MaxRedline

Disruption, E-Scooter Style

"This is disruptive technology," said Dr. Christopher Ziebell, emergency room medical director at Austin's Dell Seton Medical Center. "But this time the disruption is disrupting forearms, elbows and heads."

Among other things, like ankles and legs.

And trauma surgeons are reporting daily occurrences in hospitals from San Diego to Denver to Austin. Some of these injuries have been life-threatening; others have left people permanently disabled.

A large part of the problem is that these e-scooter renters don't use helmets or other protective gear; the whole idea behind the things is spur-of-the-moment: "Hey, scooter! Cool!" So their concept is to dump these things onto city streets with no regard for human safety. An added bonus: their "user agreements" embedded into the apps place all responsibility for any issues entirely on the rider. Got an $8000 hospital bill for surgeries, plates, and pins after the brakes failed when rolling downhill? Sorry about your luck.

After Brogan's crash, her husband rushed her to the local urgent care. While waiting to be seen by doctors, she got several in-app messages from Lime saying she hadn't ended her ride and was still accruing charges.

"Scooter unsafe no brakes now in emergency room multiple fractures," Brogan wrote back.

Once out of the hospital, she emailed Lime to fully recount what happened. They had a brief back-and-forth in which Lime told her to file a claim for review. Brogan wrote back saying her out-of-pocket expenses totaled about $8,000 and asked if Lime would repay those losses. She said she never heard from the company again.

Lime declined to comment. Some municipalities are now finally moving to eliminate riders from the equation entirely - they just ban the scooters completely. Many others, however, such as Painfully Regressive Portland, take the opposite approach: "Anything goes, folks; no rules, no protective gear, no problem!"

But hey, let's have a conversation about "common-sense gun control".

 

Skyrocketing Scammers

CLEARWATER — Jaeda Baldizzi was studying for her final exams when she got the call. It had a 727 area code, the same as her own phone number, so she picked up.

On the line was a man asking if she remembered filling out a survey at the mall with a chance to win a cruise, a 50-inch plasma TV or “some absurd amount of money,” recalled Baldizzi, who’s from St. Petersburg but is studying at the University of North Florida.

She didn’t, but curious to see where it would go, she said yes. He launched into personal questions about her relationship status and whether she lived with anyone. Baldizzi, 20, hung up, then searched the phone number on Google.

It traced back to Audibel Hearing Center, a hearing aid company with locations all over the Tampa Bay area and a headquarters in Clearwater. Baldizzi soon learned she was one of thousands of people who got fraudulent calls from Audibel. Scammers “spoofed” the business’ main phone number, (727) 441-3591, meaning they made it appear outgoing calls were coming from Audibel on caller ID even though they had nothing to do with the business.

There's a lot more of that happening, these days. In fact, First Orion - a data transparency company - estimates that about half of all cell phone calls will be scams within the next year. For land-lines, the numbers are already higher than that; we still have a land-line, and about 90% of calls to that number are robocalls. That's actually why I still keep it - it's a great filtration tool. I use Nomorobo for that, so the phone rings once and then kills the connection. It's a great piece of freeware. For cell phones, you can use the free Hiya app, which you can download from Google's "Play" site. It also blocks calls and detects scam callers, so it's a good choice for Android users. There's probably one for iPhones as well.

I don't get a lot of scam calls on the cell - yet. But like a good boy scout, I'm prepared.

 

What Fraud?

Oh...that fraud:

Felony charges have been filed in California following an illegal voter effort that bribed homeless people to sign ballot petitions and voter registration forms.

A forged signature swapped for $1 — or sometimes a cigarette. The crude exchange played out hundreds of times on L.A.’s skid row during the 2016 election cycle and again this year, prosecutors said Tuesday as they announced criminal charges against nine people accused in a fraud scheme.

But...but...Holder claimed there is no voter fraud! How can this be? And in a Democrat-run state, of all places!

 

It's Pretty Certain That The Faults Are Not "New"

Geologists have discovered new faults on Mount Hood that could trigger a highly destructive earthquake in the Portland area. According to a release from Portland State University and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) there is an "extensive network of geologic faults extending north and south of Mt. Hood," that could "generate large earthquakes and may pose a significant hazard to surrounding communities, critical infrastructure, and even the city of Portland."

WARNING. WARNING. WARNING: Danger, Will Robinson!

May happen. That, or The Big One, which May happen. It grows tiresome, after a few years.

 

It's Pretty Certain That The Faults Are Not "New"

Geologists have discovered new faults on Mount Hood that could trigger a highly destructive earthquake in the Portland area. According to a release from Portland State University and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) there is an "extensive network of geologic faults extending north and south of Mt. Hood," that could "generate large earthquakes and may pose a significant hazard to surrounding communities, critical infrastructure, and even the city of Portland."

WARNING. WARNING. WARNING: Danger, Will Robinson!

May happen. That, or The Big One, which May happen. It grows tiresome, after a few years.

 

As Expected, IRS Puts The Brakes On Democrat Subterfuge

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has laid down rules aimed at preventing residents of Oregon and other states from avoiding a new cap on widely popular state and local tax deductions.

In Oregon, the Legislature set aside $14 million a year in Oregon Opportunity Grant tax credits available for purchase.

Taxpayers who purchased those tax credits could, in theory, deduct the amount of their purchase from their federal taxes as if it were a charitable deduction. They could then take a credit on their state taxes to offset their opportunity grant purchase.

Measures designed to work around the $10,000 cap have been adopted in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Oregon, and introduced or explored publicly by officials in California, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.

Basically, the Democrat-controlled states have been setting up fake "charities" so that they can still take your money, but you still get a write-off on your taxes for the "contribution". It's not a whole lot different than the "contribution" you make when an armed robber points a gun at you and demands your wallet. I believe that it's also illegal under federal law.

Oregon won't let you deduct more than $5000 in Fed Taxes, so you can already pay taxes on taxes here. But the state really needs more money; they want to build a 12-mile light rail line from downtown Portland to a shopping mall just north of the suburban city of Tualatin. That'll only cost, according to the latest liars' budget, about $3 billion, assuming they can use eminent domain to bulldoze a few hundred homes and businesses. And they need another half-billion dollars to provide for the drug addicts and bums homeless. These are critical endeavors. Critical to making Dermocrat politicians feel good about themselves, that is.

 

 

The Public Pension Hole

Democrat-run cities and states have promised public employee unions generous pensions for years, and now the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost. The unfunded liabilities in places from New Jersey and New York to Illinois and the three west coast states, the pension hole is approximately $5 trillion - about the size of the economy of Japan.

This is not a recoverable situation, and it's hard to see how so many people could have failed to see this day coming.

 

Fun While It Lasted

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been charged for allegedly knowingly defrauding her investors with fake blood tests and lies about the product's ability.

Holmes and Theranos president Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani allegedly told investors, doctors and patients their technology could deliver blood testing with less blood and faster results with their new technology while knowing that was not true. If convicted, Holmes and Balwani face a maximum of 20 years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000, plus restitution, for each charge.

They didn't invent anything, they just repackaged equipment that was in widespread use already. They just came up with a new sales pitch. And some spiffy names like the "thermocycler". Toss enough jargon around, and somebody's going to think you know what you're doing.

Glad these two are looking at hard time and a lot of lost cash.

 

 

12 Stories. $200 Million That Illinois Taxpayers Don't Have. Built On Park Land.

Yep, it's the Obummers again. Classic.

Shouldn't the monument to Barry be half-black?

When the Obama Foundation first sought to lease parts of Jackson Park three years ago for its project, it convinced the city of Chicago that it planned to construct an official library to be managed by federal officials. But after receiving the lease, Obama suddenly decided to not include his official presidential library within the center.

Local parks activists filed a lawsuit last month to block the construction of Obama’s presidential center on the basis that it’s a fraud. But then, it's Chicago; fraud's been part of the culture there for at least the past half-century.

The lawsuit argued that while the purpose of transferring the land was to house the official Obama presidential library, the center will not include his presidential papers, only a digital copy.

Whatever, since it's going to go up on the South Side, they'd better make sure the place is bullet-proof.

 

Getting Bent In Oregon

In a bizarre twist, it seems that these lesbians were lying:

Deschutes County prosecutors on Monday dropped all charges against a man accused of  brutally attacking two women in a road rage incident that generated international headlines, the district attorney's office said.

Police arrested Jay Barbeau after Megan Stackhouse, 34, and fiancee Lucinda Mann, 26, told officers he had smashed their car's rear window, snapped Stackhouse's arm with his bare hands and knocked Mann unconscious during a June 1 altercation in Bend.

District Attorney John Hummel said in statement he decided to drop the charges, which included felony assault, after a review of medical records, witness accounts and prior incidents involving the two women.

"I have no confidence in the credibility of Mann and Stackhouse," Hummel said.

During its investigation, Hummel's office said it found Mann had feigned being unconscious in a 2016 traffic incident and, last week, had intentionally thrown herself onto the hood of a car in the road after drinking with Stackhouse at Bend's 10 Barrel brewery.

Maybe those two should reassess their drinking issues. Among other problems.

As well, former First Squeeze Cylvia, also a Bend resident, is back in the news:

Filing for bankruptcy wouldn't protect former first lady Cylvia Hayes from paying a $125,000 judgment to The Oregonian/OregonLive or up to $110,000 in fines for ethics violations,according to an expert in bankruptcy law. 

The Oregonian filed a lien on her Bend home a few months ago due to her refusal to pay up. She sued them to keep her emails out of the organization's hands, she lost in court, and has to cover the legal fees incurred by The Oregonian, which she has refused to do; proudly proclaiming that they'll "never see a dime" of her money.

Hayes wrote in a Facebook post Thursday, June 8, that she planned to file bankruptcy to "protect my home from the Oregonian." "And so, I am hoping to close the door on a long and draining ordeal," she wrote. "I am ready to have all of my energy moving forward focused on positive work, rather than mired down in a legal quagmire." 

Her cunning plan wasn't well thought-out, it seems. She does love to play the victim card, though this time it's unlikely to work.