This Verdict is a Disgrace, and They Will Rue the Day

 By Rich Kozlovich

We already know Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts in this fraudulent election interference trial.   And exactly what crime did he commit for which the jury found him guilty.  No one really knows!

 Johnathan Turley, hardly a conservative, noted:

"I obviously disagree with this verdict as do many others"..... "eventually" either at the state or federal level"...."However, this was the worst expectation for a trial in Manhattan. I am saddened by the result more for the New York legal system than the former president. I had hoped that the jurors might redeem the integrity of a system that has been used for political purposes.".............

"I think, as I said before, that this case was legally unfounded. When they were reading those guilty verdicts, the one thing that we didn't know is really what he was found guilty of. Because if you remember, the judge allowed the jury to find guilt on any one of the three secondary crimes," ......'That meant the jury didn't have to determine exactly what crime was committed."'................"We weren't told whether the jury found any one of those crimes, whether they found all three of those crimes. I'm not too sure we will know that. That's one of the many issues that I think presents reversible problems in this case,"

A trial where the 'underlying crimes' were never stated until the prosecutors closing comments to the jury, in violation of federal law based on the Supreme Court ruling in the ................

 In this article “They Will Rue the Day”: Megyn Kelly Says Country “Disgraced” With Trump Guilty Verdict saying:

 “It wasn’t until closing arguments yesterday when the prosecution got up second, because under New York law, unlike in most places, the defense has to go first and the prosecution goes second,” Kelly said. “And after the defense attorney had already sat down, that’s when we finally learned what the underlying crime was.”

 “He [prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass] got up there and while he cast a wide net, still saying it could have been a tax violation, it could have been falsification of other records like double falsifications, but really they’re hanging their hats on the violation of FECA [Federal Election Campaign Act],” she added. “That’s what the prosecution drove home. That’s the principal basis for this entire case. He [Bragg] didn’t want us to know because that’s a federal statute.”

 “He [prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass] got up there and while he cast a wide net, still saying it could have been a tax violation, it could have been falsification of other records like double falsifications, but really they’re hanging their hats on the violation of FECA [Federal Election Campaign Act],” she added. “That’s what the prosecution drove home. That’s the principal basis for this entire case. He [Bragg] didn’t want us to know because that’s a federal statute.”

Make no mistake, this will come back to haunt them, as this will have long term consequences, and is being termed a ‘Dark Day for America’:

” Republican officials are expressing outrage after a New York jury found former U.S. President Donald Trump guilty in his business records trial, accusing the Biden administration of using “lawfare seen in third world countries” while warning that if political opponents can target a former president, “they can do it to anyone.”

Judge Pirro called the court a “kangaroo court” saying: 

The verdict was the product of something from a third-world country..........“But now we’ve got one of the most famous individuals in the world, the former president of the United States, who can be taken down by a George Soros-funded prosecutor on a crime that doesn’t exist, where not one person put his finger anywhere near that bookkeeping, and now they are going to return a verdict and say, ‘Oh, he is guilty, he is definitely guilty.’ This is a jury pool made out of 85%-90% of the people are anti-Trump, pro-anybody, anti-Trump — the jury pool,”...........

This corrupt trial, corrupt prosecutor, corrupt judge, and a jury with a corrupt verdict have now created an open season on candidates.  Picture the following:

“The rural DA will impanel a grand jury in the 80% red county. The grand jury will indict Joe or Hunter or both Bidens on conspiracy to commit bribery charges. Like the New York case (against Trump), it will be mostly smoke and mirrors surrounding very unsavory activity.” “I do think it has opened the door, now, to at least entertaining that possibility,” said former Deputy Attorney General Tom Dupree. “You look at … crusading DAs of a conservative bent wanting to make a name for themselves."

Have no doubt, many in the GOP believe in playing hard ball, and they will have to retaliate, but in order to do that, they must win, and this verdict just gave the House, the Senate, and the White House to the GOP.   The GOP’s online donation platform overwhelmed, and Trump's supporters are fired up!

• J.D. Vance: Trump Guilty Verdict ‘Isn’t Justice, It’s Election Interference
• Top Senate Republicans, Including Some Potential VP Picks, Weigh In on Trump's 'Guilty' Verdict
• Jordan: Verdict Is ‘Travesty of Justice’
• DeSantis: Trump Verdict Represents ‘Political Agenda of Kangaroo Court
• Cruz: Juan Merchan ‘Has Diminished the Credibility of Every Judge in America’

It also seems clear this has created a backlash in the public's mind, and this will guarantee a Trump Victory in November, even  Actor Michael Rapaport Predicts Trump will win after this travesty.  Of course he's not among the usual Hollywood and media talking heads.  The kangaroos are dancing, nitwits like Maddow wants to thank the jury, because now the left can claim Trump is a convicted felon, the Biden campaign cheers for convicting opponent, Hollywood cries with tears of joy, and all the Anti-Trump Activists Celebrate. Why?  Because this corrupt trial turning America into a Banana Republic?

“When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.” Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons.

And just like the Nazi's convicted at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity, "who were just obeying orders",  Alvin Bragg was just doing his job.   

• Those who accused Trump of being a dictator and trying to undermine our country's laws now have weaponized our judicial system to take out an opponent they weren't confident could be beat in the polls. The Democrats have started a dangerous war, and the losers are the people of this country. Election interference must not be tolerated. Trump will not give up so easily. We are witnessing another historic moment in our nation's history. The next months could change everything. ............... 
• Trump Attorney Hints at Possibility of Suing Alvin Bragg for “Malicious Prosecution”

But,"it ain't over till it's over", and the real verdict will be made by America on November fifth, and then the fire works will really start. 

