Even Donald Trump Should Have Due Process

(Note: This post includes crude language that I rarely use. I believe it is needed here.)

Here is section one of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United Staes Constitution. The emphasis is mine:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

In America everyone gets due process. That’s right there in the Constitution. We make sure those accused of crimes — murder, rape, child abuse, treason, even terrorism, or ANY other crime — are accorded opportunity to defend their innocence. 

Every human being under the jurisdiction of We the People of the United States has a Constitutional right to due process. That even includes that most despicable man who occupies our presidency.

Yes, even Donald Trump. We know Donald Trump is a criminal. He was found guilty of 34 felonies and was found liable for many frauds and even a sexual assault. I am personally convinced that most of the MANY allegations of Trump’s frauds, sexual abuses, and other crimes are true. They fit with the behavior patterns we have watched play out in public over the last half-century or more. But EVEN Donald Trump gets due process in America. He has gotten and will get his day in court for defending himself against criminal allegations. To deny even the loathsome Mr. Trump his due process would be untrue to the pledges I have made nearly every morning of my teaching career. You know the ones to the republic for which our flag stands. It would be unAmerican.

So it is also unAmerican to support the arrests of other people without due process and their rendition to a concentration camp in El Salvador. This is intended to terrorize refugees and immigrants. This is a fascist tactic. This is unConstitutional. This is wrong on every level.

This scene is not from a gulag in the Soviet Union or a concentration camp in Nazi Germany; this is a scene staged by the President of the United States acting, supposedly, on the behalf of We the People of the "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,"  

To see uncharged, unconvicted, people — who have had no legal representation, no hearing before a judge or jury, no due process — shackled, shaved, bent, prodded, shoved, slapped by representatives of We the People of the United States is nauseating. Are some or even most of them guilty in Venezuela and/or the US of some crime? Probably so. But do we know that? No we don’t. And I’ll bet my next Social Security check that there’s at least one absolutely innocent person in the hell that Donald Trump and the assholes who support this infernal tactic have established. (I do not use crude language often, but sometimes it is demanded by the magnitude of evil needing description.) 

If there is a literal hell and if anyone could actually deserve it, few would come closer to deserving it than those who support this outrage. But even though I believe that, I STILL would demand, even for those I have labeled “assholes," due process.

 

Georgia Magazine

What a nice spread on my storytelling by Laura Berrios in the March 2025 edition of Georgia Magazine.  Georgia Magazine is produced by the Georgia Electric Membership Association and goes to over a half-million Georgia homes every month.  Full disclosure: Laura is my first cousin, once removed. I had to chuckle when I saw in the article a name that I have not used since sometime in the sixties. Like a lot of my relatives Laura knows me by my childhood nickname "Terry". 

Here is a link the online edition of the magazine: 

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gemc/georgia_202503/index.php?startid=25#/p/36

 Sheila's first cousin Gail was buried today. We drove down to Decatur and spent Friday night with our daughter Lillian and her husband Jordan, then drove on to Tallahassee to attend Gail's graveside service. We only stayed the one night with Sheila's brother Jimmy and wife Sally. 

OBITUARY

Jean "Gail" Shuman

SEPTEMBER 7, 1933 – FEBRUARY 12, 2025

IN THE CARE OF

Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home

Jean Gail was born to Carlton and Dorothy Peebles on September 7, 1933. She graduated Leon High school in 1951. She attended Charity Hospital where she earned her register nursing degree. She was the OR head nurse for W. T. Edwards Tuberculosis Hospital. She worked for Dr. Merritt Clements at his OB/GYN practice until she retired.

She was blessed with a wonderful love of her first husband Mayo Davis. They had two children, Carl Davis (Rhonda) and Lisa Revell. Mayo brought with him a sister for Carl and Lisa from a previous marriage Candie Garner (Charles). After Mayo's passing a few years later Gail was married to Clifford "Tippy" Shuman. Her family grew with Tippy's kids Sally (Lynn) Jordan, Tom (Penny) Shuman, and Ruthie Lyle. She has nine grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren. She is survived by her sister Mary Morgan. Thank you Mary, for being there for your older sister. We as a family are so grateful for your love and care for your sister.

She loved doing God's work. She taught a Sunday school class for five year olds at Parkway Baptist church. She was a founding member of Parkway. She later loved serving at Morningside church. In previous months Gail enjoyed getting to see classmates from high school once a month at The Egg restaurant.

The family is so grateful to the Villas at Killearn Lakes. The Care Givers are special people and helped mom get through these last few months with dignity. 

A graveside service for Gail will be held Saturday, February 15, 2025 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Roselawn Cemetery, 843 Piedmont Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32312.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the Big Bend Hospice or your preferred charity.

Here are some pictures I took at the cemetery:

Jimmy Matthews with Gail's daughter Lisa Revell

Sheila Matthews Shaw with Lauren

Steve Turrentine Joins the School Board

 From the Rome News-Tribune

We read in today's Rome News-Tribune that my nephew, Steve Turrentine, has been chosen by the Floyd County Board of Education to fill the unexpired term on that board of Chip Hood who resigned to run for the Floyd County Commission. Steve is much loved in this household and a great guy and I know he will do a good job on our school board. Here's the news article.

Floyd BOE picks Steve Turrentine 

He will fill vacant Armuchee post

By Rachel Hartdegen

RHartdegen@RN-T.com

The Floyd County Board of Education unanimously voted to appoint former Model Middle School Principal Steve Turrentine as the board member to replace the Armuchee post vacated by Chip Hood.

With 29 years of experience as a teacher, coach and principal in Floyd County Schools, Turrentine is happy to continue his work in the community.

“I love education. I love Floyd County,” Turrentine said. “I’ve been in Floyd County for 29 of my 30 years in education, and I love it. It felt like that’s what I needed to do.”

While he is filling Hood’s seat on the board, Turrentine said his expertise will be more focused on education than finance, unlike his predecessor. He became familiar with the financial side of education during his time running the two schools, but he said for now he’ll leave that to the board members who are more adept at it.

When serving as principal at Model Middle School and Armuchee Middle School, Turrentine said he learned how to create a positive working environment for his staff and ensure student needs were met. He intends to bring these skills to the board and focus on strengthening his and the board’s connections with the community. “It’s gonna be a learning process, but I’m excited,” he said. “I love the community, and I love the idea of building up the community and strengthening relationships.”

As a resident of Armuchee for the last three years, Turrentine said he was interested in the position the second he heard about it. After much prayer, conversations with people in the community and encouragement from his family, he threw his hat in the ring.

“I had a little trepidation, in the fact that I haven’t been on this side obviously,” Turrentine said. “I want to do well, and I want the community to be happy.”

Turrentine holds an Ed.S. and M.Ed. from Lincoln Memorial University and a B.S. from Shorter College. His dedication to education and community service is further evidenced by his role as a driver at The Spires at Berry College, where he provides safe and courteous transportation for residents.

He was chosen from a pool of nine candidates and appointed Friday morning. The application for the position closed on Monday, and the Board of Education made its decision on Wednesday after interviewing six of the nine candidates.

“We are thrilled to welcome Steve Turrentine to the board,” Floyd County Board of Education Chair Danny Waits said. “His extensive experience in education and his deep commitment to our community make him an excellent choice to serve the Armuchee community.”

Turrentine’s first meeting on the board will be the next scheduled meeting on March 10.

The Preamble: a Diagram

 Did you have to diagram sentences as a high schooler? I did... not often but enough to be familiar with the basics. This diagram of the Gouvernour Morris's wonderful prescription for republican government is a great example. It fans out those six basic goals of the Constitution very graphically. 

It Will Come To Pass

 Today would have been my cousin Don's 89th birthday. Wow. Don Baird was a great guy. I wish I had known him better back in the fifties, sixties, and seventies when he was at the peak of his career as a newsman for WSB and NBC. It was after his small immediate family was gone that he began to find himself more often visiting our Shaw Branch. Especially so after my mother moved here to Rome in 1997.

In honor of Don's birthday and in his memory, here is a song he wrote that was recorded by Willie Nelson: 

"It Will Come To Pass"

The turning earth will raise its wand
And bring the seasons to their fruitful end
and little men and trains will crawl
And snake their way around the timeless bend
And rivers, too, will course their way to find the hungry Mother Sea at last
And love will grow, it will come to pass

The sun will blaze its scorching path
across the sky a million times or more
and men with charts will scan the skies
in quest of life on some forgotten shore
and in the quiet womb the sleeping seed
will stretch its arms and grow at last
and love will grow, it will come to pass

It will come to pass

Though men and minds and times will change
still pinioned they by fears of growing old
though scalpeled hands will plumb the deepest corners
none will find the soul
yet bearded men in sandwich boards will tell the sinful streets
"He's Come At Last", and love will grow, it will come to pass

California Holiday 2024-2025: Day 18

Today was a very special day for Ruth Irmgard Carlin, our grandgirl, who recently earned a trip to DisneyLand by virtue of turning FIVE years old. But she wasn't the only one who had fun today. While Ruth and her Mom were off playing with those famous mice -- Mickey and Minnie --- and their friends,..

.... her sisters, Dad, Granny, and GrandShaw had a day outdoors at Dixon Lake fishing and hiking and playing on the playground. Only one fish was caught and that nice-sized rainbow trout was snagged by Clementine Georgia Carlin.

Clementine did not want to hold the fish too close, so I teasingly said "Don't kiss the fish!" That got a laugh, but I explained that Clemmie's beloved Aunt Lil once kissed a catfish! So, of course, when we arrived back air Cklem's house, I was called upon to prove it. Here's the proof:

A Right Good Name

January was a right good name for the first month. He was a watchful old fellow and had two faces, and could look before him and behind him at the same time. It is a good idea for a man to look back over the year that has gone and review his conduct, and then look forward and promise to do better. 

-Bill Arp

William Henry Smith is a famous son of my hometown, Rome, Georgia. He owned Oak Hill before Martha Berry's family did. I have enjoyed some of his writing for years. I have thought of using some of his stories -written under the pseudonym "Bill Arp" in my storytelling. Alas, I hesitate to do that as I have learned more about him. He went beyond the casual endemic racism that afflicted the vast majority of white folks in our area before and after the Civil War to becoming an apologist for even lynchings. 

Oak Hill, Bil Arp's home and later the home of Martha Berry.

I love much of my heritage as an eighth-generation Georgian, but the stain of racism seeps in to every part of it. Racism is a cancer on whites as well as people of color, in my opinion. So I will continue to admire and share the bits of love and creativity and imagination and honor from the only heritage I have, while also decrying the stench of cruelty and racism that pervades it.

William Henry Smith aka "Bill Arp"