Forum: What Are Your Feelings On The Kavanaugh Nomination And Hearings?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What Are Your Feelings On The Kavanaugh Nomination And Hearings?

Don Surber:The Kavanaugh Debacle was the best thing to happen to Republicans since passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. With the exception of Joe Manchin, Democratic senators in red states are toast, maybe even in the purple ones.

Kamala Harris and Spartacus Booker are not ready for prime time, or even SNL.

Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, and Susan Collins shine. And what can I say about Lindsey Graham? Freed from McCain, he soars like an eagle.

OK, maybe just an osprey.


Fausta Rodríguez Wertz: I am actually ashamed of the whole sorry spectacle.

I am ashamed that Judge Kavanaugh cannot go to church on Sundays because protesters block the entry. I am ashamed that his daughters need bodyguards to go to school, that his wife receives death threats, that his mother and father have to endure idiot comedians calling for their son’s castration.

I am ashamed that, as Judge Kavanaugh himself said yesterday, “This conformation process has become a national disgrace.”

I am ashamed to know that the left is not going to give up on Kavanaugh. Not now, not ever.

I am ashamed that this circus revolves around the fear that Justice Kavanaugh would overturn Roe v. Wade. There have been sixty million abortions since Roe v. Wade. People who celebrate the killing of sixty million lives will stop at nothing.

And that is the greatest shame of all.

Then there's the question of what happens next. I am very pessimistic. I expect that the next nominee will be subjected to even more pressure. The Left won't stop.

Rob Miller: The vote turned out as I expected, although there were some surprises. As I predicted, Susan Collins was not to be bullied or threatened into submission. Jeff Flake and Ben Sasse pleasantly surprised me. Lisa Murkowski didn't.

I think it was absolutely wonderful that only Joe Manchin had the smarts to be the only Democrat in a Red State up for re-election to vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Joe Donnelly, Heidi Hightkamp, Claire McKaskill, Jon Tester and Bill Nelson didn't, and they will pay a price come November.

The actual hearings were one of the best things to happen for the GOP for some time. First it showed America the true face of the hysterical left, and creatures like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were revealed as the cadres and ideologues they really are. So were a number of other Democrats as well as their trained seals in the media. The American people now truly see the commie behind the curtain, and many of them who were sitting on the fence now know why it's so important that these people never gain control of government again. Even career never trumpers like Erick Erickson now see this and are admitting they had Trump wrong all along. Women looked at their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers and realized how easy their lives could be ruined simply for expediency by any woman for any reason. The hypocrisy of the Left in ignoring sexual predators in their own ranks like Keith Ellison while ignoring the rule of law and manufacturing these kind of allegations with zero proof just for po0litical purposes horrified quite a few Americans. Some like the brilliant Camile Paglia even took it farther, understanding that false accusations like this would directly harm real victims of sexual assault and prevent them from being believed.

Meanwhile, Trump's courage in not abandoning Judge Kavanaugh, Mitch McConnell's steadfastness and the courage of Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, and Susan Collins are showing Republicans disgusted with the previous lack of spine and commitment that things have changed and are giving them the fire to get out and vote.

As a side note, while I liked most of Susan Collins' speech, it annoyed me that she still referred to Dr. Ford as a 'survivor.' There's absolutely no proof that she survived anything except being charged for slander like the pathological, Trump-hating politically partisan liar she is.

In the words of one of Steven Colbert's writers, Ariel Dumas "“Whatever happens, I’m just glad we ruined Brett Kavanaugh’s life.”

Until there is a real cost for doing something this despicable, they'll keep at it. IMO, that needs to change if this sort of thing is ever going to end.


Doug Hagin: That the Republicans finally found some spine, and did not slink away will do things. Give their base some real hope for a stronger party, and it will make the Left become even more unhinged. The Trump presidency has absolutely ripped the "moderate" mask off of the Democratic party. And now their far left faces are showing.

James Kirwin: I waited for the final vote to respond. I’ve been so disgusted with the GOP recently that I didn’t trust them.

Now that it’s over I feel I can breathe again. And more importantly be proud of my party affiliation.

From Lindsay Graham channeling Boston lawyer Joseph Welch’s “Have you no sense of decency sir? Moment against Joe McCarthy, to Flake – of all Republicans Flake – standing up to the leftist bullies, ending with Maine Sen. Susan Collin’s impassioned speech defending Kavanaugh I don’t think I have ever been prouder to be a Republican.

There is really nothing more important for conservatives than the Supreme Court. All the issues that matter to us are decided by that court and the only way to get a fair hearing is to have people on the bench who agree with our view of the Constitution. The Gorsuch appointment made Trump’s victory in 2016 worthwhile. Kavanaugh’s appointment cements his legacy.

We conservatives owe Graham and Collins for this victory. They both had plenty of reasons to fold and could have, but when it mattered they showed guts and dare I say it, spine. In the coming years we must remember their actions over the past two weeks and stand by them when they need us.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg:Politics have been broken since way before even Bill Clinton and can never be repaired because they are outdated and just don’t work—if they ever did. Hubert Humphrey and his oldtime ilk are all dead and gone.

Greece invented democracy. Is Greece a paragon of democracy now today? No.

By the same token, the whole Brett-Nancy-Streisand -Graham thing is just more bullshit. It’s all about personal power and self-aggrandizement. What did Susan Collins get in return for her vote?

The supreme court will now be “resisted” and never obeyed again. Gang-Mobs will assault public spaces. Screaming 20 year olds in black masks will spit and hit.

Politics are now handmaiden to the communist party and its agents in government, media, kitchens, and bedrooms everywhere.

Trump knows this. It’s why he does not seek to “Presidentially” govern. Rather, he seeks to

get

stuff

done.

Puma By Design: The shock of the first series of allegations levied against Brett Kavanaugh lasted for a moment. Before I could wrap my head around what was going on, the second set of allegations followed and it was at this point that I became concerned at the revelations of what was at stake hit.

I have friends who were victims of sexual assault and couldn’t help but feel resentful of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony which had too many blanks and didn’t add up.



The very idea that sexual assault would be used as a tool to stop the advancement of a Supreme Court nominee or anyone else for that matter is shameful.

My heart broke as Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the world was forced to vigorously defend himself, his honor, his family before a tribunal of Marxist bureaucrats’ hell bent on destroying an innocent man for the sake of dismantling the patriarchy and satisfying their lust for power.

I have a 39 year old son, brother, uncles, great nephews, nephews, grandson, male cousins and friends and as I listened to Judge Kavanaugh respond to stupid questions about his yearbook, not only was I pissed off, I became angry and concerned that the Republican Party would fold like a suitcase full of cheap suits so as not to offend women and in so doing permit these rabid Marxists to crush Kavanaugh, his family, the President and the liberties of every American born man and boy.
But then Senator Lindsey Graham took a stand and as my nieces and nephews say, “it was on from there.”

My first thought as I observed Senator Graham, “Lindsey, what took you so long?” My second thought was something on the line of, “Damn, I’m sure glad that John McCain’s not here,” after which I asked God’s forgiveness for thinking such a thing.

I thought about the effect of McCain’s absence more than once this past week as the Republican Party from Graham to Senator Chuck Grassley to Senator Susan Collins, seemed to have found their will to fight, not their constituency but the hard-left.

Just as Progressives did not see Kavanaugh coming and handled it badly, it never occurred to them (or me) that Republicans were up for the fight. Progressives leaned hard expecting Republicans to buckle under and got the reverse.

Republicans gave back as good as they got. It appeared that with each new wave of false allegations, Americans became angrier and Republicans fought back harder.

It is unfortunate that we had to go there but, in the end, Kavanaugh, the President, the GOP and liberty came out on top.

As for the hard left, they showed Americans just how bad they are for our country.

We’re not done yet.

Laura Rambeau Lee:The hearings were a mockery of our process for appointing Supreme Court justices. With Kavanaugh’s distinguished career as a judge and volumes of decisions there was no question of his qualifications. There wasn’t even much discussion regarding it because everyone knew he was eminently qualified. The Senate interviews and hearing were concluded and this last minute accusation of an uncorroborated sexual assault over 35 years ago was nothing more than a ploy to delay, delay, and further delay. Senator Diane Feinstein sat on this information since July and did not bring it up until it was pretty certain he would be confirmed. The Republicans allowed themselves to be manipulated by the Democrats and the media to re-open the FBI investigation, which found not a single individual who would corroborate Ford’s assault allegations. We are nothing if we allow such an erosion of one of the basic tenets of our founding and legal system; that an individual is innocent until proven guilty. Personally I believe the Democrats did not want Kavanaugh to be confirmed because of his record in support of the Second Amendment.

