Friday Talking Points -- 34-Time Felon Sentenced
In an extraordinary confluence of events, America mourned one former president as his body lay in state in the United States Capitol, while another former (and soon-to-be-again) president was sentenced after being found guilty of 34 felonies by a jury. Jimmy Carter had become almost the personification of decency in his post-presidential life, while Donald Trump has always been the personification of something a lot more tawdry.
Trump's sentence didn't actually amount to much. Officially, he was sentenced to "unconditional discharge," which sounds more like an embarrassing medical condition than a legal designation. What it amounts to is the state of New York sternly admonishing Trump by saying: "Tsk, tsk!" while perhaps wagging a disapproving finger at him. Trump will not serve a day in jail, he will not have to pay a penny in fines, and he won't even be subject to probation. None of these options were really available to the judge, since in ten days Trump will become president once again.
But even with the lack of any real punitive judgment against Trump, it will still stain his record. He is the first president to ever be convicted of a felony, and he will also be the first convicted felon to be sworn in as president once again. To use one of his favorite put-downs, this is nothing short of a national disgrace.
Trump fought hard to prevent the sentencing from even happening. If he were a normal citizen, he likely would have been sentenced last summer. But he asked for (and received) sentencing delays because of the election. This week, he appealed all the way to the Supreme Court in an effort to prevent the sentencing from happening just before he is sworn back into office. He even called up his buddy Sam Alito earlier in the week in an obvious effort to sway the court. But the Supreme Court rejected his plea, so Trump had to sit and take his medicine today. The most beautiful thing about the sentence? Trump cannot pardon himself, because these were state crimes, not federal. Barring the election of a Republican to the office of governor of New York, the sentence will remain. Trump is going to appeal it through every venue he can, but his chances of having his sentence overturned are slim, at best.
Other than his numerous civil cases (which he keeps losing), this is likely the only legal price Donald Trump is going to pay for his crimes. The other three cases against Trump will not go forward now, or likely ever. Trump will walk away from the consequences of not securing national security documents (and refusing to hand them over to the rightful owner, the National Archives, even after being subpoenaed for them), his blatant attempts to interfere in the presidential election results in Georgia (which were actually caught on tape), and his culpability in the January 6th attempted insurrection and attack on the United States Capitol and the Congress itself. No jury will hear the evidence in any of those cases -- at the very least, until after Trump leaves office again. Justice was delayed, and justice was denied in all three of these cases.
This is, more than anything, a condemnation of the justice system in this country. Prosecutors had four whole years to hold Trump accountable, and (led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who bears much of the blame) they wasted entire years of this time. Then Trump ate up the remaining time with his endless appeals of every single aspect of the cases he could come up with. So here we are, four years later, and Trump beat the rap because he has enough money to pay lawyers to endlessly throw sand in the gears of the justice system. America's two-tier justice system -- one tier for the wealthy, another for everyone else -- has been shamefully on display throughout all of this.
There will be one coda -- hopefully, at least. Jack Smith is preparing two reports on the cases that never made it to a jury, and while one of them is still ongoing (because Trump had two co-defendants in the documents case) the other is now over for the time being, so the Justice Department will be releasing a redacted version of Smith's report before Trump gets back into office. This should lay out the case against Trump for his involvement in January 6th, so at least we'll all get to see most of what that investigation uncovered.
Meanwhile, Trump is offering a preview of what we can all expect for the next four years, which can be summed up in two words: angry chaos. Showing his masterful ability to hijack the headlines with complete nonsense, Trump has been trolling the nation's journalists with the concept of returning to the days of Manifest Destiny and American imperialism. He wants Canada to somehow magically become "the 51st state," he wants to buy Greenland, and he wants the Panama Canal returned to America post-haste. Also, he got a bee in his bonnet and wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" instead, just for good measure. He hinted that in the cases of Greenland and Panama, he might just send in the Marines if the people there don't go along with his expansionist plans.
None of this will lower the price of a dozen eggs, of course. But that's beside the point -- the point is that Trump successfully got everyone talking about it, and he will continue stirring everyone up as long as it gets him new headlines.
The chaos got even angrier when Los Angeles started burning. Major areas of Southern California are being devastated by some of the most-destructive wildfires California has ever experienced, so of course Trump decided to wade into the crisis and spout lots of lies and propaganda in order to blame Democrats for somehow creating the Santa Ana winds. Or something. This is a quick reminder (or it should be) that Trump's first response to any disaster anywhere is to always point the finger of blame elsewhere, while spreading plenty of lies about everything. It's how he operates. And we may very likely see Trump decide how to dole out disaster-relief money based on the political affiliation of those impacted -- which is an absolutely terrible thing to do, of course. But it'll likely become par for Trump's course in the very near future.
President Joe Biden has entered into the swansong phase of his presidency, and while he is actually doing some notable things -- creating two new national monuments, blocking offshore drilling for a huge swath of ocean, extending legal status for almost a million immigrants -- one has to wonder how much of it will survive Trump's anticipated rollbacks of everything Biden has accomplished. Team Trump is reportedly preparing 100 executive orders for him to sign on his first day, and that'll just be the start of it.
Congress has returned to Washington, and Speaker Mike Johnson actually got re-elected to his leadership position on the first ballot. This used to be routine, but it's the first time it's happened since Republicans retook control of the chamber. Well, it was actually two rounds of voting but officially it was only one, for technical reasons -- but either way it's a lot more impressive than what had preceded it. Johnson will still hold an incredibly weak position -- he's got one of the smallest majorities in American history to work with -- but the Republicans basically decided to let him keep going because they couldn't think of anyone else who would do any kind of better job than the one Johnson has been doing.
Speaking of herding Republican congressional cats, their plans of quickly passing a big and impactful bill and putting it on Trump's desk to sign seem to be falling apart at the seams. They are now arguing among themselves whether to attempt one gigantic bill that would include a rewrite of the tax code and an extension of all the Trump tax cuts, or to split it into two bills so they can pass some border money for Trump to use more quickly. Both of these (or one, if they do settle on combining them) will be contentious and will have to pass on purely party-line votes. Which it's not clear they'll be able to do. Democrats may be comforted by the sheer ineptitude of the House Republicans to get their act together, since it'll mean far fewer things actually getting done.
And to end on some good news this week, Virginia held special elections for a few seats in the statehouse, and Democrats managed to hold onto their (very slim) majorities in both chambers. This will effectively tie the hands of their Republican governor, so it is worth celebrating. And due to their odd rules about multiple terms, the current governor will not be able to run for re-election later this year, so Democrats have at least a decent shot of taking back the governor's office.
This one is easy, and it's self-explanatory.
The Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week was James Earl Carter Junior.
We wrote about Carter earlier this week, if anyone needs any justification. Jimmy will be missed, and his longevity record among former presidents may never be broken (he reached 100 years old, the first one to do so).
[You may pay your respects at the Carter family's tribute webpage, if you'd like to let them know you appreciated his efforts.]
Senator John Fetterman keeps charting his own course, which increasingly seems independent from the Democratic Party. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if he starts being called the "Democratic John McCain," since he seems to be charting a full-blown maverick personality. This is different, it should be noted, from merely wallowing in corporate money and doing their bidding (à la Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema), since Fetterman is more about charting his own ideological course than just raking in campaign donations. So while Fetterman's announcement that he'll be heading down to Florida to meet with Donald Trump disappointed many Democrats, but it's really just building his maverick brand.
Which is why we decided to instead hand out the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week (once again) to Bob Menendez. Gold-Bar Bob was back in the news this week because his sentencing hearing is looming. And the prosecutors have asked for a stiff 15-year prison sentence. Here's the (continuing) story:
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York described Menendez as a historic figure in a sentencing memorandum filed this week: He is the first U.S. official who has been found guilty of acting as an agent of a foreign country and the first whose corruption offenses had reached the top position within a Senate committee. Menendez was the ranking Democratic member and then-chairman of the influential foreign affairs panel during the bribery scheme, which ran from 2018 to 2022, according to records from his trial.
Over nine weeks in Manhattan federal court last year, prosecutors showed how three businessmen -- Wael "Will" Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe -- showered Menendez and his wife with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash-filled envelopes and checks, gold bars, jewelry, household items and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, all in exchange for Menendez's help securing business deals with officials affiliated with the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez also tried to disrupt several active criminal investigations into Daibes and Uribe's associates, witnesses testified.
