Listen in as Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler discuss the Biden-China nexus, economic follies, the downside of citizenship in revolutionary times, and the weakness projected by Pelosi’s trip and the military’s woke focus.
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As of this morning, America ceased to exist as the nation we knew and is in full tyranny mode. How are any of us safe from our own government and its gestapo agencies and agents if the President isn’t? While The Big Guy and all of his institutions are openly criminal and corrupt? Are we to be told to “vote harder”? There’s not going to be a November election, for some “emergency” or another, so what now? Wait for the stasi to come knocking?
What do you have in mind? A coup? Move to Ireland? There’s not much I can think of between voting, peaceful protest, and Locke’s Appeal to Heaven, ie revolt. Locke says all peaceful avenues must be exhausted before the Appeal to Heaven can be ethically contemplated. So, yeah, sit and wait or vote with your feet if you believe the situation is that bad.
For future podcasts, can we please have something OTHER than politics?
Really appreciate this podcast, and would like to have content perhaps related to one of Dr. Hansen’s books.
Regarding the gift tax: IRS instructions for form 709 (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i709) state that, although the form must be filed for every year the annual limit is exceeded ($16,000 in 2022), there is a lifetime limit of $11.7 million. Until the lifetime limit is exceeded, no tax is paid.
As BizRate puts it:
“While you’ll still have to file a return that declares your gift because it’s above the $15,000 annual exemption, the lifetime exemption still applies. Say you gifted $25,000 to a family member in 2020. That gift applies to your $15,000 annual exclusion, and the remaining $10,000 applies to your lifetime exclusion of $11.7 million for a single taxpayer or $23.4 million for a married couple. Those lifetime figures are drawn from the estate tax exemption, since the lifetime exemption counts against the combination of taxable gifts (those exceeding the annual exclusion amount of $15,000 per giver per recipient) made during life and from your estate after death.
You can see how most people, even if they do need to track and declare large gifts, still won’t be liable for gift tax.”
So the question is only whether or not Joe filed the form, not whether he actually paid the tax, unless he has given Hunter more than $11.7 million.
Hope that helps! Appreciate your podcast!
Such sensible cogent commentary.
I wish Victor Davis Hanson would run for President!
We wish too!! What a great man with depth and understanding in right and wrong, a true patriot 💕 Victor Davis Hanson!!!
Loved your response to Will Cain on Fox News this evening 8/9/22. I agree that the FBI needs to be subdivided and redistributed, not only bureaucratically but also geographically. You had elsewhere suggested a similar approach with the “Cabinetcy of Dunces.”
Praying you feel 100% very soon. We need you!! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and insight.
This episode was hard to get through, with so many things going on. This talk adds to the frustration, rather than provide any solutions I am afraid to say. How do you implement constitutional backlash, follow the old testament, and ensure it won’t turn into a Napoleon scenario? You speak like as if winning elections automatically translates into governing power. Did you not say our institutions are broken? Are the elected truly the ones running the country? How can we be so naive to believe that even if the elite-mass willfully committing ourselves to suicide, we can somehow get out of it undamaged if we just vote in the right people? I am afraid you may placed too much hope in the midterm election results.
Philip, I would also add that the fix is in anyway. Maricopa county in Arizona is STILL counting ballots. If the Uniparty was worried about “elections”, they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing. So I agree, voting harder isn’t enough when those we elect are liars and mediocrities.
A possible topic for one of Dr. Hanson’s prerecorded question discussions that is related to today’s podcast is a discussion of the “Broken Nest” strategy for Taiwan. I read that they account for about 84% of microchip manufacture. If, as a last resort when about to be overrun by Communist China, they blow up their factories, then Communist China would also be in dire straits. The Taiwanese owners of these factories, having the blueprints and technology instructions, could invest in and transfer their operations to places away from Taiwan and relocate themselves and their families. Why? Because, if Communist China takes over, it will only be a matter of time before these owners are killed and/or imprisoned along with their families. Hong Kong has shown that to the world and these Taiwanese owners are not stupid.
The “Broken Nest” strategy postulates that a broken nest is not worth taking over; cost-benefit analysis again.
Hmm, “The China Connection” you say. So after listening to today’s podcast, I clicked over to the Washington Examiner where I saw a headline that a new zoonotic virus has infected dozens of people in China over the last few years. A virus that researchers believe may have heretofore been hosted by shrews.
As I had recently listened to an excellent interview of Dr. Quay, during which he and Professor Hanson discussed “humanized mice” and medical research. As the main exercise I get is leaping to conclusions, I just had to check on whether shrews are used in medical research. Guess what? They are! At least “tree shrews” are, according to an article found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-48867-x . Here is a quote from the Abstract:
“Tree shrews have been employed in viral infection studies(footnotes omitted), especially for hepatitis B virus (HBV)(footnotes omitted) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)(footnotes omitted) viruses for which the only other natural non-human infection model is chimpanzee.”
Wonder if Dr. Fauci has any comment on this development?
War puts to the test competing populations, economies, and national wills. It seems Victor wants to add leadership cadres. It seems that the only leaders in the world right now who pass his leadership sniff test is self-defeating narcissist Donald Trump and the temporarily out of power Netanyahu. Is this the case? If so, can Victor give a formal analysis at some point of why the other leaders fail? I get the impression that Zelenskyy simply rubs him the wrong way because he’s media savvy and won’t beg humbly before the mighty US. Xi and Putin are out because they’re evil. Could Victor clarify? Does he only trust leaders with his own maverick virtues?
Good Ol’ Joe from Scranton is totally compromised. Will anything happen to atone for this disaster? With McCarthy, McConnell, and Lindsey Graham in charge of the Republicans? No, probably not. They are up to their eyeballs in this mess since they have been small and in charge of the Republicans for a long time. Time to overhaul the Republican leadership.
I admire VDH enormously. Apart from an amazing intellect, his knowledge of history and its meaning for today’s events never ceases to amaze me. Victor is a true American and an invaluable asset to our republic. Keep up the wonderful work!
The problem with alternatives to the income tax, from the Left’s/Progressives’ perspective, is that they do not address inequality of income. The federal income tax is designed to take money away from higher earners and redistribute that money to people who earn less, through federal social welfare programs. It’s based on their faulty view of the world and how it works: if someone earns more, he must have done it at the expense of someone who earns less. It will take a huge effort to replace the current system with a flat tax or the Fair Tax. Just as it will take a huge effort to reduce the federal bureaucracy. And since Trump first took office, we saw just how hard those entrenched interests will fight to preserve themselves.
The reluctance to talk about monkeypox and any connections to unprotected and group sex among gay people is another example that political correctness is a suicide pact for any society.
For a military recruiter, the customer is the recruit. Seems like recruiters are having a problem attracting customers. It’s only going to get worse. I suggest Millie Vanillie launch a program to figure out how to train recruits with the wrong stuff because people with the right stuff are opting for other careers.
There’s also the problem that income tax makes our massive spending possible. We couldn’t afford our high tech military, Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, and a million subsidies and grants for this and that on tariffs and the occasional poll tax. Thoreau thought that even the poll tax was too much power for the Fed Gov and led to foreign adventurism.
Professor Hansen thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom. I listen to your podcasts as often as possible.
You questioned in I believe this one if the USMC has been corrupted, well unfortunately it has. I shall direct your attention to a book called”A Few Bad Men” written by former Marine Officer Fred Galvin. Under his command the senior leadership attempted to prosecute and persecute 7 of his fellow marines claiming they slaughtered women and children in Afghanistan. Before the investigation was complete he was convicted in the court of Senior leadership, including General Mattis. Every senior Officer that went after these marines was promoted, not one was held accountable for their false statements.
A complete disgrace.
As a veteran of the USAF I have lost all respect for the Senior Leadership of the Military and will never encourage any individual I know to join until there is sweeping change in the structure of leadership in the United States Military.
Regards