Dr. MLK, Letter From Birmingham Jail. April 16, 1963.
It occurs to us that if Dr. King were jailed today, he would face daily costs for jail food and use of jail facilities, which is an injustice.
In the spring of 1968, Dr. King had a rally for economic injustice planned for Washington DC., but first he had a stop in Memphis, Tennessee, planned to support local waste workers (garbage men) who were on strike. The rest is, sadly history.
Economic injustice, even more than racial injustice, was the big target on King's radar in April, 1968. King realized, well before his time, that it wasn't going to be the color of a person's skin, but size of a person's bank account, that was going, in the long run, to affect a person's ability to survive and thrive in the world. And while there is a correlation between race and economic success, there is also a correlation between economic success and health, happiness, longevity, education...you name it. In other words, economics, more than race, is the great un-equalizer.
We live in a highly regulated world, where a person's background is available with a few clicks.
Lots of people get arrested, but people who can afford a private defense are more likely to avoid the petty criminal convictions that still cost a person in society. Case in point: Many years ago we represented a prominent anesthesiologist who, looking to sell his extra U of M football tickets during game day at the stadium, was arrested for some ridiculous violation of a City ordinance for selling without a license, or some such nonsense. Unlike other "ticket scalpers" we were able to get the charges dismissed for our client. The good doctor spent no time in jail, and his/her record remains clean.
Other, less fortunate souls, would have a conviction, time in jail before they could bond out, court costs, and other potential economic costs that they could ill afford to pay.
In other words, when are we going to try to stop balancing the court budget on the backs of the poor who cannot afford to pay exorbitant court costs. The "payment plan" system (in some backwater room on the fifth floor of the REGJB, populated by those nameless, faceless public servants who add grist to the mill of the system) is just a "Christmas Club" for Tallahassee, where poor Floridians make the payments, and the politicians get the gifts.
“The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.”
“The three evils of society,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967.
SEX AND THE MARRIED PRESIDENT
In perusing the "President had sex with a porn star" headlines and articles this weekend, we came across this quote about sex and the presidency: "Chronic indiscipline, compulsion, exploitation, the easy betrayal of vows, all suggest something wrong at a deep level-something habitual and beyond control."
It is true the allegations about Trump having sex with a porn star were said to have occurred a year after Trump married the current Mrs. Trump in 2005.
But this quote was from our conservative friend Bill Bennnett, and his book in 1999 "The Death Of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals."
Huh. Well how about that?
The easy betrayal of sacred wedding vows. The chronic indiscipline...all suggest something beyond control. Well, yeah., but...this is 2017, and the president in question is a Republican (well, sort of, not a Bush or Regan or Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt Republican, but still...), so maybe now it's time to just attribute such behavior to "boys will be boys" and not the moral outrage that accompanied the sex life of the last white-democratic President.
Real American men just grab em by the you-know-what. Morals? Those are for Presidents who claim to be born in Hawaii (but maybe Africa). They aren't for true blue, manly Republican presidents. Right? They don't need morals....or do they?
From Occupied America, Fight the Power!SEX AND THE MARRIED PRESIDENT
In perusing the "President had sex with a porn star" headlines and articles this weekend, we came across this quote about sex and the presidency: "Chronic indiscipline, compulsion, exploitation, the easy betrayal of vows, all suggest something wrong at a deep level-something habitual and beyond control."
It is true the allegations about Trump having sex with a porn star were said to have occurred a year after Trump married the current Mrs. Trump in 2005.
But this quote was from our conservative friend Bill Bennnett, and his book in 1999 "The Death Of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals."
Huh. Well how about that?
The easy betrayal of sacred wedding vows. The chronic indiscipline...all suggest something beyond control. Well, yeah., but...this is 2017, and the president in question is a Republican (well, sort of, not a Bush or Regan or Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt Republican, but still...), so maybe now it's time to just attribute such behavior to "boys will be boys" and not the moral outrage that accompanied the sex life of the last white-democratic President.
Real American men just grab em by the you-know-what. Morals? Those are for Presidents who claim to be born in Hawaii (but maybe Africa). They aren't for true blue, manly Republican presidents. Right? They don't need morals....or do they?
Poverty is the great equalizer.
ReplyDeleteShould a Judge known to be abusing alcohol and anti-depressants or a Judge who is in any mental health counseling be in sitting the Criminal Division or in any division making life altering decisions? Does the public not have the right to know? Are other Judges who know about the situation required to disclose it? Are those keeping the secret guilty of misconduct? What say you.
ReplyDeleteI jut stumbled upon the application to join the Dade County PBA.
ReplyDeleteFirst, you gotta be a cop.
Then, they take your application and will let you know if they want you.
On the application, you have to say if you're a democrat or republican or other (wig).
Really, you guys really have a right to know?
I gotta tell you something; Judge Blumstein is certainly a nice guy but his indecisiveness and inefficiency makes him ill-equipped to sit as a circuit court felony judge. He’s the Barbara McCarthy of the courthouse. Want to know what it’s like to have time stand still? Go sit in his court room for a calendar call
ReplyDeleteIf the judge is impaired, someone needs to know before problems start to surface. Cover it up only leads to bigger problems.
ReplyDeleteBroward had several judges with substance use issues and it was exposed only when they did something stupid. Protectionism is the game. Phil Davis was protected for years while he snorted nose candy during recesses. Whispers about a judge having alcohol problems and going through a difficult time while the truth stays in the shadows is telling. The Florida Legislature discovered how secrets in the shadows are exposed, screw the wrong person and the wastebasket is exposed. Moral, only a matter of time until a judge with a substance abuse problem or in counseling upsets someone and it will all come tumbling out of the waste basket.
ReplyDelete