Tag: politicians

Scandalous past of Lake Tahoe mayor who resigned after stealing $300,000 from church while claiming she had depression

The former mayor of South Lake Tahoe who resigned after admitting to stealing $300,000 from a church was previously accused of defrauding an insurance company.

Tamara Wallace had served as mayor of the California city since December 2024, and for one year in 2022, but resigned on Monday after admitting to the theft.

The scandal-plagued mayor sent a confessional letter to several local news outlets, blaming her struggles with mental health for stealing from the Presbyterian Church over several years. 

But Wallace also previously faced a lawsuit from Federal Insurance Company, now a subsidiary of insurance firm Chubb, for ‘theft of funds’ totaling over $100,000, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The records reviewed by the outlet showed that Wallace agreed to repay the money after the alleged fraud was discovered in 2006, but then failed to repay the cash, prompting a second lawsuit from the firm in 2021. 

The lawsuits reportedly did not give details over how Wallace allegedly stole from the insurance company, however the first lawsuit was dismissed months after it was filed. 

The second lawsuit alleged that Wallace fraudulently received a payout of $122,193, but then failed to follow a payment plan that she had agreed to 15 years before when it was found to be erroneous. 

The company said Wallace agreed to pay just $200-a-month until the balance was paid off, but she stopped paying around February 2017, despite an agreement that she would be liable for the full amount if she ceased her payments. 

After Wallace was allegedly caught in 2006, she signed a promissory note acknowledging she owed the money and insisted she would pay it back, the company said. 

At the time she stopped paying, Wallace still owed more than $110,000, the Chronicle reported. 

In June 2022 Wallace was ordered by a judge to repay the company, and she signed a second promissory note agreeing to make $400 monthly payments, on top of a $2500 initial payment. 

The emergence of the alleged insurance fraud adds another layer to the political scandal which forced her to leave office earlier this month. 

Dana Tibbitts, a member of the El Dorado County Government Watch group, told the Chronicle after the scandal emerged, ‘the most important thing is that (the theft from the church) was not her first rodeo. 

‘She has been down this road a long time… and we probably don’t know the half of it.’ 

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Jessica Luna Aguilera, former PT candidate for mayor of Yanga, Veracruz, is murdered.

On Monday, October 6, 2025, the municipality of Yanga, Veracruz was shook by a tragic event: Jessica Luna Aguilera, a former mayoral candidate for the Labor Party (PT), was assassinated while driving to pick up her daughter from school.

This crime is not just another headline. It is a stark reminder of how violence is eroding the space for democratic participation in many parts of Mexico—particularly at the local level.

According to multiple English-language reports, Luna Aguilera was traveling in her vehicle in the community of Potrero Nuevo, in the municipality of Atoyac, when armed individuals intercepted her van and opened fire.

Her vehicle lost control and crashed into a wall near a school, and she succumbed to her injuries at the scene. At the time, she was en route to pick up her daughter, which intensifies the tragedy of the case.

The assailants fled without being apprehended, and authorities quickly cordoned off the area. The state prosecutor’s office in Veracruz has opened an investigation into the crime.

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Why Politicians Always Get Richer in Office (and You Don’t)

Think about your last job. Ever gotten a secret tip about the company’s next big merger right before the public announcement? Yeah, didn’t think so. For the rest of us, acting on that would land us in hot water – maybe even jail time. But inside the marble corridors and hushed committee rooms? Different story altogether.

They call it “congressional stock trading,” which sounds very official and boring. What it really means is politicians legally using information they learn because of their jobs – stuff you and I aren’t privy to – to buy or sell stocks. Government earmarks billions for a new defense project boosting a specific drone manufacturer? Funny how certain portfolios suddenly get heavier. Massive legislation passes changing healthcare subsidies? Watch how health insurance stocks move right after the vote.

It’s not telepathy. It’s not “expert analysis.” It’s being on the inside track while everyone watches the race from the nosebleeds. They write their own rules about disclosures, enforce them weakly against themselves, and pat themselves on the back for “transparency” that resembles fogged-up glass.

The Golden Parachute Club

You leave your job, you get maybe a handshake or a parting gift. Their journey is different. The moment someone announces they aren’t running again or loses an election, something fascinating happens: headhunters scramble. Suddenly, that junior Senator with average name recognition lands a seven-figure advisory role at a defense contractor. That obscure committee chair suddenly becomes a “consultant” for the very industry they supposedly regulated.

