Pot Use Made Anti-Semitic Killer Unfit to Stand Trial

 The ruling by the highest court in France, that the brutal killer of an older woman, because he identified her as Jewish, may not be tried and held accountable  by reason of impairment of his judgment by chronic use of pot, is both wrong-headed and dangerous. The court found that French law does not allow a person to be held criminally responsible if, at the time of the crime , he was suffering from a neuropsychic disturbance that deprived him of control over his actions. The court relied on the fact that the law, as written, does not distinguish between a condition occurring naturally or one that is voluntary, as in the present case where the perpetrator’s voluntary use of drugs induced a delirious state. If the court is correct the law must be changed.

The law in the United States varies from state to state. In most jurisdictions voluntary intoxication, by drug or alcohol use, is not a complete defense to criminal prosecution. It may result in a reduced charge which doesn’t require specific intent, such as a charge of manslaughter instead of premeditated murder. Allowing a killer to avoid responsibility entirely, if he chooses to get “high” before engaging in murderous acts, is a recipe for disaster. You can’t confine him once he is sober so he walks away without punishment or constraint on future acts of violence.
Yes, fifty million Frenchmen can be wrong.

Backlash Against NYPD Use of Robotic Dog

 The negative  reaction to the use , by the N.Y.P.D., of a robotic dog in standoff encounters with potentially armed persons is misplaced and mainly mistaken. While there is a valid concern for possible invasions of civil liberties and a reasonable argument that the money spent on such devices might be better used for other needs, the use of these robots can help address the epidemic of police shootings of unarmed Black persons.

Properly regulated to insure compliance with the civil liberties of citizens and avoidance of discriminatory use, such devices can be used to defuse dangerous situations with a lowered risk of deadly force. For example, the police may gain assurance that a self-barricaded person is not armed and, therefore, may be apprehended without the use of deadly weaponry.
Though the use of these robots may be useful in very limited circumstances and will hardly remedy the distressing increase in police shootings, every life saved is sacred.

America Has a Ruling Class

 

 Samuel Goldman, in his column, argues that persons of privilege and power often masquerade as common folk and disrupters of the status quo because that allows them to distance themselves from the consequences of their decisions. Another reason, he postulates,  is their discomfit with the dominant positions they achieved given their rebellious youth. While these proclamations may be accurate they miss the greater myth perpetrated by the powerful, that they have the interests of the common man at heart.

Somehow, the Republican party, which for generations has promoted and protected the concerns of the wealthy and privileged, corporate and individual, has managed to persuade the working class (or at least a large segment thereof) that it is their champion. This bewildering achievement has been gained by, among other things, not so veiled appeals to racial and religious bigotry, fracturing the working class.

While the Democratic party has its own exemplars of intolerance and power-hungering politicos, it has, in many respects, advanced programs benefitting the less privileged. Still, today a substantial percent of the Hoi Polli regard Democrats as elitist and out of touch their concerns around religion, guns and right to life. Now these masses march behind Republican banners and identify with the most regressive elements of that party and with outsiders whose vision for America is even more invidious

The successful impersonation of Every Man by the privileged class will be the ultimate undoing of our civilization.