Rerun from 2025: There goes the judge

 Up in rural Petersburgh, New York, they need a new town justice.

Former Town Justice Richard T. Snyder was ridden off on a rail because he said something out loud that he really should have not said (let alone thought): in an effort to get himself excused from jury duty, he actually said, "all defendants are guilty."

He said this to another judge, who adjudged Snyder egregiously wrong, and quickly reported him to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which august body conducted a lengthy investigation.

Summonsed for grand jury duty, Snyder introduced himself as a judge, and said he couldn't do the job of a juror because he figures all the defendants brought before him are guilty.

So, he couldn’t be impartial. 

“I know everybody come in front of me, I know they are guilty,” he told the presiding judge, according to the court transcript. “They would not be in front of me.”

That was enough to get him off the jury. But then he explained himself to the Commission: 

“I meant that, reason why people got tickets is because they did something wrong, but I know people’s [sic] not guilty. They’re innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “I know they’re guilty because they did something wrong. That’s how they got a ticket.”

 “I mean, that they were guilty because they did something wrong. But they’re not guilty till they come to court. They’re innocent till proven guilty.”

His Honor is seen here either hauling off a box of extra robes and gavels, or working a new delivery job. I can't say.

The Commission sent him packing with a promise that he go far, far away, and never seek a judgeship again.

in the words of Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian, “It is bad enough that a judge would seek to avoid such a fundamental civic responsibility as jury service. It is astounding that the judge would claim an inability to be impartial, and to declare under oath that the accused must be guilty or they would not be in court.” 

You think you've heard it all; now here's a judge who hadn't heard a word in freshman Civics.

The Saturday Picture Show, November 7, 2026

 

Beautiful fall this year in Oregon. Prettiest time of the year!

I was thrilled with the vote turnout this week. I don't care whom you vote for, but I have no respect for those who can't be bothered.

Very well done, Alex Kasyan! I don't know you, but I like your painting.

What was this architect thinking? Or is this a place for a little study corner or something? Problem is, no electric outlets...

If you're out of town, it might surprise you how attached we are to our high schools in Baltimore. "Wheredja gota high school?" is asked with the same intensity as "Will you marry me?" and sometimes even more often. But a tip of the maroon and white cap to my dear old Towson High, where football has been played since 1966, but not until this year was there an undefeated season. Go Generals!

Newspapers and the like always publish celebrity recipes as if they are different from your mother's. I promise you, I saw a recipe online for a BLT. Really. But if you want to be cool, try a Martin Burger this weekend!

In its time (1991) this was considered a daring Luann cartoon. It's the one where she tells her buddy Bernice that she got her first (.) last night. Get it?

You've seen all the election maps - forecast and results, but this is the map you
need this weekend. It shows the states where it's legal to own an otter.

The Pope from Illinois is a big fan of the Dylan from Minnesota. They met up the other day and we wish we could have been there to listen in.

Example #2 from my list of "What was the architect thinking?" These are known as "death steps" in the construction industry.

Cheap Eats

 One of the funniest things that happened to us happened at Bob Evans. a sausage-and-pancake joint near us. (The one in this story was torn down a year or so ago, to make room for a new Chiplotle. We're no strangers to the finest of chow in these parts, yes sir.

I can't tell you what I had for dinner that night, but Peggy had a porkchop, the usual, with mashed potatoes, sumthin' green, and applesauce. The bill came and by mistake the server handed it to me. And I happened to notice that they called Peggy's dinner "SR PORKCHOP."

There was nothing especially Mexican about her dinner, so I wondered why they called it "Señor Porkchop." But then the light of recognition dawned like a lightbulb over me, and I said, "Hey, they gave you the Senior Dinner!" And we were faced with the age-old conundrum: take the discount we didn't deserve (neither of us were in the Senior status at the time) or show that Bob made a boo-boo.

I recall telling them we weren't old enough to get the old-folks break but the cashier said not to worry about it. It was a pretty good supper, as I remember. And now I wonder if the Chipotle that took the place of the Bob Evans might indeed have a Señor Porkchop, but I don't know.

Your reward for reading all this is a link to this list of cheap deals for the aging. Even if you're still on the sunny side of 50, go for it! What are they gonna do?

https://tinyurl.com/y89axjfj

Since Tuesday, the expression "sour grapes" keeps coming up in my feed. It goes back a long, long way, to one of Aesop's Fables, #15 to be exact.

In the story The Fox And The Grapes, a fox is trying to nibble grapes from a vine that he is not tall enough to reach, and he has no ladder. So, instead of admitting that he couldn't get to the grapes his mouth was watering over, he just told the other foxes and who-all else was hanging around his warren that he didn't want those grapes anyway, because they were sour. "Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes." This was a fox who talked to grapes, you understand.

Like I say, this story is running through my mind for no particular reason, but people who sneer at what they can't get, or claim they didn't really want it. are often told the story of the fox and the "sour" grapes.

 

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico?

 I have a lifelong fascination with the true birth names of actors, disc jockeys, and lieutenant governors of Texas (Daniel Patrick Goeb is a former DJ now serving the One Star State under the sobriquet "Dan Patrick") who've taken on fake names to further their missions in life. 

If you remember chiseled-featured, stentorian-voiced actor Robert Lansing...well, he was born Robert Brown, and called himself Bob Brown when he did a deejay's job on WANE in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  But when he went to try acting, the actor's union said he couldn't act under his name, because there already was a Bob Brown in the union. 

He was in Lansing, Michigan while all this was going on, so he decided to take the town's  name as his own.

How lucky for him that he wasn't in Sheboygan, Walla Walla, or Oblong, Illinois!

Green

 On July 27, 1976, John Lennon was officially granted his U.S. Permanent Resident Card in New York City. After a long, highly publicized four-year legal fight against deportation efforts, Lennon finally won the right to legally reside and work in the United States.  Green card.

 And of course, it was 4 and a half years later that an insane person with a gun ended Lennon's life. I don't recall what the problem was with granting John his green card. I'm sure it had something to do with Richard Nixon. 

It would be nice if we could welcome one and all to our wonderful country. Yes, it would.

Leading the way

 I caught this blurb about KC Concepcion and I have to hand it to him for stepping up and realizing that he might have a stutter but he is NOT that stutter. I knew a girl in my Spanish classes at college whose stammer was quite prominent, but when called upon in class, she spoke Spanish without a flaw. And think of Mel Tillis, whose speech was halting but whose singing voice was perfect.

At any rate, I salute Concepcion for going out to speak to middle schoolers with speech needs. There's nothing like seeing someone in the spotlight shine a light for the young ones.