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One of the questions that we should all be asking as we get within two weeks of the election is:
“What will happen to the economy and the stock market if Kamala Harris gets elected?
Who shall we ask?
How about Jim Rickards? He is a lawyer and investment banker with over 30 years experience working in capital markets. Rickards advises the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence community on global finance, and served as the facilitator of the first ever financial war games conducted by the Pentagon. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg TV, NPR, and lectures at Northwestern University and at the School of Advanced International Studies.

According to Jim Rickards:
“Kamala Harris’s policies will be extremely negative for the stock market. She wants to raise corporate taxes, which will reduce corporate profits. She wants to drastically increase capital gains taxes, which will induce some forced selling ahead of the tax law change and reduce total returns to investors. She wants to penalize the oil and natural gas industry, which will hurt valuations on major stocks like ExxonMobil, Chevron and Marathon while increasing gas prices at the pump for consumers. Increases in fuel costs raise the cost of transportation, which raises the cost of almost every tangible good. She supports Green New Scam initiatives in solar and windmills including subsidies, which will result in more debt and wasted investment. She favors greater regulation of wetlands, waterways and use of federal lands, which will raise costs to developers and natural resource exploration companies. Her open borders policy causes lower wages for U.S. works, which reduces consumption and slows the U.S. economy. There’s more to say but that’s a good overview. Harris will be a disaster for the economy and for stocks.”

So the basic simple answer to the question of “what will happen to the economy and the stock market if Kamala gets elected?”
According to someone who knows … NOTHING GOOD !
10/23/24

On 10/21/24 Kamala Harris, the vice president, appeared at a “town hall” on Monday with Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
From the start it was a bizarre “town hall,” in that the attendees were not allowed to ask any questions. And why Liz Cheney? … Could it be because Liz Cheney is affected with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome? Or could it be that Cheney was there to give Christian anti-abortion voters “permission” to vote for Kamala?
From X:
“Liz Cheney on Monday sought to give anti-abortion voters explicit permission to support Kamala Harris, suggesting during a town-hall-style event with Harris that Republican restrictions on abortion rights had gone too far.”

From Red State’s Bonchie:
“I know The New York Times is having a bit of a banner day, but let me assure the journalists there that Liz Cheney does not have the influence to give anyone permission to do anything. She is despised by Republicans and Democrats alike, which is why it is so moronic for Harris to try to use the disgraced former congresswoman as a campaign asset.
It’s not just that Cheney doesn’t provide any juice for Harris. It’s that she actively angers a core demographic that Harris is counting on to win the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.”
This core demographic is Arab-Americans. No one despises the Cheney family more than Arab-Americans, many of whom see them as the cause of so much death and suffering in the Middle East. And almost predictably during the town hall, a protester stood up and asked about the war in Gaza. He was shouted down and escorted out by security.”
Still from Red State:
“Whatever overtures Harris has made to Arab-Americans were just destroyed by cozying up to Cheney and tossing out a “pro-Palestinian” protester.”

Could this Harris-Cheney association be another poor decision made by that the Harris campaign? … Hopefully
10/22/24

In an increasing quest to educate my readers and further everyone’s knowledge of geography, I am bringing up the country of Mauritania. Let’s be clear, while I knew that Mauritania was a country, I had no idea where it was.
FYI: Mauritania is a poor country in northwest Africa. It is a predominantly Moslem country that borders the Atlantic Ocean. To go through the multiple countries that border Mauritania would be a waste of time as I have not heard of most of them.
So much for my contribution to your education!
One additional follow-up question:
“Where is ‘Little-Mauritania?’”
If you thought that it must be somewhere around or in the actual country of Mauritania, you would have been many thousands of miles off.
The correct answer is Lockland, Ohio.

From Townhall:
Lockland is a small village near Cincinnati, Ohio. It is being invaded by Mauritanian illegal immigrants, resulting in a 2,800 percent increase over 2022 when just 543 of them arrived in the town. Lockland Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer said the illegal aliens have plagued the streets with fentanyl and crime. He told Fox News Digital that the illegal immigrants are siphoning resources that should otherwise be used for legal American citizens living in the community.
“You have an apartment building that’s . . . say, 80 units at four people per unit. That’s about 320 people. When you double or maybe even triple that population, the building systems aren’t designed to handle that,” Wehmeyer said. “When you use the utilities, that’s backing up. We have instances where people are going in to take a shower and feces is running out of the drains, filling the bathtubs as it comes from a floor above. That’s compounded probably by the cooking methods that they use, which is a heavy grease-laden process.
Democrat Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) is being criticized for turning the small Ohio village into a southern border town.”

If you think that it is pure serendipity that these thousands of Mauritanians have ended up in Lockland, I have a bridge to sell to you!
From the Mercer County Outlook (Lockland is in Mercer County):
“Lockland joins other Ohio communities including Springfield, Findlay and Lima facing many of the same problems. One question not answered is how do the immigrants in these communities arrive here and who is paying for the travel expenses. The number of communities continues to grow who are reporting the same issues.”
This is not by chance!
Hmmm!
10/21/24

On Sundays I feature individuals who deserve our respect. Jennifer Seaman and her mother, Sue Scaffnit are two such individuals.
In October, 2024 a devastating hurricane was approaching Florida and Jennifer Seaman’s grandmother was stuck in an Assisted Living home in Venice, Florida.

Although the staff at the care home had planned an alternative shelter-in-place and encouraged residents to stay, Jennifer Seaman and her mom, pwere worried that if something bad happened or if the storm took a massive turn and wiped people out, they didn’t want their grandma “to have died without family with her.”

What to do?
From the Epoch Inspired:
“Around 9 p.m., when things started to get more severe, I was talking to my mom,” Seaman, a stay-at-home mom, said. “We were back and forth on the phone, checking flights, but everything was booked.”
After making umpteen efforts, Seaman arrived at her mom’s house and spent the next five minutes discussing what they could do next, finally deciding to drive.
“We didn’t pack bags or have a change of clothes,” Seaman said.
Beginning their journey at 10 p.m., the pair spent the next 20 hours on the road before arriving at Venice, Florida. The mother-daughter duo spent only 30 minutes at the care home packing the nonagenarian grandma’s clothes.

Leaving Venice at 7:30 p.m. local time, the trio immediately hit gridlocked traffic—only moving 100 miles in the next six hours.
“As we were getting out, the storm was picking up intensity,” Seaman said. “The drive home was rough. … Everyone was trying to leave.”
The plan was to drive as far as possible and stay in a hotel, but they found most hotels were fully booked. Finally, the family arrived back home in Peoria, Illinois, at 5 a.m. on Oct. 9 after spending 34 hours on the road.

“Grandma is very relieved to be here, she was very strong throughout the journey, as it was a long way to travel at her age,” Seaman said. “We are so proud to have such a courageous woman as our matriarch ”
Predictably, Seaman’s grandma has been anxious to get back and see how everyone else in her care home is doing.

A truly Herculean effort by this mother-daughter combo.

10/20/24
www.californiacontrarian.com

They’re doing it again. In Cincinnati the fourth generation’s Busken Bakery is selling cookies … Presidential candidate cookies.
From the New York Post:
Owner, Dan Busken, said, “We hire a local artist [Jim White] that does caricatures, and he draws a caricature of each candidate. And then we transfer that image to a cookie,” he explained. “It’s meant to be fun.”
“Our results, out of our four retail stores, kind of cover the north, south, east and west portions of Cincinnati. So they’re pretty diverse,” Busken explained.
To contribute data, customers simply purchase the cookie of their preferred candidate online or at one of Busken’s four area stores.
Each cookie purchase counts as a single vote, and there is no limit to how many a customer can buy.
Despite the lack of scientific rigor, the “poll” has been remarkably accurate in the 10 elections it’s predicted so far. The only result it’s missed was last year’s victory by Democrat Joe Biden.
[As an aside, we all know that Donald Trump actually did win that 2020 election, and so the Cincinnati cookie store “poll” should really have been correct in all of the last 10 elections.]
So at this point, who is winning?
Busken: “Tremendous lead. Sold so far Trump cookies were 9,827. Harris — 3,131.” No crumb’s uncounted: For some independent­-nobody a smiley face “crummy candidate” grabbed 599. “So it’s chews your candidate.”
The cookie poll will remain open until Election Day on Nov. 5, so thus far the tallies reflect the result of “early voting” by those with a sweet tooth.

Similarly, other than the Cincinnati cookie shop, the county of Erie, PA is another place to watch. There’s a reason for that: Erie County, which hosts the city of Erie, is a strong indicator of who will win Pennsylvania. Since 1980, with the exception of 1988, the county has backed the winner of statewide presidential races. This is even more important this year as it is increasingly likely that whomever wins Pennsylvania will win the election.

