"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, February 19, 2024
Fact: Most folks will not even bother to read the ruling (available from the official site here: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/trump-decision.pdf), much less download it from any site, anywhere, and will simply swallow — hook, line, and sinker — whatever the talking heads they watch/listen to tell them, and whatever their favorite blathering pundits and prognosticators write on their websites, right, center, or left.
They do themselves, and the nation, a disservice to be so blithely insincere, and casually cavalier.
So here, for your pablum-puking pleasure, are selected outtakes, copied & pasted, of the most egregiously stunning highlights from Judge Engoron’s ruling in:
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Plaintiff, vs. DONALD J. TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JR., ERIC TRUMP, ALLEN WEISSELBERG, JEFFREY MCCONNEY, THE DONALD J. TRUMP REVOCABLE TRUST, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION, INC., TRUMP ORGANIZATION LLC, DJT HOLDINGS LLC, DJT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER, TRUMP ENDEAVOR 12 LLC, 401 NORTH WABASH VENTURE LLC, TRUMP OLD POST OFFICE LLC, 40 WALL STREET LLC, SEVEN SPRINGS LLC, Defendants.
Trump Organization’s History of Corporate Malfeasance
“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.”
“…this Court is mindful that this action is not the first time the Trump Organization or its related entities has been found to have engaged in corpora malfeasance.”
“…the more evidence there is of defendants’ ongoing propensity to engage in fraud, the more need there is for the Court to impose stricter injunctive relief. This is not defendants’ first rodeo.”
“Defendants’ refusal to admit error—indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor—constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained.”
“…the Trump Organization does not have the ability to operate with a functional financial reporting structure that would protect against fraud in the future. The fact that there are virtually no internal controls in place at the Trump Organization, “creates an atmosphere conducive to fraud.”
“…the Trump Organization has refused to prepare SFCs, even though various loan covenants obligate them to do so, ever since the monitor was appointed, leads the Court to conclude that the Trump Organization cannot, or will not, prepare an accurate SFC that is GAAP compliant and that values assets at their estimated current values. That the Trump Organization has taken to manufacturing its own version of its assets, one that fails to include any valuations, is a telling admission that it simply cannot, or will not, prepare an SFC without committing fraud.”
“…Donald Trump testified that, even today, he does not believe the Trump Organization needed to make any changes based on the facts that came out during this trial.”
“… “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Defendants apparently are of a different mind. After some four years of investigation and litigation, the only error (“inadvertent,” of course) that they acknowledge is the tripling of the size of the Trump Tower Penthouse, which cannot be gainsaid.”
“…defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”
“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”
“In August 2013, OAG sued Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and affiliated entities doing business as “Trump University” for fraud in the marketing and operation of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, February 18, 2024
“Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to the passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.”
— excerpt from “The Brothers Karamazov,” by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), published 1879-80, his final work, considered his masterpiece, and among the world’s finest examples of literature, in which the character Zosima speaks to Fyodor Pavlovich, found in Book II, Chapter 2. Many of Zosima’s remarks in that section are foundational in developing the main ideas in the book.
Friends, let me wholeheartedly encourage you to read Judge Arthur F. Engoron’s decision in the Trump case in New York State. It’s straightforward, easy-to-understand, not filled with legal mumbo jumbo, arcane words, and often-bizarre machinations to reach a decision. (We often see that in SCOTUS cases.)
Judge Engoron writes in a concisely clear manner, lays out the case, what the charges are, why there wasn’t a jury trial (and the rules behind that, plus, neither party sought one), the rationale, the defenses used by the defendant (Trump, et al), why they fail, and so on, and so forth.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 16, 2024
One way to “make America great again” is to:
1.) Stop the lies, and the lying liars who tell them, and;
2.) Stop the hypocrisy.
“Above all, do not lie to yourself.
A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others.
Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to the passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.”
— excerpt from “The Brothers Karamazov,” by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), published 1879-80, his final work, considered his masterpiece, and among the world’s finest examples of literature, in which the character Zosima speaks to Fyodor Pavlovich, found in Book II, Chapter 2. Many of Zosima’s remarks in this section are foundational in developing the main ideas in the book.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump responds to a question from a reporter during a discussion with business owners and their families in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque – RC1B3AFA5400
“The former President, who dodged the draft, who has mocked Gold Star families, who just recently mocked Nikki Haley, asking where Major Michael Haley, her (deployed) husband, was… the level of disconnect is staggering.”
— Dr. Nadine Hubbs, PhD, Musicologist, and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies & Music, Faculty Associate of American Culture, University of Michigan School of Music, says there’s immense irony, even hypocrisy, in Trump playing late country music artist Toby Keith’s pro-military song “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American),” at MAGA rallies. She authored the 2014 award-winning book “Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music,” and focuses upon popular and classical music of the twentieth century to the present, including Leonard Bernstein and the Copland-Thomson circle, 1970s disco, Morrissey, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, and postwar country music artists including Dolly Parton, Gretchen Wilson, and David Allan Coe. Toby Keith’s politics were complicated having praised Republicans and Democrats. Further, he also criticized Trump and played at a Trump inauguration celebration.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 23, 2023
But Sergeant Pepper didn’t teach the band to play, nor did he have a Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Things Not Worth Fighting For -or- One Giant Fucking Mistake Based Upon A Lie,
And How It Gave Us A Black Eye At Home And Abroad
“All of our experiences were different. It was such a long war. Every year of the war or every phase of the war was very different. We learned that it wasn’t necessarily a just war. But then, we broke it, so then we had to fix it. Navigating wartime service in the Iraq War, especially if you served more than one tour, it’s more about just doing what you are called to do and making sure that you’ve got the men and women to your left and right all home from that war. Focusing more on that than the policy or the why of why we’re there. Because that can be a dark place.”
