DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Labor Day Weekend in Brandon Johnson’s Chicago: At Least 17 Shot So Far. “The Chicago Sun-Times homicide database shows that 378 people have been killed in Chicago during 2024.”

SHE ISN’T EVEN GOOD AT BEING FAKE: Harris’s New Trick to Avoid Reporters Backfires Spectacularly.

AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE:

NASA Statement on the Starliner pulsing noise:

“A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration…

— Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) September 2, 2024

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Joe Biden Is Back From the Beach to Give His Hamas Buddies Some Love. “Biden decided to play president on Monday and wasted no time reminding the public that he’s not only awful at his job, but that he’s also a horrible, horrible human being.”

DECLINE IS A CHOICE: ‘A very serious situation’: Volkswagen could close plants in Germany for the first time in history.

Volkswagen is weighing whether to close factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history as it moves to deepen cost cuts amid rising competition from China’s electric vehicle makers.

In a statement Monday, the German automaker, one of the world’s biggest car companies, said that it could not rule out plant closures its home country. Other measures to “future-proof” the company include trying to terminate an employment protection agreement with labor unions, which has been in place since 1994.

“The European automotive industry is in a very demanding and serious situation,” said Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume. “The economic environment became even tougher, and new competitors are entering the European market. Germany in particular as a manufacturing location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness.

Previously: Germany is facing the problem of creeping deindustrialization.

Germany is facing the problem of creeping deindustrialization. This was warned by Gunnar Gröbler, CEO of the Salzgitter steel company, the Financial Times reports.

If producers of key products needed for industry, such as steel and chemicals, leave the region due to high energy prices, there is a risk of losing the entire value chain, he said.

These comments come after 32% of industrial companies surveyed told the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) in August 2023 that they preferred to invest abroad rather than expand domestically. The number is twice as high as in last year’s survey amid concerns about the future without cheap Russian gas.

Salzgitter’s remarks also come at a difficult time for German industry, when several major climate projects have been called into question due to the country’s budget crisis.

Just like the immigration crisis, Berlin knew exactly what would happen and plowed ahead.

BY ANY MEANS FAIR OR FOUL: Billionaire Who’s Bankrolling Bogus Anti-Trump Lawfare Caught Gaslighting in Real Time. “Hoffman’s angle is to bleed dry the former president’s bank account while simultaneously torpedoing his ability to win the 2024 election with his vast bankroll used to fund the biggest lawfare cases against Trump and his friends.”

THAT’S BECAUSE THEY AREN’T READY: The next would-be assassin may be a drone pilot. US law enforcement doesn’t look ready.

What if the would-be Trump assassin had instead used a drone rigged with explosives?

This is becoming a weapon of choice in Ukraine and across the Middle East, a remote-controlled flying bomb that would likely have more seriously wounded the Republican candidate. Security experts warn that inexpensive drones can be easily transformed into dangerous weapons by extremist groups in the West.

For the US Secret Service and other executive protection agencies, keeping prominent figures safe from traditional threats — guns, knives, bombs — is challenging enough. Drones offer a new and dangerous threat that law enforcement isn’t ready for.

“It is the easiest thing in the world to hook a small piece of explosive to a drone, and send it over an event,” Kent Moyer, president of World Protection Group, a California-based private security firm, told Business Insider.

When it comes to protecting dignitaries, or stadium events such as sports and concerts, “nobody is really doing countermeasures against drones,” said Moyer.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Secret Service had countermeasures they aren’t talking about — but I might be surprised if they were being properly employed.

ROBERT SPENCER: Las Vegas Teen Converts to Islam, and Guess What He Did Next. “These are just three men who are on a long and ever-lengthening list of converts to Islam who turn to terrorism, even in the United States, and are largely ignored by the establishment media. As everyone knows or should know by now, the media is interested only in shoring up its narrative, not in reporting actual facts. Now another young man has joined their ranks.”

“PLIABLE” GOT MISTRANSLATED: Kremlin prefers Harris, calls her ‘predictable.’

COME SEE THE ANTISEMITISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: Keffiyeh-Clad Man Injures Jewish Students with Glass Bottle at University of Pittsburgh.

I’VE SEEN THIS MOVIE. IT DIDN’T END WELL: Boeing’s Starliner started making a repeating ‘pulsing’ sound yesterday. “In the recording, Wilmore asks NASA crew in Houston to configure their call so that he could show them the noise, which he says is coming from the speaker inside Starliner. Then, a repetitive clanging sound with slight there’s-something-on-the-wing vibes can be heard. The Earthside crew member describes it as sounding ‘almost like a sonar ping.'”

You can listen to the audio of the call here:

Starliner crew reports hearing strange "sonar like noises" emanating from their craft. This is the real audio of it: pic.twitter.com/xzHTMvB7uq

— SpaceBasedFox 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖊𝖆𝖊𝖗𝖔.𝖈𝖔𝖒 (@SpaceBasedFox) September 1, 2024

It’s probably nothing but it’s always something with Starliner.

I STILL MISS HIM: Dead 20 Years, Ronald Reagan Can Still Trigger the Left.

ACTION:

Muslim immigrants in Germany: "When we are in majority we will take control of Germany by force. Sharia law will replace German laws. If Germans oppose Sharia they will be punished. Gays will be thrown a cliff from the mountains!" pic.twitter.com/KJV2mH6Phr

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) September 1, 2024

Reaction:

The right-wing party that wants to close the borders have just had a massive victory in the state elections in Germany today.

Something big is happening.

— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) September 1, 2024

Stay tuned…

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Fake News 2024 — Now With 100% More Fakery! “When you scratch the surface of Kamala Harris, you hit more surface. She possesses all the depth of a deflated kiddie pool. However, the Democrats’ flying monkeys in the mainstream media are working triple shifts with hazard pay to create a candidate who isn’t substance-free.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: What Will Governor Newsom Do With the Bill to Fund Illegal Immigrant First-Time Home Purchases?

By now most of you have probably heard about California’s absurd new bill to offer illegal immigrants who are first time home buyers up to $150,000 towards a downpayment. I think the coverage of this has been a little unclear. California already has a “first-time home buyers” assistance program. AB1840 prohibits the California Housing Finance Authority from “discriminating” against applicants based on immigration status. So, while the bill doesn’t technically give out wads of cash so illegal immigrants can buy homes, it opens up the possibility of some illegal immigrants getting wads of cash so they can buy homes.

But there’s a problem (besides the obvious). The program handed out 1,700 first-time home buyer grants in June, depleting the fund. The legislature has not appropriated any further funds. The California Department of Finance has told the Governor and the legislature there is no money to fund more applicants.

The program is broke.

My suspicion is Governor Newsom will ultimately veto the bill. He is clearly planning a future presidential run and cannot afford to alienate the middle class.

It’s a little late for Newsom to embrace either the middle class or fiscal sanity.

REGARDLESS, THEY JUST WANT IT GONE: The New York Times Wonders if the Constitution Is ‘Dangerous.’

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: NASA’s Next Rocket Launcher Project Is Going Off the Rails.

NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a scathing report on the space agency’s second mobile launcher (ML-2) for its Moon rocket, which could cost $2.2 billion more than originally estimated.

The report, issued this week, revealed the results of an audit of the ongoing development of the mobile launcher, which will be used to assemble, transport, and launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. OIG found significant cost overruns and schedule delays, with the mobile launcher potentially costing six times more than its initial value.

In 2019, NASA awarded a $383 million contract to Bechtel to design and build a second mobile launcher that will be used to transport the SLS rocket to its launchpad for the upcoming Artemis 4 mission, scheduled for launch in September 2028. At the time, Bechtel was supposed to deliver the launcher by March 2023. By 2022, the contract value had increased to more than $1 billion and its delivery date had been delayed to May 2026.

Despite the initial cost projections, the OIG report estimates that the mobile launcher could end up costing $2.7 billion and that it would not be ready to support the SLS launch until September 2029.

$2.7 billion and years late for a launch tower? Heads should roll — but won’t.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: The Absolute Fastest Way to Stop a Speeding Car. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week Florida Man learns there’s an even faster way than the PIT maneuver to stop a speeding car, a lovely experiment in happiness, and the watermelons that were green on the outside and meth on the inside.”

WOEING: NASA cuts 2 from next SpaceX flight to make room for astronauts stuck at space station. “NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch in September aboard a SpaceX rocket for the orbiting laboratory. The duo will return with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore in February. NASA decided it’s too risky for Williams and Wilmore to fly home in their Boeing Starliner capsule, marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks. Bumped from the SpaceX flight: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson. NASA said they could fly on future missions.”

THERE’S ONLY SO MUCH WATER THE INFOTAINMENT COMPLEX CAN CARRY: Why Isn’t Kamala Harris Farther Ahead?

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Space Force No. 2 Says There Is Risk of China or Russia Launching Large-Scale Attack in Orbit.

RAPID REACTION: Trump-Vance Campaign Uses Kamala’s CNN Interview in Devastating New Ad.

STEVE SAILOR: Democrats are finally noticing Karl Rove wasn’t right about the Hispanic Vote.

For the first two decades of this century, the conventional wisdom of paid political strategists for both parties was George W. Bush’s svengali Karl Rove’s grand strategy that opening wide the borders was what Hispanic voters cared about most, that whichever party pandered hardest to Latinos on immigration would rule the Hispanic-dominated future. Sure, the Republicans would lose out on each additional Latino let in, but they’d make up for it in volume. Or something.

I was a rare voice of dissent. It seemed to me that the Hispanics who cared most about Open Borders were exactly the the handful of Latinos whom strategists and journalists talked to the most, such as Hispanic politicians and NGO ethnic activists. Of course, they benefit from swamping the country with more warm Latin American bodies whom they could claim to be the leaders of.

My emphasis over the last 24 years has been instead that Americans of Latin-American descent who vote aren’t monolithic Open Borders fanatics like their white-subsidized elites want them to be. Instead, Hispanic voters tend to favor traditional Democratic Harry Hopkins-style policies of tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect for basic class reasons.

The Democrats appear to have finally figured out that Rove was wrong and I was right.

Read the whole thing — also, Rove turned out to be wrong about a number of issues.

HARDLY SEEMS POSSIBLE: Tim Walz Made Kamala’s First Interview Worse, Not Better.

THAT’S NICE. BUT HOW IS NEW GLENN COMING ALONG? ‘One of the cleanest flights I’ve seen.’ Blue Origin launches 6 people to space, lands safely on NS-26 flight. “As the mission’s name suggests, NS-26 was the 26th flight overall for New Shepard. The mission launched atop the company’s New Shepard rocket, Blue Origin’s reusable rocket-capsule combo. It was the eighth such mission to carry people.”

Meanwhile: Blue Origin targets mid-October for New Glenn’s inaugural flight and launch of NASA’s Escapade Mars mission. “Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the company recently suffered two failures at its factory that resulted in damage to hardware for its second and third New Glenn flights. But, a spokesperson told the publication that it’s still on track for this year’s inaugural launch.”

Fingers crossed.