Zorro
Zorro's JournalRiverside sheriff's 'embarrassing' sting goes wrong, leaves 60 pounds of meth with trafficker
Source: LA Times
An “embarrassing” Riverside County Sheriff’s Department sting operation gone wrong last week put 60 pounds of methamphetamine in the hands of a narcotics trafficker, the department has admitted.
Narcotics investigators with the department were hoping to identify drug traffickers Wednesday during an undercover operation, the Sheriff’s Department said. Deputies posing as wholesale drug sellers met with a suspect who wanted to buy 27 kilos of the powerful stimulant, they said.
The deputies sold the street drug to the suspect, who promptly drove away from the undercover law enforcement team, according to the department.
Other deputies from the gang task force tried to stop the suspect’s car, but the suspect fled, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-24/riverside-sheriffs-embarrassing-sting-operation-gone-wrong-leaves-60-pounds-of-meth-with-narco-trafficker
Whoops!
Trump probe: DA urges law enforcement to prep for indictments this summer
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday said she would announce this summer whether former President Donald Trump and his allies would be charged with crimes related to alleged interference in Georgia’s 2020 election.
Willis revealed the timetable in a letter to local law enforcement in which she asked them to be ready for “heightened security and preparedness” because she predicted her announcement “may provoke a significant public reaction.”
In the letters, Willis said she will announce possible criminal indictments between July 11 and Sept. 1, sending one of the strongest signals yet that she’s on the verge of trying to obtain an indictment against Trump and his supporters.
“Please accept this correspondence as notice to allow you sufficient time to prepare the Sheriff’s Office and coordinate with local, state and federal agencies to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public,” Willis wrote to Fulton Sheriff Patrick Labat.
Similar letters were hand delivered to Darin Schierbaum, Atlanta’s chief of police, and Matthew Kallmyer, director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/politics/trump-probe-da-urges-law-enforcement-to-prep-for-indictments-this-summer/56OGCLMNOVGPXMJ6YXDPXQOSWY/
New Texas Law Requires Schools To Display Image Of God Hung Like A Horse In Every Classroom
AUSTIN, TX—In an effort to reinforce the fundamental Judeo-Christian values upon which the nation was founded, a new law passed Monday by the Texas Legislature will require the state’s public schools to prominently display an image of God hung like a horse in every classroom.
“This measure ensures that any student will be able to look up at anytime and be reminded that our Creator has the cock of a riled-up stallion ready and raring to mount a mare,” said Republican state Sen. Phil King, the bill’s author, who added that gazing upon the divine member and understanding its fundamental importance to American heritage would enable students to become better Texans.
“Now, our opponents will say that images of the Lord’s dick, swinging like a baseball bat between His thighs and visibly leaking pre-cum through His heavenly robes, have no place in the classroom. But I say it’s time to bring God’s erect, virile member back into our public schools.”
The legislation passed largely along party lines, though Democrats were joined in their opposition by a handful of Republicans who argued it should be up to parents to decide when and how their children learn about the astonishing length and girth of God’s penis.
https://www.theonion.com/new-texas-law-requires-schools-to-display-image-of-god-1850369216
Ron DeSantis Ends Disney Feud After Being Given Guest Role On 'The Mandalorian'
TALLAHASSEE, FL—Saying he was happy to finally bury the hatchet with the major corporation after months of difficult dialogue, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he had ended his feud with Disney after being given a guest role on The Mandalorian.
“I couldn’t be more excited to let bygones be bygones and announce my one-episode stint as Imperial Moff Rego Thalcyon,” DeSantis said of the guest appearance, which consists solely of him delivering the line “Yes, most acceptable” with his arms crossed behind his back as he dispatches an imperial guard to attack a gang of intruders.
“Obviously, I never wanted my differences with Disney to spiral out of control like this. So, yeah, it was a blast to spend some time on set, even if it was only for a day. They even let me take a selfie with Pedro [Pascal] and the Grogu puppet. Anyway, check me out on Apr. 19 when the episode airs! And may the force be with you.”
