A billion dollars of fraud every week

For John, BLUF:  The Bureaucrats at Treasury, and perhaps elsewhere, slowly slipped into a routine of no checking on the Peoples' money.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Machine Fights Back

Here is the sub-headline:

Inside Treasury's War Against Its Own Reformers

From EKO Loves You, by Blogger EKO, 9 February 2025.

Here is the lede plus one:

When DOGE found empty fields in Treasury's payment system, they uncovered more than missing data.

They found a mechanism.

Simple things were left blank:

• Payment categories
• Payment rationales
• Basic audit controls

The kind of fields any small business would require.  The kind that let you track where money goes.  The kind that stop a billion dollars of fraud.  Every week.

Here's what Treasury didn't want exposed:

Over $100 billion flowing annually to accounts without Social Security numbers.  No temporary ID numbers. No verification. Nothing.

When Musk asked Treasury officials how much was "unequivocal and obvious fraud," the answer revealed decades of corruption: HALF

Let that sink in.

$50 billion per YEAR.

A billion dollars every SINGLE week disappearing into accounts that shouldn't exist.

It is like the Federal Bureaucracy had become an ever growing, self serving mechanism, immune from oversight.

And, it appears the Federal Courts are in sympathy with this jaugernaut, and willing to shield it from scrutiny.

Hat tip to the Citizen Free Press.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Immigration Bill in Congress

For John, BLUF:  President Biden and his fellow Democrats, up on Capitol Hill, and, to a lesser extent, the Media, are scsmming us with regard to illegal immigration reform.  The solution is, as it has always been, in his hand, but he is trying to pull a fast one on the American Public.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Awkward silence hits CNN airwaves when Gov. Kristi Noem confronts host for defending Biden on border crisis

From The Blaze, by Writer Chris Enloe, 29 January 2024.

Here is the lede plus four:

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) beclowned CNN anchor Dana Bash on Sunday for defending President Joe Biden over the border crisis.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Bash asked Noem about ongoing negotiations to pass a controversial border bill that Republicans believe will do little to stymie the border crisis.  Biden, over the weekend, committed to shutting down the border only if Congress passes the bill.

The bill, however, is unlikely to pass the Senate because an increasing number of Republican lawmakers oppose the bill.  That opposition is giving Democrats a talking point to use against Republicans, and Bash deployed it in her interview with Noem.

"Why not take 'yes' for an answer?" Bash asked, referring to Biden's willingness to sign the bill.

In response, Noem correctly pointed out that Biden doesn't need the bill to fix the border crisis.  Congress, she explained, has already given the president authority to enforce immigration law.  Instead, she argued that Biden's policies need to change.

President Biden is trying to pass off the situation by saying once Congress passes a bill he can act.  That is false.  It is in need of "fact checking", if that is a real thing in the Main Stream Media.  President Biden, and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, brought us to this point by executive actions reversing the program being conducted by President Trump and his Administration.  If President Biden was able to vitiate all of President Trumps efforts by executive orders, why can President Biden not reverse course and reinstitute those previous rules?  What does he need from Congress?

Well, it turns out, per the rumors, that he needs Congress to allow him to keep the flow of illegal immigrants going.  The word on the street is that Congressional Democrats want to give President Biden a trigger level of illegal immigrants for controls to be implemented.  And what is that trigger level?  It is 5,000 illegal immigrants a day.  That is just shy of 2 million people a year (1,825,000) coming across our borders.  That is not fixing the problem.  Just ask the Man on the Clapham bus

What the Democrat plan does is somewhat stretch out the arrival of illegal immigrants.  Asuming that the Democrats and the Cartels don't become greedy, and bring only 4,500 illegal immigrants a day over the border,♠ when my youngest Great-Grandchild reaches thirty-five we wikl have drained 63,236,250 people out of Latin America.  That is a 10% reduction in their population.  It would be a 20% increase in our population today.  How is that fixing our immigration problem?

The United States needs immigration.  Legal immigration.  Our treatment of illegal immigrants is a slap in the face to legal immigrants, the ones who do it the right way,

Frankly, the President, Joseph R Biden, Jr, is being dishonest in his presentation of the situation with regard to illegal immigration.

Further, he is failing in his responsibiliity to lay out how we are going to absorb those millions of people, how we are going to house them, educate them, get them jobs and assimilate them.  How we are going to make them good US Citizens.  And, he is whistling past the graceyard when it comes to the question of terrorists coming across our border, with the intention to do us grevious harm.

Kudos to Governor Kristi Noem, and to Governor Greg Abott.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  That is not conting the "got aways".

Trust the People

For John, BLUF:  "If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic and earlier disasters, we ought to be doing precisely the opposite by enacting new limits on government power during emergencies. Americans need what Swedes have enjoyed:  legal protection against autocrats posing as saviors."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Lockdowns:  the Self-Inflicted Disaster

Here is the sub-headline:

Governments’ use of the pandemic to claim sweeping new emergency powers has had destructive effects.

From City Journal, by Author John Tierney, 6 July 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

Long before Covid struck, economists detected a deadly pattern in the impact of natural disasters: if the executive branch of government used the emergency to claim sweeping new powers over the citizenry, more people died than would have if government powers had remained constrained. It’s now clear that the Covid pandemic is the deadliest confirmation yet of that pattern.

Governments around the world seized unprecedented powers during the pandemic. The result was an unprecedented disaster, as recently demonstrated by two exhaustive analyses of the lockdowns’ impact in the United States and Europe. Both reports conclude that the lockdowns made little or no difference in the Covid death toll. But the lockdowns did lead to deaths from other causes during the pandemic, particularly among young and middle-aged people, and those fatalities will continue to mount in the future.

“Most likely lockdowns represent the biggest policy mistake in modern times,” says Lars Jonung of Lund University in Sweden, a coauthor of one of the new reports. He and two fellow economists, Steve Hanke from Johns Hopkins University and Jonas Herby of the Center for Political Studies in Copenhagen, sifted through nearly 20,000 studies for their book, Did Lockdowns Work?, published in June by the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) in London. After combining results from the most rigorous studies analyzing fatality rates and the stringency of lockdowns in various states and nations, they estimate that the average lockdown in the United States and Europe during the spring of 2020 reduced Covid mortality by just 3.2 percent. That translates to some 4,000 avoided deaths in the United States—a negligible result compared with the toll from the ordinary flu, which annually kills nearly 40,000 Americans.

Our response to COVID-19 was based on the twin pillars of "trust the experts" and don't trust The People.  And throw in a pinch of don't trust President Trump.♠  This seems just the opposite of the basis for our Republic, which is based, in large part, on trusting the People.

In honor of all those people who died unnecessarily in nursing homes in New York, or Veterans Homes in Massachusetts, we should dedicate ourselves to not letting timid Elected Officials and officious bureaucrats take away our freedoms and from feeding us false information,♥ and along with media, censoring debate.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  As exemplified by Speaker Nancy Pelosi decrying President Trump saying COVID-19 (Wuhan Flu) came from China and we should stop flights from there.
♥  As exemplified by the Government statements that we didn't need masks, followed by a mask mandate.

Anathematizing Our Opponents

For John, BLUF:  We can all try to get along or we can divide up and hate each other.  The former is what we were supposed to have learned in Kindergarten.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Impeachments, insurrection, indictments — and indifference from Trump’s followers

Here is the sub-headline:

There’s no redemption for supporters who’ve chosen racist ideology over country or even party.

From The Boston Globe, by Columnist Renée Graham, 13 June 2023, 2:22 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

It’s not that Republicans defending Donald Trump don’t believe that the former president willfully took boxes of classified documents when he left the White House; piled them up in unsecured locations all over Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate; endangered national security by showing them to guests; and tried everything short of smothering them in ketchup and eating them to keep them despite federal officials repeatedly demanding their swift return.

They just don’t care.

So, the Columnist asserts that those who follow Donald Trump are, in the Judeo-Christian view, mired in sin and cannot be saved.  For us there is no redemption, nothing to expiate our sins.  That is a pretty stark judgement.  It reminds me of 2016, when one of my friends said to me that until I renounced Donald Trump I had nothing to say [to them].

The end of the column wasn't much kinder than the beginning.

This is what happens to people dialed into their phony victimization and beliefs that equality is the province of whiteness (or those willing to employ pretzel logic to twist toward white adjacency) while accountability is a punishment only for those they don’t like.

Eight years ago this week, Trump descended an escalator in his garish Manhattan “tower” to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He’s been dragging this nation through hell ever since, and his followers remain down for a ride that has pulverized political norms, the rule of law, and democracy itself. And that’s shocking only to those who still refuse to acknowledge the white supremacist origins of Trump’s repulsive success.

In fact, it expanded into something like an invocation of Author Robin J. DiAngelo's White Fragility:  Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.  We are supporting Donald Trump because we are "White Supremecists".

In my mind I compared this Column with Dr Richard Haass' book, The Bill of Obligations:  The Ten Habits of Good Citizens.  My conclusion was that the Author had judged some 74 million fellow Citizens and found them wanting.  They were so bad that there was no basis for compromise.♠

If the Biden voting base really thinks those who voted for Donald J Trump, and still support him, are irredeemable, then we are setting ourselves up for a confrontation.  Perhaps we will end up like Senegal this last month.♥  There are 23 dead in Senegal as of this writing.  I don't think we want to go there.

Because of my concern about the tone of this Column and the direction it seemed to be heading, I made it a topic for Lowell's Local Access TV City Life Show.  I invited, via EMail, Ms Graham to come on the show and present her views.  Alas, she did not respond.

In the mean time, we all need to acknowledge that our neighbors have acceptable reasons for favoring one candidate or another.  We are not living through the Stalinist Era, the Hitler Era or the Maoist Era.  There is no Gulag, no concentration camps, no Re-Education Camps.  No one has declared a Year Zero for the United States.  So, let us walk on together, working to make our union more perfect.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  In researching this Blog Post I did come across something new for me.  It turned out "The Redeemers" was a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction Era.  They were the Southern wing of the Democratic Party and their goal was to regain their political power and reestablish White supremacy.  Wikipedia has them active from the 1870s to 1910.
♥  There are rumors that two term President Macky Sall is trying to make a third run, despite a Constitutional limit of two terms.  There are segments who believe the conviction of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko represents an effort to prevent him from running in 2024.

Where Goes Mr Trump?

For John, BLUF:  Has Donald Trump, who many of us love, crested and turned politically toxic?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Trump's shadow loomed over Pennsylvania's Republican bloodbath

From The Washngton Examine, by National Political Reporter Salena Zito, 9 November 2022, 03:02 PM.

Here is the lede plus six:

The red wave that had been predicted to sweep through the Keystone State never materialized.  Instead, Democrats captured the governor’s office, flipped a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat, kept all nine of their congressional seats, flipped several state House seats, and lost just one state Senate seat.

It was a bloodbath so bad for the GOP that it can only be now seen as a solid blue wave that countered the solid red wave Republicans had in this state just two years earlier in down-ballot elections in 2020, when Republicans swept those elections despite President Joe Biden's top-ticket victory.

Democrat Josh Shapiro did as expected and won the governor’s office handily over Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano.  Democrat John Fetterman won as well, by not as much, but the work he did before his stroke in the past few years in his previous failed run for the Senate, and in his successful run for the lieutenant governor’s office, held.  All of the goodwill he had built up in rural counties gave him just enough votes to overcome Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz's efforts to win the election.

Both men swept away all chances of Republicans gaining any new seats in the House and nearly erased their majority in the state House — one seat hangs in the balance and is too close to call.  It was an utter and complete repudiation of the state's Republican Party.

G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Millersville University, attributed Tuesday night's results to three things that had been missed by analysts, pollsters, and reporters, including me.

The first, he said, was "Fetterman holding onto the relationships he developed in the rural counties long before he ran for election this time."  The second was abortion.  The third was that although voters were unhappy with Biden, they were even more unhappy with Trump’s presence during the last week before the election.

Trump's rally in Pennsylvania the Saturday before the election, and his signaled intention to announce another presidential bid later this month, may have done more damage than anyone knew.

If Reporter Zito says the voters were turned off by President Trump, then you can take it to the bank.  I am not sure Mr Trump's prnouncements toward Gov DeSantis and Gov Youngkin these last few days have added to his luster.  In the end it will be on the primary voters, but in the mean time Republican national, state and local leadership should be working to develop an open and inquiring population of Voters.  Voters capable of compromise and asking themselves about the long game.  None of us will get all we want.  All of us should, however, be focused on maintaining our Republican form of ggovernment, with rights for all and a welcoming of all people who have our faith in capitalism and the basic goodness of the Amercan People.

Exit Question:  Does the electin of Lt Gov John Fetterman as Senator signal that the Voters will be happy enough to support Presdent Biden for a second term?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Citizens police Tour de France

For John, BLUF:  The Legislature should understand what the People are feeling and be responsive to it, either legislating as they want or stnading up and leading the People in a new direction.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Tour de France fans take justice into their own hands and tackle militant eco-protesters before dragging them off the road to stop them blocking the race

Here is the sub-headline:

• Climate activists held a fourth protest at the Tour de France today but were dragged off the road by fans
• The incensed bystanders piled into the road and hauled the eco-protesters off the tarmac so bikes could pass
• Police later arrived and arrested eight activists from the sideline of the competition, which finishes today

From The Daily Mail, by Reporter Charlotte McLaughlin, 25 July 2022, 03:01 EDT.

Here is the lede plus two:

Tour de France fans took matters into their own hands yesterday as they angrily removed a gang of eco-protesters threatening to disrupt the historic bike race by sitting in the middle of the road to block oncoming riders.

Eight climate activists from French campaign group Dernière Rénovation (Last Renovation) sporting T-shirts emblazoned with the message 'we have 978 days left' to tackle environmental decline tried to stop the race during the 20th stage between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour on Saturday.

But their attempts to wreak havoc at the stage were thwarted by spectators, who stormed onto the road and dragged them out of the path of the oncoming bikes even before the police arrived on the scene to make arrests.

This is the kind of thing thaat happens when the ordinary citizenry gets tired of being pushed around by criminls or protestors and the police are not doing their job.

The good news here is that the citizens just pushed the Climate Change protestors oult of the way.  They did not, themselves, ingage in vioolence..

On of the issues for the Public is if the Climate change we are experiencing is of a magnitude and velocity as to require rapid change, thus justifying massive civil disobedience.  I am doubtful that is what the science is saying.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Justice for All

For John, BLUF:  In this new world that is evovling out of Western Civilization the criminals are gaining more rights than the People.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The charging of Jose Alba and the war on self-defense

From The New Neo, by Herself, 8 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The war on self-defense continues, in New York City this time.

You know how it goes with these Soros-backed leftist DAs such as New York’s Alvin Bragg.  When Bragg was elected in January, I wrote this post about his plans and what to expect.  They’re the same sort of things we’ve become familiar with from the now-recalled Chesa Boudin of San Franisco, and from the hopefully-soon-to-be-recalled George Gascon of Los Angeles.  In that post I mentioned that this was one of Bragg’s awful guidelines:

Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone.  Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine…

This story writes itself.

Without the police the Citizens bring justice themselves.  The police exist to protect the criminals from the Citizens.  The job of these Prosecutors is to keep the Citizens down so they do not rise up against the criminals and the Government.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Little People Suffered

For John, BLUF:  The sanctimonious Enviromentalists and climate change advocaates claim the sky is falling, but they have no real plan for helping the vast majority of the People in this "crisis".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Elitist environmentalists hate the working class

From The New York Post, by Law Professor Glenn H. Reynolds, 26 June 2022, 7:12 pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

As the United States faces skyrocketing oil, gas and electricity prices, the obvious solution is to drill for more oil and gas and build more generating plants.  Naturally, that’s off the table because the people who are being hurt most aren’t the ones who set the agenda.

High prices hurt everyone to a degree, but they’re hardest on the working classes.  Most Americans drive to work, and even in most places with mass transit there are far more jobs within a 30-minute drive than there are within a 30-minute bus or train ride.  Cars also make it easier to take kids to school, shop for groceries in a wider variety of places and stay in touch with family and friends.

With gas prices having more than doubled since January 2021, the cost of doing all these things has also more than doubled.  For a family that’s stretched tight already, twice as much money for gas means less money for other things, like food, clothing or education.  (And it doesn’t help that prices for those things are also skyrocketing.)

People who respond to complaints about the high price of gas at the pump by saying buy an Electric Vehicle are out of touch with the Average American, who can't afford an Electric Vehicle, if one were available.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Reaching the Voters in 2022

For John, BLUF:  A Reporter asks if Democraft can reach back to the ordinary people, to give them a reason to vote Democrat in November.  She looks at the examples of two Democats with ties to Braddock, PA.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

People, places and politicians: Abstract rhetoric doesn’t respond to voters’ real concerns

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by Reporter Salena Zito, 29 May 2022, 9:04 AM.

Here is the lede plus six:

BRADDOCK, Pa. — For much of the past 300 years, this tiny borough hugging the banks of the Monongahela River has had a front-row seat for key moments in the formation of the country and in the development of its Industrial Age prosperity.

It was here in the first major battle of the French and Indian War that British Gen. Edward Braddock, tasked with capturing French strongholds, marched with an army of British soldiers, Native American allies and Colonial provincial troops, including a young George Washington.

The battle ended in utter failure for the British Army: The region remained in French hands for three more years; Braddock lost his life; and the North American conflict accelerated into a global war. This set in motion both the career of George Washington and a series of events, beginning with British taxes on the colonies to pay for the war, that led to the American Revolution.

One hundred years later, a Scotsman named Andrew Carnegie began building one of the first Bessemer steel mills in the United States. It featured a new and inexpensive process in which molten pig iron was blasted with air to remove its impurities. Carnegie named the mill the Edgar Thomson Steel Works and hired competent managers to run the place.

What had been a mostly agrarian community was transformed into a thriving and diverse town of immigrants, African-Americans and many others. The cramped housing for unskilled workers was built hastily and close to the mill; nicer homes for skilled workers began dotting the slopes. The mill’s success was built on the backs of those workers: Their blood and sweat built the American steel industry.

Joanne Bruno recalls a childhood in the 1950s filled with trips to Braddock Avenue’s vibrant business district filled with dress shops, hotels, grocery stores, barber shops, beauty salons, specialty shops and restaurants. “Even as a young mother in the 60s my friends and I would meet and have coffee,” she said.

Today the mill still stands, and still defines the skyline, but the town is a shadow of what it once was: 18,000 people lived in Braddock when Ms. Bruno was a child; today that number is 1,721.

I think the defeat, yesterday, of San Fransisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin shows that Progressives are on a path, and even if they wanted to step off it, don't know how.

And, those Progrressives don't really have a plan to get to the future they envision, as with Mr Boudin.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Internet and Freedom

For John, BLUF:  When I first cmer scross the Internet the watchword was "Informstion Wants to be free."  Todaay the industry leaders, and their academic supporters, are dvocztes for "Information needs to be curated."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense

Here is the sub-headline:

Musk now faces no limit on how much of Twitter’s stock he can buy. He’ll buy as much as he needs to gain total control

From The Guardian (UK), Professor Robert Reich, 12 April 2022, 06.31 EDT.

Here is the lede plus three:

The Russian people know little about Putin’s war on Ukraine because Putin has blocked their access to the truth, substituting propaganda and lies.

Years ago, pundits assumed the internet would open a new era of democracy, giving everyone access to the truth.  But dictators like Putin and demagogues like Trump have demonstrated how naive that assumption was.

At least the US responded to Trump’s lies.  Trump had 88 million Twitter followers before Twitter took him off its platform – just two days after the attack on the Capitol, which he provoked, in part, with his tweets. (Trump’s social media accounts were also suspended on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch and TikTok.)

These moves were necessary to protect American democracy.  But Elon Musk – the richest man in the world, with 80 million Twitter followers – wasn’t pleased.  Musk tweeted that US tech companies shouldn’t be acting “as the de facto arbiter of free speech”.

Reviewing the fourth pargraph, Mr Musk is correct. "US tech companies shouldn’t be acting 'as the de facto arbiter of free speech.'"  Isn't that how dictatorships work?  As Citizens, we get to decide who is telling the truth.  For example, every four years, when we vote for President.  We don't need tech compnies telling us how to vote.

This is from Mr Ed Driscoll, blogging at the InstaPundit:

ROBERT REICH IN THE GRAUNIAD:  Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense. “Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an ‘uncontrolled’ internet.  That’s also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogue.”

Because if there is one thing that Iran, CCP China, North Korea, and Putin’s wartime Russia are all famous for, it’s the sweet, unfettered, free flow of information.

Sadly, Professor Reich sounds like a member of the elite who is now affraid that the masses are about to turn out the politicians he favors.

In his book Guns, Germs and Steel, author Jared Diamond says that early on in writing language the way of writing was complicated and restricted to a small group of scribes and was a system for keeping the mjority down.  However, when writing came back with Guttenburg's printing press it turned into a tool for democracy for the maasses.  People like Professor Reich and their Lordships in high tech want to go back to the scribe mode, to control the masses.  As a member of the masses I oppose and resent this way of doing business.

And this assault on the Internet, and on free speech, will impact how I vote.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Telling the Truth

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes Government begin to think things are all about them, when, in fact, it should be about the People.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Not just Russia:  America has a problem speaking truth to power, too

From The New york Post, by Professor Glenn H. Reynolds, 31 March 2022, 8:02pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

Russian President Vladimir Putin is in trouble in Ukraine, and it’s because people lie to him.

That’s the story put out by US intelligence officials, and it has the ring of truth.  Apparently, Putin wasn’t told of the miserable state of readiness of Russian troops, the unavailability of spare parts and repair facilities, the shortage of transport, the inefficiency of the Russian air force, the lack of trucks needed to haul ammunition, food and fuel to the front or the surprising effectiveness of the Ukrainian military.

Putin’s “senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth” about “how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions,” according to the White House’s Kate Bedingfield.

. . .

Thing is, the hide-the-bad-news dynamic is growing by leaps and bounds right here in America.

And there is the problem.  We, as Americans, are facing the same problem as President Putin.  As he is Sovereign in Russia, we, the People, are sovereign here in the United States, and we are not getting the truth.  And while some might point to this President or that President, I believe the problem is in the permanent Bureaucracy.

The permanent Bureaucracy has institutional interests and will act to defend those interests.  It is the job of Congress, and the president, to fight those institutional interests and substitute the interests of the People.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The FBI Spying on US Citizens

For John, BLUF:  During my youth Mr J Edgar Hoover was head of the FBI, and apparently played fast and loose with the rules.  We didn't know.  It didn't get better and in the last three Administrations it may have gotten worse.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

DOJ collected Project Veritas emails but didn't reveal it to federal judge overseeing case

From Hot Air, by Reporter John Sexton, 27 March 2022 3:30 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

An attorney for Project Veritas sent a letter to District Court Judge Analisa Torres accusing the Department of Justice of sidestepping her prior rulings designed to protect the journalistic and attorney-client privileges of the organization.  Microsoft recently revealed that the DOJ had previously seized Project Veritas documents from a cloud account using a warrant which was not revealed to the court and which Microsoft was forbidden from revealing until recently.

