Jury Duty

 I got a notice for jury duty. On the notice, it told me that I had been selected for criminal jury duty.

Jury duty i the backbone of our judicial system, both criminal and civil.  It is the backbone against governmental overreach. Twelve citizens, unaffiliated with the system, pass judgement on both the defendant and the state.

Yet, as a long tenured veteran of that system I know that they don't want me.  The prosecution would not want me because as a long serving veteran f police work, I know what hanky-panky they are capable of and would apply that knowledge to the state's case.  The defense would not want me due to 37 years of putting bad guys behind bars.

Luckily, Louisiana applies an exemption to all citizens over age 70.  I need not waste my time, nor theirs. they can dispense justice without me. It is one of the vagaries of the jury system that the very citizen that might be capable of an absolute unbiased verdict is also the one that neither side wants on the jury.

My critique of the jury system is much the same as Mark Twain's critique in his book, Roughing It. If you were a criminal defendant, would you trust your freedom to twelve people too stupid to get out of jury duty?

Baseball

 I've loved baseball all my life.  The ballet between a pitcher and a batter, the way the infield covers the bases. The routine plays and the strategy in the game.  I don't follow teams, can't give you stats, I simply love the game.

Tonight, I'm watching clips from The Love Of The Game, a movie released in 1999.

So, the question for y'all.   What is the best baseball movie?

Karmelo Gets A State ID

 The Karmelo Anthony trial is over.  He's guilty of murder, sentenced to 35 years in the Texas prison system.  They will give him a state ID with a TDC (Texas Department of Corrections) number.  The evidence was plain, it could not have been more cut-and-dried.

The usual suspects are playing the usual cards.  And nobody wants to hear it.  You can go search, or I'll give you a link. You've heard it before.  The race card and the culture card,  worn and threadbare, poorly played.

"It was an all-white jury."

The defense played a huge part in picking the jury.  They didn't pick any black jurors.

"I'm a mother of five black boys.  What do I tell my kids?:

Tell them not to stab people in the chest.

Karmelo Anthony brought a knife to a high school track meet and stabbed another student to death.  That is the whole story. Karmelo will be eligible for parole in 17.5 years. If he makes it that long.

Tell your kids not to stab people in the chest.  Better yet, don't stab people at all.

Here We Go

 A little disturbance in the Bay of Campeche showed up on the NHC's tropical map.

It's a start to the hurricane season.  I reckon I need to start checking this map a bit more regularly.

Tuesday Tidbits

 I see that the Iranians managed to shoot down an Apache helicopter. The crew was rescued by an unmanned surface vessel.  That's cool.  That is verry cool.  The Iranians should not be patting themselves on the back.  The Apache is basically 1980s technology.  Oh, it's been upgraded, but it was designed to kill Soviet tanks in an Eastern Europe environment.

I've also been getting bits and pieces of the Karmelo Anthony trial.  From everything I've seen, Karmelo is guilty as hell. However, it appears that some of the melanin rich members of society want to make Karmelo the OJ Simpson or George Floyd mannequin of the year.  That is sad, because Karmelo is not a sympathetic character.  He's just another street thug who thinks he can get away with murder.

Courthouse

 I had to go to the Courthouse this morning to take care of a little family business.  A quick stop at the Clerk's office thin across the hall to the Assessor.  First, I had to go through the security kiosk in the lobby.  Knowing the drill, I left everything I did not need in the car before I got to the steps of the Courthouse. That metal scanner is set so tight that I am surprised it did not detect the filling in my teeth

This is all theater.  They started this bullshit after 9/11 to make the unaware unconcerned.  Anyone with a smattering of operational knowledge knows that a routine security protocol is easy to bypass. Anyone with nefarious intent would find it easy to defeat.  Even a feeble septuagenarian such as I could cause mayhem.

Still, the security detail provides employment for a half-dozen people.  I suppose that is a god thing, even if the mission is kabuki.

I Am Reminded

 I am reminded that 82 years ago today, Operation Overlord kicked off.  The crusade to retake Europe focused on five beaches on the Normandy coast.

Eisenhower had prepared a press release in the event that the landings failed.  He was prepared to accept full blame if the operation failed.  That was the ethical choice.  He was the Supreme Commander.  It was his show.

We can draw parallels to more recent military disasters and the lack of accountability.

Finally

 I mowed grass today, for the third time this season. I'm not proud of that, but we've had a wet May and my yard holds water.  I timed it perfectly, because when I finished mowing, it started raining. 

I don't have a lawn in the traditional suburban sense. I have a mixed-grass pasture.  The Bahia was going to seed and was nearly knee-deep in places. It used to drive the HOAS crazy.  When I moved here 20-something years ago, we had an HOA.  I and some like-minded neighbors decided to ignore the sonsofbitches and see if they could make their treats work.  They had no heart for conflict and folded up like a cheap pocketknife.

I'm not opposed to mowing grass, you understand, I am opposed to rutting up my yard. I raised beef cattle for 20 years and know that the proper use for good grass is feeding beef. I don't object to keeping a lawn, I am just baffled that anyone cares.

Tomorrow I'll break out the weed eater and trim around the culverts, then go to Popeye's.  Belle has a yearning for fried chicken.