Category Archives: Courts

249 Years In

The date will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

John Adams, Letter to his Wife Abigail, July 3, 1776.

That guy could sure write, couldn’t he? John Adams was prescient. He accurately described the way we celebrate Independence Day. He did get the date wrong. He was certain July 2nd would be the date we celebrate. That was the day the Continental Congress passed Virginia’s resolution on independence. July 4th, the day we do celebrate, was the day Congress approved the text of the Declaration of Independence. The document, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, spelled out the reasons for the thirteen colonies’ separation from England.

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Bombing Iran

It has become routine. Every two- or three-days Donald Trump does something more atrocious than before and it interrupts whatever I was doing and prompts a cycle of disgust, fear, and rage and often provokes one of these blogs, forcing me to put side something I thought was more interesting. I have come to hate the fact that he sucks all the oxygen out of the room.

But despite that, I find myself unable to get upset about Trump’s recent decision to bomb Iran‘s nuclear facilities. In fact, my initial thought was simply, why did it take so long?

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John Adams Nightmare

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia, October 11, 1798

Our second president predicted that our republic, if it were to fail, would fall as a result of corruption from within. He was remarkably prescient. Many of his writings emphasized the idea that the government’s success relies on the moral integrity of its citizens.

“Liberty cannot be preserved, if the manners of the people are corrupted, and if they are not virtuous.”

John Adams, “Thoughts on Government”, 1776.

We are living John Adams’ nightmare.

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Poor John Roberts

John Roberts is annoyed. I had picked a stronger word, but Merriam-Webster says my word is considered vulgar in both Britian and the United States, so I chickened out.

Please take note. When the Chief Justice of the United States is annoyed he clearly expects us all to pay heed. I spent all of three seconds taking heed. And then began laughing uncontrollably.

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President Musk

What do you get the guy who has everything? Better still, what does the guy who has everything buy for himself? Elon Musk bought himself a president.

Musk spent about $277 million to back Donald Trump in his successful campaign to win a second term. In return, Trump apppointed Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former candidate turned rabid Trump supporter, to run the grandiosely named “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)“. This sounds official but in fact is a sort of advisory panel with no legal authority, charged by Trump to focus on regulating government spending and to cut regulations. How much influence Musk has is a function of how much attention Trump pays to him. It appears $277 million buys you a lot of attention.

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Pardonnez-moi

Yes, he’s a liar. Yes, he’s a hypocrite. Let’s drive him out of office. Let’s forget that he brought us through the Covid crisis, stabilized the economy, passed laws designed to fund future growth and development, expanded healthcare and restored America’s standing among its allies. Let’s call him an old fool, a disgrace, and never vote for him again.

Wait a minute.

Excuse me if I don’t get on the bandwagon in the media and on both sides of the political divide in condemning President Joe Biden for pardoning his son Hunter. To steal a phrase (“Gone with the Wind”), frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.

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Here We Go Again

It was about 3:00am the day after the election in 2016 when I came to the conclusion that Donald Trump would win, beating Hillary Clinton. This time, I knew it at midnight.

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