Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Another MAGA child rapist. Do you see a pattern with the way you people grow up? But drag queens are the problem! 😒
Texas retired Air Force General, Mike McClendon, has been arrested for the continuous rape of a child under the age of 14.
Texas retired Air Force General, Mike McClendon, has been arrested for the continuous rape of a child under the age of 14. pic.twitter.com/7UqV0s03nl
— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) May 13, 2024
The process of life
As it is lived
Will get to what
It responds to
Without
Realization
Of why it did
Kristi ratted out! 😂 #PuppyAssassin
I'm CEO of ESADoggy ... dogs are my life, passion, and career.
— Chaz Stevens, I do Art (@TChazStevens) April 27, 2024
I've filed a complaint against Kristi Nome with the Pierre SD Chief of Police, (@cityofpierresd). That's just my first stop.
Pls RT far and wide. pic.twitter.com/igeTboSnjV
I’m posting this so there’s no confusion about what democrats had planned all along for the upcoming election.
— sandy (@3Sandy7_) May 9, 2024
pic.twitter.com/J1HAub3dRI
I’m posting this so there’s no confusion about what democrats had planned all along for
the upcoming election.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1788414624301519052
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174407389
JUST NOW: Biden Being IMPEACHED | Articles Filed Just Minutes Ago
Stephen Gardner
1.56M subscribers
With Biden Stalling, Israel Announces They Will Just Get American Weapons From Taliban
TEL AVIV — With Biden delaying shipments of U.S. weaponry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today they will just obtain it from the Taliban instead.
"The Taliban has over $80 billion worth, so no big deal," explained Netanyahu at a press conference. "Honestly, the transaction and shipping will be way more efficient than dealing with the American government."
Biden handed over $86 billion in American weaponry to the Taliban in 2021, but denied shipments to Israel last week over concerns that they might not be as responsible as the Taliban. "We just don't trust the Jewish nation, they're very sneaky," sad Biden spokesman John Kirby. "We in the Biden administration want to be extremely cautious about who we allow to have such sophisticated weaponry, which is why the primary people we give weapons to are Eastern European warlords and the guys who did 9/11."
With the weapons shipments on hold while the few living hostages remain under Hamas control, Israel decided to simply purchase American weaponry from the enormous store in Afghanistan. "There are tons of American weaponry stores all across Afghanistan, plenty to choose from," said an IDF commander. "My personal favorite is Muhammed's Army Surplus, very good prices. We'll be fine."
https://babylonbee.com/news/with-biden-stalling-israel-announces-they-will-just-get-american-weapons-from-taliban
Democrats are proving the existence of the 'Great Replacement' theory
By Eric Utter
The public deserves to know the truth about tax rates before Democrats let the 2017 tax cuts expire
By Jack Hellner
President Biden wants to let the tax rate cuts that President Trump and Republicans passed without Democrat support, in 2017.
Biden and others continue to intentionally lie that the tax cuts "cost" the government $2 trillion and increased the debt and deficit.
That essentially was the prediction of Congressional Budget Office.
The problem is predictions are not facts.
Here are the facts that show that the government has collected a huge amount of additional revenues after the tax cuts were passed, and additional revenues do not cause increased debt.
The problem is that the government is spending more.
Individual income tax revenue FY 2017 before the tax rate cuts $1.6 trillion.
FY 2021 - Individual income taxes, four years after the tax rate cuts, despite COVID: $2.0 trillion, $400 billion more per year.
FY 2023 - Individual Income Taxes, six years after the tax rate cuts: $2.2 trillion, $600 billion more per year.
Biden also continues to lie that only the rich benefitted from the tax cuts when everyone who pays taxes has benefitted. Then he lies that the rich pay less than people in the middle class, in order to gin up class warfare.
Here are actual statistics from 2021 from the Tax Foundation:
The bottom half of taxpayers, or taxpayers making under $46,637, faced an average income tax rate of 3.3 percent. As household income increases, average income tax rates rise. For example, taxpayers with AGI between the 10th and 5th percentiles ($169,800 and $252,840) paid an average income tax rate of 14.3 percent—four times the rate paid by taxpayers in the bottom half.
The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI of $682,577 and above) paid the highest average income tax rate of 25.93 percent—nearly eight times the rate faced by the bottom half of taxpayers.
The public deserves to know the truth instead of being intentionally misled before the rate cuts expire and people, who are having trouble paying their bills now, have even less to spend.
Why would politicians want to raise tax rates when the lower rates raise the government more money and when the public has more left over to spend, save, and invest and make the economy grow?
Who knows, unless it is just for the government to have more power by taking more of the votes' money away from the voters.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/the_public_deserves_to_know_the_truth_about_tax_rates_and_government_revenues_before_democrats_let_the_2017_tax_cuts_expire.html
Accompanied by 2 vice principals, Berkeley public school students march to Jewish Community Center and chant slogans at preschoolers inside
By Thomas Lifson
Just as Hamas targeted young children, even babies, for unthinkable torture and death, pro-Hamas demonstrators in Berkeley targeted a Jewish Community Center (NOT an Israeli facility) with preschool students in class as they chanted slogans through a bullhorn and marched. Even worse, the students who walked out were reportedly accompanied by two vice principals from the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School as they intimidated the innocent toddlers, guilty solely of being Jewish.
Emilie Raguso reports in the Berkeley Scanner:
The Scanner got multiple reports about a walkout march from King middle school that stopped to protest outside the Berkeley branch of the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay.
The protest group was made up of an estimated 60 or more middle school students who were chanting with a bullhorn and accompanied by school administrators, parents said.
When the group stopped for several minutes to protest outside the JCC, which is about a half-mile from the King campus, JCC security went outside to investigate and Berkeley police were also called. (snip)
One BUSD parent said the protest reports were concerning in part because the district had promised parents on Thursday, by email, that no school staff would accompany the student march.
In the email, school leadership said students might have a walkout Friday, and that they might march to UC Berkeley during the event.
"Site and district staff will monitor students at the school site, but we will not have the capacity to walk with students to UC Berkeley or monitor their activity while on the university campus where there will be other activities happening," King Principal Michael Tison Yee told parents in the email Thursday. (snip)
"Although this was not a district sanctioned event, our administration team made a decision to accompany the students to monitor for safety," BUSD spokeswoman Trish Mcdermott told The Scanner by email in response to an inquiry about Friday's events.
Sorry, Ms. Mcdermott: sending two vice principals to accompany the tyros as they terrorized tots does symbolically sanction the activity. The “monitor for safety” excuse holds no water because walking out of school and marching up busy city streets in an un-permitted march of children is inherently unsafe. Stopping the march would be the safe option, perhaps warning students that they will be regarded as truant if they skip out of the taxpayer-funded education they are being provided.
Somehow, I doubt that outside adults were not involved in organizing and directing the teen and pre-teen students. Where is the inquiry into their likely role in encouraging truancy?
Casting an even deeper shadow of Jew-hatred on the event, it was preceded by antisemitic graffiti at the school:
The Berkeley Unified School District said it is investigating the graffiti report, in which someone scrawled, "[Name redacted] hates Jews. We stand with [name redacted]" next to a Jewish star on a classroom whiteboard.
A photograph of that message that has been shared among parents and other community members was also provided to The Berkeley Scanner along with concerns about the message.
The superintendent of Berkeley’s public schools, however, doesn’t think Jew hatred at her schools is a big deal:
Friday's reports come at a difficult time for the Berkeley Unified School District, whose superintendent, Enikia Ford Morthel, told federal lawmakers this week that "antisemitism is not pervasive" in the district.
Ford Morthel said there had been nine formal antisemitism complaints to BUSD since Oct. 7, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Question: would nine complaints of anti-black racism be similarly regarded with equanimity?
Incidentally, Superintendant Ford Morthel describes herself as "an urban educator and community activist, dedicated to creating public education experiences that are revolutionary, relevant and responsive for students and families."
Update: Serious harrassment of Jews in Berkeley Schools has been taking place. Via UnitedwithIsrael:
...a second-grade teacher, who hung a Palestinian flag in the window of her classroom after Oct. 7, threatened the family of a concerned father after learning he had reported her conduct.
“I know who you are, I know who you f— wife is, and I know where you live,” the teacher said to him at a school event. Later, in a Facebook post, the teacher defended her politicization of the classroom, proclaiming, “I’ve been a non-neutral educator for all 20 years I’ve been a teacher.”
“The eruption of of antisemitism in Berkeley’s elementary and high schools is like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Brandeis Center chairman and former Assistant Secretary of Education Kenneth Marcus said in a press release announcing the legal action.
“It is dangerous enough to see faculty fanning the flames of antisemitism on college campuses, but to see teachers inciting hate in the youngest grades while Berkeley administrators sit idly by as it continues to escalate by the day is reprehensible. Where is the accountability? Where are the people who are supposed to protect and educate students?”
At several schools throughout BUSD, students were recruited to assist anti-Zionists teachers in cheering Hamas’ atrocities as “liberation.”
They were called on to join “walk outs” and rewarded with excused absences in return for their participation, another violation of district policy forbidding excused absences for all but the most important reasons.
These demonstrations became salvos of antisemitic rhetoric. During one organized at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, students shouted “KKK,” “Kill Israel,” “Kill the Jews,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
In another incident, the second-grade teacher who threatened a parent instructed her students to write “Stop bombing babies” on sticky notes.
The behavior of BUSD teachers and the benefits they offered in exchange for engaging in antisemitic behavior sent a strong signal to students that hating Jews is normal, socially acceptable behavior, the complaint explains.
Acting on such approval, they proceeded to bully Jewish students with impunity. “You have a big nose because you are a stupid Jew,” a Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School student told their Jewish classmate.
Another called a Jewish student a “midget Jew,” and throughout the district it became a trend to ask Jewish students if they have a “number,” an allusion to tattoos given to Jewish concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust.
In almost every case investigations of teacher misconduct and bullying never led to disciplinary measures.
Others are far from sanguine over the safety and emotional wellbeing of Jewish children entrusted to Ford Morthel’s tender mercies:
EdSource reported that the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education plans to investigate allegations that BUSD "failed to respond properly to rising incidents of antisemitism in its schools."
That includes a complaint by two Jewish civil rights organizations "urging an investigation into the 'virulent wave of antisemitism' aimed at Israeli and Jewish students" in Berkeley Unified, EdSource reported.
In fact, Ford Morthel hired consultants, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, who created an ethnic studies curriculum that is horrifying. Via EdSource:
The group pitches to school districts in California an alternative to the state’s ethnic studies model curriculum framework with a focus on dismantling capitalism, systems of racism, and Zionism, which it equates to colonialism. The group’s leaders include ethnic studies professors from California State University and the University of California. (snip)
Ford Morthel testified Wednesday that the district has not purchased a Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum. Rather, she said, the district takes pride that teachers and community partners have written the curriculum. Teachers created lessons on Israel and Palestine because of “a lot of curiosity, a lot of questions, and quite frankly, a lot of confusion from many of our students wanting to know what was going on.” (snip)
Early in the two-hour hearing, the chair of the subcommittee, Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., forced Ford Morthel and the other two superintendents on the panel, New York City schools Chancellor David Banks and Montgomery County school board President Karla Silvestre, to give one-word answers to a series of complicated questions. One was whether the phrase “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
Yes or no, Bean asked?
“If it is calling for the elimination of the Jewish people in Israel,” Ford Morthel responded. “And I will also say that I recognize that it does have different meanings to different members of our community.”
“I’m going to go ‘yes.’ I’ll put you down, yes,” Bean said.
Kiley used that answer against her during his questioning. He referred to a slide in the teacher-prepared curriculum that cited the “From the river to the sea” phrase as a call for freedom and peace and paired it with a “supportive quote” by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel. Congress censured Tlaib on a 224-188 Republican-led vote, with members claiming it implied support for armed resistance to abolish the state of Israel.
Many people, including most Jews, also view it that way. Others, Tlaib included, say it evokes future coexistence where everyone can live in freedom in Palestine.
“Do you think that’s an appropriate thing to have on a slide for students?” Kiley asked Ford Morthel.
“So,” she replied, “we definitely believe that it’s important to expose our students to a diversity of ideas and perspectives. And if it was presented as a perspective, I do think it’s appropriate.”
Watch as Ford Morthel responds to questions from California Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley on the curriculum in which she takes pride:
Biden and the Democrats denigrate rational fears of unlimited immigration
By Allan J. Feifer
President Trump’s NJ rally, and what it portends for the coming election
By Andrea Widburg
By now, you all know that the turnout at President Donald Trump’s rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, was one for the record books. However, that didn’t occur in a vacuum. It is, instead, a portent of a tide strongly turning in his direction. That doesn’t mean Democrat shenanigans won’t cause trouble in November, but it does show a country ready to abandon Biden’s disastrous presidency.
The estimates are that 80,000 to 100,000 people attended the rally, although, naturally, leftists are already quibbling with the numbers, just as they did on Trump’s inauguration. Ignore those quibbles. Let your eyes tell you that the turnout in New Jersey—New Jersey!—was humongous:
This one is gonna be hard to steal pic.twitter.com/w9pDaOGD6m
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 12, 2024
Donald Trump has 80,000 Americans show up for HOURS ahead of a rally in deep blue New Jersey.
Joe Biden cannot get 8 people to show up for an event without the crowd yelling "EFF Joe Biden."
Yet Biden says he got 80 million votes last election. Sure!pic.twitter.com/9U401F6ilz
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 11, 2024
This is NEW JERSEY. A Deep Blue state. FIVE HOURS before a #TrumpRally. WOW. 👀pic.twitter.com/c4BxgoRmSk
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 11, 2024
That kind of enthusiasm is money in the bank for a candidate. In 2016, I recall that Mark Steyn predicted that Donald Trump would win the election because of what he saw when he attended a rally in Vermont. The people who attend rallies also cast votes and, if they can, donate money. We saw that during Obama’s 2008 run although Thomas Lifson has reminded me that Obama couldn’t gin up that enthusiasm a second time around, in 2012.
Despite all the COVID panic, Trump managed to have huge rallies again in 2020, with tens of thousands of people attending. Those rallies contrasted strongly with Biden’s rallies when tens of people sat in carefully distanced little circles or stayed in their cars and honked their horns.
What mattered most in 2020, though, was that it was the year of mass mail-in voting, drop boxes, and all sorts of dishonest practices, many of which are still coming to light (as was the case last week in Fulton County, Georgia). Polls also suggested a neck-and-neck race, so it was arguably possible for the outcome to go in either direction.
This year, though, Biden is still rallying only tens of people, except that, this time around, he doesn’t have the COVID excuse to cover for the sparse attendance:
Biden’s rally in Nevada today. There’s gotta be at least 40 people there! pic.twitter.com/VAPZV7Jfs5
— American Patriot 🇺🇸🦅 (@BobbyWalker2002) March 20, 2024
Instead, the biggest crowds Biden has been able to assemble have been outside his events, and these are not Biden voters who are showing up:
Meanwhile Back at the Crooked Joe Biden Rally. pic.twitter.com/W21EO1Z6gK
— Rob/1865 (@Rob1865_) May 8, 2024
Pro-Hamas extremists showed up today outside a fundraiser in Chicago that Joe Biden was attending.
This creature called the police the “KKK” and said, “Tell me, does Joe Biden deserve a peaceful day in his miserable life?”
Democrat infighting continues.pic.twitter.com/XdRWdUXZGA
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) May 9, 2024
ELECTION 2024.🗳️
On the Left: Trump's campaign rally in deep blue New Jersey.
On the Right: Biden's campaign fundraiser in Seattle.
You keep these two videos in mind when they announce Biden got 82 million votes again in November. pic.twitter.com/PDSPhxKsDQ
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 11, 2024
In the following video, you get a two-fer, which is the pathetic attendance at a rally plus the leftist base’s growing hatred for Biden’s failure to destroy Israel:
At a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, President Biden was told to his face that he was “genocidal Joe” and shared responsibility for tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and children dying in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/g9LFWs4kvO
— S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) March 10, 2024
Meanwhile, Trump doesn’t bother with Biden’s failed political dance on Israel and Hamas. Instead, he is full-throated in his defense of Israel and his hostility to jihad on American soil.
Biden "announced he will withhold shipping weapons to Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas terrorists in Gaza... I support Israel's right to win its war on terror. Is that OK? I don't know if that's good or bad politically. I don't care. Gotta do what's right."
-- Trump pic.twitter.com/3yMy5feNNg
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) May 11, 2024
Trump promises to “immediately deport” foreign students participating in anti-Israel protests.
“If you come here from another country and try to bring Jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to campuses we will immediately deport you. pic.twitter.com/JlkMlNXqT9
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 12, 2024
It’s not just the rallies and the protests, though. What’s fascinating are the polls. Lately, I’ve been visiting the Real Clear Polling Biden v. Trump page daily, and it’s a sea of red. Today, Trump is up by 1.2 points on average:
As you study that, keep in mind the shy Tory factor, which still sees Republican candidates polling a little bit behind their actual numbers.
