Category: Goobermint

Federal District Court issues Temporary Restraining Order on Hawaii’s ‘new’ Concealed Carry law.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.hid.165717/gov.uscourts.hid.165717.66.0.pdf

The TRO Motion is GRANTED to the extent that the following
provisions are enjoined:
-the portions of § 134-A(a)(1) that prohibit carrying firearms
in parking areas owned, leased, or used by the State or a
county which share the parking area with non-governmental
entities, are not reserved for State or county employees,
or do not exclusively serve the State or county building;
-the entirety of §§ 134-A(a)(4) and (a)(12);
-the portions of § 134-A(a)(9) prohibiting the carrying of
firearms in beaches, parks, and their adjacent parking
areas; and
-the portion of § 134-E that prohibits carrying firearms on
private properties held open to the public.

 

Getting it gooder and harder in the San Francisco Bay Area

In the San Francisco Bay Area, we are seeing a lot of social media videos, both homebrew and news reports, of people responding to the breakdown of law and order with heartrending stories about what a nightmare they live in.

Here’s the crying woman who was assaulted by a drug-addled bum as she carried groceries, scared to death to leave her house after dark:

 

While the breakdown of law and order affects single white women, don’t think it doesn’t affect anyone else. Fact is, blacks and minorities are the hardest hit. It would be fascinating to see the New York Times finally have a story to hang on to that famous knee-jerk headline interpretation of events any time anything negative happens.

Imagine that — preferring to take one’s chances with the Chicom rulers instead of the lawless chaos of San Francisco. It certainly affirms writer Robert Young Pelton’s observation that the foremost human right is personal security.

The sense of doom and misery is all over, rolling in in daily reports, — not only can one not walk out at night in either San Francisco, or Oakland, one can’t walk out and around in the waterspanning transport beneath the two cities either:

The tales of misery continue and continue.

City officials, such as San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, as well as now-ousted district attorney Chesa Boudin, pretty well are in denial about a problem. Breed says it’s bad press, while Boudin said it was all in people’s heads, pulling out a data salad to “prove” that crime was not so bad and claiming that feeling unsafe was only a “feeling.” What an insult to the young woman who was assaulted by the vicious foul-mouthed bum outside the grocery store.

Others, such as San Francisco wokester supervisor Hillary Ronen, claim the mayhem and chaos and insecurity is “a national problem” so the city’s ruling class can’t be held accountable.

Still others say the solution is more money for homeless “programs” including more shelter space:

But there’s no question it’s about city leadership. In the non-city run Presidio park area, which is administered by the federal authorities, things are different:

The astonishing thing here though, is that we never see the city shift from left to right, and very rarely do we ever see voter holding anyone accountable.

The first white young woman in the TikTok video, based on what’s been written by others in the comments section, apparently votes progressive will continue to do so.

I can’t tell how the distressed black Oakland woman seeking to flee plans to vote, and it’s possible she may vote differently than most black voters in Oakland have in the past, but black voters in general are the progressive bloc’s most reliable voter base, and that’s countrywide. Odds are higher that she won’t change the way she votes when she finds safe haven elsewhere.

When we talk about a broken political system, it may be that people who are unable to change their voting patterns no matter what happens to them, even if they are driven out of their cities or terrified of going out at night, may be what makes it broken. The one instance of change that we did see — the ouster of Boudin a couple years ago — was driven by Asian voters in a small turnout election, where a liberal alternative was available, and Silicon Valley money was behind the effort.

Maybe the only way for anything to change in the city is for a law-and-order progressive, or at least someone who can fool the public long enough that that is what he or she is, until she can get into office. New York’s Eric Adams got in this way — and he hasn’t made things much better. That, too, creates a looping broken system.

Anything that can’t go on, though, won’t. For decades, shareholders and board member in companies refused to rock the boat — but somehow that eventually changed, and perhaps that dynamic may repeat in the Bay Area’s failed blue cities. Maybe it is a very long, extended process and we are still upstream of the falls.

But that it doesn’t happen with significant speed is a political paradox that voters cannot hold their elected officials accountable and demand results by voting them out. They just make TikTok videos to complain about the mayhem, or else just flee the city, their progressive voting patterns intact.

It cries out for some kind of real sociological study as to why this strange dynamic is happening — whether the videos suggest change in the air, or just more of the same complacency and paralysis and satisfaction with failed solutions. Right now, I don’t know the answer to this, but you can bet a lot of people are beating their brains out on the political to find out exactly why.

FPC Files For Injunction Against Washington “Large Capacity” Magazine Ban

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that it has filed a motion for summary judgment in its Sullivan v. Ferguson lawsuit, which challenges Washington’s unconstitutional ban on common firearm magazines. The motion can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.

“There can be no serious dispute that the magazines Washington bans are ‘in common use’—there are hundreds of millions of them [] owned by tens of millions of Americans as private surveys and industry and government data all corroborate,” argues the motion. “Indeed, courts across the country have repeatedly found that these magazines are commonly owned and widely chosen by Americans for self-defense and other lawful purposes. That fact decides this case, and Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment in their favor.”

“There are few things more offensive than politicians arbitrarily preventing people from possessing the tools they deem necessary to protect their lives, loved ones, and communities,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPCAF’s General Counsel and Vice President of Legal, and FPC’s counsel in this case. “The magazines that Washington bans are constitutionally protected and it does not have the power to infringe on the rights of Washingtonians by banning them. We’re hopeful that the Court will see the error of Washington’s ways.”

FPC is joined in this lawsuit by the Second Amendment Foundation.

Federal judge in Colorado blocks law raising age requirement for gun purchases

A federal judge in Colorado on Monday temporarily blocked a state law that raised the legal age requirement for purchasing a firearm to 21.

Chief U.S. District Judge Phillip A. Brimmer ruled in favor of the gun rights group, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, who had filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jared Polis.

The state law, SB23-169, was one of several sweeping gun reform measures approved by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Polis in the spring. It sought to prohibit people under the age of 21 from purchasing a gun, with exceptions for active members of the U.S. armed forces, peace officers, and people certified by the Peace Officer Standards and Training board.

RMGO argued in their lawsuit that law was unconstitutional. The group said if people are allowed to vote when they turn 18, they should be allowed to purchase a gun.

“Since the day this legislation was introduced, we knew it was unconstitutional,” said RMGO executive director Taylor Rhodes in a written statement. “Under the Golden Dome, at the unveiling of this proposal, RMGO warned the bill sponsors this would quickly be struck down by a federal judge. Today, our crystal ball became a reality.”

 

There’s too much money in geoengineering for “climate change” not to turn into a business. The Biden administration is already studying blocking the sunlight. Now Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement joins Solar Radiation Modification.
-Richard Fernandez

Meta’s former CTO has a new $50 million project: ocean-based carbon removal

A nonprofit formed by Mike Schroepfer, Meta’s former chief technology officer, has spun out a new organization dedicated to accelerating research into ocean alkalinity enhancement—one potential means of using the seas to suck up and store away even more carbon dioxide.

Additional Ventures, cofounded by Schroepfer, and a group of other foundations have committed $50 million over five years to the nonprofit research program, dubbed the Carbon to Sea Initiative. The goals of the effort include evaluating potential approaches; eventually conducting small-scale field trials in the ocean; advancing policies that could streamline permitting for those experiments and provide more public funding for research; and developing the technology necessary to carry out and assess these interventions if they prove to work well and safely.

The seas already act as a powerful buffer against the worst dangers of climate change, drawing down about a quarter of human-driven carbon dioxide emissions and absorbing the vast majority of global warming. Carbon dioxide dissolves naturally into seawater where the air and ocean meet.

But scientists and startups are exploring whether these global commons can do even more to ease climate change, as a growing body of research finds that nations now need to both slash emissions and pull vast amounts of additional greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to keep warming in check.

Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) refers to various ways of adding alkaline substances, like olivine, basalt, or lime, into seawater. These basic materials bind with dissolved inorganic carbon dioxide in the water to form bicarbonates and carbonates, ions that can persist for tens of thousands of years in the ocean. As those CO2-depleted waters reach the surface, they can pull down additional carbon dioxide from the air to return to a state of equilibrium.

The ground-up materials could be added directly to ocean waters from vessels, placed along the coastline, or used in onshore devices that help trigger reactions with seawater.

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Alan Dershowitz Issues Warning: “Looks Like Banana Republic Land”

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said Friday the prosecution of former President Donald Trump “looks like banana republic land” following a NYT report that claimed President Joe Biden pressed for Trump’s indictment.

Alan said: “President Biden urged his attorney general to indict the man who he knew was going to be the leading opponent if against him.

“That begins to look like banana republic land. That’s what happens when people in power are afraid of the democratic process.

“What they do is they seek the indictment and prosecution of the people who are running against them.

“I have a constitutional right to vote against Donald Trump for the third time.

“I voted against him twice, I intend to vote against him again, but I want to have that right to vote against him and not have that right taken away from me by prosecutors and by the president, who wants to see him imprisoned.

