I thought no further disclosure of White House graft could surprise me; I was wrong.

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Kamala’s brother-in-law fleeced taxpayers for billions to give to left-wing groups and lawyers

NYPOST

Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, may be the current world-class champ of presidential-family shady dealings, but not for long. 

If Kamala Harris wins the White House, her brother-in-law, Tony West, who is married to her sister Maya, is poised to claim the crooked crown.

Like Hunter, West learned his craft in the Obama years. 

Then head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, he invented a new form of what 19th-early 20thcenturies Tammany boss George Washington Plunkett famously called “Honest Graft.”

It was simple. 

Until 1977, Congress had to approve any settlement of a civil suit against the Federal government over $100,000.

But in that year, seeking relief from the burgeoning volume of suits to review, Congress removed the cap, handing the Justice Department a permanent blank check to pay settlements unilaterally, in any amount, out of an account known as the Judgment Fund.

Run by the Treasury Department, the Judgment Fund’s secrecy is so complete that our often-penetrated CIA might study it for lessons. 

The limited data released omits recipients, the facts underlying the case, and often the lawyers involved.

By statute, attorneys’ fees awarded need not be disclosed. 

A Government Accountability Office study concluded that “no one knows the number of claims processed by the federal government each year.”

Still, for three decades, the integrity of Justice’s officials sufficed to prevent abuse. 

Then, in 2009, Tony West took over the department’s Civil Division, the division that litigates and settles lawsuits. 

Once West arrived, his deputy emailed colleagues asking “can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money toward an organization of our choosing?”

Settlements became the vehicle for paying off political allies.

For example, in late 2010, after a Supreme Court victory, DOJ lawyers were on the cusp of winning a decade-long fight against discrimination claims by 91 Hispanic and female farmers. 

That’s when West intervened and, as The New York Times put it, “engineered a stunning turnabout.” 

DOJ agreed to a $1.33 billion settlement which included thousands of farmers who had never claimed bias. 

The deal was made over the “vehement objections” of the department’s career lawyers.

The Times’s investigative report described West’s settlement as a “runaway train, driven by racial politics . . . and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees.”

The projected settlement size ballooned to over $4.4 billion as additional plaintiffs were added, including Native American farmers. 

The government’s statistical expert was appalled: “‘If they had gone to trial, the government would have prevailed . . . It was just a joke. . . . I was so disgusted. It was simply buying the support of the Native Americans.’”

This dirty deal also inflated the number of claimants, creating a $60 million windfall for the plaintiff’s lead lawyer, a member of the Obama/Biden transition team.

But West did not just bilk taxpayers. He shook down corporations, too. 

In a series of bank settlements, his team added increasingly aggressive provisions requiring the institutions to make nearly a billion dollars in mandatory donations to Democrat-supporting activist groups.

Donations were given double credit against required targets, incentivizing these payments over direct relief to victims of the housing crises.

West’s team specifically structured the terms to ensure that they would benefit only their political allies while leaving conservative groups ineligible. 

An internal email shows West deputies rewording a settlement’s donation provisions to ensure the bank could not select a “conservative” property rights organization as a recipient.

Over time, West grew even more brazen. 

A 2016 Volkswagen settlement required the company to fund a $2 billion White House electric car initiative that Congress had specifically rejected. 

The largesse delighted liberal groups. 

An email circulated saying they ought to build a “statue” to West and “bow down to this statue each day after we receive our $200,000+.”

In this legal shakedown, California’s attorney general at the time, Kamala Harris, was an active participant, cosigning the agreements for her state.

The Biden-Harris Administration has continued West’s “Honest Graft” tactics to reward political allies on the taxpayers’ dime. 

In 2021, a billion-dollar settlement with illegal immigrants claiming emotional distress was scotched only after public outcry. 

Even then, DOJ quietly agreed to pay attorneys’ fees to the ACLU lawyers in the long-running case.

Recently, the Department agreed to pay $2 million to FBI Agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for releasing their anti-Trump texts to Congressional investigators worried about political bias. 

The pair claimed a violation of the Privacy Act, but the messages were sent on their government-issue phones which contain clear banner warnings that users lack any reasonable expectation of privacy.

DOJ had ample basis to litigate this case to completion before surrendering hard earned tax dollars to the disgraced FBI agents.

This form of civic corruption is not bipartisan. 

At the start of his administration, President Trump’s Attorney General banned settlement slush funds, while one of the early acts of the Biden-Harris DOJ was to rescind that ban.

… Meanwhile, the Tony West-invented, Biden-Harris operated “Honest Graft” machine pours taxpayer billions into left-wing activist groups, and West is said to be Harris’s White House counsel-in-waiting.

Hunter Biden step aside.

Who knew? Watermelons are now a symbol of solidarity with Palestinian terrorists — or something

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Black and Arab progressives are GOING TO WAR on social media over Kamala Harris

I’m all for internecine warfare between the progressives, and it’s fun to watch, as shown below, but what really intrigues me is the transformation of the lowly watermelon from a derogatory term for blacks (nope, never understood that) to a sign of solidarity for the pro-hamasians). Personally, I prefer my own definition, one that I think is of my own coinage, but probably lifted from someone else, “Watermelon — a raving environmentalist: green on the outside, red on the inside”.

In any event, here’s what’s sprawling across the patch now:

Essentially, the rub is that black activists think it's anti-black if you don't vote for Kamala Harris because she now identifies as black instead of Indian.

And it gets better:The pro-Palestinians have even taken to calling black people colonizers

Which has resurrected discussion of the trans-Saharan slave trade.

I'm as embarrassed to admit ownership of a pair back in 1980 as I am to confess that I wore a Nehru jacket to my 9th Grade prom in 1968, but a reader in Taos feels differently

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He does, however, object to this symbol of Eastern Preppiness being manufactured by Chinese slave labor. (Better that the six-year-olds digging up Congolese cobalt for Nantucket habitues’ Teslas be put to sewing garments in their spare time? — Ed)

The East is Red–Nantucket Red.

… Regardless of their huge popularization, Bickerstaff continued wearing his Reds at  dressy and not so dressy events, until they finally wore out. He never considered replacing them, especially after jumping ship to Taos. That is, until last week, when he shrugged his shoulders, muttered “what the hell,” and ordered a new pair of Reds from Murray’s.

They arrived soon and the Tatler was delighted with them, as they looked identical to his old ones from long ago. One thing he was curious to know was, were these lovely Reds still made on-island, as his original pair were. Alas, they were not only not made on-island, these essential New England artifacts are now made in China.

Bickerstaff can understand if, owing to their popularity, and no doubt having difficulty in these times finding skilled needle workers, and the like, especially among young people wanting to learn a trade, the Murrays had to go off-island. But in China, where the factories use forced labor, prisoners of war, and even children to man their sweatshops? In addition, there’s the god-awful Chinese government to consider, which supports some of the worst people on earth, and some of America’s worst enemies.

Hey Murrays, (they still own the company), why, in your search for cheap labor did you not consider other countries in the Far East, such as Bangladesh, India, Timor Leste, Kazakhstan, Nepal and others, where democracy and human rights are respected, and labor is affordable? Why patronize such a cruel and easily bought dictatorship as China?

The topic of this garment has, believe it or not, been debated for some time: the Wall Street Journal even published a fair and balanced discussion of the issue in 2021:

Not many pants out there are as instantly recognizable as Nantucket Reds, the deep-pinkish trousers that originated on Massachusetts’s tony Nantucket Island in the 1960s. That’s when the original—and as purists would argue, only—Reds retailer, Murray’s Toggery, began offering pants inspired by the sun-bleached sailcloth of French fishing boats. Since then, the style has been adopted by a mess of brands, from Ralph Lauren to Bonobos.

Special note to readers: Donald Trump and Kamalla will be guest-hosting FWIW this weekend — be sure to tell your friends!

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The DNC ‘Special Guest’ Rumor Turned out to Be a Con Job for Ratings

Social media was abuzz Thursday after rumors circulated that a "special guest" would appear on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.

It turns out it was all a con job, likely designed to maximize viewership for Kamala's big night.

Chances are, it worked. Speculation quickly centered on Taylor Swift, and fans were even tracking her plane to see if she would be in the area. Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon tried to appear relevant by claiming that sources told him either George W. Bush, Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift would be the "special guest."

Suddenly, Beyoncé became the most likely "special guest" to make an appearance, and TMZ even "confirmed" it.

“Beyoncé is in Chicago, and getting ready to pop out for Kamala Harris on the final night of the Democratic National Convention ... TMZ has learned.

“Multiple sources in the know tell us Queen Bey will be the big surprise performer as VP Harris officially accepts the Democratic party's nomination to run for president.

“As you'd expect, Beyoncé's appearance is a huge deal, not only for Harris and the Party but in Chicago as well. We're told Chicago PD is on high alert as it's involved in security for Beyoncé at the United Center arena.”

However, a representative for Beyoncé shot down the rumor later in the evening.

"Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there," the representative told The Hollywood Reporter. "The report of a performance is untrue."

So, who was the special guest? It was Kamala Harris.

Heck, I might even be able to persuade Elon to put down the donuts and join in the fun here on the blog.

Just in time for some lucky buyer to experience that back to school feeling

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It’s elementary, watson

After 9 years, 158 Clapboard Ridge Road, currently priced at $4.999 million (and surely going for less) is reported pending. The institutional-looking edifice has been on the market since 2013, when it began at $7.495. The time to buy it was probably August ‘22, when the dispirited owners had dropped the price to $3.999. But prospective buyers still shunned it — too many disturbing memories of ruler-wielding-nuns crushing fingers, perhaps — and the house was pulled; until May of this year, when it was brought back at $4.999 to a market that had “evolved”.

It’s interesting to note that, while the beautiful fall foliage shown in this listing’s pictures may depict what can be, unburdened by the summer that has almost passed, they certainly aren’t current —do they date back to 2013, or are they simply an attempt to show that this is a house for all seasons, or, perhaps, one that’s ahead of its time? Either way, the original listing broker must be relieved that she didn’t include that hoary real estate exhortation in the home’s description, “this one won’t last!”


Free to lie, unburdened by what has been

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PolitiFact: Kamala Harris Has Not Called for the Confiscation of Guns

“The phrase "gun confiscation" is broad and could lead voters to think that Harris wants to confiscate all guns from law-abiding owners. That’s not what she has said.

Further, those rights are constitutionally protected by the Second Amendment. In the U.S. gun buybacks are programs organized by local police departments that voluntarily allow people to turn over their guns in exchange for something, such as a gift card.

While running in the presidential primary in 2019, the then-California senator said she supported a "mandatory gun buyback program" for assault weapons. It did not apply to all guns, and she no longer holds that position.”

PolitiFact, Politico, they’re all in the tank for Mrs. Light Bringer:

Politico headline: "Accusation" 

And here’s the Indian herself, demonstrating that she and her handlers can blatantly lie, secure in the knowledge that the flying monkeys will protect her; no fact-checking for friends on the left:

“Trump’s false claims about fracking bans are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class,” the Harris campaign said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration passed the largest ever climate change legislation and under their leadership, America now has the highest ever domestic energy production.”

“She would not ban fracking,” a campaign spokesperson said in a follow-up email to POLITICO.

But …

And just for fun, here’s that wonderful mash-up again: