By Steve Pomper
I should feel bad that this word, schadenfreude, came rushing into mind when I heard the news. The Feds indicted George Soros-funded, Anti-cop, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby for perjury and mortgage fraud. But I don’t feel bad the word popped up—not one bit.
The word, which is one of my favorites, happens to be German, though we’ve pretty much adopted it into English. Americans use it because we don’t have a similar word in English for it.
Shadenfreude combines schaden: “harm/damage” and freude: “joy.” Simply, it’s deriving pleasure from others’ misfortunes. That’s probably reprehensible when you think about it. But, again, with her, I don’t care. But, for those who do, I’ll admit, it can depend on the context.
The typical context for conscripting schadenfreude happens when a person who’s done others wrong, suffers some sort of cosmic payback. This subject is timely. Last week, I wrote about communities pushing back against Soros-backed, non-prosecuting prosecutors (unless they’re prosecuting cops). This describes Mosby.
Mosby is infamous for (wrongfully) prosecuting cops. Recall in 2015 when Mosby charged six Baltimore police officers with crimes from assault to murder.
She did this despite an investigation that found that an un-seat belted and flailing Freddie Grey smashed his own neck against a prisoner transport van wall where a large bolt protruded and penetrated his vertebrae. Another prisoner in the van backed up this mechanism of injury. Eventually, all charges against the officers were dropped.
Every lucid person now knows Mosby should not have charged those officers. Mosby likely knew it too but was blinded by ideological loyalty. The bloodlust for political power was too seductive.
I won’t deny it. Schadenfreude enveloped me like a warm blanket on a frigid winter night when I heard about the indictment. They included perjury and filing false mortgage applications. Adding to the schadenfreude, the alleged false applications were to purchase properties in Democrat despised Florida.
She didn’t just, allegedly, lie. It looks like she took advantage of the CCP virus pandemic to do it. The New York Post reported, “Mosby, a Democrat elected to her post in 2015, is accused of falsely claiming twice to have suffered a work-related financial hardship from COVID-19 in order to request early withdrawals totaling $90,000 from her city employee retirement account.”
Prosecutors are accusing Mosby of two counts of perjury stemming from alleged false statements she made asserting she experienced “coronavirus-related financial duress….” At the time, her salary as state’s attorney was almost $250,000 per year, according to the indictment.
The cop-hating prosecutor (oops, a little schadenfreude just ran up my spine) also faces two counts of making false mortgage applications, seeking loans totaling over $900,000, as mentioned above, to purchase vacation homes in Governor Ron DeSantis’ Florida. I wonder why she didn’t buy vacation homes in Governor Gavin Newsom’s California instead. If I recall, it’s warm and sunny there, too.
Mosby’s Freddie Gray-inspired, and epically failed, attempted prosecution of six Baltimore police officers (which was really an attack on the entire department—all cops), did not end her pogrom against law enforcement officers.
Just last month, a former Chicago police officer and West Virginia Police Chief Maurice Richards, wrote an opinion piece, which appeared at The Daily Caller, titled, “Marilyn Mosby Has Brought The War On Cops To Baltimore.” The arguments Richards makes are similar to the NPA’s efforts to thwart Soros-funded, non-prosecuting prosecutors such as Mosby.
Chief Richards begins by relating the story of 39-year-old Baltimore Police Officer Keona Holley. A mother and two-year veteran of the BPD. A couple of subhuman vermin ambushed her as she sat in her patrol car about a week before Christmas last year. The two men shot her twice once in her head and body (reportedly, they confessed).
After nearly a week on life support, the day before Christmas Eve, the family consulted with doctors and made the heartbreaking decision to discontinue it. The evil those thugs committed against Officer Holley had snatched her from her kids, her family, her fellow officers, and her community.
Obviously, those affected were devastated. “[P]rayers of love and support poured in….” But they were also angry. And that anger became outrage as they witnessed, as Richards describes the state’s attorney speaking publicly about the incident, “Marilyn Mosby was not outwardly moved by the vicious attack on Officer Keona Holley.”
Richards added Mosby refused “to either condemn the thugs or express sympathy for the gravely wounded officer.” He said Mosby is no friend of cops or crime victims. The former chief used an astounding story to illustrate Mosby’s apparent affection for criminals over crime victims.
Reportedly, Mosby gave a plea deal to a violent offender who was charged with attempting to burn down a townhouse while three women slept inside, including his ex-girlfriend. He was facing three charges of attempted murder, along with 15 additional charges.
Unbelievably, Mosby reduced the charges to one count of arson, for which the defendant pleaded guilty and received a 10-year prison sentence. Then she suspended the sentence, “and let him walk free after serving less than six months in jail.” Never mind asking what kind of prosecutor does that? Ask, what kind of human being does that?
To illustrate the contrast, Richards referenced a similar incident prosecuted by Mosby’s predecessor. With an “almost identical fact pattern…,” that defendant was “prosecuted and appropriately sentenced to 50 years in prison.”
Chief Richards concludes his piece, writing, “Marilyn Mosby has enabled a culture of lawlessness and emboldened violent criminal predators. Fearing no consequences, thugs prowl streets with impunity — victimizing citizens and now assassinating the police. Baltimore’s leaders and their policies have failed. The city’s only hope lies with its residents, who are standing up and demand policies that put law-abiding citizens first.”
The Baltimore Sun also reported federal prosecutors believe Mosby “lied by saying she didn’t have a federal lien and falsely said the property was a second home instead of a rental—thereby lowering the interest rate.”
So, for the cops experiencing a bit of schadenfreude over Mosby’s serious legal issues, we must admit something that may enhance the sensation. While she had scant, if any, evidence to charge those six BPD officers in the death of Freddie Gray, the Feds seem to have a good deal of evidence to prosecute her.
Still, she reportedly proclaimed her innocence. “Without equivocation, I am innocent on the charges levied against me,” said Mosby, “I have done nothing wrong, and I am confident that I will be exonerated and my name will be cleared.” She vowed to continue doing her job, which, ironically, means not doing her job.
It’s also interesting to note that her husband, Nick Mosby, the Democrat Baltimore City Council President, was conspicuously absent, during her public statement, uncharacteristically not standing next to his embroiled wife. He also hasn’t spoken out publicly on the matter, leading some to wonder “what role does her husband… play?”
Still, I’ve heard at least one cynical pundit say he believes, even if convicted, Mosby will not do any actual jail or prison time. Why? Why else? Because she belongs to an “approved” political party. Hard to blame anyone for this type of cynicism, these days.
Nevertheless, according to the Post, “If convicted, she could face up to five years for each of two perjury counts and decades in prison on charges of making false mortgage applications, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland.”
Danke schön, Germany for lending us schadenfreude. Otherwise, who knows how many English words we’d have to expend to express our delight at a cop-haters’ potential, political demise.