Saturday Miscellany

First, there is the case of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. She has just declared her candidacy for yet another five year term.

The Telegraph has the story of her impressive failure:

She steered the continent through the pandemic. She has massively increased the powers of the European Commission. And she has led a response to the challenges of climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and competition from China.

Ursula von der Leyen might well have convinced herself of the strength of her record when she launched her bid for five more years as President of the Commission on Monday. There’s a problem, however. She has been a disaster for the European economy. Over the last five years, she has launched a ruinously expensive round of borrowing as well as a green strategy that will de-industrialise the continent, all while imposing round after round of growth-destroying regulations. On Von der Leyen’s watch, the EU has fallen decisively behind the rest of the world – and there is little hope of it recovering during a second term.

Second, from Indiana, of all places. A boy told his parents that he had decided to be a girl. His parents refused, on religious grounds, to support his delusions. 

When the case was reported to civic authorities, they removed the boy from his home. The parents are appealing the case to the Supreme Court.

The New York Post has the story:

In 2019, Mary and Jeremy’s son told them that he identified as a girl, but in line with their Catholic religious beliefs that God created human beings with an immutable sex, male or female, they did not believe in referring to him using pronouns and a name inconsistent with his biology.

In addition, the Coxes believed their son was struggling with underlying mental health conditions, including an eating disorder, so they sought therapeutic care for both.

But, in 2021, Indiana officials began investigating the Coxes after a report found they were not referring to their child by his preferred gender identity, removing the teen from their custody and placing him in a “gender-affirming” home. Despite the unsubstantiated claims of abuse, they claimed the Coxes made the child’s eating disorder worse even though it worsened after he was removed and placed in a transition-affirming home….

“This is what every parent is afraid of,” Mary and Jeremy Cox said in a press release. “We love our son and wanted to care for him, but the state of Indiana robbed us of that opportunity by taking him from our home and banning us from speaking to him about gender.”

“We are hopeful that the Justices will take our case and protect other parents from having to endure the nightmare we did,” they added.

Third, the fallout from the New York court decision against Donald Trump is continuing. We recently remarked that Kevin O’Leary, of Shark Tank fame, had declared New York State unsafe for any investments. 

Now, another money manager has also stopped investing in the state. This, from the Washington Examiner:

Prominent investors have signaled their intent to halt their business in New York following the $355 million verdict in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud case.

Real estate mogul Grant Cardone announced on Tuesday that his firm Cardone Capital would no longer underwrite New York real estate, one day after Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary vowed to no longer invest in the state as a result of the verdict.

“Immediately discontinue ALL underwriting on New York City real estate,” Cardone ordered his firm in a post on X. “The risk outweigh the opportunities at this time. Recent political decisions will continue to deteriorate price and benefit states that don’t have these challenges. Focus on Texas & Florida.”

Fourth, the pushback against pro-crime prosecutors has found a new champion in Arizona. Maricopa County prosecutor Rachel Mitchell has refused to extradite a criminal to New York City, because she has no confidence in New York’s District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The New York Post reports:

The Arizona prosecutor refusing to send an accused prostitute killer to New York said she is looking out for his victims' families and cannot guarantee the suspect will remain locked up due to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's lax bail policies. 

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has ordered her staff not to extradite Raad Noan Almansoori, 26, to New York where he's wanted for the alleged murder of sex worker Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38.

He was arrested in Arizona after police said he stabbed two women - one in a McDonalds and the other while stealing her car.

Fifth, Alvin Bragg counts among the most prominent of Soros DAs. Apparently, the Soros effort to promote crime in America’s great cities is failing. Or better, succeeding. Single-handedly Soros has unleashed a crime wave across the country.

People are beginning to notice and the DAs are being replaced and removed. One recalls that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has led the way, firing two prosecuting attorneys who refused to prosecute.

The New York Post tells what has been happening:

For $40 million — a rounding error for one of the wealthiest men in history — George Soros helped remake the nation’s legal system.

Supporting prosecutors who vowed not to prosecute, Soros and related entities pushed district attorneys who aimed to reshape law and order into anarchy and disorder.

It worked. At his peak influence, 75 Soros-backed prosecutors held office. As a result, one in five Americans, and half of those living in the nation’s most populous cities, were living in an area run by a Soros DA, or one who shared his ideology.

The damage they have done has been immeasurable. Shoplifting and drug use was decriminalized, repeat offenders were set free with no bail, and murders, robbery and rape increased in Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and more.

But the worm has started to turn. Through a combination of corruption and voter backlash, a significant number of these district attorneys have been ousted.

There’s still a long way to go, but the message is clear: The Soros experiment has been a disaster for the nation.

Sixth, meanwhile in the Middle East the leftist propaganda machine is firing on all cylinders. Among the lies it has been perpetrating is this one-- that Hamas did not rape and murder scores of Israeli women and children. 

Now, Legal Insurrection reports the truth:

The use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas and Palestinian “civilians” during the October 7 attacks and upon hostages abducted that day is well-documented, and has been confirmed even by news outlets traditionally hostile to Israel, like the NY Times and Associated Press.

Nonetheless, there is a concerted rape-denialism movement stoked by the same people who also claim Israeli killed many if not most of the October 7 Israeli and foreign victims. They exploit the fact that the Palestinians murdered almost all of the rape and sexual assault victims on the spot, so there are few if any survivors to step forward. Israel also was in the midst of a chaotic mass casualty event and invasion where the bodies were in the middle of a war zone. It took many days, and in some cases weeks, to round up all the Palestinian infiltrators, so not as much evidence was preserved and documented as might have happened in an isolated event. But witness testimony and forensic evidence has been accumulating.

And also,

Hamas’s attack on October 7 included brutal sexual assaults, carried out systematically and deliberately towards Israeli civilians. Numerous testimonies and pieces of disclosed and classified information present a clear picture of identical patterns of action repeated in each of the attack zones – the Nova Festival, private homes in the Gaza envelope kibbutzim, and IDF bases. With the abduction of 254 individuals to the Gaza Strip areas, sexual assaults continued to occur also in this arena. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that the kidnapped women and men in Hamas captivity are still at risk of sexual abuse at any given moment.

Hamas’s attack included violent acts of rape, accompanied by threats with weapons, and in some cases targeted towards injured women. Many of the rapes were carried out as a group, with the participation of violent terrorists. Often, the rape was perpetrated in front of an audience – partners, family, or friends – in a manner intended to increase the pain and humiliation of all present. Hamas terrorists hunted young women and men who fled the Nova festival, and according to testimonies, dragged them by their hair amid screams. The actions targeted women, girls, and men. In most cases, the victims were killed after or even during the rape.

Seventh, from the University of Georgia, authorities have arrested a suspect in the murder of a nursing student, named Laken Riley. The suspect is an illegal alien from Venezuela. The Customs and Border Patrol had released him because they did not have any room to hold him.

The Daily Mail reports:

An illegal immigrant freed because of lack of detention space is now accused of murdering a 22 year-old University of Georgia student after she went for a run. 

Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested for the murder of Laken Riley in Athens - a sanctuary city - on Friday and is now being held at the Clarke County Jail.

NewsNation reporter Ali Bradley said Ibarra, 26, is originally from Venezuela and crossed into El Paso, Texas, in September 2022.

He was released into the United States by Customs and Border Patrol because the worsening migrant crisis means they have insufficient facilities to hold all border crossers that they intercept.  Cops don't believe Ibarra knew his victim. 

Riley, 22, was found dead Thursday afternoon after her roommate reported her missing, saying she had not returned from her jog. 

Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another. 

Thanks to Joe Biden for opening the nation’s borders! We are anxiously awaiting the campaign ads.

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