Stories & Opinions Worth Knowing but Maybe Not Quite Threadworthy 6/21

[SVPete]

Last month San Francisco started arresting drug users, 95% were from out of town

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/06/20/last-month-san-francisco-started-arresting-drug-users-95-were-from-out-of-town-n559443

Last month San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the city would begin to crack down on the open-air drug markets that plague downtown. As I pointed out here, Breed’s planned announcement of the new approach was turned into a circus thanks to Democratic Socialist City Supervisor Dean Preston. Before the meeting was cut off by protesters shouting (and one throwing a brick) Breed said it was time for a change.
...
The battle between the mayor and the city supervisor continued. Last week, Preston challenged Breed to fund “wellness centers” another place for drug users similar to the linkage center which shut down last December. The linkage center was so named because it was supposed to link drug addicts to city services but after a year and $22 million spent, the experiment had accomplished very little. Staffers were able to reverse 300 overdoses of people who came to do drugs inside the linkage center but only 1% of visitors were referred for drug or mental health treatment. Breed responded to Preston’s demands by essentially calling him a white savior.
...
Over the weekend this story took another interesting turn. As police started arresting people using drugs on the street for the first time in a long time they noticed an unexpected pattern. Nearly all of the people they arrested were from out of town.

East Bay and Peninsula dopers fare-jump onto BART and come to SF for their daily fix? Who'd athunk it? Dopers come from all over the West Coast and US because their dope-of-choice is easily available on SF streets? I'm shocked! Shocked!

What government subsidizes it gets more of. That includes dopers and bums.

[SVPete]

RFK Jr. Is Really Scaring Them Now: LA Times Says He’s a Threat to ‘Our Democracy’

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2023/06/20/rfk-jr-is-really-scaring-them-now-la-times-says-hes-a-threat-to-our-democracy-n1704885

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the Leftist political and media elites deeply rattled, and that’s utterly delightful.

Imagine this scenario: a wildly unpopular and manifestly incapable president is running, however haltingly, for reelection. Initially he seemed like a lock, but then he encountered an unexpected challenge from a scion of an old American political family, a man who defies all the conventional categorization of political candidates and has set the establishment on its ear by challenging not only the superannuated corruptocrat in the White House but many of that establishment’s most cherished assumptions.

It would make a great novel, but it’s real life, and it’s an exhilarating reminder that America is still a republic, still a place where the elites can be challenged at all, however entrenched they may appear to be. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not only challenged the elites, he has frightened them to the core, and that’s wonderful to see. The latest indication of how much of a threat they consider him to be comes from the Los Angeles Times, always a reliable organ for far-Left propaganda. The Left Coast Times is so scared of RFK Jr. that on Monday, it proclaimed, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to your health — and our democracy.”

IMO, RFK Jr. is a fruitcake and a Prog who has donned Populist clothing, but a candidate for office is a "Threat to ‘Our Democracy’"? I thought Trump was that threat, .

[SVPete]

Hunter Avoids Jail Time After Pleading Biden

https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-avoids-jail-time-after-pleading-biden

WILMINGTON, DE — Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has successfully negotiated an agreement with federal prosecutors to avoid jail time for charges of tax and firearm crimes by pleading "Biden."

"It's an airtight legal defense," said CNN legal analyst Laura Coates. "Our sources have reported Hunter's attorneys met with prosecutors and simply said ‘Our client's last name is Biden,' at which point prosecutors agreed to forego any jail time for the charges. Prosecutors knew they could do nothing against the ‘I'm a Biden' defense tactic. It works every time."

It Bee true.

[SVPete]

Lab Leak Theory: 1, Misinformation Cops: 0

https://reason.com/2023/06/21/lab-leak-theory-confirmed-ben-hu-wuhan-china-covid/

"Patients zero" are now presumed to be three Chinese scientists, including Ben Hu, who worked extensively on gain-of-function research (the manipulation of viruses to make them more dangerous), which was funded by grants from the U.S. government. Those cases occurred in November 2019—well before the Huanan wet market outbreak favored by some in the scientific community as the more likely origin story—and they occurred among the very people one would predict if the virus originated in a lab. ...

Assuming the intelligence reports are accurate and that Hu and his colleagues did contract the earliest cases of COVID-19, the implications are huge. This would mean that substandard safety protocols at the Wuhan lab probably unleashed a killer pathogen on the rest of the planet, and the Chinese government attempted to cover it up.
...
The confirmation of the label leak theory would also mean that all the mainstream journalists, establishment scientists, and social media moderators who derided its adherents as conspiracy theorists were stunningly wrong. This should serve as a potent lesson to all the entities—many of them state-funded—that have made policing alleged misinformation their seminal issue.

Said cops including some of the most influential voices in the scientific community and expert commentariat. The New York Times' lead coronavirus reporter, Apoorva Mandavilli, previously described the lab leak theory as having racist roots. Vaccine scientist Peter Hotez criticized the comedian Jon Stewart for daring to raise the issue on an episode of Stephen Colbert's show. CNN medical analyst Leana Wen lamented the theory's likelihood of inspiring anti-Chinese animus. Others in the media called the lab leak a "fringe conspiracy."

That these researchers were hospitalized before the meat market outbreak means the meat market outbreak was due to a lab worker or lab worker's spouse/SO was a customer at the market.

Fauci and NIAID cast doubt on the Lab Leak theory to obscure their part in the Covid pandemic, funding the research at WVI via funds given to Eco-Health Alliance. MSM folk mocked the Lab Leak theory because it "complicated" their Blame-Trump narrative and was a threat to shift blame and attention from Bogey-Trump.

[ADsOutburst]

Lab Leak Theory: 1, Misinformation Cops: 0

https://reason.com/2023/06/21/lab-leak-theory-confirmed-ben-hu-wuhan-china-covid/
 
That these researchers were hospitalized before the meat market outbreak means the meat market outbreak was due to a lab worker or lab worker's spouse/SO was a customer at the market.

Fauci and NIAID cast doubt on the Lab Leak theory to obscure their part in the Covid pandemic, funding the research at WVI via funds given to Eco-Health Alliance. MSM folk mocked the Lab Leak theory because it "complicated" their Blame-Trump narrative and was a threat to shift blame and attention from Bogey-Trump.

I’d say the score is a little more lopsided than 1-0.

[SVPete]

I’d say the score is a little more lopsided than 1-0.

Concur, but I almost always post articles using the articles' titles. IMO, barring an overthrow of China's communist government, the information about how the leak happened will never be released (plus or minus a century or three). So the rest of the world is stuck with circumstantial evidence and leaks of semi-unknown quality.

[Eupher]

Not sure if any of this submersible story has been broached yet -- if so, sorry, I overlooked it. But this article is eye-opening:

OceanGate Was Twice Warned of 'Catastrophic' Problems With Its Submersible

The saga of the Titan submersible, missing since Monday shortly after it launched to take tourists to see the wreck of the Titanic, is a story that may prove to be as tragic — and maddening — as the tale of the doomed ocean liner itself.

In 2018, experts inside and outside the company sounded alarms about the Titan submersible — most notably, that the craft wasn’t properly certified to dive to the depths necessary to reach the Titanic. OceanGate’s director of marine operations, David Lochridge, wrote a report saying the craft needed more testing, stressing “the potential dangers to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths.”

Two months later, two dozen experts in the submersibles industry — deep sea explorers and oceanographers — sent a letter to OceanGate Expeditions chief executive Stockton Rush saying that the company’s refusal to get a “traditional assessment” could lead to potentially “catastrophic” problems with the Titanic mission.

It should be noted that Mr. Rush is currently onboard the Titan — wherever it may be. A Canadian search plane picked up underwater noises in the search area.

The report from Mr. Lochbridge was clear and specific in its warnings.

New York Times:

Mr. Lochridge reported in court records that he had urged the company to do so, but that he had been told that OceanGate was “unwilling to pay” for such an assessment. After getting Mr. Lochridge’s report, the company’s leaders held a tense meeting to discuss the situation, according to court documents filed by both sides. The documents came in a lawsuit that OceanGate filed against Mr. Lochridge in 2018, accusing him of sharing confidential information outside the company.

In the documents, Mr. Lochridge reported learning that the viewport that lets passengers see outside the craft was only certified to work in depths of up to 1,300 meters.

The debris field of the Titanic is sitting nearly 4,000 meters below the surface.

“The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design,” lawyers for Mr. Lochridge wrote in a court filing.

The company said in its own court filings, responding to a wrongful termination suit by Lochbridge, that he wasn’t an engineer and that “acoustic monitoring of the hull’s strength was better than the kind of testing that Mr. Lochridge felt was necessary,” according to the Times.

The letter sent to Rush by the three dozen experts is devastating.

The letter said that OceanGate’s marketing of the Titan had been “at minimum, misleading” because it claimed that the submersible would meet or exceed the safety standards of a risk assessment company known as DNV, even though the company had no plans to have the craft formally certified by the agency.

The letter claimed that OceanGate should, at the very least, have its prototypes tested by DNV — an internationally accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway — or some other certification process.

“While this may demand additional time and expense,” the signatories wrote, “it is our unanimous view that this validation process by a third-party is a critical component in the safeguards that protect all submersible occupants.”

Rush believed strongly in his creation. The billionaire may not have been as concerned about the money he was losing as much as he believed Titan was a revolutionary submersible that would change the industry.

In an unsigned 2019 blog post titled “Why Isn’t Titan Classed?,” the company made similar arguments. OceanGate said in the post that because its Titan craft was so innovative, it could take years to get it certified by the usual assessment agencies. “Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation,” the company wrote.

“There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub-industry in over 35 years,” he told Smithsonian magazine in a profile published in 2019. “It’s obscenely safe because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown — because they have all these regulations.”

Those regulations are only as “safe” as they are followed by builders. We certainly hope and pray that Mr. Rush and his passengers will be found and brought safely to the surface so he can defend himself from these serious charges.

Well, Mr. Rush. Your ass just might be sucking buttermilk about now. If you aren't already dead.

[Eupher]

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lincolnbrown/2023/06/21/the-bible-will-stay-in-a-utah-school-district-n1705012

The Bible Will Stay in a Utah School District

After facing removal, the Bible will remain in Utah’s Davis School District. Tuesday the district’s board of education unanimously voted to keep the Bible in school libraries. The Bible will not be taught in schools, but will still be available for students to read.

Local TV station KSL notes that the district reviewed the Bible and then voted earlier to remove it from elementary and junior high school students. The complaint that started the controversy was from a parent who was angered by a state law that made it easier to remove books that contained what many consider to be obscene material. This complainant pointed out that the Bible contains passages depicting violence and sexual themes, and should therefore be removed along with books that parents found objectionable. And the district concurred.

That sparked outrage among parents and state lawmakers alike. Fox 13 reported that, during a June hearing, State Senator Curt Bramble highlighted explicit content in a book that was approved to remain in the schools after the Bible had been banned. He commented, “Adults can tell the difference between a religious text from the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, even though they depict historic or evidence of various acts, relative to pornography, that which is sexually explicit. I mean, come on, folks!”

Rep. Kera Birkeland queried, “How do we write and change this law to where books where a woman naked over a man with a gun to his head is allowed in the libraries of your junior high, and the Bible is not?”

And before someone out there comments, there is nothing wrong with having the Bible available in schools, along with the Torah, the Koran, The Book of Mormon, or the sayings of the Buddha. Students will be better served wrestling with the content in those books as opposed to one advocating oral sex.

Yes, the Bible does contain a number of passages and stories that would earn it an R or NC-17 rating in the theaters. But the Bible does not promote bad or wicked behavior. Rather it provides warnings against them and often illustrates the results. And it does not do so in a lewd or prurient way.

One of the issues with which believers and non-believers struggle is the habit of taking passages and lines out of context in order to reach a desired result. Left-leaning theologians have asserted that the sin of Sodom was not that the inhabitants were gay, but that they did not show proper hospitality to the angels who visited Lot’s house. Even without the homosexual aspects, the fact is that the people of Sodom demanded Lot turn over his visitors so that they could rape them. “Inhospitable” barely covers the issue. The people of Sodom were so overcome with their desires that they were content to throw off all vestiges of decent behavior in favor of lust. And they were attendees at a rather large barbecue in their honor.

Or let us consider King David. In Sunday School we are taught about David’s battle with Goliath. When we get older, we learn about his indiscretion with Bathsheba, how he pretty much resorted to murder to cover his tracks, and the death of his first son because of it. What I have never heard covered in a sermon or a Bible study is how toward the end of David’s life, his family was wracked with rape and rebellion. Or how at one point, David is forced to flee Jerusalem as his son Absalom’s armies advanced. David may have been the apple of God’s eye, but God never let him off the hook for his actions. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly warned people about their problems with idolatry and a lack of compassion and desire for justice. Their departure from wisdom and God’s commandments had disastrous results.

Which could be at the heart of the objection to having the Bible in schools. We are in an era in which one is not only free to do what one wishes without having to consider the consequences to others or even oneself, but in some cases, indulgent, self-centered behavior is not just permitted but even encouraged. There are those who are working feverishly to see that it becomes the law of the land. And we should not be surprised. This mindset has been going on since the genesis (pun intended) of the world. I know a book where you can look it up.

[SVPete]

The Bible speaks of horrific things, e.g. the warfare practices of nations such as Assyria or Babylon, or of horrific events such as Dinah being raped or the gang rape murder of a concubine. The Bible does not glorify such events or go into porn-grade detail, it portrays them as horrible and having bad consequences. Kind of like evil doings often do in real life.

[Eupher]

This probably belongs in a thread all by itself.

Guantanamo just might be a flashpoint. Nah, who am I kidding. With Austin and Milley and their clown show, they couldn't bring themselves to challenge anything from the Chicoms -- after all, SharterJoe's handlers have decreed it -- Leave the Chinese Communists ALONE! They are our friends!  /sarc

And now China wants to station troops in Cuba

We recently looked at some of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s comments to Antony Blinken about “understandings” that he had established with Joe Biden. There was even talk of a possible upcoming visit to the United States, potentially including a meeting with the President. That seemed to offer the perception of a willingness on Xi’s part to thaw relations between the two countries and ease tensions. But at the same time, we learned that the Chinese were allegedly working to establish a spy base in Cuba, right off of our southern shore. And now, in an even starker contrast with Xi’s words to Blinken, it’s being reported that China is working with the Cubans to establish a “joint military training base” in Cuba. Which, if you hadn’t already deduced it, would mean that China would be stationing its own troops barely one hundred miles from the shores of Florida and barely outside of our territorial waters. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

China and Cuba are negotiating to establish a new joint military training facility on the island, sparking alarm in Washington that it could lead to the stationing of Chinese troops and other security and intelligence operations just 100 miles off Florida’s coast, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Discussions for the facility on Cuba’s northern coast are at an advanced stage but not concluded, U.S. intelligence reports suggest. The Biden administration has contacted Cuban officials to try to forestall the deal, seeking to tap in to what it thinks might be Cuban concerns about ceding sovereignty. Beijing’s effort to establish a military training facility in Cuba hasn’t been previously reported.

As of last night, the White House had not responded to requests for comment on this report. That seems to follow a behavioral pattern inside the Biden administration. They remained silent for days when news of the spying station became public and initially said the reports were “inaccurate.” They later backtracked and said that the Chinese have had one or more listening stations in Cuba since at least 2019.

Electronic spying is one thing, but the potentially permanent presence of troops there is another matter entirely. The proposal is being described as part of what China calls its “Project 141.” It’s an ambitious plan to establish a global network of linked military and naval bases around the world, with a particular focus on Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. More broadly, the Chinese Communist Party is pushing to expand both its military and economic influence in all of those regions, peeling off former allies and partners of the United States.

There is an odd parallel here between what’s going on in Cuba and the situation between Russia and Ukraine. It has long been the position of the Russians that NATO expansion up to their borders was an unacceptable threat. Some have compared it to the question of what we would do if Russia or China stationed troops in either Mexico or Canada near our borders. Surely a response would be required.

Mexico and Canada are highly unlikely to allow such an action. (At least for now.) Mexico’s government has obvious corruption issues and Canada is becoming downright socialist. But they both still rely too heavily on the United States for both economic trade and military protection.

Not so with Cuba. That nation remains what could only be described as an adversary of the United States, despite Barack Obama’s ill-fated efforts to normalize relations with them during his second term. Cuba seems to be aligning more closely with China these days and they’ve always had a cooperative relationship with the Russians. (Does anyone remember a little incident known as the Cuban missile crisis?)

So what, if anything, will we do about this? Is there anything short of a direct military attack that we actually could do? Or is this just more of the “new normal” under Joe Biden’s disastrous foreign policy failures? Even if there is a possible plan on the table, it would require Biden’s full approval and cooperation. And the more we learn about Biden Inc., the more plausible it seems that the President is compromised when it comes to China and he may fear taking any actions in response that would provoke Beijing. And it’s possible that this is precisely what Xi Jinping is counting on.

[Old n Grumpy]

. The linkage center was so named because it was supposed to link drug addicts to city services but after a year and $22 million spent, the experiment had accomplished very little.

