“Are you kidding me?" Rivera said on his WABC radio show on Tuesday, according to The New York Observer. "You indict an FBI hero agent, a combat veteran of the United States Marines, a two-term congressman, the only Republican in the area, and you indict him for hiring undocumented immigrants?
My first thought was that restauranteurs don't make laws and lawmakers do, but apparently Grimm is a restauranteur as well as a lawmaker. He'd probably make a good Fox host. And they're very liberal about a little hijinx.
The charges stem from Grimm's time running a New York City restaurant called Healthalicious. The government says Grimm concealed over a million dollars in gross receipts, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars of employees' wages. The charges against Grimm include wire and mail fraud, helping prepare false tax returns, perjury, and -- as Rivera pointed out Tuesday -- hiring undocumented workers. Rivera said that charge in particular suggested the prosecution of the Staten Island congressman was a "pathetic, politically motivated witch hunt."
It may be a witch hunt, but it doesn't look that pathetic. It looks whatever the opposite of pathetic is. Well, innocent until, hopefully, proven guilty I always say (unlike Ed Meese). I guess Rivera is a lawyer, but I have to wonder if anyone actually ever was acquitted using the "everybody does it" defense. I'll give Geraldo the last word. Fair and balanced I am.
Michael Grimm is a great guy. I know him personally. We have hung out together. He’s one of the few people I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with in the last election. A hero!”
UPDATE: Sean Hannity is doubling down on depravity.
Fox host Sean Hannity dismissed the murder convictions of a Minnesota homeowner who used excessive force in killing two teenagers who broke into his home, claiming with exasperation, "They broke into the guy's house."
Byron Smith's actions:
After spotting a neighbor he believed had previously burglarized his house, Smith moved his car to make his home seem unoccupied and then waited in his basement "with a book, energy bars, a bottle of water and two guns."
Smith also set up an audio recording which captured what transpired. After breaking a window, Brady came down the basement stairs and was shot two times. Smith was then heard saying, "You're dead," before firing a third shot into his face. He then put Brady's body on a tarp and moved him to another room.
Moments later, Smith wounded and then killed Kifer execution-style with a shot under her chin.
There's more at Media Matters, but I feel soiled just putting this much up. Also see Digby at Salon.
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