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Truth, Justice, and the American Way (Part 1b Andy v. Robert)
(Continued from “Truth, Justice, and the American Way – Part 1a Andy v. Robert“)
If Republicans are not careful, Obama’s most enduring legacy may be a perversion of federal power to ensure that no GOP, present or future, can be assured safety from prosecution or persecution (see protests against Trump staff or the legal fees and testimony under oath many experienced). Democrats started using the law and federal power against Americans they considered opponents during the Obama administration…improperly surveilling specific reporters like Rosen and Attkisson, using IRS to target conservatives to name a couple of examples. As the Obama era wound to a close, things like having key members of the FBI/DOJ upper echelon go rogue, or changing the rules to allow several agencies to receive classified information must have been a piece of cake.
Though there are some top-notch people in the administration now, recruiting similar talent may not continue for future administrations given what’s been done to Trump. More than one person who worked in some capacity with the Trump campaign who was targeted but not charged have said that they will never work for a Republican again…they don’t want the harassment and can’t afford the legal bills to protect themselves from the feds.
There used to be one overarching precept that applied to federal employees of every agency: you left your personal politics/opinions at the door while at work and any time your position/title was mentioned, so that there would be no question you applied government laws/rules/regulations equally to every American irrespective of race or creed. Violate that precept and you were no longer a federal employee. Now, even when that precept has been flagrantly violated and been splashed all over the national news, an agency finds it difficult to remove violators due to public sector union protections. The old unifying cardinal precept has been superseded by the individual’s ‘right to have and express differing political opinions’.
Simply put, there’s nothing to keep the Democrats from doing to any other GOP politician what they’ve done (with the help of some GOP) and are trying to do (also with the continuing help of some GOP) to Donald Trump. There’s precedent now…employees know that as long as it’s the GOP, there’s very little to stop them from doing whatever they want. No law that can’t be twisted or Constitutionally-granted right that can’t be infringed upon. No departmental rule that can’t be broken. No GOP united as one to properly exert their Constitutional prerogatives to ensure the rule of law is followed. And few journalists who will investigate any of it impartially, much less condemn them in the court of public opinion.
Impartiality necessitates having carefully and objectively considered pre-established red lines which trigger action, particularly for actions such as removal of a President. I have mine. And the more I see things like … Congress not receiving documents and unredacted answers; speculation on POTUS’ mental state and fitness for duty based on gossip and cleverly timed media hit jobs; and a lack of curiosity (save for a few committee heads in the House/Senate) for getting at the basic question of what happened in the 2016 election while all else gets investigated, re-investigated, indicted and prosecuted out the wazoo … well, the more stubborn I get about not wantin’ Trump goin’ anywhere unless he crosses that red line of mine or gets voted out by me and my fellow Americans.
Truthfully, when it’s between 1) DOJ/Mueller doing a fair and just investigation to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 and prosecuting accordingly, 2) Congress getting all the information/answers it needs and taking effective oversight action, and 3) my fellow Americans getting it right at the voting booth; I’m going with #3 as the best option for upholding Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
If the 2018 Great Blue Wave some are convinced is imminent does not actually occur, and the House in particular remains at least somewhat close (I don’t expect GOP will retain as large a majority as they currently have,) there should be a great packing of bags and vacating the premises at DOJ given what I’ve discussed in these two posts alone — including the swift wrapping up of Herr Mueller’s ill-advised assignment and confirmation of a new Attorney General who’s tough enough to clean up the DOJ and free of campaign association with anything Slavic in nature that would prevent full performance of his duties (I’d be happy never again to hear the word “Russia” mentioned in Senate confirmation hearings). I suspect the need for a new DNI and FBI Director would not be an entirely sad event at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave…I know it wouldn’t be at my address.
If y’all got this far, thanks for reading. I know it was two posts full, but I had 16 months of thoughts piled up that were nagging me this weekend to condense on paper :-) Comments about the subject are welcome … perspectives, predictions, etc. Or a good joke if you fancy a laugh after this heavy subject matter (I’m off to find old Tim Conway Carol Burnett Show clips on YouTube after I finish typing this).
Published in General
I commented in part 1a but an FYI for you – I was with my 11 year old son getting groceries at Walmart this weekend. The check out lady was a ‘senior’ and very, very slow. I showed him the Tim Conway “Old Man” skits on U-tube. They still hold up. Hilarious! We were blessed to have shows like that as a kid.