This is the “revolving door.” It spins both ways. Industry insiders walk into key government jobs to “oversee” their former colleagues. Then, politicians glide effortlessly back out into lucrative “consulting” gigs, “think tank” positions, or board seats for companies that directly benefited from legislation they championed. The currency here isn’t expertise you can find on LinkedIn; it’s relationships, favors owed, and the warm, cozy feeling they generate in corporate boardrooms. They call it “private sector experience.” We see pawns completing their mission and collecting their rewards.

Political Chameleons and Real Estate Magic

Ever tried buying property in a booming market? It’s expensive, cutthroat. Now imagine getting insider knowledge about a planned government development – a new highway extension, a federal complex, a mass transit hub destined for a forgotten corner of your district. Information like that is pure gold dust.

It’s not uncommon to see lawmakers snapping up parcels of land or properties just before major, undisclosed public projects become known. The value explodes. Sudden windfalls from “smart investments.” They disclose the gain eventually, but the how and the why? Buried under layers of complex paperwork and shrugs. Did they foresee the future? Or did they peek behind the curtain? The coincidence meter pings off the charts more often than it has any right to.

It goes beyond dirt. Think zoning changes voted on by local officials who own large chunks of real estate nearby. Think obscure amendments slipped into massive bills that funnel taxpayer dollars towards building projects conveniently adjacent to land held by those well-connected individuals. Follow the geography. The map tells its own story.

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German Mayor Tortured For Hours In Basement By Her Own Adopted Daughter, Leaked Police Docs Show

The story of the Social Democrat (SPD) mayor from Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, has taken yet another incredible turn.

New information now reveals that her 17-year-old adopted daughter reportedly tortured Stalzer for hours, nearly killing her own mother. Despite these details, the daughter still has not been arrested.

Stalzer has spoken to the police about what transpired during her ordeal, and now, the details have been leaked to Bild newspaper.

On Oct. 7, at 12:05 p.m., Stalzer’s daughter called emergency services saying her mother had been attacked by several men, was severely injured and was barely conscious.

A witness off the street found the politician bleeding in her armchair in the living room. Later, the adopted daughter told police that was also how she found her mother.

However, despite claims of “several men” torturing the mother, it turns out this was reportedly an orchestrated lie to cover up the horror that had occurred inside the house. Police have since learned that the mother was subjected to grueling torture for hours in the basement of the house.

The suspect attacked Stalzer with deodorant spray and a lighter, trying to set her hair and clothes on fire. The adopted daughter said she wanted revenge; however, it is still remains unclear what she wanted to take revenge for.

The adopted daughter also had two kitchen knives, which she used to stab and slice the politician’s body. Stazler faced critical injuries, including 13 stab wounds.

One of the bloody knives was also found in the 15-year-old adopted son’s backpack, along with bloody clothing from the daughter. The other knife was also found in his room.

Police investigators also found that large traces of blood were scrubbed from the scene, which were later revealed by the police forensics team.

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SNP minister accused of ‘rank hypocrisy’ after boasting about his woodburning stove just days after voting against protecting them for others

An SNP minister has been accused of ‘rank hypocrisy’ after boasting about his woodburning stove just days after voting against protecting them for others.

Jim Fairlie posted a picture of the heater on Facebook at the weekend after Storm Amy knocked out the power to his all- electric house for several days.

‘Thankfully we’ve the wee stove keeping us warm,’ the agriculture minister wrote.

But only last week Perthshire-based Mr Fairlie, as part of the Scottish Government’s rural team, voted with SNP colleagues to defeat a Tory proposal to safeguard woodburners.

Highlands & Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, who forced the Government to U-turn last year on a proposed woodburner ban in new homes, wanted to protect them long-term.

Mr Halcro Johnston said: ‘It beggars belief to see a Scottish Government minister voting against protections for woodburners in rural and island homes during the week, then message their constituents about the benefits of having one the very weekend when the power goes down.

‘Thousands of homes lost their power over the last few days and were left reliant on the kind of heating that Mr Fairlie enjoys but doesn’t think others should have.

‘Last year, when the SNP/Green coalition attempted to ban stoves in newbuilds, I championed them for these very reasons.

‘I was pleased that we forced them to U-turn then, but was disappointed when Jim Fairlie joined his SNP colleagues last week in voting against my proposed protections that would ensure cack-handed attempts to outlaw woodburners couldn’t happen again without the full scrutiny from the Scottish parliament.

