Although Netflix and the Duffer Brothers have not announced a release date for Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” one can argue there is no need to wait.  We are already in Year 4 of the “upside down.”  For those unfamiliar with the series, “The ‘upside down’ is an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the human world.”  If you did not believe in the “upside down” previously, certainly you are taking a second look after the events of the past week.

Let’s begin with Senator Susan Collins, Trumpist from Maine.  Collins supporters are praising her courageous decision to vote for more witnesses and evidence in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.  Excuse me!  For weeks, she touted her efforts to work with her Trumpist colleagues to ensure the minimal appearance of a fair trial.  SHE FAILED TO DO SO.  After weeks of ambiguous statements and multiple new evidence of Trump’s complicity in the “drug deal,” Collins finally announced on Thursday she would vote with the Democrats.  Why Thursday?  Because senators Lisa Murkowski and Lamar Alexander announced they had caved to Mitch McConnell’s continuing cover-up of the administration’s corrupt practices.  How much courage does it take to cast a vote when it makes no difference?  Would anyone be surprised if McConnell, more concerned about his losing Maine and his Senate majority to the Democrats in November, told Collins it was okay for her to vote for witnesses since it was inconsequential?

But in the “upside down,” Trumpists are faultless.  Everything must be blamed on the Democrats.  Consider this morning’s assessment from Washington Post reporter Colby Itkowitz in an article titled, “Justice Department Acknowledges 24 Emails Reveal Trump’s Thinking on Ukraine.”

Ultimately Democrats could persuade only two Republicans that more evidence was needed. On Friday, the Senate voted 51 to 49 to block new witnesses and documents, clearing the way for Trump’s acquittal this week.

NO!  It was Susan Collins and Mitt Romney who could not persuade ANY Trumpists that more evidence was needed based on the House managers’ plethora of still unanswered questions and the continuous reporting of new revelations about Trump’s conduct.  Which brings us to retiring Senator Lamar Alexander, Trumpist from Tennessee.  At least he admits Trump is guilty of everything charged in the articles of impeachment.  Did he spend the MLK Holiday break in the “upside down?”  In Alexander’s world, violating one’s presidential oath by soliciting and then extorting a foreign government to interfere in an American election is not grounds for impeachment.  In his “upside down” such actions are merely “inappropriate,” according to Alexander’s statement following his vote on suppressing witnesses.

The Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.

Surely, no one in the human world would spout such guano.  Which brings me to my third example that we have entered the “upside down,” the American Bar Association (ABA), whose website claims:

Our mission is to serve equally our members, our profession and the public by defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession.

Yet the ABA watched in silence as Trump’s defense team violated multiple principles contained in the organization’s “Model Rules of Professional Conduct.”  In what world other than the “upside down” would an attorney, present at the alleged commission of a crime, be allowed to serve as lead defense counsel?  In a 1999 article in the Hofstra Law Review,  professor Gerald Walpin argues that the ABA had no choice but to support the disbarment of former president Bill Clinton.

It should be difficult for the ABA leadership to shrug off Clinton’s perjury as unimportant.  The Model Rules of Professional Conduct-in the drafting of which the ABA boasts it played a major role-mandates that a lawyer shall not  “engage in conduct involving dishonesty, … deceit or misrepresentation,” nor “engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.”

We now know, in the “upside down,” a trial without witnesses or evidence in which the jurors openly coordinate with the defense attorneys does not constitute conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. When it comes to the ABA, perhaps comedian Steven Wright was correct when he said, “Ninety-nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.”

Regardless of the release date for Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” on November 3, 2020 we all need to join forces with the series’ young crusaders Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin and Eleven in order to turn our world right-side-up again.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP