No 'pride in ownership' therefore, no apology necessary Skid.
Prayers being transmitted for a successful surgery.
Besoeker- 04/26/2024 05:33
Enjoy your time under the knife, as you can.
Skidmark- 04/25/2024 08:26
Fred, good luck! See you on the flip side.
Guys, for information: Fred has been putting pro-Hamas protesters under 5th Column. Page 1: WoT for protests and arrests, Page 2: WoT Background for funding and politicians posturing and such. The organization is Hamas, even though they’re Antifa/Black Bloc the rest of the time. The American ones, at any rate — elsewhere country/region holds.
trailing wife- 04/24/2024 22:15
Minor surgery today. I'll be light this evening.
Fred- 04/24/2024 21:27
...and the spelling.
Skidmark- 04/22/2024 07:40
Sorry for the historesis error, Berserker.
The rant was intended for PJ, not yourself.
Skidmark- 04/22/2024 07:39
*sigh* Now I feel stupid. Ignore all the below — I somehow got into the Private Browse setting, so that’s why to cookies aren't taking. Now allI have to do is figure out how to get out of it…
My abject apologies for wasting your time.
trailing wife- 04/21/2024 17:28
I can’t set a cookie here with a blank comment…
trailing wife- 04/21/2024 17:15
Thirty-four states had more than 1,000 STD cases per 100,000 residents
Southern states like Tennessee represented a large portion of the top states
The top 10 were: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; St Louis, Missouri; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Montgomery, Alabama; San Francisco, California; Detroit, Michigan; and Washington, DC.
[Epoch Times] As the administrative state implements more regulations on Americans, a team of legal veterans has come together to fight the expansion of un-elected government agency power. Sometimes, they even win.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which consists of a team of 27 lawyers and support staff, including former judges, had four of the cases they litigated go before the Supreme Court in 2023. One case was decided in their favor, the remaining three are pending.
Founded by Columbia Law professor Philip Hamburger six years ago, the NCLA targets cases where they believe federal agencies have blatantly overstepped their authority or violated civil liberties. NCAL Website
"Normally, administrative power is understood as a separation of powers question, but it’s also a civil liberties problem because it dilutes our voting rights," Mr. Hamburger told The Epoch Times. "We all get to vote, but the ability to make legislation is no longer in the hands of the people we elect."
The U.S. Constitution vests Congress with law-making authority. However, government agencies are not only making laws today, he said, they also enforce those laws, then act as judge and jury over alleged violations. Taking a historical view on this issue, Mr. Hamburger argues that such administrative "absolutism" is not a new phenomenon, but merely a modern expression of absolute power once wielded by medieval kings.
"It deprives us of the right to a jury; it deprives us of ordinary burdens of proof; it deprives us of having an unbiased judge," he said. "We have ALJs [Administrative Law Judge] and commissioners instead."
In one case, SEC v. Cochran, appellate courts took the side of the SEC. This case challenged the lifetime tenure of ALJs, who act as judges for federal agencies.
"We battled that for five years, and we had six circuit courts of appeals against us," she said. "We got to the Supreme Court and we won unanimously."
Mr. Hamburger said the NCLA has several advantages when arguing their cases. "We have the truth on our side, and I think the justices understand that," he said. "Second, we take the Constitution seriously, while many agencies view it as a minor impediment to what they want to do in regulation."
The questions that Mr. Hamburger raises in his book are at the heart of the current political divisions within the United States. Progressives often advocate the implementation of policies designed by unelected "experts," while conservatives expect edicts to go through elected representatives.
The movement to vest power in the administrative state in America goes back more than a century and has enjoyed cumulative success via a ratchet effect, whereby authority is progressively ceded to the administrative state, often in response to real or perceived crises, but rarely surrendered back to citizens.
Woodrow Wilson, the first progressive president and precursor to modern progressives, expressed contempt for voters and viewed representative lawmaking as an impediment to economic and social reforms. He was highly critical of the U.S. Constitution and its separation of powers, particularly the limitations it put on government bureaucrats.
"Wherever regard for public opinion is a first principle of government, practical reform must be slow and all reform must be full of compromises," he stated in his 1887 treatise "The Study of Administration."
"The people, who are sovereign, have no single ear which one can approach, and are selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn, or foolish."
"The English race has long and successfully studied the art of curbing executive power to the constant neglect of the art of perfecting executive methods," President Wilson stated. "It has been more concerned to render government just and moderate than to make it facile, well-ordered, and effective."
One result of concentrating such all-encompassing power in the executive branch is that presidential elections have become pivotal in determining the direction for the country, even in areas such as residential zoning and education, that are traditionally under the purview of states, counties, and towns.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] More than 100 Russian troops are believed to have been killed in an ATACMS tactical ballistic missile strike on occupied Luhansk.
A military training ground was seen being hit by multiple explosions typical of an ATACMS strike in footage captured by a drone flying high above.
The strike targeted a group of 100-plus soldiers who were seen in aerial images, say OSINT analysts in what would be the single largest loss of Russian troops in months.
The ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) showered the troops with hundreds of M74 APAM mini-bombs which are carried by the missiles and deployed in clusters.
The strike was some 48 miles behind the frontline at a training base, it was reported.
'Geolocation footage suggests that Ukrainian forces struck a Russian training ground southwest of Mozhnyakovka, killing 116 Russian troops,' stated the Institute for the Study of War in an update on the continuing war in Ukraine on Thursday.
There are growing signs that Ukraine is using the American-produced ATACMS after receiving a batch in early April ahead of a $61 billion military aid package which was finally approved by Congress late last month.
The New York Times reported last week that the US may have secretly shipped 100 ATACMS to Ukraine ahead of the bill's passage.
While the US had previously shipped ATACMS with a shorter range, the recent shipment is understood to include missiles that can travel around 190 miles - putting Russian targets that were previously safe behind the front lines well within range.
[Facebook] Have you ever planned an event? If yes, you grasp the coordination required, not to mention necessary resources and contacts at street level to pull it off. By design, not organic. Imho.
Imaged list, including 23 abroad, can be seen at the link — I don’t know how to post images from Facebook. Hattip 3dc.
[KGNSTV] LAREDO, TX. (KGNS) - According to NBC News, the Justice Department is expected to announce the indictment of Congressman Henry Cuellar.
NBC News stated that two sources familiar with the matter informed the outlet of the expected formal charge against the Texas congressman.
This comes after Cuellar’s house and campaign officers were raided in Laredo back in January of 2022 as part of a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and a group of U.S. businessmen who have ties to the country, law enforcement said at the time.
Since the raid, Cuellar’s office and the congressman have stated that they have been fully cooperating with the investigation.
Cuellar is a one-time co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus.
At this time, it’s not clear if the indictment is related to the 2022 raid. The Justice Department declined to comment.
Shortly after the report came to light, Congressman Cuellar issued a statement.
"It deprives us of the right to a jury; it deprives us of ordinary burdens of proof; it deprives us of having an unbiased judge," he said. "We have ALJs [Administrative Law Judge] and commissioners instead."
"We battled that for five years, and we had six circuit courts of appeals against us," she said. "We got to the Supreme Court and we won unanimously."