“That’s just not the American way.

“This is a step in that direction(banana republic), and also placing the case in the District of Columbia, which is 95% anti-Trump, putting it in front of a judge with a history of anti-Trump.

“If the government thinks they have a strong case, they ought to join the defense and agree to move it to West Virginia or Virginia and put it in front of another judge who doesn’t have a long history of anti-Trump attitudes.

“So, I don’t believe he can get a fair trial in the District of Columbia.”

Energy Sec Granholm secretly consulted top CCP energy official before SPR releases

EXCLUSIVE: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm engaged in multiple conversations with the Chinese government’s top energy official days before the Biden administration announced it would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to combat high gas prices in 2021.

Granholm’s previously-undisclosed talks with China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua — revealed in internal Energy Department calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust (APT) and shared with Fox News Digital — reveal that the Biden administration likely discussed its plans to release oil from the SPR with China before its public announcement.

According to the calendars, Granholm spoke in one-on-one conversations with Jianhua, who is a longstanding senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, on Nov. 19, 2021, and two days later on Nov. 21, 2021. Then, on Nov. 23, 2021, the White House announced a release of 50 million barrels of oil from the SPR, the largest release of its kind in U.S. history at the time.

“Secretary Granholm’s multiple closed-door meetings with a CCP-connected energy official raise serious questions about the level of Chinese influence on the Biden administration’s energy agenda,” APT Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland told Fox News Digital.

“Instead of focusing on creating real energy independence for America, Granholm has been too busy parroting Chinese energy propaganda and insisting ‘we can all learn from what China is doing,’” Sutherland continued. “The public deserves to know the extent to which Chinese officials are attempting to infiltrate U.S. energy policy and security.”

In a statement, the DOE said the meeting was broadly part of the agency’s effort to combat climate change, but didn’t share what was discussed at the meeting.

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Biden and Obama: The two Democratic presidents of the country’s only credit downgrades

Former President Barack Obama once explained how he would have arranged for a third term as president. He jokingly explained how it essentially involved having a puppet as president in which there would be a “frontman or frontwoman” with Obama directing them what to do while in “his basement in his sweats.” Three years into the Biden administration and these comments make Obama look like a soothsayer.

“If I could make an arrangement where I had a stand-in, a frontman or frontwoman, and they had an earpiece in, and I was just in my basement in my sweats, looking through the stuff, then deliver the lines, but somebody else was doing all the talking — I’d be fine with that,” Obama said to Stephen Colbert in 2020.

After the news of the Fitch downgrade, Obama’s joke now seems like an accurate description of the Biden presidency, mainly since only two presidents have overseen the country suffer credit downgrades: Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Biden’s was this past week with Fitch; Obama’s was with Standard & Poor in April 2011. Both downgrades occurred during each president’s third year in office. And, naturally, both presidents sought to blame Republicans each time. Blaming the GOP was a hallmark of the Obama legacy.

Obama’s downgrade in 2011 was the first time the United States was given a credit rating below AAA. S&P decided to lower the country’s rating to AA+ because the federal government failed to provide a credible plan to confront the soaring national debt at the time, CNN Money reported. S&P also blamed political gridlock, squabbling, and “dysfunctional policymaking” for the decrease.

“The downgrade reflects our opinion that the … plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics,” S&P declared at the time. “The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed.”

Fast forward 12 years later, and Obama’s vice president in 2011, Joe Biden, is now in charge. Once again, a credit agency downgraded the nation’s rating to AA+ from AAA. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The Fitch decision was based on “a steady deterioration of governance over the last 20 years” — the majority of that time occurring during the Obama and Biden presidencies.

Additionally, Fitch explained other factors behind its decision, including “repeated debt limit standoffs and last minute resolutions” and a “high and growing general government debt burden.” Other reasons included the government lacking a “medium-term fiscal framework” and having a “complex budgeting process.”

One of the most essential factors in the Fitch decision was a scathing indictment of “Bidenomics.” For all the rampant celebratory propaganda Democrats have spread regarding the economy under the Biden administration, projections call for “weak 2024 GDP growth” and a mild recession at the end of this year and into the first quarter of 2024.

Fitch also predicted “GDP growth slowing to 1.2% this year” and an anticipated “growth of just 0.5% in 2024.” It’s “Bidenomics” at work. And it should be noted that Biden’s weak GDP growth prediction is similar to the underwhelming Obama economy in 2011, the time of the last credit downgrade, which resulted in a measly 1.5% GDP growth. This is why Democrats are trying to deflect from this reality and pin the blame on Donald Trump or things like January 6th. They want to hide the truth of the adverse outcomes they helped create.

