BLUE STATE BLUES: What A Deal! San Jose To Pay Homeless To Clean Up Their Mess.

Granted, a 25 person workforce isn’t all that large in terms of getting the homeless off the streets, but this phase of the project is only a pilot program and it could be expanded later. A couple of challenges the plan faces come to mind immediately, however. First of all, how are you going to pay them? In cash? Most of the homeless probably don’t have bank accounts or the ability to cash a check without going to one of those short-term loan outfits and being charged outrageous fees. Will they have taxes withheld?

Beyond that, there’s the basic question of motivation. As the Gate article notes, the places they want to pay the homeless to pick up trash are the same spots where the homeless congregate and create the trash problem to begin with. Once word gets around that the city is handing out cash to clean up trash, well… isn’t that sort of like paying someone to pick up dead birds in the park and waiting to see if they don’t start shooting a bunch of birds? It just seems like you’re going to create an incentive for people to create more garbage.

It’s like paying vandals to tape up broken windows. And as I’ve been saying here lately, the only thing subsidies get you less of is money.

GOOD TO KNOW: No, Trump Has Not Started a Nuclear Arms Race With INF Pullout.

CHANGE: Trump to terminate birthright citizenship.

President Trump plans to sign an executive order that would remove the right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S. soil, he said yesterday in an exclusive interview for “Axios on HBO,” a new four-part documentary news series debuting on HBO this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Why it matters: This would be the most dramatic move yet in Trump’s hardline immigration campaign, this time targeting “anchor babies” and “chain migration.” And it will set off another stand-off with the courts, as Trump’s power to do this through executive action is debatable to say the least.

He certainly isn’t afraid of a fight.

COLD WAR II: ‘Prepare for war’, Xi Jinping tells military region that monitors South China Sea, Taiwan.

One of the primary missions of the Southern Theatre Command is overseeing the South China Sea, an area where tensions and military activity involving China, the US and other powers have been growing steadily.

Earlier this month, a Chinese destroyer almost collided with a US warship in the disputed waters after making what the Americans described as an “unsafe and unprofessional” manoeuvre in an attempt to warn it to leave the area.

Related: The Navy We Need.

China continues to build one warship every two months, ranging from new aircraft carriers to guided-missile frigates that can visit a broad range of ports in the region. Soon the Chinese navy will surpass the U.S. Navy in size, and it is approaching capabilities parity as well. It is also stepping up its challenges to the U.S. Navy, as evidenced by its recent near-collision with a U.S. destroyer in the South China Sea.

These state actors are challenging the United States on the high seas because they perceive in the U.S. Navy’s shrinking numbers an opportunity to surpass a superpower. In other words, they are challenging the U.S. because the U.S., with its small and unbalanced fleet, has invited them to do so.

What do you call a 355-ship Navy? A good start.

MICHAEL WALSH: Angela Merkel: Down, and Soon Out. “She has no one to blame but herself. Now it’s time for the Germans to undo the damage.”

While there’s still a Germany left.

ALL LIVES MATTER: Matthew McConaughey Brings Lunch To Houston Police Officers.

SCRAPPLEFACE: Megyn Kelly Reappears, Ending Nationwide Search.

NEWS YOU CAN USE? Don’t Get Caught by the Cultural Appropriation Police This Halloween, Follow These 4 Easy Tips! “Don’t commit the ultimate Halloween faux pas of cultural appropriation.”

I’m dressing up this year as Bucky Goldstein.

AVNER ZARMI: The Anti-Semitic Massacre is the Latest Manifestation of the American Lunatic Fringe.

TONY KATZ: Jews Must Defend Themselves. Now. “This is not about ‘gun violence.’ This is about those who naively, ignorantly or ideologically think they can preserve humanity without guns.”

What happened in Pittsburgh is my nightmare scenario. For a few years now, on my radio shows in Indianapolis, I have said as loud and as clear as I can that any Jew who attends religious services without a firearm is risking their life and the lives of the ones they love.

But, in truth, I’ve never said it so kindly. I’ve said that nothing in America is more of a soft target than a synagogue on a Friday night or a Saturday morning. I discuss all houses of worship; synagogues, churches, mosques – they are all soft targets. I have argued that laws that prevent carrying a firearm in a house of worship where there is also a school are wrong, and should be changed (and, if necessary, ignored.)

The purpose of being trained and carrying a firearm is to protect yourself AND the ones your love. That means children: your children. Why would you ever put yourself in a position not to protect them? Why, as a society, would we ask this of any parent or guardian?

Indeed.

THE NEW CIVILITY: Blackburn says ‘angry mob’ interrupted rally in Tennessee with Lindsey Graham.

Security officers forcibly removed several people from Blackburn’s “Get Out The Vote” rally with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday evening after several “appalling” and “despicable” disruptions, according to the 2018 Senate candidate’s campaign.

Blackburn, the state’s Republican nominee in the upcoming Senate race, said protesters threw punches and shouted in the midst of a moment of silence for the victims in Pittsburgh, where 11 Jewish worshipers were fatally shot Saturday.

Charming.

HMM: Evacuated after ‘health attacks’ in Cuba and China, diplomats face new ordeals in U.S.

BUT OF COURSE: SPLC Leads Soros-Funded Groups in ‘Orwellian’ Attempt to Ban ‘Hate Speech’ on Social Media.

IRONY: Indonesia: Rally for moderate Islam halted over fears of violence.

OH: Nancy Pelosi vows her first order of business will be to destroy the First Amendment if Dems take the House.

SMART: RNC Contacts 15.7 Million Hispanic Voters Ahead of Midterms. “Republicans say 1 out of every 4 voters contacted are from Hispanic communities.”

The RNC says it has already seen results from the 15.7 million contacts it has made in the Hispanic community either by phone or in person. It points to an uptick in President Donald Trump’s approval rating among Hispanics, which it credits to both its outreach and to successful policies.

“The effective policies of the Trump administration on behalf of our community have led to record low unemployment of 4.5 percent and as a result, increased support from Hispanic voters across the country,” said Yali Nuñez, the RNC’s director of Hispanic media. “We remain focused on advocating for policies and candidates that empower the Hispanic community.”

Take no voter for granted — particularly the ones the other side does.

NICE: Navy Destroys Ballistic Missile Target in Successful Interceptor Test.

U.S. sailors aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer John Finn destroyed a target Friday with the latest version of the Standard Missile-3 interceptor during a flight test off the coast of Hawaii.

The ship launched the SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, which then successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target deployed from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii, according to a U.S. Missile Defense Agency press release.

Mark Wright, a spokesman for MDA, confirmed that the SM-3 Block IIA impacted with the target.

“It’s a kinetic kill vehicle, meaning it has to slam into the target, not just explode near it,” he told Military.com.

Built by Raytheon, the Block IIA can be deployed on land as well as at sea.

China’s neighbors and our easternmost NATO allies ought to be buying Aegis Ashore systems as quickly as we can build them.

COLD WAR II HAS INTERESTING NEW PARAMETERS: China Regulator to Propose 50% Cut to Car Purchase Tax.

Carmaker shares surged after Bloomberg News reported the proposal, which would stimulate a market they’ve increasingly relied on for growth. Volkswagen AG, selling just under 40 percent of its vehicles in China last year, rose as much as 6.9 percent, the biggest intraday move since July 2016. Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. rallied in pre-market U.S. trading, while BMW AG and Daimler AG gained in Germany.

The move would help shore up the world’s largest automotive market, which is facing its first decline in more than two decades as a trade war with the U.S. hits at consumer spending power.

It is a moral imperative that the United States not fall behind in the tax cut race.

RAYMOND IBRAHIM: ‘Doormat Christianity’ and the Islamic Invasion. “Much of the West thinks acceptance of illiberalism is a Christian value.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Four Things You Can Do Right Now to Harden Your Place of Worship Against a Shooter. “If you haven’t started taking this threat seriously by now, please do so immediately.”

BREAKING: Military to Deploy 5,000 Troops to Southern Border. “Deployment numbers are increase from initial estimates of 800 troops, in anticipation of migrant caravan.

NEVER AGAIN: Gun-toting rabbi says congregants should arm themselves.

MONICA SHOWALTER: Murderous communists? Who knew? Take a look at what they are doing in Venezuela.

There’s another reality about the place, and it’s not getting the attention, say, Saudi Arabia or Russia is, over the killings of dissidents. The Maduro regime is showing an alarming willingness to violently attack opposition leaders, and it’s moving in on high-profile ones who had previously seemed untouchable. They’ve already jailed politician Leopoldo Lopez and driven many others into exile. But the regime’s people have stepped up the thuggery to higher levels since then. They tortured to death a city councilman who was then flung off a ten-story building earlier this month. And they encircled and beat up leading opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, likely signaling intent to kill.

Maduro’s abuses aren’t getting the same attention Khashoggi’s murder has because they can’t be used to embarrass the right people.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump’s Tragedy in Pittsburgh and Much, Much More. “The sad reality is that a jew-hating maniac shot up a synagogue, killing 11 congregants. And despite all the lip service about the victims and the tragedy, this mass murder was promptly co-opted by political interests and the blame placed on President Trump and Republicans. It’s disgusting.”

FLASHBACK: Demonization: Durham NC City Council bans police exchanges with Israel.

In a statement endorsed unanimously, the City Council prohibited international police exchanges “in which Durham police officers receive military-style training.” The statement, after an intense lobbying campaign by anti-Israel activists and over the objection of police groups, mentioned only Israel by name in the opening paragraph of the document.

It did so even though there have been no such exchanges for over a decade, and none are planned, with the Israel National Police. A single one-week trip that the former Durham police chief Jose Lopez once took to Israel involved how to deal with and manage mass casualty situations. By his own statement to the City Council, “none of the training had anything to do with militarization.”

There were a few other truly memorable speakers out of the 50—some who shamed the Council proceedings with their gross bigotry and others who dignified the meeting with measured and thoughtful commentary.

One speaker who identified himself as Jihad Shawwa struggled to get a video to play then went on a tirade about Zionism and the IDF being a “terrorist organization.” You can watch that circus beginning at the 1:07:33 mark.

Later, the crackpoterry resumed when a minister from the Nation of Islam delivered a 2-minute anti-Jewish rant, referring to a “synagogue of Satan” and accusing Jews of having “an inordinate amount of control” in city politics.

More at the link.