Stories & Opinions Worth Knowing but Maybe Not Quite Threadworthy 8/13

[Eupher]

Barack Obama's Brother Says He Will Support Trump in 2024

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/anthony-gonzalez/2023/08/13/barack-obamas-brother-says-he-will-support-trump-in-2024-n1718777

Malik Obama, Barack Obama’s half-brother, told Breitbart News that he will be supporting former Donald Trump for president in 2024.

“F BIDEN,” Malik wrote on X, including a picture of himself wearing a red hat with the same message in white letters.


Malik became a social media sensation in 2016 when he announced his support for Trump. He was immediately shunned by his brother for supporting the former president. Malik is again supporting Trump in what could be a rematch between Trump and President Biden, who served as Barack Obama’s vice president.

When asked if he would be all in for Trump in 2024, Malik said: “Yes, I am.”

Malik said he wore the red hat because he’s a Republican, “not a Democrat.”

“I wore the hat because Gary had it, and you know, Sloppy Joe, he’s not a fan of mine. I’m not a Democrat. I’m a Republican,” Malik said.

Malik also uploaded a video saying, “F Biden, you know what that means.”


The designer of the hat, Gary Grinberg, told Breitbart News that he created the hat to be “vocal” about his disappointment with the Biden administration.

“I designed the hat because I’m going to be vocal. I’m not going to shut my mouth. I’m not going to be a ‘hear no evil, see no evil.’ I want people to see it, that’s why I made it red. So, it f—ing stood out,” Grinberg said.

Malik said he didn’t get along with Barack, adding that while he visited the White House at least twice during his brother’s tenure he has not spoken to him lately.

“I don’t get along with him,” Malik said of his brother. “I think he’s a big disappointment to me because he’s not the same person that he used to be when we were together. It seems like once he became a big shot, it got to his head. And now he thinks that he’s god.”

Malik has also spread rumors online — perhaps jokingly — that Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, is actually a man pretending to be a woman.

I'm sure Barry is crushed. After all, it's his 3rd term and he demands that his half-brother put himself back on the plantation.

Lots of video, of course, at the link.

[Eupher]

Techno-Hell: Utah and Oregon Now Require GPS Trackers on EVs in Lieu of Registration Fee, Tax Drivers by the Mile

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/benbartee/2023/08/13/techno-hell-utah-and-oregon-now-require-gps-trackers-on-evs-in-lieu-of-registration-fee-tax-drivers-by-the-mile-n1718751

State governments have historically generated revenue to maintain roads, traffic lights, and the like by adding a tax at the pump. Owing to the federal government-prodded transition to electric vehicles (EVs) to combat something called “climate change,” states stand to lose out on this source of revenue as EVs obviously don’t require gasoline to operate.

Utah’s novel solution is to charge a “per-mile fee” for EVs with a government GPS tracker attached to monitor movement.

Via the Utah Department of Transportation:

Utah roads are maintained using taxes from gasoline sales. As vehicles become more fuel efficient and the number of electric vehicles grows, the Utah Department of Transportation and Division of Motor Vehicles is changing to a per-mile fee as a way for drivers to pay their portion of roadway operations and maintenance…
You will pay 1.00 cents per mile, deducted from the prepaid wallet, up to the amount of the flat fee. Enrolling in Utah’s Road Usage Charge program gives you access to DriveSync® for Utah DOT an app that makes your driving safer and more productive through trip tracking and driving reports.

For a little added Orwellianism, the DriveSync® app also assigns a “driving score” based on how fast the slave citizen accelerates, brakes, corners turns, and drives. The app records bad driving behavior and shows it to the slave citizen on a digital map.


Oregon is instituting a similar policy, via KGW8 NBC:

ODOT created a website and program called OReGO where drivers can sign up to volunteer for a program where they pay a fee for every mile they drive on public roads. Currently it’s just under 2 cents per mile.

The program isn’t gaining much traction. About 700 people have signed up so far, either reporting their mileage to the state or by using GPS devices to track their travel.

The people driving hybrids are still paying for gas at the pump, so each quarter their account is balanced to credit the mileage fee against the gas tax, ensuring that they don’t end up paying both.

Michigan’s up next, via ABC News 12:

With electric vehicles on the rise, the Michigan Department of Transportation is exploring new options to replace the gas tax.

One potential avenue is a road usage charge system, which would require residents to place a GPS tracker in their vehicle to keep track of their mileage.

Similar systems are already in place in Utah and Oregon. Utah charges drivers 1 cent per mile, while Oregon charges drivers 1.9 cents per mile.

The technocrats love nothing more than killing two (or three) birds with one stone. In this case, said birds are: getting rid of gas-powered cars, inventing for themselves a brand-new revenue generation scheme, and instituting even more tracking power to make sure the peasants behave themselves.

Dontcha just love tyranny?

Kinda hard to believe that Utah, a Red state, would put up with this garbage.

[SVPete]

States fund the building and maintenance of highways by taxes on gasoline and registration fees (though California has for decades diverted much of that $$ into mass transit boondoggles and such). Drivers pay for the miles they drive each time they fill up their tanks. EVs use those highways and other than the relatively nominal registration fee, do so without paying for their usage. Paying a mileage-based fee has been implemented in OR, but the problem is in how to learn what that mileage has been. "Mandatory" check-ins would be clunky and compliance would probably be low. An annual fee added to registration would be large enough that pressure to repeal it would be instantaneous, and compliance might be low. The system UT and OR want to use could yield pay-as-you-go revenue, just as gas taxes do, but the danger that the trackers would be used for more than reporting mileage is hugenormous. Trackers could easily be programmed to use GPS to track where the vehicle went, how often, etc..

[Eupher]

snip.... the danger that the trackers would be used for more than reporting mileage is hugenormous. Trackers could easily be programmed to use GPS to track where the vehicle went, how often, etc..

Zackly right. There is no way in hell I'm going to trust the government (or any other entity that the government could browbeat, extort, or subpoena) to know where and what I do.

Yes, I have a cell phone and yes, most of the time it's off. I use it when I want to use it and nothing else. Ditto for my car. No GPS in my car, either. Paper maps work just fine.

[Eupher]

Florida Republican files articles of impeachment against Biden

Hot Air

Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) filed articles of impeachment against Joe Biden on Friday. On the same day, he brought forward legislation requiring the head of the Secret Service to file reports about illegal use of controlled substances in the White House.

Steube filed four articles of impeachment against Biden. He jumped ahead of the investigations being conducted in Congress. He accuses the president of high crimes and misdemeanors.


“It’s long past time to impeach Joe Biden,” Steube said in a statement. “He has undermined the integrity of his office, brought disrepute on the Presidency, betrayed his trust as President, and acted in a manner subversive of the rule of law and justice at the expense of America’s citizens.”

“The evidence continues to mount by the day – the Biden Crime Family has personally profited off Joe’s government positions through bribery, threats, and fraud. Joe Biden must not be allowed to continue to sit in the White House, selling out our country,” Steube said.

The first article of impeachment accuses Biden of abusing the power of his office. It alleges he accepted bribes, committed Hobbs Act extortion and honest services fraud related to the use of his position. These charges are over the alleged involvement of the then-vice president in the Biden family business dealings. This includes the pay-for-play deals made by Hunter Biden and James Biden (the president’s brother) that sold access to Biden between 2009-2017 in exchange for “payments and business opportunities from foreign and domestic business partners.”

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, released a memo on Wednesday that shows foreign payments to members of the Biden family that totaled more than $20M. Democrats were quick to come to Joe Biden’s defense, insisting that there is no evidence that Joe Biden accepted any payments.

The second article of impeachment claims that Biden obstructed justice. It cites IRS whistleblower testimony that “members of the Biden campaign improperly colluded with Justice Department (DOJ) officials to improperly interfere with investigations into tax crimes alleged to have been committed by Hunter Biden.” Again, Biden’s defenders, including at DOJ and special counsel David Weiss, have denied that the Biden administration interfered with the special counsel’s work.

The third article of impeachment deals with accusations that Biden committed fraud.

The fourth article of impeachment claims Biden paid for Hunter’s illegal drugs and prostitutes.

I’m not a lawyer, I just occasionally play one here. I think the third and fourth articles are a stretch. I’m all for hitting the corrupt old man, The Big Guy, with everything there is but the charge of fraud and of the father paying for the son’s blow and hookers seems a step too far. Wouldn’t you assume that Hunter’s payments went to pay for his own vices, and Joe’s cut from the deals went to him? I don’t see being able to prove that daddy paid for his son’s addictions. YMMV.

Steube’s legislation to require the Secret Service chief to write a report on controlled substances in the White House makes sense. The Secret Service brazenly closed its investigation into the random baggie of cocaine that showed up in a cubbie in the White House, just outside the Oval Office, last month. They didn’t even identify a person of interest.

There is a report that the Secret Service did find a fingerprint on the bag and do know who it is but it comes from “sources” and a specific name has not been confirmed. It’s just being reported as someone in the Biden family orbit, whatever that means. Is it Ashley, who has had her own problems with drug use? Maybe a Biden grandchild? We’ll probably never know.

I do like the name of Steube’s bill – the “Helping Understand Narcotics Traces at the Executive Residence (HUNTER) Act.”

“The United States Secret Service (USSS) refers to themselves as one of the most elite law enforcement agencies in the world. It’s completely unacceptable that the USSS has failed to find who is responsible for bringing cocaine into one of the most secure buildings in the world,” he said. “The American people deserve answers. My legislation demands information on the closed investigation into the cocaine found at the White House in July and focuses on how Congress can provide oversight to prevent future illicit usage of controlled substances in the White House.”

It doesn’t make sense that the Secret Service was stumped in its investigation into a bag of cocaine. As many others have pointed out, if that white substance turned out to be anthrax, the case would have been solved in a matter of hours. The Secret Service is an elite group of professionals. I think they solved the case and are following orders to keep quiet.

Former Secret Service Agent-turned-conservative-pundit Dan Bongino insists that the SS shouldn't be lumped into the same pile of shit that the Feebs are in. Sorry, Dan, but what else do you call it? When you get right down to it, if there was a drop of ethical courage in the SS leadership, there should have been a massive explosion in resignations, especially at the top. Instead, they all went along like the Comrades they are.

Serious question - I don't think there's any doubt that SharterJoe participated in the pay-to-play influence peddling we're all reading about. But those crimes ostensibly happened when SharterJoe was Veep.

Can a sitting president be impeached for crimes he did while in a different office? As Veep or as Senator?

Obstruction might be more suitable as a charge, but I sincerely doubt that even SharterJoe isn't stupid enough to get involved with influence-peddling while Prez. Besides, he's a full-blown catatonic vegetable at this point. His dementia keeps him from doing anything other than sitting on a beach or flying on AF1 to his next "vacation."

[Old n Grumpy]

It seems to me the video of biden bragging about getting the prosecutor fired by threatening to withhold foreign aid should be enough for a start. Failing to secure the border, the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan leaving all the weapons behind, all the shell companies and the classified documents should be enough to haul him away in chains