COP 26: Kerry’s Climate $ Trillions [+Video]

John Kerry told UN COP 26 that the United Nations can count on the $100 billion in funding they’ve been begging for and a whole lot more.

Kerry, who serves as President Biden’s “climate envoy,” said that “billions won’t cut it” and that a plan to spend trillions of dollars on “climate finance” will be announced on Wednesday.

This seems to be the Biden Administration’s “M.O.” Ignore debt, welcome inflation and spend, spend, spend.  The Left is working overtime to fundamentally shift economic life from free market capitalism to central government planning.  To update an old cliché: “a trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

The bloviating from the podium continues at COP 26 with a concerted attack on methane.  Did you ever shop for a methane stove, furnace, water heater, or BBQ? No?  That’s because you know it better as natural gas, the odorless, invisible, clean-burning fuel with the blue flame found in abundance in the United States.  It is natural gas that allowed America to lead the world in emissions reductions (if that’s your thing).  Team climate started calling it by its chemical name “methane” to scare us with anti-science, chemistry-phobic bias.

CFACT’s Marc Morano has been broadcasting from Glasgow nonstop, yesterday telling OAN’s Stephanie Hamill live on the air that “if you actually cared about the climate, this isn’t the place you would go to solve it.  You would actually go to free market, wealth creation and prosperity and not the centralized plan the United Nations is proposing.”  Marc has been calling out climate hypocrites for jetting in on private jets to the COP and leading plush plutocratic lifestyles while demanding the rest of us tighten our far humbler belts.

I don’t know who is scarier, the wacky leftists running amok inside the COP and out, or the international elite meeting in the back rooms of the conference planning how next to control and fleece us.

President Biden’s feckless naivety continues to astound.  Biden used his last day at the COP to take China and Russia to task for not sending their heads of state to Glasgow, saying they made “a big mistake.” “The rest of the world is going to take a look at China and say, ‘what value have they provided?”’

If Kerry succeeds in conjuring up trillions of dollars in climate finance, whom does he think is waiting in the wings eager to supply the solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and rare earths it would take to build a new inefficient “renewable” energy infrastructure?

Try looking east, Mister President.

It’s not China who made the worst climate mistakes in Scotland.

EDITORS NOTE: This CFACT column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Did Virginia Save America from Civil War?

“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” – Arnold Palmer


It appears that Americans, many of whom had voted illogically for a mentally challenged criminal pervert because of an inane hatred of President Trump, have come to their senses.

Was it buyers remorse? I am sure that played a huge part as they have witnessed 10 months of Biden’s agenda as it destroyed this country faster than anyone envisaged.

Was it Scott Smith, who was arrested during a raucous June 22 school board meeting in Virginia when he protested the violent rape of his daughter by a pervert, supposed transgender freak in a skirt, in a neutral gender school bathroom.

Was it when the school district said it never happened as they moved the transgendered freak to another school where he did the same thing?

Was it the lies Virginia’s Governor told about CRT not being taught in Virginia school districts? ( knowing full well it was!)

Was it the Virginian Governor staying parents shouldn’t have an opinion on what is taught to their kids in tax payer funded schools?

Was it Virginia’s choice of Lt. Governor, a black former marine born in Jamaica , who ran as a Republican with a conservative pro America agenda?

This last Tuesday saw the beginnings of the hopeful demise of the extreme left of the Democrat Party, as candidates supported by the AOC Squad were demolished. Defund the police candidates were soundly beaten. The Clinton influence was expelled.

We witnessed the total nervous breakdown of the lefts favorite MSNBC and CNN political hosts. The weeping and gnashing of teeth could be heard all over this beautiful Constitutional Republic! It was sheer joy to watch them becoming unhinged!

We also saw the big names like Obama, the idiotic VP Kamala Harris and Biden’s influence severely curtailed. Interestingly I thoroughly agreed for the first time ever with something Kamala Harris said, “What happens in Virginia will in large part determine what happens in 2022, 2024 and on,”. IT SURE WILL!

So, I give Virginia a huge shout out because it was a bad day for Democrats but a great day for the United States of America. A great day for freedom. Unfortunately, bad days for Democrats and good days for America are synonymous of each other. The truth is the Democrats truly hate the United States of America and everything it has ever stood for whereas conservative patriots love the United States, it’s constitution and everything that it has ever stood for with a deep passion and a willingness to die should it be needed to preserve it all. 

©Fred Brownbill. All rights reserved.

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The Pilgrims Learned of Socialism’s Worthlessness: Why Can’t We?

Socialism, one of history’s worst ideas, has been disproved repeatedly and without exception. Yet it keeps rearing its ugly head—constantly being rebranded as a good idea.

Socialism only benefits the ruling class who implement this form of government theft.

Amazingly, early America had an experiment in socialism. The Pilgrim settlers tried socialism for two years–and it nearly killed them.

In his book, Socialism: The True History from Plato to the Present, William J. Federer quotes the socialistic bylaws imposed on the Pilgrims by those London merchants who funded the creation of their colony.

Under this agreement with these investors, the members of Plymouth Colony agreed to pool all their goods, and all the rewards of their labor, with each person being entitled to an equal share of it. No matter how hard or little you worked, you would get the same.

For our Providence Forum documentary, “The Pilgrims,” we interviewed Leo Martin, the founder of the Jenney Museum (Learning Center) in Plymouth.

Martin told me, “So now the Pilgrims come over here virtually in a socialistic situation, a communal living, where everybody at the plantation worked in the same field, grew their food, then at the end of the season, they simply evenly split with each other what they produced.”

We also interviewed Dennis Prager, founder of PragerU, for this special. He told me, “The Pilgrims did experiment with socialism or communalism, and they realized it didn’t work. It is against human nature. The moment you tell people that the community will take care of you, they work less. It undermines character.”

And that is precisely what happened. Governor William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims, who was their governor for about three decades, was also their key chronicler. His book, Of Plymouth Plantation, documents their amazing story, which includes the first Thanksgiving—the 400th anniversary of which we celebrate this month.

Bradford called some of the Pilgrim leaders together to, in our modern parlance, brainstorm on how to increase production of their corn. The conclusion was to abolish this “common stock” stipulation, instead giving each person or family their own land and letting them enjoy the fruits of their labor without being forced to work for others, so “that they might not still thus languish in misery.”

It worked. Abandoning socialism and implementing private land ownership and free enterprise increased production dramatically.

Bradford writes, “This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious…The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.”

Bradford admits that they had fallen for “the vanity of that conceit of Plato’s…as if they were wiser than God.” Plato is credited with being the first to present socialism—holding property in common.

When the Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not steal” (which implies private property). God does not add the stipulation, “unless thou art the government.” Socialism is theft by the government, taking by force what one has earned to redistribute it to one who has not earned it.

We give thanks that the Pilgrims learned of the bankruptcy of socialism before it was too late.

Leo Martin says it is a great thing that the Pilgrims abandoned socialism when they did because it helped them become productive and prosperous. Martin notes, “Did you know that today ten percent of the population of the United States are Mayflower descendants? Thirty million people from fifty-one.”

The Pilgrims were so grateful for what God had done for them that they set aside time to thank Him for His many blessings. Thanksgiving is an annual holiday reminding us of our nation’s Christian roots.

But socialism not only undercuts productivity. It undercuts thanksgiving to God.

Jesus said we are to pray to “Our Father which art in heaven.” Socialism teaches in effect, we should pray, “Our Father which art in Washington” as we depend on the government to provide for more and more of our needs.

The Pilgrims were godly people who sacrificed all their comforts so they could worship Jesus in the purity of the Gospel. They were very caring people who sought to fulfil the command to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

If the Pilgrims found that socialism didn’t work for even them, how can we expect socialism to work for anybody, including those who are just selfish and waiting to get by off of the sweat of their neighbor’s brow? In short, once again, socialism proved to be a bad idea.

Isn’t it time humanity learned this repeated lesson from history once and for all? Socialism never ceases to fail everywhere it is tried.

©Jerry Newcombe. All rights reserved.

Netanyahu vs Olmert—Comparing Chalk & Cheese

While it may be inappropriate that someone under criminal indictment should be a candidate for, or serve, as prime minister, it is far more inappropriate that he/she be precluded from doing so by abuse of the legal system.

We have a prime minister mired up to his neck in investigations. He has no public or moral mandate to determine matters of such crucial importance for the State of Israel. There is concern—which I must say, is real and not unfounded—that he will make decisions based on his own self-interest of political survival, and not on that of the national interest…because he is in such profoundly deep distressBenjamin Netanyahu, Channel 2 News, 2008.

Q: The determination that positive media coverage should be considered “bribery” is a legal precedent. Is it appropriate to set such a precedent for the first time in a case against a prime minister?

A: Every legal precedent has to begin at some point. So, just because it involves the prime minister, we should delay the precedent for another time? Shai Nitzan, Israel’s State Prosecutor, who headed the Netanyahu criminal probe, on the decision to indict PM Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery, on unprecedented charges, in answer to interview question May 8, 2019.

…we’re seeing the weaponization of criminal justice for political purposes… Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus, Harvard Law School, on the Netanyahu investigation, November 18, 2019

There is not enough proof of a criminal offense. I think it is very dangerous to start indicting people based on negotiations with newspapers. That’s what politicians do…To start interfering in the relationship between media and the government poses a tremendous danger to free speech and…to democracy, Alan Dershowitz, December 27, 2018 .

The Netanyahu trial is once again underway, as the prosecution slowly works its way through its 300-long list of witnesses. It might yet be early days, but so far, they hardly seemed to have made a compelling case for conviction.

More inappropriate than an indicted candidate

However, in the echo chamber of the overwhelmingly Bibi-phobic mainstream media, much has been made of Netanyahu’s 2008 demand that then-incumbent PM, Ehud Olmert, resign (see introductory excerpt)—because of his legal predicament.

Ostensibly, this creates an understandably awkward situation for Netanyahu, exposing him to charges of blatant hypocrisy and double standards—and provides grist for the mill of those wishing to introduce legislation barring anyone, who has been criminally indicted, from running for prime minister.

Clearly, this is not a demand that can—apriori—be dismissed as totally unreasonable. After all, who would not recoil at the prospect of anyone, under a credible indictment of rape, murder, arson, assault, or armed robbery, presenting his candidacy for the premiership and possibly becoming the elected leader of the nation.

So, understandably, while for many it may seem inappropriate that an individual under criminal indictment be permitted to run for, or hold the office of, prime minister, it is far more inappropriate that he/she be precluded/removed from office by abuse and distortion of the legal system.

All this ought to be born in mind by anyone trying to draw any equivalence between the case of Ehud Olmert, and that of Netanyahu.

Comparing chalk & cheese

As readers will doubtless recall, Olmert, who served as Israel’s Prime Minister from 2006 to 2009, was imprisoned for 16 months after being found guilty of bribery and obstruction of justice, offenses related to his term as mayor of Jerusalem and as minister of industry and trade.

However, in stark contrast to Netanyahu, Olmert was indicted—and convicted on the basis of the prevailing interpretation of the law! No “creative” legal precedents were needed to be invoked to prosecute him. With Olmert, there were no claims of selective prosecution, complaints of extortive coercion of state witnesses, or allegations of investigative misconduct by the police. Moreover, Olmert was strongly pressured by members of both his party and his coalition partners to resign. Netanyahu, on the other hand, enjoys overwhelming support as leader of his Likud party and unequivocal approval of numerous like-minded Knesset factions.

But perhaps the starkest difference—and arguably the most compelling in terms of the foundations of democratic governance—is the massive difference in support the two men had from the Israeli public.

Indeed, public support for Olmert was beginning to crater even before the full impact of his legal woes took effect. Thus, in early 2007, his favorability was in single digits—with one poll putting it as low as 3%. By mid-2008, 70% of the public thought he should go.”

Despite anti-Bibi bile

With Netanyahu, the picture is dramatically different!

Despite being saturated with toxic Bibiphobic bile and force-fed with anti-Netanyahu venom by much the mainstream media, the public’s support for him soared, making him by far the most popular politician in Israel—even though his indictment was well known, and thus, already discounted in the figures for his immense popularity. Indeed, recent polls see a Netanyahu-led Likud as easily the biggest party, with up to 36 Knesset seats, almost double its nearest rival, and dwarfing all the other factions, almost none of whom reach a double-digit tally of seats.

In terms of personal stature with the electorate, Netanyahu outstripped all his competitors for the individual most qualified to serve as prime minister by huge margins—according to some polls, by more than double his nearest rival, Yair Lapid, and more than quadruple the current incumbent, Naftali Bennett.

It is important to reiterate here that this sustained popularity endured in spite of the fact that the criminal proceedings against Netanyahu were well underway and the substance of the accusations against him was widely known common knowledge—which in itself seems to constitute a grave public indictment of the nation’s legal system and a grim picture of the credence the public accredits it.

Weaponizing the legal system for partisan political purposes

But apart from the ringing post-indictment public endorsement of Netanyahu, there are other factors that set the Olmert and Netanyahu cases apart.

For example, while in the Olmert case, there are no allegations of selective enforcement, in which similar violations by others were left unindicted, this is far from true with Netanyahu. Indeed, in his case, there is perturbing and persuasive evidence of selective enforcement, in which dozens of incumbent politicians undertook identical—or at least, very similar–pursuit of favorable coverage with nary an indictment being filed against any of them.

Another feature, which underscores the qualitative chasm between the cases of Olmert and Netanyahu touches on how the police probes were conducted and how prosecutory evidence was collected.

With Olmert, there were no significant instances of police investigative misconduct or malign mistreatment of witnesses. Indeed, in Olmert’s case, the two major prosecution witnesses, who played a major part in bringing about his conviction, came forward of their own volition. The one, died before the trial ended, the other, Olmert’s longtime personal assistant, volunteered testimony against him—after she felt abandoned by him and signed a plea bargain for a reduced sentence for her involvement in Olmert-related offenses.

With Netanyahu, the situation differed drastically. Indeed, arguably even more troubling than the allegations of selective enforcement are persistent reports of police misconduct and mistreatment, and extortion of witnesses to obtain incriminating statements against Netanyahu and other co-defendants.

Thus, Netanyahu-associates, originally stoutly supportive of him, were reportedly coerced into becoming state witnesses for the prosecution after police compelled an incarcerated interrogatee to sleep on a flea-infested mattress, threatened to reveal an extramarital affair to a detainee’s spouse, and attempted to enlist the son of a co-defendant to persuade his father to fire his attorney and hire a more compliant one.

Ill-begotten & ill-conceived

But perhaps the most substantial and far-reaching difference between the legal sagas of Olmert and Netanyahu is the impact each one is likely to have on the Israeli legal establishment and its enforcement agencies.

Thus, while in Olmert’s case, the investigations, the trial, and the conviction of the relatively unpopular prime minister did not stir up a significantly negative impact on the credence and reputation of the bodies involved in the police investigation, in the resultant indictment, and in the consequent conviction, this is highly unlikely to be so in Netanyahu’s case.

After all, if he is forced to step down under the weight of what is perceived by many—both professional jurists and concerned laymen—“dubious” (to be charitable) indictments, this could well result in a severe blow to the fabric of Israeli democracy.

For it will demonstrate that any democratically elected leader—no matter how popular with the electorate or how impressive his achievements—can be deposed by the vindictive whims of a politically adversarial civil society elite—and the (ab)use of its unelected position of power and privilege—to circumvent the will of the people.

Indeed, one thing is beyond doubt: No good result can come out of these ill-begotten and ill-conceived indictments.

If Netanyahu is found guilty, roughly half the Israeli public will feel that there has been a gross miscarriage of justice—and the already tenuous public trust in Israel’s system of law and order will be eroded even further.

On the other hand, if he is acquitted, roughly half (the other half) of the Israeli public will feel that there has been a gross miscarriage of justice—and the already tenuous faith in Israel’s system of law and order will be denuded even further.

Among the biggest losers will be those who launched this reckless and needless initiative in the first place.

Regrettably, the public mistrust, which it will generate in them, will certainly be richly deserved.

©Martin Sherman. All rights reserved.

COVID: The Greatest Weapon Against Freedom

Since about March of 2020, the world has been enthralled and rolled over the Sars CoV-2 virus otherwise known as COVID-19. We, the public, the citizenry of the world including here in the USA wondered how this could have happened and where this virus came from.

Early on we heard rumors that it started in a biomedical laboratory in Wuhan, China. But true to leftists media form, the rumor was thought to be that of conspiracy nut jobs. We also heard rumors that the virus first appeared as far back as August or September of 2019.

Again the media said this was the nut job scenario and could not be taken seriously. After all, this was all happening on then President Trump’s watch and we all know that the left said he had to go by any means necessary. By the way, nobody on the left disputes this.

So we were told the infections started in China in the beginning of December 2019. President Trump jumped on this issue as soon as he could get real information. He began to limit travel to and from China. The left through a fit.

Remember House of Representatives Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi going to a “China Town” and decrying loudly that everyone should hug Asians? She did do that and it was all over the news. Thus Trump was a racist for sure.

Then the virus began its stampeded across the USA. We saw American cases begin to rise in January 2020. Then President Trump restricted travel to and from China to nearly zero and again the left screamed racism.

Then came March 2020 and the world stopped. It just stopped. Here in the USA we went into an unprecedented “lock down” where only “essential” workers were allowed to go to work. Businesses big and small were shuttered. Employees that could not work from home were laid off. Unemployment skyrocketed into the double digits.

We were told, just 15 days to flatten the curve so our hospitals and medical workers would not be overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases. But over those two weeks, the number of cases kept rising as did the death toll. (However, that death toll is in serious question for reasons I will not go into with this article)

As the numbers kept increasing, even though nearly 100% of small and medium businesses were closed, a new approach came down from high. MASKS. They would save us all. Mask mandates popped up almost everywhere as governments all across the USA from the Federal level down to the local municipal level touted the effectiveness of masks. Masks of any kind including simple cloth masks many folks made at home.

But this edict came after one of the top government Medical Professionals in the nation, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said these sorts of masks were silly and ineffective. By the way, Dr. Fauci not only did a 180 degree turn, he still wants masks to be mandated for everyone just about everywhere especially for children in school.

There is a problem with masks however. The United States Government says these kinds of mask (sans COVID-19) are not effective against viral or many biological diseases, especially those that are airborne. Various governmental agencies agree how ineffective they are.

Not to mention we now have numerous studies that show just how ineffective these masks are. And to further drive the point home, most manufacturers of these masks overtly state that their masks are not intended to prevent viral infection or prevent viral spread.

And lets not forget the Social Distancing requirements. That was one of the biggest uses of fear mongering our government has used through this entire pandemic. But the truth is that 6 feet is not enough. In fact, WebMD has a report on a study that says in order to truly be effective, Social Distancing should be at least 26 feet. More than 4 times the distance touted as being protective in social settings.

But social distancing along with wearing a mask and closing all but “essential” businesses was intended to flatten the curve. Another bad idea. Johns Hopkins actually has an article that shows what flattening the curve does. The only conclusion after reviewing this study is that flattening the curve does relieve the immediate stress on our health care system. For the short term. The reality is that it extends the pandemic by months or even years thus actually causing MORE death and debilitation.

So why did our government, under now President Joe Biden, double down on something that doesn’t work? Answer is simple. POWER and CONTROL.

Even as everyone wore a mask anytime they went anywhere outside of their home (some communities even mandated via arrest and/or fine that you wear the mask anytime you were off your own property including OUTSIDE.)

Even parks and beaches were closed yet the spread did not stop. Probably because everyone was herded into large box stores to make essential purchases.

Lets rewind or should I say “circle back” for a moment. President Trump saw how devastating this virus seemed to be so he initiated something called Warp Speed in order to find a vaccine. This meant that drug manufacturers could speed up the research and development of said vaccine.

Seeing a big fat payday, these pharmaceutical companies went to work. And in a matter of months they had vaccines ready for human trials. Then these trials were fast tracked. This means there was not extensive testing at any level to detect or find any side effects of these new drugs. There was no time to see how effective these new vaccines would be in the short and long term. Even though we were told they would be up to 96% effective.

BUT, hold on. We were not saved. You see, during the presidential campaign of 2020, then candidate Joe Biden said he wouldn’t trust a vaccine created under President Trump. Many Democrat candidates of all levels echoed those sentiments.

November of 2020 the elections came and Biden won the Presidency. Democrats won control, basically, of the Senate and kept their stranglehold on the House. As Biden came into office in January of 2021, their tone on the vaccines changed. Almost overnight.

At first they strongly recommended that people get the vaccines. They even had “shows” of various Democrat leaders getting the “jab”. We are told it was one of the three current vaccines in use in the USA.

When some in the media suggested that there should be a mandate, the Biden Administration and even Nancy Pelosi said they could not do it because it would be unconstitutional.

Unconstitutional until they figured out a way to ignore the constitution and begin federal mandates and push and connive and coerce local and state governments and business to do so in the Feds stead.

But wait. There is a problem with the vaccines. A growing number of people are developing serious side effects after taking the drugs. Not to mention we have learned that they do not perform as promised and their efficacy has plummeted to below 50%. Fully vaccinated folks are getting COVID-19 and some are even dying. But the mandates persist.

A number of studies show that the COVID-19 vaccines indeed to not work as promised. They do indeed produce some serious side effects including liver problems, high blood pressure and other serious maladies. And a number of studies show that these vaccines do not seem to protect as well as natural immunity. In other words, people who have had COVID and recovered have a better built immunity against repeat infection than those who get the vaccines.

In the United Kingdom, there was and is an outbreak of COVID cases among the fully vaccinated. In fact the number of people hospitalized for COVID there who are fully vaccinated, exceeded 76%. The number of people dying there due to COVID, well according the the Brits, 80% of the deaths were of those who were fully vaccinated. I guess that throws out a LOT of the reasons they are using in the USA to get the “jab.”

I wont even get into the issue of wanting to force these vaccines upon your children. The thought of kids getting these things frightens me to no end. Let me just say that there are major studies that show that kids between 12 and 17, especially boys, are at increased risk of myocarditis. Not something to take lightly.

And yet our governments seem bent on making sure each of us bend to their will. How? By actually telling you that if you don’t get the vaccine you will lose your job, not be able to attend popular events, eat out at a restaurant or even shop in person for groceries. In other words, Biden and the Democrats will crush your basic rights as outlined and protected by the Constitution.

In short, the left wants to mandate things that don’t work and wont keep you safe and in some cases may even kill you if you don’t bend to their will. I wont bend. I wont willingly take any current COVID-19 vaccine. Indeed at least 70 million other Americans refuse as well. The government and business does not have the right to force anyone. That is nothing more than authoritarianism and communism.

That’s not America to me. Is that America to you?

©Rod Eccles. All rights reserved.

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Hit the Courts and Fight Hard! Without Vote Fraud, Ciatarelli Wins New Jersey HANDS DOWN

 

It won’t be news to many that New Jersey is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. This extends, of course, to its electoral system. Thus can it be said assuredly that without vote fraud, the remarkably corrupt and fairly stupid Garden State governor, Goldman Sachs guy Phil Murphy, would have lost Tuesday’s election hands down.

Murphy’s challenger, Republican Jack Ciatarelli, has a slim advantage after late-counted votes have trimmed his margin. As of this writing, he leads the incumbent 49.65 percent to 49.60 percent with 97.51 percent of the precincts reporting. It’s a good bet at this point that more than enough votes will be found to put Murphy over the top. After all, anyone who thinks spontaneous generation is a myth hasn’t seen Democrat ballots magically appear in a car trunk or in a truck overnight.

How can we know Murphy is only competitive because of vote fraud? It’s simple: “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior,” as the saying goes. So time for a little flashback:

“A judge has ruled that new elections must be held in Patterson [sic], New Jersey, after mail-in voting allowed massive voter fraud to take place,” wrote The Political Insider last August. At issue was a May 12, 2020 City Council special election between two Democrats.

“An investigation caused 20 percent of ballots to be rejected, and charges of voter fraud were brought against [challenger Alex] Mendez, another councilman, and two other men,” the Insider continues. “Mendez and the councilman were accused of the unauthorized possession of ballots that weren’t their own, and also of submitting voter registration applications for those not eligible to vote.”

Mendez would nonetheless go on to win a November election redo over five-term incumbent William McKoy — by 13 votes — also, allegedly, aided by ballot fraud. But was this just a one-off? Hardly.

Another flashback: A man the New York Post described as a “top Democratic operative” spoke to the paper last August under the condition of anonymity and admitted that he and his team have been committing mail-in vote fraud “on a grand scale, for decades,” as the Post put it.

“There is no race in New Jersey — from city council to United States Senate — that we haven’t worked on,” stated the Democrat operative. He also revealed that such efforts, which extend far beyond NJ, “could be enough to flip states.”

Get the picture?

By the way, mail-in balloting is considered the kind most conducive to vote fraud, which is why it’s illegal in France.

So unless you think NJ Democrats suddenly had a Road to Damascus moment — and if you do I have some great oceanfront property to sell you in North Dakota — you can bet that the left-wing fraudsters have been hard at work stealing votes for the remarkably corrupt and fairly stupid Murphy.

This is why this matter must be sifted to the very bottom, with the Republicans dispensing with the Mr. Nice Guy routine.

In the past there has often been an attitude holding that, well, unrelenting challenges to any election are “divisive” and bad for the nation. But, actually, what really harms the country is allowing crime, vote fraud or otherwise, to go unanswered. Vote fraud is particularly damaging, enabling demagogues’ ascendancy and undermining faith in our entire system. It literally rots the soul of a nation.

For that matter, the vote should also be thoroughly audited in Virginia, where GOP challenger Glenn Youngkin has apparently unseated incumbent Clintonista and likely sociopath Terry McAuliffe. It seems that Youngkin will win by approximately two percent of the vote, but his margin also would almost assuredly be far greater were it not for vote fraud.

Electoral fraud should be made a major national issue (discussed infinitely more than COVID), as it’s far more deleterious to our civilization than any virus. Corruption should ever and always be exposed and crushed mercilessly. Evil should never be allowed to prevail.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on GabMeWe, or Parler or log on to SelwynDuke.com.

Reconstructing American Manhood—One NDAA at a Time

In September, a startling report was published by the National Student Clearinghouse regarding college enrollment. It found that almost 60 percent of college students were women, while only 40 percent were men. In the last five years, the percentage of male college students has decreased by an astonishing 71 percent. While there are certainly many factors that have contributed to this decline, there is no denying that young men in America are struggling with finding a sense of purpose.

And is it any wonder? As Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) observed on “Washington Watch,” the American Left has been on a singular mission to deconstruct manhood and masculinity in the name of “equality” and “taking down the patriarchy” for a long time, and it has been hugely successful.

“They want to get rid of the concept of manhood and womanhood,” he said. “They want to get rid of the concept of men who actually will be independent, who will be strong, who will stand up for themselves and their families and their rights. And what they really want to do is sell this idea that America is a toxic place, an oppressive place, and men by their very nature are toxic and oppressive so that if you are a man and if you believe in being a man [and] you want to exercise what [is] traditionally thought of as the masculine virtues—strength, independence, willingness to fight, assertiveness—that those are inherently toxic.”

As Hawley pointed out, nowhere has this war on manhood been more blatant than in our nation’s schools. “We see this taught in our schools … our boys are taught this, that if boys are rambunctious, they need to be medicated. If they’re assertive, they need to be called out. We see young men told that their manhood is inherently toxic and oppressive. And what it’s leading to [is] a whole bunch of men basically shirking their responsibilities, withdrawing from the labor force, withdrawing from their families. We’ve got an epidemic of fatherlessness in this country, and it’s becoming a society-wide crisis.”

To make matters worse, it has now become painfully clear that the Left’s war on men has turned into a simultaneous war on women. “The Left now has decided that they don’t really believe in the concept of gender,” Hawley said. “They don’t think anybody should. They don’t think that ‘manhood’ is a real thing. They don’t think that ‘woman’ is a real thing. Democrats won’t use the word ‘mother’ anymore. They talk about ‘birthing people.’ They talk about ‘individuals’ who get pregnant. They won’t say, ‘woman.'”

Hawley went on to underscore how this war on gender differences has far-reaching consequences. “The Left has developed this weird obsession with gender and trying to erase all gender distinctions,” he noted. “Whether we’re talking about women’s sports, whether we’re talking about women’s locker rooms or whether we’re talking about the draft, there are real differences between men and women, and those are wonderful things [that] should be celebrated and protected, not erased.”

It has indeed gotten so bad that the Left is now trying to make it mandatory for women to register for the Selective Service as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (Hawley has filed an amendment to remove the offending language from the bill). “We shouldn’t force our mothers and our sisters and our daughters to fight our wars for us,” he said.

As Hawley has observed, “most Americans say if a woman wants to serve [in the military] that’s wonderful – and by the way, women have been absolutely central to our war efforts since we have been a country, in many different ways, including, of course, fighting. But the idea that they be forced into compulsory service,” instead of having men shoulder those responsibilities, “I just think it’s crazy.”

Any day now, the Senate could take up the NDAA, which currently has a requirement for women to register for the selective service. Please tell your senators to support efforts like Hawley’s that would strike this requirement, and protect women from being forced to register.

** Family Research Council’s Stand Courageous Men’s Ministry is doing its part in reconstructing manhood by helping men develop a strong biblical character, cultivate positive habits, build and rebuild relationships, and make commitments that will move men closer to God’s good purpose and design. Learn more about this vital ministry at StandCourageous.com.

EDITORS NOTE: This FRC-Action column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Herd Immunity USA – It’s Here! The Government COVID Calamity Is Over*

The CDC itself is now reporting that upwards of 83% of the U.S. population (16 and up) has some form of “protection” (immunity) against COVID either through vaccination or past infection. By any epidemiological standard, that is HERD IMMUNITY, folks. *Yet, the fight against the government-lead war on Liberty remains full throttle. The important thing here is this: governments are scaring and threatening Americans into capitulation and submission.

Graham Ledger speaks with Dr. Christine Northrup about the dangerous of the so-called vax for COVID and why the vaxxed and unvaxxed must “just say no” all government COVID mandates.

SHOW NOTES:

Is the US FINALLY on the verge of herd immunity? CDC study estimates over 80% of Americans are now protected from COVID-19 through vaccination or recovery from the virus

CDC Buries Study Finding That Student Masking Has ‘No Statistically Significant Benefit’

ACLU Says The State Forcing People To Take Vaccines Is A Victory For Civil Liberties

Ask for COVID vaccine proof, face a $5,000 fine in Florida

Newsbreak 133: Team of Scientists Confirm Presence of Toxins Graphene, Aluminium, Cadmium Selenide, Stainless Steel, LNP-GO Capsids, Parasites, Other Toxins Variously in 4 COVID Vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson

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Arizona Supreme Court Unanimously Strikes Down Bans On Mask Mandates And ‘Critical Race Theory’

EDITORS NOTE: This Ledger Report video is republished with permission. All rights reserved. Please subscribe free to The Ledger Report by clicking here: www.GrahamLedger.com

ILLEGAL CONDUCT: New Jersey Election Worker Offers Ballot to Non-Citizen

Project Veritas released a new video today exposing malfeasance that took place in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election, where an election worker was willing to provide a ballot to a Veritas journalist disguised as a non-citizen and non-registered voter.

Here are some of the highlights from today’s video:

  • NJ Election Worker, Essex County: “Remember, we were allowing anyone to come in.”
  • NJ Election Worker, Essex County: “I’ll let you fill out completely a ballot now. Whether or not it’s going to count, I don’t know.”
  • NJ Election Worker, Essex County: “Listen, we’ll let you do it [fill out a ballot].”

You can watch the video:

In a governor’s race that has been called with only about a one percentage point difference separating the candidates, this behavior is at the very least questionable.

The voters in New Jersey deserve to know how many locations were allowing such a practice to fester.


*CLICK HERE TO TWEET OUT THE VIDEO*


EDITORS NOTE: This Project Veritas video report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

U.S. Risks Border Security by Granting High-Risk Foreign Truck Drivers Expedited Crossing

The Homeland Security agency charged with safeguarding America’s borders clears high-risk foreign truck drivers for expedited crossing under a free-trade agreement created to facilitate commercial traffic between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., according to a federal probe that concludes the failure is “increasing border security risk.” The troubling details are outlined in a 34-page report, issued by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General with redactions to protect delicate information embedded in the original “law enforcement sensitive” version. The modified public document is distressing enough, even with the blacked-out nuggets involving candidates who do not qualify for the program but are nevertheless approved by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the 60,000-employee agency created after 9/11 to protect the country from terrorists, narcotics, and illegal immigrants.

The “commercial clearance” program is knowns as Free and Secure Trade (FAST) and participants who meet certain eligibility criteria and are considered low risk after a thorough security check, receive expedited border processing between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Proper vetting is essential and must assure there is no risk in letting the individual travel freely in and out of the country with cargo. The goal is to ensure security and safety of inter border commerce while enhancing the economic prosperity of each country. Ideally, this enables CBP to focus security efforts and inspections on commerce that is “high or unknown risk” while ensuring the flow of legitimate, “low-risk commerce.” The reality is that CBP is failing miserably to properly screen drivers, federal auditors found, writing that “without an effective means to evaluate the program’s impact on border security, CBP may be exposing its land ports of entry to heightened threats.”

Due to the agency’s “inadequate policies and procedures” drivers who should not have qualified for FAST clearance were allowed to participate, the probe found. Investigators examined 8,859 active drivers during fiscal year 2019 and determined that 1,084 were ineligible and therefore “increasing border security risk.” Making matters worse, CBP approved 94% of foreign drivers with “potentially disqualifying records,” the report says. In those cases, federal agents failed to conduct full background checks because the U.S. government evidently does not have access to the necessary foreign databases. The exact information is redacted but the report makes clear that the records required to properly vet foreign nationals—specifically Mexican citizens—is not available to CBP officers and they “need access” to complete the appropriate security process to authenticate drivers as low risk.

But even when the criminal history of a candidate is stored in the U.S. by another federal law enforcement agency, CBP apparently cannot access it. Instead of rejecting the foreign driver in question out of an abundance of caution, the agency simply rubber-stamps the candidate without adequate screening. To illustrate this incredible, but very common, lack of cooperation within American law enforcement agencies, the IG offers the case of two Mexican nationals determined to be “ineligible.” Both were approved for FAST despite having extensive FBI files in addition to what redacted portions seem to indicate substantial criminal histories in Mexico. But evidently CBP and the FBI don’t share information. “FBI records did not allow Enrollment Center officers to assess the drivers’ risk prior to approving their participation in the program,” the report states. So, what is the critical agency charged with safeguarding the nation’s famously porous borders to do? Wave the foreign drivers through as low risk without vetting them.

As unbelievable as this may sound, it has been going on for years. FAST has long been plagued by serious security lapses. In fact, nearly a decade ago a DHS IG investigation found that drivers with terrorism and drug-smuggling ties were authorized by CBP for the program’s expedited border crossing. More than 80,100 drivers participated in FAST during the year examined by the IG, 70,000 along the U.S.-Canada border and over 11,500 along the U.S.-Mexico border. Investigators found that at least half a dozen drivers cleared by CBP had deep connections to terrorism and drug smuggling operations. It gets scarier; it took federal officials five years to realize it! At least two dozen others had criminal, immigration, or agricultural violations. In warning CBP about the dangers of its security lapses, the DHS watchdog pointed out in that report that the benefits granted to FAST participants “make the program attractive to drug smugglers.” That was 2012 and it seems like little has changed after nearly a decade.

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

MSNBC’s Joy Reid: Education ‘Is Code for White Parents Don’t Like the Idea of Teaching about Race’

During MSNBC’s Virginia election coverage on Tuesday, racist propagandist Joy Reid argued that education “is code for white parents who don’t like the idea of teaching about race.”

“[T]he exit polls showed that — which was interesting — that the coronavirus, or that the virus was a very — was not important to many voters there,” Reid said of the runaway Republican victories all across the political board in Virginia, victories which embittered radical leftists like Reid.

The most important issue, Reid continued, “was education, which is code for white parents don’t like the idea of teaching about race. And I mean, unfortunately, race is just the most palpable tool in the toolkit. It used to be of the Democratic Party back in the day when they were Dixiecrats and now of the Republican Party. It just is powerful.”

Reid and her fellow Democrats are seething that Virginia voters rejected the entirety of the leftist agenda, primarily the teaching of the racist neo-Marxism of Critical Race Theory. The election losses leave Democrats nothing to counter with but false accusations of racism.


Joy Reid

18 Known Connections

Supporting Black Lives Matter & Antifa

On September 3, 2020, Reid defended the funding of out-of-state agitators who were traveling across the U.S. to participate in various protests and riots — led by Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) — against the systemic racism allegedly pervading America. She also compared the activities and objectives of Antifa and BLM, to those of the civil rights movement: “First of all, it wouldn’t even be illegal if someone was paying for people’s flights to cities where they will protest any more than it was illegal for civil rights organizations to pay for the buses that brought northern protesters to the south during the civil rights movement. Most importantly, there is no evidence that anyone is paying for anyone to do anything, let alone there are ‘dark shadows’ out there enticing people to commit violent acts.” Asserting that the word Antifa “literally stands for anti-fascists,” and that the movement’s activities “aren’t close to organized crime,” Reid added: “I can’t believe I have to say this, but one more time for those in the back, Black Lives Matter and Antifa are not the mob.”

To learn more about Joy Reid, click here.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Discover the Networks column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Virginia Parents Champion Victory Of ‘Family Values,’ ‘Parental Rights’ After Democrats Routed In State-Wide Elections

It is America’s parents who will save this country from the intolerant Left. G-d bless them.

Virginia Parents Champion Victory Of ‘Family Values,’ ‘Parental Rights’ After Democrats Routed In State-Wide Elections

By Daily Wire, November 3, 2021

Virginia parents are claiming victory for “family values” and “parental rights” after Republicans swept statewide elections in Virginia on Tuesday.

Republicans routed Democrats for Virginia governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general on Tuesday in an election favoring Democrats earlier this year. Local outrage over education created a groundswell of anger against Democrats and progressive school curriculum, ideas, and policies such as student mask mandates.

Parental outrage drove Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin to victory over Democratic former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, flipping the state red after the tenure of Governor Ralph Northam.

“Glenn Youngkin’s victory showcases the Commonwealth’s desire to elect a public servant instead of a political servant,” Virginia mother Elizabeth Perrin told Fox News. “What we have seen is the importance of family values and parental rights in our education system.”

“It has been great to see how the importance of our children’s education and the parents matter movement has brought so many people together,” said Brandon Michon, a Loudoun County father of three. “This is Virginia’s opportunity to raise the bar, and we will be doing it with Glenn Youngkin as governor.”

Loudoun County was launched into national news as the center of a debate over Critical Race Theory in schools earlier this year. As The Daily Wire reported in June:

The fight between parents and Virginia’s Loudoun County Public School (LCPS) district board came to a head on Tuesday night after police arrested at least two parents who refused to leave a public school board meeting. Parents have been embroiled in a nearly year-long pushback against the district for allegedly pushing critical race theory on children — an allegation the district vehemently denies. 

LCPS is far from the only school district in the nation pushing progressive ideology in the classroom. Some of the nation’s most elite private schools, such as Harvard Westlake in Los Angeles and the Dalton School and Spence School in New York City, are peddling this ideology as well. However, the infighting in public schools — which 90 percent of American students attend — is far more telling of what most parents are enduring today. 

Loudoun County parents’ outrage exploded last month after The Daily Wire reported an incident in which a female student was allegedly sexually assaulted in a bathroom by a male student in a skirt.

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Quick note: Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail. Freedom will prevail.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

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UNBELIEVABLE: Republicans Win 4 New York City Council Seats

This is amazing.

Republicans win 4 NYC council seats

By: NY Post, November 3, 2021:

Republicans won four contested City Council races in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island and had a shot at taking a fifth in a potential upset.

Republican Inna Vernikov thumped her Democratic opponent Steve Saperstein for an open seat In southern Brooklyn’s 48th Council District by nearly 30 points.

With 87 percent of the vote in, Vernikov, a 37-year-old lawyer and Ukraine native, garnered 10,768 votes, or 65 percent of the vote, to 5,870 votes, or 35 percent, for Saperstein.

She will succeed ex-Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who forfeited his seat earlier this year when he was convicted of tax fraud.

The district includes many Russian-speaking and Jewish immigrants in the communities of Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay and Homecrest.

Vernikov ran as an unabashed supporter of former President Donald Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. endorsed her in a robocall to voters. She also opposed coronavirus vaccine mandates.

“I’m very excited. This election victory shows that the people are fed up with the progressive policies that have destroyed our city and district,” Vernikov told The Post last night.

Pro-Trump Republican Inna Vernikov thumped her Democratic opponent Steve Saperstein.

“I hope to open the door for other Republicans and serve the district with honor and integrity.”

Meanwhile, Joann Ariola kept the 32nd District, encompassing the beach communities in eastern Queens, in Republican hands.

Ariola, the Queens Republican leader and a Howard Beach civic activist, trounced lefty

Democratic progressive Felica Singh with 16,040 votes, or 67 percent, to 7,443 votes or 31 percent for Singh, who was backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Political insiders said Singh’s support for defunding the police and her criticism of Israel were losing positions in the district.

Ariola will succeed term-limited Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich.

Republican Joann Ariola kept the 32nd District, encompassing the beach communities in eastern Queens.

Meanwhile, in Staten Island’s mid-island 50th Council District, Republican David Carr defeated Democrat Sal Albanse, a former Brooklyn councilman who moved to the borough five years ago.

With 99 percent of the vote in, Carr captured 19,295 votes, or 61 percent, to 10,082 votes, or 32 percent, for Albanese. Conservative Party candidate George Wonica received 2,273 or 7 percent of the vote.

Carr, who was chief of staff to outgoing Councilman Steve Matteo, will succeed his boss.
In Staten Island’s Mid-Island 50th Council District, Republican David Carr defeated Democrat Sal Albanse.

In Staten Island’s mid-island 50th Council District, Republican David Carr defeated Democrat Sal Albanse.

Albanese had the support of law enforcement and other unions but the red tide on the island swamped him.

Meanwhile, a Republican candidate pulled off an upset in the 19th Council District in northeastern Queens.

Vickie Paladino led former Democratic Councilman Tony Avella with 99 percent of the votes in. Paladino had the support of 12,143 votes, or 50 percent, to 10,490, or 43 percent, for Avella. John-Alexander Sakelos, running on the Conservative and Save Our City lines, received 1,729 votes or 7 percent.

In another shocker, Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, who is running to become the next council speaker, is fighting for political survival.

With 95 percent of the vote in, Brannan was locked in a dead heat with Republican Brian Fox in the 43rd District that takes in communities including Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.

Fox, who ran a law-and-order campaign, had 11,589 votes to 11,568 for Brannan — a difference of just 21 votes.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Quick note: Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail. Freedom will prevail.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

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Christian Persecution Group Wants to Know if Biden’s Muslim Religious Freedom Ambassador Will Help Non-Muslims

My latest in PJ Media:

Old Joe Biden’s handlers have chosen Rashad Hussain, who served during Obama’s first two terms as U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to succeed former Senator Sam Brownback as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Hussain went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week for a perfunctory hearing, but as is increasingly the case in Washington these days, the most important questions at hand weren’t asked. So now a group dedicated to protecting embattled Christians worldwide, the Save the Persecuted Christians organization, along with a number of allied groups and individuals, is asking them of Hussain directly.

The group on Monday sent Hussain an open letter, signed by notables including Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy; Baroness Caroline Cox of the House of Lords; retired Air Force Col. Michael Onisick; radio host Eric Metaxas, Juliana Taimoorazy of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council; Amy Beam, author of The Last Yezidi Genocide; and many others. The letter asks Hussain pointed questions about Sharia, which is entirely justified given the fact that Hussain is clearly a devout and Sharia-adherent Muslim and Sharia quite clearly denies equality of rights to non-Muslims.

When he appointed Hussain his ambassador to the OIC back in 2010, Barack Obama proudly noted that his appointee was “a hafiz of the Qur’an,” that is, that he has memorized the entire Islamic holy book. That means he has memorized passages declaring that non-Muslims are “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6), that Christians who believe that Jesus is the Son of God are under the curse of Allah (Qur’an 9:30), and that Allah transformed disobedient Jews into apes and pigs (Qur’an 2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166). Hussain has likewise lovingly committed to memory the passage enjoining Muslims to “fight against those do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book [that is, Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (Qur’an 9:29).

None of that necessarily means that Hussain, as ambassador for international religious freedom, will slight reports of Islamic entities denying religious freedom to Christians or others. He may have some understanding of such Qur’anic passages that blunts their literal force. However, every nation that claims to implement Sharia today — including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan — denies religious freedom in varying degrees to non-Muslims, as well as to Muslims who are considered heterodox. If Hussain believes that Sharia is the unalterable and perfect law of Allah, does he even believe that non-Muslims should have equality of rights in such countries?

There is more. Read the rest here.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

2022 Home Prices Will Keep Rising at or Near Double Digits

This week, Fortune published an interview I did with Shawn Tully on the state of housing prices and where they will go from here.  

The interview is reprinted below. You can also read the interview on the Housing Center website here or on Fortune.com here

2022 home prices will keep rising at or near double digits, predicts the analyst who called the current housing boom

By Shawn Tully

For this writer, Ed Pinto makes the most accurate predictions of all the real estate world’s data-crunchers on where housing prices are heading. Pinto, director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center and former chief credit officer at Fannie Mae, is constantly assembling proprietary data on newly issued mortgages that provide a road map for the months ahead. And what’s Pinto seeing now? He’s convinced the naysayers are wrong and that the gangbusters, double-digit run for home prices will keep rolling well into 2022. “Over the past three or four months we’ve heard lots of hand-wringing about a buyers’ strike, talk that people aren’t buying as many homes as before,” he told me in an interview on Oct. 27. “That’s a fake narrative.”

Home prices are still soaring

Pinto notes that indeed, the number of prospective sales has declined from the peak in June. But that downshift doesn’t mean the market’s cooling. “Buyers need to close by the end of the summer to get their kids in a new school,” he says. “So they need to sign a contract and secure a mortgage by June. That’s when we always see peak purchase volumes as measured by the number of new home loans.” The ranks of buyers that secure financing, or what’s known as “rate locks,” follow a seasonal pattern of declining gradually from the summer through the low point at year-end. “What matters is that purchase volumes are extremely high for this time of year,” says Pinto. To bypass the distortions caused by the pandemic, Pinto compares the buying activity for each week in 2021 to the same period in 2019. “2019 was a strong year,” he says. “The consistent message is that week by week the buying activity is well above the numbers of 2019, which means that 2021 is a really strong.” The week of Oct. 18–24 echoed the trend: Purchase volumes stood 54% above their robust readings for the same period two years ago. “Even though rates are ticking up, the volume of home purchases is not declining as much as one would expect for this time of year,” says Pinto.

The sturdy pace of purchases is sustaining price increases near the year’s summit, despite a significant rise in mortgage costs. The rate on the 30-year home loan is now hovering at 3.25%, its highest level in 15 weeks, and well above the 2.75% mark at the start of 2021. The rise in homebuyers’ monthly nut is slowing the upward march just a bit. The AEI’s calculations for actual recorded closings, comparing “constant quality” or like homes, showed a nationwide, year-over-year price increase of 16.3% in September. That was slightly below the multi-decade record of 16.7% in August, which Pinto tags as probably the high-water mark of this housing boom. Pinto’s mortgage data forecasts that the higher rates will continue to slow appreciation, but just modestly. “We’re projecting 14% to 16% increases in November and December,” he says. “Much like the inflation surge everyone’s talking about, the explosion in home price appreciation isn’t transitory.”

The special forces that will (most likely) keep housing hot

Pinto cites four principal factors that are powering the trend. First, he observes that although rates are up from a couple of months ago, they’re still extremely modest versus history. As recently as late 2018, the 30-year was considered a good deal at just under 5%. “The Fed continues to spike the monetary punch bowl, and that’s leading to lots of demand,” says Pinto. Second, the government-sponsored agencies that guarantee the vast bulk of America’s home loans are loosening standards, for example, eliminating the limit on “risk layering” by Fannie and Freddie and raising their affordable housing goals. “That’s creating more leverage for buyers,” declares Pinto. “It’s another punch bowl that stirs still more demand.” Third, inventories of houses for sale are extraordinarily slender. Loads of buyers are bidding for a narrow choice of listings that sell fast, a dynamic that’s driving prices skyward. Even the potent rebound in new construction isn’t enough to match the rampage in buying. The standard dividing line between a buyers’ and sellers’ market is six months of inventory. Today, the stock of houses featuring for-sale signs sells out in six weeks.

The great arbitrage: migrating from the high-priced to bargain metros

The fourth factor is one of the landmark shifts born of the COVID crisis. “In the work-from-home economy, many people no longer need to live within commuting distance of their offices,” says Pinto. “You don’t need to live near the Salesforce building in downtown San Francisco to work there. The work-from-home economy has unleashed millions of people from commuting to jobs in core urban areas or living in expensive urban metros.” For the first time, homebuyers can collect their Manhattan, or San Jose or Los Angeles salary, sell their high-ticket homes there, and buy something much bigger and better in Phoenix, Boise, or the Inland Empire, while trading their cubicle in a city center high-rise for a home office.

What Pinto labels “the arbitrage opportunity” is greatly benefiting the market that usually rises least in a housing bonanza, the high end. The reason: Buyers fleeing coastal cities are buying in the top tiers in inexpensive Sunbelt metros, where the bigger, fancier homes cost a lot less than the ones they’re selling. Though upscale choices in the bargain locales are appreciating faster than rivals in a San Francisco or Seattle, the gap remains enormous, and a powerful magnet for families unshackled to shop the nation for great buys. “I was looking at the median-priced house in San Jose,” says Pinto. “It was $1.16 million in September 2020.” Meanwhile, the average in Phoenix was only $325,000, 28% of the price of the average in San Jose. Pinto continues, “Last year, that house in San Jose rose 8% to $1.25 million, and the one in Phoenix increased three times faster, at 25%, to $405,000. But the house in Phoenix still cost just one-third as much as the house in San Jose.”

The move from San Jose, L.A., or Boston to a Phoenix or Jacksonville would also give the refugee a lot more residence for their money. “In San Jose, you’d be living in a starter house at that median price,” says Pinto. “In Phoenix, you’d get a much bigger lot, and a much bigger, nicer house.” A large number of the families leaving the pricey metros are buying not the middling but higher-end homes using cash from selling their current, high six- or seven-figure ranch or colonial, and still banking hundreds of thousands of dollars. In Phoenix, overall prices have increased 25% in the past year, but what Pinto classifies as “medium-high” category rose 30.9%, versus the overall gain of 27%. In Cape Coral, Fla., “high” and “medium high” both jumped over 30%, compared with under 27% across all tiers, and in Jacksonville, the two upper buckets both hit 25%, beating the metro-wide mark of 22%.

What could stop the housing boom

As of September, the top 10 performing metros were all venues that offer super buys you don’t find on the coasts. Four are in the nonglamorous parts of Florida: Cape Coral, North Port, and Tampa on the Gulf Coast, and gritty Jacksonville in the Sunshine State’s northeast. Arizona boasts two entries, Tucson and Phoenix, which led the nation with that incredible 27%-plus jump. Austin and Las Vegas round out the top eight. San Diego ranks ninth, and Miami and Nashville are tied for the 10th spot. Amazing, even the worst markets did great compared to most periods. Lowest-ranking Washington, D.C., rose 9.2%––it was the sole metro in single digits––and two and three from the bottom, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, both rose around 11% over last year.

Pinto sketches two possible scenarios for the future. In the first, mortgages rates rebound to 4.5% or higher. “That jump would severely slow the overall rate of appreciation,” he says. “In an expensive market like a San Francisco, L.A., Boston, or New York, prices would be hit especially hard.” Pinto notes that in periods of rising rates, it’s the extremes that get pounded. “People who were going to buy a $1 million house buy an $800,000 house instead or stay put. And families at the low end don’t move because they are priced out by the higher rates. Demand tends to move more toward the middle, so that broad middle tier tends to do better.” But even if a jump in rates chills sales overall, he adds, extremely inexpensive cities could keep thriving. The differential between a Phoenix or Boise and metros in the Northeast and West Coast are still so huge that waves of exiles would likely keep coming.

In the second narrative, rates remain super-low in the 3% to 4% range. Pinto says that gains of 13% to 15% in January are already baked in, and that “by June or July appreciation will still be in the low double-digits or just below 10%. The average for all of 2022 would be 10%-11%; it might even be 12%.” Exiting 2022, if rates are at sub-4%, prices will still advance at around a brisk 7%, well above the historic trend.“I see no normalization for some time in the absence of a big rise in rates,” says Pinto. Eventually, though, the boom will create a major affordability problem that will first strike the coastal metros that are still advancing in double digits, and eventually reach the venues offering those super buys. “Take L.A. versus Riverside,” says Pinto. “In the former, the median price rose from $734,000 to $830,000, or 13%, in the year ended in September, while in Riverside, prices went up 18% from $420,000 to $495,000. Riverside went from 57% of L.A.’s prices to 60%. At some point, people are going to say the price difference isn’t enough for me to move to Riverside.” Pinto doesn’t know if the ratio is 80% or 85% or another number, just that it takes a lower price in Riverside to draw families from the allure of L.A. When that tipping point arrives, Riverside’s price fiesta will end. Eventually, high prices will correct high prices. Houses will take such a huge share of a family’s pay that folks rent or stay put, the buying collapses, and prices drop. But that day of reckoning may still be a ways off.

You can read the interview on the Housing Center website here or on Fortune.com here

©Edward J. Pinto, Director, AEI Housing Center. All rights reserved.