A rewrite

  And the rewriting of history continues in Maryland. The governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, just pardoned 175,000 convictions from what he calls, low level crimes. I guess he means those crimes where you only break the law a little bit. Citing the fact that having a record is detrimental to your employment opportunities and educational ones too. The only fair thing to do is to pardon them, remove them from the record and rewrite history. You broke the law, were tried and convicted of that but now, no you weren't we are rewriting the book. He did go on to explain that all those convictions were motivated by racism anyway and those individuals had been unfairly targeted. 

  This was in response to the recent "legalization" of recreational marijuana. It wasn't legal when they were arrested and convicted but we are forgetting about that. I wonder if they change the speed limit sign if I can get a refund on my ticket. I just don't understand it. You broke the law. It's that simple. You were given a trial, found guilty and that's that. What happened after that doesn't matter unless it is something to prove your innocence. Changing the law doesn't make you innocent! Yes, there are consequences for breaking the law. Sometimes those consequences will be felt for years. 

  Having a record speaks to your character. That's the long and short of it. It is why employers, the TSA, the FBI, CIA, and employers want to know about that. Often it isn't so much about what crime you committed, but your willingness to do so that influences decisions. It's one thing to have broken the law unaware, or possibly in some emergency, as an emotional response to something, and quite another to just break the law. And that is what all 175,000 of those people did, they made a choice. No one made them possess marijuana or paraphernalia. No, they decided they wanted to do that. It speaks to their character. I have a right to know about that. Arrest records are public records. That is the law of the land although there may be some restrictions on that in certain jurisdictions. Still, they are public records because I do have a right to know. 

  To hear Governor Moore speak about this his claim is minorities were unfairly targeted by law enforcement. The result being those individuals were denied employment, have trouble getting housing, they suffer from educational opportunities being denied to them, not sure why, and it created a racial wealth gap! But now the law has changed, and all those things should be forgiven and forgotten about. The character of those involved has been reset. They are now upstanding citizens. That's all that is required you know, a reset. Just forget about it, erase it from history. Well, don't forget completely because they will probably be entitled to reparations within the next year or so. You know because they were arrested for committing a crime that is no longer a crime except on the federal level. Yes, it is still a federal offense to possess marijuana. So, they only committed a felony, a low-level crime according to the governor. 

 I expect all of that will bode well for the politicians in the state of Maryland. It will be especially welcome and applauded in the city of Baltimore. The political power is held by the Democrats and the majority of those in office are a minority. The mayor, the majority of the city council, the States attorney, the governor all of them. They have the majority at the polls. It's the way our system works. This is nothing more than an effort to retain that position. Politics by appeasement. It's important to keep in mind there is nothing racial about any of this. The only thing racist was arresting them in the first place. That's what I am supposed to believe. Same thinking from that party about the border. No need to vet anyone, no need to know anything about their backgrounds either, just let them in. As long as they vote Democratic, it's all good. I'm certain their character is stellar as well.