the mellow tigger's musings

A serious problem that I saw in Trump's first term was the significant delay (even when he was no longer President) in filing prosecution for illegal acts seen committed over the 4 previous years. Delay almost 4 more years while Biden was President, then finally send things to court shortly before the next election. What? Why wait? Even the Mueller report about Trump obstruction of justice during the first presidency was basically just a document saying, "Somebody should do something about this, but it won't be me."

Trial is supposed to be speedy, which means two things need to happen.

Click to read my thoughts and the example of my kin...

1) Charges must be filed, and 2) Defense must be given opportunity to collect their own evidence. Delays in either process can harm the potential for actual justice to happen. With each delay, evidence is lost to simple entropy or willful destruction, and witnesses forget details... or worse, construct inaccurate history. For #1, we have the statute of limitations. I don't always agree with the numbers, but at least they are clear and impartial. For #2, however, things are murky, and I desire clarity.

I think about it now because of this particular case:

• A relative of mine is held in county jail, accused of murdering another relative of mine. (search jail records with Booking # "57369-2024" here, and news story here).
• The deceased was killed on 2023 December 27.
• Jail records show the defendant was booked on 2024 Feb 06.
• It is now almost 1.5 years later, but the defendant is still in county jail.

I wonder, because my own short 1.5 days in county jail brought me zero knowledge of how I was even supposed to contact a lawyer while I was there, and my cat needed water and food back home. What is the justification for delay of trial? Not justification in the sense of reasonable explanation of logistics, I mean justification as in ethical cause for incarcerating an innocent-until-proven-guilty citizen? Even for murder, even for murder of my own distant kin, I tend to think that the government should just drop charges if they cannot make their case within a year. Yes, a whole lot of criminals would go free and crimes go unpunished. On the whole, though, isn't that better than some innocent people losing portions of their short lifespans to government process? There are innocent-until-proven-guilty people awaiting trial from jail because they cannot afford bond, and some people eventually are judged innocent of the accusation against them. In addition (unrelated to pre-trial in discussion here) some people were wrongfully convicted and sitting in prison, and they number more than a few. All of them are held behind bars, and we should have a good reason for it. That's a product of our authority, government acting on our behalf.

I've tried to read about it. This legal case, for example, is eye-opening. That murder case took 7 years to bring to trial. I understand that the Sixth Amendment grants right to speedy trial in federal cases, and I understand that the Fourteenth Amendment extends that right to state prosecutions as part of "due process". That Sixth Amendment, though, is short. What does "speedy" mean in practice?

The devil is in the details, as they say. I don't know how I would write the code that determines justice in the courts. Do you have any thoughts?

Today's theme song arrives here thanks to news from Texas, where a judge ruled that a school district can restrict the length of hair of its male students. This ruling contradicts the recent CROWN Act in Texas that banned race-based hair discrimination. Minnesota passed a Crown Act recently too. A Texas judge has now ruled against a key feature of their law in that state.

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again before we're finally through these troubles, but please find a way to move somewhere safe. Heed the signs. Until then, enjoy this song in the spirit of longhair solidarity.

And the sign said, "Long-haired freaky people need not apply".
So I tucked my hair up under my hat, and I went in to ask him why.
He said, "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do."
So I took off my hat, I said, "Imagine that. Huh! Me, workin' for you!"

Whoa! Sign, sign, everywhere a sign!
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind!
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

And the sign said anybody caught trespassin' would be shot on sight,
So I jumped on the fence, and I yelled at the house, "Hey! What gives you the right?"
"To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep Mother Nature in?"
"If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, Man, you're some kinda sinner."
...
And the sign said, "Everybody welcome. Come in, kneel down, and pray."
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all, I didn't have a penny to pay.
So I got me a pen and a paper, and I made up my own little sign.
I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me. I'm alive and doin' fine."

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I know that a lot of luck has kept me here in this world for so long. Today is nearly done. I kept my belly full all day, my skin warm, and my cat purring in my lap, so I know that today was a good day for me. I wish the same for everyone else in my troubled part of the world and places like it elsewhere. I don't yet have any good ideas for how to make it happen, though.

Stay safe out there.

I advised people to get out of repressive jurisdictions like Texas, and people are.  One realty group created a "Flee Texas" webpage to assist homeowners with selling their property.  An Austin Texas news station wrote an article about this phenomenon.

In related news, researchers with the University of California performed a new survey, and they found that half of Americans anticipate civil war, with about 20% expecting to arm themselves for it... coincidentally the same percentage who still think that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.  In further assortment, Republicans are saying out loud that they will deliberately make government partisan.