Month: April 2024

Credit: @WillHild

Radical left Blackrock CEO Larry Fink was caught on audio Friday completely losing his mind as red states cut off funds to his woke company, including the Texas Permanent School Fund’s decision to withdraw $8.5 billion last month.

As Gateway Pundit readers know, BlackRock is the largest asset management firm in the world, overseeing trillions of dollars worth of assets. It was founded in 1988 by Fink.

The company used to focus solely on risk management and fixed-income securities management but has since attempted to force companies across America to adopt a social credit system akin to Communist China focused on Environment and Social Justice (ESG) or face penalties. This includes forcing companies to go along with the radical left’s DEI agenda and pressuring firms not to fund coal and other fossil fuel projects.

Bud Light’s partnership last year is a textbook example of how this scheme works.

Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers First, was the first to obtain audio of Fink losing his mind over Texas and other states defying his dangerous woke agenda.

LISTEN:

JUST IN: @BlackRock CEO Larry Fink *absolutely lost it* on their latest earnings call, after the Texas Permanent School Fund pulled $8.5 billion from the woke asset manager over their continued ESG activism:

pic.twitter.com/ohTOoMKf4U

— Will Hild (@WillHild) April 12, 2024

Relevant transcript:

Fink: I’ve spoken before about the fear we see today. Some are stoked by increasing political polarization in the world.

Our industry and Blackrock have been the subject of political dialogue, mostly in the United States… We have done a better job of telling our story so people can make decisions based on FACTS, not lies or misinformation by others!

Unfortunately, there are still others out there who put short-term politics and continuously lie about these issues. They are putting issues above the long-term fiduciary responsibilities.

As a fiduciary, politics should never outweigh performance!

In addition to Texas, Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia have divested from Blackrock.

With more red states likely to join, we can look forward to more tantrums from Fink.

The post Far-Left Radical BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Flips Out as Red States Divest From His Woke, ESG-Driven Company (AUDIO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The afternoon, evening, and morning of April 13 and 14, 2024 displayed one of the largest ever missile barrages from one non-contiguous country to another when Iran attempted to devastate Israel.  Most of the 350 plus drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles were fired from Iran – a first, but some were launched from Yemen.  Iran started off the whole event with perhaps a deception operation.

Naval commandos from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC, which is a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. Government) conducted a “fast rope” operation off of helicopters to seize the Merchant Vessel Aries in the Straits of Hormuz.  This was the same tactic used in November of 2023 to seize another ship, the Galaxy Leader, in the Red Sea which initiated the continuing naval war in the Middle East.  The Iranians seem to be studious in the business forensics of ship ownership – both ships trace to Israeli businesses.  The possible deception operation did little to distract from the missile volley that started in the afternoon.

Integrated missile defense worked magnificently

The breakout of the different weapons launched at Israel were given by Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari who said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles.  There has been an update, the numbers of weapons now appear to be 350.  A brief Wall Street Journal posting also hinted at a number of possible take aways.  According to three Administration Officials, “Roughly 50% of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran failed to launch or crashed before reaching their target”,  and “So much for the vaunted ballistic-missile capability of Iran,”.  These “talking on background” comments hint at three important take aways.

First, the possibility of “Five Eyes Plus” coordinated cyber efforts to disrupt the Iranian launch process.  The liquid fueled ballistic missile inventory of Iran is still significant and the fueling process, especially in underground, bunkered spaces, is dangerous even during peacetime training conditions.   The wrong valve turned the wrong time could be catastrophic.  Second, the comment seemed to be a pre-emptive attempt to undermine any Israeli counterstrike.  Third, the Beltway tradition of talking on background to influence the story is alive and well.  In addition to a possible projection of cyber capabilities, the turkey shoot of Iranian launched drones and missiles was stunningly effective and showed extraordinary coordination between American, French, British, Jordanian, Saudi, United Arab Emirates and Israeli air to air and ground to air defense shield that was magnificent.

Biden Administration has the power to decisively enfeeble Iran

The Iranians tried to make something out of the quashing of their historic barrage.  The Chief of the Iranian General Staff, Gen Mohammad Bagheri, said the attack was a “a well-planned attack with appropriate design … that neither the Iron Dome nor the missile defence shield of the Zionist regime could significantly counter. This operation achieved its goal.”  Not taking away from the overwhelming success in defeating the initial attack by Iran, the dithering interference and foot dragging by the Biden Administration only provides a strong message of lack of resolve and clarity that enables Iran.

The Biden Administration policy on the situation is one word: “Don’t”.  This word seems more aimed at Israel than Iran since Iran conducted the onslaught despite Biden’s strong use of the word, “Don’t”.  Inexplicably, the Biden Administration is still waiving and releasing $10B more in frozen Iranian assets.  Iran is dependent upon this lifeline of unfrozen funds to survive.  The Biden Team seems to not understand negotiations and negotiation advantage with an uncooperative adversary.  Paying the other party and then expecting cooperation defies best practices of negotiations.  It should always be pay for performance, not expectation of performance.  Iran’s Government is officially listed as an “Adversary Government” in U.S. Law, yet the Biden Team incentivizes bad behavior by Iran.

A perfect score does not equal victory nor success

It was a remarkable night, but a perfect score does not equal winning.  The Middle East violence is growing and should be looked at as a coordinated front in the worldwide conflict that is ongoing and growing.  Ukraine was Putin’s contribution to the “No Limits” partnership to topple America, October 7 was Iran’s portion of the “No Limits” deal.  The Middle East Front started with the bloody Hamas attack into Israel, but then followed in November 2023 with the broad assault on Merchant shipping in the region, and now is in its third phase with the missile assault on Israel.

The Biden Team is not connecting the dots on what is going on and is attempting to transactionally tamp down on the coordinated mayhem by micro-managing Israel, and appeasing Iran.  The Iranian government would not exist if it was not for the continual release of funds by the Biden Team and Chinese purchases of Iranian oil (and the large “advisory” presence of Chinese personnel in Iran).  The overwhelming success of the coordinated first night of defense of Israel was historic but should not be looked at as victory or success in the big picture.  It was a good night but it is just the next phase on the continuum of a world at war.  We’ve shifted from the 1938 period to the 1939 phase on the pathway of World War III.  Biden is playing Chamberlain flawlessly.

The post Impressive Night Defending Israel Sullied by Biden Administration Enablement of Conflict appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Rashid Khalidi, Professor of Modern American Arab Studies at Columbia University and for PLO official.

Visigrad 24 released its first undercover investigation at V24 Investigates on Monday.

The V24 undercover journalists spoke with Professor Rashid Khalidi, a PLO press agency director under Yasser Arafat in the 80’s and now the Edward Said professor of Arab studies at Columbia University, notorious for his hardline pro-Palestinian extremism.

Rashid Khalidi also happens to be a very close friend of Barack Obama from his Chicago days. You can read more on that below.

Rashid Khalidi is a Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University.

In the undercover investigation, Professor Khalidi made clear his devotion to the Palestinian cause and his excitement to witness young Jews siding with the Palestinians in the current Hamas war with Israel.

Khalidi also said the Jewish Anti-Semitic task force on campus was filled with bigots, fanatics, right-wingers and extremists.

He says it will take a long time for the country to distance itself from Israel but he is witnessing a shift today he never expected.

Rashid Khalidi: It’s not just we’re living in New York City, which is the largest Jewish city in the world. It’s the place where Zionism got a huge lift with the Biltmore Program in 1942. It’s a city where there are very politicized elements of the Jewish community, very supportive of Israel. You go out to the south and the west of this country, and you have people who are even more fanatical of Israel, who are evangelical..

. …Here, people will have maybe gone there (Israel) for their bar mitzvah or gone there on birthright or have a family there. There’s actually a physical human connection. So, they feel for Israel in ways, including people who are conflicted or who are pro-Palestinians. They still have a connection to Israel, a personal connection to Israel. I have many students like that. They’re anti-zionist or they’re non-zionist, or they’re critical of Israel, and they’re very sympathetic… There is a strand of Christianity that really believes that the coming of the Messiah can only happen with the return of the Jewish people, the one in Israel, after which there will be rapture and whoever doesn’t make it out by Christ will be burned in hell, including the Jews.

But that’s their belief. It’s a very strongly held belief. It’s been around for more than 150 years. It started in England and spread to here as a specific reading of the- St. John the Divine, the last book of the New Testament. And that’s going to be an issue, I think, much longer than this division among the Jewish community. I think that’s going to shift things in a better direction over time as older people get away and younger people. I mean, there are many, many families, Jewish families that are divided on a generational basis.

It’ll take a little time. You got to have some patience. It’s tough. It’s tough. I’ve been at this for a great long time. It looks very good to me in the sense that I’ve seen a shift that I never expected. It’s very bad because that has caused a backlash, which is what we are all feeling now. And in that moment of backlash, you just feel despair. You read the papers, and you watch the politicians, and you see what’s happening on campus, and you see all this stuff coming now. But that’s mainly because things are changing in a positive direction.  They’re so hysterical.

They’re like the little boy putting his finger in the dyke, trying to make the sea go back, whatever. I think that change is slowly coming. I mean, look at things like these unions. It has not been reported in the mainstream media, but three of the biggest unions in the United States are calling for a ceasefire. United Auto Workers, the Nurses Union, and the Postal Workers Union, which represent, if you think about it, a lot of ordinary working class, diverse Americans all over the country. Well, those guys have taken a position against… They’re all Democrat, aligned with Democratic Party. They’ve taken a position against the President. And that means that their base has seen things that the Israel lobby doesn’t want them to see. And that’s a sign of the times.

The black pastors put a full-page ad in The New York Times, calling for a ceasefire, five weeks ago, six weeks ago, when Israel and the Biden demonstration were and still are dead set against it. Again, that’s a sign of the times. You listen to The New York Times and you think, well, right-thinking people are against anti-Semitism and any support for the Palestinians is blah-blah-blah genocidal.

So there’s a lot of change happening at the grassroots, and it’s going to be fought. They fight back. Protests at Columbia University over the crisis in the Middle East.

Here is the undercover video from V24 Investigations.

There is a strand of evangelicals which really believe in the coming of the Messiah, it can only happen with the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, after which there will be rapture and whoever doesn’t accept Christ will be burned in hell, including the Jews,”… pic.twitter.com/RouGvbxRmb

— V24_Investigations (@V24Investigates) April 15, 2024

Rashid Khalidi and his close pal Barack Obama

In October 2008 The Gateway Pundit broke the story that The LA Times was withholding video of Barack Obama praising radical former PLO operative Rashid Khalidi at a Chicago party.

TGP called the LA Times and they said they were not releasing the video.

The story then made national news.

The mainstream media did all it could to protect Barack Obama and prop up this radical far-left community organizer.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Khalidi and the Obamas were great friends in Chicago and often spent time at each other’s homes.
Khalidi was also best friends with Bill Ayers.

Terrorist Bill Ayers- Barack Obama- Jew-hater Rashid Khalidi

Not only does Barack Obama’s church of 20 years support Hamas and Hezbollah but Barack Obama also has a longtime close friendship and financial association with suspected former PLO operative and Israel hater Rashid Khalidi.

Barack Obama funnelled thousands of dollars of cash to Rashidi’s anti-Israel Foundation through his position on the Woods Fund.

In 2000, Rashid Khalidi, a former PLO operative who justified Palestinian terrorism as contributing to “political enlightenment,” threw a fundraiser for his friend Barack Obama.

Although he is described as a former PLO operative, via Free Republic, this is what Rashid Khalidi had to say about Palestinian terrorism against Jews– he said anti-Israel violence contributed to “political enlightenment.”

On Palestinian violence. Khalidi glorifies anti-Israel violence as contributing to “political enlightenment”[vii] and unsurprisingly admires those who carry it out. His loyalty to Palestinian terrorist groups run so deep that he actually dedicated his 1986 valentine to the PLO, Under Siege, to “those who gave their lives . . . in defense of the cause of Palestine and independence of Lebanon.”[viii] The book whitewashes PLO violence against Israelis and Lebanese, as well as the Syrian occupation.

The LA Times wrote an article about Obama’s association with Rashid Khalidi in April:

It was a celebration of Palestinian culture — a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York.

A special tribute came from Khalidi’s friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi’s wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking.

In 2000, the Khalidis held a fundraiser for Obama’s unsuccessful congressional bid. The next year, a social service group whose board was headed by Mona Khalidi received a $40,000 grant from a local charity, the Woods Fund of Chicago, when Obama served on the fund’s board of directors…

At Khalidi’s going-away party in 2003, the scholar lavished praise on Obama, telling the mostly Palestinian American crowd that the state senator deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat. “You will not have a better senator under any circumstances,” Khalidi said.

The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times.

Both Bill Ayers and Obama signed the commemorative book given to Khalidi at his going away party.

The post Barack Obama’s Close Pal and Former PLO Official Rashid Khalidi Caught on Undercover Camera at Columbia University Trashing ‘Bigots’ on Anti-Semitism Task Force and Cheering Movement Against Israel – VIDEO appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

In a recent court ruling, former President Donald Trump was denied the opportunity to speak publicly due to Judge Merchan’s decision. This controversial move has left many conservative voices outraged and demanding answers.

As the dust settles, Trump himself has finally broken his silence, speaking out against the injustice he has faced.

BREAKING: Heartbroken Trump writes, “Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son, Barron, who is a GREAT Student at a fantastic School, that his Dad will likely not be allowed to attend his Graduation Ceremony, something that we have been talking about for years, because a… pic.twitter.com/TGpulRCcsN

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) April 15, 2024

From a conservative standpoint, this decision by Judge Merchan only further solidifies the narrative of a biased legal system against Trump. The media has long been accused of having a left-leaning bias, and now it seems that even the judicial system is following suit. But for Trump and his supporters, this is just another hurdle to overcome in their quest for justice.

Despite being silenced, Trump’s voice remains powerful and resonant. In a statement released to the public, he expressed his disappointment with the ruling, stating that it was a clear attempt to silence him and his message. But he also made it clear that he will not back down, vowing to continue his fight for what he believes is right.

Trump should go to Barron’s graduation.

A judge threatening him over it is insane.

Jail a father for being there to support his son, let’s see how that goes over with Americans. pic.twitter.com/iH0qrsmZOi

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 16, 2024

For Trump, this is not just a personal battle, but a fight for the American people. He believes that his voice represents the millions of Americans who have been silenced and marginalized by the current administration. And now, with this ruling, their voices are once again being suppressed.

This decision by Judge Merchan has only fueled the fire within the conservative community. Calls for justice and fairness are louder than ever, with many questioning the integrity of the legal system. How can a fair trial be conducted if one side is not allowed to speak?

But Trump remains undeterred. He is determined to use this setback as motivation to continue his mission of making America great again. In his statement, he reassured his supporters that the fight is far from over and that he will not rest until the truth is uncovered.

As the public awaits further developments in this legal battle, one thing is certain: Trump’s voice will not be silenced. This ruling may have temporarily prevented him from speaking publicly, but his message will continue to resonate through his supporters and the conservative community.

In the end, this controversial ruling by Judge Merchan may have backfired. Instead of silencing Trump, it has only amplified his voice and solidified his stance as a champion for the American people. And as the fight for justice and truth continues, Trump and his supporters will not back down, determined to uncover the truth and make their voices heard.

We want to hear from you! Please share your perspective by commenting below.

The post Unveiling the Truth: Trump Breaks Silence After Being Denied Justice by Judge Merchan appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

Source: Getty Images

Flyers instructing illegal immigrants to vote for Joe Biden in the forthcoming U.S. election have been reportedly distributed at a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Mexico, according to an investigation by The Oversight Project, a watchdog initiative linked to the Heritage Foundation.

The controversial flyers were discovered scattered around the Resource Center Matamoras (RCM), an establishment known for aiding migrants. Some of these were even found on the walls inside port-a-potties at the location.

These flyers were discovered by @realmuckraker throughout the Resource Center Matamoras (RCM) location including on the walls of port-a-potties

They also appear to be handed out when illegal aliens use the RCM for assistance in coming to the USA pic.twitter.com/hvlkwOI5Xs

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) April 16, 2024

The Muckraker.com, an investigative account on X, first brought this issue to light, showcasing images of the flyers that read: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.”

“CRITICAL – We exposed an NGO in Mexico that is instructing illegals to vote for Biden when they cross into the United States. Claims of illegals being instructed to vote in elections has been labeled a “conspiracy theory”, until now…” Muckraker wrote.

Read (translated):

Credit: The Oversight Project/X

More from The OVersighe Project:

RCM founder Gaby Zavala implied to Muckraker.com that she wants to help as many illegals as possible before President Trump is reelected.

RCM founder Gaby Zavala implied to @realmuckraker that she wants to help as many illegals as possible before President Trump is reelected pic.twitter.com/foIVJGMM3C

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) April 16, 2024

RCM bills itself as an operation which houses functions for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), which helps illegal aliens enter the United States.
Sec. Mayorkas is a former board member of HIAS, which received numerous grants from Soros’ Open Society Foundation over the years

Credit: The Oversight Project/X
Credit: The Oversight Project/X

RCM has significant ties to Soros-funded non-profits operating in the United States, including Save the Children, Team Brownsville Texas, and Angry Tias and Abuelas.

Credit: The Oversight Project/X
Credit: The Oversight Project/X
Credit: The Oversight Project/X

Save the Children received over $650,000 from Soros’ Open Society Foundation, and has provided grants to Team Brownsville.

Credit: The Oversight Project/X
Credit: The Oversight Project/X
Credit: The Oversight Project/X

According to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, Secretary Mayorkas himself recently met with some of these entities, including Team Brownsville and Angry Tias and Abuelas.

Credit: The Oversight Project/X

RCM is a fiscally sponsored project of the Asylum Seeker Network of Support (“ASNS”) ASNS 501c3 registration was forfeited in Texas in 2022 But Founder and Executive Director Gaby Zavala continued to operate despite the forfeiture.

Credit: The Oversight Project/X
Credit: The Oversight Project/X

Gaby Zavala was previously an organizer for La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), which listed the Open Society Institute as a partner.

Credit: The Oversight Project/X

ELECTION INTEGRITY IS UNDER ASSAULT. You do not need documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. You can vote if you simply swear you are eligible. This flyer obviously seeks to prey on unsophisticated illegals and encourages them to illegally vote.

The post Flyers Distributed by a Mexican NGO Instruct Illegal Aliens to Vote for Biden in Upcoming U.S. Election: “We Need Another Four Years of His Term to Stay Open” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Speaker Mike Johnson will fund the war in Ukraine with billions of tax-payer dollars.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) becomes more and more of a disappointment by the day.

The Louisiana congressman gave the FBI approval to spy on Americans without a warrant last week. Johnson was the deciding vote. Johnson also gave Democrats EVERY item they requested on the spending bill to bankrupt the country and increase the historic inflation.

And on Monday Johnson said he is ready to fund the hapless Ukraine War.

Johnson is not capable of fighting back against the Uniparty cabal so he joined them – once again.

Reporter: What is the plan land Republicans who say they’re hearing from constituents and have a real problem with any funding for Ukraine. What if that bill is carried by Democrats? How do you approach that?

Speaker Mike Johnson: Well, listen, the Ukraine piece is clearly on the Republican side, the most controversial one, I think, the one that has the most difference of opinion. I think there’s an idea that lethal aid is different than the humanitarian aid. If you convert some of this economic assistance to a loan, that makes a lot of sense to a lot of people. But I think the American people deserve to have it explained to them why it is in America’s interest to assist here.

Importantly, 68% of this package is the replenishment of our own munitions, our own weapons. Those are American jobs that build upgraded weapons and ammo here. A lot of those things need to be explained. They need to be analyzed independently. I think that we will probably do that here in this legislation and make it clear to people that what exactly they’re voting for and why. I think that’s really important for the American people.

Reporter: Aside from the separate bills, how does this legislation different from what the Senate has already passed?

Speaker Johnson: Well, the underlying text will have some of our innovations in it with regard to accountability for the funding and some of these other measures. We’ve talked a lot about the loan concept and for Ukraine, certainly on that piece, that will be a part of that. I think that you’ll see the text differs in those ways, but the overall concept is the same. It’s the same places that the funding would be sent, and you’ll see the House’s take on it. That’s how this process works. These are two separate chambers. I can’t be responsible for what happens in the Senate or how they do their business. My responsibility as a House of Representatives, and we’re going to do that. Thank you.

If you are a conservative voter – The Uniparty will never represent you.

The post Speaker Johnson On Funding the Ukraine War Sinkhole – “Those Are American Jobs that Build Upgraded Weapons and Ammo Here” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Let’s talk about Mayor Tiffany Henyard of Thorton Township, Illinois, and the media finally noticing that fighting white supremacy will not stop ghetto black men from attacking women and children.

The wildest thing I discovered this week after reading the news reports on the attacks in New York was that one of the attackers is famous on TikTok.

Famous for what you ask? Stalking women on camera of all races and attacking them or screaming aggressive explicit threats against white people.

NEW: Political candidate who ran for NYC mayor is accused of sucker-punching a TikToker

The man accused of punching a TikTok influencer in NYC has run for mayor, governor, and City Council in the past Three years

Skiboky Stora, 40, from East New York, was charged with assault… pic.twitter.com/1pSChmVhN6

— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) March 27, 2024

Yes, Skiboky Stora has been attacking women in New York for years.

Skiboky Stora, 40, of East N.Y., was charged with assault. The failed politician who was arrested for allegedly punching a 23-year-old woman in Manhattan on Monday has a penchant for documenting his harassment of women on his multiple TikTok accounts. https://t.co/9JLxQCGjI1 https://t.co/fGtH8Y16ll pic.twitter.com/DUza6u4wVt

— LindaEvans (@Deja_Vu_4Me) March 28, 2024

He also has a history of filming himself harassing white people. White people who were minding their business were most likely to think saying “thug” is racist. How ironic.

White supremacists Denies Skiboky Stora His right to make a complaint pic.twitter.com/di3fFblmH3

— Skiboky Shavar Stora (@SkibokyS) December 23, 2021

How many women need to be attacked by ghetto thugs or killed for Democrats to realize they are telling women to stand up against domestic violence while coddling a culture that harms women?

Jayvaun Prince (16) cracked a 68-year-old woman’s skull outside of her church.

He was arrested NINE TIMES before this, including 2x for assault. He was let out.

Just 3 days prior to the church attack, he targeted a different lady, mugged her, & carjacked her car. pic.twitter.com/dyxXgoWYuG

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 14, 2024

I am moving on to the Mayor of Thorton Township, Illinois.   I have but one observation.

Mayor Tiffany Henyard is a ghetto woman. They are usually selfish and incompetent criminals

She can barely speak English and her constituents are just as ghetto for electing her pic.twitter.com/XS8yWdmNfU

— Sharika Soal (@SharikaSoal84) April 15, 2024

The fact a woman of that character was elected proves that racism isn’t the issue. Her constituents are disgusted with her antics, but even so, it says a lot about them and black supremacy when that is the best Illinois can do.

MLK said to judge people by “the content of their character.” He never said let all the ghetto black people take over the government.

The post Sharika Soal: Racism Isn’t the Issue; Ghetto Culture Is. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Left wing activist and filmmaker Michael Moore thinks Biden is going to blow it for Democrats in 2024 like Hillary did in 2016.

According to Moore, millions of Michigan liberals are going to sit out the election over Biden’s handling of the Israel/Hamas conflict. He reminded MSNBC that Hillary lost Michigan in 2016 by a pretty small margin and he sees history repeating itself.

He may have a point. There have been multiple reports about all of the ‘uncommitted’ votes in the Michigan primary over this issue. Also, remember that Michael Moore was one of the few people on the left who understood Trump’s appeal in 2016.

FOX News reports:

Michael Moore warns Biden he’ll lose like Hillary did in 2016 over support for Israel

Liberal activist and filmmaker Michael Moore warned President Biden on Monday that he would lose to Donald Trump like Hillary Clinton did over his support for Israel, because voters would stay home in protest.

Moore said during his podcast, “Rumble with Michael Moore,” that Clinton lost “by two votes per precinct” in 2016. He addressed Biden and said, “that’s what’s going to happen to you.”

“President Biden, you could end this now. You know it’s wrong, I know you know it’s wrong. I know I sound like a broken record and I know you know you’re going to lose this election, in part because too many people are going to stay home,” Moore said. “They’re not going to vote for Trump. They’re not going to switch their vote from Trump to you, no, that is not how this is going to play out. As what happened with Hillary in Michigan, she lost by two votes per precinct. Two for the whole state. Two! And that’s what’s going to happen to you.”

Moore argued young people didn’t want war and told the president they were “sick” of what Biden’s been doing.

Watch Moore making this point on MSNBC.

Michael Moore panics and thinks Trump can win Michigan! pic.twitter.com/ew0mB3LBmp

— Gary D (@KMGGaryde) April 15, 2024

Michael Moore may be an idiot, but he makes a valid point on this issue. If Trump takes Michigan it’s pretty much over for Biden.

The post UH OH, JOE: Michael Moore Warns Biden is Going to Lose in 2024 Like Hillary Lost in 2016 (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

It’s no secret that America is confronting a crushing housing shortage; pundits on the left and right point out that high housing prices exacerbate the birth crisis, keeping Millennials and Gen Z from forming families and flourishing. But policies ostensibly designed to create more housing come in many forms, not all of them good. Top-down attempts to fundamentally re-engineer communities in the name of “housing justice” are particularly dangerous. Devolution and localism are important principles in housing policy; a neighborhood in the Bronx might look different from one in Palm Springs, and communities ought to build homes in ways that honor the best of their character and history.

Harbor Springs, a vacation town in northern Michigan, is discovering this lesson first-hand. The town has ties to important moments in American history. Its Catholic church, Holy Childhood of Jesus, was established as part of the larger Jesuit missionary movement in the 1800s, serving Native American families and logging communities. Its train station is where Ernest Hemingway’s family would arrive from Chicago for their annual summer vacations in the surrounding area. Its forests and pines, home to foxes and bald eagles, are prized to this day for their haunting tranquility. And, its views of sparkling Lake Michigan are refreshing and clarifying. It is understandable that residents are protective of Harbor Springs, having seen the destruction of other beautiful, historic communities at the hands of “central planning.”

It is questionable whether Harbor Springs even needs more housing, given that the current homeowner vacancy rate, according to census bureau data, is 9.7 percent, meaning one in ten dwellings is available. But one proposal for building new housing in Harbor Springs, backed by the city government, involves Michigan’s Redevelopment Ready Communities, a program of the quasi-governmental Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The agency was originally established as a job-creation engine for troubled regions and to help diversify the economy where it was too heavily dependent on the auto industry. 

Immediately one wonders what relevance any of this has to flourishing and affluent Harbor Springs; this is not Flint or Detroit, but a town with an income per capita of $38,000 (versus $27,500 statewide) and 2.6 percent unemployment (versus 5.2 percent statewide). Relatively small and largely residential, Harbor Springs is also hardly the first place—or the 10th—that comes to mind for drawing new residents in the name of economic opportunity. If the state is serious about spending its finite money on cities that can actually be mobilized into economic success stories, rather than just looking to enact a power grab or punish a town it may perceive as being exclusionary or snobby, would not the funds be better spent in places like Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo?

A city overview published in March 2024 anticipates such questions. It asserts that the RRC program is not just for troubled communities but instead allows any community “to be proactive instead of reactive” with regard to economic downturns and perceived need for new development, to increase the transparency and fairness of government processes, and “to receive technical and/or financial assistance”—presumably from the state. This last function is perhaps what the Harbor Springs city government has primarily in mind here, as it is at pains to assert elsewhere in the overview that the proposed rezoning it seeks to pass has been devised independently of RRC. But how much can we expect the rezoning to diverge from RRC “best practices” when it is presented as part of certification for the program? And, more troublingly, how long can local independence in city planning be guaranteed if state funding is at stake? 

There is good reason to fear that state involvement in local planning is likely to turn into ideologically motivated strong-arming to the eventual detriment of Harbor Springs. Federal government programs have sought to push suburbs to build more apartment buildings and other multi-family dwellings, sometimes under pain of loss of necessary funding (road maintenance, for instance); many on the Left have come to view single-family zoning as “racist” simply because many members of ethnic minorities are unable to afford homeownership. For such people, increasing density in a wealthy community becomes part of a moral crusade, whether or not it benefits those who already live there or even the disadvantaged they are trying to help. 

It is worth noting that Cabrini-Green, until its demolition one of the most notoriously crime-ridden housing projects in Chicago, was located not in the virtual war zones of that city’s West or South Sides but on the desirable North Side, mere blocks from some of the richest neighborhoods in the city. True, the North Side did not suffer for the proximity, but nor did the projects benefit at all for it in quality of life. 

Another example of government planning, driven by ideological concerns and theoretical constructs in diagnosing and addressing economic problems, is even closer to home for Wolverine State residents. In his book The Poor Side of Town, Howard Husock documents in harrowing detail how public housing projects helped ruin Detroit’s Black Bottom by displacing the neighborhood’s many black-owned business, residential properties, and self-help institutions in the name of “slum clearance.” 

It is against the backdrop of America’s many Cabrini-Greens and Black Bottoms that we should consider top-down initiatives spearheaded by unelected city planners and bureaucrats, imported from left-leaning policy programs, with questionable ties to the communities for which they make decisions that may have decades of effects. 

There is reason to be skeptical when city officials in a small town insist that, whatever local homeowners or business-owners say, zoning laws be changed to favor greater density and a wider range of businesses. What does it mean, for instance, when officials suggest that certain zoning laws are “out of date”? Could this refer to sex shops and residential treatment centers, both of which are permitted by default in certain districts under the proposed rezoning? Or the cannabis shops that are now ubiquitous in blue districts?

No doubt there are points upon which the zoning code could be legitimately clarified or improved, but if so, it should not be an excuse for squeezing in more contentious policies as a response to completely undefined future threats—policies that could very well draw developers with no connection or commitment to the area to undermine the very character that drew residents to Harbor Springs in the first place. Even where many parties have good intentions, extreme changes in density often bring a great risk of social unrest for the simple reason of clashing social customs or the introduction of problems a small community is not poised to handle. 

Part of Harbor Spring’s appeal, its quaint architecture, is a reflection of what has happened to the architecture industry over the last century. New developments, especially of higher density, are often, shall we say, aesthetically deficient. Historical preservation movements may not be the sign of a dynamic community, but they may be the only way to preserve something beautiful—and thus human-friendly—in a public life that is often grimly utilitarian. 

One hopes that this sad state of affairs comes to an end soon. But until it does, we must not let a poorly thought-out “luxury belief” impulse backed by state power further encroach on the surviving signs of a better way of living. 

City officials insist that the current zoning proposal preserves current regulations pertaining to architectural style and does not call for sale or development of city-owned land. The question is how far such assurances will go if the RRC connection leads to greater involvement or pressure from Lansing—and whether the city government’s interest in RRC is really motivated only by a desire for greater resilience and administrative efficiency.  

Undoubtedly, America does need some share of higher-density construction in order to combat its housing crisis and increase economic opportunity for those who would take advantage of it. High-density housing need not be ugly or create a low quality of life. (Who would turn up his nose at a townhome in Tuscany?) Nor, for that matter, is it necessary for state governments to assess and influence local zoning policy as a matter of course, as RRC effectively does through its best practices. In New York, for instance, the “Housing Compact” proposed in 2023 by Governor Kathy Hochul would have generally set housing growth rates for local communities while leaving it to them how to achieve these, only forcing rezoning in the vicinity of certain commuter rail stations.

But even so, we should remember that many Americans aspire to a quieter and more remote life in a beautiful setting, and if we cannot be proactive in preserving the communities that offer such a life, who will be left to benefit? Perhaps the state of Michigan should seek to make other communities more like Harbor Springs, at least in beauty and hometown pride, than vice versa—if it really wishes to offer a better life to those who need it.

The post Communities Have a Right to Set Their Own Housing Policy appeared first on The American Conservative.

On December 30, 2021, Joe Biden informed Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the White House stands ready to cripple the Russian economy if the Kremlin proceeds with plans to invade Ukraine. Biden reiterated this message in a call with Putin just weeks before the February 2022 invasion. “President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia,” said the White House in a readout. As Russian forces poured into Ukraine later that month, the Biden administration wasted no time corralling U.S. allies behind the largest and most ambitious sanctions regime in history.

The Russian ruble, Biden triumphantly declared in March 2022, was “almost immediately reduced to rubble,” and the “Russian economy [was] on track to be cut in half.” It is widely acknowledged today that these, to put it mildly, optimistic forecasts turned out to be catastrophically wrong. Not only did the Russian economy shrink by an insubstantial amount in 2022 despite the West’s unprecedented sanctions onslaught, but its precipitous growth in 2023 has experts speculating that it is actually on the verge of “overheating.”

How did Russia, which, as often observed in Western commentary, has a smaller GDP than several individual EU states as well as both Texas and California, manage to defeat an economic blockade imposed by a coalition accounting for over one-third of the global economy? This phenomenon has been well-charted as a policy question. It is, in large part, a story of sophisticated Russian sanctions evasion and mitigation measures, including a wide array of parallel import schemes, a vast network of commercial proxies and cut-outs, alternative energy export pathways, and Russia’s success in offsetting Western pressure through deeper commercial ties with China, India, and other major players in the global south. 

In some cases, Moscow has demonstrated a capacity for honing and adapting these methods faster than the U.S. and EU can come up with countermeasures against them. In others, there simply are no reasonable countermeasures. For instance, targeted sanctions against specific Turkish or Chinese entities are far too insignificant in scale to make a dent in Russia’s war effort. Meanwhile, the White House cannot impose large-scale, sweeping secondary sanctions on Beijing, New Delhi, and others for continuing to do business with Russia without inviting an avalanche of negative short and long-term diplomatic, political, and economic consequences that would leave many asking if the cure is worse than the disease.

The sanctions regime’s failures have been laid bare in ways that are increasingly difficult to ignore. Yet this moment’s deeper significance lies not in what it says about Russian economic resilience, but, rather, in its indictment of a tired, hollow foreign policy orthodoxy that has captured Washington since 1991. 

To be sure, America has a long history of wielding economic restrictions as a policy tool. Such measures are, in a way, ingrained into the mythology behind this country’s founding: North American colonists pursued a fairly effective boycott of British goods as a form of protest against the Crown’s revenue collection laws in the run-up to the War for Independence. 

The basic policy rationale behind sanctions is perfectly sensible, even attractive. It goes something like this: Imposing economic punishments on misbehaving states is a low-risk, low-cost way of pressuring those states to bring their policies into closer alignment with U.S. interests. The U.S. has enjoyed an unparalleled degree of international economic clout since the end of the Second World War and is thus one of the few countries in world history with the ability to project its influence in that way—according to this line of reasoning, it would be a wasted opportunity not to. 

Even in relatively propitious circumstances, however, sanctions have always been a deeply flawed tool for advancing national interests. Their basic feedback loop—getting states to change their behavior through varied economic restrictions—is only credible if the target both believes that the restrictions can realistically be lifted and has a strong enough underlying incentive to do what Washington wants. 

Neither condition has applied to Russia since at least 2014: that is, the Kremlin has long been working from the assumption that the bulk of the Western sanctions regime is here to stay no matter what Russia does, and Moscow is fundamentally unwilling to accede to any Western demands—like returning Crimea to Ukraine—that would so much as offer even as modicum of hope that Congress would consider easing, let alone lifting, its share in a sprawling international regime of what is now over 16,000 sanctions on Russia. This incentive problem is present to varying degrees in other sanctions regimes, including the ones on North Korea and Iran, but is especially acute in Russia’s case because it is amplified by a stark and growing divergence between Western means and ends. Simply put, the Russian state has proven too large, its resources too vast and its international influence too entrenched, to be effectively isolated. This marks not just a grievous policy failure, though it is that too, but a repudiation of the basic assumptions driving U.S. foreign policy. 

There was an abundance of circumstantial evidence to suggest that the Western sanctions regime would fail in its task of mortally wounding the Russian economy; perhaps the most glaring indicator was that nearly the entire non-western world refused to take part in the Western blockade, rendering any attempts to economically isolate Russia null and void from the start. Why, in the face of these realities, was the administration so sure that it could bring Russia to heel? The answer lies in a deeper and more chronic dysfunction. The 1990s’ unipolar moment, or the brief span of time following the Soviet collapse in which the U.S. got to act nearly unchallenged on the global age, gave rise to a stubbornly maximalist, rigidly dogmatic, and quasi-religious view of America’s place in the world that brooks no limits on what the U.S. can and should achieve.

This arrogance of power is alarmingly detached from the realities of an emerging multipolar world where Washington cannot bend others to its will simply by embargoing them and shutting them out of western-dominated financial institutions. Sanctions were of dubious effectiveness even when imposed against states much smaller than Russia and in geopolitical contexts more favorable to the U.S, let alone in a configuration that gave Russia lucrative, ready-made pathways to pivot its energy transactions away from western markets. 

Decades of global American financial dominance have cultivated a voracious policy appetite for sanctions as a catch-all solution for punishing friends and adversaries alike, but these tools are steadily undermining the unprecedented prosperity that made them possible. An insistence on walling off access to Western markets, even as the West’s share of global wealth steadily declines relative to the non-Western great powers, amounts to a kind of economic self-castration for which future generations will bear steep costs. The dollar and other key Western financial products, while not at risk of being conclusively displaced by competitors of comparable clout, are slowly declining as non-Western states seek to insure themselves against Western economic pressure by diversifying their finances. “We won’t have to talk about sanctions in five years, because there will be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar that we won’t have the ability to sanction them,” warned Sen. Marco Rubio last year. 

The disastrous failure of Russia sanctions offers a glimpse of a future for which U.S. policy, stuck in a staid 1990s mentality even as the world quickly passes it by, is not prepared. Washington must finally wean itself off its worsening sanctions addiction and pursue a more nuanced, pragmatic framework for dealing with the rest of the world while it can still do so on its own terms.

The post What Russia Sanctions Failure Says About the Future appeared first on The American Conservative.