Sednaya Prison

 SEDNAYA PRISON

I recommend following the developments from Syria.  I realize this is a difficult thing to do if one takes no newspapers, but TV should at least show photos and videos of the conditions inside the prison. Unfortunately, there is little information on how one got there.

We pride ourselves on being modern and progressive:  the future is aglow with possibility.  We live in an age of human potential:  there are no limits to what our imaginations can create.  We are better educated, better nourished, better cared for than any time in history and we expect this to continue for ever and ever - Amen.

I say, however, take a look at Sednaya and read the reports coming from Syria about it and the people that were taken there.  It appears to have been the last stop before liquidation having been tortured, starved and abused elsewhere first.  A person was just picked up by unknown people and disappeared never to be heard from again.  And once you consider this, you have to ask yourself what's so different in the human species from 1560 when  thousands of humans were being burnt at the stake by other humans for purposes of edification and entertainment.

I'm not convinced we have progressed very far.  Take a look at Putin's Russia which now is responsible for several hundred thousands of deaths from their invasion of Ukraine.  You have to ask yourself, just what is that all about?  What has been accomplished?  And, if you have never heard of Chechnya, you may want to Google it - - see what Putin did to it.  

To those in charge in these examples, other people's lives are meaningless.  They don't matter.  Other things are way more important than a bunch of people who either don't do what they are told or ignore you altogether.  

Assad and Putin are in charge you say and they are responsible.  But what I really want to point out is the hundreds and thousands of other human beings who do the work of torture, of starvation, of imprisonment.   Do you remember the Nazi concentration camps, the Soviet Gulag, the Argentinian and Brazilian and Chilean governments who tortured and killed thousands of their own citizens.  It took vast numbers of people to do the actual work and they did it to people just like themselves.

One needs to remember there is always someone available to throw you out of a helicopter.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo

In the Case of Mumford

 IN THE CASE OF MUMFORD

Supreme Court of Iowa

A regular observation of mine is our government at work.  I practice as a criminal defense attorney and believe it a public service  to educate the public of our government's activities when appropriate.  My clients, as a criminal defense attorney, are criminals; they are criminals because they have been defined as such.  And what is more we are all criminals in one way or the other.  Now, in The Case of Mumford, she was engaged in a particularly nasty criminal act.  The arresting officer said  the last two digits of her license plate were not "clearly legible".

There is a criminal infraction of driving with license plates that are not "clearly legible". This, according to the Court, is sufficient reason to stop the vehicle and since the vehicle is no longer in route, the local k-9 dog could do a sniff, and we all know where that leads.  The criminal infraction of not having a "clearly legible"  license plate also includes the provision that the license plates be "free from foreign materials".  Now when you say that a license plate must be "clearly legible" and "free from foreign materials" does this mean both or either?  The court is silent on this issue.

An interesting novelty in this case is that once the officer is standing behind the car, he can apparently read the two numbers he professes not to have been able to read from his moving squad car. A relevant inquiry might have been just how clean was the officer's windshield.  Mumford, in her defense, produced video and "photos showing that you could actually identify the last two digits.  Didn't matter.  The video and photos were taken while the car was at a stand still, not in motion.  Apparently this was a significant factor in the Court's decision.  I'm not sure why the "free from foreign materials" was not addressed, since presumably that would have freed the court from further analysis of "legibility". 

Once again we have reinforcement of my previous statements - - you can't drive without committing a crime, and hence, adding to the community wide need for  criminal defense lawyers.  It is quite clear you are not going to get a break.  Every effort will be made to convict you if you are charged with a crime from speeding to murder and once convicted you are a criminal.  

Another factor in this case is the reason for the stop.  Defendant's car had been seen at a residence of a person associated with illegal narcotics.  Clearly the reason for the stop had nothing to do with the license plate.  They stopped the car because they wanted to do a dog sniff.  See, you don't need a warrant for a dog sniff.  It is so much easier to do a dog sniff than trying to find probable cause for a search warrant and a lot less work.  You have no right to privacy in your vehicle contrary to what courts may say.  Check your pockets, the center console, and the glove compartment before driving. That trip to the grocery store could cost you.  This case stands for the proposition that you're just out of luck if you get stopped for driving - should have stayed home.

So once again folks an update on our government at work.  

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo