quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:
For the leftists he can do and say no wrong, he's a savior no more orange man. I'd hazard a guess better than 70% of the progressive leftists see nothing wrong with a 30 year old and a 12 year old, and out of that 70% maybe only 60% or 70% would be offended by it if it were their relative.

Evil is no longer hiding. Between this and the gender crap (especially targeting minors) it is plain to see the agenda.

regarding the FB raid on Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck

https://www.breitbart.com/poli...activist-mark-houck/

The FBI has denied sending a swat team of 25-30 agents to arrest Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck for allegedly shoving an escort outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic last year.

In a statement to Fox News on Sunday, a spokesperson with the FBI Philadelphia field office denied that a SWAT Team had been used to apprehend Mark Houck.

“There are inaccurate claims being made regarding the arrest of Mark Houck. No SWAT Team or SWAT operators were involved. FBI agents knocked on Mr. Houck’s front door, identified themselves as FBI agents and asked him to exit the residence. He did so and was taken into custody without incident pursuant to an indictment,” the FBI said.

The FBI did not deny that up to 25-30 armored agents were on the scene or that Houck’s children witnessed the agents pointing rifles at their father and mother to arrest him for allegedly shoving someone in front of an abortion clinic.

Of course, I'm sure they brought coffee an donuts, too...

From sdy’s linked article:

quote:

According to Ryan-Marie, the charges were from an incident in which he shoved a pro-abortion activist who had been harassing his 12-year-old son in front of an abortion clinic during one of his sidewalk counseling sessions. The charges were reportedly “thrown out of the District Court in Philadelphia” earlier this year only to later be picked up by Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice.

This is where we’re at now.

Yeah... and only one side of our political divide will be prosecuted. No matter how petty. If you don't support the Dems, you are "a threat to our democracy", or worse:

Did the FBI Finally Go Too Far?
By Jack Cashill

On reading about the Saturday arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck, I thought the author at this alternative site had to be exaggerating. It struck me as beyond belief that two dozen or so armed FBI agents would swarm the house of a Catholic father of seven, rifles drawn, and arrest him in front of his weeping children for anything short of murder.

I have had to recalibrate my belief system. The “crime” fell quite a bit short of murder. On October 13, 2021, Houck brought his 12-year-old son with him for his weekly sidewalk counseling outside of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Philadelphia. A volunteer escort at the abortion clinic reportedly called Houck’s son a “fag” among other insults and threatened him. Houck pushed the man away from his son, and the man fell. Houck, the founder of an organization that promotes Christian virtue among men, was not charged with a crime.

However petty the incident, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, had Houck seized at gunpoint nearly a year later and bragged about the arrest. Said PR hack Jennifer Crandall in a press release, Houck “assaulted a man because he was a volunteer reproductive health care clinic escort.”

Before proceeding, this sentence needs parsing. The most problematic word is “because.” Houck has had hundreds of opportunities to assault escorts if their offense in his eyes was to be an escort. Although the press release claims two incidents on that same day with the man, Houck had no prior or subsequent altercations.

Then there is the Orwellian phrase “reproductive health care clinic escort.” Ms. Crandall is somehow fusing the “reproductive rights” euphemism favored by abortion activists with the function of the escort, whose mission, of course, is to assure that no reproduction takes place on his watch.

“Assault is always a serious offense, and under the FACE Act, if the victim is targeted because of their association with a reproductive healthcare clinic, it is a federal crime,” huffed U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero. Her piety was echoed by still another Jacqueline, Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division.

“Put simply, violence is never the answer,” said agent Maguire. “Violating the FACE Act by committing a physical assault is a serious crime for which the FBI will work to hold offenders accountable.” The DoJ has not only bastardized the language, but it has also weaponized the law to advance the interests of the Democratic Party. That this arrest took place in the politically contested state of Pennsylvania is not likely a coincidence.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano saw the raid for what it was. “This show of force was carried out by the Biden regime against ordinary Americans is an abuse of power that stands against the fundamental principles on which our country was founded,” said Mastriano. “As Governor, I will not allow the police state of Biden to enforce his persecution against his political enemies on sacred Pennsylvania soil.”

