Dublin Man’s tale of woe keeps losing its pathos

/

I’m afraid we have a wee problem, seamus

Fled from drug charges and his children.

The pro-illegal alien crowd thought that had their new "Maryland man" in Seamus Culleton, an Irish illegal alien being held in one of ICE's "concentration camps" who made news after CBS News essentially transcribed a telephone interview Culleton had with an Irish radio station a day earlier, claiming that he feared for his life because ICE agents had killed people at his detention center.

British media picked up on the story and revealed that Culleton was facing three charges relating to drug offences back in his country, making him a fugitive as well as an illegal (and, according to Sen. Ed Markey, a man "with strong Massachusetts ties").

Sorry, Dems, but this isn't your new Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Now, the British media has gotten in touch with the twin daughters, who say their father abandoned them and should return to Ireland to face the charges.

The Daily Mail reports:

The estranged twin daughters of a man detained in the US have claimed he ‘abandoned’ them and called for their father to be sent home to face justice on his drugs charges.

They spoke out after ICE detainee Séamus Culleton this week appealed on RTÉ radio for the Irish Government to raise his case with US president Donald Trump so that he could return to his wife, a US citizen, and his plastering company in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.

The twins, who will turn 19 over the coming days, said Mr Culleton ‘abandoned’ them when they were just 18 months old, leaving their mother Margaret (Maggie) to raise the children herself.

…

Their father, they say, built a new life for himself in the US but never saw his own daughters in person again. Heather and Melissa claim their father is ‘not the man people think he is’ and said his claim that he has done ‘no wrong’ is false.

The two young women said their mother has not received ‘a penny’ in child maintenance from Mr Culleton since he abandoned them.

Never there, but back again (Updated)

/

It couldn’t get $95 million in 2008, nor did it succeed at $75 million in 2015, but the former 268-acre estate of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger’s family (they cashed out in 1992), “Hillendale” at 1233 Rock Rimmon Road in Stamford is on the block again, still looking for $75 million. Maybe; as listing agent Joe Barbieri said back in 2015, “If someone wants to have their own planet, Hillandale is the place to go. There’s nothing else like it.’

Update: A comment by Snotty Philistine about Pinch’s look: “Sulzberger has the physiognomy of someone who was a frequent guest on Epstein Island” reminded me: he’s mentioned in dispatches:

In a later exchange on 11 December 2017, Wolff and Epstein discussed high-profile candidates for the next round of sexual abuse scandals. Wolff wrote: “Big names on the horizon… my favorite: Arthur Sulzberger.” Epstein replied: “you and I are old news? :)”

On 13 December 2017, the NY Times announced 66-year-old Pinch’s retirement as publisher of the NY Times. His retirement took effect two weeks later. One day after the announcement Epstein, emailed his long-standing contact Landon Thomas Jr., then a journalist at the New York Times, writing “Sulzberger - told you”, to which Thomas Jr. asked for proof “that was driving this”. Epstein replied: “wait”.

Epstein's relationship with the Sulzberger family dated back to the 1970s, when he spent time at the Sulzberger family's country estate, according to a draft Epstein profile written by Landon Thomas Jr. for NY Magazine in 2015, which was never published.

Choo-choo (should) go bye-bye

/

Why Connecticut could pull electric trains off a rail line in favor of diesel

In 2022, state and federal officials touted the rollout of electric trains on Shore Line East, saying they were quieter, more comfortable and better for the environment than the diesel-powered equipment they were replacing.

The M8 trains, already in service on the New Haven line for more than a decade at that point, “have long been awaited by Shore Line East customers and represent a substantial improvement over the older diesel-powered train sets,” Gov. Ned Lamont’s office said at the time.

“Electric trains emit no carbon emissions,” the office said. [Little-known fact: they run on hot air and unicorn urine — Ed]

But [now] the Connecticut Department of Transportation is looking to bring diesel trains back to Shore Line East between New London and New Haven, saying it will save the state $8.8 million annually. 

About time, too; this New Haven to New London line has been colossal waste of money for decades, a boondoggle that makes the amount spent on that similarly underused “green” train to nowhere, from New Haven to Hartford, look cheap. How much waste? How much money is spent ferrying 180 people a day along the 40-mile trip to New London? A whole bunch:

How much does a train ticket cost Connecticut taxpayers? Maybe more than you think

When 2025 ends, the state Department of Transportation estimates that there will be 218,294 rides on the Shore Line East line and those riders will pay a total of $720,000 in fares. That means about 98% of the $40.8 million it takes to operate the line needs to be subsidized.

The remaining $40.1 million is taxpayer subsidized, meaning it costs the state and average of $183.77 every time someone takes a ride on Shore Line East.

The subsidies required to operate Shore Line East are higher than the other rail lines in the state. The Hartford line, with its 840,693 passengers, needs 94 percent of its $69.6 million operating costs subsidized, a total of $65.6 million or $78 per ride. 

Fight fiercely, Harvard. If you're looking for the reason Democrat elites and their dupes are so determined to block voter ID, start here (then move east).

/

Nick Shirley Just Took a Look at California Voter Rolls and OMG

Victoria Taft, PJMedia:

In California, cities and towns may not require anyone to show an ID to vote — that’s just how insecure the voter rolls are in the Golden State.

Why do you think Gov. Gavin Newsom was more than willing to put a measure up for a vote to deny Republicans congressional House seats if he didn’t know how locked his party is on the voters in his state? And that “lock” isn’t just about numbers. It’s about the number of votes that have no real connection to the identities of actual voters on the rolls. Indeed, a shocking number of voters have little to no link to an ID or Social Security number tying a person to a vote in California. The same is true in Washington State and likely in other states that have heavily relied on mail-in voting.

This is why Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, wants to check the California voter rolls — and why a new video by Nick Shirley, who you last saw hunting down fake Somali "learning" centers in Minneapolis, is so impactful.

In his new 23-minute video in San Diego and Orange Counties — remember, the most “conservative” areas in California — Shirley casts a bright light on how “Californians” are registered to vote at illegal addresses such as office spaces, storage units, and PO Boxes throughout the state. These are all illegal residences.

Indeed, the California voter rolls are so leaky that multiple 125-plus-year-olds have been voting for years in the state. Quick! These people need to be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest voters ever!

I want you to watch Nick’s video, and then watch my interview with Linda Paine of Election Integrity Project California (below) to see, in even more granular detail, why “voter impersonation” — not what we typically think of as “voter fraud” — is the real problem in the Golden State.

If you don't check, then there's no problem, right? 

This is an issue so important to the West Coast, Messed Coast™, and indeed the entire country, because California's breezy way of voting is so insecure it turns voter integrity on its head.

For years, Linda Paine and her volunteers at  Election Integrity Project California have been documenting voter integrity. She told me that 2018 was a pivotal year in 40 out of California's 58 counties.

"[W]hat we found in 2018 was a massive corruption of the system connected with mismanaged voter roles so that ineligible ballots were sent out. We saw in 2018 that there were many congressional seats flipped. So if you all remember your history California, that's why this report is so important." 

California is the breeding ground for voter fraud in America, as millions of people vote with no ID, month-long election processes, inaccurate voter rolls, dead people caught voting, even a dog successfully registered to vote, and voter verification is all based on your signature — not who you actually are. In this video, I go to locations from California’s public voter rolls from the Secretary of State, and not a single location could verify the voter rolls. - Irregularities in voter numbers per location - 30+ people registered to one mail store - Voters inaccurately aged at 125 years old

These fellows are giving this entire transgender business a bad name. (Updated)

/

Let's trade: you can let your murderers and rapists free if you'll agree to raise the voting age to twenty-seven, after their brains have developed, and they’re capable of reason

/

(State Rep. Craig Fishbein of Wallingford, a ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said Thursday he will oppose the legislation because he believes this cohort is serving prison sentences related to homicides and murders. “Maybe the message should be not to kill people,” )

HARTFORD — About 140 who are imprisoned who committed serious crimes as teens and young adults could become eligible for early parole under legislation aimed at expanding a 2023 law that recognizes the acceptance of rehabilitation.

CT proposal could make 140 people convicted as youthful offenders eligible for early parole…

It would also raise the age from 21 and younger at the time of sentencing to 26 and younger, in line with emerging scientific research that shows adolescent brains are still developing into their 20s.

“Research shows that the human brain, especially the areas responsible for judgment, impulse control and decision-making continues developing into the mid-20s,” said Nolan….

During a news conference, Greta LaFleur, associate professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale, said the current sentencing law contains “defects” that date back to 2005. That is when the U.S. Supreme Court set aside the death penalty for people who committed crimes as juveniles, when they were less able to process the consequences of their actions, she said.

In fact, I’d expand any new disenfranchisement law to include anyone who graduated college with a liberal arts degree since, say, 1980; their judgment and cognitive capabilities have been permanently destroyed.

The previous post notwithstanding, I'd have absolutely no objection if Noem rounded up this mouth breather and deported him to El Salvador's CECOT prison

/

WTAF?! Chris Murphy Gets the SMACKDOWN He Deserves for Making DEMENTED Claim About ICE and Children

It’ll play in Connecticut, where the voters’ IQs match Murphy’s but not, I hope in the rest of the country when he takes his presidential campaign national.

The propagandists are winning; with, sorry to say, the help of Noem

/

A majority — 2/3 — of Americans polled now oppose ICE CAPADES

Betsy McCaughey

       A new Harvard/Harris public opinion poll shows two-thirds of Americans now disapprove of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That spells trouble for taxpayers and everyone who wants safe neighborhoods.

        A majority of Americans voted for President Donald Trump to enforce immigration laws. The poll, done just after the shooting of anti-ICE activist Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, indicates how Democratic political rhetoric and misleading media reports are causing most Americans to change their minds. Democrats in Congress are trying to hold back ICE funds.

        If this growing movement to hamstring ICE and let recent illegals stay here succeeds, hold on to your wallet. Either the criminal migrants roving the streets will rob you, or you'll have to empty your wallet yourself to pay for the welfare benefits illegals consume.

…. New York data show illegals commit crimes three times as often as legal residents.

        Politicians demanding that ICE leave their states are stabbing the public in the back. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ordered state law enforcement to dissolve any partnerships with ICE. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is calling for the agency's abolition. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is telling ICE to "go home."

        In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced legislation to limit local police cooperation with ICE, which she calls "a rogue federal agency that's been unleashed on the American streets for the sole purpose of creating chaos, carnage and fear." Nonsense.

        The tragic deaths in Minnesota need to be investigated, and ICE training procedures need to be adapted to the new reality of subversive agitators like the Chinese Communist Party-linked People's Forum egging on crowds to obstruct ICE agents. They are not trained on how to handle this manufactured obstruction.

        But ICE's core mission is vital. Violent crime surged during former President Joe Biden's four years -- at the same time that the U.S. experienced an unprecedented influx of illegal aliens. Over 60% of those arrested by ICE in the last year have pending criminal charges or convictions [another way to put it is that 40% of those arrested have no criminal record, other than of course, entering the country illegally – Ed] ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons testified to Congress on Tuesday.

        An estimated 61% of households headed by an illegal used federal welfare benefits in 2024, including SNAP, Medicaid, federally supported health centers, substance abuse treatment programs, mental health services and Head Start.

        Illegals are not eligible for these things under federal law, and Trump cracked down on their use when he took office in 2025. But many blue states, including California, Connecticut and New York, then shifted the cost on to state taxpayers.

        Lamont blamed Trump's "harsh cuts" for increased state spending in Connecticut, without actually spelling out that the money is going for illegals.

        Unless ICE deports a large number of those who entered the country unlawfully, overstayed visas or were paroled during the Biden presidency, these migrants will cost America $1.5 trillion over their lifetimes. Immigrants ages 18 to 24 without a high school diploma cost taxpayers the most, each consuming an average of $332,000 in lifetime welfare and health benefits, according to the Manhattan Institute.

All bad: however, these sweeps have harmed the overall effort:

[A]ccording to Tom Homan, he wanted to go after criminal illegal aliens, while Kristi Noem went for a full sweep of all of those who have no right to be here and thereby gave the media branch of the Democrat party ammunition for its crusade to reopen the borders.

WASHINGTON — Border czar Tom Homan made clear there’s still no love lost between him and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in an interview Sunday.

Homan brushed aside the broadside against Noem and Bovino, recounting how President Trump dispatched him to Minnesota, and he “just did things the way I’ve done for 40 years.”

He also admitted to disagreeing with Noem — seemingly confirming an ongoing power struggle that has played out since Trump took office.

Behind the scenes, Homan has preferred to prioritize targeting criminal illegal aliens, while Noem has wanted to go after everyone in the US illegally and conduct broad-based sweeps.

One could argue that Noem had the better argument so far as immigration law should operate, but there’s no question that it’s failed to accomplish its objective and in fact has hurt the effort to enforce it: from 90% approval to 66% disapproval is a dIsastrous swing.

I doubt that even the most delicate of seismometers could detect so much as a tremble (Updated)

/

I have absolutely no interest in the Olympics: corrupt judges, spoiled American athletes trashing the U.S., and hours of inane commentary; I did watch my friend Sandy Hamill’s little sister Dodo win gold in 1976, and the U.S. - Russia hockey game in 1980, but those two events comprise my entire viewing history during the past fifty years. So I have no idea whether a cheating scandal in the exciting sport of curling is huge deal or not, but I really, really doubt it, and this NY Post headline strikes me as a bit overwrought.

Just sayin’.

Update. Glenn Reynolds:

“I love how the Canadians pretend to be squeaky clean — but a nation that will cheat at curling will cheat at anything."