Phairness Doctrine

“Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time,” Trump told reporters at the White House today in an attempt to downplay Manafort’s time and influence on his presidential campaign. Okay, got it. The Paul Manafort Trump is talking about must not have had much of an impact on the campaign, then, right? I mean, it was a very short period of time. Or, wait. Perhaps Trump was also talking about... The Paul Manafort who spent 2006-2016 working as a political and image consultant for Ukranian Victor Yanukovych, the leader of the Russia-friendly Party of Regions. (Manafort was paid $12.7 million from 2007 to 2012 by Yanukovych’s party) The Paul Manafort whose 2006 purchase of a Trump Tower apartment, for all cash, by the way, coincided with Manafort’s firm signing a $10 million contract with a pro-Putin Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska. The Paul Manafort who was Trump’s campaign manager from March of 2016 to August of 2016, or 144 days. (Trump has claimed Manafort was ...

How can Trump supporters, in particular white Christians, be so adamant and narrowly focused in their support of Trump? How can they refuse to look at, or care about, all the questionable things Trump does, while only seeing the “good” stuff he’s done? I believe it’s pretty easy to understand why this is when you look at how they think about other areas of their lives where they are forced to choose what they believe in and HOW they believe in them. It starts with their belief in God . Or, I should say, their narrowly defined Christian God. They believe their God is the one, true God, and that everyone else is going to hell. I don’t say that as hyperbole, this is the logical conclusion to their religious beliefs. With that belief comes a substantial amount of hubris and unwillingness to listen to ANY other viewpoint. They are protected for eternity, while the rest of us will burn in an eternal pit of fire and brimstone. That’s a pretty high horse on which to sit. From there, this ...

Alice Johnson was convicted of a crime (dealing drugs) about which our current president insisted in May of 2018 : “...if we don’t get tough on drug dealers we’re wasting our time, and that toughness includes the death penalty ." The sentencing guidelines for which crime our current Attorney General Jeff Sessions has “ returned to the guidance of President George W. Bush’s administration by calling for more uniform punishments — including mandatory minimum sentences — and instructing prosecutors to pursue the harshest possible charges.” So, as Trump (rightfully) commutes the sentence of one person, he and his administration are actively working to create untold thousands of new Alice Johnsons. Conversely, President Obama commuted 1,715 sentences for non-violent drug offenders, while Attorney General Holder also instituted more reasoned policies for charging and sentencing of those accused of non-violent drug offenses. Their policies were meant to combat unfair sente...