PEOPLE—YOU NEED TO GET OFF YOUR BUTTS!  Ah—that is a non-scholarly way to start a blog about a case before the United States Supreme Court.

   Why do I write these blogs each day in the lead-up to the 9/25/17 SCOTUS conference?  The Justices need to be aware the public supports an independent investigation in a case before SCOTUS that seeks to void the 2016 election.

   One would think such a case would have received some mention is what people call the main stream media. Radio…

   Laurence Tribe is a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School.  He has weighed in on the question of whether the United States can void the results of the hacked, illegal election of 2016, as Kenya did in regard to its election in August.  Professor Tribe simply said that, under our Constitution, we “do not roll that way.”

   In the 1970s my fraternity brothers gave me a rough time because I could not “roll.” Today, because of the comments of others and posts on the…

   Government is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Those who enforce the law are supposed to obey the law.

   Past administrations were criticized for nepotism; e.g., President Kennedy in his selection of his brother, Robert, as Attorney General.  RFK had a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a J.D. from University of Virginia, was counsel for committees in Congress, and went after and Successfully prosecuted organized crime figures.  

   Few Americans had heard of…

   American distrust of those in power is woven into The Constitution. Cynicism about politicians is a deeper distrust that seems more recent.

   American audiences always, it seems, have trusted magicians. Magic tricks only work by sleight of hand and suspension of the audience’s disbelief. The audience focuses on the right hand, while the real “trick” is performed by the left hand  

   Yesterday a member of Russia’s legislature bragged that Russian intelligence stole the American…

   Disinformation, a/k/a lying, can be effective in a war or a dispute. In World War II, General Eisenhower used the ruse of a General Patton-led attack on the Pas-de-Calais to fool the Germans to believe Allied invasion of Europe would not be at Normandy. The Allies went so far as to create decoy tanks of canvas-over wood frames to throw off Luftwaffe reconnaissance.

   Former “chief strategist” for Trump Steve Bannon has  GOP leaders in Congress seek to nullify the 2016…

   The original Constitution—the blueprint for our national government written at the 1787 Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, before the ten Amendments of the Bill of Rights were added—is a short document. One book about the Convention contains it in an appendix that covers 14 pages. My pocket edition (a present from, and autographed by Rupert Boneham, Libertarian Party candidate for Indiana Lieutenant Governor in 2012), spans 20 much smaller pages.

   There are lawyers…

   A coward is “one who lacks courage to meet danger or difficulty.”

   In a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Petitioners ask the results of the 2016 election be declared void, in part, as “To the extent that Donald Trump obtained the Office of President of the United States with the assistance and interference of actors or agents of the government of Russia, has acted in office in such a way as to benefit Russia, and thus has adhered to the government of Russia, Mr. Trump obtained…

   In Bailey, et al v. United States, et al, docket 16-1464, a Petition for Writ of Mandamus before the U.S. Supreme Court, Petitioners ask for independent investigation of the 2016 elections and, if it is determined Russia’s interference in the election affected the outcome, the election be declared void.

   To set aside the results of an election, the procedures for which have been used for nearly Two Hundred Thirty (230) years, Petitioners’ burden of proof is significant, as it should…

   Among objections, to a Petition for Writ of Mandamus for removal from office of a sitting President, I have read, is that only two (2) mechanisms exist to that end:

(1) The Framers of the Constitution, in 1787, created impeachment (Art. II, sec. 4):

(2)  Amendment XXV, sec. 4, added in 1967, provides for removal if the President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office...”

   The Framers addressed many contingencies, but also institutionalized and protected…

   A case before the U.S. Supreme Court—the only legal action to seek an independent investigation of our country’s 2016 election—seeks also, if collusion occurred between Russia and the GOP  campaign for President, an order the election be declared void ab initio.  Bailey, et al v U.S., et al, is set for conference on September 25, 2017. The Petition cites treason, among other grounds, as how the relatively few votes needed in “swing” states to grab the Electoral College were flipped.…

   In Bailey, et al. v. United States, et al., docket 16-1464, Petitioners seek two (2) remedies. The second, and broader, remedy is to have the results of the 2016 election declared void ab initio.  The effect would be to place matters as though the election had not taken place.

   The first, and more immediate, remedy is a request that the Court appoint a Special Master, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to conduct an independent investigation.  

   As to the remedy of a…

   A case before the United States Supreme Court is the only legal action that seeks an independent investigation into the 2016 election and, if collusion is found to have occurred between the campaign of the Republican candidate for President of the United States and Russia, an order that the election be declared void ab initio.  The case is set for conference on September 25, 2017.  Over one-third of cases filed with the Court fail to make this “cut.”

   Bailey et al. v. United States…

   Any effort by Congress to limit the authority of a sitting President, or even to protect the job of a person who is part of the Executive branch, is subject to the “political question” doctrine.  This would be a difficult hurdle for such a Congressional enactment to clear.  Specifically, a Congressional enactment that seeks to shield Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel appointed to investigate matters that include whether Russian intervention in the election affected the outcome of the…

   I do not like “smart” phones.  I am not all that fond of cell phones, generally.

   Before cell phones, 98 percent of what people said on the phone was crap. After cell phones, the “traffic”—i.e., number of calls made—via cell phones versus land lines (that really are not land lines anymore) has multiplied by a few magnitudes. Valuable content hardly has increased. The percentage of crap has gone up. We easily are above 99 percent.

   Before cell phones, there were no…

   People fondly deny reality.  Denial starts early.  There is no Santa Claus—but those of us “in” on the truth are encouraged to keep the truth from little ones lest their hopes be dashed.  

   After the debacle by which an individual now occupies the Oval Office though he lost by some three million popular votes, the first denial was of Russian meddling.

   The first denial has little credence.    

   The United States Congress has voted to impose sanctions on Russia for Russia…

Treason, it often is said, is the only crime defined by the Constitution.  Article III, Section 3 provides: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort...”

   There is more in Art. III, Sec. 3.  The standard for conviction on a charge of treason also is set:  “...No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in…

   The Framers of the Constitution tried, in 1787 at the Convention, to address many things in the document that became the Constitution. Of course they institutionalized and protected the most evil institution in our history—slavery—although the delegates were products of the Enlightenment.

    As to the selection of what they termed, early in the Convention, as the “Chief Magistrate,” and what we call the President, they were conscious of efforts foreign powers might to interfere in…

The podcast “Civil Discourse Now” will return to the local pod “scene” for all the pod people who are interested in events that seem to shape our lives. If you want to view The Show, watch for it on FaceBook, the most popular blog roll in Indiana, or at civildiscoursenow dot com.

   In the pasture, when I was a kid, a Sycamore tree—I will capitalize the name of this great type of tree—stood alone and apart from everything. The tree was old, the darkened bark long before fallen away on parts of the trunk and branches.  The white and gray were exposed.  The huge leaves covered the ground in the fall, but it was pasture land and eventually mulched.  The tree was older than I was (obviously), and I have no clue how old.  The tree was gigantic—as mature Sycamores tend to…

  Robo-calls annoy me, but amuse me at rare times.

  One aspect of robo-calls is the development of computers that speak in complete phrases and answer questions.

  The past few months, after the feel came that “HAL” (see “2001: A Space Odyssey”) was on the other end of the line, I have asked, “Are you a computer?”  At first the calls simply ended. The programmers must have adapted, and other people asked questions similar to mine, because the computers began to say something to the…