Someone to watch?
I haven’t been following an Air Force reserves vet name of Anna Paulina Luna, but she has been a Congresswoman from Florida (on the R side of the aisle, thank you) who is making some interesting noises lately. Notably about Gannon Ken Van Dyke, the Master Sergeant who made (and presumably now lost) over $400K betting on Maduro’s ouster based on classified inside info. Now, normally I would think anyone passing around classified info is a prime candidate for a HANO jump over someplace ugly, preferably with a high population of maneaters on the off chance they survive the jump. But Luna is actually DEFENDING the guy. Huh?
During a Friday appearance on Fox News, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) defended a U.S. special forces soldier accused of profiting off bets tied to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, comparing the case to “insider trading” on Capitol Hill.
Dictator toppling vs. Nancy Pelosi’s (husband’s, right? I’m sure SanFranNan and her hubby never actually talk or anything) insider trading.
Speaking with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Luna said, “We have someone in the military who successfully helped plan one of, I would say, the most daring successful missions in U.S. history, and because he placed a bet — in reading the write-up by the Department of Justice, Laura, I did not see that he leaked classified information, so that’s pretty big on this, and I don’t agree with what he did.”
(I keep hearing “Pete Rose” in my head, betting on his own team to win.)
She continued:
However, I don’t think that this is true justice, and I say that because, as you had stated, this man is facing decades in prison. Meanwhile, every single day on Capitol Hill, there are many members of Congress on both sides that are currently engaging in insider trading, and I actually did, Laura, decide to help champion this cause and try to get a bipartisan bill across the finish line that [Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries [D-NY] then turned around and blocked.
Keep preachin’, sister.
Actually, she hit the news again today. And for something I suspect no one else here knew, either.
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) has voted against a bill that would mandate the use of artificial-intelligence driver-monitoring systems in all new cars in the U.S. by 2027. She believes that certain Republicans helped Democrats enact the legislation.
AI that would determine whether you could drive or not. Are you impaired? You willing to let your freakin’ CAR make that decision?
As per the mandate, new vehicles should have a system that can detect when a driver is impaired or distracted using cameras and sensors. The system restricts or shuts down a vehicle if it detects that a driver poses any threat.
Let’s see, a woman is trying to escape someone – she’s severely, what – stressed? Mybe not really herself, due to panic? And her car says “No, I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that.”
So beside bothering you if you start to lane change without a signal (hey, on the roads I drive, sometimes there isn’t another car within a coupla MILES) now the Feds want to mandate that your car can decide whether you can go someplace? Heck, the car manufacturers haven’t even figured out a reliable air bag inflator yet and they’ve only had FORTY FREAKIN’ YEARS to do that. This sounds like one of those things maybe you ought to contact your Senator about. Just what we need, another expensive government car mandate. (Oh, and unneeded – why does EVERY car need that? If you get busted driving under the influence, YOU can buy it, not me.)
Anyway, besides having an ‘interesting’ bio, knocking head with AOCs (I like that) she seems to be on the right path – maybe.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", 2022 Elections
I’m already on a situation where I will never buy another GM product due to their OnStar spyware system on board. They turn around and sell your driving data, phone records, music history all of it to third parties. Now I’ll just never buy another new car. Lots of good old cars out there.
I get monthly, occasionally more often emails on the status of my 19 canyon. Oil life, tire pressure and I’m not even subscribed to their service.
Me too. Also, after I quit the service, the little light went out. Mysteriously a couple of months later it went back on and said I was fully connected. I don’t give them a dime so I guess they make a living off of selling my data.
I’m not sure but I seem to recall a story about driving data collection. The agency that does it is lexis nexis. You should be able to contact them and get a free report of everything they have on you. I think, not sure, there is an option to opt out of selling your data by them, including your driving record.
That has already been done.
“Pete Rose betting on his own team to win.” Except, baseball games are scheduled in advance. Furthermore, large-ish bets on the prediction market might tip observers off.
But I do concur that we don’t need cars with more spy devices. A lot of the driver monitor stuff exists now; I had a 2013 Lincoln that would object if it thought you were getting sleepy.
How can that be an offense; it might violate league rules. But in know way could Rose be sure his team would win, just like the MSG could not be sure they would get Maduro. I might add that Polymarket researched him once they found out who he was and complained and refused to pay the debt.
League rules say “Thou shalt not bet on Major League Baseball if you play Major League Baseball”. I still think Pete’s punishment was way too harsh.
Ditto.
This is why I drive a 2000 Toyota 4Runner.
It’s been beaten and bruised, but I’ll continue to repair it for as long as I drive.
IIRC there was a case some decades ago where a woman was attempting to escape an attacker. Because “Big Brother” somewhere decided to keep everyone safe, the car would not start if the seatbelt was not buckled.
Her attacker was able to get her and rape her.
She very successfully sued the manufacturer – and that nonsense stopped. Sadly, after she was raped.
This looks like a good place to drop this.
This is Rep Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL)
A matched set of brains.
Yes, one to watch.
Sucks to be her, right?
Ahem…..and To Wit…….“I CAN FIX HER!!!!
৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻) (っ˘ڡ˘ς)
So, the camera doesn’t like the way someone was driving and stops the car on on a highway, road etc, I can see cars getting rear ended and causing people getting injured including loss of life. Emergency resopnder are getting hit a lot at highway accident scenes with all types of vehicles whom somehow get attracted to the flashing warning lights and drive right into them causing further damage and injuries to the responders. Even with emergency vehicles equipped with rear mounted crash protectors, they still get hit like moths to a light. When I’m wearing one of my FD tee shirts with the Maltese cross on it, I’ll wave a vehicle that stops for me when I cross at a parking lot I wave the drive to go. In Florida, I can’t take chances the way some people drive and seem to forget driving 101. No more IPN (incident paging network texts) since Verizon stopped their email to text gateway which IPN uses. Ussing them for 13 years…
Your first sentence brings to mind the drunk woman who set her Tesla on self-driving mode to get her home – but didn’t realize the car’s inside cameras scan the eyes to be sure the driver is awake. She fell asleep, and the car stopped – in the middle of the Interstate. I-75 maybe? Hell of a choice – drunk driver, or drunk driver in car stalled on the interstate. I’d hate to figure out which I would rather share a road with…
As of early 2026, Polymarket operates as a regulated derivatives platform in the U.S. following a 2025 settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). If he’s acting on information not known to public, then he’s guilty of insider trading. However, being briefed on the upcoming CLASSIFIED operation is definitely a problem. He should’ve got another family member to place the bet like SanFran Nan.
They have to come down hard on him because you can’t have guys making these bets before an op because eventually our enemies will follow the trends and see the line move and know something is coming their way. That puts our service members lives in jeopardy which is 110% unsat.
Oh, she’s worth a look for sure.
Oughta read her bio.
In Braile.
You’re already literally betting your life on the successful outcome of the mission, so as long as no classified info was leaked, mission parameters not adjusted or friendly troops endangered, what’s the issue with betting some bucks on the mission as well?
The fact that the very existence of the mission was classified is the issue. An uninvolved party would never think to bet on something like that.
He didn’t bet specifically on any mission. According to what I have read, he bet on Polymarket that Maduro would no longer be in power by the end of this year or some time frame unrelated to the operation. There was no information in his bet that would have caused one to think there was a mission to remove Maduro. He was cagy about how he did it; made multiple bets in different amounts, using different fictitious names. The bets totaled $32K.
“made multiple bets in different amounts, using different fictitious names. The bets totaled $32K.”
That sounds pretty sketchy to me. What’re we trying to hide?
Well, the best US trial lawyer, Robert Barnes, agrees the case they filed is extremely weak. And she is right in that he did not disclose any classified information. He even concealed his identity in making the bet. Polymarket is not governed by the commodities market, the Chicago Board of Trade, so his bet based on his inside information is not illegal or a crime. But obviously he can administratively be punished for violating regs and an NDA he signed.
Who da-fuck keeps coming up with “Big Brother” ideas like that shit? I’ll never buy a new truck again, I’ll get an older one and overhaul it, FUCK being watched by AI or some snooping geek in a cubicle!