Quote:Maryland law states that officials can not start tabulating mail-in ballots until “8 a.m. on the Wednesday following election day.” But waiting that long would mean results could not be verified within 10 days after an election, as required by another law, Maryland Circuit Judge James Bonifant wrote in an 11-page ruling on Sept. 23.

Bonifant granted a request from the Maryland State Board of Elections, which claimed that a one-time suspension of the former law was required because of “emergency circumstances.”
...
State Del. Dan Cox, a Republican who is running for governor, intervened in the case. He said that the state’s request should not be granted because no emergency exists.

Bonifant acknowledged that the situation was foreseen by state legislators, who passed a bill that would enable officials to count mail-in ballots before Election Day. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, vetoed the bill.

The judge said that “the full extent of the difficult situation caused by so many mail-in ballots did not materialize until the primary election occurred this past summer,” necessitating the ruling.

“This Court does not believe it is violating the State Constitution by granting the State Board’s requested relief. To the contrary, the Court believes it is exercising the powers granted to it under the Constitution to decide a case between competing parties who have different views on the interpretation of the law,” he concluded.

 His ruling sounds more like passing a new bill by judiciary force than respecting the state constitution.

Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 26 granted full Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who leaked information about the U.S. agency’s widespread domestic surveillance operations during the Obama administration.
...
Snowden is one of about 75 foreign nationals who were granted Russian citizenship, Russian state-run media reported, citing a presidential decree issued by Putin. The decree also was published on a Russian government website.

The former NSA contractor was granted permanent Russian residency in 2020. At the time, Snowden said he planned to apply for Russian citizenship and wouldn’t renounce his U.S. citizenship. In 2020, a U.S. appeals court found that the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and said that U.S. officials who had publicly defended it weren’t telling the truth.

Quote:It’s “illogical” for the regime in Beijing to equate a possible communist takeover of Taiwan with Hawaii’s historical union with the United States because the Hawaiian people voted for U.S. statehood, according to Miles Yu, director of the China Center at Hudson Institute.
...
He was responding to a speech by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the Asia Society on Sept. 23, when Wang said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was resisting Taiwan’s independence in the same way that the United States would oppose secession by Hawaii.
...
He described the self-ruled island’s separation as “a highly destructive and dangerous gray rhino” that must be stopped, attributing the expansion of Taiwan’s defense forces to U.S. interference and “connivance.”
...
Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state in August 1959 after citizens of the cluster of islands voted in a referendum to accept the Hawaii Admission Act, which was signed into law by then-President Dwight Eisenhower.
...
The CCP claims that Taiwan is a breakaway province that must be united with the mainland, and vows to use military force to achieve this goal. Taiwan has been a self-governing democracy since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949 and has never been controlled by the CCP.
...
In his speech, Wang said that China–U.S. relations can only improve if Washington adheres to the CCP’s three principles—mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.
...
Yu said that it’s been the CCP’s aggressive behavior that is undermining peace in the Pacific, and that the Chinese regime conveniently continues to ignore the fact that its system of governance remains unattractive to the Taiwanese people.

Quote:Americans have lost over $4,000 in annual income since President Joe Biden took office owing to soaring inflation and higher interest rates, according to data compiled by The Heritage Foundation and released on Sept. 22.
...
The foundation said its experts calculated this “shocking” figure by looking at various sets of data: consumer prices data and the Federal Reserve’s interest rates.

Consumer prices have risen 12.7 percent since January 2021, much faster than wages, which Foundation analysts say has lost the average American worker $3,000 in annual purchasing power.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s tighter monetary policy to combat inflation has meant that interest rates are rising, resulting in increased borrowing costs on mortgages, vehicle loans, and credit cards. This, Heritage Foundation analysts say, has reduced the average American’s purchasing power by another $1,200 per year.
...
The research fellow also took aim at the Biden administration and Congress for continuing on the spending spree and allowing the Federal Reserve printing presses to roll instead of “correcting course over a year ago when inflation began rising.”

Inflation was at 1.4 percent when Biden took office in January 2021.
...
Meanwhile, Biden has continued to downplay red-hot inflation, telling CBS’ “60 Minutes” program on Sept. 18 that the “inflation rate month to month was just … an inch, hardly at all.”

The old guard is spoiled, fat, rich, going through Alzheimer's, overly catered to like majestic royals, and completely out of touch with reality. The ones with brains (and sometimes hearts) are dying off at an accelerating pace, while all their old puppet goonies are still kicking around. The elected officials are all stupid and possibly not honestly elected, and the shadow hand behind the scene is losing their best and brightest. Everything is being ran by burn outs whom no longer know what to do or no longer care.

I believe Communism comes next, as all of our greatest institutions become bastions of decadence and double dealing. With a mix of international influence and infiltration by radical knuckleheads, nothing is to be trusted anymore. Units such as the FDA have been replaced by a revolving door of pharmaceutical thugs and Monsanto freaks, they're losing credibility and respect. Same goes for Republicans, Democrats, Blue and White party, the Torries, Labor, etc. they all start to look, sound and act the same from hemisphere to hemisphere.

Yet half the people still buy into the bullshit. Laughable.

I'm not a big religion guy, but this is definitely spiritual and cultural decay on overdrive. As the POTUS shakes hands with ghosts and gets completely lost live on television, Rome burns while her babies starve.

Total clown show, I'm sure ICP is blushing behind their face paint at this real life Carnival of Carnage. POTUS is the Ringmaster and he can barely read his Riddlebox. (I know, he's more of a ventriloquist dummy but he and we can all pretend he's running things. Whether he is or not, this is embarrassing and I spend all day trying to tune it out.)

Quote:President Joe Biden on Monday demanded that gas stations, banks, and cell phone services drop their prices to help consumers amid soaring inflation.

Biden made the demand during a White House meeting on Sept. 26 in which he said that family budgets are being weighed down by unnecessary hidden fees or “junk fees,” including things like bank overdraft fees and termination fees for cell phones.
...
Stating that the “price of oil worldwide is down,” Biden berated the fact that these lower prices have not been reflected at the pump while oil and gas companies continue to bring in record-high profits.
...
“But look, my message is simple. To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump: Bring down the prices you’re charging at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product. Do it now. Do it now. Not a month from now—do it now. And it’s going to save people a lot of money.”
...
They also remain considerably higher in various parts of the country, particularly in the West, in places like Oregon, Washington, and California, where drivers are forking out $5.883 a gallon amid short supplies and issues at refineries on the West Coast.
...
“However, the Northeast and Gulf Coast continue to see normal activity at refineries, and prices there have dropped,” the Boston-based company wrote. “The disconnect between regions grows larger and will likely remain abnormal for the next few weeks until refinery issues get under control and rectified.”
...
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has released a record 180 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to curtail higher fuel prices.

The Biden administration has also agreed with European Union (EU) leaders in March to send an additional 15 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU by the end of this year after the latter imposed energy sanctions on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

 So according to Biden, private businesses are no longer private.
 I mean, it's not like people wouldn't rejoice if they hear prices are dropping everywhere but no president can tell private businesses what they should do, unless they were private contractors.

Quote:“If it is a referendum on the president, they will lose. And they know that. They also know that crime is a huge vulnerability for Democrats, I would say one of the biggest vulnerabilities,” Psaki said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 25.
...
With a little more than 40 days to go before the November elections, Biden’s public approval rating remains low. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, 39 percent of Americans approved of the president, while 57 percent disapproved.

Additionally, 67 percent of the respondents said the United States was heading in the wrong direction, while 21 percent said the country was on the right track.

