Sticking A Fork In Myself

 The day went well until I got off work. I had to get to the sheriff's and to Bracken Library at Ball State. I came out when the buses were not running my way. CC did not answer her phone – I thought of paying her to drive me. Instead, I walked. On Memorial, one of my co-workers saw, turned around, and gave me a ride down to the courthouse. Again, I was between buses and CC still did not answer. I walked back up to Memorial and caught the #12 back downtown. I had to run for the #5, which got me home around 3 PM. I waited an hour to get the bus back downtown to get the bus to Ball State. Except, I jumped on the wrong bus. The #1 goes to the south side of Ball State and not by the library itself. I had a need for a restroom, so I stopped at Jimmy Johns and also got a Jimmy Cubano. After eating, I walked up to the library, renewed my books,a nd got out in time to make another run for the bus. I was back home around 6 PM.

I started working on a legal project. Almost as soon as I started, I decided I was too tired to go any further.

Notes from the day's reading: 

• ‘They thought they were immortal’: the rise and fall of San Francisco’s 60s music scene 
• Serpico review – Al Pacino is at his intense best in classic 70s corrupt-cop thriller - a movie I have seen once, which seems to hav edisappeared from view, and is one of Pacino's best.
• I may try this with my latest story: The Clarifying Cut: Forcing yourself to revise with arbitrary wordcounts. 
• Biden’s Age Might Not Be a Problem - what bothers me about Biden's age is the Democrats need to deepen their bench, and not that he is incompetent. Ask Putin, the Chinese President, or Kevin McCarthy if Biden is senile or feeble. They wish he was.

• You can find on this blog my thought on a constitutional convention, just look under the subject archive listed as "Constitution." So, Is a New Constitutional Convention a Good Idea? makes some good points that I agree with:

For a start, there should be clarity on how a convention’s rules and procedures are to be set. While conservative activists assume that these questions can be left to the delegates themselves, the best way to prevent a runaway convention is for Congress to enact a comprehensive set of procedures well before a convention is ever assembled. In years past, senators Sam Ervin and Orrin Hatch both championed bills that provide a helpful place to start.

Delegates to a convention must also represent “We the People,” not merely the interests of states. The Convention of States’ organizers like to say that the question of representation at an Article V convention should be governed by the practice at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where each state had one vote. But that would be grossly unfair, giving a disproportionate advantage to states with small populations. Delegates should be apportioned according to a state’s population or its number of electoral votes.

Finally, while Article V gives states the role submitting petitions for a convention, it gives Congress the responsibility to “call a convention.” Ultimately, those campaigning for a convention aren’t in the driver’s seat – Congress is.

• For anyone reading this thinking Donald J. Trump is getting the short end of the stick in our legal system, pay attention to An Espionage Act Defendant’s Perspective on Donald Trump Facing the Same Charges:

Though there are definite similarities, I have to admit to no illusion that what Donald is experiencing bearsany real-world resemblance to mine. Though having federal agents descend upon and search anyone’s home is an abrasive affair, and that was certainly my experience, it wasn’t so for Donald. In what was comparatively a congenial affair, the FBI convened at Donald’s resort club, Mar-a-Lago, and seized 11 sets of documents, some marked as classified/TS/SCI which are obvious indicators for top secret/sensitive compartmented information. No such documents were retrieved from my home.

Our arrests were also completely different. Donald was allowed to surrender himself to law enforcement and was placed under arrest. My experience was not as congenial. I was lured to my place of employment and ambushed by the FBI. I still feel the sting of that first instance of being shackled with handcuffs. Donald was spared that treatment. He was also spared having to spend any time behind bars, separately from his family and loved ones.

Donald is now, or should be under the supervision of the federal probation office. I don’t know the terms of his supervision, but I do know there is at least one term that I’m quite certain he is fulfilling. Once I was released from confinement, the probation office levied numerous requirements on me for the privilege of not having to stay in jail pending trial. One of those requirements was that I had to look for work. I had, of course been fired by my then employer, but a condition levied by the honorable judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia in the 4th Judicial Circuit was that I could not return home, I had to stay in Virginia, a state I hadn’t lived in for more than a decade. I certainly tried, but of course I couldn’t find a job in a state where I didn’t live and had no permanent residence. As a result, I endured much grief and the threat of being returned to the Alexandria jail. Unlike me, I do believe Donald has been able to fulfill this requirement, if it has been levied upon him. Donald is running for president. I can’t see much argument being put up that he’s not actively seeking employment. If I had only known it would have saved me the constant chastising from the probation office and prosecutors about finding a job.

Oh, and I certainly have to wonder if Donald is being drug tested. The honorable Brinkema in my case stated that she always requires drug testing, despite the fact that there were no indications of drug use in my past. The judge in Donald’s case should make the same requirement to match the other indignities I and anyone else who has been charged with violating the Espionage Act has had to endure.

Good night. I am off to read about Kit Marlowe.

 

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