By Michael Woyton
A few news items jumped out at me this morning, and I got to thinking, well, what do you know, shit can actually happen.
I mean, the history of the United States proves that nothing can be done about a president who stirs up a crowd to try to cast doubt on and then overturn an election.
Our history shows that the chief law enforcement officer of this country and his minions are powerless to prosecute anyone who might be mentioned as being associated with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
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And then, according to recent history, there’s absolutely no way a judge can enforce a ruling, especially when it involves someone who may be on track to be deported.
However, overnight we got the news that ex-South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol received a life sentence in prison after being found guilty of insurrection, NBC News reported.
Yoon tried to impose martial law in a short-lived power grab that sent his country into political turmoil in 2024.
Prosecutors had wanted Yoon to receive the death penalty.
Huh. The president of a democracy who tried to subvert the will of the people can be held to account?
Speaking of hoaxes, I mean, the Epstein files, news out of London via the Associated Press said that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly and better known as Prince Andrew, was arrested Thursday “on suspicion of misconduct in public office.”
The former prince was recently stripped of his royal titles due to links to Epstein.
Authorities said there were allegations in correspondence contained in the Epstein files that Mountbatten-Windsor had given Epstein confidential trade reports in 2010. At that time the former prince was a special envoy for international trade for Britain.
The AP said the allegations are separate from those made by Virginia Giuffre. She claimed she was trafficked to Britain in 2001 to have sex with the then prince.
Huh. Isn’t it interesting that something contained in the Epstein files about someone who is notable and wealthy can be investigated and that person can be held to account?
And finally, you know how it seems that a judge who is considering how to rule on a lawsuit related to the administration’s thugish deportation efforts will rule in favor of the person who is being deported or who has been detained and then the administration will say, in effect, we aren’t going to do that thank you very much?
One judge in St. Paul, Minnesota, it seems has had enough.
Judge Laura M. Provinzino is holding a lawyer from the U.S. Department of Justice in civil contempt, stemming from a case of a man arrested in January who was released from custody, but the government has not yet given the man back his identification documents, KARE 11 News reported.
DOJ lawyer Matthew Isihara was ordered by Provinzino to pay $500 each day beginning Friday until the documents are returned.
“The government’s lack of respect for court rulings stemming from such petitions has been raised by judges in the District of Minnesota, where the chief judge compiled a list of nearly 100 violations of court orders in habeas cases since Jan. 1, and in New Jersey, where the Justice Department admitted 52 violations since Dec. 5,” the New York Times reported.
Provinzino ordered the government to release the man in question by Feb. 13 in Minnesota. However, he was released in El Paso, where he was being held, without being given his documents.
The man’s attorney said the government had located the documents in question, and they were expected to receive them Thursday.
Huh. So threatening government lawyers with civil contempt — meaning fines or jail time until the party complies — just might work if the government “doesn’t wanna”?
I say “good job,” South Korea, British law enforcement and Judge Provinzino.
I hope others take notice.
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Lead art by Michael Woyton.
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