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streamfortyseven's avatar

Two quick reasons I'm not voting for Trump for any position where he can wield power over me: First, after the Las Vegas shootings, the day after, he said - and it was widely reported in reliable sources - that "I'll just sign an Executive Order and the National Guard will just pick up the guns." Never mind the Second Amendment or an oath to uphold the Constitution, just "pick up the guns." Some ancestors of mine in 1775 in Massachusetts had trouble with a similar Executive Order, and they shot back at the British Regulars who were given that task... Make a statement like that disparaging my inalienable rights, and whoever does it gets my vote for *nothing*.

Second, he declared an emergency at the outset of the Not So Great Plague in 2020, and proceeded to rule by mandate, discarding the Bill of Rights altogether and wielding federal power over the states and their citizens. I don't see any Public Health exceptions in the Bill of Rights, but it's just a further continuation of the "pick up the guns" thing, except this time it was for real, and he got away with it, pretty much. If someone like that is allowed to hold power, all it takes is a proclamation, and the US is a turn-key dictatorship. Trump has already shown that inclination to not only not uphold the Constitution, but actively deny the free exercise of inalienable rights. Such people - and governments - do not deserve respect, they deserve disrespect and rebellion.

streamfortyseven's avatar

Having done 15 years as a criminal defense attorney, I can tell you that threatening a jury is the best way to turn the jury against your client. I'm kind of surprised that the judge didn't declare a temporary halt in the proceedings to have a "come to Jesus" talk with the defense attorney in chambers. I once defended an anarchist, stuck to the facts and the law and the Constitution - which all attorneys are sworn to uphold - and the jury acquitted my client, after three votes, not one of them having voted "Guilty". That was my second jury trial, less than a year after I was admitted to the Bar. If I'd threatened the jury, the outcome may well have been different, if the judge hadn't already nailed my sorry ass to the wall. The defense attorney in the case you cite is one hell of a bad attorney. It might even be a good reason for a complaint to the Disciplinary Administrator of that particular state - making a threat to a jury, either direct or implied, should not be tolerated. The Disciplinary Administrator should have a website, and it's possible that any citizen can make a complaint.

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