I don't know whether he does or doesn't, but it would probably seal the election for him if it happens

your president here

Does Trump WANT to Be Thrown in Jail?

Bob Hogem, Red State:

Trump continues to take to the airwaves and to Truth Social to lambaste the judge, the jury, and the entire process. Merchan keeps fining him, but he doesn’t seem to care. It was almost comical to hear the judge on Monday virtually begging Trump to stop talking because he really really doesn’t want to throw him in jail. He knows how it will look.

At this point, you can’t help but wonder if the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is playing high-stakes poker. He almost seems to be saying, “Jail me, Juan—see how that plays.” Polls have consistently shown that Trump’s approval ratings have shot up since all the lawfare against him started ramping up. MSNBC nitwits and their ilk breathlessly prayed for a mugshot of the former president, but when it came, it didn’t do what they thought it would. It only made Trump more popular as Americans realized that corrupt processes were at work.

But what would happen if Biden’s chief political opponent was arrested and tossed in the slammer? How would the electorate react to that? One can’t help but wonder if Trump wouldn’t mind that outcome, seeing as he keeps talking despite Merchan’s order to stop. My guess is the American people, or most of them anyway, would be disgusted, and Trump’s popularity would only continue to grow as Biden flounders on the national and international stage. We would see even more how depraved the anti-Trumpers have become, how they’ll do almost anything to bring him down. He’s running for the most important job in the world—the presidency of the United States—yet he’s not allowed to comment on the folks trying to silence him or the corrupt system that is being used to try to destroy him? It doesn’t seem like America, and We the People feel it.

Will he come out Tuesday and continue to flout the gag order, virtually baiting the judge into more penalties—possibly including jail time? My guess is yes. I can’t claim to know his motivations, but it’s entirely possible that jail time is exactly what he wants.

Granted, a huge slice of the voting public would cheer his jailing, just as it did his indictments, and corporate media would celebrate, but the picture of the former and possibly-future president rotting in a Rikers Island jail cell would create an indelible image, viewed around the world and across our nation, and confirming our transformation into a banana republic; I don’t think the majority of voters will stand for that. We find out today.

Well, of course they do; they'll probably get it, too

Reminder: the biden administration kept public schools closed for 18 months in compliance with the NEA’s demand

Chicago teachers demand an extra $50B for pay hikes, and abortions, migrant accommodation, and free latte’s in the teachers’ lounge

Alright, I made up that last item, I think, but their demands are impressive nonetheless.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is negotiating a new contract with the public schools system and is understood to be calling for an extra $50 billion to pay for wage hikes as well as other demands such as fully paid abortions for its members, new migrant services and facilities and a host of LGBT-related requirements and training in schools.

To put the figure into context, the total base tax receipts for the state of Illinois last year were $50.7 billion.

The … demands are being made despite its members delivering underwhelming results for its students, with only 21 percent of the city’s eighth graders being proficient readers, according to the last Nation’s Report Card, which provides national results about students' performance.

Union President Stacy Davis Gates’ …. plan calls for members to bank at least 9% wage increases each year through fiscal year 2028.

The average salary of a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $93,182, according to research by the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative nonprofit think tank. Therefore, the average teacher’s pay will increase by half to $144,620 in the 2027-2028 school year, it says.

That figure would equate to more than double the median household income in Chicago, according to Census Bureau statistics.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the CPS budget will exceed $9 billion this year, up nearly 30% from $7.4 billion just five years ago. Much of that increase is reflected in teacher salaries, which are among the highest of any big-city teachers in the country.

Last school year, the district spent more than $21,000 per student, far above the national average of $14,347, according to census data.

While the figure might seem far-fetched, the union holds tremendous sway in city politics with deep ties to Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Johnson is a former CTU legislative coordinator who was put forward by the union to run for mayor. As of June 30, 2023, CTU had funneled more than $2.6 million into Johnson’s campaign while he received more than $6 million from teachers unions altogether, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

Meanwhile, Davis herself has come under fire for sending her son to a private school after calling school choice racist.

