Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty connects CEO Warren Buffett to Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein - arrested at Berkshire shareholder proposal presentation

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Mon, 08 May 2023 14:49 UTC
peter flahrety arrested warren buffet epstein bill gates
© NLPCPeter Flahrety, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), is escorted out of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting
Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), had his microphone cut, arrested, and escorted out of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.

Flaherty was removed at the shareholders' meeting and was charged with "criminal trespass" after making statements against Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett for his support for Bill Gates' organization and his association with convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein.

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) is the primary proponent of a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder proposal that seeks to separate the responsibilities of the Chairman and CEO, according to NLPC's press release.

Flaherty argued that Berkshire "would be less identified with Mr. Buffett's personal political activities" if it had an independent chair, citing Warren Buffett's support for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as an example.

Comment: More on Mr. Flaherty:
Peter Flaherty is Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), which he co-founded with Ken Boehm in 1991.

He is a longtime anti-corruption activist who has successfully confronted some of the most powerful members of Congress.

In 2008, he was an uninvited observer on a Congressional junket to the Caribbean, led by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY). Flaherty's photographs and audio recordings showing corporate sponsorship of the event were the basis for House Ethics Committee action against Rangel. As a result, Rangel resigned his Chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. The evidence was also the basis, in part, for Rangel's Censure by the entire House in 2010.

In his 1994 book Worth It All, former House Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX) described and lamented Flaherty's actions that helped force Wright's resignation.

Flaherty has also confronted the CEOs of some of America's largest corporations on what he believes to be the widespread corruption of the corporate mission.

He has spoken at the annual meetings of public companies like Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, PepsiCo, GE, Colgate-Palmolive, Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble, United Airlines and Citigroup in support of NLPC-sponsored shareholder proposals.

In recent years, Flaherty has been an outspoken in warning about the threat posed by big Silicon Valley firms to privacy, civil liberties and the political system.

He is the co-author of a 1996 book titled The First Lady: A Comprehensive View of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He provided instant analysis on MSNBC to Hillary's 1998 NBC Today Show interview in which she alleged a "massive right-wing conspiracy."
A follow-up interview:



Read More...
Pills

Best of the Web: Drugged-up and ready to kill

Mike Whitney
Unz Review
Wed, 10 May 2023 00:00 UTC
police
Is there a link between Psychiatric Meds and Mass Shootings?

Here's a question that every American should be able to answer: What percentage of the killers — that have carried out mass shootings across the United States — were on powerful psychiatric medications?
  • a — 1%
  • b — 25%
  • c — 50%
  • d — 75% or more
Why don't we know the answer to this question? Doesn't the United States have more mass shootings than any country in the world?
  • Yes, it does.
And aren't these shootings the source of great suffering and anxiety?
  • Yes, they are.
And don't most people genuinely want to know why these lone gunman feel compelled to kill innocent people?
  • Yes, they do.
Read More...
Calculator

Newsom sends a card: California governor suggests that reparations is more than just money


jonathanturley.org
Wed, 10 May 2023 00:00 UTC
gavin newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom
For months, we have been discussing how Democratic politicians would deal with massive reparation demands after campaigning for years on such payments being a moral imperative. As proposals rose to as much as $5 million a person, Newsom went silent. Now, California's Reparations Task Force has issued recommendations for reparation payments as well as a slew of other benefits for black citizens. Newsom has finally responded by what sounded like the common birthday card that reads "I couldn't afford a present so I gave you this card instead." With California billions in the red, Newsom appears to be sending up a trial balloon on offering heartfelt apologies, promises of reform, and no cash.

In addition to the cash payments, the Task Force called for eligible residents to receive $13,619 for each year of residency due to racism in health care; $148,099 or $3,366 for each year between 1933 and 1977 for housing discrimination; and $2,352 during the 49-year period between 1971 and 2020 for mass incarceration and racist policing.

Newsom told Fox News Digital that reparation"is about much more than cash payments." Instead, he stressed:
"we've already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond. This work must continue."
Read More...
Bad Guys

'Enormous' 41% spike in overdose deaths in San Francisco in 2023

Christian Leonard
San Francisco Chronicle
Thu, 27 Apr 2023 07:55 UTC
narcan
The number of people who died from overdoses this year is 41% higher than the same period in 2022.
Narcan is a nasal-spray drug that can immediately reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Two hundred people died from accidental drug overdoses in San Francisco from January through March, a nearly 41% increase from the 142 deaths reported for the first three months last year.

Fatal overdoses in San Francisco killed dozens more people in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year. It is an alarming jump that frustrates hopes that the city's overdose numbers would decline post-pandemic. Rather, overdose deaths have returned to the highs seen in 2020 during lockdowns.


Comment: Lockdowns were indeed harmful, but the fallout caused by lockdowns has made life many times worse for people. And that's before considering the added burden of soaring inflation.


Two hundred people died from accidental drug overdoses from January through March, medical examiner data shows, with the vast majority of deaths involving fentanyl. That reflects a nearly 41% increase from the 142 deaths reported for the first three months last year.

