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“Very Shady”: Oregon Union Tricked Lawmakers In Serious Ethical Breach According To Complaint

Oregon State lawmakers lobbed a Molotov cocktail of an ethics complaint at SEIU Local 503. The target? A blatant attempt to rig the legislative game by flooding lawmakers with 1,000 pre-printed “constituent postcards” hyping House Bill 3838 – a union power grab masquerading as a “workforce standards board” for long-term care. 

The catch? At least two individuals, named in the complaint, are screaming foul after union leadership – well aware of their public opposition – added their names to the cards, urging lawmakers to pass the bill.

Filed Friday with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, the complaint—backed by Reps. Ed Diehl (R-Stayton), Lucetta Elmer (R-McMinnville), and Republican Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby)—alleges the union knowingly misrepresented worker support for House Bill 3838. 

The bill, which hands unelected bureaucrats sweeping control over care providers’ working conditions, sparked “considerable opposition” from the union’s own members.

🚨BREAKING 🚨Oregon Lawmakers File Ethics Complaint Against SEIU Local 503
Documenting that SEIU Local 503 and its representatives knowingly misrepresented workers’ support for legislation
SALEM, Ore. – In a formal complaint filed Friday with the Oregon Government Ethics…
— Rep. Real Diehl (@Real_EdDiehl) June 21, 2025

According to the complaint, Shannon Carskadon, an adult foster home owner and SEIU member, publicly opposed HB 3838 in written testimony submitted to the House Committee on Rules. 

Carskadon, represented by the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the state,  also vocalized her opposition directly to Melissa Unger (SEIU Local 503’s executive director), while in-person at the Oregon State Capitol—long before SEIU Local 503 delivered the postcards to legislators.

“I was present at the capital, at the very first hearing where I met Melissa Unger with [another care provider],” Carskadon wrote. “Melissa was very surprised to see [the other care provider] there and in a face-to-face conversation with her, I expressed my concerns and opposition to the bill again, directly to her personally.”

In an email sent to Representative Ed Diehl, Carskadon said she was shocked, disgusted, and disappointed to find the union had forged her name in support of a bill she had so publicly and adamantly opposed. 

Despite the considerable opposition from the union’s members, lawmakers received this:

“You have my COMPLETE support and I urge you to do the right thing! Thanks!” the postcards read. 

This wasn’t just a clerical error, according to the ethics complaint—but a calculated play. 

Orchestrated through ambiguous Facebook surveys, the complaint alleges the union manufactured political momentum, in violation of ORS 171.764, which bans false or misleading statements made by lobbyists.

According to Rep. Ed Diehl, lawmakers believe that union leadership may have forged support well beyond those represented by the complaint filed. 

“Based on the evidence we have, I believe SEIU Local 503 knowingly and intentionally misrepresented facts,” Diehl told ZeroHedge. “It’s quite possible that none of the individuals named on the postcards ever actually authorized the statements attributed to them.”

The postcards may have been the final push needed, Diehl told ZeroHedge during a phone interview Sunday.

“These postcards clearly left an impression on many legislators and likely influenced the…

Nvidia CEO Activates 10b5-1 Trading Plan, Kicks Off Stock Sales

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has initiated a new 10b5-1 trading plan, aiming to sell up to 6 million shares by the end of the year. The timing follows a sharp rebound in Nvidia stock, which tumbled below $100 earlier this spring but has since surged 53% to around $144 as of Monday’s close.

Bloomberg cited a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing showing that Huang disposed of 100,000 shares between last Friday and Monday for $14.4 million. The sales are part of a new 10b5-1 trading plan the tech CEO adopted in March. 

Data pulled from Bloomberg via the Insider Transaction function on the Terminal shows Huang’s two 50,000-share sales following a massive multi-month rally in the stock, which is now nearing all-time highs.

Huang’s prearranged stock trading plan was established in March under SEC Rule 10b5-1, which allows corporate insiders to sell stock at predetermined times—even if they later possess material nonpublic information. These plans are designed to shield executives from accusations of insider trading.

The 10b5-1 gives Huang a 6 million share option by the end of the year. As of Monday’s close, at $144, that would be valued at $865 million. 

According to a separate SEC filing, billionaire Nvidia board director Mark Stevens has begun selling stock, disposing of more than 600,000 shares for roughly $88 million on June 18. Unlike Huang, Stevens does not use a 10b5-1 trading plan.
 

 

 

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/24/2025 – 07:20…

All Eyes On Beijing’s Annual Reshuffle Of Military Chiefs Amid Signs Of Xi’s Waning Power

Authored by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times,

As infighting within the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensifies, many China watchers are wondering if Chinese leader Xi Jinping is still in power and really in control, especially of the military.

According to long-standing CCP practice, a group of generals are promoted before Army Day on Aug. 1 every year. Since many generals were reported to have been taken down or investigated in an alleged military purge over the last year, whether Xi will promote any generals or announce new appointments before Aug. 1 has attracted attention as an indication of whether he’s still in control of the military.

Xu Qiliang, former vice chairman of the CCP’s Central Military Commission, the highest military leadership body of the communist regime, suddenly passed away on June 2, making him the latest casualty following a string of top CCP military officials who have encountered misfortunes, including sudden death, arrest, or simply disappearing.

Meanwhile, He Weidong, one of two vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, whose status in the military is second only to the other vice chairman, Zhang Youxia, disappeared from the public eye on March 11 after the closing ceremony of the third session of the National People’s Congress. He is regarded as one of Xi’s most trusted men. There have been rumors coming out of Beijing that He was under investigation.

With this, some observers have speculated that Zhang is now in charge of the CCP’s military and that he stripped Xi’s power last year.

Since two other members of the Central Military Commission—Li Shangfu and Miao Hua—were successively brought down in the two years prior, if He’s absence is officially confirmed, the number of members of the Central Military Commission will drop from seven to four.

Who will fill these top military positions and who will replace the generals who have been pushed out is a focus for this year’s Army Day.

Generals in Prison Enough to Form a Military Company

In the past 13 years since Xi became CCP leader, he has launched waves of “anti-corruption” campaigns to purge his political enemies, many of whom were in the military, to consolidate his power.

“So much resentment has been accumulating for 13 years,” Su Tzu-yun, researcher and director of Division of Defense Strategy and Resources at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told the Chinese language Epoch Times on June 16. “The CCP’s internal struggle in the name of anti-corruption is more dangerous than a battlefield.”

But within one year from 2023 to 2024, the Chinese regime began to see purges, with 12 top PLA (People’s Liberation Army) officials removed in the name of “anti-corruption;” including Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe who were both former ministers of defense, three rocket force commanders, and one air force commander, and others.

In 2024, overseas Chinese media re-posted a now-deleted X post by China observer “Li Jun” listing the names and ranks of 101 top CCP…

Run, Gavin, Run

Authored by Arthur Schaper via American Greatness,

I was born in California and have a firsthand view of the damage done to the Golden State under sixteen years of Democratic trifecta rule.

Yet, for all the troubles, I don’t plan on leaving unless:

California joins Canada

The Democratic Party starts building concentration camps

Criminals get elected to every major office in the state

Also, I have many reasons to hope for my home state. Recent electoral victories are chipping away at California’s woke madness, and even the woke Angelenos and San Franciscans who insisted on voting left are tired of getting left behind in their brazen destruction. They want a change. One of the worst, wokest county district attorneys in the country (LA County District Attorney George Gascon) lost his job last year in a total rout. Republican-turned-common-sense-independent DA Nathan Hochman took his place, and he is cleaning house, even more conservative than the DA who preceded Gascon. San Francisco’s BLM-on-steroids mayor, London Breed, lost to the more centrist (at least by San Francisco standards) Levi-Strauss heir Daniel Lurie, who is trying to restore some semblance of law and order to the city.

Even former Democratic Sheriff of LA County, Alex Villanueva, moved to the right when his deputies started getting assassinated. He resisted the COVID-19 lockdown orders during his tenure. This year, he reregistered as a Republican, rejecting the party of “paid protests, purple hair, and pronouns.”

What about the current governor?

Gavin Newsom, who as mayor of San Francisco appointed George Gascon to replace Kamala Harris as San Francisco District Attorney, is the real train wreck. He’s presided over and accelerated the epic, public collapse of our once Golden State.

