“Irreparable Harms”: How the Flynn Case Became a Dangerous Game of Legal Improvisation

Author: Jonathan Turley

Below is my column in USA Today on the D.C. Circuit ordering Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. After this column ran, new evidence emerged that further undermined the FBI and the targeting of Flynn, as discussed in  another recent column. Notes from fired FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok show that former FBI Director James Comey told President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden that Flynn’s call to the Russian diplomat “appear legit.” Nevertheless, Biden (who denied having anything to do with the case) is noted as raising the idea of a charge under the facially unconstitutional Logan Act, a law that has never been used successfully to charge a single person since the beginning of this Republic. Comey of course was the one who later bragged that he “probably wouldn’t have … gotten away with it”  in other administrations, but he sent “a couple guys over” to question Flynn, who was settling into his new office as national security adviser. We now know that, when Comey broke protocols and sent the agents, he thought the calls were legitimate and that agents wanted to dismiss the investigation in December for lack of evidence. They were prevented from doing so as Strzok, Biden, and others discussed other crimes, any crime, to nail Flynn just before the start of the Trump Administration.

If all of that seems “illegitimate” and “irregular,” it pales in comparison to how two judges on the D.C. panel reviewed the handling of the Flynn case by Judge Emmet Sullivan. It seems that everyone from the President to the Vice President to the FBI Director to ultimately the federal judge have engaged in a dangerous form of improvisational law when it came to Michael Flynn. That will now hopefully end though many questions still remain.
It is possible for Judge Sullivan to appeal, though the upcoming hearing on Flynn has been removed from the docket.

Here is the column:

The dismissal of the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn sent shock waves across Washington, including Congress which was hours away from a hearing addressing the case. Any appellate decision taking unprecedented measures to stop “irreparable harms” and “irregular” conduct is newsworthy. However, those admonishments were not describing Flynn’s conduct but that of his trial judge, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan. The D.C. Circuit panel took the exceptionally rare step of ordering Sullivan to stop further proceedings and dismiss the case to avoid further damage caused by his prior orders.

The case should have been dismissed

One month ago, I wrote a column criticizing the handling of the Flynn case by Judge Sullivan after the government moved to dismiss its own prosecution.
The law in this case is clear and the case should have been dismissed. Instead, Sullivan took the extraordinary action of appointing a retired judge, John Gleeson, to argue positions that neither of the actual parties supported. Gleeson not only had publicly denounced the administration over its handling of the case but, as a judge, was reversed for “irregular” conduct in usurping the authority of prosecutors. In addition, Sullivan suggested that he might charge Flynn with perjury for alleging that he was wrongly charged despite the support of the Justice Department in finding abuses in his case.
Criticizing Sullivan, who I have appeared before for years as counsel and previously complimented for his demeanor, was not popular. Legal analysts in The Washington Post, CNN and other outlets insisted that his actions were entirely appropriate and justified. Yet, another letter from “former prosecutors” was given unquestioning media coverage to show that Sullivan should deny the motion in the case.

In an opinion piece, UCLA Law Professor and former U.S. Attorney under Bill Clinton, Harry Litman even explained how Sulllivan could “make trouble” for the Trump administration in these hearings. Litman insisted that I was “a very lonely voice in the wilderness” of academia in contesting the use of an outside lawyer to make arguments in a criminal trial case that neither the defense nor the prosecution supported.
The wilderness now appears to include at least two other voices from the D.C. Circuit. The panel specifically denounced the “irregular” use of Gleeson and his hyperbolic arguments in the case. Gleeson suggested that the court should actually send Flynn to jail despite prosecutors raising evidence of misconduct and abuse as the basis for dismissal. He also argued that, rather than give Flynn a trial on a new charge from Sullivan of perjury, Flynn should just be sentenced in light of such perjury as part of his prior non-perjury charge.
Even for those of us who believed that Sullivan was operating well outside of the navigational beacons for a court in such case, the decision was breathtaking. Most of us expected that the appellate court would remand the case to allow Sullivan a face-saving hearing with an inevitable order to dismiss. The panel, however, clearly had little trust in the plans for this hearing or any true judicial purpose. Indeed, it may have been convinced that the primary purpose was indeed to “make trouble” for the administration.
As some of us wrote previously, the appellate court was particularly alarmed by the implications of Sullivan’s orders, including noting that the “invitation to members of the general public to appear as amici…” The panel said that such an invitation by Sullivan “suggests anything but a circumscribed review.” Moreover, it noted that the Justice Department had submitted troubling evidence of possible misconduct. And that “each of our three coequal branches should be encouraged to self-correct when it errs.”

