Mike Huckabee

Today is Eclipse Day, and I don’t mean that America’s power and prestige are being eclipsed, since that’s been happening every day since 2021.

Millions of young Americans will actually go outside today to see the rare total eclipse in a northeastward band stretching from Texas to Maine. Fox News has regularly updated reports along with a map and timeline of the eclipse in various states at this link:

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/solar-eclipse-to-sweep-us-with-some-states-in-path-of-totality

Highway officials are warning that there could be traffic delays and even crashes due to the unusual daytime darkness and drivers taking their eyes off the road to see the eclipse. And speaking of looking at the eclipse…DON’T! Looking directly at the sun can cause serious, permanent damage to your eyes. Even watching it on your cell phone photo screen can burn out your retinas as well as your phone. This link has some myths about eclipses and eyesight that you need to read (while you still can.)

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/solar-eclipse-myths-misconceptions-truth-them

I’ll add another myth, or at least I think it’s a myth, that most of these cheap eclipse glasses are made in China because this is all just an elaborate plot to blind Americans so China can invade us. They’re invading us already without having to go to that much bother.

And here’s some advice about what color clothes to wear to experience a bizarre side effect of the eclipse.

https://www.westernjournal.com/wear-red-green-eclipse-unforgettable-solar-effect/

If you’re going to watch the eclipse, be sure to do it safely, like by wearing special eclipse protective glasses that are widely available. Warning: if you can see through them at all except when looking at a very bright light, chances are that they are not really safety-rated and might be counterfeits.

As proof that you can see an eclipse and suffer no damage, here’s a great story about eclipse buff LaVerne Biser. He’s 105 and started traveling the world with his late wife Marion in 1963 to catch eclipses. This will be his 14^th. Luckily, he lives in Ft. Worth, so this one will be coming to him. Maybe the moon and sun arranged it that way out of gratitude for his loyal fandom. By the way, he credits his long life and good health to never drinking, smoking or doing drugs and “just good Christian living.”

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/texas-man-105-witness-13th-total-solar-eclipse-beautiful

If you miss this one, the next total solar eclipse will come on August 23, 2044. I intend to continue avoiding booze, tobacco and drugs and practicing good Christian living, so I’ll probably still be doing this then and will remind you of it when it gets a little closer.

I’d like to wish all of you a happy and safe Easter as you celebrate with your families and in your churches.

Easter is the holiest of all holidays in the Christian calendar, but also the most joyful. The miracle of the Resurrection was not only the fulfillment of God’s promise that through His Son, our sins would be forgiven and we could have eternal life, but it also serves as a constant reminder that even in times when all seems dark and hopeless, God will never abandon us. That message seems especially important today.

I hear from many Christians who are very worried about the state of America and the world, and understandably so. Anti-Christian forces are on the march and seem to be winning in many ways. They fear that we may never be able to come back from such an aggressive assault.

But if you are feeling that way, then try to imagine how Christ’s followers felt on the day of His Crucifixion. Everything was dark, evil, and appeared hopeless. Those closest to Jesus were in fear for their own lives and felt that all they had devoted themselves to for three years had died on that cross. They saw their Master and their hopes and faith buried in a borrowed tomb.

That was Friday. But then came Sunday. It was the day that three women went to the tomb to honor a man who was dead. Instead, they were the first to know that what they had witnessed on Friday wasn’t the last chapter.

We all have a lot of Fridays in our lives: bad doctor reports; financial problems; a sick child; broken relationships; dangerous political movements; a virus that derailed our lives and split apart families. But let’s not get lost in our Fridays and think the bad times will never end. Always remember:

Sunday is coming. And God is good. All the time.

Mike Huckabee

Biden’s State of the Union

After the decisive results of the Super Tuesday primaries, I quoted the British phrase, “It’s all over but the shouting.” Well, last night, we got the shouting. I don’t know what his staffers pumped President Biden full of in preparation for his State of the Union speech, but it’s a safe bet it was not Relaxium.

In fact, it’s hard to say which was worse: Biden’s State of the Union speech or the actual state of the union under Biden, which got very little time last night. The “speech” was a disjointed, angry, shouted laundry list of leftist pipe dreams (The PRO Act? No thanks!), false claims, timeworn campaign tropes (“Make the rich pay their fair share!”) and unfair political attacks with no shape or structure. Biden just careened from one DNC talking point to the next like billiard balls bouncing off each other.

The dark, divisive, partisan nature of the speech didn’t just target Trump, Republicans and their supporters. There was also a very disturbing moment when he seemed to threaten the six attending Supreme Court Justices to their faces by warning them that they were about to see the electoral power of women furious over Roe v. Wade being overturned. Earth to Biden: It’s not the Supreme Court’s job to care about elections or public opinion polls. It’s their job to determine if something is constitutional, which Roe clearly was not. So stop trying to gin up threats from your more deranged followers in an attempt to intimidate them.

https://www.westernjournal.com/biden-just-threaten-scotus-justices-attendance-called-sotu/

By the way, Republicans are not running on a promise to pass a national anti-abortion law (Trump has suggested a 16-week limit, which is two weeks beyond France's law); and when Biden says he will codify Roe into law, that’s a lie. Roe was actually far more restrictive than the radical, unfettered abortion-until-birth law he wants to pass. Also, the Alabama Supreme Court did not outlaw in-vitro fertilization, and the state’s Republican legislature and Governor had, the day before, passed and signed a law protecting IVF procedures.

Of course, the media will attempt to paint the speech as a triumph, a repudiation of the idea that he’s too old or impaired for the job (or at least that he can’t stay awake past 9 o’clock.) They’re lauding his “energy” and “vigor,” with the A.P. describing Biden as “feisty,” which is like calling Godzilla “grumpy.”

On the other side, we’re hearing complaints that it was the worst SOTU in history, an “utter disgrace” with no inspiring appeals to unity or our shared values as Americans, just an unprecedented and “unhinged” diatribe against his political opponents, by turns angry or mocking, with a shocking opening that tried to compare his opponent Donald Trump to Hitler. It was also delivered in a rushed, slurring rant that made it seem as if he’d guzzled two gallons of Red Bull before taking the podium (entirely possible.)

The moment that’s going viral is when Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene heckled him into saying Laken Riley’s name, and he did make some moving comments about the young woman who was allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan illegal alien who’d been released multiple times. He botched her name as “Lincoln Riley,” but at least he paid tribute to her. But if you want to know how seriously the Democrats really take the issue of criminal illegal aliens preying on Americans, consider that some of them, including Nancy Pelosi, seemed more upset over Biden referring to the alleged murderer as an “illegal” rather than the PC term “undocumented” than they are over her murder.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/07/watch-joe-biden-mispronounces-laken-rileys-name-at-state-of-the-union/

Also, the White House is refusing to back the Laken Riley Act, which would require the deportation of illegal aliens with serious criminal records (it also got backing from only 37 House Democrats), saying they should pass that “immigration reform” bill instead.

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/03/08/white-house-refuses-to-support-laken-riley-act-says-get-on-board-with-senate-bill/

And Democrat Senate Majority Whip Dick Durban blocked a vote on “Sarah’s Law,” a law that would require ICE to detain (not deport, just detain) illegal aliens charged with killing or seriously injuring another person. It’s named after Sarah Root, another young American killed by an illegal alien drunk driver. It’s kind of hard to refute the “population replacement conspiracy theory” when the Dems refuse even to detain illegal aliens for killing American citizens.

https://www.westernjournal.com/democratic-senator-blocks-bill-require-detainment-illegal-immigrants-charged-violent-crimes/

Back to the SOTU: Some Republicans in the hall complained that Biden was speaking so fast and mumbling and slurring so much that they couldn’t understand what he was saying. I caught most of it, I think, and I still couldn’t understand some of it. For instance, is it really an applause line to brag that jobs building roads and bridges will go to Americans? Who else would build roads and bridges in America? Unless we start importing Irish and Chinese workers again, like we’re building the Transcontinental Railroad.

Or his claim that sending soldiers to Gaza to build a pier is not “putting boots on the ground.” Will they be wearing sandals, or avoiding touching the ground by riding on hoverboards?

Or his declaration that all children should learn to read by the third grade. That’s a pretty low bar even for today’s public schools. Admittedly, people who didn’t learn to read until the third grade are the Democrats’ target demographic.

I’m not going to go through the speech in detail and fact-check every patently false claim because the newsletter would be longer than the Hong Kong phone book. Plus, a number of outlets have already done a great job of that, and I’ll link to them below. But here are just a few whoppers that stood out for me:

* Virtually everything he said about the economy was patently false: “I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world! 15 million new jobs in just three years – that’s a record! Unemployment at 50-year lows!”

As Breitbart.com noted, just prior to the pandemic, under Trump, there were over 152 million jobs. There are now 157.7 million. Most of the “new jobs” Biden takes credit for are Trump-era jobs artificially shut down by the pandemic and that people returned to when the lockdowns ended. Many of the actual “new jobs” are government jobs.

Today’s unemployment rate is 3.7%. Just before the pandemic hit, under Trump, it was 3.5%. As for Biden inheriting an economy that was “on the brink,” it was actually strongly rebounding from the shutdowns. In the third quarter of 2020, it grew at an annual rate of 33.1% as businesses reopened. Fourth quarter 2020 growth was 4.3%, and in the first quarter of 2021, before any Biden policies took effect, the economy grew 5.2%.

* He actually pulled out the Democrat election year perennial that Republicans want to slash Social Security. I’ve been hearing this lie since I was a boy, and I’m now eligible for Social Security. Trump has already stated that he will not stand for any cuts in benefits for Social Security and Medicare recipients. So that was just an empty scare tactic, and a cliched one at that.

FYI: The big problem with demagoguing Social Security this way is that studies show it is likely to run out of money by 2032, but anyone who dares try to suggest a way to save it immediately gets hit with ads accusing them of wanting to wheel grandma over a cliff. So politicians soon learn to do nothing and hope they won’t be in office when the day of reckoning arrives. Saving Social Security will require political courage, honesty and placing the welfare of seniors over political advantage, so I don’t see that happening. But if you’d like to hear an intriguing suggestion for saving SS – one that could even result in a surplus that saves it for future generations – without tax increases or cutting current benefits, check out this video, which also includes a clip of Trump saying he will not cut Social Security:

Mike Huckabee

Tuesday night, Dan Bongino hosted a live-streamed election returns show with guest Mike Benz.  If you missed our two recent commentaries on Benz and his prodigious inside knowledge on the interaction between government agencies and non-state actors, this interview will open your eyes.

We should first clarify that Bongino doesn’t like this term “Deep State” simply because it doesn’t account for all those non-state actors colluding with the government.  He sometimes uses an alternate term that originated with Obama national security adviser/propagandist Ben Rhodes:  “The Blob.”  At that time, it referred to the foreign policy establishment through which Obama functioned.  We’d say “the Swamp” fits, too.  But for this discussion, we’ll stick with “Deep State,” with the stipulation that it’s actually short for what we might call the “Deep State Network” or “Deep State Complex.”  Either of those effectively implies that this is a diabolical web encompassing many more entities, doesn’t it?

Of course it does.  That said, Bongino’s show was pretty light on election returns --- which was fine, because the results were a foregone conclusion --- and heavy on Benz, who is the Mother Lode of information on the government’s inner workings.  We thought we’d summarize and comment on his most important points, because he can be like a fire hose, challenging to follow at times as facts and names spew out of him.  If (when!) Trump is re-elected, Benz should be strongly considered as the person to put in charge of reforming the intelligence community, or at least THE top consultant.  If anyone knows where the bodies are buried (perhaps literally), it’s this guy.

Today’s Blob/Deep State is described by Benz as “the managers of the American empire.”  Since the Monroe Doctrine in 1898, he explains, we’ve actually been a part of an overseas empire, in that we rely on our control of foreign territories and “manipulation of foreign political systems,” which we depended on for our agricultural products, oil, gas, minerals and much more.  Our foreign policy establishment is responsible for trading and exploiting those riches.  Within the government, that’s three principal entities:  the Defense Department, State Department, and Intelligence Community.  “Defense, Diplomacy and Intelligence...these three things move as one through the inter-agency process of the government.”

The CIA doesn’t just act on its own; what it does is synchronized with the other agencies.  (NOTE:  we saw so much of that coordination with the Russia Hoax.  Apparently, it was business as usual.)  All three of these components will have a role to play in any mission.  The CIA is there to supply “plausible deniability.”

These entities form the core of the Deep State, which is rimmed by “the donors and drafters on the outside,” huge industries such as oil and gas that are highly dependent on the State Department and CIA and our military/diplomatic relations with other countries, even to the point of overthrowing other governments.

“Sometime by the 1990s in this country,” according to Benz, “there began to be a serious divide between the economic interests of the managers of the empire and the citizens of the homeland, and there’s now essentially a kind of occupation by the empire managers, where they’re not letting the citizens of the homeland vote the way into a different foreign policy.”

Given this established order, it’s easy to see why an outsider like Trump would be seen as such a threat to it.  Biden, in contrast --- in fact, his family --- has been part of it for years, with Biden serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later being Obama’s “point man” in Ukraine.

New office-holders tend to get (pardon the expression) “groomed,” taken under the wing of Swamp members who can show them the ropes, and are vetted by the intel community.  The Bushes --- George H.W. Bush headed the CIA --- and GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain were vetted by this longtime process.

Trump would have no use for this.  And since the Deep State has been bipartisan for decades, Trump becomes not just a threat to Democrats but to some in the GOP as well.

When it comes to foreign policy, payoffs to both sides of the political aisle tend to ensure uniformity of purpose for the two parties.  Each side traditionally benefits, and there is money to be made.  But then, “a populist knocked out both the Bush Dynasty and the Clinton Dynasty in one blow.”  When their friends in the media couldn’t stop him, the political establishment turned to prosecutors to stop him, to the point where Trump is now facing “700 years and 91 different felony counts.”

Trump was trying to put an end to military operations where he could, and he was the first President in four decades not to get us into a new war.  He wanted to focus on making AMERICA great again.  He became more neutral towards Russia and flipped the policy when it came to, for example, Iran.  In short, “[Trump] totally threatened to re-jigger the world’s energy markets as had been invested in during the Obama years,” Benz explains.  This interferes with the spoils going to “the financial class surrounding the Biden world,” including such multinational financial entities as BlackRock.

(About 20 minutes in, and for about four minutes, Benz offers details about Victoria Nuland, then at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the CIA-backed coup there in 2014, using non-governmental agencies [NGOs] to “rent-a-mob,” and how our policy there got shaken up when Crimea subsequently broke away and later when Trump came in.  Well worth a listen!  And if you have time, keep listening for a discussion of the stunning “red lines” memo from our State Department that went to Zelenskyy a week after his election.  It informs the new president what he will and will not do “on issue after issue” if he doesn’t want to see instability brought to his country again.)

As Bongino points out, the “Russia Hoax” actually started in Ukraine, with the fabricated “black ledger” used to target Paul Manafort after he became Trump’s campaign director.  Before they framed Trump for being in cahoots with Russia, the Deep State had had plenty of practice framing people in other countries.

Speaking of framing people, Benz also touches on the recent arrest of FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who made allegations concerning bribes paid to the Bidens, saying, “That guy can squeal all he wants about, you know, how he was set up by the FBI to actually talk to these Russians.  But the plain fact is, he’s still going to be staring at prison bars for the rest of his life, [with] the only chance for mercy being for him to not spill ALL the beans.”

Zelenskyy might face the same choice about telling what he knows about the Russia Hoax.  And when Trump tried to get the truth about the corruption in Ukraine, he was impeached over it.

Bongino and Benz address a few more topics, notably Bongino’s concern that if Trump does win in November, entities such as the ironically-named Transition ‘Integrity’ Project that came together during the Obama administration will coordinate with antifa/union-style groups (and, we would add, media) to organize and whip up massive street violence.  Benz is worried about this “tremendously,” he says.  After all, “these people are professional overthrowers of governments around the world.”  And we concur; such people, both inside the government and out, are a menace to a free society, the REAL threat to our republic.  If (when) they do this following a Trump win, it will serve to prove that those people should never hold power, ever again.  They’re the real insurrectionists --- no “peacefully and patriotically” for them --- and where they really belong is in prison.  Better buckle up.

As Benz says of this organized violence, “It’s a frigging RICO case.”  This time, a real one.

https://bongino.locals.com/post/5351845/super-tuesday-election-night-coverage-with-me-and-mike-benz-coming-up-at-7p-don-t-miss-it-live-o

Learn more from Mike Benz, more specifically about free speech and censorship, at his organization, Foundation For Freedom Online.

https://foundationforfreedomonline.com

Mike Huckabee

More encouraging news that we’ve reached peak woke and people are fed up and refuse to take it anymore…

The president of Houghton University in New York, who is also the school’s first African-American president, called for an end to biological males competing in women’s sports, saying it’s wrong, unfair, and it defies nature and blurs the fundamental distinction between the sexes.

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2024/03/05/enough-is-enough-university-president-tells-biological-males-to-leave-womens-sports/

Dr. Wayne D. Lewis Jr. said, “Too many leaders, parents, professional athletes, and people of goodwill have been silent as female athletes are humiliated, silenced, and robbed of hard-earned opportunities. That silence is complicit with the fringe agenda that threatens to dismantle girls’ and women’s athletics.” He added, “Enough is enough.”

And yet more encouraging news on the university front: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has won his battle with the University of Florida over its racist “anti-racist” indoctrination. The school announced that it’s shutting down its DEI office and has “eliminated DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halted DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.”

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/03/02/university-of-florida-fired-all-of-its-dei-staff-n3783969

But if they aren’t being harassed constantly about their skin color, what are the students going to do? They might be forced to study! Which would make the University of Florida a much better school than Yale, where the DEI propaganda monster has grown so huge that there’s now nearly one administrator or support staffer for every undergraduate student. Oh goody, now every student can have his own woke bureaucrat to follow him/her/zir around all day and hector them about how racist they are!

https://www.thecollegefix.com/yale-university-employs-nearly-one-administrator-per-undergrad/

Mike Huckabee

The latest polls, even from liberal outlets like the New York Times and CBS, show that Trump is solidly ahead of Biden. Worse for Democrats, voters not only rank Biden lower than Trump for handling issues of most importance to them, such as inflation and border security, but demographics that the Dems count on to win are turning on Biden and longing for a return to the days of Trump. Here’s a detailed roundup...

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/03/slate-polls-show-trump-opening-firm-lead-biden-general-election-begins/

Among the findings: 97% of 2020 Trump voters say they are backing him again, while only 83% of Biden’s 2020 voters plan to make that mistake again (10% say they are switching to Trump, which if true would be devastating considering how narrow Biden’s margin was in 2020.)

Majorities of voters think Biden’s policies cause inflation to rise and hurt them personally (see, most people really are paying attention!) In a poll that must have left New York Times staffers feeling suicidal to report, Trump was ahead of Biden by nine points among men and tied among women, whom the Dems count on for their winning margin (maybe women are deciding that being able to abort babies up until they’re weaned isn’t as important as being able to afford groceries or not be robbed, raped or murdered if you step outside your house.) Although I’m certain the Dems are well ahead among people who claim they are no particular gender.

That poll also showed Trump actually ahead of Biden among Hispanics and at least cutting into the black vote to a level that would be catastrophic for Democrats if it holds.

I always caution people not to put too much stock in polls, especially polls taken months in advance of an election. These polls are encouraging (they suggest that people realize Biden’s policies have been terribly destructive to America, in some cases deliberately, and they don’t like it.) But the Dems have a ton of money for ads and free biased media on their side, and they’ve made it clear they will stop at nothing to preserve their power, from slanderous lies to trying to imprison their opponent to blocking his certification in the House (i.e., “assaulting our democracy,” which is apparently fine when they do it.)

If you love this nation and want it to survive, this is a “crawl over broken glass to vote” election. It needs to be not just a red wave but a red tsunami to overcome all the lies, lawfare, bullying and chicanery that the Dems will try to pull. So take a moment to enjoy the positive polls, then toss them aside and get back to work to win the only poll that counts, the one at the ballot box in November.

Mike Huckabee

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the appeal from Trump’s legal team regarding presidential immunity from criminal prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s “January 6” case, and has set the date for April 22.  This is a question of historic proportion that has never been addressed by the High Court. 

Specifically, the question, as expressed by the Court, is, “Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve OFFICIAL ACTS [emphasis ours] during his tenure in office.”

Given the schedule, and the fact that the trial is on hold --- if it ever takes place at all, depending on their ruling --- means it almost certainly won’t get started, let alone have a verdict, before the election.  It was Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has expressed strong bias against President Trump and his supporters and handed down some incredibly long sentences to J6 defendants, who had first denied Trump’s motion, saying, “Nothing in American history justifies the absolute immunity [Trump] seeks.”

It should be noted that Trump is not seeking ABSOLUTE immunity.  This argument involves actions he took as part of being President, which is to say, constitutionally.  The proper way to deal with such a matter is through impeachment and conviction.  Trump was already impeached by Congress --- on his way out the door --- over his actions on January 6 and found not guilty in the Senate.

Trump’s appeal of Judge Chutkan’s ruling went to a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court; recall that leftist Judge Florence Pan brought up a ridiculous hypothetical involving a U.S. President using Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival.  They upheld Chutkan’s order 3-0, rejecting his immunity claim.

The next step was Trump’s request for an “en banc” hearing, which is to say, the full court would hear the argument, and filed an emergency application to SCOTUS to put the panel’s court order on hold in the meantime.  Special Counsel Smith, in his hurry to get the case to trial in a DC (kangaroo) court before the election, filed an opposition to Trump’s request.  “Delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict…” he wrote.

Note:  In a DC court, with Chutkan presiding and before a jury full of virulent anti-Trumpers who’ve convicted him in advance of “insurrection,” fair’s got nothing to do with it.  And the right to a speedy trial is not out of “public interest” or to satisfy what the prosecutor wants --- it’s for the defendant, who in this case is TRUMP, who does not want to go to trial at all.

One possible scenario, according to investigative reporter and analyst Julie Kelly, is that the Supreme Court will decide as early as sometime in May --- still pretty fast --- that a President can be prosecuted for acts taken in office.  (That’s a decision that would have a lot of ramifications for future Presidents, for sure.)  In that case, the trial in Chutkan’s courtroom will re-commence.  Three months will have been lost, and Kelly estimates that a trial wouldn’t get underway until late August.

But Kelly believes that due to the complexity and historic importance of this decision, they likely won’t have a ruling until the conclusion of this term, at the end of June.  That would push the trial to late September.

In that case, a conviction --- oops, I mean “verdict” --- probably wouldn’t be reached before Election Day.  For months, Smith has been trying to move heaven and earth to get a conviction before voters cast their ballots, obviously hoping to make a big dent in his support and lose the election for him.

Of course, there’s one more possible scenario:  that the Supreme Court reverses the appellate panel and says a President cannot be prosecuted for actions taken as part of his official presidential duties.  Then the criminal case against Trump will...go away.

Trump’s political foes had been hoping the Court would let the appellate ruling stand, meaning the trial could now go full steam ahead.  Julie Kelly’s piece features some examples of hysteria --- caution:  some extremely profane --- from the left, as posted on X (Twitter); one of the worst is (unsurprisingly) from Nancy Pelosi: “The Supreme Court is placing itself on trial with its decision to hear the former president’s total immunity claim.  It remains to be seen whether the justices will uphold the fundamental American value that no one is above the law --- not even a former president.”

“The Supreme Court is placing itself on trial”?  Really??

Oh, and you’ll be hearing that phrase --- “no one is above the law” --- even more during the coming weeks.  Better have some Excedrin on hand, because that drum is going to be beating nonstop.  But this case isn’t about being above the law.  If it weren’t much more complicated, SCOTUS could just wave its collective hand and give the DC court its blessing.   

Another lovely X posting referred to Judge Pan’s absurd hypothetical and also to Trump being assassinated: “The good news is that SCOTUS will probably rule on whether Biden [has] absolute immunity in time for him to order SEAL TEAM 6 to take him out, as Trump’s lawyer said Biden could do.”

https://www.declassified.live/p/supreme-court-to-consider-presidential

Back in January, Kelly examined Pan’s hypothetical and the “unseriousness” of that panel of judges.  In addition to Pan, a Biden appointee, the panel consisted of Michelle Childs, another Biden appointee, and Karen Henderson, a George H. Bush appointee.  (It just smells wrong to have Biden appointees ruling on cases that so directly affect the fate of his political rival, doesn’t it?  Chutkan, who had said in her written opinion that the presidency is not a “get-out-of-jail-free card,” is an Obama appointee.)

As Kelly writes, “Given the unprecedented nature of the matter before the court, one would assume the two Biden-appointed judges would take extra care in conducting the hearing as impartially and untheatrically as possible...That, however, did not happen.”

Read her piece for her blow-by-blow description of how that hearing went.  Kelly also delves into the various political associations, and it doesn’t get more anti-Trump and swampy than this.  (For example, she’s known former DOJ lawyer (and Lisa Page’s attorney) Amy Jeffress for three decades and attended Jeffress’ wedding, officiated by Merrick Garland.  The groom was DC District Court Judge Chris Cooper, appointed by Obama.  DC is so...cozy.

Kelly also asks the same question we have, about just how “randomly” judges are selected for cases.  “...Pan is oddly seated on an unusually high percentage of consequential political cases,” she observes, and offers examples.  Pan must be enjoying her work; last week, her panel denied the appeal of Russel Alford, who was sentenced by Judge Chutkan to 12 months in prison for being inside the Capitol building for 11 minutes on January 6.  He wasn’t violent or destructive, but Chutkan had apparently found him “guilty by association” anyway, and the panel upheld this, with Pan writing that “a jury could rationally find that his unauthorized presence in the Capitol as part of an unruly mob contributed to the disruption of the Congress’s electoral certification and jeopardized public safety.”

This is the kind of twisted rationale being used by these judges.  And Judge Chutkan is presiding over President Trump’s “J6” trial.

https://www.declassified.live/p/the-hackery-of-judge-florence-pan

RELATED READING:  Speaking of the swamp, here’s an outstanding piece by Robert Chernin in REALCLEAR POLITICS on the recent revelations concerning Obama’s CIA spying on Trump’s campaign.

As Chernin sums up the problem, “The involvement of foreign allies in surveilling American citizens under the pretext of national security raises serious questions about the integrity of our democratic processes and the autonomy of our nation’s intelligence operations.”

In other words, if anything is a threat to “Our Democracy,” this is it.  A must-read.  Too bad the very people who need to read it the most will avoid it like the plague.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/02/28/obamas_cia_asked_foreign_intel_agencies_to_spy_on_trump_campaign