So, Is Trump Really a Fascist?
Source: Foreign Policy
by Howard W French
“Yes, but the more important question is whether that even matters to the electorate.” (10/30/24)
CA: Ultra-wealthy Levi’s heir could win San Francisco mayoral election
Source: SFGate
“With less than a week to go in San Francisco’s mayoral race, Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi’s denim fortune, has emerged as a top contender. The bid for City Hall is hotly contested this year, with incumbent Mayor London Breed battling a full slate of opponents, including former supervisor and venture capitalist Mark Farrell, Supervisor Aaron Peskin and Lurie. Lurie was hardly mentioned early in the race, but he’s been able to move ahead in recent weeks thanks in large part to a massive amount of his own family’s money. The San Francisco Chronicle endorsed him earlier this month and a poll from the paper conducted on Oct. 15 and 16 found Lurie tied with Breed on first-round votes but ultimately winning thanks to ranked choice voting …. Two other polls released earlier in the month also showed positive results for Lurie.” (10/30/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/daniel-lurie-sf-election-19874582.php
El Salvador: Congress approves sending troop contingent to Haiti
Source: ABC News
“El Salvador’s Congress approved a proposal Wednesday to send a contingent of soldiers to Haiti under the auspices of the United Nations to handle medical evacuations in the troubled Caribbean nation. Patricia Aguilera, legal affairs director for El Salvador’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, told lawmakers it was part of the country’s commitment to the U.N.’s Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti. She did not give an idea of the size of the El Salvador contingent and lawmakers did not seem to know.” (10/30/24)
Pod Save America, 10/30/24
Source: Crooked Media
“Kamala’s Closing Argument (feat. AOC).” (10/30/24)
A mountain of government payments buries the myth of American self-reliance
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Most Americans’ understanding of their nation’s past is notoriously sketchy. Now, at the end of an election season ostensibly about the nation’s future, most Americans surely are uncomprehending about the present. They fancy this a nation of independent, self-reliant strivers, wary of government and disdainful of Europeans contentedly dependent on governments’ providing for their well-being by redistributing wealth. … In 2022, Americans received $3.8 trillion in government transfers, 18 percent of all personal income. In 1970, not even 1 percent of counties received one-quarter or more of personal income from transfers. By 2000, 10 percent did; in 2022, it was 53 percent. This is certain to increase as the population ages.” (10/30/24)
Why Is Most Journalism About IQ So Bad?
Source: Quillette
by Russell T Warne
“It is easy to create a negative image of intelligence research because most people know very little about the topic. But distorting intelligence research does a disservice to the field’s hard-working scientists and the general public.” (10/30/24)
House panel to refer Cuomo for criminal charges
Source: Politico
“A House subcommittee probing the governmental response to the pandemic will allege former Gov. Andrew Cuomo made false statements to Congress and refer criminal charges to the U.S. Department of Justice. The referral centers around Cuomo’s statements to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic about his involvement in the editing or reviewing of a controversial July 2020 report on Covid deaths of nursing home residents. ‘Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the Select Subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability,’ Rep. Brad Wenstrup, the Ohio Republican who chairs the panel, wrote in the 107-page referral to Attorney General Merrick Garland.” (10/30/24)
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/30/new-york-cuomo-criminal-charges-00186435
The Tom Woods Show, episode 2562
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Trump Surge.” (10/30/24)
Trading Places? No Thanks
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome
“or decades now, pessimists on the right and left — and especially in politics — have talked down the U.S. economy and talked up whatever economy might happen to be riding high at the moment, usually thanks to gobs of government subsidies and other seemingly brilliant economic plans coming out of their capitals. Yet time and again, the American Prosperity Machine proves the naysayers wrong and forges ahead. This time, it appears, is no different. And, while the U.S. economy surely has some issues (our messy politics being one of them), the latest data beg today’s naysayers to answer a simple question: Where else would you rather be?” (10/30/24)
Creativity as a small nation’s defense
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“One trend of recent decades has been that of small countries trying to prevent a foreign invasion by making themselves indispensable to big countries around them. Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates, for example, have become global tech hubs or finance centers. A would-be invader might think twice before destroying what it is dependent on. The secret of this strategy? Build up trust in your economy and bring out the creativity of your people. Rely on qualities more than on armaments. Now Armenia, population under 3 million, is racing to go down the path of becoming the next Silicon Valley – especially after seeing Russia invade Ukraine. In fact, the former Soviet state got a big head start in 2022 when thousands of Russian techies fled their country after the invasion and chose Armenia, a democracy, because of its ecosystem of hundreds of dynamic tech startups.” (10/30/24)