Laugh of the Day 2.0: Paul Krugman fan club says "Bon Voyage!"

Breitbart fires Katie McHugh for opining "There would be no deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn’t live there"

Story here.

Colleges celebrate diversity with segregation

Here.

Laugh of the Day: If Trump's a fascist, how come my train is late?

Making Monday Night Football great again: Bocephus to return . . .

Obama and Boehner are gone.

Hank Williams Jr. is BACK!

Story here.

Hey Theresa, forget the internet, you've already allowed 1,700 safe spaces for Muslim extremism in Great Britain

And in the US we've allowed over 3,000.

The terror ideology isn't just online, Theresa

It's in a book.

NOAA's Climate at a Glance tool deliberately leaves out data going back to 1896 to misrepresent the Grand Rapids, MI, temperature trend

You can ask the Climate at a Glance tool for the data going back to 1896, but it won't give it to you:

But the data exists for Grand Rapids at the National Weather Service, from which I made this graph:

Hillary says she was a victim of her big lead

Sure you were, sweetheart.

Quoted here:

"I was the victim of a very broad assumption I was going to win," Clinton said.

Ex-PM Tony Blair's lies blamed for massive flood of Muslims into Britain

The real face of Islam in Britain

Labour's Tony Blair.

Huma's brother's house in Dearborn, MI, raided, boxes carted away

Reported here:

On June 1, 2017 a raid took place on the 7200 Block of Jonathon Street in Dearborn, Michigan which is owned by a “shell company,” turns out it’s actually owned by Huma Abedin’s brother and sister. This shell company is the Journal of Muslim Affairs. ... Convoys of cars descended on the home located at 7246 Jonathon Street, assisted by other law enforcement officers from neighboring locals.

And here:

A neighbor who declined to give her name said she saw law enforcement officers Thursday evening surrounding the house and removing boxes. But she didn't see anyone taken into custody. 

Judicial Watch obtains new Clinton emails involving Huma contradicting Clinton's claim to have turned over everything

From the story here:

Judicial Watch says it obtained the documents after suing the State Department for its failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in March 2015. The FOIA request sought “All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-state.gov email address.”

Judicial Watch notes that the 115 Clinton email exchanges were not among the 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton previously handed over to the State Department, contradicting her claim that she had turned over all of her government emails.

34 lyin' cheatin' Muslim convenience store owners and a guy named "Dale" indicted for conspiracy

From the story here:

A federal grand jury has indicted 35 store owners on federal conspiracy charges for trafficking contraband cigarettes, distributing controlled substances and money laundering . . .:

Mohammed Almuttan, aka Abu Ali, 35, St. Louis, MO

Rami Almuttan, aka Abu Louay, 33, St. Louis, MO

Hisham Mutan, aka Abu Mohamed, 41, St. Louis, MO

Saddam Mutan, aka Abu Ali, 24, St. Louis, MO

Mazin Abdelsalam, aka Abu Mohammad, 38, St. Louis, MO

Najeh Muhana, aka Abu Yazan, 41, Fairview, NJ

Fares Muhana, aka Abu Yamama, 40, Cliffside Park, NJ

Ayoub Qaiymah, aka Abu Faysal, 23, Richmond, VA

Naser Abid, 23, Chicago, IL

Yadgar Barzanji, aka Abu Siver, 47, St. Louis, MO

Wafaa Alwan, 50, St. Louis, MO

Ahmed Abuali, aka Bazilla, 31, North Bergen, NJ

Mohammed Kayed, aka Mohammed Fayez, 21, Clifton, NJ

Momen Abuali, 20, Little Ferry, NJ

Firat Sevindik, 42, Cliffside Park, NJ

Mohammed Mustafa, 30, North Bergen, NJ

Mohammad Karashqah, Abu Yazid, 47, North Bergen, NJ

Fayez Sheikha, 46, Mishawaka, IN

Jihad Shihadeh, Abu Malik, 58, Chicago Ridge, IL

Ismael Abadi, 57, Carol Stream, IL

Abed Hamed, Abed Fawzan, 39, Greenville, NC

Maher Hamed, Abu Alazara, 33, Swansea, IL

Abdel Adi, 25, Oak Lawn, IL

Muhanad Khatib, Abu Alamin, 36, Chicago, IL

Eyad Awad, 38, Chicago, IL

Dale Garbin, 60, Kankakee, IL

Hayder Al Fatli, 40, St. Louis, MO

Kutlay Guvener, 35, Chicago, IL

Saad Al Mallak, 30, Dittmer, MO

Hassan Abdelatif, 29, Collinsville, IL

Mahajir Naz, 32, St. Louis, MO

Talal Abuajaj, 23, St. Louis, MO

Basem Hamdan, aka Abu Ramiz, 57, St. Louis, MO

Zainal Saleh, 29, St. Louis, MO and

Ibrahim Awad, 39, St. Louis, MO

English PM Theresa May repeats the "not-the-face-of-Islam" nonsense

Here:

First, while the recent attacks are not connected by common networks, they are connected in one important sense. They are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism.

It is an ideology that claims our Western values of freedom, democracy and human rights are incompatible with the religion of Islam. It is an ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth.

Of course the attacks are connected by common networks. They're called mosques. And the ideology is the ideology of their book.

Why should we expect a liberal ideologue to call out a rival ideology when it would introduce doubt about one's own ideological habit of thinking?

That's the real problem here. Ideology kills, theirs because it teaches killing, ours because it teaches tolerance even of that.

Wow, that didn't take Breitbart very long, now did it?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, Kathy Griffin edition

Laugh of the Day: $50,000 reward put on Kathy Griffin's head in Nashville, Tennessee

Wake up, America: The religion of pieces committed over 200 attacks in May, nearly 1,500 dead

Ban Islam from America before it is too late.

It's not a religion. It's organized crime.

Track its mayhem here.

America for Americans, Muslims out!

Covfefe tastes great, you should try it!

Not only is Grand Rapids, MI, experiencing lower high temperatures, but also lower lows over the last 121 years

Laugh of the Day 2.0: The real reason blacks demand whites leave Evergreen College campus

Laugh of the Day: Have another cup of covfefe, Gloria Borger, Cheif Political Analyst for CNN

Grand Rapids, Michigan, climate update for May 2017

Mean average temperature was 57.6 degrees F in May 2017 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The mean for May is 57.9.

The lowest minimum temperature was 31. The mean for May is 32.

The highest maximum temperature was 88. The mean for May is 86.

Precipitation was 1.5 inches. The mean for May is 3.44.  Fifteenth driest May on record.

May snowfall was 0.0 inches. The mean for May is 0.2.

Heating degree days came to 247. The mean for May is 252. The total through May from July 2016 comes to 5613 vs. mean to date of 6653. The heating season to date has been about 15.6% warmer than normal.

Trump correctly called the Paris Climate Accord a scheme to redistribute American wealth abroad

Here:

We have among the most abundant energy reserves in the planet, sufficient to lift millions of America's poorest workers out of poverty. Yet under this agreement, we are effectively putting these reserves under lock and key, taking away the great wealth of our nation, great wealth, phenomenal wealth. Not so long ago we had no idea we had such wealth. And leaving millions and millions of families trapped in poverty and joblessness. The agreement is a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries. ... 

Beyond the severe energy restrictions inflicted by the Paris accord, it includes yet another scheme to redistribute wealth out of the United States through the so-called "green climate fund" -- nice name -- which calls for developed countries to send $100 billion to developing countries all on top of America's existing and massive foreign aid payments.

Trump dumps Paris Climate Accord, stock market applauds

Jake Novak calls Hillary Clinton's personality "non-viable"

Here:

A winning candidate with a more winning personality wouldn't sit at the Code Conference and come off so obliviously arrogant and utterly without contrition. You can say that's yet another bad decision, but it's primarily a product of Clinton's politically non-viable personality. Her decisions are the fruit of that poison tree. ...

Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election the moment the American people took a good look and listened to her for five minutes or so.

For many of us, that was way back in 1992 when we decided we liked Bill Clinton and appreciated that his wife stood behind him, but we didn't exactly go for her. For others, that moment came in 2008 when she just wasn't as likable as the handsome newcomer Barack Obama. And finally, that moment came for the rest of the critical mass of voters in 2016 when she still wasn't any more likable or believable in her way of speaking and appearance than she was for the previous 24 years.

Donald Trump may not be very persuasive either for millions of Americans, but he's a lot more persuasive than Hillary Clinton. And she was his opponent. That's the breaks.

Denise Spellberg is making much of a young Thomas Jefferson's tolerant views of Islam at the expense of the older's war on it

Here:

As a 22-year-old law student in Williamsburg, Virginia, Jefferson bought a Qur’an – 11 years before drafting the Declaration of Independence. The purchase is symbolic of a longer historical connection between American and Islamic worlds, and a more inclusive view of the nation’s early, robust view of religious pluralism.