Conway is proof you don’t have to drop the F-bomb every other word to be funny…makes him perfect for 11-yr-olds :-) I like the Mrs. Wiggins skits, too. Anything with Tim and Harvey makes me laugh because Harvey eventually can’t keep from laughing at Tim, and I end up laughing at Harvey laughing at Tim.
They still have the Carol Burnett Show on classic TV cable channels in my area.
Great posts.
Very much agree. The fact that it is apparent that the DOJ and FBI are totally politicized arms of the Democrat Party is more than troubling./ it is an outrage.
I still have not had anyone on any of the blogs I go on explain how it is that someone gets indicted for financial crimes that are based on activities in 2005. It is now 2018. I would assume if a financial misdeed was committed prior to 2013, the statute of limitations would apply. We financially concerned liberals were repeatedly told under Obama not to mess with any of the Big Banking folks – as their crimes went back to 2006, 2007 and 2008. Obama’s people stated by the time any activists got their cases heard, the cases would be ruled moot by a court, due to statute of limitation that allows only some 6 years for such a court case to go through.
Had Paul Manafort been a friend of Hillary’s, his 2005 and 2006 transgressions would have been swept under the carpet. Instead due to his association with Trump, he has been convicted on many counts of criminal activities – all so that the Dem leadership can hold on to their hope that he will flip on Trump.
Besides his appalling pre-trial treatment by Special Counsel (my orig post didn’t mention his solitary confinement jail time — for a white collar crime and because of alleged witness tampering that sounds suspect on prosecution’s part to me), the fact that he was found guilty solely based on those documents (according to a juror interviewed by Shannon Bream) was distressing.
Those documents were obtained in the extra-legal mafia-style raids Mueller got authorized even as Manafort and his attorney were cooperating with Mueller. Manafort wasn’t convicted by the IRS (which has some top notch forensic accountants) for the same crimes; I’m sure because they didn’t get a warrant to employ tactics that stepped over normal search/seizure bounds.
The juror I saw interviewed said there were two jurors who didn’t believe he was guilty beyond reasonable doubt; mentioning confusion due to way prosecution presented docs, the personal nature of some docs and concern re: different ways of interpreting some that were presented into evidence. The hesitant jurors were eventually persuaded to vote guilty on some of the charges. I wondered when I heard that if it was around the time reporters challenged, while the jury was present to hear them, the judge’s decision not to release the jury’s personal information. The jury should have been dismissed for that discussion to avoid any possibility of jury intimidation.
The juror interviewed also indicated the jury did not find business partner Rick Gates’ testimony credible, and I thought it odd there was no mention of any testimony from those witnesses Manafort supposedly tampered with that cost him his liberty pre-trial (another intimidation tactic IMO).
None of this would ever happen to a Democrat President with the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress. Never would the Dems sic a Special Prosecutor on a Dem President. I will vote for Republicans only as long as Trump remains President. After that, I will find it very difficult to pull the lever for Republicans.
Excellent job@mim526 of laying out the precise situation we and our President find ourselves in today. This is a coup…period. The Republicans are riddled with traitors to our President and our Party. The Democrats have grown into children who cannot accept defeat. Our country is in serious trouble.
The sooner everyone starts calling it a coup the better. There’s no other word for it, and I agree re the Republicans. And now I see that Ben Sasse is talking about leaving the party. Don’t let the door hit ya in the butt, Bucky.
There are countries where being a member of “the party” is more important than rule of law. I don’t want to live in China or Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany. Remember this and tell everyone you see: Socialism=Genocide
Haven’t any stats, but I’d wager you’re absolutely correct since Dems out of lockstep with the group can usually be counted on one hand on the rare occasion they break ranks. One way to define the political/cultural struggle going on in the US that personally resonates with me is Leftists vs. Non-Leftists. I much prefer persuasion, but that’s possible only with someone on both sides willing to listen and be persuaded. With Leftists, it’s conform to group think or suffer the consequences (censure, intimidation, personal injury, loss of job…individual rights/freedoms/protections appear to be available to group members only.)
With near daily evidence how bold Leftists are becoming, my thinking is to vote for the most conservative non-Leftist I think can win. If that’s a GOP ruling class elite, so be it. Hopefully next time a more conservative American can muster the funds and fortitude to brave the media cesspool a conservative who runs for public office faces.
The Conservatives cheering Muller on want this outcome. They want to be sure the wrong sorts never again have power.
I have a Dem friend who claims justification for this because of judicial abuses begun during the presidency of Richard Nixon. It made me think that perhaps the media and the swamp ignored the politicization of justice that has taken place under several other administrations, because the president had an attorney general to protect him as Obama certainly had with Lynch/Holder.