Jury Awards $3.2 Million Judgement to Man in Defamation Case Resulting From, Get This, Yet Another Race Grifter Hoax

—Ace

Andrew Kerr:

Mainstream Media Breathlessly Covered an Alleged Hate Crime in Which White Kids Forced a Black Classmate To Drink Urine. It Was a Giant Hoax.

Texas judge orders $3.2 million judgment against black mother and attorney who falsely alleged her son was 'tortured' by white friend

It was a story that received blanket media coverage in March 2021. It alleged that white middle schoolers in Plano, Texas, viciously "tortured" SeMarion Humphrey, their black classmate, forcing him to drink their urine at a sleepover as they shot him with BB guns. A Black Lives Matter activist group charged the local public school district with doing "nothing" to stop "this racially motivated hate crime" as violent protests broke out outside the home of Asher Vann, the white child alleged to have organized the brutal attack.

Major media outlets, including NBC, CBS, CNN, Business Insider, People magazine, the Daily Mail, and the Dallas Morning News, pounced on the story as Humphrey, his mother Summer Smith, and their attorney Kim Cole, embarked on a media tour where they called Vann "evil." The trio appeared on Good Morning America, where ABC host Linsey Davis promoted a GoFundMe account that raised nearly $120,000 to help pay for Humphrey's "therapy and private schooling."

Racial activist groups added fuel to the fire. The NAACP dressed down the leaders of the Plano school district in a town hall that they described as the beginning of an "open partnership" spurred by the alleged hate crime. The Next Generation Action Network, a Black Lives Matter-tied group whose leader alleged Humphrey was "tortured for days" by his white assailants, organized public marches that drew hundreds of protesters.

And then, a little under five years later, a racially diverse Texas jury--including four black members--ruled the whole thing was a hoax.

On Jan. 22, Texas district court judge Benjamin Smith ordered Smith and Cole to pay $3.2 million in damages to Vann, now an adult attending his first year of college, for intentionally smearing him and tarnishing his future earning potential during their media tour in 2021. The ruling followed a civil trial in October 2025, where the jury determined that Cole and Smith cooked up the scheme to raise their public profiles during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and to rake in money through GoFundMe.

Court records show that Smith put less than $1,000 of the nearly $120,000 GoFundMe windfall toward her son's schooling. Account statements reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show the remaining funds were spent on luxuries, including a designer dog, dining and travel, beauty products, liquor, vapes, cell phones, car payments, and rent.

Finally: Incompetent Woke Disney CEO Bob Iger Steps Down After Tanking Stock Price

—Ace

Fox News @FoxNews

6h

BREAKING: Longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger to step down and be succeeded by theme parks chief Josh D'Amaro, company announces

wdwpro @wdwpro1

6h

Either Bob Iger has a health concern (God forbid), or he's been fired as the stock dropped. He will exit his role nine months early with a board obviously eager to see him out.

His poison pill: Dana Walden.

Walden is another woke feminist incompetent and a friend of Kamala Harris.

Disney's stock price rose on news of Iger's defenestration.

The media is of course praising Iger and stating that the new CEO will take over a company with lots of momentum.

Momentum? Downward momentum, you mean?

WDWPro also reminds us that Iger was recently named in the Epstein files, and of course his "news" operation at ABC spiked a report on Jeffrey Epstein.

I'm not sure what this fleeting mention might mean.

They also mention that Disney Cruise Lines used to stop at Little Saint James Island, which has since become better known as Jeffrey Epstein's Pedo Island.

In related media news: film students' ability to focus is now so degraded that they can't sit through two-hour movies.

You already knew that students no longer read full books and instead were assigned news and magazine articles, or book excerpts, to read.

And now? They can't even watch a full movie.

Everyone knows it's hard to get college students to do the reading--remember books? But the attention-span crisis is not limited to the written word. Professors are now finding that they can't even get film students--film students--to sit through movies. "I used to think, If homework is watching a movie, that is the best homework ever," Craig Erpelding, a film professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me. "But students will not do it."

I heard similar observations from 20 film-studies professors around the country. They told me that over the past decade, and particularly since the pandemic, students have struggled to pay attention to feature-length films. Malcolm Turvey, the founding director of Tufts University's Film and Media Studies Program, officially bans electronics during film screenings. Enforcing the ban is another matter: About half the class ends up looking furtively at their phones.

...

And the problem is not limited to large introductory courses. Akira Mizuta Lippit, a cinema and media-studies professor at the University of Southern California--home to perhaps the top film program in the country--said that his students remind him of nicotine addicts going through withdrawal during screenings: The longer they go without checking their phone, the more they fidget. Eventually, they give in.

A lot of people feel that they have lost most of their ability to focus. I'm one of them. I can still read books -- on occasion -- but I do sometimes put them down after a very short bout of reading.

Chuck Schumer: Requiring Voters to Show ID to Vote Is "Nothing More Than Jim Crow 2.0"

—Ace

Everything's Jim Crow.

No, man, it's worse than Jim Crow. It makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.

Malarkey!

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday condemned legislation requiring ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote as "nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0."

Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) has attempted to include the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in a massive funding package under review by the House and send it back to the Senate.

"The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise millions of Americans. Every single Senate Democrat will vote against any bill that contains it," Schumer wrote in a Monday post on the social platform X.

"Speaker Johnson should tell SAVE Act Republicans to stand down or else this shutdown will be on them," the Senate Minority Leader added.

Don't worry, your Republican "Leaders" are already showing their bellies.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has raised objections to including the measure in the funding bills despite White House support for the measure.

"We all want the SAVE Act, but we look at the reality of the numbers here. And we passed the SAVE Act twice in the House. We'll pass it again, we'll do that. But this is a funding package right now, and I don't think we need to be playing games with government funding," Johnson said on Monday.

Do "we" really all want it?

