Tag Archives: daniel-penny

“Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one.” —James Madison (1791)

IN TODAY’S DIGEST

EXECUTIVE NEWS SUMMARY

Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler

Government & Politics

DOJ spied on FBI director nominee Patel: The revelation that the Department of Justice spied on Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, isn’t exactly surprising. What might be more surprising, though, is that the spying occurred not during Joe Biden’s presidency but Trump’s. Patel “previously sued former Trump Justice Department officials and FBI Director Christopher Wray, accusing them of violating his Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures when they tried to obtain Patel’s personal records,” reports Just the News. All this is part of a newly released DOJ inspector general’s report, which notes that the spying was meant to investigate leaks surrounding the Russia collusion hoax and was conducted “in bad faith,” as Republican Senator Chuck Grassley put it. The Washington Times reports, “Federal prosecutors skirted their own rules when they seized phone records from reporters while investigating congressional leaks to the media about the probe into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.” Furthermore, the equal-opportunity spying included several congressional staffers and two Democrat House members, Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, as well as reporters from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
ActBlue confesses its foreign influence election scheme: Time was when Democrats routinely decried the influence of money in politics. Indeed, it’s the Democrats who continuously complained about the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which protects paid political speech for those on the Left as well as the Right. Lately, though, the Democrats’ silence is deafening, and this silence is no doubt due to the gross imbalance in fundraising that they’ve enjoyed in recent presidential and down-ballot elections. And now, we’re getting some insight into how they’re doing it. Just the News reports, “ActBlue, the massive online fund-raising platform for liberal causes, has informed Congress it did not automatically block donations made with foreign-bought gift cards until recently, a potentially significant revelation in an ongoing investigation into whether China, Russia, Iran or Venezuela routed illicit money to Democrat candidates.” According to Republican Congressman Brian Steil, whose committee oversees election integrity, only on September 9 did ActBlue update its money-grubbing standards to “automatically reject donations that use foreign prepaid/gift cards, domestic gift cards, are from high-risk/sanctioned countries, and have the highest level of risk as determined.”
Ignorant Americans want government oversight of healthcare: A recent Gallup survey found that 62% of Americans believe it should be the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that everyone has health coverage. That is the highest percentage in over a decade. Back in 2013, after the rollout of ObamaCare, just 42% of Americans believed the federal government should be involved in healthcare, though prior to the insurance exchange, a majority of Americans believed that Big Brother should guarantee that people had health coverage. Tellingly, after experiencing ObamaCare, the majority opinion changed. ObamaCare did nothing to lower healthcare costs; indeed, it has made the problem more costly and complicated than ever. Yet, because of this, Americans are clamoring for someone to fix this problem, and, as usual, they turn to the government — the very entity that made the problem far worse.
Democrats in a bind over defense bill that bans transgender surgeries for minors but boosts enlisted pay (Fox News)

Economy

Annual inflation rate accelerates to 2.7% in November (CNBC)
Trump promises “expedited” approvals, permits for firms investing $1 billion+ in U.S. (Just the News)
Humor: 17 signs of poverty in a capitalist country (Babylon Bee)

Lawfare

What’s next for Daniel Penny? After his acquittal, New York City subway hero Daniel Penny must be wondering where he might go to get his reputation back. Penny doesn’t seem to be the vindictive sort, but Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is encouraging him to turn the tables on Manhattan’s woke prosecutor. “Alvin Bragg is an absolute catastrophe,” said Cruz. “First, he indicted Donald Trump in a partisan case, and then he indicted Daniel Penny for saving the lives of other subway passengers from a deranged lunatic threatening to kill everyone. Penny should sue Bragg for malicious prosecution and hold this rogue Soros prosecutor accountable.” Meanwhile, Penny sat for an interview with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who herself is a former DA and judge. “He blew me away,” said Pirro. “He is humble. He thinks that he’s serving people, and he’s willing to live with it and do it again.” As for Bragg, Pirro didn’t mince words. “It’s time for you to say goodbye,” she said. “You are a political prosecutor. You ruined this man’s life, and it’s time somebody brought a civil rights violation or investigation against him.”
NY AG refuses to end lawfare against Trump: Although the Democrats’ lawfare effort against Donald Trump failed in a spectacular fashion, likely doing little other than buoy his election victory, New York Attorney General Letitia James refuses to give up her politically motivated actions against the president-elect. Last month, Trump attorney D. John Sauer asked James to dismiss the dubious civil case against Trump “for the good of the country.” Trump is currently appealing the $454 million judgment against him handed down by Judge Arthur Engoron. James rejected Sauer’s request, stating, “Presidents do not have immunity from civil lawsuits arising from unofficial conduct, and such lawsuits may proceed while the president is in office.” Her animosity toward Trump dies hard.

Culture

Bowman, the sore-losing racist: Is there anything more spiteful and embittered than a Democrat incumbent who’s just been shown the door? If we consider the behavior of disgraced outgoing New York congressman and fire-alarm-pulling Squad member Jamaal Bowman, we’d say not. “Dear White People,” Bowman posted as part of a remarkable 12-part X rant, “I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you. I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us. Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy.” Bowman went on to list what he deemed were black victims of white people: Rodney King, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Jordan Neely. “How many times have you seen a white man killed in cold blood on camera on your newsfeed?” he asked whites. “The answer is never.” Instead, “Whenever you feel discomfort from your whiteness, Black people are harmed or killed. And there is never accountability or justice. This is the evil of white supremacy.” All we can say is, good riddance to this sore-losing racial arsonist.
Luigi Mangione, UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect, has outburst on way to court, fights extradition to NYC (CBS News)
Nancy Mace attacked by pro-transgender man at U.S. Capitol (Daily Wire)
Pelosi defies archbishop’s eucharist ban for pro-abortion politicians (National Review)
Yale students overwhelmingly pass BDS referendum (Washington Free Beacon)

Security

Drone mystique: Who’s behind the mysterious drones seen flying over New Jersey? Well, it ain’t the military. According to Lt. Col. Craig Bonham II, “While the source and cause of these aircraft operating in our area remain unknown, we can confirm that they are not the result of any Picatinny Arsenal-related activities.” Local media outlets report that Picatinny has noted at least 11 sightings. These large drones have been spotted all over the state near military facilities and even Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course. Federal officials have concluded that these drones are not being operated by foreign entities. And yet, no one seems to know who is behind these drones. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that they are “very sophisticated,” noting that “the minute you get your eyes on them, they go dark.” He was quick to add, “The most important point to say is we don’t see any concern for public safety.”
Israel strikes Syrian army’s weapons stockpiles: Nearly 500 drone strikes have been conducted by the Israel Defense Forces targeting weapons sites across Syria over the last couple of days. In the wake of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country, the IDF has acted to prevent Syrian military weapons from falling into jihadi rebel hands. “Dozens of sea-to-sea missiles with ranges of 80–190 kilometers were destroyed. Each missile carried significant explosive payloads, posing threats to civilian and military maritime vessels in the area,” the IDF reported. “Numerous strategic weapons were neutralized, including Scud missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-sea, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, UAVs, fighter jets, attack helicopters, radars, tanks, hangars, and more.” The obvious concern for Israel is that if the jihadi rebels get their hands on these weapons stockpiles, they could be used against the Jewish state depending on who eventually rises to power in Syria. Israel wants to eliminate that risk.
China stages largest show of force in decades (WSJ)
U.S. intercepts ballistic missile from Guam in first for Pacific outpost (Newsweek)

Misc.

Supreme Court rules courts don’t have power in some immigration cases (Newsweek)
Bankruptcy judge rejects The Onion’s bid for Infowars (NPR)
Israel’s Netanyahu takes stand in corruption trial (CBS News)

For the Executive Summary archive, click here.

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FEATURED ANALYSIS

The BLM Dog No Longer Hunts

Douglas Andrews

It doesn’t seem like too long ago, but there was a time when Black Lives Matter really mattered.

Think back to 2020, when the Marxist group was on the march, rioting all during that long hot summer, wrecking and burning and looting, defacing and defiling statues of Washington and Jefferson and even the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.

That caught our attention, sure. But think about corporate America back then. Think about JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and the rest of them, coughing up all those millions to the race-hustling racket known as BLM. Think about the Democrats in Congress, ostentatiously taking a knee in the Capitol building while donning their Kente cloths and at the same time shrugging their shoulders at the execution-style murder of a five-year-old white boy named Cannon Hinnant, who’d been out riding his bike in front of his house when he was shot point-blank in the head, right in front of his sisters, by a 25-year-old black neighbor named Darius Sessoms.

But while the BLM riots of four years ago were precipitated by the death of career criminal George Floyd, they had their roots in a couple of racial riots from years earlier. There was the phony Michael Brown “hands up, don’t shoot” hoax of Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, followed by the Freddie Gray riots in Baltimore a year later. There was also the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riot of August 2020 following the thoroughly justified police shooting of a thug named Jacob Blake — a riot that caused a kid named Kyle Rittenhouse to defend his own life with deadly force. In each of these cases, the anger had been directed at cops specifically and at “white supremacy” more generally.

Thankfully, though, that Black Lives Matter dog no longer seems to hunt. What was once righteous anger in our urban centers and even suburbs has been replaced by an almost comical indifference. It seems, thankfully, that the American people, black and white, have come to realize that not every black-and-white encounter is a racial atrocity on the level of Emmett Till.

Take New York-based rabble-rouser Hawk Newsome, for example. The cofounder of the Greater New York Black Lives Matter chapter has been out front lately, trying to make himself relevant by protesting the death of a deranged and violent career criminal named Jordan Neely, ostensibly at the hands of a heroic Good Samaritan and Marine Corps veteran named Daniel Penny, whom a Manhattan jury on Monday rightly acquitted of reckless homicide and then second-degree manslaughter charges.

Here’s what Newsome had to say about the dismissal of the most serious charge on Friday: “Today, white supremacy got another victory. Today, the KKK, the klansmen, the evil in America got another victory.”

Predictably, Newsome and his fellow racial arsonists doubled down after Penny’s ultimate acquittal on Monday. “We need some Black vigilantes,” he said following the verdict. “People want to jump up and choke us and kill us for being loud? How about we do the same when they attempt to oppress us?”

“America will never fix the issue of black people,” he added, “because America needs a punching bag. They have designated us as the punching bag.”

“Small world, buddy,” said Newsome in a not-so-veiled threat to Penny, while his sister Chivona screamed that America is a “f***ing racist country.”

Unfortunately for the Newsomes, and for most everyone else trying to make a buck in the race industry, business is bad. As The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman wrote earlier this week: “On Monday, 12 New Yorkers refused to buckle under the weight of racial grievance politics. … Perhaps this verdict serves as a bold sign that Americans have finally had enough of the BLM hysteria and mob mentality that demands guilt despite the facts so long as the accused is white.”

Indeed, even in Manhattan — which votes nearly 90% Democrat and whose woke district attorney, Alvin Bragg, routinely sees the world through race-colored glasses — they’re saying, Enough.

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MORE ANALYSIS

Nate Jackson: Biden’s Economy Stumbles Out the Door — Given his terrible track record, his exit from office can’t come soon enough.
Michael Swartz: Can Trump’s Tax Reforms Survive the Swamp a Second Time? — A significant legacy item from Donald Trump’s first term is set to expire in 2025 without intervention.
Emmy Griffin: Christian School Children in CA Attacked by Pro-Palestinian Vagrant — A radical who shouldn’t have been on the streets shot two kindergarteners, but the legacy media’s silence has been deafening.
Thomas Gallatin: Divisive Obama Preaches the Virtues of ‘Pluralism’ — His message is an effort to intimidate Trump and Republicans not to follow through on implementing their policy agenda.
Mike McGinn: Sharen Stone and the ‘Ignorant, Arrogant Adolescence’ — The actress might want to stick to making movies — and reading a few history books — rather than spouting her ignorant opinions.
RCI: No Letup in J6 Prosecutions, Possible Pardons or Not — Nearly four years later, there’s a reason Donald Trump is openly pondering pardons for nonviolent offenders.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.

BEST OF VIDEOS

Taylor Lorenz Can’t Stop Celebrating UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Murder — Everyone’s favorite ex-Washington Post reporter keeps finding herself in hot water over her endless celebrating of the assassination of Brian Thompson.
‘Black Vigilantes’? BLM Is Losing It Over Daniel Penny Verdict — Predictably, the BLM chapter of New York did not handle the “not guilty” verdict for Daniel Penny very well, calling for vigilantes to strike back.
This Is Evil — Elica Le Bon explains the real reason that Iran wants to destroy Israel.
Christian Cake Baker Gets Another Legal Victory — Jack Phillips discusses his 12-year legal battle over his Christian beliefs.
Why Government Can’t Build Broadband or Charging Stations … or Anything — The feds promised to expand broadband, build thousands of EV chargers, and bring back semiconductor jobs. They delivered delays, waste, and failure.
Humor: 9 Things RFK Is Doing on Day One to Make America Healthy Again — Americans are fat and lazy. RFK Jr. is going to change all that with these nine great ideas to get everyone back into shape.

SHORT CUTS

Non Compos Mentis

“This is extremely unjust and an insult to the intelligence of the American people.” —Luigi Mangione, alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin (“[Mangione is] no revolutionary. He’s a coward who shot an unarmed man in the back.” —Jim Geraghty)

“Today’s verdict in the Jordan Neely case does not change what we have known to be true in our hearts since the very beginning: Jordan Neely’s life was brutally taken away because of unnecessary vigilantism. … This verdict represents the blatant legalization of civilian vigilantism, sending a dangerous message that citizens can now take matters into their own hands, even if it leads to someone’s death.” —Al Sharpton

“We have not just a normalization of January 6th, but the full recasting of it. One of the darkest days of our political history is whitewashed, a cause of shame turned into a cause célèbre.” —Bill Kristol

Dumb & Dumber

“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.” —Caitlyn Clark, Time’s Athlete of the Year

“Dear White People, I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you. I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us. Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy.” —outgoing congressman Jamaal Bowman

Theater of the Absurd

“Trump got elected on a commitment to make life better and more affordable for Americans, and I think people south of the border are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive.” —Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Political Futures

“It’s been just 14 months since [Matt Gaetz] allied with House Democrats to oust GOP Speaker McCarthy. Now, he is out of Congress, out of running for AG, and heading for a small TV network. Attacking, undermining his party did not end well.” —Byron York

“Pete [Hegseth] knows that the US military is for defending America and destroying our enemies. Full stop.” —Senator Mike Lee

For the Record

“Tyrants seek to consolidate power and limit people’s freedom while enriching their family and friends. It’s Biden, not Trump, who has consistently done that.” —Victor Joecks

“Now is the time for a blitz through the institutions. The Left is exhausted. BLM is shattered. Trans is imploding. Trump has a mandate to abolish DEI, defund left-wing racialism, and restore public authority over the public institutions. The counterrevolution starts now.” —Christopher Rufo

“It’s a relief that Daniel Penny was acquitted, but the miscarriage of justice was the prosecution itself. We must do better at holding bad prosecutors & rogue government regulators accountable for their losses in court, after they put innocent defendants through hell.” —Vivek Ramaswamy

“Alvin Bragg should be ashamed. He undercharges criminals and overcharges heroes.” —Gary Bauer

And Last…

“Look around you: do you want Canada’s healthcare system? The person they kill there is you, not the executives.” —David Strom

“My rights are not up for discussion, let alone a vote.” —Michael Malice

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MEMES & CARTOONS

For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union.

For more of today’s cartoons, visit the Cartoons archive.

“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.

Mid-Day Snapshot · December 10, 2024

THE FOUNDATION

“Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths…?” —George Washington (1796)

IN TODAY’S DIGEST

EXECUTIVE NEWS SUMMARY

Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler