News of the Week for October 27th, 2024
- Election 2024
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Election 2024
Is It Trump’s Race to Lose?
Squint and you can see signs that the stars may be aligning for the former president at just the right time.
The Chronically Underestimated Kamala Harris
On the menu today: I have no beef with Charlie Cooke’s brilliant trilogy, “A-hole, Lunatic, Idiot.” But I do think the caricature of Kamala Harris as a bumbling dunce makes it easy to underestimate her, particularly in the closing weeks of an exceptionally close and high-stakes presidential campaign. Harris’s past is littered with older and more experienced men who saw her as easy pickings and came up short on Election Day. Read on to learn how Harris’s political career got started, her connection to Clint Eastwood, how she persuaded the wealthiest and most powerful elites of San Francisco to back her when she was a little-known underdog, the BMW she received as a gift, who ended her relationship with Willie Brown, and the speculation that Halle Berry would play her in a movie someday.
North Dakota voters could end property taxes — and pour ‘gas on the spark’ of a growing tax revolt
Supporters of Measure 4 say it would repeal the ‘most egregious and least moral of all the taxes.’ Critics say it would ‘create chaos.’
Election Night May Turn Into Election Month before We Know Who Won
The odds are increasing that the 2024 election may take longer to decide than the drawn-out drama of 2020.
Kamala Harris to Campaign in Texas Friday with Democratic Senate Candidate Colin Allred
Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign alongside this year’s Texas Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred on Friday in Houston, according to a senior Harris campaign official familiar with the plans. The idea is to bring attention to the Lone Star State’s abortion restrictions and get some earned media attention by flying to a red-leaning state in the final days of the campaign. Her trip will also give the Democratic congressman a bit of a boost in his bid against the two-term Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
If You’re Not Talking Like a Lunatic, You’re Losing
It’s crunch time, America. The days when fundraising totals mattered are behind us. The organizational apparatus that will put one or the other candidate in the White House is in place. The universe of genuinely persuadable voters is negligible. The real work of winning this election is in the campaigns’ hands. All that’s left for average political observers to do is sit back and count the votes on Election Day. Right?
Trump tax plans could exempt 93 million Americans from income taxes
Trump has said he would replace the lost tax revenue with revenue from tariffs, but tax experts say tariffs would not offset the tax losses.
Secretary of State Rubio? Energy Secretary Burgum? Here’s who could fill out a second Trump administration
Election Day is still two weeks away, but Donald Trump’s transition team is in advanced talks with high-profile Republicans who are hopeful of serving in a presidential administration.
Donald Trump campaign manager shared posts in 2021 saying Trump’s lies caused the violence on January 6
In the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a number of conservatives and Republicans broke ranks with then-President Donald Trump and blamed him for the violence that day. Among them was Trump’s current campaign manager, Chris LaCivita.
Looming Questions about the Trump Get-Out-the-Vote Effort
You’ve probably heard the reports doubting the Trump campaign’s strategy of effectively outsourcing its get-out-the-vote operations to Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action and Elon Musk’s America PAC. Look hard, and you can find reports wondering if the groups’ staffers are actually knocking on all the doors that they claim to be knocking on, or if they’re inflating the numbers. Why is Trump, a man with arguably the most devoted and impassioned fanbase in American politics, relying on a bunch of mercenaries for this make-or-break aspect of his campaign? Meanwhile, the Democrats have a billion dollars to play with and are talking about distributing “street money” in Philadelphia.
James Carville: Three Reasons I’m Certain Kamala Harris Will Win
There is a palpable anxiety wailing on the winds of American life right now. More than in any other election in my lifetime, I’ve been consistently asked by people of all stripes and creeds: “Can Kamala Harris win this thing? Are we going to be OK?” This sentiment is heard over and over from sweaty Democratic operatives who all too often love to run to the press with their woes.
Over 1M Pennsylvania voters have already cast a ballot. Are they mostly blue or red?
With Election Day just two weeks away, more than 11.5% of Pennsylvania’s more than 9 million registered voters have returned a mail ballot so far.
DNC hits Trump over reported praise of Hitler’s generals in mobile billboard
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is deploying a mobile billboard ahead of former President Trump’s rally in Las Vegas on Thursday, hitting him over his past reported praise of Adolf Hitler’s generals.
Why there are fewer polls this election
As the old joke goes, for anxious election watchers, the polls are terrible — and such small portions!