When President Trump has the opportunity to nominate the next Supreme Court justice, and he will, I hope Republicans remember this debacle and not permit Democrats to grandstand and go to such extremes to challenge his candidate. Remember, elections have consequences, and one of the consequences is that the president gets to nominate Supreme Court justices. Republicans accepted, albeit grudgingly, President Obama’s appointments of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan as they agreed they were both highly qualified. The understanding is the president is elected by the people and through the president the people get to choose who sits on the Supreme Court. Many of us voted for President Trump for this very reason.

Some on the left are now speaking of impeaching Justice Kavanaugh if they win the majority in Congress in November. This alone should energize the conservative base, and even some independents and Democrats, to vote Republican to prevent these anti-American ideologues from obtaining power ever again.

We must continue to be vigilant and never rest, for as President Ronald Reagan said “freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” The vote, 50 to 48, was the closest vote for a Supreme Court justice since 1881. Once again it appears Providence is looking favorably on our nation and giving us another chance to right our course.

Bookworm: Gosh, you guys are so thoughtful and intelligent. Truly, I have nothing to add that all of you haven't said better. Instead, I'll just quote part of the short speech Churchill gave after the victory at El Alamein (a battle in which my father took part). I've merely made a few interlineations, indicated by square brackets, so that the speech better applies to America, in 2018, rather than to England in November 1942. You can find Churchill's original speech here.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Henceforth [the Democrats' foot soldiers, including organizations such as Antifa] will meet equally well armed, and perhaps better armed troops. Hence forth they will have to face in many theatres of war that superiority [on college campuses] which they have so often used without mercy against other, of which they boasted all round the world, and which they intended to use as an instrument for convincing all other peoples that all resistance to them was hopeless....

We mean to hold our own. [We normals are not prepared] to preside over the liquidation of [a constitutional America]. For that task, if ever it were prescribed, someone else would have to be found, and, under democracy, I suppose the nation would have to be consulted. I am proud to be a member of that vast [collection of sane, normal people, committed to individual liberty, strong national security, and the free market] without which the good cause might well have perished from the face of the earth. Here we are, and here we stand, a veritable rock of salvation in this drifting world....

[snip]

I recall to you some lines of Byron, which seem to me to fit the event, the hour, and the theme:


Millions of tongues record thee, and anew

Their children's lips shall echo them, and say --

"Here, where the sword united nations drew,

Our countrymen were warring on that day!"

And this is much, and all which will not pass away.
**************************************************************


Well, there it is!

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Forum: If You Could Have A Different Career What Would It Be?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: If You Could Have A Different Career What Would It Be?

Bookworm: I've never liked being a lawyer, although I'm reasonably good at it. It's honed my analytical abilities and my writing skills. It makes possible the blogging I enjoy doing, although I don't seem to be able to make money as a blogger.

What I'd really like to be is a member of the idle rich. My favorite pastimes are reading books; writing short, horribly proofread essays off the top of my head; and eating chocolate ice cream. I'm really not sure there's a career pathway for all of that.

Rob Miller:I have to giggle a little when I think of the word 'career' applied to me.Everything I ever did that was reasonably successful, I just sort of fell into.

One day I accidentally strummed a cheap guitar my parents brought home from a trip to Mexico and fell in love. I never wanted to do anything else afterwards, so that became my 'career.' even if I wasn't earning anything from it. I had a lot of different jobs,(I left home at 18) some of them quite interesting, but they were always just to finance and pave the way towards playing music for a living.

Eventually I managed to do that after a few false starts and made a fairly decent living out of it. It also was something of a fascinating sort of sub culture in which I was a 'semi-celebrity.' In other words, I wasn't any multi- millionaire, but I was known, sort of, whatever that means. I could get into  clubs for free and into their VIP sections all across the country, get backstage at concerts to 'say hello' and enjoy the adult refreshments and other diversions, drink for free in certain watering holes (thank you, Esther and George Wong) meet a lot of interesting people and fulfill a fair amount of fantasies. And the money wasn't bad at all.

The way that sort of ended was that I became a hired hack basically playing music I didn't really like at all for other people.  And for someone who loves music the way I did, that made it just another job, a way to make some money. About that time, I met my wife and we married, and I wasn't exactly rabid with excitement over the offers I had. So I went back to just doing sessions, mostly commercials, and working as a customer service manager for a large office supplies company.

When business went down at the office supply company and I was fired, it was time for another accident in my 'career.' I met an Israeli contractor (we knew some of the same people in Israel) who I got some jobs for in exchange for some baksheesh, and he told me about an Israeli friend of his who was 'doing loans' and that it was commission only, 'but you talk nice to people chaver, and you could make some nice money.'

Well, OK. Todah rabah.

I had a friend who was refinancing her house and I knew she'd give me the job, so I figured I'd do this once, make some money, hate it and move on. The Israeli broker hired me and I proceeded to learn about the paperwork and other things I needed to know. Instead of hating it, once I saw that first commission check I wanted nothing more but to master this new occupation the way a Samurai wanted to master his swordsmanship and do a lot more business.I ended up being pretty good at it.

After three years working for my Israeli boss (lots of fun!), I got my broker's license, opened up my own business and ended up being rather successful. For me, the 1990's and early 2000's were literally golden years. Aside from mortgages and refis, we also listed and sold houses and I also did quite well buying foreclosures once I learned how to do it properly. I'd refurbish them and either sell them or rent them out.

I sold my business right before the nasty stuff hit the fan in 2008, and I'm still not exactly sure why I did but the timing was right.  Now, I'm semi retired, mostly manage my properties, and partner up now and then with a couple of brokers I know to find refurb houses, fix them up, and sell them. It bothers me a bit because it's mostly investors buying them to rent out rather than families who want a home of their own, but so be it.

All in all, considering where I started, I'm quite grateful to the Almighty for the life I have. I wouldn't change a thing.

Jeffrey Avalon Freidberg: Like one of my personal idols, Bookworm, I am really really really good with ice cream.

However, I tend to specialize in Hagen Dazs chocolate covered ice cream popsicles and Julie’s Organic ice cream sandwiches, which kind of limits my style and reach.

I too think I’d be really good at being filthy rich like Diane Feinstein and practically the entire senate.

Amazing how they go to DC poor and leave rich as kings and queens, with unlimited lifetime medical, insurance, pensions, and all....

I guess they get smarter when they get off the bus?

Of course John McCain married the Beer Queen and had so many houses they were almost as many as Obama has—but not as many as John Kerry.

Anyways....

Anyways, I got into the private eye biz by accident and stuck with it for 35 years. I guess I did everything there was to do in that line. I wooda been something else, except I think I liked the private eye gig. I got to be outdoors and run a lot.

Then one day I just could not open one more file and walked away...

...what a DUMB THING TO DO!

Now I have no income, no job, and temp’ services won’t touch me because—even though I built and ran a million dollar business—I don’t appear anywhere in their “categories.” I was never—say—an accountant, lawyer, or secretary. No listing. 

As bugs Bunny said, “Ehhhh...I knew I shoulda took that left toin at Albu-qoikey.”


Laura Rambeau Lee: Once I got past my childhood obsession with dinosaurs and wanting to be an archaeologist I set my sights on becoming a physician. I studied hard and was a pretty good student, often studying beyond what was available in school. Growing up outside of Philadelphia in a small college town the college professors would give me text books which I read voraciously. In junior high I was attacking texts on abnormal psychology, organic chemistry, and books on human anatomy and physiology. I began college with a premed major. That changed when my father died when I was nineteen. At that point I decided I did not want to become a doctor and deal with life and death issues on a daily basis. I quickly lost interest, got married, had a daughter and divorced within six years. At age twenty-five I was a single mom who needed to make money, and make it without a college education. As a vice-president of a local bank my mother introduced me to an owner of a title insurance company and I was hired as a processor. My wages went from $145.00 a week working in a bank to $175.00 a week. That was a big jump back then, especially when child care alone was $45.00 a week.

I learned the business and after a couple of years went to work for an attorney doing real estate closings. Then I went into business with my mother for ten years, she having a mortgage company and me running the title insurance side. After my mom retired my company was bought out by a national title company owned by a national builder. ­(I had let the mortgage company dissolve due to the savings and loan crash in the late 80s early 90s. It became nearly impossible to be a mortgage broker at the time). I worked there for thirteen years until the crash in 2008.

One thing I realized early on was the chairman of the Federal Reserve really controls our country. I would tell people that whoever controls the cost and flow of money controls it all. I was still in my 20s. As I looked into it more I realized how correct I was in my analysis.

Then around 2004 I began to see it coming apart. The mortgages they were selling were certain foreclosures. No doubt about it in my mind. But it became personal when they started selling purchase money first and second mortgages. People could get one hundred percent financing by taking out an eighty percent first mortgage along with a twenty percent second mortgage. They avoided private mortgage insurance and avoided having to put money in escrow with their payments for property taxes and homeowners insurance. We called them NoNo loans – they required no asset and no income verification to qualify for these mortgages, all under full approval of FNMA guidelines. At that point I understood that now we would have a situation where we would have millions of people in homes they couldn’t afford and they would not be able to pay their property taxes either. That would severely cripple our local municipalities and county revenues, meaning we would not have money for schools, firefighters, police, transportation and social services. Where I was naïve was in believing that these lenders would go out of business. I never would have believed our government would steal our savings and wealth to bail out the banks. Americans collectively lost over 19 Trillion Dollars in wealth between savings, stock market accounts and real estate! That was my wake up call. That was my call to action and when I started blogging. It helped that I was laid off from my position as division president of the company I worked for and gave me time to write, get involved with the Tea Party and also help care for my mother who was terminally ill with cancer at the time. I also returned to college to finish my bachelor’s degree, which I did with high honors in American Studies with a major in communication and media. It was also an eye opener to the open Marxist ideology indoctrination occurring on our college and university campuses. I was the token conservative on campus.

Thinking back on everything I am content with the path my life has taken. I am back in the title insurance business, doing real estate closings. It is interesting and challenging and I have always enjoyed the business and the work. I find it amazing that when I was still in college back in 1975 and knowing I no longer wanted to pursue a career in medicine I took a test to see where my interests and abilities might take me. The results came back that a career in politics or the law, or writing and reporting would best serve my personal interests and career goals. Interesting, huh?

Dave Schuler:If I knew then what I know now, I would have swallowed, sucked it up, and remained in the corporate world rather than going off on my own and starting my own business. I would have been less happy then but probably happier now.

 Well, there it is!

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Forum:Will Judge Kavanaugh Be Confirmed And What Will The Vote Be?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Will Judge Kavanaugh Be Confirmed And What Will The Vote Be?

Don Surber: Yes.

50-50 with Pence breaking the tie.
Democrats are too dumb to allow Trump State Democrats to save their hides and one of RINOs will bolt.

Rob Miller: I have no doubt Kavanaugh will be joining the Supreme Court.

I see the vote as 52 to 54 in favor, 48 to 46 against, not accounting for any abstentions.

The only Republicans I see trying to sabotage this are Ben Senseless from Nebraska, Jeff Flake from AZ because he's leaving and (long shot) Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. I doubt that Susan Collins votes against Kavanaugh. I've never agreed with her politics, but she has guts and integrity. The threats she's been getting from the Left are exactly the sort of thing to make her dig her heels in. They grow 'em tough in Maine.

The Dems I see crossing over to vote for Kavanaugh are Heidi Hightkamp, Joe Manchin, and Claire McKasskill, with Doug Jones, Jon Tester and Joe Donnelly as possibles. With the exception of Jones (whose going to want to be re-elected in a Trump state) they're all in tough races for re-election in states Trump carried.

As an aside, I think the Dems erred badly in trying to smear Kavanaugh with a #metoo accusation at the last minute by a Left wing nut job. It's like a baseball pitcher with a hot curve ball or fast ball he keeps relying on to do the job. Eventually the batters get wise, expect that it's coming and start
hammering it. As another aside, I'm eagerly waiting a thorough investigation into DiFi's Chinese spy and the huge profits she and her husband made in China.


Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: Yes he will be confirmed: 53-47.

The Democrat Violent Dementia was just Showtime...and their Audience appears to have been Everybody Else!

Doug Hagin: Yes, he will. Sadly, the Democrats will make it party line, with two maybe three exceptions

Dave Schuler: I agree with Don. Kavanaugh will be confirmed 50-50 with Pence breaking the tie. The vote will be essentially along party lines with Susan Collins joining the Democrats to vote against confirmation.

Bookworm Room: I believe that Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed despite the latest accusations -- claims that have no contemporaneous corroboration and that come from a hard Left, Bernie-supporting academic. The Left will believe them (or will pretend to believe them), conservatives will not (and will not be pretending), and the Senate will split on straight party lines. The only risk is that Sen. Collins will have a panic attack, but I think Trump will call her with something akin to Margaret Thatcher's famous reminder to Ronald Reagan not to go "wobbly."

Laura Rambeau Lee: : One thing we can count on. The left always resorts to unsubstantiated claims of sexual misconduct when they have nothing else. They bring forth salacious unproveable accusations from, this time, a lefty professor related to an “incident” that happened over three decades ago in high school and then go on the Sunday morning mainstream media circus circuit, expressing the need for a delay in the vote until everything is thoroughly investigated. The fact that Senator Dianne Feinstein knew in July and kept this information from everyone throughout the personal meetings and public “inquisition” of Judge Kavanaugh until the final week of the process proves they have nothing valid to use as a reason for denying his appointment.

Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed. He is extremely qualified and as an originalist who believes in a strict textual interpretation of the Constitution will ensure the court remains conservative for decades to come. His nomination affirms again that our vote for President Trump was the right one for the future of our country.

One has to believe there are a few Democrats who remain silent but are appalled by the tactics of those within their party. The vote will be close, perhaps 52 or 53, but in the end Brett Kavanaugh will be appointed to the Supreme Court.

Well, there it is!

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Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What's Your Reaction to Barack Hussein Obama's New Speech?

 Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: I  didn’t read it, or hear it.

Obama, is—and has always been—a lying bastard. 

1. He lied some 32 times about Obamacare.

 2. His “parents” were never legally married.

Also, what the hell is the deal here ?

Obama was born a Muslim, and is still alive, so, he must still—according to Sharia Law—be a Muslim.

His legal name after he was adopted by his Indonesian stepfather is Barry Soetoro, and he has never, ever legally changed it to his self-chosen, warlike, Arabic names. And there is no evidence—not anywhere—that he has done so.

Early written material, apparently published by him, says he was born in Kenya.

His alleged birth certificate—to me, and I have seen many of them in 35 years as a licensed private investigator—appears to be a poorly made, computer-generated fraud.

Both times he was “elected” he was secretly sworn in twice—each time. Using both alleged names?

Records about his life and education are sealed and not available to anybody.

Who is he?

 Patrick O'Hannigan: My answer isn't as colorful as Jeffrey's, but I did not read or listen to Obama's recent speech, either. I was amused by one caller I heard on Rush Limbaugh's show, where Ken Matthews (?) was guest hosting. The caller said Obama had tried to take credit for the Trump economy. He said that reminded him of when he was a kid, and his mother would strive to open a peanut butter jar before giving up and handing it to him. When he then opened the jar, she'd say, "See! I loosened it for ya." But the funny analogy did not quite fit (according to the caller), because Obama not only did NOT "loosen the lid" for Donald Trump; he (Obama) was twisting it the wrong way.

Rob Miller: I did see it, as well as a transcript. One thing few people noticed is that Obama didn't once refer to his successor as  'President Trump.' 

Other than that, it was quite typical. Filled with classless behavior, mistruths, self-aggrandizement and whining while taking credit for the work and accomplishments of far better men as well as lying about his own 'accomplishments.'

What were they?

He weakened America at every turn, from our military to our basic institutions like the courts, our healthcare system and academia. He came close to ruining the economy and ran up more debt with less to show for it than all his predecessors combined. He exacerbated racial tensions, happily militarized government agencies to go after those he considered his political foes and ended by gifting our sworn enemy, one who was complicit in 9/11 with billions of dollars.

 It doesn't matter, really. The Left will always love him , because he came the closest of any American president of turning America into a socialist hellhole. And of course, because he was the first black president, which also kept him from being investigated and impeached.

He got every benefit and boost up the ladder America has to offer and worked for very little of it. The historians in academia  will paint him in glowing terms, but he remains a classic example of the bird who deliberately crapped in his own nest and did his best to foul it beyond redemption.