And even Trump’s lead in the general polls is the most stunning thing. What is really stunning are today’s numbers showing Biden’s approval ratings and Trump’s standing in key battleground states:
The swing state data was an especially pleasant surprise because Wisconsin was still Biden territory only yesterday. Today, it’s not.
Nor are these numbers anomalous. They reflect a very strong trend:
All this data—the rally attendance and the polling—should have Democrats shaking in their shoes. All that they’ve got to hang onto is a swift end to the war in the Middle East with a two-state solution (which won’t happen) and what they think is their ace in the hole: Donald Trump’s conviction.
While it’s possible Trump will be convicted, I believe a conviction will ensure his reelection rather than end his chances for the White House. Americans understand that this lawfare is fundamentally wrong and very dangerous. Allowing it to succeed will extinguish liberty in America forever.
I’ll leave you with a thoroughly enjoyable video as a deeply depressed Fareed Zakaria explains very clearly and well why he thinks Trump is positioned to win:
When the ’24 race began to take shape, I thought Pres. Biden had a strong pitch to voters: a rebounding economy and a return to normalcy after the chaos of Covid & Trump.
Things haven’t played out that way.
My take: pic.twitter.com/WAwifAZjfB
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) May 12, 2024
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/president_trump_s_nj_rally_and_what_it_portends_for_the_coming_election.html
Bill Maher has a 2018 video of Stormy Daniels contradicting her trial testimony
By Andrea Widburg
Alvin Bragg’s case against Donald Trump alleges that Trump committed multiple felonies of unknown nature by writing checks to his attorney in a way that did not violate federal campaign laws. Although the attorney had used that money to cut a check to porn actress Stormy Daniels, anything Daniels had to say about an alleged tryst with Trump is irrelevant to these ludicrous charges. But Bragg and Judge Merchan couldn’t resist trying to embarrass Trump, so there she was. That may have been a mistake because Daniels’ testimony was a disaster...and Bill Maher has now unearthed an old Daniels interview contradicting a major part of her testimony.
One of Daniels’s main contentions on the stand was that she felt used and abused by Trump. How dare a man assume that, just because she had sex for money and was an exhibitionist and allegedly went up alone to a billionaire’s hotel room and didn’t object to his advances, she wanted to have sex. She was the victim here. She was traumatized.
However, Bill Maher, who keeps calling out his own party, unearthed footage of an interview he had in 2018 with Stormy Daniels, who was singing a very different tune about her emotional state:
BREAKING: Clip resurfaces of Stormy Daniels in 2018 telling Bill Maher she 'wasn't coerced'
In court this week she said Trump blocked her from leaving and she blacked out
She lied in court pic.twitter.com/Nj6vcFwDZi
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 12, 2024
If I were Trump’s attorneys, now that Maher has unearthed this footage, I would ask the judge to re-open her cross-examination so that I could impeach her earlier testimony. The jury needs to see that, apparently, she is a liar.
What I believe happened here is that Bragg thought that he could use the courtroom to prove that Trump was lying when he made public statements that he’d never had sex with Stormy Daniels. That’s obviously an improper use of the trial because Stormy Daniels’s testimony is irrelevant to the issues in the case (well, the issues are actually irrelevant, too, since the felony claims are imaginary). The judge should have blocked the testimony. However, Merchan is as corrupt as Bragg, so he, too, thought that Stormy would embarrass Trump and make him look like a liar before the public.
Instead, Bragg and Merchan may have discredited themselves even in front of a New York jury that has obviously been primed to rule against Trump. Every witness has been bad for the prosecution, and Stormy has been the worst of all. She spoke of hating Trump, explained that she’d be a judgment deadbeat, and has now been caught in a seeming lie. And that doesn’t even include her craziness about speaking to dead people.
There’s an old saying about giving someone enough rope to hang themselves. There’s another old saying about being careful what you wish for because you might get it. And of course, there’s the ancient Greek concept of hubris. Every one of those is playing out in the New York courtroom and, for Democrats, Stormy may prove to be the perfect storm.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/bill_maher_has_a_2018_video_of_stormy_daniels_contradicting_her_trial_testimony.html
On migrants, help is on the way, from an unexpected source: Panama
By Monica Showalter
The U.S. learns a lot about who its friends are and aren't, with Joe Biden's open-borders migrant crisis.
Now we learn that Panama, which has just elected Jose Raul Mulino, a center-right president, has plans to shut down the Darien Gap, which serves as a dangerous superhighway for all the migrant traffic making its way into the states from South America. Mulino actually ran for office on a vow to shut down the Darien Gap to migrant travel, saying they weren't a transit country for everyone else. He takes office in July.
If he succeeds -- and leftist analysts say it can't be done -- a critical stopgap in the pan-global migrant trade will come to a halt, meaning, South America won't shipping migrants from countries all over the world with South America as their launching point.
Mexico will become the main problem, which raises the spotlight, and U.S. leverage, on Mexico.
Some half a million migrants have already traversed the Darien Gap's treacherous jungle swamp-and-mountain region filled with crocodiles, leopards, drug dealers, powerful rivers, snakes, poisonous frogs, thorns, toxic plants, slippery rocks, and dead bodies, where no roads have ever been carved out.
Panama is a small country, so a half a million unvetted migrants, including much of Venezuela's criminal class, tramping through and leaving a lot of garbage and social problems on the fragile ecosystem, where native peoples are known to be angry about the human traffic waves, was obviously an issue for many voters.
The press said it wasn't, because the government bused migrants through the country to Costa Rica once they crossed the Gap, but there are definitely indicators that it was.
According to El Pais of Spain, it wasn't a publicly discussed issue very much.
Here's a Google translate:
The humanitarian emergency represented by the massive flow of migrants through the inhospitable Darién jungle that marks the Colombian-Panamanian border is not perceived in Panama City, nor has it been one of the important topics in the electoral debate of the Central American country, which attends this Sunday to the polls. And yet, the discourse against immigration has found a way to sneak into the presidential race, in the mouth, among others, of the poll favorite, former Security Minister José Raúl Mulino, who replaced the disqualified former president Ricardo Martinelli. “We are going to close Darién and we are going to repatriate all these people accordingly,” he said in statements reported by the Efe agency. Mulino, considered a champion of the heavy hand, assured that he would ask for support from the countries in the region involved in the migratory flow, such as Colombia and the United States, understanding that “Panama is not a transit country” and that many migrants are victims. of trafficking.
The chart of crossings seen on Foreign Policy's website is startling and tells a lot about the kinds of problems Panama (and other transit countries north of Panama) have been enduring.
So the reality is, the voters said 'no.' The backstory to how Mulino got elected, as described in Foreign Policy, is useful, too. He was the security minister of former president Ricardo Martinelli, a conservative who got knocked out of the race by his political enemies on a money-laundering charge. He was the frontrunner, very popular because voters remembered his previous term (they don't allow sucessive terms in Panama), and Mulino, a strong loyalist to Martinelli, was put in his place at the last minute, winning by surprise.
So obviously if it wasn't the open border that was driving this, it was the banana-republic maneuvers of the Panamanian left, which knocked out a president who brought prosperity to the country through lawfare, and voters could see it and sent a message.
Sound like any countries you know?
The bottom line for us is that Panama is proving to be a friend of the U.S. with this move. In placing Panama First on the migrant surge, they also proved to be a friend of the U.S. as well.
That's quite the opposite of what the socialist countries in the region are doing.
Nicaragua, for one, run by communist "little dictator" Daniel Ortega, has chosen to throw accelerator fuel onto the migrant crisis by faciliating flights from all over the world into Nicaragua as a money-making venture for itself, and sending them up north.
Venezuela has emptied its prisons of criminals, not political prisoners, perhaps to make more room for political prisoners, but in the main, to stick it to gringo.
Cuba has directed both socialist hellholes in their efforts to take down the U.S. with their poor man's weapon, illegal migration, which they learned to use as a tool to Get Gringo back in 1980.
Mexico has used the opportunity to attempt to extort the U.S. into dropping sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, hand over a $20 billion "development" payment, and handing out amnesty to 10 million illegals. Mexico's aims may be dishonest and dishonorable, and certainly not the activity of a good neighbor, but its government knows a fool when it sees one.
The same harm that came to Panama from Biden's open border, also comes to these countries(including the U.S.), yet the governments of nearly all of these countries on the migrant superhighways let that harm happen to themselves, just to Get Uncle Sam. Obviously, Panama is different. The voters there chose Panama first, to save itself and its land from destruction.
Panama just threw the spanner into that Get Gringo-fest, and its actions to shut down that human trafficking highway of death and horrors is not only a means of standing for itself first, but a service to humanity. Sound like any countries you know?
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/on_migrants_help_is_on_the_way_from_an_unexpected_source_panama.html
Alvin, shut it down for the sake of the party!
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
Up to now, there is a winner and a loser out of this Manhattan trial. The winner is President Trump, who keeps getting stronger. The loser is New York, or the perception that the Empire State is a banana republic. Using the legal system to target political opponents is Banana Republic 101.
This is from Jonathan Turley:
Cohen’s testimony will be the culmination of this travesty of a trial. But Bragg already jumped the shark with Daniels. After three weeks, legal experts are still debating what the crime was that Trump was seeking to conceal by recording payments for a standard non-disclosure agreement as a legal expense. (That is the same characterization used by Hillary Clinton’s campaign for its funding for the infamous Steele dossier.)
It is still unclear that Trump even knew how the payments were characterized, and the alleged false record was not even created until after the election was over. Yet he stands accused of using the “false business records” to somehow steal or rig an election that was already over.
After this circus with Cohen is complete, Trump will be allowed to testify. He would be insane to do so. Merchan has already said that he will allow a broad scope to cross-examination, making any appearance unlikely.
That is when Merchan will face a key test of judicial ethics. He has failed to protect the rights of the defendant from a baseless, politically motivated prosecution. He could insist that he simply felt Bragg had a right to present his case. He will soon be done and, as expected, it is entirely based on Cohen, a disbarred perjurer who will ask for his former client to be sent to prison for following his own legal advice.
After Bragg closes the prosecution’s case, the defense will make a standard motion for dismissal. Merchan should grant that motion.
There has been no showing of an actual crime, let alone a clear record tying Trump to key decisions or actions.
Merchan will then have to decide whether he has the courage that Bragg lacked. Bragg knew that this case was ridiculous. The Justice Department had declined any prosecution for a federal campaign finance violation, the theory referenced in the case. Indeed, it did not even seek a civil fine over the payments. Bragg’s predecessor had also rejected the prosecution.
Merchan having courage? Don’t bet on it. At the same time, he may be getting a call any day from an adult Democrat telling him to pull the plug and end this travesty of a trial.
The Trump trials are not going as planned. Down in Georgia, Fani and Nathan messed it up. In Florida, the documents case ran into a judge who understands the law. More than that, how can you hold Trump accountable when nothing happened to Mrs. Clinton and the special counsel concluded that Biden has a bad memory? The January 6 case is tied up in courts, and no trial will happen before November or the political target (Trump) is otherwise destroyed.
Back in New York, the “fraud” case can’t find anyone who got defrauded. The “he raped me 30 years ago” is so phony that it makes everyone laugh.
So Trump is winning, and New York’s judicial system smells like rotten bananas. Again, there must be an adult there calling on the judge to stop and start going after the people making the streets so dangerous.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/alvin_shut_it_down_for_the_sake_of_the_party.html
State and City livability rankings are askew
By Noel S. Williams
'Death to Israel' also means 'death to America'
By Julian R. Sinclair
There is a relatively small subsection of the Right in America that is saying “America First, don’t help Israel” or “No more wars to save the Jews.” Not only does this stink of the isolationism of the 1930s, people who believe this are falling for a trick of the enemy.
How many times do these “Anti-Israel” protestors need to shout “Death to America” for the Right to understand that they hate America just as much as they hate the Jews and Israel? Go to any pro-Hamas/Palestine rally and I guarantee you there will be someone desecrating the American flag, shouting “Death to America” while also claiming that Christianity and Western Civilization are evil.
Here is a list of the times these pro-Nazi/pro-Hamas/pro-Palestine protestors also called for “Death to America”:
New York University
The University of Michigan
Dearborn, Michigan
The New York Stock Exchange
Further, the pro-Israel side is usually waving the American flag along side the Israeli flag. As you are probably aware, pro-Israel frat boys guarded the American flag from being torn down by pro-Hamas protestors.
The pro-Hamas/anti-Israel crowd is not just against Israel: they are against Western Civilization in general. It is in the Hamas charter that Muslims have a religions obligation to wage a war of religions purification.
If you are “America First,” you should realize that for Hamas and Iran, their plan is “Israel first, then we destroy America.” They consider the West and Christianity to be the “Great Satan.” The political capital Iran would gain from destroying Israel would give them the ability to mobilize and eventually wage war against the United States.
With more and more Muslims being elected to positions of power in the United Kingdom, we could be looking at a situation where the British Royal Navy simply gives Hamas or Iran nuclear-armed submarines, as a measure of “Islamic Solidarity” to “deter aggressive actions by the U.S.” Those submarines then launch nukes at the United States, with or without provocation.
If you love America, you should understand that we cannot sit out this conflict of civilizations: Israel is but the first target on the list of enemies that Islamic Nazism wishes to destroy. The same people shouting for “Death to Israel” literally shout “Death to America” in the same breath. They want to kill you, whether you realize it or not.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/death_to_israel_also_means_death_to_america.html
If You Give a Denver Migrant a Cookie...
By Brian C. Joondeph
Unreliable Ally
By Alex Gordon
Can Biden Hold off Trump by Winning the Heartland Again?
The answer will surprise you.
by Tim Donner | May 13, 2024
In the fog of Election Night 2016, you will remember that Pennsylvania and Michigan were almost universally hailed as the states that put Donald Trump over the top and into the White House. While the shock of that night has yet to wear off for either friend or foe, both states were thought to be shading a bit purple after years of Democrat blue dominance. They became logical targets for Trump’s helter-skelter campaign designed to penetrate deep into long-uncharted territory behind the so-called blue wall.
At the same time, few will remember that it was actually Wisconsin, a state hardly on Trump’s radar, which put the soon-to-be 45th president over the required 270 electoral votes. Then, in the mirror-image election of 2020, Joe Biden won the Badger State by a similarly razor-thin margin as Trump four years earlier. The same reversal of fortune occurred in Pennsylvania and Michigan, captured by Biden in 2020 by margins nearly as slim as Trump in 2016. That is why Biden was handing out more goodies last week in Wisconsin, a place he is sure to visit frequently as November approaches. Already, he has spent more time in Pennsylvania than any state other than Delaware and is counting on the strong hand of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and a heavily Democratic state government to boost his fortunes in Michigan.
With this trio of states reflecting the country’s heartland all highly competitive, are the stakes equally large for both Trump and Biden? If aggregate polling data is to be believed, the answer is no. To use a sports analogy, it’s like Trump is up by three runs entering the 8th inning of a baseball game, or ten points ahead entering the fourth quarter of a football game. Victory is not assured, but the odds are promising.
The Trump Math Adds Up, Biden Not So Much
Start with the widely accepted premise that 43 of the nation’s 50 states are considered locks or near-locks for one candidate or the other. Though there are some that could be in play in the event of a one-sided victory for Trump such as New Hampshire, Virginia, and Minnesota, that leaves seven states that seem all but certain to swing the election one way or another.
New banner Memo - From the Desk of Senior Political Analyst Tim Donner 1While Biden has recently prevailed in some national polls, in order to understand the magnitude of the challenge facing the president in his bid for re-election, one needs to drill down on battleground state polling from multiple sources, compiled and averaged by Real Clear Politics (RCP). The results are startling. Trump has finished on top in 86% of swing state polls figured into the current RCP average – 32 out of 37 – while Biden has prevailed in just three, with two more finishing in a tie.
Furthermore, Trump has built commanding, perhaps even insurmountable, leads in four of the seven most critical states (three of which he lost in 2020). He leads North Carolina by 5.4%, Arizona by 5%, Nevada by 4.5%, and Georgia by 3.8% – with all except Georgia outside the margin of error. This leaves no wiggle room for Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
But even a Biden clean sweep of the heartland may not matter because, if polling holds up, Trump could reach the promised land without winning any of those three states.
Here’s why. Forgetting even that Biden is trailing Trump on every major issue except abortion and hemorrhaging support among minorities and the young, an overlooked factor in most predictive electoral math is the altered apportionment of electoral votes following the 2020 census. As the populace continues to move away from the urban north and toward the sunbelt and south, northern industrial states and the biggest, bluest states have been stripped of electoral votes that could well prove pivotal in a tight election. Michigan and Pennsylvania each lost one congressional seat due to population losses, as did California, Illinois, and New York. So did Ohio and West Virginia, both considered Trump strongholds. But Trump benefits from Texas gaining two congressional seats, and Florida, Montana, and North Carolina each adding one, though deep blue Oregon also gains one seat.
Add it all up and the states in Biden’s 2020 coalition have lost a net five electoral votes. If Trump holds together his coalition from 2020, he would start 2024 with 237 electoral votes (up from 232 following the reapportionment). Adding in the three battleground states Trump lost in 2020 but is presently leading by healthy margins – Georgia (16 votes), Arizona (11 votes) and Nevada (6 votes) – and it takes Trump to 269 votes and a flat-footed tie with Biden in the electoral college. It would then be settled in the House, where each state would get one vote for president, and Republicans currently control 26 state congressional delegations compared to 22 for the Democrats. Of course, Trump could avoid such a scenario by winning any one of Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin.
Obviously, in an election between the oldest president in history and a once-in-a-lifetime lightning rod for both love and hate under multiple indictments, variables abound. Much will happen in the six months leading up to November 5, most of it ugly. But the only question that ultimately matters is whether Joe Biden can dig himself out of the deep, dark hole the metrics suggest, or if he must face the wrath of Democrats sure to blame him for handing the keys to the White House back to their sworn enemy.
https://www.libertynation.com/can-biden-hold-off-trump-by-winning-the-heartland-again/
Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen May Testify Against His Old Boss
Will the prosecution finally deliver some evidence of a crime?
by Liberty Nation Authors | May 13, 2024 |
Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly falsifying business records began nearly a month ago. Now, prosecutors suggest they’re in the home stretch and may rest their case by the end of the week. But first, they reportedly have two more witnesses to call – and Michael Cohen, the former president’s former lawyer and “fixer” – is widely expected to make an appearance today, May 13. What can the prosecution hope to gain by calling this witness, and will his testimony be relevant to the crimes for which Trump has actually been charged? To find out, we asked Scott D Cosenza, Esq, Liberty Nation’s legal affairs editor.
Calling Cohen
James Fite: The prosecution is expected to call two more witnesses, ending their presentation as soon as later this week. Michael Cohen – Trump’s former lawyer and the guy who made the so-called hush money payment to Stormy Daniels – is widely expected to be their star witness and appear in court later today. If Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team call Cohen to the stand, what might they hope to hear?
Scott D Cocenza, Esq.: It depends on their goals. For instance, while Stormy Daniels’ testimony did not seem to advance any theory of Donald Trump committing actual crimes, it did produce damaging, unflattering press coverage of the former president. The most widely reported story from this trial concerns an alleged tryst between Trump and Daniels from 2006. Reports from Sunday’s Meet the Press, for instance, say Bragg’s Stormy Daniels presentation was a political hit for Trump.
Mr. Trump has alleged the entire prosecution is political, based on the novel application of the laws against him by a district attorney who campaigned on getting Trump eight years after the alleged acts transpired. If so, prosecutors may advance those ends again through Cohen – by fueling new negative stories about Trump that can lead their news reports for the week ahead.
James: This has often been referred to as Trump’s hush money case, but paying a porn star for her silence isn’t a crime the former president has been charged with. What’s actually criminal about what Trump supposedly did, and how relevant is Cohen’s testimony to the case compared to that of Daniels herself?
Scott: Jim, it’s surprising that prosecutors have yet to introduce evidence of a crime. Trump is on trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. They must prove two things beyond a reasonable doubt: First, that Trump intended to defraud someone, and second, that then-candidate Trump intended to violate federal election law. So far, the prosecution has presented no evidence to jurors on either count – perhaps Cohen will be the one to deliver relevant, incriminating testimony on these issues – because the case should never be sent to the jury for a verdict if no one does.
A Double Standard
James: Judge Juan Merchan has the former president under a gag order, preventing him from talking publicly about the trial or the witnesses. But the witnesses themselves are under no such gag order, and Cohen, for instance, regularly exhibits contempt for Trump via social media posts, fundraises off the case, and wears a T-shirt depicting Trump behind bars. Judge Merchan has directed the prosecution to ask Cohen to stop talking about it, but that’s all. Why the lack of action? And if he can’t gag Cohen, why not release Trump from his gag order to even the playing field?
Scott: Well, either the judge has made prejudicial decisions against the defendant, or perhaps the system isn’t designed to accommodate a defendant like this. It’s hard to understand why the fair administration of justice requires such an imposition to be allowed.
If Trump were willing to openly defy the gag order, it would make a good test case. For instance, Merchan ruled Trump could not disparage his – the judge’s – family members. If Loren Merchan (the judge’s daughter) were a beer vendor at Wrigley Field and had nothing to do with the case, that might make sense. Instead, she is president of Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), amongst others, as clients. The NY Post reported, “Two major Democratic clients of the daughter of the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush-money trial have raised at least $93 million in campaign donations – and used the case in their solicitation emails….”
Her proximity to the case and potential motivation for the judge to disfavor the defendant is undoubtedly worthy of curiosity and comment. I would expect an appeals court to pare back the gag order considerably, and it still may – after the trial. Prosecutors said Friday that they hope to wrap up their case by the end of this week, and the appeals court won’t examine the gag order until after that.
https://www.libertynation.com/former-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-may-testify-against-his-old-boss/
Monster Mash-up
“My take is that the US is incredibly unstable right now, and could go in almost any imaginable direction between now and the election, as well as some unimaginable ones.” —John Michael Greer
James Howard Kunstler
May 13, 2024
Did you notice that it took just a little bit of internal chaos to alert the Party of Chaos that maybe chaos wasn’t the greatest thing to be the party of? Something went awry the past two weeks when thousands of creamy coeds on every campus across America donned the keffiyeh and, in effect, demanded submission to history’s most notorious misogynist cult. It struck a most cacophonous chord among progressives, like Kumbaya as orchestrated by Karlheinz Stockhausen. To awaken from Wokery, you see, is a brutal shock to the brain.
And so, over the weekend every big dog in the Democratic Party’s doghouse came out barking against the current direction of the Democratic Party — that is, over an electoral cliff, lemming-style. Bill Clinton lamented at the Milken Conference that “the political rewards of grievance politics and name-calling and being negative have been so immense that nobody could give’em up. That’s what this whole shebang has come down to now.”
James Carville had a veritable nervous breakdown on X: “It’s going the wrong way, it’s not working. Everything we’re throwing is spaghetti at a wall, and none of it is sticking, me included.” Fareed Zakaria over on CNN confessed that “None of this is playing out the way I thought it would.” Gee, really?
None of them could bring themselves to actually name the doddering donkey in the room, “Joe Biden.” Nor did they dare call out the stage manager behind the old Joe-from-Scranton show, Barack Obama, not exactly coasting into his fourth term, as expected. They’re all surprised the way things are turning out. And, of course, “JB” himself did not come out of his Rehoboth Beach hidey-hole after declaring no more bullets and missiles for you, Israel, which landed amongst the Party’s donor class like a tear-gas bomb.
Hillary Clinton popped up on the Morning Joe show wearing royal purple to remind the audience that Donald Trump is another Hitler, threatening “the sanctity of the Constitution” and adding “maybe this will be our last election.” If she’s putting herself up as possible last-minute replacement for the ever more ghostly “Joe Biden,” she was not so crass as to say so. The party will have to come pleading to her on its knees, hoping she can once again muster the legions of indignant women to oppose the wicked Golden Golem of Greatness — who was, that very day, on display in a Manhattan courtroom having to endure the jibes of the paradigmatic wronged woman, porn-star Stormy Daniels.
What else have they got, really? Gavin Newsom? If Mr. Trump is Hitler, then think of Mr. Newsom as Godzilla with hair gel. Imagine what he could do to the whole USA after trashing California, as he has managed to do. Sorry to tell you, but in an election contest between Hitler and Godzilla, Hitler would probably win. It’s a rock-paper-scissors deal. Any other ringers they might throw in? The only name that ever comes up is Illinois governor JB Pritzker, who actually looks a bit like King Kong, and has certainly done a Kong-job on Chicago. And, by the way, that’s where the Democrats’ convention will happen in August. Wouldn’t it be something to see King Kong versus Godzilla there?
All of which is to say that something beyond desperation has set in amongst the Democrats, an emotion so dire that Elizabeth Kubler Ross couldn’t find a word for it on her transect of grief. They don’t know what to do at this point. They have only a few months to figure it out and there is more at stake than a mere turnover in administrative duties. The shadow of the gibbet looms in their nightmares. Their lawfare schtick was one thing, a kind of fun-and-games compared to what’s coming at them: the actual law, trials for more serious crimes than mere book-keeping errors and mis-pricing real estate valuations. Think: sedition, treason, bribery and tack on conspiracy to commit all the above.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump provided a further shock to the awakening Woke with a Saturday evening fan meetup down-the-shore in Wildwood, New Jersey. Somewhere between eighty to a hundred-thousand voters showed up in what is said to be among the bluest states in the country. Bruce Springsteen must have been weeping into his avocado toast over in Red Bank. Then, across the Sunday morning news digests there was talk about “a landslide win,” and even more amazed chatter about RINOs and Never-Trumpers returning to the folds of the Golden Golem’s heavenly garment, as though Mr. Trump had virtually Jeezified himself through a year of tribulation.
