Trump to LeBron: "Hush Up and Dribble..."

“LeBron James should focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA, which has just recorded the lowest television ratings, by far, in the long and distinguished history of the league,” the former US president said in a statement shared by American journalist Ben Jacobs on Twitter.

“His racist rants are divisive, nasty, insulting and demeaning.

“He may be a great basketball player, but he is doing nothing to bring our country together.”

Please Tell Me We're Testing and Quarantining Anybody -- American Citizen or Not -- coming into the country from India these days?

 Please tell me we are not flying in planeloads of people escaping the sickness over there flying into US cities, where another outbreak here will likely travel into the countryside this summer and fall?

No offense but... a year in, why was India so unprepared?  Yes, there is poverty and castes and too many people living in crowded conditions.  But in the places that are not third-world, wasn't there any time to mask up, socially distance, stay at home, and put up hospital supplies and necessary equipment?

Let the desi diaspora send help, certainly, but we cannot afford to allow everyone's auntie or uncle or cousin into our country now for shelter.  Maybe, if the pandemic spreads through all classes in India, they too will learn that in times of trouble, the rich can no more be sheltered and protected --- except in extreme isolation -- than the poorest of the poor, and perhaps a society more intertwined economically -- like the middle class America of years past -- will serve them better in the long run than the caste system.

Truth be told, it would help protect the elite globetrotters too, whose wealthy ambitions to see it all, everywhere!, often outrun, or fly faster than anyway, their common sense or concerns for humanity beyond their own lineages....

Racially Mixed St. Paul School Melds the Masses

 By Josh Verges

jverges@pioneerpress.com

Cretin-Derham Hall suspended several students following a social justice walkout Monday that included profane, anti-police chanting and signs.

The demonstration was one of more than 100 that took place throughout the state Monday, organized over Instagram by the group Minnesota Teen Activists in the wake of Daunte Wright’s fatal shooting by a police officer in Brooklyn Center.

On Sunday, the St. Paul private Catholic school encouraged parents to talk to their children and “share your perspective and expectations” for the event. Students participating without their parents’ permission would be given an unexcused absence, the email said.

The event began at 1 p.m. Monday with a moment of silence and several student speeches. About one-third of the student body then marched around the perimeter of the campus, chanting slogans and holding signs.

As the group gathered back at the school, a student organizer used a school megaphone to lead an anti-police, “F— 12” chant, which admin-istrators quickly sought to shut down.

Meanwhile, a group of girls recorded a video taunting a police officer’s son, who stayed home from school on Monday.

Students told the Pioneer Press that at least six students of various ethnicities were suspended.

The school emailed parents after the walkout Monday to say that some students would be disciplined.

“While we value the positive voices for change that arose out of this student-organized event, we condemn the actions of those who were profane or hateful in speech or in signage. This behavior is not tolerated at Cretin-Derham Hall,” the message from President Frank Miley and Principal Mona Passman read, in part.

A much longer email went out Tuesday, which said some students “did not feel safe” during the walkout.

Twenty-eight percent of the school’s students are people of color, the message said, but “we also have many students, faculty/staff and alumni who have family members who are police officers, National Guard, and other first responders. It is our firm belief that individuals from BOTH of those groups seek and work for justice.”  ...

“We can disagree passionately, but we must do so out of respect for the dignity of all,” administrators wrote. “We believe the bad behavior you have heard about, especially the images shared on social media, is not representative of our school values, but it does, unfortunately, mirror the divisive nature of a worldwide response to current events. We have work to do.”

The Honeymoon Goes On and On and On...

But I do like that he stuck with the same woman. In American family couplings, he'd likely trade in the wife each time too!

For Extra Days Off, Officials Say, Couple Had 4 Weddings and 3 Divorces

A bank in Taiwan said an employee had a rapid succession of nuptials to the same woman to take advantage of the country’s paid marriage leave.

3h ago

Praise the Lord, for all His gifts...

 Be grateful and be glad!

 

Focus on the Future...

 “Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of.Even now it sprouts and grows and matures.  Don’t you perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert." 

Isaiah 43:18-19

Oy. Here We Go Again...

 Not rooting for Syria, but maybe a little parity in the region would prove more beneficial to Israel's long-term survival than all of her overwhelming military "victories" that do not buy her any peace or security in the long-term that I can see...

Israel and Syria exchanged missile attacks early Thursday morning after Damascus launched an advanced surface-to-air missile that landed all the way in the Negev Desert. 

Alarms sounded in Abu Qrenat near Dimona in the South. Syria fired the missile in response to what it claims was an Israeli Air Force bombing near Damascus. 

Reports from across the country, including central Israel and Jerusalem, spoke of "loud explosions" that "shook the houses." 

 Air Force bombing near Damascus. Israel frequently strikes Syria to prevent Iranian entrenchment in the country as well as weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Luckily, America is too busy right now putting our own house in order than to get involved in yet another Middle East conflict, seemingly initiated, again, by our allies in the region...

Don't take the bait, Biden!  Don't bite...

Ah, Spring!

 Happy Birthday to those celebrating...

Aw, she just can't "quit" me...

 Althouse the blog turned off comments -- I'm pretty sure she got tired of being a platform for paid puppets, but today, links to a past thread from 2013, with this buried nugget in the comments.