For the record, FACE is short for “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances.” As has become much too obvious, only one side of the abortion debate has been awarded federal protection. Since the leak of the Dobbs decision on May 3, attacks against pro-life entities and the Catholic church, already a problem, have only escalated.

The Catholic News Agency reports 97 such attacks in the months following the leak, 53 of them against pregnancy centers. These include vulgar pro-abortion graffiti, the beheading of statues, the desecration of altars, threats, theft, and even arson. Several have involved the disruption of church services and nasty confrontations with the police.

At least two of these incidents took place in the jurisdiction of the two Jacquelines. In May 2022, for instance, the glass front doors of Notre Dame de Lourdes church in Swarthmore were spray-painted with the unsubtle message: ‘You do not have the right to decide what people can do, #ProChoice.” In June, vandals defaced St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia with pro-abortion graffiti.

As far as anyone knows, the DoJ has ignored all these incidents despite the implicit civil rights violations involved. For its apparatchiks, “extremists” like Houck are the enemy. “If convicted,” they tell us, “the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000.”

The Twitter responses to Houck’s arrest suggest a widespread indifference on the Left to the rule of law and common decency. Here is a representative tweet from a woman named Mary, one of the few without any obscenities: “You’re REALLY leaning into the ‘Catholic’ part of this story, when the truth is that a professional ‘manly man’ who spends his days harassing vulnerable women physically assaulted a real man TWICE. Mark Houck makes his living as the leader of a toxic masculinity cult; arrest him.”

Has the FBI gone too far? For the Left, if the enemy is the right, it cannot go far enough.

https://www.americanthinker.co...ally_go_too_far.html

This guy who I follow has a good point here:

and while we are piling on Bidet and his administration, it never ceases to amaze me how he can always reach for the bottom of the barrel with his picks...

this from AVWeb this morning...

https://www.avweb.com/aviation...September+26%2C+2022

It may be some time before Phil Washington, President Joe Biden’s pick as FAA Administrator, heads for confirmation by the Senate thanks to his involvement in a criminal corruption investigation in Los Angeles County. An LA county supervisor’s home was searched under warrant last week and on the list of items being sought was correspondence between Washington and the supervisor Sheila Kuehl. Kuehl was Washington’s boss when he was head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority during the period in which the alleged corruption occurred. Washington has publicly denied any wrongdoing, according to Politico.

A whistleblower complaint alleged Washington facilitated a $150,000-a-year contract for an organization led by friend of Kuehl’s to provide a sexual assault hotline for the transit system. The whistleblower alleged the hotline fielded only a handful of calls over six years and alleged Washington approved the payments to curry favor with his boss. Kuehl has dismissed the allegations, saying the whistleblower was a disgruntled former employee.

For his part, Politico says Washington, who left LA to become the CEO of Denver International Airport last year, has denied the allegations. During the confirmation process for the DIA job, he told a hearing by Denver City Council the whistleblower was carrying out “a well-orchestrated attempt to assassinate my character and reputation by alleging untrue things that involved programs that she herself managed.”

Washington’s involvement in the search warrant complicates his candidacy for the FAA top job and is a topic of conversation among industry leaders. “It’s too early to tell whether this will torpedo his nomination, but it’s certainly not a positive development for the administration,” Politico quoted an unnamed transportation consultant as saying. “The allegations of corruption are significant themselves and keeping in mind the contracting, grant, and procurement process is a significant component of the FAA’s mission.” The White House has declined comment.

Meanwhile, there seem to be few complaints about the performance of interim FAA Administrator Billy Nolen, who was vaulted into the job after just a few months as the agency’s new head of safety. Before that, Nolen, who is a former airline pilot, headed up safety for Canadian airline WestJet. “I don’t think people are sitting around going ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to get Phil in here’ compared to Billy,” an unnamed airport lobbyist told Politico.

Many folks who have already almost paid off their Student Loan Debt would be penalized.


Biden Administration’s Student Debt Relief Order Is Illegal: Lawsuits

y Zachary Stieber
September 27, 2022 Updated: September 27, 2022


President Joe Biden’s administration has been hit with the first lawsuits against a recently unveiled order that would—unless blocked—cancel thousands of dollars in debt for millions of Americans.

Biden, a Democrat, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, a Biden appointee, announced the order in August, revealing that people with student debt could receive up to $20,000 in relief if they meet certain conditions. Administration officials say over 40 million people are likely eligible for the relief.

The problem, according to the suits, is that the order is not legal.

“Nothing about loan cancellation is lawful or appropriate. In an end-run around Congress, the administration threatens to enact a profound and transformational policy that will have untold economic impacts. The administration’s lawless action should be stopped immediately,” one suit, filed in federal court in Indiana, states.

The “plain language and context” of the law that the administration cited does not give Cardona the authority to discharge or forgive student loan debt on a blanket basis, the other suit, filed in U.S. court in Oregon, says.

The Department of Education referred a request for comment to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a query.

“This is a promise that the president made on the campaign trail and this is an opportunity that the president to give Americans, American families a little breathing room,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later told reporters in Washington when asked about the Indiana suit. She claimed that opponents of the plan “are trying to stop it because they know it will provide much-needed relief for American families,” and added that people who don’t want the cancellations can opt out.
Legal Basis

The U.S. government holds approximately $1.6 trillion in student debt, for more than 45 million people.

The debt is held in part by two systems—the Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Under Cardona’s order, $10,000 to $20,000 in debt would be canceled for individuals who earn less than $125,000 per year or households that earn less than $250,000 per year.

The administration cited the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act of 2003, which says that the Department of Education can “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs” when “necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency.”

Only people who are serving on active duty during a war or national emergency, reside in an area declared a disaster area, or who have suffered “direct economic hardship” as a direct result of a war or national emergency are eligible for the waiver or modification.

Lisa Brown, a Department of Education lawyer, said that the authority can be used because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Secretary could waive or modify statutory and regulatory provisions to effectuate a certain amount of cancellation for borrowers who have been financially harmed because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said in a legal memorandum (pdf).

Christopher Schroeder, an assistant attorney general, also said the HEROES Act enables Cardona to execute his authority.

“We … conclude that reducing or canceling the principal balances of student loans, including for a broad class of borrowers who the Secretary determines suffered financial harm because of COVID-19, could be a permissible response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Schroeder wrote in a memo (pdf).

The cases challenge that view.

“The bottom line is this—the HEROES Act just doesn’t give the authority for the administration to forgive, on blanket basis, all of these loans,” Steve Simpson, a senior attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), told The Epoch Times.
Plaintiffs

Simpson filed the lawsuit in Indiana on behalf of Frank Garrison, a PLF public interest attorney. Garrison has paid off some, but not all, of his student debt.

Garrison would be left worse off due to having to pay taxes on the amount forgiven under the program, according to the suit. Garrison has also been making regular payments, which makes him eligible for regular debt forgiveness, so his total amount owed will not change his monthly payment or total obligation, according to the suit.

“These taxes would not be owed for debt forgiveness under the Congressionally authorized program rewarding public service,” it states. “Mr. Garrison and millions of others similarly situated in the six relevant states will receive no additional benefit from the cancellation—just a one-time additional penalty.”

The suit says the Department of Education lacks the authority to promulgate the order.

“Yes, we’re technically still in the national emergency. Yes, the US is still technically a disaster area, but the mere fact of living in the United States doesn’t mean that the pandemic is preventing people from paying their loans and it’s just not how that law was intended,” Simpson said.

Daniel Laschober, the plaintiff in the other case, noted that the Department of Justice in 2021 said that the education secretary “does not have statutory authority to provide blanket or mass cancellation … whether due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or for any other reason.”

Laschober said his adjustable-rate mortgage will go up due to interest rates rising in part because of the student debt cancellation, which is estimated to cost $400 billion to $519 billion. The jump in mortgage payments would be higher than the relief he’d get from the administration’s action.

The cancellations are slated to start in October. PLF is asking for a temporary restraining order to be entered that would prevent the administration from starting the cancellations until the case is resolved.

Zachary Stieber covers U.S. and world news. He is based in Maryland.

