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Category: News
January 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Crime
Economy

‘Toy Story’ Origin Store in San Fran Closes After 86 Years Citing ‘Perils and Violence.’

Jeffrey’s Toys, an 86-year-old San Francisco institution credited with inspiring Toy Story, is closing its last store in the crime-ridden Californian city due to disorder downtown and crippling rent payments.

“The store has been struggling for a number of years, due to the perils and violence of the downtown environment, inflation, the decrease in consumer spending and the demise of retail,” explained Ken Sterling of Sterling Venture Law, an attorney for the Luhn family, which has managed the business for generations.

“The family is saddened it has come to this and we’ve explored all other options to try and keep the business going. The leadership of the City of San Francisco and the Downtown Association have their work cut out for them on how to revitalize what was once a vibrant and fun downtown experience,” Sterling added.

Michael Luhm, a former Toy Story and Simpsons animator who ran the store with his father, warned before Christmas that the business was doomed unless the Democrat-controlled city changed course.

“We’re putting our money in, we’re putting our hard work in, and we’re putting our love into it. But, in the relationship we have with the city, that’s not being returned,” Luhn lamented.

He said the store was $20,000 per month in rent and suffering losses due to the city’s failure to tackle theft and fencing. He even described losing an employee of five years after someone threw her into a wall and tried to stab her.

Jeffrey’s will be shuttered for the last time at the end of February.

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Jeffrey’s Toys, an 86-year-old San Francisco institution credited with inspiring Toy Story, is closing its last store in the crime-ridden Californian city due to disorder downtown and crippling rent payments. show more
January 31, 2024
William Upton
News
TECH

TSA Plans Expansion of Facial Recognition to Over 400 Airports.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is set to expand a pilot facial recognition program to more than 400 federally-run airports nationwide. Current generation Credential Authentication Technology devices — CAT-2 units — are currently deployed at around 30 U.S. airports as part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pilot program. Meanwhile, privacy concerns have sparked increased scrutiny of the plan from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Scanners being used in the DHS pilot program use A.I. to compare government I.D. photos of passengers with those taken in real-time at the airport, bypassing the need for passengers to provide identification to a human TSA agent before proceeding through the security checkpoint. Currently, passengers can opt out of CAT-2 screenings and can still go through the standard TSA I.D. process instead.

How Does CAT-2 Facial Recognition Work?

“The CAT-2 units are currently deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide and will expand to more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years,” a TSA spokesman said, adding that airports using the units have posted clear signage notifying passengers of the facial recognition device’s use and that they may opt out of the facial recognition program.

According to the TSA, the CAT-2 units use one-to-one verification — meaning the real-time passenger photo is compared to a single government-issued photo like those found on I.D.s instead of a larger database of images. Once the passenger is cleared, the scanner is supposed to delete the photo.

Opposition on Capitol Hill

Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced legislation to ban the TSA from using facial recognition technology this past November. “It’s astonishing that the TSA is expanding its invasive facial recognition program in the face of congressional concern,” Sen. Kennedy said, addressing the expanded use of the CAT-2 scanners.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske told attendees at last year’s South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, that facial recognition and other biometric programs are inevitable. “Eventually we will get to the point where we will require biometrics across the board because it is much more effective and much more efficient,” Pekoske said.

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is set to expand a pilot facial recognition program to more than 400 federally-run airports nationwide. Current generation Credential Authentication Technology devices — CAT-2 units — are currently deployed at around 30 U.S. airports as part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pilot program. Meanwhile, privacy concerns have sparked increased scrutiny of the plan from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. show more
January 31, 2024
Ed Kozak
News
Politics

Patagonia Is Spending MILLIONS of Firm Profits on Far-Left Causes.

Outdoor clothing company Patagonia is spending millions of its profits on far-left causes — including $1 million to help elect Democrats across the country — a report in The New York Times reveals.

In 2022, Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, gave up ownership of the famous outdoor apparel brand. At the time, Chouinard declared that all of the company’s future profits would be used to “give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.” Since then, those profits — totaling more than $71 million — have been distributed to various campaigns and causes via an entity called the Holdfast Collective.

The Holdfast Collective has so far given “$1 million to help elect Democrats around the country, including $200,000 to a super PAC this month,” according to the Times. Recipients of those funds include the Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC.

The spending is raising concern among conservatives about the Hodlfast Collective’s influence. Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the conservative watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, called Holdfast “a $1.7 billion political organization in waiting” and said her group plans to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission for incorrectly reporting donations as having come from the Holdfast Collective instead of the nonprofit groups it administers.The Holdfast Collective’s funneling money to Democratic political causes appears at odds with Chouinard’s pledge to use company profits for environmental causes. “I personally fail to see the connection between spending money on abortion and climate change,” Sutherland noted.

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Outdoor clothing company Patagonia is spending millions of its profits on far-left causes — including $1 million to help elect Democrats across the country — a report in The New York Times reveals. show more
January 31, 2024
William Upton
Corruption
Crime
News

Dem ‘Squad’ Member Cori Bush Under DOJ Investigation.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) — a member of the progressive group of House lawmakers called “The Squad” — is under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly misspending federal funds for personal security. Yesterday, the clerk of the House of Representatives reported on the floor that the House Sargeant at Arms had received a DOJ subpoena for records relating to expenditures made by a Member. It was later revealed that the Member in question was Bush.

While the exact details and scope of the DOJ investigation are unclear at this time, it is likely to focus on the Missouri Democrat’s prolific use of public funds for private security and whether that money was abused for other personal expenditures. Bush married one of her private security guards, Cortney Merritts, in February last year.

Elected in the 2020 election, Bush has used government funds allotted to Congressional offices to spend prodigiously on security services. In her first three months in office, she spent over $32,000 on security. Her publicly funded ‘private’ security was further supplemented with campaign funds as well.

During her 2022 re-election campaign, Bush paid her future husband, Merritts, $62,359 for security services — though this appears to have come from her campaign accounts and not public funds. All in all, Bush’s campaign spent over half a million dollars on private security during the 2022 campaign.

In Congress, Bush has been an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM), even dismissing the group‘s participation in violent riots across the country in 2020. Additionally, Bush’s outsized spending on private security has drawn criticism in light of her advocacy and support for slashing the budges of — and even abolishing — local police departments.

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Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) — a member of the progressive group of House lawmakers called "The Squad" — is under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly misspending federal funds for personal security. Yesterday, the clerk of the House of Representatives reported on the floor that the House Sargeant at Arms had received a DOJ subpoena for records relating to expenditures made by a Member. It was later revealed that the Member in question was Bush. show more
January 31, 2024
Election 2024
Media
News
Politics

Biden SuperPAC Makes Largest Ad Purchase in U.S. History to Target Battleground States.

The Democrat SuperPAC backing President Biden’s re-election bid is reserving television air time it claims will be the largest political ad buy in U.S. history. Future Forward plans to reserve $250 million worth of advertising through a variety of mediums across the country.

Future Forward says the bulk of its ad buy  — $140 million — will be committed to television, while the remaining $110 million will be spread across digital and streaming services. The spending represents a significant uptick from the group’s expenditure during Biden’s 2020 campaign, in which the Democrat-aligned SuperPAC spent $151 million.

Swing State Media Blitz

The SuperPAC plans to target critical battlegrounds, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with a barrage of ads from August to Election Day. Future Forward’s campaigns are expected to spotlight topics such as Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and various Latino concerns in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

President Biden’s 2024 campaign committee and the PrioritiesUSA SuperPAC have already rolled out a strategy centered around a significant use of social media to mainly target the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. The SuperPAC and Biden campaign’s aggressive spending is likely in response to recent polls showing Trump leading the Democrat incumbent in most swing states.

Polls indicate that concerns about the 81-year-old Biden’s advanced age, his handling of inflation, increasing global instability, and the ongoing border crisis are fueling voter uncertainty toward his re-election.

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The Democrat SuperPAC backing President Biden's re-election bid is reserving television air time it claims will be the largest political ad buy in U.S. history. Future Forward plans to reserve $250 million worth of advertising through a variety of mediums across the country. show more
January 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Politics
UK
War

‘We Need to Do It’ – Ex-UK Foreign Secretary Urges Return of ‘National Service’.

Lord William Hague, a former British Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leader, is urging the government to introduce a modern form of the universal draft as the country further embroils itself in wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Hague, now a lawmaker in the House of Lords, wants Britain’s major political parties to commit to a Norwegian-style draft ahead of national elections this year. This would involve roughly a fifth of youngsters being conscripted to serve in uniform for 12 to 18 months, forming a reserve and enabling the military to expand to 870,000-strong in a crisis.

He wrote in the Times of London this week:

National Service is firmly associated with the past. It’s what they did in the 1940s and 1950s, isn’t it? That was our dads and grandads. How very 20th century. It is not seen as compatible with our hyper-individualistic age. How dare we disturb the idea that everyone has a lot of rights without any responsibility to protect them?

Most people with such fears can rest easy: the last thing the army needs is several million unwilling conscripts on its hands. But now we need the 21st-century version of National Service: not its return but its reinvention, bringing the prospect of skills, motivation, recognition and inclusion for individuals while ensuring the security of the country.

Sweden has just set an example of this, reinstating civic duty for 18-year-olds, which includes training in emergency services or maintaining vital infrastructure as alternatives to the armed forces. “Citizenship is not a travel document,” explained the Swedish prime minister, but comes with obligations as well.

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Lord William Hague, a former British Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leader, is urging the government to introduce a modern form of the universal draft as the country further embroils itself in wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. show more
January 30, 2024
News

E. Jean Carroll Says She’ll Buy ‘Premium Dog Food’ With Trump’s $83M.

E. Jean Carroll says she plans to use at least part of the $83.3 million in damages she was awarded by a New York City jury last week to buy premium dog food for her Great Pyrenees and pitbull. In an interview this past weekend, Carroll said she won’t waste a cent of the awarded damages, claiming: “We’re going to do something good with it.” When pressed further, she mused: “I’m going to be able to buy some premium dog food now.”

The damages awarded on Friday vastly overtake the previous $5 million she was granted by a jury in a separate trial against former President Trump last spring. Attorneys for Trump announced their intention to appeal the defamation judgment.

Former President Trump is expected to file post-trial motions, including a Motion for Remittitur, with Judge Lewis Kaplan asking that the $83.3 million judgment be reduced as it far exceeds what Carroll had claimed in damages. Post-trial, a judge can intervene and reduce damages if they determine the judgment far exceeds what is reasonable.

“Judge Lewis Kaplan has the authority to enter a conditional order of remittitur, compelling E. Jean Carroll to choose between a reduction of the verdict and a new trial if his court determines that the award is intrinsically excessive,” said Colleen Kerwick, a litigation attorney, in a recent interview.

Kerwick continued: “If that Motion for Remittitur is denied, it would still provide his attorneys with an opportunity to expand the Record on Appeal as nothing new can be introduced at the Appellate level — the Appellate Court’s task is to look over Judge Kaplan’s work and determine if he abused his discretion or erred as a matter of law in his rulings.”

She also added it is likely Trump’s attorneys will challenge the constitutionality of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which altered the statute of limitations that allowed Carroll to file a civil case on her sexual assault allegation. Trump has already challenged the law at the district court level, with any appeals likely to make their way to the Supreme Court eventually.

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E. Jean Carroll says she plans to use at least part of the $83.3 million in damages she was awarded by a New York City jury last week to buy premium dog food for her Great Pyrenees and pitbull. In an interview this past weekend, Carroll said she won't waste a cent of the awarded damages, claiming: "We’re going to do something good with it." When pressed further, she mused: "I’m going to be able to buy some premium dog food now." show more
January 30, 2024
UK
War
World

TERROR WORKS!? – UK May Recognize ‘Palestinian State’ to Aid ‘Peace’ Talks.

Lord David Cameron, the Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has discussed recognizing a Palestinian state with Arab diplomats — a move intended to pressure Israel into adopting a “two-state solution.”

“We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like — what it would comprise, how it would work,” he told the Conservative Middle East Council at a meeting in Parliament on Monday.

“As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations,” he continued, suggesting this “could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.”

However, the United Nations’ involvement in the recognition of a Palestinian state is unlikely to be seen positively in Israel after it was revealed that members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) took part in the October 7, 2023 terror attacks against Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also increasingly dismissive of a two-state solution, which the Joe Biden regime and the European Union favor. He argues Israel “must have security control over all the territory west of the Jordan” to be able to defend itself effectively — and that this “necessary condition… conflicts with the idea of [Palestinian] sovereignty.”

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Lord David Cameron, the Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has discussed recognizing a Palestinian state with Arab diplomats — a move intended to pressure Israel into adopting a “two-state solution.” show more
January 30, 2024
News
Politics

Is China Behind America’s Far-Left Climate Groups?

Republican leaders from three top House committees are investigating the Energy Foundation, an environmental group with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The inquiry follows a Fox News Digital report detailing $3.8 million in contributions from the Energy Foundation to U.S. climate groups. These include the Rocky Mountain Institute, the International Council on Clean Transportation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

The chairs of the House Energy and Commerce, Science Space and Technology, and Natural Resources committees — Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Frank Lucas (R-OK), and Bruce Westerman (R-Ark) — sent a letter to Energy Foundation CEO and President Ji Chou notifying him of their investigation.

“China has already attempted to influence United States policy and opinion regarding China through covert influence and exploit perceived societal divisions,” McMorris Rodgers, Lucas, and Westerman wrote. “As such, we are alarmed by attempts of China-affiliated organizations attempting to influence United States energy policy.”

While the Energy Foundation’s headquarters is in San Francisco, most of its operations are based in China, and its staff has extensive connections to the CCP. The group refers to itself as “Energy Foundation China” and split from the United States Energy Foundation in 2020. Many of its members have served in high-ranking roles within Chinese government agencies and state-run research institutions. Chou previously served as the deputy director general of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy.

The GOP leaders involved in the investigation requested documents and contracts linked to the Energy Foundation’s financial transactions. The investigation is part of broader Republican efforts to analyze how Chinese entities might influence environmental groups and their increasing engagement with the Chinese government on climate change issues.

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Republican leaders from three top House committees are investigating the Energy Foundation, an environmental group with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The inquiry follows a Fox News Digital report detailing $3.8 million in contributions from the Energy Foundation to U.S. climate groups. These include the Rocky Mountain Institute, the International Council on Clean Transportation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) show more
January 30, 2024
William Upton
News

Forbes: Trump Posts National Pulse Analysis on E. Jean Carroll Case.

Forbes has cited The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief’s E. Jean Carroll case summary in an article detailing President Donald J. Trump’s response to the jury’s verdict last week.

Forbes reports:

Trump, who had disparaged Carroll and the trial as it was going on, stayed silent in the aftermath of the verdict, avoiding any direct attacks on Carroll. He did, however, call the verdict “absolutely ridiculous” and said he would appeal. “Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon” he said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump has, however, shared articles from right-leaning media sites, including an opinion piece by Raheem Kassam in The National Pulse calling the Carroll verdict “the Greatest Miscarriage of Justice in Modern American History.”

You can read the entire analysis by The National Pulse’s Raheem Kassam here.

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Forbes has cited The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief's E. Jean Carroll case summary in an article detailing President Donald J. Trump's response to the jury's verdict last week. show more