Why I Like the Law, (Edited)

Though, Law plus Politics really sucks. (Updated August 30, 2024)

 

1 Introduction

The recent fourth indictment of Donald John Trump has pulled back the curtain on a situation many people purport to include The Law as part of the purpose. At this point I’m going to make the assertion that this is how things were supposed to work, though I have little confidence. As shown in the Trump indictment, criminal charges end up being similar to a leap into a lake, both feet first. This is counter to what many politicians do as they wade in slowly, or not at all, depending on the promises made; some of which they may or may-not keep. 

It should be noted with these indictments of Trump, when coupled with the recent plea deal offered up by the lawyers of Hunter Biden that The Law is known to be not always applied fairly; or at least that is what H. Biden’s lawyers seem to have assumed; this shows that while The Law may be nonpolitical, the legal system is far from following suit. Italy, until recently, was possibly the most politicized country in the G7 group of countries; this might explain the saying, ‘apply the law to your enemies and interpret the law for your friends’ or something like that. 

Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and I’ve never played one on Television, and there is no legal advice intended; in fact I will probably be wrong on many points if I tried. This is why when I do site a statute and so I will try to provide a link to the actual statute or source from which I’m quoting. 

I’m going to follow the Corporate Medias’ mainline narrative and put Trump(i) first and will barely mention Hunter Biden(ii); starting with the indictments as shown below:

1.1 The Indictments

1.1.1 Donald John Trump - Federal indictments:

a (T.2) A June 2023 federal indictment related to classified government documents, in which Trump faces 40 criminal counts alleging mishandling of sensitive documents and conspiracy to obstruct the government in retrieving these documents. The trial is scheduled for May 2024. 

b (T.3) An August 2023 federal indictment related to attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, in which Trump faces four criminal counts of conspiring to defraud the government and disenfranchise voters, and corruptly obstructing an official proceeding. This trial is scheduled for March 4, 2024. 

1.1.2 Donald John Trump - State indictments:

a (T.1) A March 2023 indictment in New York, in which Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree related to payments made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. The trial is scheduled for March 2024.

b (T.4) An August 2023 indictment in Georgia, in which Trump faces 13 criminal counts related to alleged attempts to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia, alongside 18 accused co-conspirators(iii). 

1.1.3 Robert Hunter Biden – State Charges:

a (B.1) WILMINGTON, Del. – The United States Attorney for the District of Delaware filed charges today against Robert Hunter Biden (“Hunter Biden”) of Los Angeles.  Hunter Biden has been charged with two misdemeanor tax offenses and a felony firearm offense and has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to the tax offenses and enter into a pre-trial diversion agreement with regard to the firearm charge at a proceeding to be scheduled by the assigned United States District Court judge. [Updated June 20, 2023]

NOTE: Each indictment has been labeled with the first initial of the last name and the order the indictment came down. 

Moving on:

Here are some of the things that I’ve come to understand: 

1. The President of the United States (POTUS) is allowed to issue a pardon for a person(s) convicted under a Federal statute but not a State statute, 

2. A state Governor, is allowed to issue a pardon for a person(s) convicted under a State level statute but not a Federal statute,

3. The Racketeer Influenced, and Corruption Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law and has been adopted in some of the member states. The RICO act provides extended opportunities for criminal charges for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization, 

i The statute of limitations on RICO seems to be 4-5 years depending on who you ask. 

ii To any Canadian criminals, Canada also has a RICO act, though I haven’t looked into the details; so gangsters beware. 

4. A diversion agreement is where the accused requests or is offered to perform something such as community service in exchange to have the charges withdrawn or dropped,

5. The side bringing the case goes first in court as that side bears the burden of proof, allowing the defense to have the last word thus leaving the last impression,

6. Previously contended US elections: 1800 (Jefferson v. Burr), 1824 (Jackson, Adams, Crawford, and Clay), 2000 (Gore v. Bush), and 2020 (Trump v. Biden),

7. On and or about January 7th 2021, Trump conceded loosing the 2020 Presidential election to Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. 

