Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

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Author: Owen

Trump to Visit Muslim Community in Dearborn, MI

by | 2007, 31 Oct 2424 | , | 0 Comments

Good for him.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump is set to visit Dearborn, Michigan — the nation’s largest Arab-majority city — on Friday, according to a local business owner who first insisted the former president call for peace in Lebanon before hosting him.

 

Metro Detroit is home to nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, with a large chunk of them living in Dearborn. The city — which President Joe Biden won by a 3-to-1 margin — has been roiled by political turmoil, with many upset with the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

 

While Vice President Kamala Harris has been working through surrogates to ease community tensions, Trump’s visit will mark the first by either candidate, according to a local leader, Osama Siblani. Earlier this year, Harris met with the city’s Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, though their discussion took place outside Dearborn.

Sam Abbas, the owner of The Great Commoner in Dearborn, told The Associated Press that Trump was set to visit his restaurant.

 

“We expect some remarks around ending the war and bringing peace to the Middle East,” said Abbas. “I’m not here to get political. I’m not here to tell people which way I’m voting. I am simply here because our family is being slaughtered and we just want to end the war. Stop the bombing.”

 

Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and last month launched an invasion of Lebanon to suppress Hezbollah, the militia that has continuously launched rockets into Israeli territory. At least 43,000 people have died in Gaza, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish in its death toll between combatants and civilians.

I think there are two major things in play here for why the Muslim community is lining up to support Trump. First, Muslim Americans are, after all, Americans. They are as frustrated with the higher cost of living, open borders, tax increases, etc. of the Biden/Harris administration. Muslims are also generally socially conservative (to put it mildly) and don’t like the woke BS infiltrating everything we do. For these voters, their religion is not necessarily the primary driver – just like Christians, Jews, and atheists who support Trump.

Second, for the Muslim Americans who are basing their support on America’s foreign policy in the Middle East, Trump’s foreign policy was far more effective in creating a framework for peace than Biden/Harris’ foreign policy. He was able to do this without wavering in his support for Israel by building connections on the basis of mutual self-interest – like a business deal. Trump was also more effective at keeping the crazies in their caves. He did this partially with the effective use and threat of force, and partly with effective diplomacy with the countries who can help control them. Trump neutered Iran, destroyed ISIS, and kept Russia at bay in the region. For Muslim Americans who want peace with dignity in the region, Trump is more likely to be able to deliver it.

Leftists Raise Taxes

by | 1942, 30 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

In Britain, the Labour Party (liberals) took power in the last election. What are they doing? Raising taxes. It’s what they do. It’s an ideology that knows no borders. If America elects the Leftists, they will raise taxes on us too. It’s what they do.

Reeves set out plans to raise £40bn. She had promised not to put these rises on “working people”, without precisely defining who she meant. Instead, she explained that most of the money will be raised from businesses, and the better off.

 

In Britain, people who work, and the businesses who employ them, pay a national insurance tax. This is compulsory and it is used to pay for things such as benefits, hospitals and pensions. Reeves raised the amount businesses will have to pay, saying the increase would bring in a substantial £25bn.

 

“I know that this is a difficult choice,” she said. “I do not take this decision lightly. We are asking businesses to contribute more, and I know that there will be impacts of this measure felt beyond businesses … but in the circumstances that I have inherited, it is the right choice to make.”

 

Other taxes were raised too, including capital gains tax (paid when you sell an asset for more than you bought it) and inheritance tax. Private schools will have to pay more tax, as well as people who use private jets. It was the rise in national insurance, though, that was the big ticket of the budget.

Vietnamese Surge into the U.K. on Small Boats

by | 2308, 28 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

There’s big money in smuggling people and entrapping them into servitude. Go read this story and about the elaborate underground system of gangs that funnels people thousands and thousand of miles through dozens of countries. Don’t think that those same gangs and their peers aren’t just as sophisticated getting people to the U.S.

