The hoax of the Hunter Biden trial

Have you seen the Demedia rejoicing that the justice system works (Hunter's gun trial and conviction). What a crock. That man, with his father, committed so many crimes this was a throw away. https://ijr.com/hunter-biden-may-never-have-been-on-trial-were-it-not-for-whistleblowers-and-no-nonsense-judge/ Co-pilot (which I never ask for, but which always butts in) wrote, "I'm sorry, I'm unable to continue this conversation" when I asked for the truth about his crimes and the media coverage. Ha. Ha.

A Netflix movie may soon tell the Garfield story

Coming soon on Netflix. The story of President James Garfield. But we had the story today in Lakeside from Todd Arrington, of the National Park Service and Site Manager of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. I have visited most Presidential sites in Ohio, 2 in Illinois and one in California, I've been to Gettysburg and other historic state and national sites. I've been blogging for 21 years about some of the issues that Garfield focused on--slavery, race, education, nation building, etc.--yet I could count on one hand the number of times he's appeared on my radar of important events. Arrington, who has a PhD in history, did a masterful job of portraying a great man assassinated by a mentally ill person who was disappointed he did not get the job he wanted after he'd voted for Garfield. Well worth the price of admission (there's a gate pass for Lakeside). CLS: Celebrate Ohio: Presidential Museums - Lakeside Ohio

"Had he not been assassinated early in his presidential term in 1881, the history of the late 19th century might read very differently today. If the history of the late 19th century read differently, perhaps the histories of the 20th and early 21st centuries might, too."

Netflix Announces New Drama Series 'Death by Lightning' Starring Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen - About Netflix

There actually is a conspiracy

 Copied, but I agree.

"I hate conspiracy theories, but we all need to look at what is transpiring, and the conspiracy is there for all to see. Put aside all the illegal aspects of how the Trump trial was conducted, and focus instead on the overall bigger picture, and what is really happening. There is a grand scheme to consolidate power in the White House with someone organizing what is, in fact, a non-violent attempt at assumption and retention of power.

First, they attacked a lot of the tea party groups by illegally using the IRS when Obama first came to office.

They get Trump impeached with the phony dossier. They almost succeeded with the ignorant help of the left-wing press.

When that did not work, they tried the impeachment route again on new false claims about a phone call.
In 2020, Sanders almost got the primary victory. They needed an easily manipulated Biden to win, and to be the puppet Obama could control by getting many of his senior staff into the top positions in the White House. Clyburn was tasked to manage rounding up the black votes and get Biden a win. They supposedly made some deal with Sanders to implement some of his far-left agenda, which they have done.

 
I believe Biden really won the 2020 election even though there were cases of voter fraud, ballot harvesting, no voter ID, same day registration, and mail in ballots.

 
With Biden in the White House, Obama was able to plant Susan Rice, Blinken, Sullivan and others in key jobs, and control policy. It is not clear if Biden even realized what was happening, or he was able to be convinced to have them as his advisors since he had worked closely with them for several years. Now Rice has disappeared for some reason. Don’t you find it odd that she was this very powerful and very high-profile public person, and now she has just disappeared from sight.

Keep in mind congress has paid out millions to cover up affairs and misdeeds by Congressmen. If they prosecuted every CEO who had an affair with an employee, and then paid to keep it quiet, we would have a lot of CEOs in jail. We still do not know exactly what crime he is guilty of as the jury never made that clear.

 
Now it is 2024, and Trump is in the lead, and Biden Harris is a very weak slate. The Bragg case, according to every objective experienced lawyer who has opined, including Dershowitz, has said the entire case is completely not only without any merit, and was run by a judge who made numerous major errors, but is clearly a set up with the judge being selected outside of normal court routine. The jury instructions were essentially a directed verdict.

 
In another case, the Dems rolled out the woman who accused Trump of sexual assault 20 years ago, well beyond the statute of limitations, and they had the NY State legislature change the statute to allow that case to go forward.

 
The real estate fraud case is total crap. Nobody was damaged at all. Every bank was fully repaid on time. Under banking regs, banks are responsible these days to get their own independent appraisals, and to do their own valuations. That case is as concocted and staged as the Bragg case. It was designed to bankrupt Trump.

 And then there is the documents case, which it seems has real flaws with an illegally appointed special prosecutor,

and the GA case with the prosecutor who has real issues of conflict.

All four of the prosecutors went to the White House and met with the lawyers there before filing charges,

and then Bragg gets the number 3 official in DOJ to leave his high-level job and become a low-level local prosecutor for this case. Nobody does that.

Recall the 51 intel officials who signed a letter saying the laptop was Russian disinformation, and now that laptop is the proof they will use to convict Hunter.

There are also the continuing efforts to get Thomas off the court, and now Alito, and to expand the court with Biden appointments. SCOTUS is all that stands between them and saving our nation. If Trump loses, we will lose the Supreme Court and our liberties.

Lastly, they have open borders so they can have millions of illegals vote by mail to be ballot harvested with no voter ID. A few dollars to the illegals and they will sign a ballot. That is exactly how LBJ won his TX governor election. It is also how Daley did it in Chicago, and how JFK became the unelected president. Obama learned from Daley. This is going to be Chicago and LBJ revisited.

 Taken altogether, this is the latest effort by the Dems to get rid of Trump, and to get total control. Piece all of this together for yourself, and you have a many years’ conspiracy, and an attempt to get full control of the government by Obama and Clinton, but mainly Obama. This is the real threat to democracy.

A series of events of this nature and magnitude does not happen without someone planning and directing it-Obama. It is all funded by Arabella. If you are old enough you recall Beria, the secret police chief under Stalin. “Show me the man and I will show you the crime.” You just witnessed this." Joel Ross

Working from home 1962 style--Meditsinsky Rabotnik

Dennis Prager: "Soviet-style “science” is on the rise. The American Medical Association now recommends that “male” and “female” designations no longer be listed on birth certificates. Children’s hospitals are using hormone blockers and performing sex-change operations on perfectly healthy teenagers."

In 1962 I worked from home on a graduate assistantship translating the Russian-language newspaper Meditsinsky rabotnik (Medical Worker). Typical Communist drivel and most readers were poorly paid women, because medicine, law, and engineering were all low ranking in prestige. Communism never delivers on its promises of equality. But even if they'd been well paid, I doubt that a Soviet citizen could have come up with the ghoulish crimes invented by our highly paid, prestigious medical profession. Maiming children in the U.S. is very well paid. The Russians loved their children.

Meditsinsky Rabotnik has a Facebook page, but hasn't posted anything for 12 years.

What the world was before January 2021

The world was not close to WWIII, Jews were not being attacked in the U.S., gas was affordable, groceries were affordable, mortgage interest rates were 2.5%, and the economic outlook was outstanding. A thought that is circulating as people consider the election.

Christian missionaries killed in Haiti

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.S. missionary couple and a Haitian man who worked with them were shot and killed by gang members in Haiti’s capital after they were attacked while leaving a youth group activity held at a local church, a family member said Friday.

The attack happened Thursday evening in the community of Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, told The Associated Press."

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-us-couple-missionaries-killed-gangs-a65a4515e0d8610d9acd006d24821efd?

By Rik Swartzwelder on Facebook

"Next time you’re feeling superior to Gen Z or Gen Alpha or… whatever other generational label struts down the catwalk next… remember the names of these two…

Davy (23) and Natalie (21) Lloyd. A young married couple from Missouri, USA, who were Christian missionaries who had committed their lives to serving the youngest and poorest in Haiti.

Along with Pastor Jude Montis (45), the local Haitian native who was the Director of Missions for their ministry organization, they were just days ago savagely butchered by a ruthless gang in Port-au-Prince.
Their names will likely barely be remembered…

None of them ever pranced half-naked on a stage, singing songs and begging for your adulation… for a hefty price…

They never made a billion dollars…

Or won an Olympic gold medal or any kind of athletic championship…

Or grabbed a microphone or exhausted themselves in the mockery or belittlement of others…

Or spent hours trolling others online trying to prove their superiority…

They never sought the spotlight… or lived for their own pleasure alone... or bought into the lie that this world is all there is...

What they did do was lay down their lives in the hopes of bringing a better life to others…

These are heroes. These are the souls that humble me and inspire me and call me into wanting to be more than I am. To serve… to give… to love…

Lord, have mercy… hear our prayer… come soon…

Javier Milei talks with Bari Weiss

At one time Buenos Aires was known as "the Paris of South America." That was 100 years ago. What happened? Socialism. Argentina is a mess of government bureaucracy and control. And now, it has elected the equivalent of a Maga man, South American style. Kick out or reduce the poverty pimps who have abandoned freedom for collectivism. I really don't know anything about Javier Milei, the "skunk at the garden party," but I heard an interview on "Honestly" by Bari Weiss, The Free Press.

Milei and Trump would not agree on many things, but they do agree on the dangers of socialism. Be bold. Be the skunk at the garden party thrown by the Democrats and Totalitarians.

 
In the 21st century we are being hit from all sides by Marxists and political Islam. Stop pretending, you loyal Democrats and weak Republicans, that nothing is wrong. When Obama and Biden promise us that they can totally transform the country, they aren't kidding. It's a promise they intend to keep. We are in crisis. We are fighting psychological warfare (men can be women, abortion is women's rights, more government is good government, the USA is weak and feckless, the swamp is pure, you need another jab to be a good American) and Lawfare (destruction of our values using our own courts and overwhelming illegal immigration). What we saw in NYC last week, what we've been seeing on our elite campuses since last fall, plus all the climate change hoaxes and all the DEI nonsense for 2 decades are all part of the subversion and planned chaos to shake us to the core. They are well funded and patient.

Be a skunk at their garden party.

Latest Episodes | Honestly Podcast

Trump is a threat to the ruling class

"Trump is the greatest threat to this ruling class since Richard Nixon. He has therefore aroused more raw political passion than anyone in recent memory. Making him a convicted felon is a calculated gamble to keep him from returning to the White House. There is a risk it could backfire. But the ruling class knows that Trump is entirely alone in the political establishment. He has the support of millions of voters—almost certainly a plurality of the American people. But he is opposed by virtually all of the influential social, economic, political, and cultural interest groups that determine the outcome of elections.

 
When most elected Republicans and conservatives accepted the legitimacy of the globalist interpretation of the 2020 election, they abandoned the rule of law for hundreds of American citizens. These citizens were called insurrectionists and were denied basic rights by a Congress and courts that funded and conducted what was clearly an elaborately staged hoax."

Convicted by the 'Rational State' (tomklingenstein.com)

I'm not familiar with this author, but it's almost word for word that I've been thinking since 2020. Trump made some huge mistakes with Covid probably because he, like the rest of us, didn't think about how deep the swamp went--into science and medicine and public health. He saw the opportunity to be a hero and make all those haters like him. Ha. First they said he's done all the wrong things (by following the advice of the swamp creatures) but they had a plan. By manipulating us, they could steal the election. Then Biden and Boys doubled down an caused more deaths than there ever were in 2020. Biden will never be able to bring us to 2019 in health, wealth, happiness, respect from world leaders, labor participation, true progress for minorities and respect for women. And nothing could have made me see Trump as a world class orator and brilliant thinker, however, Biden has done that one accomplishment.

Speaking memories at lunch

Lunch today was nothing incredible--rotisserie chicken, alfredo sauce, with macaroni, asparagus, fresh spinach, toasted French loaf with garlic butter, fresh pineapple with blueberries, and a homemade chocolate cookie (for him, I was full). No photo was taken. But we had a lively conversation. I try to tell stories he hasn't heard before (and that I haven't heard either). 

He gets sort of mixed up on the dates. I do remember those. We met in March 1959 and married in September 1960, so it's been 65 years since our first date. We both remembered what we wore because we went to the St. Pat's Ball. He wore his grandfather's sport coat and I wore a friend's lace red dress. 

 I think what started the conversation at lunch today was a photo I had of him in 1975 when he was super skinny. He had propped his painting up against our Ford Pinto in the drive way so I could take a photo.  And he then looked like the guy I met in 1959. In those days some of us didn't know each other very well. I went to summer school in Maine that summer, and he worked in Indianapolis the fall of 1959 while I was at U. of Illinois, so actually, we were practically strangers. We had both been engaged before, and to my knowledge they are also both alive.

I can't seem to find the photo I showed him today in his skinny days, but I remember I bought him this suit in the boys' department at Lazarus. 1974. And that helmet hair I was wearing was all the rage.

Michelle Malkin, what happened to her

 I enjoyed her writing and her feistiness. I wondered what happened to her. Today I came across her last column--published October 25, 2022. This is just part of it. I suspect something similar has happened to Candace Owens, who has disappeared after her dust up with Ben Shapiro. '-30-': An Ending, but Not the End, by Michelle Malkin - The Unz Review

"Because of my peacefully expressed reporting, opinions and speeches, my family has been punished and stigmatized, my reputation tarnished and my voice squelched. It’s not “big government” that waged this war on my career. It’s a constellation of vindictive wrongthink police in the private sector, from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League, to foreign newspapers and moneyed interests that have no business influencing American politics, to “conservative” swamp creatures and profiteers such as Bill Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, Mona Charen and Ben Shapiro, and even to former colleagues at the Fox News Channel, which blacklisted me several years ago and told a friend of mine who was a guest on Tucker Carlson’s show not to say my name after antifa rioters had attacked me and others on stage at a Back the Blue rally in Denver a few years ago. (My friend ignored the warning. God bless him.)

I have no regrets. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” I remain thankful to every single reader over the last three decades, and I will be eternally inspired by all the patriots I’ve profiled over the years — especially the ordinary parents, whistleblowers, citizen journalists and activists who have sacrificed far more than I for their truth-seeking and truth-telling."

P.S. Normally, I wouldn't use Unz Review for anything.  As "alternative" press it's also allowing vicious, hateful anti-Semitism, but I think it's the only place I saw her column.

 

I was on a jury once

I've only been on one jury. At first I felt very patriotic and important. Only 45% of Americans ever serve on a jury and if you are called, sometimes the case is settled before you hear it. The case for which I was seated involved Ohio's infamous Scott-Pontzer insurance law which was finally reversed in 2003. It was incredibly confusing and caused me to lose chunks of faith in our laws and our jury system. It was referred to as the Golden Turkey award and had allowed employees and their families injured on their own time in their own cars to collect from their employers’ auto insurance policies.

https://www.porterwright.com/content/uploads/2017/11/216_litdec2003.pdf?

Do the media mavens believe what they say?

Last night I heard a few snippets on Fox of the MSM like Joy Reid (an evil person) and others I can't identify by face, and then the View shrews. Why they matter, I don't know.  The alternative sources of information easily outnumber their audiences.  Joe Rogan. Tucker Carlson. Megyn Kelly. Millions and millions don't trust CNN or MSNBC or the alphabet media. But I am influenced enough by their Trump-hate to hit the mute button on the remote. They don't even question how Bragg could get 94 felonies out of a misdemeanor or how the so-called "second crime" wasn't revealed until the jury instructions (on p, 32). Or how a state can try a federal crime (by Dem definition). These are the same people who thought Kyle Rittenhouse had crossed a state line to kill black people. (Everyone in that case was white, and his father lived in Wisconsin. And they lie constantly about January 6.)  They can't figure out how the media assists in destroying our country. They can't see election interference that the Number Three guy in the Biden's Department of Justice took a demotion to a state court so he can control the case. He's also the guy who prosecuted Trump on the non-victim trial for loans all parties had agreed.

