• Suck it, California. Chicago-style ethics

    From Adam H. Kerman@3:633/10 to All on Tue Dec 2 02:59:25 2025
    Normally, demolition in Chicago isn't performed with dynamite. In 2020,
    to demolish a very old coal-fired electrical generating plant, a
    "controlled" implosion with dynamite was used. Massive amounts of toxic
    dust fell on the neighborhood for miles around.

    Whoops.

    The city inspector general wrote a report that then Mayor Lori Lightfoot refused to release as it was embarassing to her, revealing that no
    review was performed when the permit was applied for.

    The next mayoral election was February 28, 2023. The inspector general
    had not been re-appointed. After his term ended, two weeks before the
    election, he simply gave it to two news outlets.

    An ethics complaint was filed against him for having released
    proprietary information. The board of ethnics, not concerned about the
    coverup, fined him $5,000 for the terrible crime of releasing a report
    paid for by the taxpayers to the taxpayers.

    Former Chicago inspector general has no remorse after fine for leaking
    report on botched implosion
    By Jake Sheridan
    Chicago Tribune
    PUBLISHED: December 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM CST | UPDATED: December 1, 2025
    at 5:08 PM CST https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/01/former-chicago-inspector-general-fined-botched-implosion/

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Tue Dec 2 18:53:11 2025
    On Dec 1, 2025 at 6:59:25 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Normally, demolition in Chicago isn't performed with dynamite. In 2020,
    to demolish a very old coal-fired electrical generating plant, a
    "controlled" implosion with dynamite was used. Massive amounts of toxic
    dust fell on the neighborhood for miles around.

    Whoops.

    The city inspector general wrote a report that then Mayor Lori Lightfoot refused to release as it was embarassing to her, revealing that no
    review was performed when the permit was applied for.

    The next mayoral election was February 28, 2023. The inspector general
    had not been re-appointed. After his term ended, two weeks before the election, he simply gave it to two news outlets.

    An ethics complaint was filed against him for having released
    proprietary information. The board of ethnics, not concerned about the coverup, fined him $5,000 for the terrible crime of releasing a report
    paid for by the taxpayers to the taxpayers.

    Former Chicago inspector general has no remorse after fine for leaking
    report on botched implosion
    By Jake Sheridan
    Chicago Tribune
    PUBLISHED: December 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM CST | UPDATED: December 1, 2025
    at 5:08 PM CST

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/01/former-chicago-inspector-general-fined-botched-implosion/

    Both California and Illinois need to step up their game. Minnesota is coming from behind is looking to take the title:

    How Fraud Swamped Minnesota's Social Services System on Tim Walz's Watch*

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html

    *It didn't just happen on his watch; if the whistleblowers accounts are true, Walz actively aided and abetted it.

    And the state judiciary is in on it, too. This week, Judge Sarah West overturned a unanimous jury conviction of Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf-- finding him guilty of stealing $7.2M from taxpayers. West ruled that no rational trier of fact could have rendered a guilty verdict based on the evidence presented
    at trial and let Yusuf walk out of court scot free, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence the prosecution provided of his guilt.

    https://x.com/GrageDustin/status/1995687397942538483?s=20



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@3:633/10 to All on Tue Dec 2 20:46:53 2025
    Subject: Suck it, California and Illinis: Massive fraud in Minnesota social service programs (was: Suck it, California. Chicago-style ethics)

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

    Both California and Illinois need to step up their game. Minnesota is coming >from behind is looking to take the title:

    How Fraud Swamped Minnesota's Social Services System on Tim Walz's Watch*

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html

    *It didn't just happen on his watch; if the whistleblowers accounts are true, >Walz actively aided and abetted it.

    Damn. That one Somali that set up the vast network of fraudsters
    threatened to sue for racism if fraudulent applications weren't quickly approved, intimidating elected officials. Then, they actually sued!

    I love how the autism support program recruited parents to make their
    kids somehow part of the scheme as fake autistic patients.

    And the state judiciary is in on it, too. This week, Judge Sarah West >overturned a unanimous jury conviction of Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf-- finding >him guilty of stealing $7.2M from taxpayers. West ruled that no rational trier >of fact could have rendered a guilty verdict based on the evidence presented >at trial and let Yusuf walk out of court scot free, despite the overwhelming >amount of evidence the prosecution provided of his guilt.

    https://x.com/GrageDustin/status/1995687397942538483?s=20

    And she thinks some of the monies went to Al-Shabaab terrorists? Wow

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Tue Dec 2 21:00:13 2025
    Subject: Re: Suck it, California and Illinis: Massive fraud in Minnesota social service programs (was: Suck it, California. Chicago-style ethics)

    On Dec 2, 2025 at 12:46:53 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

    Both California and Illinois need to step up their game. Minnesota is coming >> from behind and is looking to take the title:

    How Fraud Swamped Minnesota's Social Services System on Tim Walz's Watch*

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html

    *It didn't just happen on his watch; if the whistleblowers accounts are true,
    Walz actively aided and abetted it.

