“The strange circumstances of this presidential race put Trump in an unusual position. If Harris had won the Democratic nomination in the primaries, by now Trump would have had several months to try out various criticisms, choose the most effective and get it to sink in with the voters he’s trying to reach. Instead, she replaced President Joe Biden as the nominee in August. Trump had plenty of time to make contingency plans for that possibility, but not much, once it happened, to get voters to see her as he wants. It’s an especially urgent task for him because almost everyone in the country has a view of him that is set in stone. But Trump has been wasting the time he has.” (09/13/24)
“The US state department rejected wild [sic] allegations of CIA involvement in an alleged assassination plot against Nicolas Maduro after Venezuelan officials announced the arrest of three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech on Saturday. The claims of a plot against Maduro — the [former president who refuses to give up power after losing his re-election attempt] — were made on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens including a US navy member were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television programme, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the alleged plotters.” (09/15/24)
“No matter how much of our world appears to be spinning out of control, we call the shots as to where we choose to focus our attention. Walker Larson explains what we lose with our attention spans.” (09/13/24)
Source: Independent Institute
by Randall G Holcombe
“Presidential candidate and VP Harris has proposed giving first-time home buyers up to $25,000 to go toward their down payments, plus another $10,000 tax credit. If enacted, this proposal would raise the price of housing. The price of anything is determined by supply and demand. If demand increases with no change in supply, the price of that item will rise. If supply increases with no change in demand, the price will fall. That’s basic economics. Kamala Harris’s proposal would enable more people to enter the market to buy homes, and that increase in demand would raise the price of housing.” (09/13/24)
“Illegal home-built guns are bringing libertarianism to the world. That’s what the good people at The New York Times say. DIY firearms are also helping rebels fight oppressive regimes and, as is inevitable when weapons make their way into the hands of regular people, fueling European officials’ fears of crime and terrorism. This is a result of recent technological developments that severely cramp governments’ ability to enforce restrictions — including when it comes to the FGC-9, a partially 3D-printed firearm.” (09/13/24)
“One of India’s main opposition figures and New Delhi’s chief minister said he would resign from office Sunday, two days after he was granted bail in a bribery case. Arvind Kejriwal, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was arrested nearly six months ago ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor. India’s top court released him on bail Friday. Kejriwal has consistently denied the accusations and called them a political conspiracy.” (09/15/24)
“The late Bernie Baltic used to ask politicians, who invariably wanted him to write them a check, ‘What are your principles?’ They would then recite their key issues or the issues they thought were key to getting Bernie to write that check. He would stop them, saying, ‘Not your issues — issue positions can change — your principles.’ Values are like sorta like principles. In politician speak. ‘My values haven’t changed,’ Vice-President Kamala Harris assured us, after being quizzed about her flip-flopping on issues including fracking (hello Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes), defunding the police and building a border wall.” (09/13/24)
“In government outsourcing, governments contract with private-sector firms to have them perform certain services. Outsourcing is not as big of a step as privatization, because the government still owns the asset and is responsible for the service. It just pays a private company (sometime a non-profit) to perform the service being outsourced. St. Louis County government is considering outsourcing the facilities maintenance operations of county buildings to a private company. I think that is great, and I hope the county does it.” (09/13/24)
“Donald Trump’s campaign vow to increase tariffs on imported goods, particularly from China, has the support of a narrow majority of U.S. voters, illustrating his economic advantage over rival Vice President Kamala Harris, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. The Republican former president and his Democratic opponent have both vowed to pursue tax cuts if they win the Nov. 5 election. But voters also credit Trump with being more likely to lower the $35 trillion national debt — even though independent economic forecasters say his proposals would have the opposite effect. Some 56% of registered voters in the Sept. 11-12 poll said they were more likely to support a candidate backing a new 10% tariff, or tax, on all imports, as well as a 60% tariff on imports from China. By comparison, 41% said they were less likely to support a candidate attached to that proposal.” (09/15/24)
