Playing With Fire

 

Friends, according to Brazil's electoral authority and the media, the results are in: President Jair Bolsonaro of the "far-right" has lost his bid for reelection, and "Lula", Brazil's former president, a confirmed leftist, and not so long ago a prison inmate found guilty of corruption, is back in the saddle, or soon will be.  Bolsonaro has not yet commented on the results or conceded, so it's possible that he's considering clinging on to power, but the Brazilian and international establishments are making that as difficult as possible by celebrating and writing in stone Lula's triumph.  Since Bolsonaro doesn't seem to have the fire in the belly for a coup, I assume he'll leave office with his tail between his legs, much like Trump did.  That unfortunately means that leftists will be running the vast majority of the major countries of Latin America.  Luckily, in many cases these socialists are constrained by legislatures that don't share their commitment to Bolshevism.  Let's hope that Brazil survives its latest bout of Lula-ism, and that he doesn't take the country down the same road pioneered by Venezuela.  The people of Brazil deserve better than that, or at least 49% of them do!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/30/americas/brazil-election-polls-open-intl

In other news, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether colleges and universities should be allowed to consider race as a factor in admissions.  Since 1978, that has been permissible so long as the goal is to promote "diversity".  Well, as we all know, the DEI agenda has long since become a code for reverse discrimination.  It's high time that the Supreme Court mandate colorblind policies across the board.  If it does so, we can't assume that anti-white and anti-Asian discrimination will disappear entirely, but it would be a beginning, and hopefully it would put the practitioners of identity politics on the defensive.  Buck up, SCOTUS!  America needs you to be strong.  The Left will scream bloody murder if you put an end to "affirmative action", but the vast majority of Americans will celebrate.  There's a very real danger that our country will be Balkanized in the years ahead.  Let's prevent that sad fate while we still can.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/harvard-affirmative-action-case-supreme-court-must-defend-color-blind-constitution

Finally, Russia is escalating its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, and it seems to be working.  Whether these attacks degrade Ukraine's capacity for military action, or its morale, remains to be seen.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/10/31/massive-airstrikes-cut-off-power-and-water-in-kyiv/

Tweet Tweet Tweet!

 

Friends, it's happening!!!  Elon Musk, beloved super-nerd, is taking over Twitter, one of the most popular and influential social media platforms.  He's promised us a great deal more freedom of expression, but that doesn't mean Twitter will turn into a "free-for-all hellscape", according to Musk himself.  In other words, Twitter will have to strike a balance between protecting our free speech rights and labeling or removing content that is truly harmful or illegal.  That won't be easy to do.  Already, leftists are incensed because conservatives are allowed -- most of the time -- to speak their minds.  Now, previously verboten right-wing voices like that of Donald Trump might return to the platform, which is guaranteed to cause apoplexy in progressive circles.  Could many prominent leftists pull up stakes because of their concerns that Twitter will become a playground for "fascists"?  Could advertisers abandon the platform because they don't want to be associated with "mean tweets"?  Could conservatives, like Trump, refuse to use the platform, because they don't trust Musk, or his minions' approach to content moderation?  Any of these things could happen, or none of them could.  There's a chance that Musk's innovative tweaks will strengthen Twitter's appeal and it may rise inexorably, just as Facebook starts to stumble.  We shall see.  Personally, I remain skeptical.  I stopped using Twitter when it banned President Trump, and I have no immediate plans to rejoin the Twitter circus.  How about you?

https://www.ft.com/content/b429b624-bf82-4ccd-bf69-b75055403952?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9

Another One Bites the Dust

 

Friends, I couldn't care less about Kanye West and the stuff he makes that passes for "music", but I do care about the infantile nature of cancel culture and how it is eating away at civilization itself.  Sometimes the scope and nature of these "cancellations" is downright batty, as you'll see here.  More importantly, what kind of person only wants to see people who they like, or listen to voices they agree with, or enjoy music from artists who share their political views?  The answer: an immature, shallow, and self-righteous person -- that's a no-brainer.  Man up, America!  All this virtue-signaling and cold-shouldering has to stop!

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2022/10/27/kanye-west-wax-statue-banished-by-madame-tussauds/

 

The U.S. economy actually grew in the third quarter!  Imagine that.  All signs point to a looming recession, nonetheless.  An interesting side note: one of the few growth industries left is government aid to Ukraine...

 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coming-up-third-quarter-gdp-11666872767 

 

Has there been a flood of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. since President Biden took office?  Nah.  Only 1.8 million.  That's not even enough to merit 30 seconds of coverage on the major networks.  A total non-story!

 

 https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/oct/27/18-million-more-illegal-immigrants-living-in-the-u/

Finally, you'll find plenty of Russia-Ukraine and U.S. political analysis in this fine article from Sputnik News, which features plenty of commentary from Yours Truly:

https://sputniknews.com/20221026/observers-support-for-bidens-proxy-war-in-ukraine-is-cracking-among-us-lawmakers-citizens-1102735161.html?fbclid=IwAR0pXpGHLW4q9k3LLixWI-iV3Etq2l9CgXjLT-G9JJcIIEy_gaFCm5UPif4

More Ukrainian Than The Ukrainians

 