— Allison Jaslow, former Army Lieutenant, served 2 tours of duty in Iraq during the most violently intense period, now CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
“We all felt [that], maybe there was a way to make things better, [but we] then recognized that we hadn’t made things better… it didn’t turn out as we’d hoped. A lot of my fellow Americans don’t even rank it as important. They say, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 2, 2022
Appearing on Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” program, Kanye West recently said,
“I see good things about Hitler. Jewish people are not going to tell me: ‘You can’t say out loud that this person ever [sic] did anything good.’ I’m done with that. I like Hitler. The Jewish media has made us feel like Nazis and Hitler, [and] have never offered us anything of value to the world.”
Kanye is widely known as a mentally disturbed multi-millionaire Black male entertainer whose fortune came in large part from sales of athletic footwear following modest recording successes, and now prefers to be called “Ye,” who continues supporting degenerate racist Republican madman and chronically habitual liar, the chiseler-swindler-thief, former POTUS and election-denier-in-chief, Donald Trump.
Kanye has increasingly and very publicly exhibited bizarrely erratic behavior on full display through various online social media accounts, in other public venues and ways, in 2016 and 2019 was hospitalized because of psychiatric emergency, and in 2016 was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about which he has publicly spoken, though he denied it in a public White House Oval Office meeting with the 45th President in October 2018 claiming that he was merely “sleep deprived,” yet months earlier claimed bipolar disorder was “my superpower” and on his June 2018 album cover of “Ye,” scrawled “I hate being Bi-Polar its awesome.”
His deteriorated mental health condition is painfully obvious to even the most casual of observers, and with the 2010 production of an album named “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” in conjunction with his on-again-off-again denial of the reality of his disease, refusal to treat his disease with medications, in combination with a very public divorce involving four children, his life has become an unsightly public disgrace at best, and a laughingstock and open mockery at worse.
“InfoWars” is a moronic madhouse media show of radicalized right-wing extremist conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who, despite multi-billion dollar civil judgements against him for deliberately promoting lies, continues producing his show, and has most recently filed bankruptcy in Texas following the civil judgments against him.
Alex foists numerous mind-boggling insane rants, including most notably and tragically, that the 2012 mindless mass murder massacre of 20 6-and-7 year old children, 7 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut — and his mother in her home — was a “false flag” staged stunt, a hoax performed by actors perpetrated by the Federal government in an attempt to outlaw assault weapons. Alex Jones’ lies in turn caused his followers to harass the grieving parents & siblings, including an FBI agent who had responded to the scene. The 20-year-old perpetrator Adam Lanza committed suicide on site using the AR-15 style rifle fitted with several 30 round magazines which he used to kill the children, teachers, and his mother.
Alex Jones, Donald Trump, and Kanye West… those 3 men alone are IRREFUTABLE PROOF POSITIVE that America is much, much, much more gravely mentally ill than previously imagined, that the depths of depravity which they represent are but a mere scratch on the surface, the veritable tip of the proverbial iceberg, perhaps much like the one which sank the allegedly “unsinkable” luxury cruise ship “Titanic,” again, which ironically occurred after striking an iceberg on its 1912 maiden voyage.
But we could add a 4th: Herschel Walker, another man with a well-known mentally-disordered psychiatric disorder who is equally well known for his chronically habitual lying, spousal/partner abuse, and wholesale denial that anything is wrong with him.
Having been manipulated into becoming a candidate for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat under the Republican banner by the former 45th President, Hershel Walker appears to have violated Georgia election law by claiming to be a Georgia Resident and voting in the state’s Republican primary and the Georgia November 2022 General Election, while simultaneously taking a homestead tax deduction in Texas, though “the place where he stays” is his wife’s house in Georgia.
Herschel Walker is an equally VERY SICK, SICKman, who is also a known chronic pathological liar, spousal abuser, philanderer, manipulator and all-around psychopath… much like the 45th POTUS.
BUT!
Do you know what MUCH, MUCH — even EXCEEDINGLY — worse?
A people who either cannot see, or refuse to see, the depths of Herschel Walker’s depravity and utter lack of character qualities befitting such an office, which on their face are innately inherent moral disqualifications, or either are so blindly stuck on the GOP that they’d vote for a warm piece of shit, instead of anyone else, just because it’s under the Republican banner.
Yet those sick men’s cult members cannot themselves be blamed for perpetrating and promulgating such mass evil. Their enablers are Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, November 12, 2021
Yesterday, I happened upon a story (a poorly written, and unconvincing one, at that — and there are several) about a complaint that someone, or some group, was making to so-called “chefs,” who in response were removing the avocado from their menus, ostensibly because of some alleged character flaw characterized as “un-sustainability.”
Avocados are a nutrient dense, heart-healthy food, production of which is SUSTAINABLE, and lucrative, for this, and other nation’s economies… contrary to what the goddamn ignoramuses tell you. There are PLENTY of academically, statistically, economically, and scientifically validated facts about avocados in this entry, ALL from HIGHLY REPUTABLE sources which almost every one DIRECTLY CONTRADICT the goddamn lies and BULLSHIT that so-called “journalists” write, and hope to get you to believe.
What a crock!
“Sustainability” my ass!
You wanna’ know what’s “unsustainable”?
Life without water. Life without food.
Besides… the fucking avocados are Hecho en Mexico.
Yeah, you stupid motherfuckers… Mexico produces the lion’s share of the world’s avocados, followed by Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, Haiti, Chile, and Israel.
“Avocados contain vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, including 25 essential nutrients. It also contains phytochemicals, like beta-sitosterol and antioxidants, like lycopene and beta-carotene. The essential nutrients are increasing the demand for the fruit, globally, and therefore acts as a major driving force behind the growth of the avocado market. The demand for avocados is increasing globally due to their health benefits as it increases vision, prevents heart-related diseases, and helps in improving digestion. The increased demand across the globe has resulted in increased production. According to FAOSTAT, avocado production was 5.7 million metric ton in 2016, which has increased by 12.7% and reached 7.1 million metric ton in 2019.”
