April 23, 2019 — Scott Johnson
With the release of the Mueller Report last week, the mainstream media have mostly moved on from “collusion” to “obstruction” without a look backward. While they formerly chimed in on “collusion” with the unanimity and volume of an audience of Communist Party functionaries applauding one of Stalin’s speeches, they have now transferred to the same hatefest with a new theme. It is remarkable. Indeed, I wonder if the state press
»
April 23, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Judge Quaintance announced at the outset of proceedings that she would not hold court on April 19. As promised, we had Friday off. Trial resumed on Monday with the testimony of two Minneapolis Police Department officers and five Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents. The BCA took over the investigation of the killing of Justine Damond in the early morning hours of July 16, 2017 as a matter of routine
»
April 22, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Over the weekend Steve called out Middlebury College as another college that deserves to die when it canceled a planned public lecture by the Polish philosopher Ryszard Legutko. Legutko was the editor of Solidarity’s official journal of philosophy and, since Poland overcame its Communist subjection, he has served at the highest levels of Polish government as well as in the EU’s European Parliament. He is also the author, as Carl
»
April 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
George Papadopoulos is the author of Deep State Target, just published last month. He must reside somewhere close to the origin of the spying on the Trump campaign conducted by the FBI — as a subject, not as a perpetrator. Byron York tracked him down last week for a podcast laying out his story “in crazy detail,” as the summary rightly has it. Long story short: In this interview, George
»
April 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
We’ve been saying for the past two years or so that the Steele Dossier, on which so much of the Russia hoax was predicated, is Russian disinformation — if it is what it purports to be. You only have to read it and exercise your common sense to figure this out. This was an exercise, however, that would have belied the hysteria foisted on us by the Democratic Party and
»
April 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Mueller Report appears to be crafted to keep hope in overthrowing Trump alive among Democrats. No matter that the Trump campaign’s alleged “collusion” with the Russian authorities proved to be a hoax — who engineered it again? — Trump lied and tried to thwart the investigation int his nonexistent crimes. Now we will have to listen to the Democrats and their media adjunct yammer on until Trump is defeated
»
April 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Spring issue of the Claremont Review of Books has not yet gone to press, but it will feature an interview with the incomparable Norman Podhoretz that has been posted online here for subscribers and circulated by the editors in samizdat. The interview is great. Rush Limbaugh flagged it in a segment posted here. Mr. Ace plucked some juicy morsels in a post here at Ace of Spades. The CRB’s
»
April 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Our occasional correspondent Dave Begley was on hand when Senator Kirsten Gillibrand brought her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination to Iowa on Thursday (thumbnail photo courtesy of Dave). Dave is a Nebraska attorney practicing elder law and estate planning in Omaha. Dave posed an unfriendly question to her from the crowd and escaped to file this report: Kirsten Gillibrand is a type. She’s a fast-talking, big law firm East
»
April 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday was consumed by the testimony of Mohamed Noor’s patrol partner Matthew Harrity at the time of the killing of Justine Rusczyk on July 15, 2017. Harrity is the only eyewitness to the killing other than Noor. Harrity provided the defense its best day in court. I want to say at the top that I fear I may have misled readers on one point in a previous post. That point
»
April 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I was tied up all day yesterday attending the trial of Mohamed Noor. This morning I tracked down the FOX News video of Attorney General Barr’s press conference on the release of the Mueller report (full video below). Perhaps not surprisingly, it doesn’t quite conform to what I heard about it in the news on the radio coming home. I thought that readers who were also otherwise engaged yesterday might
»
April 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll scopes out what happens WHEN CULTURAL NORMS COLLIDE. She writes: For a brief time in my comedy career, I was part of a group that conducted Customer Service Training for companies. One of my colleagues told a story which may have been apocryphal and which I can only dredge up from dim 25-years-old memory. One of the things that will unhinge customers the fastest is being told when
»
April 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Witnesses in the trial of Mohamed Noor are sequestered outside the courtroom and jurors are to avoid news and social media touching on the trial in any way. My waking hours are spent inside the courtroom. I am of necessity avoiding all news except for news bearing on the trial. If you’re looking for something on the Mueller report, I am not your man. Yesterday the prosecution continued methodically to
»
April 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
We had an important day in the trial of the murder/manslaughter trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor for the killing of Justine Ruszcyk. The prosecution called MPD fifth precinct sergeant Shannon Barnette to the stand, but was allowed to cross-examine her under Rule 611 of the Rules of Evidence. She was essentially treated by the County Attorney as an adverse witness. The prosecution bears the burden of proof
»
April 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The trial of Mohamed Noor for the murder/manslaughter of Justine Ruszcyk continued yesterday before Judge Kathryn Quaintance in Hennepin Country District Court. The prosecutors called nine Minneapolis Police Department officers as witnesses as well as one Minneapolis Fire Department officer. A few observations: • I think the prosecution is methodically calling all of the Minneapolis Police Department officers who arrived at the scene. The prosecution has the burden of proof
»
April 15, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Ilhan Omar’s Los Angeles CAIR speech — the one that has attracted the current attention — gives the received CAIR origin fable that is recited as fact by the mainstream media outlets. I mean the one that serves up CAIR as a civil rights organization. Mosaic reminds us this morning: Controversy broke out last week concerning remarks Congresswoman Ilhan Omar made at a gathering of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
»
April 15, 2019 — Scott Johnson
George Mason University Professor Tim Groseclose wrote yesterday to advise that the Star Tribune staff report on Ilhan Omar’s Colbert appearance last week is worse than I noted. He writes: “The Star Tribune did not provide accurate quotes. Most important, in the Colbert interview she doesn’t even mention the word ‘marriage,’ much less criticize her critics for the married-her-brother claim. I posted some tweets [starting here] with a few more
»
April 14, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In a staff report on Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar’s appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show last week, the Star Tribune refers parenthetically to “a false accusation that she had married her own brother[.]” The Star Tribune has published a few stories on Omar’s tangled marital history. None of them resolve the issues implicit in her marriage to husband number 2. Earlier this year one Bethania Palmer of Snopes
»
