The 30yr fixed mortgage rate is back above 7% for the first time since early March. Housing affordability is the worst in decades. Those still searching for a beach home but don’t want to pay Hamptons or South Florida prices have other options that are still considered “affordable.” 

A new report via Realtor.com reveals the top ten most affordable beach towns for homebuyers this summer. To find these affordable homes, Realtor analysts used listing data for every home put on the market in the past year located within a one-mile radius of each beach.” 

“We then selected the most affordable beach towns by price per square foot. Only locations with at least 50 properties within a mile of the water in the past year were included,” they said. 

Topping the list as the most affordable beach home community in the US is Gulfport, Mississippi, with an average median home price of around $225,000 within 1 mile of the beach. The median price per square footage within 1 mile of the beach was $144. 

Second on the list is Newport News, Virginia, with average home prices within 1 mile of a beach around $220,000 and the median price per square foot around $150. 

“The city is perched on the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, where the James River meets the Chesapeake Bay near its mouth to the Atlantic Ocean,” Realtor said. 

The rest of the list includes:

3. New London, Conn.

4. Grand Isle, La.

5. Corpus Christi, Texas

6. Atlantic City, NJ.

7. Navarre, Fla.

8. North Beach, Md.

9. Crescent City, Calif.

10. Shirley, N.Y.

Most of the affordable beach towns can be found in the South, Mid-Atlantic, or Northeast regions. However, Northern California also has one reasonably priced beach town. 

Affordability challenges persist, with the mortgage rates back above 7%. 

The beach towns listed above are gems of affordability. 

Authored by Caden Pearsen via The Epoch Times,

A Washington state appeals court has granted an emergency injunction to a retired doctor facing disciplinary action from the Washington Medical Commission (WMC) over articles he wrote against the official COVID-19 narrative in 2021.

Dr. Richard J. Eggleston, a retired ophthalmologist in Clarkston, Washington, faces disciplinary action over articles published in the Lewiston Tribune he wrote challenged the prevailing information and guidance regarding the pandemic.

During the pandemic, doctors could be accused of spreading misinformation if they provided advice contrary to the official information. This included, for example, advocating or prescribing treatments such as ivermectin or disagreeing with the effectiveness of face masks and vaccines.

The United States officially ended the pandemic emergency on May 11.

The WMC filed charges against Dr. Eggleston, accusing him of unprofessional conduct, including spreading false information and misinformation about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its treatments. They assert that his actions violated state laws related to moral turpitude, misrepresentation, and interference with an investigation.

In response to the charges, Dr. Eggleston has maintained his innocence and has argued that his articles are protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. He sought to have the disciplinary proceedings dismissed on the grounds that the statutes applied by the WMC infringed upon his constitutional rights.

Despite a separate, initial motion to dismiss being previously denied, the recent emergency injunction granted by the appeals court now provides a temporary reprieve for Dr. Eggleston. The injunction halts the disciplinary proceedings while the court further examines the case.

The WMC wants to carry out the fact-finding hearing, they say, to protect public health and fulfill its disciplinary responsibilities for the medical profession “and to resolve issues of fact and credibility that require the expertise of the Commission to resolve,” according to a court filing (pdf).

Court Commissioner Hailey L. Landrus noted in her ruling that while putting a stay on the proceeding would inconvenience the commission—as lawyers for the WMC argued—it doesn’t demonstrate harm to the public.

‘Chilling Effect’ on Free Speech

Dr. Eggleston, on the other hand, argued that he sought to halt the disciplinary proceedings to assert his First Amendment right to free speech.

Landrus favored the retired doctor’s argument, saying public dialogue by professionals receives strong First Amendment protection, and the mere fact of prosecution can have a “chilling effect” on the exercise of these rights for Dr. Eggleston and other medical professionals.

