[France24] Genaro Garcia Luna, the former security chief behind former Mexican President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug trafficking between 2006 and 2012, was sentenced to 38 years in a US prison on Wednesday for taking millions in bribes from drug cartels as their "partner in crime".
Mexico's former top security official Genaro Garcia Luna was sentenced to more than 38 years in a US prison on Wednesday for aiding the very drug cartels he was tasked with dismantling.
Garcia Luna, 56, was convicted at a high-profile trial in New York last year of taking millions of dollars in bribes to allow the Sinaloa Cartel to smuggle tons of cocaine.
District Judge Brian Cogan sentenced Garcia Luna, who served as secretary of public security under president Felipe Calderon from 2006 to 2012, to 460 months in prison and a $2 million fine at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence.
"Today's sentencing of Genaro Garcia Luna is a critical step in upholding justice and the rule of law," US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
"His betrayal of the public trust and the people he was sworn to protect resulted in more than one million kilograms of lethal narcotics imported into our communities and unleashed untold violence here and in Mexico," Peace said.
Garcia Luna's month-long trial shone a spotlight on the corruption of the highest-ranking Mexican government figure ever to face trial in the United States.
It also opened a window on the vast resources of the Sinaloa Cartel under Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is now serving a life sentence in a US penitentiary.
At his trial, prosecutors said Garcia Luna, who held high-ranking security positions in Mexico from 2001 until 2012, was the cartel's "partner in crime."
That included his time as the architect of Calderon's crackdown on Mexico's drug gangs between 2006 and 2012.
But instead of stopping the smuggling, Garcia Luna took millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel to allow safe passage of narcotics shipments.
According to prosecutors, he tipped off drug traffickers about law enforcement operations, targeted rival cartel members for arrest and placed other corrupt officials in positions of power.
Garcia Luna served as chief of the Mexican equivalent of the FBI from 2001 until 2006, when he was elevated to secretary of public security, essentially running the federal police force and most counter-drug operations.
Calderon said after the sentencing that he never had "verifiable evidence" or information from Mexican or foreign intelligence agencies implicating Garcia Luna in illegal activities.
"I am in favor of those who break the law assuming the consequences of their actions," the ex-president wrote on social media.
'SUPERCOP'
Nine of the 26 witnesses who testified against Garcia Luna, once known as "supercop," were accused drug traffickers extradited from Mexico and collaborating with US prosecutors in exchange for possible leniency in their own trials.
They included high-level cartel bosses Jesus "Rey" Zambada, Sergio Villarreal Barragan and Oscar "Lobo" Valencia.
They claimed to have paid millions of dollars to Garcia Luna collectively, and through Arturo Beltran Leyva, who ran his own drug cartel and served as a go-between with Garcia Luna in exchange for protection.
Garcia Luna, a mechanical engineer by trade, moved to the United States in 2012 and was detained in Texas in December 2019.
He was convicted of multiple charges including engaging in a criminal enterprise that involved conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine.
US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said Garcia Luna's sentencing "sends a clear message to corrupt leaders around the world who use their positions of power to help the cartels: no amount of power will shield you from justice."
The world's biggest narcotics organization at one time, the Sinaloa Cartel moved multi-ton loads of cocaine each month from producing countries in the Andean region up through Mexico and on to streets in Europe and North America.
[YouTube] A satirical book titled The Achievements of Kamala Harris has gone viral, with all 191 pages completely blank. Authored by Jason Dudash and illustrated by Michael Boles, the Amazon bestseller has sparked widespread reactions. A viral video from Walmart shows a reader flipping through the empty pages, and the book's cover features Vice President Kamala Harris in her iconic style. Shared on X with the caption, “Walmart is now selling a new book titled The Achievements of Kamala Harris—and all the pages are blank. This is INCREDIBLE,” the video has taken the internet by storm.
Posted by: 3dc ||
10/17/2024 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[10327 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
[FoxNews] Residents of a rural Indiana city are begging for help from the government as many insist a mass influx of migrants has overwhelmed the community.
"We need some help here. We need some federal help. We need transparency between our local officials, and we need some more information and communication," warned Dave Price, a resident of Logansport, approximately 78 miles north of Indianapolis.
