RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/america/2024/03/shredding-the-law-to-get-donald-trump/

Nothing has shocked me as much recently as the result of New York Attorney-General Letitia James’ prosecution of Donald Trump, following closely, as it did, on the absurd award of $83 million in damages for defamation to memory-challenged alleged sexual assault victim, E. Jean Carroll. 

If you’re not reporting for  the mainstream media, you know this is a politically motivated hit-job. In other words, an attack on the very essence of American democracy.  You know, the ultimate sin of which Trump stands accused.  The one for which he must be defeated later this year. James told us exactly that when she campaigned for election on a platform of getting Trump:

I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president,” James said in a video during the campaign. “I believe that this president is incompetent. I believe that this president is ill-equipped to serve in the highest office of this land. And I believe that he is an embarrassment to all that we stand for.” She went on to say Trump should be indicted on criminal charges and charged with obstruction of justice.

So, even before she had any case, she was determined to pursue him, not because of any crime she may have suspected he committed but because in her eyes he was both an illegitimate president and incompetent. But, no doubt under the influence of Trump Derangement Syndrome, James would have been confident a fishing expedition would yield some dirt.  

There are many troubling aspects to this case.  The first is the staggering amount of the fine – US464 million.  And the second is that this matter was prosecuted as a civil fraud case.

New York, which reputedly has some of the toughest fraud legislation in the country, recognises two types of fraud – civil and criminal.  Here, from the website of East Coast Laws, is a short summary:

Fraud can be both a civil and criminal offense in New York. Civil fraud involves a breach of contract or a violation of a legal duty, resulting in harm to another party. The victim of civil fraud can sue the perpetrator and seek damages in court. Criminal fraud, on the other hand, involves intentionally deceiving someone for personal gain, which is a violation of the law. Criminal fraud is prosecuted by the government, and the penalties can include fines, imprisonment, and other criminal sanctions.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/03/the-shameful-success-of-letitia-james/

Her lawfare has worked brilliantly.

While other prongs of the lawfare campaign against Donald Trump are flailing or encountering timing issues, Letitia James has delivered.

The New York attorney general sought to use the power of the state to target Donald Trump, smash his business, and personally embarrass him.

So far, it’s promises made, promises kept.

While Fani Willis has disgraced herself and is hanging on by her fingernails, Jack Smith is beset by various delays that may keep him from achieving his goal of politically damaging trials before the election, and Alvin Bragg is stuck with a dog of a case, James has gone from strength to strength, gloating all the while.

All it takes, it turns out, to achieve lawfare success is a willingness to make abusive use of a broadly written statute, a pliant judge, and some moxie and determination.

Take note, America — this is how it’s done.

Even if her case somehow goes away tomorrow (and it won’t), she still will have gotten a fraud judgment against Trump and forced him to admit that he’s not liquid enough to produce the more than $450 million bond he needs to prevent her from beginning to collect the judgment. There’s speculation that Trump might resort to declaring Chapter 11 or simply let James take Trump Tower, both of which would be humiliations (and don’t seem likely).

There’s no doubt that in financial terms in this case, the walls really are closing in.

This is a great success for James and a great shame for our system. She has proven that it’s possible to stretch the law to make a dubious case against a political enemy in a major jurisdiction of the United States and impose a punishment with no connection to the underlying offense but with ruinous personal consequences.

We should all hope that this model is never repeated, whether the intended victim is a Republican or a Democrat, someone running for president or for alderman.

https://amgreatness.com/2024/03/22/speaker-johnson-counters-dem-attacks-against-netanyahu-by-inviting-him-to-address-congress/

Kudos to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who yesterday extended an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the U.S. House of Representatives. This was an important and much-needed gesture to reassure the Israeli people that the vast majority of Americans stand with Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorists and do not agree with the surge in hostility toward the Israeli government by the Biden administration and some Congressional Democrats.

Johnson’s invitation was in response to the backlash over shocking comments made last week by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, describing Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and calling for new elections in Israel. Schumer also condemned how the Netanyahu government has conducted the war against Hamas and for its opposition to a two-state solution peace plan, which Schumer said will make Israel a “pariah.”

Schumer’s comments were condemned by Republicans and many Jewish groups. His criticism was so over the top that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s chief political rival, criticized Schumer for meddling in Israeli politics when he said, “Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention in the matter is incorrect and unacceptable.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu, who usually avoids criticizing U.S. officials, lambasted Schumer in an April 17 CNN interview:

“It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something that Israel, the Israeli public, does on its own, and we’re not a banana republic.”

“The majority of Israelis support the policies of my government. It’s not a fringe government. It represents the policies supported by the majority of the people. If Senator Schumer opposes these policies, he’s not opposing me. He’s opposing the people of Israel.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/19/pro-israel-performer-matisyahu-concerts-canceled/?

There is no one quite like Matisyahu. The international reggae-hip-hop-rock artist burst on the scene 20 years ago, rapping his hit single “King Without a Crown,” while sporting the beard, sidelocks and black coat of Hasidic Judaism. NBC picked “One Day,” his stirring antiwar anthem, as theme music for its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage.

Matisyahu left Hasidism, but his music still reflects his strong Jewish identity, religiosity and affinity for Israel. Since Hamas’s massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, the singer has spoken out against rising antisemitism and in support of Israel. He has draped himself in an Israeli flag at concerts and placed an empty chair onstage to represent Israeli hostages in Gaza. He has called for Hamas to be “destroyed.” He has visited Israeli troops and sent a supportive video message to their families.

For all of that, he is paying a price: When Matisyahu arrived in Chicago earlier this month, he learned his March 8 show at the 1,400-capacity House of Blues — owned by Live Nation — would be canceled. The reason: the potential for unruly protests against him outside the venue.

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network, one of several groups calling for demonstrations against Matisyahu, cried victory: “Through our relentless pressure on [the House of Blues and] Live Nation, the concert of the racist, zionist Matisyahu was canceled!” the group said in a statement on X. “Chicago has made it clear that it stands with Palestine and supporters of the #GazaGenocide are not welcome here!”

https://www.catholicleague.org/cant-erase-our-judeo-christian-past/

Militant secularists would like to erase our religious heritage, but they are clearly in over their heads. Our nation’s Capitol abounds with Judeo-Christian iconography, so much so that it overwhelms attempts to cancel it.

The dome of the U.S. Capitol was inspired by the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, as well as St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The Supreme Court building is modeled after a Roman temple.
St. Joseph’s church on Capitol Hill was built in 1868.
The Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress features The Court of Neptune Fountain; it resembles a grotto.
The west end of the Mall—from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial—has a statue of Lincoln surrounded by comments he made about his respect for God. At the far end of the Mall, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the Capitol building have inscriptions honoring our Judaic heritage.
Within the Capitol there are statues of Catholic priests and nuns and medallions of Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory IX.
On the first floor of the Main Reading Room in the Library of Congress there is a statue of St. Paul.
In the Library there is a quote from the Book of Proverbs and a reference to God from Shakespeare.
There is a chapel in the U.S. Capitol. Moreover, prayer meetings for Senators and Congressmen are commonplace throughout.
Crucifixes abound in the Capitol.
On the front doors of the Capitol are pictures of Franciscans with rosaries, symbolizing the history of Columbus.
In the Rotunda, there is a painting of Hernando De Soto and his armies standing on the banks of the river rejoicing, as well as a depiction of priests planting a cross.

https://victorhanson.com/when-and-how-did-we-get-here-gradually-then-suddenly-part-four/

The final catalyst that led to our collective implosion was the election year 2020 and the accelerating Trump Derangement Syndrome. As the cities burned, unbelievable madness followed in efforts to ensure the incumbent president would not be reelected.

Suddenly, congressional officials, mayors, and governors all refused to keep the peace by requesting federal troops to stop the summer riots. The more the cities went up in flames, the more the blue states blamed Trump. It was almost as if they would fault Trump for the ongoing violence and blame him even more if he sent in the military to quell it.

Had they forgotten the Rodney King LA riots of 1992, when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Colin Powell, called up President George H. W. Bush to encourage him to deploy the 5,000 Marines then ready to go into South Central and Watts to quell the violence? And so, Bush did just that and stopped the mass looting and rioting.

No matter. The nation was now a Luche Libre of open anti-Trump craziness. Mark Zuckerberg poured in a historic $419 million to absorb the work of the registrars in key election precincts. Social media suppressed news unfavorable to Biden.

Street riots and protests were modulated to aid the Biden campaign. Liberal Time essayist Molly Ball described the “conspiracy”:

There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs. Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans. The pact was formalized in a terse, little-noticed joint statement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO published on Election Day. Both sides would come to see it as a sort of implicit bargain–inspired by the summer’s massive, sometimes destructive racial-justice protests–in which the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.

https://twitter.com/vdhanson/status/1770445530646421937?t=-_2GpG8wfUWSVFbOLEmVNQ

From Russian Collusion to “Bloodbath”—A Decade of Toxic Hysteria Ever since late June 2015—following Donald Trump’s announcement that he was running for president, and his voicing of controversial agendas (on tariffs, China, illegal immigration, foreign policy, NATO, etc.)—leftwing toxic hysteria has been the norm.

In the last ten years, we’ve witnessed the Russian collusion hoax, calls from military officers and analysts for extra-legal interventions and coups, the Alfa ping hoax, the drink bleach hoax, the “suckers” D-Day hoax, the celebrities’ contest about the best way to decapitate, stab, blow up, shoot, or incinerate Trump, the 2016 leftwing postelection effort to turn state electors into “faithless” apostates to elect Hillary, the nutty Mark Milley call to his Chinese counterpart, the Antifa/BLM riotous months of 2020 and effort to storm the White House grounds, the two first-term impeachments, the laptop “Russian disinformation” hoax, the pee accusation, the “51 intelligence authorities” ruse, the FBI hiring of Twitter censors to suppress unwanted news, the Senate trial of a private citizen, the January 6 “insurrection” where “five police officers were killed” lie, the farcical two Republican members of the Jan 6 committee, the attempt to remove Trump from state ballots, the insane E. Jean Carroll suit, the Letitia James “find me the man, and I’ll find you the crime” writ, the monstrous $355 million fine growing daily to $450, the Alvin Bragg bootstrapping of an inert federal suit, the Fani Willis/Nathan Wade circus, the Jack Smith antithesis to Robert Hur’s twin investigation, the effort to bankrupt the Republican nominee, and of course the constant calls to pack the court (when the Left lost the majority), to end the filibuster (when Democrats control the Senate), to add two new states and four new senators (provided they are DC and Puerto Rico) and to end the Electoral College (once the Left lost the surety of the reliable blue wall).

What is the effect of all this decade-long civil strife on the 2024 voter?

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-smug-safe-comedy-of-jimmy-kimmel/

I’m no fan of late night comedy or even comedians for that matter, although years ago I did find something in George Carlin’s act to admire.

Carlin, though born into an Irish Catholic family, mocked religious belief as a stand-up comedian and claimed that he didn’t believe in God.

Despite this personal failing, Carlin, who died in 2008 — way before woke comedians became afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome — was never predictable as a comedian.

He never had much to say about Donald Trump, either, aside from his 1998 comment that he thought the man was a “rat” (he compared him to hotel mogul Leona Helmsley), yet at the same time Carlin insisted that Trump made “his life more interesting.”

Hilarious and unpredictable comedians are now a rare breed, thanks mainly to the spread of wokeness in comedy.

In comedy clubs throughout the country, you can no longer make jokes about gay people, trans people, feminists, the Asian predilection for gambling and casinos, mentally retarded or developmentally disabled people, blacks or handicapped people without that coming across as hate speech — although a talented comedian should be able to find something funny in all the aforementioned groups (and their behaviors) without that coming across as an incitement to organize a lynch mob.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-right-take-audio-michael-shellenberger-on-living-dangerously/

In this short audio clip from a recent episode of the Freedom Center’s podcast The Right Take, host Mark Tapson asks independent journalist Michael Shellenberger about the personal danger of breaking stories that expose Big Tech censorship, CIA malfeasance, and transgender medical malpractice.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-civilizational-masochism-of-the-west/

Last week, Joe Biden issued a schoolmarmish warning to Israel, which he has been browbeating for months to placate his party’s anti-Israel left and Muslim American voters in Michigan, a critical swing state. Speaking to the press, he threatened, “There’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan – if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.”

This solicitude for Muslims’ sensitivity about their faith bespeaks the West’s long bad habit of caring more about Islam––the faith that conquered and occupied, and to this day still occupies, much of the Christian Roman and Byzantine empires––than they do about their own civilization’s foundational religion, whose adherents today are being persecuted and massacred in Islamic lands.

This cultural tic does not demonstrate, as many “citizen of the world” globalists believe, a superior morality based on both an uncritical tolerance for the exotic “other,” and a haughty disdain for alleged parochial American nationalism and jingoist patriotism. Rather, it signals to the world a civilizational failure of nerve so widespread and intense that it has become a form of geopolitical masochism, manifested in conspicuous displays of cringing apologetics and shameful guilt for the West’s alleged historical sins.

For example, Biden’s foreign policy crew, products of this ruling class sensibility, seem to think that Muslims view Ramadan the way Christians do Easter, and so will be deeply offended by Israel besmirching this sacred time by continuing to fight. Actually, as Bassam Tawil writes, “‘In the holy month of Ramadan,’ according to fatwa 1566/10013/L=1431, ‘the reward of virtues is increased.’” And martyrdom while waging jihad against infidels is a theological virtue par excellence.