Archive for 2019

PROSECUTOR WHO DROPPED CHARGES AGAINST JUSSIE SMOLLETT EXPLAINS DECISION: ‘We Didn’t Exonerate Him.’

Mediaite notes that New York Times Julie Bosman tweeted that Assistant state attorney Joe Magats said “he saw no problems with the police investigation or the evidence against Smollett. The charges against Smollett were dropped in return for his agreement to do community service, he said, and for forfeiting his bond to the city of Chicago.” Magats is quoted as saying “Here’s the thing — we work to prioritize violent crime and the drivers of violent crime. Public safety is our number one priority. I don’t see Jussie Smollett as a threat to public safety.”

The Chicago Tribune adds, “Calling it ‘a whitewash of justice,’ Mayor Rahm Emanuel blasted the decision, emphasizing repeatedly that a grand jury had chosen to bring 16 counts of disorderly conduct against Smollett. ‘From top to bottom, this is not on the level,’ Emanuel told reporters at an afternoon news conference.”

As Jim Treacher writes, “This has never been about justice. It’s about social justice.”

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: ‘Horror, fear, despair’: Venezuela’s oil capital shattered by ‘tsunami’ of violent looting.

“El demonio,” says Betty Méndez, a local shopkeeper, by way of explanation for the wave of looting and unrest that convulsed Maracaibo earlier this month.

Most, however, describe the mayhem in psychiatric terms: a collective breakdown that shocked this lakeside city to its core and offered a terrifying glimpse of Venezuela’s possible future as it sinks deeper into economic, political and social decline.

“Horror, fear, despair,” said María Villalobos, a 35-year-old journalist, weeping as she relived three days of violence that many here call la locura – “the madness”.

“I thought it was the start of a civil war.”

That’s exactly what the wreckers, hoarders, saboteurs, Trotskyites, kulaks, Yankee Imperialists, counterrevolutionaries, and Jews want you to think.

FLASHBACK: President Michael Avenatti? Never say never!

That’s courtesy of CNN’s Chris Cillizza, who has had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week. And it’s only Tuesday.

(Hat tip, Longtime Sharp Instapundit Commenter™ “HA.”)

KYLE SMITH: Bonfire of the Media Vanities.

All of this mad mudslinging had its desired effect, which was to poison the American voter against Trump. In May of 2017 a YouGov poll found that 55 percent of Democrats believed Russia actually tampered with voting tallies in order to push Trump to victory, a fantastical claim even Rachel Maddow wasn’t making, as far as I know.

Unable to concede that the Mueller chapter has wrapped up minus the preferred (expected, prayed-for) conclusion, the most respected pundits and journalists continue to openly fantasize about some less-favorable outcome for the president (“Mueller was always a side show the real action is in NY” — Ryan Lizza of CNN), disparage Attorney General William Barr (“the seeds of a cover-up” — MSNBC’s Joy Reid), and insist that the media are the true heroes here (“With some regrettable and damaging exceptions — individual stories that seemingly went too far — reality-based news outlets have done quite well on this story” — Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post). The blob of professional Democrats and their media backers were hoping Trump would get whacked. Instead they got a Sopranos ending. Even the theme song was the same. And that’s fine. Hey, guys, don’t stop believin’. The less credibility you have, the easier it becomes to ignore you.

Related: Mueller Madness: The media pundits who got it most wrong.

You’re gonna need a bigger blog.