Alvin Bragg Is as Corrupt as the New York Robber Barons

 The case is driven not by law but by politics. - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  

"What makes Bragg’s position even weaker is that the federal prosecutors looked at the very case Bragg sees as criminal and declined to prosecute." . . .

"New York state governmental corruption metastasized after the Civil War. Mayor William “Boss” Tweed’s famous ring in New York City elevated kickbacks to a high art. His ability to deliver votes ensured that legislators found it in their interest to give him plenty of cover. When the arch-robber baron Jay Gould tried to stop fellow robber baron Cornelius Vanderbilt’s stealthy attempt to grab control of the Gould’s Erie Railroad, Gould created 50,000 more shares of Erie stock, diluting Vanderbilt’s shares. Running away to New Jersey to escape criminal charges, Gould and his confederates bribed enough legislators in Albany to buy a post facto rewrite of the criminal code legitimizing what he had done.

"Eventually, demand for reform grew. Boss Tweed went down on graft charges and ended his days in the Ludlow Street Jail. New legislators set reforms in motion, one of which was a constitutional amendment banning the legislature from incorporating other laws in their legislation by mere reference. This happened in other states swept by the reform movements of the time. A similar ban in New Jersey was in a state Supreme Court ruling for the purpose of clarity: Legislators would know clearly the content of the bill they were voting on, and the people would know what it required of them.

"The New York Constitution includes this provision today in Article III, Section 16. It reads: 

No act shall be passed which shall provide that any existing law, or any part thereof, shall be made or deemed a part of said act, or which shall enact that any existing law, or part thereof, shall be applicable, except by inserting it in such act.

"In other words, no hiding of laws inside laws. If it is to be law, let it be set forth explicitly." . . .

What the Pro-Palestinian Campus Protests Are Really About

 Carl R. Trueman | First Things   The childish, ignorant partiers wearing those look-at-me fashions around their necks offer the world nothing but disgust and embarrassment over all the "we want" and "we demand" proclamations. The Tunnel Dweller

"But no protester has the right to be taken seriously merely as a protester. When protests are childish, inconsistent, racist, and rooted in no shared vision beyond that of mere negation, then those who participate in them should be treated with contempt.

"The recent pro-Palestinian student protests on elite university campuses across the country offer fascinating, if somewhat depressing, insights into the state of modern American culture. It is not so much that the lunatics have taken over the asylum as the kindergartners have taken over the nursery.

"First, society takes the attitudes and antics of the young far too seriously. In an era when we are reliably informed that adolescence persists well into the twenties, it is strange that we deem the views of anyone under the age of thirty to have any real significance or merit. Yet it seems to be an unspoken assumption that young people, especially young, angry, and opinionated people, are to be indulged as important. World leaders were clamoring to have cringeworthy photo ops with Greta Thunberg when she first rose to prominence. Thunberg types now abound on the left and right of the political spectrum. They often combine their ill-informed opinions with a confident youthful extremism that should be summarily dismissed or mocked without mercy rather than featured on the news. 

"This exaltation of youth is simultaneously the exaltation of ignorance and incompetence. Early claims of Israeli occupation of Gaza and the continued sloppy use of the language of genocide, fueled by people at the U.N. who could benefit from using a dictionary, are two obvious examples of the former. As for the latter, when, for example, did adult revolutionaries hold hunger strikes lasting a whole twelve hours or seize buildings and then demand that the university authorities give them food and water? I have no affection for Che Guevara, but he did at least spend time in a Bolivian jungle while trying to foment revolution. I presume he never once considered whining to the Bolivian government about the harsh conditions of jungle life and had to find his own food and water. A cynic might say that even our revolutionaries are pathetic these days." . . .

Carl Trueman is a professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

 How is it that these silly children do not know about what Palestinians did to these women? 'Screams Before Silence' Must Be Seen and Remembered (hollywoodintoto.com)

Asking College Students if They Know Why They are Protesting  It is disgusting to hear these products of our education system spouting canned phrases someone else has taught them with not an original thought among them. TD

Activist Groups Trained Students for Months Before Campus Protests (msn.com)

Is the best and brightest we choose for America's leaders?

