#private lending attorney

[strictlyfavorites]

One state prosecutor and one civilian plaintiff have already won huge fines and damages from Donald Trump that may, with legal costs, exceed $500 million.

Trump awaits further civil and criminal liability in three other federal, state, and local indictments.

There are eerie commonalities in all these five court cases involving plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, federal special counsel Jack Smith, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

One, they are either unapologetically left-wing or associated with liberal causes. They filed their legal writs in big-city, left-wing America—Atlanta, New York, Washington—where liberal judges and jury pools predominate in a manner not characteristic of the country at large.

Two, they are overtly political. Bragg, James, and Willis have either campaigned for office or raised campaign funds by promising to get or even destroy Donald Trump.

Carroll’s suit was funded by left-wing billionaire Reid Hoffman.

Smith sued to rush his court schedule in hopes of putting Trump on trial before the November election.

Three, there would not be any of these cases had Donald Trump not run for the presidency or not been a conservative.

Carroll’s suit bypassed statute of limitation restrictions by prompting the intervention of a left-wing New York legislator. He passed a special bill, allowing a one-year window to waive the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims from decades past.

Until Trump, no New York prosecutor like James had ever filed a civil suit against a business for allegedly overvaluing real estate assets to obtain loans that bank auditors approved and were paid back in full, on time, and with sizable interest profits to the lending institutions.

Alvin Bragg bootstrapped a Trump private non-disclosure agreement into a federal campaign violation in a desperate effort to find something on Trump.

Smith is also charging Trump with insurrectionary activity. But Trump had never been so charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it.

Willis strained to find a way to criminalize Trump’s complaints about his loss of Georgia in the 2020 national election. She finally came up with a racketeering charge, usually more applicable to mafiosi and drug cartels.

Four, in all these cases, the charges could have been equally applicable to fellow left-wing public figures and officials.

Joe Biden, like Trump, was accused of sexual assault decades earlier by former staffer Tara Reade. Yet Reade was torn apart by the media and the left for inconsistencies in her memory. By contrast, the wildly inconsistent and amnesiac E. Jean Carroll won $83 million from Trump.

Jack Smith created the precedent of charging former president Trump for unlawfully removing classified files to his private residence.

But the government simultaneously did not charge Joe Biden for similar offenses. Yet Biden had removed files not for two years but for more than 30. He stored them not in one location but several.

His rickety garage was a mess, not a secure family compound like Trump’s estate. Moreover, Biden did so while a senator and vice president, without any presidential authority to declassify almost any presidential document he wished.

Biden never came forward to report the crime for over thirty years—until Trump was charged. Indeed, he was caught on tape six years ago, admitting to his ghostwriter that he possessed classified files but never reported it.

Bragg might have noticed that both Hillary Clinton (fined $113,000) and Barack Obama (fined $350,000) broke campaign financing laws. Neither was subject to federal criminal charges by local prosecutors.

An array of left-wing celebrities, politicians, 2004 House Members, former Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have all recently challenged elections. They sought either to delay or redo ballot counting or, on the federal level, to sidetrack electors to ignore popular votes in their respective states.

These lawfare cases are part of other efforts that were highly partisan and without merit. Recall the Trump “Russian collusion” hoax and the “Russian disinformation” laptop farce.

In another first, some blue states are suing to take Trump’s name off the ballot for “insurrection,” a crime for which he has never been charged.

Total up the deaths, damage, and length of the summer 2020 Antifa/BLM riots. Then compare the tally to the one-day January 6 riot.

The former proved far more lethal, long-lasting, and destructive. Yet very few of the 14,000 arrested rioters in 2020 were ever prosecuted, much less convicted.

By contrast, the Biden administration sought to jail hundreds for crimes allegedly committed on January 6, such as “illegal parading.”

We are entering a dangerous era in America.

Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment. Opponents are first targeted, and then laws are twisted and redefined to convict them.

The left is waging lawfare with the implicit message to political opponents: either keep quiet or suffer the consequences.

[cissyenthusiast010155]

My Guardian Angel ~Broken!Rita Calhoun xFem Younger!Investigator!Reader (Liz Donnelly x Alex Cabot) feat. Rafael Barba & Olivia Benson

Summary— AU where Rita has an abusive husband, and one night, after he storms out, Rita calls Reader. Reader brings Rita to the person who helped her with her own haunted past, Elizabeth Donnelly. Alex, Barba, and Liv makes appearances. What does the night have in store for Rita and Reader…?

Mommy… Master List

Requests & Prompt-List

Warnings: angst, a little fluff, dead dove: do not eat, implied abuse, implied sexual assault, implied abusive husband, comforting, crying, alcohol consumption, anxiety attacks, a little self destructive behavior, mentions to prostitution, SVU things, Elizabeth Donnelly, Alex Cabot, Rafael Barba, Olivia Benson, Liz and Alex are a bit of a power couple, gray ending, etc.

Enjoy (;

You didn’t know Rita Calhoun well. At least not originally. From the moment you did meet, you both couldn’t deny the connection between the two of you. You had always lived in coinciding worlds, she was a New York defense attorney, and you were an investigator for 1PP, occasionally lended out to SVU.

Originally, she was the lawyer whom you had hired for your idiot of a brother when he had been caught and charged with soliciting a prostitute. You had met with the high class woman on a couple of occasions, to discuss your brothers bail, probation, trial, payment, and anything else pertaining to his case.

You saw yourself intrigued by her elegant manner, high end fashion, and confidence. Soon you saw yourself get hooked to the tiny smiles and chuckles you managed to pull from her when in private. You found yourself fighting to make the woman laugh as much as you could, her laugh always seemed to make your day. And during the trial, your eyes were on her the entire time. You lived off those days outfits that Rita would strut into court in.

So when you checked your phone late Friday night, the last thing you expected to see what a very many handfuls of missed calls from Rita Calhoun. You saw that she had left a voicemail in the last call, so you pressed play.

“Heyyyy Y/N… S-sorry to be bothering you so I know it’s^^late… I… I just… I don’t know what to do, call me back k bye”

It was Rita alright, but something was very wrong. She had been stammering and hiccuping throughout the entire voicemail, and had broken into sobs by the end. She sounded like she’d been crying and drinking for far too long… Her sounds triggered memories of your own life, memories that you had gone to great lengths to bury.

You immediately called the woman back. The dial rang for a couple tones, then it shut off. You hit call again. The second time, she picked up. You heard a sniffle and then a choke sob.

“H-hey…” she practically whispered.

“Rita, Hi, is everything alright?”

“I…” She stammered, before the call went silent.

“Rita?” You asked, your concern growing.

“N-no” She whispered, then letting out another choked sob.

You took a deep breath and your instincts kicked in once more. You got Rita to give you her address and told her that you would be over as soon as possible. That night you broke the made the most traffic violations in your entire life.

You entered the house, the front door having been unlocked which was mildly concerning to you. You walked through the lavish, lofty apartment, until you found Rita curled up facing away from you in the living room on the floor with a full bottle of wine in her hand. Your heart sank and a lump came into your throat. You hated how normal and used to this sight you were. Because not too long ago, this had been you…

You dropped to the floor, immediately going to comfort the woman. You carefully removed the alcohol, setting it aside. Rita let out a choke sob, immediately curling up into your lap. As she turned to face you, you saw the massive black eye that she had. Your eyes scanned her entire body, finding more red, raw skin marks along her arms and some blue bruising on her neck. Your heart nearly broke as Rita sobbed into your lap.

“I—im s-sorry… I didn’t-didn’t know who t-to call…! It’s it’s stupid, nothing really—” Rita choked out, muffled as she cried into your chest.

You knew this behavior. You knew it all too well.

“Hey hey, it’s okay. I’m here Rita… It’s all going to be okay. Can I touch you, honey…? Would that be alright…?” You very gently asked the woman, coming a little closer to her, trying to show that you were no threat.

Rita nodded as her cries were muffled by her face being in the crook of your neck. She clung onto you like her life depended on it.

“Ok, good… you are doing so good for me, Rita. Take some deep breaths for me? Can you try to do that?” You comforted the woman, bringing your hands around to hold the woman in your lap.

You could hear Rita trying to take some deep breaths as she nodded, although her hiccups made it more difficult.

“Good, very good, Rita.” You praised, then bringing your hands to cup the woman’s cheeks and direct her scattered gaze to you.

“Now Rita this is important… I need you to come back to me and think, okay?”

A slow nod.

“Is he going to come back anytime soon…?” You softly asked.

Rita’s eyes widened and she began to panic at your question. Your hold on the woman only tightened and you insisted on her answer.

“I know you don’t want to think about it, but I need to know if you’re safe staying here Rita.” You explained firmly yet lovingly.

Rita took some more deep breaths before stammering,

“I… he he’s gone out… drinking…” she gulped, “Be back late…”

Her eyes were red and glossy, and they only panicked more at the idea of her husband returning. You rubbed her back and caressed her check in comfort.

“Ok. We need to get you to a hospital, Rita…” you gently said, knowing the possible outlast that your words might cause.

Rita practically jumped out of your lap and was quick to stand up and start pacing in the living room. Her fingers were red and raw and fidgeting. Her gaze scattered everywhere. You slowly stood up and tried to corner the woman into your embrace.

“No no no hospitals… hospitals means cops and that means court and no no—” Rita rambled, her thoughts spiraling more and more.

You grabbed the woman’s hands, clasping them in your own to ground the woman. Her sobbing gaze finally met yours once more.

“Okay. That’s okay. Rita, listen to me, is there anywhere you can go to stay for the time being…?” You softly asked.

Rita’s lip began to tremble and her knees buckled, her body falling into yours. Luckily, you managed to gently catch and carry the weight of the woman while she regained partial strength.

“N-not RAF—Rafael… he can’t know, no no no one…” Rita choked out in gasps.

When she wasn’t able to come up with any other options, your mind went to the person who had helped you.

“Okay okay, that’s okay, Rita. How about Elizabeth? You know Judge Donnelly? She’s a close friend and I know she can help…” you spoke with understanding and reassurance.

Rita looked up to you from collapsing in your arms and nodded slowly. But her eyes told you that she had sunken too far into her thoughts, that you would have to start making the decisions in her best interest until she came back to you.

You gently placed Rita back on the couch, quickly going to the kitchen to grab her a water, while you then ran around the place, trying to pack her a weekend back. After about 15 minutes, you had the bag in hand and you were leading the woman out of the house and into a cab. The entire cab ride, Rita was snuffling and silently sobbing in your shoulder.

Once you reached Liz’s brownstone, you violently knocked on the door, Rita protected being you and holding your hand. The door flew open but it wasn’t Liz, it was a blonde. Your eyes went wide and you gulped, suddenly regretting not having double checked with Liz beforehand.

“You’re Y/N, right…? I’m Alex.” The tall blonde spoke slowly yet confidently.

“Yes, um is Liz home?” You said, quickly getting to the point while trying to hide Rita behind you to the best of your ability.

But Liz had told you about Alex, she was sharp, didn’t miss a thing.

“Yea, she’s in the kitchen… Is that Calhoun…?” Alex hummed, leaning against the doorway.

You took a deep breath and brought Rita to stand next to you. Alex’s jaw dropped and she took a step back in shock.

“I just… we needed a safe place to go for the night and Liz always said her door was always open and I’m sorry if we intruded, I just can’t handle this, I mean I know Liz can handle it, and so I thought—” you rambled.

Before you could say another word, the blonde was pulling you and Rita into the brownstone, closing the door behind her and marching straight up to Liz in the kitchen.

“Is that our take-out, bunny…?” Liz hummed, while sipping some wine before her gaze met yours and then Rita’s disheveled state.

“Oh my god.” Liz immediately put her glass doing and rushed over to Rita, her hands wandering all over the woman, her gaze scouring the woman’s injuries, “Rita, Darling, what happened…??”

Rita’s lip trembled before more violent sobs came out. No coherent words were possible for the woman at this point, all she could do was embrace Liz and sob into her chest. Liz happily consoled the poor woman before her gaze meet yours along with the go bag.

“I’m sorry…” you mouthed, referring to breaking up her and Alex’s obvious night together.

“Hush now, you did the right thing, take Rita’s things to the first bedroom on the second floor.” Liz told you, waving off your unneeded apology.

You immediately nodded and went to go up the stairs. Then Luz turned to Alex.

“Go run a bath, warm not too hot.” Liz spoke firmly.

Alex was off to the master bathroom after a quick nod. When you both returned, you found Rita clung around Liz like a Koala, clinging on for dear life and continuing to sob in her chest. The sight brought flashbacks of the night you had stumbled up on Liz’s doorstep, in an eerily same condition as Rita…

Liz soothed Rita while guiding her to the master bathroom. The older blonde sent you a comforting gaze with a nod, telling you that she had it. You placed a hand on your heart and took a shattered breath, nodding slowly.

It was then that you noticed Alex coming up beside you. You turned your head to her slightly.

“I… I just didn’t know where else to go… I’m sorry if I ruined your night…” you breathed out.

Alex brought a hand to your shoulder and reassuringly squeezed your skin lightly. Her eyes twinkled with sympathy and care.

“Hey, it’s okay. You made the right call. And hey, I’m glad to finally meet you.” Alex sighed, “Can I get you anything…?”

You nodded and then sighed yourself.

“Tea maybe…? Or fuck some scotch now that I think about it…”

A deep chuckle reverberated throughout Alex’s chest as she nodded in agreement, going to the kitchen and pulling a bottle out of the liquor cabinet. She poured two glasses and handed you one of them.

“Thanks” you muttered.

Alex hummed an of course in response, before going to sit down in the classy living room. You sat across from her, sipping your scotch lightly. The blonde looked you dead in the eye, as she sighed.

“Liz told me a bit about you and that night.”

You gulped and struggled to maintain the intense eye contact. You knew that Liz and Alex were close, really close, however it still was hard to reconcile another person knowing something so vulnerable about you. But if Liz trusted Alex with it, so did you.

“Yea… I was and am still so grateful to Lizzie for all that she did for me…” you confessed.

“Lizzie…?” Alex chuckled dryly with a cock of an eyebrow.

“Yea…” you breathily chuckled, “Her and my dad worked together…”

Alex smiled lightly in understanding, nodding along, waving her hand in the air and prompting you to continue, knowing from what Liz had said that that wasn’t the whole story.

“Yeah they were colleagues, and so I saw Lizzie at events and she’d been at my childhood home a couple times… I’d always been pretty independent, both my parents working all the time, and me being the oldest led to me getting used to being on my own. And then my parents divorced, and I got even more alone…” you sighed.

Another wave of sympathy washed over Alex’s face, as she sipped her scotch and listened intently.

“I’m sorry. I definitely know the pains of divorced parents…” Alex sighed.

You smiled lightly and nodded, before continuing you tawdry tale,

“Anyways, Lizzie was one of the only people who reached out to me, to y’know check on me and stuff. She’s always been in my corner, and she’s practically filled the role of a mother ever since the divorce…” you spoke out softly.

You could tell that Alex knew most of this, and that she was waiting for the part about how this all connected to Rita, so you cut to the chase.

“Anyways, about two years ago, I meet and started to see this guy… Looking back, he was a lot like my father, and I should have recognized the warning signs earlier… But I didn’t. And I let it go on for an entire year… Until…” you sucked in a breath, “I wound up on Lizzie’s doorstep, heart broken and bruised…”

You saw Alex’s audible gulp at your last sentence. You saw how her hand tightly clutched her glass, her knuckles almost white. With a deep breath, she nodded and prompted you to continue with her hand once more.

“Anywho, Lizzie helped me get my shit together and throw him out of my place and my life. I’d taken his abuse for a whole year, and I’m still recovering to this day from the number he did on me…” You concluded your story.

Alex then stood up and came to sit next to you on the couch you inhabited. Her hand came to squeeze your shoulder reassuringly.

“I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that…” Alex sighed, “I hear you, recovery takes time.”

You took a breathy, deep breath with a shaky nod, all the memories of your past coming up as you talked about it all. But her touch was soothing. It was then that Liz emerged from the hallway and came into the living room with a sigh. The older woman sat down next to you, a hand running up and down your thigh in reassurance.

“She’s okay, Rita is going to be fine.” Liz hummed, before stealing your glass of scotch and sipping away at it.

You didn’t mind the cheeky gesture, lord knows she needed the relaxation, merely humming and nodding in response.

“She’s in the bath, and she’s asking for you…” Liz spoke once more.

You sucked in a breath and nodded, starting to stand up. As you went to leave and find Rita in the master bath, you turned back towards Liz and Alex, who were now snuggling lovingly on the couch.

“Thank you Lizzie… Really, thank you.” You breathed out shakily.

Liz met your gaze, her eyes filled with love and care, and the older woman nodded.

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

You nodded lightly with a small smile, before turning around and making your way to find Rita. By the time you reached the bath, you found Rita passed out in the warm water, snoring lightly and peacefully. You noted how graceful and content Rita looked asleep. Coming up to the tub, you sat down next to the rim, and proceeded to tuck a stray hair behind Rita’s ear.

She must be exhausted… you thought. And your suspicions were confirmed as the woman continued to sleep until the water in the tub threatened to go cold. It was then that you gently nudged the brunette out from her slumber. She snorted lightly as her eyes fluttered open. Her gaze still looked shattered and sad, and her lip was still lightly trembling.

“Fuck I’m mm sorry, I must have fallen asleep—” Rita rambled in a quiet mumble.

“Hush, none of that. It’s completely alright…” you comforted the woman, raising your hand for her to stop.

Rita shut her mouth and blushed a little, then shivering in the now cold bath water.

“Thanks…” she whispered.

“Of course. Now let’s get you out and into something warm…” you hummed, grabbing a fluffy towel from the bathroom cabinet and then reaching your hand out towards Rita.

Rita happily took your hand, then climbing out of the tub, then you proceeded to wrap the woman up in the warm towel.

“M-my clothes…” Rita murmured, looking to the ground as fear lurched in the pit of her stomache at the idea of having to wear her bloodied clothing.

You gently rubbed her towel wrapped shoulders with a light smile.

“I grabbed some things before we left your place, the bag is on the toilet. It will have to do for now, until we figure out what to do…” you cooed caringly.

Rita blushed lightly and muttered a thank you. You told her it’s was the least that you could do, before giving her a kiss on the forehead and leaving her in the bathroom to go through the bag and change.

As you exited the room and walked back into the living room, you found Liz and Alex right where you had left them, with Alex curled up in Liz’s arms. Liz’s head popped up from her gaze on Alex back to you as you came into the living room and took a seat on an opposing couch, with a pondering look on your face.

“I know that look…” Liz hummed cheekily, taking another sip of your scotch, “What’s on your mind, kiddo?”

You bit your lip, pulling out your phone, before looking over to Liz.

“I was thinking about maybe calling Barba…” you mused aloud, your mind questioning on what to do next.

At this, Alex perked up to. Liz’s eyes widened and her expression was a knowing one, one that quickly understood your line of thought.

“I see… What did Rita say?” Liz hummed, placing the scotch back on the table and much to Alex’s delight starting to massage the young blonde’s shoulders.

You looked away from Liz at her words, and back to your phone.

“When I asked where she could go, she said not Rafael… I know that their friends, she’s mentioned him before… But he could help…” you sighed, inwardly conflicted.

Liz sighed at your admission. And she seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before she spoke,

“When you came to me, did I call anyone…?” The older woman asked you.

You bit your lip and sighed.

“No…”

“Exactly. Even though I wanted to… Probably would have called Liv, but I didn’t. Because you didn’t want me to.” Liz spoke,

You once again looked to the ground instead of meeting the older woman’s gaze.

“I’m not saying that Barba is a bad idea…” she slowly explained, “I think that it would be best if we ask Rita first.”

“Ask me what?” Rita’s timid voice echoed through the expansive living room and kitchen.

All three of your heads swiveled with extreme speed to the end of the hallway where the brunette stood. She padded her way through part of the kitchen and then into the living room. You immediately scooted over and lightly waved her over to come and sit. Rita did exactly that before repeating her question, more vocal this time.

“What did you want to ask me first?” The woman spoke.

Liz and Alex immediately eyed you, quirking their eyebrows and very clearly telling you that since this was your idea, you were the one who was going to say something. You gulped, turning your body more towards the group. Your gaze met Rita’s and you reached your hands out to grasp her left available hand and reassuringly squeeze it.

“I… We were talking about maybe calling Liv… or Barba…” you shakily breathed out, squeezing her hand lovingly while speaking to comfort the woman.

The same panic from earlier this night came rushing back to the woman’s gaze. But she was a little more collected now, and she seemed to handle the surge of emotions better this time around.

“I…” Rita stammered, “I don’t know…”

She slumped forward a bit and closed her eyes, a singular tear escaping her eyes. You immediately extended your arm and brought the brunette into your soft embrace.

“That’s okay. We can deal with all that later… How are you feeling…?” You gently spoke.

“Exhausted…” Rita choked out, “and stupid… like it’s all my fault…!”

The broken defense lawyer turned completely towards you, clinging to your frame as she began to cry into your shoulder. You gently caressed her back and shoulders reassuringly.

“That’s it, it’s going to be ok, Rita… It’s all going to be okay…” you soothed the woman.

“B-but how do you know that…?”

You sighed.

“Because… I’ve been through something eerily similar…”

At this, Rita pulled back and looked at you with eyes full of empathy.

“I’m so sorry…” she uttered, fully processing the words you had just spoken.

You smiled lightly and cupped Rita’s face.

“It’s okay… I’m past that now. Now I’m here for you… Now how about bed…?” You hummed caringly.

Rita nodded and hummed a soft thank you, before you guided the woman up and to one of Liz’s many guest bedrooms. You stayed with her until she was asleep, which didn’t take too long, but you stayed nonetheless, before then turning in for the night yourself in another guest room, which Liz had so kindly offered you.

~~

Rita spent the rest of the weekend at Liz’s. Liz and Alex were more than happy to host, and they graciously let you stay as well to keep an eye on the broken brunette.

Then come Monday morning, you were walking into the SVU squad room with Rita anxiously by your side. You grabbed her shaky hand and squeezed it reassuringly, as your other hand rapped on Captain Liv Benson’s office door. Neither of you expected Barba to swing the door open, and he sure as hell didn’t expect to see Rita.

Liv ushered you in, and Rafael could immediately sense something was wrong. Rafael simply closed the door behind you, not bothering to leave.

“Rita, Y/N, how can I help you?” Liv spoke.

Rita shuffled her feet and looked to the ground. You squeezed her hand again and whispered that it was going to be okay.

“Wait what is going on…?” Rafael cut in.

Liv sent Barba a warning glance for him to be quiet to let you or Rita speak. You gently looked towards the brunette, whose lip was now trembling.

“I… I was raped…” Rita shakily breathed out, as a small tear rolled down her left cheek.

~~~

Part 2 with a happy ending…? Or maybe something more angsty…? 😏

Alex Cabot Masterlist

Olivia Benson Masterlist

Rita Calhoun Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

Elizabeth Donnelly Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

Rafael Barba Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

[beardedmrbean]

Elvis Presley's home of Graceland will not be hitting the auction block on Thursday after all.

In a hearing Wednesday that only lasted about eight minutes, Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins adjourned the sale of Graceland, saying, "The notary has sworn that the notary did not notarize the signature of Lisa Marie Presley on the deed of trust, which brings into question the authenticity of the signature."

The hearing on Wednesday in Tennessee was set to determine whether a dubious entity could proceed with an advertised plan to auction off the late singer's estate in Memphis.MORE: Battle for Graceland heads to court

Actress Riley Keough, Presley's granddaughter, was trying to stop a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC from conducting an auction outside the Shelby County Courthouse on Thursday at noon.

Keough is alleging the company presented fraudulent documents last September "purporting to show that Lisa Marie Presley had borrowed $3.8 million from Naussany Investments and gave a deed of trust encumbering Graceland as security," according to the court documents obtained by Memphis ABC affiliate WATN.

Keough is being represented by attorneys based in Memphis and Jacksonville, Florida. Both lawyers declined to comment to ABC News. It is not yet clear whether Naussany Investments has an attorney.

Jenkins said "Gregory Naussany" of Jacksonville filed a one-page motion for continuance and Jenkins denied the motion Wednesday.

"The court will adjourn the sale as requested because one, the real estate is considered unique under Tennessee law and in being unique, the loss of the real estate would be considered irreparable harm," Jenkins said.

Jenkins added, "Graceland is a part of this community, well loved by this community and indeed around the world."

[mightyflamethrower]

Do not believe the White House/mainstream media-concocted narrative that the four criminal court cases—prosecuted by Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Jack Smith, and Fani Willis—were not in part coordinated, synchronized, and timed to reach their courtroom psychodramatic finales right during the 2024 campaign season.

These local, state, and federal Lilliputian agendas were designed to tie down, gag, confine, bankrupt, and destroy Trump psychologically and physically. They are the final lawfare denouement to years of extra-legal efforts to emasculate him.

Indeed, the nation is by now worn out by these serial assaults on constitutional norms: the Hillary-funded Steele dossier subterfuge; the pre-election Russian laptop disinformation campaign; the two impeachments without special counsel reports; the impeachment Senate trial of a private citizen; the effort to remove Trump’s name from state ballots; the ongoing attempt to emasculate the Electoral College; or the radical opportune changes in state election laws to ensure massive mail-in balloting.

Recently, Andrew McCarthy has reviewed in depth this coordination between White House personnel and prosecutors, long known and long denied by the left. Biden, for example, had complained to aides about Attorney General Merrick Garland’s tardiness in getting special federal prosecutor Smith appointed—and thus apparently ensuring Trump was convicted before the election.

Nathan Wade, Fani Willis’s now-fired paramour prosecutor, visited and consulted with the White House counsel’s office when he was acting supposedly as a purely local county prosecutor. The January 6th left-wing-dominated congressional committee consulted with the Biden administration in sending forth its criminal referrals about Trump’s purported role in the protests. And to handle his pseudo-indictment against Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hired Biden Justice Department official Vincent Colangeio.

Two, the prosecutors’ delayed criminal indictments and E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit were predicated only on Donald Trump running for reelection. After his 2020 defeat, the loss of the two Republican senate seats in Georgia, and the January 6 demonstrations/riot, Trump was written off by pundits as politically toxic.

Then his historic comeback in the subsequent year terrified the left. The reboot prompted the subsequent indictments and suits years after the purported crimes. It was left unsaid that had Trump not been a conservative Republican and leading presidential candidate, he would have never been indicted.

Three, most of the indictments either had no prior precedent in criminal law or will likely never be used again, at least against anyone left-wing. Moreover, many of the writs relied on manipulation of statutes of limitations.

Neither Bragg nor any other local prosecutor had previously transformed a supposedly local affidavit misdemeanor into a supposed federal campaign finance violation, a gambit so preposterous that it had been passed on by federal attorneys.

Letitia James was the first New York Attorney General to indict a state resident for the supposed crime of overvaluing real estate to obtain a loan, which was paid back timely and in full, to the profit of lending institutions. No bank, after auditing Trump’s assets and viability to pay back loans, was unhappy to loan to him. But all were quite happy to profit from the hefty interest—and would likely be happy to loan to him again.

James sought to make Trump a criminal without ever finding a crime, much less a victim. Nor, until the checkered and unethical career of Fani Willis, had any local prosecutor ever indicted an ex-president for a supposedly improper phone call questioning whether all the state’s votes had been fully counted.

Alvin Bragg’s case was nonexistent given the statute of limitations on supposed misdemeanors committed over six years prior—until Bragg transmogrified the accusations of minor crimes into felonies and, with them, extensions granted supposedly due to the COVID lockdowns.

In Carroll’s case, her unsubstantiated accusations of a sexual assault were also well past the statute of limitations until a left-wing New York legislator and unapologetic Trump hater passed a special law—a veritable bill of attainder aimed at Trump—waiving the statute of limitations for a year in cases of accusations of long-past sexual assault in the state of New York.

Four, all the indictments and suits took place in either blue cities, counties, or states. And most of the jury pools in or near New York, Atlanta, or Miami were or will be heavily Democrat. So far, the New York judges who have overseen Trump’s civil and criminal trials—Justices Engoron, Kaplan, and Merchan—were all liberals, appointed by Democrat or liberal politicians, and some have donated to Democrat causes. They were not shy about expressing disdain for defendant Trump. No changes in venues were ever allowed.

Five, all the prosecutors, Bragg, James, Smith, and Willis, are likewise either Democrats or associated with liberal causes. In the case of Bragg, James, and Willis, all three ran for office and raised money on promises and boasts of getting Donald Trump. And all three have now set the precedent that local and state prosecutors can warp the law and use it to go after an ex-president and leading presidential candidate of the opposite party for naked political purposes.

Six, all these cases were equally applicable to high-profile Democrat politicos. E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit was the most laughable of all the court dramas, but its outline and protocols just as easily could have applied to Tara Reade. She came forward to accuse candidate Biden of having sexually assaulted her years earlier—roughly about the same period’s as Carroll’s fluid timelines. Her story is about as believable or unbelievable as Carroll’s. But the difference was that whereas the media canonized the delusional and self-contradictory Carroll as a useful anti-Trump tool, it demonized Reade as a crazy loon and liar—and a potential impediment to Biden’s 2019-20 primary campaign.

Bragg had to torture the law to fabricate a federal campaign finance indictment against Trump. But Hillary Clinton clearly violated federal campaign statutes—and was variously fined—when she tried to hide her “opposition research” payments to Christopher Steele as “legal expenses.” In truth, Steele was hired and paid to concoct a fake anti-Trump dossier and likely should have been barred from working for a presidential campaign given he was not a U.S. citizen.

In the case of Smith, simultaneously with his case against Trump, his twin special prosecutor, Robert Hur, found that Joe Biden had unlawfully removed classified files for much longer than Trump (30 years plus), in a much less secure location (his rickety garage), and without a president’s authority to declassify his documents. Moreover, he had disclosed their contents to his ghostwriter, who destroyed evidence under subpoena by Hur. Yet unlike Trump, Biden was not charged, given that Hur claimed that Biden, in his opinion, was so old and amnesiac that he might win sympathy rather than a conviction from a jury.

Willis indicted Trump for supposedly trying to pressure officials to “find” missing Trump ballots, thus supposedly violating “racketeering” statutes, as he oversaw an attempt to find troves of ballots he thought had been cast for him. Of course, in the same state, Stacy Abrams, after losing the gubernatorial race of 2018, claimed she had actually won, despite losing by over 50,000 votes. She sued to overturn the election and then made a celebrity-political career touring the nation, falsely claiming she was the real governor and her victorious opponent was an illegitimate governor.

For that matter, in 2016, left-wing organizations, celebrities, and thousands of political operatives sought to overturn the Trump victory by appealing to the electors to renounce their states’ popular vote tallies and thus become “faithless electors.” In sum, there was a true conspiracy, or, better, a “racketeering” scheme, to use Willis’s parlance, to coordinate various groups to overturn the constitutional duties of electors to throw the election to Hillary Clinton. Clinton, along with the likes of ex-president Jimmy Carter and soon-to-be House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, would continue to deny that Trump was the legitimately elected president.

In sum, the number of suits against and indictments against Trump grew in correlation to his political fortunes. They were designed in the election year 2024 to do what Democrat voters likely cannot. They are ridiculous and sui generis, and will never be used against anyone other than Trump. They have done more damage to democracy, the rule of law, and equal justice to the law than all of the antics that Trump is accused of.

Moreover, they will set in motion a dangerous tit-for-tat cycle of weaponization that threatens the very constitutional order of the United States.

If Trump is elected to restore the rule of equal justice, will a Republican special counsel revisit Robert Hur’s work and find ex-President Biden quite capable of standing trial for the crimes Hur has already investigated and confirmed?

Will then a new Republican-appointed FBI director order a SWAT-like raid, with Fox News forewarned and Newsmax reporters on the scene, to descend into the Biden beach house?

Will county and state prosecutors in Utah, Montana, and Oklahoma feel that to stop this cycle of illegality, they must charge the Biden family members by bootstrapping local indictments onto federal crimes?

Will conservative women in the future come forward in Arkansas, Idaho, and Alabama to claim that in their past, they now suddenly remember that decades ago a prominent Democrat candidate harassed them? Will their right-wing lawyers cherry-pick the proper red-state judge?

Will conservative district attorneys find ways to indict Joe Biden on the various imaginative bookkeeping and “loan repayments” used to disguise the fact his corrupt family received well over $20 million from illiberal foreign interests, much if not all of it camouflaged to avoid income taxes?

Will some South Carolina legislator get a bill of attainder passed in the legislature, ending the statute of limitations for a year for all those in 2016 who sought to undermine the electors and flip them to Hillary Clinton?

In August or September, will a right-wing state prosecutor and a conservative judge find that Joe Biden’s creative bookkeeping warrants a $450 million fine, payable before appeal?

And will Republican officials and judges in purple states move to get Biden’s name off the ballot?

Such scenarios are endless and, given the current precedents, could all be justified as desperate deterrent measures to shock the left into ceasing their efforts to sabotage our constitutional system and rule of law.

A final note. There is a divine order of balance in the world, one known variously by particular civilizations as kismet, nemesis, karma, or what goes around, comes around payback. We’ve already seen such forces at work: Sen. Schumer at the head of a mob at the doors of the Supreme Court, calling out threats to justices by name, only now finding pro-Hamas thugs circling his own home. Or Democrats during the Trump years straining to find ways to invoke the 25th Amendment, now humiliated into claiming a non-compos-mentis Joe Biden is “sharp as a knife.”

Tragically for the country, to stop this left-wing madness, the Trump travesties may not be the end, but the beginning of precisely what the Founders feared.

[toyherb]

long rambling stream of consiousnes post

remember when someone was called our for making porn of their oc but aged up and the anon was like "but you have portrayed them as a kid too" and everyone was like. people age dude. they don't exist as a child to (author) etc etc

anyway I think the way we think if this kind of discourse has messed with our minds and how we think of fictional characters. thankfully I am not engaged in any sort of shipping discourse in any fandom. and I always stay silent on my opinions on this but I just wanted to like... sort my thoughts ig

please read the footnotes this was so stream of consciousness djhavavkda

I hate proshippers and how they behave they are so annoying and act like people who disagree with them are all stupid dumb dumb babies. I have more thoughts but this isn't really about them.

having said that I'm not an anti by any means... anti culture does not attract me, and I would rather spend my time having fun with media I like and avoiding what I dislike.

there is no room for people with a moderate opinion in this discourse. people in the middle seem to pick a side and then try hard to fit in or explain weird logic to make what they feel okay to them (if they are an anti who wants to ship or make porn something tabboo, they by certain logic it is okay) or ignore things that make them upset (on the proshipper side). unless I'm just so far removed I don't even see these people (since potentially they also just don't engage with the discussion, or do so privately)

I think, on the topic of aging up characters it depends on SO many factors whether it feels "morally okay" or not. like in the first example, the character experiences time and is portrayed at different life stages and porn of them as an adult, made by the author, exists. all of that is extremely normal and healthy. my thoughts on this extend to characters who are not adults in popular media. I don't think people who do this are attracted to teenagers , but rather the idea of that character as an adult and their partner (if this is about sex or shipping or whatever) who is the same or similar age as them.*(1)

even if the characters do not "belong" to them, to me this is like playing with barbies and thinking of stories on your own. especially with anything illustrated or drawn which really lends itself to imagination and different interpretations of characters.

having said that. I do not really feel comfortable with the idea of actually elementary age children being aged up for porn if they have never been portrayed as an adult or older teen. it's weird? it doesn't make sense to me. like. with a teenage character you have a better idea of who that character will be as an adult (even if obviously we change a lot between being teens vs adults) but with a young kid? like, when you see them you are still picturing the child even if the art is them grown up. there is not context to imagine them as a whole adult if it's just porn. this was messy but idk how to phrase this properly.

(I am specifically thinking of Pearl from Ace Attorney when I write this. which differs in the next example in that Pearl is a kid surrounded by adults and engages with the world and the writing as a child and has little agency over herself. in a way i think people who have childhood trauma can see this and a portrayal of [adult] pearl having agency, even in a pornographic way, is safe and theraputic. i think thats kind of poetic tbh but it still makes me sad and upset to think of pearl sexually)*(2)

it's gets more confusing and hard to form feelings on this kind of thing because of how nuanced every situation can be. like when Rugrats All Grown Up was a thing, I'm sure people who grew up with the show thought the adult versions were attractive and proceeded how you can imagine. It.... doesn't feel THAT weird to me I guess? The characters were portrayed whith whole personalities, from their perspectives, and how they are treated by the original show (at least in my faint memory), it kind of makes sense. You don't think of them as just babies but as whole people.

(this is similar to how if you are a kid reading something like A Series of Unfortunate events, you might love reading about the kids facing adversity and escaping danger, but an adult reader would probably be distressed and worried for the them. I read the books as a kid and that's what my teacher said she felt. watching the TV show as an adult I understand her.)

Another example is Harry Potter. I have no real idea how people decided to write fic for it back in the early 00s, if they decided to age characters up, before the later books, but I know people were writing porn for it. (but also like. not sure why adults were such big hp fans. maybe they were just around the books for whatever reason like as a librarian or teacher or whatever). in a situation like that I think its easy to picture in your mind older characters but personally I'm still like. they were middle schoolers, bro... its very nearly absurd to me to imagine writing porn of Harry Potter characters before any depiction of them as adults existed. I GUESS you can age them up? it's still weird to me. which is weird bc the previous example we started with literal babies. hp just feels more specific with its characters and rugrats feels more loose, and I could say that's because rugrats is a kids show that primarily exists in our memory, but I also never even read harry potter

I think this ultimately has to do with how we think of characters in more personal ways. Like... in Fire Emblem Awakening, I married Chrom and Lucina was our daughter. But if you play as a boy you can marry Lucina because she comes from the future as an adult (or however old she is). I know people who think of Lucina as m!Robin's canon partner, are attracted to her, and that's fucked up to me. I just can't think of her as an adult woman, even if she is one. Like. I actually get mad thinking about it. but this is because of my personal feelings about Lucina.

(but like literally I think marrying any of 2nd gen in that game is weird so maybe i just know some weirdos)

so anyway my conclusion is that fandom is personal and what feels okay and what feels like pedophilia depends on how we engage with it and that nuance makes it difficult and even impossible to distinguish if someone is a freak or not without knowing and understanding their relationship with the media yaaaayyyyy

.

.

1*This only really feels normal if you are college age or you started liking the thing when you were younger and then got older. Unless you're galaxy brained and make those characters 30 and in an office setting I guess. How weird this whole idea is depends on on how the characters exist in their canon world, not just their age but like.... narratively(?). Like their agency, what they do, personality etc. I do not mean to imply that if you are a teenager those kinds of things make YOU more attractive to adults (on the contrary, abusers will prey on qualities that isolate you from any support), but, because fictional characters are fictional and like barbie dolls, we can change the context we want them to exist in. ie oh they're in college and not high school or whatever. Again, how you personally interact with the media also contributes, and how you initially get to know these characters also forms how you will ultimately conceive of them.

(that said the stronger it is established the characters are in high school the less I am able to reimagine them I college without having to completely imagine them changing into new people over time. the only other option really is to imagine a full on au... but even then i feel like you have to change them quite a bit.) (not to mention the more it's established they're high schoolers the less i am attracted to them... 🤢 i wouldnt change them just so i can like them. i would just not like them anymore...)

(even when i was just beginning college I was really into an Ouran high school host club character which I liked in high school, but now I'm not interested in him at all... aging out of that attraction is such a weird feeling.)

2*I want to add to this artistic, dark angle that I skim over here. As someone with fandoms which ARE dark, violent, and indeed contain abusive relationships, I think there is artistic value in certain things like this. It's not that I like to see pedophilia or incest portrayed, but that dark and fucked up stuff which is meant to wrench your gut has a right to exist. even when it's pornographic! pornographic art CAN have things to say! and even when it doesn't necessarily say much, I think that gut wrenching type stuff has value for being that way.

(although how I feel about that kind of thing is not the same as how I feel about like. porn depicting siblings that is just porn. I mean, I know that porn on its own has artistic value no matter how base we believe it to be. I'm just saying porn depicting abuse and playing into that feeling of disgust and shame is not the same as porn that's just "teehee my step sister is a whore." although I think the difference between these two is probably the perspective and position of control the reader and protagonist have. even comparing say lolita to stepsister or stepdaughter porn. the control the protagonist has over the situation, the way it makes us feel... it all contributes to that nuance I was talking about.)

(also I know I just said porn has artistic value no matter how base it is but I fucking hate that stepsibling shit. it's so popular bc its a fantasy to live with someone you like but it gets me so mad.)

[gillianthecat]

After watching The Devil Judge I did some very brief research on the South Korean judicial system, to try and understand which parts were dystopian theatricality and which had some basis in actual South Korean legal practices, which are pretty different than what I'm familiar with (the US American legal system as interpreted by the US media).

These are just two sources, they could be wrong! If you know more, and like talking about it, I'd love to hear it.

Links and quotes on the South Korean judicial system and judge training below the cut:

The context from this Asia Society article does help me make sense of some of the legal stuff, although a lot of it I think is still theatrical inventions for the show: 

https://asiasociety.org/education/korean-judge

"in Korea the judge alone is responsible for the realization of justice. His part in the trial is consistent with the traditional role of magistrate; he acts as a mediator, the natural ally of honest people. Since the style of the Korean judge lends itself to mediation, what starts as a Western style trial easily shifts to encourage reconciliation. The judge is supported in his efforts toward compromise by the lawyers, and the compromise agreement is considered an official court document with the same legal force as a judge's verdict."

"often a Korean trial does not result in a verdict. Actually, the courtroom in Korea is less a setting for lawsuits than a forum where people air grievances before an objective third person. The judge, really a mediator, helps them reach an amicable solution."

"the Korean judge serves as chief questioner of all witnesses. He offers suggestions, expresses opinions and controls the hearings even when lawyers are present. He determines right and wrong and acts as a truth-seeking specialist empowered to get to the bottom of the trouble. The lying witness should be exposed, the cunning plaintiff thwarted and the ignorant defendant allowed a fair hearing."

" Lawyers begin their careers as judges and then retire into private legal practice... Lawyers are often decades older than judges and see themselves as colleagues who advise and help the judge. The judge discovers the truth; the lawyers advise him and help their clients through the bureaucratic maze. Since most lawyers began as judges, they identify more with the judges than with their clients." 

Here are the requirements for judges in real S. Korea, from the Supreme Court's english language website.  Not sure if it's also true for The Devil Judge's dystopian version. 

https://www.scourt.go.kr/eng/judiciary/organization/members.jsp

Here is more about requirements for judges from this interview with a South Korean judge I found at

https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/alc/engagement/newsletters/alc-newsletter-december-2018/interview-with-judge-yunkyung-bae

"judges like myself who were appointed before the reforms in 2009 did not need to have a law degree and legal experience. Everyone needed to pass the National Korean Bar Examination and to be trained in JRTI for two years. The National Bar Examination was very difficult and only about three percent of candidates passed at that time. We are expected to build our judicial careers whilst working in the courts after graduating from the Judicial Research and Training Institute.  Since 2009, however, only graduates who have completed a three-year postgraduate law degree are eligible to sit the National Korean Bar Examination. According to recent press, the pass rate of the Examination is now around 50 percent. Also the Supreme Court now requires judicial applicants to have at least five years of experience working as an attorney before being eligible for a judicial appointment. The length of this practical experience requirement will gradually increase to ten years before a person will become eligible for judicial appointment."

Her path to becoming a judge was: (is this similar to what Kim Ga On would have done?)

"I completed my bachelor’s degree in Economics at Seoul National University. During my degree, I took a law subject which sparked my interest in law and ultimately led me to decide to pursue a legal career. At the time, you did not need a law degree to enter the legal profession, but you did need to pass the National Korean Bar Examination. After passing, I was admitted to study in the Judicial Research and Training Institute for a period of two years. Becoming a judge was greatly appealing to me, because judges can resolve disputes impartially and independently according to law and conscience. I was appointed as a Judge in the Seoul Central District Court upon graduation in 2007."

[demifiendrsa]

The Judgment Collection | Steam Launch Trailer

The PC (Steam) version of Judgment and sequel Lost Judgment is available now for $39.99 and $59.99, respectively.

Overview

JUDGMENT

About

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio proudly presents Judgment, an action–adventure detective game that follows twisted crime running deep beneath the surface of Tokyo. Play as Takayuki Yagami, a disgraced defense attorney turned detective, as you claw your way through Kamurocho’s underground crime network and uncover the truth behind a string of grisly murders. In this legal thriller, the balance between justice and mercy teeters on the edge.

Take advantage of two unique battle styles to take down adversaries in electrifying encounters. Packed with Hollywood-worthy combat sequences and cinematic twists and turns, this twisted tale will keep your mind racing for answers until the very end.

LOST JUDGMENT

About

When a convicted police officer discloses the murder of the student teacher who bullied his son to suicide, the dark secrets of a Yokohama high school rise to the surface. Fight for the truth as detective Takayuki Yagami and go undercover at a prestigious high school to solve a string of twisted bullying cases. But as victims pile up, caught in a cycle of bullying and revenge, will the scales of justice tip in favor of defending the law or enacting vengeance? Crack skulls to crack the case in this action-packed legal thriller.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio proudly presents Lost Judgment, the sequel to Judgment that weaves investigative sleuthing, noir narrative, and bone-crushing combat into a story like none other.Key Features

Investigative Action – Tap into Yagami’s arsenal of private eye tricks to gather clues. Use hi-tech gadgets like drones and listening devices as well as hardboiled gumshoe methods like scaling buildings and tailing suspects to uncover the truth. No stronger evidence than catching a suspect in the act.

Freeform Combat – Master Yagami’s three unique, combo-heavy martial arts styles to overcome any situation from group ambushes to single-target takedowns. Plus, expand your arsenal with street signs, bicycles, and more to pack an even bigger punch.

Deep Undercover – Go undercover as a high school club advisor to get to the root of the mystery, and have some fun along the way. Join the Dance Club and groove to the rhythm with your students. Challenge your ingenuity at the Robotics Club. Test your moves against fierce opponents at the boxing gym. You can even join the biker gang, where underground racing is the only way to earn respect.

Hit the Streets – As you comb the cities of Kamurocho and Ijincho in pursuit of the truth, take a break and get to know the unique culture of each city through bars and other nightlife hotspots. It may be worth taking on a Side Case to lend your detective skills to residents in need—you never know what might come of it.

[mysmartcousin]

7 Tips for Financing Your Real Estate Rental Properties

In the realm of real estate investment, rental properties stand out as a lucrative venture. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, acquiring and managing rental properties can provide a steady stream of passive income. However, financing these investments can often be a daunting task. To help navigate this process, here are 7 essential tips for financing your real estate rental properties.

1. Establish a Solid Credit Score

Your credit score plays a crucial role in securing favorable financing options for your rental properties. Lenders use this score to assess your creditworthiness and determine the terms of your loan. Aim for a credit score of at least 620 or higher to qualify for competitive interest rates and loan terms. To improve your credit score, pay off existing debts, keep credit card balances low, and make timely payments.

2. Save for a Down Payment

Saving for a substantial down payment is essential when financing rental properties. Most lenders require a down payment of 20% to 30% for investment properties, although some may accept lower percentages. By saving a sizable down payment, you can reduce your loan-to-value ratio and potentially secure better loan terms. Consider setting up a separate savings account dedicated to your real estate investments to track your progress.

3. Explore Loan Options

When financing rental properties, explore a variety of loan options to find the best fit for your needs. Conventional mortgages, government-backed loans, and private lenders each offer unique benefits and eligibility criteria. Compare interest rates, terms, and fees from multiple lenders to ensure you secure the most favorable financing option. Additionally, consider working with a mortgage broker who can help you navigate the lending process and find competitive loan rates.

4. Calculate Cash Flow

Before investing in rental properties, carefully calculate the potential cash flow to ensure profitability. Estimate rental income based on market rates and factor in expenses such as mortgage payments, property to invest taxes, insurance, maintenance, and vacancy costs. Aim for a positive cash flow to generate passive income and cover expenses effectively. Conduct thorough market research to identify areas with high rental demand and strong appreciation potential.

5. Build Reserves

Building reserves is essential for protecting your investment and mitigating financial risks. Set aside funds for unexpected expenses such as repairs, maintenance, vacancies, and economic downturns. Having sufficient reserves ensures you can cover expenses without relying solely on rental income. Aim to maintain at least six months' worth of reserves to weather any financial challenges that may arise.

6. Leverage Equity

If you already own property, consider leveraging the equity to finance your rental investments. Home equity loans and lines of credit allow you to borrow against the value of your property to invest new acquisitions or cover renovation costs. By leveraging equity, you can access capital without depleting your savings or liquidating other investments. However, it's essential to weigh the risks and benefits carefully and ensure you can afford the additional debt payments.

7. Consult with Financial Professionals

Navigating the complexities of real estate financing can be overwhelming, especially for beginners. Consider seeking guidance from financial professionals such as mortgage brokers, real estate agents, accountants, and attorneys. These professionals can offer valuable insights, help you explore financing options, and ensure you make informed decisions that align with your financial goals.

Conclusion

Financing your real estate rental properties requires careful planning, research, and strategic decision-making. By following these 7 tips, you can secure favorable financing options, maximize profitability, and build a successful real estate portfolio. Remember to establish a solid credit score, save for a down payment, explore loan options, calculate cash flow, build reserves, leverage equity, and consult with financial professionals along the way. With the right approach and diligence, you can achieve your real estate investment goals and unlock the potential for long-term financial success.

At mysmartcousin, we understand the importance of effective real estate financing strategies. By implementing these tips, you can finance your rental properties with confidence and achieve your investment objectives. Invest wisely and reap the rewards of passive income and wealth accumulation.

[notebooknebula]

Making Big Profits in Real Estate with Private Lending Strategies With Jay Conner and Jeremy Dyer

https://www.jayconner.com/podcast/episode-148-making-big-profits-in-real-estate-with-private-lending-strategies-with-jay-conner-and-jeremy-dyer/

Private Money isn’t asking, it’s offering the opportunity. In Jay’s Private Money world, you’re the bank. Protected and privileged. And the secret sauce? Self-directed IRAs for tax-smart moves!

In today’s episode of Raising Private Money, Jay joins Jeremy Dyers’ The Freedom Point Real Estate Podcast where he unravels the motivating force that fuels his impressive track record, including steering over $118,000,000 in transactions. Alongside his wife, Carol Joy, Jay spearheads a coaching program that orbits around the power of private funding, a revelation that will redefine your investment strategy.

Private Money: The Unconventional Teacher

Emphasizing education over solicitation, Jay Conner champions teaching people about private lending. By sharing knowledge with associates from various spheres of his life, he has not only facilitated high-return avenues for them but also profoundly impacted their retirement years. Jay’s approach demystifies the private money program, encouraging a seamless tax-free transition of retirement funds into fruitful investments.

Building Blocks for New Investors

Understanding the plight of investors in the context of the global crisis of 2009, Jay Conner advocates for investment strategies that are resilient and adaptable. His experience during this tumultuous time led him to harness private funds, underlining the importance of seeking solutions and growth during periods of difficulty. For new investors, Jay’s insights provide clarity on structuring investments and the inherent protection mechanisms akin to traditional banking systems.

Single-Family Investments: A Banking Perspective

In the single-family home investment paradigm, Jay Conner describes investors as ‘the bank’—lending money secured against real estate with terms highly favorable when compared to traditional banking products. This secured method, he says, not only yields higher returns but also maintains a conservative loan-to-value ratio, ensuring a buffer to protect the investor’s capital.

Private Lending vs. Syndication: A Comparative Glimpse

Jay Conner’s explanation of the stark contrasts between single-family investments and multifamily syndications sheds light for passive investors on the distinction between the two. While the former involves a direct lending process secured by individual properties, the latter pools investor funding into a larger fund managed in collaboration with an SEC attorney.

Securing the Investor’s Interest

The podcast delves into the safeguards inherent in private lending, such as inclusion in insurance and title policies, which Jay Conner emphasizes as critical to secure investors’ interests similar to any institutional lender. Innovatively, these protective measures provide a clear perspective on risk management in private real estate deals.

Future Prospects and Tax Implications

Tackling the question of plans, Jay Conner discusses how a self-directed IRA facilitates tax-advantaged growth for investors, though private lenders might miss out on certain benefits like tax depreciation. Nonetheless, a self-directed IRA remains a powerful tool enabling investors to direct their retirement funds into real estate without incurring taxes or penalties.

The conversation with Jay Conner and Jeremy Dyer not only illuminates the rich potential within the real estate market but also offers invaluable wisdom for both seasoned and aspiring investors. Unlocking the secrets to lucrative investments, Jay’s journey inspires many to consider private lending as a pivotal step towards financial liberty.

Mastermind Mentorship in Real Estate Investing:

“Nothing else gives me more, makes me more happy, and gives me more joy than making an impact in somebody else’s life, and being able to give back that which I’ve already learned.” – Jay Conner

Lessons learned from this episode:

Private Money Efficiency:

Raising Funds:

Education Focus:

Secure Investing:

Lender Protection:

Use private money to finance real estate deals and avoid traditional banking obstacles.

Learn to attract private lending without directly asking for money.

Start by teaching potential investors about private lending benefits.

Loans from private lenders are secured with real estate as collateral.

Private lenders are protected with insurance and conservative loan-to-value ratios.

Questions answered in this episode:

How the feeling of constantly pursuing “what’s next” has shaped Jay’s approach to real estate investing and coaching?

What are some critical elements for fostering effective teamwork in real estate investing, and how does Jay implement these in his mastermind group?

The books “University of Success” and “The Go-Giver” have influenced Jay’s personal growth. What key lesson from each has been particularly impactful in Jay’s investment strategies?

With Jay’s success in average profits per deal, what is his strategy for paying private lenders, and how does he maintain such high profit margins?

Investing in a small market is a significant part of Jay’s strategy. What advice did Jay have for investors who are considering whether to enter larger markets or to focus on smaller, perhaps less competitive ones?

Timestamps

0:01 – Raising Private Money Without Asking For It

1:45 – Real estate expert Jay’s impressive achievements summarized.

5:48 – Attracted $2.15 million in private funding without asking.

7:17 – Effective fundraising, high returns, retirement fund transformation.

10:41 – Private lenders have the same protection as banks.

15:25 – Move retirement funds to a self-directed IRA tax-free.

17:16 – Small market dominance leads to big profits.

20:50 – Hot North Carolina market leads to off-market buys.

27:23 – Started real estate coaching business, plans to grow.

31:21 – Success comes from service, not money motivation.

Private Money Academy Conference:

https://www.JaysLiveEvent.com

Free Report:

https://www.jayconner.com/MoneyReport

Join the Private Money Academy:

https://www.JayConner.com/trial/

Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now?

It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at

https://www.JayConner.com/Book

What is Private Money? Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner

https://www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. He maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $67,000 per deal without using his money or credit.

What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

https://youtu.be/QyeBbDOF4wo

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-with-jay/id1377723034

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/jay.conner.marketing

Listen to our Podcast:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2025961/episodes/14688408

[verysaladobservation]

Expand your hard money lending business operations outside of New York City with the general mass exodus out of the city. Check out the advice by Andelsman law for Hard Money Lenders.

[mightyflamethrower]

One state prosecutor and one civilian plaintiff have already won huge fines and damages from Donald Trump that may, with legal costs, exceed $500 million.

Trump awaits further civil and criminal liability in three other federal, state, and local indictments.

There are eerie commonalities in all these five court cases involving plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, federal special counsel Jack Smith, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

One, they are either unapologetically left-wing or associated with liberal causes. They filed their legal writs in big-city, left-wing America—Atlanta, New York, Washington—where liberal judges and jury pools predominate in a manner not characteristic of the country at large.

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Two, they are overtly political. Bragg, James, and Willis have either campaigned for office or raised campaign funds by promising to get or even destroy Donald Trump.

Carroll’s suit was funded by left-wing billionaire Reid Hoffman.

Smith sued to rush his court schedule in hopes of putting Trump on trial before the November election.

Three, there would not be any of these cases had Donald Trump not run for the presidency or not been a conservative.

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Carroll’s suit bypassed statute of limitation restrictions by prompting the intervention of a left-wing New York legislator. He passed a special bill, allowing a one-year window to waive the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims from decades past.

Until Trump, no New York prosecutor like James had ever filed a civil suit against a business for allegedly overvaluing real estate assets to obtain loans that bank auditors approved and were paid back in full, on time, and with sizable interest profits to the lending institutions.

Alvin Bragg bootstrapped a Trump private non-disclosure agreement into a federal campaign violation in a desperate effort to find something on Trump.

Smith is also charging Trump with insurrectionary activity. But Trump had never been so charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it.

Willis strained to find a way to criminalize Trump’s complaints about his loss of Georgia in the 2020 national election. She finally came up with a racketeering charge, usually more applicable to mafiosi and drug cartels.

Four, in all these cases, the charges could have been equally applicable to fellow left-wing public figures and officials.

Joe Biden, like Trump, was accused of sexual assault decades earlier by former staffer Tara Reade. Yet Reade was torn apart by the media and the left for inconsistencies in her memory. By contrast, the wildly inconsistent and amnesiac E. Jean Carroll won $83 million from Trump.

Jack Smith created the precedent of charging former president Trump for unlawfully removing classified files to his private residence.

But the government simultaneously did not charge Joe Biden for similar offenses. Yet Biden had removed files not for two years but for more than 30. He stored them not in one location but several.

His rickety garage was a mess, not a secure family compound like Trump’s estate. Moreover, Biden did so while a senator and vice president, without any presidential authority to declassify almost any presidential document he wished.

Biden never came forward to report the crime for over thirty years—until Trump was charged. Indeed, he was caught on tape six years ago, admitting to his ghostwriter that he possessed classified files but never reported it.

Bragg might have noticed that both Hillary Clinton (fined $113,000) and Barack Obama (fined $350,000) broke campaign financing laws. Neither was subject to federal criminal charges by local prosecutors.

An array of left-wing celebrities, politicians, 2004 House Members, former Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have all recently challenged elections. They sought either to delay or redo ballot counting or, on the federal level, to sidetrack electors to ignore popular votes in their respective states.

These lawfare cases are part of other efforts that were highly partisan and without merit. Recall the Trump “Russian collusion” hoax and the “Russian disinformation” laptop farce.

In another first, some blue states are suing to take Trump’s name off the ballot for “insurrection,” a crime for which he has never been charged.

Total up the deaths, damage, and length of the summer 2020 Antifa/BLM riots. Then compare the tally to the one-day January 6 riot.

The former proved far more lethal, long-lasting, and destructive. Yet very few of the 14,000 arrested rioters in 2020 were ever prosecuted, much less convicted.

By contrast, the Biden administration sought to jail hundreds for crimes allegedly committed on January 6, such as “illegal parading.”

We are entering a dangerous era in America.

Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment. Opponents are first targeted, and then laws are twisted and redefined to convict them.

The left is waging lawfare with the implicit message to political opponents: either keep quiet or suffer the consequences.

[zackbarnett]

Net Asset Value Markets Grow Among Traditional Lending Challenges

Guided by Zac Barnett, a Chicago lawyer, Fund Finance Partners (FFP), LLC, provides solutions in the net asset value (NAV) lending sphere. Working with various investors to secure funding, attorney Zac Barnett inhabits a sector traditionally led by commercial banks and has now ceded ground to private creditor lenders.

Once viewed as a way of supporting challenged assets, NAV financing is emerging as a standard way of boosting fund performance and as an asset class in its own right. As detailed in an August 2023 Private Funds CFO article, sponsors now focus on turnaround investments, opportunistic growth pathways, and utilizing NAV loans to manage capital efficiently. Reflecting this dynamic, NAV lending volume increased by 50 percent in 2022. With only around five percent of fund managers employing the product, some 90 percent of private equity funds have subscription facilities. There is significant room for industry expansion, and total NAV lending is forecast to rise from $25 billion to $110 billion by 2030.

One major impetus of this upward trend is accelerated growth within the NAV lending market. With rising interest rates, inflation, market volatility, and supply chain disruptions all playing a role, traditional financing routes are challenging to access. Financial watchers predict that as NAV loans move toward mainstream acceptance, they will “take their rightful place” as an established private credit asset class.

[iraempirecom]

Patrick Granfar Oxford Gold Group

Oxford Gold Group, a prominent player in the gold IRA industry, has been making waves since its inception in 2017. This article delves into the leadership that has steered the company to success, particularly focusing on co-founder and CEO, Patrick Granfar, and CFO, Jonathan Adler.

It also sheds light on the company's journey, its current status, and its approach to customer service. For detailed information about the company, check out: Oxford Gold Group Reviews

Patrick Granfar: Professional Journey

Patrick Granfar, the co-founder and CEO of Oxford Gold Group, kickstarted his professional journey at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as indicated by his LinkedIn profile. His first professional role found him managing sales for a mortgage company, laying the groundwork for his future ventures in finance. A blend of roles within lending and mortgage businesses shaped his early career. Experience in the Gold IRA Industry Granfar's experience in the gold IRA industry is notable, with stints at Augusta Precious Metals and Lear Capital. He served as a Senior Account Executive at Augusta Precious Metals for eight months in 2016, following which he joined Lear Capital. His tenure at Lear Capital, a self-directed IRA processing company, was marked by his role as a Senior Portfolio Manager.

Source: LinkedIn profile However, it's important to note that Granfar had left Lear Capital before it was embroiled in a class-action lawsuit. Filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James in June 2021, the lawsuit accused Lear Capital of failing to disclose hefty commissions charged to consumers. Granfar had already set the foundation for Oxford Gold Group by this time.

Jonathan Adler: CFO of Oxford Gold Group

As the Chief Finance Officer of Oxford Gold Group, Jonathan Adler plays a crucial role in the company's operations. Adler's educational journey took him to the University of Southern California and California State University, where he honed his skills in International Relations and Affairs, and Political Science.

Source: LinkedIn Profile Adler spent 13 years at a private company, unnamed on his LinkedIn profile, where he donned several hats, predominantly in operations and business development. His wealth of experience has undoubtedly contributed to Oxford Gold Group's success since its inception.

About Oxford Gold Group

Oxford Gold Group, headquartered in the upscale neighbourhood of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California, was founded in 2017. The company assists investors in opening a gold IRA or other precious metals IRA and selling physical precious metals. They also facilitate the transfer of funds from traditional IRA or Roth IRA for gold IRA rollovers.

An additional feature that sets Oxford Gold Group apart is its buyback guarantee for customers purchasing gold coins or gold bars. The company is among the select few in the industry offering an extensive selection of precious metal IRA and physical precious metal options. Oxford Gold Group's Fee Structure Investors considering Oxford Gold Group should note the company's fee structure. The firm levies an annual maintenance fee of $175 for accounts valued below $100,000 and $225 for accounts over $100,000. There's also a minimum investment requirement of $1500 for gold coin or bullion purchases.

Present-Day Success of Oxford Gold Group

Despite being a relatively new entrant in the gold IRA industry, Oxford Gold Group has made its mark. The company's impressive customer service has won it numerous accolades. Customer testimonials often highlight the company's seamless process for opening a gold IRA. Oxford Gold Group has partnered with reputable custodians, STRATA and Equity Institutional, to manage gold IRA documentation requirements. For storage needs, it recommends two of the country's best and most reliable IRS-accredited depositories, Delaware Depository and Brinks Global Services, with which the company has partnerships. Investing in gold with Oxford Gold Group comes with a host of benefits: - Low minimum investment requirements - No setup fee charges for gold IRA - No additional costs on maintenance fees - Rebates on maintenance fees for certain investment levels - An excellent buyback program on gold or silver coins

Oxford Gold Group's Customer Service Approach

Oxford Gold Group's approach to handling customer complaints sets it apart from its competitors. They take customer complaints seriously and respond promptly with personalized responses, unlike the templated responses commonly used by other companies. The absence of pending lawsuits or complaints against the company speaks volumes about its customer service practices.

Final Thoughts on Patrick Granfar

Patrick Granfar's rich professional background has been instrumental in shaping Oxford Gold Group's success. His experience with Augusta Precious Metals and Lear Capital has ensured that Oxford Gold Group's customers receive top-notch customer service and a wide range of precious metal options. e after careful consideration and consultation with a financial advisor. Before you make any final decision, I recommend checking out our top gold IRA providers. There, you will find out what the industry's best has to offer. Also, it will ensure you make an informed decision. Or, you can check out the best gold dealer in your state below: Each state has its regulations and rules, so we've sorted and found the best Gold IRA company for each state. Find the best Gold IRA company in your state Read the full article