Archive for 2024
August 23, 2024
PRIORITIES:
A regime always reacts most strongly against those who threaten its future, and most leniently against those who promote it. pic.twitter.com/5aWbyvmmlR
— Dissident Soaps (@DissidentSoaps) August 23, 2024
Britain’s Conservatives governed like Labour Lite, so frustrated voters gave power to Labour — which they’ll come to regret.
Then again, conservatives who govern like soft-leftists eventually always lose out to hard-leftists.
JOHN KASS: Kamala’s Soviet Nightmare.
In the almost 40 years when I was a reporter, columnist, and editorial board member at a faded (but once great) Chicago metropolitan newspaper, I’d periodically conduct an unpopular experiment on colleagues:
I’d ask them if they’d ever made a payroll while dealing with other bills for electricity, taxes and other operating costs.
In other words: Had they ever run a business?
It seemed reasonable to ask, since journalists were so eager and willing to weigh in on economic matters, from unaffordable teacher contracts to property tax “swaps” and waxing on profoundly about the importance of “community investment.” Sometimes I’d ask for a show of hands when I’d run the experiment.
“Have you ever run a business?”
But nobody ever raised their hands.
Nobody.
* * * * * * * *
Kamala Harris, now the Democrat presidential candidate desperate to distance herself from the disaster of Joe Biden, has feelings.
She is desperate to win. Which is why she called Joe Biden a racist, before eventually sucking up to him and joining his administration.
To separate herself from old Joe, she recently announced a drastic plan: If elected she would use her powers to order the federal authority to control rising inflationary costs.
In other words, government price controls just like the Stalin era, before farmers gave up and famine swept Ukraine. Stalin argued that to make an omelet you had to break some eggs. And his de facto but unofficial publicity agent, the Pulitzer Prize winning Walter Duranty of the New York Times agreed. Some eggs had to be broken, and if millions died of starvation…well, you can’t cry over broken eggs, can you?
“On Day One,” she promised, perhaps forgetting she had been at the top of the Biden administration for more than a thousand days, “I will take on price gouging and bring down costs. We will ban more of those hidden fees and surprise late charges that banks and other companies use to pad their profits.
“We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases,” she continued. “And we will take on Big Pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans. Our plan will lower costs and save many middle-class families thousands of dollars a year.”
She’s talking about price controls.
Yes.
Price controls didn’t work for the Soviet Union and Stalin, and the Soviets, like today’s Democrats, had the media eating out of their hands. And then came the famine.
Most of America’s inflation since 2020 has resulted from Kamala Harris, as Vice President, twice breaking Senate ties to approve the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. These didn’t reduce inflation; they caused it, they were the match to the dumpster fire. Dumping trillions of dollars in cash on the the economy and the inevitable happened, and every American who took basic economics knew what would come:
Too much cash chasing too few goods happened. Gas was under $2 a gallon. And then everything started to rise as the inflation tax of too much government spending took hold, and milk and eggs and coffee, beef and bread, everything rising and many Americans were forced to make choices.
There were moms and dads who skipped meals so their kids could eat. We never thought this would happen again in America, but it did. And some senior citizens had to select from medicine or food. It was the Democrats and their selling their “feelings” that got us here.
Not all of the corrupt corporate media was in support of Kamala Harris’ Soviet-style plan. The leftist Washington Post condemned it, as did the much more rational Wall Street Journal.
The Washington Post editorial board condemned the Harris idea as “gimmicks.” They were too kind.
Speaking of Kass’s question to his fellow journalists, back in the early 1990s, far left Democrat George McGovern wrote in the Wall Street Journal:
I also wish that during the years I was in public office, I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day. That knowledge would have made me a better U.S. senator and a more understanding presidential contender…
[M]y business associates and I also lived with federal, state and local rules that were all passed with the objective of helping employees, protecting the environment, raising tax dollars for schools, protecting our customers from fire hazards, etc. While I never have doubted the worthiness of any of these goals, the concept that most often eludes legislators is: “Can we make consumers pay the higher prices for the increased operating costs that accompany public regulation and government reporting requirements with reams of red tape.” It is a simple concern that is nonetheless often ignored by legislators.
As Steve Hayward added earlier this month, “Well, just how much private sector experience do Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have between them? Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Not even with a non-profit organization (which maybe doesn’t count).”
No wonder the DNC’s operatives with bylines profess so much love and devotion.
DEMOCRATS’ CONVENTION OVER, ANGRY GAPING ORANGE MAW ROARS BACK INTO ACTION! Orange Glow Dominates Landscape as Icelandic Volcano Erupts.
THE PRESS DIDN’T SEEM TO MIND GETTING USED (AGAIN): The DNC ‘Special Guest’ Rumor Turned out to Be a Con Job for Ratings.
This sums it up even better:
The DNC telling young voters “just wait, we have a super secret surprise guest for you if you keep supporting us!” And then there being nothing is just a bit on the nose.
— e-beth (@ebeth360) August 23, 2024
HMM: Even 1 cigarette a day during pregnancy can harm baby. I don’t know how babies can even smoke one cigarette during pregnancy.
BIDEN’S PRICY PHOTO-OP: US military asking contractors to help haul boats used in troubled Gaza pier mission back to the US.
Three boats deployed in March for the mission: the US Army Vessels Monterrey, Matamoros, and Wilson Wharf. The Pentagon had previously said that all personnel and equipment used with the temporary pier — called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS — were scheduled to be home by mid-September.
It’s unclear how much the contract to bring the vessels back will cost the military. A spokesperson for Military Sealift Command told CNN the contract is “currently in the procurement phase, which means it is out for competitive bids.”
Retired Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program, estimated that the contract would go for $300,000 per float-on/float-off vessel, which would be used to transport the three boats. The contract description says it is for “multiple awards up to two vessels or until the Government’s needs are met,” meaning it could come out to roughly $600,000 total if two vessels are required.
The pier was announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address in March.
“A temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day,” Biden said.
But in the end it was only operational for roughly 20 days at a cost of the $230 million and did little to alleviate the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza as the war between Hamas and Israel, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives, continues.
Plus: “Unless the whole unit is deploying somewhere, that means these boats are in rough shape.”
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: ‘Jews have to meet in secret at DNC,’ says Holocaust survivor, ex-ADL head Foxman.
Holocaust survivor and former Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman expressed concern on Wednesday that the situation for Jews in the US had deteriorated to the point that they had to meet in secret at events like the Democratic Party National Convention.
Foxman’s concern came after a Tuesday Agudath Israel of America DNC event on rising antisemitism against Orthodox Jews was disrupted by anti-Israel activists.
“Brick by brick, wall by wall, Zionism will fall,” the activists chanted in a video published by Agudath Israel.
Foxman, who survived the Holocaust by being hidden and raised by his Catholic Polish nanny, said on X that he knew in his heart that “in the future it will be better, for Jews in America then it is today. But I fear it will never be the same. After 50 years fighting antisemitism in America, I could not have imagined a time Jews would have to meet in secret locations in Chicago at DNC.”
The ADL noted that the event was not about Zionism, and that Agudath Israel had been targeted for being “visibly Jewish.”
Foxman, who survived the Holocaust by being hidden and raised by his Catholic Polish nanny, said on X that he knew in his heart that “in the future it will be better, for Jews in America then it is today. But I fear it will never be the same. After 50 years fighting antisemitism in America, I could not have imagined a time Jews would have to meet in secret locations in Chicago at DNC.”
The ADL noted that the event was not about Zionism, and that Agudath Israel had been targeted for being “visibly Jewish.”
Foxman may claim that he “could not have imagined a time Jews would have to meet in secret locations in Chicago at DNC,” but America’s Newspaper of Record sure could:
THE INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE IS ON THE CASE: South Fulton’s Protectionist Zoning:
Between rent, the security deposit, and building out her shop, Awa spent nearly $20,000. But then came time for the City Council to vote for her license. To her shock, when the City Council met it was not concerned with how to welcome a new business, but instead focused on protecting other businesses from competition.
Their language was anything but subtle.
One member said that it was “not fair” that an existing salon would “have to compete” with Awa. The Council even said that Awa should forget the thousands of dollars she invested, start over, and find a new location where she wouldn’t be “competing with anyone.” The Council rejected her permit—not because her shop was unsafe or failed to meet any regulations, but rather to stifle competition from other politically favored businesses.
This blanket economic protectionism is unconstitutional. The South Fulton City Council cannot shut out new businesses just to protect existing ones from competition. The Georgia Supreme Court said so just last year in another IJ case involving lactation consultants.
Every American has the right to use their property to earn a living without arbitrary government interference. The government cannot pick and choose who gets to pursue the American Dream.
The remedy should include not only her license and damages, but mandatory training in civics and economics for the South Fulton City Council.
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JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Is Kamala setting herself up for a Dewey-versus-Truman defeat?
The hazy elusiveness that has characterized the first weeks of Harris’s campaign has prompted impatience and criticism from across the political landscape.
While noting the distance Harris has kept from the news media — she has neither granted an interview nor convened a news conference since emerging as the Democrats’ nominee — the New York Times nonetheless reported recently: “Some political strategists say Ms. Harris is doing exactly what she should be doing.”
Perhaps it’s not “exactly what she should be doing,” though — not when recalling campaign history and the case of Dewey, who served three terms as Republican governor of New York but twice lost the presidency as his party’s nominee.
Dewey in 1948 embraced a distant, glide-path strategy against President Harry Truman (D), sidestepping controversy and offering tame platitudes such as the importance of national “unity.”
