Category Archives: crime news

crime news

Let’s see if there’s nothing to see

Donald J. Trump’s administration is doing a marvelous job of pissing off its political base, not to mention the rest of the country.

It has done pirouettes around the question of whether to release information about convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s prison time and the friends he made while steering girls into prostitution. Trump said initially that he wanted the information released. He incurred the wrath of his loyalists, who don’t want the material released.

He then changed his mind, angering the MAGA cultists who have joined their more progressive antagonists in insisting that Trump release the info.

Trump’s team, though, says there’s “nothing to see.” Really?

Hey, here’s a thought: Why don’t you release the information and let the public determine whether there’s any substance to reports that Trump and Epstein were besties … and that includes reports that the future president of the United States might have been up to his armpits in criminal behavior.

crime news

Open Alcatraz? What the f***?

Donald Trump’s well-spring of purely stupid notions has zero bounds, it is a bottomless pit of nonsense.

For instance, he is considering reopening Alcatraz prison, the long-abandoned lockup in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Holy crap! What in the name of ridding the government of wasteful spending is going on here?

The prison has been vacant for many decades. It is falling apart. It is now part of the National Park Service’s list of tourist attractions. Trump wants to reopen it? He wants to house prisoners there?

Why? For what possible reason? What is the incentive?

Has anyone told the dipshit in chief the cost of such a project? I will cost the government billions of dollars!

OK. All of that is the bad news. The good news is that it isn’t likely to happen. Congress won’t allow it. The matter will end up in the court system after someone decides to sue Trump over this latest form of pure political idiocy.

It’s worth calling brief attention nonetheless to the kind of nonsense that flutters around that vacuous skull that sits on Donald Trump’s shoulders.

crime news

Trouble in MAGA land? Awww!

There appears to be trouble brewing among the MAGA morons who comprise much of Donald Trump’s base of support.

It involves whether Trump should release information related to the late Jeffrey Epstein’s prison term after his conviction on charges involving sex trafficking and the selling of children into prostitution.

Trump at first said he would release the information to the public. Now he’s back away from that pledge. What’s more, he has pissed off the MAGA cabal that still seemingly adores this idiot.

I’m not entirely clear on why the MAGA cult wants the info released, other than there might be some dirt tossed on many of Trump’s political enemies. Epstein reportedly kept some sort of “black book” on people he serviced with young women. One of them might have been his pal … Donald John Trump.

Trump once said he wanted the information released. Now he’s cowering. The MAGA morons are angry with their guy.

Do I really care that the MAGA loons might be about to jump from the Trump ship that appears to be listing significantly in these roiling political waters? Not really. It does highlight one of the inherent problems that Trump has displayed ever since he entered political life in June 2015. It is his unwillingness to speak the truth.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a true-blue MAGA moron, wants Trump to release the information. Johnson has some supporters backing his insistence that the Epstein files are open to the public. What is Trump going to do? Beats the bejeebers out of me.

I do know that he is handing Democrats tons of ammo to use against him as they seek to regain control of Congress in 2026.

Hey! Come to think of it … that’s why I care about this brewing conflict!

crime news, legal news

He still did the crime … why let up?

Once in a blue moon some aspects of criminal law make me scratch my noggin till it bleeds.

Take the case of Bryan Kohlberger, a young man charged with the brutal murder of four college students in Moscow, Idaho. Kohlberger was set to stand trial for the brutal stabbing deaths. He had said initially he didn’t do it.

Now he has changed his tune. He pleaded guilty today to doing the crime that caused a nationwide manhunt in 2022. The cops found Kohlberger holed up in Pennsylvania. They brought him back to Idaho to stand trial. If convicted he faced the death penalty; I don’t know they do it in Idaho … but that’s beside the point now.

You see, by entering the guilty plea in a deal worked out with prosecutors, Kohlberger is going to avoid the ultimate punishment for the ultimate crime.

Here’s where the head-scratching commences. How do defendants accused of such horrifying crimes skate clear of the executioner simply by admitting they did the deed for which they would have stood trial?