An older, wiser Jefferson, along with Madison, realized peace was better than war, but that war was better than paying tribute to Muslim pirates in exchange for it, something America ignobly did for fifteen years between 1785 and 1800.

Christopher Hitchens and David Hunter are better guides, here and here.  

George Sumner Bridges wins prestigious Ann Coulter "Biggest Pussy in the History of the West" Award

Here.

"I’m George Bridges, I use he/him pronouns. I begin our time together today by acknowledging the indigenous people of the Medicine Creek Treaty, whose land was stolen and on which the college stands . . .."

Muslim head-cutter

But I repeat myself.

Damn fool Cato libertarian Nowrasteh: Odds of being a victim of terrorism MUCH GREATER AT 1:3,609,709 than winning Powerball at 1:292,201,338

And that's using his own artificial terminus a quo of 1975. Why not pick 1978, or 1992?!

In America we've gone to enormous expense to protect children in car seats and adults with seat belts and air bags, but the libertarians think that preventing your death at the hands of a Muslim head-cutter is an impediment to economic growth.

Cato's Iranian American Alex Nowrasteh, here:

Foreign-born terrorism on U.S. soil is a low-probability event that imposes high costs on its victims despite relatively small risks and low costs on Americans as a whole. From 1975 through 2015, the average chance of dying in an attack by a foreign-born terrorist on U.S. soil was 1 in 3,609,709 a year. For 30 of those 41 years, no Americans were killed on U.S. soil in terrorist attacks caused by foreigners or immigrants. Foreign-born terrorism is a hazard to American life, liberty, and private property, but it is manageable given the huge economic benefits of immigration and the small costs of terrorism. The United States government should continue to devote resources to screening immigrants and foreigners for terrorism or other threats, but large policy changes like an immigration or tourist moratorium would impose far greater costs than benefits.

Laugh of the Day: The British spell it "couvfefe"

Here.

Vampirism becomes a business, preying on the innocently offered blood donations of young people

This is outrageous and should be outlawed immediately. Healthy people paying $8,000 for young blood.

Sick!

Story here.

Now money-grubbing Hillary blames Democrats' data operation, complains she had to pay

It's all about the money with the Clintons.

Reported here:

"I set up my campaign and we have our own data operation. I get the nomination. So I'm now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party," Clinton said. "I mean, it was bankrupt. It was on the verge of insolvency. Its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it."

A conservative makes an appearance at The American Conservative

Not in the articles line-up, but in the comments section, here:

"Every able-bodied Christian man should learn to shoot a rifle, because it will come to that if we live uncompromising lives."

Did I mention all these men received more votes for president than Hillary Clinton in 13 states?

Obama

Trump

Bush

Kerry

McCain

Romney

On top of coming in 8th out of 8 since 2004 in 13 states, Hillary came in 7th in nine, 6th in two, and 5th in three, losing them all to Trump

Hillary 7th out of 8 since 2004: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Wisconsin (where Trump barely won coming in sixth in the last four races there).

Hillary 6th out of 8 since 2004:  Utah and Michigan (where Trump barely won coming in fifth in the last four races there).

Hillary 5th out of 8 since 2004:  Georgia, Pennsylvania (Trump third) and Texas.

In other words, half the country found Hillary revolting.

Last but not least, Trump destroyed Hillary in Wyoming 3.1:1 where she came in dead last since 2004

Donald J. Trump 2016:   174,419 votes
Mitt Romney      2012:   170,962
George W. Bush 2004:   167,629
John S. McCain  2008:   164,958
Barack Obama    2008:     82,868
John Kerry          2004:     70,776
Barack Obama    2012:     69,286
Hillary Clinton    2016:     55,973
   

Trump creamed Hillary in West Virginia 2.5:1 where she brought up the rear in popularity since 2004

Donald J. Trump 2016:   489,371 votes
George W. Bush  2004:   423,778
Mitt Romney       2012:   417,655
John McCain       2008:   397,466
John Kerry          2004:   326,541
Barack Obama    2008:   303,857
Barack Obama    2012:   238,269
Hillary Clinton    2016:   188,794

Hillary in Tennessee: The least popular candidate for president from 2004

Donald J. Trump 2016:   1,522,925
John S. McCain  2008:   1,479,178
Mitt Romney      2012:   1,462,330
George W. Bush 2004:   1,383,336
Barack Obama   2008:   1,087,437
John Kerry         2004:   1,035,160
Barack Obama   2012:     960,709
Hillary Clinton   2016:     870,695

Trump beat Hillary 1.7:1.

Yep, you guessed it, Hillary was 8th out of 8 in South Dakota, too

George W. Bush 2004:   232,584 votes
Donald Trump    2016:   227,721
Mitt Romney      2012:   210,610
John McCain      2008:   203,054
Barack Obama   2008:   170,924
John Kerry         2004:   149,244
Barack Obama   2012:   145,039
Hillary Clinton   2016:   117,458

Trump beat Hillary 1.9:1 coming in second.

Laugh of the Day: Chris Plante says SECDEF Ashton Carter, unlike Mattis, never made it to Rolling Thunder because . . .

. . . he was too busy organizing his sock drawer.

In Oklahoma 7 other presidential contenders since 2004 got the OK above Hillary

John McCain  2008:    960,165 votes
George Bush   2004:    959,792
Donald Trump 2016:   949,136
Mitt Romney   2012:   891,325
John Kerry       2004:   503,966
Barack Obama 2008:   502,496
Barack Obama 2012:   443,547
Hillary Clinton 2016:   420,375

Trump crushed Hillary 2.25:1 coming in third.

Hillary didn't just lose Ohio, she placed last there from 2004

Barack Obama 2008:   2,940,044 votes
George Bush    2004:   2,859,768
Donald Trump 2016:   2,841,005
Barack Obama 2012:   2,827,709
John Kerry       2004:   2,741,167
John McCain   2008:   2,677,820
Mitt Romney   2012:   2,661,437
Hillary Clinton 2016:  2,394,164

Hillary bombed in North Dakota, coming in 8th out of 8 from 2004

Donald Trump 2016:   216,794 votes
George Bush   2004:   196,651
Mitt Romney   2012:   188,163
John McCain   2008:   168,887
Barack Obama 2008:   141,403
Barack Obama 2012:   124,827
John Kerry       2004:   111,052
Hillary Clinton 2016:    93,758

Trump crushed Hillary 2.3:1.

In Missouri Hillary was the losingest loser, coming in 8th out of 8 from 2004

Donald Trump  2016:  1,594,511 votes
Mitt Romney    2012:  1,482,440
George Bush    2004:   1,455,713
John McCain   2008:   1,445,814
Barack Obama 2008:   1,441,911
John Kerry       2004:   1,259,171
Barack Obama 2012:   1,223,796
Hillary Clinton 2016:   1,071,068

In Louisiana Hillary was the biggest loser in 12 years

Donald Trump 2016:  1,178,638 votes
Mitt Romney   2012:  1,152,262
John McCain   2008:  1,148,275
George Bush    2004:  1,102,169
John Kerry       2004:     820,299
Barack Obama 2012:     809,141
Barack Obama 2008:     782,989
Hillary Clinton 2016:     780,154

Hillary's performance in Kentucky was the worst in 4 elections

Donald Trump 2016: 1,202,971 votes
Mitt Romney   2012: 1,087,190
George Bush    2004: 1,069,439
John McCain   2008: 1,048,462
Barack Obama 2008:   751,985
John Kerry       2004:   712,733
Barack Obama 2012:   679,370
Hillary Clinton 2016:   628,854

Trump beat Hillary in Kentucky 1.9:1.

I guess we all died a little in that damn war

Here.

Hillary 2016 came in last in Kansas behind John Kerry 2004

George W. Bush 2004: 736,456 votes
John S. McCain  2008: 699,655
Mitt Romney      2012: 689,809
Donald J. Trump 2016: 671,018
Barack Obama    2008: 514,765
Barack Obama    2012: 439,908
John Kerry          2004: 434,993
Hillary Clinton    2016: 427,005

Who knew there were so many Russians working to steal the election from Hillary in Iowa?

Barack Obama 2008: 828,940 votes
Barack Obama 2012: 822,544
Donald Trump 2016: 800,983
George Bush:  2004: 751,957
John Kerry      2004: 741,898
Mitt Romney  2012: 730,617
John McCain  2008: 682,379
H. R.  Clinton 2016: 653,669

When it comes to Hillary Clinton, Arkansas knows best

Donald Trump 2016: 684,872 votes
Mitt Romney 2012:   647,744
John McCain 2008:   638,017
George Bush 2004:    572,898
John Kerry 2004:       469,953
Barack Obama 2008: 422,310
Barack Obama 2012: 394,409
Hillary Clinton 2016: 380,494

Mencken: No decent man would accept a degree he hadn't earned . . . honorary degrees are for riffraff

Mark "open borders" Zuckerberg

John "served in Vietnam" Kerry

Frank Bruni of The New York Times

Fourth Quarter GDP By Presidential Term

Third Quarter GDP By Presidential Term

Second Quarter GDP By Presidential Term

Lock him up: FBI under Comey committed hundreds of 4th Amendment privacy violations

From the story here:

For instance, a ruling declassified this month by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) chronicles nearly 10 pages listing hundreds of violations of the FBI’s privacy-protecting minimization rules that occurred on Comey’s watch.

The behavior the FBI admitted to a FISA judge just last month ranged from illegally sharing raw intelligence with unauthorized third parties to accessing intercepted attorney-client privileged communications without proper oversight the bureau promised was in place years ago.

First Quarter GDP By Presidential Term

The trend for second quarter GDP doesn't look good for Trump

Melania and Ivanka in Saudi Arabia vs. at The Vatican: Capisce?

In Saudi Arabia

At The Vatican

Laugh of the Day: Harvard-Harris poll has Trump job approval at 45%, Comey at 40%

Heh, heh.

Story here.

An ideology which deliberately lets killers into your country isn't a better ideology

Trump resurrects Bush's idiotic war on evil ideology

Trump, quoted here:

'This wicked ideology must be obliterated – and I mean completely obliterated – and the innocent life must be protected. All innocent lives. Life must be protected.'

"The long-term solution is to promote a better ideology, which is freedom. Freedom is universal," Bush said in 2011 after Osama bin Laden was assassinated by Obama.

How long is long term? 6 years? 10 years? 16 years in Afghanistan and Iraq? The better ideology isn't working too well, is it?

You don't defeat ideas. You defeat the people who have them, and keep them out of your society. You know, like a Muslim ban.

But no, we're "rights" absolutists and can't bring ourselves to infringe the rights of those who want to kill us.

That's the ideology that is killing us.

Living in the West should be viewed as a privilege, which then distributes the rights. Lose the privilege, and lose the rights.

Our real enemy is libertarians and liberals who think every man, woman and child in the world is entitled to come here, live here and enjoy the benefits previous generations bled and died to ensure for themselves.

The Manchester bomber is not equal to George Washington.

Visa overstays hit 740,000 through September 2016

From the story here:

Countries with the highest visa overstays during the period from October 2015 to September 2016 were Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China and India.

Trump isn't fighting to build a wall, in fact he keeps caving

Trump got nothing in the continuing resolution through this fiscal year, and will get even less than he was asking for, if he's lucky, in the next.

Story here.

What a pathetic loser this guy's turning out to be.

What the hell is this?! Now Comey is colluding with the special prosecutor to get their story straight!

Comey shouldn't be allowed to come near Mueller.

Chaffetz is a putz.

Trump photo-opped the wrong wall

Islamic costume is so diverse compared with The West

Trump's battle of good vs. evil sounds like George W. Bush, kind of warmed over for 2017

Flashback to 2004 here and The President of Good and Evil:

Bush's tendency to see the world in terms of good and evil is especially striking. He has spoken about evil in 319 separate speeches, or about 30 percent of all the speeches he gave between the time he took office and June 16, 2003. In these speeches he uses the word "evil" as a noun far more often than he uses it as an adjective-914 noun uses as against 182 adjectival uses. Only 24 times, in all these occasions on which Bush talks of evil, does he use it as an adjective to describe what people do-that is, to judge acts or deeds. This suggests that Bush is not thinking about evil deeds, or even evil people, nearly as often as he is thinking about evil as a thing, or a force, something that has a real existence apart from the cruel, callous, brutal and selfish acts of which human beings are capable. His readiness to talk about evil in this manner raises the question of what meaning evil can have in a secular modern world.

Ann Coulter's excellent rant against Heritage Foundation

We can bring Ann up to speed on the Germans later.

Best one: Burke said Americans were descendants of Englishmen, and Protestant.

Heritage should sell everything and donate it to the Center for American Progress. They're already doing their work anyway:

"champion the common good over narrow self-interest, and harness the strength of our diversity."

The Heritage Foundation are lunaticks, as the King James Version of the Bible would put it

They are oft cast into the sea in danger of drowning, or into the fire in danger of burns, were it not for the common sense of Americans who have been repelled by their passions, for health care mandates for example.

For a think tank they really should get some thinkers over there one of these days.

Which is why they kept slaves, and required presidents to be born here of American citizens?

Trump calls war on terrorism a battle between good and evil

Full transcript of remarks in Saudi Arabia here.

Gee, sounds just like Bush (and ISIS) and conservative talk radio is thrilled.

Typically, this rhetoric is used to justify treating the evil as less than human, which is what ISIS does, or sending American troops abroad in search of monsters to destroy. But we're 16 years into Afghanistan now, with no end in sight, and the monsters just keep reproducing themselves.

This is not to suggest moral equivalence, but only that the West continues to delegitimize the "Islamic" in Islamic State in order to keep the military-industrial complex busy.

The goal of war, rather, is supposed to be to end the enemy's ability to wage it. We haven't been serious about that, and I don't think Trump will be either.

Either end it, or quit it, but carrying on like this is bankrupting the country.

Enough. 

Flashback: Robert Mueller and James Comey at FBI accused the wrong guy in the 2001 anthrax letter deaths

Carl Cannon recounts the sorry episode of their incompetence, here, in The Orange County Register.

Hey Donald Trump, do the Arabs still owe us free oil for ten years?

Remember the Trump rallies where they shouted "Go to Arabia! Sell them weapons!"?

Yeah, me neither.

Fox to investigate fellow fox's conduct in hen house

Robert Mueller can't investigate Comey's record either, because Comey's his "protégé"

Conflict of interest.

Reported here:

Comey regards his predecessor as a mentor, while Mueller considers Comey his protégé.  When Comey was appointed to succeed Mueller as FBI Director, both men appeared together and were effusive in their praise of one another.  Their relationship is not merely a casual one.  It is precisely the kind of association which ethical rules are designed to guard against.     

Nancy Pelosi must be a Russian agent

She breathes the same air they do.

Oops, Robert Mueller's law firm represents both Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort

Conflict of interest!

If Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself, then Kushner and Manafort must be off limits to Mueller. Or, Mueller has to go.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Reported here:

Mueller's former law firm, WilmerHale, represents Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who met with a Russian bank executive in December, and the president's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who is a subject of a federal investigation.

Hey WaPo: Thom Hartmann, Larry King, Jesse Ventura and Ed Schultz get $ from RT RIGHT NOW, are they Russian agents?!

You turds.

Here:

Flynn also received $45,000 to appear in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner for RT, a Kremlin-controlled media organization.

If you had a good mother and father, that's socialism

They did everything for you because you were of them and belonged to them.

No one else will ever care for you like that.

And that's as far as socialism goes, unless you're an Italian, capisce?

Robert Shiller blames housing bubbles on get rich quick flipper narratives, still completely misses the tax angle

Here, in The New York Times:

There is still no consensus on why the last housing boom and bust happened. That is troubling, because that violent housing cycle helped to produce the Great Recession and financial crisis of 2007 to 2009. We need to understand it all if we are going to be able to avoid ordeals like that in the future.

Ordinary Americans were suddenly able to make a lot of money by flipping their homes because of the tax law changes of 1997. Capital that was previously locked-up in housing by the rules of the New Deal until 1997 was suddenly unleashed to slosh around in the economy when lawmakers gave homeowners the right to avoid most capital gains on the sale of their homes as long as they lived in them only two years. Until 1997, if you didn't buy a more expensive home after you sold yours, you were exposed to a tax hit, unless you took the option of a once in a lifetime exclusion on the gain. The old arrangement had insured, along with the 30-year mortgage, that housing capital built up over a long period of time, creating forced savings for the middle class which could be safely liquidated in retirement without adversely affecting the housing market.

The Republican and Democrat geniuses who ran our government in 1997 changed all that, and within ten years the dang thing blew up. Yeah, I'm talking about you, Bill Clinton, and you, Newt Gingrich.

Too bad Robert Shiller still doesn't get it.

It would probably be unwise to turn back the tax clock now that the damage has been done, but the reinflation of the housing bubble after the crisis wasn't inevitable. The Fed's unprecedented zero interest rate policy has been responsible for that.

When the next housing crash comes, we'll probably not understand it either.

Meanwhile, the median sales price of homes in the aggregate has never been higher, or more unaffordable, and remains the primary driver of wealth inequality in America. 

Video of Comey saying under oath earlier this month that he's never been pressured to halt an investigation for political reasons

Here.

Obstruction of justice is Hillary Clinton deleting over 30,000 emails after they were subpoenaed

Lock her up, with the guy who gave her a pass.