UPI News
"Though U.S. economy shows signs of strength, poll shows third of Americans rate it as poor"
Story by Doug Cunningham
28 MARCH 2024
March 27 (UPI) -- A Gallup Poll on Americans' view of the U.S. economy published Wednesday indicated that while most still have a negative view of things, public sentiment on the economy has improved since polling last year.
Gallup said its Economic Confidence Index was at -20 in March, but that was much improved from the -50 measured last fall.
The Gallup Poll of how people feel about the economy sharply contrasts with several actual economic results that show strong economic growth as reflected in job growth, falling inflation, low unemployment and strong GDP.
GDP was up 2.5% for 2023 and rose 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in March that economic activity has been expanding at a strong pace and was sustainable and solid.
Unemployment has stayed below 4% and job creation is robust, with 275,000 new jobs created in February, according ot the U.S. Labor Department.
Inflation is also considerably lower, although not yet down to the 2% favored by the Federal Reserve.
Gallup's Wednesday poll, with +100 meaning Americans rate economic conditions as excellent and getting better to -100 meaning the economy is poor and getting worse, had the highest rating of +56 in January 2000.
The March 1-20 results were -20, with 30% saying the economy is good, 30% calling the economy fair and 39% saying it is poor.
Gallup said in a statement, "When asked about the economy's direction, 33% of Americans say conditions are getting better, while 63% say they're getting worse."
Although economic optimism is about the same as last month's 32%, it has been slowly expanding since October, when 21% said the economy was getting better."
How respondents see the U.S. economy is heavily weighted politically, according to Gallup.
While Democrats rate the economy at a +35, independents put it at -28 while Republicans rank it at -62.
Gallup found Republicans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the economy, with 87% believing it is getting worse and 58% of them rating the current economic conditions as poor.
That compares with 64% of Democrats who say the economy is getting better and 55% saying the economy is good now.
Gallup said George H. W. Bush lost reelection when Gallup's poll showed the ECI was at -37.
Bill Clinton won reelection when that Gallup economic number was at +23.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... bdc2&ei=45
AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
The Jerusalem Post
"Houthis renew attacks in Red Sea after three day hiatus"
Story by SETH J. FRANTZMAN
28 MARCH 2024
After a three-day hiatus in attacks, the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen began their attacks again, targeting ships.
US Central Command says that naval ships “successfully engaged and destroyed four long-range unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen."
"These UAS were aimed at a U.S. warship and engaged in self-defense over the Red Sea."
"There were no injuries or damage reported to U.S. or coalition ships."
The American naval forces “determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region."
"These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.”
The last attack was on March 23, when the Houthis launched four ballistic missiles toward a ship.
The ship was the M/V Huang Pu, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated oil tanker, Central Command said at the time.
The US noted that “a fifth ballistic missile was detected as fired toward M/V Huang Pu."
"The ship issued a distress call but did not request assistance."
"M/V Huang Pu suffered minimal damage, and a fire on board was extinguished within 30 minutes."
"No casualties were reported, and the vessel resumed its course."
"The Houthis attacked the MV Huang despite previously stating they would not attack Chinese vessels.”
The USS Carney engaged six Houthi drones on the same day.
Ongoing Houthi attacks highlight Iranian foothold in region
The continued Houthi attacks illustrate how Iran continues to drive the war in the region.
There has been some reduction in Iranian-backed attacks on the Red Sea front and also on the Iraq and Syria front.
For instance, Iranian-backed militias have reduced their attacks in Iraq because Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, is in Washington this week.
It is his first trip to the US capital since he took office in October 2022.
Iraqi militias have carried out dozens of attacks on US forces.
In addition, Iraq is continuing to hold Princeton doctoral candidate and researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov illegally.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ho ... bdc2&ei=77
"Houthis renew attacks in Red Sea after three day hiatus"
Story by SETH J. FRANTZMAN
28 MARCH 2024
After a three-day hiatus in attacks, the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen began their attacks again, targeting ships.
US Central Command says that naval ships “successfully engaged and destroyed four long-range unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen."
"These UAS were aimed at a U.S. warship and engaged in self-defense over the Red Sea."
"There were no injuries or damage reported to U.S. or coalition ships."
The American naval forces “determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region."
"These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.”
The last attack was on March 23, when the Houthis launched four ballistic missiles toward a ship.
The ship was the M/V Huang Pu, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated oil tanker, Central Command said at the time.
The US noted that “a fifth ballistic missile was detected as fired toward M/V Huang Pu."
"The ship issued a distress call but did not request assistance."
"M/V Huang Pu suffered minimal damage, and a fire on board was extinguished within 30 minutes."
"No casualties were reported, and the vessel resumed its course."
"The Houthis attacked the MV Huang despite previously stating they would not attack Chinese vessels.”
The USS Carney engaged six Houthi drones on the same day.
Ongoing Houthi attacks highlight Iranian foothold in region
The continued Houthi attacks illustrate how Iran continues to drive the war in the region.
There has been some reduction in Iranian-backed attacks on the Red Sea front and also on the Iraq and Syria front.
For instance, Iranian-backed militias have reduced their attacks in Iraq because Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, is in Washington this week.
It is his first trip to the US capital since he took office in October 2022.
Iraqi militias have carried out dozens of attacks on US forces.
