Opinion: End 47

The trump administration is charging the town of Turners Falls on two counts, first in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871, alleging that Montague, a borough of Turners Falls, knowingly and willfully made a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States. This charge alleges that, by publicly posting a traffic sign emblazoned with “END 47″ on a local road, the town has knowingly made a statement which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances (Montague’s overwhelming progressive majority) would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States. The indictment also charges that Turners Falls is in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), by consciously disregarding a substantial risk that this communication would be viewed as threatening violence…”

Unfortunately, the invented verbiage above is almost a verbatim recitation of the Justice Department’s latest round of spurious charges against former FBI Director James Comey. This latest indictment/judicial malpractice does not involve a traffic sign, but a message written on a beach with seashells, “86 47”, a picture of which Comey posted to his Instagram account, and then removed hours later when someone pointed out it could be misconstrued.  (Misconstrued, that is, by some Hollywood gangster of a 1940’s movie, perhaps, as he prepares cement overshoes for an arch enemy, or by one of Trump’s scowling minions…). The indictment was announced by Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, who, like Trump and many of his sycophants and toadies, seems to excel in an ability to appear deadly serious while delivering preposterous and/or offensive statements. This follows on the heels of the first harassment of Comey, a miserably failed attempt at a prosecution for the former FBI director (also guilty of being appointed by President Obama) for investigating possible ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.  

This is a colossal, ridiculous waste of government resources, not unlike many other attempted prosecutions by Trump’s lackies.  Although the charge resulted in a grand jury sending the case to trial, the old adage that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich comes to mind, reflecting that the government has nearly total control over charging in the legal process. We can only hope the judge in this case tosses it before it goes to trial. And we should all be revolted by this latest attempt by Trump to harass and bankrupt his enemies. 

What should our response be?  How about this: carry a piece of chalk or a magic marker and inscribe “86 47” widely and at every opportunity.  This should even appeal to the MAGA DOGE faithful, being as it is one character shorter and therefore more efficient than Montague’s “END 47”.

John Varner is a resident of Amherst.