It’s no coincidence that both credit downgrades happened under Democrats — especially Democrats who were part of the same presidential administration. Democratic policies have been hampering the country for quite some time. It’s as if their entire party is immune to accepting responsibility for their political actions, no matter how often they misled the public into believing the opposite. Democrats should look at themselves instead of blaming Republicans for their failures.

Iowa Leaps Into Controversial State Digital ID Scheme
The latest state to push the contentious technology.

Amidst rising concerns surrounding digital privacy, the state of Iowa has taken a controversial leap into the world of digital identification with its new Iowa Mobile ID app. The app, now available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, provides a new platform for users to verify their age or identity, a move that critics argue risks personal data security.

While it purports to supplement the conventional physical ID card, the fact that users are advised to still carry physical cards has raised eyebrows. The question arises – is the convenience of the app worth the potential privacy risks, especially considering its digital nature doesn’t entirely replace the physical card?

The process of creating a digital ID, while simple on the surface, has elicited concerns. Users are asked to upload images of their driver’s license or state-issued ID, and also capture a moving selfie for facial recognition. Critics argue that this gathering and storing of biometric data may present significant privacy implications and potential security vulnerabilities. Even the use of a PIN password system, while enhancing security to an extent, isn’t foolproof against potential hacking attempts.

One contentious point is the creation of a scannable QR code, which carries the user’s information. Although businesses are not compelled to accept this mobile form of ID, any who do will have access to this encoded personal information. As it’s a new technology, there may also be a delay in widespread acceptance, presenting both practical and privacy issues.

The app, developed by French identity verification firm IDEMIA, states that it stores user data within the state’s record system and the user’s device. The company further insists businesses can only access user data with explicit consent. But the concerns remain. Critics wonder whether the current privacy measures are truly sufficient to protect the sensitive data of millions from potential misuse.

The launch of the Iowa Mobile ID comes after a decade-long journey, filled with delays due to compliance with digital ID management regulations. Interestingly, while intended to be among the early adopters of Apple’s mobile ID program, the initiative has only expanded to Maryland and Colorado so far. This slow adoption could suggest a broader hesitation in the face of potential privacy issues.

Illegals Committed 430K+ Criminal Offenses in Texas Since 2011.

“[T]his massive new population of needy foreigners will burden and transform [Americans’] communities without their say-so.” Todd Bensman of Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) outlined the many harms illegal migration inflicts on Americans in his recent Congressional testimony. During that testimony, he noted that illegal aliens have committed over 430,000 criminal offenses just in Texas since 2011, and up to 6 million new illegals are likely to enter America before Biden’s presidential term ends.

Bensman discussed the financial burden on cities (and thus taxpayers), the drain on government resources, the overloading of the school system, and other issues caused by illegal immigration in his testimony (available on CIS). He specifically called out the Biden administration’s disastrous border policies, explaining how they exacerbate the illegal migration crisis (transcript from CIS):

The [Biden] administration put a freeze on required border enforcement measures and fast-tracked release of the majority of illegal crossers into the country where they and most experts know they will stay forever.

And on their cell phones, which every immigrant has, they sent word of this incredible bonanza down trail, to home villages and all along the migration trails. And in this way, those first tens of thousands who began crossing on inauguration day quickly became hundreds of thousands a month, and then millions a year. Counting an estimated 1.7 million never apprehended, probably more than 4 million have entered the country from the border in a mere 30-month span. Perhaps as many as six million largely uneducated and needy people will be in the country before the Biden policies might first be reversed in the 2024 national elections and the floodgates closed.

Those millions of policy-enticed entries in so short a time already are – and will have – transformative impacts in the form of unplanned-for demands on public welfare and assistance programs, health care systems, Social Security, housing, labor markets, schools, and the criminal justice system.

Then there’s the issue of criminal offenses committed by illegal aliens. As Bensman said, every single one of those crimes ought to be preventable; these illegals should not be in America to begin with. Certainly, the government should be attempting to lessen illegal migration and crime from illegals as much as possible. Instead, the government is obfuscating data and facts that could clearly illustrate how many crimes illegals commit.

