Tag: revenue generation

Pay up: Woman fighting to keep home after $600,000 website mistake

A Honolulu woman, 83, recently suffered injuries in a serious car crash, then returned home to find waiting for her a $600,000 city fine, accrued while she was recovering, at $10,000 a day, for a website mistake.

The city’s response was to tell her to hire a lawyer.

The plight of Sandra May, who has lived in her home for 56 years, raising her son there, has been described by Fox News.

The issue is that while she relies on rental income from an attached apartment for some of her income, she is not located in an area where short-term rentals are allowed.

And a rental website mistakenly listed that apartment as available for short-term rentals. It did not, however, allow anyone to actually book a short-term stay.

She’s now had to hire a lawyer after she finished her hospitalization, found the notice of the $600,000 fine, and tried without success to reason with city officials.

The complaint explains that the city issued its notice of violation but May was unable to access it during her hospitalization.

It ballooned before she got home.

“It feels to me like they’re just trying to take my house, put me on the street with the rest of the homeless people,” May told Fox News Digital. “It’s very depressing, very upsetting.”

The city has not been idle, after issuing the fine. Officials put a lien on her house and blocked her access to basic services, such as renewing her driver’s license or car registration.

“All the stress, the stomach problems, every day wondering if I’m gonna have a house… I was gonna live here for the rest of the days I have,” May told Fox. “This is actually — I call this my little piece of paradise on earth. … The thought of losing it is — I can’t imagine.”

Her legal advisers already have raised the city’s apparent violation of the Eighth Amendment, which blocks unreasonable government fines.

Loren Seehase, of the Pacific Legal Foundation, explained, “The Constitution prohibits excessive fines. Governments cannot simply impose fines that are so ruinous that they would financially devastate someone over a simple error. And that’s what we’re fighting for.”

In fact, the lawyer pointed out, it’s apparently an industry for Honolulu, which has issued more than $90 million in fines for related advertising “violations.”

Seehase described the city’s response: “Rather than having some sympathy and understanding that she was out of and in the hospital. They said, Well, we’re going to still fine her $590,000.”

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Drug Testing Industry And Pharmaceutical Company Ask Court To Pause Trump’s Marijuana Rescheduling Move

An industry association that represents drug testing companies and a cannabis-focused biopharmaceutical corporation are asking a federal appeals court to block the Trump administration from moving forward with federal marijuana rescheduling while ongoing litigation challenging the reform is considered—claiming that cannabis is a “dangerous drug that destroys lives.”

The National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA), along with MMJ International Holdings and its subsidiaries, argue in the new filing on Tuesday that the cannabis rescheduling move is “a brazen agency overreach in which the Acting Attorney General ignored restrictions on his authority set by Congress—and a binding decision of this Court—to carry out one of the most sweeping reductions in restrictions on a dangerous narcotic in the history of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).”

“Nearly fifty years ago, this Court held that the Attorney General lacks authority to unilaterally decide how marijuana ought to be restricted—that is, which Schedule it should be placed under—pursuant to the CSA. The Court explained that Congress constrained the Attorney General’s authority by requiring him both to secure recommendations from the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and to make detailed findings through a formal rulemaking on the record. While the CSA contains a limited bypass of those procedures to allow the Attorney General to ensure that the U.S. complies with certain treaties…this Court made clear that the bypass cannot be invoked when the Attorney General is simply deciding to move a drug between two Schedules under the CSA, either of which would comply with treaty obligations.”

“The Department of Justice complied with this Court’s construction of the CSA for over four decades—until now,” the joint motion for a stay pending review that was filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit argues.

While HHS had issued a recommendation to reschedule marijuana during the Biden administration, the recent move by the Trump Department of Justice canceled ongoing proceedings related to that proposal and issued a new final rule.

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Toronto’s meter maids are ripping off taxpayers for $6 million/year

Rebel News recently returned to the scene of the crime. But there’s a twist to this true crime story: the criminals aren’t gangbangers, but rather, members of law enforcement!

Astute viewers of Rebel News might recall that earlier this month, we paid a visit to the headquarters of the central division of Toronto Parking Enforcement in north Toronto.

The reason for our house call: we were told by an insider that parking enforcement officers were engaging in time theft. Which is to say, they are supposed to work 10 hours per shift, but they are only putting in eight hours (or less).

Teaming up with Jay Bannister of Mad Lab Press, we documented the morning shift starting duty at 6 a.m. They are supposed to be working until 4 p.m. But no: at around 1:30 p.m., the meter maids began returning to HQ.

This time, banditry works out to almost $6 million in theft.

Our insiders say it has been going on for years now, meaning the City of Toronto (a.k.a. the taxpayer) has been hoodwinked out of tens of millions of dollars!

And yes, we caught them red-handed coming back to HQ early. Surely, yet another P.R. black eye for the Toronto Police Service.

So, what happened in the aftermath?

You’re not going to believe it…

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Police Bodycam Footage Shows Moment Disabled Woman Flashes Arm Stump After Cop Accuses Her of Texting with Her “Right Hand”

Newly-released police bodycam footage shows the moment a disabled woman flashed her arm stump after a cop accused her of texting with her “right hand.”

A Palm Beach County officer pulled over Kathleen Thomas, 36, for distracted driving earlier this year.

The officer told Thomas that he pulled her over for “holding the phone with your right hand” while she was driving on North Dixie Highway.

Thomas immediately showed the officer her handless arm and flashed her stump.

“So I’m obviously not. So you wanna just call this a day?” Thomas said to the stunned officer.

The officer did not back down from his claims.

“I don’t want to call it a day. You had a hand up,” the officer said.

The officer continued to humiliate Thomas and asked her to put a “hand to God” to promise she wasn’t texting with her right hand.

“Hand to God,” Thomas said as she held up her stump.

“The other hand to God,” the officer said.

The officer issued Thomas a citation; however, the citation was later dismissed after Thomas challenged it in court.

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Open Records Laws Reveal ALPRs’ Sprawling Surveillance. Now States Want to Block What the Public Sees.

Reporters, community advocates, EFF, and others have used public records laws to reveal and counteract abuse, misuse, and fraudulent narratives around how law enforcement agencies across the country use and share data collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRs). EFF is alarmed by recent laws in several states that have blocked public access to data collected by ALPRs, including, in some cases, information derived from ALPR data. We do not support pending bills in Arizona and Connecticut that would block the public oversight capabilities that ALPR information offers.

Every state has laws granting members of the public the right to obtain records from state and local governments. These are often called “freedom of information acts” (FOIAs) or “public records acts” (PRAs). They are a powerful check by the people on their government, and EFF frequently advocates for robust public access and uses the laws to scrutinize government surveillance. 

But lawmakers across the country, often in response to public scrutiny of police ALPRs, are introducing or enacting measures aimed at excluding broad swaths of ALPR information from disclosure under these public records laws. This could include whole categories of important information: general information about the extent of law enforcement use; details on ALPR sharing across policing agencies; data on the number of license plate scans conducted, where they happened, and how many “hits” for license plates of interest actually occur; analyses on how many false matches or other errors occur; and images taken of individuals’ own vehicles. 

No thanks. Public records and public scrutiny of ALPR programs have shown that people are harmed by these systems and that retained ALPR data violates people’s privacy. In this moment, lawmakers should not be completely cutting off access to public records that document the abuses perpetuated by ALPRs.

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Trump Flips Script on Reporter Asking if He’ll Allow Iran to Charge Tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, Says He Already Has a “Concept” to Charge Tolls – “What About Us Charging Tolls? We Won!”

President Trump on Monday said that he is actually considering controlling the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz with tolls for shipping once Iran is defeated. 

President Trump plans to launch a massive attack on Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and energy if they do not make a deal by tomorrow. During the press conference, Trump threatened that “every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night,” and “every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”

During a press conference on Monday, Trump was asked if he would end the conflict while allowing Iran to continue charging tolls to oil tankers for safe passage through the Strait. But Trump thought the reporter was asking if he would be charging tolls for oil shipping.

“What about us charging tolls?” Trump asked after the reporter clarified he was referring to Iran.

“I’d rather do that than let them have them, right? Why shouldn’t we?” he continued, before declaring, “We’re the winner. We won!” Trump then revealed that the US already has a “concept where we’ll charge tolls.”

“Your question would have been more accurate if you said us,” Trump said.

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New York’s Governor Seems Indifferent to the Health Consequences of a Steep Tax on Nicotine Pouches

By pushing a 75 percent wholesale tax on nicotine pouches, New York State Budget Director Blake Washington says, Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to address “a public health concern.” That rationale is absurd on its face, since this tax would sharply raise the cost of a nicotine product that is far less hazardous than cigarettes, perversely discouraging smokers from making a switch that could save their lives.

Hochul, who seems determined to portray a money grab as a benevolent intervention, is either oblivious or indifferent to the health consequences of taxing nicotine patches at the same rate as cigarettes. “We see it as a distinction without a difference,” Washington told reporters in January.

That position ignores the huge difference between inhaling tobacco smoke, which contains myriad toxins and carcinogens, and orally absorbing nicotine from a pouch placed between the lip and gums. Hochul’s framing also contradicts what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said four days before the end of the Biden administration, when it authorized the marketing of Zyn nicotine pouches in two doses and 10 flavors.

That decision was based on the FDA’s determination that “the new products offer greater benefits to population health than risks.” The data, said Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, “show that these nicotine pouch products meet that bar by benefiting adults who use cigarettes and/or smokeless tobacco products and completely switch to these products.”

Nicotine pouches contain “substantially lower amounts of harmful constituents than cigarettes,” the FDA noted. They therefore offer “a lower-risk alternative for adults who smoke cigarettes.”

How much lower? To give you a sense of the difference, the Royal College of Physicians estimates that “the hazard to health” from e-cigarettes, which likewise do not contain tobacco or burn anything but do require inhalation, “is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.”

Nicotine pouches “contain far, far fewer harmful constituents compared to traditional tobacco products,” notes Mary Hrywna, a tobacco control specialist at the Rutgers School of Public Health. The FDA’s Zyn decision implicitly acknowledged that nicotine pouches are “much safer than cigarettes,” says Ray Niaura, a professor at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

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The Stealing of America: You’re Not a Citizen—You’re a Revenue Stream for the Power Elite

“There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.”—Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

You’re not imagining it.

Everything costs more. Everything is monitored.

Everything feels like it’s designed to take—from your wallet, your time, your freedom.

That’s because it is.

The government has turned everyday life into a revenue stream—funding endless wars, bloated agencies, surveillance systems, and profit-driven policing… all on your dime.

You’re not just paying taxes. You’re paying to be watched. Paying to be policed. Paying to be controlled.

This isn’t government. It’s a business model.

By now, it has become painfully clear that the only economic plan being advanced by the Trump administration is the kind that enriches the oligarchy at the expense of everyone else.

If the government’s newly dubbed “war on waste,” headed by Vice President J.D. Vance, is anything like its deceptively futile past efforts to drain the swamp and use DOGE to cut spending that is inefficient, we should expect to see corruption, graft and waste rise while vital programs that benefit the taxpayer get slashed.

The level of self-serving corruption, indulgence and excess by the elite ruling class while Americans struggle to make ends meet is off the charts.

Under President Trump, his gilding of the White House has coincided with the dawn of a new self-serving age of indulgence for the American oligarchy. As Debbie Millman writes for the New York Times: “Trump is showing the world that his presidency is a royal court where a select few are invited to pledge their allegiance… Trump is refashioning the presidential residence into a palace; our democracy is now a members-only club.”

This is Donald Trump’s “let them eat cake” moment.

Tens of millions in one year alone for the president’s weekend golf trips while government agencies are dismantled and tens of thousands of federal workers have their jobs slashed. According to the web tracker “Did Trump Golf Today?” Trump has spent 23.5% of his presidency golfing at an estimated cost of $141 million to the taxpayer.

An extra $200 billion in additional defense funding so Pete Hegseth can make a game out of war with Iran. More than $16 billion was spent in the first 12 days of Trump’s war on Iran. That does not include the rising cost of gas and consumer goods or the long-term costs of supporting those injured in the war.

$1 billion to a French company to not develop two wind projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York.

$14 billion in oil revenue to Iran to fund its war with the U.S. 

$22 million in one month on lobsters and ribeye steak so the Defense Department wouldn’t have to risk losing some of their taxpayer-funded budget. $1.8 million for musical instruments, including a “$98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade flute from the luxury Japanese brand Muramatsu.”

$400 million for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom to which most taxpayers will never be invited.

$75 – $150 million to turn a public golf course into a championship-level golf course in the nation’s capital.

$100 million for a 250-foot “Arc de Trump” next to Arlington National Cemetery.

At least $60 million for a UFC event on the White House South Lawn to commemorate Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

While members of Trump’s inner circle dine on lobster and filet mignon, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggests that Americans struggling with the high cost of beef instead buy and eat “cheap cuts” like liver.

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Proposed Bill On Automated License Plate Readers Would Safeguard Data For Illegals, Gender-Affirming Care, Abortions

Today the Judiciary Committee introduced a bill to regulate the use of automated license plate reader systems and safeguard data derived from such systems.

H.B. No. 5449, An Act Concerning Automated License Plate Reader Systems, would dictate how public agencies and law enforcement could operate automated license plate reader systems or use the data from such systems.

Data collected by these systems cannot be retained for more than seven days unless there’s a warrant or a court order, or if the data is for the purpose of collecting highway usage fees.

The bill describes a number of restrictions for usage of data collected by automated license plate reader systems.

No public agency or law enforcement agency operating a system may use the data for:

  • Monitoring or investigating an individual based on an individual’s actual or perceived race, ethnicity, criminal history, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, sex, pregnancy status, disability, citizenship, nationality or income level;
  • Identifying individuals engaged in activities protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution;
  • Investigating a suspected immigration violation or otherwise assisting in any civil or criminal immigration enforcement activity;
  • Investigating or prosecuting any individual who has sought, received, or provided reproductive health care services or gender-affirming health care services;
  • Collecting data on the premises of or nearby a reproductive or sexual health facility, facilities that provide gender-affirming care services or a nonprofit or community organization that primarily serves immigrants (which presumably includes illegals), excluding any property under federal jurisdiction;
  • Sharing with other individuals or entities, except under certain circumstances;
  • Participating in any multistate, intrastate, or national data-sharing system or network, except under certain conditions; or
  • Permitting a public agency to have real-time, bulk or automatic access, except in specific cases.

The bill also says automated license plate reader data “shall not be disclosable under the Freedom of Information Act pursuant to chapter 14 of the general statutes” though it will disclose locations of any still or video image recording device used as part of an automated license plate reader system and other data derived from audits of the system, usage logs, etc., so long as all automated license plate reader data has been redacted.

There would also be limits on contracts or agreements with private vendors that might interact with automated license plate reader systems and data to restrict them from selling, sharing, transferring, disseminating or otherwise providing access to the data, except as authorized in the bill.

Agencies could be sued for failing to follow HB 5449.

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Palisades Fire victims ‘insulted’ by new brush clearance bill

Fire victims in Pacific Palisades say they are frustrated and confused after receiving brush clearance bills from the City of Los Angeles for properties where their homes once stood.

What we know:

Nearly 14 months after last year’s deadly fire destroyed thousands of homes across the community, some residents say they were mailed $31 notices citing alleged noncompliance with brush clearance rules — even though their lots remain empty and covered mostly in dirt.

“This is one final blow. After everything that happened, they’re still trying to take money,” said resident Christine Martinez, whose home was destroyed in the fire.

Others echoed the same disbelief.

“I was a little astonished because there’s no house and no brush,” said Carol Sanborn, who lost the home she lived in for more than 40 years.

Sanborn says several neighbors have also received the notices, adding to the frustration among fire survivors still working to rebuild.

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