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Sen Liz Warren Now Pivots to Government Control of Big Tech … Charger Cords?

Is Elizabeth Warren hitting the bottle again? The Massachusetts senator, who just declared war on crisis pregnancy centers, has now pivoted to … charger cords.

Fauxcahontas is vewy, vewy, angwy about why it takes so many different types of charger cords to power a variety of devices at home and work.

Warren said on Twitter on Thursday that “consumers shouldn’t have to keep buying new chargers all the time for different devices. We can clear things up with uniform standards—for less expense, less hassle, and less waste.”

It’s annoying and expensive to have to get a new charger cord with every device. But should Warren and her aging far-Left Senate kin, Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders, the backers of a standardized power cord, really be the high-tech big idea guys in such a venture? Thankfully, in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, they don’t actually give ideas on how to standardize cords. No, they simply want to compel it.

The trio contended, “we cannot allow the consumer electronics industry to prioritize proprietary and inevitably obsolete charging technology over consumer protection and environmental health.”

Can anyone check to see which side of the Blockbuster versus Netflix issue Warren, Markey, and Sanders were on? Do you suppose these three thought “nah, Betamax all the way”?

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Corruption inquiry witness is found DEAD in an office two days after he gave evidence about seeing a $10,000 cash payment being exchanged

A former councillor has been found dead in his office days after telling NSW’s anti-corruption watchdog he regretted not reporting one of his colleagues who accepted $10000 from developers.    

Clifton Wong, who served as a councillor on Hurstville City Council from 1999 to 2012, was found by emergency services in a Sydney inner-west office complex, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. 

The time of death is thought to be about was about 1.20pm on Wednesday 

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in the 62-year-old man’s death.

Wong was appearing before a probe into former Hurstville and Georges River councillors Con Hindi and Vince Badalati, and former Hurstville councillor Philip Sansom and their dealings with developers.

Wong had been named as a person of interest along with Mr Hindi, Mr Badalati and Mr Sansom when the inquiry commenced in November but was no longer considered one when he took the stand.  

Wong told the Independent Commission Against Corruption on June 28 he witnessed a developer hand then-deputy mayor Mr Hindi mayor $10,000 to help with a potential development.

In his testimony Wong said the money was from developers Wensheng Liu and Philip Uy to favour their bid to buy a council-owned car park. 

Wong expressed remorse when asked on Monday why he hadn’t said anything at the time.

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Former NIH Chief Is Now Highest Paid Member Of Most Expensive White House Staff Ever

When Francis Collins departed as Director of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) in December 2021, his legacy included multiple-millions of dollars in secret royalty payments to himself, prominent colleagues like Dr. Anthony Fauci, and hundreds of other scientists, officials, and researchers working under him.

Today, Collins is the highest paid adviser to the president with the most expensive White House staff ever, according to data compiled by the Chicago-based non-profit government watchdog, Open The Books (OTB).

Collins is paid $300,000 annually as the Acting Science Adviser to President Joe Biden. The new salary represents a 47 percent increase over the $203,500 annual compensation Collins made as NIH Director for 12 years. All salary figures were obtained by OTB under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Earlier this year, The Epoch Times first reported that OTB uncovered more than 1,600 NIH officials, scientists, and researchers who received an estimated $350 million in secret royalty payments from sources outside the government that the agency refuses to identify.

The payments were made between 2010 and 2020, including all but a couple of years of Collins’ tenure.

“We also find that during this period, leadership at NIH was involved in receiving third-party payments. For instance, Francis Collins, the immediate past director of NIH, received 14 payments. Dr. Anthony Fauci received 23 payments, and his deputy, Clifford Lane, received eight payments,” OTB President Adam Andrzejewski told The Epoch Times.

Collins’ successor as NIH Director, Dr. Lawrence Tabak, admitted to Congress in May that the secret royalty payments have “the appearance of a conflict of interest,” but he claimed the agency has sufficient internal safeguards to prevent abuse.

Federal personnel law and regulations bar government employees from having either actual conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts in their decision-making as public servants.

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University Of California Waives Tuition For Native Americans, Starting Fall 2022

Announced in April, the UC Native American Opportunity Plan allows California residents who are “members of federally recognized Native American, American Indian, and Alaska Native tribes” to get free education on UC campuses. The program applies to undergraduate and graduate students.

“The University of California is committed to recognizing and acknowledging historical wrongs endured by Native Americans,” UC President Michael Drake said in a letter (pdf).

“I am proud of the efforts the University of California has made to support the Native American community, including the creation of the [program].”

The UC system has ten campuses—Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. About 295,000 students were enrolled in the system in fall 2021.

The program is expected to cost $2.4 million and will be funded mainly by both the state’s and UC’s financial aid programs, according to Drake’s office.

The program was developed to expand “student diversity and make the University of California more affordable and accessible,” Drake said in the letter. The approximate annual tuition for a state resident is $13,104, according to the UC Admissions office.

California has 109 federally recognized tribes and has more Native Americans and those of Alaska Native heritage than any other state in the country, according to the Judicial Council of California.

Native Americans make up 1.7 percent of the state’s population while accounting for 0.5 percent of the UC system’s student body in Fall 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the university’s enrollment statistics.

Some universities and lawmakers across the country are following UC’s steps.

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AOC Hit With Fines and Warrants for Dodging Taxes

Democratic New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 14th C.D., often talks the talk about taxing the rich but she seems unwilling to walk the walk personally.

According to a 2019 financial disclosure report Ocasio-Cortez filed with the House of Representatives, she declared herself founder of Brook Avenue Press. Her Bronx, N.Y., company, designed to publish books about NYC children, fell behind in paying NYS corporation tax.

The state’s Taxation and Finance Department dissolved her company, issuing a Proclamation of Dissolution on October 26, 2016. Involuntary dissolution is invoked by tax authorities on corporations that fail to pay taxes for two consecutive years. NYS tax authorities explain that involuntarily dissolved companies are still required to file returns and pay taxes owed until they comply with state tax law.

Brook Avenue Press was slapped with a $1,618 tax warrant by the state tax department on July 6, 2017. That was approximately two months after the former bartender announced her candidacy to oppose then-incumbent Joe Crowley, according to the New York Post report. The 14th congressional district represents constituents in parts of two city boroughs: Queens and The Bronx.

The unpaid tax obligation of the New York congresswoman has swollen to $2,471.68 from interest and fees applied by the state. An email request to the representative requesting comment was not immediately returned.

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16-Year-Old Dutch Protester Shot at by Police Under Investigation For Manslaughter

The 16-year-old demonstrator who was shot at by police during a farmers protest in the Netherlands says he is under investigation for manslaughter.

The incident occurred on Tuesday night in the northern town of Heerenveen when Jouke Hospes had live rounds fired at his tractor during the protest.

Authorities immediately claimed that Hospes had deliberately tried to drive his vehicle into officers, but video footage of the confrontation shows this did not happen.

Hospes described how the incident began, saying farmers were already starting to leave the area when they were confronted by armed police.

“Behind me, it was clear, so I decided to go around it. I calmly crossed the sidewalk and drove very calmly. I went to see if traffic was approaching and if I could cross the road. I was driving [slowly], and suddenly I heard a PANG in my right ear. I thought there soon would be a second one.”

“I didn’t have any damage, so I thought it was a rubber bullet… However, I stopped for a while at Oudehaske, and when I was walking around the tractor, I saw a hole in the iron. All kinds of thoughts went through my head.”

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Fed report finds 75% of $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program didn’t reach employees

Taxpayers paid $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers in jobs saved by the federal government’s pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The Fed study also found PPP didn’t support jobs at risk of disappearing, and money flowed disproportionately to wealthier households.

“The PPP was a very large and very timely fiscal-policy intervention, saving about 3 million jobs at its peak in the second quarter of 2020 and distributing $800 billion well within two years of the onset of the COVID-19 crisis,” authors William Emmons and Drew Dahl concluded in their study, “Was the Paycheck Protection Program Effective?”

“But it was poorly targeted, as almost three-quarters of its benefits went to unintended recipients, including business owners, creditors and suppliers, rather than to workers. Due to differences in the typical incomes of those varied constituencies, it also ended up being quite regressive compared with other major COVID-19 relief programs, as it benefited high-income households much more.”

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Japan’s Shinzo Abe assassination: Who is suspect Tetsuya Yamagami?

The 41-year-old suspect in the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly has told police Friday that he was dissatisfied with the ex-leader and wanted to kill him, but not over his political beliefs. 

Tetsuya Yamagami, who hails from Nara – where the 67-year-old Abe was gunned down while making a speech – is currently facing an attempted murder charge. But local police are expected to upgrade the charge to murder, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. 

“Former Prime Minister Abe was giving a speech normally, but a man came from behind. The first shot heard only a very loud sound and the person did not fall down. However, the moment the second shot was shot, former Prime Minister Abe collapsed,” a witness told NHK. “The [suspect] didn’t seem to run away, he stayed there and the gun was there.” 

The killing has sent shockwaves around the world and throughout Japan, a country with notoriously strict gun ownership laws. 

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Facebook shared deleted user data with cops, fired worker who raised alarms: lawsuit

Facebook employees were able to access deleted user data and share details with law enforcement agencies, according to allegations included in an explosive lawsuit filed by an ex-employee who said he was ousted for raising concerns about the practice.

Brennan Lawson, a former member of Facebook’s global escalations team, said he became concerned after learning in 2018 about a new tool that allowed content screeners to view data from the social media firm’s Messenger app — even if the user had deleted it.

The lawsuit alleges that the protocol allowed workers “to circumvent Facebook’s normal privacy protocols” in a way that the platform’s users were not aware was possible. The tool was reportedly employed to assist law enforcement officials during investigations into social media activity.

“Law enforcement would ask questions about the suspect’s use of the platform, such as who the suspect was messaging, when messages were sent, and even what those messages contained,” Lawson claims in the suit, according to Bloomberg.

“To keep Facebook in the good graces of the government, the Escalations Team would utilize the back-end protocol to provide answers for the law enforcement agency and then determine how much to share,” Lawson adds.

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