Bias

Contrary to what many people assume, pro-female and anti-male biases are more influential than race and other factors in Implicit Association Tests according to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 

New research provides evidence that people generally have a positive implicit bias towards women and a negative implicit bias towards men, as well as a similar but less consistent implicit bias in favor of people from higher social classes. But the new research, which examined data from nearly 6,000 individuals, found inconsistent evidence for implicit biases based on race.

Unfortunately, bias has been one of those issues where politics wins out over facts. As I have often argued, the fact that our political and industry leadership is heavily skewed to men is an objective measure of discrimination against women. But it is also true the fact that our military and civilian workplace deaths and injuries happen mostly to men is an objective measure of discrimination against men. Both are true. We need to resolve both or we will not have equality.

Anton Lazzaro Update

Top Republican fundraiser and operative Anton Lazzaro is currently on trial for sex trafficking of minors. Lazzaro was arrested last year for running a prostitution ring for the politically powerful and rich in Minnesota. His main recruiter was Gisela Castro Medina who was head of student republicans at a University in St. Paul, which is the state capital. 

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who has a self-appointed mission to fight sex trafficking, seems to have completely missed the Lazzaro ring despite it happening right under his nose. Of course, Choi only likes to prosecute the poor and politically insignificant not heavy hitter rich politicians. The Feds are the ones who finally brought Lazzaro to justice Maybe they will do the same to Choi. One can only hope. 

The New Yorker On The Murdaugh Murders

The New Yorker had an interesting article titled, " The Corrupt World Behind the Murdaugh Murders." Alex Murdaugh was recently convicted for the murder of his wife and son. The amazing thing to me is just how long a so-called prestigious family legal dynasty could operate so corruptly.  

How did they get away with it? Well, first and foremost they were lawyers. I know what it is like to be threatened by a lawyer for speaking the truth. (which is why I do not use my real name on this site) Apparently it takes a horrendous murder or two before anyone notices just what a crook you are if you are a wealthy lawyer. 

Yes, there are good lawyers but even the good ones share at least some blame for turning a blind eye to the crimes and misdeeds of the bad ones. Their own legal code of ethics states they must report violations of the code but this almost never happens. 

Equality Better For Both Women And Men

Unsurprising to me but perhaps to some are the results of a new study finding greater gender equality helps both women and men live longer.  

To me this is obvious. For women having education, access to healthcare, and the opportunity to pursue whatever career they want leads to happier and healthier lives. 

For men, the more equality, the less they have sole financial responsible in raising a family and the less they are required to do all the dangerous activities in life. This greatly reduces stress. 

For both men and women not excluding half the population for any activity leads to better results whether that be raising kids or defending the country. 

District Attorneys (warning bad language)

An interesting article on Medium discusses just how important and detrimental to justice district attorney offices are. 

The main gist of the article is the fact that lawyers in the district attorney's office are rewarded for convictions which leads them use all sorts of unethical techniques to get plea bargains out of the people.  Indeed, often the attorneys will be fired if they do not achieve a set percent of convictions. 

Note in Minnesota district attorneys are called county attorneys. 

The office of the District Attorney is notoriously without accountability.

In theory, the main District Attorney is accountable to “the people,” because it is an elected office.

In practice, however, what the fuck does the average person know about their local District Attorney? Does the average person even know their name, let alone the school of prosecutorial thought they ascribe to?

The idea that their office is being held accountable by a group of uninformed, faceless citizens without the access they would take to assess their performance, is laughable at best.

In Conclusion

Actively participating in a world of incentivized convictions and psychological trickery designed to scare people away from their constitutional rights, is nothing if not deeply and unforgivably corrupt.

I agree district attorneys are probably the biggest cause of injustice in our legal system. They do not prosecute bad lawyers and judges. Many choose who to prosecute based on their own whims which is often driven by political aspirations. Justice is rarely an important factor for them. 

For information on how Ramsey County Attorney John Choi illegally operates see: LegalReformMN.org

Crazy Lawyer Story

I ran across an article from a few years ago about Oregon attorney (ex-attorney now) Megan Perry (Moeller) which highlights just how difficult it is to bring lawyers who commit crimes to justice. 

The story itself is crazy enough to serve as the basis for a Coen brothers movie. However, the most interesting part to me is the discussion about what to do when you catch a lawyer committing a crime. 

What do you do if someone steals money from you? Or if someone forges papers that harm you? What if someone kidnaps your child? The answer to all three questions, of course, is that you call the police.

Now, what if the person who does those things is an attorney?

Well, the answer is still to call the police. Theft, forgery, and child trafficking are crimes no matter who commits them.

Strangely though, there is tremendous public confusion about where to report criminal conduct committed by a lawyer. Instead of contacting law enforcement, victimized clients tend to call their state bar and report criminal conduct not as a violation of criminal statutes, but as a breach of bar rules.

That’s basically like contacting the DMV after a drunk driver plows into you, expecting them to investigate the accident and prosecute the drunk for violating the law. Obviously, the DMV doesn’t do that. The DMV is authorized under state statute only to regulate the licenses it issues, and is clearly not a special branch of law enforcement tasked with bringing drunk drivers to justice. Similarly, the state bar is authorized only to suspend or revoke a bad attorney’s privilege of practicing law. It is not a special police agency that investigates and prosecutes crimes committed by bad attorneys.

Law enforcement seems nearly as perplexed by this as the public is, often deferring to the bar’s handling of professional complaints against an attorney before deciding whether or not to ‘get involved’ in allegations of criminal conduct — or, conversely, failing to ‘get involved’ under the misconception that sanctions imposed by the bar can somehow resolve criminal acts by attorneys.

The last paragraph is important. When I caught Nelly Wince red-handed committing crimes, my first step was to file a complaint against her with he Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board. They white-washed it. I subsequently contacted John Choi, the County Attorney, who openly committed the crime of obstruction of justice in order to protect Wince. I also contacted both the FBI and the local police but neither bothered to look into the matter. No doubt because lawyers committing fraud is so common no one actually thinks it is a big deal.  Or they think, as the article indicates, the matter should be handled by the state bar. Either way, such actions (and inactions) reward criminals and harm innocent people. 

The Most Stressful Job In America - Lawyers

Lawyers have the most stressful job in America, at least they think they do, as reported in a recent survey.  People who work in agriculture, logging and forestry are the happiest. I get outdoor work would lead to happiness, especially for the type of people who would naturally gravitate to that type of work, but why would the legal profession be particularly stressful? We are not talking emergency room doctors, fighter pilots or even the type of technology career I had which was an "always on"  job. 

The most stressful sectors are the industry including finance and insurance, followed by education and the broad grouping of professional and technical industries, a sector that includes the single most stressful occupation: lawyers. Together, they paint a simple picture: A white collar appears to comes with significantly more stress than a blue one.

I can think of three reasons why lawyers view they jobs as so stressful:

1. Many people become lawyers for the money. They aren't really interested n the law at all. Working in an area you are not naturally interested in is never fun. 
2. Bad lawyers who knowingly commit crimes or break their own profession's rules of conduct, at least on some level know they are doing wrong. Other than for those who are true sociopaths, this has to cause some stress.  
3. Good lawyers not only see the actions of the bad lawyers but often have to litigate against against them. Not only does this put the ethical lawyers at a disadvantage, but if the good lawyer does not report the bad lawyer, they are in violation of the professional rules themselves because the rules state they have an obligation to report lawyer malfeasance. Very few lawyers will report on even egregious actions of fellow lawyers. This and just the knowledge of working in a profession where criminal and unethical behavior is tolerated would, I think, be highly stressful to anyone with a conscience.  

Judges Are Immune In Practice

After committing misdeeds from the bench, 9 out of 10 judges keep their jobs. Many go back to the bench even after serving a sentence. 

In the past dozen years, state and local judges have repeatedly escaped public accountability for misdeeds that have victimized thousands. Nine of 10 kept their jobs, a Reuters investigation found – including an Alabama judge who unlawfully jailed hundreds of poor people, many of them Black, over traffic fines.

Think about it. The very people who control the fate of people in court, criminal or civil, get away with crimes themselves.  Even more prevalent, to the point of being common, judges violate their ethical rules without so much as anyone batting an eye. 

How is this possible? There are several reasons. One is because most people just do not have the time or ability to dig into the often cryptic rules and laws our legal system is supposed to follow. Another is that attorneys are very good at using "con man" speak to cover up their malfeasance. On the job training for lawyers is often  more about how to get around the law than how to follow it. 

