Is it a blue state issue or will liberals finally admit it is regional?

Michigan leads the nation in new COVID cases, according to CDC data

Michigan again leads the country in new COVID-19 cases per population over the last seven days, according to tracking data Tuesday from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has reported a seven-day new case rate of 504 per 100,000 residents, the highest number nationally, the CDC found. Minnesota followed in second at 490. The figures are another setback in the state's 20-month fight against the virus and came amid spikes in new infections that are testing the capacity of Michigan's hospitals.

The individuals who have been vaccinated and are hospitalized with the virus tend to be older and have more underlying conditions than those who are unvaccinated, Munkarah said. Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations and the percentage of tests bringing positive results have been slowly trending upward for months. But over the last two weeks, they've jumped more quickly.

According to the CDC as of this morning, Minnesota and Democratic Governor Walz are now leading the nation, passing over Governor "Shutdown" Whitmer  and Michigan. Wisconsin (another blue state) is close behind. Democratic New Hampshire, Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania and Colorado are also all in the top ten.

Meanwhile, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Alabama are four of the bottom five states in terms of cases per population.  All strangely enough, red states. This, of course, runs counter to everything everyone everywhere on the left is telling us. They continue to blame Republican Governors and even Republicans in general. But... that doesn't seem to be the case right now, does it?

Market is crashing?

Interesting Stat: At the same time in their Presidencies...

• Trump: Jan 20 2016 -Nov 30 2017 +22%
• Biden: Jan 20 2020 - Nov 30 2021 +11%

 

Federal Government paying to teach CRT

Federal taxpayers pay millions to fund critical race theory program that trains students to promote CRT  - 'This directly exposes the claims that CRT is not used in K-12 schools as false,' Heritage Foundation education expert says.

Federal grant records show the U.S. Department of Education has awarded millions of taxpayer dollars to fund critical race theory training for future educators at several colleges across the country. In 2016 under the Obama administration, the federal government awarded its first five-year grant of $1,116,895 to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) for “training” college students in critical race theory.

The program is called, “The Research Institute for Scholars of Equity," or RISE. RISE promises to produce “a cadre of scholars who value and advance equity.” As part of the program, these students receive a $5,000 stipend, money for food and housing, and a travel allowance. According to promotional materials and grant documents, RISE students are trained to use critical race theory as a means of evaluating teacher quality, among other things.

So not only is critical race theory supposed to be taught, but the students are expected to use a teacher's use of CRT as part of their evaluations of the teacher? Perhaps this was a different time and different place, but this does not fly in 2021 and I doubt it will fly at all in 2022.  

Now of course, the defenders of this will demand that it's not critical race theory, because it is not specifically called critical race theory. But critical race theory is not a label, it's a subject matter that is taught. You can call math something other than math, but if you are teaching addition and subtraction then you are teaching math regardless of what you call it.

Are Democrats serious about replacing Kamala Harris as VP?

Ms 28% approval may not be the best choice for next in line

I recently read an article where the idea was floated that Harris would either step down or be provided a spot somewhere else in the Cabinet and then replaced by Hillary Clinton. Biden would then step down, making Clinton President and allowing her to run as the incumbent. Obviously this was just a theory and has plenty of holes, but sort of the kind of story we have been hearing about recently.

I am not sure I have ever seen a President and Vice President this early into their administration both being looked at as being on the chopping block. 

The Party line on this will require that everyone pretend that Slow Joe is going to run again for President at the ripe young age of 82. After all, how much credibility does he have if people are openly looking for a replacement or if he were to come out and say he plans on being a one termer and not running for reelection. While that may very well be what happens, it would be ridiculous to suggest it less than a year into his Presidency.

But herein lies the rub. 

The Vice President is  position that requires Senate Confirmation if you needed to nominate someone to Replace Harris. Since the old Vice President would no longer be Vice President, they would no longer be the 51st Vote. There doesn't appear to be a way for a nomination to be made and then confirmed for a position that is currently filled. meaning it appears unconstitutional that the old Vice President would remain the 51st vote long enough to confirm the new Vice President. There has to be an actual opening to fill a spot, not an upcoming opening.   

So what chance  is there that anyone in the GOP would actually vote to confirm anyone being placed there for political reasons, much less vote to confirm Hillary Clinton. 

