This weekend, the Hunter Biden team is reportedly debating whether to have him take the stand on Monday, a move rife with risk. Most criminal defendants avoid such appearances given the potential damage of a withering cross examination. Those risks were evident in the recent testimony of Hunter’s daughter, Naomi, which backfired badly on key points.
I have sometimes been in the minority among defense attorneys and legal commentators on this question. In celebrity trials, a jury can feel alienated or even disrespected by a defendant not taking the stand. That was the case, in my view, with Martha Stewart. When a defendant brings forth a host of others to speak for him or her, the refusal to testify can become more glaring and concerning.
Hunter Biden is in that position. He has had a host of relatives testify, including his daughter Naomi. When you put your daughter on the stand and subject her to a tough cross examination, many jurors can wonder how you can stay safely behind the defendant’s table.
Yet, Naomi’s testimony is precisely why defense counsel are risk adverse on the question. She gave moving testimony on her love for her father and his struggle with addiction. However, her attempt to establish that Hunter was not using drugs at the time of his gun purchase fell apart on cross examination. She testified that she was thrilled during this period with how “healthy” and clean her father appeared: “He seemed like the clearest I had seen him since my uncle died…I told him I was so proud of him and I was proud to be able to introduce Peter to him.”
Prosecutors showed her text messages that told a different story. In some, Naomi appears alarmed by her father’s conduct and lack of responses. On October 18, for example, she texted “I’m sorry daddy, I can’t take this, I don’t know what to say.” That message coincides with messages from Hunter seeking to score drugs from a guy named Mookie and stating that he was doing crack in a car. In other messages, Naomi complains that he was not responding. She finally received a response when, at 2 a.m, Hunter asked her to have her boyfriend drop off keys to a truck for him in Manhattan. Naomi was asked if she saw the drug residue or paraphernalia in the truck.
Any cross examination would focus less on Naomi than it would on Mookie.
Any decision to put Hunter on the stand is obviously dependent on your defense strategy. As I have previously written, all of the defenses suggested by Abby Lowell in his opening argument collapsed within two days. That includes the suggestion that someone else checked the box on the form denying that Hunter was using drugs. These claims seem so unbelievable and unsupported that they might insult a jury. However, the real strategy in this open-and-shut case appears to be simple jury nullification. The defense is trying to get one or more jurors to ignore the law and the evidence to acquit Biden.
Nullification efforts in the case appear to be a combination of both political and social association. First and foremost, this is Bidentown. It is the hometown of President Joe Biden and voted overwhelmingly for him in past elections. It is the opposite of the Manhattan trial of former President Donald Trump. This is the best possible jury pool for a Biden.
Second, all of the jurors testified to knowing someone with drug problems. Hunter has written moving accounts of his struggle with addiction. Some jurors may resist convicting someone who has seemingly overcome the scourge of addiction.
So, if this is a nullification strategy, does Hunter testifying help or hurt? The answer is that it could seal the deal or shatter it with jurors. Hunter will make a good witness on his struggle to overcome drugs and alcohol abuse. He can claim little or no memory of the gun store purchase. Hearing from him directly can establish a connection, even a bond, with jurors that could reinforce a nullification vote.
However, it will also subject him to cross examination by prosecutors who have been lethal in their well-planned and well-executed case. They can delve into his texts and the later intervention by his family to deal with his self-destructive lifestyle. He also faces the potential of triggering new criminal offenses through perjury.
That latter concern is particularly real after the formal referral of three House committees to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Hunter is accused of lying to Congress in his recent testimony on key issues under investigation. While many expect Garland to ignore the referral to protect the President and his family, the allegations are compelling and the Justice Department has previously prosecuted individuals in cases with far less support. This would appear a relatively easy perjury prosecution, but the politics may be insurmountable for Garland.
Most attorneys would advise Hunter to remain behind the defense table and not take the stand. After all, this is a great jury rendering a verdict on a Biden in Bidentown with the First Lady seated behind him for much of the trial. They just need one. The risk of testimony is that Hunter could burst into flames on the stand and torch any chance to nullify the crime.
We will know soon. However, if Hunter checks this box and testifies, it is the one decision that he will not be able to blame on others.
I’m glad Turley brought up Martha Stewart. She did 5 months in prison and she didn’t cheat the American voters out of vital information that could have turned the election, she didn’t attack the judge, prosecutors, the judicial system and lie about an opponent orchestrating her prosecution. She was found guilty of insider trading. All things considered, Trump deserves a longer sentence.
@mtaibbi
“The number of people who used to call themselves liberals who have no issue using indictments, lawsuits, fines, intelligence leaks, censorship, denial of services, ballot access challenges, smears, and other illiberal tactics to achieve political ends is astounding.”
Yes, yes it is, Matt Taibbi.
@mtaibbi
“The Bannon decision is a Rubicon-crossing moment. The mask is off.
Welcome to the Hobbesian jungle, America.”
You call prosecuting Trump for falsifying business records to hide a payoff to a porn actress a “tactic to achieve a political end”? He did it, according to Hope Hicks because another sex scandal might have sunk his candidacy, coming right after the Access Hollywood tape. The motivation was to hide the truth about his character from the American voters to help him win. David Pecker testified that he paid off Karen McDougal to help Trump’s campaign and the $150,000 amount was an in-kind donation that exceeded the maximum allowable amount— a violation of campaign finance laws.
