Just... bloody hell in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

I get that this isn’t unique to me by any stretch of the imagination. But I’d like… really like… one morning where I don’t wake up sodding exhausted. Waking up exhausted is just… cruel. It is the rough equivalent of seeing a doctor to cure you of back pain, only to leave the Doctor’s Office paralyzed from spinal trauma. OKay, that was a bit extreme… but I’m so tired that I’m giving myself a pass on rambling nonsense. It isn’t even like I stayed up late last night. I went to bed around 11 p.m. and set my alarm for 6 a.m. Granted, that provides a maximum opportunity for 7 hours of sleep… and I’m a person that requires 9… but according to my medical team, I shouldn’t require 9 hours. Thus why the sleep study tomorrow. An attempt to discover if the Fibromyalgia might be “tip of the iceberg” or “wrong diagnosis” or just… “how bad is his sleep really?”

Here’s a “fun” weather update. Despite a few weeks pre-existing of snow fall, gusting drifts, and temperatures so far below Zero, Bi-Han bitched about the cold (anyone get the reference without Google?).... despite all of that, we received another 6 to 8 inches of snow on Saturday night. And weather reports are predicting even more snow on Wednesday. SO… yeah. Our accumulated snow drifts are going to be… very healthy by mid-week.

Today I have lots of things I want to accomplish but we’ll see how many, if any, I’ll actually conclude. I need to take care of several small things and two massive things, then discover before lunch whether I’m covering Boss on any hearings this afternoon as I forgot a tie and would have to run back home to grab one. Regrettably, I didn’t write the sexy entries I wanted to over the weekend but I can just about promise that I’ll finish between one and three of them this week.

(the writer limps away to read Bookmarks, Respond to Notes, Review the News, and write several e-mails taking care of pending case work)

So it really isn’t a surprise but… my body sucks. Despite removing alcohol from my diet and trying to eat better and certainly working out more… it is as though I am entirely incapable of going below 225 lbs. Add this to my skin issues… dry skin, but also a serious ITCHY just everywhere and thin skin creating what appears to be stretch marks in places that aren’t so much “fat” but “used.... for instance… I have a “stretch mark” that runs along the skin right outside the tendon that allows my left leg to bend. That isn’t a fat mark so much as, I suspect, a “suddenly got rapidly taller in late youth, early adulthood” mark. And I’ve things like that all over. So… from an intimate point of view.... I am a chronically in pain, itchy, stretch marked man that at 5‘7 falls well below the national average and yet, can’t seem to get my body weight down to “Overweight” remaining in the “Obese” range by a solid 40 lbs.

These are not things I am happy with and yet they are things that I honestly feel may be out of my control. Not fun.

To get suddenly deep for a moment… the sense of “out of my control” has been playing a lot with my head of late. I mean, it is not in any way a surprise that I’m retreating to video games these days… there is at least a minor set of control there. But for me? In so many other areas? I can’t control the weather.... I can’t (apparently) control my weight/appearance… I can’t control my wife… I can’t control my schedule (the Courts do that)… I can’t control what Defendants do (stupid fucking idiotic decisions and all)… which means I genuinely have no control over my Trial Load. It just feels like the majority elements of my life are “outside of my control”. I’m sure many people feel this way but… I find it rather annoying.

I want to talk about something the ACLU is bringing up that, frankly, needs to get brought up. Now, to put things in perspective and for full disclosure: I used to be rather against the ACLU in many matters. My exact statement was often, “They were crucially imperative in their inception. They were a required and necessary force for Civil Rights and respectful governance. But in the 1990s and 2000s, they ran out of nobility and ethics. They were merely another lawfirm looking to stay relevant and taking cases, some of them bullshit and pathetic, in order to keep the lights on and their names in the paper.” And I honestly believed that. Because I believed that, provided the Government was doing their job properly, the ACLU were nothing but agitators trying to make sure the Government was as ineffective as possible. But when Trump got elected? I recognized immediately the chaos and problems on the horizon and actively recruited people to donate to the ACLU. Admittedly, my pride and own financial situation have prevented me from joining that list of donors personally.