Fausta Rodriquez Wertz: I wasn't interested in watching. Former president. Yesterday's news.

Laura Rambeau Lee:  I had two immediate reactions.  President Obama, you didn’t build that! And thankfully …President Obama is #NotMyPresident anymore.

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Forum: What Will Trump Do About Social Media Bias And Censorship?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What Will Trump Do About Social Media Bias And Censorship?

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: What would I do? That’s simple, but not “polite,” because the time for that is long past.

Legally: I would....

I would do something to make their by-now-puckering asses hurt really really really really really bad.

I would do something they cannot afford.

I would lock up as many as possible and keep them there—witnesses, protection—whatever.

I would start the break up of any monopoly.

I would shut them all down as much as possible any way allowed.

Legally.

What will Trump do? Something similar to maybe only part of the above, but he will also make their heads explode via his Tweets, etc.—and spread their madness, like a plague of fleas up their hairy undies.

He will allow it to go on until it is much worse, and then he will set his machinery in motion.

Right now, this (his machinery) is all just waiting, poised—on standby....

“...not polite....”
Rob Miller : I think there's some real meat here, and ironically, the Obama Administration paved the way. For one thing, the major Social Media sites are obviously colluding to effect the coming election. That's illegal, especially since these sites call themselves public platforms. They also have a clear record of discrimination against certain points of view based on their own arbitrary whims, which are kept secret precisely so that they can be used in an arbitrary way and never ever revealed, merely referred to as 'community standards.' Since these are also media companies, this may very well be an FCC violation since sites that are banned or discriminated against in such a fashion are never informed of what violations they may have committed, if any. That is, besides having conservative views.

This combined with their open efforts to collude to influence elections could be real red meat. It might even lead to an anti-trust suit. And certainly to FCC and IRS examinations of, respectively, their corporate practices from a media standpoint and their finances, both on a corporate level and a personal one for their major executives.

Yes, these are private companies, but such companies have been successfully sued before for restraint of trade or other monopolistic practices. We'll see.

At the very least considering how these companies bowed down to the Chinese and the EU, it might make them a lot less likely to act in such a biased manner.

Patrick O'Hannigan: I can't remember where I first saw the idea (meaning either at "Instapundit" or "Ace of Spades"), but I do think the president and his administration can exploit the legal differences between "platforms" and "publishers." Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media players like to think of themselves as platforms, because that allows them the fig leaf of neutrality between competing points of view. There are people who make a good case that these technologies are not platforms, so much as publishing apparatuses (apparati?). Publishers can be sued for libel, among other things. The other thing President Trump could do continues his current strategy of tweeting to his heart's content, knowing that his tweets drive people crazy, while continuing to appoint lower-court judges, keep an eye on the FCC, etc. It's sleight-of-hand, and it lets the president take advantage of the manufactured outrage directed against him 24/7 to get things done while the media wastes time on stupid questions like whether he honored the late Senator John McCain sufficiently (FWIW, I'm of the opinion that honors for McCain were over the top to begin with. Ronald Reagan didn't get such fulsome praise when he died, and he'd done more for this country. Moreover, when Jeff Flake ("the other Senator from Arizona") said of his late colleague, "Now he belongs to the ages," he was deliberately borrowing a line first used by then Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to describe Abraham Lincoln at Lincoln's death bed -- and John McCain was not in Lincoln's class).

Don Surber: President Trump knows the limitations of his power as president; he hasn't fired Mueller. He will not use the government against the media.

But he also knows his power as the head of a rebellion, and he will continue to push back. Public opinion will change behaviors at Twitter and Facebook.

He is a president the Founding Fathers imagined: a fellow who actually puts country first, upholds the Constitution, respects the office, and does not abuse the power.

The reason is simple, he does not need the job. Fame and fortune, he had. He is an altruistic president along the lines of Coolidge, Eisenhower, and Reagan. He saw a need and filled it.

These are the best eight years of our lives. Enjoy. Mock the media and the critics, and have a blast!

Laura Rambeau Lee: President Trump understands the Constitutional limitations of his power, unlike his predecessor. In his position he speaks loudly and often on behalf of conservative voices and the unfair bias against them by the left-leaning social media platforms.

Hopefully he will continue being our tireless advocate and publicly bring attention and call out the media for their bias. The technology that allows us to communicate with one another can be a double edged sword, especially with the power and control being in the hands of very few individuals. It is up to Congress to pass laws against censorship and to protect everyone’s right to free speech. Our representatives must assure we all receive equal access and our voices not be censored with this rapidly growing and powerful technology. It’s great to know we have such a vocal advocate in the White House.

  Well, there it is!

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Forum: What Effect Will Michael Cohen's Plea Bargain Have?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question:What Effect Will Michael Cohen's Plea Bargain Have?

Rob Miller: This is pretty simple to understand. Mueller has Cohen cold for massive tax evasion, none of which had anything to do with the president. In exchange for leniency on those actual crimes, Cohen was prepared to say absolutely anything Mueller wanted.Mueller was even allowed to violate attorney-client privilege to set this up.

The plea bargain works for both Mueller and Cohen quite well, because now these allegations won't go to trial because there won't be one. It will be simply Cohen's word against the president, with the media of course trumpeting Cohen's nonsense and any other garbage Mueller twists his arm to make up...just more BS to float on the water and dirty it. and meanwhile, the Left can keep yelling 'impeachment! impeachment! just to keep it in the voter's minds until the midterms.

As for Lanny Davis, he should be disbarred for (a)not lodging motions protesting against the violation of attorney -client privilege (b) allowing his client to plead guilty to a non-existent crime and (c) damaging his cliet's chance for a pardon from Trump by deliberately telling the world Cohen won't accept one! No legitimate lawyer representing his client would ever be this derelict, but of course Lanny Davis is in this for Bill and Hill and isn't interested in actually representing Michael Cohen except as it suits Mueller. Davis is in this up to his neck.

To fully understand what a partisan jihad is going on here, consider this...Mueller's assignment from Assistant AG Rosenstein was to investigate Russian collusion that could have influenced the election.Mueller has never investigated Hillary Clinton and the DNC's collusion in commissioning Fusion GPS's bogus 'pee dossier' which was oppo research definitely designed to influence the election, now has he? Nope, it's all about Trump and certainly not about possible Russian collusion in the election.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: The actual purpose of a plea bargain is to “lock in” or guarantee an outcome of the arrest and prosecution of an accused perpetrator. It saves either side from getting a worse result than might be expected, and either side profits in some way by the “bargain.”

The defendant gains a concession from the prosecutor. The prosecutor secures a guilty “plea” from the defendant.

However, the real, legal effect on President Donald H. Trump will be zero. Cohen must walk a tightrope. If he f*cks up again he faces a much more powerful enemy in Trump than Mueller.

All sorts of local color, media innuendo, and Chyron generated flash will fly, but, in the end, the only ones truly affected will be der Jude, und Herr Sonderstaatsanwalt.

Laura Rambeau Lee: Not one of us who voted for Trump believed he was of impeccable character. Nothing that has been revealed rises to the level of impeachable or illegal activity. Hey, at least he used his own money to pay off porn stars and bimbos, unlike Congress which had a slush fund of taxpayer money just for the purpose of paying off and silencing their accusers. Michael Cohen’s plea bargain will have no effect on President Trump, except for the non-stop media analysis and legal conjecture. The frenzy must continue, relentless and at all costs.

James Kirwin: Unfortunately more effect than it should have. Judging by the non-stop media coverage you would think Trump had been the Manchurian Candidate controlled by Putin and elected through Russian manipulation of the election.

Instead what I’ve had to remind myself is that the Russians spent a few hundred grand on Facebook and Trump paid off an accuser for ½ as much as #METOO Queen Asia Argento did – or rather Anthony Bourdain did on Argento’s behalf. Maybe Bourdain should have hired Cohen. Evidently that lawyer knows how to cut a deal.

I also have to remind myself that nothing Trump did with these women was in the Oval Office unlike the mess Bill Clinton left on an intern’s dress, and which he twisted the meaning of the simplest verb in the English language: Is.

Meanwhile Clinton’s wife operated a server hacked by everyone and received no punishment – unlike a sailor who took a picture of a submarine interior to brag to his family and received a court martial and prison sentence that took Trump’s pardon to fix.

