In December of 1776 Thomas Paine started his pamphlet “THE CRISIS” by writing, “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
He could have, in my opinion, been writing about current times. We need people who are going to make the hard choices and stand up for the rights we have taken for granted for so long. There are, in my opinion, many ways that our freedom is being put in peril.
The government is talking about another round of mandated masking and vaccines. Should they have that power? Do you remember how many small businesses were permanently shuttered? It wasn’t widely reported at the time, but instances of suicide and depression soared. Are you aware of how many people who had been healthy prior to being vaccinated died shortly after?
Trump, a former president has been booked! Are these indictments legitimate? Are they political? Can they be both? The main charges stem from the fact that he voiced his opinion that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Isn’t that what Hillary Clinton has been doing since Trump declared victory? In a free society aren’t we allowed to speak our minds? I believe there is strong evidence the 2020 election was stolen. I can’t believe that a politician of questionable mental ability, that rarely came out of his basement got more votes than any other presidential candidate EVER!
Here is my take on the Trump indictments. This is coming from a person who worked as a sworn law enforcement officer (LEO) for over 35 years.
Let me give you an idea of how I, and cops I have worked with, view arrests.
All arrests do not have to be made, keeping discretion in mind. By that I mean it is possible to uphold the law without arresting every violator. Here’s an example I used to use when that question came up during training, with friends, or in college classes I taught.
In Illinois, the speeding law is, in summary, if it can be proven that a violator was driving one mile an hour or more over the speed limit, that person is guilty of speeding. Would you write a ticket/make the arrest for less than 15 miles an hour over the speed limit? I chose not to when I was on patrol.
Some facts in this explanation: A speeding ticket is considered an arrest. It is not a custodial arrest, meaning the arrestee may be released on bond at the scene and does not have to be fingerprinted and photographed. Cash bond is not required, a promise to comply- signature, is acceptable.
Most law enforcement officers take the power of arrest very seriously. I was told early on in my training that it is not recommended to put handcuffs on any person you are not sure will be arrested. There are exceptions, but not many.
In my years of service, I have given warnings to many subjects who could have been arrested; all the officers I know have done the same.
An example of giving a warning for a more serious crime is a battery, in a public place, with minor injuries, in which the victim refuses to sign a complaint. Maybe a fight between friends- or former friends. When this happened, I would write a detailed report including the victim’s request and the names of witness officers and, hopefully, civilian witnesses as well. To avoid possible problems, it was always a good idea to explain the situation and get the supervisor’s permission prior to releasing the offender.
A very real, very meaningful and necessary, restriction placed on LEO’s is the possibility of being charged with malicious prosecution. The Illinois Malicious Prosecution statute is defined as: Wrongfully instituting criminal proceedings against a person without reasonable grounds (Found on Hale & Monico’s America’s Justice Attorneys website). All of the states have similar codes.
As a police officer I always felt this was an excellent law. It kept me on my toes and encouraged me to never even consider arresting anyone without a solid case against them. I strongly believe that any individual with the power to arrest who does not prioritize, and believe strongly in, this code should be relieved of their powers to arrest immediately.
It is unlawful for a LEO to target a subject in an attempt to discover any crime they might have committed. This is harassment and an abuse of their police power. In other words, LEOs are not allowed to initiate an investigation hoping to find a crime; that is an abuse of their power. The protocol is for officers/investigators to be assigned to investigate a reported crime and, from that, identify suspects/offenders and deal with the situation appropriately.
With that in mind, let me bring up some of the facts that cause me to suspect that the indictments against Donald Trump are not legitimate, and are politically motivated.
According to WATN (We Are The News.com) the ongoing “Whistleblower” testimony has revealed that the FBI Closed multiple investigations into the Clinton Foundation in 2016, the year Hillary was running for president. At the same time there were several “leaks” from the bureau implicating Donald Trump in wrongdoing that never led to charges.
The same article reported that the “Whistleblowers” revealed that the FBI had ignored information that the Clinton campaign was meddling in the 2016 election when they found out campaign funds were used to pay for the Steele Dossier to be created – the basis for the debunked Russian hoax.
Rumble reported that “Obama and Biden were briefed by the CIA Director Brennan about an alleged smear campaign being paid for by Hillary Clinton. Neither took steps to warn Trump or the public about the revelation. That sounds like election interference to me.
From the moment Donald Trump won the 2016 election various Democrats have been calling for his impeachment. You might say, “That’s just political rhetoric.” I would not disagree if it weren’t for the fact that, in the early stages of Trump’s presidency, they offered no specific offense, and no proof. They only cried out for his impeachment- This is a violation of what I stated above- they were calling for a punishment with no known crime.
These politicians were, some of them, guaranteeing that Trump would be impeached with no impeachable crime being discovered for over two years and then, in my opinion, the crime they cited was questionable at best, nowhere near the requirements to start impeachment proceedings. Remember, impeachment #1 was over a phone call Trump made to The Ukranian President allegedly asking him to renew the investigations into the Bidens (Joe and Hunter).
This kind of attitude reminds me of Paul Newman’s character in “THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE OF ROY BEAN.” In that Western Genre movie Newman plays a criminal, turned self-appointed judge, who at one point says to an “offender,” “We’re not going to just hang you. We are going to give you a fair trial, and then we’re going to hang you.” In the movie the humor came from how outlandish the statement was. In real life, it’s not so funny!
Can you imagine if a police officer was caught on tape saying, “I don’t like that guy. I am going to find a reason to arrest him!” and then later arrests him? That offender would, probably, be found not guilty because of the officer’s statements while the officer would, probably, be looking for a new career; and rightfully so.
Is that any different from what is happening to Donald Trump? From day one, literally, they have been saying they are going to impeach him, then they did.
I believe that public officials should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when they abuse their power. I don’t think this has been happening in modern day America. It is my opinion that this lack of prosecution has led to many of the problems our country currently faces. The opposite of not prosecuting violators is selectively prosecuting; I see this as a bigger problem.
I am appalled that the party that has been hounding Trump the entire time he was in office, and after he left, has been ignoring grievous violations by their own members. These people who are so anxious to punish Trump are some of the same ones who have ignored alleged crimes committed by Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Joe and Hunter Biden and others.
A Time article written by Melissa Chan on January 20, 2017 (Trump’s inauguration day) documents that two groups (FREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE and ROOTS ACTION), working together, were attempting to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump. Their website said, “The nation is now witnessing a massive corruption of the presidency, far worse than Watergate. From the moment he assumed the office President Donald Trump has been in direct violation of the U. S. constitution. The president is not above the law.”
MY NOTE: While both of the groups named above claim to be independent “Speech For People’s” board of directors consists of all people with Democratic backgrounds, Ben Clements was a Federal Prosecutor appointed to that position by Dem. Governor of Mass. Deval Partick. Ben Binswanger was a political consultant for numerous Democratic candidates and served as Sen Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass) senior political advisor in Washington according to their website. “Roots Action” said, on their website, that “…This is crucial for defeating the corporate financed and media fueled right wing, which so deftly utilizes racism, fear, myths and outright lies.” That paragraph is followed by, “Roots Action pledges to resist the policies of the Republican right at every turn, while confronting the Democratic Party’s tendency to give ground to GOP obstruction in the name of bipartisanship.” These groups seem to be determined to do away with anything Republican, I wonder if that’s why they started to push for impeachment before Trump had written his first memo?
It was determined that Trump was not in violation of any laws and, according to the article, the post claiming that Trump was in violation of “laws worse than Watergate” was released as Trump was being sworn in. They were trying to impeach him as he was taking the oath. That’s comparable to accusing someone of speeding as they are starting their car. That, unfortunately, was going to become the “status quo” of the Trump presidency.
Let’s have a look at the accusations against Trump and some of the potential violations that are being ignored.
Maxine Waters (D Cal) said in March of 2017 (about 3 months after Trump took office), “And I will fight every day until he (Trump) is impeached.” She didn’t say why he needed to be impeached. I know that impeachment is called for when there is proof of “High crimes and misdemeanors.” In my opinion, a strong statement like that requires some proof. There was none offered, and the enabling press asked for none, but continued to play the clip regularly.
It was Joseph Goebels, The German general and Nazi propagandist in WWII, who said, “If you tell a big enough lie and keep on repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.,,” I wonder if that is why something as distasteful as impeachment was said so early and so often. Could it have been a plan from the beginning? Was it the cop scenario? “I don’t like this guy, I’m going to arrest/impeach him.”
A New York Times article (Written by: Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns 5/18/17) points out that while Adam Schiff was trying to calm the Democratic calls for impeachment in the Senate, Representative Al Green (D-TX) “Was in the well of the House thundering ‘The president must be impeached!”- The article pointed to “The barrage of reports about Mr. Trump’s chaotic and controversial administration…” (None of those being corroborated) as being a cause for hope for the Democrats looking at 2020, but there were no specific violations noted in the article that rose to the level of impeachment; yet that was the call!
The same article documents that “Representative Maxine Waters drew applause and whistles when she reminded the audience of her insistence that Mr. Trump be driven from office. But even more notably, Ms. Waters, a veteran lawmaker, has also been intensifying pressure on her colleagues to recognize the threat she said is posed by a ‘reckless president.'” Again, no description, or evidence, of how he is reckless was presented.
Continuing the same NY Times article, JB Pritzker, who was running for governor of Illinois at the time said, “We simply do not have the luxury of time to wait for months or years to determine whether the current president of the United States has committed high crimes and misdemeanors,” He added, “The House must begin the impeachment process before Donald Trump puts us at risk again.” There was no mention of how President Trump might put us at risk or had put us at risk, who needs proof, when you have the press in your pocket? Another point of note, Pritzker said that we don’t have time. How would you like that attitude to take over. “I believe he’s guilty and we don’t have time for a trial, so let’s move right on to the punishment phase.”
Rumble.com reported, in November of 2017 Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, of Trump, “He’s unfit, we need to get rid of him.” No specifics on how or why attributed to the senator were found in the article I got that quote from.
According to an article in The Daily Caller (Written by: Saagar Enjeti July 17, 2018) John Brennan (Former CIA Director) “Tweeted,” “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to, and exceeds, the threshold of ‘High Crimes & Misdemeanors” It was nothing short of treasonous.” He continued, Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. The “Tweet” concluded with, “Republican patriots where are you?”
Pretty strong words from Mr. Brennan. At least he gave a reason- a poor reason, but a reason.
I found the Helsinki comments on a BBC article (July 16, 2018). “US President Donald Trump has defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election.” In summary the article detailed that Trump and Putin had met, behind closed doors, for two hours. After the meeting Trump said that Russia had no reason to meddle in the vote, and Putin said that Russia had never interfered in US affairs.
I remember how the press and the Democrats had a field day with Helsinki. I also remember that I thought, at the time, Trump is just saying what he’s been saying all along.
If Trump agreed with the US Intelligence Agencies reports that Russia had manipulated the election to get him in, what would that say? If there was proof, it would be the only thing to do. But there was NO Proof! There was the, now discredited, Steele report paid for by the Clinton campaign and proven to be lies. By the way, which do you think is more egregious, starting a false investigation against the opposition candidate, running it for years, through the election and only backing off slowly when the truth is discovered, or making a phone call, as president of the United States, in which you ask a foreign diplomat to continue an ongoing investigation?
By the way, have you heard anything about indictments against Hillary? No? Neither have I, it’s strange how this indictment trend hasn’t gotten to any Democrats yet. Do you see anything suspicious? I know it is illegal to have a false document created to discredit a rival. I don’t believe it is illegal for a sitting president to encourage a foreign diplomat to continue an investigation when there are signs of corruption.-Just saying.
The wheel of impeachment photo shows many of the accusations that were finally made against The President. He was impeached, meaning sent to the senate for a trial. He was not found at fault. Does it strike you as odd that this is the only president in the history of our country who entered office with people calling for his impeachment. He, eventually, had people guaranteeing that he would be impeached and, much later, he was impeached. Take a look at some of the “charges” that are listed: Border Wall- is that impeachable, NO! As a matter of fact it is something that many, probably over 50%, of the voters want. It is something that previous presidents have called for but failed to provide. Russia/Putin is up there- that was proven to be unfounded and fraudulent but, as I said above, Hillary was shown to be behind it and, at this time, has not been charged. Steele/Golden Showers- proven to be fabricated- nobody has been charged, wouldn’t that be election interference times 10?
January of 2019 Rashida Tlaib (D Mich) said, “We will impeach the president.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) called for Trump’s impeachment in June of 2019 by putting, “Begin impeachment proceedings now” on her site @Senwarren
Pete Buttigieg (D Mayor of South Bend Indiana who was running for the Democratic nomination for president) called for the impeachment in June of 2019.
Nancy Pelozi (D-Cal) Said the House will proceed with official impeachment proceeding in September of 2019.
Fox News (Tucker Carlson) reported that the Democrats were spying on the Trump Campaign. (2/14/22), Additionally while the Clinton Campaign was claiming Russia had “hacked” the election. Her campaign was spying on Donald Trump. Evidence shows that the Clinton Campaign hired a tech firm to “mine internet data to establish ‘an inference’ and ‘narrative’ tying then candidate Trump to Russia.” In Durham’s words this included, “Non public and/or proprietary internet data.” Hacking. The hacking assignments included “internet traffic pertaining to a particular health care provider, Trump Tower, Donald Trump’s Central Park West apartment building, and The Executive Office of the President of the United States. They did it by hiring a firm that already had clearance.
My Note: Maybe they are desperate enough to issue false indictments.
On August 31, 2021 Reuters reported that there are transcripts of a July 23rd, 2021 call between Joe Biden and Ashraf Ghani (President of Afghanistan) in which President Biden says, “There is a need to project a different picture, whether it’s true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.” speaking of Afghanistan’s struggles with the Taliban.
I’m struggling to find the difference between President Trump’s call, which led to impeachment, and President Biden’s call, which didn’t.
Let’s walk through this. Trump’s call was reference a lawful investigation of corruption that Hunter and Joe Biden might have been involved in. Trump was talking to a foreign dignitary in his capacity as the sitting president. Biden was attempting to convince a foreign dignitary to lie about a military situation. Biden was acting as sitting president.
So, just to be perfectly clear, as another impeached president used to say, the president who is requesting a foreign dignitary resume a lawful investigation they had started and ended before he took office, is impeached as a result of that conversation. And the president who calls a foreign dignitary to request he lie to the world about a serious military situation is still president, with no problems.
Oh! There are so many more examples available. I’ll have to bring this up again sometime.
Thank you for reading to the end. I’m sorry it was longer than usual. I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment, I appreciate your input.