Thu: I Agree With Israel's Goal, But They Aren't Acheiving I

You Can Pay Me Now ... Or Pay Me Later

A U.S. district judge on Wednesday granted a motion by the two election workers who won a defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani to force him to immediately pay the damages he owes.

Last week, a jury in Washington, D.C., awarded $148 million to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, after a judge had established that Giuliani was liable for defamation earlier this year for baselessly accusing the two women of trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell reduced the award amount by about $2 million due to a 2022 settlement agreement that two plaintiffs reached with the OAN cable network, the other defendant in the case.

Freeman and Moss requested the dissolution of a 30-day period of enforcement of the judgment, saying Giuliani has “demonstrated an unwillingness to comply with judicial process, including orders to pay attorney’s fees and costs.”

They noted that Donald Trump’s former personal attorney “appears to have no assets in the District of Columbia but substantial assets in — at least — both New York and Florida.”

Howell granted their motion, saying it’s “both appropriate and warranted.” In a 13-page filing, she cited several actions suggesting that Giuliani could “conceal and dissipate [his] assets.”

Howell agreed with the plaintiffs’ characterization of Giuliani as an “uncooperative litigant,” and said he has so far not complied with court orders requiring him to cover the plaintiffs’ attorney fees during the discovery process.

“Giuliani has simply ignored the orders directing reimbursement to plaintiffs of attorney’s fees for discovery misconduct, without seeking extensions of time to make reimbursement, requesting any payment schedules or making any excuse for his nonpayment by the deadlines set in court orders,” Howell said.

She added that Giuliani’s failure to meet Freeman and Moss’ discovery requests precluded both them and the court from assessing his claims of being under financial stress. During the trial, Giuliani’s lawyer claimed that the money the two women sought in damages was the “civil equivalent of the death penalty.”

“Such claims of Giuliani’s ‘financial difficulties’ — no matter how many times repeated or publicly disseminated and duly reported in the media — are difficult to square with the fact that Giuliani affords a spokesperson, who accompanied him daily to trial,” Howell wrote.

I Guess Here's How He is Planning to Raise Money He Won't Pay Over to the Election Workers

Just hours after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was told to immediately pay the massive $148 million bill he was hit with in a defamation ruling, he was on his show touting bizarre Christmas decorations made out of empty vitamin bottles.

The ex-New York City mayor was told Wednesday he must pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss immediately after an earlier ruling set the damages for defaming them with claims that they helped rig the 2020 election count in Georgia.

But later that evening, he was on his livestreamed program America’s Mayor Live touting Balance of Nature supplements, the proceeds of which he said could “help me fight the traitors.”

Telling listeners to take the supplements — which the Food and Drug Administration has flagged for “the company’s claims that its products could be used to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, asthma, and COVID-19” — he got into the holiday spirit with ideas of how to use the bottles when they’re empty.

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“This one’s going on the tree now,” he said, holding up a Balance of Nature bottle with a wire hook that looked like a bent paper clip in it. He added that the supplements are also “wonderful as a stocking stuffer.”

Giuliani has been associated with Balance of Nature for several months, plugging the company on his show and in social media and taking part in commercials promoting the products.



Those Balance of Nature Commercials Always Seemed Like Selling Snake Oil

It's a Sad Commentary on the State of the US, That This is No Longer Surprising.

A man has been charged with murder in the killing of a 4-year-old boy who was shot during a suspected road rage incident while sitting in the back seat of his family’s car in Lancaster, California, last week, authorities said.

The suspect, 29-year-old Byron Burkhart, also faces two counts of attempted murder, one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle and five counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the criminal complaint obtained by CNN.

Burkhart was traveling with his girlfriend on December 15 when he allegedly cut off a vehicle carrying the boy and his parents, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.

Burkhart allegedly “engaged in aggressive driving maneuvers and road rage” before pulling up next to the family’s car and firing eight shots into the vehicle, hitting the child, the district attorney’s office said.

The boy was struck once and taken to a hospital, where he later died, authorities said. His parents were not injured in the shooting.

But in Prague, This is Surprising and Shocking

An armed man opened fire in a university building in downtown Prague on Thursday, killing 10 people and sowing widespread panic with one of the Czech Republic’s worst mass shootings of its kind, police and the city’s rescue service said.

The bloodshed took place in the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the shooter was a student, Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said. He has not been named publicly.

AT Last Americans Are Discovering That This Is The Best Economy Of Their Lives

Consumer confidence surges in December to 110.7 , up from a downwardly revised 101.0 in November.

Present Situation Index—rose to 148.5 from 136.5 last month based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions

Expectations Index——leapt to 85.6 in December, up from its downwardly revised reading of 77.4 in November. based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions

Builder confidence rose in December for the first time in five months as mortgage rates fell roughly 50 basis points over the past month, which pushed the NAHB monthly confidence index up 3 points to 37 in December,

New home construction rose 14.8% in November as builders saw strong home-buying demand, housing starts rose to 1.56 million annual pace from 1.36 million in November