Month: December 2023

The system of democratic government that our Founding Fathers created is based on the political principal, first espoused more than 2,000 years ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, called the “Rule of Law”.

This principle says that all people and organizations within a country, state, or community are held accountable to the same set of laws. In other words, “no one is above the law”.

This is the dream, of course, as other factors often come into play, such as money (for defense attorneys), bias (discrimination against certain groups within the population), and the politics within the jurisdiction (which might be reflected in the determinations of the judge hearing the matter).

Charlie and I watched a crime docudrama last night about a serial rapist who was operating out of Penn State University. He was a 20-year-old football player, a likeable guy among his male peers, but he had a character flaw… he liked to assault helpless women. He was eventually caught and convicted. The judge who presided over the trial was unduly influenced by the politics of Happy Valley and Penn State football and decided to allow the scumbag to remain free on bail before his sentencing hearing. What a considerate judge!

Except that the convicted rapist, out of bail, went home to New Jersey and proceeded to rape four additional women before getting caught. Between the lenient judges in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the well-known Penn State football star was given sentences that allowed him to go free in just 14 years. Upon release, he perpetrated an armed robbery and killed an innocent citizen, whereupon a responsible judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Absent politics, this psychopath would have spent decades in prison after his first heinous assault on an innocent woman and five additional citizens wouldn’t have had their lives ruined.

This criminal enjoyed a beneficial bias in the system because he was a Penn State football player. Had he been a Black dude, it is highly likely that his punishment would have been swift and severe… because that is what criminal justice statistics show us.

For many years, American citizens have watched the news reports of Donald Trump’s engagement with the justice system in civil and criminal cases. He’s been tried and convicted of fraud on numerous occasions (Trump University, stiffing contractors, cheating financial institutions, etc.), defamation (of a rape victim), and paying hush money to silence an ex-porn star/girlfriend during the 2016 election.

The former President is currently engaged with numerous state and Federal courts, fighting charges of illegally retaining classified documents, attempting to extort Georgia officials to change the 2020 election results, and igniting the January 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington D.C.

Trump is, without a doubt, a very dishonest person who simultaneously knows the American justice system like few others… because he has spent so much of his life litigating stuff. And, he is a billionaire personality and ex-President (running for President again), so he gets a certain amount of deference from the courts… which , in Trump fashion, he publicly abuses.

The old saying, that “the wheels of justice grind slowly” is a testament to the impact of lawyers who make delay an art form. Incessant motions, excuses, changes in counsel, requests for continuances, slow-walking requirements to produce documents, and so forth produce a drag on court proceedings. Anyone who has gone through a contested divorce knows that the attorneys for both sides tend to play a lot of these games until both parties are about out of money (to pay attorneys). Only then is a settlement miraculously reached.

Attorneys are not cheap, and good ones cost a pretty penny. In the current criminal justice maelstrom that is Donald Trump’s life, tens of millions of dollars are being paid to hundreds of lawyers to delay, obfuscate, and undermine the numerous cases. Lots of effort, by those attorneys and Trump himself, has been directed toward publicly de-legitimizing the justice system and making the case that the ex-President is the target of a “witch hunt” by politically focused judges and prosecutors trying to impact Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign.

Famous American poet Carl Sandburg once advised, “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.”

This is what’s going on in Trumpworld right now. Not a day goes by that the ex-President isn’t on TV or social media ranting and raving about the persecution that he believes is aimed at him. His protestations of innocence are accompanied by zero evidentiary facts, which is telling, as he has had many years to produce any “smoking guns” that would exonerate himself. The problem is that the conduct that got him into the justice system crosshairs was based on lies, and now he and his attorneys are forced to develop new lies to turn the tide.

Top notch attorneys have shied away from Trump for this reason, as they are considered “officers of the court” who, if they waste the Court’s on frivolous or demonstrably false claims, can be sanctioned by the presiding judge and, possibly, disbarred from their profession. Consequently, Trump’s current batch of attorneys are generally considered second- or third-string players who appear to be out of their league in high profile matters such as these.

A recent strategy of the Trump legal brain trust has been to assert that the now civilian/candidate has some sort of immunity from prosecution because, as President, he could do “whatever he wanted” as part of his job. He would like to believe that, but the U.S. Constitution doesn’t provide kingly powers like that; in fact, our country rebelled against the tyrannical acts of British King George, and the Founding Fathers went to great lengths (separation of powers in Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches) to deter leaders who thought they were “above the law”.

The Supreme Court will ultimately rule on Trump’s assertions regarding Presidential powers. If the Justices were to rule that the Chief Executive had kingly powers, then there would be nothing to prevent a wannabe dictator like Trump from dissolving Congress and the Supreme Court itself. The rule of law would be a thing of the past, as would elections. So, it would be shocking if the Justices would rule in Trump’s favor on this subject.

The goal of the Team Trump legal team is to delay, delay, and delay all the court cases until after the 2024 election, in the hopes that he will be re-elected. If that were to happen, he could direct the Department of Justice to close the Federal cases against him (insurrection and classified docs) and his position as Chief Executive would render any State cases (fraud and defamation in New York and election-related extortion in Georgia) problematic, because… how to you punish a sitting President?

Our legal system has its problems, but it generally works to protect citizens from the bad guys. The alternative to the Rule of Law, i.e. an authoritarian model of government, will be on offer in November.

If voters elect Trump, our Nation will get what it deserves.

It has been a different December, that’s for sure.

Charlie began her recovery from a hiatal hernia surgery on December 1^st. It was a very tough slog for the first week or so: she couldn’t sleep, most of what she ate came back up, and she felt generally weak. Mid-day naps became a daily routine.

My wife’s diet was simplified to basically anything liquid, like Jello, yoghurt, pudding, Ensure, flavored sparkling water, and such. Very little protein being ingested, per doctor’s orders, so Charlie began to lose weight (which is usually a good thing!). By the end of the month, she had slimmed down by about 18 pounds, which made her very happy. However, it was a tough way to lose weight, and she wouldn’t do it again, believe me.

Our son Jeff and wife Carol (and their Stafforshire Terrier “Chongo”) stayed with us for almost all of December. It was helpful in the care that we were giving patient Charlie, and it was very nice hearing about their RV lifestyle/boondocking experiences. Chongo, who is an 80-pound behemoth, gets along well with our three Boston Terriers. He’s the “A” dog in the house when he’s here; Baby gracefully relinquishes her role when he comes to visit.

I have been on a “solidarity” diet with Charlie since she came home from the hospital, skipping my usual Doritos and Dip lunch diet and limiting the carbs somewhat. I’ve also begun putting in some walking/hiking mileage to get myself back in shape. I’ve worked my way up to about five miles per walk, typically with the dogs. In addition, I’ve begun to hike with the local Desert Fossils group, usually once a week. Thus far, I’ve lost about 8 pounds. I’m hopeful that I can whittle myself down another ten pounds by the end of January.

Jeff and Carol left today. They will be staying in Bullhead City, Arizona for a few weeks with Carol’s mom, do a little Yuma, and a drive-by stayover in Quartzite to round out January. When the temperatures heat up a bit in the Midwest, they will make the trek across New Mexico and Texas with the ultimate destination Arkansas, where Carol was born and raised. After that, they will head north up into Minnesota, then go west through Wyoming and Montana. We gave them a week’s stay at Gold Beach, Oregon in the Summer, so they will eventually head west into Washington and then down the Oregon Coast to Gold Beach. They’ve never seen Oregon; I can hardly wait until they comment on it.

The 1997 Damon Daybreak motorhome that they’re living in does the job for them at this point. Their original plan with this very old RV was to break them into RV life and then maybe move up in quality to a permanent rig. However, “what ain’t broke, don’t need fixin’”, so they will probably drive this $17,000 bargain until it drops dead. Every mile that they can get out of the Daybreak is money saved.

My good friend Mac, the guy with the constant dizziness and frequent bouts of vertigo, has finally found some experts out of Salt Lake who have diagnosed his problem (it’s called P.P.P.D.) and have prescribed some medicine and therapy to help reduce the misery by maybe 80 percent. This is welcome news for Mac, who was considering suicide a few months ago.

I used to do a lot of hiking with Mac and my friend Lloyd. Mac can’t hike at all right now due to his PPPD issue, and Lloyd moved to South Africa last Summer. He will be visiting us for a few days in January, something that Charlie and I are looking forward to.

2023 was a weird year, particularly as regards politics. It’s hard to believe that the 2024 Presidential election seems to be headed towards a ballot choice of old Donald Trump and older Joe Biden. Jeez, can’t this country do better?

Inflation is still with us, but the Federal Reserve has just lowered the Prime Rate a tad, signaling that the worst may be over. Everything still costs more, and that is likely to be with us indefinitely.

The past year was the hottest in recorded history, which is not a good sign, as most of the hottest years have occurred in the past decade. The really bad news is that polar ice caps and major glaciers around the world are melting, which is going to create havoc with the ocean currents and raise the sea level. Places like Florida, with a high elevation of 100’, are going to be increasingly punished by tropical storms and flooding. It’s already prohibitive to acquire property insurance in that State, much like it is in foothill and mountain communities in California.

We’re going to keep our heads down in 2024, probably traveling much less in the RV. We will do a few short trips (within 500 miles) and splurge on a 30-day vacation in Oceanside, California beginning on Labor Day.

Our treat to ourselves in 2024 will be an anniversary vacation in Zihuatanejo, Mexico to celebrate 50 years of marital bliss.

Hooray for us!!

The three issues that will probably decide the next Presidential election are (1) Inflation, (2) Wars in the Ukraine and Middle East, and (3) Illegal immigration.

Inflation is not really under the control of the President (rather, it’s the Federal Reserve’s job), but any incumbent President is typically held responsible when inflation spikes. The economy is actually humming along, and the stock market just set its all-time high. However, things cost more, and an incumbent President is usually blamed when that happens.

The enormous cost of America’s financial aid involvement in the Ukraine and Middle East situations is reaching the breaking point. Politically, it is hard to justify so much money being dropped down those ratholes. And both are no-win situations for the Biden Administration: Ukraine is not even an ally of the U.S. (nor is it in NATO) and there are blocs of voters in America who are supportive of Palestinian and Israeli goals. No matter which way Joe Biden leans, he gets criticized.

The biggee, though, is the immigration issue. We have a problem with keeping our borders secure, particularly with Mexico, and the Biden Administration hasn’t done much to stop the flood of illegal immigrants.

Personally, I believe that managed immigration is a good, almost necessary, thing to keep our economy robust. People who come from other countries to seek the American Dream typically bring new ideas and a strong work ethic. Immigrants built the Greatest Nation on Earth: there’s no debate about that.

However, the United States can’t be the repository of everyone who wants to escape political turmoil and poverty in Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. We just can’t absorb all of these folks fast enough and within our means.

I don’t agree with Donald Trump that illegal immigrants are “vermin”, “rapists”, “drug dealers”, and “murderers”. Rather, they are human beings trying to better themselves, and they typically blend in and contribute. The truth of the matter is that lots of these hard workers, once they get here, are employed by agribusiness corporations that desperately need cheap, low-skilled workers. They also populate small businesses that provide janitorial, landscaping, construction, home cleaning, food prep, and household “nanny” services.

Presidential candidate Trump has lately been ranting about unwanted immigrants “poisoning the blood” of America. This is unfortunate, because it’s the same language that Hitler used to excite German crowds on his way to establishing the Nazi culture and provide him an excuse to exterminate 6 million Jews. In Trump’s case, he particularly calls out immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia as the bad guys who are “ruining” our country. He likes European immigrants, though, like his Slovenian wife Melania; presumably, she isn’t poisoning the blood in the U.S. (Come to think of it, his previous wife Ivana was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. Did she poison the blood of her children Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric?)

As silly as the Trumpian whistleblowing to his M.A.G.A. cult is, there is some validity that the underlying issue of illegal immigration is a very real problem that is not being adequately addressed. Trump made a lot of noise about it when he was President, built walls and had Federal officers harass would-be immigrants, but the problem continued. Under Biden, that flow of human beings continues unabated.

So, what is the answer?

There aren’t any perfect solutions. Sure, we could station our armed forces along the Mexican border to repel fence jumpers and tunnel diggers, as Trump is proposing. However, most illegal entry occurs at border checkpoints via autos and trucks and by simply flying into the U.S. and overstaying a Visa. The other problem is that our economy needs a continuing supply of cheap labor, doing the tough manual tasks that young American men and women don’t want to do. Unless our politicians come up with a newly-crafted “green card”/”visiting worker” program to satisfy our labor shortfall, draconian measures along the border will have indirect negative consequences on our economy.

As I have noted before, the scourge of illegal immigration would evaporate if the U.S. made employing an illegal immigrant a Federal crime (i.e. a felony punishable by hefty fines and jail time). This will never happen, however, because the same folks who want the impenetrable border walls also want the cheap labor that those Latin immigrants can provide. Our elected officials in Congress just can’t (or won’t) address the issue in a constructive way.

They prefer to kick the can down the road for the next Administration to deal with.

That’s American democracy in action.

It wasn’t that long ago that a gang of Hamas terrorists from Gaza carried out a surprise attack on the neighboring country of Israel, killing 846 civilians and 416 soldiers and police officers, and kidnapping 240 civilians before they returned to Gaza.

Imagine, for a moment, that an organized platoon of Mexican drug cartel goons crossed the border and killed 1,200 Americans. What do you think our response would be? Let’s face it, negotiating would be out of the question, politically, and the U.S. would rain holy hell down on the perps, even if they were hiding out in Mexico.

The unprovoked attack by Hamas was reciprocated by the State of Israel with a massive aerial bombardment and a coordinated Army ground campaign that continues to this day. The Israelis are committed to rooting out the Hamas terrorists, who have been hiding in underground tunnels for years. The sliver of ground called Gaza has suffered a slow-motion obliteration since October… with no end in sight.

Other than their sucker punch, Hamas’ main offensive weapon has been an international public relations campaign designed to cast the Israelis as aggressors and the Gazan people as innocent bystanders. This effort has borne fruit, as even the United Nations has pleaded for the Israelis to back off. A day doesn’t go by when there are not news stories about innocent Gazan bystanders getting caught up in the ground war. As the saying goes, “War is hell”, and the people of Gaza should be blaming the Hamas thugs, not the Israelis, for their misfortune.

One thing is for sure: Israel will do what is in Israel’s best interest. The last thing that they want is the impression that any terrorist group or neighboring country can wreak havoc on their country without having to pay a very steep price. This latest terrorist attack on Israel is tantamount to that country’s 9/11, and we can all remember how enraged and vengeful America got when that atrocity went down.

This latest Middle Eastern tempest puts the United States in an awkward position, as America is Israel’s strongest defender and supplies that country with billions of dollars of foreign aid annually (mostly for military hardware and technology) to keep its Islamic tormentors at bay. Predictably, Arab Americans are not happy and antisemites within the U.S. are using the conflict to justify their own terror campaign within our country.

Thus, the U.S. is getting a P.R. black eye internationally and domestically while Israel is wiping Gaza clean of the bad guys. The Biden Administration is trying mightily to de-escalate the tensions, but Israel is intent on sending a strong message: “You kill 100 of our people and we will kill 10,000 of yours.”

I can’t blame them, but it sure puts Joe Biden in a tough spot. If he helps Israel, then Arab Americans will resent him as will our home-grown antisemites. If he sides with the clamor to stop the carnage for humanitarian reasons, then the large Jewish voting bloc, which typically votes Democratic, will not support his reelection.

Still, I’m not keen about the United States continuing to backstop the State of Israel. They are a strong country and can defend themselves with high tech weapons systems, the world’s premier intelligence service, and nuclear weapons, if it gets to that. Why should it be our duty to defend them?

There are some 180 countries in the world. Some are huge, some are tiny, and all of them need to defend themselves from bad actors. The idea of America being the “world’s policeman” is an outdated Cold War concept that has only gotten the U.S. in hot water in the past fifty years. Alliances have changed, economic growth has blossomed, and technology has, somewhat, leveled the playing field. America isn’t the superpower it once was, with the ability to throw its weight around willy nilly.

During the last month, another Iranian-supported terrorist organization called the Houthis (in Yemen) have been shooting missiles toward far-off targets in Israel and also shipping in the Red Sea, doing their part to annoy Israel and its international supporters. The objective is probably to suck America deeper into the Middle Eastern morass and make Joe Biden’s job impossible. A coalition of countries including the U.S. has organized a seaborne force to protect shipping in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal from Houthi harassment.

It’s a no win situation for America, just like Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.

Question: Why should the U.S. support thriving nations like Israel, Taiwan, and South Korea? They are vestiges of the aftermath of World War II, which ended over 70 years ago. Why do we need to put them under our protective umbrella? Shouldn’t they succeed or fall under their own steam just like all other countries do?

Why does the U.S. still have combat troops on the ground in the Middle East? The area is anti-democratic and populated, for the most part, by Islamic peoples who hate America and want to do their own thing. Shouldn’t we leave them to their own fate? What gives us the right to tell them how to govern their country? They can plainly see the problems that are inherent in our democracy; heck, we can’t agree on anything over here. If they want to live in a theocracy, who are we to judge?

Why do we need to spend billions to defend European countries? If the U.S. got out of N.A.T.O., it is likely that the other members of the alliance would get more serious about their own defense and kick in more money for military hardware. Basically, at this point, the only threat to these countries is Russia, which is a shadow of its former self and can’t even handle Ukraine.

A problem with all of this is that the leaders of both political parties in America are relics of the Cold War. They grew up worrying about World War III, in particular against those Communist bullies, the U.S.S.R. and China. Realistically, neither one is in a position to attack America directly without catastrophic consequences, and neither Putin or Xi are that stupid.

If the U.S. was to discontinue foreign aid to our erstwhile “allies” and let everyone fend for themselves, hundreds of billions of dollars would be freed up to do worthwhile things within our own country, like feeding the homeless, repairing infrastructure, improving education, and lowering the cost of medical care for needy segments of our society.

We would still have the strongest military in the world and could take care of ourselves if any state actor or terrorist group decided to attack us.

Maybe we should give disengagement a shot, as the current model (protecting a small subset of nations) is destined to bring us into conflict with others.

It’s something to think about.