A Justice Mirage

I always thought that because I could write that I had a voice, that could potentially change the world (meaning influence the behavior or thoughts of others-that being you). Of course, these days we write on computers, which are connected to the internet with the temptations of the world: YouTube videos, your brokerage account, and of course, porn. I promise myself that I will overcome those temptations and write. Because if I look at porn first, I won’t write. So that means, at least today, I didn’t give into that temptation.

My first article in this blog, will be about police violence. I will talk about policing in general, and one specific case.

My memories of police involve growing up in the Lamorinda area of California were positive. I was old for my grade, being that I turned 16 as a freshman, and was driving before everyone else. I would get called to give people rides, and the summer before my sophomore year, I chauffeured many a group of friends around- I’d like to think they were my friends- but I was the only one around with a car. Occasionally, a cop seeing that there was a car full of young people, being driven by someone, who passed for 12, as recently as one or two years previously, pulled us over. I never got a ticket in the Lamorinda area. I probably should have, but the cops, saw my license and my address, saw seven young people in the car, and still decided not to write a ticket. Once when I was driving home late at night, I made a right on a red, coming off 24, turning right onto Moraga Way. That was when I was 22, feeling old and nostalgic about not living in the Lamorinda area. There is no reason for me to take the exit and drive through Moraga on my way home.  Of course, at 3 a.m. on that Saturday or Sunday morning, I got pulled over. Again the cop didn’t give me a ticket. I attribute this to living in Lafayette, and being a local, because every time that I’ve been pulled over outside the Lamorinda area, I have gotten a ticket. But cops can definitely be nice. I know from experience.

Of course, I have heard the opposite, and know when you are a “stranger,” cops don’t necessarily give you any leniency. I have heard stories about cops, abusing their power, or thinking that they are above the law, pulling over people and ending up arresting them for no good reason. We have checks and balances in place. So this shouldn’t happen, and this-the US- isn’t a corrupt country, like Mexico, in which you have to pay off cops to avoid jail time. (Although I worry that our current federal administration head, would not have that much problem with that kind of society- but that is pure speculation).

Every week it seems there is an incident in involving a police killing. Occasionally a police officer gets shot too. But I get the feeling that lethal force, isn’t always just used, when absolutely necessarily. I can think of a Danville, California shooting, of a mentally ill man, in his car. I wasn’t there, but I imagine that the police officer could have gotten out of the way of the car, instead of killing the mentally ill man driving in the car and claiming self-defense.

This blog was inspired about a specific recent police killing incident. What follows is the current public knowledge (thanks to "real" news) : Around Friday September 7^th, an off-duty officer, Amber Guyger, in Dallas, Texas, mistakenly entered the wrong apartment. She thought she was entering her own apartment, and found a black man, Botham Jean, a consultant, in the kitchen. She shot and killed the man. Public outrage ensued. Amber was fired from the police force.  On September 28^th, she was charged with manslaughter. Justice seemed to be in the process of being served. The police officer was fired and looked to receive jail time.

However, this Friday, November 30^th, her charges were changed to murder. Murder in Texas, means that there was intent. Manslaughter means a “reckless action” caused a death. People that claim that our society is racist, might be happy about this sentence. Finally,  an officer is charged with murder for killing an innocent, hard-working, educated, white-collar black man. However, this grand jury is “racist.” Or if they were not-racist, “naive, ignorant, or way too optimistic about our society (pick any or all)"

The reason is, that as far as we know, Ms. Amber Guyger , didn’t know  Botham. If she did, that would be different. She came home from long day's work, went into the wrong apartment, and shot a man that she thought was an intruder, in self-defense. This is another example of Police Officers using lethal force, when they “probably” don’t need to- which is a common theme in our society of late. But is this specific incident murder? Did she intentionally just kill a man? I don’t think so, between self-defense and lack of intent, I don’t think she should be found guilty of murder and most likely won't. She shouldn’t be accused of murder. It is in her interest that she does. She will be found "not guilty." She did commit manslaughter. She should serve time. You don’t kill someone unless absolutely necessary, even as a Peace officer. Not that this is how Police Officers are acting, but this should be the rule of police killings. Was lethal force absolutely necessary? From my perspective, so many times in a police killing the answer is "no."

Clearly, this situation, could have been handled with words. The victim, probably didn’t even have a gun in his whole apartment. Fuck, I bet he made more money from his job, than the officer did.

But if Ms. Amber Guyger is charge with murder, she will be found “not guilty.” If you want justice to be served, her charge needs to be manslaughter. Unless of course, you don’t want her to serve time. There is no "cause" for a murder charge. The intent is not there. Don’t think this murder charge is good news for justice or for the fight against racism. It is just the opposite. We should be protesting this decision to have the officer charged with murder, not celebrating it.

Peace,

GCNOF

Three incidents of equal proportion?

Greetings loyal followers and others lucky enough to read this fantastically enchanting blog post,

In the past three days, we bombed Syria because they were caught using chemical weapons-poison gas, there was a murder-suicide at an elementary school in the same county in California as a terrorist attack that happened two years ago, and United Airlines dragged a passenger off a flight, because they needed a seat.

For the first time, I’m happy with what Trump did. I am happy we bombed Syria. Sure, we won’t necessarily make the situation better if we remove Assad-see Saddam Hussein and Iraq- but at least we are doing something. (And Hussein didn’t wind up even having chemical weapons). I think while we deal with our first world problems here in the States, millions in the Middle East are struggling to survive.  My solution, no one’s ask, but get some cruise ships (not to be confused with cruise missiles), hook them up with secret cameras all over the ship,Halal food, and US state apartment officials.

We would fill the ship with refugees-obviously we would have to screen their persons and belongings when they board. The secret cameras would be to monitor the refugees to make sure that no bombs or weapons were created on the ship- this might appease the fear mongers, and offend the more freedom oriented persons of our country- and not look good if it came out- so really “secret” cameras. We would provide Halal food, since most of the refugees are Muslim, and others can eat the food as well. And the State department can vent all the refugees, and decide if they can add to the United States economy- and those that can, can live anywhere, or if they can’t they need to settle in a part of United States that needs people, like Alaska or inner city Detroit, or rural America- those places that voted for Trump even though most of the people there get government handouts or were in a low tax bracket (even with the Democrats running things).

It would be a way for the first world luxuries-like Cruise ships- to help people not so fortunate.  I can see the headline now “Cruise Ships” not Cruise Missiles help bring peace to the Middle East.   

My assessment of the United incident and the murder-suicide in San Bernardino are not so optimistic-even though they are first world problems-and there is much more reason to believe that these issues will have a happy ending to those that are still alive.

 I think it is important to remember, how are far we have a come as a country, and as a civilization. According to famous evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond, in some hunter gather societies, if male strangers met, they would first figure out if they had any common relatives, if not that would either fight to the death, or have to run away. We are now so evolved, that if a stranger even gives us a bad look, we will probably be offended.  Some now might even be offended that a stranger wasn’t nice enough to them-and he/she was trying to be nice!

I do think there is an expectation for niceness in our society- and I don’t think it is a bad thing. The fact that you can go on an airline and not be dragged off a flight physically for no fault of your own is a boundary that United shouldn’t have crossed. It is not civilized, and not safe-from an emotional let alone physical point of view. United is not only not “friendly”, they are the airline that might physically remove you from the flight if they don’t get enough volunteers to be bumped. This is America, everyone has a price. Maybe $800 wasn’t enough, but I’m guessing that $1200 would have been. And if they went to $1600 and no one volunteered, the pilot should have said, you are all too stupid, this flight won’t take off with you on it, we decided to cancel the flight. We will let only United employees fly on this plane, because the plane is needed to be in Louisville tomorrow, and the rest of you can drive! Five hours of drive time is realistic. You can get from Chicago to Louisville in 4 hours- if you average 80 mph and don’t stop.

 But no one, without acting out, should ever be removed from a flight like that.  The question to you, how low will United have to price their flights to get you to use them? $1 less than other airlines? $50? $100? Name the price. I want to get back at United’s idiot Chicago employees, I’m guessing they didn’t consult the CEO before taking action- but really, should I let my Mileage Plus miles expire in protest?

As for the San Bernardino shootings, I’ll discuss in a future post. Two posts in one day are enough for George. In fact he usually does the minimum, so you’ve already gotten a treat.

Music inspiration provided by “Lord Huron.” If you haven’t heard of them, check out their “hit” single “Meet me in the Woods.”

Adieu for now loyal blog readers. Please feel free to comment, embrace the power of the written word. Terrorists might be able to take a few of our lives, but only words can change our dialogue- and our thoughts and actions!

Peace,

GCNOF

(Note-picture taken from the New York Times-if I have more than ten readers- I might get in trouble.)

Little prizes are important too!

Greetings followers of this blog:

Please click on the advertising so I can stop looking for a new job, (actually I don't get paid for the advertising, click at your own risk, I have no idea, if the advertising is legit).  And more importantly please read to the end. There is a surprise contest, which you have a 0% chance of winning money (only slightly less of a chance than that of winning the Powerball lottery), but only it's only for if you read until the end of this article.

I last posted, I was hoping and praying that Donald Trump, would not be our next president. I thought he wouldn’t, but I was worried. And now he is the president. People really don’t like Hillary. A lot of the dialogue is such. She screwed up in her campaign and didn’t visit enough of rural America.

 But you’d think with a presidential candidate like Trump, that he wouldn’t get as much Republican support.  He did. This turned out to be a fairly typical election. Republicans voted for Trump 88-90% to 8% or so for Hillary. Democrats voted for Hillary 88-90% vs. 8% or so for Trump.

In 2012, Democrats were 38% of the vote. Republicans: 32%. In 2016, it was Democrats 36% and Republicans 33%. Independents in both election years tended to favor the Republican candidate.  So, the main take-away from this election is not as many Democrats showed up to the polls as in 2012. 

In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania there were key House of Representatives that where held by Democrats and went unchallenged. Wisconsin’s 3^rd district and Pennsylvania’s 13^th. There is talk that the Presidential races determines the “lesser” races, but maybe in this year, it worked the other way.

People voted for the lesser of the two evils in this campaign for President, and maybe some democrats didn’t get out to vote in those house districts, in which there was no republican candidate, because the house representative in those districts just needed one vote to win.

Also, big senate or governor races might increase the voting turnout. In New Hampshire and Nevada, the Senate race was won by the Democratic candidate. Nevada also legalized recreational marijuana. Both states voted for Clinton. In Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin all held senate races, that went to the Republican candidate. These senate candidates beat their Democratic challenger, by a larger margin that Trump won the presidential vote in each state. So Trump won on the coattails of these senators, not the other way around!

Arizona failed to legalize weed, but agreed to raise the minimum wage, but still voted Republican.  North Carolina apparently didn’t get the memo and also had a governor’s race this year, the only one in all of the swing states. This surprisingly went to the Democratic challenger.

While it seemed that Trump and Clinton were not the typical candidates, perhaps, they forced voters to do what they often do when faced with a difficult choice- vote down party lines. This year- as in most election years (and maybe more than other years) the senate races and ballot measures had more of say in who turned out to vote. And who turned out to vote, not how they voted, seemed to make all the difference. The big anomaly was how the Republican North Carolina governor lost to a democratic challenger, when the rest of the state went red. It was because he passed that controversial bill that allowed discrimination of gays, and forced transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they were born in. And the NBA pulled its All Star game out of the state. At least the Democrats got this one. Although they still didn’t win the senate race or that state’s presidential electoral votes.

Maybe the Democrats need to not just focus on the presidential election, but on the senate candidates that they put out-especially in the swing states.  Most people didn’t want either Trump or Clinton in the White House this year. But in pretty much all the swing states, they preferred the Republican senator to the Democratic senator. This has to change. The presidency isn’t everything (famous last words), but it is especially true, if there isn’t also a favorable Congress with which to work.

Hopefully we will survive the next few years, without them being as bad as people worry, and going forward we won’t just focus on the big prize, but all the little prizes too.

   

Speaking of prizes: Congratulations on reading to the end of the article!!! While I have no monetary prize for you, or even a contest, you must really like to read, and therefore must be a very hard worker and likely to be very successful. Keep up the good work!! Yes, you get a compliment! (I'm unemployed, unfortunately something free is the most I can spend on prizes for the loyal blog readers of this blog.) 

note: If you just skipped to the end, I could be mean and say, you don't deserve the compliment. You are probably not a hard worker, therefore you probably aren't or won't be successful! (How are those government handouts treating you? Republicans at least say they want to take them away- you should be proactive and....)  You can still go back to the beginning of the article and read it- and maybe even write a comment, and then you'll have earned that compliment in the last paragraph. 

Until next time!

Best,

GCNOF

Donald Trump finally goes down

Who would think that Donald Trump finally would go down (at least that's what the national media is telling us).

To get to the national stage, Trump popularized the birther movement, claiming that President Barack Obama was not a native born U.S. citizen. I'm not sure if Trump was not aware that yes, Hawaii, is a state in the United States, and that his mother was from Kansas. Trump demanded that Obama, the president of the United States, show is birth certificate to the public. In what many thought was a very racist act. While with a certain population this was a turn off, surprisingly with others this was a plus.

Then in 2015 Trump announced he was running for president. Many thought this was a joke. Trump has no political experience, is a note-worthy businessman for good and bad reasons, and has a very abrasive personality.

In case you were on Mars and didn't have access to any media. One of Trump's first campaign promises was that he was going to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and have the Mexicans pay for this wall. While even many of supporters thought this would never actually happen, it was one of Trump's brilliant moves that earned him the Republican nominee for presidency. That and calling Jeb Bush "low energy."

Trump insulted Fox news anchor Megyn Kelly during one of the first Republican Primary debates. Refused to attend another. Yet this didn't slow down his campaign. It got to the point, where it seemed nothing could stop his campaign. He was gaining in the polls, to the point that it was a toss up between Hillary Clinton and him.

Then the first presidential debate occurred. Trump set his standards low, but surprisingly didn't even meet them. Then, the man who claimed he could "shoot someone on fifth avenue" and not lose support, did something unimaginable, but hoped by almost every reasonable citizen of our great country. He did something that lost him support.

He admitted that he groped women and it wasn't even recently.  In 2005, an entertainment reporter had Trump on a live mic, and Trump bragged about groping women. Trump thought he was a big celebrity, and could get away with it, or knowing how Trump is now, thought that the women enjoyed being groped by him. (Seeming how long it has taken for some of the women to come forward to complain, I could see how Trump might have been mistaken. For 11 years, Trump might have thought that these woman actually liked his groping.)

Trump was like a kid in a candy store, that was touching all the candy, even the candy he wasn't planning to buy, and even the candy that belonged to other kids. He thought he was a very important kid, who could get away with doing something like that. And then 11 years later, he found out, that all of that candy didn't like being touched. I'm sure some of that candy complained years ago. But that candy's voice was so small that it wasn't heard just by itself.  And touching candy you aren't supposed to touch, is a very big deal in American politics.

So now the presidential candidate, that labeled his competitors "Low Energy" or "Crooked", finally got a label himself. "Creepy" it might not rhyme as well as some of the labels he gave others, but it seemed to have stuck.

Of course, some of us, who disliked him because of his role in the Birther movement, his idea to build a wall with Mexico, his plan to not let any new Muslims settle in the country, his role in "Trump University", his business practices, I could probably name a few more reasons not to like Trump, his treatment of former Miss Universes. Anyhow, those of us, who strongly dislike the man, might be wondering if this "locker room" talk,  really will be the thing that finally sinks Trump.

It did happen 11 years ago for g-d sake. But we will take it.

Political Thoughts

When George W. Bush won the presidential election in 2000 and then again in 2004, I swore I would do everything in my power to make sure the Democrats won in 2008 and was pretty ecstatic when Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008. I told myself that I would just take the next four years off- from worrying about the direction of my country-with Obama in office.

To be frank, the older I get the more-moderate- or conservative I get. I went to Oberlin, a very liberal school, but pretty much right after college, I got disillusioned with the far left. In the Fall of 2000, I interned for a liberal political magazine based in New York City, which championed the battle of Gore v. W. Bush as Tweedle-Deed, vs. Tweedle-Dum, and told voters in non-battleground states to vote for Nader. I even went to a Nader rally in New York with my press pass. 

As an environmentalist, I never saw Gore as Tweedle-Deed, to Bush’s Tweedle-Dum, and when Gore lost Florida and the 2000 Election to the butterfly ballot, a poor ballot design or Florida seniors having a senior moment by less than 2000 votes with Nader receiving over 2000 votes in Florida, I became a political pragmatist overnight and abandoned a magazine that gave me my first internship.

I wasn’t for the Occupy Movement. Especially Occupy Oakland and I recently discovered, I hate anarchists. Just one death in Berkeley caused because the police needed to supervise the urban camping known as Occupy Oakland and couldn’t be at their full responsiveness and one thrown brick by an anarchist -even though it hit another protester- not to mention broken windows all over the place, made the Tea Party’ers look like, while politically disagreeable, decent people. Although, I’m not a fan of theirs politically either, I rather have a beer with a Tea Party’er, at least they don’t break glass.

The reason a Romney president worries me is because I don’t know what to expect. While Obama sounds pretty negative and Romney sounds good. I really don’t know where Romney stands on abortion, health care, the environment, or even tax cuts. Is he a conservative Republican or a moderate one? I wish I knew who he was before election day. What I do know about Romney, he’ll balance the budget by cutting Sesame Street and not raising taxes and be not that much different than Obama on foreign policy.

Euphemisms and The Occupy Movement

Note: some of this content may be offensive. If you think it is over the line, please let me know. Young readers should be reading Dr. Suess and not this. Older readers, but not yet adults, may find enjoyment in the Crazy Horse Electric Game, Stotan, S.E. Hinton's books, starting with the Outsiders, or other books for Young Adults-i.e Teenagers. Those trying to get into college, should read prose with bigger vocab words, such as books, by Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Kurt Vonnegut, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, among other serious novelists Those that only need to retake the SAT score, out of bets that they can repeat their perfect score and others with a B.A. can continue to read. Those still working on a BA or BS degree may should read with the following with discretion. And should stop if they feel melancholic or disenchanted.

First off, a lot has happened in my life over the past several months. At one point, I wanted to be a blogger-well really, I wanted to be a writer-who aspires to just blog? A writer that would write about anything and everything that has happened to him, to be able to write about the thoughts that if said, would make me cool, but if unsaid, make me awkward. (At least that's what I tell myself.) But since I realize, I may never have the guts to say things, at least I can write about... what I would say, if I was actually cool. I guess at my age, with my hairline, cool might be too high an aim. What's between being cool and a total loser? Alright? Ok, I hope to be alright.

So first the euphemism. You know why Macs are better than PCs? Well as Avenue Q says, "the Internet is for %&#". Well in a moment of weakness, during my finals week, while home with a project due and a final to study for, I put the web browser on private and... Low and behold caught some malware. I had thought you know with the internet at least you can't catch anything. Lo and behold, I caught, a virus. Hopefully, it is one that is curable.

 

 

All this time, I've been doing my "private" web viewing on a Mac and thought that all "private" red-district web browsing was safe, no harm no foul-safer than a bar. Who would know that you are probably less likely to catch a virus going to a bar and picking up some random woman, as long as you use protection, rather than visiting the "red-light district" on your PC. Pay $500 dollars more for a Mac to visit adult sites on a Mac without even needing to thing about safe procreation. They should put that in a Mac ad- at least in Playboy and other adult magazines. Buy a Mac and surf the internet's red-light districts and back alleys without fear or need of protection! The web on a Mac is like your (STD-free) girlfriend or wife on birth-control! No Protection needed!

 

 

Secondly, the occupy movement. Don't these people have jobs! Or they must have had them and are now living off their savings? I don't have savings, I've got schoolwork and I need to find a job. Yes, things aren't fair. But I've got to establish myself (at least financially, and maybe socially) in our society, and I don't have time to camp in a city park. If I'm going to go camping, I'm probably going to somewhere peaceful, serene, with good views. The only reason I'd go to the occupy camps would be to hook up with hippie chicks, but I've got a girlfriend. But, I do hear there is a lot of adult-only type activities going on in those camps.

 

 

The real positives about the occupy movement is that people are not talking about the tea party movement, at least as much. There is a Yang to the Tea Party's Yin. So, for this reason, I think the occupy movement has done a good job.

 

 

But stopping shipments to the port of Oakland, and other ports, really? I hope you aren't hurting a lot of people by doing that. You think the 1% can survive, a day without a port to unload packages? so do I. It is the 99% people that might be hurt- the small business owners. When you smash a Men's Warehouse window- you think George Zimmer, President of Men's Warehouse has to clean the glass and put in a new window? Or you think the store salesman, who makes less, and is paid based on commission-i.e. his own production, or the cleaning people- who might be illegals and are paid maybe minimum wage, clean up the broken glass and are affected by your attempt to harm the 1%. As if men in the 1% buy their suits at the Men's Warehouse!

 

 

I know what you'll say in response to this. That wasn't the occupy movement, that was the anarchists. They just see this as an opportunity for violence.

It's too bad the anarchists are smart enough to avoid getting pepper sprayed, unlike the UC Davis students. Just because the authority figures are wrong though. I.e. the police using too much force to distrupt the movement, doesn't make the occupy movement right. Two fools fighting are still two fools. One bad guy (authority figures using pepper spray unnecessarily) doesn't make the other good (the occupy movement).

But two movements on the opposite side of the political spectrum, does gives us some balance. A Yin and a Yang, no taxes vs. equal income, which is a good result of the occupy movement.

 

 

As I mentioned early, I've been too busy, completing my school work and looking for a job. But I guess in my self-interest, I should be happy about the Occupy movement, besides just on principle. People in the occupy movement, are not competing for the jobs I'm applying to, so for that I am thankful. Maybe I should hope more people join the occupy movement, at least until I, and every one else who would rather work, rather than camp in a city park and pretend they are part of a commune, occupy jobs.

 

 

As you probably guess, I will try, but not suceed in writing another blog before 2012, so on that note: Happy 2012! Obama in 2012! My wish for 2012 is the that Obama gets bigger..., hmmm. is a euphemism, really needed here, or does every Democrat know what Obama needs? I don't care which way Obama goes, center or left, as long as he goes there big.

 

 

Not trying to be cool, just trying to be alright.

GCNOF

Occupy This

What is everyone's take on the Occupy Wall Street Movement? I checked out the Chicago chapter, OccupyChi, and found it fascinating. Growing up in a College town, there were many protests going on, but I never bothered to join any. I went on a lhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifunch brake this week, and biked down to the protest, as I work Downtown, it is not a long ride. There is a lot of energy going on at the protest, and I was able to bask in it. I did not have a sign of my own, so almost felt out of place, but watching was itself very enjoyable.
People are dissing the movement for not having one coherent message or leader, but that is not really a negative in my perspective. First, the Tea Baggers had no coherent message other than anger at first either. Second, the movement is young, but growing, and I feel it will distil a more unified message at some point. I plan to visit the protest more next week, and encourage everyone else to visit one as well. The most impressive aspect I think, is the technological organization. You can check out the Chicago website at www.Occupychi.org