Maybe it’s not murder by a cop? Nor will health care be “reformed” at all!

Somebody’s failure, particularly if it is with regards to actions that impact all of us, is always a standard for news judgment. Although I have to admit the degree to which the Friday news reports relied upon ineptitude and incompetence was truly depressing.
 

VAN DYKE: More, or less, likely to be found guilty?

It’s not just the lingering uncertainty over whether President Donald J. Trump will be able to repeal the health care reform proposal enacted a few years ago by then-President Barack Obama. He's failed, for now. But likely to be conniving enough to concoct another scheme in the future.

BUT WE’RE SEEING uncertainty in that criminal case some people were determined to believe was open-and-shut – the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.

An officer who now faces additional criminal charges that were filed to show great symbolism and appease those people who like symbolic gestures. Yet to those of us concerned with the bottom-line verdict, it shows that maybe the handling of this criminal prosecution to date has been uncertain enough that the outcome is far from definite.

We may very well get the day when officer Jason Van Dyke is acquitted of the murder charges he has faced for more than a year now. A result that may upset many of the same people who now are uncertain how much longer they will have health insurance – all because the Trumpites of the world don’t like the idea of Obama having anything on his legacy for which he can be praised.

And providing a plan that gave many people access to health insurance (myself included) is something for which Obama would be favorably remembered.

BUT BACK TO the McDonald situation, where it was learned in court this week that Van Dyke now has charges of aggravated battery added to the murder and official misconduct charges he already faced.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office decided to get cutesy with the new charges, filing 16 counts of aggravated battery. One charge for each of the 16 shots that police video shows were fired by an officer into McDonald’s body on that night when he was running around acting crazy and refused an officer’s order to stop and be questioned.

Reading around the Internet, I have read countless comments posted from people who like the “16 counts” touch. As though it could result in a few extra years in prison for Van Dyke for each shot fired.

 

TRUMP: More, or less, likely to repeal healthcare reform?

But others, myself included, wonder if the aggravated battery charge is merely an excuse for a future judge to find Van Dyke guilty of something, anything, because it may well turn out that as a police officer, Van Dyke did have the legal authority to use some force in this particular situation.

THAT IS AN attitude that I’m sure McDonald’s activist supporters in the Black Lives Matters movement will refuse to ever concede. But it is a real factor to consider as this criminal case proceeds.

Just as Trump and his alleged Republican allies in Congress were desperately trying Friday (but ultimately were unable) to configure their American Health Care Act into something that could get a vote of approval, the state’s attorney’s office is now trying to configure criminal case that will result in a “guilty” verdict.

Absolute failure for Trump and the conservative ideologues who for years have been engaging in “Repeal Obamacare!!!” rants is to be exposed as “all talk and no action” on this particular issue. Just as the sight of Van Dyke being able to someday walk out of the Criminal Courts Building with a smile on his face and a “not guilty” verdict would be considered an even bigger loss for society.

Personally, I view the healthcare reform debate as the ultimate politically partisan whine. Because there are those whose ultimate idea of victory would be for nothing to happen. As in the old Affordable Care Act of Obama would disappear, to be replaced by nothing. For now, "Affordable" remains, but with an uncertain future.

OBAMA: Some wish they could erase his presence

OBAMA’S REFORM MEASURE was “Affordable,” and not “American” like the Trump plan that is filled with enough gobbledygook and legalese to confuse just about all of us.

While in the pending criminal case of “People vs. Van Dyke,” we’re going to have to seriously contemplate just how much physical force a police officer is entitled to use in the commission of his job.

I suspect many of us aren’t going to like the outcome of either issue.

Because they'll reveal the degree to which the "politics of nothing" prevail over our society, and are the reason why so much never gets accomplished.

  -30-