“You used the law and a badge to heal that scar on your neck.” – Hang ‘em High
I would recommend him as a lawyer, but he told the judge he ate my appeal.
About 4,400 years ago, a Mesopotamian king by the name of Urukagina developed the first known civil laws. They certainly weren’t the first laws, but they are the first ones we have written proof of. Perhaps the biggest mystery of Urukagina is how he got through middle school with a name like Urukagina.
Law is the bedrock of human civilization. If we don’t have rules we all (more or less) agree to, we can’t live together. Sometimes the laws are complex: I’ve heard that it’s a law that you have to turn on your headlights if it’s raining in Sweden. I’m not sure how am I supposed to know if it’s raining in Sweden, so I guess I’m quite the rogue when choose to live on the edge and drive without my lights.
Sadly, everyone can see what happens when laws break down. The riots that started in Minnesota are an example that won’t be forgotten soon. The breakdown that started in Minnesota is currently still spreading across the United States. That’s not good. In my opinion, the only good riot is three dyslexics.
Laws are like money – they’re a virtual system. They exist only because we all agree that they exist – the same way that East Germany disappeared as soon as people stopped being afraid of it. As soon a majority of people in an area stop believing in them, laws are as worthless as Johnny Depp’s liver on the black market.
Johnny Depp told David Letterman he never watches his own movies. What a lucky guy.
The anti-police-violence riots were based on a winning argument that could have resonated all across the political spectrum – not allowing the police to use excessive force. Had the protesters brought out the cases of LaVoy Finicum and Daniel Shaver as additional examples, I think they would have been surprised at the support they got. Instead? They rioted, burned, and all they got was a free t-shirt from Target® and enough looted liquor to fuel the protest for the next night. Can’t go looting without a nice Natty Light®.
However, the protesters managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Most of the time, when cops are presented with that awful decision to pull out their gun and shoot, it’s justified. But the larger injustices are the ones we see when police do things that, if you or I were doing them, would put us in jail. Rather than engaging others with that simple and powerful point, they protested entirely through the lens of race. The protests escalated into riots. The violence and property damage have ironically made the case for the use of significant force in putting down the riots.
They were never serious about protesting against police violence.
It’s lucky for those that like living in a stable society that people generally like laws. They want to know where they stand and have a predictable society. Research has shown that people have an innate sense of justice – it’s something that we appear to have been born with. When the legal system works, it makes the Karen inside each one of us happy. We generally want people who do bad things to be punished. We want innocent people to go free. And we want Whoopi Goldberg to develop a decade-long case of laryngitis.
Looks like Minnesota picked the wrong week to stop snorting glue.
We’ve had good laws and bad laws during the time humanity has been on Earth, but regardless, the law represented a standard. The only reason that we grant the state a monopoly on the use of force is that we trust that the state is just as bound by the law as the people are. There’s a satisfying symmetry in that.
That shared submission to judgement based on law is what makes the law work in the first place. If a random citizen commits a crime and is punished, a member of the police committing the same crime should receive the same punishment. If a citizen commits a crime and a politician commits that same crime, the politician should receive the same punishment. Even if the law isn’t fair, it should be equally applied.
The cries of “drain the swamp” from the Right are a recognition that this really isn’t so – a politician or Federal bureaucrat can commit crimes that would send you or I to jail and never have to worry. There is ample evidence that there isn’t a single system of justice – there are three. One group follows the rules as best as they can, but could still be found guilty of obscure crimes. I just hope that if I’m ever in that position I have a great lawyer. A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge.
If I lied in testimony before Congress, nice Federal attorneys would seek to take away my voting rights by making me a felon as they did with Roger Stone. If former CIA chief John Brennan does it? Well, it appears nothing happens. That’s the sort of immunity you get when you’re in the club.
In a rare moment of clarity for the FBI, Peter Strzok was fired. Don’t worry – he’s suing to be reinstated with back pay.
People have lost trust; that’s where we’re at as a nation. There appear to be three systems of law in the United States:
- one for the favored elite, where they are untouchable,
- one for police, where (sometimes) crimes are never investigated,
- and one for everyone else.
It’s not that the favored elite have great lawyers and can use them to avoid being convicted. The favored elite is never even charged with a crime. Hillary Clinton admittedly broke laws, and the FBI further pointed out that she had broken laws. Charging her, however, was just not something that they wanted to do. They know how enemies of Hillary end up. Heck, 2 out 3 presidents that were impeached were impeached for embarrassing Hillary.
For all I know, the systems for the elites have been in place as long as the elite has been in place. But now it’s visible. Ford had to pardon Nixon so he wouldn’t be prosecuted. Obama appears to have gotten a hall pass from Attorney General William Barr – pardon not required. Congress is much the same: Charlie Rangel evaded Federal taxes to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. At least.
Any member of the non-elite class would have been sent to jail. Obama is buying mansions; Charlie retired from Congress. Oh, Charlie got “censured” which I guess makes it all better. And Obama is stuck living with Michelle.
She might be mad that an immigrant took her job?
The Deep State is similar – members of the FBI can do pretty much whatever they want to do, as long as it doesn’t make the other elite folks unhappy. I talked to a former Federal banking regulator once who mentioned that the only real trouble he could have gotten into was if he tried to be tough on a big bank. Otherwise? He could have stayed there for years, doing not much of anything. The Deep State first and foremost protects its own.
Like the elite, the police have a different process, too. You or I would get arrested, but a cop gets to have his behavior examined administratively. By his buddies on the force. This is where the case is reviewed by the people who hired him to see if there was a violation of policy. Most of the time officers are cleared.
If you or I shot an intruder into our homes, we couldn’t just grab a group of people in our families to check to see if they thought we did the right thing. Nope. There would be independent review by a District Attorney to see if our actions were justified. If our actions were not justified? We would be charged with a crime. I hope my lawyer thinks I’m a penguin when going for bail – then he can tell the judge I’m not a flight risk.
Penguins don’t go to England – they don’t like to be that close to Wales.
I can absolutely understand the need to give officers benefit of the doubt, and I think a jury generally does. But if an officer can say “I was in fear of my life,” on the stand, it ought to work for me, too. I think the system with police accountability is broken. But I think it’s easier to fix than the problems with the elite.
Is there hope for our system? Perhaps. But unless the rule of law can be made to be truly impartial, we’re going to be in for a rough time.
It could be worse. It could have been me who was named Urukagina.
There is no law. There is no justice. There is no constitution.
That’s not to say that all these things won’t be used against John Q. Public when he comes to the attention of The Powers What Be.
Lawyers spend the first year learning about the law. They spend the second year learning that nothing from year one matters. The law is what you can get away with.
I totally agree the law is “what you can get away with”. And last week “the law” was being measured in armloads carried through broken windows.
The real election of 2020 is going on right now. People are voting on the rule of law not in a voting booth but by which side of a broken window they stand on. Majority wins, and the vote is still out.
It’s beyond that – explosives? bricks? Someone wants this to get very hot right now.
Yes. It’s pretty clear that if Rule of Law, Constitutional protections, and the ability to throw out disliked rulers (the election system) by voting rather than defenestration* aren’t dead, they’re on a ventilator in a New Jersey hospital Wuflu ward.
But… God willing, maybe they can rise from the ashes.
The one I find scariest is the one Mr. Wilder barely touched on, because you can run a half-way decent 2nd world country (See Brasil) with just his three Law problems.
The one where the laws are so sweeping and comprehensive that everyone is a criminal to some degree. AKA your police states. And yes, we’re heading there fast.
I wonder where that fits on the Wilder Electric Boogaloo risk scale?
*Do I write that solely because it reminds me of the defenestration of the Rhineland Palatinate? And that makes me giggle? Maybe….
The average American unknowingly commits at least a dozen felonies a day.
We’re already been there for decades.
I love that word. So very . . . specific. Antimacassar is another fav.
Yup. Somehow, the Supreme Court tricked us into thinking that plain words written to be understood by every literate man should somehow be so mysterious that only a robed cabal could interpret them, and sometimes twist them to mean the opposite of what they clearly mean.
I watched the Daniel Shaver video… twice which was a mistake. It saddened me while making me sick to my stomach.
I emailed SWAT in Mesa, AZ since I don’t really do the Twitter or Facebook thing. And that was the extent of my protest. That was in July of 2019.
Clearly that’s not what this is about for a large number of people. This is a well thought out insurgency that has been in the works for months waiting for the right moment. That right moment was probably supposed to be 45’s re-election, but it got started early.
We seem to be going for a hat trick with SARS-2 (an early 50s acquaintance is clinging to life from this), Great Depression II, and civil conflict bordering on outright civil war. If we try really hard, maybe we can have war with China as a bonus. Maybe this is the whole “Fourth Turning” business that seems to be our destiny.
John – – As a small town attorney, now retired, I have for all 45 years since I first entered a courtroom been saying,
“You get all the Justice in America that you can afford to pay for.”
It is cynical, but accurate.
Some don’t directly pay, hiring Plaintiffs’ attorneys to bring lawsuits and share in the spoils. Others have the Anti-Christs and communists at the ACLU slinging mud for them….. Some have a rich Grandma, uncle, etc.
The elites may also pay, not just with funds but with favors…hiring children, nieces, nephews of the elites or cutting deals…..
You are correct in that there are various tiers of justice.
The one not really explored by you or others is the effect that Police Unions have on protecting and keeping bad officers on the force, or allowing them to move elsewhere and thus, avoid direct sanctions for their misconduct or heavy-handed treatment of civilians.
A District Attorney or equivalent has to run for election/re-election and are fearful of turning the police union against them. In major cities, these unions can deliver a whole lot of votes from families of the officers, neighbors and fellow church members.
I believe this political closeness means that allegations of police misconduct never get the full scrutiny that they deserve when it is locals investigating locals. Many localities do ask for state police to investigate high profile cases as a show of transparency (political CYA in reality).
How does one solve this problem of lack of accountability on the few law enforcement bad apples ?
IMHO, if criminal allegations against an officer are lodged, the entire investigation should go to the state police internal affairs for investigation and a special prosecutor located in a county far removed from the locality be appointed to guide the case and convene a grand jury if needed.
If no criminal charges are due, but a pattern of abusive behaviors is alleged then a board of civilians and police retirees conduct competence hearing to see if the officer needs sanctions, limitations, re-training or severance. And that record should be a permanent record that follows the officer wherever he goes. (If the insurance co-ops that insure cities and counties had a chance to anonymously review the “Risk Profiles” of the officers employed and set rates according to the “average profiles” of the force, the police chiefs and sheriffs would be much more careful about hiring the next warm body that shows up…they might have to pay more to keep good officers from transferring as well….)
Anyhow, that’s how I see it.
Note that I have known and worked with many, many excellent law enforcement officers. There are a few, and the other officers know who they are, that cause one to describe them as follows: “That guy is gonna get the City sued…”
Those are the ones that need to have the scrutiny the public expects and deserves.
I’ve mentioned your comments to several people IRL. Good stuff. We should do it tomorrow.
Based on what I’ve read, I think one possibility is that George Lloyd suffered a heart attack while the police were investigating his attempt to buy cigarettes with a bogus $20. The store clerk called in that he seemed to be drunk at the time. So, how does a drunk react to his heart attack? He might well find it difficult to continue wait patiently, become uncooperative, and complain about chest pains as “I can’t breathe”. Just supposing that that might be true, and revealed by the autopsy, how would anyone believe it?
Meanwhile: https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/autopsy-results-for-talbot-co-man-who-fled-traffic-stop
It looks to me as though this guy might have swallowed his stash when pulled over, and OD’d. How would that have looked, though, if we had it on video? (This story was also covered in the Washington Post, page. B3 “Local Digest”.)
Or how about this story, transcribed in its entirety:
“The District. Man, 19, slain in Southeast Washington. A man was shot and killed Friday evening in Southeast Washington, D.C., police said. Tyrell Smith, 19, of Southeast was found about 6:20 p.m. in the 3000 block of 30th Street, SE, police said. He died at a hospital. No information was available about a suspect or motive.”
For every George Lloyd, there are dozens or maybe hundreds of these tragedies. I have a 23-year old son. This could have been him. This sort of thing happens every day. In fact, 8 people were shot in Baltimore Friday(?) night, two fatally. The Rule of Law has not been strong with them in a long time.
The cop is gonna walk, or at worst something like manslaughter. Being on fentanyl is probably going to give the defense a huge leg up. If they ever allow it entered into evidence.
I saw several instances of videos during the riots of pure malfeasance by cops. More instances (by a factor of 1000x) were by the rioters.
A lot to fix.
AS WRSA said delegitimizing has consequences. The Chicago Jesus Messiah Hussein Hopenchange deleted the rule of law with the immaculate pen and phone.
BLM and Antifa will be the contact tracer civilian force that Dear Leader Messiah spoke of as part of the Great Leap Forward.
Western Civilization is only 9 missed meals and no electricity or water away from a meltdown and the CPUSA is laughing with glee.
Plan accordingly.
Someone is delivering pallet loads of bricks to the planned sites of future riots.
Bombs and baseball bats added today.
And it’s one step closer with WordPress taking down WRSA.
Not good.
It is pretty hard to have a system of common laws when half of the population doesn’t believe in the same reality as the other half. Put together a 100 question survey of basic moral issues, give it to me and then give it to some soyboy antifa type and you would see two people who disagree on the color of the sky.
The law is a reflection of our shared culture, which is itself a reflection of our ethnic background. Laws are just expressly written aspects of the overall social contract and we don’t have any semblance of agreement across the nation on what the social contract even is anymore. Conveniently that is something I just wrote about.
Your post was fantastic. One of your best ever.
Thanks for the laughs. You had some chuckles (and groaners) today.
My pleasure. I watched a riot of movies while writing . . .
I have this in common with Johnny Depp: I don’t watch Johnny Depp movies either. On the other hand, I still have a functioning liver.
I actually liked one of them: Fear and Loathing. But I’d read the book.
“I went to a riot and all I got was this free t-shirt (from Target)”
Ha ha ha ha ha. How is this not a t-shirt you can buy?
You know . . . (thinking) . . .