Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

Sometimes the other guy wins.  When that happens, you adjust and move on.  Obama and the Democrats have won the Obamacare war.  Republicans don’t have the stomach to get rid of it, so it stays.

The Norks are a nuclear power.  Live with it.  They can’t conquer the South with their nukes, so all they’re good for is as a war preventative.  Kim Jong-un is not crazy.  He wants to live, and the moment he tries to attack the U. S. or its allies he’s a dead man.

According to geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan, the Norks are a very long way from having the ability to deliver a functioning nuclear warhead.  A lot can happen if we’re a little patient.  Kim Jong-un could be killed, by us or by members of his family.

But as Zeihan notes in his newsletter, Kim Jong-un, the individual, is not the problem.  If he died tomorrow the regime would remain intact.   Kim Jong-un is, in a sense, a figurehead.  He can be removed, and replaced, if necessary.  But the Kim dynasty will live on, and it will rule a nuclear nation, no matter which member of the Kim family is on top.

Rather than start a war over North Korean nukes, we need to accept the fact that Japan and South Korea will soon be nuclear powers.  They are responsible, and close, allies, and we can count on them as much as we count on the French and the British, with their nuclear weaponry.  The world just got a little more complicated.

The Norks might be nutty enough to sell a nuclear weapon to terrorists, so we should reserve the right to inspect any cargo which originates in North Korea.  This is a high national priority, it seems to me, and the United States Navy, along with its allies, could enforce this nuclear weapon blockade.  It’s better than war.

The war birds want a preemptive war against the Norks, in order to prevent nuclear proliferation.  They’re nuts, just as the German Army was nuts to want a preemptive war against Russia 100 years ago.  That caused World War One, one of the great catastrophes of human history.  In order to sell it, they called it The War to End War.  In fact, it was the war without end.

According to Gordon Chang, when the Chinese Communists were close to getting the bomb in the early 1960’s, President Kennedy and the Soviets had discussions about a joint Soviet-American operation to destroy the Chinese nuclear program.  Right after the ChiComs actually got the bomb in 1964, William F. Buckley advocated a preemptive war against China to remove their nuclear capability.  This was the single dumbest idea in American history.

In fact, nobody did anything, and China has been a nuclear power for 53 years.  No nuclear weapon has been used, anywhere, by anyone, since 1945.  A nuclear power is a secure power.  As an offensive weapon, a nuclear bomb is worthless against a fellow nuclear power.  When you’re in the nuclear club, your borders are secure.

We’re not going to war with North Korea, now or ever.  We, and they, are nuclear powers, and nuclear powers don’t go to war with one another.

 

The first one, in Alabama a few weeks from now, has Trump-man Judge Ray Moore against McConnell-man Sen. Luther Strange.  McConnell and his Chamber of Commerce allies will try to muddy this up.  Three years ago, in Mississippi, they, disgracefully, played the race card against the conservative challenger to Sen. Thad Chocran.  It was dirty business, and if they try it in Alabama it could blow up in their face.

Moore should win this race, and Trump will have learned a lesson:  don’t pay any attention to the political advice of Mitch McConnell.  He convinced Trump to back Strange, and it wasn’t smart.  McConnell and the Chamber are not on Trump’s side.  They are part of the opposition to Trump’s nationalist populism.  Trump should know that by now.

There will be, at a minimum, three more McConnell-Trump Senate fights.  McConnell will back Sen. Jeff Flake in Arizona, while Trump will back his strongest challenger, probably State Senator Kelli Ward.  In Nevada, it will be McConnell’s man Heller against Trumpster Tarkanian.  And in Montana it will be Trump man State Senator Al Olszewski against McConnell’s choice, State Auditor Matt Rosendale.

Things may change, as others enter the ring.  There is the potential for additional Trump vs. McConnell match ups in the OH, MI, PA, WI, IN and MO Republican Senate primaries.  My bet is that it’s better, politically, to be the Trump man than the McConnell man.  These are, after all, Republican primaries, where the more conservative candidate has the edge.  And while Trump polls around 40%, McConnell is almost uniformly despised by the American people, with 9% approval, and 61% disapproval.

The race I’m interested in is in Montana, and I’m supporting Olszewski, as I urge all readers of this blog to do as well.  Please go to his website and make a donation.  Bigger is better, of course, but even a $5 contribution is valuable.  Not so much because of the money, but just by virtue of the fact that you care enough about this race to be a donor.  The number of donors, as well as the amount raised, is counted in determining the extent of a candidate’s support.  And we want Dr. Al Olszewski to be the Republican nominee for the United States Senate from Montana.

If you take the time to read the brief bio at the web site, you’ll be impressed.  Dr. Al is an easy man to like, and most people who know him do.  He’s conservative, but reasonable.  He heard Rep. Matthew Monforton’s speech in favor of the Article V BBA Resolution when he was in the Montana House in 2015, and it all made sense to him.  So he ignored the political threats from the Birchers in his district, and did the right thing.   We need more people like that in the United States Senate.

I’m supporting Olszewski for Senate because of his stance on Article V and the Balanced Budget Amendment.  If you agree, please let him know about it.

 

Before the Houston flood, September was looking ugly for Republicans.  The R’s have no choice but to raise the debt ceiling, and fund the government.  It looked like an absolute mess, with Trump insisting on his wall money, Democrats unwilling to lift a finger to help, and the Republican House and Senate leadership unable to unite their caucuses.  Then came Harvey.

For some months now I have been predicting that the Republicans are capable of passing one (1) major bill this year: the Monster Reconciliation Bill of 2017.  With the flood, it just got a lot easier.  Politically, Congress has no choice but to pass a massive relief bill for the hurricane victims.  This will be extremely difficult for any Congressman to oppose, so it’s included in the Monster, along with raising the debt ceiling, continuing spending at current levels for a few months, and whatever else they can throw in there.

This is how Congressional leadership likes to legislate  —  take it or leave it.  This bill will not be the work of any legislative committee.  The general membership has no formal input.  It will be written behind closed doors, and be a thousand pages long.  No one will have a chance to read it before voting begins.

Power is concentrated tightly at the top.  Lobbyists and contributors understand this, which is why the Speaker and Majority Leader are such prolific fundraisers.  If you’ve got juice with them, you don’t need it with anyone else.

McConnell, Ryan and their inner circle will decide what goes in the Monster, and what stays out, all with an eye to the magic numbers of 51 and 218.  We might get a little dollop of health care reform, or infrastructure.  It’s possible you get to add a little tax reform to boot.  I’m almost certain there will be a special goodie for Kentucky.  McConnell is not popular in his home state, and bringing home the bacon is critical for him.  Most of his colleagues understand, and sympathize, so Mitch always gets his bite of pork.

It’s a hell of a way to run a government, but it’s the best Congress can do.  All grist for the Article V mill.

Here’s the Alaska angle.  Next year they”ll do all this again, with the Monster Reconciliation Bill of 2018.  And opening up ANWR will be in it.  Zinke and Trump are setting the whole thing up.  It’s the only way, and it can be done with 51 votes.  Someone really needs to try to explain all this to Lisa Murkowski.

I’ll be stopping by Vegas on my way to Phoenix to see an old law school buddy.  He’s a criminal defense lawyer, and has been appointed to represent one of the Bundy defendants in federal court in Las Vegas.  One set of defendants has just been scheduled for their third trial.. The first two ended with hung juries.  This was the way I expected these cases to play out.

The judge is in the tank for the government, so the defense lawyers have been prevented from putting on a defense.  So, at final argument, they all stood mute.  None of them offered a word of argument, as a protest against the entire railroaded trial.  And at least one juror got the message.

This isn’t a criminal trial.  It’s a conspiracy by the government against private citizens.  All it takes is one juror who understands what’s actually going down, and the government can’t get a conviction.

Recently, in Oregon, a federal jury flat out acquitted one of the Bundy boys and some others.  Thank God for the right to a jury.  I always say Article V is the last line of defense, and that’s true, politically.  But for a citizen, up against the government, the jury is your best friend.

Clive Bundy and his gang are the most politically incorrect people in this country, bar none.  Otherwise, they would be martyrs.

 

In religions, as in every sphere of life, there is competition.  In some versions of Christianity, the devout and the fanatically devout inflict physical pain on themselves, often in imitation of the Passion of Christ.  It can merely be wearing a hair shirt under your robe, as a constant irritant and penance.  Or it can go all the way to self flagellation and crucifixion.  Whoever suffers the most wins the competition as the most holy.

Today’s leftists have their own weird religion, and the believers have a competition among themselves.  Who hates Trump the most?  At the top of the heap, and at the tip of the spear, are the fascist antifa.  They hate Trump so much they’ll punch you in the mouth if you say his name.  You talk about hatred!   They have won the moral leadership of the left because they hate Trump more than anyone else.

Since they are pure of heart, their tactics are above criticism.  “No enemies on the left” is a political tradition.  Has any prominent Democrat condemned them?  I haven’t read about it, and the silence is deafening.  And as St. Thomas More put it, silence is assent.

But this silence comes with a cost, and it will first be paid in Virginia on 11-7-17  —  a very lucky number for Governor-to-be Ed Gillespie.  I haven’t made a political prediction since I said Trump would never be elected President, so I’m overdue.  In Virginia, it’s Gillespie with a big win, bigger than any poll predicts.  And for the state legislature, the Republicans maintain a large majority in the House.

The election of 2018 is too far away to say anything about, but if this antifa business continues, it will do great harm to the Democratic party.

I’ve never cared for Obama, but he could do his party, and his country, a lot of good if he stood up for free speech, and condemned the antifa fascists.  But I don’t think he’s a big enough man to do it.

My friend Matthew Monforton has a piece in the Resurgent about the Montana Republican Senatorial primary of 2018.  The favorite is State Auditor Matt Rosendale, a good conservative, according to Matthew.  But he’s on record as favoring Mitch McConnell to continue as Majority Leader.  This will get him a lot of McConnell’s money, but it comes with a price.

Montana is Trump country, and McConnell is very unpopular there.  There’s another good conservative running, State Senator Al Olszewski.  He says he won’t vote to keep McConnell as Majority Leader.  If Olszewski can raise a little money, he can beat Rosendale, McConnell, and the Democrat, Tester, in the general.  All he needs is a little money.  Actually, come to think of it, I’ll bet he’s able to raise some money.  An interesting race.

Senator Olszewski was one of the few Republicans with the courage to vote for the BBA Article V Resolution when it came to the floor of the House in 2013.  He may not remember it, but I do.  With that vote, he told the crackpot John Birch Society to go jump in the lake.  I admire that, and will talk to the people I know in Montana about Al Olszewski.

Al for Senate.

Every Republican with a brain in his head knows that Trump is spot on in his attacks on the media.  These people have been leftist shills for my entire life.  I’ve just about forgiven Trump for all his faults, because he has the courage to fight these smug hypocrites.  No one else in the Republican Party seems willing to do it.

It’s because they’re all cowards.  They want to make nice with the media so they, themselves, won’t be attacked in the press.  John McCain is the worst.  Ever since he ran for President in 2000 McCain has sucked up to the media.  A fat lot of good it did him when he was the Republican nominee in 2008.  They made a fool out of him.

Where’s Vice President Pence?  Why isn’t he carrying this ball?  He should be leading the charge against CNN and all the other fake news.  It’s what Vice Presidents are for.  They’re supposed to take the heat for the boss, as Spiro Agnew did for Richard Nixon.  If Pence expects to inherit Trump’s political base, he should get out and earn it.

Monumental stupidity, on the part of the entire Democratic Party, is the best thing the Republicans have going for them.  It’s like they learned nothing from the 2016 election.  Whites are the majority of voters in this country, and will be for some time.  The Democratic Party is in the process of becoming the anti-white party.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything stupider in my life.

And then there’s Article V of the Constitution.  It’s not white, or black, or Republican or Democrat, or conservative or liberal.  It’s clean, and fresh, and never been used — a breath of fresh air.

The Phoenix Convention of States couldn’t happen at a more opportune time.