Oh, the humanity! And a small reminder

/

Flashback to 1993:

S.1351 - Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993103rd Congress (1993-1994)
Introduced in Senate (08/04/1993)

Lots of good stuff in these Democrats’ bill, sponsored by Harry Reid: here’s one, very much relevant today:

(Sec. 410) Requires State or local law enforcement agencies to notify the district Immigration and Naturalization Service office upon the felony arrest of an alien.

But here’s the kicker:

Title X: Citizenship - Makes it unlawful (and establishes penalties) for a noncitizen to vote in a Federal or State election.



                          TITLE X--CITIZENSHIP

SEC. 1001. BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP CLARIFIED.

    In the exercise of its powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth 
Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the 
Congress has determined and hereby declares that any person born after 
the date of enactment of this title to a mother who is neither a 
citizen of the United States nor admitted to the United States as a 
lawful permanent resident, and which person is a national or citizen of 
another country of which either of his or her natural parents is a 
national or citizen, or is entitled upon application to become a 
national or citizen of such country, shall be considered as born 
subject to the jurisdiction of that foreign country and not subject to 
the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of section 1 
of such Article and shall therefore not be a citizen of the United 
States or of any State solely by reason of physical presence within the 
United States at the moment of birth.

Here’s the late Senator introducing his bill back then:

“No sane country would reward you for being an illegal immigrant, right? Guess again. If you break our laws by entering this country without permission and give birth to a child, we reward that child by giving it US citizenship and guarantee full access to all public services and benefits .… Is it any wonder that two-thirds of the babies born at taxpayers’ expense in county-run hospitals in Los Angeles are born to illegal alien mothers?”

Two years later, the President of the United States was still harping on the subject:

(As a complete aside, why would anyone demand that we free the mall? Just asking.)

UPDATE: Just saw this on X. Funny.

It's been said that the police are there to protect criminals from citizens, not the other way around. Case in point ....

/

Hue and cry*

When the police (and the courts) fail to act

NYC serial spitter bloodied in street-style justice during epic beatdown: ‘F**K Jail, we’re worse than jail’

Anthony Caines — the sicko busted by the NYPD for allegedly spitting in the faces of white women who passed him in Williamsburg — has apparently been on the receiving end of some street-style justice.

[Caines was arrested on Nov. 13 for his serial spitting spree.

He was released with an ankle monitor the following day, after pleading not guilty to charges including aggravated harassment based on race or religion, according to court documents obtained by The Post.]

Video footage shared on social media showed two men beating and kicking a man who appeared to be accused spitter Caines, 45, outside of a hair salon on Sixth Street.

It was unclear when the footage was shot.

Caines, curled up on the sidewalk in a defensive fetal position, is dealt multiple blows by the two attackers, whose faces are never shown.

The two men laugh to themselves as they kick Caines and stomp on his legs.

Caines is heard wailing in pain during the beatdown.

The clip quickly cuts to an image of Caines with a large gash on his forehead, above his left eye. Blood streams down his face as the men issue a final warning.

“Stop violating these females out here, you heard?” the man filming the footage tells him.

“We’re tired of that s–t,” the man explains. “You’re making us look bad.” 

Caines appeared to confirm he understood, before saying, “I went to jail, didn’t I?”

Caines wailed as the beating unfolded, video showed.

“F–k jail — we’re worse than jail,” the man yells before delivering one last punch to his head.

“The NYPD did not receive a report about the assault on Caines.” No, I imagine not.

Of note, in my opinion, is that the men administering justice here were black; in other words, responsible citizens, preserving the safety of their neighborhood and their neighbors. I find that heartening.

From the earlier story:

A salivating sicko was busted last week in a racially-motivated spitting spree that targeted four white women in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — but walked free a day later, The Post has learned.

Anthony Caines, who is black, was arrested Nov. 13 after his repulsive two-day spitfest, but was sprung on Nov. 14 after pleading not guilty on charges including aggravated harassment based on race or religion, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

Caines, 45, whose rap sheet include arrests for domestic violence and contempt of court, was granted supervised release, authorities said.

The victim, a college student, was stunned when she was attacked outside 285 Broadway at 10:05 a.m. on Nov. 11.

Charging documents cite three similar incidents — all unfolding in Williamsburg on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12 — where Caines silently spit directly into the faces of the female strangers as they passed him on the street.

….The second assault happened less than two hours later, at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Grand Street. A third attack unfolded at Marcy Avenue and South Fourth Street at 10:40 p.m.

The fourth attack happened the next morning at 8 a.m. outside 186 Grand Street.

None of the incidents resulted in a felony charge, which would’ve kept Caines in custody.

*The image depicts a medieval "hue and cry". This was an ancient English common law procedure for pursuing suspected criminals. 

  • When a crime was witnessed, the victim or a witness would shout loudly to alert the community. 

  • All who heard the call were legally obligated to join the chase and help catch the criminal. 

  • Failure to participate would result in a heavy fine. 

  • It served as a cornerstone of medieval community-based law enforcement in the absence of a professional police force. 

Cry me a river

/

Somehow I’ve ended up on the mailing list of the History Channel, and interesting articles keep popping up in my in-box — this one mentions “the Chicago Onion Scam of 1955”. Wall Street frauds comprised my favorite area of legal practice — in fact, it was the only part of my law career I enjoyed — but I’d never heard of this one. I don’t want to give any ideas to my financial industry readers, but if you’ve decided to give widows and pensioners a break from your defrauding schemes this Christmas season, and find yourself with idle hands, looking around for a new venture to supplement your bio-tech and crypto-currency trading, well, apparently there was nothing per se illegal about this scheme: Sam Siegal seems to have just faded into obscurity, no harm, no foul, and his partner Vince Kosuga retired back to his NY onion farm untouched, taking his millions with him, and dying in 20001 still a rich man.*

It’s true that then-Congressman Gerald Ford got a law enacted banning onion trading (wtf?), but there are plenty of other fertile fields to plow: rutabagas, for instance, or next year’s parsley crop, or how about persimmons? Go for it, big guy.

AI Overview

The "onion stock market scam" of 1955 was a successful market manipulation scheme by two traders,

Vincent Kosuga and Sam Siegel, who cornered the US onion futures market and then intentionally crashed the price to make millions. The resulting outcry from bankrupt farmers led to the 1958 Onion Futures Act, which banned the trading of onion futures in the US. 

The Scheme

In 1955, onion futures were one of the most traded commodities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Kosuga, an onion farmer, and Siegel, a futures trader, orchestrated a two-part plan: 

  1. Cornering the market (late 1955): The pair bought up massive amounts of physical onions (around 30 million pounds, or 98% of the available supply in Chicago) and simultaneously purchased a large number of long futures contracts. This gave them control over the supply, driving up the price per 50-pound bag to a peak of $2.75.

  2. Flooding the market (early 1956): After accumulating significant short positions (betting prices would fall), they flooded the Chicago market with their massive hoard of onions. They even engaged in deceptive practices, such as shipping onions out of Chicago to be cleaned and repackaged, then shipping them back as "new" supply to give the illusion of an endless surplus.

The Aftermath

The sudden, artificial oversupply caused prices to plummet dramatically. A 50-pound bag of onions, once selling for over $2.75, dropped to a mere 10 cents by March 1956—less than the cost of the mesh bag it came in. 

  • Bankruptcies: The crash devastated onion farmers and other traders who had bought futures at the inflated prices, forcing many into bankruptcy.

  • Profits: Kosuga and Siegel made millions in profit from their short positions as the price collapsed.

  • Legislation: Public outrage prompted congressional hearings. Then-Michigan Congressman Gerald Ford sponsored the Onion Futures Act, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law in August 1958. 

To this day, onions are the only agricultural commodity for which futures trading is banned in the United States, a direct result of this market manipulation. 

*Here’s what I found on Vince:

But, you may ask, whatever happened to the Onion King? Vince Kosuga stayed in New York and continued running his onion farm as a simple local farm. He opened a restaurant called “The Jolly Onion Inn’ where he was the full time chef. He became well known for philanthropy, giving large amounts of money to the church, but cynics might say this was because he had acquired the nickname of “the most evil businessman in history.” Because of his philanthropy, he was named citizen of the year by the Pine Island Chamber of Commerce in 1987. After his death in 2001, his wife Polly continued his philanthropy using the fortune he had amassed by becoming the Onion King.

Newsom's Fire — and that of the majority of Californians who vote these people into offie and keep them there

/

Smoking gun: Gavin Newsom’s ‘Plant Police’ set the stage for deadly Palisades fire

Eleven months after the Palisades Fire destroyed thousands of Los Angeles homes, we may finally have the smoking gun linking Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to the deadly blaze.

A newly discovered “Wildfire Management Plan,” quietly issued by California State Parks just weeks before the Jan. 7 wildfire, states Newsom’s policy bluntly: “Unless specified otherwise, State Parks prefers to let Topanga State Park burn in a wildfire event” — disregarding the park’s proximity to residential neighborhoods.

The document, prepared in December 2024, was unearthed this week through legal discovery in a civil lawsuit against the state.

Attorney Alexander “Trey” Robinson, who represents thousands of Pacific Palisades residents, says the manual outlines new procedures for fire management.

Those procedures could have barred local firefighters from fully extinguishing an earlier blaze that later re-ignited in high winds. 

Federal investigators say the Palisades Fire was rekindled from the much smaller Lachman Fire on Jan. 1, which was started by alleged arsonist Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, of Florida.

The Lachman Fire began “on land owned by the local Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority . . . and spread onto land owned by California State Parks (Topanga State Park),” according to a federal indictment against Rinderknecht.

Local firefighters put out that fire in the wee hours of New Year’s Day, and came back on Jan. 2 to make sure it was fully extinguished. 

But according to text messages first unearthed by the Los Angeles Times, they were ordered to leave “even though they complained the ground was still smoldering and rocks remained hot to the touch.”

That was likely a fateful decision.

Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives later determined that the fire continued within the root structure of plants “approximately 20 feet south” of the original blaze. 

In the extreme winds of Jan. 7 — a seasonal Santa Ana wind, made stronger by a jet stream at high altitude — the conflagration reignited and spread from the chaparral of the park to nearby homes.

Locals have wondered for months why the firefighters left on Jan. 2, given the high risk that the fire could start again and spread from the state park to homes in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Highlands, just a few hundred yards away.

Some residents — notably reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who lost his home and has been investigating the fire ever since — have claimed that State Parks officials told firefighters they could not use heavy equipment to clear the perimeter of the fire, because doing so would harm engendered plant species.

Newsom has denied any state responsibility for the blaze.

His office has even called residents who are suing the state “opportunistic plaintiffs.”

But one local citizen took a photograph of a California State Parks employee — wearing a jacket with the department’s logo — talking to firefighters working on the Lachman Fire.

And the “Wildfire Management Plan” provides a key piece of evidence linking the disaster to the state’s apparent negligence.

The document defines “Avoidance Areas,” which contain “all sensitive Natural and Cultural Resources,” and where “no heavy equipment, vehicles, and retardant are allowed.”

Shockingly, the document says the public should not be told where these areas are: “Avoidance Areas should be shared with the Incident Command, but measures should be taken to keep the information confidential.”

The document also advises firefighters to use “modified fire suppression” techniques in these areas.

When performing a “mop-up” of an extinguished fire, firefighters are told to “consider allowing large logs to burn out.” 

It adds: “No mop-up techniques are allowed in avoidance areas without the presence of an archaeologist.”

Robinson, who obtained the Wildfire Management Plan on Tuesday thanks to a judge’s order, alleges that the Wildfire Management Plan prevented the Los Angeles Fire Department from fully extinguishing the Lachman Fire.

“We believe this is the reason LAFD was restricted from performing a normal mop-up of the Lachman Fire,” he told The Post. “I suspect State Park ‘Resource Advisors’ shared the avoidance map with the Lachman [Incident Command] and LAFD was forced not to mop up” in those designated areas.

“My personal opinion is that we will learn this is why the fire rekindled,” he added.

“The Plant Police prevented LAFD from doing their job.”

That — and the lack of an archeologist.

Related:

I remember reading stories last year, post-fire, about the curtailment of a land clearing project in Topanga Canyon due to the preence of the beloved — to some — Braunton’s milkvetch, but, rather than spend too much time digging around for individual citations, I used Google’s AI search tool. Carefully worded, a question directed to the tool will, usually, produce a useful summary. Here’s one:

AI Overview

Yes, California projects to clear underbrush in Topanga have been blocked due to concerns over protected plant species, notably the Braunton's milkvetch, which led to a halt in a 2019 wildfire prevention project by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. This conflict highlights the tension between wildfire safety and ecological protection, a debate that has intensified following recent fires in the region. 

The incident in Topanga Canyon

  • The project: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) began a project in Topanga State Park to replace old power poles, widen fire-access lanes, and install fire-resistant lines due to high fire risk.

  • The controversy: The project was halted after an amateur botanist reported damage to the Braunton's milkvetch, a rare and endangered shrub.

  • The consequence: The work was stopped, investigations were launched, and the incident sparked debate over how to balance wildfire prevention with protecting fragile ecosystems.

Here’s one of the sources cited in the AI search results — similar incidents have been occurring in California or decades, pitting “environmentalists” against the brutal frqpists armed with chainsaws, and the environmentalists have won almost every time. The result, possibly intended, possibly not, has been that as the annual drought season is followed by the California’s fire season, wildfires sweep the state, homes, towns and forests burn up, and blame is deflected from the land management policies that are the actual cause and placed instead on utilities, with extra credit awarded more recently to Global Warming and an angry Mother Gaia.

L.A. Workers Bulldozed Endangered Plants in Topanga to Ease Fire Danger, Prompting Outrage

Crews for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recently bulldozed hundreds of federally endangered plants in Topanga State Park, and both state and city authorities have launched investigations into DWP’s actions, part of a wildfire prevention project aimed at replacing wooden power poles with steel ones.

“In response to recent community concerns about protected plants in the construction area, the LADWP has halted construction and is working with biologists and other experts to conduct an investigation and assessment of the site,” Stephanie Spicer, a spokeswoman for the city water and power agency, said late Wednesday in response to inquiries from The [LA] Times.

In a separate incident this year, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works apparently encased federally threatened red-legged frogs in cement while making emergency repairs to a culvert in a portion of nearby Leo Carrillo State Park, which is vulnerable to heavy debris flows because of last year’s Woolsey fire.

Both events, not previously publicized by the agencies involved, have recharged debate over balancing wildfire safety and protecting fragile ecological resources following big blazes, including last year’s deadly Camp and Woolsey fires — and the Tubbs fire the year before that.

Man Bites Dog

/

CNN's Top Legal Analyst Explains Why the Georgia Case Got Tossed. Libs Won't Like It.

Matt Vespa, TownHall:

CNN’s Elie Honig, a former assistant US attorney and the network’s top legal analyst, has been fair in his analysis of the case. He’s not a MAGA guy, but he also knows procedure and how the Justice Department operates. He’s been quite clear that this case, and most of the legal actions against the president, were a bit shoddy.  

(Honig): “This motion is not a partisan screed. You would not read this and say this guy loves Trump; this guy hates Trump. It's a careful dissection of evidence, not through the lens of whether Trump's conduct was bad, but whether there was a supportable criminal case. This prosecutor leans towards no.

Vespa:

In the filing to dismiss, Honig noted that the prosecutor’s office added that the venue and charges were inappropriate at the state level, and it was more of a pile-on since Trump was facing similar charges at the federal level in DC. Those, too, were also scrapped. You can’t have a local county DA indicting and putting a sitting president on trial. It’s not going to happen. What about after Trump leaves office? Still a no-go due to statute of limitations.

It’s over, libs.  

But I thought these boats were carrying fishermen and their familes?

/

Off to pick up Juanita and pablo from daycare

Drug Hotspot On Venezuela’s Coast Reeling From Trump’s Strikes

November 28, 2025

A coastal Venezuelan city long dependent on smuggling of drugs and other contraband is facing economic collapse and government surveillance following U.S. strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats.

Residents in Güiria, a port city with a population of around 40,000, say U.S bombings have cut off illicit boat traffic that supported much of its local economy, including drug shipments and trade of contraband, food, and consumer goods with nearby states, Reuters reported Friday. With vessels no longer leaving the coast, Güiria’s shop owners report almost no cash moving through the city.

“There was only movement in stores recently because of government bonus payments; otherwise, there’s no money circulating,” said one local merchant, according to Reuters.

“No boats of any kind are leaving … not migrants, not people buying goods there to sell here, and certainly not those taking Venezuelan products to sell there, which was another way to make money. Everything is practically dead,” the merchant added.

AND:

Trump says boat crews are narco-terrorists. The truth is more nuanced, AP finds

November 8, 202512:46 PM ET

GÜIRIA, Venezuela — One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver.

The men had little in common beyond their Venezuelan seaside hometowns and the fact all four were among the more than 60 people killed since early September when the U.S. military began attacking boats that the Trump administration alleges were smuggling drugs. President Donald Trump and top U.S. officials have alleged the craft were being operated by narco-terrorists and cartel members bound with deadly drugs for American communities.

Colombian killed in U.S. strike was on a fishing trip, wife ...

CBS News

Oct 22, 2025 — "The Colombian boat was adrift with a distress signal, its engine raised," Petro wrote Saturday on X. "He had no ties to drug trafficking. His ...

Blaming Biden detracts attention from the real cause: "Green Energy"

/

Hilarious: Anti-Trump Energy Attack Backfires and Burns Biden Instead

Democrats are trying to talk about "affordability" now, as though it's a new word. 

They're trying to attack President Donald Trump over prices. 

But where were they in the whole context of the economy and costs when Joe Biden was occupying the office, and prices were skyrocketing? They were largely missing in action or trying to deny the effect of the problematic policies. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) gave a golden example of this problem when she hypocritically tried to attack Trump over energy prices. 

This, by the way, is why the Left went batshit crazy when Elon Musk took over Twitter and added a “community notes” feature for users to correct false claims:

Readers added context

Joe Biden was President from January 20, 2021 - January 20, 2025. Also, this chart is not representing the cost of electricity. It is showing the average past-due balances of Americans, which soared since 2022 under Joe Biden's presidency. bidenlibrary.gov/bidens/preside… cbsnews.com/news/power-shu…

Context is written by people who use X, and appears when rated helpful by others. Find out more.

For at least the past two decades, the Global Warmists have worked to shut down refiners, pipelines, power plants, and hydro-dams, while doubling the demand for electricity by requiring all-electric houses and commercial buildings (and and cars) and piled on regulations that curtailed the generation of new electricity from fossil fuels and reservoirs, all while hysterically and falsely touting “free” wind and solar power.

My modest utility bill has increased from $30 a month to $125 and is scheduled to go up an additional $5 per month in each of the next two years (with even larger price hikes forecast in the future). That increase is being repeated throughout the country, and the cost for houses larger than mine (two bedrooms, study, kitchen, no a/c,, approx. 1,200 sq. ft.) is far greater.

Yet “the people” urged on by politicians, the press, and the green energy profiteers, blame the power companies, who are simply passing on those costs to their consumers.

Morons, or merely deluded? Take your pick.