Pay Attention

To the Fine Print

John Philpost Curran was an Irish orator, politician, and lawyer who lived in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. He fought in court for civil and political liberty. His speeches before the judicial bench were admired by the likes of Lord Byron and Karl Marx.

Lord Byron said, “I have heard that man speak more poetry than I have seen written.”

Karl Marx described him as the greatest “people’s advocate” of the 18^th century.

Curran is credited with claiming “'The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.'" It is a bit presumptuous to know, and highly vainglorious to state, God’s will with any certainty. This purported condition did not make the cut for inclusion on the two stone tablets Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. It is, nonetheless, both important and relevant in our place in time and space.

Thomas Jefferson was a lawyer, the third president of the United States, and a darn good writer. He believed in, and argued in open court for, the notion of natural law.

"…everyone comes into the world with a right to his own person and using it at his own will ... This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the author of nature, because it is necessary for his own sustenance."

This belief in a natural right to liberty thunders through the Preamble of his 1776 draft of the Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Jefferson distrusted cities and financiers, favored decentralized government power, and believed that the tyranny that had plagued the common man in Europe was due to corrupt political establishments and monarchies. He recycled Curran’s cautionary precept as “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

Credit. The Week

The Melting Pot

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur was born on 31 Dec 1735 in Caen, France. When he was 20 years old, he migrated to New France in North America. He rose to the rank of lieutenant in the French militia during the French and Indian War. After the defeat of the French, he moved to the Province of New York in 1759. He became a British citizen and took the anglicized name of John Hector St. John. He married the daughter of a merchant, bought a parcel of land, sired a son, and enjoyed some success as a farmer. In 1779 he sought to return to France. British loyalists in New York City suspected him of being an American spy and imprisoned him for three months. When he was released, he sailed for England and was shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland. While in London in 1782, near the end of the Revolutionary War, he published a book of essays entitled Letters from an American Farmer. It was a literary success. As a celebrated writer, he invented the concept of the American Dream, a society embracing the principles of equal opportunity and self-determination. His work celebrated America’s ingenuity and uncomplicated lifestyle. He described the New World acceptance of religious diversity in a society being created from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. He applied the Latin maxim "Ubi panis ibi patria" (Where there is bread, there is my country) to early American settlers.

In his famous book he asked, "What then is the American, this new man?". He answered himself by stating that the American is one who "leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world."^[11]

When he got back to France he was welcomed into fashionable circles in Paris.

In the 20^th century Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Jackson Turner, and Henry James moved the discussion away from a process of assimilation to a society of discrete parts living in relative harmony and mutual benefit.

Rather than quibble about terminology, let us admit the friction in the process. Repeatedly, the course of recent human events has caused a given population to flee from the deprivation, death, and despair of their home on foreign shores to the promise of safety and opportunity of America. Their arrival is greeted with suspicion and hostility. Immigration protocols require each migrant to have a clean bill of health and both an assured place of residence and a committed opportunity for gainful employment.

They bring with them their own notions of order and a fierce allegiance to their cultural identity. They typically form into enclaves of like values and customs, a shared foreign language, and a closed circle of mutually-supporting commercial activity. Among them are those who can provide legal, monetary, and protective services to others excluded from mainstream institutions. These strong and beneficent organizations and individuals commonly become a standard import item--criminal enterprises preying upon society with a fine disregard for boundaries.

The Irish mobsters.

Credit. Kulturnews (Scene from 2002 film “The Gangs of New York”)

The Italian Cosa Nostra.

Credit. Wiki Fandom (Scene from 1972 film “The Godfather 2”)

The Chinese tongs.

Credit. Medium

The Mexican Mafia in America is different. It arose behind prison walls, not in the streets. It is a homegrown system. Its initial purpose was to protect members of its culture from harm during incarceration. It now roams freely outside places of confinement. It is not an invading army in number or intent. And it is not all that thrilled to share its turf with South American mules and poachers.

Credit. American RadioWorks

Remorse Is Not Enough

My demographic age group fell asleep at the wheel. We got distracted by the challenge of creating and enjoying a useful and meaningful life. At our peril, we refused to give credit to the simmering visceral anger of persons threatened by social, economic, and political replacement. We did not admire, we discounted, and generally ignored their whining.

We failed to grasp the fact that some good portion of our population had ugly attitudes borne of insecurities we could not credit or support.

We noticed, we objected to, and after each voting cycle promptly forgot the threat of another civil war.

We were blindsided by a claim that our country was not great. That immigrants, women, education, and scientific inquiry had produced a state of carnage requiring tyrannical correction--to the benefit of the potentially disenfranchised.

Donald the Disturbed has taken the names and the meanings of Life, Liberty, Security, and Freedom hostage. We the People dissatisfied with the results and consequences of Election 2024 understand negotiations with victims of an Orwellian version of the Stockholm Syndrome is futile.

Credit. The Week

We failed to be vigilent.

Now we will pay the price.

It is right and just that Trump 2.0 calls to those of my age group to get off the couch and take the grandkids to a peaceful public protest of the cruel, callous, and counterproductive implementation of the Project 2025 playbook. The attempt to wipe out every progressive measure since the Gilded Age, with specific animus toward immigrants and social welfare programs enacted into law from 1933 to 2024, is not acceptable.

We view the rights won because of public protest in the ‘60s and ‘70s with affection. We will defend them. We will revive and restore them where damaged beyond useful and intended purpose.

A Dangerous Threat

Chaos has a short shelf life. Resistance dissipates as chaos subsides into order. Trump 2.0 has blessed Resistance 2.0 with a penultimate outrage to keep us energized.

The Fine Print

The U.S. Constitution mentions habeas corpus in Article I, Section 9, Clause 2. This clause states that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. (Emphasis added.) This is the only place where habeas corpus is mentioned in the Constitution. And the Department of Trump Justice will fight and die on that hill.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller happily serves as mouthpiece for tyranny. He is reported as recently saying that the administration views the writ of habeaus corpus as “a privilege” and is “looking at suspending due process for immigrants. It stands in the way of executive authority…and gives too much power to activist judges…The writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion.” Whether the administrration invokes this stunning departure from the essential protection of the lives and liberties of the governed “depends on whether the courts do the right thing.”

This is just another attempt at intimidation and coercion. Until and unless the Supreme Court allows it, the administration will be acting illegally and unlawfully when it suspends the writ of habeas corpus for any person on U.S. soil.

The threat is, however, the fine print on every reprehensible attempt to defend the administration’s political fixation on a failing promise to attack the premise, promise, and proven benefit of the melting pot principle and process.

The next, the last, desperate step toward ignoring and subduing the governed is martial law.

Anthem

The wheel turns. It is time to become bold.

Hats off to those who are planning, supporting, and attending visible signs of a growing resistance to Trump 2.0. And all honor and glory to the educational institutions, lower court justices, politicians, lawyers, journalists, and media spokespersons defying implementation of the illegal aspects of the Project 2025 playbook.

And praise all gods great and small for the reporters and editors at The Washington Post for trailing the smoke back to the trigger finger on the hot Trump 2.0 gun.

The early strengthening of Resistance 2.0 is a precious and fragile early spring flower. It needs constant care and close attention to survive and thrive. Do not let the 04 May 25 Washington Post reporting disappear.

These are interesting times. Articles of impeachment against Trump and Thomas are active or promised. These accusations need favorable 2026 midterm results to have any hope for life.

We the People await the next exciting chapter in the Clash of the Titans (between the imperial executive and his corrupt high court). Will the 7-2 margin of sanity and sound jurisprudence hold? Will Thomas and Alito be allowed to continue to participate? Stand by time on these questions likely will be brief.

It is important to remember that Donald John Trump believes “only the weak will fail.”

Let us continue to be faithful, strategic, and strong in our resistance to the fact and effects of his Reign of Terror and Tour of Revenge.

Credit. InDepth NH.org

Let us continue to pull up our socks and step into the breach now, every Power of One person dissatisfied with the results and consequences of Election 2024.

Let us continue to put into play our persons and our purses every day in every peaceful way everywhere all at once to demand:

1. A return to positions of principle those persons, institutions, and organizations betraying a public trust in their integrity when bending a knee, kissing the ring, funding the personal wealth, or furthering the ambitions of Donald John Trump.

2. The bringing of criminal charges against Musk and articles of impeachment against Trump.

3. Resumption of support of Ukraine, NATO, WHO, IMF and related international organizations and accords dedicated to the proposition of global peace, health, and prosperity.

4. The bringing of articles of impeachment against corrupt justices now contaminating the opinions of the high court.

5. Referendum and recall of congressional representatives not faithful to their oath of office and/or unresponsive to the concerns and wishes of their constituents.

6. Creation of a Shadow Cabinet charged with daily briefings of administrative assaults upon the rule of law, the health, safety, and welfare of We the People, and simple decency.

7. Course correction on the conduct of matters related to national security.

Our statue of liberty has broken chains at her feet.

Credit. National Park Service

This administration does not have our leave to reinstall ancient constraints on her or us.

I truly believe that right is might.

Resist. Persist. Prevail.

In a world where “only the weak will fail,” let us continue to be strong.

We cannot, we will not, fail.

Go, team, go.