Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Mike Piccento’s answer to the Obvious Beyoncé Kamala Harris Question

Posted: October 27, 2024 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, elections, politics
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Beyoncé via Wikipedia commons

I write for MONEY!

Robert Stacy McCain

While Donald Trump was flying to Michigan after his 3 hour session with Joe Rogan Kamala Harris was in Houston where a crowd of 30,000 had gathered.

That crowd has been told by media reports that pop superstar Beyoncé was going to be there and at least one news organization (NBC) reported that she would be performing for free at the event.

Pop superstar Beyoncé will appear with Vice President Kamala Harris at her event in Houston on Friday evening, according to three sources familiar with the plans. 

Beyoncé is also expected to perform, said one of the sources, who has direct knowledge of the preparations. The Washington Post first reported the news of Beyoncé’s appearance.

Old friend Captain (am I the only person who still calls him that?) Ed Morrissey notes that the Post was a lot more circumspect in terms of facts vs rumor that NBC news in their story

The Washington Post was a bit more careful, perhaps as a result of the “false rumors” that Beyoncé would perform on the final night of the Democrat convention. Their report on Thursday didn’t include a suggestion that she would sing, but would “appear” at the rally

Nevertheless 30,000 people turned out knowing that Beyoncé was going to be there and the Harris campaign gleefully noted the large crowd.

I suspect those 30,000 came fully expecting her to hear Beyoncé sing. I suspect this because when she got on the stage and introduced Kamala Harris and left WITHOUT signing thing went a tad south for the Harris campaign.

How many of those 30,000 who have not yet voted do you think left that “event” feeling duped? How many of them do you think got home after paying for parking and navigating the traffic that comes from a 30K crowd for a concert that didn’t happen just so she can get Politico to claim she “won the day” might just be, at worst, pissed off enough to vote Trump or at best pissed off enough to stay home for Election 2024?

Ted Cruz should send her a “Thank you” card.

But all of this leads to one simply question: Why didn’t Beyoncé sing?

I mean surely she could have done at least one tune to please the crowd? I understand that it’s not the 1940’s where Bing Crosby could just break into song without a band and her performances might usually require more of a setup for it to come near the quality of what a concert performance might be, but one might think a professional singer is capable of singing a song without the bells and whistles and still not tank.

Furthermore while the idea of a celeb being dense is not foreign to me (after all she endorsed Harris) it’s quite inconceivable to me that she would be unaware of the negative effect that her failure to sing would have on the crowd both immediately at the event and afterwards when their dissatisfaction at the bait and switch would be amplified both in person to friends and on social media.

And if she had been duped by the Harris campaign assuring her that all they wanted was her introduction but telling the press she would sing in the hope of pressuring her to do so, she could have easily bowed out claiming illness or some other reason for not appearing as announced while still giving an endorsement.

So the question remains on the floor: If she actually wants Harris to win why didn’t she sing for her that day?

I don’t claim to know the answer but suspect the it can be traced to some advice that an old Italian man once gave to a young boxer named Rocco Francis Marchegiano who you know better as the only undefeated Heavyweight Champion in history Rocky Marciano back in the 1940’s

“Someday you’re going to win the title and then a lot of guys you never saw before will be coming around,” Mike Piccento had told him long before, “If they want to be with you let them pay. They’ve got the money. They can afford it. They don’t want to be with just plain Rocky. They want to be with a champion. If you were nobody they wouldn’t give you a second look. And if you go downhill, they’ll drop you like a hot potato. So let them pay.”

Everett M Skehan (with family assistance by Peter, Louis and Mary Ann Marciano) Rocky Marciano Biography of a First son page 215

or consider this classic exchange from the old All in the Family Episode when Sammy Davis Jr. visits the Bunker home:

Archie Bunker: Can you maybe give us a little preview of one of the songs you’re gonna do?
Gloria Stivic : Oh, daddy. Mr. Davis makes his living entertaining. You’re asking him to go to work.
Mike Stivic: Yeah, Arch. How’d you like to be a guest in somebody’s house, and they say, “C’mon Arch, do some packing and lifting for us”?

All in the Family Sammy’s Visit 1972

I suspect Beyoncé and most celebs understand this very well. If she was just Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter the Harris campaign wouldn’t care who she was. But she’s not, she’s Beyoncé! If the Kamala Harris campaign wants Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter to show up at a rally and say a few words of introduction for her in her home town no problem. But to paraphrase Robert Stacy McCain: Beyoncé sings for MONEY, and that makes it business.

So if Kamala of the 1 billion dollar election war chest wants Beyoncé the singer to sing, or to use the relevant word WORK, well that’s fine but she has to meet her fee like everyone else, otherwise a few words of introduction is all she was going to get. Given the end result I suspect paying for a song or two would have been worth every penny.

It’s not personal, it’s strictly business

Podcast Checkmate 8.7 Million Views Worth (Really 11 Million)

Posted: October 26, 2024 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, media, podcast, politics
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Control: This is an emergency. Control must be believed and obeyed! No one on the Colony believes in Macra! There is no such thing as Macra! Macra do not exist! THERE ARE NO MACRA!

Doctor Who, The Macra Terror 1967

As of this writing (7:45 AM) the Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Donald Trump which dropped late last night has 8.7 million views.

This is extraordinary when you consider the following:

  1. The podcast runs almost 3 hours (2:58:50)
  2. Trump has been around for a very long time
  3. It’s been less than a half a day and overnight for a lot of those in the east

What are people who are watching the podcast seeing? A conversation lasting three hours. A rational conversation on all kinds of topics, from the great flip flops of the celebs who embraced Trump for decades up until the point where he was considerer a threat to the power of the left to boxing and MMF. The type of conversation that regular people might have. The type of conversation that gives you a pretty good picture of who a person actually is.

In other words the type of conversation that the media:

  1. Doesn’t dare have about Donald Trump because it would destroy their false negative narrative
  2. Doesn’t dare have with Kamala Harris because it would destroy their false positive narrative

Ironically after three hours with Rogan Trump went off to a rally that night, so much for the “tired” and “ducking” business.

Here is the whole thing:

There was some talk on COVID and the vaccines which is actually a weakness for Trump (but not in contrast to Harris/Biden) and the conversation on some Trump supporters being nervous about RFK’s role in the administration was interesting and groundbreaking. There was some real news broken there which is why it’s worth your time.

There was an early report that youtube was censoring the link but Rogan himself noted that there had been a tech issue that was resolved by delisting and then relisting the podcast. Frankly as a person who is still banned by Youtube it’s nice to see them not censoring this.

Rogan expressed an interest in having Harris on but apparently the sticking point was Harris teams’ insistence on making some topics off limits while Trump agreed to no limits on topics.

Of course if the crash and burn continues the campaign may change it’s mind figuring like a Hockey team pulling their goalie when down 5 with 2 minutes to go. What have you got to lose?

But Trump wasn’t the only one who was on a major podcast. JD Vance appeared on the Theo Von podcast for two hours

What is really interesting has been the feedback from so many of the over 2 million who watched the podcast who have been told by the media that Vance was “odd” or “weird” or “strange” and after seeing him for two hours found him the most normal guy in the room.

Read the comments to the podcast it’s shattering to the narrative that people have put out there on Vance and an excellent reminder that the BS the media sold during the time they hid Joe Biden cognitive decline is not the only lie that they have been pushing.

This is the type of thing people watch on their own, the media can’t hide or counter it and it’s the type of things that changes votes.

These two podcasts are the ultimate expression of bypassing the narrative and going directly to the people letting voters who wish to see people as they actually are. This is the ultimate expression of the 1st amendment.

The media will try to avoid these podcasts. I can hear them now:

This is an emergency. Media must be believed and obeyed! No one on the country believes in Trump/Vance Podcasts! There is no such thing as Trump/Vance Podcasts! Trump/Vance Podcast do not exist! THERE ARE NO PODCASTS!

If you want to know why the left demands censorship these two podcasts are it.

Checkmate.

If Trump wins the Popular Vote Watch the Left Suddenly Sour on the National Popular Vote Compact

Posted: October 25, 2024 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, election 2024, elections, politics
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I have been arguing for an awful lot of years that the National Popular Vote Compact is an attempt to disenfranchises votes of individual states so that elections can be fixed on a national level.