I’ll have to stipulate that I am not a death penalty proponent. I am glad Kohlberger now will spend what’s left of his life in prison. My philosophical opposition to state-sponsored killing of defendants, though, is beside the point I am seeking to make with this post.

If someone admits to committing a crime as horrifying as what Kohlberger has admitted to committing, then why lessen the penalty the law requires him to pay?

I’ve heard official reasons. A guilty plea saves a state a lot of money. He won’t have any avenues for appeal. It costs the state a lot of money to put defendants to death.

However, I am still puzzled by the notion that admitting to a crime as horrifying as what Kohlberger did saves him from paying the ultimate price.

crime news

What’s next from Trump?

A dear friend from Germany, an astute follower of American politics, sent me a message overnight that wondered: Now they are handcuffing U.S. senators. What is next, my friend?

To my friend, Martin, I have no answer. I don’t know who’s next or what’s next as we watch Donald Trump’s administration lay waste to the rule of law.

Allow me to put this into a bit of perspective.

Trump pardoned hundreds of traitorous mobsters for the crimes for which they were convicted relating to the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on our Capitol. Many of those pardons were convicted of assaulting police officers, of injuring others and of desecrating the halls of Congress while seeking to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Just this week, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., attended a town hall hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and was placed in handcuffs and thrown onto the ground to silence him from pursuing his constitutionally guaranteed right to protest government policy.

What in the name of justice is wrong with this picture? Damn near everything I can consider!

We are witnessing the piecemeal dismantling of our rule of law by a presidential administration bent on the idea that Trump’s views are the only views that matter. Anyone who protests them can become subject to the kind of mistreatment that befell Alex Padilla.

To think that Trump would have us believe that people around the world admire this individual’s conduct is to believe that the sun will rise over the western horizon tomorrow morning.

I will have to remind my German friend that our Constitution remains strong and that millions of Americans join me in hoping it is strong enough to withstand this frontal assault.

crime news, legal news

Patel to take FBI reins … God help us!

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, once revered and venerated for its professionalism, is now being run by a guy who thinks the agency has become a clown show staffed by crooks, charlatans and crackpots.

Kash Patel won Senate confirmation today by a 51-49 vote, hardly the type of mandate that previous FBI directors have traditionally received. The past three FBI directors were confirmed with at least 92 Senate votes.

Patel is about as unqualified and unfit as anyone I’ve ever seen for the job as head of the nation’s premier crime-fighting outfit. It is staffed with thousands of public servants who are dedicated to doing their job and fulfilling their mission to keep us safe from those who wish to do us harm.

Patel once said he intended to close the Hoover FBI Building and turn it into a museum of the “deep state.” He vows to hunt down and prosecute anyone who opposes Donald Trump. What the hell? He has declared war on the media, the only privately held institution in this country granted protection from government influence and interference in the U.S. Constitution.

And this is the dipsh** Trump selected to lead the FBI?

Of the handful of troublesome Trump picks to lead the executive branch, I declared Kash Patel to be the worst of the bunch. I stand by my earlier assessment of this moron’s world view.

Now I will merely pray he chickens out on his threats to weaponize his department.

crime news, national news

Explain this to me … please

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Almost every aspect of today’s political climate requires an understanding that I apparently do not possess.

We used to seek and expect the best among our political leaders. Today we are settling for, well, clowns, misfits, felons and numbskulls. How can this happen to us? Why are we letting it happen?

Donald Trump, the felon in chief, is close to getting a Cabinet he selected that fits the description I have just laid out there. Americans elected this guy despite the felony convictions, two impeachment trials, multiple scandals, a defeat at the polls four years earlier and litany of lies that cannot be compared to any other in U.S. political history.

I will concede this point. Which is that we have witnessed the most astonishing political comeback in recorded history … in my view.

I just cannot fathom how this guy managed to pull this off.

And now he is setting about doing what he vowed to do and then some. He seeks to dismantle the federal government and has brought on board an unelected zillionaire guru to take the government apart piece by piece.

