Bad dream: encountering The Woke in a criminal trial [KT]

I had jury duty this week. It had been a little less than a year and a half since I last had jury duty. This time, the jury pool was all for a single trial - attempted murder. Because of COVID restrictions, part of the courtroom proceedings were broadcast to prospective jurors in the jury assembly room. Jury selection took 3 days.

This is the second time I have been in a jury pool for an attempted murder trial. The first time was in a federal court, many years ago. Jury selection took only a few hours back then.

This time, there was a lengthy questionnaire, and potential jurors with experience (or relatives or close friends with experience) in criminal justice, law, law enforcement, corrections, medicine or psychology got extra scrutiny. As well as those with experience as victims of violent crime. The judge emphasized again and again that jurors must follow the law as he explained it. He skillfully discouraged people from making excuses for avoiding jury duty. But attorneys were given broad latitude for excluding potential jurors.

I am dubious of jury selection procedures which allow the exclusion of people with knowledge of, say, science when scientific evidence will be presented. I have a feeling that some of this sort of thing was going on in this case.

Anyway, the defense did not want me to be on the jury.

The questionnaire also asked about membership in groups such as those pushing jury nullification and related ideas. Made me think about several ways that 'wokeness' could mess up a criminal trial.

Of course, there are 'woke' district attorneys, like the ones across the country whose campaigns were financed by George Soros. But what about when laws or members of juries go 'woke'?

James Lindsay wrote a clear-headed little piece about how wokeness threatens the rule of law in general.

Here are two important ideas that currently exist in fundamental opposition to one another: "Reasonableness" and "Wokeness."
In advanced legal systems, we depend upon the concept of "reasonableness" and specifically a standard known as the "reasonable-person standard." This simply asks: what would be reasonable in, or what would a reasonable person make of, a given situation?
On the other hand, the "applied postmodern" ideologies that we refer to as "Wokeness" or "Critical Social Justice Theory" posit a concept of radical subjectivism and socialization into power-laden biases. In this worldview, there is no such thing as a "reasonable person," and nothing can be considered "reasonable," because the very application of "reason" is a mere application of whatever is accepted by the dominant power structure at hand. No one is reasonable because everyone is biased; there are only people who speak into dominant discourses or who resist them.

These ideas are wholly incompatible with one another. It is not possible to rely upon a standard of reasonableness or to defer to a hypothetical reasonable person if no such thing is believed to exist. Even worse, the reasonableness principle is wholly undermined by the further notion that any semblance of or consensus about what is reasonable is an application of the very sort of oppressive politics that our laws and courts in free countries are supposed to guard their citizens against. . .

You might want to read the whole thing. It's short. And scary.

Music about criminality

You may recall this song, in which a young white man is invited to confess and feel shame for murder. Today, young white men are invited to confess and feel shame for being young white men.

Little did I know that the song above represented cultural appropriation from an oppressed group:

General Thoughts on Wokeness

James Lindsay's "critical social justice" framing of the word 'woke' is more specific that the Oxford Dictionary definition: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice. Alertness does not lead to the kinds of hostile behavior that we see from the folks known as 'woke'.

Some of the push-back against this word seems to be having an effect. Don't give up. From Andrew Doyle, The Trouble with Woke:

No word seems to generate more conversations at cross purposes than 'woke', whose definition varies depending on who is using it at any given time.

They used to be proud of calling themselves "woke":

For the various black civil-rights activists of the 20th century it signified an alertness to injustice, particularly racism. This usage became popularised by the singer Erykah Badu in her 2008 song 'Master Teacher (Stay Woke)', and was taken up by the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. Soon after, the term was co-opted by practitioners of the new 'social justice' ideology, and for a few years was a popular form of self-identification. We became accustomed to headlines in the Guardian such as 'Can a woke makeover win Barbie and Monopoly new fans?' and 'My search for Mr Woke: a dating diary'. In the US, articles such as 'keeping your classroom woke', 'becoming woke in the wake of "Me Too"' and 'the woke black person's guide to talking about oppression with family' became commonplace. Inevitably, those who took a critical stance on these identitarian perspectives would describe their proponents as 'woke'. It made sense, given that this is how they were describing themselves.

But not any more:

Before long, commentators who had once happily embraced the 'woke' label became dismayed at how their opponents were using it to criticise or mock them, and so they pretended that the word had been concocted by the right as a slur. ...
This revisionist strategy is unlikely to succeed, given that the proposition that identitarian writers did not commonly self-define as 'woke' can be easily disproved with the most cursory of internet searches. ... When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wore a '#StayWoke' t-shirt on stage at the 2016 ReCode conference, nobody suggested that he was guilty of disseminating right-wing propaganda. These people were woke, and proud of it. ...

Titania McGrath recommends that Doyle's new book on free speech be banned.

HEH.

Victor Davis Hanson on the cancer of the "woke ideology". February 9. He discusses these fraught topics in a calm manner. Put it on in the background sometime when you are doing something else.

It's a long video, but includes some interesting phrases and details to help us think about how "woke ideology" affects us and our culture.

These are some casual notes I made if you just want to listen to part of the video. Don't hold me to their accuracy:

Opening: The temptation to give in to The Woke, to agree with some part of what the "woke" are preaching.

3:43 - 10:46 The leftist push to control the flow of information. Comparison of social media giants excluding conservatives to exclusion of blacks from housing in private housing developments.

14:30 - 17:26 Time for push-back. No more re-naming schools, etc.

17:27 Begins a discussion of VDH's piece, "Our Animal Farm". We discussed this piece earlier. Plus the rapid capitulation of our military leadership to "woke" ideology.

Orwell's "Animal Farm"is how the Left works. You cannot apologize to them. They do not operate on the basis of reason. They only understand reciprocity.

There is NO MODERATION POSSIBLE. You must either agree or oppose.

30:20 The retired military has decided to take out WOKE INSURANCE by calling Trump a fascist.

Alec Baldwin has taken out Woke insurance.

Chuck Schumer has Woke Insurance.

The other kind of insurance is the Rush Limbaugh kind: total opposition. The majority of people are not really in a position to do this, so are vulnerable. Try not to let the woke hurt them.

41:00 Wokeness is like Cancer. You can't just say that you will let the tumor grow to a certain point and that will be fine.

What are we losing?

43:00 begins a discussion of Time Magazine's piece, "Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election". He compares this to the Steele Dossier of 2016 and asks why they haven't concealed these conspiracies. Then he answers his own question. They are bullies who glory in their power to bully.

They didn't have to be bullies.

50:00 On the calls to unite: VDH thinks that there will be a short-lived economic boom by the end of summer. Biden will get credit. VDH wants to see a return to civility and tolerance in our society. But he rejects the left's nihilism.

55:00 "Journalism" has actually announced that it will no longer be disinterested. "This has always been the totalitarian argument". We have seen a lot of media-generated scandals during the Trump Administration.

VDH reminds those in power not to destroy the institutions that protect them just because they are in power. Rash actions proposed or enacted involve:

court packing
ending the filibuster
messing with the Supreme Court
impeachment

They may soon suffer consequences of destroying these established institutions.

59:00 Trump probably shouldn't have held a rally on Jan. 6, but he didn't cause an insurrection or sedition. When Liz Cheney is more hyper-critical or Trump than of the left, she hurts herself.

One hour - Final thoughts: Before the civil war, there were compromises proposed for avoiding war. These were lost because radicals gained power, mostly in the South.

VDH mentions some other times in history when radicals have adversely affected our country, including when he was in school at UC Santa Cruz, and with some other rural boys fought off radical invaders in a history class.

We must recognize that again "We are now in a period of collective insanity."

Everybody regardless of political ideology must step forward and say we are not going to pick on the weak and the vulnerable.

Those who are taking advantage of this upheaval to increase their power influence and career are generally mediocrities acting in the name of purifying the culture. Comparisons to the USSR and East Germany.

We have got to be very cynical about these people.

Woke Juke Box Jury

Language warning.

Hope you remain free of encounters with violent criminals and The Woke this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:20 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I'll start by refusing to use the word "woke". It is not a real word. Make whoever uses it define whaat they mean.

Hi, KT!

Posted by: Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:27 AM (m45I2)

2 I've been ruminating around the word "woke," and wondering if maybe it's not much more than today's equivalent of hip, cool.

Not sure where that goes, but I'll let it percolate in my head for a bit.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:28 AM (oQ94s)

3 Through the looking glass we are...

Posted by: klaftern at February 27, 2021 11:29 AM (RuIsu)

4 Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:27 AM

Definition of that word is a good idea.

Posted by: KT at February 27, 2021 11:29 AM (BVQ+1)

5 As for juries, I've gotten this far in life, only once having been called for jury duty, and did not even get to the "let the lawyers have a go at us" phase.

I guess the case settled.

So I spent two days bored out of my mind, sitting on hard pews, like a church.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:30 AM (oQ94s)

6 My cynical self thinks the commiecrats have already made a joke of the 'rule of law'. This includes quite a bit of the GOP too. Lois Lerner and the IRS group had plenty of GOP help to get off scot free for targeting any group that sounded patriotic / anti-corruption.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at February 27, 2021 11:30 AM (Aashi)

7 Our "legal" system is broke, woke and full of dope.

Be aware, be warned and avoid the law and it's enforcement arms whenever you can.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 27, 2021 11:31 AM (R/m4+)

8 It ('woke') has connotations of 'awakened to reality', but in practical applications seems to come across more as 'ironically detached from reality in a self-superior way'.

So oxymoronic in a way.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:31 AM (m45I2)

9 Muldoon,

I tend to think of "woke" in the "critical social justice" sense, which goes along with cancel culture and such. As well as critical race theory training.

The older meaning is less fraught.

Posted by: KT at February 27, 2021 11:32 AM (BVQ+1)

10 And for any jury selectors out there, I'm inclined to go into any trial, if I were a jury, not believing a goldobbed thing the prosecutors say.

I believe, as a class, prosecutors are some of scummiest humans on the planet, and I would lie to get ON a jury, but if you're dumb enough to put me there, good luck getting a conviction.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:33 AM (oQ94s)

11 Top twenty or so.

Posted by: m at February 27, 2021 11:34 AM (JyWGN)

12 pic looks like one half of a stereo pair (looks like one half of a card for holmes stereoscope), which is annoying; i like my pictures like i like my women: with as many ds as possible and 3 ds is clearly more than 2 ds). after many years of looking, i finally found a copy of "engineer's witness", which is a photo book of things like engines and bridges and whatnot, but most of the pictures are half of a holmes stereoscope card, so it turned out to be more annoying than awesome. still awesome, mind you, but not as awesome as annoying.

Posted by: Comrade Anachronda, behind the Newsom curtain at February 27, 2021 11:35 AM (5br8a)

13 o/t: the youtube channel "cult cinema classics" is putting up "manos: the hands of fate" today at 4:00pm pacific. get your youtube-dl fingers ready.

Posted by: Comrade Anachronda, behind the Newsom curtain at February 27, 2021 11:36 AM (5br8a)

14 Present, off to read content

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 11:36 AM (Cxk7w)

15 Our jury system is a failure; you can't have a jury of peers when we have several antagonistic cultures crammed into one nation, and the jury selection process deliberately picks window lickers.

