Really Right – Page 83 – Religion, Politics, and Culture: Explained and Defined

PG&E Has Failed…..What is Next?

Pacific Gas & Electric–also known as the “Firestarter” for causing too many fires this past decade–has announced that it intends to split off its natural gas division and/or file for bankruptcy protection. This is a direct result of actions taken Thursday, January 3^rd, by the largest insurance companies in the state; Allstate, State Farm General, and USAA filling suit to recover damages incurred by the Camp Fire.

Insurers sue PG&E over damage caused by Camp Fire

The Camp Fire for those of you who; live under a rock, vote democrat, or are related to a Park Brother, is the fire that burned all of Paradise and Magalia late last year. The fire was started by a spark at a PG&E power generating facility, which had a myriad of maintenance issues by the way. The utility could be on the hook for over $15 billion in damages from fires over the last two years alone, an amount that could well exceed the company’s total value.

How did we get here you may ask? In short, California has a strange law (only 1 other state has it as well) called inverse liability. This law applies to utilities in the state, basically saying, if there is any chance your power lines/equipment may have caused the fire, you are 100% liable for all the damage. In the fires in Sonoma and Napa in 2017, as well as the Camp Fire in 2018, it appears PG&E will be liable for all damages under this law. So, whether the cause was sparks from a generator in Concow this year, a tree falling on a transmission line in Napa, or a short in the line in Sonoma, PG&E is on the hook, not your insurance company. Additionally, because this is set law, no judge will overturn this, or rule in the utility’s favor.

As a result of these liabilities, PG&E late Friday night began to look to implement “Project Falcon” named for the Peregrine Falcons that land on top of the San Francisco HQ’s roof. Project Falcon includes selling off their prime real estate in San Francisco and relocating elsewhere in the Bay Area. Maybe they should relocate somewhere less expensive…like I don’t know….ANYWHERE ELSE! It includes finding additional board members and directors with a background in safety…..yeah probably should have done this after San Bruno, but ok. In addition, they are looking to sell off/spin off their natural gas operations; i.e. the gas part of your bill.

Is PG&E Dropping The ‘G’? Source Says The Utility Is Exploring Selling Off Natural Gas Division

This I have no opinion on, the entire company is ethically and morally bankrupt so I don’t know if two companies are better than one, but I digress. Actually, they lobbied State Senator Bill Dodd (D-Soviet Berkeley) to pass legislation to absolve them of all liability from fire stemming from their electrical lines. While Dodd may have been their puppet for a year, the bill went nowhere, and he has since reversed his stance calling PG&E one of the most corrupt companies he has ever dealt with. I guess the check never cleared the bank?

This issue is actually very complex, and I see it two ways:

On one hand, PG&E like other utilities are a legalized monopoly governed by a state regulator who essentially tells them how much they can charge and how much they can make. The other problem is their service territory is very large; they have over 5 million electricity customers in their territory. In addition, most of their territory is rural, meaning they must bury their lines (very expensive) or have them on towers running through heavily wooded areas or rugged terrain.

For example, PG&E must somehow get power to the town of Biggs. Since this is part of their service area, they must run power lines there or have a generation plant for this community. Let’s say that they run electrical transmission lines there and create a defensible space of call it 20 feet on both sides of the lines. In theory, that is all well and good, but along the route of the transmission lines are 100-foot-tall trees. When the trees fall or large branches break off and knockdown the lines, perhaps as the result of a storm or disease, not only could they disrupt power but might start a fire. Since the transmission lines belong to PG&E, they own the resulting repair costs even if it was not directly their fault. While I do not feel sorry for them, the job is not very easy, especially when you are a monopoly and have no choice but to provide electrical and natural gas service.

On the other hand, I’m sorry; you are without a doubt the most ethically bankrupt company in the state, and by a wide margin. When the San Bruno pipe blast occurred, your company never admitted or accepted blame, they passed it off and gave traditional corporate speak answers.

That pipe rupture and explosion killed people, and you were caught lying to a judge when they discovered the pipe was essentially “frankensteined” by welding together a bunch of scrap pieces.

You decided to save face by running a bunch of feel good ads on TV essentially saying you are working harder than ever to keep our communities safe….liars! The fires in Sonoma, Napa and Paradise killed many people. This is a direct result of a total lack of maintenance and integrity. As much as I do not wish to see my gas provider go bankrupt or be split up/sold/etc. they need to be held accountable. So far, they never have been. I had to watch your annoying commercials then watch a town go up in flames because of your equipment and lack of accountability to your rate payers. When it came time for maintenance or tree trimming, I’m sure you just had a single employee check it, initial a log and move on to the next site. Rather than have a cross checker or someone to make sure the work was actually done, it was ignored, and people lost lives/homes and possessions as a result. Shame on you. You never learned your lesson, you just continue to repeat the same mistakes just hoping for a different outcome.

