Georgia On My Mind

James Patterson books are easy ways to pass a lazy day.  I found myself re-reading Cross Down today, realizing a few short chapters in that I remembered the basic outline of the plot but that I didn't mind spending time with those characters again.

It's a plot revolving around a coup.  Hate groups on all sides are encouraged and supported.  Martial law and loss of basic freedoms are the plan.  It felt remarkably real.

Television seems to be revolving around a coup, too.  With the majority of prospective Republican voters telling pollsters they are committed to returning him to jail, the Lying Liar turned his minions onto Fani Willis.  Not satisfied with attempting to steal the choice made by Georgia voters, not satisfied with defaming election workers and sticking his friends with the bill (cf Rudy Guiliani owing $148 million to satisfy the judgment), he decided to take a big bite out of the whole enchilada - he went after Fani Willis.

I was never quite sure what the charges were.  There was some peculiarity in the hiring of one of the prosecutors, something about his relationship with Ms. Willis.  I felt like Mr. 20 - ignorant of the facts but sure there was something there.  

I mean, really, how could it get this far if there weren't something to prove.  The prosecutors were trying to show that there were financial kickbacks going from one to the other, and that her hiring decision was based on a long term love affair.  I was never certain about the money allegations, nor did I understand exactly what's wrong with hiring a lover if he's qualified for the job?

That last question was answered by a retired Georgia judge who testified that he turned down that very job because of security concerns.... and because I wasn't going to make a lot of money.

I didn't think civil servants made enough to bribe one another or do whatever nefarious financial shenanigans were being alleged.  The more I listened, the more sexist and racist it sounded.  No black woman could be able to take fancy vacations on her own dime; she must have traded sexual favors for the privilege of traveling.  

Wade, who testified before Willis, said the pair split their expenses when traveling because the district attorney is an “independent, proud woman” who insisted on paying her own way. He said Willis used cash to pay him back — which she confirmed — though he did not deposit the cash. (The Hill)

That left the prosecution aghast.  Who has all that money lying around the house?

Enter daddy, John Clifford Floyd III, a former Black Panther, a defense lawyer, and no stranger to the courtroom.

Echoing Willis’s own testimony, Floyd said Friday that he told his daughter growing up to always keep six months cash in her home, describing the practice as “a Black thing.” 

So we have the Trumpian mafia going after a successful woman whose cultural mores were shaped by forces fueled by the Lying Liar and his ilk.  Trust the banks?  Trust a corporation?  Trust anything but your own self and those you love?  Hardly.

I was anxious when this whole thing started.  I hope the presiding judge heard the testimony the way that I did.