Another recent Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found that 50 percent of Americans thought Biden “should do more” on “blocking illegal immigrants” from entering the United States.
...
“This election is a referendum on skyrocketing inflation, rampant crime, soaring murders, crushing gas prices, millions and millions of illegal aliens pouring across our border, race and gender indoctrination, converting our schools,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Sept. 3.

Quote:During a Sept. 26 meeting between U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, the two leaders affirmed their nations’ support for one another and condemned Chinese communist aggression in the Taiwan Strait.
...
Harris is in Japan this week to lead the U.S. delegation for the state funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July.

Abe was widely regarded as one of the foremost champions of the U.S.–Japan alliance. He was hailed as a defender of democracy for his efforts to design and implement the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Japan, the United States, Australia, and India—colloquially referred to as the “Quad.”
...
Harris’s visit to Japan comes a week after President Joe Biden said the United States would militarily defend Taiwan from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state.

The statement outraged the CCP, which maintains a “One China” principle that alleges that Taiwan is a breakaway province of China. The regime has vowed to unite the island with the mainland by any means necessary, and it has repeatedly threatened to use military force to achieve this goal.
...
Japan has long committed its troops to the defense of Taiwan from a CCP invasion and is working to place special units on an island near Taiwan for that eventuality.

Quote:In a letter to the board of finance, the district attorney’s office specified that Baldwin could be one of the possible defendants and that “this case could require up to four separate jury trials,” according to a report from CBS News.
...
Baldwin discharged the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust set in late 2021. The actor has repeatedly claimed he didn’t pull the trigger. But as Breitbart News reported, an FBI report concluded the gun used in the shooting could not have been fired without the trigger being pulled.

First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies in New Mexico indicated charges are imminent.
...
She said “it’s become apparent that we will be potentially charging between one and four people with criminal charges and each of those charges will probably include some variation of our homicide statute.”

Her office also made an emergency funding request to continue to fund the investigation.
Baldwin also faces a number of civil lawsuits, including one brought by the family of Halyna Hutchins. Earlier this year, the actor said he is being targeted because he is wealthy.

Quote:During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Klobuchar bragged that Democrats “just did something about climate change, for the first time in decades.”

“That’s why we’ve got to win this, as that hurricane bears down on Florida. We got a win in the midterms,” Klobuchar said, implying that Democrat policies would help prevent extreme weather.

Because there is no known Democrat policy that has stopped a hurricane, Klobuchar’s remark prompted mockery across social media.
...
“Sen. Amy Klobuchar bizarrely suggests that voting for Democrats in 2022 will somehow stop hurricanes,” Tea Party Patriots observed as others chimed in.
...
Klobuchar’s remark comes as Florida braces for Hurricane Ian, which is expected to make landfall on the state’s west coast this week:

 Democrats are now pretending to be weather  wizards!?

Quote:Posey said Coolio died Wednesday afternoon.

Details on the circumstances were not immediately available.

When contacted by CNN, Capt. Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed that firefighters and paramedics responded to a call on the 2900 block of South Chesapeake Ave. at 4 p.m. local time for reports of a medical emergency. When they arrived, they found an unresponsive male and performed “resuscitation efforts for approximately 45 minutes.”

The patient “was determined dead just before 5:00 p.m.,” Scott said.

An autopsy performed on Coolio Thursday did not reveal the cause or manner of Coolio’s death and further investigation will be conducted, according to case information from the county coroner..

Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed an order that will officially, in Russia’s view, annex four Ukrainian regions under the rule of the Russian Federation.

The signing ceremony held at the Georgievsky Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow took place just days after referenda concluded in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions which allegedly showed overwhelming support in favor of seceding from Ukraine.

"The people have made their choice," he began his speech according to a translation by a Financial Times reporter. 

"This is the will of millions," Putin said, declaring residents of the territories Russian citizens.

Putin vowed that Russia will now use "all available means" to guard the annexed territory in Ukraine and suggested Moscow could use any attack in the war torn region – where fighting has raged since February – to further escalate its aggressive tactics.

