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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:13:54 GMT -8
I knew a girl in the 60’s who smoked a lot of weed and liked to work with clay. She was a hippy potteress.
Gov DeathSentence Wants to Do For America What He Has Done for Florida
Florida Has Highest Inflation Rate In Country, According To Latest CPI
Floridians might have noticed their wallets are a lot lighter following a trip to the grocery store.
The Consumer Price Index released Monday indicated that Florida has the highest inflation rate in the country with prices in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach area and the Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater area rising the fastest.
Economists point to Florida's record-high housing costs as the reason for the rising inflation rate with the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach area having the highest inflation rate of any Florida metro area at 9 percent over the last 12 months and the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater area reporting a 7.3 percent in the past 12 months ending in May, making it the third-highest inflation rate in the country.
The national average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is 4.0 percent.
Has Putin Hired Somebody to Influence DeathSentence?
Foreign governments have taken an interest in Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign — including Qatar, which recently finalized a deal with a major lobbyist in Florida to renew a lobbying contract. The lobbyist, Bill Rubin, is politically tight with DeSantis and is a major player in Florida GOP politics, Politico reported.
"For Qatar, Rubin’s firm helped facilitate meetings with government officials and provide PR assistance, first representing them in 2021," Politico's report stated. "The firm also subcontracts out work to a progressive Florida-based communications firm, Edge Communications. The decision to renew the contract with Rubin, Turnbull and Associates gave the Middle Eastern nation continued access to one of the Republican Party’s most powerful and ascendant officials."
DeSantis was an outspoke critic of Qatar while he was in Congress over its “support for Iran and for the Muslim Brotherhood.” Qatar's embassy announced that the renewal of its lobbying contract had nothing to do with DeSantis' run for president or “any other political considerations.”
“The Embassy works with advisors in many parts of the United States as part of its diplomatic outreach mission,” the spokesperson, Ali Al-Ansari, told Politico. “Qatar’s principal interests in Florida involve expansion of bilateral trade and investment. Rubin, Turnbull assists the Embassy in promoting those interests.”
Earlier this year, Japan's government inked a deal with a Florida lobbyist from within DeSantis' circle. Brian Ballard served as a co-chair of DeSantis’ inauguration earlier this year and his firm represents Liberia, Guatemala, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"Less than two weeks later, DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis visited Japan, where he met with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japan’s Foreign Ministry released its own statements touting the visit," Politico's report stated.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:22:58 GMT -8
"I do not think you can trust bankers to control themselves. They are like heroin addicts." -- Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire HathawayBank of America is facing hundreds of millions in fines for an alleged pattern of illegal and predatory practices against customers, reported CNN on Tuesday. "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Bank of America to pay more than $100 million to customers and $90 million in penalties," reported Matt Egan. "The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also ordered Bank of America to pay $60 million in fines." Specifically, the company is accused of creating fake accounts in customers' names, illegally charging extra junk fees, and not delivering on advertised credit card rewards. “Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust. The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.” The accusation is similar to the Wells Fargo scandal of 2016, when that bank too was found to have fraudulently opened millions of accounts in customers' names, in order to charge them fees they never agreed to. The bank paid $3 billion in 2020 to resolve the scandal, but faces other ongoing accusations from its own employees, including a pattern of racial bias.  If You're Going to Hate Us, We Might As Well Cheat You
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:24:36 GMT -8
I Don't Think "I'm Too Busy to Go to Jail" Is a Good Defense
Some legal and national security experts were stunned when attorneys for Donald Trump filed a near-midnight motion requesting U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannonindefinitely delay setting a date for his trial in the classified documents case.
At 11:30 PM, just 30 minutes before the deadline, Trump’s attorneys told Judge Cannon, “there is most assuredly no reason for any expedited trial, and the ends of justice are best served by a continuance.”
Technically, Trump’s legal team of four attorneys are asking Cannon to deny the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s trial schedule, and withdraw her own schedule which includes pre-trial conference dates during which attorneys and the judge discuss critical details of the case.
In their overnight filing, Trump’s attorneys suggest that the trial is political, but also, because he is running for elected office against the sitting President of the United States, he is far too busy to deal with being a defendant.
