Saturday, February 17, 2024

Trumps hit with big fines, but Judge Engoron backed down and didn't dissolve Trump World as promised, Trump certain to appeal

It’s a major reversal after Engoron effectively stripped Trump of his ability to continue as a real estate mogul in New York, recommending at the time that independent receivers begin managing the “dissolution of the canceled LLCs.”

Story

The big fines are meant to cover up this fact. The judge knows he went out on a limb on this case and is likely to be overturned.

The novelty of the judgment against Trump will be front and center on appeal to a five-judge panel because there were no victims of Trump's exaggerations:

On appeal to a five-judge panel of the New York Appellate Division - a mid-level state appeals court - Trump's lawyers are expected to reiterate arguments they made to no avail during the trial. They told the judge that lenders at Deutsche Bank were finance experts who were obligated to do their own due diligence and were savvy enough to know that Trump was probably exaggerating his property values. ...

A former Trump banker at Deutsche Bank, David Williams, testified in November that conducting due diligence on information clients provided was standard practice. In one instance, the bank adjusted Trump's net worth down to $2.6 billion from the $4.9 billion he reported, Williams said, adding that such a revision was "not unusual or atypical." ...

Severe penalties in a novel case like this one could potentially be met with skepticism on appeal, legal experts said. They could also prompt appellate judges to consider whether the attorney general overstepped her authority, according to Germain.

"I think the judges are going to have to look carefully at what the powers of the attorney general are here," Germain said. "Are they so broad that any lie can put you out of business, even if nobody believed it?"

More.

 

Another town dies hard and no one gives a shit, right Joe Manchin?

 Cleveland-Cliffs Steel announced it was idling its tinplate production plant, a move that directly cost 900 people their jobs.

Salena Zito, here.

Joe Manchin, LOL, announces Friday he won't run for president after all, after floating Romney as running mate earlier in the week


Story.

 

Catholic woman finally realizes Christian and Catholic NGOs fund the entire illegal alien pipeline into America and have been doing so for decades

Welcome to reality, sister.

The enemy isn't just without. It's probably sitting next to you in the pew.

I started doing some more digging. The entire illegal immigrant pipeline, from the airports in Turkey and Dubai that are sending them to South America and Central America, to the Darien Gap, across the border and into our cities is being funded by Christian and Catholic NGOs. When you learn about the betrayal Catholic and Christian NGOs have been committing, for decades, to the rights and privileges granted by America, you will go mad.

The recent failed federal “border control” [sic] bill included almost $2 billion to religious organizations to “help migrants,” which often means helping migrants break the law. ... There are many organizations like this, taking money from their parishioners and the federal government and funneling it directly to illegal aliens. ...

Catholic Charities is a socialist terror organization working to undermine this country, subvert our “sacred democracy,” and diminish our citizens. It must therefore be defunded, prosecuted, and banned from operating inside the United States. ... They are helping our enemies execute a silent coup right under our noses, and use Christianity as a shield, an impenetrable force field, to deflect all criticism and examination. 

Peachy Keenan, here.

I don't think Keenan quite realizes, however, how this would be all but impossible to pull off from cash-strapped parish donations alone. These religious NGOs are not simply incestuous conduits for vast sums of taxpayer money. They directly embody the progressive Democrat immigration policy of native replacement.

As the Center for Immigration Studies recently reported, a United Nations-led “Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP)” calls for more than 200 nonprofit groups to dole out $1.6 billion in cash debit cards, food, clothing, medical treatment, shelter, and even “humanitarian transportation” during 2024 to millions of U.S.-bound immigrants in 17 Latin American nations and Mexico. ... the administration of President Joe Biden is directly footing the bill for at least part of facilitating the most voluminous mass migration crisis in U.S. history, now in its fourth straight year ... more than 30 faith-based nonprofits among those UN NGO partners — representing Jewish, Lutheran, Seventh Day Adventist, Catholic, and nondenominational evangelical organizations — shows that the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have been mainlining taxpayer funds to these groups, which then distribute them to keep hundreds of thousands of migrants comfortably moving toward illegal U.S. southern border crossings.

More.

According to Forbes, the NGO Catholic Charities USA received $1.4 billion from government support compared with $1 billion in private donations [for 2022]. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service reported more than $93.1 million in U.S. government grants in its 2021 financial statement, making taxpayer-funded grants more than 80% of its total support.

