Month: September 2024

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

Beep, Beep!

“Donald Trump is looking increasingly likely to be the winner of the presidential race. I have long held that the globalists will wrap up an economic collapse or a world war and throw it in Trump’s lap.”

– Brandon Smith

This time, the shooter lives to do some ‘splainin’. Do you wonder if he might get around to ‘splainin’ his role with the shady non-governmental orgs (NGOs) supported by the CIA who enabled his travels to Ukraine and his efforts there recruiting global mutts to fight for the Nazi-ish Azov Battalion? Perhaps he might rat-out actual government officials who assisted him in his colorful misadventures? As Ed Snowden remarked on “X”, wannabe Trump assassin Ryan Routh has “something of an Oswald vibe” — meaning, well-groomed by the intel boys, to be used as required.

Perhaps we’ll find out — if nothing fatal happens to befall Mr. Routh while in custody — how exactly he learned Mr. Trump would be on the links that afternoon? The candidate’s round of golf that day was supposedly a snap decision known only amongst his innermost circle. Or how did Mr. Routh figure out the most advantageous fairway to lay at for a clear shot?

The FBI is on the case, you may be reassured to know.

Things political are speeding up with the autumnal quickening. The blob is truly and deeply a’fright. So many blobsters will be liable to pay for their multitudinous crimes against the people of this country if Mr. Trump squeaks back into power that such a future is unthinkable to them. And yet, nothing has worked to deactivate this. . . this golden golem stalking the land. Nothing to show for the immense catalog of lawfare cases concocted to drain his wealth and stuff him into a prison cell — and astounding how amateurish they all were! Engoron and Merchan, two boobies hatched out of Judicial Error Central. Fani Willis, a walking-talking banana peel! Merrick Garland, saving democracy one abuse of power at a time!

The Butler, PA, head-shot op came awfully close to eliminating their, uh, problem, but no cigar. The Palm Beach golf course ambush had a Peter Sellers vibe, wouldn’t you agree? With the rifle muzzle poking through the shrubbery behind a fence. What next? A pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and cyanide? Maybe try to drop an anvil on Mr. Trump’s head from a passing airplane?

(Beep-beep. . . woosh!)

Somebody do something!!! The blob is shrieking to its minions from the sub-basement bunkers at Langley to the salons of Georgetown, to the US Embassy in Ukraine. Well, there’s always World War Three! And it looks like just such a romp is about to be instigated. You may have seen the photo last week of “Joe Biden” meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a big conference table, talking-up a plan to give Ukraine the green light to rain long-range missiles deep into Russia. Meaning, let NATO technicians work the targeting console to send US or British made rockets any old place over there? Like, Red Square? Or the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg? Find an actual Ukrainian to push the launch button.

How is that not a direct attack on Russia by NATO? Well, of course it is exactly that. Russia’s chief executive, Mr. Putin, clarified it for the Globalist Neocon cohort infesting NATO that such an action would bring. . . “consequences.” That is a word the Neocons are no longer acquainted with; it has been such a long time since they’ve crossed its path, like its boon companion, “truth,” also missing-in-action these days. And, to be fair, Mr. Putin did not specify what the consequences might be, not even a simple metaphor like a mushroom cloud, or an ashtray.

How did they even get “Joe Biden” off the beach for that photo op? It is understood by everyone over ten-years-old in America that “JB” is not available for duty anymore. The “out-to-lunch” sign hangs permanently on the doorknob of the Oval Office now. The USA does not have a functioning chief-of-state for the first time in 235 years. After 2021, some sort of unelected, informal Politburu that self-assembled in the White House, like a clot from a Covid Vaccine shot, is running our affairs. Maybe Kamala Harris has a clue who is in that outfit. Or somebody in the news median could ask her (if she ever gets around to holding an actual news conference, where the questions are not previewed or scripted.) Anyone dare ask?

Kamala Harris is strangely missing from the front page of The New York Times this morning.

Is that a little ominous?

The debate is behind her. There will not be another, apparently. There is nothing about her schedule on the official campaign website. Has she entered fade-away mode? Is it all over now except for the ballot harvesting and the, uh, little adjustments to the Dominion vote-counting machines? Has the drinking started again?

There is currently widespread speculation in Israeli media that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon terminate Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, which would constitute a monumental reshuffle of his cabinet. The two have reportedly been clashing over war strategy, especially on what to do about the crisis in northern Israel, an area which has come under daily rocket and drone attack from Lebanese Hezbollah.

“The drafts of the agreement have already been drawn up … Netanyahu is preparing for Gallant’s dismissal in the near future … Galant will be fired by Netanyahu,” Israeli news outlet Ynet reported Monday.

Gallant is reportedly wanting to avoid immediate escalation of the war with Hezbollah in the north, reportedly clashing with the army’s Northern Command chief Ori Gordin, who is calling for the government to approve a large-scale operation in Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah.

Gallant has also been at the center of a firestorm of controversy regarding achieving a peace deal and hostage exchange swap with Hamas. The defense chief is in favor of quickly securing a deal, which Netanyahu has resisted, preferring instead a military solution.

