My Sunday Feeling

I’m no great shakes as a writer.  But I know a metaphor when I see one.

As any reasonably sentient person is aware, Little Rock is only marginally safer than Kabul.  Last weekend, 17 people caught slugs.  Which would be an alarming number for Chicago or Los Angeles.  It is a testament-for lack of a better word- to the shooters’ lack of skill and ignorance of combat tactics that only 3 of the 17 died.  Speaking of lack of skill, last Friday a shoot out erupted @ 3:30 pm in the River Market, Little Rock’s major entertainment district. At least nobody was injured in that particular fracas although a late model Chevy appears to have gotten shot up pretty good.

Metaphor alert!  

And earlier this week, mayoral candidate Steve Landers accidentally left his personal firearm in the restroom of a downtown restaurant.  Of course, Landers does not have a security detail (much derided by many) as does Frank Scott, the man Landers is trying to unseat.  As an aside, if LRPD has identified legitimate threats concerning Mayor Scott, which it says it has, then I have no issue with him traveling with security.  I can easily envision any of a number of people that aren’t thrilled by the notion of an African-American Mayor.  And some of those guys can get excitable.  So I’m good with it.

But let’s go back to the metaphor that dropped out of the sky last Monday or Tuesday.  Frank Scott’s major opponent apparently feels the need to pack heat -and he is trained and licensed to do so-while he’s out on the hustings shaking hands and kissing babies. That pretty much serves as the perfect metaphor for Little Rock and the Mayor’s office in the present state of-let’s face it-mayhem.

Then again Landers was a car dealer.  People hate car salesmen worse than they hate lawyers.  Which maybe moves last week’s “opposite of safety first” episode slightly less useful as a metaphor.   

What is clear is that the LRPD seems to be outmanned and outgunned.  So much so that certain political columnists around here-people, unlike myself, who are trained and licensed in the use of metaphors-have called on the Governor to add more State Troopers to this area to help local law enforcement take up the slack.  I’m good with that.

Little Rock has so much going for it.  I didn’t live here my entire adult life because I hate this town. People that come to visit invariably are impressed by Little Rock’s beauty, friendly people and excellent restaurants.  We have got a lot to work with.  But lest you think things are bad here-and you wouldn’t be completely wrong-go spend a couple of days just down the road in Jackson, Mississippi.  Jackson is dangerous as hell, as in almost a free fire zone.  Municipal services are practically non-existent.  The public schools are terrible.  Its tax base-or former tax base-left for Madison County, Mississippi years ago.    

Little Rock has got problems.  But it ain’t Jackson.  It ain’t Chattanooga either. Chattanooga is a comparably sized city that works.  Little Rock could be known as a city that works.

But it can’t be if people are afraid to go out at night.  Or go to the River Market in broad daylight.

Or to hit the campaign trail for the Office of Mayor unarmed.  

I remember when Jackson, Mississippi was a nice town.  I never want to speak of Little Rock in the past tense.  But things got to change.  And change in a hurry.  

  

  

    

My Sunday Feeling

 I’m not typically an anxious person.  Maybe anxious is too strong a word.  But it will do for now.  Things have happened in this country since January 6 of 2021 that I could not have dreamed possible even 4 years earlier.  

The recent execution of a search warrant by the FBI on the residence of a former President- words I can scarcely believe I just typed-has unleashed the floodgates.  Lunatics on the Internet-including a couple of locals-are calling for war, both civil and otherwise.  Indeed, one particularly ardent Trump is no longer a life-in-being after he went calling on the FBI wearing body armor and brandishing a nail-shooter, WTF that is.

Mercifully, recent history, including the insurrection of January 6, has proven that these patriots are not particularly competent.  Indeed, one writer has likened their dressing up in quasi-military guard and engaging in balcony talk on social media as tantamount to cosplay.  Indeed, she points out that approximately 90 of the insurrectionists have been rounded up and some of them have received stiff sentences. I hope her assessment of their capabilities is correct.

For purposes of this lecture, I will go back to my earlier theme of anxiety and try to explain what is causing me to experience the yips even away from the putting green.  This may turn into a multi-part series.  But we have to start somewhere.  

When I taught government at a local college I told my class about the protester back in the Tea Party days who carried a sign that said “Keep The Government’s Hands Off Medicare.”  Well even the dimmest amongst us should know-without getting into whether the Government has hands- that Medicare is a government program.  And I told my classes that my goal was minimum.  

I didn’t want any of them to be the guy holding that sign.

And recent yapping on the Internet makes it abundantly clear that a lot of people do not understand the process the government has to go through to obtain a warrant to search someone’s dwelling place.  There are a lot of people out there holding that sign.  

First of all according to the 4th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the right of the people to be secure in their homes against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.  Rather no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath and particularly describing the place to be searched and the stuff sought.

What this means is that the law enforcement officer seeking a search warrant must swear out an Affidavit describing what is sought, where the officer thinks it is and why he thinks he might find it there and what criminal activity is suspected.  The Affidavit is attached to the Application for a Search Warrant.  The Application is then taken to a Judge who approves it, denies it or approves it after altering it.  

This is how constitutionally valid search warrants get issued.  These are the requirements of the Constitution.  

Which means that Joe Biden didn’t call Merrick Garland and tell him to get the FBI to search Mar a Lago.  Or that the head of the FBI didn’t call the Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Office and tell him or her to poke around in Donald Trump’s personal residence to see what they can find.  

Now there’s no doubt that this didn’t happen without approval from the highest levels of the Justice Department.  Indeed Attorney General Garland has told the public that he approved the Application.  Which has been unsealed by the Judge and which Trump could have released himself.  You can find the Application and a copy of the Inventory of stuff seized (which was given to Trump’s attorney) anywhere online.

Here’s why I’ve got the yips.  Supposedly the search warrant sought, and obtained as fruits of the search, classified documents that the former President was not authorized to possess according to the National Archives and Records Administration(NARA) .  Some of these docs allegedly pertain to nuclear weapons.  And yet, the fact it looks like he had no authority to retain these docs that were seized is of no moment to those on the hard right.  And those people used to be pro-law enforcement.     

I believe in the rule of law over which no person is above.  Not even a former President.  Or even a sitting one as the case of US vs. Nixon instructs.  

Let’s go back to the 4th Amendment.  Note that I italicized the word “unreasonable.”  The 4th Amendment proscribes unreasonable searches and seizures. Not all searches or politically sensitive searches. The FBI obtained a warrant.  It appears they played it by the book, most likely to the Nth degree, given the unprecedented stakes involved.  Therefore the search was not unreasonable.  The evidence seized might not be admissible in court if it gets that far. It was, as I said, unprecedented. But it was not, on its face, Constitutionally unreasonable.  

Finally, some on the hard right have said that the search of Trump’s home is proof that we have become a “banana republic.”  Bullshit.  The fact that a facially legal search warrant was issued against a former President and that neither the current President or the Attorney General are running their mouths about it is proof that we are not.  At least not for another two years.  

Still.  Too many people are holding that sign.

And that’s why I got the yips.