Kari Lake files election challenge in Arizona court

The former conservative media personality warned throughout her gubernatorial bid that the state's election system was mired in voter fraud.

Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Friday announced that she had filed an election challenge, alleging that the total number of illegal votes was greater than her opponent's margin of victory.

Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was certified as the winner of the state's gubernatorial contest earlier this month. State law requires that election results be first certified before a candidate may file a challenge.

Lake announced the suit via Twitter in the Maricopa County Superior Court with a screenshot of the filing being placed at the court's petition drop off location.

In the filing, Lake asserts that "[t]he number of illegal votes cast in Arizona’s general election on November 8, 2022 far exceeds the 17,117 vote margin."

She further contends that "thousands of Republican voters were disenfranchised as a result of Maricopa County election officials' misconduct in connection with the widespread tabulator or printer failures at 59% of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County."

Lake's claims echo those of Arizona Republican Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh, who filed a separate challenge on similar grounds Friday afternoon. Hamadeh's race was much closer, with his Democratic opponent leading by a mere 511 votes, the closest statewide race in Arizona history. A recount is in progress in that race.

The former conservative media personality has long asserted that the state's election system is mired in voter fraud and that it had handed the 2020 presidential contest to President Joe Biden.

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/kari-lake-files-election-challenge-arizona-court

REPORT: Forcht Bank in Kentucky Restricts Costumers From Buying Firearms

Banks are now intentionally hindering customers’ ability to manage their own funds and make critical purchases, as well as interfering with their ability to make their own financial decisions.

A new report out of Kentucky claims that Forcht Bank is prohibiting its customers from using debit cards to buy firearms.

The customer reportedly closed his account after the incident, according to a post published by the gun shop owner in a private group on Facebook called FFL Connects (Federal Firearms License).

“TRANSACTION DECLINED: CHARGE DECLINED. RESTRICTED CARD. CUSTOMER BANK DOES NOT ALLOW THIS CARD TO BE USED AT THIS TYPE OF MERCHANT,” the error message reads.

It can be recalled the International Organization for Standardization –the organization in charge of setting standards for business transactions — voted to create a “merchant category code” for gun purchases.

This will allow banks that process payment from gun retailers to assign the new code to the gun stores.

The decision comes after the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, along with other elected officials and state pension fund trustees, have requested that major credit card companies implement a weapon code for the purchase of firearms and ammunition.

Officials in New York City and the state of New York have asked American Express, MasterCard, and Visa to make a four-digit merchant category code (MCC) like the ones used for other retail categories to better identify and report suspicious behavior, such as large purchases of firearms.

“The creation of a new code would help financial institutions detect and report suspicious activity, such as unusually large purchases of firearms or ammunition, or purchases from multiple stores, that may be used for criminal purposes,” it claimed.

According to the news release, “credit card companies use a four-digit merchant category code to classify businesses by the types of goods and services sold. Merchant category codes are set by the International Organization on Standardization (ISO). Unique merchant category codes exist for grocery stores, sporting goods stores, bicycle shops, and many other retailers — but not for gun and ammunition stores.”

More from Pay Junction:

An MCC code is a Merchant Category Code. It is used to map business industries (like computer repair, dental, and insurance agencies) to a four-digit code (like 7379, 8021, and 6300 respectively). Occasionally, a customer’s issuing credit card bank will block transactions if the credit card is used at an establishment they deem inappropriate for the type of credit card. As a possible example, HSA medical cards tend to be restricted cards, and would likely receive an invalid service code (62) if used at a movie theater.

As another example, occasionally there is no MCC code that adequately describes a merchant’s business type, in which case your merchant account is assigned a generic MCC code of 7299. Some issuers will block customer transactions for businesses with a generic 7299 MCC code.

If you receive an invalid service code (62), you may want to check that your MCC code on file for your merchant account is accurate for your business industry.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/report-forcht-bank-kentucky-restricts-costumers-buying-firearms/

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/report-forcht-bank-kentucky-restricts-costumers-buying-firearms/

Defense Aid To Ukraine Tops $20 Billion As New $275M Package Announced

The Biden administration on Friday unveiled another $275 million in weapons and defense equipment for Ukraine, which crucially will come via the presidential drawdown authority.

This means the Pentagon will pull arms from its own stockpiles to send to Ukraine to fulfill this package, despite defense officials having long been on record expressing deep concern over dwindling supplies necessary to protect and defend America.

A Defense Department press release indicated the package is to include "more ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 80,000 155 mm artillery rounds, counter-unmanned aerial systems equipment, counter air defenses, additional High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, ambulances and medical equipment, 150 generators and other field equipment."

The Ukrainian government and armed forces have been especially interested in procurement of more and longer-range anti-air defense systems. A recent report in The Wall Street Journal indicated the Pentagon had altered missile systems transferred to Ukraine to limit their range at 50 miles, in order to prevent the Ukrainians from targeting Russian territory.

