Monday, July 7, 2025

Fulfillment of a Desire and More!

At the end of June your grateful Peasant had been given
the wonderful opportunity to engage in something that I
have long wanted to do but didn't get the opportunity 
until now at 67 years; two-thirds of a century! Sometimes
something is better late than never.

What is this wonderful thing, you ask? The Peasant took 
part in a political debate. My first ever. Both it  --- and I --- 
were great! Three days before the event I received a call
from an old friend and fellow conservative activist who 
asked if I would like to be in a political debate. My response 
was "When and where?" After getting the details I made my
 arrangements to be there where I would be joined by my
conservative friend and two liberal friends, one of whom
was the organizer of the event and its host. He brought along
two hourglasses, one with a one-minute flow and the other
a two-minute instrument. We each chose a political topic and 
were given two minutes each to present our topics, after which
the others would have one minute to respond either in agree-
ment or in opposition. Then the presenter of the topic would 
get a minute to rebut the latter. We would go around the table 
to get everyone involved in the various roles in the proceedings,
then close and have refreshments together; we were at an ice
cream parlor in Wauwatosa and had fantastic ice cream and
cool beverages, which were an even bigger treat because we 
were at an outdoor table on an oppressively hot afternoon
complete with unrelenting sun.

My topic was "President Trump is Not a Fascist", in which I first
defined what fascism is, then gave examples of how our president 
has not governed as a fascist and is therefore not a fascist. 
My conservative chum gave a fine speech in corroboration while 
our liberal friends did their best to poke holes in my points but to
no avail. Amazingly, astonishingly, and almost shockingly, there 
were no angry words, no angry outbursts, no rancor at all. Even
though we all are good friends we walked through dangerous 
territory which could have resulted in the hardest feelings and
serious feuding. But with our strong bonds of friendship, and our
desire to have a debate without any negativity we accomplished 
what we intended. Furthermore, we have established a debate club
which will meet on a monthly basis and at various venues, be they
our homes or restaurants, pubs, parks, or indeed ice cream parlors.
We want to show that it is possible, desirable, and necessary to 
have discussions of the issues of the day while taking a calm,
measured approach and even a bit of collegiality to the activity.
With the divisiveness in our country in which even friends and 
families are acrimoniously divided, we could promote healing 
and, dare I say, friendship.

I am proud to be a charter member of such a fine group of people
with this shared purpose and these goals. I shall be sharing the 
related events as they unfold over time, among which I hope to 
include the club and its concept catching on. And boy, debating 
is a lot of fun!


MEM



Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Independence Day Thoughts and Wishes

249 years a nation, sovereign and proud. Our United States
of America is celebrating another birthday in two days, and 
we her people have a lot to celebrate in addition to her birth-
day.

We have Donald Trump back in the White House. Thanks to 
President Trump, we are having a reduction in the rate of infla-
tion. We have all but sealed the southern border, and far fewer
illegal entrants have gotten in; many of them, however, have 
been caught and deported --- not released, as was the procedure
in the Biden era. Countries with whom we trade with in the 
world marketplace are now treating us with respect and are 
no longer imposing stiff tariffs on our goods, blocking them
from being sold while we have very low, if any tariffs on 
theirs. 

We are cracking down on allowing males to compete against
female athletes in college sports, resulting in far fewer injuries
to the latter by the former as well as the latter winning events
on a level playing field. Enemy nations are now realizing once 
again that we are not to be trifled with and must be taken seriously
lest they become imperiled. And best of all, we have a head of state
who commands respect rather than draws scorn and ridicule.

At home we are regaining our constitutional rights, i.e. freedom of 
expression; high tech firms are less willing to block or censor us
on their public media sites because of our expressing certain political
beliefs. Freedom of worship without being placed on any political or
governmental organizations' list of alleged extremist groups, such as
the Southern Christian Leadership Council drawing up such a list and
placing pre-Vatican II Catholics and conservative activist groups such
as Moms for Liberty. I could go on, quite easily, but you get the gist.

Our country is embracing once again what it was meant to be, created 
to be, and is once again deemed by her people to be; a free, sovereign
republic ruled by its people and not by a self-proclaimed elite behaving
like gods on high, treating the people like peasants or children. And 
in light of the events of recent years it's none to soon.

Happy Independence Day!


MEM

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Update re: the Judge Dugan Case

The Peasant just learned that Judge Hannah C. Dugan's 
federal court case has been postponed until a future date.
No clear reason was given, and no new date was given
to resume proceedings. All I can tell you, my wonderful
readers, is that when your dependable Peasant finds out 
anything new, you all shall know all the relevant details.
Stay close!


MEM

Monday, June 16, 2025

The Fall of a Respected Legal Figure

One would think that after 52 years one would know someone
extremely well. But then, something happens where you see a 
side of that person that you never even thought was there. 

Your astonished Peasant learned in April of a friend and class-
mate since our high school days had become that person in my
life. Judge Hannah C. Dugan, of late a Milwaukee County Circuit
Judge, was always interested in politics and law; she was on our 
All Student Council. After Catholic Memorial High School 
Dugan went on to earn her degree in law, then became an attorney
specializing in providing legal aid for low-income people
through Catholic Charities. In 2016 liberal Dugan was elected 
to her current judicial position, and became a respected barrister
with praise from both liberals and conservatives --- including
members on the Wisconsin Supreme Court; I myself voted for
her as well. 

And here in 2025 I am trying to make sense out of what transpired
recently in Judge Dugan's courtroom that has confounded me and
so many people like me who held the judge in the highest esteem.
On April 18, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
agents were in the courthouse to find and arrest Eduardo Flores-
Ruiz on the grounds of being in the country illegally.
Flores-Ruiz happened to be in Dugan's court as the defendant in
a trial in which he was being tried on assault charges, having 
severely beaten three people. Two of the victims were in Dugan's
court when she concealed and aided in the escape from her court
and the courthouse the defendant, Flores-Ruiz, and ICE agents
came to arrest him on the charge of being an illegal immigrant.
Judge Dugan had Flores-Ruiz go to the Jury Room and wait for
further instructions. Now, no one goes into that room but the 
jury members in a case, the bailiff, and the judge; your layman
Peasant is not certain of this being so because of a law, or if
it is a in-court proscribed procedure. From that room, Flores-Ruiz,
who was accompanied by his attorney, was instructed to go out
through a door at the back of the room which led to the public 
hallway. From there, Flores-Ruiz and his attorney made their 
way to an elevator which they rode to the main exit from the 
courthouse and exited the building. When Flores-Ruiz began
to leave the grounds, he was chased and apprehended. But what
about the two victims of this thug, who also happened to hear Judge
Judge Dugan's instructions to their attacker? They seemed to be 
flipped the middle finger in all this. 

The FBI got involved, subsequently beginning an investigation 
into whether the judge helped an illegal immigrant avoid arrest. 
She was arrested by the FBI and charged with two felony counts
of obstruction and concealment of an individual, and was jailed.
Judge Dugan was later released on her own recognizance after
a few hours. FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General
Pam Bondi both publicly spoke in support of the arrest of Dugan.

Judge Dugan hired two attorneys to represent her, interestingly
enough both being prominent Republicans: former U.S. Attorney
Stephen M. Biskupic and former U.S. Solicitor General Paul 
Clement. One would think that she would have hired some 
heavyweight Democrat attorneys, perhaps someone high up in
the hierarchy of the ACLU, as she has strong left-wing political
leanings. That, and most Republicans in government support 
Dugan's arrest with some of them calling for her disbarment 
while many Democrats oppose her arrest and hail her as a 
heroine, a modern day Joan of Arc.

AG Bondi made it clear that judiciary members opposing the 
Trump administration's immigration policies would face 
prosecution; "If you are harboring a fugitive, we don't care who
you are; we will come after you and we will prosecute you."
Democrat members of Congress and liberals in the judiciary
said that Judge Dugan's arrest was an attempt to intimidate the 
courts in order to get them to acquiesce with President Trump's
immigration policies, that this was something they'd expect from
Third World countries, that it defies the Constitution, that this 
is a threat to the independence of the judiciary, and a plethora of 
similar moanings, groanings, hootings and hollerings one would
expect from lefties. 

But the plain and simple truth is, at the end of the day, Judge Hannah
C. Dugan violated the law. While it is true that a judge has authority
over his or her courtroom, the judge is still not allowed to undertake 
some certain measures which are outside the bounds of the law --- 
among which is the concealment of a defendant from law enforcement
and assisting a defendant in fleeing to avoid arrest. My old friend had
done both. Apparently Her Honor shares the opinion of many on her  
side of the political spectrum, thinking President Trump is not only 
wrong but tyrannical in wanting to round up as many people illegally 
here in our country as possible. Moreover, many of these like-minded
sorts have protested outside of the Federal Courthouse in Milwaukee
where news of Judge Dugan's arrest was made public. While many of
these people may not have much, if any, knack for understanding the 
relevant parts of the law (and don't care), Judge Dugan should, and 
should also respect the law and its bounds, as the law is what covers 
each and every one of us. Judges interpret the law as it applies to each
situation which is at the heart of each case that comes into court. 
Sometimes the judge cites the law in telling the plaintiff or defendant 
no, you can't do that. But what credibility would a judge have if he
or she violated the law as it is applied to how that judge manages
his or her court?

It's a sad situation that Judge Dugan has gotten caught up in. On one 
hand, I feel badly for her. She made a huge mistake in judgement, no
pun intended. On the other hand, your sorrowful Peasant opines that
she must face the lawful consequences of her huge mistake, whatever 
they may be. Maybe she'll be fined. Maybe she'll be imprisoned. 
Maybe she'll have to give up her judgeship. Maybe she'll have to give 
up her license to practice law. Whatever sentence is meted out, Judge
Dugan must face it squarely and accept her just desserts. For our  
nation is a nation of laws, not a nation of people who make the laws, 
having their political stripes dictate what laws they would write and 
what they would mean, and how they would be interpreted, never mind
the Constitution or any court in the judiciary.

Judge Dugan returns to Federal court in July. My guess is that her case
will be decided by November. The next five months will prove telling
for the judge and what her future from that point forward will look like.


MEM






Tuesday, June 10, 2025

John "Paddy" Hemingway, R.I.P.

The last of the fighter pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain,
John "Paddy" Hemingway joined the Royal Air Force as a
teenager, and came home one heck of a man. Having participated
in the three-month battle in British skies, "Paddy" helped secure
his country from the threat of invasion by Nazi Germany. 
During the war he was shot down four times and was awarded 
the Distinguished Flying Cross, through it all becoming a 
Group Captain. 

When Winston Churchill said "Never in the field of human conflict
was there so much owed by so many to so few," of the courageous
men who fought this battle to keep Britain free, he was talking about
men like Paddy Hemingway.

Paddy went to the Ultimate Glory at 105. Rest in Peace. 
You are a truly Great Briton.


MEM



Thursday, June 5, 2025

Meanwhile Back at the Ivy League ...

Very recently, masked activists (thugs, really) burst into Columbia
University's main library, ejected students, physically attacked 
dissenters, committed vandalism, and engaged in general mayhem.
At least 78 of these hoodlums were arrested, 65 students received
interim suspensions, and another 33 individuals, how many of which
were students was unclear, were barred from the campus.

Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, called the police; 
something liberal college and university presidents at liberal
schools haven't been known to do when confronted by such 
situations. After viewing the carnage, Shipman stated "I saw
it defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing 
slogans." Congratulations are to be given to Acting President 
Shipman for her exhibiting such resolve. Let's hope that her
courage catches on with other heads of institutions of higher learning. 

Harvard will be rocky soil upon which the seeds of this courage 
displayed at Columbia will fall. Harvard has deep-running anti-
Israel and Jewish bias; an internal investigation, no less, discovered
as much. Its activist enclave does not regard Israel so much as a 
sovereign state but as a boil on the skin of the earth which must be 
lanced. Israeli and American Jewish students are routinely harassed,
often to the point of these students not being able to attend class.
Harvard's administration has done almost nothing to help them.
These pro-Palestinian students and others have dominated classrooms
and classes, clubs and other extracurriculars, and campus public spaces
with "discussions" about the Palestinian cause. Harvard's bowing and
scraping at the altar of "inclusivity" backs this to the hilt, the safety
and emotional well-being of Jewish students and Jewish faculty
members be damned. 

The war for academic freedom will be fought in many universities,
fought on a campus-to-campus basis from without and from within.
Some colleges and universities will stand up to and ultimately defeat 
these ratbags, while other institutions will cower and knuckle under
to them. It's too early in the game to assess the score and how it will 
end, so we must wait and see who will prevail.


MEM


Thursday, May 29, 2025

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R.I.P.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart was a Republican member of the House 
of Representatives from Miami, but wasn't always a Republican,
nor always from Miami. A Democrat until the mid-1980s, 
he admired President Ronald Reagan and his ambassador to the
United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick, both of whom saw the world
as Diaz-Balart saw it. Both Diaz-Balart and Kirkpatrick left the 
Dems for the GOP in the mid-1980s. 

Born into a prominent Cuban political family in 1954, the family 
fled Castro and his communist revolution to Miami, where they 
became just as prominent. LD-B has a brother, Mario, who was 
elected to the House in in 2002 and is still there. 

Both brothers are heroes to the Cuban dissidents still in Cuba,
either not having yet escaped or unable to escape. Lincoln Diaz-
Balart passed away at 70. Requiescat in pace.


MEM