However, the ACLU is advertising a specific case that needs to be advertised as people need to know what kind of world we still occupy. Two women in Montana were in a grocery store and recognized the Cashier as a Mexican. They decided to speak with him in Spanish much to the Cashier’s protestations. The women were soon to discover WHY the Protestations. A Border Patrol Agent detained them and demanded to see their ID so he could investigate whether they “were supposed to be there.” First of all, the fact that Border Patrol Members have extra-judicial powers anywhere other than the Border is an issue of specific and concerning note. Because the Border Patrol Agent Job Qualifications Official Page states that “No College is required” it does not state that High School Graduation is required. So these are individuals exercising extra-judicial powers within the boundaries of the United States that needn’t have so much as a High School Diploma. And this one agent was “allowed” to detain and harass two United States Citizens for nothing more egregious than “BEING IN MONTANA AND SPEAKING SPANISH”. This is a country that does not have an OFFICIAL language. Even if we did, Logical Tourism alone could easily provide a logical reason for hearing foreign languages in your day. NOT TO MENTION this country’s history has a homeostasis of “10-13% non-English speaking.” But then… can’t say I’m surprised! The Wyoming/Montana area? THAT is where my Trump Family lives. ALSO not surprising? Most of the businesses in Jacksonhole, Wyoming (when I visited last year) were being run by Russians or people from former Soviet Satellite countries. In other words: Outdoor Tourism Attracts Internationally.... something the state’s economy should consider to be a POSITIVE but apparently the people consider a NEGATIVE.

Anyone who is not a blind, racist, Trumpist, bigoted asshole should be furious about this. I need only trace my family history back to my Great Grandparents and my Great Great Grandparents before I discover the folks who came here from foreign countries. The languages? Norwegian, German, Welsh, and British. Fuck Trump’s own youngest child is fluent in Slovenian, the language he uses when speaking with his grandparents. Not to mention the stupidest fucking “Possibility” of all.

Pretend for a moment, you’re a language teacher in Montana. Most colleges want kids to take a language course either IN high school or IN college (always better to take it in High School!) In Iowa, for our language classes, we were encouraged to try to speak the language outside of class for practice. The kids learning Russian watched Russian News Channels for practice, the kids learning Japanese watched Anime (why many were IN the class to begin with), the kids learning Latin just… kept talking to their Physician and Attorney parents, the kids learning German reviewed videos from Historical Documentaries, the kids learning French watched dozens of hours Romance Movies… but the kids learning Spanish were intentionally (and often) taken to restaurants where the teacher knew the staff spoke Spanish. To get the kids used to speaking Spanish. CAN YOU IMAGINE being out with your friends… trying out your language skills… and then some asshole with the government’s blessing harasses you because you aren’t speaking English?

Even if you believe in the Republican Perspective, you cannot consider this acceptable. Republicans believe in (or claimed to until recently) in Law & Order. It isn’t lawful or beneficial to keeping order for police to literally hassle anyone that doesn’t seem “American enough.” That is full on dystopian right there.

Switching gears I suppose: Is this Impostor Syndrome?

Scenario: A police report came in with conflicting information. The Official Report Section listed dates of March 2015 through March 2018. However, the Official Narrative Section stated “When the contact began in March 2018” and detailed the events that happened in March 2015.
For most attorneys, I don’t have to worry about this. Simple typographical error, police filing issue, can be easily routed out in trial. Not the attorney I’m facing in this case. This is the kind of guy that would switch into full asshole mode screaming that “If the police can’t even get things right; this case should never have been charged. I demand my client immediately be acquitted!” Sooooooo… in order to avoid that bullshit, I had to invent a Legal Motion citing the Rules of Procedure and Rules of Court allowing me to make an official clarification that the actions referenced as “Initial Contact” were true and accurate to the state’s knowledge but that the date of those actions was March 2015 but that didn’t create any procedural or legal problems as the scheme of criminal actions was an ongoing nature which, by law, can be charged en masse provided the final criminal act of the scheme falls within the protected Statute of Limitations. I whipped something up in ten minutes and filed it. And then for the next (since then and counting!) I keep going back and forth thinking

