4th Trump Indictment is as Legally Weak and Contrived as the First 3

 ALEXANDER: (thehayride.com)

That is why a legally weak and politically motivated indictment is poisonous to the core of a functioning democracy, not least because the mere bringing of the indictment—the mere casting of the stone alone—does great damage to an individual’s reputation whether the stone hits its target or not.  Harm, almost always irreparably, is done.

"There were others indicted this past week in Georgia—several of them attorneys who have represented Pres. Trump—but because all of this is about politically destroying Trump, his case is the one I’m going to focus on.

"I would preface my analysis by suggesting that by indicting these other individuals, the prosecution is likely “chilling” them … making them very reluctant to be available as witnesses for Pres. Trump in his defense case.  The reason being that a witness who has been indicted themselves would be worrying about being cross-examined by a prosecutor in Trump’s case and possibly damaging the indicted person’s own criminal case.

"Such a move by the prosecution is not unprecedented but it adds to the highly politicized nature of what many are already calling a “show trial.”  (I’ll leave for another day how such a tactic is not “obstruction of justice” and/or “tampering with witnesses” by the prosecution because you could argue that it is).

"The statute being used here is Georgia’s RICO law which generally mirrors the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) statute which was originally created to catch Mafia bosses but has often been twisted by prosecutors into a legal “hammer,” and used to charge multiple, often-attenuated criminal offenses.  A RICO case requires a “shared enterprise”—like a business—and the combination of, for example, an attorney and his client has never been legally construed as an “enterprise,” nor is there an easily identifiable group here allegedly participating in one." . . .

Donald Trump arrest: Charges against the former president are weak and dangerous (afr.com)

The upshot is that the timing of the hush-money charges against Trump might be potentially putting US democracy in more danger, not less. No one should be above prosecution. But prosecutorial discretion, properly exercised, might have enabled Trump to be charged with his more serious crimes first, rather than muddying the waters of the criminal process as the hush-money charges may do.

Bruce Springsteen’s hometown loses its last major factory, outsourced to Mexico and Brazil.

These Jobs Are Going, Boys - The American Conservative

"In June 22, after months of negotiation, Nestlé announced its decision to close its last coffee-making plant in the United States. Production will be outsourced to Mexico and Brazil. By the official close date of November 17, almost all 227 employees in Freehold, New Jersey, will have lost their jobs. 

"This year would have marked the plant’s 75th anniversary. Over the course of three-quarters of a century, generations of Americans from Freehold have seen their town’s manufacturing rise and fall. It started with the closing of the Karagheusian Rug Mill in 1964. “Foreman says, ‘These jobs are going, boys / and they ain’t coming back to your hometown,’” goes the 1984 Bruce Springsteen hit “My Hometown.” Springsteen grew up in Freehold and his father worked at the mill.

"In 1986, 3M Company shut down its plant, eliminating 360 jobs. As the town’s last major manufacturing site, the closing of the Nestlé plant will complete Freehold’s transition to a service-dominated economy.

"While Nestlé is heading to Mexico, the workers they currently employ are not. I spoke with them during their shift changes and on their breaks. On thermoplastic picnic tables and flimsy monobloc chairs, these men shared their struggle. “I’ll be 60 in October. Now I gotta go look for another job. It’s depressing,” says Joe. “I can’t say, they always should be here forever. You know, nothing’s forever anymore, I guess, man—the way we live in this country.”

" 'You can’t say that they haven’t been good to you over the years. You earned a living here and you did really well here,” he says. Joe has worked at the plant for 25 years. A lot of the men were frustrated at the lack of regard for their years of sacrifice. “Birthdays, holidays, everything you could think of, we’re here. You missed it all. And now it’s like, all right, now go to the street. Now find a new job.” One worker sent me a picture of the “Nestlé 2020 Hero” shirts given to employees for their work in providing the nation its coffee during that tumultuous first year of Covid. 

"Another long-timer, Arthur, echoed Joe’s feeling of betrayal. “We didn’t know about Covid, that we could catch it and die. We had to work or we lost our job. We were considered essential workers… So this is how we get repaid.” Arthur has worked for Nestlé since 1984. The plant job has helped him care for his sick wife at home. His father, brother-in-law, and uncle all earned a living at the plant. “Stockholders are happy, but we are not.” . . .

Making Racism Cool Again

This is because, for progressives, racism — not sexual sins, even the nastier ones, and certainly not any of the "mild" forms of homicide — is the original and unpardonable sin. 

 Twilight Patriot; American Thinker  "In the secular hamartiology that elite leftists have built for themselves, racism is both the original sin and the unpardonable sin. 

"It is the original sin, because the United States (and British Empire, Spanish Empire, etc.) were founded on it. And also because it pervades everything we Americans, British, etc. have done since then, and because it can only be mitigated — though of course never fully erased — through relentless self-flagellation.

"And it is the unpardonable sin, because individuals who express truly racist opinions (i.e., opinions going above and beyond the ever-present background of microagressions) can never be forgiven, no matter how long ago they did it and no matter how young and immature they were at the time.

"In this country, you can defend Lenin and Stalin, or hang a picture of Che Guevera in your office, or hang a Chairman Mao ornament on your Christmas tree (as Barack Obama did during his presidency), or say that Aztec human sacrifice shouldn't negatively impact anyone's view of the Aztecs. But if you defend segregationists or the Ku Klux Klan, then the people who treat Lenin, Mao, and the Aztecs with kid gloves will unite to end your career. 

"I want to make it clear that I think segregationists and the Klan were bad, on multiple levels. They were bad, in the first place, because they did their best to deny the full rights of citizenship to black people. They added to their evil by discrediting so many of the good causes that they tried to associated themselves with — things like states' rights, anticommunism, and the defense of traditional sexual mores. And yet, if we grant that racism is a sin, then is there really a good reason for it to be our society's unpardonable sin, which will stain a man forever, even as support for Lenin, Mao, the Aztecs, etc. is shrugged off?" . . .

Twilight Patriot is the pen name for a young American who lives in Georgia, where he is currently working toward a graduate degree. You can read more of his writings at his Substack.

It is apples and oranges to compare Bush's response during Katrina to Biden's response in Hawaii -

 Jack Hellner; American Thinker   "The media and other Democrats colluded to destroy President Bush in the same way they have continually colluded for years to destroy President Trump. 

"Now they are comparing their politically motivated criticism of Bush's response to Biden's obvious incompetence in Maui:

MSNBC’s Jansing: Biden’s Lack of Response to Hawaii Is Reminiscent of Bush with Katrina

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports,” host Chris Jansing noted that President Joe Biden went days without mentioning the fires in Hawaii even as the response has been criticized for being slow and compared Biden’s response to then-President George W. Bush praising then-FEMA Director Michael Brown during Hurricane Katrina.

"Since the media and other Democrats have always trashed Bush about Katrina and have chosen to not tell the truth, the following is a timeline of what actually happened back in 2005:

"Two days before the storm hit, on Saturday, August 27, 2005, Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana.

"Despite multiple and continuous warnings, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin waited until Sunday, the 28th to order a mandatory evacuation of his city.

"He could have used school buses to evacuate the poor but didn’t. He could have stocked the shelters with food and water but didn’t. Think of how many fewer people would have died if Nagin had evacuated sooner and used all resources available.

On the morning of Friday, Aug. 26, 2005, Hurricane Katrina (Category 1) seemed certain to make landfall in the Florida panhandle, but by the afternoon, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) used new information to revise the watch area to include southern Louisiana. A watch was issued and on Saturday, two days before the storm hit, President Bush declared a state of emergency for Louisiana allowing federal resources to begin staging immediately. Nine hundred-thirty National Guardsmen were deployed to Louisiana that day. That evening the NHC issued a hurricane warning for New Orleans. . .

California Drought Undeniable Evidence Of Climate Change - UPDATE: California Rain Undeniable Evidence Of Climate Change

  Babylon Bee

"SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed what climate scientists have been saying for years, that the devastating California drought is undeniable evidence of climate change.

"The California governor posed for a photo op while crouched next to a pitiful dead plant as he discussed the science. "People who deny climate change clearly haven't seen California. A lot of it is desert. And it's only going to get worse," he said as it started raining.

" 'Excuse me, I misspoke. California rain is undeniable evidence of climate change."

"Newsom quickly moved away from the dead plant to pose next to an overflowing swimming pool just in time.

"Whew! Good save, Gavin," the governor told himself. "That was a close one. People almost didn't believe you!"

"At publishing time, climate scientists agreed that literally anything is evidence of climate change if you believe hard enough."

Nation Starting To Suspect Biden Actually A Terrible Person (Parody)

 Babylon Bee

LAHAINA, HI — While Hawaiian families were coming to grips with tragic losses of life and property resulting from a devastating wildfire, the nation was coming to grips with the fact President Biden had taken a short break from his Lake Tahoe vacation to tell the island's victims a funny joke about almost losing his sports car to fire.

As Biden napped during a memorial for the victims of the fire, the Nation began to feel a subtle suspicion that Biden may actually be a terrible person.

"Maybe, just maybe the piles of evidence linking our President to rampant bribes and corruption are...real?" wondered the Nation while still not daring to switch news channels to see for themselves. "And could it be, the Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster wrought by Biden and not by Orange Man Bad?"

"While recalling stories of Biden sniffing kids, mandating masks and vaccines, and permitting an unprecedented migrant crisis, the Nation wondered if he really was the type of person who would destroy the livelihoods of thousands of American families in the name of climate change, or force families of fallen soldiers to pay to fly their bodies home.

"Is he, in fact, just a bad man? An evil, dishonest man like all the conspiracy theorists say?"

"At publishing time the Nation had announced plans to re-elect President Biden after hearing CNN report that he was kind and decent." . . .

Federal Report on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein Is Rife With Evidence of Foul Play

  - Intellectual Takeout

• Less than two weeks later, prison guards found Epstein in the middle of the night in a semiconscious state with a rope and “friction marks” around his neck.

"More than 20 years after a woman named Maria Farmer first reported Jeffrey Epstein and his associates to the FBI in 1996 for molesting children, the federal government finally arrested Epstein in 2019 for “sex trafficking of minors.” Only five weeks later, this uber-wealthy financier with hordes of friends in high places was dead.

"In the weeks leading up to Epstein’s death, an array of people predicted that unless Epstein was heavily guarded in prison, he would likely be killed to keep him silent. Several first-hand witnesses had implicated powerful people in Epstein’s child sex crimes, and journalists had reported that Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and was likely engaged in sexual blackmail, a tactic of intelligence agencies like the FBI and CIA.

"Despite those suspicious circumstances, dozens of media outlets are reporting there’s no evidence of foul play in Epstein’s death based on a recent report by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice—Obama appointee Michael Horowitz. ABC News, for example, claims the report proves “Epstein died by suicide” and “foul play was not possible.”

"In reality, the Horowitz Report presents more than a dozen facts consistent with the conclusion that Epstein died of a coerced and abetted suicide. Combined with corroborating primary sources like court filings, it is clear that federal officials repeatedly endangered Epstein’s life and systematically mishandled evidence that could incriminate others in his death and sex crimes." . . .

More information here.  Federal Report on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein is Rife With Evidence of Foul Play - Just Facts Daily

Biden's brief Maui visit marked by resident's anger over perceived inadequate government response

Just The News  "Following the tragic wildfires that killed over 100 people, President Joe Biden visited Maui on Monday, where he was greeted by a flurry of hostile yells from survivors, upset by the government's response. 

" 'Here he comes after 13 days," one man can be heard stating in video footage of Biden’s motorcade making its way down an empty road. "Thanks for nothing," another man said, before multiple people began chanting, "F*@k you" and flipping off the commander-in-chief.

"Biden reportedly spent about six hours visiting the island.

"During his trip, Biden attended a ceremony commemorating the lives lost and damage inflicted on residents, and some outlets suggested he fell asleep during the event. A close look at the video footage appears to indicate the President remained awake but looked to have zoned out – with his head drooping and mouth open – as a man was speaking.

"He was also slammed online for "joking" about how hot the ground was. The video, shared on X, has been viewed over 5 million times and negative comments about he president."

Barack Obama’s Gay Fantasies and the Gay Men in his Life -

  American Thinker

In one of his letters to girlfriend McNear, Obama wrote: “In regard to homosexuality… you see, I make love to men daily, but in the imagination. My mind is androgynous to a great extent and I hope to make it more so until I can think in terms of people, not women as opposed to men.”

. . . In one of his letters to girlfriend McNear, Obama wrote: “In regard to homosexuality… you see, I make love to men daily, but in the imagination. My mind is androgynous to a great extent and I hope to make it more so until I can think in terms of people, not women as opposed to men.”

. . . "A sexual deviant, Frank Marshall Davis often did photoshoots of strippers and frequented the Honolulu strip club, Hubba Hubba. This club held private “anything goes” events in their basement about once a month that Davis attended, bringing young Barry along with him on occasion. Another one of Barry’s high-school classmates told me he was very worried about Barry’s relationship with Davis. He and others tried to dissuade Barry from hanging out with Davis, but to no avail." . . .

3 -- Professor Lawrence Goldyn  "While at Occidental, Barack became close friends with openly gay assistant professor Lawrence Goldyn. Obama has described Goldyn as “my favorite professor” at college. They apparently spent much time together outside of the classroom.

Another racial hoax is slowly being exposed, this time in Canada

If you don’t have parents actively looking out for their children’s well-being, bad things happen.

 Another racial hoax is slowly being exposed, this time in Canada -Andrea Widberg   "It was a terrible scandal: Ground penetrating radar proved that hundreds, maybe thousands, of Canadian indigenous children died…or, really, were cruelly killed…at Christian and government residential schools, and then had their bodies tossed into unmarked graves. Churches (of course) burned. Now, though, it’s becoming clear that those “graves” are not yielding up bodies.

"The stories out of Canada were enough to make Justin Trudeau weep. In June 2021, the New York Times wrote a representative article about the scope of the findings:

The remains of more than 1,000 people, mostly children, have been discovered on the grounds of three former residential schools in two Canadian provinces since May.

In late June, the remains of 751 people, mainly Indigenous children, were discovered at the site of a former school in the province of Saskatchewan, a Canadian Indigenous group said.

The discovery, the largest one to date, came less than a month after the remains of 200 people, mostly children, were found in unmarked graves on the grounds of another former boarding school in British Columbia. In July, the Penelakut Tribe in British Columbia said it had uncovered about 160 undocumented and unmarked graves." . . . 

 . . ."Now, though, people are finally putting shovels to the ground, and they’re discovering…nothing: . . ."

Ep. 1209 - Canada’s ‘Mass Graves’ Hoax Is Yet Another Fabricated Narrative To Demonize Christians pic.twitter.com/zq0LG7jL6k

— The Matt Walsh Show (@MattWalshShow) August 21, 2023

Trudeau doing what Obama taught him: insert yourself into every significant occasion. TD

From Afghanistan to East Palestine and Hawaii, Biden's Pattern of Behavior Lacks the Empathy He Promised

For Biden, the chance at redemption has vanished. At least when it comes to showing empathy, his misreading of what the country needs when a crisis affects fellow Americans has gone from a one-off to a pattern of behavior that chills even some of his most ardent supporters.

 Salena Zito (jewishworldreview.com) "On Sunday, after spending several hours on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, President Joe Biden was asked by a member of the press pool about the rising death toll in Hawaii.

"Bloomberg reporter Justin Sink tweeted Biden's "no comment" response as the president left for his home in Delaware.

"With over 100 people dead and 10 times that number still unaccounted for, how hard would it have been for Biden to say something evoking the empathy the people of Hawaii need, the country needs, in those brief moments as he walked in the sand from his day at the beach?

"But he didn't. And we've seen this craven indifference before.

"Almost to the day two years ago, a chaotic two-week evacuation of 125,000 people from Kabul resulted in the horrific deaths of 13 American service members; it took Biden over a week for him to address the deaths to the public, and when he did in a speech to the nation, he spent the entire 23 minutes forcefully rejecting any criticism of his decision and hailed the effort as an "extraordinary success."

"In fact, despite the terrorist bombing killing 13 service members at the Kabul airport during a tumultuous rush to leave the country, Biden said he believed with "all of my heart" that he had made a wise decision and stubbornly dismissed any assessment that he should have conducted that final moment evacuating people in a "more orderly manner."

"He projected to the American public, and to the families by proxy, a sordid lack of empathy, compassion and indifference.

"Eighteen months later, the White House continued that chilling tone when spokesman John Kirby shrugged and smiled in reaction to the publication of the Biden administration's report on the Afghanistan withdrawal and said he didn't notice any mayhem. "For all this talk of chaos, I just didn't see it, not from my perch," Kirby, the National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications, said.

"In February when a Norfolk-Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing the spillage of thousands and thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals in the air, soil and water in Columbiana County, Ohio, arguably changing their lives for at least a generation, it took Biden a whopping 18 days to make any kind of public statement about the situation." . . .

We Need a Truce

 The entire world sees Biden for the doddering sock puppet he is.  This includes American liberals who lie to pollsters in order to maintain party loyalty.  This election should be ours to lose.  If we do lose, it will be because too many conservatives prioritized their ego over their country and stayed home on Election Day. 

We Need a Truce - American Thinker   "Election season is rapidly approaching.  The first Republican debate is this week.  The Iowa caucus is in January, and the New Hampshire primary is soon thereafter.  With over a dozen declared candidates, the marathon placements are starting to take shape.

"For now, don't lean too heavily on polls.  First, we're too far out, and too much can happen.  Second, we all know how we feel about polls.  The poll showing our candidate doing well is Gospel.  The poll showing our candidate faring poorly is Soros-funded dreck.  As the polls change direction, so too change their designations.  Rinse.  Repeat. 

"But taking this into consideration, it is undeniable that, if all primary voting were held today, then Trump would win handily, DeSantis would come in a solid second, and both Ramaswamy and Scott will have garnered enough second-tier support to warrant vice presidential consideration.  Unfortunately for whichever camp you fall into, the polling so far suggests that Trump can't lose the primary and can't win the general election. 

"But what should be a civil discussion among rational conservatives is turning personal and nasty — not just among candidates, but among their supporters as well.  Trump-supporters are treating DeSantis-supporters like neocon sellouts, and DeSantis-supporters are treating Trump-supporters like cultish conspiracy theorists.  Neither charge is merited, and the rabble-rousers on both sides would do well to cut the ad hominem attacks.  Such are the tactics of leftists peddling the sexualization of children, not of principled Americans who reasonably disagree about the best path forward." . . .