Watergate for Dummies
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Treason is the only crime defined in the constitution, and it is defined there so as to prevent overbroad use of the term.
I think this is probably criminal (though I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know for sure), but it pretty clearly is not treason.
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But it can be accurately described as traitorous.
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Roger that.
The word play here keeps us above water.
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Though it’s not the only crime noted in the Constitution.
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I’m not a National Post fan, but I love this headline.
The White House accidentally sent its internal Trump-Ukraine talking points to the Democrats. No, seriously
Hell, they probably cc’ed North Korea.
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Regretfully treason by doing something stupid like inadvertently telling the Russians your military secrets isn’t treason either. That said all we need is a couple of people to testify that he’s not quite the bumbling idiot we think he his and that he did divulge secrets with some cognizance.
Good lord, there’s Shakespearean “protesting too much” and then there’s running down the street naked with a copy of the talking points in your hand screaming that you have no idea how these things came into your possession. Fox’s token black guy never even accused his co-hosts of working from them, he just said they were getting around, and everyone else lost their freaking minds…
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Is somebody in the administration quietly showing some maturity and uncovering a smoking gun here?
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LOL that’s because he “got it from Media Matters”’
Knuckleheadgate
Morongate
Dumbogate
Imbecilegate
Etc.
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Even doing it knowingly wouldn’t be treason, unless we were at war with them.
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So, enemies are only defined by an act of war? I beg to differ, primate of the upper atmosphere.
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It definitely skirts the line. I’d really enjoying making the case on this one.
While it may be that treason applies to attempts to declare war on the US or aiding enemies is the general context. There have been some interesting fringe cases. Like tearing down a flag during war and a coal mine protest that became raising an army.
I’m not saying he would ever be charged with treason, but it’s not super cut and dry either. If times were different, but right now we’re owned by corporations and suffocating in a corrupted system. No rich guy is ever going to persecute another rich guy.
Every treason case in the US follows for anyone who wants some context.
*apologies for the typos. The updated text editing in iOS13 sucks and I’m not used to it yet.
- Philip Vigol and John Mitchell, convicted of treason and sentenced to hanging; pardoned by George Washington; see Whiskey Rebellion.
- John Fries, the leader of Fries’ Rebellion, convicted of treason in 1800 along with two accomplices, and pardoned that same year by John Adams.
- Governor Thomas Dorr 1844, convicted of treason against the state of Rhode Island; see Dorr Rebellion; released in 1845; civil rights restored in 1851; verdict annulled in 1854.
- John Brown, convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1859 and executed for attempting to organize armed resistance to slavery.
- Aaron Dwight Stevens, took part in John Brown’s raid and was executed in 1860 for treason against Virginia.
- William Bruce Mumford, convicted of treason and hanged in 1862 for tearing down a United States flag during the American Civil War.
- Walter Allen was convicted of treason on September 16, 1922 for taking part in the 1921 Miner’s March with the coal companies and the US Army on Blair Mountain, West Virginia. He was sentenced to 10 years and fined. During his appeal to the Supreme Court he disappeared while out on bail. United Mineworkers of America leader William Blizzard was acquitted of the charge of treason by the jury on May 25, 1922.[12]
- Martin James Monti, United States Army Air Forces pilot, convicted of treason for defecting to the Waffen SS in 1944. He was paroled in 1960.
- Robert Henry Best, convicted of treason on April 16, 1948 and served a life sentence.
- Iva Toguri D’Aquino, who is frequently identified by the name “Tokyo Rose”, convicted 1949. Subsequently, pardoned by President Gerald Ford.
- Mildred Gillars, also known as “Axis Sally”, convicted of treason on March 8, 1949; served 12 years of a 10- to 30-year prison sentence.
- Tomoya Kawakita, sentenced to death for treason in 1952, but eventually released by President John F. Kennedy to be deported to Japan.
- Herbert John Burgman, convicted of treason in 1949 during WWII for spreading Nazi propaganda.
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If they need a code name like Deep Throat, can I suggest C.C. Rider?
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The Military was worried about corruption in the Ukraine and that’s why aid was delayed?
Absolutely false.
The Pentagon certified that wasn’t the case in a letter to Congress months before and approved releasing those funds.
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Idiocracy, or clever media manipulation? Now everybody is talking about the talking points, which was better for them then if a few people made mention of the talking points inconsistently. This is “Controlling the Message 101”
amazing the way they present the diversion of the matter to DOJ as status quo when its totally out of left field. Trump using the DOJ as a personal defense tool - Barr must swing with his boss in the end.
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So the only people ever executed for treason were protesting slavery or desecrating the US flag. Another guy was trying to (violently) protest for miner’s rights against big corporations and was “disappeared”. We have a rosy view of American history and think that the current levels of corruption and injustice is a “new-ish thing”, but it has permeated throughout this country’s history in cycles. I think we are currently in the point of the cycle last experienced in 1890-something, not 1960-something.
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