Following today’s South Carolina primary, next comes Super Tuesday where huge blocks of delegate votes are up for grabs. It’s widely assumed former V.P. Joe Biden will win in SC, the only real question is by how much and will it be enough to propel him to the front of the pack heading into Tuesday, the position he started his campaign in. The pundits had already crowned Bernie Sanders as the party’s certain nominee following his meaningless victories in Iowa (maybe) and New Hampshire (a neighboring state) and the Nevada caucuses, but after the absurd grind of months and months of literally dozens of candidates, endless debates and BILLIONS of dollars spent the real election is about to start.
To date polls indicate the following relative to those candidates who remain in the race on a national basis: Sanders 25%; Biden 17%; Bloomberg 15%; Warren 15%; Buttigieg 10%; Klobuchar 4%; Steyer 2%; Gabbard < 1%. Following Biden’s victory in the SC primary today bolstered by the diverse nature of the electorate and the endorsement of most African Americans, I expect the gap between Sanders and Biden will narrow as we head into Super Tuesday. It’s also expected that Tom Steyer will score well in the SC primary, which could give his all but dead candidacy a much needed shot in the arm. As to the rest of these so called candidates, I believe the field will narrow to only two and possibly three candidates left standing-the rest of these would be presidents will need to step aside and leave the stage to the REAL contenders to run CROOKED Donald and his cronies out of town in November. My prediction is as follows-Sanders and Biden, with Bloomberg the unknown variable. His abysmal debate performances didn’t help him, but spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the Super Tuesday primary states certainly will. I believe Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Tom Steyer should withdraw from the race altogether following Super Tuesday, because none of them have any chance of beating Donald Trump in the fall. The Democrats need to begin to narrow the focus on which candidate the party is going to support to accomplish this priority number one, that is to beat Trump. Of those left standing after Tuesday, I believe Joe Biden represents the best opportunity to do so. Bernie Sander’s socialist policies will never win over Middle America and could cost the Democrats the majority in the House, the one thing they currently have going for them. It would also guarantee they won’t flip the Senate, which should be party priority number two…ditching MOSCOW Mitch and his do nothing REPUBLIKAN sycophants. Here again, I have to say Bloomberg is the wild card, but I can’t even imagine him on a debate stage with Trump-like the second Liston-Ali fight it will be over in round one!!! He can dominate the social media messaging or at least compete with Trump on these platforms, but voters don’t for the most part follow Twitter-they get their news from television. The mere difference in their physical stature (Trump calls Bloomberg “Little Mike”) with Trump towering over Bloomberg on stage presents another horrifying scenario. In short, I don’t see Bloomberg as a viable candidate no matter how much money he has. The bottom line is this…the Democratic Party needs to cut the crap and get on to the serious business at hand. Everybody but Sanders and Biden need to get off the track and clear the lanes for the candidate and political position they choose be it the liberal and socialistic programs being championed by Bernie Sanders or the more moderate and temperate policies being espoused by the former Vice President. Think of the amount of money that individuals like Bloomberg and Steyer could put toward the common goal of defeating Trump in November in support of either candidate. There are many, including myself, who say that Trump would have a field day running against Sanders and his socialist platform, but then again there were far too many of these same pundits who said Donald Trump had no shot at either being the REPUBLIKAN nominee in 2016 or beating Hillary Clinton, no matter how it was accomplished. We all know how that turned out. It will indeed be interesting to see how the next few days unfold. One thing is for certain-the Democrats need to stop f*ing around and get down to business. For individuals like Gabbard to continue to cling to their absurd ambitions of being POTUS and muddying up the waters for the serious contenders is doing nothing to help the party.
