You may think that pirates are from a bygone age, that they’re lost to history, and that they exist only in the movies, like Errol Flynn and that other guy –

Well, all the pirates haven’t gone away.  The oldtime pirates sailed the seas in search of plunder, stealing anything they could get their hands on.  Today’s pirates are much the same, but instead of sailing the seven seas, they sail the worldwide web.  They go by many names: hacker, computer nerd, cyberpunk, ecowarrior, saboteur.  Whatever you call them, they’re criminals, who are cyberterrorists.  While it pains me to quote the bastard, Robert Mueller once observed that, “There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be.” Much of the hacking is carried out by or sanctioned by foreign, bad actor States.  China and Russia come quickly to mind.  The Chinese People’s Liberation Army employs “black hat” hackers to steal government and industrial secrets. (Just an aside, isn’t it remarkable that both the Chinese and U.S. governments call their agencies and laws by euphemistic names that make them sound beneficial or benign?  The Chinese PLA doesn’t exist to liberate anything.  We do the same thing.  Affordable Care Act?  Department of Justice?  But I digress).  Hacking has become commonplace.  Dennis Blair, the former director of National Intelligence, recently wrote that, “Chinese companies have stolen trade secrets from virtually every sector of the American economy.”  The cyber thieves have become even bolder, now locking up U.S. computer systems and demanding ransoms.  Government and private industry computers have been held hostage by a variety of bad actors.  On top of that, companies like Equifax, Home Depot and Uber have paid more than $100 million in fines and settlements after data hacks compromised the identities of their customers.  The latest offense, almost certainly orchestrated by pirates located in and operating with the blessing of the Russian government, shut down the 5,500 mile Colonial Pipeline, which provides gasoline to much of the east coast of the U.S.  The criminals locked Colonial’s computer controls, demanded, and eventually were paid a ransom in the neighborhood of $5 million.  Apparently having decided that it’s now o.k. to bargain with terrorists, our government encouraged Colonial to pay the ransom.  The Biden Administration did nothing, and said nothing about this obvious case of Russian interference.  In the mean time, States from Florida to Maryland had their gasoline supplies cut off.  Most gas stations had no fuel.  Fully 88% of the stations in Washington, D.C. had no gasoline.  You may not have heard this, because Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden is President.  If Donald Trump was President and millions of people were condemned to Jimmy Carter Era gas lines and inflated prices, somebody definitely would have mentioned it.  But as with all things, Biden got a pass.  The point is that cyber pirates are no different than oldtime pirates.  They just look different. And what’s more, when the piracy is directed or sanctioned by a foreign government, it’s an act of war.  How to combat it?  A recent article in The Wall Street Journal made an intriguing suggestion.  In, A Maritime Solution for Cyber Piracy, retired Major General Thomas Ayres suggested that cyber piracy could be stopped by the issuance of Letters of Marque and Reprisal.  The Constitution gives Congress the power to grant letters of Marque and Reprisal, which authorize private parties to engage in military hostilities without government funding or oversight.  This includes permission to cross an international border to conduct a reprisal, by taking action against an attack or injury.  Marque and Reprisal was used extensively to combat the Barbary Pirates, early in the 19th Century.  You remember the Barbary Pirates – these guys –

American merchant ships were authorized as “privateers” to raid pirate shipping, and to take and keep the treasures they seized.  It worked.  The last official Letter of Marque was issued in 1815, but we’ve come close since.  Just after Pearl Harbor, without the issuance of formal Letters of Marque, Goodyear blimps were enlisted to search the seas off the west coast for Japanese vessels.  After 911, letters of Marque were discussed to deal with the latest Muslim threat.  Ron Paul suggested them as a means of stopping the Somali pirates.  In 2019, a Georgia Congressman proposed the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act, which would permit private sector cyber “hack backs,” authorizing private companies to engage in active cyber defense by hacking into an attacker’s network —hacking back.  The bill’s sponsor responded to critics of the practice, “We love it when people say, ‘This would only create the Wild West.  The Wild West currently exists!  We’re only asking for a neighborhood watch.”  The bill died in Committee, but private cyber security firms are out there trying to hack back against the pirates, while at the same time trying to avoid being charged with U.S. crimes themselves.  Why not help them?  Give them a financial incentive and protect them from prosecution and civil suits.  The Russian and Chinese governments swear they’re not behind the hacking, so why not turn our hackers loose on these thieves and give them a taste of their own medicine.  Why not?  Biden is a senile wimp.  He and the Congress would rather protect China than America.  I know another President who wouldn’t stand for this cyber hacking crap, and who would relish the idea of hitting back.

