#honest services fraud

[darkmaga-returns]

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf has just announced in a press release that his office has referred a case regarding election-related crimes to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

He stated: “The Texas Attorney General has opened a criminal investigation related to Dominion Voting Systems, Election Systems & Software (ES&S). Hart InterCivic, and SolarWinds including specific subcontractors, agents, and employees.”

According to the press release, the sheriff’s office will release more information when it can do so without compromising the investigation. However, he has posted on X in the past that he was looking into “conspiracy crimes, wire services fraud, honest services fraud, and perjury charges” related to Dominion CEO John Polous’ “sworn testimony before the Michigan Legislature that its voting systems could not be accessed or connected to by outside networks and sources, and that it was a ‘US based company.'”

He previously claimed in an affidavit that Serbian foreign nationals were instructed by employees of Dominion to access Michigan’s election system remotely and refused to provide prosecutors with his voter fraud files out of concern that it would compromise his investigation.

Journalist Lara Logan shared the new press release on X and provided additional context, saying that some parts of this investigation have been going on for a few years and are “not pretty.”

Referring to the press release, she said: “This is one of those documents that could be easily overlooked -- in truth it is a nuclear bomb.”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Big Telco’s fury over FCC plan to infuse telecoms policy with facts

I'll be at the Studio City branch of the LA Public Library on Monday, November 13 at 1830hPT to launch my new novel, The Lost Cause. There'll be a reading, a talk, a surprise guest (!!) and a signing, with books on sale. Tell your friends! Come on down!

Reality has a distinct anti-conservative bias, but conservatives have an answer: when the facts don't support your policies, just get different facts. Who needs evidence-based policy when you can have policy-based evidence?

Take gun violence. Conservatives tell us that "an armed society is a polite society," which means that the more guns you have, the less gun violence you'll experience. To prevent reality from unfairly staining this pristine ideological mind-palace with facts, conservatives passed the Dickey Amendment, which had the effect of banning the CDC from gathering stats on American gun-violence. No stats, no violence!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment

Policy-based evidence is at the core of so many cherished conservative beliefs, like the idea that queer people (and not youth pastors) are responsible for the sexual abuse of children, or the idea that minimum wages (and not monopolies) decrease jobs, or the idea that socialized medicine (and not private equity) leads to death panels:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

The Biden administration features a sizable cohort of effective regulators, whose job is to gather evidence and then make policy from it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/23/getting-stuff-done/#praxis

Fortunately for conservatives, not every Biden agency is led by competent, honest brokers – the finance wing of the Dems got to foist some of their most ghoulish members upon the American people, including a no-fooling cheerleader for mass foreclosure:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

And these same DINOs reached across the aisle to work with Republicans to keep some of the most competent, principled agency leaders from being seated, like the remarkable Gigi Sohn, targeted by a homophobic smear campaign funded by the telco industry, who feared her presence on the FCC:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband/

The telcos are old hands at this stuff. Long before the gun control debates, Ma Bell had figured out that a monopoly over Americans' telecoms was a license to print money, and they set to corrupting agencies from the FCC to the DoJ:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/14/jam-to-day/

Reality has a vicious anti-telco bias. Think of Net Neutrality, the idea that if you pay an ISP for internet service, they should make a best effort to deliver the data you request, rather than deliberately slowing down your connection in the hopes that you'll seek out data from the company's preferred partners, who've paid a bribe for "premium delivery."

This shouldn't even be up for debate. The idea that your ISP should prioritize its preferred data over your preferred data is as absurd as the idea that a taxi-driver should slow down your rides to any pizzeria except Domino's, which has paid it for "premium service." If your cabbie circled the block twice every time you asked for a ride to Massimo's Pizza, you'd be rightly pissed – and the cab company would be fined.

Back when Ajit Pai was Trump's FCC chairman, he made killing Net Neutrality his top priority. But regulators aren't allowed to act without evidence, so Pai had to seek out as much policy-based evidence as he could. To that end, Pai allowed millions of obviously fake comments to be entered into the docket (comments from dead people, one million comments from @pornhub.com address, comments from sitting Senators who disavowed them, etc). Then Pai actively – and illegally – obstructed the NY Attorney General's investigation into the fraud:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/06/boogeration/#pais-lies

The pursuit of policy-based evidence is greatly aided by the absence of real evidence. If you're gonna fill the docket with made-up nonsense, it helps if there's no truthful stuff in there to get in the way. To that end, the FCC has systematically avoided collecting data on American broadband delivery, collecting as little objective data as possible:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/26/pandemic-profiteers/#flying-blind

This willful ignorance was a huge boon to the telcos, who demanded billions in fed subsidies for "underserved areas" and then just blew it on anything they felt like – like the $45 billion of public money they wasted on obsolete copper wiring for rural "broadband" expansion under Trump:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/all-broadband-politics-are-local/

Like other cherished conservative delusions, the unsupportable fantasy that private industry is better at rolling out broadband is hugely consequential. Before the pandemic, this meant that America – the birthplace of the internet – had the slowest, most expensive internet service of any G8 country. During the lockdown, broadband deserts meant that millions of poor and rural Americans were cut off from employment, education, health care and family:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/12/ajit-pai/#pai

Pai's response was to commit another $8 billion in public funds to broadband expansion, but without any idea of where the broadband deserts were – just handing more money over to monopoly telcos to spend as they see fit, with zero accountability:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/26/pandemic-profiteers/#flying-blind

All that changed after the 2020 election. Pai was removed from office (and immediately blocked me on Twitter) (oh, diddums), and his successor, Biden FCC chair Jessic Rosenworcel, started gathering evidence, soliciting your broadband complaints:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/23/parliament-of-landlords/#fcc

