Politics, Accusations and Due Process

Politics, Accusations and Due Process

No one is more repulsed by the poster boy of Hollywood excess and immorality than me. Ditto for U.S. Senator wannabe Roy Moore. But I also must say that while I despise the amoral attitudes of those who prey on others, I cherish due process even more.

America was founded after royal subjects living in British North America became vexed at governmental abuses of power. The founding fathers and their ancestors had seen royal authority misused through search warrants that allowed soldiers to search any house at any time, government confiscation of property without compensation, and imprisonment and execution without anything resembling a fair trial. Indeed, the Declaration of Independence itself alleges that King George was “deaf to the voice of justice.”

Due process was costly to achieve in battle and ought not to be conveniently ignored. When someone raises an allegation that the law has been violated, we must presume that the claim lacks merit until evidence is tested in a court of law and a judge or jury makes a ruling.

Mitt Romney recently announced that “innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections.” Others have claimed that a news report is enough to determine someone’s guilt.

But if we’re truly committed to due process, in our heart we’ll presume innocence even when 

we hear multiple sickening reports about the purported misdeeds of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Roy Moore. It’s hard to do. I struggle with it. But it’s the right thing.

When we hear a criminal defense, lawyer remind a jury that the person whom we genuinely believe is guilty must be presumed innocent, we feel uncomfortable. But we must allow the trial to take its course because we know requiring sworn testimony and evidence tested by cross-examination is the best way to discern the truth. And sticking to this standard is what keeps you and me from becoming accused and adjudged without credible evidence.

Men who abuse women share something with street thugs who rob, attack and steal — they think they can avoid the natural result of violating basic tenets of right and wrong. Even beyond statutes passed by legislatures, there’s an immutable moral law much like the law of gravity.

Far too much of Hollywood’s product showcases characters who violate that moral law and avoid consequences. The entertainment industry’s fetish for violence, sex, and nihilism leads many young people astray. And the people who write, act, and produce this garbage marinate in it themselves, affecting their own behavior and skewing their core values.

Which brings me to the uber repulsive Harvey Weinstein. I say that because, even if the accusations against him are untrue, the actions he admits to — adultery, cheating, bullying, make him a person that no person of good character will defend. But, as to whether he violated the law, we ought to wait on a court ruling. Due process requires it.

So, Roy, if you’re reading this, here’s the good news: we should all withhold judgment about the sexual assault allegations until you get a fair trial. And, here’s the bad news. There are those that have forgotten or do not care about due process with regards to politics.

The GOP proposed tax reform package has been released:

The GOP proposed tax reform package has been released:

The text of the GOP proposed tax reform package has finally been released -- and I want you to be among the first to know the details and how it will impact you and your family.

Months ago, conservatives began pressuring their lawmakers to ensure that tax reform followed five conservative principles. Here’s how the bill stacks up to those principles:

Lowering and Simplifying the Individual Tax Rates: The GOP proposal provides long overdue relief to millions of Americans by simplifying and lowering the individual tax rates to 12 percent, 25 percent, 35 percent and 39.6 percent. For married couples, the 25 percent rate starts at $90,000, the 35 percent rate starts at $260,000 and the top rate starts at $1 million. The bill will also double the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for families.

Lowering the Corporate Tax Rate: This bill will immediately lower the corporate rate to 20 percent -- the rate demanded by conservatives for months -- making American businesses more competitive with the rest of the world and providing hard working Americans with a much needed raise. Rates for small business pass throughs were also reduced by 15 percentage points, down to 25 percent.

Tax Free Entrepreneurship (Full Expensing): The GOP proposal includes full expensing for some investments that phases out after 5 years. This is a necessary boost to investment in the short-term, though improvements could be made as the process advances.

Establishing a Territorial Tax System: This bill attempts to eliminate the double taxation that defines our current worldwide tax system, though there are some provisions that could undermine the full value of that reform. Stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis.

Ending Cronyism in the Tax Code: Conservatives have also been fighting back against big-government special interest groups. The plan eliminates many special interest provisions including the State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT), though it allows a write off for property taxes. If not for conservative pushback, the swamp creatures would have been far more successful in defending the broken, corrupt status quo.

Here are some other things included in the bill you should know:

•                     Repeals the Alternative Minimum Tax

•                     Child tax credit goes to $1600 from $1000 plus additional $300 credit for parents and non-child dependents.

•                     State and local deduction converted to property tax deduction with $10K cap

•                     401k’s are untouched

•                     The Death Tax exemption will be doubled and eventually phased out after five years.

•                     Preserves the home mortgage interest deduction for current mortgages and limits the deduction to $500,000 for new mortgages.

•                     Preserves the Charitable Tax Deduction.

At first glance, the preliminary text released today has the potential to unleash economic growth, create American jobs, increase wages for American workers, allow families to keep more of their hard-earned money, and make U.S. businesses competitive across the globe.

According to documents released by Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, a typical middle-income family of four, earning $59K (median household income), will receive a $1,182 tax cut under this bill.

The debate is just beginning, and we will continue to update you with developments and ways that you can impact the fight against the special interests and K Street lobbyists that will try to dismantle these reforms.

Dan Holler

Vice President

Heritage Action For America 

Some numbers on African-Americans versus police

Some numbers on African-Americans versus police

Let’s throw out a few numbers so we can put in perspective the NFL players taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. Many say they are protesting against police treatment of blacks and racial discrimination. We might ask just how much sense their protest makes.

According to The Washington Post, 737 people have been shot and killed by police this year in the United States. Of that number, there were 329 whites, 165 blacks, 112 Hispanics, 24 members of other races and 107 people whose race was unknown (http://tinyurl.com/zyz2tpq). In Illinois, home to one of our most dangerous cities – Chicago – 18 people have been shot and killed by police this year. In the city itself, police have shot and killed 10 people and shot and wounded 10 others. Somebody should ask the kneeling black NFL players why they are protesting this kind of killing in the Windy City and ignoring other sources of black death.

Here are the Chicago numbers for the ignored deaths. So far in 2017, there have been 533 murders and 2,880 shootings. On average, a person is shot every two hours and 17 minutes and murdered every 12 1 ⁄ 2 hours (http://tinyurl.com/o36cqfc). In 2016, when Colin Kaepernick started taking a knee, Chicago witnessed 806 murders and 4,379 shootings. It turns out that most of the murder victims are black. Adding to the tragedy is the fact that Chicago has a 12.7 percent murder clearance rate. That means that when a black person is murdered, his perpetrator is found and charged with his murder less than 13 percent of the time.

Similar statistics regarding police killing blacks versus blacks killing blacks apply to many of our predominantly black urban centers, such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis and Oakland. Many Americans, including me, see the black NFL player protest of police brutality as pathetic, useless showboating. Seeing as these players have made no open protest against the thousands of blacks being murdered and maimed by blacks, they must view it as trivial in comparison with the police killings. Most of the police killings fit into the category of justified homicide.

NFL players are not by themselves. How much condemnation do black politicians, civil rights leaders and liberal whites give to the wanton black homicides in our cities? When have you heard them condemning the very low clearance rate, whereby most black murderers get away with murder? Do you believe they would be just as silent if it were the Ku Klux Klan committing the murders?

What’s to blame for this mayhem? If you ask an intellectual, a leftist or an academic in a sociology or psychology department, he will tell you that it is caused by poverty, discrimination and a lack of opportunities. But the black murder rate and other crime statistics in the 1940s and ’50s were not nearly so high as they are now. I wonder whether your intellectual, leftist or academic would explain that we had less black poverty, less racial discrimination and far greater opportunities for blacks during earlier periods than we do today. He’d have to be an unrepentant idiot to make such an utterance.

So, what can be done? Black people need to find new heroes. Right now, at least in terms of the support given, their heroes are criminals such as Baltimore’s Freddie Gray, Ferguson’s Michael Brown and Florida’s Trayvon Martin. Black support tends to go toward the criminals in the community rather than to the overwhelming number of people in the community who are law-abiding. That needs to end. What also needs to end is the lack of respect for and cooperation with police officers. Some police are crooked, but black people are likelier to be victims of violent confrontations with police officers than whites simply because blacks commit more violent crimes than whites per capita.

For a race of people, these crime statistics are by no means flattering, but if something good is to be done about it, we cannot fall prey to the blame games that black politicians, black NFL players, civil rights leaders and white liberals want to play. If their vision is accepted, we can expect little improvement of the status quo.

Walter E. Williams is an economist at George Mason University.

Blurring the line between patriotism and nationalism

Blurring the line between patriotism and nationalism

Patriotism. What is it really? Why is it important, or is it?

Recently it seems that some view patriotism as an endorsement of the Trump presidency. That to be patriotic is to be unyieldingly in support of President Trump. I even spoke with someone who was hesitant to put up American flags on the Fourth of July because he didn’t want to be confused as being a “Trump supporter.”

There seems to be a blurring of the lines between what is better called “nationalism” and “patriotism.” And in my opinion, they are both important perspectives for every American to hold.

Starting with patriotism, one could argue that our country was founded on patriotism. George Orwell defined patriotism as a “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people.” My mother’s family immigrated to this country in the 1700s so that they could be a part of building a country where religious freedom was a founding principle.

Like many immigrants for generations, they abandoned their native language and adopted an “English only” household. In taking this step to fully embrace the norms of America, they truly became American.

Centuries later, my father-in-law’s family immigrated from Sweden.

They were so determined to be American that no Swedish was ever spoken once they set foot in America. My father-in-law, who was by definition Swedish, never learned a word of the language.

What glued these varied immigrant communities together was their strong devotion to becoming American. They were all willing to abandon practices from their country of birth to adopt new American practices.

United, they built a country where their varying beliefs were respected and yet replaced by the new American fundamentals.

These Americans were and are the most patriotic and nationalistic people I have ever met.

Their pride in being an American runs deep. Many served our country in wars driven by an intensely strong desire to protect and preserve our values. And this is where we began to blur the line between patriotism and nationalism. While we as a nation became more solidified in our national direction, we also became one of the most powerful nations in the world. This was powered by American ingenuity and nationalism and produced a complex national identity.

Nationalism is the glue that holds our varying beliefs together into one country.

It is what helped create an American identity. Over the centuries the subsequent generations of immigrants blended ideals and beliefs into a common concept. This became the American way of life, the American dream for some. It also firmly planted in us the desire to believe that this way of life is superior. We commonly agreed not to endure oppression or dominance by other nations or even the wealthy and politically powerful.

This last point is what people tend to forget.

The opening of our Constitution says it all, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, … promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...” We the people. Not the rich, not the powerful, not the bullies, the people. Just regular folks who generally fear God and don’t shy away from hard work in pursuit of their personal goals and dreams. Immigrants.

This is also where we seem to be getting stuck as a nation. The timeless clash of the old and the new.

Some of the people marching in Charlottesville are stuck in an odd belief of superiority and prejudice. Relying on values that were never a part of America’s ever-evolving identity. Never. As evidence, we have a generation of veterans who fought the horrible inhumane actions of Nazi Germany. American soldiers, sons and daughters of immigrants, who believed so strongly in our way of life that many gave their own lives to protect the rights of others.

Then there are others who boast of superiority simply because of the color of their skin. The war relic heroes that they “honor” are a part of our past. Part of our struggle as we blended our ideals into a common ideal. While we should not forget that struggle, we must also remember that our past is our past. That as a nation we decided to change. We the people decided to change clearly declaring that we do not want to value one citizen differently than another. And all but a handful of us are the progeny of immigrants.

And like Charlottesville, the rancor between members of our major political parties is mindful of the 1860s.

People are at odds with one another in a bitterly deep and confusing manner. When people equate alliance to our nation with blind faith in our president, there is a major disconnection.

The decision to fly an American flag on our national birthday is nothing more than someone expressing gratefulness for being here. It is both nationalism and patriotism. It is not a political stance. It is a custom long honored in this nation.

Without national pride and patriotism, our nation will crumble and fail.

There is no more room for political oppression today than when we founded this nation. We the people are still the drivers of our future. Together we can continue to shape our country. But as always, we must blend our ideals in a genuine manner and not trample the principles that we have all adopted as Americans.

Terry Sexton Segerberg is chief executive officer of East End-based Mesa Industries 

Addiction Shaming

Addiction Shaming

Friday morning’s newspaper and television stations carried the sad story of another woman doing drugs in front of a four-year-old. “Police: Woman caught on camera doing drugs as child watched” (August 4).

If a heroin addiction is truly a disease, then why doesn’t the media make a bigger deal out of other people with diseases making poor choices? I wonder if we’ll wake up to headlines: “Morbidly obese man caught eating bacon double cheeseburgers, fries and milkshakes in front of his children” or “Elderly woman on oxygen caught smoking pack of cigarettes in front of grandchildren.”

If addiction is a disease, shaming the addict will not lead them into recovery any more than shaming the obese will lead them into healthy eating and exercise choices.

Letter to the Editor, local Newspaper 

The Democrat's Big Lie!

The Big Lie!

The Democrats' war on President Donald Trump is based on a very dangerous lie—that President Trump, the Republican Party, and conservatives are a fascist threat. Fascism is a way of ruling that advocates total control of the people. ... Fascism comes from the Latin fascio, meaning “bundle, or political group.” In fascism, the people are looked at as a bundle — one body that must be controlled by the government with absolute force if necessary. A republican form of government where people (the whole Nation) are many small bubbles that come together to make the whole. How then can Democrats label President Trump who is an avoid Conservative ( strong self-reliability, individual responsibility, small government and few regulations on the individual by government) to a Fascist?

How about Democrats using Nazi? We hear that enough! Nazi: a member of a German political party that controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler: an evil person who wanted to use power to control and harm other people especially because of their race, religion, etc. Prior to Nazism, Hitler was the head of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), the official shortened to the Nazi party. Trump!? A Socialist?

However, Trump is best described as a Nationalist. What is a nationalist leader?

Nationalist leaders lead the American Revolution and in the creation of the United States. The type of leader who leads or guides or inspires others. These Nationalist advocated the principles contained in the Declaration of Independence; national and individual independence and  a strong nation, self. Who are some self-identified Nationalist leaders?

•         Nelson Mandela (South Africa)
•        Mahatma Gandhi (India)
•        Benito Mussolini (Italy)
•        Fidel Castro (Cuba)
•        Adolf Hitler (Germany)
•        Yasser Arafat (Palestine)
•        Donald Trump (United States)
•     Vladimir Putin (Russia)

What an eclectic group! Who among the above were benevolent or evil? Correct!  Some were and some were not.

What is one conclusion we can arrive at? Democrats and the Left Media want you to forget history and identify President Trump with the evil personification of Adolf Hitler and his outrageous beliefs and behavior!

Slavery not ‘peculiar institution’ affecting only Western world

Slavery not ‘peculiar institution’ affecting only Western world

Too many people believe that slavery is a “peculiar institution.” That’s what Kenneth Stampp called slavery in his book, “Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South.” But slavery is by no means peculiar, odd or unusual. It was common among ancient peoples such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Armenians and many others. Large numbers of Christians were enslaved during the Ottoman wars in Europe. White slaves were common in Europe from the Dark Ages to the Middle Ages. It was only after A.D. 1600 that Europeans joined with Arabs and Africans and started the Atlantic slave trade. As David P. Forsythe wrote in his book, “The Globalist,” “The fact remained that at the beginning of the nineteenth century an estimated three-quarters of all people alive were trapped in bondage against their will either in some form of slavery or serfdom.”

While slavery constitutes one of the grossest encroachments on human liberty, it is by no means unique or restricted to the Western world or United States, as many liberal academics would have us believe. Much of their indoctrination of our young people paints our nation’s founders as racist adherents to slavery, but the story is not so simple.

At the time of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, slaves were about 40 percent of the population of the Southern colonies. Apportionment in the House of Representatives and the number of electoral votes each state would have in presidential elections would be based upon population. Southern delegates to the convention wanted slaves to be counted as one person. Northern delegates to the convention, and those opposed to slavery, wanted only free persons of each state to be counted for the purposes of apportionment in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. The compromise reached was that each slave would be counted as only three-fifths of a person.

Many criticize this compromise as proof of racism. My question to these grossly uninformed critics is whether they would have found it more preferable for slaves to be counted as whole persons. Slaves counted as whole persons would have given slaveholding Southern states much more political power. Or, would the critics of the founders prefer that the Northern delegates not compromise and not allow slaves to be counted at all. If they did, it is likely that the Constitution would have not been ratified. Thus, the question is whether blacks would be better off with Northern states having gone their way and Southern states having gone theirs, resulting in no U.S. Constitution and no Union? Unlike today’s pseudointellectuals, black abolitionist Frederick Douglass understood the compromise, saying that the three-fifths clause was “a downright disability laid upon the slaveholding states” that deprived them of “two-fifths of their natural basis of representation.”

Douglass’ vision was shared by Patrick Henry and others. Henry said, expressing the reality of the three-fifths compromise, “As much as I deplore slavery, I see that prudence forbids its abolition.” With this union, Congress at least had the power to abolish slave trade by 1808. According to delegate James Wilson, many believed the anti-slave-trade clause laid “the foundation for banishing slavery out of this country.” Many of the founders abhorred slavery. 

The most unique aspect of slavery in the Western world was the moral outrage against it, which began to emerge in the 18th century and led to massive elimination efforts. It was Britain’s military sea power that put an end to the slave trade. And our country fought a costly war that brought an end to slavery. Unfortunately, these facts about slavery are not in the lessons taught in our schools and colleges. Instead, there is gross misrepresentation and suggestion that slavery was a uniquely American practice.

Walter E. Williams is an economist at George Mason University.