Israel's ceasefire plan.

An excellent article from American Free News Network: 

Israel’s ceasefire plan; Blow terrorists up and they stop fighting.

October 7, 2024

The Daily Mail reported that Iran finally launched its oft-promised retaliation against Israel. It went as expected:

Israel’s defense system stood firm on Tuesday night as Iran unleashed a barrage of nearly 200 missiles across the country, sparking fears from world leaders that the escalation could plunge the Middle East into an all-out war.

Iran launched wave after wave of warheads towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in revenge for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, including the assassination of its leader last week.

In the most dramatic development of the Middle Eastern conflict, air raid sirens sounded as 181 missiles began raining down on Israel, with some rockets dramatically exploding into bright orange flames near Tel Aviv.

But as Iran unleashed a salvo of missiles, ordered by its supreme leader Ali Khamenei, falling projectiles burned like comets against the night sky after the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defensive system.

The sickening attack, which Israel has vowed to exact revenge for, forced civilians to seek shelter as huge chunks of molten metal crashed to the ground.

The expected assault, hailed as heroic by Iran-backed Hamas, marks a major escalation in the Middle East, and was twice the scope of Tehran’s bombardment in April, which saw more than 170 explosive drones and 120 ballistic missiles launched.

In a major embarrassment for Iran, the U.S. said that the missile volley was defeated and ineffective, with just one reported death — a Palestinian man who was killed by shrapnel in the West Bank.

Communists and Nazis are sad because Israel lives. The Iron Dome turned the barrage of bombs into a nationwide fireworks display.

The American press never understood how impotent Iran is.

Last Wednesday, Thomas L. Friedman, the dour and serious self-appointed voice of the mythical Arab Street for the New York Times, wrote, “Why Everything Is Suddenly Spiraling for Israel.” A reader duly forwarded a link and declared TLF to be the Jim Cramer of global politics — that is a man who always bets wrong.

Two days later, Israel blew up the last of Hezbollah’s hierarchy as they met in secret in a totally secure bunker. Netanyahu casually addressed the UN while terrorist-supporting diplomats walked out of his speech. I wonder how many had pagers on their belts.

The big kahuna in the bunker busting was an austere religious scholar — as the Jeff Bezos Post might put it — named Hassan Nasrallah.

NYT praised him for seeking a limited war — you know, one in which Israelis die but not the terrorists. The paper quoted him as saying, when he could still talk, “Some in Lebanon say that we are taking a risk. But this risk is part of a beneficial, correct calculation.”

He found out the hard way just how beneficial and correct his calculation was. As Archie Bunker said 50 years ago, “and you do anything to a Jew, oh boy, the whole Israel Air Force swoops down on you and kicketh the crapola out of you.”

They do.

They infiltrate as well.

CNN Turk said, “Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an interview with CNN Turk said that Iran’s secret services had created a special unit to combat Mossad operating in Iran. However, turns out the head of this unit was himself a Mossad agent, along with 20 other agents, who were responsible for multiple intelligence operations in Iran including stealing nuclear docs and assassinating several Iranian nuclear scientists before allegedly fleeing to Israel.”

Part of Nasrallah’s calculation was that the USA would keep Israel on a short leash. But after Obama humiliated Netanyahu and Biden showed he’s just a pawn of an incompetent and ignorant deep state bureaucracy, Netanyahu just ignored the USA. Begone, Biden. You have no power in Tel Aviv.

Israel apparently did not give the Biden administration advance notice of Friday’s surprise attack. Eliana Johnson tweeted, “Lloyd Austin speaking to reporters just now: The U.S. had nothing to do with Israeli strikes and did not get a heads up. His aggravation is clear.”

It’s nice to see the part-time secretary is not in the hospital or on paternity leave. Oh wait, the paternity leaver was the gay guy.

This is Biden’s Team of Slackers. They went 11 months without a Cabinet meeting. Given the condition of our country, it shows.

If I see it in Poca, West Virginia, they see it even better in DC. And Tel Aviv and every other capital in the world.

Apparently Friedman is blind. He concern trolled about how everything is suddenly spiraling. Poor Israel? All its enemies are becoming room temperature.

Friedman wrote before Friday’s bombing that Israel asks the world, “What would your country do if terrorists crossed your western border and killed, maimed, kidnapped or sexually abused hundreds of Israelis they encountered and the next day their Hezbollah allies sent rockets over your northern border, driving away thousands of civilians — all cheered on by Iran?”

My answer on October 7 was level Gaza.

No, no, no. According to Friedman, that’s the wrong thing to do.

He wrote, “I’ve argued from Day 1 that it was a trap, a trap I’m sorry to say the Biden administration was not firm enough in stopping Israel from falling into and not firm enough in insisting on a better road, a road not taken.

“This is no time to be pulling punches. The Jewish state of Israel is in grave, grave danger today. And the danger comes from both Iran and the current Israeli ruling coalition.”

Let’s see, a year ago terrorists casually paraglided in, raped and tortured and killed 1,200 people and then took 240 hostages.

Today most of those terrorists and their leaders are dead. Their heads may not be on pikes — dust is hard to pike — but the message is clear. I don’t foresee a rush of applicants to replace them. Few men want to be pagered in the crotch.

After the IDF eliminated Nasrallah, Hezbollah picked Hassan Khalil Yassin as its leader. The IDF allowed him enough time to tell his mom about the promotion before eliminating him.

Rather than kill the bastards, Friedman and the loony left demanded Israel turn the other cheek. He wrote that he “would have done the following: 1) Opened the way to isolating and pressuring Hamas to agree to a cease-fire in which Israel gets out of Gaza in return for all the hostages — ending the war there and eliminating Hezbollah’s excuse for attacking Israel from the north.”

Israel abandoned Gaza on September 22, 2005. One would think that a Pulitzer Prize-winning self-proclaimed expert on the Middle East would know that by now.

He wrote, “Netanyahu’s strategy is a disaster. As a veteran U.S. military commander who has observed close up Israel’s war strategy in Gaza told me privately, anyone with two eyes in his head knows that the only way to defeat Hamas is a strategy of ‘clear, hold and build’: Destroy the enemy, hold the territory and then build an alternative local, legitimate Palestinian governing authority. Israel’s strategy in Gaza, he said, has been: ‘Clear, leave, come back, clear again the same place, leave again, come back and clear again.’ ”

Clear, hold and build is the strategy we used in Afghanistan. How did that work out?

The only trap is rewarding terrorism in any way, shape or form. Israel gave the terrorists Gaza. That emboldened them. They built Gaza City into a military fortress shielded by schools, hospitals and mosques. For 20 years, Hamas harassed Israel.

Israelis finally had enough after October 7, stopped worrying about world opinion and began destroying Hamas and then Hezbollah. Hamas already had a ceasefire. It violated the ceasefire. Friedman says Israel faces an existential threat — but he does not want Israel to fight.

Why would he? He has a cozy job and nice home. He gets to travel the world. The only existential threat he faces is Father Time.

Mossad did the world a favor by eliminating Hezbollah. First, it blew the balls off Hezbollah recruits. Then it went after its leadership.

Someone tweeted that Hezbollah learned not to mess with around with Israel. The rest of Arabia learned that lesson in six days in 1967. Egyptian tanks are surprisingly speedy in reverse gear.

Israel is unafraid now of any terrorist organization be they Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis or the United Nations.

You didn’t hear about that?

National Review reported, “A Hamas commander in Lebanon who was killed in an Israeli airstrike overnight was an accredited member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the embattled agency confirmed after his death.

“Hamas’s Fateh Sherif and his family were killed in an airstrike at a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday. ‘Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas’ terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas’ efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons.

“While leading terrorist activities, Sherif also headed the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon. Though employed by the U.N. agency, Sherif was suspended without pay in March due to allegations involving ‘his political activities,’ UNRWA told the Times of Israel in a statement.”

He headed the teachers’ union! This is like a scene from a Woody Allen movie — back when he was funny and before he started dating his girlfriend’s daughter.

As Fred Kaplan explained in a tweet, “One of Woody Allen’s best, though esoteric lines, in Sleeper: the scientist, explaining the origins of the apocalypse: ‘We think it happened when a man named Albert Shanker got an atom bomb.’ ”

At the time Allen made the movie, Shanker was the radical head of a teachers’ union in New York City. That was back in the days when a teachers’ unions strike did not involve a missile.

Israel’s peace plan is spelled P-I-E-C-E. You put a piece of the terrorist here and a piece there and a piece over yonder and pretty soon the fighting ends. I have called it the FAFO War. Terrorists are finding out as they expel their final breath.

The Verse of the Day on Monday was Nehemiah 9:30: “For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples.”

Netanyahu finally listened.

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Another website staffed by leftists is immediately given credibility by the 4th Estate

 About Police Leaders for Community Safety: Police Leaders for Community Safety is a 501(c)4 organization formed by leading law enforcement professionals. We are committed to promoting policies and public investments that enhance safety, improve policing, protect public processes, and uphold human dignity across America.

 

Sometimes you really have to say, “You really expect me to believe this?”

In today’s PoliceMag there was an article on how the group “Police Leaders for Community Safety” endorsed Kamila Harris for president. This is a group of senior police executives that was formed earlier this year, not a long-term police organization. It was formed on 6/11/24, yes, three and a half months ago. I looked at their website and found a few interesting press releases:

 

Statement of Sue Riseling, Chair of Police Leaders for Community Safety:

 

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and community members affected by the devastating mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama. The frequency of mass shootings in our nation is completely unacceptable and it is clear that no community is immune. Policymakers have an obligation to urgently address this lethal epidemic of gun violence that is shattering lives and rocking communities across our nation…

 

Statement by Sue Riseling, Chair, Police Leaders for Community Safety:

 

“We are heartbroken by today’s events at Apalachee High School, which resulted in the tragic loss of life, injury and trauma to so many. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the impacted family and community. This horrific shooting underscores yet once again, that critical work must be done to ensure our schools are safe for learning and secure places for America’s children and teenagers. Our nation and our families must make concerted efforts through policy and personal action to keep firearms out of the wrong hands. 

 

“The frequency of these tragedies can no longer be met with momentary outrage followed by inertia. Our children’s lives depend on our courage to enact meaningful change. Policymakers must do more to prevent gun violence and ensure the availability of mental health resources for those in need… 

 

Statement by Sue Riseling, Chair, Police Leaders for Community Safety

 

We strongly condemn the apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and the alarming political and gun violence facing our nation. Thanks to Secret Service agents – who valiantly performed their duties – and an alert bystander, the former President was unharmed, and the suspect was quickly and safely apprehended. 

 

According to news reports, this suspect is a convicted felon who should not have been able to access a firearm of any sort, but was able to acquire a military-style weapon capable of immense destruction. This incident serves as a stark reminder that military-style weapons in dangerous hands and our climate of political hostility are a dangerous mix. They threaten both individuals and our democracy.  

 

The time is now for Members of Congress on all sides of the political spectrum to come together to strengthen our nation’s gun laws, and for political leaders across our nation to encourage adherence to our democratic processes to resolve political differences – which is, of course, the foundation of our democracy…

 

Ms. Riseling, are you concerned by the Democratic leaders encouraging hostile actions against others they disagree with, like Chuck Schumer or Maxine Waters. Didn’t VP Harris encourage the BLM/George Floyd riots and contribute to a fund to bail out these domestic terrorists, that killed dozens and caused 1-2 billion dollars of property damage? Ms. Riseling, were you concerned your party encouraged the Antifa rioters? I think we know the answer. 

 

There is no “epidemic of gun violence” in this nation. An epidemic is a widespread disease. There is a wave of gun crime in this nation, cause by criminals who don’t care about breaking the law. That’s why they are called criminals. This crime wave is not solved by harassing lawful gun owners (that is akin to taking the keys from sober drivers to cut down on DWI cases).  The solution is to arrest them, try them, upon conviction put them away and if you don’t throw away the key, lose it for a long while. While they are in prison, they cannot commit crime on innocent people.

 

By the way, the largest and oldest police union in this country, the Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed President Trump. And the group representation ICE Agents, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, endorsed Trump’s reelection. And the International Organization of Police Associations. And the National Association of Police Organizations. And the Florida PBA.

 

A few weeks back I posted on American Free News Network on how two “veterans groups” said veterans were horrified by former President Trump at Arlington National Cemetery with the families of 13 service members. The 13 who were killed in the biggest foreign policy disaster since Vietnam, the withdrawal from Afghanistan (the Harris and O’Biden disaster, I might add): 

 

What got me started on this was earlier this week I saw an article on The Daily Beast stating “Veterans Groups Condemn Trump’s Arlington National Cemetery Photo Op.” The article refers to VoteVets and Veterans for Responsible Leadership (VFRL), the latter they actually called “a non-partisan veterans’ organization” (I almost spit my coffee at that one). Neither of them is a true veteran’s organization, but liberal political groups pushing for leftist causes.

 

Yes, some liberal veterans put up a website and a few cell phones, the release a press statement. I would compare it to Month Python and the Life of Brian, but I won’t insult these great men (Monty Python) by comparing them to these wastes of oxygen.

 

 

Police (and veterans) are for the  most part a conservative group. And they are not represented by a group of liberal police executives who meet on a Zoom meeting, create a website, and start pushing for the Democratic nominee in hopes of getting a federal appointment in an O’Harris administration. Not to say there are not cops out there who will vote for Harris (or against Trump). But this group is just another worthless “association” of politicians who have worn badges and should not be taken as representatives of anyone but themselves.   

 

Democracy May Die In Darkness, But The Washington Post Dies Because of Sunlight.

The Washington Post, like many papers, is dying. Not because of the format, but for the content. 

I was reading an article on the resignation of Sally Buzbee as the managing editor of The Washington Puke, err Polk. She's held the job for three years and is not enthused with the way things are going in the future. The powers that be in the Post want to reorganize the "news" of the paper into three sections, with more video reporting and artificial intelligence (One would hope it replace the natural stupidity of the staff, but that remains to be seen.)

Now it's very understandable whey the people in charge of the paper want some change, it's been bloody over the last few years. Let’s start with: Why is Ms. Buzbee out after just three years?

It actually goes back five months, when Will Lewis was brought in by owner Jeff Bezos to be the new publisher and CEO. Just last month, Lewis told staff that the Post has suffered stunning financial losses in the past year — some $77 million — and that there had been a 50% drop-off in audience since 2020.

It sounds bad. Very bad. So what are they doing to stop the bleeding? Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Post publisher Will Lewis and Matt Murray, a former Wall Street Journal editor named to temporarily replace Sally Buzbee, met with reporters and editors at the Post on Monday to explain changes that had been outlined in a Sunday night email.

The plan includes splitting the newsroom into three separate divisions with managers who report to Lewis — one that encompasses the Post’s core news reporting, one with opinion pieces and the third devoted to attracting new consumersthrough innovative uses of social media, video, artificial intelligence and sales.

Well, it’s not like they haven’t noticed that people are not buying what they are selling (Full disclosure, I subscribe to the Washington Post digital edition and read it regularly). 

Washington Post will offer buyouts to cut staff by 240

The staff reductions come after Post leaders determined that recent revenue projections were overly optimistic

The Washington Post announced plans Tuesday to offer voluntary buyouts to its staff, in an effort to reduce head count by 240.

In an email to staff, interim CEO Patty Stonesifer wrote that The Post’s subscription, traffic and advertising projections over the past two years had been “overly optimistic” and that the company is looking for ways “to return our business to a healthier place in the coming year.”

The Post currently employs about 2,500 people across the entire company. A staff meeting is planned for 10 a.m. Wednesday to discuss the buyouts, which will be offered to employees in specific jobs and departments.

“The urgent need to invest in our top growth priorities brought us to the difficult conclusion that we need to adjust our cost structure now,” Stonesifer wrote.

That's not the problem. It's not the style of what you're doing, it's the substance. 

I draw your attention to a recent article in the Washington Post on Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. 

Several Pa. House Republicans boo officers who defended Capitol on Jan. 6

Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell were invited to Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives — but several GOP lawmakers booed and some walked out, Democratic lawmakers said.

 

Leo Sands

 

Two former law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection were jeered by state GOP lawmakers as they visited Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday, according to several Democratic lawmakers present.

 

Former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and former sergeant Aquilino Gonell were introduced on the floor Wednesday as “heroes” by House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) for having “bravely defended democracy in the United States Capitol against rioters and insurrection on January 6.”

 

As the two men — both of whom were injured by rioters on Jan. 6 — were introduced, the House floor descended into chaos. According to Democratic lawmakers, several GOP lawmakers hissed and booed, with a number of Republicans walking out of the chamber in protest.

 

“I heard some hissing and I saw about eight to 10 of my Republican colleagues walk out angrily as they were announced as police officers from the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” state Rep. Arvind Venkat (D) said in a phone interview Thursday. “I was shocked and appalled,” he added. According to Venkat, the commotion lasted about five minutes. Fewer than 100 lawmakers, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, were present in the chamber before the chaotic scene unfolded, he said…

 

Something about modern events. Everyone has a cell phone with a camera (or as someone told me once, a “camera that you can make a phone call on”). The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has 203 members, of which 102 are Democrats. Not one of them recorded the event and put it out? I checked

YouTube, and found two reports on them, MSNBC and a local station. Neither had any video of the reported incident. 

I put a comment in the Washington Post article, explaining the issue:

Mr. Sands

 

Until this is fact checked beyond any possible doubt by actual independent sources (i.e., not the Washington Post), it's a lie. Show us the video. Please, if the majority of Republicans in the PA House were booing and turning their backs on these men, you expect me to believe the Democrats did not get their cameras out and video tape it? 

 

Yes, I used that word. This is a rag paper that lied about "Russian Collusion" with the 2016 Trump campaign. The Mueller Report said it was BS.

 

Didn't this paper spread the propaganda  of "Hands up! Don't Shoot!" after Officer Darren Wilson justifiably shot the thug criminal Michael Brown? 

 

Didn't this paper spread the lie Nicholas Sandmann instigated a confrontation with American Indian Nathan Phillips back in 2019? You know, the lies that you had to settle the lawsuit with this young man?

 

So no Mr. Sands, you and your paper do not get the benefit of the doubt for honesty. Prove it, or it's BS. Cynical? Not really. You've earned it. I think your former editor will agree with me. 

Forgot to add, “Didn’t this paper say Hunter Biden’s laptop was a non-issue? The same laptop that’s being introduced into evidence in his gun possession trial?”

 

The press (now more appropriated called the media) has a legitimate purpose, so important that the Founding Father’s put freedom of the press into the First Amendment. It is to hold the government accountable. Or, to borrow the phase from E.K. Hornbeck (played by Gene Kelley) in Inherit the Wind, “…it is the duty of a newspaper to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Anyone more “comfortable” than the Bidens, the Clintons, or the Obamas. Don’t forget the comfortable on the other side of the aisle, like John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. 

 

Every one of the people are worth millions, and none of them had that wealth before they entered “public service,” I don’t see many media members questioning how Joe Biden can afford multiple mansions when he’s been a politician all his life. Or looking into how the “Big Guy” got money from the Chinese and the Ukrainians. I won’t hold my breath. 

 

Years ago I was in a discussion with a family member who was, at the time, an editor of the major newspaper in a medium sized city. He took an early buyout during their downsize (Wait, a paper had to get rid of staff? No!). Point I made was he is in a dying industry and if there is not a major change, it’s gone. Newspapers need to get away from “immediate” news (it will always be “yesterday’s news”) and show some actual journalism, deeper articles into more serious subjects. Let television and Internet handle the immediate stuff. He disagreed, but he also got out. I can’t blame him. 

 

As the Washington Post dies in sunlight (the best disinfectant), look at what it once was. It was second only to the New York Times in, to a great content, controlling what people knew. Papers cannot do that anymore, and for that we should all be grateful. They have shown themselves completely untrustworthily. If they are to survive, then it must rebuild trust with its readers, something that is practically impossible to do. But more to the point, they are unwilling to do. And that is why it will die in sunlight. 

Again, Calm Down. Let The Process Proceed.

An officer involved shooting has the usual race baiters excited. We need to let the investigation proceed and determine the facts. 

I noticed just over a week ago the coverage of the shooting death of an Air Force airman by a sheriff’s deputy in Florida. The basic facts are fairly straight forward. The deputy responded to a call about a disturbance in an apartment complex. After an initial interview with the caller, he walks up to an apartment and knocks a total of three times. 

 

The first time, he knocked without announcing who he was, and stepped aside of the door. The last two, he clearly announced, “Sheriff’s office, open the door!” and was in front of the door. Presumedly he was visible to the tenant inside of the apartment.

 

Upon opening the door, the deputy did see a man with a pistol in his right hand, pointed down. The deputy immediately drew his weapon and fired multiple shots. The deputy requested an ambulance for the man, but he unfortunately died later at the hospital.

 

Now, what do we know at this moment. The deputy was called for a disturbance. And yes, this was a homicide, an unnatural man caused death. Was it a criminal act? Was it murder, manslaughter, or a justified use of deadly force? That is to be determined. 

 

How are we to judge this deputy on his actions. First, I would say as I’ve said countless times after a police shooting, calm down. The investigation is a complicated process and needs to proceed. The video is not the whole incident and the entire investigation will not be determined by it. 

 

A few years back I was one of over 200 cops on a police shooting which was initially believed to be justified operation. Further investigation showed the lead investigator had falsified his statements to get a warrant. A disaster to put it politely, but not obvious from the preliminary investigation.

 

The initial impression that gets rioters into the street is usually not the full truth. Remember the greatest lie of the 21^st Century, “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” Dozens of “witnesses” said Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown for absolutely no reason, that he was surrendering to the officer with his hands up. They swore Brown never got close to Wilson. 

 

When the forensics came back showing power residue from Wilson’s gun on Brown, Brown’s blood in Wilson’s patrol car, and the entry wounds on the “top” of Brown’s arms, not the “bottom,” it showed their statements were not “accurate.” The witnesses quickly revised them to preclude the perjury charges. 

 

We have had multiple controversial police shootings over the last fifteen years and some have shown the officer’s actions justified (e.g. Brown, Adam Toledo), and some unjustified (Walter Scott). Where do we go with this case? Again, we let the process proceed. Each of the cases I’ve listed showed that competent investigation is required for the judicial system to work. 

 

Multiple times I’ve written how a defendant  walks into a courtroom, and only the jury can make his guilty in the eyes of the law. That is western jurisprudence. But let’s  not let the foundation of legal theory come in the way of a race riot.  

 

The usual race baiters have jumped on the case, determined to make a name (and lots of money) on this incident. Racial shyster Benjamin Crump was quickly on the scene, mis-stating (I’ll give him the benefit of a doubt) the deputy knocked on the wrong door. The video below shows he was at the correct door. 

 

Both Crump and Al Sharpton are now involved in this case, and those two should make anyone suspicious. They are only interested in money, power and fame. If a riot ensues, so be it. 

 

Again, let the justice system work its way out. We don’t need another “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” We don’t need another summer of riots. And that is what people like Crump and Sharpton long for. 

 

 

No, wealth is not for the government to take and redistribute

The economics of the future is somewhat different. You see, money doesn't exist in the 24th century. The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity.

 

In Star Trek: First Contact, Captain Picard explains to a 21st-century visitor why money is not important.

 

After reading this article in The Atlantic, I was remined of something from the late great Rush Limbaugh back in the mid-90s. He spoke of how a GOP member of the congress asked the Congressional Budget Office to estimate, by year, how much revenue would be raised if you taxed all income over $250,000 at one-hundred precent. You would have to make it retroactive (see the Clinton budget of 1993), but as I recall the CBO said (going by a 30-year memory), “The initial year would be 225 billion dollars, the following year would be 243 billion dollars, etc.”

 

The obvious reality would be next year, no one would make a salary of over 250K. What is the point?  Two things about liberals and the money you have. One, it is theirs, not yours. Two, their attitude is, “We take it from you, we know how to spend it wisely, and you will just smile and say, ‘Thank you sir, take some more.’” You won’t, or should not,  do anything to avoid paying any more taxes.

 

But this article is rather interesting. Let’s look at a few points.

 

What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?

 

Limitarianism questions the idea that individual wealth is ever individual.

 

By Christine Emba April 1, 2024

 

In February, 93-year-old Ruth Gottesman, a former professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the widow of financier David Gottesman, announced a gift of $1 billion to her school. With the funds came instructions: The money is to be used to make tuition free for students at the Bronx institution, in perpetuity.

 

The donation was celebrated—for its size, of course, but also for its humanitarian cast. As the New York Times columnist Ginia Bellafante put it, Gottesman’s giving “broadcasts a message of how a billionaire might live his or her best life—without terra-forming Mars, without Burning Man, without the attempts to stealth-run Harvard…”

 

A generous donation on behalf of Ms. Gottesman, but if her late husband David had not acquired this wealth through his work, and she had not inherited it, the free tuition would have never happened. No Ms. Emba, the Gottesmans did not inherit their wealth, but acquired it over decades of investment, knowing the right people, and being disciplined.

 

…Endowing an underfunded medical school is clearly a better use of money than buying yet another super-yacht.

 

That is your opinion Ms. Emba, not a fact. Many colleges suck up millions and their endowments are greater than the GDP of other nations, e.g., Harvard and Yale. But for some reason they won’t put out their fair share and allow students to attend tuition free.

 

I would also remind you what happened when a former Democratic administration put a luxury tax on yachts. The rich buyers simply went overseas to purchase their new toys. The people who this hurt were not the “super rich,” but the middle class people who produced, sold, and serviced these yachts.

 

“For a long time, I felt there was something wrong with an individual amassing so much money, but I couldn’t properly articulate why,” writes the Dutch philosopher Ingrid Robeyns. “After a decade of analyzing and debating extreme wealth, I became convinced that we must create a world in which no one is super-rich—that there must be a cap on the amount of wealth any one person can have. I call this limitarianism.” In her book of the same name, Robeyns fleshes out the case for such a cap while upending common conceptions of agency, ownership, and what a fortune really signifies.

 

Extreme wealth keeps the poor poor, she argues, and expands inequality. The super-rich undermine democracy through their outsize political influence and wreck the climate with their luxurious lifestyles. Some of their money is acquired through questionable means—from exploitative business practices, or dodging taxes, or outright theft. Robeyns argues that no one deserves such excess, that people would be better off morally and psychologically without it, and that there are better uses for society’s spillover abundance—ending poverty, say, or improving infrastructure. Even well-intentioned philanthropy doesn’t make up for these downsides: It’s no stand-in for a well-functioning, well-funded government—the sort that the wealthy often undermine in the course of making their fortune…

 

Again, who are you to determine when I’ve made enough money? I recall a previous president lecturing a tradesman, “I do believe at some point you’ve made enough money.” Now he has no issue with himself being worth 70 million with speeches and make work positions on boards, etc.

 

I’ve known rich people before, and I’ve yet to meet one who had become rich because of “public service.” Obama (and Clinton) was not rich before the presidency, but somehow became fabulously wealthy after the White House. On the contrary, George W Bush was worth 20 million before achieving the presidency, mainly by oil and professional sports. Donald Trump entered the White House a multi-billionaire and actually lost wealth during his term. Ronald Reagan was worth over 20 million in 1981. And unlike the current Democratic alumni of the Oval Office, they money is rather unambiguous.

 

A don’t disparage anyone achieving wealth, by legal means. I do take serious offense of a rich leftist lecturing me on achieving a degree of prosperity from their personal yachts and Lear Jets.  

 

And it’s that government and its citizens on which any fortune depends. “Take any multimillionaire or billionaire, and put them on a desert island,” Robeyns writes. “They still have all the same talents and personal traits as before. How rich could they become? Not very rich, obviously.”

 

I think we have the issue here. Obviously on an abandoned island, the effort would be for survival, not things above  food, water, and shelter. But people with intelligence (not necessarily education), ideas, and drive will come up with something that people are willing to spend the results of their labors on, i.e., their disposable income, on. A few examples:

 

-      Henry Ford and his automobile.

 

-      Steve Jobs and Apple computer.

 

-    Elon Musk with electric cars, online pay programs and commercial space launch systems.

-  Joe Kennedy Sr and his whiskey.

 

Of the current ten richest men on earth, nine started with relative non-wealth in their early days. I dare say if you try to take their wealth from them, the company will immediately transfer its flag to a less insane nation like Switzerland or Lower Slovia. These men (and women) have worked for their success. They will not just hand it over to a politician because of a law.

 

But if you want to take the ill-gotten wealth of the superrich, I suggest you go after the liberals who want to steal from the American people. Ms. Bill Clinton, John Kerry (you know, the dude who dodged Massachusetts taxes by docking his yacht in New Hampshire). Let’s  not forget Elizabeth “Faukahuntus” Warren, she of lecturing students to not use real estate to make money, but she has no issue with herself making millions in the market. Or take a look at non-profit programs where the uber rich can park billions of dollars, give away a few million a year and dodge a fortune in taxes (See Bill Gates Discovery Foundation).

 

I have to say I’m interested in reading Ms. Robeyns book, but I definitely don’t want to buy it. Might drive her into illegitimate wealth and we don’t want to drive up her individual wealth.