And even better, your broadband speed measurements:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#fly-my-pretties

All that evidence spurred Congress to act. In 2021, Congress ordered the FCC to investigate and punish discrimination in internet service provision, "based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin":

https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf

In other words, Congress ordered the FCC to crack down on "digital redlining." That's when historic patterns of underinvestment in majority Black neighborhoods and other underserved communities create broadband deserts, where internet service is slower and more expensive than service literally across the street:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/flicc/#digital-divide

FCC Chair Rosenworcel has published the agency's plan for fulfilling this obligation. It's pretty straightforward: they're going to collect data on pricing, speed and other key service factors, and punish companies that practice discrimination:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/preventing-digital-discrimination-broadband-internet-access

This has provoked howls of protests from the ISP cartel, their lobbying org, and their Republican pals on the FCC. Writing for Ars Technica, Jon Brodkin rounds up a selection of these objections:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/internet-providers-say-the-fcc-should-not-investigate-broadband-prices/

There's GOP FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, with a Steve Bannon-seque condemnation of "the administrative state [taking] effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the US. He's especially pissed that the FCC is going to regulate big landlords who force all their tenants to get slow, expensive from ISPs who offer kickbacks to landlords:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/carr-opposes-bidens-internet-plan

The response from telco lobbyists NCTA is particularly, nakedly absurd: they demand that the FCC exempt price from consideration of whether an ISP is practicing discrimination, calling prices a "non-technical aspect of broadband service":

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/110897268295/1

I mean, sure – it's easy to prove that an ISP doesn't discriminate against customers if you don't ask how much they charge! "Sure, you live in a historically underserved neighborhood, but technically we'll give you a 100mb fiber connection, provided you give us $20m to install it."

This is a profoundly stupid demand, but that didn't stop the wireless lobbying org CTIA from chiming in with the same talking points, demanding that the FCC drop plans to collect data on "pricing, deposits, discounts, and data caps," evaluation of price is unnecessary in the competitive wireless marketplace":

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1107735021925/1

Individual cartel members weighed in as well, with AT&T and Verizon threatening to sue over the rules, joined by yet another lobbying group, USTelecom:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1103655327582/1

The next step in this playbook is whipping up the low-information base by calling this "socialism" and mobilizing some of the worst-served, most-gouged people in America to shoot themselves in the face (again), to own the libs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/#unrequited-love

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/10/digital-redlining/#stop-confusing-the-issue-with-relevant-facts

Image: Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

--

Mike Mozart (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14325839070/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14325905568/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14489390566/

www.ccPixs.com https://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/8210762750/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[rockyp77mk3]

Say you were magically elected president, what are ten things you would do on the first day?

"Magically"? Isn't that how we got the current administration, or as many suspect by sleight of hand? :)

Just off the top of my head:

Close the borders. Stop the influx of illegal immigrants immediately. Oh, fire about 60,000 IRS agents and hire a similar number of Border Patrol agents.

Invite every former service member who was discharged for not taking the jab. Full pay and privileges to be immediately reinstated.

Empanel a large team of forensic accountants, ensure that they have the highest security clearances, and have them totally audit ever cent spent by the US government I want to see every example of waste, fraud, abuse, corruption.

Expand US Counterintelligence capability with an eye toward Chinese, Iranian, NOKO, and Russian collection efforts and their influence in US government, the tech sector, and media.

Release the Epstein client list, among other "Lists".

Have the new and hopefully unbiased and honest Attorney General look into the Federal reserve and the Soros purchase of radio stations, for a start.

Seek to abolish the Department of Education beyond an advisory board. Turn educational responsibility back to the states to increase control by residents.

Establish a policy to prioritize veterans needs over student loan forgiveness, and US citizens over illegal immigrants.

Make it against policy for the government to use propaganda on the public.

Buy some really good Kevlar and hire a few operators and operatives as an extra close protection detail. I have a feeling that I would need it. :)

Thanks for the question.

[collapsedsquid]

The judge’s theory here comes from a 2023 US Supreme Court decision called Ciminelli v. United States. In that case, a contractor bribed public officials to get a $750 million city contract and was convicted of wire fraud. The Supreme Court reversed his conviction, ruling that it is not wire fraud to “to deprive the victim of ‘potentially valuable economic information’ ‘necessary to make discretionary economic decisions.’” The opinion is a little puzzling: It doesn’t quite say that bribing public officials to win city contracts isn’t wire fraud, only that the prosecution’s theory for why it was wire fraud was wrong. For a long time, US prosecutors argued that bribes were wire fraud because they deprived the government of the “honest services” of its officials, but the Supreme Court eventually concluded that that’s not fraud, only depriving victims of money is fraud. The “potentially valuable economic information” theory looks to the Supreme Court too much like “honest services,” so it reversed the convictions. It seems to me like “we tricked the government into giving us a $750 million construction contract” looks a lot like taking money from the government, but for some reason that theory was not at issue in the case.

Oh yeah I do love the Matt Levine aside about the supreme court seems hell-bent on making it impossible to convict people for defrauding the government because the court is 9 -0 entirely corrupt

[stromuprisahat]

i saw your evgeniy post and i totally agree that it wouldnt work out the same at all if genya was male, maybe he would work directly for the king but either way im willing to bet the fandom wouldnt be victimising him to that extent and the character probably would be allowed to stay morally grey instead of being forced to be "good".

as per your comments too: they probably gave ivan a love interest for "representation points" but if the show character was played more accurately to the book and looked more like book ivan people would probably ship him with the darkling a lot more and talk about him having unrequited love or whatever which is fine but certainly cheapens the characters motives.

also i dont think alina would have got on with genya if she was in a red kefta from the start as its like she saw genya in livery as "on the same level as her" as a servant and outsider, its my firm belief that if genya was introduced to alina as corporalki to start with her prejudice would kick in and she wouldnt trust her at all as she seems more prejudice against corporalki than any of the other orders (aside from the darkling)

(What if Genya were Evgeniy)

I don't think the King would require services of Tailor. The Queen remains the obvious choice for that, although there would be issues.

Regarding narrative-treatment... well, my guess is he wouldn't live long. Just look at Ivan- he wasn't easily brainwashed character, so he had to die to prop up brand new Good Guy™. Zhenya wouldn't be re-written into one-dimensional victim, because it would be easier to simply kill him off (preferably in a way emphasizing he picked the wrong side).

Fandom would simply ignore him, because he's a man in Aleksander's service. His backstory, missing sexual abuse "orchestrated" by the Darkling would also lose its appeal to antis. Loss of loved ones or torture just doesn't have the ring to it, when aimed at a man. Hell, if we'd make the King "fond" of teen boys, or came up with another molester, Evgeniy's story would include different variables. Women are easier to woobify, but then again, it could be "fixed" by making the boy gay, or better- headcanon gay. Everyone knows that makes you easier to exploit, so we can pretend lack of agency equals unfavourable circumstances etc. etc.

Since we know almost nothing about book!Ivan's personal life, I didn't mind his and Fedyor's romantic relationship, quite contrary- both actors used their minimal screentime to introduce the best romance in season 1 (in both, if I'm honest).

Ivan's in danger of simplification of his motivations no matter the looks. While book Ivan's described as good-looking, in show he's already canonically MLM. Both can work as a good enough reason to turn his loyalty into unrequired crush. Why delve into anything more complicated, if your view requires demonisation of the Darkling?

Absolutely agree on Genya's position and Alina's "friendship". Alina has been distrustful of other Grisha since the beginning. Sure, her belief she's a fraud played a part, but that would apply to Genya in red too. Grisha without colour didn't fit in. Useless Sun Summoner wouldn't either, once her incompetence becomes widely-known. Alina doesn't exactly believe in selfless unconditional friendship. Hell, she takes and takes from Genya, while offering little, with Malyen she assumes the opposite position.

[kinopioa]

It's fascinating seeing people go "I miss the wild west era of the internet" and then learn they were born in 2003

Like fuck off. By the time you're 6 it was dead. The cutoff is around 06/7, and even that's debateable to have ended earlier

If we're being brutally honest-

1993-1998: True Wild West. Not much could happen due to limited tech, but it was completely unmonitored. I'm honestly surprised to find archives of old chats on Google

1998: The Coppa act is established, further taking effect in 2000. This made people aware that kids can access the internet. Teens barely gave a shit, though it made corporations more aware of them, and how to consider them for a market. It also unfortunately promoted age fraud to access barred login sites

1999-2005/6: User oriented era. This is when a lot of custom sites, blogs, and forums popped up, as well as many image hosting sites that are sadly defunct now. Google being a popular search engine further encouraged discovering these user made sites. Contrary to popular belief, user sites were mostly made and "moderated" by edgy kids and teens, so you WILL see the opinion of a 14yr old. Incidentally, due to domains being expensive, a lot of these teen made forums and personal sites died extremely fast, ignoring raids, doxxing, and flamewars

Video sharing while possible also was really crappy for quality...except for

User created flash games and anims enabled a massive spread of content. Newgrounds was a popular hosting spot. Shame Flash died

Outside that, we least we got bbphp as a solid forum template be popularized after many other ones died. For those less tech savvy, in 2003

We got social media. This was the main goto till smartphones and Twitter got popularized after 2006, and still was going strong until mid 2010s. Despite older netiquette of being encouraged to not post anything indentifiable about yourself, many users expressed themselves with music tastes and eventual personal blogs

2005/6: YouTube is released, as well as Dailymotion. Bootlegged Newgrounds anims popped up for uploads, but also shared tv show clips

Fun thing, before mid 2010s, users can only upload at max 15min of video

Similarly around 2005, Reddit similarly sparked up. More modern image hosting sites spurred around 2007/8

~~~

But regardless, the public internet already changed massively after 2000. Web 2.0 was already a term from 1999 that described the change, with it being redefined for it occuring around 2004. I think one thing not noticed, the development of this tech mostly happened in the UK, due to general smaller population and faster telocommunication services compared to the US at the time. This similar impacted the type of audience that used this

I see people longing for a freer internet, and I agree online corporate control is shitty. But the dretches of humanity has severely stunted user diversity and interest, same with over prioritizing skill over general good collaboration and behavior. The modern tech bro absolutely not giving a shit for the userbase or societal problems and being very selfish can unfortunately be traced here. Same for rsmpant political misinformation being unmoderated, and early 90s fandom woes still having a negative impact on some franchises

I see dumbass self censoring like "unalive" on sites, and it's not even enforced. It's just stupid assumption that advertisors care so much

Which brings the question, why are we trying to heavily get into monetizing expression? I genuinely feel Ytube enabling users to do so is exactly why user content got obnoxious after 2013 when it got popular. Unfortunately it's way too late to undo that. Many rely on the monetizing

Though I find it funny when people ignore just...making their own site to bypass the censorship. bbphp again is open source, and there are many other online web creation tools. I can't even say the rise of tech illiteracy is why, tech illiterate people aren't the ones complaining of sites crapping out

Anyway, if you miss pre algorithm search engines results leading to you finding random shit, try this;

Unfortunately the reducing of child safe sites is another convo

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

There are 49 days until Election Day in the United States. Although the presidential race remains extremely close, Donald Trump and his allies have escalated their efforts to undermine the results.  In a post to Truth Social on Sunday morning, Trump falsely claimed that the United States Postal Service (USPS) "has admitted that it is a poorly run mess that is experiencing mail loss and delays at a level never seen before." Trump asked, "how can we possibly be expected to allow or trust the U.S. Postal Service to run the 2024 Presidential Election?" 

Trump has attacked mail-in voting for years, baselessly asserting that mail-in ballots facilitated fraud that robbed him of victory in 2020. Early this year, Trump appeared to change his tune on the practice. "ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS," Trump posted to Truth Social on April 19. "REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!" That change of heart appears to be short-lived. In addition to attacking mail-in voting, Trump has advanced broader claims that Democrats "want to cheat" in the 2024 election. In a September 7 Truth Social post, Trump pledged to prosecute and jail Democrats who repeat "the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election." (In nearly 4 years since the 2020 election, Trump has produced no evidence of cheating.) Trump claimed that prosecuting "Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials" was the only way to ensure "this Depravity of Justice does not happen again." Trump will not commit to accepting the results in November, saying he would only do so "if everything's honest." Otherwise, Trump said, he plans to "fight." 

The actual issues with the USPS

Although Trump's claims about the USPS are false, there are specific issues that can be addressed before election days. On September 11, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors wrote to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by Trump, to express concerns about the ability of the USPS to "ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner." 

For example, in the letter, the groups reported that some USPS staff were not informed about USPS policies around election mail — which is supposed to be prioritized — and urged further training before Election Day. The groups are concerned about receiving ballots with timely postmarks three days or more after Election Day and election mail that is being improperly returned as undeliverable.  The USPS pushed back on the criticism, noting that first-class mail is delivered in an average of 2.7 days and "Election Mail routinely outperforms our regular service performance due to our long-standing processes and procedures." The USPS recommended voters "should mail their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week prior to their state’s deadline," which it describes as a "common sense measure."  Notably, none of the National Association of Secretaries of State, the National Association of State Election Directors, the USPS, or the USPS Inspector General expressed any concern about mail-in ballots being used to facilitate fraud. 

The Republican war on the legitimacy of the 2024 election results has begun, with baseless attacks against VBM (even while Trump’s campaign is promoting it).

[beardedmrbean]

Two retired New York City Fire Department fire chiefs were arrested by the feds early Monday for allegedly accepting more than $190,000 in bribes to allegedly help fast-track safety inspections and reviews, officials said.

Anthony Saccavino and Brian Cordasco, who worked in the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Prevention, were nabbed on bribery, corruption and false statements offenses as part of the long-running corruption probe, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.

They are accused of “soliciting and accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments in exchange for providing preferential treatment to certain individuals and companies with matters pending before the FDNY” from 2021 through 2023.

“For nearly two years, Saccavino and Cordasco misused this authority for their own financial gain,” the indictment alleged.

The arrests come after the two former chiefs had their homes raided by the FBI and city investigators back in February.

The FDNY’s Brooklyn headquarters was also searched at the same time.

At the time of the raids, both Saccavino and Cordasco allegedly lied to federal investigators to “conceal their involvement in the bribery scheme,” according to the indictment.  

The nearly two-year scheme involved roughly 30 different projects across the Big Apple — including fire alarm checks at apartment buildings, restaurants, bars and hotels, court filings state.

They have both been charged with conspiracy to solicit and receive a bribe, solicitation and receipt of a bribe, honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and making false statements.

Federal officials with the Southern District of New York will be holding a news conference on the arrests later Monday morning. 

[jkl-fff]

You are ruler of your country for a day! You can enact one law and it will still be in effect after you leave. What do you do?

