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THE FRIGHT OF COMEY

comey-fearIn a recent New York Times  op-ed (5/01), fired FBI Director James Comey was back again preaching to the nation about the dangers of Donald Trump and his capacity to corrupt any top-ranking federal official of lower character than Comey’s own.

Comey seems to have become utterly unhinged by Donald Trump, especially when the president, in his Queens accent, scoffs in the vernacular—quite accurately, given the transgressions of the FBI hierarchy—about “crooked cops.”

What an affront to Comey’s complexity, his subtlety, his sophistication, his feigned Hamlet-like self-doubt—at least as now expressed in his latest incarnation as Twitter’s Kahlil Gibran.

One can say a number of things about the timing of Comey’s latest sermon and his characteristic projection of his own sins on to others.  Here they are.

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SHOULD JOURNALISTS GO TO JAIL FOR THEIR SEDITIOUS LIES?

Does she deserve an orange jump suit?
Does she deserve an orange jump suit?

As a First Amendment maximalist, I am inclined to reply an automatic "No" to my own headline — should journalists go to jail for spreading their seditious lies?

But a penalty of some kind, indeed a serious one, should certainly be levied for misinforming the public on the most important subject of our day, which has happened repeatedly over the last few years concerning the Russia probe.

And when these prevarications can be shown to have been deliberate, to have been done knowingly, difficult as that may be to prove, the line to sedition may have been crossed.

Thus there is an argument the reporters involved should face legal consequences.  Are they guilty of sedition? Decide for yourselves: read 18 U.S. Code § 2384. Seditious conspiracy.

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BEWARE DEMS’ “SUE TILL IT’S BLUE” POWER GRAB

sue-till-its-blueFormer President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder won’t tell the truth when it comes to their redistricting strategy, but here it is: Pick a state, any state, and sue until it’s blue.

They have spent years and millions of dollars selling the false narrative that Democrats draw “fair maps” while any and all Republican-drawn maps are “partisan gerrymanders.”

While rhetorically cute, their primary goal has nothing to do with fighting gerrymandering as they repeatedly claim, but to put redistricting in the hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats and lifetime-appointed judges.

Their strategy makes sense.  There are plenty of unelected federal judges presiding over these redistricting cases who will enthusiastically toss out constitutionally drawn maps to help elect more Democrats.  Here’s how to stop this.

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CHINA CAN NO LONGER AFFORD WORLD DOMINATION

Routes of China’s Proposed New Silk Roads
Routes of China’s Proposed New Silk Roads

There’s just one flaw in Xi Jinping’s plans for global economic conquest. It’s that China has run out of money. The $8 trillion headline figure for the New Silk Road is romantic fiction.

The Belt and Road – as it has become known since maritime links were added to the original Marco Polo caravan route – is China’s plan of infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organizations.  Yes, 152.

It may have made financial sense when China was running a fat current account surplus. This reached 10% of GDP in the final stages of the export boom from 2004 to 2008.

Today, China’s current account surplus has essentially vanished. The International Monetary Fund thinks it will be 0.5% of GDP this year. It will then go progressively negative through the early 2020s.

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EUROPE SLIDES INTO THE POOR HOUSE

europe-in-the-poor-houseAthens, Greece. Europe’s most significant contribution to the world economy at the moment is serving as a bad example.

Much of Western culture and law can trace its origin back to this city of 2,500 years ago. The ancient Athenians learned that democracy is fragile and can lead to bad outcomes — not that other governing systems have proved to be more successful over the long run.

One of the fatal flaws of democracy is the recurring irrationality of the people to vote themselves benefits that they are unwilling to pay for. The idea of getting something for nothing is so powerful that politicians have used the same con everywhere on the planet for thousands of years.

The end is always the same. The music stops when the cupboard is empty.  Greece is now Exhibit A in Europe, with others soon to follow.

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WE ONLY HAVE THREE AND A HALF DAYS TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE

the-endClimate change is in the news again. Earlier this year, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka Congresswoman Cowfart) warned us that we have only 12 years to address the harm that human beings are doing to the planet.  Last week, Beto O’Rourke amended that, suggesting we have only 10 years.

Now, I don’t want to scare anyone, but according to my calculations that I arrived at by reading science, both Beto and Ocasio-Cortez are looking at this problem through rose-colored glasses.

In fact, the world has precisely three and a half days to change its ways or it will basically be destroyed.

As I write this, it is 1:45 pm on Friday May 10th. By sometime in the midmorning on Tuesday May 14th, if we don’t take action, Miami will be underwater, Toledo will be on fire, a swarm of locusts will descend upon Houston, and Brooklyn … well, actually Brooklyn will be fine, but that’s not the point.  The point is…

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HALF-FULL REPORT 05/03/19

envy-of-the-world How cool is this to wake up in the morning to this Drudge headline?  Except if you’re a Democrat fascisti realizing there will be 6 more years of Trump making America even greater than ever.

And how about the Drudge kicker links above the giant headline? Hispanic Unemployment Lowest Ever... Best for women since 1953... Record jobs even for high school dropouts!

Hard to imagine the depth of Dem abysmal gloom over this, compounded by the fright and panic overwhelming them, explained by Kim Strassel today (5/03) in For Fear of William BarrWhich brings me to the Forum.  Here we go with another great HFR!