Political breaking point: Over 60% say 2024 election is damaging their mental health
Presidential elections get plenty of people tense, but 2024 may be the most nerve-racking race of them all. More than 60% of Americans in a new poll say that their mental health has either been slightly, moderately, or significantly impacted by November’s election.
The Election Is Looming — and These Washingtonians Are Running Scared
In an age of anxiety, election day is a good time to get out of Dodge.
This Election Is an Elegy for Reaganism
So much for limited government
Freedom Caucus leader wants NC to preemptively award electoral votes to Trump
A Maryland Republican who leads a right-wing coalition in Congress says North Carolina’s legislature should consider awarding Electoral College votes to former President Donald Trump before citizens’ votes are counted, according to Politico.
At listening session, Latinos express dissatisfaction with both parties
Participants demonstrated begrudging acceptance of Democrats, contending that they were less belligerent than anti-immigrant GOP candidates
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Governor DeSantis dismisses Amendment 4 as ‘bunch of lies’ that would make a radical change to Florida law
For the second day in a row, Governor Ron DeSantis spoke against Amendment 4. “You don’t get a mulligan once it’s in the constitution,” DeSantis said during a Tuesday morning press conference in Jacksonville.
Gun Rights
Without Knowledge or Consent
For years, America’s most iconic gun-makers turned over sensitive personal information on hundreds of thousands of customers to political operatives.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
China’s Self-Inflicted Environmental Crisis
It’s as unlikely to reverse as are its debt and demography challenges — and the government is largely to blame.
Silicon Valley’s Elite Pour Money Into Blotting Out the Sun
Venture capitalists, startup founders and tech executives are funding studies, experiments and small deployments of controversial technology that could cool the planet.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Canada’s Euthanasia Horrors Are Accelerating
The horrors unleashed by Canada’s legalizing euthanasia are growing increasingly clear. Case after case of vulnerable people being killed instead of cared for have now been reported. More than 15,000 Canadians are euthanized annually. Some are even asking to die because they can’t access proper care in Canada’s socialized system, or out of loneliness as much as illness. One Canadian death doctor admitted to killing more than 400 people.
War & Terror
Rethinking the “Thucydides Trap”
If the present tensions with China risk reenacting Thucydides, the United States could easily play not only the Athenian role but also the Spartan.
Taipei says Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through Taiwan Strait
A Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, Taiwan’s defence minister said, a day after Beijing held a live-fire exercise near the self-ruled island.
What to Make of Zelensky’s ‘Plan for Victory’
On Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to discuss Volodymyr Zelensky’s so-called Plan for Victory.
Fearing China’s hypersonic weapons, US Navy seeks to arm ships with Patriot missiles
Fearing China will deploy hypersonic weapons to sink ships in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy is moving forward with a plan to arm some of its vessels with Patriot interceptor missiles, two senior defense officials said.
National
Trial begins over chokehold death of Jordan Neely on NYC subway
A trial has begun in the case of a former US Marine who is accused of putting a homeless man in a fatal chokehold on a New York subway train.
DEI by Any Other Name Is Still DEI
Yesterday, I wrote about one way that the people and institutions advocating the politicization of medicine are reacting to even the slightest amount of pushback against their effort: playing the victim, despite their considerable success and the immense resources behind their cause.
Using scientific Latin names for plants could make you complicit in racism, UMich researchers find
UMich’s botanists asked: “[W]hen botanical gardens and arboreta display Latin [names], English ‘common name,’ and perhaps a brief scientific description, what other ways of knowing are not only missing but actively erased?”
The Classic Learning Test Is Good for North Carolina
The Tar Heel State should adopt a significant new SAT/ACT alternative.
Fiore suspended without pay from judicial bench after conviction
Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore will no longer be paid during her suspension as a justice of the peace in Nye County following her federal fraud conviction earlier this month.
Harvard Doctor Confirms that Human ‘Brains Need Meat’
Dr Georgia Ede, a Harvard-trained nutritional and metabolic psychiatrist, says eating meat is essential for good mental health.
Rudy Giuliani ordered to turn over his N.Y. apartment and valuables to the former Georgia election workers he defamed
A federal judge in New York ordered the former Trump attorney to hand over his assets because of the workers’ $146 million verdict against him.
Our transgenderism wars, &c.
On a vexing trend, a South American president, a Navajo code-talker, American foods, Susan Ford, and more
Peace Prizes and Peace
“As I am here today accepting a peace prize, this seems the right moment to point out that ‘I want peace’ is not always a moral argument.”