    Damn. That one Somali that set up the vast network of fraudsters
    threatened to sue for racism if fraudulent applications weren't quickly approved, intimidating elected officials. Then, they actually sued!

    I love how the autism support program recruited parents to make their
    kids somehow part of the scheme as fake autistic patients.

    And the state judiciary is in on it, too. This week, Judge Sarah West
    overturned a unanimous jury conviction of Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf--
    finding
    him guilty of stealing $7.2M from taxpayers. West ruled that no rational
    trier
    of fact could have rendered a guilty verdict based on the evidence presented >> at trial and let Yusuf walk out of court scot free, despite the overwhelming >> amount of evidence the prosecution provided of his guilt.

    https://x.com/GrageDustin/status/1995687397942538483?s=20

    And she thinks some of the monies went to Al-Shabaab terrorists? Wow

    And she's implicitly calling the 12 jurors who found him guilty racist: if she claims their verdict can't be based on the evidence, then she's implying that it was based on something else... which in this context could only be racism.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@3:633/10 to All on Tue Dec 2 22:36:09 2025
    Subject: Re: Suck it, California and Illinis: Massive fraud in Minnesota social service programs

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
    Dec 2, 2025 at 12:46:53 PM PST, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >>BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

    Both California and Illinois need to step up their game. Minnesota is >>>coming from behind and is looking to take the title:

    . . .

    And the state judiciary is in on it, too. This week, Judge Sarah West >>>overturned a unanimous jury conviction of Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf-- >>>finding him guilty of stealing $7.2M from taxpayers. West ruled that no >>>rational trier of fact could have rendered a guilty verdict based on the >>>evidence presented at trial and let Yusuf walk out of court scot free, >>>despite the overwhelming amount of evidence the prosecution provided
    of his guilt.

    https://x.com/GrageDustin/status/1995687397942538483?s=20

    And she thinks some of the monies went to Al-Shabaab terrorists? Wow

    Note that "she" in this sentence is Sen Michael Holmstrom, who wrote
    this letter to Judge Sarah West.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G7IbHEfWYAAffL0?format=jpg

    And she's implicitly calling the 12 jurors who found him guilty racist:
    if she claims their verdict can't be based on the evidence, then she's >implying that it was based on something else... which in this context
    could only be racism.

    . . . in moviePig world in which facts, in and of themselves, are
    racist.

    Stating the obvious, Judge Sarah West is being paternalistic here, if
    not racist herself. Somali immigrants cannot be expected not to cmmmit
    fraud because the emigrated from a war-torn country with a massively
    corrupt government that lots of people committed fraud against.

    By having such low expectations of the entire Somali immigrant
    communithy, that they are all potential fraudsters but it's not their
    fault so we can never treat them like adults, she's the one acting on
    her very own prejudices against the entire community.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Wed Dec 3 02:53:49 2025
    Subject: Re: Suck it, California and Illinis: Massive fraud in Minnesota social service programs

    On Dec 2, 2025 at 2:36:09 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
    Dec 2, 2025 at 12:46:53 PM PST, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

    Both California and Illinois need to step up their game. Minnesota is
    coming from behind and is looking to take the title:

    . . .

    And the state judiciary is in on it, too. This week, Judge Sarah West
    overturned a unanimous jury conviction of Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf-- >>>> finding him guilty of stealing $7.2M from taxpayers. West ruled that no >>>> rational trier of fact could have rendered a guilty verdict based on the >>>> evidence presented at trial and let Yusuf walk out of court scot free, >>>> despite the overwhelming amount of evidence the prosecution provided
    of his guilt.

    https://x.com/GrageDustin/status/1995687397942538483?s=20

    And she thinks some of the monies went to Al-Shabaab terrorists? Wow

    Note that "she" in this sentence is Sen Michael Holmstrom, who wrote
    this letter to Judge Sarah West.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G7IbHEfWYAAffL0?format=jpg

    And she's implicitly calling the 12 jurors who found him guilty racist:
    if she claims their verdict can't be based on the evidence, then she's
    implying that it was based on something else... which in this context
    could only be racism.

    . . . in moviePig world in which facts, in and of themselves, are
    racist.

    Stating the obvious, Judge Sarah West is being paternalistic here, if
    not racist herself. Somali immigrants cannot be expected not to commit
    fraud because the emigrated from a war-torn country with a massively
    corrupt government that lots of people committed fraud against.

    By having such low expectations of the entire Somali immigrant
    community, that they are all potential fraudsters but it's not their
    fault so we can never treat them like adults, she's the one acting on
    her very own prejudices against the entire community.

    You'd think that at the very least, she'd save the state and the jurors all
    the time and money and effort of the trial and just announce from the bench before void dire that no matter what any potential jury verdict, she's going
    to let the guy go free anyway so we might as well just cut to the chase.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)