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Saturday, March 18, 2023

Incarcerated...And Loving It?

 


Friends, Trump's lock on the Republican base has been slipping lately, but few things are more certain to restore the conservative rank-and-file's enthusiasm for "the Donald" than a questionable indictment from a George Soros-approved left-wing district attorney.  In other words, Trump's legal troubles may be just beginning, but there's a distinct, and entirely predictable, upside if he is indicted: almost every conservative, and almost every Republican, in the country will assume he's being railroaded because of Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Lefties will naturally be overjoyed at any prosecution, but they might want to stop and take a deep breath.  The quality of any prosecution of DJT surely matters, because if the case falls apart, or ends in a hung jury or an acquittal, Trump will emerge stronger than ever.  Long story short: the various legal assaults on Trump will be fascinating to watch unfold, because they might or might not deflect in him in his path to the presidency.  As a matter of fact, putting wind in Trump's sails might be exactly what the truly canny leftist wants right now, on the theory that Trump will be easier to defeat in '24 than someone like DeSantis.  Politics is a very complicated business, my friends!


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/trump-expects-arrested-tuesday-stormy-daniels-investigation

 

In any case, I'm pretty sure Elon Musk is wrong in predicting that Trump, in the wake of his prosecutorial martyrdom, will win in a "landslide" in 2024.  Trump may win, but no one should kid themselves about the fact that the next presidential election is bound to be agonizingly close.

 

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1637051525670264834 


Lastly, in a bizarre twist of fate, as the leftist legal sharks are just beginning to sense blood in the water and to target Trump for destruction, Facebook and YouTube are once again allowing the man, and the movement, to utilize social media.  Imagine that!  Trump is allowed to speak!  This is, believe it or not, a big concession for organizations that loathe Trump and everything he stands for.  It's especially interesting that YouTube, which is a Google property, is taking this step, because Google has never expressed the slightest regret for its endorsement and practice of rampant censorship during the 2020 presidential campaign and throughout the COVID pandemic, as far as I know.  Is this, then, a sign that these platforms feel they need to give Trump a voice, to avoid the wrath of conservatives -- or is it perhaps instead a sign that they feel they may as well give Trump a little more rope, so he can hang himself?  Your guess is as good as mine.


https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-returns-to-facebook-youtube-after-reinstatement

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Highest of the High Rollers

 





Friends, your favorite Las Vegas "whale" (no reflection on my weight, you understand) just returned from the Strip...to universal acclaim!  I managed not to lose my shirt in Vegas, and somewhat more incredibly I managed not to acquire any new shirts either.  It was good, wholesome American fun -- mostly.  What you see above is, of course, the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign, the Hoover Dam, the Sing Sing "electric chair" at the Mob Museum, and the incredible scenery at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  For those who are inclined to dismiss L.V. as a decadent wasteland, don't!  It's a town with a little something for everyone, I promise.


In other news, i.e. the news, there's a lot of buzz about a potential financial crisis caused by the failure of several major banks.  Well, here my ignorance of high finance hobbles me.  I have no idea how precarious the West's financial situation is, but I do know this: our leaders would do ANYTHING, and spend ANY amount of money (assuming it's yours and not theirs), to rescue their banker friends...


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/credit-suisse-thrown-54-billion-lifeline-in-rush-to-ward-off-global-bank-crisis/ar-AA18HjG7

 

Finally, are Elon Musk's antics helping or hurting his "brand"?   Will Twitter survive all the "freedom" Elon has unleashed in the platform?  Will Tesla survive the bemusement of the company's white progressive customer base, which doesn't like what Musk has done with Twitter one bit?  Finally, will SpaceX survive the wrath of the Deep State, which rather directly funds the company via government grants and contracts?  As always, only time will tell...


https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/3/15/23637996/elon-musk-tesla-twitter-tweets-consumer-survey-yougov-peter-kafka-column

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Mendacity-Affirming Care

 


Friends, while most Americans remain skeptical of all the gender-bending social experimentation that the Left is pushing these days, our young are particularly susceptible to recruitment into the LGBTQ+++++++ fold.  The number of kids who view themselves as "trans", and who seek out surgical solutions to their "gender dysphoria", is growing, and it's no small wonder either.  The Left praises every trans kid to the high heavens, while it wags its collective finger at "cisgender" losers like you and me.  Kids seek approval, and these days there's no easier way to get it from your teachers and classmates than by deciding that your biological sex...has to go.


https://www.breitbart.com/health/2023/03/11/number-youth-identifying-transgender-surges/

 

Transgenderism, of course, is based on a number of lies -- or, if we're to be exceedingly generous, misunderstandings.  Lie # 1: your "gender" determines your destiny.  Poppycock!  Your sex/gender has never been less relevant to charting your course in life...so why imagine that rearranging your genitals will have any lasting effect on your well-being and happiness?  Lie # 2: no one can say what a "man" or a "woman" is, or how many genders there might be, or what those genders are...so we should just accept that, whatever gender someone claims to embody in the moment, that's what everyone around them has to accept and, in fact, celebrate!  Nonsense.  Gender and biological sex are tied together, their basic contours are scientifically discernible, and altering a person's sexual characteristics is not, contrary to what the Left might claim, easy, and nor does it come without terrible psychic and physical costs, most of them borne by the person receiving "gender-affirming care".  Lie # 3: it is "violence" and discrimination to refute the claim of a transgender person that they are of a different gender/sex than they were born into.  Ergo, "deadnaming" and the like are criminal acts, or ar the very least major social transgressions that should lead to, among other things, ostracism, condemnation, and termination of employment.  Ha!  This is the latest tack pursued by the Left: to require affirmative endorsement of and participation in its ideology and its delusions.  This, however, is the very definition of a free speech violation, as well as a violation of our freedom of conscience as, well, traditionalists/conservatives.  And isn't that a shocking revelation?  Merely to assert that people are born as either male or female, and this sexual identity is more or less permanent (like it or not), makes you a moral dinosaur in this day and age.  Oy!  The times they are a-changin'.


The reliance of the Left on "big lies" is the theme explored by Steve Cortes in the piece below.  Of course, the Left doesn't have a monopoly on deceit or self-deception, but it is particularly smitten with both nowadays, which we can easily perceive in its frantic desire to suppress speech and analysis that contradict its assumptions.  The more desperately a group calls for censorship, you can bet the more tenuously its ideology and understandings are grounded in truth, because why else would it need, for its own peace of mind, to obliterate dissent?


https://stevecortes.substack.com/p/the-cathedral-of-lies

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Woke Up, America!

 


Friends, today I bring you two fascinating articles.  The first is a poll done for USA Today that reveals that most Americans (depending, of course, on how you ask the question) feel positively about "wokeness".  Isn't that something?  The word has become synonymous with stupidity, extremism, and intolerance among, well, people like us, i.e. the good guys.  Tens of millions of Americans interpret the term in a completely different way, however, including many independents.  To us, the Left's narrative about "systemic" racial and sexual oppression is manipulative balderdash, but, to so many of our fellow Americans, it's God's honest truth.  This is, needless to say, a major problem, if we ever hope to make a political comeback and put the cultural Marxists in their place...


https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-war-woke-most-americans-100008176.html

 

Finally, it's often mortifying just how malleable "science" is these days, and how easily scientific "consensus" can be manufactured when the political, economic, and cultural elite wants it to be.  COVID is a great case in point.  This article includes some shocking revelations...or maybe they aren't so shocking, for those of you who understand how the elite has made "knowledge" its plaything.  The dilemma for people like me, who value truth, is this: if you can't trust our leaders, and you can't trust the "experts" either, then where on earth can you go for accurate, reliable information and analysis???


https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/treason-science-journals

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

All That Glitters Is Not (Tennis) Gold

 


Friends, my latest article, published by the good folks at World Net Daily, addresses the exclusion of Novak Djokovic, vaccine refuser, from tennis tournaments held here in the U.S.  I argue that the federal government's enforcement of a vaccine requirement for all (or, rather, some) international air travelers is bad policy and is badly and capriciously administered.  See if you don't agree.


https://www.wnd.com/2023/03/covid-vax-fascists-strike/

Big Red Wave?

 


Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show is a deep dive into the threat posed by the Left and cultural Marxism.  Brian and I investigate the legacy of the Russian Revolution and the insidious influence of Marxist thought to this very day, and we also discuss how Ronald Reagan called Soviet communism what it was -- an "evil empire" -- and was rewarded for his seeming audacity with a U.S./Western victory in the Cold War.  In addition, Brian and I analyze the recent release of additional video evidence of what occurred on January 6th, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.  We also cover the conservative credentials of Fox News (such as they are), and the straw poll results from the CPAC conference.


Oh, mama!  This is what right-wing radio is all about...  Tune in today!


https://wlea.net/newsmaker-march-8-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other news, Tucker Carlson is really taking it on the chin for minimizing the seriousness of the Janaury 6th "insurrection", which, as we all know, was the most horrific act of depravity since the Holocaust...  It continues to amaze me that Tucker is still standing, given how vehemently he's hated by the powers-that-be.  Will he be with us, say, a year from now?  I honestly wouldn't bet on it.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64883668 


Finally, it isn't the sexiest news story around, but it probably is the most important.  The short version: continued high inflation and frenetic job growth mean the Fed isn't happy, and is likely therefore to raise interest rates more than some people would like.  This increases the chances of recession, and it increases the likelihood that the slowdown will persist into 2024, which can hardly be good news for Democrats.


https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2023/03/08/breitbart-business-digest-the-odds-of-a-bigger-rate-hike-are-growing/

Monday, March 6, 2023

Profiles in Stupidity

 


Friends, the world's greatest tennis player will once again be barred from competing in the U.S. because he isn't vaccinated against COVID-19.  Vaccine mandates have been lifted for Americans in almost all contexts, in case you haven't noticed, but we continue to insist that international visitors offer proof of vaccination (unless they're claiming asylum or just strolling across the southern border, of course).  What idiocy!  Djokovic has robust natural immunity against COVID, and he's one of the healthiest men on the planet.  Why would we stubbornly refuse him entry to the U.S.?  It's not a matter of public health, that's for sure -- not unless you equate "public health" with maintaining the "credibility" of leftists, Democrats, and COVID fascists, which the Biden Administration assuredly does.  In other words, Djokovic's presence in the U.S. would be affront to all the COVID extremists whose authoritarianism Djokovic has criticized and refused to bow down before.  Ergo, he cannot be allowed in.  As usual, foreigners can be held to a higher standard, because they have fewer rights.  The real tragedy here is that the results of any tournament that excludes Djokovic will be permanently marred by his absence.  Whoever wins the U.S. Open this September will have an asterisk next to his name for all time, because of the self-serving arrogance of Biden and his cronies.  For shame!


https://www.foxnews.com/sports/novak-djokovic-withdraws-bnp-paribas-open-denied-entry-us-covid-vaccine-status

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Lunar Legerdemain

 


Friends, who can you count on these days?  No one, seemingly.  The world is constantly in flux, and old norms are falling by the wayside.  Now, you'd think that the rising and the setting of the sun and moon would be constants, but guess again!  The sun is going to flame out one of these days and plunge us into total darkness (gee, thanks!), while the moon, as it turns out, is gradually, stealthily, inching away from us!  It's like it's been watching CNN and suddenly decided, "Uh, sorry, dudes -- I'm out!"  I, for one, am very disappointed in the moon.  Loyalty is a virtue, Luna!  You think Venus or Mars will treat you any better???  Good luck with that!


https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230303-how-the-moon-is-making-days-longer-on-earth

 

In other news, I agree wholeheartedly with this analysis, which suggests that it's a dumb idea to start imposing "cognitive tests" or other limitations on our most venerable public servants.  Hey, it's called democracy for a reason, people!  Don't want drooling oldsters leading you?  Then stop voting for them!!!  It's not rocket science.

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/03/04/while_attractive_to_many_age_limits_for_politicians_are_a_bad_idea_148938.html 


Finally, Democrats and leftists are debating with a straight face whether or not they should treat with Fox News and grant it the respect due to a legitimate news organization.  Not mentioned in this article (of course) is the fact that all of Fox's faults (and then some) are replicated in many left-wing news organizations.  Still, the article raises a fair point: why would a politician grant access to a journalist or a newspaper or a news channel that he/she knows exists for no other reason than to make him/her look foolish and/or evil?  I've been saying for years that Republicans ought to cut off the mainstream media, or at least meter access so as to punish the worst offenders.  Frankly, I'm surprised Fox News still exists, given how much the powers-that-be hate it.  Perhaps the only reason it does is because, when push comes to shove, Fox can and does toe the establishment line.


https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/04/dems-cut-fox-off-lawsuit-revelations-00085469

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Can Higher Ed Be Saved, Or Is It Too Late?

 


Friends, there are lots of great stories in the news today.  For one, check out this exceptionally good article about efforts in North Carolina and Florida to reclaim academia from its leftist occupiers.  That is, conservatives are using the leverage they have as the legislative and gubernatorial overseers of many public university systems to compel them to back away from woke insanity and give conservative viewpoints a fair hearing.  This will by no means be easy, but it is long overdue and it gives us hope that higher ed may be salvageable.


https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2023/03/01/can_the_right_make_a_long_countermarch_through_the_institutions_110833.html

 

How hard will it be to reclaim a "safe space" on college campuses for conservatism?  Very!!!  Witness the fact that many professors, including me, "self-censor" out of fear of pushback from students, colleagues, or administrators.  Personally, I don't like to inject my politics into classroom discussions anyway, but quite frankly there are whole subject areas that I try to avoid, because they've become so fraught with peril.  And, if we can't have honest, open conversations in academia, then where can we???

 

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/03/02/survey-college-faculty-more-likely-to-self-censor-today-than-during-mccarthy-era/ 


In other news, much as establishment types would rather not talk about it, the fiscal decisions we made during the pandemic explain, in large measure, the inflationary pressures we face today.  Everyone liked all that free money that was sloshing around in 2020 and 2021, but the truth is that you can't inject that much capital into the system without creating some major imbalances.  Our politicians erred on the side of, well, humoring and coddling us, and now we're facing the music...together.


https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2023/03/02/breitbart-business-digest-overstimulated-demand-how-covid-cash-fueled-inflation/

 

It sure looks like we're headed for a titanic Trump vs. DeSantis clash.  Witness the fact that both men will be "campaigning" in Iowa in the near future.

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/desantis-iowa-2024/2023/03/02/id/1110864/ 


Is democracy doomed?  Probably.  I say that not because of the January 6th (farcical) "insurrection", but because fewer and fewer Americans trust "the news", and more and more are tuning it out altogether.  There's a natural corollary to our aversion to, and skepticism of, objective information, however: all that will be left to us is subjective interpretations and propaganda, and, at that point, you can make people believe literally anything.  If it's in the interest of one of our parties to convince its adherents that the time has come to dispense with democratic norms, you better believe half the country will go along with it.  And, once pluralism has been fully expunged from the media and social media, that half could quickly become much more than half.  Count on it.

 

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/americans-have-the-lowest-trust-in 

 

Finally, I've mentioned this before, 

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Why Ukraine???

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show is undoubtedly one of our best ever...but then I say that every week, and I'm still right!  This time Brian and I cover the mystery of why the U.S. and Western elites are so obsessed with Ukraine, and so averse to Russia; the vast gulf between Western and global perceptions of the Russia-Ukraine War; the outrageous rewriting of classic works of literature; and the rising credibility of the COVID lab leak theory (combined with the declining credibility of the establishment voices that pooh-poohed it).


When we get to This Day in History, Brian and I talk about the sad fate of the Lindbergh baby, as well as the mixed legacy of the JFK Administration when it came to promoting peace.

 

It's a barnburner, folks!  Listen in now, before frenetic worldwide interest in the show crashes the internet...


https://wlea.net/newsmaker-march-1-2023-dr-nick-waddy/ 

 

***

 

In other news, Democrats are warming to the idea of Biden running for reelection, which shouldn't surprise us, because Democrats will warm to whatever the mainstream media tells them to.  In the big picture, as a matter of fact, I consider this good news, because the Dems are doubling down on a deeply flawed candidate.  Assuming the GOP nominates someone halfway decent, Joe Biden is eminently beatable...and beat him we must!

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3876577-biden-sees-surge-in-dem-support-for-2024-run-with-support-highest-among-the-young-poll/ 


Finally, Liz Cheney is landing on her feet, as we all knew she would.  The University of Virginia has given her a professorship, based on her legendary reputation for "integrity".  Not mentioned is whether she will actually teach any classes or just enjoy a hefty paycheck.  Make no mistake: Cheney played a starring role in the establishment's crusade against DJT, and she will be richly rewarded!


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/liz-cheney-join-university-virginia-professor-rcna72948