Monthly Archives: May 2026

Why Would Anyone Want To?

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New York’s legislature has passed the Mamdani Pied-a-Terre tax; it’s the Progressive-Democratic Party’s latest attack on those Evil Rich.

The pied-à-terre tax, which was passed on Wednesday as part of the state’s budget, takes aim at second homes valued at $5 million or more and is expected to generate as much as $500 million annually in new revenue. It goes into effect July 1 and could add hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to the tax bills of some high-end condo owners.

New York City imposes some of the nation’s highest taxes on people and businesses domiciled there; now it’s going after those only resident there (I’d hardly call it living there) part time.

I wonder: why would anyone with the fiscal wherewithal to leave want to stay in NYC, much less be there even parttime? It’s rapidly losing its status as the financial center, with areas like Dallas and San Antonio growing in that industry, even places like San Francisco and Chicago supplanting various aspects of financial-ness. Regarding cultural attractions, those in DC and, yes, Dallas again, along with San Antonio and Austin, and San Fran, again, and Chicago have attractions to rival anything in NYC.

To the extent folks want to be in the city parttime, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts all are right nearby as places to hang a hat; they’re each easy enough commutes into town.

A bottom, though, why maintain even a sometime abode in a city that hates you so much, whose ultimate idea of “fair share” is all you got?

The Pope’s Encyclical

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The Wall Street Journal‘s editors are amused by the press’ response to Pope Leo XIV’s writ that warns of the dangers that Artificial Intelligence presents to the humanity of us all.

I’m amused by the Pope’s naïveté. He wrote this (as cited by the editors), for instance:

Some of what he writes is hard to dispute, such as that AI has “harmful uses, such as the manipulation of information or violations of privacy.”

So do the printing press and reporters since that machine’s invention engage in the harm of manipulating information—what they choose to write, what they choose to not write, how they choose to present either. So do the reporters, specifically, with the means they use to snoop out what they choose then to write about.

And

“There is also a subtler danger,” he writes, of AI “reflecting and reinforcing the stereotypes or ideological bias of their designers and developers.”

“Subtler dangers?” That’s the press and reporters here, too. Reporters today only write consistently with their preconceived notions and/or those of their employers, the press’ collection of editors and publishers. Particular stereotypes are blithely peddled where they support those preconceived notions or contradict the obviously wrong notions of those whom they oppose.

The Pope is on firm ground when he advises the flock—and the rest of us—on morality and the role of God in our lives. However, if he’s going to move from the general of morals and God’s Word to specifics like the tools we use, he would do well to at least be consistent. AI is in many respects, if not most, simply an extension of the printing press, the press industry, and reporters in the arena of information generation and dissemination.

Birthright Political Seat

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In last Tuesday’s Texas Progressive-Democratic Party primary runoff election “for a recently redrawn House seat,” ex-Progressive-Democrat Congressman Colin Allred (from a pre-redraw district) defeated incumbent Progressive-Democrat Congresswoman (from a pre-redraw district) Julie Johnson by 54%-46%.

This is upsetting to senior Party members, even as the upset itself is surprising by its existence. The upset is centered on Johnson being Texas’ only openly LGBTQ Representative in Congress, as if that matters in some way.

For instance, here are Congressmen Mark Takano (D, CA) and Ritchie Torres (D, NY), Party’s Equality PAC co-chairs:

It’s no secret that, without Julie, Texas—and likely the entire South—will lose openly LGBTQ representation in Congress. Many in our community remain deeply hurt by Colin Allred’s decision to challenge one of our own.

The effrontery of Allred—that seat belonged to the LGBTQ community.

The dismay also is typical of Party’s attitude toward blacks. Johnson is white, and Allred is black. That man should have remembered his place, which is squarely in back of the LGBTQ community.

Never mind that, by solidly choosing Allred in the primary, Party voters themselves clearly demonstrated their overall preference for Allred, if not their overall dissatisfaction with Johnson.

Continuing Coverup

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The House Judiciary Committee requested the sound files and transcripts that had been collected by a special prosecutor during his investigation of ex-Vice President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified material. The Heritage Foundation had requested the same material via a FOIA request. The recordings and transcripts were scheduled to be released to the requestors in the middle of next month.

Then Joe Biden decided the material would be embarrassing to him, so now he’s suing to stop the delivery. He wants the DC district court to

declare the committee’s request pretextual and invalid, and permanently bar the release of the records.

The same would apply, presumably, to The Heritage Foundation‘s FOIA delivery.

Biden isn’t alone in this coverup. Progressive-Democratic Party will claim pretextual-ness regarding any Congressional summons of, or FOIA requests for, documentation and any other information that might embarrass any Party politicians or leadership personnel.

Self-Serving and Dishonest

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The Chicago Teachers Union wanted to raise dues on its Chicago membership to the tune of an additional $800 per year. They claimed they wanted the additional money for

win[ning] a majority of the first 21 person fully elected school board

and

resources to fund a statewide millionaires tax campaign

Union management doesn’t care that their own union bylaws say

…our dues are not used for political purposes—so our PAC relies on extra contributions from our members to support progressive candidates….

The CTU’s dues and its PAC are entirely separate from each other. So why raise dues in order to fund political purposes? Because CTU’s management is that dishonest and that contemptuous of union members’ intelligence.

It turns out that CTU members are not as dumb as their Betters think they are. The dues increase was voted down by roughly 3:2.

Members will need to be actively vigilant, though, these Betters have shown their colors, and they’ll be back with more attempts, or they’ll simply weasel-word their way around the members’ No and go ahead, anyway. This is, after all, Chicago.