Amid arguments in the Senate over whether the impeachment of former President Donald Trump is constitutional, and in the House over whether $1.9 trillion is enough money to borrow and distribute to select taxpayers and institutions, there have been rumblings among Democrats to make it more difficult for the Supreme Court to invalidate or permit states to gnaw away at Roe v. Wade.
Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court opinion that essentially establishes — within the privacy of the patient-physician relationship — the right to choose to abort a baby in the womb. The opinion holds. . .
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Judge’s Opinions
"The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings, and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men." — Justice Louis D. . .
Last week, Joseph R. Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. The federal government began arresting those it claims attempted to interfere violently with Congress' constitutional duties to authenticate Electoral College votes on Jan. 6. The Senate announced it would go forward with a second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump, even though he is no longer in office. And the Defense Intelligence Agency sent a two-page memo to Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Guess which of these events never made it to the front pages? If you guessed the DIA memo, then you. . .
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he included in it a list of the colonists' grievances with the British government. Notably absent were any complaints that the British government infringed upon the freedom of speech.
In those days, public speech was as acerbic as it is today. If words were aimed at Parliament, all words were lawful. If they were aimed directly and personally at the king — as Jefferson's were in the Declaration — they constituted treason.
Needless to say, Jefferson and the 55 others who signed the Declaration would all have been hanged. . .
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie offered his understanding last weekend of President Donald Trump's alleged role in the Capitol riots when he said, "If inciting to insurrection isn't impeachable, I don't know what it is."
He must have been addressing the political, ethical, practical and emotional implications of Trump's exhortations to the crowd. Christie knows that the Constitution expressly requires that the House of Representatives have evidence that the president committed a crime before it can impeach him.
Did Donald Trump commit a crime by exhorting the crowds on. . .
The concept of personal liberty is that our rights come from our humanity. If you believe in a Supreme Being, as I do and as the Declaration of Independence presupposes, then you acknowledge these rights as a gift from the Creator. If you doubt or reject the existence of a Supreme Being, you can still accept the personal origin of these rights. Humans are rational beings and the essence of natural rights is the exercise of reason to seek the truth. The individual employment of unimpeded reason is the exercise of a natural right.
Either way — whether divinely created. . .
1) One year from now, the president of the United States will be
a. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
b. Kamala Harris.
c. Nancy Pelosi.
d. Donald Trump.
2) In February 2021, Donald Trump will
a. Be indicted for tax and bank fraud in New York.
b. Have announced that he will remain in the White House until Jan. 20, 2025.
c. Be living in Saudi Arabia and avoiding American warrants and subpoenas.
d. Be reorganizing the Department of Justice.
3) By June 2021, Donald Trump will
a. Have lost his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
b. Be divorced from Melania.
c. . .
God works in strange ways. Last weekend, two friends and I were deeply moved when we saw a theatrical production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." This is the famous and popular tale of the transformation and redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge from a rasping, grasping old miser into a lovable, generous old man who, late in life, becomes determined to make amends for all his extreme selfishness and his public denunciations of charity.
After a tossing-and-turning Christmas Eve night, during which he has dreams showing him lonely in his youth, showing present suffering he could. . .
Most presidential pardons — indeed all pardons that President Donald Trump has issued — have been for specific crimes of which the subject of the pardon has already been charged and convicted. Yet, Trump, never one to be restrained by precedent, has let it be hinted that he might issue prophylactic pardons to relatives and colleagues who have neither been convicted nor charged with any crimes. And he might pardon himself. Can he do that?
The short answer is yes. Here is the backstory.
The pardoning power is expressly and exclusively granted to the president in the Constitution. Article Two. . .
"Government requires make-believe. Make believe that the king is divine, make believe that he can do no wrong or make believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Make believe that the people have a voice or make believe that the representatives of the people are the people. Make believe that governors are the servants of the people. Make believe that all men are equal or make believe that they are not." — Edmund S. Morgan (1916-2013)
What if the government's true goal is to perpetuate its own power? What. . .