February 8, 2023

How a Dominion Lawyer Became the Latest Battle in the Trump-DeSantis War

Trumpworld’s newest problem with Ron DeSantis centers on the Florida governor inviting a Dominion Voting Systems lawyer onto a weird panel and praising her.

The feud between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis—quietly simmering for months—suddenly burst into the open this week with an all-out attack by MAGAworld on the Florida governor.

And the reason why was unexpected: DeSantis aligning himself with a Dominion voting machines lawyer.

On Tuesday morning, DeSantis convened a roundtable in Miami focusing on what his office called “the damaging impacts of defamation from the legacy media.” Seated among the conservative panelists was Elizabeth “Libby” Locke, an attorney who has taken up litigation on behalf of clients like Sarah Palin and the James O’Keefe group Project Veritas against The New York Times.

DeSantis said Locke was “an extraordinaire when it comes to First Amendment defamation.” What he didn’t say is that Locke is now representing Dominion Voting Systems, which is currently suing key Trumpworld figures—like Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell—for pushing bogus claims that the company’s technology somehow stole the 2020 election from Trump.

In a GOP where Trump’s election fraud lies and 2020 obsession still hold sway, DeSantis’ promotion of the lawyer for one of the ex-president’s top public enemies sent Trumpworld into a frenzy.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-dominion-voting-systems-lawyer-libby-locke-became-the-latest-battle-in-the-donald-trump-ron-desantis-war

February 8, 2023

LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to set NBA's all-time scoring record

Basketball has a new scoring king.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James unseated Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer Tuesday night, breaking a record that was once thought untouchable by hitting a fadeaway jumper from the top of the key late in the third quarter of a 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. For James, a four-time NBA champion, a four-time MVP and a four-time Finals MVP, passing Abdul-Jabbar’s hallowed record of 38,387 points reflects an unmatched standard of consistency and scoring prowess across 20 seasons.

With less than 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter, James backed down on Thunder forward Kenrich Williams at the left elbow and worked his way across the paint. After bumping Williams to create space, James faded away and to his left, holding his follow-through as his jumper swished through to a loud ovation.

“I was able to get to a really good spot on the floor, where I’m very comfortable, and get to one of my patented fadeaway shots,” James said. “A lot of people wanted me to go to the skyhook to break the record, or one of my signature dunks. But my fadeaway is a signature play as well. I was able to get it, and it touched nothing but the bottom of the net.”

James then jogged down the court, raising both of his arms in celebration. The officials stopped the game for a brief ceremony with 10.9 seconds remaining in the period, as a video tribute played on the video board recognizing big moments from James’s career, including his titles with the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers. James was joined on the court by his family, Abdul-Jabbar and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for a presentation of the game ball.

“A record that has stood for nearly 40 years, which, Kareem, many people thought would never be broken,” Silver said. “LeBron, you are the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/02/07/lebron-james-scoring-record/

February 7, 2023

DeSantis floats bill making it easier to sue news outlets

Source: Tampa Bay Times

Seated behind a news anchor-style desk, the governor did not offer specifics, but told viewers to “stay tuned.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis raised the possibility Tuesday of passing legislation that could lower the bar for prominent people to successfully sue news outlets for defamation.

In a roundtable discussion that featured complaints about the unfair “narrative” of the news media, DeSantis sat behind a desk similar to one of a news anchor with the backdrop of the word “Truth” on a screen. DeSantis spoke with six panelists including attorneys who litigate libel cases, libertarian journalist Michael Moynihan and Nicholas Sandmann, a conservative activist who has spoken extensively about his mistreatment by mainstream media outlets.

While the governor and the panelists weighed various policy options, the event concluded without DeSantis announcing any specific bill or action to be taken, only telling viewers to “stay tuned.”

Since he first ran for governor in 2018, DeSantis has kept traditional news outlets at a distance, preferring instead to grant interviews to conservative broadcasters while framing the general media as a political opponent. His reelection team included clips in campaign ads of him sparring with reporters at news conferences. More recently, DeSantis’ lawyers have argued in court that he possesses executive privilege, similar to a U.S. president, that allows him to shield records of his choosing from the public.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/02/07/desantis-floats-bill-making-it-easier-sue-news-outlets/

---

What DeSantis' real motivation is here: He's looking for a "legal" way to sue the news media for articles critical of him.

February 7, 2023

Spy Balloon Bursts Hopes for Bipartisanship on New China Panel

Congress has a new committee on China, and Republicans and Democrats had high hopes for bipartisan cooperation. And then the spy balloon happened.

When House Republicans and Democrats joined together last month to create a new committee focused on U.S. competition with China, supporters of the project expressed confidence it could show Beijing that American leaders weren’t hopelessly divided along partisan lines.

All it took was a single balloon to deflate that lofty idea.

Last week, the suspected Chinese spy craft began floating across the U.S. at an altitude of 60,000 feet, just days after the House’s new China committee was officially organized.

On Thursday, Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)—the panel’s chairman and ranking member, respectively—issued a joint statement criticizing the Chinese Communist Party government for violating U.S. sovereignty and warning that “the CCP threat is not confined to distant shores.”

But as the balloon drifted, and President Joe Biden held off on downing it, many Republicans saw an easy target instead of an opportunity for bipartisan solidarity.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/spy-balloon-bursts-hopes-for-bipartisanship-on-new-china-panel

Republicans aren't interested in bipartisan anything. To them bipartisanship is a sign of weakness.

February 7, 2023

The house and car will merge -- and change how we power our lives

Next generation of EV batteries will power homes and feed energy to the grid

When the power went out at Nate Graham’s New Mexico home last year, his family huddled around a fireplace in the cold and dark. Even the gas furnace was out, with no electricity for the fan. After failing to coax enough heat from the wood-burning fireplace, Graham’s wife and two children decamped for the comfort of a relative’s house until electricity returned two days later.

The next time the power failed, Graham was prepared. He had a $150 inverter, a device that converts direct current from batteries into the alternating current needed to run appliances, hooked up to his new Chevy Bolt, an electric vehicle. The Bolt’s battery powered his refrigerator, lights and other crucial devices with ease. As the rest of his neighborhood outside Albuquerque languished in darkness, Graham’s family life continued virtually unchanged. “It was a complete game changer making power outages a nonissue,” says Graham, 35, a manager at a software company. “It lasted a day-and-a-half, but it could have gone much longer.”

Today, Graham primarily powers his home appliances with rooftop solar panels and, when the power goes out, his Chevy Bolt. He has cut his monthly energy bill from about $220 to $8 per month. “I’m not a rich person, but it was relatively easy,” says Graham “You wind up in a magical position with no [natural] gas, no oil and no gasoline bill.”

Graham is a preview of what some automakers are now promising anyone with an EV: An enormous home battery on wheels that can reverse the flow of electricity to power the entire home through the main electric panel.

https://wapo.st/3X5Vhxi

February 6, 2023

The Great Gatsby of Gold Took Their Millions--and Vanished

Tyler Gallagher looked legit as hell, until his customers started asking where their gold bars were.

From the outside, Tyler Gallagher had it all: a $3.5 million house in Beverly Hills, two cars, a gorgeous wife, a flourishing business, and one of the hottest esports teams in the country.

A high-school dropout who lived in a homeless shelter at age 16, Gallagher told anyone who would listen about how he took $5,000 and turned it into a successful company investing his clients’ retirement accounts in precious metals. Within a decade, he claimed to have done nearly $1 billion in investments, and boasted celebrity clients including Laura Ingraham and Lars Larson.

His company, Regal Assets, earned top ratings on review sites, and Gallagher himself was a cited expert, publishing articles online for Forbes and Rolling Stone. Inc. magazine rated his company one of the fastest growing in the country—an honor previously bestowed on the likes of Microsoft and Jamba Juice. According to its website, the company had offices in Los Angeles, London, and Dubai, and was the first company licensed to sell cryptocurrency in the Middle East.

“Today is a milestone on my journey as the CEO of Regal Assets and I could not be more proud of our unbelievable team,” Gallagher said in a press release about the Inc. 500 announcement. “To come from Canada and create the success I have with Regal Assets in the heart of the financial collapse truly shows that the American dream is still alive.”

And then one day last October, Tyler Gallagher—and his gold—disappeared.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tyler-gallagher-of-regal-assets-took-their-millions-for-gold-and-vanished

Lots of swindlers out there.

February 4, 2023

Dealers and Buyers Are Both Worried Cars Are Too Expensive

Rising interest rates and weaker used-car values are keeping people on the sidelines

A sharp rise in new-car prices since the pandemic has left many buyers fretting about vehicle affordability. Now, some dealers are fretting along with them.

Some dealers say that elevated prices and a lack of affordable models already were keeping some prospective buyers away. Now, higher interest rates and falling used-car prices are making it even more difficult for customers to make the math work on a monthly payment.

In some cases, buyers are canceling orders they placed before interest rates edged higher, dealers say. Some auto retailers are trying to liquidate their used-car inventories before values fall further.

The root cause of the lack of affordable options is the supply-chain disruption that has created new-vehicle scarcity in recent years, resulting in a seller’s market. Meanwhile, auto makers have cut output of vehicles at the lower end of the price scale, choosing instead to emphasize their most-profitable models.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dealers-and-buyers-are-both-worried-cars-are-too-expensive-11675476870?st=irhl9fd6po1wmxc&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

February 4, 2023

'Historic Arctic outbreak' crushes records in New England

Source: Washington Post

Mount Washington in New Hampshire logged the U.S.'s coldest wind chill ever recorded: minus-109

Parts of the Northeast woke up to the coldest morning in decades on Saturday, with temperatures 30 degrees or more below average and wind chills in the extremely dangerous category. Virtually the entirety of New England was included in wind chill warnings, while Mount Washington’s minus-109 degree wind chill set a record for the entire United States.

The National Weather Service office serving the Boston region described the cold as “a historic Arctic outbreak for the modern era,” and warned that “this is about as cold as it will ever get.”

In Boston, the morning low fell to minus-10 degrees at 5:15 a.m., the coldest reading observed in the city since Jan. 15, 1957, when Boston hit minus-12. The episode resembled the brutal Arctic blast on Valentine’s Day 2016, when Logan Airport dropped to minus-9 degrees.

Coupled with winds gusting near 40 mph, Boston witnessed its lowest wind chill ever recorded at minus-39 degrees. Records date back to 1944. Wind chill is an index that attempts to quantity the combined impact of cold and wind on the human body, since strong winds blow away one’s body heat.

Read more: https://wapo.st/3l8ngiL

February 4, 2023

Driver charged with murder in stabbing of O.C. doctor who was out for a bike ride

The driver accused of hitting an Orange County doctor who was out riding his bike and then repeatedly stabbing him was charged with murder on Friday.

Vanroy Evan Smith, 39, of Long Beach, was charged with one count of murder and personal use of a deadly weapon, which could enhance his sentencing, according to Orange County Superior Court records. Smith, who pleaded not guilty, is being held on $1-million bail.

If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life. Smith, who is listed as unemployed in jail records, is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 16 for a pretrial hearing.

Dr. Michael John Mammone, 58, was riding his bike near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Crown Valley Parkway in Dana Point at about 3 p.m. Wednesday when he was struck from behind by the driver of a white Lexus, Orange County sheriff’s officials said.

The driver of the vehicle, later identified by authorities as Smith, got out of the car and stabbed Mammone several times with a knife, sheriff’s officials said.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-04/driver-charged-with-murder-hit-stabbed-doctor-riding-bike

February 4, 2023

Court Rules Domestic Abusers Cannot Be Barred From Owning Instrument Of Vengeance

WASHINGTON—Claiming that previous laws were inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that domestic abusers could not be barred from owning an instrument of vengeance.

“According to the court’s historical interpretation of the Second Amendment, Americans cannot legally be prevented from purchasing or wielding a method with which to carry out a violent act of retribution,” Judge Cory Wilson wrote in the court’s opinion, adding that per the founding fathers original intent, every American, including domestic abusers, had a God-given right to enact lethal vengeance against whoever they felt was worthy of their ire.

“Be it the ex-girlfriend who so heinously wronged you, a coworker who looked at you in a weird way, or a sonuvabitch judge who ruined your life, all Americans have the right to bear whatever arms they need to destroy their enemies once and for all. Without the right to dole out justice and reckoning, we are nothing as a country. This type of senseless violence is what we were built on.”

At press time, the court also struck down a mandatory waiting period that Judge Wilson claimed made it take too long for those who had been wronged and were blinded by rage to finally get sweet, sweet revenge.

https://www.theonion.com/court-rules-domestic-abusers-cannot-be-barred-from-owni-1850071494