Maine LEO Arrested By ICE Was A Visa Overstay

Democrats freaked out over this, saying ICE was going after good, upstanding legal aliens who had permission to work in the U.S.

(AP) The chief of police in a Maine resort town has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, who the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May. (snip)

Chard said the town submitted information via the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program. E-Verify is an online system launched in the late 1990s that allows employers to check if potential employees can work legally in the U.S. Some large private employers use it, but most do not.

I guess that’s possible. Perhaps the Biden admin entered him into the system as employable. But, the reality has come out

ICE Arrests Visa Overstay Illegal Alien Employed as Police Officer in Maine

An illegal alien employed as a reserve police officer in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after he overstayed a visa.

Jon Luke Evans, an illegal alien from Jamaica, was arrested by ICE agents on July 25 in Biddeford, Maine, after initially arriving on a visa in the United States on Sept. 24, 2023.

According to ICE officials, Evans was supposed to depart the United States on Oct. 1, 2023, under the terms of his visa, but did not. As a result of overstaying his visa, ICE classifies him as an illegal alien.

Evans was arrested by ICE agents after he attempted to purchase a firearm for his job as a police officer in Old Orchard Beach. The attempted purchase of the firearm triggered a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) alert, which was then sent to ICE.

“Jon Luke Evans not only broke U.S. immigration law, but he also illegally attempted to purchase a firearm,” ICE’s Patricia Hyde said in a statement. “Shockingly, Evans was employed as a local law enforcement officer.”

He was hired in May, and given a department issued firearm. Seasonal cops are not allowed to take them home or carry personal firearm on duty. This could jeopardize any arrest he made, though, being a fancy beach town, could any of the busts be more than misdemeanors? Why did he need a personal firearm? For one thing, federal law precludes non-citizens from purchasing one.

Meanwhile

They already live on the edge. Trump’s immigration crackdowns now threaten their housing

President Donald Trump’s intensifying immigration crackdown leaves those renters more vulnerable to eviction and exploitation, which could plunge more immigrants into homelessness or overcrowding, or even lead some to “voluntarily” leave the country, housing rights attorneys and scholars say.

The fear of retaliation from landlords has created what advocates describe as a chilling effect on immigrant renters, which “substantially undercuts” California’s strong tenant protection laws, said David Hall, co-directing tenants’ rights attorney with Centro Legal de La Raza, a nonprofit legal aid group in Oakland.

It’s a big tearjerker of an article, but, if they are worried, they can always leave the U.S. Simple. And you know what happens if 2.6 million illegals, along with all the fake asylum seekers, leave California? Millions of residences open up on the market, which could reduce rent. That would be a good thing, right?

Read: Maine LEO Arrested By ICE Was A Visa Overstay »

On The Whole Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ad Is Nazi

I’m sure you’ve seen it

I mean, seriously, the left has been going Category 5 Moonbat for days over this. Why? Well, they’re nutbar for one. For another, most of these 1st World libs really have nothing really bad in their lives, so they have to invent Bad Thing. This is what led to microaggressions and such. And liberals like to always look for the worst and complain, because barking at the moon make them happy, which makes them sad because they are happy. They just cannot enjoy.

Now, there are lots of reasons why we see so much moonbatting. Consider one of them, that it is so easy to do. For those old enough to remember, go back to the late 70s when the Rolling Stones released Some Girls. There were a few songs, particularly Miss You and Some Girls, which some freaked over, including Excitable Jesse Jackson. But, most who complained had to work for it. It wasn’t as simple as today.

Want to complain? You had to either call or write a letter. Calling? Well, you had to look the number up in a phone book. But, say, if I wanted to call a NYC rock radio station I’d have to either go to the library to look at a phone book for NYC or call 411, because the phone books for my area south of NYC on the Jersey shore didn’t have those numbers. Then you would have to call and talk to someone.

Sending a letter required one to hand write or use an actual typewriter, and you had to consider what you were writing. Couldn’t just erase and start again. Then you had to work to get the address. Put it in an envelope. Get a stamp. Put it in a mailbox. So, you had to say to yourself “Am I upset enough to do this?”

Nowadays it is too easy. All the social media, email, making your own stupid videos. People can make the most minor things into mountains. And they demand that Everyone Comply. “It is about all of us!!!!!” No matter how rando the person is. It’s rarely “this upsets me, I don’t like it.” Look, I do not care for PRS guitars. Something about their necks. But, I don’t bother complaining, I don’t demand they change for me. I move on.

They all think they can Do Something about these minor things. How about just leaving us alone? If you’re upset do not buy the product. Stop being unhinged. You’re a tiny vocal minority. Go to the gym. Ride a bike. Go for a walk. Listen to some music. Watch a movie. Take up a hobby. Play guitar. Read a book. Stay away from social media. Stop being wackadoodle and insufferable.

Read: On The Whole Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ad Is Nazi »

And, Here We Go: Cult Tries Linking To Tsunamis

Right on cue

Sigh

From Japan To The Rest Of The World, Is Climate Change Making Tsunamis Deadlier?

(skipping through a recap of the earthquake and tsunamis

Amid this crisis, a broader question emerges: Is climate change making tsunamis even more dangerous? While earthquakes remain the primary cause of tsunamis, climate-related factors—such as rising seas and melting glaciers—are reshaping the scale and impact of these deadly waves. Here’s what we should know.

Climate factors do not directly generate tsunamis, but they do intensify their consequences. Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and destabilising coastal and underwater sediments all contribute to making tsunamis more severe and far-reaching.

One of the clearest links to climate change is sea-level rise. Since 1900, global mean sea level has risen by more than 20?cm due to the melting ice sheets and ocean thermal expansion. Higher baseline water levels mean that tsunami waves travel inland farther than in past decades. A wave that would have perished harmlessly before may now inundate low-lying communities and critical infrastructure.

20cm is 7.87 inches. The average sea rise per century during the Holocene, roughly the last 8,000 years, is 6-8 inches per century. As I’ve noted many times, this means that warm periods will be much higher because the cool periods will be much lower to even negative. So, 8 inches in 125 years is nothing. Anyhow, what the article fails to do is explain exactly how rising sea levels, etc, are contributing to make them more severe and far-reaching. I guess we’re supposed to take it on faith.

While the number of tsunamis has not increased dramatically due to climate change, their impact is worsening, especially where development and population density intersect vulnerable coastlines.

So, more damage is because more people live in coastal areas and there’s more property there. The cult is just so tedious.

Read: And, Here We Go: Cult Tries Linking To Tsunamis »

Surprise: 2nd Quarter GPD Grew 3%

Let’s start with the NY Times

U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter, in Reading Clouded by Messy Trade Data
Underlying economic growth remained solid in early 2025, but tariffs and uncertainty are expected to cause a further slowdown.

The chaotic start to President Trump’s second term roiled the economy at the beginning of the year, as consumers and businesses scrambled to react to a constant stream of tariff announcements and policy shifts.

The policies, and the uncertainty they created, were enough to push economic growth into reverse in the first quarter. U.S. gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, declined at an 0.3 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, a stunning reversal from the strong growth at the end of last year.

I’m sure the Times has something to say about this, right?

U.S. economy grew at a 3% rate in Q2, a better-than-expected pace even as Trump’s tariffs hit

The U.S. economy grew at a much stronger-than-expected pace in the second quarter, powered by a turnaround in the trade balance and renewed consumer strength, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Gross domestic product, a sum of goods and services activity across the sprawling U.S. economy, jumped 3% for the April through June period, according to figures adjusted for seasonality and inflation.

That topped the Dow Jones estimate for 2.3% and helped reverse a decline of 0.5% for the first quarter that came largely due to a huge drop in imports, which subtract from the total, as well as weak consumer spending amid tariff concerns.

I thought the “Paper Of Record” said there was a “further slowdown” was expected? I’m sure the Times will post an article at some point, since there was none about the 2nd quarter as of 830pm Wednesday night

Oh, and of course, the Washington DNC Post had to try and go negative

U.S. economy posts strong second quarter, growing at 3% pace
The U.S. economy posted stronger growth in the second quarter, but economists warn that the latest GDP data may not accurately reflect what’s happening.

But economists warn that the latest figures, which were boosted by tariff-related swings in trade, are probably painting a more upbeat picture of the economy than is warranted. In the second quarter, American businesses purchased far fewer imports — which ends up counting against the gross domestic product — because they had already stocked up on foreign goods earlier in the year ahead of President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs. A corresponding surge in overall exports made up the bulk of the economy’s recent strength.

“It’s hard to know exactly what’s happening because the whole trade war is leaving a real imprint on macroeconomic data,” said Blerina Uruci, chief U.S. economist at T. Rowe Price. “But the picture isn’t as rosy as a 2 or 3 percent growth rate would indicate.”

They still have the headline “Democracy dies in darkness.” They should change it to “Journalism is dead here.” Imagine 3% under Biden: they’d be squeeing.

Read: Surprise: 2nd Quarter GPD Grew 3% »

Oh Noes: Trump Cuts All Sorts Of Dance Troop Grants

It’s so terrible, and the LA Times has time for this instead of investigating where the $100 million raised for victims of the California fire.

Trump-era cuts to public art create a ‘state of emergency’ for L.A. dance community

Linda Yudin was sipping coffee with family and friends on May 3, the morning of her birthday, when they warned her not to check her emails.

Later that afternoon, she learned why: Her dance company, Viver Brasil, had lost a $20,000 grant. It was among 30 Los Angeles arts organizations that received a grant termination letter from the National Endowment for the Arts the night before.

“Was I mad? Yes, I was mad. I was really angry. We were all really angry because it slows our process down,” Yudin, Viver Brasil’s founding artistic director, told The Times.

Why is the federal government funding any of this stuff? Citizens have been saying that for 50 years. If they want to tour and put on productions they can raise the money themselves, not rely on federal taxpayer money. This is not a job of the feds.

The money was intended to support staff salaries and artist fees for a national tour of “Rezas e Folhas (Prayers and Leaves),” choreographed by co-artistic director Vera Passos. The piece blends Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous dance with experimental choreography to examine the climate crisis and social change — subjects playing out in real time in L.A.

Now, Viver Brasil has to pause and reevaluate what that tour will look like. Possible adjustments include performing in smaller venues and cutting down the size of the cast.

“We have to rethink perhaps, but I’m proud to be part of such a creative dance ecosystem,” Yudin said. “We dance hard, we fight hard, and that’s what we do.”

So, hit up a bank. Do a fundraiser. Petition the city or state. Use your own money. This is not a job of the federal government. It doesn’t exist in the Constitution. Sure, it’s not a lot of money, but, a dollar here, a dollar there, soon you have some good money.

Dance is one of the most underfunded arts disciplines, according to Raélle Dorfan, executive director of L.A.’s Dance Resource Center. She points to inherent economic challenges that inhibit the industry’s infrastructure and growth potential — such as limited funding sources — which consequently can make it challenging for companies and venues to fill seats.

So…..people aren’t willing to pay to see this? At least not many? The ballet doesn’t have a problem. Broadway productions do not have problems. And, if they do, they get cancelled.

Arts organizations across the country have been reeling from NEA grant terminations amid priority changes under President Trump’s administration. Twelve L.A. organizations are currently at risk of needing to eliminate jobs and programming due to federal funding cuts, according to Herrera.

If your business cannot survive without lots of government cash than it’s not operating well.

Is that worth $20K?

Read: Oh Noes: Trump Cuts All Sorts Of Dance Troop Grants »

If All You See…

…is a palm tree that will soon grow in Siberia, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Bunkerville, with a post on some good news that Bunk is finally on the way home after two months.

Read: If All You See… »

European Countries To Borrow Money From EU To Arm Ukraine Or Something

No, really

European countries to borrow billions from EU to rearm Ukraine

Ukraine’s top allies in Europe are set to ask for tens of billions of euros in European Union loans to jointly buy weapons for the war-battered country, as well as to boost their own defenses.

I love that “as well”. Considering European nations pissed away their arms and money to arm Ukraine and the conflict is still going on. I still wonder if it is a conspiracy theory that the whole think is a ploy to bleed European nation.

Ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to apply for the new €150 billion Security Assistance Facility for Europe loans-for-weapons scheme, several EU countries told POLITICO they are considering using that money to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The loan scheme was proposed by the Commission in March as part of its broader ReArm Europe program and aims to boost Europe’s defense industry and reduce the bloc’s decades-old military dependence on the United States.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, and Lithuania have formally expressed an interest in requesting the loans, the EU’s defense spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters on Tuesday.

