Thursday, June 29, 2023

Change.org Petition

I ran across this Change.org petition Broken Justice - Corruption in Broad Daylight in Family Court which, although a few years old, is still relevant. 

In facts, statistics show that more money passes through Family Court than any other Court and the more the attorney charges, people are willing to pay because they think money equals skills. Family Court in the USA is a highly profitable business.  The only winners in these courts are the attorneys

Unethical attorneys' conduct and bad Family Court judgments leave family broke, emotionally and financially damaged. 

Our justice system is not infallible. Instances of judicial misconduct can erode the public's trust in the courts, which ultimately undermines the legitimacy of the institution. The confidence of the American people in the justice system is declining rapidly, and this erosion of trust presents an existential crisis for our society.

Eloquently stated.

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Is Family Court Corrupt?

Is family court corrupt? In my experience, absolutely. And not just corrupt but deeply corrupt. Even with overwhelming evidence of criminal actions, litigants, lawyers and judges are able to openly commit crimes and walk away with vast amounts of money for doing so. The are also able to traumatize children freely and without consequence.  

Many others think the same way I do. Check out this podcast from Divorce Matters to better understand how deeply flawed our family law system is. 

 

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Our Strange Legal System

In 2018, two black men went into a Starbucks to use the bathroom. The manger called the police after they refused to make a purchase or leave. The two sued and  received an undisclosed amount of money as well as fully paid college educations. 

Now the white female Starbucks regional manager, who was fired subsequent to the incident, has won at least $25.6 million ($600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages) from Starbucks for firing her. She claimed she was fired because she is white. 

Given that I don not really know the details on why the these awards were made, I do not really know if they were appropriate or not. 

But I do know that I have absolutely unquestionable evidence of a lawyer committing fraud and an county attorney obstructing justice and I cannot even get back the money I lost due to these criminal actions. Let alone punitive damages. 

Our legal system is capricious at best. 

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Man The Hunter?

I have long argued the strict gender roles we have been taught, and accepted, with regard to men doing the hunting and warrioring in prehistoric times has been in need of revision. Women hunted and fought maybe not just as much as men but these were not rare activities. Of course, when pregnant not so much but no less so than men when wounded. 

An interesting article from The Conversation supports this.

See also this article from UCL.

Think about it. A group in which all members can hunt and fight will out compete a group where only half can. And it works both ways. Men can gather and parent. 

One can only speculate on why such huge gender divisions eventually became so common but a good possibility is that having a woman, or women, not work became a sign of power. A status symbol. Both for the man and woman albeit for different reasons. One that is still pretty common.  Women not working, or relegated to less visible roles, meant you were so smart, so wealthy, so organized that you could afford the loss of productivity. It showed you were better than others. 

A different argument is that women are more precious than men because they are bottleneck for reproduction. After all, a single man can impregnate a lot of women. As a result women were slotted into roles which were less dangerous. And still very much are. I tend to think in prehistory, having all members of a group able to fight and hunt outweighed the loss of a few women of child bearing age but later  as societies became for specialized and even among men not all hunted and fought, women became more protected from harm. Losing a man is less of an issue for society than a woman. 

Friday, June 2, 2023

Crazy Lawyer Video

I ran across this absolutely crazy video from a couple of lawyers who go by the moniker Pot Brothers at Law. 


It is disturbing on my levels but does make me think. The same for the comments, which are highly supportive.  

I have been pulled over twice by the police. The first time I was stopped at a red light and when the arrow for a left turn only went on I went straight. The cop was nice and in our conversation I mentioned that I had a baby at home who kept me up most the night. This was true. He did not give me a ticket. 

The other time I was pulled over was when I was in another state and made a left turn out of a gas station without realizing it was banned. Again I had a nice conversation with the officer and he let me go without a ticket. 

Of course I realize, if my skin color was darker the odds are I would have received tickets in both instances. 

Still, it is hard for me to be confrontational. I am not sure that really helps. Obviously the people commenting on the video disagree.  And to be clear, not saying anything is confrontational. 

The other part that is disturbing to me is the idea that getting a lawyer is what you need to do. Almost no matter what.  A society where you have to pay a "fixer" to get you out of trouble, whether you are innocent or guilty, is a corrupt society.