddy: Thank you. We have gotten less than satisfactory results for at least some of our military efforts in the last 18 years and so misgivings about one who may appear to be too eager to take up arms are certainly plausible. I don't use social media; does it appear that the left is trying to take the President to task over this dismissal? Please forgive my vehemence in commenting on McCarthy, Cohn and Nixon. Criticism of some of their methods is honorable; I just think time has proven them to be mostly on the right track, while the communists were on the track straight to hell.
ReplyDeleteJack, yes -- the unity of 2001 was short-lived indeed! I suppose that was inevitable, but I would blame President Bush in part for the quick turnaround. He was obsessed with invading Iraq and casting blame on Saddam for 9/11, and on both counts he was wrong.
ReplyDeleteSure, Bolton was "all in" for America. Fair enough. Thumbing our collective nose at the UN is all well and good, but it's questions of war and peace where the rubber truly meets the road, and on those issues I just don't trust the man.
I only learned about Roy Cohn recently, but, at a guess, I would say liberals despise him so fervently because he was unashamedly anti-communist and also anti-gay (while reportedly also gay himself). Of course, being anti-communist or anti-gay would have been absolutely normal in the 1950s...but by the 1980s it would not have won him many friends in the Big Apple. From what I can tell, there was also a distinctly partisan edge to some of the battles over the "Red Scare" in the McCarthy/Cohn era, so, even though Cohn was a Democrat, some may have felt party-bound to destroy him and his ilk.
Hear hear on poor Boris Johnson! The establishment is really letting him have it. On the other hand, while the establishment can agree on what it doesn't like, it's far from agreed on what it does. Johnson still has a window of opportunity to get a deal through Parliament. Otherwise, it's election time! As for what the "UK majority" supports, who knows... Generally, one doesn't need a majority to win a general election in the UK, though. Just a modest plurality.
You're right, Jack -- many of those criticizing Trump's trade war wouldn't know an economics textbook from a hole in the wall. Apparently, their reasoning powers only extend to one thought: if Trump did it, it must be wrong.
Linda, I wasn't aware that the President tweeted more than once about Bolton. If he did so, I would agree -- there's no reason to humiliate the man. He's still on our "side," after all.
Dr. Waddy: As I recall, in the early '60's, disdain for male homosexuality was unquestioned and was probably expressed by many who were homosexual or who saw some advantage in expressing this conviction. There are so many cross currents involved that I think doubt about Cohn's anticommunism may well be a reaction to this apostasy. Bottom line: the commies are no good and that's a fact. Castigation of Cohn may well have its origin in characteristic leftist deceit.
ReplyDeleteCould be, Jack. I do think there is some credence, though, in the view that those who misuse noble anti-communist sentiments to persecute their political enemies are thoroughly contemptible, insofar as anyone who "cries wolf" makes it easier for the real wolves to ply their trade... The question would be, then, to what degree is the popular idea that McCarthy "made stuff up" true, and to what degree was Cohn himself responsible. As for disdain for homosexuality, I would quite agree -- we'd have to write off everyone who lived before the year 2000, if failure to celebrate the gay lifestyle is an indication of moral degeneracy.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: From what I have learned of Cohn's lifestyle it was of a sort which would have condemned him in the '60's and '70's but not beyond and I very much doubt that the present day left would have taken his memory to task had he not been anticommunist.
ReplyDeleteNow, were McCarthy and Cohn dishonest? Given the incalculable evil they opposed, would that have been a fault? The Gulag and all of Stalin's fleshly outrages vs. common sense?What side should have prevailed?
Jack, all I know is I wouldn't have cared who Cohn slept with in the 60s and 70s, and I don't care now... I've always considered private sexual behavior private.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think honesty matters, even when your cause is unassailably just. I would argue it matters ESPECIALLY when your cause is just. That's because, if you lie, and your lie is exposed, then you will, by extension, bring disrepute on all those who are fighting the good fight. To put it another way, McCarthy and Cohn gave all the "fellow travelers" a nice talking point -- McCarthyism -- and that in itself did the cause of anti-communism grave harm...
Dr. Waddy: That is a very creditable point. Communism, wherever it was enforced or advocated was an absolute abomination. But Cohn and McCarthy were not the most creditable messengers for that consummately true message!
ReplyDelete