Random News and Notes 26 June

Y’all remember US rep LaMonica McIver from New Jersey right? If you don’t she was the one caught on video assaulting ICE agents outside of the Delaney Hall ICE detention center. Well congresswoman bigmouth went on Jen Psucki’s show on MSNBC to whinge about being charged.

I’m guessing more people have commented on her tweet than saw the interview on MSNBC. As of this writing the ratio is pretty impressive, 715 comments and 287 likes. From the 50 or so replies I scanned through, the sentiments all seemed to be similar, some version of FAFO or it was not your job to assault federal agents. I did not see a single reply in support of the bigmouth. Maybe I didn’t look far enough. . .

The end of the Supreme Court term is rapidly approaching. Literally. Tomorrow is the final day of the session. That means opinions. Before this morning there were 10 left to be decided.

Four opinions were published today. That leaves six for tomorrow. I’ll get into the opinions from today in a separate piece a bit later this afternoon. For now know it’s a mixed bag, and nothing particularly surprising or of great import.

This one is Court related and worth a listen, even if for only a bit.

Alexandria Occasional Cortex regularly says she is a Bronx girl, implying she grew up in the NYC Borough. While it’s common knowledge, at least to some, that she actually grew up and went to school in Yorktown – a rich enclave in Westchester county – nobody has brought receipts. Until yesterday that is. NY state assemblyman  Matt Slater attended Yorktown Highschool and posted some pics of one of his yearbooks on Twitter.

Just so you’re aware, Yorktown Heights, where Sandy from the Block lived is #42 on the list of most expensive places to live. The cost of living there is 32% higher than the national average and the median income is $138,000 annually.

Another foreign researcher has been caught smuggling biological materials into the country. This time it is a Russian national, Kseniia Petrova, from Harvard. She was detained back in April after getting caught trying to bring undeclared frog embryos into the US from France.

. . . of a material fact, one count of false statement and one count of smuggling goods into the United States.” “The charges of concealment of material fact and false statements provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of smuggling goods into the United States provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.”

Her visa was revoked but the removal order has been stayed by a judge.

I’m glad to see that the illegal importation of biological materials is starting to be taken seriously.