• Is Merchan The Most Corrupt Judge in American History? 
  
• My Gazette: Deep State Corruption at the FBI and the DOJ
• It's Past Time to Disarm the FBI, ATF, and the Rest of the Deep State 
• Violence, Lies, and Deceit: The Patterns of Leftist Corruption Repeats Forever
• Manhattan Lawfare Cartoon Roundup

It's Past Time to Disarm the FBI, ATF, and the Rest of the Deep State

By Rich Kozlovich 

For law and order people like myself this goes beyond disturbing. The purpose of an armed police force is to defend the innocent, arrest the guilty, to "serve and protect". What happens when we arm bureaucrats beyond what's reasonable or rational? We get the KGB, and society will serve them.....or else!  And have no doubt, the corruption at the FBI and the DOJ is substantial.

Over the years I've posted and written about this outrageous and highly dangerous trend to arm these bureaucrats.  Senator Grassley wants to know why the EPA needs a "mobile command post", what's it for, and who's using it?

.............under Joe Biden's leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent millions of dollars in taxpayer funds on military grade hardware. The supplies include advanced combat equipment, reconnaissance supplies, guns, ammunition and more. And now a U.S. senator wants to know what's going on.......... Biden's EPA already has spent $2,892,770 on those items, a surge of 143% from what was spent during the entire Trump administration.   Sen. Chuck Grassley......described the EPA’s militarization as 'frightening.'............Since 2006, the report noted, the EPA has purchased $10 million worth of various pieces, including "unmanned aircraft, night vision, and radar equipment."...........

 

“There was a pretty extreme edge to the regulatory enforcement agents that interacted with my constituents, especially in rural areas,” ........ “I was surprised to find that these regulatory agencies had armed police officers rolling up into my constituents’ properties to enforce their regulations.”.......

The EPA's response:

“Our agents carry weapons as a critically important public safety measure, for the safety of the agents themselves, and for EPA’s ability to effectively enforce environmental laws.”

Well, that's a load of horsepucky.  The ethics of the EPA is abysmal, filled with radical environmental activists.  These activist bureaucrats make up their own laws, called regulations. These are rules the Congress never sees, nor votes on, and they're out of control, totally destroying the rule of law.   An excellent example is the EPA issues new WOTUS rule after Supreme Court slap down.  

This came about over EPA abuses involving the Sackett family, initiated by a EPA bureaucrats in Idaho.  And these are the people we want to be armed to the hilt?  What we need to do is abolish the EPA. 

Along with the EPA, why is the IRS, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the Small Business Administration, and more  armed to the hilt?

• An IRS Thief Stripped Privacy From "Tens of Thousands" of Americans. Here's How the Government Responded.

NASA has it's own militarized SWAT team with "armored vehicles, submachine guns, and breeching shotguns. The Environmental Protection Agency has purchased drones, GPS trackers, radar equipment, and night vision goggles, in addition to stockpiling firearms." Why?

In 2022 Mark Hemingway published this piece, Bureaucrats authorized to pack heat now outnumber ... armed Marines!, saying;

'It's quite shocking how much they try to not have their stuff tracked on any level'.  A report issued last year by the watchdog group Open The Books, “The Militarization of The U.S. Executive Agencies,” found that more than 200,000 federal bureaucrats now have been granted the authority to carry guns and make arrests – more than the 186,000 Americans serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. “One hundred three executive agencies outside of the Department of Defense spent $2.7 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between fiscal years 2006 and 2019 (inflation adjusted),” notes the report. “Nearly $1 billion ($944.9 million) was spent between fiscal years 2015 and 2019 alone.”..........

 

On May 29, 2024 Patricia McCarthy posted this article asking,  Why do our FBI agents so regularly abuse their power? noting:

The American people are learning by dribs and drabs that the raid on Mar-a-Lago was not only unconstitutional, it was a set-up, an attempt to frame former President Trump for having documents illegally stored there.  The set-up proves the lie. Both the National Archives and the FBI knew said documents, which Trump was legally allowed to have, were carefully stored in a locked storage room.  Many of those boxes were packed and sent there by the National Archives; they likely knew what was in those boxes better than Trump did.  In short, it was a Gestapo-like ploy to both incriminate and humiliate Donald Trump.  As the truth of the raid leaks out (such as the authorization of lethal force)............ it is becoming clearer and clearer that it is the FBI and the National Archives working with the Biden administration that plotted to create a situation by which they could indict Trump.

When the FBI was formed they weren’t armed, and when they were it was to respond to the public’s outrage over bank robbers like John Dillinger who fled in fast cars across state borders. There were many who were opposed because they were concerned about, and warned about, what were seeing right now.  It isn’t just the FBI, now were seeing a lot of mightily armed government bureaucracies. 

 

McCarthy goes on to state:  "The FBI has long been abusing its power to the point that it has become something like Hitler’s Brownshirts or Stalin’s NKVD who were charged with carrying out the Great Purge."

• The FBI  raided and abused the family of pro-life activist Mark Houck, for having shoved a man who accosted his son while peacefully protesting across the street from an abortion clinic. 
• Tina Peters, a Colorado county clerk, had her home raided, her front door broken in by a battering ram.  Had they knocked, she would have opened the door. 
•  Consider the FBI-conceived kidnapping of Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer.  Agents honed in on a few men who seemed easily led, and then provided the plans and weapons and arrested them.
•  Even the ACLU has made a list of “The Ten Most Disturbing Things You Should Know About the FBI.”

This article,  The murder of Bryan Malinowski on May 30, 2024 By John Dietrich is profound:

 

On March 19, the ATF, accompanied by members of the Little Rock Police Department, raided the home of Bryan Malinowski.  Malinowski was the executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock.  He had no criminal record and did not even know that he was under investigation.  The announced reason for the raid was to execute a search warrant.  The actual reason was to deliver a message to American gun owners that the ATF has the power to end their lives.  This was an example of premeditated murder.  A week prior to the raid, the ATF had assembled to carry out the raid; this raid was canceled allegedly because Malinowski was not home, and it was necessary for him to be there in order for him to set an example.

 

At six in the morning they initiated a no know knock search warrant kicking in the door, never announcing who they were and Malinowski reacted the way many people would react to strangers breaking into their home as such an hour.  He shot at them.  They murdered him, and then just like the FBI abused Mark Houck's family, they abused his wife.  The AFT conducts 11,000 of these raid per year, and this is their standard operating procedure, which was "written by the KGB."

 

"Great Reset. Green New Deal. Build Back Better. New World Order.  Council on Foreign Relations.  The list of secretive global societies and their mission directives for humanity are daunting. Many people who would prefer to be left alone to live their lives free from government interference have an understandable sense of impending doom."

 

It's time to disarm these people, including the FBI.   Let the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigate, and then let them explain to the U.S. Marshall service or local law enforcement why armed action needs to be taken.  We already know the FBI is corrupt, at least at the leadership level, and how deep that goes is of yet unknown, but if Trump is elected, that's going to change.

 

 Two FBI Agents Call for the Agency’s Abolition After Revealing That It Has Adopted “Marxist Culture” and Basically Gone Rogue

 

We absolutely know the Bureau can't be trusted to obey the law, or concern themselves with the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of American citizens. It's time to Return to Enumerated Powers America.

My Gazette: Deep State Corruption at the FBI and the DOJ

By Rich Kozlovich

 

The depth of the corruption of the and the is mind boggling.  This list is just a sampling of what's going on, and the reason why is I just got tired of tracking it.  There should be a site that does nothing by track the actions, legal and illegal, of the FBI and the DOJ.

 

These people have committed crimes, provable crimes, and will do anything to keep Trump from being elected, because they know their days of employment, and possibly freedom, are numbered. 

It's clear beyond a shadow of a doubt if Trump is elected he needs to hire a jury consultation to advice him on appointments, since it appears he's not very good at it, then to appoint as his Attorney General someone who has a mad dog in a meat market mentality, and he needs to appoint an Ombudsman staff to evaluate all the departments and agencies of the federal government, and amputate their funding.....massively!

 

Feds Report $2.7 Trillion in Improper Payments in Two Decades The federal government reported hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in improper payments last fiscal year and trillions over the last two decades. According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the federal government reported $236 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2023. The true number, though, 

 

FBI alleged a decrease in crime rates, but then an independent group of analysts dug a little deeper and found otherwise April 9, 2024 by Olivia Murray Fake stats everywhere—did these bureaucrats receive their numerical training from the Ministry of Plenty? 

 

Feds Refuse to Drop $37 Million Fine, Lawsuit Against GCU Despite Audit Finding No Fault with Christian School-  by Sophia Vitter - A state auditor’s office recently completed a review that found no proof there is any wrongdoing on the part of Grand Canyon University, but two federal agencies are continuing with their campaigns against the Christian university despite the findings.  The Arizona State Approving Agency, an arm of the state’s Department of Veteran Services, issued a determination Feb. 20 that risks identified by “court actions by the government” could not be substantiated, which means the private nonprofit’s students can still use GI bill funding to pay tuition.  “They said, ‘Zero findings. Not a single one. Not one,'” University President Brian Mueller told KSTAR on March 12. “That’s very hard to do if you’ve ever been through those kinds of program reviews.”.....

 

Two FBI Agents Call for the Agency’s Abolition After Revealing That It Has Adopted “Marxist Culture” and Basically Gone Rogue - By Tyler O'Neil, Daily Signal • Apr. 9, 2024 - —Two FBI agents who had their security clearances suspended after speaking to Congress about how law enforcement went after pro-lifers and concerned parents, now warn that the FBI has adopted a “Marxist culture” and called for its abolition.   The type of recruiting events they have—they have adopted this Marxist culture to permanently change our institutions like the FBI,” Garret O’Boyle, an FBI agent whom House Republicans hailed as a whistleblower, said Tuesday at an Oversight Project event at The Heritage Foundation. “Remember, the FBI are the people with the guns and badges who will come after you.”.....

Federal Judge Appointed by Dementia Joe Calls Out Corrupt DOJ for Subpoena Double-Standard By Discern Reporter • Apr. 6, 2024 - A federal judge appointed by President Joe Biden, Ana Reyes, criticized the Justice Department’s apparent double standard regarding the enforcement of subpoenas. The criticism came during a hearing on the House Judiciary Committee’s lawsuit, which sought to compel testimony from two DOJ attorneys, Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, as part of its investigation into the Biden family and the impeachment inquiry into the president.  Reyes’ remarks seemed to reference the case of Peter Navarro, a former Trump advisor currently serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro argued that he could not cooperate with the committee because former President Trump had invoked executive privilege, an argument that lower courts have rejected......

Investigate the Fatal Bureau - April 12, 2024 Lloyd Billingsley - Rep. Mike Garcia recently told FBI boss Christopher Wray “I don’t trust you to protect us,” which makes perfect sense given the record. The FBI failed to prevent Islamic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, at Fort Hood (2009), the Boston Marathon (2013), San Bernardino (2015), and Orlando in 2016. Some cases deserve special attention. US Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who billed himself as a “soldier of Allah,” was communicating »

FBI Interrogated Trump’s Valet Driver without Trump’s Knowledge – And Turned Ambush Interview Into Perjury Trap: Court Docs Cristina Laila Apr. 12, 2024 - Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the public release of the FBI’s interview of Trump’s valet driver Walt Nauta. Walt Nauta is a former White House employee and Navy veteran who worked valet for Trump and served as a personal staffer at Mar-a-Lago. According to the transcript of the May 2022 interview, the FBI interrogated Trump’s aide Walt Nauta – without Trump’s knowledge.  The FBI agents approached Walt Nauta and asked for a voluntary interview under the guise of national security interest (similar to the General Flynn ambush).

