Devil’s Advocate

Why is Alan laughing? Once upon a time it was assumed that he was familiar with the legal system and acquainted with the Constitution. What happened? Money? Missing the spotlight? Wanting to run with the fast crowd? Dementia?

His babbling lately, on the subject of impeachment, is laughable. Try this one on: “But it would be a terrible thing to criminalize lies.” But, he does admit that it is a criminal offense to lie to Congress and the FBI. He says abuse of his office is not grounds for impeachment because it is not listed as a crime in the Constitution. Does he realize that, at the time the Constitution was written, there were no laws. That may have been because at that time there was no Congress to pass laws?

Let’s return to the matter of lying for a moment. Looking at it from a philosophical perspective, I see a problem. Members of the Congress and the FBI are supposed to be, and should be considered as, public servants. It’s a term with which we are all familiar but is honored only in the breech. Again, from a philosophical point of view, why is it a crime to lie to the servants but not to their putative masters?

Alan contends that lying to the public is not a crime. That is true. Were it true, and were it enforced, not a single player in this national embarrassment would be eligible to be in the District because, from a practical standpoint, all federal prisons are located outside of the District.

Still, lying to the public has practical ramifications. The president lies to affect the coming election. He lies in an attempt to have a positive effect to his personal advantage. He uses the ‘bully pulpit.’ He uses facilities, props, et al. that were paid for by the public. As I stated, it should be a crime but I am fully aware of the impracticality both of enacting such a law and enforcing such legislation. I now step down from my little pulpit.

Alan claims that obstruction of Congress and abuse of power are not impeachable behavior. Really? Perhaps he is not quite as close to the Revolution as were the Founders. Their primary complaint against King George III was his abuse of his position. Does Dersh think they just happened to forget that little item or does he think they decided to ignore his indiscretions?

Anyway, it has long been recognized that impeachment is a political act, not a legal proceeding. The house is free to impeach any officer of the government for ANY reason whatsoever. Likewise, the Senate is free to cast their votes any way they wish, for or against ANY articles the House wishes to bring charges on.

Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan had the definitive answer to the question of what are impeachable actions: “It is whatever we say it is . . . because there is no judicial review.” Real experts agree.

Despite the foregoing, everyone seems intent upon characterizing impeachment as a legal procedure. The senators can overrule any decision by the Chief Justice, while jurors are not permitted  to override the ruling of a judge in a criminal trial. The Majority Leader of the Senate. whether for or against the party charged, can determine the rules of the procedure. That would be as allowing the chief attorney for either the prosecution or the defense (but not both) to determine who could testify for both sides and whether and what evidence was allowed to be presented. Impeachment is a political function of Congress.

The media tries desperately to understand impeachment. They think that can be accomplished by loading their panels with attorneys. Sorry, but that’s not what we need. The media and the public in general consider having held a position at Harvard a sufficient credential to pontificate on any number of topics. We really need to reconsider that myth.

Perhaps, at one time Harvard deserved that reputation. After all, it claims to have been the first university in the country (before the country existed) and therefor, the best, for some period of time. However, I should think it difficult to maintain that claim in more recent times. The list could be quite lengthy but let us limit ourselves to a group of better known people who have trod the quad. The entire institution was placed into the tender care one Larry Summers. Harvard has the largest endowment in the industry. He managed to lose about a third of it, something north of $10 billion. He didn’t just squander that tidy sum, while in the Treasury Department he led the charge for ridding for us the financial fortress built during the Great Depression. That was the basic cause of the Great Recession of 2008.

Not much needs to be said of what embarrassments Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton should be as alumni. Since Harvard is one of the swamps that function as feeders to the elite positions on Wall Street, and inside the Beltway, the fact that 99 percent of the country agrees that we have been led down the garden path by that continuous supply of over-privileged, self-serving incompetents, is an area of agreement for a sizable portion of the populace. Please give me credit for being civil in my assessment.

Back to little Alan, defender of such classy clients as Claus von Bülow and O. J. Simpson. We mustn’t forget dear Jeffrey Epstein. Alan was able to secure a punishment that allowed Jeffrey to only have to be behind bars at night, while free to engage in his criminal activities during the day. How unbearable that 13 months must have been.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, claimed in a court filing that Epstein loaned her out for sex to his friends — Alan Dershowitz was among them.

Epstein owned Little St. James, an island in the Caribbean. Alan was able to hobnob there with such paragons as Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Kevin Spacey. He even described trips to the island on Jeffrey’s plane, named the Lolita Express.

p.s. Here is an audio clip of Alan on CNN from 2016. Enjoy.

If you found this educational, edifying, interesting or otherwise worth your time, this geezer would appreciate a little supplement to those Social Security checks, They forgot to factor in the cost of publishing a blog.

Many thanks,

.

.

Tagged as: clinton, Congress. Dershowitz, depression, Epstein, harvard, impeachment, Kevin, larry summers, O.J., Prince Andrew, senate, Spacey, Ted Cruz, wall street