penny press 20, 2017 · 2017-07-18 · the penny press,july 20, 2017 page 4 watchdog website...

Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 14 Number 46 JULY 20, 2017

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Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg Floyd Brown Al Thomas Doug French Robert Ringer John Getter Pat Choate Ron Knecht Byron Bergeron

The Penny Press is published weekly by Far West Radio LLC All Contents © Penny Press 2017

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THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 20, 2017 PAGE 2

By FLOYD BROWNContributing Editor

When Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane Sanders, approached People’s United Bank for a loan to help Burlington College purchase

33 lakefront acres, she likely had no idea her husband would challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.

At that time, she was a president herself. On top of the world, she had snagged a job for which she clearly wasn’t qualified. She was president of Burlington College, and she was on the hunt for a loan to expand the tiny institution.

The loan she secured is a complicated affair. In addition to approaching the bank, she had to win the approval of the Vermont Educational and Health Buildings Finance Agency. The loan was approved. The land was bought. In hindsight, the board of trustees of Burlington College alleged the transaction tipped the school into insolvency.

To many it sounds like a bad loan, poorly underwritten, which soured into foreclosure. Why an FBI investigation? There are two reasons why this loan merits investigation.

Everyone admits the school was struggling at the time of the loan. What investigators want to know is, why didn’t People’s United Bank properly scrutinize the loan? Did they cut corners because the

application was signed by the wife of arguably Vermont’s most famous political leader? Furthermore, did the senator or his staff encourage that the loan be given, even though it wasn’t up to proper underwriting standards?

Soon after the transaction, the board of trustees began a protracted battle to push Jane Sanders out as BC’s president. She finally left when the board agreed to pay her a $200,000 golden parachute. Her replacement was Carol Moore.

Moore has been extremely critical of the real estate scheme, writing as follows:

“BC’s fate was set when its former board members hired an inexperienced president and, six years later, approved the imprudent purchase of a $10 million piece of property for campus expansion.

Enrollment that year was about 195 and the budget just over $4 million, less than half of this ill-advised investment. What were they thinking? Where was the finance committee when these decisions were being made?”

Almost anyone with a modicum of experience would not lend a school with these problems over $10 million for an expanded campus.

Secondly, as the investigation has unfolded, it has become clear that Jane Sanders misled the bank during underwriting. This is a crime. She told People’s United Bank in the loan process that she had secured over $2 million in gift pledges to the college to pay it back. We now know she had no such thing.

According to Vermont’s

Penny PressNEVADA USA 16 PAGES VOLUME 14 NUMBER 46 JULY 20, 2017

Penny WisdomIn the Book of Exodus the Israelites are warned that theirs is a “jealous God,” but there is no god more jealous than single-payer health care. For at the heart of single payer is single authority. —Bill McGurn

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of NevadaInside:WaPo-ABC Poll AsWrong Today As 2015

See Editorial Page 6

RON KNECHT PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6ROBERT RINGER PAGE 7DOUG FRENCH PAGE 9JEFF STIER PAGE 10PRINTUS LEBLANC PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14

Is Bernie Sanders More Equal?

Commentary

Continued on page4


watchdog website VTDigger.com: “Sanders told People’s United Bank that the college had $2.6 million in pledged donations to support the purchase of the former Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington property on North Avenue.”

However, BC records show a much smaller amount — only $676,000 in actual donations from 2010 through 2014, according to figures provided by Burlington College to VTDigger.

Jill Sanders didn’t just fudge a little to the bank, she lied and inflated the donations by millions of dollars.

“That’s far less than the $5 million Sanders listed as likely pledges in the loan agreement,” VTDigger reported in September of 2015, “and less than a third of the $2.14 million Sanders had promised People’s Bank the

college would collect in cash during the four-year period.”It is a mess, but most damaging of all it shows how proud socialist

Bernie Sanders and his wife profited off of a poor small college and an unsuspecting bank. Socialists always tell us they aren’t motivated by money, only by helping others. In this case, these socialists were helping THEMSELVES to at least 200 grand.

A postscript:After Bernie’s loss to Hillary Clinton, the Sanderses bought their third

home, a marvelous $600,000 beauty on the shores of Lake Champlain. Ironically, the lakefront property Jane Sanders bought for Burlington College ended the school’s ability to educate future generations, and the school closed — but she still got the lakefront digs to enjoy this summer.

Feathering Their Socialist Nest...Continued from page 3

Warrick Dunn: An Athlete We Can All Look Up To

Many of our readers have probably not heard of Warrick Dunn, former running back for Florida State University and the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons.

Dunn had a great college career, winning a national championship with the Seminoles in 1993. He followed his college success with a very good twelve-year career in the NFL. He made the Pro Bowl three times, although his successes

were overshadowed by the likes of Shaun Alexander, Adrian Peterson, and Corey Dillon.

However, his most important legacy is the Warrick Dunn Charities and Homes for the Holidays. Started in 1997, when he was a rookie running back in Tampa, the charity builds homes for single parents and their children, makes the down payment on them, and secures financing for them.

We don’t think people should be held up as role models just because they’re famous athletes. But we’re happy when they become role models via exemplary behavior.

James remembers Dunn’s legacy because he was a Buccaneers season ticket holder during this time, and he found it quite impressive for a rookie running back to launch such an effort just a couple of months

into his NFL career. He became a Dunn fan, not only on the playing field, but also in the community.

Dunn, now retired as a football player and a minority owner of the Atlanta Falcons, provides a ten percent down payment and arranges an interest-free mortgage for the homes he has built. To date, only one family has lost their home in the 20 years since he started the charity.

From his charity website wdc.org, we read the following:

“Warrick Dunn Charities has awarded millions in home furnishings, food and other donations to single-parent families and children across the nation to combat poverty, hunger and ensure families have comfortable surroundings and basic necessities to improve their quality of life.”

Many athletes have started charitable organizations during their careers, and many have done great things for their communities. However, Dunn has been making this difference since he inked his first professional contract.

Why?Because of his mother, Betty

Smothers. She was a Baton Rouge police department corporal, who was killed in 1993 when Dunn was a freshman at Florida State.

Betty Smothers was a single mother raising Warrick and his five younger siblings when she was ambushed and killed working a second job as a security guard.

Warrick was the first member of the family to get to the hospital. At only 18 years old he was tasked with identifying his mother at the hospital, and subsequently making all the funeral arrangements.

He then assumed the responsibility of raising his five younger siblings.

In 1997, Dunn was picked in the first round of the NFL draft by the Buccaneers, and he started his charity. Why? Because one of the dreams his mother was never able to fulfill for him and his five brothers and sisters was the dream of homeownership.

As Dunn said in a USA Today article December 13, 2016, “Home ownership is the quickest way to grow wealth in this country.”

At the time of that article, his charity had presented 153 homes to single parents in 15 different communities, including Tampa, Atlanta, Tallahassee (home of Florida State), and his hometown of Baton Rouge.

Although Warrick Dunn Charities and Homes for the Holidays are his most visible works, Dunn was also instrumental in raising over $5 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina. He made an open letter appeal in the September 12, 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated asking fellow players to donate $5000 each to the victims.

In the letter he said, “A city that has given our league and our sport some of its best moments is in ruins. An entire region is in pain, a region filled with people who have paid to see us play, who have bought our jerseys, who now have nothing. What will it say about us -- not as football players but as human beings -- if we don’t give back?”

So, help others and give back to your community to the extent you can. Help the less fortunate.

Be like Warrick Dunn. People will look up to you.


The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:The Las Vegas Review Journal which found two homeless people who moved onto the land where the Oakland Raiders’ stadium in Las Vegas will be built worthy of a large story and a photo and a request for comment from the Raiders. Perhaps is was a suggestion for the use which Oakland may wish to put the Coliseum to after the Raiders move to Las Vegas.

Clark County DA Steve Wolfson for at least trying to undo some of the damage his wife, former TV judge Jackie Glass did by sentencing O.J. Simpson to a totally ridicules 9 to 33 years by endorsing his parole. This is a long prison sentence for a hot argument at the Palace Station.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:The Wynn Resorts for charging for self-parking so people could pay for the privilege of pissing away their money. It’s NOT what Steve Wynn got rich doing and it’s not his style which is why it is so out of character. Why would an otherwise sane resort operator copy people (MGM) who are near bankruptcy? www.pennypressnv.com

Tips Of Our Capand

Bronx Cheers

Commentary: Ron Knecht & James Smack

RON KNECHT and JAMES SMACK

Who does the Washington Post (owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos) and ABC (owned by Disney and run by Robert Iger who is hinting at a Democrat Presidential run) think that they’re kidding?

