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Monday, July 31, 2023

Post #6344 M: The Feds are Still Watching; Dumb Bleep of the Week; Everything You Need to Know About FedNow

 Quote of the Day

We are wiser than we know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson  

The Feds are Still Watching 

Dumb Bleep of the Week

Everything You Need to Know About FedNow

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Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2016

Justin Bieber, "Love Yourself"

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Sunday, July 30, 2023

Post #6343 Social Media Digest

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Post #6342 J

 Pandemic Report

The latest CDC stats:



There is evidence of a mid-summer COVID-19 mini-surge based on hospital admissions, emergency department visits and test positivity, even things like wastewater, maybe up 30% off late spring lows. To a certain extent, this is expected as people seek refuge in air-conditioned indoors from historic heat waves. No signs yet of an evolutionary leap like to Delta or omicron. It's likely this wave will dissipate 

One of the more interesting arguments from the COVID-19 lab leak theorists is that zoonotic diseases tend to have a pattern of more volatile iteration cycles; I'm not saying I find the point compelling, but I would like to see the other side respond (maybe it has and I haven't seen it).

Other Notes

Some slow days like Friday's 12 pageviews, but it appears likely this month will surpass last month's total, but in part because the month is longer.

I was trying to figure how an Instagram link from ABC was failing to show anything when it turned out to be related to my using a VPN and getting caught in CAPTCHA hell. I wasn't THAT motivated to see a program promo.

A follow-up to my discussion last week of being scammed in a recent eBay transaction. To my surprise, eBay allowed to let ne return the product, and I got a notification yesterday eBay had credited my card.

Hallmark's Christmas in July is winding down. I think I was most surprised seeing them play some Candace Cameron Bure movies. Bure used to be a Countdown to Christmas hostess. Bure left Hallmark a couple of years back when it started including non-traditional couples in storylines. She has joined a competing family-oriented network, better reflecting her Christian values

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Post #6341 M: Education and Regulatory Burden killing American Manufacturing; What Lefties Get Wrong About Healthcare

 Quote of the Day

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, 
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust  

Education and Regulatory Burden killing American Manufacturing

McClanahan on Why Does the Left Really Hate the New Florida History Standards?

What Lefties Get Wrong About Healthcare

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2016

Justin Bieber, "Sorry"

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Saturday, July 29, 2023

Post #6340 Commentary: My First Jury Experience

 I blogged about this experience earlier in the blog. My first experience with the jury system was during my salad days in San Antonio. I was unemployed at the time with limited savings at best and this was an interruption to my job search. They pay you a nominal fee; I don't recall if it even covered my parking. After a long wait most of us in the jury pool were dismissed without ever seeing the inside of a classroom. But to this very day what I remember most is this self-important suited businessman raging he had better ways to spend his time, and they should staff juries from the ranks of the unemployed, who after all didn't have anything better to do with their time. I had to bite my tongue, of course, because he was talking about me, but my inner voice was thinking, "Dude, you had better hope you never get charged and find your peers are too important to serve on your own jury!"

Since then, I really hadn't gotten a jury summons (in decades), although I almost did by South Carolina or Arizona but had moved in the interim. When I finally got a summons recently, I wasn't thrilled because I had awaited 2 health-related procedures for some time and a longer trial could derail them. I was hopeful I could dodge it: the local county has a process where you call the night before or check their website in the late afternoon the day before your reporting date to see if your reporting number is required. I noticed the day before my reporting day all the prospective jurors were excused so I was hopeful. It wasn't the obligation so much as the personally inconvenient timing. But no such luck; my reporting number fell into the middle of the reporting range.

The potentially variable length of a jury pool commitment complicated my work schedule. For example, my timesheet was set up to allow jury leave one day at a time, with any additional days manually approved.

I hadn't been to the town center before. The summons came with a parking permit that allowed us to park on the roof of a 6-story public parking garage a few blocks from the courthouse. (It felt like you were driving forever once in the garage.)

I arrived early the first day {I attempt to be very conservative when I'm unfamiliar with the area). All of this is very slow, different than my San Antonio experience. We checked in (there were about 53 of us, all for the same case apparently) and issued minor stipends. We were shown some orientation clips and issued numbers; if and when you are selected, you are issued another number.

I'm only going to describe the case in general terms, and I don't claim my opinions extend beyond myself to other jurors. The case centers on a 9-1-1 call over the alleged erratic driving of the suspect, whose own license had been revoked and his registered car was supposed to have an Ignition Interlock Device installed. (Think of a breathalyzer linked to your ignition). He was eventually charged with DWI, under impairment, and 8 other charges involving 9-1-1 related traffic or driving license infractions. The suspect was arrested in the parking lot near his residence (they traced it via his car plate tag reported in the 9-1-1 call) within minutes of the call, after refusing a breathalyzer.; there were separately a local officer and a state trooper

So the judge goes through a litany of 28 questions designed to filter out juror bias, e.g., are you affiliated with MADD, do you have an ax to grind against the police, do you have any link to anyone involved in the trial, etc. So, they recorded the exceptions. One amusing note: one lady was so short they didn.t notice her standing up,

I think I was one of the few who never stood up. Almost everyone else had to go into separate discussions with the judge and attorneys. It went through the first half of jurors (I was in the first half) when I guess they had cleared enough. They then brought us up 4 at a time, and neither side questioned or struck me from the jury. So, I was now on the jury.

After the jury was selected, we had opening arguments, and then the state presented its case, mainly the 9-1-1 call, the officers were called to testify and clips of the officers approaching the suspect were shown. Neither officer saw the suspect driving the impeccably parked car. One saw the suspect in the driver's seat with the car lights on. 

The state did not provide the 9-1-1 caller and didn't provide any corroborating witnesses or any other evidence documenting driving violations. There were issues with multiple elements of the 9-1-1 call, including the report of damage to the suspect's car, the suspect's physical appearance. The caller reported the suspect had stopped off at a liquor store but no evidence of relevant purchases. There were discrepancies in the officers' perceptions, e.g., only one reported smelling alcohol on the suspect's breath.

The judge stopped for the day after the prosecution rested.

When the trial resumed the next morning, the defense rested without having the defendant testify, not really surprising us. He really didn't leave us much to go by, like someone else was driving the car. We then went through closing arguments and judge instructions.

In deliberations we went through the 9-1-1 call and an extended officer clip. They collected lunch orders, and I ordered a cheesesteak sub (delicious) and diet cola. 

I had visions of being a holdout juror for the defense but there was a surprising consensus the prosecution failed to prove the moving violation charges beyond a somewhat suspect 9-1-1 call.

And it was clear there was a failure of the prosecution to establish the suspect was intoxicated like those TV shows asking the defendant to walk a straight line. Maybe he was a highly functional alcoholic, but he seemed cooperative and in control. Oh, I know the young trooper reported his pupils were dilated, his speech was slurred etc., he's seen it a million times, but no sale.

The problem I had is the suspect is arguing with his mom on the clip (not that the prosecutor pointed it out) that he hadn't damaged the car So there goes the defense on license violations, including the need to install a Ignition Interlock Device. Finally, he was overheard admitting he had had a few drinks.

So, the impaired violation was a compromise consensus that the driver's road behavior was likely dangerous to others and he shouldn't have been on the road.

So not guilty on half the charges and guilty of the other half. I'm sure no one liked the outcome, although the prosecutor seemed happy. I was truly amazed that 12 people were able to come to an agreement. We don't know if the judge has sentenced the defendant; our part is over. But we took defendant rights seriously. 

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Post #6339 M: 15th Blogiversary! ; Congress is too old; Why millennials hate boomers; Jordan Peterson gets Wild on Twitter

 Quote of the Day

Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, 
and then you destroy yourself.
Richard Nixon 

Happy 15th Blogiversary!


Congress is too old

Why millennials hate boomers

Jordan Peterson gets Wild on Twitter

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2015

Adele, "Hello". And that's a wrap on 2015.

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Friday, July 28, 2023

Post #6338 M: Conservatism Is Alive and Well; Hornberger on More Deadly and Destructive Immigration Antics;

 Quote of the Day

Love looks through a telescope; 
envy, through a microscope.
Josh Billings  

Conservatism Is Alive and Well

Hornberger on More Deadly and Destructive Immigration Antics

McClanahan on The Righteous Cause Myth Meets Reality

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2014

The Weeknd, "The Hills"

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Thursday, July 27, 2023

Post #6337 M: A Wealth Tax Doesn’t Make Sense; McClanahan on Are College Towns Changing American Politics? ; Stossel on Government Central Planning Fails

 Quote of the Day

Originality and the feeling of one's own dignity are achieved 
only through work and struggle.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

A Wealth Tax Doesn’t Make Sense

McClanahan on Are College Towns Changing American Politics?

Stossel on Government Central Planning Fails

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2015

Justin Bieber, "What Do You Mean?"

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Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Post #6336 M: Mattel Introduces Pregnant Ken Doll; McClanahan on What Do Early American Politics Tell Us About Modern Politics? ; Stossel on Chris Rufo's War Against Woke Institutions

Quote of the Day
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap 
but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson   

Mattel Introduces Pregnant Ken Doll

McClanahan on What Do Early American Politics Tell Us About Modern Politics?

Stossel on Chris Rufo's War Against Woke Institutions

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Al Goodwyn via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2015

The Weeknd,"Can't Feel My Face"

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Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Post #6335 M: Dumb BLEEP of the Week; Would the world trust a "Gold-Backed” BRICS; McClanahan on Why are My College Professors Liberal?

 Quote of the Day

Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, 
but they labor in it because they excel.
William Hazlitt 

Dumb BLEEP of the Week

Would the world trust a "Gold-Backed” BRICS

McClanahan on Why are My College Professors Liberal?

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Steve Kelley via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2015

OMI, "Cheerleader"

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Monday, July 24, 2023

Post #5334 M: Why did they suppress the lab leak theory? ; Liberty for Use of Contraceptives; McClanahan on Wilson, FDR, or LBJ?

 Quote of the Day

If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, 
it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.
Charles Schulz

Why did they suppress the lab leak theory?

Liberty for Use of Contraceptives

McClanahan on Wilson, FDR, or LBJ?

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Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Steve Kelley via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 2015

Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" ft. Kendrick Lamar

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Sunday, July 23, 2023

Post #6333 Social Media Digest

 Facebook

Twitter

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