It’s difficult to get honest statistics on illegal alien crime because it’s not something the government — either state or federal — really wants to be honest about, Bensman noted. Texas does have some statistics that can help illuminate the problem, however:

The Texas Department of Public Safety learns the immigration status of suspects booked into local jails through a program that submits fingerprints to the FBI for criminal history and warrant checks, and to DHS…

The glimpse is limited and not a reflection of much almost certain higher totals, but it is telling about the trend line ahead across America. Between June 1, 2011, and July 31, 2022, these 259,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 433,000 unnecessary, preventable criminal offenses.

Those included 800 homicide charges (resulting in 374 convictions as of July 2022), 822 kidnapping charges (resulting in 265 convictions), 5,470 sexual assault charges (resulting in 2,593 convictions), 6,485 sexual offense charges (resulting in 3,065 sexual offense convictions), and 4,945 weapons charges (resulting in 1,723 weapons convictions).

That’s hundreds of thousands of preventable crimes over a decade’s time. It’s an ongoing problem, with Border Patrol arresting 12,000 criminal illegals in Fiscal Year 2022. Unfortunately, the Biden administration hardly makes catching and punishing criminals one of its priorities.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker Allows Non-US Citizens to Become Police Officers With New Law: ‘Fundamentally Bad Idea’

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D., signed a bill into law that allows non-U.S. citizens to become police officers in the state, angering critics who slammed the idea of foreigners arresting American citizens as “a fundamentally bad idea.”

Illinois House Bill 3751 will no longer require U.S. citizenship as a qualification to become a police officer in the state. The bill was signed by the Democrat governor on Friday and will go into effect on January 1, 2024, despite facing heavy opposition from GOP lawmakers and prominent police groups.

The bill “provides that an individual who is not a citizen but is legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law is authorized to apply for the position of police officer, subject to all requirements and limitations, other than citizenship, to which other applicants are subject,” HB3751 reads, adding that non-U.S. citizens must be able to obtain, carry, purchase, or otherwise possess a firearm under federal law to apply for the job.

Immigrants who remain in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Act, are also entitled to apply for a position to join law enforcement, the bill states.

Illinois Rep. Mary Miller, a Republican, voiced her outrage over the new law on Twitter over the weekend, writing that “no sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens.”

“At 5 p.m. yesterday, when no one was paying attention, Pritzker signed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to become police officers, giving non-citizens the power to arrest citizens in our state,” she tweeted. “No sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens, this is madness!”

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‘My guy’: Hunter Biden partner Devon Archer says Joe Biden was on calls with foreign patrons for ‘the brand’’

WASHINGTON —Former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer told Congress Monday that Hunter referred to President Biden as “my guy” while connecting his dad to foreign associates nearly two dozen times — as Republicans move closer to starting an impeachment inquiry.

Archer said during a four-hour House Oversight Committee interview that Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings paid Hunter up to $1 million per year to serve on its board because of his family’s “brand.”

Archer met with then-Vice President Joe Biden in April 2014, within days of joining Burisma’s board alongside Hunter, and told lawmakers that “Burisma would have gone out of business if ‘the brand’ had not been attached to it,” according to a readout from panel Republicans.

“Archer talked about the ‘big guy’ and how Hunter Biden always said, ‘We need to talk to my guy,’ ‘We need to see when my guy is going to be here,’ and those types of things,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told reporters as he left the deposition.

According to Archer, Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky —  who allegedly told an FBI informant in 2016 he was “coerced” to pay $10 million in bribes to Hunter and Joe Biden — put intense pressure on Hunter in late 2015 to enlist US support for ousting Ukrainian prosecutor-general Viktor Shokin, who had investigated Burisma, the Republican readout said.

At one point, Hunter Biden, Zlochevsky and Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi stepped away and “called DC” about the issue, Archer said.

“This raises concerns that Hunter Biden was in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” the GOP majority on the Oversight Committee tweeted.

Archer also said Hunter Biden, whose probation-only plea deal for tax fraud linked to his foreign income and an unrelated gun charge collapsed last week, put his father on speakerphone more than 20 times during business meetings to promote “the brand.”

Joe Biden was on speakerphone during a Paris dinner with reps from a French energy company, Archer said, and while his son was in China with Jonathan Li of BHR Partners, a state-backed investment fund co-founded by Hunter in 2013 — after he introduced his father to Li during an official trip to Beijing.

Archer further confirmed that then-Vice President Biden attended an April 2015 dinner at Washington’s Cafe Milano with Pozharskyi and former Moscow first lady Yelena Baturina, as previously reported by The Post.

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Thanks Joe!

Now a Disease from Biblical Times Is Likely Coming Over Our Unsecured Border.

Move over, COVID-19, and say hello to leprosy. Yes, that leprosy, the biblical plague from the Old and New Testaments.

