[JustTheNews] New domestic violent extremism database would include noncriminal activities or speech under AG’s description.
As the Washington State Attorney General’s Office continues work on a database for police use of force incidents, a House bill would set up a 13-member commission within that same office to develop a data collection process on incidents of “domestic violent extremism,” or DVE.
Although the term DVE is not defined in the bill, under State Attorney General Bob Ferguson's description it would include noncriminal activities or speech.
HB 1333 sponsored by Rep. Bill Ramos, D-Issaquah, creates a Domestic Violent Extremism Commission to develop ways to combat “disinformation and misinformation,” though the two words are not defined in the bill. Also not defined is the term DVE.
The legislation is derived from a recommendation by the Attorney General’s Office own 2022 “Domestic Terrorism” study, which cautioned that “effective State intervention to address these threats has the potential to implicate speech or association that may be protected by the First Amendment, or the individual right to bear arms protected by the Second Amendment.”
Among the report’s recommended was the creation of a commission to explore not just data collection, but potentially adding a definition of DVE to state statue. State law already addresses hate crimes, and the FBI defines “domestic terrorism” within the context of actual crimes or intent to commit a crime.
However, the attorney general's 2022 report argues that “rather than exclusively address ‘domestic terrorism’ per se, these recommendations seek to best support Washington State to respond to this panoply of challenges, which together combine to create the threat of—and indeed, are often precursors to—acts of domestic terrorism.”
The commission would also examine ways to treat DVE as a public health issue, though the state Department of Health is not included on the commission or mentioned in the bill. The commission would only have a member with “an expertise in public health” and would be appointed by the attorney general.
The bill is intended to take preemptive measures to stop actual domestic terrorist acts through community intervention. Testifying in support of HB 1333 at its Jan. 24 public hearing in the House State Government & Tribal Relations Committee, Snohomish County Councilmember Megan Dunn told legislators that "as local electeds, we have limited options in reporting, tracking, or collecting data, and we often have limited resources or solutions for combatting serious misinformation related to domestic violence extremism. We know incidents are not reported or underreported, and that data is the first step to determining the scope of the issue before we move forward with solutions."
However, critics argue that it could easily lead to situations like that in 2021, the National School Boards Association, or NSBA, sent a memo to the Biden Administration asking that it treat parent protesting during public comment at local school board meetings as “a form of domestic terrorism” under the PATRIOT Act.
Several state attorney generals filed lawsuits against both NSBA and the Biden Administration over the incident in an effort obtain public documents on that memo.
In a letter from Attorney General Bob Ferguson included in the 2022 Domestic Terrorism study, he described DVE as follows:
"Various forms of extremist and political violence like threats, coercion, and intimidation, online disinformation, extremist recruitment and government infiltration efforts, and the general spread of extreme white supremacism and anti-government ideologies."
In an analysis of the bill, Washington Policy Center Director Liv Finne wrote that the legislation "would criminalize certain forms of expression based on what members of a state commission consider to be their definition of 'domestic extremism.' Creating a state level 'Ministry of Truth' would not only undermine democratic norms, it would have a chilling effect on public debate, freedom of speech and civic participation in Washington state."
In the original bill, the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, would have been guaranteed a spot on the commission, but was removed via a committee amendment. In a brief statement, the ACLU declined to comment on the bill or its removal from the commission.
Part of the commission’s work would be developing ways to track data incidents of DVE, “including how data is collected, what triggers data collection, and how to ensure data is not disproportionately used against black, indigenous, and people of color communities or other communities.”
The commission would have to submit a report of its recommendations to the Attorney General’s Office by 2025, though the office would write its own final review “guided by the recommendations in the Attorney General’s 2022 domestic terrorism study.”
Testifying at HB 1333’s Feb. 20 public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee, Sue Coffman with informed Choice Washington warned that it's “bad publicity to spend $500,000 on an unlawful effort,” adding that they should “focus on actual criminal activity and intent to commit a crime, and not upon the people who exercise their right to freedom of expression.”
Also opposed was ballot initiative sponsor Tim Eyman, who told the committee that the bill could result in people being investigation over their "views, their associations, and their friends," with “no judicial oversight, no public viewing, no TVW.”
HB 1333 was voted out of the Appropriations Committee on Feb. 23.
[Epoch Times] A new regulation proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) would block half of current gas stove models from the market, an analysis by the federal agency shows. DOE - Working toward energy independence, right?
In a proposed regulation published at the beginning of February, DOE set a maximum annual gas consumption of 1,204 thousand British thermal units (kBtu), also known as the EL 2 standard, for all gas cooking tops.
If the new regulation is finalized, only half of gas cooking tops will be able to meet the new standard, i.e., half of the products currently on the market will be blocked.
"It’s very concerning what they’re doing with gas products. We believe that there should be consumer choice and that consumers should be able to make a decision on whether they would like to purchase a gas or electric product."
"Clearly, the Department of Energy’s intentions are to eliminate gas products from the market. And they should just say that instead of releasing a deceptive and flawed analysis to justify their proposal," Notini added.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2023 08:58 ||
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#1
They keep coming like the PLA at Pork Chop Hill. It seems stupid that they would be both trying to trigger nuclear war and trying to ruin our culinary technology.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2023 10:39 Comments ||
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#3
Fine, ban the use of ALL petroleum products in Blue areas. No gas, no diesel, no medical grade plastics. So now the blue areas can happily turn Amish as their true desires want. Course that's after 99% of them die of starvation.
#6
If everything that relies on petroleum feed stocks is banned, that's quite a big list. Going to guess the blue states will be very ala carte about it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2023 12:21 Comments ||
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#7
I had to get a new range recently. My old (16 years) electric died. Unfortunately I was unable to get gas installed because the company was unable to get a tank. They just weren't available. The new electric one I got is not very good. It takes longer to get anything hot and when the eyes do get hot they don't get hot enough. Energy efficient it is but it sucks for cooking. I'm glad I have a wood burning one for when the power goes off.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/26/2023 13:15 Comments ||
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#8
It took me about 20 years to convince my wife of the advantages of "instant on/instant off".
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2023 13:36 Comments ||
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[FOXNEWS] A Florida teacher who was accused of having White students in his classroom bow to Black students is on leave.
Ethan Hooper, a middle school teacher in Orlando, posted the videos to his personal social media which went viral after being shared by the popular right-wing account Libs of
One of the videos Hooper posted showed White students acting lTikTok.ike servants to Black students in the class in honor of Black History Month. White students were shown in the video fanning and feeding Black students.
"It was in good fun. There was no political agenda behind it," the teacher said. He said the video was being "maliciously used."
"I am deeply apologetic I was exposed and publicized- if it hadn't been for those meddling kids
toward the students and parents of those involved. I am also sorry to the students who weren’t involved," Hooper said. "I want to be an example for them. If this does not match up with what they viewed [of me], I am truly sorry. My heart is for my students and the parents, first and foremost."
The Orange County Public School District issued a statement saying that it will "not tolerate the use of our children as political pawns by anyone, including a classroom teacher. Any employee who creates videos or other content with students in an effort to exploit them for political purposes will be immediately removed from the classroom, placed on administrative leave, and swift action will be taken to terminate employment."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2023 00:00 ||
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#1
I thought school was about getting young people prepared for the real world. Hooper was certainly accomplishing that.
#2
One of the videos Hooper posted showed White students acting like servants taxpayers to Black students in the class in honor of Black History Month.
[NYPOST] In a growing backlash against woke culture, the board of the University of North Carolina moved to ban diversity, equity and inclusion requirements from its hiring and promotion process this week.
The school’s Board of Governors voted to ban DEI statements from hiring and tenure decisions, according to a report.
The Chapel Hill-based school "shall neither solicit nor require an employee or applicant for academic admission or employment to affirmatively ascribe to or opine about beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition to admission, employment, or professional advancement," according to the decision, made Thursday.
A non-profit that has been advocating for an end to DEI requirements in institutions across the country, took credit for the move.