So, according to you, this conduct should go unpunished because charging Trump could only be for political purposes? What Trump did was election interference.
Trump told Hicks that he knew he was in trouble with women voters after the Access Hollywood tape. How do you think two more sex scandals would have impacted the race? Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes as it was. Some Republicans said that he should withdraw from the race when the Access Hollywood tape came out.
Let me you Gigi, you ignorant fvck. If you are trying to “hide payments to a porn actress”, why would you put it in the business record?
And if Trump had put in the ledger “payment to porn actress to shut her fvcking mouth”, how exactly would that have affected the election?
If Trump had written on the checks that he wrote (in 2017, moron), payments to porn actress, how would that have affected the election?
You’re a fvcking idiot.
Trump won in November, 2016. The first repayment entry was made February, 2017. At that point it could have been labeled “Porn Star Payoff, for all the effect it would’ve had, four months after the election.
And yet, <Martha Stewart was NOT guilty for insider trading. She was guilty of attempted insider trading – which is not a crime.
And gues who the prosecutor was – None other than James Comey.
Comey lied under oath before congress – he should be headed to jail. That is far more serious than What Stewart was accused of.
Both the Trump and Stewart cases point out the failure of judges and juries to follow the actual law.
There is not crime of attempted insider Trading. It was near certain from the case that Stewart would have committed insider Trading had she been able to gain insider information.
But she was unable to do so, and acted based on speculation – just like everyone else.
The Trump case is even worse. As both SCOTUS decisions and Blacks law dictionary point out – Fraud requires a potential tangible harm – Fraud is a PROPERTY CRIME. It is not a crime of hurt feelings. YOU made the point that Trump's actions may have precluded voters from information that might have changed the 2016 election. Ignoring the FACT that it is unlikely that information was True or Daniels could have sold it for far more than 130K to someone else. A damaging lie is worth a little to the victim of the lie. A damaging truth about a public figure is worth a fortune to their enemies. Hillary paid 1.6M for the steele Hoax – do you think she would have paid atleast a million for Daniels story if True ?
Do you think Daniels did not know that ? You sell a lie to the victim, you sell the truth to the highest bidder.
Regardless, true or false – there is no fraud, there is no crime.
The Biden campaign lied tot he american people about the Hunter Biden laptop not a crime, not fraud. They lied to Social Media to kill the story.
Not a crime, not Fraud. The participation of the FBI and DHS IS a crime – depreivation of free speech rights under color of authority.
But the Biden campaign committed no crime censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story and Trump committed no crime buying the rights to Daniels story. These acts are legal – You have no right to the story of others whether those stories are true or false.
Martha Stewart was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in connection with an insider trading scheme, so I stand corrected, but she did do 5 months and was on probation thereafter.
“she didn’t attack the judge, prosecutors, the judicial system”
Correct – nor is doing so a crime. Criminal defendants are free to criticize the judge, the prosecutor and the judicial system. And Comey was absolutely corrupt even then.
I would further note – that you and democrats constantly criticise our system.
You have been ranting and raving about the house investigations of the Biden – that is part of our system
You had no problems when democrat were litterally burning the Houses own rules to go after Trump.
But you attack Republicans constantly.
You have “Attacked” Trump’s AG Barr relentlessly despite the fact that he has been right about the facts and the law.
You have attacked Supreme Court justices over nonsense that is Trivial compared to Merchan’s conflicts.
AG Bar admitted that as a judge he never would have donated to a political candidate or a party – “because there is a federal rule against it”
There is also a state rule in NYS – But Garland FORGOT the most important reason – because as a jusge it would be unethical and would undermine the trust in the judiciary.
We listened to you rant relentlessly that after Trump campaigned promising a “muslim ban” he was barred from an executive order suspending immigration for a list of countries on the terrorist watchlist until they improved their security.
Yet you have no problems with Willis, Bragg and James promising to “Get Trump” – and then when elected doing precisely that.
Which is litterally the problem with the USSR – “find me the man and I will find you the crime”.
In the US our criminal justice system investigates CRIMES – not people.
Those on the left investigate Trump – until they think they have found a crime.
That is immoral and illegal.
In the US you investigate an actually alleged crime – law enforcement is barred from starting an investigation without an allegged crime and must stop when the allegation fails – not go and look for another.
You say Trump denied people a story that might have effected an election – that was legal when Trump did it, it was ilegal when Biden did it.
Or should TX or AL start prosecuting Joe now for hushing up the hinter biden laptop story.
And not only was that to win an election – but also to cover up a whole series of crimes by Hunter Biden – as well as by Joe.
and lie about an opponent orchestrating her prosecution.
Correction AG Garland admitted …
Yet more long-winded, incoherent ramblings of stream of consciousness disconnected thoughts.
You may need some sort of mental health evaluation.
Now that we know about those false ledger entries, there is no way we are voting for that pussy grabbing, raping, cheating, defrauding, racist, tax dodging fat pig narcissist.
Oh wait, the Electoral Count stands at 313 and he is up 3 in the generic in a 5 way race.
YOU are the one who created the cult of Trump, goo goo.
Congrats.
First, he should be guilty of something.
The tech bro oligarchs backing Trump, despite the fact that they know he’s a dope and wouldn’t pi$$ on a MAGA person if they were on fire, simply because they want tax breaks and a president who is easily bought and manipulated, perfectly encapsulates their moral depravity.
“wouldn’t pi$$ on a MAGA person”
Not so sure about that.
Rumor has it that he’s into watersports.
Trump hauled in $12M in deep-blue silicon valley. The panic on the Left is palpable. Trump is having major rallies in deep-blue NJ with 100,000 enthusiastic supporters, then he goes to South Bronx and gets a huge welcome from minorities there, and then even today there was a rally in deepest-blue San Francisco. The ground is shifting “bigly” and the Dems are in deep doo-doo. They know it and that’s why idiots and cowards make comments like the above.
So how does that change the fact that the tech bros are simply investing in a dope that they can manipulate.
Trump told the oil companies that he would do whatever they want, if they cough up a billion dollars.
Trump is for sale for the highest bidder.
So all political contributions are fine, but if anyone dares to contribute to Trump then it’s somehow illegitimate. You’re pathetic. Trump is the least beholden to special interests president in recent American history. Trump is an alpha male who makes snobby effete weak little liberal beta males like you pee their pants. It’s hilarious!
Trump told oil company executives that they could write the Executive Order rolling back environmental protections for the bargain price of $1 billion— and you think that vapid pansy fop who’s scared of going to jail is an “alpha male “ who can’t be bought? He’s not even brave enough to appear in public without his fake tan and toupee.
So Trump wants to make us energy independent again and not beholden to terrorist states to supply our energy while we supply them with more money for terrorism? So Trump wants to end the existing wars and have no new wars? So Trump wants to grow the economy again? So Trump wants to secure our border and restore law and order in the lawless cities of America? So Trump wants a booming economy again? And that’s all bad because . . . . ?
Old Man: Trump wants power and he thinks he needs money to get it. The economy IS booming and growing, and if given the opportunity, Trump will kill it again. We are energy independent. No one overseas respects Trump. They make fun of him.
That’s all a joke, right? Everything you just said is the exact opposite of the truth. I really hope for your sake it was supposed to be a joke. If not, have a nice life and good luck in opposite world (and thanks for all the fish).
Old Man: Trump’s economic policies would once again tank our economy. There are multiple articles on line from multiple analysts from multiple institutions, and they all say essentially the same thing. Here is an excerpt from the NYT:
“Former President Donald J. Trump routinely blames President Biden for higher prices at the grocery store and everywhere else Americans shop, and promises to “fix it.”
But Mr. Trump has offered little explanation about how his plans would lower prices. And several of his policies — whatever their merits on other grounds — would instead put new upward pressure on prices, according to interviews with half a dozen economists.
Mr. Trump says he plans the “largest domestic deportation in American history,” which would most likely increase the cost of labor. He intends to impose a new tariff on nearly all imported goods, which would probably raise their prices and those of any domestic-made competitors.
And he not only wants to make permanent the entire deficit-financed tax cut law he and congressional Republicans enacted in 2017, but also to add some kind of new “big tax cut” for individuals and businesses, which would stimulate an economy already at full employment.
As a matter of textbook economics, each of those three signature Trump policy plans would be likely to raise prices. Some could even cause continued, rather than one-time, price increases — adding to the possibility of inflation.
“I think we can say with a lot of confidence that President Trump’s trade policies and immigration policies would result in price spikes,” said Michael Strain, the director of economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute.
The post-pandemic inflation wave has subsided, but unhappiness over the elevated cost of living it left behind is dragging down assessments of the economy and of Mr. Biden’s performance.”
People who believe Trump’s and MAGA media’s lies about Biden being the cause of high prices are being misled–and Trump and MAGA media know they don’t know any better.
You have no concept of the power of the free enterprise system and capitalism.
But world leaders really respect Biden, who has to be led around by the hand, and who did a really good simulation of a man filling a diaper.
Because he wants to take away our condoms!!!
Gigi, Trump will roll back stupid regulation – whether the oil companies give him money or not.
You know that
I know that.
BTW do you know who the biggest environmental polluter in the US is and has always been ?
Government.
Most states in this country have recycling laws. Do you know those laws apply to businesses in only a few states ?
Why ?
Because businesses ALWAYS seek to convert wast into product.
99.95% of the chickens that going into a Tyson foods plant comes out as a product.
While a farmer who grows chickens for his family to eat wastes 50% of the chicken – it goes in the garbage.
The “alpha male “ act is compensatory for the equipment Stormy Daniels described as unusually small, surrounded by Yeti pubes. Trump is and has always been a phony. Now, he’s a chicken poop phony who is afraid of going to jail.
This is not Gigi, by the way. This is turdrunner/big hands, who figured out an avatar that looks close to hers.
Truly a sick fvck that would pretend to be that idiot bltch.
Who is turdrunner/big hands?
