Law, Power, and Justice

MONDAY 21 AUGUST 2023

Guatemala

Freeman, Will (6/23/23) The Guatemalan Counterinsurgency Never Ended.  Foreign Affairs

• 36-year internal armed conflict ended by UN sponsored peach talks between the government and a few leftist guerrilla groups.
• The death toll is estimated at 200,000
• 9 in 10 victims (most indigenous) had been killed by para-military.

Republicans

• 2/3 of Iowa GOP voters don’t think Trump committed serious crimes (Note: Jesus Crist).

Me

• The air conditioning man finally came.  I told him he must be the most popular guy in town.  He said well, either the most popular or the most hated.  He also started telling stories about his visits to houses and their pets.  Usually people are not there when he comes, so cat owners leave him pages of instructions about how to please the cats taped to the door.  Once, he opened the door and this little dog ran out and down the block before he could even start running after him.  He didn’t know the little dog’s name.  This should really be a book, what stories and what a nice guy.  Air Conditioning finally fixed.  Oh, the pleasure.
• The cats, however, are complaining.  Cats: “Our ancestors came from Africa.  You are freezing us to death.”  They have all (except the girls who have good sense) retreated to the screened in porch.
• I have been using a sinus rinse for four months to clear up a sinus infection.  Now my joints are so painful I can barely walk.  They keep assuring me that there are no side effects to squirting saline, antibiotic and steroid up my nose.  My partner said: “Yeah, it’s like cocaine has no effect, right?”  He’s so funny.

Trump and Company

• 100,000 bond for John Eastman?  This is the “standard bond” for trying to overthrow the government?  Jesus.
• $200,000 for Donald Trump? This is a joke.  I have worked in and around the criminal justice system most of my adult life and I don’t expect a lot out of it, but this is absurd, absolutely absurd.  What we are all seeing demonstrated is a criminal justice system that is designed to protect elite criminals. 
• In 2021, there were 5.5 million people under supervision by the adult cj system.  5.5 million people.  Most of these people have committed crimes less serious than trying to overthrow the government, plotting and planning to subvert democracy.
• People have no idea what it is like to live in a country that has no legal system.   They never leave the country and if they do it’s to go on a holiday where they have as little contact as possible with another culture.  They take for granted the benefits of a democracy, even though imperfect. 
• There are going to be a lot of people running around saying: “They can’t do this.”  And, yes they can do this, you handed democracy over to them without a fight. I am disgusted.