The Prosecution’s Grudging Concession in the Baldwin Case

The Santa Fe District Attorney and the special prosecutor chose not to submit papers in opposition to the defense motion to dismiss their firearm enhancement claim with its five year mandatory sentence. The enhancement was obviously and fatally erroneous. The enhancement for a “discharged” firearm was enacted after the incident and so its enforcement would be ex post facto. The firearm enhancement that was in place at the time is for “brandishing” the firearm, which requires an intent to intimidate or injure. Clearly neither Baldwin nor the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is charged with the same offenses as Baldwin and for whom the enhancement was also dropped, had any such intent.

Is Alec Baldwin Being Overcharged?

Almost certainly: prosecutorial tactics!

Artifical Intelligence in Love, Again

Another cinematic investigation of computer consciousness was made in  Jexi of 2019. As the title character of the film is very much like Samantha of  Her, please see Conjectures & Arguments, Philosophy & Law: “Her” Computer Consciousness: Can an Artificial Intelligence Be In Love? (lawrencecrocker.blogspot.com)

Moneyless Economy: Who Gets the Lobster? Who Collects the Garbage?

Good Thing Brazil Has No Electoral College

If it had, right-wing, authoritarian Bolsonaro might well have beaten da Silva. Depending on the details of the electoral college, da Silva’s 1.8% win might not have been enough to keep Bolsonaro from being the college winner.

The Trump Case Tragedy

There very probably is sufficient evidence to indict the former president of one or more felonies. The question will have to be faced by the DOJ and by at least one state prosecutor whether to do so.

Either decision will be tragic.

“Look Both Ways”: Counterfactuals in the Movies

This 2022 Netflix movie may deserve something more than its IMDb of 6.2, if only because it is perhaps the most extended counterfactual conditional movie of all time.