Daily News Roundup

Estimated Reading Time: 24 minutes

NOTABLE QUOTES

John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist: Haley isn’t expanding the GOP tent, she’s bringing in leftists who want to infiltrate the Republican primary and destroy the party.

Victor Davis Hanson contributor to American Greatness: Add it all up, and the world abroad agrees America is in rapid decline and will not or cannot defend its interests, or for that matter itself.

Kurt Schlichter contributor to TownHall.com: American elections are binary choices. If you don’t choose the Republican, you’re helping the Democrat. And look at what the Democrats want to do. This isn’t an election where we can shrug and wait four years for another shot. That’s another 10 million illegals, a couple of SCOTUS seats, and who knows how many wars. This is existential. Our garbage elite is not only evil but stupid, so stupid and arrogant that it is bound to do things to our country that can’t be undone. This is serious, and your choice matters.

John Cass – JohnCassNews.com: I feel a true insurrection coming on. Not some political stunt, but something that involves broken teeth and sobs and elitist media types holding their head in their hands, wondering what happened. Political rats react to pressure. And ultimately, when there is nowhere to run whether that happens this election year or during the bloody French Revolution and the Jacobin Reign of Terror, they often turn on each other.

Jessica Barshis reporter for Human Events: The globalist elites in attendance at WEF referred to themselves as “guardians of trust,” Bin Laden reported, and “think they are the masters of the world” despite being largely self-appointed.

Eric Utter contributor to American Thinker: CBS political reporter Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) took to ‘X’ to wonder whether it would be a “bad” thing if humans became extinct. She tweeted posted: Why do people work so hard just to continue the human race in apocalypse movies when the world is falling apart? Is it really all that bad if we as a species cease to exist? Alright, Kathryn, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is? Lead by example and go extinct first. The rest of us will join you. Promise.

Deane Waldman, M.D. contributor to American Thinker: One of the triumphs attributed to the ACA by then-president Obama was job growth. According to Goldman Sachs, “500,000 jobs [were] added to health-care sector under ObamaCare.” When the data are studied in detail, 47,000 were care providers, meaning that 453,000 (91 percent) were non-clinical jobs, people who did not provide patient care. Mentally calculate the salaries for millions of bureaucrats, administrators, rule-writers, regulation compliers, compliance officers, overseers, mandate-enforcers. This is the cost of healthcare BARRCOME associated with regulations such as the ACA, which cost $1.76 trillion. In fact, to cover part of this BARRCOME cost, $716 billion was taken from the Medicare Trust, money intended to pay for hospital care for seniors. According to the Trustees, Medicare will be insolvent by 2028 and thus unable to provide this care. The ACA was merely one more money sump that diverts healthcare spending away from paying for care.

BIDEN’S DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: PERSECUTE YOUR OPPOSITION, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP & HIS FORMER TRUMP EMPLOYEES, SUPPORTERS & WH STAFF

Sundance: Not Cool – Alex Soros Tweets: “Bullet Hole, 47”

Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, sends a message via his Twitter account that is troubling. Being subtle like a brick through a window the billionaire leftist posts a picture of a “Bullet Hole” and “$47.” President Donald Trump is going to be the 47th President.

See the message: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/01/21/not-cool-alex-soros-tweets-bullet-hole-47/#more-255054

LIBBY EMMONS: Voters love Donald Trump because he’s the only man successfully standing against America’s Kafkaesque justice system

The many trials of Donald Trump, each seemingly more absurd than the last, reveal the farcical nature of the American justice system. Each case, from the civil trial brought by admittedly biased AG Letitia James, the criminal case about bookkeeping records brought by equally partisan Alvin Bragg, the harebrained RICO case undertaken by Georgia’s Fani Willis, the two intensely politically motivated cases brought by the Justice department of the sitting president—and intentionally structured in a way to disrupt the election, to the sensational “defamation” suit brought by a washed-up writer looking to cash in on the Trump name, is intended to remove or discredit Trump to such an extent that he’s no longer a viable presidential candidate. Repeatedly, Trump has told Americans that the weaponized powers of justice are not coming for him, “they’re coming for you,” and Trump is just in the way. He stands up, he fights back, he refuses to submit to gag orders, accelerated timelines, or to stipulate to the basis of any of the cases. Yet watching the cases unfold, the days spent in court before Trump Force One goes wheels up, off to another campaign destination, recalls an old story of a singular trial.

THE CORRUPT & DANGEROUS U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES & THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE APPARATUS

Cass: A Tale of Washington vs America: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Consider the face of the supreme American bureaucrat of the most powerful federal city of the world, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. He might want to be considered a boss but his talents lay elsewhere. A boss is someone who takes direct action and extends his iron fists over the chessboard. A Stalin, a Richard J. Daley, Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall. Mayorkas is not a hard man of hard history. He has soft hands. Rather than confront the issue and take direct action, he is bureaucratically passive. He passively destroys the country by not enforcing its border laws. And a country without borders is not a country. This is his talent. Mayorkas’ superpower is the sin of omission. In this he is rather like an Ottoman eunuch hatched by Barack Obama. Mayorkas is a smooth and hairless servant of those who have destroyed the American border. His inaction has allowed the Mexican drug cartels to illegally smuggle truckloads of the deadly Chinese-made poison fentanyl that have killed 100,000 young Americans. He has allowed tens of millions of illegal aliens to mock that non-existent border and invade America while demanding goods and services from American taxpayers. He is a servant of the China Joe Biden administration. He takes orders. President Biden opened the border on his first day in office and what the American people see is no accident. It is all by design. Mayorkas has taken orders to preside over an invasion.

TUCKER ON X

(Reposted) Carlson: It seems likely that government officials were involved in planting pipe bombs in Washington, DC three years ago, as part of an effort to keep Donald Trump from running for president again. Darren Beattie has details.

Watch the 14:33 minute interview: https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1748117563228483869?s=20

GLOBALISM (GREAT RESET/NEW WORLD ORDER) & TRANS HUMANISM (AI HUMANS 2.0) ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED

Joe Allen Joins WarRoom To Discuss Where Artificial Intelligence Is Heading

Watch the 14:37 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v48324z-joe-allen-joins-warroom-to-discuss-where-artificial-intelligence-is-heading.html

(H/T AA) Zeke_gary2 X post: Listen to her carefully.

Watch the 51 second video: https://twitter.com/ZekeGary2/status/1748535998257275261

Hoft: Maria Bartiromo: Klaus Schwab Got Up and Walked Out of Room During Argentina President Milei’s Speech at Davos Attacking Globalist Power-Hungry Elites

Milei, having been introduced by Klaus Schwab himself, then proceeded to confront the elites with his fiery speech. The 53-year-old president did not hold back in his rebuke of the West’s slide toward collectivism — a political theory associated with communism. “I am here today to tell you that the West is in danger,” warned Milei.

Read more/Watch the 3:21 minute interview: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/maria-bartiromo-klaus-schwab-got-up-walked-room/

(H/T PC) Watson: WSJ Editor-in-Chief Tells Davos Elites ‘We No Longer Own The News’

During a discussion titled ‘Defending Truth,’ The editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal admitted to Davos elites that the legacy media no longer ‘own the facts’ and people are much more likely to question what they report as truth. Emma Tucker told a crowd at the World Economic Forum, “I think there’s a very specific challenge for the legacy brands, like the New York Times and like the Wall Street Journal.” She continued, “If you go back really not that long ago, as I say, we owned the news. We were the gatekeepers, and we very much owned the facts as well.” “If it said it in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, then that was a fact,” Tucker further stated, adding “Nowadays, people can go to all sorts of different sources for the news and they’re much more questioning about what we’re saying.”

Read more/Watch the 37 and 36 second videos: https://modernity.news/2024/01/19/wsj-editor-in-chief-tells-davos-elites-we-no-longer-own-the-news/

Brodigan: WEF GLOBALIST RUNS FROM REPORTER AFTER BRAGGING HE WAS GOING TO TRACK WHERE YOU GO AND WHAT YOU EAT: “IT WAS JUST AN IDEA”

One batshit crazy idea from J. Michael Evans, president of the Canadian Alibaba Group, keeps making the rounds. Two years ago he bragged about being able to track where you go and what you eat. This year, True North’s Andrew Lawton showed up to confront him on it. Here is Evans from two years ago: “Where are they traveling? How are they traveling? What are they eating? What are they consuming on the platform? So, individual carbon footprint tracker. Stay tuned. We don’t have it operational yet, but this is something we’re working on.” […] Is the Left saying verbatim “We are going to use these digital tools to control what you are allowed to buy?”

