There goes Zuckerberg

WSJ: "Mark Zuckerberg Is the Latest California Billionaire to Buy a Florida Home - Local real-estate agents say the newly completed mansion on Miami’s Indian Creek will likely fetch between $150 million and $200 million"

Great job, Gavin Newsom:

With Zuck’s move to Florida, California’s total taxable wealth from billionaires has plummeted to well under $1T from over $2T just a few weeks ago. 

The loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever. All because Gavin Newsom stood motionless as this stupidly written bill, from a fringe union and a handful of socialist academics with an axe to grind, meandered its way into the public conversation without any action from him and freaked everyone out. 

These were all people that were paying 13%+ in state income tax every year WITH NO COMPLAINTS UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO.

And now, for the rest of time, the lost tax revenues from these folks will have to be paid for by the middle class because they are the only group left in California large enough that you can tax to fill the hole. 

The wealth tax idea was always stupid because, as I like to say, it's coming into your house and taking the Picasso off the wall.  People understand the concept of taxing income but a wealth tax is an entirely different animal.

Intolerant crybullies

Yahoo: "Bill Maher and Adam Carolla Bash ‘Exclusionary’ Liberals for Sticking to ‘Groupthink’: ‘They’re Not That Bright!’"

Bill Maher and Adam Carolla took turns verbally whacking liberals for being closed-minded and unintelligent bullies who want nothing to do with Americans who do not share their “woke” political opinions.

“They are very exclusionary,” Maher said on the Monday episode of his Club Random podcast. “They really just don’t want to breathe the same air if you’re not exactly with the groupthink — while they’re not that bright!”

I regularly punish myself by watching Kaitlin Bennett on Liberty Hangout interviewing anti-ICE automatons who collapse at the slightest pressure.

They want Bluesky-style exclusion IRL.

Political earthquake in Japan

Ace: "Japan's "Ultra-Right-Wing" Extremist PM Wins a Shockingly Large Victory By Running on Promise to Seriously Restrict Immigration to the Island Nation."

Super Bowl Sunday

So, obviously, the Patriots are going to win.

I'll say 23-16.

So now we're going to ruin the Olympics

Washington Post: "Representing the red, white and blue is complicated for some Olympians - “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.,” says freestyle skier Hunter Hess."

They're going to Colin Kaepernick the Olympics and ruin it Hollywood-style.  We just can't have nice things anymore.

Extra - Here we go: "Team USA skiers spark Olympic boycott calls after saying they have ‘mixed emotions’ about representing America." 

CNN commits an act of journalism

Red State: "Watch: Liberal Media Nails Mayor Frey With an Inconvenient Question About Turning Over Illegal Aliens."

Democrats are always stunned when they're asked a tough question by the mainstream media, like it's a form of betrayal. 

Dow 50,000

Fox Business: "Dow closes above 50,000 for first time."

Democrats hardest hit.

Don't light this candle

Space.com: "NASA fuels up giant Artemis 2 moon rocket. Yes, it's a little leaky. So is it ready to fly?"

Nope: "NASA Moves Artemis II Launch To March."

I believe I mentioned this before but I briefly worked as a project engineer on the Orion program and it was - by far - the worst job I've ever had.  Whatever excitement of "working for NASA" was washed away in a sclerotic bureaucracy that throttled any real progress.  There were regular newsletters circulated that heralded how NASA programs were spread over every state in the Union which should tell you what you need to know: this is a jobs program, not a space program.

The SLS/Orion program is still dependent upon Space Shuttle technology from over 40 years ago.  Why?  Because some Congressman didn't want to see a NASA subcontractor in his/her district lose that sweet federal money.  This is all part of the grift along with the endless delays.  There are never any consequences for delay so why not keep your job going?  These programs achieve a kind of half-life behavior where progress slows the closer you get to the finish line.

I hope and pray I'm wrong, but I fear this Artemis launch will result in cataclysm.

That's why they're hiding the voter rolls

Federalist: "Democrats Hate The SAVE Act Because They Want Illegals To Vote." 

The Washington Post committed suicide

Washington Examiner: "Don't cry for the Washington Post, it helped destroy media."

Over the past decade, the Post has been one of the leading culprits in the collapse of public trust in journalism. The once-venerable outlet has spent the past ten years participating in virtually every dishonest partisan operation of the Left’s enemies, including giving legitimacy to the Brett Kavanaugh group rape accusations, delegitimizing the Hunter Biden laptop story, spreading the Gaza “genocide” lie, covering up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, sliming the Covington children, and countless others. You could write a book listing the Post pieces that were so biased as to be basically fictional.

The Washington Post has been coasting on the fumes of Watergate for almost 50 years and forgot what real journalism looked like.

Supreme impartiality

Miranda Devine in the NY Post: "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson removed any shred of impartiality by applauding anti-ICE speeches at the Grammys" 

She was at the Grammys for a spoken-word nomination, which is fitting since she never shuts up.

It's all been downhill since that smarmy slogan

"Democracy dies in darkness." - "Downfall: Washington Post Lays Off 300 Staffers, Shuttering Sports Section and Gutting Foreign Desk as Once-Mighty Publisher Bleeds Subscribers and Money"

With the benefit of hindsight, it looks like the beginning of the end for the Washington Post was when they decided not to endorse Kamala Harris in 2024.  The #Resistance Leftists went wild and the paper lost a ton of subscriptions.  Very slightly moderating the paper's political bias?  Sacrilege! 

Just so we know who the real victim is

Twitchy: "Mayor Zohran Mamdani Visits Man Who Charged Cops With Knife, Consoles Him."

You'll rarely see a more clear-cut case of a guy begging to get shot.  It must be great to be a cop in NYC right now.

The People's Republic is emptying out

Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe: "Massachusetts keeps losing residents. That’s a choice. - When tens of thousands of people leave year after year, they’re answering a question with their feet."

For years, Massachusetts boosters have insisted that quality-of-life rankings tell the real story. But those are stated preferences. The census data, the moving vans, the shuttered facilities — those are revealed preferences, and they measure what people actually choose when forced to weigh costs against benefits. Policy makers can dismiss those choices as anomalies or distractions. But revealed preferences accumulate, and over time they deliver a verdict that becomes impossible to spin away. Massachusetts can either reckon with why so many residents and businesses keep leaving — or wait until the exodus makes the decision for them.

IIRC in a recent review of out-migration patterns the top 10 states were all deep blue with the exception of Louisiana.

No way will this stop with the billionaires

Reason: "'Billionaire' Tax is a Bait-and-Switch To Gouge the Middle Class" - "Supporters of a "billionaire tax"—an idea being pushed both nationally and in California—claim it will impact only those who can "easily afford it." In fact, it's a Trojan horse. The next step will be to come after middle-class retirement funds and middle-class homes."

Absolutely true, just like the federal income tax was only aimed at the "rich."  What's funny (to me) about the "one time" billionaires tax is that nobody believes it will be a one-off tax.  Everybody believes California will blow the cash on boondoggles like high-speed rail and then come back again.  Then when the "rich" can't be dinged any further, it's time to hit the middle class.

For the children.

Another dilatory tactic

The Corner: "The Iranians Aren’t Acting as Though They Want to Negotiate."

We've seen this movie before: the Iranians pretend they want to negotiate then they change conditions and terms in a bid to buy time.  Even if they sign a treaty, it's not worth the paper it's written on.

The Laffer curve wins again

Washington Post editorial: "Little to gain by raising taxes on the rich - New research shows the current top federal income tax rate is close to revenue-maximizing."

The study cited found that a top tax rate between 30% and 45% would generate about the same revenue over the long term and above 45% would reduce revenues.

And yet I am not stunned

Nor a little surprised: "Stunning number of California voters back wealth tax but admit it will kill jobs: poll."

No kidding: people want free money?  You could knock me over with a wrecking ball.

Extra - Powerline: "The adage holds that if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul." 

Melania Derangement Syndrome

Sasha Stone: "The Critics Embarass Themselves With Their Melania "Reviews"."