Friends, pro-Ukrainian virtue-signaling has become all the rage these days (or was that last week?), such that questioning the belligerent policies of the Biden Administration re: Russia is virtually unthinkable.  We're all barreling towards WWIII, apparently, and we couldn't be happier about it!  Hooray!  Case in point: recently a group of progressive Dems in the House of Representatives published a letter calling -- ever so politely and timidly -- for negotiations with Russia aimed at ending the war.  The storm of criticism from their more hawkish fellow Democrats forced these lefties to withdraw their letter posthaste.  Now, criticizing Biden will become a lot more acceptable on the Left, one suspects, around about November 9th, but in the meantime any Democrat who steps out of line will be slapped down hard.  And, just for the record, these saucy Dems were absolutely right: there is no way out of the current Russia-Ukraine, and Russia vs. the West, conflict except through talking with the other side.  This war was dumb and unnecessary to begin with, and the only hope for a restoration of peace is for cooler heads to prevail and for everyone to acknowledge that a perfect solution isn't possible -- we're going to have to meet somewhere in the middle.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63394664

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ukraine-progressives-letter-jayapal_n_63581668e4b03e8038e3db40 

In addition, it's that time of the week again -- time for the greatest radio personality of all time, Nush Wimbaugh (that's my radio "handle") to regale his listeners with more penetrating analysis.  This week, Brian and I cover the looming midterms and how the Dems are blowing it, Steve Bannon's legal problems, Italy's lurch towards "fascism" (ha!), and Britain's new semi-conservative Conservative Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.  It's well worth a listen!

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

The Forgotten Voter

 

Friends, when Democrats lose in November, their loss will be well-deserved.  That's not just because they've governed the country so poorly, but also because they've conducted such a boneheaded campaign.  Democrats are literally ignoring all the top-tier issues for voters: inflation, crime, and border security.  Perhaps "ignoring" is the wrong word -- they're downplaying these concerns, and often they're suggesting that anyone who cares about them is misinformed.  To them, it's obvious that abortion rights, January 6th, and the horrors of Trumpism are the only themes that matter in 2022.  Each of these meta-issues, according to them, disqualifies Republicans as legitimate contenders for public office in a true democracy, which they understand to be a system in which they, and only they, are ever allowed to win.  This level of myopia, and this scale of contempt for what ordinary people think and feel, is quite extraordinary and darn unusual in any democratic polity.  It requires explanation, and this intriguing article takes a stab at it.  Basically, Mr. Buckley suggests that the Dems are victims of their own groupthink, and of the intimidation and ostracism that they inflict on freethinkers.  Perhaps.  Are they about to get their just desserts?  I sure hope so!

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/10/24/the-danger-of-bubble-wrap-or-how-democrats-learned-to-love-ignoring-voters/

 

Probably no race this fall will be more important to which party controls the Senate, and thus no race will be more important to our perceptions of which side "won" the midterms, than the battle between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz.  Can a brain-damaged Democrat win such a high-profile race?  The answer appears to be an emphatic "Yes!", since the polls are so close (and since we already have a man in a perpetual stupor inside the Oval Office), but even left-leaning Politico concedes that Fetterman is skating on thin political ice.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/25/fetterman-struggles-during-tv-debate-with-oz-00063467 

Finally, remember all those election laws that the Dems, and their fellow travelers, broke with impunity in 2020?  Well, to their credit, Republicans are trying their best to ensure that such lawlessness isn't repeated in 2022, and they're making full use of the courts to defend election integrity.  This isn't enough, in itself, to ensure that our elections will be fair and aboveboard, but it's nice to see the good guys acting with foresight for a change.  The improvements we've made to the electoral process since 2020 are reassuring, and even more important is the fact that social media censorship, and media bias in favor of Democrats, have both softened a bit since then.  Criticism of Biden and the Democrats, for instance, is now allowed, whereas before it was stifled comprehensively.  This should give us hope!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rnc-73-election-lawsuits-20-states-most-litigious-election-cycle

Looking Good!

 

Friends, I hope you're keeping tabs on all the polls, because many of them are showing further gains for the good guys.  Of course, there's quite a bit of statistical "noise" out there, so it's hard to know what to make of it all.  For those of you who like data, it's always intriguing to consider the profile of people who have already voted, and on that score there's additional reason to be optimistic if you're a Republican.  Remember when virtually every Democrat was voting early and absentee, and the vast majority of Republicans were voting on election day?  Well, that wasn't so long ago, but what we don't know is how different the voting landscape will look in 2022.  Stay tuned!

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/early-voting-midterm-elections/2022/10/24/id/1093207/

 

This lawsuit is, if I dare say so, undoubtedly one of the most important in the history of the United States of America.  Why do I say that?  Because it addresses the ability of the federal government to curate who is allowed to speak, and what we are allowed to say, on social media, which is to say, in the most important public square that now exists.  It's imperative that we get the Feds out of the censorship business, because, if we can't, American "democracy" may become a rather hollow endeavor.

 

https://nypost.com/2022/10/23/lawsuit-reveals-vast-censorship-scheme-by-big-tech-and-the-federal-government/ 

Kudos to Italy, which officially has its first female Prime Minister, who is, more importantly than her gender, a true nationalist, populist conservative.  It's a shame that her hands will largely be tied by Italy's economic weakness, because I would like nothing more than to see her unleashed to transform Italy's, and Europe's, political prospects.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/meloni/2022/10/24/id/1093215/

 

Color me skeptical of Britain's new P.M., Rishi Sunak, whose conservative credentials are suspect.  This Breitbart article is absolutely contemptuous of him.  I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but frankly what I think of him may be vastly less important than what transpires economically in the next two years.  The Tories won't have a prayer in the next election unless the economic picture improves drastically between now and then -- and frankly things could just as easily be worse in two years than better.  Those are the breaks, Rishi.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/10/24/coronation-covid-era-tax-and-spend-rishi-sunak-makes-it-through-leadership-challenge-unopposed-will-be-prime-minister/ 

Boris 2.0?

 

Friends, sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.  It appears that Boris Johnson, who resigned as Prime Minister not so long ago, is now a serious contender to resume the premiership.  Holy moly!  This isn't mentioned in my most recent article, but I do stress the need for Conservatives to stop sabotaging one another and to join ranks ASAP.  See what you think...

British Conservatives Need to Get a Grip

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II “stayed calm and carried on” for 70 years on the throne. The last Prime Minister she appointed, Liz Truss, lasted just 45 days before she announced her resignation on Thursday. The contrast could not be more stark.

And yet this is not so much a crisis of the British political system as it is of the leadership of the governing Conservative Party. Conservatives cannot agree on who should be running the country, and that ambivalence threatens both their grip on power and the country's ability to weather a major fiscal and economic storm.

Truss clearly did not handle the premiership very adeptly, but her cardinal sin, in the eyes of many Britons and more than a few Conservative insiders, was to advance an agenda of tax cuts at a time when Britain faces large deficits, a faltering economy, and high inflation. The markets demurred, the Bank of England tut-tutted, a storm of media criticism bloomed, and Truss herself reversed course. Once she had shown weakness, the knives immediately came out for her, and she was finished.

While the wisdom of tax cuts in the current adverse economic climate can be questioned, the fact is that the opprobrium that has been showered upon Liz Truss is totally out of proportion to the scale of her “mistake”. Britain faces huge structural economic and fiscal challenges, as does the United States, as we all know, and 99.9% of these challenges aren't Liz Truss's fault (most of them aren't Joe Biden's fault either, for that matter).

Moreover, in trying to deliver tax cuts, Liz Truss was merely attempting to honor the pledges she had made to the Conservative Party members who chose her to lead them. Last time I checked, we call that “democracy”.

What's more, the hypocrisy of the financial elite here is breathtaking. We're supposed to believe that trillions in wasteful government spending and borrowing was justified by (gasp!) COVID, but, now that we're facing recession because of this unprecedented profligacy, modest tax cuts will break the bank? Please!

The lesson here is simple: at some stage, the Conservatives are going to have to "man up" and stop eating their own. The mainstream media will happily pick off Conservative PMs one by one, and frankly no one is going to have an easy time of it in this economic and political climate. That means that the least the Conservative Party can do is...get a grip and support its own titular leader. Without internal unity, the party is doomed in the next general election. Even with their own house in order, they face a formidable challenge, as the opposition has surged to a large lead in the polls.

Here in “the States”, it sure looks like we're about to provide our British cousins with a vivid demonstration of how precarious the position of incumbents is, as the economic skies start to darken. British Conservatives better learn their lesson fast, or there may be no Conservative Party left to contest the next election. It's already looking more like a dysfunctional rabble than a governing class.

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.

 

***

 

In other news, here's a great and erudite analysis of where we stand in the battle against leftism, written by a conservative pal o' mine.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/20/will-the-left-allow-voters-to-take-back-power/ 

Any movement towards school choice elicits my hearty approval, so the fact that the great state of West Virginia is giving parents more latitude to decide their children's educational destiny is excellent news.

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2022/10/21/west_virginia_leading_the_states_on_school_choice_860350.html

 

Dems and progressives are miffed and bewildered.  They keep telling us that Republicans are fascists, and, if the GOP wins the midterms, "democracy" and everything you love and cherish will come crashing down in a heap.  Well, the American people don't seem to be buying into this reckless, breathless scaremongering, and leftists are shocked and appalled.  This article is a good introduction to the current leftist mindset.  Read it at your peril!

 

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/2022-midterms-will-determine-if-american-democracy-survives-n1300065 

Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in jail for defying a subpoena from the January 6th committee.  For now, he's free on appeal.  One has to wonder -- if the committee disappears after the midterms, will the charges be dropped?  I'm assuming not, since the DOJ would never show mercy to a Trumper.  The subpoena recently issued against DJT, however, could easily go up in smoke.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/10/21/trump-strategist-steve-bannon-sentenced/10551244002/

 

There's at least one poll now showing Republican Lee Zeldin ahead in the race for Governor of New York.  Sounds too good to be true, if you ask me, but, hey, as the New York Lottery likes to remind us, "You never know..."

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/10/21/poll-lee-zeldin-takes-the-lead-in-new-york-over-gov-kathy-hochul/ 

Finally, Giorgia Meloni, Italy's new P.M., is getting the Trump treatment from the mainstream media.  This BBC article positively drips with contempt for Italy's new "far-right" leader.  She's unfazed, however, and we here at WaddyIsRight wish her well!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63327290

That Was Quick!

 

Friends, we here at WaddyIsRight bid a fond farewell to Liz Truss, erstwhile Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  Her reign of error lasted only 45 days, and now...who knows!  There's talk of Boris Johnson mounting a political comeback.  All things are possible, apparently.  Now, I personally disagree with Truss's attempt to cut taxes at a time when deficits are burgeoning and inflation is raging.  That was poor timing.  Be that as it may, the opprobrium that has been poured upon her is totally out of proportion to the scale of that mistake.  Britain faces huge structural economic and fiscal challenges, as does the United States, and 99.9% of these challenges aren't Liz Truss's fault.  Ergo, the Conservatives are going to have to "man up" at some stage and stop eating their own.  The media will happily pick off Conservative PMs one by one, and frankly no one is going to have an easy time of it in this economic and political climate.  That means that the least the Conservative Party can do is...get a grip.  Good luck to them!  It sure looks like we're about to provide them a vivid demonstration here in the States of how precarious the position of incumbents is.  They better learn their lesson fast!

