Subscription

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Perennial Battleground

 


Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show is as eye-poppingly insightful as ever!  Brian and I have a long discussion of the brewing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, its historical basis, and whether NATO and the U.S. can play any constructive role in it (don't bet on it!).  We also cover the constitutionality of Governor Hochul's mask mandates and the medium-term future of the COVID pandemic, plus the astonishing weakness of Biden and the Democrats in recent polls.  If those lefties thought they were going to ride COVID paranoia and January 6th outrage all the way to victory in November 2022, they appear to be sorely mistaken!


When we turn to This Day in History, Brian and I discuss the Franco regime in Spain, the horrific ordeal of U.S. POWs in North Vietnam, the bitter fighting in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France in the closing months of WWII, and Ukraine's (futile) declaration of independence in 1918.


All this -- and more! -- awaits you should you choose to click on the link below and let the wisdom of Waddism bathe your brain in brilliance.  Who could say no to an offer like that???


https://wlea.net/newsmaker-january-26-2022-dr-nick-waddy/


***


Here's a holistic analysis of the Dems' polling woes, which ought to set off alarm bells at DNC headquarters!


https://amac.us/democrats-nightmare-polls/

 

And here's Tucker Carlson's take on U.S. adventurism in Ukraine.  He says that only China benefits from a potential conflict between the U.S. and Russia.  He makes an excellent point (as usual)!

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/01/24/tucker_carlson_dcs_conflict_with_russia_will_only_benefit_china.html

 

Good ole President Biden doesn't appreciate it when journalists ask him hard questions.  I mean, you can see where he's coming from -- no one in the Washington press corps would have dreamed of asking the man a hardball question during the 2020 campaign...  And now, all of a sudden, these "reporters" start doing their jobs?  What the heck!

 

https://news.yahoo.com/biden-caught-hot-mic-calling-234239489.html 


And, if the Dems are tempted to declare victory over COVID and coast to electoral triumph in November, they should remember that plenty of other problems are high -- and, in this one case, higher -- on voters' list of concerns.  Inflation may well break the back of the Democratic Party in 2022.


https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2022/01/25/inflation-explodes-to-record-breaking-high-in-richmond-fed-survey/

 

One of the biggest stories of 2022 so far is the decision of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, meaning that "President" Biden will get to name his replacement.  The Dems have already decided on the race, gender, and ideology of the appointee.  The personal details hardly seem relevant.  The bad news, of course, is that we'll be living with this judicial monstrosity for decades -- and, if Trump had prevailed in 2020, he would have gotten the opportunity to further entrench conservative domination of the judicial branch.  Talk about a missed opportunity!

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/justice-stephen-breyer-retire-supreme-court-paving-way-biden-appointment-n1288042 


Fox News ran an excellent piece last night about the immense pressure on scientists in the early stages of the pandemic to reject the lab origin theory of COVID's genesis.  Basically, it was unpalatable to point fingers at the Chicoms, so anyone who did so was lambasted as a conspiracist.  As usual, the truth was a casualty.


https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/01/25/bret_baier_on_covid_lab_leak_theory_there_is_only_one_narrative_that_they_want_out_there.html

 

Finally, are our Dem-run cities cesspools of atavistic violence?  You betcha!

 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/murders-rose-study-2021 

13 comments:

  1. Dr. Waddy from Jack: The broadcast: so very fertile a setting for redeeming discourse! The German Admiral's remarks: My guess is that one like Putin does not crave the approval of the West but does bristle when he is trifled with by the West. It would be prudent, I think, not to trifle with him. Berlin and Moscow working together? What, are we transported back to1939? Dr.Waddy, you say true, we play footsie with Ukraine while Father Russia looks on with close to volcanic resentment. Why? You are right, it smacks much of irrationality, a trait clearly obvious in the American far left which controls PINO Biden and has so recklessly chosen Russia as the foil for its still frantic Trump hatred. The consequences of unintended escalation of a confrontation over Ukraine are of no moment to them. They expect to rise from the ashes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr. Waddy from Jack: Joseph Conrad once wrote of his native Poland, words to this effect: we are condemned by our position on the plain between Germany and Russia to be always a battleground between them. Perhaps Ukraine (which means "Borderland" and has proven to be so) is similarly cursed. Yes, Nato indemnified Poland for the first time in its history from this onerous threat but can we, or should we try, to do the same for a, in some ways, similarly disadvantaged Ukraine? That would be unwise, given Russia's historical, geographic and cultural ties with Ukraine and Russia's subsequently assured determination to show an implacable resistance it remarkably abjured with Poland's incredible ascension to Nato; Poland: an historical invader and victim of Russia!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dr.Waddy from Jack: The US has not fought on the ground in Europe since 1945. Our superlative M-1 tank is thirty years old and its performance in the Middle East has no doubt been thoroughly analysed by Russia. The same for our A-10 tank buster.Its a serious thing to fight Russians on their home ground or close to it! Our army, originally planned to fight Russians,has gained its,yes, intensive combat experience in settings unlike Eastern Europe. Just sayin'. . .

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dr.Waddy from Jack: What is sometimes perceived as Russian paranoia and xenophobia may find much rational explanation in Russia's history, especially that by arguably the two most savage hordes ever, the Boche and the Mongols. The Vikings were not that much better. Yeah,Slavs invited the Northmen to rule them, creating Kievan Rus but the renamed Varangians might well not have left them much choice. They wanted that river route to Constantinople. Before WWII you might have said to Russia "Well that was a long time ago". But then came the Nazi monsters, reprising the worst of medieval horror.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dr. Waddy from Jack: I read a very well argued essay which maintained that one must understand the prolix savagery of Russian winter and its profound effect on the "Russian personality" to understand Russia's view of life in general. The author holds that its yearly winter ordeal gives a coarsened and saturnine cast to the Russian mien, coupled with national pride at its endurance and perhaps, disdain for other peoples not so taxed. Informed views such as that of that author MUST be taken very seriously by our policy makers! It is vital that we do our best to perceive the viewpoint from which Russia sees the rest of a very possibly, to them, hostile and unsympathetic world. We must, in order to deal with them realistically!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dr.Waddy from Jack: So, PINO Biden gets to nominate a far left Scotus justice dictated by his handlers and enunciated by his anonymous ventriloquist. This will of course be an entity possessed of unimpeachable political correctness. What must our strategy be? Are Manchin and Sinema a factor? With three years to bumble, PINO Biden Inc. will probably get to seat someone they count on for leftist presumptuous lawlessness. BUT: the Dems now face a big PR problem; their capture by the far left is now embarrassingly obvious. Maybe they now see an opportunity to nominate a slicko who blithely protests common sense and "moderation" but who will of course tack directly left once on the bench!Anyway, it can't change the present balance unless this new, eh, jurist, possesses the eloquence (and Olympian support)of a latter day Nestor or Demosthenes! And such is clearly beyond the skill of any frantic and hyperbolic leftist!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dr. Waddy from Jack: But yes,they may offer an unabashed student of the "critical legal studies" school, which holds that all past British and American jurisprudence is but a product of elites protecting their privileges, has nothing to do with justice and is righteously ignored, especially its sainted "precedence". For them, only the wisdom of the presently "educated" is creditable. And she (of necessity) may blithely exemplify this! In doing this, the far left, thru their Dem shills, may hope to motivate their credulous base in 2022.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dr.Waddy from Jack: Franco's victory did assure a non Marxist Spain, which was better than a totaltarian and thus totally murderous Spain. Supposing he had lost? How would Hitler have dealt with a despised Marxist Spain and how would that have effected WWII?Imagine Nazi control of Gibraltar and the south Spanish coast after a German onslaught! The Nazis might well have taken the Suez Canal, the Middle East and its oil. Those monstrous King Tiger tanks might not have run out of fuel at the Battle of the Buldge, if it had even come to that. Franco may have appeared to be a German sympathizer but he fluffed. The Boche in Spain would not have done so.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dr. Waddy from Jack: the 1944 - 45 campaign in northern Europe: it was an experience for the groundpounders for which the word "HARROWING" barely suffices! Stephen Ambrose, in the book Citizen Soldiers, describes it with apparently great faith. The Germans have always been superlatively effective fighters, even when their cause and even their country was lost!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Quite right, Jack. The rational basis for our ongoing efforts to irritate and cajole Mother Russia eludes me...unless perhaps the goal is to give the Chicoms a good laugh?

    Your grand strategy is on point, Jack: if you're a weak power sandwiched between two strong ones, why, you have only one choice: submit to one or the other. Poland chose the West. Ukraine might wish to do the same, but given its more intimate history with Russia, it simply won't be permitted to defect. The smart Ukrainians ought to have figured this out by now.

    I wonder how much the modern Russians fear foreign invasion? They are still obsessed with the Great Patriotic War, it seems, but can they really credit the idea that NATO would launch itself deep into Russia? The idea seems absurd to me.

    Jack, I presume McConnell will try his best to slow down the nominating process and to defeat Biden's (radical) pick for the court, but it won't be easy. I would be surprised if Manchin or Sinema gave Biden any trouble. They need to get back in the good books of the Dem primary electorate. Voting for a "sterling" black female nominee would be a good start. Plus, it's hard to imagine that voters will punish them for it years hence...

    Good point that the confirmation of a black female Bolshevik will help the Dems to rally the troops in November. The best the GOP can hope for is to expose her -- and Biden -- as legal and constitutional extremists.

    Hmm. That's a fascinating theory that a non-fascist Spain might have joined WWII -- and been promptly conquered by Germany/Italy. The long-term consequences are almost unimaginable.

    Jack, I would quite like to visit the Franco-German border region. I hear it's beautiful, and the historical and cultural attractions would be legion. It's on my list!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dr. Waddy from Jack: Yeah , that region fairly teems with history, from Roman times on. It does seem irrational that Russia might actually contemplate the possibility of a Nato thrust into Russia. Of course they have been traumatized by perhaps the most monstrous invasion ever and that within living memory.They may well have adopted the "never again" resolve which Israel embraces.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hmm. I dunno. Biden is many things, but he ain't no Hitler. I mean, does anyone start quaking in his boots when Sleepy Joe shuffles into the room?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dr. Waddy from Jack: Good point! See lefties; this is how creditable discourse is conducted.

    ReplyDelete