What a Field Day for the Heat

August 26, 2017

Disgusted

Late yesterday, as hurricane Harvey bore down on Texas, the Donald pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. Joe, known for parading inmates around in pink underwear in his concentration camp (his words) during 100-degree heat , was convicted of criminal contempt last month for violating a court order barring his unlawful policing and racial profiling. Sheriff Joe was scheduled to be sentenced on October 5th, but I guess that won’t be happening here.

The Donald’s pardon, the first of many to come, amounts to a stamp of approval for Joe’s hideous practices and a favor to a political ally. The pardon didn’t even go through the review process, which is usually performed by the Justice Department. So, there are legal questions as to propriety of the pardon, but it will likely stand legal challenge. Given the spineless congress now in office, any political consequences to Trump’s Racist-Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free policy ain’t exactly clear.

More concerning than the pardon itself is the signal Trump’s sent to the overzealous (or just racist) law enforcement community. The “do want you want, I got your back” message is dangerous and encourages further abuse as battle lines are being drawn.

On the other hand, the pardon further identifies Trump as a racist fascist who feels entitled to ignore inconvenient laws. Though, after two-hundred-ninety-one post-election days of observing Trump’s behavior and words we know something’s happening here.

The sheriff Joe pardon strikes deep into the republic’s paranoia. We gotta stop Trump, shutdown his sound, everybody knows what’s going down.

Hooray for our side,
osv

PS-
Yes, I seem to have a song stuck in my head.