An Illegal and Unconstitutional Letter Rule Bites The Dust

Are individuals in the USA innocent until proven guilty?  Does someone accused of a crime get to cross-examine the person making the complaint?  Is someone who is acquitted subject to being tried again for the same alleged crime?  The Constitution answers each of these questions in a rather clear way:  people are innocent until proven guilty; the accused does get to hear and cross-examine the person making the accusation and there is no double jeopardy for the same alleged crime.  These rules have been in place since the Bill of Rights was passed at the start of our republic.  They applied to everyone until the Obama administration decided to write a letter to universities explaining to them how to deal with cases of alleged sexual assaults on campus.  It wasn't an amendment to the Constitution.  It wasn't a law passed by Congress.  It wasn't even a regulation properly promulgated by the Department of Education.  No, it was a letter sent out from that department to colleges and universities across the country.  And that letter told the universities that in cases of alleged sexual assault they should only require proof by a preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.  The letter said that it was proper to bar the accused from cross-examining the complainant or even hearing her testimony.  The letter also told universities that if the accused is acquitted, they must let the complainant appeal that decision so that the accused could be tried a second time.  There's more, but that's enough.

The Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos has now withdrawn that letter and told the universities to follow the rules in place prior to the Obama era letter.  DeVos says that new regulations will be forthcoming -- adopted through proper practice -- but that until then she could not let the tainted and illegal Obama regulations stay in place.

The response has been predictable.  Many on the left have denounced DeVos and President Trump for not caring about victims of sexual assault on campus.  It's a nonsense charge, but it is being made by many nevertheless.  Think of it this way.  A horrible thing happens; a child is crossing the street in a cross walk and a car zooms through and hits him.  The driver does not stop; it is a hit and run.  There is only one witness, a 60 year old woman who tells police she thinks it was a red SUV that hit the kid.  About 15 minutes later, police find a man with an SUV pulling into a parking lot about two miles away.  They question him and learn that he had been driving nearby for the last half hour.  They arrest him for the crime of leaving the scene of an accident.  There's a trial that follows.  The suspect is not allowed to hear the testimony of the witness about the red car.  The suspect is not allowed to cross examine the witness either.  The police know that the witness doesn't know the make, model or age of the SUV.  In fact, she is not even sure that she saw an SUV rather than a sedan.  The jury, however, does not know this.  When the jury deliberates, the members were not really sure but they thought it more likely than not that the accused committed a crime.  They vote to convict him. 

If a case proceeded in the way outlined above, every court in the country would throw out that conviction and chastise the prosecution for proceeding in a clearly unconstitutional manner.  But that is what the Obama letter outlined for public universities across the country to do.  DeVos is correct to get rid of this travesty.  We don't get to ignore the Constitution because we want to show that we care about a victim.

So Will Menendez Resign?

Despite the lack of coverage, the trial of New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez is actually proceeding in federal court.  The evidence thus far has been extremely damning.  It looks to me as if the charges against Menendez are true and he will be convicted.  Of course, I say that without hearing the full defense (and the rest of the prosecution case.)  One thing is certain, even if Menendez were to be acquitted, he is certainly no angel.  I even wonder if Menendez is as honest as Hillary Clinton.

So if Menendez gets convicted, will he resign?  Will the Democrats call upon him to resign?  Will there be a move to keep him in office until his replacement would be a Democrat?  In other words, will politics triumph over morality?

My guess is that there will clearly be no pressure from the media to get Menendez out of office.  Democrats only care about corruption is the target is a Republican.

Like There Was Ever A Chance

A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me what I thought of the chances of the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal bill.  I told him it almost surely would not be passed.  Today, senator McCain made clear that the bill would not pass when he announced that he could not vote for it because it had not yet been scored by the CBO.

Let's be clear about two things:

1.  Getting all the Republican senators on board for the bill wasn't going to happen.

2.  McCain refusing to vote for the bill absent a CBO score is infuriating.  McCain knows that the CBO has no idea how states would implement their new powers under the bill, but the CBO nevertheless would put out detailed projections as to the effect of those unknown implementation measures.  In other words, McCain knows that the CBO projections on the bill would be nothing but uneducated guesses.  For McCain to refuse on that basis is silly at best.

The key moving forward is not Obamacare, however.  It is tax reform.  The GOP better get to work on that bill and get it passed by Thanksgiving.  It can be done is some of the prima donnas in the senate can keep their tiaras on straight.

Those Pesky Private Planes

There's a big buzz about the travel of two cabinet members, Betsy DeVos who is Secretary of Education and Dr. Tom Price who is Secretary of HHS.  Both have made use of private planes more than once per month to accomplish their travels.

Let's start with DeVos.  The media and the left hate her with a particular venom.  DeVos' use of private planes is just the latest brouhaha to erupt.  There's a problem with the story, however.  DeVos is using her own private jet for travel, and she isn't charging the government for that use.  That's right; unlike most other cabinet officials, DeVos is saving the taxpayers money by providing her own travel means.  In short, the complaints are actually rather silly.

It's a different story with Price.  His department has chartered private planes for him something like ten times.  The travel people at HHS say that in order to meet his schedule, Price could not fly on commercial airlines on all occasions.  When there was time, he flew commercial, but when there was not, he went by private plane.  That seems reasonable to me.  Once again, it is not a major story.

Amazing

One of the members of the Board of Selectment in Greenwich, CT was arrested for shoplifting at a malls.  He allegedly took about $600 worth of items at two stores in an outlet mall in Clinton, CT.  Drew Marzullo has been the lone Democrat on the Board of Selectmen for the last eight years.  He is a candidate for re-election in November.  No plea has yet been entered in the case, and Marzullo was released on bail.

This mess is unlikely to change the election results in November.  Republican Peter Tesei, the First Selectman (equivalent to a mayor) is likely to re-elected once again.  Still, for those Democrats hoping for an upset in the traditionally Republican town in the age of Trump, news of the arrest must come as a major disaster.  I doubt if the voters in Greenwich will want to re-elect a selectman who is facing a trial for this crime, and that will most likely bring the entire Democrat ticket down.

The leadership in Greenwich is certainly not all that important for the nation.  Still, since each of the last three Republican presidents had strong ties to the town, it's worth noting.

So Did This Actually Happen?

There was some sort of explosion at a remote part of the airport in Damascus, Syria in the early hours this morning.  No one knows the cause.  The Syrians claim that it was a missile attack launched by Israeli planes flying over Israeli airspace.  The Israelis have not commented, but they never do in situations like this.  Also, it is a major holiday in Israel.

So did the Israelis really strike at some installation adjacent to the airport in the Syrian capital?  Who knows?  The holiday of Rosh Hashanah seems like a strange time for the Israelis to launch a strike, but that is far from conclusive.  After all, the Iranians could have decided that the holiday was the ideal time to transship weapons to Hezbollah through the airport in Damascus.  Israel would not refrain from hitting such a shipment even on the holiday.

If the Israelis did hit the airport, it should clearly demonstrate two things to both Assad and Iran.

1.  Israel has the ability to hit everything and anything within Syria, and it will not tolerate the shipment of weapons by Iran to Hezbollah.

2.  The Russians will do nothing to stop Israeli attacks on Iranian shipments in Syria.  That's important, since only the Russians and Americans really have the ability to launch a credible defense against such attacks by the IAF.

 

Will This Move Make A Difference?

President Trump took action once more against North Korea yesterday in the hopes of curtailing that nation's nuclear/missile program.  The nature of the move may have gotten lost in the swirl of harsh talk and insults coming from both sides.  Here, however, is the gist of the move:  Trump issued an Executive Order that authorizes the Department of the Treasury to impose sanctions on people and companies (including financial institutions) that do business with the North Koreans.  Right before the order was signed, the Secretary of the Treasury called his Chinese counterpart and informed him that the move was coming.  Most likely, this was previously discussed with China as well.  In response, the Bank of China directed Chinese banks to stop dealing with North Korea.

It's hard to overstate the impact of these moves if they continue in place and are observed.  Chinese banks provide the main financial link for the North Koreans to the rest of the world.  Chinese banks also finance North Korea's trade which is mainly with China.  With these banks out of the picture, it is likely that the bulk of North Korea's exports to and imports from China will stop.  Even foreign purchases of components needed for the NK missile programs will grind to a halt.  It's the ultimate financial squeeze on the NK's short of an embargo and blockade (which are acts of war.)

Kim Jung Un is someone who would be perfectly fine with starving his people in order to complete the missiles and nuclear weapons program.  At some point, however, he has to concern himself with the likelihood that the NK people will rise up and replace him and his cronies.  It may not come to that, but it ought, at a minimum, to be a concern for Kim. 

One thing is certain.  President Trump has achieved more in his confrontation with North Korea in six months than Obama, Bush or Clinton did in eight years.  Hopefully this will all get resolved, but if we end up in a war in Korea, it won't be because the President didn't try to avoid it.  There's no doubt that the anti-Trump media will condemn the President for some reason regarding this policy.  it doesn't matter what he does; they condemn him.  The American people, however, ought to understand just how well this has all been done.