In addition, Iraq is continuing to hold Princeton doctoral candidate and researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov illegally.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ho ... bdc2&ei=77
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
FOX News
"Janet Yellen walks back Biden’s comments US taxpayers on hook for Baltimore bridge collapse"
Story by Bradford Betz
28 MARCH 2024
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday appeared to walk back comments from President Joe Biden that U.S. taxpayers would foot the bill for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday, Yellen said money from the bipartisan infrastructure law could "potentially be helpful."
"My expectation would be that ultimately there will be insurance payments, in part, to cover this."
"But we don’t want to allow worrying about where the financing will come from to hold up reconstruction," Yellen said.
Her comments come a day after Biden said it was his "intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort."
Biden said that, while the effort will take some time, the people of Baltimore "can count on us."
When asked by a reporter whether the company that manages the ship should be held responsible, Biden said the federal government would not wait for any decisions and would step in to get the bridge built and reopened.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge along I-695 in Maryland collapsed in the Baltimore harbor around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after a cargo ship slammed into a support beam.
The collapse sent at least eight construction workers and multiple vehicles plunging into the Patapsco River below.
The cargo ship that hit the bridge was the Dali, a 95,000 GT Singapore-flagged container ship, per the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore.
There were 22 crew members onboard at the time of the incident.
The Synergy Group, a Singapore-based company that manages the ship, said in a statement that two pilots piloting the ship through the harbor and all crew members onboard were accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries.
The group also said that no pollution has been reported.
The large vessel appeared to catch fire before becoming disabled.
Footage of the incident shows the lights going out multiple times on the vessel in question prior to impact, suggesting the collision may have been due to a power failure.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Anders Hagstrom, and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/janet ... bdc2&ei=88
"Janet Yellen walks back Biden’s comments US taxpayers on hook for Baltimore bridge collapse"
Story by Bradford Betz
28 MARCH 2024
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday appeared to walk back comments from President Joe Biden that U.S. taxpayers would foot the bill for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday, Yellen said money from the bipartisan infrastructure law could "potentially be helpful."
"My expectation would be that ultimately there will be insurance payments, in part, to cover this."
"But we don’t want to allow worrying about where the financing will come from to hold up reconstruction," Yellen said.
Her comments come a day after Biden said it was his "intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort."
Biden said that, while the effort will take some time, the people of Baltimore "can count on us."
When asked by a reporter whether the company that manages the ship should be held responsible, Biden said the federal government would not wait for any decisions and would step in to get the bridge built and reopened.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge along I-695 in Maryland collapsed in the Baltimore harbor around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after a cargo ship slammed into a support beam.
The collapse sent at least eight construction workers and multiple vehicles plunging into the Patapsco River below.
The cargo ship that hit the bridge was the Dali, a 95,000 GT Singapore-flagged container ship, per the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore.
There were 22 crew members onboard at the time of the incident.
The Synergy Group, a Singapore-based company that manages the ship, said in a statement that two pilots piloting the ship through the harbor and all crew members onboard were accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries.
The group also said that no pollution has been reported.
The large vessel appeared to catch fire before becoming disabled.
Footage of the incident shows the lights going out multiple times on the vessel in question prior to impact, suggesting the collision may have been due to a power failure.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Anders Hagstrom, and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/janet ... bdc2&ei=88
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR MARCH 27, 2024 AT 5:51 PM
Paul Plante says:
Before we go further into the stilted and hackneyed political language of Joe Biden’s March 7, 2024 MOCK SOTU, which was in reality a cheap, poorly-written and disjointed angry political rant and diatribe (cue RODNEY DANGERFIELD – “NO RESPECT” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0toL3C0R14 ) by a shallow, angry old man, let’s go back for a moment to this sentence from above, where Joe came out with the following, to see if we can make a lick of sense out of what Joe is spewing, to wit:
“Tonight — tonight, I want to talk about the future of possibilities that we can build together — a future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get the — all the tax breaks.”
end quotes
When you read that, you are left with no other choice but to set it down as idiotic — a series of words without sense – because that is exactly what it is.
But now imagine Joe Biden in a stentorian voice intoning it as it were designed to be intoned.
Imagine the slow tempo of Joe’s carefully cultivated manner of public speaking, said to be adopted from the style of Paul Devrient, real name Walter Stieber, also Paul Stieber-Walter (17 November 1890 – 5 November 1973) who was a German operatic tenor and theatre director who also gained notoriety as Adolf Hitler’s voice coach and speech teacher in 1932 and for a fee, accompanied Hitler on his propaganda trips across Germany from April to November 1932, not only training Hitler’s voice and speaking technique, but also improving his presence as a political speaker in front of large audiences through acting and rhetoric lessons, which method has served Joe Biden quite well over his very lengthy career as a professional politician serving an endless meal of pure BULL**** to the American people over a long length of years.
Then imagine the stately unrolling of the first clause, “Tonight — tonight,” — the delicate pause upon the word “I” — and then the loud discharge of the phrase “want to talk about the future of possibilities,” “that we can build together,” “a future where the days of trickle-down economics are over” and “the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get the — all the tax breaks.” each with its attendant glare by Joe and roll of the eyes of Joe, each with a sublime heave, each with its gesture of a blacksmith bringing down his sledge upon an egg — imagine all this, and then ask yourself where you have got.
You have got, in brief, to a point where you don’t know what it is all about, because it is a ridiculous premise, that somehow, in some mysterious way not yet revealed by Joe, there will be a glorious future created by us today, even though it has never been done before, where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get all the tax breaks, especially when under Joe Biden today, it is the wealthy and biggest corporations that are getting all the tax breaks.
