This does not Reflect a Democracy

   There is a something interesting in the story of Scott Tingley stepping down as Salt Lake County auditor: There won't be a public election to replace him. The party will select the lone nomination.

   Consider how this would go down if it were the old Soviet Union: The party would make a nomination, and that would provide the only person nominated. No public election allowed.

   Are we so different, here in Utah? No most of our filling of offices are not done without public elections. But why should this situation be any different? Why not hold a special election and select among at least two candidates -- and one of those nominations should be from the party of opposition.

    I would imagine the scenario for Scott Tingley's being replaced is duplicated in democracies throughout the world. That doesn't make it right -- nor democratic. It is something that should be corrected. That everyone is doing it doesn't make it right.

    I consider Utah a state with high values. Here, of all places, such policy as this should be corrected.

    If you have a democracy that functions as democracy 98 percent of the time, but chooses not to do so the other 2 percent of the time, that democracy is tainted. It is not fully a democracy.

Jesus Christ, the Greatest Person Ever Born

   Christmas, then, again, with the world's different takes on what is and what it should be. 

   No person has so impacted the world, from our calendar to our most-read books. Christianity holds an answer to when the world began. It holds an answer to why we are here. And, has an answer to what comes when we die.

  Islam, and Hinduism, also large and influencial in shaping humanity. But. do they have their Santa Clauses to counter the religious lines? Christianity is unique, in that.

   Jesus Christ, the greatest and most influencial person ever born.

Administering Death to Those Who in Their Eyes Deserve it

   The convictions of Travis McMichael, and his dad, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, in the Ahmaud Arbery case, we should consider again the danger present when people have guns.

   That is not to say we should not continue to let people to have guns. It is only to point out the danger of them having them. The owners often take justice into their own hands, determining who they think is worthy of death and administer death to them.

The Remarkable Job Done by Linda Dunikoski

   Money can buy a powerful team defense attorneys. Witness the expensive, high-powered team hired by Kyle Rittenhouse (it included one of O.J. Simpson's attorneys) and notice that Rittenhouse was acquitted. 

  What then of the remarkable job performed by the prosecutors in the Ahmaud Arbery case? As attorney after attorney recused themselves from the case, the case ended up in the lap of Linda Dunikoski, senior assistant district attorney in the Cobb County District Attorney's Office. Dunikoski did what she could to stop the composition of the jurors to have but one black member. But, when the jury was selected (with only one Black member), she realized the members were people who truly wanted justice. She, then, steered away from the race issue, reportedly not referring to the fact that it was a Black man being killed by White men until she did so in the closing arguments. She knew the defense attorneys would try to shift the blame to Arbery, arguing he deserved to be killed. She dealt with it, focusing on the fact he was simply a person running, and was shot for running -- no more. 

   She and the other two prosecutors won the case, the defendants being convicted. Who were the other two prosecutors also attorneys in the Cobb County District Attorney's Office? I do not know. I only say it is remarkable job she and and the other two prosecutors did in pulling off the convictions.

   It was a case in which a team of very competent prosecutors pulled off convictions in a Deep South community where justice is perhaps unusual when Black persons are involved. Dunikoski and the other two prosecutors are to be commended. 

Free Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai

    I add my voice -- albeit perhaps one scarcely noticed -- to the clamor of those calling for Peng Shuai to be freed. Let Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, move to another country. That still might not guarantee her safety, I admit. But, the alternative is to become a vassal of the Chinese government. 

True Patriotism Demands that We do Something

   I second the motion: "Wealthy people, of all races, seem to operate on a different justice scale than the normal, everyday citizens in the country. This doesn't seem right and should not be permitted." Thus writes Christopher Tremoglie in an opinion piece in the Washington Examiner.

   Money should not be a factor in our justice system. If it is, we should clean up our system. And it is a factor, so we have an obligation to do something. It is our duty to do something. True patriotism demands that we do something, for a true patriot does not want his country to contain such injustice. 

Court Decisions Being Decided by Money Should Sicken Our Stomachs

   Kyle Rittenhouse won his court case due to his $2 million dollar team of lawyers -- a team that included an O.J. Simpson lawyer according to Washington Post opinion writer Paul Butler.

   The thought that court decisions are being won or lost depending on how much money they give to lawyers should sicken our stomachs.