Ok…we’ll get back to images from Africa in a bit…but let’s catch up on the news a bit first.

There are two things that deserve a comment here. Let me re-emphasize…again…that we do not support the former President in the upcoming election and neither do we support the current President for reelection. Neither deserves to be elected but unfortunately that isn’t one of our choices.

First…the Democrats in the House and Senate seem to have a lack of understanding on what the Constitution says, how our government works, and how the three co-equal branches work. Senator Schumer and several of his cohorts sent a letter to Chief Justice Roberts at SCOTUS essentially demanding that he meet with just Democrats and explain and discuss SCOTUS ethics rules and Justice Alito’s clear…according to the Democrats anyway… bias in all issues at the court regarding the former President, January 6, Presidential immunity and other related issues. Meanwhile…Representative Rankin published an op-ed stating that the DoJ has the power to force Chief Justice Roberts to force Justice Alito to recuse himself in the same group of cases. Chief Justice Roberts rightfully declined and Justice Alito also declined as his wife’s 1st amendment right to free speech doesn’t precent him from properly adjudicating cases. 

The Constitution…as anybody that took civics in high school knows but apparently not the people in Congress…establishes 3 co-equal independent branches of government…Executive, Legislative, and Judicial…and assigns both rights and duties to all 3…and also says what all 3 cannot do. Speaking of the judicial branch…it establishes a Supreme Court and also authorizes Congress to create lesser courts. It provides zero…absolutely zero…authority for any of the branches to supervise or regulate the other branches…otherwise they would not be co-equal. So…Congress or the DoJ telling the SCOTUS what to do is simply not allowed…and coincidentally SCOTUS telling the other two branches is not allowed with the exception of the SCOTUS determining the constitutionality or lack thereof of any particular law or action by the other branches. Obviously…our Democrats in Congress don’t understand how the whole co-equal thing works. As an aside…Congress has actually been allowed to get away with establishing financial reporting requirements for both other branches…but nobody has taken the politically damaging step to actually file a lawsuit against those requirements because they would likely be pilloried in the media if they did even though the requirements should be tossed out as unconstitutional. The issue here…for the Democrats…is that they want Alito to recuse himself because his wife (as well as Thomas because of his wife) has her own life, opinions, and causes that differ from what the Democrats want. However…when former Justice Ginsburg said in a speech that it would be the end of democracy if the former President was elected she also refused to recuse herself from considering cases involving him. Her statement at the time was that her personal opinion did not and would not prevent her from properly adjudicating cases as she understood the law. Her understanding as a liberal justice is for loose construction whereas conservative justices tend to originalism of what the words in the Constitution actually say…and while we have our own opinion on which of those approaches is correct it’s not relevant…Justices Alito and Thomas personal opinions won’t affect the way they adjudicate cases as they understand the law. Their judicial outlook may result in outcomes that liberals don’t like…but that does not make them biased, just that they disagree with liberals.

Second…the recently completed case against the former President in NYC. I have to admit that in one aspect he is correct…this case is political and has been political from the start…just as the cases against the President’s son are political. That doesn’t mean that either of the men should have been charged or not…but let’s not lie to ourselves and say that DA Bragg up in NYC doesn’t have an ax to grind.

The real problem…besides that fact that the case was pretty weak…is that the way the DA went about it smacks of bias…and he should have considered the and bent over backwards to prevent the perception of bias. For instance…his predecessor in office considered the same charges and determined that the statute of limitations for misdemeanor charges had run out and that the requirement for felony charges that they be in support of an additional crime which did not exist prevented filing of felony charges. Both the state AG and federal authorities had already considered the whole election interference idea and determined that there was no crime…thus they could not file charges. Nonetheless…Bragg forged ahead and filed felony charges…and he had run for office on a platform that he would file felony charges…so his determination was made ahead of time. Second…the case was…deliberately…filed in a city that is vehemently against the former President. Third…any potential juror that indicated he/she had ever supported the former President was summarily excused. This resulted in a jury of only people that came from a population that hates the former President. The former President filed for a change of venue to a more evenly balanced jurisdiction where both supporters and non supporters had an equal chance of serving on the jury.

Then we get to the trial. Bragg insisted that the business records…despite those records being made months after the election…were made in an attempt to influence the election that took months prior and that simply makes no sense. He provided no evidence of the underlying crime that is required for felony charges. He simply said the underlying crime existed. Then the judge in his jury instructions told the jurors that they should individually decide on their own whether this underlying crime which was not charged or evidence of it presented…and if they decided a crime had taken place they could vote guilty on the felony charges.

Finally…the jury deliberated for less than a dozen hours…and at least several of those were lost to lunch and a rehearing of some of the testimony. It seems pretty clear that the possibility that they accepted the prosecution’s case and jury instructions fully and simply voted guilty without actually considering each and every count individually.

I’m quite aware that even in a less partisan jury selection pool and with a less “out to get Trump” prosecutor he could still have been found guilty…but really, if the trial had been fairly conducted Republicans would be a lot more likely to accept the outcome. And it will be appealed…so maybe these issues will be examined by a more neutral court and then who knows what happens. If appeals to state courts fail…I’m sure we’ll see a federal appeal as well on civil rights or constitutional rights violations.

Ok…nothing else really happening around the home front these days…it’s hot so Neil is getting out at 0800 on bike days. Bryan, Jen, and Alex are visiting next week and we’re all looking forward to seeing the kids and grandkid.

Moving on to day 6 in the Serengeti…it was another just before dawn launch from the camp and we found the first targets of the day within about 10 minutes just as the sun started rising…and it was another pride of lions.

Really nice backlighting with rim lights around the fur on this lioness.

Looking the other way we spotted a nice rainbow.

And the master of the pride…both in profile and staring directly at Neil with the light behind him…these were from about 30 feet away and he hung the camera out the window as far down as possible using the rear LCD to frame the shots. One of the tricks in wildlife photography is to try and get at eye level with the subject to really emphasize it. In the staring shot…when he zoomed way in while processing the shot…you can see the reflection of the other vehicle in his eye. These two and the last of the lioness shots above are the best lion portraits he got on the trip he thinks. 

Heading on…there was some fog out on the horizon that made a nice landscape.

Lilac Breasted Roller…about the prettiest bird we saw.

He thought he was going to get a takeoff shot here but alas, it was just shaking out its wings.

Grant’s Gazelle

Wildebeest.

Giraffe of course.

A lone cheetah.

Marabou Stork…this one was actually sitting in the tree by the parking lot at the second camp. They had returned for lunch and as they reloaded the vehicles it was literally next to the trucks.

Silverbird.

Female Kori Bustard.

And her male counterpart…again displaying…and again nowhere near any females to witness the display.

Verreaux’s Eagle Owl…no idea why it’s an eagle owl instead of just an owl but who knows.

As I mentioned last time…Connie and Neil went up to Orlando for the Elks State Convention and he took the opportunity to do the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. After that was over and lunch…he and Connie went down to the pool for an hour or so and Connie snapped this shot of some clouds that just happened to be shaped like Mickey Mouse’s ears. She thought it quite appropriate the Big Guy above had arranged a nice Disney related shot for her as they were at a Disney hotel.

Interesting things found on the net.

It’s amazing how correct this one is.

This is known as Gem Corn…it is the result of a long series of cross breeding.

You’ve probably seen this photo…it was taken in 1932 850 feet off the ground during construction of Rockefeller Center in NYC and depicts 11 ironworkers having lunch and reading the paper.

What you probably haven’t seen is the photograph of the photographer who actually took the picture. There were several photographers on the scene that day…it was staged but they were actually sitting on the beam…and it’s unclear who actually took the famous photo. However…at least one of the photographers actually had his picture taken as well. Ya know…I can see the ironworkers being so nonchalant about the situation and not wearing a harness…but I can’t believe that the photographer in this shot didn’t have one as he is unlikely to have been as comfortable with open heights as they were.

And finally…

Cyas.