Monthly Archives: June 2023

State Abortion Laws Vary, But the Trend is in Support of Life

By Rob Meyne

  • June 30, 2023
  • 5-min read

Abortion – Part 1

Much has been written about the consequences of the Dobbs decision. As you know, SCOTUS ruled that there was no constitutional right to abortion. It did not make it illegal. It recognizes abortion law is up to each state.

That, of course, is exactly what our founding fathers had in mind. They saw states as essential laboratories for considering and debating public policy. Our founders knew that law may be different from state to state. They were fine with that, even happy about it.

Our legal landscape in the aftermath of Dobbs is inconsistent and confusing from state to state. That is ok. It does not mean Dobbs was a bad decision or that we somehow have a crisis at hand. When we have different policies in different states, it is not a bug in the system; it is a feature of it. That is not in itself a problem.

The effect this ruling has had on some women is explored in an article from Vice, here. It is an interesting read. Even if you don’t agree that the “problems” created by Dobbs should make us question the decision, it is still important to understand how people with opinions different from your own came to their conclusions. That is why we read pieces every day written by people with whom we are likely to disagree.

Remember what the great Hugh Hewitt likes to say. He prefers clarity to agreement. Or as Stephen Covey says, paraphrasing, seek first to understand, then to be understood.

If the Vice piece isn’t persuasive, it is at least interesting, tugs at heartstrings, and shows how a lot of pro-abortion people view the SCOTUS ruling.

No doubt, there are troubling aspects of post-Roe America. It causes, for some people, stress, pain, and heartache, and makes getting an abortion more difficult. Well, as they say… “Duh!” Of course, it does.

States that have passed laws prohibiting or regulating abortion make it harder to get one. That. .. Is… The… Point…

Laws that regulate the purchase of pharmaceuticals, the practice of medicine, carrying firearms, or driving at high speeds are also designed to make those things more difficult.

As is the case with new laws, it isn’t a perfect situation. We often don’t understand all the ramifications of laws until they are implemented. This is a lesson we learned years ago when working in the Indiana House of Representatives. Most of the legislation, in any given session, involves attempts to correct, improve, and revise existing law. Most bills don’t propose new laws. The new state laws on abortion will likely be modified and improved over time. That is a good thing.

Having fewer abortions is a huge improvement in the minds of millions. Whatever troubles exist in the meantime should be addressed and, where needed, the laws revised and clarified.

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How Much More Evidence of Biden’s Corruption Do We Need?

By Rob Meyne

  • June 21, 2023
  • 3 min-read

You are probably aware of the corruption that has infested the DOJ in general and especially the FBI. No reasonable person can deny America’s law enforcement infrastructure operates with a double standard. If you are leftist, rich, in elite professions and well-connected families, you generally get lenient treatment.

Hunter Biden got a slap on the wrist for serious tax and gun crimes. Anyone with thirty seconds and access to a search engine knows people are routinely sentenced to prison for the exact offenses to which Hunter pleaded guilty.

The DOJ has said their investigation of Hunter Biden is ongoing. While one is tempted to be reassured by this, hoping he will eventually be held accountable for more extreme crimes, there is a better explanation. If they claim it is an ongoing investigation, they have yet another reason not to cooperate with Congressional investigators.

Even the two charges they filed were based on evidence in their possession since 2016. If it takes them seven years to decide to charge someone when the evidence is undisputed and overwhelming, it doesn’t bode well for effective enforcement of the law to return any time in the future.

Information that has come out from an IRS whistleblower, meanwhile, shows the FBI had possession of Hunter’s laptop and confirmed it was authentic in 2019. That is more information (as if we needed it) that the leadership of the FBI is corrupt, hypocritical, and completely in the tank for America’s leftist elites. Is there another conclusion one can reasonably draw?

The FBI, CIA, DOJ, and even at times the Democratic National Committee (often working through the White House) took great pains throughout the 2020 cycle to push news media and social platforms not to cover stories that were damaging to the Biden campaign. About 80% of the American people get most of their news from social media, so this is important. The DOJ and FBI told Twitter, for example, the Hunter laptop story was unconfirmed, possibly stolen or hacked. They knew at the time that wasn’t true.

In addition, 51 intelligence agency leaders said the story appeared to be “Russian disinformation” so the media would not cover it. Yet they had no personal knowledge of the situation, had not reviewed the information, and had no evidence of Russian involvement. It didn’t stop them from pushing for censorship. Meanwhile, post-election surveys show that about 1 in 6 Biden voters would not have voted for him if they had known about the corruption revealed on the laptop. (For the record, at no time has the Biden family even denied the laptop belonged to Hunter. The media and deep state reflexively went farther to defend the Bidens than they did themselves.)

Leon Panetta, the former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA, signed the letter to help the Biden campaign. I’ve met Panetta and found him to be engaging and friendly. A fine guy with whom to share a cocktail. But a friend, who knows Panetta well, goes further. He says he is a great guy, a patriot, honest, and a straight shooter. BS. Panetta is a partisan hack, not to put too fine a point on it. You can be both charming and dishonest.

But the latest news is the new evidence of the attempt by Hunter to extort China to pay him $5 million for. The Federalist has the story, and it is linked here.

Hunter sent a message demanding payment and threatening to use his father, and his many friends, to hurt them, if they did not pay. Hunter’s associate in the Chinese Communist Party, Mr. Zhau, then forwarded $5 million to Hunter. If that isn’t clear evidence of corruption at its highest level, nothing is.

Another revelation confirmed what was already obvious: the DOJ moves at a glacial pace to investigate the criminal activity of Dem leaders, if they look at it at all, and many investigations are simply halted. An IRS whistleblower has testified to this before Congress.

Biden needs to go, stat. Even if we are doomed to have some months under a Kamala Harris presidency, Biden is a threat who needs to be neutralized. There is too much at stake to have a president in office who is bought and paid for by hostile foreign powers.

Stay tuned.

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A Tragic Event in American History

By Rob Meyne

  • June 10, 2023
  • 5-min read

One of the most important, and tragic, events in American history occurred this week: the indictment of a former president on federal charges. This is unprecedented. Whatever you may think of former President Donald Trump, it says as much about the forces determined to stop him as it does about Trump himself. In no sense is this a good thing for the country.

It is easier to make decisions on most issues based on emotion and your own biases (factually based or not) than to make them based on facts and objectivity. This is such a case.

While we like to say we are a nation of laws, most decisions regarding who to prosecute involve an overwhelming amount of subjectivity. If you believe most prosecutions are based on facts alone then, with respect, you don’t know much about our system. Nearly all prosecutorial choices involve opinion, bias, and preferences. It is called “prosecutorial discretion.” The DA who indicted Trump in New York, for example, immediately upon taking office, reduced the charges against thousands of people accused of violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The facts had not changed, only the opinion of the DA.

I’ll go further and say that any lawyer who doesn’t recognize the decision to charge Trump is unjustifiable based on past actions in similar cases – and doesn’t say so – is at this point a hypocrite not deserving of membership in the bar. Any political observer who doesn’t admit this is an entirely unjustified prosecution is also either uninformed, corrupt, or lying. If that is too pointed or confrontational for you, my apologies, and maybe this piece isn’t your cup of tea. The stakes are high and the time for timidity is gone.

How is that for direct? 😊 You know who you are! With love and apologies all around, the time for being afraid to express your opinion is gone. We are in many ways losing our country, and if you don’t work to preserve it, you are part of the problem.

The decision to charge Trump is politically driven. Period.

From the political side, it is very likely, in my view, that leading Democrats are pushing for prosecution of Trump because they know it will inflame his base and make his nomination more likely. They WANT Trump to be the nominee because they think they can beat him. At the same time, they know moderates and non-partisans will be hesitant to vote for someone under indictment or convicted.

The political ramifications will be interesting, but the legal outline is clear.

Every executive in Washington must follow a complex system of requirements and procedures for record-keeping. It is rare for Washington’s denizens NOT to violate a procedure, either intentionally or inadvertently. In almost all such cases there is either no punishment or only minor fines. That is what makes the Trump indictment indefensible. None of his predecessors has been subject to the same level of investigation, scrutiny, or potential sanctions.

Be clear: the DOJ works for the president and is taking actions to affect his leading opponent and to impact the election. Anyone who doesn’t recognize that should just, candidly, go home and stay there on Election Day, because they are hopelessly naïve.

Memos and emails have already shown the White House was involved in the decision to search Mar-A-Lago, even though President Joe Biden claimed he didn’t even know it was going to happen. This White House spews more lies in a week than Pinocchio did in a lifetime, and they aren’t even particularly clever about it.

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