Personally I would think that the Democrats would have moved passed Clinton (especially now that it is becoming obvious that she was in knee deep on the fake Russian dossier information). She lost to Trump when there was an overall climate advantage for the Democrats. She would lose worse in the current political climate that very much is favoring the GOP.

So is there any Democrat that the Republicans would vote to confirm, knowing that they are likely confirming the 2024 nominee into a position of prominence? Unlikely, unless something actually happens to Biden and Harris literally has to become President. Then there might be pressure to actually put someone in that spot. But if it is a willing move to replace Harris with someone more politically palatable? Doubtful you are going to find a candidate that Republicans will vote for. 

There is a simple explanation as to why this is happening... the President doesn't have any real ideas!

Why President Biden's 'Tapping' Of The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Sets A Bad Precedent

The Biden administration is playing defense as gasoline prices have risen 60% in a year. Faced with an unfriendly administration, U.S. oil companies have not raised output as much as they usually do when prices are high.

Despite putting pressure on the oil-producing nations, the oil-importing countries failed to move OPEC. COVID restrictions, particularly the air travel ban, led to an oil surplus in April 2020. To ward off an oil price crash on the international markets, OPEC cut oil production. The OPEC members had charted a plan to boost output gradually once the economies started opening up. Notwithstanding a sharp rise in demand in the past months, the oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, have refused to accelerate production and have committed to sticking to their July agreement.

Following OPEC's silence, with mid-term elections looming, low approval ratings, and public disapproval of his economic policies, President Biden ordered the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. To put more pressure on OPEC, the Biden administration persuaded the U.K., China, Japan, South Korea, and India to join the effort.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), established after the oil crisis of the 1970s, is made up of 600 million barrels of crude oil (about a month's supply) stored in underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. The SPR's goal is to alleviate gasoline shortages during a national security crisis such as a war or a natural disaster.

I am pretty sure that most everyone understands that tapping our national reserves for purposes of lowering gas prices (because it is hurting the President's approval) is a bad idea. The national reserves are not meant as political capital to be released when a President needs a bump. They are there specifically in case of natural emergencies or even a war-time situation. We have not just tapped the oil reserves in the past because a President has bad approvals.

Soon after his inauguration, President Biden signed executive orders to halt new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and water. He canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported about 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands petroleum to Nebraska. While clean energy may be the future, it is still in its nascent stage. There is a long way to go before alternative sources are capable of meeting the country's demands.

Not that the idiot in chief or his minions will put two and two together here. Instead of looking at the obvious here (that Biden and his policies are designed to harm domestic oil production in favor of "green energy") - the administration is attempting (as they always do) to create a different boogie man. In this case it is not that the domestic oil companies are suffering from his own policies designed to make them suffer, but rather that they must be doing something illegal.  

So their solution to this problem it to convince the American public without a hint of any evidence that the reason our gas prices are high are because our dometic oil companies must be breaking the law. Go figure. 

Of course... who is dumb enough to fall for that? Not many I assume.

Why is Biden's approvals so low? Because he never takes responsibility

If you refuse to take responsibility, you literally cannot fix anything

Pinkerton: Carter 2.0 — Biden Blames Others for His Own Energy Failures

Joe Biden is the gift that keeps on giving. The gift, that is, of parallels with fellow Democrat Jimmy Carter. Most Americans have no memories of the actual Carter presidency, from 1977 to 1981, but this Baby Boomer sure does. As for you youngins, you can can look him up, and you’ll see too: He was terrible in office. So terrible, in fact, that when he ran for re-election in 1980, he was thunderously defeated, losing to Ronald Reagan by almost ten points in the popular vote and by 489 to 49 in the electoral college.

Yes, Carter was that bad. So it might seem strange that Biden seems to have chosen Carter as a role model. He is replicating, for instance, Carter’s policies on regulatory contraction and, at the same time, price inflation. Yes, it’s a strange emulation, and yet here we are in the early 2020s, replaying the late 1970s.

President Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to consider whether “illegal conduct” by large oil and gas companies is pushing up gasoline prices for American consumers, the latest effort by the administration to target concentration in the energy industry in a bid to bring down prices at the pump.

That’s a loaded phrase, “illegal conduct.” So now Biden is applying the same sort of demagogic judge-in-advance tactic that he applied to his own federal border patrol agents in Texas, or to Kyle Rittenhouse in Wisconsin. He’s telling telling Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Lina Khan that he sees “mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies.” In the world of the FTC, these are potential crimes that Biden is alleging.