Appearing Wednesday on "FOX & Friends," Price relayed the on-the-ground struggle residents face as more immigrants come into the area.
"Logansport is just not used to [this]. We had immigrants come in throughout the years to Logansport from the Mexico area, so we have a lot of Hispanics in the area which have acclimated very well, and they've grown their businesses, and they've earned the respect of Americans, and we've respected them in return," he said.
"But what we're seeing now is a little different. It's coming from a Third World country coming into Logansport, and these individuals don't necessarily know the local laws or rules and how to behave here, basically, and we just ask that our local leaders, state and federal, take a look at Logansport, Indiana."
While it is unknown exactly how many migrants have come into the area over the last three years, one area resident estimated the number could surpass 2,000, local outlet FOX 59 reported.
The situation was described as "unsustainable."
"Migrant spiritual leaders told city leaders that 5,000 Haitian immigrants have recently moved to the city, but the mayor said he has no way of verifying that number," the outlet wrote in a report published last week, adding that finding out an accurate number is important since Logansport's "budgets, money and services" are planned on the basis of its 18,000 census population.
The report also indicated that even the mayor, Chris Martin, has been left in the dark about the number of migrants in Logansport. However, he has noted a "20% to 30% increase" in traffic and school and hospital populations.
He has even considered declaring a state of emergency, FOX 59 reported.
It's believed that many migrants arrived to work at a local Tyson Foods plant.
When contacted by the local outlet via phone and email, the plant did not respond to questions.
The crisis has reportedly fueled several key problems, including a strain on local services like schools, housing and health facilities, though Logansport Memorial Hospital says there are additional reasons for skyrocketing birth rates.
"Logansport Memorial has seen an increase in births this year but partially due to area hospitals closing their OB departments. Dukes, a CHS hospital, in Peru closed in June of 2024. Parkview Wabash closed in 2023. Pulaski County closed in January of 2022. And Carroll County does not have a hospital. IU White County has not delivered babies for several years. LMH is on track to have 566 births, approximately 12% of those are newcomers. Medicaid has not increased their rates in 30 years. This has put a significant burden on OB care in the state of Indiana," the hospital said in a statement.
[NYPOST] Media heiress Shari Redstone, the controlling stakeholder in CBS News parent Paramount Global, reportedly fumed to network executives over its left-leaning lurch in its coverage of Israel and lobbied for them to hire more conservative voices.
Redstone sent clips from other outlets to CBS higher-ups as examples of what she felt was more balanced coverage of Israel's battle against Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... terrorists, according to current and former network executives cited by Wall Street Journal.
She was particularly upset with a ''Face the Nation'' broadcast last spring in which the show was critical of Israel after seven aid workers were killed during a strike on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , the Journal reported.
Her reported fury comes after she called out CBS News President Wendy McMahon last week over her sanctioned dressing down of morning show anchor Tony Dokoupil for grilling author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his strong criticism of Israel in his latest book.
Redstone — the 70-year-old daughter of late media mogul Sumner Redstone — called Dokoupil to praise him for the tough interview and had dinner with the anchor earlier this week, the Journal reported.
The Post has sought comment from Paramount and CBS.
Aside from the Dokoupil dust-up, the Tiffany Network has been embroiled in multiple firestorms that have raised questions about the journalistic integrity at the former home of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.
Last week, the network came under fire for allegedly editing a ''60 Minutes'' interview with Vice President Kamala Harris It is time for us to do what we have been doing. And that time is every day that whittled down a ''word salad'' answer to supposedly make it more coherent.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson ripped CBS News for trimming down his Sunday interview on ''Face the Nation,'' charging it was part of a pattern of undermining conservatives.
Republicans were also upset with CBS moderators who sparred with Republican Sen. JD Vance during the vice presidential debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ...Kamala's smarmy-looking running mate, governor of Minnesota, who decided to retired rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness.... earlier this month.
CBS News also recently instructed its staffers not to refer to Jerusalem as being part of Israel, according to a report in The Free Press.
Redstone — who sold her controlling stake in Paramount to Skydance Media in a deal that is expected to close next year — had reportedly pushed for more conservative voices on the network to balance what she felt was a liberal tilt.
#2
She was right if she felt CBS has a liberal bias. It's more like all the folks at CBS hate America. The question is: Why didn't Redstone do anything about it?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/17/2024 14:37 Comments ||
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When the FBI originally released the "final" crime data for 2022 in September 2023, it reported that the nation’s violent mostly peaceful crime rate fell by 2.1%. This quickly became, and remains, a Democratic Party talking point to counter Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s claims of soaring crime.
But the FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent mostly peaceful crime increased in 2022 by 4.5%. The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults.
The Bureau — which has been at the center of partisan storms — made no mention of these revisions in its September 2024 blurb.
RCI discovered the change through a cryptic reference on the FBI website that states: "The 2022 violent mostly peaceful crime rate has been updated for inclusion in CIUS, 2023." But there is no mention that the numbers increased. One only sees the change by downloading the FBI’s new crime data and comparing it to the file released last year.
After the FBI released its new crime data in September, a USA Today headline read: "Violent crime dropped for third straight year in 2023, including murder and rape."
It’s been over three weeks since the FBI released the revised data. The Bureau’s lack of acknowledgment or explanation about the significant change concerns researchers.
"I have checked the data on total violent mostly peaceful crime from 2004 to 2022," Carl Moody, a professor at the College of William & Mary who specializes in studying crime, told RealClearInvestigations. "There were no revisions from 2004 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, there were small changes of less than one percentage point. The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data."
[X]
BREAKING: The FBI just quietly updated their crime data for 2022. Turns out it was missing thousands of crimes!
The updated data shows there were 80,029 more violent crimes than in 2021. There were an additional 1,699 m*rders, 7,780 r*pes, 33,459 robberies, and 37,091 aggravated… pic.twitter.com/oEAgDsf1Lc
#2
So, the FBI has now admitted that they just make up the stuff in their press releases.
Informative. Not unexpected, though.
Let's get to the part where they admit that their 'expert witnesses' lie on the stand.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/17/2024 8:56 Comments ||
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#3
I assume the revised numbers still don’t include stats from those cities that haven’t bothered to submit their data.
[FoxNews] Illegal aliens now have an on-ramp to Medicaid – as many as 22 million of them.
This budding crisis is a major danger to our health care system and American taxpayers. It’s the direct result of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration and welfare policies and will surely worsen if Kamala Harris wins in November.
The Biden-Harris White House is shattering a system that was already cracking. My organization recently submitted state freedom of information requests on the number of Medicaid applicants who can’t prove their citizenship status yet receive coverage anyway.
When people apply, states typically check their citizenship status with the federal sources, but if the data doesn’t match, states give applicants a 90-day grace window, known as a "reasonable opportunity period" to collect documentation.
This system wasn’t prepared for the Biden-Harris administration’s dangerous combination of lax border enforcement, welfare expansion and lack of concern for welfare program integrity. Only nine states meaningfully responded to our request, including Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin. Some states, like Pennsylvania and Michigan, claimed they had no records at all, while others, like California, demanded exorbitant fees to access the records.
Regardless, the nine responsive states showed that between 2019 and 2023, the number of illegal aliens on Medicaid grew by 500%. The expense to taxpayers has also soared. In the five states that provided financial information, taxpayers forked over nearly 550% more to cover illegal aliens. Across all 50 states, it’s likely that at least 100,000 ineligible aliens are on Medicaid, potentially costing at least a billion dollars a year.
These numbers are rising quickly because more illegal aliens are applying for welfare, a direct response to Biden-Harris border and welfare policies. States are also routinely extending the reasonable opportunity periods beyond 90 days.
Across all people receiving grace coverage on the taxpayer’s dime, the number of people who stayed on Medicaid after three months soared by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2023.
In Kentucky, under Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, the number of individuals receiving Medicaid coverage while the state unsuccessfully tried to verify their citizenship grew from zero in 2019 to nearly 2,400 in 2024. Arizona’s situation has also worsened under Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
But the Biden-Harris administration has ensured that the worst is yet to come. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new federal regulation, effective as of June, that prohibits states from limiting extensions to reasonable opportunity periods.
Once the 90 days end, the state is no longer empowered to stop them from getting another grace period. In other words, illegal aliens who apply for Medicaid can be put on the program for never-ending 90-day windows as long as they claim they are making an "effort" to prove their citizenship.
While there’s no hard data yet on how many are taking advantage of the Biden-Harris loophole, the incentives are clear and the deluge inevitable. California already extends Medicaid coverage to illegal aliens at an annual cost of about $4 billion.
[FoxNews] A bipartisan panel condemned the Secret Service handling of former President Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Thursday, saying the agency needs "fundamental" changes to be effective.
The panel, made up of former senior law enforcement and government officials, warned that if there are not extensive reforms at the Secret Service, then "another Butler can and will happen again."
Butler, Pennsylvania, was the site of the first assassination attempt against Trump this year. The Secret Service faced heavy criticism for negligence and sluggish reaction speed.
"The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission," the panel wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again."
The panel's review highlighted key issues both within the Secret Service and specifically regarding the July 13 assassination attempt. The agency had poor communications both internally and with local law enforcement, the panel said. Agents on the ground also had no plan to secure key buildings around the rally venue.
"The failure to secure a complex of buildings, portions of which were within approximately 130 yards of the protectee and containing numerous positions carrying high-angle line of sight risk, represents a critical security failure," the report said.
"Relying on a general understanding that ‘the locals have that area covered’ is simply not good enough and, in fact, at Butler this attitude contributed to the security failure," it continued.
The panel also noted a breakdown in communications. There were two command posts at the Butler rally, one for local law enforcement and another for the Secret Service.
Secret Service agents also had to switch radio channels due to an event for First Lady Jill Biden in Pittsburgh. The first lady's Secret Service team's communications could be heard at the Butler rally at the time.
The panel ultimately recommended that the Secret Service bring in outside leadership, as well as de-emphasize its role in investigating financial crimes.
"In the Panel’s opinion, it is simply unacceptable for the Service to have anything less than a paramount focus on its protective mission, particularly while that protective mission function is presently suboptimal," the report said.
The panel members were Mark Filip, deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush; David Mitchell, who served in numerous state and local law enforcement roles in Maryland and Delaware; Janet Napolitano, homeland security secretary under President Barack Obama; and Frances Fragos Townsend, Bush's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.
"The National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) was established as a component of the Secret Service in 1998 to provide research and guidance in direct support of the Secret Service protective mission, and to others with public safety responsibilities."
#3
The Secret Service and other protection services have coasted for years on mystique and reputation. The fact is, anybody with resources and a willingness to make a loud noise will get their target. It's only the desire to get away that stops anyone.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/17/2024 14:55 Comments ||
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[Washington Examiner] A judge in Georgia has invalidated several new election rules, including requirements for a "reasonable inquiry" before elections are certified, hand-counting ballots on election night, and more access for partisan poll watchers.
On Wednesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox Jr. declared the rules "illegal, unconstitutional and void" after they were passed by the State Election Board’s Republican majority.
Cox, responding to a lawsuit filed against the board, said that the politically appointed officials overstepped their authority in setting election procedures when elected representatives have the power to do so. Two Republicans, former state Rep. Scot Turner and Chatham County election board member James Hall, filed the lawsuit.
"The Georgia Constitution provides that only the General Assembly may provide for a law for a procedure whereby returns of all elections by the people are made to the Secretary of State," Cox wrote in his 11-page order. "The Election Code accomplishes this and the SEB has no authority to legislate otherwise."
An attorney representing the Republicans opposing the rules matched the judge’s observation.
"Three members of the State Election Board, kind of like Napoleon, they put a crown on their head and said, ’We are the emperors of elections.’ That is not the way our system of government works," Chris Anulewicz said. "The State Election Board cannot play in this space, and yet they did it anyway."
An attorney for the Georgia Republican Party disagreed, arguing the State Election Board’s members could legally pass statewide rules to help secure elections.
"The majority of this election board has identified that having this reconciliation process is important. That was a priority," Brad Carver, an attorney for the Georgia Republican Party, said. "The General Assembly can’t foresee every particular circumstance in a changing environment. That’s why we have executive branch agencies in the first place. They’re the subject matter experts."
The aim of the lawsuit was to protect voting rights and to preserve the separation of powers, Turner said.
[REDSTATE] The property management firm managing several buildings in Aurora, Colorado, that have been taken over by members of the Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... n Tren de Aragua gang, is speaking out. The company has taken to X to provide a full description of how the buildings were invaded and taken over by the illegal alien gangsters, how the tenants fled, how people were threatened and assaulted, and how the local government reacted. It all starts here.
The thread starts with a powerful affirmation of what we already knew, and what some in government and the legacy media have tried to downplay: Gangs have taken control of entire apartment buildings. The company took over these buildings in 2019 and immediately started renovations to the run-down properties.
So far, so good, right? This is what a responsible property management firm does. If a new property needs renovations, they are done; this raises the value of the property, attracts a better sort of tenant, and provides a more pleasant place to live. But that's not what happened in this case; not after undocumented Democrat gang members started to focus their efforts on the property, and in time, to take over altogether.
Look at those images. This wasn't just an attack, this was a brutal beating, delivered by gang members who had taken over a property illegally.
But it didn't stop there.
This raises the question of how they got this representative's phone number. If it was a company phone, his number may have been available on the management company's website. If it was a private number, that's another thing entirely. But in either case, this is the use of a telecom system to directly threaten a person, which makes the whole thing now a federal issue.
Next, it came to light, as we have already documented, that tenants and squatters were indeed paying rent - to the gang.
So the property management company, with faith in the local government that turned out to be in vain, started complaining. Local authorities picked up a few gang members, but the overall problems remains.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2024 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#2
Now it's San Antonio. Seems the Dems found a weak link.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/17/2024 10:02 Comments ||
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#3
It was San Antonio, apparently the Texas law enforcement figured out who and where, then had a massive raid with hundreds of cops and hauled them off. I'm guessing Abbott told them "They crop up here, you stomp them."
[TOWNHALL] Fulton County DA Fani Willis is reportedly requesting that the Georgia Court of Appeals reinstate six criminal charges against former President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... and his allies in the sprawling 2020 election interference case after a judge had dismissed the slew of felony counts.
In a brief filed Tuesday, the Democrat district attorney's office asked the appellate court to overturn Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee's dismissal decision issued in March, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. McAfee, who's presiding over the criminal proceedings, previously ruled that the state was not specific enough in the charging documents for the Trump co-defendants to be able to adequately defend themselves.
Willis is arguing that the indictment "more than sufficiently placed [Trump and his co-defendants] on notice of the conduct at issue and allowed them to prepare an intelligent defense to the charges," adding that it "included an abundance of context and factual allegations about the solicitations at issue, including when the requests were made, to whom the requests were made and the manner in which the requests were made."
"The brief filed by DA Fani Willis is simply incorrect on the law," Trump's lead defense attorney, Steve Sadow, said in a statement shared with Townhall. "The trial court's dismissal order properly decided that the State failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law."
The six counts in question accuse the Trump party of felony solicitation:
The charges dismissed from the indictment include counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38. They relate to alleged efforts by Trump and others to solicit violations of oaths of office from state officials like Brad Raffensperger and former GA House Speaker David Ralston. pic.twitter.com/IdU4cO3Aex
The grand jury indictment originally contained 41 felony counts. There are now 32 counts remaining, including eight against Trump, which is down from the 13 initially filed. This includes the two counts tossed out last month; it was determined that Willis did not have the authority to bring those charges, which related to the alleged filing of false documents in federal court.
The Trump case has been in a state of limbo since the summer when the appeals court agreed to consider whether Willis should be kicked off the case. Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard on that matter in December, a month after the presidential election, by a panel of GOP-appointed judges. Willis initially tried to take Trump to trial before Election Day.
[X] The most corrupt judge in Georgia just ruled to BLOCK the hand counting of ballots on election night to ensure the machine counts are accurate, saying he doesn't want a repeat of January 6th
Note his PHOTO is at the X link
"Finally, the public interest is not disserved by pressing pause here. This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public." - Traitorous Crook Robert McBurney.
The crook judge also said he's preventing the perfectly legal rule from being implemented because it would take time and resources to train election workers. WHAT THE HECK DO GEORGIANS PAY TAXES FOR THEN?
This is the same judge who also ruled to force election officials across Georgia to certify 2024 election results even if fraud exists. In all my previous posts, I expected McBurney to continue his corruption, but I had no idea he would be citing January 6th in a freakin court ruling. My blood is actually boiling.
We need an immediate appeal of this ridiculous garbage ruling and then, hopefully, a total reversal of this disgusting ruling. I also hope the cowards in the Georgia legislature can find some balls and impeach this fraud already.
#3
I work the polls in Ohio. My training is already completed. If an Ohio judge changed the process at this point, it would be pretty chaotic at the election board level as voting has already begun.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/17/2024 12:53 Comments ||
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[ToSD] SpaceX has sued a California commission in federal court, accusing panel members of political bias for blocking the company from increasing the number of rockets it launches from an air base in the state.
The space venture company, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, sued the California Coastal Commission on Tuesday in Los Angeles. It is seeking an order that would bar the agency from regulating the company’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket launch program at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara.
One commissioner on the twelve-member coastal panel had said that Musk, who has increasingly injected far-right conspiracy theories into the U.S. presidential race, of "spewing and tweeting political falsehoods."
Musk, whose politics have taken a sharp right turn, has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and become a mega donor, campaigning for the former president and saying he would accept a role in Trump’s administration if he wins.
The lawsuit claims that the commission, which oversees the use of land and water within the state’s more than a thousand miles of coastline, unfairly asserted regulatory powers over the company’s launches based on a disapproval of Musk’s political views.
Musk’s lawsuit called any consideration of his public statements improper, violating speech rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The agency, at its Oct. 10 meeting, had said commercial space launches are not federal government activity and must submit to the commission’s coastal development permitting authority.
The commission, SpaceX, and its lawyers at the law firm Venable did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday morning.
The lawsuit also accused the commission of "unconstitutional overreach," intruding on the national security of the United States and other federal interests, and said launches at the base have had "no significant effects on coastal resources."
"Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO," it said.
SpaceX has launched Falcon 9 rockets from the central California air base since 2013. The Air Force has proposed increasing the number of SpaceX launches from 36 to 50
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The contentious high-drama interview between Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Vice President Kamala Harris drew immediate attention and reactions online after it aired on Wednesday night.
Baier tried to press Harris on a number of key issues but the vice president protested that he needed to let her finish her answers to the questions.
Meanwhile she tore into Donald Trump for being totally 'unfit to serve' as president for a second term because he's 'dangerous.'
It was a contentious 30 minutes as the current VP worked to distance herself from Biden, saying her presidency would not 'be a continuation' while defending the administration's policies.
The first testy moment started after a brawl over the Biden-Harris administration immigration policies.
Kamala Harris just ran into a Bret Baier buzzsaw when asked about the number of illegal aliens in the country,' wrote conservative communicator Steve Guest as the interview aired.
Baier's interview style drew praise from former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly.
'Bret is crushing this and she is incapable of defending her deadly border policies,' she wrote.
Meanwhile, supporters of Harris accused Fox News of conducting an 'ambush' interview and argued that she did well.
'Kamala Harris (strong) handled an ambush Fox interview light years better than the hash Donald Trump (unstable) made of the Fox pep rally disguised as a town hall,' Harris campaign advisor David Plouffe wrote on X.com.
Baier said on Fox News after the interview that Harris and her team arrived late to the interview and cut it short of what they agreed to.
'We were supposed to start at 5:00 p.m. ... originally we were going to do 25 or 30 minutes, it came in and said well maybe 20. So, already getting whittled down, then the vice president showed up about 5:15 p.m.' Baier said.
#6
Baier gave her the same treatment Trump and Vance had been getting. Thought he did fine. Unfortunately for Harris, Baier's a bit more passive demeanor was a high contrast to Harris' aggressive defense. Bet that's how she treats her staff.
If this was the desired outcome, if the plan was to 'go into the lion's den and be Trumpian', that was not a great plan.
That's like having me pinch hit in the 9th with the game on the line, and thinking I can convince the pitcher I'm a deep ball threat by sticking a bunch of gum in my mouth and doing some bat dance.
#9
Ugh. Into the Lion's Den is exactly how they are trying to frame it. So stunning! So Brave!
So predictably stupid. Mark Steyn or Tucker Carlson, sure, but Team Harris throwing in the towel with Brett Baier? All he did was hold to the question, as uncomfortable as that was, it wasn't aggressive and witty cross-examination or, as in the 3v1 Trump Harris debate, constant hen pecking and right out lying.
[REDSTATE] A recent report chronicles the struggles of a handful of federal employees as they learn to cope with the reality that Donald Trump just might win the election.
It is unintentionally one of the funniest things you're going to read this election cycle.
POLITICO covered the group heralding from various government agencies as they came to terms with the fact that their jobs might be on the line if Trump defeats Kamala Harris. They suggest a new administration would be "vindictive" and eliminate their jobs. As such, they prep for the inevitability.
A large portion of these federal workers are fleeing the EPA, transferring to departments that won't be as target-rich for a Trump administration eager to eliminate waste and over-spending.
But the outlet also gets down into the weeds, noting one couple who is being forced to put off buying a new car and making home renovations because they're worried about their jobs.
Now look, I'm not one to relish in anybody's misery. But the POLITICO piece has all the vibes of this group ...
I have friends who are federal workers. They would acknowledge the bloat in various government agencies. It's nothing personal. But man, this article is glorious. It needs to be injected directly into my veins.
It's practically an ad in the making for the Trump campaign.
''We have stopped doing any money-spending things because what if we're without jobs in the next year?'' one Interior employee tells POLITICO. ''We need all the savings we can get.''
Gosh, that really resonates with the average American who has had to 'stop doing money-spending things' for four years, just so they could afford gas to drive to their two jobs and then pick up a scaled-down list of groceries that their family has to ration on the way home.
That couple, by the way, no longer feels confident in buying a new car or making home repairs. Sad. How many of you have put that off during this administration's evisceration of the American worker's paycheck?
''We're both feeling the heaviness of this right now," they state.
Words are peppered throughout the column that capture the mood of those who suddenly feel like their livelihoods might be on the chopping block.
Panic. Distraught. Fear. Doom and gloom ... literally.
''They're so vindictive, I can see them going back through E&E News articles and saying, 'You're fired,''' one employee worries.
Seems a handful of federal employees can now relate to those who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Who were threatened with being - or actually were - fired if they didn't submit to the needle.
To quote Officer John McClane from "Die Hard" - Welcome to the party, pal.
Through it all, though, one can rest assured that the sacrifice these federal employees might have to make pales in comparison to the overall picture. You guessed it - the threat to democracy.
''People are worried, but anybody who has half a brain is existentially afraid for the safety of democracy,'' an employee at the National Science Foundation says.
Oh, the self-imagined heroism. Funny you should mention half a brain.
Perhaps the fear isn't so much that Trump will be vindictive but rather, that he will hold federal employees accountable. Does anybody at the EPA or the Interior or State Departments remember what that word means?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10328 views]
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#1
Learn to code.
Ha ha!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/17/2024 0:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
But the outlet also gets down into the weeds, noting one couple who is being forced to put off buying a new car and making home renovations because they're worried about their jobs.
Everyone not government employed the last 4 years. Hell, the last 20 years except for 4.
Maybe we could replace all those EPA employees with Haitians. Bet they could get all that forest underbrush gathered up for cooking firewood.
#5
One thing nobody is talking about is the enormous boost to the economy when Trump reroutes all those hyper-efficient federal employees to the private sector. "Stand aside, boys, lemme show you how we did things at the Department of Education!"
Posted by: Matt ||
10/17/2024 16:31 Comments ||
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#6
Latter Snark O' The Day
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2024 18:27 Comments ||
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#7
Someone asked "who will pick the produce if we deport all the illegals?"
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.
...Kamala's smarmy-looking running mate, governor of Minnesota, who decided to retired rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
"Finally, the public interest is not disserved by pressing pause here. This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public." - Traitorous Crook 
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The contentious high-drama interview between Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Vice President Kamala Harris drew immediate attention and reactions online after it aired on Wednesday night. 