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-63332037

 

Speaking of which, the political climate leading into our own midterm elections is changing remarkably quickly, and in a way which must be plunging the "great minds" at the DNC into utter despondency.  The wheels have really come off the Democratic Party and its election messaging.  Republicans, it's pretty clear what you have to do: keep talking about inflation, crime, and the border, and keep up a steady rate of fire against Sleepy Joe, and you're going to enjoy massive gains in November.  Don't screw it up!

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/2022-generic-congressional-vote-7361.html 

Tucker had some interesting things to say about the rabid race hate that's being spread in the mainstream media, and especially in "ultra-progressive" circles like, oh, the talking heads at MSNBC.  The demonization of white people is a regular feature of their programming.  Tucker asks the germane question: why are MSNBC's corporate masters putting up with this race-baiting?  Do they buy into it, or are they afraid to call out any reporter or commentator of color?  Or is bashing white people just a good way to make a buck?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/10/20/tucker_carlson_msnbcs_content_now_resembles_open_rwanda-style_race_hate.html

 

Early voting in Georgia is smashing all kinds of records.  Is this good news or bad for the GOP?  In the past, it's been low-turnout midterms in which Republicans have excelled, but could this election cycle set a new trend?  We can't entirely discount the possibility that the Democratic machine really will terrorize its stable of "protected classes" into voting like crazy, and so the dastardly Dems will outperform expectations.  That's a plausible scenario.  It's also plausible that the frenzied lefties could all vote early, and thus Team Blue could shoot its wad early, leaving it exposed to a crushing humiliation on election day itself.  Time will tell!  One thing is for sure: apparently "Jim Crow 2.0" isn't living up to its billing.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/georgia-early-midterms-voting-so-far-surpassing-2020-presidential-election/ar-AA139yaH

 

Reasonable people can disagree about the morality of abortion, but reasonable people really SHOULD NOT suggest abortion as a solution to all of society's ills.  Don't like climate change?  Kill your baby!  The price of groceries got you down?  Kill your baby!  Worried about white nationalism?  Kill your baby -- assuming it's white, and if it isn't go find another baby and...you know the drill!  These people are just plain sick.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/10/20/nolte-democrat-solution-everything-is-kill-more-babies/ 

Is You Po'?

 

Friends, as America teeters on the edge of a fiscal and economic cliff, it's worth asking ourselves: what's waiting for us at the bottom of the abyss?  Will the survivors of this economic apocalypse envy the dead?  Now now, I say -- the coming recession won't be the end of the world.  There is hope.  

That's one of the main topics of this week's Newsmaker Show with me and Brian O'Neil.  We talk about the economic peril facing both the United Kingdom and the U.S.  We also talk about the Biden Administration's corrupt and self-serving efforts to paper over our economic weakness by artificially lowering the price of oil and gas.  

When we turn to "This Day in History", Brian and I discuss the Battle of Yorktown and the debt our country owes the French, Black Monday in 1987 and how the stock market bounced back, and the scurrilous yellow journalism that prevailed in the days of the Founders -- and apparently still does!

Oh boy!  What a lineup.  I'm tempted to listen in myself!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-october-19-2022-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other (good) news, fewer Americans are listening to, and trusting what they hear from, the mainstream media.  Gee, I wonder why?

 

https://news.gallup.com/poll/403166/americans-trust-media-remains-near-record-low.aspx 

Bad to the Last Drop

 

Friends, Sleepy Joe is intensifying his efforts to manipulate oil and gas prices in the lead-up to the midterm elections.  He's spraying oil from our strategic petroleum reserve all over the place in a manic effort to convince you that, actually, Biden-flation ain't so bad.  Is it a dereliction of duty for the Commander-in-Chief and a misuse of a strategic asset?  You bet.  Will Biden face any consequences for doing it?  Well, now -- that's up to you, Mr. and Mrs. America...

https://www.newsmax.com/us/election-2022-biden-oil/2022/10/18/id/1092446/

 

There's more news today related to Biden family corruption, and it concerns the "loan" that Hunter Biden allegedly received from a Chinese energy company.  Again, what are the chances that any prosecutor, anywhere, ever, will ever look into these charges?  Slim to none -- unless, that is, Joe Biden becomes a liability to his own Dem confederates, and that day might dawn sooner than you think!

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/forgiving-student-loans-bidens-family-got-interest-free-forgivable

 

Finally, the federal prosecutor who was supposed to get to the bottom of the Trump-Russia hoax and hold guilty parties accountable has come up empty yet again.  One has to wonder: was the investigation a setup from the start, i.e. was Durham slow-walking and sabotaging his own efforts?  As a swamp creature, that might be what you'd expect him to do, after all.  It sure would be nice if the mendacious attempts to stymie the Trump presidency were exposed, and those responsible faced justice, but we Republicans and conservatives are used to disappointment on that score.  So...chalk another one up for the swamp!

 

https://www.newsmax.com/us/steele-dossier-john-durham-donald-trump/2022/10/18/id/1092428/ 

An Elephant Stampede!

