Watchdogs from OpenTheBooks.com inspected the fine print of the HEROES Act and found that it allocates $350 million to the 50 richest communities in America. The average annual income in these areas ranged from $262,988 to $525,324.
“It’s unclear why such wealthy neighborhoods need so much money to weather the storm,” Adam Andrzejewski of OpenTheBooks.com wrote. “Should American taxpayers from lower-income areas be subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous?
Newsom was recently forced to eat crow after attending a friend and political adviser’s 50th birthday party at a swank, upscale Napa County restaurant for a $400 a plate dinner. Newsom apologized after being publicly humiliated by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Astoundingly, Newsom then refused to intervene when many in his own State Legislature opted to attend a summit produced by a San Diego firm that violated the travel ban in place to host the summit in Maui, Hawaii.
Newsom has issued a new round of COVID-related restrictions, including a stay-at-home order, a curfew, limiting the size of private venue gatherings, and travel bans.
However, for some unknown and suspicious reason, the whole of the entertainment industry is exempted from the restrictions, covered under Newsom’s exemptions clause.
So now we know you can violate Covid restrictions for mostly peaceful protests, Biden victory celebrations, and birthday parties (what is it about birthday parties?), the latter of which only applies if you are important enough, and if you have to ask if you are important enough, you aren’t.
“Adherence to COVID regulations was checked at the door at a recent birthday party featuring a number of Kings County powerhouses.
Photos of a celebration for Carlo Scissura, head of the powerful construction trade organization New York Building Congress, show revelers in close quarters without masks.
Attendees included Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Ingrid Lewis-Martin and former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman Frank Seddio.”
The event occurred just days after Governor Cuomo decreed ever more draconian limitations on your activities. “Take this seriously,” he officiously proclaimed.
The third time wasn’t the charm for the Pentagon, which has once again failed to successfully complete an audit.
Thomas Harker, the Pentagon’s comptroller, told Reuters that it could be another seven years before the department can pass an audit—something that it has never accomplished. Previous attempts in 2018 and 2019 turned up literally thousands of problems with the Pentagon’s accounting system and millions of dollars’ worth of missing equipment.
In a statement, the Pentagon lauded the fact that auditors had “cleared” more than 500 issues identified in previous audits. That serves as compelling evidence that the effort is worth it, even if a clean review is still impossible. The Pentagon had resisted being audited for years. Though Congress passed a law in 1990 requiring all federal departments to be audited every year, it still took nearly two decades for the first Pentagon audit to be attempted. The department now says it is benefiting from the process.
A full report on this year’s audit, which covered more than $2.7 trillion in military assets, is expected to be released in January.
Before that, Congress is likely to sign off on a boost in military spending. As part of a new $1.4 trillion discretionary spending bill expected to be passed during the upcoming lame-duck session, the Pentagon is expected to get about a $10 billion boost in funding. That will happen in spite of another failed audit and regardless of the fact that America’s budget deficit has soared to record highs in the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll.
Hellbound and Down 
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