~ “I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan.
≈ Comments Off on Forum; What Historical Figure Would You Want 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.
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!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the ‘net. Take from me, you won’t want to miss it.
Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question:What Will Be The Midterm Results?
Rob Miller: I see the Republicans increasing their lead in the Senate to at least 54-46. They will have pickups in Florida, Missouri, N. Dakota in the least, and quite possibly Montana and Indiana. They’ll retain Arizona and Tennessee, and possibly Nevada, depending on how many illegal migrants in Clark County (Las Vegas) the Dems manufacture votes for. So the lead could be as high as 55-45 or even 56-44.
Beto O’rourke, a ‘Kennedy’ even when it comes to his drunk driving record and history of leaving the scene of an accident he caused will be embarrassingly defeated. Another long shot I’d love to see come in is in Michigan, where the disgusting Debbie Stabenow’s lead is decreasing against John James, a black Republican conservative businessman and war hero. A long shot, but not impossible.
Californians have a wonderful choice for Senate. They can pick the ethics challenged Difi, who employed a Chinese spy for years while her husband made millions in China through his connections with the government there…OR MeCha and La Raza’s poster boy Kevin De Leon, who believes it’s perfectly OK for illegal migrants to use fake ids and engage in identity theft. Both Democrats, of course.
The House I see as ending up with a smaller majority for the Republicans but still a majority. The Dems will end up in the low 200’s at best because they will pick up some seats in California and similar Crazyvilles they already control. The GOP will end up with something like 220-225, I think.
Governors? Scott Walker will likely just eke out another term. Commies Stacy Abrams and Andrew Gillum will be defeated in Georgia and Florida, with Brian Kemp and DeSantis winning (in the case of Desantis, by a nose). My guess is 28-22, favoring the GOP.
Ignore the polls, since they include ridiculously bogus polls from CNN that are hysterically funny, but serve the purpose of cooking the averages at places like RCP.
I predict utter disgrace for the evil, open borders, one world democrats, who will of course then explode and declare both some sort of “war” and a “stolen” election.
I don’t have specific numbers.
My state of New Mexico, (USA), is blood blue, and the rubber-stamp, sycophant dems will sweep it.
Steve Pearce will not be elected Governor.
Democrats should not push this further. Enough is enough.
Don Surber: Democrats must defend 26 Senate seats (including independents Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine) while Republicans have nine seats on the line.
To take the Senate Democrats must win at least 28 of those 35 Senate seats (both senators will be elected in Minnesota and Mississippi).
At present, Real Clear Politics has Republicans gaining three seats. If that holds, Democrats will win 23 of the 35 seats and still not get the Senate.
Now for my prediction. Republicans will keep the Senate. Democrats will then whine about winning the popular vote but not winning the Senate. Democrats should easily have more votes than Republicans even if Republicans take more seats because California’s Senate race is between two Democrats.
Vote early, then on the night of November 6 watch the returns not because the Senate will change but because the Left will react the same way they did rwo years ago. They have not learned. Doug Hagin: Well, not a blue wave. The GOP will gain in the Senate, and will keep the House. In large part because the GOP has, finally discovered spines, and the economy, and yes, because the Dems have far overplayed their rhetoric.
Laura Rambeau Lee:Listening to the mainstream media pundits (someone has to do it) the Democrats anticipate a Blue Wave and fully expect to take the House and Senate. Watching the rallies around the country, President Trump draws tens of thousands of excited and engaged supporters while former Vice President Joe Biden can’t seem to draw 1/1024th as many to a Democratic rally in Las Vegas. However, we can’t discount the widespread voter fraud. Being involved in cleaning voter rolls in our county in Florida a few years ago I know voter fraud is a very real issue and getting worse.
I am seriously concerned with the governor’s race in my state. Democrat Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum (spell check keeps changing his name to Gollum) is supported monetarily by George Soros and Tom Steyer, while Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis is supported by conservative Republicans but not so much by establishment Republicans. DeSantis should be a shoo-in in our Red State following a successful Republican Governor Rick Scott, who is running for Senate and I hope beats out Democrat Senator Bill Nelson. Gillum is embroiled in scandals involving the FBI and illegal activities in development dealings in Tallahassee and has seen an increase in crime in the city during his term as mayor. And he promises to raise our taxes by one billion dollars! That’s a winning platform, right? DeSantis and Gillum are on complete opposite sides of the political spectrum. What worries me is after Hurricane Michael pretty much decimated the Florida panhandle area, and many are still without power and their homes destroyed, will they be able or want to get to the polls and vote?
