What in Tarnation is Going on Here?

July 29, 2022, The New York Times

The death of? George Floyd a 46-year-old Black man, in May 2020 drew widespread outrage after a video circulated online showing Officer?Derek Chavin?holding his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck on a Minneapolis street corner as he gasped for breath.

Mr.? Floyd's death spurred nationwide protests against police brutality and a reckoning over everything from public monuments to sports team names.

Mr. Chauvin and the three other officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng — were fired and charged with a variety of crimes.

I’ll never forget that day, turning the television on to catch up with the news and watching in full color the literal hanging death of a black man (after nine minutes of having his windpipe crushed) by an arresting police officer. Witnesses tried to intervene pleading with the officer to let up on the pressure only to be blocked and discouraged by a team of Minneapolis cops. I had never seen anything like this before and the video of this horror will never leave me.

Mr. Floyd had apparently passed a fake $20 bill in a local store where everyone there knew him as a regular paying customer. America had just witnessed the arrest, the trial which found him guilty as charged, and the carrying out of his death penalty in the course of about 30 minutes by strangulation. Tax payer costs for this process: only the salaries of the arresting officers and maybe gas for their cars.

Of course, national bedlam ensued. The NY Times reported the following:

Mr. Chauvin and the three other officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng — were fired and charged with a variety of crimes.

Mr. Chauvin was?convicted of murder?in April 2021 and was sentenced?to 22 and a half years?in prison. The other three officers were each sentenced to several years in prison.?

Americans were shocked and divided by this case and other high-profile black American killings at the hand of the police over the course of the public trials and are still all tangled up in discussions about wether Mr. Floyd deserved it or not. He was killed on the street for the alledged crime of passing a fake twenty, No, my friends, he did not deserve it, end of conversation. (See my article regarding monitoring the health and mental health of our nation’s policemen and women.)

https://www.dhirubhai.net/article/edit/7162907202221981697/

And then, there’s this guy. (Parts of the story reported by the BBC)

Donald Trump is heading towards a likely election rematch with Joe Biden in November, but this time around he's juggling campaigning with some potentially explosive legal battles.

The 77-year-old, who is the first former president in US history to be criminally charged, now faces 91 charges across four separate cases.?And his legal troubles don't end there, as Mr Trump is also facing several civil cases relating to, among other things, the business empire that made his name. There are crucial legal appeals that are yet to be settled too, including one on whether he is immune from prosecution.

The four criminal cases Mr Trump:

1.??? A payment made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Ms Daniels says she was paid $130,000 (￡103,000) to stay quiet after having sex with Mr Trump, who denies they ever had an affair. It's worth noting, though, that providing so-called hush money is not in fact illegal.?Instead, this case is more technical and centres on how Mr Trump's former lawyer, who paid Ms Daniels, had his reimbursement recorded in Mr Trump's accounts.The former president is accused of falsifying his business records by saying the payment was for legal fees. He's facing 34 counts of fraud under campaign finance laws, and has pleaded not guilty to all of them.

2.??? Whether Mr Trump illegally conspired to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden. Federal prosecutors allege he pressured officials to reverse the results, knowingly spread lies about election fraud and sought to exploit the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 to delay the certification of Mr Biden's victory and stay in power.He's been charged with four criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.?Some had speculated he would be charged with insurrection, or aiding insurrection, but that is not one of the charges.

3.??? Mr Trump and some 18 other defendants are accused of criminally conspiring to overturn his very narrow defeat in the state of Georgia in the 2020 election. The huge racketeering investigation, led by Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis, was sparked in part by a leaked phone call in which the former president asked the state's top election official to "find 11,780 votes". Mr Trump was hit with 13 criminal counts, including an alleged violation of Georgia's Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico). A judge has dismissed three of those charges.

4.??? Whether Mr Trump mishandled classified documents by taking them from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office. It's also about whether he obstructed the FBI's efforts to retrieve the files, as well as the criminal investigation into his handling of them. The majority of the counts are for the wilful retention of national defence information, which falls under the Espionage Act. There are then eight individual counts, which include conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record and making false statements. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts.

If convicted of all these crimes Donald Trunp would be facing over 70 years in prison. Add to this, the 83 million dollar Donald settlement found against Trump for the sexual assault charges filed by a Ms. E. Jean Carroll and the New York State settlement found against Trump?who must pay $354.9 million in penalties for fraudulently?overstating his net worth?to dupe lenders. A New York judge ruled, handing the former U.S. president another legal setback in a civil case that?imperils his real estate empire.

Of course, Trump, with over 91 inditements, could be the next President of the United States. ?Critics have argued that Trump's status as a billionaire and former president has afforded him certain privileges and advantages in navigating the legal process, including access to high-powered legal representation and the ability to challenge investigations and lawsuits through various means. Unfortunately exercising all of these “privileges” (Power, money, connections, influences of judges at every level, and color of skin) have made a laughing stock of our legal system and shows the world that our country doesn’t really support that important constitutional Amendment that “All men are created equal”. And think about all the money these delays and appeals cost city, state and national budgets. Is it just me or “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”? or, “If it walks like a duck…..then it’s a duck”?

Understanding this stark contrast involves recognizing several key factors:

1.??? Racial Bias and Discrimination

2.??? Socioeconomic Disparities

3.??? Power and Privilege

4.??? Structural Inequities

5.??? Accountability and Reform

In summary, comprehending the disparity between the treatment of a black man accused of passing a fake $20 bill and a billionaire who avoids accountability for their crimes involves understanding the intersection of racial bias, socioeconomic disparities, power dynamics, and systemic inequities within the criminal justice system. It underscores the urgent need for reform efforts to create a more just and equitable legal system for all individuals, regardless of race, wealth, or social status.

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