The state’s budget has ballooned on his watch, while Californians are fleeing as fast as they can every day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he locked down businesses, ordered mask mandates across the state, and released prisoners early. He deemed pot shops and the porn shops essential businesses, but he ordered the churches, charities, and legitimate businesses closed. Unreal! He gives food, medical care, and schooling to illegal aliens, while everyday citizens clamor for justice and a decent living, and get neither. He’s the face—hair gel and all—for California’s failure today.

On top of that, he’s the most arrogant, insufferable politician in the country. In 2023, he debated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with no regard for the truth, convinced that he could lie his way through the whole thing with his slick San Francisco charm, even when debate moderator Sean Hannity presented one statistic after another exposing the California Disaster versus the Florida Miracle. Newsom embarrassed himself, but smiled it off.

What accounts for Gavin’s near-sociopathic disconnect? He has never lost a general election in California. Aside from losing a non-partisan 1995 city council race in Tiburon, CA, Newsom is undefeated politically. From his two terms on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to two terms as mayor to his election as lieutenant governor (defeating a Republican incumbent) and then governor, Newsom has been unstoppable. California residents sponsored five recalls to…

UK Gov’t Secretly Used BBC & ITV Soaps For ‘Underhanded’ Vaccine ‘Propaganda’ To Covertly Shape Public Opinion, Coerce Compliance

Via JonFleetwood.com,

New Freedom of Information (FOI) documents confirm what many long suspected: The UK government secretly used popular soap operas like EastEnders and Coronation Street to push vaccine propaganda during the pandemic, raising urgent questions about how much influence the state holds over British media, and how far officials are willing to go to manipulate public thought, opinion and behavior under the guise of public health.

The findings echo May 2021 revelations that scientists on the UK government’s behavioral advisory committee admitted they used fear-based “totalitarian” tactics to control public behavior during COVID-19, describing the approach as “unethical,” “dystopian,” and a form of “mind control.”

They also mirror an October 2024 U.S. House investigation that found the CDC and Biden administration used a $900 million COVID campaign to “manipulate Americans” with “deeply flawed” messaging, “overpromising” vaccines “without evidence,” and funding Big Tech companies to “track and monitor Americans.”

What other views and choices are being shaped today by government-scripted entertainment?

Ministers Pushed BBC & ITV to Insert Vaccine Storylines

“Ministers met television bosses during the pandemic to persuade them to push pro-vaccine storylines in soaps such as EastEnders and Coronation Street, it has emerged,” The Telegraph reported last week.

The effort was led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which held secret meetings with ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and others to coordinate “national unity programming.”

FOI documents show broadcasters were asked: “if there were plans to introduce health messages into soap stories.”

BBC committed to “report back re other shows” while ITV responded that “filming had now ceased,” but that “ITV have included voiceovers to episodes now to clarify govt messaging re social distancing.”

Early Meetings with ITV in February 2020

Redacted records show that as early as Feb. 2, 2020—more than a month before lockdown—officials met ITV chief Dame Carolyn McCall to “test the possibility” of inserting pro-vaccine messaging.

The government briefing stated:

“Since that meeting ITV have noticeably increased their engagement across DCMS and Whitehall; and recently officials at the Department of Health have been in touch with DCMS about potential assistance from ITV in relation to pro vaccine messaging. This meeting may offer an opportunity to test the possibility of this with them.”

Health Department Wanted Letters to Broadcasters

Documents confirm the Department of Health wanted to write directly to ITV to “include vaccine storylines in their soaps.”

But DCMS advised against it:

“Whilst we do not think it would be appropriate to write to ITV on this matter given the importance of broadcasters’ operational and editorial independence, you may wish to explore with them whether they already have plans to develop content related to this area.”

Officials also noted ITV was “planning soap storylines related to the environment and climate change and therefore they may be amenable to the idea of something similar in relation to vaccine messaging.”

BBC & Channel 4 Also Involved

In March and April 2020, then-Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and then-Media Minister John Whittingdale met with BBC Director-General Tony Hall, ITV’s Dame Carolyn McCall, and Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon.

Channel 4 agreed it…