Lest you thought Fake News was your only concern, how about Fake Justice?
Like every other institution in our society, the courts tend to replace “justice” with “process”. Thus if you “get process” or “go thru the system” then it is assumed that you have arrived at a just outcome. Clearly this is not always the case. We have a colorful history in our country of judicial nullification that has occasionally happened when juries ignore stupid laws and rule that the law itself is unjust.
Grand Juries are convened as a way to bring an indictment against an individual. This is another path that law enforcement can use when perhaps a district attorney is not sure if the evidence warrants pressing charges. Grand Juries also have special investigative rights and can even publish findings of wrong doing.
On the other hand, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that “a good lawyer can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich”.
Today I read about a grand jury that handed down 900 indictments in one day. They took an average of 39 seconds per indictment.
Not a single case was no billed in June — meaning all 904 cases went forward against the accused.
The average time per indictment was 39 seconds in June, meaning there is no way that grand jurors could have properly considered each case, the lawyers said.
I agree that that doesn’t pass the Tom Sullivan “smell test”. I think it takes more than 39 seconds to order a ham sandwich at your local Subway. How can enough evidence even be heard to decide if a person can be charged with a crime?
“I see dead people walking around like regular people” Haley Joel Osmen The Sixth Sense
At work, occasionally I see dead people too.
The State Agency for which I work is carrying debts owed by former state employees that have gone to their eternal reward; often, their demise can create an accounting legacy that lasts for years. You see, we have no ability to go after the estate of decedents to collect on the debt but we also have no way to write-off such debts even when we know we cannot collect them.
Back in the day, this was called a Mexican Stand-off (somehow, I think the plastic bag straw police will decide to make this term politically incorrect soon).
If you die before we tell you that you own the State money due to overpayment, then our legal department determined that you were not notified in a timely manner and we can write-off the debt. This risky and brilliant legal determination was committed to writing just last year. Note to readers, our unit has been dealing with this issue since 2011; thus it took six years to extract this legal opinion.
However, if we notified you prior to your passing then welcome to purgatory. Much like the infamous Hotel California, you may be checked-out but your debt may never leave.
We have no guidance on what to do in such cases. Managers are so risk-averse that they are fearful to put the debt out of its misery. The usual reason stated eventually goes to having proper documentation to withstand the dreaded accounting audit.
For those not familiar with accounting, the function of the auditor is to come in after the battle and bayonet the wounded. ( -:
Example, one guy met his maker in 2012 and the debt which is less than $500 is still on the books in 2018. We have had a copy of the obituary in our office for four years now. In fairness, last month we came up with a way to write-off the debt but as of this writing, it is still in limbo.
Eventually these uncollectible accounting items will be laid to rest but whether they stay buried is out of my control. Should they be uncovered by the dreaded auditors then it may require more silver nitrate, garlic, salt, stakes, or other assorted remedies for fighting the undead than we can muster.
Yeah, the way government accounting rolls they may be back but hopefully not on my watch.
Editor’s note: The Chief is an avid sports fan but when the sports page turns into the crime blotter, The Chief goes on the warpath. Buckle-up because today’s story has more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel. As you will see, many folks deserve to be scalped for their participation and subsequent cover-up.
If you are unaware, Urban Meyer is the head football coach at The Ohio State University, and by default the highest paid government worker in the state! Well suffice it to say the last 24 hours have been nothing short of disaster for both University and the Meyer family.
Urban Meyer, Ohio State Head Coach
Zach Smith—the former wide receivers coach at the university and a friend and confidant of Meyer since his early coaching days at University of Florida—was terminated back on July 24th after a judge issued a protective order not allowing Smith to come within 500 feet of his ex-wife. Smith has also been charged with criminal trespassing in May of this year; again with his ex-wife being involved. Gotta respect a man for being persistent…never take no for an answer cuz!
Wife beater and general scumbag Zack Smith
The filing of the protective order followed an incident in May in which Smith was charged with criminal trespass after driving his car into his ex-wife’s driveway during a custody exchange of their 13-year-old son.
Back in 2009 while both were at the State run latrine called University of Florida at Gainesville, Smith was investigated for a dispute, again with his now ex-wife.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday he was aware of domestic abuse allegations against former receivers coach Zach Smith in 2009, when Smith was a graduate assistant on Meyer’s staff at Florida.
Fast forward to 2015 and Smith was actually arrested on domestic violence charges in Powell, Ohio.
Meyer being the literal wiener he is, did nothing. Or did he?
Interestingly enough, when reached for comment this past Tuesday, Powell Ohio Police Department said they had no arrest records for Smith, however later in the day they walked it back saying they had found the arrest records and 2 additional visits to the Smith residence by the department.
The Chief needs clarification, so they “found” these records later? Is this like the Democrat party finding millions of uncounted votes long after the election? Did Ol’ Oscar Meyer call in a favor with the local P.D.? Arrest records are usually given out on demand. Most may doubt The Chief here but these college football coaches; especially Meyer who has won 3 National Championships, carry ungodly amounts of clout. More on that later.
Meyer said it was “a very tough call” to fire his longtime assistant. Sounds like it.
Meyer fired Smith on Monday after a report from Brett McMurphy revealed details of an incident in 2009 in Florida in which Smith was arrested for shoving his then-pregnant wife against a wall during an altercation.
This dude (Coach Smith) made more contact with the opposite sex than John Edwards did in the last nine years and it was a “tough call” to fire him. Coach Smith, as you will see, is a hands-on sort of guy.
Here are more disturbing developments about Smith. “…police responding to a call in 2015 at the Smith residence were told by Smith’s wife,’a domestic incident happened last night at her home and that she has been a victim of sustained physical abuse by the suspect.’ ”
Two weeks later, the second visit was “menace by stalking.” Strangely enough neither of the two above incidents led to Smith’s firing. Instead, Smith was let go due to the 2009 claim…being brought forward again earlier this year. This finally resulted in a charge from the 2009 incident bringing down this low life bum.
Coach Meyer—when reached for comment by ESPN (More on this later)—said his support staff had no information regarding these allegations. Hmmm strange how that happens. Ask anyone, get into a minor arrest if you work at a school and the HR department usually finds out rather quickly. But I digress. When you win football games and bring in big $$$ for said school, interesting how things get swept under the rug.
Here is where things take yet another turn. Back in 2009, Meyer’s wife—who was friends with Smith’s wife—actually got involved with his arrest. She consulted with Urban, and Urban said he made the decision simply going to counseling was enough.
May I add that in 2009, Smith brought home a different woman—who happened to be a co-worker—back to his house intending carnal relations with her with said wife present, sounds like a winner. I am aware of a movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, I guess Smith was going for the record of 10 minutes or less.
An argument ensued…that’s to be expected, I don’t think many women take kindly to said husband sleeping with another women in your bed unless your last name is Clinton, Kennedy, or Edwards. Then Mr. Smith put his hands on his wife and hit her, heck yeah boss, hitting women is such an alpha move! Hopefully you taught that broad a lesson, I mean if you want to be in an open relationship go for it. Nothing says manliness like beating up a pregnant woman, I mean they’re almost as strong as men!
Here is just how much the firing of Smith affected the football team this upcoming season “It was a devastating loss for us, it’s not something you expect, especially at a time like this, when you’re only a week out [from the start of training camp],” Buckeyes wideout Parris Campbell said. “But I think the main focus and the main goal is to lean on one another. We need one another in a moment like this. It’s a huge loss, but we’ll move forward.”
Yeah, I love to harken back to simpler times when Ray Rice beat the living crap out of his wife on camera and was only suspended a couple games. Was this termination necessary? I need answers? Who will coach wide receivers this year? Oh My God? How will we win the Heisman Trophy now?
Well this blogger doesn’t know if Smith will be wide in jail, but he will be a receiver! From what I hear, hitting women sounds like it is frowned upon in our penal institutions!
Oh, I mentioned things taking a turn earlier for Coach Meyers. Smith’s wife—in an interview with Brett McMurphy, who was fired by ESPN last year—said every coach on Meyer’s staff knew of the abuse she went through in 2015. Smith was not fired for anything that happened in 2015, with Coach Meyer denying any knowledge of these charges. Meyer’s reaction was basically, “Beats me”.
Maybe Coach Meyer and his wife are not on speaking terms but here is yet another revelation in this sordid tale, Meyer’s wife is a registered nurse and a professor in the nursing department at Ohio State. Due to the nature of Shelley Meyer’s job, she is a mandatory reporter under Title 9. (Sorry The Chief doesn’t do roman numerals, the Romans are gone.) This puts both Meyers in big predicaments. Did Shelley tell her superiors? Did she tell her husband? Did Oscar Meyer crush these reports, because this could get his wife terminated?
Here is another good one. A reporter in Columbus, Ohio, home to the Ohio State University, did a freedom of information act request on Smith’s personnel records three weeks ago, he has been stonewalled by the University.
Here are another couple of pure gold quotes by Smith’s former wife “All the [coaches’] wives knew,” Smith told McMurphy. “They all did. Every single one.” Well that’s ok right, because no chance Urban Meyer could have known right? Again, let’s quote Smith’s ex-wife
“I do believe he knew and instead he chose to help the abuser, enable the abuser, and believe whatever stories Zach was telling everybody,” Courtney said.
Courtney (Smith) also went into detail about the alleged beatings, which led her to eventually divorce Zach Smith in 2016 and file a domestic violence civil protection order against him on July 20. The filing of that document, and the revelation of the years of abuse, led to Zach’s immediate firing from the program last week.
Whoa, boom that sounds like a flame grilled wiener!
College football coaches, especially the really good ones such as Meyer wield great influence over people. As mentioned earlier, not one to let that power go to waste, Meyer not only knew what Smith had done, he sent in his goons after Mrs. Smith in 2009. Hiram DeFries, who is the special assistant to the head coach at Ohio State and has been a confidant of Urban Meyer for years, told her in 2009 not to pursue charges against Zach Smith after the incident in Florida. Meyer was the Florida Gators’ head coach at the time; Smith was an intern on his staff. Hiram DeFries sounds like a typical wannabe mob goon, but like Smith, is just a low life scum. Not to go unnoticed is this gem DeFries unleashed as well. “[DeFries] said, ‘If you don’t drop the charges, Zach will never coach again,’” Smith told McMurphy. “‘He’s never hit you before. He was drinking. He’ll probably never do it again. You should think about giving him a second chance.’” Yes history says men who hit women won’t do it again, give him a second chance.
Hiram DeFries makes Courtney Smith an offer she can’t refuse
Here’s yet another bombshell dropped today, “She did not press charges in 2009. Zach Smith was investigated in 2015 for suspicion of felony domestic violence after an incident that resulted in unspecified injuries and showed evidence of sustained abuse. In the Powell, Ohio, police report regarding that incident, Courtney Smith said she had been a victim of habitual domestic abuse. Cleveland.com on Wednesday identified nine reports from Powell police involving domestic disputes between the couple from 2012 to 2018.” Habitual domestic violence, as in like more than one time. Again Oscar Meyer denied he knew any of this.
