“We’re a nation of laws” and other jokes

It is often said in the United States that … ” we are a nation of laws…” The unspoken part of the sentence is “… selectively enforced.”

As a current example, the president’s friend, Roger Stone had his prison sentence commuted so he didn’t have to spend one day in jail for multiple federal felony convictions. President Trump could do that, and he did.

Robert Mueller said that “Roger Stone (is) Still A ‘Convicted Felon,’ And ‘Rightly So”

Hahaha.

Here’s the text from the clemency document signed by President Trump –

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN that I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, in consideration of the premises, divers other good and sufficient reasons me thereunto moving, do hereby grant clemency to the said ROGER JASON STONE, JR.: I commute the entirety of the prison sentence imposed upon the said ROGER JASON STONE, JR. to expire immediately; I also commute the entirety of the two-year term of supervised release with all its conditions; and finally, I remit any unpaid remainder of the $20,000 fine imposed.

I am surprised that he didn’t order that the Department of (alleged) Justice repay Mr. Stone’s substantial legal expenses as well plus return of any of the $20,000 fine already paid. That will probably wait until after the November election.

Just after the upcoming November election I am confident, regardless of if Mr. Trump wins reelection, that he will pardon Mr. Stone and those felony convictions will be voided.

It will be as if it never happened. He will do that for all of his friends.

Presidents routinely commute and pardon people in prison. It is one of their privileges, and Mr. Stone will not be the last. They will have to wait until the day after the November election, as then it won’t matter.

The next president is also likely to pardon President Trump for all federal crimes, as Gerald Ford did with our sole traitor president, Richard Nixon. Presidents don’t want to create a precedent so that they could go to prison as well. So it’s the CYA theory that’s used in Washington all of the time.

Business as usual.

It won’t affect potential indictments in New York State… so we’ll see what happens there, although threats of blocking federal grants may temper New York prosecutors.

It’s always about the money.

If you do not have friends in (very) high places, or if you annoy a federal prosecutor or you don’t have the money to defend yourself, then you are at risk.

We have so many laws that everyone is guilty of something, and as a defendant is charged with many criminal counts, not just one, that person is going to jail.

Defending yourself is very, very expensive which is why 19 out of 20 federal prosecutions result in a plea bargain.

For example, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested recently, denied bail with a trial set for July 2021! That means she will spend a year in jail just awaiting trial, spending huge amounts of money on lawyers trying to get her out. Ghislaine Maxwell was the former girlfriend/associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

If she actually goes to trial and is found not guilty, how does our government plan to give her a year in prison back? What happened to “speedy trials?” I suspect she will cave, plead guilty to minor crimes just to get out. The government prosecutors will tout their success, the defense lawyers will make a fortune, and the civil plaintiffs will go for any money she has left.

This is the Sixth Amendment to our Constitution –

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Juries have no idea how they are manipulated, especially Grand Juries. That’s in the best interest of the prosecutors as good for their careers, “good” for the defendant as their family won’t be bankrupted by the defense lawyers fighting the government (using the defendant’s money) with unlimited (public) money.

Forty two prosecutors have “served” in the House of Representatives or the US Senate, 10 in the Senate, 32 in the House. I suspect that they were all “tough” on crime and used that in their election campaigns. Guess which two well known US Senators that we running for president used to be prosecutors… Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar.

It’s also good for the private prison industry, notably CoreCivic renamed from the Corrections Corporation of America for obvious reasons, and the GEO Group.

The system needs raw meat to make money. You… are the raw meat, especially if you are a minority and will plea bargain quickly.

Remember, as a member of the American public, this is what our politicians think that you are good for…

If you are interested, few people know about the release of classified information in which President Nixon blocked ending that war in 1968 by asking our enemies not to negotiate in good faith with President Johnson! Read this BBC article. So our soldiers suffered for politics and which politician looked good.

That’s why so many documents are classified for fifty years or more. If the public knows about what our government is doing “on their behalf”  at that time they would be very upset. So they are classified as secret until no one (except the families) care any more.

If the story is accurate and the Paris Peace Accord meetings would have ended the war in 1968, over 21,000 American soldiers would not have died.