Outrage as Sir Keir Starmer removes £100,000 portrait of Margaret Thatcher in 'petty' move after PM found it 'unsettling'

Keir Starmer has sparked fury by removing a portrait of margaret thatcher from her former study in No 10.

In a move branded 'petty', the Prime Minister had the £100,000 painting taken down from the Thatcher Room in Downing Street after reportedly finding it 'unsettling'.

Painted by royal portrait artist Richard Stone, it depicts the Iron Lady at the height of her powers just after the Falklands War in 1982.

It was commissioned by prime minister at the time, Gordon Brown, as a tribute to her achievements, and unveiled in No 10 in 2009.

The painting – which the artist hoped would stay in Downing Street 'for ever' – was the first of a former prime minister to be commissioned by Downing Street. Lady Thatcher was said to have been 'honoured'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13794387/Keir-Starmer-removes-portrait-Margaret-Thatcher-petty-PM-unsettling.html

30% of Pennsylvania hunters are NOT registered to vote.

40% of Wisconsin hunters are NOT registered to vote.

https://x.com/ScottPresler/status/1829157350395306297

At Michigan, Activists Take Over and Shut Down Student Government

Students were braced for a stalemate. There was an Ultimate Frisbee team without money to compete, an airport shuttle whose cost to students almost doubled without a campus subsidy, and a ballroom dance team unable to rent rehearsal space.

At the University of Michigan, many student activities are usually funded or subsidized by the Central Student Government, known as C.S.G., an elected undergraduate and graduate council that decides how to dole out roughly $1.3 million annually to about 400 groups.

But last spring, pro-Palestinian activists, running under the Shut It Down party, won control over the student government. They immediately moved to withhold funding for all activities, until the university committed to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s war in Gaza.

University regents, though, have consistently said that divestment is off the table. And as students returned to school, the campus seemed to be at a virtual standstill.

“It’s incredibly stressful,” said Nicolette Kleinhoffer, president of the ballroom dance team. The team relies on the student government for the majority of its funding, which covers competitions, a coach and rehearsal and performance space.

The student government takeover was a novel strategy for pro-Palestinian activists, who have battled Michigan’s administration as it dismantled encampments and disciplined protesters.

But as school began, some questioned whether the shutdown would provoke a backlash and what the university would do in response.

https://archive.is/DUhaz#selection-673.0-673.65

How the migrant crisis drained $150 billion from taxpayers in a single year

The migrant crisis is more costly than Americans realize.

Last year, US taxpayers shelled out some $150 billion in government services and support to help the 20 million illegal migrants in the country, according to a study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

And most of the cost is being borne by state and local governments.

In Massachusetts, Republican leaders say there’s a $1 billion hole in state coffers — and they’re accusing the Democrat-controlled government of quietly siphoning off tax dollars to deal with the migrant crisis.

On Tuesday, the state’s Republican Party filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding Gov. Maura Healey release Massachusetts’ full migrant budget, and alleging that the true cost has been hidden from the public.

“The Healey-Driscoll Administration has shrouded nearly $1 billion spent in secrecy, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark,” the party’s Amy Carnevale told Fox News.

“They have withheld critical information on 600 incidents involving police, fire and EMT. Blocking journalists at every turn, the administration has obstructed the flow of information to the public.”

FAIR estimates that in 2023 alone, the cost in state services for the illegal migrants and their children in the Bay State was closer to $3 billion.

In New York, the comptroller estimated that the migrant crisis will cost state taxpayers $4.3 billion through 2025, and New York City taxpayers $3 billion in fiscal year 2024 alone.

However, according to FAIR’s estimates, the estimated 1.45 million illegal migrants and children in the state already cost taxpayers nearly $10 billion in 2023.

While most states’ accounts of migrant expenses focus on emergency housing and aid, FAIR’s assessment factored in the full breadth of state services they draw on while in the US.

Services like education, medical expenses, law enforcement, legal costs and welfare were prominent factors FAIR looked at in its study.

Those, coupled with the differences in tax revenue compared to expenses, helped contribute to the discrepancies between state reporting and the estimated true cost of hosting migrants.

FAIR also included the costs of US-born children of illegal immigrants — something many reports don’t factor in.

“As long as we keep allowing millions of people to come into the country illegally every year, it’s obviously going to continue to increase the costs,” FAIR spokesperson Ira Mehlman told The Post.

