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Facts or talking points: BLM vs. Jan. 6
To the Editor:
Arthur Keller, in a letter to the editor from Aug. 31, compares the justice system responses to the BLM demonstrations of the summer of 2020 and that of the Jan. 6 insurrection. He opined that an unequal response is an indication of a two-tiered system of justice. He begins by misquoting a June 2021 op-ed article from The Western Journal; the Journal article states that damages from the BLM riots totaled more than $1 billion, not $2 billion. The Axios article that Mr. Keller quotes refers to damages of between $1 and $2 billion. Whatever the true total is, the BLM damages were very significant, and by the end of August 2021, more than 70 defendants received an average of about 27 months behind bars, with at least 10 receiving prison terms of five years or more. (AP, Aug. 30, 2021)
As an example, a man was sentenced to four years behind bars and ordered to pay what his attorney said is likely to exceed $1.5 million in restitution after pleading guilty to inciting a riot in the spring of 2020 in Champaign, Ill. An Illinois man was sentenced to nearly nine years behind bars for lighting a Minneapolis cell phone store on fire in June 2020. A Charleston, S. C., man who live streamed himself looting a store downtown was sentenced to two years in prison. According to the same AP article, President Joe Biden's justice department continued the vast majority of the racial injustice protest cases brought across the U.S. under former President Trump and often pushed for lengthy prison time for people convicted of serious crimes. Subsequent to President Biden's inauguration, federal prosecutors also brought some new cases stemming from the BLM protests.
The BLM protests, most of which were indeed peaceful, were spurred by real racial injustice on the part of law enforcement, as evidenced by the sentence of 22 and one half years given to Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed George Floyd, and the sentences of three, three and one half, and four years given to the officers who helped or abetted Chauvin. On the other hand, the Jan. 6 insurrection was instigated by lies saying that the 2020 presidential election had been "stolen," and promoted as "will be wild" by then-President Trump. It was an attack on one of democracy's most cherished tenets, the peaceful transfer of power.
Giving as examples supposed crimes by well-known Democratic figures and sentences given to Jan. 6 rioters, Mr. Keller posits a two-tiered justice system that benefits progressives. I agree that the justice system has shown that it is unequal in its treatment of offenders, but to the benefit of Mr. Trump. Ordinarily, in "white collar" prosecutions of fraud where the accused is wealthy and has easy access to private air travel, defendants are hit with sizable cash bail requirements as well as the loss of their passports to discourage them from fleeing. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, has had to post no bond except in the GA case, and retains unfettered access to his personal Boeing 757 jetliner and to his passport. There have been no sanctions for Mr. Trump's attacks on judges and prosecutors, he avoided a mug-shot until his fourth indictment, and his arrest in Georgia recently took 20 minutes. He posted on Truth Social that he was "treated very nicely." Generally people booked at Fulton County jail are kept in a holding cell, with the process taking between two and six hours.
Facts and talking points are two different things. Both the right and the left would do well to remember this.
Joan D. Loewen
Lewistown
What is faith according to the Bible?
To the Editor:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith: and not that of yourselves: it is a gift of GOD" (Eph.2:8).
So, what is faith? Faith is our assurance of what we hope for and the evidence of spiritual truths (Heb.11:1). Faith is knowing and believing that GOD exists (Heb.11:6) and that He is the provider of all things in this life and eternal to come
(Acts.17:28, Rom.11:36).
Faith comes to us by a gift from GOD by the working of the Holy Spirit changing our hearts (Jn.3:5-8, Ezek.36:26-27). Faith comes to us by hearing the word of GOD (Rom.10:17). Through the word of GOD, we understand who He is and how to obey Him and serve Him. We must have faith to be able to please GOD (Heb.11:6) "for whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom.14:23).
Our faith must be in Christ (Acts.4:12) and His sacrifice made for our sin (Rom.3:24-25). We must confess with our mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in our heart that GOD has raised Him from the dead to be saved (Rom.10:9). "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom.10:10). Salvation is of the LORD through faith in Christ!!!
Jim Batt
Mexico, PA