Mourning a Diligent, Intrepid Champion of Truth & Justice

Vincent Bugliosi, who died Saturday, was known mostly as the lawyer who carried out the successful prosecution of Charles Manson for his notorious murders and who chronicled that prosecution in Helter Skelter, the best-selling true crime book ever.

Bugliosi
("Democracy Now!")

I learned of Bugliosi as he promoted his book The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President, which is an expansion of his piece "None Dare Call It Treason: Five Supreme Court Justices Are Criminals in the Truest Sense of the Word," which generated more feedback than did anything else The Nation had ever published.

Bugliosi had already lambasted the High Court upon penning No Island of Sanity: Paula Jones v. Bill Clinton: The Supreme Court on Trial, which analyzes the decision that allows for a civil lawsuit against an incumbent president of the United States to be heard and therefore distract him from his exceptionally important duties.

In the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, which is the subject of two documentaries, Bugliosi spells out a case according to which Bush is guilty of having unlawfully killed thousands of US troops by ordering them into Iraq under pretenses he knew to be false.  For as long as Bush lives without a pardon for the misconduct at issue, that case can be brought against him, with regard to any said victim, in a criminal court whose jurisdiction covers the final residence of the victim.

Bugliosi's magnum opus is Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which proves beyond all doubt the murder of the 35th chief executive of this country was committed by Lee Harvey Oswald and which proves beyond a reasonable doubt the crime did not result from any conspiracy.

Bugliosi, with his apt frankness and his passionate devotion to logic and to the rule of law, set a shining example of citizenship, including by waging two campaigns for district attorney of the County of Los Angeles.  Neither ended in victory but he attained a record of 105-1 in felony jury trials as a deputy DA and managed to produce the album Greatest Latin Love Songs of the Century.

Bernie Punctures the Myth of Conservatism as Mainstream

The major news-outlets' coverage of the candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Democratic presidential nomination, while quite unfair, is vast enough to surprise some of us when we consider that the ex-representative has spent his career fighting abuse by corporations and that corporations own an overwhelming majority of the US media and would be satisfied by the election of frontrunner and ex-sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), whose campaign logo fittingly includes an arrow that points rightward.

Sanders ("Democracy Now!"),
Clinton (Minh Ngo / Dept. of State)

The former secretary of State, not yet validating her campaign staff's remarks that say she understands the need to "work for and earn" votes, has been so elusive as to allow the traction Sanders has attained via an abundance of interviews and of crowded town-hall-style meetings.  Reason would lead us to expect that the appeal of his openness will only grow as Clinton waits another week to hold her kickoff rally, holds it in one of the few least accessible locations in the Big Apple, and waits until weeks from now before she holds events at which she will engage voters who will not be preselected.

With so much of the national spotlight on Sanders, he is skillfully utilizing his opportunity to do something that is of great importance not only for his candidacy but for future left-wing candidacies across this land and that has been done by others but not, in recent years, by anyone with as prominent a platform: boldly advocate liberal stances, concisely explain their wisdom, sharply defend them, and mention that a strong majority of them are popular.

The propaganda according to which liberalism (despite its responsibility for the foundation of this country and for every progression in its history) is generally opposed by the public has persuaded most liberals to drop -- or never develop --  the confidence required to maintain this nation's course toward the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution.  The example the former mayor of Burlington now sets is likely to encourage many liberals to (re)gain such confidence.

The widespread support for leftist ideas is evident in statistics such as the following.