At the base of all of this is the FBI investigation into how Project Veritas wound up in possession of Ashley Biden’s diary.  An FBI raid of homes belonging to Project Veritas CEO James O’Keefe and two former PV journalists, resulted in the FBI seizing a number of phones, laptops, thumb drives, etc. last November.  Project Veritas asked Judge Torres to appoint a Special Master to review the seized information and determine what should and should not be turned over to authorities.  Judge Torres agreed and ordered everything that had been gathered turned over to the Special Master.  But even after she issued that decision, the DOJ didn’t reveal the PV documents it had already collected from Microsoft and went behind Judge Torres back and the back of the Special Master she appointed to keep the previously seized documents a secret.

I get that the FBI can lie to us, but we can't lie to them.  However, they can lie to a Judge?  That seems a little too much of an insult to the Bill of Rights.

Democracy does better when the People think that their Government is not violating their rights, or the rights of other of their Federal Citizens  This is a problem for the US Congress to fix.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Those Traffic Cameras

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes we think some actions are strictly mechanical and therefore are neutral.  Sometime human factors remove that neutrality.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Chicago’s “Race-Neutral” Traffic Cameras Ticket Black and Latino Drivers the Most

Here is the sub-headline:

A ProPublica analysis found that traffic cameras in Chicago disproportionately ticket Black and Latino motorists. But city officials plan to stick with them — and other cities may adopt them too.

by Emily Hopkins and Melissa Sanchez Jan. 11, 5 a.m. EST.

Here is the lede plus three:

When then-Mayor Richard M. Daley ushered in Chicago’s red-light cameras nearly two decades ago, he said they would help the city curb dangerous driving. “This is all about safety, safety of pedestrians, safety of other drivers, passengers, everyone,” he said.

His successors echoed those sentiments as they expanded camera enforcement. “My goal is only one thing, the safety of our kids,” Rahm Emanuel said in 2011, as he lobbied for the introduction of speed cameras. And in 2020, Lori Lightfoot assured residents her expansion of the program was “about making sure that we keep communities safe.”

But for all of their safety benefits, the hundreds of cameras that dot the city — and generate tens of millions of dollars a year for City Hall — have come at a steep cost for motorists from the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods. A ProPublica analysis of millions of citations found that households in majority Black and Hispanic ZIP codes received tickets at around twice the rate of those in white areas between 2015 and 2019.

The consequences have been especially punishing in Black neighborhoods, which have been hit with more than half a billion dollars in penalties over the last 15 years, contributing to thousands of vehicle impoundments, driver’s license suspensions and bankruptcies, according to ProPublica’s analysis.

like with most things involving The People, some thought is needed to understand what is going on.  For one, we should ask what external factors are causing tese ZIP Code disparities.  Is transportation Infrastructure equitably distributed?  Is there a difference in pulic transportation?  Are commuting obligations different?  Is there some set of legal restrictions on some ZIP Codes that are unequitable and unreasonable?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Naughty Words

For John, BLUF:  We should try to be civil.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Byron York's Daily Memo: Biden, Brandon, and F-word politics

From The Washington Examiner, by Correspondent Byron York, 25 October 2021, 06:43 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

BIDEN, BRANDON, AND F-WORD POLITICS.  Recently the Washington Post published a news article, "Biden's critics hurl increasingly vulgar taunts," exploring what the paper says is a growing phenomenon of people around the country directing raw insults at the president.  As an example, the paper pointed to President Joe Biden's recent visit to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where a woman stood on the street with a sign that said, "F--- Joe Biden."  At other times

, Biden detractors say simply, "FJB," which stands for you know what.

The Post also noted the "Let's go Brandon" phenomenon.  If anyone doesn't know what that is, it stemmed from an NBC sportscast of an October race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in which a crowd chanted, "F--- Joe Biden."  The chants were clearly audible while NBC was interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown.  Trying to smooth things over and make it appear to viewers that all was well, the reporter said, "You can hear the chants from the crowd, 'Let's go Brandon!'"  So then, as fast as things happen on the internet, people began saying, "Let's go Brandon" as a snarky — and clean — way to say, "F--- Joe Biden."

All this derision directed toward the president has disturbed some in the media.  Biden "is increasingly becoming an object of hatred to many Trump supporters," the Washington Post reported.  Conceding that "boos, jeers and insults are nothing new for politicians," the paper nevertheless declared that "The current eruption of anti-Biden signs and changes, however, is on another level, far more vulgar and widespread."

To which anyone who was awake from

Yes, the vugarism directed toward President Biden leaves me cold, although the evolution to "Let's go Brandon" is a big improvement.

The idea that this is new is a sign of ignorance or propaganda.  Does anyone remember President Trump?  Does anyone remember the vulgar way Tea Party members were characterized?.

And, it has spread overseas.  It showed up in Romelast weekend.

Clever is good, and fun.  Vulgar is a sign of lack of respect and dignity and creativity.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Progressives Hurting Democrats?

For John, BLUF:  The question is, is it true that Progressive Policies hurt Democratic Party Candidates?  I think that from the viewpoint of President Biden, who believes he represents "Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow," it is all good.  We may get a clue on 2 November, when Virginia votes for a new Governor.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Deutsch:  ‘The AOCs of the World or the Far-Left Are Suicide for the Democrats’

From Breitbaart, by Mr Trent Baker, 18 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch on Monday issued a warning to members of the Democratic Party about the far-left wing of the party, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

On “Morning Joe,” Deutsch said that the far-left wing is “suicide” for the Democratic Party.  He called on the party to “get some new faces” closer to the center because the socialists pulling the party to the left could spell “disaster.”

Host Joe Scarborough stated, “All I have heard over the past year — it’s been remarkable — is I am going to grip my teeth and vote for Joe Biden because Donald Trump is a fascist, and he is a threat to the American way of life.  But, if I had any excuse to vote against the Democrats, I would do it because they are so progressive and so wildly out of step with mainstream America.”

First off, it appears former Congressman Joe Scarborough doesn't understand fascism.  Understandable, because weither does the AntiFa movement, which is, aside from the "nationalism" part, very fascist.

Secondly, I would like to follow the dictate of Napoleon Bonaparte, who said:  "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."  Alas, 2022 is not promised to the Republicans.  We need to garner what fortitude we have and go after the Democrafts  We need to follow a course that promises to unbind the economy and let the People return to normal.  Getting the economy back to a relatively normal, unguided by the hand of Government, will work magic on the Nation.

Hat tip to my Wife.

Regards  —  Cliff

Bad Turn of Events

For John, BLUF:  This is a bad turn of events.  When the people lose faith, they become less supportive of the incumbent government.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden 2020 win ‘tainted,’ 56% say it was a cheater’s paradise

From The Washington Examiner, by Columnists Paul Bedard, 11 October 2021, 01:07 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

A growing number of likely voters believe that cheating tainted President Joe Biden’s 2020 win over former President Donald Trump, and even more feel that a key Democratic election reform scheme will increase fraud.

In the latest Rasmussen Reports survey, 56% of respondents said, "It’s likely that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including 41% who say it’s ‘very likely.’”

To get the caveat out of the way, yes, Candidate Joe Biden won the electotal collage and thus is our President.  No doubt.

However, If the People are beginning to lose faith in the 2020 Election, how much faith will they have in other aspects of the Federal Government.  For example, will they trust the Federal Government with regard to COVID-19?  I think this is a problem.  I don't think the bien pensant grasp this problem.  The 2022 Midterm elections will prove if this is true.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

What Makes an Astronaut?

For John, BLUF:  This is a tempest in a teapot, but it is being stirred up, perhaps as a way of diminishing the accomplishment of those who paid for a flight out of our atmosphere.  I envy them.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Is it time to create the designation of non-governmental astronaut?

by Michael Listner Monday, August 16, 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

The flights of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin with their respective founders has reinvigorated the debate as to what an astronaut is and, specifically, whether non-governmentals are indeed astronauts.  Nevertheless, these two flights open a broader discussion as non-governmental space activities increase in measure and scope how they will be looked upon and treated by international law, especially as outer space activities expand. What is an astronaut? By and large, the term “astronaut” has been thrown around by the media and the providers of the launch and reentry flights without thought of what the term really means.  A popular reference to the term that is overused is found in the definition provided by the Merriam-Webster dictionary:  “a person who travels beyond the earth's atmosphere also : a trainee for spaceflight.”

Given the etymology of the “astronaut” predates the era of spaceflight, the usage of the word applying this definition is understandable.  Certainly, there are variations of this definition that one could quibble over; however, in the context of outer space activities, including activities by non-governmentals, the term astronaut is not a defined term but rather a legal status that confers rights and benefits and invokes duties and obligations to states under international law.  This means whether one is an astronaut is determined by a legal test and not a dictionary definition.  While international law does not specifically define the term, three tests have been proffered.  Of the three, it is the test offered by Professor Yasuaki Hashimoto that is the test that best harmonizes with international law through the Outer Space Treaty.

For the legal status of “astronaut” to apply under Professor Hashimoto’s test the person must be:

1. in an object located in space
2. conducting their activities for the benefit and in the interests of all countries
3. regarded as an envoy of mankind in outer space.

Obiously the folks who have gone into space of late meet Test 1, but not Test 2.  The author contends they don't meet Test 3 either, but I would content that if they met and interacted with Extra-Terrestial folk while in space that they would, de facto, be envoys of mankind in outer space.  How else would they be classified?

The author sums it up:

This means absent legislative action, non-governmental personnel would not have any legal status in the eyes of domestic and international law.

Who cares?  They have gone there.  The drafters of laws have not.  I would assert that we, the People, can designate these folks as astronauts.  We do that by saying they are astronauts.  We give them the title by aclamation.

Don't let the lawyers push you around.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

What We Are Focused On

For John, BLUF:  The Chinese Government is committing crimes in the US, but our Government is focused on proving its own Citizens traitors.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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DOJ Drops Charges Against 5 Possible Chinese Spies as FBI Focuses on January 6

Here is the sub-headline:

FBI Drops the Ball, DOJ Drops the Charges

From PJ Media, by Mr Kevin Downey, Jr, 26 July 2021, 3:37 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus three:

Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped charges against five Chinese scientists spies who hid their involvement with the Chinese military in order to obtain work visas at American universities.

Prosecutors stated they would no longer pursue visa fraud and various other charges against the five scientists, who were looking to work at universities in California and Indiana.

FACT-O-RAMA! There are typically half a million Chinese students in the U.S. every year.

Judges have dismissed parts of the cases against two Chinese researchers after the FBI (shockingly?) failed to inform the suspects of their Miranda rights against self-incrimination.  Miranda rights are the rights every American with a TV has heard a thousand times:  the rights to remain silent or have your words used against you, and to have an attorney.

Yesterday was the Birthday of the FBI, back in 1909.

Yes, there was some bungling, but the FBI is laser focused on the Lego Insurrection.

Yesterday my Middle Brother sent me a link from The Old Gray Lady that started out:

Bret Stephens:  Hi, Gail [Collins]. I don’t think there’s much doubt among reasonably sane people about what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.  Do we really need a House committee to investigate it?

I think the Commentariat has a view as to what happened and thinks that view is widely shared.  They could be wrong.  And, I don't expect the FBI, or the House investigation of the Lego Insurrection to do anything but obscure the mostly peaceful demonstrations that day and the killing of Ms Ashli Babbit.

As they used to say in the Soviet Union, "The future is known; it’s the past which is always changing.”

I added a label, a tag, for President Donald J Trump, because even six months after he left office it is all about him.  You don't wish it to be about President Biden, do you?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fête nationale (France)

For John, BLUF:  This is Bastille Day, the French holiday celebrating the French Revolution.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Bastille Day

The storming of the Bastille Prison in 1789 was a tipping point for the revolutionary fever gripping Paris and its surrounding areas.  In and of itself it was a minor event, but it was the spark that lit the fires of revolution:

At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners:  four forgers; James F.X. Whyte, a "lunatic" imprisoned at the request of his family; Auguste-Claude Tavernier, who had tried to assassinate Louis XV thirty years before; and one "deviant" aristocrat, the Comte de Solages, imprisoned by his father using a lettre de cachet (while the Marquis de Sade had been transferred out ten days earlier).

The French Revolution and its aftermath spread revolution across Europe, leading to the spread of democracy and freedom (more revolutions).  Perhaps the most important change was the sense of empowerment amongst the People.

Unlike our "Revolution," which was mostly about succession, the French Revolution included the inevitable result of revolutions, the "Revolutions eat their children."  This is not a good thing for those who get consumed.

Be thankful for our more evolutionary approach to changing government and ensuring the freedom of the People.

Regards  —  Cliff

Encouraging the Police

For John, BLUF:  People respond to incentives and if we make policing riskier, we will see police pulling back from policiing activities.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Maryland Strips Police Officers Of Substantive Due Process Rights:  Oh, THIS Will Work Out Well, Yessiree!

From Ethics Alarms, by Blogger Jack Marshall, 11 April 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

I know this is the second appearance today of James Donald’s anguished coda at the end of “The Bridge Over The River Kwai,” but he arrives when it is appropriate.

Maryland’s Democrat-controlled legislature moved yesterday to pass a “police reform package “that includes the repeal of the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR), overriding Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto to do it.

The state’s police Bill of Rights covered due process for officers accused of misconduct.  You can read it here:  I have. I would call it a not especially radical or permissive document, and its provisions simple codify basic due process rights.  I view this move by the legislature as primarily symbolic, a virtue-signaling gesture of support for the individuals who break laws and against those who enforce them.

Actions that appear to withdraw legal protections from Law Enforcement Officers will tend to make law enforcement officers more cautious.  Perhaps not at first, but quickly as these new laws take effect.  This, in turn, will result in less policing.

This, in turn, will result in increases in crime.  The question is, will citizens intervene?  That could, in turn, result in more mayhem.  My youngest Son argues that the purpose of the police is to protect the sespected perp from irate Citizens.  That is not an unreasonable police function.  I heard someone say today that someone will control the streets.  In the United States we like to think it is Law Enforcement.  In much of Mexico it is the Criminal Cartels.  That said, in some parts of Mexico the People are pushing back.  Will we see that here?

Regards  —  Cliff