That’s according to the CDC, which says that there is “rising evidence that leprosy has become endemic in the southeastern United States.”

Leprosy, also called Hanson’s Disease, is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae, according to the CDC. “It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa).” Up to 2 million people worldwide are permanently disabled from the disease, which can be transmitted by “prolonged, close contact with someone with untreated leprosy over many months.” It is thought to be spread via respiratory droplets—or even contact with armadillos. The CDC, which now apparently believes in natural immunity again, says, “more than 95% of all people have natural immunity to the disease.”

But in a Research Letter published in the August 2023 edition of the Emerging Infections Diseases journal, researchers from the Kansas City University–Graduate Medical Education/Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Consortium raised concerns about the rise in the number of cases in the U.S.:

Leprosy has been historically uncommon in the United States; incidence peaked around 1983, and a drastic reduction in the annual number of documented cases occurred from the 1980s through 2000. However, since then, reports demonstrate a gradual increase in the incidence of leprosy in the United States. The number of reported cases has more than doubled in the southeastern states over the last decade. According to the National Hansen’s Disease Program, 159 new cases were reported in the United States in 2020; Florida was among the top reporting states.

Central Florida accounted for 81% of cases in the Sunshine State—nearly 20% of cases reported nationally.

The letter in the journal described the case of a 54-year-old man who sought treatment in a Florida dermatology clinic. “He denied any domestic or foreign travel, exposure to armadillos, prolonged contact with immigrants from leprosy-endemic countries, or connections with someone known to have leprosy.” The man has been a central Florida resident for his entire life and “works in landscaping, and spends long periods of time outdoors” He was referred to an infectious disease program and was prescribed triple therapy with dapsone, rifampin, and clofazimine.

The Sun reports that a Texas man in his 20s was recently diagnosed with leprosy after months of battling a mysterious skin rash. “He was heavily tattooed and moved to the US from Samoa — where leprosy is still endemic — four years before he was diagnosed. After a course of antibiotics and surgery to repair damaged tendons in his hands, he is said to be improving.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, there are “about 200-250 newly diagnosed cases reported to the national registry each year. The largest number of cases in the U.S. live in California, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, New York, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.”

Researchers said a high percentage of cases in the southern United States “were found to carry the same unique strain of M. leprae as nine-banded armadillos in the region, suggesting a strong likelihood of zoonotic transmission.” But while a recent systematic review “supports an increasing role of anthroponotic and zoonotic transmission of leprosy,” another study demonstrated that the cases in the eastern United States, including Georgia and central Florida, “lacked zoonotic exposure or recent residence outside of the United States.”

That led researchers to suspect “that international migration of persons with leprosy is a potential source of autochthonous transmission.” They noted that “The number of international migrants in North America increased from 27.6 million persons in 1990 to 58.7 million in 2020, so a link to migration may account for the increase in incidence of leprosy in historically nonendemic areas.”

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Illinois Firearms Legislation Could Compel Gun Owners to Self-Incriminate

Firearms owners in Illinois are grappling with a series of constitutionally questionable gun laws. These extend beyond the legal challenge against the ban on semi-automatic weapons and their magazines, a case that has progressed through the southern and northern districts and now resides in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The controversy also touches on a potential violation of the 5th Amendment due to compulsory registration that firearm owners must complete.

The regulation in question doesn’t merely ban certain types of semi-automatic firearms and their magazines; it also obliges owners to register these items. This mandatory registration is due to start in October.

The alleged 5th Amendment infraction stems from the obligation imposed on Illinois gun owners to register by January 1, 2024. This mandate requires gun owners to provide the State with an inventory of all their newly outlawed firearms, including all “prohibited” semi-automatic guns and components. Essentially, the state of Illinois appears to be coercing its gun owners into self-incrimination, thereby undermining the 5th Amendment rights of American citizens.

The 5th Amendment asserts that no individual should be forced to answer for a serious crime unless indicted by a grand jury, among other protections. This amendment also guards against self-incrimination and deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Lawyer Thomas Maag plans to file a legal challenge against the state of Illinois, citing the 5th Amendment. He voiced concerns about the forthcoming registration process, stating, “We’re really concerned when this whole registration period starts if it’s not previously enjoined, that, with the vagueness, with a whole host of issues, people would be incriminating themselves.”

Though Maag previously filed a 5th Amendment argument in the Southern District, it was deferred, and the law remains in effect. However, he intends to resubmit the challenge, with the aim of safeguarding gun owners from self-incrimination and potential criminal implications if they fail to register. The issue is likely to work its way through the courts, potentially leading to a temporary injunction against the registry element of the law before it takes effect in October.

Aliens? Sen. John Kennedy Has Something to Say About Them

Well, on Wednesday, an intriguing hearing took place before the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. The issue of the hearing was on “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP),” which most people have long referred to as UFOs, and their potential impact on national security, public safety, and government transparency.

Three whistleblowers, including a former military intelligence officer and a former Navy pilot, testified about a massive cover-up of UAPs, and their potential threat to national security.

“David Grusch, who served for 14 years as an intelligence officer in the Air Force and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, appeared before the House Oversight Committee’s national security subcommittee alongside two former fighter pilots who had firsthand experience with UAP,” CBS News reported. “Grusch served as a representative on two Pentagon task forces investigating UAP until earlier this year. He told lawmakers that he was informed of ‘a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program’ during the course of his work examining classified programs. He said he was denied access to those programs when he requested it, and accused the military of misappropriating funds to shield these operations from congressional oversight. He later said he had interviewed officials who had direct knowledge of aircraft with ‘nonhuman’ origins, and that so-called ‘biologics’ were recovered from some craft.”

Retired U.S. Navy commander David Fravor testified that the infamous “tic-tac” shaped UAP he encountered in 2004, exhibited technology “far superior than anything that we had, have today, or are looking to develop in the next 10+ years.”

There appears to be bipartisan interest in getting more transparency from the executive branch about UAPs, though there was some skepticism as well. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) questioned how aliens with technology advanced enough to make it to Earth from billions of miles away could be “incompetent” enough to crash here. It’s a fair point.

And, true to form, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana responded to the hearings in a way only he could, in a campaign video.

“In Washington, D.C., common sense is illegal. I swear to God and all the angels that’s true. You know, I remember when the kitchen table issues mattered more than pronouns, when boys weren’t allowed to compete in girls’ sports, when truth mattered a lot more than political correctness,” he said, “Maybe that’s why the aliens won’t talk to us.”

Watch the entire video below, and pay close attention to the end.

They’re keeping it under wraps because if it got out it would hurt their agenda. They know it. We know it.

 

Lawyer believes decision on release of Covenant shooter’s writings could take up to 3 years.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The debate over whether the Covenant shooter’s writings should be released continues four months after the tragic mass shooting that claimed six innocent lives at a private, elementary school in Nashville.

The court battle has been back and forth for two months now, but one of the lawyers tells FOX 17 News this case may not be resolved for three years.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake says the shooter had a detailed map, drawings of The Covenant School, known entry points, and journals. Almost four months later, the writings have yet to be released, despite public records requests from several organizations which are now suing the Metro government.

“What was going on with The Covenant School shooter? What were the motivating factors? Were there psychological issues? Were there organic issues?” says John Harris, the attorney representing the Tennessee Firearms Association.

TFA is one of several organizations suing for the writings.

Metro Police originally denied the open records citing an open criminal investigation, but Harris believes since the shooter is dead and they haven’t identified another person of interest, that exception doesn’t apply. Plus, Harris feels Metro Police need to comply with The Tennessee Public Records Act.

“Did you think that this whole process would last this long?” asks FOX 17 News’ Amanda Chin.

“Absolutely not. These cases were filed, and we expected that the show cause hearings would’ve taken place as initially scheduled back in May, and here we are almost two months later and the case is nowhere near resolution,” says Harris.

This comes after the judge allowed The Covenant School, church, and parents to intervene and discuss why they feel the writings shouldn’t be released. The petitioners appealed that decision, which is why the judge paused the case for now.

“Do the petitioners take any responsibility for this case lasting so long?” asks Chin.

“I don’t think so. Two of the petitioners are news media outlets and they were extremely concerned with the intervention issues because it proposes to create new exceptions to the public records act that had never existed,” says Harris.

On the other side, most of the Covenant families do not want the writings released, with many penning emotional letters to the judge.

The mother of William Kinney, one of the nine-year-old children who lost his life, believes those who are calling for the release of these records “clearly care nothing about the wellbeing of their fellow humans” and “seek to rob the six murder victims of dignity in their deaths by demanding the release of sensitive details.”

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St. Louis and D.C. Show Gun Control Isn’t About Public Safety

With many prominent government officials exhibiting a flagrant indifference to violent crime, it’s getting harder for anti-gun politicians to pretend that their gun control schemes are anything other than a means to harass law-abiding gun owners. Recent incidents from anti-gun jurisdictions St. Louis and the District of Columbia further illustrate this point.

According to the station, Jones texted her father, “Chicago has strict gun laws as well but that doesn’t deter gun violence.” Jones put more faith in social programs, texting, “It’s about investing in the people.”

These once-private comments are a stark contrast to Jones’ public statements and actions. Jones is a co-chair of billionaire Michael Bloomberg front-group Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns (MAIG). MAIG, along with Moms Demand Action, are part of the Bloomberg gun control conglomerate Everytown for Gun Safety.

The mayor also supported a “federal Red Flag law.” As enacted, red flag laws empower the government to confiscate a law-abiding person’s firearms without due process.

As NRA-ILA has repeatedly pointed out, despite having some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, the District of Columbia has exhibited little interest in prosecuting those who misuse firearms.

A December 2021 study from the federal enclave’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) found that “In Washington, DC, most gun violence is tightly concentrated.” The report went on to explain,

This small number of very high risk individuals are identifiable, their violence is predictable, and therefore it is preventable. Based on the assessment of data and the series of interviews conducted, [National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform] estimates that within a year, there are at least 500 identifiable people who rise to this level of very high risk, and likely no more than 200 at any one given time. These individuals comprise approximately 60-70% of all gun violence in the District.

According to the report, “Approximately 86 percent of homicide victims and suspects were known to the criminal justice system prior to the incident. Among all victims and suspects, about 46 percent had been previously incarcerated.” Further, “most victims and suspects with prior criminal offenses had been arrested about 11 times for about 13 different offenses by the time of the homicide.”

Data in a 2023 D.C. Sentencing Commission report revealed that out of a total of 5,558 MPD arrests for carrying a pistol without a license (CPWL) made between 2018 and 2022, 56.6% (3,146 cases) were “no papered” (“the prosecuting authority… elected not to immediately file charges in Superior Court related to the arrest”) or were closed without a conviction. Only 97 cases (1.74%) ultimately resulted in a prison sentence. The figures on arrests and dispositions for “unlawful possession of a firearm” (UPF) offenses show the odds in favor of lawbreakers were pretty good, too. Out of 2,149 total arrests made for UPF crimes in the same time period, the majority (62.6%, or 1,346 cases) were “no papered” or closed without a conviction. Of the remaining cases that resulted in a conviction and sentencing for UPF, only 14.5% (312 cases) concluded with the offender behind bars.

Sometimes an individual case can illustrate an issue better than a mountain of statistics.

On July 5, a high school social studies teacher visiting the federal enclave from Kentucky was shot to death on Catholic University’s campus during a robbery. At least some of the incident was captured by surveillance cameras. Police announced on July 11 that they had arrested a suspect in the case. Further, police say that they have matched the suspect’s DNA to a ski mask found at the scene of the crime.

Reporting on the suspect’s criminal record, Washington, D.C.’s NBC affiliate noted, “Public records show [the suspect] has a lengthy criminal history. He was arrested five times since 2019 and was convicted of carrying a pistol without a license, burglary and threats.”

The Washington Post elaborated, reporting,

D.C. police arrested [the suspect] during a traffic stop in 2019 and charged him with having an illegal firearm after finding a .40-caliber Glock loaded with 15 hollow-point bullets tucked under a sweater.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to carrying an unlicensed gun and was sentenced to probation, with a one-year prison term suspended. Those records show he violated the terms of his release and in 2020 was resentenced to six months in jail.

Authorities said that after his release, he continued to violate his release conditions, alleging that he failed to report to the probation office, among other issues. A hearing on those violations is scheduled for July 18.

Washington, D.C.’s FOX affiliate shared more details on a pair of 2022 incidents involving the suspect, reporting,

In May 2022 [the suspect] was charged after getting into a shootout with a neighbor and in August 2022, he was arrested with making threats of bodily harm to a 7-Eleven employee. He was convicted in March 2022 and released.

In the shootout case, investigators say an unregistered Ghost Gun was used. However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. essentially dropped charges against [the suspect] after his attorney argued [the suspect] fired at his neighbor in self-defense. Charges were dropped in June, but a trial date had been set for July 10 — five days after Emerson was killed.

Targeting so-called “ghost guns” was purportedly so important to Mayor Muriel Bowser that in 2020 the District of Columbia enacted “Emergency Ghost Gun Legislation.”

The recent episodes in St. Louis and Washington, D.C. make clear that decisions to push gun control have little to do with public safety. Gun control offers unscrupulous politicians and their supporters a way to deflect from the repercussions of their own woeful mismanagement while often targeting the constituents of their political rivals.