The Right Stuff: Dear ‘Big Brother,’ is it 1984?

By Jim McCully: published August 22, 2022

An astounding thing happened Aug. 8. A search warrant was issued by a probably partisan federal magistrate, Bruce Reinhart.

A magistrate is the lowest level of federal court official. Magistrates handle misdemeanors not felonies, federal traffic tickets, pre-trial motions and other lower-level judicial processes. They do, however, have the power to sign warrants after ensuring probable cause has been established. Why a magistrate instead of a District Court judge? Maybe inconvenient questions weren’t asked. The warrant was for Mar-a-Lago, the home of the former president of the United States.

Let that sink in. Never in our history has such a thing occurred. Why now? Elections. Benjamin Franklin said: “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” Passion has been unleashed by “Big Brother.” Reason better catch up.

No one is above the law. That’s the founding principle of our U.S. Constitution. Yet, so-called leaders and their families apparently are. We’ve allowed the past four FBI directors and certain members of their staffs to operate lawlessly without consequence. Why? Power.[...read more]