Forum: What Historical Figure Would You Like To 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: What Historical Figure Would You Like To Be?

Don Surber: Wilt Chamberlain. 30,000 points, 2,000 women.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg:If I could I would want to be the first guy who decided to have a city and be king of it. He would also have figured out that to be, and remain, king he would need a constituency of dedicated rabble.

He would have been the guy who came up with the first idea of telling the rabble what they needed to hear to keep himself in power. Lies would be okay, because the only thing that mattered would be direction and reward or punishment of my masses.

You know, let those who defy me be fired, ruined socially, or destroyed—prevented from breeding independent thinkers like themselves.

And then I’d reward those who backed up me and my special, private, social System. My backers would be the ones to get the big farming and gathering contracts, become rich and famous, get the lucrative cuneiform and symbols contracts, rock dragging endorsements, and be allowed to breed more subjects for me, exactly like themselves.

I would then also be the guy who comes up with the idea of Enforcers, to keep my special societal System running. These would be my police and special State prosecutors, or whatever I might choose to call them.

The Guy—this guy—he would have a way to harness the powers of Marketing, State rituals, and the Social Deliverers—or town news criers.

Thus, the guy, he would have his very of special political System, its purveyors, and Enforcers. He would be the Rock-con Valley and yuge Social Media guy—King.

And if I could go back in time, and be that guy, and be in charge of everything around me and mold the rabble to my Will, and keep them in line, and purvey and enforce my very special Social System: I would go back to being just a fricking goat herder and spare the world from Liberalism forever.

Rob Miller: Hmmm! Joshua, of course! Or maybe Puccini.

Fausta Rodríguez Wertz: Rosalind Russell: Beautiful, talented and smart.

David Schuler: Sir Richard Francis Burton. Explorer, geographer, diplomat, spy, scholar, poet, swordsman, linguist. Tall, dark, and handsome. One of the founders of modern anthropology. Spoke, read, and wrote dozens of languages well.

Laura Rambeau Lee:Maybe it’s my age, but thinking about this question I really can’t come up with anyone in history I would want to be. I honor those from the past who have advanced humankind and sought to better our lives. From the ancient philosophers and through the enlightenment; from our founding fathers and those who fought for the human rights of all individuals; their place in history is and should be acknowledged and their ideas and ideals taught to our children and grandchildren.

When I think back to the past I can’t imagine dealing with the hardship of everyday life of previous generations; having to hunt and raise our own food, simple things like communication, medical care, even bathing, cooking and doing laundry. The technological advancements that have happened in my lifetime alone are an incredible testament to human ingenuity. We live in amazing times. I feel a responsibility, as I am sure many of us do who have been drawn to the blogosphere, to be today’s pamphleteers and town criers, to touch as many people as possible and expose the evil forces and people in the world working to destroy our culture and our country. I feel the importance and urgency of the work we do and am happy to be living in the here and now. Whether we win or lose this fight, at least we can look back and say we were not silent.


Patrick O'Hannigan: I have the same problem Laura does -- I don't want to be anyone else.

But I'd like to have a beer with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas ("The king's good servant, but God's first") Moore, and beach volleyball legend Kerri Walsh-Jennings.


 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!

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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!

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Is There A Solution For Censorship Of Views On The Right By Social Media?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Is There A Solution for Censorship Of Views On The Right By Social Media?

The Razor: Yes my solution is to stop using them completely. I deleted my Facebook page years ago and don’t regret it. Twitter is moronic and masturbatory. All the others have limited utility.

If conservatives publicly left these platforms they would turn into boring echo chambers for the Left – and that’s pretty much what they are today.

So why even bother?

I’ve been playing around with technology since I was a kid. I once thought there wasn’t such a thing as too much technology, but then I tried buying a book on my Kindle and was told that I had already purchased it. Not only had I bought it, I had evidently read it – and I had almost no recall of it whatsoever. That’s when I switched back to buying books. I learned that we have reached a point where technology is like everything else: 95% of anything is crap. We now have to make some conscious choices how we use it, not just stare at our phones and walk blindly into traffic.

At heart I am still a technophile – but there are clear limits. I’ve learned that social media is neither: it’s anti-social and it’s not really media either.

I just got back from Costa Rica, a family vacation at an all-inclusive resort (not the way I usually travel).

The restaurants were filled with people taking pictures of their food and posting them on their FB pages or Instagram feeds.

People were also posting pictures of themselves on the beach or at the pool – likely to their friends and families back home with tags like “Wish you were here.”

It’s a form of bragging – some call it “humble-bragging” – and like all bragging ill mannered.

As a kid growing up in the 1970s I remember how painful it was sitting through the slide shows and 8mm movies taken by friends of the parents.

It was painful then – and it’s still painful now.

We need to stop living in an alternate reality where we are the center of the universe and we think people care what we ate on vacation.

They don’t and we need to stop thinking they do. What this superficial liking and thumbing-up or what-have-you is doing is superficializing our relationships. Instead of meeting our friends face to face and having them ask us about our vacation, we send them pics on Facebook which they “like” for politeness or in the hope that you will do the same to their vacation stills on their next vacation. It’s eroding our communication – and fundamentally our trust, the very foundations of our human relationships.

So there are better reasons to bail on the social media than left-wing bias. If we value our relationships it’s time we put down the damn phones and meet our friends for dinner, or visit the sister we haven’t seen in a few years. That physical interaction is priceless whereas what we have today with social media is about as worth as much as a million likes: absolutely nothing.

Rob Miller: I've never used social media for much more than building my traffic and always gave sites like Twitter and Facebook the bare minimum of info they required. I've never been the sort of person who wants my entire life online. Lately of course, those particular channels are far less effective, and I spent a bit of time messaging my followers on both channels advising them to directly follow my site, which many of them were doing anyway.

While I've discovered other channels and methods to boost traffic, the fact remains that there are very popular web portals that lean Left and promote those views while censoring views on the Right. Even Spotify linked up with the infamous Southern Policy Law Center to target artists with conservative views and vet content for political correctness, although they later reversed themselves, it seems, after serious backlash from subscribers.

Andrew Breitbart (Z"L) famously said that politics is downstream from the culture. As with many other things, he was completely right. While we can boycott platforms that censor views on the Right and who promote Leftist ones, that's only half the battle. Like it or not social media is an important part of the culture, and one that can't just be ignored in the battle of ideas. The real trick is to go on offense and beat the Left at their own game. That's exactly how Breitbart,FOX News and talk radio carved out niches for themselves. There's no reason the same thing can't be done with social media, where victory means building better more interesting platforms where free speech is encouraged to compete. One site that is doing exactly that is Gab, a Twitter competitor that allows 140 characters and freedom of speech. They're relatively new but growing by leaps and bounds as Twitter fades slowly but surely. There's no reason the Right can't create their own social media. Gab is doing it.

Dave Schuler: I suppose making assault or battery perpetrated against Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin misdemeanors punishable by a $5 fine is out of the question?

Not using Facebook, Google, etc. is the obvious answer but, sadly, it's insufficient. It wouldn't be effective. Starting their own Facebook, Google, etc. is another obvious but inadequate response.

The only thing I can come up with is to make their business model unworkable. "Personally identifiable information" means data that could be used to identify an individual. Make PII the property of the individual whom it's about. Make it illegal for someone other than the PII's owner to sell it without the explicit, personalized assent of the owner on a per-incident basis.

Laura Rambeau Lee: The Left considers any conservative viewpoint to be hate speech that must be silenced. They have managed to shut down discussion of any opposing views on our college and university campuses. Students become hysterical and protest anyone who attempts to speak about conservative beliefs and principles. Those working at companies such as Facebook have come out of this collegial environment and fervently believe in the right of free speech – unless they disagree with what the speaker has to say. Progressives have been working for decades within our education system indoctrinating our youth and it is not going to be easy to turn it around. They have all but destroyed our Western cultural traditions and beliefs. They mock family, faith and patriotism. Those of us who are students of history are seeing a repeat of what has happened over and over again, particularly in the last century, as this evil ideology takes hold in our own country. Is there even a possibility for a middle ground where we can work together? I would like to believe so, but the left seems to have taken hold of the Democratic Party and platform. It also appears to have infiltrated the Republican Party as there are very few true fiscal and social conservatives in the party. In addition the unelected bureaucratic elites in government are extremely progressive in their beliefs for the most part and are working towards a more socialist government and egalitarian society. The fact that a majority of our youth today believe socialism is a good thing should scare us all. We are on the verge of losing this battle to the left.

For one thing, we must get involved in our public education system and insist our school curriculum presents unbiased materials. We must insist on teaching civics and classes such as Americanism vs. Communism that many of us were taught in high school. Many public schools today teach American history only from the Civil War forward. We should be teaching our history from the very beginning of our founding, particularly the concepts outlined in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.

As far as social media, it will require a lot of pressure from conservatives to change their policies. There does seem to be a growing backlash against political correctness from more people every day as the left is more out in the open and outrageous in their hysteria (which I believe comes from fear of hearing the truth) against opposing viewpoints. We should not tolerate the bullying going on in the name of free speech and expose it when we see it. We must keep talking and writing and sharing our values and viewpoints so that others will hear and hopefully come to understand the dangers of the left as much as we do. We have to utilize these social media sites to our advantage as much and as best as we can. It is up to us to expose evil whenever and wherever we see it.

Well, there it is!

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Forum: Who Wins The War Between Trump And California's Sanctuary Policies?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question:Who Wins The War Between Trump And California's Sanctuary Policies?

Dave Schuler:Honestly, I have no idea. I think that while it's possible for the federal government to win the fight it's likely that California will. It's also possible that California's politicians will overreach, make a misstep, the president will invoke the Insurrection Act, and California's state government will be removed.

I think it's clear that California is presently an outlier in an number of ways ranging from politics to demographics to economy. Under the circumstances just about anything can happen.

Rob Miller : First, it's important to look at the real issue here. And it isn't some kind of humanitarian 'immigration' issue. It's about ethnic politics and political power.

Over the past three decades or so, the state's population has largely been deliberately replaced, especially in the coastal areas where the population is. It was done using open borders, sky high taxes, massive and complex 'regulations' on businesses and punitive laws favoring illegal migrants and 'takers' rather than makers.

Well funded political organizations like MeCHA, La Raza and MALDEF based on creating and exploiting ethnic grievance also played a role. As things rolled along, laws making it easy for voter fraud to occur and for illegal migrants to vote have exacerbated things. Meanwhile, small business owners, new college graduates, and many working families have simply left because of the artificially created high cost of living and doing business. Large corporations are also starting to leave the not-so-Golden State, because of the high taxation, strangling regulations and the difficulty in attracting employees because the high cost of housing and daily living. Even Silicon Valley has started to move to places like Boise, Idaho,Texas, Phoenix and Colorado among other places.

My point is that this is a political issue that has nothing to do with immigration or humanitarianism.

So who wins? Well, the Constitution says plainly that immigration is one of those powers the Federal Government has reserved for itself, like coining money or issuing postage stamps. Since California's sanctuary laws are in violation of federal immigration laws, it would seem that once this gets to the Supreme Court, if it does, that President Trump wins this one. However, since a lot of appellate judges, especially Obama's appointees seem far more concerned with political posturing rather than the law, it's likely to be a real cobra vs. mongoose battle.

One thing the president could do to bring things to a head is to send federal marshals to Oakland to arrest the mayor, Libby Schaaf for obstruction of justice (a felony) prosecute her, and sentence her to a jail term. Ms. Schaaf is the mayor who warned illegal migrants of ICE activities that she was informed of in advance by ICE. Because of her actions, an estimated 800 illegal migrants with felony convictions are still running around loose. I believe that putting a few examples like Ms. Schaaf in prison would do a great deal to end this standoff, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if President Trump does just that. If I were placing a bet, I'd put it on President Trump to win this one.




Fun fact: It's no secret that one of the Supreme Court justices is planning to retire this summer, and the name that keeps being mentioned is 81-year-old Anthony Kennedy. A Trump nominated justice definitely affect how this goes.

Laura Rambeau Lee: The majority of Americans understand we have a very real problem with illegal immigrants who have entered and are continuing to enter our country. They are undermining the fabric of our society; driving down wages for low income and mostly minority workers; and bankrupting our states with the additional costs expended for education, medical care, and other government entitlements paid out to them. It seems daily we are hearing reports of illegal immigrants committing crimes against American citizens and getting away with them. All too often our system is protecting the criminals and not delivering justice to the victims.

This battle being fought between the Justice Department and the State of California presents a constitutional crisis for our country. California has officially become a sanctuary state and recently passed three laws which the Justice Department says violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a son of legal Mexican immigrants, not only refuses to comply with federal immigration policies, he recently asserted his department would prosecute any business that willingly complies with federal law by allowing federal immigration officers on their property.

Putting an end to illegal immigration was the primary issue of Trump’s campaign and the reason he won. We know the majority of Americans are behind him and his efforts to build the wall, end illegal immigration, and find an acceptable solution to deal with the illegal immigrants already living here.

The federal government must win this war.


Well, there it is!

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Forum: What Do You Think Of the New Budget Deal?

Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What Do You Think Of the New Budget Deal?


Rob Miller:I've never been a fan of debt unless it's tax deductible.

But as we all know sometimes, it's a necessary gamble and government has its own rules, after all. Sometimes, you really do have to spend money to make money, and other times there are simply necessary expenses you have to finance.

I think this deal was necessary for a couple of reasons. And I think President Trump as a businessman is well aware of this.

First, it gets rid of Barack Hussein Obama's sequester nonsense and allows for badly needed defense spending. Most Americans have no clue as to how badly Barack Hussein Obama and his minions damaged our military.

American military policy since the beginning of the 20th century has been to have the naval strength to project our power globally and to have the ability to fight a two front war if necessary. The more candid members of our military admit we no longer have this capacity. Not only is our Navy way behind in the ships it needs, but a number of our weapons, including our nuclear arsenal are outdated and in need of upgrades and modernization. And since Mrs. Clinton and President Obama gave the Russians free access to a number  of our top secret missile defense assets like Hit-To-Kill as part of the so-called reset, that needs major upgrading too.

This all takes money to fix.

This period also saw our military reduced  to a 'social justice' and 'diversity' experiment, with a number of experienced NCOs, enlisted men and officers who wanted to make the military their career being tossed out and in many cases replaced by new recruits who were far less capable but belonged to groups more likely to vote Democrat. And a number of our top combat commanders like Stan McCrystal and then Marine General Mattis saw themselves forced into 'retirement' and passed over for promotion. President Obama's war on religion in the military and insistence that chaplains officiate at same sex marriage not only saw many chaplains resign their commissions but had a definite effect on re-enlistments. Rebuilding our military from a personnel standpoint will also take money and commitment.

Second, America's infrastructure very badly needs repairs. That also takes money and is a national security issue as well as an economic one.

Finally, this is a political victory. It is a two year funding bill, and it was done without the concessions for the illegal migrants known as 'Dreamers' the Democrats formerly demanded. They signed onto this bill for nothing more than a promise of a debate in congress. And they did it understanding that the promise means nothing.. President trump will not sign any bill that doesn't end chain migration, end the ridiculous 'diversity visas' hire more border patrolmen and pay for the border wall, and the Democrats will never concede these points. In other words, they have, for all practical purposes cut the Dreamers adrift except for some nasty, meaningless rhetoric that can be used as CNN soundbites for the True Believers.

And don't think that the Dreamers and their vociferous supporters don't know they've been shafted. That could have some interesting implications in the midterms when it comes to Democrat turnout.

Another point worth mentioning is that much of what President Donaldus Maximus wants to spend the deficit spending on is going to lead to a great deal of economic activity, all of which can be taxed, not to mention real job creation which will also brings lots of money into the economy. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the taxable revenue created pretty much disposes or even exceeds the amount of deficit spending required.

I actually like Senator Rand Paul a lot and I think his late night showmanship in congress was actually necessary to remind his colleagues that they're spending other people's money and that fiscal competence is desired. But I see the benefits to be derived as far outweighing the possible consequences.


Dave Schuler: Rand Paul had it about right when he said that when the Republicans are in power there is no conservative party.

The CBO calculates that the new budget will result in a deficit of about 955 billion in 2018. That's kind of high when the economy isn't in recession—about 5.25% of GDP.

Its consequences will depend on how fast the economy grows. We can safely run a deficit less than or equal to the increase in GDP just about indefinitely. If the economy grows faster on an annual basis than it has since Ronald Reagan's first term, we should be okay.

One major difference between now and Ronald Reagan's first term is that the national debt is much higher both in absolute terms and related to GDP than it was then. The scholarship on that suggests that higher levels of debt are a drag on the economy. So, we're conducting a real life experiment.


Laura Rambeau Lee:We conservatives spent many hours and contributed our hard earned money to help elect candidates who promised they would cut spending and reduce the debt. Through nearly a decade of hard work and dedication we delivered the House, Senate and ultimately the White House to Republicans. We expected our “trusted servants” to deliver on their promises. It has become obvious there is very little honor in Washington, only betrayal. This budget deal will not bode well for Republicans in the upcoming elections.

Very disappointed.

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Forum: Trump And Jerusalem: Strategic Mistake Or Smart Move?

Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Trump And Jerusalem: Strategic Mistake Or Smart Move?

Bookworm Room : It's not a smart move. It's a brilliant move. Let me count the ways:

1. It truly acknowledges Israel's sovereignty because a sovereign nation gets to choose its own capital.

2. It aligns American policy with longstanding American law.

3. It tells the Palestinians that their decades' long, bloody, post-Oslo Accords temper tantrum is over.

4. It tells the Muslim world that its decades' long post-Oslo Accords temper tantrum is over.

5. It changes the accepted, and consistently failed, paradigm of pretending that Palestinians have a say in Israel's self-governance.

6. It exposes how America's fracking and Iran's Obama-powered ascendance have dramatically affected power and alliances in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is no longer floating on a sea of oil wealth and it's terrified of Iran, so the modernizing Prince Salman improves women's rights, tries to teach men how to work . . . and starts working with Israel. More and more Sunni nations will soon do the same. Those nations' leaders always knew that Israel was a scapegoat to distract an ignorant, inbred people from their own governments' failures and brutality. Now, with a real boogeyman on the horizon in the form of Iran, it's time for them to get real and know who their actual friends are. This will involve retraining their subjects, but ignorant masses can be moved.

And as a bonus, the plan exposes the State Department for the antisemitic sinkhole it really is. Tillerson cannot fire enough of those people fast enough.

Rob Miller:  I discussed what happened and why here, and the the back story is definitely of some interest.The compact car version is that Abbas thought he was still dealing with Barack Hussein Obama and acted out, doing what had always worked before...obstruction, violence and outre' demands

It didn't work at all with President Donald John Trump. And he reacted to Abbas's four major provocations with, shall we say, a message that the old schtick isn't going to work anymore.

It also didn't work either with most of the Arab countries, some of whom served up some tasty rhetoric but really don't consider 'Palestine' or Abbas a priority and haven't for some time. Iran looms much bigger in their consciousness, and  a rapport with Trump and with Israel is far more vital to them just now.

Abbas's song and dance did work with EU leaders like  Merkel, Macron and the UK's Theresa May who are petrified of their own domestic Muslim population. They might be better advised to worry about regaining control of their own cities from these foreign invaders rather than sticking their noses into Israel's affairs.

And at any rate, Abbas's attempts to get the EU and/or the UN to take over the moribund peace process and exclude the U.S. are beyond stupid, although they're what you might expect from a Soviet trained 82-year-old kleptocrat dictator.  Israel is not going to accept diktats from the EU or the UN, and furthermore Trump is not going to lean on Israel the way Bush, Clinton and Obama did. The U.S. is getting pretty tired of 'Palestine' too, and it is the U.S. that provides $948 million of the $1.2 billion of the budget of the largest and best funded UN agency, UNRWA, the one devoted exclusively to the Arabs called 'Palestinians.'  And with the bipartisan passage of the Taylor Force Act in congress, much of the U.S. aid to 'Palestine' is going to be curtailed due to Abbas's refusal to stop using donor funds to financially reward terrorist murderers and their families.

  Don Surber: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Doesn't matter what the UN or anyone says. G-d has spoken.

Every president has recognized this. Trump is moving the embassy -- with the blessing of the House of Saud.

Let me explain.

Back in May, Trump made his first foreign visit as president. His stops were, in order, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, Brussels (NATO) and Italy (G-8).

In Riyadh, Trump and his family were greeted as royalty. Ivanka and her husband, both Jewish, were praised in the papers, as was Melania. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and President Trump did a sword dance with the Saudis -- which is a prelude to a battle. Details of just what they agreed to and what they battle are emerging six months later.

Then Trump did the single most important thing on that trip. He flew directly from Riyadh to Ben Gurion Airport. No one said a word. It was the first direct flight by anyone between those two nations. This was historic. Diplomacy required not publicly acknowledging this.

If you think the Saudis or any other Arabs care about Jerusalem, you need to do some homework. Yes, the Palestinians are upset and Egypt and a few other governments officially complained. But only the Persians (Iran) oppose it.

The Gulf states led the charge in Syria to oust the Islamic State. The USA had a supporting role. Better to have Arabs liberate Arabs. Israeli intell also came in handy. Yes, the Israelis and Saudis work together. They have common interests.

The Yom Kippur War ended Arabia's taste for war with Israel. That was 44 years ago.

The new head of state of Saudi Arabia is 32. His best buddy in the Trump administration is Jared Kushner.

Ecclesiastes tells us: To every thing there is a season... A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The 21st century is a time of peace.

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a recognition of that peace.


Patrick O'Hannigan : May I propose a third possibility, because it's the one I'd affirm?

Not "strategic mistake" or "smart move," but "moral imperative."

President Trump is simply doing what other presidents have only paid lip service to. t's ironic how controversial that kind of integrity is in some quarters.

When the Muslim mayor of Nazareth canceled official Christmas celebrations in that town this year, he blamed President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. Newsweek was among the media outlets that accepted that stupid justification. Since when is it an American president's fault when a municipal bureaucrat on the other side of the world can't get over his own sense of entitlement. Or the ahistorical grievance-mongering of people who regard peaceful coexistence as a perpetual challenge?

David Schuler: If it serves to demonstrate that other Arab countries don't really care about the Palestinians or Jerusalen other than as a cudgel to beat over the heads of the Israelis, it's a good thing. Otherwise it's just an acknowledgement of reality.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act, calling for the U. S. to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem by 1999, has been on the books for more than 20 years. Twice a year, campaign promises to the contrary notwithstanding, Democratic and Republican presidents have requested delays, a feature of the law, presumably to satisfy separation of power questions.

As much as anything else moving the embassy to Jerusalem is just obeying the law.


Laura Rambeau Lee : President Trump finally committed America to what we have acknowledged for years but previous presidents were too cowardly to implement. In 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act which declared that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel and that the United States would move our embassy to Jerusalem within five years from the date of the act. Every president since this act was passed signed a waiver every six months, delaying what the American people have supported for over two decades. By his declaration President Trump is affirming our recognition of the sovereignty of the State of Israel and its right to determine where its capital is located.

This is a smart move, perhaps even genius, on President Trump’s part. It will force the Palestinians to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, which has been a non- starter in the peace negotiations for decades. Knowing Israel has the full backing and support of the United States and watching as we prepare and move our embassy to Jerusalem, the Palestinians will be forced to negotiate a workable solution for peace in the region. With President Trump America will stand firm in our position to seek peace in the region with Israel existing as a sovereign state, which has been the goal all along.

James Kirwin: I had the pleasure of visiting the Western Wall in May of this year. Even though I’m not Jewish it was a deeply moving experience.

The idea that a holy site dating back 3,000 years should be handed back to the Jordanians – who didn’t even exist 100 years ago – or the so-called “Palestinians” who also didn’t exist until the 20th century, is ludicrous.

The Jews have to be the only indigenous people the Left doesn’t want to see their land returned to.

Jerusalem belongs to Israel. That’s a fact – and if the Left and the so-called “Palestinians” don’t get that, then that’s their problem.

Time to face reality.


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WoW! Forum::Should Robert Mueller Fired?

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

 Don Surber: Robert Mueller poses no threat to anyone but himself. His arrogance -- hubris -- will do him in because he does not know whom he is dealing with. Mueller is a perfect media darling because he reflects so many of the swelled heads in the newsrooms.

Donald Trump is no ordinary billionaire, if such a beast exists. He knows the law well, the politicians better, and the press best of all.

Trump hires best lawyers. Roy Cohn was his first attorney. Ruthless. Prosecuted the Rosenbergs and got them executed. When the feds charged Trump with housing discrimination, Cohn countersued for defamation and demanded that the feds file an actual lawsuit, not just an administrative action.

Two years later they settled with Trump paying no fine and making no admission of any guilt.

Trump is not a man to be trifled with.

Trump has been involved in 3,500 lawsuits. He knows the courts better than any president not named Lincoln. Some cases he won. Some he lost.

Mueller should know this. He does not seem to know. He has been a federal prosecutor too long. They have nearly unlimited power.

But I think he has met his match.

Name someone who began a feud with him who prevailed. You cannot. Rosie O'Donnell went from the queen of nice on daytime TV to whatever she is today.

Megyn Kelly got a nice deal with NBC -- and is watched by fewer people now than she was at Fox News.

And so on.

The Russian dossier is fiction by a retired British intelligence officer. In nine months since it was made public, no one has independently verified any of the 35 allegations.
Trump lawyered up anyway, and it will pay off.

The leak of grand juries on Friday night was a breach of ethics. Mueller has nothing on Trump, and Manafort is nothing to him.

Mueller tried to get Trump through his kids. That was a low blow.

Firing Mueller now makes this swine a martyr.

Keep him.

He has nothing. He will whither on the vine.


 Rob Miller: Mueller shouldn't be fired, at least not right now. But he needs to be neutralized by destroying his credibility in public.

The twin scandals of Fusion GPS, the spying and illegal wiretapping by the Obama Administration on a political campaign by the opposing party during an election year, and Uranium One, which Mueller appears to be directly complicit in have already been revealed.The Democrat's servile media minions are doing the best they can to twist things around and muddy up the details to confuse the American people, but I unraveled the facts last week in an easy to follow article, and when they're presented in a straightfoward manner it's obvious that the very people ranting about Donald Trump and 'Russia collusion' were the ones colluding with the Russians themselves.

 Robert Mueller is clearly implicated in the Uranium One Scandal, which happened during Mrs. Clinton's term as Secretary of State in 2010 Certain Canadian investors working on behalf of the Russian government wanted to acquire ownership of certain assets amounting to one fifth of U.S. uranium production. They were represented by the Podesta Group ( yes, that would be John Podesta and his brother Tom), who lobbied Washington for them.

Since this involved strategic materials, it needed oversight and a green light from Hillary Clinton’s State Department. That green light was obtained after these same investors ‘donated’ $148 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation and arranged for Bill Clinton to receive $500,000 for a speech in Russia, more than double his usual fee. There are also some indications a donation to the Clinton Library was involved as well.

As the Hill revealed recently, the FBI had uncovered a bribery plot involving the Russians and uranium transactions in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They had substantial evidence, including eyewitnesses. The investigation also revealed that the deal involving the Clintons was part of the illegal bribery scam. Yet someone ordered the FBI not to reveal the details of their investigation or even to disclose it to Congress. Essentially, things were stonewalled for four more years,until 2015, after Obama’s re-election.  So the deal went through, even though the Obama Administration was fully aware of what the FBI had uncovered.

The head of the FBI when this was going on was Robert Mueller. Either he personally quashed the bribery investigation or he was told by his boss Eric Holder to do it and complied. There's no way he couldn't have known the national security implications of the Uranium One deal, yet he stonewalled the investigation until after Barack Obama was re-elected.

Meuller was always going to come up with something, and I imagine it will be trumped up charges involving  Paul Manafort or perhaps against Donald Jr. for taking a meeting with a Russian lawyer withsome connections to the Russian government  about - wait for it - adoptions!

It's also pretty obvious that Mueller whipped this stuff up in a hurry to try and spin the news cycle and bury the facts about who really colluded with Russia.

That's why the President needs to immediately name a special prosecutor to investigate these scandals, and especially, to investigate Robert Mueller among other things. He obviously knew about the bribery. Why did Mueller stonewall the investigation?  Did he receive orders to do it, and if so, from whom? Is there any evidence in his bank records that he received a sum of money or profited via an investment? And as head of the FBI, what made him be so negligent as to turn his back on something so vital to national security, keep his mouth shut and attempt to bury it?

The Democrat's Trump Russia lie is already on life support. A solid special prosecutor  ought to be able to finish the job and turn the spotlight on some of the most corrupt people ever to hold public office and betray the public trust.

Patrick O'Hannigan: I agree with Don that Robert Mueller will likely "wither on the vine," but I still think that President Trump should fire him rather than waiting for that to happen. There would be political repercussions to firing Mueller, because the anti-Trumpers and the Left would indeed treat him (undeservedly) as a martyr, and would have another fig leaf with which to try to cover bad behavior by the Obama administration and its notoriously tone-deaf Secretary of State. On the other hand, there is, I think, a significant up-side to demonstrating (by letting Mueller go) that the rule of law actually requires prudent exercise of responsibility in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government.

Robert Mueller, when he was running the FBI, had to have known more than a little of what the rest of us are now learning about the extortion and backroom-dealing behind Uranium One. He would also have realized that the Clinton Foundation was little more than a global money laundering operation. He probably figured that going after the Clintons or the Russians was a waste or resources. You can argue the merits of that inactivity, but it's ridiculous to make him the point man for an investigation into "collusion with Russia" now when he did nothing about it then.

I was once sympathetic to the argument that Mueller ought not be criticized for staffing his current investigation with donors to the Democrat party, because every big law firm donates to the party in power, so the pool of investigative talent was always going to be in the shadow of the DNC. That argument no longer persuades me, because Mueller himself has been so obviously partisan. He was touted as having earned "bipartisan respect," but what that means today is that other agents of the "administrative state" recognize him as one of their own. And let's not forget the President Trump was elected in large part on his promise to Make America Great Again. He was going to do that not just in positive ways (such as tax reform and repeal of "Obamacare"), but also in negative ways, by "draining the swamp" that Washington, D.C. has become. Mueller is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Firing him would be akin to saying (correctly) that when President Obama created the DACA program and the immigration machinery around it, he did that in an unconstitutional manner, by executive order.

Let's not forget that Robert Mueller and James Comey are friends, either. I don't know either man and can't fairly judge their characters, but Comey's record has been less than stellar, and friends ought not be put in charge of "investigating" each other. Mueller and his acolytes continue looking at President Trump while the media breathlessly reports even uncorroborated "findings," but Mueller's activity looks more and more like willful misdirection every day. By looking at Republicans (or even alleged Republicans), Mueller helps his Democrat friends avoid the spotlight that should be on them. For example, people are talking about Uranium One because Hillary Clinton is still a high-profile name, but how about Debbie Wasserman-Shultz and her unusual IT staffing arrangements? Those had national security implications, too.

Laura Rambeau Lee : Robert Mueller should have recused himself at the outset of this investigation. The fact that he did not in spite of his obvious and many conflicts of interest leads me to believe his job as special counsel is to make sure the truth of what really transpired between the DNC, the Clinton campaign and the Russians never comes to light. It appears the establishment Democrats AND Republicans seem bent on taking down a duly elected President Trump. A Friday leak revealed the Mueller team has filed the first charge or charges in the case with a federal grand jury, although the charges have been sealed by a federal judge. We may find out who has been charged and what the charges are as early as Monday. Will it be someone connected to the Trump campaign? All of this high drama is a smoke screen to keep us from finding out the real truth. Congress should end this investigation now.

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WoW! Forum: What Do You Think Will Be The Major Tech And Science Breakthroughs In The Next 10 Years?

Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's Question:What Do You Think Will Be The Major Tech And Science Breakthroughs In The Next 10 Years?

Mike McDaniel:Whooooo, as one of my favorite students used to say. I haven’t a clue, but no one has ever accused me of being unable to fill space with writing, so I’ll make some wild guesses, keeping firmly in mind that many such advancements come out of the blue. They’re usually things most of the public hasn’t been keeping in the “oh boy, wouldn’t be great if” mental file.

Firearms: Primarily because Donald Trump is in office, there may be money for basic upgrades that have been put off for far too long, particularly, our standard military rifle. Look for a new rifle in a slightly larger caliber, more on the order of .30 caliber, or something between that and the current 5.56 mm. I suspect the same basic rifle design will be used, as that would keep overall developmental and manufacturing costs low, but perhaps with the upgrades of the H&K version of the M4. We’d be smart to adapt the Israeli Tavor, but I doubt we’ll be able to ignore the “not invented here” syndrome. A civilian version of the same weapon would also be useful for hunting a much broader range of game than the current cartridge allows.

Science: We’ll be able to quantum teleport larger items over greater distances. The Star Trek transporter will remain fiction, but we’ll be able to do more. The commercial, and particularly military, applications are simply too lucrative for this not to be exploited.

Military: Our surface combatant warships will be equipped with multiple, powerful lasers, capable of not only shooting down drones, but missiles and aircraft, and of sinking at boats in the patrol boat class.

Our larger surface combatant warships will be equipped with electromagnetic railguns, capable of destroying virtually any ship at a very low cost per shot. Anything within 100 miles will be in grave danger from these weapons.

Our Air Force will be equipped with large, stealthy missile truck drones, capable of carrying far more missiles than our F22 or F35 fighters can manage. With the digital links of the F22, and particularly the F35, a few fighters could destroy a swarm of enemy fighters from safe distances, undetected. Such dedicated drones could theoretically carry a laser large and powerful enough to destroy enemy fighters. Our normal manned fighters aren’t large enough.

Computers: Moore’s law continues to hold. Computers will become smaller and far more powerful. An Apple Watch will have the features and capabilities of a contemporary laptop, limited only by holographic display technology. Sufficiently advanced models could eliminate the need for hand held cell phones entirely.

Look for true mental interfaces for computing. Sufficiently advanced display technology would eliminate the need for computer monitors.

Automotive: Self-driving cars will not become the future. The potential dangers, to say nothing of the legal liability for manufacturers and fleet operators, are simply too great. However, greatly enhanced safety features such as automatic braking (collision avoidance), back up danger detection, detectors for drivers nodding off, and a variety of other issues already in the tech pipeline will become commonplace.

Medicine: Effective treatments for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, as well as genetic therapies for a variety of illnesses will become commonplace. Therapies for many forms of cancer will become more effective, greatly extending life.

All of this and more may be ours, if we’re not caught up in fighting a second civil war because the political elite would rather keep their perks and rule over the rubble than advance mankind and honor the Constitution. I’m not optimistic about our chances.

 Rob Miller:There are several tech advances I think we'll see in the next ten years.

I think AI and robotics are going to be HUGE, simply because they will replace a number of human workers in some surprising places. We're already seeing that many companies are already automating many customer service and accounts receivable functions. It's quite plausible that we may even see AI lawyers for some functions. And many factory jobs will go the same way. Many corporate fast food restaurants will be almost entirely automated except for a couple of management staff. Supermarket checkers could also become largely extinct. So could home delivery of pizza and other foods by humans. Drones are already doing this in a few places.

There are already robot brothels in Europe and Asia, and there's no question that a number of working girls will soon be out of work as 'sex robots' get more and more advanced. And as prices come down, a realistic sex robot (of either sex) with changeable personas and/or a robot maid, housekeeper or butler could become quite common. Same with many secretarial duties.Robots and AI could even be used in war fighting instead of human personnel, perhaps controlled by humans behind the lines the way drones already are. And some people may even want to have robot, AI pets instead of dogs and cats.

I would predict there will also be a reaction of sorts to this, and certain restaurants, grocers, shops, brothels etc will also retain a place simply because many humans prefer to deal with humans. And a good many other jobs will open up, as they always do.

We will see vast improvements in medical technology. Micro surgery, organ transplants and even gene manipulation will be far more advanced and  commonplace. I would predict that we will even see the development of 'farms'  where organs for transplant are grown and stored as needed.And a cure for most kinds of cancer will likely be discovered.

Look for virtual entertainment to take a huge leap, aside from the oversized cumbersome headphones. Now YOU can be part of the action!  I expect hologram technology to take a huge leap. Imagine a home theater where you could watch say, 'Sunset Boulevard' but give Bette Davis Gloria Swanson's role and sub Kirk Douglas for William Holden. And perhaps even create, to some degree, your own 'script?' Much of the tech (if not quite all of it) already exists for that.

There are other things we will likely see, some pleasant, some unpleasant. A lot will depend on how much global strife there is and what forms it takes.


Laura Rambeau Lee : In many ways technology has made our lives easier but I worry about our youth growing up not really understanding why or how things actually work. We are growing too dependent on technology. Something as simple to grasp as counting change back is a lost art as today all one has to do is put in the amount tendered and a machine calculates the amount the cashier gives back to the customer. If the register breaks I fear many would be at a loss to make change anymore. It seems a lot of jobs are this way today with people relying on technology without really understanding or being able to make the calculation on their own or even understand the process. Our schools are doing a great disservice not teaching the basics of how to do things on our own without benefit of technology.

Robotics will become more advanced and will be used much more in medicine, business and in our homes. We are already seeing autonomous cars being tested in some cities, something I hate to see being an avid car fan, but it seems to be inevitable.

As far as science and medicine we are really on the verge of some major breakthroughs. I saw firsthand when my mom was going through treatments for breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver what breakthroughs are on the horizon. She sought out and participated in experimental treatments. Both treatments had to do with delivery of chemotherapy directly into her tumors. In the first study at NIH she was treated with a chemotherapy drug coated with a lipid where they introduced the chemo directly into the tumors laparoscopically and then performed radio frequency ablation (high heat) on the chemo cells dissolving the lipid coating and leaving the chemotherapy drug directly in the tumors. The second set of treatments was similar but they used glass beads soaked with chemotherapy drugs which the doctor would place at the blood source that fed the tumors, blocking the blood flow to the tumors and again directing the chemo into the tumors. Both of these treatments killed the tumors, but being in her liver they would treat one lobe at a time and then six months later they would treat the other lobe. Unfortunately the liver regenerates, blood flows get restored and the tumors grow in other areas. By directly introducing chemo into the tumors it is much easier for a body to handle with less of the side effects of chemo infusions. She did this and fought the cancer in her liver for six years, something pretty much unheard of. Of all of the government agencies the National Institute of Heath is doing some amazing things and we should support their work. They are also creating vaccines from a patient’s own genetic material that is being used to kill cancer cells with promising results. I pray one day all cancers become curable. Many types already have high cure rates such as certain leukemias and Hodgkin’s disease.

Whatever the future advances in science and technology, we should focus on how it helps our lives and not allow it to replace how we teach and educate our children and grandchildren. We must not allow these advances to interfere with our personal relationships and communications with one another. They should always be considered as useful tools, nothing else.

Dave Schuler :It would be easier to predict what won't happen but the question is about what will happen. Within ten years we'll have small scale mass produced nuclear reactors. Additive manufacturing will wreak havoc on China, Inc.'s business plan because it will mean that transportation costs are more important than labor costs in determining an item's cost.

I guess that's all I've got...

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WoW! Forum: How Would You Rate Trump's Performance After Six Months?

Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's Question:How Would You Rate Trump's Performance After Six Months?


Don Surber: My 401-k -- fully invested in Bogle's S&P 500 stock index fund -- is up 15% since Election Day.

860 regulations are gone.

14 Congressional Review Act resolutions have wiped out other regulations.

Factories are hiring, mines too. And coal miners make $75,000 a year in a state where $100,000 still buys a nice three-bedroom ranch.

Patriot missiles are in Poland.

The Islamic State is out of Iraq -- and Syria.

President Trump made the first direct flight from Riyadh to Israel. The BDS movement is on the wan.
NATO nations are living up to their military commitments. The LNG and oil we will sell to Europe could collapse the Russian economy and end Putin's political career.

Self-deportations are up. ICE is doing its job. Wages are creeping up.

Food stamps are falling, as is the corruption that goes with it. Schools no longer have to serve Michelle Obama Meals that kids dumped in the trash.

The pace however is slow. The judicial appointments need to be speeded up. All the appointments do. And of course, he blew it by allowing a special prosecutor to go fishing for a crime.

The media wastes its time and credibility on Russia. I love it.

Six months in, I am glad I voted for Trump twice last year (in the primary and the general election) and look forward to doing the same in 2020.

He easily gets an A for his efforts and his accomplishments. There is more to do, of course. And there is a lot of bluster. But grownups look upon the media madness with amusement. When you are draining a swamp, expect a big stench and loud roars from dying critters.

Mike McDaniel: Consider Donald J. Trump’s accomplishments: He is not Hillary Clinton. One cannot say that too often: he is not Hillary Clinton. Despite what the Media would have us believe, he is not providing Obamite “flexibility” for Vladimir Putin. He is reversing much of the damage Barack Obama did. He is reversing Obama’s betrayal of Poland by providing missile defense systems to the Poles. He has greatly increased American imports of energy, particularly natural gas, which is absolutely to the detriment of Russia.

He is reversing unnecessary, punitive and costly regulations across the board. He is, slowly but steadily, dismantling the administrative state. He is reversing innumerable Obama executive orders including vast western land grabs.

Neal Gorsuch.

Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord; that was worth it just to see the greenie’s heads explode, as they continue to explode today. He approved the Keystone XK and Dakota Access pipelines.

Economic confidence and optimism is soaring and the number of actual, not paper, jobs created in only six months is nearing a million.

You’d never know it by listening to the Media, but he’s signed more than 40 bills that are actually worthwhile. He’s rebuilding our military.

Illegal immigration, despite constant media lies and Leftist lawfare, has declined in numbers the head of the Border Patrol calls “miraculous.” This not because he has been able to revamp the law, but merely because he is enforcing the law, and everyone, including Mexico, know he’s serious.

Donald Trump can actually speak the words “radical Islamic terrorism,” and has often done so. Not only that, he understands our enemies, and is treating them as enemies. He also is repairing the damage Barack Obama did to our allies, including NATO.

James Mattis.

In just six months, President Trump's accomplishments outstrip those of many president’s entire terms. This despite impediments that would bring others to a complete halt.

Mr. Trump’s ultimate problem is he is an actual leader, not a beltway leader. Witness the Media, the self-imagined elite of the Beltway, politicians and academics as they scream in anguish "Trump isn’t normal!" He’s not doing it right! He’s not doing it the way it should be done, the way they’re used to, their way!

Theirs is the leadership of messaging, the narrative, of the correct, soaring, sophisticated rhetoric, of good and exalted intentions, of the moral--progressive--high ground. It’s the leadership of pay to play, of enriching oneself and one’s friends, and destroying one’s political enemies. It’s the leadership of double crossing the nation’s allies--especially those nasty Jews--and embracing and enriching America’s enemies. It’s the leadership of taking one’s time, doing one thing at a time, and patting oneself on the back for one’s great intellect and morality.

Donald Trump was elected because he’s the opposite of all that. He’s the kind of leader that uses every minute of the day and wishes he had more. His focus is getting the job done, and he juggles multiple tasks at the same time while expecting everyone that works for him to do the same. He says he’ll do it, and he does it, and expects it done yesterday. He’s used to working in the real world, with real people. When he says “the people,” he thinks of individuals, actual people he knows, not some abstract body of slaves laboring for his noble goals.

Trump deals with the world as it is. He doesn’t try to make the world conform to what he thinks it should be. This, alone, is an enormous accomplishment, one many presidents never truly master.

All of this makes the Media, and the Never Trump Republicans absolutely crazy. They can’t understand it, but they know it is absolutely foreign, just as normal Americans find it comforting, because it’s their reality. That’s why they hate him--and us--so much.

If Congressional Republicans ever find a backbone and use the power the Constitution gives them to set the rules of the Congress so they can ignore the Democrats, Mr. Trump will actually be able to repeal and replace Obamacare, truly reform our tax system, reduce the IRS in size and power to what it ought to be, and make our immigration system work to benefit America and Americans.

If he can do that in four years, he’ll be one of our most consequential and accomplished presidents.

To be sure, he’s made errors—Jeff Sessions—but by any honest measure, his accomplishments are many, and in many cases, historic.

 Rob Miller: I think President Trump's first six months have been amazing. He's been faced with what is an organized and well funded attempt to delegitimize his presidency and obstruct him at every turn unlike any in our history, one that includes members of his own party.The fact that he's accomplished as much as he has in view of this is absolutely jaw dropping.

I've written before that what President Trump is doing is an attempt to reverse a quarter century of American decline under three of the worst presidents in our history.  It isn't going to be easy, and he's made a few beginner's errors along the way, but his record speaks for itself.

He has totally remade American foreign policy from the abyss it was in, refreshing alliances with traditional allies estranged by Obama and reassuring the world that  'leadership from behind' is a thing of the past. He also has defied Russia by selling anti-missile systems to the Visograd alliance,  is shipping them natural gas to nullify Russia's energy blackmail, and has revitalized NATO by insisting that the member nations fulfill their commitments of defense spending, although some of them like Germany persist in refusing to do so.

He has cut illegal migration substantially, even with congress shirking it's responsibility to fund the border wall we need for national security. He also has revitalized the efficiency and leadership of ICE and our Border Patrol.

He has made substantial progress in repairing the swamp known as the VA, fulfilling another of his campaign promises.

He has appointed a stellar cabinet, including, yes, Jeff Sessions...who I can't demonize for what amounts to a beginner's  mistake in judgement.

He is defeating ISIS, has finally stopped U.S. funding by the CIA of the al-Qaeda affiliates characterized by Obama and his minions as 'moderate Syrian rebels' and is showing unusual resolution and decisiveness as our Commander in chief. Even WAPO shill David Ignatius had to admit that much. or to quote one of SecDef Mattis's bon mots when pestered by an obnoxious reporter as to the status of the fight against ISIS, simply looked at him sideways and said just four words "We're winning, they're losing."

He has substantially cut stifling federal regulations, far surpassing his original 2 for 1 goal. And the economy? Estimates are that during the first six months of his presidency, the national wealth has increased by over $4 trillion. Admittedly, a lot of this is stock market gains and as I consider the Market overvalued, this could be subject to change. But it is still an undeniable fact, as is the increse of manufacturing and energy related jobs.

Then there's the Keystone pipeline, the dramatic decline of unemployment claims and food stamp users. getting out of the economy killing Paris Accord, and a number of other accomplishments.

The two things that give the Trump administration the impression of 'accomplishing nothing' are simply not something you can blame him for...by which I mean repealing ObamaCare and tax reform. Those missteps are entirely the fault of weak Republican leadership in congress. The House produced a decent replacement bill that would have resulted in an $800 billion tax cut for Americans pauperized by ObamaCare's demands. It wasn't perfect, but it was far better than the nonsense the senate finally came up with after engaging in outright bribery redolent of the sordid smell attending ObamaCare's introduction. Fun fact, not reported by the media...the three female senators from Alaska, West Virginia and Maine who opposed repealing ObamaCare have something in common besides gender. All of them come from predominantly rural states with a huge problem with opiate addiction, something these states have fought by expanding MedicAid to put the cost back on the Feds. There are other members of Congress in love with all those luscious tax dollars ObamaCare provides, just as some of them combat the president's attempt to curtail our problem with illegal migration because their donors love the continued flow of cheap labor, Illegal migration is something that directly contributes to the high cost of health care in America as well as other problems.

President Trump is going to have to find some way of dealing with this element of his own party, and the solution may very well be to form a new one out of the ashes of the GOP. There are definitely Democrats like Joe Manchin, Heidi Hightkamp and the handful of members of the Blue Dog caucus who might cheerfully join a new party like that.

Dave Schuler : Incomplete. There have been no substantial legislative accomplishments during the first six months of his term. The attacks by the media have been so continuous, determined, and mean-spirited at one level it's been amazing that he's done anything other than push back.

Despite it all the country hasn't actually collapsed yet, there are few signs of imminent impeachment, he may accomplish something yet, and amazing as it seems the mood of the country has actually improved so I, in a spirit of generosity, give him an Incomplete.

Laura Rambeau Lee : In spite of the constant negative reporting and Russia obsession from the main stream media, President Trump’s performance has been a positive and welcome change from the past administration. He has signed more than forty bills and almost that many executive orders dealing with many issues. It is reported that he has saved businesses nearly $18 billion a year by reining in oppressive regulations and bureaucratic red tape. He approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, rolled back the Clean Power Plan, and horrified the progressive left by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.

On the foreign policy front he has succeeded in reasserting America’s position as a global leader. His meeting with the nations of the Muslim world in Saudi Arabia, his speech in Poland, and the G20 meetings show he understands and will protect our interests and support our allies in the future. His nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court assures we will have a more conservative leaning court for decades to come.

In short, President Trump is making good on his promises to the American voters who supported and voted for him. The Republican Party must get behind him and the people who elected him or the party might just collapse. Many of us are losing patience with the health care repeal and/or replace debacle and are losing faith in the party. The American voters will have to do their part to drain the swamp by voting out the entrenched career politicians in Congress and those who promised they would repeal Obamacare.

I just hope President Trump can continue to do the job we elected him to do; his new Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci can uncover and eliminate the leaks coming out of the White House; and the witch hunt being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is quickly wrapped up. We are six months into the administration. It’s time the Democrats get over their disappointment with the results of the election and accept that President Trump is and will be president for at least the next four years. It’s time for them to buck up and do their jobs and stop being obstructionists to everything this administration has been charged by the American voters to do.


Well, there it is!

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