At press time, DeSantis was reportedly furious after learning his guest role had been cut for time.
https://www.theonion.com/ron-desantis-ends-disney-feud-after-being-given-guest-r-1850348756
McCarthy's debt ceiling plan is theater unworthy of a high school gym
When Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) nominated Kevin McCarthy for House speaker on the eighth ballot in January’s 15-ballot spectacle, he spoke words meant to reassure the party’s right-wing holdouts about the California Republican.
“He’s not John Boehner,” Mast said, referring to the former Republican speaker who believed in governing. Boehner, you’ll recall, came to loathe radicals in his party’s ranks whom he referred to — when he was being polite — as “knuckleheads,” “noisemakers” and the “chaos caucus.”
Mast was accurate in seeing McCarthy as quite different from Boehner. This should petrify his colleagues — and the rest of the country, too.
In 2011’s debt-ceiling fight, Boehner made a deal. This time, there is little reason to trust that McCarthy, who has made himself a prisoner of his party’s right wing, can negotiate effectively or in good faith.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/23/mccarthy-debt-ceiling-plan-theater/
It's pretty much a given McCarthy won't negotiate in good faith. He's a Republican.
Trump continues to pressure DeSantis on home turf, jabbing him in Fort Myers speech
Former President Donald Trump touted his lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis in polls, took credit for the governor’s 2018 victory, jabbed at DeSantis on Social Security and Medicare and said without him DeSantis would just be a lawyer hustling for business, needling the governor on his home turf during a speech Friday in Southwest Florida.
Trump also highlighted the recent stampede by Florida’s GOP congressional delegation to endorse him over DeSantis, calling out by name most of the lawmakers who endorsed him in front of 840 people gathered for a sold-out Lee County Republican Party fundraising dinner.
The endorsements are an effort to put DeSantis on the defensive in his home state, and Trump kept the pressure on during the event at the Caloosa Sound Convention Center in Fort Myers.
In addition to poking at DeSantis, Trump touted his record as president, complained about the legal investigations into his conduct and slammed President Joe Biden, drawing big applause from the crowd.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/21/donald-trump-jabs-at-ron-desantis-on-social-security-and-medicare/70127867007/
In Comically Evil Twist, Fox Will Receive a Huge Tax Break From Its Dominion Settlement
In the run up to Tuesday’s historic defamation trial against Fox News, it actually looked like there was a chance the democracy-killing organization might seriously pay for the lies it told about the 2020 election, both from a financial and reputational standpoint. Obviously, that did not happen thanks to an eleventh hour settlement that will see Rupert Murdoch’s company writing a check for $787.5 million—less than half of the $1.6 billion in damages Dominion had asked for. And that’s just one of the myriad ways things are working out in Fox’s favor!
The Lever reports that thanks to an “arcane line” in the US tax code—which allows companies to write off “ordinary and necessary” business expenses—Fox could be able to deduct the nine-figure settlement from its income taxes and receive of tax break of up to $213 million. (For those of you doing the math at home, that’s nearly one third of the amount of money Fox has agreed to pay Dominion.) “If your business model is to tell lies so that you’ll get viewers and have lots of advertising revenues, then, odious though this business model may be, the tax system’s job is to tax you on the profits that you actually make from it,” Daniel Shaviro, a professor of tax law at NYU, told the outlet. “And those profits are indeed reduced when you are successfully sued by the victims of your malicious falsehoods.” Brian Nick, chief communications officer for the Fox Corporation, told the Lever that he could “confirm tax deductibility but not the amount.”)
If you’re wondering at this time if the many millions Fox paid out to settle sexual harassment lawsuits against various former executives and employees were also written off, the answer is likely no; as the Lever notes, there is an exception to the rule for settlement payments involving sexual harassment or abuse that include nondisclosure agreements.
Anyway back to Fox and its incredible turn of luck re: being held responsible for the lies it fed its audience day after day. While the write-off is obviously nice, the company would be more than fine even if it were not eligible for one.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/fox-news-dominion-settlement-tax-break
In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself
Ottawa County offers a glimpse of what happens when one of the building blocks of American democracy is consumed by ideological battlesThe eight new members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people.
In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran. It was early January, their first day in charge. An American flag held down a spot at the front of the board’s windowless meeting room. Sea-foam green carpet covered the floor.
The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the lawyer who had represented Ottawa County for 40 years. Gone was the county administrator who oversaw a staff of 1,800. To run the health department, they voted to install a service manager from a local HVAC company who had gained prominence as a critic of mask mandates.
As the session entered its fourth hour, Sylvia Rhodea, the board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. “Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,” Rhodea said.
https://wapo.st/3V6xFt1
"Thwarting tyranny" by acting tyrannical. One does not make America great by destroying that which made America great.
DeSantis's Puddin' Head Campaign
Back in the more openly sexist days of Hollywood, writers would get notes on their scripts about women characters. The studio suits would ask questions like, “Can they go to a strip club here?” or “Can you chain her to a wall?”
The most common note from male executives was, “Make the girl more likable.”
No doubt Ron DeSantis’s advisers are getting notes from donors these days with the message, “Make the guy more likable.”
As David Axelrod told me, the Florida governor is coming across like “the high school quarterback who throws the geek against the lockers to get a laugh from the cheerleaders — and that’s not a good look.”
He said DeSantis is learning a lesson: “The kind of tricks you use to get elected to other offices don’t work in a presidential race because you get scrutinized so closely.”
Even in a world made crueler by social media and Donald Trump, DeSantis seems mean, punching out at Mickey Mouse, immigrants, gays and women; pushing through an expansion of his proposal to ban school discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity to include all grades, as well as a draconian ban on abortion after six weeks. He even admonished some high school kids during the pandemic for wearing masks. On Thursday, DeSantis signed a bill cutting the number of jurors needed to give a defendant the death sentence from 12 to 8.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/opinion/desantis-trump-2024.html
The Sickening Deja Vu of Watching Trump Manhandle DeSantis
Watching the nascent Republican primary race, I have a sickening sense of déjà vu. As much as I abhor Donald Trump’s opponents, I’m desperate for one of them to prevail. Trump might be easier for Joe Biden to beat, but anyone who gets the Republican nomination has a chance of being elected, and the possibility of another Trump term is intolerable. So it’s harrowing to see Trump abetted, again, by the cowardice of his opponents.
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who was supposed to stop Donald Trump, is deflating before even entering the race, with his poll numbers softening and donors fretting. Trump, meanwhile, seems more buoyed than hindered by his ever-proliferating scandals, and is racking up endorsements at DeSantis’s expense. There are several explanations for why this is happening, including the backlash to Trump’s indictment, DeSantis’s near total lack of charisma, and concern among Republican elites about the sweeping abortion ban he just signed. But there’s another dynamic at work here, and I think it’s the big one: Like Trump’s 2016 rivals, DeSantis is making the mistake of believing that the primary race is about issues, while Trump instinctively understands that it’s about dominance.
Dueling super PAC attack ads about Social Security and Medicare illustrate DeSantis’s problem. The ad from the Trump camp is inspired by reporting about DeSantis eating pudding with his fingers on an airplane. Over a nauseating video of a man messily consuming chocolate pudding with his hands, the spot says, “DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements.” But the policy argument is just an excuse for the disgusting visuals; the point is not to disagree with DeSantis, but to humiliate him.
The ad from DeSantis’s allies misses this point entirely. It attempts to fact-check the claims in the pro-Trump spot with video of DeSantis promising to protect Social Security, then tries to turn the tables by airing a clip of Trump saying that “at some point” he’ll “take a look” at entitlements. “Trump should fight Democrats, not lie about Governor DeSantis,” the ad continues — whining about Trump’s aggression rather than countering it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/opinion/desantis-trump-popularity.html
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