In 2020, reflecting the razor-thin margins of the election in the state and nationwide, President Joe Biden carried the county by just 1 percent, or 1,417 votes.

Leo Williard, a small business owner says, “ Erie County, based on the work I see being done and the enthusiasm I see, will go red. I think it will turn the state red,” Williard said.

Those who personally know me can attest to the fact that I believe that Trump will win. The Busken “cookie poll” and the Trump enthusiasm in Erie County only strengthen my opinion!

10/19/24

Most of us are familiar with the battleground states and why both candidates are spending a lot of time in these states. However, just recently Donald Trump is doing something “out of the box” as he is holding rallies in blue states, states that he cannot possibly win. He is holding rallies in Colorado, California, and New York City at Madison Square Garden. … why?
I can think of only a few reasons why he would spend time and money in these blue states.
First: He is hoping that conservatives in these blue locales realize that Trump will not win their state, but perhaps they will help his national campaign by donating. Indeed there is a lot of money in Colorado, California, and New York City.
Second: By appearing in these blue areas, he is hoping to garner votes for congressional Republican candidates from neighboring districts.
Third: His campaign feels that Trump has the national election sewn-up because of anticipated wins in battleground states, and they wish to bolster his national vote totals.
Fourth: This is merely a form of misdirection hoping that the Dems will bite and devote more money and resources to states they have already presumptively won.
Let me be clear, I do not know why Trump is rallying in these blue states, but I find it intriguing. Other thoughts?
10/18/24

During this presidential campaign Kamala Harris has been consistently criticized for not giving interviews. For a long while I thought that this type of reclusive strategy was unwise until I saw her interview with Bret Baier on Fox. Now I get it!
From Townhall:
“In the final push to secure votes ahead of the 2024 race, Harris sat down with Fox News— a Republican, primarily pro-Trump network— as new polls show she is trailing behind the former GOP president.
Fox News host Bret Baier started strong, beginning the interview with one of the most pressing issues voters are most concerned with: Illegal immigration.
However, in typical Harris fashion, she refused to answer the question head-on. Instead, she pivoted to the same old story of how she tried to pass an immigration bill that would have paved the way for amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.”
But it got worse for Kamala Harris.

From X:
Bret Baier REPEATEDLY asks Harris if she’d like to apologize to the families of Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Morin, and Laken Riley. She REFUSED, even after shown a clip in which Jocelyn Nungaray’s mother blamed Biden/Harris for her daughter’s death at the hands of an illegal.
But it got still worse for Kamala Harris.

Again from Townhall:
“The Fox News host highlighted that nearly 80 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is on the wrong track. He pointed out to Harris, who had vowed to “turn the page,” that she has been in office for 3.5 years, asking her why Americans should believe her.
Again, Harris blamed it all on Trump.”

From Townhall:
“Baier then grilled Harris about how she lied to the American people about President Joe Biden’s mental health, pointing out that for months, she said he was mentally fit to be in office. He also reminded Harris she had watched him run around in circles for months and was on his game.
However, after the first and only presidential debate between Biden and Trump, which was the turning point for the 2024 election, Harris and the rest of the Democratic Party suddenly declared the 81-year-old president unfit to serve office. Baier asked Harris when she first noticed Biden’s mental faculties had diminished.
After a long pause, Harris once again dodged the question. “
But it continued to get worse for Kamala Harris.

Bret Baier then asked Kamala Harris if she still supports taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries for criminals, Harris said it’s actually Trump who supports that, even though
not a single gender reassignment surgery for a federal inmate happened under Trump.
Sky News described this Baier as a “train wreck,” and suggested that every American watch it. I agree wit that recommendation.
All in all this Bret Baier interview was a total disaster for Kamala Harris. And as to the question of why she doesn’t give many interviews … “Now I get it!”
10/17/24

For a while I could not understand why Harris chose Walz as her VP, and while Trump chose Vance as his.
On Friday, 10/13, during an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the Democrat vice-presidential nominee, was asked about the squeeze being put on the middle class amid a time of high inflation. According to Walz, price gouging was a significant factor in higher prices. He also cited “false information” at the grocery store for the higher costs (Breitbart).
ABC: What do you say to voters who blame Kamala for the sky-high prices of the past four years?
WALZ: “Going to the grocery store, you see false information.”

I do not know what this Walz-jibberish means! When I go to the grocery store I see the prices that are posted for each item. This is not false! It is right there. I can see it with my own eyes!

Meanwhile on ABC’s This Week, on Sunday, 10/15 the Republican senator from Ohio fired back in response to a comment by Martha Raddatz that only a “handful” of Aurora apartment complexes had seen Venezuelan gang activity. Trump has been accused of overstating the dangers members of the gang Tren de Aragua posed to the city. At a rally in Aurora on Friday evening, Trump vowed to go after criminal migrants nationwide and to name the operation to send them to their native countries after the city in what he called “Operation Aurora” (Mediaite).
ABC’s Martha Raddatz: “The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes… A handful.”
Vance: “Do you hear yourself? Only a HANDFUL of apartment complexes were taken over by Venezuelan gangs and Donald Trump is the problem”

Vance adeptly turned the tables on Raddatz. (This clip is well worth watching.)

Whomever is elected President in November, if something were to happen to that person, the VP would take over. Compare their individual responses to an ABC interviewer. Who is more qualified? Would you rather have Walz’s jibberish or Vance’s thoughtful response when the VP-> President is face to face with Putin, Kim Jong Un, or Xi Jinping?

10/16/24

If right upfront I state that most of what follows is from a variety of sources, should I be accused of plagiarism? Likewise, if I do not note that most of the following is from other sources, should I be accused of plagiarism?
Just to be clear … most of the following is from either The Loop, Daybreak Insider, or Townhall, using the “copy and paste” method. There I’ve said it!
Granted while ‘copy and paste’ can easily occur incidentally in blogs, it should not happen in significant pieces of literature, such as doctoral dissertations or published books, and if it did occur, it would be correctly identified as plagiarism.
Now for the parts that I copied from other sources.
From Daybreak Insider:
“Vice President Harris is being accused of plagiarizing from several sources in her 2009 book on policing that was released while she was district attorney of San Francisco. The book, “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer,” was co-authored with Joan O’C Hamilton. The so-called “plagiarism hunter,” Austrian professor Stefan Weber, found 27 times that Harris, the 2024 Democrat nominee for president, and her co-author allegedly committed some form of plagiarism. He found that ‘24 fragments are plagiarism from other authors, and 3 fragments are self-plagiarism from a work written with a co-author’”
From The Loop:
“A study conducted by a world-renowned plagiarism detection expert found that 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris plagiarized a significant amount of her 2009 book “Smart on Crime.”
“Kamala Harris plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her criminal-justice book, Smart on Crime, according to a new investigation,” scholar Christopher Rufo wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Monday morning.
“The current vice president even lifted material from Wikipedia,” Rufo added.”
From Townhall:
“Kamala Harris might have plagiarized good chunks of her book, Smart on Crime. This goes beyond the recent plagiarism scandals that have rocked elite higher education institutions. It’s one thing not to cite someone else’s work. It’s another when you copy and paste entire sections of Wikipedia, which the vice president is accused of. And I thought Joe Biden lifting Neil Kinnock’s speech during his 1988 campaign was bad. This is even more egregious.”
As Christopher Rufo commented:
“The New York Times provided its “plagiarism expert” with only five plagiarized passages—in other words, it deliberately withheld more than a dozen of the accusations in an attempt to manipulate the expert and run interference for Kamala Harris. This is pure corruption.”

No, you just didn’t catch me as I admit that Rufo’s comment was directly from X.

10/15/24
californiacontrarian

The other morning I listened to a 10/12/24 speech at Coachella, CA by the Hollywood movie star, Dennis Quaid. It was relatively short, to the point,and involved a whole lot of what seems to be lacking these days … common sense. I would heartily recommend that all listen to it. He compared the 2024 election to that in 1980. Back in 1980 we had rampant inflation, hostages in Iran, and they told us we were a national in decline.
It was then that Ronald Reagan asked the critical question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Quaid compared inflation rates, energy independence, peace in the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, and security on the border– each point as compelling as the next, and the comparison between Trump and Biden’s administrations was damning.
Quaid’s speech covered many topics quickly, and each one could have been its own headliner. Talk like this reminds us just how effective Trump’s policies were in so many different areas at once– and that’s how it should be.

Quaid asked, “Are we gonna be a nation of law and order? Or wide open borders. Which is it? Because it’s time to pick a side.”
America needs a president who can run this country efficiently and cause it to prosper in every way. As Quaid so effectively communicated, that president is Trump, and Americans need to make the decision.
BTW:Most Americans in 2024 would answer Reagan’s 1980 question by unequivocally stating, “No, I am not better off than I was four years ago.”
Case closed!

10/14/24