The Runback: Jerks Have Rights Too
We should not be afraid to stand up for the rights of others, even when we find them to be reprehensible.
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News and Politics
November 2021 Gubernatorial Power Rankings: A Massive Shuffle and a New #1 this Month.
The Game Is Always the Same: It's Rigged: Maryland's Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission failed to even exceed the infinitesimally small expectations voters had for it.
Non-Partisan Group Flunks Democratic Legislature's Proposed Congressional Maps: Princeton University's Gerrymandering Project gives the legislature's gerrymandered redistricting maps failing grades across the board.
Charles Lollar Lost....*Again*: Seriously Man, Take the Hint.
Here's a Video of Dan Cox Supporting COVID Mandates: Watch it for yourself
Sports
The OCHO: Week 9: Take a look at our newest column about the NFL. Take a look for it every Monday.
Let's Review Those Predictions: Halfway Through the Season I Am Proving that when it comes to football none of us have any idea what we are talking about.
A Modest Proposal for the 2022 United Wiffle National Championship: Everybody seems to have an opinion. Here's mine.
Chalk Session
This week: Jessica Haire for Anne Arundel County Executive
The Monday Thought
There are a lot of jerks in this country.
Some of them are charged with crimes. The most recent example is Kyle Rittenhouse. You’ve heard of him at this point. Rittenhouse is of course on trial for murder and various other charges. The trial took a bizarre turn this week, as the prosecution absolutely bungled the entire case in any number of ways, probably the most publicly facing bungling of a prosecution since O.J. Simpson walked free.
The left practically wants to skip the trial and and get straight to the execution part of this ordeal, despite the fact that Rittenhouse has not been found guilty of anything yet. I mean, we’ve got ice cream companies out there saying this sorta thing.
Meanwhile, some people think that Rittenhouse should just get tried over and over again until he is found guilty.
I have no doubt that Rittenhouse is a troubled kid with a skewed moral compass. But just because the left and the media have declared him guilty already doesn’t mean he does not get the right to a fair trial. Jerks have rights too.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, we have a less glaring issue focusing on free speech.
The fringe, radical, and out there “Catholic” group Church Militant is holding a “prayer rally” on Tuesday in Baltimore during the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops Meeting in Baltimore this week. The “prayer rally” is being held at MECU Pavilion on Pier Six Tuesday morning. The City of Baltimore initially cancelled the “prayer rally” over the what City Solicitor (and former gubernatorial candidate) Jim Shea claims was the group’s ties to the January 6th attempted coup d’etat.
Voris says Shea told him over the phone that he canceled the event because of Church Militant’s links to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a claim Voris said online the group “vehemently denies.”
While the organization has not been linked to the attack on the Capitol in which five people died, Bannon has.
The “prayer” rally includes Steve Bannon and Milo Yiannopoulos and Michele Malkin among others.
I would sooner punch myself in the face for all of eternity than go see that motley crew of dead enders speak. It also speaks more to the fact that this “prayer rally” is actually a political rally disguised as a prayer rally, but I digress.
Regardless of how radical and generally useless this crew is, the City of Baltimore was grossly out of line for canceling the rally. Something that multiple courts told the city of Baltimore, with the city losing its last appeal only on November 5th.
The question becomes this: what was Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and/or Jim Shea thinking? What possessed them to think that attempting to cancel this rally was morally justifiable? Why would they take this action, drag the city into court, knowing damn well that not only would they lose but they would draw attention to the fringe element that was dragging them into court?
Church Militant may be a fringe “Catholic” organization that is in reality a far right political operation masquerading as a religious organization. But they do not lose their right to free speech in this country just because nobody takes them seriously. They can still organize rallies even if they have been denounced by the very Catholic Church they want to “save” or “reform” or whatever. But jerks have rights too.
Far too many people these days are willing to throw away our basic constitutional rights just because people have reprehensible views. We’re a long, long way from Skokie.
We should not be afraid to stand up for the rights of others, even when we find them to be reprehensible people. Because if you’re not willing to fight for that, what are you even fighting for?