In 2020 the United States produced 206,610 tons of avocados. That same year, economic value of U.S. avocado production was $426 million. California’s 2020 avocado production value was $411,720,000, with 47,300 acres in production, which yielded 3.98 TONS / ACRE.
In California, avocados are the 16th most valuable crop. Tomatoes, strawberries, hay, oranges, rice, tangerines, almonds, pistachios, broccoli, and lettuce all outpace the state’s avocado production value.
In the U.S., a total of 52,720 acres were in stable avocado production. Certain varieties, such as the Hass, have a tendency to bear well only in alternate years. That’s a 50% reduction biennially. How would you like it if your income fluctuated like that?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, September 4, 2021
Dr. Carlos Chaccour, PhD
Dr. Carlos Chaccour, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Unitaid-funded BOHEMIA consortium project in Barcelona, Spain, is a scientist and researcher whose primary area of scientific interest is with Emerging Viruses, Malaria, and Coronavirus.
For the last 10 years, his most intense professional focus has been upon “the development of mosquito-killing drugs (endectocides) as complementary vector control strategy for malaria control and elimination.” In fact, the specific area in which he “obtained his PhD in 2015, was working with slow-release ivermectin formulations for that purpose.”
Their critical examination was in response to efforts by healthcare professionals and officials in the nations of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Colombia who suddenly began taking an unusual interest in ivermectin, and using it on COVID-19 patients in their respective nations. Those nations’ officials were motivated, in large part by a since-retracted, and debunked manuscript initially placed on a “preprint server,” a website which publishes online, a full draft of research which has not yet been validated by the peer-review process. The respected healthcare/medical science journal Lancet, which has been continually published since 1823 with the objective to improve people’s lives, states that “a preprint is a version of a scientific manuscript posted on a public server prior to any formal peer review.”
Specifically, Dr. Chaccour and colleagues examined antiviral research published June 2020 in Science Direct entitled “The FDA-approved drug ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro,” i.e., in glass, such as test tube, beaker, or Petri dish, which was performed early in April by Australian researchers Leon Caly, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital, At the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Victoria, Australia, Julian D. Druce, Senior Medical Scientist in the Virus Identification Laboratory of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, et al, which “used concentrations that are not readily achieved in the human body” but raised enough interesting questions that further investigation was warranted, and because of “the drug’s excellent safety profile and lack of effective treatment for COVID-19.”
In response to their critical examination, and genuine questions about the techniques and methods, they wrote a guest editorial entitled “Ivermectin and COVID-19: Keeping Rigor in Times of Urgency” which was Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 17, 2021
A friend in Alabama, whom is the quintessential example of a Trump supporter – a White, poorly-educated, hard-shell, far right-wing, Christian Baptist Evangelical RINO – recently sent this to me.
I have no idea where he found it – I didn’t ask, and he didn’t say – though I rather suspect that, more likely than not, he found it on Facebook somewhere. (And indeed, that is the case.) So I can’t, and won’t attempt, to vouch for the claims made in the accompanying description, which is, as it’s read, but an oblique, limp, halfhearted, milquetoast denunciation of renewable energy and Electric Vehicles – and a phenomenally poor one, at that.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, April 28, 2021
The idiom to “go off half-cocked” came from incidents in which a flintlock or matchlock gun would fire prematurely, before the trigger was pulled.
As used in modern context, it means:
• to take a premature or ill-considered action; to act too soon, prematurely, or without reflection;
• to do or say something without preparing for, or thinking about it;
• to go into action too early, or without thinking.
That certainly seems to be the case with several Banana Republicans recently. Banana Republicans lead Banana Republics, right?
An article published last week by the notoriously unreliable British tabloid “The Daily Mail” – which is infamous for habitually and recklessly publishing sensationalistically inaccurate fear-mongering stories – stated a deliberate lie which falsely claimed that President Joe Biden’s climate proposals would deliberately limit Americans’ red meat consumption.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, January 7, 2021
U.S. Capitol Police in plain clothes stand behind barricaded doors to the House floor and draw pistols upon Trump 2020 mobsters who violently invaded the U.S. Capitol Building, Wednesday, January 6, 2021 during the Constitutionally-ordered tallying of the states’ certified Electoral College votes.
The shocking events that unfolded yesterday in our nation’s capitol – rioting thugs, marauders, and hooligans who violently overthrew and violently invaded our Nation’s Capitol building complex thereby participating in insurrection after being egged on by their losing candidate, the soon-to-be-former President Trump – are unprecedented. Not since the War of 1812 when British soldiers breached and burned our nation’s capitol has the capitol been invaded. The sad part is, that it was brought about EXCLUSIVELY by a Lying, Lawless and Treasonous American President – Trump – whom the GOP has coddled and cultivated.
Again, yesterday’s domestic terroristic events were brought about exclusively by President Trump, who has consistently falsely asserted that he “won” the 2020 General Election, despite numerous Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Newt Gingrich, Georgia’s original nutty buddy, all-around hypocrite, liar, and one of the original Banana Republicans, recently used his quill to conjure up an OpEd to the right-wing newspaper Washington Times in which he falsely claimed in part that, “The entire elite liberal media lied about the timeline of the COVID-19 vaccine. They blamed President Trump for the global pandemic even as he did literally everything top scientists instructed. In multiple debates, the moderators outright stated that he was lying about the U.S. having a vaccine before the end of the year (note Vice President Mike Pence received it this week). If Americans had known the pandemic was almost over, that too was likely the difference in the election.”
Moderna’s vaccine design only took one weekend to develop at their Massachusetts facilities.
In fact, Moderna had completed development of their COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 before the Chinese government had acknowledged the disease was transmitted by human-to-human means, and more than a week before the first confirmed coronavirus case in the United States – January 21.
And by the time the first American coronavirus death was reported a month later, on February 29, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine had already been manufactured and shipped to the National Institutes of Health to begin its Phase I clinical trial.
Trump Social Security Administration Is Preparing To Bar 500,000 Americans From Getting Benefits
12/07/20 09:45 AM EST
By David A. Weaver, Opinion Contributor David A. Weaver, Ph.D., is an economist and retired federal employee who has authored a number of studies on the Social Security program. The views in this article do not reflect the views of any federal agency. The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill.
Over the weekend, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sent the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a proposal that — if similar to a version leaked earlier this year — will bar Social Security benefits from hundreds of thousands of Americans. The document that leaked suggests the proposal could ultimately prevent as many as 500,000 Americans from receiving benefits. Whether SSA can slip this through the regulatory process before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration may depend on whether SSA and OMB respect the formal regulatory process.
If implemented, the regulation should be undone by the Biden administration or overruled by Congress.
SSA’s proposal, as described in press reports, would make it harder for older workers to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. By law (not regulation), SSA is required to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, March 21, 2020
Lawmakers’ Stock Trades and Other Virus Outrages
Some lawmakers have a lot of explaining to do. Plus, punishing poor people and shaping up the cruise-ship industry.
By Joe Nocera 3/20/2020, 10:47:09 AM
Joe Nocera is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He has written business columns for Esquire, GQ and the New York Times, and is the former editorial director of Fortune. His latest project is the Bloomberg-Wondery podcast “The Shrink Next Door.”
————
Of the many things taking place in Washington that make your blood boil, the — how should I put this? — timely stock trades by senators during the coronavirus outbreak has to go right to the top of the list. Two of them have tried to explain them away, but the details are just so… suspicious.
At least three Republicans and one Democrat 1 sold stock before the country got serious about Covid-19, but let’s focus on one: Kelly Loeffler.
A Republican from Georgia, Loeffler has been in the Senate for less than three months; she was appointed to fill the seat of Senator Johnny Isakson, who retired early for health reasons. She has a Wall Street background — she was in investor relations at the New York Stock Exchange, where she married the boss, Jeffrey Sprecher, the Chief Executive Cfficer of Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which owns NYSE
On Jan. 24, Loeffler attended a Senate briefing on the coronavirus, which she tweeted about. That same day, she and her husband began selling stock. By the time they were finished, they had dumped 27 companies, including Exxon Mobil and AutoZone, saving millions of dollars when the market later tanked. (Senate financial disclosure forms don’t give exact numbers.)
A visitor rides on a 750-kilogram (1653 lbs) pig at a farm in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, China. Source: ImagineChina via AP Images
But, more to the point.
The campaign of Democratic candidate for Party Presidential Nominee Elizabeth Warren has recently purposely posted a false political advertisement on Facebook.
Specifically, while it was not exactly surreptitious, it was definitely anti-cannabis.
I am not now, though I once was, “anti-cannabis.”
And to be certain, I read the article with an open mind, as I do most all things which I read.
However, I have made my position upon the matter – along with the rationales – a matter of open and unashamed advocacy for anyone who inquires, and have done so only after extensive and lengthy consideration.
With only minor editing to protect privacy, I share the following response.
––//––
I think the trap we tend to fall in circulates around the idea that correlation is causation, but it is not.
Yes, there are some valid instances in which correlated items are causative (for example, sexual intercourse and pregnancy), but there are other extenuating factors which must be considered. For example, fertility rates of males and females must be considered, as well as contraceptive use, spontaneous abortion (aka “miscarriage”), and other aspects associated with copulation. So, one size does not fit all.
For example, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in Prevalence of Drug Use in the General Population – National Data (2018), the United States has an opiate abuse rate of 1.04%, and is ranked 7th globally in that regard.
Kazakhstan has a very similar rate of 1.00%. Iran, however, leads the world with 3.31%, with Afghanistan in 2nd place with 2.65%, followed by Russia with 1.64%.
If we examined cannabis use the same way, Canada is in international 1st place with 32.7% annual prevalence, followed by Papua New Guinea with 29.5%, with Israel in 3rd place with 27.0%, then Palau with 24.2%, the Northern Mariana Islands with 22.2%, Ghana with 21.5%, Guam with 18.4%, Iceland with 18.3%, and then the United States with 16.2%.
Regarding the rates of opioid use/abuse in the United States, the article’s author, Alex Berenson, states that “And the United States, the Western country with the most cannabis use, also has by far the worst problem with opioids.” As we can see, Canada is the Western country with the greatest cannabis consumption rate, while their opioid use rate is 0.4%, and are ranked 38th globally in that regard.
Clearly, his statement is not correct, nor anywhere near accurate.
Now, if we stated that correlation was causation (which it is NOT), then we would expect to see a high rate of violent crimes in those nations – for opiate and cannabis use.
However… we do not.
And, if we considered murder as a violent crime (and it is, regardless of the means or method), the United States does NOT even appear in the Top 50 Nations per capita rate which for that category ranges from 61.8 to 9.29. Globally, the United States is ranked 89th of 230 nations for per capita murder rate.
In that regard, Kazakhstan is ranked 93rd, Iran is ranked 129th, Afghanistan is ranked 72nd, Papua New Guinea is ranked 64th, Russia 168th, Canada 91st, Guam 219th, Palau 223rd, Ghana 46th.
In fact, most all nations in the African continent – with ONE solitary exception, that being Saint Helena with a per capita homicide rate of 0.00% – have a homicide rate averaging 12.5%, while many Central and South American nations have a similarly high, or even greater rate.
The report “International Statistics on Crime and Justice” by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is referenced by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security of the Naval Postgraduate School in the Homeland Security Digital Library, and finds the “data unique and valuable.” The report itself states that “Results suggest that the highest homicide levels are found in Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, July 27, 2019
Mainstream media (MSM) has become more like a “reality” teevee show, than a trusted and reliable source of news. Ernie Pyle, Walter Cronkite, and Tim Russert, along with the spirit of “just the facts,” are dead.
For example, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller testified that, among other things, shortly after being elected, the President lied to the Special Prosecutor, and attempted to exert “undue influence” on Federal law enforcement, in order to protect himself and his allies.
Robert S. Mueller, III (b.1944), FBI Director 2001 – 2013
At any any other time, in any other administration, a decorated Marine officer, Special Prosecutor, and former FBI Director who testified that the President of the United States was a as-yet-unprosecuted Federal felon who encouraged and benefited from an attack upon American democracy in selfish pursuit of political gain would bring the nation to a screeching halt.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, January 16, 2019
NPR, along with a few other news reporting agencies, has today published a story detailing how the Sackler family – with an estimated net worth of $13 Billion and listed by Forbes as the 19th wealthiest family in the United States – whose privately-held Purdue Pharma falsified, neglected, and purposely withheld information, and aggressively peddled their habit-forming narcotic medication branded as “OxyContin” to physicians, hospitals, and medical colleges as an acceptable, even benign medication for pain relief, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Purdue Pharma President Richard Sackler, and wife Beverly are the biggest narco-traffickers in the United States.
In a 274 page filing, the Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, carefully detailed how the Sackler family carefully and deliberately manipulated, and crafted opportunities with Massachusetts’ legislators, regulators, and others, to sell increasing volumes of the narcotic medicine.
The documents state that in a 2-15-2011 email, after one week of prescriptions doubled the company’s profit forecasts, Richard Sackler wrote to the sales staff that “I had hoped for better results.”
But here’s where an otherwise LEGAL pharmaceutical firm became complicit with international narco-traffickers and street-level drug pushers, rapidly escalated America’s Opioid Crisis, and in the process became equals with terrorists like al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 7, 2019
The “Blame Game” is a popular political football not only in our nation’s capitol, but across the nation in statehouses. The “polarization” oft described by news outlets and “fake news” is a direct result of practices used by Republicans, which began in large part with Newt Gingrich.
You know, the Newt Gingrich who was the Georgia Republican having an extra-marital affair while trying to impeach then-President Clinton for a sexual tryst with White House Intern, Monica Lewinsky. Yes, the same Newt Gingrich who divorced his first wife (Jacqueline “Jackie” May Battley, who was his high school geometry teacher) while she lay in hospital recovering from cancer surgery while he was campaigning in hopes of becoming the GOP’s presidential nominee.
That’d be the same Newt Gingrich who next married a Congressional aide (28-year old Marianne Ginther) with whom he was philandering while married to his first wife Jackie, and asked her to marry him before having divorced his first wife, and then married Marianne a mere six months after divorcing Jackie, who also asked her (Marianne) if she would be interested in having an “open marriage” in which he could have a mistress and a wife.
And yes, it’s the same Newt Gingrich who in the exact same pattern, did the exact same thing when he married his third wife (Callista Bisek) by carrying on a six-year adulterous relationship with her, whom was also a Congressional aide, and then later moved to divorce his second wife Marianne after learning she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and the third wife whom Trump later named as Ambassador to the Holy See, as an ultimate insult, and slap in the face to the Pope, the Vatican, and all that the Church believes in, and stands for. It’d be like naming neo-Nazi/White Supremacist/Holocaust denier to be Ambassador to Israel, or an industrialist to be Secretary of the Interior, or a climate change denier to be administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Wait…
That Newt Gingrich.
The same Newt Gingrich who wrote the so-called “Contract with America” which was broken the first day Republicans took the oath of office following their win of the House and Senate – the first time since 1953 – even though they all signed vows that stated “If we break this Contract, throw us out.”
Yeah.
THAT Newt Gingrich.
Now, the Bully in Chief is blaming Democrats because he can’t get his way – which is BILLIONS MORE for a “concrete, rebar-reinforced wall,” which has since devolved into “steel slats,” or even less, a simple “barrier.” Notice how things are changing already? Next thing you know, it’ll be a row of concertina wire spooled across the 1954 miles of U.S./Mexico border.
Frankly, it’d probably be much cheaper, not only in the immediate term, but in the long term, as well. You see, one of the things that NO ONE – not even the Congressional Budget Office, nor the Government Accountability Office – has studied is “how much the upkeep of ‘the wall’ will cost American taxpayers.
But here’s an even more disconcerting thing: The ever-shifting comments of the Current White House Occupant on the matter, which have ranged from this comment from a campaign speech given Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at his Trump Tower office building in Manhattan:
“I would build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border, and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall.”
To one of his highnesses more recent Twitter rants which was:
“Mexico is paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal. Much of the Wall has already been fully renovated or built. We have done a lot of work. $5.6 Billion Dollars that House has approved is very little in comparison to the benefits of National Security. Quick payback!” January 2, 2019
Are you starting to see a pattern here?
Promises.
Lies.
Broken promises.
More lies.
Say anything to get elected, or if you prefer, to get into Lady Liberty’s & America’s pants. The net effect is the same.
Look, I’m no fan of either Gingrich or Trump as human beings, and I think that Trump is vastly out of his league in any government, much less at the Federal level, and as President. He’s told more brazen lies than almost anyone can remember, and has sown confusion in our nation, which is not only demoralizing domestically, but makes us look like buffoons in the eyes of our international allies, and enemies. But, to give credit where credit is due, I think Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Here’s some food for thoughtful consideration:
Alabama Governess Kay Ivey is now saying “Mayor Maddox’s campaign is trying to push this issue three weeks out from election day.”
–HOWEVER–
Alabama Political Reporter (APR) FIRST published that Spencer Collier, former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Secretary under former Governor Robert Bentley (whose wrongful termination suit against Bentley the state is still footing to defend Bentley) learned of Ivey’s hospitalization because of a State Trooper security escort team member’s honest reimbursement claims during an unexpected extended stay in Colorado.
Elected as Lt. Governor, Kay Ivey, a 74-year old life-long politician and Republican, was sworn into office as Governess April 10, 2017 following Governor Robert Bentley’s guilty plea bargain to misdemeanor campaign finance violations, in lieu of a possible trial amidst corruption allegations, including those of salacious sexual impropriety which led to his longtime spouse Diane’s divorce from him, which were also among numerous widely published accounts of his misbehavior in office. A concern over the condition of Ivey’s health continues to plague her candidacy for a full term after it was discovered she attempted to cover up a hospitalization in Colorado while attending an aerospace consortium in her official capacity as Lt. Gov. Her opponent is a healthy, well-loved, highly successful 45-year old three-time reelected Mayor of Tuscaloosa, Walt Maddox, a Democrat.
She’s denying it all, of course – at least to the extent she can – claiming that she had “altitude sickness.” {NOTE: Altitude Sickness (AS) doesn’t typically occur until elevations around 8,000 feet. Colorado Springs average elevation is about 6,000 feet. Physically fit people are more likely to experience AS because they exert themselves more. There’s not less oxygen at high elevation, there’s always about 21% oxygen in the air. The difference is because of reduced air pressure at altitude.}
She’s also saying things like: “My health is fine. I’ve never felt better. What’s the old saying? There’s never a step too high for a high stepper.” -and- “After lunch, I was presiding and got light-headed and whatever. So everybody said, ‘Oh you need to go get checked out. Well, that’s logical. So we did. So on Friday night and Saturday and I got out of the hospital on Sunday. They ran all kind of tests. And I’ve never had a stroke, not then, not since.” {NOTE: A stroke occurs when a blood vessel to the brain is either blocked (called an ischemic stroke), or bursts (called a hemorrhagic stroke), which prevents oxygen from reaching the brain, and damage begins within minutes. As a result, the parts of the body controlled by that part of the brain affected will not work properly.}
So, on one level, she’s almost sorta’ being kinda’ honest a little bit, but it’s actually more like a Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, April 14, 2018
In a direct blow to the firearm radicals (aka “gun nuts”) crowd’s assertions, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has shown that, contrary to what the tax-free National Rifle Association has publicly claimed, “of over 14,000 incidents in which the victim was present, 127 (0.9%) involved a SDGU.” (Self Defense Gun Use)
In other words,
“a good guy with a gun”
does NOT
lower nor reduce criminal activity.
What is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)?
The BJS writes this about the NCVS:
“The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the nation’s primary source of information on criminal victimization. Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 135,000 households, composed of nearly 225,000 persons, on the Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, November 18, 2017
Florence Police K-9 Officer Josh Hein (LEFT) with Titus, his dog, has a running suspect, Florence Police Officer Jason Hodges (RIGHT), taken down at their training center. TimesDaily photograph by Jim Hannon
This past Saturday, November 11, 2017, in Florence, Alabama, approximately an hour-and-a-half before the Alabama v Mississippi State football game, a 60-year old Florence city employee, Teresa “Terre” Ann Noland, was attacked and maliciously mauled by an escaped Florence Police K9, whose negligent handler Florence Police Officer Josh Hein allowed the vicious dog to escape.
The unprovoked attack happened at Ms. Noland’s residence after the escaped Florence Police K9 had jumped a fence and began prowling the neighborhood.
The negligent handler, Florence Police Officer Josh Hein, was oblivious to any of the events while he was comfortably seated inside a friend’s house with whom he was visiting. Hein had brought the vicious Florence Police German Shepherd K9 with him.
Ms. Noland, whose 80-year old mother lives with her, and for whom she is the solitary care-giver, had just arrived home from grocery shopping, and was unloading groceries from her car which was parked in the garage.
She noticed the escaped Florence Police K9 prowling on her property, and decided to check the mail, hoping that it would go away, which would allow her to shut the garage door, and go inside away from the vicious dog which was already sniffing, and menacing her.
As she turned to walk away, the escaped Florence Police K9 jumped toward her, forcefully and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021 NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download
Donald John Trump, elected November 2016, and inaugurated January 20th, 2017, is the 45th United States President. Official portrait
One might as well ask why a bird flies or sings.
Trump is a one-man show. He bullies others to get his way. He doesn’t know how to collaborate, or cooperate with others.
He’s also emotionally insecure, hence the sense of an inherent need to constantly obtain approval as evidenced by an inordinate desire to obtain adulation and adoration from media.
But, there’s more.
Why Trump Clings to Discredited Lies
by Donald V. Watkins
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Used with permission
Even though the FBI and all of America’s national security agencies have stated emphatically that there is no evidence that President Barrack Obama, or anyone else, wiretapped Trump Towers during or after the 2016 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump still claims his phones were tapped. Other than his Twitter rants about this wiretapping, Trump has offered no proof to validate his claim.
So why does Trump cling to this now discredited lie?
Based upon my observations of Trump over the past 20 months, I have notice several disturbing character traits that facilitate Trump’s ready ability to take a mental flight from reality and truth. These traits are scary and dangerous to the American people.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, March 6, 2017
Imagine, or pretend for a moment that you were President of the United States.
You would be literally be “the boss of” and have access to a vast trove of over 14 different American Intelligence & National Security agencies.
If so desired, you could watch video of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, see photographs of his corpse and burial at sea, and examine the report made of his DNA following his death and capture. By virtue of the Office of the President, there would be virtually nothing to which you would not entitled to know, or view in the agencies of the United States government. You would be able to see the code-named TOP SECRETS of our government. You would have full and unfettered access to the highest levels of secret information… including Nuclear Access Codes.
The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, State, and Justice, along with all their myriad divisions and offices – ALL Executive level agencies – which includes the FBI, US Marshals Service, Secret Service, DEA, ATF, Coast Guard, and more – would ALL be under your ultimate control, and you would be their Boss.
The CIA is an independent agency.
Because the FBI and the NSA are Executive level offices/agencies, it is NOT a stretch to imagine that the President ~COULD~ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 2, 2017
As part of the Confirmation process for Attorney General,
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) takes oath before his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in his Confirmation Hearing to be United States Attorney General.
in January, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked nominee Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for answers to written questions, one which was: “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?”
Sessions wrote a one-word response: “No.”
During the Confirmation Hearings before the Judiciary Committee on January 10, Minnesota Senator Al Franken (D) asked Senator Sessions, “If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?”
Senator Jeff Sessions stated, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Jeff Sessions: “I did not have communications with the Russians.” (C-SPAN)
Justice Department officials said that Sessions met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak: Privately on Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, February 16, 2017
Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, USA
Vice President Mike Pence, USA
Here’s how Trump rewards those who look out for our Nation’s Security.
REMEMBER:
Before Michael Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor…
Before the Inauguration, when Flynn was asked about his calls and texts with the Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, he lied to Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
A former administration official said the Justice Department warned the White House in January that Flynn had not been fully forthright about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, and because of that, the Justice Department feared that he could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., agreed with Acting Assistant Attorney General Sally Q. Yates that:
Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, Russian Ambassador to the United States
John O. Brennan, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, USA 3/8/13 – 1/20/17
1.) “Flynn had put himself in a compromising position”;
2.) Could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail;
3.) That he had been deliberately misleading about his interactions with Russia’s ambassador;
4.) That VP-elect Pence had a right to know that he had been misled, and;
5.) Recommended that POTUS Trump be warned.
Trump then fired Yates.
Flynn publicly stated that when he was Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he traveled to Moscow in 2013, and there met Kislyak, who continued to communicate with Flynn during, and after the Presidential campaign.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, January 12, 2017
Most would agree that Osama bin Laden is dead, that he was killed by a TOP SECRET CIA-led joint U.S. Military operation code-named Operation Neptune Spear, which was executed by the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group, aka DEVGRU, or commonly as SEAL Team Six.
DEVGRU and the Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), aka “Delta Force,” are the DOD’s elite counterterrorism task force units, both which operate under the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC).
Also involved in Operation Neptune Spear was the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) “Nightstalkers,” (SOAR(A)) from Ft. Campbell, KY, and the CIA’s Special Activities Division (SAD), the most secretive of all clandestine agencies, whose members – if compromised – are denied by the United States Government.
But it was the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group’s DEVGRU that was Operation Neptune Spear’s fatal piercing point for Osama bin Laden.
The general public has not ever seen images of Osama bin Laden’s corpse. Nor are they likely ever to see them. At least not in this lifetime.
In addition to President of the United States Barack Obama, one of the less-than-fifty-people who ever saw them was Republican Senator James Inhofe, who described in part what he saw to CNN: “One of the shots went through the ear and out through an eye socket, or through the eye socket and out through the ear and exploded, that was the kind of ordinance it was. That caused the brains to be hanging out of the eye socket. Absolutely no question about it. A lot of people out there say: ‘I want to see the pictures,’ but I’ve already seen them. That was him. He’s gone. He’s history.”
President Obama, who ordered the mission, said in part to CBS News that, “Keep in mind that we are absolutely certain this was him. We’ve done DNA sampling and testing. And so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden. It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence. As a propaganda tool.”
Following President Obama’s White House announcement May 2, 2011 that bin Laden had been killed, speculation quickly arose that the death was falsified, that it – like some imagine the Moon Landing – was somehow “faked.”
Lack of publicly available images and details on the TOP SECRET Operation Neptune Spear only fueled specious speculation which, like wildfire, spread throughout the tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy community.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, October 18, 2016
By many accounts, the 2016 Presidential Election year is a complete campaign in the ass. Two deeply flawed candidates manipulated and exposed deeply flawed processes in both major political parties, not the least of which is for the GOP, how to vet their candidates more thoroughly, and have the ability to remove them from official party candidacy, and for the Democrats, how to maintain candidate neutrality, and prevent party officials from influencing candidates of the top officials’ choosing toward nomination. I predict many much-needed changes on the horizon for both parties… following the November General Election.
WARNING: This is a long post. It is also my final political post before the election.
I am not an editorial writer but today I am going to play one on Facebook. First, let me say, everyone is welcome to comment; however, if your comment uses foul language or is abusive to anyone else, your comment will be deleted. One of the great problems we have today is our lack of ability to disagree and still have civil discourse; therefore, we will practice it or be censured. Keep in mind, this is my opinion and you do not have to agree with it. Thank your First Amendment rights for that.
By now, we all know this presidential election cycle has presented us with the two poorest candidates in memory, perhaps in all of American history. Certainly there have been poor candidates running for one party or the other throughout our history but not facing one another in the same election.
They have turned the presidential debates into bad Saturday Night Live skits. In fact, I doubt the writers of SNL would have been able to dream up anything this hideous. The American political scene will never be the same and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, April 11, 2016
—UPDATED 13 April 2016 to add helicopter/wallet detail.—
Alabama Governor Bentley used numerous state aircraft several hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of times, including ones registered to, or leased by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and Alabama Department of Transportation – not just the governor’s “official” craft, and used state money to pay for even more charters with numerous other private firms.
In fact, since the day of his initial inauguration, he and former wife Dianne flew 749 times – more than TWICE as much as former Governor Fob James.
The number of aircraft flights taken by former Alabama First Lady Dianne Bentley, and paramour Rebeka Caldwell Mason are telling.
The destinations and purposes for many, if not most, of the trips – including ones he made for campaigning – were purposely vaguely listed to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 15, 2015
Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021 NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download
Alabama Governor Bentley with paramour/ Rebekah Caldwell Mason, Communications Director cum Senior Political Advisor
by Donald V. Watkins
Published via Facebook Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Used with permission
Once again, Governor Robert Bentley has hoodwinked Yellowhammer News and AL.com. This time, Bentley has deceived these two news organizations by providing them with a handful of sanitized text messages between Rebekah Caldwell Mason and himself in response to their separate Open Records requests for emails and text messages between the two lovers.
Like former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Bentley withheld the more embarrassing text messages about his illicit love affair with Rebekah from public disclosure. Of particular significance are the text messages where Bentley describes his true love for Rebekah, including a text message Bentley thought he was sending to Rebekah that he mistakenly sent to his former wife Dianne instead.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, May 29, 2015
To The Reader:
If you are not a regular follower of Alabama politics, some, or perhaps most, of the items mentioned herein may very well be alien to you. Yet even if you are – even to a small extent – an adherent of the same, it very well may still be strange to you. It’s strange to most… save for those who wallow in such mire, namely, the Alabama Legislature and politicians in Alabama.
What I write herein this blog, and this entry in particular, contains fact, and opinion. It’s difficult to NOT have opinion when faced with facts… particularly when innocent lives are at stake. And innocent lives ARE at stake in Alabama.
I ask your indulgence.
From Day One of his first term in office (January 17, 2010) Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s administration has been pockmarked with allegations of corruption, wrong-doing, violations of Federal Law, incompetence, lies, thefts, and deceptions.
I have written and opined about Governor Bentley’s bald-faced lies from his first campaign for governor (Alabama Governor Bentley Broke 20 Promises From 2010 Campaign), and his propensities and predilections toward falsehoods are well-documented in other news media from his campaign for a second term as governor, and after his re-election.
The DOJ sent Governor Bentley a 36-page “love letter” dated January 17, 2014 which was entitled Investigation of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and Notice of Expanded Investigation in which they detailed numerous counts of prisoner abuse, sexual abuse of prisoners, criminal activity by guards upon inmates, and other horrific crimes against humanity.
Only today, Governor Bentley crowed about reaching a 65+ page Settlement Agreement with the DOJ in which ADOC and the State of Alabama promised to “implement all policies and procedures required by the agreement within nine months of the effective date of the Agreement,” and which “will terminate when Defendants have achieved substantial compliance with each provision of the Agreement, and have maintained substantial compliance for three consecutive Court-filed compliance reports.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, October 13, 2014
Robert Bentley, MD will say ANYTHING to get elected. In fact, he did. Is there any reason to believe he won’t do it again? He had no intention of fulfilling any of those promises. And that, my friends, is the definition of a sociopathic liar. Sociopathic Liars are defined as someone who lies continuously in an attempt to get their own way, without showing care or concern for others. These individuals are goal-oriented. Even though it might seem hard to believe, lying is focused – they are focused on getting their own way. Sociopaths don’t have a lot of respect or regard for the feelings and rights of others. They tend to be charismatic and charming, but they will use their exceptional social skills in a self-centered and manipulative manner.
Having met with Alabama Governor Bentley a couple times, I can attest that he came across to me as a “nice guy,” a decent human being.
However – and to be absolutely certain – when I refer to Robert Bentley, or Governor Bentley, I mean to refer to him as an elected political figure, nothing more. And in that sense, as a legislator from Tuscaloosa, he was an inept, do-nothing, milquetoast, mamby-pamby, clueless, bumbling, cowardly, lazy, yellow-bellied, gutless, craven, unimaginative, clueless, pedestrian, hackneyed, lame and feeble Representative.
As Governor, he has given Alabama all that, and more… in spades!
As an elected official, Governor Bentley is a liar, and there are LITERALLY 15-20 broken promises he made while in the 2010 campaign that were very likely the hopes upon which Alabamians hung their hat, and ideas for which they cast their vote. His Democratic contender – Ron Sparks – was a man who, as Secretary of Agriculture and Industries, had his finger on the economic pulse of the state of Alabama. Ron was the man whom opened doors of market opportunity for Alabama’s farmers to sell poultry in foreign markets. Ron regularly communicated with the captains of industry in Alabama, as well the numerous entrepreneurs, small businesses owners, and Mom & Pop shops, which are the lifeblood of any economy.
Bentley’s campaign is nothing more one Broken Promise after another. It is a history of lies, infidelity, and willful deception. To characterize his administration as duplicitous would be generously diplomatic. To say it has been treacherously fraudulent would be more accurate.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, August 27, 2011
Updated October 27, 2012 – Readers should be aware there is now two years of data. The original story was published in 2011, and the three new stories added are from 2012, and show similar data – that being, that the cost of the program to mandate drug testing for all public assistance recipients in Florida – is unproductive and wasteful, and costs more in tax dollars and time wasted than it purports to save.
—
Dedicated to everyone who believes that merely because some people need a helping hand that they’re automatically suspect.
The line of thinking on drug testing goes like this: A.) The exceeding majority of public assistance recipients are lazy, good-for-nothing drug abusers, so B.) Taking them off the dole will save hundreds of thousands – if not tens of millions of dollars, so C.) Make them pay up front to defend themselves against the blanket accusation, and reimburse them if they don’t “come up dirty.”
Turns out, however, that only a measly 2% of recipients have been positive. In other words, the vast and exceeding majority of public assistance recipients – 98% – are law-abiding, non-drug abusing citizens.
What does that mean for the good, hard-working, tax-paying people of Florida? Why, they’re on the hook to cough up some reimbursement money to the folks that paid up front to be tested. And at $43,200/month, that’s over $518,000/year. Not exactly chump change – especially in tough economic times.
Warm Southern Breeze 