Our Democrats must be kicking themselves: "We came so close!"

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French Right-Wing Leader Marine Le Pen Sentenced to Prison, Banned From Elections

PARIS—A French court convicted Marine Le Pen of misusing European Union funds, banning her from the next presidential election in a ruling that shakes the country’s political landscape.

Judges handed down a sentence Monday that bars Le Pen from seeking public office for the next five years, upending France’s political order and thrusting her far-right party into limbo. Le Pen also received a four-year prison sentence. Half of that term was suspended, judges said, adding that she could serve the remaining two years by using an electronic bracelet or other alternatives to jail time.

Bonchie: The nuts and bolts revolve around a charge of "embezzlement," claiming that aides to Le Pen conducted party work while also being paid to do EU parliamentary work. Not being an expert on French law, I'll allow someone else with more knowledge to explain. 

And:

Here’s a thread from Instapundit that is entirely relevant if you’ve consoled yourself that our own liberty is being protected by the constitutional scholars at Harvard. Okay, you weren’t doing that, but it serves as a refresher as to why you weren’t:

HARVARD LAW FACULTY SAYS TRUMP IS A THREAT TO THE RULE OF LAW; Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule takes them to the woodshed.

Where were the letter’s signatories when federal prosecutors took the unprecedented step of bringing dozens of criminal charges against a former president, who also happened to be the leading electoral opponent of the then-incumbent president? Where were the signatories when Jeff Clark, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and other lawyers were disbarred or threatened with disbarment, and indeed prosecuted, for their representation of President Trump? Was this not a threat to the rule of law? Where were the signatories when radical activists menaced Supreme Court Justices in their homes, or when a mob hammered on the doors of the Supreme Court itself? Where were the signatories when the Senate Minority Leader shouted to an angry crowd outside the Court that “I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions”? Were these not also literal threats to the rule of law?

Plus: “As I recall, Professor Tribe, one of the signatories, urged President Biden to renew the eviction moratorium even after the Supreme Court clearly stated it was unlawful. Was this a breach of the rule of law?”

From Hollywood, to Yale, to town's near you: the self-deportation program is working flawlessly

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Fentanyl dealer arrested, deported, and the media sheds a tear

All our worst celebrities are leaving the country, loudly, and just yesterday a gaggle of Yale professors announced their pending departure. As it turns out, it’s not just the witless who sense it’s time to leave; our newest residents from south of the border recognize it too.

Last week the lady shown above was seized and scheduled for deportation, and the White House celebrated that event by posting a cartoon of the arrest. The media’s wailing and gnashing of teeth was a terrible thing to witness:

White House posts tasteless AI image of alleged Fentanyl dealer sobbing in handcuffs

Earlier this month, Virginia Basora-Gonzalez, 36, was reprimanded and taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs officials in Philadelphia as a result of a joint operation with the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Official White House tweet

I don’t think “reprimanded” means what the Irish Daily Press thinks it means, but that aside, the paper’s editors are as clueless as their American counterparts when it comes to understanding what’s going on here: Trump doesn’t care if the sensibilities of bedwetters are hurt; he’s aiming for the nerves of Biden’s invitees, and it’s working.

Here’s another one:

But wait, there’s more! The Daily Caller’s Mary Rooke explains why:

…. t’s not just memes they are upset about. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the infamous gang prison in El Salvador, reportedly wearing a $60,000 Rolex watch, which made the left and their cronies in the legacy media outraged.

The Economist wrote about the trip: “Kristi Noem flaunts a $60,000 Rolex watch while filming a tough-on-crime promo inside one of the world’s most notorious prisons.” At the base of it, Noem’s critics claim it’s “cruel” to wear a nice watch in a video where she details the Trump administration’s plan to end the illegal immigration crisis in the U.S. by utilizing El Salvador’s prisons.

But here’s the payoff:

Just 24 hours after The Economist published their piece, The New York Times reported that videos like Noem’s, among other Trump administration initiatives, are responsible for an uptick in self-deportations among illegal immigrants in the U.S.

“[R]ecent border crossers are much more likely to consider departing. I interviewed several young men from Venezuela who are among them. They see footage of shackled migrants shuffled onto deportation planes. They watch the videos of more than 200 Venezuelan men, accused by the Trump administration of gang affiliation, being flown to a mega-prison in El Salvador,” the outlet reported. “Rather than risk subjecting themselves to that ordeal, they want to leave on their own terms.”

Self-deportations are happening everywhere, including from Springfield, Ohio.

“A family in Chicago recently left for Mexico, according to their lawyer. People have abandoned Springfield, Ohio — the town where Trump claimed Haitians were eating their pets — employers there told…

— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) March 28, 202

Who could have predicted that criminals don’t care about a watch because they understand if they stay in the U.S. illegally, their future will be spent inside a highly guarded El Salvadorian prison? The point of these videos, whether it’s the White House’s ASMR illegal immigrant arrests, flights to El Salvador, or Noem standing in front of locked-up gang members, is to have illegal immigrants leave the country on their own accord. It saves the Trump administration time and money that should be spent on other issues.

Self-deportation has been a pipe dream among Republicans for decades. But now, with Trump in office, it’s actually happening.

It’s not cruel to highlight the deportation of gang members or fentanyl dealers. It’s the most effective marketing tool the Trump administration has. Americans voted for this when they sent Trump back into the White House. They weren’t looking for a Mitt Romeny-style Republican to lead us out of the immigration crisis. They wanted a bully working on their behalf to make America safe again.

The more Democrats try to sympathize with these criminals; the more voters will look for Republican candidates who will support them over illegal immigrants.

Leftism: a religion of peace

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well, they’re certainly trying to

Grumpy Old Leftist in Idaho Turns Pro-Tesla Protest into Hit-and-Run Crime Scene

A 70-year-old Meridian man faces aggravated battery charges after allegedly striking a counter-protester with his vehicle during dueling demonstrations outside a Tesla dealership Saturday.

Christopher Talbot was arrested after police said he made an obscene gesture toward a 49-year-old man and then hit him with his car during protests at the dealership on Franklin Road. The incident occurred on March 29 around 1 p.m. amid tensions between protesters opposing Elon Musk's political activities and a larger group supporting the billionaire businessman.

About 30 protesters attended the "Tesla Takedown" demonstration organized by groups called Troublemakers and The Disruption Project. At the same time, close to 200 counter-protesters mobilized by the Idaho Liberty Dogs appeared in support of Musk and the dealership. 

According to the Meridian Police Department (MPD), the victim had been driving a truck displaying pro-Trump flags and had just parked and exited his vehicle when Talbot allegedly struck him. The victim recorded Talbot's license plate before driving himself to a local hospital, where he was treated and released for non-life-threatening injuries.

The original protest targeted Musk's involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency, nicknamed DOGE. Organizers claimed on social media that "Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built from Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup."

[30 vs 200 — poor choice}

It's a tragedy, but why were US taxpayers paying 40% of the total world aid in the first place?

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The Myanmar quake is the first major disaster to suffer the brunt of Donald Trump's devastating cuts

The impact in the aftermath of this earthquake is likely to be severe. Trump's decision to shut down the US Agency for International Development was already reported to have decimated US aid operations in Myanmar. Its global impact is hard to overstate. American aid had provided 40% of developmental aid worldwide.

Let them look to their neighbors for help; China, for instance, is already in the country, and has been for years, pouring billions into Myanmar’s military to protect its mega-billions in investments. They can redirect some of that to helping save lives, rather than destroy them. And Europe? Where’s Europe?

March 4, 2025: China Steps Up Military Aid to Myanmar’s Junta

China views the military government Myanmar as the only force that can hold the country together and protect China’s economic interests there. Even as the junta loses ground, China has continued to provide military assistance, ranging from jets to unmanned systems. In this issue brief, Zachary Abuza and Nyein Nyein Thant Aung analyze China’s aid to the Myanmar military and how it has impacted the battlefield, especially the rapid increase in drone warfare over the past year by both the junta and the opposition.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi recently pledged $3 billion in assistance to the junta, to include earmarked funds for a census and “elections” as an off-ramp for the junta. The assistance will ideally give the military a seat at the table in any post-coup government and a return to what constitutes the antebellum constitution. ….

Chinese aid to the military government is not new. Until the democratic transition in 2015, China was the primary backer of the junta in military, economic, and diplomatic terms. The establishment of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor in 2018 as part of the Belt and Road Initiative solidified China’s economic dominance in the country. China has sold Myanmar’s military a range of weaponry both before and after the coup and is one of the primary sources of aviation assets and artillery. China also has been a key supplier of information technology, including jamming and interception technology, Huawei’s Smart Cities suite of CCTVs, and other tools that have assisted societal repression and weakened the NUG’s urban guerrilla operations. Since the coup, which China did not fully endorse, Beijing continued to sell an estimated $267 million in weaponry, trailing only Russia ($406 million).

Bonus material: Like the Ukrainians and the Houthis, Myanmar’s rebel forces are using cheap drones to defeat million-dollar sophisticated weapons. I hope the DOGE Boyz are looking at our own military-industrial cabal and taking note of this.

