EXPERT WITNESS: Propaganda (continued)

(CONTINUED)

However, according to Mr. Smiley, the investigation was deliberately biased, and details of the allegations have been kept secret, not allowing for any kind of response from, or due process for Mr. Smiley, prior to the termination of his employment/distribution contract.8 This tactic was one that Christina Ford’s lawyers attempted to employ against Brett Kavanaugh, actually stating that a condition of her testimony was that he be required to defend himself prior to her giving testimony regarding exactly what her allegations were. As legal scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School Alan Dershowitz pointed out in a television interview, this tactic of requiring a defendant to provide a defense against unknown allegations was routinely employed during the Inquisition.9

In a country in which it is not a crime for police to make a false statement to a suspect in order to elicit a confession or inculpatory statement (Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U.S. 731 (1969)), it is illegal for a person to lie to an investigator under Title 18 Section 1001, of the U.S. Code,10 and Michigan law.11 Police and FBI are increasingly using this code to obtain convictions against people who have committed no crime, but for whatever reason, don’t care to provide a truthful answer about something that may be none of the government’s business, or that they simply don’t have a clear recollection of, but which their questioners have researched and already know the answers to. This is how many of the convictions in the Mueller investigation have been obtained. No American has been charged with a crime related to colluding with Russia to interfere with the American Election of 2016, let alone having ties to the Trump campaign.12

Despite Adam Schiff’s assertion that, “There have been “credible allegations” (that phrase again) that the Russians may have laundered money through the Trump organization...”13 there has been no evidence of anything remotely tying Trump to Russian interference. However, by repeating the propaganda of Russian collusion, Schiff, Mueller and the those on both sides of the isle who want Trump out of office have been able to keep the fishing expedition going for two years, and it is obvious that they intend to keep it going until they remove Trump from office, or, better yet, put him or a family member in prison.

On October 25, 2018, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley referred Julie Swetnick and her attorney Michael Avenatti to the Justice Department for investigation and possible criminal prosecution for making false statements and obstruction regarding their outrageously malicious and inconsistent allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “The law prohibits such false statements to Congress and obstruction of congressional committee investigations. For the law to work, we can’t just brush aside potential violations. I don’t take lightly making a referral of this nature, but ignoring this behavior will just invite more of it in the future,” Grassley said in a statement.14 Grassley made another referral a week later of Judy Munro-Leighton, a woman who admitted to making a false allegation simply because she was angry.15

What do these referrals for false sex abuse allegations have to do with making false statements to the FBI and allegations of Russian collusion? Just that even when feminists or their representatives make ridiculously false and unsupported allegations of abuse, they is seldom any consequence. If Swetnick, Avenatti, and Munro-Leighton actually believed there would be any consequences it is unlikely that they would have taken the actions they did. But, what the hell, they saw Ford get away with it, and get a lot of attention and money to boot16, so why not? Lying is what the police and FBI charge someone with they have already decided to target;17 if you’re one of the good guys you get a pass. Moreover, even in the unlikely event that they are charged and convicted their punishment for making false allegations will not be commensurate with the damage they have caused through their callous contempt for American Democracy and law.

I recently finished a thorough rereading of the Torah, a part of the Bible I had only skimmed through before because I am not Jewish, or even Christian by most measures, and am inherently suspicious of anyone who portends to be God’s gatekeeper. Nor have I ever considered the Bible to be anything resembling an accurate portrayal of history. But this time I read it more closely because I am more convinced of its importance as one of—if not the—most important foundations of Western Civilization.

I was surprised by how much is there. Along with a lot of interaction between God and the gatekeeper Moses (who is the only representative of the Jewish people that God will deal with as long has he is alive, and whose gatekeeper descendants were obviously concerned about preserving their power), miracles that defy science, and ridiculously harsh punishments for relatively minor infractions (except that they challenged the gatekeepers’ authority), there are some pretty good rules for living.

One of those rules, as everyone is the West has at some time or another been informed, is: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”18 19 What I did not recall, prior to this close reading, is what the penalty was for bearing false witness. Does anyone remember? (Deuteronomy 19:16-19 KJV) “If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.”

