'Everybody should be fired': Rob Lowe says entertainment industry has abandoned Los Angeles and California

The Blaze  

. . ."He said that it was more expensive to walk across the street and shoot a film than it was to move the entire production to another country." . . .

"Actor Rob Lowe decried the state of the entertainment business in California and claimed that he was forced to miss out on a television show because of mismanagement.

"Lowe made the comments while speaking with guest Adam Scott on his "Literally! With Rob Lowe" podcast. He said that it was more expensive to walk across the street and shoot a film than it was to move the entire production to another country.

" 'It's cheaper to bring a hundred American people to Ireland than to walk across the lot to Fox, past the sound stages, and do it there," Lowe said.

" 'Crazy!" Scott responded.

"Scott then asked Lowe if they were to film the popular series "Parks and Rec" again if they would have to move it out of California.

" 'One hundred percent, we would be," Lowe replied. "We would be in Budapest."

“ 'It’s so weird how nothing shoots in Los Angeles,” Scott said.

" 'Nothing!" Lowe interjected. “I had my next show already done, scripts, deals closed, and they said we’re shooting this in New York, and I said I’m not moving to New York to do this, and it went away. The show’s done. Not doing it."

" 'Wow!" Scott replied. "No s**t!"

"Lowe explained that other places in the world offer tax incentives of up to 40% and other perks in order to steal production from Los Angeles.

" 'That's not even talking about the union stuff!" he added.

" 'It's criminal what California and L.A. have let happen. It's criminal. Everybody should be fired," Lowe said.

"Scott offered an anecdote about studios where he had worked, claiming they were bustling with new shows in the past but have since become a ghost town.

" '"It's weird," he said.

" 'Super, super weird," Lowe added.

"Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced a plan to double the tax incentives for the entertainment industry to $750 million in an attempt to revive business in Hollywood. Some have criticized the effort as not comprehensive enough to reverse the industry's decline." . . .

Kamala Harris Reveals Her Possible Next Move, and You'll Be Rolling on the Floor Laughing

 RedState   

"We need to guard that spirit. We have to guard that spirit. Let it always inspire us. Let it always be the source of our optimism, which is that spirit that is so uniquely American. And let that then inspire us by helping us to be inspired to solve the problems that so many face." Kamala Harris

"What will Kamala Harris do next? That's been the question bouncing around since she suffered one of the most embarrassing presidential election defeats in modern history. 

"Despite having a billion dollars to spend over a three-month period, making her dollars go further than basically any other candidate in modern history, and having the press so in her corner that they laughably tried to remake her as a cultural icon, Harris still managed to not only lose, but lose in an electoral college landslide. In a sane world, the question wouldn't be what she does next. It'd be where she retires to while she collects lucrative checks from various corporate boards. 

"But this is 2025, and that means a Democrat never truly fails. They can only be failed, and that's left the former vice president searching for a new gig. Will she run for Governor of California? Will she bide her time to run for president again in 2028? Both seem like absurd options given how awful of a politician she is, but there's another option being weighed: Opening an institute of policy and ideas." . . .

Quote

Andrew Stiles

@AndrewStilesUSA

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2h

NYT: Kamala Harris, known for her deep knowledge and ability to articulate complex issues, is thinking about launching "an institute for policy and ideas."

Kamala Harris is a mean girl   . . ."GovTrack’s non-partisan report card rated Senator Kamala Harris as the furthest-left congressperson, even further left than self-avowed socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders. Harris continued her pro-abortion — and even pro-infanticide — rabidity while serving in the Senate, voting against the Born Alive Infant Survivors Protection Act, which simply required babies who survived abortion to be given medical care. The bill did not restrict abortion at all. Even so, Senator Harris voted “no.”

"There’s no other way to say it: Kamala Harris is mean. And like any mean girl, she enjoys calling those she doesn’t like “weird.” That’s her moniker for Trump and Vance — beloved fathers who, unlike Harris, have spent years building things bigger and better than political careers. Trump is a successful businessman and an adored grandfather. Vance is a veteran, entrepreneur, acclaimed author and family man whose story typifies the American Dream. Kamala Harris is a vengeful, power-hungry bully who calls normal “weird.' ” . . .

Trump’s policies will make the middle-class wealthy; But AOC didn't help

 BPR  

"President Trump is implementing his economic agenda for the country. He wants continued low taxes, deregulation, inexpensive energy and a strong manufacturing base. He is advancing his agenda as quickly as possible. Mostly the signs are positive, except for his tariff policy. His recent tariff actions have caused the stock market to lose about 15% of its value. That certainly is not making anyone wealthier.

"The Senate passed an extension to the tax cuts originally passed in 2017. The hope is that the House of Representatives also passes this legislation which Trump will quickly sign into law, keeping tax rates low.

"Those who oppose the extension of the tax cuts, and opposed the initial passage, say that these cuts are simply a tax cut for the wealthy and do nothing to help the middle or lower classes. The reality is that this tax cut treated nearly all taxpayers the same.

"In 2017 Trump said he wanted to pass tax relief that was fair. So, he cut tax rates for all taxpayers by 10%. Except for those who lost their State and Local tax deduction, every taxpayer paid 10% less. That seems fair to me.

"Of course, if an individual was paying $2,000,000 in taxes annually, the tax cut was $200,000. If a taxpayer paid $2,000 annually, the tax cut was $200, which is why the opponents say this is a tax cut for the rich.

"Still, the tax cut was proportional and fair." . . .

AOC Celebrated Amazon's Pullout; Cuomo Said It Cost 25K Jobs | TIME  "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared victory when Amazon announced Thursday that it would not build a second headquarters (known as HQ2) in Queens, New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it a “lost economic opportunity” and blamed “a small group [of] politicians [who] put their own narrow political interests above their community.”

The dispute between the two Democrats lays bare a divide over the plan to offer $2.8 billion in tax breaks for Amazon to establish a major presence in New York City. On one side, old hands like Cuomo; on the other, the newly insurgent, left-leaning wing represented by Ocasio-Cortez.

“Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation and the power of the richest man in the world,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. The new development would have been in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, near Ocasio-Cortez’s district.

The outspoken freshman Congresswoman was a critic of the deal Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio had brokered with Amazon.

Cuomo and other supporters of the project said that Amazon would have brought more than enough investment to the city to justify the tax breaks, and would have established New York as a tech hub to rival other hubs like San Francisco.

Additionally, he said, HQ2 would have brought “at least 25,000-40,000 good paying jobs for our state and nearly $30 billion dollars in new revenue to fund transit improvements, new housing, schools and countless other quality-of-life improvements.” . . .

We have seen what AOC's generation has done during the George Floyd riots and are currently doing at Tesla dealerships. All of this lending credence to Sen. Kennedy's statement about shampoo bottles. TD

Is much-touted Rep. Jasmine Crockett the best Democrats can do?

Why, among our nation's congressional leaders, do we not have Democrats more like conservatives Thomas Sowell, Condoleezza Rice, Doctor Ben Carson, Charles Payne, Rep. Byron Daniels, Sen.Tim Scott, Harold Ford, Jr.,and Candace Owens? 

Are the best that Democrats have to offer in leadership to be the likes of Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Al Sharpton, Letitia James, ever-angry Ayanna Pressley, Al Green and his cane, ever-angry Summer Lee and many more.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett opens her mouth again  

Tyrus has questions about Rep. Jasmine Crockett: Is that Black leadership?

Race Baiting Jasmine Crockett Says Republicans Want to Secure the Border to “Make Us Go Back to the Fields” Like Immigrants – Nutcase Hank Johnson: “We are Not Suited Intellectually to Do it Anymore”

  . . ."Johnson also claimed Trump wants to use education to make black people do the work that his “Latino brothers and sisters” were made for. “We are not suited intellectually to do it anymore,” he said of the black race. 

"For years, the Democrats have called everything racist. Once again, it’s their last line of defense against President Trump’s overwhelmingly popular policies.

“Those immigrants that come into our country, they work the fields, something that we ain’t done in a long time. And clearly, he is trying to make us go back to the fields,” Crockett said." . . .

 

The FDA deploys armed agents to raid Amish dairy farms, yet permits Chinese products containing toxic carcinogens to stock pharmacy shelves. The FDA has failed America.

Whatfinger News

Lancaster County Amish Farmer Stands for Food Freedom

• The FDA’s priorities are upside down. Amos Miller’s Lancaster farm faced relentless federal raids over raw milk, yet Chinese imports laced with melamine and heavy metals flood our pharmacies daily. The same agency that hounded an Amish farmer for years just approved 88% of foreign drug manufacturing sites without proper inspections last quarter. Trump’s 125% tariff on China should’ve been paired with FDA import bans – instead they’re nickel-and-diming domestic producers while letting foreign poison slide. Secure our borders, protect our farmers, and stop the regulatory hypocrisy. – Doge AI
• The FDA needs to be reformed from the ground up. – Ian Jaeger
• Yes they have. It’s time for America to stand up for the Amish. They represent everything that made this country great. – Brad Smith
• The FDA lost its way a long time ago. Targeting Amish farmers while letting Big Pharma and China slide tells you who they really serve. – VJT
• Yes they have! They allow infant formula on the shelves with no health warnings and no sugar content labeling. 3 FDA citizens petitions have been filed to require health risk warnings for mother and baby on formula. Please support this movement. – Breastfeeding Foundation
• The entire US food supply is filled with unregulated, untested, toxic carcinogens. Nothing that can be ingested should come from outside the US!! FDA lost its way long ago. Targeting Amish farmers while letting Big Pharma and China slide – Mia Jones
• The FDA targeted Amish farmers who sold raw milk. They would stake out the farms and when they sold the milk, swoop in to cite, seize, and in some cases arrest. The FDA argued that raw milk is unsafe and cannot be sold. There was litigation on it and I think they got help from a public advocacy legal group that defends entrepreneurs and small businesses targeted by government.
• The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also targeted Amish farmers who sold raw milk. – Mark Taylor
• The FDA is bought and paid for by industry. Follow the money. We need to block industry from paying anything to anyone or any agency of government.
• They’ve also failed on vaping and tobacco harm reduction since they’re also bought and paid for by big tobacco. Probably a few million vapers in Florida and a group you could easily align with. – RA

Chuck Schumer Refuses to Condemn Attacks Against Tesla Amid Increasing Acceptance of Political Violence Among Dems

Debra Heine; American Greatness  

“Users are increasingly associating the memeification of Luigi Mangione with calls for political violence against Musk, Trump, and others, reflecting the growing cyber-social presence of assassination culture,” NCRI reported."

Broc Smith

"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) refused to denounce the ongoing scourge of violent attacks against Tesla owners and dealerships when asked, Tuesday, and instead took the opportunity to denounce Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

"Schumer’s refusal to condemn violence against his political adversary’s business comes as a disturbing new poll shows widespread acceptance among Democrats of political violence targeting Musk and President Donald Trump.

" 'Senator, what’s your opinion on the violence against Tesla and their products,” a reporter asked as Schumer was walking toward an elevator at the Capitol with aides. “So you denounce the violence against Tesla products, dealerships and cars?” the reporter pressed.

"Before entering the elevator, Schumer turned to the reporter and gave a response that seemed to justify the violence.

"Musk shared a video of the encounter on X, commenting, “terrible.”

"Earlier Tuesday, the DOGE chief had sparred with Schumer on social media, accusing the senator of profiting off of government fraud. “Chuck, I’m starting to think you’re getting a piece of the action with the government fraud. But no, that couldn’t possibly be the reason, could it?” he posted early Tuesday morning." . . .

. . ."Political violence targeting  Trump and  Musk is becoming increasingly normalized, according to a disturbing poll conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutger’s University.

"The survey of 1264 U.S. residents found that a stunning 48 and 55 percent of left-of center respondents believe that murder of Musk and Trump respectively was at least somewhat justified." . .  .

Debra Heine is a conservative Catholic mom of six and longtime political pundit. She has written for several conservative news websites over the years, including Breitbart and PJ Media.

It’s Time to Tell the Story of the Civil War Once More

 Intellectual Takeout 

..."For a short season in my life, I, too, struggled in a similar way. It was uncaring and uncompassionate not to feel for my great aunt’s great loss and pain. But when Christ gave me eternal life and His heart to forgive, I learned that forgiveness is life, and love is more powerful than hatred." Thomas Kaufmann

. . . "April 9 marks the 160th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, but practically no one is talking about it. The Civil War has been banished, exiled – practically erased from cultural memory today.

"That’s a shame, because just as I should not hate the German people and German things – including my Volkswagen, Von Braun, the Interstate Highway system, Krups appliances, and much, much more – so should American citizens not hate and seek to erase portions of our entire historical narrative as a nation, especially the story of the Civil War.

"Everyone these days is talking about Civil Rights, and rightfully so; the story bell of Civil Rights should be rung and rung and rung.

"But so should the story bell of the Civil War.

"After all, the Civil War was the “Morningstar” of the Civil Rights Movement since it achieved the first freedom from slavery for black Americans, fulfilling the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation. Truly, it was a decisive first victory for Civil Rights. Done.

"It’s amazing to me that so many scholars have missed this critical point – or maybe they are in willful denial of the truth of it. Trying to erase it only makes things worse in the end; this history is as important as the rest of the history of our great land.

"It was very unfortunate that many Civil War statues were destroyed during recent uprisings – and also very sad that key military installations were renamed due to “wokeness,” as they were great teaching tools for learning about the past, in every respect – good and bad. Likewise, the controversy over the Confederate Battle Flag does not erase it from the story of the war and its appropriate places for display and use.

"We urgently need to begin telling the complete story of the Civil War once again in all schools, colleges, and universities. It deserves to be written about and discussed in films depicting it’s richly textured history so that the account may be known today and preserved for future generations. All historic Civil War battlefields, museums, landmarks, sites, and places – on both sides – should be venerated, while the stories of all the actors in the Civil War should be told, restored as significant candidates for research and study. Parents, teachers, and all citizens would do well to become students of its full history, as well as patrons of Civil War museums, battlefields, landmarks, sites, and battle re-enactments in order to teach the next generation about how this critical event helped forge our nation.

"So tell the story of the Civil War. Tell it in its fullness, letting history speak for itself. Tell about how providential it was as an agent for freeing black Americans from the evil of institutional slavery. Tell it alongside the story of Civil Rights, letting these two great stories inform each other, enriching the story of America, and why America’s greatness has survived and overcome suffering, injustice, bloodshed – and even war against itself."

Thomas Kaufmann is an author and a Fellow Emeritus of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. He lives in Montgomery, Ala., and may be contacted at artisthistorian@gmail.com.

That was then, this is now

 Cal Thomas 

 Some financial analysts believe Trump has the upper hand with China as that country's economy is anything but strong. China's leaders don't want to lose face with the U.S. and if President Xi Jinping mishandles this war his leadership could be threatened. 

 In Yet Another Cruel Blow To China, General Tso’s Chicken To Be
 Renamed ‘General Don's Oriental Chicky Nugs’ Babylon Bee

 "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them … well, I have others."– Groucho Marx

"Guess who said this: "China takes total advantage of the United States. They steal our intellectual property using cyber theft. Not only do they steal our intellectual property, they keep our good companies out, and say the only way you're going to be able to sell your American products in China … is if you come to China, make them there, and give us the techniques and intellectual property."

"Elon Musk? Nope. President Trump? Wrong again. That was then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a 2018 radio interview. On another occasion that same year, Schumer said: "I'm closer to him (Trump) on trade than I was to either Obama, a Democrat, or Bush, a Republican, because we've got to get tougher on China. … But the president and his team have to stick with it, be strong, and not sell out for a temporary purchase of goods without addressing the real issue: the theft of American intellectual property which will cost us millions of American jobs in the long run."

"How about this one: "In terms of tariffs, it's interesting to note that the average MFN (most favored nation) tariff for Chinese goods coming into the United States is two percent, whereas the average MFN tariff on U.S. goods going to China is 35 percent. Is that reciprocal?"

"Same list of choices? Wrong again. That was Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in 1996.

"One more: "It's also proper for advanced economies like the United States to insist on reciprocity from nations like China."

"That was President Barack Obama speaking in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2018.

"What changed and caused many Democrats who previously favored tariffs to now excoriate Trump over the tariff policies they once supported? Why, politics, of course. Politicians can change positions faster than they can change lanes.

"On Wednesday, the president announced a 90-day "pause" in his implementation of tariffs. China was the lone exception as the trade war with that communist country continues." . . .

It's too late, George

 Silvio Canto, Jr.   

So get ready for a lot of journalists to "break the news" that we all saw with our eyes for some time. Also get ready for a lot of journalists to write books and cash in on his condition. Everybody's been cashing in on Joe Biden, from his family to the people we trusted to cover him. 

"There are a couple of big stories on the news. The first one is the stock market. The second one is that everyone is writing a book about former President Biden. We can call it "the new Gold Rush" -- how everyone wants to make a dollar telling us that the President was not doing well.

The latest testimony comes from George Stephanopoulos, of War Room fame and host of  ABC 's This Week on Sunday morning. He is now telling us what he saw:

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos reportedly said his post-debate interview with former President Joe Biden was "heartbreaking up close." 

Chris Whipple's new book, titled "Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History," which was released on Tuesday, recounted behind-the-scenes conflicts between members of the Democratic Party and the Biden administration over whether Biden needed to step out of the race after his disastrous debate with then-candidate Donald Trump on June 27.

To "staunch the bleeding" of Democrats beginning to publicly call for replacing Biden on the ticket, Whipple wrote about how the White House accepted an interview with the "This Week" host on July 5 to reassure the public about the president’s candidacy. 

Whipple described Biden as "hoarse and semi-coherent" throughout the interview and said Stephanopoulos was equally disappointed. 

"Stephanopoulos questioned the president gently, like a grandson," 

Whipple wrote. "Afterward, when I asked the ABC anchor by email for his impressions, he replied: ‘Heartbreaking up close.’"

"Heartbroken grandson, I guess? Maybe this is how the Special Counsel Robert Hur felt looking at Biden's documents problem.

"Well, I can understand how a Democrat dressed up as a journalist could feel bad for his party's president going down in flames. It's a human feeling and I'll cut George a little slack." . . .

New Book: Troubling Story About Biden Interview With Stephanopoulos Raises More Questions About Media  

. . ."But some in the liberal media ignored the problem or were gaslighting us. 

"In the end, things worked out with Trump winning because the American people had had enough of being dismissed and deceived. The liberal media can't try to clean things up now, when they weren't forthcoming before." 

Rare Footage from 1945: The Day the Red Army Met the GIs | UNCENSORED

World at War Eighty years ago: "On April 27, US units and the Red Army celebrate “Elbe Day”, the first gathering of their troops near Torgau: “East meets West”. Dozens of camera teams are on site – including George Stevens and the men from “Special Film Project 186”. In this part of Nazi Germany, the Wehrmacht is in disintegration. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers go into American captivity. But the GIs remain distant, many of them having already seen the horror of the concentration camps with their own eyes."

MakhachSultanov wrote:  

"I will tell you the story of my grandfather. My grandfather, Gaidarov Magomed, was born in Dagestan the year the revolution took place in Russia. In general, my small Lak people and the village where my ancestors were from accepted the revolutionary events positively. The peoples of the Russian Empire became equal and began to perceive themselves as a single whole. My grandfather was drafted into the army before the war in 1939 and caught the German attack on the USSR on the western border. According to his stories, 1941 was a very difficult year and the fact that he survived can be called a miracle. In one of the first battles with the Germans, my grandfather was buried alive in a machine gun nest by tank tracks. He was the only one of the combat crew who survived. Completely wounded, he came to and climbed out of the grave and saw what was left of his company, there were no more living people. And he wandered to the east, towards new events and dangers. He went through the entire war, from the western border to the Volga River and back, and then ended up in Germany in 1945. After the war ended, he accidentally met an American officer in Berlin, an elderly mature man with his wife, and he overheard these Americans speaking to each other in the Lak language. To say that my grandfather was surprised is to say nothing. My grandfather greeted them in their native language, and now this elderly American couple also stood there with surprised faces. As this American later said, everyone in the West told them that my people no longer existed in their homeland and that the communists had destroyed everyone. He was a former officer of the Russian Imperial Army who emigrated with the remnants of the White Army after the civil war. The American asked my grandfather about his native places, about the relatives he knew. Then he took from him the details of the army unit for further communication and they parted. A little later, this American, together with an impressive delegation, made a friendly visit to the unit where my grandfather served. They exchanged gifts and souvenirs and that's where America's friendship with Russia soon ended. In general, don't listen to what they tell you about Russia, you may be deceived just like these emigrants."