THE CHRIS WALLACE EXIT

 

                                     BY BILL JUNEAU

                             On Sunday, December 12, 2021, the 74-year-old Chris Wallace informed viewers at the close of his long running Sunday morning interview show that he would be leaving Fox News where he had hung his hat for 18 years. 

                             He thanked the station for his years there and noted that he was never told what he could do or say on the air. And now, he told viewers, "I am ready for a new adventure." 

                             His new adventure is CNN, Fox's principle rival.  It is a cable station which embraces a progressive political philosophy.  It is voracious in its anti-Trump philosophy and contends that white supremacy is the cause of virtually all unrest in the USA.   Critical race theory in schools is imperative and open borders are a must.  At CNN, he says, he will be part of the station's new streaming forum conducting in depth interviews, much like the Fox News streaming now underway. 

                              Frankly, I doubt that many Fox viewers will miss Wallace's mush-mouthed, baritone comments and subtle needling of GOPers, while stroking his liberal friends. More than likely, Fox viewers and pundit-colleagues behind the mike are pleased that the counterfeit Wallace is gone.  His popularity among conservatives and  fair-minded Americans has been in free fall in response to his glowing reports on President Obama and now Joe Biden, in contrast with his aggression toward Donald Trump.   

                              Like his late dad, Mike Wallace of "60-Minute" fame, Chris is a registered Democrat who sought to please the party of the mule as he lived a charade pretending to be a down-the-middle journalist that never took sides.    

                             Wallace has been around the news business and the electronic media since finishing college at Harvard.  His first job was as a reporter in Chicago in the early 1970s. Through the years, he  has worked for CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox News. He has anchored some of the biggest news shows, and high profile debates.  He built a reputation among his progressive friends as a tough, no nonsense newsman, though other newsmen and viewers recognized that he was a pretender--- a malleable go-to talking head which made Democrats light up in praise as he subtly pushed policies orchestrated by the liberal big guns.     

                             Resigning from ABC, he joined Fox News 18 years ago and commenced the "Fox News Sunday"  morning show, which has run-non stop since then.  His annual salary at Fox was $7 million, and his net worth today is $25 million. Reportedly, Fox News officials  offered to renew his contract with a significant raise in an effort to keep him on staff.  Nevertheless, Wallace declined to stay, opting to join his friends at CNN where he can take off the mask and  open up full throttle on the station's progressive, anti-Trump,  and race baiting with an open border agenda. 

                             Wallace surprised viewers and even his colleagues with the announcement of his resignation from Fox News, but others are saying that he was boiling over because of Tucker Carlson's flaying of Democratic policies which he held so dear; and his comments on the bumbling President Biden. Tucker's enormous popularity made Wallace green-eyed.  While Wallace was handing out praise for the senile Joe Biden, and his  incompetent Vice President, Kamala Harris, Tucker kept excoriating them for their looney declarations.      

                              In one report, Wallace is quoted as saying that    “After eighteen years at Fox, I’m excited about my next chapter. and the new adventure.ahead ....and that  I’ll never again have to share an elevator with that unhinged sociopath, Tucker Carlson.”

                              There's been no response from Carlson on Wallace's attack, at least so far. It is assumed, however, that Tucker lumps Wallace into the media crowd which he describes as "cringing animals, not deserving of respect."

                              It has always appeared evident in his reporting that he was liberal and cut from the same mold as his father and at Fox, he stood strong alongside liberal Shepard Smith and shared with him a disdain for President Trump.  Smith left Fox for CNN in 2019 after 23 years at the station and conservative viewers applauded his exit.  In leaving, Smith said he objected to the untrue news being delivered by Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson. It was reported that Smith reached a breaking point after Carlson began making fun of him on-air. 

                                   Wallace did his best to denigrate President Trump who had said that he considered Wallace as "nasty and obnoxious." Trump saw Wallace as a "wannabe of his father" who had been a part of the media for about seven decades, mostly on CBS and had always found a way to curtsy to the Democratic Party, which revered him and treated him as one of its very own.               

                                   In a one- on-one interview with President Trump in July of 2020, Wallace did his best to embarrass the President, but only managed to make himself look petty and partisan. He was always looking for that "gotcha" but could not find it.  At one point Wallace asked Trump, as commander in chief, if he favored changing the names of several army bases because their names paid undeserved tribute to confederate generals  The named bases were upsetting to black Americans, said Wallace.  Trump said that those bases had existed in the United States for many years--through World War I and II, and Korea and Vietnam, indicating that there would be no changes by him.  He asked Wallace if he thought a base "should be named in honor of Al Sharpton."  

                                As some see it, Chris Wallace, the registered Democrat and Donald Trump detractor, belongs at CNN where he can rant and rave about Trump and racism, and the need for open borders; and he will receive plaudits and praise from the progressive left and powerful Democrats.  

                                The mask is off and he will be comfortable at CNN with left wing stalwarts like the caucasian-hating Joy Reid and Don Lemon; and the sagacious, German-born, Wolf Blitzer.  Chris Cuomo has been fired for his misconduct, though some predict that eventually he will be back.   For legal questions, Wallace can look to Jeffrey Toobin for answers.  Toobin, the station's legal guru,  has been reinstated at the station following an eight-month  suspension after he was caught masturbating in full view of colleagues during a zoom session. 

                                 Yes, at CNN, Chris Wallace is home.

                                                xxx

                                   

FBI ACKNOWLEDGES NEGLIGENCE

 

                                    BY BILL JUNEAU

                                        After dallying around and maneuvering politically on behalf of far left progressives, and having admitted to  significant lying about former President Trump, the once trusted and esteemed FBI has gotten nailed for gross negligence.  It will be paying mightily to settle school shooting lawsuits filed against the agency in south Florida.   

                                        Recently, it has been reported that the federal police department will be paying  $125 to $130 million in damages to the families of students slain and wounded by a former classmate in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida. The explosion of violence occurred on Valentine's Day in 2018.  It was carnage which would not have happened, save the yawning ineptitude of the FBI.

                                        The incredible dereliction of the FBI cannot  be disputed as the agency had been told on two occasions that Nicholas Cruz of South Florida was planning a shooting at the Stoneman Douglas high school from which he had been expelled.  Cruz was well known to the sheriff's office in Broward county as a trouble maker and had been the subject of some 20 investigations in recent  months and years in upscale Parkland.  

                                         Information for the FBI came from tipsters and from a youth who knew Cruz personally, and from postings by Cruz himself on the social networks.  Topping it off, agents were advised on January 5, that Cruz had intentions to shoot up the school which had expelled him for disciplinary problems. The informant provided to the FBI the name "Nicholas Cruz" and his address in Parkland where he resided with his stepmother.  The tipster even advised the G-men that the 19-year-old youth  had acquired guns and ammunition which he kept in his home.  "I know that he is going to explode," the informant told the FBI.

                                        Instead of investigating and interviewing  Cruz, the FBI junked the information. 

                                        Five weeks later, on the sunny afternoon of Feb. 14, 2018,  Cruz went to the high school, climbed onto the third floor with his rifle in a back pack, and began mowing down students mulling about.  Sixteen teen agers and a faculty member were fatally shot, and some 17 others were wounded, but survived following hospital care. After finishing, the teen assassin went to a nearby fast-food restaurant, had a hamburger, and subsequently was arrested there without resistance.                                                                                                                      He has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first degree murder and other counts of attempted murder.  Next January 4, a jury will be impaneled and asked to determine his sentence. He faces a possible death sentence or a minimum of life in prison.  

                                      The negligence of the FBI was so egregious that then Florida Gov. Rick Scott, now U.S. Senator Scott, called immediately for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray, but Wray's deputies apologized on his behalf and he retained his job. Wray had been appointed director, succeeding James Comey, in June of 2017,  by President Trump and he took office the following August 1.  

                                      Faced with accusations of negligence which allowed the slaughter of the teen agers, FBI Deputy Director David Bodich posted some hollow words.  "Under established protocols," he said, " the information  provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life.......and the tip should have been forwarded to the Miami field office......we clearly should have done more."

                                   Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, died in the shooting, commended the FBI for accepting responsibility for its inaction  Also contributing to the negligence, said Pollack, were the Broward County school district and sheriff’s office, the school security staff and the psychologists who treated the shooter.  They all failed to stop the shooter and have ducked responsibility for the school shooting, he said. 

                                   Tony Montalato, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gina, died, said no settlement will "replace my bright, bubbly daughter."  While other families will be celebrating thanksgiving and Christmas, he added, Gina's chair will remain empty. 

                                    The FBI is and has been the foremost investigating agency in the world. Its credibility took a real hit under James Comey's supervision in which agents lied about President Trump, and fabricated information of his ties to Russia. Its performance in Parkland was both destructive and pathetic.   Christopher Wray's appointment as director was confirmed by the Senate with a 92 to 5 vote, but his positive influence on the agency remains in serious doubt. 

                                                 XXX

                                                                           

IT'S NOT BIDEN BEHIND THE WHEEL

              

           

                                     By BILL JUNEAU   

                                    At a recent hearing of the Senate Foreign Affairs  Committee, Idaho Senator James Risch questioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken and demanded to know, ""who is telling Biden what to do."  Who is behind the curtain telling Biden when he can answer a question?  Who cuts off Biden's mike when he does not want him to speak?  Who speaks for him?

                                  A nervous looking  Blinken replied that President Biden speaks for himself.  But the agitated and annoyed Sen. Risch  wasn't finished and he dug in. 

                                  "We’ve all seen this-- as recently as yesterday when someone cuts off Biden  as he speaks at a wildfire briefing,"  asserted the senator.  Somebody in the White House has authority to press the button and stop the president, and cut off the president’s speaking ability. So who is that person?  

                                   Blinken stuck to his guns, noting that he has known and worked with Biden for years, and that the President speaks for himself.   Risch had put his finger on a subject which is on the table and very likely is puzzling millions of American, both Republicans and those Democrats with thinking caps.  

                                    The mental acuity and cognitive ability and seemingly low IQ of President Biden has become a topic for discussion in the USA. Seventy-nine year-old Joe Biden has been on Washington payrolls for nearly a half-century.  He was a U.S. senator from Delaware for 36 years, and then a Vice President to Barack Obama for eight years.  He moved into the Oval Office on January 20, of 2021, as the nation's 46th President.

                                  Some 14 congressmen have signed a letter to President Biden importuning him to undergo a supervised mental exam to allow citizens to know of his cognitive ability and if he is capable of serving as President. In the past, Democrats demanded that President Trump take a cognitive ability exam, so he did, and he  passed with a perfect score.  

                                  Congressman Ronny Jackson of Texas, a physician, served as the White House doctor to Presidents Obama and Trump, and he knows Biden well.  He has said that Biden is missing a beat and is "dangerous,"  and that someone else is telling him what to do. 

                                   Too often, President Biden, with his horse-whispering talk and foolish comments, has been observed in televised hearings stumbling and bumbling at the microphone while shuffling crib notes in his hands in an attempt to respond to questions.  Is this truly a capable chief executive?  Is he that special somebody who stands as the most  powerful person on Planet Earth?  Is he the hope for the free world? Citizens want to know.                                  

                                   Behind the dais and before cameras, he has himself  made surprising admissions that he follows the instructions of someone else. On one occasion he told a crowd that "I am not supposed to be answering your questions, ...I am supposed to leave." At a press briefing,  Press Secretary Jen Psaki has noted that handlers have advised the President not to take questions. 

                                    A video clip from a Democratic caucus has made the rounds and has citizens shaking their heads.  In it, President Biden, in a boot-licking manner, tells Speaker Nancy Pelosi that “I’m happy to take questions, if that’s what I’m supposed to do, Nance — whatever you want me to do,” And Pelosi is heard saying to an aide: “No, we don’t want him to talk."

Is Joe Biden actually subordinating himself to the progressives who constantly scream "white supremacy," and "defund the police." We know that Sen. Bernie Sanders is a socialist and a marxist, but is he, with his gopher, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez at his side, sending dos and don'ts to the President of the United States, directing him to propose multi trillion dollar plans which will save the climate and implement the Green New Deal which calls for retrofitting every structure in the country with an electrical system.

For years Sanders has been calling for a revolution as a means of transforming the United States into a socialist country like Norway and Sweden with a touch of Russia, with the government in full charge of everything. On television, Biden once asked citizens if they believe him to be a socialist. Nowadays, it appears fairly certain that the answer is "yes."

For all of his years in Washington, he has always offered himself as "Plain Old Joe" the people's man. He has always been a "touchy-feely" person with the ladies, and while most women simply laughed off his petting and hair-sniffing antics, some nine women registered complaints of his inappropriate behavior  during the 2020 campaign--after which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told him to keep his hands to himself.

                                       Joe Biden, the man and the politician, has been a liar and a plagiarist, and that track record is not in dispute. He has been dubbed the "Lamborghini of Gaffes" by the Washington Post. He tells goofy stories about a bully named "Corn Pop," who he says he put down physically. He declares that the USA is a systemically racist country, with cops regularly killing black men; and that racism today is bad or even worse than during the Civil War, and that Jim Crowism has reemerged in election procedures.                               

He claims to be a devout Roman Catholic, yet he promotes abortions, and shows no concern for the rights of the fetus; and he wants the government to fund all abortions for poor women. He endorses homosexual activities which run counter to Catholic tenets. He has said he wants policemen to answer calls without sidearms and that the officer should be accompanied by a trained psychologist or a medical doctor so as to resolve disputes without force.   

                                       At his inauguration as Vice President in 2008 he had a net worth of $27,000, and now 14 years later, financial    experts tell us he and his wife, Dr. Jill, are now worth around $11 million, and have two multi million dollar homes in Delaware.  Former President Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, a popular and admired former New York mayor, and many others, have accused Biden of being "stone corrupt." Giuliani has charged that Biden has feathered rich nests for his son, Hunter, and his brother James, and took kick backs from Hunter and James for huge contracts negotiated with Red China and the Ukraine.  

                                        How do citizens feel when they come face to face with Biden's lying nature. At political rallies he has said that he attended law school on an academic scholarship and finished high up in his class.  The truth is that he finished 79th in a class 85, had no scholarship, and was accused of plagiarizing pages from law articles and offering them as his own.  We have been told that former classmates at the Syracuse Law school have described him as the "dumbest s.o.b. in the school."             

                                      As a Delaware senator running for President in the l980s, Biden borrowed speeches from British labor leader, Neil Kinnock, but got caught doing so, and had to drop out of  the presidential race because of his plagiarism.                                   

                                      In 1972, Biden's 30-year-old wife and infant daughter tragically were killed in an auto-truck  accident. For years, and into the millenium, in political speeches, he cruelly blamed the accident on the truck driver whom he said "drank his lunch." Factually, the truck driver was without fault in the collision and there was no evidence of his having been intoxicated or of having consumed any alcohol.  The false accusations from Biden caused him severe mental anguish for the following 25 years, according to his daughter who accused Biden of telling a "blatant lie which devastated our family."  The daughter said her father died in 1999, torn apart by the false narrative delivered over and over by Biden. 