As was the case with a political speech by Warren G. Harding, you hear and applaud the phrases because they sound nice, but their connection has already escaped you.
And so, when in violation of all sequence and logic, the final phrase, “all the tax breaks” assaults you, you do not notice its disharmony — all you notice is that, if this or that, already forgotten, is done, “all the tax breaks” will no longer go the wealthy and biggest corporations, while who they will go to is left unsaid.
Anyway, as was the case with people actually watching Joe Biden give his rant on March 7, 2024, as opposed to reading the transcript as I did, they being glad of the assurance from Joe that the wealthy and biggest corporations will no longer be getting all the tax breaks as they are under Joe right now, and thrilled by Joe’s vast gestures as Joe did his old act, starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about that drive it home, they give a cheer and call out “FOUR MORE YEARS” like a bunch of jackasses.
And how about that, people – doesn’t that make you feel very good about yourself and all warm and squishy inside, knowing in your heart of hearts that Joe Biden, the very important man who is not only COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of all the American people by popular acclaim, because he is the very best we have in this country, but LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD, as well, wants to wrap his massive, well-muscled, protective arm around YOU, so he can talk to YOU personally like a babe in swaddling clothes in his arms about the future of possibilities that YOU and Joe can build together, because let’s remember who we are, people, we are the United States of America, and there is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity when we act together, including building a future of possibilities — a future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get all the tax breaks.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/paul-p ... ent-911486
Paul Plante says:
Before we go further into the stilted and hackneyed political language of Joe Biden’s March 7, 2024 MOCK SOTU, which was in reality a cheap, poorly-written and disjointed angry political rant and diatribe (cue RODNEY DANGERFIELD – “NO RESPECT” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0toL3C0R14 ) by a shallow, angry old man, let’s go back for a moment to this sentence from above, where Joe came out with the following, to see if we can make a lick of sense out of what Joe is spewing, to wit:
“Tonight — tonight, I want to talk about the future of possibilities that we can build together — a future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get the — all the tax breaks.”
end quotes
When you read that, you are left with no other choice but to set it down as idiotic — a series of words without sense – because that is exactly what it is.
But now imagine Joe Biden in a stentorian voice intoning it as it were designed to be intoned.
Imagine the slow tempo of Joe’s carefully cultivated manner of public speaking, said to be adopted from the style of Paul Devrient, real name Walter Stieber, also Paul Stieber-Walter (17 November 1890 – 5 November 1973) who was a German operatic tenor and theatre director who also gained notoriety as Adolf Hitler’s voice coach and speech teacher in 1932 and for a fee, accompanied Hitler on his propaganda trips across Germany from April to November 1932, not only training Hitler’s voice and speaking technique, but also improving his presence as a political speaker in front of large audiences through acting and rhetoric lessons, which method has served Joe Biden quite well over his very lengthy career as a professional politician serving an endless meal of pure BULL**** to the American people over a long length of years.
Then imagine the stately unrolling of the first clause, “Tonight — tonight,” — the delicate pause upon the word “I” — and then the loud discharge of the phrase “want to talk about the future of possibilities,” “that we can build together,” “a future where the days of trickle-down economics are over” and “the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get the — all the tax breaks.” each with its attendant glare by Joe and roll of the eyes of Joe, each with a sublime heave, each with its gesture of a blacksmith bringing down his sledge upon an egg — imagine all this, and then ask yourself where you have got.
You have got, in brief, to a point where you don’t know what it is all about, because it is a ridiculous premise, that somehow, in some mysterious way not yet revealed by Joe, there will be a glorious future created by us today, even though it has never been done before, where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get all the tax breaks, especially when under Joe Biden today, it is the wealthy and biggest corporations that are getting all the tax breaks.
As was the case with a political speech by Warren G. Harding, you hear and applaud the phrases because they sound nice, but their connection has already escaped you.
And so, when in violation of all sequence and logic, the final phrase, “all the tax breaks” assaults you, you do not notice its disharmony — all you notice is that, if this or that, already forgotten, is done, “all the tax breaks” will no longer go the wealthy and biggest corporations, while who they will go to is left unsaid.
Anyway, as was the case with people actually watching Joe Biden give his rant on March 7, 2024, as opposed to reading the transcript as I did, they being glad of the assurance from Joe that the wealthy and biggest corporations will no longer be getting all the tax breaks as they are under Joe right now, and thrilled by Joe’s vast gestures as Joe did his old act, starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about that drive it home, they give a cheer and call out “FOUR MORE YEARS” like a bunch of jackasses.
And how about that, people – doesn’t that make you feel very good about yourself and all warm and squishy inside, knowing in your heart of hearts that Joe Biden, the very important man who is not only COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of all the American people by popular acclaim, because he is the very best we have in this country, but LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD, as well, wants to wrap his massive, well-muscled, protective arm around YOU, so he can talk to YOU personally like a babe in swaddling clothes in his arms about the future of possibilities that YOU and Joe can build together, because let’s remember who we are, people, we are the United States of America, and there is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity when we act together, including building a future of possibilities — a future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and the biggest corporations no longer get all the tax breaks.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/paul-p ... ent-911486
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
REUTERS
"White House's Brainard says corporate profits remain elevated"
By Reuters
March 28, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - White House National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said on Thursday corporate profits remain elevated, after U.S. consumer sentiment rose unexpectedly in March to the highest in nearly three years on hopes inflation will keep softening.
Brainard said the Biden administration still has work to do to lower costs - a high priority as President Joe Biden grapples with voter attitudes about stubbornly high prices and mounting housing costs.
"We have more work to do to lower costs for American families ... with corporate profits still elevated, President Biden will continue to call on companies to pass their savings on to consumers," she said.
Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/whit ... 024-03-28/
"White House's Brainard says corporate profits remain elevated"
By Reuters
March 28, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - White House National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said on Thursday corporate profits remain elevated, after U.S. consumer sentiment rose unexpectedly in March to the highest in nearly three years on hopes inflation will keep softening.
Brainard said the Biden administration still has work to do to lower costs - a high priority as President Joe Biden grapples with voter attitudes about stubbornly high prices and mounting housing costs.
"We have more work to do to lower costs for American families ... with corporate profits still elevated, President Biden will continue to call on companies to pass their savings on to consumers," she said.
Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/whit ... 024-03-28/
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
The Western Journal
"Lib Host Jon Stewart Overvalued His Home By 829% After Saying Trump Civil Case Is 'Not Victimless'"
Story by Warner Todd Huston
29 MARCH 2024
Virulently anti-Trump comedian and TV host Jon Stewart is facing a backlash after being accused of perpetrating the same behavior that he has criticized former President Donald Trump of committing.
Stewart is facing criticism after attacking Trump over claims that he overvalued some of his properties, a claim lodged against him during the former president’s New York civil case.
The former president has blasted the $454 million appeal bond and his legal team has questioned the ruling and said it is untoward for a "victimless crime."
But Stewart has scoffed at that defense.
Stewart's "The Daily Show" had run a clip of "Shark Tank" star Kevin O’Leary attacking the ruling on CNN and saying that the whole court case is a danger for the entire real estate industry, the New York Post reported.
In the clip, CNN’s Laura Coates replied to O'Leary by pointing out that Trump was accused of falsifying business records in the second degree, along with insurance fraud and making false financial statements, all in connection with an attempt to inflate his assets.
But O'Leary explained that "everything that you just listed off is done by every real estate developer everywhere on Earth in every city."
"This has never been prosecuted."
After the clip ended, Stweart jumped in to quip, "How is he not this mad about overvaluations in the real world?
"Because they are not victimless crimes," Stewart added.
Stewart continued his attack, saying that, "money isn’t infinite."
"A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation."
"So the system becomes incentivized for corruption."
He went on to claim that if someone pays lower taxes based on lower property values, then that is fraud.
"The attorney general of New York knew that Trump’s property values were inflated because when it came time to pay taxes, Trump undervalued the very same properties," Stewart exclaimed.
"It was all part of a very specific real estate practice known as lying."
Stewart's righteous indignation, though, soon came under fire when social media users began to notice a small flaw in Stewart's pious stance against Trump and his "fraud."
The Post reported that Stewart's 2014 sale of his Tribeca duplex was not all as above-board as the TV host may have contended.
Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot apartment to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million.
But at the time, the asking price of the property was not made public.
However, according to 2013-2014 assessor's report, the property was only assessed at a market value of only $1.882 million.
And the assessor's value came in even lower at $847,174.
The overvaluation added up to a whopping 829 percent, according to the Post.
With all that, it was noted that Stewart paid far less in taxes on a property assessed at a mere $847,174, than he would on a property "worth" $17.5 million.
But even more to the point, Pande resold the property for only around $13 million in 2021, a 26 percent loss.
Stewart's financial windfall caused many to wonder if the TV star committed the same "fraud" that he claimed that Trump committed.
Did @jonstewart commit fraud when he sold his penthouse for $17.5M?
NY listed its market value at $1.8M an AV at around 800k
Who did he He defraud??
I am SHOCKED
SHOCKED pic.twitter.com/9okis96VQP
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 26, 2024
The Post added that the tax bill for Stewart's penthouse was assessed in the same way that Trump's was, the same formula that New York Attorney General Letitia James used to claim Trump committed fraud.
"Stewart’s reps did not respond to The Post’s request for comment," the outlet reported.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/lib-h ... 05b9&ei=46
"Lib Host Jon Stewart Overvalued His Home By 829% After Saying Trump Civil Case Is 'Not Victimless'"
Story by Warner Todd Huston
29 MARCH 2024
Virulently anti-Trump comedian and TV host Jon Stewart is facing a backlash after being accused of perpetrating the same behavior that he has criticized former President Donald Trump of committing.
Stewart is facing criticism after attacking Trump over claims that he overvalued some of his properties, a claim lodged against him during the former president’s New York civil case.
The former president has blasted the $454 million appeal bond and his legal team has questioned the ruling and said it is untoward for a "victimless crime."
But Stewart has scoffed at that defense.
Stewart's "The Daily Show" had run a clip of "Shark Tank" star Kevin O’Leary attacking the ruling on CNN and saying that the whole court case is a danger for the entire real estate industry, the New York Post reported.
In the clip, CNN’s Laura Coates replied to O'Leary by pointing out that Trump was accused of falsifying business records in the second degree, along with insurance fraud and making false financial statements, all in connection with an attempt to inflate his assets.
But O'Leary explained that "everything that you just listed off is done by every real estate developer everywhere on Earth in every city."
"This has never been prosecuted."
After the clip ended, Stweart jumped in to quip, "How is he not this mad about overvaluations in the real world?
"Because they are not victimless crimes," Stewart added.
Stewart continued his attack, saying that, "money isn’t infinite."
"A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation."
"So the system becomes incentivized for corruption."
He went on to claim that if someone pays lower taxes based on lower property values, then that is fraud.
"The attorney general of New York knew that Trump’s property values were inflated because when it came time to pay taxes, Trump undervalued the very same properties," Stewart exclaimed.
"It was all part of a very specific real estate practice known as lying."
Stewart's righteous indignation, though, soon came under fire when social media users began to notice a small flaw in Stewart's pious stance against Trump and his "fraud."
The Post reported that Stewart's 2014 sale of his Tribeca duplex was not all as above-board as the TV host may have contended.
Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot apartment to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million.
But at the time, the asking price of the property was not made public.
However, according to 2013-2014 assessor's report, the property was only assessed at a market value of only $1.882 million.
And the assessor's value came in even lower at $847,174.
The overvaluation added up to a whopping 829 percent, according to the Post.
With all that, it was noted that Stewart paid far less in taxes on a property assessed at a mere $847,174, than he would on a property "worth" $17.5 million.
But even more to the point, Pande resold the property for only around $13 million in 2021, a 26 percent loss.
Stewart's financial windfall caused many to wonder if the TV star committed the same "fraud" that he claimed that Trump committed.
Did @jonstewart commit fraud when he sold his penthouse for $17.5M?
NY listed its market value at $1.8M an AV at around 800k
Who did he He defraud??
I am SHOCKED
SHOCKED pic.twitter.com/9okis96VQP
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 26, 2024
The Post added that the tax bill for Stewart's penthouse was assessed in the same way that Trump's was, the same formula that New York Attorney General Letitia James used to claim Trump committed fraud.
"Stewart’s reps did not respond to The Post’s request for comment," the outlet reported.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/lib-h ... 05b9&ei=46
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
The Washington Examiner
"Biden’s Gaza pier is a dangerous, illogical election-year gimmick"
Story by Sen. Roger Wicker
29 MARCH 2024
For the next month and a half, a small group of Army logistics vessels will inch across the Atlantic, traveling at a third of the speed of a Navy warship.
Then, according to the Biden administration, soldiers will take two months to build a floating pier to deliver food and aid to Gaza.
All told, relief may not meet needy hands for months — barring any delays.
One would be hard-pressed to find a more dangerous and illogical election-year gimmick from our commander in chief.
A casual glance at this “emergency mission” prompts several questions, each of which has an unsatisfying answer.
They all clearly indicate that the person best served by this mission is not the American citizen, the U.S. service member, the Palestinian civilian, or the Israeli soldier, but President Joe Biden, candidate for reelection.
I am demanding answers for this waste of tax dollars and military readiness capability.
Last week, I led my Republican Senate Armed Services Committee colleagues in an official request to the commander in chief, asking for a baseline explanation of this looming disaster.
We note that the project seems to have been announced without the Biden administration doing any planning.
In fact, the president shared the news in a made-for-TV moment during the State of the Union.
I am told that as senior Department of Defense officials watched, they wondered how their teams would implement this prime-time directive.
We also do not know how U.S. soldiers will be protected throughout this deployment.
In the region, our forces are already subjected to a steady barrage of missile and drone attacks from Iran’s proxies.
It is unreasonable to assume this mission would be exempt from similar attacks.
Crucially, no one has figured out how this effort will get the aid to civilians in need.
On the ground in Gaza, we do not have partners we can trust to deliver aid where it needs to go.
The absence of a delivery plan underscores the futility of this mission.
The CENTCOM commander recently attributed the challenges regarding humanitarian aid to the security situation within Gaza.
In other words, the blame rests with Hamas terrorists, who regularly steal and hoard the aid.
In fact, without solid local partners, the pier could create more challenges than it solves.
The president vowed that “no U.S. boots will be on the ground” in his State of the Union address.
That is a wise commitment.
But it still relegates our soldiers to the sea, on a static target, while chaos could fester on land at the end of the pier.
What will keep Hamas or other agitators from camping out on the shore?
A multitude of risks are foreseeable.
Troops have already shipped out, yet the haphazard rollout of this plan shows it is being written as it is being enacted.
The whole operation underscores two broader points.
First, the mission raises fundamental questions about the president’s flawed approach to the broader region.
The Houthis are waging an unrestricted campaign of terrorism against commercial shipping, forcing the United States to commit a naval task force to the region indefinitely.
Meanwhile, five American hostages — and dozens of Israelis — continue to languish in captivity in Gaza.
Israel is on the cusp of dismantling Hamas with one final push in Rafah.
To order an Army aid mission in this context is senseless at best and outright dangerous at worst.
Second, the U.S. military is being asked to do too much with too little.
There is a yawning gap between the number of Army logistics ships we need and the ones we have — a sobering fact underscored by the demands of this mission.
Ideally, these soldiers would be protected by Marines, but we simply do not have enough amphibious ships to put them in position.
A stronger defense industrial base would help remedy both these challenges.
In 1983, Hezbollah killed 241 American service members in Beirut, and the U.S. found itself in a Middle East crisis not unlike today’s.
Then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger posed several yes-or-no questions to help shape President Ronald Reagan’s use of military force.
The series became the “Weinberger Doctrine.”
He asked:
Are the vital national interests of the U.S. involved?
Do we have the clear intention of winning?
Are military and political objectives clearly defined?
Is there reasonable assurance the American public supports this?
Is the deployment of troops a last resort?
For this mission, Biden would have to answer all these questions in the negative.
It seems this pier functions primarily as the president’s lifeline to a small group of voters he needs to appease.
It is time for Biden to follow Weinberger’s framework.
If he does, he will terminate this ill-conceived mission.
Roger Wicker is a U.S. senator for Mississippi and serves as the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 2c90&ei=46
"Biden’s Gaza pier is a dangerous, illogical election-year gimmick"
Story by Sen. Roger Wicker
29 MARCH 2024
For the next month and a half, a small group of Army logistics vessels will inch across the Atlantic, traveling at a third of the speed of a Navy warship.
Then, according to the Biden administration, soldiers will take two months to build a floating pier to deliver food and aid to Gaza.
All told, relief may not meet needy hands for months — barring any delays.
One would be hard-pressed to find a more dangerous and illogical election-year gimmick from our commander in chief.
A casual glance at this “emergency mission” prompts several questions, each of which has an unsatisfying answer.
They all clearly indicate that the person best served by this mission is not the American citizen, the U.S. service member, the Palestinian civilian, or the Israeli soldier, but President Joe Biden, candidate for reelection.
I am demanding answers for this waste of tax dollars and military readiness capability.
Last week, I led my Republican Senate Armed Services Committee colleagues in an official request to the commander in chief, asking for a baseline explanation of this looming disaster.
We note that the project seems to have been announced without the Biden administration doing any planning.
In fact, the president shared the news in a made-for-TV moment during the State of the Union.
I am told that as senior Department of Defense officials watched, they wondered how their teams would implement this prime-time directive.
We also do not know how U.S. soldiers will be protected throughout this deployment.
In the region, our forces are already subjected to a steady barrage of missile and drone attacks from Iran’s proxies.
It is unreasonable to assume this mission would be exempt from similar attacks.
Crucially, no one has figured out how this effort will get the aid to civilians in need.
On the ground in Gaza, we do not have partners we can trust to deliver aid where it needs to go.
The absence of a delivery plan underscores the futility of this mission.
The CENTCOM commander recently attributed the challenges regarding humanitarian aid to the security situation within Gaza.
In other words, the blame rests with Hamas terrorists, who regularly steal and hoard the aid.
In fact, without solid local partners, the pier could create more challenges than it solves.
The president vowed that “no U.S. boots will be on the ground” in his State of the Union address.
That is a wise commitment.
But it still relegates our soldiers to the sea, on a static target, while chaos could fester on land at the end of the pier.
What will keep Hamas or other agitators from camping out on the shore?
A multitude of risks are foreseeable.
Troops have already shipped out, yet the haphazard rollout of this plan shows it is being written as it is being enacted.
The whole operation underscores two broader points.
First, the mission raises fundamental questions about the president’s flawed approach to the broader region.
The Houthis are waging an unrestricted campaign of terrorism against commercial shipping, forcing the United States to commit a naval task force to the region indefinitely.
Meanwhile, five American hostages — and dozens of Israelis — continue to languish in captivity in Gaza.
Israel is on the cusp of dismantling Hamas with one final push in Rafah.
To order an Army aid mission in this context is senseless at best and outright dangerous at worst.
Second, the U.S. military is being asked to do too much with too little.
There is a yawning gap between the number of Army logistics ships we need and the ones we have — a sobering fact underscored by the demands of this mission.
Ideally, these soldiers would be protected by Marines, but we simply do not have enough amphibious ships to put them in position.
A stronger defense industrial base would help remedy both these challenges.
In 1983, Hezbollah killed 241 American service members in Beirut, and the U.S. found itself in a Middle East crisis not unlike today’s.
Then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger posed several yes-or-no questions to help shape President Ronald Reagan’s use of military force.
The series became the “Weinberger Doctrine.”
He asked:
Are the vital national interests of the U.S. involved?
Do we have the clear intention of winning?
Are military and political objectives clearly defined?
Is there reasonable assurance the American public supports this?
Is the deployment of troops a last resort?
For this mission, Biden would have to answer all these questions in the negative.
It seems this pier functions primarily as the president’s lifeline to a small group of voters he needs to appease.
It is time for Biden to follow Weinberger’s framework.
If he does, he will terminate this ill-conceived mission.
Roger Wicker is a U.S. senator for Mississippi and serves as the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 2c90&ei=46
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
The Hill
"Opinion: Is Biden listening to any of his military or intelligence advisers?"
Opinion by Jonathan Sweet and Mark Toth, Opinion Contributors
29 MARCH 2024
There is a pattern to the series of bad decisions coming from President Joe Biden’s Oval Office.
They are increasingly putting the nation’s security at heightened risk by naively playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Military setbacks in Ukraine, Chinese provocations in the Indo-Pacific and the placating of Iran with the release of frozen and sanctioned funds are all combining to put Americans and our allies in harm’s way.
Given the totality of these unforced errors, it is difficult to believe that Biden is listening to the advice of his top military and intelligence advisers.
The Three Horsemen are coming for the U.S. and our allies.
Yet Washington seems to be crassly predicating its national security moves based on election-year politics.
That may work in a time of peace, but we are in global war right now against totalitarian regimes that reject our way of life and are intent on undermining, if not destroying, our democratic institutions.