And that number would only climb as the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service would receive $182.6 million in grants in the fiscal year of 2022 from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Another NGO, Church World Services, reported more than $20.5 million in grant funds in its 2022 financial report, making more than 40% of its assets coming from taxpayers.

 Reported here.




 

Friday, February 16, 2024

Navalny would be alive today had he stayed in Germany in January 2021, but he just had to go back didn't he

 Opposition Leader and Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Dies In Prison at 47 :

Navalny looked healthy when he appeared by video for a courtroom appeal on Thursday. Speaking from prison, Navalny complained about the frequent fines he received while in a punitive cell and asked the judge to send him some money “as my own is running out thanks to your decisions”. ...

In 2020, Navalny fell into a coma after a suspected poisoning using novichok by Russia’s FSB security service and was evacuated to Germany for treatment. He recovered and returned to Russia in January 2021, where he was arrested on a parole violation charge and sentenced to his first of several jail terms that would total more than 30 years behind bars.



 

 

Last week's terrible Thursday was Joe Biden's, this week's belonged to Fani Willis


 

Good gridlock politics: Impeach 'em all

 

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

What is profit gauging?

 I think he means gouging.

Biden sharpens attack on profit gauging...

Alejandro Mayorkas finally impeached 214-213 for failing to keep out 6 million illegal aliens since 2020

 House Republicans have impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a contentious vote Tuesday evening, making the Biden administration official the first Cabinet member to be removed in nearly 150 years. ...

Three Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting the articles of impeachment: Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Tom McClintock (R-CA). They were the same three as last week’s failed vote, but the return of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) from cancer treatment tipped the math against Mayorkas on Tuesday. ...

Since Biden took office, more than 7.5 million illegal immigrants have been encountered attempting to enter the United States, and 6 million of that figure entered illegally between ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The Biden figure far exceeds the number of illegal immigrants encountered during the Trump administration’s four years and the Obama administration’s eight years combined.

More.

Um, Nikki Haley thinks the president's job is to keep the military out of harm's way?

 And here I thought harm was their business.

She's so precious.

Nikki Haley: Military Families Can Not Trust Trump "To Keep Them Out Of Harm's Way"

NATO chief concedes Trump has a point lol

 Stoltenberg knows damn well he might have to deal with Trump again if he's elected in November, and isn't about to alienate him now. After the election and Trump loses? Yeah, maybe then, but not now.

Reported here:


NATO chief concedes 'valid point' of spending criticism as allies up defense budgets


NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference on the third day of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meeting, in Marrakech, Morocco, October 11, 2023.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Susana Vera | Reuters

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg conceded to criticism that some members have been underfinancing the coalition’s defense budget, saying he expects a record 18 allies to meet their military spending goal this year.

His comments come on the footsteps of the controversial remarks of former U.S. president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who said he would not protect NATO nations from Russian hostilities if they fall behind on their membership payments.

Trump’s statements kindled widespread ire from the international community, including from fellow Republicans, drawing Stoltenberg to earlier this week accuse that such a suggestion “undermines all our security.”

“The criticism that you hear is not primarily about NATO, it’s about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO. And that’s a valid point,” Stoltenberg said during a press briefing on Wednesday, in response to a question on whether Trump’s comments aligned with the broader views of Republican officials that the NATO chief has engaged.

“It’s a point and a message that has been conveyed by successive U.S. administrations that European allies and Canada have to spend more, because we haven’t seen fair burden sharing in the alliance,” Stoltenberg added. “The good news is that this is exactly what NATO allies are now doing.”

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Bob Nardelli gets it

 "The general population will not be duped by this aversion [sic; read diversion] to try and blame inflation on corporate America. It starts at the raw materials, it starts at transportation, it starts at energy," former Home Depot and Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli said on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Monday. "A whole host of things that are driving this up, wage increases." ...

"This is all about, I think, trying to buy votes. This is all about an administration that is out of control," he continued. "We have a strong bias towards spending versus having a conservative policy or a sustainable future."

More.

I'm so old I remember when politicians ran on less government, now it's less corrupt government lol

 

But of course it's not too late for Joe Biden to drop out

 

Core cpi inflation seasonally adjusted pops 0.4% in Jan 2024: month over month measure trending ever higher since Jun 2023, seven months

 













But you said inflation was coming down!

 



Monday, February 12, 2024

Molly, Molly, Molly, you watch too many movies

 


Why should there be any politics involved when their statue says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" ?

It really is a mystery.

