December 20

1192 – Richard the Lionheart of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.

1522 – After 6 months of siege by the fleet and army of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, the Hospitaller Knights of Rhodes are forced to surrender, and are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.

1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1812 –  Sacagawea of the Shoshone tribe dies, age about 24, at the Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post in North Dakota.

1820 – Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men aged between 21 & 50, which is only paid for 1 year before being repealed in January 1822.

1860 – South Carolina – of course, Fort Sumter being in Charleston harbor – becomes the first state to secede from the United States.

1915 – The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli during World War 1

1924 – Sentenced to 5 years in prison for being convicted of Treason for the ‘Beer Hall Putsch’ in Munich, Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison, after serving only 264 days.

1941 – The American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” has their first engagement against Japanese forces in Kunming, China.

1951 – The EBR-1 reactor at the Argonnne West National Laboratory site near Arco, Idaho, becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity, powering four (4!) light bulbs before finally producing enough electricity to power the entire building.

1952 – A U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster, enroute from Larson Air Force Base, near Moses Lake, Washington to Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas as part of Operation Sleigh Ride, bringing servicemen fighting in the Korean War home for Christmas, crashes just after takeoff, killing 87 of the 115 passengers and crew aboard.

1957 – The first Boeing 707 production passenger jet rolls off the line.

1968 – The Zodiac Killer murders his first victims, Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.

1971 – The international aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières -Doctors Without Borders – is founded by Bernard Kouchner in Paris, France.

1989 – Beginning with troops of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the U.S. Army Ranger Regiment performing Combat Parachute Assaults at 01:00 hrs EST to capture the Rio Hato and Torrijos International Airports, U.S forces begin Operation Just Cause, invading Panama to depose Manuel Noriega.

1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the ‘honor killing’ of their daughter Palestina but both murderous parents later die in prison before execution of sentences.

1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 159 of the 163 passengers and crew aboard.

2005 – The New York City’s Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike over pension and wage increases, shutting down all subway and bus services for 3 days

2014  – Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley kills 2 NYPD officers in Brooklyn, New York, supposedly in revenge for the killing of Eric Garner, before killing himself

2019 – The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

2022 – A 6.4-magnitude earthquake near Eureka, northern California kills 2 people.

 

 

“I’ll take ‘Totally Lacking Due Process” for $500, Alex

On Trump and Colorado

By now most readers will have heard that Donald Trump was disqualified from the ballot in the state of Colorado, by the Colorado State Supreme Court, for what amounts to a criminal offense neither proven nor charged. Fifth Amendment, Schmifth Amendment, apparently.

This is a major escalation of the lawfare phenomenon that’s zoomed from simmer to boil in the seven short years since Trump was first elected in 2016. The glee of #Resistance dolts like Robert Reich and Dean Obeidallah at this decision shows that this was a move dreamed up at the very center of the bubble-within-a-bubble-within-a-bubble that is the blob of the modern Democratic Party. Racket readers, I had a piece planned for later on a quasi-related subject, but I’ll try to get it out in the day or so now.

 

I remember an article titled; Where’s Vlad (the impaler) when you really need him? I’ll try to find it.

Civilization Has to Go Medieval on Terrorists.

“Remember we have only to be lucky once, you will have to be lucky always,” the IRA warned the world after an assassination bombing at Brighton’s Grand Hotel barely missed killing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984. The same story is being told today in the vital lanes of the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are waging a missile war against the world’s shipping — and major shippers are getting out before their luck runs out.

Oil giant BP is just the latest firm to announce it will “pause” all shipments through the Red Sea due to the “deteriorating security situation,” according to a company statement. Taiwan-based Evergreen Line made a similar announcement, “For the safety of ships and crew, Evergreen Line has decided to temporarily stop accepting Israeli cargo with immediate effect, and has instructed its container ships to suspend navigation through the Red Sea until further notice.”

Those announcements came on the heels of similar decisions made over the weekend. On Saturday, two other major shipping firms — Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM — ceased Red Sea operations. “The CMA CGM Group is deeply concerned about the recent attacks on commercial vessels unfolding in the Red Sea Region. The situation is further deteriorating and concern of safety is increasing,” one statement said. All of their ships currently in passage have been instructed to “reach safe areas and pause their journey in safe waters with immediate effect until further notice.”

The BBC explained Monday that Houthis are “targeting ships traveling through the Bab al-Mandab Strait – also known as the Gate of Tears – which is a channel 20 miles (32km) wide, and known for being perilous to navigate.”

One or two American guided missile destroyers — dispatched from a navy that is already stretched too thin — is not enough to shoot down every Houthi missile. Shipping firms understand this and are skedaddling accordingly.

For my isolationist-minded readers who are certain this is just “a quarrel in a faraway land between people of which we know nothing,” nothing could be further from the truth. The Red Sea — and the Suez Canal that connects it to the Mediterranean — is one of the world’s most vital sea lanes.

Oil prices are up — way up — on the news. That quarrel in a faraway land is about to make itself felt at your neighborhood gas pump, and that has nothing to do with a lack of production in this country. Oil is a global commodity, so a disruption anywhere leads to higher prices everywhere.

About one in six container ships travels through the Suez Canal, carrying everything from crude oil to consumer goods. Supply chain expert Chris Rogers told CNN today, “Consumer goods will face the largest impact, though current disruptions are occurring during the off-peak shipping season.”

American prosperity has been built on international trade since before the Revolutionary War and it almost certainly always will be. The same goes for the rest of the West, including our non-Western (but friendly) commercial cousins in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Maybe even China has a role to play here. But the world’s wealthy trading nations can either get as Medieval on terrorists and pirates as they are on us, or we can kiss our prosperity goodbye.

Alaska. .44 Magnum. Yep, sounds legit.

Wasilla woman kills home invader who stabbed husband

A 22-year-old Houston man was shot to death Sunday during a residential burglary in Wasilla when he fought with the couple who lived there, according to Alaska State Troopers.

An initial report of the home invasion reached troopers at 9 a.m. Sunday, an online dispatch said. Troopers found Justice Beaudoin-Martinez, who was unknown to the residents, suffering from a single gunshot wound. Medics attempted lifesaving measures, but he died at the home.

“Investigation revealed the two residents of the home had discovered Beaudoin-Martinez inside their home and a physical altercation ensued, during which the male resident was stabbed in the arm,” troopers said. “The female resident retrieved a firearm and fired a single gunshot, in defense of her husband, which struck Beaudoin-Martinez and resulted in his death.”

Medics took the husband to a local hospital for treatment of his non-life-threatening stab wound, according to the dispatch.

Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said in an email Monday morning that some of the homeowners’ belongings had been found in Beaudoin-Martinez’s backpack. The weapons involved in the encounter included a buck knife he used to stab the husband and a .44 Magnum revolver the wife fired at Beaudoin-Martinez in response, DeSpain said.

An investigation of the shooting was “consistent with an act of self-defense,” according to the trooper dispatch. No charges are being considered in the case, DeSpain said.

Beaudoin-Martinez’s family has been notified.

December 19

1606 – The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who found Jamestown, Virginia Colony

1675 – The militia of the English settlers of the villages of Kingston and West Kingston in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations are victorious against warriors of the Narragansett tribe during King Philip’s (Chief Metacomet ‘s Christian name) War in New England.

1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled “The American Crisis”.

1777 – The U.S. Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1828 – Vice President John Calhoun sparks political crisis when he anonymously publishes the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828,  stating his view that a state has the right to reject federal law.

1871  – Albert L Jones of New York City patents corrugated paper

1907 – 239 coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

1932 – The BBC Empire Service, now called the World Service begins international broadcasting.

1946 – The First Indochina War between France and the Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh and the People’s Army of Vietnam begins

1950 – A Chinese invasion of Tibet forces the Tibetan spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, Gyalwa Rinpoche, the 14th Dalai Lama, to flee Lhasa for Yadong on the Tibetan-India border

1972 – Apollo 17, the last manned Moon landing mission to date, returns to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, 4 miles from the recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga

1974 – Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States

1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997 at the end of a 99 year lease, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.

1995 – Having not been included under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress finally passes legislation recognizing the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi tribe in Athens Michigan.

1998 –The House of Representatives votes to impeach President Bill Clinton

2016 –Murdering the original driver, a moslem from Tunisia deliberately drives a truck  into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 more.

Fact Check — Hakeem Jeffries: Gun Violence the No. 1 Killer of Children

CLAIM: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) used a Thursday post on X to claim that gun violence is the number one killer of children in America.

VERDICT: False.

Jeffries is not the first Democrat to make this false claim, one based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) numbers focused on causes of death for people 0-19 years of age.

For example, during a June 2, 2022, prime-time speech, President Joe Biden reacted to the CDC figures by claiming: “Guns are the number one killer of children.” The “children” referenced by Biden include people of voting age, i.e., 18 and 19-year-olds. CDC figures show firearm-related deaths of people ages 0-19 totaled 4,368 in 2020, while motor vehicle deaths for the same age range totaled 4,036.

However, Breitbart News pointed out that if you do a custom search on the CDC website, adjusting the numbers so that you are limiting the category of “children” to the ages 0-17, i.e., individuals that are actually minors, then the data flips. The number of firearm-related deaths for children aged 0-17 was 2,281 in 2020, while the number of motor vehicle deaths for the same ages was 2,503.

Despite the demonstrable falsehood of Biden’s claim, Vice President Kamala Harris repeated it, as did actresses Allysa Milano and Jennifer Lawrence.

Jeffries is repeating it now, and it is still false.

Nebraska AG Deems Omaha & Lincoln’s Executive Orders Illegal

On Friday, December 15th, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued a formal opinion that the gun-free zone executive orders in Omaha and Lincoln are illegal for outdoor facilities. He deemed that “municipalities lack the authority to regulate the possession of firearms and certain weapons in quintessential public spaces, such as parks, trails, and sidewalks…” and that attempting to do so is an infringement on both the Second Amendment and the Nebraska State Constitution.

Senator Tom Brewer, who championed constitutional carry and statewide preemption bill LB 77, requested an opinion on the executive orders’ constitutionality this fall, specifically pertaining to the outdoor facilities the orders regulated.

This is a significant victory for all Nebraskans, and clarifies that municipalities lack the authority to regulate carry in “quintessential” outdoor spaces. Residents in Lincoln and Omaha should contact their local elected officials to rescind these unconstitutional orders and ordinances using their contact pages. For Lincoln, please contact the city council and Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird. For Omaha, please contact the city council and Mayor Jean Stothert.

Waffle House customer fatally shoots man who threatened diners

The weekend violence in the Birmingham area continued early this morning when someone was shot to death outside an east Jefferson County Waffle House.

Jefferson County sheriff’s Lt. Joni Money said deputies were dispatched at 1:30 a.m. to the restaurant in the 2200 block of Center Point Parkway. The report was that a person was threatening to shoot patrons.

Before deputies got on the scene, Money said, the 26-year-old man got into an altercation with a patron. The patron then shot the man and left the location.

The 26-year-old was pronounced dead on the scene.

“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
-P.J. O’Rourke

In Tennessee, under proposed new law, you will lose your 2A rights if you take any of the medications on this list

December 18

1118 – During the Reconquista, the city of Zaragoza is retaken by the army of King Alfonso I of Aragon.

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire of Mongolia and China “Yuan” starting the Yuan dynasty .

1777 – The U.S. celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by Americans over British troops commanded by General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in October.

1787 – New Jersey becomes the 3rd state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1799 – George Washington is buried at Mount Vernon

1865 – Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the 13th  Amendment to the Constitution.

1892 –  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker opens in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1917 – The 18th amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.

1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans in the first NFL playoff game held to break a tie in the season’s final standings to win the NFL Championship at Chicago.

1944 – In the case of Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court rules that President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced removal and internment of Japanese Americans is constitutional and is not reversed as unconstitutional until 2018, in the case of Trump v. Hawaii.

1958 – Designed and built by  U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory,  the SCORE satellite–Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment – the world’s first purpose built communications satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral’s launch complex  LC-11

1966 – The Saturn moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker using the U.S. Naval Observatory – Flagstaff Station’s 61-inch Kaj Strand Astrometric Reflector telescope.

1972 –  President Nixon announces that the U.S. will begin Operation Linebacker II, bombing North Vietnam after peace talks collapse.

1977 – United Airlines Cargo Flight 2860,  a Douglas DC-8, enroute from San Francisco to Chicago, crashes near Kaysville, Utah, killing all 3 crew members on board.

1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying 5 Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.

2016 – Zsa Zsa Gabor dies, age 99, from cardiac arrest at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

2017 – Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501 derails near DuPont, Washington, killing 6 people, and injuring 70 others.

2019 – The House of Representatives votes to impeach President Donald Trump

When even lefties don’t think much of your plan…….

Don’t overdo New Mexico’s red flag laws like other states’

It seems odd that a measure that’s supposed to fight gun crime appears to affect the very people who are the least likely to commit such acts, that is law-abiding citizens who are concealed carry holders.

On Dec. 11, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham joined other state officials for an update on the ongoing public health orders that restrict concealed carry from parks and playgrounds and promote ostensible gun safety measures.

“Let me just state unequivocally, the public health order has been in effect three months and it’s working,” the governor said at the news conference. According to Lujan Grisham, 219 guns were seized, 2,490 arrests were made, 87 juveniles involved in gun-related crimes have been detained, 13 guns were seized from one repeat violent offender arrested and 439 guns turned in at a gun buyback event by Stat.

First, the governor couldn’t be more wrong about the approach. It’s not a health epidemic, it’s a crime epidemic. And guns are the tools used by criminals.

In fact, what the governor touts as a successful mandate is nothing more than officials just doing the job of cracking down on crime. One doesn’t need to have a public health order restricting legal firearms to seize illegal guns, make arrests, host buybacks and have “warrant roundups” for felons and firearms. One doesn’t need a public health order to punish criminal wrongdoing beyond a slap on the wrist. One doesn’t need a public health order to test the wastewater at schools for drugs.

Still, the governor talks of more, newer laws.

There’s talk about novel assault rifle legislation being pushed at the upcoming 2024 legislative session, where rifles would be limited to 10 rounds, or perhaps an assault weapons ban. Limiting rifles sounds good but rifles are rarely used in crimes or even in mass shootings, statistics show.

Then there’s red flag laws, such as New Mexico’s 2020 Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act or ERPO. A total of 19 states and the District of Columbia have these laws. Lujan Grisham and other state officials want them toughened up.

The main reason is that red flag laws haven’t had a really broad impact in New Mexico since passage. Two years after the ERPO legislation was passed, only nine petitions were filed statewide. By comparison, there were 109 in Colorado in its first year, also 2020. California started out with 85 in 2016, according to that state’s Governor’s Office, but now has racked up more than 3,000 red flag actions.

Even though New Mexico’s ERPO petitions started jumping — 48 being filed since 2022 — they are a drop in the bucket compared to states like Florida, which has seen more about 10,000 red flag court seizures since 2018.

But research hasn’t really shown a correlation between lowering gun violence — the problem New Mexico is trying to solve — and using red flag laws. In fact, there’s no proof red flag laws actually work to reduce crime, though they are a promising tool for stopping mass shootings.

The New York Times reported in January that a recent six-state study of more than 6,700 ERPO cases found that nearly 10% involved threats to kill at least three people. That’s a pretty wide dragnet to land just 10%, but with mass shootings, stopping one can be considered a victory. The Times points out why such laws work so well for mass shooters. Nearly half of individuals who engaged in mass shootings (48%) leaked their plans in advance to others, including family members, friends, and colleagues, as well as strangers and law enforcement officers.

But the study also found that most individuals who perpetrated mass shootings had a prior criminal record (64.5%) and a history of violence (62.8%), including domestic violence (27.9%).

That doesn’t match up with what we were told about the reason for red flag laws. Proponents said they fill a gap where people without criminal records can’t be touched. Some law enforcement officials had found it difficult to seize guns if a gun owner was not a felon or convicted of domestic violence. But in some cases, such laws aren’t needed at all. For example, it’s already a crime to threaten to use a gun on someone.

Law-abiding citizens have long feared red flag laws were susceptible to mission creep, meaning they could devolve into a situation where anyone can just report another, perhaps for political purposes, disrupting the life of a totally innocent person. Right now, the law allows family members to contact law enforcement, who petition the court. Guns can be seized for a year. One idea being floated for the 2024 legislative session is to add to the list of who can report and petition for a person to be subjected to gun seizure, exactly the move that concerns law-abiding gun owners.

The Editorial Board stands firmly against expanding the parties that can report, though we think updates to the Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act, such as making sure law enforcement officers are well trained in the law, are a good idea. This law in particular must be kept free of abuse. It’s a slippery slope that could lead to ruined lives. As eager as we are to catch bad guys, some protections are needed. Those protections already exist in the U.S. Constitution. They’re known as due process and they’re precisely the thing critics say is lacking from ERPOs.

We don’t want the optics of New Mexico ordering thousands of gun seizures per year or devolving into a state of suspicion among neighbors and residents. We need to stay focused on the kinds of crimes that actually plague our metro areas and use solutions to target those crimes, not simply follow the solutions other states have for their own problems.

Every institution has been corrupted, but they get upset if you call them corrupt.

‘Liberty and Justice For All’ – A Tattered Cliche?

One set of laws for Donald Trump and his supporters, and another set for the harassers.

Throughout history, the tyrannical abuse of governmental power has been a fearsome thing to behold. Wise men instituted laws in an effort to tame that abuse. The Constitution of the United States, for example, was framed in large part as a prophylactic against the coercive power of the state. The Framers witnessed the “long train of abuses and usurpations” perpetrated by the British crown and resolved to respond. The Constitution dealt with many other things, to be sure, but concern about tyrannical abuse of power by the government and its minions is patent from the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence straight through the Constitution and its Amendments. The idea was that we Americans would live in a polity governed by “laws, not men.” That is to say, laws would be legitimately formulated, clearly defined, and administered impartially, so far as was humanly possible. How are we doing on that score?

Not so well.

The terms “administrative state” and “deep state” entered parlance only about seven years ago. The realities those phrases name long predate their currency, but Donald Trump was the lens through which worry about those legitimacy-devouring, essentially tyrannical phenomena crystallized. During the 2016 campaign, Trump’s chief strategist Steven Bannon raised eyebrows when he said that “deconstructing the administrative state” was a high priority. In the event, Trump’s success on that task was only a patchwork affair, but he did make an effort.

What prompts these thoughts is the spectacle, partly risible, partly terrifying, of the federal government’s ongoing vendetta against a single individual it cannot countenance. That individual, of course, is Donald Trump. And while the focus of its vendetta is against Trump the man—or, more precisely, Trump the presidential candidate—its animus has spilled over to embrace anyone tainted by association with the Trump phenomenon. Into this category fall the hundreds of people who had the misfortune to visit the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Opinions differ about the state of popular sentiment when it comes to the current disposition of the United States government. I have by degrees joined the camp that has grave doubts about its legitimacy. I do not, for example, believe that the hallowed ideal of “liberty and justice for all” is these days much more than a tattered cliché, a pious nostrum without substance.

One of the great poster children for this erosion of public support—and, consequently, of political legitimacy—is the FBI. At a time when its operations are so patently partisan, it is hard to maintain confidence in its beneficence. Consider the news about Charles McGonigal, former head of Counterintelligence for the FBI, boss of  FBI love bird Peter “Mr. Insurance Policy” Strzok, and vigorous investigator of the Trump Russia Collusion hoax. Wouldn’t you know it: the chap who went after George Papadopoulos and others in Trump’s circle was just fined and sentenced to four years in prison for—wait for it—colluding with Russia.

You might argue that McGonigal’s comeuppance shows that “the system works,” that the FBI can effectively police itself, etc. I would counter that it is yet another reminder that the deep-state, anti-Trump forces operate primarily by what the Freudians call projection, by being guilty of what they accuse others of. There is a hilarious video collage making the rounds of various pundits and politicians warning that the world, or at least our democratic republic, will come to a sudden and ignominious end if, heaven forfend, Donald Trump should be elected again in 2024. Trump will assassinate generals, you see, shoot visitors to the White House, suspend the Constitution, and kill democracy. It is an inadvertently amusing compilation but also a deeply depressing one since it underscores the sad and debilitating effects of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Trump represents a threat to democracy, ergo he must be prevented from running “by any means necessary,” otherwise so many people might vote for that he would win. That’s the logic. Odd isn’t it? Person X wins in a free and open election. But you don’t like the person. So you declare the election “undemocratic.”

It is here that we must distinguish between “democracy,” which is what would be upheld if Trump were allowed to run, and “Our Democracy™,” that strange, oligarchical confect that can be maintained only by suppressing common, or garden variety democracy.

It is in this context, I believe that we must understand the unhinged legal campaigns unleashed against Trump in four separate jurisdictions.

I say “legal campaigns,” but really they are partisan political assaults masquerading under cover of legal procedures.

That is, they look like legal procedures from the outside; they employ all the paraphernalia of legal procedures. There are courts, lawyers, subpoena, judges.  But  the German Judge Roland Freisler (1893-1945) employed all that machinery, too. He presided over trials.  But he always got the results he wanted.

And this brings me to the activities of Special Counsel Jack Smith, the anti-Trump fanatic and DOJ pit bull who has been charged with taking Trump down in Washington, D.C., where Trump is accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election by “obstructing an official proceeding,” etc., and in Florida, where he is accused of illegally possessing classified documents.

Smith understands that by far his best chance of getting Trump is in Washington—not, I hasten to add, because he has much of a case there but because he has an Obama-appointed anti-Trump judge Tanya Chutkan and a Democratic jury pool that can be counted on to convict Trump on anything he accused of. Andy McCarthy has published a thoroughgoing anatomy of the the legal niceties of the case. He is no friend to Trump, deprecates what he calls his “loathsome behavior,” but does say that he thinks Trump is “being denied due process.” He further acknowledges that the effort to use Section 1512(c) of the federal penal law against Trump will be a “tough case” that is likely to signal “trouble for Smith.”

It’s the opposite in Florida, where the judge is a Trump-appointed jurist and the jury pool is likely to be sympathetic to Trump. In my view, Trump’s possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago is no different from Biden’s possession of classified documents in his garage behind his Corvette. Rather, Trump’s case was less egregious than Biden’s. For one thing, Biden was never president.  He had many more documents, in many more, less secure places. And remember: all modern presidents seem to have possession of classified documents after they leave office, but not all former presidents are Donald Trump.

Trump’s lawyers have appealed the Washington case and, in response, Smith has asked the Supreme Court to bypass the usual appeal process and take the case on an expedited schedule. Why? Because the Washington trial was set to begin on March 4, a day before “Super Tuesday,” at which Trump is likely to seal the GOP nomination. Smith hoped that an early trial would harm Trump with voters. So far, legal attacks agains Trump have had the opposite effect, increasing his standing in the polls. That is because voters understand that the legal challenges are legal in name only. At bottom, they are instances of bare-knuckle political warfare.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial whose slug got to the nub of the issue. “The special counsel,” it read, “tries to drag the Justices into his political timetable for the Jan. 6 trial of Donald Trump.” That’s it exactly. Smith wants the Court to decide now, today, so he can pursue his vendetta against Trump on the time table the election calendar has set. Most observers believe that the Court will be more circumspect. The writers of that editorial caution that “The wiser decision would have been to lay out the facts of what the special counsel found and let the voters decide. They chose to prosecute, and the damage has begun to unfold.”

I was talking to a friend about about Smith’s case. He responded “It sounds like the judiciary/prosecution is corruptly trying to interfere with an official proceeding, i.e., the election.” That’s pretty much what I think, too, though I don’t expect Jack Smith to be charged for the tort. Remember, there is one law for Donald Trump and his supporters. They can be harassed, prosecuted, and jailed. There is another law for the nomenklatura that does the harassing, prosecuting, and jailing.

Christian Nationalism

We’re being told that we should be afraid of this:

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him. And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.

Blesses are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.

     [Matthew 5:1-12]

And this:

And behold one came and said to him: Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?

Who said to him: Why asketh thou me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

     [Matthew 19:16-19]

And this:

But the Pharisees hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together: And one of them, a doctor of the law, asking him, tempting him: Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?
Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.

     [Matthew 22:34-40]

But we’re not supposed to be afraid of this:

“Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for Holy Warriors! These are hundreds of other psalms and Hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.” — Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

“The minarets are our bayonets; the domes are our helmets. Mosques are our barracks, the believers are soldiers. This holy army guards my religion. Almighty Our journey is our destiny, the end is martyrdom.” — Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of Turkey

Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the Shaitan. Fight therefore against the friends of the Shaitan; surely the strategy of the Shaitan is weak. [Koran, Sura 4:76]

“I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them.” [Koran, Sura 8:12]

“But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem…” [Koran, Sura 9:5]

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, of the people of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” [Koran, Sura 9:29]

“O Prophet! Struggle against the unbelievers and hypocrites and be harsh with them.” [Koran, Sura 9:73]

Puzzling, eh?

***

It’s becoming rare that my boiler gets lit over anything, these days. I’ve said too much…written too much. But among my remaining hot buttons, this one may be the hottest: people who promote contempt toward Christianity and malice toward Christians. From the way they whine and rave, you’d think we had our hands in their pockets, if not down their pants.

Continue reading “”