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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Why Trump Went Off on the Judge Presiding Over His Hush Money Trial

Why Trump Went Off on the Judge Presiding Over His Hush Money Trial

*Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool*

Former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial began today. Jury selection was wholly uneventful as no one was picked. Spencer will have the questionnaire each potential jury member must answer tomorrow morning. It’s quite the list, but the former president went off on the judge this afternoon, who he claims won’t let him leave for his son’s graduation. Trump also said he can’t go to the Supreme Court or campaign as the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party in this year’s election (via The Palm Beach Post):

Donald Trump complained Monday that he may not be able to go to his son Barron's high school graduation ceremony due to the trial in New York, or campaign events or a key judicial proceeding for that matter.
"That I can't go to my son's graduation or that I can't go to the United States Supreme Court. That I'm not in Georgia, or Florida, or North Carolina campaigning like I should be," Trump said as he departed the Manhattan courtroom where jury selection began on Monday. "It's perfect for the radical left Democrats. It's exactly what they want."
The mention of the high court is a reference to next week's scheduled oral arguments on his claim that as president he enjored [sic] complete immunity from legal liability for any actions. It is an argument legal scholars have widely disparaged as unconstitutional.

Judge Juan Merchan is cited in Newsweek, however, saying that he couldn’t rule on whether the former president could attend Barron’s graduation, instead suggesting that it will all depend on whether the trial is “running on schedule” (via Newsweek):

On Monday, as the trial kicked off with jury selection, presiding Judge Juan Merchan, said he had received requests from Trump's attorneys for the former president to miss the trial on May 17 so he could attend his son's ceremony.
But, according to Inner City Press in a tweet on X, formerly Twitter, Merchan explained he could not rule at this time as it would depend on whether the trial was running on schedule. Jury selection in the trial is expected to last up to two weeks.

To recap, Trump is essentially accused of trying to bury his alleged tryst with adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels, the woman who was represented by Michael Avenatti, who is serving a 19-year jail sentence for trying to extort Nike, along with committing fraud and embezzlement from other settlements. This story was apparently essential in the lead-up to Election Day 2016 or something. We all know the country had already made up its mind weeks or even months before we all went to the polls that year. It’s a glorified campaign finance violation (via NYT):

The first criminal trial of an American president officially began on Monday as prosecutors and defense lawyers convened in a Manhattan courtroom to start selecting the jury that will decide Donald J. Trump’s fate.
The initial pool of prospective jurors dwindled rapidly. More than half of the first group of 96 were dismissed in short order after indicating that they did not believe they could be impartial. Court adjourned for the day roughly two hours after jury selection began, with zero jurors chosen.
Before beginning the arduous process of choosing a jury for the landmark trial — on allegations that Mr. Trump falsified documents to cover up a sex scandal involving a porn star — the judge overseeing the case once again declined to step aside, rejecting Mr. Trump’s latest effort to oust him.
But there was also a ruling that favored the former president: The judge, Juan M. Merchan, rejected a request by prosecutors to introduce accusations of sexual assault that women lodged against Mr. Trump years ago, calling them “rumors” and “complete gossip.”
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case against Mr. Trump, also asked the judge to hold Mr. Trump in contempt and penalize him $3,000 for violating a gag order barring him from attacking witnesses in the case.

Many potential jurors were dismissed over concerns that they couldn’t be impartial. The New York Times had a rundown of how the first day went in a trial that district attorneys seldom prosecute, with those who have been convicted rarely, if ever, going to jail. Those who do spend less than a month, based on past cases.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/04/15/election-interference-thats-all-its-about-trump-sounds-off-on-new-conditions-in-hush-money-case-n2637837?utm_source=thdailyvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=15803c7fc8c68b6fd1f0a5e7f4b59fc49df45d48335d4339ad60f7b0a0c7404d&recip=28668535

New: Florida Law Enforcement Confirms FAFO Strategy on Pro-Hamas Protesters After Video Clips Go Viral

New: Florida Law Enforcement Confirms FAFO Strategy on Pro-Hamas Protesters After Video Clips Go Viral

By Sister Toldjah |

As RedState reported earlier, unlike the pro-Hamas protesters who deliberately stalled traffic Monday in Democrat-run cities like Chicago and San Francisco (where the Golden Gate Bridge was "occupied" for several hours), the ones who tried it in Miami quickly learned that no games would be played by law enforcement officers who took control of the scene almost immediately.

Video clips show Miami police officers dragging the radical leftists, some of whom had tethered themselves to each other, off the streets like sacks of flour and dumping them on the sidewalks before they could successfully block the PortMiami entrance. Arrests were made soon after.

WATCH: Pro-Hamas Simps Learn That Florida Isn't New York, and Consequences Are Delivered

A similar situation also unfolded in Tampa, but was contained within about 15 minutes:

Photos and video clips went viral, in part because they stood in stark contrast to how things were playing out on the left coast and other blue parts of the country. Florida law enforcement officials even took to the Twitter machine to confirm their zero-tolerance policy towards this type of behavior.

This was from the Florida Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which as their Twitter profile notes is the home of the Florida Highway Patrol:

The Florida Division of Law Enforcement Twitter account also weighed in, pointing out that under Gov. Ron DeSantis' leadership the Sunshine State was a "law and order state":

As Bonchie noted in his write-up, the disruptions that took place today - the locations in particular as well as the coordination - are a clear sign of escalation on the part of the pro-Hamas agitators. But like the climate protests that have had people sitting in the street and refusing to move even during rush hour times, these things have a way of backfiring on the various "movements" that employ the tactics.

The more these things happen, the more you're going to see citizens in these cities look to Florida and demand similar-style responses in their necks of the woods. Because it's one thing to merely protest on sidewalks; it's another thing entirely when you place yourself on the road and in between people trying to get to work, doctor appts, etc.

So much wrong can happen, and in fact has, which is why it is best to confine "getting the message out" no matter how detestable to places where confrontations between protesters and large vehicles don't happen.

https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2024/04/15/new-florida-law-enforcement-confirms-fafo-strategy-onpro-hamas-protesters-after-arrest-clips-go-viral-n2172821?utm_source=rsmorningbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=333548a2571394d78f5984884e55069e

Biden Admin Locking Down HALF of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve From Energy Development

Biden Admin Locking Down HALF of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve From Energy Development

By Ward Clark

Just when you thought they couldn't do anything more to make sure energy costs keep rising, we learn now that the Biden administration's Bureau of Land Management plans to lock down half - half of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.

The 23 million-acre petroleum reserve on the North Slope was set aside as an emergency oil supply, originally for the U.S. Navy, by President Warren Harding.
In 1976, in accordance with the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, administration of the reserve was transferred to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and renamed the NPR-A.
President Joe Biden is on the verge of locking down half of it, making it unavailable for oil and gas development. He intends to do so with a new rule that is proposed by the Biden Administration through the Bureau of Land Management, a division of the Department of Interior. The pubic [sic] comment period has ended, and the rule will be finalized soon.
Rep. Mary Peltola endorses Biden’s reelection and has had no apparent willingness or ability to reverse the impending economic damage to Alaska.

Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK), it should be noted, faces two Republican challengers in November, thanks to the vagaries of Alaska's ranked-choice voting system (a repeal of which is also on the ballot this year). Peltola's voting record is mixed; Alaska Public Media names her one of the "least loyal" Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while noting that she votes with fellow Democrats in 88 percent of the votes taken during her term.

In this case, though, the onus for this action is on the Executive branch.

Biden's Latest Strategic Petroleum Reserve Failure Shows Just How Bad His Policies Are Versus Trump's

This move by the Biden administration will have a chilling effect on oil companies' plans for investment in the North Slope, where they are a major source of jobs in that remote region.

“ConocoPhillips, which has 156 leases in the reserve, warned the regulation would violate its contracts and “drive investment away from the NPR-A.” And Armstrong Oil & Gas Inc., whose leases there span 1.1 million gross acres, said the measure could block it from building the infrastructure needed to access those tracts,” Bloomberg said.
The new regulation would limit future oil development in some 13 million acres (20,000 square miles) of designated “special areas,” including territory currently under lease. Some 10.6 million acres would be completely locked down.
But wait, there’s more: “The proposal would create a formal program for expanding protected areas at least once every five years — while making it difficult to undo those designations. And it would raise the bar for future development elsewhere in the reserve,” Bloomberg reported in a story that is behind its paywall.

Oil and gas exploration projects take years, sometimes decades, to explore and develop before extraction can begin, and Alaska's North Slope presents conditions that make this even more difficult. Closing half of an area originally set aside for such development doesn't make any sense; even if a future administration opens the Reserve back up for exploration, the oil companies may well be hesitant; all it would take is another liberal Democrat President and the Reserve is closed again. Understandably, petroleum companies would be hesitant to start exploration under these conditions.

This action, of course, is almost certain to cause another rise in energy prices, and with that, a rise in the cost of everything else. The Biden administration is consistent in this, at least; they have, since January of 2021, done everything they can to make life for ordinary Americans more expensive.

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/04/14/biden-admin-locking-down-half-of-national-petroleum-reserve-n2172753?utm_source=rsafternoonbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=333548a2571394d78f5984884e55069e

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

NEW: Joe Biden Green-Lit Iran's Attack on Israel

NEW: Joe Biden Green-Lit Iran's Attack on Israel

By Bonchie

In a stunning yet somehow unsurprising turn of events, evidence has now emerged that Joe Biden didn't just know about Iran's attack on Israel, but that he went so far as to green-light it through back channels.

As RedState reported, Iran launched a series of drones and ballistic missiles on Saturday at the Jewish State, with almost all of them eventually being intercepted and down. But while Israel ponders how to retaliate, a new report includes shocking information on the leadup to the attack.

There's no way to sugarcoat that. The Biden administration told the Iranians it was acceptable to attack "within certain limits." Were those limits adhered to? That's something only the president and his handlers can answer (and never will), but given their rush to demand Israel not strike back, it would seem probable that everything went according to plan.

READ: Biden Tells Bibi Not US Offensive Action, US Dinging Israel Behind the Scenes

This is a betrayal that is hard to fathom. If an offensive attack was getting ready to be launched against the United States and one of our allies told our enemy to go ahead with the attack "within certain limits," it would be an international scandal and the end of that alliance. Yet, Israel is just expected to take this garbage from Biden and his cohorts without questioning it.

For Israel's own sake, I hope they respond harshly to this and re-establish deterrence. Whatever Iran has on Biden and the entire Obama alumni must be incredibly serious given the links these people are going to to protect a terrorist state. Still, that can't be allowed to dictate policy in this arena. If Iran gets away unscathed after launching this attack, it won't hesitate to launch an attack once it has secured nuclear weapons.

That doesn't mean a full-scale war is necessary. As I explained, Iran's current offensive capabilities are limited (as are their defensive capabilities), and any retaliatory strike against their nuclear program would not lead to a "regional war." The same would be true if their drone factories were hit.

READ: Why Iran May Have Just Overplayed Its Hand By Attacking Israel

If the Biden administration wants to continue to inexcusably support and enable Iran, Israel shouldn't play along. There's too much on the line, and if the president continues down this insane path, he will lose the election in November. That would be all the better for Israel and more importantly, Americans.

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/04/14/new-joe-biden-green-lit-irans-attack-on-israel-n2172744?utm_source=rsafternoonbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=15803c7fc8c68b6fd1f0a5e7f4b59fc49df45d48335d4339ad60f7b0a0c7404d

Comparing Trump's Foreign Policy to Joe Biden's, and the Difference Is Alarming

Comparing Trump's Foreign Policy to Joe Biden's, and the Difference Is Alarming

Sarah Arnold

As Iran launches dozens of drones against Israel, many critics are blaming President Joe Biden’s weak leadership and failed foreign policies on the attack.

“Israel is under attack!” Former President Donald Trump said on Saturday while addressing rallygoers in Pennsylvania. “This would NEVER have happened if I were President!”

And he’s right. Trump’s presidency marked profound moments in the history of foreign policy.

Slowly, Biden has pulled the United States into the war Iran is waging across the Middle East.

Trump’s use of sanction threats and American military power resulted in less aggression from Iran. However, on the contrary, under the Biden Administration, Iran has been able to fund terrorism by helping Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists gain power.

“[There has been a] massive expansion of Iran’s nuclear program under Biden, according to our assessment. As we have charted, the regime remained cautious as it faced Trump, who demonstrated his willingness to use punishing sanctions and military force. This changed development under Biden is easy to explain: The administration abandoned Trump’s campaign of financial pressure – which Biden derided as counterproductive – and gave no indication that it would threaten military force, then allowed Khamenei access to billions of dollars in frozen oil funds while China purchased hundreds of millions of barrels of Iranian oil. Iran thus saw no downside to expanding its nuclear program. We opposed the Iran nuclear deal that Obama accepted from the start. Those who argue it was a mistake for Trump to exit the 2015 nuclear deal, or that maximum pressure didn’t work, are overlooking the fact that the deal itself enabled Iran to legally expand its nuclear program in the next decade, attempt to reach threshold nuclear weapons capability starting in 2030. Via CNN.

Biden is a weak president and the world does not respect his leadership. The president’s fellow Democrats may not want to admit it, but so long as he is in office, foreign countries will continue to launch attacks. Under the current administration, the U.S. is a laughingstock.

Whereas with Trump's strong leadership and toughness on foreign leaders, his threats made an impact. He was the reason why the world was mostly peaceful under his administration, resulting in the nation’s borders being secure and having a strong sense of security in the U.S.

According to a CNBC poll, only 31 percent of Americans approved Biden’s foreign policy handling. In addition, 68 percent of respondents said they don't feel as safe in the U.S. as they did when Trump was in office.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/04/14/majority-of-americans-felt-safer-under-the-trump-admin-amid-irans-unprecedented-attack-on-israel-n2637760?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&recip=28668535