Trump is going to give the Oil companies whatever they need to produce massive amounts of cheap energy – because that is good for you and the rest of the country,
And because it is bad for Russia and Iran.
Trump does not need a penny from Oil companies to enact pro-energy policies.
Further your claim is stupid. Trump is soliciting political donations – not personal ones – like every single candidate ever,
in order to get elected, serve the country massively benefit ordinary people and if the last term is any indication leave office almost a billion dollars poorer than he went in.
Trump may be the only politician, the only president who left office poorer than when he entered office.
If as you claim he is for sale to the highest bidder – they are not paying him very well.
Boo hoo
Biden sold out to ukraine and chinese dip shit
Reports are that the license plates for the Bronx rally were from other states.
Think that if it makes you feel better. I saw many, many video reports on the ground of the actual people attending, and they were all legit South Bronx, all minorities, and all loved Trump.
There were people from nearby states. But less than half.
What there were NOT – which Democrats do all the time – is astroturf paid attendees bussed in from elsewhere.
Eveyone who attemds a trump rally (not speakers) – pays their own way.
Some of them. But more than 50% of those at the rally were from the Bronx.
However Trump supporters are know to be willing to travel from all over the country.
Just look at all the different places in the US that J6 political prisoners came from.
Biden can not manage a crowd of 11 – much less 11,000 regardless of where they came from.
Almost no one from anywhere wants to listen to Biden.
Which is why we can (and should) legit ask: Where are Biden’s 81 MILLION voters?
Nowhere. THEY STOLE THE ELECTION. Fake votes.
Of course they are gigi. That fits with your MO
There are many close states to this metro area!!
ATS – The ordinary person who is mildly successful in business on average has an IQ of about 110.
The ordinary person who is highly successful in business has on average an IQ of about 120.
The person who is successful in multiple different businesses has an IQ north of 130.
You claim these tech people are “Bro’s” – that is false – nearly all of them are on the left, and the few who are not are libertarian.
You claim they are oligarchs that to is flase – none of them excercise govenrment power and all of them are answerable to free markets.
It is likely that every tech billionaire thinks they are smarter than Trump – these are people with deservedly large EGO’s
But I doubt any of them think Trump is a dope.
Anyone who thinks Trump is stupid is proving themselves stupid.
I would further note that most Tech Billionaires do not give a Schiff about “tax breaks” – because the pay almost no taxes because the have almost no income.
Almost all the money they make is outside the Tax codes definition of Income. It is all investment – and like YOUR IRA, is not taxed until you spend it and then only at a much lower capitol gains rate. Why is this true ? Because the value to EVERYONE of the money billionaries have invested s about 20 times any possible benefit if taxed and spent by govenrment.
The common good is unbeleiveably well served by your 401K and the billions that Billionaries invest in the economy.
To the Justice-Thomas derangement syndrome sufferers: his income apart from his salary amounts to about $100,000 per year. Yet Ketanji Brown Jackson is getting $1 million in a single year, and you’re not concerned. GFY
Jackson’s income is from a book deal. It’s the American Way. Make the effort to create something that people want to buy, and you make money.
We don’t really know what Thomas’s real income is. Most of it is apparently secret, under the table deals with his billionaire overlords. The $100.000 is just what he has admitted to. A tiny fraction of the real amount.
We don’t really know what Thomas’s real income is.
Unlike yours, hustling at the West Hollywood bath house tweaked out on meth. No wonder you troll on here so much time Angelo. Your husband is essentially your butt plug as you show him and others what a failure you are as a gay man.
Take another booty bump, sweetheart
We don’t really know what Thomas’s real income is. Most of it is apparently secret, under the table deals with his billionaire overlords.
You expect anyone to take you seriously with a ridiculous statement like that? “We don’t know what it is, so I’ll tell you what it is because I know, even though nobody knows. Since nobody knows, even I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what it is because I know, even though I don’t know.”
Thanks for the laugh!
Bottom line: you hate Clarence Thomas because he’s a black man from the South who is not ultra-liberal. That’s simply not allowed in your world. You know how black people must think, and if any black man doesn’t conform to your idea of how they must think, you hate them. So you thrash around for reasons to impugn his character, even though he is an intellectual giant standing next to your pea brain. You and your diseased mind disgust me. GFY
I am a Black man from the South.
And? Even if what you say is true, it does not mean a damn thing. You still hate black men who don’t “think right.”
You are an anonymous poster – you shed any claim to an identity when you chose to post anonymously.
And a left wing nut proving OMFK’s point.
If you can show me some actual evidence to back up your claims, then we’ll talk. Until then STFU.
The evidence is out there. You quoted it yourself.
Jackson’s self-reported official disclosure lists the income from book deals.
Thomas’s self-reported official disclosure is $100,000. We now know that disclosure is false. Just yesterday he finally amended his disclosures. Since we know he has previous lied, there is no way to know if he is now being truthful.
You made the claim that: “most of it is . . . deals with his billionaire overlords. The $100.000 is just what he has admitted to. A tiny fraction of the real amount.”
You haven’t supplied a shred of evidence to back up that scurrilous claim. So again, until you come up with evidence, STFU.
Thomas amended his self-reported disclosures yesterday.
