As I write this it should be noted that the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case has not been reported. By the time you read this, it likely has already come down. I’m notoriously not a gambling man, but if I were I’d lay down heavy odds that he’s walking home. I’m not a soothsayer here, after all, more than me is saying the same thing.

There have long been arguments about self-defense and it’s one of those discussions where I feel I must be taking crazy pills. At this point, I’m not arguing anymore. There really is no point in it. If someone can’t see the plain truth that is right in front of them then they likely never will. Many of these folks are people we used to count as friends. Some of them are family. It hurts to even think about what they are at this point.

Most of the commentators have been dancing around the shame. Where does it go? If you see the truth then you definitely feel it. When you see such a huge miscarriage of justice it’s hard to feel anything else. Our justice system seems capable of slowly making up for egregious errors in justice. Wrongfully convicted folks can appeal. They can challenge issues of law. They can introduce new evidence that wasn’t introduced before. There have been hundreds of folks that have had their guilty verdict set aside.

These aren’t perfect scenarios. There is no getting back the time lost. Yet, one of the miracles of our justice system is the fact that this avenue is available at all. What really isn’t available is the ability to overcome a rogue judge or an odious jury that is willing to put their thumbs on the scales of justice. Victims don’t get a second bite at that apple. They can’t wipe away an ineffective prosecution team or shoddy police investigation. To date, there is very little recourse for their families or those that care about them. They can’t cry foul when they see that the fix is in.

Shame leads to dark places. It can’t go anywhere and there is little we can do about it. It piles on itself and the weight becomes crippling. We can’t look each other in the eye because we know all too well what is going on. We can call it by name, but the unwoke mob will call it cancel culture and try to minimize the shame. They’ll trivialize it. They’ll poke fun at you for it. They’ll hang it like an albatross around your neck.

When someone like Rittenhouse walks away it eats just a little bit more out of our soul. It feeds that depression that so many of us feel. It stacks on top of the other shameful events that we can’t erase or explain away. It just stays there weighing us all down. Maybe those deniers can’t see it. Maybe they can’t hear it. Maybe they don’t know it’s there. They certainly will feel it at some point and by then it will be too late. By then the weight may crush us all.

There are apparently three kinds of people in this world. There are Star Wars people. There are Star Trek people. There are people that make fun of Star Wars and Star Trek people. In the Next Generation series of Star Trek there was an enemy known as the borg. Not being a huge Star Trek fan, I couldn’t tell you exactly what the borg was or what the point was, but I just remember it spreading like some kind of virus.

They always uttered the same line: “resistance is futile.” I’ve come to imagine a lot of things through that prism these days. We have a local hospital that has taken over an old shopping center and forced those businesses out. It became the hospital borg. In a similar way, Fox News has levied a generational war on behalf of Christmas. Resistance is futile.

Apparently, there is this unspoken and unknown force trying to change everyone into a happy holidays contingent. One could imagine Starbucks being convinced that an unnamed coffee shop were trying to muscle in on their territory or maybe Jack n the Box suddenly threatening McDonald’s. Christmas has about as much of a chance of being overwhelmed in any so-called war.

Instead, you drive through neighborhoods and see Christmas lights go up immediately after Halloween. The local radio station converts over to Christmas music at the same time and blares all Christmas music all the time through the new year. Mariah Carey starts humming her bars once the last firework goes off on the fourth of July.

On the one hand, I’m not sure there is really any harm in it. Is there anything wrong with becoming a member of the borg? On the other hand, I’m also not sure that the season retains its meaning when it begins to encroach on October and completely engulfs Thanksgiving. Resistance is futile.

Fox has nearly perfected the art of playing the victim all the while acting like the quintessential bully. I suppose that’s usually how these things work. Obnoxious people should feel free to shout “Merry Christmas” in the face of those that obviously don’t celebrate it because it is their right. Thus, we somehow ignore one of the meanings of the season by ignoring civility and acting like a jackass.

