[FoxNews] An Illinois lawmaker has introduced a bill that critics say will make it legal for anyone experiencing a mental health episode to attack police officers.
Democratic state Rep. Lisa Davis, an attorney in the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender's office, introduced House Bill 3458 in February.
A Chicago Democrat — possible one from the Soros stable? Quelle surprise.
Under the terms of the legislation, the bill would "[provide] that it is a defense to aggravated battery when the individual battered is a peace officer and the officer responded to an incident in which the officer interacted with a person whom a reasonable officer could believe was having a mental health episode and the person with whom the officer interacted has a documented mental illness and acted abruptly."
This sounds like a roundabout way to get to a ruling of innocent by reason of insanity, at least if the victim is a police officer. If the mandatory sentence involves incarceration with treatment, it might even be the right answer despite being an infuriating way of describing it for anyone who respects the sacrifices police make when they serve.
The bill has picked up two co-sponsors, Reps. Marcus Evans and Kelly Cassidy.
Currently, a person in Illinois can be charged with aggravated battery if they attack "an individual whom the person knows to be a peace officer, community policing volunteer, fireman, private security officer, correctional institution employee, or Department of Human Services employee supervising or controlling sexually dangerous persons or sexually violent persons."
Does that include a ruling of guilty but insane?
Second Cop City, a blog that reports on Chicago policing matters, first reported on the bill.
Davis' proposal would legalize attacks on peace officers. Other first responders would be spared, such as firefighters, like her husband, CWB Chicago reported.
The bill has been referred to the Illinois General Assembly Rules Committee, where unpopular legislation goes to die, the news report states.
Good to know that the Illinois legislature has such a process. Now we needn’t worry about it.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] The University of Washington (UW) has announced a hiring freeze of non-essential staff and faculty as well as efforts to cut costs in response to the possibility of losing state and federal funding. UW is one of 60 universities under investigation by the Trump administration's DOE over antisemitism on campus.
Tricia Serio, UW provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, wrote in a blog post, ''Despite a good financial position, unprecedented and rapid policy changes at the federal level have increased the risk of funding cuts that threaten the University's financial stability.''
''At the state level, a significant budget shortfall is leading our legislature to grapple with a range of measures including budget cuts and furloughs, although the latter are particularly ill-suited to higher education because the cost of implementation minimizes the actual savings realized. Nonetheless, these risks together have the potential to jeopardize the full scope of our work, including existing and new research projects, patient care, instruction, and basic operations.''
Due to out-of-control spending, Washington state is facing a $6-15 billion dollar budget gap. Governor Bob Ferguson has proposed $4 billion in cuts, but Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... in the legislature are gearing up to offset the remainder with new taxes.
On Monday, UW found itself on a list from the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of 60 institutions of higher education, including many Ivy League schools, that were sent letters warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] In yet another stunning example of government waste, the Biden administration's $3 billion scheme to convert the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) fleet to electric vehicles (EVs) has delivered nothing but empty promises, skyrocketing costs, and a mere 93 vehicles out of the planned 50,000.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Representative Michael Cloud (R-Texas) are leading the charge against reckless taxpayer-funded disaster.
They introduced the Return to Sender Act, a bill aimed at clawing back the unspent billions that were funneled into the failed USPS EV initiative under Biden's so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
''Biden's $3 billion EV fleet for USPS is lost in the mail! Just 93 of 50,000 vehicles have been delivered. I am canceling the order and returning the unspent money to sender: the taxpayers!'' Ernst wrote on X.
The USPS originally placed its 50,000-vehicle order three years ago, but thanks to bureaucratic mismanagement and Biden's radical green agenda, barely 0.2% of those vehicles have made it to the streets. Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... the cost of production continues to balloon, and taxpayers are footing the bill for a non-existent fleet.
''The Biden administration's so-called Inflation Reduction Act funneled billions into a failed USPS EV project that has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs,'' said Cloud.
''Three years later, taxpayers are still waiting while the Postal Service refuses to provide basic transparency on where the money went. The Return to Sender Act takes back the $3 billion in taxpayer money that has been wasted in this project.''
The Return to Sender Act aims to repeal and rescind any remaining, unobligated funds from the Inflation Reduction Act's USPS EV provisions. The bill cancels this colossal waste of taxpayer money before even more cash is flushed down the drain.
The legislation targets sections 70002 and 70003 of the IRA, ensuring that billions in misused climate funds are reallocated to the American people instead of being used to prop up another one of Biden's green boondoggles.
According to the blurb, ''Because of its ballooning cost and delays, the USPS EV project was featured as one of the worst government boondoggles when Ernst introduced her Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act that will require the disclosure of any government project that is $1 billion over budget or five years behind schedule.''
USPS also has had a lot of new delivery and lost item issues in the last 5 months.
Certified Mail lost, & USPS packages, taking over 3 weeks to deliver. If delivered. (Note: Have seen local USPS packages end up at local Bins Stores?)