This trial will go down in infamy--Judge Juan Merchan

There was little doubt President DonaldTrump would be convicted, and for no other reason than looking at the behavior and politics of JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN. He was a partisan hack. Merchan has gag ordered Trump, but not me.

 
I've always believed this conviction would be overturned on appeal since it was so obvious even with my limited "Law and Order" TV knowledge. Now I'm not so sure. If the Democrats are this evil, they might just win at the next level, and then pack SCOTUS.

• What are the chances that Merchan would be assigned to two Trump trials if selection is random? One in a million? 500,000,000? He was handpicked.
• Merchan had donated to Biden's campaign, and his daughter is a Democrat party fund raiser benefitting from this trial.
• Merchan demanded gag orders which were illegal and unconstitutional, and fined Trump. No one understands the gag order.
• Merchan allowed irrelevant and salacious testimony that had no relevance to the trial and were intended to embarrass Trump and sway the TV audience.
• Merchan on the other hand disallowed testimony that would have helped the jurors understand federal election law and campaign finance law, a very complicated specialty that even the other lawyers involved don't know.
• Merchan cleared out the court room when Michael Cohen's former attorney was exonerating Trump but allowed the prosecution to bring in Stormy Daniels to talk about whether or not Trump used a condom.
• Merchan reprimanded key defense witness Robert Costello about "proper decorum" although he allowed Daniels to give great detail. Then when Costello wasn't impressed and glared at him, Merchan cleared the court room.
• Merchan gave the jury 54 pages of instructions on how to decide. I've been on a jury (once) and can't imagine trying to wade through that. I saw no information on what the crime was Trump was supposed to have committed with the NDA.  People v. DJT Jury Instructions and Charges FINAL 5-23-24.pdf (nycourts.gov) .
• Merchan had the jury out for many days before final deliberation. No seclusion. Very irregular.
• Merchan set sentencing for July 11. Republican convention is July 15. It's still election interference.

Seat belts--early memory

"Click it or ticket. Buckle up." That is the banner at the intersection of Tremont and Kenny Rds. Golf course on the west. Lutheran church, apartments and city building on the east. And a memory flashes of the first time I wore a seat belt in a car. Does that ever happen to you? Useless memories pop up out of nowhere, but I can't remember how to use the TV remote. I don't have any grandchildren to bore with my stories (however, I loved my grandparents' stories).

I was the receptionist/secretary/labor at Foxbilt Feeds in Mt. Morris, IL. I've forgotten the name of the owner, but he had a fantastic red Ford convertible, probably 1955. I answered the phone and copied down orders for delivery. The car had seat belts, not sure if they were required then or were an add on option. But I must have gone on some deliveries to farmers, otherwise I wouldn't have been in the car. It was a part time, summer job, and my mom took me to work since I was too young to drive. I looked online and Foxbilt does seem to still supply feed and fertilizer.

Google search algorithm

"Google’s search algorithm is perhaps the most consequential system on the internet, dictating what sites live and die and what content on the web looks like." Sure is. When I go back and reread some of my blog entries whether it's about Memorial Day, a recipe, family memories, or how bad Obama was, I can see counts of 150-200 per entry. Now, it's about 17-20. Part of it was change in social media choices, but also it's the algorithm. Commercial sites now get top space. And of course, during the pandemic and lockdown, it was simply censored.

Google won’t comment on a potentially massive leak of its search algorithm documentation - The Verge

Menopause

I wonder how this sentence got past the DEI police. "Approximately 55 million people in the US and approximately 1.1 billion people worldwide are postmenopausal women." Men who declare they are women don't experience menopause, and women who declare they are men do if they have retained their organs.   JAMA. 2024;331(20):1748-1760.

Memorial Day 2024, Monday May 27

The last Monday in May is dedicated to remembering military members who died in service. I've done a number of blogs over the years about my uncle Clare who was killed in WWII in the China Burma India Theater in October 1944. There are only a few nieces and a nephew who remember him, and we are all in our 80s. He came home in October 1947 on the Honda Knot, and from there came by train to Franklin Grove, Illinois where he was buried in the Ashton Cemetery.

What does the Bible say about soldiers? An old blog entry for Memorial Day Week-end

I came across an item about soldiers and wars in my blog entry of June 1, 2008.  I didn't follow through on my question about how have soldiers influenced the spread of the Gospel.  But it's still worth looking at.

"This week our congregation has been reading the book of Acts, and I noticed a number of references to soldiers and centurions. I'm not much of a Bible scholar, but I did wonder about what studies have been done on their influence in spreading the Gospel during the first century of the church. Then yesterday, while looking for a different book (and knocking some items on the floor because I sometimes stack books behind books if they don't have attractive covers), I found an International Sunday School Lesson book from 1944 which I think I bought at a yard sale for a quarter about 10 years ago. If you can find them, these books are packed with study outlines, bibliographies, lesson plans, illustrations and color maps. No wimp-out, touchy-feely, "let's get acquainted" questions in this book!

In the introduction the editor writes:"Inasmuch as we are in the midst of the world's most gigantic military conflict, and the minds of people are so much upon war, some of our readers might be interested in taking up a series of studies in young people's meetings, or in prayer meetings, or in private classes in homes, apart from the International Sunday School Lessons, in Biblical themes that have more or less relation to the subject of war. We here suggest two such series, one a study of the centurions and soldiers of the New Testament [the other was OT battles]. They will be found in eighteen different groups, nine in the Gospels, and nine in the Book of Acts. A fascinating book could be written just about the soldiers of the New Testament.

1. The centurion whose servant Jesus healed of the palsy (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10)
2. The soldiers of the governor who mocked and smote Jesus--between his trial and crucifixion (Mat. 27:27-32; Mark 15:16-23; John 19:2)
3. The soldiers who mocked Jesus at the cross (Luke 23:36,37)
4. The soldiers who parted Christ's raiment at the foot of the cross (John 19:23,24)
5. The soldiers who broke the legs of the 2 criminals crucified on either side of Christ (John 19:32)
6. The soldier who thrust a spear into the side of Christ (John 19:34)
7. The centurion at the cross who confessed that Jesus was the Son of God (Matt.27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47)
8. The centurion who reported to Pilate that Jesus was dead (Mark 15:44,45)
9. The soldiers who were set to guard the tomb wherein the body of Jesus lay (Matt. 27:65, 66; 28:11-15)
10. Cornelius, centurion of the Italian band, to whom Peter preached (Acts 10)
11. The "devout soldier" who was sent by Cornelius to bring Peter (Acts 10:7,8)
12. The 4 quarternions of soldiers to whom Peter was delivered for safekeeping, and between two of whom Peter was sleeping (Acts 12:4-18)
13. The soldiers and centurions whom the chief captain used to deliver Paul from the mob in Jerusalem (Acts 21:32-35)
14. The centurion to whom Paul declared he was a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25,26)
15. The centurion to whom Paul asked permission to see his sister's son (Acts 23:17)
16. The soldiers who accompanied Paul to Caesarea (Acts 23:23-35)
17. Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band, to whom Paul was committed when he was sent to Rome (Acts 27:1,6,11,31,43; 28:16)
18. The soldiers who were on the ship on which Paul was carried to Rome (Acts 27:31, 32, 42)"

Only the introduction of the 1944 book mentions the war that was on everyone's mind, an introduction which included five annotated bibliographies containing about 80 titles, many multi-volume, for the teacher to consult! Many people never read an introduction, preface or footnote (librarians love the secondary and tertiary stuff), so I suspect this was a concession to some heated arguments in the back room when deciding what was to go into this book.

The editors appeared to have no doubts about who would be the victor, although I don't think my mother, aunts and grandmothers, with ear to the radio and eye on the headlines, waiting for the mailman (my own father plus numerous uncles and cousins were in the service) were quite so confident.

They wrote:  "When the war is over, evangelical Christianity will enter upon the greatest struggle it has known since the days of Constantine in the defense of its great cardinal truths. All of this great and important and sober work will not be done by ministers or theological professors, but much of it by the thousands and thousands of faithful Sunday school teachers throughout our land. Let us prayerfully, carefully, with all the mind and heart we have, prepare ourselves now for this great struggle in the expectation of glorious victory in the ultimate triumph of the truth of God."

Certainly a word for the 21st century. And even they couldn't have imagined it would be our home-grown, gold plated idols (celebrities), our wealth (mind numbing consumerism), our gendered temples (desecration of God's plan for man and woman), our university faculties and our own elected leaders we'd need to fear. Or did they?" (End of June 1, 2008 blog entry.)

Have a thoughtful Memorial Day observance

Testimony wrapped up this week, and closing arguments are scheduled following the holiday.

Judge Juan Merchan, the worst in our history, sent the jury home to stew in the hate and threats in NYC they'll receive for several days if any one of them dares to follow the evidence and the "charge" (which we still don't know) and find Trump innocent of the non-crime. If the Democrats can destroy due process against a former president, they can do it to YOU.

Makes the sacrifices of all the wars and all our lost soldiers look futile, doesn't it?

Democrats are trying to get rid of Alito so they can hire a compliant stooge for the court. Wouldn't surprise me if that's what Merchan is going for.

Dershowitz: 'I've never seen a spectacle' like 'tyrant' Judge Merchan | WND | by Bob Unruh

"Megyn is joined by legal experts Andy McCarthy and Phil Holloway to discuss whether Trump witness Robert Costello helped or hurt his case, if the defense team should have rested after they established Michael Cohen was a liar on the stand during cross-examination, and more.

Megyn, McCarthy, and Holloway discuss Judge Merchan withholding jury instructions from the public, jurors being exposed to outside influence during the Memorial Day holiday, the political pressure on the jury and the judge to get a conviction, and more." (Megyn Kelly podcast May 25.)

Trump NY Criminal Trial, Week 6: The Final Witnesses, Jury Instructions, and More – Megyn Kelly

Morning meditation on conversion

Morning meditation by Fr. Donald Haggerty:

"It should not be surprising that a desire for a simpler lifestyle is a common impulse after a serious conversion. This is not just the result of new discipline. The shock of finding God in a personal encounter, and of being known to him, is a penetrating light cast upon life itself. Standing before eternity, so to speak, is a jolting experience and awakens a realization that so many gratifications sought in this life are empty, and unworthy. The awareness of time catches hold of our soul with a keen sense of the transiency and impermanence of the things of this life. What a year earlier might have been a coveted object to possess, a desire or ambition to be pursued, seems now unmasked for its paltry insignificance. It is truly as though a light from heaven had shone on the worldly pleasures and gratifications that formerly occupied out life with hardly a thought.

This stripping away of the gloss and sheen covering much of life is a kind of revelation to the soul. The emptiness of the pursuit of self-gratification is soon tasted and often leaves a lasting aversion to indulgent habits in life. It is not surprising, then that we turn to a difference source of satisfaction. The life of prayer begins to attract us more. A kind of disinterest in chasing after chimeras roots itself in the soul. The result in part is the greater simplicity of lifestyle seen after every deeper conversion." Magnificat, May 2024, pp. 355-56

Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is currently serving at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. He has been a Professor of Moral Theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland and has a long association as a spiritual director for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. He is the author of many books.