An Important View Of The US Constitution

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post about Virginia Colonial Governor Berkeley, I have been reading a surprisingly wonderful book by Bob Deans called "The River Where America Began: A Journey Along The James".  While the book is about the history of the settlement of the James River Region in Coastal Virginia and the role it played in the early history of colonial America and the American Revolution, Deans also periodically provides his own insightful examinations of the history of democracy in America.  The short section of the book which I quote below is one of the most pertinent of those insightful examinations.  

The Constitution was never meant to settle for all time every imaginable dilemma the US government might confront.  Its genius was, and is, that it allows each generation of Americans to resolve its own issues.  It was designed to be a living document, showing the way for government to evolve with the times, while remaining true to those principles upon which the nation was founded and still holding inviolate the rights of the people as sovereign, goals the document set forth in its opening lines: "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."  (Deans, p. 219) 

 In both instances of the quotation in the indented paragraph above, truer words were never spoken, first by the Founding Fathers, and secondly by Deans.  Although there is now widespread disagreement about the interpretation of the words in the US Constitution, they are nearly always universally recognized as just that, some of the best words ever written in history especially the history of democracy in the world.  And Deans' own words in the first section of that paragraph are just as true as the original words in the US Constitution.  When Deans says that the US Constitution "was designed to be a living document, showing the way for government to evolve with the times, while remaining true to those principles upon which the nation was founded and still holding inviolate the rights of the people as sovereign", no one, in a discussion of the Constitution, could have hit the nail on the head more soundly.  Yes, the US Constitution is and should forever be a living document but it should also always still hold inviolate the rights of the people as sovereign.  There have been several instances when the living document were necessarily changed to further insure the rights of the people, beginning with the original ten amendments, The Bill of Rights, on December 15, 1791.  There have also been a few considerably more modern and necessary changes in the Constitution in order to insure the rights of the people.  The Thirteenth Amendment passed in January 1865 and was necesssary to abolish slavery which it is interesting to know was one of the most divisive issues in the formation of the new United States and, at least, a major partial cause of the US Civil War.  The Fifteenth Amendment, passed four years later in 1869, made a necessary and gallant attempt to guarantee the vote to all citizens of the country regardless of race, color, or prior history of slavery.  Yet, even today, there are widespread attempts in most Right Wing Radical Repugnican held states to infringe the right to vote for many million people because of a variety of factors which might make them more likely to vote in a rational manner against Repugnican candidates.  Those various factors include race, color, national origin, level of education, and profession and state legislatures in many of those aforementioned Right Wing Radical Repugnican states have instituted a variety of ID laws and other strictures on the right to vote in order to suppress the votes of such people.  The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, finally guaranteed the right to vote regardless of sex which was necessarily intended to give all women the right to vote.  But more than one hundred years later, in 2022, those very same state legislatures include many women in the groups they attempt to make voting less likely or easy for.  The Twenty-Fourth Amendment, finally passed in 1962, outlawed poll taxes as a requirement for the right to vote.

Yet, after all these, and the remainder of the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution were passed we still find ourselves in a situation in this country which makes it necessary that, sooner or later, more such amendments must be passed to ensure both that the rights of the people shall be held inviolate and that the US Constitution will continue to be a living instrument.  We are still fighting out way, as a country out of those four incredibly dark and dangerous years from January 20, 2017, to January 20, 2021, when the White House and the country were being held hostage by a TRAITOR who was living illegally in the White House based on his TREASON with Russia.  The Fourth Section of the Twenty-fifth Amendment needs to be rewritten in stronger, more crystal clear terms to make it a necessary act for members of the cabinet to take action to remove an unfit occupant of the White House.  Recently, despite the knowledge among several members of the cabinet at the time that the occupant of the White House was unfit, a majority of those cabinet members could not be induced to agree to take the necessary actions which would have removed TRAITOR Trump from the White House and removed the ever present danger he represented from the country.  The language in that amenment must be clarified or we will see another instance, at some time in the future of this country, when an unfit, illegal occupant of the White House may well destroy the country.  

Yet, despite the 200+ year history of the US Constitution as a sacred and living instrument, on December 4 ,2022, that very same TRAITOR, the former illegal occupant of the White House publicly called for the suspension of the Constitution as a means for him to regain his illicit and illegal residence in the White House.  With these words: "A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Not even Benedict Arnold or Aldrich Ames, previously the arguable two worst traitors in the history of the country never uttered such clear cut words endorsing TREASON as those used by TRAITOR Trump. Such blatant, public TREASON on the part of TRAITOR Trump was not even used when he incited the January 6th incident of TREASON, Sedition, Domestic Terrorism, and criminality.  For this statement alone, he deserves to be prosecuted even if he had never committed any of the hundreds of TREASONOUS, Seditious, and simply criminal acts he committed before December 4, 2022.  Such acts, such words, and such crimes have now lead to multiple attacks on the US power grid, the aborted attempt to kidnap and murder the governor Michigan, and hundreds of other Right Wing Radical crimes.  

The response to all these acts, all these crimes must be that we, as a people take the actions necessary to guarantee that the US Constitution will be forever a living instrument and subject to any necessary changes in order to control and curtail such sedition and treason from such criminals as TRAITOR Trump and those Right Wing Radicals who step forward to volunteer to be his co-conspirators. 

Christmas On Beaver When Times Were Hard!

 On Beaver Creek, the times were hard.

We had no taters, had no lard.

All the way from Allen to Kite,

Times were tough, money was tight.

It wasn't any better from Martin to Wheelright.

Both forks were suffering, it felt like a blight.

The mines were down, people were leaving.

Old grandmas sat crying and grieving.

Miners were headed to places off yonder

While mothers of children would sit and ponder

How to feed four, or five or six

Hungry mouths with nothing to fix.

Christmas was just about a week away

And children had learned not to say

Old Santa's name by night or day. 

This had become a mighty hard life

For hardworking husbands and every young wife.

There would be no toys under green trees.

Adults were praying on bony knees.

Smoke houses were empty of the last meat.

The canning was gone, nothing to eat.

Squirrels were in hiding in the highest trees 

Too far to shoot the ones you did see.  

Rabbits had been killed till few were around

And  they all hid warm underground.

Old men were selling their best coon hound

Nothing to feed them, nothing to go around. 

A lot of dry cows were already beef

And acorns were sought under every dry leaf.

Real old men and their real old wives

Said this was the worst time in their lives.

Christmas was less than a week off

And lots of people had started to cough.

Hungry people get sick a whole lot quicker

With nothing to eat and no pot licker.

But somewhere off in them big cities

The ones who had left bought a few play pretties,

Loaded them up with flour, lard, beans, and rice,

They were bringing it home and didn't think twice.

On Beaver they knew they had poor kin

And letting them starve would be a great sin.

In Kendallville, Cincy, Chicago, and Dayton

That Friday afternoon they all were waiting

For quit time to come and time off to start

So they could come home and touch grandma's heart.

They loaded all the good stuff they all could afford

Filled up their tanks and thanked the Lord

They still had good jobs near Christmas day

So they come home and proudly say

We didn't know what you need but thought we should

Bring a few things and maybe we could

Help out some in these hard times,

Sing a few carols, recite a few rhymes,

Cook a few dishes on Christmas day

And thank the Lord while we all pray

That times get better and the mines start up

And grandpa can buy another bluetick pup.

Granny can see her way till spring

And hoe in the garden and softly sing

Those Old Regular songs she likes so much

That she sings with her own special touch.

Maybe the children can get new clothes

And  John L. Lewis will speak out for those

Who need to work now right here on Beaver

So nobody else will have to leave her

To go up north to some strange town

Where family and friends are never found.

We'll all come back to Beaver some day

Settle right in and always stay

On the old home place with the little old house

Where we can be as warm as a mouse,

Right here on Beaver, the creek we love

Which was a gift from above.

Right here where home is in our souls

Where we want to stay until we grow old

Right here on Beaver, both left and right,

Where we can sleep warm every night,

With the peace of Christmas in our lives

With husbands, sons, daughters, and wives.    

Roger D. Hicks, December 24, 2022

Colonial Governor Berkeley And The Modern Fight To Destroy Public Education

I am in the process of reading a book by Bob Deans entitled "The River Where America Began: A Journey Along The James" which covers the history of the James River in Virginia from about 1600 to 2006.  The book is well written although I had never heard Bob Deans' name mentioned before as an author although he has published at least three books.  Not only is the writing quite good but so is the research which is as good as just about anything I have read in quite some time.  The list of resources is actually about ten pages long which is rare today even in works which are labeled as historical nonfiction.  I will write in more length about the book when I have completely finished it but I found a little section which I cannot resist writing about immediately because of its logical application to American politics.  

On page 142, in a section carrying the subtitle "To Virginia Or Be Hanged" there is a discussion of the life and work of Virginia Colonial Governor William Berkeley who was governor of the colony twice from 1641 to 1652 and from 1660 to 1677.  The author quotes and comments on some of Berkeley's writing which can be applied to American politics today with just as much pertinence as it carried when it was written in the late 17th century. 

"...Berkeley was no democrat, at least not the way future Virginia leaders would define the term.  "I thank God there are no free schools nor printing" in Virginia, Berkelely reported to a royal commission in 1670, explaining that educated people were hard to control and  a free press exposed government to critics.  "God keep us from both."  (Deans p. 142)

Governor Berkeley wrote those words to the king or his subordinates in 1670 and, yet today, those words are just as pertinent to what is happening in America and American politics as anything which can be discussed.   I take note here of Bob Deans' use of the uncapitalized form of the word "democrat" and recognize that his choice to do so is appropriate since, during Berkeley's time, there was no Democratic party in America and the appropriate meaning of the word was simply a believer in or practitioner of democracy. But in today's America large numbers of the Republican party are openly and unrepentingly propounding the same views Berkeley did in his 1760 communication to the royal commission.  Many members of the Republican party attempt to cater to the uneducated segment of the populace and openly work on a daily basis to defund, deconstruct, and destroy the American educational system.  

The Kentucky Supreme Court just a few days ago was forced to overturn a law passed by the Kentucky state legislature, controlled by Republicans, which would have made it legally acceptable for public education funds to be diverted to charter schools and church controlled private schools of all stripes.  That action, if the Supreme Court of Kentucky had allowed it to take effect would have literally allowed all forms of fringe groups and individuals to steal public education funds from public education students and would have made it possible for "schools" teaching all forms of Right Wing Radical and religiously based misinformation while being funded with money paid by all tax payers regardless of their support or lack of support for such fringe beliefs.  We also see daily attempts all across the nation by Right Wing Radical groups, especially Right Wing Radical Repugnican groups to ban books, to restrict the teaching of long proven history, and to violate the Separation of Church and State, a criminal misinterpretation of the US Constitution which was recently perpetrated by the Right Wing Radical majority on the US Supreme Court. Just this week, a meeting of the Clark County Kentucky Public Library Board was hijacked by Right Wing Radicals who were attempting to ban books at the library or to force many, if not all, books with even mild sexual content to be placed in restricted circulation status. To her eternal credit, the librarian, Julie Maruskin, spoke out against book banning but sadly the board did vote to restrict the particular book in question as described in this quote from WKYT-TV 27 in Lexington:

“I do care about restricting books in a public library. I cannot do it. There is no way. It will never be one book,” Maruskian said.  Ultimately the board voted four to one to restrict the book to the adult section for “sexually explicit material.” (WKYT-TV 27. December 21, 2022)

Even more sadly, I am willing to bet that it won't be long before the board, by a similar vote of 4 to 1, will unjustifiably fire Julie Maruskin.  

Just as Governor Berkeley wished he could wipe out public education and the free press in colonial Virginia, these modern day Right Wing Radicals are attempting to do the same.  They must not be allowed to do that and every loyal American is duty bound to fight their attempts to do so.  Their efforts in state and federal legislatures and courts must be actively opposed.  They must be defeated at the voting booth.  Their aberrant laws and executive actions in such attempts must be confronted in both the courts and the media.  They cannot be allowed to win this battle which Governor Berkeley began in 1760.  It is up to the average American to oppose such efforts on a daily basis.  

In a more recent blog post, published on December 27, 2022, I discussed another aspect of Bob Deans' book under the title "An Important View Of The US Constitution" which can be found at this link. 

The Right Wing Radical Repugnican Clown Car In Kentucky

 

I took a drive to Frankfort town.

I had to see what was going down.

I took the exit off the interstate,

Drove right up to the Capitol gate,

Circled on around the square, 

Had to see what was there.

I saw a car in front of a body shop,

Twelve colors of paint from bottom to top,

Red, brown, yellow, and a sickly green,

Strangest car I'd ever seen,

A big elephant sitting on the hood,

A body man working to make it look good.

He had a big R painted in my view.

I wondered what he intended to do.

I circled back to park at the shop

That car was just too funny, I had to stop.

I said, "Hey, feller, that looks like work,

That old car's got a lot of quirks,

The tires are worn, two are flat,

What can you do with a car like that?"  

He grinned and said, "I reckon you're right.

But I got offered money just last night.

All I have to do is paint it several colors

And I'll make ten thousand dollars."  

I asked about the rust and all them dents,

That car wasn't worth more than ten cents.

The body man said, "I'll just cover that up,

Get the motor running like a turpentined pup.

This car's got a job all through twenty three,

All over the state this car will be.

It'll run from the Big Muddy to the Tug.

Selling a scam like bad likker in a pretty jug."

I asked, "What do  you mean?  What are you saying?"  

"This car is their hope Republicans are praying,

It's their campaign car is what they're saying.

They've already got a dozen takers,

Idiots, criminals, scammers, fakers, 

They'll climb in and ignore the weather.

They're planning to ride a dozen together.

There's a half dozen men waiting to ride,

And one or two women are climbing inside.

They want to turn this state around.

They want to drive it into the ground.

They've already put sales tax on everything.

Cut taxes on the rich and got them to sing.

Put all them bills on all the poor

And they've got plans to do a lot more.

They say they'll kill all the good jobs,

Quit feeding people corn and give them cobs, 

Hide all their good tricks under the law

And make this the worst state you ever saw.

There's Mike Harmon the Auditor of Public Accounts

Who knows to what he might amount.

There's even a man named David Cooper

He wants you to believe he's a super dooper.

He can't say what he might do

But he's really trying to fool me and you.

Eric Deters used to practice law

Until he was arrested over what witnesses saw

When he chased his nephew around the town,

The boy says he's lucky he never was found.

 Alan Keck is mayor in pretty small town

But says he's the answer to keeping Kentuckians down

He wants the front seat in this clown car

Says prior mistakes are never a bar

To being the governor of this great state

He'll fix it all and won't be late.

Ryan Quarles wants to drive the car

All over the state both near and far.

He says he's a farmer with a big education

Says Harvard won't ever hurt his reputation. 

Robbie Smith is a teacher without much of a plan

But he swears he's a qualified man, 

Says he just wants a term of one year

Then run again to allay all our fear,

Wants to change a whole lot of things

But seems to have lost the list that he brings."

The body man said "these candidates keep talking

But in this car they might be walking.

If I get it painted and I get it sold

The tale it will tell will always be told

About how Kentucky was bought and sold.

There's even a couple of women who want to drive

And swear all the state will arrive alive.

There's Savanna Maddox from Scott County

Who says she can win without paying a bounty

For votes from people who are willing to sell

In order to see Kentucky become living hell.

Ooops! Maddox admitted she was wrong.

Kentucky can't be bought for a song.

Her short campaign didn't go well.

She couldn't turn Kentucky into living hell.

But the question now is did she sell

Out to someone with money who could spell?  

She announced her campaign on June 6

On December 20 she admitted she didn't know enough tricks.

Six & a half months was way too long

For such a campaign which was always wrong.

Daniel Cameron who fights daily against good

Swears he is the candidate Kentucky should

Put to driving the state into the ground

As if enough evidence hasn't been found

To send him home after four years

Of driving all sane Kentuckians to tears

With losing law suits against every good work

He says anything positive he'll always shirk.  

But the strangest candidate of all

The one who would answer any outrageous call

Is the one whose record proves most daft

The former ambassador Kelly Knight Craft

Who worked for two years daily to do naught

For the man Putin and Russia bought

Because her husband spent coal money 

To get a do nothing job for his honey.

The body man laughed and said "that's all

If nobody else tries to answer the call

To be governor of Kentucky after next fall.

But they say Bevin, you remember old Matt,

Is tired of staying at home getting fat

On money from pardons for all takers,

Rapists, murderers, thieves and fakers.

Matt might jump in the race

And give all the others a bitter taste

When he reminds the voters what you get when you do

What the Republicans want you to.

But this clown car will be full in old 23

With the worst crowd of clowns 

The state could ever see."

But then he smiled and said over his grin,

"It won't matter to me who wins.

I'm leaving the state when I finish this car.

I'm going away just about as far

As it is possible for me to travel

Before this clown car blows up and scatters gravel

In the face of every voter dumb enough to do

What the Republicans want them to do."

I shook my head and dried a tear, 

And left old Frankfort with a lot of fear

Of what could happen in the next election

If the common sense of voters takes a defection

And leaves us all out of our senses

Following this clown car without defenses, 

Listening to liars, fakers, and shills

Trying to ruin Kentucky with horrible deals.  

So vote with caution in the upcoming year

Remember the man who calms all your fear

Stick with the man whose been proven just dandy

Vote Straight Democratic! Vote For Andy!  

Roger D. Hicks, December 18, 2022. 

Visiting Jerry's Restaurant Paris, Kentucky!

 Yesterday, Monday, December 12, 2022, my wife Candice and I traveled from our home to Paris, Kentucky, to visit and eat in the Jerry's Restaurant there which is the last operational Jerry's Restaurant in the United States.  The same family has owned the restaurant since the original franchise and opening dates in 1961 and just last year they celebrated sixty years in operation.  The Jerry's franchise was invented and originated in Lexington, Kentucky,by Jerry Lederer who opened the first Jerry's in 1946 and began franchising the restaurants in 1957.  The Paris restaurant opened just four years after the franchising program began.  The company once had restaurants in nearly every medium sized city in both Kentucky and Indiana with other widely spread across the Midwest.  They functioned as middle class and working class dine in and carry out restaurants with a standardized menu of hamburgers, sandwiches, steaks, and desserts.  Their three best known items were the J-Boy, a large hamburger; the Champ Sandwich, a hot ham and cheese sandwich on a long bun; and the Hot Fudge Sundae which was composed of vanilla ice cream between two thin slices of chocolate sheet cake topped with warm chocolate sauce and a maraschino cherry.  These items were supported by a wider variety of hamburgers, sandwiches, and spaghetti based items.  The franchise lasted until about 20 or 25 years ago when it began to wither and die with one restaurant after another either closing permanently or changing names, menus, and operational identities.  My wife Candice had never been inside a Jerry's Restaurant despite having lived in Kentucky since 1992 before most of the chain had closed.  I suppose that is my fault.  

 

A few days ago, we had a conversation in which Jerry's came up and decided to travel to Paris so Candice could actually visit one of the restaurants.  I have quite a few positive memories of the restaurants in Prestonsburg, Lexington, and one or two other Kentucky towns.  We left home in time to reach Paris at about the end of the traditional lunch hour at 1pm and drove down the old Paris Pike from Winchester, Kentucky, which is a wonderful drive on a two lane road which begins near I-64 and wends through the persistently spreading high dollar suburbs of Winchester which have been steadily eating up some of the best cattle farms in Central Kentucky.  As you reach the edge of the bedroom community a few miles from Winchester you will see a few of what used to be wonderful old to ancient farm houses, now abandoned and waiting for those farms to also be developed.  Thankfully, the development has not spread all across Clarke County and a few miles from Winchester, the real cattle farms are still operational and you realize you have returned to the traditional agricultural landscape which has been the real bread and butter of Central Kentucky since about the early 19th century.  As you reach the Bourbon County line the view improves immensely because Bourbon County where the economy has been more supported by the Thoroughbred horse industry and government and the populace have taken far more interest in preserving the traditional agriculture based economy.  Shortly after crossing the county line, real Thoroughbred farms begin to appear and are the main use of land literally to the city limits of Paris.  

 

The Jerry's is located on US 68 at the southern edge of town where it has always been.   The historical sign still stands 61 years after being erected in the edge of the parking lot.  The sign on the front of the restaurant is still the historical sign and the two corners of the building constructed from hand laid stone still give the appearance which Jerry's Restaurants always showed.  We were amazed on a Monday, early afternoon, the parking lot was relatively full and the dining room was packed to the point we had to wait for fifteen minutes before being seated.  But inside the building the great majority of the original decor is gone and has been replaced by more modern signage furniture, and general appearance.  The wait staff are highly efficient, friendly, helpful, and give the wonderful impression of a small town restaurant where most of the customers are regulars and both the staff and customers know each other.  The menu has the aforementioned three items from the traditional Jerry's menu but is mainly the typical dine in restaurant menu you might encounter in a working class to middle class establishment anywhere in the Midwest or Southeast.  There is fried chicken, chicken livers, cat fish, pot roast, hamburgers, a few steaks, hamburger steak, salads, and desserts.  I had open faced pot roast which was acceptable but not exceptional, well done, appropriately served, and adequately portioned.  Candice had the hamburger steak which is the typical quarter pound of ground round, done to her specifications, served with her choice of several sides, and much like you would find it anywhere in America.  For dessert and for old times sake, we shared the Hot Fudge Sundae and it was just as I remembered it from sixty years ago, warm on top, cold in the middle, a great combination of ice cream, chocolate cake, and chocolate syrup topped with a maraschino cherry.  I honestly wish I had chosen the Champ Sandwich in order to compare it to my memories and I might well return there in the future to do that.  The trip was worth the time and money but just a bit short on fond memories.  The servers are professionals and worthy of respect for having survived the last three years in what had become a dangerous job.  The owners are to be commended for having found a way to survive when all their peers in the Jerry's business are now long moved on to either retirement of other enterprises.  If you have fond memories of a Jerry's anywhere in America, it would be worth your time to visit this last one in America.  

 

The photograph below is of the long defunct Jerry's Restaurant in Hazard, Kentucky, and is from the WSGS Radios Facebook Page.  This photo shows the typical standardized architecture of all Jerry's as they were franchised and built. 

 The photograph below is of the front of the Jerry's Restaurant in Paris, Kentucky, which stills shows that standardized architecture of all Jerry's construction.  This photograph is by the blog author, Roger D. Hicks. 

 The photograph below is of the traditional Jerry's Restaurant sign which is still proudly displayed by the Jerry's in Paris, Kentucky, and states the fact that the same family has owned the restaurant since its franchise date in 1961.  This photograph is by the blog author, Roger D. Hicks. 

An Auctioneer's Thoughts About Top Secret Documents In A Storage Unit

 In a story dated December 7, 2022, "Rolling Stone" discussed at length the fact that attorneys for TRAITOR Trump had turned over to the FBI at least two government documents with classification markings which had been found by those attorneys or their staff during a search of a storage unit rented by TRAITOR Trump near his Mar-A-Lago property.  This story also appeared in nearly every other national news paper and on all the major television news channels when it was released to the press.  As all of you know, after more than a year of unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with TRAITOR Trump for the return of all classified government documents in his possession, the Department of Justice finally had to obtain a search warrant for Mar-A-Lago and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of documents which belonged to the US government were retrieved by the FBI.  Many of those documents were classified at the highest security levels in use in the American intelligence communities meaning that they were supposed to never leave secure facilities and never to be viewed outside the most secure viewing rooms.  I am sure that many of you actually believed that was the end of that as far as his possession of illegally obtained and retained government documents was concerned.  I would suggest that this return by his attorneys of two more documents in a rented storage facility justifies the service of search warrants on every property TRAITOR Trump has owned, rented, or visited since at least January 20, 2017.  The possession of each of those individual documents justifies an additional separate felony charge for illegal possession of classified material.  The possession of these documents and the year long refusal to return them to the government after the National Archives learned of their existence most likely also justifies charges of espionage.  But, when Special Counsel Jack Smith does make the move to indict and charge TRAITOR Trump it is highly unlikely that the incredibly large number of possible felony charges will be levied against him.  What is most likely to happen is that Special Counsel Jack Smith will build a half dozen to a dozen rock solid cases on the most important charges with the possibility of a few lesser charges to leave room for plea bargains.  

 

But what I really want to discuss here is the existence of such documents in a rented storage facility which was an unbelievably danger location for them to have been illegally stored and shows the ultimate level of disrespect by TRAITOR Trump for the value of the classified information contained in those documents.  I want to discuss this location of the documents from the unique viewpoint of a licensed and experienced auctioneer.  I have held an auctioneer license for many years in Kentucky and was also licensed for a few years in the neighboring state of Indiana.  I have conducted several hundred auctions during those years and I have also conducted numerous auctions of the contents of unpaid storage facilities. For a period of several years, I also regularly bought and resold the contents of unpaid storage facilities in the eastern half of Kentucky, parts of Southern West Virginia and the Cincinnati area.  During that time I customarily bought the contents of three or four storage units a week and resold the individual items in my auction house. During that time, I admit that I never found classified documents in an auctioned storage unit.  But I did find nearly every other form of personal and confidential papers in those units. Examples would be marriage, birth, death, divorce, and military discharge papers; parole papers; and many other forms of highly personal documentations of nearly any imaginable life event. First and foremost for those of you who have seen even one episode of any of the popular cable television auction shows, let me tell you in no uncertain terms those shows do not represent the reality of either the broader auction business or the specific business of selling the contents of unpaid storage units at auction.  

So let's talk about the specifics of the sale at auction of the contents of unpaid storage units.  As we start this discussion, I am certain many, if not most, of my readers will say "but Donald Trump would never face the sale of his storage unit contents for non-payment".  You are dead wrong if you say that.  Even Fox News, which is usually the most clearly biased major reporting agency toward TRAITOR Trump, reported in a June 2016 article that "Dozens of Law Suits Accuse Donald Trump of Not Paying His Bills..."  One day before the Fox News story, USA Today also published a  nearly identical story about TRAITOR Trump not paying his debts to hundreds of contractors at his various businesses.  Four years later, as TRAITOR Trump was about to leave the White House for good, the website northjersey.com reported on a long standing problem of unpaid bills at his New Jersey casinos.  What these stories, which are just three of the dozens of such published stories, tell us is that TRAITOR Trump has a long standing history of not paying his just debts.  So, you say, "what does that have to do with classified documents in a storage facility near Mar-A-Lago"?  As a licensed and experienced auctioneer, I can tell you that this has everything to do with the level of risk to the US government and the US intelligence community and presented a vastly increased level of that risk because of what happens when ANY RENTER of a storage unit anywhere in the United States fails to pay that rent on time.  All storage unit owners single source of income is the rent of units and they do not tolerate nonpayment of the rent.  Also, in nearly every state, those storage facility owners are both regulated and protected by laws covering how they can and must conduct the sale of such contents.  But in many states those laws are incredibly vague and nowhere near airtight.  In most cases, the facility owner must have proof of the unpaid debt and proof of a reasonable attempt to contact the owner of the stored materials about the need to pay that debt.  In some specified amount of time, the property in the storage unit reverts to ownership by the storage facility and its owners.  Then, in the most ethical storage facilities, the owners contact a licensed auctioneer and contract to have the contents of any unpaid units sold at auction.  In some states, the renter is allowed to pay the debt up to the scheduled time of the sale.  In others, the time to pay the debt is much shorter.  The most ethical auctioneers will advertise the upcoming sale in a local medium such as the print newspaper and hold the auction on site at a specified date.  The most ethical practice to sell those contents involves keeping a lock on the doors of the units until the moment of the sale at which time the facility owner unlocks each unit, opens the door, and the auctioneer allows the potential buyers to briefly view the contents from outside the unit without ever going inside touching anything in the unit.  When the auctioneer accepts bids, pronounces the contents sold to the highest bidder, and the bidder pays for he unit, that bidder owns everything in the unit and the sale is irreversible.  What that bidder subsequently does with the contents is then nobody's business except theirs.  But there are also unethical facility owners who sometimes open the units on the sly and view and cream the contents for the most valuable items and removes them for their own collections or private sales.  Additionally, most of the buyers of unpaid storage units are regular sellers in venues such as flea markets, yard sales, auction houses, used furniture stores, or variety stores.  Almost none of those buyers have any personal interest in anything they buy and sell.  It's a matter of making a profit.  Any item in any storage unit anywhere in America, if that rent is unpaid, can be bought by any stranger who appears at the time and place of the auction with enough cash to buy a unit's contents.  And, if you think TRAITOR Trump would always keep the rent paid on a storage unit, you are an incredibly naive human.  

Simple non-payment of rent is not the only possible precipitating action or inaction which can result in the sale of storage unit contents.  Owners also often die suddenly and TRAITOR Trump is an elderly obese man who is also distrustful enough of everybody he knows that he may well never tell another soul about any or all of his properties, their locations, and any regular bills which must be paid to protect those assets including a rented storage unity in which he most likely new he had stored illegally obtained government secrets. It is not unusual at all for the heirs or executors of deceased storage unit renters to fail to learn about the existence of such storage before the unpaid rent prompts the sale of the contents.  The level of risk presented by those classified documents having been in a rented storage unit is incredibly high and far more than high enough to justify Special Counsel Jack Smith to obtain search warrants for every other facility which TRAITOR Trump has controlled, owned, rented, or stayed in since January 20, 2017.  And that is exactly what Jack Smith and the Justice Department should do.