Read more/Watch the two short clips: https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wef-video-individual-carbon-footprint-tracker

TYRANNY IN THE NAME OF CLIMATE DOOM MYTH: GLOBALIST POLITICIANS & BIG BUSINESS ACCUMULATE MORE POWER & CONTROL

Blonder: Inside the Left’s Spurious Legal Strategy To Take Down Oil and Gas Producers

Last summer, the leaders of Multnomah County—the liberal Oregon enclave that includes most of Portland—filed a high-profile lawsuit seeking $1.5 billion in damages from the world’s top oil and gas producers. Exxon, Shell, BP, and others, county leaders argued in their complaint, knew that their “fossil fuel products” caused “catastrophic harm” but told the public otherwise, thus making those companies liable for a heat wave that struck the Beaver State in 2021. The county’s complaint made reference to “the world’s largest oil companies” and laid out their “international operations,” through which the companies produce millions of barrels of oil per day. Left-wing media coverage of the suit also emphasized the defendants’ global reach: The Guardian said the suit targeted “major oil and gas companies,” while Mother Jones touted the county’s work to take on “Big Oil.” One defendant included in the county’s complaint, however, was not mentioned in those stories. That defendant, Space Age Fuel, is not among “the world’s largest oil companies.” Its operations are also not “international”—they’re limited to the Pacific Northwest. And unlike the other defendants named in the suit, Space Age produces no oil. The company operates a chain of Oregon gas stations and transports fuel around the state. […] Should Multnomah County succeed in its effort to argue its suit in state court, fellow D.C. attorney Hardin suggested the precedent could hurt everyday Americans who rely on local oil and gas retailers. Attorneys behind the climate suits can earn millions if they’re successful, providing plenty of incentive to target local companies with expensive litigation.

2024 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY CANDIDATES

Crilly: Why DeSantis FINALLY pulled the plug: Florida governor was given internal polling showing him facing a crushing defeat in South Carolina where he had focused all his resources – and told he had no path to the White House

‘I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources, if we don’t have a clear path to victory,’ he said. The decision took donors and staff at a super PAC backing DeSantis by surprise.

Schlichter: Time For Us DeSantis Supporters To Rally Around Donald Trump

Now that Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the race and endorsed Donald Trump, I have a message for all my fellow Ron DeSantis supporters about how to move forward after a bruising primary campaign where we came up short. Get over it. Losing sucks. But there’s a maxim among trial lawyers that applies equally to people involved in politics over the long haul, and that’s if you’ve never lost a case, you never try cases. I am immensely proud to have supported Ron DeSantis. We gave it our best shot. We had a great candidate who has a great future, and we gave as good as we got. But we got it hard. That’s because it was a primary. You are supposed to get hit hard. Politics ain’t beanbag. Politics is tough, and people are in it to win it. But now the primaries are done. Our guy has endorsed Donald Trump. Time to rub some dirt on our wounds, get back in the game, and bring home the big win for America.

Noor Bin Ladin Blasts Nikki Haley For Her Support For Digital Identity

Watch the 6:25 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v47zyzi-noor-bin-ladin-blasts-nikki-haley-for-her-support-for-digital-identity.html

Davidson: Nikki Haley Is Wooing Her Actual Constituents In New Hampshire: Democrats And Neocons

Haley isn’t expanding the GOP tent, she’s bringing in leftists who want to infiltrate the Republican primary and destroy the party. Is Nikki Haley a creation of the Washington establishment and its consultant class, a regime-picked candidate being groomed as a possible replacement for Biden — as Tucker Carlson suggested last week — or does she really have broad electoral appeal? One curious argument going around for the latter view is that a surprising number of Democrats and independents say they’re planning to vote for Haley in upcoming primaries. We already saw this last Monday at the Iowa caucuses, where almost half of Haley’s supporters — 43 percent — said they’d vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. In one Iowa precinct, so many Democrats showed up and requested forms to change their party affiliation so they could participate in the caucus and vote for Haley, they ran out of forms.

Sundance: During Concord Rally President Trump Says No to Nikki Haley as VP Possibility

Speaking at a rally in Concord, New Hampshire, President Donald Trump said Nikki Haley “is not presidential timbre” and “puts America last.” Effectively ending the speculation that “people familiar with Trump thinking” report Nikki Haley as a potential VP selection. It was never going to happen specifically because of what we pointed out before. [GO DEEP] Nikki Haley went scorched earth on President Trump in a lengthy Politico interview after January 6, 2021: . . .

Watch the 1:46 minute video: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/01/19/during-concord-rally-president-trump-says-no-to-nikki-haley-as-vp-possibility/

CHINA: AMERICA’S MORTAL ENEMY

Robinson: The True Cost of Chinese Solar Panels

2023 was a bumpy year in the race to deploy renewable energy. In the U.S., rising interest rates, delayed guidance for tax credit eligibility, and a project permitting process desperately in need of reform tempered deployment. However, solar emerged as a bright spot, accounting for three-fifths of new renewable electricity capacity worldwide. According to the International Energy Agency, solar is the only renewable technology being deployed at a rate to meet net zero by 2050 targets. While this trend is good news for the climate, it is better news for China. Just a decade ago, China supplied 40% of the world’s solar panels. Today, its global market share is over 80%, a near monopoly. It’s no accident that China is so well positioned to capitalize on this solar boom. In the mid-2000s, China’s government invested hundreds of billions of dollars into developing its renewables manufacturing sector, focusing on what officials have since dubbed “the new three:” electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells. […] Furthermore, China’s continued solar dominance jeopardizes the security of the U.S. and its allies.

Jia: China’s New Year’s Resolution Does Not Include Peace

The Taiwanese people have selected a China-defiant candidate, Lai Ching-te, as new president for the next four years. Now it is time for the free world to reflect on the interactions between China and Taiwan, examine China’s track record of peace disruption, and prepare for future China strategy. The Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping projected an inevitable reunification with Taiwan in his New Year’s address to the nation on December 31. His address sends a fresh chilling threat to Taiwan, and particularly to those Taiwanese who have been hoping for a friendlier, or at least less hostile, relationship with China. To be clear, Xi’s “reunification” in this context is a euphemism for a “take over by force.” This is because China under the CCP will not abandon its hostile stance on democracy and freedom in the foreseeable future; Taiwan, on the other hand, would not surrender its freedom to China without fierce resistance either. Both Taiwan and China understand the true meaning of the word “reunification” in the context of the current cross-strait relationship.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: RADICAL TRANSFORMATION OF FOREIGN POLICY

Just the News: Multiple U.S. Personnel Wounded in Missile Attack on Base in Iraq by Iranian-Backed Militants

U.S. personnel were injured in a Saturday night missile attack by Iranian-backed militants on the Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, the Pentagon said. The incident happened at about 6:30 p.m. local time. The attack included multiple ballistic missiles and rockets fired from western Iraq, according to a statement posted on social media by U.S. Central Command, according to CBS News. “

The Foreign Desk: Lisa on Newsmax: Pakistan’s Strike on Iran

Lisa Daftari joins Lidia Curanaj and Walid Phares to discuss Pakistan’s strike on Iran.

Watch the 4:51 minute discussion: https://foreigndesknews.com/trending/lisa-on-newsmax-pakistans-strike-on-iran/

Schanzer; Pakistan, a New War Front?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been traveling the Middle East, campaigning tirelessly to contain the war that began with the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7. America’s top diplomat has appealed to the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others to help prevent a wider regional war from erupting. No country has felt more pressure than Israel. But the war keeps widening, anyway. […] Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Iran struck a Baluch militant group inside Pakistan. The Pakistanis chafed at this act of aggression and responded in kind last night.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: RADICAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA

VDH: 2024—America’s Year of Living Dangerously

Lame-duck presidencies, especially in the last six months of their final term, in general can offer opportunities for America’s enemies to take advantage of a perceived vacuum as one government transitions to the next. But these normal changeover months are especially dangerous when a perceived weak or appeasing lame-duck president is likely to be replaced by a strong deterrent successor that will likely serve as a corrective to his disastrous policies.

Williams & Yenor: Why America’s “Anti-Discrimination” Regime Needs to Be Dismantled

The problem of DEI has, in one form or another, haunted America for decades. It has re-made the workplace. It has distorted our politics. And it has been revolutionizing American education for at least two generations. While conservatives slept, these policies became a governing ethos in the country, the diversity persuasion. Today, nearly every facet of our society worships the false and pernicious view that diversity is, somehow, our greatest strength. The clichés of the diversity persuasion are on the lips of “educators,” corporate CEOs, chiefs of police, our elite media, our military leaders, and countless others.

Claremont has long been critical of such notions. Indeed, we have been around long enough to see today’s diversity fanaticism as but the latest effort to undermine republican self-government and our free society. Tyranny comes in many forms.

Goujard: EU, US near deal on police access to online data

he long arm of the law is about to stretch from Europe all the way into United States-based data centers — and back. A transatlantic agreement is expected to give European police forces new powers to access data from U.S.-headquartered Big Tech platforms, despite longstanding concerns over privacy and civil rights. European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told POLITICO he was “confident” a two-way deal between Brussels and Washington to speed up law enforcement’s access to data held by tech companies on both sides of the Atlantic could be reached by the end of the year. Reynders said Monday he would most likely meet with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington in March “to fix the final concerns” and the goal was to finish the deal before the United States’ November elections.

Lefebvre & Gavin: US rethinks gas exports, spooking Europe

The Biden administration’s climate-driven rethinking of U.S. natural gas exports is spooking Europe’s fragile energy industry. The reassessment of how the Department of Energy approves gas export permits, first reported by POLITICO, threatens to stall projects that Europe depends on to meet its energy demands while it tries to counter Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s just the latest example of how U.S. policy priorities — in this case, reducing reliance on carbon-polluting fossil fuels — can create headaches for European leaders and even frustrate the transatlantic allies’ shared security goals. President Joe Biden’s supporters in the environmental movement cheered the news that the White House is considering strengthening its scrutiny of how gas exports worsen climate change. But it is causing tensions among the heads of European industry as the Ukraine war drags on.

DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: CHILDREN ARE THE TARGET OF THE DARKNESS AFFECTING OUR NATION

Faust: Meet 5 Accused Pedophiles Who Bought Kids Through Surrogacy

The fertility industry is handing designer babies over to men with zero vetting or scrutiny of their mental fitness or criminal history. Surrogacy is risky for children. Not just the risk of a primal wound via intentional birth mother separation. Not just the risk of identity struggles if their genetic mother is purchased from a catalog. Not just the risk of mother-hunger if they are raised in a home absent maternal love. Surrogacy puts children at risk for the worst kinds of abuse. […] Contrary to what you may think, surrogacy isn’t just about helping infertile couples have babies. When we look at how surrogacy is actually practiced and promoted, we see surrogacy isn’t about babies, it’s about on-demand, designer babies shipped worldwide. And sometimes, those babies are shipped directly to child abusers. These 5 Pedophiles Mail-Ordered Babies. . .

Wallace: Biden campaign attack ad blames Trump for Dobbs abortion decision

VP Kamala Karris kicks off ‘Reproductive Freedoms Tour’ on 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade, as Biden convenes abortion access task force.

Federer: Sanctity of Life: “The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion”-Mother Teresa; “Pro-Life is Pro Science”-Gary Bauer

Abortion became legal in all nine months of pregnancy on January 22, 1973, with the Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Norma McCorvey, who was the “Jane Roe” in the Roe v. Wade suit, was interviewed 23 years later on ABC’s World News Tonight. She declared: “I think abortion’s wrong. I think what I did with Roe v. Wade was wrong.” […] Norma said once, while employed at an abortion clinic, while no one else was there: “I went into the procedure room and laid down on the table … trying to imagine what it would be like having an abortion […] I broke down and cried.” Allan Parker of the Justice Foundation, in the book Reversing Roe v. Wade, documented his 22 years representing Norma McCorvey, the “Roe” of Roe v. Wade, and Sandra Cano,“Doe” of Doe v. Bolton, both of whom spent the last effort of their lives trying to legally reverse their own cases. […] Populations of western countries are declining, due, in part, to abortion. Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, advocated: “No woman shall have the legal right to bear a child […] without a permit.” Sanger stated in Woman and the New Race, chapter 5, “The Wickedness of Creating Large Families,” 1920: “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it” […] The largest ethnic group affected by abortion are African-Americans, as nearly 20 million black babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade. […] Alveda King told CNSNews.com, December 5, 2016: “Abortion is … designed for population control […] The numbers are higher in the African American community, so that’s certainly black genocide. […] The founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger stated:

“The purpose of the American Baby Code shall be to provide for a better distribution of babies … and to protect society against the propagation and increase of the unfit.”
“Feeble minded persons … and others found biologically . . .
“Knowledge of birth control is . . .

DEMOCRAT PARTY PLAYBOOK: SEVER THE PARENT/CHILD BOND

McCotter: What about Parents’ ‘Lived Experience’ with Their Child?

Among the left’s multi-pronged war on Western civilization, one of the most prominent is its assault on parental rights. Recall how when parents learned of and opposed radical public-school systems’ aims to diminish and, in some instances, terminate parental rights regarding their own child’s education, moral instruction, and physical well-being, these leftist indoctrinators colluded with the Biden Department of Justice and far-left mercenary smear merchants to harass and brand these dissenting parents as potential domestic terrorists.

