History is the past and the present. We can learn a lot from it. From when “with increasing frequency they were taking to the streets to molest and murder their political opponents. No election ... took place without savage battles in the gutters.”

Or how “auxiliary police” raised their flag “on office buildings everywhere” a symbolic gesture “tolerated or approved by the majority of state government ministers, who were intimidated by simultaneous demonstrations of massed columns in…

History is the past and the present. We can learn a lot from it. From when “with increasing frequency they were taking to the streets to molest and murder their political opponents. No election ... took place without savage battles in the gutters.”

Or how “auxiliary police” raised their flag “on office buildings everywhere” a symbolic gesture “tolerated or approved by the majority of state government ministers, who were intimidated by simultaneous demonstrations of massed columns in…

The Second Amendment consists of 27 words: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” An asterisk should note: an individual’s right is a relatively recent interpretation.

Under no conceivable reconstruction of our past could anyone rationally say the purpose of the Second Amendment was to enable mobs to force members of Congress to cower in fear as those members consider…

Yesterday a friend suggested I change the topic, guns, I planned to discuss. She said everyone is discussing the impeachment trial. I agree: trump’s trial is important. One issue that needs to be discussed, especially in light of January 6, is private ownership of guns.

One reason people own a gun is self-defense: to defend against a burglar. However, statistics, compiled by Jacksonville State University, show only 27.6% of burglaries occur when someone’s home. If you are not there to…

Today on Civil Discourse Now (4 pm): Guns! (To save space I’ll refer to “guns” instead “gun or guns.”) In the USA private ownership makes gunshot wound (“GSW”) a frequent mechanism of death. In 2018 that number was 39,740 people. (UC Davis, “What You Can Do.”)

Reasons people own guns: self-defense, oppose tyranny, sport/hobby (target shooting, hunting, collecting), inherited, and belief gun ownership is required. However, if a specific reason to own a gun is invalid, that’s a good…

In the Answer to the Article of Impeachment, attorneys for the former POTUS may have admitted, inadvertently, to important facts that could undermine the defense they intend to interpose - that a person, once out of office, cannot be impeached.

First, the statement of an opposing party made by the party in an individual or representative capacity is not considered “hearsay.” F.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A); United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 700-01, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3104, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039…

ONE: a call-in show sponsored by someone FROM THE LEFT. TWO: premieres tomorrow, February 4. THIRD: I’ll get to that.

On January 6, trump incited idiotic violent bullies to flood The Capitol and they, in turn, have scared the excrement out of GOP members of Congress who, in turn, are trying to bully other members of Congress.

Bullies are chicken ... well, to be polite, CS. (See, “American Graffiti”.) They bully others after having been bullied themselves. This thuggery has…

Toward the end of “Caddy Shack,” Danny putts and the ball ... just ... hangs ... on ... the ... edge ... of... the... cup. As everyone around is confused by the explosions from Carl’s war on gophers, the referee keeps his eye on the ball that finally ... drops.

We become distracted if we concentrate on one front of the assault on our Constitution and pay no attention to others. One candidate for the GOP nomination in INCD5, Rev Micah Beckwith, will be back. And that’s scary.

A…

THE FUTURE: as seen by the GOP versus the Democratic Party. The GOP has been heavy on slams against what it hates. Affordable health care for all is “socialism.” Racial equality and women’s rights deny freedom. Clean environment means hurting economy.

GOP: keep things simple and speak in single voice. Capitalism: good. EPA: bad. Army: good. Peace: bad (U.S. looks weak). Prisons: good. Legalize drugs: bad. 2nd Amendment: good. Mass shootings: don’t touch our guns! Prayer in school:…

The rule is universal: neither a material witness to, nor a victim of, an alleged crime can serve on the jury before which the person accused of that crime is tried. There are good reasons for this, amongst them jurors are to be disinterested.

The Article of Impeachment, in relevant part, states: On January 6, incited by trump, members of the crowd he had addressed ... unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and ... menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and…

My good friend Paul Ogden replied to my blog “Senators who are witnesses cannot serve as jurors.” Mr Ogden did not reply to that contention. I had said Senators will serve as “jurors” in trump’s impeachment trial. Victims and material witnesses are excluded as jurors.

Instead, Mr Ogden took issue with how I described the reasons for the Civil War: The South seceded to preserve slavery and 4 of the states (GA, MS, SC, and TX) issued statements why they seceded; “a clear, primary…

Full statement of secession of Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and South Carolina plus secession declaration of Virginia

GEORGIA

The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the…

Without conducting a poll, I’d say a majority of Hoosiers either would have supported trump’s coup, had it been successful, or would have complacently accepted a “strong man.” In short, they either would have encouraged or tolerated the takeover of this country by a dictator.

The Framers of the Constitution warned against “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and activated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest,…

To punish GOP U.S. House Reps who voted for his most recent impeachment and to discourage any GOP Senators from voting to convict, trump has threatened to start his own political party. In trump’s onanistic cosmos, his is the only hand for the job.

To start a “new” political party takes more than to simply declare it exists, and, voila, it has slots on the ballot. Each States’s laws vary. Indiana recognizes two “major” political parties, the two that receive the most votes in the most…

If you lack the capacity to be moral, you cannot be allowed to participate in a democratic form of government. That is an inference reasonably drawn when one listens to or reads advocates of a theocracy in this country.

We just emerged from four years of rule by one who was backed by religious extremists. As I wrote yesterday, of our two major political parties, one (GOP) is controlled by a minority that believes this country was founded as, and should be restored to, a…

One of the two major political parties is under the control of a minority who believe this country was founded as a theocracy - a government controlled by a religion - and should be restored to a theocracy. Their beliefs are false and their control of a party is a threat to us all.

The United States is billed as “the Land of the Free.” At the top of the list of freedoms is that of religion. The First Amendment provides for freedom of and from religion: “Congress shall make no law…

Parents lose any right to their relationship with a child or children nearly every day in Indiana, and this is via two procedures, a Child in Need of Services (“ChINS”) action, and, after six (6) months or 15 of the most recent 22 months, an action to terminate parental rights. (“TPR”).

Indiana’s Department of Child Services (“DCS”) “leads the state’s responses to allegations of child abuse and neglect and facilitates child support payments. We consider the needs and values of all we…

Many people are unaware that States can take a child away from parents, despite SCOTUS holding a parent’s interest in upbringing of her child is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by the courts. Traxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000).

Indiana has two procedures, that work in tandem. First is to ask a juvenile court to find a Child in Need of Services (“ChINS”). Second, after a child has been out of a parent’s custody for 15 of the most recent 22…

Mega-stress ages Presidents more rapidly. “Before” photos have fewer wrinkles and gray hair. James Buchanan, until January 20, 2017, was considered by many to have been the worst POTUS, He told his successor how he felt.

As they rode together by carriage to Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration, Buchanan said: “My dear sir, if you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.” Klein, “James Buchanan: A Biography,” 1962, p.…

History tells us why members of Congress should not be armed in the chambers of either the House or the Senate. On May 22, 1856, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, a Republican, delivered a speech that denounced slavery. Preston Brooks took issue.

Brooks, Democratic Party member of the South Carolina delegation to the U.S. House, was furious. He went to the Senate and beat Sumner “into unconsciousness with a heavy rubber cane.” Klein, President James Buchanan: A Biography, 1962, p.…