Donald Trump was indicted, facing 37 counts of illegal use of classified documents. If our former President is convicted on even one of those 37 counts, it’s a life sentence for a 76-year-old man.
Even Al Capone only faced 22 counts in a 1931 trial. The Chicago mob boss got away with murdering several rivals, including 7 in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but was charged with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was convicted on 5 counts and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
Attorney General Garland faced a tough choice. The same day Trump was charged, he could have charged President Biden with accepting a $10,000,000 bribe in 2014 from a Ukrainian company in exchange for getting an aggressive prosecutor fired. Of course, President Biden denies he and his son Hunter ever received the $10,000,000. He replied to a question about it, “Where’s the money?”
Smoke from forest fires in Canada blanketed our Northeast states for a couple of days. It’s interesting that environmentalists insist that vast forests be left alone: no timber harvests, no prescribed burns, and no roads constructed. Then when a massive fire occurs because of forest mismanagement, they blame global warming. Ironically, tree planting and woodland management is encouraged to fight climate change because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air. Trees are good for the climate, but not when they burn.
The environmentalists who run the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were jolted recently by the Supreme Court. The justices ruled unanimously, 9-0, that the EPA had no right to charge Michael and Chantell Sackett for adding fill dirt and rock to a wetland on their tiny 0.6-acre lot in 2007 in preparation for building a house. This wetland (a swamp to most of us) is a quarter mile from Idaho’s Priest Lake with a highway between them. Sixteen years later they can start construction.
The Clean Water Act that passed Congress in 1972 limited EPA jurisdiction to “navigable” water bodies and connected wetlands. The EPA’s 17,000 employees have worked to expand their jurisdiction to include dry ditches, playa lakes, backyard wet spots, and farm drainage tile. Farmers and ranchers have been worried that EPA wants to control how their land is managed just because water often runs off their property during heavy rains, and eventually drains into a navigable water body.
The Belmont Stakes set another record, 50 years after Secretariat won the race by 31 lengths. No, the horse, Arcangelo, did not beat Secretariat’s time, 2 minutes and 24 seconds. But the trainer, Jena Antonucci, is the first woman to win a Triple Crown race. So, congratulations to Jena.
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“That was funny in Chicago yesterday that judge not knowing anything about the U. S. Government having a special treaty with Al Capone to let him off easy. This backwoods judge was trying to treat him like a criminal.” DT #1567, July 31, 1931 [Capone was convicted 3 months later.]
“The country has gone sane and got back to horses.” DT #2112, May 11, 1933
“Money, horse racing and women are three things the boys just can’t figure out.” DT #2679, March 7, 1935