“This seems to be just sort of basic, common sense. If you were going to be bringing in lots and lots of people, many of them working off the books for very low wages, that there are going to be enormous social costs incurred,” he added.

And not a single state across the country has been spared — FAIR projected West Virginia spent the least, with costs to care for migrants and their children still totaling more than $33 million.

But that’s just one of seven states that coughed up less than $100 million for the crisis.

Half of US states were estimated to have shelled out in excess of $100 million, while the bill for 19 reaches well over $1 billion.

California led the country with expenses of nearly $31 billion to take care of illegal immigrants and their children, according to FAIR’s study.

Texas followed at more than $13 billion; Florida clocked in at more than $8 billion; then New York and New Jersey.

The total outlay by American taxpayers was even higher, according to estimates from FAIR, at $182 billion.

However, illegal migrants do pay taxes — and FAIR estimated their contributions to local, state and federal treasuries came to about $32 billion.

However, that still left $150 billion in costs that American taxpayers were saddled with, FAIR estimated.

“The argument that illegal aliens pay more in taxes than they use in services, it’s completely misleading,” Mehlman said.

The staggering costs to taxpayers have ballooned since about 2017, when the true price of illegal immigration was estimated to be about $116 billion, according to FAIR.

That means the cost to US taxpayers rose about $35 billion in just five years, FAIR found.

More than 1.3 million people were released into the US by Customs and Border Protection between March 2023 and July 2024 — not including the scores who slipped in undetected, known as “gotaways.”

“It’s an atrocity to spend taxpayer money to support and help people that don’t even have the lawful right to be here because the federal government has got policies in place that are allowing this to occur,” said Chris Clem, former Border Patrol chief of the Yuma sector in Arizona.

“This is another pull factor because all they have to do is get arrested, turn themselves in and get released. They are getting opportunities that you and I don’t get.”

https://nypost.com/2024/08/29/us-news/the-150-billion-problem-cost-of-migrant-crisis-to-us-taxpayers-could-be-billions-higher-than-reported-expenses-in-many-states/

Defamed election workers seeking Rudy Giuliani's homes and World Series rings

In a court filing, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss also say they're entitled to Giuliani's $2 million claim for legal fees from the Trump campaign and RNC .

The two Georgia election workers defamed by Rudy Giuliani are seeking to take possession of his multimillion-dollar homes in New York and Florida and some of his valuable personal property, including three Yankees World Series rings.

Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, were awarded $146 million in damages last year after a judge found Giuliani liable for repeatedly defaming them by falsely accusing them of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election. They filed the action seeking to get ahold of his properties in federal court in New York on Friday.

They argue the move is necessary because, "Mr. Giuliani has proven time and again that he will never voluntarily comply with court orders, much less voluntarily satisfy Plaintiffs’ judgment."

Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, said the appeal of the "objectively unreasonable" verdict "hasn't even been heard, yet opposing counsel continues to take steps designed to harass and intimidate" the former New York City mayor.

Freeman and Moss testified during the defamation trial that Giuliani’s lies in support of former President Donald Trump’s bogus stolen election claims subjected them to a torrent of racist and violent threats that forced them out of their jobs and homes.

Their filing Friday seeks "an order requiring Mr. Giuliani to turn over personal property in his possession in satisfaction of the judgment, and an order appointing Plaintiffs as receivers with the power to take possession of, and sell, both real and personal property that Mr. Giuliani does not turn over." That includes "cash accounts, jewelry and valuables, a legal claim for unpaid attorneys’ fees, and Mr. Giuliani’s interest in his luxury Madison Avenue co-op apartment."

Giuliani's Manhattan apartment is worth an estimated $5.7 million, while his condo in Palm Beach, which the former election workers are also trying to obtain, is valued at $3.5 million.

They're additionally laying claim to the $2 million in fees Giuliani says he's owed by Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee for his work in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 — efforts that got Giuliani disbarred in New York and that led to Moss and Freeman's lawsuit.

The mother and daughter are also seeking Giuliani's 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500, signed Reggie Jackson picture, signed Joe DiMaggio shirt and three Yankees World Series rings he was given during his time as New York City mayor. They also want a diamond ring he owns and his collection of about two dozen luxury watches.

Giuliani filed for bankruptcy after getting hit with the judgment in December and, in that proceeding, estimated all of his jewelry was worth $30,000. Attorneys for Freeman and Moss disputed that claim, noting that just one of the World Series rings is worth about that amount.

A New York bankruptcy judge dismissed Giuliani's case earlier this month, after citing Giuliani’s failure to turn over virtually any necessary information about his businesses while submitting incomplete or incorrect information about his personal spending.

In a separate but related filing Friday, the pair accused Giuliani of continued gamesmanship by claiming earlier this month that his permanent residence is in Florida in a "bid to qualify the Condo for homestead protection under Florida law."

That "evasive maneuver is no more valid than the last few: Mr. Giuliani’s own public internet broadcasts show that he has not actually resided in the Palm Beach Condo since purporting to establish permanent, actual residency there—and he certainly has not maintained it as a 'homestead,'" the filing said, noting there's no evidence he's even been at the condo since a brief stay in May. They also pointed out in his deposition in the bankruptcy case in February, he said his principal residence was in New York.

Freeman and Moss are seeking a judgment that their lien on the property is enforceable "and that any assertion by Mr. Giuliani of homestead status is without merit."

Goodman maintained his client is the victim and "we now live in a time where the justice system has been weaponized against Mayor Giuliani and so many others for strictly partisan political purposes."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/defamed-election-workers-seeking-rudy-giulianis-homes-world-series-rin-rcna169013

Feds say pharmacy burglary ring is largest in DEA history

(The Center Square) - Over 40 people accused of running the largest pharmacy burglary stole approximately $12 million worth of controlled substances, according to an indictment.

The bust is the largest in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the Department of Justice.

U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas said Thursday the group of 42 people worked together to burglarize over 200 pharmacies across 31 states. More than 11 of the affected pharmacies were located in Arkansas, according to Ross.

Ross said the group, based in Houston, Texas, targeted independent, non-chain pharmacies in rural locations and would drive rental cars or take flights to get there. Their pattern would be to go to their selected target locations in the early morning, break the glass and crawl on the floor to avoid motion detectors.

Stolen medications included opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone, along with other prescription drugs like Xanax, Adderall and promethazine, Ross said.

“As a result, hundreds of thousands of pills and gallons of promethazine cough syrup were returned and distributed on the streets of Texas,” said Ross.

The street value of the stolen medications is approximately $12 million, according to federal officials.

“As we know, the opioid epidemic is still with us: 107,543 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2023, of which 81,083 were due to opioids,” Ross said. “Theft and illegal distribution of prescription opioid and other scheduled medications fuels the addiction and overdose crisis throughout the United States and theft and illegal distribution of prescription opioid and other scheduled medications result in millions of dollars in proceeds to pro-criminal organizations perpetuating dangerous criminal activity.”

Previously, Ross’s office announced Phase 1 of Operation #RichoffMeds in December. At that point, 18 suspected members of the crime ring had been indicted for burglaries that took place in Arkansas.

This week’s announcement comes after a superseding indictment was returned by an Arkansas grand jury, which charged 24 additional people in the conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for acts that occurred nationwide, Ross said.

Law enforcement seized 11 firearms, around $79,000 in U.S. currency, and custom jewelry retailing at about $510,000 in Houston, which Ross said were proceeds from the sale of pharmaceutical drugs.

Most of the defendants appeared in a court in Little Rock Thursday afternoon. The remaining defendants will be in court in September.

“An investigation and indictment of this kind represents the best results of cooperation and collaboration by law enforcement personnel and prosecutors working within the appropriate oversight from the judicial branch,” said Ross.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/arkansas/article_99e71036-6712-11ef-ad79-8f950fc971c4.html

Ford joins list of companies walking back DEI policies

Ford Motor is the latest company to walk back some of its commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The automaker has taken “a fresh look” at its DEI policies and practices over the past year to take in to account the evolving “external and legal environment related to political and social issues,” according to an internal communication that was shared with global Ford employees and posted Wednesday on X by an anti-DEI activist. Ford confirmed the letter was authentic and said it had no additional comment on the matter.

Ford’s move follows retailer Tractor Supply

, which one of the first major companies to stop its DEI efforts, as it severed ties earlier this summer with the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, and retired DEI targets like boosting the number of employees of color at the manager level. Harley-Davidson

, whose board of directors includes Ford CEO Jim Farley, also decided last week to stop consulting the HRC’s metric for treatment of LGBTQ+ employees and affirmed that it does not have a DEI function.

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s

joined the efforts earlier this week, and noted that it might also make additional changes to the policies over time.

The companies have cited conservative backlash or changing social and political environments in their announcements. Tractor Supply and Harley-Davidson also noted a desire to appeal to their more rural or conservative-leaning customers.

“I think you will start to see this move towards more politically neutral companies, which is to say that most of these companies didn’t really want to be doing this stuff in the first place,” Liz Hoffman, Semafor’s business and finance editor, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Wednesday, before the Ford memo was posted.

In the memo Wednesday, Farley said the company will not use quotas for minority dealerships or suppliers, adding that it does not have hiring quotas.

The automaker will also stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, as well as various other “best places to work” lists.

The Human Rights Campaign scores over 1,300 companies annually based on their corporate equality measures for LGBTQ+ individuals, including practices like offering spousal medical benefits regardless of sex and having distinct LGBTQ+ community outreach efforts. Ford, in previous years, had received a perfect score on the index.

“Ford Motor Company’s shortsighted decisions will have long-term consequences,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “Hastily abandoning efforts that ensure fair, safe, and inclusive work environments is bad for business and leaves Ford’s employees and millions of LGBTQ+-allied consumers behind.”

The organization also added that it evaluates every Fortune 500 company on its equality index, regardless of whether or not the company submits additional information about its priorities, which means Ford will continue to be scored on the list.

“As a global company, we will continue to put our effort and resources into taking care of our customers, our team, and our communities versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day,” Ford said in the statement sent to employees. “There will of course be times when we will speak out on core issues if we believe our voice can make a positive difference.”

Many companies, including automakers such as Ford, amped up their DEI commitments in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests of the summer of 2020 — and Ford spoke up about that at the time.

“We are not interested in superficial actions. This is our moment to lead from the front and fully commit to creating the fair, just and inclusive culture that our employees deserve,” the company said in 2020 in a letter reaffirming its DEI commitment. “We cannot turn a blind eye to it or accept some sense of ‘order’ that’s based on oppression.”

But, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in colleges, a growing number of conservative activists on social media have called on companies to stop investing in DEI.

“There is an old saying: If you give an inch, people take a mile, and that is essentially what we have seen when the Supreme Court made a ruling that was very specific to institutions of higher education,” industrial and organizational psychologist Derek Avery told CNBC.

“Conservative state attorney generals sent letters to corporations warning them that they could expect to be sued if they continue to advocate and promote DEI practices within their organizations that could be construed as counter to the Supreme Court ruling, even though the Supreme Court ruling had no bearing on those corporate initiatives.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/28/ford-joins-list-of-companies-walking-back-dei-policies.html

Massachusetts GOP demands information on state's $1 billion in 'secret' migrant spending: 'Veil of secrecy

Massachusetts Republicans have submitted a formal request with the state's government for information on the alleged "$1 billion in secret migrant crisis spending" as the Bay State grapples with the migrant crisis.

In a release from the state's Republican Party, MassGOP, the group demanded that Gov. Maura Healey's administration provides a detailed cost breakdown of the toll that the migrant crisis has caused for the state's residents.

"The Healey-Driscoll Administration has shrouded nearly $1 billion spent in secrecy, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark," MassGOP chair Amy Carnevale said in a statement. "They have withheld critical information on 600 incidents involving police, fire and EMT. Blocking journalists at every turn, the administration has obstructed the flow of information to the public."

In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Carnevale demanded the specifics of the state's funding to provide housing for migrants.

In the FOIA request, Carnevale called for the Healey administration to provide the names of government and private entities that are providing emergency housing for migrants, where the emergency housing is located, any correspondents relating to public safety concerns, and any incident reports or police reports.

Carnevale argued that the Democrats' supermajority has created a "veil of secrecy" surrounding the migrant crisis.

"Today, the Massachusetts Republican Party is standing against the veil of secrecy and the obstructionist efforts of the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Democratic supermajority," she said. "We stand with the Massachusetts press corps in declaring: enough is enough. The public deserves transparency. Release the details on the vendors profiting from this crisis and the public safety issues affecting our communities."

"On behalf of Massachusetts residents, we are demanding accountability," Carnevale added.

The MassGOP's request comes after the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report on July 24, which predicted Massachusetts will struggle to manage the growing number of migrants coming to the state.

The report noted that the state has already spent more than $1 billion on the Emergency Assistance sheltering program that houses migrants.

"The cost to Massachusetts taxpayers of temporary housing and shelters is enormous, but it pales in comparison to the costs that will accumulate in the future if those in the temporary shelters today remain in the Commonwealth for the long term," wrote Jessica Vaughan, CIS director of policy studies.

In addition to housing, some other costs taxpayers will have to cover include schooling, social services, medical care and public safety.

The report estimated that the number of "illegal and inadmissible" migrants living in Massachusetts is about 355,000 with 50,000 new arrivals since 2021. It also reported that 10,000 migrants were minors with 8,500 being unaccompanied.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the MassGOP and Healey's office for comment.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/massachusetts-gop-demands-information-states-1-billion-secret-migrant-spending-veil-secrecy

How quickly Aurora, Colorado is being destroyed by Illegals

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1829621234629529714

Mark Zuckerberg ripped for claiming he didn’t realize $400M in ‘Zuck Bucks’ helped sway 2020 election for Biden

He’s sorry, not sorry.

Data geek Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed this week he didn’t realize $400 million he spent on “getting out the vote” in the 2020 election benefited one party over the other.

But Republican sources are skeptical that the Facebook boss was unaware his so-called “Zuck Bucks” — pledged to help finance fair local elections — were spent unevenly after being given to two known left-wing organizations.

“My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle,” Zuckerberg wrote in his letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) this week.

“They were designed to be nonpartisan — spread across urban, rural, and suburban communities,” Zuckerberg continued.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, an organization led by Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan, gave more than $350 million to the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) and the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) on the pretense of getting out the vote to everyone.

But the administrators of those groups had deep ties to the left, researchers told The Post, including CTCL founder Tiana Epps-Johnson, a former Obama Foundation fellow.

“Based on this letter he’s either being disingenuous or he didn’t do his due diligence on the people he gave money to,” Hayden Ludwig, director of research at Restoration News, told The Post.

The people who founded CTCL come from a defunct group called the New Organizing Institute, Ludwig notes. And back in 2014, CNN quoted a GOP operative who called the New Organizing Institute “the Left’s New Death Star.”

“These were people whose entire jobs were figuring out how to elect Democrats. Personally I think he went home and quietly congratulated himself on helping get Joe Biden elected. He found a big loophole and put $350 million into it,” Ludwig says.

An analysis shows that Zuck Bucks were disproportionately spent getting out the vote in Democratic-leaning counties in Georgia, which Biden won by just 12,000 votes.

The same thing happened in Arizona, where Biden won by 10,000.

According to the Foundation for Government Accountability, Georgia received more than $31 million in Zuck Bucks for the general election alone, one of the highest amounts in the country.

It worked out to nearly 9 percent of all Zuckerberg funding, even though Georgia has just over 3 percent of the country’s population.

A county-by-county analysis in Georgia by the Foundation for Government Accountability revealed a spend of between $7 and $15 in Zuck Bucks per voter in six of the largest counties in the state, which were all won by Biden.

Meanwhile, there was a spend of $1 to $3 per voter in the top six counties won by Donald Trump.

In Wisconsin, which had previously voted for Trump, the CTCL spent $47 per voter in Green Bay, when normally the legislature spent $7 per voter there and $4 in rural areas of the state.

“Most people think of political dollars as money that goes to a campaign or TV ad,” said Ludwig.

In this case, Zuckerberg’s money often went to calling or visiting voters directly, making sure they would send in a mail-in ballot.

“We looked at 8 or 9 battleground states and in every state we looked at we found the same pattern. CTCL cut checks that per person were significantly larger in big blue Democrat cities compared with rural Republican counties.

“Wisconsin CTCL grants averaged $3.75 per person in Biden counties versus 55 cents in Trump counties. The bottom line is that all this Zuckerberg money boosted turnout everywhere but it boosted turnout the highest in these big blue cities who got massive Zuck bucks from CTCL.”

Zuckerberg’s contribution was well known as far back as 2021, with William Doyle writing in The Post that “the 2020 election wasn’t stolen — it was likely bought by one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful men pouring his money through legal loopholes.”

What baffles some is why Zuckerberg now chose to write the letter — in which he also admitted the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID content and said it was wrong to suppress The Post’s coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center, a right-wing think tank, says he thinks Zuckerberg’s mea culpa, however wan, is a “cover your ass” move in case President Trump gets elected.

“What he wrote in the letter about Zuck Bucks doesn’t sound like the words of an innocent man,” Walter told The Post.

“Zuckerberg has brilliant data geeks that are looking at [huge amounts of] data all the time. It makes me think they may be seeing something about the upcoming election and that he may not want to look bad if there is another Trump administration.

“His explanation is vague and the evidence for his innocence or nonpartisanship is nonexistent. Furthermore he said a lot of this on the Joe Rogan podcast a long time ago. He didn’t have to write the letter.”

In fact, Trump railed against Zuckerberg in his upcoming book, accusing the tech tycoon of undermining him in the last election and warning of possible jail time.

Trump, 78, recounted meeting with Zuckerberg, 40, and seethed over the 2020 election in his upcoming book “Save America,” set to hit bookshelves on Sept. 3.

“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote in the book, per a preview obtained by Politico.

Zuck Bucks was not just a matter of Democrats outspending Republicans. Private funding of election administration was virtually unknown in the American political system before the 2020 election.

“Funneling money through Democrat-run nonprofits in order to increase votes in the blue areas of key swing states, as Zuckerberg did, is an inherently partisan activity,” Mollie Hemingway, author of “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech and the Democrats Seized Our Elections,” told The Post.

“It’s good that he regrets what he did to unfairly meddle in the 2020 election, but the damage is done.”

Hemingway also pointed out that now the template had been set, even if Zuckerberg stops providing funding, other left-wing billionaires can pick up where he left off, which Walter agreed with.

“Zuckerbucks was the real Kraken,” he said. “There is no right-wing equivalent. The idea that billionaires and charities shouldn’t be influencing elections is not that hard to understand.”

https://nypost.com/2024/08/30/us-news/zuckerberg-ripped-for-claiming-no-influence-on-2020-election/

St. Louis judge sets trial date for defamation case against Gateway Pundit

A St. Louis judge this week set a trial date of next March 10 for the defamation lawsuit against the owners of the far-right conspiracy site Gateway Pundit over false allegations of election fraud against two Georgia poll workers.

Although trial schedules can always be amended, the Aug. 26 order by Judge Elizabeth Hogan appears to finally bring clarity to the question of when St. Louis will be the scene of what will be a high-profile First Amendment trial.

It’s also a setback for Jim Hoft, owner of the Gateway Pundit, who had hoped for an indefinite delay in the proceedings.

The case pits the claims of the two poll workers that the Gateway Pundit’s “one-hundred-plus article campaign” against them helped prompt death threats and other harassment against Hoft’s claims that he acted only as a journalist exercising his right to free expression.

The March 10 date is the one requested by the lawyers for the two poll workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who are mother and daughter. It is also the one that had been recommended by a court-appointed “special master” in the case and that the court itself had set earlier in the year.

But the lawyers for Hoft and his co-defendants — his identical twin brother Joe Hoft and TGP Communications LLC, the business behind the Gateway Pundit website — requested a stay while they appeal the July 24 dismissal of TGP’s bankruptcy filing by a Florida bankruptcy court.

In an Aug. 22 filing, Hoft’s attorneys argued that the St. Louis court should extend the automatic stay that had been placed on the case when they made their initial bankruptcy filing in April. This strategy, they said, would avert possible “stops and starts” that could flow from a reimposition of the bankruptcy proceeding and another automatic stay.

Hoft’s lawyers also said the two women and their lawyers “are clearly on a mission to drive TGP Communications out of business, and seeking bankruptcy protection in the face of that mission” makes sense.

But in tossing the filing, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Florida ruled that it had been made in “bad faith” and “purely as a litigation strategy.”

The lawyers for the poll workers took note of that in their request for the March 10 trial date.

They wrote that Hoft and his attorneys have “used every option to delay justice” since the case was first filed in December 2021, “including through 1) improper removal to federal court; 2) filing a defamation counterclaim against counsel of record for repeating facts and opinions included in the operative petitions; 3) failing to produce many responsive documents until more than a year after they were requested; and 4) failing to provide defendants’ depositions dates until ordered to in April 2024.”

They also wrote that Hofts’ lawyers had “not responded” to their multiple attempts to meet to discuss how to comply with the schedule the special master had laid out for discovery and depositions in the case.

A similar suit by Freeman and Moss against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani led a Washington, D.C., jury last December to award them compensatory and punitive damages of more than $148 million. Guiliani’s lawyer in that case contended that the Gateway Pundit – whom he called “patient zero” of the election fraud conspiracy theory – was more responsible than his client for the lies.

The trial in St. Louis will also be before a jury.

Reached by email, John C. Burns, the Hofts’ St. Louis-based lawyer, said he had no comment.

https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/29/st-louis-judge-sets-trial-date-for-defamation-case-against-gateway-pundit/