The Blog Father and I agree on several things involving this corporation. First, it will be interesting to see how the bankruptcy proceedings handle what is likely a much-underfunded union pension plan for employees. This state is very pro-union, and like most utilities, PG&E is very heavily unionized. If the state swoops in and takes them over, do the union pensions get bailed out by the taxpayers? Does the state bail the company out? It will be fun to watch. If the company splits, how does the gas company make it on its own? Natural gas prices are literally at their lowest levels and it has been this way a long time. Also, what happens to both companies? Splitting up is an easy temporary solution but the problems will still exist. Finally does the company even know what it actually owns or has infrastructure wise? Some of these lines were laid decades and decades ago underground. As a matter of fact, PG&E scoped the sewer lines in both our neighborhoods recently for some unknown reason. As I stated earlier no one even knows what this company has infrastructure wise or the length of time it is guaranteed to work for. My suspicions are that huge portions of underground infrastructure in this state are decades past their useful life and in need of replacement.

Here is what needs to happen:
CEO Geisha Williams needs to be led out in handcuffs, she may not work in the field but she as CEO is the captain of the ship and sadly the ship has been taking on water for too long. The failures happened under her watch. Come out and admit your failures and shortcomings in the maintenance division. Allow a judge to investigate the senior management including any supervisor in the areas where the issues occurred. The Public Utility Commission (PUC) should be allowed nowhere near this, they have direct oversight of all CA utilities and have been asleep at the switch. Talk directly to the ratepayers, PG&E’s electric rates are among the highest in the country, yet the upkeep has lacked badly. In addition, please stop running your statewide propaganda commercials about how safe you are and how you are removing tree branches to keep us safe. They are just that…propaganda. Thanks to your negligence, many people lost everything, some even paid with their own lives. Oh, and take a look at what you have done to your stockholders this past year. In addition to a free-falling stock price, your bond rating was cut to junk, and you eliminated the dividend–a traditional hallmark of all utility stocks…good thing I was never an owner!

Geisha Williams presides over PG&E’s scorching of California

What is going to happen:
Xavier Becerra is going to take a break from suing Donald Trump and the feds for a minute to take up an investigation and sue PG&E. I guess that’s a good thing because he won’t be wasting taxpayer dollars for a bit, but isn’t this too little too late? I thought the job of government was supposed to be oversight? Instead they just read and react, suing after the fact to get their pound of flesh. Apparently, even your corporate record of supporting Liberal causes with large campaign contributions can’t buy you enough goodwill to get out of this mess. I’m still angry that you gave large sums of ratepayer money to fight against traditional marriage back when we were voting for Prop 8. Any linkage between electricity usage and what ratepayers do with their reproductive organs is beyond my comprehension, but then I don’t live in San Francisco.

Becerra is talking about criminal charges against the corporation…how does that work? Send the transformer to jail? Put the power lines on supervised probation? Get it together! Sadly, I forsee a government owned utility coming soon to every part of the state near you, that includes you Southern CA Edison customers, your utility is in only slightly better shape. I offer up this evidence, PG&E wants to split into 2 companies as discussed above; gas and electric being separate. This runs against the current trend of electric utilities buying gas utilities, also both companies have a record of serious neglect for safety of its customers. The state knows this. They also know that PG&E has a very underfunded pension, and its bond credit rating has been cut to junk, essentially meaning the company faces insolvency very soon. Enter the State of California, coming in hot with a bailout, keeping the union workers happy, just simply folding them into CALPers. I’m sure the state looks at the electric rates charged by PG&E and salivates over being able to add that kind of coin to the general fund each month. Gov. Newsome is on his way to state run healthcare, might as well make utilities the same way, this way they can make you install solar, and simply take it and not pay you.

Conclusion:
I think the answer lies somewhere in between these two scenarios. I see the state essentially “parting out” PG&E. In the past (2005), SMUD put out a study and a ballot initiative to annex Davis and Woodland as mentioned above. PG&E spent big to defeat it. I think this plan could come back to fruition. I could see the State selling off the territory to SMUD under an agreement that SMUD also take the surrounding rural areas and agree to a massive overhaul of the maintenance of existing infrastructure.

I see this scenario playing out all over the state to be honest. I don’t really see criminal charges, but I do see a major fine coming. When you look at PG&E’s service territory you can also see a case to break up the company into about 3 – 4 smaller companies, similar to AT&T’s breakup. Bottom line, this company needs to be gone ASAP and take all their employees with them. This has to be the most corrupt company in CA history.

Bruce Jenner Sign, When Proclaiming Truth is Hurtful

Lake Shastina is a little hole in the wall community northeast of Weed, California and south of the Oregon border. The area is full of old hippies from the 1960’s (and their descendants) and also a mix of farmers and people once associated with the logging industry. It is an eclectic mix of folks.

Lake Shastina finds itself in the news because the Truth is offensive to those that choose to embrace lies. In this case, a local church has put up a sign that has got a few pagans and Liberals up in arms. The purpose of such signs is twofold, give information about what the church is doing or what they believe—commonly called outreach. In this instance the Church sign reads:

Bruce Jenner is still a man
Homosexuality is still a sin
The culture may change but the Bible does not

The church’s pastor, Justin Hoke, said he expected “flack” regarding the sign’s message, but believes it is poignant because it “rebukes sin” and calls people to repentance.
“It is not possible to preach the gospel in short pithy statements. I have used this sign for seven years now to provoke reflection or make a strong point about a single truth,” Hoke wrote on Facebook. “Such as this one: ‘The culture does not determine truth, God does.’ … The funny thing is, I could have put those words up and no one would have cared. Why? Because it does not rebuke sin or call anyone to repentance. The church has lost its saltiness and I fully expect to get as much or more flack from the visible church as I am getting from the world.”
In that same Facebook thread, Hoke posted, “The response we’re receiving from this sign proves that it was posted way too late. If a conservative mountain farming community is no longer a safe place to call sin, sin, then is anywhere in this country still safe for real Christians?”

Lake Shastina Church Sign Sparks Protest

Three people organized a protest of the sign and now its national news. Why?

California church draws backlash for sign: ‘Bruce Jenner is still a man’

One protester, worried about what the church message conveys to youth, described the sign as “an amplified voice telling [those youth], ‘You’re wrong.’”

All three propositions are true so what’s the issue? Oh yeah, this is California so I guess I do have to defend each just because…

Statement One
Bruce Jenner is still a man. Here’s the offensive part, God made him a man. No manner how much Jenner has paid to have himself mutilated and pumped full of hormones, biologically and genetically he is still male.

That Jenner has mental and spirit problems is tragic. To be human is to be an image bearer of God. Jenner can’t hurt God so he attacks Him by attacking His image bearer, in this case himself. God is the primary victim of this and every crime, Jenner is a secondary victim to this rebellion.

Statement Two
Homosexuality is still a sin. Homosexuality is not only a sin in both the Old and New Testaments, per Romans chapter one, it is a judgement upon men for exchanging the Truth of God for a lie.

Homosexuality was common in the period when the New Testament was written. If you look at Paul’s arguments in Romans, in chapter one he takes the Greco-Roman world to task for rejecting God and then in chapters two and three, he takes on the Jews of his day that think themselves religious and concludes that they too fall short of God’s standard. Toward the end of chapter three he concludes in verse 23:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

As you continue reading, Paul lays out the case that we cannot save ourselves and only Jesus can save us. So while chapter one condemns homosexuality, the rest of the book presents the case that all people are sinners and need Jesus.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11, Paul points out “And such were some of you”. His point is God can save and redeem even the worst of us.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Statement Three
The culture may change but the Bible does not. God doesn’t change. You can look at creation and see that there was a designer (Romans 1) but to have a relationship with Him requires special revelation. God’s special revelation, the Bible, is the standard by which we are measured and as stated above, we all fall short. That doesn’t make His standard wrong, just us.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Hebrews 13:8

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
2 Timothy 3:16 -17

The point is not to call everybody wrong but to call people to repentance. Repentance means that you are sorry for your sin; turn around, you’re going the wrong way.

Stop running from God but instead embrace Him. Jesus is the only way to the Father.

The church message is not a message of hate, it is a warning that people that are going the wrong way and that they need to repent.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 14:12

Which is more loving, seeing someone heading straight to hell and say nothing or warn them to turn around before it’s too late.

Netflix Hires A.I. to Track Customers

Skynet is tracking you if you are a Netflix subscriber. OK, it’s not really steel robots with automatic weapons kicking in your door for violating their terms of service but it’s close.

The way it works, is that streaming service companies hire the UK firm Synamedia that uses AI, behavioral analytics and machine learning to monitor and analyse password sharing activity across user accounts, identify the rule breakers and detect the fine line between finding account sharers and harassing a customer.
“For example, the solution can determine whether users are viewing at their main home and a holiday home, or whether they have shared credentials with friends or grown-up children who live away from home.

If You Share Netflix Password With Others, an AI Could Hunt You Down

If you let your kids watch your Netflix account, they may be looking for you.

Research quoted by Synamedia reported that younger generations are used to accessing streaming services for free and rarely become paying customers.
The company revealed that 26% of millennials share passwords for video streaming services, while economic predictions indicate that in 2021, $9.9 billion of pay-tv revenues and $1.2 billion of over-the-top media services (OTT) revenues will be lost to credentials sharing.
“Casual credentials sharing is becoming too expensive to ignore. Our new solution gives operators the ability to take action. Many casual users will be happy to pay an additional fee for a premium, shared service with a greater number of concurrent users. It’s a great way to keep honest people honest while benefiting from an incremental revenue stream,” said Jean Marc Racine, CPO and GM EMEA of Synamedia.

Netflix and other streaming services know what you are watching and where you watch (via your network I.P. address) so why the third party tracking? Perhaps the A.I. will automatically notify you and send you a bill to upgrade your account to make what you watch legit? It’s not like they don’t use other algorithms and A.I. on your account, how do you think they get the 98 percent match on the suggested show?

Why is this sharing of data OK when Facebook is in deep doo-doo for sharing data with third party folks like Cambridge Analytica? The sharing by both companies was done in exchange for revenue and increased viewers, thus enhancing their stock value. Facebook’s only crime was that they did something that might have benefitted Republicans and for that they must be punished.

Which brings me to the other tech article of the day that is worth a read. It is published by the Hollywood Reporter. The article concerns a unique lawsuit against Facebook for the Cambridge Analytica story.

Cambridge Analytica parlayed its modest access to the lives of ordinary Facebook users and their family and friends into more and more information — enough to begin psychologically profiling American voters and then bombarding them with phony and real news.
And Facebook’s role?
“This kind of mass data collection was not only allowed but encouraged by Facebook, which sought to keep developers building on its platform and provide companies with all the tools they need to influence and manipulate user behavior,” states the March 23 lawsuit filed by Edelson. “That’s because Facebook is not a social media company; it is the largest data-mining operation in existence.”

What makes the Edelson lawsuit different is a name barely anyone knows: Kimberly Foxx, a state’s attorney, the top prosecutor in Cook County, Illinois. Edelson is ostensibly representing the people of Illinois through Foxx on a claim that Facebook engaged in unfair and deceptive conduct. Or, stated another way, a government official has outsourced law enforcement to a class-action attorney.
Edelson, having now been given the role of a Special Assistant State’s Attorney thanks to possessing the “required legal expertise,” as a court order confirming his appointment put it, aims to punish Facebook for violating The Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. It carries massive repercussions, including $50,000 in civil penalties per violation, injunctive relief and — if egregious circumstances call for it — a lost business license to operate in the state. That’s right. Theoretically, Facebook could pay billions and be prohibited from offering its service in Illinois if it loses this lawsuit.

What if law enforcement was outsourced to class action attorneys? Don’t imagine. It’s happening as the Cambridge Analytica scandal becomes Mark Zuckerberg’s legal nightmare.

Edelson’s claim that “Facebook is not a social media company; it is the largest data-mining operation in existence” does make me wonder how he would describe Google or all the apps and devices reporting to your personal data to China or our National Security Agency—after all they are the only part of our government that listens.

Privacy in our society is an illusion; one I may discuss on another occasion.

Are You Living With Debt

An old pastor once told me that the word “mortgage” is from two Latin words; “mort” meaning death like in mortuary and “gage” meaning grip, thus a mortgage was a “death grip”. This is what I thought of when I say this headline today:

1 in 5 millennials with debt expect to die without ever paying it off

The average millennial (aged 18 to 34) had about $32,000 in personal debt, excluding home mortgages, last year, according to Northwestern Mutual’s 2018 Planning & Progress Study. That debt can feel both crushing — and endless.
Just over 60 percent of millennials (classified here as those aged 18-37) with debt don’t know when, or if, they’ll ever be able to pay off what they owe, according to a new CreditCards.com report. That includes roughly 42 percent of millennials who don’t know when they’ll be able to wipe out their debt, and almost 20 percent of those who expect to die in debt.

Expecting to die with debt is not a formula or mindset for success. No wonder so many say they prefer socialism. This blog is about hope for the hopeless.

The above article, without attribution, then proceeds to list several of Dave Ramsey’s “baby steps” for getting out of debt. Ramsey has 7 steps to getting out of debt.
1 Save $1,000 to start an emergency Fund
2 Payoff all debt (except mortgage) using debt snowball
3 save 3-6 months of expenses
4 invest 15% in retirement
5 save for child’s college fund
6 pay off your home
7 Build wealth and give

Dave Ramsey–Baby Steps

I can attest that following Ramsey’s advice will put you on the path to financial freedom. The cornerstone of his plan is the Emergency Fund. By putting this money away, you have a pool of cash to use for car repairs, new tires, fixing the dishwasher, unplugging the drain, or whatever else life throws at you without reaching for the “magic plastic”.

As you are saving this Emergency Fund, Ramsey asks people to cut-up their credit cards and use their Emergency Fund instead. Then replenish the money so you keep the fund available.

If you are married, it is vital that both of you agree on this course of action. Deciding to get out of debt must be a joint decision. You must be working together and not be unequally yoked to this idea. Nothing is more divisive in a marriage than fighting about money. To get both of you on the same page with getting debt free, Ramsey has classes that he offers called Financial Peace University. The cost of materials is about $100 but worth it.

My wife and I attended the Financial Peace classes at a local church about five years ago. I didn’t really know what to expect but found the classes helpful. The classes are held over several weeks. Part of the class is viewing Ramsey and some others, often his daughter, via a DVD presentation. The class facilitators also do various exercises with those attending, many of these are as groups. When we attended, there were eight or nine families. Any worksheets involving money are anonymous although those leading the group many have an idea who wrote which numbers.

The exercise that really got my attention was the one at the beginning where everybody listed their debts and then turned the number into the facilitators. This is part of a before v after comparison designed to show progress towards the baby steps of establishing an Emergency Fund and starting to pay off debt via a “snowball”. It was shocking when the total debt in the room was announced—remember this figure did not count anything owed on a home. Over half of the debt in the room belonged to me and my wife! It was a sobering moment.

Since that night we have paid-off over $100,000 of that original debt and the remaining balance will be gone before the end of 2019. Truthfully, we don’t stick with the snowball as religiously as we could. We still allow for vacations and a few wants. We are honest enough to distinguish between “wants” and “needs”; however, we always pay cash.

A word of caution, when you start cancelling credit cards, the offers begin pouring into your mailbox. Ramsey is a big advocate of going “cold turkey” on the plastic. Cut it up, throw it away, and never look back. Your dealers, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Discover, Golden 1, Chase, Amazon, Costco, etc., will really miss their 24 percent payment each month and offer you even more debt to come back.

If this is the MasterCard, guess who’s the slave?

I think of it as free drugs from the dealer just to get you hooked again. Two percent cash back is still 22 percent to the dealer so exactly how is that a bargain? Buy the heroine and get free needles? Oops, not blogging about San Francisco today.

Anyway, if you are up to your eyeballs in debt, there really is hope and a support network should you need it. Yes, your lifestyle may change as you learn to live within your means but freedom has always had a price. The only thing better than being debt free is teaching your children to learn from your mistakes and showing them a better way.

Since starting down this path, we are optimistic about our future. How many of you still paying for DirecTV so you can watch Fox News and CNN can say the same?

Tesla Kills Autonomous Robot

If you needed proof that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, in the first recorded case of one silicon based life form murdering another, a Tesla vehicle on autopilot ran down an autonomous robot, Promobot, on the streets of Las Vegas. As a pedestrian, the robot clearly had the right of way along the busy Las Vegas Strip but the Tesla ran him down without even slowing, let alone attempting to stop.

According to Promobot, a number of robots were making their way to the booth around 7 p.m. when one of them stepped out of line and into the parking lot roadway.
As it did, it was struck by a Tesla Model S operating in autonomous mode.
The crash tipped the robot onto its side, causing ‘serious damage,’ Promobot says.
Now, with parts of its body, head, arm mechanisms, and movement platform destroyed, it cannot be put on display.
The firm says the damage is likely irreparable.

The Tesla involved in the collision was operating autonomously, though a passenger was inside at the time.
And, it continued driving another 50 meters after the accident before finally stopping.

Oops! Autonomous robot struck and ‘killed’ by a self-driving Tesla in Las Vegas ahead of CES

There is no word on whether the Tesla passenger will be filing a civil suit for the trauma of helplessly having to witness the robot being run over while trapped inside the rogue vehicle. Please note that the Tesla only decided to stop after realizing that it had struck a pedestrian.

Addiction Claims another Victim

In this space, we have previously detailed about two everyday people’s struggles with addiction, now I want to write about a professional athlete who has thrown his life away. Josh Gordon is a current receiver for the New England Patriots of the National Football League.

The Patriots will be playing in the playoffs next weekend…Gordon will not be with them. He is suspended indefinitely and has likely played his last game in the NFL. On December 20^th of this year, Gordon wrote on Instagram that he was stepping away from football to focus on his mental health…. Well, it came out later that evening that he had failed yet another drug test. He will not play in the NFL again. While this blog will focus on Gordon, I want it to highlight how addiction ruined his professional career, and how it will ruin many more lives if not banned and criminalized again.

Gordon admitted to starting substance abuse in middle school. His drugs of choice: Xanax, Codeine, and Marijuana.

Codeine can be widely found in almost any cold/cough medicine, Xanax is supposed to be prescribed by a doctor, marijuana…. what can I say? It’s more prevalent than ever if you know where to look. Marijuana; ask anyone in law enforcement and they will tell you, it’s a gateway drug. Once you use it you get hooked, then you need more and more just to achieve a buzz, then you switch to more potent drugs down the line. Gordon claimed he took these to self-medicate for the following: anxiety, inadequacy, and adolescent based fear…hmm 3 things teachers are happy to diagnose so they won’t bring down the test scores more, and doctors are happy to prescribe medications too…more $$$ for them. It got to the point that he was using an entire bar of Xanax a day just to function…his teachers, as Gordon describes, “oblivious to his sleeping and drooling behavior shown during class.” His drug/medicinal use caused him to be expelled from two middle schools for stealing electronics from his peers. He earned a scholarship to a prep school in Houston but was expelled in the 10^th grade for marijuana usage.

He attended another high school and joined a gang. He carried and used a gun, stole merchandise, used counterfeit money and sold marijuana (there’s that drug again) to feed his habit. He admitted that he smoked weed daily and drank vodka from Minute Maid juice glasses IN CLASS! By his junior year, marijuana wasn’t getting the job done anymore so he used the following drugs: hydrocodone, oxycodone, and again Xanax. Part of the problem was Gordon was a gifted athlete, so he would always get a longer leash then a lay person. So, before every football game Gordon would mix Mad Dog 20-20 with fortified wine to see if he could play drunk. Sounds like a great teammate! Gordon admits his usage in High School became the norm…and only accelerated as he entered college.

Gordon was good enough to go into many Division 1 football programs but could only go to Baylor University due to him being on supervised probation for felony credit card theft at age 17.

