U.S. Politics: Footage from attack on Paul Pelosi released by authorities

 

Footage from attack on Paul Pelosi released by authorities

The surveillance footage showed the alleged attacker smashing through a glass window to get into the couple's San Francisco home.

By REUTERS, JANUARY 28, 2023

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-729883

 

A screenshot from a police body camera video shows David DePape holding onto Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the couple’s house on October 28, 2022, in San Francisco (photo credit: District Attorney/Handout via REUTERS)

San Francisco authorities released video footage on Friday of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, being struck by an intruder's hammer as police rushed into their home to stop the attack.

The police body-worn camera footage of the Oct. 28 violence was released alongside a surveillance video showing the alleged attacker, David DePape, 42, smashing through a glass window to get into the couple's San Francisco home, as well as a 911 call from a distressed Paul Pelosi, who was talking to the dispatcher with DePape apparently beside him.

In the body-cam footage, two police officers knock on the door of the Pelosis' home. When it opens, Pelosi and DePape can both be seen clutching a large hammer.

DePape tells police officers, "Everything's good," at which point the officers instructed him to drop the hammer.

DePape then appears to tear the hammer fully away from Pelosi, who is in sleepwear, before striking him with a powerful overhand blow. The two officers then charge inside - one of them shouting an expletive - tackling DePape, and then calling for backup and medics.

 FILE PHOTO: A screen grab taken from video shows damage to the home of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after her husband Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted during a break-in at their house in San Francisco, California, U.S., October 28, 2022 (credit: KGO TV via ABC via REUTERS)

Pelosi, lying still, can be seen partially under the body of DePape, who is being restrained by the officers.

San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Adam Lipson, who represents DePape, called the release of the evidence a "terrible mistake." In a statement, he said: "The footage is inflammatory and could feed unfounded theories about this case, and we are extremely concerned about Mr. DePape's ability to get a fair trial."

DePape has been indicted on federal attempted kidnapping and assault charges. He has pleaded not guilty to state charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, elder abuse, false imprisonment and threatening a public official.

The assailant had been seeking Nancy Pelosi and wanted to wait for her to return to the house, Paul Pelosi said.

The attack shocked Washington and renewed concerns about a breakdown in civility and a rise in political violence.

It also highlighted the limitations of the US Capitol Police (USCP), which is charged with protecting Congress and the representatives who serve in it.

Many USCP officers were injured during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when rioters burst through security barriers, with some making it clear that they were looking for Nancy Pelosi.

 Survivor's guilt

In a Nov. 17 interview with reporters, after she announced she would not seek re-election to a Democratic leadership position, Pelosi described the severity of her husband's injuries and the "traumatic effect" of the intrusion.

"If he had fallen or slipped on the ice in an accident and hit his head, it would be horrible. But to have it be an assault on him because they were looking for me is really - call it survivor's guilt or something. But the traumatic effect on him, this happened in our house, in our home, a crime scene," Pelosi said.

After the attack, Pelosi underwent emergency surgery for his wounds, which included a fractured skull. He was released from the hospital several days later but is experiencing a long recovery process.

While many politicians condemned the attack in San Francisco, some Republicans made light of the incident, which also spawned a number of unfounded, online conspiracy theories.

During the 911 call, Paul Pelosi seems to communicate his distress obliquely so as not to provoke DePape, but grows increasingly direct over the course of the roughly three-minute conversation.

At one point, he asked if anyone from the US Capitol Police was nearby. Speaker Pelosi was not in San Francisco at the time.

After saying, "I've got a problem, but he (DePape) thinks everything is good," the dispatcher says he should call back if the need arises.

At that point, Pelosi responds: "No, no, no, this gentleman just came into the house, and he wants to wait for my wife to come home."

He tells the dispatcher he does not know DePape, though DePape identifies himself as a "friend."

Toward the end of the call, Pelosi says: "He wants me to get the hell off the phone. Okay?" 

Paul Pelosi attack video: Police release body cam footage

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U.S. Politics: Biden Treasury Department Uses Comical Excuse to Block House Request for Hunter's Bank Records

 

Biden Treasury Department Uses Comical Excuse to Block House Request for Hunter's Bank Records

By Mike Miller , Red State, January 26, 2023

https://redstate.com/mike_miller/2023/01/26/biden-treasury-department-uses-comical-excuse-to-block-house-request-for-hunters-bank-records-n694302

                                             Hunter Biden  AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Almost as bad as the Biden administration’s manipulation of federal agencies to do the bidding of the Biden Family Business is the blatant way they do it. Comical? Yes, in a way. Unacceptable, for which there should be consequences? You betcha. Will it ever happen? I seriously doubt it.