Posted by: somedood at February 27, 2021 11:37 AM (U+s6u)

16 "Manos" is classic MST3K. Minimum quality cinema.

Posted by: klaftern at February 27, 2021 11:38 AM (RuIsu)

17 Getting my nails did. Wine is already flowing at the salon! Bunch of drunks.

Posted by: Jmel at February 27, 2021 11:38 AM (yY9hS)

18 My brother the urologist was facing a malpractice trial for botching several urethral surgeries and felt it was unfair for him to be tried by a jury of his peers.

(heh)

Posted by: Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:39 AM (m45I2)

19 I only had to go sit in a prospective jury pool once, usually when I got the notice and called in the night before they didn't need as many people. I guess my scowl during the questioning phase scared off the DA, which was odd because I was annoyed at the Defense attorney's leading language. But the DA used one of his 'no reason' dismissals on me and I was relieved; as the case seemed to be only a 'she said, he said' deal and I would have hated being in a pool trying to discern who was credible.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at February 27, 2021 11:39 AM (Aashi)

20 It ('woke') has connotations of 'awakened to reality', but in practical applications seems to come across more as 'ironically detached from reality in a self-superior way'.

So oxymoronic in a way.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:31 AM (m45I2)

Very much so. If you can anoint yourself by merely declaring it so, and with that anointing you are now baptized into the faith, with keys to the kingdom, so to speak, why wouldn't you.

No studying, no practice, no trial by struggle. You just say you are, and you are.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:39 AM (oQ94s)

21 Wokeness is the latest iteration of predatory social collectivism. The most naked and unfettered display of this ideology was during the French Reign of Terror, which was nothing more than a gang of bullies who seized power during a national crisis and proceeded to punish everyone else for their own existence. Direct parallels are many, and obvious. It destroyed itself in the end, of course, and so too will the wokeists but the question remains of what else they'll be able to drag down with them.

Posted by: CppThis at February 27, 2021 11:41 AM (zcf1k)

22 I served on a jury once. Assault and battery. One dude beat up another dude at a gas station. No place other than banks has more cameras than a gas station. We watched the video. Guilty as charged. Duh.

Posted by: Jmel at February 27, 2021 11:41 AM (yY9hS)

23 I've never had to serve jury duty. Been called twice and excused both times, for very good reasons. I am almost certain that if I were to answer all questions presented to my in the selection process, I would never be selected. And I would indeed give honest answers. I'm simply of the "wrong" demographic and background.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at February 27, 2021 11:42 AM (W4eKo)

24 We need to conduct the same kind of "Long March through the institutions" that the Woke leaders have done, starting with the school system. Demand it be purged of CRT and Intersectionality, and then decentralized. State or national voucher laws would help, though of course we should avoid supporting federal institutions like the Dept of Education, which has no constitutional authority to exist (it's not among Congress' enumerated powers).

Posted by: jdgalt at February 27, 2021 11:42 AM (3SFo/)

25 LOL Muldoon. Took me a few seconds to insert the dropped e and get that one.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at February 27, 2021 11:43 AM (Aashi)

26 I believe, as a class, prosecutors are some of scummiest humans on the planet, and I would lie to get ON a jury, but if you're dumb enough to put me there, good luck getting a conviction.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:33 AM (oQ94s)

Holy smokes, I'm only on my first cup o... Not that any of you are reading it, but I meant to say I would NOT lie to get on a jury. Or lie to be kept OFF a jury for that matter.

I'll tell you the truth if you ask me the questions in a way that will illicit my true thoughts, but man, if you ask me "what're your overall thoughts about prosecutors..."

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:43 AM (oQ94s)

27 From the Doyle piece:

Before long, commentators who had once happily embraced the 'woke' label became dismayed at how their opponents were using it to criticise or mock them, and so they pretended that the word had been concocted by the right as a slur.

This revisionist strategy is unlikely to succeed, given that the proposition that identitarian writers did not commonly self-define as 'woke' can be easily disproved with the most cursory of internet searches. ... When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wore a '#StayWoke' t-shirt on stage at the 2016 ReCode conference, nobody suggested that he was guilty of disseminating right-wing propaganda. These people were woke, and proud of it.
----
They've tried to do the same with "SJW" and they actually believe it -- that it was us who came up with the term, when it was their people who proudly, without irony, were calling themselves "Social Justice Warriors".

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at February 27, 2021 11:46 AM (OssQ4)

28 I've never been called up to jury duty, which is probably a good thing. C++ the Elder made it all the way to in-courtroom selection once, but one of the attorneys made the mistake of asking for his appraisal of the American legal system. Much hilarity ensued.

Posted by: CppThis at February 27, 2021 11:46 AM (zcf1k)

29 Jury trials are DOA, they will not be around much longer, I expect. Use your imagination, to come up with how "they" will frame the arguments against them. It's already a farce wrapped in absurdity around an insane crunchy center. They've gamed the system.

As a point of order, juries were considered a final check on the law itself, by refusal of a jury to convict. Of course this can be used in both good, and bad, outcomes. The standard now seems to be any thing that can be used in a bad way, must be made unlawful. This applies to everything from firearms to soda pop. One person shits their pants, well then we ALL gotta wear diapers.

Jury trials means jurors selected of one's peers. Historically this meant that people who knew the accused were not considered off limits. If I have worked with someone and know them well, I should better be able to judge them, no?

Instead we're fed this pablum that we need to find 12 people who have not heard anything about anything, have no opinions about anything, have no connection in any way about anything, and will only "judge" anything along an arbitrary carefully chosen line of the "law" and come to some pre-determined outcome.

Posted by: Common Tater at February 27, 2021 11:47 AM (YtsCi)

30 I was sent a notice for jury when I lived in S.D. When I listed my profession as Engineer. Both side could not wait to dismiss me. Interesting case. The ex-husband was accused of sending a tampered (poison) sample douche to his Ex thru the mail. Not sure if was looking to kill her, or the guy she was dating.

Posted by: Paladin at February 27, 2021 11:47 AM (tlGVj)

31 o/t: the youtube channel "cult cinema classics" is putting up "manos: the hands of fate" today at 4:00pm pacific. get your youtube-dl fingers ready.
Posted by: Comrade Anachronda, behind the Newsom curtain at February 27, 2021 11:36 AM (5br8a)

I'm not sure how it changed, but until a few days ago I had the loooxury of watching any Youtube video with the ad break coming in. Ad Blocker still keeps me from seeing the ad, but the little clock ticks for a few seconds before the video starts up again.

And they break in the middle of someone saying something. It's idiotic.

I realize this is how Youtube makes its money, but good lord am I NOT going to subject myself to anything where the ads pop in every few minutes.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:48 AM (oQ94s)

32 Mentioned on ONT my dad was a big C&W fan, Kingston Trio was a favorite of his as well as Marty Robins.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 11:48 AM (Cxk7w)

33 14:30 - 17:26 Time for push-back. No more re-naming schools, etc.
A local mom was outraged by Critical Race Theory being taught in her affluent suburb. She spoke out and has now organized parents all over the country. I wish I could remember her name. I think she's also a Ph D.

Posted by: kallisto at February 27, 2021 11:48 AM (DJFLF)

34 It ('woke') has connotations of 'awakened to reality', but in practical applications seems to come across more as 'ironically detached from reality in a self-superior way'.

So oxymoronic in a way.
Posted by: Muldoon

This is actually my best definition of the also new term "based", which is typically seen in Alt-Right discourse. It is synonymous with "grounded", as in grounded in reality and truth.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at February 27, 2021 11:49 AM (OssQ4)

35 Long time reader
Rarely comment
Anyone else find the site crash happy with mobile?
Ios 14.x
Both chrome and safari

Posted by: M1911 at February 27, 2021 11:49 AM (m+vLY)

36 I hear you BurtTC. Dad has been on a forensic files binge. Some of those cases are a defense attorney getting an expert to analyze evidence, do recreations etc. They don't have a lot of those but holy cow; some of those cases where the state's agents decided someone was guilty and refused to accept all evidence to the contrary. Average joe citizen is screwed when that happens, they might be able to clear themselves if they can mortgage every asset they have and get a really good defense that will hire pro investigators and there happens to be some evidence to prove the negative.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at February 27, 2021 11:50 AM (Aashi)

37 Last time I went to jury duty, it was a Capital Murder trial. The questionnaire was three pages. One of the questions was: What, in your opinion, is wrong with the legal system today? My answer?

Lawyers.

I was not picked for jury duty.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 11:50 AM (jvt6t)

38
Via Don Surber, NBC inadvertantly gives us a great comparison:

The NBC story, said, "Look at the lineup of speakers at this year's
CPAC: Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Sen. Josh
Hawley, R-Mo., Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., (who spoke at that Trump rally on
Jan. 6), Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Rep.
Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas (who was Trump's
presidential doctor), former Ambassador Rick Grenell and Gov. Kristi
Noem, R-S.D.
"Compare that with the CPAC lineup from 2013 -- the
last time the gathering took place after a GOP presidential loss: While
you had Cruz and Trump, there also was Pat Toomey (who voted guilty in
Trump's impeachment trial), Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, Eric
Cantor and Jeb Bush.[/.,

Posted by: Huck Follywood, registered Independent at February 27, 2021 11:51 AM (9uflq)

39

Get ready for a kinder, gentler Golden Globes now the king of cringe Ricky Gervais has retired his hosting role: Tina Fey says she and co-host Amy Poehler won't get political.

Fey told Jill Rappaport on her "Rappaport to the Rescue" podcast, "We just want to make it a fun hang out for people at home -- kind of a stress reliever, so I don't think you can expect much politics at all. "

She added, "It doesn't seem like a venue for political jokes."

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 27, 2021 11:52 AM (63Dwl)

40 alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice. Alertness does not lead to the kinds of hostile behavior that we see from the folks known as 'woke'.

Yes; wokeness seems to be more of an effort to be as focused as possible on furthering racial and social discrimination and injustice in service to Marxism.

Posted by: Emmie: grubby, low-born, non-billionaire commenter at February 27, 2021 11:52 AM (ofYez)

41 I just love the list of speakers at this year's CPAC.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, registered Independent at February 27, 2021 11:53 AM (9uflq)

42 Woke is the new Nuremburg laws.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at February 27, 2021 11:53 AM (VVEnO)

43 My standard joke as to Jury Duty was pretty much "yeah, I'll give the guilty SOB a fair trial before the hanging", but not anymore.

Put me on a jury today, and I'd be, just a leetle skeptical 'bout whatever the prosecution presented as "evidence", even if from multiple video feeds. They can simply fake so much, so well, that it's hard to say what's real and what ain't. Not saying I'd never vote to convict, and given provable fact, would. But, SKEPTICAL would be my starting point, and a hard skepticism at that.

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at February 27, 2021 11:53 AM (QzJWU)

44 If a defendant is on trial, there's a chance he's honest. If there's a prosecutor in the room with him, there is no chance he is. The defendant may or may not be guilty, but if he isn't, you can rest assured that DA would lie about it. He'd lie to convict his own children if it means a win.

