[KRQE] What will become of the infamous Zorro Ranch near Santa Fe now that Jeffrey Epstein is dead? Earlier this year, Gabrielle Burkhart’s investigation uncovered a bizarre roadblock.
For years, this place was shrouded in secrecy. The billionaire behind the sprawling ranch is gone. Only Jeffrey Epstein and his accusers know the dark details of what went on there near Stanley, New Mexico.
Records show Epstein and the Zorro trust bought the ranch from the Gary King family, then built his 33,339 square foot mansion there in the 90s. Since 1993, the Epstein trust had state lease agreements for grazing cattle on public lands near his mansion. “To your knowledge, what was that land being used for?” KRQE News 13 asked New Mexico State Land Commissioner, Stephanie Garcia Richard.
“One can only speculate and I have to tell you Gabrielle, that my staff … you know this has been a difficult topic for us to tackle,” said Garcia Richard. “Thinking about what state land might have been used for has been you know, has been difficult.”
Garcia Richard took office in 2019. That year, she canceled a decades-long lease agreement the state had with Epstein for nearly 1,300 acres of grazing land. “We want to encourage a ranching family to use it, we want to encourage rec access to the area,” Garcia Richard explained. “We’ve even talked about some type of memorial site to just recognize what young girls, and women went through in this area and on state land.”
Nearly 7,600 acres of private property surround the state’s land. “That’s a pretty big ranch,” explained Gus Martinez, Santa Fe County Assessor. “It is a remote property. The only way you can get access is really through the ranch hand, and so you can’t just really drive into that property because the gates are closed,” said Martinez.
KRQE News 13 requested records in Santa Fe County to verify how much land the Epstein estate still owns. Martinez was surprised to find records showing portions of the Zorro ranch had indeed changed ownership, according to a mysterious deed filed in 2020.
The Santa Fe County Assessor’s office located a deed filed with Santa Fe County in October 2020, transferring the Zorro Ranch from Epstein’s company, Cypress Inc. to Love and Bliss, a non-profit church for $200.
The listed address for Love and Bliss church is a small home in Redington Beach, Florida.
KRQE News 13 reached a representative from the Epstein estate, and asked whether the estate was aware of the Love and Bliss deed filed in New Mexico. “It’s the same people that filed a fraudulent warranty deed in Florida,” said Daniel Weiner, an attorney for the Epstein estate. “This cost the estate money and court time to get it thrown out,” he added.
It turns out Love and Bliss filed a fake deed in Florida for Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, clouding the estate’s ability to sell the Florida property.
Since KRQE’s initial report, the Epstein estate took court action against Love and Bliss. Documents obtained by KRQE News 13 show in November, a default judgment was filed in Santa Fe County ordering the false deed field by Love and Bliss canceled. It noted it shall be stricken from the county’s property records.
Today the nearly 8,000-acre ranch property is listed for $27.5 million which includes multiple residences, firehouse, horse stables and a private airstrip and hanger.
When and if the ranch sells, the Epstein estate says funds from the sale will go toward the regular administration of the estate, including its payment of claimants, creditors and taxes as necessary.
An attorney for the Epstein estate says so far there have been several expressions of interest from potential buyers.
#2
portions of the Zorro ranch had indeed changed ownership, according to a mysterious deed filed in 2020.
The Santa Fe County Assessor’s office located a deed filed in October 2020, transferring the Zorro Ranch from Epstein’s company, Cypress Inc. to Love and Bliss, a non-profit church for $200.
The listed address for Love and Bliss church is a small home in Redington Beach, Florida.
NEW YORK (AP) — The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
The verdict capped a monthlong trial featuring sordid accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14, told by four women who described being abused as teens in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s palatial homes in Florida, New York and New Mexico.
Jurors deliberated for five full days before finding Maxwell guilty of five of six counts. With the maximum prison terms for each charge ranging from five to 40 years in prison, Maxwell faces the likelihood of years behind bars — an outcome long sought by women who spent years fighting in civil courts to hold her accountable for her role in recruiting and grooming Epstein’s teenage victims and sometimes joining in the sexual abuse.
As the verdict was read, Maxwell was largely stoic behind a black mask. Afterward, Maxwell could be seen pouring herself a cup of water as one of her attorneys patted her on the back. She stood with her hands folded as the jury filed out, and glanced at her siblings — faithfully in attendance each day of the trial — as she herself was led from the courtroom. She did not hug her lawyers on the way out, a marked change from previous days during which Maxwell and her team were often physically affectionate with one another.
The defense had insisted Maxwell was a victim of a vindictive prosecution devised to deliver justice to women deprived of their main villain when Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial in 2019.
During the trial, prosecutors called 24 witnesses to give jurors a picture of life inside Epstein’s homes — a subject of public fascination and speculation ever since his 2006 arrest in Florida in a child sex case.
A housekeeper testified he was expected to be "blind, deaf and dumb" about the private lives of Epstein, a financier who cultivated friendships with influential politicians and business tycoons, and Maxwell, who had led a jet-setting lifestyle as the favorite child of a media mogul.
[BLAZE] A federal judge in New York ruled Thursday to unseal court documents in relation to accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered a trove of secret files to be made public this month, some of which could reveal financial ties to the Clintons.
Judge Preska ruled to unseal the court documents that are from a defamation lawsuit brought against Maxwell by alleged Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre that was initiated in 2015. Giuffre brought the lawsuit after Maxwell accused her of lying about being exploited and abused by Maxwell and Epstein.
Giuffre alleges that Maxwell recruited her to train as a masseuse when she was 16 years old, and was later turned into Epstein's "sex slave" from about 1999 to 2002, which included having sex with acquaintances of the convicted pedophile. Giuffre's defamation case against the former British socialite was settled in May 2017.
"Having taken a particularized view of the documents, the court concludes that each document reasonably had a tendency to effect the court's ruling and is thus a judicial document," Preska said during a telephone conference Thursday.
[FOXNEWS] Washington state politicians introduced a bill this month that would reduce penalties for drive-by shootings with the aim of "promoting racial equity."
The bill, introduced by Democratic Representatives Tarra Simmons and David Hackney ahead of the state's 2022 legislative session, would eliminate drive-by shootings as the basis for elevating a first-degree murder charge to aggravated murder in the first degree, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Drive-by shootings were added to the list of aggravating factors for murder charges in 1995. Other aggravating factors include the murder of law enforcement officers, murders committed by inmates while they are behind bars, and murder-for-hire schemes.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[RIA Novosti] On Thursday evening, Vladimir Putin intends to talk by phone with his American counterpart Joe Biden , press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov confirmed to RIA Novosti.
"Indeed, for tomorrow, late in the evening, Putin is scheduled to have a telephone conversation with the US President," he said.
Earlier, the White House announced the upcoming conversation. The leaders will discuss several topics, including talks scheduled for January, according to a statement from US National Security Council spokesman Emily Horne. According to CNN, this is a meeting in the format of a strategic dialogue at the level of representatives of the Foreign Ministry on January 10, and a meeting of the Russia - NATO Council on January 12, and a multilateral meeting at the OSCE site a day later.
As CNN reported, the conversation is scheduled for 15:30 local time (23:30 Moscow time). Biden believes that in relations with Moscow "nothing can replace a direct dialogue between leaders," the article noted.
The previous conversation between Putin and Biden took place on December 7. The leaders talked over a closed video link. Putin stressed that NATO's eastward expansion and the deployment of offensive weapons in Ukraine are red lines for the Kremlin. Ten days after the video meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees. The documents have already been handed over to Washington and its allies.
The projects included provisions on non-deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles in each other's reach, mutual guarantees of security in Europe and refusal from further NATO expansion, including at the expense of the former Soviet republics.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti that if NATO and the United States do not respond to Russia's demand for security guarantees, this could lead to a new round of confrontation. At a big press conference, Putin stressed that Moscow's further steps will depend not on the course of the negotiations, but on the unconditional provision of Russia's security - "today and for a historical perspective."
#2
Who is on the call tells us who is the foreign secretary of the Central Committee. I'm curious if Jojo is in the WH or the Rehobeth Bunker? The WH has to log who is in the room for every meeting as a matter of record, but the Bunker is ostensibly private property.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] With the Build Back Better Act maimed, perhaps fatally, by the public defection of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin ...Dem senator-for-life from West Virginia. Manchin is one of the approximately one (okay, two) Dem senators who exhibits more integrity than Jello, often even representing his constituents... , liberals are calling on President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant. Just look at the competent way he dumped Afghanistan... to go solo in fulfilling his agenda.
But those calls are meeting resistance from opponents who say they're bad policy at best and illegal at worst.
Seattle ...a formerly lovely city in Washington state, governed by communists, anarchists, dipshits, and other sorts of incompetents. Home to Starbuck's, Boeing (at least for now), and Amazon, Microsoft, and Costco, the city became rich beyond its wildest dreams. All that money attracted the usual sort of grifting politician, and it's well on its way to chewing off the hand that feeds it... -based Rep. Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post calling on Biden to enact portions of his Build Back Better plan via executive order.
"We are calling on the president to use executive action to immediately improve people’s lives," Jayapal wrote, adding she'd keep working to push the legislation in Congress. "Taking executive action will also make clear to those who hinder Build Back Better that the White House and Democrats will deliver for Americans."
The $2.4 trillion bill includes programs such as universal preschool, subsidized child care, paid family leave, and Medicare and Medicaid expansion.
Jayapal added in a tweet, "I’m calling on [Biden] to join us on a two track strategy — to enact as many relief programs as possible through Executive Action while we work on this critical legislation."
It's unclear whether Biden is interested in moving his agenda this way. Even if he was, the legality of such moves is questionable.
Tea Party Patriots Action Honorary Chairwoman Jenny Beth Martin said Biden would be stepping outside the law if he enacted any of the bill's major programs without congressional approval.
[NYPOST] The Democratic Party used to call itself the party of working people and hail the "dignity of work." No more. Now Democrats want to guarantee people who choose not to work an income funded by the suckers who show up for employment, care for their families and pay taxes.
Fortunately, these self-supporting Americans just dodged a bullet. The failure of Build Back Better to pass in Congress, thanks to holdout Sen. Joe Manchin ...Dem senator-for-life from West Virginia. Manchin is one of the approximately one (okay, two) Dem senators who exhibits more integrity than Jello, often even representing his constituents... (D-W.Va.), means that the monthly checks or automatic bank deposits to parents with kids — sometimes dubbed Biden Bucks — come to an end this month. (Though progressives haven’t given up on trying to revive them some other way.)
For working people, the monthly payments were merely an advance on their tax refunds. But parents who choose not to work have been getting no-strings money to support their nonworking lifestyles.
Using the pretext of pandemic relief, Democrats who enacted the American Rescue Plan in March changed a feature of the tax code — the child tax credit available to adults who work and pay taxes — into a grant paid unconditionally and monthly to almost all adults with kids, whether they work or not.
Democrats have been pushing to extend the free monthly payments through 2022 as part of the Build Back Better Act, with a plan to make them permanent.
Manchin saw right through what his party intended: a socialist-style universal basic income. Manchin objected to the unconditional monthly cash grants: "There’s no work requirement whatsoever. Don’t you think if we’re going to help the children," he asked, the parents "should make some effort?"
So what about the Democratic Party that represents working people? President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Being a self-defined foreign policy whiz kid means never having to say you're sorry... still talks the talk. "My dad used to say, ’Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community.’"
But Biden’s party is no longer walking that walk. As Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) told the House Boodle Central during a debate over Build Back Better, "the so-called dignity of work — that’s like hearing a fingernail on a chalkboard." New York magazine’s Eric Levitz calls Manchin’s work-ethic convictions "contemptible."
Sorry, but most Americans don’t want to support the moochers.
Manchin did Biden a favor in defeating Build Back Better
Advocates of the monthly payments hail them as "already a huge success" for lifting millions of children out of poverty. Nonsense. That’s what a working parent does. The national poverty rate fell temporarily, but the payments didn’t solve the problem of parents without the mindset to support their children.
This is déjà vu. Uncle Sam used to send checks to nonworking parents. The 1996 welfare reform enacted by a Republican Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... changed that, requiring parents to work or train for work in order to receive cash benefits.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
it has always been the party of welfare
Posted by: Chris ||
12/30/2021 1:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I don't actually see the GOPe becoming the party of "we will stop wasting your money," OTOH.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/30/2021 6:52 Comments ||
Top||
#3
No. It's the party of Slaves and Slaveowners. It hasn't changed since it's conception and the slavery of the old south where slaveowners were overwhelmingly Democrat. Look at the blue cities - it hasn't really changed.
#4
For working people, the monthly payments were merely an advance on their tax refunds.
Technically speaking it's an advance on the child tax credit, and I guaranfuckintee there will be lots and lots of pissed off people come April 15th and / or a few months after they file if they claim the full credit regardless of these payments.
#6
M. Murcek, I agree currently they are happy to spend, spend, spend, but the GOP is a party in transition. Hopefully part of that is learning a little fiscal discipline.
[NYPOST] American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten has learned an important lesson from the pandemic: Parents really resent the fact that she and the union she heads pushed to keep schools closed for so long at the expense of kids. So what’s Weingarten doing? Denying she did any such thing. And she’s got her media lapdogs backing her. Don’t fall for any of it."Rather than championing shutdowns, [Weingarten]’s spent much of her energy, both in public and behind the scenes, trying to get schools open," New York Times
... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... scribe Michelle Goldberg wrote.
The AFT president told Goldberg she was "uncomfortable" acting "as a mediator between desperate parents grieving their kids’ interrupted educations and beleaguered teachers who feel they’re being blamed for a calamity they didn’t create."
Sorry, but that historical rewrite simply won’t fly: "There’s no way that you’re going to have full-time schools for all the kids and all the teachers the way we used to have it," Weingarten actually said in July 2020.
Yes, in March 2020, when the virus first hit and we didn’t know much about it, it was reasonable to want to close schools. Yet even as scientists, public-health officials and government leaders soon realized kids were at low risk of getting, and spreading, COVID, the teachers unions continued to fight against any return to normality. Despite schools in other parts of the world being wide open.
Weingarten and her National Education Association counterpart used their political muscle to exercise an inordinate amount of say over local school-district decisions and supplement the school-closure push by local unions.
Even as the august American Academy of Pediatrics encouraged schools to reopen for classes in fall 2020, Weingarten opposed then-US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ vow to reopen schools. And when the union-friendly Biden administration (aka the Wilmington comorra) ...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know... took over, the AFT was better able to exert influence.
In May 2021, The Post reported on conversations between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the AFT and the White House. Weingarten’s union actually suggested language for the CDC’s school-reopening guidance released in February that resulted in schools staying remote longer into the 2020-2021 school year.
Another in a continuing series titled 'I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing'...
[NY Post] - Vice President Kamala Harris has frequently sought guidance from well-known Wall Street executives and business leaders as the Biden administration contends with a series of policy challenges at home and abroad, according to a report Wednesday. I follow this shit pretty closely; this is the first time I've heard about it.
The outreach has occurred as Harris seeks to navigate various obstacles, including an ongoing border crisis, supply chain disruptions that have contributed to rising inflation and a Democrat-led push for federal voting rights legislation. All three of which were caused / supported by this administration.
The executives, who include Microsoft president Brad Smith, Citigroup Inc. CEO Jane Fraser and several others, have served as "informal advisers" to Harris, Bloomberg reported. The vice president has spoken with the leaders in a variety of forums, including telephone calls and strategy meetings. What exactly they are 'advising' her on is completely absent from the story. Click on the link if you want your intelligence further insulted.
#13
My recommendation to her is to retire and leave public life. If she feels the need for attention, there are suitable venues in Tijuana and Bangkok for her talents.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/30/2021 9:22 Comments ||
Top||
#14
^ There are some things even donkeys won't do
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/30/2021 9:53 Comments ||
Top||
#15
^ Brutal...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/30/2021 9:58 Comments ||
Top||
#16
/\ She'll have to be mighty..... braaaaaay've.
#20
Re #18: I believe that the Vice President has two duties:
1. Vote to break ties in the Senate
2. Wake up, ask if the President is still alive. If so, go back to sleep.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/30/2021 16:10 Comments ||
Top||
#21
3. Attend state funerals in distant and exotic locations.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[KRQE] What will become of the infamous 
I did not use our Foundation as a money laundering vehicle for this project. 
[FOXNEWS] Washington state 
...a formerly lovely city in Washington state, governed by communists, anarchists, dipshits, and other sorts of incompetents. Home to Starbuck's, Boeing (at least for now), and Amazon, Microsoft, and Costco, the city became rich beyond its wildest dreams. All that money attracted the usual sort of grifting politician, and it's well on its way to chewing off the hand that feeds it...
...Dem senator-for-life from West Virginia. Manchin is one of the approximately one (okay, two) Dem senators who exhibits more integrity than Jello, often even representing his constituents...
...knaves, footpads, and 
