Thursday roundup

State's Attorney Kim Foxx has done an about face re: the six new charges the special prosecutor has brought against Jussie Smollett - sort of. She's still saying that she "certainly hope[s] [the] decision made in this case was based on facts evidence & the law."

John Kelly treated an assemblage of students and guests at Drew University to some bracing candor the other night, letting loose on his view on how the Very Stable Genius has handled North Korea (saying the summits were pointless and merely bought Kim some time), made unrealistic generalizations about immigrants, intervened in the Eddie Gallagher case, and dealt with Ukraine. Kelly had this to say about Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman notifying his superiors when he became disturbed about the July 25 call to Zelensky:

“He did exactly what we teach them to do from cradle to grave,” Kelly told the audience at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. “He went and told his boss what he just heard.”

Although Trump has long insisted his call to Zelensky was “perfect,” Kelly made clear that Trump indeed conditioned military aid on Zelensky’s help digging up dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

That amounted to a momentous change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine — one that Vindman was right to flag, because other federal agencies needed to know about the shift, Kelly said.

Madeleine Kearns at National Review points out how cowardice among Republicans in the South Dakota Senate advances civilizational rot.  A bill called the Vulnerable Child Protection ace has been  making its way through that state's legislature and three Pub Senators joined the Dem majority in basically killing it. The bill would . . .

. . . make it easier for gender-confused minors to attain financial compensation later in life — should they realize, before age 38, that the doctors who stunted their puberty, destroyed their fertility, and permanently impaired their sexual function had failed to meet the acceptable standards of (what are we calling it these days?) health care.

Witnesses in favor of the bill include some people who had had their crotches mutilated and had been pumped full of hormones not natural to their bodies and later gone through hell as a result.

Here's a taste of what the bill's opponents put forth as representative of their view:

A lobbyist for the ACLU began by greeting everyone with a “handshake from [her] heart,” introducing herself as a “queer indigenous two-spirit nonbinary” person. Another witness spoke on behalf of “Julian Bear Runner” of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, informing the Senate that Mr. Bear Runner (whose relevance and absence wasn’t explained) takes “great offense when our civil liberties come under fire by government officials [and] when laws are used as weapons to prohibit the movements and prosperity of [his] people.” 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are in talks with Goldman Sachs about how they can serve as "brand ambassadors" for the financial giant. Last week, they gave a speech to a hoity-toity JP Morgan event for which they were paid around $1 million. Here's some sharp reaction to the first moves post-"stepping back" that the power couple has made:

The British morning TV host Piers Morgan, a former friend of the Duchess’, wrote in the Daily Mail of the JP Morgan appearance that “it’s hard to imagine a more ludicrously inappropriate first gig for them to take in their brave new progressive, planet-saving royal celebrity world. Sadly, this appears to be just the start of the Sussexes’ shameless nose-in-trough descent into banking ‘partnerships’.”

The revelations come after noted author Germaine Greer went on Australian television and offered her view that Meghan was “faking love” with Harry as she pursued a “glamorous life” according to The U.S. Sun’s account of the interview.

The provocative feminist told Australia’s version of “60 Minutes” that the outcome of Meghan and Harry’s marriage was “likely to be disastrous”. 

“If she’s been faking it all this time, oh boy, what misery. How many orgasms will it take? How many fake groans will get her through this?”

“She’ll bolt. She’s bolted before,” she continued, making a reference to Meghan’s first failed marriage to a Hollywood talent manager. 

What do leftists do when they encounter something that doesn't fit their narrative? They bolt in a huff:

Virginia state Democrats on Tuesday stormed out of the House chamber after a local black minister led the body in an opening prayer that openly and strongly condemned abortion and gay marriage.

Rev. Robert M. Grant Jr., who pastors The Father’s Way Church in Warrenton, used his few moments at the microphone addressing the newly Democrat-controlled House of Delegates to decry abortion, advocate for traditional marriage, and warn against God’s wrath if the state legislature goes against Biblical principles.

“I pray that you may understand that all life is precious and worthy of a chance to be born. God is the giver of life and people have no right or authority to take life. The unborn have rights and those rights need to be protected. They should never be denied the right to exist, the right to develop or the right to have a family,” he said from the podium.

“The word of God has given us a warning: woe to anyone who harms an innocent child," he added, telling state lawmakers that “every one of you sitting here today can guarantee these rights to these little innocent children of Virginia."

“Please do not ignore their little voices. I pray for a heart change today, and may the Lord God have mercy upon this leadership,” he went on.

Grant then switched to gay marriage.

“We should never rewrite what God has declared,” he continued, praying that the state would “always protect the biblical definition of marriage” between one man and one woman.

Big-bucks Dem donors are bailing on Joe Biden.

Eric Kaufmann at Law & Liberty on why the Left is losing in Europe.