Posts Tagged ‘Austin’

LinkSwarm For March 21, 2025

Friday, March 21st, 2025

More DOGE revelations, more leftwing violence, more pervert school teachers arrested, Baltimore builds a ghost city, astronauts get rescued, DVDs rot, and a bunch of fierce togers with a gentle mom.

It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

  • Hamas-linked CAIR was given over $7,200,000 in taxpayer money, and that money is unaccounted for.

    Muslim charity with links to Hamas was awarded more than $7.2 million in taxpayer cash, which has now disappeared, according to a watchdog group.

    An “immediate investigation” needs to be launched into The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) California chapter’s use of funds, according to the watchdog, who sent a complaint to the Department of Justice Thursday.

    According to the Intelligent Advocacy Network (IAN), a California-based, non-partisan advocacy group, the money was given to the chapter to help re-settle impoverished immigrants in California between 2022 and 2024.

    In what appears to be a sleight of hand, the money – $7,217,968.44 — was sent to CAIR-Greater Los Angeles and not to CAIR-CA, which was the only group eligible to receive it, according to the complaint.

    The Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Muslim organization, which is not a registered non-profit and not eligible to handle charitable donations, received the entire pot of money according to the complaint, viewed by The Post.

    I think we all know where that money went: Leftwing pockets and murdering Jews.

  • Trump Signs Executive Order Dismantling Department of Education.”

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday shuttering the Department of Education, fulfilling a long-standing conservative wish to do away with the agency.

    Trump’s order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take the “necessary steps” to close the $268 billion agency and transfer its authority back to the states. The order does not immediately shutter the agency, and it will require programs and services to continue uninterrupted.

    “Everybody knows it’s right,” Trump said moments before signing the order, which he said was 45 years in the making. “We have to get our children educated.”

    The long-expected executive order will likely face significant legal challenges over whether Trump has the authority to dismantle the agency. Fully closing down the Department of Education will require congressional approval.

    Since the days of President Ronald Reagan, Republicans have sought to eliminate the Department of Education, created in 1979 under former President Jimmy Carter, for its role in promoting left-wing ideology and encroaching on state authority. The Education Department’s responsibilities primarily consist of allocating grant money, administering student loans, and enforcing federal civil rights laws

    Trump has long promised to terminate the agency and empower states to run their own education systems without federal interference. Shuttering the Education Department was a bullet point on the 2024 GOP platform.

    National Review seems to think Trump’s plan is more flawed than the previous Republican Presidential attempts to shutter the Department of Education by not doing a goddamn thing…

  • Republican Congresswoman Harriet Hageman explains exactly what the Department of Education does with your money.

    The Department of Education has a budget of about $280 billion dollars per year. Less than 25% goes to educating our students.

    It goes to a bureaucracy. It goes to a consultant. And that consultant then donates money back to the Democrats. And then it goes to a different consultant. And then it goes to an NGO. It is money laundering and money churning at its absolute best.

    It appears that the entire point of both the Biden and Obama Administrations was to turn the entirety of the federal government into a giant graft machine for the radical left.

  • “Paxton Opinion States District Courts Cannot Order Sex Changes on Government ID.” State district courts can no longer direct state agencies to change a person’s sex on government documents.”
  • “Trump Administration Pauses $175 Million in Funding to UPenn over Refusal to Bar Men from Women’s Sports.” Defunding will continue until sanity improves.
  • Victor Davis Hanson: The left knew they were lying to us.

    For years, the left has advanced utter untruths for cheap partisan purposes that it knew at the time were all false. And now when caught, they just shrug and say they were lying all along.

    Once it was known that the first COVID-19 case originated in or near a Chinese communist virology lab engineering gain-in-function deadly viruses—with help from Western agencies—the left went into full persecution mode.

    They damned as incompetent, racist, and conspiratorial any who dared follow logic and evidence to point out that the Chinese government and its military were both culpable for the virus and lying.

    A million Americans died of COVID. Millions more suffered long-term injuries. Still, the left-wing media and Biden administration demonized any who dared speak the truth about a lab origin of the deadly virus.

    The lies were designed to protect the guilty who had helped fund the virus’s origins, such as Doctors Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins.

    The Biden government also tried to use the lab theory to ridicule a supposedly pro-Trump “conspiracy.”

    Western corporate interests deeply invested in China did not want their partner held responsible for veritably killing and maiming hundreds of millions worldwide.

    Almost as soon as Joe Biden was inaugurated, the left knew that he was physically and mentally unable to serve as president.

    Indeed, that was the point.

    Biden’s role was designed as a waxen figurine for hard-left agendas that, without the “old Joe Biden from Scranton” pseudo-moderate veneer, could never have been advanced.

    His handlers operated a nightmare administration: the destruction of deterrence abroad, two theater wars, 12 million illegal aliens, a weaponized justice system, hyperinflation, and $7 trillion more in debt.

    By 2017, the public knew three truths about the so-called Christopher Steele dossier.

    One, it was completely fallacious—fabricated by a has-been, ex-British spy Christopher Steele. He childishly had cobbled together lurid sex stories, James Bond spy fictions, and Russian-fed disinformation to destroy the Trump candidacy and later presidency.

    Two, it was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. She hid her checks behind the Democratic National Committee, the Perkins Coie law firm, and Fusion GSP paywalls.

    Three, the FBI under James Comey hired Steele as an informant. It helped disseminate his concocted files and was also instrumental in trying to subvert the Trump campaign and later administration.

    No sane person ever believed that Hunter Biden’s laptop was the work of “Russian disinformation.” Its contents a year before the 2020 election were verified by the FBI, but it kept mum about its confirmation.

    The pornographic pictures, the evidence of prostitution and drug use, the electronic communications implicating Joe Biden in his family’s illicit shake-down operation of foreign governments—all were never challenged by anyone who was associated with the laptop’s contents.

    Yet future Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, along with former interim CIA Director Mike Morrell, sought to fabricate a colossal lie to arm their candidate, Joe Biden, with plausible denial in the last presidential debate before the 2020 election.

    They rounded up a rogue’s gallery of 51 now utterly discredited former intelligence authorities to lie to the nation that the laptop was likely fake.

    All knew the FBI had verified the laptop. But they also knew that their titles would empower their lies that the Russians likely invented the laptop to aid the sinister Trump.

  • Fort Worth Teacher Arrested for Online Solicitation of a Minor. Christopher Rhodes was placed on leave from Young Men’s Leadership Academy during the investigation.”
  • Austin Elementary Teacher Jailed for Possessing ‘Large Quantity’ of Child Sex Abuse Material. Carl Innmon taught sign language at Baranoff Elementary School in Austin ISD.”
  • The question of whether federal judges can review alien deportation orders under the Alien Enemy Act has already been decided in Ludecke v. Watkins. “The Alien Enemy Act precludes judicial review of the removal order.” Pp. 163-166. (Hat tip: Grim’s Hall.)
  • Sanity: ” New York’s Highest Court Blocks NYC Law Allowing Noncitizens to Vote. ‘Instead, it is plain from the language and restrictions contained in Article II that “citizen” is not meant as a floor, but as a condition of voter eligibility.'”
  • You may not have heard in another packed news week, but once again Recep Tayyip Erdogan is doing Erdogan things in Turkey.

    Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s mayor and a high-profile member of the opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested along with dozens of others Wednesday, state-run media reported, in what critics said was a significant escalation of the government’s crackdown on dissent.
    Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.

    The chief public prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest of about 100 people Wednesday, saying Imamoglu and others faced allegations including membership in criminal organization, bribery, aggravated fraud and unlawful acquisition of personal data. More than 80 people had been detained so far, according to local media reports.

    Imamoglu, a popular politician and member of the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, became mayor of Turkey’s largest city in 2019 and won reelection last year in high-profile races where he defeated candidates from Erdogan’s ruling party. He was expected to be selected as the CHP’s candidate for president in the party’s primary elections scheduled for this weekend. The mayorship of Istanbul is seen as a political stepping stone: Erdogan once held the role.

