Being a Good Citizen

For John, BLUF:  It is easy to complain about our Government, but we, as citizens, have obligations to keeping the ship of state in the proper channel, and doing an ever better job of looking out for the crew and passangers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens
Author:  Richard Haass
Kindle Version:  237 Pages
Publisher:  Penguin Press
Language:  English
ASIN:  B0B8R2HJVJ
Publication Date:  January 24, 2023

the author of this little handbook on Democrcy, Doctor Richard Haass, is the outgoing President of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He has made a career in foreign relations, including being Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, a position once held by Mr X, George F. Kennan.

As Mr Haass tells us, his answer to the question, "What keeps you up at night" is:

The most urgent and significant threat to American security and stability stems not from abroad but from within, from political divisions that for only the second time in U.S. history have raised questions about the future of American democracy and even the United States itself.

He is one of those who subscribes to the theory that the 6 January 2021 riot on Capitol Hill is the result of scheming by Members of Congress and the President, claiming there is "overwhelming evidence".  If there is such evidence, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept it well hidden.

Calling on his background in Government the author has framed ten obligations of citizenship, things that should happen but that the law cannot require.  The reason for these obligations is the fact that the promises of the Declaration of Independence has not been fully delivered.  Only by all of us communicating with each other can we move beyond the issues in society toward the full promise of the Declaration.  The Author points to slavery, the status of women and the treatment of Native Americans, with the discrimination based on race, gender, religion or nation of origin or some other characteristic.  Progress has come in these United States slowly, but it has come through people learning more and then taking political action.

It is that learning and political action that Author Hass has incorporated in his ten obligations:

1. Be informed
2. Get involved
3. Stay open to compromise
4. Remain civil
5. Reject violence
6. Value norms
7. Promote the common good
8. Respect government service
9. Support the teaching of civics
10. Put country first

At first I was disappointed that voting was not his number one obligation.  However, voting without being informaed can do as much harm as good.  As I worked through the list I saw the wisdom in the choices and order.

Voting is very important.  It is one of the big hammers in a democracy, another being campaign contributions.  Elected officials respond to Voters.  If the voting numbers fall off, the politicians feel free to proceed as they will.  If voters increase in number, the local politicians pay attention.  I encourage people I meet to vote.nbsp; I try to do it with humor.  But, I want my fellow Citizens to vote.

Voting is very important, but it should be informed voting.  We gather what we know from our family and our friends.  In the past we bought newspapers and news magazines.  Today not so much.  There is the Internet, with news available from original sources and from collections of articles, such as Drudge and memorandum.  The key is the reader and his or her choices of sources.  Some searh to reinforcee their existing beliefs and some search out opposing views, to test their views.  I favor the second.

The rest of the list is the mechanics of making a diverse society work as the various members and groups compromise for the greater good.

I highly recommend this book.  The author has just retired and he can use the royalties.  The rest of us can use the book as a civics booster shot.  That booster is important as we go into an election campaign that seems more fraught than normal..

Regards  —  Cliff

Missing the Message

For John, BLUF:  It seems the Democrats can't read the Republican base and the Republicans return the favor.  And the unenrolled?  Where do they fall?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Jill Biden:  It's "a little shocking" that some Republicans still support Trump after indictment

From Hot Air, by Reporter Karen Townsend, 13 June 2023, 7:31 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

Her husband is trying not to talk about Trump’s indictments but Jill Biden is yammering away. She has officially begun her role as fundraiser for Joe Biden’s re-election campaign and will be touring the country.

She’s starting out on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which seems appropriate now that the Democrat Party is the party of the wealthy and elites. Speaking to a small group of Democrat donors in an apartment, she said she was surprised to see a headline before her flight landed that said a majority of Republicans still plan to vote for Trump, even as he prepared to appear in a court in Miami on Tuesday.

“They don’t care about the indictment. So that’s a little shocking, I think,” she said.

Jill told the donors that the 2024 presidential election presents a choice – a choice between the “strong, steady leadership” of her husband or the “chaos and corruption, hatred and division” of “MAGA Republicans.” WOW! I sure hope she continues with that line of attack because it’s a beauty. The matriarch of the Biden crime family is calling the former president corrupt. As if that isn’t tone-deaf enough, she calls “MAGA Republicans” out for “hatred and division.” Are you kidding me?

Law Professor Glenn Reynolds says:  "If anything, the reverse."

An ABC/Ipsos Poll shows:

Independents are more divided, with 45% believing he should have been charged, a third saying he should not have been, and 22% saying they don't know.

I think Mr Trump is polling pretty well.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

President Trump v DOJ

For John, BLUF:  It is time to stop the use of the law to get at one's political opponents, particularly in the case of presidential elections.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Donald Trump pleads not guilty to classified documents charges

From CNN, by Reporters Tierney Sneed, Hannah Rabinowitz, Jeremy Herb, Holmes Lybrand and Katelyn Polantz, Updated 13 June 2023, 4:38 PM EDT.

Anyone following the news knows that Former President Donald Trump showed up in Court today to plead Not Guilty to Charges brouoght by the US Department of Justice (Indictment Here).  This is so embarrassing.  We are becoming a banana republic.

I would like to see someone put an end to this use of the legal system to attack former Presidents, and people running for President.  I don't think President Biden is in a position to do that.  He has backed himself into a corner.  However, President Trump is in a position to set, or reset, the standard.

I would like to see President Trump make a public statement along the following lines:

Recent events involving the Department of Justice and myself could be reason to react in a bitter manner.  I am innocent.  But, it has happened, even though it should not have.

However, the presidency is a small fraternity.  Today, of all the Presidents, only six are living, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, myself and Joe Biden.  We have unique experiences, and have carried heavy burdens, burdens others cannot imagine.

When I am again inaugurated President, in 2025, I will not be legally going after any members of our fraternity, including President Biden.  There is nothing to be gained by settling political scores by creating legal cases against former Presidents.  We are brothers, and some day brothers and sisters, and we should protect each other.  While it is good for us, much more important, it is good for our Nation.

Set a good standard, Mr President.

Regards  —  Cliff

True Justice

For John, BLUF:  On 1 May 2023, 30 year old Jordan Neely died while being restrained on the F Train in New York City.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ethics Quote Of The Month:  Heather Mac Donald

From Ethics Alarms, by Mr Jack Marshall, 28 May 2023.

Here is the lede:

“When government abdicates its responsibility to maintain public safety, a few citizens, for now at least, will step into the breach. Penny was one of them. He restrained Neely not out of racism or malice but to protect his fellow passengers. He was showing classically male virtues: chivalry, courage and initiative. Male heroism threatens the entitlement state by providing an example of self-reliance apart from the professional helper class. And for that reason, he must be taken down.”

—Heather Mac Donald, in her scorching essay,
“Daniel Penny is a scapegoat for a failed system”

The death of Jordan Neely was a tragedy.  Holding Daniel Penny responsible is just the bureaucratic institution trying to cover for its failures and covering up for its larger failures with the homeless and the mentally ill.

Governments, out of fear of being sued by the ACLU, and its ilk, seems unable to develop plans to protect its citizens, and its homeless and mentally ill, aside from taking legal actions against ordinary citizens who resist the more uncivil actions of the untreated mentally ill.

Sometimes rhe Citizens don't want a Marshall Will Kane making trouble, hoping it won't touch them.  On the other hand, sometimes they vote in a Rudy Giuliani to clean up the City.

Regards  —  Cliff

FISA to be Reformed by House

For John, BLUF:  We have good news, a bipartisan move to reform the operation of the FISA Court.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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GOP won't reauthorize FISA without FBI reforms following Durham report: 'Stop the abuses'

From The Washington Examiner, by Justice Department Reporter Jerry Dunleavy, 2 June 2023, 07:00 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Leading House Republicans won't back the reauthorization of powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without major reforms in the wake of the FBI’s FISA abuses and special counsel John Durham’s report.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), the Turner-designated leader of the committee’s FISA Working Group, and Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), another key committee member, all spoke with the Washington Examiner about the need for guardrails before FISA powers are reauthorized.

The trio of lawmakers want reforms at the FBI and at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves the secret warrants.  Their demands are at odds with the Biden administration, which wants to reauthorize FISA Section 702 powers without changes before it expires at the end of 2023.