8. For the indictment to overturn the 2020 presidential election (T.3), the Attorney General's office turned over approximately 11.5 pages of documents.  Assuming that the document were handed over on August 27th, with a trial date of March 4th 2024 would provide 188 days. The resulting math indicates that 61,170 pages would need to be read each and every day. 

2 Sorting things out:

Lawfare is defined as ‘the strategic use of legal proceedings to intimidate or hinder an opponent(iv)’ and this is, in my opinion, what is going on with these Donald J. Trump indictments. One has to remember that many of the judicial positions involved that come with power are based on the electoral process, while others are appointed; as such not only is it important to be able to read the room, one has to know which room to do the reading in.

When measuring an individual, no matter what the situation, it is important to judge the balance their interest between heart, head, ego, and bank account; this quadrilateral of personality traits may seem obvious but remember this describes a trapezoidal picture. Keep in mind that when a person’s intents are to be considered the lengths of the sides and the angles, must shift over both time and situation. 

Now, armed with the situation and a framework, I’m going to take a stab at what might be going on. The court appearances are lining up pretty well with the RNC event calendar for their ‘big events’.

While January kicks off the RNC Primary(v) in New Hampshire event is in March, the court date for Trump to appear in court, in New York, due to the first indictment, as found in item (T.1); this imposes a hardship for Trump’s campaign as the New York RNC Primary isn’t held until April. The second indictment, found in item (T.2) is to be held in Florida during the month of May 2024, and the Florida GOP Primary is March 19th. Currently the other two indictments have no dates attached though it looks like the fourth indictment is looking to be scheduled for just prior to Super Tuesday on March 5th. It will be interesting to see what the court dates for the remaining two indictments are. 

The paragraph above shows how strategically filed court cases can be used to derail Trumps campaign efforts. The ‘court of public opinion’ is typically the battle ground of politicians, and for that one needs the cooperation of the Corporate MEDIA. In the last six months Trump has been charged with 91 criminal offenses, including the RICO charge in Georgia, this will leave many people who look at the sheer number of charges assuming that someone with that many charges must have done something wrong. 

With the USA being what it is, I’ll assume Trump will have to pay for his own flight/drive to, New York, Florida, Delaware, and Georgia to face the charges he has been slapped with; keep that second to last word before the semicolon in mind for later please. Another side effect of these indictments is the impact it will have on the idea of privilege within the client/lawyer relationship. The New York indictment implies that Trump was guilty of thirty-four counts of §175.10(vi) (intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime…) through the use of his lawyer. Meanwhile, in the Georgia indictment there are claims that Trump’s lawyers were guilty by following Trumps instruction, and this is why they too were slapped with charges under the RICO act. 

3 Analysis/Strategy

In a broad sense, the Democrats via this political maneuvering have just squeezed the toothpaste out of the tube; and while putting the toothpaste back into the tube is possible, such a task would not be trivial. I can’t know if these four legal maneuvers are being done in coordination or are unique endeavors on a per District Attorney basis; as there is a lack of evidence in one direction or the other at the time of this writing.

The reason for the lack of evidence is that no-one seems to be digging into what is happening to Trump, at least for now, though this might change in time; we will see. Now it is time to remember that word ‘slapped’, though now the ‘ed’ is going to be dropped. A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP suit) refers to lawsuits brought by individuals and entities to dissuade their critics from continuing to produce negative publicity. Some of the states that have Anti-SLAPP laws are Delaware, Florida, Georgia, and New York. It should be noted that there are no anti-SLAPP laws at the Federal level in the USA. 

Back to me NOT being a lawyer, I’d like to read the reason as to why Trump’s current lawyers don’t bring forward an anti-SLAPP suit or four; or at least a gag order on media distribution, but that is not how America works and so this is the situation Trump has to deal with. Though in looking at the charges, with the exception of the Florida indictment which does seem to have some legal ‘meat on the bone’ as that saying goes. I suspect that the other indictments would fail under an anti-SLAPP suit if reviewed by an independent judge.

