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Monday, August 31, 2020

American Carnage

 

Friends, the news is full to the brim with fascinating stories these days.  For one thing, the tide seems to be turning on the issue of riots.  Even the Dems are starting to notice them!  And disapprove!  The wonders never cease.  Of course, their calls for law and order ring massively hollow, given the fact that they've excused a seemingly endless cascade of unrest for months.  But hey, even leftists can read the polls.  They're running scared now.


One reason the tide is turning is because leftist violence is getting harder and harder to obfuscate, and harder and harder to blame on shadowy white supremacists and/or Trump.  This profile of the "model citizen" who appears to have shot a right-wing counter-protestor in Portland is worth a read.  The venomous hate that's being spewed on the Left can really be startling at times, and note that it's not a black man, infused with BLM fervor, who pulled the trigger.  It's an unstable white guy with a crush on Antifa.  This shouldn't shock us.  The most unhinged anti-fascists and anti-racists are often those who have no personal experience with either fascism or racism.  They learned to hate in Ethnic Studies 101, or maybe they were just born that way?

 

https://nypost.com/2020/08/31/man-suspected-in-deadly-portland-shooting-is-100-antifa/ 

 

In other news, according to this riveting account from the New York Post, mail-in voter fraud isn't a fantasy of the right.  It happens, and on a scale that can swing elections one way or the other.  The mechanics of it are most interesting, and one has to wonder how widespread these tactics are.

 

https://nypost.com/2020/08/29/political-insider-explains-voter-fraud-with-mail-in-ballots/ 


The NFL is apparently clarifying the degree to which it will knuckle under to BLM.  The answer: a lot!  Allowing players and teams to display political messages is, if you ask me, a pretty bad idea.  I mean, we don't watch football for political enlightenment, do we?  And yet, it would be one thing if the teams and players were allowed to promote the causes of their choice, but naturally they aren't.  Only approved messages will be seen, and the only messages that are approved are BLM-friendly.  One wonders whether anthem-kneeling will be obligatory?  Why not skip the national anthem, I say, and just sing the Internationale instead.  It's a catchy tune.


https://www.foxnews.com/sports/nfl-reveals-more-in-game-social-and-racial-justice-plans

 

So, we all know that good news about the coronavirus is NO NEWS, because only bad news fits the master narrative that America is coming apart at the seams, and it's all Trump's fault.  Well, there IS good news about the virus.  Cases and hospitalizations are down, even in the "hot spots," and we should get set for a massive decline in daily deaths, because it's on the horizon.  You better believe the media will find a way of spinning the pandemic into an accelerating cataclysm, however.  What else have they got?  It's either that, or pull another Trump scandal out of a hat.  Better yet, do both, and then throw in some rioting, just for good measure.


https://www.foxnews.com/travel/florida-governor-people-visit-commercial-flights-coronavirus-decrease

 

Lastly, this is a very interesting and potentially critical analysis.  I've been thinking along the same lines: that Trump would be sitting pretty on election night, and then the Dems would dig in their heels and try to count their way to a come-from-behind victory.  The dynamics would be fascinating -- politically, legally, journalistically.  When, for example, does Trump declare victory???


https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/09/01/democratic_data_group_warns_election_night_could_look_like_a_trump_landslide_until_mail-in_votes_are_counted.html

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Biblical Biden

 

Friends, wonderful news: Joe Biden, a.k.a. Saint Joe, plans not just to save America from Trump -- he's also ready and able to save your soul!  Just ask Joe himself.  If you listened to his acceptance speech recently, you'll recall that a "battle for America's soul" is underway, and the surest route to redemption runs straight through Wilmington, Delaware!  No surprise there.  And this nonsense, believe it or not, is the theme of my latest article.  See what you make of it.


Biden the Blasphemer


President Trump delivered a lot of memorable lines in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Among the best was his assertion that “Joe Biden is not a savior of America's soul.”

It was a reference to a key moment in Biden's own acceptance speech, in which the former Vice-President called on voters to “join a battle for the soul of this nation.” He declared, “This campaign isn’t just about winning votes. It’s about winning the heart, and yes, the soul of America.” Governors Kasich and Cuomo, among others, echoed this idea that America's “soul” is on the ballot.

In his speech, Biden framed his campaign as one of “hope and light and love.” Trump, by contrast, is “darkness” personified.

Biden particularly drew attention to President Trump's alleged observation in August 2017 that there were “very fine people” among the violent white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia — a smear that has been discredited and disproved on countless occasions. Trump was not referring to white supremacists, as he made clear at the time, and as he has been at pains to remind people since. This imaginary outrage in 2017 nonetheless marked the exact moment when, according to Biden, “I knew I'd have to run.” The “soul of America” demanded nothing less.

Trump is absolutely right to condemn Biden's sanctimonious and intentionally deceptive rhetoric. He is right, because of the emptiness of Biden's words. He is also correct, however, because Biden's arguments represent, at their core, a refutation of the Christian faith that Biden professes to hold. Biden is proposing himself as the savior of the nation, and of Americans' souls, when any true Christian knows that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.

It is one thing to claim that one candidate serves, or would serve, the American people better than another. It is one thing to claim that the current leader has failed to perform, and another could do the job better. Such arguments are de rigueur in electoral politics.

Biden, however, goes far beyond this, asserting that his campaign stands for “hope and light and love,” while President Trump has brought a “season of darkness” upon the land. This is strikingly moralistic, even pious, rhetoric for a party that claims to embody rationality.

What's worse, Biden, despite his Catholic roots, doesn't suggest God as the force — the only force — that can restore America to spiritual health. He nominates himself as America's redeemer. He claims that he, Joe Biden, can “Give people light.” He, the career politician, can and will illuminate the path back to righteousness.

This rhetoric isn't merely grandiloquent. It is blasphemous. It belies Biden's entreaty to the Almighty at the end of his speech, “And may God bless you,” for it is not God from whom Biden anticipates blessings, but from himself.

Sadly, this moral-spiritual fog, in which it is so easy to confuse oneself for God, is a persistent feature of left-wing ideology. Leftists are humanists: they are believers in the excellence, even the perfectibility, of humankind. They believe that a utopia can and will be built on Earth, if only the ignorant will heed the calls of the enlightened.

And who are the enlightened? Why, they are, of course — they, the left-leaning, “progressive” vanguard of a new age. It is from their glorious minds that the shape and structure of the promised utopia will spring, even though the Bible and common sense teach us that human beings are imperfect in their knowledge, their judgment, and their character, by definition.

Does any of this mean that Donald Trump, rather than Joe Biden, is God's candidate in 2020? No.

What it does mean is that, for all his bloviating, Donald Trump acknowledges that he is beneath God, and so are the rest of us. “In America,” he declared in his acceptance speech, “we don't turn to government to restore our souls. We put our faith in Almighty God." As we should.

Joe Biden is also a man of faith. The difference is that, when it comes to saving souls and redeeming a nation of 330 million people, Biden thinks that he is the key. Not God.

Joe Biden and many Democrats are fond of quoting Scripture. Let them heed, therefore, Matthew 15:9, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Simply put, Joe Biden is not Jesus Christ, and the platform of the Democratic Party is not the Scriptures.

If the American people cannot tell the difference, then sadly our “season of darkness” is only beginning.

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 Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.

 

And here it is at Townhall:

 

https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2020/08/31/biden-the-blasphemer-n2575332 

Friday, August 28, 2020

A Trumpian Celebration

 

Friends, the RNC is now in the books, and it's time to reflect on what we've seen.


First, I give both Vice-President Pence and President Trump high marks for their speeches.  They delivered a lot of crisp, hard-hitting verbal salvos that are sure to land squarely on the Democrats and Joe Biden.  Frankly, neither man presented his ideas in what might be described as a "pithy" fashion.  Both made an expansive case for the GOP, and against the Democrats, instead.  That's okay.  Political speeches tend to be meandering, and both men had a lot of issues to cover and interest groups to placate.  The use of personal anecdotes to encapsulate larger themes is now a tried-and-true practice in American political rhetoric.  They used these anecdotes, usually supported by the presence of guests in the audience, to good effect.  I have no doubt that, overall, a great many Republicans and independents will be fortified in their resolve and/or won over because of what they saw and heard this week.  This is especially true given that, the mainstream media being what it is, much of the time the Republican message isn't even accessible to many voters.


If I had to fault the RNC and the Vice-President and President for anything, it would be the sheer breadth of their message(s).  The voters do like simplicity, and it seems to me that so many issues are in play in 2020 that it could be hard for Trump voters to boil down, for their neighbors, just why they're voting red.  Is it law and order?  Is it China?  Is it socialism?  Is it "cancel culture" and liberal intolerance?  Of course, it can and should be all of these things, but we need to be able to abbreviate our pitch into a slogan, or at least a number of bullet points.  That's a work in progress.


I have to say, I missed many of the secondary speakers, but I saw quite a few on night three, and many of them were outstanding.  How many undecided voters were watching?  A lot, I hope!  It strikes me that, for a party beholden to "white supremacists", the RNC featured a ton of minority and women speakers, and it made a herculean effort to overcome the notion that Republicans are "racist" and "sexist".  To Trump's credit, from day one he has reached out to black voters -- sorry, "Black" voters -- and with some success.  Polls consistently show that, while Trump's support in the black community is not vast, he can easily exceed the 8% of the black vote that he received in 2016.  This has to make Democrats nervous.  In fact, Trump looks set to expand his percentage of the black, Hispanic, and Asian vote.  Is it any wonder, then, that Democrats are playing the "race card" as if their political lives depended on it?  No.  They will try everything they can think of to try to shore up their minority support.  Now, it's not inconceivable that Trump could lose in 2020 simply by getting a smaller majority among white voters.  Be that as it may, step one to victory for the Trump-Pence ticket, it seems to me, is to convince as many people of color as possible to vote for Trump, and, if that fails, convince as many of them as possible NOT to vote for Biden.  Kanye, anyone?


Lastly, I think we ought to reflect on the fact that the Biden-Harris ticket got no discernible polling bounce whatsoever from the DNC last week.  Interesting.  For my money, that means that the Dems have hit their ceiling.  Enthusiasm for Biden isn't likely to surge any further.  It can, however, and probably will, diminish.  This is, despite what the media tells us, a very evenly divided country, politically speaking.  That means that Trump can win.  It also means that Biden can win.  It certainly means that neither candidate is likely to win in a landslide.  

 

And that means, as we've noted before, that our election will probably be contested.  Ergo, everything that's happened at these conventions, and all the votes that Americans will cast in September, October, and November, may ultimately come to nought.  That's because the election may well be decided by the Supreme Court, by gamesmanship, by skullduggery, by will (or the lack thereof), by public protests, or even by force.  None of us prefers a messy victory to a clean one, naturally.  But we may have little choice.  Circumstances this year are just not conducive to a "normal" political process.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

The World's First ICBM: A Real Attention-Getter!

 

 
 
Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show will blow your mind -- if it doesn't blow you away entirely.

First, Brian and I talk current events, including the well-scripted but ultimately insubstantial Democratic National Convention.  Brian and I also speculate on who will really be running the country, should Biden prevail in November.  In addition, we discuss the first few speeches at the RNC, and why this week is a golden opportunity for the Republicans to make polling gains.  We also cover the Dems' obsession with the postal service and their desire for mail-in ballots.  It appears they're playing a "long game" that involves counting and counting and counting (under the supervision of several thousand lawyers, of course) in November/December that leads, ultimately, to a victory for their side.  If Republicans are left feeling cheated, well, the Left can put up with that.  Winning is the bottom line.

In "This Day in History," Brian and I talk about the chaotic Democratic National Convention of 1968, held, as far as most historians are concerned, in the mean streets of Mayor Daley's Chicago.  We also ponder the presidency and legacy of LBJ, one of the greatest champions of big government in American history.  In addition, we cover the dawn of the age of the ICBM, in 1957, which altered the strategic balance in the Cold War permanently, and lastly we even make a nod towards the Battle of Tannenberg, which prevented a quick Allied victory in World War I.

Don't even think about not tuning in this week.  Our missiles are target-locked on your location!  Don't make us start a countdown...

 
***
 
In other news, check out this story on a professor placed on "administrative leave" for blaming China's communist government for the global pandemic.  Was his rhetoric inflammatory?  You bet.  Would a professor similarly be accused of "xenophobia" if he, say, claimed that the President of the United States was a Russian stooge?  Of course not.  "Bigotry, hate, and intolerance" are all good, as long as they serve the Left.  For shame.
 

"Don't Be Evil" Used To Be Google's Motto -- No More!

 


Friends, with the rise of socialism, private property isn't what it used to be, especially in the eyes of many leftists.  Well, there's a major case before the Supreme Court that could erode our property rights even further.  Read all about it in my latest article, published in the hallowed electronic pages of American Greatness:


https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/25/google-is-getting-grabby/

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

President Pelosi??? Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Worse

 

 
Friends, President Trump painted a sobering picture on the first night of the RNC: of a Democratic Party determined to win in 2020 at all costs, and willing to play fast and loose with electoral norms and democratic values to do so.  Check out this article, which forecasts some of the confusion and gamesmanship that could follow in the days and weeks after Election Day, November 3rd.

 
While it's not especially likely that the electoral college will be stymied as late as January 20th, 2021, and thus Nancy Pelosi might make a play for the Oval Office, let's be honest: stranger things have happened!  
 
Now, couple that analysis you just read with recent statements from Hillary Clinton:
 

Don't concede under ANY circumstances?  What does that tell you?  It suggests to me that the Dems are playing a long game.  They don't expect to win on election night.  They expect the counting to go on and on...and they expect that protracted struggle to work to their advantage.  They expect innumerable court challenges, and presumably they expect to win many of them, perhaps because they assume that even many "Republican" judges will jump at the chance to rid the country of President Trump.  In all these assumptions they may be correct.  
 
Bottom line: it will take extraordinary vigilance on our part, as conservatives and as patriots, to ensure that the Dems don't game the system in 2020.  We also have to face the reality that there's a good chance that the election won't produce a CLEAR, undisputed winner...and then what?  The Left and the media will try to bully Trump out of office, under those conditions.  Undoubtedly street violence will be part of their playbook.  How will Trump respond?  How should Trump respond?  I know many of you will eagerly reply, "Declare martial law!  Arrest the troublemakers!"  Realistically, though, we have to anticipate that any effort by President Trump to enforce public order, in the wake of a disputed election, will be seen by the Left -- and its journalistic acolytes -- as fascism run amok.  In any case, we need to start imaging the various horrific turns this election season could take, and we need to prepare to safeguard whatever tatters of democracy are left to us after November 3rd.

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Sorry, God -- You've Been "Cancelled"

 

 
Friends, there are lots of jaw-dropping developments these days.  Among the most shocking stories to come out of the Democratic Convention last week -- well, "shocking" if you haven't been following the collective delirium that's descended on the Dems -- was the decision of several of their meetings to omit "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.  Is God keeping score?  He tends to do that.  If so, the Dems may be in big trouble in November!
 

 
In other news, our heroes and heroines in law enforcement are getting pretty tired of being the Left's whipping boy du jour.  Morale is sinking.  Meanwhile, Joe Biden has the gall to claim that it's President Trump who wants to "defund the police".  Ha!  As if anyone would believe that the Dems are the champions of law enforcement!  Sleepy Joe: that dog won't hunt.
 

 
In addition, have you seen the stories about the rolling blackouts in California?  What a state!  Not only are you forbidden from leaving your home, but you also have to contend with periodic power outages.  As this article explains, part of the problem is the Golden State's antipathy to nuclear power and fossil fuels.  Alternative energy!  That's the answer.  Sure, it is the answer, if the question is, "How can we turn America into a Third World country?"
 

Finally, this article is a bit "blue" in verbiage, but it makes an outstanding point.  Joe Biden claims that he knew he had to run for president as soon as President Trump announced his support for the white supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017.  Well, the only problem is that Trump never did that.  In fact, he did the opposite.  The mythology of Trump's "white nationalism" is now so accepted on the Left and in the media, however, that such whoppers go unnoticed.  Outrageous!

Friday, August 21, 2020

Sleepy Joe Defers His Nap to Inspire America

 

Friends, the Democratic National Convention is now in the books, and it's official: it will be Trump-Pence versus Biden-Harris.  I watched the addresses by Sleepy Joe and the Kamster, and I have a few thoughts.

 

For one thing, we have to acknowledge that neither Biden nor Harris "dropped the ball" and humiliated themselves.  Kamala Harris is a smart woman and a smooth talker.  She didn't miss a beat, and she kept things positive and optimistic -- usually a smart move in American politics.  She also defied my expectations.  I assumed she would be Sleepy Joe's "attack dog," and maybe she will be, but she wasn't at the convention.  She seemed like a nice, patriotic lady introducing herself to America.  That sort of speech will do the Dems no harm.

 

Second, Joe didn't crash and burn either.  He exceeded my expectations, insofar as he read his speech without tripping over it or having a stroke.  He was even coherent.  The miracles never cease!  And that, I think, is a danger for the GOP: the bar for Joe Biden has been set so low that it won't be that hard for him to meet it, and even rise above it.

 

Third, Kamala's address was almost entirely lacking in policy prescriptions of any kind.  Joe Biden did address policy, but only in the broadest, most schematic terms.  He promised to fix every problem, and protect every (popular) interest group, but he said almost nothing about how he would do it.  Well, that's par for the course.  The American people expect empty platitudes.  They got them this week, and how!

 

Fourth, the DNC was designed to pitch the Democratic Party as a moderate party, despite the fact that it has advanced some of the most radical proposals in our nation's history.  The tax increases and curtailments of liberty that the modern Dems would inflict on us would be punishing, and yet you'd never know it listening to their rhetoric, which is all Trump-hatred, on one hand, and sweetness and light, on the other: "compassion", "empathy", "equality", "justice".  How nice!

 

In a nutshell, the DNC was carefully scripted, and it was expertly enacted so as to, well, mislead the American people.  It will do the Dems no harm, and, assuming that any undecided voters were watching, it should even do them some good.

 

The challenge, then, is to confront the voters with what the Dems truly are, and what they truly believe in, when the cameras aren't running, and to expose the emptiness of so much of what they have to say.


The best case scenario, my friends, is that the street thugs who are battling nightly with the brave men and women of law enforcement -- some of them BLM, some Antifa, and some just miscellaneous left-wing nutjobs -- will become the real public face of the American Left.  The media wants to avoid that, but let's face it: sometimes Molotov cocktails speak louder than desiccated Delawareans.  This may be one of those times.


We shall see.  The Dems have thrown down the gauntlet.  For the most part, they are going to "play nice", it appears, and let the media do their dirty work for them.  Not a bad strategy.  We just have to hope that the American people are one step ahead of them.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Bring Back the Shah!

 

 
Friends, President Trump might want to start thinking of the Shah of Iran as a role model (for when he institutes a dictatorship, that is).  I mean, just look at that throne!  On the other hand, the Shah didn't exactly live long and prosper, so maybe "President of the United States" is...good enough?
 
This week's Newsmaker Show with me and Brian O'Neil focuses on many of the top stories capturing the headlines.  We discuss the Democratic convention and its remarkable lack of interest in the Democratic candidate for President, Joe Biden.  We're apparently supposed to vote for Biden by default, once we exclude Trump as a possibility because, well, he's Beelzebub and all...  In addition, I fulminate against the Dems' obsession with postal reform and call it what it is: the propagation of a baseless conspiracy theory.

Historically, Brian and I analyze the life and legacy of Bill Clinton, the effect of the U-2 incident in 1960 on the trajectory of the Cold War, the 1953 coup that ousted the nationalist Mosaddeq in Iran, and Hitler's accession to the "office" of Fuehrer after the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934.

It's quite a show!  Can you imagine what your life would be like if you missed it?  All that regret, shame, despondency...  Perish the thought!  Tune in now.

Monday, August 17, 2020

When You Can't Even Trust the Mailman...

 

Friends, just when you thought you'd heard everything, the Dems start raving about how the post office is plotting against them!  Eek.  To think that a once proud nation has been reduced to...this.


The post office imbroglio, and the lefty lunacy behind it, are the subjects of my most recent article.  Check it out:


It's Official: The Dems Have Gone Postal, and They May Never Recover


Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a malady that Republicans and conservatives often speak of these days. The obsessive, venomous quality of the Left's Trump-hatred is indeed remarkable, and for some “progressives” genuinely psychologically destabilizing, but often, let's face it, references to TDS are made in jest. Conservatives, understandably, are reluctant to admit that they are vehemently hated, just as we are reluctant to admit that the “loyal opposition” to President Trump may have lost its grip on reality and become captive to its myopia and its rancor. Recent developments, though, require us to take these notions with the utmost seriousness — otherwise we may become guilty of the same willful blindness we rightly condemn on the other side.

The liberals' and the media's current fixation on the postal service is a case in point. The Left claims that recent changes at post offices, slowing down some forms of mail delivery to achieve cost savings, are in point of fact an advanced form of Trumpian/fascist election fraud. They claim that postal delays are an intentional form of voter suppression, and that the appointment of a Trump supporter to lead the USPS validates their theory.

This is nonsense on countless levels.

First, the changes at the post office are long overdue and are necessitated by the collapse of its business model over several generations, not just in the last few months. They are also changes that began to unfold during the Obama administration, and therefore did not materialize overnight on Trump's whim. In fact, the program of reform at the USPS reflects its independence from political meddling, not its servile Trumpism.

Second, the leadership at the USPS did not try to conceal the changes to its service delivery. On the contrary, it warned various states that, in effect, they would need to change the dates by which they advised voters to mail in their ballots, to ensure that they would be delivered on time and would be duly counted. This was not an attempt by the USPS to “sabotage” anyone's vote, but to protect the democratic rights of us all.

Third, the Left's current argument flies in the face of its own master narrative about elections: that we don't need to worry about “fraud”, because it simply doesn't exist. According to Democrats, concerns about the integrity of mail-in votes are silly and baseless. But somehow it is not silly or baseless to imagine that the post office is now a vehicle for the imposition of a fascist dictatorship on the American people.

Fourth, liberals and media pundits ignore the mounting evidence of problems in the tabulation and verification of mail-in votes in previous elections held this year. In some contests, final results took weeks to materialize, and in others a shockingly high percentage of ballots were rejected. Is this not a more legitimate source of worry than slight reductions in the speed of postal delivery?

Fifth, any problems some voters experience with the voting process are anomalies, insofar as voting has never been simpler in U.S. or world history. Recent changes making it easier for people to vote by absentee ballot and/or by mail or online, expanding the availability of early voting, and streamlining the process for voter registration, have led to large increases in voting, especially among minorities. The idea that the right to vote is “under threat” flies in the face of all this clear evidence of increased voter participation.

What's most distressing about the Left's claims of postal “sabotage” are not their sheer emptiness and absurdity, however. It is the fact that leftists advance them not with a conscious sense of irony or out of disingenuous opportunism. On the contrary, they make such wild and inaccurate claims without the slightest doubt entering into their (diseased) minds that they true. They believe, implicitly, that Trump plans to “steal” the 2020 election, and that recent changes at the post office are a manifestation of his evil stratagem.

The fact is, therefore, that “Trump Derangement Syndrome” has ceased to be an amusing catchphrase. It has become, rather, the religion of the Left.

To be a member in good standing of the “progressive” movement, you now need to check your rational, critical faculties at the door and forsake them evermore. It is necessary instead for you to believe, without questioning, any smear, no matter how fanciful, directed at people on the Left's extensive enemies list. As conservatives, our guilt, after all, can be assumed, based on our ideology, our party identification, our faith, our race and/or our sex, the company we keep, or some combination of these. Any investigation into the facts is secondary, at best, and irrelevant, at worst. Just ask Brett Kavanaugh.

We conservatives need, therefore, to start grappling with these awful truths: our political opponents no longer like us, to be sure. They no longer respect us either. They no longer believe, in all too many cases, that we are entitled to the rights of American citizenship, and some don't even regard us as worthy of life itself.

All that is bad enough, but what's worse is that leftists have burrowed themselves so deeply in the black hole of their “progressive” and profoundly negative monoculture that they are not even vaguely capable of discerning fact from fiction, and nor are they able to perceive when their own beliefs are contradictory.

Non sequitur? “No problem,” says the modern leftist. “I'll have a second helping, if you please.”

There are few things more dangerous in this world than a crazy person who thinks that he is sane — or, to put it another way, an irrational person who thinks that he is rational. And yet we conservatives must come to terms with the fact that we live in a country where at least 40% of the voting population has lost its collective marbles and may, unless the media environment changes massively, never recover them.

Meanwhile, a considerable portion of the electorate, perhaps 10-15%, is caught in the middle — not ideologically committed to the full slate of leftist fantasies, but nonetheless heavily influenced by toxic and maniacal left-leaning reportage (recently shown to be 150 times harsher vis-a-vis President Trump versus Joe Biden). We had better find a way of reaching this American center, of inoculating it against the insane ramblings of the Left, or America and its democracy will be lost forever.

I realize it is beyond scary — in fact, it is horrifying — to face the harsh reality that our political opponents have hectored and self-isolated their way into collective derangement, but it is necessary all the same.

The first step to curing America of the blight of leftist lunacy is to admit that we have, as a country, contracted a mental illness. Only then can we begin to devise an effective course of treatment.


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 Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.

Friday, August 14, 2020

When Good News Isn't News At All

 

 
Friends, it's no big secret that the purpose of the media's coverage of the coronavirus pandemic is to spread fear, not information.  Take note of the fact that breathless reports about rising case counts in the Sun Belt have stopped, for the simple reason that case counts aren't rising anymore.  They're declining, which could, to a normal brain, sound an awful lot like good news.  But, as the media sees it, there's no such thing as "good news", at least not prior to November 3rd, and so, when the facts shift, they simply avert their gaze and look for something else to get the vapors about.
 
Check out this story, which documents declining infection rates in the U.S. versus a steady rise in Europe:
 

What does this prove?  Not a whole lot, except that mastery of the coronavirus is eluding pretty much everyone.  What we haven't seen as yet is evidence that masking or lockdowns are necessarily correlated with superior performance in terms of infections or deaths.  If such evidence exists, please share it with me.  I would love to evaluate it for myself.

In other news, the Durham investigation has nailed its first lefty malefactor.  A guilty plea is interesting, because one has to wonder -- what did Clinesmith give Durham in return for a plea deal?

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Kamala Averts Her Eyes When Sleepy Joe Gets Grabby

 

 

Friends, it's no big secret that Joe Biden likes to touch women and girls.  There's a time and a place for everything, though, and even Sleepy Joe has admitted that sometimes his hands have roved a little too often and a little too far and wide.  Lest we forget, however, Biden has been accused of more than just "inappropriate touching".  He's also been accused of sexual assault.  

 

Back when she was running for the Democratic nomination, and Joe Biden looked like the political version of roadkill, the Kamster made it clear that she believed his accusers.  In other words, she thought him guilty of a serious crime and a career-ending outrage.  Now that Biden is the Dem's presidential nominee, though, and now that Kamala Harris is his right-hand-woman, she isn't so sure.  In fact, she'd rather talk about Joe's fantastic record on women's issues.  In other words, she'd rather change the subject.

 

This article brilliantly exposes Kamala for the hypocrite and opportunist that she is.  Will the media ask her and Sleepy Joe hard questions about these accusations of sexual assault?  Presumably, no.  That's old news, and it's a distraction from the parade of baseless accusations against President Trump that are the substance of "journalism" these days.  Nevertheless, you and I know better.  We know a slimeball when we see one.  Or two.

 

https://nypost.com/2020/08/12/kamala-harris-believed-joe-bidens-accusers-until-she-didnt/ 

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Welcome to the Jungle, Kamala!

 

 
I wish to convey a hearty WaddyIsRight welcome to President-in-Waiting and current U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, who has maneuvered herself into the position of running mate to Joe Biden.  Well done!  Truly, you are "a heartbeat away from the presidency," as the saying goes -- or you will be, if the American people are foolish enough to elect the Biden-Harris ticket in November.  And, let's face it, there are plenty of signs that we may well be just that foolish.


My thoughts on Kamala?


First, I predicted a while back that Sleepy Joe would pick her.  Is she all that and a bag of chips?  No, but the simple fact is that, if you MUST have a black woman as your V.P., Kamala is the only one fully qualified and plausibly ready to be President.  It would be the height of folly to pick someone demonstrably unready, and thus...Joe Biden had to pick Kamala.  There it is.


Honestly, therefore, I regard her as a reasonably safe, establishment-friendly choice.  She's a lot less risky than many of the other possibilities on Biden's shortlist.  She likely won't blow up in his face.  She's had experience of national politics, and that will be a big advantage.


I also pointed out before that Kamala has a sharp tongue and an incisive mind.  She thus would be a great choice as an "attack dog".  She can rip Trump and Pence to shreds on the campaign trail day in and day out, and Dems and lefties will eat it up.  If they had any trouble with Kamala as a "moderate," they will soon forget about it, and the media will make sure of it.


Naturally, Kamala, as a woman of color, will cover herself with the armor of anti-racism.  To put it another way, whenever anyone on the right criticizes her, she will call them "racist", and the media will do the same.  Is this stratagem tiresome and empty?  Sure, but the Left has employed it so often and so doggedly because it works.  Kamala will play the race card.  She will play the woman card.  And some of the time, God help us, she will win the trick.


How can she best be attacked?  Probably as a chameleon, since she has shifted many of her positions over the years, and as a radical leftist, since, according to a recent analysis of her voting record, she has moved hard-left in order to position herself for a presidential bid.  Her "race" works to her advantage, in many ways, but in others it may not.  Frankly, the American people may be just "racist" enough to assume that a "black" Democrat is also a far-left Democrat.  (They've done it before.)  And Kamala, perversely, may work hard to prove them right.  Since she's also the presumptive heir to a geriatric candidate, her radicalism, such as it is, could cause serious consternation for some voters.  Republicans would be foolish not to cultivate these fears.


Kamala also allegedly "slept her way to the top," having an affair with Bay Area politico and kingmaker Willie Brown.  Could that weigh on voters' minds in 2020?  Probably not much, but if it tickles the funny bones of a few comedians, and adds to the popular image of her as ambitious and unscrupulous, Republicans could be the beneficiaries.


Would Kamala be a good President?  For any conservative/patriot, this question answers itself.  The fact, though, is that, like Barack Obama, while she may not be a great leader, she CAN play one on tv.  She has "presence".  She's articulate and smooth in her delivery.  She can feign outrage with the best of them.  Will she be the one making the key decisions, either before or after Biden meets his maker?  That's doubtful, but it really doesn't matter, since both of them are "front-men", or "front-women," as the case may be, for a set of establishment interests and a left-wing ideology that, if either of them inhabits the Oval Office, will prosper, and may even become so ensconced that only a civil war could blast them out again.  Mind you, I'm not CALLING for a civil war, or even predicting one.  But what I am saying is that, once the Dems reestablish their grip on the executive branch, I don't believe they will willingly relinquish it ever again.


So, in short, Biden has made a prudent choice.  He appears to have the edge in the polls, and, while I still regard the election as highly competitive, I don't think Kamala Harris will reduce his chances of winning.  She may even increase them.