Yes, folks he was still drinking, using drugs, and selling drugs while on felony supervised probation…in Texas no less. As a requirement of his probation, he had to consent to monthly drug tests, he never failed one…. reason being they never tested for dilution (drinking excessive water to cleanse out any trace of drugs). When he was a sophomore at Baylor, Gordon and a teammate were found passed out in a Taco Bell drive thru at 2 am, copious amounts of weed found in the car. While both players were charged with a misdemeanor, the charges were later dropped. I will offer this advice, if you find yourself at a Taco Bell after midnight chances are you are making bad life choices. Gordon admitted he was selling 6 lbs. of marijuana a week while at Baylor, making over $10k a month. As for him not failing drug tests…a coach helped him detox before the test was administered. Before his junior year he wasn’t so lucky, he failed a drug test and was suspended indefinitely leading him to transfer to a different school.

Gordon admitted that on his trips to Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Utah, he would smoke a bunch of weed, and pop Adderall. Even while picking out a new school to attend, Gordon could not be sober or clean. He decided on Utah, where he dabbled in cocaine and was taking Adderall daily. He failed a drug test, dropped out, and returned to Houston. He never played a snap at Utah. He continued using and selling back home while preparing for the NFL supplemental draft. This draft is for those who are not allowed to play for their college teams anymore due to grades, issues, etc. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns, even with all his baggage, he would now play at football’s highest level.

His first season he played every game. He must never have been drug tested because he stated he got ready for every game with a pre-game ritual of hitting a bong and drinking several shots of Grand Marnier or Vodka. Gordon said he needed to do this to start his body up, I guess kind of like starting a car, I guess? He would always miss team meetings and show up with bloodshot eyes, a tell-tale sign of being on a bender from the night before. The following year he failed a drug test and was suspended the first 2 games. Despite that, he put up huge numbers, making the Pro-Bowl.

After this season is where his life truly unraveled. He was arrested for DUI in the off-season and suspended 10 games for a failed drug test, his second. He played 5 games, suspended for the last for being too drunk to catch the team plane to the airport for their game. He failed another test and was suspended for the entire following season. He petitioned the league to be reinstated, during that period…yes, another failed test. He was reinstated and suspended another 4 games. Rather than returning, he entered rehab, a good choice on his part as it was clear he needed it. He did not play that season at all, and once again needed to be reinstated by the Commissioner in order to play again. He stayed sober for 6 months….so he decided to celebrate doing exactly what got him into trouble to begin with…. smoking weed.

During that same offseason Gordon was told that a court warrant was issued for him to take a court ordered paternity test. Gordon’s response was what girl? What kid? He later learned he was in fact the father. He literally smoked himself so silly over the course of his life he had no idea what this court paternity situation was all about. He played just 5 games the following season, because once again he was suspended. In the offseason he was traded to the league’s best team, the New England Patriots. He had to apply for reinstatement and was having a good season, until the 20^th of December, when he announced he was leaving to work on his mental health…. he in fact failed yet another drug test. In all likelihood his career is over.

Here are some various quotes from Gordon, after which I will add my commentary about Gordon and addiction.

“I stayed out late, but the thing is we had to be up in the morning for like a 7:30 a.m. team meeting,” Gordon told Uninterrupted. “I didn’t wake up until 10 o’clock, 10:15, coming out of a blackout. I’m getting a bunch of texts and calls, you know, from coaches, ‘Where you at? We’re headed to the tarmac already.’ I’m like, ‘Ah, s***.’”

“I found myself around the city of Gainesville just wandering, looking for a drug dealer,” he told Uninterrupted. “Looking for people on the street corner, whatever smelled like weed, somebody that looked like they had something, asking random people, knocking on like smoke shop storefronts seeing where I could find some stuff at. I was just looking for something, some type of relief.”

“If you fail a drug test, you know, this is over, they’re not going to let you keep playing,” Gordon said. “I never really took it serious. I thought I could keep on doing it and getting away with it and getting away with it.”

“I’ve been enabled most of my life honestly,” Gordon said. “I’ve been enabled by coaches, teachers, professors — everybody pretty much gave me a second chance just because of my ability.”

Commentary:
How do you feel now if you voted to legalize marijuana? Wanted sentencing reform? Said weed isn’t addictive? Claimed alcohol is far worse? The bottom line here is this, while Gordon may at some point finally own up and take the blame (this is entirely his fault), how many people that you and I rub shoulders with every day think he did nothing wrong? Victimless crimes?

Looking back, sure the teachers easily could have caught him under the influence in class. His parents, I don’t really know; he may not have had a father, or maybe they also didn’t care. But the bottom line is this, Gordon is an exceptional athlete, and he could not kick his addiction, and we are talking someone making millions of dollars. He earned more in a year than most working folks make in a lifetime! His situation was so bad that he could not even play without being under the influence of something.

Tax revenue from pot is great, however it’s like an Indian Casino; at what cost? Turning your citizens into addicts for the sake of revenue? Gordon is actually very lucky; most citizens fail one drug test at work and they are terminated on the spot and likely get a criminal referral sent to local law enforcement! Good luck finding any type of work after that. In addition, at almost any other workplace, drug tests are random and unannounced, in the NFL, lots of notice is required to be given and while the test is random, you are more than for warned, meaning there is literally no excuse for a dirty test. I am willing to bet good money that at the Gordon residence tonight he is either lighting one up in tribute to Bob Marley or drinking like a fish. One can only hope he sees the light and kicks the devil’s lettuce or that hopefully he invested the money well because his behavior won’t translate into the real world.

Keep in mind how real addiction is, at one-point Gordon missed 43 of 48 Cleveland Browns games due to suspension. Maybe we should re-think this business of legalizing drugs?

Trump Mulls Banning Chinese Technology

I saw this article and thought it worthy of giving you the highlights.

WASHINGTON, Dec 27 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is considering an executive order in the new year to declare a national emergency that would bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by China’s Huawei and ZTE, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
It would be the latest step by the Trump administration to cut Huawei Technologies Cos Ltd and ZTE Corp, two of China’s biggest network equipment companies, out of the U.S. market. The United States alleges that the two companies work at the behest of the Chinese government and that their equipment could be used to spy on Americans.
The executive order, which has been under consideration for more than eight months, could be issued as early as January and would direct the Commerce Department to block U.S. companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks, sources from the telecoms industry and the administration said.

In March, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said “hidden ‘back doors’ to our networks in routers, switches — and virtually any other type of telecommunications equipment – can provide an avenue for hostile governments to inject viruses, launch denial-of-service attacks, steal data, and more.”

The executive order would invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that gives the president the authority to regulate commerce in response to a national emergency that threatens the United States.
The issue has new urgency as U.S. wireless carriers look for partners as they prepare to adopt next generation 5G wireless networks.
The order follows the passage of a defense policy bill in August that barred the U.S. government itself from using Huawei and ZTE equipment.

Rural operators in the United States are among the biggest customers of Huawei and ZTE, and fear the executive order would also require them to rip out existing Chinese-made equipment without compensation. Industry officials are divided on whether the administration could legally compel operators to do that.

EXCLUSIVE-White House considers new year executive order to bar Huawei, ZTE purchases

I keep going back to the 1980’s and Japan’s mantra that “Business is war”. China has upped that idea to the Nth degree and average Americans could care less. China is not just an economic competitor but the biggest external threat to our freedom.

Senate Scuttles McCain Rename

As expected, Senator John McCain left the United States Senate feet first. McCain—who was a legend in his own mind—was controversial for being wrong and undercutting his own Party in very public ways. While he did serve in the military, it is a wonder that he didn’t get discharged for some of the antics that he pulled; however, having a daddy who is an admiral has its privileges. I hesitate to be as critical as some of his fellow veterans who say that the Forrestal fire and his time as a POW were both his fault. Whatever the truth may be, no one disputes that McCain flaunted the rules when it suited him.

Now in death, a measure of payback has been given to him. In the waning hours of the current Senate, the move to rename the Russell Senate building as the McCain Senate building is dead.

FYI Russell was:

The 109-year-old building is named after Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat who, like McCain, chaired the Armed Services panel. Russell, who died in 1971, was a segregationist and led Southern opposition to anti-lynching bills and other civil rights legislation, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He co-authored the “Southern Manifesto” to slow the integration of public schools after the Supreme Court unanimously ordered it in 1954.
Previously known simply as the Senate Office Building, it was renamed in Russell’s honor the year after his death.

Following McCain’s death, this idea was put forth by two of the better known malcontents in the Senate, Chuck “What Wall?” Schumer and Jeff “Never Trump” Flake.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer had proposed renaming the Russell building in McCain’s honor after the veteran Republican senator died Saturday from brain cancer.

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who co-sponsored the measure, said renaming the building would be “a particularly good” way to honor McCain, but wanted to make sure McCain’s family agreed.

Republicans resist plan to rename Senate building for McCain

Over four months have passed since McCain died and what does the Senate have to show? Actually not much.

Four months later, the resolution was never introduced.
Mr. Schumer’s spokesman clammed up when asked what happened.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican floor leader, had seemed cool to the renaming idea, instead promising a bipartisan committee to look at other good ways to honor their departed colleague.

Push to rename Senate office building for McCain fizzles: ‘We are left with a monument to bigotry’

Eventually McCain will get his name on a federal building somewhere. I suggest perhaps an outhouse at a national park in rural Arizona. This will afford folks from other states the opportunity to return to him a measure of crap for all the excrement that we had to endure from him in life.

Saint Nicholas

Since tomorrow is Christmas, I thought readers might enjoy a glimpse into the life of Old Saint Nick.

Oh, and yes Virginia there really was a Saint Nick. He loved the poor and had no tolerance for corrupt politicians or heretics.

The history of Nicholas is blurry, but there are many legends associated with the man. Apparently, after his parents died, he inherited their fortune and chose to distribute it to the needy. Most famously, he lobbed bags of gold through the windows and down the chimneys of three sisters who had no dowry to allow them to marry.
Soon, Nicholas became bishop of Myra, the city where he preached.
Ted Olsen, assistant editor of Christian history at Christianity Today, wrote that “it wasn’t long before Diocletian and Maximian began their persecutions of Christians, and the new bishop was imprisoned.” However, when Constantine assumed emperorship, Nicholas was released with many other persecuted believers and he returned to preaching.
After his release, Nicholas became a defender of the faith against Arianism, a heretical doctrine which asserted that Christ was not the Son of God, but a being nurtured by God the Father to the position of Son of God. Saint Nicholas reportedly traveled to the Council of Nicea and actually slapped Arius in the face in defense of the Gospel of Christ.

The real Saint Nicholas

FYI: today we know the modern followers of Arius as Jehovah’s Witnesses. They claim Jesus was the greatest created being. In contrast, historic Christianity summarized by the Creed maintain that Jesus was, “begotten not made…”

When the first major heresy – the Arian Heresy – began to split the Christian Church, Constantine ordered all the bishops to go to Nicea to settle it, which they did by writing the Nicene Creed. The tradition is that St. Nicholas attended the Council of Nicea and was so upset at Arius for starting this heresy that he slapped him across the face. Evidently, Jolly Old St. Nick had a little temper!
Nicholas preached against the sexual immorality Artemis or Diana fertility worship, as did the Apostle Paul according to the Book of Acts, chapter 19.
The Temple to Diana at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, twice as big as the Parthenon in Athens, having 127 huge pillars – and temple prostitutes. It was the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean world. Nicholas’ preaching led the people of Myra to tear down their local temple to Diana. Shortly after, from the preaching of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (A.D. 397-403), the people tore down the temple to Diana at Ephesus.
Nicholas confronted dishonest government politicians. One story was of a corrupt governor who was about to execute some innocent soldiers in order to cover up his misdeeds. Nicholas broke through the crowd, grabbed the executioner’s sword, threw it down and then exposed the governor’s evil plot. The governor, realizing that Nicholas had no way of knowing his plot except by insight from God, fell on his knees and begged Nicholas to pray for him.

Why everyone should know real story of St. Nicholas

Mitch McConnell Flakes on Wall

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, counted heads and quickly concluded that he didn’t have the votes to fund the border wall/fence/barrier. Thus he unilaterally threw in the towel and didn’t even try to fight for funding when the Senate voted to pass a continuing spending resolution to keep the government funded for another seven weeks. Instead, he just said let’s fund everything else and the President will have to try again later. The Senate voted and everyone in D.C. thought it was time to go home.

The Senate approved a seven-week funding bill on Wednesday, preventing a partial government shutdown that was expected to begin on Saturday.
Senators passed the legislation by voice vote, which represented the final item on the Senate’s to-do list as they wrap up their work for the year this week.

Republican senators say that while they believe Trump is unhappy with Congress passing a short-term fix, they believe he will sign it because they were able to keep other controversial policy riders off of it.

But both sides remained far apart on funding for the U.S.–Mexico border wall. Trump and House Republicans want $5 billion for the wall.

Senate approves funding bill, preventing partial government shutdown

Later that same day, Nancy Pelosi was seen partying like it was 1992 because Democrats (and some Republicans) had stopped President Trump in his tracks with a clear message that he would get no border protection.

The video was the lead item as of Thursday morning on the Drudge Report, which suggested that Pelosi was celebrating President Trump’s decision to back off his demand that a government funding bill this week include $5 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Video shows Pelosi singing at Crowley goodbye party

The following day, Trump threw the D.C. Elites in a tizzy when he said that he expects a border wall to be part of the bill and will shutdown the government until he gets it. Had he been any other Republican, he would have rolled-over and just signed the continuing resolution; but thankfully Trump has a spine.

Now the boys in the Senate are scurrying around like cockroaches trying to decide what to do. It’s bad form to leave The Beltway to go home on vacation while the folks in D.C. are going without a paycheck. The optics of this are terrible. Too bad for them that the House threw this mess right back at them—the ingrates—and are forcing them to act. This is not the congeniality that is expected of Senators. The Senate is the saucer and is expected to cool the tea of the House’s rash action or so the story goes.

Conventional wisdoms is that this is Trump’s best chance at funding the wall for the next two years and everybody knows it. Whether he ultimately prevails in the next few days, I boldly predict that the wall will be funded before Trump takes the oath of office again. If Congress fails to act, Trump will hang this issue around the Democrat’s necks like a wreath of garlic on Dracula’s throat until Democrats are tired of being associated with the issue. Just to make him shut-up, the Democrats will eventually deal.

Note to Senators, Trump is making a list (of how you vote) checking it twice, he has a long memory of who is naughty or nice. Remember this before you plan your next campaign for re-election.

Surprise, this just in: Senators may have an agreed framework to give Trump what he wants to avoid a government shutdown.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), emerging from a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office, said Friday that Senate leaders have an “agreement” on how to proceed on a House-passed measure funding President Trump’s border wall.

McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) are expected to enter into the agreement on the Senate floor.
“This is will be an agreement between McConnell and Schumer about what next happens on the Senate floor. You’ll see them to enter into a little discussion,” Corker said. “It charts the course forward that gives us the best chance of actually coming to a solution.”

The potential breakthrough comes after Schumer met with Vice President Pence, incoming White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House advisor Jared Kushner on Friday afternoon.

Corker: Breakthrough reached in shutdown stalemate