Deja Vu All Over Again Part V: The New $100 Million Dollar Connecticut Economic Bribe

$100 million dollars can buy a lot of things in our economy. It could help people pay off the medical debt that they owe. It could pay to comfort and house United States Veterans who are homeless and jobless. It could pay to increase border security and keep America safer at the Mexico/United States border. It could also be used to provide badly-needed tax credits and incentives for small business. It could even pay for a tax reduction. But in the usual Connecticut pattern of Democrats and their cronies sucking at the taxpayer trough, $100 million of Connecticut Taxpayers dollars will be handed out to the politically connected and anointed by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (“DECD”), this time using the new buzz word of "Innovation Clusters".

As in past periods, glowing flowery language is required in order to propound the illusion. So here goes: "The Innovation Clusters Program will prioritize funding for catalytic capital projects that contribute to the development of a campus-setting and cohesive sense of place that complement the state’s existing transit-oriented investments and incorporate a strong focus on workforce training, economic development, neighborhood vibrancy and regional stakeholder collaboration." "Other criteria for funding include: Leveraging partnerships with local businesses, universities, and not-for-profit institutions to maximize investment; Attracting and developing talent; Supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; and Ensuring local improvements through community benefit agreements." (https://portal.ct.gov/office-of-the-governor/news/press-releases/2024/05-2024/governor-lamont-announces-creation-of-the-innovation-clusters-program)

If you are a non-connected standard-language Connecticut Taxpayer trying to decipher what on earth the above paragraph actually means, you may be wondering about the hundreds of millions of dollars that the DECD has given out over the years that is fully kept secret to the public and never really accounted for in a continual litany of fantasy “business development” projects, that if not highly questionable or unethical, have turned to dust. However undeterred, we now have another $100 million dollars that will be used in an identical fashion, and as an added attraction, this is an election year where vote-buying is the objective. However, the state-run media and public relations firms tell us that this funding is critical for the economic development of Connecticut! Connecticut! Connecticut! The state which has ranked last and or near last in most business-related categories such as costs, business friendliness, regulations, transportation, and the like. Connecticut! The state with one of the highest tax rates in the country having 344 different taxes and fees! Connecticut! The state that has $100 to $150 billion dollars in unfunded liabilities along with short- and long-term debt, with no endgame in sight nor any plan to satisfy the debt.

Of course, there is little to no originality in the trough-sucking of the “Innovation Cluster” prop. There is no need for any added efforts. First, King Gov. Ned Lamont the Unaccountable approaches the venue at Yale University with rambling platitudes of Connecticut being a “leader in Fintech and scientific innovation.” Yale, being an institution of higher learning where The Unaccountable is quick to come crowing about fantasy visions of economic sugar plums, but being the same place where he was nowhere to be found during the time of Anti-Israel disturbances. Yale: A place where the Unaccountable’s venture-capitalist wife Annie Lamont holds a high-ranking seat with “Yale Ventures” providing her a birds-eye view to cherry-pick any investment she may deem worthwhile at taxpayer expense. Don’t leave out the usual blandishments from the likes of the writers of Hearst, CT Mirror, CT News Junkie, and the business journals. It is the same story and the same characters, but just a different year and a whole lot of new taxpayer money.

Even a drunken sailor on leave buying drinks for an uncooperative woman knows when to put his wallet away and try his luck elsewhere. But not Connecticut! Connecticut! Where normal common sense does not apply! Where more multi-millions of dollars are handed over without ever having to account for the money that was given to Infosys Limited, Digital Currency Group and its affiliates, "ADVANCECT", Boston Consulting Group, UNITE US (CT), Mt. Sinai Genomics, "Thermo Fisher Scientific", "Sema 4", " Core Informatics", "Ocrulus", "Urjanet", "1life Healthcare", "Galileo Health", "Castlight Health", "Paladina Health", and "VillageMD"“The Horsebarn Hill Investment Fund”, McKinsey, CT Next, and Tidal River Fund. Many wonder where all the jobs and tax revenue are from these companies? Again, we have deafening silence from the Lamont Administration especially when inquiring about the Lamont-based Cayman Islands Limited Partnerships. How much money has been spent, with little to no results from it? Does anyone in the political orbit seem to care?

Again, these are just some more examples of the Lamont-DECD-Oak HC/FT recurring theme of using Connecticut taxpayer monies to prop up questionable investments made by Oak HC/FT and others enabled via the uncontrolled and secretive DECD cash spigot leading to either taxpayer-supported profit but much more often, risk-free loss. Followers of my blog and of Tony De Angelo on 94.9's "Lee Elci Show" are well-familiar with this Lamont shell game. We have both been discussing these problems for several years now with no response from anyone in either this administration or the state-run media. Thus, the new "Innovation Clusters" is the same game with the same result. Connecticut Taxpayers creating profit for the Lamont's family hedge fund and the politically connected Democrat Party. The Lamont rip-off continues unabated to the deafening silence of a lap-dog media and a Democrat supermajority, sprinkled with the silence (or encouragement) of members of the Republican legislature. Once again, taxpayer be damned.

Deja Vu All Over Again Part 4: Democrat Inflation and the Compounded Damage of Politically Generated Economic Stupidity

Over the past three years we have had excessive runaway inflation in our economy. The political explanations for this phenomenon have been farcical, if not frightening. Over the past three years, my students have asked me on numerous occasions to explain what is happening in our economy to cause inflation. To this, I have always defined Inflation as is a sustained increase in the overall price levels of consumer goods and services. In other words, an item that used to cost $1 now costs $1.50 or has increased in cost by 50%.

It is simple. In an inflationary environment, consumers, families, and businesses must pay more to purchase the same items. Where does this money come from? Consumers have limited options that include cutting back on their purchases, buying these same items using credit cards and having to pay back that amount with interest over a longer period, cashing in savings to help pay for these items and/or not buying the item and doing without. Businesses must now cope with raw material cost increases, higher transportation costs, higher insurance costs, higher taxes at all levels of government, and more useless and hurtful government interference during a period of inflation. Consequently, this situation leads business to either increase the costs of the product, good or service that is sold. Of course, it is important to realize that based on our somewhat free market economy, businesses need to make a profit to remain open. How can they stay in business if they do not? Can any elected official explain this to us? Can business stay open only if government says it's okay to stay in business via Taxpayer funded subsidies and or political contributions to elected officials’ campaigns? Look at the contraction in businesses in Connecticut since the illegal shutdowns implemented by the Lamont administration during the Covid-19 debacle.

To get to the roots of inflation, we unfortunately must start at the top. The Democrat Biden Administration has engineered a massive overhaul of the works and functions of our economy since it took office in 2021. The voodoo policy of “Bidenomics” has tortured the economy with disastrous results, including runaway inflation. From a pure economics view, many of the policies it embarked upon defy economics (if not gravity), and are economically incoherent to anyone with the least sense of logic or reason. Examples include an open border with Mexico that has led to Taxpayers paying for illegal migrants coming in from other countries for their clothing shelter, food, transportation, and medical care, among other things. This policy has placed an exceptionally high burden on Florida, Texas and their border communities while increasing numbers of illegals flee to Democrat run cities like Chicago and New York City thereby causing massive social and economic problems such as crime, murder, illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking, a housing shortage and much more in these places. The economic costs of all the social welfare programs to pay for these multi-millions of people here illegally are estimated at $42 billion dollars a year. In my opinion, these costs are underestimated since we have no idea how much the "gotaways" or those illegal immigrants who cannot be found are costing the economy. My economic guess is that Taxpayers are paying roughly $60 billion dollars a year at a minimum for this economic nightmare of the Democrat Biden administration. (https://budget.house.gov/imo/media/doc/the_cost_of_illegal_immigration_to_taxpayers.pdf). This extra $42 to $60 billion dollars is a massive drain on our economy. Illegal immigration is a massive drain on housing costs in cities, medical care, social welfare services and our public education system. It is now common for legal Taxpaying American citizens to be ignored while illegal immigrants are getting a blank check and free hand in their "needs". With an increase in consumption and a decrease and supply and production, inflation soon follows.

Of course, the Democrat-led economically clueless Connecticut State Legislature (and its presiding Paterfamilias, King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable) are not to be undone in continually throwing good taxpayer money after bad, with such disasters always leading to increases in taxes, fees, useless and painful regulations, and the ceremonial hiring of politically connected cronies. As a case in point, I was saddened this week by the closing of a Bob’s Furniture Warehouse in Meriden, CT (https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/financial-issues-threaten-154-jobs-at-bobs-stores-eastern-mountain-sports-warehouse-in). However, in 2018, I had written a blog (https:/swickspeak.blogspot.com/2018/02/connecticuts-department-of-economic-and.html) about the serial handover of taxpayer dollars to this same organization through the oxymoronic Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, a Cracker Jack box of favors for the politically connected. But to the inflation matter at hand, wasted money and increased expenses invariably lead to tax increases, which lead to greater inflation. Even so, no one in our legislature ever makes a proposal of either gutting or abolishing this tax-consuming and grossly incompetent organization as more taxpayer-financed debacles soon to follow.