‘To vote against something on Tuesday and sing its praises by Saturday is rank hypocrisy. I know how angry it has made many of my constituents across the Highlands and Islands.’

Mr Halcro Johnson’s amendments to the Housing Bill would have meant woodburners and other ‘direct-emission heating systems’ avoided future bans by creating a ‘presumption in favour’ of such back-ups in island, rural and remote homes.

He told MSPs it would ensure people still had the means to heat, cook and have hot water when ‘essential connections’ were lost.

He said he knew ‘all too well’ how important a backup could be, as he had once been snowed into his Orkney home for five days and his woodburning stove saved the day.

‘It is important that remote, rural and island homes have access to viable and reliable secondary heating options,’ he told Holyrood.

‘They are not luxury items in our homes or just something that looks nice in the corner of the room. They help to keep people safe, warm and alive in the worst of conditions.’

But Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan objected, saying the change would ‘restrict policy making in any future attempt to regulate heating systems’.

She said the Government already protected backup heating systems in rural homes ‘for exactly the circumstances that have been referred to.’

She added: ‘Voting against this amendment is not a vote against wood-burning stoves or other secondary heating systems, because the amendment is not needed to protect their use – it is simply unnecessary.’

Mr Halcro Johnson said the existing regulations on the issue were flawed.

But MSPs, including Mr Fairlie, rejected his proposals by 70 votes to 38.

The ban on woodburning stoves in new-build homes was scrapped last November after a backlash from industry, rural communities, opposition parties and some SNP politicians.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes was among those to raise concerns about the ban, citing the impact it could have on older people in her Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘There are no restrictions on the use of wood-burning stoves in Scotland, in either new or existing homes.’

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Mexico Bill Proposes Prison for AI Memes Mocking Public Figures

Mexico’s Congress is once again at the center of a free speech storm.

This time, Deputy Armando Corona Arvizu from the ruling Morena party is proposing to make it a crime to create or share AI-generated memes or digital images that make fun of someone without their consent.

His initiative, filed in the Chamber of Deputies, sets out prison terms of three to six years and fines for anyone who “create, manipulate, transform, reproduce or disseminate images, videos, audios or digital representations” made with artificial intelligence for the purpose of “ridiculing, harassing, impersonating or damaging” a person’s “reputation or dignity.”

Read the bill here.

The punishment would increase by half if the person targeted is a public official, minor, or person with a disability, or if the content spreads widely online or causes personal, psychological, or professional harm.

The bill presents itself as protection against digital abuse but is, as always, a new attempt at censorship.

The initiative would insert Articles 211 Bis 8 and 211 Bis 9 into the Federal Penal Code, written in vague and sweeping terms that could cover almost any form of online expression.

It makes no distinction between a malicious deepfake and a harmless meme.

By criminalizing content intended to “ridicule,” the bill allows courts or public figures to decide what counts as ridicule. That opens the door to arbitrary enforcement.

There are no explicit protections for parody, satire, or public-interest criticism, all of which are essential to a free society.

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Burchett chides colleagues over insider trading: ‘Crooked as a dog‘s leg’

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) has slammed his colleagues in Congress who engage in insider trading, saying they should be “on Wall Street” instead of on Capitol Hill.

“Americans understand what’s going on with Congress,” Burchett said Sunday on the “Cats Roundtable” radio show hosted by John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM. “When they see their members of Congress making three, four, 500 percent returns, dadgum it, they ought not be in Congress, they ought to be on Wall Street.”

Burchett called it wrong and said “everybody knows it, and I think it’s crooked as a dog’s leg, and we need to outlaw it.”

On Sept. 3, a bipartisan group of legislators introduced a bill that would ban stock trading by members of Congress and their close family members.

The “Restore Trust in Congress Act” mixes together several past proposals intended to stop members of Congress from trading stocks.

Should the bill pass, lawmakers who violate the law would face financial penalties equal to 10 percent of the value of their investment and would be forced to relinquish any earnings from the violation.

“If you want a day trade, leave Congress,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, previously said. “It’s that simple.”

“We’re not going to judge what you did before now, but now that this bill is going to come to the floor — and we’re going to make sure of that — it’s your chance to get right with the American people because at the end of the day, Congress is not a casino,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) also said.

In August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for a ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks. Bessent specifically named former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and said they have “eye-popping returns.”