Kenny Xu, president of Color Us United, said his group has been behind the push to abolish DEI at UNC’S medical school, and started a petition that now has 614 signatures.
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] The video came on the same day that a dozen Project Veritas whistleblowers published a video and penned a letter to the organization’s board of directors saying they stand with the ousted founder.
"We, the staff at Project Veritas, are at a crossroads," the video begins. "High-level disputes between our leader and founder, James O’Keefe, and the volunteer Board of Directors who are responsible for oversight of the nonprofit have resulted in James no longer being here."
The video continues, "James is not only the founder of Project Veritas, but the creative visionary of our mission. This devastated us and the audience we exist for," the video continued. "James hasn’t resigned, nor was he fired. These events confuse, and they hurt us — leaving all of us in a state of limbo."
"So, we have a choice to make. We want James back, but we have a duty to our generous supporters, to all of you, and to our journalistic integrity to break record stories which impact our culture, and most importantly, the future of our country," the video states. "The board may have their obligations, but we are Project Veritas. James assembled this team of over sixty individuals who have bonded together in a common mission to expose waste, fraud, and abuse."
It goes on, "We expose everybody. This band of journalists, editors, producers, and all staff are still here to ensure the work gets done. Jame taught us to move mountains. We know that evil exists, we fight it every day. We don’t blame anyone for assuming the worst or thinking we’ve been co-opted by some outside force. But this fact still stands: no board or donor ever tells us what to report, and they never will."
"We will never replace James O’Keefe," one of the narrators says. "But for now, we see it as our job to hold the torch for him while keeping the door wide open for his return. We will keep the spirit of James’ mission alive for as long as we are able. We have investigations underway and stories to release. Our news hounds are in the field. As James has always told us, ’content is king.’ Our visionary may not be with us right now, but Project Veritas mission is vital. We will produce stories and break news until a day comes when we can’t."
""Until then, we will keep this mission going for our country, for the truth, and for James. We know the world is watching and that some are hoping that we fail. We need you to know that as the Project Veritas team, we don’t want to see a Project Veritas without James O’Keefe," it concludes. "Due to decisions made outside our control, it’s possible we never earn back the trust of this audience — but we owe it to all of you to try."
O’Keefe was removed from his position as CEO by the Project Veritas board earlier this month. The blowback against the organization was swift, as hundreds of thousands of people unfollowed them on social media.
Many, including people within Project Veritas, referred to the move as a coup.
A leaked email from the organization, sent to large donors, claimed that O’Keefe was placed on "temporary suspension until the audit was completed," noting the founder "specifically said he did not resign, and the board did not fire him."
#3
He would be stupid to return without a loyal board.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2023 9:23 Comments ||
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#4
With a BoD such as that at PV, maybe O'Keefe should just move on, as the BoD appears to be a collection of morons if they thought there would be no public and donor backlash from their actions.
Then again, Pfizer has been fined billions of dollars and they continue as a going concern. Surely they have the dough and can assist what's left of PV.
This has gone from malign neglect to actively vindictive.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Federal environmental authorities have ordered a temporary halt in the shipment of contaminated waste from the site of a fiery train derailment earlier this month in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line.
Region 5 administrator Debra Shore of the Environmental Protection Agency said Saturday the agency ordered Norfolk Southern to 'pause' shipments from the site of the February 3 derailment in East Palestine but vowed that removal of the material would resume 'very soon.'
'Everyone wants this contamination gone from the community. They don't want the worry, and they don't want the smell, and we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible,' Shore said.
Until Friday, Shore said, the rail company had been solely responsible for the disposal of the waste and supplied Ohio environmental officials with a list of selected and utilized disposal sites.
Going forward, disposal plans including locations and transportation routes for contaminated waste will be subject to EPA review and approval, she said.
'EPA will ensure that all waste is disposed of in a safe and lawful manner at EPA-certified facilities to prevent further release of hazardous substances and impacts to communities,' Shore said.
She said officials had heard concerns from residents and others in a number of states and were reviewing 'the transport of some of this waste over long distances and finding the appropriate permitted and certified sites to take the waste.'
The Ohio governor's office said Saturday night that of the twenty truckloads (approximately 280 tons) of hazardous solid waste hauled away, 15 truckloads of contaminated soil was disposed of at a Michigan hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility while five truckloads had been returned to East Palestine.
Liquid waste already trucked out of East Palestine would be disposed of at a licensed hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility in Texas, but that facility would not accept more liquid waste, the Ohio governor's office said.
'Currently, about 102,000 gallons of liquid waste and 4,500 cubic yards of solid waste remain in storage on site in East Palestine, not including the five truckloads returned to the village,' the governor's office said. 'Additional solid and liquid wastes are being generated as the cleanup progresses.'
#1
"we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible,' Shore said."
But we're stopping the work. Doublespeak (the politest word I know for outright lying) at its finest.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/26/2023 12:44 Comments ||
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#2
The local news reported last night that a North Texas chemical firm had been treating the hazardous stuff from the East Palestine accident.
They're trucking that crud from Ohio to Texas? No treatment facilities closer than that?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2023 13:01 Comments ||
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#3
I shoulda read the article first - it's there.
But the article notes the EPA is getting in the way, disposal subject to EPA review and approval, just to make sure the evil railroad doesn't make it worse.
Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2023 13:05 Comments ||
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[Last Refuge] At first, I thought this story was fake. Then I thought it was likely just a misinterpretation of events. However, I was curious enough to just go look for myself, because there are quite a few people noticing it now. Indeed, the initial reports were not wrong.
The background story of how Senator John Fetterman’s wife reacted to the news of her husband’s hospitalization for clinical depression is just weird.
Apparently, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s family did not go to Washington DC with him. {h/t Gateway Pundit} Considering Mr. Fetterman was recovering from a stroke, the worst possible scenario would be stress and unfamiliar surroundings. The resulting hospitalization for clinical depression then takes on new context.
I take the approach never to judge personal life, because you just don’t ever know what is going on deeply inside the lives of others. However, things are really odd about the way Gisele Fetterman responded to the news of her husband’s hospitalization. She grabbed the passports, packed up the kids and headed to Canada. Huh?
Even more weird, Mrs. Fetterman outlines her reaction on her own social media accounts [SOURCE].
We drove straight into … Canada (and lovely Buffalo NY) (Pro Tip: always have passports ready just in case you have to run away 😅) We talked about lots of hard things and how we will all have to face hard things. About the need to be gentle … with all and with ourselves. pic.twitter.com/0PWQXHrbqT
#8
It will be interesting to see the outcome of treatment by medical personnel that are not interested in politics. Hopefully, he takes the pension and gets the healing that he needs. Probably should plan on living on half the pension. His folks need to get some legal help to make sure that she doesn’t get a hold of whatever inheritance he has coming down the pike. If he doesn’t retire, they needn’t bother as they will outlive him.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2023 9:47 Comments ||
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#10
Her comments never once mention her husband, and while I get perhaps wanting to avoid the media circus at Walter Reed for awhile, Canada as a resort stop is baffling. Unless.... she has gotten the word that she isn't on the Short List to replace him once he resigns or is forced out of the Senate. The investigations that follow after there is no longer any political cover since he isn't useful anymore reveal her complicity in his post-stroke brain damage though exhaustion form campaigning, finance misbehavior, and other misbehavior yet to be revealed. He isn't salvageable and therefore, is now just a creepy invalid burden to her? She is a nasty piece of work it seems.
#18
I’m willing to cut hr some slack on this
What jumped out at me was her mentioning the news trucks arriving
She bolted because she didn’t want to deal with those creepy people
Posted by: Eohippus Darling of the Chinese2076 ||
02/26/2023 17:14 Comments ||
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#20
I am a widower. I do not condemn her, but she has not been a good advocate for his health. She has left him in DC, a cruel and evil place. He needs to spend about two years wearing his hoodie, with his feet in the sand, eating a prescribed diet and exercising under medical supervision. It is her responsibility to orchestrate that lifestyle. She is the type of bulldog that could make that happen. She appears to not have love to do that. If his family has the requisite unselfishness to take care of him, it is time for them to step in.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2023 19:06 Comments ||
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#21
She's got lifetime healthcare and his pension with a full time job being a channel between Brazil and DC.
What a win. "Hey kids, we're going to Disneyland!"
Oops, wrong way.
#22
I have no info on whether she is a good mom. Certainly, Fetterman got used and now appears to be being thrown away. Probably better for him but he will likely miss the kids. It is a pretty sad story. I would call it shameful, but the people who used him including the media have lost all sense of shame. I pray that he is delivered from the ones who will surely kill him if he continues to pretend to be a senator.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2023 21:05 Comments ||
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#23
Reports are out indicating Fetterman is now brain dead. The dems are holding up the announcement.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S., who gives the term geriatric a bad name. He blames Afghans for losing Afghanistan.... fumbled around his words as he tried to explain why he still has no plans to visit East Paleostine after a toxic train derailment devastated the small Ohio community.
As he was leaving the White House on Friday to head to his Wilmington, Delaware residence, a news hound asked Biden if he was going to travel to East Paleostine after his administration had been accused of ignoring the city's plight.
The president answered, 'At this point, I'm not,' but then he appeared confused and strained as he tried to explain himself.
'I did a whole video, I mean, um, what the hell, on,' Biden rambled as he looked for news hounds to fill in the gap.
'Zoom?' one of the news hounds said, trying to help the president.
'Zoom! All I can think of every time I think of Zoom is that song in my generation, Who's Zoomin' Who,' he said, referencing the Aretha Franklin ...The Queen of Soul. She denies ever having been in a fistfight with Patti Labelle... song.
The odd exchange comes as the Biden administration (aka the Wilmington comorra) ...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the adults in charge of the series of calamities characteristic of the administration of a mentally challenged geriatric case... is under fire for its alleged slow response to the disaster, where toxic chemicals were released into the air near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on February 3, prompting 5,000 people to evacuate.
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has now opened an investigation against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg ...the testicleless former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, since 2012. Buttigieg graduated from Harvard and, on a Rhodes Scholarship, from Pembroke College, Oxford. Buttigieg was first elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 and was reelected in 2015. During his second term, he announced he was gay, which surprised no one. He ran for the Dem nomination in 2020 on the theory that being mayor of a nondescript medium sized city is qualification to run the country. A Secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration he he was on maternity leave when the supply chain fell apart... for his alleged 'apathy' after waiting 20 days to visit the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2023 00:00 ||
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#1
He must have been tired, I mean, after all, it was announced that he got a clean bill of health from his doctor.
Actually, that's fine by me. The longer he hangs in there (barring any impeachment), the better the chance Kamala does not get to sit in the Oval Office.
#6
Joe’s advisors probably understood this could not be fixed after Trump went through and had his show. Now the game will be a race by the candidates to beat Trump to the next disaster site with water, etcetera. I don’t think Nikki Haley will pull it off. Her highest priority is donor meetings. Joe will not be able to quick react due to whatever medical regime allows him to make periodic coherent statements. The other declared candidates are irrelevant.
Another interesting question is whether Joe can go on vacation before visiting East Palestine. I think that is why Buttigieg slunk through.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2023 9:39 Comments ||
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#7
If for some reason you feel Washington doesn't give a second thought to folks in 'fly-over' country, you're probably on to something.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Epoch Times] A new regulation proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) would block half of current gas stove models from the market, an analysis by the federal agency shows.
[FOXNEWS] A Florida teacher who was accused of having White students in his classroom bow to Black students is on leave. 
[NYPOST] In a growing backlash against woke culture, the board of the University of North Carolina moved to ban 
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] The video came on the same day that a dozen Project Veritas whistleblowers published a video and penned a letter to the organization’s board of directors saying they stand with the ousted founder.
[Last Refuge] At first, I thought this story was fake. Then I thought it was likely just a misinterpretation of events. However, I was curious enough to just go look for myself, because there are quite a few people noticing it now. Indeed, the initial reports were not wrong.
Sorry Frank. I simply couldn't help myself. 
...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the 