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AUTHENTIC ITALY

authentic-italyMy wife Rebel and I were having dinner with Italian friends in Rome a while ago, who asked, “Why not a Wheeler Expedition in Italy?”

I answered, “We’d love to, but it has to be an adventure to really cool places in Italy that folks who’ve been to Rome-Venice-Tuscany don’t know about and would love to go to if they did.  It has to be to the real authentic Italy for a true experience of a lifetime.”

Our friends smiled – to us and each other.  “We’ve been exploring just those places for years – it’s our hobby.  We’d start in the Apennines of course, Italy’s mountain spine, to Abruzzo…”

And that is how, after many months of exploring and planning, Rebel and I with our Italian friends created the unique and extraordinary adventure of Authentic Italy.  I’d like to invite you to experience the Italy you’ve dreamed of and you’ll never ever forget.

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FOR FEAR OF WILLIAM BARR

fear-of-william-barrThe only thing uglier than an angry Washington is a fearful Washington. And fear is what’s driving this week’s blitzkrieg of Attorney General William Barr.

Mr. Barr tolerantly sat through hours of Democrat insults at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday (5/01). His reward for his patience was to be labeled, in the space of a news cycle, a lawbreaking, dishonest, obstructing hack.

Yet the attorney general delivered the transparency Democrats demanded: He quickly released a lightly redacted report, which portrayed the president in a negative light.

What do Democrats have to object to?  Some of this is frustration, some of this is personal, some of this is bitterness.  But most of it is fear.

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DEM DESPERATION ON DISPLAY IN DEMONIZING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

hmm-who-to-arrestThey smeared him, called him a liar and said he should resign. The same Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who tried to assassinate the character of Judge Brett Kavanaugh last year pulled the same stunt on Bill Barr — with the same result.

They failed because, once again, they were throwing mud while shooting blanks.

Despite the Dems’ desperate efforts to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination with false accusations, he is now on the Supreme Court. Barr was obviously prepared for his mud bath and was unflappable in the face of Wednesday’s mean-spirited assault, proving himself to be a rock-solid attorney general.

As he said at his confirmation hearing, “I won’t be bullied,” and he wasn’t.  Now they’ve poked the tiger – very big mistake.

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HILLARY PROJECTION SYNDROME

hillary-projection-syndromeHillary Clinton recently editorialized about the second volume of special counsel Robert Mueller’s massive report.

She concluded of the report’s assorted testimonies and inside White House gossip concerning President Trump’s words and actions that “any other person engaged in those acts would certainly have been indicted.”

Psychologists might call her claims “projection.” That is the well-known psychological malady of attributing bad behavior to others as a means of exonerating one’s own similar, if not often even worse, sins.

Psychologist might then conclude her projection means she’s very worried about the certainty of being indicted herself.

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THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS DEAD

the-dead-partyThe Democrat Party is so unrecognizable today because it’s gone.  The name is still there.  Some of the old faces are there.

But the party of John Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Barbara Jordan and Zell Miller is dead.

Today’s Democrat Party is hollowed out by a chronic addiction to hyper-partisan controversies that only mimic the feeling of being alive.  Controversy gives Dems a constant drip of political dopamine they could never find in solving real problems. And they’re hooked now.

So, we’re witnessing a case of shared psychotic disorder that’s driving the party to self-medicate. Drug of choice? Donald Trump. Democrats are so impaired by their craving to “get Trump” that they imbibe day-in and day-out despite the deadly consequences to their party and to the country.

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WHY ARE WE KEEPING OBAMA’S INCENTIVES FOR ILLEGALS TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY?

limited-time-amnesty-offerWe are witnessing an extraordinary collapse of the rule of law in our immigration system as hundreds of thousands of migrants exploit our generous asylum system by making bogus claims of asylum after entering the United States illegally.

Caravan after caravan of illegal aliens from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador continually are pushing toward our border.  Mexico is warning that the “mother of all caravans” – over 20,000 people – is gathering in Honduras.  Border apprehensions exceeded 100,000 in March – the highest monthly total in twelve years.

I just visited the border yet again recently.  Unfortunately, the news is not getting better.  Indeed, there is no end in sight for the current crisis.  Worse, official U.S. policy is creating three massive incentives for the caravans to keep coming.

These three incentives are policies of Obama’s that the Trump DHS has kept instead of eliminating.  Why?

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THE SAD STATE OF RUSSIA’S NAVY

The Russian Navy – More Rust Than Ready
The Russian Navy – More Rust Than Ready

The Russian navy, the Military-Maritime Fleet (Voyenno-Morskoy Flot—VMF), always a poor relation to the Russian Land Forces given geography and national traditions, has been contracting in size since 1985.

Now, as Izvestia announced last month, it is going to decline still further because of a decision by the Ministry of Defense to scrap two major surface vessels and four submarines rather than modernize these aging Soviet-era naval assets (Izvestia, April 18).

Defenders of this decision say these ships will be replaced by more capable vessels, but even they concede that the new craft are not going to join the fleet anytime soon.

All this has sparked a debate in Moscow about whether the Russian VMF is capable of supporting Moscow in the war that Vladimir Putin keeps saying is coming or even in more limited theaters. The overwhelming answer from independent experts is “No.”

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