THE DEMOCRAT LED WAR ON WOMEN

Gordon: Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson WINS Florida tournament and is now set to receive one of five women’s places on prestigious tour aimed at providing ‘growth opportunities’ for female players

Transgender golfer, Hailey Davidson, 30 has secured a spot on a prestigious tour designed to offer ‘growth opportunities’ for female players
Davidson has been striving to become the first transgender woman to earn a Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour card
Her recent victory earns her access to the Epson Tour but it also takes away one of the spots originally intended for a cisgender woman

News of the win sparked anger online, with many highlighting how Davidson would likely be able to hit the ball further than a player born female. The LPGA Tour removed their requirement for golfers to be ‘female at birth’ in 2010. However, Davidson’s very presence as a trans-woman removes one of those spots from a cisgender woman.

ECONOMICS

Cass: Weekend Read: Free Trade’s Origin Myth

At Harvard University in the late 1930s, the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam used to tease the economist and future Nobel Prize winner Paul Samuelson, “Name me one proposition in all of the social sciences which is both true and non-trivial.” It took Samuelson years but, eventually, an answer occurred to him: the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage. Even if Portugal produces both cloth and wine more efficiently than England, as David Ricardo had demonstrated in 1817, the countries can still benefit from trading Portuguese wine for English cloth. Generalized, this principle forms the basis of the economist’s case for free trade. […] Anyone who has taken an introductory course in economics learned just that, and anyone giving even cursory attention to current affairs has heard the same message repeated ad nauseam and with absolute confidence by Nobel laureates proclaiming their unanimity and mocking dissent. On free trade, said Milton Friedman, “economists have spoken with almost one voice for some two hundred years.” Friedrich Hayek promised that “the self-regulating forces of the market will somehow bring about the required adjustments to new conditions,” including “necessary balance … between exports and imports.” Krugman concurred that “trade deficits are self-correcting” and, frustrated that “carefully explaining economic concepts like, say, comparative advantage [] doesn’t work,” he suggested, “What does work, sometimes, is ridicule. If you can make someone who imagines himself to be a deep sophisticate look silly, sometimes it gives him—or at least someone else who might be tempted to follow the same route—pause.” […] What economists have missed in their blind embrace of free trade is a two-fold problem, part conceptual and part technical.

HISTORY

Johnson: IF YOU LOVE MILITARY HISTORY

This past Saturday I met Aaron MacLean, host of the School of War podcast. Aaron is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Before that, he worked on Capitol Hill as senior foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton and served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer in 2009–2010. Following his time in the operating forces, he was assigned to the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was the 2013 recipient of the Apgar Award for Excellence in Teaching. I borrowed the résumé above from Aaron’s FDD bio, but I can testify on my own say-so that he is an impressive gentleman. If you love military history, I think you will love his podcast. Aaron describes it as follows: . . .

Read more/Listen to the 33:08 podcast: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/01/if-you-love-military-history.php

Malvasi: Politics, Slavery, and the Civil War

Indifference to truth encourages feelings of unreality, which permeates an understanding of the past as much as it does efforts to make sense of the present. Many Americans entertain false hopes that history cannot only be altered but that the historical record can also be corrected. Events can be set aright, made to turn out as they should have in the first place. These men and women often seek to impose their views on the teaching of history in the schools as well as on public discussions of our national past. Such attitudes differ from and are, in fact, inimical to the the conviction that nothing in the past was inevitable, that events could have happened differently than they did. The intent of historical contingency is to gain a deeper understanding of the past by contemplating what might have taken place but did not, and then by explaining why this and not that. The intent of fabrication is to influence contemporary opinion. Disagreeable, repulsive, horrid, or merely inconvenient developments ought to be ignored, minimized, or denied, the historical record be damned. To be fair, those engaged in such misrepresentations do not for the most part believe that they are distorting the past or propagating untruth. They are convinced, on the contrary, that they have resurrected evidence dishonestly suppressed. Their version of history was what really happened and their rearrangement of information is thus altogether warranted. The respect for truth demands nothing less. The mistrust of sources and experts, they conclude, makes it next to impossible to verify the facts. Disagreements at the very least produce uncertainty, which can give rise both to genuine skepticism and to vile deceit. Since no fact seems ever to be fully proven or disproven, since no statement ever seems conclusive, all facts can plausibly be denied and all statements can plausibly be questioned whenever it is expedient or satisfying to do so. The purpose of such an exercise is too often not to correct error or to illuminate reality, but to embarrass and rebuke an enemy.

WAR IN ISRAEL

Coughlin: Biden Threatens Netanyahu’s Drive to Destroy Hamas

The Israeli premier has also reiterated his long-standing opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, which he insists would become a launching pad for attacks on Israel.
Israel’s efforts to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas, though, are at serious risk of being undermined by the Biden administration’s growing hostility towards Netanyahu’s government.
There are credible indications, moreover, that the Biden administration’s hostility towards Netanyahu has led it to work with senior figures within Israel’s security establishment, which is known to have a difficult relationship with the Israeli premier, to remove his government from power.
[T]he Palestinian leadership has always been just as deeply and outspokenly committed to the destruction of Israel as Hamas is.
Instead of trying to overthrow the Netanyahu government, the Biden administration would be better advised to grasp the vital strategic consideration that defeating Hamas is as much in the interests of the US as it is for Israel.

OTHER NEWS, COMMENTARY, OPINION

Griffin: Thousands Attend March For Life Hoping To Make Abortion ‘Unthinkable’

‘We come to give voice to the voiceless. We march out of love for life. Protecting their right to life is why we march.’

Charles: George Soros Has a Plan to Transform This State From Red to Blue

The idea is to transform Texas into a Democratic playground, and the strategy could work if the state Republican Party doesn’t find an answer to this political offensive. George Soros is pouring money into local Democratic parties in Texas in a ploy to help Democrats turn the state blue, according to the Texas Tribune.

Soros, working with the Texas Majority PAC, donated six-figure sums to the Democratic parties of Hidalgo, Cameron and Dallas counties, all of which are plurality or majority Hispanic, the Texas Tribune reported. Soros’ spending comes as Democrats have lost ground nationally and in Texas with Latino voters.

Utter: Virginia official sworn-in on Metallica album

In November 2017, Democrat Daniel “Danica” Roem defeated incumbent Republican Bob Marshall for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, but there’s a kicker […] Roem’s wasn’t shy about his mental illness, publicizing his fetishes and kinks and embracing a new “identity” (but really just dressing in drag), and it was a core aspect of his campaign—Roem had become the first “transgender” state representative in U.S. history, and his election was celebrated as an LGBTQ+ “victory.” Then last fall, Roem won a new race, this time in the state senate, and he revealed in a recent interview his intention to be sworn in with his hand on a heavy metal album rather than the Bible, as is a long-standing tradition. […] Roem’s stunt is illustrative of the lack of faith and reverence that has taken hold amongst younger, increasingly non-traditional Americans. Transgenderism is itself simultaneously hyper-fashionable and a rejection of God’s will. And there also seems to be a trend building of elected officials being sworn into office on things other than a Bible.

INTERNATIONAL

Salmon: Argentine President Milei’s plan to remake the economy with a wrecking ball

If your economy is broken, you can try to fix it — or you can essentially just throw it in the trash and try to build something new from scratch. Why it matters: The latter is, broadly, the plan of anarcho-capitalist Argentine president Javier Milei, while the former is the plan of Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema.

Where it stands: Milei came in like a wrecking ball after he took office in December. He slashed the official value of the currency in half, introduced a “mega-decree” scrapping 366 separate rules, and laid off 5,000 government employees.

Rucker: NHS Sees “Worst Heart Care Crisis in Living Memory” Yet Nobody’s Even ASKING If It’s Due to the Jabs

The powers that be are acknowledging that deaths due to heart conditions in people under 75-years-old are skyrocketing. They’re saying that decades of progress in heart health have been reversed over the past two years. Yet they absolutely, positively, stubbornly refuse to even entertain the possibility that the Covid-19 “vaccines” are to blame despite an unambiguous direct correlation between the release of the jabs and the rise in cardiovascular deaths. They somehow believe the spike in deaths started shortly after the rollout of the Covid-19 injections yet they simultaneously believe there is zero chance the jabs are causing the spike despite zero evidence that the “vaccines” are not causing it. This is the most massive and obvious example of cognitive dissonance in modern history.

( mRNA COVID-19 “vaccinations” – the elephant in the room) Human Events: Journalist who tried to cancel Novak Djokovic over not taking COVID vaccine collapses and dies while covering Australian Open

The news of his death was confirmed through a social media post by his wife and children. “We are devastated to announce that our wonderful husband and Dad, Mike, has collapsed and died while in Melbourne for the Aus. Open,” read the message shared via Dickson’s X account. “For 38 years, he lived his dream covering sport[s] all over the world. He was a truly great man, and we will miss him terribly,” added the message from “Lucy, Sam, Ruby, and Joe.” While generally respected in the sports journalism space, Dickson was also the author of many stories shaming and trying to cancel tennis star Novak Djokovic. […] Despite being a constant target of Dickson, Djokovic shared a respectful message of condolence on X.

Spencer: Commie Rag’s ‘Palestine Correspondent’ Gives Us a Dark Hint of What’s Coming

“We must normalize massacres as the status quo.” The Nation, a magazine that was founded just after the end of the Civil War but is now farther to the left than Stalin, proudly features Mohammed El-Kurd as its “first-ever Palestine Correspondent.” Apparently El-Kurd took that to mean “Hamas correspondent,” as he just declared, in a chilling glimpse of what the left has in store for us, “We must normalize massacres as the status quo.”El-Kurd said this Saturday at a pro-Palestinian rally in London and was initially defiant when he started getting negative feedback. He wrote on X: “Lots of ppl reporting this speech to the police. Idgaf. Zionism is indefensible” and “are you gonna arrest me?” Just in case you’re unfamiliar with his moronic argot, “ppl” is “people” and “Idgaf” is “I don’t give a f**k.”When it became clear, however, that getting arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police was a real possibility, El-Kurd abruptly changed his tune, claiming that what he really said, or meant to say, was “We must not normalize massacres as the status quo.” He attached to his X post what was purportedly an image of his prepared text, where it did indeed say “We must not normalize massacres,” but of course, there was no way to tell whether or not this was really the text he had been using when he spoke and if that was what he meant to say.

BOOK REVIEW: IS GOD REAL? EXPLORING THE ULTIMATE QUESTION OF LIFE BY LEE STROBEL

Goska: Is God Real?

Though Strobel’s work could be understood by the average reader, he tackles life’s big questions. In a typical Strobel book, he provides a brief sketch of his own reasons for wanting to explore a given spiritual quandary. He then travels to a university campus to present his confusion and curiosity to a world-class expert. Strobel interrogates these men who have devoted their lives to the material he is researching. Strobel, ever the investigative journalist, asks the kind of questions we would ask if we were in those elite settings. Strobel records these conversations in question-and-answer format. […] I love Strobel’s books, including Is God Real? I’d like to be able to dedicate hours to reading university press books addressing the origins of the universe, the problem of evil, and support for the historicity of the Bible. I don’t have that kind of time or attention. Strobel’s books have introduced me to ideas, thinkers, and arguments I’d never otherwise encounter. […] Strobel quotes one such Atheist in Is God Real? Ricky Gervais, a British celebrity, reports that, as a child, he had been taught to believe in Jesus. One day Gervais’ brother Bob asked him why he believed in God. Gervais did not have an answer. “It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions and within an hour, I was an atheist.” The idea that faith is “as simple as that” and that it can be demolished in an hour by any child asking basic questions is a falsehood so transparent that only a New Atheist would believe it. It is also an anti-Western, propagandistic lie that would meet with the approval of Marxists and jihadis.

DISCOVER THE NETWORKS

Cass Sunstein

* Was a contributing editor to The New Republic and The American Prospect
* Served as an advisor for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008
* Was appointed by Obama to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in 2009
* Embraces the philosophy of Judicial Minimalism
* Helped coin the term “Libertarian Paternalism”
* Believes that the U.S. Constitution should be viewed as a “living,” evolving document
* Advocates “cognitive infiltration” to counter the influence of “conspiracy theories”

Cenk Uygur

* Founder of the political talk show, The Young Turks
* Co-founder of the Justice Democrats
* Holds conservative Christians in contempt
* Views Republicans as enemies of the poor & vulnerable
* Asserts that “white right-wingers” have long been “savages”

The Prickly Pear’s TAKE ACTION focus this year is to help achieve a winning 2024 national and state November 5th election with the removal of the Biden/Obama leftist executive branch disaster, win one U.S. Senate seat, maintain and win strong majorities in all Arizona state offices on the ballot and to insure that unrestricted abortion is not constitutionally embedded in our laws and culture.

Please click the TAKE ACTION link to learn to do’s and don’ts for voting in 2024. Our state and national elections are at great risk from the very aggressive and radical leftist Democrat operatives with documented rigging, mail-in voter fraud and illegals voting across the country (yes, with illegals voting across the country) in the last several election cycles.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of The Prickly Pear essays entitled How NOT to Vote in the November 5, 2024 Election in Arizona to be well informed of the above issues and to vote in a way to ensure the most likely chance your vote will be counted and counted as you intend.

Please click the following link to learn more.

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