Juries

 Juries Level the Field

 

As I read the many and conflicting opinions on the Rittenhouse verdicts, I think some historical perspective might be helpful.

 

Centuries ago in England, from where we derived our current legal system, guilt of criminal activity and punishment was decided by the monarch or local lord of the manor. Due to the whimsy of these proceedings and lack of community input, we developed a jury system where guilt is first decided by a jury of one’s peers. In criminal cases, the jury must be unanimous in its verdicts, both guilty or not guilty. The burden of proving guilt rests with the state. Later developments included the idea that guilt of a criminal offense had to be proved by the state beyond a reasonable doubt. The presumption of innocence adds another layer of protection, as does the right to remain silent and not be compelled to incriminate oneself. Double jeopardy protections prohibit a second prosecution after a not guilty jury verdict. In assault and homicide cases, once a claim of self-defense, defense of others or defense of property is raised by the accused, the state must disprove the claim beyond a reasonable doubt. It is very hard to prove a negative, i.e., that the accused’s belief that deadly force was necessary is not reasonable. 

 

All these protections were put in place in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights found in the first ten amendments to that founding document to equalize the playing field between the individual accused and the power of the state.

 

Many of those offering their opinions as to Rittenhouse’s guilt or innocence appear to have put themselves in the chairs of the monarchs and lords of old, thinking only they have the correct view of the law and evidence. Those banding together to usurp the jury’s role and supplant their verdicts with their own seek to impose mob rule to decide Rittenhouse’s fate. That is not how our system works or should work.

 

While not perfect, the jury system and constitutional protections afforded those accused of crime have served us well over time. Does the right to claim self defense need further definition in situations like those into which Rittenhouse inserted himself? It certainly does. That is the job of our lawmakers. Do laws regulating when and where people can carry firearms and what firearms can be legally carried need reform? Undoubtedly, they do. That too is the job of our lawmakers. Does systematic racism have an impact on our criminal justice system that needs to be rooted out? Yes, it does and again our lawmakers must act to make it so. We can accomplish those laudable goals by working to elect reasonable, educated, and intelligent people who do not jump to unwarranted conclusions. 

 

Will some take the not guilty verdicts and seek to subvert them into a license to kill peaceful protesters? Probably, but those taking this view mistake what the verdicts actually mean.

Not guilty verdicts in a criminal case do not mean the accused is wholly innocent of any wrongdoing. They merely mean that the state has failed to carry its burden of convincing all 12 jurors that he was guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

In our headlong rush to pronounce judgment on Rittenhouse, let us focus on what needs fixing and not demolish a system meant to protect us all from the power of the state.

A New Perspective

 A New Perspective

 

After some exhausting research on unimpeachable online sites and extrapolating from their assertions, I finally figured out the ultimate unifying theory of our present situation. Stick with me on this one and see where it ends.

 

COVID-19 was developed by the Chinese in a lab in WuHan with assistance from the Obama administration and released into the wild to kill conservatives.

 

Fearing the outcome of the 2020 election and the ascendancy of the ultra-conservative white 

nationalist movements that arose from the ashes of the Tea Party, liberal, socialist, Marxist, communist Democrats enlisted the support of major pharmaceutical companies to create and begin the manufacture of COVID vaccines to combat the newly released killer virus. 

 

When the election result became clear, holdovers from the Obama administration put their plan into action, releasing the vaccines amid confusion and opposition from the incoming president and suggesting mandatory vaccination, social distancing and the wearing of masks to combat the disease.

 

One goal was to enrich the pharmaceutical companies beyond their wildest dreams with billions of US taxpayer dollars as the government purchased millions of vaccine doses for worldwide distribution. Of course many, who knew of the plan in advance, quickly purchased stock in those companies and began to ride the wave.

 

By suggesting sweeping governmental mandates for their mitigation strategies, the planners successfully predicted swift and universal resistance from ultra-conservatives who saw their very way of life threatened by yet another massive governmental overreach. 

 

Socialist, Marxist, communist Democrat liberals rushed to get vaccinated, donned their obligatory masks and kept their distance while the conservative opposition resisted and lined up to go on ventilators in hospitals crowded with seriously sick fellow conservative resistors. As we learned to nobody’s surprise, most of those dying in those hospitals refused to get vaccinated. Those men who survived saw their ability to perform their husbandly duties significantly deflated.

 

Being too uninformed to know any better, many conservative pundits and even more of their elected chumps, continued to deny that COVID remains a danger or that vaccine boosters are needed. As a result, even more will die or be left unable to have sex while the liberal, socialist, Marxist, communist Democrats will live long and prosper.

 

To make sure that they kill as many as possible, the Marxist, socialist, communist liberal bureaucrats soft pedaled regulation of alternative treatments that don’t work on COVID like ivermectin and others championed by the likes of Joe Rogan.

 

Enriched by US taxpayer dollars, Big Pharma was able to not only buy all of the GOP members of the US Senate plus two Democratic senators not yet converted to socialist, Marxist, communist beliefs and convince them to put a stop to the ultra-Marxist wing of the Democratic party's effort to lift up working people and bring America into the 21st Century with big spending infrastructure legislation. After all, Big Pharma already got theirs and wants to prevent anyone else from dipping into their well.

 

Conservative leaders, still missing the big picture, were then distracted by fear of real American history being taught in public schools with teachers indoctrinating their children with concepts like kindness and empathy. Using their pentup rage at Marxist, Leninist public schools to sap their strengths, they unwittingly freed up the dark state Big Government and Big Pharma to continue killing conservatives as the new administration imposes even more mandates.

 

One remaining part of the plan came into play after the last presidential election. Not content to just steal the election from the former president, liberal, socialist, Marxist, communist deep state government bureaucrats planted evidence of minor election irregularities to stir conservatives into a frenzy thinking they could prove the theft. The Marxist, socialist communist liberal planners knew this effort would drive more conservatives to reject efforts to get them vaccinated and add to the death toll.

 

To add further fuel to the fire, social media continues to promote other factions of the ultra-conservative movement as they move from one date to the next for resurrection of the Kennedy Dynasty which will, in turn, bring back the former president to rule as the King of Kings.

 

It is all part of the Marxist, socialist, communist liberal Democrat grand plan to end the conservative movement and kill off most of their members. And Big Pharma gets to laugh all the way to the bank as their stock values soar after selling more shots as boosters and mini doses to kids.

 

If conservatives want to survive, guess what? Get vaccinated, wear your mask and keep your distance. And while you are at it, put Big Pharma in its place by passing legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices or, better yet, pass universal health care like the rest of the developed nations. And if you have not figured it out already, none of the conspiracy fueled assertions mentioned here are correct or accurate.