Others including Czech Republic, Latvia, Bulgaria and Greece indicated they will do so before the deadline on Tuesday at midnight.

By jointly buying weapons through the scheme, countries can secure a lower price than they would obtain by going it alone and then deliver the armaments to Ukraine.

So, where is the European Union getting this money? Are they not the central government of European nations? Does their operating money not come from European countries to start with? Is the EU borrowing the money from banks in Europe? It sounds more like a scam to enrich some people

Countries are also exploring directly buying weapons from Ukrainian companies, which is encouraged under SAFE. This would allow Kyiv to “increase the scale of defense production and technological integration with the EU,” a Ukrainian diplomat told POLITICO.

Wait. Why are these Ukrainian companies not doing their duty and sending all their arms to Ukraine?

Countries with high debts and deficits, like Austria and Italy, are more reluctant to take the loans over worries of adding to their existing debt, as that might delay their exit from the EU’s punitive procedure for over-spenders, officials told POLITICO.

France, a long-time supporter of more EU defense spending, is likely to take up the loans despite its domestic budget constraints. Belgium, which is also saddled with a high debt, will demand from €7 billion to €11 billion under the scheme, according to an official with knowledge of the matter.

Taking out loans sounds like a bad idea. How about the EU simply fund the procurement of the weapons in the name of all European nations?

Meanwhile

Read: European Countries To Borrow Money From EU To Arm Ukraine Or Something »

Oregon Gov Pledges To Continue Making Citizens Fight ‘Climate Change’

The governor, who takes lots of fossil fueled travel herself, isn’t a fan of the Trump admin’s EPA moving to get rid of the Obama era endangerment finding. She had never made the scam a top priority, but, you know, Orange Man Bad is in office, so

Kotek pledges to continue Oregon’s climate change fight after EPA revokes key scientific finding

Electric vehicleGov. Tina Kotek said Tuesday that Oregon will continue its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, despite the Trump administration’s announcement it’s rolling back environmental regulation of the fossil fuel industry.

The Environmental Protection Agency is revoking a scientific finding that has been used to set stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards and fight climate change under the Clean Air Act. The Endangerment Finding focused on six greenhouse gas emissions found in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide and methane — powerful carbon emissions, that threaten public health and welfare.

“Oregonians value public health decisions based on science, not politics,” Kotek said in a statement. “We need our federal government to stand with us by reducing air pollution that reaches across state boundaries. Oregon has climate pollution reduction goals and programs grounded in science, and we will continue on our path forward despite this backward step by the Trump Administration.”

She said the Endangerment Finding, which came out 16 years ago, paved the way for federal action to reduce carbon pollution, especially from tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks.

The endangerment finding didn’t make the air cleaner, it just made vehicles and energy more expensive, all to reduce a negligible trace gas. Yet, I do not see Tina replacing all the state vehicles with EVs. Weird, eh? Regardless, this is the way it is supposed to work: the Constitution gave Congress no authority to do what the EF did, hence, it should be up to the states.

According to the EPA, if Tuesday’s action is finalized the agency would “repeal all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines, thereby reinstating consumer choice and giving Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver.”

Meredith Connolly, director of policy and strategy at Northwest-based nonprofit Climate Solutions, said the Trump proposal is another devastating blow in the fight against climate change.

“What this does is unilaterally disarm the EPA from being able to regulate and reduce emissions from power plants, from vehicles, from oil and gas drilling,” she said. “They’re doing so by claiming that climate change and climate pollution does not hurt people’s health or welfare and therefore, there’s nothing they have to do about it to protect people. It’s completely upside down.”

Hey, you don’t have to convince me, Meredith, I’m already onboard with killing the EF.

Read: Oregon Gov Pledges To Continue Making Citizens Fight ‘Climate Change’ »

NC GA Overrides Governor Vetoes, Including Requiring Law Enforcement To Work With ICE

This is going to causes some caterwauling in 9 NC counties

Immigration veto overruled by NC Republicans with a Charlotte Democrat’s help

Republicans — thanks to the help of a single House Democrat — voted to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of an immigration bill on Tuesday.

The new law requires North Carolina sheriffs to work closer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid the federal government’s mass deportation effort.

Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, was the legislator who crossed party lines, resulting in a 72-48 vote in the House.

“All cultures are not equal. Some immigrants come and believe they can function in isolation,” Cunningham said on the floor Tuesday. “I suggest they must assimilate. Adapt to the country they want to live in.”

Cunningham’s vote allowed Republicans to achieve the necessary three-fifths majority. She said she has been called a racist and gotten other pushback since voting for House Bill 318 when it originally passed in June.

“They want me to be silent in my country. They want me to line up behind their priorities while my people and communities continue to struggle in our country,” said Cunningham, who is African American.

Good for her, putting Americans over illegals and fake asylum seekers. She realizes that all these illegals do, in fact, cause a big problem within the black community, especially those who are low income (though, let’s be honest, Democrats like to keep blacks like that, giving them all sorts of free government stuff to keep them voting Democrat).

Anyhow, you can see that the counties are primarily where the big liberal cities are. Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, etc. Now they have to cooperate.

The also overrode a slew of others, including one which requires all new Executive regulations be approved by the General Assembly. Which is the way it should be. The Exec should enforce laws, the GA should pass them, not have the Exec just create what they want.

(WRAL) The first new law to pass Tuesday, and the one with the most bipartisan support, was Senate Bill 266, a large re-write of state energy policy. It will exempt Duke Energy from needing to meet the climate change goals it agreed to just four years ago, but which it now says it can’t accomplish.

Obviously, the cultists are not happy, and claim that this will raise consumer rates by lots, but, we’ve already seen it go up by lots as state law forced energy companies to comply with climate cult crap.

Read: NC GA Overrides Governor Vetoes, Including Requiring Law Enforcement To Work With ICE »

Bummer: U.S. May Sit Out COP30 In Brazil

What the Trump admin should do is announce that they did not want to send a whole bunch of government employees on long, fossil fueled trips to Brazil, for which they would also have to drive fossil fueled vehicles from the airport to the host city using a road built by clearcutting the Amazon

The US is sitting out the most consequential climate summit in a decade. It may offer a victory to China

The Trump administration fired the last of the US climate negotiators earlier this month, helping cement America’s withdrawal from international climate diplomacy. It may also have handed a huge victory to China.

The elimination of the State Department’s Office of Global Change — which represents the United States in climate change negotiations between countries — leaves the world’s largest historical polluter with no official presence at one of the most consequential climate summits in a decade: COP30, the annual UN climate talks in Belém, Brazil, in November.

Without State’s climate staff in place, even Capitol Hill lawmakers who usually attend the summits have been unable to get accredited, a source familiar with the process said.

COP30 is intended to be a landmark summit, setting the global climate agenda for the next 10 years — an absolutely crucial decade as the world hurtles toward ever more catastrophic levels of warming.

In other words, it’s an attempt by a bunch of climate authoritarians to dictate how Other People are forced to act by their governments, while the people forcing this on the peasants rarely practice what they preach. Will the CNN “reporters” and staff by going to Brazil on a low carbon sailing ship?

There’s no point for the Trump admin to send anyone. They wouldn’t be allowed to advocate for the cult Fascism, and all the cult Fascists present at COP30 would not listen to Trump admin members saying “stop. Listen to yourselves. You’re advocating authoritarianism.”

China is building out clean energy at a blistering pace, as the US takes a chainsaw to its wind and solar sectors and makes a hard turn back toward fossil fuels.

“It is likely that China’s voice will be heard more loudly (at COP30), as they have identified growth in green technologies as a key pillar of their economic strategy,” said Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.

They’re also building tons of coal fired power plants in China and across Africa. They also like to dump underpriced solar panels, wind turbines, and EVs, all with their control and spy codes built in.

In a statement to CNN, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called climate change a “common challenge faced by mankind.”

“No country can stay out of it, and no country can be immune to it,” the Chinese statement said.

China loves ‘climate change’ because it gives them another measure to control their citizens. One cannot actually expect CNN to take the side of freedom over authoritarianism, which China represents, when Trump is in office, can they?

Read: Bummer: U.S. May Sit Out COP30 In Brazil »

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