Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Left appears to have turned on Willis. Like rats deserting a sinking ship
Many of us were demoralized by Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee’s decision on Friday to allow District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the RICO case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants. McAfee ruled that Willis may carry on as long as she fires ex-lover Nathan Wade, whom she hired as the special prosecutor in the case in November 2021. Wade resigned from the position on Friday
Throughout McAfee’s 23-page ruling, he sharply criticized both Willis and Wade for their questionable testimony and their “bad choices.” Yet, he concluded, “Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices — even repeatedly.”
He wrote that his decision is “by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony."
Hundreds of Hollywood stars unite to denounce Oscar winner's controversial speech
Top Hollywood stars like Debra Messing and Julianna Margulies are among over 450 Jewish individuals in the entertainment industry denouncing "The Zone of Interest" director Jonathan Glazer's controversial Oscars acceptance speech about the Israel-Hamas war.
"We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination," an open letter first reported Monday by Variety read. "Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. But Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th."
The signatories continued, "The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history. It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film."
Alongside Messing and Margulies are actors Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tovah Feldshuh, Lisa Edelstein and Brett Gelman, top producer Amy Pascal, and filmmakers Eli Roth and Rod Lurie.
What will happen if Trump can’t post $454M bond in his civil fraud case by Monday’s deadline?
New York Attorney General Letitia James will be free to start going after Donald Trump’s prized properties should the former president fail to make the deadline to post the $454 million bond in his civil fraud case.
Trump, 77, on Monday filed papers in an appeal court case seeking to get out of having to post the bond as he fights the massive judgment from February — which accrues $112,000 in interest daily.
The presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee had approached over 30 firms to secure the bond — to no avail — and he’s facing “insurmountable difficulties” getting the financial backing, his attorneys wrote in the filings.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered the hefty judgment against the real estate mogul in February after a three-month trial in which the AG’s office argued Trump exaggerated his net worth by billions a year on financial statements to get better loan and insurance terms.
Trump has said he plans to fight Engeron’s decision, but he must either put the full judgment amount in escrow or secure a bond to show he’s good for the money if he loses his appeal.
“If you’re trying to appeal a financial penalty, the courts want to make sure if you lose at the end of the day you can pay the penalty,” said Kevin J. O’Brien, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney in New York, adding it was “standard procedure.”
“This is an attempt to keep appellants honest,” O’Brien explained.
“The real difficulty is the size of the judgment is so huge.”
The bond would require Trump to post 120% of what he owes with collateral — amounting to $557.5 million, according to his lawyers.
Trump previously sought to lower the bond amount to $100 million and is now seeking to get out of paying the bond altogether.
O’Brien said that if Trump can prove to the court that he is likely to ultimately win his appeal, he “might have an argument” to get the bond amount lowered.
Could Trump sell off or mortgage his properties?
Schumer just guaranteed Netanyahu’s re-election
There is a basic law in physics that every action has an opposite and equal reaction. I don’t think that Senator Schumer was a standout in physics. His critique of the Prime Minister created a firestorm still going strong. I don’t think he anticipated the degree and level of the reaction.
Chief Rabbi Lau implicitly responds to Chief Rabbi Yosef
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau implicitly responded today (Monday) to the statements his Sephardi counterpart Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef made that haredim should consider leaving the country if they are drafted as other Israeli citizens are into the IDF or national service.
During the funeral of Captain Daniel Perez, who was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and whose body has been held by the terrorist organization ever since, Rabbi Lau said, "We have a wonderful generation, a generation of soldiers, a generation of dedicated people, a generation of those who stand up and do everything to protect the people, to protect the Torah and protect the land."
Later in his speech, he referred to what Rabbi Yosef said: "There is no contradiction between these three. They are three that stem from one place. The people of Israel, the Torah of Israel, the Land of Israel."
A week ago, Rabbi Yosef said in relation to the draft law, “There are Yeshiva students who go to reserves. Not everyone merits to learn Torah. Everyone merits to be a student, and Torah students are exempt from army service under any circumstances, no matter what. If they force us to go to the army, we will all leave Israel. We will buy tickets and leave. There can be no such thing.”
“All the secular community understands this, and they need to understand that without Torah, without study halls, without yeshivas, there will be no existence and no success for the army. The soldiers succeed in the merit of those studying Torah. Everyone needs to say this with pride - we are studying Torah, and it is the Torah that protects us.”
Brilliant : Ben Gvir dedicates an entire speech in the Knesset Mocking Lapid
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Monday mocked opposition leader Yair Lapid and his history of making contradictory remarks, as he responded in the Knesset plenum to a motion of no confidence submitted by the opposition.
"I understand that I have to respond here to the motion of no confidence of opposition chairman Yair Lapid, but I have a small problem, MK Lapid, I don't know which of your two left hands to respond to, the daytime Lapid or the nighttime Lapid," said Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir added, "Purim is not for another few days, but for the chairman of our opposition, the entire year is a costume party. Do I have to answer here to the Lapid who supports a Palestinian state, or to the Lapid who is against a Palestinian state? And is the Lapid who supports a Palestinian state the daytime Lapid? Or is that the nighttime Lapid?”
He continued, "Mr. chairman of the opposition, which Lapid should I respond to - the Lapid who said that the Palestinian Authority should rule Gaza the day after Hamas? Or to the Lapid who said that the Palestinian Authority should not rule Gaza the day after? What is Lapid's position during the day, and what is Lapid's position at night?"
"I truly, Mr. chairman, do not know which Lapid to respond to, the Lapid who said that the gas agreement - the agreement to surrender to Hezbollah - is an agreement that keeps the confrontation with Hezbollah at bay? Or to the Lapid who attacks the government for its security policy in the north? And on this, I do not know which position belongs to the daytime Lapid, and which to the nighttime Lapid," he continued.
He then asked Lapid, "MK Lapid, perhaps you happen to know which Lapid was the one who brought in thousands of workers from Gaza to please Hamas? The daytime Lapid or the nighttime Lapid? Or maybe you can tell us, who is the Lapid who attacked Gantz for entering the government, then offered to enter the government himself instead of Ben Gvir... Who was the daytime Lapid and who is the nighttime Lapid? I really don't know who to respond to, to the Lapid who supported the mass refusal to enlist in the army and the risk to the country’s security just a few months ago, or to the Lapid who is now preaching to the haredim about serving in the army?!"
Ben Gvir addressed those present in the plenum and said, "Perhaps someone here among the members of the Knesset knows whether the Lapid who headed the government for a year and a half and did not work to recruit haredim was the nighttime Lapid, while the Lapid who now submitted a bill to recruit all the haredim was the daytime Lapid, or was it exactly the opposite? For example, was the Lapid who said he landed a helicopter with smoke grenades in Lebanon, the nighttime Lapid or the daytime Lapid? Who was the Lapid who said that you don’t have to be an economist to be Finance Minister, and then said that the Finance Minister must be an economist, the nighttime Lapid or the daytime Lapid?"
He then turned to Lapid again, "Mr. chairman of the opposition, I really want to respond to the motion of no confidence that you submitted, but now we are at dusk, and there is a difficult problem here - which Lapid should I respond to - the nighttime Lapid or the daytime Lapid. Sometimes, a difference of a few minutes does wonders. I'm sure, Mr. chairman of the opposition, that you have an excellent answer. It just depends, of course, on what time of the day it is."
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