Ann Althouse said...

"It would require policing, but I think the goal should be to minimize ad hominem attacks..."

You have to understand that we had bad faith commenters who would not follow the rules and who, despite deletions, would repost and repost, including many times per minute.

That's was the problem and it was not policeable through deletion.

Now, I think that kind of interference with my website is a criminal law violation, and I know the name of the commenter who was doing that, and it is a former student of mine who is a member of the Wisconsin Bar and a practicing lawyer, incredibly enough.

7/8/13, 10:20 AM

Sue her for slander, I should! ;-)  

 I suspect, if she is linking this today, pulling this out, eight years on, the blog is dying numberswise from lack of an open, participatory comments section. 

Ann is still finding herself as a writer and political voter too, trying to figure out what she wants the blog to be, after getting setup help from Instapundit Glenn Reynolds  and most recently, accepting sidebar blog support payments to provide a Trump-supporting comments platform for the past presidential election years. She's a tease (hit my tipjar!) like that, content to tell her retired white conservative male commenters what they wanted to hear ... until it apparently proved not so lucrative, post election.

It's just sad really, I have seen so many excuses and reasons for her closing comments over the years... -- the real answer  she chose a poor platform to build on with very few options for monitoring who comes through the door or verifying who is posting comments..

Not me -- I don't play the paid games and I'm not into puppets but I sure can spot em, and if you read widely, they do play on multi-platforms, for pay I suspect, especially in the political election years...

I was always rooting for her to figure it out, to demask those true trolls who used her place to play at all hours, but especially after her re-marraige, the intellectual spark is just not there to learn more.  I suspect, the sidebar donations discouraged such investigation too. Much easier to point fingers at younger, better women writers, as Althosue's past has shown.

Well good luck to her, and I do forgive the false allegations -- that was early cancel culture at work from the denizens of the ivory tower not well practiced at deflecting criticism that most of us encounter in our real-world work.  Just sayin' if you are spending time looking back and linking and still pointing false fingers of blame all this many years later, you're missing today's biggest stories.  

The future is here, old professor emeritus! Fear not. Just do your homework next time, invest in a better blogging platform so you can tell the players and the IPs, and never ever make false accusations or threaten criminal charges against former students, even if you think you can get away with it.  I'm white, remember.  Many of your "former students" are not.  Tread lightly... Makes you look bad bearing false witness while others play you and your selected Google blogspot platform.  Hth.

Politicians Failing to "Do the Right Thing"

The arrogance of American politicians is on display when they congratulate the Chauvin jury for "doing the right thing" (Barack Obama) or coming to the "right verdict" (Joe Biden), or giving the loud Maxine Waters types the justice they demand -- murder! -- with veiled threats  to continuing unrest in the streets.

 Why?

The prosecution witnesses had already made a strong case that Derek Chauvin's actions killed Geoge Floyd.  Why do politicians need to insert themselves up in the hierarchy with the jurors under them as underlings, who came to the same "correct" conclusion the politicians did?

No.  The jurors reached an independent decision.  We hope.

They were not intimidated by what was occuring outside the courthouse during the trial -- we hope -- and only heard the evidence, arguments, and jury instructions in court. The rest of us non-jurors watching at home were treated to commentary, the bench remarks that jurors wore the headphones for and of course, all of the protests happening outside of court and the immediate looting and curfews and National Guard call-ups, etc. in wake of the Duante Wright police killing that took place mid-Chauvin trial.   But....

Can we be honest?

Protestors spent days attacking a double-fenced police station in Brooklyn Center during this trial where the jury was unsequestered.  Two stores were looted to bare shelves, and police defended themselves nightly with sprays, non lethal ammunition, etc.  It was not a picnic or a peaceful street-party protest after dark, after curfew, no matter what media might spin for you...

Judge Cahill clearly did not tell the jurors every single night not to watch the news or any television or media.  He might think he did in retrospect, but we too watched live, remember..

Jurors at home and travelling in to court daily were likely exposed to details of the ("Oh shit!") police killing of the teenager that tried to flee, with the officer immediately admitting responsibility and the streets ramping up with the same anger and rage we saw last summer in Minneapolis that burned a police precinct to the ground and caused $350 million in property damage, not all of it insured, I guarantee you.

Think that did not affect how jurors voted?  Again, it was a very strong case already -- the Daunte Wright shooting coming before the defense took over, the weekend after the prosecution presented solid expert witnesses who had held strong with their facts and scientific studies under cross examination.

Why then?

Why taint the process and the jury's role, which is so much more important than anything any two-bit pundit or politician or protestor on the street has to say?

Think about it too, the message American politicians are sending...

You are saying legislative and executive branch leaders, and minor California Congresswomen too, do not have enough confidence in the judicial process, that it takes street violence, worldwide attention, and national calls by American politicians for ramped-up "confrontation" in order to win justice for a B/black man.  

Maybe on the coasts they believe that.  Even after watching the trial in Judge Cahiill's courtroom.  He did a good job running things, but he should have sequestered the jurors sooner... immediately after the Duante Wright killing broke, definitely, with one juror even residing in Brooklyn Center.  His -- "that's a whole different case and crime" refusal to honor the defense's early and continued requests to sequester the jurors fell on deaf ears.  Cahill simply could not forsee the rage and riots that would spring from the teenager's killing, nor the national attention that makes these cases ripe for political influencing...

