Van Driver Officer in the Freddy Gray Case Acquitted

That officer, the driver who drove the van in the Freddy Gray case in Baltimore - was acquitted, which shows you can’t get justice.   The officer was smart.  He waved his right to a jury trial and got a sympathetic judge and then did not testify in his own behalf.   People only do that when they are guilty as sin.  Your odds of being struck by lightning are higher than getting the conviction of a police officer.   People like Shawn Hannity love to keep score on such things as if human justice were reduced to some sporting event and the conservatives keep clobbering the liberals.  In terms of "waving your rights" I wonder if you should be allowed to do that.  Defendants have a right to trial by jury.  Don't "The People" in this case, Black people,  have that Same right to a "trial by jury" to litigate this case drawn from the people of the neighborhood wherein the crime was comitted?

 Meanwhile it appears that England will stay in the European Union despite how everybody really feels about it.  Somehow these kinds of votes are rigged to preserve the status quo.  People like Judy just love the European Union because their banks screw people over like with Greece.  Nobody likes the EU any more but these internationalists or Neo Cons think that one day they are going to take over the world.  So I'm just lamenting the bad news in advance that it looks like the referendum failed and Britain is staying with the EU.

I caught Paul Ryan’s little press conference.  The only thing he said that surprised me was that the vote Democrats have been seeking was already held.  The bill failed in committee and I know enough to know that that’s the end of the process, short of that petition thing where you need 218 signitures Ryan claims the democrats didn’t even try to get.  After this I watched congressional democrats occupying the House chamber on a bad cell phone picture.  Paul Ryan failed to mention that Paul Ryan adjourned Congress two days early for a Fourth of July week and a half long vacation.  It’s absurd to say the democrats are “shutting down congress’ when it’s Paul Ryan who turned off the cameras.   Ryan realizes that ANY vote would prove before on-looking eyes of the American public that the NRA owns congress, lock, stock and barrel.  

The Supreme Court deadlocked four to four on the “Dreamer” act where Obama lets immigrants in.  If Scelia were still on the court “Texas” would have won a five to three ruling in this case.  But the question is how would the new Justice that Obama nominated vote.  The American people are entitled to have a functioning Supreme Court.  This is Supreme Court season in late June when normally a whole raft of controversial cases are decided.  If Donald Trump becomes President every appointment Trumps makes to the Court would be instantly approved by this current congress as constituted and there would be hell to pay.   We really do have to hold our collective noses and vote for Hillary because we have to assume that despite her many flaws, which I’d rather not see in a Presidential candidate, that she would at least appoint liberal Justices. 

Thom has a new book, “Bernie Sanders in his own words” which is a collection of 250 quotes from the senator.  This is a book I'd like to buy if it's up for sale.  It would be the modern version of "Little Red Book' you'd carry with you everywhere anytime you needed a quick, whitty response.  Of course in Mao's book the most famous like in it is 'Power flows out of the barrel of a gun".  There was a time in my life in the mid 'seventies where I found such a philosophy appealing.  But of course today we talk about "Zeitguist" or spirit of the times.  It's kind of like Thom Hartman's "water buffalo" analogy.  The minute 51% of the water buffalo are facing a certain direction, that's the direction they head off tword.   Some people say that when people die their "life energy" spreads out and lodges in the minds of the Living.  We at the Federation speak rather of sometimes, if the dead person is changing his ownership at the time of death, he surrenders his guardian angels and these spread out and protect and inspire others and facilitate certain lines of thought.   In the past I have described the afterlife as a giant cosmic football game where you are always fighting for yardage and "controle of the board".  I'm finding it hard now to actually picture a situation like this. 

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were found not guilty by a jury in the “Stairway to Heaven” plagurism case with Spirit.  As you know the charge was that when Led Zeppelin and Spirit toured together in 1970 that Page and Plant got the idea to rip them off.  Stairway to Heaven was written sitting by a fire in a cabin in 1971. 

This is after dinner.  It’s still nice and cool in here.  For dinner we had Salisbury steak with tomato based sauce, and a half baked potato with butter and sour cream.  We hit the mother lode tonight.  Some of that complaining at the last council meeting must have worked.  There was no vegetable but Judy gave me her bowl of beets I ended up not even touching.  Paul gave me a second potato and a second butter and sour cream.  Later he gave me his chocolate cake.  Then after a few moments seconds were making the rounds and the cart made it around the room and I had seconds on the meat.  That was what you call a satisfying meal.  I sat on the west side of the bench being wilted by the sun.  Chewy at noon said that tomorrow is his last day here and he’s glad to be leaving.  He knew from the first day that coming here was a mistake because he’s always talking about marijuana.  He says he’s going to get a bag of marijuana and smoke pipe fulls of the stuff.   He invited Patty to come with him but Patty said “I’m not ready to leave here yet”.  Given her situation of bi-polar diagnosis, that could take time.