Gleeson, wrong appointment

The greatest irony is that Sullivan’s unwise decision to appoint Gleeson to make the case was perhaps too successful. Gleeson ultimately proved not the case against Flynn but against Sullivan. In reviewing Gleeson’s brief, the panel declared “we need not guess if this irregular and searching scrutiny will continue; it already has.” The panel noted that Sullivan’s appointed counsel “relied on news stories, tweets, and other facts outside the record to contrast the government’s grounds for dismissal here with its rationales for prosecution in other cases.”

The panel was also aware of past concerns raised in the case, including the rather bizarre first sentencing hearing held in December 2018. In that hearing, Sullivan suggested that Flynn might be guilty of treason in a case involving comparatively minor charges of false statements to federal investigators. Sullivan dramatically used the flag in the courtroom as a prop and accused Flynn of being “an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States. Arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out.” (He later apologized for his comments.)
The irony, however, is that Sullivan proved the best thing that could have happened to Flynn. After that unnerving exchange, Sullivan asked if Flynn still wanted him to sentence him or wait. He indicated that he might go substantially beyond what Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team had demanded. Flynn wisely decided to wait. The resulting delay allowed the damaging evidence from his case to be review and released. Had Sullivan simply sentenced Flynn last December, it would have been much more difficult for Flynn to have raised these issues.
Sullivan then handed down his novel orders including appointing his own counsel to argue for prosecution against the actual prosecutors.

This record proved too much for the appellate court. Rather than order Sullivan off the case, it decided to order Sullivan to dismiss the case. Short of an order of actual recusal of a judge, a mandamus order is the most stinging indictment of the handling of a case that can come from an appellate court.
The ruling in this case is unlikely to force any real circumspection by legal analysts or the media in the prior coverage. Nuanced legal questions quickly evaporate in this age of rage. Conflicting case law is dismissed in favor of the clarity demanded by echo journalism. The law however brings its own clarity and the message of this opinion could not be clearer. Sullivan’s actions in the case did not spell “trouble” for the Trump administration, but rather, they spelled trouble for the administration of justice in our court system.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @JonathanTurley

DeWine Wants to Trace Your Every Move: What we know so far about Ohio’s contact tracing

You may have noticed something new on your smart phone recently. It’s the new, billion-dollar “Health” technology created by a partnership between Apple and Google. If it’s not in your settings just yet, it will be once your phone updates.

This new technology lays the foundation for contact-tracing apps to be downloaded to your devices. Contact-tracing technologies are being used by several states as a means to inhibit the spread of Covid-19. Ohio is among them.

Contact tracing is nothing new. It’s been used for decades during outbreaks to track the spread of disease. The game-changer is technology, something that takes contact tracing into a whole new arena.

These apps run in the background on cellular devices, tracking your location using Bluetooth and recording others you come in contact with.

The Clinton Global Initiative is promoting contact tracing.

California Governor Newsom and New York Governor Cuomo are strong supporters of the program. So is Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

So far, about 10 states are offering or planning to offer cellphone apps (like Utah’s Healthy Together app) to track people who may have been exposed to the virus.

DeWine recently announced that Ohio’s contact tracing will be overseen by the controversial organization, Partners In Health.

Partners in Health  lists George Soros’ Open Society Foundations as an official partner, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Chelsea Clinton serves on the PIH Board of Trustees, according to its 2019 annual report.

An investigative reporter with Ohio Statehouse News submitted FOIA requests to the Governor’s Administration and the Ohio Department of Health for copies of contracts and communications with PIH. The requests were submitted over five weeks ago but have yet to be fulfilled.

Hundreds of Ohio tracers have been hired and are being trained in the use of contact tracing technology. No figures are available on how much this is costing the state.

DeWine said participation in Ohio’s contact tracing program is optional. However, at least 60% of a population must have the technology downloaded and active in order for it to work.

In other countries, the take-up rate has been low. For example, Singapore’s own TraceTogether only managed to get 20 percent participation. Government officials in that country are now pushing mandatory contact tracing through a wearable device so that, they said, further shutdowns and restrictions will not be necessary.

Proponents of contact tracing with technology say that participants’ personal data is safe and will only be used for tracing Covid-19. Convincing the public of this may not be so easy.

When you come into contact with someone who later tests positive for Covid-19, you will be contacted by Ohio health officials who will direct you to quarantine yourself at home. You will need a separate bathroom and bedroom that no other members of the household use.

If you do not have access to a separate bathroom and isolated bedroom, the state will ask you to relocate during the required quarantine period, though they did not elaborate on where this would be.

“So again, the vast, vast majority of people are going to do what they need to do to keep other people safe without any coercion by anybody,” DeWine said regarding self-quarantine at a recent press conference.

For those that do not cooperate or do not have the appropriate facilities in their home, the Governor and former Health Director Dr. Amy Acton found an old law that will mandate you to do so.

“These laws are very, very old and go back to the 1800s,” said Acton. “We do quarantine. It is a law; it can be mandated if someone is putting others at risk.”

View a video clip of these statements.

Many Ohioans question the need for costly contact tracing technology in Ohio, where an estimated 77 percent of deaths have occurred in nursing facilities. Nursing homes have been under lockdown orders since early March.

Ohio has had about 2,300 Covid-19 deaths, most over the age of 80. No one under the age of 20 has died of Covid-19 in Ohio.

Others see a problem with the technology, itself. Just one of the issues is Bluetooth.

Because Bluetooth can usually penetrate walls, if you and an infected person are in the same building but separated by a wall you could still be falsely alerted and forced to quarantine. This could also occur if you are practicing social distancing. It all depends on how strong the Bluetooth signal is in various locations.

When asked about the new partnership between Apple and Google, Trump replied that the contact-tracing technology is “an amazing thing” but many people “have some very big constitutional problems with it.”

DeWine is Delinquent When it Comes to Schools Reopening

Every year right before Independence Day stores begin to fill up their shelves with backpacks and an array of school supplies. It is a time-honored tradition.

But this year Ohio parents remain in limbo regarding their children’s education opportunities this fall. To date, Governor DeWine has not publicly stated whether public schools will reopen this fall and if so what the parameters for the opening will include. Will schools be open part of the week and home schooled the other part, or just fulltime home schooling, no one knows.

This lack of guidance is adding to the stress on families. Those impacted especially hard are parents who work. They either need to find someone to take care of their child during the work day or leave their job. If they continue to work from home due to COVID-19 they have the added challenge of home schooling their public-school student and juggling their job at the same time.

For parents who take on the additional financial burden of sending their child to parochial, religious, or private schools the issue is even more cumbersome.

One family whose six children attend Catholic school has already made the “heartbreaking” decision they will not spend the money to send their children to parochial school next year.

“The Governor could shutter the school again at any time making the financial risk of paying for a religious education for our children too great.” The parent continued, “Many of the families from our school are also facing this tough decision.”

They are considering joining a home-schooling network for their children.

The fiscal impact on Catholic, and other private schools could easily result in permanent closures.

For many parents the burden of online education either public or private is too great. First there is the cost of securing computers for all or most the children in the home. Not all communities have access to the internet. Parents have reported the online classroom appear to be unorganized and thrown together. They require parents to be hands on throughout the day to ensure their child is learning. Parents have to snap photo’s or fax in copies of their children homework each day. The onus for learning is on the parent not the teacher or the online program. One parent was stunned when they realized they couldn’t help their child with the new common core math.

“I went to help my daughter with math only to realize they don’t teach children to carry the tens any longer. It’s all about boxes and approximation.”

Another parent is so stressed working a minimum wage job with odd hours that they simply have given up on trying to ensure their child is receiving any instruction at all.

“I wasn’t good in school and now with working odd hours, it is too much for me to try to teach my child too.”

With no children under the age of 20 dying from COVID-19 Governor DeWine must assess the high cost of children losing another year of education during his shut down or fully re-opening schools.

While DeWine ponders his options, stressed out parent are already scrambling to make theirs.

Violent Protests Given Free Rein; Mayor Orders CPD to Stand Down

The Statehouse has been a regular target of vandalism by protesters and some Ohio lawmakers have had enough. They are going public about Gov. Mike DeWine’s lack of regard for protecting Ohio’s taxpayer-funded property.

They also question why Mayor Andrew Ginther ordered the Columbus Police Department to “stand down” to rioters, leaving law-abiding citizens and downtown business owners without protection.

