Is 'super' a level to which we should aspire?
Guess that just depends on perspective.
If my quest involves tramping down my fellow man
Both a judge and a jury I'm detected.
". . . A Utah judge has been suspended for six months without pay after he made a series of critical statements about President Donald Trump online and in his courtroom over the past few years. . . The Utah Supreme Court filed its court ruling this past week on Judge Michael Kwan’s actions. . . Kwan, who has served as a justice court judge in Taylorsville for 20 years, was cited for “improper use of judicial authority and his inappropriate political commentary,” the latter often involving President Trump. . . The court noted multiple times when Kwan had provided political comments that criticized Trump, as a presidential candidate in 2016 and as president on his Facebook page and in court. . . Three days after the 2016 election, Kwan wrote on Facebook, “Think I’ll go to the shelter to adopt a cat before the President-Elect grabs them all” — a reference to the "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women's genitals without consent. . . Almost a month after Trump’s inauguration, Kwan said “welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover” and questioned whether Congressional Republicans would be “the American Reichstag,” this time referring to the political body of Nazi Germany. . . Judge Kwan defended his online commentary by stating that he had a First Amendment right to share his views about elected officials' political and social stances, calling it “constitutionally protected speech” and describing his statements as “social commentary or humor.” . . . "
(from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-house-investigations-tantrum-proves-pelosi-democrats-are-gaining-ncna1008866)
". . . “A congressional investigation to carry out an expressly delegated Article I function, in addition to any legislation that might be had relating to that function, is plainly valid. So, too, is an investigation to determine whether the President has any conflicts of interest. As already discussed, it lies within Congress’s province to legislate regarding the ethics of government officials,” (U.S. District Judge Amit) Mehta wrote in his decision. . ."
". . . Who knows how someone like Ellis (Judge T.S. Ellis III, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia) decides someone like Manafort deserves such magnificent leniency? To start, there’s this: The two men have class, race, gender and, evidently, party in common. . . Ellis, who turns 80 in May, was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. In the same decade, Reagan also appointed Manafort, who had campaigned for him, to be associate director of the personnel office at the White House. . . It should go without saying that federal sentencing guidelines are no one’s partisan whim. They were established in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which passed with majority support in both houses. (The ‘80s were evidently a weird time when both parties cared about equality and justice.). . . Compare Ellis’ gratuitous hymn to Manafort’s angelic nature with the sentencing memo filed last month by Mueller’s team, which laid out how Manafort “repeatedly and brazenly violated the law” over the course of a decade. Even Manafort’s daughter described her father’s fortune as “blood money” and said he had no “moral or legal compass.” And even when Thomas J. Barrack Jr., Trump’s real estate crony, warmly recommended Manafort as campaign chair, he cited not the operator’s pure heart but his cold blood. He’s “lethal,” Barrack wrote. . .Evidently Manafort is lethal — to the moral reasoning of anyone who, like Ellis, might be blinded by gaudy-white-man social status. For five decades, Manafort has gotten a double-wide pass for his ego, his financial crimes and his whitewashing of regimes accused of human rights abuses. . ."
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(https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/07/judge-brett-kavanaughs-impeccable-record-of-constitutional-conservatism/)
". . . Judge Kavanaugh in 2010 wrote a lengthy concurrence drawing on American historical tradition and the original meaning of the Constitution to defend the invocation of God and the practice of prayer at official government ceremonies, such as the presidential inauguration and Supreme Court sittings. The Supreme Court adopted a similar approach several years later in upholding prayer before a town meeting in New York. . ."
(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States)
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". . . (and in a) letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. . . "
(from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/manafort-trial-judge-snapped-mueller-s-team-because-they-re-ncna900001)
". . . Judge Ellis (presiding in the Paul Manafort trial) is certainly demanding: He is, as I’ve heard him say, “a Caesar in [his] own Rome,” (even if, as he also likes to say, “it’s a pretty small Rome.”) He is also among the best the federal judiciary has to offer. Judge Ellis has impressive credentials, perhaps eclipsing even Mueller’s, having served as a Navy F4 Phantom pilot after graduating from Princeton and adding a degree from Oxford as a Knox Fellow to his resume after graduating from Harvard Law School. . . Over the last 30 years or so on the bench, he has shown the remarkable intellectual acumen necessary to competently preside over cases many lawyers and judges would rightly try hard to avoid. . .While he’s accused of being pro-defendant in this trial, and has certainly held the government to high standards over the course of his career, he’s also been roundly criticized for being very pro-government. . ."
. . . and think the recent healthcare steps taken are actually 'good' or that a wall will solve all of the immigration problems . . .
. . . DO YOUR READING . . .
(from https://sojo.net/articles/american-christianity-has-failed)
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Lev. 19: 33-34)
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. (Prov. 14:31)
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Prov. 31: 8-9)
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (1 John 3:17)
Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. (Jer. 22:3)
(from 1,000 Lashes; Because I Say What I Think by Raif Badawi [Edited by Constantin Schreiber and Translated by Ahmed Danny Ramadan)
". . . Many of those who judge liberalism are ignorant about what it really means. They try to advertise liberalism as a line of thinking that rejects religion, somehow suggesting liberalism is a religion of its own. This cannot be further from the truth. . . Many of these people are reluctant to accept anything modern. They loather anything that gives humans their right to freedom. They fear this will pull the carpet from underneath the clerics, whose sole trade is in buying people's minds. They continue to promote liberalism as moral decay and degeneration. . . "
. . . Not unlike our Hannities, Coultors and Limbaughs. . .
. . . we, as a society, as a species, must get PAST this hateful desire to marginalize people we either don't know, don't understand. . . or simply choose (for whatever ancient, tribal or superstitious reason) to diminish . . .
Thank goodness for judges with principles and common sense . . .
(from http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-blocks-mississippi-law-on-objections-to-gay-marriage/ar-AAhPXTj?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp)
". . . A federal judge blocked a Mississippi law on religious objections to same-sex marriage moments before it was set to take effect Friday, ruling it unconstitutionally establishes preferred beliefs and creates unequal treatment for gay people. . . U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves wrote that the title, text and history of the law show it is "the state's attempt to put LGBT citizens back in their place" in response to last summer's Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide. . . "In physics, every action has its equal and opposite reaction," wrote Reeves, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2010. "In politics, every action has its predictable overreaction." . . . The law sought to protect three beliefs: That marriage is only between a man and a woman; that sex should only take place in such a marriage; and that a person's gender is determined at birth and cannot be altered. . ."
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(from Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy by John Shelby Spong)
". . . "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor . . . and come, follow me". . . It was a hard teaching, one that could not be received by the questioner; Matthew tells us that the young man "went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.". . . That conversation then precipitated Jesus; teaching on wealth [in the gospel of Matthew] . . . I always find it interesting to see where biblical literalists cease to be literal. This is one of those places. Far from listening to the demands of Jesus, we have rather developed a Christianity of affluence, in which the poor are judged and blamed for being poor. In the United States the political party that claims to represent the 'religious' or the 'Christian' vote constantly seeks to cut programs aimed at assisting the poor, and to do away with health coverage for any who cannot afford it. . . "
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. . . The bright lights in the government of the fine state of Mississippi have decided that the religious liberties of merchants had been violated by restricting their ability to marginalize a portion of the population that their 'gawwwd' deems inferior. I wonder how these people interpret the Christian scripture that says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. . ."
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. . . do I detect a certain lack of accountability here? . . .
(from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/scalia-cheney-trip-raises-eyebrows/)
". . . While (the late Antonin) Scalia and (Dick) Cheney are avid hunters and longtime friends, several experts in legal ethics questioned the timing of their trip and said it raised doubts about Scalia's ability to judge the case impartially, the newspaper pointed out.
But Scalia rejected that concern Friday, telling the Times, "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned."
Federal law says "any justice or judge shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned," the Times notes. . ."
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. . . tell her it's the law, "God's" word has now evolved, suspend her for non-performance. Problem solved.
(from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/clerk-who-denied-gay-marriage-licenses-has-been-divorced-multiple-n420216)
(Kim Davis') ". . . act of resistance has rocked her small Appalachia community 60 miles east of Lexington and made headlines (and continues to) nationwide, fed by a video of her denying a marriage license to David V. Moore and his partner of 17 years, David Ermold. The Tuesday confrontation sparked a protest inside the Rowan County Courthouse, with supporters of the couple and of Davis shouting over each other. A similar scene unfolded Wednesday, when a second same-sex couple asked for a marriage license. . .Davis, who worked as deputy clerk for 27 years before she was elected clerk in November, said in a written statement through her lawyers that she was committed to her job, but that issuing the license would violate "God's definition of marriage" and imperil her religious freedom. . . "I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will," said Davis, 49. "To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God's Word." . . She refuses to resign. . . A federal judge has summoned Davis and her deputies to a hearing on Thursday. Same-sex couples who have sued Davis for marriage licenses have asked that she be held in contempt and fined, but not thrown in jail. . . "
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My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
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