HEADLINES: 2024

[Shiftless2]

Fox obtains fact sheet from GOP-led House committee debunking Trump’s FEMA claims​

Story by Elizabeth Preza

Fox News “obtained a fact sheet assembled by the majority side of the House Appropriations Committee” that debunked several false claims made by Donald Trump and his supporters, Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram reported Tuesday.

Trump continues to capitalize on a double-whammy of catastrophic hurricanes pummeling the southeastern United States. Last month, Hurricane Helene — a massive Category 4 hurricane — slammed into Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, killing at least 230 people. Now, Hurricane Milton — which was upgraded Wednesday back to a Category 5 hurricane — threatens Florida’s Gulf Coast in areas already devastated by Hurricane Helene.


As the federal government mobilizes to respond to the storms, Trump has taken to the campaign trail to claim the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) doesn’t have enough money to assist in rescue and recovery operations because the Biden Administration has “[stolen] FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants.”

According to Pergram’s account of the fact sheet, the GOP-led House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), is debunking those false Trump claims.

The “fact sheet” obtained by Fox, Pergram reports, “says that ....

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[sear]

Fox ... debunking Trump #281​

On rare occasion Trump has shown he can read a teleprompter, stick to a script. BUT !
Not for long.
Trump seems addicted to addressing crowds in superlatives extemporaneously, and seems indifferent to whether what he [Trump] says is true, or not.

Wouldn't surprise me if Trump has to quit cold turkey, as for example by losing the election, or perhaps being sent to prison, the withdrawal would be as agonizing for him as breaking a heroin habit cold turkey is.
That may seem a crude, primitive, malicious insult. I sincerely believe it to be true. I've been watching Trump for a decade. I believe he's compulsive, and doesn't mind making commitments he won't keep.

"I will build a great, great wall on our Southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall, mark my words." Republican primary presidential candidate Donald J. Trump 15/06/16 www.DonaldJTrump.com

 

[Shiftless2]

Prosecutors Find Way Around Supreme Court's Jan. 6 Ruling​

Story by Jenna Sundel

A January 6 rioter who pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding will still face time in prison after prosecutors found a way to work around a recent Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the scope of the charge.

Jon Ryan Schaffer is scheduled to be sentenced on October 25, when he is expected to admit to a new paragraph written by prosecutors.


"The defendant's efforts to stop, impede and delay the certification proceeding targeted—and were intended to target—all aspects of the proceeding, including impairing the availability or integrity of the records, documents, objects and other things used in the proceeding. This includes, but is not limited to, the ballot certificates at issue in the proceeding," according to a document filed on Thursday.

Schaffer, a founding lifetime member of the Oath Keepers, was photographed among the group of people who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021. The group interrupted a ....

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[Shiftless2]

‘Stormed the Capitol’: Trump supporter who bragged he’d be cleared of Jan. 6 charges and would be paid ‘a huge premium’ gets 2 years in prison​

By Jason Kandel

A supporter of former President Donald Trump from Montana, who bragged that not only would he be cleared of charges for entering the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6 riots but would be paid “a huge premium” for it, will spend two years in prison.

Henry Phillip “Hank” Muntzer, 55, learned his fate on Thursday after he was found guilty in February of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, trespassing, disorderly conduct and picketing in the Capitol and was ordered to pay $2,000 restitution. The charge of obstructing an official proceeding was dismissed before sentencing because a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June made it more difficult to prosecute that charge, The Associated Press reported.


As Law&Crime reported in February, the defendant was a part of the “Stop the Steal” rally when rioters disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress counting the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election.

Muntzer entered the Capitol that afternoon — at one point, recording a video of himself commenting that he had passed “through all the tear gas” to “tak[e] the Capitol by storm,” officials said.

Inside, Muntzer was involved in ....

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[sear]

#283

Good.

#284

Why is Trump on the ballot ?!
Why are so many U.S. voters supporting Trump, convicted felon, compulsive liar, insurrectionist?

"The attack on our capitol was not a spontaneous riot. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack." Vice-Chair Ms. Cheney on televised public hearing

 

[Shiftless2]

Tobacco giants would pay out $32.5B to provinces, smokers in 'historic' proposed deal​

Proposal calls for compensation for smokers as well as governments​

Three tobacco giants face the prospect of paying close to $25 billion to provinces and territories and more than $4 billion to tens of thousands of Quebec smokers and their loved ones as part of a corporate restructuring process triggered by a long-running legal battle.

A proposed plan of arrangement was filed in an Ontario court Thursday after the companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — spent more than five years in negotiations with their creditors.

The companies sought creditor protection in Ontario in early 2019 after they lost an appeal in a landmark court battle in Quebec.

The Ontario court put all legal proceedings against the companies on hold as ....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tobacco-giants-would-pay-out-32-5b-to-provinces-smokers-in-historic-proposed-deal-1.7355704

 

[sear]

Product liability litigation has obvious appeal.
But I suspect it's a slippery slope, in an already litigious society.