Apparently New York doesn't believe it anymore. 

Send the statue back where it came from then.

 

The incidents were related in that the two suspects allegedly used AR-style weapons

It is unknown whether seasonal affective disorder may have played a role in these cases, coming as they did in, or shortly after, the winter season.

NBC News, March 27, 2023:

“There’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake told Lester Holt of NBC News. ... “She targeted random students in the school ... whoever she came in contact with, she fired rounds,” Drake said, referring to the shooter. ... He said Hale was transgender. 

CNN, February 12, 2024:

The woman, identified in a search warrant as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, entered the church shortly before 2 p.m. wearing a trench coat and backpack and opened fire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a Sunday afternoon news conference. ... Attorney William Capasso said he represented Moreno in 2021-2022 and told CNN that Genesse Ivone Moreno went by the name Jeffrey Moreno Carranza at the time.

No country for old leaders

 


Sunday, February 11, 2024

Trump is the accidental anarchist to Biden the intentional one

 Trump treating NATO like a plaything in South Carolina:

'No, I would not protect you [NATO], in fact I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want, you gotta pay! You gotta pay your bills.'

Also in South Carolina, Trump oblivious to Nikki Haley's husband's military deployment:

“Then she comes over to see me at Mar-a-Lago. ‘Sir, I will never run against you.’ She brought her husband. Where’s your husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone! He knew. He knew,” Trump said.

In Michigan Ron DeSantis is still on the ballot Tuesday February 27th:




Anti-semitic defender of Hamas Dutch PM Dries Van Agt 93 and wife die in double euthanasia

Dries Van Agt, who served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982, and whom Dutch watchdog groups condemned in recent years as an antisemite, chose to die last Monday with the assistance of a doctor, along with his wife. He was 93. ... In 2008, the former prime minister spoke at a rally featuring a televised address by a Hamas official. As a justice minister in the 1970s, Van Agt cited his "Aryan" roots in explaining his plan to pardon four Nazi war criminals due to health reasons.

More.

Hamas intelligence hub found beneath United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City, 12 of whose employees are linked to Oct 7 massacre of Jews

 The Wall Street Journal reports:

Israel’s discovery of the Hamas operations below Unrwa offices is likely to put further pressure on the agency, which is facing international scrutiny after Israeli allegations that at least 12 of its employees had links to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which authorities say killed 1,200 people.

Israeli military officials assert that people working at Unrwa would have been aware of the tunnel complex, either from activities during its construction or by what they said would have been a jump in electricity usage when the complex started operating. ...
 
The organization’s main donors, including the U.S., have frozen funding pending the outcome of an investigation into the allegations. ...
 
Israeli military officials say they have known about the complex under Unrwa’s headquarters for a few years but say they decided they couldn’t use airstrikes to target it because of the U.N. presence above. ... 
 
Israeli military intelligence has estimated in recent weeks that roughly 10% of Unrwa’s 12,000 or so employees in Gaza, most of whom are Palestinian, have ties to the militant group, including nearly a quarter of its male employees—a percentage that Israel says is higher than the roughly 15% of Gaza males who are linked to the group, through either its military or political wings. ...
 
The Israeli military in a statement late Saturday said it had found large quantities of weapons, including rifles, ammunition, grenades and explosives, in rooms of the Unrwa buildings above the tunnel complex.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Joe Biden just had to come back to that podium

 


President Biden's disastrous Thursday Feb 8, 2024 news conference the White House hopes you forget, or never see



 In my opinion the president actually acquitted himself quite well for an old man in a difficult job, however much he avoided the controversial conclusions of the special counsel as to what he did with the classified materials, who saw them, and about his mental state. If only he had not returned to the podium after ending his remarks he wouldn't be in the same mess he's in, immediately proving the special counsel correct when he mixed up Mexico and Egypt.

For a change, the press acted like the jackals they always were with Trump. Its Hamas wing thinks this is their opportunity to oust the befuddled old man who stands between them and their enemy Israel.

The White House has de-listed the video.

Sad to learn Ron Radosh joined the enemy

In a cogent essay, a leading conservative scholar and former high ranking State Department official, Peter Berkowitz, examines why about half the country believes elite legal progressives “have weaponized federal law enforcement.” He notes that “four criminal indictments [were] brought against Trump−all between April 4 and August 10, 2023, more than two years after he left office and just as the 2024 campaign ramped up….” In other words (as the Marxists used to say) it was no coincidence. 