You did that quickly. It probably looks amateurish and unrefined. I bet it is obvious that you just pulled it out of your ass. Then switching to OR you do actually know something, you are actually in a job that utilizes your abilities and training and you are smarter than you giver yourself credit for. BUT that often quickly switches back to: But more likely, you invented something and it looks like crayon on scratch paper. At least it is finished and you can worry about whether you’ve earned the Junior Assistant Attorney For Kids badge later.

I have four pretrial conferences today. First one… should fucking well be resolved and if it isn’t, I’ll be bloody pissed. The agreement is simply, “Plead guilty, credit for time served, moving the fuck on.” So… if there is a hiccup there, I’m not happy. Second one.... who the hell knows? I offered the bloke a solid deal. He hit his girl, his girl wants justice but doesn’t want to testify, I gave him a sentence recommendation of “don’t do it again and you’ll never see the inside of a cell” and he’s been “thinking it through” for the last two months. REALLY hope that case comes back as a “No, we’re square” kind of thing. My last two? Hell, I’m already upset by this bullshit. One of them, easy peasy. She waits her turn, when we get to her, she owes a small bit of penalty fines, she goes home. Not a bad outcome for a fucking 5 Felony Count Indictment. Her man, though, is the one in control and a REAL prick. 5 Felonies… I’ve asked him to plead to ONE… in exchange he never sees a jail cell. That’s my offer. On paper… he’s going from potentially 25 years in jail to “Just don’t do it again!” Fucker won’t budge. His exact perspective? These are his words, “I’m so pissed at theses fucking cops, I’d rather bleed this county dry of every resource they’ve got than take a plea deal.” FINE FUCKER. Excuse me for trying to make everyone’s life better by saying “You did wrong, be accountable and we’re square!”

Of course… that anger feeds into further anger.

Anger at myself because I missed something. I have a trial this Wednesday. We almost NEVER have trials on Wednesday so… no wonder I was surprised. And that trial angers me at myself because (theoretically) I have 4 Cop Witnesses and 5 non-Cop Witnesses… what should be a straightforward affair. But with less than 48 hours notice… who knows how many of them I’ll actually get to come!
But then that feeds into another anger at this fucking defendant. Late October, before there was snow or ice on the roads, we have an 18 year old kid who thinks he’s being funny by driving through the country like a jackass, weaving and trying to see if the van will tip. IT DOES causing injuries to himself and his FIVE passengers. 2 Police Cars, 1 Deputy Vehicle, and an Ambulance are dispatched. Two of the kids have to be taken to Des Moines due to their injuries. We charge the kid with “Careless Driving” and “Failure to Maintain Control of a Vehicle.” The kid’s ONLY punishment would be a fine of $312.25. That includes Court Costs and additional fees. He was acting like an ass… crashed his car… hurtt all of his friends. The criminal fine is less than the price of a Nintendo Switch plus tax! And yet this fucker wants to “go to trial” on this? Stupid is a mental disorder.

I’ll have to file a continuance no matter what, though, because I just realized that the trial is set for smack dab middle of my Sleep Study Information Session. Baka.

......... and now..... here’s an interesting foolish question......... I don’t know if I’ll have to be before the judge today. Half of my shit has been dealt with via paper filing. I’ve e-mailed the remaining attorneys to determine whether they will be present or not. Nothing back from them. I assume they won’t be coming. THAT being SAID… I have a dilemma. I can trust my assumption, NOT drive an extra 53 minutes to grab a tie and lunch.... or I can do the smart thing… and drive home, grab a tie, come back, and be prepared IF I have to be before the judge. It’s me… so I’ll do the smart thing… but I’m going to be unhappy about it if it is all for naught.

Well…
that was certainly…
an interesting two hours!

Some background and Lessons on Communication.

When I realized that I may have to go before the judge this afternoon, I texted my wife to see if she would be able to come down to the office with a tie and grab lunch with me. She responded with “I have Counseling. Would not be able to get there until 12:30.” I responded: “K. No worries.” Admittedly, that response is far too open to interpretation. When I sent it, my intended meaning was “Okay. Don’t worry about it then.”

Noon O’Clock. I drive home. I reach my house at roughly 12:25. Wife’s car is gone. I check my phone. At 12:18, Wife sent the text “I am on my way.” As I call her back, I check the closet for my black tie. It isn’t there, that is the one she grabbed. Luckily, I have another tie that would work fine. She answers the phone. She interpreted “K. No worries.” to mean “Okay, 12:30 is fine.” ::Shrug:: Live and learn, lol. I jumped in the car, not tying the tie yet, and hit the McD’s in our county. Grabbed my food and it was 12:40. I could still get to work by 1:00 and not be late! About 6 miles outside of the County Seat, I’m behind a Glass Company’s Van. Going 45 MPH on a 55 MPH road. Frustrating… as… hell. Understandable if the roads were bad, the wind was blowing, or there was any hint of snow left on the road. But where we were? The roads were so clear you could eat off of them and the wind was totally dead. After ten minutes behind the van (Math Word Problem: 10 minutes going 10 mph too slow adds how many minutes to the drive?) before finally just passing the vehicle. I got to my office, struggling to tie my tie, and verified the e-mails saying “Attorney can’t do in writing, will be present.” OKay, fine. It’s only 1:15 by this point!!

I race over to the courthouse where the attorney I’ll be dealing with (a good guy, I like him, I wish I could get a handle on etiquette and professionalism on if I’m allowed to be friends with these guys) is talking to another client. Seated on the bench is Mr. Demands Jury Trial for his Drug Case. YET… even though he’s being an absolute DICK-a-saurus about being caught with Meth… he’s not a bad guy. We talk about dogs, the snow, the weather, and our mutual passion about making sure people don’t leave their dogs outside in subzero weather. It’s like… “Dude, you’re not actually a bad guy. STOP the Meth, STOP threatening people with violence about the Meth, and you could honestly be a Community Leader around here. Something your community actually needs, Dude.”

Then the attorney is done with his client… we go see the judge (AHA! We do see the judge, glad I got that tie!) What comes out
(1) One case I am going to need to prepare for Jury Trial at the end of March
(2) One case I am going to plead out after the Jury Trial or else the douche in that Jury Trial is going to try to make it look like THIS Defendant is some kind of monster manipulator.
(3) One dude… still thinks he can beat his victim into testifying FOR him instead of AGAINST him… and sadly, that dude is probably right and there is little I can do to change that.

Then raced over to the office to place a phone call to an attorney because I sincerely need a continuance on my Wednesday Trial that shouldn’t be a trial anyway because it is stupid.

On my Lunch Drive I was listening to River to River… an Iowa Radio Program that tackles the current government events in Iowa. Today they were discussing Senat Bill 1101 and House Bill 110. These bills (let me be clear) PROPOSE A STATUTE THAT SEEKS TO UNDO A STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT DETAILING THE PROCESS BY WHICH JUDGES ARE SELECTED. So that’s the bill. What the almost entirely GOP state government wants to do is fundamentally place themselves at the heart of the nomination process.

CURRENTLY Iowa Judges (not magistrates, Judges) are selected the following way:
Every attorney that wants to be a judge submits their name to the Judicial Nominating Committee. The committee is made up by two halves… half are Lawyers In Good Standing in the State of Iowa. The other half are Civilians, Politicians, and Non-Lawyers. THAT Committee sifts through the (often hundreds or thousands) of applications looking for potentially acceptable candidates to become judges. They then send their recommendations to The Governor, who makes the ultimate decision. The number of candidates sent to the governor depends on the number of judgeships open. The math behind that is 3x where X is the number of jobs available. So, if there are 2 jobs open, the governor receives a list of 6 candidates.

AT PRESENT the Judicial Nominating Commission is 60% Republican and the Governor is Republican. The Republicans who control the local governments are stating that the current process allows too many “liberal attorneys” to have a say and THEN the GOP have the audacity to say that they are trying to protect the people from Judicial Activism. SO MANY THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THAT!

Just on the surface, before I go after the specific advocate that was pushing this shit, I want to break down what this means. The GOP who right now have final say on who becomes a judge… think the process is too liberal. The GOP who right now make up 60% of the Committee… think the process is too liberal. The solution that they have proposed would allow the GOP to retain final say but would increase GOP representation for Nominating up to 75%. Read that again. The GOP who control 60% of something are screaming that it is too liberal and are demanding a 75% representation!!!
Then, lets look at Judicial Activism. There are dozens of scholars in the country who have, I would argue, accurately stated and written about the following:
Judicial Activism is like Art Appreciation. If a Judge rules in a way that you agree with, you call it justice. If a Judge rules in a way that you disagree with, you call it activism.
And it is 100% true as fuck. Look at the history of Iowa’s Supreme Court recently. In the late 2000s, the Iowa Supreme Court said that the State could not prevent two consenting non-related adults from getting married strictly based on Gender grounds. People shrieked activism. There were retention votes and 3 of those Supreme Court Judges were terminated. More recently, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill that said “No abortions will be after 3 weeks of conception.” The Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional as hell. Because… no fucking duh! Even a barely literate law student would be able to point you in the direction of no less than a dozen cases that would say “Are you out your damn mind?!? O’ course that law is unconstitutional!”

NOW… lets’ go after the specific Speaker and what he said. The individual promoting this Over Politicization of Judicial Nominating is a Senator Julian Garrett. He is a 78 year old White Male Republican who has served in the Iowa Senate since 2011. His Online Campaign CV says he is a “Lawyer and Farmer” but it does not go into detail as to what he farms or what areas of law he ever practiced other than to say he worked “Consumer Protection.” His educational background and Campaign Approved History statement lead me to believe he has never lived outside of Iowa nor attended any schools outside of the state.

Some of what he said in support of his bill was criminally idiotic but, considering who he is and where he is, I’m sure he won’t have any regrets. He claimed that the bill had NOTHING to do with politics… and when a question from the audience said, “Historically, the nominating procedure was approved in Iowa as a way to give Senators less power over what should be an apolitical process. Why do you think returning to politics is needed now?” He shot the question down stating that it has nothing to do with re including politics but as a way of de including politics.... after all, he was saying, Judges themselves have admitted to ignoring the Constitution. Thankfully, someone put him on the spot and said, “Prove it.” The Senator read a passage from an Iowa Supreme Court Ruling where the Supreme Court stated (paraphrase) “The framers could not have considered the issue as it has been presented today. However, using the foundation that they created and the laws at our disposal, the rulings of today must include with them an understanding of how the world has changed from when the framers first set out these words.” And then Garrett stopped reading. As if he’d made his point. When pressed, again, he stated that it proved his case because “The Iowa Supreme Court just admitted that they are going beyond what the framers of the Constitution had intended!”

HASHTAG MASSIVE HEAD:DESK

It was at this moment that I had to look up to see if this guy ever actually had been an attorney!!! I know that Republicans often hold themselves out to be Strict Foundationalists stating that whatever the framers of the constitution did not expressly state should never be considered constitutional… but I thought at least most of those guys weren’t this strict (or this stupid). GOLLY GEE, things that the Founders of the Constitution would disagree with that the Supreme Court have ruled on under Constitutional Grounds:
(1) Are black people people or property?
(2) Should women ever be allowed to own land or have rights?
(3) Can the government force-ably sterilize a person if the Government so desires?
(4) Should the government be allowed to imprison people for an indefinite period?
(5) EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING DEALING WITH ELECTRONICS, COMPUTERS, MASS MEDIA, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, AND WORLDWIDE TRANSPORTATION!

So… yeah. If you think that a judge ruling on ANYTHING MODERN is “out of line” and is acting as a “Judicial Activist”… you aren’t making a salient point about politics… you’re making an excellent case to have yourself committed! Then this “Government Leader and Representative” really proved to me how fucking dangerous he is.....

When asked if there was a specific issue he was most upset about, regarding Judicial Activism, he tried to mention but downplay the Fetal Heartbeat ruling (because while he’s clearly pissed, hopefully anyone who went to Law School at least slightly gets the issue). Instead he pointed to how Judges were “wildly misconstruing” the Constitution… like the Supreme Court using the “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” language in the Constitution when the Supreme Court ruled that a juvenile cannot be sentenced to Life In Prison Without The Possibility of Parole. He said, “So even if this kid kills someone, he can’t be held in prison without parole. That’s activism.” Again, sir, you’re being an intentionally ignorant obtuse moron. Consider EVERY possibility of that. Yeah, some people would get SUPER pissed if a 17 year old kid was convicted of murder and was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole in 20 years. Some people would get mad about that. But when Judges are ruling, they’re considering EACH INDIVIDUAL CASE. That is, actually, what separates them from legislatures.... despite too many Legislative Bodies fucking this up.

Case in Point: a 10 year old child plans a murder. He’s watched his Dad buy drugs, convince his mom to take them, and then slap her around for too long. He methodically plans the murder and executes the plan. He’s caught due to blood smear evidence and the records of his plans. The judge sentences him to life without the possibility of parole. The case goes before the Iowa Supreme Court. They hear the facts of the case and rule that “It is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence this child to life in prison without the possibility of parole.” THAT is how that happens. They are not (not supposed to) sit around thinking, “Okay, here’s what we think about THIS case but would that significantly change anything not related to this case in any way?!”

The LEGISLATURE is supposed to think big picture. After the Supreme Court makes a ruling like that, you are supposed to DO YOUR JOB and figure out if you can write a law that gets what YOU want while not interfering with the Constitution. SO… 10 year old boy, reasonable motivation but still murder.... how about this (and then they write a bill specifically stating that if an individual over the age of 16 but still under the age of 18 commits an A Felony the Sentencing Judge may consider, but is not required to issue, a sentence that includes Life in Prison without the possibility of Parole.”

But oh yeah, I forgot… we have a shitty legislature filled with ancient, out of touch, decrepit GOP assholes who, instead of writing laws to serve an agenda or the people… are desperately trying to pass laws to consolidate GOP power so that, should Iowa ever have a Democrat Governor again, the GOP will still have a Dead Man Ruling Hand.

Assholes.

SPEAKING OF ASSHOLES

and of people who have decided that “America is Trump Country and the Land of the Free only applies to Trump!”

“A student at the Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Florida was arrested after he refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The incident began after a substitute teacher asked the 11-year-old to stand and he refused, explaining that he thought the U.S. flag was racist. The teacher then apparently got into a contentious argument with the boy and asked “Why if it was so bad here he did not go to another place to live,” according to a statement the teacher gave to the district. “They brought me here,” the boy replied.

The teacher apparently then thought that the best course of action was to continue arguing with the 11-year-old. “Well you can always go back,” she said she replied, “because I came here from Cuba and the day I feel I’m not welcome here anymore I would find another place to live.” The teacher decided to escalate the issue “because I did not want to continue dealing with him.” The boy was then arrested after he “refused to follow multiple commands, repeatedly called school leaders racist and was disruptive,” according to Bay News 9. The student denied accusations that he threatened to beat the teacher. He was ultimately charged with disruption of a school facility and resisting an officer without violence, reports the Washington Post.”

Here’s my response to this situation, and I won’t pull punches so don’t hesitate to agree with some and hate some.

The United States Flag is not racist and even the NFL Kneel Movement is not because the Flag is racist. The Kneel is because the country has issues of race that it needs to deal with and the Flag, as a representation of that country, acts as a symbol against which a protest can (and should) be permissibly launched against. Or as some could say, “The flag is a symbol. And if destroying a symbol to protect the meaning is necessary; the meaning matters more than the symbol!”

Having said that… this Substitute is a fucking idiot. First of all, don’t go all “Go back to yer cuntry” to an 11 year old. Are you a racist, an idiot, or a juvenile? Second, in a world of invisible disabilities and various mental disorders… don’t attack anyone for not standing. Honestly, I hope it gets caught on video… but I hope to one day see one of these MAGA Flag-Horny Assholes just open up a shitstorm of swearing and yelling at someone for “not standing for the flag” only to have it explained to that person that the individual they were yelling at IS PARALYZED from the waist down!

Ultimately, however, I do think it necessary to point out that in this case? EVERYONE failed (if you read the full story). EVERYONE, including the 11 year old 6th Grader. Because… the school has a policy where children are NOT required to participate in the pledge. But the Substitute didn’t know that. (Fail 1: Substitute trying to enforce rules that don’t exist). The student responded in a provocative manner. (This is not being counted as a fail; students challenge teachers especially subs). The substitute teacher decided to get into an argument with the student (Fail 2: Substitute acting more like Key & Peele Sub Teacher). The Substitute tried to throw the boy out of class. (Fail 3: The boy should have left class, explained the situation to the Dean, and asked the Dean to educate the substitute on the school’s rules). When the boy refused to leave the classroom. the Sub called the School Resource Officer (Fail 4: Sub called an armed law enforcement officer instead of the Principle or School Level Disciplinarian). After arriving at the class, the School Resource Officer called the Dean (Success 1: At least the law enforcement officer knew to get a school disciplinarian involved). The Dean and the Resource Officer repeatedly asked the child to leave the classroom as he was being disruptive. (Fail 5: the student is required to submit to school rules, he can make an argument that he wasn’t being disruptive but he needs to do that in a time and place where the argument would not be disruptive.) Here’s where facts get tricky… according to the Resource Officer, when the boy finally left the classroom, the child threatened violence. According to the Child, when he finally left the classroom, he was put in cuffs. I’m not going to say who is right because I’m a prosecutor… my professional inclination is to say “A boy throwing a massive fit is far more likely to threaten violence and then retract the statement when it gets him in trouble.” But I can’ t say that definitively. What I will say: If the boy threatened violence upon a uniformed officer, that is a failure on the boy’s part as that IS illegal. If the officer placed the boy in handcuffs for “no reason other than the disruption”, that is a failure on the officer’s part as an in-school disruption (while likely fitting the elements of a Public Disorder Charge) should not be enough to result in an arrest.

TODAY’S READING
Graham vows probe after McCabe interview on Trump

Jussie Smollett had no role in own attack, lawyers say RE: This is just… furious bullshit. How pathetic is our world when Right Wing Conspiracy Nut Jobs can be so influential as to necessitate an attorney stating “The violent near-lynching of my client by individuals saying ‘This is MAGA Country’ was not done by the direction or cooperation of my client, the victim.” Now, that being said… we do live in an insane fucking world. If Smollett did have a hand in staging this… he should be charged with filing a false police report and pretty much stripped of any job in Hollywood he has. However, it is also (at this point) just as likely that someone wanting to HURT Smollett pretended to be him, contacted the attackers, and made the attack happen. But, since now all conspiracy theories must be looked into because MAGA and the PizzaGate World is one we live in now… isn’t it just as likely, then, that (randomly selected) Taraji P. Henson orchestrated an elaborate hit on all of her co-stars to coincide with days of the year she doesn’t like? I mean… honestly… if we’re going to be a world where every Conspiracy Theory makes National Headlines, and every Right Wing Show arguably has enough funding to keep each conspiracy alive by (in theory) paying people to say they know or were part of the conspiracy… I mean.... when does the Alternative Facts Anti-Truth World finally eat it’s own tail and realize… we should bring truth back and make an honest push for Informed Intelligence as opposed to Intentional Ignorance?

Paul Manafort should be jailed for 19-24 years - Mueller RE: We live in a world where the Rich and the Powerful almost never face consequences for their illegal, immoral, or unethical behavior. I honestly think, for our country, Trump’s associates who broke the law and then attempted to derail the investigation should face serious consequences. (1) As a way of telling Trump, “We’re actually serious about this shit”; (2) As a way of telling Trumpists, “This isn’t a witch hunt to nail Trump. These people did honest-to-goodness FOUL criminal things.”; and (3) As a way of telling other Trump associates, ‘Work with the investigation, because lying to the investigation has consequences.”

Mexico border wall: Trump faces fight in the courts RE: The truly terrible thing here? Trump may have accurately predicted shit because of what he’s already been able to force to happen in the United States. In the lower courts, where he wasn’t involved in personally hiring 20% of the judges… Trump has lost big based on evidence, testimony, and Trump’s own statements. BUT in the Supreme Court, where Trump hired 2 out of the 9 judges? They seem to vote along partisan lines… resulting in 5-4 votes in Trump’s favor. SO… whether he really legally can circumvent Congress… may not even come down to an honest matter of LAW but of HIRING. (Aside: Speaking of this Border Wall bullshit… anyone see Stephen “Dracula’s Incestuous Mentally Deficient Bastard Child” Miller’s interview on Fox? When a Fox News Interview makes a Trump Associate that mad… imagine what that man is like EVERYWHERE else in his world? I mean, we already knew from his former school associates that Stephen Miller was an aggressively racist, friendless, angry kid his entire life… but dayum.

Trump neglects to answer Acosta’s immigration question RE: I get it. Trump has no idea how to act as a professional and the closest thing he ever was to a Real Human was on Spin City; but does anyone remember how these Press Conferences are supposed to go? Fuck… there was a well-known mega-bitch in the Press Corp that nobody liked but until Trump and Sarah Hucka-Sands… even that lady was at least treated with respect!!!!!

Alec Baldwin suggests Trump’s latest attack on ‘SNL’ could be ‘a threat to my safety’ RE: Alec Baldwin, once again, proving why he’s the guy to mock Trump… because he is, and always has been, the Liberal Version of Trump! Unhinged, aggrandizing, self-important, quick to anger.... it is both men. Now, Baldwin’s cold open this week was less “hysterical” and more “just doing what actually happened” but the humor of the piece is neither here nor there. Trump’s OBSESSION with Late Night Comedy Jokes about him is… kind of ridiculous bullshit considering that Trump is a man who ACTUALLY OKAYED the Comedy Central Roast of himself provided that he could retain control of what jokes got on air. So again, we see a man so obsessed with power, his own image, and control… that he can be okay when folks are making fun.... provided it is things that he’s okay being made fun of about. Humorless, toxic, man-baby.

Trump’s allies get set for fierce fight over emergency declaration RE: Absolutely. If the GOP shrugs their shoulders and thinks “It’s okay. We support Trump.” Then they’ve sold out their country, their party, and their ideals. Because it isn’t okay… whether Trump or anyone else. It is not acceptable for a President to circumvent the established lawful procedures for a vanity project whether that project is a Border Wall or Universal Income. And if you support one of those ideas and not the other; than you should be fighting Trump’s Emergency Declaration shit, too… because never forget… the precedent you set for the guy you LIKE also works for the guy you HATE.

Trump’s emergency declaration is a threat to American security

5 Screwed-Up Ways The World’s Stacked Against Poor People

5 Early Versions Of Movies That Would’ve Changed Everything

29 Video Game Features With Just Bonkers Backstories

How A Petty Scam Ended In Bloody Human Sacrifice

The 26 Stupidest Features Of Your ‘Smart’phone

6 ‘Kid-Friendly’ Products That Were Horrifying And Insane

Last updated February 18, 2019