Earlier this year, Vietnam emerged – abruptly – as the biggest single source of new migrants seeking to cross the Channel to the UK illegally in small boats. Arrivals surged from 1,306 in the whole of 2023, to 2,248 in the first half of 2024.

 

The Vietnamese do not control the small boat crossings themselves, which are largely overseen by a handful of Iraqi Kurdish gangs. Instead they negotiate access and timings.

“The Vietnamese are not allowed to touch that part of the process [the crossing]. We just deliver clients to [the Kurdish gangs],” says another Vietnamese smuggler, who we are calling Thanh, currently living in the UK. He tells us the extra cash secures priority access to the small boats for their Vietnamese clients.

But Who Will Pick the Crops?

by | 2255, 28 Oct 2424 | , | 0 Comments

American farmers are, and have been, some of the most innovative, creative, and aggressive group of early adopters in the world.

A growing number of companies are bringing automation to agriculture. It could ease the sector’s deepening labor shortage, help farmers manage costs, and protect workers from extreme heat. Automation could also improve yields by bringing greater accuracy to planting, harvesting, and farm management, potentially mitigating some of the challenges of growing food in an ever-warmer world.

 

But many small farmers and producers across the country aren’t convinced. Barriers to adoption go beyond steep price tags to questions about whether the tools can do the jobs nearly as well as the workers they’d replace. Some of those same workers wonder what this trend might mean for them, and whether machines will lead to exploitation.

Bezos Gives Reason for Non-Endorsement

by | 2239, 28 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

He is 100% correct and the Washington Post will be better off without the people who resigned. Is it too late for the paper to regain its previous stature? Time will tell.

The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, in his first public comments since igniting uproar last week over his decision to withhold the venerable newspaper’s endorsement in the presidential race, defended the move in a rare op-ed published Monday evening by the Post.

“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder, wrote. “No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’ None. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

Canada Cuts Back on Immigration

by | 2113, 25 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

Any country can only absorb new arrivals, legal or otherwise, so fast without overwhelming systems. It takes time to build, assimilate, and adjust.

But in recent months, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he intends to significantly cut the number of immigrants allowed in Canada as public concern grows over inaccessible social services, high costs of living and unaffordable housing.

 

It is a major shift for both the country and Trudeau, who ran in 2015 on a platform of embracing multiculturalism as a key part of Canadian identity.

 

His government has relied on ambitious immigration targets to fuel economic growth.

 

In the face of criticism and plummeting approval ratings, the prime minister now says that his government miscalculated, and that Canada needs to “stabilise” its population growth so that public infrastructure can keep up.

 

On Thursday, Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller presented their most stringent immigration cutbacks yet – a 21% reduction of permanent residents accepted into the country in 2025.

Harris Campaign and Media Pushing People Toward Trump

by | 1925, 24 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

I know of others who are experiencing this – including me. Trump was not my first choice. I did not vote for him in the primary. I planned to vote for him in the general election, but somewhat reluctantly. The more that Harris tells me that I’m a terrible person and lectures me like I’m a child for voting for Trump, the more energetic I am about doing it.

Vice President Kamala Harris, her surrogate Democrats and the left-leaning legacy media are all making me – a conservative who is not MAGA in any way – actively want to vote for former President Donald Trump.

And I know I’m not alone.

 

Harris and her fellow liberals are starting to sound a lot like the Democrats did in 2016, and it’s a huge turnoff to voters like me.

 

Many in mainstream media (with few exceptions) have dropped any pretense of covering this election fairly and gone full steam ahead in helping Harris defeat Trump.

 

[…]

 

Between Harris’ nonsensical preaching on democracy, the media’s harping against Trump and liberals playing the woman card, I’ve had enough.

 

And I may do exactly what they’re hoping people don’t: Vote for Trump.

 

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. 

