Tag Archives: Rule of Law

America’s Open Wound, by Edward Snowden

Posted on September 20, 2022 | Leave a comment

The U.S. is neither a democracy nor does its government follow the rule of law. From Edward Snowden at edwardsnowden.substack.com:

“Better that right counsels be known to enemies than that the evil secrets of tyrants should be concealed from the citizens. They who can treat secretly of the affairs of a nation have it absolutely under their authority; and as they plot against the enemy in time of war, so do they against the citizens in time of peace.”

― Baruch Spinoza

It hasn’t been a month since President Biden mounted the steps of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, declaring it his duty to ensure each of us understands the central faction of his political opposition are extremists that “threaten the very foundations of our Republic.” Flanked by the uniformed icons of his military and standing atop a Leni Riefenstahl stage, the leader clenched his fists to illustrate seizing the future from the forces of “fear, division, and darkness.” The words falling from the teleprompter ran rich with the language of violence, a “dagger at the throat” emerging from the “shadow of lies.”

“What’s happening in our country,” the President said, “is not normal.”

Is he wrong to think that? The question the speech intended to raise—the one lost in the unintentionally villainous pageantry—is whether and how we are to continue as a democracy and a nation of laws. For all the Twitter arguments over Biden’s propositions, there has been little consideration of his premises.

Democracy and the rule of law have been so frequently invoked as a part of the American political brand that we simply take it for granted that we enjoy both.

Are we right to think that?

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The Point of No Return, by Dr. Thomas Sowell

Posted on August 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

Mob rule and the rule of law cannot coexist. From Dr. Thomas Sowell at creators.com: (By the way, I had Dr. Sowell for a Labor Economics class in 1978 at UCLA)

This is an election year. But the issues this year are not about Democrats and Republicans. The big issue is whether this nation has degenerated to a point of no return — a point where we risk destroying ourselves, before our enemies can destroy us.

If there is one moment that symbolized our degeneration, it was when an enraged mob gathered in front of the Supreme Court and a leader of the United States Senate shouted threats against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying “You won’t know what hit you!”

There have always been irresponsible demagogues. But there was once a time when anyone who shouted threats to a Supreme Court Justice would see the end of his own political career, and could not show his face in decent society again.

You either believe in laws or you believe in mob rule. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the law or agree with the mob on some particular issue. If threats of violence against judges — and publishing where a judge’s children go to school — is the way to settle issues, then there is not much point in having elections or laws.

There is also not much point in expecting to have freedom. Threats and violence were the way the Nazis came to power in Germany. Freedom is not free. If you can’t be bothered to vote against storm-trooper tactics — regardless of who engages in them, or over what issue — then you can forfeit your freedom.

Worse yet, you can forfeit the freedom of generations not yet born.

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This is a leading indicator of a civilization in decline, by Simon Black

Posted on December 2, 2021 | Leave a comment

When the rule of law goes, so does everything else. From Simon Black at sovereignman.com:

In early 2007, the brand new District Attorney for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin gave an interview to a local newspaper spelling out his ‘progressive’ approach to crime.

He told the reporter:

“Is there going to be an individual I divert [i.e. release back onto the street] or I put into treatment program, who’s going to go out and kill somebody? You bet. Guaranteed. It’s guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach.”

(Actually his approach is invalidated by the data; rape, homicide, arson, aggravated assault, and other violent crime have risen dramatically in Milwaukee. His approach is clearly not working…)

But last Sunday, one such criminal– Darrell Brooks– who benefited from this prosecutor’s legendary clemency, drove his SUV into a crowd of people, killing six… including an 8-year old child.

Brooks is a classic repeat offender; he had just been arrested a few weeks prior for runing over his ex. And his numerous felony convictions go back two decades.

The only reason he was on the streets was because of this District Attorney’s outrageous progressive policies.

One HUGE problem in the United States is how ambitious people see prosecutor jobs like District Attorney and Attorney General as stepping stones to higher political offices.

Kamala Harris, for example, got her start as a prosecutor, first winning the office of San Francisco District Attorney back in 2003. She later became California Attorney General in 2010, then Senator in 2016.

Jumping from prosecutor to politician is extremely common. But it creates bad incentives for ambitious prosecutors to abuse the system for their own political gain.

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Without Rule of Law you’re just a banana republic, by Simon Black

Posted on November 12, 2021 | Leave a comment

A country in which the dear leader can simply announce sweeping vaccine mandates is not a country governed by the Rule of Law. From Simon Black at sovereignman.com:

In the year 552 BC in the province of Persis in modern day Iran, a local sheepherder started a revolt against his ruler, King Astyages of the Median Empire.

The sheepherder’s name was Cyrus, though he would become known to history as Cyrus the Great.

Cyrus led the rebellion against Astyages for three years, winning the decisive battle in 549 BC; and with Astyages defeated, Cyrus went on to found his own kingdom that would quickly become one of the largest empires in the history of the world.

Cyrus’s new Persian Empire became vast and powerful. And Cyrus himself was revered by his subjects who believed he had been ordained by the god Ahura Mazda to rule over them.

But despite Cyrus’s autocratic power, the Persian Empire still had a very strong ‘rule of law’.

Whatever Cyrus decreed became supreme law of the land. Yet his rules were straightforward, fair, and stable.

He was not whimsical or petty. He did not change the rules at a moment’s notice, and he was very respectful of people’s individual freedoms.

Corruption was a capital offense. Any of Cyrus’s government officials who were found accepting bribes were put to death.

Lying also became a capital offense, which compelled politicians and bureaucrats to always tell the truth.

The court system was also highly revered; the king established the law, but judges settled disputes to ensure fairness across the board.

Anyone who refused to accept the decision of a judge was put to death.

And dishonest judges were flayed alive, with their skin used to upholster courtroom furniture as a warning to the next judge who filled the bench.

His punishments may have been harsh. But Cyrus’s goal was to establish a strong rule of law where everyone could have trust and confidence in the system, and everyone had to follow the rules.

Rule of Law is incredible important; throughout history, societies with a strong rule of law flourished.

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Is Reality “Baseless,” Too? by James Howard Kunstler

Posted on July 9, 2021 | 1 comment

The backlash is brewing against the currently fashionable idiocies. From James Howard Kunstler at kunstler.com:

Advice to the mindfuck-hesitant: When “Joe Biden” and Kamala Harris come to your door selling vaccines, treat them as you would, say, a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses proffering Watchtower magazines: “Thank you, but I’m not interested in your organization… and please take me off your mailing list. Have a nice day!” Cue: sound of door clicking shut.

Something tells me there are still too many sane people with a sense of humor left in this tormented land for the flunkies of “progressive” Wokery to achieve the total control they seek over the hundred-million, give or take, who are starting to think: Y’know, I’d kind of like my country back. And what country was that? It was the country we were before the Intel “Community” took over, in the service of an utterly corrupt political elite running the system like it was their personal cash register.

About that country I would like back… for starters, the country that valued the rule-of-law. Yes, I know, that’s awfully high-toned — the rule of law — as if one is invoking some clichéd bronze blindfolded babe in a negligee, hoisting a scale in one hand and a sword in the other. I’m thinking, rather, of a flesh-and-blood judge, perhaps a corpulent fellow with bad knees, of, say, the DC federal court, who would dare to throw out the malicious political prosecution of figures like General Flynn or the journalist Julian Assange… or an FBI that would make a criminal referral for sedition against Senator Mark Warner… or a newspaper editor who might be interested in the connection between Marc Elias’s Lawfare outfit at Perkins Coie and the Central Intelligence Agency. One could go on endlessly with the pungent hypotheticals. So much evil mischief has not been seen in one polity since Berlin, 1938.

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The Year in which Comforting American Myths Were Ravaged, by James Bovard

Posted on December 31, 2020 | Leave a comment

There’s only one myth left: that America’s “leaders” won’t slaughter their own people. Ravaging that myth is undoubtedly on the To Do list for 2021. From James Bovard at aier.org:

Thanks in large part to Covid lockdowns, this year has left vast wreckage in its wake, with ten million jobs lost, more than 100,000 businesses and dozens of national chains bankrupted or closed. Up to 40 million people could face eviction in the coming months for failing to pay rent, and Americans report that their mental health is at record low levels. But the casualty list for 2020 must also include many of the political myths that shape Americans’ lives.

Perhaps the biggest myth to die this year was that Americans’ constitutional rights are safeguarded by the Bill of Rights. After the Covid-19 pandemic began, governors in state after state effectively placed scores of millions of citizens under house arrest – dictates that former Attorney General Bill Barr aptly compared to “the greatest intrusion on civil liberties” since the end of slavery. Politicians and government officials merely had to issue decrees, which were endlessly amended, in order to destroy citizens’ freedom of movement, freedom of association, and freedom of choice in daily life. Los Angeles earlier this month banned almost all walking and bicycling in the city, ordering four million people to “to remain in their homes” in a futile effort to banish a virus.

The Rule of Law is another myth impaled by 2020’s dire developments. Courts have repeatedly struck down sweeping restrictions. Federal judge William Stickman IV invalidated some of Pennsylvania’s restrictions in a September ruling: “Broad population-wide lockdowns are such a dramatic inversion of the concept of liberty in a free society as to be nearly presumptively unconstitutional.” After the Michigan Supreme Court effectively labeled Governor Gretchen Whitmer a lawless dictator, she responded by issuing “new COVID-19 emergency orders that are nearly identical to her invalidated emergency orders,” as the Mackinac Center noted. How many governors and mayors have you seen on the television news being led away in handcuffs after their arrest for violating citizens’ rights this year? None.

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Posted in Business, Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Economy, Governments, Horseshit, Law, Media, Medicine, Politics, Propaganda

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The Flynn File, by the Zman

Posted on June 26, 2020 | 1 comment

Nothing demonstrates the corruption of American law and government better than the Michael Flynn case. From the Zman at theburningplatform.com:

The General Flynn case, after years of judicial stalling, may be finally coming to an end, as a Federal appeals court ordered the presiding judge to dismiss the case. The presiding judge could appeal the ruling to the full court or even take it to the Supreme Court, but his chance for success is negligible. Most likely his appeal would be refused, but it would buy some time. He could also refuse to comply with the writ of mandamus or stall for time so his prosecutor can file his claims.

The case has been a microcosm of what is going on with our ruling class. The sheer pettiness of the process reflects a cultural attitude that exists in the ruling managerial elite that is not seen among the commoners. This meanness is all over the current revolutionary spasm. Mel Gibson was just cancelled again for something he may have said 25 years ago. No people hold a grudge like the chosen people and that sensibility is now an identifying feature of the managerial class.

In the Flynn case, whatever insults he committed against the Obama administration appear to be so minor that no one is sure they exist. Even the neocons are struggling to manufacturer an explanation for this years-long jihad against Flynn. Note that the torments they have inflicted on him were designed to keep the torment going for as long as they could do it. Instead of putting him in jail for a year, they were seeking to keep his case alive forever. Our ruling class is full of sadists.

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There is No Actual Law or Justice in the B.E.A.S.T. System, by Doug “Uncola” Lynn

Posted on August 13, 2019 | 1 comment

The rule of law Humpty Dumpty has fallen and cracked into a thousand pieces, and nobody is going to be able to put it back together. From Doug “Uncola” Lynn at theburningplatform.com:

In recent decades, public confidence in our institutions has declined.  Our governing class has often been paralyzed in the face of obvious and pressing needs. The American dream of upward mobility seems out of reach for some who feel left behind in a changing economy. Discontent deepened and sharpened partisan conflicts. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.

– Former President George W. Bush – October 19, 2017

 People young and old will puzzle over what it felt like for their parents and grandparents, in a distantly remembered era, to have lived in a society that felt like one national community. They will yearn to recreate this, to put America back together again. But no one will know how.

– Strauss and Howe:  “The Fourth Turning”, FIRST EDITION, page 252

Once in a land of plenty, free people united together to create one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. They worked hard. They innovated, created, and prospered.  Before long, however, a group of greedy men secretly met on a remote island and developed a scheme to capture the entirety of the nation’s wealth.

As the Creature from Jekyll Island grew by the dark magic of fractional reserve banking , its tentacles spread over the once free nation, choking it, and eventually enslaved the nation’s children on the land of their ancestors.  The creature continually grew in its power and reach via “Ordo ab chao”; or “order out of chaos”.

Just as conflicts brought change, controlled conflict brought controlled change.  It meant whenever a politician spoke of “fighting for the people”, or “for the children”, or “hope and change”, or “fundamental change”, what they really were promising was conflict in order to bring about their desired outcomes.  This was done through the use of the Hegelian Dialectic; a method of operation made known during the 1800s by the German philosopher George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

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Thoughts On Sportsball, by the Zman

Posted on October 27, 2018 | Leave a comment

Widespread college basketball corruption is an open secret, but an FBI investigation garners only three convictions. Why? From the Zman at theburningplatform.com:

The Federal government won convictions on three of its cases against the sneaker pimps working behalf of the apparel company Adidas. The case is a strange one in that the FBI invested a lot of time into surveying and wiretapping some famous basketball coaches, as well as some senior company executives. Yet, they have narrowed their focus to some small fish and two executives. It’s one of those cases that probably reveals things about our age for what is not happening, than for what is actually happening in the courtroom.

For those unfamiliar with American college basketball, here’s some background.

Men’s college basketball is probably the most corrupt sport in America. It used to be that boxing was the dirtiest sport, but interest in it has collapsed to the point where it is probably no longer worth the trouble for the criminally inclined. Basketball, on the other hand, is a big money sport with lots of public interest. Like boxing, the talent tends to be unsophisticated and dull-witted, so they are easy to corrupt. There’s also a culture in the sport that tolerates hustlers and conmen. In fact, they are often celebrated.

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The Rule of Law Is a Sick Joke, by Kurt Schlichter

Posted on August 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

There are two rule of laws in this country, which means there is no rule of law. From Kurt Schlicter at theburningplatform.com:

It’s adorable when people talk about the rule of law. OK, let’s assume that Donald Trump broke the law under some bizarrely convoluted interpretation of the hateful and unconstitutional (in a world where our Constitution was properly understood) thicket of campaign finance statutes that somehow makes the guy who is being extorted a criminal for paying off the aging bimbos shaking him down. Why should we care? Because we don’t care. MSNBC can howl “impeachment” 300 times an hour and we still won’t care. Even if this was an actual crime and Donald Trump was guilty of it, we don’t care. Did he illegally pay off weather-beaten pole-clinger Stormy and also the one from Playboy who was actually hot? Don’t care.

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