FACDL: BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE:
The Facdl's Homeless Outreach Committee is organizing a school supplies drive for homeless children.
From August 13-16 Judge Bloom has graciously donated her chambers on the sixth floor (the high rent district) to receive any school supplies you wish to donate.
What a great cause. Please donate. Crayons, notebooks, pens, pencils, all school supplies needed and welcome. Shout out to FACDL Prez Jude Faccidomo for getting this rolling and for attorney Karen Ruiz for chairing the committee and organizing the collection.
TOO MANY PRISONERS: Give the Federal Government several decades and bureaucrats will come to realize what the rest of us already know. Thus this report from the Justice Department: "The growing federal prison population, now more than 218,000 inmates, and a prison budget of almost $6.2 billion are incompatible with a balanced crime policy and are unsustainable."
And this from the US Sentencing Commission's report "Mandatory minimum sentences are often excessively severe, especially for people convicted of drug-trafficking offenses, who make up more than 75 percent of those given such sentences. Mandatory minimums have contributed in the last 20 years to the near tripling of federal prisoners, with more than half the prisoners now in for drug crimes."
Next up: new federal report:smoking might be bad for you.
Another Gun Massacre: This one in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday where a person with a gun killed six people worshipping.
Of course the worshipers were to blame for not being fully armed and prepared for such an attack. Next time they'll know better.
Yup, it was a great day for America when the Supreme Court upheld the expansive view of the second amendment. More guns, more guns, more guns. That's what we need.
We have 79 followers. It would be nice to get to a simple
round number like 80.
Enjoy your week.
When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble. Congressman John Lewis
JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG
WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.
23 comments:
I am in Sarasota for a couple of days. Lovely place. I saw a billboard for one of the men running for the State Attorney's job that said, in bold letters beneath his name:
"100% murder conviction rate."
It made me wonder how many of those convictions were reversed on appeal, or were gotten with tainted / withheld evidence.
If I see the billboard again I will take a picture and email it.
The killer in the Sikh temple was a former army psy-ops specialist. He is the only one to blame for the massacre. A military man could have carried out the massacre with a knife, just like a teenager in China killed 9 people with a knife last week. Stop blaming the guns and blame the shooters.
It's hard (not impossible) to kill a person 20 feet away with a knife. I would venture it is impossible to kill six people from a distance of 3-6 feet with a knife.
To dismiss the role of gun in this case, and all of these tragedies, is to be intellectually dishonest. Because we have all heard it before: cars kill, so ban cars. Marbles kill, so ban marbles. Paper clips kill, so ban paper clips.
But a gun is the easiest way for a disturbed person to stand in a crowd and kill dozens, or to assassinate a leader. A knife didn't kill Lincoln or Kennedy or Sadat or Ghandi. A knife wasn't used against Congresswoman Gabby Giffords or Governor George Wallace in 1972. A gun was. And in the last tragedy in Colorado, I believe all of the ammo was available over the internet.
People who love guns are people with inferiority complexs caused, in most cases, by the curse of a small penis.
Sunday's blog post was the best ever. Witty, insightful and controversial while filled with flowing prose. Best yet.
Rumpole: The only one who is intellectually dishonest in all of this is you. You would make a great Republican if you ever chose to go that route – simple mindedness at its best. Why don’t you preserve some credibility and stop with this “more guns” b.s.
11:58, I love guns and your theory does not apply to me.
Rumpole, here is the link to Chinese teenager who killed nine in a knife attack, so it is not impossible as you say it is http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-teen-kills-eight-knife-attack-reports-102629246.html (the link says eight but the article was updated to nine victims).
If you don't like guns, fine, but don't try to ban the guns and ammo of law abiding people who do not commit crimes with them and use them responsible, like the majority of gun owners do.
Come on- you forgot to say "cracker kill people when they choke, so lets ban crackers too. People drown, so lets ban swimming pools. Sonny Bono died while skiing, so lets ban ski slopes too."
I will take my chances in a crowd with a derranged person with a knife versus a derranged person with a semi automatic firearm. Wouldn't you? Or should we ban ball point pens (stab in the eye), hiking (getting lost and dying), airplanes, baloons (choking), etc. When people cannot defend the expansive distribution and possession of firearms, their only retort is "people choke on pretzels, so when you ban pretzels, then you can ban guns" or some such other nonsense.
Impossible to kill 6 people with a knife from 3 to 6 feet away? May I introduce you to my ex wife for a second opinion on that one?
Got a really interesting ad in the mail today against KFRundle. It says she is corrupt etc but also says she is now worth 2.3 million dollars all made while state attorney.
If so, how did KFR come up with that money?
The ad is from "big vote for justice" from 1000 N.W.N. River Drive, a place owned by Charles Flowers?
I must wonder how Rivera and the PBA are in on this? They hate her for prosecuting cops, even when they have it coming.
Rumpole, i'll take my chances with the semiauto versus the knife. The knife makes far worse wounds than the tiny bullet from the semiauto.
Tune in: how one lawyer left work early and ended up tagging Lindsay Lohan! Share your stories. 50 Shades of Shumie.
5:49 now you're being plain dumb. Try this: face someone ten feet away and pretend they have a gun pointed at you. You take one step. Bang. They pull the trigger. You're dead. Simple fact which you cannot dispute: a gun can kill more people than a knife. When soliders go into combat, which weapon are they holding? A gun or a knife? Don't be dumb. Just admit what is right and move on.
Cars kill people, but they also serve a useful purpose, getting people places. Knives kill, but they also serve a useful purpose. Neither is used as a means of murdering people on a regular basis with an intent, and both, like ballpoint pens and pretzels are necessary in a way that outweighs their danger. Guns just kill people. Ban em.
Guns can be used, first of all, to defend yourself and your loved ones. They can also be used for sport, target shooting, hunting, plinking, etc. Most gun owners use guns responsible and for lawful uses. What we need to do is punish the unlawful users of guns just like we punish the unlawful users of cars who drive under the influence, while licenses suspendee, recklessly, etc.
To throw something in to the mix: I had a friend in collage who was a Sikh . I learned that all Sikhs who are of age and "baptized" carry a concealed dagger called a kirpan. They are required to carry it so that they may defend the weak from attack and believe all people are equal. Sikhs are brave and strong , and yet all of those brave men armed with daggers stood no chance against a trained man with a semi auto pistol and a high capacity magazine . End of debate. Jason Grey
Kathy Claimed Rods claim was "unsubstantiated". What can you say now Kat? Cat got ya tongue, no comment. The gig is up Kathy, read the article fellow bloggers.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/06/2936383/florida-governor-appoints-broward.html
9:36- classic closing of the barn door after the horse is out. Whatever you do when you prosecute a madman who has slaughtered people is somewhat meaningless. The madman needs to be kept away from the gun.
Rumpole, this is the first sensical thing you say about guns: "The madnan needs to be kept away from the gun". That's our point exactly! Focus on the criminals and the madmen who misuse the guns and stop blaming the guns whose triggers they pull. And most of all, stop trying to ban or restrict the guns of law-abiding citizens!
Jason, did any Sikh attempt to use his kirpan against the killer?
No guns involved:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/07/2937220/woman-and-dog-stabbed-to-death.html
The Sikhs are brave but its tough to do much when a nutcase opens fire on you without warning. Still for the forseeable future meaningful gun control is as likely as the court system in Florida issuing 50 dollar
tickets for sale of cocaine.
Lets all be logical for a moment. We all, or the majority of us, work in the criminal justice field. We have all represented or prosecuted someone charged with firearm possession by a convicted felon, some have even had multiple convictions for it. It carries a min man, and felons know they cannot own or possess a firearm or ammo. However that does not stop them from possessing a gun. So banning guns, simply put will not work (I think that was also tried with alcohol, drugs, and every other crime, plus nations that ban guns still have gun crime).
What could have an impact is restrictions on ownership such as annual review, mental health evaluations, or certification. However I honestly doubt it will solve the problem of criminals with guns or the mentally ill with guns. Bombs are still illegal but the people still make them.
I don't like the idea of conceding defeat, but I am a realist.
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