April 9, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll considers TRUTH IN ADVERTISING FOR POTENTATES’ NAMES. She writes: Evidently in the past, the “masses” had more intestinal fortitude and pitiless honesty than our current citizenries. They picked some doozies of monikers for their leaders, names that got into the history books. Some of them were either just descriptive or benign – Leif the Lucky, Eric the Red come to mind. Others were downright complimentary: Good Queen Bess,
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April 6, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Our friend John Eastman is the former law clerk to Clarence Thomas and former Chapman University law professor. John was in the news this past January in connection with election related advice he rendered in the Oval Office to President Trump and Vice President Pence. John recently sat for an interview on issues of election fraud with Spectator Washington editor Amber Athey. The Spectator’s pseudonymous Cockburn now reports that YouTube
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April 5, 2021 — Scott Johnson
On Friday Minneapolis Police Department Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman took the stand. He is the department’s senior homicide investigator and its most senior officer period. He was called to the scene on the evening of George Floyd’s death. Having subsequently watched bodycam videos of the restraint of George Floyd, he found it unreasonable and excessive in relevant respects under department policy. Zimmerman is an extremely credible witness. He seems to me
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April 2, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The State opened the day with the testimony of George Floyd girl friend Courteney Ross. She discussed her relationship with Floyd dating to the day in August 2017 that he asked asked her how she was doing when she was waiting in the lobby of Harbor Lights to visit her son’s father. She recalled Floyd asking her, “Sis, you okay, Sis?” She said she wasn’t and he asked if he
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April 2, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll celebrates as THE COLUMN TURNS 7. She writes: Well, here we are again, friends. I cannot believe that I just completed my SEVENTH year visiting with you all every Friday. Seven is quite a significant number, alleged to be lucky in a casino’s slot machine (more anon). It is an important number Biblically. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh; Jacob served Laban
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April 1, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Firefighter EMT Genevieve Hanson returned to the stand for cross examination by defense counsel Eric Nelson Wednesday morning. Did she show the officers on the scene identification as a firefighter? She did not. Nelson had nothing more for her. With a question or two more from prosecutor Matthew Frank on redirect — she believed George Floyd needed immediate medical attention, but the officers other than Tou Thao didn’t talk to
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March 31, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota martial arts practitioner Donald Williams returned to the stand and concluded testimony that began Monday afternoon. He reiterated his observations culminating in Floyd’s death: tremendous pain in Floyd’s face, his eyes rolling back in his head, his mouth open, drooling, gasping for air. All the while Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck, Williams’s “energy” did not let him feel he could intervene. After Floyd was loaded into the
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March 30, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I have been struggling with a bug that has sapped my energy and shortened my day yesterday. These notes are accordingly abbreviated. On Sunday I complained that the Star Tribune sought to bypass the issues in the case in the interest of framing it as a (racial) passion play. The Star Tribune is of course not alone in this regard, but is it really needed or illuminating at this point?
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March 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
At least for purposes of double jeopardy, the trial of Derek Chauvin for the alleged murder of George Floyd begins tomorrow with the empaneling of the jury selected to sit in the case. Opening statements will follow. I offered miscellaneous notes on various aspect of the case here (March 1), here (March 2, on “venue and the mob”), and here (March 7). I want to add to these notes this
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March 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Lee Smith’s The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History is one of the keys to understanding the Russia hoax brought to us by the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Party, and the FBI. I wrote about it when it was published in the fall of 2019. With Lee’s permission, I also posted a brief excerpt touching on
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March 27, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Have the Democrats ever called a ceasefire in the ongoing use of race for partisan political purposes? I don’t think so. And of course Joe Biden was a habitual race warrior in disgusting style. According to Biden speaking to a black audience, the sainted Mitt Romney — winner of this year’s JFK Profile in Courage Award — was going to “put y’all back in chains” if elected president in 2012.
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March 26, 2021 — Scott Johnson
There was a whole lotta lyin’ (and cheatin’) goin’ on at the lectern when President Biden turned up for his first press conference yesterday. Michael Goodwin takes up the lyin’ in his New York Post column. His friends among the media made sure that they kept the degree of difficulty low. Biden was among friends. Michael Goodwin takes up these leading features of Biden’s performance in his New York Post
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March 26, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll wonders. WHITHER FAIRNESS? She writes: Children, while very self-centered little critters, seem to be born with an innate sense of fairness. It was one of the most common cris de coeur on the playground when I was a kid: “That’s not FAIR!!” Oh sure, older kids could kind of bully the younger ones and make bad deals with them: “Look – I will trade you these SIX pennies
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March 25, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I began my exit from President Trump train asserting that the election was “stolen” from him with a viewing of the Trump legal team’s 90-minute press conference of November 19, 2020. Linking to videos of the press conference, I commented in “A conspiracy so immense” and in “Exit Sidney Powell.” I didn’t understand President Trump’s endgame and failed to complete my exit until January 6 in “A shameful day.” Among
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March 25, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Today is the first anniversary of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s self-parodying fiasco of a speech on the public health emergency allegedly created by Covid-19 (video below). I lived in blissful ignorance of Governor Walz before the speech. Now my motto is Tear down this Walz. The guy is a glorified used car salesman of the Joe Isuzu variety. I bought the car from him on March 25, 2020, but it
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March 24, 2021 — Scott Johnson
In part 11 of this series yesterday I concluded that juror 116 — the deer hunter — filled out the profile of the optimal juror for Derek Chauvin. The prosecution exercised a peremptory challenge to strike him, as it has the few other prospective jurors who turned up with a neutral view of Chauvin and a a mind open to his defenses. Juror number 127 proved even better for Chauvin
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March 23, 2021 — Scott Johnson
When I was trained in as a trial lawyer defending companies in personal injury litigation, I was instructed by one of my mentors at the firm that we wanted to avoid post office workers on the jury. His advice became something of a standing joke. It may even have been a standing joke at the time I joined the firm, but watching voir dire in this case over the past
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