“When you’re leading, don’t talk,” Dewey told a supporter, according to his biographer.
He specifically rejected suggestions by Republican leaders to undertake a vigorous, hard-hitting effort against Truman, who had become president in 1945 upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“I will not get down into the gutter with that fellow,” Dewey said of Truman.
Instead, Truman used the MSM to define Dewey, his fellow liberal, to devastating results:
As I asked last week, why is it okay to compare Trump — and indeed every GOP presidential candidate over the last 75 years — to a leading National Socialist, but it’s not okay to point out Kamala’s predilection for International Socialism, especially when:
UPDATE: Speaking of International Socialism:
During the 2008 election, my Romanian cousin visited me in DC. When he saw the paintings of Obama’s face all over town, he told me, “you Americans do everything bigger—including cult of personality.” I think about that a lot. https://t.co/YuE5xH9Ra5
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) August 23, 2024
The video included several quotes from critics panning Coppola’s previous work — but none of the phrases, attributed to the likes of Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, could be found in any of their reviews.
Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman was incorrectly cited as calling the 1992 film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” “a beautiful mess” and highlighting its “absurdity” when he reviewed the film for Entertainment Weekly, where he worked at the time of its release.
“Even if you’re one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths. Then again, the trivial scandal of all this is that the whole ‘Megalopolis’ trailer is built on a false narrative,” Gleiberman said of the trailer’s falsified quotes. “Critics loved ‘The Godfather.’ And though ‘Apocalypse Now’ was divisive, it received a lot of crucial critical support. As far as me calling ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ ‘a beautiful mess,’ I only wish I’d said that! Regarding that film, it now sounds kind.”
It’s not clear where most of the quotes featured in the trailer came from — with the exception of Roger Ebert’s comment, “a triumph of style over substance,” which was actually pulled from his 1989 review of “Batman,” and not about “Dracula,” as indicated in the trailer.
You have to suspect that somebody used an AI to cull quotes instead of doing their own research, and… well, you know the rest.
JUST FACTS: In today’s email alert from James Agresti’s superb research group:
“VP Kamala Harris claims that ‘Donald Trump’s abortion bans unleashed a health care crisis for women across our nation.’
“IN FACT, maternal mortality dropped by 32% in the year Roe was overturned, and women who have abortions are 45% to 191% more likely to die young than those who deliver their children. Correlation ≠ causation, but many abortions harm women, all laws limiting abortion have exceptions to protect women’s lives, and nearly all abortions kill humans.”
SHE ALSO SET A NEW LAND-SPEED RECORD FOR FLIP-FLOPS LAST NIGHT: Lies, Damned Lies, and Kamala’s Propaganda About Gaza and Israel.
OLD AND BUSTED: Pelosi: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
The New Hotness? We have to elect the candidate so you can find out what her policies are:
They're now openly begging Kamala not to tell anyone what her platform is. I know it's an election year, but damn.
Journalists aren't people. https://t.co/Gt39uJ7KPC— Bill D'Agostino (@Banned_Bill) August 23, 2024
UPDATE:
Did I miss the part where she "laid out her vision"? pic.twitter.com/OQaFnnrwVV
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) August 23, 2024
PRO-NATAL POLITICS: Legal scholars say parents should get extra votes.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: SLS contract extension hints at additional Artemis delays.
NASA, in an Aug. 14 procurement filing, announced its intent to extend that contract to at least September 2026. That would allow Teledyne Brown to complete work on the third and final LVSA “as well as to ultimately conclude LVSA activities” under the contract.
The proposed extension also includes several options for additional extensions. The first is a nine-month extension that would allow the contract to run through June 2027. That would be exercised “in the event an extension is necessary to conclude Artemis III launch and post-flight analysis in support of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s public announcement on January 9, 2024, in relation to the current SLS launch manifest,” the filing stated.
That is a reference to the announcement by the agency of delays in both the Artemis 2 and 3 missions. At a Jan. 9 briefing, NASA said that Artemis 2 would launch no earlier than September 2025, with Artemis 3 to follow no earlier than September 2026.
The agency has not updated those launch dates since then. However, NASA has yet to publicly resolve one of the issues that prompted the Artemis 2 launch delay, erosion to the heat shield of the Orion spacecraft on the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in 2022. It is also unclear if development of key elements for Artemis 3, notably the Starship lunar lander by SpaceX, are on a schedule that could support a mission in late 2026.
Meanwhile: China on track for crewed moon landing by 2030, space official says.
It’s a real race.
SABO STRIKES AGAIN:
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Harris’s Acceptance Speech Was a Cliché Lib Facebook Post. “I’m going to air some familiar gripes about all of what went on because I want the intergalactic aliens who discover my body of work a thousand years from now to have a clear picture of just how awful the Democrats and their flying monkeys in the mainstream media were.”
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