The Random Politics Thread

[CobraCommander]

37 minutes ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

That's funny. I remember thinking how strange it was there were entire bars and clubs in Amsterdam that catered to Brits. My friend and I went to smoke weed, I think he went out one night to bang a hooker but he wouldn't say. Then there were the brits, drinking their faces off just as they would at home. 

[China]

Bank seeking to have governor's wages garnished to settle debt

 

A bank has taken legal action to garnish the wages of Gov. Jim Justice to pay off an $850,000 civil judgment against one of his coal interests.

 

On March 21, Citizens Bank of West Virginia Inc. filed a suggestee execution against Justice, which would garnish his wages and salary, to pay a debt that, with interest and fees, totals more than $861,000.

 

The document was filed in Randolph County Circuit Court.

 

On Oct. 18, 2022, Citizens Bank received a judgment in the amount of $850,434.28 at an annual interest rate of 4%, plus costs, according to court records. The judgment was filed Nov. 10, 2022, in Randolph Circuit Court, after a court case in which the bank alleged Justice’s company, Bluestone Resources Inc., defaulted on loans taken out to purchase equipment.

 

The document orders the state auditor to withhold 20% of Justice’s wages, after state and federal taxes, or the amount of Justice’s wages that, after state and federal taxes, each week exceeds 50 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less.

 

According to the affidavit filed with the suggestee execution, Justice’s wages from the state are believed to exceed 50 times the federal minimum hourly wage.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

New York Judge Fired After His Pornographic OnlyFans Side Hustle Is Revealed

 

This former judge won’t just show you his briefs.

 

Meet Gregory A. Locke, 33, who served as an administrative law judge in New York City until last week. Locke was recently terminated from his position for “unprofessional behavior.” It turns out that Locke’s reportedly been showing the public the “long arm of the law” on his OnlyFans page since 2020.

 

According to his OnlyFans bio, Locke describes himself as “white collar professional by day… very unprofessional by night.” He goes on to note that his content is “always amateur, always raw, always slutty.” The New York Post has additional details on His Honor’s extrajudicial activities:

 

Quote

Locke’s account contained dozens of images and videos featuring hardcore pornography, orgies, and instances of him drinking the contents of what appear to be used condoms. …

 

“I was never going to focus on work if I didn’t let this out,” he wrote on OnlyFans in November 2022 before masturbating in front of a camera.

 

“Guess what kind of porn I was watching in the middle of my work day during this quick orgasm break,” he said in another.

 

Locke’s employment troubles began after he tweeted that City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino should “choke on a dick” in response to her criticism of the New York AG’s drag queen story hour for children. Paladino then filed a complaint against Locke, and per the councilwoman, after some investigation, “the floodgates opened and he was fired.”

 

Paladino has called for the ex-judge to be disbarred.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Captain Wiggles]

🤭

 

 

So he was fired for the tweet he sent to Vickie Paladino not for his OF page? 

[Cooked Crack]

My love of Finnish politics is now officially over

[Ball Security]

On 3/15/2023 at 12:22 AM, Cooked Crack said:

 

 

Dude got killed by the FBI in Knoxville, TN.

[CobraCommander]

7 hours ago, Ball Security said:

Dude got killed by the FBI in Knoxville, TN.

[Riggo-toni]

Edit: wrong thread.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Riggo-toni

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

 

[China]

 

[China]

She said honking her horn at a protest was free speech. Judges disagreed.

 

Susan Porter honked her horn repeatedly on Oct. 17, 2017, as she drove past protesters denouncing Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for his support of President Donald Trump. Little did she know, her beeps of solidarity would start a legal saga that would last more than five years.

 

A San Diego County sheriff’s deputy ticketed Porter that day, citing a California law against misusing car horns. She filed a federal lawsuit in 2018, alleging that the law was unconstitutional and violated her right to free speech.

 

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled against Porter. In upholding a lower court’s decision, the panel determined that the First Amendment does not protect Californians who honk their horns to express political speech — or for any reason other than alerting people to dangers on the road.

 

David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, which represented Porter, told The Washington Post that the panel’s decision “punishes a very common and ordinary form of political expression that people engage in every day.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

DeSantis goes after Fed digital currency - which doesn't exist yet

 

The Federal Reserve's moves to make banking smoother and more accessible are drawing political attacks from two likely 2024 presidential candidates, who allege that the central bank wants to surveil Americans' finances, take away their guns or control how much gas they put in their cars.

 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has argued recently that the Fed would use a digital currency "to impose an ESG agenda," referencing policies geared toward environmental, social and governance goals. Speaking in Pennsylvania on April 1, the Republican said that if Americans "use too much gas, they're going to stop it. They're not going to honor the transaction because you've already bought more than what they think. You want to go buy a rifle, they're going to say no, you have too many, too many of those, you can't do it."

 

But that scenario bears no resemblance to the central bank's slow exploration of digital currency. The Fed is already under harsh scrutiny for its supervision of the banking system and its handling of inflation, two issues that pose major threats to the U.S. economy. And now it appears that the Fed's technical work on payments systems could become a bizarre talking point in the run-up to 2024.

 

"When I look at other countries around the world, this is not a political issue," said Joshua Lipsky, senior director of the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council, a think tank focused on international affairs. "It's an issue that legislators look at. There's debate around it. But only in America ... has this become a divisive political issue."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Captain Wiggles]

Quote

 

"When I look at other countries around the world, this is not a political issue," said Joshua Lipsky, senior director of the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council, a think tank focused on international affairs. "It's an issue that legislators look at. There's debate around it. But only in America ... has this become a divisive political issue."

 

What other countries? Asking for a friend. 

 

[Larry]

3 hours ago, China said:

DeSantis goes after Fed digital currency - which doesn't exist yet

 

Well, he probably won't get his butt kicked by the currency that doesn't exist.  

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Ted Cruz, hero and idol of police officers nationwide.

 

 

[Captain Wiggles]

[China]

Indiana has new data to protect Hoosiers from flooding. Lawmakers don't want us to use it.

 

Indiana lawmakers are trying to undo a law they passed just last year in a move opponents say would put thousands of Hoosiers at risk of flooding for the benefit of a few. 

 

The state’s new floodplain mapping tool created last year received national recognition for its easy access to "data that was previously unavailable” — but Senate Bill 242 would let officials ignore the important data. 

 

The bill, authored by Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, is awaiting third reading on the House floor.

 

Last year, lawmakers passed legislation requiring local officials to use the "best available" data when considering building permits and determining where floodplains are. The new bill, however, would undo that language. 

 

Instead, officials would use data from FEMA, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Many of those maps are 10 to 40 years old and produced with outdated technology. Parts of Indiana were never mapped by FEMA. 

 

The data mapping tool was produced by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The agency used the most up-to-date technology and mapped the entire state. 

 

The Indiana Floodplain Information Portal “expanded upon FEMA mapping to reflect flood-prone areas more comprehensively ... filling in gaps from the federally developed maps,” the DNR told IndyStar. 

 

Leising said lawmakers didn’t know the “best available data” language was in the bill last year and want it removed. 

 

The change is supported by the Indiana Builders Association, Indiana Association of Realtors and some landowners unable to build because the updated maps show they are in a floodplain. 

 

They contend the new data risk is driving down real estate values, blocking development and infringing on property rights. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

"But the best available data might stand in the way of people who want to profit from selling hundreds of houses in a flood-prone area."

[PokerPacker]

https://bluevirginia.us/2023/04/in-fairfax-county-a-republican-in-democrats-clothing

 

Quote

Reid Voss’ Professional Republican Career

For starters, would you believe that a candidate running as a Democrat to replace Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross was once the campaign manager for a Republican candidate…who ran against Gross?  Yes, indeed, Reid Voss ran the 2003 campaign of Republican Herschel “Buzz” Hawley – a resume-builder not mentioned anywhere on Voss’ web pages, yet confirmed here, here and here.

Although his candidate Hawley didn’t win, Voss was able to convert his Republican experience and enthusiasm into a job as a member of former GOP Representative Jo Ann Davis’ staff, according to a February 20, 2004 article in Roll Call. Per her Wikipedia page, Davis (now deceased) was a fairly typical conservative Republican – for example, rated “A” by the NRA and 95% by the Family Foundation vs. ratings of 0% from the National Education Association, 0% from the Children’s Defense Fund, 4% from the ACLU, etc.

An additional GOP gig is documented in the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP)’s campaign finance database: Voss received two payments in 2005 from Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate Sean Connaughton totaling $4,400. For what campaign expenses exactly? Who knows?

So, to be clear, Reid Voss started his career not as a mere GOP volunteer or backbencher, but as a paid, professional Republican operative at the local, state AND federal levels. So…why not let the voters know about such valuable experience?

Reid Voss, Confederate Defender

Lest you dismiss these jobs from when he was in his twenties as mere “youthful indiscretion”, let’s examine Voss’ most recent known political activity – as a leader of the group of conservatives who fought tooth and nail against the proposal to remove the name of a Confederate general from a local school.

[more at the link]

[Cooked Crack]

 

Wild how some Bernie folks went the other direction hard.

[China]

Proposed bill exempts names of guests at Gov. DeSantis mansion, travel records from being released

 

The names of certain guests at the governor’s mansion would not be disclosed to the public under Senate and House bills that also would shield the travel records of the governor and other state leaders.

 

In party-line votes Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate Rules Committee and House Judiciary Committee approved the bills (SB 1616 and HB 1495), positioning them to go to the full Senate and House.

 

The bills would create a public-records exemption involving information held by law-enforcement agencies related to “security or transportation services” provided to the governor, the governor’s immediate family, the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, the House speaker, the Senate president and the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

 

The exemption also would apply to other people if requested by the governor or other state leaders for security reasons. The exemption would be retroactive to trips already taken.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

NAACP sues Mississippi over 'separate and unequal policing'

 

The NAACP warns that “separate and unequal policing” will return to Mississippi’s majority-Black capital under a state-run police department, and the civil rights organization is suing the governor and other officials over it.

 

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says violent crime in Jackson has made it necessary to expand where the Capitol Police can patrol and to authorize some appointed rather than elected judges.

 

But the NAACP said in its lawsuit filed late Friday that these are serious violations of the principle of self-government because they take control of the police and some courts out of the hands of residents.

 

“In certain areas of Jackson, a citizen can be arrested by a police department led by a State-appointed official, be charged by a State-appointed prosecutor, be tried before a State-appointed judge, and be sentenced to imprisonment in a State penitentiary regardless of the severity of the act,” the lawsuit says.

 

Derrick Johnson, the national president of the NAACP, is himself a resident of Jackson. At a community meeting earlier this month, he said the policing law would treat Black people as “second-class citizens.”

 

The legislation was passed by a majority-white and Republican-controlled state House and Senate. Jackson is governed by Democrats and about 83% of residents are Black, the largest percentage of any major U.S. city.

 

The governor said this week that the Jackson Police Department is severely understaffed and he believes the state-run Capitol Police can provide stability. The city of 150,000 residents has had more than 100 homicides in each of the past three years.

 

“We’re working to address it,” Reeves said in a statement Friday. “And when we do, we’re met with overwhelming false cries of racism and mainstream media who falsely call our actions ‘Jim Crow.’”

 

According to one of the bills Reeves signed into law Friday, Capitol Police will have “concurrent" jurisdiction with Jackson Police Department in the city. The expanded jurisdiction for the Capitol Police would begin July 1.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Versace, Nipples, and a Promo Shoot

 

A small group of loud right-wingers have launched a recall campaign against Lynnwood City Council Member Josh Binda, one of the youngest people of color ever elected to a city council in Washington state history. In a council meeting earlier this month, representatives from the campaign called on Binda to resign so as to “spare” them the effort of actually garnering the community support necessary to unseat him. 

 

Binda said he’s not going anywhere. 

 

The recall touts three main grievances: Binda violated campaign finance law, he filmed a promotional video in City Hall, and–the last straw–he posted a shirtless photo on Instagram. 

 

The recall campaign did not respond to my request for comment, but other critics seemed less concerned about the actual rule-breaking and more concerned with “decorum,” “ego,” “style,” and a little lollipop he put in his mouth during a meeting once.

 

Binda said he knows he’s made mistakes, but he asserts that no one would threaten his job over those infractions if he were white, conservative, or even just a little more mindful of parliamentary procedures.

 

Whether the Republicans are truly upset about broken rules or whether they want to rid the body of anyone who would think twice about pumping more money into jails, the national backlash Binda has received paints a grim picture for marginalized people who want to run for office but fear disproportionate punishment over growing pains in the halls of power.

 

Most recently, Binda came under fire for posting a shirtless photo on his personal Instagram account to show off his “Love Conquers All” tattoo, which commemorates his school speaking tour by the same name. Based on the overwhelming outrage from conservative media, this appears to count as Binda’s greatest sin.

 

The Lynnwood Times broke the shocking story that a 23-year-old posted the same pictures you would find on any other 23-year-old’s social media. In a description the Times could have ripped from smutty One Direction fanfiction, the outlet noted that Binda stood “turned to the left clasping his left buttock, shirtless revealing his abs, wearing black unbuckled pants fashioned slightly under his beltline.” The Lynnwood Times also reshared a shirtless picture Binda posted last summer and one he posted in the summer of 2020.

 

As Binda said, “they act like they’ve never seen someone without a shirt before.” 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TradeTheBeal!]

Dark Brandon is here for the party!

 

 

[China]

NC Republicans want to ban banks from shutting out gun makers and owners

 

A rash of bills in the North Carolina General Assembly seek to give the government more say over how banks do business.

 

Three bills passed the House Banking Committee at the state legislature Thursday, dictating who banks must do business with and what types of records they can or can’t keep.

 

House Bill 784 would make it illegal for banks to refuse to do business with a person or business due to concerns over factors such as their history of environmental violations, corruption, worker abuses, human rights violations and other issues.

 

How well companies are viewed or scored on those types of issues are often lumped together in a phrase called ESG — for environmental, social and governance. Specifically, the bill would ban banks from ending business relationships, or refusing to provide new financial services, due to politics or an ESG score.

 

The bill passed the banking committee Thursday with no debate from lawmakers or the general public. Democrats on the committee opposed it.

 

Rep. Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican who’s one of the bill’s sponsors, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

 

Representatives of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce attended the hearing but didn’t speak on it publicly, and also declined to comment on the details of the bill afterward. They said their pro-business group doesn’t currently oppose it — but also doesn’t support it.

 

It and one of the other bills up for debate now have to pass just one final committee before getting a vote on the House floor. That sets up a race against time before May 4, the official — yet often ignored — deadline this year for bills to pass at least one chamber to have a chance at becoming law.

 

A similar bill, House Bill 781, would ban banks from denying products or services “based on a personal, ideological, moral, or political opinion.”

 

Supporters say it’s necessary because they worry about banks stopping relationships with gun dealers. Democrats were skeptical.

 

“I say this in all sincerity: Is this a real thing?” asked Rep. Deb Butler, a Wilmington Democrat. “I mean, I want to hear some concrete examples because I just don’t believe it.”

 

In 2018, Citibank instituted policies that placed restrictions on new retail clients that sell firearms. It also scrutinized relationships with existing corporate customers. That same year, Charlotte-based Bank of America said it would stop financing companies that manufactured certain assault rifles.

 

Such decisions — often a move by financial institutions to reduce risk — have come under attack by conservatives.

 

Federal regulators during the Trump administration encouraged banks to conduct risk assessments of individual customers — not make sweeping decisions affecting whole categories of customers — when weighing whether to provide access to services.

 

Lawmakers didn’t discuss federal banking regulations or guidance, nor did they discuss the Citibank or Bank of America examples. But they did discuss local anecdotes.

 

Click on the link for the full article