Straight Dave's Prize Picks

[Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren]

I've warned for months that a @JetBlue-@SpiritAirlines merger would have led to fewer flights and higher fares.

@JusticeATR and @USDOT were right to stand up for consumers and fight against runaway airline consolidation.

This is a Biden win for flyers! https://t.co/lJFGS3ucv3

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@ewarren You blocked the @JetBlue and Spirit merger. This problem was literally created by you. The real question is, do you own stock of any of the above 4 companies that stand to profit?

[Palmer Luckey @PalmerLuckey]

We cannot let them stay.

Debates regarding illegal immigration often focus on policy issues like welfare, healthcare, crime, economic contribution, etc. That is a distraction.

Democracy is the real issue. Status quo is that any city or state desirous of greater power can declare a suspension of federal law and import millions of illegal aliens for the purpose of inflating their electoral votes and Congressional representation.

Arguments about illegal immigrants voting directly in elections fraudulently usually miss this point. If you offer the political architects of these rebellions a trade, permanent amnesty and residency for all aliens with clear agreement that they cannot be counted for the purposes of electing our President or Congress, they will adamantly refuse.

Why? Because the people pushing this do not want immigrants from socially-conservative countries in Latin America to actually vote. They want to vote on their behalf via census representation, much like reconstruction-era Southern states demanded for newly-freed slaves. Their ideal situation is an urban core of deeply aligned ideologues voting with the power of millions of illegal aliens, currently worth dozens of Congressman and eight states worth of electoral votes.

There is an effectively unlimited supply of poor people from poor countries that want to live in the United States who can be used to fuel this strategy. Some might be net positive to the US economy, some might not be, but that is beside the point - all would equally contribute to a future where minority rules the majority with no recourse.

Rewarding states that refuse to recognize the legitimacy of American law ensures other states will use these same tactics, if only to maintain their own relative power. It will end our republic.

[david friedberg @friedberg]

why not just raise income tax rates?

because your real intent is not to just “provide healthcare”.

you’re masking that you are proposing the creation of, for the first time in the 250 years of this American republic, an organized government seizure of private property from citizens.

you’re calling it a “wealth tax” or a “billionaires tax” or “millionaires tax” or whatever nom du jour polls well. but at the end of the day, it’s the seizure of private property from citizens by the government. citizens that earned money, paid their fair taxes on those earnings (53% if they live in California) and are now being told they need to hand over after-tax assets because the government has failed to provide promised services with the revenue it’s collected, and are now re-casting their own failure to be a socio-economic inequity that must be justly resolved... a slippery slope that has never gone anywhere good (see economic effects in USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, France and Norway wealth tax etc.)

the American founders fled tyranny in Europe and this amazing nation was populated by immigrants (myself and your parents) from around the world not just looking for a “better life” but for a place where they could have freedom from tyrannical governments that can take what they want from private citizens. a great nation borne of property rights, the rule of law, and endowed freedoms to believe, speak, or act. these principles led to the greatest run of innovations, successes, and widespread increase in prosperity, for all citizens, ever seen.

the citizens, the individuals, not the institutions, delivered this progress. those who invented, who toiled, who bled, who sacrificed, who took risk and persevered, who led, and who changed the world, are not charlatans, kleptocrats, or oligarchs. they’re what made us all better off. prosperity is a measure of america’s success, not its failure.

it is your principle that is so offensive, as evidenced by the broad disdain for your flippant flirtation with the darkest of human fantasy - socialism. you and other neo-socialists have led so many of us to reflect on America’s history and what it is becoming. that now leads so many to consider, so unnecessarily, leaving their homes for a place where everyone stands up to shout down the principle you suggest. because if your ideas are now considered moderate, it’s clear this titanic is sinking.

that a “simple tax” of taking assets that have been earned, through toil and tribulation, rightly taxed, and preserved, should now be unjustly seized, is your solution to a problem of obvious government mismanagement and outright fraud, tells us that your true motivation lies not in giving people healthcare but in cutting down success and deleting the system of prosperity and opportunity for all.

i don’t care, and neither should anyone else, what the sum total market value of a private citizens private assets might be. it is none of my business and should be none of yours. because, again, once you open that pandora’s box, we might as well study Lord of the Flies … there is literally nothing stopping 51% of citizens demanding that their government go out and seize 100% of the private property of the 49%.

want to give healthcare to people in need? do your job and fix healthcare. make it affordable. want to be lazy about it? then do your job lazily and raise income taxes.

want to take private property from private citizens who have paid their fair share of taxes and legally earned their property, then honestly declare that it is envy, not inequity, that you strive to resolve…

[Minnesota Staff Fraud Reporting Commentary @Minnesota_DHS]

Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports. Instead of partnership, we got the full weight of retaliation by Tim Walz, certain DFL members and an indifferent mainstream media. It’s scary, isolating and left us wondering who we can turn to.

In addition to retaliating against whistleblower, Tim Walz disempowered the Office of the Legislative Auditor, allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance. Media and politicians supporting Tim Walz or the DFL-agenda attacked whistleblowers who were trying to raise red flags on fraudulent activities.

This is a cascade of systemic failures leading up to Tim Walz. Agency leaders appointed by Tim Walz willfully disregarded rules and laws to keep fraud reports quiet - even to the extent of threatening families of whistleblowers. These same leaders are not qualified for their jobs, instead getting leadership jobs via Tim Walz’s friendship so state government were left floundering. DFL lawmakers refused to acknowledge fraud and deflected any serious conversation to stop fraud. Biased mainstream media such as WCCO and MPR showed absolutely no interest in covering fraud happening in our own state. Programs, especially in behavioral health and disability services were built without any guardrails against fraud, all in an attempt to extract more funding from legislature and the federal government.

As staff, we firsthand witnessed and observed fraud happening yet we were shutdown, reassigned and told to keep quiet. Sometimes more. Leadership did not want to appear to discriminate against certain communities and were unwilling to take action, such as stopping fraud, that would have an adverse impact on their image. To date, no single agency leader has been held responsible for their role in fraud whether it’s Shireen Gandhi, Jess Geil, Jodi Harpstead, Natasha Merz, Eric Grumdahl or others.

It is a structure created and maintained by Tim Walz who has created an environment of inter-related agencies and institutions including the media - that help foster fraud through retaliation and turning a blind eye in exchange for political gain in the form of high power agency leadership jobs or other perks.

Fundamentally, Tim Walz is dishonest, lacks ethics and integrity, has poor leadership abilities, and has never taken any accountability for his role in fraud. Instead, Tim Walz deflects by blaming national politics for his own failings and distracts the public with inveterate lying. These lies include his reference of a budget surplus under his tenure. Fact is, Minnesota never had a surplus, we had been given federal ARPA funds that were conflated as surplus money otherwise, we’d be in a deficit. And those ARPA funds, which were meant to be temporary funds were used to create more leadership positions for Tim Walz “buddies.”

As such, we can’t fight fraud in Minnesota alone hence why we’re appealing to the federal levels of government. We need all the help we can get as Tim Walz’s agency leaders have upped their brazen approach in covering up their knowledge of fraud.

We are grateful to numerous solid politicians (esp the Fraud Committee) and media outlets who are trying to halt fraud. We are also grateful to other whistleblowers who are bravely stepping up.

Thank You NY Times for bringing the plight of Minnesota to the national stage.

@nytimes

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@GovPressOffice @JoeBiden This why I will be voting for you to be President in 2028. You are always honest and have did such a great job with California

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@AOC You literally could say you don't support political violence. Instead, you go on to slander a dead man with baseless lies. These type of lies are what motivates crazy people to carry out this political violence. Your rhetoric makes them believe they are doing the world a favor

[Dave Smith @ComicDaveSmith]

A couple of months ago I told Charlie Kirk’s audience, to their faces, that if they support Israel’s destruction of Gaza, they can never again call themselves pro life without being the biggest hypocrites in the world.

To the pro Palestine leftists: if you are celebrating a father being murdered in front of his two innocent small children, don’t even tell anyone again that your heart bleeds for the Palestinians. No one believes you. You are not motivated by compassion for children.

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@mmpadellan I agree. For sure not all the hate being spread and mental illness plaguing the US

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

Hello President Obama,

When the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2010, the average family premium was about $13,000. We were told costs would go down.

Today, it’s $23,968, far above the inflation-adjusted $19,381. For my self-employed family, health insurance is our single largest expense.

Here’s why the ACA drives costs up:

In 2017, I had jaw surgery. The cash price was $13,000. My insurer was billed $38,000, and paid it. Every appointment requires hours of administrative wrangling between doctors and insurers. That labor cost is baked in. And when government and employers subsidize most premiums, market pressure to lower costs is weak.

The average family now pays the equivalent of one or two major surgeries per year in premiums, often without seeing real value, since deductibles eat up the benefit for those who rarely use care.

Since your presidency, life expectancy has dropped. Chronic disease rates have climbed. Obesity is peaking only because $1,000/month Ozempic prescriptions mask it. This is not a healthier America.

The ACA may be “affordable” for those with large subsidies, but it is unaffordable for many small businesses and self-employed families. It is very affordable, however, for insurance companies; Blue Cross made over $400M in profit last year.

You celebrate the ACA as a success. For many of us, it is the reason health care is our biggest financial burden.

If your question is whether we can let others weaken Obamacare, my answer is: Yes. We can.

[NPR @NPR]

A new poll finds 40% of respondents believe in a baseless conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was created in a lab in China.

There is zero evidence for this. Scientists say the virus was transmitted to humans from another species.
https://t.co/GDTo2geUng

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@LindseyGrahamSC Pick up a gun and go to war then if you love it so much. PS, he isn't going to bang you no matter how much you suck his cock

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@Tim_Walz You stood by and cheered on the Biden admin trying to throw a political opponent in jail. Everyone with a couple brain cells sees right through you

[NewsForce @Newsforce]

👀

[Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok]

HAHAHAA Gavin Newsom just got destroyed by CNN. Brutal

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@Tim_Walz Sore ass loser who wants many Americans to lose their jobs and an AMERICAN company to fail because @elonmusk wants to protect free speech and cut unnecessary government spending. Also the fake tough guy isn't fooling anyone. You look like a cuck

[piercheney @LVpolitic]

This is the moment millions of people had their $125 monthly, $2,500 deductible, turn into $740 monthly and a $15,000 deductible.

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@theliamnissan Lets revisit in 3 years

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@CaptMarkKelly Captain? More like cuck

[Straight Dave's Prize Picks @straightdave19]

@danawhite @ESPNPlus what is going on with #UFC313