"Menendez, who swore an oath to represent the United States and the State of New Jersey, instead put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes," prosecutors wrote in a filing to U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein, who presided over the trial.
Lawyers for Menendez have requested no jail time at all, arguing that he has already become a "national punchline," and that should be punishment enough. Good luck with that one, Bob.
The sentencing is scheduled for January 29th, so we'll likely have another MDDOTW award for him then, but for now we're going to hand him the one from this week, just on general principles.
[Bob Menendez is no longer in office, and it is our policy not to provide contact information for private citizens, so you'll have to look it up on your own if you'd like to let him know what you think of his actions.]
Volume 778 (1/10/25)
We've got a mixed bag this week, as we kick off a new year. We find we can't directly address what the new Republican Congress is doing, because they haven't actually managed to do much of anything yet. But there'll be plenty of time for that in the coming weeks. For now, here's what we've got.
Felon
We've seen one phrase emerge this week, and we have to say we approve.
"America is ready to inaugurate a president who has been impeached by the House of Representatives not once but twice and who just got sentenced after being found guilty of 34 felonies. So there's a few firsts for the history books -- the only twice-impeached 34-count felon to ever enter the White House. Maybe someday we'll limit ourselves to only presidents that children can look up to as role models, but that'll have to wait until the end of the second term of the twice-impeached 34-count felon is over."
No drama at all
This shouldn't be noteworthy, but it is.
"On January 6th of this year, Congress met for the official counting of the Electoral College votes for president and vice president. There was no drama and the entire exercise only took about a half-hour. This is the way things are supposed to work, of course. Up until four years ago, most Americans weren't even aware of this ceremonial congressional duty, but of course all that changed after Joe Biden beat Donald Trump. I sincerely hope in the future that January 6th once again becomes just a parliamentary footnote in the peaceful transfer of power in this country. Because what happened four years ago was an absolute disgrace, and I hope nothing like that ever happens again."
A very liberal 51st state
Has Trump really thought this through?
"You know, if Donald Trump could wave a magic wand and make Canada the 51st American state, it would have the effect of making the Senate, the House, and the Electoral College a lot more liberal. Canadians are going to want to keep their national health care, just for starters. And it'll make it much harder for any American conservative to get elected president. I mean, has Trump really thought this whole thing through?"
DOGE already dialing expectations back
By half.
"Elon Musk has already backed down from his promise to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget and has now announced he'll only be targeting $1 trillion in federal spending instead. Kind of a remarkable moving of the goal posts, don't you think? Musk is fast learning what a whole lot of armchair conservatives find out when they get to Washington -- talking about slashing spending is one whale of a lot easier than actually doing it."
Florida man considers his future
Shamelessness abounds down in the Sunshine State.
"I see that Matt Gaetz is seriously considering running for governor of Florida, because why not? The days when a politician's career would be considered over after getting caught in some horrendous scandal appear to be over -- just look at who is about to enter the White House, right? If the voters of Florida decide that a man accused of having sex with minors is the man to lead them, then who am I to say differently? Good luck with that, because what could possibly go wrong?"
Nothing but contempt
There was some other court news this week, in case anyone missed it.
"Rudy Giuliani -- the man who led the legal effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election -- was found in contempt of court not once this week but twice -- in two different courtrooms, by two different judges. I don't blame them -- I've felt nothing but contempt for Rudy for years now...."
Don't forget what he actually ran on
Hammer this one home as often as possible.
"Remember when everyone said Trump got elected because the price of eggs was too high? Well, the price keeps going up and up, when you can even find eggs in the supermarket. In fact, the price will probably continue to climb all this year, since bird flu is out there decimating the egg-laying chickens across the country. And Donald Trump is not exactly known for steering America out of a pandemic crisis (to put it mildly), so I don't expect things to get better with bird flu any time soon. But in the midst of all of Trump's blather about Canada and Greenland and the Panama Canal, I hope some journalists keep asking him: 'When are you going to make good on your promise to get the price of eggs down?' Because if that's really what he got elected on, it's only fair to measure his presidency by it, right?"
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground
well, this is what we voted for, and we deserve to get it good and hard.
"America's two-tier justice system -- one tier for the wealthy, another for everyone else -- has been shamefully on display throughout all of this."
Anyone paying attention since at least the OJ Simpson trial has no delusions about the power of money in America's "justice" system. It is beyond disappointing that none of the MSM cared enough to draw a line from Weinstein to Gaetz to Trump. Instead, they parroted Trump's whine about "politization" of the Justice system.
And WAIT, it gets better! Anyone paying attention to the state of Florida knows what's in store for at least the next 4 years: anyone who opposes the Republican Party or the proclamations of its leaders will face prosecution; anyone who falls in line will never be hauled into court, regardless of the "laws on the books".
'Major areas of Southern California are being devastated by some of the most-destructive wildfires California has ever experienced,'
Thus far, my "trustworthy" newsources have given headline-grabbing statistics and images about the loss of property and life. I haven't yet seen that any of them is bothering to include 'climate change' in their coverage.
Americans fiddle while the Earth burns.
Anyone who believes that this case will survive appeal is either a complete and utter moron or is so in the throes of PTDS and Trump/America hate that they have absolutely ZERO connection with reality...
Which is it for ya'all?? :eyeroll:
Rusty,
And WAIT, it gets better! Anyone paying attention to the state of Florida knows what's in store for at least the next 4 years: anyone who opposes the Republican Party or the proclamations of its leaders will face prosecution; anyone who falls in line will never be hauled into court, regardless of the "laws on the books".
Replace 'Republican Party' with 'Democrat Party' and you have just described how it is in California.. As the current massive fires situation in CA has proven beyond any doubt.
So, what's yer point??? :eyeroll:
Thus far, my "trustworthy" newsources have given headline-grabbing statistics and images about the loss of property and life. I haven't yet seen that any of them is bothering to include 'climate change' in their coverage.
Global Warming activism is a joke. Always has been, always will be.. I can name exactly at which point Global Warming activism became a complete and utter joke that ONLY a retarded moron would buy into..
It was the point when ya'all said "The science is settled!!!"
REAL SCIENCE is **NEVER** "settled"...
When these morons say "The science is settled" what they are REALLY talking about is religious demagoguery...
NOT science...
:eyeroll:
Thank gods that we're getting a REAL leader in the Oval Office in 9 days and not some senile dementia-riddled moron like Basement Biden...
NY judge desperate to brand Trump 'convicted felon' before inauguration
Any objective and competent judge would have thrown this case in the garbage
By Gregg Jarrett
Reprinted With Permission
New York Judge Juan Merchan’s dogmatic refusal on Friday to dismiss the misbegotten case against President-elect Donald Trump and, instead, proceed to sentencing on Jan. 10 is yet another middle finger extended to the law. And to Trump.
At the same time, Merchan unwittingly concedes the folly of the entire prosecution by notifying the defendant that neither the court nor District Attorney Alvin Bragg will seek any meaningful punishment. Trump, the judge disingenuously advises, would receive an "unconditional discharge" with no incarceration, fine, or probation following the guilty verdicts by a Manhattan jury last May.
Never mind that state law does not support a jail sentence under these circumstances. Forget that the district attorney deliberately contorted statutes and mangled evidence to pursue a meritless prosecution that was motivated purely by political vengeance. And ignore the fact that there is little chance that the biased jury’s guilty verdict, compounded by Merchan’s chronic reversible errors, will withstand judicial scrutiny on appeal. Eventually.
It seems obvious that Merchan is desperate to stain Trump with the formal stricture of "convicted felon." To do it, he must sentence the incoming president. A jury’s verdict alone is insufficient under the law. Hence, the offer of what amounts to a non-sentence if only Trump will, at the very least, appear virtually during a hearing 10 days before he is sworn in.
It is another charade meant to bookend —and cover-up— a sham trial. Show up to be verbally tarred and feathered, but no stocks or pillory will be deployed.
In some sense, it may be tempting to accept Merchan’s contingent surrender. Why? Under law, Trump is foreclosed from challenging the myriad of mistakes the judge made at trial, as well as the prosecution’s specious legal theory, until sentencing occurs. Only then is he officially "convicted." A successful appeal erases the conviction, albeit belatedly.
And there’s the rub.
Your average defendant would accept the Faustian bargain that guarantees no jail time and starts the clock immediately on the appellate process. But Trump is different. He is an inveterate fighter who refuses to capitulate, even when his opponents are facing reproach. It’s one of the many reasons why voters rewarded him with a second term in office. He does not give up or give in. Nor should he.
Trump is determined to clear his name. So, you can expect that his legal team will challenge Merchan’s ruling on both the dismissal and sentencing. There are various legal options available, such as filing for an emergency "stay" from the appellate courts that, if granted, may push any further proceedings beyond inauguration on Jan. 20.
Since it is well established that presidents are immune from any criminal process while in office —a principle that even Merchan accepts— a court-ordered pause would effectively delay sentencing until 2029. Of course, that assumes the case still has a pulse four years from now.
Trump has a credible argument that the verdicts against him should be vacated now. As president-elect, his lawyers contend that "immediate dismissal is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interest of justice." Sentencing would disrupt the orderly transfer of executive power.
In essence, a state has no right or power to transgress federal laws passed by Congress, including the Transition Act. Interference by a local prosecutor and/or judge constitutes a violation of the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution.
But there are other compelling reasons to end this case sooner, rather than later.
In an earlier ruling, Merchan readily acknowledged his authority to set aside the verdicts if mistakes were made at trial which would merit reversal. Yet, he stubbornly refuses to recognize the plethora of errors that demand dismissal.
Chief among them is that prosecutors relied on tainted evidence prohibited in the presidential immunity standard enunciated by the Supreme Court on July 1. Testimony from White House officials and numerous presidential records should never have been introduced. Merchan disregards all this by insisting that such evidence was trifling, even though prosecutors emphasized it during closing arguments to the jury.
He also turned a blind eye to Bragg’s convoluted and incoherent legal theory that it must somehow be a crime to conceal a perfectly legal non-disclosure agreement. It is not. He then allowed the district attorney to shred the law by resurrecting expired business record misdemeanors and transmuting them into phantom election felonies that were falsely portrayed as unduly influencing the 2016 presidential contest.
It was a pretty neat trick inasmuch as Trump’s transactions were recorded and reimbursed after the election. Moreover, Bragg, as a local prosecutor, had no jurisdiction to enforce federal campaign laws. The payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels did not even qualify as contributions under any statute or regulation.
As I have noted before, a competent or objective judge would have long ago tossed the Trump indictment in the garbage where it belonged. On its face, it was patently deficient, if not ludicrous, and a transparently politicized prosecution.
But Bragg’s disgraceful legerdemain did not bother Merchan in the least. Just the opposite. His honor merrily went along with the hocus-pocus. At trial, he shed his black robe to join the jurisprudential circus as co-prosecutor.
When the preordained verdicts were announced, no one knew exactly what Trump was convicted of. Theoretically, bookkeeping errors were allegedly committed to further another crime in an unlawful attempt to influence the election.
But what crime? No one can say. Was it federal campaign law violations? Taxation laws? False business records? Select from the aforementioned menu of imaginary possibilities. Trump doesn’t know because prosecutors never said. And neither did the jurors.
In an appalling instruction to the panel, Merchan declared that they did not have to identify which crimes were supposedly perpetrated and need not agree unanimously. He abandoned with impunity the bedrock principle of unanimity in criminal convictions which the Supreme Court has reinforced repeatedly.
Merchan’s courtroom devolved into a cesspool of incomprehensible rulings by a conflicted and hostile judge that deprived Trump of a fair trial. Merchan and prosecutors worked in concert to engineer the guilty verdicts. Political bias smothered the defendant’s due process rights. It was a harebrained case driven by a district attorney who enthusiastically embraced the Democrats’ corrupt lawfare campaign against their Republican opponent.
None of it fooled American voters. Indeed, it appears to have backfired spectacularly. Many deeply resented how Trump’s adversaries disfigured the law to bring a series of criminal indictments designed to destroy his chances of returning to the White House. Outrage was voiced at the ballot box on Nov. 5. Decisively.
Despite their best efforts to sabotage the outcome of the election, the unscrupulous duo of Merchan and Bragg can do nothing now to stop Trump. Even if his anticipated bid to halt the sentencing next Friday fails, the newly elected president still benefits. He can commence appealing the shameless perversion of the law that was waged against him and the miscarriage of justice that ensued.
It wasn’t a fair trial. It was a farce.
In the meantime, it is incumbent on the incoming Department of Justice to open a comprehensive investigation into the lawfare campaign that Special Counsel Jack Smith, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought almost simultaneously and only after Trump announced his bid for election.
Coincidence? Hardly. There is reason to believe that there was coordination among them with President Joe Biden’s White House or with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s DOJ. Maybe both. If laws were broken, prosecutors should be exposed and held accountable for weaponizing the justice system.
Democrats have spent the last four years lecturing us that no one is above the law. Inconveniently now, that same standard applies to them.
Now watch all the Weigantian trolls whine and cry an stamp their feet about the messenger and totally and completely ignore the FACTS in the message... :eyeroll:
Weigantian trolls are nothing if not predictable...
:eyeroll:
, so of course Trump decided to wade into the crisis and spout lots of lies and propaganda in order to blame Democrats for somehow creating the Santa Ana winds.
Not factually accurate..
President ELECT Trump didn't blame Democrats for creating the Santa Ana winds...
President ELECT Trump blamed Democrats ** FOR NOT BEING PREPARED ** for the Santa Ana Winds which happens EVERY YEAR and is an ENTIRELY predictable event that MUST be prepared for..
If you have to LIE to attack President ELECT Trump, maybe you are the problem and NOT President ELECT Trump...
I'm just sayin'... :eyeroll:
This is a quick reminder (or it should be) that Trump's first response to any disaster anywhere is to always point the finger of blame elsewhere,
You mean, like Democrats do with every mass shooting or school shooting??
You mean like that??
:eyeroll:
Hypocrisy... It's not a bug in Democrat programming. It's a feature.
President Joe Biden has entered into the swansong phase of his presidency, and while he is actually doing some notable things --
Yea... Basement Biden made an awful joke when talking about the fires in California.. He asked Token DEI Hire Headboard Harris about what it's like to live in California and told her to "Fire away"...
THIS is the moron that ya'all wanted to be POTUS????
WOW.... :eyeroll:
The LA Fires have brought into COMPLETE and UNEQUIVOCAL focus how BAD and utterly INCOMPETENT Democrat governance is..
When you listen to a bunch of moron environmentalists who care more for their hate-based agenda than they do for people's welfare and the moron DEI assholes who care more for their identity agenda than actual COMPETENCE....
These kinds of catastrophes are always the result..
California received exactly what were the only logical and completely predictable results.
BILLIONS and BILLIONS in destruction and many lost lives...
:eyeroll:
Mere months ago, CA Gov Newsome cut tens of millions of dollars from California's Fire Fighting and Fire Prevention budget..
Cal Fire had a $5 million reduction in spending on fuel reduction teams
$8 million cuts from program to pay for vegetation management work by the California National Guard
$28 million cut from multiple state conservancies that expand wildfire resilience
$12 million cut from a "home hardening" experiment that would protect homes from wildfires
$8 million cut from monitoring and research spending, mostly dedicated to Cal Fire and state universities
$4 million cut from the forest legacy program, which encourages landowners to manage their properties
$3 million cut from funding for an inter-agency forest data hub
And just GUESS where those tens of millions of dollars were going??
WOKE DEI programs including:
Allocated to fund programs such as a "Gay Men’s Chorus" and housing for the transgender homeless.
Allocated to the Homeless and HIV Program, which includes a "syringe exchange" program that gives sterile syringes to homeless drug addicts.
Pay for Juneteenth celebrations
Allocated to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Heritage Month Programs
Grants for a Midnight Stroll Transgender Cafe
ALL of this while California fire hydrants are empty..
How ANYONE could vote Democrat is one of the universe's biggest mysteries..
:eyeroll:
He is the first president to ever be convicted of a felony, and he will also be the first convicted felon to be sworn in as president once again.
Nelson Mandela was a "convicted felon"..
So was Lech Welesa..
President ELECT Trump as a convicted felon says more about the Basement Biden/Headboard Harris junta than it says about President ELECT Trump...
And NONE of it is good...
Plus, as is accepted as FACT by ANYONE with more than two brain cells to rub together, it's not as if this conviction will stand upon appeal..
This gross banana-republic process is going to be erased from the annals of history as if it never happened..
As well it should...
:eyeroll:
Americans are getting sick and tired of Democrat virtue-signaling that has real world catastrophic consequences...
Anger and resentment rise in Los Angeles over fire response
After being largely reduced to ashes by wildfire, Altadena was being patrolled by National Guard soldiers on Friday.
For residents of this devastated Los Angeles suburb, the arrival of these men in uniform is too little, too late.
"We didn't see a single firefighter while we were throwing buckets of water to defend our house against the flames" on Tuesday night, said Nicholas Norman, 40.
"They were too busy over in the Palisades saving the rich and famous's properties, and they let us common folks burn," said the teacher.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/anger-resentment-rise-los-angeles-055927238.html
The LA fires simply prove how badly and incompetently Democrats handle government..
LA Times Reports Major Pacific Palisades Reservoir Was Offline And Empty When Fires Broke Out
The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that a major reservoir in the Pacific Palisades was offline and empty this week when devastating wildfires ravaged the LA-area community.
Staff reporter Matt Hamilton spoke to local officials who told “the Times that the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been closed for repairs to its cover, leaving a 117 million gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades.”
The report added that the “revelation comes among growing questions about why firefighters ran out of water while battling the blaze. Numerous fire hydrants in higher-elevation streets of the Palisades went dry, leaving firefighters struggling with low water pressure as they combated the flames.”
https://www.mediaite.com/news/la-times-reports-major-pacific-palisades-reservoir-was-offline-and-empty-when-fires-broke-out/
Democrats KNEW that Santa Ana winds were coming...
Since April, it has barely rained in Southern California, leaving the massive buildup of vegetation bone dry.
One of the strongest Santa Ana wind events in modern history was expected, with winds reaching up to 100 mph.
Democrats KNEW all this..
And they did NOTHING to prepare for it...
Democrats are incompetent.. Pure and simple..
THAT is the reality-based assessment of the facts..
Michale,
Lets see that permission from foxnews or are you just lying? Should we narc you off for a well deserved yellow card?
Now watch all the Weigantian trolls whine and cry an stamp their feet about the messenger and totally and completely ignore the FACTS in the message... :eyeroll:
Nice to know you still haven't figured out the difference between opinion and fact. I could post dozens of articles with the opposite opinion. Would that make them facts?
Nelson Mandela was a "convicted felon"..
So was Lech Welesa..
So was Al Capone. Trump's crimes were closer to Capone than your two who were under oppressive governments...
And just for comparison:
Los Angeles Fire Department budget 2023/2024: $819.64 million
Cal Fire budget: $2.6 Billion.
Your guy does it too:
Ron DeSantis Cuts Stormwater Flooding Funding Amid Florida Deluge
As I said... Weigantian trolls whine and cry about the messenger but ignore the FACTS of the message..
Weigantian trolls are sooo predictable..
Speaking of repressive governments..
Zuckerberg: "People In The Biden Administration" Told Us To Censor True Information About Vaccine Side-Effects
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/10/zuckerberg_people_in_the_biden_administraiton_told_us_to_censor_true_information_about_vaccine_side-effects.html
The Basement Biden/Headboard Harris junta is as bad as the repressive regimes that made Welesa and Mandela into "convicted felons"... :eyeroll:
The vast majority of COVID victims died under the Basement Biden/Headboard Harris junta...
This is documented fact..
Weigantian trolls are sooo predictable..
Yes, you are...
Mark Zuckerberg says Biden officials would 'scream' and 'curse' when seeking removal of Facebook content
The Meta CEO said on a podcast that administration officials had asked the company to remove certain posts, including "things that are true."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/mark-zuckerberg-joe-rogan-biden-officials-scream-curse-facebook-rcna187199
Yep... The Basement Biden/Headboard Harris junta is just as repressive and fascist as the regimes that labeled Mandela and Welesa "convicted felons"...
:eyeroll:
Oh, the hysteria!
Says the moron who actually thought Headboard Harris would win the election..
BBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
:D
This old chestnut again?
It's the same ol same ol ya'all are gonna relive for the next 12 years.. :D
Ya'all actually thought moron Democrats could take down President Trump!??
BBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
THIS is all Democrats are good for..
http://mfccfl.us/WokeLAFD.jpg
Didn't you say the same thing in 2020? Then ran off when you lost?
Nope... :D I have always been around..
You just can't admit that you have been wrong... About EVERYTHING...
And now Democrat governance is burning down Los Angeles and Portland is a druggie infested 3rd world shithole..
You must be SOOOO proud... You and your kind have destroyed everything they have touched.. :eyeroll:
The comments history say otherwise...
Speaking of druggie infested 3rd world shitholes, how is Trump's cabinet picks going?
Democrats claim that fire hydrants running dry in LA is a lie...
The FACTS say otherwise..
Why hydrants ran dry as firefighters battled California’s deadly fires
As crews have fought the fast-spreading fires across the Los Angeles area, they have repeatedly been hampered by low water pressure and fire hydrants that have gone dry. These problems have exposed what experts say are vulnerabilities in city water supply systems not built for wildfires on this scale.
The water system that supplies neighborhoods simply doesn’t have the capacity to deliver such large volumes of water over several hours, said Martin Adams, former general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
“The system has never been designed to fight a wildfire that then envelops a community,” Adams said in an interview with The Times.
The limitations of local water systems complicated firefighting efforts in Pacific Palisades, where scores of fire hydrants were left with little or no water, and in Altadena and Pasadena, which are served by different utilities and where firefighters say they have grappled with low water pressure.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-01-09/california-fires-water-supply-problems
Bashit,
Only a retarded Democrat moron would believe that ANY place in Florida is a 3rd world shithole... :eyeroll:
Unlike Portland where your Democrats have created a druggie infested 3rd world shithole..
What IS it about you moron Democrats that ya'all can't govern for shit??
First Democrats LOSE to President Trump..
And THEN Democrat incompetence burns down LA...
You moron Democrats are really showing ya'all's true colors, eh??
:eyeroll:
Uh...I'm not Democrat. Said for umpteenth time. Losing your memory?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1877460397738856939
How Democrats govern... :eyeroll:
First he LIES to the woman saying, "I am literally talking to the President right now..."...
THEN when the woman demands that he put the phone on speaker, he stutters and stumbles, claiming NOW that the President is not taking his calls..
What *IS* it with MORON Democrats that the LIE constantly to the people they are supposed to serve and protect!??
THIS is exactly what happens when moron Democrats put ideology before the welfare of Americans...
Woke is destroying the Democrat Party and innocent Americans are the collateral casualties...
Speaking of lies: Fact-checking criticism of California Democrats over fires
My gods, what a special kind of MORON you are, Bashit...
Your LINK confirms President ELECT Trump's claims...
On Friday, Newsom confirmed Trump's claim that there had been no water for some fire hydrants, which hampered the emergency response.
Firefighters in Los Angeles have told the BBC firsthand that they experienced shortages.
And your OWN link also confirmed that moron Democrat LA Mayor cut over SEVENTEEN MILLION dollars from the Fire Dept budget!!
LA Mayor Karen Bass has faced criticism over cuts to the city's fire department budget.
For the latest financial year, the LA Fire Department (LAFD) budget was reduced by $17.6m (£14.3m).
LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told CNN that the budget cut had "severely" affected the department's ability to respond to the disaster.
She said the department was already under-staffed and the elimination of civilian positions, like mechanics, had meant that 100 fire apparatuses were out of service.
So the FACTS are all completely accurate..
Fire Hydrants ran dry...
Democrat governance cut TENS OF MILLIONS from Fire protection budgets...
And NOW we have Hair Gel Newsome going on a liberal podcast claiming his people aren't giving him straight answers..
"WAAAAA WAAAAA My people aren't telling me what's going on!!!"
-Hair Gel Newsome
What IS it about you Democrats that they are all so completely and utterly incompetent!??
Huh, Bashit???
i don't think any court in the state of New York will overturn the conviction. scotus might, but if so, it would say more about the justices themselves than the merits of the case. even had Donald lost the election, the sentence would likely have been probation and a fine. the other three cases that Donald has evaded, had any of them reached sentencing at this time, might have warranted federal involvement. this one is just too reserved a power for any federal body to have a legitimate interest in getting involved.
You can TRY and spin it all you want, Bashit..
But the FACTS remain...
The Democrat Party have taken HUGE hits these last few months..
And no amount of hysterical PTDS or Trump/America hate will change the Objective Reality...
The Democrat Party is shit... End Trans...
i don't think any court in the state of New York will overturn the conviction.
Yea, but you also didn't think that President ELECT Trump would sweep all the swing states and win the Popular Vote...
I'm just sayin'.. :D
scotus might, but if so, it would say more about the justices themselves than the merits of the case.
There are no merits of this case.. ANYONE who claims that this case is legit is a moron or a Trump/America hater suffering from PTDS..
There are SO MANY facts that PROVE this case is nothing but lawfare persecution..
Just off the top of my head... What was the "crime" that allowed Bragg to change the misdemeanors into felonies??
Do you know?? No, you don't.. Not even BRAGG knows...
Because there was no crime..
That alone will cause the entire case to collapse..
You need to accept the objective reality..
There is no legitimate prosecution here...
Just like Nelson Mandela.. Just like Lech Welesa...
These cases were NOTHING but lawfare persecution by an oppressive fascist government..
"These are the facts of the case. And they are undisputed."
-Captain Smilin' Jack Ross, A FEW GOOD MEN
There are SO MANY facts that PROVE this case is nothing but lawfare persecution..
When you address the FACTS in comment #6, then... AND ONLY THEN, might you have a legitimate argument....
the underlying crime was an illegal campaign contribution. John Edwards got nicked for the same thing, but his jury was hung.
1.[Trump]would receive an "unconditional discharge" with no incarceration, fine, or probation following the guilty verdicts by a Manhattan jury last May.
2.Trump will, at the very least, appear virtually during a hearing 10 days before he is sworn in.
3.Only then is he officially "convicted."
4.A successful appeal erases the conviction
5.Merchan declared that they [jurors] did not have to agree unanimously [which other crimes were committed]
jarett includes no facts other than those above. every other statement in the article is an opinion.
The fire hydrant thing has been a story since the beginning, so your hysteria about that seems misplaced. Trump is of course lying about the reasons...
$17 million out of $817 million is basically just politics over reality on your side. Newsome also tripled the Cal Fire budget over his tenure so that's just your political nonsense...
The most beautiful thing about the sentence?
Definitely the spectacle of the MAGAts, Muskrats, and Trump cock holsters getting demonstrably majorly TRIGGERED.
Trump cannot pardon himself, because these were state crimes, not federal.
Oh, yes... that too.
But CW, the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul herself, has stated unequivocally that Trump could be pardoned if he would show remorse for his crimes.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha *breathe* ha ha ha ha!
Tune in January 20 (or don't) when Lame Donald Duck does the President Perp Walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's a new tradition. *laughs*
Gold-Bar Bob
*laughs*
nypoet22
37
the underlying crime was an illegal campaign contribution.
Multiple violations of underlying crimes too. Bragg had actually spelled out in writing in multiple filings with the Court a list of criminal statutes that elevated the misdemeanor falsification charges, including violations of:
* New York Election Law Section 17-152
* New York York Tax Law Sections 1801(a)(3) and 1802
* New York Penal Law Sections 175.05 and 175.10, or
* Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. Section 30101 et. seq.
The Court's findings are contained in the Court's decision:
https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/People-v-DonaldTrump2-15-24Decision.pdf
Page 11 begins the discussion of the Court's findings regarding the "Other Crime."
There was not one single "smoking gun" in the case but only because of the fact there were actually two... wherein the scheme to conceal the payment via fraudulent business records was written down on paper by not one but actually two of Donald Trump's own employees in their own handwriting.
Jesus Christ! Will you hurry up that blocking feature? Now I’ve got a cramp in my finger from sooo much scrolling.
JL,
the underlying crime was an illegal campaign contribution.
First off, the EXACT same kind of "crime" that Clinton (A Democrat) skated on.. The exact same kind of crime that John Edwards (A Democrat) skated on...
You seeing the pattern..
Further, President Trump was completely and utterly INNOCENT of that crime.. Why?? Because Basement Biden's DOJ decided NOT to prosecute that crime due to the FACT that it wasn't really a crime..
So how can that be the "crime" that magically made misdemeanors into felonies when President Trump is COMPLETELY innocent of that "crime"???
You see why this case won't survive appeal??
ANYONE with more than 2 brain cells to rub together KNOWS FOR A FACT that this case will not survive appeal...
The first job of ANY government is to protect it's people.
ANY government. Federal, State or local...
Californians 'angry' amid devastating wildfires, asking where high tax dollars went: local researcher
The LA wildfires have destroyed more than 12,300 homes around LA over five consecutive days, leaving at least 16 people dead
Los Angeles wildfires death toll rises to 16 as Gavin Newsom faces new firefighting funding scrutiny
California authorities have confirmed a new death toll of 16 as wildfires continue to rage around Los Angeles on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing criticism for approving a budget that slashed $100 million in firefighting and fire prevention funding.
By ** ANY ** measure, the Democrat Government of California is a complete and utter failure...
THIS is the objective reality.. THIS is FACT that none of ya'all can admit to...
jarett includes no facts other than those above. every other statement in the article is an opinion.
Not factually accurate...
FACT #1
At the same time, Merchan unwittingly concedes the folly of the entire prosecution by notifying the defendant that neither the court nor District Attorney Alvin Bragg will seek any meaningful punishment. Trump, the judge disingenuously advises, would receive an "unconditional discharge" with no incarceration, fine, or probation following the guilty verdicts by a Manhattan jury last May.
FACT #2
Never mind that state law does not support a jail sentence under these circumstances.
FACT #3
Forget that the district attorney deliberately contorted statutes and mangled evidence to pursue a meritless prosecution that was motivated purely by political vengeance.
FACT #4
And ignore the fact that there is little chance that the biased jury’s guilty verdict, compounded by Merchan’s chronic reversible errors, will withstand judicial scrutiny on appeal. Eventually.
FACT #5
The reversible errors committed by Moron Merchan
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gregg-jarrett-merchans-delayed-ruling-new-york-case-against-trump-should-dismissed
FACT #6
It seems obvious that Merchan is desperate to stain Trump with the formal stricture of "convicted felon." To do it, he must sentence the incoming president. A jury’s verdict alone is insufficient under the law.
A fact that I have pointed out MANY times and ya'all still lied and called President Trump a "convicted felon" even though he wasn't at the time.
FACT #7
Show up to be verbally tarred and feathered, but no stocks or pillory will be deployed.
FACT #8
A successful appeal erases the conviction, albeit belatedly.
FACT #9
Your average defendant would accept the Faustian bargain that guarantees no jail time and starts the clock immediately on the appellate process. But Trump is different. He is an inveterate fighter who refuses to capitulate, even when his opponents are facing reproach. It’s one of the many reasons why voters rewarded him with a second term in office. He does not give up or give in. Nor should he.
FACT #10
Trump is determined to clear his name. So, you can expect that his legal team will challenge Merchan’s ruling on both the dismissal and sentencing. There are various legal options available, such as filing for an emergency "stay" from the appellate courts that, if granted, may push any further proceedings beyond inauguration on Jan. 20.
FACT #11
Since it is well established that presidents are immune from any criminal process while in office —a principle that even Merchan accepts— a court-ordered pause would effectively delay sentencing until 2029. Of course, that assumes the case still has a pulse four years from now.
FACT #12
Trump has a credible argument that the verdicts against him should be vacated now. As president-elect, his lawyers contend that "immediate dismissal is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interest of justice." Sentencing would disrupt the orderly transfer of executive power.
FACT #13
In essence, a state has no right or power to transgress federal laws passed by Congress, including the Transition Act. Interference by a local prosecutor and/or judge constitutes a violation of the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution.
FACT #14
But there are other compelling reasons to end this case sooner, rather than later.
FACT #15
In an earlier ruling, Merchan readily acknowledged his authority to set aside the verdicts if mistakes were made at trial which would merit reversal. Yet, he stubbornly refuses to recognize the plethora of errors that demand dismissal.
FACT #16
Chief among them is that prosecutors relied on tainted evidence prohibited in the presidential immunity standard enunciated by the Supreme Court on July 1. Testimony from White House officials and numerous presidential records should never have been introduced. Merchan disregards all this by insisting that such evidence was trifling, even though prosecutors emphasized it during closing arguments to the jury.
FACT #17
He also turned a blind eye to Bragg’s convoluted and incoherent legal theory that it must somehow be a crime to conceal a perfectly legal non-disclosure agreement. It is not. He then allowed the district attorney to shred the law by resurrecting expired business record misdemeanors and transmuting them into phantom election felonies that were falsely portrayed as unduly influencing the 2016 presidential contest.
FACT #18
It was a pretty neat trick inasmuch as Trump’s transactions were recorded and reimbursed after the election. Moreover, Bragg, as a local prosecutor, had no jurisdiction to enforce federal campaign laws. The payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels did not even qualify as contributions under any statute or regulation.
FACT #19
As I have noted before, a competent or objective judge would have long ago tossed the Trump indictment in the garbage where it belonged. On its face, it was patently deficient, if not ludicrous, and a transparently politicized prosecution.
FACT #20
But what crime? No one can say. Was it federal campaign law violations? Taxation laws? False business records? Select from the aforementioned menu of imaginary possibilities. Trump doesn’t know because prosecutors never said. And neither did the jurors.
FACT #21
In an appalling instruction to the panel, Merchan declared that they did not have to identify which crimes were supposedly perpetrated and need not agree unanimously. He abandoned with impunity the bedrock principle of unanimity in criminal convictions which the Supreme Court has reinforced repeatedly.
This FACT proves that Victoria Troll lied when she said the jury decided "UNANIMOUSLY".. They did not.. The biased jury couldn't even agree on WHICH crimes were which. As long as the jury agreed that President Trump was guilty of SOME of the crimes... Which is ANOTHER reversible error on appeal..
FACT #22
Merchan’s courtroom devolved into a cesspool of incomprehensible rulings by a conflicted and hostile judge that deprived Trump of a fair trial. Merchan and prosecutors worked in concert to engineer the guilty verdicts. Political bias smothered the defendant’s due process rights. It was a harebrained case driven by a district attorney who enthusiastically embraced the Democrats’ corrupt lawfare campaign against their Republican opponent.
**BIG** FACT #23
None of it fooled American voters. Indeed, it appears to have backfired spectacularly. Many deeply resented how Trump’s adversaries disfigured the law to bring a series of criminal indictments designed to destroy his chances of returning to the White House. Outrage was voiced at the ballot box on Nov. 5. Decisively.
FACT #24
Despite their best efforts to sabotage the outcome of the election, the unscrupulous duo of Merchan and Bragg did nothing to stop Trump.
FACT #25
The newly elected president still benefits. He can commence appealing the shameless perversion of the law that was waged against him and the miscarriage of justice that ensued.
FACT #26
ALL of these lawfare persecutions case were brought ONLY after President Trump announced his bid for re-election.
FACT #27
There is reason to believe that there was coordination among them with President Joe Biden’s White House or with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s DOJ. Maybe both.
A whole PLETHORA of facts that ya'all moron Democrats refuse to accept..
JUST like ya'all refuse to accept the FACT that Democrat Policies lost the election for ya'all..
Moron Democrats are MASTERS of ignoring inconvenient facts...
This is the most damning FACT of all...
Blame LA fire horror on the woke religion bringing ruin to our cities
By Liel Leibovitz
Reprinted With Permission
The story of the Hebrew Bible is, at least in some part, the story of God punishing the wicked.
Welcome to wildfire-beset Los Angeles, or as The Post so poetically put it, HELL.A.
I don’t mean to suggest that Angelenos somehow deserve the catastrophe that has befallen them; to do so would be not only misguided but unforgivably cruel.
But as we’re reeling from one of the greatest disasters ever to befall an American city, we must be brutally honest, especially if we want to prevent this kind of calamity from happening again.
And a brutally honest assessment points to one inconvenient truth: The devastation of Los Angeles occurred largely as a result of people in power adhering blindly and madly to a very bad religion.
It was the woke religion, which judges people by the color of their skin and not the content of their character, that propelled Karen Bass to the highest office in town.
When the warnings started trickling in, days before the inferno, that LA might be looking at “the Big One,” Bass flew to Ghana to partake in some utterly meaningless bit of “diplomacy,” as if attending foreign inaugurations were part of an American mayor’s job.
When she finally returned, Bass stared silently at a British television reporter who asked a host of barbed questions, then gave a press conference in which she directed anyone seeking assistance to “URL,” a blooper that would’ve been hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.
It was the woke religion that led Bass to shave $17.6 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget so that she may have more money to coddle the city’s increasing — and increasingly unhinged — homeless population. The $23 million cut she had originally asked for was even bigger, clearly reflecting the mayor’s priorities of virtue-signaling over actual safety.
It was the woke religion that inspired the mayor, a champion of the gospel of diversity, equity and inclusion, to appoint a string of incompetents to the city’s all-important water board, and to dream up fantastic projects involving recycled wastewater and then shrug when deadlines were missed, budgets swelled and the city was left high and dry.
It was the woke religion that led California Gov. Gavin Newsom to address the United Nations about climate change and ban sales of gas-powered cars in his state by 2035, while slashing $150 million from California’s wildfire prevention budget.
He then went on to wildly overstate the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns by a whopping 690%.
And in one more mind-numbing act of succumbing to the woke religion’s fanatical environmentalist dogma, Newsom championed the protection of the 3-inch-long delta smelt fish, denying Los Angeles at least some additional water supplies it sure could’ve used when the reservoirs emptied out midday Wednesday.
In the coming weeks and months, we will no doubt hear a string of pious excuses from various progressive politicians, explaining why it was a series of unfortunate events — not their own ruinous policies — that contributed to this unprecedented devastation.
But voters, as the most recent presidential election proved beyond doubt, no longer care.
They understand that the Democratic Party no longer truly thinks about constituents, policies or outcomes. All it has left are articles of faith.
Democrats continue to bray about “criminal justice reform” while crime spikes and spirals out of control in every major city they control.
They preach diversity and inclusion while actively excluding some groups — most notably Jews — from their rainbow coalition.
They drone about social justice while forging new forms of discrimination.
They condemn “the patriarchy” while destroying every institution Americans have come to trust and respect.
And they do so because they see themselves not as servants of the public — that unwashed mass made up of imperfect human beings — but as priests of a cultish ideology that must be served, consequences be damned.
The LA fires ought to come as a reckoning, but they’re not the only example that this cult is inflicting nothing but suffering on ordinary Americans.
The same ideas have turned Chicago into America’s murder capital.
They’ve turned New York’s previously safe subway system into an apocalypse on wheels.
They’ve turned Philadelphia into the leading American city in drug overdose deaths.
Everywhere you turn, misery stems from the same set of misguided convictions, funded by the same sources and boosted by the same political organizations.
LA’s plight should be all the proof we need that enough is enough.
It’s time we reject — completely, utterly, vehemently — not only the servants of this bad religion, but the bad religion itself.
It’s time to take strong measures against DEI, CRT and the plethora of acronyms used to stir us away from traditional American virtues like common sense and fair-mindedness, and replace them with a lunatic set of convictions meant to usher in utopia by whatever means necessary.
We can’t afford another day of this madness, especially when our streets are literally burning.
Another PLETHORA of facts that show how completely and utterly INCOMPETENT Democrat governance is and how utterly moronic Democrat worship of the Woke religion scroos over everyday Americans.
Here's another fact for ya'all..
Weigantian trolls will hysterically whine and cry and stamp their feet about the messenger while completely ignoring the message..
THAT is because they acknowledge that they can't defend the indefensible INCOMPETENCE of Democrat governance...
There's ANOTHER fact for ya'all.. :eyeroll:
Hell... Even Token DEI LAFD Fire Chief is condemning Democrat LA Mayor Bass...
Ya'all just HAVE to know that a DEMOCRAT has royally frak'ed up when their own Token DEI pick turns on them!!
Whether it's City government, State government or Federal government.. Democrats aren't fit to be county dog catcher..
The FACTS that PROVE this beyond ANY doubt are as plentiful as they are conclusive..
"Karen Bass is going to be an OUTSTANDING mayor for Los Angeles."
-Barack Hussein Odumbo
Well, THERE is a claim that didn't age very well, eh?? :eyeroll:
As flames have destroyed thousands of homes, killed at least 16 people, and forced nearly 200,000 people from their homes, the mayor has been hammered for enacting budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Between the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 fiscal years, Bass oversaw the cutting of the fire department budget by nearly $18 million, while her initial proposal was to cut it by even more – up to $23 million.
The LAFD budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year of $837 million was also dwarfed by the city’s homeless budget of $1.3 billion.
Ya'all see what's wrong with Democrat priorities?? Democrats are more worried about their ideological agenda than anything else..
Democrat governance explained..
http://mfccfl.us/leadership.jpg
Can spew lame excuses till the cows come home..
But REAL leadership?? As non-existent as the fire hydrants are dry...
Documented FACT.... The Objective Reality...
Apparently, there is a god...
http://mfccfl.us/karma.jpg
And he has a wicked sense of karma... :D
MtnCaddy on [43]
Yes, indeed.
The endless scrolling gets tiresome real fast. Maybe Chris is working on it, though.
"Waaaaaa Waaaaaa Waaaaa... All the facts that prove how utterly selfish and incompetent Democrats are bother me!!! Waaaaaa Waaaaaaaa"
-Weigantian whiners
There is a very simple way to stop all the facts..
PROVE them wrong with facts of yer own..
But you can't because the facts are NOT wrong... And ya'all NEVER have any facts to support ya'all's BS claims..
"... and so it goes and so it goes"
-Billy Joel
"It's important to me that everything we do, it's with an equity lens and social justice and making sure that right the wrongs that we've done in the past from an infrastructure perspective, and we involve the community in that process."
-LA DWP Chief Janisse Quinones
Democrats putting WOKE before everything else is what is destroying Los Angeles....
The facts are incontrovertible...
Completely off topic, I haven't seen anything from C. R. Stucki for a while, but something I read elsewhere reminded me of him. Does anyone know if he is still around and ok, maybe just not posting? I think he told us once he's pretty elderly.
Edwards didn't "skate" - he had a hung jury, which means that a majority were voting to convict, they just couldn't convince the last holdout or holdouts.
the rest of those opinions mislabeled as facts aren't worth my time and energy.
scratch that, one opinion is worth addressing:
But what crime? No one can say. Was it federal campaign law violations? Taxation laws? False business records? Select from the aforementioned menu of imaginary possibilities. Trump doesn’t know because prosecutors never said. And neither did the jurors.
this opinion may or may not be valid, and that's the place of the new York appellate courts to decide. my apologies, there was so much nonsense elsewhere it was hard to locate. it's far from a slam dunk, but there are valid arguments on both sides of this issue. the side that jarett does not acknowledge is that the law does not require an underlying crime to be uniform for a jury to convict on the principal crime. just as a jury doesn't need to agree whether someone broke into your house to murder you, steal your belongings or kidnap your kids, they can vote to convict you for the break-in regardless.
JL
JL,
Edwards didn't "skate" - he had a hung jury, which means that a majority were voting to convict, they just couldn't convince the last holdout or holdouts.
And, if it were President Trump, he would have been persecuted again and again until they got the verdict they wanted..
But, because Edwards was a Dem, he skated..
That's the fact..
the rest of those opinions mislabeled as facts aren't worth my time and energy.
"Silence Gives Assent"
-Democrats
I accept your concession you have no response to the FACTS...
:D
FACT #24
Despite their best efforts to sabotage the outcome of the election, the unscrupulous duo of Merchan and Bragg did nothing to stop Trump.
It's a FACT that no matter what Democrats tried, they couldn't stop President Trump from winning the election..
Is that or is that not factual??
FACT #14
But there are other compelling reasons to end this case sooner, rather than later.
Is it or is it not factual that there are compelling reasons to end the case sooner rather than later??
You see??
There are a TON of facts that you refuse to acknowledge as fact...
As is typical of Trump/America hating Democrats suffering from PTDS..
What you call "nonsense" are simply FACTS that you refuse to acknowledge because of being enslaved to Party ideology...
Much like all the FACTS surrounding the LA fires that PROVE the incompetence of Democrat governance...
It's all part and parcel to the same slavery to Democrat ideology..
And, in the IT'S FUNNY CUZ IT'S TRUE department...
http://mfccfl.us/InCharge.jpg
Democrats make LOUSY and INCOMPETENT leaders...
Basement Biden and Hair Gel Newsome prove that beyond ANY doubt...
@59,
still opinions. the only fraction of those statements that is factual is that Donald won the election. the rest, not so much.
JL
Really??
It's an OPINION that Democrats couldn't stop President Trump??
No, that's a fact..
It's an OPINION that it's better to settle the case sooner rather than later??
No, that's a fact..
You see?? That is EXACTLY your and Democrats problem..
You think you can re-define words to fit your agenda.. You think you can re-define REALITY and FACTS to fit your agenda...
You can't, JL... Just like you couldn't redefine the FACT that Headboard Harris was a useless waste of skin and would NEVER be President...
YOU people tried to re-define "Charisma" so that it fit Headboard Harris...
You and your Democrats continue to try and redefine your SUBJECTIVE REALITY... your "truth"... to fit the OBJECTIVE REALITY... The FACTS..
And ya'all ALWAYS fail...
Just like Democrats are failing in California..
It's all part and parcel to the same incompetence..
THAT is why you Democrats lost the election... Because you couldn't redefine FACTS and REALITY to fit ya'all's agenda..
Chris,
...the point is that Trump successfully got everyone talking about it, and he will continue stirring everyone up as long as it gets him new headlines.
Trump will continue stirring everyone up because, as Trump has learned very early on, everyone is very easily stirred up and that goes quadruple for everyone in the media space. Heh.
It's an OPINION that Democrats couldn't stop President Trump??
"Democrats?" well, I'm a Democrat and i certainly couldn't stop him, so sure, but that's not what Jarrett wrote.
it's jarett's opinion that ag Bragg and judge merchan were trying to accomplish that objective via doing their jobs, and it's an opinion that would not survive scrutiny in a court of law. again, the only factual thing about that opinion is that Donald was elected.
It's an OPINION that it's better to settle the case sooner rather than later??
your first clue that it's an opinion should be the word "better" which is an opinion by definition. better for whom, according to whom, and based on whose judgement? opinion.
You think you can re-define words to fit your agenda.. You think you can re-define REALITY and FACTS to fit your agenda...
unless you wrote it while staring in a mirror, that opinion is not very well supported. words have meanings, and those meanings change over time, irrespective of who wants them to or not. the fact that you can't understand the word "objective" doesn't prevent the physical world outside your understanding from existing.
DEI Michale-
You do not have permission to reprint full NYPOST articles. So, why are you lying and because you are lying, why should we take anything from you seriously?
The whole "woke caused the LA fires" is some of the stupidest propaganda I've yet seen. You are not a patriot, you are in a cult...
Bashi,
What would you say caused the LA fires?
Liz,
What caused the massive fires in Canada? What caused unusually powerful hurricanes in Florida? Random chance meets extreme conditions/weather. In this case 100 MPH Santa Anna winds mixed with extremely dry conditions. The specific spark is still being investigated. Could be power lines, could be an arsonist, could be some moron flicking their cig out the window, fireworks, or a tailpipe of a car.
But the idea that massive fires in LA or Maui or Canada or Australia or Spain or Greece or anywhere else is some woke religion is seriously demented...
I was just trying to steer the, ah, conversation in a different direction.
The carbon load in our precious atmosphere is ever-increasing, year by year. And, it appears that we are way past having any chance to avoid the increase in global temperature that would be the tipping point or point of no return.
I wonder what keeps that carbon load ever-increasing...
Greed and laziness...
"Drill baby, drill!"
"We (read: the Biden administration) have increased the production and development of fossil fuels beyond what anyone, including the Trumpster, has ever done in the history of the blue planet."
I think it is the fossil fool polices throughout the world that are the root cause of much, if not all, of the extreme weather events that we suffer far more regularly now than ever before.
And, yet we let the fossil fool leaders keep on keeping on, no matter what political party they belong to.
Chris,
That "very liberal 51st state" has been turning less and less liberal with every passing year. Like much of the rest of the world.
Elizabeth on [71]
Of course you have an insider's perspective on that question, but "less and less liberal" may still be a relative phrase, in comparison with U.S. politics. Earlier this week the quantitative politics blog Electoral-vote-dot-com responded to a reader's question about whether Canada, hypothetically annexed to the U.S., wouldn't tilt American politics distinctly more to the left.
The editors, V. & Z. wrote:
"Let us begin by reiterating that this is just a thought exercise. This is never, ever going to happen. And indeed, the impacts we are about to describe are among the many reasons it is never, ever going to happen.
"First, let's talk about senators. There were several polls, prior to last year's election, where Canadians were asked which presidential candidate they would vote for, if they were able to vote. On average, Kamala Harris got about 70% support, convicted felon Donald Trump got about 27%. That would make Canada bluer than any state, trailing only the 93% of the vote that Kamala Harris got in Washington, DC. There are four states that gave Harris about 60% of the vote (i.e., they are less blue than Canada), and those are Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts and Hawaii. The last time those states sent a Republican to the Senate, respectively, were 2000, 1980, 2010 and 1970. And that 2010 election in Massachusetts was a wonky special election; the last regular election to return a Republican member of the U.S. Senate for Massachusetts was 1972. It's pretty safe to assume, then, that the state of Canada would elect two Democrats to the Senate.
"As to the House, it's easy enough to figure out that Canada, if kept together as one giant state, would have 45 seats in the House of Representatives. Those would come out of the hides of the current 50 states, of course, with 31 different states giving up at least one seat. It is impossible to say exactly how redistricting in those 31 states would unfold, or how Canada's districts would shake down. However, if you assume that the 45 seats lost to the existing 50 states break down roughly equally between parties (say, 23 R, 22 D), and you assume that the 'Nades would break roughly 3-to-1 for the blue team (say, 33 D, 12 R), then you end up with a net gain of around 20 seats for the Democrats (those 45 seats go from +1 R to +21 D).
"Naturally, the math changes a little bit if Canada's current provinces are treated as states, such that the U.S. ends up adding 10 states (or possibly 13 states, if the territories are granted statehood). However, doing it this way would almost certainly provide an even bigger bonanza for the Democrats. Yes, there would be some Republican senators (from Alberta, for example, which is basically the Texas of Canada). However, the Democrats could easily pick up 5-10 senators if it was done this way. They might pick up a couple more House seats, too, because of the tiebreaking procedure when rounding populations up or down.
"If Trump, the convicted felon, keeps prattling on about acquiring Canada, we suspect someone will sit him down and point out that he would almost certainly be handing over control of the House to the Democrats, while leaving the Senate on razor's edge. And the change would be long-lasting, making it very difficult for Republicans to gain the trifecta in the near future. This would not be a good thing for him and his agenda."
So, Canada may be less liberal than it once was, but by the polling reported above, it's still a heck of a lot more liberal than the U.S. in general.
And as V & Z note, it's almost certain that Trump has no idea of such things - he's simply being obnoxious and aggressive in his usual bullying way. Annexing Canada - remember, it's never going to happen - would be a first-class disaster for Trump and the Republican Party for many decades to come.
Source: https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Senate/Maps/Jan11.html
John,
Everything is relative, I guess. But support for Trump is growing here and I don't expect that trend to change any time soon.
Growing in Canada, Elizabeth? For real? Why? Got a link?
Because here in the ‘States Trump didn’t win much of any Democrats over it was 19 million Biden voters that didn’t show up for Kamala. Stay tuned for my very own Autopsy of 2024. Which reads like 2016…and the 2010 midterms…and 2000.
John M from Ct.-
it would probably go further to the Democrats as Canadians would rightly hold them responsible for the take over, even if their base politics aligned. Much like the south would not go near Republicans for close to a hundred years after the civil war...
*hold Republicans responsible
JL,
your first clue that it's an opinion should be the word "better" which is an opinion by definition. better for whom, according to whom, and based on whose judgement? opinion.
Pedantic much??
We're talking about President Trump so ANYONE with more than 2 brain cells to rub together would understand that it would be better for President ELECT Trump... :eyeroll:
So, yes.. It's a FACT that, for President ELECT Trump that this case is better settled sooner rather than later.
Is this not factually accurate?? Of course it is..
words have meanings, and those meanings change over time, irrespective of who wants them to or not.
We're not talking about those kinds of words. Again, as anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together would understand..
We're talking about the definition of words the DEMOCRATS want to change to fit their agenda..
Like Clinton who wanted to change the definition of 'is'..
Or you yourself who wanted to change the definition of 'racism' to fit your Democrat agenda..
We're talking about so many science-based things (REAL science) that Democrats wanted to change to fit their agenda..
Oh and let's not forget Democrats even MAKING UP words like "Latinx".. How did THAT work out for ya'all Dumbocrats?? :eyeroll:
ALL of this is well-documented FACT...
Your Democrat agenda is wrong for America, JL.. As the 2024 election proved beyond any doubt...
It's you and your Democrats who need to look into the mirror and accept the facts and reality...
The California fires provide even MORE proof of how bad Democrat governance is and how WRONG Democrat policies are for America..
So when are YOU going to take a look in the mirror, eh? :eyeroll:
Liz,
What would you say caused the LA fires?
The actual cause of the fires is still under investigation.. One of the larger fires, the evidence indicates it was started by a homeless person.. High winds on power lines are suspected of starting other fires..
But that's not the real question that should be asked..
The question that needs to be asked is what caused the fires to grow so big and rage out of control..
The answer is completely predictable high Santa Ana winds and complete and utter incompetence of Woke governance by Democrats in California...
The facts that document this are as plentiful as they are conclusive..
It's what happens when government leadership hires based identity rather than competence and ability.
The DEI Hire LADWP leader that the LA Mayor (ANOTHER DEI HIRE) hired was the head of the electrical department of PG&E. The SAME PG&E that was in charge in another set of very serious fires that PG&E caused many years back...
What kind of Democrat DEI MORON would hire another Democrat DEI moron who was the head of the company that caused ANOTHER bunch of catastrophic fires!!??
I mean, the utter stupidity of that is MIND-BOGGLING..
But it just shows perfectly how utterly incompetent Democrats are..
They always have both eyes on their political agenda without a SINGLE thought to consequences...
Almost a WEEK of catastrophic fires and ALL Democrats can do is point fingers at President ELECT Trump and at each other.. :eyeroll:
There have been at least 24 deaths and more than 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed in the L.A.-area fires. After a day of progress in containing the Eaton and Palisades fires, crews are bracing for several days of winds that could hamper efforts to contain the firestorms.
The Palisades fire is only 13% contained after almost a WEEK of burning... THIRTEEN PERCENT!!!
And officials are predicting "explosive fire growth" due to increasing winds over the next 4-6 days...
Great job, Democrats.. :eyeroll: Not only could Democrats NOT win an election against a "convicted felon".....
Democrats can't even do the ONE thing that is the most important government function.. Protect it's citizens...
Anyone who supports Democrats need to have their heads examined for mental illness... :eyeroll:
So, yes.. It's a FACT that, for President ELECT Trump that this case is better settled sooner rather than later.
still an opinion. feel free to presume otherwise, but there's really no need for you to continue to prove what you don't know you don't know.
Michale,
This one is just for you! (I'm posting it because I know it hasn't been pitch-"corrected" as is the current music industry standard operating procedure. Which destroys the voices of great singers.
Take Me To The Kaptin
It's the first climate apocalypse song, you know. Of course, PRiSM was light-years ahead of their time.
DEI Michale-
Lots of lies there... You will love the link, ton of embolden all caps FACTs
Democrats are fighting fires. Republicans, like you, are pushing politics.
Trump and his minions are still pushing for taking Greenland, pushing Putin's policies...
nypoet22
81
still an opinion. feel free to presume otherwise, but there's really no need for you to continue to prove what you don't know you don't know.
Absolutely an opinion and apparently one that Trump doesn't agree with since he's stated his intent to appeal the case and delay its closing even further than the multiple delays he's already requested throughout the duration.
FACT: The case would have already been closed had Trump not delayed it multiple times.
FACT: The case will soon be closed unless Trump chooses to delay it further by formal appeal.
FACT: Trump falsified multiple business records by having reimbursements fraudulently classified as income in the form of payments to retain the legal services of his fixer, Michael Cohen. We know this because Cohen presented his request for reimbursement for the expenses via a bank statement of the shell corporation wherein payment was made to the attorney of Stormy Daniels (along with another campaign expense written on it by Cohen), and the scheme to repay it is written directly on its face by Trump employee, Weisselburg. Another Trump employee also wrote down the scheme regarding the reimbursement of expenses to be repaid as legal fees for which Cohen would invoice.
FACT: A jury has found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of fraud.
That is the fraudulent reimbursement for campaign expenses disguised as income to Cohen wherein the expenses are grossed up x2 to account for payment of Cohen's New York state and federal income taxes (the intent to commit another crime of falsifying taxes written directly on its face).
Not rocket science.
Evidence:
* People's 35
* People's 36