Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. I have to say that I'm usually an optimistic person and pretty upbeat. But like you, sometimes I have challenging days, and we sometimes may call those bad days. And maybe they are bad days, but I try to generally do those things that will get me out of that funk or get me out of that situation where I think it is a bad day. And sometimes it's difficult, of course, but that's life. What I'll be talking about today is certainly nothing less than tragic. And it pains me to have to talk about it, but it is one of those things that I believe needs to be talked about. My objective in doing this is to try to keep out of the things that I say, some of the unfettered emotions that we are seeing play out on the streets of our country right now, based upon the things that have happened recently. In my previous episode, I talked about the consequences of personal behavior. And if you haven't listened to that episode, you might want to stop here and go back to that episode. It's episode nine and listen to that before proceeding on with this particular episode because I think it will offer some context for what I'm about to talk about today. To some degree or another, we've all been impacted by the violence that we see play out really before our very eyes. And as I say, it's nothing short of tragic. In my podcast logo, I included Lady Justice for a reason. She's always depicted as being blindfolded, which is to say that justice in our system is blind. Unfortunately, it seems that the blindfold has been removed, and the removal of the blindfold seems to have taken place a long time ago. And what I mean by that is this it seems that the current justice system is a two-tiered system of justice. If you're wealthy and connected, nine times out of ten, you're probably gonna be okay. But if you're average and unknown, you're likely going to be screwed. If you have the quote unquote correct political ideology, you're probably fine. But if you believe something else, you're likely screwed. When corruption and money and being well connected supersede justice, then we have a real problem in America. Our whole foundation of law is built on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If those things are removed, then what do we have? What we have is complete chaos and anarchy. I have a couple of articles that I'll be referring to today, and what I'm going to be talking about is the shooting of Ashley Babbitt at the Capitol on January 6th of this year, and then the most recent shooting of Dante Wright by a police officer in Minnesota. Both of these cases are very tragic, and in reality, they didn't need to happen. Furthermore, there's not a lot of commonality in the cases. They're both very different. I'll start by talking about the most recent case first. And for context, I'm looking at an article that was written on MSN.com entitled Kim Potter, ex Brooklyn Center Police Officer Charged in Dante Wright death to appear in court. Apparently, civil rights attorney Ben Crump is going to represent the Wright family in this case. And it's interesting that the article makes reference to a shooting that took place in 2017 of a black former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a white woman. And as a side note, were there riots and looting in that incident? Fortunately there were not, but it does make you wonder why. Is it because the race of the victim was not important enough for there to be riots or looting? It's a sad commentary, if that's the case. And listen, to be sure, it's a tragic thing to have happen when someone gets killed over nothing. And no matter how swift the justice, no matter how severe the penalty, the victim will never be coming back. The attorney for the Wright family, Mr. Crump, said that it's very difficult for the family to accept that this is an accident when there's a veteran who's been on the police force for 26 years. The implication there is that people are not permitted to make a mistake, regardless of how long they've been on the job or how long they've performed a particular function in society. I guess you're just not able to make a mistake now if you have all this experience. That's ludicrous. Mistakes are made. None of us knows what was going through the mind of this police officer when she pulled the trigger. Obviously and clearly it was a horrible thing to have happen. How could she have gotten the two mixed up, her nine millimeter and the taser? It seems unconscionable that that could even happen. But the reality stands. No matter how long you've done something, no matter how much experience you have, you're still prone to make mistakes. It happens. We're human beings. None of us, no matter how long we've been performing at a particular craft, are immune from mistakes. That's just silly. And apparently the Reverend Al Sharpton will be attending the funeral and delivering the eulogy. Now, this seems to be a politicization of a tragic event. Unless, of course, and I could be wrong, perhaps the Wright family does know the Reverend. I don't know. I'd like to now read a quote from the article that says this quote, We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her taser. Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright, and she must be held accountable. Closed quote. That was from the Washington County Assistant Criminal Division Chief, a man by the name of Imran Ali. Now, I agree that the police officer should be held accountable. There's no doubt about it. She has to be accountable for her actions. And according to the Fifth Amendment of our Constitution, we have due process, and that you are innocent until proven guilty. In fact, the Fifth Amendment does say in part that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, meaning self incrimination, nor deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process. And again, ironically, in the death of Justine Damond, there were no riots, there was no looting, businesses weren't burned, there was rather peace and calm, yet Dante Wright's death has sparked protests, according to what the media calls protests, I would call them more like riots and looting. And I ask, how is any of that a license to steal and destroy property? The contrast could not be any more stark as far as I'm concerned. And speaking of contrast, let's shift gears to the shooting of Ashley Babbitt on January the sixth by a Capitol police officer, apparently. And I say apparently because we still don't know the identity of the shooter. Imagine for a moment, if you will, if that was the case with the shooting of Dante Wright. I'll simply leave that to your imagination. In the shooting of Ashley Babbitt, I'm referring to a Washington Examiner article entitled Officer Who Shot and Killed Ashley Babbitt during Capitol Riot will not be charged. I'll now read from the article. It says this quote The Justice Department announced that it will not pursue charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer who fatally shot 35-year-old Air Force veteran Ashley Babbitt during the Capitol riot on January 6th, determining there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution. It goes on to say, the Justice Department said that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia's Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and the Metropolitan Police Department's Internal Affairs Division conducted a thorough investigation. After investigators examined video footage posted on social media, statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses to the events, physical evidence from the scene of the shooting and the results of an autopsy, the officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution. End of quote. Again, to remind y'all, I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not exactly sure how they came to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution. However, I think the reason why the government did it was so they could get away with not having to prosecute in this case. And I make that claim based on the Sixth Amendment, which says this in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. End of quote. And I remind you that we still do not know the name of the individual who shot Ashley Babbitt. But it is clear that the government doesn't want to move forward with this case, and in fact, the article goes on to say that the DOJ said that the focus of their criminal investigation related to Babbitt's shooting was to determine whether federal prosecutors could prove that the officer violated any federal laws. End of quote. I ask you, how is shooting an unarmed civilian, probably all of five feet four inches tall, not a federal crime? It can hardly be classified as self-defense. I mean, the guy had his service revolver and she had no weapon at all, so it's murder as far as I'm concerned. Put it in the second degree or manslaughter or whatever you want to call it. Can you imagine if this were the case in the Dante Wright case? That not only did we not know or would not know the name of the person who shot him, but that no charges would be filed against that person. Again, these cases are totally different. I understand that. But in both cases, the only similarity is that there has been a loss of life, a loss of a precious life that their loved ones will never see again. And that, my friends, is the sad commentary on both cases. So in the Ashley Babbitt case, it's said that the prosecutors must be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer acted willfully to deprive Miss Babbitt of a right protected by the Constitution, in this case the Fourth Amendment, which says this the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized, close quote. So I guess the seizure of Miss Babbitt's life was not enough for the government to prosecute in this case. So if I understand this correctly, the Department of Justice believes that there is no evidence to prosecute the Capitol police officer who shot Miss Babbitt, and that the officer was just acting in self-defense. Unbelievable. Now, in the two different cases of Dante Wright and Ashley Babbitt, there is a multitude of videos available to the average person that seems to show exactly what happened to Miss Babbitt, that she was indeed unarmed, and that she was not what we would call an imposing figure. And understandably, all of those people should not have been inside the Capitol building like they were to cause problems and to do whatever they were doing. But the same could be said of Dante Wright. Should he have been driving a vehicle with expired tags? Probably not. But hindsight is twenty twenty. There has to come a time where in our society we hold the victim responsible for their actions, which is clearly separate from a justification of murder. The two are different. Is it too much to ask that people take personal responsibility for their own actions? Apparently the attorney for the officer who shot Babbitt claimed that there's quote no way to look at the evidence and think he's anything but a hero. So let me get this straight. He's a hero because he shot an unarmed person at nearly point blank range. Why? Perhaps the attorney for the family of Ashley Babbitt said it best when he said this quote The actual evidence is this. The officer shot an unarmed woman who was not an immediate threat to him or any member of Congress that is inconsistent with any claim of self-defense or the defense of others, period. To kill Ashley Babbitt in the way it was done demonstrates the requisite degree of willfulness to support a prosecution under the civil rights statute. We strongly disagree with the U.S. Attorney's decision, but we are not dissuaded from our goal of ultimately vindicating Ashley Babbitt's constitutional rights in the civil arena, close quote. Undoubtedly, the civil rights of both Dante Wright and Ashley Babbitt were violated. There's no question in my mind that that was the case, and I don't think that anybody else would disagree with that. But it comes down to the kind of justice system we're going to have. Are we going to have a justice system that only benefits the wealthy and connected or benefits those who have the correct political ideology? Do we really want any of those things or anything else to supersede the justice system that we have in place today? If you're like me, you want to continue to see lady justice with a blindfold on, because that's the only way that actual justice in any measure can be rendered in our society. We're not going to have a perfect justice system. We don't have a perfect justice system. That's unquestionable. But what we need to make sure that we continue to maintain is a justice system that doesn't look at skin tone, that doesn't look at religion, that doesn't look at any other factor when it comes to meeting out justice. So you may be wondering, like I am, what is to be done? What can we do to ensure that we have an America that is working toward a more perfect union, establishing justice, and ensuring domestic tranquility as the preamble to the Constitution states? Well, I have at least one idea, and it comes from a man whose name was Jesus. He said this A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have loved one to another. I truly pray that this kind of love will enter the hearts of all of us. And with that, if you can think it, you can plan it. If you can plan it, you can do it.