Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Menendez case dismissed, DoJ won’t retry

The Justice Department dismissed its case against New Jersey Democrat Senator Robert Menendez, and will not re-try:

Justice Department drops corruption case against Menendez. The decision comes a week after a federal judge acquitted Menendez and co-defendant Salomon Melgen on seven of the 18 counts.

The decision is a major victory for Menendez and the Democratic Party, which was facing the prospect of having the 12-year incumbent facing a corruption trial while running for what should be one of its safest Senate seats.

It also comes a week after Judge William Walls damaged the prosecution’s case by acquitting Menendez and [Solomon] Melgen on seven of the 18 corruption counts they had faced during a two-and-a-half-month trial last fall. The trial ended in a hung jury, with one juror telling reporters that 10 of the 12 members of the panel favored acquittal on most counts.
. . .
Menendez was charged in 2015 with doing official favors for Melgen in exchange for private jet flights, lavish vacations — including luxury hotel stays — and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. Federal prosecutors also charged Menendez with willfully leaving Melgen’s gifts off his Senate financial disclosure forms.

Menendez had gone against the Obama administration’s key foreign policy regarding the Iran deal and Cuba, Russia, and also in his

support of dissidents from countries other than Cuba: He vigorously supports the State of Israel against Iran-sponsored Hamas in Gaza, which also figures in his support of international sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program – sanctions that Ecuador and Venezuela attempt to help Iran avoid. And, by the way, last year the story was that Menendez was allegedly helping a pair of Ecuadorian fugitive bankers.

The “Ecuadorian fugitive bankers” are brothers William and Roberto Isaías, who fled Ecuador ten years ago after the government allegedly confiscated media outlets they owned which were critical of the government. They are here legally.

Last November a judge declared a mistrial over a deadlocked jury.

For now, Menendez is off the hook.

He’s expected to run for reelection in November.

I’ve been following the Menendez-Melgen story from the start here and here.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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New Jersey: It’s the taxes, stupid.

njtaxEd Driscoll, posting at Instapundit, links to Lee Habeeb’s article, Fleeing New Jersey, and Its Crushing Taxes, for a Better Life

The home my father thought he owned outright had a co-owner: the local city council and school board. And it was a co-owner with an appetite for spending. Home ownership may have had its privileges, but it became a burden he could no longer afford.

The local property-tax bill alone was enough to make him move. On top of that, New Jersey went from having no state income tax to having one of the highest in the country (8.97 percent for the highest earners, and 6.4 percent for the middle class), and from having no sales tax to having one of the highest rates in the country (7 percent, almost as high as California’s, which is the highest sales tax in America, at 7.5 percent).

Let’s not forget the estate tax, and the inheritance tax, too.

When you sell your house, you have to pay a tax on the total sale (not on the profit; on the total sale), which in my case was an exit tax.

As a result,

New Jersey led all 50 states in one tragic category: creating refugees. Last year, the Garden State lost more residents as a percentage of its overall population than any other state in the country, according to a 2014 National Movers Study commissioned by United Van Lines of St. Louis.

I remember last year I was in Rick Moran’s podcast with Jazz Shaw, who asked, why did I moved from New Jersey? When I truthfully replied, “because of the taxes,” Jazz diverted the conversation and asked another guest whether taxes were an important election issue, who, if memory serves, said they weren’t.

Having voted with my feet, I can assure you, New Jersey taxes ceased to matter the moment I moved away.

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Comparing voting in NJ to voting in FL

IMG_0743Today I’m Comparing voting in NJ to voting in FL at Da Tech Guy Blog.

I didn’t go into the local politics in my article, but after decades of political campaigns in four states, I had never experienced such bombardment as the local Florida Crist-Scott campaign this year. You could not escape the campaigns: TV, radio, robocalls, internet (Google ads ran Crist ads in my blog), knocking on doors, campaign workers at the mall, both sides did not let up.

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Taxes, and a book

Don’t miss these:

First, taxes:
My latest article, I’m a tax exile, and proud of it, is up at Da Tech Guy Blog.

Then, the book:
In tonight’s podcast at 8PM Eastern, Silvio Canto and I will talk to Alina García-Lapuerta, author of La Belle Créole: The Cuban Countess Who Captivated Havana, Madrid, and Paris, a biography of Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, a fascinating character.

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Who is to gain from smearing Robert Menendez?

Long-time readers of this blog know that I have not written favorably about the senior senator from New Jersey in the past.

This new story, however, has the fetid odor of a smear campaign:
Feds reportedly looking into Robert Menendez for allegedly helping fugitive bankers. The “fugitive bankers” are Ecuadorian brothers William and Roberto Isaías, who fled Ecuador ten years ago after the government allegedly confiscated media outlets they owned which were critical of the government. They are here legally.

The Isaías brothers

have a variety of real estate and oil holdings in the United States, and recently acquired to broadcast rights of CNN Latino. They have also created a network of private schools, according to Andes, Ecuador’s state news agency.

Now NBC NY is echoing the accusations the Ecuadorian government made against the brothers, charges for which Ecuador has provided no evidence,

The ambassador recommended the Isaias brothers be kicked out of the United States. But to date, the Justice Department says Ecuador’s government, which has been at odds with the U.S. in recent years, has not provided enough evidence to warrant extradition.
…
Ecuador has seized many of the Isaias brothers’ assets in that country. But so far, a court in Florida has rejected Ecuador’s efforts to seize assets inside the U.S.

Based on unnamed sources, NBC says that

the FBI is looking into why the New Jersey Democrat contacted a high-ranking official at the Department of Homeland Security in April 2012 to ask him to give “full consideration” and “expedite” its review of the case of William and Roberto Isaias, who are seeking permanent residence in the U.S. The report said Menendez also made calls to the Department of State about the brothers.

And Ricardo Patino, Ecuador’s chancellor, has said he thinks campaign donations to American politicians have helped the brothers stay in the country.

Let’s ponder that for a moment: The Correa regime thinks something, so NBC NY runs a story on it?

The same NBC whose talking heads support immigration amnesty?

There remains the Melgen investigation. A grand jury in Florida already found no basis for the prostitution allegations; the remaining investigation should be concluded and not dragged unnecessarily.

But this new story is flimsy indeed. Members of Congress routinely hear from their constituents on a variety of issues, and, going by the article, Menendez does not appear to have done anything inappropriate.

Menendez said that he had not heard anything from federal authorities.

Menendez, a member of Congressional Human Rights Caucus, has been a staunch supporter of human rights, meeting with dissidents, and consistently opposing lifting the travel ban on Cuba, “a regime that denies its own people basic human rights,”

He’s consistently shown vigorous support for the State of Israel against Hamas in Gaza, and supports international sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program – the sanctions that Ecuador and Venezuela attempt to help Iran avoid.

So, let’s ask, who gains from smearing Menendez? Who is to gain from having Menendez removed as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations?

UPDATE:
Ecuadorians Deny Making Improper Contributions to Sen. Menendez

Linked to by Babalu. Thank you!


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New Jersey: Testicle-eating fish found in Passaic

Posted without further comment,
Now testicle-eating fish related to the piranha is caught in NEW JERSEY lake weeks after it was found in France. Luckily, the guy who caught it was not in the water at the time.

Known as a slightly gentler cousin of the piranha, the pacu is native to the Amazon in South America and Pacific Islands and the local aquarium Boylan brought the fish to said they were stunned to see it.

Video below the fold,
[Read more…]

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