Only one? Well, in typical USA fashion, I'm going to get around that by drafting one law (a bill) with a fuck ton of riders that are considered part of that one law (yep, even if they have nothing to do with the primary purpose of the bill and are actually something many legislators would oppose) (yet one more thing that's fucked up about this government). AND I'm going to go a step above that to guarantee these all remian in effect by declaring their enactment is as Constitutional Amendments.

Henceforth, all elected positions (presidents, governors, mayors, senators, representatives, etc.) are to be held for a term of four years, with a strict limit of two terms per person. Anyone who will turn 75 during the coming term will be deemed ineligible for office.

ALL judicial positions will be subject to a strict code of ethics (ESPECIALLY the fucking SUPREME COURT gods above, how is this already not a thing), and those who are accused of violating it will be subject to a trial with a jury of 12 judges. If found guilty of violating this code by at least 7 of the 12, they will be cast out of office ... and into prison. Also, judges can only serve at a given level for 16 years (no more of this lifetime terms bullshit).

No elected official may be reimbursed for their service at a rate higher than their state's minimum wage. Nor may they receive government benefits (like health insurance) above what the average citizen is entitled to receive. If they want more, they'd better improve the lives of their poorest citizens.

Their is a wealth cap at $500 million in private or corporate assets. Everything after that is confiscated for the public good. Anyone found guilty of trying to dodge that will lose everything and go to jail for the rest of their life (anyone with more than $10 million must be audited annually to ensure no tax fraud is being committed).

Corporate personhood will be acknowledged, but so will a corporate death penalty. If a company is found to have violated laws protecting the environment or public to a degree greater than $10 million in damages, then the company will be disbanded, and *all* assets of the executives will be seized while *half* of all middle management will be seized. (This way, rank and file workers will be incentivized to keep their company honest so they don't lose a job, management and executives will be incentivized because they stand to lose 50% or 100% of their wealth).

In a similar vein, all punitive fines are to be scaled according to the wealth of the offender. Like, a speeding ticket is $250 for a poor person, $25,000 for a millionaire.

The military can only receive as much funding as the Department of Education, which will disperse its funds to the poorest schools in a district first. But charter and religious schools are prohibited from receiving federal and state funds (if they want to be private, that's fine ... but they gotta pay for everything themselves while still being subject to federal regulations).

Business subsidies can not surpass welfare funding throughout a state. Also, if a business makes a profit one year, they are ineligible to receive subsidies the next.

Election Day is now on a Sunday, and all non essential services are to close so people can go vote. Tiered voting is to be instituted, too.

Convicted felons cannot be president even after serving their time (c'mon, people, seriously). Though they can vote again once released.

I could add others, but this has gone on long enough, and these already would be huge improvements. Thanks!

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲 US Senator Bob Menendez, D-NJ and his wife Nadine have been Indicted on Felony Bribery Charges

US Prosecutors revealed on Friday US Senator Robert Menendez (69), D-NJ and his wife Nadine have been Indicted on Federal Felony charges of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery, Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Fraud, and Conspiracy to Commit Extortion Under Color of Official Right.

The indictment alleges New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and his wife accepted bribes including cash, gold bars, payments on a home mortgage, compensation for a no-show job (guess his last name isn't Biden), luxury vehicles and other forms of payment.

Prosecutors say they executed a Search Warrant of Senator Menendez and his wife's home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey back in June, 2022. While searching the couple's home, Prosecutors say they found more than $480'000 cash, most of it stuffed away in envelopes, hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe. The indictment also alleges cash was found in the Senator's closet in jackets with his name embroidered on it, as well as $70'000 cash in a safe deposit box owned by the Senator's wife.

Also discovered during the execution of the Search Warrant was a Mercedes Benz convertible valued at over $60'000, given to Senator Menendez's wife by two New Jersey Businessmen, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe, allegedly in return for the Senator's interference in a criminal case involving an associate of the businessmen.

Also found by Federal Agents were gold bars valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars also given by the businessman Hana and another associate, Fred Daibes. All three businessmen were also charged by Federal Prosecutors.

Senator Bob Menendez is also accused of having "provided sensitive US Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt."

Another accusation in the indictment includes pressuring a US Department of Agriculture official for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted by Egypt to the businessman Wael Hana.

The indictment also alleges Senator Menendez "promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty to recommend that the President nominate an individual for US Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez believed" he could influence.

The charges against Senator Menendez and his wife were announced by Damien Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York at a news conference on Friday.

Previously, Senator Menendez faced indictment in 2015 for allegedly accepting favors from an influential Florida eye doctor, but the case was dismissed after the jury split and was unable to reach a verdict.

Today's new charges filed against Senator Menendez and his wife were the culmination of a year-long Corruption investigation led by US Attorney Damien Williams for Southern District of New York.

[snifflesthemouse]

Did I just get a Scoop in MY neck of the Woods?

DID A REAL SCOOP FALL INTO MY LAP TODAY?

Hello You Lovely Readers!

          First of all, I need to say that this author cannot express all the gratitude felt for all of you. This mouse is close to 1000 followers!! I know that is a very big deal to this writing rodent, so thank you all! BUT I HAVE A SCOOP…

          Now before I render the scoop, let me reiterate this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this instance. I would like to say that maybe Journalist Jey told Ashli from the DanjaZone (God, we all miss her, don’t we?) but I cannot recall for certain… I was shocked to hear these things today. Especially where I was and with whom. To find someone from the United Kingdom in my neck of the woods is rare… to find one with intel is a blessing.

          I don’t know the credentials for this cat, but the stuff being said makes total sense. This man was a transplant from England, in my neck of the woods in the States! And his sentiment regarding the Duo was so honest, that he started telling stories I never heard as an American reading via the media.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING I AM RECALLING IS REHASHED OUT AT HOME, LATER. THIS CAT DIDN'T GIVE ME AN INTERVIEW LOL. I AM PARAPHRASING.

          The first story I heard was something that proves Buckingham Palace was in fact protecting Harry and Meghan. This story never made it anywhere I can think of, and they must have a ton of these stories covered up somewhere. This is the story he told:

          “In the UK, there is a factory that makes guns specifically for when heirs are born. There’s a 20 gauge and a 12 gauge, and they only make one of each for each child. The guns are given to the Crown Estate, as they are essentially public property. William had his when he was born, and Harry had his. Meghan allegedly forced Harry into putting the guns made for him at birth up for auction. Prince William was forced into buying the guns back at auction so that these very rare, and very publicly owned items, could be returned back to the family. As they had no business being sold, anyway.”

          Then, he told us (my husband and I) about how the monarchy isn’t just some people who won the genetic lotto. He explained that monarchy is more about national identity and tradition, and that the entire nation hates them both. He then told us about this part next regarding Harry’s military services:

          “When Harry wanted to join the military, they wanted him to go into something like the Coastguard or even like William did. No, Harry didn’t want that. He wanted to serve in the “real” military. Even though, as an heir to the Throne, Harry knew that he would be costing the taxpayers millions more than necessary. He was never alone in those helicopters. There was a team that went out before him, a team that went out with him, and then a team that came back after him to ensure there was no way he could be left vulnerable. He never once had a risk of life or limb or anything at all whiles over there. It was all a sham. The most decorated member of the Royal Family is a fraud and he hides behind his wife. He didn’t even have military uniform on for the funeral, and that is because he was stripped of it all. He and his wife denounced their duties. He didn’t earn any of anything he did have.”

          Now you all have no idea how excited we were, as my husband knows and appreciates how much this rat loves the Royals!!

          I travel often. I spend a lot of time on the road (compared to the average person), and I spend a lot of time meeting people from Michigan to South Carolina. Yet, I’ve yet to meet someone from the UK (and he and his wife were from Oxford City). My husband has served next to the men and women of the United Kingdom while in Iraq (He was deployed to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once). He already knows how cool the people of the UK are, but for me this was my first in-person encounter. Like I know I sound silly. But it was so neat.

          I want to know what you all think. Does this make sense about the guns? I believe the second story, but I know nothing much about the guns (even though I want to say Ashli may’ve mentioned it).

          The last thing he said though was that he was certain Harry’s kids aren’t getting titles for several reasons (not what you would think and I am paraphrasing here, this isn’t exact. I am remembering as well as I can):

          “Harry is illegitimate.  His real dad is Hewitt and everyone in the country knows it. Everyone passes him off as Charles’s because of his mum. His mum had an affair and Harry is illegitimate. His kids shouldn’t have titles because they refused them for the kids by choice. They chose to abandon their roles and duties and country. Those kids aren’t entitled to anything because Harry isn’t. This is why Charles doesn’t care that he left as much as you’d think. Optics is everything in the Royal Family. Charles loves monarchy more than anything else. He’s waited for that seat for too long, and he won’t let Harry knock him out of it. Bet.”

          We also discussed the differences between our food and cultures, and I really enjoyed the conversation. My husband and I laughed when he said his wife almost left him like ten times in the first two months of being here.

He said, “She went to make meatballs and spaghetti. She didn’t know all the food here has been pre-seasoned and flavored. She’s adding all her regular spices and flavors, and she takes a bite and starts to cry. She said that was the straw the broke the camel’s back. It’s weird in America. You all think you can throw “ja-loppa-nose (his pronunciation of jalapenos)” on everything and call it spicy. I love this country, but I do miss the food and the culture of my home country.”

           It’s amazing the things you find out and learn. He alluded to the fact that Buckingham Palace essentially protected them every step of the way, and they still do protect them.

          So… what do you think about the guns or the deployment story or everything else? I’ve heard that Hewitt wasn’t around until after Harry was born, but who would really know for certain? Anything can be denied and covered over with a good story and a photo. It’s the game of optics, remember?

Remember, the plan was for Harry to leave after 10 years for the transition of the slimmed down Monarchy? It seems there is something going on  we’re missing.

          We’re missing something, right in front of our faces, too.

          Bet… I bet the Telegraph will get a surrogacy dossier or something along those lines soon enough. Probably right after the coronation. Maybe even a day or two before, that way the sensationalism is there for action and Charles will finally have that forced hand he needs.

Until the next bit of cheese drops in the floor,

                    Your Mouse Sniffles.

[mourning-again-in-america]

choosing to interpret the government's counsel talking about "a LEO" as instead talking about "a Leo"

putting up with oral argument in the honest services wire fraud cases currently before the Court by tracking under which theories the Pope could commit American honest services fraud

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Good morning, World The Capital of Palestine is Canaan Canaan was located in the southern Levant during the time of Melchizedek, which is now part of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza. 

During the Exodus, Canaan was an Egyptian province. Each town had its own local ruler or Egyptian governor, who reported to the Pharaoh of Egypt. 

Melchizedek is thought to have been the king of Jerusalem, which was originally called Salem. Psalm 76:2 and Genesis 14:17 imply that Salem and Jerusalem are the same place. 

Melchizedek (King of Right) High Priest served the highest God, El Elyon, El Shaddai later the scriptures reveal this same God is Yahweh or Yehova. The Canaanites are not as everyone would believe. Noah curses Canaan because Ham was already blessed (God blessed noah Shem ham and japheth Gen 9) God does not curse canaan nor are the descendants of Ham cursed. Canaanites like many hamitic people knew God. Remember Moses learned from Jethro a midianite a hamite. Remember Balaam the false prophet, not false because his gift was fraud but false because he used the gift for his own glory. Remember God removed the Canaanites from dominating the land because they had committed abominations. (The Israelites did not commit genocide; they never removed all Canaanites from the land). This implies God was holding them accountable for a knowledge and revelation they had of HIM. Melchizedek being not only the King of Salem (Shalom/Peace Jeru-Salem/ The city of Righteousness and Peace) But also being a priest of the Highest definitely implies people of that land knew Yahweh and served Him. To be honest the first ever historical evidence of YHWH being mentioned is in ancient canaan. The people of the land knew Yah before Avram. Matter of fact God calls Abram to where He is, in the land of Canaan. The scriptures say Melchizedek has no father or mother and that he abides a priest forever. Is Melchizedek fully human? I don’t know seeing how He points so much to Jesus Christ. Christ the King of Jerusalem, He is the king of Right, He is God's High Priest. He brings in everlasting righteousness and peace His body and blood are the bread and wine. What i can say is that i believe His earthly appearance was that of Canaanite people even as Jesus took on the flesh of the people of His nation. To answer the question again but plainly Melchizedek served God and the people of the land of canaan. Jebusites dwelt in Jerusalem so they were most likely worshipers of Yah. Jebusites in Jerusalem (Joshua 12, Samuel 5, 1 chronicles 11) Canaanites also did service in the temple this is most likely because they worshiped and served Yah before the priesthood of Aaron. Seeing how they most likely served in the days of Melchizedek. In the book of Zechariah 14:21 the prophecy says, "and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts. Even in His day nearly the end of the Old Testament Canaanites was still worshiping in the temple where the Jews worshiped. Job was also a worshiper of the Highest. Job 1:1 says he lived in the land of Uz, which scholars associate with modern Arabia– agarza.

The answer is yes. Melchizedek, as the king of Salem and priest of El Elyon, served Canaanites in his city and the surrounding area. El Elyon means "God Most High." It combines the word "god" with the honorific "most high."

El was also the name of the supreme deity in Canaanite mythology. He was the father of the gods and the head of the assembly of the god, also called the divine council. The epithet "elyon" (also spelled Aliyan) was also applied to other deities. From the myths of the Ba'al Cycle

Baal sets the season and gives forth His voice from the clouds. He flashes lightning to the earth. As a house of cedars let Him complete it, or a house of bricks let Him erect it! Let it be told to Aliyan Baal: 'The mountains will bring Thee much silver.

Considering this, it is most probable that Elyon was one of many titles applied to the supreme deity El. Melchizedek would have worshiped him as the head of the divine assembly. Whether he also served other deities is not stated in the text, but Abram accepted El Elyon as being the same god as his own YHWH (the Lord). Gen. 14:22 - "I have sworn to the Lord, El Elyon, the creator of heaven and earth."

As priest-king of Canaan, Melchizedek's priesthood would have served the people of Salem and its environs. He also ministered to Abram when they shared a sacred meal together and Melchizedek blessed Abram as follows:

Genesis 14:19-20

“Blessed be Abram by El Elyon, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be El Elyon, who delivered your foes into your hand.”

Conclusion: Although this blessing is the only such benediction recorded, Melchizedek would have blessed many people of the region the in the name of El Elyon. I agree, and Paul only stated that the Hebrews, by way of Abraham, did not know the Jebusite King's heritage. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, nor beginning of days, nor having end of life, but like the Son of YAHWEH, His priesthood remains forever. (Heb 7:3) The Greek word apatōr comes from Strong states: fatherless, that is, of unrecorded paternity. The same is said about his mother, and then to make it clear, the next Greek word is agenealogētos, which means unregistered as to birth. I feel that descent was a wrong word choice, and it has thrown many people off. It is vital not to make the Bible simple for all to understand. It is sad because the Pharisees started this racist falsehood against the Canaanites, and then slavery came about because they were black people who came from Cham. The Bible wants to show that a person who committed sin by being drunk could not curse anyone. If all would read: And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Cham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. (Gen 9:18) This Scripture lets you know that Kanaan was not cursed. Then, the Bible gives the highest honor to a Canaanites that no other had before or after. Melchizedek was the King and Priest of YAHWEH EL SHADDAI! This black man would be honored to represent the order of YAHSHUA when HE returned to Heaven to become KING and PRIEST for all who will accept HIM and follow in HIS footsteps here on earth. YAHWEH Says HE changes not and will not let HIS WORD become void. (Isa 55:11) HE also respects anyone of any ethnic group. (Act 10:34) Abraham learned to return tithes from the Canaanites. King Bera of Sodom and his people also the other four cities of the Vale had stop worshipping THE HIGHEST and had turned to Baal. Abraham did not want any of the lute but he gave to Melchizedek tithing that the King need to return to YAHWEH. How fitting does it show that YAHWEH House is for all people. Likewise, it is very important to understand that many doctrines of religion may be from various sects of deism that may or may not have been interpreted properly and you must beware of hearsay from many who do not have the facts at all but it sounds good to them.  From: Steven P. Miller, @ParkermillerQ, gatekeeperwatchman.org  TM ‎Founder and Administrator of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups. #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO. www.facebook.com/gatekeeperwatchnan www.facebook.com/ Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

By Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage

In a sprawling legal brief partly unsealed on Wednesday, the special counsel, Jack Smith, laid out his case for why former President Donald J. Trump is not immune from prosecution on federal charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

The redacted brief, made public by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the Federal District Court in Washington, adds new details to the already extensive public record of how Mr. Trump lost the race but attempted nonetheless to cling to power.

Part of the brief focuses, for example, on a social media post that Mr. Trump sent on the afternoon of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, telling supporters that Vice President Mike Pence had let them all down. Mr. Smith laid out extensive arguments for why that post on Twitter should be considered an unofficial act of a desperate losing candidate, rather than the official act of a president that would be considered immune from prosecution under a landmark Supreme Court ruling this summer.

After Mr. Trump’s Twitter post focused the enraged mob’s attention on harming Mr. Pence and the Secret Service took the vice president to a secure location, an aide rushed into the dining room off the Oval Office where Mr. Trump was watching television. The aide alerted him to the developing situation, in the hope that Mr. Trump would then take action to ensure Mr. Pence’s safety.

Instead, Mr. Trump looked at the aide and said only, “So what?” according to grand jury testimony newly disclosed in the brief.

Much earlier, the brief says, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers gave him an “honest assessment” that his false claims that the election had been marred by widespread fraud would not hold up in court. But Mr. Trump seemed not to care.

“The details don’t matter,” the brief quotes Mr. Trump as saying.

Around the same time, the brief says, Mr. Pence also sought to convince Mr. Trump he had lost the election. During a private lunch in mid-November 2020, for example, Mr. Pence suggested to Mr. Trump that he accept defeat and run again in the next presidential race, but Mr. Trump did not want to hear about it.

“I don’t know,” the brief quotes him as saying, “2024 is so far-off.”

Mr. Smith’s 165-page brief was initially filed under seal last week. It was designed to help Judge Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, to determine how much of the indictment can survive the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in July granting Mr. Trump a broad form of immunity against prosecution for many official acts while in office.

Mr. Smith and his deputies used their brief to paint all of the indictment’s many individual allegations as fair game, depicting them as examples of Mr. Trump pursuing electioneering activity in his private role as a candidate for office, not as protected acts taken in his official capacity as president.

“The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct,” prosecutors wrote. “Not so. Although the defendant was the incumbent president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one.”

Still, despite its narrow legal purpose, the expansive brief, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, also served as something like a trial brief, setting forth Mr. Smith’s fullest exposition yet of what he has learned in his nearly two-year-long investigation of Mr. Trump.

The filing was accompanied by a lengthy sealed appendix of many of the fruits of that inquiry — F.B.I. interviews, search warrant affidavits and grand jury testimony — some of which could also soon be revealed to the public.

In its broad strokes, the special counsel’s filing to Judge Chutkan was not unlike the tome-like report issued nearly two years ago by the House select committee that investigated the events leading up to the attack of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Smith’s submission described a familiar web of intersecting plots by Mr. Trump and his allies, including efforts to strong-arm state officials to overturn the election results, create false slates of electors claiming that Mr. Trump had won key states he actually lost and a pressure campaign against his own vice president, Mike Pence, to throw the election his way during a proceeding to certify its final outcome at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

-----

Special Counsel Investigation

Read the brief with newly disclosed evidence gathered in the federal election subversion case against Trump.

-----

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/us/politics/trump-jan-6-case-jack-smith-evidence.html

[miupow]

It was a beautiful sunny autumn day but the energy of humanity didn’t match

Today, is the day where the people celebrate mourn the death of a rich mobster. Most didn’t know he was one, but he was a well loved man by many, so he was missed by many.

Beomgyu and his wife sat mysteriously in the shadows, the speech at his funeral going in one ear, and immediately coming out the other. They hated that man, but they still attended. Not to pay respects, to make sure he was dead.

Beomgyu tried his best not to smile, ain’t nothing to smile about at a funeral. But he can’t help but feel a sense of joy seeing his enemies dropping like flies

The couple was mysterious and silent the whole funeral service, deciding to save their shit-talking for the repass that took place outside the building.

“Murdered. Just pathetic,” Beomgyu rasped out “died to someone bashing his skull. Just embarrassing.”

“They didn’t even find out what killed him. They believed it was probably a club or something…but they didn’t find any weapon” His wife then spoke

“To be honest I’m focusing less on WHAT killed him, i’m more focused on WHO killed him. Whoever did it was clever, but if it wasn’t you or me then who? He didn’t have any enemies except for us.”

“Who knows….” She then started slurring and dragging her words “…maybe it was his wife that killed him if it wasn’t you or me”

Beomgyu, confused, took off his sunglasses and shifted his eyes towards the widow. The young beautiful woman, mourning the death of her husband, but was secretly smiling knowing that she now owns her late husbands money, and eyeing other men (and women) hoping to not be single for long. She wasn’t hiding it well, well to Beomgyu she wasn’t.

“Hm…what makes you think it’s her?” He then questioned his wife’s accusation

“Why wouldn’t it be? If anyone knows the dirt behind him besides me, it’s her.”

“Oh?” Beomgyu then became intrigued “You never told me any of this before? What more dirt does he have to him? I only know his failure to complete the deal we made and him trying to kill me.”

His wife then pulled him further away from others, and just to be safer she whispered the dirt behind the dead man. All the fraud, all the murder, all the cheating, the corruption. Every crime you could imagine under the belt of the corpse. Beomgyu couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he wasn’t surprised.

“All that money he has he easily covered his shit up. And why do you think were his only enemies? Because we’re the only ones to still be alive.” His wife then finished her small rant

Going back to the repass, it took everything in Beomgyu to not go back to the funeral home and kick the coffin, or illegally cremate him when no one was looking. He may have been a mob boss, but what his enemy did was more than just being a mobster, he was a man that should’ve be seen for his crimes.

“I heard a few years ago his wife had an affair too. To get him back for him cheating on her.” She brought her up again

“Hm, I wonder if the one she slept with attended. That would be hilarious” He replied holding back his laughter

She then giggled and quickly tugged his sleeve and rasped something shocking to him, something he thought he would never hear, something that nobody else should be hearing.

“Baby, why do you think I know so much?”

-🧚‍♀️

omg i see what you mean by making it gay 😭😭😭 BISEXUALS PLEASE RISE FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

stunning. brilliant. unique. spectacular. outstanding. 🧚‍♀️ anon im gonna kiss you on the mouth. i want mc even more than i want beomgyu tbh

[stuffromymind]

Public Service Notice For You Who Have a Trump Cultist In Your Life.

The next time your MAGAt friend or relative starts talking about, "The Biden Crime Family", or how, "Trump is the only honest one in Washington!", or, "Only Donald Trump can drain the swamp and SAVE 'MURIKA!" ?

Show them this LOVELY Fact-Slap from Robert Reich, and the list of Conald's fellow criminals below, and then,

Most Importantly:

M-a-k-e them explain their Fux Noise addict response to the reality of Conald Trump and his cabal.

If they won't answer?

"I guess you're as scared to testify about the facts like Conald was at his fraud case in New York, huh?

Bonus Fact Slaps:

Follow up with this list of criminals in Trump's administration and orbit and have them explain each of these, (Don't forget to point out that "Law & Order" Conald pardoned many of them who therefore, by definition, have admitted their guilt.)

Trump has MANY of "The Best" people including a pedophile.