    Over two decades in power, Erdogan has tightened his control over state institutions and deepened restrictions on speech and expression, including within the judiciary, bringing charges against and imprisoning opponents. He has also exerted widespread control over the media, universities and other institutions.

  • Lefties suffering from Musk Derangement Syndrome are attacking Tesla centers.

    US Attorney General Pam Bondi released a statement overnight, calling the “violent attacks” on Tesla showrooms, service centers, Supercharger networks, and vehicles “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”

    “The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences,” Bondi stated in a press release.

    She continued: “We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”

    The latest domestic terrorism attack on Tesla occurred at a service center in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning.

  • And of course a Soros-funded NGO is paying for the campaign of terror.

    ver the next few days you’re going to see an organized progressional protest effort at Tesla stores put together by a group called Indivisible.

    George Soros foundation has given Indivisible nearly $8 million dollars for their “activism”.

    They’re calling these “Tesla takedown” events and they’re doing it in the midst of a domestic terror spree targeting Tesla and Tesla owners. They have these planned across the entire country. These images are just six examples.

    How can this not be seen as encouraging more violence and terrorism? I personally think that any violence occurring near locations they’ve chosen should result in Soros, his foundation, Indivisible and their founders being held criminally accountable as co-conspirators.

    The indivisible founders are Ezra Levin and his wife Leah Greenberg. They became “resistance” figures during Trump’s first term and their work is celebrated by elected Democrats. So yeah, it’s clear to me that the Democrats and their typical thugs are organizing this insanity.

    There’s reportedly even a form protest leaders can fill out to receive “reimbursement” payments for their protests.

  • “So the way you fight Nazis in 2025 is paint swastikas on Jewish people’s cars.”
  • Naturally, the Daily Show audience cheered at the news.
  • Meanwhile, Musk’s SpaceX Dragon crew compartment was busy returning stranded astronauts to earth, a path I’m assuming the Biden Administration didn’t pursue because there was no way to rake off leftwing graft from the rescue mission…
  • Plus Trump says they’ll get overtime, even if has pay it out of his own pocket:

    (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)

  • People called up North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis’ office to express polite disagreement with his policies. Ha, just kidding! They threatened to kill him and his family.
  • “Two Texas Universities Investigated by U.S. Department of Education for ‘Race-Exclusionary Practices.'” That would be Rice University and North Texas University.
  • Trump releases the JFK files and they raise more questions.
  • New York Times is now saying that lab leak theory is now plausible, after years of attacking anyone who mentioned it as “conspiracy theorists.” And yes, Not The Bee used the Hot Dog Guy meme.

  • “Federal Prosecutors Secure Convictions for 2022 Human Smuggling Event that Killed 53.”

    Federal prosecutors announced the convictions of two of the human smugglers responsible for the horrific 2022 mass casualty event wherein 53 people were killed and 11 injured after being locked into a tractor-trailer and left in the Texas heat.

    The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) described the tragedy as the single deadliest human smuggling case in U.S. history at the time. Four men, all Mexican nationals, were charged in connection with the crime: 30-year-old Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 28-year-old Felipe Orduna-Torres, 37-year-old Luis Rivera-Leal, and 53-year-old Armando Gonzales-Ortega.

    Fast forward, and the DOJ confirmed in a press statement that Orduna-Torres and Gonzalez-Ortega were convicted for their roles in the alien smuggling conspiracy that led to the deaths.

  • In Mexico: There’s a big difference between “screwing up” and accidentally killing three of your fellow guardsman in a negligent discharge. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Speaking of negligent discharges, Brandon Herrera did not appreciate Sig Saur’s media team trying to gaslight people over the P320’s well-documented issues .
  • Japan’s “evaporated people,” who completely abandon their previous life, family and friends to move to slums anonymously. Some similarities with American homeless or China’s “lie flat” movement, but I get the impression a big difference is that evaporated people are primarily motivated by shame of failure.
  • Baltimore offers tax incentives to inner harbor development project, only to create a ghost city.
  • Kotaku gets a defamation lawsuit by former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. Some people are calling it “Gawker 2.0.”
  • Another day, another indicted rap mogul.

    A music bigwig who helped launch Nipsey Hussle’s career and was lauded as rap’s “godfather” has been accused of running a “Mafia-like” criminal enterprise involving murder, human trafficking, robbery and extortion on the streets of Los Angeles.

    Eugene Henley Jr. — known as “Big U” in the entertainment world — was one of 18 members of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips street gang charged in a sprawling federal racketeering complaint, the US Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

    Henley has “maintained the image of an entertainment industry entrepreneur running a music label and of somebody who gives back to the community here in Los Angeles,” US Attorney Joseph T. McNally said while announcing the indictment.

    (Hat tip: Dwight.)

  • Carl Erik Rinsch, the guy who $55 million from Netflix to make an SF miniseries and instead bought stocks and Dogecoin has finally been indicted.
  • Amazon driver goes ballistic, cussing out woman’s doorbell camera for “buying all this shit.” Turns out the woman is in a wheelchair. Pink slip ensues.
  • New Yorker art critic Jackson Arn fired for “making ‘inappropriate overtures’ at some of the party guests and appeared to be drunk.” I hold no water for Arn (a lefty who used to write for The Nation) or Conde Naste (Teen Vogue), but “getting drunk and making a pass” at a holiday party used to be a forgivable sin in corporate American, but the woke religion of social justice is incapable of offering forgiveness or redemption. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Looks like I’m one of the authors that Meta ripped off to train their AI on without permission.
  • Warner Brothers DVD bit rot is a real problem.
  • A simplified description of how your brain actually operates. I wouldn’t take it as gospel, but I’m regretting that I never actually read Marvin Minsky’s The Society of Mind
  • Rick Beato interviews Hans Zimmer. “The job is not to listen to the director telling you what the music is he wants, because if if he knows what music he wants, then he can do it himself. My job is to sort of listen to him tell me the story and then do the thing that he can’t even imagine.”
  • “Federal Judge Orders Astronauts Be Returned To Space Station.”
  • “Democrats Say Fire At Tesla Facility Likely Caused By Climate Change.”
  • “Single Woman Constantly Stressed With No Man Around To Tell Her To Relax.”
  • Pack of tigers has Golden mom:

    (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)

  • I’m between jobs again. Feel free to hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.





    UT Austin Still Infected With DEI

    Thursday, March 20th, 2025

    The lefty sorts running my alma mater these days are at it again. Despite pushes at the state and national level to rid universities of poisonous racist policies, DEI/CRT is still alive and well at the University of Texas at Austin.

    A new report shows the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Education is riddled with critical race theory and other leftwing ideologies.

    Last year, a state law took effect that requires universities to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and eliminate discriminatory hiring and training programs. It does not apply to instruction.

    Sounds like an oversight to me. Governor Abbott should appoint people to the board of regents who are willing to completely hack DEI out of the system, root and branch.

    Nonprofit research organization DeepAudit analyzed 450 UT education syllabi using a machine learning algorithm and identified courses with the highest concentration of CRT and DEI material.

    Seven of the ten courses ranked most ideologically-driven fall under the university’s curriculum and instruction department.

    DeepAudit’s algorithm scanned for courses that emphasize “equity, diversity, social justice, critical pedagogy, critical consciousness, [and] identitarian political activism.”

    According to the nonprofit’s website, its machine learning tool “can help institutions comply with state and federal mandates by using semantic analysis” to assess meaning and context beyond simple keyword searches.

    “A reporter investigating DEI and CRT in schools of education would typically have to review every course individually,” reads the report. “Such a process is a barrier to analysis as many schools offer hundreds of education courses.”

    “While many have heard reports of critical race theory in schools, few realize how widespread the problem is,” Jonah Davids, a founder of DeepAudit told Texas Scorecard. “These ideas are rarely expressed so openly, and instead are often hidden under labels like ‘culturally-responsive teaching’ and ‘social-emotional learning.’”

