"It's over."  When hyper-partisan Democrat operative Bob Beckel throws in the towel, as he did last night on Fox, you know it really may be for Zero.  In fact, you might mark down on your calendar that last night, October 18, is when the Zero Presidency died, as it suffered what looks to be an unrecoverable triple whammy.

First was Beckel's verdict in response to the latest Gallup poll (10/17) showing Romney with a virtually insurmountable lead of 52%-45% over Zero.

Second was the greatest gaffe Zero has ever uttered, timed less than three weeks before the election.  Last night on Jon Stewart's Comedy Central show (yes, a comedy show), he actually said, in response to Stewart's questioning his handling of the Benghazi scandal: "If four Americans get killed, it's not optimal."  Tim Stanley of the London Telegraph thinks he's channeling Michael Dukakis.

Third was Romney's hilarious gutting of Zero at the Al Smith Dinner last night, the ultimate elite white-tie event for Catholic charities held annually at the Waldorf-Astoria.  Example: now as Mr. Obama is in "the last few months of his presidency," he must be thinking:  "So little time, so much to redistribute."

Or how about this: "Campaigns are hard, and I and the President are each very lucky to have one person who's always in our corner, someone who we can lean on, someone who's a comforting presence without whom we wouldn't be able to go another day. I have my beautiful wife, Ann. He has Bill Clinton."  Enjoy the whole monologue, and note how it was a huge hit with the New York audience:

What government unit has the right to tax you -- your local government, regional or state government, federal government, or multinational organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organization?

The reason the question is becoming more important is that rising numbers of politically powerful persons and institutions are calling for global taxes on such things as financial transactions, tobacco, sugar and carbon emissions.

Think of the consequences if international organizations gain the ability to tax. The tax-exempt bureaucrats who run these organizations will have an endless list of "unmet needs" and thus will create reasons to have never-ending tax increases. The United Nations is pushing a global financial transactions tax "to offset the costs of the enduring economic, financial, fuel, climate and food crises, and to protect basic human rights."

Endless global taxation to finance endless global corruption and fascism.

The most disastrous news to come out of Iraq this week was the demand by the new Iraqi Interim Government for custody of Saddam Hussein. We are reaping the moldy harvest of the American liberal obsession for legalism. All one had to do is see the farce of Slobodan Milosevic’s trial to know what judicial lunacy awaits a similar tribunal travesty for Saddam.

Yet this is suddenly the least of our worries. Turning Saddam over to the Iraqis means he will escape from custody. Through bribery or blackmail or force, the Iraqis will either let him escape or be unable to prevent it - which means all the treasure and blood America has spilled to liberate Iraq will have been in vain.

The strategic challenge that Russia poses to the United States today is quite serious. Russia is increasingly anti-democratic and hostile to the United States.  Xenophobia is widespread in Russia.  The Kremlin is currently encouraging nationalism and militarizing the country.  It constantly attacks the West.  And a sizable number of the Russian population sees neighboring countries as part of the Russian zone of influence.

Now this is not me speaking, this is taken from a recent statement by Alexei Kudrin, who until September of 2011 was the finance minister of Russia, and who has just been publicly offered a cabinet position by Vladimir Putin. 

The most serious aspect of the Russian threat to the United States is their nuclear use doctrine.  They have the lowest nuclear use threshold in the world.  Russia reserves the right to introduce nuclear weapons into conventional warfare, and they characterize this, amazingly, as "de-escalation" of the conflict.

You won't believe the statements of Russia's nuclear commanders.  Here's one:

There is a photograph prominently displayed in the Vietnamese Communist War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the "War Crimes Museum") in Saigon (called Ho Chi Minh City by the Communists). The photograph, in a room dedicated to foreign activists who contributed to the Communist victory over America in the Vietnam War, shows Senator John Kerry being greeted by Comrade Do Muoi, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The curse of hedging that blighted gold in the 1990s is making a comeback, and threatens to loom over the market like Banquo's ghost.

London-listed gold producer Petropavlovsk has said it will pre-sell 55pc of its future output planned for the second quarter of 2014, at an average price of $1,408 an ounce. This is the first time that a big producer has hedged more than half its future sales.

"We have a huge investment program and thought a little price protection in the short-term will let us sleep better at night," said chairman Peter Hambro.

Tyler Broda from Nomura said this may signal the return of "structural hedging" across the industry, with other companies scrambling to lock in forward contracts. "This could increase the pressure on the spot gold price over the coming years," he said. The risk is a vicious circle as hedging leads to lower prices, leading to more hedging.

Many Democrats (and some Republicans) are all atwitter about Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin deciding to move to Singapore to partially escape what he believes is excessive taxation. Leaving the U.S. is a much more extreme action than moving from a high-tax state to a low-tax state, but a record number of Americans gave up their citizenship last year.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., Pennsylvania Democrat - whose thought processes seem to be similar to those of King George III in 1776 - have denounced Mr. Saverin and introduced legislation to punish him and others who may wish to leave because of high taxes.

It appears to me that this is nothing more than a modern version of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which demanded slaves be returned to their "owners," who were in effect imposing close to a 100 percent tax upon their slaves.

Why don't more Republicans in Congress stand up to such Democrat thugishness -- most especially when it comes to the deficit spending that's bankrupting us and causing wealthy Americans to leave America?