Coming to the market

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1068 Lake Avenue asking $7.495 million. I’m sure it’s been improved since the last time it was put up for sale, but back then I wasn’t the only one to find the Banksville-line location inconvenient and the design of the house itself unloveable: It was listed in 2008 for $7.380 million, and plenty of people had ample opportunity to see it and reject it between then and 2014, when it finally sold for $3.750.

Panic much?

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Kampalla’s handlers are now offering black males free money and marijuana in exchange for their votes. Whites, Hispanics, Asians and Indians of either either persuasion need not apply.

….She's also apparently given up appealing to white moderates. On Monday, she entertained notions of multitrillion-dollar reparations. Reparations are something that "has to be studied," she told Charlamagne Tha God on his podcast.

Harris is on track to do worse with black voters than any Democrat presidential candidate since 1960, before LBJ locked them in "for 200 years."

Tampon Tim reveals himself to be both an idiot AND a liar

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Tim Walz Makes an Absolute KNUCKLEHEAD of Himself Trying to Dunk on J.D. Vance

There are a lot of insulting things coming from the Kamala Harris campaign. From her racist pandering to black men to trying to dunk on Trump while a rally attendee was having a medical issue, it's less joy and more Mean Girls.

But the most astonishing insult is their endless attacks on J.D. Vance and his success. Vance grew up very poor in Appalachia and went to Yale. He wrote a successful book that was adapted into a movie -- 'Hillbilly Elegy' -- and is a Senator from Ohio. And the next Vice President of the United States.

And for some reason, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz think this is a bad thing worthy of scorn and derision.

So here's Walz -- once again -- dunking on Vance (and making himself look like a fool in the process):

Pandering to the gullible: Trump and Harris both

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Deceitful Promises

John Stossel | 3:30 AM on October 16, 2024

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris keep making new promises.

Trump fans applauded when he said he'll eliminate taxes on tips. Then Harris proposed that, too. Her audience applauded. Trump then proposed not taxing overtime. More applause.

But narrow tax exemptions are bad policy. 

In my new video, Economist Allison Schrager explains how they create nasty, unintended consequences. 

"No one likes tipping," says Schrager, "but all of a sudden, you'll have to pay tips for everything. ... More people will be paid in tips."

I want lower taxes, but awarding specific exemptions to certain people doesn't just let some of us keep more of our money, it tells workers and employers to change their behavior.

"If you're a restaurant owner, you need chefs, hostesses, managers," says Schrager. "All of a sudden, one group of your employees isn't paying taxes, and the rest are. Suddenly, it would be very hard to hire anyone who's not a server."

Likewise, Trump's proposal to eliminate tax on overtime would reduce hiring.

"Employers may hire fewer people so they can give more overtime to employees they have already," says Schrager.

"Do you know any economists who support these ideas?" I ask. 

"No," she says. "It's actually nice that economists on both the left and right are coming together with a sort of mutual disgust."

…

Harris promises more rent control. She says she will "take on landlords that unfairly raise rent on working families." Just "working families"? Will she allow landlords to raise rents on non-working families? I hate the poll-tested jargon. 

Her supporters praise her promise, but rent control is destructive. "Sounds really good," says Schrager. "But all it means is that people are less inclined to rent to you."

"Why would you enter a market where it seems like the government is actively trying to hurt you?" Adds Mercatus Center economist Salim Furth. "You're providing an essential service, something human beings need to live, and the government views you as a hostile outsider. I wouldn't want to bring any service into a market like that."

Argentina's new libertarian president just scrapped rent controls. The supply of rental apartments doubled, and prices declined by 40%! That's good policy.

But Harris proposes the opposite!

Likewise, Trump's (and Joe Biden's) tariffs don't just punish China, they reduce choice and raise prices in America. 

"Free trade is good!" says Schrager. "It brings lower prices, making our own industries more dynamic, raising our income."

"But trade does take away some Americans' jobs," I point out.

"But it creates a lot of other new jobs," she replies. 

It sure does. More and better jobs than those lost through trade. [We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one — Ed]

[Harris] proposes giving "first-time homebuyers" $25,000. Again, her fans applaud.

Schrager explains, "free" money from government doesn't increase the supply of homes. When every buyer has $25,000 more, "they just bid up prices even higher!"

…. Thanks to Biden's reckless spending (and Trump's, and most every president's since Bill Clinton, and Congress adding pet projects), our debt now increases by $8 billion per day! That's money government cannot spend on protecting us or helping the truly needy.

Soon, Social Security and Medicare will run out of money. 

But instead of addressing these problems, Trump and Harris pander.

"I won't raise retirement age by one day!" shouts Trump.

But if we don't reform these handouts, America will go broke. 

Real reform frightens voters. So Trump and Harris make deceitful promises.

As Schrager concludes, "There's a lot to hate on both sides."

We have ears, but will not listen

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useful idiots

Islamic Scholar Lets Slip the Truth: ‘If Preserving Life Had Priority, There Would Be No Jihad’

Robert Spencer:

After 9/11, we were inundated with the claims that by this time have become near-universal assumptions: Islam is peace. Jihadis are just a tiny minority of extremists. Jihad means a spiritual struggle and is willfully or ignorantly misinterpreted among jihadis. 

Yet an Islamic scholar has just offered a succinct and telling enunciation of Islamic values that differs sharply from these claims. Is he an ignorant, racist, bigoted “Islamophobe” whose views can be easily dismissed? Hardly. He is an internationally respected Muslim Brotherhood leader whose words should be carefully pondered in Washington, but they won’t be. 

The Kuwaiti Islamic scholar Tareq al-Suwaidan, who has been named among the 500 Most Influential Muslims for the last three years, recently enunciated a vision of Islamic values that differs markedly from what we have been told again and again in the West: “Preserving life is not the only objective of the shari’a – these include the preserving of religion, life, lineage, intellect, and property. These are the main objectives of the shari’a.”

That all sounds reasonable enough, but then al-Suwaidan added, “Which one of these objectives has higher priority? It is preserving religion, not preserving life. This is why there is a thing called ‘Jihad.’ If preserving life had the priority, there would be no Jihad – we would abolish it. Preserving religion takes priority over preserving life.” Thus peace, which would preserve life, is not the ultimate goal; Islamization is.

In line with this, al-Suwaidan found Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, to be positively inspiring: “By Allah,” he said, “what happened during the Al-Aqsa Flood should be taught in the most prestigious colleges.” The Al-Aqsa Flood is the name that Hamas gave to its Oct. 7 massacre. “The planning,” al-Suwaidan continued, “was unbelievable. People who are experts in planning know that what happened could only succeed with divine intervention and profound and extraordinary planning.”

Warming to his topic, al-Suwaidan added: “Can you see how many young men and women in our Arab world – forget the Arab world, in the West – consider [Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman] Abu Obeida a role model?… The Al-Aqsa Flood is the best leadership training course in the world.” 

Al-Suwaidan, who spent several years in Tulsa, Okla., meant to include the West among those who could learn from Oct. 7. Like everyone else, he has seen the thoroughly indoctrinated and propagandized college and university students all over the U.S. praise Hamas and celebrate the Oct. 7 attacks. 

Amid his joy and excitement, however, al-Suwaidan was troubled that Allah had not yet granted the Muslims total victory: “Blood is flowing in Gaza like rivers. Where is the victory that we were promised? Why is there no divine intervention to stop the bloodshed of children, women, the elderly, and to stop the hunger in Gaza?” Who promised them victory? Allah. Al-Suwaidan is likely referring to the fact that the Qur’an promises success to the believers in this world as well as the next: “Allah gave them the reward of this world and the good reward of the hereafter. Allah loves those who do good deeds.” (3:148). 

For al-Suwaidan, the fact that this victory has so far eluded the Muslims in Gaza means only that they should dedicate themselves all the more wholeheartedly to jihad for the sake of Allah, even if it would mean that they would die in the process: “Man, I do not cry for them. I am crying for myself for not being among them. This is how a believer should aspire for martyrdom.”

This is not the Islam George W. Bush told us about on June 24, 2002, when he set out a vision of a Palestinian Authority that was a beacon of freedom in the Middle East: “If liberty can blossom in the rocky soil of the West Bank and Gaza,” he asserted, “it will inspire millions of men and women around the globe who are equally weary of poverty and oppression, equally entitled to the benefits of democratic government.”

