Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

How To Spy on the Government

Posted by M. C. on September 24, 2022

How To Spy on the Government

As part of the activism that my team and I do, I like to follow public records laws and the latest activity happening around public records.

This is especially necessary now that I am running Project Accountability, a group of 70 folks who have signed up to help hold their local public health officials accountable for the crimes committed in 2020 and beyond.

So much information can be learned by just asking.

Just Ask

In a recent newspaper story, I saw that the City of Palm Springs, California has been trying for months to get records related to a school in nearby Palm Desert named College of the Desert. The school said it would provide records two weeks after the upcoming election. The city did not find that acceptable and is now suing the school over the matter.

Someone involved in the matter obviously wants to have more information before the upcoming elections about someone else involved in the matter. Perhaps that person even wants to hold the other accountable. Elections are good at doing that. It might be a bunch of political shenanigans, or it might be an earnest effort at holding a misguided band of fellows accountable. The distinction is not relevant to my purposes, for in either example, both you and I are able to gather knowledge and to steel ourselves for the battles in our own lives.

I was eager to have a look at the original records request and the legal documents from the City of Palm Springs. I could poke around courthouse websites to see if any data existed, and I could poke around on other online databases. Such searches can be time-consuming and take a great deal of effort. They do not always promise to be fruitful. Admittedly, that particular search is likely to be fruitful since there are only two courthouses that this lawsuit would take place in — the country courthouse or possibly, but not likely, in the nearest federal courthouse.

Rather than search court records, I sometimes try a different approach. An Andrew Jared was mentioned as counsel for the City of Palm

Springs in this matter, making this a particularly useful time to employ this alternate method.

The Way That I Asked

Here’s what I did:

1.) Find the attorney involved.

Don’t just use Google for this, try a better method, which will find you the attorney’s contact information more reliably than any common search engine.

2.) Go to the search function of the state bar association, and find the phone number and email for that attorney.

Every state has a bar association. You may even end up with a private cell phone number from this search.

3.) Contact the attorney asking if he would kindly send you the court documents you are looking for.

Truthfully, that attorney doesn’t even owe you a response, but a lot of attorneys will respond to a properly phrased request.

With that article naming Andrew Jared as counsel for the City of Palm Springs, I gave him a call, left him a message, and sent him an email. If I had had his cell phone number from the search, I would have text messaged him too.

I also took it a little further.

See the rest here

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Government, public records laws, spy | Leave a Comment »

Scandal At Vanderbilt: Mutilating Children…For Profit!

Posted by M. C. on September 24, 2022

Thanks to excellent investigative work by conservative journalist Matt Walsh, we have a full view of the horrors of Vanderbilt University Medical Center program to sterilize, drug, and mutilate children…for profit! Also today, yesterday President Biden told the UN that countries cannot seize the territories of other countries by force…yet that’s just what he’s advocated the US do for most of his career!

There may be honest doctors but they aren’t at Vanderbilt.

The medical system is totally corrupt.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/vanderbilt-pediatric-transgender-clinic-nukes-website-after-matt-walsh-exposes-big-money

Matt Walsh

@MattWalshBlog

So, let’s review. Vanderbilt got into the gender transition game admittedly in large part because it is very financially profitable. They then threatened any staff members who objected, and enlisted a gang of trans activists to act as surveillance in order to force compliance.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Mutilating Children, Vanderbilt | 1 Comment »

Infrastructure Bill Stalled Until Someone Can Look Up What Number Comes After Trillion

Posted by M. C. on September 23, 2022

“This should give us enough to dig a hole to the center of the earth and throw all the rest of our money in it, and then paint BLM murals on every road, and also fund the construction of 38 billion new Planned Parenthood locations. The most important part of this deal is that Mr. Potato Head will remain a male spud as God intended. Yay!”

https://babylonbee.com/news/infrastructure-bill-stalled-until-someone-can-look-up-what-number-comes-after-trillion

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Work on the bipartisan infrastructure bill in Congress has ground to a halt as nobody there is sure what number comes after trillion.

“I’m so glad we have been able to reach across the aisle on this bill,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “This should give us enough to dig a hole to the center of the earth and throw all the rest of our money in it, and then paint BLM murals on every road, and also fund the construction of 38 billion new Planned Parenthood locations. The most important part of this deal is that Mr. Potato Head will remain a male spud as God intended. Yay!”

“Now let’s see. We have 998 trillion, 999 trillion, um… hey guys? What comes next? Sextillion? Googlyoctillion? Novemdecillion? Does anyone know how to look things up on the internet?”

The House floor was plunged into chaos as aides scrambled for calculators but they could find no calculators with big enough screens to hold all the zeros they were trying to put into the spending bill.

Eventually, Congress reached an agreement to just spend infinity money which pretty much covers any number without having to do the math. Republicans then bragged on social media about spending only one infinity instead of two infinity as the Democrats wanted.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Infrastructure Bill, trillion-dollar | Leave a Comment »

Sanctions On Russia Lead To More Ship Emissions, Says Cargill

Posted by M. C. on September 23, 2022

The very fact that Europe has to source LNG from Asia on longer routes while vessels burn dirtier fuel is entirely hypocritical to the bloc’s stance about saving the planet. For some context, shipping is responsible for almost 3% of man-made carbon-dioxide emissions.

Like Slow Joe says, we all have to suffer to save the EU from itself …err…stop Nord Stream 2 …err…save Ukraine.

BY TYLER DURDEN

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/sanctions-russia-lead-more-ship-emissions-says-cargill

The unilateral sanctions that Western countries slapped Moscow with are igniting even more man-made carbon-dioxide emissions from the shipping industry as Europe rejiggers energy supply chains away from Russia by sourcing energy products from far away.

Jan Dieleman, Cargill Inc.’s head of ocean transportation business, told Bloomberg that European importers are hiring tankers for long-distance hauls of energy products from countries halfway around the world. If it weren’t for the sanctions, natural gas and other refined energy products would flow via pipelines from Russia to Europe.

But since Europe is hellbent on rapidly shifting its entire energy supply chain away from Russia. EU importers are hiring tankers to source liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Asia.

In a recent note, we outlined the insanity behind the EU’s panic buying of LNG from China. It’s so idiotic because China is just reselling Russian LNG…

Dieleman said higher fuel costs for vessels mean ship operators are switching to dirtier-burning fuels like diesel or crude oil on these long-haul trips.

See the rest here

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Russia, sanctions, Ship Emissions | Leave a Comment »

War With Russia, China, Iran: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted by M. C. on September 23, 2022

by Walt Zlotow

antiwar.com

The US is locked in endless proxy war with Russia over Ukraine.

The US is locked in rapid escalation with China leading to possible war over Taiwan.

The US is locked in a collision course with Iran over their imaginary nuclear program that could blow up the Middle East.

I’ve not been as concerned about the world stumbling into nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis, 60 years ago next month. A high school senior then, I worried about being denied a long life. Now, at 77, I fret more about my children and grandkids being denied that privilege.

US world dominance since collapse of the Soviet Union is over, but it doesn’t realize it. Like a wounded animal, the US is lashing out on 3 fronts, none of which may have an ending short of nuclear war, and none of which can resurrect American world dominance.

Once the US falls into to abyss of uncontrolled war, we will be no better off than Humpty Dumpty.

Walt Zlotow became involved in antiwar activities upon entering University of Chicago in 1963. He is current president of the West Suburban Peace Coalition based in the Chicago western suburbs. He blogs daily on antiwar and other issues at www.heartlandprogressive.blogspot.com.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: China, Iran, Middle East, Russia, war | Leave a Comment »

The Bill of Temporary Privileges

Posted by M. C. on September 23, 2022

By Andrew P. Napolitano

Today, if you call your cousin in London, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court can authorize the NSA to spy on you. And if you then call your sister-in-law in Kansas, FISC can allow the NSA to spy on her and on the folks she calls and the folks they call.

The Bill of Temporary Privileges

Earlier in the summer, the Director of National Intelligence, the data-gathering and data-concealing arm of the American intelligence community masquerading as the head of it, revealed that in 2021, the FBI engaged in 3.4 million warrantless electronic searches of Americans. This is a direct and profound violation of the right to privacy in “persons, houses, papers, and effects” guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

For the past 60 years, the Supreme Court has characterized electronic surveillance as a search that can only be conducted pursuant to a warrant issued by a judge based on probable cause of crime, which itself must be presented under oath to the judge. The warrant must specifically describe the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized.

By failing to comply with these constitutional requirements, the FBI violated the natural and constitutionally protected right to be left alone of millions of Americans.

Yet, all of this was perfectly lawful. How can government behavior be both lawful and unconstitutional at the same time and in the same respect?

Here is the backstory.

The Fourth Amendment was written in 1791 while memories of British soldiers searching colonial homes were still prevalent. The British used general warrants to justify their violation of colonists’ privacy. A general warrant was not based on probable cause of crime. It was generated whenever the British government persuaded a secret court in London that it needed something from foreign persons, the colonists. The British government did not even need to identify what it needed.

General warrants authorized the bearer to search wherever he pleased and to seize whatever he found. The Fourth Amendment was written expressly to outlaw general warrants and warrantless searches.

After President Richard Nixon used the FBI and the CIA to spy on his political opponents, Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which prohibited warrantless domestic surveillance. Since the Fourth Amendment did so already, the prohibition was superfluous.

It was also toothless, as the new law set up a secret court — the FISA court — which issued surveillance warrants based not on probable cause of crime as the Fourth Amendment requires, but on probable cause of communicating with a foreign person. And the court, over time, kept modifying its own rules to make it easier for the National Security Agency –America’s 60,000 domestic spies — to spy on Americans.

See the rest here

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: FBI, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Fourth Amendment, NSA, Temporary Privileges | Leave a Comment »

Putin Orders Partial Mobilization, Issues Nuclear Threat to West

Posted by M. C. on September 23, 2022

The Russian leader expressed support for referendums and said a peace deal was possible earlier in the war but was sabotaged by the West

Don’t worry. Our cracked team in Washington is all over this.

by Dave DeCamp

antiwar.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered a partial mobilization that will call up 300,000 reservists and warned Western countries that Moscow would use nuclear weapons to defend its territory.

The move marks Putin’s biggest escalation of his war in Ukraine since launching the invasion on February 24, although he is still framing the war as a “special military operation.”

“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people — this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised address.

“The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence, and freedom will be defended — I repeat — by all the systems available to us. Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the weathervane can turn around,” he said.

Putin didn’t specify the number of reservists that will be activated under the partial mobilization, but the Kremlin later clarified it will be 300,000, which Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu recommended. Putin said Russia will call up “Only those citizens who are currently in the reserve and primarily those who served in the army and have particular military specialties.”

The Russian leader expressed support for referendums on joining Russia that will be held in each area of Russian-controlled Ukraine from September 23-27, which were announced on Tuesday. Referendums will be held in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics in the Donbas region, and in the oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

“I would like to emphasize that we will do everything necessary to create safe conditions for these referendums so that people can express their will. And we will support the choice of future made by the majority of people in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions,” Putin said.

Putin made clear that he blames the US and its allies for the current situation and said a peace deal was possible earlier in the war after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held talks in Istanbul. He said that he was making the details of the peace talks public for the first time.

“After the start of the special military operation, in particular after the Istanbul talks, Kyiv representatives voiced quite a positive response to our proposals. These proposals concerned above all, ensuring Russia’s security and interests,” he said.

Reports in Western media and Ukrainian media have also said that a deal was close after the Istanbul talks, which were held at the end of March. But according to a report from Ukrainska Pravda, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv in April and told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that even if he was ready to sign a deal with Putin, the collective West was not.

“A peaceful settlement obviously did not suit the West, which is why, after certain compromises were coordinated, Kyiv was actually ordered to wreck all these agreements,” Putin said.

The Russian leader said that Washington, London, and Brussels were now “openly encouraging Kyiv to move the hostilities to our territory.” After Ukraine launched its successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region, shelling was reported in Belgorod, the Russian region that borders the area.

Putin said that the focus will remain on “liberating” the Donbas region. Russia and Russian-backed forces in the region currently control virtually all of the Luhansk oblast, but Ukraine still controls a portion of Donetsk.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Nuclear Threats, Partial Mobilization, Putin | Leave a Comment »

PayPal Sparks Outrage After Shutting Down Account Of Britain’s Free-Speech Union

Posted by M. C. on September 23, 2022

BY TYLER DURDEN

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

U.S. financial tech company PayPal has been accused of a “sinister form of cancel culture” after its decision to shut down the accounts of the Free Speech Union, a U.K. body that defends and supports members who are unfairly targeted or discriminated against by their employers for exercising their legal right to free speech.

The union announced via its social media platforms late on Tuesday evening that PayPal was blocking payments to the body through its platform for “alleged violations of the company’s acceptable use policy.”

Speaking to GB News’ Mark Dolan on Tuesday, Toby Young, the founder of the Free Speech Union, explained he had received an email from PayPal explaining that his personal account had been frozen, with a £600 balance effectively confiscated with no method to withdraw it.

Shortly after, Young received notifications that two companies he founded, the Daily Sceptic and the Free Speech Union, had also had their accounts indefinitely suspended. Young told GB News that approximately a quarter of the Daily Sceptic’s donors used PayPal as a payment method and would now be unable to support the company, and approximately one-third of the 9,500 members of the Free Speech Union paid their recurring membership fees via the payment platform, seriously impeding the group’s ability to receive much-needed income.

“This is the new battlefront in the ongoing war against free speech… financial services being withdrawn from people,” Young told the news channel.

In a statement, the Free Speech Union claimed it had been “demonetized by the financial intermediary PayPal for daring to stand up for free speech,” and urged its members to submit complaints about UK PayPal’s actions to the company.

See the rest here

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: cancel culture, Free-Speech Union, PayPal | Leave a Comment »