The 10th Justice

Trump is going to school. Last week he joked with Putin about not interfering in the elections in the United States, essentially asking Putin to keep up the good work. He has learned from Putin how to send messages in public that are clearly illegal and antidemocratic. Conspiracy requires secrecy and intent to do harm. Trumps interaction with Putin was not done in public and the face-value message was legal. No law covers joking as as a way of reversing the meaning of his statement. But never the less, his interaction with Putin was conspiracy in plain sight. This week he is in North Korea visiting Kim Jong Un. His stated reason for going to North Korea is to convince the North Korea to stop making nuclear weapons and get rid of the ones they have. His real reason is to get a first hand look at how to run a country without the intervention of the people. How much easier Trump's job would be if he didn't have to run for election or talk to Nancy Pelosi! Next we'll have McC...

The Trump debacle has taught us that the fourth branch of government is the most important: a free press. Journalism will rise from this mess as the beacon of truth amid the jumble of lies, spin, insinuation, rumor and malicious tweeting. It probably already has. More and more Trump is almost impossible to listen to; rambling, uninformed speech that sounds like the rumbling of a garbage truck in the morning, with just enough information that we know it for what it is, garbage, so that we can go back to sleep. Then we open the newspaper and read coherent English about the events of the day. What a startling contrast! A free press is ensured in the the first amendment to the Constitution. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. In the wake of Trump'...