After a year and a half and tens of millions of dollars, is this the best Mueller can do? I’d almost like to see Trump tweet, “Yeah I did it with a porn star. I apologized to my wife and paid her off with my own money, but hey, it was a porn star and not an intern – and not in the Oval Office.” So what? French President Francois Mitterand’s mistress walked behind his casket at his state funeral alongside his wife. Kissinger said “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” and Trump had its runner-up money. Is he an idiot for cheating on his (admittedly hot) wife? Sure – but as someone who doesn’t care about who he sleeps with and is concerned about the future of our country, I am more worried about jobs and the strength of America’s enemies abroad.

So far the Economy is doing the best since the Reagan era, and our enemies abroad are the weakest they’ve been since 9-11. I am pleased with both and credit Trump for their successes.

But the constant media frenzy conflating Stormy Daniels with Putin will likely continue. And it sucks.

Dave Schuler:An impeachable offense is anything the House thinks it is. A Congress with a Republican majority will never impeach an even notionally Republican president with an approval rating of 43% let alone try and remove. With as much fan-dancing as they've been doing for the last year and a half a Congress with a Democratic majority will find it difficult not to impeach and, possibly, remove. This despite that a President Pence is probably their worst nightmare.

I have no idea. I think that the Mueller investigation will continue until one of three things happens: something serious is uncovered (a prospect that becomes less likely with every passing day), Trump is no longer president, or Mueller is dismissed.

Don Surber: The effect is the Left has succeeded in ending lawyer-client privilege. There is nothing in civilized society that the Left would not destroy for an edge. Ruthless.

 Well, there it is!

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Forum: Are China And The US Headed For War?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Are China And The US Headed For War?

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: War?

No.

One thing China is not: is stupid.

China can do much better on its Long March by simply stripping Earth away from the Americans, one sliver at a time, piece by piece, bit by bit.

They can do this in terms of physically taking things, such as our technology, American real estate, or by extending influence, as in Latin America, and actually being welcomed in.

Then, one day, poof! They are the majority—at a pinnacle of the majors—and are in control.

In this non-nuclear manner they can preserve a lot of real estate and personnel. I mean—none of the Chinese leaders want to live underground or in a nuclear cook-oven, am I right?

Right.

In the interim—there’s no rush. And it’s just a game. When the time comes, they can win. And nobody—like maybe the Rooskies—will be able to step in and take over the hand they are playing.

In a nuclear war with the USA they will be degraded militarily, financially, and morally, to a point where they will probably be overthrown by a sea of people who just want to eat....

...And who want to have some fun in life and living.

Rob Miller: To answer this question properly, it's helpful to know something about Chinese history and culture.

China has always been more concerned with keeping the quong fai (foreign devils) out then in expanding it's own territory. That's what the Great Wall was all about. Like Japan, China essentially was a closed society for centuries.

In the 1400s, China had the greatest seagoing fleet in the world, up to 3,500 ships at its peak.  Some of them were five times the size of the ships being built in Europe at the time. But by 1525, all of China's "Treasure Fleet" ships had been destroyed -- burned in their docks or left to rot by the government as the Ming Dynasty entered a 200-year-long period of isolationist slumber.

That ended with the Opium wars of the mid-nineteenth century, referred to quite accurately by the Chinese as 'the years of humiliation. Essentially, the Chinese wanted the very lucrative opium trade the British enjoyed stopped. The British actually went to war in 1839 to force the Chinese to keep importing this poison, and ended up with China ceding the Hong Kong island to Britain as well as 'treaty ports' at Shanghai, Canton, Ningpo (Ningbo), Foochow (Fuzhou), and Amoy. France secured concessions on the same terms as the British, in treaties of 1843 and 1844.

The second Opium War, fought from 1856–1860 actually increased the concessions to Britain and other European countries as well as the amount of the trade in opium. Russia also seized Chinese territory. And the hideous invasion of China by Japan was a major disaster. Aside from the loss of territory, the Japanese committed major atrocities.An untold number of Chinese civilians were literally murdered, whole cities were destroyed, thousands of Chinese young women (as well as Koreans and Filipinas) were kidnapped and forced into prostitution as 'comfort girls' for the Japanese military, and bizarre 'experiments' on human beings were conducted, especially in Manchuria (Manchuko).

My point here is that all this emphasized something to the Chinese...that foreigners were not to be trusted, and neither were China's corrupt governments. Most Americans underestimate the enormous achievement of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in overcoming all this history and opening up China again.

I've been fascinated with Chinese culture for quite some time. In fact, I almost married a delightful Chinese girl who lived in Queens, the only woman I ever seriously considered marrying until I met my beloved. Among other things I learned from my Chinese girlfriend was how to play the Chinese game of Go. Understanding Go is a key to understanding how the Chinese think.

Western tactics are based on chess, which involves 'killing off' your opponent's power pieces, occupying territory on the board and surrounding the king to the point that any move the King makes results in the king's 'death.'

In Go, the idea is to not to occupy territory but to control access to territory, to make your opponent's 'soldiers' useless. There are no power pieces per se.

That's what the Chinese have been doing for some time, with trade agreements and lately, using a strategy of loans to both developing and developed countries like South Africa. It works like this...the Chinese loan money to these countries in exchange for trade concessions, with economically or strategically  beneficial resources as collateral. When the loans (which deliberately have terms very difficult for these countries to meet) are defaulted on, China gets control, sometimes with an additional loan as a sweetener. These are Go tactics.

Are the U.S. and China headed for war? Possible, but I doubt it.

For a quarter of a century, China enjoyed dealing with three of the worst U.S. presidents in history. The corrupt Bill Clinton, who the Chinese bought via a one million dollar loan after he lost the New Hampshire primary via his China connection, his  old friends and campaign donors the Riyadis. And
 then there was the Clueless George W. Bush, and the openly anti-American Barack Hussein Obama.
All of them allowed the Chinese as well as friendly American companies to export jobs wholesale to China while allowing cheap Chinese goods to flood the market. Both Clinton and Obama also cut back hugely on America's military. Clinton even  used heavy Democratic party donor and defense contractor Loral to funnel advanced military technology to the Chinese as fast as he could sign the paperwork. Most military analysts estimate that the Chinese made a Great Leap Forward of at least two decades in military technology during the eight years of Clinton's two terms.

A big part of the recent tension has to do with the fact that  the Chinese, having grown used to pushovers like this are now faces with an entirely different president in Donald J. Trump. The concept of intellectual piracy, copyrights and patents are foreign to the Chinese. They now have a president to deal with who insists on their honoring these precepts, and who is willing to use tariffs and even sanctions to change the unequal trade deals China has enjoyed for years.

What the Chinese are doing now, I think, is circling the wagons. Many of the armaments, like shore to ship missiles are designed to be defensive in nature, and it's worth remembering that China has only engaged in wars on their borders, in places like northern India, Tibet and North Korea. Even their new island fortresses in the China Sea could reasonably be seen as defensive in nature.

I see Xi's new role as emperor ( and I wouldn't call it anything else) and its more recent totalitarian conduct on the home front to be troubling signs, even something of a throwback to the bad old days of the Cultural Revolution, but not necessarily signs of upcoming hostilities. China needs the American market badly, a war would gain them nothing and might even result in domestic turbulence as jobs disappear and domestic supplies of staples increase in price.

Another sign is that Chinese with money have heavily invested here in America, especially in real estate. They understand that if their money's here, the Chinese government can't confiscate it. Remember what I wrote earlier about the basic Chinese skeptical attitude towards their government.

Don Surber:Red China and the USA are in a trade war and have been for 20 years. The Bushes and Clinton allowed Red China to steal technology, manipulate currency, and otherwise wreak havoc with trade.

The weasels who call this free trade are traitors. Let's look at the facts. For every $1 we sell in goods to China, we buy $4 worth of their goods. We are a thoroughbred running against a plow horse and losing because we are hobbled by environmental, labor, and other regulations.

Consider coal mining. The nation's coal mines recorded 15 deaths last year, including eight in West Virginia.

According to Xinhua, the number of deaths in 2017 in China's coal sector was 375.

We finally have a president who is a master of negotiating and an astute student of Sun Tzu. Scot Adams of Dilbert fame calls President Donald John Trump a wizard. Everything you know about President Trump through the media is a lie because he throws them off scent every step of the way.

The Chinese cannot fathom him. They are communists, a sheeplike people with great credentials but no intellectual curiosity. Their ideology requires a conformity that would be amusing if not for the deaths of tens of milions in the name of their religion. Muslims are nowhere near as bloody.

President Trump is an entrepreneur who thinks outside of the box. He lives to negotiate. He already has plucked the Korean Peninsula from Red China. Korea has been a protectorate of China going back 1,400 years although the Japanese held it from 1910 to 1945. (You could say World War II began before World War I.)

There is no doubt that Kim Jong Un is on our side. He is dismantling his nuke program. Compare how healthy and alert the last three hostages Kim gave us compared to the condition of Otto Warmbier. Something happened between June 2017 and May 2018 that turned Kim around. Just what, we can only guess at. Why, we know. President Trump flipped Kim, likely on a personal level as he did with Kanye West.

The answer to your question is yes, we are in a war -- a trade war - and we have turned the tide. Chairman Xi should surrender now while his economy is damaged but still alive.

Iran is on deck, and Russia needs to clean up its act.

Meanwhile, the European Union wants to cut a deal. Mexico is cutting a deal. Japan and South Korea have made their deals.

While he is doing all this, President Trump also has to deal with a witch hunt, work on immigration, and get his judges and justices confirmed.

He still finds time to golf on weekends.

Doug Hagin:Very doubtful. Not anytime soon anyway. And our currently having a strong president is a large deterrent to China. Another reason 2020 is so important.

David Schuler: here's more than one answer to that question. The first answer is that we've been at war with China for at least the last 20 years and maybe as long as the last 70 years. For the last several decades American companies, looking at a market of a billion prospective customers with dollars signs in their eyes, have convinced the politicians of both political parties that we're not. You need only look at the precipitous drop in U. S. manufacturing employment after the admission of China to the WTO, pictured below:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=kRPz

to recognize that as nothing short of economic warfare. Additionally, if you take the various pronouncements of Chinese officials on trade and foreign policy it is quite clear that they view them as zero-sum games, transactions with one winner and one loser.

The other answer is that we need not be headed for war with China. It would be a choice not an inevitability. If the Chinese leadership realized just how deadly war with the U. S. could be for them and everything and everybody they know, there would be no chance of war. But there are so many saber-rattlers on both sides of the relationship I think there is a genuine danger of war with China.

Laura Rambeau Lee: Yes, it appears China’s goal is to draw us into a war and we better be prepared. We are late in realizing just how great a threat China is to the west and the free world. We must secure our alliances and assure them we will be there to fight with them to oppose this existential threat. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

 Well, there it is!

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Judge Sets Leaders of New Mexico Terrorist Training Camp Free

A radical Judge has set the leaders of a violent New Mexico terrorist training camp free.

Judge Sarah Bacus ruled that five Islamic radicals in charge of what amounted to a jihadist terrorist training camp on a $20,000 “signature bond,” which requires no payment.

She did this in spite of police warnings that children being trained and indoctrinated in the camp were being trained with guns to carry out school attacks. According to the Albuquerque Journal Judge Sarah Backus concluded that the radical Islamists aren’t “a danger to the community,”



Thank you, infidel!

Here's what local law enforcement had discovered.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, Lucas Morton, 40, Jany Leveille, 35, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, and Subhanah Wahhaj, 35, operated what amounted to a terrorist training camp, where they trained 11 children to use firearms and to attack schools. The compound had been under surveillance for awhile but police only launched a raid when one of the children texted that they were all in need of food and water.

The police found found rifles, handguns ammo and a shooting range, as well a various signs with Islamist slogans posted around the camp. In a tunnel outside the compound they found the remains of a boy later identified as Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj. According to his mother, he took medicine for seizures but the Islamic radicals thought he was possessed by evil spirits.

They also found 11 malnourished children. and Prosecutors also alleged that the suspects planned to commit violent acts and that Siraj Wahhaj had trained at least one child at the compound to use firearms to conduct school shootings.

Siraj Wahhaj has a interesting jihadist background. His father is none other than Siraj Wajjai, an unindicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who got off due to a technicality. The Imam, a former CAIR advisor, offered prayer at a Democratic National Convention event in 2012. The elder Wahhaj is also close to Linda Sarsour, an anti-semite, Democrat darling and frequent speaker who encourages Muslims to radicalize.

With all that evidence, the prosecutors only charged the five defendants with child abuse. And Judge Backus simply let them go free, without even posting bail.

From the Grant County Beat:

"Judge Sarah Backus made the determination the suspects weren't a danger to the community following several hours of testimony and evidence being presented by prosecutors…State prosecutors outlined evidence suggesting that at least some of the suspects could have been planning some sort of attack…Various weapons and ammo were found during the raid on August 3, and several more firearms were discovered in subsequent searches. The children were allegedly taught how to load and fire assault rifles…In addition, prosecutors described a letter sent to Siraj Wahhaj from his brother allegedly inviting him to come to New Mexico and die as a martyr." (KOB, 8/13/18)

"These suspects face serious charges that they intended to inflict mass violence, possibly through school shootings," added Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Alb), a retired law enforcement officer. "This, combined with the discovery of the remains of a young child, is strong evidence that they pose a high risk of violence and should be behind bars. People who are suspected of killing children and orchestrating mass shootings should not be allowed to walk out of the courthouse and back into their communities with almost zero guarantee that they will ever show up to trial. Regardless of political party, New Mexicans can recognize the danger of the judge's ruling and the risk it poses to public safety. This is Exhibit A as to why we need to pass a new constitutional amendment that would require judges to keep dangerous criminals like these in jail pending trial."

So why would any judge do something like this? These people are a definite flight risk and will likely never show up for trial.

A look at the judge's background sheds some light. She's essentially a San Francisco Bay area transplant. She's a graduate of the University of California Hastings College at UC San Francisco and served as a deputy public defender and deputy attorney general in San Francisco.

As such, it's safe to assume that Judge Backus's ideas and priorities are warped in that direction, and a look at other cases she's handled also give a good indication of that.

Letting a bunch of jihadis go free on their own recognizance is far far, more important than public safety to her.

Oddly enough, she was appointed to fill a judicial vacancy by none other than New Mexico's Republican governor, Susan Martinez, after which Judge Backus ran for the office and won as a Democrat. Needless to say, Governor Martinez is desperately trying to distance herself:

"Unfortunately, it (the verdict) highlights how extreme the New Mexico Supreme Court has been in dictating pretrial release for all kinds of dangerous criminals."

And you're going to do what about this, Governor? Do tell.

Forum:Pope Francis Now Opposes Capital Punishment. What Say You?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question:Pope Francis Now Opposes Capital Punishment. What Say You?

James Kirwin: As I’ve gotten older and become more mistrustful of government, I’ve had to reconcile that with my support of capital punishment. Giving the State that power when you don’t completely trust it seems contradictory, and the number of people exonerated after years on Death Row should give everyone pause.

I still support it at this time, but it’s not a strongly held, non-negotiable position like my support of Israel or gun rights is. The fact that this dippy Pope, who I have little respect for, opposes it really doesn’t affect my decision one way or another.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg : I was once blessed by a Pope when he came to visit Atlantic City, waayyyy back in the 1950’s, and blessed the entire ocean—with me in it.

I liked the just-previous Pope, and others prior to him. I like benign religion that gives people happiness and hope. Solace. A good and creative life. A beneficent Way to be. Order out of chaos.

I have been following the diatribes and rants of this current Pope. Catholics, have you had enough yet?

I have.

Without reading his statement on capital punishment I am going to disregard anything he says—based on his past performance as Pope. To me he is irrelevant in wisdom or religion. To me he is irrelevant as a thinker. He is irrelevant as a man. He is irrelevant.

To me, he is a foreign-born, socialist fraud. How he got to be Pope is a mystery—at least—to me. I speculate he was handpicked to help destroy America and bring the Church down further than it had already fallen.

At any moment I expect him to order Catholics to celebrate Ramadan. And some ancient Aztec feast.

Don Surber: Capital punishment was pivotal in the story of Christ. No execution, no resurrection. Life imprisonment is cruel, but sadly no longer unusual.

Patrick O'Hannigan: The reading I've done asserts that Pope Francis has modified the Catechism of the Catholic Church to say that the death penalty is "inadmissable." This in contrast to what it had said, which was basically that the death penalty could only be legitimately applied in extreme circumstances where there were no other means of safeguarding the public. In the old days, the Papal States (precursors to Vatican City State) applied the death penalty.themselves, and even employed an official executioner. I fear that the change in perspective is a concession to self-proclaimed social justice warriors rather than an honest development of doctrine.