It never ceases to amaze me how inefficient the government is with taxpayer dollars. I would bet that the majority of the money spent went to the mayors campaign donors.

[DefiantSix]

This probably belongs in a thread all by itself.

Guantanamo just might be a flashpoint. Nah, who am I kidding. With Austin and Milley and their clown show, they couldn't bring themselves to challenge anything from the Chicoms -- after all, SharterJoe's handlers have decreed it -- Leave the Chinese Communists ALONE! They are our friends!  /sarc

And now China wants to station troops in Cuba

As of last night, the White House had not responded to requests for comment on this report. That seems to follow a behavioral pattern inside the Biden administration. They remained silent for days when news of the spying station became public and initially said the reports were “inaccurate.” They later backtracked and said that the Chinese have had one or more listening stations in Cuba since at least 2019.

Electronic spying is one thing, but the potentially permanent presence of troops there is another matter entirely. The proposal is being described as part of what China calls its “Project 141.” It’s an ambitious plan to establish a global network of linked military and naval bases around the world, with a particular focus on Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. More broadly, the Chinese Communist Party is pushing to expand both its military and economic influence in all of those regions, peeling off former allies and partners of the United States.

There is an odd parallel here between what’s going on in Cuba and the situation between Russia and Ukraine. It has long been the position of the Russians that NATO expansion up to their borders was an unacceptable threat. Some have compared it to the question of what we would do if Russia or China stationed troops in either Mexico or Canada near our borders. Surely a response would be required.

Mexico and Canada are highly unlikely to allow such an action. (At least for now.) Mexico’s government has obvious corruption issues and Canada is becoming downright socialist. But they both still rely too heavily on the United States for both economic trade and military protection.

Not so with Cuba. That nation remains what could only be described as an adversary of the United States, despite Barack Obama’s ill-fated efforts to normalize relations with them during his second term. Cuba seems to be aligning more closely with China these days and they’ve always had a cooperative relationship with the Russians. (Does anyone remember a little incident known as the Cuban missile crisis?)

So what, if anything, will we do about this? Is there anything short of a direct military attack that we actually could do? Or is this just more of the “new normal” under Joe Biden’s disastrous foreign policy failures? Even if there is a possible plan on the table, it would require Biden’s full approval and cooperation. And the more we learn about Biden Inc., the more plausible it seems that the President is compromised when it comes to China and he may fear taking any actions in response that would provoke Beijing. And it’s possible that this is precisely what Xi Jinping is counting on.

I'd have no problem with Chinese troops being staged stationed in Cuba, so long as the ChiComs are all good with us staging stationing a Marine Expeditionary Unit on Taiwanese soil. (No: I don't seriously believe for a second that the current pedo clown posse in DC have the testicular fortitude required to make such a counter "suggestion" to their ChiCom masters, let alone make such a demand stick.)

Same/same, right Chairman Pooh Bear?

[Eupher]

Revised Motion to Censure Adam Schiff Moves Forward; Schiff Calls it a 'Hollow Sop to the MAGA Crowd'

After announcing on Tuesday night that she’d secured the votes necessary for passage, freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) brought a revised censure motion to the House floor Wednesday afternoon. Last Thursday the measure failed when 20 Republicans voted against it, many of them explicitly citing the provision for a $16 million fine, which they believe is not constitutional, as the reason. The new version of the motion does not include the fine.

Democrats voted to table the motion, but that effort failed in a party-line vote.

Introducing the resolution, Luna noted that Americans do not trust Congress – in good part because of Schiff – then said:

This man occupied a position of the highest trust and authority. As Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff launched an all-out political campaign built on baseless distortions against a sitting US President at the expense of every single citizen in this country and the honor of the House of Representatives. With access to sensitive information unavailable to most Members of Congress and certainly not accessible to the American people, Schiff abused his privileges, claiming to know the truth, while leaving Americans in the dark about this web of lies, lies so severe that they altered the course of the country forever.

Her entire introduction is sobering and makes Schiff’s destruction crystal clear.


Schiff replied with a passionate but unrepentant (and fantasy-filled) speech on the House floor, directed at Republicans. Calling it a “hollow sop to the MAGA crowd,” Schiff began:

You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood. You, who are the authors of a big lie about the last election, must condemn the truth tellers, and I stand proudly before you. Your words tell me that I have been effective in the defense of our democracy and I am grateful.

If you can stomach five minutes of Schiff’s delusions, the full video is below.

The motion is expected to be voted on late Wednesday afternoon, and Speaker McCarthy agrees with Luna’s assessment that it will pass.

Props to Luna for her tenacity. Maybe, just maybe, the Republicans can get something done. I have my doubts, but we'll see.

[Eupher]

^^^^^

The Schiff-for-brains has been censured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBLiJDHTBzk

[Old n Grumpy]

^^^^^

The Schiff-for-brains has been censured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBLiJDHTBzk

Now he needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

[SVPete]

Now he needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

I wonder if the La Brea Tarpits are in his district.

[DefiantSix]

Now he needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

I'd prefer not. He needs to be hung from a street lamp on the Capitol Mall with a hunk of piano wire, il Douche style, as a warning to the next generation of frauds and con artists with ambitions to be Congress-shits.

[Ptarmigan]

Son of former Minnesota Democrat lawmaker arrested, charged with murder after vehicle collision
https://thepostmillennial.com/son-of-former-minnesota-democrat-lawmaker-arrested-charged-with-murder-after-vehicle-collision

The son of an expelled ex-Minnesota state representative was arrested and charged with crashing into a vehicle with five Somali women inside, killing them all in Minneapolis. The man had previously been convicted of a hit-and-run in California, per Daily Mail.

A video of the horrifying incident shows Derrick John Thompson, 27, plowing into a car that was carrying five Somali women.

Thompson has a previous criminal record, which includes a 2018 hit-and-run incident that took place in California. The woman involved in the incident was in a coma for several weeks. As a result, he was given an eight-year sentence.

The vehicle Thompson was driving at the time of the incident was carrying 17 pounds of marijuana and $20,000 in cash, per Fox News.

Now Thompson is suspected of killing five women in Minneapolis after he was trying to get away from a police officer.

Derrick John Thompson is the son of Democratic Minnesota House of Representatives John Thompson. He killed 5 women when fleeing from the police.

The Daily Mail reported that when the Santa Barbara County District Attorney was questioned about why Thompson was let out of prison, they did not provide a straight answer. They said that the state provides a “wide latitude to award additional custody credits, as well as, early parole opportunities.”

A representative for the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office said: “This is certainly a terrible heart wrenching story and our hearts go out to the families of the five young women who lost their lives.”

They continued: "Mr. Thompson received 577 days credit (for the time he spent in custody pending disposition) at the time of sentencing. Based on the fact that he was sentenced to a violent felony statutorily the defendant would have been required to serve 85% of his time, meaning he would have had close to 5.5 years left to serve from the time of sentencing.”

[Ptarmigan]

BREAKING: James O’Keefe exposes BlackRock recruiter bragging about deciding people’s fate, saying ‘war is good for business’
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-james-okeefe-exposes-blackrock-recruiter-bragging-about-deciding-peoples-fate-saying-war-is-good-for-business

A new video released by O’Keefe Media Group on Tuesday showed BlackRock Recruiter Serge Varlay declaring that "Ukraine is good for business."

When asked by an undercover OMG journalist about his thoughts on the Ukraine-Russia war, Varlay said the conflict is "good for business," adding as an example, "Russia blows up Ukraine’s grain silos. The price of wheat’s gonna go mad up."

"So what are you gonna do if you’re a trading firm? The moment that news hits, within a millisecond, you’re going to pump trades into whoever the wheat suppliers are. Into their stocks. Within an hour or two that stick goes f*cking up and then you sell and you just make, I don’t know, however many mil."
"The Ukrainian economy is tied very largely to the wheat market, global wheat market, prices of bread, you know, literally everything goes up and down. This is fantastic if you’re trading.

BlackRock sure likes war. They like the war in Ukraine.

[Eupher]

I wonder if the La Brea Tarpits are in his district.

Yep, it is. But while I agree in theory with D6, I'd be satisfied with the $16 million fine, confiscation of his property, and expulsion from Congress. He can join the homeless ranks within his former district. He can be buggered by his sidewalk buddies, which would go well with his bug eyes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California's_30th_congressional_district#/map/0

[Old n Grumpy]

Yep, it is. But while I agree in theory with D6, I'd be satisfied with the $16 million fine, confiscation of his property, and expulsion from Congress. He can join the homeless ranks within his former district. He can be buggered by his sidewalk buddies, which would go well with his bug eyes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California's_30th_congressional_district#/map/0

I like the way you think! 
He is a nasty man with no conscience integrity who doesn’t belong in a seat of power.