The left has pooh poohed this and deep blue states like California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, Vermont, Connecticut and yes disgracefully my state of Massachusetts went along and signed this idiocy sure and secure in the knowledge that no Republican would every be popular enough and no Democrat so unpalatable enough that it would bite them in the ass.

And then came this from CNN

Now the catch is that supposedly this agreement kicks into gear when 270 EV’s worth of states sign it, but as the electoral college doesn’t vote on election day (They vote on December 17th) Red states could have legislatures ready to adopt this rule after election day so it will be in effect the day the electors vote. In fact it would be state law. And the best part is once those votes are cast those same red states can repeal said laws boom.

If this actually happens it won’t matter how long it takes Mariposa country in Arizona to count their votes, suddenly by their own rules California, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and yes my own Massachusetts will go into the Trump column.

Now I still maintain that this disenfranchises individual states but I have a feeling if the Kamala collapse continues I will suddenly find a lot of leftists from an awful lot of blue states and a ton of media will suddenly have my back and rush to the Supreme Court to have all of these laws stuck down. The irony of course is that I expect all three liberal judges will be with me on this one at the very least.

Now with Kamala collapsing so badly that the Washington Post and LA Times won’t endorse her it might be moot so I don’t know if this will be the result but if it is, it will be glorious!

Chicago Public Schools took COVID money and splurged, now that source of funds has dried up

Posted: October 23, 2024 by John Ruberry in education, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

William J. Bennett, when he was Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan, declared the Chicago Public Schools system was the worst in the nation.

Decades later, CPS still might be at the bottom, despite a recent influx of federal COVID-19 relief cash.

According to Illinois State Board of Education test results, nearly three-quarters of CPS students can’t read at grade level and over eighty-percent of them aren’t proficient in math.

Not shockingly, many Chicago parents are finding alternatives their children’s education, such charter and private schools, or moving out of Chicago altogether. 

The sad irony is that many CPS schools call themselves things like “school of excellence,” or “STEM academy,” or “college prep high school.” 

One-third of Chicago’s traditional public schools, Wirepoints reports, are under half of enrollment capacity. One high school, the somewhat modestly named Manley Career Academy, which was built for 1,000 pupils, has just 100 students enrolled there. “Journey to world class” is the school’s motto.

There’s state-enforced moratorium preventing school closings, but that expires next year. But the Chicago Teachers Union, the straw that stirs the drink in city politics, is vehemently opposed to that.

Fewer schools means fewer union jobs. 

The CTU and its allies say that Chicago schools are underfunded. However, they never say what the proper amount is. Just more, more, and more.

CPS-per-student funding has increased by 40-percent since 2019, when scores were higher, the district now spends nearly $30,000 student, while the statewide average is just $24,000.

As I reported here earlier this month, Chicago’s leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, who prior to his election last year was a CTU organizer, saw his school board resign because, according to media reports, “Branjo” was pressuring them to fire the CEO of CPS. 

Johnson appointed that entire board.

CTU was the primary funder of Johnson’s campaign. That union is fond of Alinskyite tactics, particularly creating and demonizing an enemy. Usually that’s the mayor, but Johnson is on the CTU team.

Johnson and CTU–assuming there is a difference between the two–are pushing for high-interest loans to increase spending for schools on things like salaries and pension obligations, rather than for capital projects, which is what fiscally responsible school districts use loans for.

CPS has a junk credit rating. 

Johnson’s new appointees will be out of office soon. A new 21-member board–10 elected and 11 appointed by the mayor, will take over shortly after Election Day next month. Many of the electoral candidates for the new school board are endorsed by the CTU.

Things have gotten so bad that even the Washington Post has taken notice.

Chicago and CPS appear to be in a death spiral. How both got there goes back decades. As for the misdeeds of the last few years, the Chicago Teachers Union deserves much of the blame.

Getting out of this mess won’t be easy. While Governor J.B. Pritzker is also a Democrat, he and Branjo aren’t close. Pritzker is a liberal, but Johnson is a quasi-socialist. But a state takeover of CPS isn’t likely. Pritzker wants to run for president one day and if the state is in charge of Chicago’s schools, then CPS becomes his problem.

Even if Kamala Harris wins the presidency next month, a federal bailout of CPS is very unlikely, especially because the district squandered COVID funds.

And Chicagoans are stuck with Johnson until at least 2027.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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