Americans do not want to hear the President tell us that someone else is the villain. If it is not a 17 year old boy who shot three criminals in self-defense, or parents who are concerned with their children's curriculum, it's now big oil who must be "breaking the law". 

Obviously it couldn't possibly be the fact that the United States went from exporting oil, to having to rely on the Middle East and other hostile nations for their supply. He wasted strategic oil reserves that has no real ability to affect gas prices even short term, much less long term. He has not other real clue as to what to do, as a government cannot "force" gas prices to fall with an executive order.

The problem is that there is no easy solution here. Only an outright admission that everything he has done regarding energy has been wrong and that he should reinstate all of Trump's policies (as he is currently being forced to do in several other situations) would save us at this point. Anything short of a total reversal will end in failure and likely a single term. 

Sunday Funnies

Steele dossier proven to be disinformation bought and paid for...

The many Russian links to the operatives behind the Steele dossier

The Russian links to the figures behind Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier have come into clearer focus following special counsel John Durham’s indictments. Steele was working for Vladimir Putin-linked oligarch Oleg Deripaska before, during, and after his time targeting then-candidate Donald Trump, and the former MI6 agent was hired to put the dossier together by an opposition research firm, Fusion GPS , which was simultaneously working for Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya of the now-infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The Clinton campaign hired Fusion.

Steele’s main source, U.S.-based Russian national Igor Danchenko, allegedly relied upon a network of Russian contacts, undermined key collusion claims when interviewed by the FBI, and had previously been investigated as a possible threat to national security due to potential Russian intelligence contacts. And, according to Durham’s false statements charges, he anonymously sourced a claim about Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort to longtime Hillary Clinton ally Chuck Dolan , who spent many years, including 2016, doing work for Russian businesses and the Russian government. Durham's investigation appears to be painting the picture that many of the biggest Trump-Russia collusion claims can be traced back to the Clinton campaign and Democratic operatives.

Durham's investigation has not made anything "appear" to be anything. It has completely dismantled the whole Russian collusion from the ground floor up with sworn admissions from the very people who made it possible. The only remaining questions are how deep it went and to what degree the FBI and Obama Administration was in on it.

This is actually quite simple. Steele was not uncovering anything. He was working for and with the very people who were providing the information, or disinformation as it were. More to the point, he was paid to do exactly this by the Clinton campaign and other Democratic operatives.  

Ohio State Michigan...

22 degrees wind chill factor, heavy wind gusts, and snow...  I would still like to see Georgia or Alabama have to play in these elements. 

Apparently Trump was right... again

And no... not talking about how Biden will be going back the Trump's stay in Mexico policy... although that is another one!

Biden Imposes Travel Bans He Called Trump Racist for Imposing

We all know that travel bans are racist; Old Joe Biden told us so himself. He tweeted on February 1, 2020: “Trump further diminished the U.S. in the eyes of the world by expanding his travel ban. This new ‘African Ban,’ is designed to make it harder for black and brown people to immigrate to the United States. It’s a disgrace, and we cannot let him succeed.”

Now that Biden’s handlers, possibly even including the wonk who actually composed that tweet, are in charge, all that systemic racism is being swept away, and for that we can all be grateful. Or at least we could be until Friday, when Biden’s handlers announced a plan to follow in Trump’s footsteps and ban travel from eight countries in Africa in order to fight what is being presented as a dangerous new variant of the coronavirus.

Apparently it's much easier to sit on the sidelines and bitch and criticize about what the President is doing, then actually being President. Otherwise, how can anyone explain how Dementia Joe already forgot that travel bans are racist? At least they are racist when someone other than Joe Biden imposes them!

Now much like the decision to reimplement the stay in Mexico policy to the complete and total failure at the border, apparently we are learning that Trump policies are simply superior to Biden policies! Pretty much across the board.

Latest 2024 Biden Trump hypothetical has Trump up by 13

 Trump Would Win Rematch With Biden

While most voters aren’t looking forward to a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, it’s clear that the Republican would be favored. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters would choose Trump if the election were held today, while only 32% would vote to reelect Biden. Seventeen percent (17%) say they’d vote for some other candidate.

Only 69% of those who say they voted for Biden last year would vote for him again if the election were held today. Eight percent (8%) of Biden’s 2020 voters would switch to Trump, who would get 83% support from those who voted for him last year. Seventeen percent (17%) of those who voted for Biden and 11% who voted for Trump last year would support some other candidate if the next election were held today.

I get it. Some are going to scoff at this poll because it is Rasmussen. But Rasmussen was not too terribly far off the mark in recent elections. Given how poorly most of our pollsters did over the past two elections in overestimating Trump's opponents, I find it disingenuous for anyone to criticize a pollster for appearing pro-Trump.

All that being said, the poll speaks for itself. If it is a couple points off, then Trump is still winning by double digits, and it is not likely to get any better for Dementia Joe. Just this past week, his spokesperson says he is looking to run for reelection. The reality is that for the first time in modern history, a sitting President might not get to make that choice. From Reagan primarying Ford, to Kennedy primarying Carter, even sure losers seem to have gotten the benefit of the doubt? But will that happen if Slow Joe runs again? 

What is Biden doing about this?

New COVID-19 variant: What to know about B.1.1.529

The World Health Organization has scheduled a special meeting Friday to discuss a worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa that appears to be rapidly mutating. The so-called B.1.1.529 variant appears to have a high number of mutations — about 30 — in its spike protein, which could affect how easily it spreads to people, scientists have warned.

They are not even willing to ban travel to and from South Africa?

B.1.1.529 has a spike protein that is drastically different to the one in the original bug that the vaccines are based on, according to the UK Health Security Agency, which is raising some concern about how current jabs will perform against it. South Africa’s Department of Health also said during a briefing Thursday that the variant contains several mutations associated with increased antibody resistance, which may reduce the effectiveness of current vaccines.

Every time the left acts as if Trump is somehow responsible for a worldwide pandemic that has killed over 5 million people, I am reminded of the reality that a person can be smart, but people are generally stupid. Covid came and Covid has killed. Not just in America, but across the globe. Trump was no more responsible for Covid than any other world leader, which is to say he wasn't. 

The reality is that what is happening today is clearly on the current President and this President is still using the tools that were provided to him by our previous President. He still relies on Dr Fauci (installed by Trump to lead the Covid task force from the medical side) and he is heavily reliant on a vaccine that was created in record time while Trump was still President.

In other words, Biden has really not done anything new or come up with any new ideas in combating the virus. When he told everyone he had a "foolproof" plan, I guess he meant "fool based plan" because so far we have seen nothing other than excessive finger pointing and attempts to deflect blame. As his approval rating suggests, that is not much of a plan and he is having issues executing it.

We've already run across a variant here that while it is not resistant to the vaccine, it certainly makes the vaccine less effective. If people are correct about this new strain, our current vaccine will probably be largely ineffective against it. But rather than focus on a new strategy or even a new vaccine, the President and minions are pushing boosters that protect against the original strain and getting children vaccinated with a vaccine that might be next to useless within the next 6-12 months. 

The DJIA is down nearly 3% because of the news of this new variant. We might not be that over the top in our reaction if we truly trusted that our crackpot Covid team would (in conjunction with our top shelf leadership at the Presidential level) would be able to handle a new strain. But does anyone actually really have any confidence? What we are doing has not been working or we would not have over 375,000 deaths on Biden's watch. We seem to have no other plan or anything else in place and I see nothing on the horizon that suggests that will change. 

Just more of the same arguments from the left that everything Covid related can be blamed on Joe Rogan or the unvaccinated. 

Turkeyday Funnies

Another side of the Jan 6th riot?

My God @CapitolPolice were beating Rosanne Boyland and they told us all she died of a drug overdose. They won’t even let her family have access to complete autopsy. What is @January6thCmte doing to investigate her death? Nothing. pic.twitter.com/dq4cpsWbOY

— Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) November 22, 2021

Manchin has major issues with the House passed BBB bill...

 Red lines for the moderate Senator were crossed

I wonder if anyone really understands that passing a bill in the House that has no chance to pass in the Senate is almost like not passing a bill in the first place. But this bill has several things that Manchin is obviously opposed to and crossed hard and well articulated lines on federally funded abortion (illegal) and several climate change objectives that he opposes. 

Meanwhile, Manchin is now pressuring Biden to reopen the Keystone pipeline rather than (or in addition to) opening up the reserves, which are generally designed for "actual" emergencies, not political emergencies. While Manchin is not necessarily tying a vote to the pipeline issue, it certainly feels like an implied situation. In other words, reopen the pipeline or I continue to block your BBB bill. 

Arbery Trial - Guilty Verdicts Handed Down

Travis McMichael - Guilty across the board

Greg McMichael - Not guilty of Malice Murder, guilty of everything else

William R Bryan - Not guilty of Malice Murder, mostly guilty of the rest 

__________

This is not surprising based on everything we have seen and what most legal analyst I follow were expecting. Branca seemed to be the only one who really believed that they might get off, while McCarthy and most other legal analysts I follow sort of expected the result that we saw. Travis McMichael guilty of everything and the other two not guilty of Malice Murder. The only real question was whether or not Greg McMichael and William Bryan would be found guilty of the lower forms of Murder (non-Malice). In this case they were.

I didn't watch the trial and only caught some of the glimpses of what happened. I still believe that calling Arbery a "jogger" was a blatant misrepresentation of the truth. I still don't trust the media to report on this accurately. This wasn't as cut and dried as it was made out to be. I also don't know what was actually presented to the jury and what was only presented to the public. Many times we question why something was not considered by a jury, only to find out that the information was not every presented or was not allowed to be presented. 

All that being said, a jury of 12 have found the three to be all guilty of some form or murder here. So you have to accept that what they witnessed over the course of this trial led to these convictions. Was politics in play? Probably. But that is sort of the reality of what is happening today.

The big lesson to be learned here. If you are going to establish a neighborhood watch to police your neighborhood. Probably not a good idea to arm yourself with rifles and handguns and go chasing people down. Had it not been for the guns and the fact that they tried to detain him (rather than just follow him), then the police might have been able to get involved to whatever degree that they could. Perhaps this guy (one way or the other) decides to stop lurking around your neighborhood and nobody has to die. 

Who could have possibly seen this coming?

Democratic cities that enacted bail reform see rise in crime, repeat offenses

Just five days before allegedly plowing a red SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisc., killing six, the suspected attacker, who had a long criminal history, had been released on $1,000 bail in a case in which he was accused of running a woman over in his car. The low bail for the suspect — even the Milwaukee County DA has since acknowledged it was "Inappropriately low" — has thrust bail reform back to the forefront of the national conversation.

In Los Angeles, District Attorney George Gascon eliminated cash bail altogether last year. Since then, murders and shootings in the city have risen sharply year-over-year, with homicides rising 26% in the first six months of the year. In New York City, criminals are being put back on the streets after the state government enacted bail reform, which eliminated bail altogether for many crimes. Crime, particularly the murder rate, continues to hit record levels in the city compared to past years.

If Democrats want something to blame for why they are doing so poorly in the off year elections and pretty much every poll out there, this might be something to point fingers at.  But it seems like everything with Democrats is over the top, rhetorical, virtue signaling, with almost a contest like race to see who can appear to be more tolerant of the intolerable which seems to be labeled in 2021 as "woke". 

As in the concept that we kept violent criminals off the street was simply a case of us wrongly sleeping through decades (if not centuries) and allowing the nightmarish idea that violence should not be tolerated. Then we wake up and realize that we shouldn't be afraid of violence, but rather be afraid of being called a racist or intolerant to the downtrodden. 

Because being a Democratic means never having to take responsibility for anything. Perhaps that is not as popular with real adults as it is with childish liberals.

So some more on the Arbery case via Legal Insurrection

Background

Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot and killed on February 23, 2020 when he charged an armed Travis McMichael on a Georgia roadway and fought McMichael for control of his shotgun. Travis McMichael was standing beside his stopped pickup truck at the time, and his father Greg McMichael was in the bed of the truck armed with a pistol.

The McMichaels had been pursuing Arbery in the belief that he was a serial felony burglary who had been plaguing their suburban neighborhood for weeks. A short distance from where the shooting took place, neighbor William “Roddy” Bryan followed in his own vehicle, making a shaky recording of the final confrontation on his cell phone–it was this video that would bring this case to national attention a few weeks after the shooting took place, and after initial prosecutorial review had resulted in no charges against either the McMichaels or Bryan.

The defense in this trial is arguing that the men were acting consistently with a lawful citizens arrest of a fleeing suspect for whom they had “reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion” of being in flight from a felony–the controlling language from the then-existing Georgia citizen’s arrest law, a law which has since been repealed as a consequence of this event. In the course of executing this citizen’s arrest, Travis McMichaels was attacked by Arbery, who fought him for control of his shotgun, and Travis ultimately shot Arbery in lawful sef-defense.

In fact, Arbery is known to have “visited” a home under construction, from which costly items had been repeatedly stolen, at least five times, each visit captured on surveillance cameras installed in an effort to quell the thefts. The prosecution argues that there’s no evidence that Arbery actually stole any of the taken items, but George felony burglary law does not require an actual taking of property–unlawfully entering a property for the purpose of committing a crime is felony burglary under Georgia law even if nothing is actually taken. Both McMichaels had seen these surveillance videos, and on the day in question had observed Arbery in apparent flight from the burglary scene–conduct the prosecution and media characterize as mere recreational jogging.

This is a completely different story from what we have been told all along. Granted, the manner in which the person was running could have been seen as someone "jogging" although he was not really dressed to be out jogging and he really would have little reason to be "jogging" in that particular neighborhood. 

According to all accounts, he was fleeing the scene of a construction site after a 911 call and was being followed by this neighborhood watch team. Obviously the two in the pickup were set up almost in ambush and appear to be waiting for him, while the person taking the video was following in that vehicle.

While we do not see exactly what happened behind the truck, it looks very likely that it was actually Arbery (not either of the McMichaels) who appears to make first physical contact, with an attempt to grab the gun from Travis McMichaels. 

If we think back to the Rittenhouse trial, there are some real similarities here. It doesn't appear that the prosecutors are trying to argue that there wasn't a struggle made for the gun (that is obvious from the video), but rather they are making that same sort of provocation argument that prosecutors tried to make against Rittenhouse. That had they not been trying to pursue or stop Arbery, then there would have been no need for Arbery to go after the gun.

Not sure watching this video how you get charges like "false imprisonment" as he never looked to be detained at any time. Also wondering where the felony Assault comes into play. But that is the charges that were brought. The more I find out about this case, the less I will ever trust the media to tell me anything. 

Well this is interesting....

Here I thought this was a slam dunk... until reading about the case from the trial, rather than what the media reported. How do so often get things so wrong that are so avoidable?

Arbery Case Trial: Based On Closing Arguments, Not Guilty Verdicts A Real Possibility Andrew Branca

Today was the first of two days of closing arguments in the Ahmaud Arbery case trial, in which defendants Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael, and Roddy Bryan are each facing a count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, and then the four predicate felony counts (two for aggravated assault and two for false imprisonment).

So as not to bury the lede, the take-home message is that if I were being asked to render a verdict today, after listening to the State’s closing and all of the defense closing (but not yet the State’s rebuttal), and having not seen any of the actual trial, I’d be obliged to acquit all three defendants of all charges.

The State’s closing argument delivered by ADA Linda Dunikoski kicked things off—and it can only be described as really not very good at all—perhaps even qualifying as horrible. Mostly the defect was in tone and delivery, although it must be said that the presentation of facts was not very compelling, and she felt obliged to make various rather gross misstatements of law.

Delivery was in a mode of exasperation, with lots of kind of stomping around, hand waving, shaking of her head, as if she can’t really believe she has to actually explain all this stuff—isn’t it just obvious these defendants are guilty of all the things?

The tone involved a great deal of snark, snide remarks, and sarcasm—and while snark, snide remarks, and sarcasm may get a chuckle from your own team and the people already on your side, they do nothing whatever to persuade people not on your side to come on over. Indeed, for people not already on your side it is off-putting, and a net negative.

The defense began with the closing argument for Travis McMichael, made by Attorney Jason Sheffield; followed by the closing argument for Greg McMichael, made by Attorney Laura Hogue; and finally, the closing argument for William “Roddy” Bryan, made by Attorney Kevin Gough.

I found the closing arguments by all three defense attorneys to be vastly superior to that of ADA Dunikoski. Each built their closing around a theme or story arc that facilitated the ability to address the nine separate counts in a coherent way. The attorneys also accurately presented the relevant law (mostly), unlike the many misrepresentations of law made by the State.

Now Branca is a defense attorney who sees most people as not guilty and he does caution that he believes that the defense might be holding back a large portion of their defense arguments on "rebuttal".  That being said, I was under the impression that this was a slam dunk no brainer for the prosecution.

That being said, I have not watched anything regarding or even read about the trial. All I have are media accounts, and if all I had were media accounts in the Rittenhouse trial, I might have thought he was dead to rights as well.

But here is what I find interesting... because I have always been under the impression that Arbery was just an innocent jogger who was shot because he was black. Turns out Arbery was suspected of multiple crimes in the area and was not in fact "jogging" when shot. In fact there is no evidence that Arbery ever jogged anywhere, much less in this neighborhood. According to testimony he was simply lurking in the dark at a construction site?

What had been a charming little community was being ravaged by property crimes and burglaries. Homeowners began installing security cameras all over their homes for the first time. Parents would not allow their children to play outside after dinner, and then not at all. People began keeping guns accessible and talking with each other in person and in social media about the growing crime problem. They also began to make a lot of calls to 911, but the police response was ineffectual, as the suspicious persons were usually gone by the time the police arrived.

Apparently, one of the criminal predators committing serial property crimes in this neighborhood was one Ahmaud Arbery. He’d been caught repeatedly on surveillance camera, generally in the dark of night, inside a local home under construction from which thousands of dollars of property had been stolen over time—generally in the dark of night. On at least one occasion he’d been frightened into flight by neighbors seeing him lurking in shadows among houses, and having headlights put on him as the neighbors called 911.

Travis McMichael himself had a pistol stolen from his car, and a short time before the Feb. 23 death of Arbery had himself spotted Arbery lurking by the home under construction in the dark, called 911, put his headlights on Arbery, and observed Arbery realizing he’d been spotted and reaching for his waistband as if for a weapon. The 911 recording made contemporaneously with these events was played in court, and you can clearly hear the stress in Travis’ voice.

Now it still seems like this might not go the defense's way and it still probably shouldn't. There is a lot of political and social pressure here to get convictions and I am sure the jury is well aware of it. They also do not have actual evidence (only suspicion) that Arbery was responsible for any of the multiple burglaries in the area. That seems like a hard question in terms of justification for a citizen's arrest. While Branca argues that the reaction and running would have given police cause to pursue, Andrew McCarthy is not so sure. He still believes that the defendants overreacted (not as a matter of race or racism) but as a matter of being unjustified under the law.

At a minimum, it appears that Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery multiple times, should be convicted of murder, in addition to the other charges. Furthermore, the evidence would support holding both Greg McMichael and Roddie Bryan accountable for the murder since they were willing participants in the chase, even if they did not pull the trigger. Consequently, if the state convicted all defendants on all charges, that would be a just result — it is the verdict I would vote for. Yet I cannot say it would be irrational for the jury to acquit Bryan and the elder McMichael of murder, while convicting them of the assault and false-imprisonment charges. That, too, would be a just verdict.

Ultimately this case seems a hell of a lot different when you actually know the facts, not just what the media reported. A neighborhood in criminal alarms status, forced to do a neighborhood watch (because police are unresponsive). Seeing a well known suspect  (seen multiple times on surveillance cameras) lurking around at some new construction, running away as soon as he is seen under the headlights? Knowing the police are not going to help. 

Is the idea of an attempted citizen's arrest as crazy as the media makes it sound like? If that was my neighborhood, would I have pursued this guy? Would any of you pursued him under these same circumstance? Are people not allowed to feel safe in their own neighborhoods? Obviously, the man should not be dead, but this is not as simple as it was made out to be and it is quite possible that a bad prosecution in this case could lead to acquittals. 

Yep... this is the world that the left lives in.

I have to wonder what color the sky is in this world?

Not to mention "lefty" Grosskreutz pointing a gun at Rittenhouse's head

 

Democrats are on the wrong side of "another" issue!

Poll: More Americans Oppose Stricter Gun Laws Than Support Them

That’s according to a new poll from Quinnipiac, which found 49 percent of adults oppose new gun laws, compared to 46 percent of those who say they support further restrictions. The findings mark the first time since 2015 that fewer than 50 percent of voters expressed support for new restrictions to Quinnipiac pollsters. The findings are just the latest evidence of a broad shift against gun control among the American people. Last week’s poll from Gallup showed a similar drop in public support for stricter gun laws, and a recent Morning Consult poll found voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on the issue of gun policy.

Partisan identification again proved to be a significant factor in respondents’ support for gun control. Among Democrats, 91 percent said they support stricter gun laws compared to only 13 percent of Republicans. Among Independents, 39 percent expressed support for more gun control, while 54 percent expressed opposition.

So apparently the self defense actions of Kyle Rittenhouse did not disway Americans from being against new gun laws. One might think that the outrageous behavior of the 17 year old would have made people want "more" gun control. But apparently not.

So what will the Democrats campaign on? The large BBB bill that the public is against? Railing against voter ID laws that the public is for? Perhaps they will call for more gun laws that the people are against? Raise taxes? Do things to keep gas prices higher? Almost like they do not want to win any elections? 

Caught redhanded?

Whistleblower Videos Capture Pennsylvania Election Officials Destroying Evidence

Several residents of Delaware County Pennsylvania filed a sprawling lawsuit Thursday against the former Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, Delaware County, the Delaware County Board of Elections, and more than a dozen individual election officials. The lawsuit followed Wednesday’s night release of videotapes taken by a whistleblower capturing concerning behavior by several election officials in the Keystone state.

 A source familiar with the lawsuit provided access to the tapes, noting the then-unnamed whistleblower had come forward with video evidence purporting to show Delaware County, Pennsylvania election officials destroying records from the November 2020 general election. The videos were also filed with the complaint and a bevy of exhibits the plaintiffs maintain support the allegations contained in their 91-page complaint.

To be clear, from a statistical standpoint, Pennsylvania was number one on the list of states that seemed to report votes that were nearly impossible. The numbers surrounding the mail in ballots were so outside the norm, that you need to believe that virtually every Democrat, 70-75% of independents, and 15-20% of Republicans voted for Biden in order to justify the result.

Of course, audits are now taking place, much to the chagrin of these election officials. 

Maricopa county was found to have had over 50,000 ballots that had not followed legal procedures or otherwise accepted ballots from people no longer living at their old address. Thousands of these ballots were accepted from people no longer living within Maricopa county, and several thousand ballots were returned and counted from people no longer even living in Arizona. 

Wisconsin had the oddity of 98% of their counties showing Trump doing better than he did in 2016, only to be offset by mail in ballots counted in the two largest Democratic strongholds.... to the degree of tens of thousands of votes. We've gone through the issues with Fulton and Gwinnett county in Georgia ad nauseum.

To be clear, the big lie is the lie that this was a secure election. The bigger and even stupider lie was that this was the most secure election of all time. The biggest lie is that it is some sort of criminal behavior or treason to question election results. Meanwhile those gaslighted by all of this, still believe that the big lie is that there were any problems in 2020. 

If there was no problems, then you wouldn't have election officials destroying evidence and moving the dead bodies after the fact. 

Released on bail and then kills innocent people, including children...

Waukesha Attack Suspect ID'd; Was Released on Cash Bail Two Days Ago

As we reported earlier, there was a horrible attack Sunday night in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in which a man driving a red SUV mowed down more than 20 people who were participating in the town’s Christmas parade. There were multiple fatalities but officials announced at a press conference that they won’t be releasing more specifics about even the number of deaths until the families have been notified.

Not going to comment on what the possible reason or motivation was for this. Personally I hope it was some sort of drug overdose or epileptic seizure deal and there was no motivation. The last thing the country needs right now is more problems with race.

But hey, from what I hear, most people on the left had already suggested this was a white supremacist who was in Wisconsin trying to kill the one black person in the crowd. F-N idiots. You know who you are.

Democrats must be soooo proud!

Violent liberal children throwing a tantrum! 

Demonstrators protested the acquittal of a teen who killed two people and injured another in Wisconsin. The protesters were breaking windows, throwing objects at police and talking about burning down a local government building in downtown Portland, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. By about 8:50 p.m., about 200 protesters had gathered in downtown Portland and blocked streets. By 9 p.m., windows were broken and doors of city facilities were damaged. The crowd had dispersed by about 11 p.m., KOIN TV reported

In North Carolina, dozens of people gathered Saturday near the state Capitol building to protest the verdict, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. Speakers led the crowd of roughly 75 people in chants of “No justice, no peace!” and “Abolish the police!” Police officers on motorcycle accompanied the protesters and blocked traffic for them as they marched down a street past bars and restaurants.

So I wonder how long it will be until someone says... but Jan 6th.  How many riots causing how much more destruction and injury will we need to have before liberals accept the reality that they pretty much own the concept of political rioting. A few hundred conservatives borrowed it for about 2 hours. But they gave it back, quite obviously! 

Sunday Funnies - Part II