Are you interested in learning about more money-burning follies? Green energy and the hysteria and paralysis against the use of fossil fuels have led to massive increases in our energy costs in our economy. Why is fossil fuel bad? Can this be explained? Why is there a massive regression racing to an unsustainable green energy plan with undesired electric vehicles due to their cost and lack of range one can drive on a battery charge? Our economy cannot magically retool our driving capabilities for electric vehicles without serious issues in finding raw materials to manufacture their car batteries, deal with their flammability, and managing an electrical grid incapable of keeping up with the demand for electricity with these vehicles being forced into the economy. No amount of Taxpayer funded subsidies will create this Utopian clean energy concept that seems to be the Job No. 1 concern of Socialist/Democrat acolytes.

In addition, there will be long term damage to our environment with the constant demand of large wind turbines that upset our oceans and seas and murder sea mammals. Much more, our country could dramatically reduce energy prices with the reopening of the Keystone Pipeline, more natural gas use and the use of safe nuclear and hydrogen power options. Instead, the political system races to the disaster of a new stone age due to these incoherent policies.

In addition, higher energy costs contribute dramatically to higher food costs. My good friend Tony De Angelo stated on his segment on 5/21/24 on the Lee Elci Show 94.9 correctly that higher transportation prices have led to much higher food prices. He is correct in his cause-and-effect analysis of these increases which are causing massive issues for families trying to feed themselves. Still, the entire political system turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to the simplest and most practical inflation-fighting tool, being the cost of cheap fuel.

If you observe, you will see that the size of some products has gone down, and the prices have increased. The new term made up by woke economists "shrinkflation" blames businesses for this new type of inflation. Sadly, businesses must remain competitive, therefore they have to cut costs. These same businesses are also being hammered by green energy zealots to make all packaging eco-friendly, non-polluting, and recyclable at all costs. This mantra and mandate have increased costs for all food products and in some cases has shrunk the size of the product being sold to meet this unrealistic and fantastic goal of green energy. Instead, Democrats choose to blame grocers for "excessive profits" and "greed". However, these Democrats should be continually reminded that their political system, fundraising activities and promotions are the genuine source of "excessive profits" and "greed" since that money is taken out the economy and placed in nonproductive and programmed uselessness doing little to benefit the economy except for the ruling political class of both the Democrat and Republican parties. Connecticut is an excellent example of this buffoonery in its politically elite system.

America has declined economically and socially since the irrational Democrat Biden administration has taken office, aided by the ineptitude, recklessness, and cluelessness of states such as King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable’s Connecticut. Our country has seen a massive rise in the blatant discrimination of Jewish people, conflicts with the axis of evil, Iran, China and Russia, a damaging open border policy, a fanatical and economically irrational green energy plan, campus unrest and violence, a fixation on proper nonsensical “woke” terms meant to divide and cause hate and derision, and the serious, far reaching impacts of insane government policies by a pathetic and corrupt Democrat President hell bent on destroying our economy through runaway inflation. Legal Americans should not be forced to forage for food like animals, be dictated to by a political system leading from behind without common sense and to be subjected to crime, rape, and murders thanks to an unconstitutional open border policy.

Inflation is a major problem that has turned into a political game of cat and mouse with the losers being the American Taxpayers who must just grin and bear this incomprehensible destruction of economic freedoms and our country as we once knew it. Inflation can be stopped but not by our current elected government and state government and the collective disrespect and hatred they hold for America.

Deja Vu All Over Again. Part 3. A Taxpayer Never Gets a Break in The Land of Steady Habits

Connecticut is a state known by many names. The Nutmeg State. The Gateway to New England. The Constitution State. But perhaps the most apt name for Connecticut over the past few decades is the Land of Steady Habits. This name is incredibly apt and deserved as the steadiest of habits for Connecticut has been its insatiable desire to tax, to spend, and to add to its bulbous and inept Administrative State in grotesque proportions. Again, Taxpayer be damned.
Week in and week out and year and year out, Connecticut Taxpayers do not get a break from paying excessive, new, and higher taxes coupled with the daily fear of crime and having their vehicles broken into and or stolen. The Legislative session of 2024 arrogantly signaled to Connecticut Taxpayers that there will be no respite from paying excessive, new and higher taxes any time soon, and no respite from living with the daily fear of crime and/or having their vehicles broken into and or stolen. Rather, Connecticut Taxpayers received more of the same in review of just some of the brutal bills that will end up costing Connecticut Taxpayers more in taxes and the costs of goods and services they must purchase, thanks to the arrogant Connecticut Democrat Party.
As discussed last week, the horrific HB 5431 "AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE STABILIZATION SUPPORT AND ARPA REPLACEMENT FUND" did indeed pass. Unbelievably, it does mandate for Connecticut Taxpayers to pay for unemployment benefits for striking workers. Why did this pass? Why has the definition of being unemployed changed? Further, why does the burden in the Land of Steady Habits never shift from off the backs of the private sector and small business?
But unfortunately, the oppression does not stop there. These same beleaguered small businesses will now see increased costs from HB 5005 "AN ACT STUDYING PAID SICK DAYS" that expands the types of employees that receive annual paid sick leave. It will also gratuitously expand the definition of “family members” for family leave purposes. This Act will also increase the rate at which leave accrues and broaden the diverse ways leave days can be used. These changes will of course cause an increase in the costs of operating a business which will only be passed on to consumers in the form of higher costs for goods and services. Again, why is there yet one other job-killing business-hostile policy lifted on to the backs of tired and poor taxpayers and small businesses? Yet one is supposed to believe that this Democrat Party-driven policy is a great benefit and blessing to the masses, and the shrinking coffers of the private sector can be damned.
Of course, in Connecticut’s Land of Steady Habits there are never (ever) any proposals from the legislature to lower taxes, cut, cap and end pensions, eliminate "quasi-public" organizations, or to otherwise shrink and streamline the Connecticut Administrative State. But predictably, we see the opposite. As a matter of social justice and right, several bills were brought forth demanding new and higher taxes and or increases in capital gains. After all, this is the Land of Steady Habits! It is the habitual hissing and popping of a broken record, repeating and repeating the same old refrain. More of what we have heard about for the past 34 years. More money will solve all of Connecticut's social ills (like crime), more money is needed for failing schools, more money is needed for underpaid Connecticut state unionized employees, more money is needed for the big, dangerous and corrupt cities such as Bridgeport and New Haven. The list is always endless, and the results are always horrific since nothing is ever mentioned in the state-run media about The Land of Steady Habits having $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with a myriad of unfunded liabilities.
What do Connecticut Taxpayers really get for a $26 billion dollar plus yearly budget? What do Connecticut Taxpayers really receive for over $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities? Connecticut can't declare bankruptcy. It should, given its current insolvent economic state that has grown worse since the establishment of the Utopian cure-all state income tax. No matter how much your income is, you will never pay enough in taxes. No matter how much your taxes increase they will never keep up with the massive social ills, waste, and the increasing and crony driven Administrative State in The Land of Steady Habits that just keeps getting bigger and bigger year-in and year-out.
Taxpayers never get a break in Connecticut, but rather will be broken. The Democrat Party of The Land of Steady Habits will make sure of that forever.

Deja Vu, Part 2. More Bad Connecticut Democrat Party Legislation In 2024, For You. (HB5431)

Picture if you will the end of a state legislative session. The legislators, tired but fulfilled, congratulate each other, and relish the satisfaction of participating in a groundbreaking session of lawmaking and policy that sets a tone for fiscal stability, economic development, and citizen safety for the state. After a rousing address by the Governor, the legislature departs, basking in the glow of a job very well done in the best interests of the public.
And in stark contrast, picture the end of the Connecticut State Legislature’s term on May 8, 2024.
Since the late 1980's, Connecticut's State Legislature painfully ends every session after finding new ways of hemorrhaging more Connecticut Taxpayer money, taking away more personal freedoms, and helping wreck and destroy businesses in the state. The "short" 2024 legislative session was no different than all of the past 34 years of Democrat Party induced economic and societal decay and destruction. In true racketeering legislative style, the one bill that had no public hearing whatsoever and was summarily rammed through the wickets has been nicknamed by Democrats and labor leaders as "The Striking Workers Assistance Fund". It is HB 5431 "AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE STABILIZATION SUPPORT AND ARPA REPLACEMENT FUND" (https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2024&bill_num=5431).

Rather than deciphering needless legislative Greek, you, I, and many others may be wondering what this law is and of course wonder how much it will cost Connecticut taxpayers. The bill’s creator, Democrat/Socialist State Representative Manny Sanchez of New Britain originally created a placeholder (aka dummy) bill that has been traditionally viewed as a piece of legislation that does not contain any content, later gets voted out of committee as a placeholder for last day or last minute legislation to be inserted, manipulated, and passed, over any objections by the minority party and of concerned right-thinking citizens watching from afar. Democrat/Socialist State Representative Manny Sanchez of New Britain facilitated the formation this deceitful work of pro-union labor/pro socialist-anti business rhetoric by changing the original name of the bill from “An Act Concerning Expenditures of the General Fund,” to “An Act Establishing the Stabilization Support and ARPA Replacement Fund.”

By way of information, "(t)he amended bill allocates $3 million of unspent funds from the “unexpended balance of funds appropriated to State Comptroller — Fringe Benefits, for State employees Health Service Costs” to create a new account dubbed the “Connecticut Families and Workers account.” Additionally, it mandates the Comptroller to devise a plan on how to spend the funds to support low-income workers."(https://yankeeinstitute.org/2024/05/07/the-house-masters-the-art-of-deception-advances-big-labor-priority-bill).
In simple terms, what is the need for a "Connecticut Families and Workers account" and what does it entail and why? Don't most Connecticut families and workers work to support themselves unless they are disabled or ill, and pay some of the highest tax rates in the country? Once the $3 million dollars in unspent funds is finally expended, how much in new or higher taxes will be implemented to pay for this new socialistic program and how many more cronies and politically connected will be hired with tax dollars to administrate said fund?
Also, from the limited information that has been provided, the bill forces Connecticut Taxpayers to pay for striking workers unemployment benefits. I wonder how this is legal given the current set up of the state's unemployment compensation benefits fund given the following statement:
"You can receive benefits if you meet a series of legal eligibility requirements
You must be monetarily eligible.
You must be totally or partially unemployed.
You must have an approvable job separation; the law imposes a disqualification for certain types of separations.
You must meet certain weekly legal requirements; weekly requirements include being physically and mentally able to work, being available for and seeking work*, and filing your weekly claim for benefits on a timely basis.
If you are identified as likely to exhaust unemployment benefits and are enrolled in the worker profiling and reemployment services program, you must fully participate in all assessment interviews, orientation, and referred reemployment services."(https://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/progsupt/unemplt/claimant-guide/eligibility.htm)
Can anyone explain how striking workers have an "approvable job separation" and who is responsible for determining said approval? By allowing striking workers unemployment benefits, hasn't the state basically redefined "unemployment", and thus ruled the unemployment benefits compensation fund of Connecticut invalid by definition? I will therefore assume that those businesses currently paying into this fund should stop, as the legal definitions of "unemployment" have changed, especially since humble private businesses must now support striking workers that often receive striker’s benefits. When and if enacted into law, should this bill now go to the Connecticut Supreme Court to rule on its legality based on the state's new and bizarre definition of one being deemed "unemployed"?

But as the sun sets over the Nutmeg State, we close the door on another legislative session where non-connected Connecticut citizens measure the success of the same by the smallest possible amount of damages sustained by acts of the Legislature. While bills concerning weighty matters like pizza and puppies become law, the reality 2024 echoes the same as years past where laws comprised on hundreds of pages handed out in the middle of the night must be voted upon with no debate nor any actual reading of the bill. Connecticut Taxpayers who generally have no legal representation in the Legislature must accept without questions the horrific, complacent, self-serving bills of King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable's omnipotent ruling Democrat Party. HB 5431 is just another step in the continuing economic quagmire of the Democrat conflagration of Connecticut Taxpayers and Businesses. And it is this scenario that the omnipotent and arrogant one-party rule Democrat Party demands re-election on in November 2024.

Continuing along this path, Connecticut will be truly damned.

Déjà vu All Over Again. The New Connecticut Slums of 2024

Most readers are familiar with the timeless Christmas movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life," made in 1946. In this film, viewers are transported to the quaint town of Bedford Falls, where the intricate tapestry of human lives unfolds against the backdrop of two contrasting visions of community. At the center of this narrative lies the enthusiastic figure of George Bailey, whose dreams of adventure are perpetually tethered to his hometown's fate. Yet, looming over Bedford Falls is the bleak shadow of his wretched banking competitor Mr. Potter, a miserable miserly man whose wealth and influence cast a long, dark shadow over the town.
As the story unfolds, viewers are drawn into a captivating exploration of these two men and their divergent visions for the future of housing for Bedford Falls. On one hand, there is Potter, whose intention for housing is in his ownership of “Pottersville,” a pathetic, decaying slum where depressed renters pay their substance to this miserable wretch of a man having no regard for them nor any incentive to do better by them. However, in stark contrast stands Bailey, a man whose dreams soar far beyond the confines of his modest hometown. Unlike Potter, Bailey sees housing as a cornerstone of community prosperity. His unwavering commitment to personal development culminates in the creation of Bailey Park – a vibrant oasis amidst the urban blight, a home ownership park where people could live and love and enjoy the fruits of their ownership and respective individual visions, free from oppression.
In the battle between Potter's greed and Bailey’s vision, the enduring spirit of hope and belonging fostered by Bailey created a much better future for all for the most obvious of reasons.

Fast forward to 2024. Rather than making housing policies that foster the growth, development, and financial empowerment of Connecticut citizens, the omnipotent One-Party Democrat machine (with no real opposition) has decided to bring a New-Age version of the slums to every city, town, and village in this formerly great and proud Nutmeg state. Forced socialistic housing.  Government mandated housing. Ugly and/or non-descript buildings.  Rentals only.  No homeownership, as rental properties need to be controlled by political cronies under the guise of “Transit Oriented Housing.”  These days, we are to willingly throw away local control of property and hand it over to yet another highly paid, unelected unaccountable, (and ostensibly racist) bureaucrat with political connections to the omnipotent Connecticut Democrat Party. 
Welcome to “Pottersville-CT 2024” (aka “Slums R’Us”) . Numerous bills such as Senate Bill No. 6; "An Act Concerning Housing to make housing more affordable for Connecticut residents." and House Bill 5390 “An Act Concerning Transit Oriented Communities”, have been introduced and or passed claiming the Utopian "affordable" housing mantra along with "free" public transportation in the form of "exceptionally high-speed trains” and or electric "green" buses in some cases .  These items will sprout up so that people will no longer need horrifically polluting efficient private vehicles nor discriminatory, unjust, biased and racist private homes to live in. (These are not my words, but rather the words of various “housing advocates” that have been on this trail for several years). Moreover, the system must crush all individual vision and initiative for growth because the government and the bureaucratic state can never be anything but the gold standard in their continual quest for the perfect economic and residential train wreck coming soon to a town near you.

What the moronic forces of government continually fail to understand is that socialistic collectivism has failed for over 2000 plus years, but now is again the "best" alternative that the Democrat Party can produce as it drives both the most votes and campaign contributions. This money especially comes from those developers and political hangers on that are seeking these new rental properties and housing developments. It is a devastating game played at the expense of the poor non-connected taxpayer. Further it is laughable that none of these brain-dead legislators and “housing advocates” would be caught dead living in any one of these projects, perhaps recalling the episode of Democrat Mayor Jane Byrne of Chicago. Mayor Byrne fended off complaints of combat zone conditions in the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago by volunteering to live there. (She lasted five whole days).
Why is affordable housing such an issue for the past 40 years in Connecticut?  Could it be a prohibitive cost of living coupled with high local property and state taxes caused by the exceptionally high cost of redundant and incompetent local and state governments and/or their associated unions and lackeys?   Could it be that excessive zoning and permit processes have contributed to the high costs of housing in in the state?  Could it be that businesses in the state have a difficult time staying open and providing higher paying jobs due to the endless taxes, rules and economic burdens they daily must abide by that are force fed to them by elected and appointed governmental officials who have never run a business in their lives nor would they have any idea as to how to run a lemonade stand

My friend and colleague Tony De Angelo continually points out on his two show appearances each week that the “Pottersville” model of housing is a farcical and dangerous charade, proved useless long ago by the devolution of the “affordable” housing projects of the past into drugs, gangs, murders, and eventually, demolition. Tony asked as to why if there is a genuine (and not contrived) need for housing, why not make the units cooperatively owned by residents and subsidize them with mortgages rather than fill the pockets of dubious corporate developers? But there never is an answer to that particular question as that is not how the game is played. This new “workforce” or “Transit Oriented” housing must be taken away from local town and city governments and placed into the hands of new "zoning" czars handpicked by Hartford elitists.  (And questions remain as to why Connecticut needs “workforce housing” where there is only business shrinkage and citizens are leaving the state in droves?)
Further, think back to March 2023 and House Bill No. 6890 a bill, also known as "Work, Live, Ride" giving incentives for “transit-oriented development” within a half mile of bus and train stations, executed under an autonomous new "Coordinator" working in the new "Office of Responsible Growth" within the Intergovernmental Policy Division of the Office of Policy and Management.  How does affordable housing equate to "responsible growth" when cities and towns are wrecked in the process?  Is the "responsible growth" designed to benefit those politically connected to the Ned Lamont and his Connecticut Democrat Party? Citizens of Connecticut are not supposed to ask those questions, nor are they to question the actions or motives of the new acolytes of Mr. Potter. End of story.
Housing is a problem in our economy.  Like the cooperative model above, there are actual ways for housing to become more affordable without the state of Connecticut picking winners and losers, as it does with all the free money it gives to failing businesses in the state.  As just one small example zoning restrictions should be removed in the state with a much lower rate of taxation especially for regions that could actually stimulate real housing growth and make housing more affordable.  Or, how about a pro-business agenda that allows for free market wages to be paid as opposed to an excessively high minimum wage for jobs that require little work skills. This would stimulate more employment and taxation on its own and eliminate the need for governmental interference in the labor market. 
The current economic stagnation that the state has been in since 1990 shows little signs of abatement also contributing to the state's housing crisis.  Instead, the brainless plans being offered are reheated versions of the same failures of the past fifty years and will help create the new slums of the future. Moreover, given the current crop of legislative stalwarts as presided over by King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable, there is little hope for change in sight. 
Just maybe a different course of action might help to house those who need housing in the state. “It’s A Wonderful Life” showed us the blessings of Bailey Park. Instead, Connecticut is brainlessly proceeding to the 2024 version of Pottersville, and a new generation of failed publicly driven housing disasters in progress. When, will we say, enough is enough.

Free Israel. Free Jewish Students and Professors. Free Jewish Students from Campuses Where They Are Being Persecuted.

Free Israel. Free Jewish Students and Professors. Keep them from harm and abuse in colleges such as Columbia, USC, and Yale. I really cannot believe we are having this discussion in our society today. But with our economy, lives and society turned upside down by Joe Biden and his liberal socialist/communist Democrat Party along with complicit state governments run by incoherent and delusional haters of our country, the hatred of Israel and people of Jewish faith should be no surprise.

I and many others have had enough of the anti-Israel and Pro-Hamas demonstrations we have seen on our college campuses and through the illegal protesting at airports, highways and other public places in our country and world. I and many others have simply had enough of the surreptitious posture of feckless leaders like Connecticut’s King Gov. Ned Lamont the Unaccountable making statements about the Yale protests such as “I think broadly speaking (the anti-Israel protests) been a peaceful demonstration over a cause people believe in,” https://ctexaminer.com/2024/04/23/rise-in-antisemitic-incidents-spark-fear-security-concerns-in-connecticut/. I and many others have had enough of cowardly legislatures such as Connecticut’s not cutting off state funding to schools like Yale until such time as the abuses cease. I and many others have had enough of the silence of elected officials overall, especially Jewish Democrats in not condemning the terrorist actions of Hamas and the murdering in cold blood of over 1,200 Jewish people on October 7, 2023. I and many others want to know why our work, travel and education must be violated by these protestors. I and many others wonder why we must endure their incoherent psychobabble nightly on television and wonder why these attention-seeking spoiled brats are not summarily arrested, or at least summarily ignored by now. Many Taxpayers are sickened that their hard-earned tax dollars have been sent in all sorts of financial benefits to many of these same Universities where it seems like these protests are nurtured and encouraged.

Yale, Columbia, USC, and New York Universities come to mind as being models for anti-Jew and anti-Semitic conduct by observing what is taking place on their campuses. Universities where learning obviously no longer has a place for the students and professors of the Jewish faith who attend and teach there. Racism and bigotry reign supreme for these woke, liberal cesspools of supposed learning and diversity that Taxpayers help to fund.

As an educator, my view of the targeting of Jewish people is ironic, if not dastardly. The Jewish people have always prized the gift and virtue of education as one of their highest priorities. This thirst for knowledge reaches back to Biblical times. Boys aspiring to become rabbis had to memorize the first five books of the Old Testament by the time they were thirteen. The Torah reinforces the forty-eight (48) scriptural virtues, many having to do with education. My friend and colleague Tony De Angelo pointed out on the Lee Elci Show that the goal of Senator Joe Lieberman’s mother was to encourage him to be the first Jewish President of the United States. So, it would seem perversely apropos that the most devastating attack upon the Jewish people would be against their education. (And it is also a blessing that Joe Lieberman is not alive to see the travesty that is taking place against his people at his beloved Yale University, especially with such tragedy engendered by the modern-day version of his Democratic party).

Moreover, having taught for over 42 years on a college level, I have instructed many students of all different faiths including Jewish students. In my own observation these Jewish students excel in their studies. They try to better themselves through education. They have a true respect and tradition with many colleges and universities throughout the world. Why is it socially acceptable now to strip them of this achievement? Why is it acceptable to satisfy these protestors who are in the minority in their beliefs and twisted ideologies of terrorism? Where are the leaders of these colleges? They obviously are ill equipped to remain in their highly paid positions of power if they are so blind to what is happening on their campuses. Campuses that are now segregated between Jews and non-Jews. Campuses where Jews are being persecuted regularly. What happened to the rights of all students, of all faiths?

Are we as a people just going to stand back as those did in the 1930's when the Nazi's started rounding people of the Jewish faith to begin the Holocaust? Are we beginning the new Holocaust of 2024 with paid college demonstrators and their love of the Hamas terrorists? The protestors have no issues with the terrorist actions of Hamas and their murdering of over 1200 Jewish people in cold blood. And now, we have now absolutely no decency or respect for the human life especially if one professes the Jewish faith.

It is time for these protests to end. It is time for the Hamas terrorists to be eliminated and jailed for their crimes against humanity. It is time for educational institutions facilitating this abusive and abhorrent behavior to be defunded and starved out. Remember that this situation would not have reached this point of no return if these Hamas terrorists did not murder on October 7, 2023. And are the Hamas terrorists the true government of Palestine? It sure seems like it to many rational law-abiding citizens of the world.

Israel will always defend itself against those who wish would eliminate it and its right to freedom of religion and the right to self-government. Maybe, (just maybe) we could see a daily condemnation of these Hamas terrorists by both sides of our political aisle, followed by a withholding of educational grant funding. Maybe (just maybe) we could see the entire Connecticut legislature pass a unanimous joint resolution condemning this wretched behavior and withholding its state funding until this nightmare ends. If this were to occur, it would be the first time in the past four years that the horrific Biden and Lamont Administrations did something right for both religious freedoms, and the free world.

 

Connecticut! The Place Where Your Government Is Your Best Friend, and Where Your Grocer Is Your Bitter Enemy

From time to time, we are treated to a manufactured fake-news event promoted by the Connecticut Democrat Party in their sworn mission to damage Connecticut's fragile and failing economy.  This latest event concerning “elevated” grocery store prices led us to a pseudo-intellectual faux economic mission reverberating all over state-run media outlets last week stating that grocery stores of all sizes are "price gouging", are earning "excessive" profits, and telling us that only state government can fix this problem. During a charade of a press conference held on April 10, Democrat Attorney General William Tong stated: “We won’t stop!” in announcing the inquiry. “We will keep going until we have an understanding of this market.” (https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/connecticut-ag-launches-inquiry-grocery-price-gouging). 

 First, I had no idea Democrat Attorney General William Tong had degrees in economics and/or accounting and was an expert in grocery store logistics and management.  Secondly, I had no idea that grocery stores large and small were price gouging?  Third, I had no idea that Democrat Attorney General William Tong could instantaneously get his finger around the concept of runaway inflation which has been occurring since Democrat President Biden has taken office in 2021.  My good friend Tony De Angelo talked about this new Tong investigation at length on this past Tuesday in his weekly segment on the Lee Elci Show 94.9 (A MARKUP OF MISINFORMATION- Tony De Angelo) where Tony pointed out that the 63 page Federal Trade Commission report (“FTC”, “report”) sourcing this press charade, never even once mentioned the term “price gouging” therein. This is even more startling, considering  that the report was engendered by the far-left Biden-appointed Marxist-inspired Commissioner of the  FTC, Lina Khan. And as Tony pointed out, who can trust any representation the media-political machine makes in Connecticut, especially when one remembers the debacles of the Scott Franklin-BLM mural vandalism a year ago in Hartford, or much more the lies, graft, and mismanagement of Covid-19.

As a primer to the political class, there are many costs involved in running a business.  In order to remain in business, a business needs to make a profit.  A profit may be defined as when the amount of revenue is greater than the costs of producing/selling a service or product.  In the case of Connecticut's grocery stores, revenue must exceed the cost of products they are selling.  It is very difficult for any business to operate during a period of runaway inflation and dysfunctional energy costs such as we have experienced since the Biden regime took office in 2021.  Depending on what you may see, food prices over the past three years have gone up between 30 and 120%.   Food store operating costs have basically doubled along with increases in most other consumers products such as energy, housing, insurances and transportation.  Everything we need to live on has gone up dramatically. And everything we either have or do or purchase has a cost factor tied to energy. When one considers the fantastical and irrational wind-driven climate change-paralyzed energy policy of Connecticut, none of what we see is difficult to understand in the least of ways.

For those of us who are based in reality and candor, here is a mere sample of the costs that grocery stores incur when trying to sell those "overpriced" almonds or eggs in their stores: labor costs that include hourly wages, social security taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, mandated Family Medical leave taxes, benefits paid by the grocer including (but not limited to) paid sick, vacation, personal, holiday time off, medical and dental insurances. If there is a company retirement plan, it is an administrative monster to administrate; if there is not, the store must deal by law with the confused, horrific (and inept) “My CT Savings” plan presided over by a state Comptroller with no understanding of the present value of a dollar and his accompanying four-star CT administrative state Retirement Security Authority. But wait! There is more!  Like Insurance costs! These costs include insurance premiums paid on property including accident, personal property liability, vehicles owned by the grocery, and theft.  There are also the costs of transportation to get the products to the store (since fossil fuels have been attacked by the Democrat Party, prices have skyrocketed).  There are also the costs of transaction fees by customers using debit and credit cards.  Taxes are a large cost to the grocer that include but are not limited to permits, licenses, local property taxes, state corporate income taxes including surtaxes, sales taxes collected and sent to the state, state and federal taxes on fuel, state unemployment compensation taxes, and other miscellaneous taxes paid to the state.  There are also increasing utility costs that include one of the highest electric rates in the country, internet, phone, and natural gas.  The costs of all of the food that is sold by the store also have to be factored in. The costs of maintaining and cleaning the stores both inside and outside need to be added.  We should include the costs of shoplifting and theft in grocery stores as items stolen by criminals in Crime Free Democrat Connecticut are removed from inventory.  There are more costs both implicit and explicit including the actual time spent filling out governmental bureaucratic forms, but we can save that for another time.  In review of all of the above costs, it is clear that just about all of our elected officials have no clue of the costs and burdens involved in running the "profit gouging" grocery stores in Connecticut as they are the people responsible for causing the increases in the first instance due to their burdensome and horrifically costly policies.  

I am also confused as to how "price gouging" can exist given all these costs?  And if most of these grocers are private businesses, what right does Connecticut's state government have to either impose limits on their "highest" profits and or tell them what they can or can't charge in their stores based on exceptionally low profit margin which are traditionally 1 to 3% of gross sales? But I know it is possible to get more votes in an election year by bashing an entire visible industry like evil capitalist grocers.  This burden is especially obscene as this same government placed such costly and ridiculous protocols on grocers to stay open during the pandemic while erasing their meager profit margins. But during that same pandemic, didn't King Ned Lamont's The Unaccountable’s family hedge fund Oak HC/FT, make some incredible profits at Connecticut Taxpayers expense during the same Covid-19 crisis and such fact is not even disputed by his sycophants, toadies, and lackeys? Why has that not yet been investigated by William Tong? We also see sales tax revenues at an all-time high due to inflation.  Why isn't this considered "price gouging"?  Why isn't there an investigation launched to study this, as well? 

Why would any rational person want to own and operate a business in Connecticut?  Connecticut still has over $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. Connecticut is still a bottom five state in our country in all business categories including high taxes, excessive regulations, a pitifully poor infrastructure, and is still incapable of creating new jobs to get out of the recession of 2008-09.  Rather than deal with this compounded corrupt and inept mess, the solution for Connecticut Democrats is to slam the grocery industry and put them in their place.  I can only imagine the contraction in the grocery industry in the state after this latest farcical attempt by elected rulers to demand, demean and destroy their profitability.  Yet, this is another example of a state government's excess and its economic illiteracy and incompetency as to how the economy works.  The food shortages and food deserts will be coming soon due to your local closed and out-of-business "profit gouging" retail grocery store, thanks to the omnipotent Connecticut Democrat Party. 

 

 

The Economic Farcical Clown Show Commonly Known As Connecticut

This past week, the poor, beleaguered taxpaying citizens of Connecticut were treated to the public sham and spectacle of the state’s leading political brain trust cursing and condemning supermarket operators for “price gouging”. Since just about every single one of these people has never done anything whatsoever in the realm of private-sector gainful employment, or can tell the difference between a profit and loss statement and a kite, it does not dawn upon them (or just about anyone in the Connecticut Legislature) that bad and foolish energy policy is the root cause of the majority of economic problems. All products and services are affected by fuel. Fuel costs money. Fuel costs increase expenses. Expenses impact prices. And as my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo often says, it's as simple as that, and just as difficult. And unfortunately, these concepts are much too difficult to comprehend for just about every elected official in the state.
Welcome to the pie-in-the-sky fintech-wind powered-climate-change-terrified Economic woke-liberal universe, where simple economic facts understood by high school business students are difficult to comprehend for many of the liberals/Democrats and Socialists in our country. We can see this from the complete economic failures of the pathetic, inept, and corrupt Biden Administration featuring runaway inflation, a failed green energy plan, excessive taxation, and a crippling $34 trillion dollar National Debt. As apples do not follow far from trees, let us now focus on the vast economic wasteland with an omnipotent one party Democrat-ruled government known as Connecticut, with socialistic pressure on legitimate businesses, high taxation, a loss of jobs, a poor and uncoordinated infrastructure, an imperious administrative state, excessive state mandates on its cities and towns, and the excessive economic costs of rampant and unchecked crime that the state does not wish to control and frequently explains away in its state-run media broadcasts.
As just about no legacy–reward the loyal with government jobs media outlet in Connecticut can be trusted with any consistent objectivity, one is forced to look outside of the state to find honest and objective information as to what is actually happening. In this connection, these economic facts were presented in the "2024 Rich States, Poor States ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index © 2024 American Legislative Exchange Council report". (https://alec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-17th-RSPS-State-Pages_WEB.pdf). This report presents pure and objective economic facts for all 50 states. When reading the report, one can see the differences between "liberal Blue states" and "conservative Red states". As a spoiler alert, Connecticut did badly in this survey. According to the ALEC-Laffer State Economic Outlook Rankings, 2024, Connecticut is ranked 40th out of 50 states that is based upon equal-weighting of each state’s rank in 15 policy variables for this category. Connecticut ranked 48th out of 50 states for the ALEC-Laffer State Economic Performance Rankings, from 2012-2022 based on its State Gross Domestic Product that measures cumulative growth over this time frame, since it was only 33.59%, its non-farm payroll employment showed a .91% growth over the same time frame, and its absolute domestic move-out of state rate reflected a loss of 181,117 people over the same time frame (https://alec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-17th-RSPS-State-Pages_WEB.pdf page 12).
Also, there is one horrible elephant in the state-run media newsroom that this veritable Ministry of Information does not want for you to focus on...Illegal Immigration. Just how many illegal migrants are being transported into the state? Credible reports from real citizens tell us of squatters and break-ins happening in formerly safe neighborhoods. Every bordering Blue State to Connecticut unabashedly admits its mismanagement and incompetence in not being able to stem the tide of the Biden open-border policy. But we have none of those issues in the Land of King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable! He keeps Connecticut safe! Much like he mismanaged Covid-19 while busily figuring out how he could rip off Pandemic money. After all, it's simply the best state to be in!
Regardless of the state-run media spin that Connecticut residents pay for with their tax dollars, even an unobservant observer can tell what is happening in the state by just living here from day to day. Connecticut is graced with high state and local taxes, a high minimum wage, a high debt service as a share of tax revenue along with it also not being a right to work state. Connecticut is perpetually in a recession of its own making. Connecticut is always at the bottom of most business and economic categories. Connecticut still has over $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. Economic facts are difficult to accept to the economically illiterate Democrat Party at any level of government. Tax more, spend more, promise more, demand more, rule as dictators never compromising on anything at all especially economic issues is their platform. It is a platform that has failed miserably but is endorsed at all costs to the point of economic ruin.
As the above-mentioned report is proof of the failures of Democrat led states such as Connecticut, one really does not need it. Just venture a little way into the state and draw your own conclusions.

 

 

When Arrogance Meets Ignorance, We Are Placed At Great Risk

If you are a Connecticut citizen that is safely locked behind three mechanisms and order all of your meals via takeout and/or otherwise spend your life in your apartment with your computer and/or never venture from your confines and/or otherwise see the light of day, you might start believing the pap and drivel fed to you continually by state driven and taxpayer-paid media telling you continually that Connecticut is a “happening” place, that it is an economic City on the Hill, that there is nothing cooler than a place with great pizza, no-questions asked-taxpayer-paid abortion and “gender-affirming care” on demand and that the sky is the limit, nothing that I will write today will make any impression on you whatsoever, sadly until the time when your bubble bursts.
But to the majority of Connecticut citizens that are seeing life in the Nutmeg State on the plane of reality, they are seeing quite a different ballgame than you see.
For these humble and decent taxpaying folks who just want to live each day enjoying the fruits of their labor merely asking government to do just the basics that it should, and somehow can no longer do, most wonder about their physical safety in a myriad of situations; whether they are trying to pump gas, commute to work or in running into a grocery store to buy essential goods especially in Crime Free Democrat Connecticut. Many wonder if the home of the recently deceased Mrs. Jones next door will be commandeered by illegal alien migrants that will exercise their “right to remain” raising their middle finger to an inept system. Many wonder about their physical safety when stopping at a Taxpayer funded rest stop on the Connecticut highway system, or if their car will be hijacked in broad daylight. Many wonder about their physical safety when they will be forced into a mandated and deficient electric vehicle, and as soon as they are driving down the pitiful Connecticut highway system and are out of power, they will be forced to pull into these same safe Taxpayer funded rest stops to charge their vehicles and must now become very aware of potential assaults. Since a criminal cannot hijack a dead car, will he then resort to damaging the vehicle and stealing the driver's personal belongings or wounding or killing the driver? Funny how no "leaders" or the "professionals" of the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ever factor this very real parameter into their drive for "E-Car 2035"
Are we really safe with Democrat Party Regime in power in Connecticut? Our exemplar person in the first paragraph of this article may not be asking this question, but I will: Are we really safe with Democrat Party Regime in power if there was a massive disaster? Will an “equity-focused” leader have the mindset, leadership skills, or the wherewithal to protect his or her population in a catastrophe such as what happened on 9/11/2021? Or will fingers be pointed as always, and somehow the cataclysm will be deemed the Republicans or Donald J. Trump’s fault.
Many of these same good people wonder about their physical safety when they fly in an airplane and drive over our crumbling and hideously unsafe road infrastructure. These same roads supposedly were a product of "Build Back America" with over 4000 projects commenced costing $1 trillion dollars of American Taxpayers Monies that are showing no tangible results as of today. Are we really safer with these projects? Why are none of these projects ever mentioned to American taxpayers? Are they secret projects that have been given through no bid contracts to operatives of the Democrat Party? Does any of these no-bids have anything to do with our highways and bridges being “racist?” Can “Build Back America” repair the Francis Key Bridge in Baltimore quickly, safely, and efficiently so as not to damage the economy any more than it is already? To that question, just take one look at the operative people charged with this endeavor. No further explanation is required.
We have heard a constant drone of climate change/global warming/ecological damage forthcoming since the 1970's. Yet by some miracle we are still somehow alive and well in 2024 and one could argue that our environment has never been better and has improved radically since the "horrific" 1970's that many of us lived through and are still alive and prospering today. One could argue that maybe the Baby Boomer generation has been able to adapt to living their entire lives and to actually survive and prosper through the constant inane droning of climate change/global warming/ecological damage forthcoming since their youth. Think about how all the money wasted in this required exercise in the futility of climate change/global warming/ecological damage forthcoming since the 1970's that apparently can never be resolved unless we revert to a stone age type of lifestyle driven by zealots and lunatics. Please ask yourself: Are we really safe with Democrat Party Regime in power spewing their incoherent gibberish about these issues?
Again, look at the players and elected officials involved, and draw your own conclusions. Now that it has been well-established that King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable and his political cohorts entirely mismanaged Covid-19 (or alternatively, managed it extremely well for those in his inner circle at the expense of the public), please ask yourself what happens if we have another man made or natural disaster in the world or in a place like Connecticut? Will the “DEI” (affectionately known as “Didn’t Earn It”) administration of the State of Connecticut sustain us? In asking yourself that question, please consider that the lack of any consistency, logic, or reason is staggering. As just one example, the Port of New Haven recently has been touted by state-run media as an alternative to the currently inoperative Port of Baltimore, MD. However, these same lunatics that are also pushing the dribble of wind power and climate change failed to factor that if such a logistics shift were possible (and it is not as New Haven is not a deep-water port) the massive additional diesel truck traffic and additional emissions spewed in the “respiratory stressed” Connecticut cities transporting goods to the Capitol area would be gargantuan. The lack of any reasoning here, is staggering. Nationally, we see clearly how 1,200 murdered innocent Israeli citizens have been treated by the established Democrat Party Regime since the October 7th, 2023, massacre by the Hamas terrorists. While the nouveau Democrat mourns the passing of devout Jewish Senator Joe Lieberman, we see now how the Democrat Party Regime truly feels about abandoning Israel, our historical reliable ally in the Middle East. Shouldn't Hamas be held accountable for their actions of this murder and torture? Why would anyone of the Jewish faith wish to support any candidate of the Democrat Party Regime in power with this type of policy?
In conclusion, we are in no way safe with the Democrat Party Regime in power at any level of government. From election fraud in Bridgeport, Connecticut to the blather and bull coming out of Hartford daily throwing mandates of all aspects against your businesses and personal lives, to the deadly swamp of corrupt Washington, D.C., and its illegal Presidential mandates made by a shadow government of unethical proportions working through a demented President, the dangers are all there in full view. Ethics, freedoms, truths, and safety are all disregarded by the Democrat Party Regime in power.
It is time for this regime to be dismantled once and for all. We need to be safe and enjoy the benefits of the beautiful state of Connecticut and of the United States of America, once again.

Break, Enter and Squat: Another Tool in The Liberal Toolbox To Help with The Manufactured Liberal Housing Crunch

Many brainwashed citizens in places like King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable’s Connecticut honestly believe the pap and claptrap that is thrown at them every day by state-run media sources. Talk to any one of them. They believe Covid-19 is still a pandemic and anyone walking around without a mask is a diseased murderer. They believe a demented shell of a man acting in the office of President of The United States and his acolyte Blue-State governors actually care about them and keep them safe, even though about every city in these states lies in dangerous drug-infested ruin and the U.S. borders are being trampled daily by illegal migrants in a veritable stampede. They believe that the “deep state” should be celebrated rather than investigated and dismantled. They believe that Donald J. Trump is a potential assassin of their very way of being and should in turn be assassinated if the opportunity came about. They believe no person entering the country without papers is (gasp!) “illegal”. They believe that climate change will kill us all in three years. They have felt this way since 1996. They believe there is an “affordable housing” crisis never surmising that housing of any sort is unaffordable without any market-level jobs, skills, and industries in their economically pitiful states. But most recently, they either look placidly ahead and/or turn the other way as illegal migrants and other freeloaders pry their way into legally owned homes and “squat” there, believing that these “not illegal” people just have to live somewhere. Further, regardless of the rights of others, you must be obedient and do God’s work and continue to give up your property for the greater good.
In this connection, I do not understand why private property is bad in our economy. I also do not understand why it can ever be right for someone else to take another person’s private property just because they can. What governmental agency has decided that? What non-elected bureaucrat determined that private property laws and rights needed to be disregarded? Why do “elected leaders” never make any sort of statement as to how this illegal taking will be stopped? Why do these same “elected leaders” such as The Unaccountable and his lieutenants run from the very question of if they would ever force homeowners to house migrants in their homes in a manufactured future "public health crisis?" Who really is behind all of this, as I and many others are curious as to how this new theft of personal freedoms allowed by the totally incompetent and incoherent Democrat Party of America came into being? A party that I must add is running on total disregard of any type of competency, coherency, personal freedom, responsibility and/or logic as the norms of our society. And also, a platform that continues to bankrupt America at all levels of government daily since the current Biden/Lamont Regimes have come into power.
If you own private property such as a house, trailer, or condominium, you own it as far as the law is concerned. How is it legal for a Democrat run New York City council to give over rights of home ownership to an illegal squatter after 30 days? We see that happening in the borough of Queens, NY right now with the owner of the property being arrested for trying to change the home’s locks as an illegal squatter sublet the owner’s house to unsuspecting people. (https://nypost.com/2024/03/20/us-news/suspected-squatter-in-1m-nyc-home-is-sublets-space-in-the-house-resident-says). This is sickening. Is this supposed to be law? Where (pray-tell) is the serially incompetent New York City Mayor Eric Adams in all of this? Also, what would an equally serial incompetent leader of your state or city do in an identical situation?
An unchecked and fully open border in Mexico has led to a Democrat-manufactured massive housing crisis and has caused for many illegal immigrants to figure out how easy it is to break, enter, and squat. For instance, a brazen illegal immigrant and Venezuelan national Leonel Moreno, who is near a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, said in a recent video that under US law “if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it.” (https://nypost.com/2024/03/21/us-news/tiktokker-tells-illegal-immigrants-how-to-invade-american-homes) Apparently, we are seeing the new normal that legal American taxpayers and citizens must embrace thanks to the totally incompetent and incoherent Democrat Party of America. Private property rights be damned except for the rights of the elite of the Democrat Party. It would be fascinating to see how quickly laws would change if an elite member of the Democrat Party's High Society had a squatter living in one their properties. The outrage of it all would hearken back to a time when illegal immigrants were bused to the Democrat Playground of Martha's Vineyard. But those same illegal immigrants can come and go as they please in Republican Texas and Florida. It is a sickening abuse of both our laws and personal freedoms to see this occur.
Break, enter and squat! A new way to welcome Joe Biden’s “Newcomers!” What can be better than this as squatters have more legal rights than the rightful owners of their confiscated property? This kernel in the Cracker Jack box of taxpayer-paid freebies is the re-election modus operandi of the failed Biden-Harris ticket. Both deserve to stand trial rather than being re-elected for the utter destruction they have helped to create in our country and our world. Joe Biden's 50-plus years in politics can only be seen by any rational person as complete nonperformance, neglect and dereliction of duty, regardless of where Joe Biden has been. However, he has been useful in gaming the system to help make money for his son and his family. And even in that, he has needed a lot of help from his relatives.
America was not founded on a system of lawlessness and a lack of ethics. But today America is totally unlike that, and the Democrat Party is both proud and smug of its accomplishment of failures. The Democrats will realize this reality come November as their lies and theft have disenfranchised the Taxpayers who will refuse to support it in 2025.

 

2024: The Surrendering And Abuse of Your Personal Data for the New Order of Patriotic Obedience

In the post Covid-19 apocalypse, the government has figured out new ways for you to provide your service to it. One way is by mining and selling your most personal data without your knowledge or consent. Why is it important that Connecticut swipes our data? Why has it sold our data to different businesses? Why has our Federal Government started buying our personal data without our knowledge? Isn't this illegal and a violation of Federal law? Whatever happened to our privacy as private citizens? Are we being spied on with no repercussions and with no ability to legally challenge any government agency either on a state or federal level for doing this? Why is this allowed? Why is our entire political establishment coldly and icily silent on this issue? Why has the State of Connecticut suffered several major data breaches over the past several years but has acknowledged none? Further, why does corporate and/or state-run media run away from the findings of data sales or breaches even when irrefutable facts are made known to the public?
My friend and colleague Tony De Angelo has been chronicling the egregious situation of data abuses and misuses in Connecticut for the past several years including (but, not limited to) the cover-up of the global 2020 Department of Health breach and the subsequent MOVE-IT file transfer breach, known as “The Hack of The Year” by Tech Crunch Magazine in 2023. Tony is fond of calling Connecticut the “data insecurity” state. But as terrible as that is, we know we have at least two major documented issues in Connecticut with the selling of our personal data with no questions asked by any political or state-connected media sources. First, what has happened with the swiping of the personal genomic data of children that went to Sema-4 under the guise of “testing” during the Covid-19 state crisis? Secondly, whatever has become of the personal data that was given to Boston Consulting Group by then-Chief of Staff Josh Geballe by contract during the Covid-19 state crisis? Has any elected official been concerned with this even after being notified in no uncertain terms that a crime had been committed by the state against its citizens?
Concurrently, has any Connecticut elected Democrat United States Senator or Representative questioned and/or informed his or her constituents as what has been done with the data bought by our National Intelligence agencies with our United States Taxpayers monies? For example: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bought personal data from tens of millions of cellphones to check obedience to COVID lockdown and curfew decrees. A California county paid for information revealing how many people attended each church during COVID lockdowns. The Internal Revenue Service purchased location and tracking data from a private firm that sells data harvested from dating apps." (https://nypost.com/2023/06/19/feds-are-buying-your-life-with-your-tax-dollars). Aren't these purchases a direct violation of our Fourth Amendment of due process to the United States Constitution? Or is the United States Constitution just something that should be ignored by the Democrat Party and its operatives and enablers in our government? And this was done last year, so why has little been mentioned about it since then. Why?
Apropos of the above, the week of March 10, 2024, will go down as the week that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban the social media app “TikTok” from the United States of America due to reported data transfers and purported election interference by evil Communist actors. Notwithstanding First Amendment issues regarding this proposed ban, a genuine impulse to protect the public from harm is admirable. However, more than one politician has been on record saying there would be “no issues” if TikTok were owned by an American company. Since the data of American citizens is involved with TikTok, the telling nature of these blatant statements by politicians are simply starkly indicative of this entitled attitude that we are all too well aware of.
Law abiding, legal Americans and American Taxpayers legally have a right to our privacy. Since the Covid-19 crisis, we seem to have been stripped of this legal right under the guide of “it's for the greater good”. And at the same time millions of illegal immigrants can parade right through our country with no questions asked and legal American Taxpayers are now required to support them. Is any data being compiled on the massive amount of terrorist, drug and human smugglers and criminals who are welcomed to our country daily by the Biden Administration? This is yet another example of the total disrespect and humiliation of the legal United States citizens and American Taxpayers who must fund this treacherous disregard on all levels of government for the laws of our country for their own financial and political gains.

Demand of all your elected officials that this heinous behavior stop now.

About Taxes: The Lies They Taught Us in Connecticut Schools.

 

If you attended a Connecticut school prior to the Millenium, you were taught that taxes were the obligation of a free people in order to defend freedom, educate children, and to keep peace and order in society. You were also taught that we, the people, had rule over government as we were able to vote people in and out of office and to determine how our money was spent. Although no system is perfect, the tax system we all understood worked remarkably well in funding the many interests of a vibrant and varied society.

However, in recent years, the Connecticut power to tax its citizens has become a license to oppress the rights of Connecticut citizens and to dilute their power by taking away their substance. The new mantra from Connecticut Government is: Do as I say and do not question what I say, since you are a mere vassal. If you question my ruling powers, I will then try to limit everything you say and/or do by deeming it offensive or calling it disinformation or (pray-tell), racism, especially if you use social media and/or question my infallible judgment during a supposed pandemic.

Sounds bizarre? Think again. This is now the reality of life in Connecticut. Connecticut's state government continues to act like a big bully you hated in school, always busy picking on someone and making them miserable. If you are a small business owner with no political ties, you have no voice or choice and may have lost everything you worked for during the pandemic and the daily dictates given by the Lamont regime to “keep you safe from harm.” If you dare to challenge or criticize an elected official or an unelected highly compensated bureaucrat publicly or on social media, be prepared to be punished, ridiculed, and/or silenced. If you have been robbed or have had a family member murdered, you need to understand that the criminal is the victim while you have been made to be the criminal in voicing your outrage against your injustice and the lawless act committed against you and your family. If you have had a family member die of an illegal drug overdose, there is nothing you can do about since your government endorses a fully open border with the free flow of illegals and illegal drugs to come into our country and state to help murder more Americans daily while an entirely out-of-control state blathers drivel and continually promises to “do something” as “it cares about the people”.
So, let us return to the textbook definition: Taxes are defined as "a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities." (taxfoundation.org). Do the costs of general government include eliminating dissenting opinions? Do the costs of general government include eliminating freedom of speech and constitutional rights? Do the costs of general government include eliminating political opposition and interfering with elections as we are currently seeing with President Trump? Do the costs of general government include supporting the information machine of the elect at taxpayer expense? Do the costs of general government include eliminating the rule of law and order? Do the costs of general government include eliminating medical and personal freedoms as we saw with the reported pandemic? Does the costs of general government include the complete eradication of ethics in government through a never-ending profit chain for King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable’s family hedge funds during the entire time he has been in office? Do the costs of general government include eliminating any form of transparency in government and the continual funding of a perpetually-inept ethics office causing this behavior to continue endlessly? Do the costs of general government include the elimination of a free market economic system in favor of a bribe-type of economy favoring an elect few using the hoax of
“economic development dollars”? Do the costs of general government include the free flow of illegal drugs into our country? Do the costs of general government include eliminating a legal border and to allow criminals and terrorists in with no questions asked? Do the costs of general government include the public safety disaster that is now either a Connecticut city or interstate highway? Since the state and our country are such an economic and social nightmare why are our taxes being collected and used in this manner of rack and ruin?

Many also believe our state and country are at a breaking point. The regime-like atmosphere in Hartford and Washington has bred a massive decline in our society. A ridiculous and abusive State of the Union address made by a pathetic and corrupted Democrat President Biden only reinforces his hatred of any and all expressing opposition to the Democrat Party New World Order of deception and totalitarian rule. Connecticut's elected demigods, ruling with an iron fist, have helped nurture the decline in the state for many years with the net result of a state saddled with $125 to $150 Billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. It is also comical to note that there is no plan whatsoever to pay down this debt, ever, and no elected official of any party ever raises this highly cautionary point. American and Connecticut Taxpayers are sick of runaway inflation, runaway crime, and runaway taxes to support this debris and waste being served to us a supposed elected government.

There needs to be a real change in both our elected officials and our government. Enough of this horrific path to economic and social destruction. Our taxes need to start going to a real democracy again to serve the citizenry, and not a socialist, oppressive, failed system of ruthless control of the masses while benefiting the politically collected reign of the chosen and the few. We, The People of our great state and country are no longer being represented, the time for a change is today. For failure to make these most critical changes would result in the destruction of the State of Connecticut and the United States of America.

The Church: Just One More Vehicle For The Connecticut Democrat Government To Use Against The Taxpaying Citizens Of Connecticut

Holy Bible: Matthew Chapter 16, (Verses 18-20)

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Over two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ of Nazareth declared to the Apostle Peter his design and vision for the Christian church. This vision was founded under the design of the Jewish Temple in the Old Testament and brought forward by Jesus. The objective was for the church to be an anchor and support for the believer to learn, grow, to have fellowship with one other, and to learn about the power and authority God grants to every child and believer to be strong in independence and God’s grace. Even to this day, churches and religion still play an important part in our society.

However, for many churches in Connecticut there has been a major shift in their role and political beliefs even though there is a supposed separation from church and state in our country. The separation is a necessary firewall so that churches cannot taint the Gospel mission with political causes. But for some Connecticut churches today, this rule is no longer in the book. These churches have seared their consciences and have consumed the pitcher of Democrat Kool-Aid to embrace whatever partisan-ism, electioneering and socialism handed to them provided there is some Democrats waving taxpayer dollars. In many cases, complaints of these unscriptural and illegal practices are often met with shaming and derision directed most aggressively against others by the very churches “benefiting” from these same practices.

Unfortunately, the Democrat political machine (enabled if not encouraged by Republican silence in many cases) has found a whole new profit center in co-opting obeisant churches and destroying the integrity of their doctrine and the vision of Moses and Jesus. This new profit center is based upon massively importing and housing illegal immigrants into the U.S.A in exchange for seemingly plentiful government cash. This crisis has caused a great upheaval in what the role of the church has become in this Democrat debacle in Connecticut, and throughout our country.

Of course, inept Connecticut needs one more social crisis as much as General George Armstrong Custer needed more hostile Indians in the massacre of Little Big Horn in 1876. For in Connecticut, we are all too aware of the past 34 plus years with massive crime, massive illegal drug problems, massive homeless problems, and massive taxes and debt. Of course, these problems have compounded into the nightmare conditions the state has today. Churches have echoed their desires to help but their desires have been perverted in many cases to become appendages to the state and local governments as political tools attempting to address the problems that the same state and local governments have created and expanded on over the years. More money thrown at these problems to any observer seems to do nothing other than to exacerbate the problems and make them much worse.

Sadly, many Connecticut churches today have become even more useful appendages for the Democrat design to destroy Connecticut cities and towns by parroting the new Connecticut government mantra of affordable housing especially by destroying local zoning decisions and alternatively setting up state-controlled transit center hubs that will have supposed affordable housing developments which somehow will inexplicably create this housing heaven on earth. It is fascinating to see how much profit becomes involved as politically connected developers and glad-faced hangers-on are all clamoring for a cut of the action by hoping to strip away zoning laws from state towns and cities to promote this agenda. Seeing parallel visions of state cash, some state churches are offering use of their church campuses and land to house the homeless and/or the undocumented and illegal. While being lauded by the political machine for this apparently honorable and righteous act, the sometimes well-meaning but always misled church leaders quickly realize that whatever commitment they have had to their founding doctrine or plain old right and wrong must now be extinguished in order to maintain their allegiance as satellites to the Democrat political objective. Instead of the illegal harboring of illegals, I submit to the affected churches that if they followed their ordained doctrines, they would provide comfort to the afflicted while then proceeding to tell the authorities to return their people to their rightful lands. For to do otherwise is to completely disregard the value of their very doctrines of self-determination that provided incalculable benefit to their devoted flock over time along with providing the life to their initial founding.

Other than destroying their ordained mission, nothing whatsoever resolves the long-term problem of why housing is so expensive compared to incomes in the high taxed and poisonously regulated state of Connecticut. Nothing whatsoever proposed by these political characters solves the transit issues in the state nor does it make the state subsidized bus fleet any safer to use since there is rampant and unchecked crime on state buses. Recently a man was stabbed in Hartford recently on a Connecticut Transit bus (https://www.ctinsider.com/capitalregion/article/hartford-stabbing-ct-transit-bus-18688425.php). Is this stabbing an example of why one would want to move to these affordable housing hubs around transit centers that have been subsidized with Taxpayers monies? Isn't crime down in the state according to the Connecticut Democrat Party? Does not the state administrate better than anyone on the planet and know what is best for all?

Unfortunately, the State of Connecticut buying and bribing of the churches continues. The state recently offered $5,000,000 of your money for “places of worship” and non-profits to help with their security. Thus, rather than enforcing and/or increasing legal punishments and incarcerations for these same crimes, the state must use Taxpayers monies in a faux prop effort to “combat” these crimes. Unfortunately, this reliance on government rather than self and the principles that Jesus and the prophets gave us, churches are not safe havens for prayer and worship anymore, especially those churches who have subscribed to full-scale political sellouts. Also, rampant violence is now the norm for Jewish synagogues that have been recent targets of the new “chic” pro-Hamas and Palestine protestors. Why are Hamas terrorists being "worshiped" by liberals in general and why is hatred being taken out on innocent Jewish worshipers? Where are the politicians decrying this sectarian violence? Is terrorism now “woke”? Are assaults against those believing in the God of Israel, now “cool”?

Of course, as some churches stray farther from their doctrines and into the will of politicians, they become mere tools in “voter engagement” efforts. Now addicted to government cash, these churches act like trained dogs in ballot harvesting and carrying out government marching orders to obtain more governmental funding and cheap favors from politicians. The sham election in Bridgeport certainly comes to mind as those close to the ground in the city have explained how the bread is buttered there, and the mess is anything but pretty. The endorsements that convicted felon Mayor Ganim seem both ridiculous and sickening in nature especially after the voter fraud that took place during this and previous elections. Moreover, it is puzzling to me that I have not seen any Bridgeport clergy to date protest the ostensible lack of a free and fair election and self-determination for their parishioners and their city.

In 2024 our economy and societal norms are unraveled in every stratum of American life. The biblical Book of Timothy is being actualized this day in that truth is now a lie and lies are truth. Theft is acceptable, if not encouraged. Boys are now girls, and girls are now boys. One must accept beliefs that defy logic or be condemned and canceled by the ruling elite. The house of worship was designed by Moses and later by Jesus to be an escape to one's faith and well-being, nurturing spiritual strength, personal development and empowerment and guidance. However, some churches in King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable’s Connecticut are following paths to ruin and destruction by accepting moral and spiritual destruction in exchange for cash. The church and state need to separate again. The clergy must divorce itself from politicians. The church should not encourage illegal behavior in any way. Religious freedom need not be questioned or vilified. This path to destruction needs to stop today.

Reimagining Patriotism- The Embracing of Illegal Immigration

Over 7,000,000 immigrants have illegally come into the United States since the impaired and dysfunctional Democrat President Joe Biden has taken office. The rationale for this egregious disaster is unknown as to why the President wants open borders. Our country has been forced to take in this substantial number of illegal immigrants, and the consequences have been severe. In addition, there has been no comment from the Biden Administration regarding approximately 300,000 unaccompanied children that have been let in at the border and then reportedly placed with American sponsors. It is important to note that many of said children come to the United States through cartels, human smugglers, and coyotes. It is a well-known disregarded fact by the Biden Administration that parents will pay these perpetually evil actors a great deal of money to bring their children to our country. Unfortunately, many of these children unfortunately have been "lost" by our administratively incompetent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Who were the children's sponsors? Were the sponsors investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services? Are the children now being abused, sold into sex trafficking, working in slave labor conditions, being held hostage, or dead? Why is the Biden Administration hiding this information? This Administration created the issue they need to address it. Ostensibly, it apparently is perfectly acceptable to abuse innocent children with the blessings of the Pathetic and Corrupt Biden Administration.
Where do over 7,000,000 immigrants that have come into the United States illegally live? As we can see in wholesome, well run, and Democrat-led sanctuary cities, illegals live anywhere they can possibly fit. Illegal migrants can be housed with American Taxpayers monies in tent cities, in motels and hotels, in public schools, and in community centers in poorer neighborhoods driving out peoples of color. But cracking under the weight of their own stupidity these same wholesome, well run, caring and Democrat led sanctuary cities are now asking for private citizens in the suburbs to sponsor and house illegal immigrants and families as their social act of patriotism. Further, King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable’s Connecticut is proud to host four sanctuary cities; New Haven, Hartford, New London and Windam. It is unknown how many of the current 7,000,000 immigrants can be found in these four cities and or throughout Connecticut. Apparently, there are over 113,000 undocumented immigrants in the state currently (if not more). How many more can the state hold? One wonders about the recent Connecticut uptick in crime along with the non-stop illegal drug crisis that is crippling the country and parts of Connecticut. It is interesting to point out this fact: "Between October 2022 and April 2023, Customs and Border Protection seized more than 17,000 lbs. of fentanyl at the southern border. In fact, from March of 2022 to March of 2023, CBP seized enough fentanyl to kill every single American 14 times over." (https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/biden-border-crisis). Fentanyl overdoses are the norm in 2024, with silence again from the Pathetic and Corrupt Biden Administration along with the complicit and inept Connecticut political establishment.
Of course, bad policy begins with the United States Congress. In this connection, the entire Connecticut Democrat Congressional delegation approves of over 7,000,000 immigrants that have come into the United States illegally. Many may wonder how many illegals are being housed by United States Senators Blumenthal and Murphy? Many may wonder how many illegals are being housed by United States Representatives DeLauro, Hayes, Himes, Larson and Courtney? Their silence is deafening through this crisis that the Pathetic and Corrupt Biden Administration has created. Maybe Democrat Senator Murphy would not be as lonely as he is apparently if he would just house some of the illegal migrants in his home. Or maybe Democrat Representative DeLauro could be a real role model and house some illegals in her mansion sized New Haven Sanctuary city home. I submit to the reader that these requests to our Connecticut Congressional delegation are apropos given their support and endorsement of their policies of illegal immigration.
Connecticut in a new legislative session and the illegal immigration crisis I am sure will be talked about and debated at length by the controlling state liberal Democrat Party. Meanwhile, the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution referencing power to the state should be sending fear and chills to every poor taxpaying resident of the State of Connecticut. Given the delusional and irrational nature of the Legislature, will decisions be made by Democrat and Democrat-Lite legislators to encourage (or compel) homeowners to house illegals in their homes under a self-perpetuated “Public Health Emergency?” Of course, more money is needed to house, feed, educate, and give medical care to these people. And after all, they have to live somewhere!
Maybe Republicans in the Connecticut Legislature could finally exhibit some much-needed courage against this onslaught and start calling out the Democrats for the nightmare they have created with the over 7,000,000 immigrants that have come into the United States illegally. Even so, I submit that every elected official of whatever persuasion should be asked repeatedly if he or she supports this new form of Patriotism in the form of voluntary or compulsory housing of illegals. For, what an absolute nightmare legal Americans must face daily with this Democrat Party manufactured crisis. And to add insult to injury what is the actual cost to American Taxpayers with this Democrat Party manufactured crisis? How many billions of dollars must be wasted?
Enough of this woke madness. Enough of illegal immigration. Enough of this garbage rhetoric being force fed to the American public by an incoherent Democrat Party and its enablers. Enough of the incoherent gibberish of failed socialism that the American public is supposed to embrace because of the power grab that the Democrat Party wants to make to take over our country and make it a totalitarian state. Legal immigration worked at one time in our country. But to the current insane and delusional people who rule the Democrat Party, anything legal should be shunned for their failed new country Utopia. It is time for this insanity to stop now or our country will not be a country anymore.