An Actual Work Day in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

The next immediate court day for Court Level 2 is Feb 7. Let me start over by explaining… in our system of criminal courts, our system is set as
Traffic/Simple Misdemeanors: Court Level 1
Serious Misdemeanors/Aggravated Misdemeanors: Court Level 2
Felony Crimes: Court Level 3

I have Court Level 1 every week and Level 1 Trials can be held on almost any Wednesday or Thursday.
Court Level 2 has hearings and other matters throughout the month; but provides only 2 Trial Dates per month.
Court Level 3 has hearings dotted around the month; but provides only a Single Trial Date.

SO this morning was Pretrial Conferences. That is a conference between the attorneys of both parties (Defendant and State) to determine the following:
1) Can we resolve this without trial?
2) Is further discovery being requested?
3) Are depositions needed?
4) If this needs to be set for trial, are we all ready to go for the next date or do we need more time?

Allow me to say… I WAS BUSY non-stop work (using non-stop in its literal sense here) until about noon. SO… good. I think. I hope. Because I brokered a lot of plea deals today. Reduced a lot of charges today. But… honestly? If someone has succeeded in their Drug Treatment program? I’m willing to reward that. If someone has gone out of their way to make amends without government involvement? I’m not going to ignore it. Have a lady who was obnoxious to the cops, drunk in public, and a nuisance. In the past few months, she’s gotten sober, gotten a job, and personally sought out and apologized to all the police involved. So, no… I’m not going to throw her in prison for two years. And… most of me is okay with that. Most of me thinks, “People plead to things and took responsibility. Sure, they didn’t get hammered or forced to plead to something huge. But it isn’t about beating people up with the law. It is about trying to keep the community safe.” And yeah, most of me accepts that. But there might always be a part of me that thinks, “Not hammering them doesn’t send a strong enough message. Too many people make the same mistakes repeatedly. Being compassionate with them might mean they don’t understand not to repeat the behavior.”

Here’s a difficult position that may not have a perfect answer.

I won’t give genders if I can help it as I don’t want gender to be a focused part of the story. I’ll say Victim and Abuser.
Abuser has a long history of mental health issues and drug use. Severe history; very disturbing. Abuser attacks Victim and the children in the home are convinced Abuser will kill Victim. Police intervene. Abuser is taken to a Mental Hospital and detained there for 2 to 3 months. Victim calls me today requesting the No Contact Order be lifted. Victim has heard that Abuser is doing well on new medication and treatment plans. Victim wants to judge for themself whether Abuser has improved.

I’m the only person that can lift that no contact order. It genuinely falls to me to make a decision about it.
I either go against Victim’s wishes and keep the No Contact Order in place; thereby hoping to secure continued safety for Victim. OR
I do as Victim requested and seek to lift the No Contact Order; thereby potentially putting the victim in harm’s way.

SO MUCH OF ME wants to deny this request. I don’t want to enable a victim to return to an abuser if there’s a chance that the violence hasn’t stopped. HOWEVER ultimately, I think I’ll grant the request. The criminal case is over. The Government’s only purpose at this point is that the Judge does not accept requests from Protected Parties. I get that but I like the other way better. Preferred Way: Victim petitions the court to lift NCO, State chooses to file a resistance or remain silent. Judge rules based on motions. Done. That way if a victim is doing something we STRONGLY disagree with, we have to resist and prove why beyond “Victim is in danger.” Typically listing evidence, investigation, witness tampering, etcetera… meaning “ongoing criminal case.” Without one? Why is the government involved? Only to protect the victim. If the victim refuses our protection… we kind of have a responsibility to allow the victim, possessor of free will and the title of an Adult, to make their own mistakes.

Something in the BBC today sparked my mind on something I’d never considered.

Documentary or Re-Enacted or Based On Actual Events movies. I always presumed that writers/directors/creators would need to communicate with those involved in the actual events to the point where permission or remuneration could be involved. Apparently, at least in places of the world, that is not the case.

Apparently, a movie can be created using the real photos, actual transcripts, and submitted video evidence… without requesting anyone’s permission that was actually involved. I’d never given that any thought. Now that I know it can be done? I find it tragic, cold, and disrespectful.

Imagine that your best friend died 5 years ago (if they did, I am truly sorry). Imagine that it wasn’t a natural death. Instead, it was a kidnapping that turned into Human Trafficking that turned into your best friend being murdered gruesomely. Imagine that all of the horrible details had come out during a prosecution of her killer so that the transcripts, videos, and photos completely and accurately told the story. Finite details about the kidnapping, a diary and calendar about the Human Trafficking horror laying it all out, surveillance footage of the murder itself.
Now imagine, five years later, you see an advertisement on the television. A movie using all of the court items is being made using all the real names. You call the surviving family members of your late Best Friend to ask if they’d given permission. Nobody you call knew about the movie. Everyone who loved your best friend is completely blindsided by this film.

Can you even imagine? How horrible, how gut wrenching, how re-traumatizing that might be? Even if the movie has brilliantly noble intentions (to highlight how Human Trafficking can happen and where it can lead)… to not discuss it with the victim’s loved ones at all? I generally despise saying “There should be a law” because too many people say that for too many things where there really honestly shouldn’t be a law. But here? At least there should be a civil remedy afforded to the loved ones. Something to protect their interests and/or prevent someone from disrespectfully making money off of their tragedy without even giving them the courtesy to ask you to not be a dick. I don’t know. Maybe others have a different perspective and can convince me otherwise.

Well THAT was a first for me!

On the drive, the wind was blowing and gailing and gusting so intensely, I saw the advertisement get ripped off a billboard. No injuries or property damage, thank goodness, but that was intense wind!!

For the first time today, I’ll venture into politics. Just a little.

(1) A new “tell all” book from a White House Aide came out and revealed… nothing new. Exactly what I’ve been saying the whole time. Because the fact that any of Trump is surprising is… truly baffling to me. I say that reaffirming that I struggled on whether I was voting for him or not. But that’s just the thing. By being a human being instead of a Partisan Hack, I did the research and looked into everything I could. And everything pointed to the following: Trump thrives on chaos, demands absolute loyalty but gives none, lives for publicity and to see his name in the press, and enjoys stirring up anger and hate because he sees it as “passion.” ALL of this was obvious before Election Day 2016. I have been stunned by some of what Trump has said… the level of stupidity, inanity, hate, and treason has been shocking… but each time, the truly shocking to me has been how his supporters will double down more passionately. This isn’t my bit but… it is painfully accurate. If Trump started 2019 by saying “We’re going to put a missile site on Mars,” his supporters would argue why that was the best, most intelligent, most important thing any president has ever done. If Trump ended 2019 by saying “The Democrats didn’t let me fund the missile silo on Mars. Bad Democrats!” his supporters would contribute to a Go Fund Me and dedicate the remaining Holiday Season to shouting down their families for not supporting the President. The tell all book was quick to mention how Trump views media coverage the way people view oxygen. Duh. It is why he’s obsessed with it. Always watching the news. Always complaining when the news isn’t fawning over him. His relationship with the Media has more passion and more of his attention than his own marriage.

(2) I know that it takes a LOT of money to run for Federal Office. Trump has the wealthiest cabinet in the history of the Presidency. So, millionaires and billionaires discussing the Shutdown are abundant… and none of them know what the fuck they’re talking about. The Government Shutdown affects real people. People that, in my friends’ case, grew up and spent their whole lives in Omaha… until Uncle Sam offered the wife a job. They packed up everything, sold their house, moved to Washington DC in November! Now she isn’t working. Hasn’t been working since sometime in December. These guys aren’t wealthy. They have student loans. They don’t have family they can crash with in DC while they wait to see if/when she can go back to work. But don’t tell the rich cabinet members that! You’ll get responses like Wilbur Ross! Wilbur Ross is the 81 year old Secretary of Commerce who is estimated to be worth 2.5 billion dollars. His remarks today about the Furloughed and Working Without Pay… really show the kind of thinking he’s been doing about the shutdown.
Comment 1: When asked about furloughed workers needing to go to Food Banks, Mr. Ross said, “I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why.”
Comment 2: “Put it in perspective, you’re talking about 800,000 workers, and while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers if they never got their pay, which is not the case they will eventually get it, but if they never got it, you’re talking about a third of a percent on our GDP. So, it’s not like it’s a gigantic number overall.”
Comment 3: Mr. Ross suggested that Federal Workers should have no problem taking out loans to help them through the Shutdown and was confused why people hadn’t.

WHERE TO BEGIN! I mean, all of that comes from the same man and the same brain and the same heart. So let’s start there. I understand that through the lens of his job, he cares about the greater economy. However, through the lens of being a person, he should also care about the Federal Employees. So brushing aside their issues because it “doesn’t matter that much in the wider sense” is a calloused dick move. But then again, telling them to get loans just demonstrates how out of touch he is with a vast majority of the Federal Employees that he’s talking about. Loans, as many of you know, require a banking institution to review your credit score and the likelihood of you paying them back. If Toniqua who works in the Capitol Building’s Commissary has bad credit, she’s fucked. Worse still: loans carry interest. Pretend for a moment that, thinking the shutdown would be quick, you took a loan out to cover Christmas Holiday spending and January’s rent and utilities… so about $3,500. Well… you’re going to need to get even more now that it looks like you’ll need to get a loan for February’s rent and utilities. So add another $2,500. Now you have an additional $7,000 worth of debt added to whatever debt you may already have. Even if we’re being generous, let’s say that the loan carries with it a 4% interest rate. So, the small 3500 loan became 7,000 becomes a $9800 loan. SURE, lots of people who need loans to survive can part with $9800 without any problems. Dumbass.

Besides, while it is likely many of these workers will receive back pay, it is not guaranteed. For some of the workers (see also: hourly waged employees) they won’t get any backpay of any kind. And that is just counting the 800,000. That isn’t even discussing the Contract Workers who receive nothing. So, let’s say you run a firm of some kind… contracting firm, or some such. You’ve got such a great business and done so well, that 78% of the business’ revenue comes from Government Contracts. Federal Shutdown? You don’t get ANY of that money. So, if the contract you agreed on said $98k for work done in January… Government shutdown all of January, no work allowed… your firm never gets that $98,000 you were expecting.

Besides, the economic concerns of this matter are far more widespread than simply the employees directly affected. Investors don’t have access to some of the crucial Federal Data they need to make wise investments and guide their clients. Farmers don’t have access to the Agricultural Reports that are so important to the economy of farming that the Ag Report was the most critical scene of “Trading Places”! Local Grocers are at risk as any food that was to be reviewed by the FDA isn’t being reviewed by the FDA. Which goes to beer manufacturers. Any new beers that have been brewed for 2019… haven’t been reviewed by the FDA for public consumption and… some of those beers aren’t going to last forever. The longer the shutdown, the more likely those beers are going to be flushed. All the work, material, and labor that went into that wasted. Federal Patent Office? Yeah. Imagine if someone created the next big thing in Medical Technology, something that could cure paralysis or some such.. but with the Federal Patent Office closed… no way to get that item built or on the market. And sure, you can say “Who Cares? Just file the patent when the government re-opens!” But, I would caution against that thinking as it also shows callous. You see, people that need innovations in Medicine aren’t exactly carrying an abundance of time. If there is something that could potentially save a life that hits the market next week.... that is awesome… but doesn’t do anything for the people that died last week.

Well… shit. Just got bad news from a judge. Woman constantly stabbing Man. Man constantly hurting woman. Woman refusing to take plea deal because she knows her man would never turn on her. Judge saying “Prepare for trial. You’re going whether you want to or not.” Balls.

It’s been a while since I whinged about my height and, truth told, if my marriage does dissolve my shorter stature does give me pause to worry. I’m 5‘7 with a little extra weight on me and like any former actor who knew he’d have to defend his stature to casting directors, I do always have a handy list of celebrity heights ready if ever needed. For example, Celebrities my height or shorter include Al Pacino, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Green, Michael J. Fox, Daniel Radcliffe, Usher, Dave Franco, Elijah Wood, James McAvoy, Kevin Hart, and more.

Thing is… I forgot to realize that height is cultural and geographic. Average Heights across the globe are rising in most respects, but rising is relative. In the United States the “Average Height” for a man is between 5‘9 and 5‘10. Most of our “Celebrity Studs” are between 5‘10 and 6‘4. But lets look in other areas!
The average British Man is 5‘9 and weighs 184 lbs.
The average British Man is 5‘9
The average Brazilian Man is 5‘6
The average Australian Man is 5‘10
The average Japanese Man is 5‘7
The average Filipino Man is 5‘4
The average Korean Man is 5‘9
The average Czech Man is 5‘11.

There really doesn’t seem to be many places left in the world where I would not otherwise be considered short. Guess I really do need to focus harder and harder on losing that weight. While I respect what they have greatly, I don’t consider myself such a Danny DeVito as to be okay with a Rhea Perlman.

As much as I talk about compassion, there is a duality to it for me.

For example, Iowa is frantically searching for a missing teenage boy. Temperatures and winds are getting brutal. He went missing on Tuesday and if he isn’t found by the weekend? We’re expecting windchill added temperatures of -41 in some parts of the state. COLD fucking weather. And my compassionate side is worried about the boy. My compassionate side is worried that he may be kidnapped and safe from the weather but not at all safe otherwise or that he is injured and lost somewhere subjected to the dangers of the cold. I do worry about that.

But the story of his going missing makes the other side of me cold. This is a 13 year old boy, in Iowa, in the winter, last seen walking home at 11:25 at night in a town that is known for issues. Seriously… I have had three Defendants tell me in the last two weeks “Please do not send me to that town for (Rehab, Jail, Etc), I will be shot.” So… criminals don’t want to be in the area because it is dangerous. But sure, let’s let a 13 year old alone in a snowy, cold Iowa winter WALK home AT 11:25 AT NIGHT!! That is such a failure on the part of every adult in that situation that part of me thinks this kid never even went missing… his parents killed him, reported him missing, and brought attention to his going missing to avoid blame. Obviously, that’s a long shot. It is just as likely that the kid got kidnapped. It is just as likely that the kid wandered into something dangerous and was killed by strangers. It is just as likely that the kid ran away. Any possibility is likely at present. But… the child walking home in this weather in that town that late at night? It really is a failure on the part of every adult in that situation. And I know that is offensive. Maybe the kid called home and said “Jon’s mom is driving me home” and instead told Jon’s Mom that his mom would be picking him up. Again… any situation is possible. But I can’t see a situation where a 13 year old is walking home alone at night and NO adult could have intervened. Even if you’re a nurse working graveyard and your boy has a babysitting job… ask those parents to walk him home, something!

Votes came out on the bill. No surprises but hopefully a message.

GOP “Surrender Bill” to give Trump everything he wanted? 50 votes in favor, 1 Democrat and 49 Republicans. (2 Republicans did not vote at all, 1 Democrat did not vote at all)
Democrats “Lets get back to work and THEN argue about spending Bill”? 52 votes in favor, 6 Republicans and 46 Democrats (3 Republicans did not vote at all, 1 Democrat did not vote at all)

It surprises me in absolutely no way that Iowa’s Senators voted strictly along party lines. Joni Ernst is bought and sold by the NRA and Chuck Grassley has been downright embarrassing himself in his support of Trump lately. I mean, for Chuck… I kind of get it. I don’t agree but I kind of get it. During 2016, Iowa went BIG in with Trump. Hell, one of the largest House Districts continues to vote for an obvious White Supremacist! So Grassley isn’t wrong in thinking that, if he wants to keep his job, he’s going to have to appeal to Trumpists in Iowa. But then… that’s the other thing. Yeah, Trump still has a Republican Exclusive Support in the 80%s… but Chuck… you have to win some Democrats or Independents over to get re-hired. The more you bury your head up Trump’s ass, the less support you can count on from Non-Trumpists.

Today’s Images have been brought to you thanks to GeekGirls.com, photographer Arturo Vega, and designer Moni Angy Razon. The full Batman Lingerie Fashion Show and Photoshoot can be found at: http://geekxgirls.com/article.php?ID=7461&fbclid=IwAR2mryJbfgVarVuqgzmXgqmxGLN6U6Tl7UFvC5Tobp9n2YV7Mmim5eg5erw