Unequal Treatment

From a post on Reddit comes the surprising to some but obvious to many that there is a double standard when it comes to abuse assessments. 

Numerous studies show female perpetrators of emotional or psychological abuse against male victims have their abuse assessed as less serious than the reverse, despite abuse being identically described. This trend even holds true with professional practising psychologists.

My ex-wife made direct allegations of abuse in writing during the divorce. Oddly she completely denied these when asked in court. My belief is that the allegations were actually written by her lawyer  and she just signed the document because her lawyer just told that was the best course to get money. 

The only one who was ever abusive physically or emotionally was my ex-wife. In fact if I had committed the actions she had, I have no doubt I would have gone to jail. What did she get for her perjurious statements? Massive amounts of money. Crime pays in court. 

Some of the comments made to the Reddit posting:

• I was temporarily staying with a buddy. He and his wife got into a nasty fight and he came and got me and said we gotta get out of here. We went to a hotel. His wife showed up there making a scene in the lobby and parking lot. Cops never came, hotel staff kicked him out.

If the roles were reversed, the cops would have come right away and arrested him, and charged him with domestic violence or something. Hotel would have done anything to keep him away from her.

It's absolutely a double standard out there.

• I've literally been told, to my face, that my ex couldn't be abusive because she was a woman. I've had other women sympathize with me wholeheartedly and then retract it immediately when I clarified that I'm a lesbian. It's so heartbreaking to know that men are taken even less seriously as victims.

• It's not just psychologists. Nearly every person on the planet see's it that way. Try being a male telling other people about being abused by your female partner. You'll be lucky if your not 'cancelled' amongst your social group.

Males Are Victims Of Sexual Predators Too

Although most people think otherwise, men are also victims of sexual predators.  And is case you are thinking male predators, although that happens as well, I am talking about female predators.  

We are so ingrained into thinking that only men can be predators that it warps our reality.  

Woman can be violent as well. In fact, at least half of all violence committed in relationships is committed by women against men.  

The overall data showed 70.7% of non-reciprocal intimate partner violence cases were perpetrated by women only (74.9% when reported by men; 67.7% when reported by women) and 29.3% were perpetrated by men only (25.1% when reported by men; 32.3% when reported by women)

In the media, or even on commercials, if a woman hits a man it is funny, if a man hits a woman it is sexual violence. Violence is wrong no matter who perpetrator is. 

A similar situation used to, and sometimes still does, exist with race. If a white man tells a white girl she looks pretty, it is a compliment. If a black man says the same thing, it is a terrible offence. He could be lynched for such an offence. 

There is a good Reddit discussion on the issue. 

Change happens slowly.  

Male Inequality

Most people have trouble have trouble admitting male inequity exists. Why? Because they are under the mistaken impression that male inequality somehow makes female inequality less bad. It is similar to when in an argument one person states something unrelated in response to another person's criticism.  Imagine a couple where one says, "You snore!" and the other replies, "Well you're a slob!"

I am a very science orientated person. I like facts. I like evidence. I like logic. Inequality which harms females exists. So does inequality which harms males.

Boys and men are falling behind. This might seem surprising to some people — and maybe ridiculous to others — considering that discussions on gender disparities tend to focus on the structural challenges faced by girls and women, not boys and men.

But long-term data reveal a clear and alarming trend: In recent decades, American men have been faring increasingly worse in many areas of life, including education, workforce participation, skill acquisition, wages, and fatherhood.

AI Lawyers

For the first time an AI lawyer will help defend a person in a case. This is great! Hopefully, one day we can have court cases using only AI lawyers. That may be the only way to clean up the legal system. Not to
mention bring the costs down to something fair and reasonable. Or even free. One can hope.

There is an interesting Slashdot discussion on the article you might want to check out. 

Dad Deserves Credit For Trying

In an effort to fight sexism in Ecuador, a man changed his gender to improve the odds of getting custody of his daughters. René Salinas Ramos claims his daughters were were living in an abusive environment with their mother. Ecuadorian law give preference to women for custody. Which is blatantly sexist I may add. 

Some people are upset by the move but you can't fault the guy for doing whatever it takes to protect his daughters. 

See the Reddit discussion on this for some interesting views.