Roundup
(1) Judge Hannah Dugan is guilty as sin, but free as a bird (as Bill Ayers might say):
Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan won’t face any prison time for her conviction of obstructing federal immigration officials.
In April 2025, the FBI arrested Dugan after video caught her directing agents away from a suspect, an illegal alien, whom they wanted to arrest. Her help allowed him to evade arrest temporarily.
A jury convicted Dugan in December 2025.
At today’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman imposed a $5,000 fine on Dugan.
“I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment,” Adelman said, according to The Associated Press.
The jury convicted her, but in this case the judge got to set the sentence and had a lot of leeway in doing so. And yet her violation made a mockery of the law; I guess the judge who sentence her wasn’t especially concerned with that aspect.
(2) The circle of political life:
On Wednesday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took to his official X account with a startling announcement; an investigation by Senator Grassley has uncovered that anti-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith and his team, in the course of investigating President Trump for alleged mishandling of classified documents, did in fact carry out precisely the infraction for which they were investigating the president: Mishandling of classified documents, and the possible compromising of national security.
Fancy that.
(3) Scott Jennings wonders why Democrats are bailing on Platner now. He doesn’t seem to have an answer. Jennings is a very very smart man, but I’m surprised that he – and many others – don’t seem to agree with me that it happened now because Platner was sinking in the polls.
The trend over time was clear: Platner’s lead over Collins in polls was getting smaller and smaller and she was even starting to lead. Collins’s opponents have a history of polling better than they deliver, and I’m pretty sure the internal polls were much worse even than the polls we see on the chart at the link. I strongly believe he was dumped for one reason only, as I’ve written before: they started to see him as a loser. That’s the only reason the Politico story about rape came out. It’s not the other way around – they weren’t reacting to the story, they were allowing it to go public.
(4) The Tyler Robinson preliminary hearing is happening in Utah. The evidence against him is overwhelming, and that’s been clear for a long time:
On the second day of testimony of the preliminary hearing, and after a battle by the defense attorneys claiming that it would be prejudicial to Robinson’s case, prosecutors were allowed to show video of him entering the Utah Valley University campus at least four times on the day of the shooting. Some of the video had never before been seen by the public.
And yet much of it had already been seen. The conspiracy theorists ignore that, knowing that their fans are ignorant. Or they just say – as Candace Owens has been busy saying – the videos and photos are of lookalikes dressed as Robinson in order to frame him.
Speaking of long time, is it not amazing that Charlie Kirk was killed less than a year ago? I was unsure enough of that that I had to check the date again, even though I pretty much knew it: September 10, 2025. It seems like he’s been gone for a very very long time, so much has happened since then.
(5) Nigel Farage has announced he’s resigning from Parliament:
“Today I will resign as a Member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing a by-election, which will happen, I hope in short order,” he said in a press conference broadcast from the Reform UK YouTube channel.
“This will be a people vs. the establishment by-election. It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election,” he said. …
Farage’s resignation followed a series of scandals surrounding gifts he received from wealthy donors while out of office.
Farage denied any wrongdoing, stating: “Let me be absolutely clear. I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money.”
An investigation into Farage’s conduct by Parliament’s Commissioner for Standards is ongoing.
Details at the link.
Judge Dugan loses her law practice license and may not be a judge again I have read.
Jennings doesn’t want to be fired.
The verdict on Dugan is disappointing, but I don’t think she’s off entirely scot-free, with a felony conviction. It will keep her off the bench at any rate. But with her connections she can probably soften the consequences that little people would suffer.
Dugan will probably be appealed and given a real sentence.
The verdict on Dugan was right, but it’s the judge’s sentence that was wrong. I recall reading that the judge, Adelman, is a leftist and people were surprised that she conducted the trial as fairly as she did.
This case went a lot further than I expected. The trial was about ICE and was held in Milwaukee yet she was tried and found guilty by a jury of almost certainly Democrats.
As Nik mentioned, she lost a cushy job and AFAIK cannot get another Judge gig with a felony conviction.
Chases Eagles:
For the prosecution to appeal a sentence and win is not easy.
He, Adleman is a he.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Adelman
Lawyer on another site said this is outside the sentencing guidelines and the appellate courts don’t like that.
“I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment.”
hmm, I wonder if I, an otherwise good person, upset by tax policies in this country were to make a bad decision, like refusing to pay my taxes or tax penalties, might get some no-jail time as well.
Of course, I won’t dare try that as we already know the answer if I were to do it.
#3.
Scott Jennings has a point.
And indeed, one could ask the same “Why Now?” query when Joe No-Malarkey Biden was given the old heave ho.
The simple answer, of course—Neo has a pointier point than Jennings—is, then as now, that the
DemocraticCOVER-UP Party’s elaborate contortions and extraordinary distortions, fantastic confabulations and flat-out, non-stop LIES (with the avid assistance of its MEDIA poodles) were/ARE no longer tenable.FWIW, I see Scott Jennings’s “wonderment” as merely a rhetorical device…. Nonetheless, as with Biden’s decrepitude, Harris’s word-salad ideological slush and the DPOTUS MACHINE’s massive fraud and shameless, non-stop, dishonest machinations, the COVER-UP Party will slough it all off, blame TRUMP—somehow—and peel themselves off the pavement, Wile E. Cauoye-style…as they pick up where they left off, with a newer—and better…and more DANGEROUS—set of lies, slanders, fabrications, misrepresentations and corrupt recipes for destroying the country together with any and all perceived political opponents.
Count on it.
Still, NOBODY says it like Brendan O’Neill (though the talented Ms. Sasha Stone is close behind, doing her best to fight the good fight):
“Graham Platner and the death of ‘The Resistance’;
“Why the cancel-culture left stood by a Democrat with a Nazi tattoo and a history of bigotry.”—
https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/07/08/graham-platner-and-the-death-of-the-resistance/
H/T Powerline blog.
Hey, Neo,
I’ve been away for a long while, but saw a link on Instapundit and thought, “Hey! I should check in at Neo’s, see what’s up.”
Happy to say…
1. You and your commenter-community seem as refreshingly sane and sensible as ever; and,
2. At some point you’ve updated your photo (with the apple), and from what one can see around said apple, I gather you’re aging gracefully. Good for you: Fine wine, and all that!
Anyhow I’ll poke around here, and find out what cool discussions I’ve missed in the last few years.
Best to you and yours,
R.C.
In honor of the Fourth, this might be of interest to some….
“Revolutionary War Cannons Hidden For 240 Years Go On Display”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/revolutionary-war-cannons-hidden-240-years-go-display
Britain’s Spiked! also has something to say about Farage.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/07/08/if-nigel-farage-is-so-dangerous-why-wont-they-stand-against-him/
It had to be known Dugan wouldn’t get jail time.
Discussing really
First, Dugan’s worse action, IMO, was that she secretly continued the hearing to a later date without notifying anyone else in the courtroom.
That illegal alien was due in court because he was charged with assaults on three separate victims. He had hit his roommate around the head about thirty times, knocked him down, and choked him. Two females who tried to intervene were also struck.
So the prosecutor and the victims sat there all damn day, waiting for their case to be called. When the court officer announced that court was adjourned, the prosecutor asked what happened to the Ruiz case. Only then did they all learn that the case had been given another date and the defendant and defense attorney smuggled out a side door.
Stupid victims, sitting there with their stupid bruised faces—who cares about those suckers, right? As a career prosecutor, I am truly sickened by the thought of this judge’s abuse of her office.
Secondly, some commentators above have mentioned a possible appeal of the lenient sentence. While it’s true that the prosecution can file an appeal of a sentence, the possible grounds for relief are narrow and relief is seldom granted.
Niketas Choniates on July 8, 2026 at 8:26 pm said:
The verdict on Dugan is disappointing, but I don’t think she’s off entirely scot-free, with a felony conviction. It will keep her off the bench at any rate. But with her connections she can probably soften the consequences that little people would suffer.
—————
She’ll be hired as a “legal analyst” for MS NOW