12 March 12023

☉   12 March 12023 is the World Day Against Cyber Censorship. It’s also New Year (Aztecs), Arbor Day (China and Taiwan), National Day (Mauritius), and Youth Day (Zambia). Famous people born on this date include Jack Kerouac (11922) and Edward Albee (11928). The day’s saint is Theophanes the Confessor, whose Chronicle preserved a wealth of information about the past even if he contributed little or nothing of his own to it. Calendars: JD 2460016, 19 Adar 5783, 27 February (O.S.) or 12 March (N.S.) 2023, 3 Megabit 2015, 21 Phalguna 1944, 3 Paremhat 1739, 19 Sha'aban 1444, and 21 Esfand 1401.

On this day in history (11969) Norman Pilcher led a raid on guitarist George Harrison’s house in which officers allegedly found hashish hidden in one of his shoes. It’s hard to believe; as I know from personal experience police officers are perfectly capable of finding controlled substances in impossible places, and will unnecessarily lie under oath at the drop of a hat. Even without the slightest evidence there is no doubt in my mind that Pilcher was crooked as hell and was doubtless lying with every word he spoke—which is one reason why I should never be on a jury for a drug-possession case. Or indeed on a jury in any case where the testimony of the police is a deciding factor. I personally have never seen a police officer tell the truth on the stand about an event I had witnessed and knew the truth of—and therefore am doubtless biased about such events. I mean, there must be some police officers who tell the truth under oath, even if I personally have never witnessed it. Be that as it may, Harrison moved in circles where hashish was smoked, and undoubtedly had a stash of it—so there’s that. Even if this particular “discovery” was planted, as it no doubt was, the guy was guilty of violating the statute in question. And unlike most of us, he was in an excellent position to fight back. So, you know, my personal sympathy is mixed. Bad laws make bad officers at the best of times, and both breed cynicism amongst the rest of us, who may be called upon to act as referees, whether legal or historical. Given the situation—Harrison knew damn well the raid was coming, he had made sure his house was clean, Pilcher was under extreme necessity of not screwing this up—my strong hunch is that the illicit substance was planted. I mean, who in hell would hide drugs in a shoe? Unless, maybe, it was accidental, and some hashish just happened to fall into a shoe and be overlooked in the process of cleaning up. Something like that. But to me it sounds more like something that would occur to an officer of the law than something that would happen in the course of whatever. And Pilcher’s no longer with us. I’d say that the likelihood of him ever salvaging whatever reputation he had is minimal, at best—even if he did actually find what he claimed to have found. It’s too much of a stretch.