Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers charged last week with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for actions in the summer of 2020
Berry and his colleagues were tasked with responding to the George Floyd protests, which descended into violence
Hours before the charges against the police were announced, Austin city leaders approved paying $10 million to two people injured by police in the protests
The injured including a college student who suffered brain damage [was he already damaged?]
after an officer shot him with a beanbag round - a tactic no longer authorized in Austin
Berry, who is running as a Republican for election to the House in Texas, with the primary to be held on March 1, said that the Travis County top prosecutor, Jose Garza - a member of the Democratic Socialists of America party backed by funds from George Soros - has a vendetta against police
The indictments were also strongly criticized by Austin's chief of police and the president of the policing union
[JustTheNews] Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is focus of lawsuit.
A lawsuit filed against Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson asserts she illegally accepted private money for the 2020 presidential election to swing the election for President Joe Biden.
The Chicago-based Thomas More Society filed the lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims, alleging Benson violated election law by spending private election funding on partisan purposes that denied Michigan voters’ constitutional equal access voting rights.
The Center Square previously reported Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan contributed $400 million nationwide into the 2020 election through their Chicago-based nonprofit, the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL).
The 166-page filing claims that nearly half of CTCL’s funds flowed to Democrat-dominated areas where Biden won. For example, the lawsuit says CTCL made 19 payments exceeding $100,000 all to jurisdictions that Biden carried in 2020.
The lawsuit cites an America Public Media report finding some cities spent little of the money on personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Michigan Legislature aimed to ban private funding of public elections via Senate Bill 303, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed in 2021.
Thomas More Society Special Counsel Thor Hearne said that Benson spent CTCL money to boost Democrat-dominated areas in the 2020 election via increased mail-in voting and ballot harvesting.
“The Michigan Constitution guarantees every eligible citizen the right of equal protection when it comes to voting, and that means state officials may not put in place an election scheme that enhances the weight of votes cast by one class of voters or increases one favored class of voters’ access to the ballot,” Hearne said in a statement. “That’s just what happened here. Analysis of data that the Center for Tech and Civic Life provided to the Internal Revenue Service and other public records demonstrates that this scheme was designed to favor urban areas in Michigan and to disadvantage Michigan voters in rural and suburban more politically conservative areas.”
Hearne said the lawsuit aims to set the rules for future elections, not past elections.
“This case is not about relitigating the 2020 election,” Hearne said. “It is about making sure that these unfair and illegal activities cannot happen in any future election in Michigan. As Michigan’s chief election official, Secretary Benson is responsible for ensuring that every eligible Michigan voter has an equal right and opportunity to cast a ballot.”
A CNN report says 11 Republican-led states have prohibited private money from funding public elections.
Thomas More Society attorneys are representing Wisconsin voters in a similar lawsuit.
“The only way Michigan residents can stop a high-tech billionaire from California from directing the conduct of Michigan’s 2022 election is for the Michigan voters and citizens to prevail in this case against Secretary of State Benson,” Thomas More Society President and Chief Counsel Tom Brejcha said in a statement.
[Breitbart] Sunday on New York WABC 770 AM radio’s "The Cats Roundtable," Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) argued that President Joe Biden and his administration intended to "push people out of" fuel-based vehicles with their energy policy.
Thune told host John Catsimatidis that Democrats want to be more "eco-friendly," so they have decided to push people toward electric vehicles.
"I think honestly, that’s part of the strategy," Thune outlined. "I think it’s to push people out of, you know, fuel-based vehicles. But you are absolutely going to crush the economy and a lot of middle-income families, many of whom are not going to be able to convert to [electric vehicles]."
"The requirements that we’re going to have to meet in this country for the foreseeable future are going to have to be met with fuel oil, which we have an abundance of in this country, but because of policies that are out of whack relative to what the real economy is dictating, [is] not being developed," he added. "It’s unfortunate and sad that the United States of America is going to hat-in-hand to countries in the Middle East like the Saudis asking them to produce more energy so that we can fuel our economy here in the United States when we can do it on our own."
#4
Organize the truckers to strike and cut off heating oil and gas deliveries to the deep-blue cities. Raise CA's cost of electricity that's provided by other states.
#5
Well. If there was ever a group poorly positioned to be pushed onto the front lines, it would be the truckers. They need so many chits and regulatory stamps of approval issued by the gummint that they are being asked by people with no skin in the game to commit sui@ide. You don't think the gummint will let lots of newly arriveds from Latin America and the ME take those jobs? Just watch. It's miraculous how the gummint can pull one guy's permits earned over a lifetime of honest work while waiving all the requirements for Mahound or Jose.
And if waivers of liability for vcaccines bug you, you are gonna love imported truck drivers who can't read signs in English or pass a pi$$ test getting carte blanche to cream motorists right and left.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2022 9:25 Comments ||
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#6
^ BLUF: The arugula and guac must flow. To the blue cities anyway...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2022 9:28 Comments ||
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#7
^5 The appropriate reaction of truckers might be to rigorously follow every i-dotting and t-crossing of the law. And then some. Observe all speed limits, and give yourself a 5 mph cushion. Etc. Especially on traffic to the most offensive urban enclaves. And not just long-haul truckers, but local and delivery as well. But the window of opportunity is not all that big - soon enough trucks will be driverless Google vehicles.
#8
Raise CA's cost of electricity that's provided by other states.
Ouch, man they have already done that. It hurts! Take it easy, OK?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/22/2022 13:19 Comments ||
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#9
soon enough trucks will be driverless Google vehicles.
Like so many other things, the 5-10 years it’ll take to translate that from idea to widespread reality is infinitely expanding from the ever-moving present point in time. Even if they get automatic cars to work, delivery and tractor-trailer trucks with their much larger loads having larger inertia and momentum — meaning considerably greater danger to other vehicles should they wobble even slightly out of their designated path or miss cues for unexpected behaviour by other vehicles — will make programming the things infinitely more complex while requiring much quicker response time.
As for the fuel-based vehicles thingy, that’ll just increase the two-decade pattern of the middle class moving from blue cities and states to red suburbs where they can work from home and drive short distances to work in nearby suburbs rather than in city centers. The higher cost of gasoline doesn’t matter as much when the driver only needs half or less as much to work and shop. Trailing daughter #2 has put 42,000 miles on her car, acquired new in 2013; her company policy will have her going in to the office only for meetings even after Covid ends, while her husband, an accountant, will continue working entirely from home — they’re talking about giving up his car completely, and Mr. Wife is talking about trailing daughter #1 and I giving up one of ours as unncessary.
Perhaps nowhere is the gap between America’s cognitive elite and its populace larger than in their preferred urban forms. For nearly a century—interrupted only by the Depression and the Second World War—Americans have been heading further from the urban core, seeking affordable and safe communities with good schools, parks, and a generally more tranquil lifestyle. We keep pushing out despite the contrary desires of planners, academic experts, and some real estate interests. In 1950, the core cities accounted for nearly 24 percent of the U.S. population; today, the share is under 15 percent, according to demographer Wendell Cox. Between 2010 and 2020, the suburbs and exurbs of the major metropolitan areas gained 2.0 million net domestic migrants, while the urban core counties lost 2.7 million.2
This is less a growth in “bedroom suburbs,” supplying workers to the urban core, but one that serves multiple employment centers and commercial development.3 The latest edition of Commuting in America estimates that almost 70 percent of metropolitan-area workers now live and work in the suburbs; trips within suburbs or suburb-to-suburb commutes constitute more than double the commutes with a central business district as the final destination.4...
The Pandemic Effects
The pandemic clearly hastened the shift to the periphery. Despite the disease’s relentless spread, the greatest concentrations of Covid fatalities have tended to be in dense urban areas. Much of this has to do not with population concentration per se but with the inevitable “exposure density” among those forced to take public transit, live in crowded apartments, and take elevators to work.22
These concerns are behind what Zillow calls “the great re-shuffling” toward suburbs, the Sunbelt, and smaller cities. Between 2019 and 2021, preference for larger homes in less dense areas grew from 53 percent to 60 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.23 During the pandemic year alone, construction in exurbs increased 20 percent, faster than other geographies. Both prices and the rate of building have risen the fastest in exurbia, with price increases twice the national average, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.24
Planned communities have done particularly well; the fifty largest exceeded expectations in the first half of 2021 and are experiencing growth of 20 to 40 percent annually. Robert Schottenstein, CEO of Columbus-based M/I Homes, Inc., a builder with fifteen projects in the Midwest, Southeast, and Texas, explains, “This is a flight to safety and security. The millennials are getting older, and they are transitioning as they start families.”25
#12
A couple years after I moved here, a small group got all hot n bothered about trying to establish an HOA type carbuncle. They were run off right quick.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2022 14:12 Comments ||
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#13
The graphic sez it all, and it's not as if the Dems have been silent on this.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/22/2022 14:13 Comments ||
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#14
They had big plans to wreck the suburbs, but various bright shiny things (BLM, CRT, COVID, Ukraine) caused them to take their eye off the ball. Now it's time to make them pay.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2022 14:15 Comments ||
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#15
Interesting TW. Me and the wife are looking for a house in Texas (from Washington State). Looking at some of those planned communities around Fort Worth. After having a noisy neighbour here those HOA's don't sound so bad... I'll be working semi-remote and attached to the company's Austin Office. Going in about once every 6 months or so.
Wife is asking 'Why not live in or around Austin?'.
#17
tw, just to expand on your #9 and #11, I am reminded of the old saying that nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it. The power grid, which I have some very basic knowledge of, is a good example. Politicians with no relevant experience legislate "green" power; which causes the folks who have actually been running power generating stations for 20 years (or managing the grid) to reach for the Wild Turkey. Optimist though I am, I fear that this summer will bring power outages on a scale that is going to to cause real suffering. Regards to lotp.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/22/2022 14:34 Comments ||
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[Just The News] Fencing will be reinstalled around the U.S. Capitol next week as a security precaution for President Biden's State of the Union address on March 1.
The Capitol grounds were previously fenced off and guarded with a major police and military presence for six months following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Similar security fencing is now being put back up as U.S. Capitol Police brace for a potential protest to come to Washington, D.C., similar to the ones that have made headlines in Canada, Fox News reported.
For more than three weeks, the so-called Freedom Convoy truckers have blocked roads in downtown Ottawa in protest of Canada's COVID-19 mandates. Canadian authorities began last week cracking down on the blockade by arresting some demonstrators and freezing their bank accounts.
Another blockade temporarily blocked the busy Ambassador Bridge border crossing between Windsor and Detroit before being resolved peacefully.
#1
Fencing around the Capitol should make for some nice photo opportunities. Great marketing for the midterm election! Just be sure to use a long lens to stay out of reach of the Capitol Police.
#2
Chain the gates shut from outside. Trebuchet africanized bee and murder hornet nests over the fence.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2022 11:09 Comments ||
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#3
Bidet's SOTUA is a good time to catch up on sleep and do something useful. Biden will try to claim victory over Covid and Putin. Dems are worried about 2022 Congressional elections. Why two Dems who are running are so desperate, they are even promising to cut taxes if they get to DC..
#4
^ Yeah and if you're not sleepy when it starts just watch for a few minutes and you will be.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/22/2022 13:20 Comments ||
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#5
Next up: a moat filled with sharks with frikkin' lazer beams attached to their heads.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/22/2022 14:15 Comments ||
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#6
Require a 4x the usual dose mRNA "booster" for admission to all buildings in the district, with an all-paid lifetime vacation in a tent just inside the wire at Gitmo for refusal. Watch how fast the gummint decides "the vaxx does not work and is being discontinued immediately."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/22/2022 14:20 Comments ||
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#7
Did they have fences around the Capitol during the anti-war demonstrations in DC in the 60s?
[Breitbart] Sunday on New York WABC 770 AM radio’s “The Cats Roundtable,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) argued that President Joe Biden and his administration intended to “push people out of” fuel-based vehicles with their energy policy.
Thune told host John Catsimatidis that Democrats want to be more “eco-friendly,” so they have decided to push people toward electric vehicles.
“I think honestly, that’s part of the strategy,” Thune outlined. “I think it’s to push people out of, you know, fuel-based vehicles. But you are absolutely going to crush the economy and a lot of middle-income families, many of whom are not going to be able to convert to [electric vehicles].”
“The requirements that we’re going to have to meet in this country for the foreseeable future are going to have to be met with fuel oil, which we have an abundance of in this country, but because of policies that are out of whack relative to what the real economy is dictating, [is] not being developed,” he added. “It’s unfortunate and sad that the United States of America is going to hat-in-hand to countries in the Middle East like the Saudis asking them to produce more energy so that we can fuel our economy here in the United States when we can do it on our own.”
Thune also slammed Biden’s decision to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline and instead “support” the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
“The notion that the United States of America would shut down an American pipeline and yet … support one that Putin is using to keep his economy going … the irony of that and the absolute hypocrisy of that you can’t even fathom,” he concluded.
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.
[JustTheNews] Democrat Secretary of State 
[Breitbart] Sunday on New York WABC 770 AM radio’s "The Cats Roundtable," Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) argued that President Joe Biden and his administration intended to "push people out of" fuel-based vehicles with their energy policy.
