Maggie's Farm

Jay, although perpetual female sexuality slightly increases the human carbon dioxide "footprint" which Zack dreads, it is a "renewable resource" like solar and wind power. So on balance, the zackbot should approve of sex when attracted to your post like a moth to a flame or pheromone.

zack, same with automobile and factory emissions, for consistency,ight?

zack, I only breathe out CO2 from coal and oil and natural gas.

Circuit court judges are not constrained at all by the Supreme Court, which can only handle a relatively few cases per year. The 9th Circus routinely makes up its own law without constraint. (I was involved in a case in which a crooked Circuit ignored a Supreme Court decision a year later)
Kavanaugh could do what he wanted on the DC Circuit, in a variety of ways. But unlike the 9th Circus he believes he is constrained by the words of Constitution, unless is is properly changed by amendment.

MissT, you are right about Flynn. General Flynn was interrogated by FBI agents without formal notice or warning that the FBI was intentionally trying to incriminate him, and that he had the right to counsel or the right to remain silent. The FBI had the transcript of a conversation they “dropped by” to ask him about,, while having complete knowledge of the answers to their questions. General Flynn was not told they had the complete transcript, or permitted to review the transcript itself for the questioning. The FBI already knew the facts. There was no purpose of their inquisition other than to try to trap Flynn into saying something other than the exact transcript of what they already knew. This was a “process crime” sneak attack to create a crime when there was none before the inquisition.

Even after their secret sneak attack, the Agents reportedly did not think Flynn lied to them about this long-ago phone call. There is no audio or video recording of the Flynn inquisition. Only the FBI Agents’ subsequently-written “form 302” notes are permitted as evidence in this Star Chamber procedure. It is also reported that the FBI later changed this “form 302” so-called evidence.

Flynn was then threatened with personal bankruptcy, and reportedly threatened that his son would be prosecuted if he did not plead guilty to this Star-Chamber-created “crime”.

People being interviewed by the FBI with the intention and authority to write a “302” form to prosecute them, are effectively under the threat and in the focused custody attention of the FBI, without a 5th and 6th Amendment Miranda warning.

General Flynn had no warning that anything he said would be used criminally prosecute him, that he could (and should) have a lawyer present, or that the FBI already had recorded the phone call of their inquisition and was just “gunning for him” to make a recollection mistake. Anyone under questioning by the FBI when intent on “process criminal charges” should have a Miranda warning.

The FBI “process crime factory” is notoriously used to create crimes when none existed, in order to prosecute people for political reasons. It is worse than the secret British Star Chamber, which was notorious for political oppression through the arbitrary abuse of criminal law.

The British Star Chamber and its abusive inquisitions were a principal reason for the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution. Under the 5th and 6th Amendments. Any criminal, (and more certainly, any non-criminal who has done nothing wrong) has Constitutional “Miranda” rights:
“...The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he/she has the right to remain silent, and that anything the person says will be used against that person in court; the person must be clearly informed that he/she has the right to consult with an attorney and to have that attorney present during questioning, and that, if he/she is indigent, an attorney will be provided at no cost to represent him/her.”

This Star Chamber FBI political abuse was used against General Flynn, Martha Stewart, and “Scooter Libby” for clearly political purposes. The Courts should abolish it.

Extortion is a crime. 18 USC 872 - Extortion by officers or employees of the United States provides that:
“Whoever, being an officer, or employee of the United States or any department or agency thereof, or representing himself to be or assuming to act as such, under color or pretense of office or employment commits or attempts an act of extortion, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; but if the amount so extorted or demanded does not exceed $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both”

Threatening a political opponent such as General Flynn with prosecuting a family member, and/or bankruptcy, should be treated by our courts as extortion. The reason General Flynn has been subjected to Star Chamber attack is to extort him to help remove a duly elected President, as part of the criminal FBI “insurance policy”. This is another reason for the courts to refuse to participate in this Star Chamber abuse of criminal law.

AVI - exactly right. And as a corollary, when a politician says "we", as in "Surely 'we' can certainly afford to fund XXX" or "we need to do XXX because of our 'values'", it is a warning to hold on to your wallet because a theft of public taxes is being attempted.