On CNBC's Squawk Box, JD Vance blamed all the problems of the country,
including inflation on migrants and claimed the US isn't the most
prosperous country in the world.

Vance's outward racist analogies about immigrants are monumentally dumb
and weird. Not to mention he has been a key component to promoting the
sick conspiracy that Haitians are stealing and eating pets in Ohio.

Let's debunk an often used lie by the Trump Vance campaign. President
Biden and Kamala Harris did not let in 25 million immigrants into the
country. These numbers count all undocumented worker that have been in
the country since 1990.

KERNEN: ...do you see the analysis that there have been positive
aspects for the jobs market and for the labor situation from immigration?

VANCE: I've certainly seen these reports, and look, for a generation,
Wall Street has said that the way to create prosperity in this country is
to flood the country with cheap labor and offsource our manufacturing to
places like China, which use cheap slave labor.

What that's actually led is to communities like Springfield, Ohio,
where you have 20,000 Haitians who have come in.

Housing costs are unaffordable, communicable diseases are on the
rise, and people can't afford to live a good life in this small Ohio
town. If the path to prosperity was flooding your nation with low-wage
immigrants, then Springfield, Ohio would be the most prosperous country
and the most prosperous city in the world.

Vance lied. Springfield has actually thrived since Haitian migrants came
to town.

VANCE: America would be the most prosperous country in the world,
because Kamala Harris has flooded the country with 25 million illegal
aliens. (BIG LIE)

What's actually happened is that over the past three and a half
years, while we've had this massive influx of illegal labor, what's
happened?

We've had skyrocketing inflation, lower take-home pay, Americans more
dissatisfied with the direction of the country and the economy than
they've been in a generation.

This is not the path to prosperity, no matter how much a Wall Street
bank says that it is.

America is the most prosperous country in the world, jackass. Immigrants
didn't cause inflation, it was the COVID pandemic, which led to supply
chain disruptions, along with price gouging that has skyrocketed
inflation. Coupled with Russia's immoral invasion of Ukraine that jacked
up energy prices.

Does Vance hate America that much?

Joe Kernen offered no push back or thoughts on these incredibly hateful,
and uniformed statements on the state of the US economy.

JD Vance on CNBC says that if immigration was the path to prosperity,
then "America would be the most prosperous country in the world." (Who
wants to tell him ... ) pic.twitter.com/XY9RDUlvjo

� Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2024

These people talk about patriotism, but they have the most
fundamentally pessimistic views of America of anyone. The only thing that
makes America worthwhile to them is cruelty. https://t.co/bDI0jne5lH

� Norm Charlatan (@normcharlatan) September 12, 2024

The U.S. economy is **$10 trillion** clear of the next closest nation
(China) and larger than every other country in the top 10 combined. Just
a fundamentally unserious person. https://t.co/5acBeigIUo
pic.twitter.com/CZ6Rd0w6z1

� scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) September 12, 2024

The young woman was walking alone across the Wabasha Street Bridge in a nearly deserted downtown St. Paul last summer when she heard the flick of a cigarette lighter behind her.

Startled, she turned and saw a man lighting a cigarette some distance away. It was around 3:30 a.m. June 4. His presence under the dark sky made her nervous as she continued walking toward her boyfriend’s place.

Then his footsteps quickened, and the 20-year-old’s unease built.

In a split-second, she decided to try to start a conversation with him to assess his intentions.

It wasn’t long before they became clear, she testified in Ramsey County District Court this week. Shortly after they reached the other side of the bridge, the man struck her in the head, causing her to fall.

When she screamed, he threatened to “blow (her) head off,” Then he led her to a nearby loading dock area and sexually assaulted her.

https://i1.wp.com/www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2-jermaineharryrudolph.jpg?w=620&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C9999px
Courtesy of Ramsey County Jail Jermaine Rudolph

That’s the account the woman gave as the trial of Jermaine Rudolph came to a close Friday.

While Rudolph maintained their sexual encounter had been consensual, a jury believed otherwise and found him guilty of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Jurors delivered the verdict late Friday afternoon.

Rudolph, 39, leaned over and briefly pushed his fists into a courtroom table as Judge Leonardo Castro read the jury’s first finding of guilt. He shook as the second was read.

Rudolph was charged in January after DNA evidence from the assault matched Rudolph’s genetic profile. She didn’t know him, so the police had only a scant physical description of her attacker to work with until the test results came through.

HIS VERSION
Rudolph also took the stand during the three-day trial. He didn’t deny sexual contact with the woman, but he said it was consensual.

He testified that they had met at a light-rail station that night and talked. He gave the woman some marijuana, he said, and eventually asked if she would have sex for $50. After she agreed, he said she led him across the Wabasha Street Bridge to a nearby loading dock.

He ended up paying her only $20 because “it only lasted four minutes,” he said from the witness stand.

He denied raping the woman, adding that he’d taken an oath earlier in life never to take advantage of a woman or a child after a relative had been victimized.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Kelly Lynn Olmstead challenged that assertion during cross-examination, pointing out that Rudolph has previously been convicted of domestic assault against one woman and violating another’s order for protection.

Defense attorney John Sadowski told the jury that it was not their job to determine whose story was accurate, but whether the state had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Rudolph was guilty of the crimes alleged.

MEMORY PROBLEMS
Sadowski insisted the state had failed to do that, particularly given the accuser’s memory problems.

The woman said at trial that she has a thyroid condition that makes it difficult for her to remember events.

“There were times on the stand that she couldn’t even remember the questions that had been asked, much less the details of the case,” Sadowski said during his closing remarks Friday.

While portions of the woman’s memory had clouded over time, Olmstead countered, she was clear and detailed in her retelling of the assault to police immediately after it happened.

“Would you ever forget this attack,” Olmstead asked the woman while she was on the stand.

“No,” she answered.

THE NIGHT
The incident happened after the woman was left behind by friends while attending a bachelorette party in downtown Minneapolis.

Unsure how to get home, she decided to take the light rail to St. Paul and then a bus to North St. Paul, where she lived, the woman testified.

Once downtown St. Paul, the woman realized she would have to wait several hours for her bus. So she opted to walk to her boyfriend’s place, which is on the other side of the Wabasha Street Bridge, she said.

Video captured on the city’s surveillance system were played throughout the trial. During one, Rudolph and the woman appear to walk past each other near a light-rail station. Other clips show them walking alone on different streets in the city. Then they are seen on the bridge.

Olmstead told jurors to carefully weigh the credibility of the woman and Rudolph. He had lied several times to investigators about his interactions with the woman, Olmstead said.

“This was about Mr. Rudolph taking what he wanted, when he wanted it,” Olmstead said.

Rudolph will be sentenced April 6.

https://www.twincities.com/2017/03/17/jury-convicts-man-of-raping-woman-he-followed-onto-st-paul-bridge/