J.J. Goodman: Writings, Musings and More

At the time of an arrest, the arresting officer is required by law to provide a suspect with a recitation of their rights, a/k/a/ the Miranda Warning, thusly: "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? Do you still wish to speak to me without an attorney?" Pretty basic, right? Easy to understand? (Yes… why? Where are you going with this?) According to a news report from one of my local news stations, link here: http://13wham.com/news/state/ny-lawmaker-reform-miranda-warning-for-juvenile-defendants-02-22-2016 , a New York lawmaker says these rights are too difficult for juveniles, i.e. suspects under the age of 18, to understand and wants them read to juveniles in "plain language." * * * *blink blink* * * * ...

Well, it's over. Another NFL season has come to pass, and many of you are all thinking the same thing.   (Happy Waitangi Day?)   Yes. Wait… no! Dammit. Fine. It is Waitangi Day. Kudos to the Kiwis, but that's not what I meant.   (Happy Chinese New Year?)   Ye… dammit stop that! I mean that for many of us football fans, the game itself was relatively unremarkable and, now that it's over, we simply shrug our shoulders and move on to whatever's next. There is a lot on the horizon, like NASCAR, the remainder of the hockey season, or, most importantly, Deadpool.   (I do like me some Ryan Reynolds….)   Who doesn't, really? But before we move on completely from Super Bowl 50, let's recap the big game here with twenty comments, questions, and observations to take away from last night's NFL Championship:   1.          Lady Gaga, Part 1: Gaga can rock our National ...

How fitting that Presidential Election Season 2016 has officially kicked off, and it's Groundhog Day. (Don't drive angry!) Gold star for nailing the movie reference, but the point I'm trying to make is this: Here we go again. Political candidates are vying for votes and momentum as we approach what could be the most crucial presidential election in our history. Of course, someone says that with every presidential election, hence…. (Groundhog Day?) Winner winner chicken dinner!   On the one side we have the presumptive frontrunner beaten by almost four points. On the other, a candidate declaring victory despite the facts that: 1) not all votes had yet been tallied, and B) the margin of "victory" was less than two tenths of one percent. Call my crazy, but a victory that doesn't seem to make. (You're crazy.) I… dammit. I walked right into that one. (Duh.) Back to the point… The Iowa Caucus has come and gone and we k...