For me it seems that some of these Democrat politicians and the DNC in general have forgotten the old saying ‘no-one wins forever’; or perhaps they feel that they only have to win for long-enough. This situation will turn very interesting if Donald J. Trump wins the 2024 Presidential election as Trump is not well known for his ‘forgive and forget’ stance  for those people he sees as an antagonists. 

So it looks like Trump jumped in two feet first and then the Democrats followed suit(s) as it were, at this point all I can say is – ‘We will see’. 

------------------------------------------------

i https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictments_against_Donald_Trump

ii https://www.justice.gov/usao-de/pr/tax-and-firearm-charges-filed-against-robert-hunter-biden

iii https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/1ccdf52e-1ba2-434c-93f8-2a7020293967.pdf

 iv https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lawfare

 v https://www.270towin.com/2024-presidential-election-calendar/ (sorry for the adds)

 vi https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf

The Golden Rule – Revisited

 The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would expect to be treated themselves. In this writing I’m going to explore a possible logical conclusion that is currently frowned upon in Western society; the subject matter is the death penalty. Please keep in mind the idea of ‘do unto others as you would them have done unto you’, and when people don’t adhere to this fairly simple principle then they are tyrants, petty tyrants or willing slaves.

 

At its very base, the Golden Rule, means that if you thieve then you should allow to be stolen from by others, and if you murder then you should not complain about being killed; which is of course obvious as dead people don’t talk. A person who beyond a reasonable doubt is found guilty of taking a life, should accept that their life is forfeit under the Golden Rule unless once again their intent is to be a tyrant; and seeing as most people typically don’t like tyrants, seeing as so many tyrants were killed without a trial, while your basic murderer is typically given a chance in court before any punishment is applied.

 

This leaves me asking if the current social balance is based on allowing individualistic tyranny coupled with willing slavery, or on the recognition of and the even application of the Law. In other words, has Lady Justice remained as blind in the countries where the people previously claimed she was; for me the answer is a resounding NO.

 

Some detractors of the death penalty will raise whataboutism with a focus on ‘new evidence’ after death showing an error in conviction. In Canada, both first and second degree murder carries a life sentence without chance of parole for 25 years; this for a 55 year old man has a strong potential of being a death penalty like sentence. And then, what happens if that same new evidence comes out posthumously, typically the government dips into the public purse for a cash disbursement. A more pragmatic approach considers takes a monetary approach, 25 years of prison budget plus new evidence payout budget vs. death penalty plus new evidence payout; no research was done to see if the new evidence payout includes an amount for each month behind bars.

 

Other opponents of the death penalty will trot out the ‘moral high-ground’ argument; this is where the claim is made ‘that a society can not condemn a murderer to death if it is willing to execute its own citizens’. While ad hoc ergo propter hoc (“after this, therefore because of this”) in this case there is no fallaciousness here. If the primary purpose of the government is the protection of the citizenry, and that is why most countries have armies for national defense; I will borrow from the Americans on the topic of ’all enemies foreign and domestic’.

 

I consider a person who kills on any country's soil, an enemy of the citizenry of that country. Taking a human life not in self defense or in the defense of others must be considered murder or at least manslaughter, and this is why a man I previously knew, his name being Ed, who may still be a lawyer for Canadian solders; though I think he worked as both prosecutor and defender.

 

Blackstone's formulation states, ‘It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffers’ has, for me become mostly null and void because of the sciences which has nourished the technologies now in use in criminal investigations thus leaving little room for doubt of criminality; my the basic question is how far will a society go in self defense vs. maintaining some moral high ground. That being said, the legal system has been matured with avenues of checks and balances, such as courts of appeal. Of course there is always a chance of an ‘oops’, therefore in a case where things aren’t all that straightforward, a charge of manslaughter is always an option.

 

While I’m not a lawyer and I’ve never played one on television, murder and manslaughter are two different things, as manslaughter seems to lack the ‘mens rea’ or  ‘state of mind’ for the intentional taking of another’s life. Murder and manslaughter have different standards/recommendations with regards to sentencing, this line of delineation was probably due to the concept of state of mind; hence a psychological review is called, especially for crimes of passion.

 

Moving slightly off topic, if the stories of incarcerated pedophiles are to be accepted as truth, then we as a Canadian society, do have a death penalty already in place though it seems to be quite selective, and the government off loads the deed to someone who has already killed, robbed or sexually abused and are also already incarcerated.  

 

Now, if the other stories of incarcerated pedophiles are to be accepted as truth, then we as a Canadian condone slavery. When an incarcerated pedophile doesn’t want Protective Custody (PC) they will upon occasion do paid labour and hand their monies/earnings over to a cell-block ‘boss’ in exchange for protection. This means that Canada has government sanctioned slavery though the government off loads the deed to someone who already killed, robbed or abused and are also already incarcerated.

 

So here we are at the end of my Readers Digest version of this discussion. As an Italian might say ‘c'è molta carne alla griglia’ or in English ‘there is a lot of meat on the grill’, the intent behind this saying is that when there are too many items presented it is harder to properly manage all of the talking-points at the same time without getting burned on at least one of them.

 

I don’t expect to sway many minds with this pat on the back for the ‘death penalty’, as this is a visceral topic and so many people just won’t change their mind on this topic. This subject matter is kind of like abortion yet different because in the case of murder, it was the murderer  who made the choice to take a human life. In closing, I’m not a doctor and I’ve never played on television.

 

Please be good…

Something Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue

The title this article has been a long standing, relative to my age of 57 in this year of someone’s Lord 2023, twas provided to some women and men on the day of their matrimonial union. Both Karl Marx and Winston Churchill amongst others, have commented that history repeats, though I’m more inclined to support the idea that history rhymes. This leaves for me the question of how did the saying that forms the title of this writing get started in the first place?

The title of this writing started off as “Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.” I feel that this rhyme needs to be looked at in a bit of detail because there is a lack of marriage which is something relatively new; relative to my age of 57 in this year of someone’s Lord 2023. Consider the concepts of both ‘tradition’ and ‘stereo typing’, and how there must be some underpinning truth propping up both of these practices. 

Returning to the title, the only item that seems up for debate is the Blue item. I try to be open minded until it comes to food, though I’m still open to some leeway outside of my likes and dislikes when it comes to Italian food and Brussels sprouts respectfully. The current narrative is that blue represents fidelity and faithfulness; and while pink use to be the colour associated with boys, for some historical reason, that colour shifted to blue. So yes, the blue thing is outside of my understanding. 

The remaining three seem to me to be pretty simple and while I am going explain them as I see them. My explanations will come with cognitive bias, though as these explanations are based on my lived experience no one is allowed to complain about; or so I’ve been told by some of the people participating in public discourse. 

Something ‘Old’ was put there to remind the couple of where they came from; yes it is just that simple. Returning to Marx and Churchill and their commentary about history repeating, this saying can work in the direction of good, the not-good or the bad. Look to your elders is my suggestion as they survived a life neither as safe nor rich as yours.

Something ‘New’ for me asserts the position that what is beyond the horizon is not explored and yet needs to always be kept front of mind as it is unyielding. The 4.8 km, or just less than three miles to the horizon is not that far away, it is about forty minutes of casual walking. While, the ‘New’ will always be there, so will be ‘Old’. There is a sense of thread here, with how time works.

Something ‘Borrowed’ for me is a statement that provides a connection to community via friendship. Friendships can be based upon utility, convenience, pleasure, or virtue; the first item in this list I will dismiss because ‘utility’ does not make friendship. I assert that most good friendships need two out of the three friendship ingredients to remain stabile. These things do wax and wane over time, though it is usually those grounded in similar virtues that last the longest; co-workers rarely stay friends beyond re-employment. 

If one is going to embrace this saying, how I see what was intended, then each of these tactile items must be as unique as the source individuals. My call for four individuals, I hope follows the intent of the original rhyme and of the wedding ceremony, the literal support of the couple’s families, their friends, their community, and faith.  

