THE EVENING EDITION By Mike Huckabee
Good evening! Here are some stories from me that I think you will want to read.
DAILY BIBLE VERSE
THE LATEST NEWS
1. NOT GUILTY:
In breaking news Friday afternoon, Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges. No one can say these jurors didn't do their duty and carefully consider all the evidence before rendering a verdict, as it took them four days of deliberation under tremendous psychological pressure. We'll have a roundup of commentary and our own analysis over the weekend. Meanwhile, pray for peace in Kenosha, Wisconsin, tonight.
Prior to the verdict being announced, the two biggest developments had to do, as is typical of this case, not with justice but with media malfeasance and prosecutorial misconduct. First, the judge barred anyone from NBC or MSNBC from the building after a freelancer working for NBC was stopped for running a red light and claimed he was trying to keep up with the sealed juror bus. He said an NBC News booker in New York had assigned him to follow the jury bus, possibly in hopes of booking interviews with jurors whose identities are being shielded for their own protection from mob threats.
https://www.westernjournal.com/rittenhouse-judge-bans-msnbc-courthouse-freelancer-follows-juror-bus/
NBC released a statement reading, “While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them. We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”
Fine, but you’ll be doing it from outside the courthouse, where you belong. Considering what a huge role MSNBC has played in promoting indendiary false information about this case from day one, I wouldn’t blame the judge for banning them from Kenosha permanently. I doubt that any locals would complain.
The story involving more possible prosecutorial misconduct relates to a witness identified only as “Jump Kick Man.” He’s a man in white pants seen in a video running up and drop-kicking Rittenhouse as he was running away, which allowed the two men to catch him and attack him, and get shot.
It was reported that a man named Maurice Freeland was “Drop Kick Man,” and that he’d offered to testify for the prosecution. They turned him down, ostensibly because they couldn’t positively identify him, but critics note that it might have hurt their case because Freeland is a convicted felon with a violent criminal record who was on probation. The misconduct charge could arise from the prosecution failing to inform the defense about Freeland, whom they might have wanted to call as a defense witness.
And as long as we’re rightfully bashing the prosecution, they also told the jury that Rittenhouse shouldn’t have used a gun to stop someone who was beating him over the head with a skateboard because “Nobody’s ever died as a result of being hit with a skateboard.” Putting aside the fact that it’s rather hard to ponder that question when you’re being HIT OVER THE HEAD WITH A SKATEBOARD, Todd Starnes did some research. He came up with numerous news stories about people being beaten to death or nearly to death with skateboards.
Finally, as we wait, please read this article by Bari Weiss, who was driven out of the New York Times for daring to stand up for free expression and against the paper’s capitulation to woke Twitter mobs.
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-medias-verdict-on-kyle-rittenhouse
It’s her own confession of how she was misled by the media into believing a long list of things about Rittenhouse and this case that the trial has exposed as complete lies. She goes through those lies one by one, and then gives us specific examples of the politicians and media figures who spread them. It’s a great thing to bookmark in case you ever experience a weak moment and start to trust any liberal media outlet again.
2. GRILLED:
Wednesday, President Biden’s inexplicable nominee for Comptroller of the Currency, Saule Omarova, faced grilling by Senators. The Republican Senators grilled her so hard, I’m surprised she didn’t come out looking like a charcoal briquette.
They demanded explanations of her long history of radical comments, including her support for killing private banks and having the government take over and run banking and direct all investment spending; and her claim that to advance the left's climate agenda, we need to bankrupt the oil, gas and coal industries. She tried to downplay those as old comments she no longer stands by or didn’t really mean, but Sen. John Kennedy noted that she joined a Marxist Facebook group in 2019 and said he didn’t know whether to call her “Professor or Comrade.”
But the coup de grace came from Sen. Tim Scott, who went through a rundown of her radical writings, then finished with, “I don’t have any questions for you because there’s nothing you can say today to undo what you’ve said for years, including this year.”
That’s quite a choice for a President who ran as a moderate, but then, I seriously doubt that Joe Biden had any more to do with choosing her than Donald Trump does with hiring bellboys at Trump Plaza. Democrats who tried to defend her had nothing but their worn-out race card, so some accused the Republicans who quoted her own outrageous words to her of being racists (I guess that includes Tim Scott, who is African-American.)
On the plus side, if the Senate actually does confirm Omarova, she will make history as the first US Comptroller of the Currency who was ever arrested for allegedly stealing $218 worth of stuff from T.J. Maxx.
As noted at the link, in case you think that escapade, like her flirtation with Marxism, was just a weak moment from her immature youth, she was 28 at the time. But then, feeling that you have a right to take other people's stuff is something that Marxists and shoplifters have in common.
3. BUILD BACK BANKRUPTCY BILL PASSES HOUSE:
As of this writing on Friday morning, the House just passed the massive $1.75 trillion “Build Back Bankruptcy” bill, 220-213.
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/spending-bill-vote
I’ll spare you all the usual balloon juice from Nancy Pelosi about the wondrous, historic things it will do for Americans once the people who voted for it find out what’s actually in it, because now it goes back to the Senate where the real fight recommences. The Dems have tortured the term “reconciliation bill” to try to turn a massive piece of transformative leftwing government bloat into a simple budget bill that isn’t subject to a filibuster. The parliamentarian should have shut that garbage down from day one. Now, we have to rely on Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to protect America. If it does pass in some form, it will go back to the House again.
While House Democrats voting to spend trillions we don’t have and greatly expand government power was never really in doubt, there were a couple of interesting side notes to the vote. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy deserves a golden box of Sucrets as an award for his record-setting 8-hour, 32-minute speech, ripping this monstrosity to shreds.
He called it “the single most reckless and irresponsible spending bill in our nation’s history,” one that will worsen inflation, harm the long term economy and introduce a large degree of socialism into America. He also called the Democrats “out of touch” with the needs and wishes of ordinary Americans, adding, "Never in American history has so much been spent at one time. Never in American history will so many taxes be raised and so much borrowing be needed to pay for all this reckless spending."
All of that is true, and of course, the Democrats voted for it anyway. But while you can’t talk sense into some people, you can accomplish what McCarthy did: he talked so long that the Democrats went home, blocking them from passing this in the dead of night, as they usually do with unpopular, radical spending bills, and forcing them to vote on record in the bright light of morning when everyone was watching. That will make it much easier to remember this day when you go into the polling places next November.
Some other interesting gamesmanship came from the report on the cost of the bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Democrats loudly touted an early leak claiming the CBO found that the bill would reduce the deficit. But it turned out that was just about the part that raises taxes. When the full CBO report came out and said it would add $367 billion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years, not counting the potential revenues from a sure-to-be-wildly-popular IRS crackdown on taxpayers, the Dems turned on a dime and started dismissing the CBO’s assessment as meaningless.
The CBO was rightly skeptical of claims that all the new taxes and IRS crackdowns in the bill would raise taxes enough to pay for it, or that much of the cost would be offset by eliminating waste and fraud. Rich people can always find ways to avoid high taxes, and those are usually ways that involve pulling income out of productive, job-creating investments which depresses economic growth so that tax revenues fall across the board.
As for “eliminating waste and fraud,” that’s hilarious! How many times have politicians dangled that one in front of us over the years, like Lucy fooling Charlie Brown into trying to kick that football one more time (he should’ve kicked Lucy instead, the way we should kick politicians out of office who promise to eliminate waste and fraud and then go to DC and vote for more of it.)
Is there anyone dumb enough to believe that Democrats will pay for trillions in new spending by “eliminating waste and fraud”? I hear that these days, when you join the Democratic Party, you get a membership card, an autographed picture of AOC and a T-Shirt that says “I (Heart) Waste and Fraud.”
5. NEW LAWSUIT OVER BALDWIN SHOOTING:
I’m naturally skeptical of any lawsuit filed by a client of Gloria Allred, but if you set aside some of the dramatic damage claims, this lawsuit over the fatal shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie contains an eyewitness account that puts a new and disturbing twist on the story.
6. HILLARY KEEPS TALKING:
For those of you trying to keep track of Hillary Clinton’s views on voter fraud, she now claims it’s a myth.
At least, that was her view as of 11:14 a.m. Wednesday. Considering she spent four years claiming the 2016 election was stolen from her by Russia, then claimed the July 6th protesters were assaulting democracy by questioning an election while simultaneously claiming that the Georgia Governor’s race was stolen from Stacey Abrams, she might have another view by today.
She reminds me of Groucho Marx’s famous declaration: “These are my principles! If you don’t like them, I have others.”
6. "KING OF COOL":
Tonight, Turner Classic Movies will debut a new documentary on Dean Martin called “King of Cool.” One particular revelation cements that title even further. Check out why Dean declined to attend John Kennedy’s Inaugural.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/dean-martin-king-of-cool-tcm-documentary
You might also enjoy hearing about how starstruck Elvis Presley was around Dean (Elvis dubbed him the “King of Cool”), and the creative way Dean dealt with his teenage kids’ loud parties.
7. CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to “Huckabee” contributor Laura Ainsworth! She’s also an award-winning retro jazz singer, and this rave review of her new deluxe Japanese import CD best-of collection, “Top Shelf,” was named the most-viewed review on this music website for the second week in a row. Check it out and let’s see if we can keep the streak going.
https://geoffwilburmusic.com/2021/11/04/laura-ainsworth-top-shelf/
And if there’s anyone on your Christmas gift list who loves great music the way it used to be made by singers like Peggy Lee and Julie London, you can find Laura’s CDs and LP at http://www.lauraainsworth.com.
For past editions of my evening newsletter, please visit my website here.
For more of my news coverage, visit my website here.
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