The United States' Dance With Political Persecution
For the record, I can take or leave Steve Bannon. When he came on the scene at Breitbart all those years ago after Andrew’s death – at which time I was writing for the Big Government section there, the online publication moved away from one of its core missions: to educate on the issues. Instead, it took a more sensationalist tone and moved in a direction that put it in the neighborhood of other run-of-the-mill online conservative publications.
That said, I hold no animosity toward him, but that’s not what this article is about for me. For me this is about the incredible double-standard being executed in our Executive and Judicial Branches and the fact that we – as a nation – seem to be okay with political persecution even when the First Amendment guarantees both Free Speech and the right to redress government.
The Goings On…
Bannon was found guilty in July on two counts of contempt of Congress, one count for not turning over records to the illegitimate House January 6 Committee and another count for refusing to testify, even though before the conviction he had agreed to testify.
US District Judge Carl Nichols sentenced Bannon to four months in prison for contempt of Congress, adding a $6,500 fine. And while he stayed the sentence while Bannon appeals, Nichols stressed that appeal must be “timely.”
The crimes carry a minimum sentence of 30 days in prison and a maximum sentence of a year, along with a $100,000 fine for each charge.
“Flaunting congressional subpoenas betrays a lack of respect for the legislative branch,” Nichols said Friday before he announced Bannon’s sentence.
Aside from the fact that the configuration of political hacks and clowns in the US House of Representatives warrants little “respect” for the pain they have inflicted on the nation, that is a side story in and of itself.
The Point…
The big point I am trying to make here is this. If a contempt of Congress charge is a jail-able offense why didn’t former Attorney General Eric Holder see jail time? Why didn’t disgraced political operative and former IRS muckity Lois Lerner see jail time?
As I wrote in a July 28th article titled, “This Is Why Congress Has Lost The Trust Of The American People”:
In 2015, then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in Contempt of Congress for refusing to deliver documents pertaining to the failed gun-running sting operation known as Fast and Furious. This covert and poorly thought-out operation that, in the end, did little but put high-powered weaponry into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives under the authority of Holder’s Justice Department.
In the end, Holder was held in Criminal Contempt of Congress (like Bannon) and subsequently held in Civil Contempt of Congress. The civil contempt charge allowed Congress to go to court to seek additional documents.
But much different from Bannon’s situation, the Criminal Contempt of Congress charge against Holder, which was supposed to direct a US attorney to convene a grand jury in the case, never bore fruit because Holder had purview over the investigation.
So, for the first time since 1983 when Rita Levelle of the Environmental Protection Agency (a Republican appointee, by the by) was convicted of lying to the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, we see not only a conviction on a Contempt of Congress charge but a jail-time sentencing. By the way, Levelle – the Republican – was sentenced to six months in prison, five years probation, and levied a $10,000 fine.
In fact, dating back to 1975, no other individuals have ever been tried and sentenced for Contempt of Congress, just Lavelle and Bannon; not Holder, not the infamous IRS hitwoman Lois Lerner, not Janet Reno, not Hillary Clinton’s fall guy Bryan Pagliano, no one. Just two Republicans that the majority Democrats sought to target.
It would be one thing if Contempt of Congress charges were always referred to trial so that a jury could decide the fate of those held in contempt. But history bears out that this is hardly the case.
It would also be another matter if the January 6th Committee was a legitimate panel with bipartisan support. It is not. And as it continues on in its traveling political road show, this illegitimate committee proves itself nothing more than a taxpayer-funded political commercial for the far-Left Democrats up for re-election…
The Disingenuousness Is Enough To Make You Sick
Democrats and their far-Left fascist party members vomit the disingenuous declaration that they are all for equity and justice but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The truth is this. The current fascist-led Democrat Party in the United States has no issues with executing political persecution ala the Castros in Cuba, Putin in Russia, or Xi in China.
Just ask Steve Bannon and Rita Levelle.