Russian proxies in the regions claimed to have garnered 87% of civilian support in Kherson, 93% in Zaporizhzhia, 98% in Luhansk and 99% in Donetsk.
...
In a statement posted to Telegram the ministry said Moscow was "recognizing and reaffirming the principle of equal rights and self-determination of the peoples as set forth in the United Nations Charter."

However, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres on Thursday condemned Russia’s attempts to seize roughly 15% of Ukraine’s territory and said it was a "clear" violation of the U.N. Charter.

Quote:At the end of his remarks, he shifted gears and addressed Russia's referendums to annex Ukrainian territories in the middle of the country's continued invasion.

After Ukraine said it had submitted an "accelerated" NATO application, Biden warned, "I want to say this again. America is fully prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory... So Mr. Putin, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Every inch."
...
Biden dismissed the referendums as "a sham" and mocked the Russian president's actions as "a sign he is struggling" before announcing new avenues of sanctions to further press Putin and his allies.
...
"We're announcing new sanctions today, as well, that include new authorities to sanction anyone who provides political or economic support to Russia's fraudulent territorial claims," Biden said in response.
placeholder

He concluded by stating, "I've been in close touch with our NATO allies, who are united in our resolve to take on his aggression."
...
It was not immediately clear how Kyiv has pushed its application along, but Zelenskyy, who has vowed to keep fighting Russia despite its illegal annexation, said that Ukraine has already proven a "compatible" partner to NATO.

Quote:Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pleaded with President Biden to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism Friday on "The Story" as President Vladimir Putin illegally annexes parts of Ukraine.
...
"If you did that, we would have access to federal courts to sue for the damage done in Ukraine and throughout the world by Putin. He is a terrorist. The Wagner Group is dismantling, dismembering parts of Africa. He is now a legally annexed territory of a neighboring country. He's a war criminal on steroids."

A new poll released just before found that a growing number of Russians do not believe that Putin's military operation in Ukraine is working.  And with that, more than half of those polled were either angered or distressed.

The city of Lyman was a key road crossing the Siversky Donets River and a key supply hum that the Kremlin used to push troops and weaponry into Ukraine.  But the loss of Lyman, annexed by Russia months before was taken quickly and a major setback for Putin.  Ukraine's military not only revealed Russian weakness but displayed Ukraine's skill and acumen.

Phillips O’Brien - University of St. Andrews Professor of Strategic Studies Wrote:I’ve never seen a country annex territory they didn’t even control. You say this is forever Russia one day and the next day you lose a significant city in it.

Quote:Left-wing political activists attempted to force their way into the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney, Australia this weekend, forcing police to barricade them from the convention center.

Around 100 activists rushed the entrance of the Sydney International Convention Center, but police cut them off. The activists directly confronted some attendees as they entered the building, and Sky News Australia reported that former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was the chief target of the protests, whom one protester accused of orchestrating a "campaign against migrants in the U.K."

Farage claimed that Conservatives had a "higher moral purpose" to resist the protests, which he accused of aiming to "close down, shutdown and cancel" those they disagreed with.
...
Farage also criticized efforts to move Australia away from a "magical" constitutional monarchy and towards a "dreary" republic.
...
Members of the Trump administration, such as former Acting United States Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, attended and offered views on the state of conservative politics in the U.S.

I don't get how people can claim they believe in democracy but suddenly force they way into conferences and other activities of their political opponents. That's a very tribal behavior indeed.

Quote:The U.S. Army test-fired Javelin anti-tank missiles at a recent exhibition in Fort Hood, Texas to demonstrate technological advancement in its fighting capabilities.

During a series of weapons drills and exercises, soldiers fired Javelins and .50-caliber machine guns from seven-ton robotic vehicles.

The demonstration consisted of 12 robotic platforms alongside six control vehicles, the culmination of four years of activity, according to one official at the exhibition.

The three vehicle versions – the RCV-Light, the RCV-Medium, and RCV-Heavy – are each built for various complex unmanned operations.
...
An operation, for example, might include scouting and reconnaissance missions, distributing supplies, and finding and destroying enemy targets – when directed by a human.

Quote:An attack by armed separatists on a police station in a southeastern city killed 19 people, including four members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

The assailants in Friday's attack hid among worshippers near a mosque in the city of Zahedan and attacked the nearby police station, according to the report.

IRNA quoted Hossein Modaresi, the provincial governor, as saying 19 people were killed. The outlet said 32 Guard members, including volunteer Basiji forces, were also wounded in the clashes.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to nationwide antigovernment protests gripping Iran after the death in police custody of a young Iranian woman.
...
Sistan and Baluchestan province borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has seen previous attacks on security forces by ethnic Baluchi separatists, although Saturday's Tasnim report did not identify a separatist group allegedly involved in the attack.
...
Tasnim and other state-linked Iranian news outlets reported Friday that the head of the Guard’s intelligence department, Seyyed Ali Mousavi, was shot during the attack and later died.
...
The protests have drawn supporters from various ethnic groups, including Kurdish opposition movements in the northwest that operate along the border with neighboring Iraq. Amini was an Iranian Kurd and the protests first erupted in Kurdish areas.

(09-27-2022, 11:44 PM)kyonides Wrote:

‘Do It Now!’: Biden Demands Gas Stations Drop Prices
as They Rise for Seventh Consecutive Day

Quote:President Joe Biden on Monday demanded that gas stations, banks, and cell phone services drop their prices to help consumers amid soaring inflation.

Biden made the demand during a White House meeting on Sept. 26 in which he said that family budgets are being weighed down by unnecessary hidden fees or “junk fees,” including things like bank overdraft fees and termination fees for cell phones.
...
Stating that the “price of oil worldwide is down,” Biden berated the fact that these lower prices have not been reflected at the pump while oil and gas companies continue to bring in record-high profits.

Yeah... pretty short sided as...



The oil prices have been rising since the pandemic disrupted prices in 2020. And though Biden attempted to tout lower prices recently, he just got hit by OPEC+ now cutting the number of barrels being produced by 2 billion. OPEC and its non-OPEC allies agreed in Vienna this week to reduce production. And in one fell swoop, OPEC+ undid the attempt by the Biden Administration to add more oil to the market.

  Chances are that the Oil companies whose leases were cancelled by Biden in 2021 may contact him one more time.  The U.S. was energy independent before his Executive Action.



FBI Agents concluded months ago that the facts supported federal charges against Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son. However, it is up to U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the Delaware prosecutor to decide whether to indict the president's son.  David Weiss, a Trump appointed U.S. attorney was the only one of those which Trump appointed that Biden did not request to resign.

The Investigation by the FBI into Hunter Biden initially centered on his overseas business dealings in places such as China and Ukraine, but  began to check on his finances and whether he did not report all of his income and whether he lied on a firearm purchase in 2018. Of the former, he was being scrutinized for potentiial money laundering as well as violations of the Foreign Agents Relation act. And of the latter, that he lied on a federal form required for any firearm purchase within the nation.

Interesting to note, it also includes Hunter's connections to former CEFC chairman Ye Jianming and his top lieutenant Patrick Ho, both of which convicted in China and Ho contacting James Biden (Hunter's Uncle and Joe's brother) after his arrest in 2017. Though Hunter filed a $1mil retainer for Ho, the laptop which the media denied existed had a recording of Hunter calling Ho a "f***ing spy chief of China".


The form presented in the spoiler showed that Hunter said he was (1) not convicted of a felony, (2) Not dishonorably discharged and (3) not the user of illicit drugs(shortening it here).  All three answers, he said no.  All three answers were lies as he was dishonorably discharged after being convicted of drug felonies.  Just answering one incorrectly counts as a perjury charge.  And as someone who has a job in a store with a Federal Firearms License and have been for over fifteen years, I can say that with certainty.

Check out all these unsellable trucks.

Unsellable Ford Trucks Fill KY Motor Speedway Parking Lot

This isn't confined to just Ford. This is nothing. It's about to get even crazier in the new (and used) auto market.

Even if the supply chain stabilizes, even if the war drums stop beating, I don't think the situation will improve much anytime soon.

The average US consumer is tapped out. Pensions and nest eggs won't just "get a haircut", the Wahl shaving clippers are coming to shave everyone bald.

Average Age of Vehicles on the Road 12 Years

This is an old article from last year, but the average age of vehicles reached its highest point recorded in 2021.

Chip shortage? That's a factor too but I believe the bigger issue is people just can't afford this stuff anymore.

US National Debt Reaches $31,000,000,000,000.00

I've tried passively discussing this with people and, to my surprise, people don't even realize this factoid. One person thought I made it up and was lying. I find that both hilarious and very, very sad for this nation.

(10-07-2022, 04:14 AM)Kain Nobel Wrote: US National Debt Reaches $31,000,000,000,000.00

I've tried passively discussing this with people and, to my surprise, people don't even realize this factoid. One person thought I made it up and was lying. I find that both hilarious and very, very sad for this nation.

Yeah, it's quite Hillaryous indeed.

Quote:Some Democrats are floating the idea of removing U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over a recent decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia (OPEC+) to substantially slash oil production.
...
While in office, Biden made extensive changes to the energy policies of former President Donald Trump, who led America to become energy independent for the first time in decades. Biden, who promised during his campaign to “transition away from the fossil fuel industry,” wasted no time in halting construction on the Keystone XL pipeline and placing a moratorium on leasing federal lands to natural gas and oil companies.
...
Currently, the world market produces around 100 million barrels of oil a day, meaning that the OPEC decision represents approximately a two percent cut in global production.
...
The Biden administration immediately made a statement on the announcement, expressing disappointment and calling the change “shortsighted” in view of the ongoing energy crisis in Europe and the diplomatic crisis over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

After the announcement, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—one of the most pro-fossil fuel Democrats in Congress—called for the White House to reverse its energy policies and ramp up domestic energy production.
...
Now, some Democrats are floating a different approach—removing U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia and the UAE altogether.

Legislation put forward by Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Susan Wild (D-Pa.) would do just that, moving U.S. troops and supplies to other bases in the region.

In a statement, the trio called the Oct. 5 decision by OPEC+ “a turning point in our relationship” with allied Gulf nations, and accused the longtime U.S. allies of trying to benefit Russia.

Quote:The head of Konnech Corp., a Michigan-based software company, was arrested on Oct. 4 for allegedly stealing and storing personal data of Los Angeles County election workers on servers in China.

Konnech CEO Eugene Yu, 51, was arrested in Michigan on charges of stealing “the personal identifying information” of Los Angeles County election workers, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Investigators also seized computer hard drives and other digital data relevant to the case. The office stated that it would seek Yu’s extradition to Los Angeles.

According to the office, Konnech won a five-year, $2.9 million contract with Los Angeles County in 2020 for an election worker management system—named PollChief software—that was used by the county in the last California election.

The software was designed to assist with poll worker assignments, communications, and payroll, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

Under the contract, Konnech was supposed to securely maintain the data and only provide access to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. But investigators found that the company stored the data on servers in China.

“In this case, the alleged conduct had no impact on the tabulation of votes and did not alter election results,” Gascón said. “But security in all aspects of any election is essential so that we all have full faith in the integrity of the election process.”

 Gascon said they didn't alter the tabulation of votes nor the election results but we are talking about  Chinese cyberspies here! They're pretty well known for profiling people!

Nothing to see here...

Yuma (AZ) County Woman Guillermina Fuentes Finally Pleads Guilty to Ballot Trafficking Case