This means he lied in his previous disclosures.
Once a liar, always a liar.
There is no way to be certain that he is telling the truth now.
There is no way to be certain of his real income without a full FBI investigation.
When you resort to foul-mouthed insults you have lost the argument.
You have no clue what you’re talking about. Amending disclosures is par for the course, nobody fills out forms perfectly the first time, and judges amend thousands of times. You’re grasping at straws because you hate Clarence Thomas for being conservative, you are a hater and a miserable human being. Justice Thomas, OTOH, is a great American success story, a national hero, and a top legal intellect. So GFY hater.
Plus I’m still waiting for that evidence to back up your scurrilous smears which I quoted. You have none or you would have supplied it by now. Pathetic hater.
If he is a “top legal intellect” why does he publicly say that there is no implied right to privacy in the Constitution, and that all cases that rely on that implied right were wrongly decided, EXCEPT Loving vs Virginia.
You need to explain that.
If you can’t, then he is a hypocritical legal hack.
So have at it.
I await your explanation.
I’ve read a lot of his opinions, but not that one. Whatever it is you’re talking about, I don’t trust your characterization of it, so if you want me to read it and evaluate it, give me a link.
And . . . I’m still waiting for evidence to support this scurrilous accusation: “most of it is . . . deals with his billionaire overlords. The $100.000 is just what he has admitted to. A tiny fraction of the real amount.”
The Supreme Court has set a precedent that the 14th Amendment due process clause provides an implied right to privacy. That right has been used to justify the Roe decision, Griswold (contraception), Lawrence (homosexual acts), Obergfell ( same sex marriage), and Loving vs Virginia (inter-racial marriage).
Thomas does not believe there is an implied right of privacy in the 14th Amendment. He has given many speeches to judicial conferences and the Federalist Society on this theme. Consequently, he wrote a concurring decision in Dobbs where he made the case that Griswold, Lawrence and Obergfell should also be reconsidered.
He wrote the following in the bottom paragraph of page 119 of the Dobbs decision at this link:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
“For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergfell.”
He says “we should reconsider ALL of the substantive due process precedents”. ALL means ALL. ALL includes Loving vs Virginia. He cunningly qualified his statement saying “including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergfell”, obviously trying to imply that these 3 cases are the only SUBSTANTIVE cases.
There is no mention of Loving vs Virginia, which struck down state laws banning inter-racial marriage, perhaps the MOST SUBSTANTIVE due process precedent, that affects a huge number of everyday Americans.
So basically Thomas believes the 14th Amendment protects his right to marry a white women, but does not protect a woman’s right to contraception, or the rights of gay people to enter into relationships.
He is a hypocritical legal hack.
As for the income question.
He amended his disclosures. Whether the original disclosures were inadvertently or intentionally incorrect is irrelevant. They were incorrect by millions of dollars.
Since he has a record of incorrect disclosures we have absolutely no reason to be believe that any of his disclosures are correct in the absence of a full FBI investigation.
The statute in Virginia also violated the Equal Protection Clause. I guess it never occurred to you that Justice Thomas might agree that it violates Equal Protection. You’re quick to lob the “hack” insult at someone far superior to you in intellect and character, all based on an argument from silence. You, sir, are the hack.
Loving is not based on the right to privacy. It is based on the 14th amendment equal rights and privileges and immunities clauses.
Personally I think Thomas is wrong in the right to privacy
Personally I think the 9th amendment and the priviledges and immunities clause in the 14th amendment are determinative.
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”
In all conflicts between liberty and govenrment – the right to liberty is to be presumes, and can not be overcome outside of an constitutionally enumerated government power and a compelling government need.
Regardless there is not an implied right to privacy in the constitution – it is explicit, but that right is to be free from Government inquiry absent prior evidence of a crime.
The right to privacy does not mean that you are entitled to murder someone in your home.
it means that you are entitled to bar govenrment from searching your home for a body absent probable cause that a body will be found.
That is explicitly why the police, the prosecutors and the courts can not promise to “Get Trump” – or some other person
and then investigate them until they find a flimsy excuse to prosecute.
Law enforement investigates crimes – not people.
Absent a credible allegation of an actual crime – government may not search, spy, or investigate ANYONE.
That is actually in the constitution.
For reference, interracial marriages were being contracted in the 13 colonies even in the 1600s, while no same-sex marriages were legal anywhere in the world, till April Fools Day, 2001, in the Netherlands.
Kansas u should stop giving bug the time of day, the way he has been behaving lately
No to placate a mob with Knives Thomas has provided information he was never required to provide – that is not a correction or a lie.
You STILL have not shown any conflict between any Benefits Thomas is receiving and his conduct.
“We don’t really know what Thomas’s real income is”
Correct – your not entitled to know anyone else’s income . They get to chose what they tell you.
Your not allowed to know mine, and I am not allowed to know yours.
What we do know is that know one is bribing Thomas – because that is a crime – one that usually shows up quickly.
I would note that Book deals are SOMETIMES the american way – but with those in govenrment they are often just legal forms of bribery.
Large advances are made for books that no one reads and often no one buys.
Do you know anyone who has read Biden’s book ?
Do you even know the Title ?
He did not even actually write it.
What about Browns’
A book like Hillalry’s bought and distributed by unions and dims.
Ketanji Brown was raised in luxury, a well do to neighborhood in South Miami, her father was a lawyer, her mother a principal for an elite school. She knows nothing of the black experience that Justice Thomas encountered. She is a fraud, a fake, a womyn with no ethics to spin biology the way she did for political expediency. She is a token place holder, doesn’t come close to the intellect of Clarence Thomas nor Elena Kagan. In the end, she is another Obama politician: she took advantage of her skin color much like Geraldine Ferraro stated about Obama. Obama called Ferraro a racist. He would know all too well how to wear that race hustling mask, almost as well as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton
The experience of Thomas has been to take full advantage of the affirmative action that he now despises and fights to eliminate.
Then he went on to become the lap-dog of his billionaire overlords.
As a side note he has made a huge deal of his belief that Supreme Court decisions that relied on the implied right to privacy in the Constitution should be overturned. He has publicly stated numerous times that decisions such as Roe, Griswold (the right to contraception), Obergfell (gay marriage) were wrongly decided and should be overturned.
However, he never speaks about the other case that relies on this implied right to privacy. That case is Loving vs Virginia. It is the case that struck down state laws banning marriage between individuals of different races. That decision is just fine. I wonder why ????
Thomas is a corrupt grifter whose only interest is how to make a buck.
You are so full of sh*t it’s coming out your ears. Everything you said is a smear and a lie. You’re just a hater. You’re a miserable soul, and Clarence Thomas is a great American. GFY
If he is so determined that there is no implied right to privacy in the Constitution and that all precedents that relied on that right are wrongly decided, EXCEPT Loving vs Virginia, then he is nothing more than a disingenuous hypocrite.
When you resort to foul-mouthed insults you have lost the argument.
No he has said they should be re-examined. Most of them can be sustained on entirely different and better grounds.
BTW the right to privacy is not “implied” in the 14th amendment – it is explicit in the bill of rights. It is just not so broad as to cover everything. The Equal protection clause, the privileged and immunities clause, mean that civil rights can not be restricted on the basis of race or sexual orientation. it is NOT that there is some right to be gay. It is that there is a right to marry another consenting person whether you are gay or black. That has nothing to do with privacy.
Thomas despises Affirmative Action bc no large law firm believed he got into Yale Law on his own merit. Even tho he had gone to the same undergrad as Fauci. He finally got a job with the state of Missouri.
Estovir, on top of all that, when she was asked if she could define “woman” she said no, because she’s not a biologist. And this was when she was under oath. I really wanted to at least respect her even if her ideology was very different from mine, but that answer was so beyond the pale, so unreasonable, that I don’t think I can ever have an ounce of respect towards her.
We should celebrate the Fact that Brown did NOT experience the world that Thomas did. That is a bit of the massive evidence that the left completely misses that we are living in the best time in the best country and that most of the time tomorow will be better.
That all of that is true, that the near certain improvement in the future is the product of the high value we place on individual liberty.
Brown is not a fraud or a fake, she is just ignorant of the factors that have made the world she has spent most of her life in so much better than the one Thomas grew up in.
A new study finds that Justice Thomas has likely received nearly $6 million in gifts over the past two decades. I don’t even know how you do that, but the corruption is astonishing.
That is more than his salary paid him over that time.
Basically, his salary is just walking around pocket money
Maybe Trump will pay for a lavish exotic excursion in exchange for immunity.
It’s the Clarence Thomas way.
Don’t like uppity black men, do you?
I am a Black man.
I don’t like hypocritical grifters.
So you hate yourself?
I’m not a hypocritical grifter.
Yes, you are.
I will reserve judgement on grifter – though stupid fits.
And unless you are very stupid you are very hypocritical.
You are posting as anonymous – so long as you do you are not entitled to ANY identity.
You are not even entitled to claim authorship of any post but the one you just hit post for.
While YOU may claim to be a black man or the son of god. It is not even possible for the rest of us to verify that two different anonymous posts came fromt he same person.
You are absolutely free to post anonymously.
You are not free to assume the identity and credibility that comes with posting under a name or a pseudonym.
All justices receive far more than their salaries in speaking fees, book deals, gifts, ….
If you do not like that – amend the constitution.
The left is fond of made up studies.
Thomas has a close relationship with a SPECIFIC Billionaire. They share political views. That Billionaire enjoys Thomas’s company – and visa versa, He also enjoys the prestige associated with having a Supreme court justice at his dinner table.
Before you go ranting – there is no difference between this and various political groups that pay – often left wing justices to attend conferences and to speak – often significant speaking fees. Having a supreme court justice attend or speak is a huge value to an event, and organization, a law school, a college – and they pay for it.
The difference regarding Thomas is that because nearly everything he does is with the same Billionaire, establishing when he has a conflict is trivial. To my knowledge there has never been a case before the supreme court where Thomas had a conflict with the parties.
The left’s allegation of conflicts is always about the issues – the left beleives that any mutually beneficial relationship between two people on the right is inherently a conflict – because they beleive that disagreeing with the left on an issue is a conflict.
But that is false or everyone would always be conflicted.
“Gifts” are hospitality, from one friend, who likes to spend time with him.
The right did miss an opportunity today.
50k of them should have showed up today, dressed in red, chanting from the river to the sea, and egged on the protestors who you know were itching to get violent. Put pressure on Biden to cut off aid to Israel if no immediate cease fire. Political suicide for him.
Darren Smith, Sergeant at Arms, you have allowed the dregs to destroy this blog.
I like it. We are given a chance to see what the dregs and lunatics really are.
OT,
Audrey Hale’s bizarre manifesto has been released and one wonders why the ‘authorities’ wanted to suppress it. Like ‘expert’ the term ‘the authorities’ is becoming one of derision.
However, given the number female to male transsexuals involved in acts of violence I wonder why the expression “ROID RAGE” has been misplaced. Male bodybuilders using testosterone injections are sometimes prone to that rage behavior so perhaps females getting testosterone are subject to it as well.
I suspect female brains are structurally less able to handle surges of testosterone than the brains of adult male bodybuilders and so many of these women are young, psychiatrically compromised, and without fully matured brains. Even adolescent males designed for it can be rambunctious company when the hormones soar so one might expect trouble when young women get it.
Yet “the authorities” seem to be recklessly promoting these ‘transitions’ in young people.
And if they mutilate children in violation of the law, and a doctor blow the whistle on that illegal behavior, the Biden DoJ will prosecute the doctor who blew the whistle.
Oldman,
Yes and I wondered about that. Presumably he was charged with a HIPAA violation but the privacy HIPAA rule is only an administrative regulation, not a part of the original statute, and in any event he didn’t disclose any patient information. Perhaps some other part of the statute is involved but I am not inclined to go through it now. Arguably he had a duty to disclose that information because the hospital was violating state policy. Unless they drag him to the corrupt DC courts I don’t think they can get a jury to convict. Perhaps as was the case with so many doctors using Ivermectin to treat Covid patients the system is being used mainly to intimidate rather than to enforce actual law.
Exactly so. They’re sending a message: don’t even think of doing the right thing if that means crossing the Dem mafia currently in charge. It’s a power play; the eventual outcome of the legal proceedings is irrelevant.
Here is today’s Democratic Party: defacing monuments and assaulting park rangers who are guarding the monuments, all the while yelling obscenities at them. There can be no doubt these people are demonized.
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1799547294515089759/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1799547294515089759¤tTweetUser=CitizenFreePres
Where is the ‘Democratic Party’ sign?
Oh, you’re right, those were Republicans. My bad.
Look at the gaslighter David Benson. You dont have a sign, but deny that you’re a democrat, fvcktard.
Talib doesnt wear her sign either.
But I think you are on to something. Every one of you sneaky fvcks ought to have the swastika carved into your forehead, Aldo Raines style.
Oldman,
Part of the problem is that some of the park rangers likely share the sentiments of the hoodlums. Recently the top puppy of the Denali national park instructed contract road builders to remove an American flag from a construction vehicle because it made people uncomfortable. if an American flag makes someone uncomfortable he should stay out of national parks and all of the rest of the country except , perhaps, New York. Why do I suspect that that federal employee would not have a problem with a Palestinian flag? Or a Hammer and Sickle flag?
Agreed, such a person has no business being a park ranger. Just like a woke left-wing incompetent has no business being chairman of the joint chiefs (here’s looking at you Mark Milley). But that’s where we are in America. The cancer of DEI and cultural Marxism has invaded the hard tissue.
Also today in Democrat left-wing Marxist history of stupidity, the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut has voted down a proposal to fly the thin-blue-line flag in honor of a police officer killed in the course of duty. Town council Dems voted it down saing it’s racist and some such nonsense . . . so instead they’re flying the rainbow flag which they were doing anyway for homosexual pride month. You can’t fix stupid, and you can’t fix ridiculous. And that’s exactly where we are with Dem-run cities everywhere.
P.S. BTW, Wethersfield is the setting of the award-winning teen novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, my daughter’s favorite book.
So today at the White House there was an insurrection by Hamas terrorist supporting Democrats. Since it’s June 8, this will be forever known as the J8 insurrection.
The delusional “intelligent discourse” in the comment section of this blog is nothing more than pseudo-intellectual psycho-babble about things of which you know absolutely nothing.
Here is a thought to ponder:
If one person commenting in this blog knows absolutely nothing about a particular topic, is it possible for the group to know less than nothing ???
^^^^^psycho
“A friend of mine just sent me a photo”
No need to read further. Dennis, the draft dodger leads off with Eli once again.
If Dennis had any friends, he would not be here, shoveling horse, shit.
We are the closest thing Dennis has two friends.
BURGEONING ABJECT PANIC BELOW!
Jonathan: A friend of mine just sent me a photo of DJT and Jeffrey Epstein–back in the 1990s when they were enjoying the high life with “much younger women”. The photo shows the two standing together, smiling with DJT’s hand on Jeffrey’s shoulder. The caption with the photo says: “Love [with a heart image] is finishing each other’s sentences”.
Unfortunately, Epstein decided to take the coward’s way out. Of course, DJT had a different take. He endorsed the “Clinton body count” conspiracy theory that Epstein’s death was an assassination plot by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Even today those who indulge in conspiracy theories claim “Epstein didn’t kill himself”.
In any case, DJT wouldn’t take Jeffrey’s route. He is too much the narcissist. The betting line in Vegas is that DJT will be sentenced to some prison by Justice Merchan. In a normal case with 10 contempt citations a convicted felon would be looking at immediate incarceration. But Merchan is dealing with a first time offender so Merchan might stay any sentence until after DJT’s completes the appeal process. That would show that Justice Merchan is not as “corrupt” as DJT claims!
Ha ha ha Dennis still thinks the pee tapering is real, and that Epstein killed himself.
Hey Dennis, I have not seen the latest polls. How is that convicted felon thing working out?
Play Dennis, how proud are you of the spastic libtard friend of yours, who keeps posting his useless turds here?
Hey Dennis, what is the betting line on Trump winning the election?
Hint…its better than it was before the conviction
LMAO
Dennis, was this the same “friend”that told you that AR-15s ruin the meat?
Or is it the one that helped you avoid a combat assignment in vietnam?
Or is it the one who told you that “fat guys cant play golf”?
Or is it the one who told you that the “state of florida does property tax assessments?
Professor Turley Writes:
“In celebrity trials, a jury can feel alienated or even disrespected by a defendant not taking the stand”.
………………………………
Professor Turley is almost certainly correct in this assessment. Yet he fails to explain why this rule didn’t apply to Trump’s trial. In fact, Turley fails to even mention Trump for any sense of context or contrast.
Yes, the jurors were more than likely hostile to Trump for attacking the court every day (for weeks) then never taking the stand. They’re reaction was probably like; “Hey fat boy, you’re really tough popping-off outside, but you’ve got nothing to say in here.”
So Real President Donald J. Trump’s wasn’t a sham, Soviet-style show-trial, and a completely fabricated and fraudulent jurisprudential abomination that will be swiftly overturned if and when it is decided by an impartial and rational higher court, and the purveyors of which will themselves wind up off the bench, out of office, and in prison for egregious, malicious, corrupt, political, and illicit prosecution and an abject and vile conspiracy to incriminate?
Can you say Mike Nifong?
Why would Turley need to relate that to a trial thats in its post verdict phase, you glue eating mongrel?
Assuming your baseless speculation is true and the jury chose to convict Trump because he was “popping off” outside of court then thats a violation of his 1st amendment right.
And no, talking shit about a corrupt court isn’t unconstitutional speech. Then again, moron Democrats like you have had trouble reading amendments in the past (I.E the 14th amendment)
Uh yeah, no. That’s not what they were thinking.
Really, mod: at this point one poster is taking up entire pages all on their own in the comments. Would you kindly do something? I will gladly register or even pay a small amount to put an end to this nonsense.
MTG is not wrong
Glenn Greenwald has a good segment on his podcast yesterday about the dog experiments. MTG is correct that Fauci greenlit these horrendous experiments. Greenwald focuses on the role of the Washington Post in suppressing the story. https://rumble.com/v5091bc-system-upd…
He will take the stand because he has nothing to lose. Make a display of successful overcoming of drug addiction. He only needs one juror who will ignore the law and facts. Failing that, daddy will pardon. If he has not gone to prison by the last day of daddy’s term, then daddy pardons on the last day and thumbs his nose at us as he goes out the door. If he is scheduled for prison before then, then daddy pardons and resigns and thumbs his nose at us as he goes out the door. Family over nation.
WillinAZ
Who wants to see MTG and Adam Schitt in the Octagon?
Winner picks the President.
In the land of the free, the free are blind and gullible to silver tongued-devils.
I have to be honest. The “box” Hunter Biden checked and the form it was printed on are completely unconstitutional.
The 2nd Amendment is clear and definitive, and that amendment is not formally amended anywhere by constitutional process.
The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, encroached, violated, or breached by an invalid, illegitimate, illicit and unconstitutional requirement to complete a form, provide private personal information, or register a purchase or an arm.
The Constitution provides the right to citizens without any further requirements, restrictions or conditions.
Citizens have the freedom and the right to engage in commerce and to keep and bear arms.
No governmental level has any power to require the taking of tests or the completion of forms.
No governmental level has any power to amend the Constitution outside of the amendment process prescribed in the Constitution.
No governmental level has any power to deny citizens their constitutional rights, freedoms, privileges, and immunities.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2nd Amendment
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Unfortunately it has been greatly infringed since 1968.
And Hunter needs to go to prison
“A well regulated Militia…” Me thinks the militia is not regulated very well at all.
That’s the beautiful thing about being a moron. If you have no idea what “well regulated Militia” means, you don’t need to address it.
It’s in the hills.
No amount of your perversion of the language of the 2nd Amendment makes it okay to buy a gun, no questions asked.
Trump Quietly Avoids Eye Contact With Rudy Giuliani Begging For Change Outside Courthouse
Thats right you maga morons, Big Daddy G was begging for me and my boyfriend to swap ends on him. But i was afraid sucking cock would mess up my lipstick