                                      His gaffes have become legendary. After his selection as President Obama's running mate in 2008, Biden got carried away praising the presidential candidate with whom he had served in the U.S. Senate. He heralded  the aggressive nature of Obama and noted that the future African American president was cut from the same cloth as Republican President Teddy Roosevelt.  "I can  tell you this," said Biden:  "Like Teddy, Barack has a big stick." 

                                     Again, eager to please Obama, he told a rally that Barack was " a mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy.  I mean that's a storybook, man." He was widely criticized for his racist remarks.  

                                     In another legendary gaffe, Biden told a gathering to applaud a particular guest seeking a public office.    "Stand up Chuck and take a bow," he called out to the paralyzed man who was in a wheelchair.  In another rare moment, he mourned a woman ("God rest her soul") who hadn't died.  

                                       But Sen. Risch is not pointing to the lies, gaffes and racist remarks of Biden, or to his misconduct with women, or to his corruption, but rather to his apparent stupidity and cognitive impairment and his clear inability to function as President of the United States. He believes him to be a puppet with others pulling his strings.   

                                      Currently President Biden is pushing  spending plans which are in the trillions of dollars, and asserting that it will not cost anyone a dime more in taxes.  "It is all paid for," he says.  Recently the House of representatives led by Speaker Pelosi who Biden calls "Nance," has passed a $1.2 trillion dollar spending bill, and critics predict that Biden wants to spend many trillions more, blind to the inflation now sweeping the nation.   

                                      It is believed by many that Joe Biden will eventually be persuaded by Democrats controlling him to resign or be removed from office  pursuant to the 25th amendment.  In the event of his exit from the oval office, Vice president Kamala Harris will become President, and will select a new Vice President, who some pundits predict, because of Harris' unpopularity,  will be backed by Democrats in the 2024 presidential election.  

                                                   XXX. 

                                    

THE STORY OF RODGER YOUNG

 

                 By BILL JUNEAU

                         Way back in the 1940s, as World War II was raging in the Pacific,  Private Rodger Young became nationally known for his heroism on the God-forsaken island of New Georgia in the Solomons.  Perhaps Veterans Day this November is a good time to remember this veteran and how he gave his life for his fellow soldiers and for the country he loved.

                                                  Maybe only about one in every 10,000 have ever heard the name of  Rodger Young or know of his valor and how he saved 19 other members of his platoon which had been ambushed and hemmed in by the Japanese on the jungle-like island for which the Japanese were fighting for control.  

                                                  Roger was  five-feet, two-inches tall, afflicted with severe vision and hearing losses when he destroyed an enemy machine gun pill-box.  He was killed on July 31, 1943, and in the days and months following, as America learned of his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  In his home state of Ohio, Governor Frank J. Lausche  declared March 25 as "Roger Young Day,"  and the city of Fremont,  renamed its Water Works Park the "Rodger W. Young park." The Night Infiltration Course at Fort Benning, Georgia also is named for Rodger as is a small arms firing range at Camp Perry in Ohio.  

                                                The "Ballad of Rodger Young" was written by a fellow soldier, Pvt. Frank Loesser, and the ballad was recorded by several popular singers of the day. Loesser subsequently achieved broad notoriety for his lyrics in various musicals, including Guys and Dolls, and How to Succeed in Business without really trying.

                                    Born in Tiffin, Ohio, Rodger Wilton Young was small in stature, just 62 inches in height. Growing up, more than anything, he wanted to be an athlete.  In his sophomore year in high school, Rodger made the basketball team, but being exceptionally short, sat far down on the bench. He got into a game that year, but suffered a serious head injury which impaired his vision and his hearing.  Those senses deteriorated as time passed and troubled by the injury, he left high school after completion of his second year.                                          In 1938, at 20 years old, Rodger attempted to join the army, but his height, sight and hearing did not bode well.   "Sorry Rodger," he was told, your eyes, and ears are sub par and your height of just over five feet is problematic. 

                                    Though discouraged, and wanting to earn a salary, he offered himself to the Ohio National Guard and to his surprise, was accepted. Others chided him as being a little squirt with problems, and he was sometimes called "old 62," as a reference to his height, but other soldiers liked him and the nickname was delivered with affection. As the months and years passed, he was promoted to corporal and then to staff sergeant, and he wore the  chevron. "three up and a rocker," on the sleeve of his uniforms with pride.   