Our Long ‘National Emergency’ Emergency Could Soon Be Over
Good news: Congress is a few steps closer to reining in presidential emergency powers. Last month, I wrote about how a whole host of national-emergency declarations, dating back to the Carter administration, already empower the president (and could empower him further) to act beyond the ordinary extent of his constitutional prerogatives. Some ability for an executive to react to exigencies is necessary. But both the reality and the potential of the extent of these capacities currently threaten the proper functioning of our political system.
Should elephants have the same rights as people? A Colorado court may decide
Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo have lived in Colorado Springs for decades in the elephant exhibit at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Now an animal rights group is trying to release the elephants from what they say is essentially a prison for such highly intelligent and social animals known to roam for miles a day in the wild.
Menendez Brothers Resentencing Supported By L.A. DA; George Gascón Sets Press Conference For This Afternoon On Ryan Murphy Spotlighted Case
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said this week he would have a decision on the legal fate of the long incarcerated Menendez Brothers, and he is making it public today.
‘You’re Getting a Vigorous Spanking Because You’ve Been a Bad Girl’: Tucker Carlson Likens Trump to a ‘Daddy’ Who Needs to Discipline His Kids
Tucker Carlson compared former President Donald Trump to an angry father who will soon return home to offer his misbehaving children a “vigorous spanking” at a Turing Point USA event in Georgia.
UCLA student government social media account shares post celebrating Hamas terror attack: ‘October 7th Was Natives Breaking Free’
A student government Instagram account at the University of California, Los Angeles shared a post that celebrated the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
Astronaut returns from space with mystery medical condition
A NASA astronaut was flown to a hospital after returning to Earth with what the US space agency described as an unspecified medical condition.
Citing ‘difficult to read’ cursive, Maryland college changes logo
Washington College in Kent County has a storied history. It’s the country’s 10th-oldest college and was the first to be chartered after the United States gained independence.
Economy & Taxes
Javier Milei’s Economic Reforms Are Already Paying Off in Argentina
But local free market economists think further currency and labor reforms will get the Argentine economy recovering faster
Is TSMC’s Arizona Success a Win for the CHIPS Act?
“Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has achieved early production yields at its first plant in Arizona that surpass similar factories back home, a significant breakthrough for a US expansion project initially dogged by delays and worker strife,” Bloomberg reports.
International
SNP say there are 24 genders in new madcap claim as JK Rowling makes star sign suggestion
Guidance produced by the Scottish Government insisted that Scots could identify themselves as 24 different genders for the purpose of data collecting, including having multiple genders or none at all.
Canadian-Made Fentanyl Increasingly Being Shipped Overseas: Global Affairs
Fentanyl made in Canada by criminals is increasingly being shipped to international markets, according to a briefing note from the department of foreign affairs.
Mexico announces food and agriculture plan that could take the country back to the 1980s
Mexico’s new president announced an agriculture plan Tuesday that could make the country’s food production and distribution look a lot more like it did in the 1980s, when meals in Mexico were dominated by tortillas, beans, instant coffee and cheap hot chocolate.
Tommy Robinson charged with terror offence
Move follows far-Right activist’s arrest at port in July
‘Outnumbered by puppets’: Depopulated village in Japan crafts dolls for sense of life
Ichinono has fewer than 60 residents, so they stitched together their own population of puppets to keep them company.
‘Woke nonsense’: The debate over B.C.’s controversial new school grades
Instead of A, B or C, British Columbia now grades kindergarten to Grade 9 students on a scale from ’emerging’ to ‘extending’ — and many parents are confused
Opinion
Populists and Other Types
“There are people who believe that things are ‘inside jobs.'” That’s how I begin my Impromptus today. In the minds of some, 9/11 was an inside job. January 6 was an inside job. On social media, there is a meme going around. It shows the storming of the Capitol and says, “January 6 will go down in history as the day the government staged a riot.”
Which Way, America? Condoleezza Rice on America’s Foreign-Policy Challenges
Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a former U.S. secretary of state and national-security adviser in the George W. Bush administration.
Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’
The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.
Conservatives Need More Than ‘Permission’ from the Harris Campaign to Vote for Her
They need a reason, and she hasn’t given them many.
Critical Trump Theory
Many on the right have embraced the idea that the system is rigged against the former president.
Grading and Moral Hazard
A modest proposal for the elimination of grade inflation.
America, That Bad Little Girl
Plus: Childcare costs, Texas time, and more…
Will Conservatism Recover?
Whoever becomes president, the short term is bad
Trump and Harris Both Threaten the Constitution
Trump’s threat is new; Harris’s is familiar.
