Juicy Smollet Trial

[ajax18]

The Jussie Smollett case was well discussed on this forum when it happened.

Got a link? It'd be interesting to see what K Graham or whoever he was at the time had to say at the time. Somehow I would think it would mirror our current president and vice president. So in case you forgot according to Vice President Harris, what happened to Jussie Smollet was a modern day lynching.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are among Democrats who are being widely mocked for their silence in the wake of Jussie Smollett’s guilty verdict — after initially throwing their support behind the embattled actor.

Biden and Harris’ old tweets — including one in which the veep described the attack as a “modern day lynching” — resurfaced after the “Empire” star was convicted Thursday of staging an elaborate hate crime against himself and filing a false police report.

Immediately after Smollett claimed in 2019 that two Trump-loving bigots beat him up and tied a noose around his neck, Biden — who had yet to announce his bid for president — declared he was standing with the actor.

“What happened today to @JussieSmollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie,” Biden tweeted in January 2019.

Harris, meanwhile, branded the ordeal a “modern day lynching.”

President Biden, before he held the role in 2019, stood behind Jussie Smollett after it appeared the actor had been attacked.

“@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate,” Harris tweeted at the time.

US Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) echoed Harris’ comments, tweeting: “The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. I’m glad he’s safe. To those in Congress who don’t feel the urgency to pass our Anti-Lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime — I urge you to pay attention.”

They were joined by a string of other liberal politicians, including “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

“There is no such thing as ‘racially charged.’ This attack was not ‘possibly’ homophobic. It was a racist and homophobic attack. If you don’t like what is happening to our country, then work to change it. It is no one’s job to water down or sugar-coat the rise of hate crimes,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in January 2019 with a link to a news article about Smollett.

Tlaib tweeted the same day: “The dangerous lies spewing from the right wing is killing & hurting our people. Thinking of you @JussieSmollett, and my LGBTQ neighbors.”

The tweets, which are still up, started circulating again after Smollett’s guilty verdict was handed down as conservatives called on Biden, Harris and their colleagues to issue retractions.

“Joe Biden defended Jussie Smollett. Kamala Harris defended Jussie Smollett. Bernie Sanders defended Jussie Smollett. Elizabeth Warren defended Jussie Smollett. Those who defend a fraud are frauds themselves,” tweeted Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in the 2018 slaughter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted: “Kyle Rittenhouse, Jussie Smollett … Biden never misses an opportunity to play politics and prejudge cases before he has all the facts.”

Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, sarcastically tweeting that Smollett got the justice he had been seeking.

“I’m just happy to live in a country where people will go to jail for attacking a gay black man… There’s absolutely no place for that s—t in America, or anywhere else, and I am happy the perpetrator was brought to justice,” he tweeted.

https://nypost.com/2021/12/10/vp-harris ... -lynching/


When the left has to jump on stories like this to drive their narrative that Donald Trump's rhetoric was behind hate crimes against black and gay people, you start to realize that the demand for racism in America today far exceeds the supply.

[ajax18]

Ajax, just so we're clear, Smollet's behavior was reprehensible.

I think what was so reprehensible is how nearly everyone in the mainstream media and on the left jumped at the opportunity to declare that Donald Trump and the conservative movement had indeed inspired his supporters to go out and attack gay and black people. The idea that what these "Trump supporters," did to Jussie was good reason to censor Fox News and other conservative media outlets took root almost immediately. Anyone who didn't believe Jussie's story without question, was a racist sexist bigoted homophobe and must be silenced. As the truth began to trickle out, Don Lemon tried to inform Jussie behind the scenes that the police were skeptical of his story. The quotes above are just one example of the mainstream media and Democrat party rushing to judgment and why they can't be trusted.

[K Graham]

Ajax, just so we're clear, Smollet's behavior was reprehensible.

I think what was so reprehensible is how nearly everyone in the mainstream media and on the left jumped at the opportunity to declare that Donald Trump and the conservative movement had indeed inspired his supporters to go out and attack gay and black people. The idea that what these "Trump supporters," did to Jussie was good reason to censor Fox News and other conservative media outlets took root almost immediately. Anyone who didn't believe Jussie's story without question, was a racist sexist bigoted homophobe and must be silenced. As the truth began to trickle out, Don Lemon tried to inform Jussie behind the scenes that the police were skeptical of his story. The quotes above are just one example of the mainstream media and Democrat party rushing to judgment and why they can't be trusted.

This is all a lie, but that's to be expected from you.

The "media" reports the information as it comes in. It never says definitively that so and so happened, it always qualifies it with "according to..." This is something you always ignore in order to conjure up your unhinged rants against the media. When Smollett made his claim, naturally the media reported it as his claims. They didn't say this is something that happened exactly as Smollett claimed. In fact, I didn't even know who this Smollett character was and never paid any attention to the story because in terms of trying to show how Trump supporters are violent and bigoted, this story was nothing short of superfluous. There is no shortage of examples if the media were only wanting to focus on crimes committed in the name of Trump. The only reason this story made headlines is because the guy is apparently a famous actor.

