IT’S A CLOWN SHOW WHERE MOST OF THE CLOWNS ARE CORRUPT AND ENTITLED: John Lucas: Fisking the Brass: Analyzing our self-proclaimed “National Security Leaders’” 2020 Presidential endorsement reveals their lack of expertise and reliability.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: My chat (+transcript) with space journalist Eric Berger on SpaceX and America’s New Space Age.

Related: Two new anti-space books. For some people, the only invention they approve of is the wet blanket.

Also: Some Columbus Day Thoughts About Elon Musk: Big achievements and the hatred of the petty-minded.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Harris Campaign Ejects Muslim Leader from Detroit Rally.

SOCIAL SECURITY CAN BE SAVED: But doing so will require a great deal more political courage than has been demonstrated in Congress and the White House for decades. And, as I report today for The Epoch Times, there are people in and out of Congress with some interesting ideas.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), for example, has a “Big Idea” along the lines of a Sovereign Wealth fund that could restore Social Security solvency, as does Heritage Fellow and former fast food entrepreneur Andy Pudzer. And on the Democratic side, Rep. John Larsen (D-Conn.) points to the $400,000 and more in taxable income as an untapped resource.

SEEMS LEGIT: Meet the New York Times Source Who Claims Kamala Harris’s Late Mother Told Her That Her Daughter Worked at McDonald’s. She’s a Harris Campaign Surrogate Who’s Visited the White House.

In the old days, the grizzled editor would remind his reporters, “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.”

Today it’s “Your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl saw Trump pass out at 31 Flavors last night? Yeah, run it.”

CHANGE: Punk Rock Feminist Has Revelation While Stripping.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Home Sales on Track for Worst Year Since 1995.

Sales of existing homes in the U.S. are on track for the worst year since 1995—for the second year in a row.

Persistently high home prices and elevated mortgage rates are keeping potential home buyers on the sidelines. Sales of previously owned homes in the first nine months of the year were lower than the same period last year, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

Existing-home sales in September fell 1% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million, NAR said, the lowest monthly rate since October 2010. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had estimated a monthly decrease of 0.5%.

September sales fell 3.5% from a year earlier.

After a sluggish 2023, economists and real-estate executives widely expected activity to pick up in 2024.

More unexpected bad news.

CAN WE GET EVE PLUMB TO GO “HITLER! HITLER! HITLER!” FOR AN AD?

Democrats Explain Trump Was Going To Be Hitler During His First Term, But He Forgot https://t.co/qI3TQ53yZN pic.twitter.com/lCXjKRaDV2

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) October 23, 2024

MATT TAIBBI: Trump Camp: British Censorship Group to Be “Investigated From All Angles.”

HENCE THE CONSTANT REMINDERS NOT TO GET COCKY: Democrats Aren’t ‘Panicking’ — They’re Trying to Suppress GOP Voter Turnout.

THEY’RE HATING THE MCDONALD’S THING: Ron Hart: Democrats Seek to Establish No-Fry Zone.

Trump highlighted Kamala’s unsubstantiated claim that she worked at McDonald’s by going to work at the fry station at one in Pennsylvania. In his patented way of breaking through and around the mainstream media hatred of him with an act of swashbuckling showmanship, Trump scored a political win with this stunt. . . .

Trump likes McDonald’s and identifies with the working class. It seems odd for an entitled New York billionaire, but he does. The Internet is suggesting that Kamala must do something to try to match Trump’s successful McDonald’s campaign event. It burnished Trump’s brand; to match him, you wonder if Kamala will do Five Guys.

The left dismisses the very clear lie that she worked at McDonald’s. It is such a simple question, one easy to verify, and it is journalistic malpractice that the media have not pressed her on it. . . .

Trump seemed to fit right in working at that McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. He would have been Employee of the Month, until human resources wrote him up for talking about Arnold Palmer in the shower.

When he left McDonald’s, he promised, if elected, to fix the ice cream machine and make Taco Bell pay for it.

You can tell he scored by the sour reactions, from Democrats and from the media — but I repeat myself.

ANOTHER VICTORY FOR THE BIDEN/HARRIS/BLINKEN FOREIGN POLICY:  Iran says Saudi Arabia will join historic military drills in the Red Sea.

BEING ‘EDUCATED’ LACKS THE VALUE IT USED TO HAVE:  Teamsters boss fires back at Tim Walz for ‘knucklehead statement’ about union leaders: ‘Our members are educated’.

LAYERS AND LAYERS OF FACT CHECKERS:  ‘I’m not Dame Maggie Smith!’: Charity trustee upset over ‘last photos’ article about Downtown Abbey star.

AT THIS POINT BOTH LIKELY TO COLLAPSE, PERHAPS TAKING EUROPE WITH THEM:  Does Russia face military collapse by 2026? Inside Ukraine’s strategic assessment.

CHASER:  The Russian Debt Thread: Part 10.

FIGHTING BACK:  Louisiana AG sues Biden administration after Chinese migrant with ‘rare, aggressive and drug-resistant’ tuberculosis entered US.

A WORTHY ENDEAVOR:  How to Undo Woke Programming: 2024.

MARGARET SANGER & PLANNED PARENTHOOD:  Elites have been lying to us for over 100 years corrupting the American family.

INDEED:  Excess of evil: How the U.S. and NATO can confront the growing threat of the CRINKs.

JUST TRYING TO COVER UP WHILE THEY GIN UP THE FRAUD MACHINE:  Biden-Harris admin shipping migrants to Arizona and Texas to hide border problem before Election Day: ‘It’s about optics’.

RON ELY REMAINS THE ONLY MAN TO PORTRAY DOC SAVAGE ON SCREEN:  ‘Tarzan’ star Ron Ely dead at 86: ‘There was something truly magical about him’.

WHOOPS:  World Bank bureaucrats lost track of at least $24B in funds fighting climate change: ‘Could be twice or 10 times more’.

BUT WILL THEY EVER LEAVE HIM ALONE:  Justice Has Been Done – For Once.

INDEED:  Joe Biden’s Shamelessly Lawfares Trump—Once Again.

ENDORSED:  Let this be our battlefield.