We have always resisted the temptation of decorating before Thanksgiving. It is the least we can do. However, I have decided that the problem is people like Carey. We need some Thanksgiving songs. Maybe someone can write a little ditty about football, turkey, and stuffing. Anything that could stave off the Christmas borg would be greatly appreciated.

Steve Bannon turned his butt in today, looking like he spent the night in an electric dishwasher running on Buffalo Bayou water.  He will have a hearing this afternoon in front of a judge appointed by Trump. No report on whether he will be given the Medal of Honor at this hearing or they’ll wait until the whole mess is finished.

Bannon arrived at the FBI Washington field office in a black SUV shortly before 9:40 a.m. He was met by a swarm of media and was defiant when addressing TV cameras outside the building, saying, “We’re taking down the Biden regime.”

Dude, you gave that your best shot on January 6th and you lost. But, I admit, it takes some balls to serve in the Trump administration and then refer to someone else as a regime.

In other news, the Sandy Hook parents in Connecticut federal court were given the same verdict that the other parents were given in Texas six weeks ago, guilty by default.  Now they just await a trial on what his punishment should be.

And lastly, damn Michael Flynn says …

At a rally staged in San Antonio on Saturday by the Christian “nonprofit news media network” American Faith, Flynn said: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God.”

I suppose he means the Christian religion but there’s no such thing.  Everyone from fundamentalists to the United Church of Christ to Jehovah’s Witnesses to Baptists all consider themselves to be Christians.  Look, the only reason there’s a Second Baptist Church in any town is because they couldn’t get along in the First Baptist Church.  Out in West Texas, I’ve seen them two blocks apart.  So, good luck with that, Fynn.

No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.

Breaking News in Texas this morning.

I’m running for governor.

Together, we can push past the small and divisive politics that we see in Texas today — and get back to the big, bold vision that used to define Texas. A Texas big enough for all of us.

Join us: https://t.co/eMY5wwf6an pic.twitter.com/yrG1WOkpqk

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) November 15, 2021

No matter how you feel about this guy’s politics, he’s a damn bunch better anybody else who’s talking about running.

Author’s Note: I have to thank those that participate in the comments section for spurring me on to offer an extended commentary.

I remember reading “The Apology” for the first time in one of my political science classes in college. It was there that Socrates used the term “gadfly.” The term stuck with me and was eventually applied to others in history like Martin Luther King Jr. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the term always took on a special significance after that as it got attached to people that unapologetically spoke their mind even when they did not benefit from doing so.

What I found interesting in the comments was the problem of “bothsidesism” because there are voices on the left and right that consider themselves as gadflies. I suppose that’s true and yet all of the assorted vociferous politicians on the right never seem to actually offer anything of substance. Socrates wanted us to be better. Martin Luther King wanted us to be better. I see AOC in the same light. People like that are rarely appreciated in their own time. Their commentaries become annoying to some and inconvenient to others. Yet, they always have substance.

Those other folks remind me of a beautiful song by John Lennon when he was with the Beatles. In “Across the Universe” he offered these lines back to back: “Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind…” and then “nothing’s going to change my world.” Lennon is often credited with brilliant irony when in fact he stumbled on it accidentally. I’m positive he probably never grasped the incredible irony of those lines being back to back.

Like Lennon, many of the “luminaries” on the right likely see themselves as gadflies when they are really just a bunch of jackasses. The fortunate difference in this case is that at least Lennon was a jackass with talent. Naturally, people around here know the difference, so belaboring the point is just indulgent. For any outsider that might stumble in, the difference is subtle. It basically comes down to the purpose behind the annoyance. One wants us to be better while the other just wants to be noticed.

It doesn’t change the fact that both can be irritating in the moment. Any challenging person can be irritating. The question is whether we ever move on from the irritation. If the motive behind the irritation is to provoke thought then we have to. If the motive behind the irritation is attention then we can’t.

So, I’m suspecting we need to expect two steps back.

Of course, it’s just an indictment.  It will be years before any of this is ever litigated.  Hey, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earned a felony criminal indictment six and half years ago and he’s still the damn attorney general and pals around with a former president.

It’s beautiful in southeast Texas.  Have a great weekend.