Alien & Sedition Acts, 1798.
Mike Waltz is a DOLT - Matthew Lyons is a HERO.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz appeared on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan this weekend with Waltz rather forcefully blabbing on and on with various rationalizations for “removing terrorists” in the form of Venezuelan “gang members” with the use of the Sedition Acts of 1798.
In the course of the interview, Waltz claimed that “the Alien and Sedition Act fully applies." NO - IT - DOESN’T !! What a DOLT. The Alien Enemies portion of the two acts - the Alien and Sedition Acts - is unfortunately still in effect. But the Sedition Act expired in 1801, two hundred twenty four years ago. THIS is the quality of “National Security Advisor” with which we are presented.
As already explained, the Sedition Act expired in 1801. The REAL reason for its three-year existence is to be found in the emboldened section of Section 2, in part quoted here:
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing, any false, scandalous, and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said President, or to bring them or either of them into contempt or disrepute; or the excite against them, or either or any of them ……
As highlighted in the penultimate post, President John Adams was under a GREAT deal of criticism and ridicule during his tenure as POTUS. He found it unbearable to be called “his rotundity,” “the Duke of Braintree,” and far worse. So he arranged for an Act of law in order to silence his critics.
John Adams. Second President of the United States of America.
Matthew Lyon, a newspaper editor in Vermont was the first and most famous victim of the Sedition Act. Lyon had founded a newspaper, The Scourge of Aristocracy and Repository of Important Political Truth, after the local Rutland Herald refused to publish his letters and essays. Lyon wrote in his new paper that Adams had an "unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice." He was sentenced to four months solitary confinement in a freestanding, unheated stone cell (12 X 16 feet) in the Vermont winter and a $1000.00 fine (equivalent to about $20,000.00 today) to be paid prior to release. He was elected to the U.S. Congress by overwhelming majority while still imprisoned and almost miraculously survived his frozen ordeal.
Matthew Lyon (1749 – 1822) Irish-born American farmer, printer, and soldier who served as U.S. representative from Vermont and Kentucky.
Can anyone IMAGINE if this law were in force today ? The prisons couldn’t hold the convicted. And the fool-for-a-cabinet-member, the dunderhead Mike Waltz says it is in “full force” today.
The other Act, the Alien Enemies Act does carry the force of law and has never been revoked. It does, however, provide ONLY for use in a time of war with the nation of the persons being expelled. Insofar as can be determined, we are not at war with Venezuela, so it seems likely that EVEN this Trump-packed SCOTUS will rule against the use of the Act. How will these people be retrieved? Will they be? The best prediction seems to be that -- with perhaps one or two exceptions - they will not. Only time can tell.
Ignorance, stupidity, and brutality are no strangers to the White House. We have had many a miscreant for a leader.
Take heed: it is NOT POSSIBLE to sustain a democratic republic absent an educated and virtuous citizenry. We have neither; so the days of this Republic - such as it is - are numbered.