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FEBRUARY 18,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

UKRAINE ON THE BRINK – OVERNIGHT:  Biden believes an invasion is near.  From Fox:   NATO allies, including White House officials, are concerned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to depart Kyiv for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, sources told Fox News Friday.  Allies of the 30-member alliance are reportedly worried that Russia could exploit the president’s absence as tension in Eastern Europe has reached a boiling point not seen in decades.  Zelensky, who is set to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday, is expected to be a key target if Russia does successfully invade Kyiv, sources confirmed.  President Biden said Friday he is "convinced" that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine.  In answer to questions from reporters as to whether he believed it would be a mistake for Zelensky to leave Ukraine at this time Biden said, "It may not be…the wise choice, but it's his decision." "That's a judgment for him to make," Biden said. "It's in the pursuit of a diplomatic solution."  A senior U.S. defense official told Fox News Digital there is a strong possibility of a "significant invasion" by the Russian military in the coming days and Kyiv is its sites. The official said Russian military forces have left their barracks and that roughly 40-50% of Putin's troops have moved into attack positions — putting them within striking distance of the Ukrainian border.  The president speaks with such certainty about an invasion.  I wish I could have greater confidence in his judgment, but it has been wrong so often during his long career.  If Moscow does invade, we will face a major foreign-policy crisis.  Ukraine does not have the military strength to defend itself.  It will almost certainly lose without troops from other countries, and the president has already said that no American troops will be involved.  If Ukraine is absorbed by the Russian state, our humiliation, and image of weakness, will be greater.

February 18, 2022       Permalink

JUSTICE IS DONE, AND THE LEFT DOESN'T LIKE IT – OVERNIGHT:  Remember Kim Potter?  She's the white Minnesota police officer, with years of honorable service, who, in pursuit of a fleeing black suspect, moved to tase him but, in the heat of the moment, accidentally drew her gun instead and killed him.  After a controversial trial against a background of anti-police hatred, she was convicted of manslaughter.  She has now been sentenced.  From Fox: 

Ex-Minnesota officer Kim Potter was hit with 16 months behind bars for killing Daunte Wright after mistaking her gun for a Taser during a traffic stop.

Judge Regina Chu handed down the sentence over the objection of prosecutors after the former officer apologized to the victim's family. Potter will serve 16 months in prison followed by eight months of supervised release.

"To the family of Daunte Wright, I am so sorry that I brought the death of your son, father, brother, uncle, grandson and nephew," said Potter, sobbing, as she turned to face them in the courtroom. "Katie, I understand a mother’s love, and I am sorry I broke your heart. My heart is broken for all of you."

The judge said that Potter honorably served her community for 26 years and hundreds of letters "painted a portrait of a woman who touched a lot of people in a good way."

Chu told the courtroom that Potter was clearly remorseful. "She showed that today, she showed that when it happened," the judge said, fighting back tears. "She never intended to hurt anyone. Her conduct cries out for a sentence significantly below the guidelines." 

The sentencing range on first-degree manslaughter is slightly more than six years to about 8 ½ from which a judge can depart if there are mitigating or aggravating circumstances.

Potter was attempting to arrest Wright on an open warrant April 11 of last year for failure to appear on a weapons charge when she drew her gun instead of her Taser. 

She was trying to protect a fellow officer on the other side of the car, who could have been dragged and seriously injured when Wright tried to drive off, Chu said.

"This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for 9½ minutes as he gasped for air," said the judge, comparing the case to that of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in the same courthouse. "This is a cop who made a tragic mistake." 

Potter was convicted by a jury in December of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of Wright. Under Minnesota law, a defendant is only sentenced on the top charge.

COMMENT:  There was, of course, instant outrage from the perpetually aggrieved.  They wanted the judge to destroy Kim Potter's life.  They wanted their time on CNN.

But Judge Chu possesses that rarest of attributes – a patient wisdom.  Her work was thorough, her commitment to true justice was inspiring.  The sentence she handed down was correct.  Justice won.  The mob did not.

February 18, 2022       Permalink

FEBRUARY 17,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

HISTORY CALLING – OVERNIGHT:  He was famous, and delightfully so, for a brief but critical moment in the Cold War.  From ABC News:  DENVER -- U.S. military pilot Gail S. Halvorsen — known as the “Candy Bomber” for his candy airdrops during the Berlin airlift after World War II ended — has died at age 101.  Halvorsen died Wednesday following a brief illness in his home state of Utah, surrounded by most of his children, James Stewart, the director of the Gail S. Halvorsen Aviation Education Foundation, said Thursday.  Halvorsen was beloved and venerated in Berlin, which he last visited in 2019 when the city celebrated the 70th anniversary of the day the Soviets lifted their post-World War II blockade cutting off supplies to West Berlin with a big party at the former Tempelhof airport in the German capital.  “Halvorsen’s deeply human act has never been forgotten,” Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey said in a statement.  Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also praised Halvorsen, who was born in Salt Lake City but grew up on farms before getting his pilot’s license.  The  Berlin Airlift operated from June, 1948, through September,1949.  The Soviet Union cut off all Allied access to Berlin in a dispute over administration of the city.  The West, in an operation that many military experts had believed was impossible, supplied Berlin entirely by air.   Eventually, the Soviets, their blockade smashed, re-opened the city.  Shows what guts and imagination can do. 

February 17, 2022       Permalink

THE CONTINUED SLIDE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER – OVERNIGHT:  While the mainstream media try to ignore the story, the fact is that BLM is under increasing scrutiny, even from friends, about the way it is run, and who gets the benefits.  From Fox Business: 

Amazon’s charity website has suspended the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) amid questions about the group’s financial transparency.

AmazonSmile, which donates 0.5% from purchases to designated nonprofits, still lists dozens of local Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapters among its thousands of approved charities, but noticeably absent is the BLMGNF, the national arm of the BLM movement.

"We offer the AmazonSmile program to make it easy for our customers to support their favorite charitable organizations, and we work to offer a broad spectrum of organizations, including those working to end racial injustice," an Amazon spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "States have rules for nonprofits, and organizations participating in AmazonSmile need to meet those rules. Unfortunately this organization fell out of compliance with the rules in several states, so we’ve had to temporarily suspend them from the program until they come into compliance. 

"We hope that happens soon, and in the meantime, customers who have already selected them in AmazonSmile are able to continue supporting them, and we’ll hold any funds accrued until they’re back in compliance."

The suspension was first reported by the Washington Examiner.

The news comes after BLMGNF shut down all of its online fundraising earlier this month following demands by attorneys general in California and Washington state that it submit delinquent financial disclosures for 2020, the Examiner reported. 

COMMENT:  Another case where the press didn't do its job.  We knew very little about BLM when it first caught public attention during the early stages of the Covid 19 virus.  We know very little now.  The mainstream media refuses to ask many questions, and won't even publish the BLM manifesto, a mixture of fanaticism, anti-American, race baiting and anti-Semitism.

Meanwhile, it's hard to find any black life that's been saved, or even improved, by the group.  It looks more and more like a scam.  Black folks will be the ones to suffer.

February 17, 2022       Permalink