So many messages were sent the jurors -- not dogwhistles even -- from the high--security fencing to the soldiers on the courthouse rooftops and the Humvees on the streets to the politician's public statements... how could they not convict on all 3 counts, and give the people what they want?  Did they want the city to burn again, the downtown effectively a shut-down warzone?  All of this was on display daily as they drove into the city to the downtown courthouse...

We'll never know now if it was the weight of the evidence that convicted Derek Chauvin on those three counts, or the extra-curricular nudging to make an example of this white officer who killed a black man-- this time conveniently caught on cameras --  so the Twin Cities metro area can atone for its past sins and return to "normal"...  

How many incompetent Amy Potters do you think are still out here?  My problem with victories of "No Justice = No Peace!" is the next logical assumption in such an equation...

"No Street Theats = No Justice!"  ?

That's not the way the judicial system works.  The elected politicans should stop encouraging future riots and transferring power to the wrong players by pretending it is.

"I'm Shocked"... "I'm Not. It BALTIMORE, Jake!"

U.S. regulators cite shortcomings after inspecting a Baltimore plant where J.&J. doses were ruined.

Federal regulators on Wednesday issued highly critical findings from their inspection of a Baltimore plant that was forced to throw out up to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine and ordered to temporarily stop all production.

The Food and Drug Administration cited a series of shortcomings at the massive plant, which is operated by Emergent BioSolutions. The inspection was triggered by reports that Emergent workers had contaminated a batch of Johnson & Johnson doses with the harmless virus that is used to deliver AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is also manufactured at the plant.

The violations included failure to properly disinfect the factory and its equipment, as well as failure to institute and follow proper procedures designed to prevent contamination of doses and to ensure the strength and purity of the vaccine manufactured there. “There is no assurance that other batches have not been contaminated,” the inspectors wrote.

Their 12-page report cited nine violations, ranging from the design of the building to improperly trained employees. The inspection was finished on Tuesday.

In a statement, the F.D.A. noted that it has not authorized Emergent to distribute any doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and that no vaccine manufactured at the plant has been released for use in the United States....

The inspectors found that workers frequently moved between the manufacturing zones without documenting that they had showered and changed their gowns as required. In one ten-day period in February, for instance, 13 employees moved from one zone to another on the same day, but only one documented having showered, they said. After the Johnson & Johnson doses were found to be contaminated, the report said, only routine cleaning was performed.

Workers also failed to properly handle manufacturing waste, creating risks of contamination in the warehouse where raw materials are stored, the inspectors found. They also cited peeling paint, crowded equipment and other issues with the building. Overall, it “is not maintained in a clean and sanitary condition,” they wrote.

Emergent said in a statement on Wednesday that “while we are never satisfied to see shortcomings in our manufacturing facilities or process, they are correctable and we will take swift action to remedy them.”

In its own statement, Johnson & Johnson said it had already stepped up its oversight of Emergent, its subcontractor, and that it would “ensure that all of F.D.A.’s observations are addressed promptly and comprehensively.”

One major change has already been made: AstraZeneca will no longer be manufactured at the plant, a move that federal officials insisted upon earlier this month to limit the chance of cross-contamination between two vaccines.

Dr. Jose Romero, the Arkansas health secretary and chairman of the expert panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the future of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said in an interview that he was dismayed by the F.D.A.’s findings. The panel is meeting on Friday on whether to lift, modify or retain a pause in the administration of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine that was instituted last week for an entirely different issue: the discovery that eight U.S. residents developed a rare but dangerous blood clotting disorder after they got shots.

“I’m shocked” Dr. Romero said. “I can’t put it any other way. Inappropriate disinfection, the prevention of contamination — those are significant and serious violations, at least in my mind, and do of course need to be remedied.

“I would not have expected that, given the stringency that we have in this country for good manufacturing practices in these vaccine plants,” he said.

— Sharon LaFraniere and Sheryl Gay Stolberg

Begotten, not Made.

 There's a difference, ya know.

PART ONE
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION TWO
THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

THE CREDO

The Apostles Creed	The Nicene Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.	We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.	We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven:
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.	by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.	For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered died and was buried.
On the third day he rose again.	On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead	he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.	We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

"We Matter. We Matter!"

 Saddest to me is the thought that so many B/black people apparently needed a 12-member jury to tell them this...

God loves you. Jesus' death created a New Covenant -- not exclusive to Abraham's descendants.  All men are created equal in the eyes of God.

If you can absorb these lessons from the start, teach them at home and in the community, then you can move forward as a race knowing you are a child of God.  Turn off the televisions that program some one else's idea of reality into your head, and open the books and do thinking, character casting, foreshadowing, and concluding for yourself.  Be Still and know He is there with you, always.

If you can think independently, you can survive and stay alive.  If you can work independently, you can support yourself and not rely on others.  It's not exclusive to white people or black people or brown people or yellow people.

As a child of God, if you respect yourself and live within His rules, society can kill you, but Christ has already paid the admission price for believers...

Eternal Life.

-------------------

* If you are seeking a better life, you could do worse than starting here...

Legal Journalist Thinking Out Loud...

April 20, 2021, 5:50 p.m. ET15 minutes ago

15 minutes ago

Emily Bazelon

Reporting on legal issues

The jury could have convicted Chauvin or any combination of manslaughter, third-degree murder or second-degree murder, but chose "all of the above." When that happens, it raises questions about whether the theory of the conviction is internally coherent. 

In this case, could Chauvin be guilty of:  1) causing the death of a human being, without intent, while committing an assault (second-degree murder); AND 

2) unintentionally causing a death by committing an act that is eminently dangerous to other persons while exhibiting a depraved mind, with reckless disregard for human life (third-degree murder) AND 

3) creating an unreasonable risk, by consciously taking the chance of causing death or great bodily harm to someone else (manslaughter)? I’d say the answer is probably yes, but I confess I’m still absorbing all the legal jargon.

April 20, 2021, 5:48 p.m.

--------------

 

Except,

Not enough people will question conviction on all those counts because:  1) the "right" verdict was reached; AND 2) this is the balm needed. like the Biden election, to salve the nation's racial sores and move us forward, together, into the 21st Century as a more united country.

With the Prosecutorial Team Standing Behind Him Nervously...

 Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison takes this time to lecture the nation on the history of race riots in America, ticking off a number of judicial cases outside his jurisdiction.

The legal team members -- left standing there, masked behind him -- are eyeing one another: "When will this end?"  They are being used as props by Ellison.  This is much more of a polical speech now than the traditional congratulatory thank you to the team, which no doubt assembled them here before the cameras.

Ellison is trying to make it look as though the men and women standing behind him support all that he is saying.  Look at their eyes and shifting body language:  they don't.

---------

ADDED:  Oh dear, now he is talking slavery, and all of the nation's collected victim groups...  Hennepin DA Mike Freeman is not comfortable being there.  And a few in the back look like they are ready to head out too or pass out from standing after a long, tense day.

This team won despite Keith Ellison.  Let's be honest... talking on and on and on.  Enough, Keith. Plenty of time to advance your political career.  Thank the team and let them go home to their families now.

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty.

The progressives got their full victory.  100% Justice for George.

Everything they were asking for in their anger and rage.

Let's see now if they can keep the peace...

"Go in Peace to Love and Serve Your Own Communities Now..."

#NoExcuses.

--------------

ADDED:  I'm embarrassed for them, actually. the neediness on display...

April 20, 2021, 5:27 p.m. ET4 minutes ago

4 minutes ago

Shaila Dewan

Reporting from Minneapolis

It is literally raining money at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, the memorial to the spot where Floyd was killed. Someone has just "made it rain," and dollar bills are everywhere. 

---------

At George Floyd Square, the memorial to where Floyd was killed, a woman nearly collapses in tears. When she straightens, she manages to croak out, “We matter. We matter.” 

----------

About two dozen reporters are waiting for the Floyd family at the Hilton ballroom. Sixteen seats have been set out for speakers. Expect a large crowd, including the Rev Al. Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other civil rights leaders.

Ah, Jesse Jackson!  Always front and center... "Celebrate Good Times, Come On!" That ballroom will be rocking tonight surely. Oh, Keith Ellison!  The new Jesse Jackson in terms of political opportunism...

Biden and Bush Both Double Down.

 After Judge Cahill yesterday asked politicians to respect the judicial branch, today both former President Bush went on tv plugging his book of paintings and commenting on the Chauvin trial, and President Biden spoke with the Floyd family about what verdict he prefers...

I’m praying that the verdict is the right verdict, which is I think it’s overwhelming ... I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered.

No respect for the jury role.

Reminds me of when the criminal trial jury came back with a Not Guilty verdict for OJ killing his ex-wife (say her name...) Nicole Brown..  White women and ex-wives back then were asked to swallow hard and accept the jury's decision as just.  The Goldman and Brown families were encouraged to pursue justice through a civil trial, which was cathartic to them, I think, in holding the killer ultimately accountable.

The Floyd family has already accepted $27 million in Justice for George.  Burning down the City of Minneapolis further, and sending Derek Chauvin away for a very long time for killing a man he was forced to confront on the job and making poor judgment calls that resulted in the man's death, might be your idea of justice, but not mine.

You see, this trial is not about George Floyd, primarily.  It's about Derek Chauvin, how he was trained, how he worked in a department for many years, and what his reaction was on Memorial Day 2020 to a physical challenge on a call he was sent to assist, where officers had already escalated, the suspect was refusing to cooperate and be removed from the scene, and storekeepers were demanding the police act as private security addressing issues of loitering and counterfeit bills essentially, while breaking labor laws themselves...

I don't think this will end well for the country, even if "The Right Verdict" is reached and Derek Chauvin is made a scapegoat for police aggression and misconduct that has been tolerated and essentially built into the way the job is done.  

Changing the rules after the fact for the blue uniform on the street might make the elites feel better -- especially if you can convince yourself that a hack policeman like Derek Chauvin, of limited intellectual and emotional ability if you read about his past --  knew he was killing George Floyd, whether he intended that or not -- but that will not bring the real change that needs to come...

Now just shut up now, politicians, until the verdict is read?  Yes you can.

#JusticeforDerek

--------------------

ADDED:  Think about how many career police officers, especially the physically smaller ones who came up relying on other means to restrain and subdue, are simply not capable of addressing the physical, psychological and mental social work on the streets that we are currently tasking them with.   

Are you content to take the $27 million justice money and "guilty, guilty, guilty" verdicts and not address that?  

Will America simply let these officers continue to err on the job and when caught on camera, then go through this justice-seeking process, case by case, death by death?  Prosecute or prevent?  

My cynicism says no true reform will come in the wake of these victory celebrations.  Blacks are settling and being bought off, convinced that locking up Derek Chauvin for a long time is justice.  Too many of them are too accepting of corruption within the system if it ultimately pays off for them personally, I think.

I still believe change is gonna come, but to me, this a not change but a false peace, purchased at a high price. This verdict will change nothing about the way business is done in the Twin Cities and Midwest region that I can see. No change in social policies to help men like George Floyd before we ask men, and women, like Derek Chauvin to address social problems on the street with their own limited abilities and their guns and other weapons.

How Law Works in the Real World.

 Retired Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse addresses a media myth than many of us picked up on from Sicknick family reports weeks ago:  the police officer who died during the Jan. 6 Capitol incident died of a series of strokes he suffered that evening, when he returned home after physically skirmishing with the protestors who entered the Capitol earlier that day. No fire extinguisher to the head. No pepper spray poisoning.

Two men have been charged with assaulting Brian Sicknick with pepper spray, but those caused no obvious lingering physical injuries noted in the autopsy. Prosecutors have not charged anyone with Sicknick's death, only with the assault.

I'm reading "Officer Attacked in Capitol Riot Died of Strokes, Medical Examiner Rules The determination is likely to complicate efforts to prosecute anyone in the death of the officer, Brian Sicknick" (NYT).

"The determination is likely to complicate the Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute anyone in the death of Officer Sicknick, 42; two men have been charged with assaulting him by spraying an unknown chemical on him outside the Capitol. But an autopsy found no evidence that Officer Sicknick had an allergic reaction to chemicals or any internal or external injuries.... Two men were charged last month with assaulting Officer Sicknick, but prosecutors have avoided linking the attack to his death...."

That's written confusingly. If "prosecutors have avoided linking the attack to his death," then what are the "efforts to prosecute anyone in the death of Officer Sicknick"? The assault is an assault regardless of whether it caused a death that happened to occur soon afterward. But there's also that discrepancy between what the medical examiner said — "All that transpired played a role in his condition" — and the assertion that the finding of death by "natural causes" excludes the idea that death "was hastened by an injury."

Sicknick's death by natural causes after extreme physical exertion on a job that likely did not call for that daily might be compared with Derek Chavin's choice to avoid continually struggling with a handcuffed George Floyd, who was refusing to get in the backseat of the SUV on Memorial Day 2020.  Floyd was bigger, and the first responding officers thought he was on something... Floyd was being held down until the ambulance arrived to provide medical care, and then Chauvin found himself dealing with a gathering crowd and did not cross over from his policing to his EMT duties soon enough after George Floyd's body gave out from lack of oxygen...

George Floyd died after extreme exertion on his body.  A jury will decide if Chavin's actions were unreasonable in that situation for a trained police officer after credible witnesses testified those actions caused Floyd's death by cutting off oxygen to his brain and body.  Importantly, what role did Floyd's underlying physical condition play in his death?  Would a reasonable police officer think he was killing the man underneath him, when the ambulance did not arrive during the time expected?  Those are the legal issues to consider in real-life, non ivory tower "safe" situations, professor.  (I mean this respectfully:  the elite thinkers like althouse are very much isolated in America today, and often limited in their understanding of how jobs and bodies work in reality.  They have all the answers sitting at their desks because they don't do these physical jobs -- their ideas of how thing work, in reality, have never been tested in real world conditions.)

That's for a jury to decide, based on evidence like the medical autopsy.  The crimes alleged change drastically depending on what you believe the cause of death was, in both Sicknick and Floyd's case. 

No mater what legislators like Maxine Waters are urging, questions of Chauvin's legal guilt should be settled in a court of law, not by rioters threatening violence on the street if they do not get the desired outcome. Were I on the jury, I would not convict Derek Chauvin of either of the two murder counts.  Manslaughter, at best. But then I understand policing and why you need to maintain control lest you put yourself at risk. I'd err on the side of understanding Chauvin's actions that day, and refuse to convict the officer of murder.

Is there one like me of the 12 jurors seated to judge Derek Chauvin? Maybe there is. And I do not think the threat of more street violence -- $350 million in property damage, and burned out police station, post office and plenty of uninsured stores -- will cow the jury into letting the evidence they saw lead them where it may...

 (Police stations are under siege and last year, one was burned to the ground.  Words plus actions add context making these clear threats and calls for street justice... No, no. no!)

The World is Turning, as always.

 Iran Rattled as Israel Repeatedly Strikes Key Targets

Recent attacks suggest that Israel has a clandestine network inside Iran and that Iranian security services have been powerless to break it.

