There are few people that you admire in this world so much because of what they stand for that if you share a picture with them, you feel almost blessed to be in the same frame as them. MLK, Mother Teresa, Ghandi. John Lewis was one of these people. That’s saying something given that the person he is sharing the picture with is the first African American President of these United States. Rest in Peace and may God bless your soul.
This is an interesting story. It’s about a guy that committed a felony when he was 19 and obviously not mature enough or under the influence of some narcotic or maybe had used narcotics during that time. He and his buddy who was 17 at the time, robbed someone that they thought was a drug dealer and ended killing the guy. They were sentenced to 38 years in prison and the younger one was sentenced to 38 and half years, because he pulled the trigger. During his time in prison, he became a model prisoner and citizen, starting up different programs for people and becoming literate in the law to help people and reunite them with their families. While in prison, the warden of the prison would come to him for help, sort of like a Shawshank Redempton thing without the corruption, on starting programs to alleviate problems inside the prison. He helped and stayed on the path of the straight and narrow and stayed a productive person. Due to a Supreme Court ruling, which stated that all minor offenders, his buddy was 17, should have their cases re-examined to see if they had matured and would be able to be set free from prison, his case was reheard. His buddy qualified and was set free. Under the original agreement, his buddy, who fired the fatal bullet, was supposed to have a longer sentence than him per the families wishes. This opened the door to allow him to go free, which the court agreed with and let him free. The Florida State Attorney generals office has just filed a motion to return him to prison, even though he has been free for a year, has gotten engaged, has been a model citizen and seems to be repentant of his actions as a young person that was not yet mature enough to understand his actions. Several questions arise, first, why would you want to put a person that has shown that he has reformed, a rare case, back in jail? I know that jail systems are profitable but the State would have to flip the bill. Secondly, the reason for the motion by the State is because he was 19, which they classify as an adult. If you are an adult at 19, why aren’t you allowed to buy alcohol until 21. The government has stated, in limiting who can and can’t buy alcohol, that maturity starts at 21, which is when you become an adult. I understand that 18 is the legal year of independence, but that doesn’t mean that you are an adult, in some states you can be emancipated at age 16, that still doesn’t mean you are an adult. If the law thought that everyone matured at 18, you should be able to buy alcohol at 18. What the law is stating is that most people mature at 18 while some need more time, hence the reason why people are not legally allowed to buy alcohol until they are 21. There are other things like legal age to buy cigarettes, people claiming their kids that are in college on their taxes and the most recent one implemented in Florida, legal age to buy Marijuana, or is that California?. Midkiff, pictured above, should be given the benefit of the doubt and the courts should change the law to represent what is most beneficial for the defendants as per their own rules, regulation and guidance. This might not help Midkiff, but is an argument that I saw on Perry Mason or Law and Order or something like that. Thirdly, I feel that incarcerations are supposed to be for rehabilitation, to train a young mind to be a good person, our current prison system doesn’t really do that, or so I am told. So when you have a case that shows that it might work, why would you not flaunt it? Why try to make it disappear? I like Germany’s Prison system, they actually believe in trying to bring you back into society as a productive member. I think that 20 years should be the maximum sentencing except for sexual predators, they should just get the death penalty. It’s an interesting story and you should visit the Marshall Project to read the story, just click on the link.
Let me start by saying that I’m a big fan of the Supreme Court but we don’t always have to agree, but, just like having a wife, agree don’t agree, I’m still going to do what she says in the end because not doing it leads to way worse problems. The Supreme Court, in an earlier ruling, declared that government vouchers can be used for parochial schools, why not, they’re an accredited educational program, just like any other educational program, so if you’re going to give vouchers for education, I don’t think leaving parochial schools out would be fair, it would be discrimination. The Supreme Court just made another ruling, stating that the State or the government can not enforce discrimination based claims against parochial schools, this one I don’t understand, but I did not read the ruling or justification behind it, but the ruling was a 7-2 verdict. I will have to read the justices’ rationale to see where they were coming from, the one thing that pops up to mind is if a parochial school can accept government funding, don’t they than have to then abide by the laws that come with that funding or otherwise wouldn’t that be a donation? Which would be against the separation of church and state mandate. Given the separation of church and state, any part of the parochial program that deals with religion is off limits but wouldn’t everything else be scrutinized? Again, I’m obviously wrong, like when I was wrong for telling my wife that all purses are the same, just get the cheap one. Didn’t go over well.
I’m telling a buddy about the night before when I hung out with a friend and his wife. I told him that I had to yell at him to take his balls off the table. My buddy then paused and asked me if we were playing pool. I said yeah, how did you know. He laughed and said I got it. I told him it’s not funny, you just don’t put your testicles on a table no matter what we’re playing. My girlfriend was pissed, we just ate papa relleno and it made her throw up.
While both candidates court the Black and White vote, the deciding votes will be made by Hispanic voters. The second largest voting bloc in the U.S. (would be first if our illegal citizens could vote, lol, just kidding, hearts are skipping beats all over the country right now). We will eventually decide who will become the next President of the U.S. in 2020 and we generally decide by how our pocket books are doing. Hispanics are notorious for not seeing that D and R in front of people’s name. The joke is that the D and R stand for,…. . Yet we go unseen, partially because of that illegal uncle living in the basement. Mostly because our votes are taken for granted. Hispanics mostly feel the economy is the biggest issue, then terrorism, then immigration, sorry tio and finally lack of opportunity and pinatas (don’t believe me, take your own poll). We believe in legal immigration, just not in the insurmountable obstacles that are needed to get achieve LAPR status, I mean why do I have to do 50 push ups and 100 sit ups and 10 pull ups on top of everything else, wasn’t scaling that 30 foot wall in under a minute good enough. So, while the emphasis is not on the Hispanic vote with the candidates, it will be felt in the voting booths as more Hispanics are flocking to the voting stations then ever before. At least we have two candidates to choose from, in Venezuela, they don’t even have voting stations. So, while the concerns if empanadas and burritos are going to become the new country past time food, they’re not, we prefer burgers, hmmmm.. empanadas and burgers, Hispanics, who can go either way with their vote, will be looking for the jalapeno’s to put on our burgers, while we choose our next President. Seriously, jalapenos on a burger are delicious and it reduces LDL’s in the blood stream as well as fight cancer causing elements, take that pickles.
Pandemic TV, one thing that has gotten a lot of attention during this pandemic is TV. The ratings must be off the chain. I think I might have reached professional TV watcher status. As I explored my options, I noticed that there is one TV opportunity that I didn’t have that was being talked about, The Morning Show on Apple TV. So I decided to try the free one week for Apple TV. When I tried though, the condition was that I had to watch it on my Apple product, i.e. Mac, IPad, etc.. The problem was that I didn’t own one, at least not one that I could remember the password to. So I decided, in my Pandemaboredom, to buy an IPad, there were good deals all over and the deal that caught my eye was; buy an IPad, latest edition, cheaper than they were last year, more powerful and get a year of Apple TV free. I jumped all over the deal and set up my IPad and started to watch my free Apple TV. What I found out is that the Oscars, Grammy’s, Emmy’s, maybe Tony’s might be swept by Apple TV. Huh, I just EGOT, even though I think I put them in the wrong order. Anyway, Apple TV has the best mini series TV I have ever seen. I was thinking of buying a portable potty just so I could binge the shows, then I realized I just could take the IPad to the bathroom (I didn’t do that, at least not to watch the TV shows). The shows See, Defending Jacob, Truth Be Told, For All Mankind and the movie The Banker, which was amazing, has left me knowing that there is no way that you aren’t left knowing that Apple TV just took entertainment to a new level. Can’t wait for Greyhound to come out and just want to see if they add some kind of Latino ethnic series, something like Showtime has done with City of Angels into the mix. I have a great idea about a Federal Law Enforcement Agent that dates an illegal Colombian woman and tries to keep it secret while doing his job. It’s interesting. LOL, ahhh, life is funny. It’s a comedy.
With the Supreme Court ruling that a Louisiana law is too burdensome to people seeking abortions, the question of abortion and the death of fetuses has come to the forefront. I have a couple of scenarios and/or questions that I just don’t understand. Do fathers have a say in an abortion and if they don’t why do male judges have a say? If a person hurts a woman that is pregnant, less than 8 weeks, and creates a miscarriage, is that murder? If a woman that is driving to get an abortion and gets into an accident by a drunk driver and creates a miscarriage, did (s)he commit murder? If it is murder, if my girlfriend or wife drinks or smokes during her pregnancy, which could create harm to the fetus can I get a restraining order or an injunction so she would have to stop? And if she causes that fetus to abort because she accidentally eats something that created a miscarriage is that manslaughter? babyslaughter? fetusslaughter? If you believe in the death penalty, are you allowed not to believe in abortions? And if you believe abortions are legal, are you allowed to believe that the death penalty is illegal? I am sure there are so many more questions but those just a few off the top of my head. I’m pro-choice but would never get an abortion, mainly because I’m not a seahorse, if you get that joke, you’re pretty damn smart.
After a staff uproar, The Times says the editing process was “rushed.” Senator Tom Cotton’s “Send In the Troops” essay is now under review.
The New York Times, a newspaper that I have a subscription to because I like my papers to be free of bias, decided to recall an OP-ED from lawmaker Tom Cotton because it wasn’t to the standards of some of their staff. I can tell you that I would have completely disagreed with some, if not all of the Senator’s OP-ED but he penned it and you agreed to publish it, don’t know if he paid to have it published but nonetheless it was an opinion piece which could have been countered by a staff writer. When opposing “opinions” are not allowed to be debated then democracy has failed. It was the first time that I was disappointed by this prestigious newspaper. I thought about cancelling my subscription but thought better of it. My nine dollars doesn’t mean much but I earned it and I don’t want to spend my money on a newspaper that isn’t willing to debate topics that matter. It is no different from dictatorships (well, not that bad but getting close to it). Trying to silence anyone because you disagree with their views is for monarchies and regimes, not for newspapers that pride themselves on transparency. The reason I didn’t cancel is because they were open about staff writers threatening to quit. Now, I’m not saying to allow mein kampf to be published, but Sen. Cotton’s opinion on calming the riots by sending in the military isn’t quite that, even though it does come somewhat close. Plus, how can I look smart if I’m not allowed to blog about someone’s opinion that is completely wrong. Send in the military, calling for martial law, that’s just crazy, but let the Senator express his opinion and then let the voters decide if he is right and/or wrong and you print a rebuttal to counter his opinion, I thought that would have been the fairest and best solution.
Alright, maybe aliens do exist and they are super tiny and have ships shaped like a bee. Don’t know what kind of wall is going to keep these tiny bee shaped people out. Do the current visa restrictions apply to them and are they the cause of the corona virus? We need to start building tiny detention centers and beehive impounds before it’s too late. Maybe they got passed our satellite detection systems because they are so tiny. We need to start looking for super tiny high tech cities, they may have already invaded and are planning to take over. And have we already accidentally stepped on them. These are questions that deserve answers. In all seriousness, freaking spooky and awesome at the same time. It could be where evolution is taking us, to super tiny. Or, if they are 40 feet long and they were not picked up by our satellites, then someone has some really cool spy planes and someone is definitely loosing the arms race. I mean, c’mon, not even Santa can escape NORAD and he has multiple diesel reindeer powered sled that takes him around the world in one night and these things escaped all tracking, radar, satellite systems? It’s one hell of a spy plane…… or bullshit…..
Just by the laws of probability, other forms of life should exist on another planet. There are an infinite number of planets, stars and galaxies. If you believe in evolution, then you should be a firm believer of extraterrestial life forms. If they don’t exist, that is a good confirmation or indicator of a higher power. If they do, than the argument is again, who created these beings, was it evolution or a higher power? The non-existence of ET only tends to lean towards that there is probably a GOD. But if they do exist and If they look exactly like us, then they are probably body snatchers and you should run like hell.
Travel Photography
mannysblog.com 