Lawfare Collapsing

11/14/25 CBS News:

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has officially dropped three charges out of dozens in Georgia's election interference case against President Trump and others.

On Friday, McAfee ordered that Counts 14, 15, and 27, conspiracy and criminal attempt to file false documents and filing false documents, respectively, should be dismissed. Mr. Trump had been charged with two of the counts, 15 and 27.

McAfee had signaled in September 2024 that he wanted to remove the charges, arguing that they lie beyond the state's jurisdiction. He was not able to officially drop the charges until the case was remanded to him, which did not happen until Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's disqualification was finalized by the Georgia courts.

In Friday's ruling, he said that the defendants' remaining motions challenging the indictment over the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution were denied, meaning only the three were quashed at this time.

The judge had previously quashed six counts in the indictment, including three against Mr. Trump, in March 2024....

The ruling comes on the same day that Peter J. Skandalakis, the director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, announced he would be filling the position left vacant by Willis after she was disqualified from the case.

Skandalakis said he had appointed himself to lead the prosecution after his organization could not find another prosecutor before McAfee's Friday deadline. If a prosecutor had not been found, the judge said he would have dismissed all charges.

I think everyone can smell how bad Willis' lawfare case was.

 

 

It Was a Joke

New York Times headline: "End of the World Imminent: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit"

But the 10/10/25 New York Times headline is close:

"Letitia James Is Among Prominent Black Women Targeted by Trump"

They list three prominent black women, two of whom engaged in lawfare against Trump and allies.  They are upset because what goes around, comes around. 

They Are Very Upbeat Songs

1/16/25 BBC:

'Village People's YMCA is a high-energy disco hit that encourages young working-class men to meet like-minded individuals at Young Men's Christian Association hostels. It's been interpreted as an ode to the delights of picking up sexual partners at them – it appears on an album entitled Cruisin' – and it was first performed by a group of chiselled dancers sporting moustaches and figure-hugging fancy dress costumes. It's hardly surprising, then, that the song has been so closely associated with gay culture ever since its release in 1978. What is perhaps surprising is that it is now so closely associated with US President-elect Donald Trump."

The article suggests that Trump is appealing to nolstaga but also points out these are very upbeat tunes:

"That is, they want to relive certain moments that they have in their brains as when America was great; they just don't want to deal with the contradictions. Disco was problematic for a lot of kids at the time, but now the same people who used to be uncomfortable with it are saying, 'The 1970s were great! My back didn't hurt!'"'

Can anyone not sing along with "YMCA" or "In the Navy"?  (Did the Navy ever use this song in a recruiting ad?) Yes, they are double entendre rich, but even just at the written text, they are fun.

A Detailed Analysis of the Felony Without Penslty

Over at ChicagoBoyz.

When Even the Nation Admits This

5/1/19 The Nation. If you are not fanilar with it, this is the magazine of the organized left, like National Review for the right:

§ Toward the end of the first volume (pp. 144, 146), Mueller produces a truly stunning revelation, though he seems unaware of it. After the 2016 US presidential election, the Kremlin “appeared not to have preexisting contacts…with senior officials around the President-Elect.” Even more, “Putin spoke of the difficulty faced by the Russian government in getting in touch with the incoming Trump Administration…. Putin indicated that he did not know with whom formally to speak and generally did not know the people around the President-Elect.”

So much for all the shameful Russiagate allegations of Trump-Putin collusion, conspiracy, even treason. Surely it means the United States needs another, different investigation, one into the actual origins and meaning of this fraudulent, corrosive, exceedingly dangerous, and still unending American political scandal.

Secret Service Failure

12/10/24 AP reports that Secret Service blew it for several reasons, including the obvious that they were protecting Jill Biden the same day.  Also the movement of Secret Service into Homeland Security made it difficult to get their budget concerns adequately raised to Congress.   This all makes more sense than an intentional effort to get Trump killed.

I Am Hoping This is Atypical

11/12/24 Telegraph:

"Meet the ‘doom-spending’ Gen Z Democrats using retail therapy to cope with Trump win

"Young voters show off their latest purchases made because they are ‘sad about election result’"

At least they are not buying poisons.  Won't they be said if in a couple years they can afford to buy houses?

The Affirmative Action President

11/10/24 The Hill:

"Jamal Simmons, a former aide to Vice President Harris, called for President Biden to resign so that the vice president can have his role for a short amount of time.

“Joe Biden’s been a phenomenal president, he’s lived up to so many of the promises he’s made. There’s one promise left that he could fulfill, being a transitional figure,” Simmons said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on a panel featuring anchor Dana Bash, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

“He could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make Kamala Harris president of the United States,” he continued, drawing shocked reactions from others."

I think the theory is that the only way a woman can become president is if the senile occupant resigns so she csn have a brief time in the office.  This is about as blatant a piece of Affirmative Action as I csn imagine.  Not good enough for election but she gets a few weeks in the seat anyway.  

I confess that it is hard to see how Biden is superior to Harris at the moment,  or inferior. 

What Do Voters Want?

11/10/24 CNN:

"But Democratic operatives involved in key races told CNN they don’t know how to figure out what those voters who went for Trump want, or how they’re doing in appealing to them."

Gee, maybe looking at what Trump was selling?  They are fully echo chambered.  Illegal immigration is not popular,  even with Hispanics.   LGBT is not popular, especially the T.  Inflation is not popular.   Preferred pronouns for the military instead of a strong military is not popular.   T-5 abortions are not popular even if there is reluctance to completely ban abortion.

This is not that hard.   

They Run Campaigns Like the Country

11/9/24 Newsweek:

"Kamala Harris' presidential election campaign ended the 2024 White House contest "at least $20 million in debt," according to Politico's California bureau chief Christopher Cadelago.

"Cadelago made the claim on X, formerly Twitter, noting Harris' team had "$118 million in the bank" as recently as October 16."

Harris raised a billion dollars and spent all of it and $20 million more to fail.  Trump raised $392 million and spent $345 million.  Look at the results.   Who managed their money better and got more votes.  I shudder to think what was promised to raise that billion dollars. 

Russia or the DNC?

11/9/24 Reuters:

"WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Federal and state authorities are investigating a wave of bigoted text messages sent anonymously that have spread alarm among Black Americans across the country this week, officials and recipients told Reuters.

"The messages urged recipients in multiple states, including Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, to report to a plantation to pick cotton, an offensive reference to past enslavement of Black people in the United States."

I can see why Blacks would find this offensive.   If I received such a message6  ordering me to appear at the Episcopalian Church on Sunday (which is why some ofrrif my ancestors came to America), I would categorize it as a stupid nuisance rather like the continual fundraising texts that I get. 

I am guessing this is either Russian attempts to stir up division (as they did after Trump's 2016 victory) or the DNC trying to terrify Blacks like Biden's claim to the NAACP in 2012 that President Romney would put them back in chains.

Today's Implausible News Story

 BBC (I cannot see date because of pop-ups)

Donald Trump’s return to the White House effectively slammed the door on the two cases involving federal criminal charges against him.

A state case against him for allegedly conspiring to interfere with Georgia’s election in 2020 will go on hold until after his term in office ends - if it's still alive by then.

But next week, the fate of the remaining case – his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York – will be determined. It could stand, or it could be swept away in the same political and legal tide that has allowed him to escape the others.

Justice Juan Merchan will decide by Tuesday whether to grant Trump’s pre-election request to throw out his conviction. Should Justice Merchan side with Trump, it would almost wipe clean his slate of criminal woes.

But should the judge uphold the conviction, he would proceed to sentencing later this month. It would likely spark even more delay attempts from Trump and open up an unprecedented new front for America’s criminal justice system.

“This is truly uncharted territory,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at the New York Law School....

Even if Justice Merchan upholds the conviction and keeps the scheduled sentencing, Trump’s team is almost certain to seek more delays and appeals.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, did not respond to inquiries about whether he planned to seek a delay.

Because Trump will be tied up with a presidential transition and the legal questions about sentencing a president are so complex, some scholars see very little chance it will stay on the calendar.

“I think the most likely outcome in the state case is the judge putting off sentencing until after Trump's term in office,” said Daniel Charles Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School.

 Yes, jail is unlikely.  Imagine Secret Service protection in jail.  Imagine keeping the "nuclear football" secure.

UPDATE: 11/7/24 New York Post:

The Manhattan judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s “hush money” criminal trial is expected to announce next week if the president-elect’s historic felony conviction will still stand.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had already delayed sentencing by more than four months to come after the election — and gave himself until next Tuesday to decide if the conviction should be tossed.

One of Those Stories That Makes You Go Hmmm

 11/8/24 ABC News:

Three people have been charged in an alleged Iran-linked plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, an Iranian-American activist and two Jewish Americans living in New York, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in New York.

Farhad Shakeri, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt are charged with murder-for-hire, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Rivera and Loadholt have been arrested, while Shakeri, who the FBI described as an "asset" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is believed to be in Tehran.

The IRGC tasked Shakeri with surveilling and killing Trump to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force, in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, according to the complaint....

Shakeri emigrated to the United States but was deported in 2008 after serving prison time for robbery, according to the Justice Department. While in prison, he met Rivera and Loadholt and hired them to target an Iranian American activist living in Brooklyn, according to the complaint.[emphasis added]

Does anyone besides me find that combinations of ethnicities odd?

Are You Seeing This Yet?

I have not been out of the house yet.  I was led to believe that after Trump was elected:

1. Women would be stopped by police and asked for documentation about their most recent period.

2. Those stylish red hoods would be mandatory. 

3. Journalists would be rounded up and jailed.

4. Non-Christians would be shunned and removed from all jobs.

5. Witches would be burned at the stake.

Stock Market Flying

Dow Jones 30 Industrials up 1300 points or 3%.  This will be a very good day.  I am reminded of Krugman's warning about the collapse of the stock market if Trump won in 2016 

Tesla is up 14% today.

UPDATE: Dow now up 1500 points (3.57%).  I hope Democrats who are a $100,000 dollars richer in their IRAs and 401ks feel appropriately guilt-ridden about it.

Happy Day!

We had dinner with my daughter last night.  She was explaining that she loves election day because of all the data and how various scenarios are on dependent on the data.  My wife stares at her and says, "You really are your father's daughter."  She took that as a compliment. 

I suppose the Democrats could still insist this was widespread election fraud,  assassinate Trump, declare martial law, announce that Trump is really one of those aliens from Men in Black, and ask us to look into the device to make us forget.  But with a Republican majority in the Senate, there are going to be a lot more originalist federal judges on the bench these next few years.  Expect a lot more whining about the tyranny of the judicial branch.

You Are Not Marrying Hin

I know many Christians are reluctant to vote for Trump.  He is a pretty carnal guy.  He us from New York City so that is the norm. 

Nonetheless,  ask yourself,  are you marrying this guy or picking as your pastor?  Compare the consequences for a society where children are being drugged to change their sex and prisoners get taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery, girls have to use locker rooms with men.  Which do you want?

Get out and vote Tuesdsy.   If you are dead, I am hoping you have already done so.

Thank Obama and Biden

11/2/24 New York Post:

Iran claims it can build nukes, threatens Israel and US with ‘tooth-breaking’ retaliation"

Only if Iran does not mind Tehran turning into glowing glass.   Israel has SLBM nukes as well as the U.S.  With a little coordination, every Iranian military base and weapon facility could be destroyed without reducing our retaliatory capacity. 

Of course,  that is if Trump is President.   Harris will be negotiating best possible deal after losing NYC.

A new tag that I never needed before 

Garbage Truck

10/30/24 New York Post:

"Biden's 'garbage' comment sends Dem senators scrambling in key swing state races: 'Strongly disagrees'

5 incumbent senators, including a Senate candidate, told Fox News Digital they disagree with Biden's viral comment"

Biden can not only sink Harris but turn Congress over to the GOP.

Trump and Abortion

Some evangelicals have criticized Trump for taking a conciliatory stand on abortion laws. This 10/17/24 WHYY article suggests that Trump is making an observation about what is obviously going to happen, including here in Idaho, where our abortion law failed to handle legitimate medically necessary D&Cs:

"The latest example came this week when the Republican presidential nominee said some abortion laws are “too tough” and would be “redone.”

“It’s going to be redone,” he said during a Fox News town hall that aired Wednesday. “They’re going to, you’re going to, you end up with a vote of the people. They’re too tough, too tough. And those are going to be redone because already there’s a movement in those states.”

"Trump did not specify if he meant he would take some kind of action if he wins in November, and he did not say which states or laws he was talking about. He did not elaborate on what he meant by “redone.”

Yes, inadequately written laws will be corrected.  That seems to be what Trump is saying.