“Dr. Eggleston has a competing interest in enjoining the disciplinary proceedings in order to seek First Amendment protection for his speech, which is the reason for the administrative proceedings in the first place. Denying a stay would, according to Dr. Eggleston, violate his constitutional right to free speech,” Landrus said in her ruling.

“Balancing the parties competing interests and hardships favors Dr. Eggleston,” the court commissioner added.

She found that it would be more efficient to review the trial court’s decision on the injunction instead of proceeding with a lengthy administrative hearing. Granting the injunction could potentially resolve the entire proceedings, saving time and resources, she noted.

The court’s decision to grant the emergency injunction comes as a significant development in Dr. Eggleston’s ongoing legal battle with the WMC.

The granted stay of the proceedings will delay hearings scheduled to commence this week, Wednesday through Friday. This delay provides a short window of opportunity for the WMC to withdraw the charges against Dr. Eggleston. However, if the WMC chooses not to withdraw the charges, the legal process will proceed as planned.

“I’m very happy to see that this part of the legal system understands this First Amendment issue and basic rights to get accurate information from a physician,” Dr. Eggleston told The Defender.

The legal team representing Dr. Eggleston expressed their satisfaction with the court’s ruling to grant the stay of proceedings. Todd Richardson, one of Dr. Eggleston’s lawyers, emphasized the significance of protecting First Amendment rights.

“As Americans, if we don’t conscientiously defend these foundational rights and freedoms, we may soon wake up to realize we have lost them,” he told The Defender.

The Epoch Times contacted WMC for comment.

America’s descent toward lawlessness is most visible at retail stores in progressive metro areas. The latest incident occurred at a Lululemon store in Atlanta. Three masked men pillaged the store while two employees wearing overpriced yoga pants were fired by corporate for calling the police to report the robbery. 

Local media outlet WXIA said Jennifer Ferguson, the former assistant manager of the Peachtree Corners Lululemon, and Rachel Rogers, a former employee at the store, encountered the men in “masks and hoodies” who “swiped” as much merchandise as they could before sprinting out the door.

“No, no, no, you can march back out,” Ferguson said in a video that caught the entire robbery. One of the robbers told her, “Chill, b-tch, shut your ass up.” 

New York Post said the thieves had robbed the store several times because Lululemon has a “zero-tolerance policy” on chasing or physically engaging with a robber. Although both employees did not physically try to stop the masked men, they called the police to report the theft. 

“We are not supposed to get in the way. You kind of clear path for whatever they’re going to do.

“And then, after it’s over, you scan a QR code. And that’s that. We’ve been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We’re not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it,” Ferguson told WXIA. 

In a Facebook post, the assistant manager’s husband, Jason Ferguson, said, “My wife was terminated from her job at Lululemon for ‘breaking employee handbook policy’ of not interfering with a burglary.” He continued:

Lululemon representatives held a zoom call a few days after the incident to learn what Jenn knew about the policy. Then, a few days later, they scheduled a follow-up zoom call where they terminated her citing the company’s “zero-tolerance policy” in these situations. No warning. No coaching. No additional training. Just. Fired. Georgia being an at-will employment state, employers can do that whenever they wish. That is their right. But it doesn’t make it right. Especially in this situation.

Jason Ferguson said the regional manager told his wife and the other former employee that calling the police would “look bad for Lululemon.” 

Lululemon appears to have an open-invite policy for thieves, which puts its employees in harm’s way. Not intervening physically is probably smart because who wants to die over expensive yoga pants made in Southeast Asia? However, terminating employees for simply calling the police is upside-down clown world stuff. We hope Lululemon fixes these broken policies and puts more effort towards protecting employees and improving work conditions. 

Authored by Lloyd Billingsley via American Greatness,

Chesa Boudin, named after cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, and son of Weather Underground terrorists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, was elected district attorney of San Francisco in November 2020.

Criminals were happy with the outcome. 

“Chesa Boudin threw a monkey wrench into the city’s criminal justice system,” recalls Richie Greenberg, San Francisco resident and business consultant.