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Second Amendment sanctuary, also known as a gun sanctuary, refers to states, counties, or localities in the United States that have adopted laws or resolutions to prohibit or impede the enforcement of certain gun control measures perceived as violative of the Second Amendment such as universal gun background checks, high capacity magazine bans, assault weapon bans, red flag laws, etc. (WIKIPEDIA)
I heard about this the other day when the Fiscal Court in a county just to the south of Louisville, Hardin County, voted against establishing itself as one such sanctuary. Ninety-seven counties in Kentucky have passed resolutions to become Second Amendment Sanctuary counties (There are one hundred twenty in total). This was the third such time such an ordinance has been voted down by these Fiscal Court members. I applaud their collective decision, which was made despite the lobbying efforts of a group which calls itself Hardin County United. County Judge Executive Harry Berry (can’t make that name up!) cited many reasons for the court not voting, including the fact that all county officials have already taken an oath to uphold the constitution. He argued that alone is more reassuring than a resolution that holds no legal weight. Ultimately, the fiscal court moved to new business. Grunts and moans came from the members of Hardin County United who immediately left following the topic. But the fight from the group must go on, their leader said. It’s sad enough in our gun violence afflicted nation that we have United States Senators in Washington, the majority of who are REPUBLIKANS, sitting on any meaningful gun legislation at the direction of Majority leader “MASSACRE” Mitch McConnell while they stuff their pockets with cash from the NRA and the gun lobby and hide behind the Second Amendment. We are talking bills already passed by the House of Representatives and supported by nearly THREE FOURTHS of ALL Americans, sensible, long overdue gun legislation that would ban the future sale of assault weapons, extended ammo clips and bump stocks, as well as instituting universal background checks and the so called red flag laws. Instead, the carnage continues unabated. Yesterday at the Molson brewery in Milwaukee multiple people were slain by a disgruntled employee who had been fired earlier in the day and returned with two hand guns, one equipped with a silencer. And the beat goes on. I have written on many occasions regarding gun legislation and the necessity to take drastic steps to stem the tide of gun violence that threatens to envelop all of us. I’m not talking about taking ANYBODY’S guns away, so that lame ass argument immediately becomes moot. I’m talking about banning the future sale of assault rifles altogether and the accessories like extended ammunition clips; restricting the sale of semi automatic hand guns and the issuing of carry and conceal permits without any training or background checks. The Second Amendment was NEVER meant to give civilians the same rights to carry weapons of mass destruction like AR-15’s as the military nor was it intended to put millions of guns into circulation such as the situation we find ourselves in today. Somebody explain to me why a civilian needs a silencer??? Or why there are gun ranges that allow civilians to shoot machine guns for fun??? Or gun shows where anything goes, mostly off the books??? Instead of allowing a vocal minority of citizens to dictate policy for the rest of us, groups such as Hardin County United, we need to get rid of the unscrupulous politicians in Washington who refuse to do the will of their constituency and instead bow before Wayne LaPierre and the NRA. I believe a politician, be they Democrat or Republikan, should be vetted first and foremost on their position regarding stronger gun legislation. Those who take political contributions from the NRA or gun lobby should be held accountable. For far too long we have allowed these parasites to remain on the job while our fellow citizens are mowed down at school or at work, at festivals, in their places of worship and in nightclubs. When, oh when will the carnage end?!? Only when these cowardly politicians are swept out of office and a new wave of leaders comes in who have had to grow up afraid of going to school every day for fear of being shot. Maybe then the voices of reason will be heard over those of the old guard and those who would have us believe that it’s their Constitutional right to purchase and own military grade weapons despite the number of mass murder casualties we continue to see day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. How many more have to die before we give up our Wild, Wild West mentality and love affair with guns, guns that actually DO KILL PEOPLE, another absurd rallying cry of the gun lovers. (How many times have YOU heard “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”???) True enough, but its people with GUNS. If they didn’t have the guns, they wouldn’t be out shooting people, would they??? IT”S TIME TO PASS MEANINGFUL GUN REFORMS AMERICA!!! We need stronger laws, NOT sanctuaries!!!
I don’t know about you, but this picture of Trump and his buffoonish administration members at their presser yesterday trying to assure us all is well is about as comforting as his assurances we can all sleep better at night after his original summit meeting with Kim Jung Un-meanwhile he like the virus is a ticking nuclear weapon waiting to explode. And the President tells us to wait until spring and all will be well while people are dying by the thousands round the world. And then he names Mike “I’M A LITTLE DENSE” Pence to oversee our nation’s response to this crisis, a man with absolutely zero medical background and a man who has lied so many times for his boss he has virtually no credibility?!? OMG!!! First Trump said it was the “fake news” media over stating the impact worldwide of the coronavirus that was causing the stock market to tank this week, his ONLY firewall to reelection. Then it was the Democrats. Then it was his BFF Rush Limbaugh telling America not to worry-the illness was nothing more than a common cold and a Chinese plot against us. Then he said no Czar would be appointed to oversee our national response while his Director of Homeland Security and Secretary of Health and Human Services looked like deer in the headlights trying to explain to Congress and the country how we were preparing for an outbreak in this country similar to what has been seen in countries like China and S Korea. Then in a hastily called news conference yesterday Trump decided to name V.P. Mike Pence to oversee the nations’s response to this threat of a pandemic. Seriously??? Did Pence run out of things to do, like standing next to Trump looking like a wax museum piece or attacking the LGBT community or the Constitutional right to a woman’s right to choose??? What an absolute joke. Once again we see the direct result of what Trump has done to our nation’s infrastructure-he has replaced career professionals in all ranks of our government from the CDC to Homeland Security with a bunch of unqualified incompetent political hacks. Even REPUBLIKANS in Congress seemed aghast at the administrations complete lack of focus on this potentially deadly disease. It appeared before yesterday that Trump’s only concern wasn’t the human mortality rate of this virus (a statistic his DHS couldn’t recite when questioned by REPUBLIKAN Senator John Kennedy of LA) but how it was affecting worldwide financial markets and in particular Wall Street and his billionaire hedge fund buds. What we are witnessing in the instance of the coronavirus is typical of what has taken place in our government across the board under the Trump administration, either those qualified individuals who were doing the job at State or DOJ or Homeland Security or Health and Human Services have been fired or quit and been replaced with political sycophants whose only qualification for their appointments was either financial support for or blind loyalty to Donald J. Trump. In the time of crisis, be it across the globe or right here at home we have a government in place that is absolutely NOT prepared to deal with ANY crisis, much less one of this magnitude. One would think that a qualified medical expert would be the one who should spearhead our plan of defense against this illness which has already claimed literally thousands of lives worldwide. Instead we get Mike Pence. What exactly are his qualifications??? When he was Governor of IN there was an outbreak of HIV in the state and his handling of that medical emergency is a matter of public record-it was abysmal. Now we’re supposed to believe he’s going to protect us from a true pandemic??? OMG!!! For those Trump supporters who believed his lies about “draining the swamp” during the 2016 campaign they should take heart-the swamp has not only been drained but it’s been replaced by quicksand, ready to swallow up any who dare to do their job in Washington these days. Budget cuts caused by the biggest corporate tax cut in American history has forced the REPUBLIKANS to slash financial aid to the very agencies we depend on to keep us safe, agencies like the CDC and WHO. Instead we are spending billions on a border wall and trying to dig up dirt on Trump’s political opponents and paying for ISTINKA and HE WENT TO JARED to travel the globe on the taxpayer’s dime like their recent trip to India. Instead of the State Department focusing on serious geo political issues like Iran and N Korea Secretary POMPOUS Mike Pompeo is busy firing career diplomats and assisting in Trump’s attempted smear campaign against Joe Biden. The same is true at the DOJ-instead of concentrating on REAL threats like white nationalist terror or Russian meddling in our elections BILL (DIS)BARR instead spends his time and resources trying to dig up dirt on Trump’s political opponents. At the EPA the leadership spends more time rolling back previous environmental safeguards meant to protect all of us in favor of large corporate campaign contributions. At the Department of Education, Betsy CRUELLA DeVos has spent her entire time there trying to dismantle public education in favor of private and charter schools. HHS has been diligently working to cut school lunch programs and food stamp assistance for the needy. The list is endless and most Americans are clueless as to what has been taking place. By the time this group of morons is run out of D.C. it might be too late to reverse the damage already done or about to be done over the next ten months or so. I sincerely hope that our so called government is prepared to deal with this serious health crisis. We can’t hope it goes away in the spring or attack it with empty promises and the appointment of unqualified political hacks to address it. Otherwise, we could all be at risk of dying from “a common cold” to quote medical expert Rush Limbaugh. Donald Trump’s just concluded state visit to India and his relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi was again an indication of the President’s affinity toward strongmen and dictators. As Trump concluded his visit twenty seven people are known to have already died in Delhi as sectarian violence rages for the third straight day in the streets, with roving gangs of Hindu nationalists attacking Muslims and torching their business establishments. These riots are the direct result of restrictive immigration laws being enforced at the expense of the religious minority, where the law has declared any undocumented immigrant from a surrounding country will be given citizenship UNLESS they are Muslim, in which case they are excluded. This has enraged the Muslims and led directly to the current violence in the streets.
Modi is Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy, India. Like most Americans, I paid little attention to this sprawling giant until my daughter married an Indian immigrant. He is an incredibly gifted young man, and his parents whom we met when they came for the wedding are hard working, intelligent individuals and loving parents. I have since learned much about the Indian culture and their history, and have paid much closer attention to the politics there as well. India is the second most populated country on earth, second only to their neighbors to the north China. India’s population is 1.35 billion, which are approximately four times as many people as we have in the United States. The religious majority is Hindus or roughly 80% with Muslims comprising the minority ethnic groups at 15% and Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs the balance. The official national languages are Hindi and English. The country was carved up when the British left following WW II. Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, effected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries—India, with a majority of Hindus, and Pakistan, with a majority of Muslims; the eastern portion of Pakistan later split off to form Bangladesh. Many British institutions stayed in place (such as the parliamentary system of government). Trump, with his normal complete lack of historical reference referred to Modi as “the father of India”, completely ignoring the historic roles that Gandhi and Nehru played in shaping the demographics and politics of the country. These well known figures preached religious and ethnic tolerance for all, but Modi’s Hindu nationalism is the overriding trademark of his administration. My son in law sent me a clip from John Oliver which aired on HBO (available for viewing on U Tube) that was quite eye opening about Modi, the man and his politics as well as what he is doing with regard to the immigration laws. His second in command is openly hostile to Muslims and preaches what amounts to ethnic cleansing. The Indian economy, including Trump’s numerous investments in the country (why else would you think he’d be interested in India?!?) have experienced a slow down of late, and that isn’t helping Modi’s political position either. If you notice a familiar pattern emerging here it’s because there is one-Trump is enamored with ANYBODY that appreciates the glitz and glamour and trappings of wealth and power as much as he does (see the presidential palace and the Taj Mahal for example) who also happens to share his views on immigration restrictions and discrimination against Muslims. Add Modi’s name to the list of Trump’s BFF’s which include such honorable statesmen as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Un, Muhammad Bin Salmen and Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Trump has consistently either sided with these brutal thugs and murderers against his own intelligence agencies or completely capitulated to them on important strategic issues which have negatively impacted our own national security: Russia with the invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing interference in our election process; N Korea continuing to develop their nuclear arsenal and the capability to deliver these weapons while Trump writes him love letters; MBS personally ordered the kidnapping, murder and dismemberment of Jamaal Khoshoggi of the Washington Post, but Trump decided billions in arms sales were more important; he walked away from our Kurdish allies in Syria and left it to Erdogan and Assad and Putin to carve up. Let’s hope the sectarian strife in India comes to a quick halt before more people lose their lives, and let’s hope the Indian government comes to its senses and renounces these restrictive and discriminatory immigration mandates. There was also trouble in Kashmir late last year when similar measures were enacted there which led to a brief confrontation between India and its fiercest rival Pakistan, which share common borders with this small country. What happens in India matters a lot to America, but to Donald Trump he’s only interested in his return on investment. He could care less about human rights and his record as POTUS reflects that. As the main stream media political pundits AND Donald Trump drool over the prospect of a Bernie Sanders nomination to be the Democratic presidential candidate to oppose him in November, I say not so fast. The results of the first two and a half (or does Iowa even count for anything???) primary races, including the botched Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucuses prove absolutely nothing. The number of delegates garnered in the victories by Sanders will be swallowed up by a single state on Super Tuesday. Joe Biden finished in second place in Nevada, a much more diverse populace that the white enclaves of IA and NH and more indicative of the general voting population. He will win the next primary in South Carolina at the end of the week, thereby regaining the momentum that Sanders has gained with his early victories. Then it will be on to Super Tuesday, and by the end of those primaries we will have a much clearer picture of who it will be to carry the fight to Trump. I still believe that individual will be the one most capable of defeating King Donald, Joe Biden.
I supported Bernie Sanders in 2016-still have the bumper sticker plastered up in my garage to prove it. Who knows how different things might be today if he had won the nomination over Hillary Clinton, but that’s water over the dam at this point. His ground organization in this election battle has been superb and he has plenty of money in the bank. However, I frankly don’t believe Bernie can defeat Trump in November. I don’t believe America is ready for a true socialist to be president, any more that they are to elect a gay or a woman to the highest office in the land. And that alone should be the measuring stick for the candidate that ends up winning the nomination-can he defeat Donald Trump in November in the battleground states of WI, MI, PA or FL that will end up deciding our next president??? The only sure bet is Joe Biden, who has the clear advantage in poll after poll of voters. There are many of the issues that Bernie Sanders is addressing that should be part of any Democratic platform-improving healthcare, addressing the wealth gap and income inequality, the green deal and others. But there are others that simply cannot be a part of the Democratic position like universal Medicare for all or the total forgiveness of student loan debt or wealth taxes on the very wealthiest Americans to pay for it all. Middle America simply will NOT go along with these radical changes, especially after four years of utter chaos under Trump. I have a close friend who lives in Orange County, CA, a former bastion of conservative REPUBLIKANS and a true supporter of Trump who sent me the following text this morning: “Can’t wait a communist versus an irreverent businessman who has turned the country around”. This is what I’m referring to when I say Bernie can’t win in the general election against Trump. The bottom line here is this. I have stated before this entire process is too long, too financially draining and counter productive to nominating a candidate. The sheer number of those running was a joke to start with, and now, at the very earliest stages of the actual vote counting for delegates the media has already crowned Sanders the victor. I completely disagree. I think Bloomberg bombed to the point of no return the other night and that Pete Buttigieg’s words of caution last night were right on point regarding Sanders and nominating him as the Democratic Party’s standard bearer. It’s too early to pronounce ANYBODY as the winner, and I truly hope that the future of our republic is given serious consideration when the nominee is decided. That’s what’s at stake, let there be no mistaking that. If Donald Trump is given another four years in office, there won’t be anything left of it.
I have written a post each of the years Donald Trump has been in office entitled “FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE” and “FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE REDUX” detailing his collusion with the Russians and his BFF Vladimir Putin to once again influence American politics in his favor to insure his election. Now, in his final year in office, we can officially unveil Volume III of this ongoing saga as we learn new details of how the same things that happened in 2016 are happening again as we speak. We have been warned by EVERY single domestic intelligence agency, including the FBI, the CIA and the National Intelligence Director that the Russians were continuing their efforts to sabotage our democratic process to their benefit, namely helping Trump get reelected in this election year. And Trump and the REPUBLIKAN party have continually and deliberately ignored these dire warnings, instead blaming the Democrats for a “misinformation campaign”. Seriously?!? Now we know that following a required briefing before the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Democrat Adam Shiff in which the Deputy Intelligence Director laid out the specific and tangible threats being posed by the Russians, the ranking REPUBLIKAN Committee member Devin Nunes of CA immediately ran to alert his BFF King Donald, who was probably unaware of the briefing because he couldn’t be bothered to read any of them. Trump became incensed and then summarily fired the Director of National Intelligence and replaced him with a completely unqualified political hack, our current Ambassador to Germany who has ZERO intelligence experience. It doesn’t even matter what his name is to be honest. This is the man who is supposed to oversee a massive number of career intelligence operatives and sift through volumes of information to determine where our national security threats are greatest at any given moment. Oh, and BTW, Trump appointed him as “Acting Director” like he has so many others of his appointments thereby circumventing the vetting process which is Congressional approval. After hearing the massive blowback over this ill advised and tantrum driven decision which has shaken the intelligence community to its very core from even some Republikans, he then asked GA Congressman Doug Collins, a complete Trump sycophant to take the job, and he promptly said no thanks. So here we have situation where the President of the United States of America, who has already turned both the Senate and the DOJ into complete supplicants to his ongoing agenda of destroying our democracy to suit only himself, doing the same to our intelligence services. The message is clear-don’t give him any bad news. To have our most effective sources of information gathering muzzled through a political lens is just plain dangerous. The fact of the matter can be boiled down to one simple thing-Donald Trump’s enormous ego. He knows he did NOT win the presidency legitimately, but rather through the efforts of the Russians and Wikileaks, for which another of his BFF’s Roger Stone just got sentenced to prison. He knows Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by over three million and he absolutely cannot stand it. So any suggestion now that the Russians are at it again to benefit his reelection only concerns him because of the political ramifications. He could care less about our national security. He all but invited foreign governments to interfere in the election. And MOSCOW MITCH and Devin Nunes and the other REPUBLIKAN enablers who allow this insanity to go unchecked are just as guilty of endangering our republic as Trump himself. History will NOT be kind to Trump or his henchmen. They have systematically destroyed many of our democratic safeguards designed to protect us from a man such as himself who has only one single motivation-his own self perpetuation. And the REPUBLIKAN party and their pathetic lot of silent sycophants will also be painted with the same brush because they stood idly by and did nothing to protect our great nation from this lunatic and his autocratic BFF’s like Putin. In the meanwhile, Americans are going to wake up to what’s going on right in plain sight, and I hope that day of enlightenment and Trump’s day of reckoning comes this November. Same for MOSCOW MITCH, Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, Doug Collins and the entire lot of gutless cowards who acquitted him and further emboldened his reckless behavior. If Trump wins reelection, I suggest everybody start learning Russian. Let me preface this post with an admission: I myself was guilty of a DUI when I lived in California over forty years ago. I was attempting to drive from Newport Beach to Pasadena, a distance of over fifty miles. The officer who pulled me over probably saved my life. Even in 1978 it cost me over $2500.00 in fines and court costs and a solid week in a police conducted safe driving course, which included getting a couple of volunteer offenders legally intoxicated and then videotaping them behind the wheel. The difference in their reaction time and driving ability even at the minimum allowable limit of .08 at that time left them incapable of completing the obstacle course. It taught me a lesson that I have carried with me to this very day-DON'T DRIVE UNDER THE INFLUENCE!!! It just isn't worth it. On with the story.
Four Louisville women, two mothers and their daughters, on their way to a volleyball tournament in Kansas City were killed near St. Louis when an apparently stoned driver with a history of drug abuse crossed the median and hit their SUV head on with his pick up truck. A Louisville mother, with a history of mental illness and addiction so completely wasted on every drug known to mankind following a three day bender she passes out on top of her baby and kills her. WTF is going on here?!? As the nation, including Kentucky, moves ever closer to legalizing recreational marijuana, we need to take a long hard look at the incredibly deadly effect that DUI’s have on our nation and what we can do to minimize the dangers to those on the road that are sober. Every year in our country more than 10,000 individuals, that’s a victim every thirty seconds, dies from being involved in a DUI incident, be they victims like the unfortunate mothers and daughters of the St. Louis crash or perpetrators like the zombie who killed her own child (she couldn’t even stand up for her court appearance yesterday!). The question is what more can be done to stop these senseless deaths on our highways? All too often, as appears to be the case in both of these incidences, the people responsible had previous histories of addiction and drug abuse. And yet somehow or another they seem to find a way to get behind the wheel of an automobile and wreak havoc and take innocent lives. How can this be allowed to happen? For openers, it is my opinion we could learn a thing or two from countries that have dealt with the issue in a different manner. I spent a couple of weeks in Finland a number of years ago, a country that suffers one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the world. The Finnish people love their “white wine” (vodka) and can party with the best of them, and yet NOBODY would think about driving while intoxicated. NOBODY. Why? Because they have an excellent public transportation system in Helsinki, including street cars and the penalty for DUI is so severe nobody dares take the chance of getting caught. Read for yourself: “Drunk driving is an offence punishable by a fine or a maximum of six months of imprisonment. Aggravated drunk driving is punishable by a minimum of sixty unit-fines or a maximum of two years of imprisonment. If the driver has also committed negligent bodily injury or negligent homicide, the punishment will be more severe. Authorities can also withdraw the offender’s right to drive and detain their driving license either temporarily or permanently. The offender may also lose their right to receive traffic and car insurance payments. The offender is liable for all investigation and court fees as well as for the insurance payments paid by the insurance company to third parties and for the damage inflicted to passengers traveling with the offender.” In Finland, alcohol plays a part in about one in four fatal traffic accidents and in about one in nine accidents leading to injuries. Yearly, some 80 people are killed and 900 people injured due to drunk driving. Of the drunk drivers that are caught, over half are heavy drinkers and a third have a diagnosed substance addiction. Half of first-time offenders will commit drunk driving again, and about half of all drunk drivers are re-offenders. The risk of a re-offender to commit drunk driving after being caught is 3 to 5 times higher than that of a first-time offender. In recent years, apprehended drunk drivers have been offered low-threshold help in order to make a rapid intervention. One effective method to prevent drunk driving is an alcolock. Instead of having their right to drive withdrawn completely, a drunk-driving offender can ask for a monitored right to drive with a vehicle with an alcolock. (Prevents the car from starting if there is ANY alcohol in the system). Granted, Helsinki isn’t L.A., but the end results are what matters. Instead, in our country, our current legal system almost invites repeat offenses. All too often first time offenders, or even second or third time offenders are given leniency by judges who are persuaded by unscrupulous ambulance chasers that their clients are the victims. Jail sentences are rare, intervention to prevent the root cause, the addiction, is ignored and thus the perpetrators are enabled to repeat their history and put the general public at greater risk. It’s “high” time to change all of this malarkey, pardon the pun. We need to follow the example of countries like Finland to make the penalty for DUI, be it drugs or alcohol, SO SEVERE that people would think twice before doing it. I’m talking mandatory jail sentences for first time offenders; revocation of driving privileges for a minimum of one year and mandatory counseling to address their addiction. We need to end the cycle of catch and release perpetrated by thousands of lawyers who prey on both perpetrators AND victims to make their pathetic living. We need judges who will not look the other way or take pity because of some sad sob story, like the family of the pathetic woman who decided to get behind the wheel after consuming cocaine, ecstasy, opiates, amphetamines and weed claiming she had a tough life. Seriously??? At any rate, the people who produce alcoholic beverages have a saying that they feel absolves them of any responsibility for this mayhem….”drink responsibly”. Really??? The time has come to “crack” down on this epidemic of senseless deaths and destruction. Put some teeth into the laws which are supposed to protect us and enforce them. What’s so hard about that?!? While King Donald goes about the business of gutting our government (his latest appointment of “Acting” Intelligence Director Richard Grenell, current controversial U.S. Ambassador to Germany, completely unqualified for the job of coordinating ALL of our intelligence agencies and a total political hack for Trump), watching the Democratic presidential debates last night must have absolutely made his day. He saw six potential adversaries for his reelection bid, FIVE of whom have absolutely ZERO chance of defeating him come November. The one exception is the man he has attempted to eliminate from the race by virtue of a well orchestrated smear campaign involving his entire government being directed against former V.P. Joe Biden, the one candidate he knows will beat him in the election hands down. Let’s take a look at him and the other candidates who were on stage last night.
Even though there are those who say Joy Biden doesn’t have the right stuff anymore I say not so. He’s the ONLY one of the Democratic candidates who has ANY chance of defeating King Donald come November, and that should be the ONLY factor the Democrats consider in their selection of the right candidate. Everything else is just window dressing. Keep your eyes on the prize like James Carville told you to. Otherwise we can all kiss our ass AND our democracy good bye. Instead of the spotlight being focused on spring training for the upcoming season, MLB is focused on the biggest scandal to rock the sport since the days of steroid abuse or Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson betting on games, namely the blatant cheating of the Houston Astros on their way to winning the World Series in 2017. In case you’ve been living on another planet or don’t watch the news or pick up a paper, the Houston baseball club had a system in place whereby they were able to electronically steal the opposing teams signals and transmit them to their hitter at the plate by means of banging on a garbage can in a kind of Morse code to alert them to what pitch was coming. There are documented videos of games where you can actually hear the can being hit prior to the batter teeing off on the next pitch. He then knew what was coming- fastball, curve ball, cutter, slider, inside, outside, high or low-and was able to adjust accordingly. There were electronics involved in the actual sign stealing and transmissions to the clubhouse. I played enough baseball to understand what a HUGE advantage this would be for the hitter, and how it would effectively negate the biggest advantage a pitcher has going for him on the mound-keeping the hitter guessing about what type of pitch was coming and where he was going to throw it. A HUGE ADVANTAGE I repeat. Hitting a 95 MPH heater is probably one of the most difficult things to do in all of sports-the hand to eye coordination and reflexes are incredibly challenged when you literally have a slit second to decide what’s coming and how to swing the bat. But when you have the knowledge before the pitch is thrown what’s coming, the odds go up dramatically in favor of the batter.
That’s the meat and potatoes. The rest of the story is about how poorly this entire episode has been handled both by MLB and the Houston Astros and the impact that this pathetic response to a monumental problem will have on the upcoming season unless something different is done very quickly. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Houston Astros owner Jim Crane have botched half hearted attempts to address the issue in their own separate ways. Manfred refuses to take away the trophy for the championship, calling it a “piece of metal” and also refused to punish any of the players involved, citing the collective bargaining agreement with the Players Union ruling out punitive damages against those involved. Crane’s lamer than lame press conference to address the issue was generously described as “laughable”; the reaction of his players deplorable, with their phony apologies and wishes to “move on”. The universal outpouring of disgust with all involved has crossed sporting lines, with LeBron James among others weighing in on the subject. They say baseball polices itself. The threat of suspensions or fines from MLB is NOT; repeat NOT going to stop the retaliation from across the sport, from opening day until the end of the season against the Astros players. I believe every team they play, especially on the road, will have a bounty on some Astros player, be it Jose Altuve (he of the hidden microphone tattoo!) or someone else. I told my wife I put better than even odds on the first pitch of the season that Houston sees will be “high and tight” if not even further inside. This is going to play itself out until the idiot running the show realizes that the game is still played on the field and NOT at the labor negotiating table in some plush hotel room. People’s very livelihoods were impacted. I saw one game where the Astros shelled a couple of Toronto pitchers to the point where two of them were sent down to the minors the next day, one NEVER getting called back up. In that game there were no fewer than THIRTEEN distinct episodes of can banging to alert hitters what was coming. I remember in the playoffs that year when Altuve hit a home run off of Clayton Kershaw on one of his best pitches and the expression on Kershaw’s face as he watched the ball sail over the left field wall-he was totally incredulous, and now we know how and why! He knew deep down inside there’s NO WAY that ball gets hit out of the park. MLB players from Mike Trout to Aaron Judge and many others have basically said what I reiterated above. Something further needs to be done to put this entire episode in the rear view mirror before the season starts and somebody DOES get hurt as Astros manager Dusty Baker has asserted. The ball is in Manfred’s hands, and it’s strictly up to him to clean this mess up. He needs to grow a pair of balls himself!!! Play ball?!? We’re a long way from it right now I’m afraid. The following is the list of convicted criminals and other assorted scumbags that President Donald Trump pardoned yesterday. It should also be noted that NONE of these pardons was cleared through normal DOJ procedures, but on the direct orders of the President himself. Attorney General William Barr threatened to resign over the breach of protocol, but then remembered he was in fact Trump’s personal lawyer. Here is the list, in no particular order as well as the crimes for which they were originally charged. Even though many of these individuals are long since deceased, Trump said he just wanted to clear their good names as they were all subjected to what he described as “the greatest witch hunts in history”.
Remember, as he told us yesterday, Trump is now the chief law enforcement officer in the land and can do anything he wants. Just ask Bill Barr. |
About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |