New York Appeals Court Reinstitutes President Trump Gag Order Without Any Explanation


Posted originally on the CTH on November 30, 2023 | Sundance 

In the New York civil action against Donald Trump, all the banks and lenders did their own due diligence on financing terms with Donald Trump.  All operational loans and Trump Org. business loans were paid back.  There were no defaults or banking interests adversely impacted. There are no victims of what the State calls “fraud,” yet this judge is ruling the Trump organization must dissolve all business interests in the state and exit.

Inside the insufferable nonsense represented by the trial Judge Arthur Engoron, acting on behalf of his partisan political clerk Allison Greenfield, issued a gag order forbidding President Trump from complaining about the political affiliations of the judge, clerk and any other court official or possible witness.   After an interim stay of the gag order by an appellate justice, the New York appeals court has reversed the stay and reinstituted the gag order.

The NY appeals court ruling is AVAILABLE HERE.  You will note in the 2-page ruling they do not explain why the gag order is appropriate, or why the gag order is reinstituted.  The farce continues.

(Via Fox News) – A New York appeals court reinstated a gag order preventing former President Donald Trump from maligning court staffers on Thursday.

New York Judge Arthur Engoron had initially issued the gag order in early October after Trump lashed out at one of his law clerks on social media. Trump is currently fighting accusations of business fraud leveled by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Appeals court Judge David Friedman had issued a stay on Engoron’s gag order on Nov. 16, saying it potentially infringed on Trump’s First Amendment rights.

[…] “They are defending the Worst and Least Respected Attorney General in the United States, Letitia James, who is a Worldwide disgrace, as is her illegal Witch Hunt against me. The Radical and Unprecedented actions of Judge Engoron will keep BUSINESSES and JOBS forever out of New York State,” Trump wrote in a recent social media post. (read more)

Weirdness Abounds – New York Judge Engoron Expands Gag Order to Stop Trump Defense Attorneys from Discussing Instructions from Court Clerk


Posted originally on the CTH on November 3, 2023 | Sundance 

The judge in the New York City case against Donald Trump and the Trump organization has transparently been a little goofy.  From the first day when he posed for the cameras, to the sketchy application of legal review within the case, Judge Arthur Engoron exhibits the classic traits of being weird and unstable.

There is a pattern amid the deployment of Lawfare that deserves some background context.  Whenever Lawfare is deployed there are always background characters who are seemingly needed to keep the bizarre interpretations of Lawfare tactics on track.

We saw this play out with Debra Katzenberg, Monica McLean and David Laufman controlling Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey-Ford.  We saw it again with Mary McCord playing the role in the background of the Trump Lawfare impeachment to guide Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff.  We saw it again with Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen guiding Special Prosecutor Jack Smith from the backbench of Lawfare.  In each case the principal activity is guided by Lawfare ideologues who use position to influence.

In the Judge Engoron example, court clerk Allison Greenfield has been passing notes and instructions to Engoron as the case has progressed.  The activity has become so disconcerting that Trump’s lawyers have called it out in court as it happens {Breitbart Link}.  In response to the sunlight upon the visible activity, Judge Engoron has now expanded his gag order to prohibit Trump’s lawyers from drawing attention to the activity of Ms. Greenfield.

NEW YORK — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s ongoing civil fraud trial issued another gag order on Friday — this time prohibiting all lawyers working on the trial from “from making any public statements, in or out of court, that refer to any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me.” (link)

The issuance of the gag order is weird because the entire dynamic of the clerk instructing the judge is weird.   The gag order is an effort by Engoron to stop people from noticing it….  Yeah, that’s exponentially weirder.

POLITICO – [Trump Attorney Chris] Kise complained about Greenfield’s habit of passing notes to Engoron during proceedings, suggesting she is improperly influencing his decisions. Engoron reacted sharply to that complaint, telling Kise, “I have an unfettered, absolute right to consult with my law clerks” and saying he wouldn’t tolerate future comments about his staff.

Kise, though, continued to argue that he needed to state objections on the record for the purposes of an eventual appeal. “If notes are being passed at certain specific times or they’re being passed in a way that might indicate some bias,” he said, “that’s a record that needs to be made contemporaneously.” (more)

As noted by Henry Rossof from inside the court today, “Judge Engoron said he will note a continuing objection to his consultation with his clerk but does not want anything more said about her… he will still consult.”

“I have an absolute, unfettered right to consult with my law clerks anywhere, anytime,” Engoron noted. “There’s no more need to make a record” [of it within the court when it occurs] he concluded.

After this series of exchanges today, Engoron then expanded his court order to forbid the Trump lawyers from telling the public about what was happening between him and his clerk in the court.

Yup, weird, sketchy and fitting right in with the pattern of how Lawfare is deployed.

These people are ideologically not stable.

New Yorkers Show Up to Protest AOC and Congressional Delegation in New York City Pushing for More Illegal Immigration


Posted originally on the CTH on September 15, 2023 | Sundance 

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a congressional delegation to New York City as part of the Democrat campaign to increase mass illegal immigration.

The Roosevelt Hotel is currently serving as the processing center for thousands of illegal aliens coming into the sanctuary city and was the venue for AOC to advance her demand for more U.S. taxpayer funds to support the migration operation.  However, AOC and the delegation were met with furious New York City residents who protested the effort and drowned out the ability of AOC to deliver her remarks.  WATCH:

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This was a very visible moment as the ordinary American working class rise up against the Democrats.  Despite their pretending not to notice, the reality of the gauntlet of opposition they faced will not fade quickly.

New Yorkers: Give Us Pizza or Give Us Death


Armstrong Economics Blog/Great Reset Re-Posted Jun 28, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

“Give us pizza or give us death,” the restaurant owner in the video above chanted while throwing pizza slices at City Hall. You have to love a New Yorker’s delivery. We heard about what happened over tea. While not a tax, the government is now telling New York pizzerias that they must cut down on emissions by 75%. This means restaurants that have been in business for over 100 years will be forced to change their coal and wooden oven methods. The pizza will not taste the same, and NYC pizza is a top culinary item that tourists and locals consume. Anyone who has ever visited NY has asked me to go for pizza — it is a staple in the city.

I reported in May that New York state approved a ban on gas stoves under a $229 BILLION budget plan to combat nature. New buildings under seven stories will be prohibited from using gas stoves by 2026, and taller buildings will face the same ban in 2029. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer insisted this was merely a MAGA conspiracy theory before the law was approved. We are slowly losing our freedoms in the name of climate change. These restrictions are happening so rapidly that many do not see how much we’re set to sacrifice. They are coming down harshly on the food we consume from banning gas stoves to implementing cultivated meat.

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)  spokesman Ted Timbers said the law is “common sense.” “All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality.” Anyone who has visited NYC can tell you that the air pollutants are not due to “Big Pizza” burning ovens all day. They are only targeting about 100 restaurants that somehow have the power to pollute the air of the entire city. That is absolutely absurd and has never been a problem before the climate zealots came along.

Some restaurant owners have already installed air filters that cost tens of thousands. The additional costs are passed down to the consumer, and the pizza is not the same. “Regulation after regulation puts more pressure on us and makes it difficult to do business, particularly now with the cost of labor has gone up, the cost of the goods we have to buy to produce our products – it’s just making it more difficult,” one restaurant owner told Fox News.

Does New York want to repel small businesses entirely? They ruined small businesses with COVID lockdowns. Then numerous businesses in all five boroughs never reopened after the government-approved BLM protests burned down sections of the city. They tax small businesses to the brim and make it difficult to operate. The Soros-appointed DA Alvin Bragg has all but legalized crime, and shoplifting has become a serious issue for these mom-and-pop stores that cannot recoup the losses. It is a shame how quickly poor policies can dismantle a once great city.