They just released a “poll” which says that Donald Trump—that’s PRESIDENT Donald Trump to them—has a public approval rating of 36%, the lowest (they say) in modern history.

One might be inclined to take them a little more seriously if that same poll had not:

• On November 6, 2016, two days before the election, said “The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll shows Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 4 (47-73) points among likely voters polled November 3-6.

• On August 28, 2016 showed Donald Trump with an unfavorable rating of 63%

• On August 1, 2016, showed Trump losing to Clinton 50% to 42%.

• On July 11, 2016, showed Trump losing to Clinton 47% to 43%.

• On September 10, 2015 showed Trump losing to Clinton 46% to 43% in a hypothetical matchup.

And we’re supposed to believe that these totally impartial fake news outlets (full disclosure, I have been employed in the past by ABC News) polling has suddenly turned accurate?

Seriously? Didn’t Hillary lose?

Please.

These folks can barely spell polling. And yet…

There are lots of reasons that polling is not accurate. But the biggest reason is that the only poll which actually counted was taken on November 8, 2016 and Hillary

Clinton lost. The fact is that the average American actually likes Donald Trump and mostly hates—that’s right, HATES—Washington DC. If you don’t believe me, fly with me around the nation on Southwest Airlines. Sit next to me in an exit row. Shadow me as I talk to average folks and you’ll find out that they hate the media, too. I know, I’ve been doing that since October of 2015 while we were acquiring and building the USA Radio Networks.

Hate, perhaps, is a strong word, but it comes after mild distrust and severe distrust.

When you tune in CBS these days, that’s not Ed Murrow or Walter Cronkite you’re seeing.

At NBC, you’re not watching Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.

And at ABC, well, let’s just say you’re not watching Jim McKay on Wide World of Sports.

The fact is, they don’t even pretend to be objective journalists.

They have a viewpoint. They don’t mildly dislike President Trump. They want him gone. Whether it’s because he upsets the normal order which they have gotten rich interpreting for you or it’s merely that he offends their sensibilities the fact is that if they could, they and their brethren at CNN and MSNBC would lead folks with pitchforks to Washington DC and burn him out of the White House.

Do you know why they can’t?

Because the public distrusts the media, its attitude towards Trump and the “polls” even more than they distrust the Washington establishment.

And the public is not nearly as stupid as the media thinks it is.

Go figure.

FRED WEINBERG


OPINIONFrom The Publisher...

Wapo, ABC Poll As Wrong Today As Before The Election


Mankind’s Forward MarchYou’ve probably heard of Ray Kurzweil, the remarkable inventor/

futurist. Among other things, Kurzweil, a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, developed the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind.

Listening to Kurzweil in a recent television appearance, the thought crossed my mind how geniuses like him appear to be able to transcend the dispersed-attention garbage that you and I allow to saturate our brains day in and day out, e.g., dumbed-down infomercials … round-the-clock sports on TV … childish global-warming proclamations … the theatrical ramblings of politicians … news flashes about wacky Hollywood celebs who weigh in with their low-information views on topics they know nothing about.

Further, most of the things people think about, fret about, and argue about don’t really matter much in the long run. Over the past century, we’ve survived a rash of bad presidents and criminal politicians, unthinkable natural disasters, the Great Depression, and world wars (along with a few little skirmishes like Vietnam). Yet, through it all, humankind has stubbornly found ways to keep pushing forward.

I believe that one of the biggest reasons for mankind’s penchant for surviving is that those on the leading edge of civilization tend not to be distracted by the nonsensical stuff that mesmerizes the masses. Of course, when I say we’ve survived, I’m talking only on a macro basis. But on a micro basis, those who happen to be living in the wrong place at the wrong time can suffer a great deal of pain and suffering.

The Soviet Union is the best recent example of this. It was only a matter of time until the lie of communism collapsed under its own weight, but for 70 years hundreds of millions of people suffered and tens of millions died.

The same was true of Hitler’s Germany, Saddam’s Iraq, Mao’s China, and now Assad’s Syria. But what’s interesting is how, notwithstanding government’s best efforts to slow human progress, the best and the brightest keep moving mankind forward.

As a result of the exponential progression of information technology, Kurzweil says that the acceleration in the rate of progress itself is now doubling every decade. In fact, he believes we will experience thirty-two times as much technical progress in the next fifty years as we’ve seen in the last century! It’s difficult for a guy like me, whose neurons shut down at the thought of learning how to load an app onto my iPhone, to wrap my mind around such a mind-boggling statement.

Kurzweil says that when he first came to MIT, the school had only one computer. It took up an entire floor and cost more than $10 million. Now, the computer in a $50 cellphone is thousands of times more powerful than that MIT dinosaur. Which is why he believes we will see a billionfold — that’s right, billionfold — improvement in information technology over the next twenty-five years … and then, in the years that follow, we’ll see it again … and again … and again.

I could go on and on about Ray Kurzweil’s amazing inventions, knowledge, and insights into the future, but the biggest of all his predictions is that due to advances in nanotechnology, we will soon be able to produce highly efficient, lightweight, inexpensive solar panels. As

a result, he is all but certain that solar power will provide 100 percent of the world’s energy needs within 20 years — easily and inexpensively. He points out that the sun provides us with 10,000 times more sunlight than we need to accomplish this.

If Kurzweil is right, it not only will put a damper on draconian save-the-planet ideologies aimed at increasing control over people’s lives, it will actually change the balance of political power worldwide. It will also mean that millions of hours have been (and will be) wasted on debating whether or not to drill through the hides of caribou or dig up our trillions of tons of coal and convert it to oil.

All this reminds me of something that another great futurist, the late Alvin Toffler, said in his landmark book Future Shock. Toffler believed that at any given time in history, about 90 percent of the population thinks in terms of the past, 7-8 percent are focused on the present, and 2-3 percent are focused on the future. And it’s this 2-3 percent that keeps mankind marching relentlessly forward, while there average person has no clue.

When you look back on just the past 10,000 years, the evidence is clear: Human progress accelerates, notwithstanding little inconveniences such as famines, disease, natural disasters, and asteroids periodically paying their respects to Planet Earth.

In the coming decades, I believe the United States will be a totally different place than it is today. It may even have to go through a dictator or two … perhaps even a couple of revolutions. But the scientific brains and futuristic thinkers don’t seem to pay much attention to politics and social upheaval. They just keep moving forward as though nothing were going on around them. (Think Albert Einstein.)

Nevertheless, the big question that is the same one that has challenged mankind throughout human history: What good does human progress do in fields such as computer technology, medicine, and energy if there continues to be no human progress in the areas of morality and goodwill?

Worse, glowing futuristic predictions aside, the thought of ever-greater technology joining forces with ever-greater malice (Putin, Assad, Isis, Kim Jung-un, et al) makes it pretty difficult to envision a happy ending to the history of the human race. Of course, if there were a way to rid the world of those who are hell bent on trying to control the thoughts and actions of others, I’d be a lot more optimistic.

That said, it makes one wonder if mankind’s relentless march forward is good or bad for the human spirit and the human soul. ROBERT RINGERRobert Ringer (© 2017)is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Charlie Rose Show, as well as Fox News and Fox Business. To sign up for a free subscription to his mind-expanding daily insights, visit www.robertringer.com.

www.pennypressnv.com

Commentary: Robert Ringer

Bitcoin ShowdownInvestment guru Bill Miller and his son, Bill Miller IV, are big bitcoinbulls,

believing the digital currency whose price has soared this year is bound for disruptor status.

“It is a true disruptor and true innovation in money,” the elder Miller told CNBC. “We haven’t seen that in thousands of years.”

F.A. Hayek’s dream of competing currencies is here. The list of crypto-currencies goes on and on, with the big news being what Bloomberg calls Bitcoin’s Civil War.

“The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency, whose 150 percent surge this year has captivated everyone from Wall Street bankers to Chinese grandmothers, could be headed for one of its most turbulent stretches yet,” write Lulu Yilan Chen and Yuji Nakamura.

It turns out opposing camps have been dickering for a couple years and “are poised to adopt two competing software updates at the end of the month” raising the possibility of bitcoin splitting in two, “an unprecedented event that would send shockwaves through the $41 billion market.”

There is no Janet Yellen in the crypto-world to arbitrate this sort of monetary brouhaha. Decentralization is the silky petals of the crypto flower, but this battle between the miners and what is known as Core, a group of developers is thorny and no one knows how it will come out.

Modern bitcoin miners have acres of warehouse space loaded with computers creating coins. Miners simply want the block size limit increased. The developers “insist that to ease blockchain’s traffic jam, some of its data must be managed outside the main network. They claim that not only would it reduce congestion, but also allow other projects including smart contracts to be built on top of bitcoin.”

The limited block size protects the integrity of the system, but has decreased it functionality and ability to compete as a payment processor.

Chen and Nakamura write,Behind the conflict is an ideological split about bitcoin’s rightful identity. The

community has bitterly argued whether the cryptocurrency should evolve to appeal to mainstream corporations and become more attractive to traditional capital, or fortify its position as a libertarian beacon; whether it should act more as an asset like gold, or as a payment system.

This split in the bitcoin world will test Hayek’s theory,In this condition the value of the currency issued by one bank would not necessarily

be affected by the supplies of other currencies by different institutions (private or governmental). And it should be in the power of each issuer of a distinct currency to regulate its quantity so as to make it most acceptable to the public-and competition would force him to do so. Indeed, he would know that the penalty for failing to fulfil the expectations raised would be the prompt loss of the business. Successful entry into it would evidently be a very profitable venture, and success would depend on establishing the credibility and trust that the bank was able and determined to carry out its declared intentions. It would seem that in this situation sheer desire for gain would produce a better money than government has ever produced.

Hayek continued,The competition between the issuing banks would be made very acute by the close

scrutiny of their conduct by the press and at the currency exchange. For a decision so important for business as which currency to use in contracts and accounts, all possible information would be supplied daily in the financial press, and have to be provided by the issuing banks themselves for the information of the public. Indeed, a thousand hounds would be after the unfortunate banker who failed in the prompt responses required to ensure the safeguarding of the value of the currency he issues.

The bitcoin spat has led to an increase in the price of ethereum, “a newer cryptocurrency whose popularity has soared thanks to its ability to run smart contracts and its more corporate-friendly approach.”

Bloomberg provides a calendar of the coming showdown.By July 21: SegWit2x software is released and supporters begin using it.July 21 to July 31: The community monitors how many miners deploy SegWit2x:If more than 80 percent deploy it consistently, that should signal community-wide

adoption of SegWit and the avoidance of a split, at least for now.But if a majority do not deploy, expect anxiety within the community to grow as

the focus shifts to the Aug. 1 deadline.Aug. 1: UASF is deployed by its supporters, who begin checking if bitcoin

transactions are compliant with SegWit.If a majority of miners still do not deploy SegWit2x or otherwise accept SegWit,

and if UASF supporters do not back down, then two versions of bitcoin’s blockchain could come into existence: a UASF-backed one where only SegWit transactions are recognized, and another where all trades -- SegWit and non-SegWit -- are recognized.

If a split occurs, bitcoin will likely begin existing on both blockchains in parallel, resulting in two versions of the cryptocurrency. Expect traders to quickly re-price the value of both, likely leading to massive volatility.

Stay tuned. DOUG FRENCH


Commentary: Doug French


U.S. Senate Misstep Will Cost Jobs and Slow Energy Production

The Senate just failed to roll back an Obama-era regulation that will discourage energy production, cost millions of dollars, and kill thousands of American jobs.

The rule, issued in the eleventh hour of the Obama presidency by the Bureau of Land Management, was designed to limit already decreasing methane emissions from oil and natural gas wells on federal lands. The Republican-led Senate was expected to kill the regulation before it had a chance to take effect. But instead, three Republicans broke with their party to keep the rule in place.

That move was shocking. The environmental impact of the rule is essentially negligible. Methane only accounts for 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions — and federal lands host only 15 percent of natural gas production. Indeed, the rule would only trim CO2 emissions by less than 1/100th of 1 percent.

What’s more, the industry already has a financial incentive to capture methane emissions — and has been making great strides to reduce them. Between 1990 and 2015, according to the EPA, petroleum-related methane emissions fell more than 28 percent.

But Americans will have to pay a hefty price for this needless rule. One analysis predicts it could cost over $1.2 billion a year. Small businesses will feel the brunt of this financial burden. Small oil and gas producers are expected to dish out upwards of $64,000 each year to comply with the rule.

Some companies — especially those operating a single well — won’t be able to handle such costs and may end up shutting down. In fact, according to consulting firm Environmental Resources Management, the methane rule could wipe out 40 percent of flaring wells on federal lands.

When energy firms fold, Americans lose their jobs. Indeed, regulatory constraints oil and natural gas production, like this methane rule, could put 800,000 Americans out of work by 2020.

The rule will also reduce tax revenues. By discouraging natural gas production on federal land, it could pull $114 million out of federal and state coffers.

Western states, which host vast swaths of federal land, are particularly concerned about the rule’s costs.

Utah’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office says the rule “gives BLM authority without accountability and lacks proper cooperation with existing state regulatory agencies.”

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez maintains that, “Absent a repeal [of the methane rule], funding for New Mexico’s schools, roads and healthcare will be dramatically reduced on account of the reduction in revenue generated by the oil and gas industry.”

Her concern is warranted. New Mexico, which has energy development to thank for 30 percent of its state budget, could see 70 percent of its northwestern wells shut down.

In Rio Blanco, Colorado, where 85 percent of revenue is powered by oil and gas, market constraints on energy production have recently caused a 30 percent revenue dip. The methane rule will only worsen this financial blow.

All told, the methane rule could cost western America $9 million in economic output, royalties and wages.

Luckily, Kate MacGregor, the Interior Department’s Acting Secretary, has stated that the agency is working to “suspend, revise, or rescind” the rule altogether.

It should. Doing away with the methane rule will protect American jobs and energy production. The sooner the Interior Department corrects the Senate’s mistake, the better.

JEFF STIERJeff Stier is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and heads its Risk Analysis Division.

Commentary: Jeff Stier

What Are They Thinking?You would be hard pressed to find a city in the US that does not have

budget problems. The average citizen probably believes the politicians will raise revenue through taxes. But a sinister source of revenue is undermining the community trust in police officers. Local officials are using police as revenue raisers through fines, fees, and civil asset forfeiture. Unfortunately, the police are often the focal point of anger. Police have a hard-enough job as it is, they shouldn’t change their logo from “To protect and serve” to “Policing for profit”.

It may seem like a typical traffic stop, but the next thing you know, another police car is pulling up behind the police car that already pulled you over.

Why did the officer pull you over? You weren’t speeding. You didn’t change lanes. It could be something as simple as out of state plates headed in the wrong direction.

News Channel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee conducted an analysis of traffic stops made by the Drug Interdiction Crime Enforcement unit (DICE). What they found was not surprising. The agents were 10 times more likely to stop someone headed east, the money direction, than headed west, the direction the drugs come from. This paints a picture of law enforcement not looking for drugs, but the proceeds from drugs, for their own profit.

Following the investigation, the DICE unit was absorbed into another drug enforcement unit. No word if they changed tactics. But it begs the question, “how many jurisdictions are doing this?”

The problem is not on the police alone. The police, just like the military, take orders. They are tasked with enforcing the laws that politicians pass. Politicians blow their budgets on pet projects and expect the police to make up the difference by harassing the citizens. This is making an already unsafe job, even riskier. When a large portion of the people see the police, they think “what is this going to cost me?”

Police officers do have ticket quotas. People and police officers will scream at the top of their lungs, they do not have ticket quotas. But how many of you have seen police walking down the middle of a congested intersection telling people to pull over into a parking lot where other officers are writing people tickets. I’ve seen it a lot in Houston. That is a quota.

Look at city budget if you do not believe there are not ticket quotas. If you look at budget proposals you will see a line item that reads “fines and forfeitures,” such as the city of Fairfax, Virginia that estimates almost $1.6 million of such revenue for FY 2018. That means the city is expected to take in X amount of dollars for the budget. That is a quota.

Why do politicians put this burden on the police? Because the police are the only government entity that can raise money, without raising taxes. No local politician wants to raise sales or property taxes. That is a sure-fire way to get unelected.

How far are local governments willing to go to make money off their citizens, and what will they do to protect their schemes? A local man in Suffolk County, New York is facing 22 years in prison. What could the

man have done to be facing such a dire sentence? There are murders, rapists, and kidnappers facing less prison time than this man. The man discovered the red-light camera program in the county was causing more harm than good and cut the wires to the cameras to fight the policy.

A study released by the county showed they shortened the yellow light time to generate more ticket revenue, and it led to a spike of 44 percent in accidents with injuries. A combination of drivers stopping short and others speeding up had serious consequences. Local officials are fighting to keep the cameras, they generate tens of millions per year for the county. Notice the only person in trouble, is the one that tried to do something.

Police unions need to start holding the lawmakers, that forced them into this untenable situation, accountable. Between ticket quotas, cameras, and asset forfeiture, the revenue raising actions of politicians and police departments are putting people at risk. Police departments need to start policing and stop raising revenue, while politicians need to have the guts to raise taxes or not spend so much on wasteful projects. Your actions have put lives at risk, and it needs to stop. PRINTUS LEBLANCPrintus LeBlanc is a contributing reporter for Americans for Limited Government.


Commentary: Printus LeBlanc


Watching Outfor Our Country, County and CityLIKE A HAWK!

KELY 1230AM

Ely’s Radio Station293-1875 Georgetown Ranch

The Week’s BS Count Is High* OK, so ISIS – which takes great pride and pleasure in blowing up innocent civilians, including teenage girls attending a concert, in addition to raping women, making them slaves and cutting off people’s heads – has been driven out of Mosul, Iraq. In the process, some Iraqi liberators have allegedly been tossing ISIS barbarians off buildings and riddling their bodies with bullets. And, um, I’m supposed to lose sleep over that tonight? I don’t think so.* Let me see if I have this straight: A lawyer from Russia with no ties to the Russian government was allowed into the U.S. illegally by Obama’s attorney general who was colluding with the Crooked Hillary campaign, claims she has dirt on Crooked Hillary, gets a 20-minute meeting with the president’s son through a third-party intermediary, has her B.S. ignored because there was no “there” there - and somehowDonald Trump Jr. is the bad guy? On what fake news channel does that make sense?* President Donald Trump’s constitutional temporary travel ban was blocking an all-girls robotics team from coming to the U.S. for a competition. The fake news media and Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers had a conniption. But get this: We learned today that “President Trump intervened” himself to allow the kids to come after all. Next meltdown, snowflakes?* Yesterday President Trump complimented France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron by observing, “You’re in such great shape.” The remark triggered a nationwide outbreak of Trump Derangement Syndrome on the left. If only the President, as White House spox Sean Spicer joked, had called her a “fat slob.” Then everything would have been OK.* An insignificant, largely unknown California (of course) Democrat, Rep.Brad Sherman – who is infected with Trump Derangement Syndrome – has filed an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump for putting Russian dressing on his salad or some such other nonsense. Stupid is as stupid does. CHUCK MUTH


Commentary: Chuck Muth Every week in Nevada, someone is trying to screw us.

Most of the time, we elected that someone.

That's why we conserva-tives NEED a WEEKLY voice.

That's why the Penny Press has made sticking up for us little guys a whole new Nevada tradition.

Penny Press775-461-1515

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MS #: 15010729 / Alabama #: 980, 12082, 1321 / Alaska #: 952694, 36012, 10-052 / Arizona #: ROC218272, ROC272138, 18335 / Arkansas #: E 07-009, 1440150 / California #: ACO6286, LCO5368, 874794 / Connecticut #: ELC - 0192591-L5, ELC.0191352-L5, HIC.0634529 / Delaware #: 06-116, 2006209146, FAL-0328 / Florida #: EF20001030 / Georgia #: LVU406189 / Hawaii #: CT31374 / Idaho #: 011630, 012673 / Illinois #: 127-001290 / Iowa #: AC-0011, 04643-06 / Maine #: LM50017112 / Maryland #: 107-1302, IR-2525 / Massachusetts #: 1471 C, 1351 / Michigan #: 3601206218, 7109296 / Minnesota #: TS01618, MB648213 / Montana #: 216 / Nebraska #: FA12465 / Nevada #: 62684 / New Jersey BURGLAR AND FIRE ALARM #: 34BF00000100 / New Mexico #: 93695 / New York #: 12000301658, 68VI1000200, D BY THE N.Y.S DEPARTMENT OF STATE / North Carolina #: 25514-SP-LV, 1811-CSA, NC: 2370-CSA / North Dakota #: TM-00227 / Ohio #: 53891547 / Oklahoma #: 1026, 143819 / Oregon #: 173349, CLE216, 37646 / Pennsylvania #: PA017248 / Rhode Island #: 3734, 34456 / South Carolina #: BAC5569, FAC3437, 1256 / Tennessee #: 1253, 333, 1524 / Texas #: TACLA00043940E, B13684, ACR-2854, 2854A / Utah #: 6093322-6501 / Virginia #: 11 4822, 2705 138422 / Washington #: VIVINI*894BZ / Washington D.C. #: ECS901552, 71101930 / West Virginia #: WV040401 / Wisconsin #: 1209627 / Wyoming #: LV-G-16005

penny press 20, 2017 · 2017-07-18 · the penny press,july 20, 2017 page 4 watchdog website...

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