convicted

WDYS — Do My Eyes Deceive Me?

Fandango23 Comments

Craig closed his eyes and rubbed them with the palms of his hands. Then he looked again to make sure he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing on this eerie, foggy night with a full moon illuminating the mist.

Yes, what he was seeing was still there. A tall, lean young man wearing a dark suit and shoes that looked like sneakers. Was standing on the stone footbridge over the creek. He was wearing a top hat that looked two sizes too large for his head. He also seemed to have a book in his right hand. Craig speculated that it might be a Bible.

But as Craig was staring at the man, he saw the most peculiar sight. Suddeny, without shifting his position at all, the man appeared to float up until he was no longer standing on the deck of the old stone bridge. He was, in fact, standing rather precariously on the stone sidewall on the near side of the bridge. And his left shoe appeared to be fading into the stone wall, as if the bridge was starting to absorb the figure standing on the wall.

Once again Craig closed and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. But when he opened his eyes this time, the man was gone, and all that remained on the bridge sidewall was the top hat and the book. Craig walked to the footbridge and picked up the top hat and book, which was, indeed, a Bible.

When Craig got home a few minutes later, he showed his father the hat and book and related to his father what he had seen. Craig’s father turned pale. “It was an apparition, son,” Craig’s father said. “The ghost of Elias Grant. He was tried and convicted for sorcery some 200 years ago. After his conviction, he was brought to that footbridge, hands tied behind his back, and he was thrown in the water under the bridge, where he drowned.”

Craig’s father grabbed Craig by the shoulders and said, “You must take those artifacts back to the bridge exactly where you found them. They say Elias Grant is only visible to those who will meet a similar fate. Be careful, my son.”

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. Photo credit: Darksouls 1 @ Pixabay.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #227

Fandango54 Comments
FPQ

Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

As you probably know by now, a grand jury in the state of Georgia indicted former President Donald Trump late Monday, charging him with felony racketeering and numerous conspiracy counts as part of a sweeping investigation into the effort by him and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. This was the fourth sets of indictments involving Donald Trump at state and federal levels and all of these will be headed to jury trials within the next twelve months.

My understanding is that none of the criminal prosecutions of Trump, even if he is convicted, can constitutionally stop him from running in — and winning — next year’s presidential election.

I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that an indicted and convicted person can run for and serve as President of the United States, but apparently America’s founding fathers could not imagine that Americans would even think about such a situation, so they didn’t address it in the U.S. Constitution.

But the results of a new poll from Reuters/Ipsos seem even more ludicrous. According to that poll, three quarters of America’s Republican voters say that they believe the indictments of Trump on criminal charges are politically motivated. 45% of Republicans say they would not vote for Donald Trump if the former president were convicted of a felony crime by a jury, but 35% said they would still support him. 52% of Republicans said they would not vote for Trump if he were in prison on Election Day but 28% said they would.

And that brings me to this week’s provocative question.

Do you think someone who has been indicted or convicted of felonious crimes should be permitted to run for public office? Would you consider voting for a candidate in your country who had been indicted for having committed felonious crimes? Would that individual having been convicted and/or imprisoned have any effect on your vote?

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