VP Pence's Speech at Liberty University, May, 2019 - Annotated

I was disturbed recently to hear that our Vice-President Pence had included in a commencement speech address he made at Liberty University on about May 11, 2019, references to the fact that graduates should "be ready" because "Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs." (I quote USA Today's article on the subject.)

I wanted to read the speech and found the text online.
I then read it and annotated it as I went along.

In case you're interested, I hope you appreciate my remarks, my annotations. You see, I love annotations. About as much as I love true Liberty and truly Christian behavior - governed by our amazing Constitution and the rule of law we cherish and wish to preserve.

I include, at the end, some of my thoughts on what a good commencement speech would look like. It's my speech to the 2019 graduates of Liberty University.

So here you are if you're interested  - and a reader, that is (guess that leaves Trump out):

 (Warning: Changes made to this text … in particular locations. Can you guess them all?)

Well, hello, Liberty!  (Applause.)  I want to thank President Falwell for using Trump’s former lawyer to cover up embarrassing sex photos. You know what they say: any friend of Trump’s is a friend of mine. I also want to thank my friend, Dr. Ben Carson, who as HUD Secretary proved that a person who knows nothing about housing and urban development policy really can fuck it up quickly.

(Read: puffery directed towards graduates) It is an honor for us to be here in Williams Stadium with 20,000 liberty-loving “champions for Christ” for the 46th Commencement Ceremony of the Liberty University Class of 2019!  (Applause.)  You did it! You’re graduating!

(Read: more puffery directed towards graduates) But all kidding aside, we are so grateful to you, Jerry, and Becky, and your entire family for your friendship, for your leadership, and for the honor of joining you today.  It is my great honor to be here with you and the largest graduating class ever at Liberty University.  Thank you for letting me come, even though I’m working for the greatest devil of a president in possibly our entire history.  (Applause.)

(Read: more puffery, this time sucking up to Trump) And as I begin, let me bring greetings from a great friend of Liberty University, who gave his first commencement address as President of the United States from this very podium just two years ago.  I told him yesterday that I was going to be with you all today.  So allow me to pass along the congratulations —

(Read: more puffery, this time to his equally discriminatory wife) And let me also say it’s a real joy to be here with — really, the most special person in my life.  She’s a Marine Corps mom, she’s a champion for military families, she’s an elementary school teacher.  She actually taught six of today’s graduates today.  Would you welcome my wife of 33 years, the Second Lady of the United States of America, Karen Pence, to Liberty University today?  (Applause.)

(Read: more puffery, this time directed towards his wife, again, and the school) You know, Karen and I couldn’t be happier to be back on this beautiful campus.  We paid our first visit to Liberty Mountain during the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, and even though we spent only a few hours here, we could tell that there was something special about this place.

(Read: more puffery, directed towards the school, alums, and grads) When you opened your doors in 1971, Liberty had just 154 students.  And in 1985, your founder, the Reverend Jerry Falwell Sr., set what then seemed to be an impossible goal: He said that by the early 21st century, Liberty would have a student body of 50,000 men and women.  But the truth is, even Jerry Falwell Sr. didn’t foresee how Liberty would grow.  It is amazing to think that more than 100,000 men and women are receiving a Liberty education today.  (Applause.)

(Read: more puffery, directed at Falwell’s inane quote.) As Dr. Falwell once said, it was his “conviction that whatever [was] required to make a good Christian also makes a good citizen.”  And from what I’ve seen and heard of this graduating class of 2019, I know that to be true.  This is a remarkable class and remarkable achievements.  And you all ought to be proud.

(Facts about their numbers, homelands, etc) This year’s graduating class is from 50 states and more than 80 nations around the world.  The oldest graduate is 87 — (applause) — and the youngest graduate is 17.  (Applause.)

(Facts continued) Nearly 6,000 students graduated with honors.  And as we already celebrated, more than 6,000 graduates are in the United States military or have military family ties.  Thank you again for your service to the United States of America.  (Applause.)

(Facts continued) Also among you are scholars, musicians, artists, and, of course, athletes, who led your men’s basketball team all the way to the second round of the NCAA tournament this year.  Let’s hear it for Coach Ritchie McKay, the 2019 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year.  Well done, Coach!  (Applause.)

(Read: Jumping on the kindness bandwagon for brownie points) But, you know, more impressive than your many achievements in the classroom and in athletics are the acts of kindness that have demonstrated the character of this class of 2019.

I learned that Liberty students have actually performed more than half a million hours of community service.  And nearly 2,000 of your faculty and students performed roughly 9,300 hours of community service in the Lynchburg community in the month of April alone.  (Applause.)  That’s a remarkable record of charity and support.

(Read:  Picks out someone who is graduating into criminal justice and a police officer.) (Puffery towards police officers) A few days ago, I actually received a letter from one of your graduates, who I had the pleasure of meeting during a service at the Capitol just last year.  He wrote to me that he came to Liberty to study a profession that he dreamed of doing as a child.  He said he’d be honored to be able to serve his community and his nation; to be able to put on a badge.  You see, he’s a police officer who puts his life on the line for us each and every day.

And today, Officer James Belcher is graduating with a degree in criminal justice.  Congratulations, Officer Belcher.  (Applause.)  Where are ya?  Thank you for your service.  And congratulations to all the Liberty graduating class of 2019.  Let’s hear it for this extraordinary group of young men and women.  (Applause.)

(Read: Sick joke about putting a turtle on a fencepost, which is mean, vicious and a sad and degrading reflection of the value of every animal’s life.) You know, this is a great day, but I can tell, looking out at all of you, that you know you didn’t get here on your own.  You know, there’s an old saying back in the state of Indiana that when you see a box turtle on a fence post, one thing you know for sure: he had help getting there.  (Laughter.)  And I know that’s true of all of you.

(Read:  Inane platitudes about making your life’s friends at college – implies/infers folks don’t change after they graduate.) For the last four years, your professors, and the faculty, and the administration here at Liberty have poured themselves into your lives.  The friends you made here, who studied with you, who prayed with you, and reassured you during those anxious days of papers and exams — I’ll let you in on something: They’re going to be some of the best friends you ever have in your life.  And that won’t change.

(Read: puffery towards parent alums and Moms. All feel-good talk. No critical perspectives here.) But most important of all, long before you arrived on this campus, your parents were there.  And they’re here today.  Every step of the way, they were encouraging you, supporting you, believing in you.  And on this Mother’s Day weekend, I can’t help but think of the moms who drove you to school, helped you with your homework, took you to games, and they got you dressed on that first day, and they hugged you on the last one.  Can we just ask all the moms who are here with us today to stand up and take a bow?  (Applause.)  The Class of 2019 knows they wouldn’t be here without you.

(Read: Says jobs are coming back but they aren’t. Lies.) Today, you, the Class of 2019, will graduate from an extraordinary university.  You’ll enter new careers and new endeavors.  And they say timing is everything.  And, Class of 2019, I just want to tell you, you picked a great time to graduate because after two years of the leadership of President Donald Trump, jobs are coming back and America is back.  You are entering a growing American economy.  (Applause.)  It’s true.

(Read: America’s “stature in the world” has never been more greatly ridiculed than under Trump and Pence. He lies.) The America that awaits your energies and ambitions is experiencing a new era of opportunity and optimism.  You’re beginning your careers at a time when this economy is growing.  And we’ve restored American stature at home and abroad.

(Read: He twists the truth, which is that we need immigrants to take more jobs but Trump is keeping those numbers down. More Americans are working because they have to -because the rich have taken the money and tax benefits and run away with them. The middle classes are shrinking dramatically, the very class you should hope to be in.)  Businesses large and small, in little more than the last two years, have created more than 5.8 million jobs.  Unemployment is at a nearly 50-year low.  And there are more Americans working today than ever before in the history of this country.  And this year, for the first time ever, there are more job openings in America than there are Americans looking for work.  That’s good timing, Liberty!  (Applause.)

(Read: I know that Liberty alums discriminate against non-Liberty alums, so as long as you go looking for work among alums, you should be, well, in a small club of persons who are just like you.) Not that Liberty graduates are going to have any trouble finding a job.  I can promise you, the Liberty name carries great weight with employers all over the country.  And I should know.  I’m proud to say there are actually four Liberty alumni on the Vice President’s staff at the White House today.  And we’re proud of each and every one of them.  (Applause.)

