#CarlFBeckerBeast is moving out of Delaware County, New York? Becker's house as Becker's face - a cold house of a cold-hearted man

A reader reported to me that the residence of the former Judge Carl F. Becker of Delaware County, NY, is listed for sale.

Apparently, it was just put up for sale - it is reported to have been on Zillow for 21 days.

So, apparently, there are no job offers for the Becker Beast in the area?

Becker's registration still shows no new employment.

Apparently, a year after retirement nobody offered Becker a lucrative job in a law firm, as it usually happens with judges - so, nobody wants a former judge with a reputation as sullied as Becker's is?  Becker ran from the bench, after fighting to get re-elected and defrauding voters to get re-elected, portraying himself as a Boeing 747 as compared to his opponent (now Judge Gary Rosa's) portrayed by Becker, in a demeaning manner, as a "single engine prop plane".

Becker ran from the bench, having announced his "retirement" one day before the NYS Comptroller announced the results of the audit of Delaware County, quite scathing and showing corruption going back years, to the highest level, and Becker and Becker's close friends County Attorney Richard Spinney and Social Services Commissioner William Moon ran from their respective jobs even earlier.

The NYS Commission for Judicial Conduct, in its report of the year 2015 mentioned a number of judges who resigned pending investigations in that year.  It appears that Becker is one of them, and that he had a "choice" - continue on the bench and be booted, or retire years before the end of his term and years before his mandatory retirement at 70.

As to the house - all that negative energy concentrated in those walls...  All the vile of this man with the ugliest soul I know.  All the anguish of wrongfully convicted people, parents and children wrongfully rendered apart by Becker, a former social services attorney of 27 years who had an adoption practice on the side while handling adoption investigations through his agency and using his power for his benefit.  Then, 12 1/2 years on the bench, ruling for his own client of 27 years, the Department of Social Services - that's why the Department wanted to put Becker's successor and student in his place so much, Porter Kirkwood - and failed, thankfully.

"Retirement" of a judge who was clutching at his position like Becker was, who valued his position as an absolute king over lives of people in all aspects does not appear credible - especially as abrupt as it was - appears like a desperate act of running, and Becker proved that by crying when announcing that he was leaving.  Too much power to lose too soon and too abruptly, and at the time when judicial salaries were expected to go up considerably, and they did.

Anyway, the Beast will cease hovering around the Delaware County courthouse, as he did for some time after his retirement, obviously having a difficulty coping with the loss of his king-like power over people, and good riddance.

As to the house, the price seems to be at the same time both low - for houses in the area of comparable size, and high - for what is presented in the pictures, and I can assess it as having lived in the area for 17 years, having experienced the weather in the area, and having properties in the area of our own.

And, while the house is presented with bright summer pictures, Delaware County has harsh winters - and whoever buys the house may freeze there, or have to pay high heating bills.

Problem # 1.  No basement mentioned

Houses in Delaware County that have no heated basement have extremely cold floors, I've been, as a guest, to some of such houses, it is not comfortable feeling, and a fireplace does not help.

Of course, a cold man does not need a warm house.

Problem # 2.  No storm doors over 3 outside doors

Here are the pictures of the outside doors to Becker's house he is selling right now:

The side door

The front door and the dormer door to the balcony

In Delaware County,  New York, up in the mountains, you have to have storm doors for warmth in winter.  What appears in the picture are two sets of doors on the first floor and a set of doors on the second floor (in the dormer) which are kind of flimsy for harsh winters. 

Such doors would be good in the South, but need some reinforcement for warmth in upstate New York, especially up in the Catskill mountains where the house is located.

Problem # 3.  All those stained-glass windows.

There are some old double-pane hung windows shown on the house - which was reportedly built in 1917:

Yet, there are some stain glass windows that do not appear to be double pane.

Those windows may be beautiful - in a church - but they do not appear to be double-pane, or modern, energy efficiency-rated for warmth. 

And, there are a lot of large, and obviously not new, windows in the house all around, too many for warmth. 

Once again, good for a Southern home, bad for an upstate New York in the mountains home.  Should be cold there in winter.  In any event, such a house needs to be viewed in winter, not in summer, for purposes of buying.  This way, all of its deficiencies will be more readily understandable.

Of course, if it is bought as a second home/summer home - it will be ok, even though it appears that it will need a lot of work.

Problem # 4.  Everything is terribly dated

With the salaries and/or retirement benefits of both Becker and his wife, a school teacher, and both children long adult and out of the house, there was some free money, and the lack of investment in the comfort of living is depressing, especially taking into consideration that Becker's wife, as far as I know, had health problems for some time, and needed a more comfortable setting.

Only one recliner - and that is a black leather recliner, so I assume, it was his.  For her - some old and uncomfortable chairs and some old cloth sofas.  The one in the kitchen appears to be dirty.  No effort was made to beautify the house even for taking pictures for listing purposes at least.

A cheap microwave in the kitchen,

a not-so-clean from appearance in the picture fabric sofa in the picture

an ancient countertop,

cramped weird bathrooms - 1 1/2,

uncovered ugly water heating units - Becker had enough time in retirement over the year to commission a simple stained wooden box with decorative meshes for air passage (available in Home Depot) to cover those eyesores:

three chairs at a table requiring four - Becker did have time to put two candles and flowers on the table, but did not have time putting the 4th chair to the table to make the picture of the house he is selling to at least look better:

old worn ugly carpet

a bedroom with a quilt on the bed that appears to be quite old, worn and devoid of color - like a packing quilt for furniture.

There are a lot of nice quilts, including vintage quilts, available in stores and over the internet, at very affordable prices.  How can one hope to sell a house while advertising it in such a terrible way?  Even the stuff sold in Walmart could beautify that house considerably to make it more presentable for sale:

An office of a teacher and a judge of 12 1/2 years !!!  The tiny, untidy, poorly organized corner area where people's destinies were decided for decades:

The library of a lawyer, a judge and a teacher.  The amount of books this learned couple has invited into their home is staggering.  A paper-ribbon calculator - with a laptop right next to it, where the same sums can obviously be made through software, spreadsheets.  Of course, good they are not using the abacus, but still.  A person so ancient in what he uses in his everyday life - it is not at all surprising that Becker treated any new idea in the courtroom as "frivolous".

Don't they want to actually sell this place if they listed it?

A new coat of paint on the walls?

A new rug instead of that ugly wall-to-wall thing in the living room shown in the pictures?

The house looks like a bad motel, or a very neglected low-class bed-and-breakfast. 

Remember, Becker has been retired for year now.  Enough time to at least "stage" the house for sale properly, instead of running around the Delhi, NY courthouse trying to capture the shadows of his old glory, long after he shed his black robe - "voluntarily".

Becker is, or was reportedly an avid hunter and an avid golfer, and he also reportedly not averse from alcohol - far from that.  Becker's disgusting photos with animals, usually bears, killed by him, appeared in local newspapers every year.

Becker loves hunting so much that he considered it appropriate to put his picture with a dead animal on the website of his election campaign, this disgusting picture:

He loved hunting so much that reported on his election campaign his "big game" trips to Canada to hunt caribou and moose - and those hunting trips (1) take money and (2) usually involve booze.

All of these activities require money, the money that did not go into the care of the house.

Did not go into the care of the comfort of this woman - at whom Becker so lovingly looks in his election video, for show:

By the way - the radio interview with discriminatory statements of Becker was removed from his campaign webpage after I criticized it in court pleadings - where Becker claimed that:

(1) the caliber of school students in Delaware County, and students capable of leadership roles, according to Becker and his schoolteacher wife, has dwindled with the decline in numbers of doctors, lawyers and shopkeepers in Delaware County - his words, not mine, and that

2) the police social services, as a result, are needed at schools because of such decline in quality of students.

I have a copy of the interview on file, and I filed it with the Delaware County and Supreme Court with motions, so it is on file as a public record. 

After all these efforts - including duping the voters by claims of his non-existing competence, Becker ran from the bench, and is now running from Delaware County.

Let's remember - the house Becker is selling now is a house of two public servants, whose medical benefits WE the taxpayers paid for, for years, so that they did not have that expense that many people with salaries much lower than theirs have.

And yet - this sorry result.

Becker, apparently, put more care and heart into his mug collection (which he kept in his chambers at work) than into the place where he lived with his wife of many years.

While being "old-fashioned" dominant male (male chauvinist pig) in the courtroom, he did not extend his male dominance to at least make the house appear like it was comfortable to live in for a woman.

And yes, with all Becker's jealous diatribes in the courtroom as to how much people earn, and his retaliatory rulings to punish people by taking away their property over Becker's personal grudges, it is interesting to now have a view of the insides of how Becker lived.

Becker's whole life was greed and jealousy to other people's success - when other people actually worked for it.  Becker showed no care for his house, uncared for considering the climate of the area, and filled with old junk.

In one of the pictures there is a table with three chairs, on one side of the table a chair is conspicuously missing.  Even for purposes of staging the house for sale, Becker couldn't put in an effort.  Such a depressing view - a table surrounded by just three chairs, with one missing.

Here is Becker's salary for the last years, as available on "seethroughny" (by the way, Becker sanctioned me for seeking through FOIL requests copies of his own semi-annual financial reports from the New York State Court administration, which the Court Administration stalled):

And this is the salary and pension of Becker's wife Christine:

After seeing pictures of Becker's house,  -

• with a house that looks inside uncared and junky,
• with Becker having an adoption practice on the side plus a Social Services attorney job feeding that adoption practice, and then
• a judicial job where he cast around favors for friends and connected attorneys, plus his wife's teaching job, for years, with benefits paid for,
• with the audit of Delaware County that recently found that the county, including under Becker's guidance, was giving public contracts to people without public bidding - and knowing Becker's greed and laziness, one must look for kickbacks

where did all his money go?

An old car, old furniture in the house, no renovation, no attempts to maintain the house as the climate and comfort of Becker's and his wife's health requires - despite the obviously available funds.  Is it the actual home of Becker, or does he have another one, which he cares for better?

Apparently, an investigation should be undertaken into Becker's finances and other assets, and I will spend time doing it. 

We all have a right to know, and I will engage every legal effort to provide more information on the assets of this lifetime public service to those who he "served" - or, rather, robbed and hurt to satisfy his greed, his personal grudges, his personal preferences, his prejudices and his thirst for power.

As of now, Becker's voluntarily and publicly listed pictures of his residence tell a story of a lazy and neglectful man with a cold heart.

Stained glass everywhere, like in a church, but practically no books, and a corner less than a half-bathroom dedicated to an office - for a lawyer and a judge (and a teacher wife). 

If I was looking at such a house as a buyer, I would wait until winter to see how the house is heated before bidding on it, ask for copies of recent heating invoices, invest into a full home inspection - and be prepared for a lot of fairly costly renovation to be made throughout the house, unless, of course, one is looking for a summer home only and likes everything "dated" (and dingy, as pictures show).

And, the buyers should keep in mind that since Becker defrauded the voters as I described, defrauded litigants - for years - by failing to disclose his conflicts of interests that keep coming out after his decisions were made and after he "retired" from the bench, and since Becker repeatedly invoked absolute immunity for CORRUPT acts in various courts - he can defraud the buyers of his property with as much ease as he did with taxpayers, voters and litigants.

As to the insides - and insights - of the house, it is an enlightening experience, thank you, Carl Becker, for letting us see how you live.

Based on this enlightening experience, I will continue to look for Becker's assets and will report my findings on this blog.

Stay tuned.

#TheThiefJudgeJanetDiFiore - of the State of New York - and her generous donation of other people's money to a powerful nonprofit, one day before her confirmation hearing in the NYS Senate

I wrote on this blog, multiple times, about the corrupt new Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals Janet DiFiore.

I publicly opposed, through written statements to the New York State Senate (NYS Senate did not allow testimony of witnesses against DiFiore who wanted to testify, including myself), the appointment of Janet DiFiore to this position and publicly asked the senate - a request which the senate ignored - to criminally investigate Janet DiFiore's activities.

Since then, DiFiore was appointed as a Chief Judge and, of course, retaliated against me in two court cases - denying me review of constitutional appeal "as of right" of my unconstitutional suspension for criticism of a judge in motions to recuse, twice, and denying me a constitutional appeal from another case, I wrote about that case here and here.

DiFiore also readily showed her corruption and payback to those who were backing her up, as well as her total lack of integrity and the fact that she is using her high position for her own personal gain in a court case I wrote about which DiFiore apparently fixed fixing for a gaming-regulator, the industry that supported DiFiore's benefactor NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo.

 DiFiore chose to hear a case of a subdivision of New York government where DiFiore's own husband Dennis Glazer worked and decided it in favor of her husband's agency.  DiFiore not only did not disqualify herself from that case, but wrote the opinion in that case favoring her husband's agency.  Not to mention that her husband was appointed to that agency by Cuomo after DiFiore saved Cuomo's hide from a corruption investigation by corrupt acts in her position as the Chairwoman of the New York Public Ethics Commission.  Talking about letting foxes into chicken coups.

To add to the picture, recently some reports emerged about Janet DiFiore's "generous donation" of $940,000 to law internships from her re-election campaign for the position of the Westchester County District Attorney.

The media so far tended to glorify that donation instead of characterizing it for what it is - improper allocation of donations to the election campaign.

Yet, the whole story about the donation - made in January of 2016, but filed and reported only in July of 2016, in obvious violation of the law that required to include the fact of the donation into the January, and not July report, begs investigation of the "donation" story.

DiFiore was given donation towards her re-election to the Westchester County DA's office.

I preserved the donation reports for Janet DiFiore available from the NYS Board of Elections before posting this blog, in view of the government's usual swiftness to remove potentially incriminating public records from public view.

When donations are made for a certain purpose and by certain individuals, and when the purpose to be re-elected for the Westchester DA's office is no longer a valid purpose because of the appointment of Janet DiFiore as New York State Chief Judge, donations had to be returned to those who gave them.

Yet, Janet DiFiore, instead of returning donations back to the donors, gave the donors' money to a certain non-profit, the Fund for the City of New York.

Here is the basic information about that nonprofit given by a major nonprofit database.

Here is the tax report form of that nonprofit from 2013 (the latest available online).

First of all, I doubt that Janet DiFiore had a right to give the donations to anybody other than the donors.

Of course, the donors are now hostages of Janet DiFiore's high status and may be afraid to say that the Chief Judge of the State of New York stole their money - money given towards her election campaign for the seat of the Westchester County DA - when Janet DiFiore was appointed the Chief Judge of the State and no longer wanted to be re-elected as Westchester County DA.

Yet, the donation that was made on January 19, 2016, ONE DAY BEFORE Janet DiFiore's confirmation hearing in New York State Senate.

Not too corrupt, is it?

While I lack information about the current officers and employees of the Fund for the City of New York, the latest published IRS report shows the following names (for 2013), and I doubt that those names changed, since people are usually carried out of these "funds" feet first:

I encourage my readers, as I will do myself, to research backgrounds of these people and their connections to:

(1) the NYS Senate;

(2) the NYS Senate's Judiciary Committee and its members;

(3) cases so far decided by Janet Difiore and her court.

I already wrote about one case that DiFiore apparently fixed - for an organization which is part of New York government where DiFiore's husband plays a major role.

With DiFiore's prior record of apparent corruption - which authorities apparently do not want to touch - DiFiore feels she can continue with her corrupt ways for an eternity.

I will publish results of my research into this interesting donation - as well as into whether there are connections between donations to DiFiore - made at any time to any of her election campaigns - and DiFiore's decisions as a judge or as a District Attorney.

That research requires a lot of work and time, and I request my reader's patience, but I will complete it and I will publish the results.

I can tell you right now that Janet DiFiore received donations towards her re-election as Westchester County DA every single year between 2006 and 2016, which seems extraordinary to me since the actional elections to that position happen only once in every 4 years.

Since donations went non-stop, it is interesting to see the backgrounds of those who financed DA DiFiore for her future re-election as Westchester County DA while she was already Westchester County DA.

I will publish my findings.

But, it is interesting to mention that recently, just a week ago, an FBI investigation was started against financial manipulations of public funds by a high-ranking judge in the State of Georgia, Judge Brenda Weaver.

Maybe, it is time for the FBI to look at DiFiore's "generous donation", too - as well as at DiFiore's prior and recent trail of apparent corrupt conduct?

Since her campaign fund does not have money any more, she will now have to find her own money, or more generous donors, to get her out of the mess she created and continues to create by her apparent dishonesty and greed.

Stay tuned.

When Social Services do not care about the law...

In fact, social services USUALLY do not care about the law - those who had the misfortune of having come in contact with this particular group of government, know it well.

One more example of that was reported to me from Delaware County, New York.

An individual carrying a child carrier tried to access the County building at 111 Main Street, Delhi, NY (the Department of Social Services and its official helpdesk is located on the 2nd floor of the building) - from the front door and from the back door.

It was reported to me that neither of the doors was equipped with handycap-accessible push-button on the wall allowing to open the door by pushing the button with, let's say, any body part, including simply leaning on that button - which would be ideal for a person carrying a baby carrier in one hand and a bag (for the baby and with documents) in another hand.

Moreover, the individual who reported the lack of the push-button, also told me that she was observed in her efforts to get through TWO doors located one after the other by several social workers, and NONE of them helped her out by holding the door for her.

Additionally, it was reported to me that the elevators that exist in the building, do not go into the basement where some depositions are held by the County for individuals who sue the County, thus precluding disabled individuals from access to those rooms in the basement.

Social Services were created in order to help people, right?

So, they are expected to comply with, at the very least, Americans with Disabilities Act - right?

And, since people who come to the helpdesk of Social Services at 111 Main Street, Delhi, NY, are often disabled or have small children, access to the building for the county where a multimilion budget is given every year to some pet non-profit corporations of Social Services, should be secured before a penny is expended towards those non-profits, right?

Right?

An update regarding the #ThiefJudgeBrendaWeaver of Georgia

I recently wrote several blogs about #JudgeBrendaWeaver of Georgia who publicly confessed of misuse of public funds, $17,000 to be exact that Judge Weaver authorized to be paid for private legal fees incurred in litigation fighting access to the court's records to verify whether a court transcript was altered to cut out a racial slur by another judge - who since resigned, see the latest blog here.

Since then, a request was made through a media post for Judge Weaver to resign her judicial position, and there is a report that the FBI is investigating court accounts that Judge Weaver mis-handled.

It is interesting to see whether Judge Weaver will actually be held accountable for her gross misconduct - or if she will be allowed to escape with a slap on the wrist, as it usually happened with judges involved in misconduct, and even in criminal conduct.

I will continue to cover this story.

Stay tuned.

The interview with "Justice Served with Andy Ostrowski"

On Juy 26, 2016, I appeared on the radio show "Justice Served" at the kind invitation of Andy Ostrowski who has run for the U.S. Congress on the platform of judicial reform.

The issues covered in the interview is access to justice and the impact of occupational regulation of the legal profession, and antitrust issues involved in such regulation, upon everday access to justice of all Americans.

The archive of the interview is available here.

Yay! We started to publicly discuss judicial misconduct - in cartoons. About murder cases in death penalty states. Where the only way a criminal defendant can call attention to ineffective assistance of counsel is to throw "F" words at the judge. And - the public is laughing...

A Utah judge, Scott Johansen, a white male, removed a foster child from a gay couple and placed the child with a heterosexual family citing her "research" that such a placement will be in the best interest of the child.

That is the same judge who sentenced a 13-year-old girl to 30 days' incarceration and 276 hours of community service for cutting the hair of a 3-year-old without her consent - and offered to the young defendant's mother a "deal", to humiliate the girl in the courtroom by cutting her own ponytail in exchange for a sentencing reduction.  Judge Johansen even provided scissors for the "ponytail-cutting sentence" - which was clearly in violation of 8th Amendment.

There were calls for the judge's impeachment, but Judge Johansen was not removed or disciplined.

A Michigan Judge Lisa Gorcyca, a white female, incarcerated three children because they refused to spend time with the father they claimed abused them and their mother - lashing out at the "disobedient children", including holding in contempt of court a child who was not subject to any court orders.

"Coincidentally", the lashing out against the child occurred after another child's testimony caused a million-dollar verdict against Gorcyca's husband, for wrongful incarceration of two parents and for splitting a family - exactly what Gorcyca did in retaliation, against a completely different family, see my blogs here and here.

Here are Judge Gorcyca with her former DA husband.

Judge Gorcyca was reprimanded for her shenanigans, but was met with a standing ovation in court arranged by herself, her husband and over 100 attorneys practicing in front of her - a real show of defiance and disregard of any discipline imposed on her.

A Texas judge Kerry Neves posted on Facebook a warning that he will not accept plea bargains in cases of assaults on police officers, a clear case of bias and prejudgment based on the identity and status of the alleged victims, and coupled that decision with an order indicating that he will not accept plea bargains in such cases unless there are "compelling reasons" for such bargains - but that order did not apply to criminal cases where the alleged victims were not police officers.

Judge Neves is a white male, and

a "true Republican we can trust" (whatever that means nowadays) who appealed to potential contributors to his election campaign with the following statement:

I guess, police officers and their associations or law firms representing them contributed generously.

Of course, the defense attorneys association stated that defense attorneys expect the judge to recuse from cases which he already prejudged, and, of course, the prosecutors said that the judge's statements did not affect his impartiality.

A federal judge in Milwaukee, Raymond Randa,

was just criticized by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit for engaging in "there went the neighborhood" reminiscences at sentencing, and in comments on protests in Baltimore regarding police brutality, which had nothing to do with the case.

The court said:

“A reference to general deterrence or protection of the public would have been proper, see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(B), (C), but blaming Robinson indiscriminately for everything wrong in that neighborhood would not.”

And, there is a recent report about shenanigans of a Wisconsin Judge James Troupis, who, as an attorney, was reportedly involved in secretive and politically charged redistricting scheme, and gave advice to detain Democratic Senators to prevent them from leaving the Senate during voting and preventing the vote from going through on quorum grounds.

Judge Troupis was, before he took the bench, reportedly a "leading attorney on conservative causes".

Judge Troupis resigned in May, claiming that the full-time judgeship position did not allow him to "attain to the estate of his mother, who has died last year".

Yet, as busy as Judge Troupis was with the estate of his mother, he still found time to waste taxpayers' money - and caused two people to incur giant attorney fees and made a little boy, at least temporarily, and unnecessarily, an orphan - because of his personal beliefs that having a child through a surrogate mother is a form of human trafficking.

Here is the hero, former judge James Troupis:

And, I recently wrote about a Kentucky judge Tim Philpot who wrote a book about his courtroom experiences and turned his court proceedings into a for-his-own-profit reality show.

A Georgia judge Bryant Durham Jr., who proudly makes known that he was raised by missionary parents, ordered criminal defendant in contempt, sentenced him to many days in jail, called him "looking like he is 'queer'" and discussing with the defendant that the defendant may be raped in prison - simply because the criminal defendant asked for a competent public defender, correctly stating that the public defender obtained just 4 pages through discovery, which is completely inadequate for effective defense in a murder trial.

The judge denied the defendant a new counsel, and mocked the defendant, through a series of question, trying to point out it would be stupid for the defendant to represent himself, but that the defendant has no other choice - either represent himself or accept the incompetent attorney Judge Durham imposed upon him.

The defendant then lashed out with a series of offensive and threatening comments about the judge, and the judge, instead of recusing, engaged in spewing vulgarities at the same level and punishing the defendant, while he was clearly biased and, as a victim of the defendant's threat, disqualified from continuing to preside over the case.

The result?

The media had a ball.

And, a cartoon was created based on the court transcript.

Ha-ha-ha.

The criminal defendant is spewing vulgarities at the judge.

Ha-ha-ha.

The judge is holding the criminal defendant who is threatening to kill the judge and his family in contempt, calls him "looking like a queer" and as much as promises him that he will be raped in prison.

The public is merrily laughing in the background, watching a merry cartoon.

A merry cartoon of a criminal defendant resorting to threats against the judge because the judge denied him effective representation in a murder trial - in a death penalty state.

Ha-ha-ha.

Here is the comic judge from the death penalty case in the State of Georgia, Bryant Durham Jr.

These are just the recent news reports about judicial misconduct.

All of judges involved are white, and predominantly male.

All are imposing their views upon litigants in the courtroom instead of doing their job - applying the law.

Some of the victims of judicial misconduct I described here are likeable, some are not.

But, the rule of law is the rule of law because it is supposed to equally apply to all, likeable and non-likeable people.

Early on in this blog, over 2 years ago, I wrote about a continued legal education (CLE) seminar for lawyers teaching them about the whims of judges - in order to win cases.

I wrote of a female attorney trying to cater to those whims to the point of considering a gender and voice-change surgery and undergoing transgender voice therapy - in order to survive in the old white religion-proselytizing Republican male-shauvinistic environment of "the law".

Remember that joke - "a good lawyers knows the law, a great lawyer knows the judge"?

Not funny.

Especially for pro se litigants or for those who have no money to respond with contributions to judicial campaigns.

I wrote at that point, and I continue to insist that judicial whims, personal views and preferences should be left outside of the courtroom.

Otherwise, we have what we have, as described above.  The rule of ...

We have a mess.