Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America toast the conservative upset in the Australian elections. They also note Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg keeps taking far left positions on issues, disproving the media myth of him being a moderate. And they react to Illinois conservatives wanting to separate Chicago from the rest of the state.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America laugh as Utah Sen. Mike Lee hilariously demonstrates the absurdity of the Green New Deal with a picture of Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor and Star Wars references during a floor speech. They also dig into what happened in Chicago after state prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett. And they also rip Biden for attempting to win over progressives by condemning “white man’s culture” and saying he wish he could have done something more during the Anita Hill hearing.
Listen to “Smollett Charges Dropped: Is Privilege to Blame?” on Spreaker.
Prosecutors in Chicago stunned the nation Tuesday by dropping all charges against actor Jussie Smollett while still asserting that Smollett faked a hate crime against himself and cost the Chicago Police Department hundreds of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate the case.
“We did not exonerate Mr. Smollett. The charges were dropped in return for Mr. Smollett’s agreement to do community service and forfeit his $10,000 bond to the City of Chicago. Without the completion of these terms, the charges would not have been dropped. This outcome was met under the same criteria that would occur for and is available to any defendant with similar circumstances,” said Tandra Simonton of the Cook County State’s Attorney Office.
Law professor and attorney Horace Cooper, who is also co-chair of the black conservative Project 21 Advisory Board, is appalled by the decision.
“There is nothing I have witnessed in my time…where a prosecution is completely dropped – not deferred but completely dropped – without an acknowledgement of some sort of act of contrition and without any new information coming in to call into question the substance of the original allegations,” said Cooper.
Cooper further asserts the Smollett case proves there is unfair privilege in the U.S., just not in the way that many activists suggest.
“What’s revealing to some people is that this differential between what happens with main street Americans and those who are penthouse Americans: it isn’t actually a function of race. It is a function of wealth and status,” said Cooper.
He says news that former Michelle Obama chief of staff Tina Tchen spoke with prosecutors also proves his point.
“If you and I were charged, the former first lady’s lawyer’s friends will not be calling on our behalf. There is nothing like this for main street America,” added Cooper.
Even Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel blasted the decision to drop the charges, pointing out that a grand jury agreed to charge Smollett on 16 counts after seeing just a fraction of the evidence. He’s also aghast that Smollett was allowed to go free and once again proclaim his innocence.
Cooper points out that Smollett had the opportunity to plead guilty to one count on the initial indictment and likely walk away with a slap on the wrist. It was only after the actor doubled down on his story that the grand jury returned 16 counts against him.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Cooper explain what option the Chicago Police Department can still pursue in the courts, and why he believes hate crime laws are a bad idea and actually encourage people to play the victim even when no crime has occurred.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are grateful to see Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson rebuke Jussie Smollett for perpetrating a hate crime hoax and damaging the reputation of the city. Johnson also blasted the media for ignoring serious issues while providing wall to wall coverage of Smollett. They’re also horrified by reports of a active duty military officer who plotted to kill many people with bombings, shootings, and outbreaks of disease. And they correct MSNBC hosts Katy Tur and Ari Melber for claiming that George Washington was a “native son of New York”.
Listen to “Sasse’s Constitutional Smackdown, Kyl Replaces McCain, Rahm Finally Leaves” on Spreaker.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America savor three good martinis for conservatives. First, they applaud Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse for reminding his fellow senators of the constitutional purpose of the judicial branch, how Brett Kavanaugh out to be evaluated, and why the political “charades” needs to stop. They also cheer Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for naming former Sen. Jon Kyl to replace John McCain in the U.S. Senate until the 2020 election. And they welcome Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision not to seek another term and reflect on his disastrous record in both Washington and the Windy City.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are very encouraged by the final two names President Trump is reportedly considering for the Supreme Court vacancy. They also cringe as Trump once again insists he lost the popular vote only through rampant voter fraud by illegal aliens. And they slam Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for claiming a lack of federal assistance is to blame for the huge number of murders in his city.
Four young adults in Chicago are facing a wide array of criminal charges after they live-streamed their torturing of a mentally disabled man, but the episode is also triggering a backlash against the media for allegedly treating the case differently because the perpetrators are black and the victim is white.
The video shows the victim blindfolded and gagged . The alleged perpetrators cut the victim’s sweatshirt and a piece of his scalp. Screamed insults also pepper the 30-minute video, including rants of “F–k Donald Trump” and “F–ck white people.” While the video lasted half an hour, the entire ordeal played out over 1-2 days.
On Thursday, Chicago police announced charges against Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper and Brittany Covington, all 18 years old, as well as 24-year-old Tanishia Covington. All have been charged with a hate crime, felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery.
While members of the media are expressing outrage across the board, critics point out the anger seems much more subdued than if the races were reversed.
The firestorm over media reaction began Wednesday, when CNN’s Don Lemon rejected the opinion of a guest that the torture was the result of evil
“I don’t think it’s evil,” he said. “I don’t think it’s evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training,” said Lemon.
“I have no idea who is raising these young people, because no one I know on earth who is 17-years-old or 70-years-old would ever think of treating another person like that,” he continued. “You wonder, at 18-years-old, where is your parent, where is your guardian?” added Lemon.
Another panelist in the CNN discussion, Democratic strategist Symone Sanders, wasn’t sure hate crime charges were appropriate.
At least one prominent black conservative is shaking his head that Lemon could not see evil in the video.
“The mainstream media appears to have this thesis: When a minority does something so wicked, so depraved they come up with an excuse. When a non-minority does the same thing, they can never see an excuse,” said Horace Cooper, an attorney and co-chairman of the Project 21 National Advisory Board. Project 21 is a national leadership network of black conservatives.
Cooper is quick to point out that poor or non-existent parenting may well play a role in the depravity of the four people charged, but that doesn’t change the fact the video depicted evil.
“If he had said, ‘This is evil and it probably stems from bad parenting,’ he probably could have gotten my acquiescence and support for his observations. The destruction of the family in America, and in particularly in the black family, has wrought victimhood in so many ways,” said Cooper.
“I can’t [explain] a person who looks at this video and listens to what happens and then learns that this took place over several days and not think ‘evil’ as the first mindset that comes,” said Cooper.
The frustration with the media boiled over again Thursday afternoon, when Washington Post columnist Callum Borchers wrote that the video serves as a validation of Trump voters’ concerns over media bias, Chicago violence and targeting of Trump supporters.
But he also claims there is a valid reason why this story is getting far less coverage than if the perpetrators were white and the victim black.
“If the attackers had been white and the victim had been black, the incident would have, of course, conjured America’s ugly history of white mobs committing violence against black people. There is no parallel history of the reverse happening on anything remotely approaching the same scale,” Borchers wrote.
Cooper is stunned by that rationale.
“I’m appalled. Martin Luther King said that he longed for an America where people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” said Cooper.
Cooper says the media, and the rest of us, need to call out evil without regard to the demographic issues involved.
“We ought to be able to come together as a society – and I mean by society the mainstream media. We will give no space, no quarter to this kind of behavior,” said Cooper, who also says the Obama administration’s silence on the issue until late afternoon Thursday is also telling.
“I’m also disappointed that the President of the United States hasn’t issued a statement – and not just this particular case, hasn’t found an example like it to issue a statement. no one from the Department of Justice has issued a statement,” said Cooper.
Given Obama administration action in other racially charged cases, Cooper says the silence here is deafening.
“It sends the signal that somehow the depravity that we witnessed is different because this individual isn’t a minority. I think that is completely wrong. That is completely obnoxious. And it runs afoul of the whole idea that all Americans are equal before the law,” said Cooper.
The four suspects will face the legal system, as announced by the Chicago police on Thursday. However, Cooper points out that the same Justice Department that parachuted into Ferguson looking at hate crime charges in the Michael Brown case was nowhere to be found this time.
“Why hasn’t the media called out the Department of Justice for its silence on this matter, for it’s lack of regard for the depravity that is witnessed here. If this isn’t a civil rights violation, I guess I don’t understand what one looks like,” said Cooper.
