Jury Duty #304
by Hank Silverberg
I am on jury duty standby for the entire month of October.
If you are registered to vote, then they have you on a list. They call a huge pool when they need a jury to make sure they get enough people. If you are called you have to check in every Friday for a month to see if there is a trial the next week, and whether they need jurors.
The last time it happened for me was more than ten years ago when I was still a full-time working reporter. I had to go to the courthouse, sit for several hours while they picked a jury of six people for a civil case, and then got dismissed.
I do beleive it's my civil duty to serve. But--reporters don't usually get on juries. Most defense lawyers don't like us because we often know more about court procedure and lawyer tricks than your average citizen. And we pay lots of attention to the news and often know something about the case. I have covered dozens of criminal trials in four different states and D.C., including some high profile ones, and once I even sat in on a U.S. Supreme Court case.
But this time, now that I am semi-retired and only reporting part time, apparenlty the lawyers had no trouble with me. They had a jury questionaire so they knew much about me. This time, after a few general questions to the entire pool, I got chosen and was going to hear a case involving possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. It was supposed to be a a one-day trial, which was of great relief because I did not want to cancel the two classes I teach and disrupt the flow.
It was interesting to watch jury selection as a prospective juror rather than as a reporter. Apparently, there was no reason to eliminate me and I was the first one seated in the jury box.
Once they had 12, we sat in the jury room for an hour waiting for the trial to begin, but before testimony was going to start, the judge came into the room and told us the defendant had decided to plead guilty and had already been sentenced to five years in prison. We could all go home.
Since the trial that never happened is over, I can freely talk about the experience here.
But I am not off the hook. I have to call in every Friday for the rest of the month and may get called in again (I was not called for the upcomning week).
Many of the people in the large panel of potential jurists had that scared look on their faces, and several indicated they were hoping they had a good enough excuse to get dismissed.
I had mixed emotions. I thought it would be interesting to hear testimony from a different perspective than reporting on a trial, and then be involved in the decision.
But, really. My 50 students don't need the disruption in their classes. Let's see what happens the rest of the month.
Antarctica Turning Green?
Another sign of Climate Change has emerged this week. Satellite imagery shows parts of Antartica are turning green with life at a fast rate with the region gripped with extreme heat events.
Scientists at the Univesities of Exeter and Herfordshire in England, and the British Antarctic Survey published their findings this past week in
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| (Antarctica, courtsey Tom Roland) |
Vegetation covered less than 0.4 miles of that peninsula in 1986, but had reached almost five square miles in 2021 accelerating by more than 30% between 2016 and 2021.
Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, but it has been experianceing tempertures climbing as high as 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in July.
The more the peninsula greens, the more soil will form and the more likely the region will become more favorable for invasive species potentially threatening native wildlife.
The author of the study, Thomas Roland, told CNN Climate Change has "no limit in its reach." The changes are even visible from space.
The study provides more evidence of how much Climate Change is affecting the face of our planet.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/04/climate/antarctica-greening-vegetation-satellite-images/index.html
Get That Mail-In Ballot In Fast!
I have written about the problems with the U.S. Postal Service before, but now with the election approaching, the trouble is not just about a late bill or holiday package.
Election officials and several members of Congress are worried that delays at the post office could have an impact on the extremnly close presidenteial election.
Since they sent a letter last month, representatives of the National Associaiton of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election
There has been a huge surge in mail-in voting. The number doubled between 2016 and 2020, from 28.8 million to 66.4 million. More than 43% of voters mailed in their ballots in 2020 up from 24.5% in 2016.
About 60% of Democrats reported voting by mail in 2020, while just 32% of Republicans did, making this a partisan issue.
DeJoy, an appointee of Donald Trump, has focused on streamlining the U.S. Postal Service since he took over in 2020, but DeJoy has faced sharp criticism as the delivery rate continues to get worse on all mail.
Trump, on the campaign trail, has long crticized mail-in voting while occasionally encouraging his supporters to use it.
Most states require mail-in ballots to arrive by Election Day, but 14 states and D.C. have a 14-day grace period on ballots postmarked by Election Day.
Election officials across the country are advising voters to mail in their ballots as early as possible, but give at least seven days for the ballot to arrive at their local Board of Elections.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week we have a frequent contributor to this section of my blog. Yes, it's another entry from Georgia Republican Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene. And I think even a majority of her constiuents would agree with me on this one.
Greene had her own take on Hurricane Helene, which has devastated parts of six states and cost more than 200 lives. According to Greene in one of her tweets:
"They control the weather. It's ridulouos for anyone to lie and say it can't be done."
Just who "they" are was not clear. But her comment is about the dumbest thing I have heard in years.
When she was criticized for the X post here's how she responded.
"Yes they can control the weather, nyone who says they don't, or makes fun of this, is lying to you. By the way, the people know it and hate all of you who try to cover it up."
All this comes as thousands of people suffer from the impact of the storm and try to recover. What could possibly be her motivation for such nonsense? Politics? I can't get into the mind of someone who appears to be irrational.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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