    “Most legislators, parents, and taxpayers who fund universities have no idea this is happening,” Davids said. “We only looked at one college in one university—who knows how much is out there?”

    Foundations of United States Schooling, the UT course that contained the most leftist bias, is required for education majors. It touches on the “development of public schooling in the United States in the context of processes of settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and contests over the meaning of democracy.”

    An online summary of the course also says it “examine[s] the politics and policy of education, with special attention to the consequences for students of color, Indigenous students, LGBTQIA students, immigrant students, and students with disabilities.”

    Required course readings involved transgender advocacy, decolonization, and critical pedagogy.

    According to DeepAudit, the ten UT Austin education courses most infused with CRT are:

    • EDC312 Foundations of United States Schooling
    • EDC319 Qualitative Inquiry and Education for Social Change
    • EDC385G Seminar Program Development and Research
    • EDP382G Cultural Diversity and Individual Differences
    • EDC380F Sociocultural Foundations
    • ELP354S Social Awareness and Critical Consciousness in Student Affairs
    • EDC395T Learning Technologies
    • ELP354D Equity and Diversity Issues in Education
    • EDC395L Language and Literacy Studies
    • EDC391G Gender and Race in Education

    While sunlight is the best disinfectant, when it comes to UT and other top university systems, the state political establishment has frequently declared “We like our cozy corruption just fine, so please take your disinfectant away and put back the rock.” Such was the case when UT Board regent Wallace Hall uncovered an admissions scandal, and his reward was Joe Straus trying to indict him.

    Still, some progress has been made. Back in 2020, UT disbanded its PC police, and it’s at least appeared to comply with shutting down DEI programs, but more needs to be done.

    Despite the overwhelming opposition of the voters and elected leaders at the state and national level, many colleges (UT Austin included) still seem to feel that their primary purpose is to indoctrinate students in the victimhood identity politics of the radical left. Universities, UT Austin included, need severe cuts in funding and heavy supervision until they finally stamp out woke indoctrination on their campuses.

    LinkSwarm For March 14, 2025

    Friday, March 14th, 2025

    Government leftists at USAID call to break the law to cover their tracks, DOGE uncovers still more outrageous examples of government waste, Democratic bagman john Podesta showered billions on newly created NGOs, billions in LA homeless funds are unaccounted for, Syrian jihadis slaughter civilians, more pedo teachers get caught, lobbyists rake in big bucks, and the heart-stopping thrills of a man…baking.

    It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

  • “Shred And Burn All Documents”: USAID Staff Ordered To Destroy Evidence On Tuesday.” How is this not committing multiple felonies?

    A senior USAID official on Tuesday ordered the agency’s remaining staff to report to their now-former headquarters in Washington DC for an “all day” group effort to destroy documents, many of which contain sensitive information, Politico reports.

    The materials marked for destruction include “classified safes and personnel documents” at the Ronald Reagan Building, according to an email sent by USAID’s acting executive director, Erica Carr.

    “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” read the email instructing staff to label the burn bags with “SECRET” and “USAID/B/IO” (which stands for “bureau or independent office”) in dark sharpie.

    Again, how is this not breaking the The Federal Records Act and other laws against destroying evidence?

  • EPA $375B Climate Slush Fund Handled by John Podesta Only Gave to New Charities.”

    Legal Insurrection readers may recall that late last year, Brent Efron, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) special advisor implementing Biden’s climate agenda, made many controversial statements during an undercover video about the agency’s actions in anticipation of a potential Trump administration.

    Efron reportedly told Project Veritas that the EPA was rapidly distributing billions of dollars in grants to nonprofits as an “insurance policy” against Trump winning the election. He described the situation as “throwing gold bars off the Titanic,” referring to the urgency with which the agency allocates funds.

    Now the Trump Administration has followed those gold bars. An exclusive report by the New York Post indicates the trail of those bars led back to Deep State Obama/Biden minion, John Podesta.

    The story began in September 2022, when Biden named Podesta to helm the $375 billion climate fund, which resulted from the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 law that was basically “Green New Deal” poison hidden beneath a wrapper of sweet economic promises.

    Here is how The New York Times announced the 2022 fund creation:

    As a senior adviser to Mr. Biden on clean energy innovation, Mr. Podesta will shape how the government disburses billions of dollars in tax credits and incentives to industries that are developing wind and solar energy, as well as to consumers who want to install solar panels, heat and cool their homes with electric heat pumps or buy electric vehicles.

    ..In an interview, Mr. Podesta described his new job as “throwing the weight of federal government policy behind a cycle of investment and innovation that we haven’t seen before in the United States, and that is almost unique in the world.”

    There was absolutely no questioning by The New York Times as to where these monies would go, or how the funds would be used to help either our climate or energy industry.

    On the other hand, the New York Post has a map of the gold bar trail. Apparently, billions went to “Non-Governmental Organizations” that were founded after the fund was created.

    The Biden administration funneled at least $20 billion dollars into environmental groups, most of which had only recently been founded, The Post has discovered.

    In one case, former Vice President Kamala Harris handed over a check for nearly $7 billion to Bethesda, Maryland, based group Climate United Fund, which does not appear in the IRS’s charities database, and has no federal filings.

    The non-profit fund had only been incorporated in Delaware on November 30, 2023, according to public records, five months before Harris handed over the cash in April 2024.

    The Climate United Fund then announced “the historic investment” in a press release, noting the group’s work “delivers benefits like cleaner air…and increased energy security.”’

    However, because the company is so new, there is no publicly published accounting of how it plans to spend the $7 billion.

    Climate Fund, which received nearly $7 billion in Biden Climate Gold, was just one of eight similarly set-up entities. Others are:

    • Coalition for Green Capital: Received $5 billion
    • Power Forward Communities: Received $2 billion
    • Opportunity Finance Network: Received $2.29 billion
    • Inclusiv: Received $1.87 billion
    • Justice Climate Fund: Received $940 million
    • Appalachian Community Capital: Received $500 million
    • Native CDFI Network: Received $400 million

    Every one of these should be sued and audited.

  • Schumer caves, Senate passes Republican spending bill.
  • “Federal Judge Denies Request To Block DOGE From Accessing Treasury Data.” Good.
  • Exposed: Secret Pact Between 14 Blue States, Left-Wing Groups, and NYC Law Firms.”

    Well, well, well. It’s hardly a surprise to discover that the wave of lawsuits against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is no coincidence. The Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation has obtained a copy of a secret agreement outlining a coordinated legal offensive—an alliance between 14 blue states, left-wing activist groups, and prominent NYC law firms—all targeting DOGE and Musk himself.

    What is surprising, however, is that they actually formalized their nefarious intentions.

    Signed less than a month after DOGE began operations, this agreement is yet another example of the Democrats’ “whatever it takes” brand of political warfare.

    The document begins:

    This Common Interest Agreement (“Agreement) is made and entered into by and between the States of New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, Califomia [sic], Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington and State Democracy Defenders Fund (the “Parties”). The Parties have agreed that they have a common interest in developing legal strategies to challenge the creation and actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE) and the actions of Elon Musk as a special government employee and a common interest in existing or future investigative, regulatory, administrative, and judicial actions or inactions, including but not limited to any administrative or judicial proceedings related to or arising from those legal strategies (“Matters of Common Interest”).

    “The Democrats are on the wrong end of an 80-20 issue, fighting tooth and nail to block a federal government audit that has already uncovered more than $105 billion in fraud, waste, and abuse. A recent Harvard/Harris poll shows that 76% of voters support DOGE’s efforts, yet Democrats—whose job is to represent the interests of their constituents—have gone to extraordinary lengths to obstruct it, even putting their opposition in writing.”

  • “The top 20 wildest revelations about Arabella Advisors and how they’ve redirected American tax dollars—or leveraged tax-exempt structures—for actions largely hidden from the American public.”

