Sleeping Dragon

 

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show covers some truly weighty topics, like the degree of danger posed by the buildup of China's People's Liberation Army, the (convenient) elimination of AM radios in electric cars, the growing campaign of personal destruction aimed at Democratic Party renegade RFK Jr., the vulnerability of the Biden Administration to charges that it is "soft on China", the Chicoms' projection of the power of their secret police onto American soil, the firm resolve of French President Macron in the face of leftist street thuggery, the stakes of Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News, and the role of A.I. in safeguarding the interests of the Deep State.  

Holy moly!  Can you really cover all those scintillating topics in just 20 minutes???  Yes, you can -- and, yes, I did!  Listening is believing...

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-april-20-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

 

***

 

In other news, SpaceX's massive new "Starship" failed to reach orbit, but Elon Musk was still pleased with what it accomplished in its first launch, and he's confident that it will someday soon take us to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65334810

 

I continue to be amazed that Joe Biden and the Democrats' poll numbers are holding up as well as they are, given the decline in Americans' real wages and real incomes in the last two years.  Usually, economic pain damages the party-in-power, but the Dems seem to have found the magic formula for redirecting the attention of their base away from its own impoverishment and towards...threats to "democracy", the rise of "fascism", rampant white supremacy and transphobia, and other fairy tales.  You have to hand it to the Dems: they know how to make half the country swallow whatever swill they're pitching.

 

https://nypost.com/2023/04/19/americans-have-taken-pay-cuts-each-month-since-biden-took-office/ 

Lastly, Fox News's historic legal settlement with Dominion is fascinating, in itself, but Fox is not out of the woods yet. Smartmatic also has a lawsuit pending against the cable news giant.  Plus, both companies are still pursuing lawsuits against other conservative journalistic organizations.  The bottom line is that conservative news companies are very exposed to legal threats and leftist "lawfare", as it's being termed, and frankly so is everyone who gets in progressives' way.  Donald Trump is just beginning to feel the wrath of the Left's vast assemblage of lawyers and prosecutors.  My guess is that this strategy of suing and prosecuting their enemies into the ground is just in its infancy.  Expect a lot more legal action in the years ahead.  And, just in case you're wondering, will left-wing news outlets ever be held legally or financially accountable for all the misinformation they peddle?  Ha ha ha ha ha ha!  Please!  That'll be the day.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/dominion-voting-systems-donald-trump-2020-election/2023/04/19/id/1116814/

China Is Closer Than You Think

 

Friends, today we learned that Red China's secret police is operating on U.S. soil, in a revelation that will probably surprise precisely no one.  Numerous Chinese nationals face U.S. criminal charges, but will the Chinese government face any adverse consequences?  Ha!  Not if their latest check to "the Big Guy" clears...

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2023/04/17/alleged-chinese-agents-arrested-for-operating-a-police-station-in-the-middle-of-new-york-city/

In other news, while you may resent the tax bill you recently paid to Uncle Sam, the truth is that spending is outpacing revenues by a large margin.  Much of that spending is fueled by debt, and servicing that debt is bound to become even more costly over time, necessitating -- you guessed it -- massive spending cuts and/or even more taxes.  The bottom line is that the Biden Administration is doubling down on a spendthrift fiscal strategy that maximizes its electoral prospects and rewards its key supporters, but makes a national reckoning inevitable.  I see no sign that the headlong dash to economic armageddon is being reconsidered, either.  The House GOP is making very feeble protests -- nothing more.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/17/this-tax-day-were-paying-more-than-ever-as-dc-drives-up-debt/

 

This article is quite extraordinary.  It's a scathing account of RFK, Jr.'s presidential ambitions, a love letter to the Biden family, and a shameless attempt to use the Kennedys themselves to destroy one of their own.  Bottom line: if you threaten the interests of the Democratic establishment -- as Bobby does -- they will use every resource at hand to obliterate you, personally, politically, and professionally.  Now, will Alvin Bragg indict RFK, Jr. for...something?  That's the next evolution of the Dems' hate machine, after all...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/16/politics/robert-f-kennedy-family-biden-2024/index.html

 

This is a fascinating article about the political impact of school choice.  It raises some very intriguing points about the institutional underpinnings of the Democratic Party.  Personally, I'm more interested in the cultural impact of school choice.  How can the Left control the worldview of the rising generation if they forfeit their dominance over K-12 education?

 

https://thespectator.com/topic/school-choice-destroy-democratic-party/ 

Finally, this is a long and detailed article about a particular manifestation of "pro-natalism" that is appearing among the highly educated.  I agree with their basic point of view -- that smart, successful people need to start having way more kids -- but the eccentric nature of their movement, and its obscurity, guarantee that they will have no meaningful effect on overall fertility.  No one yet has come up with a way to move the fertility dial in a positive direction, with the possible exception of the Nazis, but I don't see many people clamoring for fascism, do you?

https://news.yahoo.com/meet-elite-couples-breeding-save-100000548.html

C'est La Guerre!

 

Friends, we at WaddyIsRight wish to extend our kudos and admiration to French President Emmanuel Macron who, despite being an establishment tool 90% of the time, has chosen to expend enormous political capital pursuing landmark pension reforms, bucking a massive tide of protests that have swept across "la belle France".  The French people have been accustomed to retiring early, but in 2010 the minimum age to receive a state pension increased from 60 to 62.  Macron has now further increased the age minimum to 64.  Technically, this puts Frenchmen at a disadvantage to Americans, who can receive Social Security as early as age 62.  The upshot for me, however, is that the current American system, while popular, is fiscally unsustainable, as everyone knows, but as politicians simply refuse to admit, because to "mess with" Social Security or Medicare would be electoral suicide.  My view, therefore, is that the French are tackling a very serious problem, and Macron is taking the heat for performing this ultimately noble service to his nation, while we bury our heads in the sand.  What's especially impressive is that leftists are routinely using violence and "civil disobedience", worldwide, to forestall policy moves and even speech that they disdain.  Very often, they get away with it, because the media covers for them and sympathizes with their agendas.  No doubt that is true in France, too, but Macron has decided to press on.  Bully for him!  If only we had statesmen of his caliber here.  Instead, we'll sail nonchalantly over our own fiscal cliff, and in the end the cuts to Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid will be far more severe than they needed to be.  But that, I suppose, is "democracy" in action, right?

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/04/15/france-burns-macron-signs-pension-reform-into-law-as-paris-riots/

 

There are some exciting things happening in space exploration and rocketry these days.  Take note!

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/spacex-musk-starship-launch-test-flight/2023/04/16/id/1116330/ 

Lastly, these two articles are a perfect demonstration of where we stand today in American democracy.  Both sides are accusing each other of being fundamentally undemocratic and vile.  Both sides have a point, but the blindness of the Left to its own violations of democratic norms is more complete, simply because leftists can burrow themselves much more deeply in an ideologically pure cocoon.  There is no need for any progressive ever to engage with alternative viewpoints, given the control over the media and popular culture that the Left enjoys, and most of them relish this myopia.  Note that Reich admits that the only way to beat American "fascism" is by adopting some of its methods.  How far will the Left go in jettisoning democratic restraints?  The question ought to be: how far does it need to go, to keep its grip on power?  Probably not very far, since they seem to have at least half the electorate in the palm of their hand.  The rest of us they can more or less bully into submission.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/15/the-modern-republican-party-fascism-robert-reich

 

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reviewjournal.com%2Fopinion%2Fopinion-columns%2Fvictor-joecks%2Fvictor-joecks-some-insurrections-are-more-equal-than-others-2762675%2F 

Those Irrepressible Chicoms

 

Friends, what you see above is the city of Shenzhen in 1980 and 2013.  Quite a transformation, no?  The economic ascent of Red China is historic in so many ways, partly because its rise has been so quick and so uninterrupted.  This is but one of several world-historical themes that we dissect on this week's Newsmaker Show.  Other topics of discussion include: RFK, Jr.'s presidential ambitions, the fallout from the Pentagon leaks relating to the Russia-Ukraine War, the prospects for war between Taiwan and the PRC, the legality of the sort of "hush money" payments made by DJT in 2016, the legacy of COVID fascism in the wake of the official end of the pandemic itself, and the looming fiscal cliff that Biden and friends seem determined to push us all off.  

Man, oh man!  What a show.  I give it four and a half Limbaughs.  See if you don't agree.

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-april-12-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

***

In other news, here's our first evidence that RFK, Jr. enjoys a smattering of support among Democrats, especially older and female Democrats, who I guess are still swooning over his uncle.  Bobby, Part Deux, still has a long way to go, mind you.

https://unherd.com/thepost/one-in-10-democratic-voters-supports-robert-f-kennedy-jr/

Finally, there's talk of AOC, the lefty we all love to hate, taking on Kirsten Gillibrand to be the Dems' U.S. Senate candidate in New York in 2024.  What a fun ride that would be!  The more prominent AOC is and becomes, needless to say, the better it is for the GOP and for whomever happens to be the Republican candidate for president in '24.  I welcome AOC to the fray!  (On the other hand, I acknowledge that she's very likely to realize her ambition of becoming a Senator -- my Senator.  Ick!)

https://www.newsmax.com/john-gizzi/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-kirsten-gillibrand-new-york/2023/04/12/id/1115923/

The Second Coming of Camelot?

 

Friends, the candidacy of RFK, Jr. for the Democratic nomination for president got me to thinking about just how far the dastardly Dems have sunk since their glory days, and whether yet another Kennedy can resurrect them.  That's the subject of my latest article, kindly published by the good folks at American Greatness:

https://amgreatness.com/2023/04/10/a-return-to-camelot/

In other news, postmortem analyses of the GOP loss in the State Supreme Court race in Wisconsin are ongoing, and pro-choice Republicans are blaming pro-life Republicans.  The backlash to the Dobbs decision certainly was a factor, but consider how massively the Republican candidate was outspent!  That implies that the good guys lost simply because the bad guys were more organized, motivated, and ruthless.  What else is new?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/apr/9/whos-to-blame-for-republicans-loss-of-wisconsins-s/

 

Two recent stories should give us pause about the Dems' much-ballyhooed devotion to "democracy".  First, several prominent Dems are calling on the Biden Administration to ignore a recent federal court ruling about abortion...because they don't like it.  This comes on the heels of a wave of leftist criticism of the Supreme Court and repeated suggestions that it has lost all "legitimacy".  Second, the Dems and their fellow travelers in the media reacted with howls of outrage when two members of the Tennessee House of Representatives were removed from office for staging a raucous demonstration on the House floor.  It now appears that those same representatives will be reseated.  I fear this will send the message to Dem upstarts that they can behave any way they wish in a legislature that they don't happen to control, and Republicans may not have the gumption to restrain them.  In other words, Democrats seem to believe that the "rules" of democracy just don't apply to them, and that bodes ill in more ways than one.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-for-defying-court-orders-wyden-mifepristone-fda-texas-abortion-kacsmaryk-d8ee9973?mod=opinion_lead_pos2 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/10/us/tennessee-democrat-house-representatives-expelled-monday/index.html

 

In a rare bit of good news, the COVID public health "emergency" is finally being terminated, with the consent of our Dear Leader Joseph R. Biden.  That's nice, but I'm still waiting for the COVID fascists to be held accountable for their outrageous conduct from 2020 to present.  No doubt I'll be waiting a very long time!

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/joe-biden-resolution-covid-19/2023/04/10/id/1115689/ 

Finally, as President Biden seeks to torpedo any and all Republican efforts to impose spending discipline in D.C., and as Republicans show no ability or willingness to go to the mat to ensure that such discipline is enforced, our deficit is rising once again to perilous heights.  Increasingly, it seems we can neither get our fiscal house in order, nor keep interest rates low, nor tame inflation, which makes one wonder how long our surprisingly robust economy can hold out with all these crosswinds hitting it full force.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/cbo-debt-spending/2023/04/10/id/1115675/

He Is Risen!

 

Friends, finally a post that isn't about Donald Trump!  Well, I say that, but in fact Easter and the Resurrection are about all of us, including Trump, and the promise that God's grace holds for us.  May the "good news" infuse the hearts and minds of every one of you, on this day and every day!  God bless.

Once More Unto the Breach?

 

Friends, we've had a mighty long hiatus from Kennedys in the White House, although Barack Obama was something of an honorary Kennedy, or a mocha Kennedy, if you will.  Well!  Now it appears that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of the RFK who ran for president in 1968 and whose life was cut short before he could clinch the nomination, is himself running for president in 2024.  Most insiders and analysts would tell you that he doesn't stand much of a chance.  I would be one of them.  For one thing, the Kennedy mystique is old news, to the say least.  More importantly, though, RFK, Jr. has a nasty tendency to think for himself, and to think way outside the box of leftist orthodoxy.  For instance, he has been very skeptical of vaccines, in general, and the COVID vaccines, in particular.  Now, that just isn't allowed on the Left, is it?  So, he's a long shot, but on the other hand the Dems may find themselves grasping at straws in 2024, if Sleepy Joe runs and then does a political face plant due to our economic woes, some spectacular policy failure, or perhaps an episode of dementia or physical frailty that's simply too obvious to conceal.  In short, there has to be a Democratic alternative to Joe Biden in 2024, and, if all else fails, I guess RFK, Jr. could be it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/robert-f-kennedy-jr-files-paperwork-to-challenge-biden-in-2024/ar-AA19ypy9?cvid=5c17ccf0005d4dff8c5dc8824fa18647&ei=36

 

You've heard a lot about the depressing election returns for Democratic centrists and Republicans this week, but there are some signs of hope, too, which it doesn't hurt to share here:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/north-carolina-lawmaker-officially-leaves-dems-gop-says-turning-point-american-flag-criticism

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3936134-republican-wins-special-state-senate-election-in-wisconsin-handing-gop-supermajority/ 

34 Counts of "We Hate You!"

 

Friends, it's official: DJT is a criminal defendant.  The world was riveted Tuesday as Trump was formally charged with 34 counts of...felony falsification of business records.  Big whoop!  I jest, but the consequences of this development are potentially revolutionary and earth-shattering, although not because of the substance of the charges themselves.  It's the political implications that are as disturbing as they are incalculable, in the long term.  This, of course, is one of our main topics of discussion on this week's Newsmaker Show, along with a shocking Wall Street Journal poll on the decline of traditional American values, Finland's admission into NATO, and the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party between establishment hacks and leftist firebrands.  In addition, Brian and I find time to analyze the retirement of Winston Churchill as British prime minister in 1955, as well as FDR's creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps.  In other words, my friends, this week's show is among the most captivating discourses on life, the universe, and everything that you will ever hear, and if, perchance, you were to miss it, chances are the remainder of your mortal existence would be one long exercise in ignorance and futility.  I'm just sayin': the stakes are high!!!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-april-5-2023-dr-nick-waddy/

***

In other news, your favorite commentator is sounding off at Sputnik News about the ramifications of the first charges ever laid against a former U.S. president.  Read all about it here:

https://sputniknews.com/20230404/trump-arraignment-never-good-sign-when-politicians-prosecuted-on-trumped-up-charges-in-a-democracy-1109124772.html

New York, New York (It's a Hell of a Town)

 

Friends, say what you want about the "Big Apple", and it's always been an acquired taste, but today America's biggest city itself took the first bite out of Donald J. Trump, its former resident.  Frankly, I'm amazed it took Trump-hating prosecutors this long to charge Trump with...something (or, rather, anything, because they really couldn't care less what the charge is just as long as it makes them look like Trump-slayers).  In any case, the lefties are likely to get what they most want out of this "case": a news cycle that, for the next 18 months, ignores all issues of substance and focuses relentlessly on Trump-related drama.  It's called misdirection, and you're about to get a truly massive dose of it.  Fortunately, if you've been an observer of the mainstream media for long enough, you may have developed an immunity by now...

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-criminal-case-new-york/2023/04/04/id/1115061/

 

In other depressing news, the liberal Democratic candidate for Supreme Court Justice in the state of Wisconsin won, meaning that elections in that state will be even more questionable, and in all likelihood it will be open season on fetuses, gun owners, and other bête noires of progressives.  What's really disappointing about this race is how little energy and money Republicans and conservatives put into winning it.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-liberals-win-majority-rcna77190 

 

Lastly, the far-left candidate for Mayor of Chicago also won, meaning that that benighted city will slide further into anarchy and wokeness.  Chicago's only hope, and that of most deep blue cities, is a blank check from the federal government...which may indeed be forthcoming, as long as Democrats run the show.

https://www.politico.com/2023-election/results/chicago-mayor/

Red State Blues

 

Friends, those of us who live in "flyover country" -- that is, in the massive, traditionally-oriented, mostly rural heartland of America, ruled with disdain by coastal elites -- are feeling mighty dispirited these days.  In 2020, we lost the presidency and the Senate.  In 2022, we convinced ourselves that a "Big Red Wave" was coming to our rescue.  It flopped.  What's worse, the culture seems to be turning inexorably away from us and our values, and every major institution is abetting that decline rather than fighting it.  It's enough to make you ask the question: is it time to give up on American politics, and to accept defeat?  Whether we accept it or not, if we conservatives do end up as a permanent (or semi-permanent) minority in a nation ruled by forces mostly hostile to us, what will life be like?  This article begins to explore these vital questions, and I would very much like to hear your thoughts on it.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/04/01/when-we-are-the-minority/

 

We keep hearing that the economy is about to plunge off a cliff, but it never quite seems to happen.  Even the housing market is now showing some signs of life.  Is this good news or bad?  Well, I guess it's good news for Team Biden, which means, as usual, we can't assume that the tide of history will sweep Sleepy Joe away.  We may have to do it the hard way!

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/03/home-prices-rise-after-declines.html 

Finally, in a move that will surprise no one, NASA has embraced and espoused identity politics in the selection of the crew for the first "Artemis" mission that will return mankind -- err, humankind -- to the general vicinity of the Moon.  Of course, the lefties still won't be satisfied.  What -- no disabled trans Pacific Islanders???  What an outrage!!!

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65165845