An eye for an eye does not always result in justice (and indeed, may end in making the whole world blind20). However, it is also the case that when the results of making a false allegation of a crime are in no way commensurate with the results of a successful false accusation—such as the one week sentence Shae Lynn Mullins21 received for making such a proven false allegation against her ex-husband, the father of her child—and, additionally, that the existence of the crime of false witness itself is denied by those who are in positions of power and influence, then we are indeed embracing chaos.

Though I do not subscribe to a specific religion, I wonder whether society can survive without a religious foundation, or rule of law without a moral foundation. I’ve heard the argument that the most developed countries are the least religious, but the absence of religion in the West is a relatively recent phenomenon, and most historians agree that, along with Greek and Roman culture, and English Common Law, Judeo-Christianity is one of the building blocks of Western Civilization.

Now we have people openly espousing that we jettison all of the above in favor of political fad and some nebulous concept called “Multiculturalism.” And throw out meritocracy while we’re at it. To ignore the evidence that these trends signal our society’s headlong rush toward self-destruction is extremely naïve. Entire civilizations have embraced madness, including the sublime stupidity of “the dictatorship of the proletariat.” The West is already throwing away its babies, insuring that our culture will die out without offspring to replace us. Are we now going to throw away half of our adults as well, thus hastening our rapid demise?

When Jesus was asked which commandment was the most important, he quoted one from Deuteronomy, which, though repeated, does not appear among the Ten. “Love God with all your heart and mind and soul.” And the second, he said, quoting Leviticus, is similar, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” For he said that by living a life of love, we would fulfill all the other commandments (the law and the prophets).22 Love was a basic tenant of the hippie movement, but that sentiment, lacking a religious foundation, was quickly replaced by the secular religion of politics.

The politically minded would have us believe their goal is to serve, but their actions belie their words. They display a lust for power and control, which is the opposite of, and incompatible with, love and service. No one can serve two masters; we must choose one and reject the other. But one master has the power to restore, and the other to destroy. Can we, as a culture, turn back and tap the source of all creative energy, or have we gone past the point of no return?
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1http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/courses01/rrtw/Minogue.htm
2https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/11/west_michigan_judge_suspended.html
3 The first statute authorizing civil forfeiture was enacted by Congress in 1789 as a sanction for the use of ships in customs violations.[ Act of July 31, 1789, Sections 12, 36; 1 Stat. 39, 47] In 1978, Congress expanded the law to permit forfeiture of all money used in, or acquired from, the illegal drug trade [21 U.S.C. Section 881(a)(6)] and authorized the forfeiture of real property in 1984.[ 21 U.S.C. Section 853] http://ag.hawaii.gov/cjd/asset-forfeiture-unit/history-of-asset-forfeiture/
4 United States Supreme Court, WICKWIRE v. REINECKE, (1927), No. 149, , https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/275/101.html , “...It is within the undoubted power [275 U.S. 101, 106]   of Congress to provide any reasonable system for the collection of taxes and the recovery of them when illegal, without a jury trial-if only the injunction against the taking of property without due process of law in the method of collection and protection of the taxpayer is satisfied.”
5 Tavis Smiley Files Racially Charged Lawsuit Against PBS Over His Firing After Sexual Misconduct Investigation, by Erik Pedersen, Deadline Hollywood, February 20, 2018 6:45pm https://deadline.com/2018/02/tavis-smiley-sues-pbs-race-sexual-misconduct-investigation-1202297165/
6 [Former Obama Spokesperson] Jen Psaki: If Somebody’s Accused Of Sexual Harassment, They Shouldn’t Run For Office, ‘The fact is that Democrats and the Democratic Party cannot be, here, you have a waiver,’ [In conversation with CNN Host Jake Tapper] Dec 17, 2017 5:18 PM, By Grabien Staff https://news.grabien.com/story-jen-psaki-if-somebodys-accused-sexual-harassment-they-should
7 “Credible allegations” has become the new way of saying that the allegations have not been subjected to any reasonable standard of proof or due process, but we believe them because they fit our preconceived notion of what happened.
8 Tavis Smiley To Tucker Carlson: Millions Of Taxpayer Dollars Will Be Squandered On Lawsuit If PBS Does Not “Fix This” by Lisa de Moraes, December 18, 2017 6:27pm
https://deadline.com/2017/12/tavis-smiley-tucker-carlson-taxpayer-dollars-millions-pbs-defense-lawsuit-harassment-allegations-1202229573/
9https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/10/04/dershowitz_kavanaugh_dispute_reminds_me_of_when_people_had_to_prove_theyre_not_communists.html “...DERSHOWITZ: It doesn’t matter if he or her is guilty. If somebody is accusing of you being a communist and you angrily responded and said you’re not, then you don’t have the temperament to have the job, and it’s just a job interview if you’re getting fired for being a Professor after 40 years, and what’s the difference if you’re innocent or guilty. Somebody has said you’re a communist. This goes all the way back to the inquisition, when they would call you in first and make you testify and then they present the evidence...”
10 Cornell Law School, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001
11 It’s now against the law to lie to police officers in Michigan, By Rick Pluta • 4/20/2012, http://www.michiganradio.org/post/it-s-now-against-law-lie-police-officers-michigan
12 Everyone Who’s Been Charged as a Result of the Mueller Investigation, By The New York Times, updated Sept. 7, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/21/us/mueller-trump-charges.html
13 Trump Repeatedly Threatens Retaliation Against Russia Investigators, Congressman Adam Schiff has plans to probe several uncomfortable subjects for the Trump administration, and the president is ready to fight. Uri Friedman, The Atlantic, Nov 7, 2018
14 Grassley Refers Swetnick, Avenatti To Justice Dept. for Investigation, By Jordain Carney - 10/25/18 01:05 Pm Edt
15 ‘I was angry and I sent it’: Another Kavanaugh accuser referred to FBI after recanting, Christal Hayes, USA TODAY Published 8:05 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2018 | Updated 1:45 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2018
16 ‘Nothing to Gain,’ Kavanaugh Accuser Raises Nearly $1 Million, By Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations,https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/10/27/nothing_to_gain_kavanaugh_accusers_coffers_are_growing.html , October 29, 2018, In fact, Ford stands to gain some $1 million and counting from national crowdfunding campaigns launched by friends and other supporters, while she is said to be fielding book offers.
17 Should Lying to the Police Be a Crime? By Jim Talent, National Review, 2/21/2018, “It’s happening more and more. The FBI gathers information about a person, finds facts that the person might want to conceal — not because the facts prove a crime but because they are embarrassing for some other reason — then asks about those facts in an interview, on the expectation that the person will lie and thereby incriminate himself.” https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/lying-police-should-crime/
18 Exodus 20:16, KJV
19 Deuteronomy 5: 20, KJV
20 Often misattributed to Gandhi, variations of it were used by others as noted in this cite. Perhaps it is most often credited to Gandhi because it was used by his biographer, Louis Fischer in the Book, Gandhi and Stalin (1947) https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/27/eye-for-eye-blind/
21 Court of Appeals of Michigan. PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v SHAE LYNN MULLINS, Defendant-Appellant. No. 334098, Decided: November 30, 2017 https://caselaw.findlaw.com/mi-court-of-appeals/1881488.html
22 Matthew 22:37-40, (paraphrase)
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Michael G. Brock, MA, LMSW, is a forensic mental health professional in private practice at Counseling and Evaluation Services in Wyandotte, Michigan. He has worked in the mental health field since 1974, and has been in full-time private practice since 1985. Much of his practice in recent years relates to driver license restoration and substance abuse evaluation, but he also consults and serves as an expert witness regarding forensic interviewing and the use of forensic interviewing protocols in cases of child sexual abuse allegations. He may be contacted at Michael G. Brock, Counseling and Evaluation Services, 2514 Biddle, Wyandotte, 48192; 313-802-0863, fax/phone 734-692-1082; e-mail: michaelgbrock@comcast.net, website, michaelgbrock.com.