Category: Uncategorized

On Sundays I like to praise to individuals who go above and beyond what would ordinarily be expected. Deputy Anthony Bussell is such an individual..

In the United States, if you apply for any law enforcement job, there’s always a question,” Deputy Bussell told us, adding what that is, “Why do you want to be a police officer?”

“It’s kind of cliché, but it’s to help the community,” he said.

From Epoch Bright:

Deputy Anthony Bussell isn’t used to seeing the young male motorists he pulls over on the roadside break down in tears.

Upon seeing exactly this at 3:30 a.m. during a traffic stop south of Kansas City last month, he was more than ready to lend a shoulder to cry on.

Through tears, a young man wearing a white ball cap in the car driver’s seat asked, “Can I have a hug?”

The request for a hug was granted by the man in uniform, who has served in law enforcement for 23 years. His unhesitant reply to the young man’s asking for a hug was, “Sure, yeah.”

So the deputy gave him one.

Everybody’s got hard times, no matter who you are, Deputy Bussell said. The officer tried to make someone’s worst day his best.

The traffic stop was on a country road, on 199 Street, just off Homestead Lane in Johnson County. The young male driver allegedly had been doing 70 miles (112 kilometers) per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone.

Did he still get a ticket in the end? You bet. “Actions have consequences,” Deputy Bussell said. “The rural area that in Johnson County that we’re at is a two-lane road.

“There could have been a deer, there could have been another car with a family that you could have hit.”

So here Officer Anthony Bussell helped the community in two different ways. He did his duty by patrolling 119 Street and ticketing a speeding motorist. He also went out of his way by showing empathy to the distressed crying young man by giving him the wanted hug.

9/17/23

It seems more and more to me that the teacher’s unions are grasping at straws, trying to keep themselves relevant, as school choice becomes a bigger and bigger issue. Everyone knows the biggest drawback to parents sending their children to a school of their own personal choice is cost. The more affluent can send their kids to whatever school they choose, whereas the less affluent essentially cannot because they cannot afford it.

During Covid, before Covid, and now after Covid, the policies of the teachers’ unions has done more harm to the less affluent than to any other group. Which group of students are the furthest behind because of the policies of the American Federation of Teachers and its president, President Randi Weingarten, who likened parental rights and school choice advocates to segregationists: She says the words “choice” and “parental rights” are the same kind of words that were used in reaction to school desegregation by opponents of the Brown v. Board of Education decision (X).

Randi Weingarten, have you no shame!

CNN hostess Abby Phillip called out the head of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) over the revelation that she sends her son to a private Catholic school. Stacy Davis Gates has harshly criticized school choice as racist and hateful. Phillip asked her: “Do you think your rhetoric, at some point, went too far when you are making a choice – because perhaps I assume you can afford to do that – that a lot of Chicago parents don’t because they can’t afford it?” 

As expected Stacy Davis Gates danced around the issue, and did not answer the question. 

Stacy Davis Gates, have you no shame!

Similarly … CV NEWS FEED // A new report exposed backroom deals that gave Louisiana’s unionized public school teachers access to school choice for their children – despite teachers unions’ hardline opposition to school choice for families in the general public.

Louisiana’s unionized public school teachers, have you no shame!

9/16/23

If you have a spare minute, stop and ask yourself why is the Biden administration pushing to ease marijuana restrictions. I have written many times that I am against marijuana legalization as long as there is no test to document whether or not someone is “driving under the influence of marijuana.” If one is driving under the influence of alcohol a breathalyzer will detect that, however because marijuana stays in the tissues for a long time, there is no test that can determine whether or not the reckless driver just smoked a joint before stepping behind the wheel.

My feelings about legalization were fixed before I listened to Dr. Raymond Wiggins speak about the physical and psychological side effects of marijuana usage.

Marijuana is the #1 drug detected in toxicology screens in suicides. Coincidence? I don’t think so, as there is increased anxiety, increased depression, increased violence, and increased bipolar disorders in marijuana users. Similarly if one starts using marijuana prior to the age of eighteen, there is a two & one-half risk of developing schizophrenia.

With these very significant increases in mental illness with marijuana use, I have to ask why the Biden administration wants to ease restrictions on its use. Hmmm!

At present it is estimated that one in six Americans have tried this drug. This is of significance because the risk of a heart attack is increased significantly (4.8x) in the hour after smoking marijuana, and this risk continues (1.7x) for an additional hour. Similarly the risk of a heart attack (>2+ risk) continues for up to three years after using marijuana.

Knowing this increased cardiac risk with marijuana, I again have to wonder why the Biden administration is pushing to ease marijuana restrictions. 

The only answer that I can come up with is as to why JB wants to ease restrictions on its use, is that he probably figures that it is easier to control the population if they are stoned!

9/15/23

 AB stands for Assembly Bill, and in reality this means that it was passed by the California legislature. Those of us who live in California know that the California legislature is overwhelmingly liberal, and part of being a staunch liberal is never to have to say that you are sorry.

From the Liberty Justice Center:

“Assembly Bill 2098, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 30, 2022, authorizes the Medical Board of California to sanction and even revoke the licenses of doctors. Specifically, this affects doctors who share information about COVID-19 that is not consistent with what the Medical Board deems to be the official “scientific consensus.”

Under the terms of this law, California’s Medical Board was authorized to punish doctors who shared COVID-19 “misinformation” with their patients. The law defines ‘misinformation” as anything that “is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus.’

The goal of California’s AB 2098 law was to chill free speech, specifically, the views of any doctors whose assessment of available medical facts differed from the State of California.

What makes AB 2098 even more incredulous is the composition of the California Medical Board. Not all Board members are doctors, or even hold a medical degree. The Board President, for instance, is a lawyer.

So in the eyes of the astute California legislature … take decision making and free speech out of the hands of the doctors who are actually caring for patients, and instead put it solely in the hands of bureaucrats, many of whom are not physicians. 

Think about that for a short minute. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would concur that this is not only blatantly wrong, but also likely unconstitutional.

From C&C:

“A few days ago, California bill SB815 was sneakily amended to include a provision to repeal AB2098, the state’s currently-enjoined doctor censorship law. Everything you need to know is in the LA Times’s description of that law as ‘a well-intentioned  poorly worded and ultimately doomed effort to curb the most flagrant cases of COVID-related falsehoods by people wielding medical licenses.’

The LA Times reported there are four separate pending lawsuits attacking AB 2098. The state clearly doesn’t like its chances of winning, especially since one group of plaintiffs has already obtained a preliminary injunction against the unconstitutional law. Judge William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that the law’s ‘unclear phrasing and structure’ could have a ‘chilling effect,’ and even called the law ‘grammatically incoherent.’”

So, in essence, instead of the California legislature saying “we were horribly wrong on AB2098,” they just quietly sneak its repeal into something else, hoping that the unsuspecting voters will not notice. 

FYI: Here in California, they probably will not notice! 

Also worth noting is the fact that a potential future Democratic presidential candidate signed the “grammatically incoherent” AB2098 into law.

9/14/23

President Biden may be a lot of things, but “empathy” is not in his bailiwick. In fact lack of “empathy” may be a good description of his basic personality. Somehow when the situation calls for empathy and understanding, Joe Biden is the antithesis of both. This has happened so often that now even KJP does not try to spin his lack of feeling. I recognize that some of you do not like President Trump, but one thing on which everyone must agree is that on innumerable occasions, President Trump displayed Empathy.

On 9/11/2023, JB not make it to one of the three sacred 9/11 sites. He was the first President to not do that in 22 years. To make it worse on the day which should be a solemn day for all of us, Joe Biden again tried to make himself the center of attention, when he spoke in Anchorage, Alaska on 9/11/23. Here he described how difficult it was for him to be at ground zero the following day, 9/12/01. The problem here … it was a lie! He was in Washington on 9/12/2001. Note to JB: “Empathy does not start with I!”

This sort of self-aggrandizement is very reminiscent of his odd self-centered speech during his token appearance in Lahaina, after the disastrous fire. Not only did he attempt to tell jokes, (totally disgraceful in that situation), but he then attempted to shift the focus to himself with the story of his kitchen fire. Note to JB: “Empathy does not start with I!”

His lack of feeling was again exemplified when he greeted a Gold Star mother after he son was killed in Biden’s disastrous pulling out of Afghanistan. Here he commented to the distraught woman that he and Jill understood how she felt, as his son, Beau, was brought home in a similar coffin. Here also, that was a lie, as Beau died from a malignant brain tumor. JB inserting himself inappropriately into someone else’s tragedy seems to be his modus operandi! Note to JB: “Empathy does not start with I!”

9/13/23

Dalbir Bala, who lives in the Winnipeg area of Canada, wanted an environmentally friendly vehicle as owning one is “responsible citizenship these days.”

From Yahoo/Finance:

He bought a Ford F-150 Lightning EV in January, 2022, for $115,000 Canadian dollars (around $85,000 U.S. dollars), plus tax. Ford said the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) on the vehicle is $77,495 U.S. dollars.

The vehicle compelled him to install two chargers – one at work and one at home – for $10,000. To accommodate the charger, he had to upgrade his home’s electric panel for $6,000.

In all, Bala spent more than $130,000 – plus tax.

Not long after the purchase, Bala got into a minor accident which, he said, required “light assembly” on the front bumper. Bala took the vehicle to the body shop and did not get it back for six months. He said no one from Ford answered his email or phone calls for help.

The limitations of the EV truck became even more apparent when Bala embarked on a chaotic 1,400-mile road trip to Chicago.

Fast charging stations – which only charge EV’s up to 90% – cost more than gas for the same mileage. On the family’s first stop in Fargo, North Dakota, it took two hours and $56 to charge his vehicle from 10% to 90%. The charge was good for another 215 miles.

On the second stop, in Albertville, Minnesota, the free charger was faulty and the phone number on the charging station was of no help, he said. The family drove to another charging station in Elk River, Minnesota, but the charger was faulty there as well.

“This sheer helplessness was mind-boggling,” Bala wrote in an online post. “My kids and wife were really worried and stressed at this point.”

There were no other fast charging stations within range of Elk River and his vehicle only had 12 miles left.

Bala ultimately had the vehicle towed to a Ford dealership in Elk River and rented a regular gasoline-powered vehicle to complete the family’s trip to Chicago. The family picked up the F-150 Lightning on their way back to Winnipeg.

Remember this nightmare started because Dalbir Bala wanted an environmentally friendly vehicle as owning one is “responsible citizenship these days.”

Bala’s closing comment, “I can only drive in city – biggest scam of modern times.”

9/12/23

Last week I read something that was very unusual for two different reasons. First it was totally nonsensical, and second it occurred in Alabama.

The headline from BlazeMedia:

“School suspends first-grader for pretending fingers were a gun during game of cops and robbers.”

“A school in Alabama suspended a first-grader for pretending his fingers were a gun during a game of cops and robbers with another student, according to reports.

Jarrod Belcher said his six-year-old son was suspended from Bagley Elementary School in Jefferson County, Alabama. The first-grade student was reportedly suspended for using his “index fingers as a gun” while playing a game of cops and robbers with another boy at school.”

I would think that those who work in an elementary school would be cognizant of the fact that six year olds have only a rudimentary concept of right vs. wrong. Even if we stretch the limit of rational thinking, pretending that your fingers are a gun while playing cops-and-robbers, is not a reason for school suspension.  A reasonable person might caution  first grader that playing with guns can be dangerous, but suspension … totally ludicrous!

The father, Jarrod Belcher  told WBRC, “I asked her, I said, ‘Well did he threaten anyone?’ ‘No.’ ‘Was there violence?’ ‘No.’ ‘Was there any indication of a current or future threat?’ ‘No.’ ‘I said, ‘Well this kind of seems benign to me, it sounds like two students playing,’ and she said it was but in this climate, this day and age, we have to take all incidents very seriously.”

Now keep in mind that this is a school administrator. This nincompoop is someone that we, as citizens, have put in charge of our children. To make this even more nonsensical is that this occurred in Alabama, where I have thought that old fashion common sense was prevalent. If this had occurred in California or in Portland I probably would have thought, “what would you expect from these liberal yahoos.”

What makes this entire senselessness even worse is that the other boy playing cops and robbers was also suspended, according to reports. Did the second little guy pretend that he had been shot? … or did he pretend bullet missed?

The school claimed that the “shooter” boy committed a “3.22 Threat” violation, which the Student and Parent Handbook for Bagley Elementary defined as making a threat or intimidation of another student.

Fox News reported, “Potential violations include ‘A threat to do serious bodily harm or violence to another student by word or act, cyberbullying, or intimidation that may induce fear into another.'”

In my book this is not a “3.22 Threat,” but this is called  “playing!” Perhaps if we had more children outside playing, we would engender more common sense in school administrators … not only in Alabama, but also even potentially in California and Portland!

9/11/23

On Sundays I pay tribute to individual who go the extra mile to help others. Elliot Middleton is such an individual.

Most of the following is from an article from Red State.

Here is the background.

Middleton’s father, Kevin Wayne Middleton Sr., was a gifted mechanic who taught Middleton everything he knew about automobiles and how to repair them. In 2004, the father and son started their own mechanic business and ran it together for 10 years. In 2014, Middleton decided to start a food truck, which was the genesis of Middleton’s Village BBQ in 

Along with converting the restaurant into a drive-thru and pickup to keep his fledgling business alive during the pandemic closures, Middleton began fixing and restoring cars, not just as therapy, but as a way to maintain a connection to his father.

Middleton said the idea to gift vehicles to people in need came to him in November 2019, when he organized a food drive to distribute 250 boxes of his barbeque.

When he ran out of boxes, he walked outside to see how many people were still waiting for food and saw a line two blocks long.

“That’s when I noticed most of those people just started walking back to the other side of town,” he said. “I caught up with some of them and found out they had walked three or four miles to get there to receive food, but couldn’t make it in time because they had no cars and they had to walk. I was very distraught to see that.”

“That was the turning point in my life when I made the decision to actively give my time and skills to give back to my community.”

For years now in his spare time, Middleton, the owner of Middleton’s Village BBQ in rural Awendaw, South Carolina, fixes up donated junkers to gift them to community members in need. Public transportation options are meager in the small coastal town, so having a car is essential.

“You don’t have a car; you don’t have a career. How will people who have no reliable buses, no Ubers, travel to the city, where they would be able to find bigger jobs at the port authorities or manufacturing centers?” Eliot told CNN. “They can’t walk 40, 50, 60 miles to great jobs— they have to settle for small-end jobs that pay well below what they need to survive.”

“Giving someone a car can change all that, and it does change all that,” he added. “I want to help everybody looking to better themselves when transportation is what’s holding them back.”

The above articles were written years ago. Since then Middleton is still going strong with his restaurant and his charitable mission. Thanks to these articles and other news outlets covering his generosity, Middleton’s barbecue business has been booming with customers, and people from around the nation and the world have reached out to donate vehicles or provide other resources to Middleton’s work. Middleton and his wife Desiree created the Middleton Village to Village Foundation to handle the donations and their recipients. As of late August, Village to Village has restored and given away its 98th car!

9/10/23

I just read something about Shivanthi Sathanandan. How many of you are familiar with this young woman? My guess would be that close to nobody would be cognizant of who she is, unless perhaps you happen to live in Minnesota. If your main source of news is the main stream media, then I would fell confident that you have not read about her lately. She is the DFL’s (Democrat Farm-Labor party) second vice chair, who was adamantly anti-police.

From C&C:

“Back on June 5th, 2020, a few days after George Floyd died on May 25th, 2020, Sathanandan posted “We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis police department.” Along with others, over the next three years Chairwoman Shivanthi would help defenestrate the Minneapolis police department.

As of this June, the Minneapolis Police Department had only 585 officers, down from 912 in 2019. As police ranks have thinned out by almost half, violent crime has soared.”

With a MPD decrease of about 36%, I guess that one might say that Ms. Sathanandan has been successful in her quest decrease the ranks of the Minneapolis police department (MPD), and thus, oh by the way, increase the risk of violent crime. As most of us are aware, “success” is a relative term, and on 9/5/23 it became a much more “realistic” term for Shivanthi Sathanandan. From CBS, Minneapolis:

MINNEAPOLIS — A leader of the Minnesota DFL says she was violently carjacked at her north Minneapolis home in front of her young children Tuesday evening.

Shivanthi Sathanandan, who is the DFL’s second vice chair, posted an image of her bloody face online along with her account of the incident.

‘Yesterday my children and I were violently car jacked in the driveway of our home in Minneapolis. Four very young men,…’

From X (previously known as Twitter):

“Multiple sources confirm Sathanandan was unhappy w/ police responding in 5 min. to the scene. She complained to 

@MayorFrey that it took too long.”

Posted by Shivanthi Sathanandan on Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Sathanandan says she suffered a broken leg, cuts and bruises after four young men carrying guns attacked her outside her home while her 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son screamed for help.

‘These criminals will not win. We need to take back our city….’

Sathanandan wrote on Facebook. “We need to get illegal guns off of our streets, catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM.”

Hmmm! In order to “HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY” they first have to be found and then arrested. Who does Ms.Sathanandan want to do this, and how quickly? Perhaps if there were more police these thugs would be arrested in a more expeditors manner.

I wonder how many more innocent victims in. Minneapolis have never received justice because of Sathanandan’s prior rants. Could it be that because MPD is now only at 64%, that only 64% of similar crimes had been solved over the last three years. Would Justice be served if Ms. Sathanandan were to be told that because of the backlog of unsolved crimes, she would have to wait her turn? 

Furthermore if catching her assailants were to be taking a while, Ms. Sathanandan might comment to the police, “Don’t you know who I am?” At that point the only reasonable answer would be, “Actually, ma’am, we know exactly who you are!”

9/9/23

Recently one of my readers asked if I was going to get the new Covid booster. Because this is a family oriented blog, I politely said, ‘no,’ instead of something more descriptive.

Throughout this whole Covid hysteria, I have always like Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon at John’s Hopkins University. Perhaps this was because he was a contrarian of sorts, not brown-nosing anyone, but rather expressing his own opinions.

On 8/30 Dr. Makary had an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal, the title of which was “Biden Waves Through Another Covid Booster.”

The sub-headline asked, “He’s certain that it ‘works,’ but there’s no data. Is this how we approve drugs now?”

From Coffee and Covid:

“After disgustedly pointing out the last round of boosters was approved after only a “study” of eight mice, Dr. Makary noted this time there is even less safety and efficacy data. That obvious point was already nice to see in print somewhere, but then Makary dropped a hammer on jab risks, citing a study showing serious adverse events in 1 in 556 doses.

Makary continues:

“Advocates of the new Covid boosters point out that the annual flu shot gets approved without a randomized trial. But flu shots use a traditional vaccine platform that has withstood the test of time, and Covid vaccines have higher complication rates. The latter have a rate of serious adverse events as high as 1 in 556 doses, according to a study published last year in the journal Vaccine. They have also been found to cause myocarditis in young people at a rate six to 28 times the incidence after infection, according to a 2022 JAMA Cardiology study.”

According to my calculations 1/556 comes out to 0.18% which is certainly immensely higher than the Covid risk for the vast majority of individuals, especially the young in whom the risk of myocarditis alone should preclude any thought of a Covid booster.

Makary closes with :

“The novel Covid booster shot may be warranted for some high-risk patients. But pushing it hard for young and old alike without human-outcomes data makes a mockery of the scientific method and our regulatory process.”

Marty Makary … “I love this guy!”

9/8/23