--------------

Why does the whole world keep picking on one belligerent little country that 50 years in, her survival as a religious state is no more secure than when the Brits first donated their share of the land... ?

Maybe because it's not acceptable warfare to most to allegedly assassinate scientists in rivaling countries, or pre-emptively attack -- continually! -- other countries that you are not officially warring with, and yet cry out expecting pity when your children are slain in their homes, in their beds, when the unofficial war rules you write are used against you and the wars are once again re-visited within your own religious state borders....  

This is not the Christian Golden Rule at work.  America learned our lesson in the Bush/Cheney years that wars that will work in Israel cannot be successfully sold and supported here at home.  Took a damn long time to admit though.  Washington was once "captured" like that, but the old lions of the Senate are passing, and the new voices are irreligious and all...

Sometimes I think, in their naive innocence or ignorance, false pride and a overconfident sense of strongman security, Israel simply never expects what she  dishes out to be served back to her own  She sets poison upon the table, and then expresses astonishment when her own children disobey their father's house rules and drink of it themselves...

The funny thing is, pundits who mock beliefs of the Christian religion -- here, NYT columnists Bret Stephens (formerly managing editor of the Jerusalem Post; he returned to the United States of America to raise and educate his children here) and Gail Collins (an elderly but experienced "first woman editorial page editor" and NYT columnist whose parents educated her in Catholic schools and Marquette, back in the 50s and 60s but who no more "represents" Catholic women than the 1950s stereotypes she knew then)  -- never seem to poke the same fun with core Jewish beliefs. Why?  Why not? When will this oversight be rectified? By whom? If not now, and if not me... ;-)*

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river r, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."

If we chose in America to disrespect the religious beliefs of others, it won't just be Christianity that falls...  

And if your national state is built on shifting sands, not upon a Rock;  not on independence but as a religious state based on religious beliefs with religious men leading religious followers based on those religious belifes, well then dare I say, your country will likely fall too when such beliefs as respect, tolerance and justice are mocked, faith falls, and nobody much puts any stock in your stories... Who amonst her neighbors will speak for Israel then?

Think of the Evangelical Christians too, who have financially been amongst Israel's founding partners from the start.  I know they don't believe in the Marian doctrine that Bret mocks, but as a self-identified jewish man, he should take care to tread lightly

I guarantee you the youth demographics coming up in America today -- those currently out in the streets being encouraged to "make change" there, using only their bodies and voices as weapons against deadly forces while those ensconced within The System watch this real-life entertainment unfold for their viewing pleasure... fires! broken glass! maybe blood?! -- cannot place little Israel on a map, much less will be keen in the future agree to send billions of American tax dollars there.  The Evangelical Christian, America to Israel gravy train will end one day.

But the love of the Lord will live on in so many hearts and homes.  Pity Bret Stephens, a family man blessed so many times in his life and his career, who currently has a platform that could be put to good logical use, wastes his talents mocking other religious believers.

In America, that's not cool.  Politics, religion and money.  Tread lightly when you converse on these issues, Brett.  And perhaps don't rely on the reactions of your 1950s and 60s Catholic-school-educated talking partner* to steer you south?  Hth.

------------------------

*  Nevermind that the Church itself, and the people in the pews actually "practicing", likely differ greatly from Mrs. Collin's youth memories, bragging of 14 years Catholic education.  In my humble opinion, those Catholic-school educated in the primary grades were not as intellectual thinkers, nor as accepted in motley crew company, as the young Catholics whose parents invested in good homes in the suburbs with solid public schools, and their religious training through weekly catechism classes in the parish, usually taught by parent volunteers -- smart Catholics with good jobs who sent their children to public schools.

Ethnic and working class, you will find no stronger combination of C/catholic than one educated with others of different faiths, or no faiths, in a place where the academic content is stressed separately from spiritual studies.  You see, this allows those young Catholics to actually practice and test their faith daily outside of the parochial "safe zones", and have it reinforced in the home and wider ethnic and religious community with naturally  assembled (wait for it...) diversity! Not cherry-picked tokens chosen to represent a pretty rainbow, while assuring one remains in the "majority" and in the top conversational positions with the monied conservative white males, at that...

Catholic schoolgirls like Mrs. Collin's who brag of spending 14 years being taught only with like-minded souls are not years later sparring as adults with other women (ie/she's never had a female partner to converse with in the history of the NYT feature and this Stephens, the current male conversant now, is 20+ years younger...)

You wonder, what would an honest conversation sound like between a Catholic woman and a Jewish man in America regarding the future of Israel the ally's role in the region, and when our diverse American taxpayers will start questioning the heft of AIPAC and the Evangelical Christian lobbies upon the neocons and the bought-legislators still operating in Washington.

The world is turning. Eyes on the prize: don't look back!

------------

*Thanks Hillel! Imma take that one with me and put it to use in my life... Like discarded  books, sometimes the original owners don't know what they have.

#RememberPatTillman

Minnesota Mourns Mondale

By Bill Salisbury | bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press

PUBLISHED: April 19, 2021 at 7:49 p.m. | UPDATED: April 19, 2021 at 8:13 p.m.

Walter F. Mondale, a country preacher’s kid who grew up to become an attorney general, U.S. senator, vice president and Democratic presidential nominee,  has died. He was age 93.

His family reported his death Monday evening.

“We told the truth, we obeyed the law, and we kept the peace.

“It may not sound like much, but if you’ve got that, you can handle the rest.”

 

If Cali's Future is Brown and Asian...

 how many more years will B/black and W/white octogenarians like Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters hold power? 

(Say? Is this like the West Coast version of those "Pick a Date" winter contests on northern lakes where they used to park an old wreck out on the ice and place bets on the spring thaw = which day the old jalopy fell through the ice?)

Shortly after her comments to the crowd (in Brooklyn Center this weekend), Waters addressed a gaggle of mostly reporters for about 6 minutes and 15 seconds, including fielding questions.

She emphasized that “We’re looking for a guilty verdict … for murder,” referring to the trial of Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd in May. The trial was in full swing when Wright was shot. The case went to the jury Monday.

At one point, she was asked what she thought protesters should do if the jury did not find Chauvin guilty of the murder charge. It’s unclear if she heard the entire context of the question, so part of it was repeated: “What should protesters do?”

This is the controversial part.

Here’s how she responded: “Well, we’ve got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

Then she was asked: “What do you think about this curfew tonight?” referring to an 11 p.m. curfew the city of Brooklyn Center had administered for Saturday night in an attempt to prevent violence, arson and looting.

Here’s how Waters responded: “I don’t think anything about curfew. I don’t think anything about curfew. I don’t know what curfew means. Curfew means that ‘I want you all to stop talking. I want you to stop leading. I want you to stop gathering.’ I don’t agree with that.”

This was a little over 20 minutes before curfew. Then she was asked, “Are you gonna stay out here?”

Waters responded: “I’m not gonna stay out here. I came here from Washington just to be here to make sure that I let my voice be heard among all of those who have been putting so much time on the street. And so, I’m hopeful that the protests will continue. Thank you.”

Those women should stay home in Cali where their attitudes are more accepted. We're wiser here, more elders and all.  Not so fixed up physically... more genuine about what matters in life. Not afraid to age, naturally, and show it. We counsel our young in the ways of the world, the white one too, to keep them safe, not encourage them to be out defying curfew and courting confrontations on the streets...

You know what they say about old men sending young people to fight society's wars?  Turns out old lady politicians do that too.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson had urged Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill to declare a mistrial, arguing that “an elected official, US Congressperson” made statements that “I think are reasonably interpreted to be threats against the sanctity of the jury process” and had the effect of “threatening and intimidating the jury.”

Cahill denied the motion but told Nelson, “I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”

“This goes back to what I’ve been saying from the beginning,” the judge fumed. “I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch and our function.”

“I think if they want to give their opinion they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution to respect a co-equal branch of government,” he said. “Their failure to do so, I think, is abhorrent.”

Cahill added: “a Congresswoman’s opinion really doesn’t matter a whole lot.”

ADDED:
Speaking of, here's a peek at Minnesota's oldest resident, Erna Zahn, who celebrated her 113th birthday with guests in recent days.  LOVE the photo of her as a young woman in July 1934 with a friend visiting Mt. Rushmore.  She was wealthy -- see the family's horse at the link, and the quality photos -- and appeared always healthy.  Shopkeeper's daughter; music professor's wife; mother of six and grandmother ...

Maybe the BlackGangsta Entertainment Narrative

is not so healthy in urban environments where actual gangs exist on the street and prey on real-life children?

Maybe, if more people pushed back at the notion that Black lives are cheap entertainment fodder, as Hollywood movies and the East Coast West Coast rap world are successfully casting so many "fatherless" young B/black men in this glamorous tough-guy role, the urban subculture would be better able to protect even the littlest black lives.

Why?  Because surely she mattered. You'll never know her name, and she's gone at 7, but a culture that values these lives too over the biggest and most visible victims will help us grow into a country that values life over property, mamas over mammon...

Girl, 7, fatally shot inside vehicle at West Side McDonald’s drive-thru

MONDAY, APR 19

A 7-year-old girl died Sunday after she was shot inside a vehicle in a drive-thru lane at a McDonald’s restaurant on the city’s West Side, according to Chicago police.

Police at the scene used their squad car to rush the critically injured child to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.

At least today, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will reopen the high school doors for the first time since March 2020.  The lack of education has too many young people running the streets.  Add guns to the mix, and the result has been deadly.

Education, education, education...  

It's the only way out, America.  Put down your guns, and stop listening to the neocons telling us for so long it was in our national security interests to build schools for Afghan and Iraqi girls  (Don't send American soldiers to do God's work...We're not a religious state.)   America First.  Our own fellow Americns are in need of rescue, still. 

No wonder so many neocons are cashing in their chips and looking for nice, stable small towns and upstate safe places from whence they did not come to retreat to.  We will welcome them as brothers, as well.  But they must learn to practice peace, a practical responsible peace that does not have a monetary pricetag but will cost you greatly, nonetheless...

Listen Children to a story that was written long ago... 'Bout a kingdom on a mountain, and the valley folk below. On the mountain, was a Treasure!, buried deep beneath the stone, and the valley people swore they'd have it for their very own!  So the people of the valley sent a message up the hill, asking for the buried treasure, tons of gold, for which they'd kill... 

