Spencer Pratt vs. LA Reality

Spencer Pratt held second place behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass for most of the week after the June 2 primary. He lost that lead on Monday as more ballots were counted, with far-left City Council-member Nithya Raman surging ahead to claim the runoff spot.

(I like Council-member over the rather clunky Alderperson we sometimes hear in Chicago — yuck!)

Let’s be clear: Raman isn’t just a Democrat. She’s a Democratic Socialist. While I believe today’s Democratic Party have lost their minds, there’s an important distinction here. We’re not talking about your average, everyday Democrat.

From what I’ve seen, Pratt ran on straightforward common sense and actually fixing LA’s problems. I only started following this race closely in the last month — right in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary. Realistically, was he going to win the mayor’s office? No. But his performance sent a clear message.

In 2022, Los Angeles voters chose incumbent Mayor Karen Bass over billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso. Caruso didn’t run again this cycle, which opened the door for Pratt. The Jersey Shore reality TV star may be best known for his bold persona, but his campaign reflected real anger over the city’s leadership — especially after the devastating wildfires, when Mayor Bass was overseas in Africa.

I have to share this raw IG video from Doug Ellin, the creator and producer of the HBO series Entourage. He posted it just a week before the election. Ellin is clearly fed up and tired of being gaslit by local media. He openly laments how LA voters chose Bass over Caruso four years ago.

#Tucker ordered to cease & desist

I see there is another episode of Tucker on Twitter due tomorrow, Tuesday. And it was in the news today that Tucker Carlson's former employer - FOX News where he actually remains under contract - sent him a cease and desist letter. 

What's the game? Well he's breaching his contract by taking his act to Twitter. I've been seeing that he's expecting to stay off the airwaves (or be silenced) until 2025.

Next Episode of Tucker on Twitter coming Tuesday: Tucker’s response to the indictment of President Donald Trump

— Justin Wells (@justinbwells) June 11, 2023

Mark Dice: FOX News just lost $787 million. Will they survive after this?

 

[VIDEO] This was shocking news I heard about via twitter. Of course I have to find a article about this to see what happened.

I didn't really follow the Dominion lawsuit against FOX News Channel. They had to give up some money in this lawsuit. As you see Mark Dice takes a look at this news and shows hows FOX's competitors reported this news.

Whoever that CNN guy is - Jake Tapper aka Tapeworm - he was a d!ck for snickering over this. What an unprofessional fool!

Trump pleads not guilty

 

If only Andy Warhol was still alive!

Yesterday was an historic day, the first time a former President has been brought up on criminal charges.

These charges brought up against Donald J. Trump regarding whatever hush money payments offered to former adult actress - well I mean she did the skin flix - Stormy Daniels when Trump ran his successful 2016 campaign for President. The controversy was the fact that Alvin Bragg - who is currently the Manhattan District Attorney who presides over a high crime rate in the NYC borough of Manhattan - brought up what is described as federal charges against Trump.

So many on the right will describe this as a politically charged prosecution. So this happened during at least 2015 and 2016. Why didn't the FEC do anything? Certainly why didn't even the NY US Attorney do anything?

Another thing to look at is coverage. My perception is that there were some networks who were playing up yesterday's events. Trump was expected to surrender for his arraignment. Other headlines state that he was arrested. I suppose my comprehension is more or less did he have to be arrested in order to appear in court to hear criminal charges?

Is there a lawyer in the house who can answer this? Wait from FOX 5 NY:

Technically, while Trump went through the booking process ahead of the arraignment, he was considered to be "under arrest" and in custody.

But he wasn't handcuffed and he didn't sit in a jail cell, in part because parts of the courthouse were cleared out for his arraignment — and because Trump is a former president with Secret Service protection.

Trump only faced "getting arrested" – like how it's portrayed in the movies – if he didn’t voluntarily turn himself into the court ahead of his arraignment, which he did.

The logistics and security of Trump’s surrender were worked on for several days, according to sources, and included collaboration from the U.S. Secret Service, New York Police Department, FBI, New York State court officers and the DA's office.

And again Bragg or anyone else who was pursuing any legal action against Pres. Trump are only causing themselves to be open to this:

Trump then flew back to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, and appeared in front of several hundred supporters on Tuesday night. He repeated ongoing claims that the investigation was politically motivated, attacking Bragg and the judge in the New York case, the judge's family, and other prosecutors investigating him in other cases.

"The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it," Trump said.

Since I'm an NPC Trump isn't going to listen to me. Trump isn't wrong to go after Bragg and the judge in this - although I don't know exactly what the judge did in this situation. However, stay away from family big man I'm not sure there was any good reason for it.

Here's another thing from CBS News:

"The payment records, kept and maintained by the Trump Organization, were false New York business records. In truth, there was no retainer agreement, and Lawyer A was not being paid for legal services rendered in 2017," the statement of facts said, referring to Cohen. "The Defendant caused his entities' business records to be falsified to disguise his and others' criminal conduct."

Falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor under New York law, but can be charged as a felony if done with an "intent to defraud [that] includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof." Prosecutors said Trump's conduct was intended to violate election laws.

Well, now the right wingers who support Trump will begin to ask the question as far as whether or not this could be proven in a court of law? And hopefully honest and fair lawyers are looking at whether or not this case could even go to trail.

The next time the former President will be in court is later this year December 4th. And by that point its time to campaign for the Presidency as he will be. When is the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses? 

Legal Eagles Trump prosecution

 

[VIDEO] Alvin Bragg is the "Soros" funded District Attorney of Manhattan - just think who does the prosecution for Law & Order TV series. Anyway what's been discussed in the news and I mostly follow this from the perspective of conservative media is the politically charged prosecution of the 45th POTUS Donald Trump.

We hear about this woman Stormy Daniels who claims to have had an affair with Trump and thus hush money was paid to her. Bragg wants to lift this from a misdemeanor to a felony - which according to Legal Eagles you have to prove there was an intent to do this to commit another crime. And also could this involve campaign funds?

Meanwhile there is a serious crime problem in New York beyond the affairs of a former President for whom this occurred before he became POTUS and thus why is Bragg soft on crime?

O'Reilly: The pitiful AG's DISMAL performance

 

[VIDEO] The Attorney General of the U.S. made a statement with regards to the raid on Trump's Florida property earlier this week. A sealed warrant, an affidavit, and no real indication as far as why they are doing this and what exactly are they looking for. All most of us may know is that former President Trump took some documents that allegedly he wasn't supposed to.

I've also heard that his people got a heads up about this search warrant. So he knew the FBI were coming. We also know that whatever was being looked at by federal authorities that Trump was actually cooperating. It could be said there was no need for this raid, for this show of force by federal authorities.

So the comments by Merrick Garland - Joe Biden's Attorney General - were not useful as nothing was said. And O'Reilly characterized Garlan's comments as being someone who was "scared" just not in charge by any means. 

FBI raids Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago

 

[VIDEO] Just had to share this with you all. This raid will add more fuel to the fire of the division in this nation. The former President's statement throws around the term "weaponized judiciary" as being alleged as Democrats continue to push the January 6th "Insurrection" narrative.

There isn't much to be said about this on Instapundit, yet at least.

Gov. DeSantis is a true leader

 

[VIDEO] This video was published today. Down there is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is suspending Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren. 

As I post this I'm going through the video and see Gov. DeSantis cite the issues in Los Angeles and San Francisco for their prosecutors failing to adequate prosecute criminals. Even cite that in S.F. - reminder they recalled their prosecutor as crime rose there - you can steal a certain amount of merchandise and you won't be arrested nor prosecuted.

Here's why:

DeSantis said Warren put himself above the law by signing letters saying he would not enforce any prohibitions on sex change operations for minors and would not prosecute abortion cases. He made the latter statement after Roe v. Wade was struck down by the Supreme Court.

"It's not for (Warren) to put himself above that, and say that he is not going to enforce the law," DeSantis said at the news conference. "We don't elect people in one part of the state, to have veto power over what the entire state decides on these important issues.

"The constitution of Florida has vested the veto power in the governor, not in individual state attorneys. And so when you flagrantly violate your oath of office, when you make yourself above the law, you have violated your duty, you have neglected your duty, and you are displaying a lack of competence to be able to perform those duties. So today we are suspending State Attorney Andrew Warren effective immediately."

I know some states have the ability to remove - independent of recall - of prosecutors. Particularly elected prosecutors like Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx who got a second term in 2020. In this state, I'm not aware of such a process and voters can't recall her. So we get to recall her in 2024 when voters choose the next POTUS because it definitely won't be Joe Biden running again.

Either way he doesn't mention the issues of Manhattan where a prosecutor there District Attorney Alvin Bragg is engaging in the practice that got Mr. Warren suspended and ultimately to be removed from office. Crime is rising in NYC especially in Manhattan. The Governor of NY is Kathy Hochul, she's running for re-election and hopefully crime is important to voters there. She's not taken any action yet from what I can tell.

Here in Illinois - Chicago area especially crime is an issue. Our Gov. J.B. Pritzker seems to run ads about making Illinois a haven for abortions. How about making this state safer for your citizens? What are we going to do about rising crime in an important urban center such as Chicago?

So anyway, the above video shows how Gov. DeSantis right now is my favorite Republican right now. I do hope he becomes POTUS one day, even as soon as 2024. Sorry Trump you were great too, however, DeSantis is the future!  

Matt Walsh: What is a person?

 

[VIDEO] Matt Walsh just released a documentary asking the question: what is a woman? And there are many who prove really unwilling to answer that question. No one is willing to define a woman by anything from an adult human female to one that gives birth (as one med student did a TikTok to state that pregnancy shouldn't be associated with women).

So with the abortion debate as he discusses on his program especially since the controversial issue of Roe V. Wade has been overturned a new question is what is a person? So is a person defined by when they are conceived by their biological mother and father?

That is when an female egg cell is fertilized by a male sperm cell? Is such a person defined by when they become an identifiable fetus? And at some point once a person is conceived they grow into what is clearly a mammalian fetus and ultimately an identifiable human.

Finally are they a person when they are born? 

All very good questions which it seems is the next question to really take this debate. We hear women fearing the death of a lot of women who have back alley abortions. Believe it or not I sympathize any thinking feeling person should we don't want people to partake in very unsafe procedures. However, I also care about the unborn and the next debate ought to be what is a person.

NY Post: Other woke DAs who could be run out of office like San Francisco's Chesa Boudin

 Among others including the recalled Chesa Boudin is Kim Foxx who Cook County residents had the opportunity to get rid of but we re-elected her in 2020. So we got her until the next presidential race when Cook County votes for state's attorney. For those of you who just want her primaried and hopefully defeated - which honesty is more likely than voting Republican for most - be very wary of what other Democrat you want to replace her with.

Via Newsalert

Newsmax: Clarence Thomas breaks silence on leaked Roe v. Wade overturn opinion protestors

 

[VIDEO] I'm thinking in his statement since the Roe v. Wade leak last week how right SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas is. That one side can't live with an outcome they don't like and as a result the pro-choice side wants to threaten the highest court in the nation to not overturn Roe v. Wade.

Beyond that as discussed in the above Newsmax clip by a former SCOTUS clerk it's against federal law to threaten a Supreme Court Justice. You see how polarizing this issue gets! 

Attorneys want out of R. Kelly's federal case

 

[VIDEO] I haven't really been following this on a consistent basis but I do have my thoughts on this.

In about 2002 when I first went away to college the students I met at Morehouse were talking about a video - which I never saw - of R. Kelly engaging in sex acts with a minor. My defense of R. Kelly was usually perhaps it just looks like him, most would say "No it's HIM". Well I don't know I never saw it to say whether or not it was or wasn't him.

Regardless I hold strictly to the idea of innocent until proven guilty. He was charged and put on trial in Illinois with regards to that very video. He was found not guilty and certainly expected that this would be the end of it until fairly recent. 

As noted in the short story above from my local CBS affiliate here in Chicago, he was convicted last year on sex crimes charges in New York. He's under the gun for similar charges in federal court here in Chicago. So whatever is going on in the bedroom with R. Kelly well it exploded more.

Plenty have expressed their opinion of him and may condemn him as a pedophile because it seems he just loves underaged girls. Many probably have been affected by such individuals and our society certainly condemns pedophiles in the worst way. Children are vulnerable, and certainly teenaged young people are vulnerable although certainly they're at an age where they can take care of themselves. At the same time to get the attention of a famous entertainer as R. Kelly that could lead to some issues that no one wants to think about.

Yes I know I'm putting this simply, there's a lot going on here that I have no idea how to address them. One thing to be said is that it seems to me R. Kelly has self-destructed. Even I no longer believe he's innocent and it didn't have to take that one guilty verdict for me to recognize this. Once the public kept finding out things about his private life even I had to say something is wrong here.

I could compare it to O.J. Simpson although he was found not guilty in the murders of his ex-wife and her companion, I accepted that he was acquitted although so many believed he did it. He was even found liable in a civil trial determining wrongful death. And worse still he was sent to prison for many years on unrelated charges. For me it just showed many years after he beat the rap in 1995 that he was affected by this murder trial in some way. It causes me to wonder if he actually did the murder.

Well Simpson won't be charged with it now, and R. Kelly currently is undergoing the same legal issues. He already got convicted in New York. And we see his responses to the latest scrutinies especially blowing up at Gayle King. At this point because of what's come up I just have some issues even believing that he hasn't done at least some of the things he's being accused of.

Tim Pool was 'swatted'

 

[VIDEO] I occasionally watch the Cast Castle videoblogs which features the inner circle of Tim Pool's operation. While Pool is from Chicago I do know that he's living in New York and New Jersey and now living in rural West Virginia. Pool has often stated that after the unrest in 2020 he felt compelled to move as far away from any city or suburbs as possible

I got wind of this last nite when Pool noted on twitter that he was "swatted" during a livestream. You hear some I presume dispatch noting some form of political broadcast going on.

Nate the Lawyer: Key question of the Chauvin Trial

 

[VIDEO] I like how Nate breaks down the issue of the Felony Murder Rule. Basically although former policeman Derrick Chauvin could prove that he didn't intend to cause the death of George Floyd, the question here is whether or not the use of force against Floyd was justified. The prosecution up there in Minneapolis, Minn will have to prove that Chauvin's use of force was not justified and constituted excessive force that resulted in Floyd's death.

Another thing that Nate breaks down is how easy someone could be convicted of felony murder using the rules he cites in this video. He noted an example of a man who allowed someone to borrow his car - and usage of his car during a crime that resulted in a death. The man was asleep in his home and he was charged and convicted of felony murder.

Another case was cited here where someone broke into and entered a property unlawfully. They beat a man when he appeared on this property. The beating reportedly wasn't enough to cause the mans death, however, the beating was enough to cause a heart attack from which that man died. Felony murder and in fact one of the charges with Chauvin is 3rd degree murder carries a 40 year sentence.

I hope you check out Nate's video, do you agree with his conclusions especially with the Chavin case?

Powerline: Chauvin trial preview

 The Powerline Blog is based out of Minnesota and is also written by attorneys. They look at the "tale of the tape" for the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis. Chauvin was the Minneapolis Police Officer who's charge with murder in the death of George Floyd. It touched off riots around the nation and protests around the world. Something we still haven't entirely settled down from, just look at what's happened in Portland, Ore. since then.

Either way the Minnesota Attorney General's office is handling the prosecution in this case. Minneapolis is based in Hennepin County and their district attorney's have been sidelined. And I want to share this:

• The court has set up a page for the Chauvin case here. All public filings in the case by the parties or the court are posted on that page. Separate pages have been set up for the three former officers also charged with responsibility for Floyd’s death. The separate pages for their cases are accessible on Chauvin’s page.

Also these thoughts:

• The charges against Chauvin were brought in a lynch mob atmosphere led by Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. They publicly pronounced Chauvin and the other officers guilty many times over last spring and summer.

• Those of us who took up law and/or journalism may have been inspired by Atticus Finch or John Adams or Woodward and Bernstein, but when the time came to face down the mob or talk back to the authorities, the lawyers and media took their places in the crowd.

• Take the Star Tribune, for example. As the lynch mob formed and the city burned, the cat had their tongue. Star Tribune commentary editor D.J. Tice wrote an excellent column on “the challenge of a fair trial for Chauvin.” The column was published on February 20 — a little late in the game. And it stands more or less alone. (I raised the fair trial issue last year in posts including “Random thoughts on the Floyd case.”)

The blogger here Scott Johnson takes a look at the lead prosecutor in this case and the judge and mentions an appeal as far as the other charge to Chauvin of third degree murder which the judge in this case Peter Cahill had dropped. It seems Johnson likes Judge Cahill, however, once the trail begins we'll see how this goes.

Chauvin deserves a free trial, however, there are people out there who believe he is guilty. Better yet they want him to be guilty. Being guilty and wanting someone to be guilty are two different things. I went back and forth myself on this. All I can say is Chauvin is innocent until proven guilty and sadly this is one of those cases where I don't think anyone will be happy with the results. 

Pennsylvania judge upholds halt to certification

 Via Legal Insurrection it was noted in a recent Tim Pool video.

A Pennsylvania state court Judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing Pennsylvania from taking any further steps to perfect its certification of the election, including but not limited to appointment of electors and transmission of necessary paperwork to the Electoral College, pending further court hearings and rulings. The ruling upholds an injunction from earlier in the week, and is significant because of the findings made in the Opinion released tonight.

Well lets couple this with Pennsylvania Republicans looking into possibly selecting their own slate of electors. There's some real maneuvering here. 

ALSO, this news broke last nite.

Powerline: Do Trump's lawyers know what they're doing

 Powerline Blog is largely written and published by lawyers. If anyone can discuss what's going on at great length with the various court filings with regards to Trump trying to find a path to win the odd 2020 presidential election it would be them.

They focus on a filing in Michigan with some of the oddness going on there especially in Wayne County aka Detroit. Attorney John Hinderaker notices that all the locations filed in an affidavit are actually in his native Minnesota, not Michigan. So know I can only begin to wonder if someone made a boo-boo that can only serve to negatively affect their case.

Regardless it's great to see attention to any voter fraud or "cheating". However here's hoping Trump's lawyers actually do have the attention to detail because let's face it the odds are against them regardless. There are people out there in court and elsewhere that are very happy to dismiss their claims whether they're valid or not.

h/t Instapundit

What is originalism?

 Before I get to what I want to share with you we need to establish the term originalism. At a glance, it basically means interpreting the US Constitution ratified in 1789 as written. But let's go a tad deeper:

Originalism is the idea that we should interpret the Constitution with its original meaning. But what, exactly, is the Constitution’s “original meaning”?

Some originalists argue it’s the meaning as understood by those who ratified the Constitution in the various state conventions, or the public that elected those ratifiers. Others say it’s the understanding of a reasonable, well-educated reader. Still other scholars claim the Constitution is written in legal language and should be interpreted with its original “legal” meaning. With this approach, for example, the term “ex post facto laws” likely refers only to retroactive criminal laws, and not to all retroactive laws.

Although critics of originalism make much of these intraoriginalist squabbles, the reality is all of the above approaches usually lead to the same answer.

And then we go to a tweet from a man who defeated a Kennedy for a US Senate seat from their home state of Massachusetts who evidently doesn't like originalism:

Originalism is racist. Originalism is sexist. Originalism is homophobic. Originalism is just a fancy word for discrimination.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) October 26, 2020

Hmmm Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass), I'm just not sure where to begin to question your tweet. How does he interpret the constitution. Does he think the constitution is racist?

h/t Newsalert

Larry Elder: Outrage Over Breonna Taylor Misses Key Facts About the Case

 

[VIDEO] Today Larry Elder offered his take on the decision last week by a Kentucky grand jury and announced by that commonwealth's Attorney General Daniel Cameron that no charged will be directly filed in the tragic death of Breonna Taylor when Louisville Metro Police served a "no-knock" search warrant. Of course because there are those who have made up their mind on this and perhaps still emotional about this decision there was some unrest in Louisville, Kentucky especially where this incident  the shooting took place.

Now a memorable quote you will hear from some of the pundit referenced in Elder's latest video is "he may be skinfolk, but he's not kinfolk". Think about that for a second, some people believe he's not as upset about what happened to Taylor as they might think he should be. It's certainly based on the color of his skin and definitely not in his objective view of the facts.

I just hate sadly that this is seen as nothing more than a racially motivated incident and many want this to be prosecuted as such. Right is right and wrong is wrong, we should be very upset if these officers were unfairly charged and their lives ruined especially if they in fact did nothing wrong.

Of course not all the officers escaped charges. One of those officers Brett Hankinson had been fired by Louisville police in his role in this raid. He was charged with wonton endangerment for endangering a neighbor with his shots.

Louisville, Kentucky erupted tonight...

 

[VIDEO] Well things began to pop off in Louisville, Kentucky after stunning announcement of no direct charges in the case of Breonna Taylor's death. Ms. Taylor was killed during a police raid - with a no-knock warrant where police announced their presence - her boyfriend fired his gun at police shooting one of the three officers under the gun.

My understand of the case is that due to Ms. Taylor's association with her boyfriend who was under investigation by Louisville Police for drug dealing her residence was targeted by a search warrant by police. Without knowing many of the facts as tragic as her death is, I could easily view this as a case of watch who you associate with.

So one of these officers was fired by the Louisville police. One officer has charges of wanton endangerment when he shot his gun at another apartment once one of his fellow officers were shot. By all accounts what happened seems justified especially if you take out the racial angle.

Unfortunately as with so many situations such as this such as George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake, or Daniel Prude many have made up their minds. In this cases and Taylor's it's simply another case of a Black person dead by police and nothing more. These officers had no right to even return fire at a gunshot towards them. Besides her boyfriend had no idea who was at the door when they knocked.

What's going on in Louisville, Kentucky - a very nice place I hope to visit Churchill Downs one day and bet in the Kentucky Derby - is no longer about justice. It's about more chaos and unrest...

BTW, I'm glad that here in Chicago authorities are being proactive getting the IL Nat'l Guard ready for any foolishness akin to May or August with rioting or looting. However the Governor of IL & Mayor of Chicago have spoken on this issue and they refer to today's announcement in Kentucky as a miscarriage of justice. I would expect they're stating this to keep the calm in a city already rocked by severe unrest over this tumultuous summer.