"Jihab"?

 Student calls out Ilhan Omar for calling some Jewish students 'pro-genocide'

"University of Pennsylvania student Eyal Yakoby condemns Rep. Ilhan Omar's harmful comments toward Jewish students and discusses his experience on campus during the volatile anti-Israel protests."

"Jewphobia": antisemitism flourishes in America, including Congress, as seen above.

Douglas Murray Dismantles The Word "Islamophobia" "Douglas Murray carefully scrutinizes and unpacks the word "Islamophobic" raising important questions."

Murray asks the interviewer where is the only country Nazis were welcomed after WW2. Other countries, including Germany, Nazis shrunk back shamefully, if one does not count such fanatics such as Otto Skorzeny.

Other Muslim nations will not accept Palestinians for good reason. Only this Democrat tool of Obama, Soros and wealthy Jew-haters, Joe Biden, want them in America.

Joe Biden's Medal of Freedom Ceremony Goes South As His Brain Fries and He Slurs Uncontrollably

 Bonchie – RedState  "Joe Biden held a Medal of Freedom ceremony on Friday in which he awarded standouts like John Kerry, Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosi with America's highest civilian honor. What did they do to deserve such a reward? The answer is nothing, but they have been radical leftists, and that was enough. 

"As with any public appearance by Biden, the event offered ample evidence of his senility. At one point, he appeared to forget what he was there for, perhaps mistakenly thinking he was awarding the Medal of Honor to someone.

"Look at his eyes in this next clip. You can see him squinting to make out the words after he calls Michelle Yeoh, an actress, "Michael Yeoh." He also called the Paris Olympics the "Paralympics" because he slurs his words so much.

"The leader of the free world, ladies and gentlemen."

BIDEN v. TELEPROMPTER: "She's not only, she's not only the only person receiving this medal, she is a, uh, she is a, uh, you know..." pic.twitter.com/uwVofHTldE

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 3, 2024

Luke Skywalker will always love Joe.  When it comes to Biden worship, Mark Hamill outdoes the media - Eric Utter 

. . ."Most preposterously of all, according to the obviously deranged partisan hack Mark Hamill, “Joe Biden is the best president we’ve ever had.” And, Hamill opines, Donald Trump is the “worst.” Biden, a desiccated husk on a good day, better than Abraham Lincoln? Has Biden won a war? Freed anybody? Is he capable of delivering an equivalent to the Gettysburg Address? Is he capable of stating his own address?

"How about George Washington? How does Biden compare to the Father of Our Country? Washington eventually defeated the greatest military the world had ever known…without a navy…or an established professional army. He could have been a king but refused. And, as the first Chief Executive, he set precedents for every president that followed. Biden effectively surrendered to the Taliban. Biden thinks he is royalty or should be. Let’s pray to God that future presidents don’t follow his precedents." . . .

9 Reasonable Demands From Students Occupying Campus Buildings

 Parody from our Parodigal child | Babylon Bee

Brought to you by: My Patriot Supply

"Much has been made about the student protesters occupying spaces on college campuses recently -- but what do these masked, wanna-be revolutionaries actually want? The Babylon Bee has obtained the following list of completely reasonable demands being made by students occupying campus buildings:

1. Later bedtimes: And no more naps!
2. Dunkaroos: With extra creme. They never give enough creme.
3. For the Jews to just stand still, surrender, and agree to be eradicated: And no defending themselves. That's not fair.
4. Some Red Vines: Get out of here with your Twizzler offers.
5. No accountability or consequences for anything they do or say at any point in their lives: Obviously.
6. Several pints of Ben & Jerry's "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free" Pistachio Ice Cream: Freeing the people of Gaza one scoop at a time.
7. That campus be designated a gun-free, banana-free, and Jew-free zone: It's just common sense.
8. An extra 30 minutes of screen time on weekends: Schindler's List is a long movie, okay?
9. The total dismantling of all Western society and also some Pop-Tarts: Frosted strawberry and the complete end of the Western world. Delicious.
10. As soon as these demands are met, the protesters have agreed to keep rooting for the destruction of Israel and America, but back in their dorm rooms. Your move, University President!

