“Depth sounding refers to the act of measuring depth; it is often referred to simply as sounding. Sounding is finding the depth of a given point in a body of water.”
Welcome aboard, Shreveport-Bossier, to Sounding Off! This is a completely unscientific and shallow measurement of our area’s political and social flotsam and jetsam, and the aggregate effect it has on our quality of life. Two words: Ted. Cruz. Many Iowans will love him if only for the fact that popcorn consumption is set to blow through the stratosphere. Republican Presidential primary season is about to ratchet up big style. In fact, we propose #RachetUp as the official hashtag of what is to be the most Ted-Cruz-driven-turnt-and-blunted-with-his-shirt-off-in-the-club-red-meat summer in national campaign history. If you are one given to lapsing into prolonged fits of uncontrollable hysterics, you may want to have someone tie you to the mast come debate season. Seriously, buy corn futures now.
Last Mark: 15 feet
We trust that you are all as equally disturbed by the State Attorney General’s and Caddo Parish District Attorney’s attempt to deny Glenn Ford his due compensation following his exoneration from a wrongful murder conviction. After 30 years in Angola, $330,000 hardly seems appropriate recompense. Apparently, even after the sincere apology from the prosecutor, and the order to release being issued by the same judge that had previously denied Mr. Ford relief, the State of Louisiana sees fit to inflict further insult upon already unspeakable injury. Their reasoning is rooted in a “he must still be guilty of something” understanding of the application of criminal law, which all too often has, and continues to, brand unfortunates as guilty by default. Because he can’t prove a negative, that he is “factually” innocent of a murder the law says he did not commit, the outrageous Constitutional violations and thin circumstantial evidence, and general lack of rigor on both sides of the aisle are somehow rendered immaterial. Undeserved and unwilling subjugation to the egregious maelstrom of errors in our justice system is being used as evidence of Mr. Ford’s generalized culpability. This is precisely the narrative that police departments and courts nationwide demand that we not give any oxygen to as they argue that justice is meted out blindly and without bias. And yet, Mr. Ford, broken and wasting away with stage 4 cancer, reminds the AG and DA that a mirror is worthless when one refuses to look into it. – 4
There are many other issues and happenings worthy of mention, but until the issue above is brought to a fair resolution and close, most everything else seems rather trivial in comparison. Other publications have reported extensively on Mr. Ford’s saga. SBC is again receiving the kind of national media coverage that we would rather avoid. Alas, an innocent is released from prison following the overturning of a conviction EVERY THREE DAYS in America. What more can we say…
FORECAST: Down to 11 feet. We pray for the best for Glenn Ford. We hope for the best from our legal apparatus. Once the system gets you cause in the riptide, prayer is often all that is left.