Bush went on to express his fantasies about Islam in general: “I have a hope for the people of Muslim countries. Your commitments to morality, and learning, and tolerance led to great historical achievements. And those values are alive in the Islamic world today. You have a rich culture, and you share the aspirations of men and women in every culture. Prosperity and freedom and dignity are not just American hopes, or Western hopes. They are universal, human hopes.”

That’s the sort of thing that they still believe in the State Department, and it has deformed the U.S. response to people such as Tareq al-Suwaidan. Such people will never accept a negotiated agreement to live in peace with Israel. They will fight on unless the enemy is simply too strong for them to defeat.

Although he he failed to make good on his threat to cut off aid to Israel last April, this time, with the election close and the race in Michigan closer, Biden’s handlers may mean it.

U.S. demands Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza or risk losing military support

This despite the fact that Hamas is stealing at gunpoint 1/2 the aid coming in from Israel and reselling it to their desperate subjects at extortionate prices.

Humanitarian aid, meant to prevent starvation among Gazans, has instead become a lifeline for Hamas and its continued control of the Strip.

“Control over humanitarian aid is control over the citizens. Hamas and [its leader Yahya] Sinwar exercise almost absolute control over what happens with humanitarian aid, and this is how they control the population,” Boker reported.

Surprisingly, one Democrat sees this farce for what it is.

Ed Driscoll: In accordance with the prophecy:

As suggested here, that Danbury carjack/kidnapping was a fight between crooks UPDATED

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$230M crypto heist possibly tied to CT kidnapping targeted 'high net-worth' investor, documents say

DANBURY — A $230 million cryptocurrency scam that authorities believe is connected with a kidnapping in Connecticut involved Miami and Los Angeles men who used stolen funds to pay for luxury cars and international travel, court documents show.  

The Aug. 25 attack in Danbury — which resulted in the arrest of six Florida men — may have been part of an intended ransom demand connected with the victims' son’s alleged involvement in the $230 million cryptocurrency theft, according to Detective Sgt. Steven Castrovinci, who said last week that there’s an ongoing federal investigation into “the crypto part” of the case.

The local couple’s son has not been arrested in connection with the alleged heist involving the theft of Bitcoin from a victim in Washington, D.C., but two men — one from Los Angeles and the other a Singapore citizen with addresses in Miami and Los Angeles — were indicted last month.

Turns out, we weren’t the only ones suspicious of the story of two innocent house hunters set upon by unknown thugs:

Fweedom!

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On to swelma! (Kamalla Harris, 6, far left)

Kamala's Plagiarism Scandal Just Got Worse

Matt Margolis | 3:35 PM on October 15, 2024

Kamala Harris has been accused of plagiarising Martin Luther King in the book that helped launch her political career. 

The US vice-president is accused of copying a more than a dozen sections of Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer. 

She appears to rip-off Rev Dr Martin Luther King in an anecdote from her childhood during the civil rights movement.

The 59-year-old wrote: “My mother used to laugh when she told the story about a time I was fussing as a toddler: She leaned down to ask me, “Kamala, what’s wrong? What do you want?” and I wailed back, “Fweedom.”

The story is very similar to one shared by the civil rights leader, as the New York Post and other outlets have previously noted.

“I will never forget a moment in Birmingham when a white policeman accosted a little Negro girl, seven or eight years old, who was walking in a demonstration with her mother,” King told Playboy magazine in 1965.

“‘What do you want?’ the policeman asked her gruffly, and the little girl looked at him straight in the eye and answered, ‘Fee-dom’,”.

Related: Kamala Harris vs Martin Luther King Jr: Who said it better?

MLK: “Thank you kindly, my friends.”

KH: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

MLK: I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

KH: I think it’s very important...for us at every moment in time and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualise it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future.

MLK: I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world.

KH: So, Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong.

MLK: Our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.

KH: You know, if you just look at where the stars are in the sky, don’t look at ‘em as just random things. If you just look at ‘em as points, look at the constellation – what does it show you?’

'Worst Word Salad' Yet: Kamala Harris Brings Up Strange Story About Constellations During Rough Interview Moment