DL Open Thread: Monday, October 3, 2022
The Utterly Bizarre Story Behind DeSantis Sending Migrants To Martha’s Vineyard:
SAN ANTONIO — In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a budget that set aside $12 million to create a program for transporting unauthorized migrants out of Florida. He touted it as the highlight of the state’s new spending when it came to immigration.
But just three months later, the money was being used in a place far from Florida, in a very different way: rounding up Venezuelan asylum seekers on the streets of San Antonio and shipping them on private planes to Massachusetts.
Florida officials have provided little information about the program or how it was engineered. But details have begun to emerge of the clandestine mission that was carried out without the knowledge of even the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican: flights paid for with state money in possible violation of the state law that allocated the money; a charter airline company with political ties to the Florida governor.
And, in the middle of it all, a woman with a background in military counterintelligence who investigators believe was sent to Texas from Tampa in order to fill the planes.
A person briefed on the San Antonio sheriff’s office investigation into the matter told The New York Times that the person being looked at in connection with the operation is a woman named Perla Huerta.
Ms. Huerta, a former combat medic and counterintelligence agent, was discharged in August after two decades in the U.S. Army that included several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to military records.
A Venezuelan migrant who was working with Ms. Huerta to recruit migrants confirmed her identity, and a migrant in San Antonio whom Ms. Huerta had unsuccessfully sought to sign up identified a photo of her in an interview with The Times. Several of the migrants on Martha’s Vineyard photographed her during the recruitment process in San Antonio, according to Rachel Self, a lawyer representing the migrants. Lawyers working with them were able to match those photos with others online and in social media belonging to a woman named Perla Huerta.
Got that? The migrants weren’t even in Florida–they were in Texas. I’ve pushed fair use here to the nth degree. Read the entire article, then ponder the realistic notion that this guy could be our next President.
Bolsonaro, da Silva Go To Runoff In Brazil. Da Silva got 48.4% to Bolsonaro’s 43.23%. Man, was hoping the voters would drive a stake through what passes for Bolsonaro’s heart. As usual, pollsters underestimated right-wing voters’ strength.
Who Lost Ukraine? Russian leaders going after Putin and military:
As Russian forces attempted to set a new line of defense after their retreat from Lyman, a torrent of public recriminations and bickering on who was to blame for Moscow’s recent setbacks poured forth on hard-line pro-Kremlin Telegram channels.
In open conflict that underscored the disarray in Russian ranks, two powerful figures with their own armed forces fighting Ukraine launched scathing attacks on Russian Defense Ministry commanders. It began with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s criticisms on Saturday of Russian military commanders, and his call to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Then in rare public remarks, Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, founder of mercenary group Wagner, added his own blunt attack.
“Kadyrov’s expressive statement, of course, is not entirely in my style,” he said, according to a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel. “But I think that we should send all these bastards barefoot to the front with machine guns,” he said in an apparent reference to top Russian military commanders.
Elena Panina, a former lawmaker and director of Russtrat, a pro-Kremlin think tank, called the public attacks on top Russian military figures “unprecedented” before piling on with her own criticisms, complaining about the lack of any tough military retaliation to punish Ukraine for the forced Russian retreat.
Cambodian Authorities Crack Down On ‘Pig-Butchering’ Scheme. ‘I guess I just wasn’t made for these times’. Human traffickers, forced laborers, cyberscams. What ever happened to good old-fashioned corruption?
Now, Here’s Some Good Old-Fashioned Corruption. Cheating comes to the sedate world of–competitive fishing??:
This time of year — last Friday to be specific — Lake Erie yields what Jason Fischer calls “cookie cutter” walleye.
“You can go out and catch 4-5 pounders all day,” he said.
Fischer would know. He’s the director of the Lake Erie Walleye Trail professional fishing circuit.
Years of weighing the catches brought back by the LEWT competitors tells him what a 4-pound fish is supposed to look like.
On Friday, at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail season championship near Cleveland’s Gordon Street Boat Ramp, he weighed a fish — caught by the team of Hermitage resident Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyon of Cleveland — that looked like it should have been 4 pounds.
But the scale said the fish weighed 7.9 pounds.
“I thought, ‘no way,’” said Fischer.
So Fischer took a closer look. He gave the fish a good squeeze, like a watermelon at the supermarket. He felt something hard inside.
Fischer walked a few feet away took a knife and cut the fish open. That — cutting open competitors’ fish — is an unusual measure for a tournament director, he said.
Typically, once an angler catches a fish for a competition, the tournament gives the fish right back to the entrant. Often, Fischer said, competitors donate their catches to charity, to a food bank, for example.
But Fischer, his suspicions raised, cut open the fish, with Runyon looking on. Fischer’s discovery has launched a major scandal in competitive fishing.
Fischer pulled two 12-ounce metal balls out of the fish, and proclaimed, “We have weights in fish!”
There’s a Youtube video–and it’s spec-tac-ular. It starts out slow, because, hey, it’s fishing. But then, around the 5-minute mark…more F-bombs than on the Rev’s podcast:
What do you want to talk about?
Looks like Collin O’Mara learned how to clear his cookies on his computer or something.
Unless there is some O’Maramentum sweeping the state.
How many times can Tommywonk vote?
“Weights in Fish” , good band name for Punk, alt country and perhaps avant garde for the right maniacs. As for DeSantis I no longer see him as the Fascist of the moment, same for the idiot we cal Mastriano.
“Weighted Fish” or “Weighted Fish Wait”
Was hoping Lula would take > 50% the first go. But even so he garnered about 5 million more votes than Bolsonaro. Feeling cautiously optimistic for the 30 October run off.
(Friendly tip. No one refers to Lula by his family name. Like many famous Brazilians, he’s just one name… Lula.)
99.9% of the Brazilian first round now in/official. Lula didn’t reach the 50% threshold, but did get over 6 million more votes than Bolsonaro.
Feeling pretty ok for the 30th.
In 1981 I spent several weeks in Brazil during the military dictatorship, mostly in Recife where my then sister-in-law taught in the American School. we took a side trip to Salvador to wind down after Carnivale and on the beach, I met a local who spoke English and I mentioned to him that my colleague Bill Medeiros who was a local Union President in Wilkes Barre had worked with Lula on an exchange trip to Brazil. the guy bowed his head in almost reverence. then he warned me to Never repeat his name around people or I would find myself arrested.
No republicans added to that poll yet ->
Well, Scott Walker once ran as a Republican. So, there’s that.
Oh, and LBR’s dad once ran as a Republican. In the spirit of bipartisanship no doubt.
Where’s my option for Kathy McGuiness?
The “We Have Weights in FISH!” video is compelling stuff. I want to say that it illustrates the debased morals of Trumpified America. But, who knows… maybe they were libertarians.
Please note that the RISE rally against privatization will go on regardless of weather. We have access to the New Castle County Chambers in the event that it rains. The building is located directly adjacent to the outdoor plaza where the rally is scheduled to be held. Hope you can attend this important event.
Representative John Kowalko