RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/26/pelosis-streets-of-san-francisco

The House Speaker’s recent antics bring to mind a saying, sometimes attributed to Mark Twain: politicians and diapers should be changed often, and for the same reason.

A specter is haunting San Francisco, the city by the Bay, also known as “The City.” Call it the “defecation crisis,” or an excess of excrement, but as they say, it is the shit, and lots of it. So much, in fact, that maps mark out favored defecation areas, and we are not talking about dogs here. Human beings are dropping their drawers and unloading at will, and that’s a problem.

When fecal matter dries, particles become airborne and can spread dangerous viruses such as rotavirus. Inhaling those germs can be fatal, according to infectious disease expert Lee Riley of UC Berkeley, just across the San Francisco Bay. So the dangers of continuing to allow this folly have been proved by science—but The City wasn’t always so foolish.

In 1967, on the cusp of the “Summer of Love,” Scott McKenzie released the song “San Francisco,” all about the gentle people and wearing flowers in their hair. McKenzie passed away at 73 in 2012, and current conditions in The City require some revision to his famous song, perhaps along these lines:

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2019/12/space-destroy-baltimore-hits-highest-murder-rate-daniel-greenfield/

Are we pro-crimed out yet?

Obviously not. As “criminal justice reform” marches on, complete with revolving door crime, cashless bail, and the rest of the horror show. Meanwhile “space to destroy” continues paying dividends in the “city that bleeds” which has just turned into one long episode of The Wire.

Baltimore could wrap up 2019 with its highest per-capita homicide rate on record as killings of adults and minors alike for drugs, retribution, money or no clear reason continue to add up and city officials appear unable to stop the violence.

Police recorded 338 homicides as of Tuesday, following a week of relentless gunfire that saw eight people shot — three of them fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day. That total is up from 309 in 2018 and four shy of the 342 killings tallied in 2017 and 2015, the year when the city’s homicide rate suddenly spiked.

“Suddenly”.

What could have possibly happened in 2015? Oh that’s right. Black Lives Matter threw a tantrum over the accidental death of drug dealer Freddie Gray. And Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”

The media and its assorted fact checkers have turned themselves inside out trying to make her unsay what she said. But here are the numbers.

And then the “homicide rate suddenly spiked”.

This is the fifth year in a row this Mid-Atlantic community dubbed “Charm City” has reported more than 300 killings. Before 2015, that number had generally been on the decline, but the trend reversed after civil unrest followed the death in police custody of a young black man, Freddie Gray.

We had to make it to the 7th para to hear about Freddie Gray. Who’s described as a young man, instead of a drug dealer. And the race riots are described as civil unrest.

Keep spinning, guys. It’s working great.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/man-attacks-three-kosher-eatery-patrons-in-new-jersey-on-christmas-day/

JNS.org – A quiet national holiday was shattered with midday reports spreading on social media of a man attacking Jews at a local kosher eatery.

Shortly before noon on Dec. 25, the Teaneck, NJ, police department received a call reporting an altercation inside of Sammy’s Bagels at 1439 Queen Anne Road, an area surrounded on all sides by kosher and Jewish-owned stores. Sammy’s is a combination of three store fronts; it has pizza and bagel counters, with a made-to-order salad bar, and an organic coffee and beverage bar between the two.

Because of its variety of offerings, it is busy from early morning until evening, and, at that moment, was full of patrons grabbing a quick lunch or a takeout pizza.

According to a release by Township Manager Dean Kazinci and Police Chief Glenn O’Reilly: “The preliminary investigation revealed that this person entered the store and confronted two patrons. He engaged in a verbal dispute with the first patron by using an expletive while telling him to take off his hat. He confronted a second patron inside the store using the same language. This second confrontation turned into a shoving match at which time the patron received a scratch to his face. When the suspect exited the store, he made his way to Palisade Avenue where he confronted a third individual. Again, he made the same comment.”

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/assault-on-2-young-jewish-boys-among-4-antisemitic-attacks-in-new-york-city-in-48-hours-cops-confirm/

“More than half of the hate crimes reported in New York City this year have been antisemitic in nature, with over 150 incidents targeting Jews — a rise of 63 percent on the previous year, according to figures released by the New York Police Department in September.”

An assault on a pair of Jewish children was among the four antisemitic attacks in New York City to have occurred in the space of two days this week, police in the city confirmed on Thursday.

The two boys, ages 6 and 7, were allegedly struck from behind by a group of teenagers in the lobby of a residential building in Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Monday night. according to police. The victims were treated for minor injuries.

The incident took place just hours after an Orthodox Jewish man was attacked on a busy Manhattan street by an assailant who reportedly yelled, “F–k you, Jew bastard.”

A suspect, 28-year-old Steven Jorge of Miami, was arrested following the assault — which took place on E. 41st Street, near 3rd Avenue — and charged with a hate crime.

One occurred around 2 a.m. on Kingston Avenue, where a group hurled antisemitic slurs at a 25-year-old man — with one of them throwing a drink at the victim.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/26/california-faces-lowest-population-growth-since-1900-after-decades-of-economically-ignorant-policies/

As reported by the LA Times, according to data recently released by the Department of Finance, California’s population growth rate for the year ending July 1, 2019, was the lowest the state has experienced since 1900. Estimates indicate the Golden State’s population grew by 0.35 percent over the course of the year (or by 141,000 people), down from 0.57 percent for the previous year ending July 1, 2018.

California’s growth in population was buoyed by the net difference between births and deaths in the state, which amounted to 180,800 people. However, this number was tempered by net losses in migration, which indicate more people are exiting the state than entering it.

While international migration or legal immigration into the state added to California’s population, there was significant negative domestic migration — or rather, people leaving California for other states — amounting to nearly 40,000 residents. According to the Department of Finance, this phenomenon represents “the first time since the 2010 census that California has had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states.”

What Happened to California’s Population Growth?

But where are these people going? According to William Frey of Brookings Institution, they’re heading elsewhere in the West to places economies are picking up, housing costs are cheaper, and there may be no state income tax. According to Frey, the most popular destinations were Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Immigration levels are also declining, which accounts for some of California’s drop in population growth. “In the past, California would be growing because immigration would counteract domestic outmigration,” Frey told the LA times. “The outmigration is in places where housing prices are high and therefore immigration is not being able to counter that.”

Dowell Myers, a demographics expert at USC, told the LA Times that California housing prices are preventing millennials from really establishing the requisite “nest” needed to have kids. He pointed to the shortage of housing choking the supply.

“I think we need to have enough housing for workers to live in and for people to start families. Older people have the right to stay in their houses, but we need to make room for the young people or else we will turn into a retirement city by the sea,” Myers explained. He pointed to LA County as an example, given it experienced a 17 percent decline in the amount of children residing in the area over the last 10 years.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-unemployment/u-s-jobless-claims-fall-point-to-sustained-labor-market-strength-idUSKBN1YU0SM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell last week in a sign of ongoing labor market strength.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would fall to 224,000 in the latest week. Claims have been volatile in recent weeks around the U.S. holiday season and end of the year.

https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/three-assaults-against-jews-reported-in-new-york-just-over-24-hours

Two blocks from Grand Central it is no longer safe to wear a yarmulke — Three assaults against Jews reported in New York in just over 24 hours DPS

(JTA) — A Jewish man wearing a yarmulke was physically and verbally assaulted in Manhattan in one of three assaults against Jews in New York just over a 24-hour period.

A Miami man was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime for the attack late Monday morning about two blocks from Grand Central Terminal, New York Police Sgt. Lee Jones told CNN.

The alleged assailant, Steven Jorge, 28, reportedly punched the 65-year-old victim in the face, knocking him to the ground, and then kicked him repeatedly. He also allegedly yelled “F*** you, Jew” at the victim, who was looking at his cellphone when the attack began, CBS New York reported.

The NYPD Bias Unit is investigating, according to CBS.

The attack was one of three assaults against Jews in New York in 24 hours, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/12/26/americas-critical-medical-device-industry-gets-a-needed-tax-cut/

Medical devices may not be as glamorous as blockbuster drugs, but they include some of the genuine miracles of modern medicine: pacemakers, artificial joints, replacement heart valves, scanners, and cancer radiation-therapy machines. The U.S. has been the global leader in medical devices, one of the few major industries that both boasts a net trade surplus and is a job creator. The sector employs 400,000 Americans directly and is indirectly responsible for almost 2 million more that supply and support the highly skilled workforce. Most important, its products are essential elements of modern medical care, including everything from CT scanners and pacemakers to blood pressure cuffs and robots used by surgeons.

But Washington politics has put this made-in-America success story at risk. For years, the medical device industry was ravaged by unwise public policy, including a devastating 2.3% excise tax that took effect at the beginning of 2013 as part of ObamaCare. It was included largely as an afterthought with little debate or consideration, as one of a grab bag of taxes, fees and fines used to finance the law’s litany of new spending programs.

After a decade, the omnibus spending bill just approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump has finally relegated the device excise tax to the dustbin of history.

The tax, which required the payment of billions of dollars by device manufacturers, was especially pernicious because it was assessed on gross sales, not profits. To put this in perspective, imagine that you’re a manufacturer of medical devices and had a profit of $100,000 on sales of $1 million after all your costs and expenses for everything from materials and labor to research. The excise tax would be $23,000, wiping out almost a quarter of your profits.  

Think that example is extreme? Well, Signus Medical, a small Minnesota company that makes cutting-edge devices used in spinal surgery, ended up paying an effective tax rate of 79%.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/it-hasnt-stopped-him-trump-rolls-up-wins-even-as-impeachment-grips-washington

President Trump enjoyed an extraordinary period of policy successes over the past two weeks, even as Democrats seeking to remove him from office moved articles of impeachment through the House.

As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats damaged Trump politically, the two negotiated an update to the North American Free Trade Agreement, allowing the president to tout a previously elusive trade deal after three years of promising he would complete it. And he and House Democrats compromised on $1.4 trillion in spending that funds critical aspects of Trump’s immigration agenda and delivers on his vision for the Space Force, the first new U.S. military service branch in more than 70 years.

The House voted along party lines to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, an action the president had lamented would amount to a black mark on his legacy. A trial in the Senate, presumably in January, awaits. “But it hasn’t stopped him from having two of the best weeks of his presidency,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters.

Former congressman Jason Altmire, a Democrat from western Pennsylvania who now lives near Jacksonville, Florida, said the spate of deal-making that coincided with impeachment was advantageous to both Trump and congressional Democrats. In part to convince voters that impeachment was unwarranted, Trump needed legislative accomplishments. Democrats, especially in swing districts, needed to show constituents that impeaching Trump was not their only priority.