 

Friends, it's always wise to keep an eye on the big picture.  There are poll results flying left and right these days, and it's easy to get disoriented, but the upshot of all the polls is the polling average, and on this score Republicans should be feeling pretty good.  For a short while the dastardly Dems pulled ahead on the "generic ballot question", but now they've fallen behind again and all the momentum seems to be with the good guys.  And that's kinda propitious timing!  In case you weren't aware, the midterms are almost here!

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/2022-generic-congressional-vote-7361.html

 

In other news, local, state, and federal prosecutors seem to be genuinely interested in pursuing criminal charges against red state governors who are sending "migrants" north to places like NYC, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Martha's Vineyard.  Their theory is that giving someone a free ride under false pretenses is tantamount to kidnapping.  But of course everything that Biden's DHS tells the migrants when it buses and flies them hither and yon is completely above board, so no criminality there!  These efforts may seem ridiculous, but we should take half-seriously the current fashion on the Left for throwing, well, all their enemies in jail, in lieu of letting the American people decide who gets to run the country.  That's their idea of "democracy": first, we shoot all the dissidents, and then we have an election...  Nice!

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/d-c-migrants-abbott/2022/10/15/id/1092036/ 

No Longer Chums?

 

Friends, our glorious leader is miffed at the Saudis.  They're cutting oil production, and thus raising gas prices, at a most inconvenient time, from a Democratic Party perspective.  And that means they have to pay, because nothing is more important to world peace and what not than electing Democrats.  My latest article addresses the Biden Administration's "election interference", which the mainstream media naturally won't find troubling in the least...

Timing Is Everything

 

With the polls in many key midterm races agonizingly close, victory or defeat in November will hinge largely on a single question: are Americans merely anxious about our faltering economy, or have they definitively hit the panic button?

            As inflation escalates, the housing market stalls, stock portfolios wither, and even the job market grows more adverse, Americans are rightly expressing concern, but almost every economist agrees that the worst is yet to come. In 2023, we are told, soaring interest rates will choke off economic growth (if there was any to speak of, that is), producing intense economic misery. The Democrats' only hope is that the severity of the situation hasn't yet dawned on most swing voters. And that hope is not entirely in vain. The media isn't harping on economic weakness nearly as obsessively as it would be if, say, Republicans were in power in Washington, D.C., and that gives the Left reason to be cautiously optimistic.

            This electoral calculus is precisely the reason why Americans should be appalled at recent reports that the Biden Administration pressured the Saudis and OPEC to delay their announcement of oil production cuts from early October until November or December. No doubt Biden and his cronies would claim that there was a sound policy rationale for such a request, based on the national interest, but the obvious effect of such a postponement would be to prevent gas prices from rising in the short term, and thus to save the Democrats' bacon as they face electoral “armageddon” (to borrow a phrase from Sleepy Joe himself) in November. Democrats realize that falling gas prices in the last few months are one of the only pieces of good economic news on hand, and that propitious development has undergirded a recovery for Team Blue in the polls. This also explains why Biden is draining the strategic petroleum reserve at historically high rates: politically, the Democrats need cover from the charge that their economic stewardship is leading Americans to inflationary perdition. Without that cover, provided by falling gas prices, their goose is cooked.

            Now that Biden's attempts to get the Saudis to change course have failed, though, and the OPEC decision to cut production has been confirmed, Biden is promising unspecified “consequences” for the oil-rich kingdom, and his press secretary is claiming that the Saudis have “align[ed] their energy policy with Russia’s war aims and against the American people.” (By this logic, if the Saudis really opposed Russian aggression, they'd just give away their oil for free – that would show Putin!)

            Arguably, these statements from Biden and his minions are threats designed to force Saudi Arabia to adjust its energy policies to suit the short-term political interests of Democrats. President Trump was impeached, lest we forget, in 2019 for making requests of Ukraine that were seen as helpful to his campaign and prejudicial to the political interests of Joe Biden. Presumably, though, given the massively altered political realities that obtain in October 2022, the Democratic Congress will see this particular episode of “election interference” in an entirely different light. What was impeachable and an “abuse of power” then will be excused and even applauded now. As the French might put it, “C'est la guerre.”

            If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that, for Democrats, the moral and intellectual distinctions that exist between their interests and those of the nation as a whole are absolutely inconsequential and possibly even inconceivable. That should make everyone who isn't a Democrat very worried.

 

And here it is at World Net Daily:

 

https://www.wnd.com/2022/10/bidens-saudi-gambit-amounts-election-interference/ 

***

In other news, the ghost of Vincent Van Gogh will be happy to learn that 21st-century "climate activists" are considerably crazier than he ever was.  Read all about it here:

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/10/14/watch-just-stop-oil-activists-defile-van-goghs-sunflowers-with-canned-soup/

 

And there's BIG BIG news in the world of social media: Trump's "Truth Social" app is now available in the Google Play store.  Why Google relented and allowed the app after demurring for so long I'm not sure, but this is a major development that will facilitate pluralism on the web.  I applaud Google's move, which officially makes the company...slightly less evil.  Kudos!  I guess now I better follow through on my idle boast and become a Truth Social subscriber myself...