The opposition’s adroit adaptation of drones – primarily commercial models retrofitted for military use – has reshaped battlefield dynamics and prompted the SAC to adjust its drone usage. Opposition forces leverage cost-effective, widely available drones to minimize combatant risk while maximizing strategic flexibility. These platforms, though non-military grade, enable precision strikes, surveillance and swarm tactics, with operators requiring only days of training. During Operation 1027, opposition forces dropped 25,000 munitions by drone, and the Three Brotherhood Alliance swarmed remote outposts. In response, the SAC has belatedly imported, produced, and deployed a range of smaller quadcopters and hexacopters that can drop munitions, as well as Russian and Chinese-made kamikaze drones.

Uh huh

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Wisconsin Dems Accuse Elon Musk of Trying to 'Buy Votes' Ahead of State Supreme Court Race

…. Wisconsin’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, seeking to block his $1 million donation offer ahead of the state’s high-stakes Supreme Court race. The lawsuit contends that Musk’s influence in the race holds significant ground and whose support could significantly impact the race.

Much more here, including the fact that 77% of the Democrat’s money came from out of state donors.

Operation Wetback II

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Our Greenwich Indivisible ladies are too stupid to realize that they and their families will be the first ones to be lined up and shot come the revolution

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When They Tell Us Who They Are, BELIEVE THEM: Leftist Protest Org Indivisible Straight Up Admits They're MAOISTS

This is one of those times when knowing history comes in very handy.

Chinese communist Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) was one of history's bloodiest dictators. His three big policies -- the Long March (1934-1935), the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962), and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) led to the deaths of tens of millions of people from famine, forced labor, or executions.

So when Leftists praise Mao and say their movement is based on one of his, pay attention.

Because it ends badly for the rest of us.

Junior Birdbrain hits the Stamford hustings (Updated)

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waiting for McGovern

Connecticut’s gift to vacuous stupidity, Chris Murphy, held a rally in Stamford for a collection of Democrat geriatrics yesterday, and made a number of claims. First up:

  • Trump is attempting to transition American democracy to an oligarchy, “where a handful of rich money connected elites rule and organize government effectively to steal from the people.”

George Soros and the 501c dark money foundations that have donated literally billions of dollars to Democrats, nationwide and local, were unavailable for comment.

Other Murphy whoppers included:

  • Trump “crushed dissent” by pardoning Jan 6 protesters . Approve of the January 6th riot or not, “pardoning protesters” is not an act of crushing dissent — quite the opposite.

  • The US Attorney in DC is threatening to lock  people up because they interfered with Elon Musk’s operations at DOGE. AG Bondi has warned that those discovered by DOGE to have engaged in fraud — such at the persons behind the 5,593 SBA loans, $312M, granted to borrowers under 11-years-old. Bondi’s only other threat to imprison individuals has been her declaration that TESLA arsonists will be prosecuted as domestic terrorists. Murphy was silent when Biden’s DOJ declared parents protesting transgender material in grade school’s curriculums, just as he’s remained silent on the TESLA attacks. Which looks more like terrorism: parents speaking up at school board meetings, or this?

Murphy also boasted that, thanks to Connecticut’s tough gun laws, Hartford’s fatal shootings have dropped by 50% — from 15 to 8. Gun crime may be down, but there are a number of reasons for that, none of which have anything to do with the laws aimed at residents, because criminals willing to violate laws against murder don’t obey laws addressing gun possession by felons. There are other reasons for the drop: getting gang member off the street and keeping them there, and, possibly, the initiation of armed citizen patrols in Hartford’s worst streets.:

Hartford sees homicides, nonfatal shootings drop. Exactly why depends on whom you ask

  • [Hartford Police spokesman] Boisvert pointed to an April roundup of 13 members of a group called “Get Money Steppas.” Arrested under the state’s corrupt organizations and racketeering activity law, they are tied to homicides, shootings, drug dealing and car thefts, Boisvert said.That definitely took some of the right people off the streets,” Boisvert said Thursday.

  • Police also made some key arrests at the end of last year and the beginning of 2024. The accused were either violent or “catalysts for violence,” he said.

  • Finally, a bill signed into law last year requires certain repeat offenders charged with serious gun crimes to post 30 percent of their bonds in cash. Former Mayor Luke Bronin is one of many people who worked on the bill, Boisvert said. “That’s actually made a big impact,” he said.

  • Meanwhile, the leader of a group called the Self-Defense Brigade said his organization played a big role in the drop in gun violence. Cornell Lewis has been working with community members to set up armed citizen patrols to deter crime. “People don’t realize that that’s the effect of what we’re doing,” Lewis said.  

There are liars, damn liars, and then there’s Murphy.

UPDATE: