True Americans are rightfully scared to death when the Kentucky legislature meets.

China announced that it would do a trade deal with the United States but only if we showed more concerns about human rights. They cited, for example, the bill that was filed in the Kentucky legislature which would allow a policeman to stop anybody, anywhere, if he didn’t like their looks, demand to know what they are doing and thinking, and if not satisfied take the citizen into custody for up to 2 hours, unless of course the citizen is wearing a hoodie in which case he could just go ahead and shoot him.

This bill was withdrawn, but is merely one of the reasons why true Americans are rightfully scared to death when the legislature meets. The hearts of good men tremble when that bunch gets together.

China should mind its own business. That sounds like a good law, right up there with Marsy’s Law. If a person is not doing anything wrong or thinking against the public will, he or she ought not mind that a policeman is being watchful.

Of course Marsy will get her law passed. There resides in every legislator a combination of a little stupid and a little scared and Marsy is as irresistible as it is damaging. It is designed to pit the families of victims of crime against the families of the accused at every court hearing and the judge gets to pick sides. The hard part is that, until somebody is convicted, you don’t know if there is a victim or who they are a victim of. Know what I mean?

We were able to show the Chinese some progress. For instance, in Martin County, Kentucky, there are apparently prosecutors and judges who have actually read the laws on bail and go by them. In Martin County water must be bought and costs more than your check, and if you have to steal a weedeater and sell it to pay your water bill, at least you will not lay in jail before trial. Most of our state and local budgets are being busted because judges presume people to be either guilty or rich.

The rich do not sit in jail.

The Chinese also like a new program we have called Moral Recognition Therapy, which sounds for the world like what the Chinese do to those not Communist enough. State prisoners in Kentucky can go through 26 weeks of redirection, or as Jesco White would say, trying to get them to be better than they are, and if they complete the course, and say the right things they get out early to put to use all that advanced knowledge of crime they learned in the joint.

Those of us who want some restriction on gun use had better think twice. If we are going to allow the police the right to summarily arrest people whose looks they don’t like, then we are going to need those guns some day.

There is a bright side. This new idea in Washington of having a trial with no witnesses could be very favorable to the criminal element. With no evidence, the Republicans can feel pretty good about their verdict, which is just as predictable as the ones I used to not get when I would sue the high sheriff when one of his deputies beat the crap out of somebody annoying.

Larry Webster is a Pikeville attorney.