HotAir’s Beege Welborn doesn't like our mainstream media (with good reason)

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Reason #9276: Why Legacy Media Deserves to Die in the Full Light of Day

After describing the various lies our “trusted news sources” have been feeding the masses, Welbprn turns her focus to a recent Washington Post article on inflation, a topic that particularly interested me because of a notice of price increases I recieved from Amazon, as detailed below. Here’s Welborn:

WaPo, the haughty "Democracy Dies in Darkness" rag, who only recently shed their shining example of the extent to which liars and fabulists have become national jokes, now has their "economic columnist" rah-rahing "economic news" that really isn't at all what her very first chirpy paragraph implies, which is normally about as much as people glance at.

“The rest of the numbers - with ZERO CONTEXT - are hidden behind the chart she put up.”

JUST IN: More good news on inflation. US inflation was 2.4% (y/y) in September. That’s close to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target and it’s the lowest since February 2021.

“I noticed.”

As promised, here’s my Amazon story:

When I went to Amazon just now I received a notice of price increases on items that I’d placed in the “maybe later” cart. Pretty impressive:

  • Amazon Basic water filters for Brita pitchers: From $9.39 to $12.49

  • Levis dungarees: From $29.33 to $36.90

  • Solar battery pack for cell phone: From $39.00 to $49.99

  • The flashlight (pictured above): From $12.95 to $19.95

Have I mentioned that on January 20, 2001, I paid $1.67 a gallon to fill my Honda’s gas tank while in New Hampshire? It’s a stroke of incredible fortune for the Democrats that half the country believe the Party’s media branch’s lies instead of their own eyes, and have decided on voting based on two issues, and two issues only: ABORTION! and “NOT TRUMP!”.

Otherwise, the Democrats would be in trouble next month.

We told Gideon the same thing when he was frittering away his time in Judo classes, but would he listen?

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From America’s Paper of Record, of course

ST. PAUL, MN — Sources close to Bruce Connor say that the 21-year-old martial artist has just finished proving he's a total idiot by spending 17 years earning his black belt when he could have just purchased one on Amazon for $12.99 years ago.

According to Nancy Connor, Bruce's mother, her son's oversight is one of the great disappointments of her life.

"I always told him, all those years," Nancy said, shaking her head. "It was always 'Bruce, we could get this on Amazon for much, much cheaper.' And then he'd always shake his head and go try to break a board or the kitchen table or something. I'm really, really disappointed by this."

Over the past 17 years, Bruce's family has spent well over $14,000 on lessons, tournaments, equipment, and emergency room visits. Bruce, however, thinks that it was worth it.

"This is the proudest day of my life," said the absolute moron, grinning like a chickenbrain. "Because this one has the karate logo on it. I couldn't find any like it on Amazon. Take that, Mom. Why do I do this? Because it's there! Hiyaah!"

At publishing time, Bruce had reportedly totally wasted another 7 years of his life getting really good at chess when he could have just gotten a computer to play it for him.

Quick flip

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A NYC interior designer paid $7.650 million for 313 Stanwich Road in June 2023, dolled it up, put it back on the market three weeks ago at $8.995 million, and it’s already pending.

So far as I can tell, the designer/purchaser splashed a lot of paint around, placed the existing refrigerator, new last year, behind tasteful cabinet doors, and performed no structural changes; he shouldn’t have needed to, because the entire house was renovated in ‘22-23. So a quick buck here, for quick work.

I was first introduced to this house in the late ‘80s, when, as a young associate, I was dispatched to interview the owner/client who was embroiled in a (very silly) law suit with a fellow Greenwich decorator. “Take the second entrance, she instructed me when I’d called to set up the appointment and get directions, “not the first.”

Upon arrival, I dutifully continued past the first driveway and proceeded to the second, which, I discovered, had a large “Tradesmen Entrance” posted in front of it. What’s good enough for tradesmen is good enough for me, but I didn’t like her attitude, so I turned around and pulled into the first driveway. I found it amusing that the lady had such a low opinion of lawyers because, besides being married to one, she was also the daughter-in-law of one of the most prominent, famous lawyers in FDR’s administration, and who for decades afterwards served as name partner of one of the world’s largest legal firms. A case of familiarity breeding contempt, perhaps.

2023 kitchen

2024 version

The listing promises an “opportunity to buy home fully furnished”: I assume that means this dingy, useful in almost any situation, and its painter, shown below.

The painter may appear to be a bit large for the dinghy; overkill, even, but when the wind is blowing 180 MPH, you'll be glad you paid extra to get it

New Listing in Cos Cob

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42 Loughlin Avenue, $3.485 million. Prices are soaring in our former neighborhood of factory workers and lawyers, and this section of town is rapidly transitioning to Millionaire’s Row. If the trend continues, Cos Cob Elementary may want to discontinue handing its graduating students its traditional “Job Opportunities for You” pamphlet, outlining careers in snowplowing and yard maintenance.

Not the kids wouldn’t find it useful, eventually, but millionaires tend to want their children to complete high school and college before beginning their life’s employment.

poor zebra is now just a pale imitation of itself

Pomona

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For months this year and last, Hamas supporters disrupted Pomona College, blocking students from classes, occupying professors’ and administrators’ offices, and trashing the campus. At the end of the school year, the college finally called in the cops to clear a tent city erected by the demonstrators, arrested a handful of the rioters, and handed out stern letters of disapproval and a couple of suspensions. This draconian punishment failed to impress the students [sic] and when school started up again this fall, so did they.

Pro-Hamas Activists at Pomona College Take Over and Vandalize a Campus Building

John Sexton

Pomona College in southern California is one of five undergraduate colleges and two grad schools that make up a group called the Claremont Colleges. These schools are very selective with Pomona College accepting a lower percentage of applicants than UCLA or UC Berkeley. But the school has had challenges with a group of student activists who call themselves Pomona Divest from Apartheid (PDfA).

On Oct. 7, PDfA held a student walkout similar to the one held at Columbia University on the other side of the country.

…. The group then marched to Carnegie Hall where classes were being held and shoved their way in past security.

Midway through those two to three hours the school put out a statement condemning the action and threatening consequences.

A 1:28 p.m. email from Pomona College read in part, “What started as a peaceful protest this morning has now turned into a subset of individuals currently taking over Carnegie Hall and disrupting academic continuity. Carnegie Hall is now closed, and all individuals should leave that building.”

The email went on to advise all to “please stay away from Carnegie and its immediate surrounding area, to ensure everyone’s safety. We will not permit the presence of masked, unidentified individuals on our campus refusing to show identification when asked. Nor will we stand for the takeover of buildings and the disruption of academic continuity — all of which happened today. Anyone involved in this disruption is subject to disciplinary action.

“We uphold the right to free speech and to protest within the lines of our long-established Claremont Colleges demonstration policy,” it continued. “As always, peaceful protest is allowed within demonstration policy. This action goes beyond policy.”

Sexton: “If they were serious about consequences, they could have just called the police and asked the to arrest everyone in the building. But they didn't do that. Instead, the activists stayed for another two hours and then just left by the back door without being identified or stopped by security. Once it was over, the school sent out another email claiming to have identified some of the activists.”

We have initial identification of several people involved, including a number of individuals from other campuses. As we identify others, disciplinary letters will be sent on a rolling basis. The individuals responsible face sanctions that may include restitution, suspension, expulsion, as well as being banned from campus. We will not, however, be commenting on individual cases.

Its a pretty good bet that Pomo administrators will not take any serious action against these people — as Greenwich’s own David Rafferty asserted just last week, if there are students at disrupted universities who want to study or feel safe, let them find another school. “Anyone currently on a campus where the protests and counter-protests, violence and fear is still front and center, well, you can’t say you didn’t have options.”

I despise Rafferty’s views, but he’s right on this one; if universities chose to stop these criminals, they could; if they don’t, to quote Rafferty again, “then that’s on them”.

How could these spoiled children be stopped? A commenter to Seton’s article gives a simpe answer to what is really just a simple question:

I worked at the University of Arkansas for six years and have experience with this. Here's what everyone needs to know:
Nothing short of expulsion will stop this. When you're expelled, it's over. You can't transfer your transcripts to another school, and you get no refunds. It's as if you never went to that university. Students, and the parents paying for them to be there, immediately respond to that action and start governing themselves accordingly.
You only have to expel a batch of vandal students once and the message is received loud and clear. There'll be a week of griping and a few demonstrations over it, and then the problem goes away and stays away as "we will not tolerate this" becomes part of the known history of the campus.
You expel them and send their family a bill for repairs. The problem ends in a heartbeat.

Fortunately for Florida residents, their state hasn't banned portable generators like California has — they’re going to need them when they return

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Millions without power as Milton churns across Florida

October 10, 20243:26 AM ET

“There’s no need for those people to endanger the rest of us”, California Governor Gavin Noisome, in Florida for a campaign tour, told FWIW’s environmental correspondent William Nye. In an exclusive interview, granted while exhausted aides took a break from pushing the Gov’s Tesla towards what was rumored to be a still-working charging station five miles away, the governor expounded.

Noisome, whose ban on small generators has drawn praise and hosannahs from Mother Gia worshippers around the world, continued: “These morons should have installed solar panels on their roofs, and then they’d have found plenty of abundant, free energy ready and waiting for them when they came home and set about rebuilding. Well, that’s if they could find their roofs — I understand there’s some issue there.” [“Roof of Tropicana Field, home of MLB’s Tampa Rays, ripped off by Hurricane Milton”].

“As for those who still have homes but no power, well, why should they be entitled to release greenhouse gases, when residents of my own state are forbidden to? We live in the same world, and Floridians can just join us in our sacrifices to save it. No air conditioning, and they’re getting a little warm? Aw, poor babies — we’ll be banning a/c for all the Little People soon, so these suckers can just start getting used to it a little early. No refrigeration to keep food from spoiling? That’s what canned tuna’s for — suck it up, Buttercup.”

The Governor abruptly ended the interview there, and motioned his aides to resume pushing. “Don’t forget to vote for me in ‘28!” he shouted to a small crowd of seemingly-grumpy onlookers as he was rolled away.

New to the market today

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There’s been almost no real estate activity this week, so posting on that topic has been sparse (however, stay tuned — after 15 years of trying, Ivana’s former house at 21 Vista Drive is scheduled to close; news at 11!). But today 25 West Way, in Old Greenwich, has been listed at the reasonable price of just $15 million. That may strike you as aggressive for a 5,400 sq. ft. home, but it’s Lucas Point, the best neighborhood (says I) in Old Greenwich, the owners/builders paid $6.750 for the property, with tear-down, in 2007, and the listing agent is my former boss, Joanne Erb, who knows Lucas Point (she should: she lives there) and knows the Greenwich real estate market very, very well, so I defer to her judgment.

Besides, this isn’t really all that unaffordable: according to listing broker Brown Harris’ dandy mortgage calculator, 20% down will give you a monthly payment of just $82,100 and change, and that includes taxes!

But you didn't give us time to warn him! UPDATED

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i don't trust this clown either

‘What Did You Say?’: Biden Defense Sec Reportedly Fumed Over Israel’s Sudden Assassination Of Hezbollah Chief

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was reportedly furious after Israel assassinated the leader of Hezbollah in late September without telling the U.S. first, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Israeli forces on Sept. 28 launched a sweeping set of airstrikes on a compound where Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s former leader, was hiding, ultimately destroying the compound and killing the terrorist group’s chief. The Biden-Harris administration wasn’t informed about the plan to kill Nasrallah until after he had already been killed, which surprised U.S. officials and left Austin fuming, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke to the WSJ

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The relationship between the Biden-Harris administration and the Israeli government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has seemingly grown fraught since last year, when Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and sparked a regional war. The Biden-Harris administration has urged Israel to curtail its military operations against various terror networks throughout the region, which it hasn’t done; the administration has also pushed for a ceasefire in the region, which hasn’t happened either.

Making matters more strained is the fact that Israeli forces have conducted several operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran without first telling the Biden-Harris administration their plans in advance, as in the case of the assassination of Nasrallah.

UPDATE: More along the same line over at HotMail.

Biden Admin: Gee, Why Won't the Israelis Tell Us Their War Plans?

Kamalla

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ooooh, that's a toughie!

Twitchy has noticed something:

Over the past several days, Biden has upstaged his vice president by counterprogramming her speeches, directly contradicting her political attacks against Ron DeSantis, and basically throwing her under the bus at every opportunity. It has gotten so bad that sources have indicated it is nothing short of all-out war between Team Biden and Team Harris.

So what’s a Kamalla to do?

Not this, as pointed out by PJ Media’s Matt Margolis:

Kamala Harris might be more stupid than I thought. For weeks now, she been trying to position herself as the “change” candidate. Her campaign slogan is “A New Way Forward,” for crying out loud. There's no doubt that the primary goal of her presidential campaign is to distance herself from Joe Biden. Yet when a media appearance handed her an opportunity to put some distance between them, she choked.

You may remember that during an appearance on "The View" last week, Biden took a sledgehammer to the Harris campaign's "change" narrative.

"I'm in constant contact with her," he said. "We're singing from the same song sheet. We — she helped pass all the laws that are being deployed now. She was a major player in everything we've done, including passage of legislation we were told we could never pass. And she's been, and... her staff is interlocked with mine in terms of all the things we're doing."

The Harris campaign couldn't have been happy with that. In fact, according to a report from CNN, the campaign is desperately trying to find ways to highlight the differences between them.

"Top aides to Kamala Harris are heading into the final month of the 2024 presidential race still wrestling with how much distance she can credibly claim from Joe Biden as she looks for more ways to weave in breaks with him on the campaign trail," the outlet reported. 

Harris’s advisers know that “running as an extension of the president is not a strong position,” especially when there is rampant voter fatigue with the Biden administration.

Related: Joe Biden Totally Wants Kamala Harris to Lose

Kamala appeared on “The View” on Tuesday for another softball interview, and the hosts gave her the opportunity on a silver platter to repair the damage Biden has done. She didn’t take it.

“As vice president, you worked closely with President Biden for almost four years. He was here on our show and he said there wasn’t a single thing that he did that you could not do. What do you think would be the biggest specific difference between your presidency and a Biden presidency?” co-host Sonny Hostin asked.

“We’re two different people, but we have a lot of shared life experiences, for example, the way we feel about our family and parents and so on, but we’re also different people,” Kamala replied. “I will bring those sensibilities to how I lead.”

“If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?” Hostin followed up.

“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Kamala replied. “And I’ve been part of most of the decisions that have had impact.”

UPDATE: She even had a second (well, 315th) chance, and she whiffed again.

I don’t think even another new accent will help her out this mess, but I guess her handlers have to try.