THAT WOULD BE NICE: With Trump’s pick in charge, can taxpayers trust the IRS?
Author Archive: Stephen Green
October 29, 2018
DAVID HARSANYI: The Left’s Response To The Mass Shooting Of Jews Is An Act Of Bad Faith.
The same Voxers who had long rationalized, romanticized, and excused the Jew-killing terror organization of the Middle East were now blaming the existence of the evil, anti-Semitic Pittsburgh shooter on Republicans. The same Pod bros whose echo chamber deployed anti-Semitic dual-loyalty tropes to smear critics of the Iran deal were now incredibly concerned about the Jewish community.
There were many others, and that was bad enough. But others decided to dip into a little victim blaming, as well. Hadn’t American Jews been little too Jew-centric and pro-Israel for their own good?
Franklin Foer of The Atlantic demanded that Jews finally dispense with their faith, adopt his, and start expelling co-religionists for their political opinions. (If you want to read about the left’s co-opting of American Judaism, I recommend Jonathan Neumann’s excellent book, “To Heal The World?”) Wire creator David Simon went bold, embracing a transparent anti-Jewish conspiracy theory, accusing the Israeli government of intervening in the American democracy.
For those who confuse progressivism with Judaism — which is to say many — it might be difficult to understand that undermining the Democratic Party isn’t an act of anti-Semitism.
Needless to say, read the whole thing.
SPACE: China’s first private rocket fails after launch. “Beijing-based Landspace said late Saturday that the first and second stage of its ZQ-1 rocket worked normally but something went wrong with the final of the three-stage rocket. Landspace said that ‘cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage.’ The statement posted on its social media account did not elaborate.”
BREAKING: Merkel to Quit as Party Chief as Her Chancellorship Wobbles. “The unexpected reversal by Merkel, 64, signals the beginning of the end of an era during which her command of Germany put its stamp on Europe and beyond for more than a decade. Even so, Merkel’s term as chancellor runs until 2021 and Merkel has said she intends to serve it out. She is scheduled to speak to the media at 1 p.m. local time in Berlin.”
WHOSE BORDER IS IT, ANYWAY? DHS Secretary to Caravan: ‘You Are Not Getting In.’ “Administration urges migrants to take Mexico up on its offer of asylum and jobs.”
October 26, 2018
POSTMODERN FEUDALISM: California Ranks as Poorest State, One of the Worst for Income Inequality. “Want a liberal utopia? This is what it looks like.”
RICK MORAN: Does Violent Rhetoric Beget Violence? Only if the Victims are Democrats. “The notion that rhetoric leads to violence has little basis in science and is not proved by the facts.”
GIVING FLORIDA MAN A RUN FOR HIS STOLEN MONEY: Wisconsin man “Segway Boy” accused of attempting to buy radioactive material with intent to kill.
Justin Tolomeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Milwaukee Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Jeremy Ryan, 30, of the Town of Madison has been charged with attempted possession of radioactive material with intent to cause death.
Ryan allegedly attempted to buy the lethal dose in March and October of 2018. He was arrested on Tuesday.
Ryan, who was dubbed “Segway Boy” faced multiple felony drug charges in 2016. He got the nickname after he was seen riding a Segway around the state capitol in 2011 taunting Republican lawmakers.
He also attempted a congressional run against Paul Ryan in 2012.
This one is actually a couple of days old, but seems to have gotten lost in the flood of pipe “bomb” stories.
Joseph Shepard’s Sugar Creek Capital, a company he founded, was listed in 2013 as an “Equity Investor (State)” and was the state’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) syndicator for the Salvation Army St. Louis Garrison Residence in Missouri.
The development, designed specifically for homeless veterans and dubbed a “permanent solution” to the problem, received $815,000 in federal LIHTCs and $250,000 in state LIHTCs.
But the residence attempted to evict at least five former homeless veterans between 2015 and 2016 for owing rent, according to documents obtained by Fox News.
In April 2016, the Salvation Army St. Louis Garrison Residence filed an eviction lawsuit against Raymond Black for failing to pay $233.25 in rent.
In the same month, another veteran, Raymond Godfrey was sued for failing to pay $1,065 in rent. In July 2016, Henry Goss was threatened with eviction from the apartment for owing $290 in rent.
That’s not going to play very well with Missouri voters.
DIVERSITY IS THEIR STRENGTH: Italy in shock as third African migrant arrested in gang rape and homicide case of teen girl.
THAT’S A RELIEF: Go Ahead and Dress Up Your Chickens for Halloween, CDC Says.
COLD WAR II HAS INTERESTING NEW PARAMETERS: China to U.S.: My Tax Cut Is Bigger Than Yours. “China is turning to its consumers to boost growth this time around— not just buildings and bridges.”
It’s a moral imperative that America doesn’t get left behind in the race to cut taxes.
THAT’S DIFFERENT BECAUSE SHUT UP: Liberal Darlings Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel And Sarah Silverman All Wore Blackface.
THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR: How A KGB Double Agent Saved Britain And Won The Cold War For The West.
In his new book The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, veteran espionage historian Ben MacIntyre confirms a troubling decision—or lack thereof—that some had suspected for years. This is the fact that in 1983 the man overseeing both British spy services MI6 and MI5, head of British Civil Service Robert Armstrong, knew that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s main opponent in the upcoming election was a KGB agent and did not tell her.
Labor Party leader, member of Parliament, and former employment secretary Michael Foot had been a paid KGB agent for decades, and was still on the KGB books as an agent of influence when he headed the British Labor Party and ran against Thatcher for leadership of England in 1983. Foot would have become prime minister if Labor had won.
MI6 told MI5, its domestic sister agency, and MI5 told Armstrong, but Armstrong kept Foot’s duplicity to himself. Nobody informed Thatcher.
James Comey, call your office.
CONTINUOUS UPDATES ON THE “PIPE BOMBER” at the PJM Live Blog.
PATRICK POOLE: Toledo Woman Arrested for Directing Financial Support to Al-Qaeda. “Alaa Mohd Abusaad told an undercover agent how to send the money undetected.”
CATO: The Tangled Mess of Occupational Licensing.
In the 1950s, 1 in 20 workers needed government permission in the form of a license to work. Today licensing has ballooned to ensnare 1 in 4 workers. Most of that expansion is new license regulations for previously unlicensed occupations and the broadening scope of existing licenses.
Licenses are now required not just for doctors, dentists, and lawyers but also for shampooers, makeup artists, travel agents, auctioneers, and home entertainment installers. According to the Council of State Governments, 1,100 occupations were licensed in 2003.
State lawmakers once uncritically accepted dubious arguments for licensing rooted in quality assurance and public health or safety. Only in the past decade have they started paying attention to licensing’s substantial effects on wages, consumer prices, and unemployment. Today, state legislators have begun to view licensing for what it often is: naked rent-seeking behavior, compelling would-be entrepreneurs and workers to buy expensive and needless training to secure a license.
Just another way government makes life more difficult for entrepreneurs and innovators, and more expensive for consumers.
WELL, GOOD: NATO Dusts Off a Cold War Skill: Moving Troops.
U.S. Admiral James Foggo has spent months planning for NATO’s largest exercise since the Cold War. His first target: getting all 50,000 troops in place by the time drills start on Thursday.
Moving forces from 30 countries to Norway for the Trident Juncture maneuvers has been almost as big an endeavor as the exercises themselves. Ten thousand vehicles, 250 aircraft and 65 ships were dispatched, with most of the matérial directed to southern Norway.
Getting everything in place “is a serious logistics challenge,” said the U.S. admiral, who is commanding the exercises and usually oversees the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s joint-force operation in Naples, Italy.
In the bad old days, a more serious NATO held the even larger REFORGER exercise every year.
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Somebody Set Us Up the Bomb and Much, Much More. “These pseudo-bombs, coupled with the clumsy “targeting” of lefty political celebrities and washed up politicians makes me think this was done by someone really, really dumb or a leftist who thinks that its an October surprise to turn the narrative to Trump’s ‘violence’.”
NOT STORMY DANIELS: Trump-Hating Former Porn Star Engages In Shootout With Cops.
Jonathan Oddi, 42 can be seen in the footage dragging a large American flag with him and holding a gun. He unfurls the flag on the resort’s concierge desk and angrily shoves a cannister off the end of the desk.
The footage then shows him leaning against that desk and putting on socks before spreading out the flag and attempting to reach the security camera. Oddi unfurls the flag some more and smashes the resort’s front desk computers before police arrive outside.
At first, Oddi puts the gun down and puts his arms in the air, but then picks the gun up and begins shooting at the officers, using the desk as cover. After some back-and-forth shooting, Oddi takes off into the hotel, still firing. He briefly slips on the hotel’s floors as officers pursue. He then runs up a flight of stairs and knocks over some furniture before an officer is able to arrest him.
Video at the link, but Ashe Schow’s description of it is somehow more fun.
THAT WOULD BE NICE BUT I’LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT: In 2 years, renewables will be cheaper than fossil fuels.