Random News and Notes 10 February
It’s day 4 of the XXV Winter Olympiad in Milano Cortina Italy. As previously mentioned, this editor has little interest outside of hockey and biathlon. However, it feels like there should be some coverage of the games here at MVAP, so here is the current medal count:
Norway is currently leading at the medal table. They have amassed 5 gold, 1 silver, and 3 bronze medals for a total of 9, showcasing their traditional strength in winter sports like cross-country skiing and biathlon. Switzerland sits in a strong second place with 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze (total 5), while host nation Italy is performing impressively in overall medals, holding 2 gold, 2 silver, and 6 bronze (total 10), boosted by successes in events on home snow and ice.Other notable performers include Japan with 2 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze (total 7), and the United States sitting at 2 gold, 2 silver, and 0 bronze.
Keep in mind, these totals are fluid. What is shown here was accurate at the time of writing.
In a somewhat related item, a video from back in 2022 has resurfaced. It shows a dog running the super-g course on the same mountain in Italy that the downhill skiing is being held at this years Olympics.
There were a pair of court wins for the Trump administration in the past few days. We start in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th issued a stay of a lower court ruling vacating Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In other words, the TPS status for those three countries is done. The majority on the 3 judge panel (ruling was 2-1) said the Administration was likely to win on the merits in this case.
Staying out west, a federal judge in LA enjoined California from enforcing parts of the newly passed “No Secret Police Act,” saying it illegally singled out federal law enforcement. That law was supposed to prevent law enforcement from wearing a masks or other face coverings.
The ruling allows the parts of the law requiring badges or other identifying markings to be worn.
Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson has suspended his campaign. Johnson’s 22 year old daughter Hallie Marie Tobler was found dead from multiple stab wounds Saturday evening. Her husband Dylan is in custody facing potential homicide charges. The incident is being described as a domestic incident.
Does anyone remember if we covered the fraud and outright theft associated with the Duval county Florida teachers union? It rings bells but that may just be the tinnitus. Anyway, they got sentenced.
Teresa Brady, 70, former president of Duval Teachers United, received 27 months in prison and $1.338 million in restitution. Ruby George, 82, former executive vice president, got one year and one day, plus home confinement and the same restitution.
From 2013 to 2022, they approved phony vacation payouts through payroll, pocketing over $1.3 million each for personal expenses like home repairs, while the union’s building fell into disrepair with rats and mold. Judge Marcia Morales Howard rejected their long service as an excuse, calling it a decade of brazen theft from the teachers they served.
Look, this editor realizes that some of you out there are fans of union labor. There may have been a time when they actually did some good, at least in the private sector. There should never be public sector unions. The progressive’s favorite President – FDR – explicitly said that public sector unions were an abomination. Even Kennedy, who signed the EO authorizing them, thought they were a bad idea. Now, they are a vector for fraud, grift, abuse and – as we see here – outright theft.