Any murder trial I get put on gets a hung jury. Retrial, baby.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (sCTt7)

45 Also see "Clear".

Posted by: pawn at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (+KAsH)

46 Average joe citizen is screwed when that happens, they might be able to clear themselves if they can mortgage every asset they have and get a really good defense that will hire pro investigators and there happens to be some evidence to prove the negative.
Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at February 27, 2021 11:50 AM (Aashi)

I've worked with a lot of clients who have been chewed up and spit out by the system, white and black. But there's definitely a hint that if you are black, you aren't getting a fair trial. You just aren't.

And some of these guys have spent 10 or more years behind bars before THEY learn enough about how the system works, to get their cases either overturned, or have the sentence reduced because the judge didn't have an f'n clue that he couldn't sentence you to that.

I've seen it firsthand, and when black people say the justice system has been screwing them over for decades, yeah, they have a point.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (oQ94s)

47 I'll take today's CPAC lineup versus any group with Magic Underwear Mitt, Jeb!, Toomey, or Paul Ryan.

I watched that video again the other day of Trump taking down Jeb! at the debate and it was glorious. What a putz.

But his putziness is dwarfed by Mitt's. Fuck that guy.

Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (zPct3)

48 I got on a jury one time.. I lied to get on The creep was guilty as hell... The perp was a repeat offender and his lawyer was trying to get him out on "police brutality." The day the trial was supposed to start they made a plea deal and the sucker did not go to jail.. I was pissed

Posted by: It's me donna at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (Zmnko)

49 Long time reader
Rarely comment
Anyone else find the site crash happy with mobile?
Ios 14.x
Both chrome and safari

Posted by: M1911 at February 27, 2021 11:49 AM

Yes, always crashes the main page, if you let it try to load and don't click "comments" on a post quickly enough. Mobile devices don't have nearly enough RAM for the main page. I don't even try to read the sidebar any more, except on my PC.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (OssQ4)

50 She spoke out and has now organized parents all over the country. I wish I could remember her name. I think she's also a Ph D.
Posted by: kallisto at February 27, 2021 11:48 AM (DJFLF

Good for her!

Posted by: Emmie: grubby, low-born, non-billionaire commenter at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (ofYez)

51 The Golden Globes is avoiding politics? Haha- Hollywood finally noticed they are losing their audience. Make 'em sweat.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, registered Independent at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (9uflq)

52 M1911, no tech guru I, but someone yesterday said - turn off java script in Safari. I did, and it appears to have "stabilized" the HQ (iOS14 phone).

Good nic.

Comment more (consider that an order, if you wish).

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 11:56 AM (OTzUX)

53 51 The Golden Globes is avoiding politics? Haha- Hollywood finally noticed they are losing their audience. Make 'em sweat.

No... They can't attack Biden and Trump has more or les been silenced

Posted by: It's me donna at February 27, 2021 11:56 AM (Zmnko)

54 24 we should avoid supporting federal institutions like
the Dept of Education, which has no constitutional authority to exist
(it's not among Congress' enumerated powers).

Posted by: jdgalt at February 27, 2021 11:42 AM (3SFo/)

You can blame Jimmy Peanut for that. Reagan wanted to get rid of it but the school unions and lobby screamed.

Posted by: Vic at February 27, 2021 11:57 AM (mpXpK)

55 Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (OssQ4)

============
exactly; on my iphone, it is a race to see if I can get to the comments before it crashes. It has been this way for quite some time, for me at least.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, registered Independent at February 27, 2021 11:57 AM (9uflq)

56 Tina Fey says she and co-host Amy Poehler won't get political.

Ricky Gervais wasn't too political when he hosted the Golden Globes. He was making fun of their institutionalized pedophilia for the most part.

Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix at February 27, 2021 11:57 AM (zPct3)

57 Mentioned on ONT my dad was a big C&W fan, Kingston Trio was a favorite of his as well as Marty Robins.
Posted by: Skip

Woke Marty Robbins.

Out in the west Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a formerly male

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at February 27, 2021 11:57 AM (VVEnO)

58 Posted by: Huck Follywood, registered Independent at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (9uflq)

No, they now have a paste eater in office. Orange man bad is gone now, so everything is hunky dory.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 11:58 AM (jvt6t)

59 Woke is only good if defined and used as an insult.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 27, 2021 11:58 AM (2DOZq)

60 Hollywood finally noticed they are losing their audience.

I'm not at all sure that's the reason. They got what they wanted (the stolen election) and now everything is rainbows and unicorns.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at February 27, 2021 11:58 AM (W4eKo)

61 I can't address civil trials, since I don't do those, but I have picked a fair number of juries both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney.
There are any number of reasons a case ends up before a jury apart from an honest dispute over the guilt of the defendant. Sometimes the plea bargain just plain sucks. Sometimes the client is too stupid to understand the mathematical concept that "two years of prison" on the plea bargain is less than "five years of prison" after losing the trial. And if it's a domestic violence case, the defense is just hoping the alleged victim doesn't show up.
Most crime is pretty straight-forward, which is why the vast majority of cases settle. The real problem we have now is the explosion of seriously mentally ill clients who are overwhelming the limited resources we have.

Posted by: PabloD, boop/bop/beep at February 27, 2021 12:00 PM (8IYtY)

62 if you go to anything wrong think or MAGA leave your mobile phone at home

they can not resist using it to ID us

Posted by: will choose a nic later at February 27, 2021 12:00 PM (r4bSV)

63 So....Scarface just thinks politics at awards ceremonies are in bad taste? Too little, too late and too hypocritical.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:00 PM (jvt6t)

64 Race is (unfortunately), front in center throughout the modern jury system. Defense attorneys strike white males from the jury; prosecutors generally have to use their first strike against a white male too, to try to build armor against a Batson challenge once they move to strike blacks from the jury. The whole system is fucked with this. The jury selection dance is a game of statistics, run rampant with assumed racism.

Prosecutors will stock a jury with black jurors (particularly black women) if the defendant is a white male. I've heard of juries (black defendant) where the vote was 11-1 (with the holdout being a black female who said "not guilty, not going to talk about it" and sat there with her arms crossed until the jury deadlocked).

The system looks away from how the sausage gets made. If you ever want to be depressed, read Tanner v. United States (483 US 107 (1987)), where SCOTUS refused to overturn a jury verdict after it was shown that multiple jurors were drunk, high, or asleep during the case.

Posted by: Revenant at February 27, 2021 12:00 PM (hZfEk)

65 Jury selection is way out of hand. Jury of peers does not = carefully engineered select sample maximizing one side's chances. Maybe (maybe) one peremptory for each side, and more responsibility for judges to weed out clearly unfit people. That's it.

It's absurd that either side gets to engineer the jury, or even try. Random selection, baby. Tough. Probably would result in more "fair" jury composition, anyway.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 12:01 PM (OTzUX)

66 Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (oQ94s)

I couldn't disagree more.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 27, 2021 12:01 PM (2DOZq)

67 Any murder trial I get put on gets a hung jury. Retrial, baby.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (sCTt7)

I'd be willing to consider conviction, if you have video of the guy killing the other guy, and he's walking INTO the police station saying "yeah, I shot him, and if you drag his carcass in here right now, I'll shoot him again."

Otherwise, if all you have a signed "confession" after the defendant spent hours in a room with a psychopath detective who gets off on twisting people's words around until THEY don't remember if they did it or not... sorry. Not. Guilty.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:02 PM (oQ94s)

68 I've seen it firsthand, and when black people say the justice system has been screwing them over for decades, yeah, they have a point.

Blacks. Poor Whites. We've had a two tiered legal system for a long time. Thats what irritates me about the "ten and two, yes sir, no sir" pro law every time crowd. Get this - the law treats your suburb living ass a little differently than some others. And not because you're so damn polite and law abiding.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at February 27, 2021 12:02 PM (ek8Zc)

69 "what about when laws or members of juries go 'woke'?" --

The ShadowGate guy (Berge, who designed some of the PsyOp weapons now used against us) said they have the ability to only select jurors (even for the initial jury pool) who would be predisposed to be Woke (or predisposed to whatever Deepstate wanted). -- Since they have such vast data on our every move, they would know which people to call up. (I think he suggests this happened in some cases, maybe Roger Stone, I forget).

Posted by: illiniwek at February 27, 2021 12:03 PM (Cus5s)

70 The first rule of Arrest Club is: Shut the fvck up.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:03 PM (jvt6t)

71 Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (oQ94s)

Interesting.

Posted by: thathalfrican - The One at February 27, 2021 12:03 PM (J6dnG)

72 Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:54 AM (oQ94s)

I couldn't disagree more.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 27, 2021 12:01 PM (2DOZq)

Disagree with what. You're not making a compelling case here.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:04 PM (oQ94s)

73 I don't see how "woke" really translates as anything other than *racism*. Racism, if it means anything, includes even the consideration of "race". Color-blind is the only "anti-racism" there is, period. Anything else - *anything* - is some flavor or prejudice, or racism, or social engineering (same thing).

So, woke = racist (and authoritarian). I would never refer to it any other way.

I think all this elaborate semantic and philosophical mud-wrestling with "woke" is pretty stupid. It misses the point, or obscures the point.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 12:04 PM (OTzUX)

74 Don't worry folks. Ta-Nehesi Coates is writing a new Super Man movie.

He's saving us from ourselves.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:07 PM (jvt6t)

75 Mentioned on ONT my dad was a big C&W fan, Kingston Trio was a favorite of his as well as Marty Robins.
Posted by: Skip

Fella named John Stewart was with the Kingston Trio from 1961 - 1967. He wrote the song Daydream Believer for the Monkees. He also wrote and recorded the song "Gold". Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks worked on the song too. Background vocals and guitar work.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at February 27, 2021 12:07 PM (Vxu+H)

76 I've seen it firsthand, and when black people say the justice system has been screwing them over for decades, yeah, they have a point.
---------------
Blacks. Poor Whites. We've had a two tiered legal system for a long time. Thats what irritates me about the "ten and two, yes sir, no sir" pro law every time crowd. Get this - the law treats your suburb living ass a little differently than some others. And not because you're so damn polite and law abiding.
Posted by: Roll Me Away at February 27, 2021 12:02 PM (ek8Zc)

That's probably true, that it's more of a class distinction than a race distinction, but a lot of big city prosecutor/Kop shops are all up and down the line with people who are the genuine article racists.

And I don't think it matters much to this discussion, if one says "oh, 75% (or 90%) of the time the perp IS guilty." That's the point. Whatever percentage of the time you got the wrong guy, he's stuck in your ringer, and there's damn near nothing he can do to get out of it.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:07 PM (oQ94s)

77 In this worldview, there is no such thing as a "reasonable person," and nothing can be considered "reasonable," because the very application of "reason" is a mere application of whatever is accepted by the dominant power structure at hand.

Seems reasonable...

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 12:08 PM (axyOa)

78 Disagree with what. You're not making a compelling case here.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:04 PM (oQ94s)

That black defendants are being screwed by the system in the last 40 years at the least. And you also only offered an opinion. Just responding with an opinion. If you want to look at arrest records and FBI statistics as well as length of sentences I believe that will back up my opinion.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 27, 2021 12:08 PM (2DOZq)

79 don't see how "woke" really translates as anything other than *racism*. Racism, if it means anything, includes even the consideration of "race". Color-blind is the only "anti-racism" there is, period. Anything else - *anything* - is some flavor or prejudice, or racism, or social engineering (same thing).

So, woke = racist (and authoritarian). I would never refer to it any other way.
****
As the bee put it in their anti racist corporate training session on How Not To Be Racist: Dont judge people by their skin color

The end.

Posted by: LASue at February 27, 2021 12:09 PM (Ed8Zd)

80
The criminal justice, read legal system in the US is a joke.

some groups have a favored position and get minimal penalties other groups not so much.

the police are just the armed troops to enforce the rulers whims

aresting that lady in Idaho for taking her kids to the park and also aresting people for singing in their church parking lot is not making the police any friends

Posted by: will choose a nic later at February 27, 2021 12:09 PM (r4bSV)

81 Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at February 27, 2021 11:55 AM (OssQ4)

How is your dad doing?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 27, 2021 12:10 PM (VP4Cd)

82 Fella named John Stewart was with the Kingston Trio from 1961 - 1967. He wrote the song Daydream Believer for the Monkees. He also wrote and recorded the song "Gold". Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks worked on the song too. Background vocals and guitar work.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench)

Bombs Away Dream Babies

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (VVEnO)

83 80 aresting that lady in Idaho for taking her kids to the park and also aresting people for singing in their church parking lot is not making the police any friends
Posted by: will choose a nic later at February 27, 2021 12:09 PM (r4bSV)

I think this is why we didn't see a lot of pushback during the 2020 summer looting spree.

Posted by: CppThis at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (zcf1k)

84 The criminal justice, read legal system in the US is a joke.

some groups have a favored position and get minimal penalties other groups not so much.

the police are just the armed troops to enforce the rulers whims

aresting that lady in Idaho for taking her kids to the park and also aresting people for singing in their church parking lot is not making the police any friends
Posted by: will choose a nic later

---

Yep.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (hEdp8)

85 More often than not , suspects are not arrested because there is not slam dunk evidence and frequently the suspects are subsequently arrested for other crimes .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (2DOZq)

86 Sometimes the client is too stupid to understand the mathematical concept that "two years of prison" on the plea bargain is less than "five years of prison" after losing the trial.
Posted by: PabloD, boop/bop/beep at February 27, 2021 12:00 PM (8IYtY)

Except that's not the math, and you know it.

Five years in prison means you get out and you aren't a slave to the state. Two years means you have three years (or more) of being hounded day and night by a system that is just waiting for you to mess up, so it can send you back.

And if you DO violate the "conditions" of your parole, those two years you did aren't going to count for anything.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (oQ94s)

87 Gaga's dog's have been recovered! This long national nightmare is finally over!

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (IbxQb)

88 Only attempted murder case on which I sat involved black defendant, clearly guilty (facts were clear). DC, latter end of drug war period. Black females on jury (about half of jury) wanted to hang him. As one put it right up front - these are the boys who are ruining our neighborhoods. (they were hilarious, too)

Jury convicted on all 3 lesser charges. Hung on attempted murder. Two young white people, yuppie, kinda. One guy, one woman. Wouldn't convict on attempted murder - gave no good reason. Offered comically absurd reason - the perps didn't finish the victim off, which they could have. Um - they fired 14 rounds at him, hit him 13 times, reasonably figured the guy was done, and skedaddled.

As the funniest black female juror said - "what was that, a valentine???!". All laughed. Jury remained hung. Prosecutors told us after that it was OK, 3 guilty counts met their needs.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 12:12 PM (OTzUX)

89 The Golden Globes is avoiding politics? Haha- Hollywood finally noticed they are losing their audience. Make 'em sweat.

No... They can't attack Biden and Trump has more or les been silenced
Posted by: It's me donna at February 27, 2021 11:56 AM (Zmnko)

Yep. Or Newsome or Nipsy Cuomo being mentioned? Cant have that
I

Posted by: LASue at February 27, 2021 12:12 PM (Ed8Zd)

90

"Mama lost both her earrings" about 5:00 a.m. so getting a bit of a late start, lol.

Bacon sausage egg and cheese breakfast biscuits in the works...

Y'all come on over plenty for everyone.

Posted by: My Pimp Shot My Dealer at February 27, 2021 12:12 PM (G6/u1)

91
Get ready for a kinder, gentler Golden Globes now the king of cringe Ricky Gervais has retired his hosting role: Tina Fey says she and co-host Amy Poehler won't get political.

I assume they have added new categories... Most Gay film and best performance by a transgender ?

Posted by: It's me donna at February 27, 2021 12:12 PM (Zmnko)

92 I trust lawyers as much as I trust cops.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 12:12 PM (hEdp8)

93 Don't worry folks. Ta-Nehesi Coates is writing a new Super Man movie.

-
Pretty much the same as the original except Superman is vulnerable only to white kryptonite.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at February 27, 2021 12:13 PM (VVEnO)

94 If you want to look at arrest records and FBI statistics as well as length of sentences I believe that will back up my opinion.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 27, 2021 12:08 PM (2DOZq)

You're going to rely on the FBI for your data?

In 2021?

Really??

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:13 PM (oQ94s)

95 it looks like the process of turning the west into a wasteland
will continue, another 3 million acres

Posted by: yoeman at February 27, 2021 12:13 PM (BYNHj)

96 My brother the urologist was facing a malpractice trial for botching several urethral surgeries and felt it was unfair for him to be tried by a jury of his peers.

(heh)
Posted by: Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:39 AM (m45I2)

He couldn't just go with the flow?

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 12:14 PM (axyOa)

97 Pretty much the same as the original except Superman is vulnerable only to white kryptonite.

And all the villains are white supremacists

Posted by: It's me donna at February 27, 2021 12:14 PM (Zmnko)

98
Gaga's dog's have been recovered! This long national nightmare is finally over!

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM

her dog-walker will be so relieved...he probably felt just awful about letting her dogs get kidnapped

Posted by: AltonJackson at February 27, 2021 12:14 PM (iWN3z)

99
what is it with the 'ettes losing their earrings today?

Posted by: AltonJackson at February 27, 2021 12:15 PM (iWN3z)

100 Gaga's dog's have been recovered! This long national nightmare is finally over!

Mighty suspicious.. Some woman "found" them and brought them to the police?

Posted by: It's me donna at February 27, 2021 12:15 PM (Zmnko)

101 her dog-walker will be so relieved...he probably felt just awful about letting her dogs get kidnapped

Posted by: AltonJackson at February 27, 2021 12:14 PM (iWN3z)

I bet the dogs are pissed they have to go back.

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at February 27, 2021 12:16 PM (IbxQb)

102 I'd trust the random results of a pitch of the Yahtzee dice over any FBI statistics. Trust me, Mr. Defense Lawyer - you want my white male ass on that jury pool. I'll give your argument a fair hearing - and defender wins all ties, just like in Risk.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at February 27, 2021 12:16 PM (ek8Zc)

103 He couldn't just go with the flow?
Posted by: Diogenes

You're incorrigible.

Posted by: t-bird at February 27, 2021 12:16 PM (dYmWY)

104 what is it with the 'ettes losing their earrings today?
Posted by: AltonJackson at February 27, 2021 12:15 PM (iWN3z)

I think I have a few ideas.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at February 27, 2021 12:17 PM (W+T/C)

105 If you ever want to be depressed, read Tanner v. United States (483 US 107 (1987)), where SCOTUS refused to overturn a jury verdict after it was shown that multiple jurors were drunk, high, or asleep during the case.
Posted by: Revenant at February 27, 2021 12:00 PM (hZfEk)

Well, seven of the nine Justices were either drunk, high, or asleep during the hearing before them, so.....

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:18 PM (oQ94s)

106 Remember on South Park where Paris Hilton's dogs kept committing suicide?

Posted by: My Pimp Shot My Dealer at February 27, 2021 12:18 PM (G6/u1)

107 And VDH is entirely too calm about the 2020 election, and in the comments I saw (possibly not from this interview) almost entered "tsk tsk, now, run along" Mitch McConnell territory*, not even recognizing that election integrity is now a full-blown crisis in our system, and a foundational one.

* In his very first comments on the topic, Mitch said there were serious election irregularities. I didn't see that he ever attempted to square this "gee, ya think?" observation with the complete lack of action or investigation or court process that followed, before turning on Trump.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 12:18 PM (OTzUX)

108 her dog-walker will be so relieved...he probably felt just awful about letting her dogs get kidnapped

We have good news, Mr. Fischer- the dogs have been found!

*start Tik-Tok dance in hallway*

Posted by: His Doctors at February 27, 2021 12:19 PM (dYmWY)

109 My brother the urologist was facing a malpractice trial for botching several urethral surgeries and felt it was unfair for him to be tried by a jury of his peers.

Posted by: Muldoon

What a dick move.

Posted by: Rachel Levin at February 27, 2021 12:19 PM (Rvt88)

110 Remember on South Park where Paris Hilton's dogs kept committing suicide?

And rightly so.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at February 27, 2021 12:19 PM (W4eKo)

111 Whoa! Sock fail - but not really.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 27, 2021 12:19 PM (Rvt88)

112 Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 12:14 PM (axyOa)

Good morning. On a post yesterday you were thinking about relocating to Texas. I couldn't respond then. Georgetown is lib controlled and a Green Energy city. High utility bills and sketchy power supply. Lago Vista is a good area with great schools. The Pledge is still done everyday, as well as the Pledge to the Texas Flag. Just FYI

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:20 PM (jvt6t)

113 Last time I got called for jury duty they went through the whole list, knocking off people here and there. I sat in the courtroom all day and not once did my name come up. I was the only one left in the chairs as the place emptied out. I went up to the "bar" and the deputy went ballistic as I approached the "judge" and explained my situation. He asked the clerk and the clerk said "so sorry, you were called by mistake." Assholes.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 27, 2021 12:20 PM (R/m4+)

114 it looks like the process of turning the west into a wasteland
will continue, another 3 million acres
Posted by: yoeman at February 27, 2021 12:13 PM (BYNHj)

We'll TAKE that three million acres! How much is it? A billion? A trillion? I'm so sorry, I get the b's and t's mixed up all the time. They sound too much alike.

Posted by: Bill and Melandra Gates Farmland Inc. at February 27, 2021 12:21 PM (oQ94s)

115
Put me on a jury today, and I'd be, just a leetle skeptical 'bout whatever the prosecution presented as "evidence", even if from multiple video feeds. They can simply fake so much, so well, that it's hard to say what's real and what ain't. Not saying I'd never vote to convict, and given provable fact, would. But, SKEPTICAL would be my starting point, and a hard skepticism at that.

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Posted by: Jim at February 27, 2021 11:53 AM (QzJWU)

Give me the man; I'll find the crime seems to be the plan these days.

Posted by: Northern lurker at February 27, 2021 12:21 PM (lgiXo)

116 I have not studied origins of the term "Woke" ... (vaguely thinkin' it started as a black thing, became more of a leftist thing?) --

But the positive version of Woke is Red-Pilled ... which is awareness of the "just us" corruption behind the "justice" systems. -- And of most centralized systems/institutions.

