By Greg Maresca
At least once a year something goes awry with the laptop, thumb drives, and Microsoft Word. With my deadline approaching, I did a final once-over of the weekly diatribe. Trying to open the file, Microsoft Word abruptly informed me: “Sorry, we could not find your file. Was it moved, renamed, or deleted?”
Nope.
Perhaps you’ve experienced the same?
A second attempt revealed more disturbing news: “Word was unable to read this document. It may be corrupted.” So, I did what any 21st-century Dad would do: I conferred with my son, a mechanical engineering major, who did his best with the time ticking to no avail. All the other files on the drive were open for business, except for the one in need—naturally.
Perhaps it was a quirk of artificial intelligence (AI). I have read about how nefarious AI’s potential can be. Maybe AI read the piece and corrupted it as if it were a Democrat-appointed New York City judge.
The column was indeed corrupted and spilled more ink on the corrupt political lawfare that dominated the unprecedented conviction of a former United States president for “hush money” payments despite a signed nondisclosure agreement.
Donald Trump was convicted of being – Donald Trump.
Democrats have been after Trump well before he set foot in the White House, so why would anything be different now? Democrats failed to convict Trump after two weak impeachment attempts, the Steele dossier, and the Hunter Biden disinformation campaign; the list is long as it is surely.
That shining city on the hill that Ronald Reagan so eloquently described is trading a democratic republic for a banana republic in less than a generation. Third-world dictatorships are infamous for convicting people they don’t like. We are now no better. When a citizen’s constitutional rights are trampled upon, we all lose. Reagan schooled America back in the 1980s how, “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Democrats have hijacked our legal system for political purposes, and if it means undermining the Constitution, then so be it. Trump is the rare politician who stands in their way. Rather than relying on any election, the Democrats elected lawfare.
Political prosecutions of one’s dogmatic foes will boomerang upon those seeking their own ends in this abuse of power. Olympic judges from the Warsaw Pact were more judicious. The law should be a shield, not a sword that will cut a subverting epoch of American politics.
Trump’s conviction resulted in his campaign raking in over $52.8 million within 24 hours.
Biden should follow the lead of President Gerald Ford, who pardoned Richard Nixon 50 years ago and beat the appeals court to the punch. It was the New York Court of Appeals, with every judge appointed by a Democratic governor, that recently overturned a rape conviction against film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Biden then could use the pardon as the pillar of his campaign and bill himself as the great American uniter, the same false advertising he used four years ago.
Ford’s clemency cost him the presidential election two years later when he lost in 1976 to Jimmy Carter. Ford called his pardon of Nixon “the right thing to do.”
Biden is no uniter and certainly no patriot like Ford.
Trump was clear: “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.”
This column reminded me of stringing football games prior to the email era. After the game, you would hustle back to the paper armed with your game notes, hoping you got all the stats and quotes correct. I would be greeted by Andy Heintzelman, the longtime editor of the News-Item, Standard-Speaker, and most recently, The Republican Herald, who would ask if I could be done in 20 minutes. Throughout the last two decades, we may not have agreed on some columns, but Andy was always fair and balanced, and you can’t ask more of an editor.
Andy’s nearly 40-year run ended on June 6, 2024. Albert Einstein said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” If it weren’t for Word “corrupting the column,” I wouldn’t be wishing Andy all the best in a well-deserved retirement in print as I should have initially.
Well done, sir, carry on.
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