Hence Russia and China’s multipolar world concept and the formation of BRICS.
Biden is the chief executive now.
He is no longer a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he once served as both ranking minority member and as chairman.
Political calculus is no longer an option.
Rather, the nation’s security must be his one and only guiding star if the U.S. is to thwart our enemies’ ambitions.
To the extent that Biden needs to factor in politics, he needs to do so by overcoming what Obama-era Secretary of Defense Robert Gates penned about him in 2014: “I think he [then-Vice President Biden] has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Fast-forward to today, and Biden is arguably adding to that from a narrow national security perspective.
He has created a permissive environment for our adversaries to operate in.
The most damaging of his mistakes have been a tolerance for open borders, surges in fentanyl overdoses and deaths due to Chinese drug trafficking, and the multi-faceted disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, followed by Moscow-backed coup d’états in Sudan and Niger, and Hamas’s attack on Israel have put him squarely on his back foot.
Meanwhile, Tehran’s nuclear ambitions continue unabated.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed proxy militias are attacking U.S bases throughout the Middle East, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels are attacking commercial and naval shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
China continues to threaten Taiwan and is actively harassing Filipino commercial vessels in the South China Sea.
North Korea persists with its gamesmanship and provocations against South Korea and Japan.
Yesterday, after hinting at peace talks, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, ruled out any contact or negotiation with Tokyo.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are dictating the conditions; Biden’s Washington is constantly in reaction mode, and as a result, unacceptably failing, which makes the world a much more dangerous place.
And election-year politics is making it more perilous still.
This may read as a political take.
It is not.
Rather, this is a call for Biden and Congress to take the politics out of national security.
The letters D and R are secondary to “U.S.A.”
Our messaging applies equally to Republicans and Democrats and as much to Biden as it does to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Politics simply cannot dictate national security.
Nor will politics deliver us from the peril our country currently faces.
As crafted, Biden’s National Security Strategy does not provide a solution either.
Biden is absolutely correct in his opening statement: “How we respond to the tremendous challenges and the unprecedented opportunities we face today will determine the direction of our world and impact the security and prosperity of the American people for generations to come.”
It is past time to get on with responding.
It is time Washington started setting conditions.
As they say in the military, “move out and draw fire.”
As retired Army Lt. General Ben Hodges, the former U.S. Army Commander Europe, recently argued, “We spend too much time worrying about what the Russians might do."
"Instead, we should make them worry about what we’re capable of.”
The same line of reasoning must also apply to the Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans.
NATO’s newest member has a plan.
While focused on Putin and his war of aggression against Ukraine, its core principles are globally germane.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in an interview with Euractiv, “We have to create more strategic difficulties for Russia.”
Billström is right, as is French President Emmanuel Macron, with his stated willingness to place French troops in Ukraine, if needed, as a redline.
Biden needs to heed the advice and counsel of the career professionals, as his political appointees have clearly taken him down the wrong path.
Ice cream cones and “root cause” discussions will solve nothing.
Biden needs to leverage his combatant commanders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the retired Army four-star general serving as his secretary of Defense, as well as retired generals sitting on the bench.
The restoration of America’s influence and image in the world begins with a plan, not with a strategy to win a political election.
That means playing well with others — and for Biden, that means Republicans.
For the Speaker, that means Democrats.
Ukraine does not have the luxury of waiting until November.
Nor, quite frankly, do the border states, sanctuary cities and neighborhoods now under siege by criminal gangs.
It is that bad, and past time to do something about it.
Col. (ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 2c90&ei=54
"Opinion: Is Biden listening to any of his military or intelligence advisers?"
Opinion by Jonathan Sweet and Mark Toth, Opinion Contributors
29 MARCH 2024
There is a pattern to the series of bad decisions coming from President Joe Biden’s Oval Office.
They are increasingly putting the nation’s security at heightened risk by naively playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Military setbacks in Ukraine, Chinese provocations in the Indo-Pacific and the placating of Iran with the release of frozen and sanctioned funds are all combining to put Americans and our allies in harm’s way.
Given the totality of these unforced errors, it is difficult to believe that Biden is listening to the advice of his top military and intelligence advisers.
The Three Horsemen are coming for the U.S. and our allies.
Yet Washington seems to be crassly predicating its national security moves based on election-year politics.
That may work in a time of peace, but we are in global war right now against totalitarian regimes that reject our way of life and are intent on undermining, if not destroying, our democratic institutions.
Hence Russia and China’s multipolar world concept and the formation of BRICS.
Biden is the chief executive now.
He is no longer a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he once served as both ranking minority member and as chairman.
Political calculus is no longer an option.
Rather, the nation’s security must be his one and only guiding star if the U.S. is to thwart our enemies’ ambitions.
To the extent that Biden needs to factor in politics, he needs to do so by overcoming what Obama-era Secretary of Defense Robert Gates penned about him in 2014: “I think he [then-Vice President Biden] has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Fast-forward to today, and Biden is arguably adding to that from a narrow national security perspective.
He has created a permissive environment for our adversaries to operate in.
The most damaging of his mistakes have been a tolerance for open borders, surges in fentanyl overdoses and deaths due to Chinese drug trafficking, and the multi-faceted disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, followed by Moscow-backed coup d’états in Sudan and Niger, and Hamas’s attack on Israel have put him squarely on his back foot.
