When your words come back to bite you

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Letitia James has a new defense: I AM above the law, because you can’t prove I intended to do it.

Not much of a legal defense, but then, Ms. Letitia isn’t much of a lawyer.

Donald Trump said that he wanted, he said that I was, he called me all kind of names, and he basically directed the DOJ to investigate my affairs. And they're using mortgage fraud as the vehicle upon which they are investigating myself, Adam Schiff, Mrs. Cook, Lisa Cook, and countless others, and it is, most of it, as you know, is frivolous, it's baseless because in order to prove mortgage fraud, one has to prove intent, and that's a very hight standard, high bar to meet.

AI Overview

A Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James is focused on three real estate transactions involving properties in Virginia and Brooklyn, New York

. The investigation, initiated via a criminal referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in April 2025, is examining allegations of mortgage fraud. 

The investigation is focusing on these transactions: 

  • Virginia property: In 2023, while co-signing a loan for a niece's home in Norfolk, Virginia, James allegedly submitted documents indicating it was her "principal residence" to secure favorable loan terms. This potentially conflicts with other documents and her requirement to reside in New York as attorney general.

  • Brooklyn property (2001): In 2001, James is accused of obtaining a loan for a four-unit property for a home in Brooklyn that was, according to some city records, a five-unit dwelling. A five-unit property would have required a more expensive commercial loan.

  • Property with father (1983 & 2000): It is alleged that James and her father falsely listed themselves as husband and wife on mortgage documents for a property purchased as co-signers. \

A commenter on the linked-to RedState article has this to say:

Having been in the residential mortgage business for 36 years, it is impossible for any client to do this on accident. The person who originated these loans should lawyer up to. The one that really stands out to me is her property in NYC. When you have a building with 1-4 units, it will likely qualify for residential mortgage rates. Once a building has 5 or more units, like the one she owns, that is clearly a commercial building and subject to commercial rates, taxes and insurance. I feel this is the one that would likely yield a prosecutable instance of fraud.

Strange times bring forth strange people

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An Assassination Postscript

PowerLine:

“One strange aspect of Charlie Kirk’s murder is the older gentleman who initially was a suspect and was hauled off in handcuffs. He was questioned at a police station and released.

“The man’s behavior was odd. He was heard to say things like, “I’d do it again,” and “I have the right to remain silent.” It was hard to understand how there could be confusion over his involvement: either he had a rifle, or he didn’t.

“It turns out that he didn’t. The mystery has been explained:

The known political agitator who falsely confessed to shooting Charlie Kirk while in the audience at the conservative star’s event told investigators that he was trying to “draw attention from the real shooter,” according to a report.

Court records revealed that George Zinn, 71 — a known “gadfly” who was led away from Utah Valley University in handcuffs after the assassination last Wednesday — told cops he was trying to distract them from the real assassin, local station Fox 13 reported.

Zinn approached cops immediately after Kirk was killed and yelled, “I shot him, now shoot me,” the report stated, citing police, who noted that he was unarmed and taken into custody.

“Zinn did a year in prison for threatening to bomb the Salt Lake City marathon. He has been charged with obstruction of justice.”

Police said his initial comments delayed the investigation into Kirk’s killing and needlessly took up law enforcement resources at a critical juncture in the probe.

“Another stretch in the pen appears to be in order.”

New Listing on one of Riverside's most coveted speedways

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143 Lockwood Road, 1929 construction (renovated over the years, naturally), $2.595 million. No yard, no practical garage, and no curtains — the owners are taking them with them — but it’s Riverside, and unlike some houses close to this one, it’s Riverside School, not Dundee (nothing wrong with Dundee except that it’s on the other side of the Post Road, and inconvenient from here) so ….

I'm pleasantly surprised: this 1903 house was renovated, not razed as I'd thought it would be

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546 lake avenue (additional details added courtesy of AI Chatbox, just because it’s a slow Tuesday morning)

546 Lake Avenue has been completely renovated and restored and can now be yours for $10.5 million.

Here’s what I wrote back when it was reported pending in 2023; a lot of insightful comments were added by readers, so check them out.

546 Lake Avenue, currently asking $3.990 milion, down a bit from October’s opening price of $4.4, is reported pending. Built in 1903, it’s of a style that I just don’t think is popular enough to save it from the wrecker’s ball — its 2.8 acres in the 2-acre zone make it far more valuable as land than it would be as a massive renovation project. If it is razed, however, I hope that whoever does it finds a home for the incredible interior moldings, mantle pieces and trim, because it would be vandalism in its lowest form to just send them off to a landfill.

The house was owned by the late Donald N. Jonas who, with his late wife Barbara, sold (just) 15 pieces from their art collection and used the $44 million in proceeds to start a philanthropic foundation and fund other charities. I’m impressed.

They blame capitalism, and you'll be glad to know that “Burlington didn't defund the police, "the cops just quit and weren't replaced"

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Beege Welborn, HotAir, has an interesting story:

Wait a Minute - Crime Ridden Woke-Butt...Burlington, VT?

Beege Welborn 5:20 PM | September 15, 2025

“The city has changed:” addressing student safety amid series of violent crime incidents

Over the past two years, numerous changes have been made to UVM’s safety system by the Division of Safety and Compliance. 

“Our focus for the last two years has been to reimagine safety and security in the realm of three main areas: teams, tools and technology,” said Michael Schirling, UVM’s chief safety and compliance officer.

These changes in safety precautions have taken place amidst a series of dangerous incidents in the Burlington area in the past few months, including a fatal shooting at Red Square, an attempted murder on Greene Street and groups of youth involved in several assaults.

...“My freshman year, maybe we were just oblivious,” said senior and SGA treasurer Matt Sorensen. “But people didn’t worry about there being shootings randomly or stabbings or [groups of] people attacking you if you walked alone.”

...“There’s never been a time in my lifetime where it’s been more important to be vigilant when you go downtown,” said Schirling, in a Sept. 10 SGA meeting dedicated to student safety. “Especially past dark, especially if you’re out alone: the city has changed.”

News reports with ledes talking about 'groups of young people carrying guns/police asking for help' is also a detriment to a thriving and bustling public square.

Police say groups of young people-- many carrying guns-- are looking for trouble in downtown Burlington. They’re asking the public for help identifying the suspects and solving a string of recent crimes.

Just last month, I would have to assume that local cops have never gotten a handle on the 'groups of young people,' as three teens beat an older fellow to death basically in the shadow of Burlington City Hall.

Man dies after beating by kids near Burlington City Hall

A case of a man viciously attacked by a group of juveniles near Burlington City Hall last week has turned into a homicide, Vermont News First learned this afternoon.

...Burlington Police said it had officers on foot patrol on Church Street about 1:30 p.m. Monday Aug. 11 when they came across the assault in progress with the injured man.

The three juveniles fled on foot and by bicycle, but the officers were able to chase down the suspects, Lt. Mike Henry said.

The three youths, believed to be roughly 14 to 16 years old, are facing proceedings in Vermont Family Court. Those proceedings are confidential and have very limited consequences due to the lack of rehabilitation services for youthful offenders within Vermont.

One suspect carried a gun, and police determined it was displayed while they attacked the victim, Henry reported. He said additional arrests were anticipated.

But wait! Digging around, I found further details:

First, a word from our resident AI: Question asked, “is crime in Burlington, VT increasing?”

AI Overview

Yes, crime is increasing in Burlington, VT, with recent reports highlighting a significant spike in gun violence, including a 300% increase in gunfire, and a 40% rise in aggravated assault as of September 2024, prompting city councilors to call for more police officers. This increase in violent crime downtown follows a period where the city was known for being one of the safest small cities. 

Evidence of increasing crime:

  • Violent Crime: There has been a notable spike in violent crime downtown. 

  • Gun Violence: Gunfire is reported to be up nearly 300% as of September 2024. 

  • Aggravated Assault: Aggravated assault has increased by 40%. 

  • Public Safety Concerns: The increase in crime has led to renewed discussions on public safety and has sparked concerns among city councilors and residents. 

Specific Statistics and Reports: 

  • Gunfire: Reports from September 2024 showed a nearly 300% increase in gunfire.

  • Aggravated Assault: As of September 2024, aggravated assault was up 40%.

  • Overdoses: Overdoses have also risen by 1,000%.

Broader Context:

  • Burlington had previously been ranked among the safest small cities in the nation by many metrics, though this was often paired with a slightly higher rate of property crime, like car break-ins. 

  • The recent increase in violent crime has shifted the focus of public safety discussions in the city, especially with the return of college students. 

And here is the proper woke view, presented in a video Welborn provided:

Here’s another take on the subject, with a different viewpoint — because it’s a properly-written law review article, the author, Emily Lambert, Cornell Law School class of 2024, provides links to reports that support her conclusions and recital of facts – would that our media followed the same practice.

Burlington Vermont: An Example of Police Defunding Gone Wrong

24 Feb 2023                                                                                                (Source)

Burlington, Vermont used to be known as a bustling college town on the edge of Lake Champlain, with minimal safety issues, a beautiful environment, and progressive social efforts. There was crime, like in any city, but most of it was property-related so violence was minimal. Citizens could walk around at night feeling safe, the streets were clean, thehomeless population was well taken care of, and it was known as a great place to live. However, this all changed in June 2020 when the city followed nationwide trends to defund its police force. The intention behind the defunding was good. Though Burlington’s police force was considered more progressive than many places, having already implemented mandates requiring body cameras and removing its ties to a federal program that gives military equipment to police departments; Burlington, like most places, had some trouble with its police force being unjustly prejudiced against people of color and mistreating people with mental illness. So, following the nationwide trend, citizens got together and protested, advocating that the police force be defunded in an attempt to solve this problem. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Instead, defunding the police had other unintended consequences that led to the city falling apart, and solved none of the problems it was designed to address. As a matter of fact, one of the primary problems, the disproportionate percentage of black arrests compared to the percentage of the city’s black population, actually increased from roughly 17% to 21% since defunding the police, though the black population remained at 6.2%.  The percentage of use of force incidents against people of color increased as well.

Since the defunding of Burlington’s police force, homicide and gunfire incidents have increased by 80% and 69% respectively. Property crime has increased by 11%. Litter now lines the streets. Graffiti tags cover buildings and other surfaces even in the busiest, most populated parts of the city. The actions of the homeless population go unchecked and their needs go unsupported. At any given time, the city is only able to send out 5 patrols at a time, which is not nearly enough to keep order. A once safe and beautiful city has become a place that people avoid. How did this happen?

Post defunding, the Burlington police force dropped from 95 to 64 officers, causing a significant decrease in the ability to patrol public spaces to deter crime and to investigate the crimes that do occur. There is next to no deterrent to petty crimes, like littering, graffiti tagging, and minor property theft, because those now go uninvestigated. As for violent crimes, the increase is due to the police’s inability to intervene before the situations escalate. Further, the homeless population has taken over the streets, even in the most populated areas, because there is very limited police enforcement of vagrancy laws due to the situations often being low priority. While this can sometimes be frustrating to the average passerby’s who may get hassled by members of this group, the bigger problem is that the energy of the city changing for the negative has made this already at-risk population even more at-risk. Before, for members of the homeless population, hanging out downtown just meant people watching. Now it provides access to drugs and potential physical conflict. Mental Health providers at the Howard Center, who do outreach with members of this population, have compared it to being at a keg party. There is also less crisis intervention for the mentally ill population, which has led to more fights, drug use,and overdoses.

Unfortunately, these changes led to Burlington having to try to undo the damage by re-funding the police, enticing officers to stay on with bonuses and raising the cap of sworn officers. Despite these efforts, it will likely take years for the city, and other cities that experienced similar results from defunding efforts, to regain the position and reputation of safety and peace that it had before. Not to mention that the defunding failed to addressthe systemic problems present in the police force. While this approach was good natured and had the right purpose at heart – protecting people of color and underserved populations – the experiment failed and read more like a punishment than a solution. While the actions of the police that caused this call for defunding were not in any way right, punishing the police force, even though may feel just, is a poor answer because it results more in a punishment of the citizens than the actual parties guilty of the mistreatment. A better approach to solve these problems is a reform on the accountability of the police. This would include things like individual officers maintaining their own liability insurance; narrowing the scope of qualified immunity; limiting when and to whom police are allowed to lie or mislead; and adding better training to police academy requirements on racial sensitivity, implicit biases, crisis intervention, and youth intervention. All of these policy changes have potential to help with police reform without having the negative consequences that defunding has on the community.  

Here’s an interesting aryticle about a murder committed in Burlington in 2022; both perpetrator and victim have names not traditionally associated with Vermont farmers — no Caleb or Silas here!

A South Burlington man is facing a charge of second-degree murder for allegedly shooting another man Sunday night in a Burlington apartment. He is also under investigation for a fatal shooting that took place three hours later in South Burlington.

The suspect, Denroy Dasent, 52, was taken into custody shortly before midnight following a confrontation with police on Burlington’s waterfront, according to police and charging documents.

During that confrontation, police said, one officer fired a stun gun at Dasent “to no effect,” and another officer fired beanbags at the suspect before he eventually complied with orders and was placed in handcuffs. The arrest followed a brief, high-speed car chase through downtown streets, police said.

Dasent pleaded not guilty late Monday morning to the murder charge in the shooting death of Sheiknoor Osman, who was killed around 8:15 p.m. Sunday in a Pine Street apartment in Burlington, according to court documents made public Monday afternoon.

A columnist I sometimes disagree with, at least partially, is spot-on here

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Matt Margolis

Here’s Why It’s Okay When People Lose Their Jobs for Cheering Charlie Kirk’s Death

The death of Charlie Kirk has exposed something ugly, something far worse than political disagreement. Within hours, tens of thousands of social media accounts were ghoulishly celebrating his murder, treating it not as a tragedy but as a victory. Now there’s a growing push to hold these people accountable, and I’m perfectly fine with them losing their jobs.

Someone set up a website to collect and archive posts from people cheering Kirk’s assassination. The site isn’t just documenting. It’s calling on schools and employers to review this archive and act. Its X account claims to have received nearly 50,000 submissions in just a few days, which my PJ Media colleague Rick Moran framed as the largest coordinated firing campaign in history.

Whistleblowers have named and investigated public school teachers, firefighters, members of the military, even a reporter and a Carolina Panthers employee. NPR counted at least 33 people fired or under official review within the first week, 21 of them educators. It’s spreading far beyond one profession; this is cutting across the culture.

Predictably, the cries of “cancel culture” have already begun. And normally, I’d be right there in agreement. The right has fought tooth and nail against the left’s weaponization of these tactics. For years, ordinary people on the right have gotten doxxed, blacklisted, and ruined simply for supporting Donald Trump, opposing abortion, or daring to question leftist orthodoxy. Conservatives know all too well the destruction that comes from treating political disagreement as grounds for cancellation.

This isn’t the same thing, and it's where I draw a hard line. Cancel culture targets people for thinking wrongly. You lose your livelihood because you donated to the wrong cause, liked the wrong tweet, or expressed the wrong viewpoint about immigration or COVID. 

But what we’re talking about here isn’t a simple disagreement. It’s people literally applauding an act of political violence. It’s the same as justifying the shooter’s trigger pull. To me, that crosses a moral threshold that puts this in a whole other league from the cancel culture tactics of the left.

Freedom of speech is real and vital. You can criticize Charlie Kirk all day long. Millions disagreed with him on guns, on religion, on gender ideology, on Trump. Some faced him in rigorous, civil debate, and that’s the essence of a free society. That conversation must always be protected. But that protection does not extend to cheering someone’s assassination. To celebrate murder is to condone it. At that point, it’s not just “speech” anymore; it’s a grotesque endorsement of evil, arguably incitement. As you read this, leftists are posting hit lists of the next conservatives they want killed.

I understand why critics say this approach mirrors the left’s crusade to silence dissent. I reject that framing. There’s an enormous difference between trying to erase people for being conservative and holding people accountable for celebrating political homicide. The left sought to cancel people for their opinions. This campaign exposes people for applauding murder. That’s not a slippery slope, that’s a cliff. There are countless videos on social media of Charlie Kirk debating raging leftists with radical opinions. Never has anyone sought to out these people and get them canceled for their views.

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If you’re a teacher entrusted with molding young minds and you publicly cheer the murder of a conservative commentator, parents have every right to know who you are and demand your dismissal. If you’re a firefighter who mocks the death of a man over his beliefs, your community has a right to ask if it can trust you in a crisis. If you’re a doctor who celebrates the death of Charlie, can we trust you to provide adequate care to a conservative? When your speech forces us to ask these questions, it’s not cancel culture anymore; it’s accountability.

We live in a world where speech has reach. Posting “good riddance” to a man who died for his beliefs isn’t clever, it isn’t edgy, and it isn't a mere expression of political disagreement. It’s an endorsement of political killing, and if their employer deems them unfit for their job, they made that choice. And I’m okay with them living with the consequences.

Back for more

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203 Riverside Avenue, purchased for $4.2 million in August ‘22, is back on the market and looking for five. It has a stunning chef’s kitchen, of course but then, it claimed the same feature in 2022, so no improvement there. It is, however, a fine, old 1910 home, in the most coveted Riverside neighborhood, and within walking distance of Riverside and Eastern — just ask Sally Osann, who was an essential part of the kid pack that made that trek back in the 60s — and has almost a full acre of land.

Flipping on Cutler

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A builder paid $3.5 million for 20 Cutler Road last April, fixed it up (“stunningly renovated” — I had a folder going for awhile in which I was collecting every listing that used “stunning” in its description, but quickly realized that stunning houses are even more common, if that’s possible, than those with gourmet chef kitchens, so I gave it up) and has put it back on the market at $6.295 million. That’s more than I’d pay to live on Cutler, but I suppose someone might be willing to.