Do "we" really all want it as a priority? Or as "nice to have but not necessary to have" kind of thing?

I learned a word about ten years ago: Velleity.

Velleity

(vah-LEE-it-ee) is a noun meaning a slight wish or inclination that isn't strong enough to motivate action, the weakest form of desire or will, like wanting to write a book but never starting. It comes from the Latin word velle ("to wish"), sharing roots with "voluntary" and "will," but signifies a wish without the drive to fulfill it.

When most Republicans say they "want" something or "agree" with conservatives on a policy, they usually "want" it in the velleity sense: with the lowest level of desire possible before becoming simply neutral about it or even opposed to it.

Meanwhile: The public wants voter ID.

CNN: The Flight From Blue States Will Net Republicans +7 House Seats and +7 Electoral College Votes in 2032; Even if Democrats Win All Three "Blue Wall" States, They'll Lose the Presidency

—Ace

Unfortunately, the census won't be taken until 2030 and reapportionment won't happen until the following election in 2032.

It's something, I guess.

"The lowest domestic net migration this decade -- all five of the states that were won by Kamala Harris in 2024," Enten noted. "Look at this: California, Harris' home state; New York, where I'm coming from right now; of course, Illinois, New Jersey, and of course the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which is a bastion of blue liberalism." These, he emphasized, "are the states that folks in the United States are moving away from and into the red states, which is propelling a red state boom."

If that wasn't enough bad news for the Democrats, Enten turned to the political fallout. "Now, this is interesting, right? But it could also have major political ramifications if it holds for 2030, the next census," he warned. "If, in fact, the 2025 population shifts hold for the 2030 census, look at this. Look at the House seat shifts by state." Then he delivered the line that surely made Democratic strategists choke on their avocado toast. "If, in fact, the 2025 population shifts hold for 2030, states that Kamala Harris won, they would lose. They would lose seven seats in the United States House of Representatives. The states that Donald Trump won in 2024, they would gain; they would gain seven seats."

When you think about how close the House of Representatives is now, you know this is a huge deal. That CNN is admitting all of this is also quite significant.

But Enten wasn't done rubbing salt in the wound. The shift doesn't just hit Congress; it impacts the entire Electoral College. "Because the number of electoral votes that each state gets is equal to the number of senators, plus the number of House seats," he said. "If you remember back in 2024, right, it was all about the blue wall... If Kamala Harris could win the baseline Democratic states and then add in the blue wall states of Michigan, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, she would get to 270 electoral votes."

Then came the bomb: "If all of a sudden, we, in fact, have applying the 2025 estimates, the population estimates to the Electoral College, the blue states, plus the blue wall of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin would no longer be enough," Enten said flatly. "Under the current estimates, you get to exactly 270 electoral votes, the minimum needed to win the Electoral College. If, in fact, you apply the 2025 estimates, look at that -- you would only get to 263 electoral votes if you were a Democrat, which would mean a Republican victory."

Under Threat of Criminal Contempt, Bill and Hillary Clinton "Agree" to "Testify" about Jeffrey Epstein... But Won't Set a Date to Testify

—Ace

They claim that they'll testify -- but it's a stalling tactic. Now they want to set up a date for their testimony, but they can't commit to any particular date.

So this is more contempt.

Even if it happens, it will be a festival of perjuries that will make "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is" look bush-league.

With a contempt vote looming on Capitol Hill, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have finally agreed to sit for depositions before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The development surfaced Monday during a House Rules Committee hearing, when Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) disclosed that the Clintons had accepted the basic terms laid out by Oversight Chairman James Comer. A spokesman for Bill Clinton confirmed the agreement, while attorney Angel Ureña wrote on X that the former president and former first lady "will be there" and are prepared to testify under oath.

According to the New York Times, the Clintons said they would appear on mutually agreeable dates and asked House leaders to drop a contempt vote slated for Wednesday. The request followed months of defiance of Comer's subpoenas, issued Aug. 5, 2025, after both Clintons skipped prior deadlines to provide testimony. That standoff prompted a bipartisan revolt on the Oversight Committee, with nine Democrats joining Republicans to back contempt proceedings against Bill Clinton and three Democrats supporting contempt for Hillary Clinton.

Comer was unimpressed by the latest overture, arguing it arrived only because the House was closing in on enforcement. In a statement, he said the Clintons' lawyers had again failed to provide dates and warned that the terms remained vague. Earlier Monday, he rejected a proposal that would have capped Bill Clinton's testimony at four hours and substituted a sworn statement from Hillary Clinton, calling the bid for limits "special treatment" and "an affront" to public demands for transparency.

...

If prosecutors were to pursue contempt and secure convictions, the penalties could include jail time of up to one year and fines ranging from $100 to $1,000. For now, Comer has said he will seek clarity on the Clintons' commitments before deciding how to proceed.

Yeah they're not showing up. You're being chumped, Hoss.

How is everyone? Is the low humidity a problem for you? Because I keep waking up due to dry mouth. I haven't had a good night's sleep in more than a week and the sleep debt is piling up.

(Yes I know, I have to get my humidifier out of storage, but that only helps a little.)

I'm playing injured here, coach. Don't expect too much from me today.

The Morning Rant

—CBD

The machinations of the Federal Reserve is the ultimate in government "inside baseball." And the arrogance of the typical Federal Reserve governor is breathtaking, even by the lofty standards of the federal government. They confidently pontificate about the most complex economy on earth...predicting months and years out, as if they, and they alone, have the combination of intellect, education, experience and, for all we know, a conduit to God, that allows them to predict events that are affected by many thousands of activities that are unknowable by mere humans.

And if that weren't bad enough, they also have the power to manipulate the financial markets based on those confident predictions. They control short-term interest rates, they control the raw amount of money in the economy (quantitative easing anyone?), they control reserve requirements for banks, they buy and sell bonds to manipulate money supply and rates, all while being almost perfectly independent of any oversight!