In Team Biden’s latest example of a “conflict of interest,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has “delayed” (blocked, at least temporarily) a House Republican request for information on Biden family financial transactions that may have been marked as suspicious, reports The Hill, saying it must first determine whether the disclosure of the records is consistent with “longstanding Executive Branch interests.”

The Biden family has done several deals worth a total of about $31 million in China, according to a new book on the president. NY Post photo montage 

Memo to Secretary Yellen:

How about comparing and contrasting proven ties between “The Big Guy” and his crackhead son Hunter with multiple, suspect business dealings — particularly in Communist China — and questionable money transfers from the latter to the former, with “longstanding Executive Branch interests” and behavior? 

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) requested suspicious activity reports related to the Biden family earlier in January, in a letter to Sec. Yellen. Suspicious activity reports are generated by financial institutions when flagging suspicious financial moves and are submitted to the federal government.

In a Wednesday rebuke to Comer’s request, Treasury wrote:

It is important that a requesting committee specify in writing its purpose in seeking to obtain the requested information and the use it intends to make of it so that the Department can make a determination as to whether the disclosure is appropriate and consistent with longstanding Executive Branch interests, including the protection of ongoing law enforcement investigations.

Again, “Executive Branch interests”? Not to nitpick, Madam Secretary, but what about the interests of the American people and the integrity of the federal government? Or, does the Biden Family Business — under the guise of protecting the Executive Branch — take precedence?

Needless to say, Comer wasn’t a happy camper about the stonewalling:

This coordinated effort by the Biden Administration to hide information about President Biden and his family’s shady business schemes is alarming and raises many question. We will continue to press for access to suspicious activity reports generated for the Biden family and their associates, and will use the power of the gavel to get them if needed.

As The Hill noted, the House Oversight Committee’s investigation is just one of the investigations launched by House Republicans in January against The Biden Family Business, and as I reported on January 8, Comer made clear, during an epic beatdown of NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, the paramount objective of House investigations into the Biden family’s goings-on:

Let me be clear: We’re not investigating Hunter Biden, we’re investigating Joe Biden. And I think any American who’s kept up with the political process over the last two administrations would agree: we need to know what is allowable and what isn’t allowable with respect to foreign adversarial intervention among family members of presidents of the United States. That’s something that the Democrats complained about with Kushner, and certainly Republicans — including myself — complain about Biden, his son, and brother. We’ve got to do something about it.

 Moreover, Comer told Todd that House Republicans have evidence to back up their requests for information.

With respect to what we’re doing, everything that we have requested we have evidence to back up. There are emails and text messages that show Hunter Biden complaining about having to spend so much money keeping his dad up. I mean, that’s a concern because Hunter Biden’s only source of income was from our adversaries in China and Russia for influence peddling. This is something that we should look into. This isn’t political. We want to know if the president was truthful when he said he didn’t have any knowledge of his family’s shady business dealings. Once we determine that, we’ll move on.

Let’s touch on Joe Biden’s “truthfulness” with respect to his wayward son’s business dealings, for a minute. Joe has made mutually-exclusive declarations, multiple times. First, he claims he’s never talked to Hunter about his foreign business dealings and has no knowledge of them. Second, he says he’s “confident” Hunter didn’t break the law during his dealings in China and Ukraine.

Joe and Hunter Biden, Photo by Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA

Sorry, Joe, that dog don’t hunt.

How can Joe be confident Hunter didn’t break the law, yet also claim he’s never discussed Hunter’s shady business dealings with him and knows nothing about them? He can’t; at least one of those claims is a lie. Joe Biden, of all people. lying? Who knew?

The Chinese intelligence-linked businessmen who have done deals with the Biden family. NY Post graphic

Pud Says: All the evidence out there in the public domain points to the Bidens guilt!

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Will the Manchester Guardian now have to cancel ITSELF in row over slavery links to Founder?

Will the Guardian now have to cancel ITSELF in row over slavery links sparked by planned podcast?

• The ever-woke paper launched editorial project on its founder's links to slavery
• Three people accused The Guardian of 'institutional racism, editorial whiteness'

For decades it has been the holier-than-thou voice of the sanctimonious Left.

But now the ever-woke Guardian finds itself at the centre of a race row.

A planned podcast by the newspaper about its historic connections to the slave trade has led to a race complaint from three producers involved in the series, it was reported.

The paper is said to have been working on the podcast as part of a wider editorial project about its founder John Edward Taylor's links to slavery.

But according to entertainment industry website Deadline, managers at the media company were last year informed by three producers on the show that they had concerns.

The Guardian has been accused by the three people of 'institutional racism, editorial whiteness and ignorance'. The concerns of the producers were circulated to other members of the UK audio industry on Monday in an email obtained and published by Deadline.

John Edward Taylor, founder of the Guardian

The person who sent the email was described as a 'rising star in the audio world'.

In the message, they suggest the company was trying to 'whitewash history' on the podcast and accused The Guardian of lacking the 'desire' to 'face and interrogate its own historic role'. They said their concerns had been 'dismissed as 'trauma' and 'baggage' rather than informed expertise and analysis' and that their formal complaint was 'ignored' and 'minimized'.

They added: 'The institution is now looking for other producers to finish our work...The outcome of this project is a huge indictment of the paper. The irony of dealing with institutional racism, editorial whiteness and ignorance on a project about the legacies of slavery hasn't been lost on us.'

It is understood black journalists at The Guardian hold senior roles on the project.

A spokesman for the newspaper said: 'The Guardian has been working on a significant editorial project relating to its own history which is to be published soon. The project is being led by a diverse team of experienced and respected editors.

A Guardian newspaper company logo stands on display in the window of the Kings Place office development

'We are concerned that some former colleagues and contributors have not had a good experience working with us, but we are disappointed they have chosen to write a partial reflection of their time at The Guardian.'

They added: 'We acted immediately to respond to the individuals, including by offering a mediation process, which took place with a mediator chosen by the individuals themselves.

'The project is largely complete and will not pull any punches. It will be published in the next few months.'

The Manchester Guardian was founded in 1821 by John Edward Taylor, who was reportedly the son of a cotton merchant.

In 2020 Alex Graham, then chairman of The Scott Trust, the sole shareholder of Guardian Media Group, said there was no evidence Taylor was involved 'in any direct way in the slave trade' but some of Taylor and his funders' family businesses would almost certainly have traded with cotton plantations that used enslaved labour.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11681719/Will-Guardian-cancel-row-slavery-links-sparked-planned-podcast.html

Philadelphia Hiring Lifeguards Who Can't Swim

If a lifeguard saves you in Philly, they may be wearing water wings.

The city is in such desperate need of lifeguards for their municipal pools they are willing to accept candidates that don’t know how to swim, according to Philadelphia magazine.

Officials say they will provide swimming lessons to applicants who are aquatic newbies.

While the idea that their lives may be in the hands of a rookie swimmer may make some bathers nervous, city parks officials tried to downplay the report.

Department Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell told The Post. “I wouldn’t say they can’t swim, they just can’t pass our screening test.

The city needs 400 lifeguards to operate its 60+ public pools.

Philadelphia is not the only city drowning in concern over the lifeguard shortage.

The American Lifeguard Association said in June that the shortage is affecting about a third of the nation’s public pools.

New York City also contended with a dearth of lifeguards last year. Only 26 percent of last year’s 900 lifeguard job applicants passed the city’s lifeguard training program test.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/24/philadelphia-needs-lifeguards-so-theyre-hiring-non-swimmers/

Philly Is So Desperate for Lifeguards That It’s Recruiting People Who Can’t Swim

A Philadelphia lifeguard watches over a public pool in Philadelphia

Desperate for Lifeguards, Philly Says It’s OK If Interested Candidates Can’t Swim

It may be the middle of winter now. But before you know it, Memorial Day will be here, the kids will get out of school, and they’ll need something to do all day other than get on your nerves. That’s where Philadelphia’s dozens of public pools come in. And what do you need if you have a public pool? Lifeguards, of course.

For the 2023 pool season in Philadelphia, the city has started recruiting early. And if you can’t swim, you can still apply. That’s right. According to representatives of the city’s Parks & Recreation Department I spoke with, the city is actively recruiting lifeguard candidates who would sink like a stone if you threw them in the deep end today. The city will provide free swimming lessons at Lincoln High School in Mayfair to anybody who doesn’t know how to swim.

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2023/01/24/philadelphia-lifeguards-public-pools/

U.S. Defense News: US defense industry unprepared for a China fight, says report

 

US defense industry unprepared for a China fight, says report

By Joe Gould, Defense News, Jan.23, 2023

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2023/01/23/us-defense-industry-unprepared-for-a-china-fight-says-report/

U.S. Marines fire an M777 155mm howitzer. The United States has committed more than 160 of those weapons to Ukraine. (Sgt. Danny Gonzalez/U.S. Marine Corps)

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. defense-industrial base is not ready for a battle over Taiwan, as it would run out of key long-range, precision-guided munitions in less than one week, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

U.S. military aid to Ukraine has helped prevent a Russian victory against the neighboring nation, but that assistance has depleted Pentagon stockpiles and shown that the American defense industry cannot surge for a major war, the think tank found.

“As the war in Ukraine illustrates, a war between major powers is likely to be a protracted, industrial-style conflict that needs a robust defense industry able to produce enough munitions and other weapons systems for a protracted war if deterrence fails,” wrote Seth Jones, senior vice president and director of the international security program at CSIS.

“Given the lead time for industrial production, it would likely be too late for the defense industry to ramp up production if a war were to occur without major changes.”

The report, which spotlights U.S. military aid to Ukraine and criticizes bureaucratic hurdles for defense contracting and U.S. arms sales overseas, recommends Washington reexamine its munitions needs and deepen its supplies, and that it remove regulatory hurdles to manufacturing with and exporting to allies.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the CSIS study.

The vast number of weapons the U.S. is sending to Ukraine highlights how difficult it would be to replenish them. For example, the U.S. has committed more than 160 M777 155mm howitzers to Ukraine, leaving its inventory “low.” Manufacturer BAE Systems would need at least 150 orders over several years to justify restarting production lines.

U.S. military stocks of Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft weapons, counter-artillery radars and 155mm artillery shells are all considered low by the study.

Stocks of the Harpoon coastal defense system, a key capability for Taiwan, are considered medium, though current U.S. inventories might not be sufficient for wartime, Jones wrote.

Army officials, cognizant of the demand, said last month they are investing in a “dramatic” ramp-up in monthly production of 155mm shells over the next three years ― and they’ve awarded contracts for that to General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, American Ordnance, and IMT Defense.

Still, top Army officer Gen. James McConville told reporters this month that the service could consider buying in advance the parts of weapons that take the longest to build, so that they’re available in the event of a war.

“We have to start to think about, you know, how do you in a nonlinear way, buy insurance so when something happens, when you have the money, you can reduce the amount of time to stand up your organic industrial base,” McConville said.

Along these lines, the CSIS report recommends the U.S. create a strategic munitions reserve. The government, under the authorities in the Defense Production Act, would buy one or two lots of long-lead subcomponents — such as metals, energetics and electronics — for critical munitions to reduce the 12-24 months of lead time in times of crisis.

‘Too sluggish’

One of the most important munitions to prevent a Chinese seizure of all of Taiwan are long-range precision missiles, including those launched by U.S. submarines.

China considers Taiwan a rogue province, and has threatened to take back the island by force. In a conflict over Taiwan, the U.S. would depend on Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles to strike China’s naval force outside the range of its air defenses.

While it takes Lockheed Martin two years to make LRASMs, the think tank projects a Taiwan conflict would drain U.S. military supplies within a week.

A Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile launches from a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer during flight testing. (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

Likewise, in a war against a major power the U.S. military would expend hundreds of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles and extended-range versions each day, emptying its inventories in just over a week.

The military would also expend large quantities of ship-based munitions, such as the Standard Missile 6.

Several munitions considered critical in a Taiwan scenario ― Tomahawk missiles, Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles and Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles ― take more than 20 months to produce, calling into question the ability to replace them during a war.

Spending for naval munitions stockpiles to boost readiness is a priority for the U.S. Navy’s top officer. Adm. Mike Gilday’s list of unfunded priorities for this year sought $33 million to buy 11 more LRASMs, and he’s seeking to maximize the production of key weapons, including the Maritime Strike Tomahawk and the SM-6.

“Not only am I trying to fill magazines with weapons, but I’m trying to put U.S. production lines at their maximum level right now and to try and maintain that set of headlights in subsequent budgets so that we continue to produce those weapons,” Gilday told Defense News earlier this month. “That’s one thing we’ve seen in Ukraine — that the expenditure of those high-end weapons in conflict could be higher than we estimated.”

According to the CSIS report, the Pentagon should examine its munition needs with an eye toward Europe and the Pacific, based on operational plans, wartime scenarios and analyses.

Furthermore, Congress could hold hearings into defense-industrial base capacity and find ways to streamline approval for the Pentagon’s requests to move money between accounts, the report added.

While foreign military sales can supplement U.S. government orders and establish predictable, efficient production rates for industry, the report called the FMS system “risk-averse, inefficient, and sluggish.”

In one case, a decision to sell a system to Taiwan through the Foreign Military Sales process — rather than as a direct commercial sale — added two years to a delivery date, on top of a two-year production timeline.

The report also criticizes the system for the transfers of sensitive technologies from the United States, which can take 12-18 months, even for close allies.

“In trying to prevent military technology from falling into the hands of adversaries, the United States has put in place a regulatory regime that is too sluggish to work with critical frontline countries,” Jones wrote in the report.

With reporting by Megan Eckstein and Jen Judson.

About Joe Gould

Joe Gould is the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He served previously as Congress reporter.

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Pud says: Wake up America, boost defense spending and build up your military now before China starts a war in the far east!

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Green New Deal: Charging up UK Electric Cars Costs More Than Filling With Gas

Nolte: Brits Pay More to Charge Electric Car than to Gas Up

276

Getty Images/Howard Kingsnorth

JOHN NOLTE

24 Jan 2023693

3:33

Per mile traveled, our British friends are now paying more to charge their electric cars than to gas them up.

Do stories come any more feel-good than this?

No, no, they do not:

Rapid charge points used by motorists topping up on long drives are now nearly £10 more expensive than filling up a car with petrol, the RAC revealed last week.

But research from the AA published on Monday finds that recharging an electric car even using a slow public charger at peak times can be more expensive, per mile driven afterwards, than for refuelling a comparable petrol car.

Jack Cousens, the AA’s head of roads policy and recharging, said: “While pump prices are falling, electricity prices are going in the other direction, but we are hopeful prices could tail off later this year.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *deep breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *another deep breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…

But at least these smug electric car drivers are decreasing their carbon footprint.

Oh, wait, they aren’t… You can’t make electricity without burning fossil fuels, so….

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *deep breath* HAHAHAHAHAHA… okay, I’ll stop now. HAHAHAHA… Sorry, that just slipped out.

Climate activists from the Just Stop Oil coalition march from Kings Cross to Westminster to demand that no new oil and gas licences be granted by the government on October 1, 2022, in London, United Kingdom. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

So, according to this hilarious story, “Topping up the e-Corsa’s charge by 80pc on a slow charger at peak times results in a cost of 16.18p per mile.”

But.

The “costs (of a petrol Corsa) at around 14.45 pence per mile[.]”

Question: What’s left to feel smug about after it costs more to drive your electric car than a car-car?

Students take part in a climate strike demo on February 14, 2020, in London, England. (Peter Summers/Getty Images)

Well, I guess you can pretend to feel all kinds of virtuous about saving Mother Earth in your Prius, but Global Warming is a hoax. So … you’re not saving anything. You’re certainly not saving money — lol. What’s more, no matter how much denial you conjure up, fossil fuels are still being burned to supply you with the electricity for your car, which, by the way, costs more than filling up your car with fossil fuels.

Electric cars are parked at a charging station in Sacramento, California, on April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

This is a perfect example of why the free market must be our guide — not politics and certainly not the fake science of Climate Change (which is a hoax). The government, be it third-world states such as California or our broken, bloated, and corrupt federal government, interfering in the market is always a disaster.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (BRITTA PEDERSEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Nothing would make me happier than a magic car that runs on moonbeams or leprechaun poop. If Elon Musk comes up with an affordable vehicle that runs on sunshine or lemon drops or seawater, all the better. The free market supports what works and what’s efficient. The free market weeds out the Betamax and gives us VHS. That’s the only way massive and lasting cultural changes happen.

Everything but the free market is pushing electric vehicles. Instead, it’s all government meddling, partisan politics, a false sense of moral superiority, emotional blackmail, and peer pressure.

Time and time again, over more than a century now, we have watched as managed economies and markets fail. People at large know a good thing when they see it. Okay, not always. But the free market is a whole lot more reliable than the alternative.