RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/alvin_bragg_s_hush_money_case_no_due_process_and_a_judge_whose_objectivity_is_highly_suspect.html

From the second it was filed, it was clear that Alvin Bragg’s indictment against Donald Trump for the payments he made to Stormy Daniels was a due process disaster. The complaint alleges legal conduct and then concludes that this legal conduct constituted illegal action of an undisclosed nature. The case should have been tossed instantly. But now that we know that the judge trying the case has deep Democrat ties and is trying to prevent Trump from exposing those ties, it’s becoming clear why it’s proceeding to trial.

Last year, John Hinderaker, who is no Trump fan, eviscerated Bragg’s indictment:

You can read Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Donald Trump and a supporting statement of facts here. The indictment is what we expected. It all has to do with paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels for a non-disclosure agreement, which was legal. The payment was made by “Lawyer A,” Michael Cohen. Trump reimbursed Cohen using Trump’s own money, which was legal. The “34 counts” arise out of the fact that by agreement, Cohen got reimbursed by sending monthly invoices to Trump or his revocable trust. So for each monthly bill from Cohen, we get three counts of falsifying documents: one for the invoice, one for the ledger entry, and one for the check stub. Pathetic.

The indictment alleges that all of this was done “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof,” but it never says what that other crime was. The second crime is mandatory because without it, falsifying a business record under New York law is a misdemeanor on which the statute of limitation has run. Presumably the second crime is alleged to be a campaign finance violation. But the payment to Daniels did not violate the campaign finance laws.

What this all boils down to is that, despite 34 counts against him, Trump has no idea what crime he is alleged to have committed.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/protecting-squatters/

What if you come home and find strangers living in your house?

I assumed you order the squatters out, and if they resist, call the police, and they will kick them out.

Wrong.

Pro-tenant laws passed by anti-capitalist politicians now protect squatters. If a squatter just lies about having a lease, the police won’t intervene.

“It’s a civil matter,” they’ll say. “Sort it out in court.”

Great. Court might cost $20,000. Or more. And courts are so slow, eviction might take years.

In my state, New York, homeowners can’t even shut of utilities to try to get the squatter out. That’s illegal. Worse, once a squatter has been there 30 days, they are legally considered a tenant.

This month, NYC police arrested a homeowner for “unlawful eviction” after she changed locks, trying to get rid a squatter.

“Squatter rights,” also known as “adverse possession” laws, now exist in all 50 states. As a result, evicting a squatter legally is so expensive and cumbersome that some people simply walk away from their homes!

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/04/the-injustice-of-the-trump-gag-order/

Biden’s provocative speech is allowed because he didn’t direct anyone to do anything; Trump’s is suppressed even though he didn’t direct anyone to do anything.

New York state judge Juan Merchan has expanded the gag order he slapped on former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, to include prohibiting Trump from speaking about his daughter, Loren Merchan, a Democratic political operative.

Merchan doesn’t contend that Trump threatened his daughter. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, the elected progressive Democrat who sought the gag order and later asked for it to be ratcheted up, has not accused Trump of incitement, much less sought to arrest and charge him for such an offense. How could he? There is no evidence that Trump called for violence or even verbal attacks against Merchan’s daughter.

Instead, Merchan rationalizes that Trump is a powerful figure whose followers construe his statements as directives to resort to intimidation and, potentially, violence — even if the statements do not literally say any such thing. Ergo, Trump must be silenced as if he is guilty of coercion.

According to Merchan, Trump must be treated differently because he’s like a government, not an ordinary defendant: “The conventional ‘David vs. Goliath’ roles are no longer in play as demonstrated by the singular power [Trump’s] words have on countless others.”

But wait, isn’t Trump just using his “bully pulpit”?

After all, only two weeks ago, the Biden administration told the Supreme Court that when the government uses its “bully pulpit” — when it uses the singular power of its words to persuade others — it is not to be blamed for the abusive action of others as long as it hasn’t specifically directed them to take any such action.

https://amgreatness.com/2024/04/02/on-things-collapsing/

The recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was profoundly dramatic. It struck a chord because something similar happened in Tampa in 1980. Ships are big and always getting bigger. And this bridge was a bit older and not made with today’s state-of-the-art design and technology.

How did it happen? Was it a freak accident? The poisoned fruit of affirmative action? Sabotage or terrorism? I have no idea, and we may not know for a while.

I do know that if the truth threatens some chestnut of politically correct conventional wisdom, it will be hidden in a footnote, if it is allowed to be released at all. Planes have crashed and ships have crashed into other ships, and the possible influence of affirmative action and lower standards was never really explored in any depth, even though it appeared to be a contributing factor. The powers-that-be seem to think we can take people with one or more standard deviations lower general intelligence and obtain the same result in technically demanding fields like aviation, seamanship, medicine, and engineering.

In Baltimore, the captain or pilot apparently sounded the alarm, permitting the police to save many lives by closing off the bridge to traffic. This was the good news part of the story. But I am more concerned about the timeline for the bridge’s replacement. There are reports that it will take at least ten years.

The original was built in five.

Sclerotic Nation

We went from biplanes to jet fighters in 20 years. Then we went from jet fighters to men in space in another 20. But repeating yesteryear’s technological achievements like building skyscrapers, dams, bridges, railroads, and the like is apparently going to take longer and cost more than it did in years, if it is even able to be repeated.

https://nypost.com/2024/03/31/us-news/protesters-calling-for-cease-fire-ambush-easter-vigil-at-st-patricks-cathedral-in-nyc/

Nothing’s sacred to these guys. 

A trio of attention-seeking protesters — one of whom previously glued his feet to the stands at the US Open as part of a climate-change stunt — were cuffed and hauled out of St. Patrick’s Cathedral after disrupting Easter Mass with shouts of “Free Palestine” on Saturday night, cops say.

Police were called to the iconic Midtown cathedral for complaints about a “disorderly group” just before 9 p.m. The protesters were quickly taken out of the service.

Matthew Menzies, 31, John Rozendaal, 63, and Gregory Schwedock, 35, were taken into custody and charged with disruption of religious service, police told The Post.

While being escorted out, one yelled “Free Palestine,” a video shared to X shows. 

Schwedock, of the Upper East Side, was arrested in September after disrupting the US Open women’s semifinal with activists who used glue to prevent security from ejecting them from Arthur Ashe Stadium after they held up a sign decrying fossil fuels. Their stunt stalled the match for nearly 50 minutes. 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/04/01/with-friends-like-obrador/

In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—who prefers to be known as AMLO for short—issued to the Biden administration blackmail demands that sounded more like existential threats.

AMLO warned the U.S. that the current influx of some 10 million illegal aliens through the southern border will most certainly continue—unless America agrees to his ultimatums.

One, Obrador says the U.S. must now send $20 billion in de facto bribery payments to Latin American nations, many of them corrupt and dysfunctional. Apparently, he thinks it is America’s fault that millions of Latin Americans are fleeing these failed states northward, not the inept and corrupt governments that create such misery.

Two, AMLO demands amnesty for vast numbers of Mexican illegal aliens currently unlawfully residing inside the U.S. He apparently also thinks there is no such thing as U.S. immigration law. Or, if there is, such statutes do not apply to citizens of Mexico. Can we ask Mr. Obrador to simply grant permanent visa-free, no-questions-asked residence to any American living in a vacation complex in Mexico?

Three, he also requires America to lift sanctions against anti-American Venezuela. That communist government currently is part of the new China/Russia/Iran strategic axis. It is sending thousands of its citizens northward to enter the U.S. illegally.

Many of them are criminals, as the recent murder of Laken Riley by a felonious Venezuelan illegal alien attests. Dictator Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuelan regime recently threatened to invade and annex oil-rich Guyana, its smaller neighbor to the east. Maduro’s “security forces” have routinely murdered hundreds of political opponents. This rogue state is apparently Mexico’s newest ally.

Four, AMLO further requires the U.S. to stop its long embargo of communist Castroite-controlled Cuba, a decades-long avowed enemy of the U.S.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/03/the_season_of_life.html

As the Christian world celebrates Resurrection Sunday, the Northern Hemisphere is springing with new life.  Buds on trees are visible, and baby animals are moving around for the first time.  It is a season of rejuvenation.  These sights are pleasing reminders that physical death is insignificant next to the prospect of everlasting spiritual life.

Farmers are counting down the days until the final frost and the opportunity to plant new crops in warming soil.  Growing food teaches that, as in our individual lives, timing is often critical.  If you plant corn too early, seedlings will die; if you plant too late, an early autumn frost can kill the crop.  Sweet corn needs both a lot of sun and sufficient moisture.  Heavy rains can drown young plants before they have time to strengthen their roots.  When stalks are growing tall in harsh summer heat, though, a good rain can make the difference between a bountiful harvest and a desiccated field.  A gentle breeze is helpful for pollination; strong winds, however, might break stalks in half.  Seeds should be sown close to each other but never too close — or you’ll end up with tiny ears!  Sweet corn plants grow well together, but they also need their space to produce delicious, milky kernels.

Think about those lessons in the context of human life.  Sometimes we need temperate weather to survive; at other times, we need intense heat, wind, or rain to grow as individuals.  We must learn to endure harsh conditions.  Sometimes we must even seek out dangerous storms.  If a young child is made to suffer too early or for too long, the damage can cut short an otherwise healthy life.  If a young adult suffers too little, however, then he may never grow strong enough or wise enough to truly live.  To find joy, we must experience disappointment.  To be whole, we need other people.  To be our best, though, we need the space to become the people we are meant to be.  As on a farm, sometimes violent storms weaken us; sometimes they make us remarkably resilient.  Such is life.  Timing is everything.  

https://amgreatness.com/2024/03/31/easter-reflections-george-washingtons-farewell-address-in-todays-america/

Sitting down the day before Easter, I thought I might say something about this most awful (in the old sense) holiday in the Christian calendar.  But then Joseph R. Biden, the President of the United States, issued an official proclamation denominating March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility. Farewell Easter! You just got superseded by the latest freak show in the great Democratic carnival of perversity. 

I can’t compete with Transgender Day of Visibility.  Nor can I compete with “Lizzo,” the kinky, obese black singer who performed for Joe Biden’s “grassroots” fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall last week.  That event, which featured three presidents—Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden—pulled in some $26 million for Biden’s 2024 presidential coffers. Tickets to the event topped out at $500,000 a pop. How’s that for a “grassroots” extravaganza?  That same day, Donald Trump went to the wake for Jonathan Diller, the New York City cop who was gunned down in cold blood by Guy Rivera, a black ex-con who had 21 prior arrests. He also made a donation to a charitable organization to pay off the house mortgage for Diller’s widow. 

I feel stymied by these contrasts, so I thought I would reprise, with some updates, a column featuring George Washington that I wrote for a prior Easter. 

I recently chanced across a photograph of the lower Manhattan skyline at night from Good Friday in April 1956. Three skyscrapers dominating the space feature certain windows illuminated to form gigantic crosses to commemorate that most solemn of Christian holidays. The year 1956 was not that long ago. But how much has changed in those 60-odd years! Can you imagine such a public display of Christian affirmation in New York today? Nor can I.

https://amgreatness.com/2024/03/29/remembering-a-great-senator-who-put-his-nation-ahead-of-politics/

I was greatly saddened this week when I heard the news that former Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman had passed away due to complications from a fall. Although I disagreed with him on some domestic political issues, there was no daylight between us on national security.

Senator Lieberman was a patriotic American and a good family man. He was also a man of principle who always put protecting the security of the United States and standing firmly with the State of Israel ahead of partisan politics. Senator Lieberman also worked closely with many Republican senators, especially the late John McCain and Lindsey Graham, on national security matters.

As much as we want to keep politics out of commemorations of the senator’s life and accomplishments, it is impossible to avoid drawing comparisons between him and leading Democratic officeholders of today who have not followed in his footsteps of putting U.S. national security ahead of U.S. politics.

The most dramatic example of this occurred earlier this month, when, in a speech from the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and called for new elections in Israel. Schumer also echoed criticism by the Biden Administration on 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.”

There was a time when such over-the-top criticism of a U.S. ally and overt meddling in the politics of a friendly state would attract strong bipartisan criticism. Unfortunately, we live in a different era when Democratic politicians march in lockstep and will do anything to hold onto power. In the case of President Biden and Senator Schumer, this means ignoring America’s historic and crucial friendship with Israel to throw it and Prime Minister Netanyahu under the bus because the Israel-Hamas War is so unpopular with the Democratic Party’s progressive wing that it is hurting Biden’s reelection chances.

So it wasn’t a surprise that the only major Democrat to speak out against Schumer’s shocking criticism of Netanyahu was Senator Lieberman, who wrote a scathing op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on March 20 titled “Schumer Has Crossed a Red Line over Israel.” In his op-ed, Lieberman said, “while Mr. Schumer’s statement undoubtedly pleased American critics of Israel, for the Israelis it was meaningless, gratuitous, and offensive.” Lieberman also lamented that Democrats used to be the more pro-Israel party, but now Republicans are. A partisan divide, he said, is not good for Israel, which needs broad bipartisan support from the United States, and also undermines America’s need for strong alliances.