A Necessary Move

Last summer, many of us watched as Mark and Patricia McCloskey brandished weapons to protect their home from rioters who had broken down the gate into their neighborhood. Although I would not recommend the McCloskey’s gun safety techniques, after watching the video of the incident, I suspect what they did may have saved their lives. They were responding to threats by a mob. The overzealous St. Louis judicial system charged them with various violations of the law, and the case proceeded.

Today, MRC TV reported the following:

The St. Louis, Missouri couple who became famous for defending their home against an aggressive Black Lives Matter mob have been pardoned by their Governor after picking up misdemeanor charges and some convictions for brandishing guns at the rioters.

Fox News reported on August 3 that Missouri Governor Mike Parson pardoned both Mark and Patricia McCloskey of their misdemeanor convictions after they had pled guilty for “threatening the passersby with an AR-15 rifle and was fined $750.” 

The infamous incident for which they were fined was, of course, was when the couple – feeling threatened by a Black Lives Matter mob which had broken down the gate to their private road – brandished a semi-auto rifle and pistol to keep the mob off of their property. 

The dramatic self-defense situation occurred at the peak of the George Floyd riots in June 2020. 

The article concludes:

Several of the BLM protesters received citations for their actions on that day, but prosecutors deemed that their actions were more peaceful than threatening and didn’t pursue charges. Though that treatment seems a bit lenient, at least compared to how the McCloskeys described the event.

Thankfully Governor Parsons disagreed with the charges and convictions and issued the couple a pardon on July 30. Mr. McCloskey expressed satisfaction at the pardon and slammed his charges and misdemeanor convictions. “It’s a correction of something that should have never happened in the first place,” he told Fox News.

Well thank goodness for the pardon. At the very least we are not at a point in our country’s history where we can’t defend our own private property. Still the left is testing those waters.

Notice that charges were pursued on the McCloskeys, but not on the BLM protesters (who did actually break down a gate — trespassing and destruction of property — to get into the McCloskey’s neighborhood). That tells you all you need to know about the St. Louis judicial system.

When You Just Don’t Have Principles

Yesterday The Daily Wire posted an article noting that after President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of former adviser Roger Stone, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she would support a bill that would limit a president’s pardoning abilities. First of all, President Trump commuted the sentence–he did not pardon.Secondly, Roger Stone is not in good heath, and a prison sentence would probably result in his death. Seems like a rather high price to pay for lying to Congress and witness tampering. Particularly since many others who lied to Congress have never been charged–James Comey, James Clapper, etc. Finally, some states are currently letting murderers and rapists out of prison because of the coronavirus. How is Roger Stone a threat to anyone?

The article notes:

Pelosi and Democrats, however, want to make sure presidents can’t pardon allies, calling Trump’s actions “an act of staggering corruption.”

“Congress will take action to prevent this type of brazen wrongdoing. Legislation is needed to ensure that no president can pardon or commute the sentence of an individual who is engaged in a cover-up campaign to shield that President from criminal prosecution,” Pelosi said, as reported by The Times-Union.

The outlet noted, however, that such a bill would never become law with a Republican-controlled Senate and White House. “The bill would also likely face legal challenges were it to become law,” the Times-Union reported.

Trump had every right to pardon Stone, even if some don’t like it. Two former prosecutors – Brett L. Tolman and Arthur Rizer – penned an op-ed for Fox News saying Stone was “a relative bit player” sentenced to justify Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.

The article mentions some pardons by past Presidents:

Journalist and author Andrew McCarthy, too, defended Trump’s actions and pointed out multiple pardons from Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama that Democrats defended.

President Bill Clinton pardoned his own brother for felony distribution of cocaine. And a key witness in the Whitewater scandal for which he and Hillary Clinton were under investigation. And three others convicted in independent counsel Ken Starr’s probe. And Marc Rich, in what was a straight-up political payoff. And his CIA director. And his HUD secretary. And eight people convicted in an investigation of his Agriculture Department,” McCarthy wrote.

Obama also commuted the sentence of a U.S. soldier who passed top-secret information to WikiLeaks. He pardoned his former Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman, who’d been convicted of making false statements about a leak of classified information to The New York Times,” McCarthy added.

Nancy Pelosi was in the House of Representatives during these pardons and never questioned them. Now, when commuting a man’s sentence could possibly save his life, she is going to attempt to pass an unconstitutional law.

Convicted For Doing His Job, Now Pardoned

CNS News is reporting today that President Trump has pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Sheriff Arpaio was convicted of misdemeanor criminal contempt of court stemming from a civil rights lawsuit that accused him of racially profiling Latinos in the course of his law enforcement duties. He faced six months in jail. Sheriff Arpaio is 85 years old. He was checking the immigration status of Latinos because many Latinos were illegally immigrating to Maricopa County. It would have been a waste of time and money to check the immigration status of other groups. He might have found a few illegals, but the effort was better spent in the Latino community. To do otherwise is the equivalent of stopping little old ladies at a checkpoint when the description of the bank robber you are looking for says six-feet tall and about thirty-five years old.

The article includes the following statement from The White House Office of the Press Secretary:

Today, President Donald J. Trump granted a Presidential pardon to Joe Arpaio, former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona.  Arpaio’s life and career, which began at the age of 18 when he enlisted in the military after the outbreak of the Korean War, exemplify selfless public service.  After serving in the Army, Arpaio became a police officer in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas, NV and later served as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), formerly the Bureau of Narcotics.  After 25 years of admirable service, Arpaio went on to lead the DEA’s branch in Arizona.

In 1992, the problems facing his community pulled Arpaio out of retirement to return to law enforcement.  He ran and won a campaign to become Sheriff of Maricopa County.  Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration.  Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eighty-five years old, and after more than fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon.

For whatever reason, the Obama Administration supported illegal immigration. The Obama Justice Department attacked Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona when she tried to enforce immigration laws that were already on the books. Sheriff Arpaio was attacked simply because he chose to uphold the law. Despite the howls we will hear from the political left, President Trump did the right thing in pardoning Sheriff Arpaio.