Fortunately Governor Scott signed an executive order Thursday easing voting restrictions in eight counties in the Panhandle since several election offices and polling places were damaged or destroyed. The order gives these counties the ability to extend early voting and designate more early voting locations even though the deadline to do so has passed. There are about 200,000 voters in the area which usually has above average turnouts in mid-term elections and reliably vote Republican. The Panhandle voters won the state for Trump in 2016.
The evening of November 6th I believe we will see a Red Wave and Republicans retaining control of the House and Senate, along with a major meltdown by the arrogant main stream media, who still don’t understand why we fight. It’s must see TV! David Schuler: I’ve been writing about this for some time. I think the Republicans will hold the Senate, maybe even picking up a seat or two. I think the likelihood is that they will lose the House but the Democrats will only hold the majority by the narrowest of margins.
Another IMO less likely alternative is that the Republicans continue to hold the House but by a narrower margin than presently.
Much less likely outcomes: the Democrats win the House and end up with as many seats as the Republicans hold now or more or the Republicans gain seats in the House.
Well, there it is!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the ‘net. Take from me, you won’t want to miss it.
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, courtesy of Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: Are We Headed For A Civil War?
Patrick O’Hannigan: Headed for a civil war? I think we’re already IN a civil war; it’s just not as “hot” as it could potentially become yet.
This particular war was started by Hillary Clinton and her enablers in the Democratic National Committee back in mid-2016, when she and they both thought that she “deserved” to be the first female president of the the United States, despite her long record of “failing upward” on the strength of her charismatic husband’s coattails.Hillary fired on Fort Sumter (you might say) by asking — with the blessing of fellow travelers in the Obama administration — whether her Republican opponent would accept the results of the then-forthcoming election.
We now know that it wasn’t Donald Trump and the Republicans who had trouble accepting election results; it was (and is) the Democrats.
How this civil war ends will depend on whether Republicans are smart enough to play the long game that Alinskyite Democrats have been playing for generations now. Don Surber: No, we are not in a civil war or headed for one. This is not even 1968 when we had two assassinations. Take a deep cleansing breath and release the air slowly. Make a noise with it. Like a fart — or a boof. Laugh while it is still legal.
Rob Miller: Of course we are headed for a Civil War. Been reading about Portland, Oregon lately? As usual, it is mostly in areas the Left controls, although lately they’ve been branching out a bit. And the party’s leaders and even a fair number of candidates are signalling to the troops that the war is on. Read up on how many GOP legislators and a certain Supreme Court justice are getting routine death threats for themselves, their families and their staffers.
What’s happening right now is is just the beginning. The actual war will really explode when the mid terms end and the Republicans keep the House and increase their lead in the Senate. We are dealing with a hardcore of people whose only goal and purpose is complete power no matter what that entails.
This won’t be anything like the 1861-1865 conflict. The weapons and tactics will be very different. I will examine some of those tactics and how to defeat them in a coming article.
Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg :No, we are not headed toward a civil war. The left is, first, gutless and would maybe do a few acts of violence and flutter and scream and spit and hit, but, second, there would be no “general uprising.”
There is no more American ideal or single standard. Any “rebels” or “patriots” would be dimed to the Law by their neighbors, who “just want to get on with” their twisted little lives. Or I guess the rebels would be “cell-phoned,” or reported to fricking Twitter or Facebook or Google or some damn thing.
If there were to actually be some sort of physical uprising, it would not be like Washington’s American Revolution or Lincoln’s Civil War.
Because: now, the Power can see in the dark, see through walls, read and hear every word you write or speak, identify and track you from space or a lamppost, read your thoughts, know your every move, and fly a bomb through your bedroom window
Whoever is in charge at that time—or not—would be obligated to put down any uprising. This means killing people. There are always hard cases in any era who will kill ANYbody—for god, country, and patriotism. Rebels would die.
Well…all except for the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and relatives of the licensed killers. And that’s where it would fall apart.
Then the hunters in high political office would become hunted by their own triggermen…uh…triggerpersons.
But that would be personal; not official business.
And then it would be over.
Anybody who still spit or hit or blocked traffic would be dealt with the same way it was handled before people turned over their freedom and souls to kings, queens, cities, the Church, various ass-kicking systems, rulers and their concomitant Enforcers.
There is no stomach at all in the former USA (FUSA) for civil war. Skirmishes and resistance, yes, but there can be no organizing, hiding, operating clandestinely, or otherwise living out the dream of a good battle hard fought and hard won for Freedom and The American Way.
Washington, Lincoln, and Truman are dead. So is Clayton Moore, Humphrey Bogart, Gene Autry, and Trigger.
Laura Rambeau Lee: It’s hard to have a civil war without clarity of purpose or defined sides. Conservatives know where we stand; on the side of our Constitution and our culture of independence and liberty. We also support the Second Amendment and are prepared to defend our lives, our families and our property if we must. The minions on the left, on the other hand, don’t have a clue. The Antifa protestors say they are fighting fascism while acting like fascists. Mobs wait for alerts on their Smart phones telling them where to go and when. They think they are fighting for freedom in the freest country in the world.
Sure, mobs will continue to protest President Trump and any Republican seeking election or re-election and I expect there will be more violence. But the left has been unable to rally around a single issue. There are too many divisions within their own ranks. It doesn’t help their cause that the economy is booming and people are working. After all, we all look after our own self interests first don’t we?
I remember the Vietnam War protests. I was a teenager at the time and supported the efforts to end the war. It was only years later I realized the communists in our country, particularly in our universities, were stoking the fires and riling up our youth in their effort to end the war, not because it was a bad war but because they wanted communism to continue to spread across Southeast Asia and beyond. But they were able to affect a generation of Americans by promoting drug use, sexual promiscuity and nihilism. Sadly these young adults are today’s university professors indoctrinating our children to have no hope and no future in a world that would be better off without them.
No, we will not have a civil war. You can’t rally people with no purpose and no hope for a future. The left has already lost.
And it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don’t ask us, we don’t know… Doug Hagin: The answer is no, at least we are far from such a place in this nation. We are divided, which is what the left desires, and the left is pushing to divide us as fast as possible. Leftism furthers itself under such divisions. But, frankly, I believe the left is pushing too hard and is exposing their true nature and goals.
The last thing the left wants is an actual civil war, they would lose such a conflict badly. The majority of police, current and former military, and of course armed citizens would not support the left in a “shooting match”. The left is aware of that If the left ever achieves massive disarmament of the citizens, and could nationalize the police forces, that situation might change but they are far from such a time.
Well, there it is!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the ‘net. Take from me, you won’t want to miss it.
Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: What Are Your Feelings On The Kavanaugh Hearings?
Don Surber:The Kavanaugh Debacle was the best thing to happen to Republicans since passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. With the exception of Joe Manchin, Democratic senators in red states are toast, maybe even in the purple ones.
Kamala Harris and Spartacus Booker are not ready for prime time, or even SNL.
Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, and Susan Collins shine. And what can I say about Lindsey Graham? Freed from McCain, he soars like an eagle.
I am ashamed that Judge Kavanaugh cannot go to church on Sundays because protesters block the entry. I am ashamed that his daughters need bodyguards to go to school, that his wife receives death threats, that his mother and father have to endure idiot comedians calling for their son’s castration.
I am ashamed that, as Judge Kavanaugh himself said yesterday, “This conformation process has become a national disgrace.”
I am ashamed that this circus revolves around the fear that Justice Kavanaugh would overturn Roe v. Wade. There have been sixty million abortions since Roe v. Wade. People who celebrate the killing of sixty million lives will stop at nothing.
And that is the greatest shame of all.
Then there’s the question of what happens next. I am very pessimistic. I expect that the next nominee will be subjected to even more pressure. The Left won’t stop.
Rob Miller: The vote turned out as I expected, although there were some surprises. As I predicted, Susan Collins was not to be bullied or threatened into submission. Jeff Flake and Ben Sasse pleasantly surprised me. Lisa Murkowski didn’t.
I think it was absolutely wonderful that only Joe Manchin had the smarts to be the only Democrat in a Red State up for re-election to vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Joe Donnelly, Heidi Hightkamp, Claire McKaskill, Jon Tester and Bill Nelson didn’t, and they will pay a price come November.
The actual Kavanaugh hearings were one of the best things to happen for the GOP for some time. First it showed America the true face of the hysterical left, and creatures like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were revealed as the cadres and ideologues they really are. So were a number of other Democrats as well as their trained seals in the media. The American people now truly see the commie behind the curtain, and many of them who were sitting on the fence now know why it’s so important that these people never gain control of government again. Even career never trumpers like Erick Erickson now see this and are admitting they had Trump wrong all along. Women looked at their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers and realized how easy their lives could be ruined simply for expediency by any woman for any reason. The hypocrisy of the Left in ignoring sexual predators in their own ranks like Keith Ellison while ignoring the rule of law and manufacturing these kind of allegations with zero proof just for po0litical purposes horrified quite a few Americans. Some like the brilliant Camile Paglia even took it farther, understanding that false accusations like this would directly harm real victims of sexual assault and prevent them from being believed.
Meanwhile, Trump’s courage in not abandoning Judge Kavanaugh, Mitch McConnell’s steadfastness during the Kavanaugh hearings and the courage of Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, and Susan Collins are showing Republicans disgusted with the previous lack of spine and commitment that things have changed and are giving them the fire to get out and vote.
As a side note, while I liked most of Susan Collins’ speech, it annoyed me that she still referred to Dr. Ford as a ‘survivor.’ There’s absolutely no proof that she survived anything except being charged for slander like the pathological, Trump-hating politically partisan liar she is.
Until there is a real cost for doing something this despicable, they’ll keep at it. IMO, that needs to change if this sort of thing is ever going to end.
Doug Hagin: That the Republicans finally found some spine, and did not slink away will do things. Give their base some real hope for a stronger party, and it will make the Left become even more unhinged. The Trump presidency has absolutely ripped the “moderate” mask off of the Democratic party. And now their far left faces are showing.
Scott Kirwin: I waited for the final vote to respond. I’ve been so disgusted with the GOP recently that I didn’t trust them.
Now that it’s over I feel I can breathe again. And more importantly be proud of my party affiliation.
From Lindsay Graham channeling Boston lawyer Joseph Welch’s “Have you no sense of decency sir? Moment against Joe McCarthy, to Flake – of all Republicans Flake – standing up to the leftist bullies, ending with Maine Sen. Susan Collin’s impassioned speech defending Kavanaugh I don’t think I have ever been prouder to be a Republican.
There is really nothing more important for conservatives than the Supreme Court. All the issues that matter to us are decided by that court and the only way to get a fair hearing is to have people on the bench who agree with our view of the Constitution. The Gorsuch appointment made Trump’s victory in 2016 worthwhile. Kavanaugh’s appointment cements his legacy.
We conservatives owe Graham and Collins for this victory. They both had plenty of reasons to fold and could have, but when it mattered they showed guts and dare I say it, spine. In the coming years we must remember their actions over the past two weeks and stand by them when they need us.
Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg:Politics have been broken since way before even Bill Clinton and can never be repaired because they are outdated and just don’t work—if they ever did. Hubert Humphrey and his oldtime ilk are all dead and gone.
Greece invented democracy. Is Greece a paragon of democracy now today? No.
By the same token, the whole Brett-Nancy-Streisand -Graham thing is just more bullshit. It’s all about personal power and self-aggrandizement. What did Susan Collins get in return for her vote?
The supreme court will now be “resisted” and never obeyed again. Gang-Mobs will assault public spaces. Screaming 20 year olds in black masks will spit and hit.
Politics are now handmaiden to the communist party and its agents in government, media, kitchens, and bedrooms everywhere.
Trump knows this. It’s why he does not seek to “Presidentially” govern. Rather, he seeks to
get
stuff
done.
Puma By Design: The shock of the first series of allegations levied against Brett Kavanaugh lasted for a moment. Before I could wrap my head around what was going on, the second set of allegations followed and it was at this point that I became concerned at the revelations of what was at stake hit.
I have friends who were victims of sexual assault and couldn’t help but feel resentful of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony which had too many blanks and didn’t add up.
The very idea that sexual assault would be used as a tool to stop the advancement of a Supreme Court nominee or anyone else for that matter is shameful.
My heart broke as Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the world was forced to vigorously defend himself, his honor, his family before a tribunal of Marxist bureaucrats’ hell bent on destroying an innocent man for the sake of dismantling the patriarchy and satisfying their lust for power.
I have a 39 year old son, brother, uncles, great nephews, nephews, grandson, male cousins and friends and as I listened to Judge Kavanaugh respond to stupid questions about his yearbook, not only was I pissed off, I became angry and concerned that the Republican Party would fold like a suitcase full of cheap suits so as not to offend women and in so doing permit these rabid Marxists to crush Kavanaugh, his family, the President and the liberties of every American born man and boy.
But then Senator Lindsey Graham took a stand and as my nieces and nephews say, “it was on from there.”
My first thought as I observed Senator Graham, “Lindsey, what took you so long?” My second thought was something on the line of, “Damn, I’m sure glad that John McCain’s not here,” after which I asked God’s forgiveness for thinking such a thing.
I thought about the effect of McCain’s absence more than once this past week as the Republican Party from Graham to Senator Chuck Grassley to Senator Susan Collins, seemed to have found their will to fight, not their constituency but the hard-left.
Just as Progressives did not see Kavanaugh coming and handled it badly, it never occurred to them (or me) that Republicans were up for the fight. Progressives leaned hard expecting Republicans to buckle under and got the reverse.
Republicans gave back as good as they got. It appeared that with each new wave of false allegations, Americans became angrier and Republicans fought back harder.
It is unfortunate that we had to go there but, in the end, Kavanaugh, the President, the GOP and liberty came out on top.
As for the hard left, they showed Americans just how bad they are for our country.
We’re not done yet.
Laura Rambeau Lee:The Kavanaugh hearings were a mockery of our process for appointing Supreme Court justices. With Kavanaugh’s distinguished career as a judge and volumes of decisions there was no question of his qualifications. There wasn’t even much discussion regarding it because everyone knew he was eminently qualified. The Senate interviews and hearing were concluded and this last minute accusation of an uncorroborated sexual assault over 35 years ago was nothing more than a ploy to delay, delay, and further delay. Senator Diane Feinstein sat on this information since July and did not bring it up until it was pretty certain he would be confirmed. The Republicans allowed themselves to be manipulated by the Democrats and the media to re-open the FBI investigation, which found not a single individual who would corroborate Ford’s assault allegations. We are nothing if we allow such an erosion of one of the basic tenets of our founding and legal system; that an individual is innocent until proven guilty. Personally I believe the Democrats did not want Kavanaugh to be confirmed because of his record in support of the Second Amendment.
When President Trump has the opportunity to nominate the next Supreme Court justice, and he will, I hope Republicans remember this debacle and not permit Democrats to grandstand and go to such extremes to challenge his candidate. Remember, elections have consequences, and one of the consequences is that the president gets to nominate Supreme Court justices. Republicans accepted, albeit grudgingly, President Obama’s appointments of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan as they agreed they were both highly qualified. The understanding is the president is elected by the people and through the president the people get to choose who sits on the Supreme Court. Many of us voted for President Trump for this very reason.
Some on the left are now speaking of impeaching Justice Kavanaugh if they win the majority in Congress in November. This alone should energize the conservative base, and even some independents and Democrats, to vote Republican to prevent these anti-American ideologues from obtaining power ever again.
We must continue to be vigilant and never rest, for as President Ronald Reagan said “freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” The vote, 50 to 48, was the closest vote for a Supreme Court justice since 1881. Once again it appears Providence is looking favorably on our nation and giving us another chance to right our course.
Bookworm: Gosh, you guys are so thoughtful and intelligent. Truly, I have nothing to add that all of you haven’t said better. Instead, I’ll just quote part of the short speech Churchill gave after the victory at El Alamein (a battle in which my father took part). I’ve merely made a few interlineations, indicated by square brackets, so that the speech better applies to America, in 2018, rather than to England in November 1942. You can find Churchill’s original speech here.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Henceforth [the Democrats’ foot soldiers, including organizations such as Antifa] will meet equally well armed, and perhaps better armed troops. Hence forth they will have to face in many theatres of war that superiority [on college campuses] which they have so often used without mercy against other, of which they boasted all round the world, and which they intended to use as an instrument for convincing all other peoples that all resistance to them was hopeless….
We mean to hold our own. [We normals are not prepared] to preside over the liquidation of [a constitutional America]. For that task, if ever it were prescribed, someone else would have to be found, and, under democracy, I suppose the nation would have to be consulted. I am proud to be a member of that vast [collection of sane, normal people, committed to individual liberty, strong national security, and the free market] without which the good cause might well have perished from the face of the earth. Here we are, and here we stand, a veritable rock of salvation in this drifting world….
[snip]
I recall to you some lines of Byron, which seem to me to fit the event, the hour, and the theme:
Millions of tongues record thee, and anew
Their children’s lips shall echo them, and say —
“Here, where the sword united nations drew,
Our countrymen were warring on that day!”
And this is much, and all which will not pass away.
**************************************************************
Well, there it is!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine
Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: If You Could Have Had A Different Career What Would It Be?
Bookworm: I’ve never liked being a lawyer, although I’m reasonably good at it. It’s honed my analytical abilities and my writing skills. It makes possible the blogging I enjoy doing, although I don’t seem to be able to make money as a blogger.
What I’d really like to be is a member of the idle rich. My favorite pastimes are reading books; writing short, horribly proofread essays off the top of my head; and eating chocolate ice cream. I’m really not sure there’s a career pathway for all of that.
Rob Miller:I have to giggle a little when I think of the word ‘career’ applied to me.Everything I ever did that was reasonably successful, I just sort of fell into.
One day I accidentally strummed a cheap guitar my parents brought home from a trip to Mexico and fell in love. I never wanted to do anything else afterwards, so that became my ‘career.’ even if I wasn’t earning anything from it. I had a lot of different jobs,(I left home at 18) some of them quite interesting, but they were always just to finance and pave the way towards playing music for a living.
Eventually I managed to do that after a few false starts and made a fairly decent living out of it. It also was something of a fascinating sort of sub culture in which I was a ‘semi-celebrity.’ In other words, I wasn’t any multi- millionaire, but I was known, sort of, whatever that means. I could get into clubs for free and into their VIP sections all across the country, get backstage at concerts to ‘say hello’ and enjoy the adult refreshments and other diversions, drink for free in certain watering holes (thank you, Esther and George Wong) meet a lot of interesting people and fulfill a fair amount of fantasies. And the money wasn’t bad at all.
The way that sort of ended was that I became a hired hack basically playing music I didn’t really like at all for other people. And for someone who loves music the way I did, that made it just another job, a way to make some money. About that time, I met my wife and we married, and I wasn’t exactly rabid with excitement over the offers I had. So I went back to just doing sessions, mostly commercials, and working as a customer service manager for a large office supplies company.
When business went down at the office supply company and I was fired, it was time for another accident in my ‘career.’ I met an Israeli contractor (we knew some of the same people in Israel) who I got some jobs for in exchange for some baksheesh, and he told me about an Israeli friend of his who was ‘doing loans’ and that it was commission only, ‘but you talk nice to people chaver, and you could make some nice money.’
Well, OK. Todah rabah.
I had a friend who was refinancing her house and I knew she’d give me the job, so I figured I’d do this once, make some money, hate it and move on. The Israeli broker hired me and I proceeded to learn about the paperwork and other things I needed to know. Instead of hating it, once I saw that first commission check I wanted nothing more but to master this new occupation the way a Samurai wanted to master his swordsmanship and do a lot more business.I ended up being pretty good at it.
After three years working for my Israeli boss (lots of fun!), I got my broker’s license, opened up my own business and ended up being rather successful. For me, the 1990’s and early 2000’s were literally golden years. Aside from mortgages and refis, we also listed and sold houses and I also did quite well buying foreclosures once I learned how to do it properly. I’d refurbish them and either sell them or rent them out.
I sold my business right before the nasty stuff hit the fan in 2008, and I’m still not exactly sure why I did but the timing was right. Now, I’m semi retired, mostly manage my properties, and partner up now and then with a couple of brokers I know to find refurb houses, fix them up, and sell them. It bothers me a bit because it’s mostly investors buying them to rent out rather than families who want a home of their own, but so be it.
All in all, considering where I started which was basically with nothing, I’m quite grateful to the Almighty for the life I have. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Jeffrey Avalon Freidberg: Like one of my personal idols, Bookworm, I am really really really good with ice cream.
However, I tend to specialize in Hagen Dazs chocolate covered ice cream popsicles and Julie’s Organic ice cream sandwiches, which kind of limits my style and reach.
I too think I’d be really good at being filthy rich like Diane Feinstein and practically the entire senate.
Amazing how they go to DC poor and leave rich as kings and queens, with unlimited lifetime medical, insurance, pensions, and all….
I guess they get smarter when they get off the bus?
Of course John McCain married the Beer Queen and had so many houses they were almost as many as Obama has—but not as many as John Kerry.
Anyways….
Anyways, I got into the private eye biz by accident and stuck with it for 35 years. I guess I did everything there was to do in that line. I wooda been something else, except I think I liked the private eye gig. I got to be outdoors and run a lot.
Then one day I just could not open one more file and walked away…
…what a DUMB THING TO DO!
Now I have no income, no job, and temp’ services won’t touch me because—even though I built and ran a million dollar business—I don’t appear anywhere in their “categories.” I was never—say—an accountant, lawyer, or secretary. No listing.
As bugs Bunny said, “Ehhhh…I knew I shoulda took that left toin at Albu-qoikey.”
Laura Rambeau Lee: Once I got past my childhood obsession with dinosaurs and wanting to be an archaeologist I set my sights on becoming a physician. I studied hard and was a pretty good student, often studying beyond what was available in school. Growing up outside of Philadelphia in a small college town the college professors would give me text books which I read voraciously. In junior high I was attacking texts on abnormal psychology, organic chemistry, and books on human anatomy and physiology. I began college with a premed major. That changed when my father died when I was nineteen. At that point I decided I did not want to become a doctor and deal with life and death issues on a daily basis. I quickly lost interest, got married, had a daughter and divorced within six years. At age twenty-five I was a single mom who needed to make money, and make it without a college education. As a vice-president of a local bank my mother introduced me to an owner of a title insurance company and I was hired as a processor. My wages went from $145.00 a week working in a bank to $175.00 a week. That was a big jump back then, especially when child care alone was $45.00 a week.
I learned the business and after a couple of years went to work for an attorney doing real estate closings. Then I went into business with my mother for ten years, she having a mortgage company and me running the title insurance side. After my mom retired my company was bought out by a national title company owned by a national builder. (I had let the mortgage company dissolve due to the savings and loan crash in the late 80s early 90s. It became nearly impossible to be a mortgage broker at the time). I worked there for thirteen years until the crash in 2008.
One thing I realized early on was the chairman of the Federal Reserve really controls our country. I would tell people that whoever controls the cost and flow of money controls it all. I was still in my 20s. As I looked into it more I realized how correct I was in my analysis.
Then around 2004 I began to see it coming apart. The mortgages they were selling were certain foreclosures. No doubt about it in my mind. But it became personal when they started selling purchase money first and second mortgages. People could get one hundred percent financing by taking out an eighty percent first mortgage along with a twenty percent second mortgage. They avoided private mortgage insurance and avoided having to put money in escrow with their payments for property taxes and homeowners insurance. We called them NoNo loans – they required no asset and no income verification to qualify for these mortgages, all under full approval of FNMA guidelines. At that point I understood that now we would have a situation where we would have millions of people in homes they couldn’t afford and they would not be able to pay their property taxes either. That would severely cripple our local municipalities and county revenues, meaning we would not have money for schools, firefighters, police, transportation and social services. Where I was naïve was in believing that these lenders would go out of business. I never would have believed our government would steal our savings and wealth to bail out the banks. Americans collectively lost over 19 Trillion Dollars in wealth between savings, stock market accounts and real estate! That was my wake up call. That was my call to action and when I started blogging. It helped that I was laid off from my position as division president of the company I worked for and gave me time to write, get involved with the Tea Party and also help care for my mother who was terminally ill with cancer at the time. I also returned to college to finish my bachelor’s degree, which I did with high honors in American Studies with a major in communication and media. It was also an eye opener to the open Marxist ideology indoctrination occurring on our college and university campuses. I was the token conservative on campus.
Thinking back on everything I am content with the path my life has taken. I am back in the title insurance business, doing real estate closings. It is interesting and challenging and I have always enjoyed the business and the work. I find it amazing that when I was still in college back in 1975 and knowing I no longer wanted to pursue a career in medicine I took a test to see where my interests and abilities might take me. The results came back that a career in politics or the law, or writing and reporting would best serve my personal interests and career goals. Interesting, huh?
Dave Schuler:If I knew then what I know now, I would have swallowed, sucked it up, and remained in the corporate world rather than going off on my own and starting my own business. I would have been less happy then but probably happier now.
Well, there it is!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the ‘net. Take from me, you won’t want to miss it.
Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: Will Judge Kavanaugh Be Confirmed And What Will The Vote Be?
50-50 with Pence breaking the tie.
Democrats are too dumb to allow Trump State Democrats to save their hides and one of RINOs will bolt.
Rob Miller: I have no doubt Kavanaugh will be joining the Supreme Court.
I see the vote as 52 to 54 in favor, 48 to 46 against, not accounting for any abstentions.
The only Republicans I see trying to sabotage this are Ben Senseless from Nebraska, Jeff Flake from AZ because he’s leaving and (long shot) Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. I doubt that Susan Collins votes against Kavanaugh. I’ve never agreed with her politics, but she has guts and integrity. The threats she’s been getting from the Left are exactly the sort of thing to make her dig her heels in. They grow ’em tough in Maine.
The Dems I see crossing over to vote for Kavanaugh are Heidi Hightkamp, Joe Manchin, and Claire McKasskill, with Doug Jones, Jon Tester and Joe Donnelly as possibles. With the exception of Jones (whose going to want to be re-elected in a Trump state) they’re all in tough races for re-election in states Trump carried.
As an aside, I think the Dems erred badly in trying to smear Kavanaugh with a #metoo accusation at the last minute by a Left wing nut job. It’s like a baseball pitcher with a hot curve ball or fast ball he keeps relying on to do the job. Eventually the batters get wise, expect that it’s coming and start
hammering it. As another aside, I’m eagerly waiting a thorough investigation into DiFi’s Chinese spy and the huge profits she and her husband made in China.
The Democrat Violent Dementia was just Showtime…and their Audience appears to have been Everybody Else!
Doug Hagin: Yes, he will. Sadly, the Democrats will make it party line, with two maybe three exceptions
Dave Schuler: I agree with Don. Kavanaugh will be confirmed 50-50 with Pence breaking the tie. The vote will be essentially along party lines with Susan Collins joining the Democrats to vote against confirmation.
Bookworm Room: I believe that Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed despite the latest accusations — claims that have no contemporaneous corroboration and that come from a hard Left, Bernie-supporting academic. The Left will believe them (or will pretend to believe them), conservatives will not (and will not be pretending), and the Senate will split on straight party lines. The only risk is that Sen. Collins will have a panic attack, but I think Trump will call her with something akin to Margaret Thatcher’s famous reminder to Ronald Reagan not to go “wobbly.”
Laura Rambeau Lee: : One thing we can count on. The left always resorts to unsubstantiated claims of sexual misconduct when they have nothing else. They bring forth salacious unproveable accusations from, this time, a lefty professor related to an “incident” that happened over three decades ago in high school and then go on the Sunday morning mainstream media circus circuit, expressing the need for a delay in the vote until everything is thoroughly investigated. The fact that Senator Dianne Feinstein knew in July and kept this information from everyone throughout the personal meetings and public “inquisition” of Judge Kavanaugh until the final week of the process proves they have nothing valid to use as a reason for denying his appointment.
Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed. He is extremely qualified and as an originalist who believes in a strict textual interpretation of the Constitution will ensure the court remains conservative for decades to come. His nomination affirms again that our vote for President Trump was the right one for the future of our country.
One has to believe there are a few Democrats who remain silent but are appalled by the tactics of those within their party. The vote will be close, perhaps 52 or 53, but in the end Brett Kavanaugh will be appointed to the Supreme Court.
Well, there it is!
Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the ‘net. Take from me, you won’t want to miss it.
PUMABydesign001's Blog 