“Amid a series of high-profile cases, his promise to release repeat criminals and to allow quality of life crimes to go unpunished, San Francisco descended into a scofflaw paradise.” 

Greenberg spearheaded a recall effort and in June 2022 voters booted Boudin by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin. Mayor London Breed then appointed University of Chicago law alum Brooke Jenkins, a prosecutor in the city’s homicide division. 

Jenkins proceeded to fire 16 Boudin loyalists, part of “important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms.” 

In November 2022, Jenkins prevailed over three rivals with approximately 54 percent of the vote. As the victor proclaimed. “I pledge that improving and promoting public safety will be my and our office’s top priority.” 

The “scofflaw paradise” recently threw up a challenge. 

On April 27, “black trans man” Banko Brown shoplifted items from a downtown Walgreens store. That drew the attention of security guard Michael Earl-Ray Anthony, who struggled with Brown. Anthony contended that Brown threatened to stab him and shot the shoplifter, who later died from the wound. No weapon was found on the decedent. 

“Banko’s death is yet another testament to the dire need for increased advocacy for the safety of all trans people in this country, especially Black trans people,” said a statement from Tori Cooper of the Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative.

“His death comes at a time of blatant hateful, xenophobic rhetoric and legislative measures which fuel violence against our community. We can’t continue to stand idle while this unfolds.” 

Protesters also called for Anthony to be prosecuted for murder, but San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins took a different approach. “The killing of Mr. Banko Brown on April 27, 2023 was a tragedy and my heart breaks for his friends and family,” Jenkins said in a statement. 

After careful review of all of the evidence gathered by the San Francisco Police Department in this case, my office will not be pursuing murder charges, at this time, in connection to the shooting. We reviewed witness statements, statements from the suspect, and video footage of the incident and it does not meet the People’s burden to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that the suspect is guilty of a crime. The evidence clearly shows that the suspect believed he was in mortal danger and acted in self-defense. We cannot bring forward charges when there is credible evidence of reasonable self-defense. Doing so would be unethical and create false hope for a successful prosecution. No matter the case, however, we must follow the law and the evidence, wherever it leads. We never make decisions based on emotions or what may be politically expedient.

For Jenkins, “this wasn’t someone just walking out with an item. This is a shoplifting that became violent because Banko Brown initiated that aggressive contact with the security guard which turned this legally into a robbery.”

The D.A. asked that “even in the midst of very intense heightened emotions that people look at the same evidence that we did, because that is what our decision is based on.”

“We all share that we wish that this never happened,” Jenkins added, “but the facts are what they are and that is what we are limited to.” One fact missing from many reports was that Michael Earl-Ray Anthony is also black and something of a hardship case. 

“I’ve really been on my own since I was a young teenager,” Anthony told the D.A.’s office. “Always moving, different places, different houses, different family, friends. My parents never really worked. I was the only one working. My stepdad—he was on drugs.” 

Anthony spoke of working as a security guard since he was 18, and for a time as an armored truck driver, delivering bags of up to $600,000 to banks. The guard was distraught at killing someone and told detectives, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Local activists cast him as a murderer. 

“If there was a crime that was committed in terms of stealing—that is if—there was a greater crime, which was murder.”

That was Honey Mahogany, the first black trans chair of the local Democratic Party, in a May 17 protest outside the D.A.’s office. 

“Banko Brown was not a danger to anyone,” according to Kevin Ortiz of the Latinx Democratic Club.

“Brooke Jenkins needs to do her job—she must be held accountable for the families she’s failed. And that starts with Banko Brown.”

The people of San Francisco might not think so. 

California’s 2014 Proposition 47 changed felonies to misdemeanors and essentially legalized theft of property valued at less than $950. Car break-ins and property crime quickly surged, and in parts of the city, contrary to Tony Bennett, the stench of excrement filled the air. The pro-criminal Chesa Boudin made it all worse, and voters turned him out. 

