Soros-backed DA, who now faces recall, hires prosecutor who called LAPD 'barbarians' and wants to abolish prisons

A 'victim's vigil' was held to launch a recall effort against George Gascón

George Gascón, the Soros-backed Los Angeles district attorney, is facing scrutiny over his extremely progressive criminal justice reforms and the recent hiring of a new prosecutor who has exhibited anti-police sentiments.

It was revealed last week that Gascón hired Tiffiny Blacknell, a controversial public defender who has a history of expressing anti-police beliefs.

"I've confirmed D.A. George Gascon has hired public defender Tiffiny Blacknell to his administration as a Grade 4 prosecutor," KTTV-TV investigative reporter Bill Melugin wrote on Twitter. "Blacknell served on Gascon's policy committee during his campaign. She has called LAPD "barbarians" and says "prisons should be abolished."

Melugin included a photo of Blacknell wearing a t-shirt that read: "THE POLICE ARE TRAINED TO KILL US." He also included screenshots of Blacknell calling LAPD officers "barbarians," and another of her tweets that declares, "Prison is obsolete. We need to reimagine America without it."

Blacknell was criticized in 2020 after she allegedly helped negotiate a "sweetheart deal" with a suspected gang murderer. Blacknell reportedly went behind the backs of the victim's family and the prosecutor. The deal was ultimately withdrawn.

Cindy Wallace, who has been a prosecutor in the DA's office for almost 13 years, told KTTV, "It's really unfortunate. I think it's unfair. It seems like she was given some sort of preferential treatment for helping George Gascón's election, being on the transition team, it's nepotistic a bit."

Eric Siddall, the vice president of the union representing prosecutors in the L.A. County DA's Office, said she doesn't have enough experience. "This is really about political cronyism rather than someone who actually meets the qualification standards of a Grade 4 position," Siddall alleged.

As a Grade 4 prosecutor, Blacknell will purportedly be making up to $15,000 per month. The reported Twitter account of Blackwell has since gone private and her tweets are protected.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/george-gascon-recall-tiffiny-blackwell

BOMBSHELL LETTER: Alleged rape and suicide rock Australian politics

A letter, penned by “friends” of a woman who claimed she was raped by a man who is now a minister, contains a grave warning to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Scott Morrison is under pressure to stand down a minister at the centre of a historic rape allegation and to hold a parliamentary investigation after he received an anonymous letter, penned by “friends” of a dead woman who told police she was raped in 1988, calling for “justice”.

News.com.au has obtained a copy of the correspondence detailing the claims of theAdelaide woman who also left behind a trove of emails, letters and statements describing an alleged assault when she was just 16 years old. The alleged incident occurred interstate.

The letter, which was sent to the Prime Minister on the day of the dead woman’s 50th birthday, details the “complex and distressing” claims. The woman also sought guidance from the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull before her death.

“When news [of the incident] becomes widely known to the public (as it most likely will) legitimate questions will be asked as to who knew what, when they knew it and what they did,’’ the letter states.

It also references the allegations of sexual assault made by a former Liberal staffer whose claims are now being investigated by police.

“This is occurring today in relation to Brittany Higgins,” the letter states.

“In [REDACTED]’s case, the loss of respect for our political institutions will be exacerbated.

“There will be considerable damage to community perceptions of justice … and the Parliament if it is simultaneously revealed that the senior people (like yourselves) were aware of the accusation but had done nothing.

“This is not a partisan issue … This is a difficult issue. Victims share information in confidence and sometimes do not want to pursue claims, at least initially.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/minister-rape-claims-warning-to-pm-scott-morrison-in-letter/news-story/be77b55239996ed731a2133c67d8b54c

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PM sent anonymous letter about historic sexual assault allegations against Cabinet minister as Labor MP accused of rape

PM sent anonymous letter about historic sexual assault allegations against Cabinet minister as Labor MP accused of rape

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said it was up to the Prime Minister to decide if the Minister should be stood down while the allegations were investigated.

"This is a real test, and the Prime Minister must confirm to himself that it remains the case that the Minister, who is the subject of these allegations, that it's appropriate for him to stay in his current position," Mr Albanese told ABC.

However, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said any allegation should be left to the Australian Federal Police.

"As per the AFP Commissioner's instruction, any complaints or allegations of this nature made to anybody — whether they're parliamentarians or journalists — should be referred to the AFP," Mr Birmingham said.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson yesterday said she too was sent an email by a woman alleging she was raped by a man who is now a Labor MP in Federal parliament. She has forwarded it to the AFP.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/scott-morrison-pm-sent-anonymous-letter-about-historic-sexual-assault-allegations-against-cabinet-minister/d45adc3a-097a-4886-bcf1-e4c9b7c0711c

Biden Increases the Cost of Carbon, Setting the Stage for Drastic Climate Rules

For four long years, Democrats were out of power. It must have seemed like an eternity to them, given the frenetic activity they’ve been engaged in since January 20.

Like a starving man walking into a banquet room full of food, Democrats can’t seem to decide what to eat first. So, they’re trying to eat everything at once.

The next three months will see an unbelievable amount of cash getting shoveled out the door in Washington. Two trillion for pandemic relief, another 2 trillion for a massive infrastructure bill, an attempt to reinvent Obamacare, an immigration bill, student loan debt — and they’ll just be getting started.

Indeed, it’s not just the president and his Congress who will be busy. The green geeks at the Environmental Protection Agency have had 4 years to watch the planet heat up and sizzle. That’s got to eat at them. They have so much pent-up energy, we should probably figure out a way to tap into it and run Los Angeles or New York for a couple of days.

The EPA is about to become very, very busy.

Politico:

President Joe Biden on Friday restored an Obama-era calculation on the economic cost of greenhouse gases, a step that will make it easier for his agencies to approve aggressive actions to confront climate change.

But the administration stopped short, for now, of boosting the cost figure to higher levels that economists and climate scientists say are justified by new research.

The interim figure — $51 for every ton of carbon released into the atmosphere — is well above the $8 cost used under former President Donald Trump, who declined to factor the global impacts of climate pollution into his calculation. It’s on par with a price based on analyses undertaken between 2010 and 2016 under former President Barack Obama, whose administration was first to calculate the figure known as the social cost of carbon.

People who hate capitalism are calculating how much the capitalists have to pay for “polluting” the planet with CO2? I smell a rat. A slimy, green, rat.

I confess to not having any expertise when it comes to calculations like this. I’m sure Biden’s green-eyeshade guys could trot out their charts, and graphs, and calculations showing us all exactly what they are basing their estimate of $51 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions on. There is probably no silliness like factoring in racism and oppression or gender inequities into the cost of CO2. So we have to take Biden at his word that his staff really thunk this through.

The social cost of carbon is an effort to quantify the economic and societal damage from greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. The figure will be baked into the administration’s number-crunching on the costs and benefits of a wide array of regulations.

Friday’s notice, posted on the Office of Management and Budget website, fulfills a promise Biden made on Inauguration Day when he signed an executive order on climate change that called for a recalculation of the social cost of carbon, which the Trump administration had sharply reduced.

The “social cost” of carbon? Maybe I spoke too soon about the silliness.

“This is to be celebrated for getting the social cost of carbon out from being a political football, which is what Trump did, but it’s Step One. Step Two is restore a transparent process and to return the social cost of carbon to the frontier of climate science and economics,” said Michael Greenstone, a University of Chicago economist.

When you’re talking about other people’s money, being at the “frontier of climate science and economics” is so easy. There’s no need to be careful or even realistic in your estimates. You’re on the “frontier.” There’s no time to be cautious. The earth is in danger and only the ministrations of the high priests of climate can save us.

Using carbon as a whipping boy for our climate problems is more political than scientific. But that’s what climate change advocacy has degenerated into and it will continue to grind us down until they get their way.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/02/28/biden-increases-the-cost-of-carbon-setting-the-stage-for-drastic-climate-rules-n1428986

No jab, no entry laws the ‘obvious’ way to promote vaccines: Israeli minister

A paramedic prepares a vial of vaccine in Israel

Governments around the world are closely studying Israel’s huge vaccination program and its new carrot and stick approach.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/no-jab-no-entry-laws-the-obvious-way-to-promote-vaccines-israeli-minister-20210225-p575yz.html