Post Nov 3rd election fraud, we have seen The Matrix version is (symbolically) close to reality ... "They" control almost everything, so can just openly steal an election, and silence opposition's complaints. Orwell seemed to know this ... Winston had to hide from BigBrother, but eventually was found and controlled.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 27, 2021 12:23 PM (Cus5s)

117 A few years ago I was called to jury duty. Took 3 days to pick the jury. Glad I was dismissed. It was a child sex abuse case. Guy was creepy as hell. I would've convicted the purv.
Fast forward 3 weeks. He's convicted and awaiting sentencing. His mother, a firm client, brought him in to sign documents. I had to notarize.

I was so creeped out. I wanted to go home and take a shower.

Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 12:25 PM (JKh2y)

118 During your childhood, sometime before the age of 10 or so, if one or more of your parents/mentors hasn't explained to you that The World Isn't Fair...

Life isn't fair. Suck it up buttercup is usually a good addendum...

Then you are a victim of child abuse. Wokeism is the fundamental mental flaw that life and the world can be forced to be fair. In everything and every way.

Posted by: GnuBreed at February 27, 2021 12:27 PM (F0YaR)

119 I got called for jury duty last year. A nice-looking young black man who seemed very polite. I got kicked off because I had been a victim of a crime in the past, but I would have voted not guilty. He seemed like a nice kid and nobody got hurt so what the hey.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 27, 2021 12:27 PM (45fpk)

120 And if you DO violate the "conditions" of your parole, those two years you did aren't going to count for anything.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (oQ94s)

Concur. Once the state has you in their plantation prison system, you ain't getting out of it. Lotta money in them there criminals.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 27, 2021 12:27 PM (R/m4+)

121 Put me on a jury today, and I'd be, just a leetle skeptical 'bout whatever the prosecution presented as "evidence", even if from multiple video feeds. They can simply fake so much, so well, that it's hard to say what's real and what ain't. Not saying I'd never vote to convict, and given provable fact, would. But, SKEPTICAL would be my starting point, and a hard skepticism at that.

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Posted by: Jim at February 27, 2021 11:53 AM (QzJWU)

Yeah, we're in that scary age, where just seeing it on video or hearing the audio... doesn't mean squat.

Or having "evidence" on one's hard drive. Or fingerprints. Or blood analysis. I don't know why anyone would trust "the system" to do these things honestly. Again, maybe they do, 99% or the time (which I doubt it's anywhere near that high), but it's the supposedly small percentage of time the lie, cheat and steal that undermines the whole operation.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:27 PM (oQ94s)

122 When I get called and they find out I'm an engineer that's pretty much it. As far I've got is as a standby/alternate. I sat through the whole case, each day in the jury box, and back in the jury room for each deliberation, until time for the jury decision at which point they escorted me out of the room while the jury decided then went to give the judge their decision. Neither side wants me generally.

Posted by: banana Dream at February 27, 2021 12:28 PM (SFSVc)

123 "Rule of law" has become fetishized to the nth degree. I hate to use this as an example, but Hitler took power under the "Rule of Law" and I suspect much of what he and the Nazis did were fully supported by the "Rule of Law" as they proclaimed or enacted it. Do we think MLK, Rosa Parks, etc. bowed to the "Rule of Law"? Sure, the Jim Crow laws were eventually removed, but before then? If Exec Orders or duly enacted laws violate the 2A, will you comply regardless?

Posted by: Binkley at February 27, 2021 12:28 PM (xP8Wr)

124 your parents/mentors hasn't explained to you that The World Isn't Fair...

I heard that long before being 10 yo.

Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 12:28 PM (JKh2y)

125 And if you DO violate the "conditions" of your parole, those two years you did aren't going to count for anything.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:11 PM (oQ94s)

Concur. Once the state has you in their plantation prison system, you ain't getting out of it. Lotta money in them there criminals.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 27, 2021 12:27 PM (R/m4+)

In some ways probation is even more insidious than parole.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:29 PM (oQ94s)

126 I have not studied origins of the term "Woke" ... (vaguely thinkin' it started as a black thing, became more of a leftist thing?)

It sounds very much like a campus-leftist term, like "intersectionalism". But, yeah, red pills are the antidote.

Posted by: t-bird at February 27, 2021 12:30 PM (BvZkh)

127 I heard that long before being 10 yo.
Posted by: Infidel

---

Yep.

My mom kinda beat that lesson into me.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 12:31 PM (hEdp8)

128 Oh, and jury duty sucks. My one experience in a federal courthouse, well, we were treated worse than the defendants. Not allowed? Smoking, eating, books, electronic devices; just who is on trial here?

And the threat of jail if you don't show up. Uh huh.

Posted by: GnuBreed at February 27, 2021 12:31 PM (F0YaR)

129 I have not studied origins of the term "Woke" ... (vaguely thinkin' it started as a black thing, became more of a leftist thing?)
-----------
It sounds very much like a campus-leftist term, like "intersectionalism". But, yeah, red pills are the antidote.
Posted by: t-bird at February 27, 2021 12:30 PM (BvZkh)

Which is interesting, because if it IS a red pill thing, currently the term "red pill" is going to include people who are absolutely "woke" (heh) to the bullshit of woke culture, and reject it as fundamentally as they do the idiotic corporate media.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:32 PM (oQ94s)

130 I've sat on lots of juries for different things civil/criminal ( no murders ). I'll just reinforce some of the stuff you read on this here blog. There are a lot of stooopid people out there...and sometimes they're on the jury w/you.

Posted by: BignJames at February 27, 2021 12:32 PM (AwYPR)

131 My mom kinda beat that lesson into me.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 12:31 PM (hEdp

I think your mom was my dad's sister.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 27, 2021 12:32 PM (45fpk)

132 Put me on a jury today, and I'd be, just a leetle skeptical 'bout whatever the prosecution presented as "evidence"

Just a tad. What happens if you yell, "You lie!" during the interview? I'm thinking I might never make it to a jury box.

Posted by: t-bird at February 27, 2021 12:33 PM (XHrkn)

133 Not allowed? Smoking, eating, books, electronic devices; just who is on trial here?

And the threat of jail if you don't show up. Uh huh.
Posted by: GnuBreed

At least here, there is a room off the jury room open to the outside where you can go smoke.

Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 12:33 PM (JKh2y)

134 Just a tad. What happens if you yell, "You lie!" during the interview? I'm thinking I might never make it to a jury box.

Posted by: t-bird at February 27, 2021 12:33 PM (XHrkn)

Contempt of court...overnight in jail/fine very likely.

Posted by: BignJames at February 27, 2021 12:35 PM (AwYPR)

135 It's funny how various Epoch Times headlines unintentionally signal the grim situation. "Trump Will Be Helpful to 'All Senate Republicans'" - Lindsey Graham.

Trump has already said he'd selectively support challengers in primaries. That incrementalist approach is very unlikely to amount to anything, given the situation.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 12:35 PM (OTzUX)

136 Fella named John Stewart was with the Kingston Trio from 1961 - 1967. He wrote the song Daydream Believer for the Monkees. He also wrote and recorded the song "Gold". Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks worked on the song too. Background vocals and guitar work.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench)

---------
Say what you will about the Monkees, the network was smart enough to hire top-flight people to write for them. Carole King, Neil Diamond and the above-mentioned John Stewart, among others.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at February 27, 2021 12:35 PM (GLv8N)

137 Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:20 PM

Yo.
Thanxs.
That's good to know. I appreciate the input.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 12:35 PM (axyOa)

138 Only was on jury once, had to be 20 years maybe, actually was a good experience I think. Maybe today ( personal injury case) it might go the other way as though I argued it wasn't the fault of the defendant company but one person did the " Its only the insurance who pays so why not?"

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 12:35 PM (Cxk7w)

139 128 Oh, and jury duty sucks. My one experience in a federal courthouse, well, we were treated worse than the defendants. Not allowed? Smoking, eating, books, electronic devices; just who is on trial here?

And the threat of jail if you don't show up. Uh huh.
Posted by: GnuBreed

In a fraud case, I was escorted out after using the phrases "Let's not make a Federal case out of it." and/or "I'll be the judge of that."

Just as well - two Karens, although I didn't know the term at the time, announced they wouldn't find guilty no matter what was presented.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 27, 2021 12:36 PM (Rvt88)

140 Posted by: Huck Follywood, registered Independent at February 27, 2021 11:51 AM (9uflq)
**********
It's Trump's party now and even the Establishment are having to acknowledge this. There are some like Cheney, Kinzinger, Murkowski that won't, but most are seeing the writing on the wall.

Posted by: redridinghood at February 27, 2021 12:36 PM (NpAcC)

141 My mom kinda beat that lesson into me.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 12:31 PM (hEdp

I think your mom was my dad's sister.
Posted by: grammie winger at February 27, 2021 12:32 PM (45fpk)

Just a thought experiment: Imagine a world where restaurants are open and thriving, and there's this hip new place you'd like to try. You are gathering various family members, trying to convince them to go. There's you, your cousin's annoying kids, your weird uncle who likes to ask everyone to pull his finger, and there's you 90 year old nanna... and her colostomy bag.

Does the restaurant want you there? How would you be treated if you go? Are they going to treat you better or worse than that other party, which includes a gay couple, racial mixes all over the rainbow, and a transjenner or two?

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:36 PM (oQ94s)

142 106 Remember on South Park where Paris Hilton's dogs kept committing suicide?
Posted by: My Pimp Shot My Dealer

Heh!! A more plausible reason for her dogs disappearance than that stupid MAGA hat wearing rednecks dognapping them.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at February 27, 2021 12:37 PM (Th9ez)

143 RNC HQ just sent me an email with a SPECIAL OFFER inside. I deleted it.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:37 PM (jvt6t)

144 "THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way."

Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut.

Missed it by a few years, Kurt.

Posted by: GnuBreed at February 27, 2021 12:37 PM (F0YaR)

145 I've been reading a book about Erich Hartmann, German fighter ace of WWII credited with 352 victories. (By way of comparison, top US ace of WWI, Eddie Rickenbacker, scored 26 and of WWII, Richard Bong, scored 40.). The book is Black Tulip by Erik Schmidt.

The author introduces the book by saying he will exam Hartmann's culpability for flying for Hitler. He was 10 when Hitler came to power, 17 when the war started, and 23 when it ended. He has never been accused of any war crime but he had been a Hitlerjugend leader.

I was struck by irony of examining wrongthink from 75 years ago while, I think, we're heading for a Nazi-like government in this country today. It seems to me we should be studying the past to avoid making the same mistakes but this author is more interested in passing judgment on the dead.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at February 27, 2021 12:38 PM (VVEnO)

146 Yeah, we're in that scary age, where just seeing it on video or hearing the audio... doesn't mean squat.

Or having "evidence" on one's hard drive. Or fingerprints. Or
blood analysis. I don't know why anyone would trust "the system" to do
these things honestly. Again, maybe they do, 99% or the time (which I
doubt it's anywhere near that high), but it's the supposedly small
percentage of time the lie, cheat and steal that undermines the whole
operation.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:27 PM

During Trump's second impeachment trial his lawyers caught them faking evidence multiple times and called them out on National TV for it, no one said a word.