Death penalty opponents typically say that the problem with that is its finality. They mean that when you're dead, it's too late to repent of your sins, and preserving at least the chance for repentance is a recognition of inherent human dignity. That's true as far as it goes, but it ignores potential similarities between capital punishment and the "death bed conversions" that you sometimes read about. Repentance need not take long. It need not come at the expense of justice, either.

Latin remains the official language of Church documents. That said, the word choice (in English) as it has been reported is telling, because it seems to leave a little wiggle room, in a kind of embarrassed acknowledgement of what the Catechism used to say. "Inadmissable" is a lawyerly word, not something typically found in moral theology texts. I'm reminded of the difference between "right" and "legal" (or "evil" and "illegal"). It's a stretch that lay Catholics should not have to make, but something can be "inadmissible" without being "intrinsically evil."

I also can't help but wonder what this pope would make of "By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment," which is a book that came out just last year. Edward Feser, one of the two people who wrote that scholarly but accessible book, has pointed out that popes have explicitly endorsed the death penalty on several occasions. He was also brave and smart enough to point out that slapping the label "development" on a contradiction does not make the so-called development a non-contradiction.

Laura Rambeau Lee: I suspect at least one reason my ancestors left Germany to come to the Colonies in the 1700s was to escape Catholicism, as they were Protestants and members of the German Reformed Church. Protestants believe no mortal man is a direct conduit to G-d and that our relationship with our Creator is a personal one, as is our interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Pope Francis is advancing a globalist Marxist agenda under the guise of a holy man. His beliefs may very well bring about the destruction of the Catholic Church.

When there is no doubt of the guilt of the person and the crime was premeditated, capital punishment delivers justice and brings much needed closure to the loved ones of the victim. The reality is every one of us is going to die. Why should a murderer be permitted to take breath and enjoy this precious gift of life when they callously and cruelly chose to deprive another human being of this gift? Let the guilty repent and receive redemption from G-d in the afterlife, but here on earth they should be required to pay the ultimate price.


 Well, there it is!

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Forum: Why Is Racism Directed At Whites And Asians Largely Ignored?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Why is Racism Directed At Whites And Asians Largely Ignored?


Scott Kirwan:Because in the eyes of those who worry about such things it’s all about power, and they believe that whites have power. As for the Asians, well, they just don’t fit into that belief so they just ignore them.

The whites who believe this tend to come from upper class backgrounds where, surprise! They grew up with wealth and privilege and think their skin color had something to do with that.

My parents, on the other hand, had trouble making ends meet and as late as the 1950s skipped meals so their kids had full bellies. Depression-era survivors they inculcated a belief in us that all that mattered was education and hard work to succeed in life. Skin color didn’t matter, especially to my father who worked menial jobs alongside blacks and Hispanics until he died on the job in 1977.

Where was his white privilege? Or for that matter where was my mother’s who died 3 years ago, penniless after working until her mid-80s?

The SJWs don’t come from the South Side Chicago: they come from places like Martha’s Vineyard and Beverly Hills – and their guilt of being born with a silver spoon in their mouths gets transferred to their skin color, making it about the broader issue of race instead of the narrow topic of being born into great wealth. In a sense it’s the same ignorance and myopia that drove upper class Victorians to shoulder “the White Man’s Burden.”

Currently they hold the megaphone on race so until blacks, Hispanics and Asians rip it away from them, then all white people – including those of us not born into wealth – will be subject to their masochism.

Rob Miller:Actually, I see racism as a very useful tool of the Left.

For one thing, when you convince a portion of certain demographic that America is racist, and that only one political party is their sole guarantor of not only their basic rights but freebies they have become accustomed to because of course they deserve them, it gives you a solid voting bloc, particularly in urban fortresses where voter fraud is easy, and where a bloc vote can result in carrying a state. President Lyndon Johnson, among others knew this when he raided the Social Security trust fund to pay for the so-called war on poverty program to the tune of over a trillion 1960's US dollars.

Not only that, but when you reward certain behavior like urban riots with that kind of largess and center blame on society rather than the perpetrators, something else happens. The behavior gets repeated and held over society's head as a threat. Because it works.

Even the very idea of what racism is becomes distorted, because it becomes not just accepted but actually rewarded...depending on who it comes from.

Another thing that happens is that various parts of civil society start to become unraveled...like the idea of law and order applied equally, the ability of the police to keep civil order and the main concept America has always been based on, that it is a meritocracy, or at the very least a place where you can better yourself based on your own efforts. Once you start giving preference to people based on their race rather than their qualifications or their actual accomplishments, it destroys that ethic, and has the effect of lowering standards across the board as well as building resentment in the non-favored who lose out in the name of 'diversity.'

That's exactly why Asian civil rights organizations are suing the Ivy League colleges for rejecting Asian students based on race. Jews, Asian Indians and other minorities are similarly discriminated against unless their families have alumni who contribute large amounts to the college in question. And it is by no means only Ivy League colleges that do this. Some public funded state universities are also notorious for their worshiping at the graven idol of diversity rather than accepting students and doling out financial aid based on their accomplishments and qualifications rather than their ethnicity. and both Harvard and Yale are openly saying that they will continue to use race as a criterion for admissions.

This story is hardly being covered in much of the media. Imagine the uproar if Harvard was discriminating against blacks, Muslims or Latinos instead of Asians!

Another thing we have to understand is the collusion of whites on the Left with this scenario. Having made this a successful political tactic in grievance politics with one group, the Left is now trying to repeat this tactic with other groups. The idea, of course is divide and conquer, with those not in the select groups, particularly white men being the target.

The way to counter this tactic is (a)not to cringe and cower but to respond aggressively and expose those using it as the real racists they are...ridicule works particularly well (b) use the court systems to punish those who use discrimination as 'virtue signaling' (3) Boycott companies, media sites and universities who practice, promote or reward this kind of bigotry. (4) Use our DOJ to prosecute those who violate our laws on this matter where applicable and have zero tolerance for violence that is race based or attempts to silence critics of this kind of racism...provided someone either wakes Jeff Sessions up from his nap or 'retires' him.


Laura Rambeau Lee: Racism directed at Whites and Asians is a tool the left uses to engender feelings of victimization in minorities. It’s easier to blame an unjust society for ones failings than to take personal responsibility. It’s also easier to manipulate people if they have been told their circumstances are no fault of their own, and that Whites and Asians are born with an undeserved privilege and have reaped the rewards of this privilege with little to no work or effort.

 The problem is there is no way to fight this kind of racism. There is no worse thing that can happen to someone than to be labeled as racist. It has destroyed people’s livelihoods and lives. Look at what happened to Roseanne Barr for a stupid Tweet. I believe we understand this and also understand no matter how we react we cannot win. If we are proud of our heritage the left labels us white supremacists, Nazis or KKK supporters. A rational person understands that one can be proud of their heritage without diminishing the heritage of others. Unfortunately we are not dealing with rational people when it comes to the left. Their entire ideology plays on the emotions of others to build their embittered ranks.

Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.

Forum: What's Your Reaction to Mueller's Indictment?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question:What's Your Reaction to Mueller's Indictment?

Don Surber: Indicting Mueller could not come soon enough.

All joking aside, this latest batch of indictments -- timed to draw attention away from the president's trip to Britain and Peter Strzok's bizarre behavior before Congress -- are useless. None of those indicted will be extradited, thus Mueller can make whatever wild and baseless charges he wants and have the press parrot his unbelievable tales and outright lies.

The DNC computer was not hacked. It was leaked. An insider leaked it. After the leak became public, the DNC immediately purged its staff of potential leakers, including Seth Rich who was murdered days later.

Mueller is an abusive coward who should have been fired after the botched anthrax investigation. He went after the wrong man for 5 1/2 years and we had to pay the victim of his vendetta $5.8 million to settle litigation. President Bush failed America by not firing Mueller. Now President Trump must take out this trash.

Federal judges need to rein in prosecutors.

Rob Miller: As I watched the video of Rothenstein reading the so-called Mueller indictment, I started laughing uncontrollably, I really did! There's nothing in here that's remotely indictable. Russia and the U.S. don't even have an extradition treaty. And even if we did, all foreign intel agencies spy on each other's computers, including, of course, the good ol' USA. Putin isn't going to turn over any of his highly trained intel agents to us any more than we would turn ours over to him.

Anyone interested in exactly how ridiculously funny this 'indictment' is ought to read my parsing of this nonsense here. Of course, we also know that finally, Mueller has admitted that that no Trump campaign associates were involved in the hacking effort, that there was no collusion by the Trump campaign or that any Americans were knowingly in touch with the Russians. And he also had to admit that no vote tallies were altered by the alleged 'hacking.'

And by the way, in order to prove hacking Mueller's corrupt team would have had to examine the servers. But those were all wiped clean or destroyed a long time ago while the Famous But Incompetent stood by and did nothing, remember?

Whatever hacking took place involved classified intel Hillary's illegal unprotected bathroom server and on her chief aide Huma Abedin's laptop, the one she shared with Anthony Weiner. The DNC was released by a leaker, and to Julian Assange who made most of the WikiLeaks on the DNC public his source was not the Russians but someone inside the Clinton campaign. This was almost certainly Bernie supporter Seth Richards, who was murdered in what police branded as a robbery attempt...even though the body had $5,000 in cash and jewellery on it when it was found. The NYC cops confiscated his laptop as evidence and are still holding it, unless they destroyed it clandestinely. Since Julian Assange offered a $100k reward for info leading to the capture of Rich's murderer, it's implausible that Seth Rich wasn't involved in the leaks in some fashion.

OK, so we now know that there never was any evidence of Trump's collusion with the Russians. But we also know that a Democrat president misused the FISA apparatus and weaponized the FBI to illegally spy on an opposition candidate during a presidential campaign. That we know for a fact.

For me, that's far more serious than Russian intel agents doing what intel agents from all countries including ours do, especially when a secretary of state commits felonies by having classified documents on an unprotected server in a bathroom, and on a laptop owned by her chief aide and her wacko husband. And the hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that President Barack Hussein Obama illegally intervened in several elections directly...the UK, Israel and Nigeria among others.

For me, the unfunny part of this is that is was timed to poison a badly needed summit conference between President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin. President Trump himself has remarked about how this idiocy has made any agreement s between America and Russia difficult. We have common interests with Russia to be worked out, especially now that Putin is realizing that Russia can't control the Iranians any more.

James Kirwin:I agree with Don.

As for my interest in the indictments themselves I’ll quote the illustrious George S. Kaufmann:

" Mr. Fisher, on Mount Wilson there is a telescope that can magnify the most distant stars to twenty-four times the magnification of any previous telescope. This remarkable instrument was unsurpassed in the world of astronomy until the development and construction of the Mount Palomar telescope.

"The Mount Palomar telescope is an even more remarkable instrument of magnification. Owing to advances and improvements in optical technology, it is capable of magnifying the stars to four times the magnification and resolution of the Mount Wilson telescope."

" Mr. Fisher, if you could somehow put the Mount Wilson telescope inside the Mount Palomar telescope, you still wouldn’t be able to see my interest in your problem."


Fausta Rodriquez Wertz:More kabuki




Patrick O'Hannigan:The Mueller indictments look a lot like a nothingburger. Twelve Russian intelligence officers, none of which will ever be convicted of anything in an American court, and note, please, that every computer system they either hacked or supervised the hacking of was in the possession of Democrats. The Mueller indictments prove that Trump was right about the whole Mueller investigation being a witch hunt aimed squarely at him.

After almost two years in the headlines, trying to gin up support for overthrowing the electoral will of the American people, Mueller had to indict at least the proverbial ham sandwich to justify all the money he's spent. Meanwhile, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz is not yet in jail for handing Democrat servers and email accounts over to IT experts from Pakistan (Were they "doing jobs Americans won't do"?). Hillary Clinton has not been convicted of the money laundering and obstruction of justice charges that she so richly deserves. James Comey still plays "holier than thou" on a book tour. And the FBI's executive leadership continues to disgrace itself.


Dave Schuler:The most recent indictments, of a dozen Russian intelligence officers, actually contained two interesting points. First, to the best of my knowledge it's the first official claim that the DNC was actually hacked by the Russian government. That's actually a pretty important disclosure.

Second, there is still no evidence of collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.

As I have said repeatedly over at my place, I'm content to let the Mueller investigation play out. And I think that just about everybody will be disappointed by its outcome. President Trump and his campaign won't be exonerated outright; he also won't be impeached as a consequence of the investigation's findings.


Laura Rambeau Lee:The Mueller indictment insults the intelligence of we smelly, Walmart-shopping hillbilly deplorables. In an interview on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business, Rep. Devin Nunes stated the House Intelligence Committee released this information in March, only to be mocked by the Democrats and the media. There was even more information in the committee report than in the Mueller indictment. Rep. Nunes stated they essentially wrote this indictment for the Mueller team.

The longer this investigation goes on the more it becomes clear what a waste of time and money has been spent by Mueller and his team. Whatever Russian interference occurred had little impact on the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. And after nearly two years there is no evidence anyone connected with the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the election, which was the whole reason for the appointment of a Special Counsel investigation.

These indictments of Russian intelligence officers will go nowhere. And we know we will never discover the truth with these circuses like we saw last week with Peter Strzok. President Trump must instruct the DOJ to declassify documents related to the Russia investigation so that Americans can see the House report in its entirety without redaction.Most importantly we need to know if our counter intelligence agencies were utilized by the Obama Administration to obtain questionably legitimate FISA warrants to spy on individuals in the Trump campaign. This is supposed to be provided by the DOJ to the committee by July 31st. And so we continue to wait.

 Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.

Forum: Are Sanctions On Countries Trading With Iran Wise Policy?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Are Sanctions On Countries Trading With Iran Wise Policy?

Don Surber:Yes. Given that the Iranian protests are in their second month, there is a chance for a regime change. Women are doffing their headgear, and drivers are parking their trucks. The Grand Bazaar in Teheran shut down. 40 years ago, merchants in the Grand Bazaar backed the Iranian Revolution. Now they seem to want a regime change.

The only influence the United States has is in commerce. President Trump wisely is avoiding too much public support, and I doubt we are doing clandestine operations, as well. Why risk being associated with the rebellion? Any conection betwen us and them will end the revolution. The one thing we can do is not trade with Iran, and tom punish those who do.

This is the latest sign that the New World Order failed. Brexit, Trump, Macron, AMLO in Mexico, and now this. There are many other examples of regime changes because the old order failed The People.


Patrick O'Hannigan:I wish I could be more original on this question than to say that I agree with Don, but -- I agree with Don!

Deterrence does not have to be exclusively in the military realm. The sanctions game (and it is a game, of sorts) amounts to "Leave the gun --Take the cannoli" writ large.


Rob Miller: Oh, I think it's imperative. Iran's economy is in free fall. No one wants the rial, inflation is rampant and the prices of food and other necessities is skyrocketing. That's a big part of what's behind the protests. Iran will not be able to continue to financially afford adventures abroad in Yemen, Syria or Lebanon for too much longer, and even Iraq's kingmaker Muqtada al-Sadr is inching away from Iran somewhat. This will get even worse once Trump's sanctions on countries buying Iran's oil and natural gas take effect. Iran also my not have the funds needed to continue to be Hamas's pay master along with Erdogan. The EU, BTW are looking like they're reluctantly going along with the sanctions. They need our markets far more than Iran's, and their choice will boil down to paying Putin's atrocious prices or buying U.S. LPGD.

I also think our President and his team members are making a mistake by NOT informing the American people what a hideous regime this is...how it brutalizes its own people, the corruption of the Ayatollahs, and that Iran is not in any sense a 'democracy. They need to explain that Iran has been in a state of war with America since 1979. They need to tell the American people that Iran never actually even signed th eso called 'Iran Deal.' They need to remind the American people about Iran's complicity in 9/11, and how the rhetoric of both Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamanei focus on the Twelver Sect's open embrace of apocalypse as a necessity for the Hidden Imam to return to rule the world for their brand of Islam.

The days of Iran's despotic regime aren't over yet. That won't happen until the Army turns. But this is a great way to get the ball rolling.


Bookworm:I'm going to be so original that I'll say I agree with both Don and Patrick! Honestly, I'd love to add some unique, wonderful insight, but I think they said it all.

What I will tack on, because I'm petty, is that one of Obama's most significant failings as president happened early in his administration when he refused to give the Green Revolution any moral support. As we know now, the self-centered Obama had his own grand dream of "solving" Iran and was content to let people die in the streets rather than risk losing the halo he envisioned for himself.


Laura Rambeau Lee:I must say I agree with everyone, also. Sanctions hit them where it hurts most and can often lead to cooperation where and when we need it.

Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.