Friends, it's official: Prince Andrew is no longer a prince, and he's been evicted from his home on the grounds of Windsor Castle. His crime? Well, all that Epstein stuff. Never mind that he's been charged with zero crimes. He stands condemned because of what has been claimed about him, which he adamantly denies. I don't care for it. I believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, even men! Even royals. What do you think?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62elnjnqqxo
In other news, Trump has buried the hatchet with the Red Chinese -- not for the first time, and probably not for the last. What this means is that our trade war with China is currently on a low boil...but it could pick up again any old time...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8eyx718pz2o
Generalissimo Trump has decided that the Department of War will resume the testing of nuclear weapons, which was suspended in the 1990s. The intention seems to be to send a message to Russia and China that we will be second to none in our nuclear arsenal. Could this produce another nuclear arms race? Well, it smacks more of theatrics, if you ask me. The logic of mutually assured destruction still holds, just as long as our nukes still explode in a big way, and their delivery systems are reliable. In fact, as has been the case since 1949, you could argue that we are all better off, and safer, when our focus is trained relentlessly on nukes, and therefore why we don't want to go to war. Let's hope Trump's move advances the cause of peace, and doesn't bring us closer to catastrophic conflict.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxn00l00r6o
Finally, there's now less than a week until the big gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and the mayor's race in NYC. As you'll see if this article, Democrats have high hopes that wins in these contests can alter the narrative that they are, well, losers. That may indeed happen. On the other hand, if the Dems were to win close contests in these indubitably blue states, they might not alter that loser narrative much at all. If they lose the two governors races, moreover, they'll probably be about ready to apply for exile in Canada. We can only hope!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Well, I believe in the divine right of Kings and there an end!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: It may not have much purchase now but I may have what for an American is an unusual point of view on nuclear weapons: I visited ground zero at Nagasaki in American uniform in 1969. To see it , you'd never know what happened there but for the monument. BUT. . . as terribly destructive as that bomb was , it was a peashooter compared to these multimegaton thermonuclear monsters which obtain now.
ReplyDeleteBut they have been around for a long time and there has never been a nuclear exchange . Would we have had a WWIII if only conventional weapons were available?
Well first there would have been the U.S. invasion of Japan , which would have had an incalculable physical and emotional cost. And we would probably have had to accede to some Russian occupation of the Japanese home islands because we would have understandably thought we need Stalin's help.
So, in approx. 1947 we would have had a still fully mobilized Red Army poised to drive to France's Atlantic coast and threatening all of East Asia ; we know now that hellhound Stalin did entertain such designs.
Did our nuclear advantage prevent this from transpiring? Its plausible to think it did.
By the time thermonuclear weapons had been developed by both sides at close to the same time, bomber technology had advanced to the point where either side could have loosed a few of them on the other.
The development of ICBMs made virtually instant thermonuclear attack possible for both sides. It came close, very close, in '62 but the Soviets backed down. After all, they knew war's indescribable devastation in a way perhaps not shared by any other nation.
I think we can be certain Israel would use whatever means are necessary to prevent POGROM; Iran's suicidal Jew hatred might have driven it to use nukes on Israel; but that's probably been settled now. Would India and Pakistan actually be as upset with each other as to vaporize the teeming cities of the South Asian subcontinent? God forbid! One thing which has prevented N.Korea's corpulent voluptuary dictators from using their nukes is the certain knowledge that they would be denied their daily feasts of tasty treats and other delights available only to them. Besides , they probably think to use them only against invasion but though the world loathes their inhuman regime it may well believe it will someday fall of its own terrible evil.
But Russia: if it is driven to unbearable resentment and anxiety by what it sees as Western determination to force Ukrainian membership in an obviously anti Russian alliance it may consider upping the ante with tactical nukes in Ukraine. If it attacks any Nato country, conventionally or with nukes, then general war in Europe may well be guaranteed.
Our hombre President sees it fit to warn Russia by expressing your willingness to resume nuclear testing. Its really bad that it has come to this but given Russia's perceived fundamental national security interest in keeping Ukraine out of Nato,if we are determined to support Ukraine, then this step may have to be.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: This has been a year of miracles for common sense America and one of staggering discreditation for the far left and their Dem party vassals. No matter what happens in this election President Trump, a GOP Congress and a lawful Scotus will still be seated. Trump derangement syndrome is the driving emotion for emotionally captured Dems and it will continue to excite their juvenile presumption of their unimpeachable justice and wisdom and their thirst for retribution against an America heretically ungrateful to them.
ReplyDeleteDems characteristically campaign in the middle and then cynically move to the left in office. Those now actually campaigning with openly left positions can be expected to careen to the far left in office. Their extremism will not endear them to a fundamentally center - right America.
President Trump's popularity is largely based on his scornful and dedicated opposition to those who would "fundamentally transform" an America which doesn't need such comprehensive "reform", especially on a Marxist model like that of the "Democratic " Socialists of "America". President Trump has proven that they are neither omnipotent nor inevitable in their quest for the totalitarian power the far left always seeks.
The only relative "moderates" in a Dem party which approaches insane precipitation over a far left cliff are a dessicated and harried bunch. The Dems may get what they perceive as a boost next week but it would only hasten their disastrous "progress" to a Marxist madness which could finish them.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: President Trump has apparently urged the GOP majority in the Senate to invoke " the nuclear option" to defeat the Dem intransigence in the shutdown showdown. Good for him! I've read about the procedure and it apparently is within the power of the majority party to work it for destruction OR restoration of a contested rule. Let's make of filibuster a contested rule! Finally we have a President who has no milquetoast compunctions about hoisting the "by any means necessary" far left and their obsequious Dem marionettes on their own petard. I say, go ahead, do away with filibuster for now and bring it back if it looks like we may need it. Too bad Dems; your morally expeditious behavior in the past has schooled us!
ReplyDeleteThe traditional filibuster , which required the physical presence of a speaker from the party invoking it on the podium , is dead. That despite Cory Booker's impassioned marathon. Now the filibuster is a statement of intent alone; no need for caffeine and No Doze.
Too, the Dem party has shown no regard for honored conventions(except of course to invoke them when it is their ox being gore; after all, their far left "managers " are comprehensive America haters)even ones the violation of which flies in the face of the American values which precedent and "progress" has affirmed in our documented legal history. This was confirmed in their arrogant and vain misuse of our legal system , 2021 - 2025 to keep their political Nemesis from regaining the White House. "Whatevah" is their byword.
That's ok , take them at their "word". Match them blow for blow. Power "Trumps" power and these Marxists know it. It makes no sense to invoke unselfish principle when one's very country and all it values is meant for destruction by your opponent. What more do we need than to witness the far left applauded enthusiastic embrace of such as the "Democratic" Socialists of "America" and AOC , to be convinced of their very UNdemocratic motivations and intent.
So carry on Mr. President, we know you stand for America against those who smokily loath it! Senate Majority Leader Thune , please advance the President's wishes.
Darn right, Jack! The House of Windsor has a better claim to a divine right to rule than, say, Keir Starmer... What's more, the royal family is a better source of moral guidance than the news editors of mainstream newspapers and tv networks. I say let the royals be!!!
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree that we may well have fought WWIII (and IV and V) by now if it weren't for the nuclear umbrella under which we all shelter. Heck, we might be fighting in the trenches in Donbas right now if it weren't for the looming presence of Russian nukes. God bless Oppenheimer and Co.! The modern world is built on their broad shoulders.
I concur, although not without some trepidation: the time has come to do away with the filibuster, because, for now, it benefits only the obstructionist Dems, and, when and if they retake power, you can bet they will make short work of it. Their dedication to the traditions of the Senate has been entirely opportunistic for years. Their ruthlessness in suppressing the legacy of Trumpism would be without limit. Sure, we can "obey the rules of the game", but they won't, and indeed there won't be a game left if they have their way. It's time to go "all in", conservatives!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: My father's ship was headed for the Pacific when our judicious use of the bomb saved myriad American, British, Russian Chinese , Japanese and many other East Asian lives by summarily ending the gratuitously brutal tenure of the Japanese war lords. It was the world's incalculable good fortune that it was the civilized U.S. which developed it first. To my knowledge I encountered no hostility in Nagasaki even from Japanese of an age where they could have experienced the bombing. The enlightened stewardship of the brilliant General MacArthur probably had a lot to do with that. The Japanese regime had told the people that the Americans (ehh, like the Japanese) would be savagely vengeful occupiers. The fact that we were not so may have affirmed for the Japanese their growing realization that their leaders had done them a terrible wrong with their imperial effort in E. Asia.
ReplyDeleteJust imagine the evil Stalin would surely have done had he alone have possessed the bomb.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Yeah, I didn't think of that: even if a lame duck GOP Senate were to revive filibuster the Dems would kill it as soon as they took their seats in the majority. Maybe filibuster has outlived itself.
ReplyDeleteMajority rule can be the source of much injustice( eg. NY state's Dem far left dictatorship). But so can a cynically expansive automatic use of filibuster which was never intended for it in the first place.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: If your country is to have a royalty , especially one accredited by abolishment and thereby regretful and chastened restoration , then of right they ought to be afforded the respect due to the Sovereign of a proven democracy.Great Britain has freely and wisely chosen to invest this essential in a monarchy . That should include refraining from untoward inquiry into the private lives of those ,after all, humans who have inherited this often vexatious duty. As to the disposition of those titles within the discretion of the monarch, then the exercise of such authority by the Sovereign in such a hallowed setting is a redeeming affirmation of an historically proven and exalted social and political tradition.
ReplyDeleteWell, I personally don't think an invasion of Japan would have been strictly necessary, even if we hadn't developed the bomb, or if we had exploded it over an unpopulated area, but we'll never know for sure. Probably the best reason to drop the bomb was as a cautionary tale, which it still is to this day.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of arguments for and against the filibuster. I'd say the sad truth is that our "rules based political order" has already given up the ghost. The chances that the filibuster will still exist twenty years from now are slim to none.
Hmm. I suppose Andrew's abasement does, in a sense, confirm Charles' royal prerogatives. That's small comfort, but it's better than no comfort.