Point being, there are a whole bunch of people in the legal field that think it's OK to fake evidence and it is not just a recent thing. Go check out what happened in the 80s during the fells acres child sexual abuse trials. Literally a modern day witch hunt with zero physical evidence.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 27, 2021 12:39 PM (JUOKG)

147 1 'll start by refusing to use the word "woke". It is not a real word. Make whoever uses it define whaat they mean.

Hi, KT!

Posted by: Muldoon at February 27, 2021 11:27 AM (m45I2)

Defining "racism" might be beneficial to discourse as well.

Posted by: Javems at February 27, 2021 12:39 PM (8SSHh)

148 Just a tad. What happens if you yell, "You lie!" during the interview? I'm thinking I might never make it to a jury box.
Posted by: t-bird at February 27, 2021 12:33 PM (XHrkn)

I wanna bring a recording of Pacino's "And Justice For All" speech.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:39 PM (oQ94s)

149 Just as well - two Karens, although I didn't know the term at the time, announced they wouldn't find guilty no matter what was presented.
Posted by: Tonypete at February 27, 2021 12:36 PM (Rvt8

**********
Maybe, they were smart and were just trying to get out of serving.

Posted by: redridinghood at February 27, 2021 12:39 PM (NpAcC)

150 Just as well - two Karens, although I didn't know the term at the time, announced they wouldn't find guilty no matter what was presented.
Posted by: Tonypete at February 27, 2021 12:36 PM

In my one civilian jury experience I lol''s once. Judge was not pleased.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 12:40 PM (axyOa)

151 "Which is interesting, because if it IS a red pill thing, currently the
term "red pill" is going to include people who are absolutely "woke"
(heh) to the bullshit of woke culture, and reject it as fundamentally as
they do the idiotic corporate media."

yeah, "Woke" had a positive side ... being aware of the BS. But Waking up to what? It was engineered in the 60's to mean waking up to "dropping out" of society, into sex drugs ... "counter-culture" which was really part of communism. (no idea if the term "Woke" was used in the 60s). .. --
Christianity has an awakening (new birth, spiritual transformation), but the left wanted to break people from traditional culture, into the (Soviet infiltration/cancer) Ayers type world of sedition and chaos. This was to break us apart. ... Where DeepState now plays in that ... idk. In the chaos, other criminal forces gained power.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 27, 2021 12:41 PM (Cus5s)

152 Time to be productive. Y'all have a good one.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 27, 2021 12:41 PM (jvt6t)

153 Point being, there are a whole bunch of people in the legal field that think it's OK to fake evidence and it is not just a recent thing. Go check out what happened in the 80s during the fells acres child sexual abuse trials. Literally a modern day witch hunt with zero physical evidence.
Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 27, 2021 12:39 PM (JUOKG)

Don't get me started on what they did with the bullets involved in the RFK shooting.

And I mean that, don't get me started!

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:41 PM (oQ94s)

154
And I mean that, don't get me started!
Posted by: BurtTC

I'll bite.

Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 12:42 PM (JKh2y)

155 Woke might be wanting everyone is equil, but will never get past the But some are more equil than others the Leftists always get.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 12:43 PM (Cxk7w)

156
I recently ran ten separate facial images through some ethnicity facial recognition software of just one individual and charted the results, with a total of 22 different ethnicities reported. The list included German, Latin American, Polynesian, European, East Africa, Puerto Rico, Polish, Korean, Han China, Cuban, Columbian, Northern Ireland, Scottish, French Canadian, North Africa, Swedish, Venezuelan, Euro Jewish, Brazilian, Dutch, Viking, American, and Italian.

That's ONE so-called 'white' person. Everyone should reject the notion that such a low melanin person with only ONE ethnicity exists, but if you actually do find him/her please report him/her to the proper authorities for immediate transport to the reeducation camp.

Posted by: Science LLC at February 27, 2021 12:43 PM (N/gDA)

157 Trump's party? WTF? In what sense? It wasn't even partially his party when he was president. It went from passive, to active, attempts literally to destroy his presidency, from the get-go.

At the outset, in 2016, it was "merely" a matter of the GOP fanatically opposing all the key policies that made Trump both candidate and president. It got worse - passive/then quasi-active participation in the trashing of all our institutions to hamstring or destroy a presidency.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 12:44 PM (OTzUX)

158 My first jury duty experience was when I was on summer break from college. I was chosen to be a juror for a murder trial that lasted 2 weeks.

Posted by: redridinghood at February 27, 2021 12:44 PM (NpAcC)

159 Well let's see the Socialists square this latest Islamic circle jerk - Iranian religious leader Khameni says that animated female characters must wear a hijab.

My Little Ponies: The Hijab is Liberating

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 12:46 PM (/BDd/)

160 I am dubious of jury selection procedures which allow the exclusion of people with knowledge of, say, science when scientific evidence will be presented. I have a feeling that some of this sort of thing was going on in this case.

I was in a jury pool for a medical malpractice civil suit. As soon as they heard my background, I was out on the street. I'd barely warmed the chair.

I was placed in another jury pool for another medical malpractice suit. I was prospective juror #6, and the defendant's attorney asked me a question about my background. The plaintiff's attorney asked, "So we're starting with #6 today?" The defendant's attorney replied, "The first five are fine."

So I laid it on thick about my background, then started gathering up my stuff to leave. Next thing I knew, we were told to all rise and be sworn in.

There was a black girl who was a law student with whom I hit it off, and we were the only two who paid the slightest bit of attention to the crash course we got in neurology.

Jury deliberations were a nightmare, with the other jurors completely ignoring any and all evidence, and going strictly with prejudice (black laborer v. Jewish doctor). Yow.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 12:47 PM (Vui/+)

161
My Little Ponies: The Hijab is Liberating
Posted by: Anna Puma

I miss Loony Tunes.

Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 12:48 PM (JKh2y)

162 Don't worry folks. Ta-Nehesi Coates is writing a new Super Man movie.

-
Pretty much the same as the original except Superman is vulnerable only to white kryptonite.

-------

Superman will turn the world in reverse to 1950, eliminating cultural appropriation by bringing back state-enforced segregation. But only after Lex Lutheran nearly foils him by refusing to perform his gay interracial transsexual marriage to Caitlyn Jenner, nearly draining him of his precious Kryptonian genderfluid.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 27, 2021 12:50 PM (sCTt7)

163 Harrison Bergeron was published in 1961.

Posted by: GnuBreed at February 27, 2021 12:50 PM (F0YaR)

164 I was on a military jury. I liked the experience.

Military justice used to be =>>> than civilian Justice.

And I had Mast Authority on my last ship. Rare for a junior officer. I never sentenced anyone to three days bread and water, although I could have. I did see it done on my first ship.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 27, 2021 12:51 PM (u82oZ)

165 Blacks. Poor Whites. We've had a two tiered legal system for a long
time.

Yup. The self-described elites are pushing race bullshit to cover up the class war they're waging in plain sight.

Posted by: Ian S. at February 27, 2021 12:51 PM (6XLoz)

166 Yudhishthira's Dice

Bravo. Would not buy, but well done, good sir.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 27, 2021 12:52 PM (u82oZ)

167 Sun trying to come out but with all the snow cover quite foggy.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 12:52 PM (Cxk7w)

168 I've been ruminating around the word "woke," and wondering if maybe it's not much more than today's equivalent of hip, cool.

Not sure where that goes, but I'll let it percolate in my head for a bit.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 11:28 AM (oQ94s)

Nah, it's more equivalent to " Hey man, that's groovy."

Or perhaps " That person is one Hep Cat."

Posted by: That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM at February 27, 2021 12:53 PM (R5lpX)

169
Ah, the folk music movement. A sequence of images cones to mind.

-American Indians pretending to be sheep (hunting).

-American pretending to be Indians (Mountain Meadows).

-Communists pretending to be Americans ('folk music').

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at February 27, 2021 12:55 PM (hLzTG)

170 Nah

Superman declares xir's new name is Superxir. Gets a punk hair cut using diamond shears. All black Spanx costume with falsies and glitter.
Fights for LGBTQ rights all over the globe except Islamic countries.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 12:55 PM (/BDd/)

171 Communists pretending to be Americans ('folk music').
Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at February 27, 2021

This guy gets it! He's one Hep Cat.

Posted by: That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM at February 27, 2021 12:57 PM (R5lpX)

172
Nah, it's more equivalent to " Hey man, that's groovy."

Or perhaps " That person is one Hep Cat."

Posted by: That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM at February 27, 2021 12:53 PM

Nah, I wrote a 1960's to 2020 algorithm which proclaims 'woke' is the equivalent of 'down with the struggle'.

Posted by: Science LLC at February 27, 2021 12:57 PM (N/gDA)

173 164 I was on a military jury. I liked the experience.

Military justice used to be =>>> than civilian Justice.

And I had Mast Authority on my last ship. Rare for a junior officer. I never sentenced anyone to three days bread and water, although I could have. I did see it done on my first ship.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 27, 2021 12:51 PM (u82oZ)

As a Company Commander, I could wield the Article 15. Never enjoyed doing that but it did bring a couple guys around.
I was on several Article 32 Boards.
Damn. Don't piss off a Sergeant Major.
All the defendants went to Leavenworth.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 12:57 PM (axyOa)

174 And I mean that, don't get me started!
Posted by: BurtTC

I'll bite.
Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 12:42 PM (JKh2y)

Short version, the whole thing was a complete whitewash from start to finish. And given how thoroughly CIA had infiltrated every facet of the process, including LAPD, media, prosecutors... and the guy who almost certainly was the shooter, it's impossible NOT to conclude it was all a CIA op.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 12:58 PM (C7zIl)

175 The judge emphasized again and again that jurors must follow the law as he explained it.

***

hahahaha

Nope. If it's written down, I can read it. Words mean what they mean. The end.

Posted by: Lysenko - Be happy that you're being killed by a good man instead of being left alone by a bad man. at February 27, 2021 12:58 PM (wCgji)

176 The Best Algorithms Struggle to Recognize Black Faces Equally
US government tests find even top-performing facial recognition systems misidentify blacks at rates five to 10 times higher than they do whites.

Wired magazine

---

Duh.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 12:59 PM (hEdp8)

177 The Best Algorithms Struggle to Recognize Black Faces Equally
US government tests find even top-performing facial recognition systems misidentify blacks at rates five to 10 times higher than they do whites.

***

Please please please let the programs have some sort of acronym using P.A.P.E.R. B.A.G

Posted by: Lysenko - Be happy that you're being killed by a good man instead of being left alone by a bad man. at February 27, 2021 01:00 PM (wCgji)

178 Nah, it's more equivalent to " Hey man, that's groovy."

Or perhaps " That person is one Hep Cat."

Posted by: That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM at February 27, 2021 12:53 PM

Nah, I wrote a 1960's to 2020 algorithm which proclaims 'woke' is the equivalent of 'down with the struggle'.
Posted by: Science LLC at February 27, 2021 12:57 PM (N/gDA)

Yeah, one and/or the other. Sixties counterculture quickly became THE culture, and about the only difference between how that evolved then and now is how quickly the mainstream culture embraced it. Then, reluctantly. Now? Immediately, jumping in with both feet.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:00 PM (C7zIl)

179 Superman declares xir's new name is Superxir. Gets a punk hair cut using diamond shears. All black Spanx costume with falsies and glitter.
Fights for LGBTQ rights all over the globe except Islamic countries.
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 12:55 PM (/BDd/)

If Superxir is sporting an earring, how did the poke the hole?

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 01:00 PM (axyOa)

180 The Best Algorithms Struggle to Recognize Black Faces Equally
US government tests find even top-performing facial recognition systems misidentify blacks at rates five to 10 times higher than they do whites.

Wired magazine

Laying the basis for many many future criminal defenses.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 01:01 PM (Vui/+)

181 Is that because "they all look the same?"

Ok, I denounce myself and will climb in the barrel.

Posted by: That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM at February 27, 2021 01:01 PM (R5lpX)

182 164cI was on a military jury. I liked the experience.

Military justice used to be =>>> than civilian Justice.

And I had Mast Authority on my last ship. Rare for a junior
officer. I never sentenced anyone to three days bread and water,
although I could have. I did see it done on my first ship.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 27, 2021 12:51 PM (u82oZ)

I was picked by a soldier to represent him in a court martial. I was an Infantry officer. You didn't have to be a Jag to represent, or prosecute, as I recall. I got the guy off that one particular charge. It was obvious.

Posted by: Javems at February 27, 2021 01:01 PM (8SSHh)

183 Please please please let the programs have some sort of acronym using P.A.P.E.R. B.A.G
Posted by: Lysenko - Be happy that you're being killed by a good man instead of being left alone by a bad man.

---

I went to ancestry.ai and scanned an old pic of me.

I'm mostly Puerto Rican according to them.

I'm actually not.
Not a bit.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM (hEdp8)

184 So they found Lady Gaga's dogs. I was so worried.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM (kTF2Z)

185 Movie theaters reopened at 25% here a few days ago. We went to see the Tom and Jerry movie last night.

It was produced as a Warner Bros production with animation superimposed on live action.

Minimal woke crap. Quite a few Easter eggs to back in the day characters and situations, not all Warner Bros either. Overall rather an homage to Roadrunner and the Coyote.

The bad guy was Hispanic believe it or not The heroine was perfectly circumspect but has kind of a freak in the sack vibe. Or maybe that's just my projection...

Perfectly suitable for kids with just the usual sort of fall off the building splat cartoon violence.

I enjoyed it stone cold sober so I guess that's an endorsement. The theater is brand new it had been open for just a few days before Governor Inbred shut the state down. Our recliners big screen and pretty amazing sound system.

The kids were overjoyed. It made for a pleasant evening.

Posted by: My Pimp Shot My Dealer at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM (Gle8j)

186 So KT was rejected from jury duty?

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM (EGSGm)

187 And speaking of "justice," you all will be happy to know Bruce Stringspeen was innocent after all!

It's so nice when prosecutors look at a case, and the poor fella involved is clearly having a tough time in this life, so they give him a break.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:05 PM (C7zIl)

188 Did the FBI have anything to say about the dog walker who got shot or did they give that a pass?

Posted by: Duke Lowell at February 27, 2021 01:05 PM (kTF2Z)

189 Odd thing was my case stated above was a delivery that turned into a accident, me being a carpenter and one who received deliveries like this many many times was picked and elected foreman.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 01:05 PM (Cxk7w)

190 I have served on a jury despite having significant reasons such as familiarity with law, science, policing, etc.

In truth, the legal system depends on where you are and the local legal culture.

The major predictor of who will have consistently problems with the legal system turns out to be short time preference people. They may or may not know whether a law exists but consider whatever gratification that is immediate takes precedence over consequences.

Posted by: whig at February 27, 2021 01:06 PM (1+791)

191 My 8 yo loves vintage Tom and Jerry. It sounds like she would enjoy the movie.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at February 27, 2021 01:06 PM (W+T/C)

192 Taking back schools is easy. Stop consolidation. Get rid of laws demanding degrees. Allow anyone that can demonstrate competence in a subject to teach it.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at February 27, 2021 01:06 PM (YynYJ)

193 184 So they found Lady Gaga's dogs. I was so worried.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM (kTF2Z)

So the FBI recovered the victims. Great.

Meanwhile, the dog walker took four rounds in the chest, but pfft.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 01:06 PM (Vui/+)

194 Zoot Suit Cat because Tom was so square

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:07 PM (/BDd/)

195 The major predictor of who will have consistently problems with the legal system turns out to be short time preference people. They may or may not know whether a law exists but consider whatever gratification that is immediate takes precedence over consequences.

Posted by: whig at February 27, 2021 01:06 PM (1+791)

Shorter version: people of low intelligence, which precludes them anticipating consequences.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 01:08 PM (Vui/+)

196 What is the dog walker identifies as a Chihuahua?

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:08 PM (/BDd/)

197 Good afternoon all. I'm in the midst of tapping maple trees right now. The sap is already running hard. Which is miraculous, if you consider that a week ago today it was -15. I'm in my happy place.

Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (ypulW)

198
I went to ancestry.ai and scanned an old pic of me.

I'm mostly Puerto Rican according to them.

I'm actually not.
Not a bit.

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM

Yeah according to the ethnicity facial recognition I'm supposedly partly Puerto Rican but mainly Venezuelan. My predominate German and Scottish genes are somewhat amused.

Posted by: Science LLC at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (N/gDA)

199 The kids were overjoyed. It made for a pleasant evening.
Posted by: My Pimp Shot My Dealer at February 27, 2021 01:04 PM (Gle8j)

Tom and Jerry has certainly evolved over the years, including a bizarro psychedelic phase, presumably in the 60s, but I'm more partial to the older ones, going all the way back to when Tom was named Jasper, and was being chased around with a broom by a black maid with thick ankles.

Their WWII era shorts are probably the height of the artistry, but unlike a lot of other properties, yeah, T and J have evolved with the times, and as long as they're still recognizable as the lovable cat and mouse, I'm fine with it.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (C7zIl)

200 Is that because "they all look the same?"
Ok, I denounce myself and will climb in the barrel.
Posted by: That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM

---

Climb out of that barrel, dude.

From Wired article:

"He also posed a more provocative hypothesis at a conference in November: that black faces are statistically more similar to one another than white faces are. "You might conjecture that human nature has got something to do with it," he says. "Different demographic groups might have differences in the phenotypic expression of our genes.""

Posted by: SMH at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (hEdp8)

201 Good afternoon all. I'm in the midst of tapping maple trees right now. The sap is already running hard. Which is miraculous, if you consider that a week ago today it was -15. I'm in my happy place.
Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (ypulW)

Nice.
That is one of my bucket list items.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (axyOa)

202 I'm listening to a lot of James Lindsey. For a math guy, he nails the crazy leftist philosophy that is destroying our culture. He goes so far as to read out loud their foundational literature so we don't have to read it. It's great background listening.

Posted by: iandeal at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (H/JHi)

203 Taking back schools is easy. Stop consolidation. Get rid of laws demanding degrees. Allow anyone that can demonstrate competence in a subject to teach it.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at February 27, 2021 01:06 PM (YynYJ)

That, and teacher certification. When I started in academia I was told I was to lecture the next morning at 9 am, and the lecture theater pointed out to me. That was it. Go for it! Good luck!

If I were to teach in high school, I'd need to get a teacher certification, i.e., basically a union card, before darkening the door of a classroom. Go figure.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (Vui/+)

204 Huh. I never thought about Superman's hair or nails.

Posted by: Lysenko - Be happy that you're being killed by a good man instead of being left alone by a bad man. at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (ZLyax)

205 Jay, IQ is related to short time preferences but seems to have a different basis from what I remember about research in the field. Both apparently have some basis in inheritable genetic traits though.

Posted by: whig at February 27, 2021 01:11 PM (1+791)

206 Zoot Suit Cat because Tom was so square
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:07 PM (/BDd/)

There's one episode, which is so cringe because it contains so much of the "must have been hip at the time" language.

Tom puts a coat hanger in his jacket so the shoulders stand up. Great stuff.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:12 PM (C7zIl)

207 Been Superman came, and blew her brains out!

Posted by: Just the punchline at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM (GQsLx)

208 Good afternoon all. I'm in the midst of tapping maple trees right now. The sap is already running hard. Which is miraculous, if you consider that a week ago today it was -15. I'm in my happy place.
Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (ypulW)

------

It's French toast season!

Posted by: Duke Lowell at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM (kTF2Z)

209 Good afternoon all. I'm in the midst of tapping maple trees right now. The sap is already running hard. Which is miraculous, if you consider that a week ago today it was -15. I'm in my happy place.
Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (ypulW)

Nice.
That is one of my bucket list items.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM

ISWYDT - fess up

Posted by: Science LLC at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM (N/gDA)

210 >Nice.

That is one of my bucket list items.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (axyOa)

You have a standing invitation.

Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM (ypulW)

211 Have not watched news at all for quite a few weeks and do not miss it at all.

Instead, watching old detective shows and Animaniacs and Tiny Toons.

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM (MIKMs)

212 VDH is such a treasure. He perfectly captures the dilemma we find ourselves in at this time.
Anyone who dares speak to me about my obligation to be law abiding during this period of rampant lawlessness is going to a big piece of my mind. Anarchy begets more anarchy.

Posted by: navybrat, at large at February 27, 2021 01:14 PM (w7KSn)

213 Trial I sat on. Guy was accused of sodomizing his nephew. So they put the twin brother of the accused on the stand.

Prosecutor, "why didn't your brother's bedroom have a door?"
Twin, "well he has impulse issues."
Silence in the court room as every juror goes "okay that explains it."

The accused was convicted. Then back in the jury room the judge mentions something not brought up in trial. The now convicted pervert had been sexually molesting the family dog also. Just "EEEWWWW!!!!"

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:14 PM (/BDd/)

214 Maybe the greatest scene in Tom and Jerry history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp_ye9Ovbig

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:15 PM (C7zIl)

215 209 Good afternoon all. I'm in the midst of tapping maple trees right now. The sap is already running hard. Which is miraculous, if you consider that a week ago today it was -15. I'm in my happy place.
Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:09 PM (ypulW)

Nice.
That is one of my bucket list items.

Posted by: Diogenes

Sweet!!

Posted by: Tonypete at February 27, 2021 01:15 PM (Rvt88)

216 Trial I sat on. Guy was accused of sodomizing his nephew. So they put the twin brother of the accused on the stand.

Prosecutor, "why didn't your brother's bedroom have a door?"
Twin, "well he has impulse issues."
Silence in the court room as every juror goes "okay that explains it."

The accused was convicted. Then back in the jury room the judge mentions something not brought up in trial. The now convicted pervert had been sexually molesting the family dog also. Just "EEEWWWW!!!!"
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:14 PM (/BDd/)

And he's now a member of Biden's Cabinet, right?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 01:16 PM (Vui/+)

217 I have had jury duty twice. Both times I was bounced by the defense attorney with out even being asked a question.

When I was in the service they used to send jury duty notices to my previous address quite often. I think I had to send no longer live in that district notices four times.

Posted by: Big V Caffeinated at February 27, 2021 01:16 PM (6Pqz7)

218 You have a standing invitation.
Posted by: Muad'dib at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM

Thanxs!
Maybe one day.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 01:17 PM (axyOa)

219 157 Trump's party? WTF? In what sense? It wasn't even partially his party when he was president. It went from passive, to active, attempts literally to destroy his presidency, from the get-go.

I think the GOPes are missing the elephant in the room: Trump's record as POTUS formed a new coalition comprising disaffected dems, disengaged and first time voters, libertarians, minorities jumping on board...

That's how he drew the most legitimate votes cast by actual human voters of any US incumbent.

I don't know if any other GOP candidate will be able to keep that coalition intact.

Posted by: kallisto at February 27, 2021 01:18 PM (DJFLF)

220 I'm listening to a lot of James Lindsey. For a math guy, he nails the crazy leftist philosophy that is destroying our culture. He goes so far as to read out loud their foundational literature so we don't have to read it. It's great background listening.
Posted by: iandeal at February 27, 2021 01:10 PM (H/JHi)

Same with Lex Fridman. Math guy with a heart.

The way his mind works, it's beautiful. It really is. Maybe a bit naive, but that's ok, we need more of that in this world.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:18 PM (C7zIl)

221 ISWYDT - fess up
Posted by: Science LLC at February 27, 2021 01:13 PM (N/gDA)

Ha!
Honest I didn't even think of that.
But I'll take credit for it.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 27, 2021 01:18 PM (axyOa)

222 So, these commie MFers are going to do it. They're going to pass a 1.9 trillion porkfest. Whenever I hear that word "trillion", I like to go through this exercise:
How much is 100 thousand? It's 100 x $1,000.00.
How much is a million? It's 10 X $100,000.00.
How much is a billion? It's 1,000 X $1,000,000.00
How much is a trillion? It's 1,000X 1,000,000,000.00
A trillion is 1,000 billion dollars.
And they think this won't have any impact.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at February 27, 2021 01:19 PM (7Fj9P)

223 There are three distinct phases for Tom and Jerry.

The original stuff like Tom in a Zoot suit to score a date with the bobby-sox kitteh. Then the outsourced stuff with episodes like Dickey Moe. And finally the more zany stuff like when Jerry decides to gas-light Tom for giggles, that was brought to the screen by the guy who gave us Bugs Bunny - Chuck Jones.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:19 PM (/BDd/)

224 Garden thread is NOOD

I'll do my usual two open tabs thing. I sometimes have three open on Saturdays.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, a fine Irish pub what no longer exists at February 27, 2021 01:21 PM (x8Wzq)

225 Jay I doubt it. After this doofus got convicted. Unlike Hunter.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:22 PM (/BDd/)

226 The same people that preach "every single viewpoint is justifiable" and "there is no right answer" and "all things are subjective" also preach constantly that only ONE view of the world is the correct one, and anything that disagrees with it is not only wrong, but *criminal*.

This isn't cognitive dissonance. Or mental illness. I believe the the common thread there is "as long as it's not the truth, it is both good and right". It is our world as distorted through the eyes of The Great Deceiver.

Posted by: ... at February 27, 2021 01:22 PM (jBRLB)

227 Two months after dad passed he/I received a jury notice. I had a heck of a time contacting the jury commissioner to notify her. After several tries both phone and my personal email, I sent an email from my work email (which I never do for personal stuff). It was confirmed promptly. I despise government incompetence.

Posted by: Infidel at February 27, 2021 01:24 PM (JKh2y)

228 There are three distinct phases for Tom and Jerry.

The original stuff like Tom in a Zoot suit to score a date with the bobby-sox kitteh. Then the outsourced stuff with episodes like Dickey Moe. And finally the more zany stuff like when Jerry decides to gas-light Tom for giggles, that was brought to the screen by the guy who gave us Bugs Bunny - Chuck Jones.
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 27, 2021 01:19 PM (/BDd/)

Who's responsible for the weird stuff with the bizarre sound effects and all that? Not sure who was responsible, I used to know, but don't remember.

And I don't know where all the butch the dog episodes fit in. Those sorta changed over the years too, where initially the dog was just a big dumb gargantuan chomping machine, to where he talked, and had a pup.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 27, 2021 01:24 PM (C7zIl)

229 I wonder if this 1.9 trillion will now be repeated every year like the original "Stimulus" and "Omnibus" bills. I think that's why Mitch held up the train until the Fakers took power (or why he was told to hold up the train). They wanted to make sure the Uniparty got another 2 trillion a year to spend on whatever they want. There will never be a budget passed again.

Posted by: ... at February 27, 2021 01:25 PM (jBRLB)

230 A trillion is 1,000 billion dollars.
And they think this won't have any impact.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at February 27, 2021 01:19 PM (7Fj9P)

If you want to be depressed, ask people how many zeroes there are in a trillion. VERY few people know.

I always wanted Romney to put that question to Obama: "Mr. President, you've added $X trillion to the national debt. How many zeroes are there in a trillion?"

I'd bet my life Obama would not know. Romney would have won the election right then and there. But no.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at February 27, 2021 01:25 PM (Vui/+)

231 219, Kallisto, it requires a total rejection of the gop donor class and chamber of commerce types. They will have to sit there and take it or get the hell out. Govt policies should be based on national interests of its citizens, not the self indulgent class who have proven to be venal, treacherous, and corrupt in finances and morals.

Posted by: whig at February 27, 2021 01:26 PM (1+791)

232 >>I'm in the midst of tapping maple trees right now

Hmmm. Never tried that.

Posted by: Couch Fucker at February 27, 2021 01:27 PM (HQ9Sl)

233 Jury duty. DA asked me a hypothetical on a "child discipline"/domestic violence case. She thought she was wearing a dark purple business suit. I hate BS questions.

Q: Say the County adopted an ordinance outlawing purple clothing in the courthouse. Would you convict me?

A: No.

Q: Why?

A: You're wearing eggplant.

Judge laughed. They left me on. We convicted.

Posted by: Mr. Barky at February 27, 2021 01:28 PM (lg9Fv)

234 Stan Freberg, Old Man River.

Wokeness from 70 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLlTlYfqQV4

Posted by: Jim S. at February 27, 2021 01:28 PM (ynUnH)

235 It's all funny money now.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 01:31 PM (Cxk7w)

236 Modern Monetary Theory

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 27, 2021 01:35 PM (63Dwl)

237 whig, the inertia of the GOP situation will prove insuperable, I think.

Oddly enough, the presidential nomination is one of the only ones where the machine can lose control, as happened in 2016. The combination of the high profile, and the role of personality, and the national nature of it mean that something like the AZ/McCain GOPe machine can't just insist on its own pathetic candidates, at least not every time.

State-level, seems the inertia of the machine still rules, mostly. And will rule. And on the occasions when big slots are threatened (AK, MS, even KS in recent Senate races), the national GOPe machine weighs in with a ruthlessness and disregard for voters every bit as vile as any exhibited by the Democrats in recent history.

I don't have a magic formula for transforming Trump's distinctive influence and correctness on the biggest policies into actual elected members of the House and Senate. But I'm pretty sure incremental backing/opposing of a few individuals here/there won't move the ball one yard.

Posted by: rhomboid at February 27, 2021 01:43 PM (OTzUX)

238 236 Modern Monetary Theory
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 27, 2021 01:35 PM (63Dwl)

Hide yo money

Posted by: clutch at February 27, 2021 01:49 PM (9UmRs)

239 "Modern Monetary Theory
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. --Hide yo money" --
No, that won't work, because they print so much, currency loses value ... but maybe if they don't start doing $40T a year and free money for everyone, they can keep the "game" going longer than most would expect. (it is already 20 years longer than I expected)

Posted by: illiniwek at February 27, 2021 01:52 PM (Cus5s)

240 Always believed from a young man Social security would never get to me as it would fail long before my time. Now see it will be but pennies on the dollar.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 01:59 PM (Cxk7w)

241 I'd like to try a
"Well your honor I think the FBI is a fucking disgrace " on.

Posted by: DaveA at February 27, 2021 02:27 PM (FhXTo)

242 Greetings:

Some guy named Ambrose Bierce defined a lawyer as "one skilled in getting around the law". I would define a woke-lawyer as "one determined to get around the rule of law".

Posted by: 11B40 at February 27, 2021 02:47 PM (evgyj)

243 As an old white guy, I know that I will never, ever be picked for a jury.

Posted by: West at February 27, 2021 02:58 PM (QY+6a)

244
205�Jay, IQ is related to short time preferences but seems to have a different basis from what I remember about research in the field. Both apparently have some basis in inheritable genetic traits though.

Posted by: whig at February 27, 2021 01:11 PM

IQ is about 80% heritable. I was taught otherwise, and was furious when I found that I had been taught a lie.

Posted by: West at February 27, 2021 03:08 PM (QY+6a)

245 Yet at Federal jury pool lots of retired who hoped for a small pay job.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 03:12 PM (Cxk7w)

246 what is it with the 'ettes losing their earrings today?
Posted by: AltonJackson

Its the guy with the Poop Sword and the Zorro Mask !

Posted by: JT at February 27, 2021 03:19 PM (arJlL)

247 I had frgotten how truly funny the Smothers Brothers were.

Thanks KT !

Posted by: JT at February 27, 2021 03:20 PM (arJlL)

248 Another song about moider....

Tome Jones' Deliliah....

https://tinyurl.com/x2npm9yw

Posted by: JT at February 27, 2021 03:26 PM (arJlL)

249 Mentioned on ONT my dad was a big C&W fan, Kingston Trio was a favorite of his as well as Marty Robins.
Posted by: Skip

Tom T. Hall ?

Posted by: JT at February 27, 2021 03:27 PM (arJlL)

250 I'll bite.
Posted by: Infidel

(And there's a Full Moon tonight.....hmmmmm)

Posted by: JT at February 27, 2021 03:31 PM (arJlL)

251 Not that I remember but lots of Johnny Cash

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 03:32 PM (Cxk7w)

252 Actually remember the Smothers Brothers show

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 03:54 PM (Cxk7w)

253 Seemed full moon on Thursday morning

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 04:08 PM (Cxk7w)

254 Bored, things I should do but don't feel like it, finished book, could paint as almost done a miniature project.

Posted by: Skip at February 27, 2021 04:29 PM (Cxk7w)

255 Interesting day

Accomplished absolutely none of my goals.

I could use a nap. Doing nothing can wear ya out.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at February 27, 2021 05:12 PM (uxUoN)

256 "The judge emphasized again and again that jurors must follow the law as he explained it."

Translation: anybody who knows what the words "jury nullification" mean is getting kicked out of the pool.

Posted by: Rick C at February 27, 2021 05:12 PM (eqaFC)

257 SCOTUS proves that idiots interpret the law therefore I am infinitely superior in both knowledge and judgement to their holy of holies. The judge can sit on it and pivot, as for the questions of lawyers, screw them.

Served on four juries and am convinced that they are composed of the ignorant, ill informed, least aware, and most crazed people on earth.

Posted by: I am not corey Booker at February 27, 2021 06:55 PM (EcD5Y)

258 I'm kind of impressed that Eddie and the Elgars lead off for The Beatles and others on the Woke Juke Box Jury program.

Posted by: KT at February 28, 2021 01:09 AM (BVQ+1)

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