Special note to readers: Donald Trump and Kamalla will be guest-hosting FWIW this weekend — be sure to tell your friends!

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The DNC ‘Special Guest’ Rumor Turned out to Be a Con Job for Ratings

Social media was abuzz Thursday after rumors circulated that a "special guest" would appear on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.

It turns out it was all a con job, likely designed to maximize viewership for Kamala's big night.

Chances are, it worked. Speculation quickly centered on Taylor Swift, and fans were even tracking her plane to see if she would be in the area. Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon tried to appear relevant by claiming that sources told him either George W. Bush, Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift would be the "special guest."

Suddenly, Beyoncé became the most likely "special guest" to make an appearance, and TMZ even "confirmed" it.

“Beyoncé is in Chicago, and getting ready to pop out for Kamala Harris on the final night of the Democratic National Convention ... TMZ has learned.

“Multiple sources in the know tell us Queen Bey will be the big surprise performer as VP Harris officially accepts the Democratic party's nomination to run for president.

“As you'd expect, Beyoncé's appearance is a huge deal, not only for Harris and the Party but in Chicago as well. We're told Chicago PD is on high alert as it's involved in security for Beyoncé at the United Center arena.”

However, a representative for Beyoncé shot down the rumor later in the evening.

"Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there," the representative told The Hollywood Reporter. "The report of a performance is untrue."

So, who was the special guest? It was Kamala Harris.

Heck, I might even be able to persuade Elon to put down the donuts and join in the fun here on the blog.

Just in time for some lucky buyer to experience that back to school feeling

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It’s elementary, watson

After 9 years, 158 Clapboard Ridge Road, currently priced at $4.999 million (and surely going for less) is reported pending. The institutional-looking edifice has been on the market since 2013, when it began at $7.495. The time to buy it was probably August ‘22, when the dispirited owners had dropped the price to $3.999. But prospective buyers still shunned it — too many disturbing memories of ruler-wielding-nuns crushing fingers, perhaps — and the house was pulled; until May of this year, when it was brought back at $4.999 to a market that had “evolved”.

It’s interesting to note that, while the beautiful fall foliage shown in this listing’s pictures may depict what can be, unburdened by the summer that has almost passed, they certainly aren’t current —do they date back to 2013, or are they simply an attempt to show that this is a house for all seasons, or, perhaps, one that’s ahead of its time? Either way, the original listing broker must be relieved that she didn’t include that hoary real estate exhortation in the home’s description, “this one won’t last!”


Free to lie, unburdened by what has been

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PolitiFact: Kamala Harris Has Not Called for the Confiscation of Guns

“The phrase "gun confiscation" is broad and could lead voters to think that Harris wants to confiscate all guns from law-abiding owners. That’s not what she has said.

Further, those rights are constitutionally protected by the Second Amendment. In the U.S. gun buybacks are programs organized by local police departments that voluntarily allow people to turn over their guns in exchange for something, such as a gift card.

While running in the presidential primary in 2019, the then-California senator said she supported a "mandatory gun buyback program" for assault weapons. It did not apply to all guns, and she no longer holds that position.”

PolitiFact, Politico, they’re all in the tank for Mrs. Light Bringer:

Politico headline: "Accusation" 

And here’s the Indian herself, demonstrating that she and her handlers can blatantly lie, secure in the knowledge that the flying monkeys will protect her; no fact-checking for friends on the left:

“Trump’s false claims about fracking bans are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class,” the Harris campaign said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration passed the largest ever climate change legislation and under their leadership, America now has the highest ever domestic energy production.”

“She would not ban fracking,” a campaign spokesperson said in a follow-up email to POLITICO.

But …

And just for fun, here’s that wonderful mash-up again:

Well of course he did — how else can he reach his $500 million diesel-powered super yacht, or join his fellow aviators at world climate conferences?

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Jeff Bezos, Climate Scold, Buys 4th Private Jet for $80 Million

Ward Clark, RedState:

It's Bezos's fourth private jet. Yes, really.

The billionaire Amazon founder last month purchased a Gulfstream G700, luxury business jet manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace that’s considered one of the largest and most advanced private jets in the world, according to Business Insider.

With a maximum range of around 7,500 nautical miles, the G700 is also said to be capable of reaching top speeds of Mach 0.925 — or around 92.5% of the speed of sound, around 710 m.p.h.

… Last Sunday, the G700 took off from Ibiza. 

At around the same time, Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez were photographed on the island near the mogul’s $500 million superyacht.

…. Publicly available flight data showed that Bezos’ plane made 28 flights in 39 days — leaving a carbon footprint of 264 tons, or 17 times what the average American emits in a year.

… Bezos - just with this airplane alone - [is] putting out roughly the carbon footprint of Belize, 17 times what we SUV-driving Americans put out in a year …. What a clown - a hypocritical, virtue-signaling clown.

Look, if Jeff Bezos was just living the lifestyle of the rich and famous and keeping his mouth shut about what the rest of us do, I wouldn't begrudge him one square inch of the rich Corinthian leather (Corinth is famous for its leather!) on the aftmost seat in that Gulfstream jet. It's his money, and he can do as he likes with it. 

But it's the finger-wagging at the rest of us about our carbon footprints that makes this intolerable. He even lectured the Pope - who appears to agree with him.

Pope Francis met with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, at the Vatican to discuss climate change.

Sánchez posted photos of the meeting at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the residence where Fancis (sic) lives, in an Instagram post Aug. 15, saying that the pope’s “wisdom, warmth, and humor were deeply touching.”

Honestly, it would serve the guy right to have a bunch of climate-protesting nitwits super-glue their hands to his new airplane. That would not only be funny, it would be a nice little serving of karma for an outrageous hypocrite. 

That video yesterday was a joke; this one's real, so it's easy to see why the first one fooled so many people

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dnc delegates

Actually, the comedian gave better reasons than the morons above did — that is, at least he had reasons, even if he was punking the gullible BBC reporter.

And this story they WON'T believe, because they don't want to

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THE DAILY CHART: RECORD HEAT, THEN AND NOW

Steven Hayward, PowerLine

Get ready for the all-time climate cult jamboree at the end of this year, as 2024 is shaping up to the planet’s “hottest year ever on record” (with “on record” being a key part of this panic attack). Judith Curry has a terrific post up on her site a few days ago explaining how a hot year was predicted for this year not because of rising CO2 levels, but the massive Hunga-Tonga volcano eruption last year, which we covered here and here.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is suffering a sustained heat wave right now, with the word “record” thrown around, except that we are likely not exceeding high temp records that go back almost a century, though different data sets have different markings:

Sadly, close to 1/2 the voters who see this — and maybe more — will believe this; because they want to

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Community Note:

And I’ll add my own community note concerning those Border Patrolmen Biden’s handlers rounded up for the photo-op, an article from June 27th:

Border Patrol Union denies Biden presidential endorsement: ‘We never have and never will’