What's reprehensible is a white supremacist trying to use this as some kind of proof that the media is just making up things about Trump supporters engaged in hate crimes. As if this were not already a well documented phenomenon by the FBI. As far as rushing to judgment, the Right Wing media had already declared Smollett guilty long before there was ever a verdict, and we all know that if he were found innocent you'd just use this as evidence of a Deep State.

The hilarity is also in your hypocrisy. Democrats are quick to rush to judgment? Seriously? Trump doesn't even bother to base his lies on media reports, he just makes them up from whole cloth. Do we really need to remind you of Trump's indictment of five innocent black kids accused of raping and murdering a white woman? He paid the NYT for a full page ad calling for their execution. When DNA evidence exonerated them, he still maintained they were guilty! More recently Trump and FOX News have spread baseless lies about election workers that have two old black women running for their lives after death threats. But you're not at all concerned about this because, well, they victims are in fact black people.

But yeah, tell us more about how Biden and Harris are such evil doers simply because they believed someone was attacked by Trump supporters based on that person's claim. A claim that is hardly difficult for anyone to believe. Not even FOX News would dare challenge the story because they knew it was believable, not until reports from the police suggested it could have been staged.

So what's your endgame here ajax? To prove Trump supporters aren't violent towards others? That's a failed argument that won't stand.

To prove the left media is lying to us? You haven't established this at all by relaying Right Wing articles that take snips of tweets from Democrat politicians, but even if CNN/MSNBC did lie about his ordeal, it doesn't even begin to compare to the constant daily dishonesty that drips from that cesspool FOX News. This week they're feigning outrage over the burning of their Christmas tree, comparing it to Pearl Harbor, and even though the culprit turned out to be some deranged homeless man with a history of arson, they keep referring to the culprit as "they," meaning the "other people on the Left" who hate Christmas.

Fox News Contributor Likens Christmas Tree Fire to One of the Deadliest Tragedies in American History

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

From Newsweek:

During the court case, Smollett claimed that Lemon sent him a message saying police did not believe his account of the attack. This revelation sparked questions of propriety from Lemon and suggestions that CNN should consider suspending him.

I think CNN should do a deep dive on Lemon’s involvement with the Smollett case. If Lemon basically pulled a Cuomo he needs to go. I mean, CNN can do what it wants to do, but if it wants to end up looking like a Left wing variation of Breitbart then they’ll just do nothing.

- Doc

[K Graham]

Jussie Smollett, one of the stars of the Fox television show “Empire,” was attacked in Chicago early Tuesday morning by two people who yelled racial and homophobic slurs and wrapped a rope around his neck, according to the police, who said they were investigating the incident as “a possible hate crime.” - Jan 29,2019 New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/arts ... acked.html)

In the weeks since “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett first filed a police report alleging he was the victim of a hate crime, the story has taken numerous twists and turns. - Feb 15, CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/entertai ... index.html)

[Don Lemon] stressed that while Smollett is “innocent until proven guilty,” he still “squandered the good will of a whole lot of people” if his story wasn’t true. “He even lied to a lot of people… including me. And that’s not cool,” Lemon said to his viewers. “He squandered the good will of very high-profile people who one day may be running this country like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker and people like President Trump.” - Feb 21, 2019 FOX News (https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/c ... ic-opinion)

So within just a couple of weeks of the story breaking CNN is covering the plot twist as more information comes out. Also, Don Lemon chastises his friend for lying to him and others. This was nearly three years ago, and ajax is acting like CNN and Lemon have been in Smollett's corner defending him ever since. That's what you get when you try to dissect Left Wing media using Right Wing media filters. They only tell you enough to get you outraged.

[K Graham]

From Newsweek:

During the court case, Smollett claimed that Lemon sent him a message saying police did not believe his account of the attack. This revelation sparked questions of propriety from Lemon and suggestions that CNN should consider suspending him.

I'm not even sure what the crime is here. Did he really need Lemon to tell him the cops didn't believe him? I wish it were illegal to divulge information like this but apparently it isn't. We've had several domestic incidents in our neighborhood over the past four years and each and every time something happens, these idiots in the neighborhood who have "connections" to the local PD start telling everyone the details of what happened. Cops are like damned gossipy hens in our town.

Incidentally, over the summer my daughter had a car accident. No other car was involved, she hit a wet spot on a corner and hit the curb and a portapotty. Anyway, I arrived and called the insurance company to get the car towed because it was blocking someone's driveway. A neighbor said she was calling the police and I said good, call the police because that was my next call. So the cops arrive five minutes later and they're acting like complete jackasses to me because I didn't call them first. I explained that a neighbor said she was already calling. Anyway, I called an attorney friend of mine and he "dug around" and called me back to inform me that "the word at the department" is that the parents arrived onto the scene and tried to "cover it up." WTF?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

From Newsweek:

I'm not even sure what the crime is here. Did he really need Lemon to tell him the cops didn't believe him? I wish it were illegal to divulge information like this but apparently it isn't.

Who’s talking about illegalities? I’m suggesting if Lemon pulled a Cuomo so Smollett could navigate a disaster of his own making, then that impugns CNN’s and Lemon’s journalistic integrity. All I’m suggesting is for CNN to investigate Lemon’s activities with regard to Smollett so CNN can maintain its integrity and credibility.

- Doc

[K Graham]

I'm not even sure what the crime is here. Did he really need Lemon to tell him the cops didn't believe him? I wish it were illegal to divulge information like this but apparently it isn't.

Who’s talking about illegalities? I’m suggesting if Lemon pulled a Cuomo so Smollett could navigate a disaster of his own making, then that impugns CNN’s and Lemon’s journalistic integrity. All I’m suggesting is for CNN to investigate Lemon’s activities with regard to Smollett so CNN can maintain its integrity and credibility.

- Doc

I haven't followed the Cuomo thing. From what I gather, he tried to advise his brother.

[ajax18]

Here we have an example of the two tiered partisan American Justice system in a purportedly systemically racist country. It looks like a systemically reverse racist justice system in my opinion.

A guilty verdict in Jussie Smollett's phony hate crime trial has renewed criticism of Cook County District Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office mysteriously dropped more than a dozen charges against the Empire actor before public outcry forced a special prosecutor to step in.

Smollett was found guilty on Thursday on five of six counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police.

"I hope someone prosecutes Kim Foxx now for letting a Michelle Obama crony talk her out of prosecuting Jussie Smollett's obvious crimes. And I hope he Smollett gets an extra 6 months of perjury," Colorado radio host Ross Kaminsky tweeted after the verdict.

Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed two men approached him during the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2019, in downtown Chicago. Smollett said the men in ski masks beat him up, put a noose around his neck, and shouted racist and anti-gay slurs at him before fleeing. The incident caused widespread outrage and put pressure on authorities to find the culprits. Following a massive citywide investigation, the narrative emerged that Smollett orchestrated the hate crime on himself in a publicity stunt.

Smollett was charged on Feb. 20, 2019, with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report about the alleged attack. On March 7, 2019, a Cook County grand jury returned a 16-count indictment against him.

Despite mounting evidence, Foxx, who is known for her far-left policies, and the state attorney's office decided to drop all charges in exchange for Smollett performing community service.

The decision outraged the authorities and prompted then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to call it a "whitewash of justice."

Dan Webb, the special prosecutor appointed to the case, accused Foxx and her office of repeatedly abusing their discretion and making false public statements in the case against Smollett. His 12-page outline criticized Foxx and her staff for how they decided on March 26, 2019, to toss charges against the actor and singer. Among the focuses of Webb’s inquiry was whether Foxx acted improperly by speaking to a Smollett relative and a onetime aide of former first lady Michelle Obama, Tina Tchen, before the charges were dropped. It also looked at how Foxx only recused herself after news broke about the communication.

While Webb's investigation did not lead to any criminal charges against Foxx or anyone else in her office, it did "develop evidence that establishes substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures" in the case.

Even though Foxx claimed she welcomed a special prosecutor, evidence showed she actually tried to fight an investigation into her office's handling of the controversial case.

Foxx's political opponents used the uproar over Smollett to further their attacks on her, which led to a protest outside her office that was purportedly attended by members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group.

Webb restored charges against Smollett a year later, arguing that the evidence against the 39-year-old was overwhelming, something he repeated multiple times during the trial.

As closing arguments began this week, Foxx was in Los Angeles being photographed with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. The West Coast district attorney was supposed to give a 90-minute news conference highlighting his first year on the job but instead was forced to field tough questions about rising crime rates and a possible recall.

Hours after Thursday's guilty verdicts, Foxx's office issued a statement.

"The jury has spoken," it said. "While this case has garnered a lot of attention, we hope as a county we can move forward. At the Cook County's State's Attorney's Office we will continue to focus on the important work of this office, prioritizing and prosecuting violent crime."

A 2020 Chicago Tribune investigation into Foxx showed she dropped more felony cases involving charges of murder and other serious offenses at a higher rate than her predecessor. During Foxx's first three years as Cook County's top prosecutor, her office dropped all charges against 29.9% of felony defendants. Her predecessor, Anita Alvarez, had a rate of 19.4%.

In October, she became embroiled in a fight with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after she declined to press charges related to a shootout that left one dead. When Lightfoot urged Foxx to reconsider and "look at the evidence," Foxx said: “I was quite honestly mortified by what happened yesterday, particularly because the mayor, as a former prosecutor, knows that what she did yesterday was inappropriate."

[ajax18]

So within just a couple of weeks of the story breaking CNN is covering the plot twist as more information comes out. Also, Don Lemon chastises his friend for lying to him and others. This was nearly three years ago, and ajax is acting like CNN and Lemon have been in Smollett's corner defending him ever since.

Maybe good journalism would be for Lemon and people like yourself to wait a few days for the facts to come out. Nope, the left can't do that. Anyone who doesn't comment right away is guilty of the violence of silence, not believing the accuser, and hidden racism.