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[U, For Hinderaker’s Misanthropy] More Soon — But Tangerine’s 34 NY Fraud Felonies Sentencing Will Go Forward In NY — On Jan. 10, 2025: Judge Merchan.

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Updated: later this evening, Hinderaker explains that he feels holding felons responsible for their tax- and bank- fraud crimes (34 of them!)… is what is “ruining our public life”. Precisely, he said it is “poisoning our public life [and] now constitutes a serious threat to the viability of the Republic…”

Uh-huh. What a crock of sh!t, John.

As opposed to… electing a repeat felon as POTUS, and then pretending he is above the law?!

Riiiiight. Cool story, bro. Very cool.

End update.

Welp.

Buckle up.

Tangerine will appeal, but there is no impediment to his being sentenced in a week — on 34 felonies in Manhattan, said Judge Merchan’s just filed opinion.

Woot!

नमस्ते

[U, X4] Overnight Giuliani Nuttiness: “I Don’t Want To Be Cross-Examined” — On My Lies, In Manhattan…

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

UPDATE — Rudy Giuliani: going to jail today, in Manhattan?

It is unclear whether he’s testifying now, at the contempt hearing in Manhattan — but it should be nearly over, already — if he’s back from the bathroom break he’s requested. [Additional update — court on lunch break. No substantive testimony from Hizzoner yet.]

What a crock — he just knows he’s… cooked, and in my opinion — he’s just tap-dancing (he may leave the courthouse and not go back into the court room). End, update.
You couldn’t make this nonsense up — if you tried.

On the night before he was to appear for a contempt hearing, Hizzoner’s lawyers tried to say he would “be willing to” appear by Zoom only, but wished to offer evidence (and avoid cross examination, in person).

Quite rightly, the able USDC Judge Liman called BS on this chicanery, in an overnight order:

…Defendant [Giuliani] does not assert he is unable to travel. He submits no medical evidence. He has appeared in person at two prior hearings in this matter. See Minute Entry, November 7, 2024; Minute Entry, November 26, 2024. He has previously asked for an adjournment of the trial so that he could travel to Washington, D.C. this month. Dkt. No. 121 at 4. Plaintiffs take the position that, if Defendant is permitted to testify at the hearing, Plaintiff will want to cross-examine him in person and in that event, the request to appear remotely should be denied. Dkt. No. 214….

Defendant has communicated to the Court that he intends to rely on, and asks the Court to consider, his submitted declarations and his deposition transcript. Dkt. No. 211 at 1. Those documents would be hearsay if not sworn to by Defendant [Giuliani] tomorrow and if Plaintiffs were not given an opportunity to cross-examine. Fed. R. Evid. 801. In short, Defendant has asked the Court for the right to testify — at least by declaration. At the same time, however, Defendant has not shown good cause or compelling circumstances for his belated request to testify remotely. See Radosti, 2022 WL 2119299, at *2 (denying request to testify remotely where parties did not “provide sworn affidavits or any medical documentation describing or substantiating their representation that, due to medical reasons, they are unable to travel to testify at trial”)….

Defendant [Giuliani] has appeared in the recent past, on occasions where his testimony has not been required and the Court has not been asked to hold Defendant in contempt. He has presented no evidence why for this hearing, where the Court has been asked to hold him in contempt, where his credibility has been called into question, and where Plaintiffs have asked for an opportunity to cross-examine him in person, he should be permitted to deny Plaintiffs that opportunity and to appear remotely. Plaintiffs would be prejudiced by being denied the opportunity, ordinarily accorded to any other litigants, to cross-examine the witnesses against them live and in open court….

I’ll report if Rudy showed up today in Manhattan — but the hearing should already be underway. And he will shortly be found in… contempt.

That permits his jailing, among other matters — which is why he’s likely… not in Manhattan, in all probability.

More soon, but he’s still not been cross examined. Update No. 3 — he’s now being cross-examined — here’s how InnerCityPress live tweets it: “…Inner City Press @innercitypress

31 seconds ago

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Larsen: Do you understand that the term communications would include e-mails?

Giuliani: I don’t think so. No.

Larsen: It is your testimony that emails are not communications?

Giuliani: They are more like documents….”

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Larsen: Do you see this request regarding travel between January 2020 and the present, all physical or electronic calendars?

Giuliani: I do.

Larsen: And you said assistants kept it on notes and discarded them?

Giuliani: I’ve done that for years

Giuliani: When I was a lawyer my secretary would keep a detailed calendar. I don’t do it anymore. I just have notes on the wall, then I throw them out. I thought it was inappropriate you ask for all my doctors, it was not relevant….

USDC Judge Liman: You don’t get to determine that….”

Damnation. I’ll update later this afternoon, once again, when — not if — Mr. Giuliani is found in contempt (and whether he will spend at least the night in jail). Out for now.
नमस्ते

Hinderaker Avoids Mentioning That the Vegas Tesla Bomber Was A Trumper / Bronze Star Green Beret And A Whyte Domestic Terrorist.

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He spends several paragraphs denigrating the Bourbon Street terrorist’s Koran verses.

Fails to detail his service as an Army Staff Sargeant in Afghanistan; and his honorable discharge — while intentionally conflating the Muslim religion with radical jihadis.

Damn.

What a loser John is.

All without a peep about the Vegas bomber’s bona fide (according to his relatives) Trump adoration.

Wow.

Some Rather Dark New Year 2025 Hilarity, In These Deplorable (Bourbon Street) Times… Giuliani’s Former Monsignor Edition.

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I won’t quote but the tiniest bit of it, but it is a few hundred pages of… inane babbling, and dissembling (under oath no less!), by a defrocked catholic priest that Hizzoner was once going to call as a witness about the bona fides of his relocating his primary residence to Florida (primarily to take advantage of its liberal homestead exemption laws).

The full transcript of the deposition taken last week is about 3 Mb, and a few hundred pages — and is right here. It is notable, as well, in that Rudy has now removed this man from his list of witnesses for tomorrow, in New York. No surprise — the guy would get crucified on cross (pun intended).

…Q. Okay. And under Experience, it lists your role as senior vice president with Giuliani Partners; is that right?

A. That’s correct.

Q. What do you do as a senior vice president?

A. Nothing.

Q. I’m sorry?

A. Nothing.

Q. Do you — is that still your title?

A. It may be, but, I mean, I haven’t used the title in a long time.

Q. Are you still employed by Giuliani Partners?….

In point of fact, he goes on to admit that he still uses the title SVP in his Linkedin profile through to today, and that he’s never had any responsibilities — or pay — for the title Rudy gave him.

He said he’s “sure” he and Rudy have been best friends since grade school, though.

[And he admits that the various press reports of his being defrocked by the catholic church — for credible allegations of sexual abuse of young people are accurate.]

C H A R M I N G.

Not quite the impeccably credible witness one might hope for.

In truth, let us all hope and pray that everyone at the rescheduled Sugar Bowl gets to the game, and back home safely, in about five hours from now. Onward.

नमस्ते

I’ll Mention Last Night’s Bourbon Street Attack For Only One Reason…

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Well, two actually — but each is… related.

It appears Tangerine 2.0’s first words were to the effect that the terrorist was “foreign born”.

This was immediately proved to be false. Jabbar (the terrorist) was a DOMESTIC terrorist.

He was a life long US citizen and resident of Texas. He was a staff sergeant — served in Afghanistan, and honorably discharged in 2020.

[He used an AR-15 to wound two New Orleans police officers, before being killed in a firefight. But no GOP jerk wants to mention that.]

And generally in related fashion, Hinderaker tries to paint him as some long term “Muslim radical”.

That too is false.

His own relatives say the changes came in just the past year or so.

These facts matter — since John and the MAGA GOP are already trying to make the case for a renewed Muslim Ban (4.0).

Damn.

These two bitter old whyte codgers — sad, really.

Out.

In The New Year, The Supremes Will Hold That Friends of George’s Will Win, In Tennessee… Drag Shows Are First Amendment Protected. Period.

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You’ll recall that we’ve been closely following the anti-drag show state statute case, out of Memphis.

The trial court correctly found that the statute violates Tennesseans’ First Amendment rights to dance… in costumes.

On appeal, the Sixth Circuit panel completely rewrote the “statute”, as written by the legislature, to add limiting provisions that are wholly-inconsistent with the purported statute’s express commands.

That is not cricket.

So the Supremes (like the trial court in Memphis) will strike the supposed law.

You heard it here first — as the cogently-argued cert. petition was filed in the Supremes (178 pages!), as we long ago said it would be — now, in late in December:

…Summary reversal is warranted when a court of appeals decision is “flatly contrary to this Court’s controlling precedent.” Arkansas v. Sullivan, 532 U.S. 769, 771 (2001) (per curiam). Given the responsibility of sovereign states to interpret their own laws, the Court has repeatedly held that federal courts may not unilaterally rewrite or reinterpret state statutes. Federal courts, the Court has stressed, have “no authority to construe the language of a state statute more narrowly than the construction given by that State’s highest court.” City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41, 61 (1991). Even when the state statute is novel or ambiguous, “[f]ederal courts lack competence to rule definitively on the meaning of state legislation.” Arizonans for Off. Eng. v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 48 (1997).

Here, however, the court of appeals rewrote the AEA in two different ways — revising the statutory definition of “harmful to minors” and inferring a scienter requirement that does not exist. These interpretations contradicted the AEA’s text. The court of appeals did not seek guidance from the Tennessee Supreme Court, which has not yet interpreted the Act, let alone narrowed it. And while the court of appeals invoked the Tennessee Supreme Court’s earlier decision in Davis-Kidd, that decision interpreted a different statute; Tennessee courts have not applied Davis-Kidd to similar laws, as the court of appeals mistakenly assumed.

When, as here, federal courts have tried to rewrite state law — or even to interpret an ambiguous state law without first consulting the state’s highest court — the Court has not hesitated to reverse those judgments summarily. See Bradshaw v. Richey, 546 U.S. 74, 78 (2005)…

Just to be clear: this supposed Tennessee law allows biological women to dress in any fashion they like, short of complete nudity, and dance in any public place they choose — in any make-up they might favor… or without any make-up.

But should someone who happened to be born with male genitals… try to do the very same thing in a public square (i.e., wear a dress and/or put on heavy eye-makeup and lipstick and blusher), they would be subject to arrest — in every town in Tennessee. [Note that the now-sitting Gov. of Tennessee has himself dressed in drag — as have I — as a younger man. See at immediately above-right. We were both team captains in this tradition. Sheesh!]

That’s facially-inconsistent with the people’s First Amendment rights — of self-expression. End of story.

Onward.

नमस्ते

Tom Fitton, His Lawyers — And His Named Plaintiffs — Haven’t Disclosed Who They Are “Affiliated With” — In The Stupid Suit Against Evanston Reparations.

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Not remotely surprising, as we’ve long known Fitton imagines himself some latter day Clarence Darrow, but has no bar card, nor has he ever graduated any accredited law school, or even sat for any bar exam.

So it comes as no surprise that here, almost eight months into the silly strike suit he ginned up, and filed in federal court in Chicago… he still has not indicated which of his affiliated entities are controlling, under common control with or controlled by the five named plaintiffs.

At New Year’s Eve, the court helpfully reminded them that such a filing is required, unless all of them are acting solely in their individual capacities (and will be jointly ana severally personally liable — if the court should find the suit lacks a good faith basis, and thus the City of Evanston might recover its own attorneys’ fees and expenses from them at the end of the litigation).

I’d hazard a guess that as of this moment, those fees are well over $100,000 — and could be over $600,000 — even if there is never a trial. If a trial occurs, I’d triple the guess — to $1.8 million. Damnation.

In any event, here’s the order:

…Pursuant to Local Rule 3.2 (Notification of Affiliates), any nongovernmental party, other than an individual or sole proprietorship, must file a statement identifying all its affiliates known to the party after diligent review or, if the party has identified no affiliates, then a statement reflecting that fact must be filed. An affiliate is defined as follows: any entity or individual owning, directly or indirectly (through ownership of one or more other entities), 5% or more of a party.

The statement is to be electronically filed as a PDF in conjunction with entering the affiliates in CM/ECF as prompted. As a reminder to counsel, parties must supplement their statements of affiliates within thirty (30) days of any change in the information previously reported. This minute order is being issued to all counsel of record to remind counsel of their obligation to provide updated information as to additional affiliates if such updating is necessary. If counsel has any questions regarding this process, this LINK will provide additional information.

Signed by the Honorable Virginia M. Kendall on 12/27/2024….

H I L A R I O U S.

At immediate right is an image of one of the goofy plaintiffs’ lawyers — who also happens to be a paid Village Trustee, in nearby Palatine, Illinois. Hmm. This nonsense will be dismissed (for a lack of standing, and thus a lack of jurisdiction) in 2025, in all likelihood.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of embittered old wretches.

Onward, into a strident new year of… Lawful Resistance 2.0.

Hinderaker’s “Boggle”: He PRETENDS He Doesn’t Understand… TikTok. He’s Lyin’ — Agin’…

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

I won’t waste much in the way of column space on this, as it is likely that John is simply pretending not to understand what TikTok is… so as not to embarrass Donald John Trump, about his “bribe seeking” behavior, even before he enters office. [He pretends not to understand how multi-national holdcos may be… readily… restructured.]

That is likely why Hinderaker wrote this garbage, overnight.

It saves him from admitting what we all know: that Tangerine 1.0 tried to extract bribes from ByteDance in 2020, and now Tangerine 2.0 again seeks them in 2024-25. I offer no evidence that he actually got paid any bribe — but this is a man whose whole life is transactional: it is always — and only — about what he gets in return for even the smallest gesture.

As a preeminent Constitutional scholar noted over the weekend, Trump’s SCOTUS brief is devoid of any legal argument, at all… largely because the bribe seeking behavior he advocates… is utterly unlawful.

[And, BTW, the Supremes have no authority to stop laws that are Constitutional from taking effect.] So it goes.

You may stop pretending not to understand that now, John.

O U T.

Power Alley: BMO Has Become Too Pessimistic About Merck. Will Miss 2024 Upside.

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About a year ago, we reported that the firm made Merck an “outperform”, with a target of $130. Most savvy Wall Streeters still agree with that assessment.

But about a week ago, BMO dropped Merck to “market perform”, and reset the stock price target, at $103. It cited pessimism about Keytruda, and the cost of some recent acquisitions.

My view is that Rahway’s acquisition savvy — buying in at lower prices, and getting game changing therapies, in the process — is one of Merck’s core strengths.

Still, most of Wall & Broad disagrees with BMO: Merck is once again (as in the 1980s and ’90s) the most reliable pharma to bet on. $130 is a sensible one year target. I will post my year end predictions… a day or two after we bring in the new year… so, stay tuned.

And as ever, be excellent to one another! [Dictated but not proofed.]

नमस्ते

Leave It To Hayward — To Denigrate A Great Man, When He’s A Mouse Of One, Hisself…

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Steve felt it his place to say both awful, and largely false — things about the first former President to reach 100 years of age. The only living former President as widely respected as a man of principles — and principles he lived by, to his last days — by foes and friends alike. Certainly, the only one in the last half-century.

There were many people in the 1980s who disagreed with his approaches, on the GOP side of the aisle, but in the past 50 or so years, there were none — save Steve who impugned his integrity. He definitely lived his values.

And that is Steve’s boggle, here: he champions a… stone cold reprobate. Tangerine 2.0 couldn’t resist making his Sunday afternoon “tribute” to Mr. Carter… all about the despot hisself.

Peas in a pod.

U G L Y.

Out.