Posts Tagged ‘Lesotho’

LinkSwarm for April 29, 2022

Friday, April 29th, 2022

Stagflation is back, scammers continue to loot taxpayer money from the federal government, Team Global Warming continues it’s perfect losing streak, and dispatches from a deadly accordion war. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

  • The U.S. economy shrunk by 1.4% in Q1. “Unexpectedly!” So now we’ve got stagnation to go with that soaring inflation, a key ingredient in the Biden Administration’s Welcome Back Carter cosplay. One more quarter of decline and the recession is officially at hand…
  • “How international scam artists pulled off an epic theft of Covid benefits.”

    In June, the FBI got a warrant to hunt through the Google accounts of Abedemi Rufai, a Nigerian state government official.

    Hello, I am Prince Abedemi Rufai. You are probably surprised by this email…

    What they found, they said in a sworn affidavit, was all the ingredients for a “massive” cyberfraud on U.S. government benefits: stolen bank, credit card and tax information of Americans. Money transfers. And emails showing dozens of false unemployment claims in seven states that paid out $350,000.

    Rufai was arrested in May at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as he prepared to fly first class back to Nigeria, according to court records. He is being held without bail in Washington state, where he has pleaded not guilty to five counts of wire fraud.

    Rufai’s case offers a small window into what law enforcement officials and private experts say is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated against the U.S., a significant part of it carried out by foreigners.

    Russian mobsters, Chinese hackers and Nigerian scammers have used stolen identities to plunder tens of billions of dollars in Covid benefits, spiriting the money overseas in a massive transfer of wealth from U.S. taxpayers, officials and experts say. And they say it is still happening.

    Among the ripest targets for the cybertheft have been jobless programs. The federal government cannot say for sure how much of the more than $900 billion in pandemic-related unemployment relief has been stolen, but credible estimates range from $87 billion to $400 billion — at least half of which went to foreign criminals, law enforcement officials say.

    Those staggering sums dwarf, even on the low end, what the federal government spends every year on intelligence collection, food stamps or K-12 education.

    Keep in mind, this is just one government program.

  • More on the same subject.

    They bought Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys.

    And Teslas, of course. Lots of Teslas.

    Many who participated in what prosecutors are calling the largest fraud in U.S. history — the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money intended to help those harmed by the coronavirus pandemic — couldn’t resist purchasing luxury automobiles. Also mansions, private jet flights and swanky vacations.

  • Biden Administration creates unconstitutional Ministry of Truth to fight “disinformation,” i.e. truth and opinion that hurts Democrats. This is the lunatic running it:

  • Speaking of Democratic Media Complex lunatics:

  • Libs of TikTok experiences the Streisand Effect. (Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.)
  • This may be a big reason why the Twitter board were willing to sell to Elon Musk: “Twitter Misses Revenues, Admits ‘Over-Stating’ Millions Of Users.”
  • Speaking of revenue, here are some charts showing how tech giants earn their revenue in different segments. I had no idea that Microsoft was now making more money from Azure than Office. And speaking of Microsoft…
  • Not news: People hate Microsoft product. News: The users are soldiers and our government spent $22 billion on it. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • “Climate Experts” are now 0-53 with their predictions.
  • “‘Defund the Police’ advocate Cori Bush spent more than $300,000 on private security.” It’s always one rule for you and another for them…
  • This is disturbing.

    For 20 Years, This Prosecutor Had a Secret Job Working For the Judges Who’d Decide His Cases.”

    One of Ralph Petty’s victims is trying to hold him accountable, but she will have to overcome prosecutorial immunity.

    Ralph Petty worked as an assistant district attorney in Midland County, Texas, for 20 years. Like any prosecutor, he fervidly advocated for the government. But he wasn’t just any advocate, because he wasn’t just a prosecutor. Each night, Petty took off his proverbial DA hat and re-entered the courthouse as a law clerk for the same judges he was trying to convince to side with him by day.

    (Hat tip: Dwight.)

  • “Miller Middle School in San Marcos, Texas is hosting a “Queer Week” where students as young as sixth grade are urged to dress in “pride” colors, wear nametags with preferred names and pronouns, and “protest” LGBT discrimination.”
  • “A married English teacher at Langham Creek High School was arrested after allegedly sleeping with a 15-year-old student.” Spoiler for those thinking of clicking through for the pic: She’s no prize.
  • Smoking is bad for you. Especially when it causes you to crash the plane you’re flying. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: Bold new architecture project becomes ugly and nonfunctional.

    In Kurokawa’s original plan, the Nakagin capsules were meant to be replaced every twenty-five years with updated iterations. That didn’t happen, in part because of the funding that would have required. Each capsule would have cost, according to some estimates, almost nine million yen, or about seventy thousand dollars, to repair. A single capsule couldn’t be removed without removing all those above it, so all units would have to be vacated and updated at once. Over time, the building fell into disrepair. Concerns about asbestos made the towers’ ventilation system unusable, and residents complained about mold and incessant leaks during rainstorms. The owners’ association first voted to sell the building to a developer, in 2007, but the firm soon filed for bankruptcy, throwing the building’s fate into uncertainty. Kurokawa, who had pushed for renovations, died that same year. By 2010, the towers’ hot water had been shut off. The building had become more a work of art than the dynamic architecture that Kurokawa envisioned.

  • “New York Democrats Aim To Tax Ammo To Fund Anti-Gun Research….New York Senate Bill S8415, which would add an arbitrary 5-cent tax per round of ammunition larger than .22 Caliber. Rounds smaller than .22 Caliber would be subject to a 2-cent tax per round. According to the bill, the tax revenue would go to the state’s Gun Violence Research Fund.” That would be unconstitutional with a capital “un.”
  • Headlines you never expect to read: “The deadly accordion wars of Lesotho.” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Lake Mead hit by megadrought. “After nearly half a century, the first intake is out of service and can no longer draw water. Water levels at the lake hit record lows this week, falling to 1,056 feet. Luckily, SNWA has two other intakes at much lower levels that are still operational.”
  • Have a 2017 Chevy Spark? Too bad, Chevy isn’t going to replace the battery anymore. (Update: Maybe not?)
  • Heh:

  • Heh II:

  • Let’s get frensical, frensical…

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    Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Economics, Global Warming, Media Watch, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Waste and Fraud | 1 Comment »