Mayor Ginter publicly denied that he ordered CPD to stand-down, but a telephone call to the department tells otherwise.

In the call, the dispatcher clearly states that Ginther ordered CPD to stand down and gave rioters “full rein” of the streets.

Mayor Ginther ordered CPD to stand down.

Several Ohio representatives are condemning the blatant disregard for public safety and public property by the Governor and the Mayor.

The representatives spoke out on social media against the violent protests.

Speaker Larry Householder said Ohio taxpayers should not have to pay for damages left behind by rioters. He warned that the city’s Local Government Fund could be made responsible for paying for repairs and cleanup.

“I am notifying Mayor Ginther right now that whatever costs it takes to repair damages to Statehouse, Riffe, Supreme Court and Rhodes Tower – I will be pushing to have deducted from City of Columbus’ Local Government Fund,” stated Householder in a social media post.

“State taxpayers should not have to pay if the City won’t let their police protect,” said the Speaker. “If Columbus has the honor of being our Capital City then they have the responsibility to protect taxpayers assets.”

Rep. Jon Cross questioned why the Governor has not stepped in.

Rep. Scott Wiggam stated in a Facebook post that no one should be above the law.

The Statehouse is Post #1 to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Officers were photographed cleaning up after protesters, after reportedly being ordered to do so by DeWine.

Fliers were distributed by protesters with a list of demands, which included defunding the CPD, changing the name of city of Columbus, releasing all prisoners and having the city listed as a sanctuary for immigrants and refugees.

While several Republican state representatives spoke out against continued unchecked rioting in the state’s capital, many other representatives from both parties were silent.

The following is another post by Speaker Householder.

OHIO STATEHOUSE (CAPITAL SQUARE) LAST NIGHT.
This is the epicenter of state government and the symbol of law and order in Ohio. It lies within the jurisdiction of the City. Arrests that have been made in past weeks have had all charges dropped by the City Prosecutor.

Ohioans Make a Rush on Guns & Ammo

There’s nothing quite like rioting, mob violence and ordered police-retreat to cause a major run on gun stores. Throw in a pandemic and presidential election and you’ve got a stampede on firearms and ammo.

During the first half of 2020, more than two million Americans became first-time gun owners, according to the National Rifle Association.

Gun sales shot up in Ohio in February and have stayed there through May. June may surpass preceding months, said some Ohio gun dealers.

“It began during the lockdowns and hasn’t slowed down since,” said a salesman at Sporting Defense LLC in Cambridge, Ohio. “It looks like June will top them all.”

It’s a seller’s-market and keeping weapons and ammo in stock has been challenging. There are few deals to be had and, like grocery stores, there are some empty shelves.

Increased sales are nationwide, said experts.

Gun sales spiked more than 80 percent year over year in May as consumers responded to safety concerns and civil unrest prompted, in part, by Covid.

State Representative Nino Vitale is an NRA concealed carry instructor. He has become well-known around Ohio as a civil-liberties advocate and a proponent for opening the state from economic shutdowns and restrictions.

Vitale said he is disappointed in the lack of leadership from Governor Mike DeWine and DeWine’s disregard for law-abiding citizens. He is not surprised by the increase in weapons sales.

“People are frustrated at the abuse they are taking by their government of their own freedoms and liberties,” said the Representative. “As a firearms instructor, I have people calling me constantly and saying the only thing they feel they have left is their ability to defend themselves from these tyrannical dictators.

“People are mad, and I fear if this keeps up the societal situations will get worse. Government is not promoting liberty and peace; they are advocating for frustration and chaos.”

Vitale’s statement was echoed by a customer in an East Ohio gun shop.

“The governor of Ohio is not for the law-abiding citizen,” said Matt Thomas, who was looking to purchase a house gun. “We have to be able to protect ourselves against this mayhem and madness.”

Long-time Ohio CCW instructor Richard Quinlin of Belmont County said that the 8-hour certification course is back after a few months closed due to Covid concerns. Quinlin reopened in early June to plenty of public interest.

Quinlin’s class includes qualification on the shooting range, and a question and answer session with an attorney about the legal use of a firearm. The instructor explained that use of a firearm is authorized only when there is a threat of severe bodily harm or death, and not simply to defend one’s property.

Approximately 1,726,053 guns were sold in May– a record-breaking 80.2 percent increase from last year, according to data released late Monday by Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, which examines the raw data obtained from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Of the firearms sold, 1,052,723 were handguns and 535,014 were long-guns, the SAAF estimated.

Ragged Old Flag Proud

Johnny Cash said it best. ‘Cause I’m mighty proud of that ragged old flag.

By Del Duduit

Everyone likes music and songs.
I have a variety of musicians I enjoy listening to.
A few months ago, Angie and I visited Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley and we got a taste of what it was like to live like a King.
Within the span of a few weeks, about three years ago, we watched Norah Jones perform in Washington D.C. and then Columbus, Ohio.
I like a mixture of classics, blues and jazz and some country.
But one of my all-time favorite writers and singers was Johnny Cash.
He was a rebel at times throughout his career, but you could never question his patriotic flare.
One of the songs he wrote applies today, especially since we just celebrated Flag Day.
There are things that happen in this nation that I don’t agree with but can try to understand circumstances.
People have the right to protest events or happenings I might not like but that is what makes the United States of America the greatest nation on the planet.
But I cannot understand why any person who lives here would burn the symbol of freedom – our flag.
Johnny Cash wrote a song in 1974 amidst the Watergate scandal to let everyone know how he felt about the red, white and blue.
This nation is not perfect, but it’s the greatest in the word, and we should appreciate its heritage.
The song became a mainstay in his shows, and he often preceded it with this quote:
“I thank God for all the freedom we have in this country, I cherish them and treasure them – even the right to burn the flag,” he said. “We also got the right to bear arms, and if you burn my flag — I’ll shoot you.”
Read the lyrics to this magnificent song; “Ragged Old Flag” and listen to Cash’s version of his song. Johnny Cash, Ragged Old Flag audio
I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench an old man was sitting there
I said, your old courthouse is kinda run down
He said, no, it’ll do for our little town
I said, your old flagpole has leaned a little bit
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hanging on it
He said, have a seat, and I sat down
Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town?
I said, I think it is
He said, I don’t like to brag
But we’re kinda proud of that ragged old flag
You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when
Washington took it across the Delaware
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing say can you see
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin’ at its seams
And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg
And the south wind blew hard on that ragged old flag
On Flanders field in World War One
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun
She turned blood red in World War Two
She hung limp and low a time or two
She was in Korea and Vietnam
She went where she was sent by Uncle Sam
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
And now they’ve about quit waving her back here at home
In her own good land here she’s been abused
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused
And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land
And she’s getting threadbare and wearing thin
But she’s in good shape for the shape she’s in
‘Cause she’s been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more
So we raise her up every morning
We take her down every night
We don’t let her touch the ground and we fold her up right
On second thought, I do like to brag
‘Cause I’m mighty proud of that ragged old flag.
Events over the past few weeks have brought about confusion and discouragement when I think about how men and women died so some could do what they are doing today with our flag.
This is a lack of respect for authority, life, and God. But it’s not too late to turn the corner.
I wish everyone would love our country the way I do and enjoy the freedom we have in the USA, while it lasts.

Del Duduit is an award-winning writer and author who lives in Lucasville, Ohio with his wife, Angie. They attend Rubyville Community Church. Follow his blog at delduduit.com/blog and his Twitter @delduduit. He is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary Agency.

Thousands Died in Nursing Homes & Our Economy was Crashed but Ohio Should be Grateful, Says Chelsea Clinton

Chelsea Clinton made some unflattering remarks about Ohioans in a Twitter post Monday.

Clinton accused us of hate-targeting, harassing and threatening the state’s former Health Director Dr. Amy Acton into resigning.

Indeed, there is no love lost between Acton and Ohioans. But it didn’t start out that way.

Ohioans had full faith in Acton, DeWine and Husted. We were glued to our screens every afternoon for press conferences, determined to do our part to “flatten the curve” and “save lives.” But skewed data and escalated fearmongering from our leaders began to erode away at that trust.

Chelsea Clinton serves on the board of the far-left organization Partners in Health. PIH has collaborated with the Clinton Foundation on numerous projects and will be working with Ohio on contact tracing.

While Acton might deserve the gratitude of the Clinton family for promoting their political agendas, Ohioans have only to thank Acton for a crashed economy and prolonging the shutdown, without any evidence to back it up.

As one Ohioan put it, Acton tried to kill a gnat with a sledgehammer.

Acton’s projections couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact, states that did not shut down fared just as well or better in saving lives from Covid-19 as states that did.

Acton’s blunders resulted in an estimated $4 billion dollar hit to the state, bankrupted businesses and disrupted our children’s education. We now have two thousand unemployed and hundreds of released criminals loose on the streets.

Acton started the with faulty modeling and ignored critical real-time data as it became available. Instead of changing course, the Acton, DeWine and Husted trio suppressed factual data and presented Ohioans with misleading numbers and projections.

Right up to the day of her resignation, Acton contended that young, healthy people were dying from Covid-19. In reality, confirmed deaths in nursing homes account for 79 percent of the state’s total deaths.

Our state’s most vulnerable senior citizens in nursing care facilities continue to be overlooked and have little to no access to testing.

Even though Acton resigned, she continues to make the same nearly quarter-of-a-million-dollar annual salary to advise the governor on health issues, this while critical budgets like education and Medicare are cut and Ohioans livelihoods are sacrificed due to DeWine’s ongoing closures and restrictions. On top of this, Ohio is paying a new state health director.

With Acton in his ear, DeWine continues to extend the emergency order in what seems to be an effort to keep Ohioans in his dictatorial grip for as long as possible.

Chelsea Clinton’s remark is a low blow. Acton has worked to promote her agenda and national name recognition, forgetting first and foremost about the people she was appointed to serve

Ohio Elder Abuse Day Tarnished by Governor’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Crisis

Families are unable to be with their loved one at their hour of greatest need.

Today Ohio recognizes Elder Abuse Day with the slogan, “If you see something say something.”

Well we see something unthinkable happening in Ohio’s nursing homes, the unchecked spread of COVID-19 and the unspeakable abuse of separating vulnerable patients from their loved ones.

Ohio has over 2000 COVID-19 nursing home deaths which represents 71% of the total deaths in Ohio. Yet, the Governor, Lt. Governor and former Health Director focused their efforts on business and school closures. They prioritized testing in the Ohio prison system and not nursing homes. They went so far as to release prisoners from lockup to help decrease the spread of the disease.

There has been no such effort to increase testing in care facilities or relocate nursing home patients to help stop the spread of infection.

Perhaps even more incomprehensible is the Governor, Lt. Governor and former Health Directors decision to prohibit family members from having access to their loved ones in the nursing homes. The elderly are passing away without their loved ones, and families are unable to be with their loved one at their hour of greatest need.

More than three months into the coronavirus pandemic, around 70,000 Ohio nursing home residents remain in visitor isolation. Those in assisted living facilities or homes for people with disabilities can have only restricted outdoor visits. Dayton Daily News

Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted are promoting new pop-up testing sites around Ohio. The trouble is, individuals who are in nursing homes can’t travel to a pop-up site to secure testing.

Why the delay is addressing the source of Ohio’s COVID19 epidemic?

As we acknowledge Elder Abuse Day, let’s take a moment to ask the Governor and his team critical questions about the ongoing crisis in Ohio’s nursing homes.

Compassion Outlawed: All Injured and Orphaned Fawns in Ohio Must Die.

Sarge is known as the dog that loves deer.

Whenever a new fawn is carried through the door, Sarge leaps into action. He frantically sniffs the babe over to determine if there are any injuries. From that moment on, he becomes the fawn’s guardian and refuses to leave its side.

Sarge’s instinct to care for orphaned and injured fawns comes naturally. It’s the same for most people. Who could turn their back on an innocent, helpless babe? But that’s exactly what the state tells us we must do.

All injured and orphaned fawns must die.

Most Ohioans are not aware of this cruel policy set forth by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. The first thing they do is call the game warden when they find a fawn that needs help. This is a death sentence, as wildlife officials will euthanize the babe or place it in the woods to die a slow and painful death.

Hundreds of fawns are killed this way each year.

Veterinarians are forced to euthanize any fawn brought to their attention or risk losing their license to practice. It’s the same for state-certified wildlife rehabilitators. They are forbidden to rehab fawns.

There is absolutely nowhere in the state to take a fawn for care.

My family learned of this cruel policy a few years ago when a game warden showed up and ordered us to kill a fawn we had raised to adulthood. The deer was free to come and go, and was in no way contained. But that didn’t matter.

Ohio claims ownership of all wildlife within its borders, and it has no compassion where deer are concerned.

After refusing to kill the deer, we were threatened with prosecution. Shortly afterward the deer turned up dead, his remains found decomposing in the woods. We suspected he was killed by wildlife officers but there was no way to know.

This happens frequently in Ohio. A deer in Clarington was killed just for being tame, shot in front of young children in a back yard. Stories of ODOW’s cruel tactics are commonplace.

Nearly every other state in the nation has some form of fawn rehabilitation, where fawns are raised and released wild. This is very successful and costs the states nothing.

While Ohioans are banned from helping a fawn, the state’s deer farming industry is thriving. Deer farmers raise wild deer inside fences  as domestic livestock. These deer are commonly used in canned hunts.

Unlike injured wild fawns, deer in farming operations have access to veterinary care.

“There are 600 people in Ohio raising deer, but people just don’t know we exist,” said Curt Waldvogel, a Madison County deer farmer and president of the Whitetail Deer Farmers of Ohio. “We’re not trying to hide, but people don’t know there is this industry out there.”

ODOW claims that fawn rehabilitation was outlawed due to Chronic Wasting Disease, an illness that has never been found in Ohio’s wild deer population. CWD has been found only in Ohio’s deer farming herds.

Every year various deer advocacy groups attempt to get legislation passed to reopen fawn rehabilitation and sanctuary in Ohio, and every year we’ve failed. The ODOW, deer farmers and sport-hunting groups rally against it. They do not want to give up even a fraction of control over the billion dollar white-tail deer industry.

Wildlife rehabs are funded through donations and adding fawn rehabilitation would cost the state nothing.

Despite Ohio’s cruel wildlife laws, Sarge and I will continue to help fawns because there is no other option for these innocent babes. There are others out there doing the same. We all live in fear that the ODOW will show up to kill the animals we have poured our time, resources and hearts into saving.

May God bless any fawn born in the state of Ohio.

Commentary: The “New” Democratic Party is a Scary Place

Commentary by Cheryl Stephen & Del Duduit

The Democratic party has been hijacked.

What was once a proud centrist party for the working-class has been commandeered by left-wing radical socialists.

Now, it appears that Black Lives Matter and the militant anti-American group Antifa has also carved out a spot in the platform.

Recent events show just how far the party has fallen in a few years.

Major cities with Democrat leaders have been taken over by rioters, looters, criminals and arsonists. Blocks of city streets have been destroyed and a portion of Seattle, Washington has been claimed by radicals.

Thugs have proclaimed a six-block section of Seattle a ‘No Cop Co-Op’ zone called CHAZ that has its members armed, which the mayor calls a peaceful demonstration. She is delusional.

Instead of confronting the law breakers, Democrat leaders take a knee and bow before them.

This new breed of progressive Democrats has taken control in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and other urban centers that are now under siege.

The party’s decent into darkness can be traced back to Marxist billionaire George Soros.

Soros donated $5.1 million to promote Democratic candidates in the 2020 election, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. This is just a fraction of the $20 million Soros gave the Democratic party in 2016 – and this includes only documented amounts. Read: Billionaire George Soros Creates Super PAC to support 2020 Democrats

Why is this Hungarian follower of Marxism financing the Democrat candidates? And why are they following his lead?

Soros has provided financial backing to Black Lives Matter and is linked to militant Antifa. Soros funds over 200 active left-wing organizations in the U.S.

BLM received at least $33 million from Soros since 2016.

Soros also bought out our news media – to the tune of $48 million. It’s a strategy that Soros has been deploying in the media in both the United States and abroad since 2003. He’s had a plan to bring down America for a long time.

The scheme to abolish police departments is not new. It’s been a pet-project of Soros’ for decades.

What will these Democrat-run cities do without a police presence? Soros may have a plan for that.

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, a group that contends that when a state proves either unable or unwilling to protect civilians from mass atrocities occurring within its borders, it is the responsibility of the international community to intervene — peacefully if possible, but with military force if necessary.  Soros funds this organization.

Soros backs Midwest Academy, an entity that has trained tens of thousands of radical activists in the tactics of direct action, targeting, confrontation, and intimidation – tactics used in riots.

The Democratic party of today is nothing like what we remember.

There is no way Democrats 10 or 20 years ago would have agreed with these antics or philosophy.

The new Democratic party is a scary place.