The wedding ceremony is an important demonstration by all parties involved, though the ‘community’ portion of the previous paragraph is obviously subjective. While community can be defined as people living in the same place, I prefer the other meaning where people have a feeling of fellowship as a result of common attitudes, interests and goals. And seeing as I live in a big city, and I feel many other urbanites feel similarly, while I live in a neighbourhood, I have had to create my own community if I want to live in one. 

So far there has been about a page and a half on a single tradition, though this was not the thrust of this article. Traditions come about because the message within that convention was good for the people in the source community. I do wonder how many wannabe traditions never came to fruition simply because the messaging was off; conversely one can not deny that the traditions of old had longevity and duration, at least until a shift in the underlying conditions. Why did the tales provided by the Brothers Grimm last so long, or the Boy Who Cried Wolf tale historically survive; simply put, because the messaging in these stories had a meaning that could be taken away as a life lesson. 

The underlying conditions have changed and I’m left to wonder what the next round of traditional stories will be, or will the old ones linger on longer still. Many of the ‘classics’ from my childhood reinforced socially beneficial messages learned from history. As an example there is Charlie and Chocolate Factory written by Ronald Dahl and published in 1964; while only Five Golden Tickets were issued by Willy Wonka all of the children who exhibited an overly dramatic character flaw were exited from the tour showing that the youngsters who adopted these flaws lead to no good. For those not in the know or who have never considered it, the flaws of the four exited children match up quite nicely with just over half of the seven deadly sins. 

And to those who refute the ideal of something old, something new, and something borrowed; put down your phone and walk in nature and then feel the bark of a few different trees so you can understand that a good life requires variety; oh and around the same time please pet an animal. 

A Subjective Thread

 

The Timeline:

BC (Before Christ)

600:  A Greek settlement on the hill of Pizzofalcone is rebranded as Neapolis (new city)

89: Start of the Roman Republic.

27: End of the Roman Republic, start of the Roman Empire

AD (Alto Domini)

0043: ~ 40,000 Romains invade England under the command of Roman general Aulus Plautius

0395: End of the Roman Empire

            Lots of Duchies and Kingdoms are given birth and die in the name of Napoli

0827: Muslim invasion of Sicily and southern Italy.

0902: Muslim occupation of Sicily ends, the Normans invade as part of the First Holy Crusade

1861: Kingdom of Italy starts.

1911: The Italo-Turkish War

1913: The Balkan Wars end

-          The Ottoman Empire is loosing territory to the European states

1918: World War 1 ends, November 11th.

-   Yugoslavia starts out as The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

1922: The USSR begins on December 28.

1929: Name changed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia on the 3^rd of October.

1939: WW2 starts, September 1^st.

1941: Yugoslavia is invaded by the Axis powers.

1943: The Yugoslavian partisan resistance renamed the country to Democratic Federal Yugoslavia.

1945: Yugoslavia is one again renamed to Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia

-          Josip Broz Tito becomes President as leader of a communist government.

-          Italia gives up Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar to the FPRY

1946: The Kingdom of Italy ends and the Republic of Italy starts, ciao La Casa di Savoy

1963: Yugoslavia was renamed again, as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1980: President Josip Broz Tito dies.

1991: The Yugoslav war starts.

            -    December 31^st, the USSR officially dissolves

2001: The Yugoslav war ends, with the dissolution of Yugoslavia, where the provinces finally become independent states.

2017: Yugoslav War crime trials conclude with the final charge being issued on November 17^th.

2022: 45,755 of mostly fighting age men crossed the English Channel to request asylum in the UK.

  

 

 

 

The Conversation:

In that forewarned is forearmed, I’m not a historian and I’ve never played one on TV; therefore this is just my opinion based on observation and should not be considered a deep dive into the subject matter.

 

The ancient city of Napoli (Naples) is best known for three things: shipping, hand gestures and pizza. As a city based on a natural port, Napoli saw many peoples from many cultures and countries come and go for the purpose of commerce. The goal of all of the people involved was commerce and so they had to work out how to communicate; this is where the hand gestures came into play. As for pizza, in general the Italian cuisine speaks for itself; just consider what other European countries did with that tiny fruit typically called a Tomato that Cristoforo Colombo brought back from his explorations.

 

In the port city of Napoli, groups of people came together under the common goal of commerce and made things work because they both wanted and needed a path for their survival and enrichment; this common goal on both sides of the ‘contract’ meant that the mutual need set the stage for a mutually cooperative relationships, regardless of any social differences; it is remarkable how people will adapt when it comes to money.

 

Yugoslavia historically, was a mere yarn or thread in time when compared to the historically rich tapestry that is Napoli. King Peter I of Serbia was the original monarch of what was to become known as Yugoslavia after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which happened just four years after the end of WW1; it should be noted that the Ottoman empire was already being eaten away at by the Italo-Turkish and Balkan Wars.

 

With WW2 following quite quickly on the heals of WW1, about 21 years, the new country of Yugoslavia never really got a chance to settle in its skin as it were, before the Axis armies invaded so the Slavic peoples were once again under the heal of an ‘absent prince’ to borrow a phrase from Machiavelli. For me this caused a social/political problem in that the government was changed more local than Istanbul to the new remote ‘Prince’ who ruled from Berlin; self-determination and autonomy was once again outside of the Slavs control. The defeat of the Axis powers which could have allowed for the nearby USSR to step in as yet another absentee prince, was rejected by Tito who implemented a less centralized and repressive form of communism.

 

Post The USSR, when Yugoslavia’s neighbours became freer states, within 11 years Yugoslavia started to fall apart. Almost every state/province decided to leave Yugoslavia outside of Serbia who worked towards maintaining its hegemony over the region. The religious and ethnic cleansing during the Yugoslav war reached levels to where the war-crime trials over genocide lasted for about 15 years; this once again provided another kick in the pants for the Slavs and the Slavic region.

 

It is my understanding that the Romans didn’t have slaves, they had property, as the term slave didn’t exist back then; a distinction without a difference. The term slave is rooted with the use of Slavs as property, or so I understand, yet again a distinction without a difference. It seems to me that living on the land bridge between Europe and the Middle East seems has never been in a pleasant situation seeing as tribal expansion has always been a human trait regardless of time or place of birth.

 

Naples, while being a major port is effectively off the beaten path; face it, the peninsula of Italy is literally a dead end. Conversely, in the Slavic region which includes Belarus, Croatia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, and more; there never was a well rooted commonality due to the constant foot traffic. Of course historically those feet carried goods for trade, swords and shields, bows and arrows, and even guns.

 

So, why did I write this piece, since the inception of the phrase ‘diversity is our strength’, I’ve asked for the qualifier of ‘what is our commonality.’ At the micro and macro level, and everything in between, a community can only exists with at least a smidgen of some commonality.

 

At the most micro community level, the family, the commonality is the familial tie. At one in-between level, sports fans cheering for the same team will be buddies at the sports bar while the game is on. At a grander scale, one can look to nations where the people will gladly stand with pride under a flag. And, at the most macro-level to date, Science-Fiction has informed me that humans regardless of skin colour, gender, religion, language, or political persuasion will band together when the other tribe challenges; and, typically those have been called aliens in Science-Fiction.

 

I guess this exploration is why does one do when they are one of the aliens or one of an already established community? This world can not and must not be approached myopically, regardless how many people seem to feel that is the only option.

 

Napoli has been standing nearly 2,500 years to date, and yet Yugoslavia no longer stood after about 80 years. I posit that the difference between Naples or Italy at large, and Yugoslavia is that due to the lack of ‘foreigner’ traffic for any great length of time. Italy once did, and to this day still does have some contention between the north and the south.  

Conversely, the Slavic area boarders two unique cultures and as such is a mixture of both, which only gained peace via war.

 

I don’t know if I’m right in this analysis, I just did my best to follow my understandings.