Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Is Lockdown Without Compensation Unconstitutional?
Lockdown without compensation violates the spirit if not the letter of the Fifth Amendment provision: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
The lockdown may not involve government permanently taking possession of property as is usually the case, but the action deprives the owner of the right to use the property to generate
income which in effect is the. same situation. States have been compensating owners of property commandeered for use to treat COVID-19 patients. States should be compensating owners of lockdown property.
Firefighters may construct a firebreak to stop a major wildfire. They will burn off a strip of vegetation ahead of the fire so the fire will stop when it reaches the break.
The states have been using closed businesses as "virus breaks" because the virus cannot move through empty spaces. By taking private property for public use as "virus breaks" states are obligated to compensate the property owners.
States probably won't compensate the property owners unless property owners can use class action lawsuits to get the courts to order compensation. Alternatively property owners might ask President Donald Trump to require states to first use any new virus assistance to compensate the property owners.
Friday, May 15, 2020
No, Rev. Graham, Jesus Wouldn't Do It This Way
Rev.Franklin Graham and more than 300 other religious leaders want "assurance they won't be sued if a congregant contracts the coronavirus" during a religious service . Christians should eliminate any reason for the courts to become involved by establishing an insurance program to assist church goers who believe they have contracted the coronavirus during a religious service
Jesus would have healed anyone who caught a virus while He was preaching. Although preachers cannot heal the way Jesus did, they can raise money charge pay doctors who can heal. . During the current pandemic, religious organizations could combine their resources to assist such patients. Organizations that operate hospitals could treat such patients at no charge to them. Most other organizations would help raise funds.
The degree of risk of being infected during a religious service is unimportant. Congress should exempt religious organizations that help COVID-19 patients from court interference.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Vladimir Putin's 2016 Election Mischief Continues to Disrupt American Politics
Vladimir Putin's 2016 Election Mischief
Continues to Disrupt American Politics
There is no evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a master at the board game called "chess", but he is a grand master at a real life version of the game.
In 2016. he began an operation to discredit the American system of elections. He took advantage of the basic stupidity of many American politicians and journalists to create the delusion that he had colluded with Donald Trump to affect the presidential election.
Putin was a Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB, the highly effective Soviet Secret Police. If the Russians had been trying to elect Trump, any Russian contact with the Trump campaign would have been done in secret to avoid detection. Putin is intelligent enough to know that some Americans would vote against a candidate favored by Russia.
Putin had Russians meet with Trump campaigners to set Trump up for a collusion charge in the event Trump won. I became suspicious of the real purpose of one meeting because a tv news story sounded like someone might have coordinated the meeting with the Department of Justice. The discovery of the meeting seemed too easy. I'm not a fan of Putin, but I respect his intelligence. He would not have used people so unprofessional that they would be caught while engaged in what should have been a secret operation.
Putting people in apparently compromising situations is an old KGB tactic that the KGB used to blackmail people into cooperating with the KGB such as by providing access to information. The Russian contact with Trump campaigners is a variation on this tactic with the goal simply being to frame people in Trump's campaign.
I doubt that Putin wanted either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to be President of the United States. In 2016 Putin likely thought the best outcome would be a discredited American election especially if the winner would be forced out of office. . Putin had been criticized for his conduction of presidential elections. Creating a scandal about an American presidential election might prevent unfavorable comparison of Russian elections to American elections particularly if Putin could claim the "American Secret Police" rejected the candidate voters wanted.
Putin is certainly aware of how much the Soviet Union had benefited from the Watergate controversy. The fall of Richard Nixon was followed by the fall of U.S. backed governments in Vietnam and Iran. The Soviet Union was able to take advantage of the weakened American presidency to invade Afghanistan.
Putin obviously wasn't trying to help Trump win. If Putin had wanted to help Trump win Putin would have had actual or forged Clinton incriminating Libya emails.
If Putin has any derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, he will probably keep it secret unless she is elected president.
This farce has gone on long enough. Congress and President Trump need to concentrate on the real problems our nation faces.
There is no evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a master at the board game called "chess", but he is a grand master at a real life version of the game.
In 2016. he began an operation to discredit the American system of elections. He took advantage of the basic stupidity of many American politicians and journalists to create the delusion that he had colluded with Donald Trump to affect the presidential election.
Putin was a Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB, the highly effective Soviet Secret Police. If the Russians had been trying to elect Trump, any Russian contact with the Trump campaign would have been done in secret to avoid detection. Putin is intelligent enough to know that some Americans would vote against a candidate favored by Russia.
Putin had Russians meet with Trump campaigners to set Trump up for a collusion charge in the event Trump won. I became suspicious of the real purpose of one meeting because a tv news story sounded like someone might have coordinated the meeting with the Department of Justice. The discovery of the meeting seemed too easy. I'm not a fan of Putin, but I respect his intelligence. He would not have used people so unprofessional that they would be caught while engaged in what should have been a secret operation.
Putting people in apparently compromising situations is an old KGB tactic that the KGB used to blackmail people into cooperating with the KGB such as by providing access to information. The Russian contact with Trump campaigners is a variation on this tactic with the goal simply being to frame people in Trump's campaign.
I doubt that Putin wanted either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to be President of the United States. In 2016 Putin likely thought the best outcome would be a discredited American election especially if the winner would be forced out of office. . Putin had been criticized for his conduction of presidential elections. Creating a scandal about an American presidential election might prevent unfavorable comparison of Russian elections to American elections particularly if Putin could claim the "American Secret Police" rejected the candidate voters wanted.
Putin is certainly aware of how much the Soviet Union had benefited from the Watergate controversy. The fall of Richard Nixon was followed by the fall of U.S. backed governments in Vietnam and Iran. The Soviet Union was able to take advantage of the weakened American presidency to invade Afghanistan.
Putin obviously wasn't trying to help Trump win. If Putin had wanted to help Trump win Putin would have had actual or forged Clinton incriminating Libya emails.
If Putin has any derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, he will probably keep it secret unless she is elected president.
This farce has gone on long enough. Congress and President Trump need to concentrate on the real problems our nation faces.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Is the Bill of Rights a Bad Joke? pt. 1
The Founding Fathers wisely added
the Bill
of Rights to the Constitution to explicitly prohibit
Government from doing things
it isn't authorized to do.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the most important provisions: "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."
The Constitution doesn't authorize using a pandemic to prohibit the free exercise of religion or to abridge "the right of the people peaceably to assemble." Government officials who take either action are breaking the law.
Government officials should treat COVID-19 measures as suggested guidelines rather than rigid rules which must be obeyed. We should accept that there will always be a few who don't want to go along with the program.
We Americans aren't like the "good Germans" in Nazi Germany who obeyed orders.
We Americans don't like to be told what to do. In 1773 American Patriots destroyed an entire shipment of tea at the Boston Tea Party to protest the tea tax. In the eighties many of us used our CB radios to avoid tickets when we exceeded the 55 mph speed limit.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the most important provisions: "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."
The Constitution doesn't authorize using a pandemic to prohibit the free exercise of religion or to abridge "the right of the people peaceably to assemble." Government officials who take either action are breaking the law.
Government officials should treat COVID-19 measures as suggested guidelines rather than rigid rules which must be obeyed. We should accept that there will always be a few who don't want to go along with the program.
We Americans aren't like the "good Germans" in Nazi Germany who obeyed orders.
We Americans don't like to be told what to do. In 1773 American Patriots destroyed an entire shipment of tea at the Boston Tea Party to protest the tea tax. In the eighties many of us used our CB radios to avoid tickets when we exceeded the 55 mph speed limit.
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