  “Avast me hearties, payback is a bitch!”  The truth is that Putin wouldn’t have had the balls to authorize the Colonial hack if Trump was President.  The Colonial Pipeline was a test.  Biden failed.  It will happen again, next time, maybe they turn off the power to large parts of America.  Our power grid is vulnerable, and Biden’s multi-trillion dollar “infrastructure” plans don’t include our most necessary infrastructure.  When the lights go out, Biden and Co. won’t be able to get away with “just be patient.”  It will get ugly fast, and the result could be a shooting war.  Let our cyber Geeks do the job, then just deny everything.  Take a page from the Israelis.  When Iran’s nuclear program became a problem, their chief scientist mysteriously got whacked.  Everybody suspected the Israelis, but they just said, “Who?  What? Us?”  The job got done and the bad guys got the message.  The world is run by computers to the point where hackers threaten not only corporate profits, but our very lives.  Old time pirates were hanged.  Newt Gingrich has called for the death penalty for cyber pirates.  String ’em up.

This week’s activities in the insane asylum commonly known as Washington, D.C., provided proof positive of the old adage that politics makes strange bedfellows.  Republican House members voted to remove Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney from her House leadership position.  The voice vote was preceded by days of media coverage and numerous statements of support for Cheney – from Democrats and the main stream media, which is redundant.  Picture that!  What if the shoe was on the other foot?  Suppose a bunch of Republicans came out in favor of replacing Senate Majority Leader, the detestable Chuck Schumer, with Joe Manchin? (I can’t give a House of Representatives comparison because all House Democrats are as crazy as Nancy Pelosi, and many even crazier than her).  I’ll bet Republicans would be told to mind their own business, and the media would report “yet another attempt to destroy our democracy.”  And what’s the Liz Cheney flap all about anyhow?  It’s about something Democrats have raised to an art form – punishing a member who stepped out of line.  Ever wonder why every Democrat House member always votes the way Pelosi orders them to vote?  It’s because the Democrat Party has adopted the philosophy of Benito Mussolini’s Fascists:  “Everything inside the Party, nothing outside the Party, and nothing against the Party.”  A Democrat who doesn’t vote with Pelosi loses committee assignments, and gets no money for reelection.  Republicans are not nearly so organized, and not being Fascists, they sometimes even permit members to have different opinions.  Shocking!  So what about Liz Cheney?  As a Republican leader, she represents the face of the Party.  Because she persists in calling the January 6th trespassers “insurrectionists,” continues to denounce Donald Trump for “inciting an insurrection,” and voted to impeach Trump, she isn’t a face, or a voice, who’s acceptable to the majority of Republicans.  Cheney’s removal, and the expressions of support for her from across the aisle stem from two separate motivations: hatred, and hypocrisy.  Liz Cheney is motivated by hatred of all things Trump.  Her father, Dick Cheney, was G.W. Bush’s Vice-President, so Liz is a natural born never-Trumper.  In 2016, the Bush-Cheney-Neo Con-Ivy League-Country Club-Brie Eating-Republican Establishment decided that Jeb Bush would be the Republican nominee.  Donald Trump spoiled that plan.  He insulted Jeb at every debate, and beat him in every primary.  But worst of all was Trump’s criticism of the Bush/Cheney, Neo Con penchant for provoking, and waging endless wars.  The worst of Trump’s sins, however was his success. He built the Wall, brought troops home, built the military and improved the economy, all things Bush, Cheney, John McCain, Mitt Romney and the other “good loser” Republicans failed to do.  Had Jeb become the nominee, Crooked Hillary would now be coughing and tripping into her second term.  The Left’s feigned support of Liz Cheney stems from their normal policies – hypocrisy, deceit, lying, and calculation.  All the lying media stories are about how weak and fractured the Republicans Party is.  The truth is that the Democrats are hanging onto control of the government by their fingernails.  If 5 seats flip to Republicans next year, Republicans take back the House, and the Senate is 50-50.  Democrats supported Liz Cheney in hopes that Republicans will split apart.  Since they have surrendered to the Woke Nuts in their Party, it’s their only hope.  Remember, these are the same people who hated Dick Cheney, denounced him as a war criminal and Halliburton profiteer, and wanted him frog-marched out of the White House and imprisoned.  Not so long ago, Leftists called Liz Cheney no friend of Democrats, a “warmonger,” “vitriol-spewing extremist,” “no friend of fairness and decency in American politics, and no friend of the truth.”  But, if she hates Trump and it might hurt Republicans, there’s no limit to how low Democrats will stoop.  You see, Trump is the enemy Democrats fear most.  Winston Churchill understood the principle, “If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”  In her hatred of Trump, Liz Cheney was performing a service for Democrats, who have labored, and who continue to labor to erase all evidence that Donald Trump ever existed, much less that he was a successful President.  In this, the Left takes a page from George Orwell’s 1984, “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.  And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute.  History has stopped.  Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”  Sound familiar? If not, just listen to one Jen Psaki press briefing.  The New York Times pitched in for Liz Cheney, running a story that claimed “Over 100 Prominent Republicans, including former officials, threaten to split from G.O.P.”  The reason?  Some Republicans still support President Trump.  Imagine that.  How dare they feel favorable to a President of their own Party.  The nerve, huh?  And who are these “prominent” Republicans?  Miles Taylor, worked at DHS.  He wrote a book by “Anonymous” condemning Trump.  He’s still anonymous.  Who else?  Former governors Tom Ridge and Christine Todd Whitman.  Can you say RHINO?  Former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, former Representatives Charlie Dent, Barbara Comstock, Reid Ribble, and Mickey Edwards.  Who?  I did recognize one of them.  Get ready –  Mitt Romney said, “Expelling Liz Cheney from leadership won’t gain the GOP one additional voter, but it will cost us quite a few.” Old Mitt better look out for himself, as he was just censured by Utah Republicans for opposing Trump.  The fact is Liz Cheney was unpopular in Washington, and in her home State of Wyoming, where more than half of Republicans say they won’t vote for her.  The fact that 100 Never Trumpers threaten to leave the Party is laughable.  They’ve already left it, and it has left them.  Let the 100 malcontents walk.  We’ll have to make do with the 75 million who voted for Trump.  And that’s the key to Democrat support for Liz Cheney.  Democrats prefer “Good Loser” Republicans like McCain and Romney.  Kick them in the nuts, and they just keep smiling, and keep losing.  Democrats prefer the docile GOP to Trump’s junkyard dog GOP.  GOP used to stand for Grand Old Party.  Under the  RHINOS it became Gutless Old Panderers.  Now, our only hope is that GOP will stand for Gutpunching Optimistic Populists.

Blue Oyster Cult once had a song entitled Don’t Fear the Reaper.  The song suggested that death should be welcomed.  While that attitude may offer solace to a terminally ill individual, it’s bad advice for a sick society.  Make no mistake, our society is sick, and getting sicker.  The Bible tells us that, “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Words and deeds have consequences.  Society can endure only when there’s a consensus regarding the rules; an agreement as to what’s right and what’s wrong.  We once had such a consensus.  We knew right from wrong.  Laws were enforced, and law enforcement officers were respected.  Most importantly, the media recognized reality, and usually acknowledged and reported the facts, the truth, if you will.  Case in point.  During the Reagan presidency, the media accurately reported what he did and said.  They criticized it, to be sure, but they recognized their responsibility to correctly report events.  Today’s sick society no longer strives for accuracy.  Stories are driven not by facts but by faction.  Simply put, we are sowing propaganda, lies, discontent, lawlessness, and division, and I’m afraid we may reap the bitter harvest of schism or revolution.  We simply can’t turn our Constitution, our laws, our morals, our norms, our language, and the truth itself, upside down and expect a good result.  There used to be a saying – “the law’s the law,” but today, the law is simply another tool to be wielded by our Progressive Masters, to reward friends and punish enemies.  While violent criminals are released without bail, Capitol protestors, whose only crime was trespassing, remain in jail after four months.  The most violent act on January 6th was the unjustified shooting of an Air Force veteran by an unnamed Capitol police officer.  Progressives exonerated that cop for using unjustified deadly force, yet they seek to hang good cops who act in accordance with proper procedures.  You and I may understand things are backwards, but you have to remember, Progressives are psychotic.  If there are five stages of grief, then certainly there are five stages of Progressive psychosis: 1) Anger – they’re always angry, even when they win; 2)  Self-righteousness – when you believe you’re always right, your every thought or whim becomes a moral imperative; 3) Denunciation – all who disagree, or who fail to agree enthusiastically enough must be destroyed; 4) Excuse – Whatever atrocity their ravings may incite must be excused because, “you just have to understand;” and 5) Denial – It never really happened.  It’s the Progressive version of a song from the show Chicago, “He had it coming, I didn’t do it, but if I done it, how could you say that I was wrong?”  Progressives, and their media lapdogs spent last Summer and Fall ignoring, excusing, and later denying months of violence perpetuated by Antifa and BLM provocateurs.  Cities were burned and looted.  Police stations were occupied and destroyed.  Courthouses were besieged.  Entire sections of cities were seized and administered as revolutionary fiefdoms.  The Left, in turn, ignored the riots, encouraged and supported them, excused them, and finally claimed they never happened, with Gerald Nadler declaring that the idea that any riots took place was a “myth.”  The current Vice-President raised money to bail out rioters.  Media outlets praised the rioters with gems such as, “property destruction as a tactic of resistance is frequently effective,” and “If violence isn’t the way to end racism in America, then what is?”  And we mustn’t use the word “riot.”  Ever wonder why young women are political morons?  Teen Vogue columnist Jenn M. Jackson said “rioters” and “looters” were negative terms used to “delegitimize” movements.  Just the raving of a misguided youth?  How about The New York Times, Paul Krugman?  He claimed that the people in the riot-ravaged cities don’t think their cities are riot-ravaged.  Krugman said GOP supporters believe that mobs burned and looted major cities, but the people actually living in those cities never noticed.  Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has noticed, declaring, “The community is sick and tired of people engaging in criminal destruction and violence, and doing it under the guise of some noble cause.”  Others have noticed too.  Guns sales were up 40% last year, and there’s a shortage of ammunition.  Mayor Wheeler apparently didn’t get the Memo.  Any cause that furthers the ends of the Democrat Party is, by definition noble, no matter how destructive, or  un-American, it may be.  After the Black Lives Matters founder announced she was a trained Marxist, you might have thought that BLM was a Marxist organization dedicated to the violent overthrow of our system of government.  Such a thought is dangerous enough, but expressing it is downright treason.  A 20 year veteran cop in Hopewell Twp., NJ was fired for saying BLM rioters are terrorists.  Where did she get that crazy idea?  Maybe from the FBI, whose website, FBI.gov, defines domestic terrorism as “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”  BLM admits it’s actions are ideological.  BLM supports Joanne Chesimard, a cop killer who the FBI calls a “domestic terrorist,” and BLM’s website  proudly proclaims “this is the revolution.”  I hope the cop sues the balls off her feckless Department.  The point is that we can’t continue to sow the seeds of falsehood and recrimination without courting disaster.  Repeating the “systemic racism” and “killer cop” lies has consequences.  It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you convince people that the police are out to kill them, when confronted by police, they will resist, causing the police to use force when it could have been prevented.  And it’s not just young people.  This week, a cop in San Dimas , California stopped a woman in a Mercedes, who claimed to be a teacher, for using a cell phone while driving.  The woman went on a racial slur laced rant against the cop, repeatedly calling him a “murderer.”  The woman claimed she was using her phone to record the officer for fear that he would use excessive force, “Because you’re a murderer.”  After getting her ticket, the educator added, “Here you go, Mexican racist.  You’re always gonna be a Mexican.  You’ll never be white, you know that, right?  You’ll never be white, which is what you really want to be.  You want to be white.”  LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva backed up his officer with an inconvenient truth, “If you want to call all of the deputies murderers, unfortunately, you are doing the exact same thing you’re accusing other people of doing against your own kind.”  When public discourse is sown with lies, you better fear the Reaper.

If some of you have had doubts about whether the Government has any idea what it’s doing generally, and specifically about what it’s doing to us, let me set your minds at ease.  I worked for the Government for many years, and, as a lawyer, I’m forced to jump through a number of Government hoops simply to be permitted to work for a living. Understand, I’m a single practitioner.  I work alone, no other lawyers, and no staff.  Despite that, because I do work for the Public Defender, I have to fill out five pages of forms, and pay a $150 fee, so that I can report to a NJ agency the gender, race and ethnicity of all employees I hired or fired in the past seven years.  Ah, zero.  Also, periodically, I must swear that I am not doing business in Northern Ireland or Iran.  I’m not.  The Government pays people your money to compile this information.  And sadly, these people are among the most useful employees on the payroll.  So, rest easy, I can state categorically that the Government is incapable of finding its own ass, using both hands, even if you spot them the left cheek.  But, you may protest, that can’t be true for Government scientists.  Surely, highly trained doctors must know what they’re talking about, even if they work for the Government.  I’m afraid not.  The Wuhan, or Covid pandemic, if you will, has proven that the professionals running the CDC are either inept, or they’re just as corrupt as the rest of the Government.  Remember the rationale for the Covid lockdowns, distancing and masking requirements?  15 days to curb the spread, then 30 days, then months, and now more than a year.  We complied.  Then it was, wait for the vaccine.  We thought that was crazy, but we complied.  Now, more than 143 million Americans have been vaccinated.  Among the unvaccinated, it’s estimated that half of those have already had the virus, making them immune.  Daily new cases are down more than 80% and deaths are down nearly 90%, so it must be time to loosen up the restrictions, right?  Well, yes and no.  Take masks, for example.  What a difference a year makes.  Pre-Wuhan, when you went in a bank, you were required to remove any face coverings, even sunglasses, or no admittance.  Now, you can’t get in without a face covering.  But it’s “the science,” right?  Afraid not.  There’s no science supporting universal masking.  Dr. Jim Meehan, a surgeon and editor of a medical journal says the premise that surgeons wearing masks proves that “masks must work to prevent viral transmission” is false.  Surgical and cloth masks do nothing to prevent viral transmission.  He’s right, even N-95 masks admit particles 10 times larger than the Wuhan virus.  So the Jesse James, “this is a stickup” bandanas are just a cruel joke.  Back to the CDC. On April 1, CDC Director Walensky announced, “Vaccinated people do not carry the virus, they don’t get sick.  That’s not just in the clinical trials, but it’s also in real-world data.”  The researchers determined that if you aren’t infected with the virus and are vaccinated, you can’t spread it to others who have not been vaccinated.  So we can lose the useless masks, right?  Not so fast.  Other scientists objected, “If Dr. Walensky had said most vaccinated people do not carry virus, we would not be having this discussion.”  It’s true.  There have been cases of vaccinated people contracting the Wuhan, but just how many? Self magazine, on April 15th, reported, “Out of more than 76 million people in the U.S. who are fully vaccinated, about 5,800 people have gotten COVID-19, which is less than 1%.”  Also true, but “less than 1%” is a bit misleading.  It actually amounts to 0.0076%, or 1 in about  every 1,320 vaccinated people.  Ever win a bet that paid 1,300 to 1?  Last year, if the odds of contracting the Wuhan were 1,300 to 1, would there have been any restrictions?  No.  Indeed, there wouldn’t have been a pandemic, the economy wouldn’t have been shut down, Donald Trump would still be President, and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.  But the CDC did what it has been doing throughout this crisis, it panicked and back-pedaled.  Announcing “new guidance” as though she was Lincoln again freeing the slaves, Dr. Walensky generously granted the fully vaccinated permission to attend small, outdoor gatherings with people, or dine at an outdoor restaurant without a mask.  But indoors, even the fully vaccinated must wear the useless masks.  On Thursday, the CDC granted permission for cruises to resume from the U.S., with everyone on board vaccinated.  The announcement included this idiocy, “We acknowledge that cruising will never be a zero-risk activity.” No shit!  Breathing isn’t a zero risk activity, you dolt!  Anyhow, the vaccinated can’t get or transmit the virus, and the CDC’s own research proves there’s no credible threat, even to the unvaccinated, but wear a mask anyway.  Why?  I can’t think of a good reason to continue a practice that serves merely to give a false sense of security to the hysterical among us.  It’s merely theater, witness the idiotic Biden speech to Congressmen, all vaccinated, all 6 feet apart, and all masked.  It’s patriotic?  Bull crap.  As Samuel Johnson noted, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”  Sadly, scoundrels are perpetuating this farce.  The New York Post recently published an opinion piece by three college professors who actually make sense.  Wuhan restrictions have ceased to be about public health, and have become a cult.  This new religion has several commandments.  I –  Thou shalt stay forever locked down.  II – Thou shalt wear a mask.  III – The children shalt suffer most.  The fanatics have stolen more than a year of life and education from the most vulnerable among us.  There was no good reason to close schools, and kids are 10-times more likely to die of suicide than COVID-19.  The truth is that the scientific zealots, aided and abetted by the totalitarian politicians who seek to control us as subjects, rather than treat as the American citizens we’re supposed to be, have from Day One mismanaged this crisis.  And since they now admit even they know the dangers which spawned the draconian restrictions no longer exist, and yet demand we continue them, this goes beyond ineptitude, and must be considered corruption.  As the Post professors wrote, although none of us chose to join this cult, we are “now called upon to participate in its bizarre, cruel, and never-ending liturgies.” I say its time to go all Martin Luther on these bastards.  Let’s nail our masks to the Statehouse doors.  We won’t need 95 Theses, just one.  “We reject your religion and we’re going back to our lives.”  To paraphrase, Thomas Jefferson, “A little heresy every now and then is a good thing.”

The aftermath of the Derek Chauvin trial, got me to thinking about the old Adventures of Superman TV show.  Superman, you will recall, was a  newspaper reporter, until he ducked into a phone booth (I wonder where he would have to duck nowadays) and emerged as the Man of Steel.  In each episode, the announcer intoned, “Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way.”  You might well ask, “What does the Superman show have to do with events surrounding the Chauvin trial?”  Well, it occurred to me that Superman’s being a news reporter was important.  If the American way is the rule of law, there can be no justice without truth.  Superman reflected a reality that, sadly, no longer exists.  We once had crusading journalists who exposed crime and corruption.  They literally spoke truth to power by discomfiting the comfortable.  Think of newspaperman Dutton Peabody in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, “I’m a newspaperman, not a politician!  No, politicians are my meat – I build ’em up and I tear ’em down but I wouldn’t be one, I couldn’t be one – it’d destroy me.”  And that’s the way it used to be.  Remember when 60 Minutes chased crooks and liars around with cameras to expose them?  Now they’re just the mouthpieces of the Left.  In short, they’re politicians, and Dutton Peabody was right, it has destroyed them.  Instead of speaking truth to power, they’re feeding lies to an ignorant public.  I say ignorant, not to insult the public, it’s not their fault.  The public must be educated and informed by schools and the media.  The public is ill served by schools that indoctrinate instead of educate, and by a media that suppresses information, rather than disseminating it.  That’s not just rhetoric, witness the words of NBC’s Lester Holt, “I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated. … The idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in.”  Holt was given the Edward R. Murrow Award.  That spinning sound you hear is coming from Ed Murrow’s grave.  As this is written, NBC has altered video of a shooting in Ohio to make it appear the police officer was at fault, fanning the flames of the systemic racism fantasy.  Meanwhile, real journalists like Andy Ngo and James O’Keefe of Project Veritas are denounced as extremists, silenced, and de-platformed on social media.  I rest my case.  Journalism, Rest in Peace.  But let’s get back to the Chauvin trial.  My complaints don’t extend to the verdict.  That Chauvin was convicted of homicide was just.  I thought it should be manslaughter, and I have serious concerns about how Minnesota got to second degree murder, but forgive me, picking apart convictions is what I do for a living.  Without getting too deep into the legal weeds, second degree murder is an unintentional killing while committing a felony.  The underlying felony was an assault on George Floyd.  The notion that an assault that ends with a death forms the basis for felony murder is what’s known in the law as “bootstrapping.” The New Jersey statute wouldn’t permit that, but Minnesota isn’t New Jersey, and I’m not a Minnesota lawyer, so who knows.  The bottom line is that, while the police had every right to arrest George Floyd, who was high on drugs and passing counterfeit currency, they had no reason to kill him.  So the Chauvin guilty verdict is just.  What’s troubling is the atmosphere created by Democrats and the media before and after the verdict.  These are people who support defunding the police, and celebrate a system of “justice” in which armed robbers are released without bail, while unarmed Capitol trespassers remain incarcerated.  They want police officers fired and prosecuted for doing their jobs, yet they excuse months of arson, looting and violence as “peaceful protest.”  Before the Chauvin verdict, alleged comedian Chelsea Handler (Who?) wondered why a trial was necessary when we had a video of the crime being committed.  The concept of due process clearly eludes this dolt.  But it’s not just mindless performers.  In the wake of the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota shooting, the city manager was fired for daring to suggest that the police officer involved should be given due process of law.  This is sick, and dangerous.  Consider words attributed to Thomas More, “I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.”  Good advice.  “Protesters” craving “justice” will find precious little of it absent due process.  Then there was Maxine Waters.  She impeached Trump for telling supporters to peacefully protest, she preaches defunding the police, and she demands that U.S. taxpayers pay for her police protection.  She went to Minnesota to pour gasoline on a riot, saying, if the Chauvin verdict “goes the wrong way, we’ve got to stay in the streets and fight for justice.”  Maxine threatened the jurors and the entire legal system, prompting the trial judge to warn that she handed Chauvin an appellate issue.  Segue to post-verdict comments.  Senile Speaker of the House Pelosi  thanked George Floyd for “sacrificing your life for justice,” and said “your name will always be synonymous with justice.”  Here’s where some truth might have helped, perhaps to point out that Floyd’s previous relationship with justice included only convictions for selling drugs, theft and armed home invasion.  He shouldn’t be dead, but this was hardly the murder of Gandhi.  Message to Nancy, the 343 firemen and 71 policemen killed on 9/11 gave their lives, Floyd’s was taken.  Even liberals denounced Pelosi, and a Maryland politician called for a black Speaker.  So much for pandering.  As Winston Churchill said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”  Last, and certainly least, comes Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden, who’s been in “the System” for 50 years, and said the verdict, “can be a giant step forward” for the nation in the fight against systemic racism.  Brain damage.  Biden told Floyd’s daughter her “daddy did change the world.”  It’s a pity he never cared enough to change himself.  45 cops have been shot and 11 killed since January.  Biden never called their children.  A Louisiana cop was killed last week, after telling a man he had to wear a mask at a basketball game.  The man shot him.  Another Covid death.  Biden didn’t call his family.  The point is that there will never be justice until the media and elected officials decide to tell the truth.  Providing the unvarnished truth to the public prevents violence, and protects lives and property.  The media should tell the truth, and officials have a duty to do so.  They might start by telling the “protestors” chanting “all three counts,” that Chauvin can get only one sentence, not three, for killing Floyd.  That’s the law.  Simply put, without truth there is no justice and no American way, or any other way.