Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Rahm E. = dumbest man on the planet!

Rahm Emanuel has to be the dumbest man on the planet.

The Chicago Tribune says mayor Emanuel said, "gun laws must reflect the values of the people."

No, you jerk.

Let me tell you what will stop the violence in Chicago in one week.

Start with the worst block in Chicago. Allow law-abiding citizens to patrol the streets and support the cops. Let the citizens - white, black, brown, yellow, red - carry their firearms concealed and openly. Line up your idiot Illinois Democratic Representatives and Senators and tell them that the violence must be gotten under control. Admit that you can't do it and that your police chief and the Chicago Police officers cannot do it.

Let half a dozen armed men stand in mid-block and another half a dozen at each end of the block. When the shooters drive by, let everybody unload on them.

Know how long it will take for word to get around Chicago that it's no longer safe to do drive-by shootings? About 48 hours.

For the slow learners, it will take a couple of more days.

I am sick of reading about the men, women and children being slaughtered in Chicago. And the Tribune wants me to pay to read most of its crime articles. Sorry, not worth it. The Tribune should make the crime articles free to read.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

25 years ago Trump said ...


A friend in Colorado sent me this link to an interview by Oprah with Donald Trump - 25 years ago.

There are still those, including the media, who think Trump's bid is a joke. I don't. It's time for America to stand up and put a straight-talking man in the White House.

Trump is the front-runner. Carly will disintegrate under pressure.

Obama has been the joke - and a disaster for the USA. 

And Clinton? Who wants a deceitful, lying president? I mean, after the one we're stuck with until 2017.



Saturday, September 26, 2015

State's Attorney purpose - justice or Win?

As I think about the operations of the office of the McHenry County State's Attorney office, I wonder if the public really understands what has been happening in McHenry County.

Is the purpose of the State's Attorney office to see that "justice" is done? Or just to have another Win chalked up on the scoreboard in the lunchroom?

Several cases come to mind, the most recent being the efforts of the State's Attorney office to crucify Mario Casciaro. They lost two rounds and then went for a third. They won that one - temporarily. Now that conviction has been over-turned.

Another case that comes to mind is the Gary Gauger case. If you haven't read Gary's book, pick up a copy of In Spite of the System: A Personal Story of Wrongful Conviction & Exoneration, by Gary Gauger and Julie von Bergen. (Amazon will be notified to correct the title.)

And still another story that comes to mind is the senseless prosecution of a Harvard man who killed a vicious dog that was attacking him on his own rural property. The State's Attorney's office won that one by "selling" an ignorant jury and "humanizing" the dog. It seems the homeowner could have used deadly force against a human being attacking him, but you can't use deadly force against a vicious guard dog that is loose and roaming off its own property. That homeowner never should have been charged in the first place. I've always wondered whether there was a personal vendetta against him prior to the shooting.

If you want to see the State's Attorney office at work, drop by a McHenry County courtroom and watch the dog-and-pony show. Watch for "huffing and puffing out of chests" and flamboyant gestures (and senseless wording). All that does influence a jury, even though the jury is warned (informed) that statements of the attorneys are not evidence and are to be disregarded.

This is why a jury trial in McHenry County is a high-risk venture for a defendant. It's going to come down to which side has the better "salesmen". I have thought for many years that you are much better off with a bench trial, as long as you don't get one of the current "wrong" judges (who should have retired years ago).

Want to read another great book?

Read Justice Overruled: Unmasking the Criminal Justice System, by former California prosecutor and former judge Burton S. Katz. He'll tell you about "testilying" and other tricks used to win convictions.

Crystal Lake.HS stadium to come down

Anyone with half a brain knew that the erection of the new stands of a Crystal Lake High School was wrong.

Yet the school district attempted to snub the neighbors, the City of Crystal Lake, McHenry County and the courts.

The School Board and its attorneys should be held personally liable for the waste of taxpayer dollars and for the loss of trust placed in them. The names of all who supported that stupid fiasco should be publicized, along with their comments - immortalized for all to see easily who they are and what they said.

Anyone, everyone, in public office who supported the School District in its blunder should be removed from office or, if they stick around to the ends of their terms, not re-elected.

Look at the dumb comment of the Board president, as quoted in First ElectricNewspaper: "D155 Board President Ted Wagner in a statement. 'Community High School District 155 followed the required Illinois School Code process, and obtained all required permits from the Regional County Superintendent...' "

Well, Wagner should have known that she (Leslie Schermerhorn, Regional Superintendent of the McHenry County Regional Office of Education) did not have the final say. Sure, she could issue her permit, and the Board had to know it needed approval from the City of Crystal Lake. Wouldn't it be interesting to know the content of all discussions by the Board and who, if any, of the members brought up the interest of the City.

How many millions of dollars were wasted by that School District's decision?

And how did the stands ever get fully erected without a construction Stop Order a long time ago???

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Kerry: 85,000 refugees in 2016!

What the heck is wrong with John Kerry and Barack Obama??? Allowing 85,000 refugees into the U.S. in 2016? Are they crazy?

Obama needs to be removed from office immediately, and take with him Kerry and all the other Obama appointments to key administrative positions. They are ruining the U.S.A.

Aren't they watching what is going on in Europe? Aren't they paying attention to which countries are NOT accepting refugees?

Friday, September 18, 2015

Talking heads going crazy today

I made the mistake of tuning my car radio to CNN after 5:00PM today, while I was sitting in traffic. Big mistake.

The talking heads at CNN (Wolf (what kind of name is that?) Blitzer and his all-important "Situation Room") were frantic at not being able to pry information out of Donald Trump's "people" about his business reason for blowing off the Greenville, S.C. (only 112 miles from home) showcase today. They say he had an important business deal.

Well, good for Trump for taking care of business. Unlike the others who have jobs and are drawing pay, yet are out on the stump.

When you listen to the talking heads on radio, especially the women reporters who can talk for five minutes without ever taking a breath AND say nothing at all, you have to wonder how they got their jobs in the first place and how they keep them.

The media are afraid of Trump. They are afraid of his standings in the polls. So they belittle him.

The reporters think they are the story, as they attempt to sound so all-important.

Pass the barf bag, please.

As for Wednesday night's debate, the media are all hot for Carly. Lots of praise for all, all falsely given. She displays no personal power at all. Can you imagine her as POTUS? No foreign leader would give her the time-of-day. She is unbelievable - that's un-believable.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

How to get invited to the White House

We see another stupid, pandering move by Barack Obama in the invitation to the Texas student who made a clock and took it to school. Why in the world would he be invited to the White House?

"Oh, wait," you say? His name is Ahmed Mohamed.

Suppose Joe Doakes had built a clock and taken it to school. Think he'd get national news and a White House invitation?

Ahmed's teacher was not wrong to be suspicious. The clock could have been a bomb. OK, so you call the cops. They dismantle it and find out it's a clock, like the student said. End of story.

Ahmed's detention, arrest, processing were all wrong. But it's not national news or worthy of White House attention.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Role of deputy county clerk

With all the snarl in Kentucky over the County Clerk who went to jail, rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, readers should be asking questions about the role and authority of Deputy County Clerks everywhere.

Are the Governor, Attorney General and County Attorney in Kentucky wrong in saying that licenses issued by deputy county clerks are, in this case, valid?

If Kim Davis will not approve the issuance by her deputies, isn't any issuance by them really invalid, as claimed by her attorneys? Can the governor, attorney general and county attorney disregard the law, which might say that a County Clerk must approve or delegate such authority to her deputies?

Kim Davis is allowing her religious beliefs to interfere with the functioning of her office as an elected official. She certainly is entitled to her beliefs but, if she can't or won't do her job, then she should resign.

I'll side with her attorneys.

How would this be resolved in Illinois? If the County Clerk does not delegate (or, specifically, refuses to delegate) authority to the deputy clerks, can they act? Or would they be acting outside the scope of their authorization, thereby placing themselves in violation of the law and subject to prosecution?

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Car dealerships? Caveat Emptor!

There is no place that "caveat emptor" applies more than at a car dealership. Why do you think those salesmen are so nice and friendly (in front of the customer)? They have x-ray vision and they are about to get in your back pocket, where your wallet is.

When an impressionable young person (or even older person) enters a car dealership alone, without understanding the "game", it's like going out on the playing field thinking you are about to play badminton, and then finding out the game is rugby.

I sold car for two months in Denver in the mid-1980s. It was the worst two months of my life. I had met the owner of the Nissan dealership in Littleton, Colo., and he encouraged me toward car sales. By the time I went to work there, he had sold it to new owners.

What was the philosophy of the new ownership? Everybody is a buyer! And if we didn't sell them a car that day, somebody else would. They knew that, if a prospect left without buying, he would buy somewhere else. The prospect would never "be back".

One day a young, poor couple had a flat tire in their old pick-up truck. They had no spare and no money for a service call. All they wanted to do was use the phone to call a friend. The sales manager insisted that I sell them a new truck. I remember saying, "Look at them. They don't even have money for a spare tire; how can they afford payments on a new truck?" I refused to try to sell them.

He took over and started grinding away. Sure enough, they left in a new truck. And three days later, the truck was back on the lot. Their financing was rejected (of course).

Which brings me to one of Crystal Lake's largest dealerships ...

When a prospect has no money and cannot even meet his basic, small living expenses on a disability check, what honest car salesman and finance manager would sell him a new car?

And what finance manager would tell him that, since his credit application for a loan to purchase a new car was not approved, he could lease a new car?

Did they ask about driving habits? You do know about the cost-per-mile factor, if you exceed the mileage limit in a lease? How about $0.15/mile for each mile over 36,000 in three years?

This person drives about 3,000 miles a month. In three years, that will be 108,000 miles. He'll be 72,000 miles over his lease. At $0.15/mile, he will owe $10,800 when he turns the car in.

Think they explained that? That's an average over-mileage expense of $300/month. Add that to the payment he can't afford, and he could have purchased the car, rather than leasing it.

And did they ask him how he planned to make a car payment, since he was well into the red on his budget every month before adding in a car payment and insurance?

If there is one buyer out there who got treated this way, how many others are there?

If you have a horror story about buying a car in Crystal Lake, let me know.

Before you ever go to a car dealership, make a decision about whether you are going to buy a car while you are there. If you are not, take someone with you who will drag you away, when they offer a "deal you can't refuse". Leave your wallet, credit card, checks, ballpoint pen at home. Put boxing gloves on your hands, so you can't even hold a pen. If you aren't going to consider buying that day, practice saying "No". You don't even have to give a reason, which will just give a salesman some hook on which to hang his hat. Say "NO".

Thursday, September 3, 2015

RNC pledge demands show fear

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is apparently is demanding that GOP candidates for President (and maybe other offices) agree not to run as third-party candidates. It shows the fear that Donald Trump has real power in front of the voters. He won't kowtow to the RNC.

Ha-ha-ha. What a joke the RNC is!

I've got news for the RNC. "You don't run this country." The People do (or, at least, they are supposed to.)

My dad used to say that he would always vote for the best man, as long as he was a Republican. If he were alive today (he was born in 1900), I don't think he'd still be saying that.

Most Republican politicians are not deserving of the formerly-respected label of "politician". And nothing good can be said of most Democratic politicians.

I don't even care if Donald Trump is polite when he tells the RNC to stick it.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Take a pass on Honolulu

Any law-abiding citizen, whether gun owner or not, should be outraged at the $575,000 destroyed by the City of Honolulu.

Yes, $575,000 tossed overboard. How?

Rather than auctioning off $575,000 worth of used and new Police Department firearms, Honolulu opted to destroy them.

The reason? The stupid mayor is afraid they would "end up on the streets".

Read this article.

Is there a law against wasting public assets? You betcha.

Should the mayor be charged? Should he be recalled? Should he be prosecuted, convicted and jailed?

Want to write to him? Mayor Kirk Caldwell: mayor@honolulu.gov

The article says the Police Department agreed. Well, duhhh..... Guess the police chief wanted to keep his job a little longer!

If Honolulu doesn't need its own money, it surely doesn't need yours. Go elsewhere.