Ergo, while I welcome Kamala to the fray, I rather wish Sleepy Joe had chosen more poorly.  Alas, we'll have to beat him, and his new partner-in-crime, "the hard way".


And beat them we shall!


***


Incidentally, the picture above shows a young Kamala protesting against apartheid South Africa in the early 80s.  It's a typical scene, insofar as a typical leftist will always embrace whatever cause positions "the enemy" (like conservative white people) at the center of things, while the misdeeds of those one likes (like the black leaders in the rest of Africa, for instance) are of no account.  To put it another way, there's nary a "progressive" on this earth who has ever read, or understood, Matthew 7:5, "“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” 

 

Speaking of South Africa, it's in sorry shape, and it grieves me to say so.  The country's economy has gone from bad to worse, and the coronavirus isn't helping:

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-africa-nears-point-no-040003084.html 


***


Here's another perspective on Biden's selection of Kamala Harris.  It indicates that Biden made the "safe" and "predictable" choice, which is true, but not necessarily mistaken.


https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2020/08/13/Why-Biden-blew-it-kamala-harris/stories/202008130110

Profiles in Fertility

 

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show goes around the world in about twenty minutes -- no mean feat!

 

Historically, Brian and I talk about the unrest in the late 60s and early 70s and how it compares (and doesn't compare) to the anarchy besetting our big cities today.  We also cover Hitler's "Mother's Cross" and the Nazi policy of encouraging fertility among (Aryan) women.  We talk about the Spanish-American War and why it came about.  And we discuss Woodrow Wilson's and FDR's machinations to pull the U.S. into world wars that, ostensibly, they claimed we should stay out of.  Never trust a Democrat!!!

 

In terms of current events, Brian and I discourse on the resignation of Seattle's embattled police chief, Trump's Executive Orders on unemployment insurance, etc. and their relevance to the separation of powers; and so much more!

 

Don't miss a millisecond!

 

 https://wlea.net/newsmaker-august-12-2020-dr-nick-waddy/

Sunday, August 9, 2020

Mike Pence: The Badgers' Choice!

 

 

Friends, the good people of Wisconsin -- the Badger State -- are in for a treat.  Just as their hopes were dimming, with hundreds of lousy Democrats set to descend on Milwaukee August 17th-20th for their national convention, Mike Pence recently announced that he too will make a campaign swing through the state: on August 19th, the very day that Biden's VP (President-in-waiting) accepts her crown.  That's the subject of my latest article.  Read and enjoy!

 

Vice-President Pence Is Right to Campaign in Wisconsin during the Democratic Convention


Recently, Sleepy Joe Biden made the allegedly “responsible” choice to remain in Delaware throughout the Democratic National Convention, to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 17th-20th. That's right — Biden will be the first presidential nominee since FDR in 1944 (who was at death's door) to skip his own party's convention. He will instead hide in his basement, as is his wont.

Vice-President Mike Pence, however, sensing an opportunity, will campaign in Wisconsin on August 19th, the same day that Biden's soon-to-be-chosen running mate will accept the Vice-Presidential nomination (that's assuming Biden can find someone willing to be his understudy/nurse).

The Democrats' reaction to Pence's announcement was as swift as it was predictable. They called Pence's decision “disgraceful”, insofar as he will be going to Wisconsin despite the fact that COVID-19 infections in the state are, according to them, rising.

Never mind that the actual numbers, according to the 7-day moving average reported by the state's Department of Health Services, are trending slightly downward. And never mind that the Democrats themselves have not canceled their convention in Milwaukee, which, despite being slimmed down, will still draw hundreds of people to the state's biggest “hot zone”.

In fact, recently several workers helping to prepare for the DNC tested positive for COVID-19. Did the Democrats scrap their plans and opt for a virtual convention instead? No, but they expect Mike Pence to hole up in his basement, all the same.

The truth, of course, is that Joe Biden is staying put in Delaware, and making only a perfunctory appearance via satellite at his own nominating convention, because his handlers fear the awful consequences of allowing the public near the ticking time bomb that is Sleepy Joe.

The national convention represents, next to the presidential debates — which more and more Biden allies are advising him to skip — the biggest test the candidate will face on the road to the White House. That Biden and his inner circle do not believe their man is up to the challenge, even if he made his acceptance speech from a Milwaukee television studio or hotel suite, tells us everything we need to know about Biden's fitness for office. It also tells us just how much confidence his key advisers repose, or don't repose, in the “man who would be king”.

Mike Pence, on the other hand, is traveling the nation, doing his utmost to convince the American people that four more years of conservative, God-fearing, liberty-affirming, “America First”, and constitutionalist leadership is infinitely preferable to turning the country over to socialists, anarchists, moral relativists, apologists for criminals and rioters, and “woke” authoritarians.

Even if the Democrats weren't preparing to nominate a ticket featuring a babbling, skeletal has-been, and an unqualified upstart chosen to put a fresh and agreeably non-white face on a party actually run by warmed-over hippies and special interests, it would still be utter madness to vote for the Dems.

Pence knows this better than anyone, and thus he owes it to America and to every one of us to exert himself to ensure that he and Donald Trump succeed in November. His duty, in other words, is to remain in the arena, to campaign responsibly and with due deference to local, state, and national public health guidance, but above all to continue to engage with the American people.

The Democrats appear to believe that the way to win the presidency is to hide from the voters and to rely on the media to do their dirty work for them. Given their stumbling, fumbling candidate and the undisguised Trump-hatred of most journalists, they may be right.

We Republicans, though, cannot afford to hide from anyone. We must work harder than ever to persuade the electorate to do the right thing, which means: to defeat the Left's brand of America-hating Marxism once and for all.

If it takes a trip to Wisconsin to seal the deal, then Mike Pence would be foolish not to go.


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 Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.

 

And here it is at American Greatness!

 

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/11/mike-pence-is-right-to-campaign-in-wisconsin-during-the-democratic-convention/ 

Friday, August 7, 2020

Dukakis Redux?

 


Friends, you might want to check out this article.  It notes some interesting parallels between the star-crossed campaign of Michael Dukakis in 1988 and that of Joe Biden in 2020.  What it fails to mention is another important parallel.  Crime, which was at all-time highs in the late 80s, was a major issue in 1988 that worked heavily in favor of George H.W. Bush.  The Dems had been weak on crime since the 1970s, at least, and after 1988 they worked feverishly to shore up this political deficit.  That's why establishment Democrats like Joe Biden embraced crime bills in the 90s, lest we forget.  Well, now a "law and order" election may be looming again.  Will Republicans ride Americans' sense of insecurity all the way to victory once again?  We shall see.  The big difference between now and then, of course, is the Dems' shift to the radical left, coupled with Biden's geriatric foibles.  All in all, I don't believe that 1988 and 2020 bear much resemblance to one another, but still -- we should learn from history whenever we can.

 

https://spectator.org/biden-dukakis-presidential-race/

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

The Gipper Takes No Guff



Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show whisks you from 1861, to 1914, to 1981 -- all in the blink of an eye.  Brian and I discuss Abraham Lincoln's fateful decision to impose an income tax in 1861, as the Civil War began.  In this way, as in so many others, the federal government tested the waters in 1861-65 for what would turn into its permanent and inexorable expansion in the 20th century.  Then Brian and I cover the German attack on the Belgian city of Liege in 1914, which, if it had gone a little more smoothly, might well have led to a quick German victory in the First World War.  Finally, in 1981, President Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers, landing a solid blow on the labor union movement from which it has never really recovered.

When we get to current events, Brian and I talk about the boneheadedness of big city mayors, who won't take any federal help in the battle against crime...or maybe I should say "crime," because the Democrats seem to have convinced themselves that it's all an illusion anyway.  We talk about the ongoing negotiations over additional stimulus measures, and why the Dems might be happy to let the American worker twist in the wind.  Finally, we ask the question on everyone's mind these days: which zero will Biden pick as his co-loser, or deputy loser, in 2020?  My money's still on Kamala.

Listen in and be informed!

Ike Didn't Like the "Asian Flu"



Friends, while many have compared the coronavirus pandemic to the Spanish Flu of 1918-19, this article makes an intriguing case that the "Asian Flu" of 1957-58 is a more apt parallel.  See if you agree.  Horowitz points out that our response in 1957-58 was a lot less hyperbolic than it is today, despite the fact that the toll was arguably higher.  But then no one would accuse the architects of public policy in 2020 of being detached and judicious, would they?  Tsk tsk.

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Explaining the Inexplicable



Friends, today we ponder a real brain-buster: how do the Democratic Mayors of our biggest cities, suffering massive rises in violent crime and, in particular, homicides, angrily dismiss offers of assistance from the federal government?  Wouldn't that be a gross disservice to the people who live in these cities, especially to the "Black" and "Brown" people (note the PC capitalizations, thank you very much) who represent the majority of crime victims?  It beggars belief.

The crime wave is no longer in dispute.  Here's just a sampling of the evidence:


And so...why?  Why rebuff federal cooperation and outreach?  The answer is as simple as it is obvious: Trump-hatred.  Sheer irrational, myopic Trump-hatred.  Check out this article. 


And this one:


So South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn views Trump as no different from Mussolini.  I suppose that represents an upgrade from the Hitlerian parallels that the Left usually draws, but, nonetheless, consider the audacity of Clyburn's claims.  He views Trump as a dictator, or at best as an aspiring dictator, and thus he views federal law enforcement as the embodiment of Trump's viciousness and his soaring ambitions.  The Feds, therefore, really are "stormtroopers," and the American people are currently living in fear -- fear not of criminals, who ARE killing them in record numbers, but of federal bureaucrats and law enforcement professionals, who are in fact trying to protect them, but who Clyburn and the Left view as willful participants in, and enablers of, Trump's reign of terror.

The delusional nature of these beliefs is incredible.  The isolation of liberals from reality, it would seem to me, has now reached a very dangerous level.  Their contempt for the President of the United States, for law enforcement, and, lest we forget, for roughly half of their fellow citizens, is TOTAL and UNALLOYED.  They have, in fact, turned on the very institution that they most adore in the world: big government!  They've turned on it because it is tainted by the leadership of Donald Trump.  That is how obsessive and neurotic their Trump-hatred has become.

What are the chances, under these circumstances, that we can hold a peaceful, orderly election in November, and that both sides will accept its outcome?  Slim to none.  President Trump is clearly very worried about our electoral process and its integrity.  He's also worried, so it seems, about the survival of our constitutional system of government and our democracy.  Well, he ought to be.  The sinews of that system and of that democracy are being stretched to the breaking point.