1) "Trump Will Cause Inflation" and Other Fairy Tales
Progressives continue to cite their latest Aesop's Fairy Tale: Trump policies will cause inflation.
Sorry, we have to keep repeating ourselves on this, but what planet are these people on? The Inflation rate has averaged THREE TIMES HIGHER under Biden/Kamala than under Trump. EVERY year of their administration the inflation rate has been higher than ANY year that Trump was president.
This latest anti-Trump warning on inflation would be like a baseball manager bringing to the plate a pinch hitter who struck out the last four times and letting him hit for a guy who hit four home runs in a row. Not smart.
2) Only 6% of Federal Employees Come to the Office Full-Time – Anyone Notice?
We're all for businesses allowing employees to work remotely a day or two a week – and this is becoming more common for private sector workers.
But what's happening in the federal government ("Club Fed") borders on the absurd – or should we say the obscene. A recent survey by Federal News Network of federal workers, finds just 6% are working in the office full time and 30% work from home all the time. Office buildings in Washington have become city-block-long ghost towns with some having empty desks more than 80% of the time.
While exact comparisons between public and private employees are tricky and inexact, the best estimate we can find for remote work in the overall economy comes from WFH Research. They found that as of May 2024, 36% of all workers were working from home or remotely some or all of the time. That number has declined from a peak of about 60% during COVID lockdowns.
This means that federal employees are nearly THREE TIMES as likely to be working remotely either some or all of the time.
What is doubly infuriating about these attendance records, is that (as regular HOTLINE readers know) government employees are paid roughly 40% more than comparably skilled private workers, when their exorbitant benefits are included.
Here is our solution. Fire roughly one-third of federal employees immediately. Reduce the federal workforce through attrition. Impose a hiring freeze until the budget is balanced. Sell federal buildings that are less than one-half occupied.
3) In California Common Sense Makes Rare Appearance
Thank goodness for citizen empowerment in California.
California voters have wisely voted twice against racial or sexual preferences in public hiring, education, and contracting – most recently in 2020 when 58% of voters said, hell no!
But progressives keep trying to bring them back in sneaky ways. Earlier this year, they pushed an amendment to allow waivers for specific minority groups if academics say they've been victimized. (These referees would be the same eggheads who've been advocating for reparations for blacks.)
Good news: the amendment stalled because many leaders feared that this would only drive up conservative turnout and doom progressives up and down the ballot this November.
Progressives also retreated on a plan to sabotage a November ballot measure to effectively repeal Proposition 47 – a 2014 measure that reduced many theft and drug crimes to misdemeanors and ended prosecutions of shoplifting below $950 per incident.
The result has been an explosion of theft, especially in retail stores.
A public outcry over this "get out of jail free" scheme has dissuaded Governor Gavin Newsom and his chums from moving forward. Polls show the End Prop 47 effort will now pass easily.
5) Quote of the Day: UK Member of Parliament Nigel Farage
From his interview with Jordan Peterson:
I was asked the other day, what was I going to do for the black community? Do you know what I said? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I couldn't give a damn, whether you're black or white, whether you're gay or straight. I really don't care.
You'll be judged by your character. You'll be judged by your ability. You'll be judged by are you a contributor to society or a taker out?
Right at the moment, this is considered to be dangerous, radical thinking. But I think if we can start to explain why this matters, if we can start to explain that that's the only way we're going to have any chance of a unified society that works together with mutual benefit for each other, I think this is one of the next great political battles.