The Friday DoD press release stated further, "This security assistance package will provide Ukraine with new capabilities to boost its air defenses in addition to providing critical equipment that Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself on the battlefield."

This brings US defense aid commitment since the war's start to $19.3 billion, while the total tab at the American taxpayer's expense for Ukraine has reached $20 billion since the start of the Biden administration (accounting additionally for aid sent just prior to the Russian invasion).

One "lesson" on display this week (and an obvious longtime trend) is that the deep state and military-industrial complex will always opt for more spending and less accountability - even at the expense of national defense readiness. On Thursday the House passed the massive, record-setting annual defense authorization bill, which will now see the $847 billion measure go to the Senate. Its mammoth size includes plans for much more Ukraine aid to come for the next fiscal year.

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/defense-aid-ukraine-tops-20-billion-new-275m-package-announced

ATO reveals it raided 35 properties suspected of using technology to evade paying tax

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed it has raided 35 properties nationally as part of a global crackdown on businesses suspected of using technology to under-report sales and avoid paying tax.

Key points:

The ATO and officers from the AFP raided 35 premises suspected of using or supplying technology to evade tax

ESST helps businesses permanently delete business transactions, reduce sales values or misrepresent transactions in other ways

While the ATO hasn't said if anybody has been charged, it says investigations are continuing

According to the ATO, those raids took place across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania last week.

The ATO told the ABC many of the businesses raided were in the hospitality industry.

No charges have been laid yet.

It said its agents raided the properties in tandem with officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

The investigation has been looking into businesses suspected of using or supplying electronic sales suppression tools (ESST).

ESST helps businesses permanently delete business transactions, reduce sales values or misrepresent transactions in other ways.

That then helps businesses declare a lower bottom line for tax purposes.

ATO commissioner John Ford gave an example of a restaurant doctoring how much customers were buying.

"So, what might happen is that the customer orders a $60 steak and a $100 bottle of wine," he said.

"And the ESS tool then puts it through the point of sale system as a $10 bowl of chips and a $4 bottle of soft drink."

Mr Ford said it was illegal to do this, as well as to supply ESST in Australia.

"[It's a] deliberate and underhanded act, designed purely to under-report income and avoid tax obligations.

"It's illegal and it will not be tolerated here in Australia.

"Businesses using or promoting this technology are effectively stealing from the Australian community, and that's simply not on."

The ATO said in a statement about the raids that "investigations [were] ongoing" and a "significant cache of information [had] been gathered".

It also said legal action was expected as a result of the raids.

"We've seen ESST appear in hardware connected to the point of sales system, cloud-based software and capability built directly into the software," Mr Ford said.

The ATO carried out the raids as part of a global taskforce into ESST.

It was done in tandem with counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-10/tax-raids-taskforce-ato-tech-sales-evasion/101756454

Federal Court Permanently Blocks Biden’s Gender Transition Mandate

A federal appeals court has permanently blocked the Biden administration’s mandate on doctors and hospitals forcing them to perform gender transition procedures against their conscience.

The Eighth Circuit appeals court is the second circuit to block the mandate, after the Fifth Circuit ruled similarly earlier this year in Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra. The plaintiffs, a coalition of Catholic hospitals, a Catholic university, and Catholic nuns who run healthcare clinics for the poor, were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“The federal government has no business forcing doctors to violate their consciences or perform controversial procedures that could permanently harm their patients,” Becket vice president and senior counsel Luke Goodrich said in a press release. “This is a common-sense ruling that protects patients, aligns with best medical practice, and ensures doctors can follow their Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm.’”

After inheriting the mandate from the Obama administration, the Biden administration sought to force doctors to perform “gender transition” surgeries — mutilation — and prescribe puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone drugs, and other procedures.

Invoking the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Biden administration threatened noncompliant hospitals and doctors with millions of dollars in financial penalties, as it attempted to enforce its redefinition of discrimination on the basis of sex to include gender identity.

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the original district court opinion, ruling, “district court correctly held that ‘intrusion upon the Catholic Plaintiffs’ exercise of religion.'”

On a media call Friday afternoon, Goodrich said “today’s decision is a huge win for religious freedom, but not only for religious freedom, but for common sense, and sound medical judgment.”

The ruling is somewhat narrow, in that only the parties in the cases are protected by the permanent injunction. Despite that, the rulings do set a strong precedent for other doctors to obtain similar protections in the future.

“Today’s victory sets an important precedent that religious healthcare professionals are free to practice medicine in accordance with their consciences and experienced professional judgment,” Goodrich said. “The government’s attempt to force doctors to go against their consciences was bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for religious liberty.”

The Biden administration has 45 days to ask a full panel of Eighth Circuit judges to rehear the case or 90 days to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Goodrich said on the call that he doubts the Biden administration will go forward with an appeal.

The case is Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra, No. 21-1890, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/09/federal-court-permanently-blocks-bidens-gender-transition-mandate/