9/11/2020 Oops! I Accidentally Wiped My iPhone!

Yesterday, for the third time since he has been US Attorney General for this second go-around, I wrote a short letter to William Barr. This time it was to express my outrage at the audacity of the Mueller team in erasing their phones. These people are criminals and should spend long years in jail.

 

Did you ever forget your iPhone pass code? I have. If you put the wrong pass code in 10 times the phone presumes there is a hacking attempt in progress and it will wipe itself clean. Somewhere within those 10 attempts the iPhone will warn you that if you continue making incorrect pass code entries, you'll lose all your data. It's probably extremely rare that someone unintentionally wipes an iPhone, but I'm sure it happens. Now multiply the odds that this happened to someone on Mueller's team, not once, not twice, but 17 times! That can't be an accident.

My math is rusty, but I was able to calculate the percentage chance that this could happen to 17 iPhones (I realize some of them may have been Androids or BlackBerries, but the odds aren't much different, so don't even go there!). There is a 0.00000000000000000000001% chance this could have been accidental, which it turns out is exactly the same odds as me winning the Powerball Jackpot 6 Saturdays in a row.

The worst part of this, in my opinion, is that if Biden wins the election his Justice Department will drop all investigations and prosecution of the coup d'état conspirators and the Mueller coup d'état cover-up team. All three participating US Attorneys investigating these crimes, Bash, Jensen, and Durham, will be instructed to close up shop. Or maybe the new AG will get tough and have the conspirators and coverers-up read and sign a memo reminding them to write their pass codes and keep it is a safe place in case they ever forget it again.

 

I feel lucky. I think I'll buy a PowerBall ticket for tomorrow. People are beating the odds every day!

9/10/2020 The Bombshell Game

Day in and day out we're being bombarded with incredible hyped stories of the evils of President Trump. Just a few days ago it was alleged in the Atlantic that President Trump disrespected the warriors buried in a WWI cemetery in France. The Atlantic "bombshell" cited "unnamed sources". Fully two dozen witnesses to actual event have stated on the record that the the President didn't say the things he was alleged to have said. Unnamed sources vs. two dozen on the record statements that stab the credibility of the Atlantic piece directly in the heart.

Yesterday the next "bombshell" was launched. Writer Bob Woodward released a recording of a conversation he had with President Trump in which Trump talked about his intent to downplay the virus in a manner that wouldn't incite panic (paraphrasing). The recording was made on Feb 7, which is relevant because public policy and what was known about the virus was much different than what was known two months and even just one month later. It was only in the very last days of January that the World Health Organization first started talking about possible human to human transmission. City, State, and Federal officials everywhere in the US were downplaying the virus on Feb 7th, encouraging people to eat in restaurants, shop in stores, etc. But, knowing how short our memories are, and how unlikely TV news watchers and newspaper readers are to put the comments into a contextual timeline, this was breathlessly reported far and wide last night. It still percolates and resonates with Trump detractors and opponents, some of whom understand the contextuality of the Feb 7th date.

This kind of "bombshelling" will continue to the election and beyond if Trump is reelected. It's intentional and it's intended to sway voters. Period. If you're sick of it AND you're committed to supporting Trump/Pence through thick and thin, then I suggest you can fight back by playing The Bombshell Game. Molly Hemingway, one of my favorite political analysts and pundits predicted the string of bombshells will continue on Fox News.

 
The Bombshell Game is a little bit like a drinking game, except instead of taking a drink every time one of these bogus bombshells is played out on TV, Internet, radio, and in print you make a donation to Bombshell Game Contributions. You decide what you can afford for Bombshell Game stakes. And bear in  mind there will be a bombshell every 2-3 days, which could mean 20 more, maybe 25, or even 30. So you may only tally $1, or $2, or $5. If you're a higher roller, then maybe $10 or $25 or $100 even.

I can't think of a better way for Joe Sixpack and all the other regular Americans for whom Donald Trump is our only and last best hope to make the bombshelling of the American electorate with bogus allegations backfire than by connecting a surge of campaign contributions to each and every bogus bombshell.

So, great Americans, will you play along? Will you play The Bombshell Game?

Trump Campaign Contributions The Bombshell Game

9/72020 Lies I can't Get Behind

Since it's a holiday, I'm gonna try to keep this short if I can.

Some people won't like hearing this, but here's a short (?) list of the divisive racial rhetoric and lies being used to try to somehow help an extremely weak Democratic Party candidate for the U.S. Presidency to cross the finish line as the winner:

1. Police are hunting and exterminating unarmed, innocent black men. No. There have been a small handful of black men killed in confrontations with police in 2020. In every case, police were called to the scene for some seemingly legitimate reason. Every one of the high profile cases warrants a thorough and impartial investigation to determine if the shooting is or was justified, and if not, was it an error, like mistaken identity or what appeared to be a weapon was a set of keys or something like that, or was it maliciously done, as in a murder or execution. But the bullshit rhetoric (don't tell me it ain't out there, I'll find quotes and post them) has to stop. It's divisive, it's incendiary, and it is harmful to our nation and our society.

2. Donald Trump is a racist. Bullshit. What is almost always cited as evidence of this are lawsuits and complaint made against Trump in New York related to Trump's position as owner of, and therefore landlord of a large number of people, some of whom are people of color. Sorry, there's racism, then there's allegations of racism made in the process of litigating disputes as a means of applying additional pressure and gaining leverage. Many prominent black people in entertainment, sports, politics, even black activists loved Trump before he crossed into sacred ground and challenged the traditional and accepted premise that Democrats and the left have and would in the future would act in the best interests of black Americans. Thirty years of prominent black persons' interaction with Trump and sixty or more years of Democratically run cities in the USA say otherwise. I'm not calling Trump an angel in lily white, not by any means, but this describing him as a Nazi and shit like that is bullshit. Pure, unadulterated, steaming bullshit.

3. White privilege. Shove your claims of white privilege up your ass. I did what I did in my life based on merit. I had black people above me, beside me, and below me. I had Hispanic people above me, beside me, and below me. I had Native American aircraft commanders in the Marines, and flew alongside everybody the sent: black, red, yellow, brown, and white. It was about competence and attitude.

4. Picking Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates based on their race and or gender. Get out of here with that nonsense. Pick the person best suited to do the best job for America. I don't give a shit if it's a man, woman, or some kind of recently popular hybrid model. And same goes for color. Don't pick him or her because they're black, brown, yellow, red, beige, white or even green. Pick the best person.

5. Critical race theory. You can forget about EVER getting me to apologize for being white and my so-called privilege. Forget it. Take your racist indoctrination and brainwashing bullshit somewhere else. I ain't buying

6. Black Lives Matter. I hesitated to add this because I've written about it before. So, to the point, I believe black lives matter. I don't support Black Lives Matter. If you don't or won't understand the difference, you're either stupid or dishonest.

7. Mostly Peaceful. "Black Lives Matter protests are mostly peaceful." What a line of bullshit. Everything in the world is 'mostly peaceful' until it isn't.  If there are 100 protests, and 25 of them are riots with violence, arson, destruction, and harassment of innocent passers-by, don't try to sell the 75 protests as all that's worth talking about. Mostly peaceful is white-wash, no pun intended.

8. That Antifa, now aligned with Black Lives Matter are the good guys. Move to fucking Cuba or Venezuela or Communist China or something. Take Antifa and Black Lives Matter with you. They love that socialist Marxist shit, anyways. They ain't the good guys.

9. The USA is a racist country. The fuck it is. Yes, the USA was founded during a time when there was slavery in the world, and for the first 85 or 90 years, there was slavery in the USA. We fought an extremely bloody Civil War to end slavery, and the next 100 years saw incremental improvement after incremental improvement. During this time black Americans got the right to vote, as did Native Americans. This 100 years culminated in passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. From the Civil War to 1964, many wrongs were righted. Yeah, it took a lot of pressure and there was great resistance. Which only strengthens the case I'm making. A lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears went into freeing the USA from the grips of slavery, something we inherited from the world as it was in which our great nation was formed. Slavery was NOT an enterprise invented here for our own private use. And while I'm thinking about it, fuck the 1619 project.

None of the above means that I don't support criminal justice reform, prison reform, police reform, ending racism (which I sadly agree does exist), etc. Because I do. But if you want to package those things in the wrapping paper of #'s 1-9 above, as Tony Soprano would have said: "Fuggedaboutit!"

9/6/2020 32 Ways to Avoid Getting Killed By Police

Here are a few do's and don'ts to help people of ALL colors to avoid a fatal run in with the police. Unscientifically, I suggest these rules will be way more than 99% effective:

1. Don't be a criminal.
2. Especially don't be a career criminal.
3. Don't be known to the police as a violent and dangerous person. "Armed and dangerous".
4. Don't be involved in illegal activities.
5. Don't be a drug user.
6. Don't be a drug addict.
7. Don't be a drug dealer.
8. Don't associate with drug addicts and dealers socially.
9. Don't possess illegal weapons.
10. Don't shoot illegal firearms.
11. When police stop you and question you be courteous and polite.
12. Don't go full asshole cursing and berating a cop who has the audacity to stop you.
13. If you're being arrested, cooperate peaceably.
14. If you're being arrested, don't resist physically.
15. If being questioned or arrested, don't assault the police.
16. Don't brandish and threaten cops with weapons, be they knives, firearms, or other weapons.
17. Don't assault and steal or try to steal the cop's weapon.
18. When cornered on foot, don't make a run for it. Surrender peaceably.
19. If in an automobile, don't initiate a chase by making a run for it in your car.
20. Get a legitimate job.
21. Go to church or worship regularly in the faith of your choice.
22. Spend more time with your mother.
23. Be there with and for your kids and teach them to be good human beings.
24. Don't beat your spouse, girlfriend, lover, etc.
25. Don't bully and threaten people at the grocery, mall, schoolyard, etc., and make them call the police on you.
26. Don't bully and threaten your next door and across the street neighbors and make them call the cops on you, either.
27. Finish school: high school, college, trade school, whichever best improves your situation.
28. Improve your finances by learning additional job and computer skills.
29. Be nice to people.
30. Be home cooking and making family dinners and eating a family dinner together when the cops pass by.
31. Be home saying grace before dinner when the cops pass by.
32. Know your priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam by name and let them get to know you, too. Be on the phone or visiting your religious leader when the cops pass by.

9/5/2020 Race Relations in 2020 and Beyond - A Manifesto of Sorts

We're getting this all wrong. And by "all wrong" I mean mostly everything. Let me start with this, as I have written and said before, I believe that black lives matter. When I think of black lives matter, I think of a conversation I had with a wonderful black woman I worked with named Kim. I can't recall which race relations police controversy had flared up at the time, but her anguish as a mom who feared for her son if he ever were to get sideways with a police officer for some reason was sincere and I remember how moved I was to hear it articulated from her point of view: a mother scared for her children. She talked about how she's had "the talk" with her son, and felt he was grounded in his faith and unlikely to put himself in trouble's way, but knowing that things happen, and that sometimes signals get crossed and situations can take a life of their own, she was genuinely afraid.

There are legitimate reasons why a black woman would be concerned. Try as she might to raise the kid right, he still lives and studies and goes to work in a neighborhood that has higher crime, more violence, and a different atmosphere than the one I live in when the police arrive after a call for any of the things that the police might be called for: a domestic disturbance, a robbery, an automobile accident, on and on. The neighborhood treats the cops different than mine does, and vice versa. It's chicken or egg thing, and you will NEVER unravel who started it, but it's a fact. And the neighborhoods she and I talked about, on the west end of Louisville, have a lot more violent crime than my neighborhood did/does. So the cops, when they respond there, have to be bearing that in mind and it has to affect their reactions as things play out if there is resistance, a lack of cooperation, etc. I'm not fooling myself, nor will I concede that there is one but not the other. Cops and the community there treat each other differently.

We should be working together to unravel the whole ball of intertwined notions, neighborhood notions about police and police notions about neighborhoods. But as we do that, crime can't be simply ignored because we don't like the people paid to 'police' it. So, I believe there IS work to do, by both law enforcement AND the black community, and by that I especially mean predominantly black neighborhoods, to find and establish a baseline of trust. I don't have the answers, but as of this writing, my intention is to state plainly and clearly, there IS work to do. Period. Blaming, which seems to be the predominant method of debate today, is solving nothing and making matters worse. What matters? Black live's matters.

I'm not in denial. There are white racists. Actually, there are racists of all colors, but here, in the context of discussing black lives matter, I am speaking to white racists. I condemn them. I condemn white racist hate groups. They have no place in my life, and play no role in shaping my opinions, actions, beliefs, or life. None. They're not me. Never were. Never will be. There are some bad cops. They are a SMALL minority, but they exist. And other cops have to step up when bad cops act out. There can't be a blue wall of silence.

Which brings me to Black Lives Matter (BLM), the political organization, which has instigated both protests and riots, voices demanding to be heard but with horrific collateral damage, not just to structures, but to people and people's lives, to black communities, and most concerning to me, damage to the possibility that we do get along better and find solutions. And Black Lives Matter, the organization, has roots, or at a minimum, some of it's leaders have ties to and belief in Marxism. Yeah, it does, they do. Black Lives Matter have aligned themselves so closely with Democrats and the political left, they leave literally no room for white conservatives to support the movement without supporting 100 things we don't support. Start with the fact that I refuse to accept blame, or guilt for the plight of the black man simply because of my own skin color. Follow that with the fact that I refuse to apologize for my own hard earned success, such that it is, on the basis of my skin color giving me some sort of advantage. And then work your way through the laundry list of demands specific to race and those of the political left with which they're aligned.

Because of Black Lives Matter's methods, goals, and political alignment I simply cannot and will not support them. And if some goddamned athlete, team, league, actor, television program, etc. wants me to support black lives matter, I am on board. But if they want me to support Black Lives Matter, they can fucking forget about it. It's never going to happen. Especially as BLM has aligned itself with anarchist, anti-American scumbag Antifa, and is fomenting violence, looting, arson, destruction, harassment of innocent passers-by, condemnation of all police, etc., I consider them an enemy of the USA and a force to be dealt with. Peaceful protesters? Sure. But when the violence and destruction starts, it's time for peaceful protesters to step up en masse and challenge such behavior. Those afraid or incapable of confronting it, fine. Then get the fuck out of there when the bad people start doing bad things. If you don't, then stand by to suffer the same consequences as the perpetrators. Because your presence facilitates the violence and destruction.

Let me sum things up this way: I condemn white supremacists, the KKK, ALL of the small-minded scumbags who have a core belief that their whiteness makes them somehow superior. And I support police and criminal justice reforms to make relations between blacks and black communities and their law enforcement as much better as possible. Easier said than done, I know. But I don't support riots, looting, violence, arson, removal of all monuments and commemorations of our past. I don't support critical race theory, reparations, and all the other nonsense going on now. I want liberty and justice for all. I want fairness, respect, and common decency for all. I want opportunity and prosperity for all. And believe it or not, black lives matter. I believe that. I hope you do, too.

9/3/2020 NTSB-LIke Police Shooting Investigations

Yesterday in a Facebook post or comment my buddy Rich referred to a suggestion that when there are police shootings, that they be investigated using a methodology like the one used by the NTSB to investigate aviation accidents. I've long held the belief that this should be the case. I'm not sure what the threshold should be to trigger (no pun intended) these investigations. Whether it's the 'controversial' ones, shootings where the victim was unarmed, all shootings, or what. But for shootings like the George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake, I would think this method could and should be applied.

If you don't know much about how the NTSB goes about an investigation, for a high level overview, 1) the investigative team would include various stakeholders: the NTSB itself, the FAA, the aircraft manufacturer, the airline, the airline's pilot union, etc. The investigation looks into 2) the crewmembers involved, the airline's training and procedures, manuals, equipment, dispatch, ground operations, cabin operations, support functions, air trafic control, and anything and everything that touches or affects a flight. They'll talk to airline people, airport people, the crewmember's trainers, ground personnel, inflight managers, ATC people, the local FAA office, weather people, you name it. And then they issue a report that 3) details every contributing factor, no matter how minute, human factors (yes, the pilot's and cabin crew's attitude, behavior, reputation for adherence to SOPs, etc). And fiinally, the 4) make recommendations on how to operate more safely,

One important aspect of this that would have to be addressed is liability. If in the course of the events under investigation crimes were committed, this would NOT be a get out of jail free deal. But to the extent possible, in order to have the kind of cooperative, open dialogue needed to identify all the contributing factors, some kind of protection from liability would have to be established.

1) In a police shooting, the investigative team might/should be led by a US Dept. of Justice entity, potentially falling under the Office of Inspector General. The team should include community advocates, behavioral experts to analyze situational behavior issues (with the cop AND the person who was shot, as well as ALL other involved parties), the police union, someone from the city or local government, probably a DA and a public defender, and possible another major stakeholder I'm not thinking of as I type. The investigative team members HAVE to be willing to work in a spirit of cooperation and teamwork with the other members of the team. While having all the stakeholders would allow a thorough examination of all aspects, those members of the team itself simply can't be agenda driven activists. They have to be investigators with enough knowledge and expertise to contribute to the investigation, participate knowledgeably in interviews, help come up with findings of fact as they pertain to causal factors, and lastly, to make reasonable and realistic recommendations. If a stakeholder is found to be more interested in protecting the area they represent, the head of the team from DOJ should correct it, and if it can't be corrected, find a replacement for that activist advocate on the team. Let the activists and advocates lobby the city government for changes once they have a 360º view report in hand, not to actively shape the report to suit their selfish interests.

2) The team should interview any eyewitnesses, community representatives to evaluate the community's hostility or good relations with the police in depth, the Police Chief, Mayor, Precinct Captain, partner of and the cop who did the shooting him or herself. Nothing is sacred. If the community is hostile and assaults or physically, verbally, or in other ways creates an extreme adversarial climate toward the police that hinders peaceful accomplishment of duties, it should be addressed. The police's attitude toward the community, the cop's training, local police and civilian culture toward the police, everything on the table. The victim: was he or she a criminal, in the act of committing a crime, armed, resisting, cooperating, threatening? What was known to the cop(s) who responded, "little old lady needs help crossing the street", or "armed man, extremely dangerous, history of violent crime and attempted murder."

3) They will issue a report that lists ALL the contributing factors, from the cop, the training, equipment, the community, the victim's behavior and history, nothing sacred. The report should be thorough and extremely comprehensive.

4) And finally, they should make recommendations: to the municipality or local entity, to the mayor, police chief, police dept, to the union, etc. The recommendations might be about hiring, training, equipment, procedures, policy, staffing, you name it. And to future 'customers' of the police, whether the person who called the cops, the person whose behavior or actions prompted that call, etc.

And then people need to take it to heart. Everybody. 

Never happen? Probably not. Nothing wrong with a little wishful thinking now and then.

9/1/2020 The Pivot

When the riots started in the end of May, then through June, July, and most of August, and while the Antifa and BLM riots destroyed businesses and cities, toppled monuments, threatened, harassed and bullied city workers and urban dwellers in the streets, Democrats and the media were all on the same page: "What violence? These are peaceful protests.", "Mostly peaceful protests." "Peaceful." Tortured logic reigned supreme. Police who confronted the rioters were spit on, cursed at, pushed, shoved, and bombarded with everything from bricks and glass to urine and fecal matter. "Defund the police!" "Reallocate police funding to social programs!" Offers to send in federal officers to help restore order were mostly rejected out of hand by liberal city mayors fearful of alienating their constituencies. When federal law enforcement went in to protect federal courthouses and other federal buildings and facilities in Portland, OR, those operations were criticized and rejected as provocative, even as they were only embarked upon because of the violence and destruction that was occurring. Democratic politicians, among them notably Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala (pronounced "comma la", lest you be criticized as a bigot because you didn't know how to pronounce it) Harris intimated it would and should continue.

As recently as this past Sunday, CNN was still arguing the violence and destruction weren't "riots".

In August all the Democrats' internal (and everyone else's) polling said: "The American people are more concerned with the violence, arson, and anarchists destroying our cities than anything else." It reached an apex when a 17 year old kid armed with an AR-15 went to Kenosha to help defend a used car lot was attacked and responded by shooting three men, killing two of them. A caravan of citizens in Portland, OR, brazenly drove into Portland to signify to the rioters who've bullied the city of Portland their rejection of Antifa and BLM occupying and destroying the city. A Trump supporter was murdered in cold blood for having the audacity to be a Trump supporter and to be there. But he's the fascist? My ass he is! Rest in Peace.

"All at once, PIVOT!" September 1st is here and Biden, Democrats, and the media all pivot in unison and in perfect three part harmony, and they sing:  "All of the violence is Donald Trump's fault, Trump's fault, Trump's fault! All of the violence is Donald Trump's fault, Trump's fault, Trump's fault! Until he goes away!" The Democratic Party's Presidential Nominee's statement on it yesterday reminded me of a mafia thug shaking down a pizza joint in Jersey: "You need protection. If you don't elect Joe Biden, this stuff's gonna get worse!" If we don't elect Biden, it surely will get worse! What is more disappointing than the predictable pivot in the face of a groundswell of public opinion vehemently objecting to the violence and destruction, is that many who get their news only from CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, and or The Washington Post will not only buy into the blatantly dishonest narrative, no, worse than that. Nope. The dishonest or stupid lefties will join in the singing: "All of the violence is Donald Trump's fault, Trump's fault, Trump's fault! All of the violence is Donald Trump's fault, Trump's fault, Trump's fault! Until he goes away!"

One last tangentially related point: This past weekend, President Trump said he was going to Kenosha to see the situation firsthand. The Wisconsin Governor urged him not to. I'm glad he's going for two reasons: first, to show the victims of the destruction, looting, and violence that he is in support and solidarity with them and against the liberal authorities who rejected federal assistance to deal with it and second, in going there the President will force networks to show the devastation that's taken place in Kenosha, which the media has largely hidden from view as best they can to avoid being exposed for the dishonest "mostly peaceful" narrative they've pushed all summer.