Ann Coulter: Hate Watchdogs Need Glasses

 Ann Coulter

"In November 2019, thousands of antifa tried to prevent me from speaking at UC Berkeley. They failed for only one reason: The Proud Boys were there. Ditto with speeches I gave in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Antifa came, but so did the Proud Boys. Order was maintained." 

"Too bad the Jewish students being harassed on campuses don’t have the Proud Boys around to protect them. They can thank the Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt for making that impossible.

"Greenblatt could see right through the Proud Boys’ stated mission of supporting Western Civilization. Ha! Mere camouflage for “a right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda.”

"Similarly, the Southern Poverty Law Center alerted liberals that the Proud Boys were “extremist” and “white nationalist.”

"Wikipedia’s entry on the group is a 20,000-word libel. (Apparently, the group “us[ed] ‘Western chauvinism’ as euphemism for the white genocide conspiracy theory” — just like Wikipedia uses “The Free Encyclopedia” as a euphemism for “left-wing bile.”)

"There is literally nothing about “white nationalism” or “white genocide” in anything the Proud Boys said about themselves. Or “right-wing,” for that matter, unless prizing Western culture is now the exclusive province of the right wing.

"How about these statements: “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” “Go back to Poland!” “Burn Tel Aviv” — all said recently by protesters at Columbia University. Or how about a Palestinian flag and the words “FINAL SOLUTION” at George Washington University?" . . .

"I guess the ADL and SPLC didn’t see that coming, despite their exquisitely sensitive antennae for “hate.”

"Arguably, these hate watchdogs took their eye off the ball by labeling conservatives “white nationalists” merely for admiring the West, opposing mass immigration, defending the police, writing books about IQ, attacking feminism, hating identity politics or warning of Islamic terrorism.

"It sure seems like conservatives weren’t the biggest threat after all, eh, Jonathan?" . . .

Every Republican is a Nazi to the left, just as every conservative is a Jim Crow racist to MSNBC's Joy Reid. TD

Why Protest on Campuses With No Connection to the Israel-Hamas War?

 The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  It’s all about making activists feel good.

"The activism for activism’s sake on American campuses does not save a single Palestinian. It does salve the feelings of privileged American kids." 

"What societal institutions, other than mosques, show a greater receptivity to the pro-Hamas message than the campuses?

"Neither transgenders wearing keffiyehs nor the great number of students owning high-end glamping gear strikes as the strangest thing about the protests. Their location does. 

"Martin Luther King did not march on Cambridge Common or Telegraph Ave. He demonstrated in Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham, Atlanta, and points beyond where governments, businesses, and powerful people discriminated against African Americans. He risked hearing jeers rather than cheers because he wanted change, not an ego boost. He suffered not merely jeers but jail, hurled foodstuffs, a stabbing, the invasion of his privacy, and ultimately assassination so that others would not suffer.

"Demonstrations generally follow this pattern of addressing grievances directly at the source.

"PETA protests medical research facilities that perform experiments on animals, not vegan restaurants that serve sesame noodles. Strikers demonstrate outside of the factories that pay them less than they demand, not outside the union hall. Pro-lifers hold placards on the sidewalk next to Planned Parenthood clinics, not churches.

"If PETA did make its case in a vegan restaurant, then one imagines many a customer might shout “Hear, hear.” This would make the PETA protestors feel good. But it seems unlikely to advance the group’s principles.

"This hypothetical forces the question, for what purpose do the protestors make their voices heard in the very places where their voices dominate? Proximity seems the obvious and partly right answer. Other reasons pertain to the inability of many progressives to operate outside of their intellectual ghettos and the desire of many young people for affirmation. No explanation for why the campuses serve as the site of the protests involves the connection of the universities to the war, of which tangential seems too strong a word, or the grounds of elite schools serving as an effective platform to save Palestinian lives, which they are not.

"The protests that canceled classes at UCLA, forced Columbia to move to remote learning, and closed Cal Poly-Humboldt for the semester look like a performance. It all probably felt exhilarating and cathartic. But in terms of propelling the cause of the Palestinians, the demonstrations proved entirely ineffective." . . .

Why Are Women in America Cheering for Hamas and Iran?

Phyllis Chesler - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

These pro-Jihad protests are one way to escape the ongoing female realities in the West.

Israeli women with Gazans.

"Have you noticed that young women all across America are demonstrating for Hamas, Iran, and Palestine? Why would such privileged and educated women, the heirs to the #MeToo movement and to Second and Third Wave Western feminisms, cheer for male rapists and male killers, arguably the most blood-thirsty and sadistic misogynists this side of Ghenghis Khan? Why side with Islamist barbarians who have jailed, tortured, and executed their own women over a slipped Islamic veil, and who would forcibly convert their Western female admirers to Islam, veil them as well, and coerce them into polygamous marriages?

"Do these educated daughters of affluence understand that were they to express any views deemed dissident in Gaza, Teheran, or Kabul or, were they to announce that they were “queer” or gay, (which is how some of these activists identify themselves), that they would be instantly honor killed?

"In the months since 10/7, in addition to the odious, faux-feminist silence about the gang-rapes of both women and men, the torture of babies and whole families, the kidnapping of civilians — a terrifying tsunami of hatred towards Israel, America, and Jews has exploded into non-stop jihadi-style, belligerent mobs, whose goal is to disrupt civil society and gain both attention and followers for their reprehensible views. The news of Hamas’s pogrom on steroids, unleashed their Jew hatred, and whetted the mob’s appetite for more of same.

"Post Iran’s most recent attack on Israel, in the past few days in New York City, where I live, such activists camped out on the lawn at Columbia University “for Gaza,” “for Hamas,” endangering Jewish students, daring to be arrested. For the first time, Columbia’s President actually had them arrested. Although they were all quickly released, many returned later that same night, with celebrities in tow, to re-constitute their encampment. (READ MORE from Phyllis Chesler: Opera House Bigotry)

"Those who were detained, included the daughter of Democratic Congresswoman and “Squad” member, Ilhan Omar; a young female intern for New York State Attorney General Letitia James; a third young woman who is about to intern for Democratic Senator Dick Durbin; and two daughters of corporate titans. Three of the five are Columbia students." . . .

10 Lies Democrats Tell About Elections (And How To Refute Them)

 Shawn Fleetwood (thefederalist.com)

"Here are the 10 biggest lies Democrats tell about U.S. elections so you can identify and combat these mistruths."  

"Biden and Democrats love to contend that “democracy is on the ballot” this November. The insinuation, of course, is that the republic as we know it will collapse if Trump and Republicans emerge victorious at the ballot box. Yet, for all their professed concerns about “democracy,” Democrats are doing everything in their power to destroy it."

"There is almost no subject the left won’t lie about. Whether it’s denying basic biology or fabricating “bloodbath” hoaxes about their top Republican rival, no topic is off limits for the Democrat “disinformation” police — and that includes elections.

"Since the 2020 election, Democrats and their media allies have worked overtime to smear Americans concerned about the integrity of U.S. elections. No matter how legitimate these concerns may be, the left slanders anyone who challenges controversial elections won by Democrats as so-called “election deniers.”

"Putting aside the fact that Democrats have questioned elections they don’t win (see the Trump-Russia collusion hoax), it’s important to highlight that the left regularly lies about America’s elections to further their party’s goal of acquiring and maintaining government power. In service of this goal, no falsehood is too great.

"Here are the 10 biggest lies Democrats tell about U.S. elections so you can identify and combat these mistruths.

1. Election Integrity Laws ‘Suppress’ Voters

"Under the guise of Covid, many states expanded the use of unsupervised mail-in voting, permanently changing the electoral landscape and how modern elections are conducted. With Covid-era lockdowns now in the rearview mirror, many Republican-controlled states have spent the past several years returning their election systems to pre-Covid practices and moving away from unsupervised methods.

"'With their election machine that thrives off the insecure mail-in system threatened, Democrats have taken to dishonestly attacking GOP-backed election integrity laws. The most common of these smears is the debunked claim that voter ID laws suppress voters, especially those who aren’t white. Of course, there’s no evidence to support such assertions, as multiple court rulings have found.

One of the more egregious examples of these attacks came from President Joe Biden, who grossly labeled a benign 2021 Georgia election law as “Jim Crow on steroids.” Contrary to Democrats’ smears, Georgia experienced record early voter turnout during the state’s 2022 midterms. A poll conducted after the election also revealed that zero percent of black Georgia voters said they had a “poor” experience voting." . . .  Full article here.

Unredactions Reveal Early White House Involvement in Trump Documents Case

 RealClearInvestigations; Julie Kelly  

"Top Biden administration officials worked with the National Archives to develop Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against Donald Trump involving the former president’s alleged mishandling of classified material, according to recently unsealed court documents in the case pending in southern Florida.

"More than 300 pages of newly unredacted exhibits, containing emails and other correspondence related to the early stages of the hunt for presidential papers, challenge public statements by Joe Biden about what he knew and when he knew it regarding the case against his political rival.

"The new disclosures indicate the Department of Justice was in touch with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) during much of 2021, undermining the DOJ’s claims that it became involved in the matter only after the Archives sent it a criminal referral on February 9, 2022, based on the findings of records with “classified markings” in 15 boxes of materials Trump gave to the Archives a month prior.

"The court exhibits, which were compiled by Trump’s defense lawyers and kept under seal until last week, also show that Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su regularly communicated with Archive officials.

"Although Biden himself is not mentioned in the exhibits, the active participation of Su and other high-ranking White House officials raises questions about whether Biden was forthright when he told “60 Minutes” he wasn’t involved in the investigation.

"“I have not asked for the specifics of those documents,” Biden told Scott Pelley in the Sept. 17 broadcast, “because I don't want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take. I agreed I would not tell them what to do and not, in fact, engage in telling them how to prosecute or not.” . . .

Japanese Politicians Roast Biden on Immigration 'Failures' After Biden Calls Japan 'Xenophobic'

Brandon Morse – RedState

When asked, KJP first said the President was "very clear," but was further asked for clarification to which she gave a word-salad response.

"President Joe Biden made some very unkind comments about Japan on Wednesday, comparing the nation to Russia and China over what Biden says is economic stagnation due to "xenophobia." 

"As RedState covered earlier on Thursday, Biden said that Japan isn't accepting enough migrants to its country leading to an economic downturn. It's an odd statement to make, given Japan's status as an important ally: 

“One of the reasons why our economy’s growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said at a Washington fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign and marking the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. . . .

. . ." According to Fox News, Japanese politicians didn't take this insult lying down. Responding to Biden's accusations of xenophobia, Mizuho Umemura, a member of the conservative Nippon Ishin no Kai Party, who holds a seat in the House of Councilors, pointed out that migration is a huge problem in Europe and that few countries have actually solved that issue. 

Umemura noted that Biden should "solve the problem in New York before he says things like this," and that the next presidential election could see a complete reversal of America's immigration policy, so there is "no need for Japan to follow suit.". . .

Ouch. That'll leave a mark. TD

Trump Hails 'Great Meeting' With Ron DeSantis, Says They 'Will Work Together To Make America Great Again'

 The Political Insider

"Donald Trump celebrated a “great meeting” with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the weekend and suggested his former GOP rival is now offering support to his 2024 presidential campaign.

"Is this finally a ‘kumbaya’ moment for the formative Republican duo?

"The Washington Post first reported on the meeting which a mutual friend brokered. They describe the meeting as “friendly.”

"Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, posted on his Truth Social media platform suggesting a collaboration of some sort may be in the works.

“ 'I am very happy to have the full and enthusiastic support of Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida,” he writes. “We had a great meeting yesterday …”

“ 'The conversation mostly concerned how we would work closely together to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” adds Trump. “Also discussed was the future of Florida, which is FANTASTIC!' ” . . .  Video  Sure, make it great again until the next Democrat takeover. TD