The Latest: Smollett's lawyers vow 'aggressive defense' https://www.wral.com/the-latest-fox-says-smollet-a-pro-on-set-role-not-cut/18204932/ Attorneys for Jussie Smollett say they will mount an "aggressive defense" of the "Empire" actor after he was charged with making a false report that he was attacked in Chicago last month. Attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson say in a statement: "Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence... " It did not say where Smollett is and when he might turn himself in to police. Smollett is charged with disorderly conduct for falsely reporting an attack on Jan. 29. The charge is a Class 4 felony that carries a possible prison sentence of 1-3 years, but he could also receive probation.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/op...y/news-story/bd99feec292a7c815aa5428085e7ec06 Jussie Smollett case, elitist response play to victimhood mentality Well that was a harrowing experience. I was beset with the midnight munchies, and while walking home in the dead of night I was viciously set upon by two white men wearing ski masks and ‘Make Australia Great Again’ baseball caps. “This is Liberal and National Party country” one screamed as they punched me. Pinning me down, they poured Blue Loo toilet detergent over my head and disparaged me with racist and homophobic insults. Obviously they knew one of my favourite actors is Denzel Washington and that I voted ‘Yes’ in the same-sex marriage plebiscite. A lesser man would have succumbed, but they had greatly underestimated me. My inner-Balboa unleashed itself and, heroically, I sent these bigoted conservative cowards packing. I even managed to do this one-handed while holding my KFC wrap in the other. If you require evidence of this assault, simply observe the slight laceration under my right eye and the rope the attackers tied around my neck, which, come to think of it, I’m still wearing. And while the motive behind this is yet to be confirmed, there is no doubt the hateful ideology of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his ultra-right colleagues had emboldened my assailants. There you have it, the Australian version of a ‘hate crime’. It is a nebulous and logically useless term that can be applied to anything from genocide to politely explaining to an indignant minority activist why his, her or zirs claim of suffering structural oppression is nothing but highfalutin flatulence. Its latest “victim” is gay American actor and singer Jussie Smollett, who identifies as “bi-racial” and stars in the TV series Empire. W S The temperature at the time of the supposed incident, 2am January 29, was minus 11 degrees Celsius. The only suspect you would expect to see prowling the streets then is Mr Freeze, but this was Chicago, not Gotham City. Smollett, who claims he was talking to his manager at the time of the attack, initially refused to hand his phone to police for forensic examination. Days later he did so, but by then the phone was heavily redacted. Police arrested and later released without charge two African-American brothers, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo. It turns out — Deirdre Chambers — they were already known to Smollett, one of them being his personal trainer. According to police sources the brothers claimed Smollett had hired them to carry out this charade, the trio even rehearsing using rope purchased days beforehand from the Crafty Beaver hardware store (must — not — respond). Smollett strenuously denies he fabricated this incident, although he has now lawyered up and has declined to speak further with investigators. Today a police spokesman announced the state attorney has approved felony charges against Smollett, including filing a false police report. Embedded video Good Morning America ✔ @GMA .@JussieSmollett to @RobinRoberts on attack: "I will never be the man that this did not happen to. I am forever changed...I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right & responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us." http://gma.abc/2X3c8Tx 820 3 Asked last week by ABC’s Good Morning America why he was allegedly targeted, Smollett said “I come really, really hard against 45,” he said, referring to the moniker for President Donald Trump. “I come really, really hard against his administration and I don’t hold my tongue,” he added. That takes quite an ego to claim he is the badass of presidential critics. For all we know, Trump, like many of us, had never heard of Smollett before. I can think of only two B-grade actors who were an existential threat to an incumbent president, the first being John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln; and the second Ronald Reagan, who defeated Jimmy Carter. That’s 16, 40 and 39 if you are into edgy vernacular. And Reagan, Mr Smollett, you ain’t. The circumstances of the allegation were always such as to warrant scepticism. However, the noisy elites, aided by elements of media which have long forgotten the purpose of journalism, accepted Smollett’s account unquestionably in an ugly display of opportunism. “We have a media that’s saying it’s a debate what has happened to Jussie Smollett is a hate crime,” announced Canadian actress Ellen Page on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, having effortlessly segued from a rant about “environmental racism”. Citing Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence she urged the audience to “connect the dots”. Embedded video Christopher Turner @Turnstylin This is what a hero looks like. ❤️ Take 2 minutes out of your day and watch this clip from @EllenPage’s impassioned speech on anti-LGBTQ policies, racism, and the Trump administration from last night’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: 6 1 “This is what happens,” she said tearfully. “If you are in a position of power and you hate people and you want to cause suffering to them, you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering.” It got worse. “Kids are going to be abused, and they’re going to kill themselves, and people are going to be beaten on the street,” she wailed. Any minute now, I thought, this babbling woman will quote Luke 21:11: “And there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” In fairness to Page, most sensible people would assume actors and actresses to make political observations befitting an imbecile. You would hope politicians are more resistant to this alarmism, but apparently not. “The attack was not ‘possibly’ homophobic”, tweeted angry newbie Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “It was a racist and homophobic attack.” Andy Ngo ✔ @MrAndyNgo · Feb 15, 2019 Replying to @MrAndyNgo Pansexual pop star @JanelleMonae said (in a deleted post) that it is “proof” that "it is still a risk daily to be a BLACK, OUT and PROUD human being.” You can see the FBI statistics on hate crimes here. You tell me how statistically significant it is: https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2017/downloads/downloads … View image on Twitter Andy Ngo ✔ @MrAndyNgo Democratic socialist star @AOC castigated media for describing the incident as a “possible” hate attack. She was determined that it happened & happens all the time in the US. #JussieSmollett pic.twitter.com/aqw3eU06X6 “Why all of a sudden do we have people unable to study while black, unable to mow a lawn while black, unable to have picnic while black, and being attacked,” said Democrat congresswoman Maxine Waters in reference to Smollett. “‘It’s coming from the president of the United States. He’s dog whistling every day.” This is the same politician who only last June told her supporters at a rally to confront and harass Trump officials, wherever they were. “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd,” she said. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” Hypocrisy, much? One of the few shrewd observations was that of New York Times columnist and author Noah Rothman. “If you are inclined to believe that America — especially in the age of Donald Trump — is plagued by racism and homophobia, none of these extremely fishy details seemed to register,” he wrote. “Indeed, many politicians and journalists seemed to suspend all critical thought in a campaign to indict not just Mr. Smollett’s attackers but the country as a whole.” That is the nature of victimhood demagoguery. Allegations of hate crime are assessed according to their narrative rather than their veracity. To reserve judgment pending the evidence is to condone the actions of the offender, real or otherwise. It is a disconcerting phenomenon of Western society. Last year at a press conference in Toronto, Khawlah Noman, 11, told her horrified fellow Canadians she had been attacked as she walked to school, the assailant using scissors to cut her hijab. “My heart goes out to [her] following this morning’s cowardly attack,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau ✔ @JustinTrudeau My heart goes out to Khawlah Noman following this morning’s cowardly attack on her in Toronto. Canada is an open and welcoming country, and incidents like this cannot be tolerated. Twitter Ads info and privacy 6,202 people are talking about this Environment minister Catherine McKenna tweeted the same day “This is appalling, cowardly and has no place in Canada. We stand with you, Khawlah.” Catherine McKenna ✔ @cathmckenna "What you’re doing is very wrong, you should stop doing this. I’m a kid." An 11yr old girl should never have to experience this! This is appalling, cowardly and has no place in Canada. We stand with you, Khawlah. This is not who we are as Canadians. https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2018/01/12/man-cuts-hijab-off-girl-in-scarborough-police-say.html … 351 1:11 AM - Jan 13, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy ‘I felt really scared and confused’ — girl attacked twice by man who cut her hijab in Scarborough |... 11-year-old Khawlah Noman says she was walking to school with her younger brother when the man approached and cut her hijab. Police say they are treating the attack as a hate crime. They are seeking... Four days later Toronto police announced the girl’s story had been falsified. It was a lesson that the first reaction of a politician to a so-called hate crime should not be to publicly wring one’s hands. If they really must get involved, they should simply urge the public to assist police. Do not count on Trudeau or McKenna taking heed. Over a year has passed, yet neither of the tweets in question has been deleted or retracted.
If only kavanaugh had undergone such scrutiny. But he's a black gay celebrity. The law must investigate.
A fine idea. Let’s spend $35 Million on a Congressional hearing for Smollett where he will need to testify under oath. Every additional lie in his testimony will lead to an additional federal felony charge.
Smollett has been arrested... Jussie Smollett arrested and faces a felony charge for allegedly filing false police report https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/entertainment/jussie-smollett-thursday/index.html More than three weeks after he alleged that he was the victim of a hate crime, actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested on suspicion of filing a false report about it, Chicago police said Thursday morning. The "Empire" star was taken into custody around 5 a.m. CT, police said, ahead of a 1:30 p.m. bail hearing. Smollett faces a felony charge of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false report claiming he was attacked by two men, including one who was masked, in the early morning of January 29 in Chicago. He alleged they yelled racist and homophobic slurs, tied a rope around his neck and poured an unknown substance on him. At the time, police said they were treating the attack against the black and gay actor as a hate crime. But in the weeks since the alleged attack first made headlines, the narrative has unraveled with several twists, transforming him from a victim to a suspect. Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted Wednesday that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office had approved a felony criminal charge of disorderly conduct against Smollett. Under Illinois law, filing a false police report is disorderly conduct and punishable by one to three years. The actor has denied playing a role in his attack, according to his attorneys. "Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked," his attorneys said in a statement. "Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense." (More at above url)