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The Greater Israel Cult & the US Alliance

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recently asked on Israeli i24 TV whether he supported the idea of a Greater Israel — the biblical land that God purportedly promised to the Jewish people encompassing a major portion of the Middle East — he replied “very much.” 

While the interview went virtually unnoticed in the Western media it attracted wide condemnation throughout the Arab world. Jordan called it “a dangerous and provocative escalation,” Qatar said it was “arrogant and destabilising” and the Arab League declared it was “blatant violation of Arab sovereignty.” 

The Zionist vision of a Greater Israel has remained mostly unspoken by Israel’s leaders because they want to maintain the fiction that Israel’s control over the occupied territories is strictly for security purposes.

But Netanyahu let the cat out of the bag. His comment is a bold assertion that Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank are just the first stages of an expansionist Greater Israel vision.

Far from sitting on the sidelines, the U.S. is a full partner in this project that aligns with their objectives in the region. The idea that Netanyahu has a pliant U.S. President Trump (and Biden before him) wound around his little finger is strictly political theatre and a convenient cover for American ambitions.

The U.S. has always called the shots and, if anything, Israel is a useful proxy to further American economic and strategic interests in the region which includes tacit support for Greater Israel.

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House members to get $10k a month for personal security after Charlie Kirk assassination

ouse members will get $10,000 a month for personal security after the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, the chamber’s leaders announced.

The effort follows the assassination last week of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

On Wednesday, House leadership made the decision to double the monthly total currently available to legislators in a pilot program created this summer to increase security for members, POLITICO reported.

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil said that the funds to increase the pilot program amount were previously allocated and have been repurposed to bump it up to $10,000, according to the Washington Examiner.

Several House Republicans discussed their dissatisfaction over the $10,000 monthly amount with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Steil.

The additional security funding comes after Kirk, 31, was shot and killed by an assassin last week at Utah Valley University during a Turning Point USA event. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been arrested as the suspected shooter.

Later, when asked if Republican leadership would add more money for member security to the stopgap directly, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said there were “ongoing conversations.”

“We said that at the beginning of the week — is that we’re working with our members to find out how to properly make sure that everybody has the security they need to be safe,” Scalise said.

New York Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle said that “more needs to be done” to ensure the security of lawmakers and congressional staff, “but this is an important and necessary start.”

Steil said, “The goal is having leg[islative] branch [appropriations], which is engaged right now in a conference, of them identifying the appropriate funding level as we go forward.”

The additional security funding announcement comes after a $32 million injection in funds for a program that has been in existence that lets Congress members request security through partnerships between the Capitol Police and local law enforcement agencies. The $32 million is part of the stopgap spending bill. The expansion of the pilot program is funded from a separate pot of money from the current fiscal year.

“The funding can be authorized, we need to make sure that that money is in the right buckets,” Steil said.

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Holding Politicians Accountable: Using Civil Litigation To Combat Incitement To Violence

In an era of heightened political polarization, inflammatory rhetoric from public figures has increasingly been linked to real-world acts of violence.  While freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy, there are legal boundaries where words cross into incitement.  This article explores how civil lawsuits can serve as a mechanism to hold politicians accountable for fomenting violence, regardless of party affiliation.  By examining the legal framework, historical precedents, and potential impacts, we can understand how the courts might act as a bulwark against dangerous discourse—focusing on truth-seeking principles rather than partisan blame.  The horrendous assassination of Youth Leader and Turning Point Founder Charlie Kirk brings this discussion to the forefront of our world culture.

The Legal Foundation for Civil Suits Against Politicians

Under U.S. law, politicians are not immune from accountability for their words if they directly contribute to harm.  The primary vehicle for such claims is 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal statute that allows individuals to sue state officials (including governors, mayors, and lawmakers) for violations of constitutional rights while acting “under color of state law.” If a politician’s statements or actions are alleged to incite violence that results in death, injury, or deprivation of rights—such as the right to life or due process—victims or their families could pursue damages.

However, the bar is high.  The First Amendment protects speech unless it meets the strict criteria established in *Brandenburg v. Ohio* (1969): it must be directed at producing “imminent lawless action” and be likely to produce such action.  Mere hyperbolic or critical language, even if divisive, typically doesn’t qualify.  Additionally, officials often benefit from qualified immunity, which shields them unless their conduct violates a “clearly established” right.  Sovereign immunity may also apply to actions taken in an official capacity, although personal-capacity suits can bypass this immunity.

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