(Read: Takes credit for the economy which was already better under the previous administration and is now suffering under Trump's trade wars) So the American economy is soaring, and you all ought to know that prosperity didn’t just happen.  Since day one of our administration, President Trump and I have been advancing the very principles and values that you studied and learned here at Liberty — principles and values that are making our country strong and great again.

(Read: Assumes there was something wrong with our foreign policy when there was not. Suggests the enemies have not changed when Trump has revised the list of who he approves and who he does not. Puffery towards important rightist American Jews.) We’ve been rebuilding our military, standing with our allies, and standing up to our enemies.  And under this administration, if the world knows nothing else, the world knows this: America stands with Israel.  (Applause.)

Here at home, we’ve been expanding freedom (also known as undercutting personal protections), cutting taxes (also known as cutting taxes for the wealthy but not for the poor), rolling back the regulatory state (also known as stripping the Executive Departments’ capacity to do their law-directed jobs of service and protection of the American people), returning authority to the people and the states (also known as refusing to coordinate with states on programs involving federal-state funds for public services needed by the poor and sick in our nation).  And we’ve been upholding the the foundation of our laws by defending — or by nominating strong conservatives to our courts at every level (also known as placing judges in positions to counter efforts to protect the public air, water, land and public rights, services and freedoms).  And I promise you, as of this last week, 103 judges confirmed to our courts.  And every one of them will (read: NOT) uphold all the God-given liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States.  (Applause.)

You’re entering an America where you have a President and an administration that is (Read: NOT) standing strong for all the liberties we cherish: the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion (the freedom of association, the freedom to non-violently protest authoritarian and non-representative democracy. A nation where, yes, even your Senators in Congress, may have decided NOT to discuss or permit a vote on a given law because, frankly, it might be good for the desperate people of our nation).  And we stand without apology for the sanctity of human life (We do this despite shaking hands with the murderers of the world, openly and with complete and breathtaking moral equivalency. Because we can do whatever we want, even if it would be against everything Christ ever stood for!)  (Applause.)

The truth is, when you leave Liberty Mountain, you’re going to find an America filled with promise.  And I know the men and women of the Class of 2019 will thrive because you have the support of your families, you’ve gotten a tremendous education, and because, here at Liberty, it was all built on a foundation that cannot be shaken.  And I know what I’m talking about.

(Read: We hear about how Pence wanted a cross and re-embraced his religion in college.) You know, maybe like many of you graduates today, I was raised in a churched home.  But by the time I got to high school, I was one of those people who still went to church, but I was just going through the motions.  I decided to go my own way.

I got to college though, and I started to meet some people that I could tell had something I lacked.  It wasn’t just confidence or an easy familiarity with success.  I really knew they had something that I didn’t have.  And the only way I could describe it was joy.  They seemed to have a peace, regardless of their circumstances.  And I was drawn to them.

So I decided to start attending a Christian fellowship on campus.  I had this friend who was wearing a really cool cross around his neck, and so I started asking him where he got it so I could get one.  It’s true.  Frankly, I started to pester him about it.

And I’ll never forget the day I went up to him and I said, “Hey man, you know, I’ve decided to go ahead and do the Christian thing.  So, I want to get one of those crosses you wear, so let me know where you got it.”

And he looked at me and said something that I’ll never forget.  He looked me in the eye and he said, “Mike, you know, you got to wear it in your heart before you wear it around your neck.”  (Applause.)

And I wrestled with those words for days.  I didn’t know what he meant, but I knew there was truth in it.

A few weeks later, I found myself at a youth Christian music festival in Wilmore, Kentucky.  I listened to a sermon or two all day long, and I heard those words I’d heard ever since I was a little boy, that “God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

(Read: Pence turns his re-embrace of religion into a mythical conversion experience.)  But on that rainy Saturday night, I heard it differently.  Sitting on that hillside, I realized that also meant that God so loved me that he gave his only son to save me.  And overwhelmed not with guilt but with a heart overflowing with gratitude, that night I put my faith in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and it’s made all the difference.  (Applause.)

(Read: Says go be Christians in the world.) So, I say, not so much as your Vice President, but as a brother in Christ, if what you’ve seen and heard and learned in this place has also taken hold in your hearts, go from here and live it out, share it, because America needs men and women of integrity and faith now more than ever.  (Applause.)  It’s true.

(Read: Creates fear by referring to religious wars in foreign countries that target Christians, which are technically run by criminal gangs posing as terrorists.) The truth is, we live in a time when the freedom of religion is under assault.  Yesterday, I was informed by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that today Christians suffer more persecution around the world than any other religion.  In fact, the United Kingdom released a report just last week that said persecution of Christians worldwide is “near genocide levels.”

(Read: Focuses on how right-wing terrorists have targeted Jews and Muslims in America and New Zealand but doesn’t call the attackers that.)  In the last few months, we’ve seen unspeakable attacks on people of faith — on Jewish synagogues in Pennsylvania and California, on mosques in New Zealand, Christian churches in Sri Lanka, and on three historically black churches in Louisiana.

(Maybe the only good thing he said without any nuance in the entire speech) No one should ever fear for their safety in a place of worship, and these attacks on people of faith must stop.  (Applause.)

One week ago, I was standing before the charred remains of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Louisiana.  And I must tell you, I was deeply inspired by the example of Pastor Gerald Toussaint.  He’s a pastor at one of the three churches that was burned.  But he was the one that said on the day that they arrested the arsonist, he said, quote, “We’ve got to forgive him.”  And Pastor Toussaint brought a community together with faith and grace.  They overcame evil with good.  (Applause.)

And that’s the kind of faith we need to see more of in these divided times — faith that unites on a foundation of grace.

(Read: Makes a leap of nasty discrimination-bating moral equivalency as a cynical statement) Because we live in a time when it’s become acceptable and even fashionable to ridicule and even discriminate against people of faith.  Dr. Carson just talked about it a few moments ago.

(Read: Creating division and stirring up anger and hatred on issues embraced by some religious groups but which have nothing to do with religion, instead, having to do with both human rights and women’s rights, women’s health and women’s freedom to choose. Creating hatred of film-world activists for no good, decent or Christian reason.) You know, it wasn’t all that long ago that the last administration brought the full weight of the federal government against the Little Sisters of the Poor merely because that group of nuns refused to provide a health plan that violated their deeply held religious beliefs.  And when the state of Georgia recently was debating legal protections for the unborn, a bevy of Hollywood liberals said they would boycott the entire state.

(Read: suckering for a position as some sort of Christ-like fall-guy for his wife’s having gotten a plumb job in a private school that discriminates by not allowing gays – LGBTQ)  And when my wife Karen returned to teach art at an elementary Christian school earlier this year, we faced harsh attacks by the media and the secular Left.  And a major newspaper reporter actually started a new hashtag, called “Expose Christian Schools,” inviting students to share their “horror stories” of Christian education.

(Read: Turns, instead of to the discriminations he approves of which are clearly known to his audience from his last statement above, to the ‘freedom of religion’ – this infers that an argument for discriminating against LGBTQ persons starts with the Bill of Rights, which it does not.) The freedom of religion is enshrined in our First Amendment and in the hearts of every American.  And these attacks on Christian education are un-American.  (Applause.)  I’m proud to report our administration has already taken decisive action to protect religious liberty, and we’ll continue to do just that.  And I promise you: We will always stand up for the right of Americans to live, to learn, and to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience.  (Applause.)(More moral equivalency follows at the end of this paragraph, as you can see.)

(Read: No one will take your (er, gun) er, religion away. Creates a word subterfuge that reads, pro-gun ownership while pretending to succor the people as if they needed to know and did not trust that our American Constitution would protect their right to their religious freedom – in particular, theirs.)  The American people cherish our tradition of religious education, and as President Trump said at this very podium two years ago, on our watch, “No one is ever going to stop you from practicing your faith or from preaching what is in your heart.”  That’s a promise.  (Applause.)

(Read:  Moving into his most controversial remarks. Creating a moral equivalency between their religious freedom and creating audience fear that their expression of that would result in ridicule or shunning, most often experienced today by Muslims and Jews.) But my message to all of you in the Class of 2019 is — derives of the moment that we’re living in today.  You know, throughout most of American history, it’s been pretty easy to call yourself Christian.  It didn’t even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible.

(Read: Moving into the lie and what I call the ‘devil’s wedge’, disappointment, generating by raising fear, hatred and anger. )(Look it up). But things are different now.  Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs. (This is a LIE, graduates: Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for those who express NO tolerance for differences between people, differences of race, class, religion, sexual orientation. Christ would have embraced all persons. Christ would have you respect and love ALL persons, regardless of their differences. As would the Muslim faith, the Buddhist faith, and others.) 

(Read: Now he is preparing to ‘give his only command’ of the speech.) So as you go about your daily life, just be ready.  

(Read: Pence is preparing persons for a warning, not for good news or good advice. This is a fear-based approach, a fear-mongering approach, to begin with.) 

Because you’re going to be asked not just to tolerate things that violate your faith; you’re going to be asked to endorse them.  

(This is a lie. Your religion in Christ does not require you to endorse things that are against the law. We are a nation of laws. Religious speech is protected, but criminal and civil law govern public and private behavior, what is permitted and what is not. Faith is not the law. Persons are protected from discrimination by law. Hate crimes encourage punishment for persons who refuse to respect other’s rights based on specific hate-based premises: it’s again the law. Rule of law. It’s the best way to work together, play together, respect each other and live together, with our differences and rights.) 

You’re going to be asked to bow down to the idols of the popular culture. 

(Another horrible image of someone being told they had to bow to someone else – who would say this? It sounds insane! It reminds me of a blow-job actually. The only person who wants you to bow down seems to be Trump and Pence. Shame on them for making you feel ashamed and concerned that ‘popular culture’ would make someone – would ‘force’ someone to bow down. And what is “popular culture”?  Is popular culture the RULE OF LAW? Law follows cultural norms. Yours has followed and developed over centuries: it is NOT “popular culture.”)

(Read: Pence acts like he has to now tell them to move towards some sort of action – but what action would that be? An action that protects them from invaders? Aliens? Mexican Catholics?  Muslims?) So you need to prepare your minds for action, men and women.  You need to show that we can love God and love our neighbor at the same time through words and deeds.  (Pence lets up on the nasty thoughts and images of fear and preparation for attack that he himself just laid in the minds of the listeners – just in time to make them grateful, they probably experienced a sense of relief – maybe also because this speech is almost over.) (Applause.)  

And you need to be prepared to meet opposition. (Pence sticks this last pin in their heads as if it’s important to count on fighting against something, instead of finding peace, developing in cooperative social worlds, jobs, etc.)

(Read: Pence lays a veneer of tradition over his nasty and hateful suggestions by puffery-quoting the founder of the school, the quote also suggests that there is great moral value in forcing yourself against others to get ahead in the world, not a Christian value…) As the founder of this university often said, quote, “No one ever achieved greatness without experiencing opposition.”

(Pence extends his message, referring to the Bible to suggest that if the graduates go down, so will the other guy. This is warlike talk and un-Christian. It almost reminds of a nuclear war in which there would be no survivors, policies that Trump’s administration has made more plausible by canceling the treaty with Russia. I consider this very scary and very surrealistic political posturing.) So, men and women of Liberty University, Class of 2019, as you strive for greatness, know that you’ll face challenges, you’ll face opposition.  But just know this: If, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you end up in the fire, there’ll be another in the fire.  (Applause.)

(Pence dials it back again, embracing values of respect and gentleness.) So, Class of 2019, my word to all of you is decide here and now that you’re going to stand firm, that you’ll put into practice all the things you learned here on Liberty Mountain, that you’ll never give up, that you’ll persevere, and that you’ll always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have, and you’ll do so with gentleness and respect.  Because our nation and our world need that message of grace and love maybe more now than ever before.

(Pence does his version of the pastor blessing the congregation.) And as you do these things, in increasing measure, I promise you, you’ll be blessed, you’ll be a blessing to your family, to your coworkers, and you’ll be a blessing to this nation.

(Pence suggests that what he is doing is strengthening America with morality, which, in fact, Trump is not doing: he is weakening American with immoral and unethical, even criminal behavior – daily.) America has always been a nation of faith.  And as our first Vice President, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  So just know, as you strengthen your foundation of faith and the foundation of faith among the American people, you will be strengthening the foundation of America itself.  (Applause.)

So thank you for the honor of addressing you today.  To all our graduates, I say: Have faith.  Have faith in yourselves, proven by what you’ve accomplished to get you to this very day.  Have faith in the principles and the ideals that you learned here and the noble mission that’s always animated this university.  And have faith that He who brought you this far will never leave you, nor forsake you, because He never will.

(Pence can’t help but stick another political sucker pin into the speech. Here, at the end, it feels even more abrasive, obtrusive, generating anger and hatred and helping foment division, in his ‘great again’ line.) So, Class of 2019, this is your day.  The world awaits.  As you leave this place, go forth for Liberty.  Make Liberty proud.  We will all be cheering you every step of the way.  And never forget: Where the spirit of the Lord is, there’s Liberty.  And I know — (applause) — right after we get done getting this country great again, you’re going to make America greater than ever before.

Congratulations, Class of 2019.  You did it.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  And God bless America.  (Applause.)

END                 11:18 A.M. EDT

My source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-vice-president-pence-liberty-universitys-commencement/

--

No, Mr. Pence, we will never forget – that is, never forget – how great our country was before you became Vice President, and how little you’ve done to keep it great – how very little. And when we speak about how little that is, let us say, it’s got to be the littlest amount. This can be done, as you know, by your being the quietest person in a room of non-Christians, the one who never challenges a non-Christian policy direction, the one whose charity does not extend in Christian ways, the one who has nothing but blame and hatred for those who are different than you, and nothing but secret disgust for those who care to keep our nation’s spirit truly open and truly great.

Dear Graduates of Liberty University,

Your parents and you yourselves have made this day possible. Your graduation is fraught with promise and obligation, not just for you and your family, but for the world. Be brave and open-minded. Be sure to spend time with people who are not like you. Travel widely around in the world if you can, for work and pleasure, and be curious about how others live, what they prioritize in their lives and why, how their social systems are set up, how they function to help those in need, as well as how they help their people excel, both in their personal lives and in their work and business lives. 

Be careful about pre-judging people based on their appearance, their age, their condition, their beliefs. Many across the world hunger for connection with others. Many love to meet Americans, to examine their belief systems and to ask them about their own life stories. Be open to communicating with persons from different cultures.

Your model in Christianity should be to use Jesus Christ as a model for your own behavior in the world. Christ was a human among us. How did he behave? What were the myriad lessons he shared with his disciples and the world? Make yourself into the Christ consciousness in all your work and play. How does one do that? I can think of a couple of necessary elements I would share with you. First, be sure you spend meaningful amounts of time with people, not with your phones and PCs;  not with machines, but with people. Develop a pattern of relationship-building with people, not all of whom are exactly like you. Learn to see their values and help them help you to learn also to be a bigger, broader version of yourself as you grow older, a wiser self. To do this also requires self-contemplation. You are only now at a stage, many of you, when this seems hard to do. Yet, in the years ahead of you, with practice, you can develop the sort of self-contemplation that lets God guide you in this life, that lets his will be your will, that tells you, if you listen deeply in quiet calm times alone with yourself, what it is you should do, which path you should take, how you can help another, how you can help yourself and the world to be a better place to live and experience.

This will also require you to be bold in your positions at times. We are afraid in these situations. You have now been given a rock-solid education. Don't be afraid to expand your horizons in life, to stand firmly for what you believe in. Blend this with tolerance - tolerance of those who have other opinions. Appreciate differences in opinions - let those be your well-spring for intellectual development. Read widely. Read much.

Finally, appreciate actual truths, actual facts. Never listen to the demagogue, the braggart, the snake-oil salesman, the con-artist, the shyster. Each of these has their own giant guilty burden they carry and distribute everywhere.

And never let 'the devil's wedge' into your home or life. The devil wants to sell you anger, hatred of others, meanness, and its wedge is disappointment. Hold always hope in your highest heart of hearts, in your mind, as a beacon, that we as a species can become better for each other and for all living beings, for the entire world as we find it; that we can improve it for future generations not yet born, and for our children that we preserve its integrity and clean it, so we can preserve the bio-diversity that we ourselves are a part of.

God bless you all, and God speed you in your wonderful lives as graduates of Liberty University.

-June Edvenson
an American attorney living and working in Norway
a graduate of the 'religious high school' North Park Academy, Chicago
a graduate of the 'religious college' Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin

AG Barr's '4-page' letter on Mueller's report misrepresents the law

This is really a short memo to note that I decided to download and read AG Barr's 4-page memo to Congress on the Mueller report. (I did that after just learning that he had, under his previous work for Bush, misrepresented the law on specific areas that he sought to influence the administration to take a particular position on.)

Sure enough: the 4-page letter includes misrepresentations of current law. Let's look at how.

On the first issue of what has been called collusion but is really conspiracy and coordinated fraud, Barr only refers to the part of the Mueller report that indicates what Mueller "did not" find. We move on.

On the second issue, of obstruction of justice, Barr says that Mueller lines up all the evidence on both sides. It sounds like some folks would consider that evidence sufficient "beyond a reasonable doubt" including done with "corrupt intent". So it will be interesting to see if Barr released all of this evidence.

What bothers me most, however, are his arguments about how he's protecting the process in some way by not releasing the Mueller report in its entirety to Congress, which he should do.

Barr refers to several federal laws in making his arguments in this last part of the letter. He also refers to a law review article. Since law review articles are NOT THE LAW, I will defer on that. I haven't read it. But anyone can read what the laws he refers to say.

What I did was look very closely at the two other spots that AG Barr then makes a citation - a footnote to what he is stating, about the Mueller report in the letter and, in general, about the process.

He slying writes, "it is apparent that the report contains material that is or could be subject to Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 6(e), which imposes restrictions on the use and disclosure of information relating to "matter(s) occurring before (a) grand jury."

Section e actually says that all proceedings MUST BE RECORDED (except for the grand jury's actual deliberations or their voting time).

Section e also states NO OBLIGATION OF SECRECY MAY BE IMPOSED ON ANY PERSON EXCEPT IN ACCORDANCE WITH RULE 6(e)(2)(B). That section states that UNLESS THESE RULES PROVIDE OTHERWISE, a list of persons "must not disclose a matter occurring before the grand jury" - and the list includes the grand jurors, interpreters, court reporters, persons in the room, etc.

HOWEVER, Section e also has a section called EXCEPTIONS. The first exception states that "Disclosure of a grand-jury matter" . . . "may be made to . . . any government personnel - including those of a state, state subdivision, Indian tribe or foreign government - that an attorney for the government considers necessary to assist in performing that attorneys' duty to enforce federal criminal law."  This means that any attorney working for the government, CAN decide that the matters SHOULD be released to any state actor, such as a Congressperson or even Congressional staff, if they thought that would assist them in developing the enforcement of criminal law!

This means there is NO EXCUSE for not releasing the entire report to Congress!
Of course, Congressional powers can assist in the development of the enforcement of criminal law. That enforcement might lead to the capture and prosecution of persons now planning the disruption of the 2020 Election in the U.S. but for whom the law now in place is not strong enough nor specific enough to respond quickly and effectively to stop criminal activity related to obstructing the democratic voting process.

I would show my copied-over version of Barr's letter, in which I include the sections of the federal law he refers to, but can't manage to add it to this posting - sorry. I've cited the points I wanted to make, in any case.

In Barr's next footnote, Barr seems to be suggesting that 'you better watch out if you ask to see all of it' - but the citation he puts there is actually citing a section of law that gives COURTS (NOT HIM) the power to find someone in contempt for violating procedures and processes. Without stating it, he acts like this is 'his' deterrent against 'procedural violations'! Sorry, buddy: it's the court's deterrent: you aren't in charge of that decision. This means he's also suggested that the gap between the judicial power and the executive power has been 'crossed' in some fashion - i.e. by his statement of enforcement authority which he does not hold. And that is illegal. Gee, we're really scared now about Barr's power to hurt us if we try to find out what our taxpayer dollars paid for our best legal minds to . . . find out . . . and then tell us.

Maybe someone needs to go to jail.  For contempt - or violation of the process.  Maybe someone needs to lose his law license. Maybe that's AG Barr.

As I wrote since I originally released this blog post: the two footnotes I analyzed from AG Barr's letter, if written by a law student into, for example, a law class paper, and if then reviewed closely by the law professor in giving that student a grade, would simply flunk miserably! And yet, he's permitted to 'shovel this shit' at the country, Congress and our democracy? What an astoundingly galling reality!

-June Edvenson is an American attorney living and working in Norway. She is a former Administrative Law Judge and Hearing Officer for the State of Illinois, a Fellow of the International Bar Association, and active in international tax and legal work.