    1. Billions in “Dark Money” Outpacing Political Parties
    Arabella’s network raised $2.4 billion in the 2020 election cycle, dwarfing the combined fundraising of the Democratic and Republican National Committees. This tax-exempt cash, hidden from public scrutiny, fueled anti-Trump campaigns and progressive agendas, all while average Americans had no clue their tax system enabled it. It’s a shadow operation that makes traditional political spending look like pocket change.

    2. Fake Grassroots “Pop-Ups” Everywhere
    The Sixteen Thirty Fund, an Arabella spoke, spins up temporary “pop-up” groups like Floridians for a Fair Shake or Opportunity Wisconsin, which vanish after their mission—say, attacking a senator or pushing a ballot measure—is done. These tax-exempt fronts, funded by anonymous donors, masquerade as local movements while redirecting millions to sway elections, leaving taxpayers blind to the manipulation. It’s a conveyor belt of synthetic activism, exploiting 501(c) loopholes.

    3. Funding Supreme Court Protests
    Demand Justice, birthed by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, spent millions opposing Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation, complete with costumed activists and aggressive ad blitzes. This tax-exempt war chest didn’t just influence public opinion—it tried to bully the judiciary, all subsidized by a tax code Americans fund. Most folks never connected the dots to Arabella’s puppet strings behind the chaos.

    4. Zuck Bucks’ Election Meddling
    Arabella’s New Venture Fund funneled $25 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which then got $350 million from Mark Zuckerberg to “administer” 2020 elections—read: juice Democratic turnout in swing states. Tax-exempt dollars turned local election offices into partisan tools, and the public was none the wiser about this backdoor power grab. It’s a masterclass in using charity status to rig the game.

    5. Foreign Billionaires Pulling Levers
    Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has pumped at least $208 million into the Sixteen Thirty Fund since 2016, exploiting tax laws that let foreigners bankroll U.S. political causes through “dark pools.” This foreign cash—untouchable by direct campaign finance rules—shapes American policy, yet taxpayers footing the system’s bill don’t even know his name. It’s a loophole so big you could drive a Swiss bank vault through it.

    Read the whole thing.

  • Los Angeles Lost Track Of Billions In Homelessness Funding, Audit Finds.” Of course it did. It disappeared into lots of leftwing pockets.

    he report painted a grim picture of Los Angeles’ homeless program managed by Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which was established in 1993.

    “Repetitive information gaps, coupled with a lack of accurate and complete data and documentation, posed significant obstacles to this assessment,” the report states.

    “Insufficient financial accountability led to an inability to trace substantial funds allocated to the City Programs. Fragmented data systems across LAHSA, the City, and the County and inconsistent reporting formats made it challenging to verify spending and the number of beds or units reported by the City and LAHSA, track participant outcomes, and align financial data with performance metrics.”

    The report also cites a paucity of uniform data standards and real-time oversight, which limited the ability of the auditor to fully assess the true impact of homeless programs and raised concerns of resource misallocation.

    A&M found that key stakeholders failed to monitor homelessness programs, and that LAHSA was unable to identify relevant service provider contracts and expenses. It also found gaps in documentation.

    Of course there are gaps in documentation. That’s to hide the graft disappearing into leftwing pockets…

  • “Obama fixed healthcare so well that Americans borrowed $74 BILLION last year to receive medical care.”
  • Putin has a whole host of unreasonable demands for a ceasefire.
    • Crimea, Sevastopol, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk — these are regions of Russia. They are written into the constitution. This is a given fact,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. That amounts to one-fifth of Ukraine’s legitimate, internationally recognized pre-war territory. Putin demands that Ukraine permanently renounce any claim to these territories.
    • Ukraine must disarm itself of any NATO weapons. Of course, the top suppliers of the Ukrainian military are the United States with $69.7 billion worth of weapons systems and ammunition since the start of the war, Germany with $13.7 billion worth, the United Kingdom at $10.8 billion worth, Denmark at $8.1 billion worth, Sweden at $5.1 billion worth, Poland at $3.9 billion worth, France at $3.8 billion worth, and Canada at $2.8 billion worth. (All figures from the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine support tracker, converted from Euros to dollars, and as of December 31, 2024.) All those countries are NATO members, and thus, under the Russian demands, Ukraine would have to give up all weapons systems received from those countries. This amounts to a unilateral disarming of the Ukrainian military, in exchange for a promise from a former KGB lieutenant colonel that he will not start the war again.
    • Putin also demanded that Ukraine cap its military size. Previously, Putin had demanded Ukraine limit the size of its army to 50,000 troops. As of January, the Ukrainian army is 880,000 troops, meaning that Russia wants the Ukrainian army to be reduced to less than 6 percent of its current size.
    • According to CNN, “Putin also suggested that Ukraine halt mobilization and any training of its troops, and that other nations stop supplying weapons to Kyiv during the ceasefire.” Halt any training of troops.
    • Putin insisted no foreign peacekeepers can enter Ukrainian territory.
    • Ukraine must abandon the idea of NATO membership. While the Trump administration had already made this concession before negotiations began, note that Putin is establishing a system where he gets a veto over which countries NATO can accept.
    • The U.S. must return six diplomatic compounds that Russia contends were seized illegally by the United States between 2016 and 2018.
    • All Western economic sanctions upon Russia are illegal and must be lifted.

    Hell no.

  • Ukraine hits Moscow with over 70 drones.
  • They also hit a Leningrad oil refinery, which is a long damn way from Ukraine.
  • City of Asheville, NC insists that it still gets to discriminate by race. I don’t think that’s going to work out well for them…
  • “Trump’s Department of Education launches “End DEI” portal to report DEI discrimination in schools.”
  • Dave Rubin and Peter Thiel discuss why mainstream academia may be more about securing funding than pursuing breakthroughs and how hyper-specialization and peer review contribute to a stagnant scientific enterprise that resists fundamental challenges.

    Bob [Robert B.] Laughlin, who’s a physics professor at Stanford, he got a Nobel Prize in Physics 1998. And he suffered from the extreme delusion that once he got a Nobel Prize in Physics, he’d be free to look at anything he wanted to. And the area of science that he went after was: he was convinced that most scientists, even at a place like Stanford, weren’t really doing very much work, weren’t doing very much science, were stealing money from taxpayers…This was a more this was a more taboo question, more taboo topic, than just going narrowly after climate science, or, you know, or any of these things. And obviously, he got promptly defunded and his grad students couldn’t get PhDs anymore. [My] sort of hermeneutic of suspicion is that if there’s a topic you can’t discuss, if there ideas you aren’t allowed to articulate, my shortcut is they’re just true.

  • Remember all the way back in 1986, when the New York Times blithely asserted as fact that evangelicals are “more easily led than other kinds of voters?” Well, just last we they asserted that “a majority of gun owners are white, conservative, male and from rural areas.” The first three are probably true, and the fourth definitely not, and no one who was even passingly familiar with gun culture would make that mistake…
  • Hundreds Of Civilians Massacred In Syria By Jihadist Government.” Try to contain your shock.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz pinned the massacre on the country’s new leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, which was an offshoot of Al-Qaeda and was close to ISIS.

    “Al-Julani took off his [robe], put on a suit, and presented a moderate facade,” Katz wrote in a post on X that included a video of scores of people who had been massacred. “Now, he has removed the mask, revealing his true face: a jihadist terrorist from the Al-Qaeda school, committing atrocities against the Alawite civilian population.”

    Murdering members of other religions is never far from the average jihadi mind.

  • Israel made the right call in bombing the crap out of Syria’s military.

    Just a day after the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had seized Damascus, and Bashar Assad had fled to Moscow, Assad’s army crumbled into dust, with soldiers ripping off their uniforms so as to avoid being killed by vengeful, and now triumphant, rebels. Those soldiers left largely unattended huge quantities of weaponry. The IDF seized the occasion to improve its defensive posture against Syria. There was a brief window of just a few days, between the fall of Assad and the regime in Damascus stabilizing and taking control of those abandoned weapons, during which the IDF did two things. First, it moved Israeli soldiers into Syria, where they established two new military outposts, one on the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon, and one extending further into Syria from the pre-existing buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan. Now the IDF controls the commanding heights that extend into Syria; the Israelis have a clear unimpeded view of Damascus — now literally in their sights — far below.

    The second undertaking, which began just as soon as Assad had left for Russia, was the IDF’s systematic destruction of the Syrian army’s weaponry. The Israelis knew exactly where the weapons were located; they had long been preparing for a possible war against Assad, and had their target bank ready.

    The IDF announced on December 10 that its air force and navy had conducted over 480 strikes in Syria in the span of 48 hours, 350 of which targeted airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, missiles, drones, fighter jets, tanks, and weapon production sites, destroying between 70% and 80% of Syria’s strategic weapons. It also sank Syria’s navy. And there was nothing that Ahmed al-Sharaa and the men of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham could do about it. Now Israel has not only made itself much safer, having removed Syria as a viable military threat to the Jewish state, but also has “demilitarized” the Jihadists in Damascus.

    We have just seen that after al-Sharaa’s repeated promise that Syria’s minorities had nothing to worry about, decently, the jihadist “security services” — as they call themselves — entered Latakia to capture or kill Alawite members of Assad’s army. They were apparently ambushed by Alawite veterans of Assad’s army, and suffered a loss of 125 men. At that point, they decided to take revenge on the civilian population, killing more than 1,000 Alawite civilians — some reports claim up to 4,000 civilians have now been killed, and they also have been killing Christians — mostly Greek Orthodox but including some Melkites — because, of course, that’s what jihadists like to do. More than a thousand civilians, possibly as many as 4,000 according to some Alawite sources, have been killed in the space of two days.

  • “DHS Ends TSA Collective Bargaining After Bombshell Finding Of ‘More Full-Time Union Workers’ Than Airport Screeners.” It’s graft and featherbedding all the way down…
  • Taxpayer-funded Lobbying Org Pays Massive Salaries. Many employees of the Texas Association of School Boards are earning more than the governor of Texas.”

    The Texas Association of School Boards is a lobbying organization that is funded almost exclusively by Texas taxpayer dollars through school district dues.

    According to TASB’s most recent 990 form, at least 16 of its employees make more than the governor of Texas, who earns just over $153,000 each year.

    TASB paid a combined total of $927,644 to just two of its employees during fiscal year 2023.

    Executive Director Dan Troxell was paid $412,101 in direct compensation by TASB. Another $64,154 is listed as “other compensation from the organization and related organizations.”

    Similarly, TASB paid First Public Managing Director William Mastrodicasa $351,224 in direct reportable income. He was also paid an additional $100,165.

    Nice work, if you can get it…

  • Mess with the bull, get the horns. “Trump admin cancels $400 million in grants to Columbia University.” How’s that pro-Hamas antisemitism working out for you?
  • Belton Middle School Teacher Jailed for Sexually Assaulting a Student. Logan Demeny has been on leave from Belton ISD since allegations arose last month.”

  • Elementary School Teacher Charged for Having Child Sexual Assault Videos. Kody Caleb Smith, who taught PE at Bayshore Elementary in La Porte ISD, admitted he downloaded and viewed around 200 videos of young children being sexually assaulted.”
  • Holy crap this is a crazy, disturbing crime store, of a man who was imprisoned in his home for 20 years.
  • “US House Members Push for Ban on Student Visas for Chinese Nationals.” “U.S. Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) is spearheading the push to secure higher education institutions against espionage and intellectual theft.” I’m sure universities will panic over having to give up all that sweet commie dough…
  • X Takes Down Network Of Chinese Accounts Amplifying NYT Attacks On Dissident Arts Group. The accounts, which exhibited inauthentic activity, had been used to boost articles published by The New York Times that targeted a religious group persecuted in China. One of the articles, a Chinese-language version of an attack piece on Shen Yun Performing Arts, was boosted so much it became the most shared New York Times article on X in more than a year, according to data from BuzzSumo, a social media analytics tool.” The question is, why was the NYT so eager to carry the CCP’s water attacking Falun Gong?
  • InfoWars Reporter ‘Brutally Murdered’ Outside Austin Residence.” “InfoWars reporter Jamie White has died in what host Alex Jones says was a ‘brutal murder’ which occurred around midnight outside of his Austin apartment.” This is the ninth murder in Austin this year.
  • Speaking of deaths in Austin, there was a 17 vehicle crash caused by a drunk driver that left five people dead.
  • “Texas Awards SpaceX Over $17 Million Grant for Semiconductor R&D.” My opposition to the CHIPS Act has been noted before, but this may be already allocated money that the state is contractually obligated to award. Why would SpaceX need semiconductor research? My guess would be for advances in space radiation hardened (“rad hard”) chips. This was traditionally property of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) rather than silicon-based chips. GaAs chips are generally orders of magnitude more radiation resistant than consumer grade chips, but GaAs is extremely brittle and difficult to work with, so much so that 6″ (150mm) wafers are the largest size for GaAs, and there still a number of older 4″ (100m) fab lines running GaAs out there. GaAs is such a pain that a lot of different substrates have been explored over the years, but I’m not sure any match GaAs’ extreme rad hard properties.
  • The latest “smishing” scam involves sending text messages asking for payment for unpaid road tolls.
  • Feel good news of the day: “Man sets himself on fire at South Carolina Tesla charging stations while trying to torch them with Molotov cocktails.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Teacher Wins in Court After Being Fired for Refusing to Use Preferred Pronouns.”
  • “Starbucks manager says he was fired for being heterosexual.”
  • During a tornado warning, a Florida news station broadcasting the warning is hit by a tornado.
  • Critical Drinker didn’t care for Micky 17. “We’ll just make it dumb as fuck and hammer home the messaging with as much subtlety as a dump truck full of retarded sledgehammers.”
  • A look at the stylistic innovation of The Raid: Redemption.
  • Video of a guy who lives in a house in the wilderness of Vermont, and all he does is bake bread.
  • “Comes with your own dark portal to switch places with your evil universe twin.”
  • “Liberals Defeat Nazis By Painting Swastikas Everywhere And Torching Immigrant Businesses.”
  • Tucker Interviews Saruman To Talk About Rohan’s Warmongering.”
  • “Teslas Updated With Self-Defense Mode Where They Transform Into Anthropomorphic Battle Robots.”
  • “Doctor Says He’ll Be Able To Make Better Diagnosis Once He Reviews Scan Of Your Insurance Benefits.”
  • “ISIS Claims Responsibility For Meghan Markle Netflix Show.” Well, they do love their bombs…
  • Dog super excited to get his new wheelchair, and man, pollen seems to have come early this year:

    (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)

  • I’m between jobs again. Feel free to hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.





    Five Accused Murderers All Out On Bail

    Sunday, February 9th, 2025

    Travis County having a Soros-backed DA just keeps garnering dividends. And by “dividends” I mean “dead bodies.”

    Austin police said all five men arrested for the November 2024 murder of Xavier Jones were out on bond at the time of the killing.

    Community leaders are outraged and are calling for reform.

    Six people are behind bars facing capital murder charges.

    Austin police said Jon Willard was the planner and leader of the operation. They said he wanted to rob Xavier Jones for his money and a watch, but Willard was on a court-ordered GPS tracking device, so he brought up the idea to his known gang associates, Judaren Forbes, Lorance Jones, Corey Keazer, and Cameron Perkins.

    Investigators said they started two weeks of planning, which included conducting surveillance on Xavier Jones’ home and at least one failed attempt.

    The Austin Police Department is investigating an overnight homicide at an apartment complex in the 400 block of East Wonsley Drive.

    The area is heavily Hispanic, and that “Highland North” neighborhood ranks as one of the most dangerous areas of Austin.

    On the night of Nov. 25, 2024, police said Lorance Jones’ girlfriend, Rhianna Farillas, drove at least three of the men to Xavier Jones’ home.

    When they got there, investigators said the men shot through the sliding glass door, hitting Xavier Jones, then one of the men held a gun to Xavier Jones’ girlfriend’s head, another pointed a gun at her child, and another took money and a watch off Xavier Jones’ wrist.

    Jones died from his injuries, police said.

    Surveillance, cell phones, social media, and even a court-appointed GPS tracking device connected the suspects to the murder.

    Committing murder while wearing a GPS tracker indicates that we’re not exactly dealing with the creme de la creme of criminal masterminds here.

    They are known to Austin police as documented gang members and four previous violent cases show the men working together.

    The suspects are being held in the Travis County Jail. Their bonds range from $75,000 to $500,000.

    “Gangs exist for the purpose of terrorizing communities, of committing crimes with impunity and of operating outside the law. So, you know, I wish this district attorney would take gang activity seriously,” Save Austin Now Matt Mackowiak said, “That’d be a great place to start if you just took gang members off the streets. By convicting them when they commit a crime, which is what they do, you would have our crime rate go down considerably because a huge percentage of the crime that’s occurring in Austin right now and across Travis County is habitual offenders.”

    During the incident, all five men were out on bond.

    The gang had another accomplice making sure they were on the streets where they could kill people: Soros-backed prosecutor Jose Garza. Since getting into office, Garza has instituted a revolving door policy to put violent felons back on the streets due to “social justice” or other left-wing garbage ideas. And just this week we found up that taxpayer money was illegally being used to help elect Soros prosecutors.

    Until Garza is defeated, or federal and state pressure is brought to bear to clean up the mess, expect more revolving door murders.

    Hollywood’s Texadus

    Sunday, February 2nd, 2025

    Texas natives Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, and Renée Zellweger (plus True Detective producer/director Nic Pizzolatto) are pushing for the Texas legislature to pony up incentives for Hollywood to shift movie production to Texas.

    “You don’t like what Hollywood has been dishing? It’s time to take over the kitchen.”

    (Aside: Since when did Billy Bob Thorton start looking like Kid Rock by way of Father Guido Sarducci?)

    A few quick points:

  • Following the LA fires, it’s probably the perfect time to make this pitch. California’s insane tax and regulatory environment under one-party Democrat rule has already been pushing production out of Hollywood for a long time, but the fires have made collapse in basic governing competence when it comes to crime, homelessness, infrastructure, water, land management and about a dozen other basic government functions painfully clear to even the most blinkered Hollywood functionary.
  • When McConaughey declares that targeted business incentives are not corporate welfare, he’s engaged in the time-honored rhetorical device known as “lying.” It is corporate welfare, but it’s not exactly new, as the Texas Enterprise Fund already provide similar incentives for non-film business, and the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program offers industry-specific incentives. It is corporate welfare, but most in the form of tax rebates, though there is a grant program rolled in there as well.
  • There appear to be two identical movies subsidies bills filed in the Texas House, one from Rep. Ben Bumgarner, the other from Giovanni Capriglione. Given Capriglione’s longtime support of the Straus/Bonnin/Phalen/Burrows axis, I’m inclined to oppose the bill on that basis alone, much less the subsidy angle.
  • Even without subsidies and tax breaks, from Hollywood‘s perspective, getting the hell out of California makes a lot of sense. High taxes, high crime, homeless camps everywhere, and dysfunctional Democratic politics means that even basic urban competence is off the table for the foreseeable future. Texas, by contrast, most look like a low-cost, low-tax paradise (albeit a really hot one) by comparison. Certainly Texas has no end of competition for movie and TV production, but a lot of the things that make it attractive to business relocation apply here as well.
  • Here’s Clownfish TV on the possible Texudus:

    They’re mentioning $500 million for the film industry (technically, $498 million), and that part is in Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s SB1 baseline budget proposal, from which I assume that it’s an all but done deal.

    There’s also a Texas residency requirement. “You can’t carpetbag.”

    “I think this is it for Hollywood being the hub of movie production.”

    Direct grants and subsidies are a bad idea, targeted tax credits slightly less so. But Texas, unlike California, has taken care of basic governance so much better that it can afford to throw around subsidies without impacting basic services or tax rates. But that doesn’t mean it should.

    But having Hollywood move movie production to Texas will likely benefit the nation as a whole, simply by getting production out of that stifling far-left monoculture and injecting a dose of reality and diversity of thought, the precise kind of diversity that Democrats hate.

    And if Hollywood does want to move to Texas, they’re going to have to leave all their DEI, social justice and transsexual madness behind in California. Not only do Texans not cotton to that sort of thing, but race and transsexual quotas are actually against Texas law.

    Don’t recreate what you’re trying to flee.

    LinkSwarm For January 24, 2025

    Friday, January 24th, 2025

    Democrats used election fraud and lawfare to strike down a glad-handing, dealmaking Trump the Grey who was treated with deep suspicion by the Republican establishment, and now he’s returned, more powerful than ever, as Trump the White with a unified GOP behind him, someone who has already unleashed a executive order blitzkrieg the likes of which the nation has never seen before. Trump now threatens the Democrats’ one-ring control of the federal bureaucracy, not to mention black and Hispanic voters, in a way previous Republican presidents never did. And Democrats have only themselves to blame for it, not only for their radical, shrieking TDS obstruction in his first term and their radical embrace of a deeply unpopular social justice agenda, but also their use of overreach in using so many executive orders to achieve their agenda. Now Trump has the blueprint and precedent to go after all their power centers. The scope and ferocity of Trump’s assault on a permanent leftwing deep state makes it seem less like The War of the Ring than The War of Wrath, in which the Valar returned to Middle Earth to finally settle Morgoth’s hash once and for all.

    OK, I’ll stop making Tolkien analogies now.

    Let’s just say that Trump’s first week back in the White House has unleashed a blizzard of winning, and I haven’t even remotely corralled all of it here.

  • Just before stumbling out of the White House, Joe Biden preemptively pardoned his own family members.

    In his final minutes as president, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to his two brothers, James and Francis, and his sister, Valerie, to protect them from what he predicts will be politically motivated attacks led by President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans.

    “My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics,” Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”

    Biden used his presidential power to pardon five members of his immediate family: James, his wife Sara, Valerie, her husband John Owens, and Francis. The outgoing president said the pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”

    James and Sara, in particular, were pardoned, presumably because James wrote Joe a $200,000 check on March 1, 2018 — the same day he received the funds from distressed rural hospital provider Americore.

    In September 2017, James and his wife also sent his older brother a $40,000 check that used funds originating from a Chinese energy firm CEFC in addition to other transactions involving Joe that caught the attention of the Republican-led House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. Both checks were classified as loan repayments.

    The other family members were pardoned to ensure they aren’t targeted by the incoming administration. The clemency act covers any nonviolent offenses they may have committed since January 1, 2014.

    Like running an illegal pay-for-play graft mill for foreign governments. Which is what the Biden Crime Family did.

  • As expected, President Trump has pardoned January 6 defendants. Good. The prosecution of half-assed trespassers as though they were insurrectionists was a grave injustice committed in service of the Democratic Party’s imperative to continue trying to reinforce their own self-serving bullshit long after any rational person stopped believing in it.
  • Speaking of justice: “Trump Orders ‘Full and Complete’ Release of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Files.”

  • “Trump DOJ Orders Local and State Governments to Comply With Immigration Initiatives. Obstructing federal efforts to protect the public from serious threats posed by illegal alien criminals could be met with legal action.”
  • In a less packed week this would be much bigger news: a federal judge has ruled that US Government Back Door FISA Searches Are Unconstitutional.

    The federal government’s method of searching through information incidentally collected on U.S.-based individuals violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, a federal judge has ruled.

    “To countenance this practice would convert Section 702 into precisely what Defendant has labeled it – a tool for law enforcement to run ‘backdoor searches’ that circumvent the Fourth Amendment,” U.S. District Judge LaShann Dearcy Hall said in the ruling, which was released on Jan. 21.

    Government officials acquired information on the defendant, Agron Hasbajrami, a legal permanent resident who they arrested in 2011 and charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. The information was gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which lets authorities spy on people.

    After Hasbajrami pleaded guilty, authorities disclosed that some of the evidence they used in the case was the fruit of information they obtained without a warrant under a FISA supplement called Section 207, which enables authorities to conduct surveillance on non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be outside the United States.

    FISA abuse was, of course, was a key tool in the deep state’s war against Trump.

  • The problem with this Victor Davis Hanson piece is what not to quote.

    Donald Trump won the 2024 election in part because the Left’s hysterical style of attacking Trump no longer worked.

    After a decade of this unhinged furor, it proved worthless in winning public support — and for two simple reasons.

    One, after years of Russian collusion hoaxes, the laptop disinformation farce, and the warped lies about the “suckers” and “fine people on both sides” — the shrill Left became predictable.

    So, the bored public began tuning them out, switching channels, hitting the mute button, and pulling the plug.

    Like the deleterious effects of inflation that eventually render a currency worthless, nonstop hectoring, hysterics, pontification, and distortion finally made all such criticisms of Trump mostly as valueless as 1930s German marks.

    Second, the wearied public never heard reasoned counterarguments from the likes of a Rachel Maddow. Instead, on spec, she kept mouthing, “The walls are closing in” on Trump.

    Former President Joe Biden did not explain why his open border was a better idea than Trump’s closed one. He preferred mumbling about “semi-fascists!” and the “ultra-MAGA!”

    The Never Trumpers did not critique the Trump deficits. Instead, they hammered away that Trump was Hitler, or Mussolini, or Putin — or just a dangerous dictator or autocrat.

    Angry retired generals never demonstrated why Trump was, in their view, an existential threat to democracy. Instead, they shouted nonstop in op-eds and interviews that he was a fascist, Nazi-like, no different from the guards at Auschwitz, a pathological liar, and should be summarily removed.

    Worn-out voters began to understand that these psychodramas were substitutes for substantive criticism or occasions for legitimate debate.

    Indeed, the exhausted public finally concluded that the hysterics increased in direct proportion to the poverty of the charges.

    So, what did 10 years of such derangement achieve for the Left?

    Trump now has control of the White House and both houses of Congress operate under Republican majorities.

    The Supreme Court is mostly conservative. Almost all of Trump’s issues — the border, immigration, the economy, foreign policy, and crime — poll well over 50 percent.

    No matter, the Left is still hammering away at the trivial and irrelevant — and remains paralyzed in furor and hysterics.

    Read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)

  • Breaking: Trump Department of Defense head pick Pete Hegseth confirmed, with Vice president J. D. Vance breaking a 50-50 tie.
  • Former Okaland mayor Sheng Thao was “indicted [last] Friday. Also indicted: Andre Jones, who the NYT describes as her ‘boyfriend,’ David Trung Duong, and Andy Hung Duong. David Duong is the head of a local waste management company, and Andy is his son.”
  • “Starbucks Lost $25 Million Lawsuit Because They Fired An Employee For Being White.” Good. Don’t be racist and don’t violate anti-discrimination laws. It’s not rocket science.
  • Left UK Guardian newspaper staffers: We’re striking for better wages! Guardian management: Enjoy being replaced by AI.
  • Three North Koreans are wanted in Russia for fragging Russian soldiers.
  • And another huge Russian oil facility goes up in a giant fireball, this one in Ryazan, some 476 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
  • Biden: Stop attacking American ships. Houthis: LOL. Trump: Stop attacking American ships…or else. Houthis: “Yes, Mr. President. Please don’t kill us.”
  • “West Texas Teacher, Coach Charged With Continuous Sexual Assault of a Child. Justin Esquell is accused of sexually abusing a victim for four years, starting when the child was under the age of 14.”
  • Too many Texas cities are too cozy with Communist China.
  • Harvard settles an antisemitism lawsuit.
  • This could be a very big story. “Trump Announces Tech Companies Will Invest $500 Billion in AI Infrastructure.”

    President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a joint venture between three large tech companies to invest as much as $500 billion into building out U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure.

    The joint venture, known as Stargate, involves Oracle, Open AI, and Softbank and will see the companies join together to build out American data centers to power artificial intelligence systems, including ChatGPT. Stargate, which could cost up to $500 billion over a four-year period, will begin with a data center in Texas, a state friendly to crypto and other parts of the tech industry.

    More from Open AI.

    The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman.

    Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements.

    That’s a lot of heavy hitters, but some of them (I’m looking at you Microsoft) have embraced wokeness. Hopefully their AI project won’t be infected with it.

    If they need a technical writer, I know one who’s going to be available soon… (Update: I’m hearing it will be built out in Abilene.)

  • “Massive Fire Burns at World’s Largest Lithium Battery Plant Near Monterey, CA.” Quite far away from, and probably unrelated to, the wildfires.
  • And in case you were wondering, lots of wildfires are still burning.
  • A good question: “How did Joe Biden get rich?”
  • An end to flag madness. “State Department implements “one flag policy,” meaning no more Pride or BLM flags flown at U.S. facilities.”
  • CNN laid off 210 people or about 6% of it’s staff of 3,500. That still seems an unsustainably high staff for a network that averages less than a million viewers. Indeed, it’s something like 286 viewers per staffer. What advertisers are willing to pay money to reach so few people?
  • The Biden Recession + Hollywood wokeness + streaming means that Alamo Draft House just laid off 15 people at their HQ.
  • EV Startup Canoo Files For Bankruptcy.”
  • Dave Ramsey is shocked to learn that Canadian capitals gains tax is 66%.
  • That’s not a mannequin.
  • Every book I bought in 2024.
  • Are comedian Bill Burr and Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan related?
  • Elderly Dementia Patient Cruelly Evicted From Home.”
  • “Aides Gently Guide Biden To Retirement Home Room Disguised As Oval Office.”
  • “Sad Hunter Biden Wondering Why No One Buying His Paintings Anymore.”
  • “With TikTok Ban, Americans Now Only Being Spied On By Pentagon, Google, Facebook, Apple, Samsung, Doorbell, Toaster.” They forgot Microsoft and the FBI…
  • I have a contract position but it may be ending soon, so hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.





    Paxton Takes Aim At Austin Homeless Industrial Complex

    Thursday, December 5th, 2024

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took time out from his busy schedule of suing the federal government to sue a tendril of the Austin homeless industrial complex.

    Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center (SHNC), a South Austin-based non-profit organization, alleging that it is “operating as a common nuisance in violation of Texas law.”

    “In South Austin,” the lawsuit states, “a once peaceful neighborhood has been transformed by homeless drug addicts, convicted criminals, and registered sex offenders. These people do drugs in sight of children, publicly fornicate next to an elementary school, menace residents with machetes, urinate and defecate on public grounds, and generally terrorize the surrounding community.”

    The suit goes on to say that it is SHNC “who is responsible” for the alleged issues.

    “It permits this drug use on and around its surrounding property. And it then permits the homeless to linger in and around the community even if they are in an unstable state.”

    Paxton’s suit also points out that the center “operates mere feet from an elementary school.”

    The lawsuit is asking the court to stop the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center from operating within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, or youth centers, or in ways that disturb the surrounding community. Additionally, the state requests that the center be ordered to “close for one year.”

    It’s my working thesis that the Homeless Industrial complex is a way to not only rake off graft and corruption for the left, but also launder money to donate directly to Democrats And what do you know? Search for Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center on Open Secrets yields 15 donations, all to Democrats, including Colin Allred and Kamala Harris this year.

    Another thing: The Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center isn’t that large, yet they seem to have no less than 35 people on their board and payroll.

    The Paxton lawsuit doesn’t delve into this, only the baleful effect importing drug addicted transients has had on the center’s neighbors. The new “social justice” approved “housing first” method of “fixing” homelessness is to just keep letting the drug-addicted transients continue using drugs. This actively prevents them from rejoining society as productive members, but is a great way for leftwing activists to keep farming them for government subsidies.

    We have direct evidence of graft in previous Austin homeless programs, and this lawsuit by the state of Texas may turn up some very interesting tidbits in discovery…

    LinkSwarm For November 22, 2024

    Friday, November 22nd, 2024

    The Trump witchunt trial is suspended, PA Democrats give up the steal, the ruble collapses, a real estate developer is busted for bribery, thrash metal TDS, and an unexpected voice of sanity and reason from…Cenk Uygur?

    It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

  • New York Judge Indefinitely Postpones Trump Hush-Money Sentencing, Will Consider Dismissing Case.” Why, it’s almost as if the entire farcical trial was a witch hunt from the beginning.

    Judge Juan Merchan indefinitely postponed the sentencing hearing in President-elect Donald Trump’s New York criminal case, which had been planned for next week, in light of Trump’s election.

    Merchan is giving Trump’s legal team more than a week to file its motion asking for a dismissal under the argument that his return to office provides him a new host of immunity-related defenses.

    Trump’s lawyers will be required to file by December 2, after which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will have until December 9 to respond.

    Snip.

    While Trump could face up to four years in prison, the more likely sentence in the case — should it move forward — would be probation, which could include some combination of a fine or community service, as the former and future president is a first-time offender.

    “Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a letter filed Tuesday.

    Trump’s team had requested a December 20 deadline to file.

    Bragg, for his part, has argued in favor of freezing the case for the entirety of Trump’s term in office, and then revisiting the sentencing at the end of Trump’s tenure.

    But Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove have argued dismissal of the case “is necessary under the Constitution and federal law to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power — and in the interests of justice — following President Trump’s victory in the Electoral College and the popular vote in the 2024 Presidential election.”

  • Democrat Bob Casey realizes he won’t be able to cheat his way to victory and concedes after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reiterates that no, you’re not allowed to illegally count the ballots we’ve already declared illegal.
  • The Harris campaign spent $12 million doing polling on her strengths and weaknesses. I’m going to guess that the amount Trump spent on polling his strengths and weakness was “zero.”
  • Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration as Trump’s Attorney General, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is the new nominee.
  • Heh:

    (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

  • Musician turns Democrat freakouts into epic thrash metal:

  • Are we running out of gunpowder? (Hat tip: KR Training.)
  • To paraphrase Instapundit, we’ve entered some sort of hellworld where Cenk Uygur is a voice of moderation and reason, calling out far left pollster Allan Lichtman for blowing his election call, whereupon Lichtman shrieks that Uygur is committing “blasphemy” against him. Everyone and their dog has posted this, but I’m linking to the Asmongold clip because his seems to be the shortest.
  • Ukraine hit a military manufacturing facility 1,279 km from the Ukrainian border in a drone strike.
  • The Russian ruble hit a two year low against the dollar.
  • Trump intends to squeeze Iran.

    US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to reinstate its “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran, targeting Tehran’s economic stability and its ability to support militant proxies and nuclear development, The Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing sources close to the transition team.

    The sources revealed that the administration plans to impose stricter sanctions, particularly on Iran’s oil exports, which serve as a critical revenue source.

    The anticipated sanctions could drastically reduce Iranian oil exports, which currently exceed 1.5 million barrels per day, up from a low of 400,000 barrels per day in 2020. Experts suggest that these measures would severely impact Iran’s economy. Bob McNally, an energy consultant and former US presidential adviser, indicated that reducing exports to a fraction of current levels would leave Iran in a far worse economic position than during Trump’s first term.

  • The Danish Navy is following a Chinese ship suspected of severing communication cables in the Baltic Sea.
  • In a followup to yesterday’s story, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state entities to divest from investments in Communist China. “One investment group specifically highlighted in Abbott’s letter is the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), which manages billions of dollars in assets for both university systems. UTIMCO has come under scrutiny after a Texas Scorecard investigation revealed its investments in more than 50 Chinese companies.”
  • Laken Riley’s illegal alien murderer convicted and sentenced to life without parole. Oh, and he had previously enjoyed a taxpayer-funded stay at the Roosevelt Hotel and a flight to Georgia. Thanks, Joe Biden.
  • El Salvador’s gang prison doesn’t play around. A whole lot of this would (rightfully) be considered cruel and unusual punishment, but we should veer more in this direction rather than putting illegal alien rapists up in hotels…
  • Michael Johnston, the mayor of Denver, “is “suggesting the use of force against ICE agents who are carrying out the lawful actions of the U.S. government.”
  • “Dallas Developer Pleads Guilty to Bribing City Council Members.”

    Sherman Roberts, who led the City Wide Community Development Corporation, was indicted four years ago for a bribery scheme involving former Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and former City Council Member Carolyn Davis for their support of loans and low-income housing tax credits for his apartment projects.

    He now faces up to five years in prison and is expected to be sentenced in March.

    Roberts paid Davis several thousand dollars in cash, and promised future payments after her council tenure ended, in return for Davis’ support of his projects — Serenity Place, Runyon Springs, and Patriot’s Crossing — according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

    Roberts was a Democratic Party donor, but in fairly piddling amounts for a real estate developer…

  • Middle School Principal Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography…Chad Dwight Barrett, a 56-year-old principal at Hardin Junior High School in Liberty, was arrested on November 14 following a police investigation that found he sent a student an inappropriate video.”
  • “Incoming Lawmaker Files Legislation to Allow Death Penalty for Sex Crimes Against Children.” Would need to see the details, but clearly scumbags raping small children deserve to die…
  • Repeat criminal told sheriff it would take “his tank and his helicopter” to get him out of his house, but in the end all it took was a needle.
  • Southern Poverty Law Center tries to dox Not The Bee staffers over #WrongThink.
  • Advanced Auto Parts closes all of it’s California stores. Thanks, Gavin Newsom.
  • Carmakers stopped making affordable cars in order to underwrite their move into electric cars. Result: They can’t sell cars and their overflow lots are full.
  • The DOJ wants Google to sell off Chrome. Well, that would be a start in addressing their monopoly position in Internet searches, but would hardly be sufficient. They should also have to spin off YouTube. And because consumers were directly harmed by their monopoly, they should be required to add 2GB of storage a year for every Gmail user for 20 years, he said self-interestedly. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • The time of the turning: “Sold-out NYC crowd ERUPTS, chants USA as President Trump attends UFC 309 with Elon Musk, RFK Jr, Speaker Johnson.”
  • Austin governance at its usualist: “CapMetro puts dozens of electric buses in storage amid manufacturer’s financial collapse. (Previously.) (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Shocking news from the world of science: Weed isn’t good for you. “According to their findings, exposure to cannabis was associated with a range of cancers – breast, pancreatic, liver, thyroid, testicular and lymphoma – that also develop quickly and are more aggressive.”
  • Sweden’s Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg is deeply afraid of…bananas.
  • Service for a hypercar costs more than the purchase price of a non-hyper car.
  • Thomas E. Kurtz, creator of BASIC, RIP. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Enjoy the Honest Trailer for Megalopolis, with bonus Teen Girl Squad reference.
  • Interesting video on attempts to replicate flickering firelight using electric bulbs. (This is what I currently use for the Halloween season, and it’s adequate for my needs.)
  • The TDS doctor is in.
  • “Trump Worried Everyone Will Quit Before He Can Tell Them ‘You’re Fired.'”
  • “Fattest, Sickest Country On Earth Concerned New Health Secretary Might Do Something Different.”
  • “After Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty Of Murder, Dems Sentence Him To Flying Coach.”
  • “Sunny Hostin Forced To Read Legal Notice Acknowledging Nothing Said On ‘The View’ In Its Entire History Has Ever Been Remotely True.”
  • “Before DOGE Cuts Funding, NIH Working Feverishly To Complete Study On The Effects Of Giving Meth To Jetpack-Wearing Hamsters.”
  • That’s a happy puppy.