Murder of Old Classmates

I saw this article on Facebook over the weekend and it made lots of emotions get stirred up inside.

The article was posted as a link to the Davis Enterprise newspaper. It was about a man convicted of murder who had served about one year of his sentence and was being released by the Department of Corrections. Yeah, you read that correctly. Kill a guy and get charged with murder and convicted of manslaughter and serve a year and then go free!? I knew Governor Brown was letting folks go without serving their sentences but wow!

Here is part of the Enterprise article:

Jeffrey Lemus, who is about a year into his seven-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, has fewer than six months to live after being diagnosed with liver cancer and advanced cirrhosis, according to a compassionate release report prepared by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Although Lemus remains ambulatory and independent in his daily activities, “the progression of the disease is rapid with extreme unlikelihood of improvement,” CDCR Secretary Scott Kernan wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Judge David Reed, who is due to decide Nov. 6 whether Lemus’ sentence and prison commitment should be recalled.
Terminally ill prison inmate from Woodland may be released

So Mr. Lemus is sentenced on October 25, 2016 and on September 21, 2017, CDCR is looking to set him free. It’s not like the taxpayers are getting out of supporting this guy’s medical expenses so why kick him loose? So he can spend time with his family?

But the article gets better. The guy who was killed was Kelly Choate. I knew him. We went to elementary school together at Holy Rosary Catholic School. I remember he and his brother Barry and their sister.

“…an emotional Kasie Choate, the victim’s daughter, urged Reed to reject the CDCR petition and keep Lemus behind bars.”

“Whether he be healthy or fatally ill does not change the fact that he killed a person,” she added, noting that Lemus is still able to visit with his loved ones in prison. “What about my dad? He didn’t get that. He didn’t get a warning, a diagnosis of his last days. He didn’t get to prepare for his death.”

This tragedy is bad enough for the family it is not the only one:

Once again, tragedy has befallen the Choates.

The longtime Woodland family is mourning the death of Kelly Mason Choate, 53, who was fatally stabbed Saturday night during an altercation at Kenny’s Bar & Grill on East Street.

His death — which the suspect says resulted from an act of self-defense — comes nearly 29 years to the day after that of his twin brother, Barry Choate, whose 1986 Thanksgiving Day murder remains one of Woodland’s unsolved homicides.

“Their father has lost four sons,” Lisa Hulse, Kelly Choate’s ex-wife, said in a phone interview Monday. In addition to the twins, she said, two of their half-brothers have met untimely deaths, including one who passed away just a few months ago.

Barry Mason Choate was a month shy of 25 when a man searching for recyclables on the morning of Nov. 27, 1986, found his body on First Street south of Main. He’d been shot twice in the jaw and neck by a killer who’s never been identified.
Woodland homicide victim mourned; suspect claims self-defense

So the sister—whose name I have purposely omitted—has lost all four of her brothers, two to homicide. Wow. It’s spooky that I knew both men.

I can understand that Kelly’s family is distraught at the thought that his killer will not have to serve his sentence which they believe was lenient to start with. I’m sad for the family and hope that CDCR gets to hold Mr. Lemus a bit longer.

ESPN Promises Employee Christmas Axing

It’s earnings season for many companies and some are trying to stop the bleeding in time to affect their next quarterly reports. ESPN has done more number crunching as their viewers are still fading away and decided to ax more employees just before Christmas.

ESPN is planning another round of layoffs just six months after the network fired more than 100 employees, Sporting News reports.

Multiple sources told the sports news site that 40 to 60 people including on-air talent and radio personalities may be sent packing.

The layoffs could come as soon as late November or early December.

ESPN preparing for more layoffs, report says

Too bad they don’t quit cramming Liberal politics down viewer’s throats and just do sports. Sadly what isn’t politics these days on their network is chronicling the crime story of the day as these multimillionaire brats misbehavior on and off the field brings dishonor on the athletes that are supposed to be better than us in ways that used to be admirable.

Las Vegas Shooter

I have waited a while to mention this topic in hopes that facts would make for a better discussion but the number of Facts-capital “F” are frankly very few.

We know the following:
• The attack was premeditated
• The guy modified legally purchased weapons
• He had a laptop, a hammer, and many guns
• A chart for shooting that calculated for gravity acting on a bullet over distance was in the room
• It took 72 minutes from the first shots until the police breached the door where they found the man already dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot.

One last fact, the man was a perfectly rational Liberal. Why?
• He didn’t attend church
• Was not a militia member
• Was not a Trump supporter
• Was not a Republican

If any of the above was true, we would still be hearing about it.

Oh, he was a millionaire and registered to vote Democrat in Florida.

The autopsy showed that he had a “normal” brain.

Liberals—who deny the existence of evil—are mystified how to explain away this whole incident because it doesn’t fit their way of looking at the world. However, not allowing a crisis to go to waste, they began demanding that their god (government) take better care of them by demanding more stringent laws on law abiding citizens.

A friend’s daughter was at the concert that night as were some others that I am aware of. It is tragic but sadly more things like this will happen. Evil flourishes in a world that turns its back on God. Welcome to another judgment day.

Jon Fleischman goes full CRA at GOP Convention

The GOP convention took place in southern California this past weekend and what a doozy it was!  Steve Bannon—the former Trump advisor—did a keynote dinner which is surprising due to the number of people in the CAGOP that hate everything about him and President Donald J Trump.  This led to some interesting developments.

Former CRA President, Jon Fleischman did a full 180 on Trump. He put out an email to all of his “readers” saying Bannon was on fire, and on point lighting up the establishment!

Wait, full stop, isn’t this the same guy who skipped the Convention in Cleveland, Ohio as a delegate because he hated Trump?  Didn’t he spout off over and over again about how conservative “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz was?  He also basically quit the party and wanted to punt the election to Hillary Clinton so we could try again in 2020?  Wasn’t he a ringleader of the Never Trump faction of the Republican establishment? So now this same Fleischman wants us to believe that he supports the President?

In short ,Fleischman and others in the CRA like to pick winning horses after the race is run. This is not a principled stand. The truth is that Trump has proven more conservative than any candidate backed by Fleischman or CRA. It reminds me of the saying “Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan.” Jon is piling on the “Me Too” Express long after the train left the station. Where else could he go? There’s no way he can back the Republican Congress for advancing their agenda.

This is not an isolated example.  How many times did the CRA endorse Kevin McCarthy?  He is no conservative.  However, every time he’s in front of a microphone McCarthy calls himself a conservative. He proudly said so on many occasions this past weekend. Truth is that Keven has never met a conservative that he wasn’t more than happy to throw under the bus to advance himself.

Fleischman and CRA endorsed John McCain and Mitt Romney, because they would rather jump on the bandwagon than stand for any principles.  The CRA and Fleishman were so cocksure Trump would lose the Presidential contest that most didn’t even vote in the November election; Fleischman proudly admitted this on his blog!  The CRA—like Fleishman and the CAGOP—are trying to act as if they were behind Trump from the get go but they weren’t unless they mean behind Trump the way the Roman Senate was behind Julius Caesar one March 15th many years ago.

Trump did exactly what he said he would do in DC, drain the swamp; I—just like William—believe he is shining a light on the swamp!  Trump is exposing the liars and the charlatans that claim to be conservatives, but are frauds.  The whole Republican establishment is running like cockroaches that were caught in the light when asked to enact their campaign promises into law. Talk about duck and cover! Notice that not a single congressperson from the Orange County area—where the convention was held—showed up?  The four of them know their careers are in peril and wanted no part of Bannon calling them out in front of convention attendees.

The point of this post is that next time you see or hear a CRA member or CAGOP member talking up their conservative credentials; don’t believe them, they are just wolves in sheep clothing.  Actually better yet, they are lambs in wolves clothing.  This group will always run from their conservative talking points and endorse or back someone who has no credentials at all such as Ted Cruz.  It’s over for CAGOP and CRA. They should just pack up their tent and go home.  And Fleischman, do everyone a favor next convention, have a flip-flop party for Trump on your own dime, or even better change your blog from the “Flash Report” to beliefs you can change in
…in a flash.

“X”

NFL Bleeds Greenbacks

Not surprisingly, the NFL is bleeding cash as a result of dissing the national anthem.

Remember the axiom, he who defines the issue, wins the debate. Kneeling was originally ill defined as a full throated support of killing police because a few of them may have done “the wrong thing” while on duty. Much of this was based on lies that were popularized without vetting the evidence. Yet another example of not letting facts get in the way of a good narrative. Yes, there are examples of police wrongdoing but they are few compared to the number of people wearing a badge and protecting our communities. Few of these are motivated by race contrary to what Kap and BLM said.

Tying the NFL to a race issue in this way is stupid because the overwhelming majority of players are minorities in privileged positions. I don’t think most even know why they are kneeling except because they don’t like Trump. Trump called them out and a hell broke loose. As Merle Haggard once said:

“When they’re runnin’ down our country, man
They’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me.”

This is what Trump saw and he also saw that the NFL refused to police their own and said what he thought. Their problem is how to get back on track and not look like President Trump is right. Whether you like him or not, Trump is on the right side of this issue and so, thankfully are many Americans.

The field of play in a sport is not the forum for individual expression. In fact on a team, you should expect to have to watch what you say and how you behave. You represent the team 24/7. The NFL has refused to hold players to account for many years, some of us have finally had enough.

Hey NFL, if you respected anything other than money, this never would have happened. First rule of holes is quit digging. Anyway, the fallout has started to hit the broadcast networks.

CBS earnings to disappoint due to weak NFL ratings, Credit Suisse says

The analyst said CBS’ Sunday NFL ratings are down 17 percent year over year during the first several weeks of the football season, according to the report. Sheikh released a similar report last week on Twenty-First Century Fox’s earnings, which he also expects to disappoint thanks to weaker ratings by the NFL.

NFL on its Knees

Lest you thought fielding players with multiple felonies, dissing the national anthem, and concussions are the only issues facing the NFL try again.

Here are two stories that you might have missed:

1 The NFL is facing strong headwinds trying to sell tickets in California. None of the four NFL teams in California is prospering.

California’s Breakup With the NFL

The 49ers have ceded Bay Area primacy to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. The average ticket price on the secondary market for 49ers home games has dropped 32.5% since they moved to Levi’s Stadium in 2014, according to Jesse Lawrence, founder of TicketIQ, a search engine that aggregates ticket listings.

This year, attendance has cratered. Through the Rams’ first three home games, they have averaged just 59,162 fans per game—which leaves a vast emptiness in the NFL’s largest stadium, which can hold more than 93,000.

2 In addition to all this, the Raiders have apparently been caught throwing a game because their white quarterback stood for the national anthem.

Dereck Carr, the QB for the Oakland Raiders, Is said To Have Been Punished By Black Teammates For Standing For Anthem — Makes Stunning Admission Of What Else They Did To Him

Last week, it was revealed that the Oakland Raiders offensive line, who are all African-American, may have intentionally allowed their star quarterback, Derek Carr, their white teammate, to get sacked multiple times because he would not to take a knee during the national anthem prior to the Oakland Raiders playing the Washington Redskins.

It was even reported that an unidentified Oakland Raiders player said of Derek Carr, “If he wants to stand alone for the national anthem, he can stand alone on the field.”
Did the Oakland Raiders Throw Games to Punish Their White QB — Derek Carr for Standing For Anthem?

NFL = ESPN = The CRA

First of all to let our loyal readers know your humble blogger has returned as internet and power have been restored to the underground bunker here at the X residence.  No word about a hurricane at a local tavern taking place, but a hurricane at a commode did take place; but on to the point of this post. 

The NFL has had a disastrous first couple of weeks and it has only gotten worse from there.  The games have been entertaining—even decent I would say—but the shenanigans surrounding the national anthem are a disgrace.  Ratings are down over 10% from last year; this sounds like a fledging cable channel (ESPN) right?  This past weekend over 100 players refused to stand for the national anthem, and in my opinion that’s ok I guess, because we believe in freedom of speech.  Taking a knee is very disrespectful do not get me wrong; but even worse is holding a fist in the air a la the Black Panther symbol, or sitting on a bench eating.  Both of which have been demonstrated last couple weeks.

Perhaps even more disturbing, the NFL plays a couple games in London a year apparently, and the players continued to kneel for the national anthem, yet stood for God Save the Queen!  So let me get this straight, protest a democracy, respect a monarchy?  Just for the information of many, these protesting players make more money in one year than most Americans will ever earn over the course of their entire lifetimes!  Also anyone take notice that they have never said what they are protesting, also notice the time that protests started?  Both coincide with the rise on one Donald J Trump as both a candidate and nominee for President.  Protesting President Trump, I think that’s okay, but totally contradictory to the stance many of you took when Barack Obama was President!  Remember if anyone said anything bad about him we were racists, etc.  Interesting, we were told to fall in line under Obama, under Trump we are told we have to co-exist!

The NFL is just beginning to feel the brunt of this protesting, and it’s going to get far worse before it gets any better!  Did anyone see the fans demonstrating during and after the games, as well as throughout the week?  Fans ripped up their season tickets (These are not cheap I may add) torched their jerseys (Just like the CRA torched their principles) and have stopped tuning in to the games themselves.  AT&T subsidiary DirecTV is offering a full refund to anyone who purchased their product NFL Sunday Ticket due to the protests.  This is unheard of from a cable company!  Two sponsors of the NFL have pulled their ads from appearing during the games and more are likely on the way.  One of X’s spies, let’s call her a FOX (Friend of X) has even told me the NFL owners are panicking to the point they wanted players to wear a patch that said “Team America” on their jerseys last weekend!

NFL Team America: Putting the F in you

This shows a ship with no captain heading straight for the proverbial iceberg; much like the CRA (Which I left 3 years ago, because I knew this meltdown was coming).

This became a problem with the NFL—just like it has with ESPN—because neither know the temperament of either their audience or fans.  NFL fans tend to be more conservative; which is why I am not sure why the NFL didn’t do more to address these protests before they became an issue.  The fans booed the protesting players and the NFL and the players came back saying they were praying… sounds bogus to me.  One former NFL player was given a segment on ESPN saying how standing for the national anthem is not any different from wearing the flag as a shirt or bikini.  My rebuttal to that player is I don’t think anyone considers a shirt or a swimsuit an act of disrespecting the flag, kneeling is.

Anyone notice the players never defined their protest?  Was in police brutality?  Black Lives Matter?  Donald Trump? Inequality?  The problem when you do not define your movement, the public, or the powers that be; will do that for you.  Donald Trump did, after it appear the owners and the commissioner had become squishy, Trump labeled the protest as disrespecting the flag and the country—which it does.  Since Trump’s comments, the tables started to turn, the players never reacted and now Jerry Jones and Stephen Ross, two powerful owners; have said to their players “Stand for the anthem or you won’t play.”  The players didn’t define their movement, so others did it for them!

Maybe the CRA should consult with these players since they hate Donald “the dictator” Trump as well.  Trust me I was at the endorsing convention, Cruz had no chance to be nominated, yet was overwhelmingly endorsed. Also, concerning two members from the local Sacramento chapter, I would love to debate anything I have written on this blog with you, but I’m sure you’re still busy working on your “resolution to admonish the cap and traitors.”

Phone Calls You Don’t Want To Get: Your Doctor

Friday, I got another call that you never want to get. This is the second one this year. The last one was from my son’s school saying he was injured. This one was from Kaiser. Kaiser never calls with good news, they send that via email or snail mail. The person on the other end of the phone was from the dermatology department. She was calling to give me the news that my biopsy came back positive for cancer. Yeah, I have melanoma which is a type of skin cancer. About half an hour later I’m on the phone with another person scheduling surgery for later this week.

This is all a bit of a shock but I’m trying to get a handle on the news. Not surprisingly, Kaiser won’t make this easy to research. They will not email me anything about the results nor send it to me via snail mail. In fact, there is no trace of the results anywhere on their secure patient website. No, instead I must go there in person during regular business hours to get a copy of the lab results. They are saying it’s because of HIPAA laws but that’s BS as best as I can determine. I think it’s to cover their exposure to liability by not giving me anything in writing; if the communication stays verbal it’s my word against theirs. Also, Kaiser is actuarial driven. They are run by bean-counters not motivated by patient care. Look at their business model, their staff is paid the same whether they see me or not so what’s the incentive to treat me? Ditto for tests, they will always choose the cheap test before the conclusive one if the price variance is great enough.

Oh, thus far, I have yet to see a doctor during the process of being diagnosed with cancer, everyone thus far is a PA (physician’s assistant) including the guy giving me the surgery later this week. The people there are nice but if they invoke the “C” word, don’t you think that merits seeing the M.D.? If patient care means proving to the patient that you care, I’m still waiting.

NFL Meltdown Continues

Here’s the headline that should scare the you know what out of the NFL ownership:
Shock poll: NFL now least liked sport, core fans down 31%

Over just one month of player, coach, and owner protests of the flag and National Anthem, the National Football League has gone from America’s sport to the least liked of top professional and college sports , according to a new poll.

And still the NFL won’t take back the game.

Then today, Vice President Mike Pence leaves Colts-49ers game after players kneel during anthem

“I left today’s Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem,” Pence tweeted.

Folks, the NFL needs to do more than enforce their rule that players must stand for the national anthem—which it does say but is clearly not enforced—they own the American people and especially veterans an apology.

Here’s more from the NFL:

Jerry Jones: Cowboys will bench any player who ‘disrespects’ flag

Kaepernick willing to go anywhere for a job
Colin Kaepernick details desire to play, workout regimen

Hey, Kap, I think Chick-fil-A is hiring