Courtney Smith, Zack’s private piñata
Luckily, Smith—who makes more than $500k a year of taxpayer money—was able to hire a lawyer to fight these charges. Listen to his attorney comment on these charges. Bradley Koffel, an attorney representing Zach Smith, told ESPN: “Zach Smith wants to be as transparent and honest as possible but it is not going to be done today through the media. It will only be after he and his ex-wife are sworn in to testify. Once he gets his chance to tell his side of events, don’t be surprised when it is corroborated by every police who ever responded to Ms. Smith’s calls.” Well thank goodness he will be transparent down the line, that’s what I need in these turbulent times. Let me guess it was a simple game of patty cake gone wrong, or better yet your wife launched her head into your fist. Koffel sounds like someone who has the IQ of a piece of meat, meaning you leave him out to long he spoils.
This tale is not over yet, here is something really sick. Smith was fired July 24th, on the 25th of July, Meyer was at the Big 10 Conference media days and claimed he had no idea of any of Smith’s 2015 arrest records. So why did you suddenly fire Smith for something that happened almost a decade ago you low life?
Here is why, Urban Meyer is a coward. Similar to a politician (or a chameleon), while at Florida he found a gem in future Pope Timothy Tebow and claimed to hold a saintly moniker, claiming he read the Bible daily and no one was holier than him. Excuse me while I go barf.
Ok I’m, back.
Let’s take a long look at some of the outstanding athletes to pass through Gainesville and Columbus under the tutelage of St. Meyer.
The University of Florida Aaron Hernandez – murdered at least 1 person, likely as high as 3, never suspended Janoris Jenkins – finally kicked out of Florida after 5 failed drug tests (Meyer had left) Jenkins had an A+ quote “If Coach Meyer were still coaching, I’d still be playing for the Gators,” he was quoted as saying. “Coach Meyer knows what it takes to win.” Sounds like Meyer was quite the disciplinarian. By the way just recently Jenkins brother was arrested for “allegedly” killed a man, and hiding the body in Janoris house in New York. Hmmmmmmm Chris Rainey – Felony aggravated stalking, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again? Riley Cooper – resisting arrest, and failure to comply with fire department orders, what the hell do fire fighters know anyways? Cam Newton – Felony burglary, larceny, obstruction of justice. Not a banker, bank robber! Matt Elam – DUI Carlos Dunlap – DUI Frankie Hammond – DUI Jamar Hornsby – felony criminal mischief Jermaine Cunningham – misdemeanor battery, he threw cups at a Jimmy Johns employee. When a man wants his roast beef hot! Tony Joiner – Felony theft, I guess he was pulling an OJ Simpson Ronnie Wilson – assault and battery, also use of a concealed weapon. Applying to be a US Marshall? We will just stop here, there are at least 30 more during his short tenure at Florida.
Now at Ohio State: Adolphus Washington – soliciting a prostitute that happened to be a cop. As the chief has mentioned, if it has teeth it’s a cop……..face smash Gareon Conley – rape, got off, I guess in more ways than one Kirk Barton – former player arrested for hitting bar patrons, likely putting Smiths training to use JT Barrett – Dui – he wasn’t as think as you drunk he was
Likely there were scores more, but Meyer wielded his influence and got the charges dropped. Meyer has a very interesting history, he got to Florida, won a couple championships, St. Tebow went pro, and then he suddenly had a heart attack the following year. He took a few years off, working for ESPN, only to take the Ohio State job once it came open 2 years later. Now after winning a championship, I think it’s time for a visit to the cardiologist, because it doesn’t look good.
Meyer was suspended today (with pay) until the investigation is over. I think Meyer better find another gig soon, it doesn’t look good.
As the tale is now told, back in 2009 Meyer and his wife tried to do an intervention with the Smith’s. Mrs. Smith as you recall was in a family way at the time of her spousal smackdown.
At this sad time for these hapless coaches, The Chief can only channel his inner Don Corleone and dispense this advice.
• First, Urban Meyer to act like a man!
• Second, Zack Smith if you didn’t want a child with said wife, put a bag over your pepperoni, what’s the matter with you!
More news has come out of Columbus with assistant coach Ryan Day, (that’s actually someone’s name by the way) interim head coach, and placed Meyer on timeout while they determine how much they should pay that low life. Two coaches on staff were previously head coaches elsewhere but were not named interim coach, this is somewhat surprising until you see the backgrounds of said assistants. One was Greg Schiano, who for some reason looks very similar to Bobby from King of the Hill, this oversized ogre is best known for covering up rape at Penn State by former “ass” istant coach Jerry Sandusky, and lying under oath.
Greg Schiano feels his future slipping from his fingers
The other coach is Kevin Wilson, formerly at Indiana University whose tenure includes being fired for ignoring trainers regarding injuries and repeated run ins with the administration after being warned about his antics. Looks like these two losers will also be going down with the ship, no word on if Schiano knows which way is down.
Perhaps the University of Ohio will let these guys rest with the fishes. Look for an offer that they can’t refuse.
My final observation is one bit of odd information or the lack thereof; coaches get fired annually—it’s kind of a rite of passage. Every time a coach gets fired, even if it’s something really egregious, former co-workers or players come out and say he was a great guy, coach, mentor etc. Nothing but radio silence so far on Mr. Smith. Let that sink in. Additionally The Chief tells Mr. Smith to assume the position. I’m sure this won’t hurt a bit.
Dropping membership, declining relevance, uninspiring candidates running for President, what could possibly be worse?
No, its not the Democrats, it’s the CRA.
Well, here’s the scoop…..
Anointed CRA leader and Texas resident Ted Cruz is in serious peril for his re-election. The latest poll shows him leading something called a Beto O’Rourke by just 2 points. President Thomas N Hudson has called for all CRA members to “pull a DNC, and leave the state of California, and re-register in Texas” for the sake of the country.
So, CRA members do what you must do. If Ted were to lose his Senate seat, there is no way he can beat totalitarian (your group’s words not ours) leader Donald J Trump in the 2020 primary.
Say you live with someone—like your parents or whatever—but hear the plea to help Ted. You must answer for the sake of the country. Thankfully Texas has early voting, so you could cast you ballot in the Lone Star State 30 days before the election and be back in time to vote for Gavin Newsom come November. If you happen to be on the fence or think this could be construed as voter fraud, remember, God wills it! Besides the membership list used by CRA is from last year or the year before so you’ll never be missed. Above all else, God wills it! Do not let Ted die in vain, answer the call!
Our “Johnnie does” segment depicts real life blogging of a correspondent wishing to maintain anonymity. He was given permission by the Blog Father to chronicle his exploits as long as content doesn’t turn into Johnnie Does Debbie or any female (or male) named herein; what follows is his account of jury duty.
I was called to “service” aka Jury Duty this past week. On Tuesday my group had to report, so I fired up the ole vehicle and made the trek to the Gordon Schraber Courthouse in Sacramento. (If you wish to avoid your own legal entanglements with parking enforcement, arriving early is essential.) I made my way to the juror parking lot, found a space, parked the car, and walked to the Courthouse.
As I approached the Courthouse steps, I was curious what sort of people that I might encounter during my visit. I kind of knew that the shifty and suspicious characters here to answer for their crimes entered the courthouse via a separate entrance; however, I was hoping to encounter attorneys or witnesses. I wondered whether they might try to influence their case by making me an offer that I couldn’t refuse. I’ve been known to be susceptible to the whiles of beautiful women in trouble or huge wads of cash but I found no one seeking to tip the scales of justice. Alone and somewhat disappointed, I entered the courthouse.
Gordon Schraber Courthouse in Sacramento
Upon entering, those of us reporting for our civic duty were herded like cattle through metal detectors at the security checkpoint. As I was about to enter, the guy in front of me made the machine beep. He then proceeded to take out his phone, it beeped again, then removed his belt; beeped again, then his spare change….(For a minute here I thought perhaps the “Chief Blogger” was in front of me.) Again the machine beeped, and the man said “oh my wallet”; finally, the machine didn’t beep anymore and he was admitted. Clearly this guy thought he was exempt from the signs instructing people to remove all said crap listed above from their pockets and place in a tray so it could be run separately thru the x-ray machine. In contrast, I passed right through and made my way to the jury room.
I check in with the clerk at the window and was told to wait and enjoy a movie that would start playing shortly. I was hoping the movie would be accompanied by a snack and complimentary beverage but sadly this was not the case. After seeing the prices marked on the nearby vending machines, I was hoping the person that came up with the prices would be on trial today for theft.
At around 9:30, they put on an old Sandra Bullock film (is it my age or aren’t all of her films old). Anyway, I had seen enough. I was ready to make an offer to the older lady sitting next to me….$50 to stay here and check me out at day’s end; I couldn’t take it anymore! Shortly thereafter I looked at my watch, I was convinced a few hours had passed and it had to be close to lunch time…it was 9:35.
About the time my sanity was threatening to leave me, a voice interrupted the movie. The announcement was made that they needed a jury and they began called names. I was one of the first ones called so I proceeded to Department 23 as instructed. (Each courtroom is called a department and has its own number.) I was lucky to be moving out of the accursed waiting room. It was time for the real entertainment to begin. I could now sit back and watch a few people get thrown off the jury and once they had a jury picked then I could be excused and sent home. My master plan was in motion!
Upon my arrival at the appointed room; however, reality saw to it that I had no such luck. I was called to sit in the jury box in seat 11, pretty much font and center! The judge read off a couple of preliminary items, saying because the defendant was black didn’t mean he was guilty, etc., etc. We were then asked if we knew any of the other jurors, the judge or defense or prosecutors, I answered, “No”. We took a 30 minute break at 10:30 with instructions to be back at 11; in what became a recurring theme during my time served, 11 turned into 11:30.
The judge very slowly and methodically began asking various canned questions to each of us on the panel. These questions included inquiring as to whether we had a family member convicted of a crime? A few of us raised our hands and the judge called on us individually. I had to state what happened with a family member, to which the judge asked if I knew any of the officers being called as witnesses. I responded, “No”. He then asked if I could put aside any bias I may have for a couple days I answered, “Yes”. He asked a few more follow ups to the panel, then excused us for 2 hours for lunch. I asked myself, 2 hours for lunch, can this be a professional gig?
We returned at 2:00 and waited. We were not called back into the court room until 2:20. From here the two attorneys took over, and I was again under attack. I was asked if someone was pulled over going 66 in a 65 zone if that was considered breaking the law, I replied, “Yes”. The female defense attorney had a follow up saying she was deeply disturbed by my answer to which I replied, saying posted speed limits should be adhered to at all times but occasionally circumstances warrant someone’s speed to fluctuate over and under the speed limit. She went as far as saying she had no witness list and solely planned to rebut everything the prosecutor brought up during trial. She finished up and the prosecutor took over, asking another juror some follow ups. To my amazement, the defense attorney then trained her fire on me once again asking what my thoughts were on being pulled over for only going a mile over, I answered than I believed it was the officer’s discretion. At this point I figured the defendant had been pulled over for something fairly ticky-tack then attacked and assaulted the three police officers at the scene, one being a women. At roughly 3 pm the judge said someone had to be somewhere in 30 minutes and we were going to stop here for the day. No one had been thrown off, and just a few questions so far had been asked of the prospective jurors. Our day was over, but our “service” was not; we were required to report back tomorrow at 9 am.
I reported back the following day and waited outside the court room doors. The other jurors began showing up and we waited until around 10:30 when the doors opened. Everyone took their respective seats and the judge began to address the group. He said he will take the blame for today’s goings on but we could not proceed because the defense attorney was sick. As a result, we had to return the following day at 1:30. He said he had a delta tunnels hearing in the AM. Frustration began to set in with the jury pool. One young lady said her boss was forcing her to take off work while attending jury duty, another works night shifts and is essentially unable to sleep during this charade. You could tell on the way out of the courthouse there was unrest brewing among the natives.
I returned yet again the following afternoon and boarded the elevator, the defense attorney got on next to me. I asked if she felt better and she said yes. I said well I’m sure it was no big deal you were absent yesterday. As we approached the courtroom I boasted to the fellow jurors “hey she isn’t sick anymore, she’s here!” To which she turned red as a tomato from all the clapping from us jurors. I think at this point she came to the realization that most prospective jurors while leaning toward being more than fair had turned on her and her client. As a group, we were sick of the delays and non-stop hurry up and wait mentality.
At 2:30 they called us into the courtroom again, and the judge said there was a resolution, the accused had pled guilty. The judge addressed us for about 30 minutes saying he was glad for our service and that we shouldn’t view this as a waste of time at all. He talked about the new courthouse being built soon at the cost of 400 million and how this building was deficient and so on so forth. He said something about us getting paid, I’ll believe that when I see it. We had to go back to the jury room and get a sheet of paper saying we served 3 days, presumably to give to our employer so they wouldn’t have an excuse to fire us. Then we could go.
My commentary:
This was the ugly underbelly of our justice system, which frankly I believe is rotten to its core. There were many people in that court room whose life was inconvenienced over 3 days in the name of this defendant. One lady drove all the way from Isleton for this, that’s more drive time than court room time for all you home gamers. More frustrating was that we as jurors were the ones constantly in flux. It’s somewhat stressful finding parking, then you had to factor in getting to the right floor, then wait for the court to open. Additionally there was no phone call saying no jury was needed since the defense attorney was sick.
However I would be remiss if I didn’t say this was a very good learning experience. At first I was flummoxed the judge didn’t seem to allow anyone’s excuse to stand. He had a very calm demeanor and usually asked you a question where your answer meant you shouldn’t be excluded. It wasn’t until after the jury duty was over I understood what was going on.
The judge was basically telling the attorneys this is going to be your only pool by which to pick from so of the 40 or so in this room try to find 18. (The jury is composed of twelve jurors plus some alternates.) I think he knew several of us were bound to get thrown off and as a result wanted both attorneys to use their 10 “challenges” as opposed to him throwing people off. Additionally I believe that before the jurors were set to be readmitted to court, the judge told both parties I think we can have resolution now, then boom, a plea deal was reached. I cannot definitely say justice was done because I was not there the day of the arrest for the crime, but I do think the defendant, by holding out until the last possible second, got the best deal possible.
Honestly the case was going to be nearly insurmountable for the defense to win, regardless of whether the initial traffic stop was legal. The biggest hurdle to overcome was that the defendant was accused of assaulting 3 badges (police officers)—one being a female. I say insurmountable because as a male, it would be very hard to acquit or even attempt to hang the jury when a male hits a female. Hopefully he got a fair deal, as I’m sure jail time was on the table. However if it would have gone to trial, I would be remiss to say I wouldn’t have wanted to be a fly on the wall hearing the defense attorney argue a case with no witnesses, videos, or her client taking the stand.
Now on to the judge, Kevin Culhane. I thought initially he was long winded, slow and deliberate, and at one point seemed as if he was intentionally wasting time.
Judge Kevin R. Culhane
To the contrary, Judge Culhane is a very distinguished civil court trial judge who has presided over a ton of civil suits. In retrospect, it makes sense that he was very deliberate, and tried to make the prospective jurors feel at ease even though some of us were talking about some very uncomfortable things either in ours or our families’ past. He always made it clear what the next steps were and apologized profusely for the defense attorney being sick and inconveniencing us. He spoke to us at length prior to dismissing us, and told us he was appointed by the governor to address the 6 year backlog of criminal cases at the court, and to put together a strategic plan to get a new court house built. He accomplished both of these, the new courthouse will be shovel ready in a couple months! All in all not a bad experience at all.
Since its Friday, I wanted to take a timeout from the news of the day. I did read a headline about Rush Limbaugh offering to run Facebook after they lost 119 billion in stock value yesterday. Facebook has no value in any real metric. They do nothing and produce nothing. They have no tangible assets, they are vaporware. Facebook exists only on paper. If you liquidated the company, you could only get a few million for real estate and office equipment.
My purpose today is not to bash Facebook, as fun as that may be, but my mind did wander to Rush. I rarely listen to him anymore. I like him and enjoy his program much of the time but work and listening don’t always go together.
I do marvel at the staying power of Rush. He is an American institution. In my lifetime only Paul Harvey approaches him in the field. But Rush is superior. Why? Because Rush does what he does, three hours a day. Paul Harvey did two short broadcasts of less than seven minutes. However, without Paul Harvey, Rush would not be possible.
Paul Harvey
So what does Rush do? First he is a vociferous reader and he has an eye for reading between the lines. He may not use the word but he understands the worldview of those he disagrees with. This is why he is so often right. He just looks at people and knowing what motivates them he can predict what they will do next. He has both a staff and loyal listeners that funnel information to him to sort thru so he can keep abreast of different events. Importantly, he has a sense of humor and knows how to poke fun at his adversaries. This is all well and good but doesn’t necessarily translate to good radio.
Think about it. What is radio? At its core, radio is a guy sitting in an empty room by himself pretending to be having a conversation with his best friend. This dialogue is broken only by commercials and weather updates. Rush has been doing this three hours a day for about 30 years.
Trust me when I say that normal people can’t do radio. I worked in radio in high school and college. The station where I worked in high school was WDDT—which at the time was running a top-40 rock format. WDDT was a small town dawn to dusk AM station. On Sundays, I had to arrive early in the morning and turn on the transmitter. Then at sunrise I had to change the broadcast power to increase the transmitter footprint for daytime operation. Thus I was running the programming and also the acting broadcast engineer.
The college that I attended for my freshman year owned a 50,000 watt AM station and also an FM one which were both on the west side of campus. The student station was confined to the campus and broadcasted via carrier wave thru the power grid of the school. Yes, reception was thru plugging your radio into the 110 volt wall outlet and then tuning to the correct frequency. (Trivia: You can now use this technique in your house to transmit Internet from one room to another.)
These experiences in radio give me a greater appreciation for how gifted Limbaugh really is. I’ve formally met Rush once. Shortly after he left Sacramento and began his nationwide program, he returned and did a political fundraiser in Sacramento. I paid my $100 and got to meet him at the event. He is not what you would expect. He was shy and uncomfortable in the large group. He impressed me as being an introvert when in the company of strangers. It’s part of the way radio works. You create an on air personality and like an actor playing a part, you cloth yourself with the character and take it off when it’s not needed.
My other claim to fame was that I was officially the only troublemaker to interrupt him during his first Rush to Excellence Tour. If you can find the video tape—I don’t think he ever put these on DVD, Rush is doing a bit on the stage about New York handing out condoms to people to protect them from AIDS. Said Condoms were stapled to an information sheet that was being given to people. Rush was mocking them for putting the staples thru the middle of each and every condom that was being passed out with the promise that their use would result in “safe sex”. During this monologue, I hollered-out the name “Lee Nichols” and Rush lost it and started laughing. After a few seconds he recovered his composure and continued him monologue. As a result of my outburst, I was featured prominently in two subsequent close-ups of the audience.
Rush to Excellence ‘89
While the name Lee Nichols probably means nothing to you now, I will explain who he was. Nichols was a professor at Sac State. He left his wife and children to pursue a relationship with a man. Nichols was out of the closet before it was cool. He was very Liberal. He was part of the Lambda Community Center group in Sacramento.
Due to concerns about the FCC Fairness Doctrine, KFBK felt that they needed an afternoon host to counter the conservatism of having Rush on for three hours in the morning so they gave three hours a day in the afternoon to various Liberals. Of these, Lee Nichols was the best foil that they put up.
The reason my Lee Nichols comment was funny was because everybody in the room was thinking it but I was the only one willing to say it out loud and the timing was spot-on.
I’m glad Rush is still around and going strong. Like Trump, I don’t know if he is a Christian but I do know that God is using the man to teardown strongholds of evil and stupidity. Yeah, I guess that means that Rush (and Trump) are doing the Lord’s work.
Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kennedy tended to vote conservatively except on social issues. We have him to thank for the imposition of “Gay Marriage” on this republic. Democrats have made it clear that the main issue at stake in this appointment is abortion. They fear and are fundraising like crazy with the claim that Roe v Wade will fall if Kavanaugh is confirmed.
Below are a few quotes from a press conference held by Demo
crat senators opposed to Kavanaugh. Interpretation of their “double speak” appears in purple .
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) urged all Democrats to oppose President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, saying anyone who supports him is “complicit in the evilopposing abortion.”
“I’m here to call on folks to understand that in a moral moment there is no neutral. In a moral moment there is no bystanders,” Booker said, alongside senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
“You are either complicit in the evilopposing abortion, you are either contributing to the wrongof protecting innocent life, or you are fighting against it.”
Warren said Democrats “are on the immoral side of history,” while Sanders argued the interpretation of a “living” U.S. Constitution is at stake.
Democrats claim to be on a mission from God to keep abortion lethal
Maxine Waters is mad that poor black folks might leave the plantation and prosper under the Trump Administration economic plan. More blacks are working now than when Obama was President. She is also upset that if Trump enforces immigration law that more blacks will get jobs and not need handouts from government. Thus its God’s will that she oppose Trump to keep “her people” in line.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has been one of President Trump’s most outspoken critics, recently going so far as to encourage people to publicly harass members of the Trump administration.
On Sunday, however, Waters suggested in a church sermon in Los Angeles that she’s on a divine mission to stop the president , blasting the Trump administration on a range of issues.
Addressing the congregation at First AME Church, Waters said, “You’ve gotta know that I’m here to do the work that I was sent to do, and as pastor said to me when I came in this morning, ‘When God sends you to do something, you just do it!’” she exclaimed to cheers from the crowd.
Ok, class here is an example of pretzel like logic that only Liberals can understand.
First the players: Walt Disney corp. owns most Marvel Comic properties including Guardians of the Galaxy. James Gunn directed the first two movies and has been working diligently one the third. Per the article that I will get to in a minute, the first two movies took in a box office of 1.6 billion dollars. Disney is buying the 20th Century Fox movie studios for 71 billion dollars.
Rupert Murdock—the seller of 20th Century Fox—also owns Fox News which is not part of the sale to Disney.
Friends and fans of “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn are urging Walt Disney Co. to rehire the filmmaker, a rare moment in an era when bad behavior has gotten some of the biggest names in Hollywood summarily fired.
Actors including Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt and Selma Blair have tweeted in support of Gunn, who wrote and directed both “Guardians” pictures and was working on a third. Some 228,000 people have signed a Change.org petition asking Disney to bring him back amid concerns that he was targeted by conservatives.
Disney terminated Gunn on July 20 after the right-leaning website Daily Caller published 8-year-old Twitter comments by the director…
There could also be a political element at work. Gunn, like many people in Hollywood, was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, while the Daily Caller is supportive of the president.
Disney is poised to complete the $71 billion acquisition of entertainment assets from 21st Century Fox Inc., whose Chairman Rupert Murdoch has forged close ties with Trump since the 2016 presidential election.
The above quotes appear in the same order as the story. Folks let’s look at their alleged logic.
The authors—yes, it took two people to write this story—state as fact that James Gunn was targeted by conservatives. Why?
Proposition 1 Daily Caller leans right
Proposition 2 Rupert Murdock owns Fox News Network which leans right
Proposition 3 Murdock is friends with Donald Trump
Proposition 4 Disney is buying a movie studio—20th Century Fox from Murdock
Proposition 5 James Gunn is a movie producer, not employed by Murdock
Based on the above, Liberals have concluded
Therefore Donald Trump ordered Rupert Murdock to order Disney to fire James Gunn
Makes total sense to me.
What about the claim that “… a Change.org petition asking Disney to bring him back amid concerns that he was targeted by conservatives.”
Folks here is the petition in its entirety. The petition says nothing about conservatives, politics, Fox, Murdock, Trump, or anybody else.
I’m smart enough to know this most likely won’t change anything but hopefully, this could get Disney to realize the mistake they made and not do it again in the future.
I agree on the point that if people say a bunch of stupid shit while working for a studio, the studio has full right to fire him over the possible controversy. This situation is very different though as he made these jokes years before he was working for Disney and also the fact that they were jokes. I agree with most, including Gunn himself that the jokes were shitty and un-funny but they were still jokes, it wasn’t an opinion or a statement, it was just a bad attempt at being funny.
The other thing is if you do this to Gunn you have to do it for all the other directors who have said some crappy joke sometime in their life, which is all of them, cause I doubt there’s one human on this planet who hasn’t made a shitty joke once or twice in there life.
If Marvel would come to their senses and re-hire Gunn that would be great but if all we can do is have proof by your signatures that Disney made a mistake i would still count that as a win.
Thanks
Chandler Edwards
The gist, as you can see above, is that Gunn said some stupid things but it was years ago, Disney you overreacted, please hire him back. Implied in this petition is the logic is that in this situation, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Oh, please note that the originator of the petition is not from the United States. Chandler Edwards is from the United Kingdom.
Ok, let’s circle back to more stupid stuff in the story. Earlier, I only partially quoted one line above because it deserves separate treatment. Now I’d like to analyze this quote further. Here is the entire paragraph.
Disney terminated Gunn on July 20 after the right-leaning website Daily Caller published 8-year-old Twitter comments by the director that included jokes about the Holocaust, pedophilia, overweight people and violence against women. In tweets last week, Gunn said he had apologized many times for a sense of humor that hurt people.
Please remember that the authors said that conservatives are responsible for firing Gunn. In the article they state that Gunn was fired for “jokes about the Holocaust, pedophilia, overweight people and violence against women.”
Let’s use logic again. Note to self, logic is a devastating weapon when used against stupidity.
Given the above paragraph, conservatives oppose jokes on killing Jews (Holocaust), pedophilia, overweight people, and violence against women (rape). Therefore Gunn had to be fired.
Consequently, Liberals must support said things or why else would politics matter. Applying the logic of the authors we learn that Liberals must support killing Jews (after all they were National Socialists), pedophilia (no dispute they support sexual deviance), overweight people (hosts of The View and Oprah), and violence against women (Harvey Weinstein and most rap music).
Here are a few of the Tweets that Liberals don’t find offensive but apparently conservatives do.
The article from Bloomberg stated that the Tweets were 8 years old but by my math 2008 was ten years ago. I guess that neither author of the Disney story ever looked-up the story on Daily Caller they just went on a rant. Lastly, Gunn doesn’t deny that he posted these things just that it should have consequences. After all, Disney hired him after he posted these things not before. Funny that nobody mentions that inconsistency.
In response to Janus, the unions are pushing back on government employees. Thus far, this attack is in two ways.
First, for many in California, those once in the union are still presumed to be union members. The idea stated in Janus that members must affirmatively join the union is being ignored. Instead, unions are presuming to keep all members and collect dues from them. I know this is the case with the California Teachers Association but I don’t know if SEIU is following suit but it seems likely.
So called “fair share” employees are getting to keep their money but point number two is directed in large part at them. The unions do provide legal representation for employees that need help and this is their best argument for keeping folks in the union and getting “fair share” employees to join.
When you have some manager that thinks they are dictator of their little bureaucratic fiefdom and treat their underlings as chattel, then the union attorney can step in and defend the employee. Sadly this does happen. Unlike the biblical requirement that you need two or three witnesses to establish an accusation, in government employment it takes one person to level an accusation and someone can be administratively disciplined or fired.
Governments are risk averse and anything that puts them at risk must be dealt with. This is often harsh and swift. Contrary to what most folks think, certain things will result in governments firing people just to avoid conflict. Sexual harassment and discrimination are two such areas. In government, such things are not limited to one person saying something to another that is an off color remark. If someone walking by hears something—even if what they hear is out of context —it can still result in disciplinary actions against others.
Below are examples of how seemingly minor things can get blown way out of proportion.
Example 1
If two employees were talking to each other on break and one said, “I don’t let my children watch Steven Universe because it has homosexual characters on it. It makes me sad that Cartoon Network has programming like this for children.”
Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe
If the employee that you said this to or another employee hears you say that, it can be interpreted as an infraction of the Equal Opportunity rules imposed on state employees and you could be administratively disciplined.
Example 2
A 6-year-old child at a public school falls on the playground at recess and cuts her knee. Bleeding and crying, a teacher watching the playground goes to the child, picks her up, gives her a hug, and escorts her to the school nurse to get her cleaned-up and bandaged. The school contacts the parents and lets them know that their child was injured. The child gets home and tells what happens. In the course of the discussion, the child says the teacher hugged her and said she would be ok. The parents then complain that the teacher touched their child. The next thing you know the district superintendent is involved and the teacher is facing suspension as a pedophile. Folks this really happens.
Example 3
If a teacher takes a cell phone, pencil, or water bottle from a child because they are distracting themselves and the class, they can lose their job. I know this to be a fact. The teacher asked the child to voluntarily cease their behavior and the child refused. As a last resort the teacher took the object from the student and resumed instruction.
The student complained. As a result, the teacher was suspended and subsequently terminated. Not only did the school principal not support his teacher, he got the teacher banned from the district. Then the school district tried to have the State Department of Education ban the teacher from ever working in any public school in the State of California again. True story.
The risk aversion of government makes them do stupid things. Also, the lawyers employed in government are typically not the brightest crayons that passed the bar. Seemingly innocent things can be blown way out of proportion and bad things can occasionally get really bad. When the full faith and credit of a government entity is aligned against you, it’s not a great place to be. Truthfully, unions have righted some wrongs that happen to those in government service.
Many of us in government would not mind being in the union if they would stick to their mission of representing government employees and leave the partisan politics alone. When unions are taking in 900 million a year, they are soaking both members and the taxpayers; hence the revolt.
Watching the Janus case ripple thru the country will be interesting. I do expect that California will find ways to ignore both the spirit and the letter of the court decision. for many, legal representation is probably the best reason to stick with the union in the new era of Janus.
For some group of enterprising conservative attorneys, offering some cheaper form of prepaid legal services as an alternative to union membership might be a business opportunity worth exploring.
Does anybody out there have a problem with these numbers? Oh, per the article, April jobs were 26,000, May 7,200 and June 800.
Am I the only one seeing a trend in the wrong direction here?
The Party line is summarized by Michael Bernick, former Director of EDD, “California has a broad and diverse economy, and we’re now in our 99th month of employment expansion,” he said in an email.
Once again, I invoke the saying, “there are lies, damn lies, and statistics”.
So where were the growth areas in June’s job report? Government, tech and Hollywood. All other sectors lost jobs.
Last month, employers in four of California’s 11 industry sectors added jobs.
The education and health services sector gained the most, growing by 8,000 jobs. The information sector, which includes tech companies and Hollywood studios, grew by 4,600 jobs.
Employers in the government sector and the professional and business services sector also added jobs.
The other seven sectors saw job losses. Leisure and hospitality cut 4,000 jobs. The construction sector shrank by 2,900. Trade, transportation and utilities lost 2,600 jobs. Employers in manufacturing, finance, mining and logging and “other services” also trimmed payrolls.
Given the above, the bean counters in Sacramento are offering two explanations but choosing neither.
Option 1
The slowdown could signal that California is simply reaching full employment. Employers are struggling to find workers.
Option 2
It’s Trump’s fault because he is starting a trade war with Wal-Mart, oops, I mean China.
Bernick and others said that the economy appears mostly healthy despite the poor June numbers. But Bernick said federal trade policy could hamper further job growth.
“A widening trade war is the main threat to California’s continued employment expansion,” he said.
If you drill down into the numbers, only government or things that it subsidizes are growing. The private sector is clearly contracting. Given our tax burden this is not a surprise.
Only government creates jobs in California
If California’s economy is so great, then why is the California economic news all about homeless people and illegal immigrants when we are supposed to be at full employment? Full employment means that everyone has a job and wages are increasing due to a shortage of qualified workers.
We have millions of able bodied people on the dole in our State. California has one third of all welfare cases in the United States, a huge chunk of illegal aliens, and a large portion of the nation’s homeless. Liberals admit that these problems are getting worst not better but on the other-hand, these same folks are claiming we are at full employment. Can you say logical disconnect?
The reality is we have a shortage of housing that normal people can afford. Heck, apparently folks in San Francisco are so miserable that they can’t even afford toilet paper and indoor plumbing.
This is one of the results of socialism. Under socialists and totalitarians, there is an elite group of haves and another of have-nots. The middleclass all but disappears leaving a huge gulf between rich and poor.
The real story here is that California is a mess and that Gavin Newsom may end up having his utopian hands ties by an economic downturn caused by Sacramento’s draconian tax policies.
