A Penny saved

Worth reading: "Daniel Penny is not guilty but DA Bragg has done lasting damage", by Gregg Jarrett, Fox News, 9/12/24. Main point: "With its "not guilty" verdict on Monday, a Manhattan jury unanimously sent a resounding message to District Attorney Alvin Bragg that he wrongfully prosecuted a good Samaritan. A man who courageously came to the aid of subway passengers who were threatened with imminent death."

Working on it + Greg Gutfeld VIDEO

Ed. here. Apologies from Walt and myself for not having posted anything significant since the Day of Reckoning. We are tired, and unused to writing about things other than American politics. On the whys and wherefores of the Great MAGA Victory, we present this excellent one-sentence summary by our old friend Victor Davis Hanson.

We are trying hard to get back into writing mode. Walt is working on his book: Wokeism: Why Democrats Lost the Election. I am working on mine: Common Sense: Why Republicans Won the Election. We'll be talkin' at ya again soon.

While you're waiting, here's the latest from Greg Gutfeld. I know you'll like it.

And before we forget... Memo to Alvin Bragg and Jack Smith: Welcome to Dumpsville! Population: You.

Judge Judy says hush money show trial should haver have happened

Agent 3, who reckons that "Judge Judy" Sheindlin must have gone to law school about the same time as he did, saw her on CNN's "Who's Talking With Chris Wallace" a couple of hours ago. "It's too bad [he writes] that President Trump wasn't tried by America's favourite judge, rather than Judge Doom Merchan."

Why does 3 say that? Because Judge Judy thinks that the hush money show trial should never have happened.

"You gotta twist yourself into a pretzel," the learned judge told Mr Wallace, "to figure out what the crime was. [D.A. Alvin] Bragg doesn’t like him. New York City didn’t like him for a while. 

[But] I would be happier, as someone who owns property in Manhattan, if the district attorney of New York County would take care of criminals who were making it impossible for citizens to walk in the streets and use the subway, to use his efforts to keep those people off the street, than to spend $5 million or $10 million of taxpayers’ money trying Donald Trump on this nonsense."

It's not that Judge Judy is a big fan of President Trump. She campaigned for Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries earlier this year. In an op-ed written at that time, she said, "I have carefully stayed away from politics for 50 years, except to vote. But times have changed in our country, and I believe the moment has come for me to step out from behind the curtain. I want to speak honestly and from the heart — regardless of the consequences."

Speaking from the heart (we presume) about D.A. Braggart, the judge told Mr Wallace "I, as a taxpayer in this country, resent using the system for your own personal self-aggrandizement."

Agent 3 supposes that Judge Judy's opinion of the first anti-Trump show trial won't be heard officially during the appeals now working their way through the legal system [Is dis a system? Mr Natural], but the judges of appeal will certainly have heard about what she said. "The mills of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine."

What did we expect?

With regard to the hush money show trial, Walt can only say that Act II is finally over. As any opera or drama lover knows, Act II is when things grow darkest for the good guys. Act III is when there's a big turnaround, the cavalry arrives, and the good triumph, as is Only Right And Just.

A thought from Ed. Did you ever notice that "Trump" is only two letters short of "triumph"? Just sayin'...

In the first two acts, the Dumbocrats' DEI appointee, Alvin Braggart, won bigly. He got the indictments, kept President Trump off the campaign trail for weeks, and finally got convictions on all 34 counts. With Judge Merchan of Death, a former prosecutor and kangaroo trainer in charge of things, it couldn't be otherwise. He took over the persecution from Day One, leaving the D.A.s with nothing to do but nod and applaud.

Just to make sure, though, the judge did two things at the end of the trial which largely forced the jury to find for the State state's case. First, he failed to sequester the jury. Maybe during the trial that wasn't necessary, but when the jury began its deliberations theyshould have been kept incommunicado, thus insulated from the anti-Trump rants of interested parties and the lickspittle media. 

Then, yesterday, the highly conflicted judge did something unheard of. Normally, when a judge has something to say to a jury, he says it in open court, with all parties and their counsel present, to ensure transparency and fairness. Yesterday, around 1600 EDT, the jury, having deliberated (???) for nearly 11 hours, wanted to call it quits for the day. 

Normally -- and I grant you this show trial has been anything but normal -- the presiding judge would call the jury back into the courtroom to admonish them not to discuss the case with anyone (haha) and send them home. Or he might just send the bailiff to the jury room to let them go. But is that what happened?

Noooo.... At about 1620, Judge Doom, having learned that the jury had not reached a verdict, decided to go into the jury room himself to have a little talk with the seven unbiased men and five unbiased women (haha) who were supposed to decide Mr Trump's fate. Sort of like the puppet-master appearing from behind the curtain to make sure the strings were fastened correctly.

And sure enough, a few minutes later the court was told that the jury had reached a decision after all. A unanimous decision, no-one dissenting. Guilty. On all 34 counts. Quelle surprise!

The decision will be appealed, of course. The Merchan of Death to Trump committed so many reversible errors that the verdict cannot possibly stand. Remember what happend in Episodes IV, V and VI of Star Wars? Let's go have a drink (or three) and make ourselves comfortable for Act III. It ain't over until Lizzo sings!

You'll see a lot of these memes in the coming days. We got this one from Blazing Cat Fur. Follow the link to read "Yes, It Was Rigged", Rich Lowry, Editor-in-Chief of the National Review, 30/5/24. Pass it on to all the anti-Trumpers you know.

The hush money show trial - a possible "middle way"

At tne end of my earlier post (scroll down) I predicted that NY persecutor Alvin Braggart would not succeed in getting convictions on the 34 felony charges brought against President Trump, in an effort to keep him from winning the next presidential election. Our legal beagle says there's a reasonable doubt that any "crimes" were covered up, there being nothing wrong [especially in New York! Ed.] with two consenting adults having a casual roll in the hay.

Former New York state judge Ethan Greenberg, writing in the Wall Street Journal, opines that "it’s entirely conceivable that the jury could conclude that Mr Trump deliberately falsified business records but did so merely to avoid public embarrassment and marital trouble, rather than to cover up another crime." 

That, the learned judge explains, could make the former president guilty of misdemeanor charges, rather than the felony charges he now faces. The judge wrote that Mr Trump's lawyers could "gamble" by requesting the judge instruct the jury to "consider 34 misdemeanor counts of falsifying business records in the second degree" in what is known as a "lesser included offense," or "LIO".

Calling the LIO a "hedge," Judge Greenberg added, "With each of the 34 felony counts carrying a sentence of up to four years, Mr Trump theoretically could get what amounts to a life sentence." But, he added, "it would be less risky to ask the jury to consider misdemeanor charges, which because of New York merger rules would at most sentence the former president to two years in jail."

If Judge Merchan instructs the jury to consider only the felony charges and it concludes that Mr Trump falsified business records but lacked the intent to cover up another crime then the former president will be acquitted. But either the prosecution or the defence can ask the jury to alternatively consider misdemeanor charges, or the judge can put those charges to the jury on his own hook. As things stand now, only the felony charges are in play. Stay tuned.

Now that Trump's been indicted...

One of the reasons that Walt no longer spends much time or effort on WWW is that, when it comes to American politics, nobody can equal, let alone outdo, the trenchant satire of the good folks at the Babylon Bee. Click here to read their take on the latest round of the witch hunt.

Millions of dollars (literally) are flowing into the defence defense fund, much of it from first-time donors. And President Trump's poll numbers are way ahead of Governor DeSantis'. Well done, Alvin Braggart!

Further reading: Post-Indictment Poll: More Voters in Both Primary, General Election Say They’re Likelier to Vote for Trump, Breitbart News, 1/4/23.

Francis to miss Palm Sunday Mass?

The following story appeared on Breitbart News this morning. Walt has made a minor edit. 

Argentinian Cardinal Leonardo Sandri will substitute Pope Francis in the celebration of Palm Sunday Mass in Saint Peter’s Square due to the pontiff’s ill health, the Vatican has announced.

Sandri, the former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Eastern Churches, revealed that he had been informed last Monday that he would celebrate Palm Sunday Mass, which kicks off the Holy Week celebrations that will culminate with Easter Sunday. "Yes, of course, I can confirm that I will celebrate the Mass of the Palms on Sunday," Sandri said. "I was warned already last Monday by the Master of Papal Ceremonies that the Holy Week liturgies would each be celebrated by a cardinal, and they asked me for Palm Sunday." 

The Vatican reportedly still hopes [nothing was said about praying] that Pope Francis will be well enough to preside over the Easter Mass, which will be officiated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, and that the pope will be able to impart the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the central loggia of the Basilica. 

In other news... Soros-backed New York D.A. Alvin J. Bragg, who bragged (geddit?) that he would save America from a second Trump presidency, has persuaded a grand jury of 23 fair-minded people to indict President Trump on several charges, the exact nature of which will be revealed when (and if) The Donald surrenders and is arraigned in a New York court, where he is assured of a fair trial. (Geddit?)

The voluntary surrender will likely happen soon. The trial... not so soon. President Trump says this will not affect his campaign for re-election in the slightest, and I belikeve him.