Will the Democrats just go through the motions the next six months, awaiting execution? Naw. One way or another, they are going to jam Hillary into this psychodrama. Stay tuned for a couple of medical emergencies. First, Kamala Harris will resign on account of a sudden “health problem” that prevents her from attending to her duties. Cancer will be implied but not spelled out. “Joe Biden” will appoint HRC of the Purple Pantsuit as veep. Three weeks later, “JB” will submit his resignation for medical reasons, and nobody will need to ask why. Voila! The first woman president, she-whose-turn-has-finally-come, flies triumphantly out of the Democratic Convention in her hometown, Chicago, like Rodan the Flying Reptile emerging from the mythic volcano, cawing her battle-cry across the land. The Golden Golem answers with a roar. The great re-match is on!
https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/monster-mash-up?publication_id=2076970&post_id=144583533&isFreemail=true&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true
Monday's Energy Absurdity: The Malthusians Just Can't Keep Their Goals a Secret
David Blackmon
May 13, 2024
I’ve written many pieces over the past year about the increasing boldness of the Malthusian wing of the climate alarm industry to talk about their real end goals for us humans. An understanding of those goals is why the meme atop this piece has also been featured atop my landing page for the past two years or so.
Make no mistake about it: You really are the carbon they want to reduce, and they just can’t stop themselves from saying it out loud.
The latest spiller of the Malthusian beans comes to us in the form of one Professor Bill McGwire, whose X profile says he is a “Volcanologist, climate scientist, writer, broadcaster, activist, socialist, best-selling author of HOTHOUSE EARTH: AN INHABITANT'S GUIDE.”
Cool. So he’s got that going for him.
He’s also got the climate alarm religion’s program going for him, and on Sunday, he just couldn’t contain himself from talking about it in this tweet:
“If I’m being brutally honest, the only realistic way I see emissions falling as fast as they need to, to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown (the latest alarmist dogmatic talking point), is the culling of the human population by a pandemic with a very high fatality rate.”
Welp, he said it, not me.
And hey, let’s be honest: He’s just repeating stuff that’s been said out loud in recent months by luminaries like Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, and many other Cardinals of the Global Church of Climate Alarm. So, what’s the problem?
Well, the problem apparently for Mr. McGwire is his tweet got ratio’d into oblivion, leading him to the decision to delete it and post this one instead:
“RIGHT, I AM DELETING THE INITIAL TWEET NOW. NOT BECAUSE I REGRET IT, BUT BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE HAVE MISTAKENLY, OR INTENTIONALLY, TAKEN IT THE WRONG WAY.”
See? It’s not his fault for advocating the elimination of billions of pesky humans from the face of the earth, no doubt with another, more deadly virus already sitting and waiting to be released from a “research lab” in China or, even better, Ukraine. It’s your fault for taking it the wrong way!
Thus does this “professor” of something or other have his cake and eats it, too.
These people are utterly shameless, and a true danger to us all.
Thanks to my podcasting partner Tammy Nemeth for alerting me to this gem.
That is all.
https://blackmon.substack.com/p/mondays-energy-absurdity-the-malthusians?publication_id=712558&post_id=144580277&isFreemail=false&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true
Dems pin Trump in NYC courtroom and he just turns it into his own personal campaign stage
By Miranda Devine Published May 12, 2024, 9:57 p.m. ET
When Joe Biden flew to San Francisco on Thursday for some fancy fundraisers, reporters noted that all the televisions on Air Force One were tuned to MSNBC, where the chyron read: “Stormy Daniels wraps 7-plus hours of testimony in Trump hush money trial.”
The president might be enjoying the wall-to-wall coverage of his opponent stuck in a Manhattan courtroom, but it probably is not the electoral gift Biden imagines.
Ever the showman, Donald Trump has flipped the adversity of his lawfare travails into a triumph of free media hits worth almost $2?billion, according to data provided exclusively by his campaign.
With cameras banned inside the courtroom, the former president makes his own news when he turns up at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse at Centre Street each day.
Every morning and some afternoons, Trump stands in the draughty 15th-floor corridor outside courtroom 1530 and addresses the assembled press pack without notes for three to five minutes, delivering pithy political bullets on the news of the day, trashing Biden, Judge Juan Merchan and the lawfare that Democrats are waging against him.
Free media coverage
His monologues, carried live by most TV networks and amplified online, have delivered his campaign an average of $260 million in earned (a?k?a free) digital media each day, according to a report by the Meltwater media monitoring agency, which estimates the equivalent cost of placing advertisements.
The first day of the Trump trial, April 15, delivered a whopping $440 million equivalent. The average weekly earned media during the trial has been $1.2 billion per week.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Dems.
The Meltwater figures cover only digital media. On TV, Nielsen ratings showed an initial boost in viewers in the first week of the trial for the most obsessed networks, CNN and MSNBC, of 30% and 6%, respectively.
Viewership fell in the second week because, without cameras in the courtroom, coverage relies on pundits giving breathless play-by-plays of Trump’s head movements or lip pursing. Breaking news! A new courtroom sketch!
With an eye for optics, Trump delights in the fact that the 80-year-old Art Deco granite courthouse with its harsh fluorescent lights has turned out somehow to be a flattering stage set, and the vault-like ceilings make his voice resonate rather than echo.
Every day, he takes pleasure in laying into “Trump-hating” Merchan, who has not recused himself despite the fact that his daughter Loren heads a political consulting firm that runs digital campaigns for Democrat candidates and posted a photo on social media of Trump behind bars.
A gag order prevents Trump from mentioning Loren, so he contents himself with lambasting her father. “He’s a corrupt judge, and he’s totally conflicted.”
He usually complains about being forced off the campaign trail and proclaims his innocence.
“I should be right now in Pennsylvania and Florida, in many other states, North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning. .?.?. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m innocent, and I’m being held in this court with a corrupt judge who’s totally conflicted.”
Has his dais in court
And he pitches the promises of his second presidency, to “drill, baby drill, to bring energy down, to close up the border, to get rid of all the criminals that are being allowed into our country .?.?. They’re taking [them] out of mental institutions [and] jails. .?.?. All of this is greatly affecting our country and very negatively. Now, we’re going to make America great again. Thank you very much.”
On Friday morning before court, Trump even took the opportunity to promote his rally the next day in Wildwood, NJ. He tried out some of the lines he would use at Wildwood, railing against the “horrible gag order” and reading aloud extracts from articles in the New York Post that he said declared the case a “legal catastrophe.”
“I’ll go now sit in that freezing courtroom for 8 or 9 hours and think about being on the campaign all day.”
Perhaps having seen the Meltwater figures, Trump extended his corridor remarks on Friday afternoon to 10 minutes and announced he was unafraid of jail.
Merchan is a “thug” who “wants to put me in jail.”
“And that could happen one day, and I’d be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution because what he’s doing is so unconstitutional.?.?.?. So fake, the whole case is fake. The judge is corrupt. It’s not a case. There’s no crime. .?.?. This is election interference. It all comes out of Washington.”
He gave a soliloquy on inflation: “It’s a tax on the American people due to gross incompetence.”
He said Biden “lies about everything, including his golf game” and that Biden and his donors are “against Israel.”
All week, he used his media moments to smash Biden on the politics of the day, deciding the topics in his limo during the 4-mile drive downtown from his apartment atop Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
Thursday, it was Israel.
“If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves. He’s totally abandoned Israel, as nobody can believe it. I guess he feels good about it because he did it as a political decision.”
It was campus protests on Tuesday.
“The country is on fire. There are protests all over the country. I’ve never seen anything like this. Many graduation ceremonies are being canceled. .?.?. And we have a president that just refuses to talk because he can’t talk.”
It was Biden donors Monday.
“Many of the protesters are backed by Biden’s donors. OK, are you listening, Israel?”
Off the battleground
You get the feeling Trump revels in the fact he is getting more publicity in the courthouse than he would from standing in an Ohio cornfield. It is reminiscent of 2016 when he was financially outgunned by his adversaries but ended up with more media coverage.
His Wildwood rally went ahead Saturday in front of a whopping crowd of more than 100,000 attendees, according to official estimates, and proved to be an extended version of his courtroom diatribes, with bonus impersonations of Biden.