This political divide at top has also been reflected in the unrest in the streets, where protests of hundreds of thousands have raged in Tel Aviv for days and weeks. They are led by families of the hostage victims, who blame Netanyahu for stalling a truce deal.

YNet’s sources have said: “Gallant has already received the message that there is an intention to oust him and replace him with Gideon Saar… The Prime Minister is close to making this decision. It has not yet been made, but it is close.”

But at the moment, the Hezbollah question and Israel’s strategy concerning what comes next is the key divisive issue. Times of Israel explains:

Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, the head of the Israel Defense Force’s Northern Command, is pressuring decision-makers to launch a large-scale incursion into Lebanon, while Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi have expressed doubts over launching a war against Hezbollah, thought to be a more formidable enemy than the Hamas terror group Israel is currently fighting in Gaza, Kan and Channel 13 news reported Sunday and Monday.

According to the reports, Gallant believes now is not the right time for such action, and wants to give a chance to efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution in the north and a ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza.

If Netanyahu does sack Gallant, this could strain relations with Washington further. Internal Israeli cabinet tensions have also centered on navigating the relationship with the United States, and not jeopardizing arms transfers.

Netanyahu is about to replace Gallant with Gideon Sa’ar as Defence Minister. This could mean escalation with Lebanon, and it lowers the (slim) chance for a hostage/ceasefire deal. In addition, it will enlarge and fortify Bibi’s coalition – perhaps until 2026. Utter disaster. pic.twitter.com/FpuDNvN70d

— Nimrod Flaschenberg (@Nimrod_Flash) September 16, 2024

The Biden administration appears to be favoring ‘moderates’ within the coalition government and the Biden/Harris White House would like to see some kind of ceasefire deal ahead of the November election, which would likely translate to a boost at the polls. But this appears very unlikely based on the way things are going in Gaza.

Authored by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness,

My friend John Batchelor is the host of the CBS Eye on the World radio program. Not content with that content creation, he also hosts a personal podcast, The John Batchelor Show, regarding current events. I have been honored to be a weekly contributor on this podcast, albeit if only to lower the bar so that other guests can leap over it. This they easily do, given their depth of experience and level of expertise in an amazing array of subjects. It is impossible to listen in on a conversation between Mr. Batchelor and one of his guests (other than myself) and not come away with new information nor discover an idea upon which to muse.

One of my personal favorite podcasts is “The Londinium Chronicles, 90 A.D.” In these episodes, Mr. Batchelor and Michael Vlahos don the roles of two Roman aristocrats, “Gaius” and “Germanicus,” off in occupied Albion and sitting along the banks of the Thames in Londinium. The pair ponder which play to see and discourse upon the events roiling faraway Rome and its empire. Of course, this theatrical device is ironically employed to facilitate limning the historical parallels between that former empire and today’s American empire. In their conversations, “Blue” is the left (Democrats and progressives); “Red” is the right (GOP and MAGA); and “Rome and the Empire” is Washington and America.

Per the show’s site, Mr. Vlahos is a writer and author who has taught war and strategy at Johns Hopkins University, the Naval War College, and Centro de Estudios Superiores Navales (CDMX) and is a longtime weekly contributor to The John Batchelor Show. In his role as “Germanicus” to Mr. Batchelor’s “Gaius,” Mr. Vlahos has proven an exceedingly astute observer of our chaotic contemporary political scene.

Consider the following “Londinium Chronicle,” wherein at approximately the 8:20 mark, Mr. Vlahos identifies not only what the two parties have at stake in the 2024 election, but more importantly, what is at stake for the American people, the presidency, and the electoral process itself.

(Given his role as Germanicus, for the sake of clarity, I have occasionally put in brackets what Mr. Vlahos is referencing in modern American politics.)

Blue [the left] is attempting to redefine legitimacy itself, so that legitimacy does not require any sort of cognitive or leadership capability. It simply involves presentation, however orchestrated and managed it might be. In other words, ‘Blue’ is attempting to redefine the office of ‘emperor’ [president] as a mere figurehead; and, thus, as the representation—the face—of what is, in effect, oligarchic rule.

Is this attempted redefinition born of an ideological imperative or by necessity? Germanicus—er, Mr. Vlahos—believes both. “This is a risky move, and it is the only move ‘Blue’ has, given the fact that it has found itself for a second time in the position where it does not have a person who is up to the job.”

In sum, having secreted and steered the cognitively impaired Mr. Biden through the COVID pandemic’s restricted campaign possibilities, the Democrats found it impossible to do so a second time.

Consequently, following his abysmal debate with former president Donald Trump, the handlers of Mr. Biden were confronted with the necessity of removing and replacing him as the Democrat Party’s [“Blue’s”] nominee. Their handpicked selection was his vice president, Kamala Harris.

It was an unprecedented switch in modern American politics, and, as Mr. Vlahos notes, ordinarily would spell disaster for “Blue”:

In any other situation, the other party would have destroyed any hopes that ‘Blue’ might prevail in this election, because were they to advance an effective leader who is part of the institutional framework of the ‘imperial office,’ then they would be marching to a very strong victory. But that is not exactly the case. So, you have a weak Republican leadership offer, and you have a nonexistent ‘Blue’ [Democrat] leadership offer; and the way that the ‘Blue’ oligarchs have tried to reframe the entire process is to do so as if it were an event, in which one could invest their emotions, because it is no different than a divertissement – an entertainment – and many in the electorate buy into that. So, you have the opportunity here to alter the terms of the constitutional order itself, where the president becomes no more than, say, the monarch is in the United Kingdom…

In sum, then, the Democrats have made two calculations.

• The first is the recognition that, whatever else the office entails, under ordinary circumstances one only needs to win a primary and a general election to become president. In the instance of Vice President Harris, her handlers have dispensed with the primary and now merely need to help secure the general election.

• The second calculation is that the Democrats’ symbiotic relationship with the corporate media and Big Tech parroting their party line and stifling the opposition; with big banks, Wall Street, and a host of billionaires larding their party coffers and dark money accounts; the use of the federal bureaucracy and public and private employee unions to drive out the vote and help ballot harvest, V.P. Harris could be installed as president as readily as Mr. Biden had been in 2020.

As a result, we witness the spectacle of the junior partner in the Biden-Harris administration running a campaign of systemic deceit, pretending to be an agent of “change” and stuffing the failures of the administration she serves down the memory hole. It is a personality-driven exercise in identity politics and personal attacks upon her allegedly despotic Republican opponent, despite the fact that she has stolen many of his once-considered “authoritarian” positions. But again, all Blue must do is win one election.

If it does, V.P. Harris will be inaugurated as a president, and, following on the heels of her caretaker, stage-managed predecessor, Mr. Biden, and with the abetment of her complicit comrades in the media, academia, corporate America, and elsewhere, her elevation will transform the entire conception of the role of a president from a duly elected, active chief executive into a caretaker beholden to priorities and the perpetuation of the unelected administrative state. And a fourth, separate, unequal, and unaccountable branch of the federal government will have been cemented: the administrative, bureaucratic state.

This, of course, makes perfect sense. For despite their limp protestations to the contrary, the Democratic Party is not democratic.

Under the guise of “their democracy,” all the power of the sovereign people is to be reposed in the federal Leviathan, from which it can never be returned. Their aim is the elitist rule of “experts” to govern the lives of formerly self-governing and sovereign citizens.

In this light, the selection of V.P. Harris and their ensuing campaign of systemic deceit is all of an ideological piece.

As of time of writing, the polls between “Blue’s” and “Red’s” candidates for “emperor” are evenly divided, and whether Blue’s cynical decision to foist V.P. Harris upon the electorate will be rewarded remains to be seen. Per Mr. Vlahos:

There is an expectation, I think, among the broad swath of the electorate for a capable person to be inaugurated as president; and that (opportunity) does not now exist [on the part of ‘Blue’]. So, there are tremendous risks that ‘Blue’ runs right now. We will not know in the course of this week or next week. But, over the course of several weeks—the next seventy days—it will become clear whether or not the Democrats, ‘Blue,’ has been successful in reframing the terms of ‘imperial succession.’

And, therefore, it will become clear whether or not “Blue” has replaced the reality of an election with the illusion of an election, redefined the Post-Modern Presidency as merely a caretaker for the administrative state, and eviscerated the very concept of the consent of the governed.

A quiet macro day ahead of the coming storm with just soft-survey data hitting. But having said that US Empire Fed Manufacturing exploded higher (smashing expectations by six standard deviations in September, +11.5 vs -4.0 exp, vs -4.7 prior)…

Source: Bloomberg

However, it was the WSJ’s Greg Ip that prompted some chaos in markets with his weekend piece pitching 50bps cut this week. The market is now pricing in around 70% odds of a 50bps cut this week…

Source: Bloomberg

We do noted that 2025 rate-cut expectations are drifting lower as 2024 dovishly increases…

Source: Bloomberg

Interestingly, before we dive into the details of market moves today, we note that, ahead of the rate-cut(s), usage of The Fed’s Reverse Repo facility plummeted to $239BN today – its lowest since May 2021 – as liquidity continues to bleed from the system (note that we have seen this purge and surge…

Source: Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs trading desk noted today was a fairly quiet start to “rate cut week” after “inflation week” turned in the best weekly performance for SPX all year, which reversed the worst weekly performance of the year from “jobs week” just two weeks ago.

• Most sitting on their hands ahead of Weds and digesting the various arguments for 25 vs 50 as mkt volumes are down -11% and on track for first sub-10B shr session since 8/27

On the day, Nasdaq was the sole stock index lower (down over 1% at its worst) with The Dow and Small Caps outperforming (S&P oscillated around unch). After Europe closed (following the very choppy US open), US equities drifted higher…

Nasdaq bounced higher off its 50DMA…

After five straight days of gains, the Mag7 stocks tumbled today (losing around $170BN in market cap) with AAPL and NVDA dominating the downside while META rallied…

Source: Bloomberg

VIX jumped back above 17 today…

Treasury yields were lower on the day with the long-end outperforming…

Source: Bloomberg

The 10Y yield closed at its lowest since June 2023…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar drifted modestly lower today (4th day in a row), back below the Jackson Hole lows…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold made small gains today, consolidating at record highs…

Source: Bloomberg

Silver has been outperforming gold for the last few days and is back at two month highs relative to gold today…

Source: Bloomberg

We encourage readers to use our exclusive partners JM Bullion for all your precious metals purchasing needs.

The weakness in big-tech carried over into crypto with bitcoin clubbed like a baby seal back to a $57,000 handle, erasing all of Friday’s surge…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices continued their rebound, with WTI back above $70 once again…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, stocks and bonds remain decoupled (the latter thinking ‘recession’ and the former focused on ‘rate cuts to save the world’)…

Source: Bloomberg

The reflexive dichotomy of those two arguments may well come unglued after Powell makes his decision this week – 25bps or 50bps!?

Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times,

Many Americans yearn for a simple, one-day election. For now, though, national elections are sprawling, weeks-long “election seasons” that differ significantly from place to place…

Voting in America’s major battleground states is varied and, in some cases, controversial. All seven allow for “no-excuse” absentee or mail-in voting, meaning any registered voter can vote by mail (without needing an excuse such as disability or unavailability). Virtually all permit drop boxes.

Less controversially, under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), ballots are often sent to military and overseas voters weeks earlier than other voters.

In-person early voting will start throughout most battlegrounds by mid to late October.

Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have no formal in-person early voting. However, voters there, as in most other battleground states, can deliver mail-in ballots by hand to local election offices and drop boxes.

Under Pennsylvania law, counties in that state could normally have initiated mail-in ballot processing as early as Sept. 16, fifty days ahead of Election Day, on Nov. 5.

However, challenges to candidates’ nominations have kept Pennsylvania’s Department of State from confirming the certified candidates.

The start of mail-in voting in the Keystone State is still up in the air.

“When we receive the certified list, we will announce the date that absentee and mail-in ballots will be available through social media and an announcement on our website,” Stephanie Reid, director of election administration for Philadelphia, told The Epoch Times via email.

In Wisconsin, ballot drop boxes outside municipal clerk offices were illegal until July 2024, when the state supreme court overruled its 2022 decision restricting them.

Read on to learn more about pre-Election Day voting in seven 2024 battleground states…

Arizona

In-person early voting begins on Oct. 9, 27 days before Election Day. It lasts until Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.

An emergency early voting period begins on Nov. 1 and lasts through 5 p.m. on Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, for voters who are “experiencing an emergency between 5 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election and 5 p.m. on the Monday preceding the election.”

Stacks of ballot drop box signs sit in storage at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center ahead of the 2024 Arizona primary and general elections in Phoenix on June 3, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

In addition, Arizona counties begin sending out absentee ballots on Oct. 9 to voters who make a one-time request or who are on the state’s Active Early Voting List.

Oct. 9 is also when voters can start mailing those ballots back or placing them in drop boxes.

The deadline for ballots to reach officials is 7 p.m. on Election Day.

The Arizona Elections Procedure Manual charges local government units that have drop boxes with “develop[ing] and implement[ing] procedures to ensure [their] security.”

Ahead of its plans to monitor drop boxes, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Foundation wrote to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes last month seeking guidance.

Conservative groups’ drop box monitoring in the state in 2022 was marked by controversy.

A federal judge ordered one group, Clean Elections USA, to keep a 250-foot distance from drop boxes in the run-up to Election Day.

“To come out and pretend like you recognize the problem and that you want to help is so disingenuous when you’re a part of the problem,” Aaron Thacker, a spokesman for Fontes, said in response to the CPAC letter.

Georgia

Oct. 15 marks the start of in-person early voting in the Peach State, where it’s also called advance voting.

Advance voting ends at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1.

State law mandates at least one drop box per county, while county registrars have some discretion to add more based on population or advance voting site numbers.

Voters line up for the first day of early voting outside a polling station in Atlanta on Dec. 14, 2020. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Per state law, “the drop box location shall have adequate lighting and be under constant surveillance by an election official or his or her designee, law enforcement official, or licensed security guard.”

Georgia voters must request absentee ballots to receive them. They will be sent out starting on Oct. 7.

Voters can mail in those ballots, hand-deliver them to their county registrar, or drop them at a drop box in their county.

The deadline for receipt is the close of polls on Election Day. Absentee ballots received after that date must be destroyed.

Michigan

In Michigan, communities may provide early in-person voting as soon as Oct. 7, 29 days before Election Day.

A mandatory early voting period commences nine days ahead of Nov. 5, on Oct. 26.

Early in-person voting is still a novelty in Michigan.

Voters approved it through a November 2022 ballot initiative, Michigan Proposal 2, that amended the state constitution.

The measure also mandated drop boxes be placed in every municipality in the state and enabled voters to join a permanent absentee ballot list.

Drop boxes must stay open 24 hours a day starting 40 days before Election Day, or Sept. 26, and until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Absentee ballots also have to be available from that date.

A resident casts his vote at Berston Fieldhouse in Flint, Mich., on Nov. 3, 2020. Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images

The election clerk must receive those absentee ballots prior to the close of polls on Election Day. Otherwise, the ballots won’t be counted.

Per state law, drop boxes must be video monitored on Election Day and over the preceding 75 days.

But there’s an exception for drop boxes ordered or installed before Oct. 1, 2020, that lasts until Jan. 1, 2026, more than a year after Election Day 2024.

For now, those drop boxes have been grandfathered in and need not be video monitored.

Nevada

In-person early voting in Nevada starts on Oct. 19 and continues through Nov. 1.

The state has universal mail-in voting. All active registered voters will receive a ballot in the mail unless they opt out.

Those ballots must be prepared and distributed to in-state voters “not later than 20 days before the General Election”—in this case, by Oct. 16.

If they are hand delivering mail-in ballots to drop boxes or county clerks, they must do so by the close of polls on Election Day—7 p.m.

If they are mailing those ballots, they must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on Nov. 9, four days after the election.

Drop boxes are located at all polling places, including early voting polling places.

People line up to vote at a shopping center on the first day of in-person early voting in Las Vegas on Oct. 17, 2020. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In addition, per state law, “a county clerk may establish a ballot drop box at any other location in the county where mail ballots can be delivered by hand and collected during the period for early voting and on election day.”

The statute does not mandate video monitoring, though it does call for drop boxes to be made of “metal or any other rigid material of sufficient strength and resistance to protect the security of the mail ballots.”

North Carolina

In-person early voting starts in North Carolina on the third Thursday before Election Day.

This year, that is Oct. 17.

That period ends at 3 p.m. on Nov. 2. Absentee voting would normally be starting much sooner.

Counties were preparing to send absentee ballots earlier this month, in line with state law requiring those ballots be sent 60 days ahead of Election Day in an even-numbered year.

But after the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled to strike Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from ballots, county boards of elections throughout the state are printing new ballots.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Pennsylvania Convention Center ahead of the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

According to a press release from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, that’s likely to occur “in the next couple weeks.”

North Carolina’s absentee ballots must also be completed with either two witnesses or a notary public observing. Witnesses should track the fact that the ballot is marked but not how the person votes.

The state has greatly tightened its election laws in recent years, including through a voter ID requirement for mail-in voters.

Drop boxes aren’t permissible for absentee voting in the state. Voters can hand off absentee ballots to the county board by 7:30 p.m., Election Day, or at early voting locations during the early voting window.

Mailed absentee ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

A recent bill from the Republican-dominated state Legislature removed a three-day grace period for ballots postmarked by Election Day.

Although Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the measure, lawmakers overrode his veto in late 2023.

Pennsylvania

In-person early voting is not technically an option in Pennsylvania. However, as discussed above, voters can start returning mail-in or absentee ballots in person weeks before Election Day.

Until candidate nomination challenges are resolved, however, mail-in and absentee ballots will not be available to Pennsylvanians.

Election officials must receive mail-in and absentee ballots by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, Election Day.

“A postmark by 8 p.m. Nov. 5 is not sufficient,” a state elections webpage notes.

Pennsylvania State Senate Bill 99, reintroduced earlier this year after passing the Senate under a different name in 2022, aims to get rid of drop boxes and satellite election offices.

Counties in the state are currently permitted to operate such sites.

Electoral workers organize ballots to be counted at Northampton County Courthouse in Easton, Pa., on Nov. 3, 2020. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

State Sen. Cris Dush, a Republican, pledged in a statement on the legislation that it would “eliminate ballot stuffing.”

Common Cause Pennsylvania has opposed the measure. Its executive director called drop boxes “safe and secure” for voting.

The bill passed the State Government Committee in March but has languished after being re-referred to an appropriations committee in May.

Wisconsin

As in Pennsylvania, in-person early voting isn’t a stand-alone option in America’s Dairyland. However, Wisconsinites can vote absentee by mail or in person.

As in North Carolina, Kennedy is challenging his continued presence in the election after dropping out.

He has filed an appeal with the state’s District 2 Court of Appeals after the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) voted in late August to leave him on ballots there.

Once official ballots are in, municipal clerks must send absentee ballots by Sept. 19 to voters with requests on file.

They must be returned to those clerks by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5.

Residents drop mail-in ballots in an official ballot box outside a library in Milwaukee on Oct. 20, 2020. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Drop boxes are legal in the state thanks to a July ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

“The decision held that state law permits clerks to lawfully utilize secure drop boxes.

“The decision did not provide guidance on what it means for a drop box to be ‘secure,’” WEC wrote in July guidance on the ruling.

It went on to recommend best practices for drop box security.

The guidance notes that private citizens can monitor public drop boxes, “but not if the watching interferes with voting,” citing Wisconsin laws that punish the interruption or prevention of voting, including one statute that is a Class 1 felony.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”

That famous line from Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) remains a virtual mantra for politicians and pundits. Yet, judging from the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, we have officially entered the post-truth political era.

ABC News has been widely criticized for the bias of the two moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir. Even liberal outlets acknowledged that the two journalists seemed inclined to “fact check” only Trump. In the meantime, they allowed clearly false statements from Harris to go unchallenged.

Three of the unchecked claims are being widely disseminated by supporters, including some in the media. Here are three legal “facts” that are being repeated despite being clearly untrue.

“Crime is down under the Biden-Harris administration.“

One of the most notable slap downs by ABC followed Trump commenting that crime rates have drastically risen during the Biden-Harris administration. Muir immediately balked and declared: “As you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country.”

Harris and her allies have been repeating the claim by ABC. But the actual statistics show that Trump was right. The Justice Department’s released survey found that, under the Biden administration, there has been a significant increase in crime. Violent crime was up 37 percent from 2020 to 2023, rape is up 42 percent, robbery is up 63 percent and stranger violence is up 61 percent. Other reports had shown startling increases such as a doubling of carjackings in D.C. in 2023.

“Harris has not supported transgender operations for undocumented migrants.”

Some of the greatest mocking in the media concerned Trump’s statement that Harris has supported transgender conversion treatment for undocumented persons. New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser immediately wrote “What the hell was he talking about? No one knows, which was, of course, exactly Harris’s point.”

On CNN, Wolf Blitzer declared how “outlandish” it was for Trump to make such a claim.

But it’s true.

In 2019, Harris told the ACLU that she not only supported such operations but actively worked for at least one such procedure to take place. When it was reported by Andrew Kaczynski on CNN, host Erin Burnett was gobsmacked by the notion of taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for detained migrants. “She actually supported that?” Burnett exclaimed.

Even the New York Times later admitted that the “wildest sounding attack line” from Trump was “basically true.”

Harris does not support the right to abortion in the final three months of a pregnancy.  

Trump also hit Harris on her no-limits position on abortion rights, allowing women the right to abort a baby up to the moment of birth. Trump said Harris supports laws allowing abortions in “the seventh month, the eighth month, [and] the ninth month,” to which Harris retorted: “C’mon,” “no,” and “that’s not true.”

The hosts again said that Trump was making up his criticism of late-term abortions, including the risk of babies being born but allowed to die.

But in fact, many states, including Minnesota under Gov. Tim Walz (D), protect the right of a woman to abort a baby into the ninth month. While it is often said that this is left to the mother and her doctor, the law gives the decision to the mother.

Late-term abortions are relatively rare, but they do occur. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report estimated in 2019 that about 4,882 abortions were performed that year at least 21 weeks or later into pregnancy.

More than a dozen states, in fact, allow on-demand abortions after a baby is viable and can even survive outside of the womb. Nine of those states permit abortions throughout the entirety of pregnancy. Harris has supported these state laws and certainly did not answer the question on what limits she would support, other than saying that she supports Roe v. Wade.

Clearly, many late-term abortions occur to protect the life of the mother. However, you can have (as both Trump and Harris support) exceptions to protect the life of the mother without allowing abortions up to the moment of birth.

To be sure, Trump did not help himself with his wilder claims.

These included debunked accounts of Haitian migrants eating people’s pets in Ohio, which Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike Dewine, has denied.

The issue is not fact-checking, but the failure to do so equally and accurately.

ABC actually disseminated false information under the mantle of fact-checking, and that’s a real problem.

Moderator Linsey Davis admitted later that ABC did not want a repeat of what had happened in the last debate, wherein Trump was given free rein and the moderators limited themselves to asking questions and enforcing time limits. CNN was praised in that debate across the political spectrum for being even-handed.

What is most striking about this election is that none of this seems to matter. Indeed, even the debate did not matter. While Trump can legitimately object to a three-against-one debate format, Harris’s victory was clearly not dependent on bad calls by the refs. However, there has been little overall movement in the polls, even though 67 million people were watching.

The era of post-truth politics is evident in Harris repeating false claims about Trump’s support for “Project 2025” and debunked claims regarding his comments about an extreme-right Charlottesville rally in 2017. Leading Democrats continue to make these false claims, in some cases despite knowing that they are false.

On the other side, Trump is making promises he has to know can never be fulfilled. For example, he has pledged to make flag-burning a federal crime with a penalty of two years’ incarceration. The Supreme Court, including conservatives like the late Justice Antonin Scalia, has ruled that flag burning is protected speech under the First Amendment. Neither a president nor Congress can change the meaning of the Constitution without amending it.

With the help of the media, we have reduced our election to a political Slurpee. It’s all sugar rush and no nutritional value. We now have pundits supporting the idea of no further debates and even arguing that Harris shouldn’t give any interviews because it’s too risky.

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) explained that Harris should avoid one-on-one media interviews because “sometimes, you drill down into a question until there’s a word that’s uttered that can be used in a negative way.” I suppose, as president, she will need to insist on meeting foreign leaders only in CNN town hall events.

If you do not say anything, there are no facts to check. The election then becomes a vote over whether you are for or against “joy.”

What is clear from the ABC debate is that citizens are on their own in the election to find actual facts and substance in the super-sized Slurpee of the 2024 election.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster).

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

It appears that the Harris-Walz campaign to embrace “joy” has taken hold among educators in L.A. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) voted 4-3 to allow 10 schools to opt out of standardized tests and test preparation beginning in the 2025-26 school year. LAUSD President Jackie Goldberg declared the move was a blow to “corporate America” and would restore the “enjoyment of education.”

We have previously discussed how schools have been dropping the use of standardized tests to achieve diversity goals in admissions. That trend continued this month with Cal State dropping standardized testing “to level the playing field” for minority students. I have long been a critic of this movement given the overwhelming evidence that these tests allow an objective measure of academic merit and have great predictive value on the performance of students.

Many colleges and universities are returning to standardized testing after the much acclaimed abandonment of the tests for a more “holistic approach” to selection.

However, public educators have continued to lower proficiency requirements and cancel gifted programs to “even the playing field.” The result has been to further hide the dismal scores and educational standards of many public school districts.

Goldberg lashed out at the “testing industry” which tends to expose the continued failure of public education to give these students a fighting chance in society. Rather than look at their own failures over decades to significantly improve scores, Goldberg said that she “hoped” the resolution  would “begin to change how we look at student assessment.” In other words, students would be assessed without looking at how they actually perform on tests with other students.

Tests, it appears, are just a buzz kill for teachers and students alike:

“Because the whole goal of life became not the love of learning, not the enjoyment of education, not the exchange of ideas, but whether or not your school could move up on its test scores. For at least 20 years, I have found that repugnant.”

It shows, Ms. Goldberg, it shows.

The retiring Goldberg has always been more focused on increasing budgets than improving scores. Her website declares

“California is the world’s fifth richest economy. There are 157 billionaires here who pay almost nothing in taxes. There is no excuse for why New York spends $29k per pupil while we spend $16.5k. It’s time to tax the great wealth in this state and re-invest in our children!”

That appears to be one statistical score that Goldberg does find relevant as a measure of education.

Others at the meeting noted that they have failing enrollments and this will not help.

I previously wrote about how public educators and teacher unions are killing public education in America.Many of us have advocated for public education for decades. I sent my children to public schools, and I still hope we can turn this around without wholesale voucher systems.

Teachers and boards are killing the institution of public education by treating children and parents more like captives than consumers. They are force-feeding social and political priorities, including passes for engaging in approved protests.

As public schools continue to produce abysmal scores, particularly for minority students, board and union officials have called for lowering or suspending proficiency standards or declared meritocracy to be a form of “white supremacy.” Gifted and talented programs are being eliminated in the name of “equity.”

Once parents have a choice, these teachers lose a virtual monopoly over many families, and these districts could lose billions in states like Florida.

This is precisely why school systems are facing budget shortfalls as families vote with their feet. These families want a return to the educational mission that once defined our schools.

L.A. will pursue a program under which they appoint a “lead teacher” for additional professional development from Community School Coaches and the University of California Los Angeles Center for Community Schooling. They will focus on an effort to “integrate culturally relevant curriculum, community- and project-based learning, and civic engagement” into their programs. The “relevant” curriculum would not include actual standardized testing.

It promises more the same. Bringing “joy” back to schools will come without the accountability of standardized testing.

For teachers, such tests are decidedly not joyful since they expose their own failures and set goals for improvement. Now they can just “assess” students as successful and send them along their way.

Public schools across the country will continue to fail inner city children and leave them in the same crushing patterns of poverty.  In Baltimore, a survey found that forty percent of schools did not have a single student proficient in math. Rather than reverse that trend, the schools are just waiving the tests and graduating the students.

What is so frustrating is reading about failing school systems lowering proficiency standards and claiming that it is better for minority students.

American education faces the perfect storm. Despite record expenditures on public schools, we are still effectively abandoning students, particularly minority students, in teaching the basic subjects needed to succeed in life. We will then graduate the students by removing testing barriers for graduation. Then some may go to colleges and universities that have eliminated standardized testing for admission.

At every stage in their education, they have been pushed through by educators without objective proof that they are minimally educated. That certainly guarantees high graduation rates or improved diversity admissions. However, these students are still left at a sub-proficient state as they enter an increasingly competitive job market and economy.

Any failures will come down the road when they will be asked to write, read, or add by someone who is looking for actual work product. They will then be outside of the educational system and any failures will not be attributed to public educators.

As I have previously written, if we truly care for these students, we cannot rig the system to just kick them down the road toward failure. It is like declaring patients healthy by just looking at them and sending them on their way. We have the ability to measure proficiency and we have the moral obligation to face our own failures in helping these kids achieve it.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage”

A week ago, Boeing executives thought they had secured a new labor contract for approximately 33,000 unionized workers in Washington state. However, on Thursday night, 94.6% of union members rejected Boeing’s contract offer, while 96% voted for a strike. Boeing’s last major labor action occurred in 2008 and persisted for eight weeks. 

CNBC reported Monday that Boeing announced a hiring freeze on nonessential staff travel and reduced supplier spending to preserve cash piles. This could be a troubling sign that executives at the struggling planemaker forecast the strike might last weeks, if not longer.

Boeing CFO Brian West told employees via an internal memo that “significant reductions” to supplier spending are imminent. He said purchase orders for 737 Max, 767, and 777 jetliners must be halted. 

“We are working in good faith to reach a new contract agreement that reflects their feedback and enables operations to resume,” West wrote in the note, adding, “However, our business is in a difficult period. This strike jeopardizes our recovery in a significant way and we must take necessary actions to preserve cash and safeguard our shared future.”

Credit rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s warned Friday that a downgrade of Boeing’s credit rating into junk bond status is just ahead. Standard & Poor’s had already warned that a downgrade would likely occur after the strike materialized. 

Moody’s noted that prolonged labor disruptions could undermine Boeing’s commercial airplanes recovery, complicating liquidity as $12 billion in debt matures through 2026. The strike may lead to a downgrade if Boeing’s liquidity deteriorates significantly or if it fails to generate sufficient free cash flow, which remains constrained through 2025 due to production challenges and cost pressures.

The last time Boeing machinists went on strike was September 7, 2008. At the time, the strike was over job security, outsourcing, pay, and benefits. This caused a $1.2 billion hit to the company’s net income. This could be much more costly today. 

“The strike will impact production and deliveries and operations and will jeopardize our recovery,” CEO Brian West told investors at a Morgan Stanley conference Friday. 

Boeing is set to lose its prized investment-grade rating, which has been cited in every quarterly earnings presentation. 

West said, “We are also considering the difficult step of temporary furloughs for many employees, managers and executives in the coming weeks.”

What’s emerging for Boeing is the downstream effects of strikes. That includes a reduction in spending on suppliers, and by the way, Boeing’s website says there are 11,000 active suppliers worldwide, which could trigger layoffs and disruptions across its supplier network. 

Using Bloomberg data, here are some of Boeing’s top suppliers:

According to risk management firm Sayari Labs, the latest Boeing shipments primarily come from India, Turkey, South Korea, Mexico, and China. Suppliers in these regions are likely to be the most impacted.

That’s a lot of suppliers. 

If Boeing’s supplier network was to experience throttling and or shutdowns on a prolonged strike, then how long would it take to get the supplier network back to full capacity? 

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Global money supply has soared by $20.6 trillion since 2019, according to Bloomberg.

Additionally, global debt surged by over $15 trillion in 2023, reaching a new record high of $313 trillion. Around 55% of this rise came from developed economies, mainly the U.S., France, and Germany. Unfunded liabilities in the United States amount to $72 trillion, almost 300% of GDP. This may seem high until you look at Spain with 500% of GDP, France with close to 400%, or Germany with close to 350% of GDP.

There is no escape from debt. Paying for the government’s fictitious promises in paper money will result in a constantly depreciating currency, thereby impoverishing those who earn a wage or have savings. Inflation is the hidden tax, and it is very convenient for governments because they always blame shops or businesses and present themselves as the solution by printing even more currency.

Governments want more inflation to reduce the impact of the enormous debt and unfunded liabilities in real terms. They know they can’t tax you more, so they will tax you indirectly by destroying the purchasing power of the currency they issue.

High taxes are not a tool to reduce high debt, but rather to perpetuate the expropriation of national wealth. Countries with high taxes and big governments also have enormous public debt levels.

If you thought the monetary destruction we have witnessed in recent years was excessive, just wait for the suffering we will endure in the future.

In 2024, the world has seen more than seventy elections where none of the parties with access to power even bothered to present a realistic plan to cut debt. Governments and politicians understand that they can make any promises using someone else’s money, and many voters will readily accept the fallacy of taxing the wealthy. Naturally, currency debasement leads to widespread impoverishment.

Kamala Harris promises tax deductions for start-ups and first-time homebuyers, as well as families with children. It is hilarious. Inflation, a hidden tax, consumes their earnings and savings, while high direct and indirect taxes absorb the remaining funds. Despite this, she promises a tax deduction that most small businesses will never take advantage of, as they will shut down before generating any profit.

The Treasury expects a $16 trillion increase in public debt between 2024 and 2034, without taking into account any recession risk. The enormous government debt of $35 trillion, along with its subsequent additions, has the potential to destroy the currency. Citizens will face higher debt, reduced access to goods and services, and the ultimate dissolution of the middle class in the absence of a pro-growth plan and serious support for the currency’s purchasing power.

Governments and politicians need the votes of the middle class to reach power, and they also need to erode the savings and wages of that same middle class to reduce the weight of public debt in real terms. When the government says they can print and issue more debt, you pay for it.

The trillions of dollars accumulated in debt will lead to an unprecedented wave of central bank easing, which will continue to include negative real rates and even direct debt monetization. However, they need an excuse to present themselves as the solution to the problem they created. A recession or a significant slowdown will be the trigger to implement the plan to destroy the purchasing power of currencies. However, this time inflation is already evident and persistent.

Remember why governments are pleased to destroy the purchasing power of the currency they issue? It is a form of nationalization of the country’s wealth.

How can governments implement currency destruction when citizens are already upset about high prices? First, they need to silence you. Second, eliminate your options to run away from the currency. Thirdly, enforce the expropriation with the motto, “You may have nothing, but you will find happiness.” Yes, you won’t have anything, but you won’t be content either. Only this time you will be unable to complain. Eliminating free speech and independent media is a key part of this plan.

You think I am exaggerating? If the government really believed you would be better off and more prosperous with their policies, they would encourage free speech because everyone would value their welfare improvements. They need to limit free speech because they know they will make you poorer. Therefore, it’s crucial for you to safeguard yourself against the promises made by the government and comprehend the reasons behind the destruction of money.

Fiat money is just a promise, and the issuer knows they cannot pay it in today’s value. Making you dependent and rendering the currency worthless is the best way to control you. Protect yourself investing.