Came an answer, from the kingdom, with our brothers we will share, all the secrets of our mountain, all the riches buried there...

Now the valley cried with anger, "Mount your horses! Draw your swords!" And they killed the mountain peoples, so they'd won their just reward.  Now they stood beside the treasure, on the mountain, dark and red, turned the stone, and looked beneath it....

PEACE ON EARTH!  was all it read....

Go ahead and hate your neighbors, go ahead and cheat a "friend". Do it in the name of your God; you can always justify it in the end... But there won't be any trumpets blowing, come the judgement day, on the bloody morning after... One Tin Soldier Rides Away.

~Coven.

Good Mornin'! SUN-day morning!

 

haha. Nancy's line makes me smile. I had to check and see if her Sunday morning appearance with George Stephanopoulus was before or after the Jan. 6 incident at the Capitol. (Before: pre-election too, way back in Sept. 2020). Time flies... But her line lives on. And this spring morning, it still makes me smile. So, "Good mornin', Sunday mornin'!, to you!" (and you and you and you! ;-) Breaking the third wall here. 

Little darlin', the smiles returning to their faces. Little darlin', it seems like years since it's been clear... Here comes the Sun, and I say: it's all right!

 

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* Last Sunday, I joined thousands of others in getting Co-Vid vaccinated with the Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) vaccine at U.S. Bank Stadium, right off the expressway at the outskirts of downtown Minneapolis. It was easy on early Sunday afternoon getting in and out. The area around the old Metrodome has really cleaned up and re-gentrified (parking lots to condos and fresh office space) since the investment in the new stadium.

It was put to good use for public-health reasons: a Minnesota National Guard soldier told me they had been there with the program all week, vaccinating with J&J.  She was one of the hundreds on site directing us where to go from parking lot entrance, through the skyway and stadium ramps to one of the lower levels of good seats ringing the stadium, where the civilian nurses and medical professionals were giving the shots.

Then we sat for 15 minutes -- or stood in the back, if we chose -- on the outer concourse level where hundreds of folding chairs were set up in long horizontal rows around the lit-up playing field with the sun steaming in through the 360-degrees windows wrapping around.  You could go up and snap a selfie at the official "selfie station"  if you liked, read the information paperwork, or admire the round vaccination sticker compliments of the Vikings with the mascot flexing his tanned bicep.

Get up and go when the 15 minutes was up...

I was impressed by the program administration, from driving in from the East Metro, parking, walking and walking the ramps into the stadium with so many others generously spaced out entering and exiting at their own pace (soldiers pushing those needing wheelchairs/separate entrance if you signed up for that), to the brief conversation and identity checks before getting the shot, and 15-minute watched wait period... I was back home in under 2 hours.  No symptoms, arm never got sore. Looked away but felt the shot; no pain, probable gain.

You see, I had CoVid.  Back in late Feb. 2020, I believe, where until the fever broke, and even for a few weeks afterwards with the odd breathlessness, you are indeed sick enough to feel humbled as a mortal.  That was more than a flu bug, and then a short time later... the news of CoVid broke and you could not find an antibody or CoVid test anymore than you could hand sanitizer or toilet paper.

(I add these details because... how quickly we forget!)

In my temporary, early-morning work with Amazon starting in August, it did not take long for me to test positive for CoVid in a warehouse where at its peak, we we getting notices of about 2 or 3 cases reported daily, in clusters of a few days here and a few days there.  Legally, in a factory workplace setting that size, they were mandated to inform that another co-worker tested positive, and their last date of work before the mandated, paid part-time leave. (You got paid your regular hours, but told to stay home for two weeks...)

Long story short,
I signed up on the Minnesota site to be notified when the vaccine became available because I want peace of mind to visit family, even if my body has already produced antibodies and survived.  I don't believe in mandatory vaccination by the government, but in families, for self protection and self isolation, elders and parents of the young unvaccinated can set and enforce their own standards, I think. Herd immunity is achievable by respecting the choices of other people, calculating one's own personal risks, and accepting responsibility.

They call that "adulting" nowadays, those word folkz looking to slap new labels on very old concepts as if each generation is the first to discover its own uniqueness.  But I digress...

Soon after my shot, broke news of clotting in the six child-bearing-ish age women, the highest in the range just a few years younger than me. (Oct.'68, Columbus Day -- don't say Goodbye, say Hello! Again, a Sunday morning digression.)  I'm not worried. Never been on artificial birth control, and maybe... that has something to do with the clotting issues?

I am glad they made this news public though, instead of hushing it up to protect the fearful and promote "it's all good!" messages via keeping facts quiet.  Let women in that age range decide if they want to go the two-dose mRNA mechanism instead.  More, not less, information to all the people. Don't condescend and keep it from us to better the advocacy and/or spin.  That's how you lose trust.

One more week of waiting for me then. Minnesota, like Illinois and Wisconsin, appears to be working towards slowly vaccinating a majority of the population this Spring, before the weather and opened-up travel, domestically and internationally, brings more variants into our region.

Easter Sunday.
Vaccination Sunday.
Today.  This year is going to pass quickly, I predict.  Here's to better, not worse!