Choose Your Own Adventure

How do we allow Judicial Discretion without ceding the continuation

of discriminatory intent? It all starts at the TOP.

It’s a pyramid scheme.

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https://www.npr.org/2021/12/08/1062369646/a-federal-judge-dismisses-rose-mcgowans-lawsuit-against-harvey-weinstein

718FE006-B33F-4C8B-9BCA-2A802DE3B41D

https://wjct.org/uncategorized/2019/01/judge-dismisses-ashley-judds-sexual-harassment-claim-against-harvey-weinstein/

Those judges are on the bench because they were nominated and confirmed by elected officials, who hold their office because of a discriminatory system. A system that is not representative of The People overall, but only a segment of the population.

A poll is a scientifically accurate snapshot of the electorate because of the deliberate attention paid to BIAS and efforts made to minimize its influence…

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Credit: Breaking Points w/ Krystal and Saagar

… and any politician worth their salt, pays attention to the polls.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/amir-locke-minneapolis-police-shooting.html

Our response to crime isn’t what eliminates crime or deters people from committing crime in the first place. What drives someone to commit a crime.

The overall societal elements that drive someone to pick up a GUN instead of a PHONE… the dire straits that lead someone to STEAL just to pay the BILLS… the conditions that lead one to find more in common with a criminal organization than with a worker’s union…

That is what changes. That’s what makes fertile ground. Not the actions of police. The police officers are only doing what they’re TOLD to do— Enforce the Law.

The Law… as created, by elected officials who are BEHOLDEN to campaign contributions.

You got a GOOD IDEA? Great! Let’s run it past the DONORS and see what they think… ’cause if they don’t agree, you might not get re-elected. If it hurts their BOTTOM LINE or stands opposed to their ideology, they might not DONATE to your campaign. Worse still, they might DONATE to your political opponent.

Hell… they might back a PRIMARY CHALLENGER for that election.

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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/gop-primary-challenger-against-liz-cheney-raises-over-1-million

They might even back a candidate that doesn’t EXIST.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/20/florida-election-trump-senator-rodriguez/

And why not? If that legislation were to pass, it would cost them MORE MONEY than it would for them to fund a non-existent candidate.

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https://nicic.gov/private-prisons-united-states-2021

Don’t step outta line or the man will come for YOU next.

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/30/alexa-factory-whistleblower-i-was-tortured-and-jailed-now-amazon-should-apologise

Did Stop and Frisk work? Crime went DOWN during that period in time, so elected officials took credit for that progress… until it was found to be locking up BLACK MEN disproportionately, then it was shunned and disavowed.

Does the beating and killing of MORE BLACK MEN by police reduce crime?

Unequivocally… no.

Then why does it continue to happen? During periods in time where crime rates are HIGH. During periods in time where crime rates are LOW. Whether we create MORE LAWS or REPEAL THEM. When our Nation’s economic activity is soaring AND when our economic activity is dismal… some things just remain CONSTANT. Some things are just a given.

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https://jackcharbonneau.com/2021/04/24/justice/

Getting Tough on Crime is kabuki theater of the Highest Order… an enterprise, worth BILLIONS of dollars.

Throwing BILLIONS at crime does not address the underlying conditions that give rise to the criminality in the first place. So why would we associate a reduction in crime with MORE COPS, MORE LAWS, and MORE JAILS? Because they can’t STOP the crimes already in-progress.

There’s a delay effect… a temporal echo. What was PASSED by previous legislatures creates what we see TODAY. More cops, more policing, more violence does not solve the problem NOW. It only addresses the product of their inadequate and flawed legislation. It’s a parallel to Trickledown Economics.

You want people to NOT do crime? Then you have to present them with a viable alternative to a life of crime.

If life keeps biting you in the ass, eventually you stop caring about all the other noise and just focus on yourself. Me against the WORLD. Do or die…

We must avoid getting to that place.

And that doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t hire MORE COPS and solve a financial crisis. You can’t stop and frisk people and expect to solve the problem of increased murder rates. If you tell someone their JOB depends on them finding CRIME… then they WILL find it. Whether it exists or not.

Because they wouldn’t want to lose their JOB now. That could lead them down a dangerous spiral… and we all know where that could lead.

So why would we allow it to happen in the first place.

So NOW… let’s reduce crime. Let’s make MORE laws. Let’s get rid of LAWS. Let’s stop enforcing laws or shift the threshold of what constitutes a breaking of the law…

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/economy/us-job-openings-quite-december/index.html

If we do THIS, or if we do THAT. If we tweak it around the edges. If we look into the problem… let’s form a panel. A committee… an Investigative Body. MORE COPS. MORE POLICING. ‘I’m outraged!’… by the apparent result of their own INACTION? By the inability to anticipate the consequences of their legislative actions?

By the intentional limiting of options, caused by their need to FUNDRAISE for their re-election.

So, how do we fix it? How do we get back to NORMAL… without going back to Business as usual? More SUNLIGHT is always the answer.

How do we CLEARLY interpret the Will of The People? Is it with LESS participation? Will we find it through practices of exclusion and disenfranchisement? One man should not rule over a FREE PEOPLE, but should a small handful of elected elites be allowed to decide FOR US who is worthy of that position?

Again, unequivocally… no.

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https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/SeventeenthAmendment.htm

More participation equals BETTER GOVERNANCE. Everyone has a role to play, and everyone’s VOICE should matter equally.

With each successive HOUR, with each passing DAY… the generation that came after the LAST, now knows more than their predecessors… BECAUSE of the work they have done. What we have now was unimaginable to them… and what will come, is beyond our wildest dreams.

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https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/tiros

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIROS-1

… because they asked WHY.

Because they knew the answers COULD be found, if only we look hard enough. If we refuse to be fooled by those who cling to old ideas and false pretenses…

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https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/a-satellite-look-back-at-50-years-of-earth-day/

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https://phys.org/news/2019-02-latest-weather-satellite-western-alaska.html

When we push the boundaries and expand our horizons… when we step outside our own little world… we find the answers. We gain KNOWLEDGE. And, of course… we find the answers to questions, we never even knew existed.

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1636B78E-95FE-40A1-BD89-7DA2C0FDD53D

If THIS is the image we wish to SEE…

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https://twitter.com/maxar/status/1269382265320214528?s=21

… then how can we expect to find it with resolution like THIS.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2020_United_States_presidential_election_results_map_by_county.svg

And what will we SEE? The fine points, the details, the minutiae… at the heart of it all, is our LIVES. When the Rule of Law reigns Righteously and Equally, we will know what the opinion of the MAJORITY is. It’s the difference between thinking we know what The People want, and actually knowing what they want.

The answers to these problems exist. The question now becomes—

Do we have the COURAGE to find them?

CLARITY. Above all else. MORE SUNLIGHT is always the answer.

-JC

Author: jackcharbonneau

Husband, father, housewife, musician, theoretical astrophysicist, (FMR) Presidential Candidate in 2020, and all-around human guy.

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