Sounds like a great gig! Too bad they screw it up...a lot! There are very little data that show that their efforts are better than economies that are not controlled by a central bank. The goal of smoothing out the business cycle sounds laudable, but they cannot show that it helps in the long run. Their data are purposefully opaque, and as most of us have discovered, they constantly change the definitions of the very things they are tasked with controlling...namely inflation.

So the nomination of Kevin Warsh seems like a very good idea. His public opinions suggest that he is a Fed sceptic, and perhaps will throttle down the insane manipulation of the American economy by a bunch of unelected wonkish bureaucrats who hide behind their pseudo-intellectualism while being covertly political.

Kevin Warsh Wants an Overhaul of the Fed—Here’s What That Could Look Like

Warsh said in October 2024 that the central bank has routinely shifted the goalposts for measuring inflation—from average inflation targeting to core inflation ex-housing—and how it conducts policy.

“They don’t seem to have a serious theory of inflation that is theoretical and empirical. It is not obvious that they acknowledge what their role is in prices,” Warsh told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“I think in a world this dangerous, an economic policy where fiscal policy is irresponsible, the central bank needs to be very clear about its reaction function, be clear about its goals, and not look like it is lurching—that’s what put us in the mess we have.”

“Moving markets with rolling Fed incantations is tempting, but unhelpful to the Fed’s deliberations, and ultimately, to its mission,” Warsh said last year.

“The central bank should find new comfort in working without applause and without the audience at the edge of its seats.”

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

The Morning Report — 2/3/26

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. While the Democrat Left drags this nation further into an abyss of growing civil unrest and worsening levels of violence with their premeditated breakdown of law and order to thwart President Trump and his duty to defend our borders and the safety of the citizenry by enforcing immigration law in the apprehension and removal of illegal aliens, the resistance to that in my opinion and many others is dictionary definition insurrection. There can only be one response to that and so the ball is in President Trump's court.

On Jan. 12, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison initiated a lawsuit on behalf of the North Star State, along with municipal co-plaintiffs Minneapolis and St. Paul, against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons and the rest of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement apparatus. In his press conference announcing the suit, Ellison emphasized the same basic arguments as his formal complaint: Namely, that ICE’s enforcement “surge” in Minnesota amounts to a “violation of the Tenth Amendment and the sovereign laws and powers granted to states.”

In essence, Ellison and his Minnesota’s Democrat Party leadership confreres argue that the constitutional federalism articulated in the Tenth Amendment and its corollary of “states’ rights” can shield the Land of 10,000 Lakes from the long enforcement arm of federal immigration law. Ellison and Minnesota Democrats claim that by declaring their state and cities to be illegal alien “sanctuaries,” they can “nullify” federal immigration law. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

Democrats in America have a long and inglorious history of invoking “states’ rights” and shirking federal law. It has never ended well. . . On Thursday, Trump border czar Tom Homan announced that the administration is prepared to draw down federal personnel in Minnesota if the state cooperates. We’ll see if that transpires, but I have my suspicions. Historically, Democrat Party subversives and insurrectionists have not been known for their cooperation with the feds. The good news for President Donald Trump is that he has a clear legal precedent for how to respond, if the neo-Confederate uprising in Minnesota continues apace. On April 15, 1861, in response to the attack on Fort Sumter three days prior, President Abraham Lincoln invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807. Trump has recently been musing about doing the same.

Will Trump pull the trigger? Maybe. After all, there’s nothing new under the sun.

I suppose it was easy-peasy lemon-squeezey for President Trump to scramble the USAF to pulverize Iran's nuke sites. But putting down an insurrection here at home and even openly declaring we are in one, when much too large a segment of the populace does not see it that way or even understand the meaning of the word let alone have an iota of awareness of the history of their own nation as author Josh Hammer details in his essay.

My fear and oddly enough my hope is that it really would be the bitter end. As of now we are at the very bitter beginning, or in the midst of several decades of a political and cultural upheaval that President Trump's miraculous trifecta of presidential wins has at the very least slammed the brakes on. There are signs here and there that he and we have shoved the Overton Window into reverse and of course that is why we are witnessing the goings on in Minneapolis and elsewhere, as the Democrat Left senses the political and cultural revolution they inflicted on us in their multi-generational quest for absolute power is perhaps on the verge of collapse, or at the least being derailed for a long time to come (please God).

On that note there is a bit of positive news to report that let's hope is not a one-off:

The president of the union representing Seattle police officers said Friday he would not let his members implement what he called a “ludicrous” proposal from Democrat Mayor Katie Wilson of Seattle.

Wilson issued orders to local police, directing them to “investigate, verify, and document” activity by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for potential prosecution, similar to directives issued by Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Fox 13 Seattle reported. Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Mike Solan responded to Wilson’s order with a post on X Friday. (RELATED: Seattle Mayor Proudly Admits She Is Not Seeking Probe Into Somali Scammers)

“Toothless virtue signaling rhetoric like this has already cost two people their lives,” Solan posted on the SPOG X account, referencing the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area during immigration enforcement operations. “The concept of pitting two armed law enforcement agencies against each other is ludicrous, and will not happen. I will not allow SPOG members to be used as political pawns.”

Citizen journalists began probing Somali-run day care centers in Washington state after independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a 42-minute video that went viral showing him visiting Somali-run day-care centers in the Minneapolis area, propelling the issue of welfare fraud into the public eye. Initial reports of fraud in Minnesota by City Journal in November prompted the Department of Homeland Security to deploy hundreds of agents from multiple agencies to the Minneapolis area. Wilson previously stated she was not seeking a probe into reports that Somali scammers were engaged in welfare fraud during an interview with Seattle-area TV station KOMO that was posted on X Jan. 7.

“This whole issue is not really about fraud, right? It’s about dividing and conquering,” Wilson claimed during the interview. “It’s about making an immigrant community a target, right? There’s no reason to assume, based on the identity of a day care operator, that their small business is doing anything wrong.”

Of course, Seattle is a Leftist hell hole and its citizens made it that way by perpetually voting Democrat. Far too many are radical fundamentalist true believers of Leftist orthodoxy, so we'll see how many Prettis and Goods there are who will take up arms against the SPD and ICE, or perhaps Federal troops, should it come to that.

But that Seattle even has a Police leadership that can and will vocally stand up to this insane mayor I take as a good sign. Hopefully it's not a fluke.

Have a great day.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
• The Daily Mail quoted “an investigating source” who indicated that the patient, a 24-year-old man, “…was in a state of extreme discomfort, having inserted a large object up his rectum.” Because the artillery shell was not inert, “bomb disposal experts” were called in, as was the fire brigade.
  French Hospital Evacuated After Doctors Find Live WWI Artillery Shell in Patient’s Rectum

  Related: Fat Man found inserted up Little Boy — or Tim Walz's Sex Life, FKA Oppen-Heinie - jjs

Daily Tech News 3 February 2026

—Pixy Misa

• SpaceX has merged with xAI in an all-stock deal that values the combined company at $1.25 trillion. (CNBC)
  
  In a turnaround from recent nonsense, 80% of that valuation is SpaceX, the rocket and satellite internet company. 80% of the rest is xAI. And the remainder is X, which is to say, Twitter.
  
  The deal apparently completed yesterday.
  
  This also ties into SpaceX's application to launch a million orbital datacenters. Solar energy is plentiful and uninterrupted in space, and delusional rioters are few and far between.

Monday Overnight Open Thread (02/02/26)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

“It was a call for reflection on the role nurses play in ensuring health for all and a reminder that we are all united not only in grief today but also in hope for a better and more just tomorrow.” Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel

Quote II

So the low-IQ types from Moronstan are winning, and the smart guys are exiting the stage of history. The average inbred Somali appears to know enough - unlike, say, an NPR-listening lesbian - not to attempt to mow down the most heavily armed constabulary on the planet. Mark Steyn

*****

Well of course they fucking would. Did you ever have any doubt?

A federal appeals court tossed out a Justice Department misconduct complaint against Judge James Boasberg.

AS previously reported, DC Chief Judge James Boasberg and other DC Judges admitted bias against the Trump Administration during a March 2025 judicial conference with Chief Justice Roberts, according to a memo obtained by The Federalist.

*****

If you can make it through the entire 22:59 with verification, you too could be an Open Blogger. Because I sure as hell couldn't.

The Climate Question -The Climate Question
What is climate anxiety and how can you cope with it?

*****

Speaking of climate, there is a reason I ice-fish by myself.

*****

Robbing Peter to pay Paul or somebody did something to all that cash.

Topline: Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander claims one of the city’s health insurance funds has “no path to solvency” after labor unions used it to cover pay raises, Weight Watchers and more.

Key facts: New York’s taxpayer-funded Health Insurance Stabilization Fund owes $3.1 billion to outside vendors and the city that it’s unable to pay. The actual amount is likely much higher because expenses from 2024 and 2025 have not been totaled yet, according to Lander’s Dec. 30 audit.

The fund was created in 1985 to help employees afford the city’s Group Health Insurance (GHI) plan, a more costly alternative to the older Health Insurance Plan (HIP).

*****

As a resident of the Frozen Tundra I have had my fair share of ice-capades. And I'm a firm believer in calcium chloride liberally applied to anything remotely looking like asphalt or concrete. What happens when you don't? Just ask the Germans.

Berlin Hospitals Struggle to Treat Hundreds of Falls During Winter Freeze Because Environmental Laws Forbid Use of Salt on Sidewalks

Repeated snowfall and freezing rain have coated the open-air insane asylum known as Berlin in a thin sheet of slippery ice since the beginning of January. To spare plants, city environmental laws have long forbidden using salt on pedestrian paths and stairways, and so residents have been falling and injuring themselves at such high rates that emergency rooms have had trouble keeping up:

A contributing factor to many elderly deaths is the broken hip.

*****

The ONT Musical & Humor Interlude & Diclofenac Sodium Topical Gel Emporium

&&&&&

*****

No Pepsi! Coke. Genius Award Winner.

US Man Arrested For Threatening Murder After Being Denied PepsiBrian Champagne, 47, was arrested in Seymour, Missouri, for attempting to enter a bedroom and harassing a woman whilst demanding Pepsi.

*****

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Deep Questions.

Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire & AceCorp, LLC No shirts, no shoes, no lingerie, no problem. Pictures or it didn't happen. Not responsible for collect calls or C.O.D.s. Complaints? We. Don't. Care.

Close it up

Moose Encounters of the Third Kind Cafe

—Ace

Yorkshire Dale, England
from @VisualTherapy0

Hand-raising an orphaned baby anteater so it can survive on its own and just be weirdly adorable.

Friendly skunk swarm.

Old but cute: Duck runs a race. (Well I think he just ran a hundred yards at the end but that's still very good for a duck.)

Natural pesticide: Thousands of ducks are released to eat all the insects out of a plot of farmland after the harvest.

This is turning into a very duck-heavy cafe.

Baby elephant tries to use his trunk.

Baby polar bear chases off a rude raven.

I'm a peacock, captain! You've gotta let me fly!

Sea lion gets territorial with a marine iguana. Tourists go home.

Helicopter mom lioness.

Another One: How Did BLM Grifter and "Squad" Member Ayana Presley Go from Broke-Ass to Wealthy After Just a Few Short Years in Congress?

—Ace

Sadie @Sadie_NC

Another Squad member caught in the swamp!

Ayanna Pressley went from negative net worth in 2018 to $1.3 million today--on a $174k salary?

Assets up to $8M, including a fancy Martha's Vineyard rental. Her husband starts a "consulting" firm with ties to Obama right after she enters Congress. Coincidence?

Brandon Straka #WalkAway @BrandonStraka

Jan 31

Ayanna Pressley is facing renewed scrutiny as claims circulate that her net worth surged from negative in 2018 to assets reportedly valued up to $8 million -- fueling calls for investigation and accountability.

It turns out her husband quit his political job when she got elected and opened a "consultancy" firm -- which can accept large sums of money to "consult" with people. And lobby congresswomen, no doubt.

Before Brian Stelter can hiss "conspiracy theory!" and Jake Tapper can whine "WITHOUT EVIDENCE," consider this:

High-level officials in Biden administration went to work for grant recipients, watchdog finds

The Revolving Door of D.C.: Federal agencies under Biden doled out $600 million to a variety of climate-focused NGOs following Biden's disastrous debate with Trump in 2024. Some individuals who held leadership positions at these agencies later went on to work for the same recipients of the grant money.

The Department of Energy recently announced it's eliminating more than $83 billion in what it called "Green New Scam" loans and conditional commitments made through the Loans Programs Office during the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has tried to roll back funding the Biden administration rushed out the door in its final months.

Democracy Restored, a nonprofit government watchdog, calculated that following former President Joe Biden's disastrous debate with now-President Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, the Biden administration began rushing billions out the door to more than a dozen environmental and climate-focused NGOs, including the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, Climate United Fund, the Ocean Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, and Rocky Mountain Institute.

Using data from USASpending.gov, Democracy Resorted found that federal agencies had obligated more than $600 million in taxpayer money to these organizations since July 1, 2024. The obligations began to drop the day after the election. Obligations to these same organizations since Nov. 5, 2024 fell to $246 million.

While various agencies were providing millions in support to these organizations, high-level officials within the agencies either went to work for them after Trump took office, or they had previously worked for them prior to assuming key roles at the agencies under Biden.

Shovels of money after debate debacle

The Department of Energy awarded the World Resources Institute a $1 million grant in August 2024. The funding would go toward training and collaboration in support of school bus fleet electrification. Jigar Shah, who was director of the Loans Programs Office within the DOE, is now a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute.

Jennifer Wilcox, who held the position of principal deputy assistant secretary at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy, is also a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute. The institute is a global research organization focused on various sustainability and climate action initiatives.

"I think the money being shoveled out after President Biden's debate and the apparent revolving door of appointees going to recipients of these federal funds raises many questions about the timing of the money, the impact of special interests in the Biden administration and the general ethics surrounding this behavior," Houston Keene, director of Democracy Restored, told Just the News.

Trump Names New Fed Chief; "Safe Choice" Would Favor Interest Rate Cuts, as Trump Also Wants

—Ace

Crooked partisan Jerome Powell left the federal prime interest rate unchanged, declaring that no cut was needed, as the economy was experiencing solid growth.

The Federal Reserve held its key interest steady in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% after a recent run of interest rate cuts.

"Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have remained low, and the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization," the central bank said in its post-meeting statement. "Inflation remains somewhat elevated."

...

Importantly, the statement also erased a clause indicating that the committee saw a higher risk from the threat of a weakening labor market than that of heightened inflation. That would argue for a pause on rate cuts at least in the near term as officials see the Fed's dual goals of low inflation and full employment more in balance.

There was little in the way of guidance about what's coming next, with markets expecting the Fed to wait until at least June before adjusting its benchmark rate again.

Well, the economy is indeed growing. But supposedly the economy was growing during Biden's Miracle Economy and Powell still cut interest rates, months before an election considered a referendum on Biden's stewardship over the economy. And inflation was still raising.

Trump can't wait until this guy is out office, and thankfully, his term ends in May.

Trump has already named Powell's replacement.

IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn said Sunday that President Trump's nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is "very highly qualified" and will "take the Fed back to its traditional" norms.

"I think we're very fortunate to have Kevin to be the nominee," Cohn said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

On Friday, Mr. Trump announced that he had nominated Kevin Warsh to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve Board, writing in a post on Truth Social that he has "no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best."

...

Cohn, the former National Economic Council director in President Trump's first term, praised Warsh on Sunday, saying that he brings a "unique background" and highlighting his work on the Fed board during the 2008 financial crisis.

"He was instrumental in that crisis," Cohn said. "Kevin was the point person at the Fed -- he was involved in every one of those discussions. And I truly believe, without Kevin's expertise, and without Kevin being there, we would not have come out of the 2008 crisis as well as we have."

The president's selection of Warsh as his nominee was expected to be viewed as a safe choice on Wall Street given his monetary policy experience and well-established views on inflation.

Cohn said he expects Warsh to "stay out of a lot of the non-financial issues," while he is "going to be involved, obviously, in setting interest rate policy."

"There is a pressure right now for interest rates to go lower," Cohn said. "I think that he will probably follow through on the one to two cuts this year."

California is the Golden State for Fraud; 18% of All the Country's "Home Health Care" Billing Comes from LA

—Ace

Almost 20% of the country's welfare funds for "home health care" goes to 440 square miles in California.

And LA is scamming the country for billions for fake Medicare services.

Los Angeles hospice fraud reaches billions as Medicare providers scam federal system with fake companies Medicare chief says fraudulent providers scam taxpayers with ghost patients and sham companies in scheme involving corrupt doctors

Ghost patients, sham companies, offshore owners and corrupt doctors. Auditors and prosecutors say hospice fraud in Los Angeles is off the charts, with providers scamming billions from taxpayers for patients that don't exist, poor care and no care.

"Hospice is crazy here," says Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"You've got hospice that's grown seven-fold in the last five years. They represent about three and a half billion dollars of fraud, we believe, just in LA County."

Backing him up was California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who said last year, "Hospice fraud has become an epidemic in California, specifically in the greater Los Angeles area."

Bonta says fraudulent providers submit false claims for unnecessary services, and recruiters get kickbacks for signing up seniors, whether they're sick or not. Hospices also enroll patients who don't even know they've been scammed until they seek out medical care.

"As a hospice owner, I could sign up everybody in this room for hospice," an LA hospice owner told us.

A whistleblower told us there's no limit on the number of hospices an individual can own, and applicants can live abroad.

"It's all just paperwork. I could fill [an application] out in Kazakhstan if I want, and get a hospice license."

He explained how the scam works:

Recruiters go to shopping centers and senior centers to sign up patients, promising them walkers, a month's supply of nutritional drinks, cash and weekly visits in exchange for a Medicare number.

Recruiters then sell that "benny" or beneficiary's Medicare number to a provider for a $1,000 to $3,000 and receive a cut for every month the senior stays on their rolls.

Hospice enrollees are supposed to have a terminal illness or life expectancy of six months or less. But frequently hospice owners treat patients like trading cards, moving them from one provider to another if they stay too long, which raises a red flag with auditors.

In the U.S., more than 50% of hospice patients die within 18 days or less. In LA, the average length of stay is more than three months, and, in many hospices, patients never die, with court records showing hospices billing the federal government for 18 months and more.

In LA, a hospice is paid by the federal government $260 a day for each day a senior is under its care.

...

"A Medicare MIB number is more lucrative than a credit card," says Sheila Clark, president of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, referring to the 11 character code each Medicare recipient has that allows federal reimbursement. "They're human traffickers. They're trafficking beneficiaries in and out of hospices, home health."

At City Journal, a Democrat whistleblower in Minnesota affirms that the fraud is real and spectacular.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is the state agency responsible for overseeing the programs at the heart of the scandal. Faye Bernstein has been a DHS employee for two decades, including stints working in contract management and as a compliance officer.

During the early years of Governor Tim Walz's administration, Bernstein says that she began raising concerns internally at DHS about concerning practices that exposed tax dollars to fraud. In response, Bernstein claims that her DHS supervisors retaliated against her.

In a recent interview with City Journal, Bernstein painted a picture of a toxic workplace culture at DHS that allowed Minnesota's fraud scandal to metastasize. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

City Journal: When did your concerns about fraud begin?

Faye Bernstein: In 2018 and 2019. I had just gotten a promotion to a lead position. That meant I saw everybody's contracts from our work area [Behavioral Health Administration]. They all funneled through me. Over the years, I had often thought that DHS is sloppy. But 2018 and 2019 are when I saw, oh gosh, this is beyond normal. If we don't have fraud today, we're going to have fraud soon.

CJ: Can you give an example?

FB: I could give a contract to my sister for a million dollars because she has a different last name, pay out that contract, and nobody would notice. We did not monitor conflict of interest. It would have been easy to give a contract to a family member or to a nonexistent person. That's when I realized, this sloppiness is way beyond normal. We really are at risk of fraud.

CJ: Can you give other examples of things you saw?

FB: The reason I can confidently say that I could give a contract of this sort to my sister was because I had come across a contract that DHS had given to a former employee who had left the department within the past year. I immediately recognized her name, so I went to the person who initiated that contract and said, "What's the deal with this? I want to make sure everything's okay, that we don't have a conflict."

The person immediately went to our deputy director, who then came to me and said, "Why are you asking these questions?"

And I said, "Well, gosh, this is just a perfectly normal question."

"No, it's not. You're upsetting people. You've just made a lot of enemies by asking these questions."

It made no sense to me. We were constantly getting into risky territory. And if you spoke about it, it was very clear what would happen. Even our human resources people would tell us, "If your supervisor tells you to do something, you must do it." And when you didn't, the word "insubordination" came up. They considered it insubordinate if you resisted an unlawful direction.

CJ: Did this culture at DHS help facilitate fraud?

FB: It definitely did. Where we are today is completely predictable from where we were in 2019. There was no other way for this to go. The handwriting was on the wall. Until only about a year ago, our whistleblower policy required us to report internally; that did not comply with the law. The only reason [DHS had that policy] was so that they could find out who was reporting.

Why Did John Brennan Deliver a Secret CIA Award to Obama's White House Counsel and Very Good Friend of Jeffrey Epstein Kathryn Ruemmler?

—Ace

We know she received this secret award from John Brennan for unknown services provided to the CIA only because she immediately wrote to her BFF Jeffrey Epstein-- who sent her gifts like a $9,400 handbag -- immediately after receiving the secret honor.

Why?

And why was it kept secret? People usually publicize their CIA awards. They show you're In the Club.

We only know about this secret CIA award because Ruemmler bragged about it to Jeffrey Epstein, and his emails were just released.

So why was the reward given? I'm quoting Mike Benz's thread, but he points out this wasn't awarded for work she did during the Obama Administration. This was awarded when she was in the private sector, specifically working for Democrat law firm Lantham and Watkins.

A firm that was instrumental in perpetrating the Russiagate hoax on the country.

So... is that why John Brennan gave the award to her? Because she assisted in his own disinformation campaign against the American taxpayer, which he perpetrated while being paid by the taxpayers?

Mike Benz
@MikeBenzCyber

19h

A couple interesting notes on the reveal that Obama's White House Counsel (top lawyer to the President) Kathy Ruemmler emailed Jeffrey Epstein she was awarded the CIA Agency Medal just hours after getting the award 🧵

2) When I saw this, I wondered why I'd never heard this before. Her CIA Agency Award in 2015 was not and still has never been reported by any press outlet whatsoever, not even a fringe one. It's not in her Wikipedia. It's not in her extensive current Goldman Sachs bio.

3) I've covered many times, for example, how BlackRock's Vice Chairman proudly lists his winning the CIA's Director's Award openly on his official BlackRock bio.

4) The award is a big deal and she was clearly so excited and proud of it she rushed to tell Jeffrey Epstein mere hours after CIA Director John Brennan awarded her, and then sought validation from Epstein over it.

5) Now, this is where it gets interesting. Ruemmler had already left government and returned to private practice at Latham & Watkins 8 months earlier. When she won the CIA Agency Medal, she was a private citizen. A civilian.

6) As it turns out, non-CIA civilians can receive the CIA Agency Medal -- privately with no public release -- if they have played a meaningful role in enabling CIA operations, providing critical access, or helping clear high-stakes legal or operational obstacles the CIA faced

7) The reason the CIA doesn't publicly disclose CIA Agency Medal winners who are non-CIA civilians is because those winners, as nominal civilians with no CIA overlap, may not want the public to know they covertly helped the CIA overcome sensitive legal or political obstacles.

8) Of course, you can't rule out simple cronyism back-scratching. It was Ruemmler who fought to legally block CIA disclosures on Benghazi from Congress to save not-yet-CIA-Director John Brennan's Senate confirmation bid, 2 years before Brennan gave her the CIA Agency Award.

9) Worth noting Kathy Ruemmler, who fought to make John Brennan the CIA Director and then won the CIA Agency Award, was so close to Epstein she was the backup executor of Jeffrey Epstein's will.

Wait, what?

Remember, Ruemmler continues insisting that she was never a paid client of Epstein's and barely even knew him.

Despite him giving her $9,400 handbags and other luxury gifts.

10) But the pure cronyism explanation doesn't sit right with me. For one, anyone can get a CIA Agency Award at any time. It's not "once a year" doled out in one batch. Brennan became CIA chief in March 2013. He didn't give her the award until 2 years later, after she left gov't

11) Second, if Brennan had given Ruemmler the CIA Agency Medal earlier while she was still White House Counsel, she could forever-after confidently share the honor publicly without needing to hide it, since everyone would presume it related to her official White House legal role

12) Now, it's possible Brennan issued her the award while she was White House Counsel but then kept it in CIA custody until she left gov't, if political sensitivities or the covert operation the award related to were still ongoing. I found examples of that in declassified docs

13) But still, something doesn't sit right. Even if you never announce the CIA Agency Award to the public, there's still a real benefit to getting one: privileged inside access, weight & deference, plus more opportunities channeled to you in ongoing and future CIA relationships.

14) So wherever Ruemmler worked when she got the award, the CIA effectively had "their woman" in the room for all manner of "informal consultation" or info-sharing. Well, in 2015, when she got it, she was at Latham & Watkins: a central firm in the CIA-led 2016 Russiagate affair

The full thread, with screencaps of supporting documents, is here.

Major British Labour Politician Pressured to Resign Over Epstein Payoffs; Epstein Had a Secret Baby?

—Ace

Peter Mandelson is a major fixer for Labour who is responsible for the rise of Tony Blair.

There are at least two occasions on which it is alleged Epstein handed large sums of money to Lord Mandelson or his husband.

His husband.

Mandelson directly referenced one of the claims when announcing his resignation from the Labour party. Bank statements held among the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice appear to show that in 2003 to 2004 the disgraced financier paid a total of $75,000 (£54,750) into bank accounts of which Mandelson -- then a Labour MP -- was believed to be a beneficiary.

The former cabinet minister had already come under pressure over the second allegation that his husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, had received £10,000 from Epstein about two months after the registered sex offender was released from prison in 2009.

...

The files also show evidence Mandelson advised Epstein on how the investment bank JP Morgan might lobby the government -- of which he was a part -- on plans for a tax on bankers' bonuses.

Among the documents is a chain of emails between Epstein and Mandelson, in which the former asks if the new tax might only apply to the cash portion of bonuses. "Trying hard to amend," Mandelson wrote back on 15 December 2009. "Treasury digging in but I am on case."

Mandelson, who was then business secretary in Gordon Brown's government, suggested two days later that the head of the investment bank call the then chancellor, Alistair Darling, and "mildly threaten" him.

I make no judgments about the policy nor whether it should have been opposed or not. But we once again see Epstein's hand behind political decisionmaking.

It had been known for years that Mandelson was linked to Epstein. It has long been a matter of public record Mandelson stayed in the disgraced financier's flat in New York while the latter was serving his prison term. And a briefing delivered to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, on the reputational risk in appointing Mandelson as ambassador to the US mentioned official records showing he had facilitated a meeting between Epstein and Tony Blair in 2002.

But a glimpse of the extent of the relationship between the former minister and Epstein would lead to Mandelson's withdrawal from Washington in September 2025.

Documents released then showed Mandelson had referred to Epstein as his "best pal" in a letter included within an alleged birthday book that was released by US lawmakers.

...

The prime minister, who had been facing questions about his judgment after standing by Mandelson, removed him from his post when it emerged he had emailed Epstein suggesting his 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution was wrongful and should be challenged.

No 10 said it had not known about emails, in which Mandelson wrote: "I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can."

Meanwhile, released emails indicate that Jeffrey Epstein had a secret baby with an unknown woman.

This disclosure was made in emails from Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, the wife of the former Prince Andrew, and herself a big pal of the convicted pedophile.

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appears to have had a secret child 15 years ago, according to a bombshell email reportedly sent by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

Ferguson congratulated him in the note sent on Sept. 21, 2011, after he was already convicted of sex with an underage girl, according to the latest drop of Epstein files.

"Don't know if you're still on this bbm but have heard from The Duke that you have had a baby boy," Ferguson wrote, according to the released email.

"Even though you never kept in touch, I still am here with love, friendship, and congratualtions [sic] on your baby boy. Sarah xx."

In another message, Ferguson claimed Epstein had disappeared and said she wasn't aware he was about to become a father.

Epstein's last known girlfriend was Karyna Shuliak and he reportedly wanted to leave her his infamous private Island as well as $50 million and his Upper East Side townhouse. He signed his will on Aug 8, 2019 -- just two days before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell.

First Case of Sex Change "Detransitioner" Suing Doctors Results in $4 Million Malpractice Payout

—Ace

Big win.

These cases will be won on claims of lack of informed consent, and that's 100% real and 100% a violation of basic medical ethics. Sex "transition" procedures are sold to patients like they're used cars the dealership must get off the lot. Doctors do not explain all the many side-effects and poor outcomes, and on the other hand, they claim that the procedures are basically magical and will cure all of the patient's mental illnesses.

One major adverse outcome they refuse to discuss with patients is the fact that many will seek to detransition -- they pretend that detransitioners don't exist and if they do exist they're just brainwashed by MAGA supremacists. Failing to tell patients about the actual rates of transition-regret, and the fact that these procedures are essentially irreversible and will leave patients "disfigured" for life, is a violation of the duty of care a doctor owes to a patient.

Jurors on Jan. 30 found a psychologist and surgeon liable for malpractice after they supported and performed breast removal surgery on a 16-year-old girl who at the time identified as transgender.

Jurors awarded Fox Varian, now 22 and no longer identifying as transgender, $2 million in damages, with $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering, and another $400,000 for future medical expenses.

The jurors found that in many respects the surgeon and psychologist had skipped important steps when evaluating if she should go forward with the surgery and had not adequately communicated with each other. These missteps were a "departure from the standard of care," they decided.

During closing arguments, Varian's attorney Adam Deutsch had asked the jury for $8 million in damages. To justify that sum, he quoted earlier testimony where Varian described her reaction to seeing her post-surgery chest.

"I immediately had a thought that this was wrong, and it couldn't be true," Varian said. She also said that the surgery left her with nerve pain, which she described as "searing hot ... ripping sensations across my chest."

"Shame. I felt shame," she added. "It's hard to face that you are disfigured for life."

The RINOs will soon be passing legislation to block these lawsuits, arguing, disingenuously, that Conservative Principles dictate that they do all that they can to stop all lawsuits.

The Grammys, Which Apparently Still Exist, Once Again Descend Into an Sloppy Orgy of Virtue Signalling and Cultural Irrelevance

—Ace

The emcee, the failed DEI "comic" Trevor Noah, accused Trump WITHOUT EVIDENCE of having visited Epstein's island -- and Trump says he's suing.

Minnesota CEOs Request ‘De-Escalation’ of Federal Immigration Law Enforcement; Perhaps Federal Laws that Protect Minnesota Corporations Should Also Not Be Enforced

—Buck Throckmorton

The capture of corporate executive suites by the left is something I never would have predicted a few decades ago, because a fundamental tenet of the left has been state ownership of all enterprises. But with many corporations actively advocating for the advancement of the left’s radical agenda, corporations have bought themselves a level of protection from left-wing politicians. In addition, many corporate executives are clearly true believers in the left’s effort to reorganize civilization.

We on the right have no obligation to continue defending corporations who are allied with the left against us.

Last week the CEOs of dozens of corporations headquartered in Minnesota released a letter requesting that the federal government stand down and stop enforcing immigration law, specifically requesting “an immediate deescalation of tensions” and instead of enforcing the law, demanding that the federal government work with state and local officials “to find real solutions” other than removing criminal illegal aliens.

Among the signers were the CEOs of Target, Best Buy, US Bank, General Mills, 3M, and Red Wing Shoes.

These CEOs are advocating for selective non-enforcement of federal laws that protect everyday citizens from the pathologies that have been brought to this country by a flood of millions of illegal immigrants, many of whom are hardened criminals. Since these CEOs believe that enforcement of federal law is optional, surely they would be OK if federal laws that protect their corporations are not enforced too, correct?

Here are some more opportunities for selective non-enforcement of federal law:

Target has a famous logo protected by US trademark laws. If Target is cool with federal immigration laws not being enforced, I’m cool with allowing any retailer to use Target’s logo without any enforcement of federal trademark laws.

3M is an industrial powerhouse that has prospered from its development of patent-protected products. Perhaps the federal government should “de-escalate” enforcement of 3M’s patents when competitors sell knock-offs?

Red Wing Boots is a market leader in premium-priced work boots. Since its CEO is advocating for federal laws not to be enforced, there is a great opportunity to sell cheap imitation boots with Red Wing branding, and have the federal government stand down in protecting Red Wing’s trademark.

US Bank relies on the federal government to enforce laws that protect banks from criminal fraud. Enforcing these laws requires federal manpower and taxpayer money. Since US Bank’s CEO is advocating for the federal government not to enforce immigration laws, perhaps we can extend the same courtesy and have US Bank exempted from federal protections against bank fraud.

If Best Buy’s CEO is going to advocate for the non-enforcement of federal law, I might in turn advocate that any electronics retailer be allowed to put up a sign identifying their store as a Best Buy.

General Mills sells Cheerios, among other cereals, and other well-known consumer products such as Pillsbury and Betty Crocker, which are all protected by trademark law. It seems to me that by signing the letter requesting that immigration law not be enforced, General Mills’ CEO is also announcing that federal laws protecting its trademarks can be ignored too. Selling generic oat cereal as authentic Cheerios sounds like a good business opportunity.

Laws that protect corporations and laws that protect individuals are all part of the social contract that keeps this country functioning. It is reckless for either corporations or individuals to advocate for the selective non-enforcement of laws that don’t specifically benefit them...but that’s what these Minnesota CEOs are doing.

If the “real solutions” that these CEOs seek is to allow criminal aliens to avoid arrest and deportation, then those companies can surrender federal protection of their intellectual property as part of those “real solutions.”

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD