MSNBC took a wave of backlash after it aired an interview with former Stormy Daniels attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/msnbc-interviews-convicted-felon-michael-avenatti-from-prison-about-trump-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Avenatti</a> — who had to take the call from the prison where he&#8217;s serving time — after hosts and employees made it clear that former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel would not be an acceptable addition to the network.
Host Ari Melber interviewed the disgraced attorney, who was sentenced in late 2022 to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-michael-avenatti-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-financial-crimes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serve 14 years</a> for wire-fraud and obstruction, about the potential outcome of the hush-money case against former President Donald Trump. &#8220;I think [Trump] will be convicted,&#8221; Avenatti said.
WATCH:
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Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer Michael Avenatti on the New York trial outcome: “I think [Trump] will be convicted.” <a href="https://t.co/dPa7TzLEe8">pic.twitter.com/dPa7TzLEe8</a>
&mdash; The Beat with Ari Melber 📺 (@TheBeatWithAri) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/1777833597208056163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Critics were quick to note that MSNBC, where employees and hosts banded together to shut down NBC News&#8217; plan to hire McDaniel as a commentator, didn&#8217;t appear to believe that inviting a convicted felon to comment — from prison, no less — was an issue.
&#8220;MSNBC and like-minded two weeks ago: &#8220;We must keep liars like Ronna McDaniel off of our airwaves!&#8221; Fox News contributor Joe Concha posted, sharing a screenshot from Melber&#8217;s show.
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MSNBC and like-minded two weeks ago: &quot;We must keep liars like Ronna McDaniel off of our airwaves!&quot;
Also MSNBC last night: <a href="https://t.co/rPCAZJ7ukA">https://t.co/rPCAZJ7ukA</a>
&mdash; Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1778013079353073890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;You guys are beyond great. Just give Michael Cohen and Avenatti a show together already. For those wondering, Avenatti did this interview from federal prison. Just the guy you call in these situations. Our media is broken well, well beyond repair,&#8221; Concha said in another post.
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You guys are beyond great. Just give Michael Cohen and Avenatti a show together already. 
For those wondering, Avenatti did this interview from federal prison. Just the guy you call in these situations. 
Our media is broken well, well beyond repair. <a href="https://t.co/uYYywSvjJF">https://t.co/uYYywSvjJF</a>
&mdash; Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1777853423037124979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;What so often makes American politics such compelling entertainment is the cast of grifters and characters &#8211; but also the shamelessness of here getting legal advice from Michael Avenatti *who is in a US federal prison for fraud*,&#8221; X user Gray Connolly added.
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What so often makes American politics such compelling entertainment is the cast of grifters and characters &#8211; but also the shamelessness of here getting legal advice from Michael Avenatti *who is in a US federal prison for fraud* <a href="https://t.co/HPUYGbVPyb">https://t.co/HPUYGbVPyb</a>
&mdash; Gray Connolly (@GrayConnolly) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrayConnolly/status/1777883893494054953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;MSNBC LOGIC: Former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel isn’t allowed on air and we will riot in order to end her NBC contributorship. But disgraced lawyer and extortionist Michael Avenatti is allowed to call in to MSNBC Primetime from federal prison,&#8221; conservative communications strategist Steve Guest said in a post to X.
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MSNBC LOGIC:
Former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel isn’t allowed on air and we will riot in order to end her NBC contributorship.
But disgraced lawyer and extortionist Michael Avenatti is allowed to call in to MSNBC Primetime from federal prison. <a href="https://t.co/Ah5uaG7G63">pic.twitter.com/Ah5uaG7G63</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1778054263446310964?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Conservative radio host Erick Erickson said, &#8220;Ronna McDaniel is too much for MSNBC, but not this guy. Comcast keeps making these choices.&#8221;
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Ronna McDaniel is too much for MSNBC, but not this guy. Comcast keeps making these choices. <a href="https://t.co/wlgdgAELZq">https://t.co/wlgdgAELZq</a>
&mdash; Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) <a href="https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1778034703955579021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Remember like last week when MSNBC hosts feigned bravery for opposing Ronna McDaniel’s hiring? Anyway, they’re now doing jailhouse interviews with Avenatti,&#8221; another X user posted.
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Remember like last week when MSNBC hosts feigned bravery for opposing Ronna McDaniel’s hiring? 
Anyway, they’re now doing jailhouse interviews with Avenatti. <a href="https://t.co/9zmZcTeiUj">https://t.co/9zmZcTeiUj</a>
&mdash; Sunny (@sunnyright) <a href="https://twitter.com/sunnyright/status/1778054714946412736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The fourth estate is now happily playing liimbo with the corpse of journalism being used as the bar,&#8221; another said.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
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The fourth estate is now happily playing liimbo with the corpse of journalism being used as the bar. <a href="https://t.co/pFE9Ofg01D">https://t.co/pFE9Ofg01D</a>
&mdash; Rick “No One” Robinson 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 (@RowdyRick73) <a href="https://twitter.com/RowdyRick73/status/1777878724454576475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Attorney Michael Avenatti Appears In Court For Hearing In Case Accusing Him Of Stealing Funds From Stormy Daniels

MSNBC Mocked For Airing Avenatti Prison Interview After Rejecting Ex-RNC Chair

Media

Michael Avenatti

MSNBC

NBC News

Politics

Prison

Republican National Committee (RNC)

Ronna Romney McDaniel

MSNBC interviewed incarcerated convicted felon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-avenatti" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Avenatti</a> on Tuesday to get his thoughts about former President Donald Trump&#8217;s forthcoming criminal trial in Manhattan.
The former lawyer, who is serving nearly two decades behind bars for extortion, fraud, obstruction, and identity theft, said that he does not think that Trump will get a fair shake in his trial where he faces 34 felony counts.
“Michael, have you been in touch with D.A. Bragg’s office?” asked MSNBC’s Ari Melber. “And what specifically in evidence or logic do you think is wrong with this case?”
“I’m going to decline to answer as to whether I’ve been in touch with either the defense or the D.A.s office,” Avenatti answered. “But let me say this in response to the second part of your question &#8212; I think the case has a lot of problems. I don’t mean to suggest that means that Trump will not be convicted because I think he will be convicted because number one, he’s a criminal defendant in our society. I don’t believe criminal defendants generally get a fair shake.”
&#8220;I don’t think that he can get a fair trial in New York,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And to the people who claim that in fact, he can get a fair trial in New York with a New York jury, I would ask them, if they were to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow and find out that the case had been moved to Mississippi or Alabama, would they still think the trial was going to be fair?&#8221;
&#8220;And I think if they were being honest, they would answer no,&#8221; he added. &#8220;So, I don’t think he can get a fair trial in New York.&#8221;
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WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Shocking prison interview: ‘Trump will be convicted’ in hush money trial, says Michael Avenatti" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/68T3lDp1kIw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MSNBC Interviews Convicted Felon Michael Avenatti From Prison About Trump Trial

Donald Trump

U.S.

Days after House Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-propose-renaming-dulles-airport-after-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> renaming the Washington Dulles International Airport after former President Donald Trump, Democrats introduced a bill seeking to put Trump’s name on a different place: a federal prison.
Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), John Garamendi (D-CA), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) introduced <a href="https://connolly.house.gov/uploadedfiles/miami_prison.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> on Friday that would change the name of the Miami Federal Correctional Institution — which is the closest federal prison to Trump’s Florida home at Mar-a-Lago — to “Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution,” The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4577000-democrats-introduce-bill-name-miami-prison-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The proposal was a direct response to a Republican-sponsored bill introduced earlier this week that would name the Washington Dulles Airport after the former president.
“When our Republican colleagues introduced their bill to rename Dulles after Donald Trump, I said the more fitting option would be to rename a federal prison,” said Connolly in a <a href="https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4984" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “I see no reason to wait. Donald Trump faces nearly 100 felony charges. He has been found liable of sexual abuse and, subsequently, for defaming the victim of that abuse. He has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars in a civil fraud case. It is only right that the closest federal prison to Mar-a-Lago should bear his name. I hope our Republican friends will join us in bestowing upon Donald J. Trump the only honor he truly deserves.”
Trump, who is currently leading in the polls for the 2024 presidential election, faces 88 criminal charges spread across four different indictments, including in Florida, where special counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Each of the four criminal cases against the leading presidential candidate has hit various roadblocks, and none of the trials have yet begun.
The New York hush money case, where Trump is accused of falsifying business records in an attempt to cover up alleged payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, will likely be the first trial against Trump to get off the ground as it is scheduled to begin on April 15. The case is widely viewed as the weakest criminal case brought against the former president.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), the chief deputy whip of the House GOP, announced on Tuesday that he was leading the endeavor to rename Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia as the Donald J. Trump International Airport.
“As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity, and strength than hearing ‘Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil,” Reschenthaler said.
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The bill to rename the airport is co-sponsored by Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Barry Moore (R-AL), and Mike Waltz (R-FL).
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

House Dems Introduce Bill To Rename Federal Prison After Trump

Florida

House Democrats

If you were running the government of Scotland right now, you&#8217;d have no shortage of serious, potentially civilization-ending social problems to contend with. Chief among them would be that, before long, there might not be very many Scottish people left.
Since 2011, Scotland&#8217;s <a href="https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/2022-results/scotland-s-census-2022-rounded-population-estimates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">birth rate</a> has been well below replacement level, meaning far more people are dying than being born. There were more than 630,000 deaths, and only 580,000 or so births. And yet, despite those numbers, Scotland <a href="https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/2022-results/scotland-s-census-2022-rounded-population-estimates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recorded</a> its largest population in history as recently as 2022.
How could that be? You can probably guess. 
Like many other nations all over the world, including the United States, Scotland is importing boatloads of poor foreigners to make up the difference. The result has been exactly what you&#8217;d expect. Scotland&#8217;s economy is now in a death spiral, with more than one million of its five-and-a-half million residents <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/poverty-in-scotland-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">living</a> in poverty and no clear solution to the problem. The number of people aged 65 and over is projected to grow by nearly 30% by 2045, while the number of children is projected to drop by roughly 20%. Unless something changes very soon, Scotland may be completely unrecognizable by the time its next census rolls around.
In political terms, this is what&#8217;s commonly called an &#8220;existential threat.&#8221; A serious country would enact policies to reverse this trend immediately, starting with turning away the so-called refugees and migrants that Scotland can&#8217;t tolerate, much less accommodate. But Scotland has decided on a very different course of action. Instead of, say, encouraging more Scottish citizens to have families, the government of Scotland has decided to suspend the right of freedom of speech. And they&#8217;ve suspended the freedom of speech with the express purpose of endorsing and protecting transgenderism — an ideology that&#8217;s antithetical to reproduction, and which openly calls for the sterilization and castration of children.
This is precisely the sort of thing that self-loathing societies do when they decide they don&#8217;t want to exist anymore. It&#8217;s the path Scotland is on and, as I&#8217;ll explain in a second, it&#8217;s exactly the same plan our leaders are following in this country.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1338-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
The specific law I&#8217;m talking about is called the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/14/section/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hate Crime and Public Order Act</a>, and Scotland formally enacted it on Monday. It <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/14/section/4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminalizes</a> the act of , &#8220;behav[ing] in a manner that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive,&#8221; if in doing so, &#8220;the person intends to stir up hatred against a group of persons&#8221; based on one of the following characteristics: &#8220;age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, or variations in sex characteristics.&#8221;
Anyone found guilty under this law can be sentenced to prison for up to seven years. Let me restate that: If you say something that a &#8220;reasonable person&#8221; in Scotland considers abusive, then the government can throw you in prison for seven years.
There are sites springing up all over Scotland where you can report wrong-think if you notice it, including, for some reason, sex shops in Glasgow. Watch:
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Of course it&#8217;s a woman with big glasses defending this transgender &#8220;hate crimes&#8221; legislation. She reassures us that &#8220;freedom of expression&#8221; is &#8220;really important,&#8221; except when it&#8217;s &#8220;abusive.&#8221; But who defines what&#8217;s abusive? The bill doesn&#8217;t say. I checked. The only limiting principle is that this legislation says it doesn&#8217;t outlaw &#8220;discussion or criticism,&#8221; whatever that means. But once discussion or criticism becomes &#8220;abusive,&#8221; according to &#8220;reasonable people,&#8221; then it&#8217;s a serious crime and you&#8217;ll spend the better part of a decade in prison.
The problem is that, by the bill&#8217;s own terms, the people determining what&#8217;s &#8220;reasonable&#8221; and what&#8217;s &#8220;hateful&#8221; are people who believe that biology isn&#8217;t real.
The whole bill is established with the express understanding that it&#8217;s &#8220;reasonable,&#8221; by default, to believe that anyone can change their gender in an instant. That is what the bill is saying is the reasonable position. It literally says that &#8220;transgender identity&#8221; is something the law needs to recognize and protect. And as we&#8217;ve seen, trans activists are willing to cry about &#8220;genocide&#8221; if you use a pronoun they don&#8217;t like. These are the “reasonable” people who get to set the boundaries of what&#8217;s &#8220;abusive&#8221; and what&#8217;s not.
In effect, what this means is that the truth has just been outlawed in Scotland.
Tell the truth about transgenderism, and you can go to prison for longer than a serial rapist. That&#8217;s not an exaggeration, by the way. Late last year, a man who <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/rapist-given-lighter-sentence-due-to-immaturity-at-time-of-assaults-13012994#:~:text=A%20teenage%20rapist%20has%20been,15%2Dyear%2Dold%20girl." target="_blank" rel="noopener">raped</a> three schoolgirls — ages 14 and 15 — in the Scottish town of Falkirk received a sentence of just six years in prison. If he had &#8220;misgendered&#8221; them instead, he&#8217;d have gotten a tougher sentence.
To be clear, this isn&#8217;t insanity, although that&#8217;s certainly what it looks like. It is, instead, a declaration of war by the government of Scotland against its own people. At every turn, they are working towards the destruction of future generations. And now they&#8217;re making it illegal to talk about it.
As a result, there is now a non-zero chance that bestselling children&#8217;s author J.K. Rowling could soon be arrested. When this law took effect, Rowling posted a lengthy <a href="https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1774747068944265615?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thread</a> on social media, listing various men who identify as women in the UK — including men who have raped small children.
&#8220;Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren&#8217;t women at all, but men, every last one of them,&#8221; Rowling <a href="https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1774749954629652873?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote.</a> She continued: &#8220;In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls. &#8230; It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man. Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal. I&#8217;m currently out of the country, but if what I&#8217;ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.&#8221;
Already, as you&#8217;ve probably guessed, many people in the UK are calling for Rowling&#8217;s arrest. A lawyer named Rajan Barot, for example, <a href="https://x.com/RajanBarot24/status/1774846191764652523?s=20">wrote</a> that Rowling had engaged in a &#8220;deliberate act of defiance,&#8221; and that the police &#8220;must mount a full investigation.&#8221; And by the letter of the law that was just enacted in Scotland, the police are obligated to do that. For offending the cult of transgenderism, J.K. Rowling could soon be imprisoned for up to seven years.
This is the new definition of blasphemy in the UK. Transgenderism is the new state religion. And just to underscore that point even further, this same law — this same Hate Crimes bill that bans anyone from criticizing transgenderism — also repeals the <a href="https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/factsheet/2020/04/hate-crime-bill-what-it-will-do/documents/hate-crime-bill-information-note-blasphemy/hate-crime-bill-information-note-blasphemy/govscot%3Adocument/Hate%2BCrime%2BBill%2B-%2BInformation%2BNote%2BPdf%2B-%2BBlasphemy%2B-%2BRevised%2BAugust%2B2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">existing blasphemy law</a> on the books in Scotland. That had been in effect since the common law was created, but it&#8217;s gone now. Again, I&#8217;m not exaggerating for effect here.
This is literally a line from the same bill: &#8220;The common law offence of blasphemy is abolished.&#8221; And really, it makes sense. After all, you have to destroy the old religion to enact the new one. The Scottish government understands that as well as Mao did. They understand it as well as Joe Biden&#8217;s administration did on Easter Sunday.
But this is not a story about the internal affairs of Scotland. What&#8217;s happening in Scotland is not some kind of aberrant, overly extremist application of Leftist doctrine, rather, it&#8217;s the logical end result. When you value feelings over truth, and define untruth as truth, what follows next is inevitable.
Anyone who really believes that men can become women, and that affirming biological reality is tantamount to genocide, is eventually going to throw you in prison. That&#8217;s why they use terms like &#8220;genocide.&#8221; It&#8217;s not to accurately describe what you&#8217;re doing, it&#8217;s to justify destroying your life by force, through any means necessary.
You might be thinking to yourself — “Well, that can&#8217;t happen here, at least not to the extent it&#8217;s happening in a place like Scotland. After all, we have a much more robust Constitution here, and our First Amendment protects the freedom of speech from government interference. And surely, if the government explicitly said it was going to target people for their speech in this country, and then ruined them, then there&#8217;d be a major outcry over it.” If you thought that, however, you&#8217;d be wrong.
The attorney general of New York, Letitia James, is of course best known for her campaign to seize all of the assets of the leading presidential candidate. What she&#8217;s not so well known for is her campaign to target the website VDARE, explicitly because of its inconvenient and unpopular beliefs. This is a story that&#8217;s gotten very little attention in conservative media, but it&#8217;s every bit as scandalous as what Letitia James is doing to Donald Trump.
Shortly after she took office, as <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/05/24/experts-vdares-real-estate-deals-may-cost-group-nonprofit-status" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by the fringe Left-wing activist group Southern Poverty Law Center, Letitia James promised to target conservative and Right-wing organizations based on their speech: &#8220;In 2020, James said her office would take tougher legal action on organizations that engage in real-life discriminatory actions and online hate speech against protected classes.&#8221;
It&#8217;s an astonishing statement because there is no such thing as &#8220;online hate speech&#8221; in this country. We&#8217;re not Scotland, at least not yet. That&#8217;s the point of the First Amendment. But Letitia James just admitted, out in the open, that she was going to ignore the First Amendment, and go after people saying things online that she didn&#8217;t like. And that&#8217;s exactly what she&#8217;s done.
Over the weekend, VDARE <a href="https://vdare.com/articles/it-is-finished-nyag-letitia-james-crucifies-vdare-com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a> that the New York attorney general&#8217;s office has ruined them financially with a subpoena that requires them to, &#8220;review 40 gigabytes of emails, an enormous amount. .. And of course these [emails] could in fact reveal the names of those pseudonymous writers, as well as our donors, privileged communications with lawyers, etc.&#8221; In all, VDARE says the subpoena could cost more than $150,000 to comply with, and as a result, the website may not be around for very much longer.
All of this is happening without VDARE being accused of any criminal activity whatsoever. There&#8217;s apparently just a suspicion of a possible violation of New York&#8217;s nonprofit rules, relating to their purchase of a castle as a conference venue several years ago. (Which they needed to purchase, because hotels wouldn&#8217;t let them host conferences there). But the New York AG&#8217;s office isn&#8217;t being very specific about what the problem is, so we&#8217;re really speculating about the specifics.
And as VDARE&#8217;s Lydia Brimelow said in a recent interview, New York really doesn&#8217;t have anything to do with VDARE, so their whole fixation with the organization is a little strange. In fact, VDARE has been trying to leave the state behind for a while now. The castle property that&#8217;s at issue is in West Virginia. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Lawfare Against Normal People" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ixmsl9zYQFI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
So VDARE is being chased around by a vindictive attorney general for an out-of-state property they bought. I&#8217;m no expert on the facts of the case, but at a glance, what VDARE is apparently being investigated for is somewhat similar to what BLM has admitted to doing.
We know BLM spent a lot of money buying multiple lavish mansions — not just one conference venue. But BLM was never subjected to any kind of investigation. They never had the New York attorney general, or any other attorney general, bombard them with subpoenas. And we know why that is. It&#8217;s because BLM is on Letitia James&#8217; side. VDARE isn&#8217;t. VDARE likes to talk about things like crime statistics, and what happens in cities like Baltimore. So therefore, like Donald Trump, they need to be crushed. Every real-estate transaction they&#8217;ve ever engaged in needs to be carefully scrutinized until they&#8217;re broke.
Suddenly Scotland&#8217;s decision to suspend freedom of speech doesn&#8217;t seem so unthinkable here. If Letitia James can get away with targeting a Right-wing media outlet like this, while admitting it, then we&#8217;re basically there already.
If anything, we could learn from what&#8217;s happening in Scotland. At least they have someone like J.K. Rowling who is willing to go to jail over what Scotland&#8217;s government is doing. Is there anyone in this country who&#8217;s even suggested sacrificing anything for a site like VDARE? Of course not. They have unfashionable views. So they won&#8217;t be around much longer. Inevitably, that means the people who decide what&#8217;s &#8220;unfashionable&#8221; will be coming for you, too.

Demonstrators Rally Outside Holyrood Against SNP’s Hate Crime Bill

Scotland Makes It Illegal To Hurt A Trans Person’s Feelings

Scotland Makes It Illegal To Hurt A Trans Person's Feelings

Hate Crime

Hate Speech

J.K. Rowling

Letitia James

Matt Walsh

New York

Opinion

Parliament

Readers Pass

Former billionaire entrepreneur and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on Thursday after he was found guilty in November of seven counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, crimes that cost customers and lenders billions of dollars.
New York Judge Lewis Kaplan slapped Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, with 25 years after prosecutors said the 32-year-old should face a sentence between 40-50 years, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/sam-bankman-fried-sentencing-03-28-24/index.html">reported</a>. The judge found that following the collapse of the former billionaire&#8217;s cryptocurrency empire, investors, lenders, and customers lost more than $10 billion.
“He did it because he wanted to be a hugely, hugely political influential person in this country,” Kaplan said, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/28/us-news/sam-bankman-fried-faces-decades-in-prison-as-hes-sentenced-today-for-multi-billion-dollar-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Post</a>, adding, “He knew it was wrong, he knew it was criminal, he regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of being caught.&#8221;
Judge Kaplan also said in the sentencing hearing that SBF committed witness tampering and perjury during his monthslong trial when he communicated with the former FTX general counsel while in custody and falsely testified that he did not know that FTX&#8217;s sister hedge fund Alameda Research spent his customers&#8217; deposits before the fall of 2022.
SBF&#8217;s lawyers argued that their client should only face six and a half years at most, saying, “His real motivations were misapprehended and misunderstood.&#8221;
&#8220;Really he’s an awkward math nerd&#8230;He loves video games and veganism, and he’s compassionate to animals,&#8221; attorney Marc Mukasey added.
Bankman-Fried addressed the court during the sentencing hearing and apologized, according to CNN.
&#8220;A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I am sorry about what happened at every stage. And there are things I should&#8217;ve done and things I shouldn&#8217;t have.&#8221;
&#8220;My useful life is probably over. It&#8217;s been over for a while now,&#8221; the 32-year-old added.
He <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/28/live-updates-ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-sentencing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intends</a> to appeal the conviction and sentence.
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Along with becoming a giant in the crypto sphere, Bankman-Fried lobbied and donated millions of dollars to political campaigns and lawmakers. SBF donated nearly $40 million primarily to Democrat nominees and political action committees ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. He was also the second-largest donor to the 2020 Biden presidential campaign and was <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-29/bankman-fried-met-white-house-aides-in-pre-collapse-crypto-push" target="_blank" rel="noopener">granted</a> four meetings at the White House with senior advisers in the months before his companies filed for bankruptcy.
SBF also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/16/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-pandemic-prevention/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dumped millions</a> of dollars into &#8220;pandemic prevention,&#8221; which included research into the development of new treatments, including for COVID-19. Before his company FTX collapsed, it was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariredbord/2023/02/01/tom-brady-and-other-a-listers-fumble-ftx-endorsements-but-will-they-be-held-liable/?sh=7136bc497d8c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed</a> by athletes and celebrities such as Tom Brady and his ex-wife Gisele Bündchen, Stephen Curry, Kevin O&#8217;Leary, and Larry David, among others.
Last March, the Justice Department unsealed more <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-charged-for-allegedly-bribing-communist-chinese-officials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charges</a> for SBF, alleging that he “authorized and directed a bribe of at least $40 million to one or more Chinese government officials.”

Sam Bankman-Fried

Fraudster, Dem Megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To Prison

Courts

Cryptocurrency

Judge

In 16th century Scotland, it was easy to deal with problematic women.
Nearly 2,500 people were tried and mostly executed for “witchcraft.” Their crime? Largely, they were mouthy, opinionated, a bit odd, or disliked.
If “witch!” didn’t stick, “heretic!” would do the trick, under Scotland’s then pervasive anti-blasphemy laws.
“Othering” those of minority beliefs made them easy to hang.
With the spread of liberal democracy, Scotland’s witch trials went defunct. We thought we had learned tolerance. But on April 1 of this year, a new “blasphemy” law will come into effect – set to punish modern “heretics” who blaspheme against today’s dominant societal beliefs.
The “<a href="https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hate Speech and Public Order Act</a>” introduces a new offense of “stirring up hatred” on the basis of, inter alia, transgender identity.
Nobody likes to feel hated. But the government has failed to adequately define which speech is actually banned, leaving citizens open to prosecution for saying anything the state deems unacceptable — or that any given individual decides is offensive.
There are no private places beyond the state’s listening ears — the law applies even to dinner table discussions in the family home, and can be enforced if your children decide to report you for voicing your (un)orthodox beliefs.
The cost of “free speech” is at an all-time high.
Up to seven years behind bars await our new heretics.
And the mob already has their eyes set on a target, pitchforks sharpened. A wise and wizardly woman with decidedly problematic, public views about pronouns: J.K. Rowling.
In anticipation of the law’s launch on April 1, activists are in frenzied <a href="https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1769412494353678400?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anticipation</a> of bringing our most successful author down.
Having commentated on social media about the need to protect single-sexed prison cells, rape shelters and changing rooms, the world-renowned Scot put a target on her back to be hunted by the puritans of the Church of Woke.
Threats abound to report her to the police unless she succumbs to pressure to change her pronoun usage on “X.” The witch hunt has begun.
Of course, crying “witch” has gone out of fashion. In fact, in 2022, Scotland’s leader issued an official state <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/08/nicola-sturgeon-issues-apology-for-historical-injustice-of-witch-hunts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apology</a> for the ‘historical injustice’ of witch hunts. But name-calling the enemy is too successful a technique to stop.
And so the Scottish authorities have slapped a new name on an old story, and this week launched an infantilizing <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13198995/Police-face-ridicule-ludicrous-Hate-Monster-campaign.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">campaign</a> to support their new law. Beware: “The hate monster”!
The campaign, backed with public money, warns us against “the feeling some people get when they are frustrated and angry and take it out on others, because they feel like they need to show they are better than them’ — ‘in other words, they ­commit a hate crime.”
Young, white, working-class men are the most likely to succumb to “the hate monster,” we’re told, in a prejudicial jibe at a disadvantaged demographic. Holding alternative beliefs to those of the wealthy elite doth not make man “monster.”
Expressing anger is not, in itself, a crime. Rowling hasn’t even expressed anger. She’s merely spoken truthfully about biological reality. She may not be a working-class male. But she has reason to worry nonetheless.
Where hate speech laws have been enforced around the world, citizens have been prosecuted for tweets of a similarly cordial tone. In Finland, a parliamentarian and grandmother underwent a <a href="https://adfinternational.org/en-gb/portfolio/free-speech-on-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminal trial</a> for a Bible verse tweet that questioned her Church’s sponsorship of a pride event.
In Mexico, <a href="https://adfinternational.org/news/mexican-civil-society-leader-found-guilty-of-gender-based-political-violence-for-tweets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two</a> <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/human-rights-group-demands-response-mexican-government-lawmaker-charged-political-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">politicians</a> from differing parties have both been convicted of “gender based political violence” and placed on an offenders’ register, simply for upholding their beliefs about gender and pronouns on Musk’s platform.
There’s nothing to stop Scotland’s hate crime law from doing the same thing — either to J.K. Rowling; or to another citizen with less money and influence to withstand the pressure.
The author of the wizarding world could be at the center of her own next witchy tale.
The Scottish government should take heed. Jailing citizens for having the “wrong” opinions — whether a working-class male or billionaire female — has never fallen on the right side of history.
* * *
Lois McLatchie Miller is Senior Legal Communications Officer for Alliance Defending Freedom UK. Follow her: @LoisMcLatch
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

JK Rowling

Scotland’s New Blasphemy Law Could Put J.K. Rowling In Jail

Scotland's New Blasphemy Law Could Put J.K. Rowling In Jail

Europe

Great Britain

Scotland

Reality TV star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/todd-and-julie-chrisley-receive-1-million-following-tax-evasion-investigation-against-reality-stars">Julie Chrisley</a> of &#8220;Chrisley Knows Best&#8221; opened up about the moment a prison doctor shared news with her about a possible tumor.
During Savannah Chrisley&#8217;s recent &#8220;Unlocked&#8221; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMlpHT_105M">podcast</a> episode, Julie Chrisley&#8217;s daughter got emotional as she shared several letters that her mom had written to her from prison — where she&#8217;s served a year behind bars so far after being convicted for fraud and tax evasion in 2022.
&#8220;I walked in thinking it was gynecology,&#8221; Chrisley’s letter read. &#8220;I sat down with the doctor and she proceeded to tell me that my HCG level was high — 10.2. This is a pregnancy hormone. It should not be that high.&#8221;
&#8220;If it were a little higher, I would test positive on a pregnancy test,&#8221; the letter added.&#8221;Since that&#8217;s not a possibility, it could be a sign of a tumor.&#8221;
&#8220;I literally fell apart,&#8221; Chrisley&#8217;s letter continued. &#8220;How can this be happening? I&#8217;m going to have blood work redone and get a scan. I&#8217;ve not told anyone and I&#8217;m not going to until I know what&#8217;s going on. I&#8217;m so scared. I just want my husband [<a href="https://people.com/tag/todd-chrisley/">Todd Chrisley</a>]. I don&#8217;t know if I can do this without him.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Julie Chrisley &#8216;Fell Apart&#8217; When Prison Doctor Shared News of Possible Tumor: &#8216;I’m So Scared&#8217; <a href="https://t.co/DsphLnVCRX">https://t.co/DsphLnVCRX</a>
— People (@people) <a href="https://twitter.com/people/status/1765144284859117777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;This right here is a perfect example of the lack of healthcare that you receive in the system and how they&#8217;re not the most educated doctors that work for the BOP[Federal Bureau of Prisons],&#8221; Savannah said after she finished the letter.
&#8220;They tell your family absolutely nothing,&#8221; she added. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t notified of any of this. They don&#8217;t care. If my mom were to go to the hospital I would not know. And to think of her sitting there worrying about, &#8216;Oh, my God. My cancer may be back…'&#8221;
Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2012 and ended up having a double mastectomy as well as a hysterectomy before sharing she was in remission, <a href="https://people.com/julie-chrisley-fell-apart-when-prison-doctor-shared-news-of-possible-tumor-8604805">People magazine</a> noted. 
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In March 2022, on her podcast &#8220;Chrisley Confessions,&#8221; Julie revealed that her doctor told her she no longer had to take the cancer treatment pill tamoxifen to prevent recurrence.
In June 2022, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reality-tv-stars-todd-and-julie-chrisley-react-to-divorce-rumors-while-in-prison">Julie and her husband Todd Chrisley</a> were convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. In addition, Julie was also convicted on a charge of wire fraud and obstruction of justice. They have denied the charges.
The couple was sentenced in November 2022 to a total of 19 years behind bars after they were convicted for their multimillion-dollar bank fraud and tax evasion scheme, <a href="https://people.com/tv/todd-chrisley-julie-chrisley-report-to-prison/?hid=4f90b78dc31e627328d98338e1fa49d03b364abc&amp;did=8020388-20230117&amp;utm_source=ppl&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=people-news_newsletter&amp;utm_content=011723&amp;lctg=4f90b78dc31e627328d98338e1fa49d03b364abc">People</a> noted. Both were also ordered to serve an additional 16 months of probation following their releases.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reality-stars-todd-and-julie-chrisley-sentenced-to-prison">Chrisleys</a> reported in Jan. 2023 to begin their individual sentences.  Later in the year, a judge reduced Todd&#8217;s 12-year sentence by two years and reduced Julie&#8217;s 7-year sentence by 14 months, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reality-tv-stars-todd-and-julie-chrisleys-sentences-have-been-reduced">reported</a>.

Julie and Todd Chrisley

‘I’m So Scared’: Reality TV Star Julie Chrisley Opens Up About Prison Doctor Sharing News Of Possible Tumor

Cancer

Celebrities

Entertainment

Reality TV

A New York City woman who live-streamed herself ranting against police hours before she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/radio-host-who-preached-f-the-police-then-allegedly-killed-a-cop">drunkenly struck and killed</a> an NYPD officer in 2021 was sentenced to at least 22 years in prison on Wednesday.
Jessica Beauvais, 34, was convicted of manslaughter in the fatal hit-and-run of Anastasios Tsakos, a 14-year NYPD veteran and father of two. After Tsakos’ widow, Irene, tearfully pled with Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloysed for justice on Wednesday, he sentenced Beauvais to 20 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter and between two and seven years for leaving the scene of an accident, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/us-news/anti-cop-driver-who-killed-nypd-officer-in-boozy-hit-and-run-sentenced-after-widows-plea-in-court/">reported</a>. Beauvais’ sentences will run consecutively.
“As Jessica Beauvais was sobering up in a police station that morning, our world was collapsing,” Irene Tsakos said. “Because of a single person’s despicable actions, our family was sentenced to a lifetime of loss.”
Tsakos was struck by Beauvais while investigating an accident and directing traffic on the Long Island Expressway in the early morning hours of April 27, 2021. Hours earlier, the woman posted a Facebook stream where she discussed the trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
“This week we are going to talk about the ignorance that was the Derek Chauvin trial — or the ignorance that is essentially just is this f***ing justice system.” She also played the song “F*** Tha Police” by NWA. She added, “Like NWA say about the police – if you’re going to kill me, at least I get to take someone with me. I’m one of those people. If I’m going to go, someone is coming.”
The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9518625/Drunk-driver-says-f-k-police-downs-shots-video-killing-cop-hit-run.html">reported</a> that Beauvais was seen vaping and drinking during the video, and police said that she later confessed to downing vodka, wine, and smoking weed before the deadly hit-and-run. She was found to be high on drugs and her blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit at the time of the hit-and-run.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today after almost three years Jessica Beauvais is taken from the courtroom after being sentenced to 27 years for killing Det Anastasios Tsakos on April 27, 2021.<a href="https://twitter.com/DetectiveMunro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DetectiveMunro</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueLivesNYC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BlueLivesNYC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDHighway?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYPDHighway</a> <a href="https://t.co/hca9rfQzhm">pic.twitter.com/hca9rfQzhm</a>
&mdash; NYCPDPHOTOS (@NYCPDPHOTOS) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCPDPHOTOS/status/1760395130714968134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Before Beauvais was convicted in October, prosecutors described in detail the gruesome crash that killed Tsakos.
“His organs and bones were crushed,” Assistant District Attorney Greg Lasak Jr. told the jury, according to the Post. “His leg was amputated. He landed 171 feet from impact.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“She left him there on the side of the road to die, without his leg,” he added.
Asked by the judge if she wanted to say anything before he handed down his sentence, Beauvais simply said, “I’m sorry,” CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/woman-faces-sentencing-for-2021-drunk-driving-crash-that-killed-nypd-det-anastasios-tsakos/">reported</a>. Beauvais had previously rejected a plea deal that would have sent her to prison for 16 years.
“My children don’t understand the permanence of death,” Irene Tsakos added before a courtroom filled with NYPD officers. “They were trying to figure out ways to bring him back somehow. Our son wanted me to get him a big kite so he could fly it high in the sky so his daddy could grab onto it and bring him back. He cried daily ’cause Daddy would never hold him again. He was only 3 years old.”
“Our 6-year-old daughter is a daddy’s girl,” she continued. “At night she would pray and promise to be very good if only he would bring her daddy back.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Receiving the NYPD Medal of Honor (Posthumously) is Detective Anastasios Tsakos of Highway 3. His wife, Irene, accepted the medal on his behalf. Det. Tsakos was killed in the line of duty on 04/27/21 when he was struck by a drunk motorist. <a href="https://t.co/9StrSKDYUo">pic.twitter.com/9StrSKDYUo</a>
&mdash; NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1534210708287758337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hank Berrien contributed to this report.

Funeral Held For NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos, Killed By Drunk Driver On Long Island Expressway

Anti-Police Woman Who Killed NYPD Officer In Drunken Hit-And-Run Sentenced To Prison

Death

Drunk Driving

NYPD

Police

Russian opposition leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alexei-navalny" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alexei Navalny</a> has died in a remote Arctic prison, according to Russian authorities. He was 47. 
Navalny, a frequent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was in prison after being convicted on charges of “extremism” and sentenced to 19 years in prison. Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-dead-opposition-leader-2d11644f7ae5332587b39150f1fd1738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Navalny felt sick after going on a walk and soon after lost consciousness and died. 
“The facility’s medical workers immediately arrived at the scene and an emergency medical team was called in. All necessary resuscitation measures have been carried out, but they did not yield positive results. Emergency medics confirmed the death of the convict,” Russia’s prison service <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-opposition-leader-alexei-navalny-dies-prison-rcna79718?_branch_match_id=1242666417023215563&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=NBC%20News&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXz0tKzkstL9ZLLCjQy8nMy9YPrjKuTMrKck31SAIAB%2B4SiiQAAAA%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement. 
A spokesperson for Navalny said his death was still being confirmed by his lawyer. 
“The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is spreading the news of Alexey Navalny&#8217;s death in IK-3. We have no confirmation of this yet. Alexey&#8217;s lawyer is currently on his way to Kharp. As soon as we have some information, we will report on it,” Kira Yarmysh <a href="https://twitter.com/Kira_Yarmysh/status/1758457690429305206" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. 
Navalny <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-loosely-warns-of-consequences-for-russia-if-navalny-dies-in-prison-as-gop-lawmakers-press-for-more-sanctions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had been sentenced</a> to prison in January 2021 after returning to Moscow from Germany, where he was undergoing treatment for poisoning from a nerve agent that he blamed on the Kremlin. The Kremlin has denied any responsibility for his poisoning, but United States intelligence officials have said they believe Russia was responsible. 
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Navalny frequently faced criminal charges during his career in Russian politics, which he said were motivated because of his opposition to Putin. Navalny <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/alexei-navalny-the-kremlins-most-ardent-critic-dies-d58db496">founded</a> the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was dissolved in Russia in 2021, to expose corruption by high-ranking Russian officials and challenge the United Russia Party&#8217;s control over the country&#8217;s political system.
President Joe Biden previously promised devastating consequences if Navalny died in jail. “I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said without expanding further,” Biden said after a meeting with Putin in June 2021.
He added, “What do you think happens when he’s saying it’s not about hurting Navalny, all the stuff he says to rationalize the treatment of Navalny, and then he dies in prison? It’s about trust. It’s about their ability to influence other nations in a positive way.”

Rally in support of political prisoners in central Moscow

Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Dies In Remote Arctic Prison, Authorities Say

Alexei Navalny

Russia

Vladimir Putin

World

I have talked a lot about the collapse of the criminal justice system. The very concept of criminal justice — of enacting justice, and punishing crime — has been destroyed. But very few people ever take the time to trace the roots of our current state of lawless anarchy back to its origins. And the thing is, you don’t need to trace the roots very far.
There is a reason why we now live in a country governed by people who don’t believe in simply enforcing the law and punishing lawbreakers. These are people who are operating according to certain particularly crazy set of beliefs. And one of those beliefs is that deterrence doesn’t exist. Effectively, you cannot deter crime by punishing it. That’s the insane idea that began in our institutions of higher learning — the sort of insane idea that can only begin in our institutions of higher learning — and filtered its way down from there. As these ideas always do.
It began with the claim, first made years ago, that the death penalty doesn’t deter crime. This was always false, for reasons we’ll touch on later. But whatever you think of the death penalty, the implication underlying this &#8220;deterrence&#8221; argument was never going to stop with the death penalty. It was always going to progress far beyond that. And indeed, we&#8217;ve seen that progression in recent years. It&#8217;s no longer, &#8220;The death penalty is pointless because people don&#8217;t consider those consequences when they commit crime.&#8221; Instead, the argument we&#8217;re hearing today is, &#8220;All harsh punishment is pointless because people don&#8217;t consider any consequences when they commit crime.&#8221;
This is the intellectual origin of the &#8220;soft-on-crime&#8221; approach to law enforcement that we&#8217;re seeing in every major city in the country right now. And several years ago, this approach was adopted by the Obama DOJ without any fanfare whatsoever. In May of 2016, the National Institute of Justice, which is the research arm of the DOJ, published a <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> entitled, &#8220;Five Things About Deterrence.&#8221; You’ve probably never heard of this document but it is essentially the modern manifesto of the anti-incarceration movement in the United States. It applies the reasoning of anti-death penalty advocates to all forms of crime. It’s truly a remarkable document.
So here are the &#8220;five things about deterrence&#8221; that the memo highlights and then expands upon.
Number one: &#8220;The certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment.&#8221; In other words, according to the DOJ, criminals are primarily worried about whether the cops are going to arrest them — not about how long they&#8217;re going to have to stay in prison. The question that apparently never occurred to this DOJ is: If the punishments aren’t severe, then why would the certainty of being caught deter anyone? Why would criminals care if they’re caught, if they know ahead of time that they won’t be punished? The whole reason that being caught is scary is that you will be punished. But if you aren’t punished, then being caught isn’t scary anymore. 
We are seeing this play out in cities across the country. Sure, the criminals are caught (sometimes), but it doesn’t matter because they aren’t punished and they’re back on the street a day later, committing more crimes. The argument from the DOJ is like saying that home invaders are deterred by guns, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a Glock or a super soaker. It makes no sense.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1309-why-the-criminal-justice-system-gave-up-on-punishing-criminals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
The DOJ&#8217;s manifesto doesn&#8217;t bother to expound on this point in any way. It just says, &#8220;Research shows clearly that the chance of being caught is a vastly more effective deterrent than even draconian punishment.&#8221; So there you have it. &#8220;Research&#8221; shows that punishment doesn&#8217;t work. What kind of research? They don&#8217;t say, at least not in that paragraph. Buried in the fine print on the page, however, is a citation to an <a href="https://prohic.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-06-02-DeterrenceMetaNagin.2013.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> by a public policy professor named Daniel Nagin at Carnegie Mellon University. This is the primary paper the DOJ relies on, along with a couple of others. Apparently, Nagin has done the research, and he&#8217;s realized that criminals don&#8217;t really care that much about punishment. They only care about the prospect of being caught.
I looked around to see if Nagin actually thinks this, and if so, what his logic is. I came across this clip from many years ago, which I&#8217;m going to play primarily because it&#8217;s kind of hilarious. Watch as a local news team breaks the news that, according to Daniel Nagin&#8217;s first groundbreaking finding, when you have more police officers, criminals tend to commit less crime. And then the news station interviews a couple of random people who think that checks out. This is one of the best examples of &#8220;research&#8221; telling us something that&#8217;s incredibly obvious, to a comical degree. But buried in this report, if you listen really carefully, is Nagin&#8217;s second theory, which the DOJ finds so compelling. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Research: More Police Presence Will Deter Criminals" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dhgHuK5WdQk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So the reporter holds up the stack of papers. &#8220;Here&#8217;s the research,&#8221; he says. &#8220;It shows that more police means less crime!&#8221; Cut to the two local residents and the sheriff who say, &#8220;uh, yeah. You think?&#8221; Apparently, being a professor at Carnegie Mellon isn&#8217;t what it used to be. Random people off the street think your research is incredibly obvious, because it is.
But the key part of that segment for our purposes is what Daniel Nagin says in that clip. He reports that, &#8220;There&#8217;s little evidence that making punishments even more severe than they already are has an incremental effect.&#8221; Right away, that&#8217;s a different argument from the one the DOJ is making. The DOJ said flat-out that, &#8220;draconian punishments&#8221; don&#8217;t deter crime. But the argument this Carnegie Mellon professor is advancing in that clip is that, if you make our existing punishments more severe, then they won&#8217;t deter crime that much. Those are two completely different arguments.
This little inconsistency confused me enough to look up Nagin&#8217;s actual paper — the one the DOJ cites in its manifesto on deterrence. And in that article, you&#8217;ll find two main claims.
The first one is the idea he outlines in that video clip, &#8220;There is little evidence that increases in the length of already long prison sentences yield general deterrence effects that are sufficiently large to justify their social and economic costs.&#8221; In other words, he&#8217;s saying that existing prison sentences are a sufficient deterrent, and we don&#8217;t need to make them longer.
But afterwards in the paper, Nagin goes on to say pretty much what the DOJ claims. He says, &#8220;I have concluded that there is little evidence of a specific deterrent effect arising from the experience of imprisonment compared with the experience of noncustodial sanctions such as probation. .. It is clear that lengthy prison sentences cannot be justified on a deterrence-based, crime prevention basis.&#8221;
Those claims don&#8217;t follow at all. His starting point is that we don&#8217;t need to make prison sentences longer. And somehow, without showing his work, he ends up with a declaration that criminals don&#8217;t really care about their punishments, only whether they&#8217;re apprehended — as though apprehension without punishment matters to anyone. We might as well just sentence everyone to probation, is what he&#8217;s saying.
The technical term for this kind of argument is that it&#8217;s garbage. It&#8217;s a clearly absurd result, but it&#8217;s the basis for the DOJ&#8217;s entire argument against deterrence. This is the document that the DOJ cites to justify its policy of releasing as many criminals as possible — or at least, criminals who share the DOJ&#8217;s politics. It&#8217;s hard to overemphasize how truly bizarre and incredible this is.
But it gets weirder. Citing Nagin&#8217;s research, the DOJ goes on to claim that, &#8220;Sending an individual convicted of a crime to prison isn’t a very effective way to deter crime.&#8221;
Again, that&#8217;s a direct quote from a document produced by the DOJ in 2016. &#8220;Sending an individual convicted of a crime to prison isn&#8217;t a very effective way to deter crime.&#8221; They&#8217;re saying that because some random Carnegie Mellon professor just wrote it down a few years earlier. Again, they don&#8217;t really clarify this point. Here&#8217;s the extent of the DOJ&#8217;s explanation: “Prisons are good for punishing criminals and keeping them off the street, but prison sentences (particularly long sentences) are unlikely to deter future crime. Prisons actually may have the opposite effect: Inmates learn more effective crime strategies from each other, and time spent in prison may desensitize many to the threat of future imprisonment.&#8221;
If this is true, it’s an argument for giving out even longer punishments, not shorter ones. In fact, this is a solid reason to be much more generous in handing out life sentences. If you give a life sentence — and actually make it a life sentence, meaning that the person isn&#8217;t released after 25 years or whatever — then the deterrence issue, at least for that individual, is a moot point. He’s gone. He’s off the street for good. But the DOJ doesn&#8217;t mention this possibility in the memo. Instead they conclude that we should let people out of jail sooner, after just telling us that jail only makes criminals more dangerous.
The rest of the DOJ document continues along these lines.
The third bullet point in the DOJ&#8217;s document says, &#8220;Police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and punished.&#8221; (This was the earth-shattering revelation that shocked those news reporters). 
Number four: &#8220;Increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.&#8221;
And number five: &#8220;There is no proof that the death penalty deters criminals.&#8221;
Those latter two bullet points contradict everything we know about the human condition. Obviously longer, harsh prison sentences deter crime. This is a basic fact of human psychology. People are less likely to do something if the consequences are very bad. That doesn’t mean nobody will do it. It doesn&#8217;t mean that everyone will respond to incentives like a rational person. It just means fewer people will do it. It&#8217;s impossible for a reasonable person to deny this point because it is again a basic fact of human behavior, well established over the course of thousands of years of human civilization.
That’s why they have no way of disproving it. All they have are random studies done by quack sociologists which are supposed to outweigh the collective experience of all mankind for the past 10 thousand years. And by the way, these random studies contradict the random studies I cited earlier — the ones CBS News reported on back in 2007.
That&#8217;s a cue that it&#8217;s a good idea to ignore all of these studies, and use common sense. The DOJ is stacking a handful of research papers against the totality of human experience, and expect us to believe the research papers. Which is also how they come up with the ridiculous proposition that the death penalty doesn’t deter crime. Obviously people are less likely to do something if you kill them for doing it. If the death penalty in its current form is less effective as a deterrence than it has been in the past, that&#8217;s only because we put so much time in between conviction and punishment that the punishment loses much of its societal impact.
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And again, the DOJ&#8217;s arguments are all assuming that &#8220;deterrence&#8221; is somehow the only relevant goal. But long prison sentences have another important goal, known as &#8220;incapacitation.&#8221; They remove violent criminals from the public, so they can&#8217;t hurt anyone again. 
Later on in the document, the DOJ does briefly touch on the goal of incapacitation. Here&#8217;s what they say: &#8220;Individuals grow out of criminal activity as they age. &#8230; A more severe (i.e., lengthy) prison sentence for convicted individuals who are naturally aging out of crime does achieve the goal of punishment and incapacitation. But that incapacitation is a costly way to deter future crimes by aging individuals who already are less likely to commit those crimes by virtue of age.&#8221;
This is how the DOJ views criminal justice. They actually say that sending criminals to prison for a long time might be pointless because they&#8217;ll grow out of being criminals anyway. This is the type of thinking that is directing the justice system from the very top, and the mental rot goes all the way down from there.
But the DOJ does make one point that makes sense, which is that it&#8217;s impossible to say which criminals are likely to reoffend, and which criminals are likely to &#8220;age out&#8221; of a life of crime. That&#8217;s true. Really, it&#8217;s impossible to conduct a fully accurate study of deterrence. There&#8217;s no way to quantify the number of people who would have committed a crime had the punishments been softer, or the number who did commit one because the punishments were too soft. This would require not only self-reported data (which is notoriously unreliable) but also a person&#8217;s speculations about their theoretical mental states in some other possible universe. There&#8217;s just no way to compile that into a statistic and call it science.
We ultimately have to fall back on the history of human societies and our own basic common sense intuitions about how human beings operate and what sorts of things incentivize and disincentivize them.
And all of that points back to a simple and straightforward conclusion: if you want less crime, you have one choice. It&#8217;s the choice that academics and public health experts and politicians have avoided making for decades now. You have to punish criminals, and you have to punish them severely.

Chalk Outline at Police Crime Scene

Why The Criminal Justice System Gave Up On Punishing Criminals

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A massive riot at a California prison on Wednesday led to eight corrections officers and one inmate being hospitalized, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Authorities said that 200 inmates at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe “rushed toward the officers attacking them with fists and rocks.” The violent outburst began around 10 a.m. Wednesday when officers were escorting an inmate who was part of a contraband investigation, KCRA <a href="https://www.kcra.com/article/blythe-prison-riot-200-prisoners-9-injured/46619417#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The prisoners reportedly rushed the corrections officers after the inmate they were escorting headbutted a staff member and was being subdued.
Officers fired warning shots from their rifles and then used &#8220;chemical agents and non-lethal impact rounds&#8221; to stop the riot, authorities said in a statement. The eight corrections officers and the inmate who were injured in the melee were treated at a hospital and later released from care. Information on the extent of the corrections officers’ and inmate’s injuries wasn’t available.
Authorities have reportedly identified at least 30 prisoners who had direct involvement in the riot as their investigation continues. Ironwood is a minimum-medium security prison that houses around 2,500 prisoners east of Los Angeles, according to KCRA.
California <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/200-inmates-rush-guards-during-riot-at-riverside-county-prison/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a statewide prison threat warning after the riot on Wednesday, which sparked a 24-hour statewide threat assessment as prisoners were restricted to their cells.
As California imprisons fewer people and some prisons close down permanently, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has promised to focus more on rehabilitation. Last year, Newsom <a href="https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/03/san-quentin-prison-gavin-newsom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the transformation of the high-security San Quentin State Prison into a “center for innovation focused on education, rehabilitation and breaking cycles of crime.”
Newsom argued that a greater emphasis on rehabilitation will be better for prisoners and communities in the long run.
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“We’re here to do more and be better, to reconcile and to address the stubborn realities. We are as dumb as we want to be,” he said at San Quentin. “Two-thirds of folks coming out of prison every year, within three years, violate some probation order or commit another damn crime. Where’s the safety in that?”

8 Corrections Officers Hospitalized After 200 Prisoners Riot At California Prison, Authorities Say

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<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ecuador" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ecuador&#8217;s</a> military on Thursday descended on a massive prison after several alarming events, including the escape of a gang boss and the alleged assassination of a prosecutor.
Hundred of Ecuadoran soldiers and police marched into the major prison complex in Guayaquil, video footage released by Ecuador&#8217;s military <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSYNjEZNvIs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a>. Photos <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12982509/Ecuadors-war-gangs-hundreds-soldiers-swarm-prison.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a> prisoners kneeling or lying on the floor of the prison in their underwear with their hands tied. Dozens of military vehicles arrived at the prison as well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒔, 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒐, 𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒔 𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒐́𝒏 𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝑷𝑳 𝑬𝒍 𝑶𝒓𝒐 𝑵.°𝟏
El <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BloqueDeSeguridad?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BloqueDeSeguridad</a> realizó un registro a las celdas del Centro de Privación de Libertad N.° 1 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElOro?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ElOro</a> y se encontró:
&#8211; 02 arma… <a href="https://t.co/1YqtOD9pjW">pic.twitter.com/1YqtOD9pjW</a>
&mdash; Ejército Ecuatoriano (@EjercitoECU) <a href="https://twitter.com/EjercitoECU/status/1748375539335811511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
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All Ecuador prison staff held hostage by inmates now free, officials say <a href="https://t.co/UMoV955Idq">https://t.co/UMoV955Idq</a> <a href="https://t.co/Wi1ZyeNRsf">pic.twitter.com/Wi1ZyeNRsf</a>
&mdash; Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld/status/1746434533308641706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Last week, gang leader Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as &#8220;Fito,&#8221; escaped from the same prison complex. On January 7, police found his cell empty when they came to move him to a higher security wing within the prison.
Fito is the leader of Los Choneros, one of the most dangerous gangs in Ecuador, which works with cartels in Mexico and is involved in drug trafficking to the U.S.
The news of the crime boss&#8217; escape caused riots in at least six jails that in some cases involved prison guards held hostage. Explosives were also set off in some cities.
The situation prompted a swift government crackdown, which led to retaliation from Ecuador&#8217;s powerful drug cartels.
The day after Fito&#8217;s escape on January 8, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68022873" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> a state of emergency amid the chaos.
A day later on January 9, a group of armed criminals stormed a local television station, TC Television, while it was broadcasting live.
The attackers fired guns and forced staff to lie on the ground.
One woman <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12982509/Ecuadors-war-gangs-hundreds-soldiers-swarm-prison.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could</a> be heard saying, &#8220;Don&#8217;t shoot, please don&#8217;t shoot.&#8221;
After about 30 minutes, police came into the television studio and arrested 13 people, including many teenagers.
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Then on Wednesday, the prosecutor who was leading the investigation into the television network attack was assassinated in Guayaquil, according to Ecuador’s Attorney General Diana Salazar.
Since then, police have arrested two men allegedly connected to the prosecutor&#8217;s assassination, according to General Commander of the National Police, Cesar Zapata.
“I am going to be emphatic, the organized criminal groups, criminals, terrorists will not stop our commitment to the Ecuadorian society, we will continue with more strength and commitment,” Salazar <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/world/ecuador-prosecutor-cesar-suarez-assassinated-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The Guayaquil prison, which is near Ecuador&#8217;s biggest port and export hub, has become the locus of the clash between the government and organized crime.
Ecuador has become the globe&#8217;s biggest cocaine distributor, and the drug cartels move huge amounts of that cocaine through the Guayaquil port. Much of the cocaine originally comes from neighboring countries Colombia and Peru.

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Hundreds Of Ecuadoran Soldiers Descend On Prison Amid Gang Crackdown After Crime Boss Escape

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