“We have been very clear on a bipartisan basis with the intelligence community and the FBI that there is no support in Congress for a clean reauthorization of 702,” Turner told the Washington Examiner.  “Reforms are necessary. We will be taking up the issue of reforms, and they will not be limited to 702 itself.  It will encompass both abuses that we are aware of and abuses that are now in the public domain as a result of disclosure and Durham.”

The use of a "Sunset Clause" in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was a good idea.  It forces Congress to review the operation of the Act and allows space for modifications in the reenactment.  The Durham Report cries for such a review.

Well intentioned Federal Bureaucrats, thinking they are doing good, can undermine our form of government, and our Freedoms.  I am glad to see House Members, on a bipartisan basis, reviewing the situation and updating our laws.

The Biden Administration is wrong to ask for a clean renewal.  It makes one wonder if they are paying attention, and if they are protective of our Civil Rights.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Comey Warns Of Trump in 2024

For John, BLUF:  Mr James Comey, former FBI Director, is warning about a second Trump time in office.  Do you think he fears justice?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Comey Warns Trump Might Use the Constitution Against Him and His Corrupt Friends

From PJ Media, by Opinion Writer Robert Spencer, 5 June 2023, 11:34.

Here is the lede plus two:

It is now well established that the FBI has become thoroughly and possibly irreparably corrupt and politicized, serving as a thuggish arm of the Leftist establishment rather than any kind of law enforcement agency.  Its decline accelerated during the tenure of the intensely partisan Leftist apparatchik James Comey as FBI director, but in the six years since Donald Trump removed Comey from office amid a storm of controversy, the lanky corruptocrat has shown not the slightest hint of introspection, much less regret.  Instead, he just went on MSNBC to warn that a new Trump administration could see the president weaponizing the justice system.  Well, Comey certainly knows all about weaponizing federal agencies for partisan purposes.

Former Biden explainer and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki said to Comey, “You’ve said that Trump poses a near-existential threat to the rule of law, and, and this is something, similar language, that I hear privately from national security officials, some people you and I both know, who will say this, privately, about what a second term could mean.  But tell me a little bit about the specifics of what he could try to do. What do you mean by that?”

The question was ridiculous, and the whole scenario was a charade.  Now that the Russian Collusion hoax has been definitively exposed and the Democrats’ Jan. 6 “insurrection” scenario has been discredited, Psaki should have been asking Comey about the contempt for the rule of law of his Leftist friends and colleagues, not of Donald Trump.  But for that, Psaki would have to be a genuine journalist, not a flack for the Leftist establishment playing the role of a journalist in order to fool gullible MSNBC viewers and throw red meat to the committed ideologues among their tiny audience.

I think this is a little overdrawn.  However, not by much.  I agree that among thinking Republicans Mr James Comey is understood to have been a vile person, who subverted the law and operated in unethical ways.  In short, he was not a gentleman.

Now Mr Comey comes before us and says that a Second Term President Trump would use his Constitutional powers to clean up the swamp that is Washington.  I sure hope so.  Or any other Republican elected to that office.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fox News Flailing

For John, BLUF:  It seems Management at Fox News has lost its ever-loving mind.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Fox News Channel Cancels ‘The Next Revolution’ With Steve Hilton As It Debuts ‘Fox News Saturday Night’ And New Weekend Primetime Lineup

From Deadline, by Tom Tapp, 1 June 2023, 2:26pm.

Here is the lede plus one:

Fox News Channel announced today that it is canceling The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, though the network indicated the host would stay on as a contributor. The move is part of a reshuffle of the channel’s weekend primetime lineup, the new version of which is set to debut on Saturday.

Megan Albano, Senior Vice President of The Five & Weekend Programming at Fox News Channel indicated that The Big Saturday/Sunday Show will become The Big Weekend Show, airing at 7 p.m. ET on Saturdays and Sundays while a new entry, Fox News Saturday Night, will premiere at 10 p.m. ET. Trey Gowdy’s Sunday Night in America will move into the spot formerly occupied by Hilton’s show at 9 p.m. ET.

Has fox News hired someone from Anheiser Bush to help them make programing decisions?

This, on top of shutting down Tucker Carlson, is a second big strike.

Who is next, Maria Bartiroma?

Hat tip to my Wife.

Regards  —  Cliff