Quick Hits: Volume CCCLVII

 - The first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump took place Tuesday evening. And as per usual, most partisans believed their side prevailed. 

For those who are intellectually honest, the takeaways would be that Harris was allowed to lie with impunity by the lefty-biased moderators while Trump blathered on in his typical undisciplined manner. This election has basically been Trump's to lose, and he seems hellbent on losing. 

There may not have been a definitive winner this debate, but there was one sure loser - the United States of America. 

- Prior to the Miami Dolphins hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, their star WR Tyreek Hill was detained by police near the stadium after being deemed "non cooperative" with the officers during a traffic stop. 

The bodycam footage was released Tuesday. 

The first I learned of this incident was when a video clip circulated online of Hill lying face down with officers standing over him. While that evoked some bad memories of a certain infamous 2020 police incident in my home area of Minneapolis, I was willing to reserve judgement until we got the entire context of what led up to this. 

After viewing the bodycam footage, I'll just say this. Unless a driver being pulled over is violating some sort of obscure law which prohibits keeping the drivers' side window rolled up, the cops unnecessarily escalated this situation. Hill basically pled guilty to the moving violation by telling the officer to go ahead and give him a ticket so he could move on with his day. Why the insistence he keep his window rolled down? 

In the end, it was Hill himself who was looking to move past this incident while also focusing how situations like this don't have to occur. 

- It's the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. 

As has become custom, I like to pay homage to Minnesota native Thomas Burnett, Jr. on this anniversary of said attacks.

July 2017 - At the Flight 93 National Memorial near the site of the crash

Tom was one of 40 passengers and crew members on United flight 93 on 9/11. This particular flight was noteworthy in that the passengers, knowing what had happened to the World Trade Center earlier that morning, decided to thwart further carnage by overtaking the hijackers in the cockpit.

The flight ended up crashing in an abandoned field in rural Pennsylvania, approximately 20 minutes flight time from its intended target of the Capitol building in Washington DC.

Has America had its problems since then? No question. In fact, I'd say the divisiveness is worse than pre-9/11. But do I believe we are still, as Michael Medved, proclaims, the greatest nation on God's green earth? Without a doubt. 

May we never forget the bravery and heroism that occurred that day in the face of a horrific tragedy. 

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Box Score of the Week

St. Louis Browns at Detroit Tigers - July 4, 1912.

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Tigers pitcher George Mullin, on his 32nd birthday, became the first (and still only) MLB pitcher to toss a no-hitter on their birthday. 

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The NARN Closer's playlist - 9/8/2024

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The waves keep on crashing on me for some reason......

It's the first Sunday of the 2024 NFL season, so I understand if the live listening audience may be thinner. Nevertheless, I'll be in the Patriot bunker for today's edition of my radio show The Closer. The 2-hour festivities get started at 1:00 PM Central Time. 

At 1:30, Republican candidate for MN House Wayne Johnson will join the broadcast to discuss his candidacy in HD 41A (Lake Elmo, Afton, northern Cottage Grove). 

Then at 2:00, Archway Defense founder (and firearms expert) Peter Johnson will join us via phone to weigh in on the Apalachee High School shooting, fending for ourselves due to a porous southern U.S. border, etc. 

In the non-guest segments, I'll discuss a new way forward for the MNGOP, the latest in presidential politics, etc. 

So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing.

 

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio as well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page, where we also conduct a "Live Stream" of the broadcast.

Until then.....

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Lucky or just? Or both?

In less than two weeks, the sentencing of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump was going to be handed down in the sham "hush money"conviction out of NYC. Trump has pushed for that ruling to occur after Election Day, stating that doing so beforehand constitutes "election interference." 

The presiding judge concurred. 

Judge Juan Merchan ruled Friday that Trump’s sentencing will take place on November 26, three weeks after election day, ensuring that Trump will not be sentenced in any of his criminal cases leading up to the election.

In a letter to the prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys informing them of his decision to delay the sentencing hearing, Merchan argued that a post-election sentencing would eliminate any appearance of political bias.

“The Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution. Adjourning decision on the motion and sentencing, if such is required, should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to gave an advantage to, or create a disadvantage for, any political party and/or any candidate for any office,” Merchan wrote.

Naturally, many prog institutions (specifically The New York Times) suggested such a ruling puts Trump "above the law." But as legal expert Andrew McCarthy at NRO pointed out, it's actually the legally prudent thing to do. 

The principal basis for Trump’s postponement motion is not that, if it is not granted, the sentencing would be a form of election interference. I happen to believe that would be true since there is no rule-of-law justification for sentencing Trump prior to the election — the schedule has been set by a deeply conflicted, partisan Democratic judge under circumstances in which Democrats want Trump labeled “a convicted felon facing a prison sentence” in the run up to the November election.

Nevertheless, Trump has a valid postponement motion because of the rule of law.

In one of Trump’s federal cases, the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 — a month after Trump’s state trial — that presidential immunity from criminal prosecution includes a derivative right to have evidence of official presidential acts excluded. Over Trump’s objection at trial, Bragg’s prosecutors offered such evidence, Merchan admitted it — despite being on notice that the Supreme Court was considering this very issue — and the prosecutors argued in summation that this evidence was “devastating” against Trump (making it difficult for Bragg to now claim its admission was mere harmless error).

In the criminal law, most issues cannot be appealed until all proceedings in the trial court, including sentencing, are concluded — e.g. Merchan’s disqualifying bias, his admission of blatantly inadmissible evidence of a key witness’s guilty plea to federal election crimes, his admission of a porn star’s gratuitous and unfairly prejudicial testimony that Trump may have forced himself on her, his refusal to allow Trump to call a key defense witness, and his failure to instruct the jury properly on the charged offenses or even require a unanimous verdict on a key charge, to cite just a few reversible errors in the record.

In addition to likely enduring some PTSD from his almost being assassinated two months ago, Trump was most assuredly overwhelmed emotionally at the prospects of being sentenced to jail. With that officially put off until after election, he needs to focus solely on the final 60 days of this campaign. When Trump is talking issues, he's pretty solid. And given the abject failure that has been the Biden-Harris administration, it shouldn't be all that difficult to tie VP Kamala Harris to a struggling economy, bumbling foreign policy and a swiss cheese southern U.S. border, all issues which voters strongly favor Trump. 

Sure, Trump has been somewhat lucky this cycle in that he survived an attempt on his life as well as having the classified documents case against him tossed out. And now the delay in the "hush money" trial, which any rational thinking person should ascertain is fair and just. Time will tell if Trump can take advantage of all this good fortune.

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Quick Hits: Volume CCCLVI

 - I'm not saying I am personally pining for this scenario, but.....

The best possible outcome in November for the future of the Republican Party is for former President Donald Trump to lose and lose soundly. GOP leaders won’t tell you that on the record. I just did.

Trump will never concede defeat, no matter how thorough his loss. Yet the more decisively Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote and electoral college the less political oxygen he’ll have to reprise his 2020 antics; and, importantly, the faster Republicans can begin building a post-Trump party.

Harris is less a doctrinaire progressive than she is up for grabs on policy, but any liberal course she takes would be constrained by a GOP-held Senate. No, that’s not a sure thing, but it’s the safest electoral bet in this turbulent election. What is virtually certain come January is that conservatives will have a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, which will also serve as a check on the law and rulemaking coming out of a Democratic White House.

Harris is effectively an emergency nominee, has few policy proposals, scant governing history in Washington and a history of churning through staff. Oh, and she would be the first Democrat to enter the presidency since 1884 without majorities in both chambers, should Republicans flip the Senate.

That adds up to a recipe for gridlock — and perhaps some deal-making to fund the government and avoid across-the-board tax hikes — but not a Scandinavian social welfare state.

While many far leftists shriek that Trump is the "gReAtEsT tHrEaT tO oUr DeMoCrAcY" and will no doubt pitch many fits were he to prevail, others may extract a silver lining. Specifically, enough progs know Harris is awful and thus a more formidable (in their minds at least) POTUS candidate would be able run in 2028 since there'd no incumbent. However, if a Harris reelection campaign occurs in '28, would the likes of Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or Josh Shapiro be willing to wait until 2032?

At the end of the day, Trump may lose, but I don't see a Harris landslide. So what then? All I know is regardless of who emerges victorious in this race, the post-election climate will be awful.....again.

- The country of Brazil bans the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's reaction? 

obrigado Brasil!

— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) September 2, 2024

Translation: Thank you, Brazil.

To summarize: a sitting Attorney General of an American state lauds another country censoring speech. 

Cool, cool. 

- A horrific incident at a Georgia high school on Wednesday. 

 

At least four people are dead Wednesday and a 14-year-old boy (who, SURPRISE, was already on the FBI's radar - ed.) is in custody after opening fire at a high school in north central Georgia and putting the building on lockdown, authorities said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) confirmed that four people died at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia — approximately 40 miles northeast of Atlanta – and nine others were taken to various hospitals with gunshot wounds. The suspect is alive and in custody (Thanks to a good guy with a gun - ed.).

Naturally, the typical gun-grabbing demagoguery occurred, including from the current Democrat presidential candidate. And of course, they conveniently ignore that it's policies they support which allow such incidents to happen. 

 

Kamala Harris said "We need reasonable gun safety laws."

Here is a list of gun control that failed today:

❌ Gun Free School Zones Act
❌ Prohibition on armed teachers
❌ Under 18-year-old gun ban
❌ NICS background checks
❌ Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
❌ ATF’s Backdoor… https://t.co/jU2vsVLKEQ

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) September 4, 2024

Even those who aren't passionate about firearms or the 2nd Amendment are becoming red-pilled, particularly in light of literal foreign invasions of American cities. And since agencies like the FBI and ATF continually fail citizens, many are beginning to ascertain that they need to start fending for themselves. 

In short, attempting to go door-to-door to confiscate firearms will not end well for the government. 

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Box Score of the Week

Detroit Tigers at Washington Nationals - September 23, 1905.

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At 18 years, 279 days old, Ty Cobb hit an inside-the-park home run, which is still the American League record for youngest player to do so.

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The NARN Closer's playlist - 9/1/2024

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Better get yourself together and hold on to what you've got.......

Happy September!

It's Labor Day weekend, but the Northern Alliance is still bringing original programming with today's radio show The Closer. The 2-hour broadcast gets started at 1:00 PM Central Time. 

Right at 1:00, Paul Wikstrom, GOP candidate in MN House District 40B (eastern Shoreview, northern Roseville) will join the broadcast to discuss his candidacy in this open seat (DFL rep Jamie Becker-Finn is not seeking reelection). 

I will also weigh in on the latest in presidential politics. 

For the 2:00 hour, Mark "Mr. Dilettante" Heuring will make his annual appearance to preview the NFL's NFC North division. Since Mark is a Green Bay Packers fan and I'm a Vikings rube, it's the only division which matters to us. 

So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing.

 

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio as well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page, where we also conduct a "Live Stream" of the broadcast.

Until then.....

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