Judge Cahill under some controversy for suggesting that if convicted, Chauvin has some grounds for appeal over Maxine Waters' comments about being more "confrontational"  if they do not get a murder conviction. Cahill called her comments abhorrent and said that he'd wish elected officials would stop talking about the case. https://www.reuters.com/business/legal/judge-blasts-us-rep-maxine-waters-abhorrent-comments-about-chauvin-trial-2021-04-19/

Imagine, Derek Chauvin convicted and Maxine Waters is Chauvin's get out of jail free card.

Makes sense, right?

Think of every world leader across the globe, all of them got vaccinated (including Mr. Trump who once suggested vaccines cause autism, ha). So the vaccine is 95% effective, that means just statistically at least one or two world leaders, if infected, should get COVID even after the vaccine. Nothing to see here.

See, I don't doubt that there is perhaps some statistical insignificance of any adverse effects from the vaccine, whether it is extreme sickness or blood clots, whatever. We know the side effects are fairly well observed, things like nausea, fatigue, chills, body aches, ect. Clinicians have been very forthcoming about side effects. But, look at this from a public health perspective. If there is any doubt as to the vaccine's safety, would it cause the average citizen just to take their chance with catching COVID? Probably. Unless you are obese, more likely than not, you will survive COVID without a problem. Less than 10 percent of COVID infections result in a hospital visit, and of those hospital visits, the ones that end up in intensive care units are 80 percent of the time obese. So maybe that's why Denmark banned AstraZeneca's vaccine? Not necessary because of the threat for blood clots was large, but may just to keep public confidence in the vaccine to avoid the anti-vaxers from taking up the discussion and promoting doubt in the COVID vaccines?

I always found Venezuela so interesting, because it can act as almost a "case study" as to how badly and quickly socialism can derail a country. The moment means of production were ran by government, the country's economy crashed (due to oil prices as well, but Venezuela put all of its eggs in one basket thanks to government control). Then what was left was citizens fighting with each other to eat stray dogs or competing for government sponsored rations of food.

Hey now, flops are why football is entertaining.

But no, men and women will never play on the same team. There are completely anatomically different, it would not be fair to have women play in the same league. Look at mixed martial arts, you know why they do not have men and women fight each other? Because men have a higher testosterone level relative to women. Muscle mass differences, height differences, bone density.

See transgender woman MMA fighter, she (he?) beat the living hell out of her female opponents - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallon_Fox

People are holding right now, but what about the future?

Sure, people use it as a get rich quick type scheme, day trade, or treat it as an asset akin to gold or silver, but 5 years ago, people laughed at BTC as any sort of investment so it isn't unreasonable to think that down the line, it'd be used as a day to day currency. Plus, also consider that first world countries keep printing out bills of money as if it grows on trees, so at some point people are going to switch currencies when they realize their own country's currency has turn to rubbish due to inflation.

The verbiage is clear, they want banks to have central authority on the currency in the country, and so anyone that establishes a competitor will be fined, or jailed. No one can stop anyone from using crypto, it's P2P. The whole idea of regulation is to scare people from mass adoption, and restricting companies from practicing freely. Realistically, most people need exchanges if they're going to turn their local currency into a crypo.

Turkey isn't the first country to do this. I noticed first world countries haven't been so explicit about banning crypto, but that's because they don't view crypto as a threat, yet.

Hmm, so I guess this says a lot about these European countries that are willing cheap out on a vaccine. Say that Denmark is being overly cautious by banning the vaccine, and say that there really aren't blood clot issues with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Isn't the idea to convince your citizens that the vaccine is safe? Why would anyone want to get a vaccine that was banned in Denmark for potential blood clot issues?

A country cheaps out now, will just cost more in the long term.

Breaking - Democrats introduce legislation to pack the United States supreme court. Insanity.

I remember when the judicial branch was suppose to be independent and when Joe Biden let everyone know that he'd disclose his stance on court backing after the election. Wonder if he'll condemn his fellow democrats and stick with 9 justices.

See here for RBG's thoughts on court packing - https://www.npr.org/2019/07/24/744633713/justice-ginsburg-i-am-very-much-alive

I thought it was usual to ask for an acquittal? People were saying that everybody expected it, that it was just procedural.

But I thought the defense was going to be a lot longer than it was. Maybe they thought they did a good job with Dr. Fowler, I thought they did, and figured they'd end on a high note instead of risking collapse like with their witness Barry Brodd.

Regardless, godspeed to the jurors.

Defense just rest their case, meaning that all the evidence has been presented. Jury will listen to closing arguments on Monday and then deliberate. Trial is essentially over.

My personal thoughts on the defense "star" witness, Dr. Fowler by the defense.

WaPo, Pathologist testifies for Derek Chauvin defense there were too many conflicting factors to call George Floyd’s death a homicide -https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/14/derek-chauvin-trial-2/.

On Dr. Fowler's credibility, he served as the Chief medical examiner for Maryland for a number of years (so basically what Dr. Baker does), and has served as a forensic pathologist for decades. Dr. Fowler saved the defense after the miserable performance yesterday by defensive tactics experts Mr. Bodd.

I highly recommend anyone that has doubts of the cause of death watch Dr. Fowler's testimony because it almost completely corroborates what Dr. Baker was able to testify about Floyd's cause of death. There is one major difference which I will get into in a sec.

But not only did Dr. Fowler corroborate Dr. Baker's findings, Dr. Fowler covers at least a dozen research papers examining positional asphyxia and in custody deaths. Bottom line according to Dr. Fowler, in custody deaths of positional asphyxia are exceedingly rare to almost nonexistent because the pressure required by someone to asphyxiate a normal person is about 225 pounds of pressure, barring other factors. Most striking studies to me was a use of force review/analysis of a jurisdiction (forgot what area this was) where *over 1000 uses of the prone restraint technique** were used and not one had resulted in a positional asphyxia death. Not one.

You'll also remember Dr. Thomas was asked about a Canada study where the maximal restraint technique was used in real world police interactions, not just a simulation study using some gym mats and people kneeling on each other to collect a participation check. Thousands of prone positional restraints were analyzed out of over 1 million police interactions, no significant clinical deviations were found from these real world police interactions compared to the stimulated interactions. This disputes the prosecution's point that you need to throw out these simulated studies because they aren't real world. What was Dr. Thomas's reaction to this Canadian study where not a single in custody death was reported from the maximal restraint technique? She had nothing to say, no rebuttal, see this 2 minute clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtXTG6_qmjs

Mr. Blackwell on cross examination did refute a couple of the studies regarding the pressure put on someone during the maximal restraint technique, saying that all the studies Dr. Fowler mentioned did not include a knee to the back of the neck, and furthermore did not include restraint being held for 9+ minutes. Dr. Fowler reluctantly agreed. I also kind of agree as well. I tried looking, no studies were done on an individual that was being restrained, hand cuffed, and held down on concrete for over 9 minutes. So it's possible that throws in some variable factors into the mix when we start looking at studies.

Worth noting on redirect, Nelson pointed out that one of the studies *did in fact* examine restraint being held for over 9 minutes, and refreshed Dr. Fowler's memory by presenting him the study. So Mr. Blackwell was wrong.

Just a note on the whole homicide thing, see this slide presented by Dr. Fowler - https://i.imgur.com/ZoEpNF9.png. This slide is taken from https://www.thename.org/ guidelines of death classifications. Just to be clear, homicide in the medical sense is not homicide in the legal sense.

That being said, Dr. Fowler classified Floyd's death as undetermined because there were so many contributing factors involved, it is hard to pinpoint what exactly would have caused Floyd to experience cardiac arrhythmia (all cardiac arrhythmia means is your heart stops working). Meaning was it the drugs? Methamphetamine acting as a vasoconstrictor and stimulant increasing heart rate (both something the defense and state witnesses have corroborated)? Fentanyl causing a potential depression in respiration rate? His heart condition which had coronary artery blockage of near 90 percent in one artery, which Dr. Baker testified could cause sudden death. Was it having an enlarged heart which would require his heart to work harder under stress? Or was it a combination of all these factors creating a recipe for disaster following subdual, restraint, and neck compression by law enforcement? Whatever you think the answer is, we have gone so far from positional asphyxia due to Chauvin's neck which was the original point of contention.

Today, the state recalled Dr. Tobin to refute some portions of Dr. Fowler's testimony. The rebuke was extremely ineffective, lasting a mere few minutes.

All in all after listening to everything? Should be an acquittal. There is reasonable doubt that is painted all over this case and almost an infinite number of holes the prosecution left on the table. But I'm not sure if the jury will agree.

What's up with blood clotting and vaccines? The Johnson and Johnson vaccine apparently had some issues with blood clots. I wonder how people are suppose to make an educated choice on the vaccine they get. The vaccine is free in most first world countries, does the country choose what vaccine you get? Do you have a choice as a citizen?

I knew from the start it was during the prosecution's side of the case, but I don't know if it was during the direct or the cross examination because the courtroom reporter didn't say that part (well, they could've, I just don't remember reading it so correct me if I'm wrong). The point is the same.

Imagine - juror falls asleep during direct questioning of a state witness, but then they are awake for the cross examination. What's that do? That puts a bias in favor of the defense. And of course, the flip situation applies.

What is not common sense about what I said? Is it not unreasonable to ask a juror to stay awake for obvious reasons?

Hypothetical, what if a sleeping jury member caused Chauvin to get acquitted or a mistrial? Would you not be upset that a killer just got loose because someone was passed out being lazy? This goes both ways. Even if it's common, with how much is on the line, it's disrespectful. And let's take it further than that, if someone fell asleep during the trial, does a reasonable person expect this person to have been paying attention to everything presented? This case is extremely complicated, it's not cut and dry.

Derek Chauvin is entitled to a fair trial, it's not fair to have jurors be sleeping while testimony is being presented. As a juror, requesting that you stay away is the LEAST anyone could ask for. Even if the person sleeps during the prosecution's testimony, it's still not fair for the state side. I just don't understand how a juror wouldn't show the slightest amount of respect by remaining alert during this thing.

Horrible day for the defense. Their use of force expert got absolutely pummeled today because the prosecution knows they can use emotions and hindsight to convince jurors that Chauvin "should've" known. Never mind numerous state witnesses openly admitting that restraint until EMS can be held, that restraint can be held on drug users because they can regain consciousness and become more violent.

Self defense lawyer Andrew Branca says it best in his blog post - https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/04/chauvin-trial-day-12-wrap-up-defense-use-of-force-expert-witness-falls-short/

Basically, the direct was extremely weak, and the cross examination was extremely rough. But, if we are taking what Mr. Brodd has to say, someone that has been in FBI tactics training, certified by the FBI, testified in 10 previous court cases, defensive training instructor, and a police officer with a total of **30 years experience**, he says the force was justified.

Also worth nothing, the prosecution's medical experts have all contradicted each other.

Dr. Thomas - Contradicts Dr. Baker, claims positional asphyxia was the cause of death combined with contributing factors of fentanyl use/heart disease.

Dr. Tobin - Underlying factors have nothing to do with Floyd's death, not fentanyl, not meth, not heart conditions, he was suffocated due to the knee on the back of the neck. Tobin claims Floyd died on scene. Contradicts Dr. Baker because he testified Floyd died later. Also contradicts him and Dr. Thomas because underlying factors did play a role, according to them.

ER doc (forgot his name) - Claims Floyd's heart conditions did not play a role in his death. Contradicts both Dr. Thomas and Dr. Baker.


But for some reason, we all need to ignore this. And yes, I think the jury might as well be incompetent. Courtroom reporters are saying that some of the jurors are falling asleep during the trial. You are a moron and you are incompetent to fall asleep during the biggest trial in decades.

So all that hand washing and OCD level surface cleaning probably didn't do much.

According to the CDC, you have less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of contracting COVID after touching a surface contaminated surface. We are now over a year into this global pandemic, and this is the guidelines. Things are constantly changing and it seems like the CDC flips its recommendation on a whim, which means the research they used to form their initial guidelines didn't seem to be so strong, as with most things.

White people always vote republican, and they didn't vote for Trump last election cycle. He lost white suburban moms because his twitter use was unstable. I don't think many people were worried about tax increases when they shifted their vote from Trump to Biden. All they wanted was normalcy, aka a guy without a compulsive twitter addiction.

Dr. Baker just testified that fentanyl and heart disease were contributing factors in his death. And he also said the knee to the back of the neck did NOT cut off airflow. He said no tissue damage on the exterior of the skin nor interior of the skin.

When someone says drug OD in this case, they aren't saying that he nodded off. They're saying the fatal level of fentanyl contributed to his death, and likely had it not been for his heart condition and fentanyl/methamphetamine concentration, he would have lived. But main point -- zero evidence of asphyxia, choking, and strangulation by Chauvin's knee cutting off air flow. And Dr. Baker himself said the knee was on Floyd's lower neck, shoulder blade area and upper back most of the time.

Dr. Baker said George Floyd's heart couldn't handle the restraint -- https://www.wsj.com/articles/prosecution-in-derek-chauvin-trial-set-to-call-key-witness-11617975531.

This is completely different from being asphyxiated by Chauvin's knee because it doesn't matter what your heart condition is. If your airflow is cut off, you die regardless of your underlying conditions.

Day 10 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgrnUf_XgF0

Dr. Baker testified today, he said what we knew from the autopsy report -

Floyd died from fighting with police, subdual, and neck compression with contributing factors of drug use and underlying heart conditions.

And this is in direct contradiction with Dr. Tobin's testimony who suggested the fentanyl/methamphetamine and underlying conditions did not effect Floyd and his cause of death. Hmmm....

Also worth nothing, the prosecution brought up this research paper that I linked many months ago in the thread here - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088378/