Of course, the big crowds and the earned media bonanza reflect the fact that Trump is a consummate entertainer who puts on a free show.
But 2020 showed that crowd numbers are no guarantee of electoral victory. The hard work is still to be done in the swing states.
Overshadowing the unexpected upside of his courtroom travails is the fact that, while the media spotlight is fixed on Trump in New York, Democratic governors in the crucial battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania are quietly using their powers to tilt the playing field in favor of Biden.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/12/opinion/dems-pin-trump-in-nyc-courtroom-and-he-just-turns-it-into-his-own-personal-campaign-stage/
Trump now leading in 5 battleground states — all of which Biden won in 2020: poll
By Isabel Keane Published May 13, 2024 Updated May 13, 2024, 7:38 a.m. ET
Former President Donald Trump is leading President Biden in five critical, toss-up swing states — all of which Biden had won in 2020, a new set of polls revealed.
Surveys by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer found that Trump was more popular than Biden among voters in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania, while Biden led among voters in only one battleground state, Wisconsin.
All six of the battleground states looked at in the polls were won by Biden in 2020, and victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in 2024 would be enough for Biden to secure his re-election, as long as he did not lose any of the states he won four years ago.
The poll numbers revealed how issues like inflation, the Israel-Hamas war and immigration have caused widespread dissatisfaction among Americans, all while raising concerns over Biden’s ability to improve quality of life for Americans.
Nearly 70 percent of voters polled said that the country’s political and economic systems need a major overhaul — and only 13 percent of Biden’s supporters believe he would be able to bring about such change during his second term.
Howard University cancels graduation mid-ceremony after furious family members pound on doors, smash window
Porch pirate just snatches package from homeowner's hands mere seconds after it's delivered: video
Many of the voters polled even admitted that even while they dislike Trump, he would be the candidate to change things up.
Trump and Biden are currently tied among 18 to 29-year-olds and amongst Hispanic voters, even though over 60 percent of the demographic voted for Biden in 2020.
Trump has also secured 20 percent of Black voters’ support — the highest level of Black support for any Republican presidential candidate since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/13/us-news/trump-now-leading-in-5-battleground-states-all-of-which-biden-won-in-2020-polls/
This may be the week Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump falls apart
By Jonathan Turley Published May 12, 2024, 1:42 p.m. ET
Even for those of us who have long been critics of the “hush money” case against Donald Trump and its dubious legal theory, it has been surprising to see that the prosecutors had no more evidence than we previously knew about.
The assumption was that no rational prosecutor would base a major criminal case almost entirely on the testimony of Michael Cohen, who was recently denounced by a judge as a serial perjurer peddling “perverse” theories in court.
The calculus of Alvin Bragg is now obvious. He is counting on the jury convicting Trump regardless of the evidence.
Which is also why Bragg likely fears that the judge, not the jury, will decide the case. After the government closes its evidence this week, the defense will move for a direct verdict by the judge on the basis that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.
Many of us agree with that assessment. After three weeks of testimony, there is still confusion on what crime Trump allegedly committed.
Bragg has vaguely referred to the labelling of payments to Stormy Daniels as “legal expenses” as a fraud committed to steal the election.
However, the election was over when those denotations were made. Moreover, many believe that such a characterization for payments related to a nondisclosure agreement is accurate. (Hillary Clinton’s campaign claimed in the same election that hiding the funding for the Steele dossier as legal expenses was perfectly accurate).
Judge Juan Merchan, in my view, has failed repeatedly to protect the rights of the accused in this case.
But if he wants to show he is truly neutral, Merchan should grant the motion for a directed verdict.
To prevent that, Bragg has to show Merchan that someone claimed to have evidence directly tying Trump to an intentional fraudulent scheme to conceal a crime.
Thus far, Bragg hasn’t come close. Indeed, many of his witnesses helped Trump more than they hurt him.
Bragg started with the testimony of David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, on an uncharged transaction to kill a story of a Trump affair with a different woman, Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model.
The relevancy was marginal but the testimony backfired in that Pecker admitted that Trump told him that he knew nothing about any reimbursement to Cohen for any hush money.
He further said that he had killed or promoted stories for Trump in the years before he ever announced for president. He also said that he had killed stories for other celebrities and politicians, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Rahm Emanuel and Mark Wahlberg.
For good measure, Pecker noted that Cohen often exaggerates and would become loud and argumentative in their discussions.
Witnesses said that Trump likely had a mix of motivations for wanting to kill a story, including sparing his family from embarrassment. Daniels’ own counsel contradicted the prosecution’s reference to the payment as “hush money.”
Judge allows Stormy Daniels to give irrelevant, salacious testimony just to humiliate Trump
So prosecutors now turn to a witness, Michael Cohen, with a record of saying whatever serves his interests and those of his sponsors.
Everything is riding on his testimony. It is not enough to say that Trump wanted to hush up the alleged affair. That is no crime and NDAs are common and legal.
Cohen has to say that Trump specifically knew and approved of the characterization of the payments as “legal expenses.”
He further has to establish that Trump intended the denotation to conceal the payments for the purposes of election violations or fraud.
That could make this a “he said, he said” case if Trump were to actually testify. However, Merchan’s earlier rulings make such testimony highly unlikely.
The court approved a sweeping scope for cross examination if Trump dares to take the stand. No competent lawyer would advise him to do so after Merchan’s rulings.
That is exactly where Bragg wants to be: with a “he said” not a “he said, he said” case. With Trump effectively silenced, Bragg will argue that Cohen’s testimony is enough to get to the jury.
Given the blind rage of many New Yorkers for Trump, the testimony of a convicted, disbarred, serial perjurer may be enough. The question, then, is whether the judge will let it get that far.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/12/opinion/this-may-be-the-week-alvin-braggs-case-against-trump-falls-apart/
JUST NOW: Biden Being IMPEACHED | Articles Filed Just Minutes Ago
Stephen Gardner
1.56M subscribers
Remember as a child
When one mimics
To learn
Or to mock
Without realizing the two
Does one have any words
Yes! Goodnight Gracie!
Does one have any words
Of one's own
To explain a situation
Beside pointing to other sources
Without knowing why
Interesting hamster wheel
Such weasel words but you neglected to explain these five quotes. Give it your best shot. I can give you other's if you prefer.
1. Trump Suggests Hunter Biden Should Be Put to Death
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-suggests-hunter-biden-death-penalty-1234786435/
2. Trump posts video that shows image of Biden tied up in the back of a truck
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/30/politics/trump-biden-video-truth-social-violent-rhetoric/index.html
3. Trump Adviser: Hillary Clinton 'Should Be Shot in a Firing squad ...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/clinton-baldasaro/496199/
4. Donald Trump calls for Hillary Clinton to be jailed
https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/02/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-imprisoned/index.html
5. Donald Trump: Hillary's killed 'hundreds of thousands'
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-216726
Interesting hamster wheel
With nothing meaningful
Being said
Which seems to be
One's motivation
On a road to nowhere
It would be nice
If one could think
For oneself
Have you ever tried it?
It would be nice
If one could think
For oneself
Critical thinking goes beyond asking for answers
Give it a shot! It'll be a novel experience for you. You're never too old to learn.
Critical thinking goes beyond asking for answers
What is trying to be accomplished
Exactly! What are you trying to accomplish? You ask a lot of questions but offer no answers.
There is a purpose
For being here
As time moves forward
What is trying to be accomplished
Is much more than individual
But understanding
Beyond banter
Perspectives are key
To understanding
Do you understand what your trump was trying to convey with these five quotes? I'm sure you can explain it to those of us who don't speak psychobabble. Take them one at a time and please interpret it for us "in your perspective to understanding".
1. Trump Suggests Hunter Biden Should Be Put to Death
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-suggests-hunter-biden-death-penalty-1234786435/
2. Trump posts video that shows image of Biden tied up in the back of a truck
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/30/politics/trump-biden-video-truth-social-violent-rhetoric/index.html
3. Trump Adviser: Hillary Clinton 'Should Be Shot in a Firing squad ...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/clinton-baldasaro/496199/
4. Donald Trump calls for Hillary Clinton to be jailed
https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/02/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-imprisoned/index.html
5. Donald Trump: Hillary's killed 'hundreds of thousands'
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-216726
Gmenfan: That is a riot. And that is a terrier for you!
Depending on where one goes
Will depend on the outcome
Perspectives are key
To understanding
When it permits
In doing so
With grace
Why the divisiveness
Beats me.
Trump Suggests Hunter Biden Should Be Put to Death
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-suggests-hunter-biden-death-penalty-1234786435/
Trump posts video that shows image of Biden tied up in the back of a truck
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/30/politics/trump-biden-video-truth-social-violent-rhetoric/index.html
Trump Adviser: Hillary Clinton 'Should Be Shot in a Firing squad ...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/clinton-baldasaro/496199/
Donald Trump calls for Hillary Clinton to be jailed
https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/02/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-imprisoned/index.html
Donald Trump: Hillary's killed 'hundreds of thousands'
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-216726
Understanding
From where one comes
Is key
If one was to spare the superfluous
Why the divisiveness
Big money has already moved in and bought gold - Brien Lundin says investors aren't waiting
BENJAMIN FULFORD WEEKLY GEO-POLITICAL UPDATE. 100 TRILLION TO BE ALLOCATED 4 HUMANITY JGANON SGANON
https://rumble.com/v4upnbl-benjamin-fulford-weekly-geo-political-update.-100-trillion-to-be-allocated-.html
THE DIVINE PRAYER
https://amg-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/trp-div.mp4
https://assets-global.website-files.com/650c3209c808716880fbde56/650c3879116d1ebf44f4bbfa_book%20mockup.png
https://www.thedivineprayer.com/vsl?hopId=09c9b44a-f177-4413-851b-37a3480eb36a&
PRAYERS - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY - RESTORED REPUBLIC VIA A GCR UPDATE AS OF MAY 12, 2024
https://rumble.com/v4uph0c-restored-republic-via-a-gcr-update-as-of-may-12-2024.html
Obama, Biden, Att. Gen., & CIA Dir. Murdered More Children
BY Tory Smith
31.9K subscribers
He's losing/lost his mind. 🤣🤣
'Whoops': Social media slams Trump after he 'mistakes Beijing for Taiwan' at rally
Donald Trump made a splash by rallying in New Jersey, a state where some polls show he doesn't have a shot, but social media users were more focused on the former president's slip-up on China.
One of the first things Trump said at his rally in the Garden State went viral online. He thanked someone in the crowd, a former football player and Trump "golfing friend," named O.J. While Trump was roundly mocked, some said Trump was referring to someone other than the late accused murderer O.J. Simpson.
The next thing that caught attention online was Trump's reference to China.
"Take a look at Xi, president Xi of China, talking about Beijing. Now they've got ships circling, they have planes, but they never were doing anything," Trump said at his Saturday rally. He was likely intending to say "Taiwan."
A Biden-Harris campaign account said a "confused Trump" was claiming that "Chinese president Xi Jinping has 'ships circling' Beijing." The account noted that "Beijing is the landlocked capital of China."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-whoops-china-beijing/
Followers
|
426
|
Posters
|
|
Posts (Today)
|
26
|
Posts (Total)
|
189541
|
Created
|
09/01/03
|
Type
|
Premium
|
Moderator Bullwinkle | |||
Assistants al44 |
It is Your Economy .. yours, mine, our family, friends and neighbors -- EVERYONE to some degree is touched by the markets and their behavior. So we should be aware of the various mechanisms that make the markets and our economy tick. We live in a new era where politics, rumor, weather and just about anything you can think of effects the markets and our economy in some way, shape or form. Like it or not we are globally tied at the hip and in this new era where the advent of technology and the internet pushes information to the edge of the envelope, we can only hope to keep up with the many challenges ahead and the speed at which they develop. Technology is a double-edged sword and unfortunately can be used for good as well as evil, it just depends on who is holding the sword. This board was created to follow news, markets, stocks, cycles, trends, indicators and most of all to communicate and share ideas. Humor and Cartoons are welcome here, it breaks up the monotony from time to time and I am alays game for a good joke. I enjoy data mining, especially for info that the MSM (Main Stream Media) fail to or are not allowed to report. We must see things from all angles and aspects in order to verify what is true and what is false, basically becoming more atune to separating the wheat from the chaff. Hopefully in the long run this will help us all to make better and more sound decisions. This board is/was basically an information board, but all are welcome to post, (actually I encourage it because looking through another's eyes gives more perspective on issues). We can never learn too much about these ever changing times and the economy at hand.
* I have only a couple of rules and that is if you should post; NO PURE POLITICS or RELIGION and as always expected, please PLAY NICE !!!
>>>
>>>
NOTE: What is meant by "pure politics" as stated in this boards' iBox decriptiion is just that.., it has no real ties to the economy and is mainly a composition of political innuendo. As I assume most of you know, it is difficult at times to separate politics from the economy due to the fact that politics plays a very large part in our everyday lives; be it on an economical, personal or other level altogether. Therefore this has created problems in the discernment of which posts should stay or go due to their leaning too far toward the political side and are slight on economic issues. As hard as my assistants and I try, we cannot please everyone. But we do what we do and want to be fair, we do want what should stay as part of this forums curricular. Everyone has an opinion and/or wants to be heard and I will do whatever I can to help ensure that is what takes place and hopefully most will not feel as though they are being targeted or alienated.
In the end all I can ask is that you be patient if a post of yours has been deleted, yet it has economic undertones that state otherwise and you feel should remain. If you feel you have been wronged - relax, sit back and PM me and I will make a final judgement. I am rather liberal, therefore more times than not I most likely will restore your post if it has merit and/or fallen between the cracks. Things happen or are interpreted differently and sometimes incorrectly, we are human. So do NOT throw a hissy fit nor become a foul mouth fool. Also PM harassment is frowned upon and should carry a level of disciplinary action, but I will leave that up to iHub Admin. Besides all that life is too precious to spend in a tirade. These types of behavior will get you no where except a closer view of the exit.. Treat people as you would like to be treated and we can work through most issues. It all starts with civil dialogue, respect for another's opinion even if not agreed upon. An agreement to disagree is the way I like to see things conclude when minds cannot meld. Just because an agreement cannot be reached does not mean we automatically have to trash another for their views and/or opinions. Let's face it, we all want better, we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves and we all want to gain an edge in the game of life. This cannot be accomplished without an open mind and a certain level of tolerance for all that speak out.
As a matter of fact I encourage as many of you as possible to post, even if it is just once a month. You don't have to take the world by storm, it could be about something as simple as a neighborhood observation such as more homes up for sale than in months past or how empty the parking lots are at a traditionally known hot spot. Post an article or commentary that hits close to home, test the waters and see if others have seen similar events around the country. We have at our fingertips virtually 100s of libraries of information and cyber chat connections we can use to find out how different aspects of the economy are doing all around the nation. I truly believe we all have a lot to contribute and share and while we all will never see eye to eye on every subject or then again maybe none at all, but different points of view may enhance our own outlook or the way we see and do things. Right or wrong, the world is constantly evolving and technology will begin to pick up speed by leaps and bounds So we could serve each other better if we take what is posted for face value instead of an opportunity to lambaste someone that sees things in a different light than our own preconditioned mindset. When opposing views are met with hostile impositions it is of no service to anyone. I certainly would not want a cult following or a bunch of "yes" men setting the tone for this forum, I want diversity !!! Variety is the spice of life !!! You cannot expand your horizons if you automatically shut down and feel as though you have it all figured out. I got news for you, you don't and you won't until you are lying on your death bed. I do not care who you are or how worldly and educated you may be, we never stop learning unless we hold ourselves back with preconceived notions. Knowledge IS Power...
AND if you should feel the need to post on an otherwise different, yet similar stage:
Your Economy OT - Conspiracy, Politics, Religion, Terrorism, War (whatever else you can think of) (YE2OT)
It's open and ready for business. Over there you can post whatever you like to your hearts content, especially political/economic articles and commentary that does not quite fit in at YE1. So now you have 2 boards - One for economics, markets, trends, data, news, commentary, etc. - a more serious site for those who want the straight dope. And now the YE2OT board for everything else. I will play Moderator, but I am taking applications for an assistant who would control 90%+ of the interaction over there.
If people choose, they can travel between boards if they need a fix of some controlled chaos at YE2OT and then want some cold hard facts as (YE1) was intended.
I want everyone to have a voice, now you have a choice .. enjoy
WSJ MARKET DATA CENTER: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/marketsdata.html
PEARCE FUTURES CENTER: http://sites.barchart.com/pl/pearce/default.asp?code=XPEARCE§ion=indices
KITCO PRECIOUS METALS: http://www.kitco.com/
BIOSPACE:: http://www.biospace.com/Default.aspx
MAJOR WORLD MARKET GRAPHS: http://forbestadvice.com/Money/Investing/Graphs/WorldMarketsDaily.html
INVESTOPEDIA: http://www.investopedia.com/
WORLD-O-METERS: http://www.worldometers.info/
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |