March 02, 2024

New York's Attorney General Makes A Fool Of The Governor

March 02, 2024/ Francis Menton

Two weeks ago, on February 16, in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court issued his decision ordering Donald Trump to pay some $355 million of “disgorgement” penalties.
The issuance of Justice Engoron’s decision brought forth an immediate reaction from many quarters (including Manhattan Contrarian here).
If the AG can use a broad statute to target a politically-disfavored individual like Trump in this way, how could any person doing business in New York think they are safe from similar legal abuse?
Recognizing the problem, our lightweight Governor Kathy Hochul went on a radio talk show on February 18 in an effort to reassure the New York business community.

February 20, 2024

The Stalinist New York Attorney General Scores A Big Win Against Trump (For Now)

February 20, 2024/ Francis Menton

Josef Stalin set the example for the world as the most ruthless practitioner of the art of using a thoroughly corrupt and subservient “justice system” to eliminate all political opposition.
Many, many others have since succumbed to temptation and followed Stalin’s lead. Current notable examples include the recent murder of Alexei Navalny in prison in Russia; Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who fled that country in late 2023 after his arrest was threatened by the Maduro regime; and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and current opposition leader Imran Khan, convicted in January 2024 of “disclosing a state secret” and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Funny how the countries that engage in such practices virtually always have failed economies as well.
The United States has been remarkably free of such practices during its history. But we have seen a sudden complete reversal of that commendable history with the efforts of multiple political actors and prosecutors to use the courts to take down former President Trump.

October 12, 2023

October 12, 2023/ Francis Menton

One of the benefits of living in Manhattan is that there are many interesting things to go and see. For example, there are lots of plays, concerts, museums, and even the occasional political show trial.
Today, I thought I might stop by the state government’s civil fraud trial against ex-President Trump, to see how it’s going. The trial, now nearing the end of its second week, is taking place at the main state courthouse at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan.
The last time I dropped in on a political trial in Manhattan, it was the New York AG’s case against Exxon for supposedly defrauding its investors by using different valuation methodologies to assess projects for internal versus external corporate purposes. I covered that trial in an October 2019 post titled “A Serious Contender For The Stupidest Litigation In The Country Goes To Trial.” The AG quickly lost that case ignominiously, which I covered in a further post in December 2019.
Is this case any better?

June 13, 2023

June 13, 2023/ Francis Menton

The original idea of the “independent” administrative agencies was to place the details of governing a complex economy in the hands of wise experts. These experts would be removed from tawdry and corrupting political influences, and would straightforwardly apply neutral principles to achieve fairness and justice in our society.
In the real world, every federal administrative agency, with especial emphasis on the supposedly “independent” ones, becomes larger, more power-hungry, and more corrupt with every passing year.
Somehow, it’s in the nature of the job as federal bureaucrat to believe that you can perfect the world by seizing ever more power unto yourself, imposing more and more rules whether or not authorized by statute, and crushing anyone who gets in your way. Biden’s presidency has accelerated these trends toward infinity.
Consider for today the SEC.

June 10, 2023

June 10, 2023/ Francis Menton

Two days ago (June 8) a federal grand jury in Florida, at the behest of Justice Department “special prosecutor” Jack Smith, indicted ex-President and current presidential candidate Trump over matters related to the retention of classified documents generated during his time in the White House. The full text of the indictment can be found here.
You might think that indictment of the currently-leading opposition candidate to the incumbent president in the upcoming election would be something reserved for a case of extraordinary significance.
After all, using the criminal justice system to prosecute political rivals is one of the hallmarks of the Banana Republic. Among those who have used the strategy are Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and, of course, Vladimir Putin of Russia.

December 28, 2022

December 28, 2022/ Francis Menton

Every day it seems that more and more information comes out showing our federal law enforcement agencies — the FBI and the Department of Justice — to be partisan enforcers working on taxpayer money for the exclusive benefit of the Democratic Party.
In the most recent two weeks, it’s the Twitter Files, with the FBI caught red-handed pressuring the social media giant to suppress completely legal and First Amendment-protected (but disfavored) speech unfavorable to Joe Biden’s election (e.g., the Hunter Biden laptop story), or to the authoritarian dreams of our public health establishment (Covid-19).
And this is only the latest episode in the long-running sordid story. For large numbers of prior examples, see my posts from July 2, 2021 (“Justice In This Country Is Not Dispensed Impartially Between Democrats And Republicans”) and February 18, 2020 (“How Confident Are You That ‘Justice In This Country Is Dispensed Impartially?’). . . .
And now along comes a new instance that may top them all.