Just a few weeks ago, in the Atlanta area. A US Mail Transfer truck unknowingly dumped 1,000's of items, along the highway, and kept going. A lot of it was collected by motorists that stopped.
[NYPOST] NASA forked over more than $20 million in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) grants and contracts during the Biden administration, shelling out for ''implicit bias'' trainings, talks with so-called ''anti-racist'' authors, ''gender-affirming'' workplace guidelines and an aggressive, left-wing media presence.
Prodded by executive action from former President Joe The Big Guy Biden
The Big Guy Biden" valign=top style="float:right;padding:5px;border:0px solid silver;" />...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
, NASA officials also implemented a strategic plan to suffuse all agency operations with DEI, altering criteria for recruitment, performance evaluations and promotions.
The taxpayer-watchdog group Open The Books revealed the politicization of the space agency in a report published Wednesday, which shares a trove of documents obtained from various public records requests.
''NASA's mission is too risky to get distracted by identity politics,'' Open The Books CEO John Hart told The Post. ''Newtonian physics and atmospheric re-entry do not care about antiracism talks and gender 'affirmation' policies. NASA has an opportunity to take one small step toward fiscal responsibility and one giant leap toward common sense.''
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11138 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I spent almost a decade as a Federal Bank Examiner.
One of the trainings I attended was on the topic of sexual harassment in the workplace.
That training began with a short pre-recorded video emphasizing the importance of this subject...
The speaker in the short video was President Bill Clinton.
🚨Update: @EPA just notified 8 recipients of $20 BILLION in Biden EPA “gold bars” that their grants have been TERMINATED!
It is my commitment to President Trump, Congress, and you, that EPA will be an exceptional steward of your tax dollars. I’ll have it no other way! pic.twitter.com/PjJ5WOlaY1
#2
The claw back is in process. Some of the $20B has not yet been obligated and will be saved. Some has been obligated but not expended. Much of that will likely be successfully clawed back. The funds that have been obligated and for which work has been done (assuming it is legit work) will likely not be saved. Probably will take weeks, if not months, to sort this through.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/13/2025 12:44 Comments ||
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[FoxNews] The new study accuses California of 'money laundering' federal dollars
California is funneling billions of federal taxpayer dollars into paying for illegal immigrants’ healthcare, a new study claims.
"They are exploiting an existing loophole within law," Paul Winfree, president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), told Fox News Digital.
"States can do these provider taxes to funnel money back to the state, that they are then using to pay for, to put illegal immigrants on Medicaid. That’s quite literally what’s going on."
The paper released by EPIC and the Paragon Health Institute draws a line between California’s Medicaid provider taxes and what, on paper, appears to be nearly $4 billion in state funding going toward illegal immigrants’ healthcare and other initiatives.
But that funding is actually coming from the federal government, according to EPIC, via reimbursements to California.
Winfree suggested it could be an area to claw back federal dollars as House Republicans work to find between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in savings to offset the cost of President Donald Trump’s budget priorities.
Doing so would completely bankrupt the state, I imagine.
Under current law, states are required to pay Medicaid providers the same amount as taxes raised.
The federal government then matches those payments by 60% in an effort to help states recoup some Medicaid costs.
"Medicaid spending is supposed to be jointly financed by the federal government and states. However, states are increasingly designing Medicaid money laundering schemes that result in massive federal expenditures without any state financial obligation," the paper said.
"The state of California, colluding with insurance companies who cover Medicaid beneficiaries, has created one of the most outrageous ones yet, a money laundering scheme that results in California obtaining more than $19 billion in federal money without any state contribution over the period from April 2023 through December 2026."
The paper continued that those funds were "used to implement major expansions in the Medicaid program to fund illegal immigrants and long-term care (LTC) for the wealthy."
"This scheme enriches insurers, attracts illegal immigrants to the United States, and adds mountains to the federal debt, all at the expense of working Americans," it said.
Winfree said closing a loophole that allows states like California to significantly raise the provider tax could save up to $630 billion, adding it was something Republicans are looking at as they seek as much as $2 trillion in savings or more in the budget reconciliation process.
House and Senate Republicans are looking to use their majorities to pass a massive bill covering Trump’s border security, defense, energy and tax policies.
They can do so because reconciliation allows the Senate to lower its threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, provided measures in the legislation are related to budgetary and fiscal policy.
As part of the framework resolution House Republicans passed last month, which has been sent to the relevant committees with instructions on how much to find cuts, or in some cases, spend extra dollars.
The Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid and Medicare, is charged with finding $880 billion in spending cuts.
Republicans have insisted they are only looking to root out waste, fraud and abuse, but Democratic opponents of the Trump budget bill are accusing the GOP of trying to significantly cut federal medical benefits for millions of Americans.
"One of the things that Congress is looking at right now is limiting the Medicaid provider tax loophole. It's actually one of the most significant offsets that is within the Medicaid portfolio that the Energy and Commerce Committee and Finance Committee over in the Senate can look at while they're putting together their reconciliation bill," Winfree said.
He cited a projection that said eliminating the loophole could save as much as $630 billion but added that it was an unlikely scenario.
"It’s much more likely that they will reduce what's called the safe harbor. So, in other words, what they'll do is they'll just reduce the amount of gaming that goes on, including this kind of gaming. And if that happens, it is more likely to affect some of the big blue states than it is the red states, simply because it's the blue states that have really tested the upper limits of this kind of this kind of gimmick," Winfree said.
Even without total elimination, reforming the tax could still potentially save billions in federal spending.
Fox News Digital reached out to the California Department of Public Health for comment but did not hear back.
[FoxNews] 'Let me be clear, DEI is dead at HUD,' Secretary Turner said
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner shut down a hurricane relief draft plan put forth by the city of Asheville, North Carolina, that included a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative that would have prioritized some residents over others, his office said.
"Once again, let me be clear, DEI is dead at HUD," Turner said of axing the plan. "We will not provide funding to any program or grantee that does not comply with President Trump’s executive orders."
"HUD looks forward to helping thousands of North Carolinians rebuild after Hurricane Helene by directing funding assistance to impacted businesses, nonprofit organizations and neighborhoods," Turner added. "However, Asheville’s draft action plan incorporated DEI criteria to prioritize some impacted residents over others, which was unacceptable. After HUD informed Asheville that its plan was unsatisfactory and it would not be approved, the city assured us that it was updating its draft action plan to be compliant."
The city of Asheville, which is a Democratic stronghold in a state that has elected Republican presidential candidates since 2012, posted a draft plan to its website on March 4 on how it could distribute millions of dollars for Hurricane Helene disaster relief, including a section that focused on DEI.
HUD allocated $225 million in a Community Development Block Grant in January under the Biden administration, after Hurricane Helene ripped through the state in September 2024, devastating thousands of residents, most notably in the western Appalachian region, with flooding, high winds, power outages and complete destruction of communities. At least 106 people died in the Tar Heel State during the storm, according to the state.
The city of Asheville detailed under a section in its draft plan titled "How Programs Will Support Vulnerable Populations" that minority- and women-owned businesses would be prioritized for assistance.
"Within the Small Business Support Program, the City will prioritize assistance for Minority and Women Owned Businesses (MWBE) within the scoring criteria outlined within the policies and procedures," reads the draft plan, which was reviewed by Fox News Digital.
HUD was alerted to the language in the draft plan and took appropriate action against it after investigating the matter, Fox News Digital learned.
HUD cited that on President Donald Trump's first day in office, he signed an executive order focused on "ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs" and one focused on restoring merit-based opportunity and "ending illegal discrimination," which ended DEI practices at the federal level in favor of merit-based systems.
"At HUD, we are taking a detailed and deliberate approach in every aspect of our work to ensure we are serving all communities regardless of race, color, or creed," Turner said in a comment Wednesday to Fox News Digital. "Let this send a clear message that no detail will go unnoticed, adherence to President Trump’s Executive Orders is mandatory. We appreciate that Asheville has reversed course and is now working with us to get this right."
Democratic Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said in comments provided to Fox News Digital that the city was "working closely with HUD as we continue to navigate the changing compliance requirements of the new administration."
"We are grateful for the administration’s support in our recovery efforts," Manheimer continued. "The City will ensure it meets current federal standards in order to facilitate approval of critically needed funding to help the city recover from the devastation of Tropical Storm Helene."
The city released an updated draft on Monday that did not include a section on prioritizing minority- and women-owned businesses, Fox New Digital found.
[FoxNews] Serina Baker-Hill is charged with running a scheme to defraud FEMA and lying to federal agents
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) director in Michigan has been accused of running a scheme to defraud the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after a series of floods damaged her home in 2023.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed a criminal complaint against 55-year-old Serina Baker-Hill on Wednesday, charging her with engaging in a scheme to defraud FEMA and lying to federal agents.
Baker-Hill is a career employee with CBP and serves as director of CBP’s Center for Excellence and Expertise over Automotive and Aerospace Engineering.
"Following efforts with our interagency partners, I can report that a career Director level employee at US Customs and Border Protection has been charged with allegedly attempting to defraud FEMA, as well as lying to federal agents," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X.
"This is part of the new FBI’s renewed efforts to crack down on public corruption and deliver accountability for the American people. Justice will be done. Thanks to our partners @AGPamBondi @TheJusticeDept and our @FBIDetroit team for their work."
FEMA approved Michigan’s request for a federal disaster declaration after a series of floods devastated the Detroit area in August 2023. The disaster declaration allowed residents to apply for FEMA assistance.
The DOJ said Baker-Hill applied for assistance after her home was damaged by flooding, and a FEMA inspector determined there had been damage to the basement of the house.
While the inspector was conducting the inspection, Baker-Hill allegedly said she could not safely live in the home while repairs were being made. So, FEMA approved benefits to help her pay for the repairs. She was also provided two months of rental assistance, which the approval letter indicated was to be used solely to help Baker-Hill pay rent and essential utility costs while in temporary housing.
Investigators reviewed Baker-Hill’s bank records and say they discovered that none of the money was used for rental, hotel or utility expenses.
Surveillance video from the home was also reviewed by investigators and allegedly showed that she and her husband continued to live in the home after receiving rental assistance funds from FEMA.
Records also did not show a significant drop in utilities that were consistent with the home being unoccupied during the time period, according to the DOJ.
Agents from the FBI and CBP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) interviewed Baker-Hill, who denied committing a crime or defrauding the U.S. government.
The investigation is ongoing. Once complete, a determination will be made on whether to seek a felony indictment.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
03/13/2025 3:55 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Agents from the FBI and CBP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) interviewed Baker-Hill, who denied committing a crime or defrauding the U.S. government.
They don't see it as a criminal act. Its's just catching up.
"The opening of the Automotive and Aerospace Center is another important milestone on our path toward efficient trade facilitation in the 21st Century," said Allen Gina, Assistant Commissioner, Office of International Trade. "By improving coordination between CBP and industry, we will see benefits that advance our nation's economic competitiveness."
Between the date and the gobbledygook, this whole program stinks. Then add Ms. Serina here to the mix.
The vibe I'm getting is Portal to Get Around Customs Inspections.
#10
"March 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. Customs and Border Protection director on Wednesday was accused of lying to receive federal assistance after her home flooded in Detroit in 2023, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
A federal criminal complaint charges Serina Baker-Hill, 55, with engaging in a scheme to defraud the Federal Emergency Management Agency and being untruthful to federal agents, Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck announced in Detroit.
Baker-Hill was released on a $10,000 bond after an initial appearance in federal court, the Detroit News reported.
She is charged with three crimes: wire fraud, lying and fraud in connection with a major disaster, and could face at least 20 years in federal prison.
Her husband, 56-year-old Maurice Hill, was charged Wednesday in a separate federal case involving narcotics trafficking."
[GEO.TV] Nasa announced on Tuesday the dismissal of its chief scientist and others to comply with orders from President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... , marking the latest in a series of administration actions undermining climate change research.
While the move affects only 23 people, a spokeswoman indicated more cuts are coming.
The first round notably eliminates the Office of the Chief Scientist, led by Katherine Calvin, a renowned climatologist who contributed to key UN climate reports.
She and other US delegates were also barred from attending a major climate science meeting in China last month.
"To optimise our workforce, and in compliance with an Executive Order, Nasa is beginning its phased approach to a reduction in force, known as a RIF," agency spokeswoman Cheryl Warner said.
"A small number of individuals received notification March 10 they are a part of Nasa's RIF. If they're eligible, those employees may opt to participate in the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA, or complete the RIF process."
Also eliminated are the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Nasa has so far avoided the deep cuts affecting other agencies, reportedly due to last minute intervention by Jared Isaacman, Trump's nominee for Nasa chief. Isaacman, an e-payments billionaire and SpaceX customer, is seen as close to Elon Musk — Trump's key advisor and architect of federal cost-cutting efforts.
In February, Nasa had been preparing to lay off around a thousand probationary employees. However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... Isaacman reportedly asked for the cuts to be put on hold, according to Ars Technica. Nasa has not explained the reversal.
The new layoffs, first reported by Nasa Watch citing an internal memo, could signal a shift away from research and toward exploration.
Trump and Musk both support a human mission to Mars. In his State of the Union address last week, Trump declared the US would "plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond."
#2
Why have the office of the 'Chief Scientist' anyway? This isn't the 1970's where you would want a generalist in house researcher, like a 'Chief Scientist' (being paid a 6 figure salary), with a staff of research assistants (each drawing a 5 figure salary) to physically go out and access scientific articles in various libraries and agencies.
#3
I'm still trying to figure why it's important or relevant that NASA be Simon pure diverse, equitable, and inclusive. They relied on people who weren't, like Werner von Braun back in the days when they were going to the moon with Fortran, if they were modern and up to date, and punch cards. Is adhering to a party line that important? Or is being able to calculate a trajectory or fuel requirements? Can't a misogynistic racist inspect O rings?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2025 19:24 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Scientists at NASA?"Cue Coneheads laughing.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/13/2025 20:28 Comments ||
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[FoxNews] 'It truly is life-threatening,' lawyers for the firm said of the executive order. 'It will spell the end of the law firm.'
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order seeking to penalize Democrat-linked law firm Perkins Coie, siding with plaintiffs from the firm who argued that the order was unconstitutional and a violation of due process protections.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell comes just one day after attorneys representing the law firm Perkins Coie filed a request for an emergency restraining order blocking Trump's executive order from taking force.
Among other things, the order called for the firm's employees to be stripped of their security clearances and banned from accessing government buildings. It also called for the termination of the firm's existing contracts with government clients— actions Judge Howell appeared to agree with.
"That’s pretty extraordinary power for the president to exercise," she noted during the hearing.
Attorneys for Perkins Coie argued that the executive order is a violation of due process protections, free speech, and free association protections under the U.S. constitution, and argued it would effectively force the firm's business to a halt.
"It truly is life-threatening," attorneys for Perkins Coie told the judge. "It will spell the end of the law firm."
Judge Howell appeared to uphold their concerns, noting at one point in the hearing that it "sends little chills down my spine" that the Trump administration moved to label the firm as a threat and deny them access to government entities and businesses.
Lawyers for Perkins Coie argued the executive order would be "like a tsunami waiting to hit the firm" in terms of damaging impact. Already, they said, there is evidence that some of the firm's clients have withdrawn legal work from their firm or are considering doing so, moves they said would cause the firm to lose "signifcant revenue."
The order, signed by President Donald Trump last week, sought to penalize Perkins Coie, which has long represented Democratic-linked causes and candidates, including Trump's former opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election.
The firm also played a role in hiring Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that commissioned the so-called "Steele Dossier" and published it shortly before the 2016 election.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, appeared in federal court to represent the Trump administration in the lawsuit. The hearing, and rare court appearance from Mizelle, a senior member of the U.S. attorney general's office, comes one week after Trump signed the executive order.
The order, titled "Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP," accused Perkins Coie of "dishonest and dangerous activity" that they alleged undermines "democratic elections, the integrity of our courts, and honest law enforcement," as well as "racially discriminating against its own attorneys and staff" through its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Trump told reporters last week it was an "absolute honor" to sign the order, adding that "weaponization" against a political opponent "should never be allowed to happen again."
However, Perkins Coie attorneys argue the Trump administration has done just that by targeting the firm.
"Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration, whether those views are presented on behalf of paying or pro bono clients," they noted in the emergency lawsuit.
Attorneys representing Perkins Coie told Howell that roughly 25% of total firm revenue comes from its contracts with government clients, which they noted would be terminated by Trump's executive order.
Notably, this is not the first time the Trump administration has sought to restrict the work of certain law firms he sees as potentially opposed to his interests.
Earlier this year, Trump also issued an executive order targeting the law firm Covington & Burling, which represents former special counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped by Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate Trump in his handling of classified documents and actions related to the 2020 election.
The order against Covington & Burling was slightly less restrictive, however, and revoked the security clearances of just two lawyers at the firm. Like Perkins Coie, it orderd the review of all the firm's government contracts and clients, though it is unclear if the review has forced any terminations of the contracts.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
#1
So this judge doesn't think the Chief Executive can decide who does and who doesn't get a top secret clearance? Wonders will never cease in the Democrat world.
#2
U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell has been a democrat hack and tool forever. She can f$ck right off
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2025 3:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Fed judge Beryl A. Howell serves on the DC federal court. You know, the same system once abolished by the US Congress in 1863 due to a single judge's lawfare against the Union war effort vs. the old Confederacy. High time for Congress to do it again, one more time, to clean up the juridical swamp in DC. Sure wish someone could wake Congress up!
[JewishInsider] Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at the Koch-backed Defense Priorities think tank, said that U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza was a strategic and moral mistake
Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at the isolationist Defense Priorities think tank with a record of strident criticism of Israel, has been tapped as a deputy director of national intelligence, three sources with knowledge of the selection told Jewish Insider. Davis has also lambasted U.S. support for the war in Gaza as a moral and strategic mistake.
He has opposed military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, and suggested that it is only U.S. and Israeli policy and actions that are pushing Iran toward pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Three sources told JI that Davis, a retired military officer and early critic of the Afghanistan war, has been offered and accepted the position of deputy DNI for mission integration, one of the top jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under DNI Tulsi Gabbard, and is waiting on the completion of his background check.
The mission integration role “serves as the DNI’s principal advisor on all aspects of intelligence,” according to the DNI website, and does not require Senate confirmation.
Davis joins a growing series of appointees in key positions across a number of national security agencies who fall far outside of the mainstream on Israel and Middle East policy, several of whom, including Michael DiMino, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, and Dan Caldwell, a Pentagon senior advisor, are also alumni of the Koch-linked Defense Priorities.
As recently as Jan. 12, Davis called U.S. support for the war in Gaza a mistake.
“On a practical level, we give away enormous leverage and credibility globally to hold *anyone* accountable for acts of w[a]nton violence, bc we not merely turn a blind eye to it, we cheer it on and supply the means to do more,” Davis wrote on X. “On a moral level this is a stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.”
Davis has suggested Israel is pursuing “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza and compared Gaza to a “prison.”
He has argued that the conflict did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas attacks, echoing narratives that seek to push blame for the attack and the ensuing war on Israel.
“Let me say before anyone else brings it up: to those who would scream ‘October 7th!’ let me reply. The history of this conflict did not begin on that day. In the summer PRIOR to 10/7, the IDF was on a brutal fight against Palestinians,” Davis wrote. “And of course this goes back *decades* of repression and the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip being effectively incarcerated, with limited or no freedoms, and no path to a future and a hope.”
Davis shared an article claiming that casualties in Gaza are 40% higher than those reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, and lambasted “Western skeptics who ridiculed the Palestinian health ministry.”
Those skeptics would include the former director of national intelligence under the Biden administration, who said that the administration did not trust or rely on that data.
In an episode of his YouTube show in January, he described the Oct. 7 attack as “in some regards convenient” for Israel to give it a justification for it to begin military operations in Gaza.
He has also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “playing the U.S. like a cheap fiddle,” and complained in January that incoming Trump administration officials were supportive of Israeli positions on the conflict.
In December 2024, Davis lambasted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for calling to cut off federal funds from universities that allow antisemitic protests, accusing Cruz of attempting to silence any protests, peaceful or otherwise, that criticize Netanyahu’s policies.
“Where is [your] moral outrage at the Israeli gov that continues to kill kids and other civilians without remorse or military necessity? Where is even a tiny bit of concern for the Palestinian *Christians* who are also killed in Gaza and the West Bank?” Davis continued. “Where is [your] passionate defense of the Bill of Rights for American citizens and students to give even full throated defense of issues [you] oppose, like the indiscriminate killing of the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian population in Gaza?”
He called Cruz’s posture “as unAmerican as anything has ever been done.”
In a Jan. 20 tweet about the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, Davis said that “it will take deft diplomacy by the Israeli and American governments to repair the enormous damage done by the outgoing U.S. Administration’s blanket support for Netanyahu’s war.”
He has said repeatedly that the “wanton destruction” of the Gaza Strip by Israel had created more Hamas fighters than existed prior to the war, and argued that there is no military solution to the situation in Gaza and that Israel was not serious about cease-fire negotiations.
He also strongly opposed Israeli plans to expand operations into Lebanon, which have since successfully degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities and eliminated most of its leadership.
Davis criticized President Donald Trump’s expressions of support for attacks on Iran’s nuclear program and denied that Iran poses a threat to the United States, asserting that it is only a “marginal regional power.”
“I don’t know who Trump has hired for his advisor, who’s giving him such absurd advice, but hitting the nuclear facilities of Iran is far more dangerous and difficult than what he believes,” Davis said in October 2024. “The ramifications could be terrible for us and for Israel.”
Davis has advanced the view that U.S. and Israeli policies and actions are forcing Iran’s hand toward hostile action, including nuclearization, and titled the Dec. 20 episode of his YouTube show “Quit Shoving Iran Towards Developing Nukes.”
“Iran is not a threat to the United States,” Davis said. “The only way that Iran can be a real problem for the U.S. is if we get stupider and push them beyond a point to where they feel like their only hope of self-defense from being the next victim of a regime change war … is to get a nuclear weapon.”
He claimed that U.S. and Israeli policy “continues to shove them headlong into a direction where the only thing they can do to defend themselves is to have a nuclear weapon. If we want to prevent that outcome, all we have to do is stop shoving them in that direction. Give them any reason at all to think they don’t have to fear a regime-change operation from us.”
Davis expressed support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as a viable option to “incentivize Iran to agree to a path of restraint” and said that those who pulled out of it were seeking war and ultimately pushed Iran in a counterproductive direction. The previous Trump administration deemed Iran to be in violation of the agreement and left it.
He appeared to be particularly angered by, and posted repeatedly about, the Israeli attack on an Iranian facility in Syria in 2024, killing members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also criticized Israel’s alleged assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Davis argued that the Iranian regime’s subsequent missile attack on Israel in April 2024 cannot “b[e] described as ‘unjustified,’” and suggested that the U.S. should not come to Israel’s aid if war broke out with Iran.
“It was reckless and put the US at risk,” Davis said. “We dare not get drawn into a war of Israel’s choice [with] Iran. That’s their sovereign decision to make, but it is not America’s to wage for them.”
He criticized world leaders who, after the Iranian missile attack, called on Iran and its proxies to cease their attacks on Israel, adding, “How about condemning Israel for the highly provocative, illegal act of destroying another nation’s embassy? It’s like we’ve all gone mad…”
Following Israel’s attack on Iran’s air defense systems in late 2024, Davis celebrated that the attack had been limited in scope and warned that a more substantial attack could have had “catastrophic” consequences for both the U.S. and Israel.
Davis has also demanded that the U.S. immediately withdraw all of its troops from Syria, and questioned the positive impacts that the fall of the Assad regime would have. Davis has argued against attempting to forge relations with the new Syrian government, given its ties to terrorism.
And he said that the Houthis in Yemen are striking Israel “because you went after the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip,” adding that Israel will “have to come to some sort of political accommodation with the Houthis.”
Davis has also been critical of U.S. support for Ukraine.
Davis, who hosts a YouTube show, the “Daniel Davis Deep Dive,” with a deep library of content, has repeatedly brought on political scientist John Mearsheimer as a guest commentator. Mearsheimer is the author of The Israel Lobby, a book some have described as antisemitic for its claims about Israel and the pro-Israel community’s alleged influence on U.S. foreign policy.
Other guests have included anti-Israel former British Member of Parliament George Galloway, who has been accused of antisemitism and defended Hamas’ rule of Gaza as legitimate, and retired Col. Douglas Macgregor, who has also been accused of antisemitism, and is seen as a major advocate for the Russian regime’s positions on the war in Ukraine.
Davis has suggested on his show that a pro-Israel consensus in American media makes it politically difficult to express any criticism of Israel, and that such pro-Israel narratives actually hurt Israel’s international standing.
Tulsi Gabbard, US President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, has decided not to appoint a harsh critic of Israel to a key intelligence post, the Jewish Insider and New York Times report.
Gabbard’s decision not to name Daniel Davis as her deputy came after news of the planned appointment was met with criticism in light of his comments on Israel, which include saying that America’s support for Israeli operations in Gaza against Hamas is a “strategic and moral mistake” and opposing a military attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
According to the New York Times, the position that Gabbard was considering Davis for is responsible for the daily presidential briefing.
#1
Figure out who recommended him and who approved the recommendation and can all three. Trump isn’t researching down to that level. Delouse the administration of the leftist infiltrators. Being anti-Israel is not 100% leftist, but the correlation is about .9
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/13/2025 18:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
First step — dropping the idea of appointing him — is done. Now Secretary Gabbard can figure out who recommended him and why.
[WCYB] Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett has proposed a bill allowing Americans to use a shotgun to shoot down drones above their property.
Is this an urgent issue, or something better addressed in a year or so?
HR1907, also known as the Defense Against Drones Act, is sponsored by U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-2). The bill allows for a property owner to shoot down unmanned aircraft using a legally-obtained shotgun if the person believes the drone is flying 200 feet or lower over their property.
The bill allows for the property owner to return the drone to the owner should they choose and also requires the property owner to report the aircraft and it's registration number to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within 60 days of the drone shooting.
The bill comes just under two weeks after the Tennessee National Guard reported mysterious drone sightings in recent months similar to the sightings seen in northeast states. The Tennessee Department of the Military is asking for an additional $5.5 million for what they call forced protection improvements. Such improvements may include ballistic doors, ballistic gates, and other types of confidential defense improvements.
Continued on Page 47
#2
We can all laugh about such assertions, but in real estate law the legal rights to a portion of property extend above the roof-line of the home. Those rights can be bought and sold, and with that right comes the implication that those rights can be defended.
The minimum prescribed by the authority is 500 feet during the day and 1000 feet at night for air carriers (Civil Air Regulations, Pt. 61, §§ 61.7400, 61.7401, Code Fed.Reg.Cum.Supp., Tit. 14, ch. 1) and from 300 to 1000 feet for other aircraft depending on the type of plane and the character of the terrain.
#8
NO, in a town or a subdivision, since a bullet shot in the air must come down and could come down causing damages to another person's property or to another person.
Besides, there are many nonlethal ways to drop a drone.
Eg. A cheap $24.95 drone and use it to crash it or bring it down.
#12
Latest drone tech includes fiberoptic cables which don't use RF to control the drones. Most of the drones still need GPS data to navigate. I wonder how hard it would be to jam GPS signals in a very small area?
[Breitbart] Foreign Minister of Colombia Laura Sarabia on Monday urged the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) to remove coca leaves — cocaine’s main ingredient — from its list of harmful substances.
Sarabia, representing Colombia at CND’s 68th session in Vienna, Austria, claimed during her speech that if coca leaves are removed from the list they would serve an industrial use in the manufacturing of fertilizers and beverages. Sarabia further claimed that a removal of coca leaves would not imply a change in Colombia’s drug-fighting policies and instead called for the international community to “rethink” global drug policy.
“The evidence is overwhelming: drug trafficking has slowed the development of our country, has victimized millions of peasants, has financed terrorist groups and has devastated essential ecosystems such as the Amazon,” Sarabia said.
“Science will prove that the coca leaf itself is not harmful to health. We will only be able to take it away from the drug traffickers if we take advantage of its potential for industrial uses, such as fertilizers and beverages,” she continued.
Colombia is the world’s top producer of cocaine and has spent decades attempting to eradicate local cocaine production by criminal groups and Marxist terrorist organizations such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
To produce cocaine, coca leaves must first be harvested and then undergo a chemical process that turns them into a paste. Drug traffickers proceed to buy the coca paste and then refine it into cocaine.
Coca leaves are one of several harmful substances listed in the United Nations 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, of which Colombia is a signatory. Article 26 of the 1961 convention calls for the uprooting of all coca bushes that grow wild and the destruction of said bushes if they are illegally cultivated.
Unlike his predecessors, President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist group and Colombia’s first leftist president ever, implemented lenient drug policies upon taking office in August 2022: Instead of cracking down on coca leaf production in Colombian territory, Petro has focused on targeting drug trafficking networks and drug lords that benefit from overseas sales.
Petro’s policies have resulted in a dramatic surge in cocaine production, which reached its highest recorded level in more than two decades in 2023 according to UN estimates. Reports published in July indicated that the increase in cocaine production in Colombia during Petro’s administration has resulted in large amounts of unsold coca paste “piling up” in the country due to the overwhelmingly higher supply of the ingredient.
Colombian government officials claimed last year that drug seizures have “increased significantly” during Petro’s first two years in office. The New York Times refuted the claims, asserting that the increase in drug seizures was because “so much more cocaine is being produced” in the country.
Petro has repeatedly defended the use of cocaine, a drug that, according to him, is “less harmful” than sugar. In February, during a controversial six-hour government meeting broadcast live on national television, Petro claimed that cocaine is “not worse than whiskey.” Petro asserted during the broadcast that cocaine is only illegal because “it’s produced in Latin America” and suggested that, if legalized, it could be “sold like wine.”
Sarabia claimed during her speech at the CND gathering that from August 7, 2022 — the day Petro took office — to January 31, 2025, Colombia seized “more than 1.9 million kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride, more than 215,000 kilograms of coca base and destroyed 454 clandestine laboratories.” The foreign minister also called for a “rethinking” of global drug policies and asserted that “reforming the global drug regime does not mean normalizing drug trafficking, but rather providing us with more effective tools to combat it.”
“We cannot continue repeating the mistakes of the past. For Colombia, refocusing this policy is a matter of life and peace,” Sarabia said.
Shortly after her participation at CND’s 68th session, Sarabia spoke to Colombia’s Blu Radio and asserted that her request to remove coca leaves from the U.N.’s list of harmful substances does not mean a legalization of cocaine.
“This does not mean the legalization of coca. It does not mean that we are going to bow down to drug trafficking. The coca leaf has scientific uses. We are not legalizing cocaine,” Sarabia said.
Miguel Tunjano, a retired colonel of Colombia’s Anti-Narcotics Police, criticized Sarabia’s request in remarks given to the local magazine Semana on Monday evening. Tunjano, an expert in illicit crops, condemned the request as “oxygen” for Colombian criminal structures spread across the country and explained that it would effectively allow them to have “all the coca in Colombia at their disposal” to buy and refine into cocaine.
“That basically is giving those organizations an opportunity to increase their finances,” Tunjano said.
Former Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno criticized Sarabia’s request in a Monday social media post, describing the request issued by the foreign minister as a “great favor to organized crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, and those who destroy tropical forests and pollute rivers.”
“Above all, a great favor to political corruption with a view to 2026,” Pinzón Bueno said. “The consolidation of a narco-state does terrible damage to the Colombian people, and to the prestige and credibility of Colombia abroad.”
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An eight-mile stretch of protected Amazon rainforest has been felled to make space for a new four-lane highway in time for the COP30 climate summit.
Drone footage and images have revealed thick dirt lanes cutting through the lush greenery as the Brazilian government prepare for the conference in November.
The road will be used to ease traffic in and out of the city of Belem, which will host a staggering 50,000 people - including world leaders.
Logs have already been spotted piled high on the sides of the cleared land and diggers have appeared paving over the wetland in the world's richest biological reservoir.
The state government of Pará had previously shelved plans for the highway, known as Avenida Liberdade, due to environmental concerns.
However, the project was revived along with other infrastructure plans ahead of COP30.
Adler Silveira, the state government's infrastructure secretary, described the highway as an 'important mobility intervention' and a 'sustainable highway,' but several locals and conservationists have hailed blasted the decision, highlighting the substantial environmental impact.
'We can have a legacy for the population and, more importantly, serve people for COP30 in the best possible way,' he said.
Continued on Page 47
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.
...every time you hear the phrase 
[NYPOST] NASA forked over more than $20 million in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) grants and contracts during the Biden administration, shelling out for ''implicit bias'' trainings, talks with so-called ''anti-racist'' authors, ''gender-affirming'' workplace guidelines and an aggressive, left-wing media presence.
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
[WCYB] Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett has proposed a bill allowing Americans to use a shotgun to shoot down drones above their property.