The perhaps as yet unrecognized pit-fall, the uniformed thugs that beat Rodney King senseless were ruled not guilty, resulting in an L.A. riot that totaled an estimated $Billion $Dollars damage.
What % of 2nd tier "legal battle" cases would conclude justly?

 

[Shiftless2]

Litigation against tobacco companies has been ongoing for decades. But, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first settlement of this kind (that's assuming it actually happens).

For the record, it's not only tobacco companies that have been sued over the harmful effects of tobacco.

 

[sear]

I realize testimony at open congressional hearing (legislative) is not "litigation" (judicial). I recount the following as an historic event. "I believe the Earth is flat"?

"Litigation against tobacco companies has been ongoing for decades. But ..." #288

Barely seems worth mention, in context of several Republican SCOTUS appointees swearing under oath Roe is settled law, before overturning it.
I thought perjury was a crime. Apparently it's rather more a hobby.

"For the record, it's not only tobacco companies that have been sued over the harmful effects of tobacco." #288

Airlines?
Restaurants?

#288

It's impolite, inappropriate to utter #288 in mixed company, because it's,
because it's,
because it's
two gross !

There are jokes about numbers and
I know both of them.

 

[sear]

US election​

Trump says China respects him because Xi knows he is 'crazy'​

Speaking to a newspaper editorial board, Trump said he would impose tariffs on China if it sought to blockade Taiwan.
https://www.bbc.com/

Trump would impose tariffs on China if it sought to blockade Taiwan AND !

Trump would impose tariffs on China if it did NOT seek to blockade Taiwan.

I'm w/ Xi on this one.

 

[Shiftless2]

Shades of 1960 (and not in a good way)

Tennessee governor signs bill allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages​

by Lauren Sforza
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill Wednesday allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

State lawmakers approved Tennessee House Bill 878 last week. The legislation states people “shall not be required to solemnize a marriage” if they refuse to doing so based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.” According to the Tennessee Legislature website, the governor signed the bill Wednesday.

Lee has not publicly commented on the bill yet, per his social media and his office’s website.

The bill does not allow officials to deny marriage licenses to couples based on their beliefs but prevents officials from being required to solemnize a marriage. The State House first passed the bill in March 2023, but the State’s General Assembly booted it to 2024 for consideration.

Lee was thrown into the spotlight last year after signing a bill that became the first-in-the-nation restriction on drag performances, and banned gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. A federal judge later ruled that the restrictions on drag shows were unconstitutional.

The legislation has faced criticism from LGBTQ advocacy organizations. Molly Whitehorn, associate director of regional campaigns for the Human Rights Campaign, said last week the bill was “intended to exclude LGBTQ+ folks from equal protection under the law.”

Tennessee Republicans argued that the bill was not meant to discriminate against same-sex couples or prevent them from getting married. State Sen. Mark Pody (R), the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate, said on the Senate floor last week that the bill has “nothing to do with ...

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This bill actually goes farther than same sex marriages - it applies to interracial marriages as well. And I'm sure that hardcore "Christians" will find a way to apply it to other things - Christians marrying non-Christians etc.

 

[sear]

- ugh -
Not sure what to make of this one S2. I suspect supporting insiders on the Tennessee initiative know about the Loving v. Virginia precedent.
In that case, this may merely be a short term crowd pleaser, knowing it may be stricken down at court.

Shades of 1960 (and not in a good way)

Tennessee governor signs bill allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages​

This bill actually goes farther than same sex marriages - it applies to interracial marriages as well. And I'm sure that hardcore "Christians" will find a way to apply it to other things - Christians marrying non-Christians etc. #291

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)​

Argued: April 10, 1967
Decided: June 12, 1967
Primary Holding:
A unanimous Court struck down state laws banning marriage between individuals of different races, holding that these anti-miscegenation statutes violated both the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)

Loving v. Virginia: A unanimous Court struck down state laws banning marriage between individuals of different races, holding that these anti-miscegenation statutes violated both the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

supreme.justia.com

 

[Shiftless2]

This doesn't seem to ban interracial marriages (or same sex ones). And it doesn't say that individuals don't have to issue marriage licenses. What it says is that no-one has to "solemnize" the marriage (that is, no-one actually has to perform the ceremony).

 

[sear]

This doesn't seem to ban interracial marriages (or same sex ones). And it doesn't say that individuals don't have to issue marriage licenses. What it says is that no-one has to "solemnize" the marriage (that is, no-one actually has to perform the ceremony).

?
"What fools these mortals be!"
I'm afflicted with literal-mindedness. Is there supposed to be something unsolemn about it?
The wedding (the ceremony) may seem more solemn if performed in the Sistine Chapel by the Pope, compared to a legal formality at city hall. Is
the marriage (the holy union) any more or less solemn either way?

sol·em·nize (sŏləm-nīz′) tr.v. sol·em·nized, sol·em·niz·ing, sol·em·niz·es 1. To celebrate or observe with dignity and gravity: "His death is solemnized with a stoical but powerful gesture of grief" (David Denby). See Synonyms at observe. 2. To perform (a marriage, for example) with formal ceremony. 3. To make serious or grave: "those rooms so solemnized by their massive regimental decor" (William H. Gass). sol′em·ni·zation (-nĭ-zāshən) n. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

 

[Shiftless2]

Column: A Trump judge just overturned the government's most effective anti-fraud tool, which has stood for 150 years​

Michael Hiltzik

Since 1986, whistleblowers have been in the forefront of the government's war on fraud, accounting for $53 billion, or more than 70%, of the $75 billion recovered from swindlers on defense contracts, from Medicare and from other federal programs.

There's no debate over what's driving this record: It's a 1986 federal law that awards whistleblowers up to 30% of the recovery. For the federal government, this is a bargain. Without the law, the government might never even know about most of the $75 billion in fraud that was unearthed.

That makes the law "one of the government's top fraud-fighting tools," says James King, a spokesman for the Anti-Fraud Coalition, a Washington watchdog group.

Without the qui tam, the federal government often would never find out about the fraud at all. ~ Leonardo Cuello, Georgetown University

So perhaps it's unsurprising that a Trump-appointed judge in Florida has just declared a key provision of the law unconstitutional. The provision concerns so-called qui tam actions, in which private litigants bring lawsuits on behalf of the government as well as themselves. (The Latin term came to us via old English law.)

The ruling came from federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, whom Trump named to the bench in 2020 despite her having been labeled "not qualified" by the American Bar Assn. due to her "lack of meaningful trial experience." She did, however, boast a sterling right-wing legal pedigree, including service as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Mizelle is one of a ...

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[Shiftless2]

Vast deposit of 'white gold' in Arkansas could be stunningly valuable​

Arkansas may be home to a vast resource that could reshape the world's energy needs: a valuable battery component called lithium that's been nicknamed "white gold" and "the new gasoline."

It's an important discovery because renewable energy needs batteries and many batteries need lithium. But the resource is in short supply globally and especially in the United States.

A release this week from the U.S. Geological Survey suggests the U.S. might have all the lithium it needs in ancient brine ...

Vast deposit of 'white gold' in Arkansas could be stunningly valuable

The catch: figuring out how to extract that much lithium without wreaking havoc on the environment and the water table.

www.usatoday.com

The important thing about this is the word "might"

 

[sear]

Column: A Trump judge just overturned the government's most effective anti-fraud tool, which has stood for 150 years #295

"150 years"?

Since 1986

That seems more likely. Difficult to imagine a whistle-blower getting 30%, in 1875.

a Trump-appointed judge in Florida has just declared a key provision of the law unconstitutional. The provision concerns so-called qui tam actions, in which private litigants bring lawsuits on behalf of the government as well as themselves.

"Make America Great"?
They're systematically dismantling what has already made the United States great, dismantling it with corrupt officials from the inside. Cataclysm awaits.

 

[Shiftless2]

Baltimore Key Bridge collapse case caught up in legal blame game​

Alex Mann

ttorneys involved in the sprawling civil case stemming from the Key Bridge collapse traded barbs Tuesday about the March 26 disaster at a hearing called to figure out how to resolve such a complicated legal matter.

William Bennett, an attorney for the Singaporean companies that own and manage the 984-foot, 100,000-ton container ship named Dali that toppled the bridge, said there was “significant liability and fault by the State of Maryland” in the deadly disaster because the state “failed to protect the bridge, knowing its vulnerabilities.”

He also said Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Korean company that manufactured the ship, bears some responsibility in the collapse that killed six construction workers and seriously injured a seventh, suggesting Hyundai built ...

Baltimore Key Bridge collapse case caught up in legal blame game

BALTIMORE — Attorneys involved in the sprawling civil case stemming from the Key Bridge collapse traded barbs Tuesday about the March 26 disaster at a hearing called to figure out

www.gazettextra.com

 

[sear]

the State of Maryland” ... “failed to protect the bridge, knowing its vulnerabilities.” #298

If the Dali ship legal team has legitimate evidence of this, I'm guessing it'll save them $millions.

And if you'll pardon my feeble attitude,
the presidential campaign has me weary. A flood of joy solidly grounded in irrefutable reality is out of reach (except for Dodgers fans).

I do appreciate the benefit of distraction from this alternate headache.

ps
I wonder if the replacement span will be handling traffic while I'm still alive.
- doubt it -

 

[Shiftless2]

I wonder if the replacement span will be handling traffic while I'm still alive.

Depends how old you are - are you still in your teens?