Brooke Jenkins, by contrast, has made public safety a top priority. She follows the law and the evidence and does not make decisions on what may be politically expedient. That is good advice for district attorneys in Los Angeles, New York, and across the country.

The Children’s Minnesota hospital system awarded state Rep. Leigh Finke an award last week after authoring a bill designed to promote child sex changes, the Daily Caller reports.

Finke, a transgender individual, authored Minnesota’s HF146, the so-called “trans refuge” bill, which would prevent the enforcement of out-of-state laws that would remove a child from parents who cross state lines to administer transgender medical interventions, such as hormones or puberty blockers.

“The law protects access to gender affirming care for Minnesotans and for those traveling to Minnesota from other states,” said Children’s Minnesota in a statement.

The legislation was signed into law on April 27 by Gov. Tim Walz (D).

Finke was also the author of a bill that would strip anti-pedophile language from the state’s existing anti-discrimination law. The law currently excludes sexual attraction to children from its list of legally protected sexual orientations, but Finke’s bill would remove language specifying that exclusion, which activists have argued could lead to pedophilia being interpreted as a protected sexual orientation.

Republican state Rep. Harry Niska later proposed an amendment to the bill that would clarify that pedophilia is not a protected class, which was adopted unanimously. -Daily Caller

We are pleased to announce that Rep. @leighfinke is this year’s recipient of the Children’s Health Hero award. Children’s Minnesota presents the award annually to legislators who champion child health issues at the Minnesota Capitol.https://t.co/lkzQHUjrDq

— Children’s Minnesota (@childrensmn) May 24, 2023

According to Children’s Minnesota, it’s “the only health system in the state that cares exclusively for children” via two hospitals and 25 other facilities for primary care.

Meanwhile, similar “trans refuge” legislation has been passed in California, after states like Utah and Florida passed legislation to restrict sex change procedures on children.

“I am extremely honored to be presented the Health Hero Award from Children’s Minnesota. At a time when young children are exploring who they are, and where they fit in society, we need to advocate and fight for their right to discover those identities with dignity and compassion,” said Rep. Finke.

Or maybe wait till they’re 18, when society deems people to be adults capable of making major decisions for themselves?

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

A bill to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms cleared the California Senate May 24, reaching the halfway point in the state’s effort to legalize the drug, despite increasing opposition by law enforcement and many citizens.

Senate Bill 58 was introduced in December by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who said criminalizing drug use and possession does nothing but fill up prisons with people who are addicted.

“We shouldn’t be criminalizing people for personal use of these non-addictive substances,” Wiener said in a May 24 statement.

If passed, the bill would allow the cultivation, transfer, and transportation of fungi or other plant-based materials that can be used as ingredients for the drugs, according to the bill text.

Psilocybin is found in a variety of mushrooms and can be produced synthetically. The bill would only allow plant-based psychedelic drugs for use by people 21 years old and older.

Ingesting the drug can cause sensory perception changes, including auditory and visual hallucinations. The drug’s effects after ingestion can begin within 20 to 90 minutes and can last up to 12 hours in some cases, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Several law enforcement associations, local California governments, and organizations are opposed to legalizing the substance, including the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the City of Beverly Hills, the California State Sheriffs’ Association, California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Concerned Women for America, and many others.

The California District Attorneys Association opposed the measure, expressing concern that legalizing the drugs for recreational use is not grounded in scientific evidence.

“While we are sympathetic to proponents who argue that the veteran population might benefit therapeutically from exploration of these substances, these drugs are Schedule I controlled substances for a reason,” the association said, according to a Senate analysis of the bill. “They have no federally accepted medical use and have a high probability of misuse.”

The California Contract Cities Association was also against legalization and was concerned about public safety risks associated with the cultivation and transportation of the materials.

“This means that more hallucinogenic drugs would be able to move across local jurisdictions in far greater numbers with insufficient oversight or accountability from local agencies,” the cities association wrote in a Senate analysis. “This is very worrisome from the perspective of local decision-making authorities like our member cities.”

Support for the bill includes the Hippie and a Veteran Foundation, Initiate Justice, the Alameda County Democratic Party, the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies, and the California Public Defenders Association. The cities of West Hollywood and Eureka are also in favor of the bill.

Clinical trials are underway to study its use for treating depression and other mental health disorders, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

The association determined in a 2020 study that while research is still preliminary, psychedelics show promise for treating conditions including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder but the drugs were not ready for use as a treatment.

Psychedelic mushrooms are still illegal under U.S. federal law. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated psilocybin, the substance found in psychedelic mushrooms, as a “breakthrough therapy,” speeding up the development and review of the drug to treat serious conditions.

Preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy in clinical studies, according to the FDA.

Local measures to deprioritize the policing or prosecution of conduct related to hallucinogens have passed in Oakland and Santa Cruz. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Denver, and Washington, D.C., have also passed similar measures.

Oregon and Colorado have passed similar measures to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for supervised use.

The legislation is a stripped-down version of a bill proposed by the same senator in 2021. That bill, which would have legalized plant-based and synthetic psychedelics—such as MDMA, LSD, and ketamine—failed to pass.

In Wiener’s San Francisco district, rampant drug use has contributed to runaway homelessness throughout the city. The city passed a motion in 2022 calling for law enforcement to deprioritize investigations and arrests of adults found in possession of psychedelics.

Last month, dozens of residents and advocates protested at San Francisco City Hall against open-air drug markets and unsafe streets. Rally organizer Ricci Wynne told The Epoch Times data showed that the most prominent issues in San Francisco stem from drug use and drug dealing.

A group that played digital craps in Las Vegas in November and December 2021 is being accused of cheating, allegedly racking up $200,000 in illicit winnings from what CBS/KLAS has called a “dice sliding scheme”.

The group reportedly played at The Cosmopolitan in November and December 2021 and went on a winning streak that cost the casino more than $225,000, the Nevada Gaming Control Board confirmed.

The cheating took place on one of the newer, electronic craps tables, which have a smoother surface than traditional felt craps tables, and sometimes fewer dealers standing by to oversee the action. 

According to the NGC, “the cheating involved multiple suspects and occurred on the Azure Roll to Win Electronic Craps table.”

Documents on the incident stated: “The cheating method involved dice sliding and sliding occurs when the shooter slides one or both dice across the table in order to prevent the cubes from rolling. The dice will be in the same position as they started, allowing the shooter to control the outcome of the game.”

Investigators also believe cheating may have taken place at Resorts World. 

The group “was observed both together on the table and away from it, during and after fraudulent dice sliding activities occurred,” the CBS report says, citing case records. “Before illegally sliding the dice [one person whose name is redacted in court documents] would signal the other by placing single wagers in a circle motion around the main screen [wagers].”

All four people involved now face “cheating-related charges” and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing in early June. 

Bud Light is offering a massive Memorial Day weekend discount: $2.99 for an 18-pack of Bud Light or Budweiser, bringing the price per can down to just pennies. This aggressive pricing strategy is an attempt by the brewer to stimulate demand as an ongoing boycott dents sales for the sixth consecutive week. 

Twitter handle Ramp Capital spotted the promotion on Saturday that reads, “Easy To Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend … Get Up To $15 Back Via Rebate On The Purchase Of One (1) Budweiser, Bud Light, Budweiser Select, Or Budweiser Selection 55′ 15-Pack Or Larger.” 

Before taxes plus the rebate, an 18-pack of beer costs around 17 cents per can. Ramp Capital said, “17 cents per beer is cheaper than water.” 

The rebate follows Anheuser-Busch’s disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney which sparked a boycott by conservatives. Then when Anheuser-Busch pulled support from Mulvaney, it unleashed a boycott among the trans community.

According to Fox News, citing new data from trade publication Beer Business Daily, Bud Light sales volumes for the week ending May 13 plunged 28.4%, following a 27.7% decline the week before. 

The boycott hasn’t been limited to just Bud Light. Other Anheuser-Busch products, such as Budweiser Red, recorded a 14.9% decline for that week, and Michelob Ultra fell 6.8%. 

On the flip side, Business Daily said beer drinkers gravitated to Bud Light’s competitors, sending sales of Coors Light up 16.9% and Miller Lite up 15.1%. 

Beer Business Daily analysts pointed out more discounting is likely throughout the summer as Bud Light and Budweiser sales stumble and wholesalers are left with rising inventories due to lackluster demand. 

“This could be a promotional summer the likes we haven’t seen since after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where there was so much beer inventory backed up in the trade that it initiated the price war of all price wars,” Beer Business Daily said.

Since Bud Light’s promotion with Mulvaney on TikTok and the resulting boycott, investors have penalized Anheuser-Busch with a $19 billion wipeout in market cap.  

Bud Light’s marketing blunder isn’t ending anytime soon. And along the way, other companies like Target and North Face have yet to learn from Bud Light.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Two years ago, I wrote columns about companies pouring money into Black Lives Matter to establish their bona fides as “antiracist” corporations. The money continued to flow despite serious questions raised about BLM’s management and accounting. Democratic prosecutors like New York Attorney General Letitia James showed little interest in these allegations even as James sought to disband the National Rifle Association (NRA) over similar allegations. At the same time, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors cashed in with companies like Warner Bros. eager to give her massive contracts to signal their own reformed status. It now appears that BLM is facing bankruptcy after burning through tens of millions and Warner Bros. cut ties with Cullors after the contract produced no — zero — new programming.

Some states belatedly investigated BLM as founders like Cullors seemed to scatter to the winds.

Gone are tens of millions of dollars, including millions spent on luxury mansions and windfalls for close associates of BLM leaders.

The usual suspects gathered around the activists like former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias, who later removed himself from his “key role” as the scandals grew.

When questions were raised about the lack of accounting and questionable spending, BLM attacked critics as “white supremacists.”

Warner Bros. was one of the companies eager to grab its own piece of Cullors to signal its own anti-racist virtues.  It gave Cullors a lucrative contract to guide the company in the creation of both scripted and non-scripted content, focusing on reparations and other forms of social justice. It launched a publicity campaign for everyone to know that it established a “wide-ranging content partnership” with Cullors who would now help guide the massive corporation’s new programming. Calling Cullors “one of the most influential thought leaders in American public life,” Warner Bros. announced that she was going to create a wide array of new programming, including “but not limited to live-action scripted drama and comedy series; longform/event series; unscripted docuseries; animated programming for co-viewing among kids, young adults and families; and original digital content.”

Some are now wondering if Warner Bros. ever intended for this contract to produce anything other than a public relations pitch or whether Cullors took the money and ran without producing even a trailer for an actual product. Indeed, both explanations may be true.

Paying money to Cullors was likely viewed as a type of insurance to protect the company from accusations of racial insensitive. After all, the company was giving creative powers to a person who had no prior experience or demonstrated talent in the area. Yet, Cullors would be developing programming for one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world.

One can hardly blame Cullors despite criticizism by some on the left for going on a buying spree of luxury properties.

After all, Cullors was previously open about her lack of interest in working with “capitalist” elements. Nevertheless, BLM was run like a Trotskyite study group as the media and corporations poured in support and revenue.

It was glaringly ironic to see companies like Warner Bros. falling over each other to grab their own front person as the group continued boycotts of white-owned businesses. Indeed, if you did not want to be on the wrong end of one of those boycotts, you needed to get Cullors on your payroll.

Much has now changed as companies like Bud Light have been rocked by boycotts over what some view as heavy handed virtue signaling campaigns.

It was quite a change for Cullors and her BLM co-founder, who previously proclaimed “[we] are trained Marxists. We are super versed on, sort of, ideological theories.” She denounced capitalism as worse than COVID-19. Yet, companies like Lululemon rushed to find their own “social justice warrior” while selling leggings for $120 apiece.

When some began to raise questions about Cullors buying luxury homes, Facebook and Twitter censored them.

With increasing concerns over the loss of millions, Cullors eventually stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, as others resigned.  At the same time, the New York Post was revealing that BLM Global Network transferred $6.3 million to Cullors’ spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2021.

According to The Washington Examiner, BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group paid Cullors $20,000 a month. It also spent nearly $26,000 on meetings at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019. Reform LA Jails, chaired by Cullors, received $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to the consulting firm owned by Cullors and her spouse, according to New York magazine.

Once again, while figures like James have spent huge amounts of money and effort to disband the NRA over such accounting and spending controversies, there has been only limited efforts directed against BLM in New York and most states.

Cullors once declared that “while the COVID-19 illness is tragic, what’s more tragic is capitalism.” These companies seem to be trying to prove her point. Yet, at least for Cullors, Warner Bros. fulfilled its slogan that this is all “The stuff that dreams are made of.”

Discriminating against fat people is now illegal in New York City, after Mayor Eric Adams on Friday signed off on a ban that will affect not only employment, but also housing and access to public accommodations — a term that encompasses most businesses. 

We’re in safe company using the word “fat,” as champions of the cause refer to themselves as “fat activists.” With the mayor’s signature, two more categories — both weight and height — are added to New York City’s list of protected personal attributes, which already included race, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation. 

Embracing one of 2023’s innumerable strains of Orwellian brainwashing, Adams declared, “Science has shown that body type is not a connection to if you’re healthy or unhealthy. I think that’s a misnomer that we’re really dispelling.”

Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say obesity is an invitation to a host of maladies, including to high blood pressure Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, many types of cancer, mental illness and difficulty with physical functioning. 

“Size discrimination is a social justice issue and a public health threat,” said Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who introduced the measure. “People with different body types are denied access to job opportunities and equal wages — and they have had no legal recourse to contest it,” said Abreu. “Worse yet, millions are taught to hate their bodies.” 

A full 69% of American adults are overweight or obese, but our woke overlords would have us believe the real “public health threat” is a nice restaurant that doesn’t want Two-Ton Tessie working the reception desk, or a landlord who’s leary of a 400-pound man breaking a toilet seat or collapsing a porch.  

The enticingly-named Tigress Osborn, who chairs the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, said New York’s ban “will ripple across the globe” — perhaps something like what would happen if the hefty Smith College Africana Studies graduate were dropped into a swimming pool.  

The New York Times reports that witnesses who testified as the measure was under consideration included “a student at New York University said that desks in classrooms were too small for her [and] a soprano at the Metropolitan Opera [who] said she had faced body shaming and pressure to develop an eating disorder.” 

Some have dared to speak out against the measure. “This is another mandate where enforcement will be primarily through litigation, which imposes a burden on employers, regulators and the courts,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, speaking in April. 

Implicitly putting the weight ordinance in the same category as Brown vs Board of Education, Abrue said, “Today is a monumental advancement for civil rights, size freedom and body positivity and while our laws are only now catching up to our culture, it is a victory that I hope will cause more cities, states and one day the federal government to follow suit.” 

Taking effect in six months, the law has an exemption for employers “needing to consider height or weight in employment decisions” — but “only where required by federal, state, or local laws or regulations or where the Commission on Human Rights permits such considerations because height or weight may prevent a person from performing essential requirements of a job.” 

We pray there’s a federal exemption for employers of strippers and lap dancers. 

Think we’re joking? We remind you that the chair of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is named “Tigress” — and this is her Twitter profile banner photo: