Clowns to the left of me

“Any excuse will serve a tyrant.” Aesop

The specter of judicial tyranny continues its clownish march across the United States. This past week, James Edwards, host of the Memphis-based show The Political Cesspool, lost what should have been a slam-dunk defamation case. A column posted in a news outlet in Detroit (speaking of cesspools), had described Edwards as leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

The formal opinion of the court acknowledges that “there is no record evidence to suggest that Edwards holds a formal leadership position in the Ku Klux Klan, nor is there any record evidence to suggest that he is even a member…” However, it goes on to explain, “mindful of Aesop’s lesson, “A man is known by the company he keeps,” we hold that Edwards cannot make claims of defamation…”

Basically, it appears that they are using the “fake but accurate” standard of proof. Edwards is a “white advocate,” and has interviewed David Duke, so that’s close enough to count, and we need not bother ourselves with pesky facts.

In the modern US, the KKK has virtually no importance or power on the right end of the political spectrum. It primarily serves as a boogeyman for leftists, evoking horror far beyond what is warranted in 2017, often to the point of absurdity. For example, on one college campus last year, a student made a frantic report that she had witnessed a meeting of the Klan through a classroom window. After an investigation, it was determined that the suspected Klansman was nothing more than a white sheet thrown over a piece of unused lab equipment. I hear such reports regularly, and I am continually surprised by the real versus perceived influence of the KKK.

But it is precisely because of the persistent fear and disgust evoked by mention of the Klan that distinguishing the bugaboo from a reasonable, respectable, and well-intentioned white advocate is so important.

Alas, it is barely noteworthy anymore when judges make decisions based upon their “feels” and rationalize them with flimsy, quasi-legal reasoning. Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban,” (which was unfortunately not anything of the kind) was struck down by a judge who basically told Donald Trump “I don’t think I like your attitude, Mister.”

A clown show, indeed. Unfortunately, it’s not funny.