Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill Pigweed and Crowhill

Trump was recently convicted of 34 felony violations realted to falsifying business records in order to influence the 2016 election.

We've now had our first political show trial where those in power go against their political opponents.

Welcome to Venezuela.

Democrats keep telling us to that Donald Trump will use the power of government to take revenge against his political enemies. But isn't that precisely what we're seeing right now?

Biden has nothing to run on except lawfare against Trump, so he has weaponized the justice system against Donald Trump.

We keep hearing about “election interference," but this is it.

Here are some of the reasons this is all bogus.

The prosecutor (Alvin Brag) was political, ran on a platform to get Trump, and revived goofy charges that had already been investigated and found empty.

Judge Merchan was political.

* He had financial conflicts of interest involving his daughter, who is raising money on this issue.

* He donated money to anti-Trump political effort.

* He imposed a gag order on Trump.

* He excluded defense witnesses

* He preferred the prosecution in motions.

* He allowed the salacious testimony of Stormy Daniels (which is very similar to why the Weinstein convinction was overturned).

* He gave very strange jury instructions

This was a political jury.

There was no crime specified. The entire prosecution was based on a new and novel legal theory.

“The underlying crime is seemingly a minor misdemeanor – falsifying business records – which long ago expired under the statute of limitations. In order to turn it into a felony within the statute of limitations, prosecutors will have to show that Trump falsified the records in order to impact his election, thus constituting a federal election felony. …The problem is, however, that federal authorities have not prosecuted Trump for this federal election crime. Moreover, state prosecutors have no jurisdiction over federal election law. Finally, we were not even clear, when the trial began, as to precisely which federal election laws the District Attorney was relying on. ” –Dershowitz

This case would never have been brought against anyone but Trump. This is selective prosecution and sounds suspiciously like "show me the person and I'll find the crime."

The boys drink and review Depth Perception IPA by Terrapin Brewing, then discuss recent efforts to create a universal digital ID.

So much of daily life now requires a smart phone, an app, an account, ... Sometimes you can't even print out tickets. You have to have your phone. (Is it charged? Does it have service?)

You can't drive without a transponder to pay tolls.

We're leaving a permanent digital record of everything we do. But that's not enough. Governments are pushing us towards a single digital ID to have "completely transparency." Everyone will know everything you do -- and if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't
worry about that, right?

No. The people who will have access to all your private data have biases and agendas. Sometimes they'll be your enemy. With enough information, someone will be able to find a case against you. "Show me the man and I'll find the crime."

Also, this single repository will be hacked. Identity theft is already bad enough. Once we have digital IDs, the problem will multiply.

P&C drink and review All Purpose Pils, an Italian-style pilsner by DC Brau, then discuss the controversey over Kansas City Chief's kicker Harrison Butker and his recent commencement speech.

Was it a mild-mannered, pro-family talk, or raging hate speech? That's the problem we face today. It's both -- depending on whether you're a sane person or a hair-on-fire liberal who listens to The View.

Butker is a conservative Catholic, and he speaks like one.

Are conservative Catholics allowed to speak their mind in public? Some people would say no.

The most important job in the history of mankind has been making babies and raising them to be productive members of society. Somehow that idea has become hate speech.

Butker gave a conservative Catholic message to a conservative Catholic audience. Why is that a problem?

The "tolerant" liberals can't abide it. Nobody is allowed to have (and certainly not speak) an opinion that hurts their feelings.

The lesson is clear. Modern culture is steeped in feminism, and if you speak against it, you're an enemy.

P&C drink and review a dark lager from Guilford brewing, then recount their recent journey to Reading PA to hear Jordan Peterson on his "We who struggle with God" tour. Longinus was unable to attend, but contributes to the conversation.

Jordan Peterson is famous for being cagey about his religious beliefs, but recently he's been a little more straight forward, and almost evangelical. P&C expected Dr. Peterson to make his case for the existence of God.

They enjoyed the talk, but it wasn't what they expected.

The show started with some live music, then an intro by Dr. John Vervake, who is somewhat of a fellow traveler with Peterson.

Dr. Peterson adopted the theme of sacrifice for the evening's talk, and told stories about sacrifice: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel.

It was all good stuff, and classic Peterson, but he didn't set out what P&C expected, which was to give an argument for the necessity of God.

The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew clone of Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss a novella from John Steinbeck as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.

After a brief biographical review of Steinbeck, the boys discuss the basic story, then their impressions of the book and its characters.

The novel begins with a description of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, during the Great Depression. The row is a small, tight-knit community centered around sardine canneries, inhabited by colorful characters.

Most of the story centers around Doc, a marine biologist, and Mack and the boys, who are collection of good-natured ne'er-do-wells.

P&C drink and review Crowhill’s homebrewed Tavern Ale, then discuss evolution. 

They start with a quick review of Darwin and his times and how scientists were slowly coming to the realization that the origin of the earth and life spanned a far longer time span than the Bible seemed to allow. 

There are still a lot of things we don’t know about our history, but there are some things we know for sure. 

* The earth is old. 

* Life is old (maybe a billion years). 

* Most creatures that have lived have gone extinct. 

* Creatures have changed over time. 

* Evolution seems to explain certain things about modern biology. 

Other things remain debatable, such as the question of what drives the changes. Modern evolutionary theory seems to be struggling with this question right now. P&C have their doubts about the modern consensus that random genetic mutation is the stuff of evolution. 

P&C try to work through the issues, balancing philosophy, science, and common sense.