LINK

quote:

The problem, according to the suits, is that the order is not legal.

It clearly is not legal....and they know it is, but they don't care. This again was nothing more than liberal pandering for votes in November. The assumption....if we attempt to forgive student debt, young voters will vote for us. On the other hand, if Repubs file lawsuits and seek to block this illegal action, then young people with vote us anyway. Heads I win, tails you lose. And it probably will work just like that. Hopefully the rest of the country is smart enough to vote all of these criminal losers out in November.

Tucker Carlson’s lead-in tonight is the story of the sabotage of Nordstream I and II in the Baltic. There is apparently a half-mile wide eruption of natural gas bubbling on the surface. Tucker reminds us that escaped natural gas is methane, in very large amounts. Here’s the thing though, back in February, Joe Biden, without mincing words, threatened the Nordstream II pipeline. Another woman, part of the Administration (whose name escapes me), also threatened the pipeline. It may very well be true that the Biden Administration directed an act of “environmental terrorism” against the Russian pipeline that could well produce dire consequences, up to and including a nuclear exchange.

I know this is sensationalism, but apparently this was clearly sabotage. Who’s responsible and why?

more on Nord Stream



https://news.yahoo.com/known-f...m-gas-132923466.html

Unexplained gas leaks detected in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany have prompted investigations by European countries into the cause, including possible sabotage.

Denmark's armed forces on Tuesday released video showing bubbles rushing to the surface of the Baltic Sea above the pipelines, and said the largest gas leak had caused surface disturbance of well over 1 kilometre in diameter.

The operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline reported a sudden drop in pressure overnight on Monday, with a spokesperson suggesting there could have been a leak.

This was followed by a Danish Energy Authority statement that a leak had likely occurred in one of the two Nord Stream 2 pipelines lying in Danish waters.

A few hours later, Nord Stream AG, operator of another undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, said it was looking into a drop in pressure in Nord Stream 1.

Sweden's Maritime Authority said on Tuesday it had warned of two leaks on Nord Stream 1 in Swedish and Danish waters.

Each line of the pipeline consists of about 100,000 24-tonne concrete-weight coated steel pipes laid on the seabed. The pipelines have a constant internal diameter of 1.153 metres, according to Nord Stream.

Danish authorities have asked ships to stay clear by a five nautical mile radius off Bornholm after the leak at Nord Stream 2, which has yet to enter commercial operations. The plan to use it to supply gas was scrapped by Germany days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.

Both pipelines still contain gas under pressure.

Possible causes range from technical malfunctions, a lack of maintenance or even possibly sabotage.

The Kremlin has said it did not rule out sabotage as a reason behind the damage, adding it was an issue affecting the energy security of the "entire continent".

Poland's prime minister said the leaks were an act of sabotage, while Denmark's leader said it could not be ruled out.

The European Commission said it was premature to speculate.

German Geology Research Centre GFZ said on Tuesday that a seismograph on Bornholm showed spikes at 0003 GMT and 1700 GMT on Monday, when the pressure losses occurred.

quote:

Poland's prime minister said the leaks were an act of sabotage, while Denmark's leader said it could not be ruled out.

Yeah, I'd love to know if it is indeed sabotage, and if so, who did it, but I'm even more interested in just how such sabotage could be accomplished. Tucker suggesting it could have been the Biden administration should drive all the media into hysteria tomorrow.

Tucker Carlson Discusses Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage, Almost Certainly a U.S. Covert Action Against Russia

Tucker Carlson accurately outlined the most likely suspect of the sabotage against Russia’s Nord Stream I and II pipeline today. When you consider the media blitz by Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, last weekend (ABC, CNN, NBC and CBS); specifically pointing out the U.S. position against Russia; it is almost a certainty that U.S. action was behind the underwater detonation of explosives to take out Nord Stream pipeline system.
WATCH:

Wow, if it’s okay to assume that the U.S. perpetrated this attack on a foreign country, I assume something a little less confident is all right to express as well.

1. I believe that the Russians themselves could have done it. The pipelines weren’t providing any income for them, and perhaps the ultimate costs (if any) would have been considered worth it if enough Russians and their friends would automatically assume it was carried out by someone else, especially by the U.S. The Russians may even believe that Nord Stream is dead forever, and that they might as well get some propaganda value from destroying them.

2. That piece by Carlson was one of the most histrionic I’ve seen, but if he makes some valid points, to claim that Putin wouldn’t do it ignores 1, above.

3. If the U.S. was responsible, there’s no way that fact won’t become known, and although I don’t believe the incident is the environmental catastrophe Carlson was trying to convince us of, what would it do to the “green” crowd’s support for the current Administration, especially right before a critical election? Whenever I investigated a whodunit crime, the classic motive, means, and opportunity were in the back of my mind. The U.S. certainly has the means and opportunity to do something like that, but what would be the motive, especially at this point? Why blow up a pipeline that’s not in operation and will almost certainly (that word) be condemned by much of the world, not to mention domestically?

4. One thing that does occur to me, though, is if it were carried out by someone other than Russia, perhaps it was a mistake. Because the lines were shut down, maybe someone thought there would be no gas in them to leak. When we can have space failures because no one thought to convert Imperial system measurements to metric, it’s quite possible that whoever planned the operation assumed they were empty. That sort of stupidity I can imagine.

Added:

5. And as I think on it, why not the Ukrainians? They are the ones actually at war with Russia, and they have shown their willingness to expand where the war is being waged. If someone there thought the pipelines were empty, it would make a bit more sense, but they of all people would be the least likely to be concerned even if they knew they weren’t. If someone were to start a “Who did it?” poll, Ukraine is the one I would put my dollar on.

I haven't watched the video, but it makes no sense to me that Russia would blow up its own pipeline. That's their one non-nuclear bargaining chip come this winter when half of Europe is freezing to death. When Germany is begging for Russia to turn the gas back on, they can demand that they stop supporting Ukraine as a trade off. That option is completely off the table now. However aren't there other pipelines running from Russia into Europe? Not sure their function though.

Hell. The way this clown show administration is running things; they probably had it blown up, and now we'll send Russia a couple hundred billion dollars to fix it. Because we can't have the Europeans run out of gas this winter. And besides, pipelines are a good thing, as long as they're not ours.

A colossally stupid decision would point to one actor, the Potatus.

China would have the motivation of creating further instability for Europe and, indirectly, for the USA. If the USA is further engaged in the Russia - Ukraine conflict, we are less able or willing to defend Taiwan.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:
A colossally stupid decision would point to one actor, the Potatus.

B’zactly

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
5. And as I think on it, why not the Ukrainians? They are the ones actually at war with Russia, and they have shown their willingness to expand where the war is being waged.

Why would they run the risk of pissing off Germany when the pipelines are shut off and Germany seems to be doing everything it can to replace Russian oil and gas with other fuel sources?

quote:

Originally posted by Balze Halze:
...it makes no sense to me that Russia would blow up its own pipeline. That's their one non-nuclear bargaining chip come this winter when half of Europe is freezing to death.

Remember Russia just used getting repaired machinery from Canada back into Russia despite the sanctions to turn off the gas in the pipeline. Three punctures can be repaired in time - if the West allows the Russians to bypass sanctions for the parts they need and the Euros are willing to buy Russian natural gas again - so this could just as easily be another manufactured excuse for the Russians to raise European stress levels over whether Russian natural gas will be available again. The flip side to that is that current European natural gas storage numbers are such that Europe seems unlikely to panic over Nordstream any time this winter.

quote:

However, aren't there other pipelines running from Russia into Europe?

There are the pipelines running through Ukraine, of course, but Putin's invasion has made that a less than reliable means of transmission.

There is, however, one other pipeline from Russia into Western Europe that runs through Belarus. There are also pipelines running in from Turkey through Bulgaria and Greece, and a couple of lines running from North Africa across the Mediterranean into Spain and Italy.

A quick search didn't turn up a clear recent map, but various maps are available online.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk369:
A colossally stupid decision would point to one actor, the Potatus.

Normally I'd be willing to agree - in fact, that may still turn out to be true. The fact is, though, that Putin's made a series of incredibly stupid moves that has now left Russian policy makers in a state of desperation.