Meanwhile, Tehran’s nuclear ambitions continue unabated.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed proxy militias are attacking U.S bases throughout the Middle East, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels are attacking commercial and naval shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
China continues to threaten Taiwan and is actively harassing Filipino commercial vessels in the South China Sea.
North Korea persists with its gamesmanship and provocations against South Korea and Japan.
Yesterday, after hinting at peace talks, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, ruled out any contact or negotiation with Tokyo.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are dictating the conditions; Biden’s Washington is constantly in reaction mode, and as a result, unacceptably failing, which makes the world a much more dangerous place.
And election-year politics is making it more perilous still.
This may read as a political take.
It is not.
Rather, this is a call for Biden and Congress to take the politics out of national security.
The letters D and R are secondary to “U.S.A.”
Our messaging applies equally to Republicans and Democrats and as much to Biden as it does to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Politics simply cannot dictate national security.
Nor will politics deliver us from the peril our country currently faces.
As crafted, Biden’s National Security Strategy does not provide a solution either.
Biden is absolutely correct in his opening statement: “How we respond to the tremendous challenges and the unprecedented opportunities we face today will determine the direction of our world and impact the security and prosperity of the American people for generations to come.”
It is past time to get on with responding.
It is time Washington started setting conditions.
As they say in the military, “move out and draw fire.”
As retired Army Lt. General Ben Hodges, the former U.S. Army Commander Europe, recently argued, “We spend too much time worrying about what the Russians might do."
"Instead, we should make them worry about what we’re capable of.”
The same line of reasoning must also apply to the Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans.
NATO’s newest member has a plan.
While focused on Putin and his war of aggression against Ukraine, its core principles are globally germane.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in an interview with Euractiv, “We have to create more strategic difficulties for Russia.”
Billström is right, as is French President Emmanuel Macron, with his stated willingness to place French troops in Ukraine, if needed, as a redline.
Biden needs to heed the advice and counsel of the career professionals, as his political appointees have clearly taken him down the wrong path.
Ice cream cones and “root cause” discussions will solve nothing.
Biden needs to leverage his combatant commanders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the retired Army four-star general serving as his secretary of Defense, as well as retired generals sitting on the bench.
The restoration of America’s influence and image in the world begins with a plan, not with a strategy to win a political election.
That means playing well with others — and for Biden, that means Republicans.
For the Speaker, that means Democrats.
Ukraine does not have the luxury of waiting until November.
Nor, quite frankly, do the border states, sanctuary cities and neighborhoods now under siege by criminal gangs.
It is that bad, and past time to do something about it.
Col. (ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 2c90&ei=54
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
REUTERS
"U.S. Commerce updates export curbs on AI chips to China"
By Reuters
March 29, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday revised five-month-old rules aimed at making it harder for China to access U.S. artificial intelligence chips.
Those rules, released last October, seek to halt shipments to China of more advanced artificial intelligence chips designed by Nvidia and others, part of a raft of measures aimed at stopping Beijing from receiving cutting-edge U.S. technologies to strengthen its military.
The Commerce Department said on Friday it was making clarifications and corrections effective April 4.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Berkrot
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-c ... 024-03-29/
"U.S. Commerce updates export curbs on AI chips to China"
By Reuters
March 29, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday revised five-month-old rules aimed at making it harder for China to access U.S. artificial intelligence chips.
Those rules, released last October, seek to halt shipments to China of more advanced artificial intelligence chips designed by Nvidia and others, part of a raft of measures aimed at stopping Beijing from receiving cutting-edge U.S. technologies to strengthen its military.
The Commerce Department said on Friday it was making clarifications and corrections effective April 4.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Berkrot
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-c ... 024-03-29/
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
REUTERS
"US to cap rent raise for some affordable housing units, official says"
By Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh
March 29, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will soon announce a 10% cap on yearly rent increases for certain affordable housing units that are subsidized by the federal government, a senior administration official said on Friday.
The step restricts rent increases by property owners if they are part of a tax credit program for low-income housing, the official added, confirming details reported by the Washington Post.
The new regulations will be announced on Monday, the official said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With worries about high rents and mortgage interest rates contributing to voters' sour views about the economy, Biden, a Democrat, will aim to tout his administration's latest proposals to make housing more affordable as he campaigns for re-election against Republican former President Donald Trump.
Trump has lambasted Biden's economic policies, blaming them for inflation in multiple sectors of the economy.
The White House has also called on Congress to support investments to lower housing costs.
Congress is unlikely to pass major legislation in an election year, but the president's discussion of the topic reflects awareness of the impact it could have on his re-election hopes.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-c ... 024-03-29/
"US to cap rent raise for some affordable housing units, official says"
By Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh
March 29, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will soon announce a 10% cap on yearly rent increases for certain affordable housing units that are subsidized by the federal government, a senior administration official said on Friday.
The step restricts rent increases by property owners if they are part of a tax credit program for low-income housing, the official added, confirming details reported by the Washington Post.
The new regulations will be announced on Monday, the official said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With worries about high rents and mortgage interest rates contributing to voters' sour views about the economy, Biden, a Democrat, will aim to tout his administration's latest proposals to make housing more affordable as he campaigns for re-election against Republican former President Donald Trump.
Trump has lambasted Biden's economic policies, blaming them for inflation in multiple sectors of the economy.
The White House has also called on Congress to support investments to lower housing costs.
Congress is unlikely to pass major legislation in an election year, but the president's discussion of the topic reflects awareness of the impact it could have on his re-election hopes.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-c ... 024-03-29/