Aaron Burr and Our Defeated Former President
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| Burr |
Planning to break off the western part of the country, he was up
to his neck in the assembling of insurrectionists on Blennerhasset Island in the
Ohio River, just as our defeated former president is up to his neck in not
quite direct, but clearly demonstratable, cahoots with the present-day
insurrectionist groups who attacked the Capitol on January 6, the purpose of which was to prevent the Constitutionally-mandated counting of the Electoral votes for president. When a trial was finally held a few years
later, Burr was let off by a circuit court in Virginia presided over by Supreme
Court Chief Justice John Marshall. as not having committed an ‘overt’ act, his
merely planning such acts not being sufficient to convict him and there being
only one witness to his acts, the Constitution requiring two for such a
conviction.
When today’s criminality of the defeated former president is
considered by the DOJ, they fear what his acquittal would mean. Will they risk a trial which might acquit him
as Marshall acquitted Burr in 1807? Is
there enough evidence today to convict him?
And if he is convicted, are we ready for the probably violent reaction of his supporters? Can they be handled without sacrificing some of our freedoms?
Even with the acquittal, the trial left Burr doubly disgraced,
adding to his disgrace from having killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, but
Burr didn't have the kind of popular support our recently defeated former
president still has! The Committee can
only make legislative recommendations.
It is the job of the Department of Justice to indict those they believe
have committed crimes. What will they
do? And their problem is not a simple one.
The defeated former president has always been careful to make
sure his statements carry a measure of ambiguity. What exactly, for example, did “Will be wild”
mean. Who would be wild? What exactly
would be wild? Like a mafia don ordering
the ‘whacking’ of someone, the defeated former president expresses his intent
with a nod, with facial expressions, with the tone of his voice, leaving him
the opportunity of saying “Who me? Where
did you get that idea? I was just scratching an itch when I ran my finger
across my throat.” His reportedly
gleeful behavior before his TV set while the January 6 insurrection was taking
place was neither misfeasance nor malfeasance.
It was ‘nonfeasance,’ his avoiding living up to his oath as president. But his intent had been made very clear to
those who got his repeated messages and carried them out, providing an answer
to the question of what exactly would be ‘wild.’ And there are more than two witnesses to the meetings where approaches to stopping the Electoral count were discussed.
Is his habitual frequency of such vague messaging and the resulting actions by others who understood them sufficient for a judge and jury to convict him or will he get off the hook as Aaron Burr did? Or will the Attorney General not even risk a trial that might end with an acquittal and the smiling defendant telling his cheering supporters, "Told ya, so"!
(After his acquittal, Burr moved outside of the country for a
while, eventually returning to practice law.
I would not expect the same if our defeated former president is
indicted, tried, and acquitted. He
would just hang around making trouble until he dies and checks into the
ex-presidential suite at the Trump Hades Resort.)
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REMINDER: FIND A WAY TO HELP DEFEAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ON NOVEMBER 8. REGISTER VOTERS! MAKE SURE THAT WOMEN AND PERSONS OF COLOR VOTE, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE GROUPS MOST AFFECTED BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, NOW IN THE HANDS OF THOSE OPPOSED TO DEMOCRACY! Theirs are the votes that are crucial to defeating those opposed to democracy in our country. Only with a Democratic majority in the Senate can the nation even begin to reform the Supreme Court, whose decisions do not reflect the will of the people. The repeal of Roe vs. Wade gives the Democrats weapons which they MUST use to defeat Republicans at all levels, the votes of women angry over the Supreme Court's horrendous decision.
JL
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No Reason to Start Trusting Republicans
Just because some Republicans are not as bad as others, don’t get the idea that honor among thieves excuses them from their other faults.
Two Examples:
(1) Liz Chaney - There is not an issue
that Democrats support such as abortion rights, environmental protection, gun
controls, voting rights guarantees, etc. that Wyoming’s sole Representative in
Congress, Liz Chaney, does not
oppose. Her record is about as bad as a
Republican’s voting record can be, at least in the eyes of Democrats. Well,
just because she serves nobly on the House Committee investigating January 6
and recognizes that the defeated former president is a liar and scoundrel who
engineered a coup against our republic and its Constitution, does not excuse
her position on other issues.
(2)
Mike Pence’s record as the defeated former president’s Vice President was
dreadful. He never opposed anything the
president did or said. When it came to
violating the Constitution under which he served, however, as requested by that
president, he chose to obey the law rather than break it. Hurrah!
Former White House Counsel Cipollone was so impressed by his not breaking the law, that he has
suggested Pence be awarded the Medal of Freedom. Sick!
That’s like giving someone a medal for not driving over the speed limit.
All law-abiding citizens would deserve it. Both Cipollone and Pence stood with the
charlatan forty-fifth president until they were backed into a corner by
irrefutable evidence, and if he manages to run in 2024, they would still vote for him. There hasn't been an honest, principled, Republican since Theodore Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt
Token glimpses of honesty on the part of
some Republicans do not excuse their continuing fealty to a Party which has
been turned into the organ of those who prefer autocracy or even fascism to
American democracy. Most Republicans
running for office are despicable until proven otherwise.
JL
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WHY WOULD YOU PATRONIZE A GROCERY STORE WHOSE OWNERS CONTRIBUTE GENEROUSLY TO THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES?
While businesses usually don’t make political
contributions, employees and groups associated with an enterprise may do so. That’s
fine, but I see no reason, for example, to give my grocery business to people
who are making big donations to candidates I
oppose. Check this out at www.opensecrets.org. Surf
around their ‘Elections and Fundraising’ link, enter a company’s name and learn
a lot. Here’s what I picked up.
Publix Supermarkets, indirectly, is a big contributor to the Republican Party and its candidates, specifically ones I want to see defeated. I also understand from the Washington Post that an heiress to Publix’s founding family was a big financer of the January 6 insurrection attempt, to the tune of about $650,000. Otherwise, Publix’s connections have donated about $500,000 to G.O.P. causes this year. OpenSecrets lists Publix’s 2022 donations in detail at https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/publix-super-markets/summary?id=D000028488. It includes about $187,000 to the Republican Senatorial Campaign fund and about $14,000 specifically to Marco Rubio. Click on that link and see the facts!
How can I, who have contributed to Val Demings Senate campaign, therefore shop in a Publix? In good conscience, I cannot. And I will not. There are plenty of alternatives. And I have checked them out on www.opensecrets.org.
JL
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HERE’S SOME CAMPAIGNING YOU CAN DO RIGHT FROM YOUR HOME: POSTAL CARDS!
(Republished from the last blog posting)
Postal Cards Work: One way
of really contributing to a candidate’s victory is by sending handwritten
postal cards to voters. The impact of a personal,
handwritten postal card is tremendous. They
work!
Carefully developed lists are available at www.activateamerica.vote at
no cost. CLICK
HERE to visit their site. They can
send you the names and addresses by email and you purchase blank postal cards
and stamps, address the cards, write out the suggested messages, and mail
them. The races they offer lists for might not be local, but they are all
very crucial ones. You can purchase 100 blank postal cards
with postage already imprinted on the cards for about $45 at the Post Office or
from the USPS website.
The downside of this is that you must be willing to sit down and
hand write the cards. It’s easy to send 100 cards when you write five a
day for three weeks, as I am currently doing. I did this in 2020 with a
Georgia list and feel that I played a significant role in electing Senators
Warnock and Ossoff there in their very close races. Consider
doing this! Not ready for 100? Then, start with 50.Take a
look at www.activateamerica.vote.
JL
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Early 2024 Thoughts - The Pendulum of History
I am beginning to think that to win Civil War .02, the first skirmishes of which have already taken place, but with demonstrations and Court decisions, not bullets, the Democratic Party has to get back to the philosophy and toughness of FDR.
It must swing toward the progressive left. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren (whom I voted for in the 2020 primary) had the right ideas, but neither would have defeated the ex-president in 2020. The victories of left-leaning minority candidates like Alexandria Octavio-Cortez and a few others in big cities are the coming wave. But they will have to learn to accommodate the rest of the Democratic Party.
Once the Democrats stop trying so hard to appeal to the 'middle' and return to being the party of FDR, Truman, LBJ, and maybe even JFK, they will be on the right track. They will then find that the 'middle' will have rejoined them! Democrats cannot try to be 'Republican-lite' in an effort to get votes. That will have to happen gradually, not all at once. Patience is required. That is why I am ultimately optimistic.
But my optimism is tempered by the realization that things might have to get worse before they get better. It might take decades, but they will get better. The pendulum of history keeps swinging slowly back and forth from liberty to autocracy and back again. A good hard push from voters in 2022 and 2024 can accelerate that swing back to where it belongs.
JL
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