The leaked demands also address "disparities" in health care with a call for 100% coverage benefits for abortion care, 100% coverage benefits for fertility including full coverage for storage of embryos and any other frozen storage needs.

But the union also wants more taxpayers' funds to go to migrants in its far-reaching plan – earmarking $2,000 to be given to each migrant to help with academics, transportation and mental health counseling.

The union also wants each of the 646 public schools to have a "newcomer liaison" for new students as well as migrant students and unused school facilities to be converted into housing accommodation for migrants.

There is also a whole host of other social justice provisions the union wants, including making sure workers and educators are trained annually on LGBTQ+ issues as a qualification in their job description.

The union also wants to mandate that every school in the district has at least one gender-neutral bathroom.

Additionally, it wants the board to adopt policies that would prohibit any member from being compelled to tell parents when a student rejects his or her sex, according to the documents.

What’s the solution here? Well CBS has made an astonishing discovery:

'60 Minutes' Discovers New Concepts in Education - High Expectations and Discipline

For 17 years, St. Mary’s has had a 100% graduation rate and a 100% college acceptance rate. The all-girls private school has no entry tests, just high expectations and strict rules. https://t.co/fpMtGwntYn pic.twitter.com/pLGTPAQLGw

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 5, 2024

It’s no wonder the teachers unions and their wholly-owned subsidiary, the Democrat Party fight so hard against non-union schools in the inner cities.

More on porn

The porn attack is against Disqus, not this site — users all across the net are yelling about it. My webmaster guru has turned off the ad feature on FWIW (the only “ads” were the porn pop-ups, and they weren’t paying anything anyway), and that should cure it, but he warns “it might take some time to propagate into their (Disqus’s) system”, So you fans of the ads, enjoy them while you can, and for those readers who don’t, if there are any, relief is on the way. We hope.

Her hopes for VP nomination were already in the grave alongside her dead puppy; now she's shoveling dirt on both of them

Trump running mate contender retracts claim she met Kim Jong-un

Governor Kristi Noem to ‘adjust’ memoir to remove description of supposed encounter with North Korean dictator

Ms Noem wrote of her apparent encounter with the authoritarian leader during a passage in which she described travelling to “many countries to meet with world leaders”, according to a review in The New York Times.

“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all),” she wrote.

After a wave of public scepticism over the claim, Ian Fury, Ms Noem’s spokesman, clarified it was one of two “small errors” that would be changed. 

Pro tip: you should have lied about the first one, Kristi, and told the truth about the second.

You wouldn't think this was constitutional, but Biden's doing it by executive order: Menendez, Zakia Wardek are switching roles.

GOLD BAR BOB IS BEING REASSIGNED

Afghanistan's top diplomat in India, Zakia Wardak, has resigned her post after she was caught by airport authorities smuggling nearly $2 million worth of gold into the country. The White House will appoint her junior senator for New Jersey, while simultaneously appointing Senator Bob Menendez to Wardak’s position as Afghan Consul-General to India. “There will be no noticeable difference in Washington or the Garden State,” Biden spokesman John Kirby assured reporters during a press conference today announcing the move, “and because India is closer to Egypt than Trenton is, Bob will be better able to serve his own constituents.”

(Sigh) The porn is back — except on Chrome. UPDATE: Now it's spread to Chrome on my iPhone, but not my desktop. I'm working on it.

Not representative of what’s appearing

Suddenly, there’s a flood of graphic porn showing up in the comments section, even on my machine, which had been immune before, when I use Safari or Firefox browsers, but curiously, not on Chrome. I don’t know why that is, but I suggest that you try using Chrome to access this site until I can fix it.

Russian oligarch has finally thrown in the taʊəl, and 18 Simmons Lane is pending — as is the wrecker's ball

Valery Mikhailovich Kogen is about to finally unload his property at 18 Simmons Lane, currently priced at $12.995 million and comprising 7-acres with a derelict 19,000 sq. ft, 1924 mansion built by Zalmon Simmons of mattress fame and a sale is pending. Kagen paid $18.5 million for the place in 2005, but he can probably take the loss and never notice it.

New York Magazine published an amusing recounting of the oligarch’s fierce battle in 2008-2009 to build a 54,000 sq.ft. Winter Palace; it can be found here. If you weren’t around then, you missed a fun food fight between the rich and the uber-rich.

Wikipedia has a biography Zalmon Gilbert Simmons II who built this edifice on an original estate of 164-acres. Excerpt:

Life in Greenwich, Connecticut

In 1923 Zalmon and Francis moved their family to an "exquisite" manor in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Simmons estate was said to be the equivalent of many of the châteaux in France and stately homes in Europe. The interior was designed by the world-renowned Elsie de Wolfe.

"It featured hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper, black marble floors with inlaid copper, and a study paneled with pine that had been stripped from a venerable mansion in London. The main house had six maid's rooms. Outbuildings included a stable for horses, two greenhouses, a six-car garage, and a guest-house with its own courtyard; as well, Simmons built a pair of two-family cottages to house the butler, the chauffeur, the head gardener, and the estate superintendent. For their two sons, Zalmon junior and Grant, Zalmon and Francis built two more houses on the estate.

…. In 1932 Z.G. II became Chairman of the Board and his oldest son Grant took over as president of The Simmons Company. This gave "the Chief" an opportunity to enjoy retirement at his 164-acre estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. In the years before his death Z.G. II had become a passionate horticulturist. In the season before his death he planted on 3,000,000 [!] iris bulbs throughout the gardens of the massive property.

All must fall before the Green Nude Eel

Goodbye to all that

Joshua trees are, or were, federally protected; the oldest is estimated to be 1,000 years old, the average age is 500.

No, no, no, Daphne

shield your eyes!

Coming to the market this Thursday, 3 Random Road ( a Sotheby’s listing, Daphne Lamsvelt-Pol listing agent, but it hasn’t hit the the internet yet) will be offered for $3.795. That’s not an unreasonable price — this same house sold for $3.450 million in 2004, but a sharp-eyed agent at a competing firm has noticed that the Photoshop program that was used to “furnish” the house has filled a bookcase with virtual books, something I warned about just last week. Most young buyers won’t recognize them for what they are, but those who do will be terrified, and flee the house.

The listing agent can be forgiven this faux pas because she just arrived from her native Holland a week or so ago, and probably doesn’t realize that books are as foreign in her newly-adopted homeland as Edam cheese. Once she masters English, I’m sure Gideon or some other kindly soul will explain this to her.

Still, a rookie mistake; tch tch.

Other than that, this looks like a good buy, especially for those looking to expand an existing house. Random is a quiet dead end, and this lot comprises 0.7 of an acre in the R-12. For FAR purposes, that yields an allowable (if improbable) home size of 9,604 sq. (43,560 X0.7 X 0.315). This price probably rules a spec builder, but not, perhaps, an end user.

Busted flush

1 Stepping Stone Lane was put up for sale in July ‘21 for $2.350 million and when to met with market indifference they rented it out, instead. It came back with a new agent and an new price: $2.650, in April and immediately ignited a bidding war, and three days later was reported under contract.

Unfortunately buyer remorse set in, or perhaps the buyers were abducted by aliens, or Putin reached out for Moscow and disappeared them (that actually happened to would-be buyers of a North Street mansion some years ago), but whatever the cause, the house was returned to the market at $2.8, which we can presume was close to the highest bid in that bidding war. There was a bit less enthusiasm this time, and today the price was reduced to $2.725.

I wouldn’t suggest that a bid of that original 2021 price of a $2.350 will take it now, but at least we know what they were willing to sell it for back then.