I am seriously frightened.

crime news, legal news

No moral equivalence here

Right-wing MAGA fanatics need to take great care when attaching moral equivalence to two vastly different actions taken by two equally vastly different men.

In one of his final acts as president, Joe Biden issued pre-emptive pardons to members of his family, believing they would spare them from the hassles of being harassed by federal officials loyal to the incoming POTUS.

Those pardons were, shall we say, weird and kind of bizarre. As it has been said many times, innocent people do not need to be pardoned. The family members pardoned by President Biden hadn’t even been charged with any crimes.

Then came the horrendous blanket pardons issued by Donald Trump, freeing about 1,500 traitorous mobsters from punishment for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection against the government. They sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and attacked with all-due violence the Capitol cops seeking to protect members of Congress from the hysterical mob.

Some right-wingers have sought to attach the Biden pardons with the Trump pardons. Not a chance! There isn’t a scintilla of moral equivalence to be found!

One of the pardoned traitors, by the way, got into an altercation with Indiana police over the weekend and was shot to death by the cops. History seeking to repeat itself? Well … go figure.

What Trump did in pardoning all the convicted mobsters was send a clear signal that the president had their back in the event they might try to do something similar in the future. The president also gave the middle finger to cops who had suffered grievous injury in defense of our government.

Trump has taken the same oath twice to “protect and defend the Constitution.” He tossed that oath into the crapper the first time and there’s not a thing that I can detect that will prevent him from doing it again.

Therefore, let us end the idiotic attempt to equate the pardons issued by the departing president with those given by the individual who succeeded him.

crime news

Trump sets dangerous precedent

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Donald J. Trump’s pardoning this week of 1,500 or so mobsters who stormed the Capitol Building four years ago sets a precedent that sends chills up my spine … and should frighten you, too.

Many of those pardoned by Trump were involved in violent crimes against Capitol cops, against security officials and against bystanders.

What this idiot has done by pardoning the worst among the insurrectionists is send a message to anyone who, in the future, decides to do the very same thing in his defense that the president has their back. They will not have to pay for the crimes they commit.

Think about that for just a moment. That’s all the time you’ll need to process what this means. It means that Donald Trump has legitimized violence against police; it means the POTUS has decided that it’s OK to desecrate public property — even defecate on the floor — as long as you are defending whatever numbskull policy the president decides to enact.

You want an existential threat to our way of life? Donald J. Trump has just delivered it to us in the form of that blanket pardon of the mobsters who stormed the Capitol at his behest.

Moreover, do not tell me or anyone else that the pardon only affected the non-violent participants. Some very bad actors are walking free today because their MAGA chieftain defied the rule of law on their behalf.

crime news

He stands as a convicted felon!

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Donald J. Trump’s list of “firsts” to be included in his obituary already comprises an unbelievable litany of disgraceful episodes in this man’s truly bizarre life.

First president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.

First president to boast about his martial unfaithfulness.

First president to be accused of seeking to overthrow the government.

And now this: First president to enter his second non-consecutive term in office as a convicted felon.

New York District Judge Juan Merchan today issued a sentence that finalizes Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of paying a porn actress $130,000 to keep quiet about a tryst the two of them had … but that Trump denies ever occurring. Merchan could have sent Trump to prison. He didn’t. He chose instead to issue what they call “unconditional discharge,” meaning that Donald Trump is free to take the oath of office in 10 days.

He will, though, be indelibly stained by the felony conviction on his record. Not that it matters a bit to this narcissistic sociopath who doesn’t exhibit a scintilla of contrition for the verdict delivered by a jury of his peers.

He plans to appeal the conviction.

I am going to accept the judge’s decision to take the action he took. I won’t do so gleefully. I am saddened by the reality that Trump was elected this past November after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Voters “fired” Trump from his first job as president, only to send him back … even after he promised to pardon many of the Jan. 6 mobsters who stormed the Capitol that day to stop the certification of the election that Trump lost.

We have just witnessed a dark day in our nation’s rich and varied history.