Rich Celebrities Line Up Behind Harris

by | 0731, 24 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

Nothing convinces middle and lower class people who can’t afford homes or groceries to support you like having millionaires and billionaires fly in on their private jets to lecture you about “democracy.” 

On Tuesday, Harris got the endorsement of rapper and Detroit icon Eminem at a rally in the city. Also attending was former president Barack Obama, a superstar in the Democratic Party who rapped the opening segments of Eminem’s famous hit “Lose Yourself” to cheers from the crowd.

 

Duncan said celebrities would be used more by campaigns in the final two weeks to tap into a localized “sense of identity,” with appearances becoming “more targeted” to specific cities.

Popstar Lizzo joined Harris last weekend for an event to mark the first day of early voting in the “About Damn Time” singer’s home city of Detroit, while R&B star Usher appeared with the vice president in Atlanta, where he launched his career.

 

Democrats hope that the potent presence of Obama, America’s first Black US president, and his popular wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, will shore up support among African American voters, particularly men, in key cities.

 

The former president is also set to hold multiple events with rocker Bruce Springsteen in the coming days, with Harris joining them in Atlanta on Thursday, her campaign said.

 

Superstar Taylor Swift endorsed Harris minutes after her first and only debate against Trump, in early September, timing which Duncan called “very strategic… to have the most impact.”

Harris Is Not Equipped to be POTUS

by | 0632, 24 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

Harris’ CNN Townhall confirmed what we have come to more fully understand as we hear more from an unscripted Kamala Harris – she is not intellectually, socially, or temperamentally equipped to be POTUS. She is imperious, kind of dumb, and incapable of articulating, and apparently understanding, complex topics. These are critical skills for a POTUS to have. I encourage everyone to go watch the CNN Townhall in full and judge for yourself.

The vice president’s uneasy performance on Wednesday night was immediately panned by Democratic strategist David Axelrod who claimed she went ‘word salad city’ on several answers.

 

Harris stood before undecided voters in the swing district of Delaware County, Pennsylvania as new polling showed Trump taking a slight edge over the VP nationally.

 

[…]

 

She also dodged when Cooper asked her if she’d be stronger than Trump on Israel.

 

That answer, particularly, got under Axelrod’s skin.

 

‘When she doesn’t want to answer a question her habit is to kind of go to word salad city and she did that in a couple of questions,’ he said.

 

‘One was on Israel. Anderson asked a direct question on would you be stronger on Israel than Trump and there was a seven-minute answer, but none of it related to the question,’ the Obama adviser complained.

 

[…]

 

Van Jones, a prominent talking head on CNN who worked in the Obama administration, echoed Axelrod’s key point.

 

‘The word salad stuff gets on my nerves,’ he said on-air after the town hall wrapped. ‘I think some of the evasions are not necessary.’

 

CNN’s Dana Bash said afterward that ‘if her goal was to close the deal, they’re not sure she did that.’

Mexican President Pushes for Return to Old Diet

by | 0615, 24 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

Marxists always have a soft spot for a more rural, simple, bland life for their people as they live large.

“It is about producing what we eat,” Sheinbaum said of her policy, whose main focus will be on increasing bean and corn production.

 

Sheinbaum appears to have a deep interest in boosting beans. On Monday, she said, “It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips.”

 

Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said the focus would be on guaranteeing prices for farmers who grow corn used for tortillas and lowering tortilla prices by 10% after prices jumped a couple of years ago.

 

The government aims to boost bean production by about 30% in six years to replace imports of beans, and will set up research centers to supply higher-yielding bean seeds.

 

“Self-sufficiency in beans is a goal the president has set for us,” Berdegué said.

 

The government will also focus on supporting coffee production, but mainly for instant coffee, which it claims is used by 84% of Mexican households. The plan will also seek to support cocoa production, but mainly for powdered baking and hot chocolate, not fine chocolate bars.

 

The policies appear to run counter to market trends and what Mexican food sales look like today, when consumption of most of the old basics has fallen.

 

Most Mexicans today shop at modern grocery stores, and consumption of fresh ground coffee, not instant, has increased enormously, accompanied by a boom in specialized coffee chains and shops.

 

Meanwhile, bean consumption has been dropping precipitously for decades in Mexico. According to the government’s “2024 Agricultural Panorama” report, Mexicans consume only about 17 pounds (7.7 kilograms) of beans annually. That’s less than half of the 35.2 pounds (16 kilograms) consumed per year in 1980.

Harris Campaign Triggers Godwin’s Law

by | 1917, 23 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

We’re in the silly season. With two weeks left before election day, the Democrats are pulling out all the stops. Women making accusations of abuse from decades ago, referencing Jeffrey Epstein, claiming that Trump will be the new Hitler…. you name it. They are throwing everything they have because they think they are behind.

While it is the silly season, the Democrats’ actions are not without consequence. There have been two assassination attempts against Trump this year. Harris’ rhetoric is to irresponsible and irrational that some rabid followers will see it as their duty to try again. After all, if the Germans could have killed Hitler in 1932, wouldn’t it have made for a better world? If Trump is the new Hitler, then wouldn’t it be the moral duty of a loyal Democrat to protect America from that future?

Of course, such thinking is un-American and morally repugnant, but it is not illogical if you really believe that Trump is Hitler. Harris and her supporters are poisoning our political discourse and their actions are disgusting.

Harris Plagiarizes Again?

by | 1420, 22 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

Color me shocked. This is my shocked face.

Kamala Harris has been rocked by a plagiarism scandal as potentially damning allegations surfaced about testimony she delivered when she was a U.S. senator.

 

Harris is accused of lifting text ‘verbatim’ from a former colleague for use in written congressional testimony she gave in 2007, in an analysis by the Washington Free Beacon.

 

The latest allegations about Harris come hot on the heels of another scandal – over whether she actually worked at McDonald’s in college, as she has claimed.

 

[…]

 

The latest plagiarism allegations arise from testimony Harris gave as a senator in support of the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007.

 

[…]

 

But her written statement in support of the bill, sent to the House Judiciary Committee, was not about her own experience.

Instead, it reflected nearly verbatim text sent by District Attorney Paul Logli of Winnebago County, Illinois, a Republican, in support of the bill.

 

Of the 1,500 words in the testimony, 80 percent were exactly the same as Logli’s submission, according to the Free Beacon analysis.

Waukesha County Charges Ahead with Implementing Sales Tax

by | 0747, 22 Oct 2424 | | 5 Comments

They vote tonight. In an era where Waukesha residents are being hit from all sides with price increases, homes are unaffordable, and every taxing entity is reaching further into their pockets, let’s pry that the Waukesha County Board members find the strength to stand with the citizens who elected them. And no, the citizens don’t get a direct vote on this.

On Thursday, October 3, 2024 the County Executive introduced an ordinance to authorize a 0.5% county sales tax to be added to the existing state sales and use tax of 5%. The ordinance implements a sales tax beginning on July 1, 2025.

 

The plan is a compromise proposal to address our critical fiscal needs for nearly a decade. The specifics of the proposal are as follows:

  1. Up to 20% of sales tax collections (estimated $12 million if sales tax collections reach $60M) would go toward a direct reduction of property tax bills partially offsetting the impact of the sales tax on property owners. With the property tax cut in place the impact of the sales tax on a homeowner drops from about $12.00 per month to roughly $7.25 per month. The tax cut will appear on the December 2025 tax bills.

  2. Up to 20% of the sales tax collection beginning in January of 2027 (estimated to be about $12 million if sales tax collections reach $60M) would go toward local property tax reduction through monthly municipal aid payments. The level of aid will be determined based upon population of the municipality. Local aid levels would be revisited every two years in conjunction with the state budget cycle.

  3. The remaining 60% of sales tax dollars (roughly $36 million of an estimated sales tax collection of $60M) will be used to further reduce the County’s reliance on the property tax levy by eliminating our annual budget shortfall for at least the next 8 to 10 years and provide funds to the capital budget further reducing the County’s need to borrow funds.

Did Harris Work at McDonald’s?

by | 2013, 21 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

Heh.

McDonald’s reportedly said it could not confirm claims made by either camps because its records do not extend back to when the vice-president would have served french fries to customers.

 

“We and our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early 80s,” it said in an internal memo circulated to staff, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

 

Ms Harris has also failed to provide anything more than a vague account of her time at the golden arches.

 

When The Telegraph visited branches in the area where she claimed to have worked, we found staff had been told they were not to talk about whether she had ever worked at McDonald’s.

It’s hilarious that the inept Harris campaign has fumbled this so badly. Trump did a very routine retail campaign stunt at McDonald’s. It was a “whatever” with some funny moments. The Harris campaign’s reaction was so ridiculously over the top that they look like humorless, bitter weirdos. The result is that we are entering our third day of free media coverage of Trump and now media organizations are digging into Harris’ claim to have worked at McDonald’s. This whole thing would have gone away in hours if Harris had responded with a simple, “good for Trump for seeing what it’s like for people who weren’t born a millionaire” or something and the world would have moved on. Instead, we get this.

On the claim itself, it is totally understandable that there aren’t any records. I had a couple of jobs in high school for which I doubt there is any record. And I can think of a couple jobs where I have no memory of my coworkers names. I couldn’t dig up a contemporary witness. But I could produce friends from that era who remember me working there, or, at least, remember me mentioning it in conversation for the last 30 years.

What’s odd with the Harris claim is that nobody seems to remember her mentioning her alleged McDonald’s experience before 2019 despite several political campaigns before then. It seems that she made the claim off the cuff at an event and has stuck to it ever since. Is it true? I don’t know, but it’s her burden to prove. Personally, I don’t think she did ever work at McDonald’s. She has a history of being a bullshitter and this looks like a little BS that got out and she can’t back it out.

Traitor(s) Leaks War Plans

by | 2106, 20 Oct 2424 | , | 27 Comments

Is it any wonder that Israel has stopped giving the U.S. a heads up on war plans.

Documents purported to show classified U.S. intelligence gathering on Israel’s preparations for a potential retaliatory strike on Iran appeared on social media platforms this week. It is unclear what impact the potential leak may have on any Israeli military planning for a possible strike on Iran, or Israeli-American relations.

 

On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged that there is an investigation underway into the possible intelligence leak during an appearance on CNN, and added officials are following it closely. A law enforcement source also confirmed the investigation to ABC News.

 

ABC News could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents, which appear to show specific details about the types and number of munitions that Israel may be readying for a potentially large-scale strike on Iran in retaliation for the regime’s late September barrage of almost 200 ballistic missiles aimed at Israel.

 

The documents posted on social media have markings that would indicate that they originated from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the U.S. agency that collects, analyzes and distributes intelligence gleaned from satellite and aerial imagery. ABC News is not quoting directly from or showing the documents.

Trump Works the Drive Through

by | 2004, 20 Oct 2424 | | 4 Comments

We don’t see this kind of retail politics (pun intended) as much as we used to. The videos and pictures are just fun.

Former President Donald Trump has long been known for his love of the Golden Arches.

 

After landing at the Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday, Trump and his team traveled to a McDonald’s franchise in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, where he donned an official employee apron and began handing out orders to customers waiting in the drive-thru lane. He also helped cook the restaurant’s signature fries.

And the Democrats responded with a characteristic lack of humor or humanity.

“When Trump feels desperate, all he knows how to do is lie,” Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams told Business Insider. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.”

Biden Turns Over Border Policy to President of Mexico

by | 0937, 19 Oct 2424 | | 15 Comments

Oh, fer cripes’ sake.

President Biden declined to restore the most effective Donald Trump-era border policy — and blamed America’s southern neighbor for the massive flood of migrants into the US, House Speaker Mike Johnson recalled Thursday.

 

Johnson (R-La.) told The Post in an interview that Biden, 81, refused to reverse course and reinstate his predecessor’s “Remain in Mexico” policy even after migrant crossings began shattering records in late 2023 and into 2024.

 

“‘Just do “Remain in Mexico” again,’” Johnson, 52, recounted his entreaties to the president. “I begged Biden myself, personally, to do that. And he said he wouldn’t.”

 

“‘It’s complicated,’” Biden responded flatly, in Johnson’s retelling. “‘Mexico doesn’t want that.’”

 

“I said, ‘You can make it less complicated — you just show some leadership,’” the speaker went on. “‘With all due respect, sir, you’re the president of the United States. It doesn’t matter what Mexico wants. You tell them.’”

Buc-ee’s in Wisconsin Hinges on Election

by | 0802, 18 Oct 2424 | , | 2 Comments

I’ve been to Buc-ee’s many times. It’s a great place to get gas, a sandwich, a change of clothes, some jerky, and a deer stand. It’s fun. It’s not a place to necessarily get your morning coffee or just a quick fill up. There’s no doubt, however, that it’s a draw. Buc-ee’s are almost always busy. I prefer a Kwik Trip for everyday use.

This article is annoying because the reporter doesn’t actually do the work to put the various candidates on record on whether or not they would support Buc-ee’s or not. The article says that the future of Buc-ee’s in Wisconsin depends on the outcome, but doesn’t give voters any insight into which candidates favor it and which ones don’t. And I don’t think it’s necessarily a partisan issue. These issues normally come down to local preference and tolerance for corporate welfare.

As a result, the proposed Buc-ee’s plan includes a $15 million upgrade to the Interstate 39/90/94 interchange. Without it, the convenience store is likely to cause traffic to back up onto the interstate, he said.

 

Buc-ee’s plans to reimburse 47% of the cost of the interchange project, Chang said, leaving local officials to figure out the rest. In June, he told the Journal Sentinel that the village was brainstorming ways to foot the bill, such as a tax improvement district.

 

Now, Chang said the village is waiting to see who wins multiple local and state government seats in the Nov. 5 election: Dane County executive, State Assembly District 42 and State Senate District 14.

 

“We anticipate that we’ll need some political help with the interchange project …,” Chang said. “I hate to make it an issue about elections, but we really are just waiting to see who’s going to help us because we definitely can’t do it ourselves, and we know that the impacts are far-reaching.”

 

[…]

 

Buc-ee’s owns the DeForest land and plans to build a 74,000-square-foot store with 120 gas pumps and 20 electric vehicle charging stations. This rivals the brand’s biggest store, a 74,707-square-foot one in Sevierville, Tenn.

 

[…]

 

The entire Buc-ee’s project is estimated to cost $50 million, Chang said. The store is expected to bring in $25 million in gross taxable sales per year, including $1 million annually in sales tax revenue for the state. The store will create between 200 and 225 jobs, he said.

Trump at the Al Smith Dinner

by | 0719, 18 Oct 2424 | | 0 Comments

This speech is great for a couple of reasons. First, the fact that Trump went to the event and delivered the speech while Harris sent an idiotically cringy prerecorded video is a statement. Trump is adhering to normalcy and willing to engage people in person while Harris is constantly hiding. When Harris comes out of hiding, like the Fox interview, it’s a disaster. Put this speech in contrast to Harris’ Fox interview or even her appearance on The View. The contrast is startling. Trump is clearly ready to be president again. Harris never will be.

Second, the speech itself is a riot. Funny, clever, smart, engaging… this is Trump in long form when he is at his best. Watch the whole thing. You won’t regret it.

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