opinion – Page 2 – unliterate.net, sans-confusion since 2004

Presumption of Innocence

January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. It is a cardinal principle of our system of justice that every person accused of a crime is presumed to be innocent unless and until his or her guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt. The presumption is not a mere formality. It is a matter of the most important substance.
https://www.mad.uscourts.gov/resources/pattern2003/html/patt4cfo.htm

I’m sure a huge majority of American Citizens failed courses such as Civics or Government & Economics, or whatever flavor of “this is how elected positions connect together” since this basic tenant of their Human Rights are constantly misunderstood.

I’ve watched many YouTube videos about people being questioned by the Police department. I’ve seen them fall and repent under the constant pressure of basic officers upwards to grizzled detectives.

AttorneyTom did a reaction video called “Knowing Your Rights Can Change EVERYTHING”, where he does his best to not too worked up in defense of the person but he makes this specific point every time regarding interacting with the police:

These tests are not in your best interest. Field sobriety test is easy to fail if your sober. And guess what? If you pass them it doesn’t help you. It does not help your case. It can only hurt you. Remember, it’s the governments burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt you are guilty of the crime they are alleging. You don’t prove your innocence. They have to prove you’re guilty. There is a difference.
AttorneyTom, Knowing Your Rights Can Change EVERYTHING, 6:10

Unfortunate Shock and Awe

September 23, 2021December 22, 2022 Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Ahh, Fall. 22 of September, 2021. I was supposed to have court today but lawyers felt like it could be delayed another 3 months.

The first day of fall started off as any odd day would. Molly and I decided to take the newly minted 3-year-old to the Strong Museum of Play, eat some food and then come back to Buffalo. We jumped on the 490 in Rochester, sailed west to hook up with the Interstate 90, and then cruised at the normal pace. Due to the gas tank being a bit low we decided to turn into the reservation at Pembroke and fill up.

Travelling northbound into Indian Falls Molly noticed a tan pickup truck on the right side of the road, and I had noticed a huge white semi truck in the field and what appeared to be a mess/entanglement of a vehicle below the rear of the truck. We did not realize what we were driving by, and we thought it odd for such a situation to exist. Obviously there were not emergency vehicles around, no sirens or lights, and we were both questioning what we thought we saw, arguing over the existence of the semi truck/pick up truck. Regardless, we drove the next 4 miles off to the reservation, got some gas, and then departed.

y2k to 2003

October 30, 2020October 30, 2020 Matthew Heick Leave a comment

My early 20’s are a bit of a mystery, but an interesting story nonetheless. It is also one of the most difficult points of my life since many events happened with family and friends, and there is little documentation present to support it. Most of these paragraphs will be to-wit, and I will do my best to stitch together things.

Seattle is Awesome

August 11, 2020August 11, 2020 Matthew Heick Leave a comment

The usual Youtube news feed reveals the following:

26 seconds of “Seattle City Council Defunding Police, Slash Jobs and Salaries”, and that’s it. This is quoted on a display card authored by Barnini Chakraborty, of whom is a feature writer for Fox News (and a Journalist by Twitter trade).

Regardless, WE DO OUR RESEARCH!!!

Seattle city council tweets the following, in relation to the above clip:

“NEWS RELEASE: @cmkshama issued the following news release following today’s City Council vote adopting a revised 2020 budget. Sawant was the sole vote against the legislation. https://council.seattle.gov/2020/08/10/councilmember-sawant-city-council-democrats-have-approved-a-budget-that-carries-out-austerity-fails-to-defund-police-our-movement-needs-to-build-even-stronger/“

So, lets see what we got on this Seattle Government Website. It does Identify the Jobs and Salaries that were cut. Awesome!

“We won a small reduction in the police department, showing both the strength of our movement and also the imperative to continue organizing and fighting. “

It’s not specific….I’d rather it be rather specific, but I suppose it’s not saying “we killed off our entire police force”. Seattle publicly provides it’s police force statistics, so out of a city population of 747,300 (2019) with a force of “1,325 deployable, 1,433 total” (1 officer per 564 people), even if a small amount was 49% you’d still have 649 officers that were considered able to be employed because they embodied what a Police Officer was. I can be fine with that. There is always room to hire properly trained and legit people after a mass firing.

“Our movement succeeded in reducing the bloated salaries of the 13 top SPD executives, winning an amendment in Budget Committee meetings last week and then fending off a last-minute sneak attack today by the Democratic establishment.”

So they made it so that Seattle Police Executives are not paid more than Mayors in other states. I’m sure if there were stocks/options that they could offer those and might be spun a bit differently in the media, but that’s not how cities work. As an Executive, if you perform a good job, you get paid, but if you do a shit job, you either get paid less or you get told to find a new job.

So, chalk one up for the 26 seconds of statements that are true, but still completely misleading.