Daily Tech News 23 November 2024
—Pixy Misa
Top Story- Elon Musk's new ideas for improving government efficiency are not in fact new. (The Verge)
Do tell, O Verge.Though DOGE isn't a real department - and may in fact just be President-elect Donald Trump's way of placating Musk by giving him the appearance of a real job - it represents a long-running right-wing attempt to gut the civil service, a plan the incoming administration fully supports.
So it only appears to be a real job, but the administration fully supports it?In any case, Musk and Ramaswamy have proposed cutting "thousands" of federal regulations and determining the "minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions."
Awesome.This time around, it's not clear whether the courts would stop Trump, who, in his first term, nominated more judges to the federal judiciary than any of his predecessors and will inherit an extremely friendly Supreme Court. And as Musk and Ramaswamy noted in their explanation of how DOGE will function, the incoming Trump administration has something new at its disposal: the recent Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the landmark case that overturned Chevron deference.
Better and better!The goal is mass deregulation - a weakening of checks and balances and a major cut to basic government services, all in the name of concentrating power among a small group of plutocrats.
As opposed to the way things are now, where government regulations are the primary tool for concentrating power among a small group of plutocrats?
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The ONTs Of Others
—WeirdDave
Greetings Horde! Tonight we have a special medal for whoever posts 3st!
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Police Cat Cafe
—Ace
Holy Island, Northumberland
by Jim Scott
The kitten chose violence.
Youth vs. wisdom. TBH, I think youth is winning here.
Cats are chaos agents and that's just the way it is.
Proving that you can look cool on a Vespa.
Don't let this fool you, winter is awful.
Seriously, do not believe winter's lies. It's nothing like that. It's a frigid shitshow.
After a dog was lost for three years, his owner gets a tip out of the blue that his beloved mutt might have been found living on the street as a stray.
ICYMI: The jelly budgie strikes again.
Older brother dog looks out for younger brother dog.
Wait, today is Friday? Even better!
Scrubbing the turtle, if you mark my meaning.
Baby cows running around like puppies.
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It's a Clown World After All
—Ace
The Bulwark continues farming their hysterical, paranoid readers for trauma-clicks:
You can read excerpts from this hysteria-farming at Hot Air. The writer spins out fantastical scenarios about Trump ignoring the Constitution's prohibition on being elected to more than two terms, including the Reich-Wing Supreme Court just saying, God-Emperor Trump can do whatever he wants.
This is desperation. They are preying on their fearful, mentally-ill readership's hysterias to keep the clicks coming and keep Pierre Omidyar funding them.
Bill Kristol, JV Last, Tim Miller and the gang of cowardly, moneygrubbing psychopaths have nothing left to sell their hard-left donors but fear porn and assassination prep.
MSNBC is sad that Laken Riley's killer was convicted.
Thanks to Deb Heine of American Greatness.
Excerpts from this Sympathy for the Devil article from Hot Air:
What a ghastly thing to publish.What completely unnecessary and callous words to scribble.
With what feels like a cavalier bone thrown to Laken's devasted family only in the very last paragraph. Such soulless good sports they are.
...The judge also hit Ibarra with consecutive sentences instead of concurrent sentences. A concurrent sentence is much better for a defendant. It means he serves all his sentences at the same time. Three concurrent 20-year sentences mean a defendant serves 20 years. Three consecutive 20-year sentences equals 60 years behind bars. Under Georgia law, concurrent sentences are the default, but the judge here felt concurrent sentences -- for life sentences, no less -- weren't sufficient punishment. This provides the best glimpse into the judge's opinion of this defendant.Sometimes defense counsel just gets handed a truly awful, unwinnable case. The defense's choice of a bench trial not only saved the state the resources of a wasted jury trial; it also likely avoided unnecessarily prolonging this traumatic experience for the victim's family.
Re: the terrible rumor that Trump was looking at Deep State operator Mike Rogers for head of the FBI:
@JackPosobiecBREAKING: Andrew McCabe went on CNN last night and endorsed Mike Rogers for FBI Director
Tells you everything you need to know
DC_Draino
@DC_Draino 3Goes without saying - Mike Rogers cannot be FBI Director
Otherwise nothing will have changedGunther Eagleman
@GuntherEaglemanMike Rogers has been on Fox and Friends this morning pushing his name out there for FBI Director.
Get loud, #KashOnlyDan Scavino Jr.
@DanScavinoJust spoke to President Trump regarding Mike Rogers going to the FBI. It's not happening -- In his own words, "I have never even given it a thought." Not happening.
Donald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr 1h
Winning
via andycanuck.
Remember the spree stabbing in NYC on Monday? Well there was another one on Wednesday.
A 55-year-old tourist was attacked with a knife while walking on the sidewalk in a swanky neighborhood in New York City on Wednesday, police said.The New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to Fox News Digital that the stabbing in broad daylight occurred at approximately 10:23 a.m. in a neighborhood on the Upper West Side.
Police said that the 55-year-old's left ear and left cheek were slashed during the seemingly random attack. The victim was transported to a local hospital following the stabbing.
The suspect fled following the attack, authorities said. Surveillance footage, obtained by Fox News Digital, showed the suspect running from the scene. He was spotted with a knife.The NYPD are continuing to investigate the incident.
The stabbing comes just two days after a knife-wielding man was charged with killing three people on Monday.
Police arrested 51-year-old Ramon Rivera, a career criminal, earlier this week after he allegedly went on an unprovoked stabbing spree across Manhattan.
Meanwhile, the disgusting, corrupt Soros DA Alvin Bragg continues persecuting Trump and Daniel "The White Man" Penny.
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Just The News: The Capitol Hill Cop Who Murdered Ashley Babbit Had Long Disciplinary Record Including Reports of Mishandling Firearms
—Ace
Can we vote him a Congressional Medal of Honor, to be presented by Lindsey Graham, who demanded the Capitol Police begin indiscriminately murdering citizens?
Cop who fatally shot J6 protestor has lengthy disciplinary record that includes gun incidentsThe issues in officer Michael Byrd's background included a failed shotgun qualification test, a failed FBI background check, a suspension for a lost weapon and referral to prosecutors for firing his gun at a stolen car.
By John Solomon and Steven Richards
The Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riots and then was promoted has a lengthy internal affairs and disciplinary record that includes firearm-related incidents, a sweeping congressional investigation has found.The issues in Captain Michael Byrd's background included a failed shotgun qualification test, a failed FBI background check for a weapon's purchase, a 33-day suspension for a lost weapon and referral to Maryland state prosecutors for firing his gun at a stolen car fleeing his neighborhood, according to congressional and police documents obtained by Just the News.
...
The incidents described in Loudermilk's letter are corroborated by congressional records and police reports that date as early as 2004 including:
A 2004 incident where Byrd, who was off duty, fired his weapon at a stolen vehicle as it was fleeing his residential neighborhood;
A 2015 "conduct unbecoming an officer" complaint filed by a fellow officer after Byrd, again off duty, confronted him while the officer was working at a high school football game in an incident with racial overtones;
A 33-day suspension in 2019 after Byrd left his service weapon unattended in a public Capitol Hill bathroom;
A failure to pass a routine background check shortly after Jan. 6 when attempting to purchase a shotgun for home protection, after the USCP worked to provide Byrd a department-issued shotgun instead, he failed the training; and
Three further referrals to the Capitol Police Office of Professional Responsibility for which records are reportedly missing.
Mark Schamel, the lawyer representing Byrd, did not respond several requests for comment. The U.S. Capitol Police also did not return several inquiries from Just the News.
"I showed utmost courage"
In his only interview to date, Byrd told NBC News' Lester Holt about his experience on Jan. 6 and defended the decisions that he made that day, including to use his firearm against Ashli Babbitt, a pro-Trump protestor who had entered the Capitol.
"I believe I showed utmost courage on January 6, and it's time for me to do that now," Byrd said when he was asked why he decided to come forward publicly.
...
By 2023, Byrd was promoted to the rank of captain by Capitol Police leadership.
Loudermilk is specifically concerned about Byrd's promotion because of his lengthy disciplinary history, which includes at least two firearm incidents and one confrontation with another officer while off duty.
Oh boy, we sure don't want Trump filling the government with "loyalists." No one in the government is a "loyalist" to their fellow leftwing Deep State Regime operatives right now.
In more Deep State news: Wray and Mayorkas decided they didn't feel like showing up for a congressional Homeland Security hearing so they just blew it off.
There is a prison cell missing two hoodlums.
Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI director Christopher Wray did not show up for a Senate Homeland Security hearing on Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to relieve both of them of their duties.The break with precedent sparked outrage from committee chairman Senator Gary Peters (D., Mich.) and other lawmakers.
"In a shocking departure from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's longstanding tradition of transparency and oversight of the threats facing our nation, for the first time in 15 years, the Homeland Security Secretary and FBI Director have refused to appear before the Committee," Peters said.
"Their choice to not provide public testimony about their departments' efforts to address wide-ranging national security threats robs the American people of critical information and the opportunity for public accountability of what the federal government is doing to keep Americans safe," he added.
When reached for comment, the FBI and DHS both told National Review the committee lawmakers would be better off meeting in a classified setting to discuss the threats to American national security.
"We remain committed to sharing information about the continuously evolving threat environment facing our nation and the extraordinary work the men and women of the FBI are doing," the FBI said in a statement.
...
"DHS and the FBI already have shared with the Committee and other Committees, and with the American public, extensive unclassified information about the current threat environment," the spokesperson added.
Unsatisfied with that explanation, Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) a member of the committee, is calling for Mayorkas and Wray to face subpoenas to testify.
"This is Mayorkas & Wray giving the middle finger to the American people. They are REQUIRED BY LAW to testify. And now they're saying it's good enough to post something on a website? Both are unfit for office. The Senate should subpoena them immediately and hold them in contempt," Hawley said on X.
Muh Normzzz.
Musk, Vivek Lay Out Their Plans to Make America Solvent Again
—Ace
The New York Times ran another hair-on-fire article last week warning of the dangers of Elon Musk's cost-cutting.
See, this Lunatic has a crazy way of cutting costs: He just cuts what he thinks can be cut, then sees if he's cut too much and makes adjustments later.
Or, if he hasn't cut enough, he cuts some more.
It's insane! No company could possibly survive such a regime of cost-cutting!
Except for the several billion dollar companies Musk created, which are flourishing.
Slash First, Fix Later: How Elon Musk Cuts Costs Mr. Musk dug into his companies' budgets, preferring to cut too much rather than too little and to deal with the fallout later. Under Donald Trump, he is set to apply those tactics to the U.S. government.On a Saturday morning in December 2022, Elon Musk summoned finance executives at Twitter, which he had bought six weeks earlier, to a conference call. Then he drilled into a spreadsheet that contained the social media company's expenditures.Mr. Musk was angry, three people who were on the call said. Even though Twitter had just shed more than three-quarters of its employees -- leaving it with just over 1,500 workers, down from nearly 8,000 -- the company's spending still appeared to be out of control, the billionaire told attendees.
Over the next six hours, Mr. Musk read out the spreadsheet line by line and asked workers to account for each item. He ordered some items -- such as car services for executives -- to be cut completely. At one point, he confronted an employee who was responsible for a multimillion-dollar contract related to website security and said his electric vehicle company, Tesla, spent far less on the same task. After the employee pushed back, Mr. Musk said she was no longer with Twitter.
The meeting was characteristic of the approach that Mr. Musk has taken to cutting costs. Frugal to a fault, the 53-year-old has been intimately involved in hacking down budgets at his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, which he renamed X. Over nearly three decades as a tech entrepreneur, he has honed his penny-pinching by digging into minutiae and cutting as deeply as possible -- often preferring to cut too much rather than too little, according to 17 current and former employees and others with knowledge of Mr. Musk's strategies.
Perhaps most importantly, Mr. Musk has been brutally unsentimental about the cuts, paying little regard to norms and conventions. The tech mogul has been unabashed about slashing costs to the point that corporate processes -- and sometimes even product safety -- break down, philosophizing that he can just fix things later, the people said. And he has been unafraid to offend, stiffing vendors to negotiate better prices and sidestepping traditional suppliers to manufacture cheaper parts from scratch.
"He used to be a deity," said Jim Cantrell, SpaceX's first vice president of business development. "But you know he's just a business guy. And he wants to cut everything to the bone."
."
Oh no! He might bring that wealth-generating, growth-spurring frugality to the US government!
They say that they can cut $2 billion from the government's discretionary budget.
It's not nothing.
They say they'll be relying heavily on the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning so-called "Chevron deference" -- the idea that courts must defer to unelected bureaucrats' "rule"-making, treating these non-laws as if they're Congress-passed laws -- to overturn regulations and permit Trump to cancel, or "reciss," spending.
Reciss. You know what that sounds like.
Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government. That isn't how America functions today. Most legal edicts aren't laws enacted by Congress but "rules and regulations" promulgated by unelected bureaucrats--tens of thousands of them each year. Most government enforcement decisions and discretionary expenditures aren't made by the democratically elected president or even his political appointees but by millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.This is antidemocratic and antithetical to the Founders' vision. It imposes massive direct and indirect costs on taxpayers. Thankfully, we have a historic opportunity to solve the problem. On Nov. 5, voters decisively elected Donald Trump with a mandate for sweeping change, and they deserve to get it.
President Trump has asked the two of us to lead a newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to cut the federal government down to size. The entrenched and ever-growing bureaucracy represents an existential threat to our republic, and politicians have abetted it for too long. That's why we're doing things differently. We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won't just write reports or cut ribbons. We'll cut costs.
We are assisting the Trump transition team to identify and hire a lean team of small-government crusaders, including some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America. This team will work in the new administration closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget. The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings. We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws. Our North Star for reform will be the U.S. Constitution, with a focus on two critical Supreme Court rulings issued during President Biden's tenure.
...
DOGE will work with legal experts embedded in government agencies, aided by advanced technology, to apply these rulings to federal regulations enacted by such agencies. DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission. This would liberate individuals and businesses from illicit regulations never passed by Congress and stimulate the U.S. economy.
When the president nullifies thousands of such regulations, critics will allege executive overreach. In fact, it will be correcting the executive overreach of thousands of regulations promulgated by administrative fiat that were never authorized by Congress. The president owes lawmaking deference to Congress, not to bureaucrats deep within federal agencies. The use of executive orders to substitute for lawmaking by adding burdensome new rules is a constitutional affront, but the use of executive orders to roll back regulations that wrongly bypassed Congress is legitimate and necessary to comply with the Supreme Court's recent mandates. And after those regulations are fully rescinded, a future president couldn't simply flip the switch and revive them but would instead have to ask Congress to do so.
A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy. DOGE intends to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions. The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified: Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited.
....
Conventional wisdom holds that statutory civil-service protections stop the president or even his political appointees from firing federal workers. The purpose of these protections is to protect employees from political retaliation. But the statute allows for "reductions in force" that don't target specific employees. The statute further empowers the president to "prescribe rules governing the competitive service." That power is broad.
...
With this authority,>b? Mr. Trump can implement any number of "rules governing the competitive service" that would curtail administrative overgrowth, from large-scale firings to relocation of federal agencies out of the Washington area. Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.
Finally, we are focused on delivering cost savings for taxpayers. Skeptics question how much federal spending DOGE can tame through executive action alone. They point to the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which stops the president from ceasing expenditures authorized by Congress. Mr. Trump has previously suggested this statute is unconstitutional, and we believe the current Supreme Court would likely side with him on this question. But even without relying on that view, DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended, from $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood
...
With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government. We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail. Now is the moment for decisive action. Our top goal for DOGE is to eliminate the need for its existence by July 4, 2026--the expiration date we have set for our project. There is no better birthday gift to our nation on its 250th anniversary than to deliver a federal government that would make our Founders proud.
6-3? I hope you're not counting on ACB or John Roberts.
But if the Court does back them up, we might actually see government spending costs cut for the first time in recent history.
The "Biden" Administration sees the threat of racist recissions to the massive piles of newly-printed Fake Dollars Biden spammed out, largely through the Inflation Creation Act.
Worried that Musk and Vivek might cancel some of the tens of billions of unspent inflationary fake dollars, the Regime has ordered all of its corrupt functionaries to start shoveling it into any stray Democrat's pockets.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is on an urgent mission: get as much high-tech spending out the door before Donald Trump takes office.The Biden administration is aiming to commit nearly every unspent dollar in its $50 billion microchip-subsidy program before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January, an effort that would effectively cement a massive industrial legacy before the GOP can reverse course.
"I'd like to have really almost all of the money obligated by the time we leave," Raimondo said in an interview with POLITICO. "That's the goal, and I certainly want to have all the major announcements done as it relates to the big, leading-edge companies."
The effort to spend her department's full CHIPS Act budget would put a capstone on a signature Biden economic policy.
It also speaks to the urgency facing a host of Biden's historic raft of spending programs, many of which could be vulnerable to a Republican White House and Congress eager to pare back the most ambitious Democratic spending packages....
Raimondo said she recently directed staff to work through the weekend -- and even made personal calls to tech CEOs -- to speed the talks along.
Wow, government bureaucrats working through the weekend. It must really be the highest of high priority missions to piss away taxpayer dollars and aggravate inflation further.
The forthcoming change in administration is "a clear deadline" that "focuses the mind," Raimondo said, but added she's not overly concerned about budget-conscious Republicans clawing back money from the program next year, despite their threats to do so.
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Shocker: After Briefly Tamping Down on Illegal Alien Migration Just Before the Election, Biden Re-Opens The Spigots As He Exits the Stage
—Ace
Well, that was a political strategy called "Lying."
I'm sure the leftwing media will be calling them out on this deception and flip-flop.
The Biden administration is quietly rushing to implement new policies that will loosen restrictions on migrants who entered the US illegally -- a parting attempt to thwart President-elect Donald Trump's immigration crackdowns and mass deportations, sources tell The Post.And the Big Apple will be ground zero for these changes.
The outgoing administration intends to launch an ICE Portal app starting in early December in New York City that will allow migrants to bypass in-person check-ins to their local ICE office.
Homeland Security sources tell The Post the app will make it easier for migrants to flee authorities in part because the software has proven to be glitchy and unreliable.
Even when it's working correctly, the new app doesn't check for past arrests or outstanding warrants -- something the current system tied to in-person appointments does, sources said.
Up to 100,000 migrants will be enrolled in the first wave of the program, sources said.
That's just one of a handful of initiatives being pushed through before inauguration day -- including allowing migrants to contest government orders to undergo electronic tracking while they await their immigration appointments.And experts said rolling back the policies might not be as simple as Trump waving his pen, because changes could be subject to both procedural hurdles and legal challenges.
"A lot of lawsuits get filed, maybe frivolously, but it just kind of stalls what the administration wants to do," one DHS source said.
Former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan slammed the Biden administration's last-minute moves as "the opposite of a peaceful transition of power."
"This is an obstructionist transition," said Morgan.
"What they're trying to do in the last final day, they're going to try to put up as many roadblocks and obstacles and throw as many grenades as they can on their way out."
The illegals know this, and they've got one (?) more massive caravan coming to to America before Biden officially leaves office.
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California Defaults on Federal Covid Loan to Pay for Illegals;
State Shellacks Business Owners With 50% Increase in Payroll Taxes (for Years and Years) To Pay the Loan Back
Plus: The Rise of the ASE (Anti-Search Engine)
—Ace
Unrelated: The sentencing hearing in the Alvin Bragg persecution has been cancelled, and the judge has given leave for Trump to file a motion to dismiss charges. They can't jail a man that the public has chosen to be their president -- it's a rule.
I don't know if dismissing charges is the right move. If they're dismissed with prejudice, that means they're dismissed forever. If they're dismissed without prejudice, that allows Bragg to re-file, that means Bragg (if he doesn't get booted out of office) can re-file them when Trump is out of office.
Obviously the corrupt regime operative Merchan will attempt to dismiss without prejudice.
I want them to appeal and have the court obliterate the charges. Maybe Trump can still do that if the charges are dismissed with leave to re-file.
I dunno -- lawyers, once a verdict is reached, if the charges are dismissed without prejudice, can you still appeal the charges? Or will an appeals court say the appeal is moot?
Or does double jeopardy attach after any dismissal? I'm out of my depth!
Back to the actual headline story:
Kicking out the illegals will destroy our economy.
Who will pick our crops?
Now they're jacking up payroll taxes on businesses by 50%, next year it will be 100%, the year after that, 150%. And on and on, until the loan is repaid.
Chef Andrew Gruel @ChefGruelWe just ran payroll. The payroll taxes were 2K higher than calculated. We called the payroll company. They explained (in summary) that California has a budget shortfall, and the federal government wants money back that it lent California for UI that it "lost." They are making up for it by having business owners pay it. Keep in mind that it was around 10% of our total payroll. When people say, "Why isn't California business-friendly?" remember this.
Everything for illegal aliens, nothing for citizens except burdens and victimization.
The Hoover Institute wrote about this last year -- but it's only this year that business owners are getting hit with the shock of tens of thousands of additional taxes owed.
Little did California businesses know that they were cosigners on the state's nearly $20 billion loan from the federal government that was used to cover California's unemployment fund shortfall during the COVID pandemic. This ugly truth became apparent when the state recently decided to stop making payments on this loan. When a state defaults on its federal unemployment insurance loan, federal law requires that the state's businesses repay the loan.What makes this default even more egregious is that the stone-age-era IT system of the state's Employment and Development Department (EDD) opened the floodgates to bad actors, permitting more than $30 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic. Those receiving fraudulent payments include incarcerated felons, a person impersonating a one-year-old, and a person impersonating Senator Dianne Feinstein. A single residential address received checks for around 60 separate individuals filing from that address.
This could have been avoided with a competent EDD. But this department's performance has been deficient for decades, and California businesses, many of which are struggling, are left paying for blatant and costly mistakes that should and could have been solved years ago.
With an unpaid federal unemployment insurance loan, the federal government raises the unemployment insurance tax immediately by 0.3 percent on each business within the state, and an additional 0.3 percent each year after that until the loan is fully repaid. The normal federal unemployment insurance tax rate is 0.6 percent per year, which means that California businesses will be paying several multiples of the normal federal tax rate before the loan is retired.
The state's Legislative Analyst Office predicts that repaying the loan through higher taxes on businesses is not expected until 2029 or 2030 and note that retiring the debt could take longer, depending on the state's economic performance. A recession would almost certainly delay repayment, and the odds of a recession in the next seven years are significant.
The state's decision to default is inexcusable. California recorded a nearly $100 billion state budget surplus last year, thanks to the state's top earners, that could have been used to repay the debt. The state received $27 billion in federal COVID aid it could have used to repay the debt. The state's record $300 billion--plus 2022--23 budget could have retired the debt. Even after defaulting, the state could have resumed its payments this year and offset the tax burden on businesses, as it planned to do in its 2023--24 budget. But as the state's finances continue to decline, the state has walked back making payments or offsetting higher business federal unemployment insurance taxes.
Twenty-two states received federal unemployment loans during the pandemic, and California is just one of four states that have not yet repaid the debt. As of the end of last year, California owed nearly two-thirds of the outstanding $27.5 billion federal unemployment insurance debt among these four states. The other states with remaining unpaid debt are New York, Illinois, and Connecticut, all of which are high-tax and high-spending states that are all losing population to other states. I will let you draw your own inferences about why people are leaving California and these other three states and moving to states with lower taxes, fewer regulations, more economic freedom, and lower living costs.
...How did state government respond to this fiasco? In July 2020, Governor Newsom appointed a "strike force" to evaluate the EDD. By September 2020, Beverly Hills police arrested individuals who were buying expensive clothing, jewelry, and cars using EDD debit cards, which electronically provide unemployment benefits. Those arrested showed the police how easy it was to obtain these cards. Rapper Nuke Bizzle penned a song about the ease of committing EDD fraud that goes like this: "I done got rich off EDD. . . . I just might swipe me a lump sum. I'm in Dior havin' money fun. . . . Ten cards, I'm swiping 10K a day. Counting up bills like a CPA."
...
Even after all this, the EDD can't identify all the fraud that occurred. The EDD estimated about $20 billion in fraud, but Lexis-Nexis, an independent data and analytics firm, reports the fraud is approximately $32.6 billion.
In addition to just giving away billions in fraudulent payments -- which California doesn't seem to mind, because the state is pro-criminal -- they also spent huge sums on paying for free health care for illegal aliens.
For some definitions of "free." Business owners do not consider this "free."
More than 700,000 immigrants living illegally in California will gain access to free health care starting Monday under one of the state's most ambitious coverage expansions in a decade.It's an effort that will eventually cost the state about $3.1 billion per year and inches California closer to Democrats' goal of providing universal health care to its roughly 39 million residents.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers agreed in 2022 to provide health care access to all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status through the state's Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal.
California is the most populous state to guarantee such coverage, though Oregon began doing so in July.
Newsom looked at the huge federal loan intended to help citizens of California stay alive while in forced unemployment due to state-mandated lockdowns, and said, say, I'll just embezzle this money for my illegal alien voter friends!
Gov. Gavin Newsom said today the state is partnering with philanthropic groups to provide disaster relief to undocumented immigrants affected by the coronavirus who have been left out of other pandemic assistance programs.Ten percent of California's workforce is undocumented, Newsom said, and they are not eligible for unemployment insurance or aid through the federal stimulus package. The new $125 million Disaster Relief Fund will include $75 million in taxpayer funds and $50 million in philanthropic contributions to help undocumented workers affected by coronavirus secure a one-time payment of up to $500 per person or $1,000 per household.
"We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people who are in fear of deportation but are still addressing the essential needs of tens of millions of Californians," Newsom said, pointing out that many work in essential sectors like health care, agriculture, food, manufacturing and construction.
...
The state also recently allowed for "presumptive eligibility" in its Medi-Cal program, allowing anyone who is uninsured, including undocumented people, to be tested and treated for COVID-19. The eligibility also means they can be treated in a health center or community clinic instead of a hospital emergency room, Newsom said.
A friend summarizes:
Instead of using the Fed loan for what it was for (unemployment benefits during COVID), Newsom instead misappropriated it to cover fully cover illegal immigrant health care. And now that they have to pay it back, California is bilking business owners with massive increases in payroll taxes
BTW, it's hard to google this connection, because the Google algorithm hides every article talking about the expenses caused by illegal immigration, and instead spams dozens of propaganda articles posted by the state of California telling you how much money illegal aliens pay in taxes. Try it yourself. Google has decided you're not allowed to know about the costs of illegal immigration, only the sweet, sweet benefits. We're all living on easy street now, cuz!
I had to ask my friend to check his X account to find this article, because Google is now an Anti-Search Engine. It blocks you from seeing the articles you want, and instead pushes articles Google demands you accept as "truth."
Joe and Mika's Ratings Continue Collapsing Since They "Slithered on Their Bellies to Lick Trump's Boots"
—Ace
That quote is from Megyn Kelly.
Remember, the Adulterous Pair had already lost half of their audience. Then, they announced they went to the Wolf's Lair, I mean Mar-a-Lago, to meet with Literal Hitler, I mean Trump.
And their audience dropped by another 15% overall, but far worse, the ratings in the demo most sought by advertisers dropped 41%.
Ratings continue to sunset at MSNBC's "Morning Joe" after the hosts surprised audiences earlier this week by announcing they had gone to visit Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago following years of feuding with him.On Wednesday, MSNBC's morning mainstay lured an average of 647,000 viewers overall, and just 51,000 viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers in news programming. On Monday, the four-hour program reached 770,000 overall and 86,000 viewers in the demo, meaning Wednesday's overall audience fell by 15% and its viewership among people between 25 and 54 tumbled nearly 41%.
The figures mark the second consecutive decline in viewership since co-anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski told viewers Monday that they had gone to visit the former and soon-to-be next U.S. President at his home in Florida in a bid to reach a sort of detente after years of criticizing him on the program. On Tuesday, the four-hour broadcast of the show captured 680,000 total viewers, and 86,000 viewers among adults between 25 and 54, both representing a decline of 12% from Monday's program.
Breitbart reporter John Carney says he has sources at Comcast who tell him they considered the possibility of attempting to reform the gonzo propaganda and defamation channel, but realized that leftwing activists inside the operation would attack the executives for even trying. (As leftwing activists did at CNN when Chris Licht attempted some minor shifts to bring CNN slightly closer to the center. They ultimately succeeded in pressuring Warner Discovery to fire Licht rather than face a general revolt by their leftwing staffers.)
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After Staging an Insurrection for a Week and Attempting to Steal an Election By Counting Invalid Votes, Bob Casey Finally Concedes the Race for PA Senate to the Winner Dave McCormick
—Ace
All it took was the PA Supreme Court telling him to knock it off or face the law.
He's claiming he wasn't grubbily attempting to steal a seat he lost, but instead just make sure all the people's votes were counted. Including all the dead people, fake people, and illegal alien people.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) has conceded the race to Republican Dave McCormick after two weeks of contesting the election results.Casey announced his concession in a video released to social media on Thursday.
"I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate," he said. "As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last."
"This race was one of the closest in our commonwealth's history, decided by less than a quarter of a point. I'm grateful to the thousands of people who worked to make every eligible vote cast could be counted. Including election officials in all 67 counties," he added.
ThePersistence @ScottPresler
It was an honor helping to defeat you & elect future Senator Dave McCormick.Your election denialism did serious damage to democrats in Bucks County, as well as Shapiro's image.
We won't forget that you tried to steal the election.
Congratulations, President Trump.
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THE MORNING RANT: WSJ Advocates for Airline Consolidation into an Even Tighter Oligopoly…to Enhance Competition
—Buck Throckmorton
Spirit Airlines is in the news as its massive debt burden can no longer be serviced, especially with its pricing model and cost structure, forcing it to declare bankruptcy. The discount airline is not going out of business, or at least not for now, but is reorganizing through bankruptcy court. Its stockholders have had their investments wiped out, and the bondholders are getting a haircut - they too may lose everything. If the reorganization doesn’t work out, Spirit may eventually shut down.
This is all part of the cycle of failed startups, successful corporations, wealth creation, creative destruction, etc. that we who champion capitalism understand and expect.
But the “pro-business” editors at the Wall Street Journal are appalled that the government has not come to Spirit’s rescue by consenting to a competition-suppressing merger with JetBlue Airlines. That merger would have reduced the number of major airlines to just five, who combined would have 78% control of the market. In an editorial earlier this week, the WSJ Editorial Board opined that not allowing the airlines to coalesce into an even tighter oligopoly is “anti-business” and would result in “less competition.”
For the record, I am assertively pro-free market and pro-capitalism, but I am distressed how the term “pro-business” is now becoming a synonym for the embrace of anti-competitive corporatism.
The WSJ editorial makes the case that “the Justice Department cut off a lifeline by blocking its merger with JetBlue Airways.” No, bankruptcy court still remained as a lifeline, and the court has now been engaged.
This line was particularly funny, coming from the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page:
Too bad the government won’t compensate the workers, flyers and creditors harmed by its blunder.
This is the same editorial page that spent decades championing the destruction of American manufacturing while celebrating the economic displacement of those whose jobs were offshored. We now know of at least one occasion when the Wall Street Journal does not rejoice at working class Americans losing their jobs.
[Justice Department] antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter never lets economic reality interfere with his anti-business crusades. DOJ challenged the merger as anti-competitive.
The Justice Department hailed the [JetBlue - Spirit] deal’s termination as “a victory for U.S. travelers who deserve lower prices and better choices.” Now passengers can look forward to fewer choices and higher prices as a result of Spirit’s bankruptcy.
More competitors is “anti-competitive.” More airlines to choose from is “fewer choices.” Advocating for more businesses in a market is “anti-business.” War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Don’t forget, Spirit will continue to fly post-bankruptcy filing, and it will be competing with Jet Blue rather than being a part of JetBlue.
The Wall Street Journal might consider me “anti-business” since I want businesses to face competition - and possibly fail - rather than consolidate into a too-big-to-fail cartel that allocates customers, rather than competing for them. And maybe Spirit will still not survive at all, despite its visit to the bankruptcy court. Fine. Let another challenger rise in it place.
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Mid-Morning Art Thread
—CBD
The Parting Cheer
Henry Nelson O'Neil
From The National Maritime Museum:
This large-scale painting, both ambitious and complex in conception, is the key mid-19th century image addressing emigration. Rich in interpretative material, it focuses on the reactions of those left behind on shore. The scene is set along the Thames although the artist has deliberately denied a precise geographical location. Groups of figures, in a mix of gender and social class, are shown on the quayside as an emigrant ship departs on the far right. Red and blue shirted sailors are shown cheering from the deck of the ship and from the sides of the rigging. They wave hats and arms or stretch out to maintain the links with shore for as long as possible. Partly in shadow, a group of emigrants look out from the deck below. They are subdued in contrast to the scene around them. Some wave handkerchiefs towards the people on the quay, but are otherwise passive participants of the scene on the shore. A steam-tug guides the emigrant ship away from land; its red funnel spewing out the dark smoke, which spreads over the scene. The increasing expanse of water on the right places a physical separation between the ship and the quay.
The Morning Report — 11/22/24
—J.J. Sefton
Good Morning Kids. Lots going on to talk about, first and foremost more than two weeks after what was both a massive victory for Trump and a concomitant rebuke of Democrat failure, Bob Casey the soon-to-be ex Senator from Pennsylvania has finally conceded to Republican Senator-elect Dave McCormick. By some miracle enough ballots to overcome the latter's total could not magically appear and more miraculously would not be allowed by a dodgy-at-best judiciary to be counted. Sadly in my new home state of Wisconsin, Eric Hovde was for sure denied IMHO a victory over the revolting, rotund reprobate Tammy Baldwin:
The Democrats may have made a significant mistake in their all-too-obvious attempt to steal a U.S. Senate seat from GOP candidate Eric Hovde. As Hovde explained in a November 12 video, in the early hours of November 6, 2024, he received congratulatory calls for his apparent win. Then, suddenly, by 4:00 am, “a staggering 108,000 absentee ballots were dumped from Milwaukee, with two-term incumbent Senator [and [Democrat candidate]Tammy Baldwin receiving nearly 90 percent of those votes.” Hovde objected: “Statistically, this outcome seemed improbable, as it didn’t match the patterns from same-day voting in Milwaukee, where I received 22 percent of the votes.”The problem for Democrats is that the late-night drop of an improbable 108,000 thousand absentee ballots that were nearly all for the Democratic candidate fitted an all-too-recognizable pattern of election fraud made possible by cryptographic algorithms embedded covertly in the official State Board of Elections (SBOE) voter registration database. Unfortunately for the Democrats, Andrew Paquette, Ph.D., had previously found an illegal clandestine algorithm in the SBOE voter rolls. As reported on GodsFiveStones.com,
This study of Wisconsin’s voter rolls reveals strong evidence of multiple ID number assignment algorithms, with two appearing over-engineered, enabling data segregation and hidden assignment. The presence of over 60,000 records with encrypted ID numbers further suggests hidden attributes, potentially violating public disclosure laws.Paquette has also discovered similar illegal cryptographic algorithms in New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, with algorithms yet to be reported also found in New Jersey, Texas, and Hawaii.
Democrats lie, cheat and steal to maintain and expand their grip on power. Is this really news? While there is likely nothing that can be done to redress this, what might have been done ahead of time by the vaunted revamped RNC that supposedly had a handle on this and was primed to stop this kind of garbage? Somehow Trump did capture all the key swing states, as well as a Senate majority while preserving the House.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office defended a deal Thursday to trade four appeals court nominees for faster confirmation of President [lame vegetable] Joe Biden’s district court picks. The decision was a calculated move to secure progress in confirming federal judges amid Republican resistance, according to Schumer’s spokesperson, as reported by Politico. The deal involved dropping four appeals court nominees in exchange for advancing more than three times as many district court candidates.To date, Senate Democrats have confirmed 221 of Biden’s judicial appointees, with the most recent being Sharad Desai for a federal judgeship in Arizona, Politico said. However, Republicans have persistently employed procedural tactics this week to hinder the confirmation process for additional Biden nominees. Meanwhile, Trump urged Senate Republicans to halt the Democrats’ confirmation of additional judges as Biden is only 15 judicial confirmations short of breaking Trump’s first-term record, Axios reported.
Trump took to X, previously known as Twitter, to voice his concerns as the Democrats managed to confirm two more judges on Wednesday with narrow 50-48 votes, as Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Republican Indiana Sen. Mike Braun were absent.
“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door. Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day,” Trump wrote.
Whatever anti-American anti-Constitutional tyrannical thuggery the left advances historically will only be preserved protected and defended by hacks in black sitting on the judiciary. That of course and the lack of any real opposition party that only seeks to perverse protect and defend its place at the public trough.
That's why the next four years are going to be quite "interesting" indeed vis a vis President-elect Trump's mission to advance a pro-American pro-growth pro-prosperity for all Americans agenda to continue the quest to Make America Great Again. Frankly, when you take a look around not only at the government but society at large, we have to make America AMERICA again, before we can make it great again.
Disclaimer: It is impossible for me to be objective about the Marines, and thus I am hard pressed even to try to see the “justice” in the prosecution of Marine sergeant Daniel Penny for acting as the very definition of what we think of as a good Samaritan on the subway in New York City — and, judging by the statements of those he protected, maybe even saving those on the train from the lunatic Jordan Neely.This is written as the defense begins its case in what is clearly to me a persecution, with clear and distinct racial overtones. I will look at Sgt. Penny and his background of defending his country; the “victim,” a non-white person alleged to have been choked to death by Sgt. Penny; and the trial thus far.
Daniel Penny, 26, is a native of West Islip on Long Island and signed up for the Marines upon completion of high school. Witnesses called by the defense, including his sister, described him as “kind” and “peaceful.” His sister expressed surprise that he joined the Marines because “he was a very calm, soft-spirited person.” But it wasn’t completely surprising, because “he was always patriotic, and men in our family served.” One article noted, in connection with the family tradition of serving the country in uniform, “Penny, whose grandfather served in the US Navy and uncles in the Merchant Marines, was a star lacrosse player at West Islip High School.”
. . . Jordan Neely was a homeless man who had been arrested 42 times for petty larceny, theft, and unprovoked assaults on women in the subways. He was by all accounts well known to law enforcement officials in the subway system as an abuser of K-2, a synthetic marijuana, and involved in many previous incidents on subway trains similar to this one . . .
. . . Although no one, especially no one with actual jury trial experience, would even venture a guess as to how this jury will decide the issue of Sgt. Penny’s guilt or innocence, I believe that most experienced lawyers with that kind of background would agree that this is, quite simply, the best possible panel of jurors Sgt. Penny could have dreamed of.
There is a time-honored old phrase that exemplifies the pride the Marines have of their service in the Corps: “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”
Sgt. Daniel Penny is the living, breathing personification of this credo, and what he did on that subway train that day was a perfect example of the “honor, courage, and commitment” he was taught in his training.
As despicable as Alvin Bragg’s persecution of President Trump was, in my opinion, what he has done to this proud Marine is an outrage and a disgrace to the Rule of Law.
We can only pray that the jury, or perhaps just one of them, as that is all it will take, will make the right decision and give this Marine his freedom back.
Semper Fi, Sgt. Penny! Godspeed!
So, Neely was a degenerate failure. How he got that way in no small part is the fault of Democrats going back to LBJ's Great Society that destroyed the black family in a quest to create and maintain a vast underclass dependent on government largesse in exchange for votes and permanent power.
Daniel Penny, by contrast represents everything that America had traditionally stood for and what we hope and pray that it can return to. The "GREAT" in great again, from my perspective.
Equally offensive and representative of maintaining and reinforcing a narrative in service to power, is an Illinois court's tossing of the conviction of race hoax perpetrator Jussie Smollet's hate crime hoax conviction. Well, if America is an illegitimate nation built on white supremacy and colonialism, then how can this be a hoax? Preserve protect and defend the narrative by any and all means necessary. You almost want to think that Trump really did make inroads with black Americans, and that cannot be allowed to stand, can it?
Well, beyond the internal divide and conquer cancer that is ever-metastasizing from theLeft, we have the Denver Mayor openly planning to use his Police Department to protect illegal aliens from deportation by the incoming Trump administration:
I suppose he can always deputize the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua thugs already in-country and arm them with weapons from the Obama/Holder Fast & Furious disaster, or contact his local Taliban emissary and get his hands on some of the billions in weapons left behind in Afghanistan when Biden bugged out.
Meanwhile, to hell with the International Criminal Court.
On a personal note, thanks to all of you for your continued support. Some of my thank you notes to those of you who hit our tip jar have bounced back. We thank you as always from the bottom of our hearts.
Have a great weekend!
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
- Jeffrey Younger's fight to prevent his son from being chemically and surgically castrated is over, and he has lost, as has his son. This defeat has been a long time coming, and perhaps it was inevitable given the prevailing mindset of a nation that, for all of its technological advancement, is flirting dangerously with entering a new Dark Age.
Father Loses His Fight to Save His Son From Transitioning
- The left is right to worry about a well-preserved, smarter, savvier Donald Trump
Unburdened By What Has Been, Trump Is Poised To Deliver Bigly
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Daily Tech News 22 November 2024
—Pixy Misa
Top Story- The problem is clear: Our customers are dumb. (Intel)
Intel commissioned a study to find out how much more efficient users were when equipped with a fancy new "AI PC".
It turned out:At the same time, AI PCs offered a potentially transformative impact on people's lives, saving individuals roughly 240 minutes a week on routine digital tasks. But the study also highlighted that current AI PC owners spend longer on tasks than their counterparts using traditional PCs. Study results show that greater consumer education is needed to bridge the gap between the promise and reality of AI PCs.
AI PCs make things worse, but the real problem is the users.
- Meanwhile at Microsoft. (Business Insider) (archive site)
Microsoft Copilot is a little too efficient, it seems... At sharing confidential information with people who shouldn't have it.
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The Unbearable Lightness Of ONTing
—WeirdDave
Howdy Hordelings! Saw this the other day and found it interesting. Looks like those of us in the central time bone are the future. Yup, we're going to save the country, right here in diddle America.
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Guardian Dogs Cafe
—Ace
Volcano erupting on the Rekjanes Peninsula, Iceland
Via Massimo
photo by Jakob Vegerfors
Pretty sure Marvel's "Valhalla" is based on that church in foreground.
Little baby girl has a bodyguard of seven German shepherds.
Livestock guardian dog is having an interoffice affair and I'm afraid HR will have to be involved.
Golden retriever meets a baby goat.
The same golden retriever looks worried by the arrival of a bucket of puppies.
Golden is excited that grandma's visiting (and she comes bearing a gift).
Big ol' fluffy lifeguard.
It's not just dogs that act as protectors of their masters.
As Reagan said, the only thing better for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse. And he didn't even mean that sexually.
Mama cat and her clone kittens.
It's the end of the quarter, you know these are my crazy-weeks!
Sure, most dogs are brave, but others are shirkers and malingerers.
And sure, some dogs are straight-up Blue Falcons.
Sometimes the real dog guardians are humans.
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Trump Nominates Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for AG
—Ace
She does work for the America First Policy Institute, which I guess is good.
She backs the appointment of Laura Trump to Marco Rubio's Senate seat, which I guess means she passes the all-important Loyalty Test.
I don't know. I had problems with Gaetz but I had little doubt that, if appointed, he would tear the place up like mad dog.
With Pam Bondi... this feels more like a chastened pick, a pick made from a position of weakness, a concession to the establishment.
I guess we'll see.
I don't think anyone's expecting the left to call off the attack dogs for Trump's new pick. I'm sure they'll contrive some new sex scandal.
Update: A Floridian correspondent is considerably more excited by this pick:
You wanted Trumpy? She's Trumpy. Gonna be relentlessly loyal. She is also a fucking rock star. This is gonna be awesome.
Well, that's good to hear.
Via Marc Caputo: She represented Trump during his impeachment hearing, so she's on the Trump Train, and he says she's "very confirmable," so that's good.
But like I said, if you think the left and the McConnell Corpservative Cuck Caucus is going to permit Trump to appoint any nominee that will attack the Deep State, you've got another thing coming.
Pretty soon they'll be accusing her of rape.
From gnat local, a blurb from 2020:
Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and a prominent surrogate for President Donald Trump's campaign, on Tuesday defended Kyle Rittenhouse -- the 17-year-old charged in the shooting deaths of two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin - as "a little boy out there trying to protect his community."
Update: MSNBC reacts.
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"Trans Woman" Transferred to Women's Prison Rapes and Impregnates An Actual Woman
—Ace
This took place in Argentina, though of course this is coming to a "woman's" prison near you.
Gabriel Fernández had been accused of violence by multiple former partners before changing his legal sex to female and renaming himself Gabriela Nahir Fernández in 2018. Last week it was revealed how, while serving a sentence related to a domestic abuse conviction, Fernández raped a female inmate in the women's prison in Córdoba where he is housed, resulting in the victim becoming pregnant.Following news of the sexual abuse and pregnancy, which initially came to light in July, Fernández, who was being held in the women's ward of the Bouwer detention center, was relocated to an isolated area.
The judge overseeing this case, for one, sounds surprised at this turn of events and continued to refer to Fernandez as "she" even while admitting he was taking advantage of the actual women around him.
"Paradoxically, we find ourselves facing a scenario contrary to what was anticipated. That is, the accused, who perceives herself as a woman and belonging to the LGBTI group, is the one who turns her colleagues into victims or prey of her needs... taking advantage, of course, of the fact that she is housed in an establishment that would not be prepared for these exceptional cases, at least for the moment," said the judges, referring to Fernández with feminine pronouns.
There's more from Sexton, including Argentina's Vice President's promise to fight rapists and pedophiles "until our bodies are out of blood," but you can click on the link for that.
The main story is from Reduxx.
Also from Reduxx: America's Groomer Dad Tim Walz has put five male inmates in women's prison because he's basically Transsexual Joker, an agent of sexual chaos.
A total of five male convicts were transferred to a Minnesota's women-only prison following the adoption of a gender identity policy by the Department of Corrections in January of 2023. Two of the men who are now being held at MCF-Shakopee, a female correctional center, are sexual predators serving sentences related to the abuse of children.Among them are Elijah Thomas Berryman, 26, who was first arrested in April 2022 and accused of sexually abusing a minor multiple times. He pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in March of this year, and according to the Minnesota DOC website, is currently serving his 25-year sentence at the women's prison.
Another, Sean Windingland, 35, sexually assaulted two 6-year-old relatives and posted videos of the abuse and grooming on pornography and pro-pedophile websites.
Windingland admitted to engaging in sexual contact with the young girls when questioned by investigators, but claimed that the children had consented.
The children "consented." Well, there you go.
I'm noticing a very repulsive pattern among these Stunning and Brave Criminal "Transgenders."
See the article for more.
This article was reposted because Tampon Tim said a prayer for the "Trans Day of Remembrance" yesterday.
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Corrupt Democrat-Rigged Illinois Supreme Court Overturns Sentence of Protected Race Hoaxer Jussie Smollett
—Ace
Meanwhile, there are hundreds of J6 political prisoners still in jail.
But if you know Kim Foxx and Michele Obama's former chief of staff, you can commit hate crimes and inspire racial hatred and never do a single day in jail.
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Jussie Smollett, who was found guilty in 2021 for lying to police and staging a hate crime, finding the actor was unjustly prosecuted when charges were previously dropped against him.The state's top court said in its ruling issued Thursday that the state was bound by the agreement it made with Smollett when prosecutors originally dropped the case in 2019. A special prosecutor reopened the case later that year.
The deal was crooked and arranged by a corrupt DA, Kim Foxx, who pretended she recused herself from the case while having her subordinate carry out all of her orders in agreeing that Jussie Smollet is a protected Friend of Obama.
"We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust," the Illinois Supreme Court said in its ruling. "Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the State was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied."Nenye Uche, a lawyer for Smollett, said his client is pleased with the ruling.
...
Dan Webb, the special prosecutor in the case, said he was disappointed in the state Supreme Court's ruling, saying it "upends long-standing Illinois precedent." Webb had argued to the state Supreme Court that the agreement by local prosecutors to drop the case against Smollett didn't preclude him from pursuing charges.
"Make no mistake--today's ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett's innocence," Webb said. "The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime."
Denver Mayor Threatens Armed Resistance to ICE Deportations Under Trump
—Ace
This is actual insurrection, and should be violently crushed, if they carry through with the threat.
Visegrad 24
@visegrad24The Democrat Mayor of Denver, Colorado Mike Johnston has challenged Trump to try to deport any illegal migrants from his city, saying he would deploy the Denver City Police and volunteers from the local community to use force against federal forces trying to deport illegals.
"More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there. It's like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun... You'd have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. You don't want to mess with them."
The vast majority of law enforcement is local. Johnston is doubtful that federal forces would raid Colorado to round up immigrants, even if Trump tried to mount a national crackdown."I do not believe that our governor is going to let them use our [Colorado] National Guard at the state level," he said. "Unless they were planning on bringing national guards mobilized from Texas or Alabama to come invade Colorado, I don't know where they would find the forces to begin to do that.
"And that seems to me like a very, very bad idea from start to finish that no reasonable American would support," he said.
The mayor also takes heart that the people of Denver -- not just the administration -- would likely resist a mass deportation effort from federal forces.
"More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there," Johnston said. "It's like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?" You'd have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them."
I'm not actually sure we should crush the insurrectionist cities. Once all other jurisdictions begin deporting their illegals (the criminals first) and these cities proclaim that they are a haven for illegal alien criminals, they'll all go to these holdout resistance bastions.
We will cut all police funding and all city aid to these insurrectionist cities. They will just become hell-holes of foreign criminals.
This is what they voted for -- let them have it good and hard.
Instapundit quoted this article by a self-described "childless cat lady" who says she realized what the right said was true -- liberals voted for this. They deserve what they get.
I am a woman living alone near Philadelphia with a cat, so I guess you could call me a "childless cat lady." I never wanted children, so I never had any. Since I have dedicated my life to helping other people, for many years I subscribed to all of the social justice causes. That began to change when the neighborhood I live in became a hotbed of crime and leftist intolerance.Recently, I witnessed a woman throw a large object at a man's car, break the passenger window, and then casually walk across the street. The man got out of his car and ran across the street to attack her. He wrestled her to the ground but eventually let her go, getting back into his car and driving off. She kept walking, talking on her cell phone the entire time.
I was standing on my front stoop on my way to take out the trash. I stood there, stunned with horror. The man saw me. I did not call the police because I recognized him. He lives in this neighborhood, where one can expect retaliation. It didn't look like the woman called the police either. She just kept walking.
Yesterday I stopped by a cafe for a bagel. I began frequenting this this locally owned cafe after walking past it one Sunday morning and seeing that all its storefront windows had been smashed. I went in and asked if everyone was OK. Apparently the vandalism had occurred in the predawn hours of the morning. Nothing was stolen--just windows smashed.
I later discovered that on the neighborhood Facebook group people were extoling the act as a way to fight gentrification! The cafe is not a chain and it employs residents of the neighborhood. But that didn't stop commenters from suggesting that smashing out their windows, gunfire, and loud groups of youth are all good ways to ward off would-be gentrifiers.
In other words, they're praising the civilization-destroyers, because if the civilization-destroyers turn the neighborhood into a high-crime slum, the dreaded "gentrifiers" will not buy property there.
Win-win, I guess?
About a month ago I heard five rapid-fire gunshots across the street from my apartment. The sirens came a bit later, along with police helicopters.All of these kinds of things make it so that I am afraid to leave my apartment at night. When I have to, I make sure I am on the phone so at least someone can call the police if I am attacked.
She then details the neighborhood becoming a pro-Hamas suburb of Gaza City. I'll skip that because you all know how that goes.
She also details being verbally assaulted on the street by a trans maniac.
Speaking of the slumlords and squatters...
I suppose they want everyone to live in the squalor they enjoy.Of course I want to move. I do not care if people don't like me, but I fear violence. Violence is so well accepted in this neighborhood, as my experience noted above shows.
...
A few months ago, there was a meme on Facebook that showed a white woman saying, "I don't feel safe in my neighborhood," and a man answered her, "You literally voted for this." I now understand that my situation resembles this cartoon.
I have voted Democrat all my life. I supported soft-on-crime candidates because I didn't want to see people go to prison and lose their chance at a better life. But now I see the ruin that we have to live with as a result of these policies. The white liberals in the suburbs do not live with the consequences of their votes. I do.
...
Like most people, I just want to be safe. I want to live in a place where I can leave my apartment without fear that the man who saw me watch him attack a woman will come back and attack me. I want to live in a place where I'm not risking verbal violence for engaging in private phone conversations while taking a walk.I want there to be police who are here to protect me and other innocent citizens who just want to do our jobs, buy affordable food, and go to the YMCA in peace.
Is that too much to ask? Democrats seem to think it is. Many of my liberal friends expressed horror that "Americans value their pocketbooks more than my human rights." Apparently wanting to pay the rent and afford food and medications is something we should be ashamed of.
My entire life, I saw myself on the left. But now I understand that the left has left me. I am a childless cat lady for law and order. I want a government that will protect me and my cat, that cares about the price of food and doesn't say people should be satisfied with a lot of new minimum wage jobs that will not allow them to support their families. I am tired of being told my safety doesn't matter and that I'm racist for pointing out that there is crime on the streets of my neighborhood.
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