Berkowitz characterizes as “reckless” the Colorado Supreme Court decision to remove Trump from the ballot on the grounds that he violated the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on those who “engaged in insurrection.” He points out that Trump has never been charged (let alone convicted) of insurrection. 

Berkowitz excoriates neoconservative Robert Kagan’s argument that “the threat Trump poses to freedom and democracy in America justifies abusing the law to banish him from the political arena.” In this sense, Berkowitz notes, ”anti-Trumpers thereby facilitate the unraveling of the rule of law that they seek to avert.” 

Gabe Schoenfeld and fellow apostate Ron Radosh devote an entire essay to rebutting Berkowitz’s argument. They defend the efforts by the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine Secretary of State to disqualify Donald Trump from running for president as “the working out of the rule of law.” Further, Schoenfeld and Radosh laud Kagan’s endorsement (he “deserves high praise”) of “taking every conceivable measure” to stop Trump.

What better language than “every conceivable measure” to describe the logic of war?

More.

Friday, February 9, 2024

The far worse public perceptions of Biden than of Trump have been confirmed by the special counsel report released yesterday and the disastrous Joe Biden news conference last night

 


The Democrats’ continuous calls during his four years in office to use the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office on the presumed grounds of mental instability took a disastrous turn this week, as the effort self-combusted in a Hindenburg-sized blowback.

More.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

A number of people stated emphatically in the last year that Biden would drop out, maybe after today he will have to

  
 


DC civil jury of six finds Mark Steyn defamed Michael Mann, who plans to go after National Review next

 Jury awards climate scientist Michael Mann $1 million in defamation lawsuit

During the trial, Steyn represented himself, but said through his manager Melissa Howes that he would be appealing the $1 million award in punitive damages, saying it would have to face “due process scrutiny.”

Biden holds press conference to show his brain really is applesauce

 

They're not going to prosecute Joe Biden for willfully retaining and disclosing classified materials, but they are going to let grandpa Applesauce Brains stay president lol

 From special counsel Robert Hur's report here:

In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden's memory was worse. He did not
remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview
when his term ended ("if it was 2013 - when did I stop being Vice President?"), and
forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ("in 2009, am I
still Vice President?"). He did not remember, even within several years, when his
son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan
debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said
he "had a real difference" of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact,
Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Eiden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo
to President Obama.

Our country is a giant prank played on the American people.

 Biden ‘willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency,’ special counsel says

But the special counsel, Robert Hur, said he was declining to prosecute Biden over his handling of classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Biden’s entries about national security.

This is James Comey not prosecuting Hillary all over again. 

But they will prosecute Trump in his classified documents case, upcoming. 

This double standard will be all the reason people want and need to vote for Donald Trump again.

Ann Coulter knows a prick when she sees one

 


Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Trump embraces Bud Light, leaves Ann Coulter with no legs to stand on

 


Trend for annual heating degree days in Grand Rapids, Michigan 1904-2023

The mean for annual heating degree days has dropped about 63 HDD from 1904-1963 at 6726 shown, to 6663 for 1963-2023, or 0.94%. 

In the last 23 years, just 5 have been at or above the old mean shown, while 18 have been below. In the previous 23 years the pattern was much more even: 13 above the old mean shown and 10 below.

This is clearly a picture of recent moderating winters, but people forget that this comes on the heels of a prolonged period of much more severe winter cold extending 55 years from 1943-1997. During that period there were 40 winters above the old mean shown, and just 15 below it.

That cold period itself followed upon a previous period of previously well known warming where about 58% of the seasons in the record saw heating demand well below the old mean.

The Dust Bowl era. Maybe you've heard of it.

Higher mean heating degree day totals in the second half of the 20th century indicate its colder conditions compared with the eras book-ending it:

1904-1943: 6685 (40yrs)

1943-1997: 6883 (55yrs)

1997-2023: 6351 (27yrs).



Trend for annual mean average temperature in Grand Rapids, Michigan 1898-2023

The mean has risen 0.1 degrees F 1898-1963 at 48.2 shown, to 48.3 1963-2023, which is 0.2%.

The uptrend traverses about 0.9 degrees F over 125 years.

Planet's on FIRE lol.

Could easily be just heat island effect. The mean for average temperature is definitely warmer since 1997:

1997-2023: 49.4 (27yrs)

1943-1997: 47.5 (55yrs)

1898-1943: 48.4 (46yrs).

The relatively colder second half of the 20th century remains the noteworthy anchor of this graph's center.


Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Iran's spy ship BEHSHAD still in Chicom naval base in Djibouti can't orchestrate Houthi attacks in the seas near Yemen

 


#FUDC

 


Victor Davis Hanson finally figures out what Sam Francis knew in the 1990s

 


Trend for annual precipitation in Grand Rapids, Michigan 1903-2023

 Wetter!

The long term trend for the Oceanic Nino Index is thought to be predictive of this wetter outcome in the Upper Midwest. The index trend is cooler from about +1 degree F anomaly to -1 degree F anomaly since 1951.

Mean annual precipitation at KGRR has risen from 31.88 inches 1903-1951 to 36.81 inches 1951-2023.

 


 

Trend for Oceanic Nino Index 1951-2023

 Long term trend is definitely cooler: La Niña.

Values for the first five measuring periods of the 2024 season are warmer, totaling +7.7: El Niño.

 


RIP Toby Keith 1961-2024


 

Monday, February 5, 2024

Sunday, February 4, 2024

This is your periodic reminder that the net worth of U.S. households is $151 trillion but there's only $2.3 trillion fiat currency in circulation anyway

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TNWBSHNO

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CURRCIR 

Meanwhile all the gold and silver in the world hardly close the gap: 


 

 

Since the US Airforce started bombing targets on Friday, Iran's recon vessel which was relaying info to the Houthis high-tailed it to the Chicom naval base in Djibouti to hide out

 


The former president of ABC News James Goldston was the Joseph Goebbels of January 6th The Movie

About 6% of the country at best tuned in for the Jan 6th theatrical production, compared with 71% for the Watergate hearings.

 



You can't put bitcoin in your pocket like gold and silver, and gold doesn't require 150 terawatt-hours of electricity annually for its existence

Crock of shit this bitcoin is. Same for anything digital.


But crypto has a dirty little secret that is very relevant to the real world: it uses a lot of energy. How much energy? Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, currently consumes an estimated 150 terawatt-hours of electricity annually — more than the entire country of Argentina, population 45 million. Producing that energy emits some 65 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually — comparable to the emissions of Greece — making crypto a significant contributor to global air pollution and climate change.     

More.



 


Drudge promotes Kamala Harris because . . .

 . . . her unfavorables are sky high and somebody better do something quick, might as well be me, lol. Timed for the bigger Sunday audience:

PAPER: How Kamala Harris found her groove...

43% of registered voters in the Bloomberg/Morning Consult swing state poll have a VERY UNFAVORABLE view of her.

43% also have NO CONFIDENCE WHATSOEVER that she could fill Joe Biden's shoes.

Her numbers are worst with anyone aged 45+, with total negatives in the vicinity of 60%.

She's a huge drag on the ticket, which is why they keep her on a tight leash.





D.C. anarcho-tyranny proves fatal to ex-Trump U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission official Mike Gill

 

UPDATE: Ex-Trump official shot in D.C. carjacking spree dies..

In a statement, Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said the violence began Monday afternoon when an unidentified person got into a car and shot a male driver before running away. Gill's family said he was the man who was shot. 

Police said the ordeal, which involved a Jeep Grand Cherokee, occurred in about three minutes. The attacker later tried and failed to steal a Mercedes-Benz, according to police. ...

The attacker, identified as 28-year-old Artell Cunningham, was fatally shot by police Tuesday in New Carrollton, Maryland, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in a statement.



Friday, February 2, 2024

The Declaration of Independence's Anarcho-Tyranny of King George III holds up pretty well, requires but little updating for today

 He Joe Biden has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Illegal Alien Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

 


Speaker Mike Johnson: Joe Biden, Kaos Agent


 Speaker Johnson Slams Biden On Border In First Floor Speech: "He's Inviting Chaos And Disorder"

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Is four days long enough since Iranians killed American soldiers for them to escape back to Tehran or nah?

 SHOWDOWN: Pentagon plans for strikes on Iranian personnel and facilities approved...

Weather will be a major factor in the timing of the strikes, the U.S. officials told CBS News, as the U.S. has the capability to carry out strikes in bad weather but prefers to have better visibility of selected targets as a safeguard against inadvertently hitting civilians who might stray into the area at the last moment. ... [SECDEF] Austin told reporters the U.S. was trying to "hold the right people accountable" without escalating the conflict in the region.