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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Hugh Hewitt Slammed After Major Meltdown Declaring Trump Indictment ‘Ought to Be Vomited Out’ of Court

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Right-wing talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, who initially opposed Donald Trump’s first run for president only to become a strong supporter, is being highly criticized over his remarks attacking Special Counsel Jack Smith and Tuesday’s indictment of the ex-president for his alleged actions to overturn the 2020 election that he lost. Among Hewitt’s claims: the case “ought to be vomited out by the judicial branch,” and “”Show trials are only choreographed in Stalin’s Russia.”

Trump was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to defraud the United States, witness tampering, conspiracy against the rights of citizens, and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.

Hewitt, who held numerous positions in the Reagan administration and now sits on the board of directors of the Richard Nixon Foundation, is widely considered an influential thought leader among conservatives.

Moments after Jack Smith announced Donald Trump had been indicted on those four federal criminal charges, Hewitt attacked the Special Counsel, who until now has been best-known for prosecuting war criminals at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Hewitt compared Smith to Inspector Javert, the fictional character in Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel “Les Misérables,” who relentlessly prosecutes a man for stealing a loaf of bread.

READ MORE: ‘Unprecedented Assault on American Democracy’: Special Counsel Announces Charges Against Donald Trump (Video)

“Jack Smith, an American Javert, should be obliged to prosecute this case outside of the Beltway,” Hewitt declared, pushing a point numerous Trump supporters have now promoted.

“Former President Trump deserves a fair trial on these unprecedented charges which will strike tens of millions of Americans as a political witch hunt,” Hewitt declared early Tuesday evening, invoking the very language Trump has used for years to describe every investigation he has faced.

“Maybe you should read the indictment first,” replied Norman Ornstein, the noted political scientist and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “Apparently for you it is wrong to pursue charges against somebody who incited a violent insurrection against the constitution and the government of the United States.”

“Hugh Hewitt,” Ornstein added, “calls Jack Smith an American Javert. Apparently, to him, inciting a violent insurrection and encouraging the assassination of the vice president is the equivalent of stealing a loaf of bread.”

READ MORE: ‘This You?’: White House Destroys Tuberville After He Claims His 300 Military Holds ‘Are Not Affecting National Security’

Some responded with efforts to debunk the claim Trump cannot get a fair trial in Washington, D.C.

“What am I missing?” asked human rights attorney and activist Paula Cobia. “How is the latest #TrumpIndictment a ‘political witch hunt?’ ALL the witnesses who testified before the Grand Juries are Republicans. Not Democrats. Not Independents. All Republicans. That makes these indictments the polar opposite of a political witch hunt.”

Professor of law Steve Vladeck, and expert in national security law, responded by quoting the U.S. Constitution: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law . . . .”

In another, and this time lengthy rant early Wednesday morning, Hewitt declared the case should “be captioned Beltway v. Trump or TDSS v Trump as it brought by and b/c of TDS Society members and greeted w/ zealots’ frenzy on the left.”

TDS generally stands for “Trump derangement syndrome,” a frequent attack by Trump supporters against those who oppose the ex-president.

“I’ve read the indictment of course and am astonished this rehash of everything already known (plus a few small details not previously known such as Paragraph 83) was allowed to escape DOJ in the guise of an indictment –to the great damage of the nation now and in the future– even by the aging, trembling AG. Jack Smith, the American Javert, is the tool the TDS-afflicted have long sought.”

READ MORE: ‘Cult’: Poll Finds Trump-Supporting GOPers Who Believe He Committed Crimes Outnumbers All DeSantis 2024 Voters

He again called for the trial to be moved out of Washington, D.C. and also “vomited out by the judicial branch.”

“Pray the judicial branch has the courage to bat it away and stand for the rule of law, and failing that, to move the venue far from the swamp to avoid the scar on our history of a show trial in, by and for The Beltway. This attempt to criminalize erroneous suspicion that an election was stolen, or of trying novel though very weak theories, throwing a legal Hail Mary or even holding a rally with irresponsible rhetoric which did not approach much less cross the line of Brandenburg v Ohio is without precedent and ought to be vomited out by the judicial branch so as to avoid its repeat in the future.”

Hewitt was far from finished.

“The very idea that false claims in politics are now criminal acts is stunning,” he declared, a claim legal experts have made clear is not what Trump is being charged with. “It is also sweeping, cannot be limited and has vast and sinister implications down the years ahead. ‘I have the defendant; find me the crime’ is now the rule. Every previous objector to every previous election –2016, 2004, 2000– should be relieved that statutes of limitations have passed. Only the new caste of Javerts –obscure zealots who can be tabbed ‘seasoned, career prosecutors’– are now standing ready to prosecute whomever the power in power wants removed from the scene. ‘Oh but Trump is uniquely bad and 1/6 happened’ is a fool’s mirage. ‘Unleashing the furies’ has never had a better example.”

Attorney and professor of philosophy and law David Koepsell:

HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte responded, writing that if Trump “could be charged criminally for just lying, he’d be in a Supermax for thousands of years. He was charged for leading a conspiracy to defraud the United States and for his using his office to deprive millions of people of their votes.”

Hewitt was still not finished, launching into what former CIA official John Sipher called a “ridiculous take.”

“I hope the charges brought by the American Javert are thrown out, but the TDS Dead Ender Coalition should listen carefully to what [Trump attorney] John Lauro told [Fox News’] @BretBaier last night: The former president will be subpoenaing everyone who had anything to do with the unusual circumstances of the 2020 election in order to prove his genuine suspicion of the process, which I think means everyone from Mark Zuckerberg who provided the ‘Zuck Bucks’ to the PA Supreme Court to the ’51 former Intelligence Community members’ who signed the ‘laptop is Russian disinformation letter’ to the old execs at Twitter who suppressed the @NYPost story to Hunter and President Biden and on and on and even perhaps to all participants in the Steele Dossier ought to clear their calendars for whenever the trial is scheduled.”

“Show trials are only choreographed in Stalin’s Russia,” he continued. “Lauro made clear this one –if it begins– is going to explore every corner of the 2020 election with former President Trump empowered to subpoena everyone who can help prove his innocence.”

Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney told Hewitt, “This is not how any of this works, of course. Trump can vow to subpoena everyone under the sun but, aside from getting credulous headlines, the odds of testimony from these far-flung randos being admissible and relevant to this case are… nil.”

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News

Arizona State Senator Proposes Health Study Looking Into ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

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President Donald Trump and his allies have long accused critics of suffering from the imaginary ailment Trump Derangement Syndrome. Now, an Arizona state senator wants the local health department to conduct a study on the made-up disease.

State Sen. Janae Shamp introduced Senate Bill 1070 on Monday, asking Arizona’s Department of Health Services to “conduct or support research” on TDS, “including its origins, manifestations and long-term effects on individuals, communities and public discourse.” If the bill were passed into law, the department would have a year to submit a report on its findings.

READ MORE: ‘Monstrous’: Trump Blasted for Blaming Rob Reiner’s Death on ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

Shamp’s bill defines Trump Derangement Syndrome as “a behavioral or psychological phenomenon that is characterized by intense emotional or psychological reactions to Donald J. Trump, his actions or his public presence as observed in individuals or groups.” From there, the bill lays out its reasoning—mainly a laundry list of Trump’s accomplishments, including reducing the corporate tax rate by 14%, eliminating “22 regulations for every new one in 2017”, and “affirming biological truth in federal policy to protect family values.”

“Despite these contributions to America’s prosperity, security 26 and values, ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ (TDS) has emerged since his 2016 campaign,” Shamp wrote.

“TDS has led to significant social harm, with Americans who 33 support President Trump or his policies reporting discrimination, 34 intimidation or ostracism in professional, academic and social settings, 35 further eroding community cohesion,” she added.

The bill borrows heavily from a House bill proposed by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), according to Tucson.com. It is unknown what chances Shamp’s bill has of passing the Arizona Senate; Davidson’s bill died in committee. But even should it pass, it is unlikely to be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

When asked if Hobbs would sign the bill, her spokesperson laughed and told a KTVK-TV reporter “You can quote me on that.”

Image via Reuters

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CORRUPTION

Sotomayor Slams SCOTUS Over Ruling ‘Declaring All Latinos Fair Game to Be Seized’ by ICE

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor had harsh words for the Supreme Court in her dissent in a ruling allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to continue to arrest people based on profiling Latinos working low-wage jobs.

Monday morning, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an emergency decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. The case concerns “Operation At Large,” which deployed ICE agents in the Los Angeles area to car washes, bus stops, farms and other locations believed to be frequented by Latino people who may or may not be undocumented immigrants. On July 11, the Central District Court of California ruled that ICE had to stop Operation At Large until appeals in the case could be heard.

The Court’s ruling contained no official explanation for the ruling, however Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence. In his concurrence, Kavanaugh said the law allowed ICE to “‘briefly detain’ an individual ‘for questioning’” if they have “a reasonable suspicion, based on specific articulable facts, that the person being questioned . . . is an alien illegally in the United States.”

READ MORE: Loyalty Litmus Test? Trump Allies Quietly Prep SCOTUS Short List

Operation At Large, he said, represented “reasonable suspicion” to detain someone on the following factors: “(i) presence at particular locations such as bus stops, car washes, day laborer pickup sites, agricultural sites, and the like; (ii) the type of work one does; (iii) speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent; and (iv) apparent race or ethnicity.”

He added that “apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion” but could be a “‘relevant factor,” and that if someone detained by ICE turned out to be a citizen, they would be “free to go after the brief encounter.”

Sotomayor disagreed that this is what was happening, citing what had happened to other citizens. Jason Gavidia worked at a Los Angeles tow yard that ICE stopped at. Agents repeatedly asked if he was a citizen. They then took his phone, pushed him against a metal fence, twisted his arm, and took away his identification, according to Sotomayor’s dissent.

“Other Operation At Large encounters have included even more force and even fewer questions. For example, agents pulled up in four unmarked cars to a bus stop in Pasadena; ‘the doors opened and men in masks with guns started running at’ three Latino men who were having their morning coffee, waiting to be picked up for work,” she wrote.

“In Glendale, nearly a dozen masked agents with guns ‘jumped out of . . . cars’ at a Home Depot, and began ‘chasing’ and ‘tackl[ing]’ Latino day laborers without ‘identify[ing] themselves as ICE or police, ask[ing] questions, or say[ing] anything else.’ In downtown Los Angeles, agents ‘jumped out of a van, rushed up to [a tamale vendor], surrounded him, and handled him violently,’ all ‘[w]ithout asking . . . any questions.'”

Sotomayor concluded that Operation At Large and the Court’s decision “all but declared that all Latinos, U. S. citizens or not, who work low wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction.”

She also condemned the court for not issuing an explanation beyond the concurrence. She alleged that the Court had been eager to “circumvent the ordinary appellate process” when it comes to President Donald Trump and his administration.

“Some situations simply cry out for an explanation, such as when the Government’s conduct flagrantly violates the law,” Sotomayor wrote, adding that Operation At Large and the Court’s ruling clearly violates the Bill of Rights.

“The Fourth Amendment protects every individual’s constitutional right to be ‘free from arbitrary interference by law officers.’ After today, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation’s constitutional guarantees, I dissent,” she wrote.

Image via Shutterstock

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law

Arkansas Senator Files Bill to Abolish State Library, Give Education Department Control

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The right-wing war on knowledge continues as an Arkansas state senator filed a bill Thursday to abolish the State Library as well as the library board.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro), along with State Rep. Wayne Long (R-Bradford), filed Senate Bill 536 on Thursday. The bill would not just remove all references to the State Library from existing laws, but also put the state’s other libraries under the control of the Arkansas Department of Education.

A previous version of the bill, SB184, would have also shuttered the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, which oversees the state’s PBS stations, according to the Arkansas Advocate.

READ MORE: Clean Up Alabama Wants State to Dump ‘Marxist’ American Library Association

The Arkansas State Library is not just a regular library. In addition to providing information to state agencies and lawmakers, it also distributes funding to the other libraries around the state. Under SB536, the Department of Education would take on all its responsibilities. The State Library is officially a part of the Department of Education already, but it operates as an independent organization.

While the proposal may sound like a shuffling-around of duties, the main thrust of the bill is to allow more direct control over the Arkansas library system by controlling the purse strings. The bill would keep libraries from distributing “age-inappropriate materials” to those under 17 years old and sex education materials from those under 12. Libraries would also have to set up a system where those in the community could request that certain items be banned for minors, according to KARK-TV. Those that don’t meet these restrictions will have state funding pulled.

Earlier legislation filed by Sullivan and passed into law includes Act 242, which ended the requirement for library directors to have a master’s degree in library science, the Advocate reported.  Sullivan, however, was unsuccessful with a proposed amendment to another bill that would strip funding from libraries affiliated with the American Library Association—meaning most, if not all of them. That amendment was rejected this week over concerns the language in it was too broad, according to the Advocate.

The ALA has been a target of right-wing politicians and activists upset with its free speech stance and fights against censorship. Sullivan in particular has objected to a provision in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights protecting library access for all ages, the Advocate reported. He also called for the state’s chapter of the ALA to be defunded—despite the fact that it receives no state funding.

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