Ferri Tales

In " Hearts and Minds ," a 1998 episode of the sci-fi series Outer Limits, a group of soldiers have drug injectors to protect them from "diseases" harbored by their hideous non-human enemy. After an injector malfunction, the soldiers realize that the drugs are hallucinogens that make the enemy -- also humans but from another region -- appear as giant insects. When they try to contact the enemy, they are all killed. The "enemies" hallucinogenic drug injectors did not malfunction. An effective way to ostracize a person or group is to create a fiction that they are the "other" -- somehow different, less worthy, dangerous -- because of "race", ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or social or political identity. Slavery persisted in the U.S. because slaves were labeled as sub-human, mere property. Hitler blamed Jewish people for "blood poisoning" of the Aryan race just as Donald Trump blames immigrants for "poison...

As a new member of the Viet Nam era United States Army I swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. There was no expiration date on that oath. I believe that oath has been made by every individual that has become a member of the United States armed forces from private to commander of the armed forces. I also believe that oath is sworn by every member of the congress of the United States: Democrat, Republican, or Independent.  The leader of the present administration is allowing Elon Musk and a small group of professional hackers to enter and observe, or modify, or copy, the once secure systems of our government and to use that yet unpublished information not to reduce but to eliminate entire parts of our government that have been established by laws written by our congress and signed into law. Congress and congress only can write our laws, a president can approve or veto a law. Our judicial system determines if the laws are accept...

Without  torturing the definition, treason is "the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance," and to which one has sworn an oath to protect and defend. To prove treason, our Constitution requires "testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act." The penalty for treason against the U.S. is death or not less than 5 years in prison with a minimum fine of $10,000. The current problem of treasonous attacks on the U.S. from internal actors is that too few traitors have been held accountable for their actions in the past.   During the Civil War, William Mumford was executed for treason in 1862 for raising a Confederate flag after tearing down an American flag in New Orleans.   Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States, and his generals were clearly traitors. After the war, Davis was locked up for only 2 years. There was no accountability for his generals. All were given amnesty by President Andrew Johnson and allowed to return to p...

I'm not a lawyer, but if Donald Trump, his staff, and Republican members of Congress can pretend to protect the Constitution, I can opine on the law. As a judge has ruled, Trump's executive order to change the 14th Amendment is “blatantly unconstitutional”.  If our laws were actually just, Trump would be indicted for this action. Instead, more judges rule and waste time to eventually conclude that Congress and the States are required to make this change. It is obvious that Trump can't change the Constitution with an executive order. Yet, our legal system plods along glacially pretending to be just, while allowing criminals to remain free to break more laws.  Our “laws” allowed Trump to regain power where a just system would have locked him up for his attempted takeover of the government when he lost the 2020 election. Our “laws” protect the rich and powerful because they were written and enacted by the rich and powerful. Our system needs major changes to hold criminals like...

On the first day of his 2nd term, Donald J. Trump showed that he cares little for the rule of law, and nothing for the U.S. Constitution.   He pardoned over 1500 convicted criminals who invaded and desecrated the Capitol on January 6 while chanting "Hang Pence." Five of those pardoned physically assaulted officers and one helped plan the attack. Trump referred to them as hostages.   They were not hostages. They were tried and convicted under the rule of law.   He issued an executive order to end birth-right citizenship -- a right given in the 14 Amendment to the Constitution. His action is an illegal order, yet will require the courts to strike it down, wasting time and resources better used elsewhere.   Trump and his enablers are showing that they do not support the police, nor do they intend to protect them, regardless of their claims otherwise. They also are again showing complete contempt for the Constitution, treating it as something to circumvent rath...