“President Trump is running for president of the United States and is currently the likely Republican Party nominee,” the motion reads. “This undertaking requires a tremendous amount of time and energy, and that effort will continue until the election on Nov. 5, 2024.”
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:25:50 GMT -8
Beware of Experts Saying the Next Election Will Be Just Like the Last One
The United States is a vibrant democracy of 330 million people, yet in an increasingly polarized nation the next president will likely be decided by just a few thousand votes, say analysts.
Landslide presidential elections were once common, but no candidate has won the popular vote by double figures since Ronald Reagan carried 49 of the 50 states against Walter Mondale in 1984.
Spool forward four decades and the race for the White House looks more like a crapshoot, with most states' outcomes beyond doubt before a ballot has been cast and candidates duking it out for scant votes in just a few genuinely competitive states on Election Day.
"(It) strikes me that Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia will play particularly large roles in this election," David Darmofal, vice chair of political science at the University of South Carolina, told AFP.
"So those suburban counties in Wisconsin, but also Milwaukee County, will be very important, as will Las Vegas suburbs and Clark County more generally, Maricopa County in Arizona, and Fulton County in Georgia as well as its surrounding counties such as Cobb and DeKalb."
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:29:08 GMT -8
This Russian Military Guy Didn't Fall Out of a Window
A former Russian submarine captain who worked as a mobilisation officer has been shot dead while jogging in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, according to local media.
Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was shot dead on Monday by an unidentified gunman, Russia's state-run Rossiya 1 reported.
Several Russian media outlets speculated he may have been tracked via his profile on the Strava fitness app.
His address and personal details had been uploaded to the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a vast unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of Ukraine.
The word "Liquidated", in red letters, has now been superimposed on his photograph on the site.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:32:29 GMT -8
How Swede It Is!
Sweden hails historic step as Turkey backs Nato bid
This is a historic moment for Sweden, which has spent the past year fighting hard to get accepted into Nato.
The Nordic country previously embraced wartime neutrality for more than 200 years, but applied for membership last May as part of efforts to improve security and stability in northern Europe, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, until late on Monday night, Turkey had been blocking Sweden's application.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:34:54 GMT -8
Another Gerogia Grand Jury??
A grand jury being seated Tuesday in Atlanta will likely consider whether criminal charges are appropriate for former President Donald Trump or his Republican allies for their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating since shortly after Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early 2021 and suggested the state's top elections official could help him “find 11,780 votes,” just enough needed to beat Democrat Joe Biden.
The 2 1/2-year investigation expanded to include an examination of a slate of Republican fake electors, phone calls by Trump and others to Georgia officials in the weeks after the 2020 election and unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud made to state lawmakers.
Willis, a Democrat, is expected to present her case before one of two new grand juries being seated Tuesday. She has previously suggested that any indictments would likely come in August.
Here's how that process would work:
WAIT. WASN'T THERE ALREADY A GRAND JURY IN THIS CASE?
Yes. About a year into her investigation, Willis took the unusual step of asking for a special grand jury. She said at the time that she needed the panel's subpoena power to compel testimony from witnesses who otherwise might not be willing to talk to her team. That special grand jury was seated in May 2022 and was released in January after completing its work.
It was essentially an investigative tool and didn't have the power to indict. Instead, it issued subpoenas and considered testimony from about 75 witnesses, as well as other evidence, before drafting a final report with recommendations for Willis.
While part of that report was made public in February, the judge overseeing the special grand jury said any recommendations on specific charges for specific people would remain secret for the time being. The panel's foreperson said in media interviews later that month that they recommended indicting numerous people, but she declined to name names.
Willis isn't bound by the special grand jury's recommendations.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:39:29 GMT -8
Oops! The QOP Did It Again.
Oops! GOP's Hunter Biden conspiracy fell on its face. The informer was a Chinese agent!
The GOP's purported informant who had all the dirt on Hunter Biden, who went missing, has been found. It turned out he is now charged with being an unregistered foreign agent for China and an international arms trafficker while violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and lying to investigators.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) vouched for the so-called Hunter Biden informant. He put his lagging reputation on the line all over cable and broadcast TV. One wonders what he is thinking now as his beloved informant turned out to be bunk.
Dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Gal Luft had already skipped out on his bail while in Cyprus awaiting extradition to the U.S. for a separate case in March—though he alleges that the sprawling case against him represents political persecution and retaliation by the Biden Administration against a potential witness. The House Oversight Committee has for months touted a secret “informant” who could provide evidence of an alleged “quid pro quo” deal for foreign aid between an Obama-era Biden and an unnamed country—though details of the arrangement remain murky and unverified at best.
Those claims partially unraveled when Rep. James Comer (R-KY) in May held a much-hyped press conference in which he promised to expose the preliminary findings of four months’ worth of scrutiny into the Biden family’s business dealings—while failing to air any real evidence of corruption. He then offered a partial excuse for the failure: their star witness had up and disappeared. The situation was memorialized in a much-publicized Fox News interview, in which a credulous Maria Bartiromo appeared shocked by the revelations.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:42:47 GMT -8
Want to Make a Quick 19 Bucks?
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) announced Monday that he will send donors a $20 gift card if they donate $1 to his presidential campaign.
“People are hurting because of Bidenflation, and giving Biden Economic Relief cards is a way to help 50,000 people until we get in office and fix this crazy economy for everyone!” Burgum tweeted Monday. “Get yours here,” the tweet continued with a link to his campaign donation site.
The linked WinRed site once again blames President Joe Biden, along with the Democratic Party, for hurting American families, while asking donors to fill out their personal information and provide credit card details.
In a separate tweet, Burgum doubled down on the gift card offer: “When it comes to providing economic relief to the American people, I’m not messing around!”
The unusual move has given rise to some legal concerns, Politico reported.
The Burgum campaign’s WinRed page indicated gift cards would be available for up to 50,000 donors — enough to make the August debate stage at a cost of $950,000 to the campaign if all donors only gave $1. A donor can only receive one gift card. His campaign said on Twitter that 50,000 people who donated would receive Visa or Mastercard gift cards at their mailing addresses.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 11, 2023 7:50:07 GMT -8
Heineken Should Get Their Heinie Handed to Them
More than 1,000 major companies pledged to leave Russia after President Vladimir Putin launched his devastating war in Ukraine, but some well-known firms stand accused by researchers of violating their pledge.
Not every company on the list left, but more than 1,000 exited. That unprecedented corporate exodus, championed and chronicled by Yale professor Jeff Sonnenfeld, dealt a serious financial and symbolic blow to Moscow and the Russian economy.
Now, as Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine blows past the 500-day mark, Sonnenfeld and his team are naming and shaming a slew of companies they accuse of breaking their promises to leave or at least drastically scale back their presence in Russia, including well-known companies like Heineken, Unilever, Philip Morris International and Oreo maker Mondelez.
The Yale research, shared exclusively with CNN, is based on whistleblowers, on-the-ground experts, students operating inside Russia, corporate documents and news media reports.
“These companies are breaking their promises. They are functioning as wartime profiteers,” Sonnenfeld told CNN in an interview. “It’s beyond disappointing. It’s shameful and unethical.”
Sonnenfeld, who has testified before Congress about companies leaving Russia, is not accusing these corporations of breaking the law. Instead, he argues that by staying in Russia, they are breaking a moral code and simultaneously “self-immolating their own brands.”
“Consumers should realize that by supporting these companies, they’re endorsing something that fuels Putin’s war machine,” he said.
The “poster child” for this problem is the popular Dutch brewing giant Heineken, Sonnenfeld said.
In March 2022, just one month after the invasion of Ukraine, Heineken won praise for promising to leave Russia. Yale even gave Heineken its highest grade of “A,” reserved for companies making a “clean break” with the country, on its scorecard of companies’ relationship with Russia.
However, 16 months later Heineken still has seven breweries and 1,800 employees in Russia, according to Yale. Not only that, but Heineken has since launched a series of new brands in Russia, gobbling up market share caused by the exodus of other major beer brands.
“They are not pulling out. They are doubling down,” said Steven Tian, director of research at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
Others: Carl's Jr. Guess, Sbarro Pizza, TGI Fridays
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