Sony Surrenders In Battle Of Helldivers 2

May 6th, 2024

It’s always fun when a giant multinational corporation tries to pull an extra-slimy move and the consumer backlash is so fierce that they have to back down.

Helldivers 2 is a super-popular game created by Arrowhead Game Studios but published by Sony that sold a zillion copies on release. Then Sony got the bright idea to retroactively force PC gamers to link their Steam accounts to their PlayStation Network (PSN) accounts, even though this was not a requirement at launch, and the fact that PSN isn’t even available in some 177 regions would mean the game would be rendered useless for multitudes of buyers. The outcry was so vast and fierce that Sony had to back down.

Following extensive player backlash, Sony has walked back its plans to require PC players of Helldivers 2 to link their Steam accounts with a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. The requirement had previously been scheduled to take effect May 6. Now, it will be optional for PC players of the third-person sci-fi shooter.

“Helldivers fans—we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update,” Sony wrote early Monday morning. “The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward. We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”

Arrowhead Game Studios CEO and Helldivers Creative Director Johan Pilestedt thanked Sony for changing its stance. “I am impressed by the willpower of the Helldivers 2 community and your ability to collaborate,” Pilestedt wrote Monday morning. “I want to thank our partners and friends at PlayStation for quickly and effectively making the decision to leave PSN linking optional. We together want to set a new standard for what a live game is, and how developers and community can support each other to create the best game experiences.”

Sony’s decision to switch course comes after Helldivers 2 faced criticism from fans over the PSN account-linking requirement. The game, which was released back in February, did not require PC players to create or link a PSN account upon launch and didn’t clearly warn players that they would have to create one at a later date or later lose their ability to play the game. According to Sony, PSN account-linking wasn’t required at launch due to “technical issues.”

Steam gamers felt blind-sided by the announcement that they would have to sign up for what is primarily an account for PS4 and PS5 console owners despite being PC gamers. Others expressed frustration because PSN accounts aren’t available in every country. This would have meant that gamers in 177 countries—mainly nations in the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Africa—would have no longer been able to play Helldivers 2 without a VPN. Some players cited security concerns with Sony, such as the data breaches it faced in 2011 and 2023, as the reason they don’t want to create or connect a PSN account.

Here’s Penguinz0 covering the decision and its walk-back in much more pungent terms:

“Sony, leave it alone.”

Indeed.

Chalk up a rare win for the good guys over corporate stupidity.

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Posted in video | 2 Comments »

Is Austin’s Toy Train Finally Dead?

May 5th, 2024

Austin’s liberal establishment has been trying to trick taxpayers into pouring billions into their light rail boondoggle for decades, finally winning an apparent victory when voters approved a scheme in 2020. But it turns out that the terms of the ballot language may have doomed the project.

Austin’s controversial light rail program, approved by voters in 2020, could be null and void due to an allegedly unconstitutional financing proposal.

According to press reports, during a court hearing, proponents of the transit scheme found themselves unable to defend the project’s ability to borrow money. Absent this authority, it is unlikely to continue.

At issue is the convoluted structure of the measure presented to voters in 2020. Designed to evade state limits on debt and borrowing (which seemed like a money laundering arrangement), the measure created a so-called “governmental corporation” called the Austin Transit Partnership. According to the 2020 proposal, the Austin Transit Partnership was supposed to be funded by a one-time increase to the city’s maintenance and operations property tax.

However, proponents of the project lowballed the cost estimate.

Austin’s liberal establishment, lowball cost to get something passed?

Combined with Biden’s inflation, this has led to a situation where the Austin Transit Partnership now needs to borrow substantial sums.

Unfortunately for proponents, state law prohibits using maintenance and operations property tax dollars to pay debt for so-called ‘governmental corporations.’ While a second component of the property tax—interest and sinking—could be used to pay debt, that’s not what was approved in 2020.

It was obvious to any non-Democrat that the Project Connect light rail project was a boondoggle from the git-go, just as the previous light rail effort was a failure. The fact that more than three years on, Project Connect still doesn’t have a definite plan or path is a handy indication of its dysfunction. Hopefully Texas courts will put it out of Austin taxpayer’s misery.

But I’m sure lots of consultants got paid quite handsomely…

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Posted in Austin, Democrats, Waste and Fraud | 14 Comments »

Kentucky Ballistics Tangles With .50 BMG Again

May 4th, 2024

I assume that everyone reading this remembers when Scott of Kentucky Ballistics almost died when a spicy .50 BMG round blew up his gun. Evidently Scott can’t resist the siren song of the .50 BMG, and here’s two more videos where he rides the lightning.

First: I suppose it was inevitable that someone would build this, and that someone turned out to be Noreen: A .50 BMG pistol. And yes, he straps on the body armor before shooting it.

  • It’s still technically a rifle because of the 16 1/2″ barrel.
  • Bolt action.
  • The usual shooting of food (tubs of mayonnaise and corn syrup, eggplant, and, for some reason, canned snails) ensues.
  • The muzzle blast is “like getting punched in the face by a really weak person constantly.”
  • No, he doesn’t attempt to shoot it one-handed.

    • Next up: He examines the danger of “scope kiss” when firing guns, starting small and working all the way up to a Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum and a Serbu BFG-50.

    Yeah, you don’t want to have your face too close to the scope when you fire…

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    Posted in Guns, video | 3 Comments »

    LinkSwarm for May 3, 2024

    May 3rd, 2024

    More corruption from the Biden family (plus a Texas Democratic congressman), more bad news from the Biden Recession, more pedophile sex offenders, more college madness, and virtue signaling, Third Reich style. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

    And remember: If you’re in a large Texas county, there’s a tax appraisal district election tomorrow, so be sure to get out and vote if you haven’t already voted early.

  • Another week, another corrupt Biden family scheme exposed. “Joe Biden’s Brother Embroiled In High-Ranking Qatari Scheme To ‘Provide Wealth Of Introductions’ Through ‘My Family.'”

    Qatar has had a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. While we knew about the EU’s ‘Qatargate,’ investments with the Kushner family, and of course Sen. Bob Menendez advancing Qatar’s interests, Politico reports that the Biden family’s ties to Qatar “would constitute some of the closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a foreign government,” if courtroom testimony about Jim Biden’s foreign fundraising efforts is substantiated.

    In June 2017, Qatar’s neighbors – led by Saudi Arabia, banded together and cut diplomatic ties with the country, citing its alleged support for terrorism. As a result, the country was thrown into a sustained crisis.

    To dig themselves out, Qatari rulers began showering well-connected Westerners with gifts and financial benefits, according to Politico, “sometimes in the form of investment funding.”

    Around this time, Jim Biden was trying to raise $30 million for embattled hospital chain Americore – teaming up with Florida businessman Amer Rustom, CEO of the Platinum Group, who boasted of his ties to officials in the Middle East, as well as fund manager Michael Lewitt. Together, the three sought investment funding from various Middle Eastern sources for Americore and other ventures – “which came to focus largely on Qatar,” according to a former Americore executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    According to public records obtained by the outlet, Jim Biden leveraged ties to his older brother and “sought workarounds to restrictions on international money movements,” including one discussion about trying to move money across a Middle Eastern border in the form of gold bars that may or may not have happened.

    Let ye who has never smuggled gold across the border of an Arab country cast the first stone.

    “My family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest levels that I believe would be worthy of the interest of His Excellency,” Jim Biden and Rustom wrote in a draft letter to an official at the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. “On behalf of the Biden family, I welcome your interest here,” the draft continues.

    Corrupt to the core.

  • More evidence from the Biden recession: “Job Openings Tumble, Quits Plunge, Hires Unexpectedly Crater To January 2018 Levels.”

    After several months of relatively boring JOLTS prints, this morning Janet Yellen’s favorite labor market indicator once again got exciting, and not in a good way.

    Starting at the top, according to the March JOLTS reported, job openings unexpectedly tumbled by 325K – the biggest drop since October 2023 – from an upward revised 8.813 million in February to just 8.488 million, far below the 8.690 million expected – and the lowest number since February 2021 when it last printed below 8 million.

    “Unexpectedly.”

  • “Chinese Nationals Charged With Conspiracy to Export US Technology.”

    The Department of Justice has arrested two Chinese nationals who allegedly plotted to export U.S. technology to advance the People’s Republic of China’s military operations.

    Han Li, 44, and Lin Chen, 64, have been charged with several counts of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), in addition to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), for attempting to export a machine used to process silicon microchips….

    “Specifically, the defendants sought to illegally obtain for CGTC a DTX-150 Automatic Diamond Scriber Breaker machine from Dynatex International, a Santa Rosa, California company.”

    That’s a backend semiconductor machine for slicing finished individual computer chips off a processed wafer.

  • “Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar Indicted on Bribery, Money-Laundering Charges.”

    Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife were indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery, foreign influence, and money-laundering charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday afternoon.

    The Texas Democrat and his wife are accused of accepting roughly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities starting in December 2014 and continuing through 2021. The foreign entities are a Mexican bank and an oil and gas company linked to the government of Azerbaijan, according to the Justice Department.

    In exchange for the bribes, Cuellar agreed to use his office for promoting favorable U.S. foreign policy towards Azarbaijan and pushing legislative and executive branch officials to adopt policy measures beneficial to the bank, authorities said.

    In 2022, Cuellar’s home and office were searched during a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and American businessmen linked to the Middle Eastern nation. Cuellar formerly co-chaired the congressional Azerbaijan caucus.

    Cuellar represents TX28. Republicans Jay Furman and Lazaro Garza Jr. are competing in the runoff to challenge Cuellar this fall.

  • Columbia shows some semblance of a spine, threatens to expel students occupying administrative buildings.
  • Related: “Columbia Student Who Said ‘Zionists Don’t Deserve To Live’ Reportedly ‘Thrown Out Of School.'”
  • Also: “Police Begin Detaining UCLA Protesters Occupying Campus.”
  • “Tucked away in the $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is a $3.5 billion slush fund to open new processing centers for Muslim migrants, in what Sen. Eric Schmitt described as a bid to “supercharge mass migration from the Middle East.” Republicans in congress asleep at the switch again.
  • Ukraine hits two more oil refineries.
  • It’s not just China that the CCP’s crazy policies are ruining. There are over 500 abandoned, unfinished buildings in Cambodia. A crackdown on online gambling also hastened the demise of many real estate ventures there.
  • Tranny sex offender tries to snatch a child from an elementary playground in broad daylight. “Trans-identifying male Solomon Galligan [simply] walked on campus last Friday afternoon during recess at Black Forest Hills Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, and straight-up tried to steal a kid.”

    The suspect, who is identified as male in the arrest affidavit, shared news of his transition on Facebook back in 2011.

    ‘So im starting my hormone shots and i relly cant wait im on my hormone pills ive been on them for almost 4 months i wake up all depressed and crying but in the end its gonna be totally worth it you know what io mean im really excited my measurements are already changing and im super thrilled,’ he wrote.

    Galligan was put on the sex offender registry and was convicted that same year of non-consent sexual contact, according to his latest arrest affidavit.

  • Another week, three more Texas teachers arrested for having sex with students.

    Ernest Herrera, 56, was arrested Monday after he admitted to sexual contact with a 13-year-old student, claiming they had “developed a relationship.”

    Herrera taught social studies at Southside Independent School District’s Losoya Middle School in San Antonio.

    He was charged with improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.

    Herrera was booked into Bexar County Jail and held on a $75,000 bond.

    The district superintendent stated that Herrera was fired “effective immediately.”

    Andrew McCown, 27, was arrested Wednesday and charged with having an “improper relationship” with a 17-year-old female student.

    McCown is a math teacher and football coach at Roosevelt High School in San Antonio’s North East ISD.

    He was reportedly placed on leave in March and will be terminated.

    McCown, who is related to former NFL quarterbacks Josh and Luke McCown, was arrested in 2022 for drunk driving while he was a teacher and coach at Robinson ISD.

    According to a statement to MySA, the district “conducted a background check on April 25, 2023, and at that time, it was clear and McCown was hired.”

    Another football coach, Perryton ISD athletic director Cole Underwood, was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony.

    The alleged victim is a Perryton High School student, reportedly a 14-year-old girl.

    Underwood was released from Ochiltree County Jail on Thursday after posting a $125,000 bond.

    According to a statement from Perryton ISD, Underwood resigned.

  • The new York case against Trump isn’t going so well for the prosecution. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • In a poll of Texas voters, Trump leads Biden by 9%, and Ted Cruz leads Democratic challenger Colin Allred by 13%. Usual “polls this far out are meaningless” caveats apply.
  • Four reform candidates elected to NRA board. Now they just need to replace all of Wayne’s cronies on the board for me to rejoin.

  • Democrats passing a “living wage” law for Seattle ensures that they can’t make a living wage.
  • Second Boeing whistleblower dies suddenly.

  • Chinese officials are asking villagers to take out fake business licenses. Is that for their own business scams, or to artificially pump up Chinese economic statistics?

  • Profiles in Cowardice: “PEN America, a leading nonprofit dedicated to free expression, canceled its 2024 World Voices Festival late last week under pressure from pro-Palestinian activists. Many writers affiliated with the organization either threatened to boycott the event unless PEN acceded to certain demands, including labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘genocide,’ or distanced themselves from the free-speech group in response to online pressure from pro-Palestinian activists.”
  • Monroe County, New York, Democratic District Attorney Sandra Doorley wants you to know that she’s simply better than you and doesn’t have to pull over for police.
  • Virtue signaling: Third Reich Edition.
  • Brandon Herrera has both a meme review and an update on his runoff against Tony Gonzalez for TX23.
  • OnlyFans camgirl paid to propagandize for the Biden Administration. It’s a shame she wasn’t paid for sex, since then American taxpayers could see the Biden administration paying money to screw someone other than themselves…
  • Sale of books from the library of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg results in $187,740 loss.
  • “Missionaries Travel From Africa To Bring The Gospel To United Methodist Church.”
  • History Repeats Itself As Communists Run Out Of Food.

    • Hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.





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    Posted in Communism, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Military, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Supreme Court, Texas | 4 Comments »

    Texas Sues Biden Over New ATF Rule

    May 2nd, 2024

    Another day, another Texas lawsuit against Biden Administration “legislation by regulatory fiat” overreach.

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alongside Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Gun Owners of America Texas director Wes Virdell, held a press conference on Wednesday morning announcing the filing of two lawsuits against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regarding new rules about private firearm sales.

    U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new rules adding definitions of certain terms under the Safer Communities Act that will expand the circumstances requiring individuals to obtain Federal Firearm Licenses (FFL) and perform background checks to sell guns. This is to close the so-called “gun show loophole,” which has been a priority for the Biden administration.

    If they are talking about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, there’s absolutely nothing in the text of the act about closing any “gun show loophole.”

    Texas’ lawsuit was filed on the morning of May 1, 2024 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division. It was filed by Texas with the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah; Jeff Tormey; Gun Owners of America; Gun Owners Foundation; Tennessee Firearms Association; and the Virginia Citizens Defense League also listed as plaintiffs.

    Kansas’ lawsuit was filed on the morning of May 1, 2024 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Delta Division. It was filed by Kansas alongside the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, with Phillip Journey, Allen Black, Donald Maxey, and the Chisholm Trail Antique Gun Association also listed as plaintiffs.

    Both lawsuits seek declaratory and injunctive relief.

    “Today, Texas is leading a multi-state coalition that is suing to stop the final rule issued by the ATF that criminalizes private firearm sales. Biden’s latest effort to unilaterally curtail our constitutional rights is completely illegal,” said Paxton in his speech.

    “Yet again, Joe Biden is weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to rip up the Constitution and destroy our citizens’ Second Amendment rights. This is a dramatic escalation of his tyrannical abuse of authority. With today’s lawsuit, it is my great honor to defend our Constitutionally-protected freedoms from the out-of-control federal government.”

    Kobach also spoke at the announcement of the lawsuits.

    “Biden’s latest attempt to strip away the Second Amendment rights of Americans through ATF regulations will make many law-abiding gun owners felons if they sell a firearm or two to family or friends. This rule is blatantly unconstitutional. We are suing to defend the Second Amendment rights of all Americans,” said Kobach.

    “Until now, those who repetitively purchased and sold firearms as a regular course of business had to become a licensee… This rule would put innocent firearm sales between law-abiding friends and family members within reach of federal regulation,” the Kansas court filing reads. “Such innocent sales between friends and family would constitute a felony if the seller did not in fact obtain a federal firearms license and perform a background check.”

    While not at the announcement, the attorneys general of Utah and Mississippi both offered statements in the lawsuit’s press release.

    “Nearly 40 years ago, Congress condemned ATF for targeting innocent gun owners instead of focusing on felons, calling ATF’s actions ‘reprehensible.’ Congress even changed the law to limit ATF’s authority. But ATF is at it again, this time trying to require a citizen selling even a single firearm to obtain a license. Utah is proud to join the 26 states — in three separate lawsuits— protecting their citizens from this bureaucratic overreach.” said Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.

    “By seeking to treat every legal gunowner as a commercial gun dealer and every gun sale or trade into a commercial transaction, this rule unmasks the Biden Administration’s anti-gun agenda in ways many of its other actions have not. The Second Amendment could never have contemplated this kind of regulation and it will not withstand scrutiny in the courts. On behalf of Mississippi gunowners, we are proud to stand with the citizens who have come forward in this lawsuit,” said Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.

    Twenty-five states are suing the ATF across both lawsuits. Florida has also filed its own suit against the ATF for declaratory and injunctive relief about the same rule.

    For those counting along on the home game, that’s more than half the states in the union suing the Biden Administration over their latest attempt at gun legislation by fiat.

    This is not the first lawsuit that Paxton has filed against the ATF this year. In February, the State of Texas sued the ATF over the Biden administration’s recent decision to redefine firearms with pistol braces as short-barrelled rifles under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

    Complete civilian disarmament has been a longterm goal of the Democratic Party, and to that end they would love to ensnare ordinary Americans in FFL laws and paperwork for private firearms transactions, despite such restrictions never being contemplated by the founding fathers. In the post-Bruen judicial landscape, expect the courts to be extremely skeptical of unconstitutional firearms regulation, especially those with no basis in the underlying statute language, and expect Paxton to notch another victory over the Biden Admistration in his belt.

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    Posted in Democrats, Guns, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Texas | 11 Comments »

    Observing 2024 Victims Of Communism Day

    May 1st, 2024

    Today is May 1st, which means that once again it’s time to observe Victims of Communism Day, remembering that a false, brutal ideology killed over 100 million people.

    VictimsofCommunismDay

    Last year I featured a Jordan Peterson video on the crimes of communism. This year, here’s a different Jordan B. Peterson video on the crimes of communism. This one takes a couple of minutes before he gets to the question.

    Quick pull quote: “Here’s a fun story: Do you know that it is now illegal for physicians to list starvation as the cause of death for a Venezuelan child in a hospital?”

    Here’s a list of memorials to the victims of communism.

    More information on the Holodomor can be found in Robert Conquest’s The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. Conquest estimated that for the entire Collectivization/”De-Kulakization”/Holodomor period (including the Soviet suppression of the Kazakhs and the Crimean Tartars, etc.) some 14.5 million died due to the actions of the Soviet government.

    I know that November 7 is also designated as Victims of Communism Day, but the crimes of communism are so vast that there’s no reason we can’t observe Victims of Communism Day twice a year.

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    Posted in Communism | 5 Comments »

    Abbott Joins DeSantis In Defying Biden’s Title IX Redefinition

    April 30th, 2024

    Forcing transexism down America’s throat seems to have become a top Democratic Party priority. But now Texas has joined Florida in rejecting the Biden Administration’s unilateral rewrite of Title IX by executive fiat.

    The Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) issued a new Title IX rule that includes changes to how federal civil rights law protects “discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”

    A key provision in the rule change now “Recognizes that preventing a person from participating in a recipient’s education program or activity consistent with their gender identity subjects that person to more than de minimis harm.”

    The Human Rights Campaign said the new rule will “protect LGBTQ+ students” in addition to reversing “Trump-era changes to Title IX that limited federal funded educational institutions’ obligation to address sexual harassment and assault and clarifies protections for pregnant and parenting students.”

    “For more than 50 years, Title IX has promised an equal opportunity to learn and thrive in our nation’s schools free from sex discrimination,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “These final regulations build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.”

    Title IX is a federal program that instructs educational institutions that receive federal funds from the DOE to carry out their educational programs “in a nondiscriminatory manner free of discrimination based on sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity.” Included in the issue areas of Title IX are athletics, financial assistance programs, admissions, recruitment, and sex-based harassment investigations.

    The actual text of Title IX as passed in 1972 said nothing about “sexual orientation or gender identity,” rather stating “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

    Not “orientation,” not “gender identity,” sex. As in the biological kind, where those with XX chromosomes are female and those with XY chromosomes are male.

    Gov. Greg Abbott issued a letter Monday to President Biden, saying, “Texas will not adhere to the new rules.”

    “I am instructing the Texas Education Agency to ignore your illegal dictate.”

    Following the Title IX rule changes, Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) penned a letter to Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath.

    “As Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, I am calling on you to promptly direct all superintendents in Texas to ignore the proposed changes to Title IX,” wrote Cain.

    “Additionally, I am calling on all Texas superintendents to publicly commit to disregarding this directive from the Biden Administration.”

    The Texas Freedom Caucus followed with its own letter to Morath expressing similar concerns, stating they “urge” him to “instruct all Texas superintendents to disregard these proposed alterations.”

    Other state governors and education chiefs in Florida, Louisiana, Montana, and South Carolina have issued similar disregard directives.

    Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has been particularly vocal in his opposition.

    Florida rejects Joe Biden’s attempts to rewrite Title IX. We will not comply. And we will fight back. We are not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into women’s activities. We are not going to let Joe Biden undermine the rights of parents. And we are not going to let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida…

    We will not comply.

    Back to Texas:

    Attorney General Ken Paxton has also sued the Biden administration and the DOE over the Title IX rule change.

    “Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology,” wrote Paxton in a press release.

    “This attempt to subvert federal law is plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality. Texas will always take the lead to oppose Biden’s extremist, destructive policies that put women at risk.”

    The complaint argues the DOE “has attempted to effect radical social change in our Nation’s schools” and that the new Title IX rule “walks back many of the constitutional safeguards issued by the Trump Administration to ensure that students accused of harassment have access to a fair hearing.”

    Snip.

    “This rule violates existing federal law, ignores the Constitution, and denies women the protections that Title IX was intended to afford them,” AFL stated in a press release. “The Biden Administration has exceeded its authority and radically distorted the meaning intended by Congress when the law was made.

    The radical transexism the Biden Administration is trying to shove down America’s throats may be popular with the hard left social justice warriors who now man the levers of the Democratic Party’s political machinery, but it’s deeply unpopular with ordinary Americans of both sexes and all races, creeds, and colors. It’s an alien, anti-reality ideology being imposed from without with no basis in any law passed by congress, and resistance to its irrational dictates is both widely popular and a constitutional necessity.

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    Posted in Democrats, Regulation, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 3 Comments »

    What Is Maintaining The Ruble-USD Band?

    April 29th, 2024

    I’m hardly an expert in foreign currency exchange, but something odd seems to be happening in the Russian Ruble-U.S. Dollar exchange rate.

    Obviously, the ruble has lost value because of the extensive sanctions and cutoff from SWIFT following Russia’s launch of its illegal war of territorial aggression against Ukraine. For most of the last year, the exchange rate has bounced from a high of 75 rubles to the dollar to a low of just over 100 rubles to the dollar.

    However, in the last month, the ruble-dollar exchange rate has traded within an extremely narrow band between just over 90 and just over 94 rubles to the dollar.

    That’s a pretty unusual, and pretty narrow, band to be trading in. The question is who, or what, is maintaining that band. Russia could be intervening to make sure the ruble doesn’t go too much above 94, but it wouldn’t make sense for them (if they’re trying to defend the currency) to be sellers on the other side when the ruble appreciates to 90 or less per dollar. Could it be China, trying to move some of the rubles taken in bilateral trade, or some institutional investor somehow stuck with rubles for two two years, unloading them whenever it hits that peg?

    But it’s not just the dollar! We see the same thing with the Pound:

    And the Euro:

    It even seems true of two of Russia’s remaining big trading partners. The Indian rupee:

    The Chinese Renminbi/Yuan:

    All seem to be trading within very narrow, oscillating bands.

    Is it a data artifact? Other currency exchange sites don’t show quite as obvious oscillation, but all do show trading within that narrow band.

    I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t know enough to hazard any more educated guesses than that. But someone seems to be manipulating ruble exchange rates, and I’m not sure why.

    If you have any ideas, feel free to share them below.

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    Posted in Economics, Foreign Policy | 9 Comments »

    Tax-Free Preparedness Weekend Going On Now

    April 28th, 2024

    Today and tomorrow are the last two days of the Texas Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday:

    These emergency preparation supplies qualify for tax exemption if purchased for a sales price:

  • Less than $3000
    • Portable generators
  • Less than $300
    • Emergency ladders
    • Hurricane shutters
  • Less than $75

    • The Comptroller page notes that online sales count, so I’ve thrown up some Amazon links, most from my recent cold weather prep/gift guide.

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    Posted in Texas | 5 Comments »

    Texas Peace Officer Memorial This Weekend

    April 28th, 2024

    Yes, this is already halfway over, but I only found out about it tonight: There’s a Texas Peace Officers Memorial Weekend happening this weekend (April 27-28) at the Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial on the grounds of the state capitol.

    A PDF detailing events and times can be found here.

    I’m not sure if any of the usual leftwing idiots (the ones calling for the death of police officers) will be there to cause a scene, but it wouldn’t surprise me…

    (Hat tip: RoadRich.)

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    Posted in Austin, Crime, Texas | No Comments »

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