Comment: Meanwhile Canada and the Netherlands are opting for outright euthanasia:

Read More...
Bomb

The banking collapse of 2023 is now officially bigger than the banking collapse of 2008 was

Michael
The Economic Collapse
Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00 UTC
banking
Yes, you read the headline correctly. Collectively, the three big banks that have collapsed in 2023 had more assets than all 25 banks that collapsed in 2008 did. Unfortunately, the banking collapse of 2023 is far from over. We still have eight more months to go before this year is done, and many more banks are currently teetering on the brink of disaster. Executives at those banks are telling us not to worry, but of course executives at First Republic were issuing similar assurances just last week. Personally, I had heard that First Republic supposedly had enough reserves to keep going for months. But that was a lie, and now First Republic is toast. The following comes from the official statement that the FDIC issued when it took over the bank...
First Republic Bank, San Francisco, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC is entering into a purchase and assumption agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Columbus, Ohio, to assume all of the deposits and substantially all of the assets of First Republic Bank.
Read More...
NPC

Anarcho-tyranny and the tragedy of the subways

Gregory Hood
American Renaissance
Mon, 08 May 2023 00:00 UTC
restraining man
Let's talk about anarcho-tyranny.

Anyone familiar with American Renaissance should know one of our most influential writers, Sam Francis. He coined the term anarcho-tyranny, which he said was when the government refuses to punish criminals, and instead punishes the law abiding.

Leviathan
This brings us to the New York City subway system and what will be a major test to see if anarcho-tyranny is our true system of government.

New York City is in serious decline. Major crimes were up 22 percent last year, and that's after the already major increases in crime following the Summer of George Floyd.

Comment: And then there's this:





Read More...
Eye 1

California Catholic diocese files for bankruptcy amid 330 sex abuse lawsuits

Louis Casiano
Fox News
Mon, 08 May 2023 20:31 UTC
The Cathedral of Christ The Light and Catholic Diocese of Oakland
© Google MapsThe Cathedral of Christ The Light and Catholic Diocese of Oakland building in Oakland, California. The Diocese has filed for bankruptcy as it faces 33 lawsuits alleging sex abuse.
The sex abuse claims allegedly occurred in the 1960s, 70s and 80s by priests who are either dead or not active, the diocese said.

The Catholic Diocese of Oakland announced on Monday that it filed for bankruptcy amid 330 sex abuse lawsuits in an effort to stabilize its finances, the group said.

Most of the claims center on sex abuse crimes that occurred in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s by priests who are no longer active in ministry or are deceased, the diocese said.

In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Michael C. Barber said the diocese believes "this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors."

Comment: See also:

Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

Equity and the Race to the Bottom

Jack Miller
RealClear Wire
Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00 UTC
classroom
Over the last few years, the rallying cry of "woke" activists has become "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" (often abbreviated to DEI). There is little reason to object to such principles on the surface. After all, America was founded on the principle that all people are created equal. Unfortunately, the meaning of words can change over time.

Rather than the Founders' vision of equal opportunity for all, the use of the word "equity" today denotes equal outcomes for all. The implementation of this "equity agenda," however well-intentioned, will lead to terrible consequences.

One of the prophets who warned us about the dangers of this understanding of equity was the great twentieth-century novelist Kurt Vonnegut. In his 1961 short story, "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut imagined a society with perfect equity. "Nobody was smarter than anybody else," the narrator says. "Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else."

As Vonnegut shows, a society looking to equalize outcomes for all citizens is no utopia - it is instead a nightmarish horror. The only way to guarantee equal results is to handicap everyone so that they perform at the lowest common level. In the terrifying world of "Harrison Bergeron," for instance, the government burdens ballerinas "with sashweights and bags of birdshot" so they cannot move more beautifully than anyone else.
Read More...
HAL9000

'The Godfather of AI' quits Google and warns of danger ahead

Cade Metz
New York Times
Thu, 04 May 2023 05:23 UTC
Dr. Geoffrey Hinton
© Chloe Ellingson for The New York TimesDr. Geoffrey Hinton is leaving Google so that he can freely share his concern that artificial intelligence could cause the world serious harm
Geoffrey Hinton was an artificial intelligence pioneer. In 2012, Dr. Hinton and two of his graduate students at the University of Toronto created technology that became the intellectual foundation for the A.I. systems that the tech industry's biggest companies believe is a key to their future.

On Monday, however, he officially joined a growing chorus of critics who say those companies are racing toward danger with their aggressive campaign to create products based on generative artificial intelligence, the technology that powers popular chatbots like ChatGPT.

Dr. Hinton said he has quit his job at Google, where he has worked for more than a decade and became one of the most respected voices in the field, so he can freely speak out about the risks of A.I. A part of him, he said, now regrets his life's work.

"I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn't done it, somebody else would have," Dr. Hinton said during a lengthy interview last week in the dining room of his home in Toronto, a short walk from where he and his students made their breakthrough.

Dr. Hinton's journey from A.I. groundbreaker to doomsayer marks a remarkable moment for the technology industry at perhaps its most important inflection point in decades. Industry leaders believe the new A.I. systems could be as important as the introduction of the web browser in the early 1990s and could lead to breakthroughs in areas ranging from drug research to education.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Latvia's police arrest six for paying respects at Victory Day monument that celebrates Soviet defeat of Nazis


Tvr.by
Tue, 09 May 2023 23:23 UTC
latvia victory day
Screenshot
The police detained six people in Latvia for celebrating Victory Day, BelTA informs.

The law enforcers caught the sight of people who used to lay flowers at the sites where there used to be the Soviet monuments, but they were dismantled by the decision of the country's government. According to the police report, the detainees also demonstrated some symbols, banned in the country.

Nine cases of administrative offences were brought against the offenders, criminal proceedings were instituted against one participant.
Read More...