My Point of View: It’s a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ society

Published 7:39 pm Monday, January 21, 2019

My Point of View by John Forman

John Forman

 

I am starting to wonder if the old saying “innocent until proven guilty” has become obsolete in today’s politically charged environment. Every day someone makes another unsubstantiated claim of wrong doing against the president, and we hear calls for his removal from office. No matter how often the claims are shown to be circumstantial and not true, the cry from the left is “he is guilty.” We hear that the special prosecutor is going to be fired. The problem is the president has said hundreds of times he wants the investigation to be completed. He does complain about the length of the investigation and the meandering of the investigation into areas that have nothing to due with Russian collusion in election. I have my concerns about the investigation, I think it has turned into a justice department (shadow government) backdoor punishment of anyone that questions their motives. I have to question the kid gloves handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation into her server and her dealing with countries that donated large amounts of money to the Clinton foundation while she was secretary of state, especially when you look at the high pressure tactics used against anybody involved with president Trump. They even brag about setting perjury traps and having insurance plans in place in case Trump got elected. I used to wonder why the FBI headquarters building kept the name J Edgar Hoover after people found out about his political involvement and dirty tricks while FBI director. Now we know that the FBI has maintained his methods all these years. We now enter endless hearings and investigations by the now democratic controlled House — hearings not intended to find the truth but to prove the presumed guilt of President Trump. Democrats see political advances through these hearings and hope it diverts the voters from their open border policies. These problems seem to be leaking into our judiciary, the Minnesota Supreme Court justice who swore in our new governor, Tim Walz, ended the ceremony with a fist pump. Do actions like this give the appearance of neutrality by our judges. Will this justice recuse herself in any political cases in the state?

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I have made it known that I did not vote for President Trump and have some reservations about some of his actions. I have had the same reservations about some of the actions of most presidents, but I will wait for the special prosecutor’s final report, even if it takes four or five years and another $10 million or $20 million. I wonder what will happen if the quest against President Trump is successful? What type of fallout will there be?

A recent column in the Tribune was another example of guilty until proven innocent. The writer said that even if the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation finds the police officers involved in Albert Lea shooting acted properly, they did not do it right. The emphasis is on the criminal as a victim and not on the safety of the police officer. Policemen have seconds to decide whether to use their gun or take the chance of being killed or injured. Some people seem to think they should take another few seconds before making that decision, but what they forget is that those few seconds can get the officer killed. It’s easy for people to secondguess the officer when it’s not them or their fellow officer who may have been injured or killed. We need to support our officers and not embolden people who would do harm by giving them cover for not following police commands. I will wait for the results of the BCA report.

John Forman is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.