Opening Insights: The Collapsing Judicial System
TV legend Bill Cosby had been found guilty and charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault against, Andrea Constand, 45. Constand claimed that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his home in January 2004. After a retrial, and several additional accusers coming forward, the famous comedian and humanitarian is now facing up to 30 years in prison and the possibility of fines up to $25,000 for each count.
With the press and most of Hollywood pointing figures at this legendary entertainer, who encouraged and taught family values and morals to generations of people around the world, we have to ask, what is really going on? He stood up and told African Americans to, "stand up, be responsible, be accountable and stop the entitlement..." then the flood gates opened and he became the focus of an inquisition.
- What is true and what is false in our world today? How do we know?
- Why is one person's word stronger than another? Who decides?
- Why is one person believed over another? It is pure personal bias?
- Where are the facts within our Judicial process? Does the process even work?
- Do we judge a man and beat him until he submits? Or do we find the facts based on truth, circumstance and reality?
What has happened to the rule of law?
Informational Insights: Food for Thought
Bill Cosby is mentally preparing himself for prison, Page Six reports.
The New York Post column revealed on April 28 that the comedian -- who on April 26 was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home 14 years ago -- had been speaking to one of its reporters during his retrial.
"When they send me to that place, I want you to be there to tell my story because it seems no one is listening, no one wants the real story," Cosby, 80, told Page Six.
By "that place," he means a prison cell. He's facing 30 years behind bars -- 10 years for each count on which he was found guilty, as well as the possibly of fines up to $25,000 for each count -- when he's sentenced this summer.
"This is what they wanted," Cosby told Page Six after he was found guilty by a Pennsylvania jury.
He made headlines for bitterly lashing out at prosecutor Kevin Steele after the verdict was read when the district attorney asked the judge to revoke Cosby's bail, claiming he was a flight risk. "He doesn't have a plane, you a--hole. I'm sick of this," Cosby shouted. (The judge did not revoke his $1 million bail, though the man who's been accused of drugging, raping and sexual assaulting dozens of women over the last several decades has been ordered to remain at his Pennsylvania home on house arrest under GPS monitoring until sentencing.)....
Cosby explained why he refused to agree to a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid prison.
"When there was talk of a plea bargain, I said no," Cosby told Page Six. "I just refused to plead guilty to something that just didn't happen. It didn't happen, and Andrea knows that, and I think [prosecutors] know that."
If he'd taken the deal back then, he'd had served house arrest, registered as a sex offender and been on probation for an undisclosed period, Page Six reported.
"Why take a deal? Not when they want me to say that I'm a sex offender. I didn't do what they said I did," Cosby insisted.
He also shared a story about traveling to see the late Nelson Mandela, who famously spent nearly three decades in prison. Cosby seemingly compared himself to the former South African President who put an end to apartheid in the nation.
"You know, I think back to the time when Camille and I went to visit Nelson Mandela in South Africa. He was a free man, but I remember when we met him at Robben Island where he had been in a prison for all of those years. I sat in that cell where he lived, and I saw how he lived... what he had to eat to live and what he went through," Cosby told Page Six.
"So, if they send me to that place," he continued, "then that's what they will do, and I will have to go there.
Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/bill-cosby-talks-going-to-prison/ar-AAwv6ui?ocid=spartandhp&ffid=gz#image=AAwo4Uc|41
Possibilities for Consideration: When WORDS Trump REASON and JUSTICE
We are living in interesting times, when the words of many can evoke revolution and create change - good and bad. Values of truth can be swayed by fame and popularity. A truth, one persons truth, a popular truth, all seem to have the power to overshadow "the truth" when marketed and sold to push the right emotional buttons.
Does anyone care about connecting the dots anymore? Does anyone care about logic and reason?
There are people that care; there are people that question:
- How can and do we assess and discern facts and fiction?
- What is the state of the US justice system?
- What is more powerful, words or facts?
- What are more true, words or facts?
- What is justice – opinion or facts?
- What is truth – opinion or facts?
Alone we are powerless, united we can collaborate and discover the truth and connect the dots. Together we can find TRUTH. Together we can stand for TRUTH – for self and others.
Add Your Insight: Stand for Truth or Stand in Line
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
MARTIN NIEMöLLER