https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/truth-social-app-goes-number-one-google-play-store

f

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

Friends, I know many of you are concerned about the state of the economy and the future of your portfolios, in particular.  The short version of my analysis is: you should be.  As bad as things seem now, the full economic consequences of the Fed's actions to raise interest rates and wrestle inflation under control have yet to be felt.  The housing contraction and the constriction of the labor market and the general decline in business activity are likely to get a lot worse before they get better.  Does that mean you should panic and sell everything?  Not necessarily.  Outsmarting the market is notoriously hard.  Knowing when to get out, and when to get in again, is way beyond most ordinary mortals.  Generally, the best advice is to...let it ride.  That's what I'm doing.  I fully expect my portfolio to shrink (as it already has), but I also fully expect America and her economy to recover in due time.  2023 is likely to a rough year.  Now, there's a possibility that some of our problems are structural and fundamental, and that we won't shake them off for years, or decades, or ever.  Yes, that's a possibility, but my guess is that the market will come back.  The reason for that is simple: in many ways, it's the only game in town.  It's where money goes, when money wants to find a home, and it always wants that.  In a recession, people can withdraw from the market and sit on their money for a spell, but eventually they always return, and frankly there's more money floating around out there than ever, thanks in part to our spendthrift government.  So my advice is: keep calm and carry on.  And, if you can, identify some ways to profit from the downturn.  There are always opportunities, if you look hard enough.

Anyway, below you'll find one of the best and most comprehensive analyses of where we stand that I've seen.  It should get you up to speed.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2022/10/13/consumer-prices-surge-higher-than-expected/

 

For those of you on Social Security, the SSA is giving you unprecedented help in keeping up with rising prices.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the basic fiscal health of the system is being sacrificed to juice up your checks in the short term.  Gee, where have we seen that before?

 

https://www.newsmax.com/us/social-security-benefits-increase/2022/10/13/id/1091690/ 

The Wages of "Misinformation"

 

Friends, I know nothing about Alex Jones but what I read in the article below, but the basic storyline here is one that troubles me.  Jones spread false claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting was faked by the government, and now he's been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to the families of the children killed in the attack, because his false claims caused them to be harassed and emotionally distressed.  Now, one feels for any parent who loses a child, and especially for one who is then made to suffer gratuitous anquish, but the fact remains that "misinformation" is everywhere, and almost all of it exacts a price on someone.  One could argue that Donald Trump is entitled to sue virtually every media organization and Democrat in the country, since they wronged him by spreading misinformation about his ties to Russia.  One could argue that Trump himself should pay up, since he spread misinformation about the 2020 election.  Both arguments are true, to a point, but the problem is that VERY often people say things that turn out to be false, despite the fact that they believe them.  In addition, it isn't easy to assess the damage that "lies", or innocent mistakes about the truth, cause.  But you and I know the upshot of this media and legal strategy already, don't we?  For most judges, most lawyers, and most journalists, "misinformation" is, and always will be, a cudgel that is wielded exclusively against conservatives.  "Lies" simply don't exist on the Left.  Moreover, no leftist narrative is ever disproved.  It's simply retired once it grows stale or useless, and the Bolshies move on to their next, well, lie.  They get off scot-free.  Personally, I prefer, for this very reason, to err on the side of free speech.  Even those, like Jones, who spread hateful and destructive mistruths should be allowed to do so.  They should even be allowed to profit from doing so.  The antidote to such "misinformation", in my humble opinion, is accurate information, which no one is disbarred from sharing and spreading to their heart's content.  What say you?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63237092

 

It's official: Tulsi Gabbard isn't just leaving the Dems -- she's cozying up to a particular GOP candidate in 2022, General Bolduc, who is running for U.S. Senate in the state of New Hampshire.  Will Gabbard's intervention make a difference in the Granite State?  I hope so.  If Gabbard and Bolduc get along, that presumably means he's skeptical of cavalier foreign interventions, and if that's the case then he's my kind of Republican!

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/tulsi-gabbard-don-bolduc-new-hampshire/2022/10/12/id/1091552/ 

Take That, Imperialist Pigs!

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show with me and Brian O'Neil focuses on the hot-button topic that everyone is talking about: the premiership of Nikita Khrushchev in the USSR.  Seriously, we analyze the effectiveness of Khrushchev's reign, whether or not he was a hot-head, and whether his ouster played an important role in the outcome of the Cold War.  

Somewhat more au courant is our discussion of the midterm elections and whether crime or abortion will rule the day.  Brian and I also cover the waning legitimacy of Columbus Day, Tulsi Gabbard's defection from the "elitist cabal" that is the modern Democratic Party, the degree to which "armageddon" really is looming, the impending coronation of Britain's King Charles III, and more!

It's an amazing show.  The only thing missing, so far, is...you!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-october-12-2022-dr-nick-waddy/

Fleeing in Terror

 

Friends, today former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard announced her departure from the (so-called) Democratic Party.  This isn't a huge surprise, because Gabbard has been making more and more sense lately, and that's certainly not compatible with membership in the party of AOC, but what we have to ask is: does this portend a general reduction in support for Democrats, and/or will other prominent Dems follow Gabbard's lead and defect?  I rather doubt it, at least in the short term.  Power is its own reward, and right now the Dems control the presidency, the House, and the Senate.  That's not exactly a portrait of a party close to collapse, is it?  Now, if the Red Wave turns out to be gigantic this fall, you might get a few red and purple state Dems jumping ship.  We've seen that before.  Be that as it may, the Dems are very capable of recovering their political footing between now and 2024, so let's not kid ourselves -- they're going to represent a clear and present danger to the good ole U.S. of A. for the foreseeable future.

P.S.  What I'd really like to see is Gabbard forming a third party, or joining with the "Forward Party", or even with Liz Cheney, to mount an independent bid in 2024.  Let's stir the pot and split the vote!  It's the easiest, fastest way to reelect Trump in 2024, or, if not Trump, DeSantis or an equivalent conservative.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/10/11/tulsi_gabbard_says_she_is_leaving_the_democratic_party.html

 

In other news, in response to Ukraine's (?) destruction of part of the bridge that connects Crimea with the Taman Peninsula in Russia, Russia is pounding a variety of Ukrainian cities, and in particular seems to be targeting power and water infrastructure.  This makes me pose the obvious question: what took them so long?  Isn't turning off the lights in your enemy's cities one of the first and most obvious moves to make, assuming you want to win?  It amazes me that most Ukrainian cities are still operating as though there was no war taking place, and even civilian air traffic continues to flow.  The failure of Russia to secure aerial supremacy is one of the biggest surprises in this war.  That may reflect Russia's weakness, or it may reflect deficiencies in Russian strategy, or both.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/10/11/russia-begins-bombing-ukraines-lviv-40-miles-from-poland/

Leftist Utopias: Avoid Them At All Costs

 

Friends, here you see the beautiful and much-admired city of San Francisco, long an iconic example of "the good life" in America.  Now, thanks to leftist-imposed dysfunction, the city is suffering paralyzing increases in homelessness and crime.  San Francisco's schools are faltering, housing is scarce and unaffordable, and businesses are closing.  Despite all this, the city remains in the death grip of an ossified leftist elite that refuses to change course.  And this, lest we forget, is the model of "progressive" leadership that Democrats want to impose on the whole country!  These are the stakes this November, and indeed every time we vote in federal, state, and local elections.  Act accordingly!!!

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/californias-tech-mecca-saw-largest-drop-median-income-during-pandemic-wealthy-fled-cities

Sweet Ride

 

Friends, the Soviet Union was known for a lot of things, but surely topping the list has to be its big, powerful, smoke-belching tractors!  Truly, the glory and splendor of the New Socialist Man was never so apparent as when he was behind the wheel of his beloved tractor.  And so it is exceedingly appropriate that President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to reconstruct some aspects of the old Soviet Empire, received, for his 70th birthday, the gift of a tractor.  Happy Birthday, Vlad, and may your shiny new tractor serve you well when the dust settles in Ukraine, and you and your former enemies beat your swords into ploughshares, at long last!  And may that achievement of peace come sooner rather than later, for all our sakes!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63176124

 

In other news, Tulsi Gabbard is sounding more and more like a Trumper every day!  Wow.  I wonder what her political future might look like...  Maybe she's given up on politics and is now just telling Fox News viewers what they want to hear (there's a good living in that)?  Maybe, but I'd like to think that she might someday run for president again, either for the Dem nomination or as an independent.  Either way, she'd make the lefties furious, and that's always nice to see.

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/10/06/tulsi_gabbard_fbi_and_intel_agencies_tried_to_steal_our_democracy_never_forget_and_forgive_them_for_this_treason.html 

It's 1962 All Over Again

 

 

Friends, President Biden has declared that we are closer to "armageddon" now than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.  And for some reason Biden doesn't think this is a negative reflection on his leadership at all.  No, of course not!  It's all Putin's fault.  This is, if I may so, astoundingly naive.  President Kennedy made a lot of mistakes in his ham-handed meddling in Cuba in the early part of his presidency that set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Thus, he got us out of an existential crisis that he also helped to get us into.  Bully for him.  Likewise, Biden's mismanagement of Russia-Ukraine relations, and his stubborn insistence that Ukraine remain on track for NATO membership, have prompted the current war, and the present elevated risk of global nuclear war.  My fear is that Biden is just stupid enough, and arrogant enough, to back us into a devastating conflict from which we and the world might never recover -- and to believe, all along, that he bore no responsibility for the carnage.  My hope, then, is that Biden is cowardly in addition to being moronic, because, if he lashes out at Russia using military force, the consequences could be cataclysmic.

https://www.newsmax.com/us/russia-nuclear-weapons-joe-biden/2022/10/06/id/1090824/

 

How hard is it to handicap the midterms?  Pretty darn hard.  There's a wealth of polling data out there, and much of it is inconsistent.  Here's a good faith effort to make sense of it, and to predict the likely outcome.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/05/three-views-on-the-election/ 

The Home Stretch

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show is a primer to prepare you for the all-important midterm elections in November.  Brian and I discuss the polls, the parties' prospects, and even some of the marquee matchups.  That's reason enough to tune in...BUT THERE'S MORE!!!  Brian and I also talk over the Brazilian presidential election, which is heading to a nail-biter of a runoff.  We query whether Trump Derangement Syndrome might still be strong enough to save the Dems' bacon, we explore Elon Musk and Twitter: Act Two, and we ask whether Joe Biden means business when he says he's running again in 2024.  We also cover the rapidly darkening skies for the U.S. economy, which of course has major political implications.  

 

When you think about it, do you really have the option of not listening in?  It would be un-American, if you ask me!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-october-5-2022-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other news, there are signs that Russia's talk about using nuclear weapons against Ukraine might be more than just saber-rattling.  My view is that Russia won't take this momentous step unless the situation of its conventional forces becomes truly desperate, but when Putin would make this determination, and under what circumstances, is anyone's guess.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign/russian-train-run-nuclear-division-move 

Finally, with OPEC+ restricting further the supply of oil, Joe Biden is doing the courageous and statesmanlike thing: he's raiding our depleted strategic petroleum reserve to shore up his party's dwindling prospects in the midterm elections.  And what if the Russians go nuclear in Ukraine and the price of oil really goes through the roof?  Don't worry -- Sleepy Joe has a plan for that.  He plans to blame Trump.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/10/05/joe-biden-complains-opec-oil-cuts-shortsighted-releases-more-strategic-oil-reserves/

The Truth Hurts

 

Friends, Elon Musk is no conservative, but he does occasionally get things right.  Right now he's warning Ukraine and the West that constant escalation does not provide a path to a Ukrainian victory in its war with Russia.  On the contrary, escalation guarantees that more blood will be spilled, but Ukraine will remain at a permanent military and strategic disadvantage when compared to Russia.  Ergo, it makes sense for Ukraine and the West to consider peaceful solutions to the present conflict.  Flush with our battlefield victories, though, we won't hear of it!  This hubris may be our collective undoing.  Indeed, the best case is that only the Ukrainians will be devoured by this calamity.  The worst case scenario is that everyone will be!

https://thepostmillennial.com/ukrainian-diplomat-tells-elon-musk-to-f-ck-off-after-he-tweets-peace-scenario?utm_campaign=64502

 

Is America's economy in recession?  You tell me, since "recessions" seem to be in the eye of the beholder nowadays (given that the Dems are in power)...  One thing is for sure: the housing market has taken a decisive turn into negative territory, and the housing market, lest we forget, is a market that affects almost every American in his or her daily life, much like inflation.  That can't be good news for the party currently ruling the country.

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/us-home-prices-drop-fastest-pace-2009 

Lastly, Republicans are just beginning to claw back an advantage on the generic ballot question re: the midterms, but the analysis below of where public attitudes stand will be chilling for Team Blue.  What issues do Americans care most about?  Why, it's those bread-and-butter issues that overwhelmingly favor the GOP, at least for now.  And what do they care less and less about as the midterms approach?  Abortion.  Look out, Dems!  You're on very shaky ground.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/04/politics/republicans-lead-midterms-qualified-enten/index.html

Now You See Her, Now You Don't

 

Friends, my latest article is about Liz Cheney, or rather all the Cheney-ites who claim to be Republicans and conservatives and yet believe that deriding Donald Trump is more important than defeating the Left.  We call these people RINOs, and for good reason.  My article speculates that, although a Trump presidential candidacy in 2024 carries with it many potential risks, one huge upside would be the hasty exodus of virtually all RINOs from the Trumplican Party.  And sometimes a party, or a group, unencumbered of its "baggage", is better off, no?  Food for thought.

https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2022/10/03/can-we-get-that-in-writing-liz-n2613869

***

In other news, here's an interesting article that makes an analogy between the use of frontal lobotomies to treat mental illness and the use of "gender affirming care" to treat transgenderism.  Personally, I think the comparison is unfair -- to lobotomists.  Lobotomies were designed to improve people's mental health.  Transgender surgeries are designed to cater to, legitimize, ratify, and "celebrate" mental illness.  There's a big difference there!

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2022/10/01/trans-treatments-are-the-new-lobotomy-n500226

 

In other news, the first round of Brazil's presidential election is now in the books, and incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, of the infamous "far right", has greatly outperformed, compared to what polls were predicting.  Almost certainly there will be a runoff election at the end of October.  Bolsonaro could still lose, but, if he does, his hand has been strengthened, and he may well contest the results.  Of course, with this warning shot fired across its bow, the Brazilian "deep state" may swing into high gear to ensure that Bolsonaro is defeated.  Certainly October is bound to be a tense month in Latin America's number one powerhouse!

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/brazil-bolsonaro/2022/10/02/id/1090106/ 

https://resultados.tse.jus.br/oficial/app/index.html#/eleicao/resultados

It's An Honor Just To Be Nominated

 

Friends, we continue to learn more about the federal kickbacks that are underwriting the online censorship of conservatives.  A number of news websites were highly placed on a virtual "Enemies List" -- all of them on the political right, which makes sense when you consider that no leftist has ever lied or been misleading in the whole history of the universe.  Can the Biden Administration and its private sector allies succeed in curating the internet and ridding it of all dissent?  Probably not, but they can succeed in drastically restricting ordinary Americans' access to competing narratives, and that's more than enough, as we saw in 2020, to win them closely-fought elections.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/watchdogs/news-organizations-targeted-fascist-public-private-partnership-stamp-out

 

Here's a great article on why we need to roll back the public monopoly on K-12 education.  I agree that policy changes in the public schools can mitigate the damage that they do, but only obliterating the public school system itself can save our children from pedagogical armageddon!

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/breaking-the-public-education-systems-chokehold 

There's a very high stakes election occurring in Brazil tomorrow that we studied closely in one of my classes this semester.  Unfortunately, the polls suggest that the Western Hemisphere's second greatest power is likely to fall into the hands of a corrupt Marxist cabal.  The Left is on the march in Latin America in general, and I am none too pleased!

https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2022/09/30/brazil-bolsonaro-lula-trade-barbs-eve-presidential-election/

 

Finally, Russia has been forced to retreat yet again from a town of strategic importance.  That leaves Russia with only two options: escalate with conventional forces, or escalate with nukes.  Either way, in the end, I predict that Ukraine loses.  It may go down in a blaze of glory, mind you, and that should be enough to satisfy its Western sponsors.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63102220