NEVER FORGET: Chris Wray’s FBI Illegally Used FISA to Spy on Americans 278,000 Times without Warrant – Including Trump, J6 Families and Trump Donors by Jim Hoft Apr. 12, 2024 - 126 House Republicans joined Democrats on Friday to renew the FISA warrantless spy program by a vote of 273 to 147. The final vote on Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Act was 273-147, with 126 Republicans in favor of betraying the American people. The legislation now heads to the Democrat-led Senate where it will presumably pass and then be signed into law by Joe Biden. Section 702 is scheduled to expire on April 19.  Via the Office of the Clerk, here were the 126 Republicans who voted yes:

Trump-Hating Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe FINALLY Comes Clean After Years of Lying – Says Carter Page FISA Application to Spy on Trump Was “Wrong” and a “Mistake” (VIDEO) by Jim Hoft Apr. 12, 2024 -  Trump-Hating former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe joined CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday to defend FISA secret spying on American citizens.  McCabe finally admitted that the Carter Page FISA application used by the deep state to spy on Trump and his administration in an attempt to bring him down was a mistake. CNN hack reporter Jim Acosta was not expecting this...

FBI sued after allegedly losing hundreds of thousands in rare coins during raid Jeni Pearsons says FBI may have stolen $2,000 from her safe deposit box: 'They took it or lost it' By Teny Sahakian Fox News -  Two Americans are alleging the FBI lost or stole their property after seizing it through a "shady" process. "All we know is that their property was in a box and safe before the FBI broke into the box," Joe Gay, an attorney with the nonprofit law firm Institute for Justice, told Fox News. "Once the FBI broke into the box, we honestly don't know exactly what happened." "We don't know if they lost it. We don't know if somebody pocketed it and walked away," he continued. "We have no way to know.".......

Another take on the FBI's 'parents are domestic terrorists' playbook September 25, 2023 -  How is Merrick Garland getting FBI agents injected into local law enforcement matters? We hear every day about the "weaponization" of the DOJ and FBI, and it feels as though there is weaponization.  But I am forced to ask: how can the federal intelligence and criminal divisions target everyday patriotic Americans?  Don't they need a reason to get involved in potential local criminal matters?..

 

Ex-FBI Agent Reveals the Top Brass' Unusual Order Regarding Hunter Biden -  Many factors were at play regarding why the Hunter Biden bribery scandal was buried for so long. The media didn’t care. The political class and their allies interfered in the investigations into the president’s son, which kept the story hidden. And half the country was duped into thinking this was a Russian disinformation operation launched during the final weeks of the 2020 election.

The Party that Cried Wolf September 2, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer Desperate to take the focus off the FBI’s investigation into her use of a private server during her tenure as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and her sycophants strangled reality beyond all recognition to build the case that then-candidate Donald Trump was an agent of Russia. Although Clinton lost the 2016 election, their efforts mired Trump’s campaign and then his nascent presidency in scandal for three years. And to this .............»

 

BI whistleblowers: in 2019, local leaders told FBI agents, ’you will not look at that Hunter Biden laptop’ - Senator Ron Johnson has disclosed some of what multiple FBI whistleblowers have told him about the Bureau’s suppression of investigation into the laptop computer abandoned by Hunter Biden at a Wilmington computer repair shop, in a letter sent to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner has the story, and quotes Senator Johnson:..........

FBI Director Found It 'Deeply Disturbing' the Way Hunter Biden Allegations Were Handled- FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted too disturbing details regarding Hunter Biden allegations during a Senate Judiciary Committee.  At the beginning of the hearing, Wray said he found it “deeply troubling” that bureau agents had falsely labeled accurate information about Biden as  disinformation during the FBI’s investigation in 2020..........

The Evasive Mr. Wray - The FBI director knows a lot about issues that matter to the Biden regime and the media. But he isn’t so savvy when it comes to issues that matter to Americans.  FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since July 2021, insisted he had to leave the hearing by 1:30 p.m. sharp. (It began at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.) Despite leading a scandal-ridden agency quickly losing the trust of the American people and congressional Republicans, Wray somehow believes that setting aside less than four hours to answer questions by lawmakers responsible for checking and balancing his work is sufficient....

FBI Director Christopher Wray puts on a disgraceful display August 5, 2022 Obfuscations and generalities galore, with few or no confidence-inspiring answers. 

FBI Director Wray Confirms Detroit Field Office Head During Whitmer Kidnapping Debacle Now Leads D.C. Field Office - FBI Director Christopher Wray — while being questioned under oath by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) — admitted that the FBI special agent who was in charge of the Detroit Field Office during the “entrapment” kidnapping attempt on Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) now oversees the D.C. office and the investigation into January 6.

FBI Whistleblower LEAKS Bureau’s ‘Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide’ on ‘Militia Violent Extremists’ Citing Ashli Babbitt as MVE Martyr Project Veritas The feds consider the Betsy Ross flag an extremist symbol. Why am I not even the tiniest bit surprised?

• FBI cites 2nd Amendment emblem as indicator of 'Militia Violent Extremists

Sens. Mike Lee, Tom Cotton Questioning of FBI Reveals How Disappointing Bureau is on Pro-Abortion Extremism  -  FBI Director Chris Wray appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday for an "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." While Director Wray was being questioned by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), and later by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the bureau's response to threats facing pro-life organizations, churches, and even U.S. Supreme Court justices, was addressed............

The FBI Twice Interfered in the 2020 Election to Sabotage Trump. Now What? - The evidence is amassed and verified—the only unknown is what Republicans will do next.

Let’s Get Rid of the FBI - Agents who miss knocking down doors and confiscating private property can always find work with the mafia. Project Veritas has leaked blurry but legible photos of an internal FBI memo describing the warning signs of “Militia Violent Extremism.”“The following symbols,” says the memo, “are used by Anti-Government or Anti-Authority Violent Extremists, specifically Militia Violent Extremists (MVE) [which include] widespread use of symbols and quotes from American history, especially the Revolutionary War. Historical and contemporary military themes are common . . . ”“The following symbols,” says the memo, “are used by Anti-Government or Anti-Authority Violent Extremists, specifically Militia Violent Extremists (MVE) [which include] widespread use of symbols and quotes from American history, especially the Revolutionary War. Historical and contemporary military themes are common . . . ”

Leftists Dominate FBI Top 10 Domestic Terror List, Despite Warnings About Far Right -The FBI has sounded the alarm about white supremacists and far-right extremists, but the bureau's own Top 10 “most wanted domestic terrorist list includes at least two Communists, three black nationalists, one anti-war activist, and a vegan eco-terrorist. While the diverse roster doesn’t purport to capture the breadth of domestic terror, it seems at odds with federal law enforcement's claims that white supremacists pose the biggest threat facing the nation. Some skeptics are accusing the bureau of exaggerating the threat by adopting a misleading definition of such ideologies....

Is Merchan The Most Corrupt Judge in American History?

“When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.” Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons.

By Rich Kozlovich

One of my favorite movies is a Man For All Seasons, with Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More, a movie I wish was shown more often, and particularly now.  A corrupt judge, corrupt prosecution, lying witnesses, and a predetermined verdict with a selected jury, against a man who truly believed in the rule of law.  In his discussion about the importance of adhering to the rule of law, More's challenged:

William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Let's face it, in no way can Alan Dershowitz be considered a conservative, but it appears he, like Sir Thomas, really believes in the rule of law, and was shocked at what he saw going on in Judge Merchan's court saying he'd 'Never seen such a spectacle'! 

Merchan was castigating Costello for rolling his eyes, as the Fox News host then pointed out "I'm my rolling my eyes just hearing about what's going on in that courtroom!" Dershowitz then confirmed to Hannity he's never seen anything like this in the years he's practiced law.  Dershowitz himself rolled his eyes and stared him down, he explained, who had been sitting in the very front row, "when the judge made some rulings that were absurd," adding "any first year evidence student would understand that he was making biased rulings in favor of one side." 

Justice Merchan has gagged witnesses who were vital to Trump's defense on more than one occasion, including a former FEC commissioner, but allows Bragg's star witness, Michael Cohen, a convicted serial liar and a admitted thief, who ends up destroying Bragg's case.

• Stefanik Questions Whether Trump Judge Selection Was Random
• Trump Criminal Trial: Even Trump-Hating Analysts Scratch Their Heads

A case of made up charges for a made up crimes.  That becomes important, since normally it's the job of the prosecution to define the crime committed by the defendant.  Since Bragg's case is in shambles, Merchan has transferred that responsibility over to the jury.  Imagine that! 

 

Trump......was never told which of the underlying crimes he supposedly committed in the courtroom, so he was not able to defend himself from them, which according to some legal observers violates the equal protection clause. His instructions actually were illegal, based on a recent Supreme Court case in an opinion written by left-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer that right-leaning Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas concurred with, regarding the critical need for unanimity regarding an underlying crime:

 

They were in effect told to just find a crime, any crime, make one up if you have to.  This is part of the lawfare conspiracy, with the mentality as long as you find him guilty of, something, anything,  it's fine with me.

•  CNN Analyst Shocked by Judge Merchan's Handling of Jury Instructions
• Marco Rubio: Trump Trial Similar to ‘Sham Trial” Soviet Union Used Against Political Opponents
• Exclusive — Trump Atty: Merchan Keeping Him in Courthouse so He Can’t Campaign

None of this is normal, or legal!  Now under "Merchan's Rule" it will now only take four jurors to convict Trump in an "unanimous" decision.   Four jurors can be a unanimous decision?  Where in any law in the land is that valid?  Only in Merchan's courtroom, and here's how he will rig this "unanimous" decision.

"Judge Merchan has ruled that the jury does not have to agree on what that crime is. The jury could split into three groups of four on which of the three crimes were being concealed and Merchan will still treat it as a unanimous verdict," George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, who has been inside the courtroom, writes. "The jury has been given little substantive information on these crimes, and Merchan has denied a legal expert who could have shown that there was no federal election violation. This case should have been dismissed for lack of evidence or a cognizable crime." 

"You read that right: 4-4-4 is a unanimous verdict. The only thing that’s criminal in this trial is the trial itself."

What if Justice Merchan has been compromised? - Given what we know about what has been going on in Justice Juan Merchan’s Manhattan courtroom, including the preposterous, over-the-top bias of this judge for the prosecution and his overt antipathy for the defendant, Donald Trump, what explains his willing destruction of his own reputation as a judge? 

Each and every legal scholar who has weighed in on the course of the trial, from Alan Dershowitz to Jonathan Turley and countless others, (with the exception of those paid by CNN and MSNBC) is gobsmacked by Merchan’s thoroughly unconstitutional rulings, gag orders, contempt charges, exclusion of practically every witness with relevant testimony for the defense, and his allowance of non-relevant witnesses like Stormy Daniels.  He allowed her testimony, too, even though she knew nothing about the issue being tried, to spew her pornographic filth that could only come from the mouth of a porn star actress.

At the end of A Man For All Seasons Sir Thomas More asks, Richard Rich, who perjured himself against More, what was the chain of office he was wearing.  Judge Cromwell says he's been appointed Attorney General to Wales.  More's response?   

 

 “For Wales? Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!” 

 

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out for Merchan in the future, but I betting if Trump is re-elected, he's in big trouble, right along with the rest of the corrupt prosecutors and judges.   Make no mistake, this is a RICO case.  

As a side bar, what happened to Cromwell?  He was "a totally ruthless, unscrupulous, political operator" and became Chancellor rising to great political heights of power,  until the King became displeased with him, and had him beheaded on false charges, without trial.  The perverter of the rule of law met his doom via the perversion of the rule of law....." in his last personal address to the king..... "Most gracious Prince, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy."

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Manhattan Lawfare Cartoon Roundup

By Rich Kozlovich

 

 

 

 

Rebranding DEI

By Daniel Greenfield @ Sultan Knish Blog

DEI is so unpopular that it’s being renamed. Like a mafia informant hiding out from his old pals, some consultants are trying to rebrand DEI as IDE. There are only so many ways to move the same letters around to form an acronym that isn’t as lethal in connotation as IED or DIE.

And if IDE doesn’t work out, expect to see some EID offices around before long.

Conservative states have started cracking down on DEI offices at publicly funded colleges, and so the University of Iowa now calls its DEI office the “Division of Access, Opportunity and Diversity” while the University of Oklahoma renamed its racism stronghold the “Division of Access and Opportunity.’ At the University of Tennessee, it’s the “Division of Access and Engagement” while at Louisiana State University it was more awkwardly renamed to the “Division of Engagement, Civil Rights & Title IX”. Utah Valley University’s DEI office adopted the meaninglessly bland title of the “Office of Institutional Engagement and Effectiveness.”

Much like changing DEI to IDE, liberals playing mad libs with buzzwords like “access’”, “engagement” and “opportunity” will just mean more of the same under a different name.

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, and a racist organization is going to be just as racist even if you rename the KKK and announce you’re admitting black people (this actually happened under Obama) or call DEI the Division of Effective Engagements and Opportunistic Access. The problem isn’t with the three letter name and can’t be fixed by moving it around.

It’s hard to say whether colleges believing that changing DEI’s name will fix everything is an insulting or accurate assessment of elected officials who have the attention span of mayflies and won’t even notice or care that the same DEI system is still up and running by another name.

Corporations have also changed the buzzwords that they use. Now that DEI is unpopular and legally risky, the HR departments are emphasizing “inclusion” as a safer brand. Diversity has come to be associated with discrimination and equity with a Marxist ideology that mandates cutting some people down so that the preferred groups may be able to advance. Inclusion has the least negative connotation and that’s why IDE seems safer than DEI.

Put “inclusion” first and no one will be able to argue, sue or ban the new DEI brand.

But there isn’t an underlying issue with the words “diversity” or “equity”, the problem is that they represent an ideology whose idea of diversity, equity and inclusion is discriminatory and punitive. Inclusion that’s smuggling the same ideology in its back pocket is still just as bad.

The Left has a long history of rebranding to fight a backlash. It wasn’t all that long ago that “woke” was a hip leftist self-definition before it was adopted as a derogatory term by critics and now the only people still using it are either on FOX News or in Hollywood. Within a few years a popular term had vanished among wokes without them becoming any less ‘woke’.

“Liberal” went through the same phases of pride, mockery and shame more times than anyone can count. What was once a badge of pride turned into a Rush Limbaugh skit. “Progressives” had their day and the term “socialist” was only recently embraced again by the American Left.

At interviews about my book, ‘Domestic Enemies: The Founding Fathers’ Fight Against The Left’, I’m often asked if the lefties of George Washington’s day called themselves that. Even though the term “left” does date back to the French Revolution, the answer is no they did not.

Historically, leftists were often defined by the names that their opponents called them. And that’s still true today. But that’s not because leftists are hapless victims of a conservative culture. Rather the other way around. Leftists strive to appear to be an indistinguishable part of the culture. That’s why media stories routinely refer to “right-wing” or “conservative” groups, but rarely to leftist ones. A news story that mentions the David Horowitz Freedom Center will call us “right-wing extremists” while ProPublica or the Southern Poverty Law Center will be described as nonpartisan public policy and civil rights organizations. The Left wants to be invisible.

Standing out as a distinct group will only get in the way of its long march through America.

That’s why leftist rallies are always “grass roots” even when they’re all waving the same signs, reciting the same chants and all their organizations are funded by the Ford Foundation. FOX News is “right-wing”, but CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times are just “journalists”. Republican positions are identified as distinctly ideological, but Democrat positions are just sensible common sense reforms to ensure good government and make life better for all.

Internally there are a plethora of terms that the Left uses to identify and define its beliefs, but once they are smuggled outside, they are supposed to lose their ideological identification. So it was with DEI. Like “diversity”, it was turned into a generic term in workplaces. Once it was ideologically typed, it had to be discarded and replaced with even more generic terms.

And that is what’s happening now.

The Left is a series of secret societies. And it still operates through conspiratorial means. In America, only its most extreme elements are willing to identify themselves by name. Its movements define themselves primarily by issues rather than ideology. They protest for the ‘environment’ or against ‘hate’ and ‘war’, they are ‘community organizers’ fighting ‘poverty’’, but rarely are they identified as what they are, radical activists imposing a leftist ideology on us.

What does the Left fear? Like Rumpelstiltskin, someone saying its name out loud.

In George Orwell’s 1984, the socialist dictatorship imposed ‘Newspeak’: a manufactured language in which dissenting ideas cannot be expressed. The American Left uses the institutions under its control to perpetuate its own ‘Newspeak’ in which it does not exist.

The moment that people are given words like “wokeness” or “cancel culture” to crystalize what they have been experiencing, liberal comedians start talking about being afraid to make jokes, students complain about intimidation in class and workers start suing companies for discriminating against them on political grounds. Suddenly, people can talk about it.

And the leftist institutions pull up stakes, loudly declare that no such thing exists (and if it does, it’s a good thing) and begin changing all the labels exactly as they are now doing with DEI.

Naming the enemy may seem minor, but it is no small thing. Name it and you pull away its mask. Name it and millions of apolitical people have a name to put to their experiences. The people yelling at them, threatening them and scolding them are not just “crazies”.

They’re leftists.

Unlike Rumpelstiltskin, naming the Left alone won’t defeat it, but it tears away the disguise under which its activists rule over us and reveals that all of the people wrecking the country are not acting alone, they’re not irrational, incompetent or corrupt: they’re members of a movement.

And then they lie, they run for cover, they whine about “red-baiting” and are on the defensive. Name them, identify them and define them, and for the first time, they are on the ropes,

Name the Left. Destroy the Left.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation.

Democrats Scramble to Get Joe Biden on the Ohio Ballot

Bending one state’s election laws doesn’t bother the defenders of democracy.

By Graham J Noble | May 29, 2024 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Opinion, Politics

As precarious as Joe Biden’s chances of winning a second White House term in November seem now, there is one significant obstacle standing in his way. This particular roadblock, if not overcome, could prove decisive in his bid for re-election. The incumbent is not on the general election ballot in one of the most important battleground states, Ohio. If the Democratic Party fails to resolve the issue and Biden’s name doesn’t appear on the Ohio ballot, the Buckeye State’s 17 Electoral College votes – down from 18 in 2020 – are as good as gift-wrapped for Donald Trump.

Trump supporters need not get too excited, though, because it appears that Democrats have come up with the solution to the problem. Biden was set to officially receive his party’s presidential nomination at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which is scheduled to be held in Chicago, Aug. 19-22. Ohio law states that political parties must confirm their presidential nominees 90 days prior to the general election — meaning Democrats were on track to miss that Aug. 7 deadline.

The new plan, announced by Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison, is for Biden and Kamala Harris – presumably – to be nominated via a virtual roll call, which will be held before the convention – and, of course, before the Ohio ballot deadline.

Ohio Ballot Snafu Was Whose Fault?

Harrison, in a statement, laid the blame for the snafu squarely on Republicans. “Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree,” he said. “But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own.” It’s a somewhat disingenuous statement. The Republicans’ failure to act, as Harrison puts it, was, in fact, their refusal to alter or at least bend Ohio law to accommodate Biden.

However, that bill also contained a ban on foreign contributions to ballot initiatives, which was rejected by Democrats. Two other bills that would have created a permanent fix for the Ohio ballot deadline problem both failed to make it as far as a vote on the Ohio House floor.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose wasn’t having any of the Democrats’ blame-shifting. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, he wrote:

“As Ohio’s chief elections officer, I refuse to bend the rules to benefit a candidate. Critics allege that my decision to uphold the law will deprive Ohio voters of the opportunity to choose their president. Never mind that I didn’t create this problem, nor do I wish for that outcome.”

Perhaps the scheduling of the DNC convention to a date after the Ohio ballot deadline was a mere oversight. Against a backdrop of near-constant objections by Democrats to any measures that secure and protect the integrity of US elections, however, an outside observer could be forgiven for thinking that this is one more example of the contempt they appear to hold for state-level election laws.

 

Read More From Graham J Noble

Royal Family Hypocrisy and the 18th Theorem of Government

May 28, 2024 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

The United Kingdom has some terrible politicians (see here, here, here, here, and here).

It also has some embarrassing members of the royal family. Way back in 2010, for instance, I wrote about how then-Prince Charles had an unfortunate habit of lecturing others about carbon footprints even though he surely must be responsible for more emissions that 99 percent of the population.

But you don’t need royal blood to be a hypocrite. In previous columns, I’ve written about celebrities (domestic and foreign) and politicians (domestic and foreign) who hector ordinary people, yet live lavish carbon-emitting lifestyles.

Not to mention the hypocritical jet setters who go to Davos.

With all these people in mind, it’s time to unveil my 18th Theorem of Government.

I realize I just released my 17th Theorem of Government yesterday, but I couldn’t resist back-to-back Theorems because a reader sent me a story about another vapid member of the British royal family.

Here are some excerpts from a report by Craig Simpson in the U.K.-based Telegraph.

The Duchess of York berated the crowd at the Cannes Film Festival as she told them to care less about parties and more about the climate. The Duchess attended the elite party held on the Riviera, appearing on stage to auction off a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Footage shows the Duchess scolding the gathered crowd for not staying quiet during her address and berating them about climate change. …Celebrity guests in the audience included Heidi Klum, Kelly Rowland, Demi Moore and Cher… Struggling to be heard over the chattering crowd at a lavish villa in Cap d’Antibes near Cannes, she told the crowd…”What is the future and why are we not making our planet better for the youth of tomorrow? …I am so sorry that we have completely destroyed your planet.”

For what it’s worth, our left-leaning friends are also hypocrites about education and taxation.

P.S. There are plenty of right-leaning hypocrites, but I’m not overly upset when they proclaim traditional morality and then cheat on their spouses. That’s bad behavior, but it doesn’t affect me. I do get upset when they campaign in favor of small government and then vote for bigger government once they get elected.

So How Are Things Going In China?

 May 28, 2024 Francis Menton @ Manhattan Contrarian

How are things going in China? That is a question of great interest to everyone in the world, both inside China and out. Of all countries, China has either the largest or second-largest population (neck and neck with India at about 1.4 billion), and an economy that is a relatively close second to the United States in absolute production (although less than 20% as prosperous on the basis of per capita GDP). 

 

China’s economy has clearly grown rapidly since the 1980s, but there is conflicting information as to whether that growth is continuing, or perhaps stalling out. If China is continuing its rapid economic expansion under the increasingly authoritarian regime of Xi Jinping, its enhanced economic strength could pose a growing threat to its Asian neighbors and indeed to the rest of the world. But other information suggests that China’s economy is in grave distress, and that the country has entered into what could be a period of extended contraction and decline.

You would think that it would be easy figure out which scenario is the real one, but in fact it is quite difficult. I for one am betting that the decline has set in, but I do not claim to have the definitive answer. My bet is instead based on the perverse incentives created by a strict authoritarian/communist political and economic system, which I think lead inevitably to long-term decline, at least in relative terms compared to free economic systems. But at this point my view is only a bet. Arguing in favor of my side of the bet is that all the liberal media and economists dutifully chanted during the 1970s and 80s that the Soviet economy was rapidly expanding, and would soon overtake the United States. After the collapse in 1990, it all was revealed to be smoke and mirrors.

What does the evidence indicate as to China today? The problem is that getting real evidence from a dictatorship like Xi’s China is not so easy. Let’s consider a few reports.

From the New York Times, April 15, “China’s Economy, Propelled by Its Factories, Grew More Than Expected.” Excerpt:

The Chinese economy grew more than expected in the first three months of the year, new data shows, as China built more factories and exported huge amounts of goods to counter a severe real estate crisis and sluggish spending at home. To stimulate growth, China, the world’s second-largest economy, turned to a familiar tactic: investing heavily in its manufacturing sector, including a binge of new factories that have helped to propel sales around the world of solar panels, electric cars and other products.

Or again for the optimistic view, you could turn to the IMF, as dutifully recited by Reuters today, “IMF upgrades China's 2024, 2025 GDP growth forecasts after 'strong' Q1.”

China's economy is set to grow 5% this year, after a "strong" first quarter, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, upgrading its earlier forecast of 4.6% expansion though it expects slower growth in the years ahead.

Well, that is the official line. But does state-directed expansion of production of things like solar panels and electric cars sound like real economic growth to you? Or does it sound more like the Soviet Union building more and more steel mills, far beyond any possible productive use for the output, because steel capacity was the “prestige” economic activity of the day? At the time they counted all the steel production in the Soviet Union as a 100% addition to GDP, just as today they count all the electric cars and solar panels coming out of China as a 100% addition to GDP.

For a different perspective, try Lawrence Person’s BattleSwarm Blog from yesterday, “China Throws Money At Semiconductors Again.” Person is talking semiconductors this time, instead of EVs and solar panels, but the gist is the same: state-directed investment in something that sounds prestigious but will be very unlikely to earn a profit (which is the same thing as being very unlikely to be a real addition to productive economic activity). Person quotes a May 27 report from NewsBytes:

China has launched a massive $47 billion fund, the largest in its history, to bolster its semiconductor industry and establish a local supply chain. This fund, equivalent to 344 billion yuan, is the third phase initiated by the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund [also known as the National Integrated Circuit Industry investment Fund Company (ICF), or just “Big Fund.”-LP]. It’s worth noting that this amount is twice the total funds raised in the previous phases in 2014 and 2019.

But Person points out that the previous 2014 and 2019 rounds of Chinese state-directed investment in chip-making resulted in rapidly shuttered factories and funds that disappeared into the hands of government cronies:

Do you remember the last time I covered where the money went to in those previous phases? The money went to companies like Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Result? “Hongxin’s unfinished plant in the . . . city of Wuhan now stands abandoned. Its founders have vanished, despite owing contractors and investors billions of yuan.” Or maybe Tsinghua Unigroup. Result? The[y] arrested a whole lot of executives, a lot of money disappeared into various pockets, and “Tsinghua Unigroup abandoned its plan to build DRAM memory chip manufacturing plants in Chongqing and Chengdu in southwest China earlier this year.”

Here’s a previous piece from Person on April 25, “90% Of Chinese Factories To Close?” The piece focuses on a YouTube video from a source called China Observer — which, to be fair, is not a fan of the Xi/CCP regime. The video contains dozens of examples of Chinese businessmen reciting terrible business conditions for manufacturing in China today. Now, are 90% of China’s factories really facing imminent closure? I seriously doubt that. But are very large amounts of Chinese manufacturing being kept alive by the state in order to maintain the Potemkin appearance of a thriving economy? That is entirely possible. Also unsustainable.

Or consider the Epoch Times — again, clearly unfriendly to the Xi/CCP regime. But they have one recent piece after another about weak economic conditions in China, and particularly about state support for different sectors designed to keep up the appearance of stable economic activity when in fact there is vast overcapacity and inability to pay debt. For example, here is a May 27 piece on China’s latest “rescue plan” for its “failing real estate market”; here is one from May 24 on the closure of high-speed rail stations due to a “debt crisis”; and here is one from May 13 about China’s attempts to “hide negative foreign investor sentiment.” There are many more in a similar vein.

And did I mention that China has a frighteningly low birth rate and is facing a rapidly declining population for the rest of this century?

Just because China faces a period of serious decline does not mean that it will not be a threat to its neighbors and the world. However, if the world just waits them out, the seriousness of the threat looks likely to lessen over time.