As noted in Thomas Lifson's article, the Riverside district attorney filed a criminal complaint (People v. Macias) against the student perpetrator of a politically motivated assault on the UCR Campus. 

Riverside County prosecutor was my profession.  At the time of my honorable retirement, I was supervisor of the Gang and Homicide Units of the southwest part of the county.  As such, I have some knowledge and expertise regarding criminal law and filing procedures.  The charge filed against Macias is commonly referred to as "grand theft from person."  The gravamen of the offense in this case is not the monetary value of the item taken, but the fact that it was taken "from the person of another." 

Grand theft from person is said to be a "wobbler" in that it can be filed either as a misdemeanor or a felony.  The Riverside filing deputy exercised a degree of leniency and consideration toward Macias in that they opted to file the least serious charge available, which took into account the conduct at issue.  That is, they filed a misdemeanor (not felony) charge of grand theft from person. 

Based on this filing decision, it's a fair assumption that defendant Macias has no prior criminal history.  Of course, if I were the filing deputy, I would also take into consideration another important mitigating factor – to wit: 

The fact that the poor child has been subjected to the incessant brainwashing of the left-wing Marxist fools that they euphemistically refer to as "professors of learning" over there at UCR.

What is most disturbing is the fact that UCR concluded that no action was necessary on its part to address the attack against the victim.  Thomas Lifson's point is well taken that unless we stand on the rule of law, "the consequences can be fatal to the stability of the polity and society."

Of course, we are all mindful of recent incidents, especially those at U.C. Berkley, where conservative voices have been disrupted or denied a venue for expression as a result of intolerance and violence from leftists agitators while campus and police authority stand idly by.

Unfortunately, the trend to bend the law to suit political circumstances has also infected the FBI and the Justice Department, our federal government institutions entrusted with the task of fair and balanced investigation and the impartial administration of justice.  Things certainly have changed in recent times in that regard, and not for the better.  A story from my youth illustrates how far we have fallen. 

My father was an appointee of Richard Nixon and served as assistant attorney general in charge of the Internal Security Division of the Department of Justice for the United States of America.

I was in high school at the time Nixon was forced to resign.  At the time, my father commented,  "No, son, it's good [that Nixon resigned].  It shows that we are a special people.  It shows that the law applies to the president just like the rest of us."  I relate this not because I think there is any truth to the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense.  The point is simply to illustrate my father's deep and abiding belief that ours is (or at least at that time was) "a nation of laws."  The Old Republic is certainly finished if we are no longer "a nation of laws," but instead "a nation of elites," where the application of our laws vary depending on one's status or political affiliation.

During the Obama administration, we witnessed a deep level of corruption, which, even during the current Trump administration, continues to fester without any meaningful effort by The Department of Justice or the FBI to honestly and evenhandedly investigate the facts and hold those to account who, for their own personal enrichment and political gain, would subvert our laws and the interests of our nation.

Back in the day (when Dad worked there – almost half a century ago!), it was assumed that when an incoming administration of the opposite political party to the outgoing administration took over, there would be a house-cleaning.  Not so under the current Trump administration.  Here we have an attorney general (Sessions) who has recused himself from all the important decisions of his office, which demand a through and a complete investigation to restore public confidence in our federal justice system.  To add insult to injury, our attorney general has left immediate subordinates in positions of power whose personal interest is not to reveal, but rather to obstruct ascertainment of the truth.

Issues needing investigation (to name a few) include influence-peddling for personal gain and the compromise of our national security through the sale of 20% of our uranium reserves; Hillary Clinton's use of an unsecured server and her trafficking of classified information on various unsecured devices; the willful destruction of evidence, even while under subpoena, by Clinton and her subordinates; and serious and factual allegations of obstruction of justice and dereliction of duty by our highest government officials at the Justice Department, the FBI, and the IRS.

No, Sessions can't be involved in any of that.  He needs to leave those weighty decisions to his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, whose political affiliation is with the former Obama administration and who himself has a serious conflict of interest due to his having presided over the investigation of Russian bribery and extortion at the heart of the Uranium One deal.

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse ­– for surely Rosenstein is an embedded fox, and Sessions a nervous, fearful old hen. 

Those institutions that we have entrusted with the fair administration of Justice appear to be mere protective functionaries of, as Chris Farrell of Judicial Watch described it recently on The Lou Dobbs Show, "a giant socialist organ" on the verge of becoming a "failed state."

Alas, our dear country manifests the symptoms of a Banana republic, yet still the spirit of our founding principles (i.e., the First Amendment), survives.  And so commentators are still permitted to express themselves on the internet in a public forum like American Thinker.  God forbid that the forces aligned against freedom of speech and our constitutionally based values should prevail!  But then, I never thought I would see what we are currently witnessing – the breakdown of our fundamental institutions of government such that we no longer seem to be a nation of laws.

I leave you with a more optimistic thought this holiday season and some hope for the future. 

In a recent commentary in American Thinker, Chris Chantrill, noting Breitbart's assumption, stated in part, "[Y]ou have to win the cultural battle before you can win the political battle."  Yes, there is a resurgence of conservative populism within our culture, spawned in large measure by the anger and frustration of the unwashed of our nation, with the corruption and dysfunction of our elite overseers in media, education, and the federal government institutions they inhabit.  Things are churning in our country, from low to high.  Yes, there is much swamp-draining left to be done.  But Trump's election victory against all (establishment) odds was a harbinger of things to come.  There is a depth and a breadth to the conservative-populist movement that animates our fellow citizens, and in numbers sufficient for victory.  If we collectively join our voices to the battle, we can and we will win our country back. 

Keep your chin up.  Continue to fight the good fight.  As long as we stand together on the truth, justice will prevail!

Robert Kirk, a retired Riverside County prosecutor, suffers from a rare malady that afflicts only a tiny percentage of his fellow Californians – commonsense conservative thought.  For comments or to follow his current politically incorrect project, go to www.alienanthro.com.