Accountability is paramount regardless of political party affiliation. I don’t lean left nor right; both sides are accountable on the merits.
Accountability must be equal under the law.
On September 22, 2023 U.S. (D) Senator Robert (Bob) Melendez and his wife Salomon Melgen were indicted by the United States District Court, District of New Jersey on 22 counts. Most of these charges are linked to bribery. This is not the first time Senator Melendez has been under investigation for alleged wrong doing. As always, I included the indictment document in this site so you can read it for yourself.
Read the full 68-page indictment following this link.
menendez_and_melgen_indictment
Many of my readers probably have noticed that lately whenever I’ve added an indictment it had Former President Donald Trump as the central figure. But as I have written before, like or dislike Trump the indictment denotes criminal allegations. Every person is considered innocent until proven guilty. The same is true for Senator Melendez. Although it as it was with the Trump indictments, the evidence looks very damning. This is just a pragmatic observation.
The political baggage from this indictment.
Bottomline, we are all required to follow the law. Sure that some laws have changed because they were either bizarre, others perhaps enacted without much benefit to the general public, or were tilted towards helping a particular segment (writing the laws). If you are curious about what I am talking about, you can always search for a bunch of bizarre laws that have come and go throughout history. I might even write an article about that sometime, because it is an interest topic. But in this case against Senator Melendez these allegations pertain to violations that most of us can all agree should not be violated.
These are the counts in this indictment:
Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371
Conspiracy to Commit Bribery and Honest Services Wire Fraud
Count 2: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1952, 2
Travel Acts
Count 3-18: 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)
Bribery
Count 19-21: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, 1346, 2
Honest Services Fraud
Count 22: 18 U.S.C. § 1001
False statements
One thing that restores my faith in humanity is what I’ve seen from most of the left-leaning outlets actually reporting on this case. Democrats holding another Democrat accountable. And when they are reporting they are also avoiding any semblance of giving the defendants any leeway due to party affiliation. And that is true not only for mainstream media, but also for the great majority of left-leaning pundits, politicians, and even YouTube personalities who comment on politics. The latter have a lot more clout than some people might realize.
I personally do not have any sway when it comes to this case, except that I hope that the truth comes up. I do follow politics, but I was not very acquainted with New Jersey’s Senator Melendez’s platform, or how good or bad is he in politics. Do I find it problematic if these allegations are true? Yes, absolutely! In either case, I do not consider myself a Liberal, nor a Conservative – and that is very freeing because I don’t have any pressure in the form of party affiliation loyalty. Again, I just want to learn the truth. I will say that if an indictment is 60+ pages, it is likely that the evidence is very poignant.
But I would be remiss if I did not mention that this case only comes as many others that affect our political discourse. The fact is that it is quite rare to see a political scandal that features a left-wing person in the United States of America at this time in our history. The same can not be said about the rest of the world. Remember, political figures could be good or bad no matter if they are Left or Right. But the point I want to make is that these partisan variables will ebb and flow depending on the political environment at the time. And yes, that political climate does change, and has changed also in the United States. For some reason, and unfortunately, mathematically the right-wing is racking more events than the left.
I will mention one example, thought I will not delve this right-wing personality scandal. But in case you have not heard about it, I just will point that U.S. Representative (R) Lauren Boebert from Colorado has been in the headlines because of a theater incident in Denver. She was asked to leave because of all the vaping, the groping, and other disruptions. It is not criminal, but it is unbecoming of an elected representative. And by the way, it is irrefutable, it is caught on various cameras. I’ll write an entire article about that in my Patreon page. The reason for that is because some of the details are not something suitable for all audiences.
I will also write a separate article about some of these headlines (both left and right political personalities) in this very site www.halflifecrisis.com where you are reading my article. But the point I want to re-emphasize is that when there are allegations for wrongdoing it is important to look at the facts. A lot of these facts might interfere with our political leanings, especially if we do like or dislike the person in question. In this case, personally, I am going to do more research to figure out what other indicators could have prevented the case at the top of this article. It seems like Senator Melendez has been normalizing some of these acts based on the indictment. I will write a follow up article when relevant.
What I will say is that I am no fan of any person in power who lets corruption dictate their lives. Why? Because then this corruption will affect all constituents, and subsequently these one-sided policies will affect the general public. Especially when it comes to legislation. It is a slippery slope, that is why elected officials are supposed to be above the fray. Lately some of the things that seem to be normalized among elected-leaders in the headlines seem to point a lack of respect for these exulted positions.
As we are getting closer to the next “big time” to vote our leadership in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency – it is up to all of us to understand why somebody should, or should not be allowed to hold a position of such influence. I want to also mention who is holding majority on each branch of government
Executive. Democrats
Legislative. House of Representatives – Republicans
Senate – Democrats
Judiciary. Supreme Court is 6-3 in favor of Conservatives
(these are lifetime appointments)
As promised, this will be a comparatively short article for this site. Then again, the indictment alone is 60+ pages. I will be writing in the near term about the next closer alligator to the boat affecting our country (USA). The looming possibility of yet another Government Shutdown. In this case it is up to the speaker of the House of Representatives. There is plenty to speak about that, but I will leave by saying that even people in his own party (Republicans) are pining this government shut down on the Speaker of the House, Rep. McCarthy.
We are near the end of September, wo we’ll see what will happen. But it does not look good. This would stop salaries for essentially all government workers (to include the military), except for Congress. Surprise! HLC