                                    The Japanese attacked the United States on  December, 7, 1941, and in 1942, Sgt. Young's national guard unit was activated and deployed to the Fiji islands and in 1943, his platoon was sent to the Solomon Islands to engage the Japanese in the swampy, jungle-like terrain  on the island of New Georgia. 
                                    Rodger was a non-commissioned officer who possessed a lion's love for the military. The war was raging and soldiers sailors and marines were dying in bloody battles to prevent advances by the armies of Japan which designated New Georgia as a key location to have and hold. 
                                     Young was reluctant to serve in a position of command because of his concern that his sight and hearing was deteriorating and would be a detriment to his leadership, and would be a liability for fellow soldiers under his command. The army doctor agreed and reported that his impairment was severe. To compensate for this,  he requested a demotion to the rank of Private, to allow him to fight, but under the command of other non-commissioned and commissioned officers.
                                    Reluctantly, his commanding officer granted his requested demotion, but there was concern that the unit's most diminutive soldier was angling to avoid dangerous combat. Other enlisted men felt the same, and often let him know of those feelings.  But they were wrong about Rodger Young. 
                                    On the 31st of July, 1943, Young's company of 20 soldiers was hemmed in by an enemy machine gun 75 yards away, and a bullet had struck and wounded Young. The platoon appeared to be  doomed and had no where to go. Though wounded,  Young had other thoughts as he plunged onto the swampy waters with his heavy backpack and a rifle and a pocket full of grenades and began moving toward the pillbox..  
                                    He was hit again with bullets as he maneuvered his way, and he seemed done, but then he began moving and he kept going. He was hit again and though mortally wounded,  began lobbing grenades which took down the machine gun. He gave his life so that other soldiers could survive and eventually defeat the Japanese on  that bleak, desolate chunk of land in the Solomons.

                                   His platoon was safe, but comrades  were saddened by the death of "old 62".  A simple wooden  cross was affixed on a rocky slope near where he was killed on New Georgia, and some say that the cross or reportedly, some artifice, remains there for visitors (if there are any) to see.  

                                    The story of Rodger Young was in headlines though out the nation and the Ballad  by Frank Loesser  was played often on the radio.  A short film was made depicting the story of Rodger Young, and it was accented with the memorable words of the ballad sung by Burl Ives. The ballad has also been recorded by Nelson Eddy and Jim Reeves. 

                                     Those interested can hear the "Ballad of Rodger Young" today on "You Tube."  The words of the famous song follow:                                   

                      THE BALLAD OF RODGER YOUNG

                                            Oh, there is no time for glory in the infantry
                                            There is no time for praises loudly sung
                                             But in every soldier's heart in all the infantry
                                             Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

                                             Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen,
                                             Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom,
                                             Caught in ambush till one of twenty riflemen
                                             Volunteered, volunteered to meet his doom                                          
                                               
                                             It was he who drew the fire of the enemy
                                                       That a company of men might live to fight
                                                       And before the deadly fire of the enemy 
                                                       Stands the man, stands the man we hail tonight. 

                                                       On the island of New Georgia in the Solomons,
                                                       Stands a simple wooden cross that's there to tell 
                                                        That beneath the silent corals of the Solomons 
                                                        Sleeps a man, sleeps a man, remembered well. 

                                                       Sleeps a man, Rodger Young,  
                                                       fought and died for the men he marched among
                                                       To the everlasting glory of the infantry, 
                                                      Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

                                                XXX

WILL DEREK CHAUVIN WIN HIS APPEAL?

                 By BILL JUNEAU

                                 Despite the grimaces of the progressive and biased  media and the liberal left wing shadow of Joe Biden hanging over Washington, the door is still ajar on Derek Chauvin and the case against him.  Behind bars in a maximum level prison in Minnesota, the ex-policeman  contends that he is not guilty of the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd, and that the jury erred in its findings.  

                                          With new defense counsel William Mohrman at his side, Chauvin, 45, is drafting his appeal and asks that it be assessed fairly by judges not captured and influenced by those who strap Floyd's arrest to racial animus; and who may feel a need to find the defendant guilty lest a different determination would ignite a new surge of anarchy, violence and street unrest. 

                                          In the minds of many lawyers, evidence supporting a favorable decision for the veteran policeman or, at the minimum, for a new trial, is strong. Respected as a skilled appellate lawyer, Mohrman is a partner with the Minneapolis firm, Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson.

                                           Appeal briefs containing the complete trial transcript are being filed with the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and if unsuccessful, with the Minnesota Supreme court. If the state courts reject the appeal, it will very likely, because of many constitutional questions raised, go to the federal courts.  Ultimately, Chauvin's appeal may be decided and put to rest by the U. S. Supreme court and its nine justices. The appellate process is arduous and costly, and could take years. 

                                             Floyd, 46, was a heroin addict and a hardened  criminal with a long police record.  He had served five years in a prison for a home invasion at which time he jammed the barrel of his loaded pistol into the swollen  abdomen of a pregnant woman and demanded money--or else.  His many other arrests and convictions for the most part involved some form of thievery. 

                                            Was the Chauvin trial fair as is promised to all criminal defendants under the U.S. Constitution?  Consider that the Minneapolis courthouse where the trial was held was transformed into a fortress surrounded by coiled wire, and jurors and spectators entered via a single path leading to the front door.  The surrounding neighborhood rang with racial tension triggered by violence, looting and the arson of autos, stores and even a police station. The Floyd protests caused many millions of dollars in damage to residences, businesses and other structures.  

                                           A "George Floyd Square" with signs and tributes to the alleged police victim, was set up at an intersection down the street from the courthouse, and jurors and spectators, eyed it daily as they came and left the courthouse. 

                                             As jurors were being selected, the city of Minneapolis announced that it was awarding $27 million to the Floyd family as damages for the death.  As the trial moved forward,  U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters made a public declaration that if the defendant is not found guilty of murder there will be retaliation, and "we will get confrontational."  Did the jurors hear of that huge award, and the Maxine Waters threat, and the constant drum beat that all cops are racists and white supremacists  out to kill blacks?  Very likely, jurors became aware of the huge award, and what effect did that have on their decisions? 

                                              On at least three occasions, Chauvin's attorney at the trial, Eric Nelson, petitioned Judge Cahill to  approve a change in venue from Hennepin to another county or to declare a mistrial for a variety of reasons, but Cahill remained consistent in his refusals. 

                                              After jury deliberations and a finding of guilt, it was revealed that one of the jurors, Brandon Mitchell, a 31-year-old high school basketball coach, had participated in a "justice" for Floyd rally in August of 2020.  In photos, Mitchell was seen wearing a BLM (Black Lives Matter) hat, and a tee shirt inscribed with the words, "Get your knee off our necks." 

                                             During the voir dire of potential jurors, Mitchell answered "no" when asked if he had participated in protests on behalf of "justice" for George Floyd. Did Mitchell's dishonesty constitute jury misconduct?  Was he impartial? The jury was tainted, asserts Defendant Chauvin, and a fair trial in Minneapolis was impossible. 

                                            In the days prior to the trial, Harvard Law School Emeritus Professor Alan Dershowitz, an expert in criminal law, said that in his judgment,  there was no way that Officer Chauvin could ever receive a fair trial in Minneapolis where the adverse publicity was overwhelming. Was he right?

                                            Last June 25, following the conviction for unintended murder and manslaughter, Circuit Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22.5 years in a penitentiary  Pursuant to state guidelines, a sentence of 12.5 years is the recommended penalty for those crimes.  Judge Cahill tacked on 10 additional years explaining that he determined that Chauvin had been "unnecessarily cruel" to Floyd.  Although the judge has discretion in sentencing, was the enhanced sentence an emotional response to the screams that white policemen are racist killers   

                                            Chauvin's lawyers have said that the trial was punctuated with so many errors  by Judge Cahill that the verdict cannot stand. Also key among them, was Cahill's refusal to allow defense attorneys to force testimony from uncooperative Morries Lester Hall, a friend and a  companion who was with Floyd on the evening of the arrest.  Reportedly, Hall's testimony under oath would reinforce the defense contention that the six-feet, five inch powerfully built Floyd was wildly out-of-control and that Chauvin acted professionally in controlling him.   

                                            On the evening of his arrest, Floyd was high on drugs.  His body was pumped full of a fatal amount of fentanyl and methamphetamine. He gulped some pills, muttered incoherently about wanting "mama" and that "I can't breathe."  He had a sick heart and his main arteries were severely blocked.  This according to some physicians and his lawyers, was the most likely cause of his death, and it was not the knee on his neck by the defendant police officer who was doing what police are taught to do during training when taking down unruly addicts and out-of-control suspects. 

                                           Contentions that he died as a result of the police detainment are opinions highlighted with emotional emphasis that Floyd was black and Chauvin was a white police officer  and that policemen are "systemically racist."  One physician testified that Floyd had ingested an amount of fentanyl which would be fatal to  virtually anyone. 

                                           In America, criminal defendants are accorded a presumption of innocence, and that presumption stays with the defendant during the trial by a judge or jury. President Biden said while the jury was deliberating that Chauvin was guilty and that the police departments are systemically racist, and police are killing black men all too often. With few exceptions, the media condemned Chauvin as a racist murderer long before the trial even began.  

                                          Chauvin's appeal is now in the hands of judges who have promised to be fair to their oath of office, and to make judgments based upon the law as applicable to the facts. There must be no pandering to the will of mobs which assert that Floyd was murdered by a "cruel" black-hating, white supremacist cop.  Chauvin was a policeman for 18 years and had a good record.  Examine the facts with an open mind, and recognize that the police officer is not a murderer, defense attorney Mohrman asserts.  

                                                  XXX

                                                     

                                   

TRUMP'S WALL AND BIDEN'S INTERFERENCE

 

                By BILL JUNEAU 

                                             When Donald Trump was a candidate for President in 2015 and 2016, he promised that America would build an impregnable wall along the southern border with Mexico.  Illegal immigration, he said, was out of hand, and gate crashing aliens  included hardened criminals, drug pushers and users.   

                                             Trump favored immigration into America, he said, but cautioned that it is imperative that immigrants must enter the USA legally and on merit.  A country without borders  isn't a country.

                                              President Trump was on the same page as former Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower who welcomed legal immigrants into the USA.  Roosevelt  called upon immigrants  to come into the USA in accord with the rules;  and once here, to assimilate, speak English and respect the American Flag. 

                                              Americans in great numbers applauded Trump's  promise of a wall in key sections along the 1,900 mile southern border with Mexico. Following his election and swearing in, the new President and his administration began working to fulfill the commitment. Despite strong opposition from liberal non-thinkers who resented Trump's election over the disingenuous Democratic candidate,  Hillary Clinton,  the wall  construction commenced and the President petitioned and shifted funds from one account to another, but eventually found the necessary money to meet the costs of construction of 500 miles of the wall in those areas where barriers were most necessary.  With the wall, and border patrol agents and oversight, immigration problems were, under President Trump, brought under control. 

                                              Trump had predicted many times, but never promised as has been alleged, that Mexico would pay for the wall, but that did not happen.  The administration, however,   readjusted tariffs on Mexican goods which actually brought many new millions of dollars into the Treasury.  Those funds, Trump said, helped defray the overall costs of the construction. 

                                                Eventually, the Trump administration completed some 450 miles of border wall, including some 50 in areas where there was no wall at all, and in other sections in which a strong new wall replaced an existing barrier which was "old and worthless." Contracts were signed and all materials were obtained for completion of a  final 100 miles of a wall along the Texas border.

                                                Then, in an election which will always contain the smell of illegality and chicanery,  former Vice President and long time U.S. Senator, Joe Biden, was elected President by a narrow margin.  Biden, whose bumbling way has become his hallmark, ordered on his first day in office the suspension of all construction, announcing that not "one foot of the wall" will be built with him in charge. 

                                               He also said that the USA is open to everyone, so "Come on in."  His invitation was heard around Mexico and Central America and the packed caravans and the fording of the Rio Grande got underway in earnest.  His word got around.

                                   Observers say that Biden's executive order terminating the construction was heavy with revenge for the outgoing President who had disparaged Biden as an incompetent fool, a clown and a "whack job with a low IQ."  Biden's  hypocrisy and ill will for Trump was apparent in that in 2006 as a Delaware senator, Biden had favored construction of barriers to prevent illegal border penetration. 

                                              The shotgun termination of the construction work violated contracts which had been signed and which provided for damages in event of a breach. Former Border Patrol Chief, Rodney Scott, who had served under Trump and then for five months under Biden, confirmed that under Biden’s thoughtless  leadership, U.S. taxpayers are now paying some $5 millions dollars each day “to not” build the border wall. "Money is just trickling away  to contractors entitled to damages," he explained in an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News television . 

                                              Currently, said Scott,  all that is left are “stacks and stacks of border wall panels,” “hundreds of miles of fiber optic cabling,” and “hundreds of cameras that are just sitting there."  Biden stopped construction with just 100 miles of wall remaining to be built in hot spot locations alongside Texas. His contribution was wide-open borders.

                                               The massive waste of taxpayers' money by Biden and his behind-the-curtain advisers who pull his strings and write his statements, is petty, wasteful, and outrageous, critics have charged.  Even Biden's Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has indicated that he favors completing the Trump wall so as to "plug gaps."  

                                           With the suspension of all wall construction,  and with the approval of Biden and his security chiefs, more than a million illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America have come into America since Biden became president.Countless thousands have been released into the states.   In cases where border control agents have arrested intruders for breaking the law, reputedly, some 32,000 in the past 60 days have been  "paroled" and allowed to seek and find shelters on American soil, promising to "return" for a hearing.  

                                          Pregnant women, and women who say they are pregnant, are waved in as if by a traffic cop directing motorists. Reportedly they are allowed to board buses and planes for movement to other destinations. Babies born on American soil automatically become citizens and are rewarded with the largess and benefits given to all citizens and to their parents and relatives--no questions asked. 

                                          Deadly fentanyl and other drugs  are being pushed into the country by cartels as immigrants slip through the dust and the heavy foliage, or walk and paddle their way over the Rio Grande river on to U.S. soil.  Thousands of the interlopers are being put up in military barracks and in hotels where they receive meals and other accommodations paid for by Uncle Sam.  Supervision and oversight of the immigration movements are almost nil.  Tests for Covid-19 are simply ignored.  The border is a lawless mess, and everyone knows it. 

                                                 Why does President Biden allow this border anarchy to go on?   Why does he oppose a wall and a system in which immigrants must enter the USA legally?  Other countries have walls and laws which prevent open borders. Even  the Vatican in Rome is protected by a wall. Could it be the Wall is too strongly associated with the terrible Donald Trump, and therefore its memory must be obliterated--even if it did the job for which it was intended and did it well?                                                                                                   President Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill, reside in the security of the White House.  They own and frequently visit their multimillion dollar Delaware homes in Greenville and Rehoboth Beach. Everywhere the Biden family goes,  there are Secret Service officers watching out for lawless intruders. No Open Door Policy for Slow Joe and Dr. Jill.    

                                                 By and large, Americans live in homes with secured doors kept shut.  Visitors knock and are welcomed in.  Intruders who break down the door to enter are arrested and prosecuted. 

                                             XXX

BIDEN'S SPENDING EXTRAVAGANZA

 

                     BY BILL JUNEAU

                                             Like millions of Americans, I am puzzled, even baffled, over the Biden plan to spend $3.5 trillion dollars (some say the amount is closer to $6 trillion) on repairing the infrastructure, which in the words of the President, will cost nothing.                            

                                            It is all figured out.  "Hey, man," says the President, anyone who opposes it is standing in the way of real progress... so get aboard and "build back better."  No one making less than $400,000 a year will pay a dime's more in taxes,  Biden guarantees. 

                                            I acknowledge that I am no economist, and big money talk is way over my head.  But when Slow Joe Biden makes pronouncements about trillions in free cash,  people start  wondering-- aware of his gaffes and prevaricating nature.  Remember the maxim, "when it sounds too good to be true--it isn't."

                                             It is true that too many big corporations pay no income taxes by way of legal manipulations; borrowing and financing. Biden says that that will be fixed, and, also, billionaires will find themselves in a bracket paying a higher percentage than those Americans with very limited incomes. All well and good. 

                                            The bill which may one day become law takes up about 2,500 typewritten pages with 13 titles, and stacked upwards, is impressive.  The stack might even be taller than Dr. Jill, standing on her own literature books. Has anyone read it? Certainly not Slow Joe.Biden.  

                                             As it was a few years back, in the days of Obama, no one had actually read the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) prior to its adoption into law.  Someone behind the curtain did  the typing and composing and digesting and Democratic stalwarts spouted its greatness. Reading of the bill came after its passage, and that's when the problems began. 

                                              It isn't Biden himself who is drafting and perusing the huge bill.  For Biden, he gets an executive summary,  crib notes and a teleprompter to send out the message.   

                                             To Biden observers,  including honest Democrats as well as Republicans, the frail-looking 78-year-old President is clearly missing a beat and dementia has its hooks into him.  One former White House physician, Congressman Ronny Jackson of Texas, has said that Biden who he has observed closely through the years is "cognitively impaired" and simply "does not know what he is doing." Can Biden's hypocritical assertions be believed?  He has spoken in his dramatic horse-whisper about his "extraordinary successes" in Afghanistan and at the borders, and we know how that is playing out.  

                                              And as Congressmen and Senators now debate the spending "orgy," questions of needing to increase the national debt limit are also on the table. The threat is that failure to increase it by another six or seven trillion dollars will trigger catastrophic effects, such as the suspension of social security payments and  payment of military salaries; and defaulting on government bonds and notes.  

                                              Currently, America's debt limit is at $28 trillion dollars and Congress has until October 18 to increase it, or the problems will commence, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the first woman to hold that lofty position in a president's cabinet.  Political haggling over the debt limit is not new, and goes on from year to year. Most likely,  the debt ceiling will be adjusted before the walls cave in.   

                                              The Biden behemoth bill is said to call for earmarking $80 billion dollars for the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) to allow for its expansion and the hiring of many thousands of new agents who will be authorized under the legislation to monitor the day-to day-money handling by Americans with at least $600 in the bank, through regular inspections of their accounts.  Tax cheats must look out, says Biden, whose son, Hunter, may need special protection from his dad.  

                                               The proposed 3.5 trillion dollar  spending legislation would be the largest of any in U.S. history.  The money will be taken by the government by way of taxing billionaires who have not been paying "their fair share," and from the vaults of corporations who in many cases today do not pay any taxes, Biden has said.  According to the latest data,  billionaires and the top one per cent of earners in America pay 40 per cent of federal taxes and must pay more in the Biden socialistic utopia.   

                                             The President takes his cue from Sen. Bernie Sanders who has been seeking to make America into a socialist country akin to Norway, Sweden and Russia ever since he was a mayor in Burlington, Vermont in the 1980s;  and subsequently after he became a congressman and then a U.S. Senator.  He has always described himself as a Democratic Socialist. He is registered as an Independent, but allies himself with Democrats, and shuns all Republicans. He especially detests conservatives, who are angrily charging that Biden with Bernie at his beck and call,  is tossing billions around like a farmer feeding his chickens.   

                                               Trying to grasp and comprehend a spending bill of $3.5 trillion dollars is mind boggling, as is the nation's debt ceiling, which today is $28 trillion dollars.  That $28 trillion,  experts say, is greater than the combined economies of Japan, China, India and Germany.  It equates to $218,000 per household in America, and to $85,000 on the back of each man, woman and child. And it will be going up.  

                                              Speaking of one trillion,  that is a number followed by 12 zeroes (1,000,000,000,000).  For another perspective, consider that the length of one trillion dollar bills laid end to end will measures 96,906,656 miles and this would exceed the distance from the earth to the sun.  If you live to be 80 years old, your heart will beat about 3 billion times;  and it would take 31,688 years for one trillion heartbeats to tick away. 

                                               In the words of Ronald Reagan:  "If you had a stack of thousand-dollar bills in your hand only 4 inches high, you would be a millionaire.  A trillion dollars would be a stack of thousand-dollar bills 67 miles high." 

                                               In 250 years, there has never been such an enormous spending bill as Biden is proposing. It is a mad-liberal's dream-- free everything with the rich paying all costs.  Congressman, Dr. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, has said that Biden does not know what he is doing and is dangerous.  Is he right? Worth thinking about.  

                                               

                                                   xxx