Editorials: Two justice systems

Remember how they told you over and over that everyone is equal under the law? Not true. Donald Trump should be in jail but instead is about to reoccupy the White House. His sentence on 34 felony convictions has been suspended. All other investigations against him, like stealing top-secret documents, are buried if not forgotten because of bad judges and slow prosecutors. Trump got off. He had money. He is above the law.

So is Hunter Biden. His father, President Joe Biden, on Sunday pardoned Hunter from his guilty pleas on gun and tax charges. President Biden earlier pledged he would not pardon his son. The father said he changed his mind after reflecting on the political nature of the son’s prosecution. He also likely was thinking about the fact that if Trump can walk, why not Hunter? The son admitted his crimes, at least, while blaming addiction.

Trump still won’t acknowledge what a jury of his peers and judges have. The president has talked about pardoning the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. We could understand that. They were doing his bidding, he owes them. We also can understand why Joe Biden would pardon Hunter in this environment. Why not, if Roger Stone can be pardoned, or if a sentence is never executed on a felonious Trump?

Don’t be fooled any longer. There are two systems of justice, one that can be bought or leveraged and one for those of us who lack the ways and means of families that take on royal airs. US Supreme Court justices accept gifts from and cavort with political donors, with absolutely no accountability.

There is a rot at the core of democracy when you cannot believe that justice will be served. Perhaps Hunter Biden has suffered enough. He probably has. You could say the same for the torment Trump endured, and was able to surmount. Each lives in a prison of his own construction. If you are a Black man with cocaine, a gun and a tax liability, you go to jail for a long time. To say that justice is blind is to walk through American life with your eyes closed. It is obvious that justice is not served equally under the law, which corrodes our republican values.

The president-elect now intends to use the system to persecute his adversaries. You can see the turn we have made. Pardon your friends, imprison your enemies. We’re on the cusp of becoming a banana republic.

Opportunity in Alta

Best wishes to the Alta City Council for trying to make the deteriorating former high school into housing and a public library. Mayor Kevin Walsh and Councilman Jon Hanson, among others, are engaged with the Alta-Aurelia School District in finding a solution that fills several critical needs.

Most urgently, Alta needs a home for its public library. Councilman Hanson believes a wing built in the 1970s will fit the function nicely. Walsh would like to see the rest of the building, put up in 1916, converted to housing. He points out it is in a nice, centrally located neighborhood.

The city looked at other sites or building new, options that sounded terribly expensive. It appears that for a minimal investment the city could house its library. The school district and city share a library but it proved impractical after the legislature started passing book bans. The school has an interest in helping the city find a home for the library.

The building can be stabilized. A new heating and cooling system can be had once a clear plan is drafted for building use. Converting space into housing will cost millions. That will take more time. Walsh is right to suggest forming a housing authority to pursue the project and raise funds. Developers are not immediately at hand.

Alta and Storm Lake urgently need more housing. This is an idea that makes a lot of sense as an economic and civic improvement plan that addresses core community needs. It deserves local and state support (we would think that Sen. Lynn Evans of Aurelia could be of special assistance finding financial assistance in Des Moines). It also deserves support from Storm Lake, in that our major employers depend on new housing to secure employees. This is an opportunity for those employers to invest in their workforce through an Alta housing authority. Everything should be done to establish a feasible plan to provide more housing, a library and a community gathering space.