“Satisfying luxury markets does not justify the substantial threats."

Supermarkets are dens of trickery and deception.

Unfortunately, the species is already facing threats.

ABC’s Good Morning America has always been a team player for the left, so that meant on Wednesday they had to have on-air Obamagasams to get their points across about how Barack and Michelle Obama were an “electrifying” and “forceful one-two punch” with “political and personal” speeches “pummeling Donald Trump in blistering terms..as dangerous, divisive, and petty” on a night that felt “genuinely new”. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos salivated right off the top, remarking to co-host Robin Roberts: “What a rocking night at the Democratic National Convention.” Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce was predictably ready to run through a brick wall for her fellow Democrats. This time, though, it was over the Obamas to the point that hopefully her usual source of adulation — President Joe Biden — wasn’t watching: Well, this was a forceful one-two punch by the Obamas. Their remarks both political and personal, pummeling Donald Trump in blistering terms, but also lifting up Kamala Harris, praising her character and substance and making it clear they see Harris as the future of the movement they started. Overnight, President Obama, who once electrified the nation with his vision of hope and change, passing that mantle to Kamala Harris. Bruce laid on thick in-between soundbites of Barack Obama, bragging he “slamm[ed] Donald Trump, saying he puts himself above the interest of the American people” and offered no pushback (i.e. agreement) to Obama “casting Trump as dangerous, divisive, and petty”. ABC's Mary Bruce was once again rhetorically aroused at the #DNC. This time, she did her best Chris Matthews impression.... Bruce “Well, this was a forceful one-two punch by the Obamas. Their remarks both political and personal, pummelling Donald Trump in blistering terms, but… pic.twitter.com/TWSek30DzL — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 21, 2024 She also saved some valentines for Michelle, gushing of her “rare return to the political center stage” and “contrasting the candidates in stark terms...saying they know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of Trump’s attack” and “argu[ed] Kamala understands average Americans the way Trump never will”. Notice how deep cuts by Democrats are treated in the press as positives or factual statements while any sniff of mere basic criticism from Republicans are seen as personal attacks. Bruce also had some love for Second Gentlemen Doug Emhoff, but nothing about recent revelations about Emhoff having an affair with the nanny of his children during his first marriage (and getting her pregnant): “The night about reintroducing Harris to voters. Her dedicated husband describing Harris as a joyful warrior...and praising his wife’s dedication to their blended family.” She closed by greasing the skids for Governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz (D-MN): “The Minnesota governor and former high school football who until two weeks ago never used a teleprompter. He will be speaking to no doubt the largest crowd of his career.” Chief Washington correspondent and three-time anti-Trump author Jonathan Karl also said his piece by fawning over the “electrifying night for delegates here and for Democrats across the country” and the convention proceedings coming off as “genuinely new” (click “expand”): ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “Quite a show of force by the Democrats last night. A President, a First Lady, two massive crowds.” Jonathan Karl: “George, this was an electrifying night for delegates here and for Democrats across the country. And, look, it is exceedingly rare to… pic.twitter.com/mNs2lhl54c — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 21, 2024 STEPHANOPOULOS: Quite a show of force by the Democrats last night. A President, a First Lady, two massive crowds. KARL: George, this was an electrifying night for delegates here and for Democrats across the country. And, look, it is exceedingly rare to see something genuinely new at one of these national political conventions. But the organizers pulled that off when you saw Kamala Harris simultaneously direct — address a packed convention hall in Milwaukee where Republicans had rallied last month and here in Chicago and the messaging, that there was something new in the messaging as well as — as Barack Obama particularly tried to address Americans who are sick and tired of our deeply divided politics, doing that while simultaneously issuing a brutal takedown on Donald Trump. But also trying to appeal to the people, what Obama called the regular folks who have turned out. And, George, that part of the messaging has been backed up here in Chicago every single night and will continue tonight and tomorrow by featuring Republican speakers. Last night, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona and even former Trump White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham. STEPHANOPOULOS: One thing that is clear for the Obamas, this is personal. KARL: It’s personal. And this is not just a matter of two speeches last night. I was told by a person close to President Obama that he intends to be out on the campaign trail in a way we really haven’t seen since he was running for his own re-election in 2012...He will be on the campaign trail this fall. Not to be left out, Trump campaign correspondent/antagonist Rachel Scott giddily boasted of how “this has been a very rough three weeks for the former President’s campaign” and is now worse because of “new numbers out this morning that show Vice President Kamala Harris has” hauled “in nearly $250 million in July” versus $78 million for Trump’s team. To see the relevant ABC transcript from August 21, click here.

California may soon allow illegal aliens to participate in a state home loan program designed to assist first-time buyers.Earlier this year, Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) introduced HB 1840, a measure that would allow illegal immigrants to take advantage of the California Dream for All Program just like citizens and legal residents.Analysis from the Senate Appropriations Committee did note that the bill would likely create 'unknown significant cost pressures' for the Home Purchase Assistance program."Homeownership has historically been the primary means of accumulating generational wealth in the United States," Arambula said back in February. "The social and economic benefits of homeownership should be available to everyone."The California Dream for All Program first began in March 2023, inviting prospective first-time homebuyers to apply for a "loan" through the California Housing Finance Agency. Approved applicants may receive up to 20% of the purchase price or a maximum of $150,000 that can be used toward a down payment or closing costs.The terms of the program are quite generous. To qualify, applicants must be first-time homebuyers who earn no more than 120% of the median income of their county. In L.A. County, for example, the income limit is $155,000.What's more, successful applicants do not need to make a down payment on the loan or even make payments thereafter. In theory, recipients repay the loan when they sell, refinance, or transfer the home, but without any stipulations in the program compelling homeowners to take such actions, the loan may never be paid back in some cases in which homes have been placed in a trust, Center Square reported.In its first year, the program received so many applicants that officials had to implement a lottery system. This year, 18,000 applications were submitted for a share of the program's $255 million budget, but only 1,700 winners were selected.Arambula's bill would make plain that illegal immigrants are also eligible to submit applications to the program, though the program currently has no provision that explicitly prohibits them from participating."When undocumented individuals are excluded from such programs, they miss out on a crucial method of securing financial security and personal stability for themselves and their families," Arambula claimed.HB 1840 has already passed the Assembly and the state Senate Appropriations Committee. It will now head to the floor of the Senate for a full vote.Analysis from the Senate Appropriations Committee did note that the bill would likely create "unknown significant cost pressures" for the Home Purchase Assistance program. Estimates claimed such pressures might be in "the millions annually."Blaze News reached out to the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for comment about the bill and its prospects for becoming law but did not receive a response.H/T: The Post MillennialLike Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Harris campaign revealed this week that if the Democratic vice president and her running mate — who apparently thinks that communism means that "everyone is the same and everyone shares" — win in November, then they will slap Americans with various new taxes, including a tax on unrealized gains. Despite claiming to be fiscally responsible, Harris and Walz would simultaneously redistribute American wealth in a manner some economists have indicated will exacerbate the very problems they are supposedly intended to remedy. The official 2024 Democratic Party platform was released Monday, revealing what former presidential candidate Joe Biden apparently planned to do if afforded another term. It turns out that just as Kamala Harris was ready to adopt Biden's candidacy and his committed delegates, she is now also ready to embrace many of the policy proposals attributed to him in the document. Those proposals include raising the federal corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Communist China's federal corporate income tax rate is, by way of comparison, reportedly 25%. Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer confirmed to Reuters that Harris plans on raising the rate, claiming it would be part of a "fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share." President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans previously cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. When ratifying the bill, Trump noted, "It's going to be a tremendous thing for the American people. It's going to be fantastic for the economy. It's going to keep companies from leaving our shores." A 2017 Tax Foundation study indicated that "empirical evidence seems to support earlier theoretical analysis that domestic U.S. labor bears the largest portion of the burden of the U.S. corporate income tax." "The share of the burden falling on labor is routinely found to be between 50 percent and 100 percent, with 70 percent or higher the most likely outcome," said the study. "As the tax reduces investment, productivity, and wages, the dollar amount of the cost to labor may exceed the revenue raised by the tax by a wide margin." Extra to adversely impacting labor, this Harris tax hike would also adversely impact the stock market. Strategists at Goldman Sachs told Reuters that each percentage point change in the corporate tax rate could shift S&P 500 earnings by "slightly less than 1%." Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel, said, "Anything that reduces earnings should ... have a negative impact on the stock market." Harris — who, as vice president, oversaw the U.S. national debt topping $35 trillion and championed various handouts along the way, including the taxpayer-funded subsidization of college education for hundreds of thousands of student debtors — has other taxes planned for 2025, around the same time various other Trump-era tax cuts are set to expire. 'The taxing of unrealized gains, no matter what the level of wealth, will drive assets, jobs and companies away from the United States.' Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration proposed in its FY 2025 budget a 44.6% capital gains rate, reported Moodys Private Client. This increase — from the current rate of 20% left over from the Trump tax reform — would constitute the highest federal capital gains rate in American history. The Harris campaign told the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that she "continues to support all of the revenue-raising provisions in the President's FY 2025 budget." According to Americans for Tax Reform, the Harris-endorsed budget proposal also calls for a yearly 25% minimum tax on unrealized gains. While initially, this would target only the sliver minority of individuals with income and assets exceeding $100 million, critics suspect this "unconstitutional wealth tax" might ultimately be expanded to millions of Americans. "Capital gains taxes should only be paid when a gain is realized. Harris's wealth tax would break with current tax policy and impose tax Americans based on the value of an asset on a particular arbitrary date," stated Americans for Tax Reform. "This unprecedented tax would give even more power to the IRS, encourage taxpayers to move assets overseas, and will only expand to hit millions of Americans over time." TheStreet's Bob Byrne expressed similar concerns, noting, "While this only impacts a handful of people, and the measure is highly unlikely to pass, even the concept is worrisome. The taxing of unrealized gains, no matter what the level of wealth, will drive assets, jobs and companies away from the United States." Harris has provided a few indications of how she might redistribute some of this wealth. Harris intends to have taxpayers inadvertently provide a $25,000 handout to first-time and certain other prospective homeowners. Some economists suspect this is an exercise in futility. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody's, recently told Axios Moody's that this house credit for buyers would increase demand and "translate quickly into higher prices." While the Democratic platform claims the party is "working to end special interest giveaways," this scheme would no doubt be a big win for those big investment firms that have bought up residential real estate across the country. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget indicated this handout would cost $100 billion over four years, though the number "could be higher and lead to additional costs." Americans for Tax Reform noted that Harris has endorsed other tax hikes including raising Medicare taxes from 3.8% to 5% for those making over $400,000 a year. While such taxes are necessarily coercive, the Harris-Walz campaign suggested in an Aug. 16 release it was simply "asking the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to pay their fair share." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

On a recent trip to Atlantic City, Don Lemon conducted some man-on-the-street-style interviews — and he definitely did not get the results he expected. Lemon asked strangers who they plan on supporting for president, and many of the answers were not Kamala Harris. When one black man told Lemon he supports Trump and doesn’t believe Harris is good for the “actual lead role for the country,” Lemon asked if it was because Kamala is a woman. “Nah, you’re not going to give me that,” the man smartly responded. Another man told Lemon he supports Trump and doesn’t like Harris because “she has no experience,” which left Lemon yelling, “She’s the vice president, she’s a senator!” The man stuck with his answer. When one man told Lemon he was supporting Trump because he was financially doing better four years ago — Lemon gave his worst response yet. “I know you feel that way, but that’s not actually what the record shows. The economy is actually better under Biden,” Lemon said with a straight face, not joking. When Lemon did hear from a Harris voter, the man said he believes that Trump will win. The men of “Pat Gray Unleashed” are shocked that people aren’t fooled by the Harris campaign — especially after the video her campaign shared of her and Tim Walz picking out Doritos at a gas station. “It’s embarrassing,” Pat Gray comments happily. Want more from Pat Gray?To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Axios' Attempt to Run Cover for Kamala Harris on Price Controls Gets a Community Notes Nuking

Study Shows Corporate Media Is Working Overtime to Make Kamala Harris Look Good

It's been five years since Apple announced it was expanding its hardware and software business to include services. While iCloud has been one of the first subscriptions modern Apple users have taken advantage of, it's far from being the only service the company offers. Currently, users can access Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and even Apple Card. In addition, iCloud is more than just a storage service; it offers even more enticing features, such as Private Relay, Hide my Email and Custom Email. However, iCloud is almost mandatory for a better experience with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so it's only natural that it remains Apple's most popular service. After all, if you don't subscribe to it, you'll have to locally backup your devices, you won't get a synced photo library easily, and so on. In its latest report, CIRP highlighted the most important services offered by Apple, and the results are what you might expect: 64% of Apple buyers pay for iCloud 42% of Apple buyers subscribe to Apple Music 37% of Apple buyers use Apple Podcasts 35% of Apple buyers add AppleCare to iPad 32% of Apple buyers use Apple TV+ Image source: CIRP This data reveals that Apple users are using Apple services more often. However, some are overpaying their subscriptions. Here's why. With an Apple One subscription, users can access at least Apple Music, 50GB of iCloud, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade for $19.95/mo. However, since the iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple TV+ numbers are different, this shows that not only people aren't using Apple One, but they also prefer to pay for these services standalone. One reason is that some Spotify users are die-hard fans, so they won't make the switch to Apple Music. But if you subscribe to Apple Music and Apple TV+, it instantly becomes more beneficial to use Apple One instead of paying for these services separately. In addition, if 50GB isn't enough for you, the second tier of Apple One offers 200GB of storage, but you can share all the subscriptions with up to five other family members, making the value of this service even better. That said, if you want the best iCloud experience, you should get an Apple One subscription and take advantage of more services for less. Below, you can learn more about it. Don't Miss: Apple One subscription: Is it worth it? Price, benefits, and deals The post iCloud is Apple’s most popular service: How to make it an even better value appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $699 Apple Watch Ultra 2, self-bagging trash can, $349 Dyson V8 Plus vacuum, more Today’s deals: $65 smart TV, $18.50 Apple AirTags, $30 electric toothbrush, $424 Lenovo laptop, more Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Today’s deals: Pixel 9 preorder offers, $20 waterproof speaker, $225 HP laptop, $89 Sony earbuds, more