Because peace is entirely achievable if you all will just shut up and obey

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Kamala Harris visits spice shop known for hating and slamming Republicans, calls for end of ‘divisiveness’

Kamala Harris made a campaign stop on Saturday at a spice shop known to openly discriminate against Republicans while calling for an end to political “division.”

The spice shop, Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [67 branches across the country — Ed] welcomed the Democrat nominee to browse the store and meet some supporters.

While facing a gaggle of reporters, Harris claimed, “It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward.”

“A lot of what I think is happening, and I was just talking with some folks here in Pittsburgh about it, is that people are exhausted about the division and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans,” said Harris.

“And, them stepping up to make this public statement, I think is, courageous.” 

“But also for people like the folks I was just talking with, it really reinforces for them that we love our country, and we have more in common than what separates us,” asserted Harris in the spice shop.

Penzeys Spices has an entire “About Republicans” page on their website with a staggering 842-word essay bashing the political party.

… Part of the “About Republicans” page on their site, penned by CEO Bill Penzey, informs Republicans they can shop elsewhere: “Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are.” 

In 2022, [Penzey] came under fire for renaming Martin Luther King Jr. Day to “Republicans Are Racist Weekend!”

Here’s their website:

Penzey’s:

….

The truth of our time is we’ve arrived at the point where there’s no way to respect the nonsense the Republican Party is promoting and have any hope of overcoming the problems we as a nation and we as a planet face. Given the choice between saving America and planet Earth or saving the feelings of Republican voters, we are choosing to side with saving our country and our world. I’m sorry it’s come to this.

And no, there is no HATE!!! in any of this. There is a whole lot of propaganda at the heart of much of how Republican voters have been steered away from conservative values to what they now seem all too happy to vote for. The thing to remember about propaganda is that it doesn’t just misinform, it also works to make people immune from the truth by convincing them any facts that counter their propaganda are nothing more than HATE!!! But we really have no hate for Republican voters. None at all.

I actually like and respect most of you guys. Sure, there are a growing number that are there for the racism, but I still believe the majority of you have good hearts that want to help and do the right thing. I know you to be trustworthy, and honest, and funny, and caring, and good souls. The problem isn’t what you are, the problem is what you are now voting to support. You guys have been turned around.

Remember when your distrust of big city types, and your deep rooted beliefs in paying your debts, respecting your marriage, raising kids willing to serve, honoring your word, and going to church every week had you voting for Donald Trump over Joe Biden all because Biden’s son had a computer? Or how you couldn’t vote for Hillary because she was over-prepared and used emails? I know that to you your actions seem rational and in keeping with your values, but when it comes to voting you are now consistently voting in people who are the exact opposite of you and the values you hold dear.

What does any of this mean? Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are. If you need us to pretend you are not creating the hurt you are creating in order for you to continue to be our customer, I’m sad to say you might be happier elsewhere.

If on the other hand you still want the best spices and don’t need us to respect what you now vote for to be our customer, Hooray! We are happy to have you here, but know that we will, on a regular basis, try to wake you up from this dream that has you believing there is anything conservative left at all to what the Republican Party has become. We can and will work without Republicans to solve the problems we face, but it sure would be nice to get back to a time where Republicans were equal defenders of equality, the environment, and democracy. We look forward to that day.

(As an aside, Forbes, of course, loves the chain. I remember when the Scientific American was scientific, and Forbes was “the Capitalists’ Tool”. Now, both publications are owned and run by tools; that’s not an improvement.)

Penzeys Spices gets the Inclusion Hero of the week recognition based on its leader's ability to acknowledge political evil and call for change unapologetically. Penzeys Spices is in the retail business but manages to influence the business direction and the world. Let's examine this week's inclusion hero honing in on lessons to take forward and implement in our workplaces.

There oughta be a regulation ... aha! Now there is.

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Go ahead, spot Greenwich, and tell us how plunging it into darkness will help birds or humans.

Once again, a do-nothing, feelze good regulation has been imposed on Greenwich residents “because it sends a message”. Just another useless, burdensome regulation piled on homeowners and businesses to make a handful of hysterics happy. Now that homeowners can no longer uplight their specimen plantings, are the hummingbirds really safer? Have the seas stopped rising, will the glaciers return?

Who’s running this town?

Lights Out Greenwich! New Town Lighting Regulations Target Light Pollution

The Town of Greenwich Sustainability Committee in partnership with the Department of Planning & Zoning, the Conservation Commission, Lights Out CT, Greenwich Audubon and the CT chapter of Dark Sky, invite you to an introduction to the new lighting regulations.

There will be a discussion of how the Town of Greenwich is demonstrating its commitment to environmental stewardship and community well-being by adopting groundbreaking regulations for outdoor nighttime lighting on Wednesday, Sept 18, 2024, 10:00-11:00am at the Town Hall Meeting Room 101 Field Point Rd, Greenwich and via Zoom.

The new rules, which went into effect on March 27, minimize light pollution while promoting energy efficiency and biodiversity, setting an example for other towns across Connecticut.

The regulations, approved by the Greenwich Planning & Zoning on March 19, 2024, introduce guidelines for outdoor lighting fixtures and bulbs, including shielding rules, brightness levels, use of timers, and color temperature requirements for a range of different buildings and zones. The measures are aimed at restoring the natural beauty of the night sky in ways that enhance public safety and reduce energy consumption.

Greenwich now holds the distinction of being Connecticut’s first “Lights Out Community,” with comprehensive lighting rules that limit light pollution at commercial, residential & town-owned properties.

Patrick LaRow, Director of Greenwich’s Planning & Zoning Department, helped draft the new regulations.

“This was an objective of the Town’s 10-year plan, the 2019 Plan of Conservation and Development.  This regulation helps Greenwich address emerging issues with the advancement in lighting technologies, and solidifies our reputation as a sustainable, sought after, model community,” LaRow said.

According to light pollution measures, nights in Connecticut are losing their charm as nighttime lighting intensifies at a staggering rate.

Scientists estimate that artificial nighttime lighting in North America is increasing 10% each year. This rise not only dims our view of the stars but can also disrupt ecosystems, astronomical research, and public health. Inexpensive LED lights, which have flooded the market since the 2010s, are partly to blame for the increase.

[These same people are the ones who mandated the use of LED lights last decade – just sayin’. Ed]

Environmental advocate and local resident Myra Klockenbrink, of the Greenwich Sustainability Committee and Lights Out Greenwich, hailed the new regulations as a significant step forward in preserving the town’s nocturnal environment.

“Excessive outdoor lighting not only disrupts wildlife and ecosystems but also obscures our view of the stars, even though darkness is a natural resource, like our forests, waterways and Long Island Sound, and can be preserved if we each take a few simple measures,” Klockenbrink said. “I applaud Greenwich for taking this proactive step to mitigate light pollution and to prioritize the health of our planet.”

Greenwich is one of only a handful of towns in Connecticut with a Sustainability and Climate Resiliency Plan, showing its commitment to conserving energy and reducing the carbon footprint in buildings in Greenwich. The new lighting regulations fit that plan.

Greenwich Audubon Center Director Rochelle Thomas praised the new regulations for their balanced approach to ensuring wildlife safety: “Every fall, millions of birds migrate south through Fairfield County, most of them travel at night. Unfortunately, artificial lights and sky glow can confuse them and lead to deadly building collisions. Minimizing our lighting can protect nocturnal birds, like owls, that hunt at night and help migratory birds on their journeys.”

How? Details, please; specifics. Proponents of these regulations can’t explain how dimming the lights in little Greenwich, a mere speck on the Eastern Seaboard, will have any beneficial effect on birds (who will just be chopped to pieces by these groups’ windmills anyway) or improve stargazing, but they can wave their arms about and chant “OM”, and isn’t that just as good?

Besides, there’s a bigger goal here: “There’s no reason we can’t emulate our ally North Korea”, Myrna Klockenbrink told FWIW, “whose dear leader has shown the path forward for all of us, and made his country safe for birds while still preserving his people’s living standards at the same level as when they threw off the yoke of Imperialism in 1949. The birds love migrating through the People’s Republic, or they will, once the peasants who’ve been eating them are removed. We don’t anticipate that problem here in Greenwich, because we’ll always have Whole Foods to supply our needs.”

(The new regulations can be found here). One small example of what’s in it:

Sec. 6-152.3 RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.
The following types of lighting systems are not allowed on residential properties:

(a) Landscape uplights, including those that are installed within or at the base of planting.

(b) Building façade uplighting, except on a temporary basis related to holiday decoration.

Cultural relativism raises its bloody knife

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Animal sacrifices on the rise in Queens with chickens, pigs being tortured in ‘twisted’ rituals

…. Several rescuers and a local religious leader suggested the torture was linked to a sect of Hindu devotees who worship the goddess Kali and have practiced animal sacrifice in the area surrounding Jamaica Bay for decades.

“It’s a misconstruing of what the scriptures say about conquering the animalistic values,” said Acharya Arun Gossai, who runs the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir temple in Ozone Park.

“They’ve twisted it and they’ve sacrificed an actual animal rather than sacrificing the animalistic qualities of man.” 

Jamaica Bay has been a popular religious site among members of the Hindu Guyanese and Indo-Caribbean diaspora living in nearby neighborhoods, including Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.

George Washington never slept here, but Donald Trump did; in fact, he owned it.

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With 25 Seldon Lane finally shuffling off the scene, I asked FWIW’s official MLS historian — that would be Gideon — what property is the new title holder for our oldest listing. The answer is 21 Vista Lane, first listed in 2009 for $50 million, and expiring, still unsold, in 2023 while priced at $29.9 million. There’s no reason to believe that the current owners have changed their mind and decided to stay put, so we can anticipate its resurfacing any day now.

I forget when the Donald left the premises, but leave he did, leaving it to Ivana, who, I believe, was the seller to these owners in 1999. (UPDATE: She was; see Town & Country article here, including history of the house itself). They de-Donaldized the place, removing the gold leaf from the bannisters and trim, peeling off the red velvet wall coverings, and generally undoing the Liberace look and restoring the original style. The result certainly looks better, but so far, no one has liked the new version enough to fork over this kind of money.

Fabulous location, though.

Selden Scene

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In fact, never before seen, at least in the past 16 years, a “pending sale” has been reported for 25 Seldon Lane, currently priced at $3.495 million. There may be an older listing on our GMLS, but this one has held a coveted spot on the unwanted list for three decades, and that’s impressive.

Even more impressive is Steve Archino’s ability to hold on to this listing for eleven years, beginning in 2013 — Steve’s a great guy, and an excellent agent, but his ability to inspire such loyalty in a client is astonishing (it’s not true that he’s been holding the owners’ beloved Labrador hostage all these years, despite what competitors like Gideon may whisper).

Shelly Tretter began this voyage of price discovery in 2008, when she put a price of $7.750 million on the house, and even though that delusional aspirational number was dropped to $4.195 in 2009, no buyer appeared, and Shelly disappeared.

After retreating from the market to lick their wounds, the owners eventually regained their courage and brought in Steve in 2013 — he set the price at $3.995 million, and the long trudge to happy destiny began anew.

The house actually dropped as low as $1.899 million in 2019, but fortunately for the owners, and Steve’s commission, no one bit, with the eventual happy result we see today.

Congratulations, even though it’s sad to think we won’t have 25 Seldon Lane to kick around anymore. Next ….



CNN? Whoo, boy, Kampalla must really be in trouble

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No quarter given.

A CNN segment reported Wednesday on how Vice President Kamala Harris is using imagery of former President Trump’s border wall after condemning it for years as "useless" and un-American.

During CNN’s "Erin Burnett OutFront," host Erin Burnett spoke to CNN’s KFile senior editor Andrew Kaczynski about how Harris' past comments about Trump's border wall are coming back to "haunt" her. 

Kaczynski found 50 instances of Harris slamming Trump's border wall, but now her campaign is featuring the border wall in ads.

Watch:

Taxes

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Powerline’s Chart(s) of the Day

Stephen Hayward:

The Daily Chart: Kamala’s Tax Dream

So Kamala says her proposed tax on “unrealized” capital gains (which is just a wealth tax by another name) would only be applied to the very very rich. Who can afford it because as we know all rich people are fully liquid. But I digress. More to the point: does anyone believe this promise? For one thing, an unrealized capital gains tax on anything other than publicly tradable financial assets (stocks and bonds) will be extremely difficult if not impossible to implement—never mind the capital allocation distortions it will cause. So if progressives really want to generate revenue from unrealized capital gains, it will end up being applied to stockholdings, which means socking it to the middle class, which as always is where the real money is.

We’ve seen this progressive progression before. When the income tax was first proposed, opponents warned that the rate might someday reach 10 percent! Here are where the initial rates an income thresholds were set in 1913: