TIME TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN

I have a confession to make. I watch a lot of reality cop shows on TV. My wife says I have too much time on my hands, but I tell her it is all for research. I don’t think I convinced her but I have learned some very interesting things which I would like to share with you.

Most of the individuals that police encounter seem to be regulars. In other words, most seem to have long records of arrest and conviction. I saw one case recently where the bad guy had a record of eighteen arrests with seven convictions for crimes such as drug usage, drug selling, armed robbery, armed felonious assault, felon in possession of a gun, and felonious flight to avoid prosecution. The big surprise was that he was only twenty years old. This arrest was for murder.

I have a simple question. Why wasn’t this clown in prison? What does one have to do to be put away for a long time? Had this particular thug been put in prison for twenty or thirty years as he should have been, perhaps his victim might still be alive. This was not an isolated situation. It happens time and again.

I am also amazed by the number of people pulled over by police who do not have valid driver’s licenses or auto insurance. Almost invariably the odor of marijuana comes from their car. When searched, more drugs are usually found and one hears the same response. They’re not my drugs, this isn’t my car, even though you found drugs in my pockets, these aren’t my clothes, etc. etc.

Another bit of information that catches my attention is the fact that many of the people stopped have warrants out for their arrests. Some have many, many warrants. Why is that? How is it possible that people wanted by the police are freely roaming the streets? Are the police so busy that they cannot go out and arrest those who have warrants?

The punk who was arrested for killing that beautiful young girl in Iowa was here illegally. There is no pretty way of stating this. If he wasn’t here, she may well still be alive. And he has been living here for several years. This was a preventable crime. No amount of liberal excuses and alibis can change that fact.

My final points I want to share have to do with the way some people react to police when they are stopped. I often see total disrespect both for the police officers and for the law. Individuals stopped for burned out tail lights, or headlights, no brake lights, speeders, reckless drivers, any of a number of possible crimes are often offended. So offended they sometimes refuse to comply. They argue, they fight, and sometimes they try to run. The police are not mind readers. They don’t know why offenders refuse to comply. Could they have just committed murder, robbery, whatever? What should they then do? If they use physical force the police themselves are often in trouble. Meanwhile the bad guys are laughing at the rest of us.

We are being told that prisons are overcrowded. Probably. We are offered any number of excuses why criminals are turned back out on the streets, but none of this nonsense makes any difference when they finally commit the ultimate act of violence.

As a free society based on law and order, we have an obligation to punish when laws are broken. If we don’t have enough prisons, we need to build more. We are not doing anybody a favor when youngsters, many of whom have little or no parental guidance, are arrested for crimes and the system refuses to punish them. They don’t get to learn a valuable lesson that if you do the crime, you do the time. It is past time to put the hammer down.

Ron Scarbro

A VILLAGE OF MORONS

A few years ago Hillary Clinton made the statement that it takes a village to raise a child. So, what does that mean? Does she think that parents are not capable of raising their own children? Probably. Does she think the government would be a better parent? Probably.

I mentioned the Hillary statement because of a bill that was introduced in the California Legislature, Senate Bill 1192, introduced by Senator Bill Monning, Democrat, of course, which regulates restaurants and their serving drinks to children. Now I am not talking about liquor. No, I am talking about juice and soft drinks. Henceforth, independent restaurants, formerly known as private businesses, can only serve milk or water to children. No soda or juice. This is purported to be an attempt to stem “childhood obesity.” Actually it is nothing more than “nanny state” bullying. Incidentally, the Legislature passed the bill and it awaits Gov. “Moonbeam” Brown’s signature.

Now let’s see if I have this right. Youngsters who, when walking to school, have to step over discarded used hypodermic needles, human waste, and sleeping homeless bums, but will be doing so in a healthier manner because they haven’t been poisoned by Pepsi Cola or orange juice. Also they haven’t taken that poison through a plastic straw. Wow, is that great or what?  Kinda gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, huh?

California, who has blessed this country with the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, will now show the rest of the country how to deal with childhood obesity. Taking over the reins of parenthood seems to be the goal. How about we just take all the children away from these ignorant parents and warehouse them in internment camps where government regulators can control their diets and their drink choices. They could then be sent to re-education classes where they could be taught the glories of progressive socialism without the ugliness of personal responsibility and the rule of law. To the morons in that once beautiful state this must look like utopia. In my research of this new law, I read many comments from supporters of this power grab by liberals. It was truly sad to read how many think this is a good idea.

As a former resident and now an outside observer of the California mess, I am astounded. California is drowning in debt from unpaid boondoggles past and present. That state has been run by democrats for many years and it has only gotten worse. California remains one of the highest taxed states in the country and still they cannot raise enough revenue to pay for all their nonsense. They are being invaded by illegal aliens and homeless masses. Once beautiful, clean cities and beaches are being destroyed by the filth of overpopulation and homeless drug abusers. Traffic has always been terrible and it has only gotten worse as the infrastructure has crumbled. The mountains are burning up and they are suffering water shortages. Without water from neighboring states, their once profitable agriculture will continue to wither.

Here’s the real problem for California. This country is not going to bail you out. You, with your choice of lawmakers, made this mess, and you are going to have to clean it up. Instead of fiddling around with soft drinks and plastic straws, your legislature needs to be figuring out ways to stay afloat.

Please, good people of California. You are still in America and America is still a free county. You are going to have to come to the understanding that liberal democrat policies just don’t work. To my lovely friends and relatives living there, stand up and scream. If you sit still and don’t act, once gorgeous California is going to disappear over a cliff. It used to be such a beautiful place.

Get rid of the morons who are destroying your home before it is too late.

Ron Scarbro

SOCIALISM AND OTHER MORONIC NONSENSE

Ever hear of Cynthia Nixon? Me either until just recently when it was announced that she would be running for Governor of New York. She is an actress who is an avowed socialist. I do have one thing in common with her however, we are both married to a woman. Of course my marriage is a little different in that I am a man. But I guess that is a story for another time. If New York elects her, they deserve what they get. It has been reported that she even makes Cuomo look good by comparison.

Speaking of socialists. How about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? She defeated a longtime incumbent democrat Congressman in the Queens area of New York City in the primary election. She has been all over the media with wild eyed programs of free stuff for all. From college education to health care. It will all be free. There are a few problems however with all her talk. Most, if not all of her programs, are completely unworkable and impossible. When asked to appear on a nationally syndicated program hosted by Ben Shapiro for a debate, she refused claiming the request was a catcall and sexist. She was also fact checked by the Washington Post who found most of her claims to be untrue, she again claimed the Post was just being sexist. I guess if you don’t agree with her wild-eyed nonsense, you must be a sexist. I confess. That’s me.

Here’s a thought. For all you socialists out there who are either running for office or thinking about it, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, et al, there should be a law requiring that you spend thirty days in Venezuela. When you return, maybe you might have a different opinion about how governments should be run.  

More stuff to think about. Our Congress is getting “frustrated” with the Justice Department because they won’t release documents Congress has subpoenaed. Attention Congress, our Constitution has given you the most powerful weapon of all in bringing any and all agencies of government in line. It is called the checkbook. You have the power of the purse. That’s a little like a taser. Effective but not fatal. Use it and watch Justice or any other department obey the rules. Failure to use your power is a dereliction of duty.

And this final rant. A new elementary school in Kansas City has decided, in their wisdom, to make their bathrooms “gender neutral.”  Their explanation is that they want the bathroom experience to be more open and less restrictive for either boys or girls. In other words, youngsters shouldn’t have to decide whether they are boys or girls or maybe even something else when they to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms will be a common area.

Well, I’ve got some news for the people who have come up with this ingenious new program. Neutral means no substantial difference. A neutral country doesn’t favor either side in a war, for example. A neutral color for paint means it will go with about anything. In other words, no substantial difference.

There are substantial differences between boys and girls and those differences are there for a very good reason. Were it not for those differences, the human race would have long ago come to an end. Gender difference has existed since time began and no amount of liberal history revision is going to change that. Oh, and speaking of weird, California is experimenting with gender neutral showers for kids. What could possibly go wrong with that? Sometimes I wake up wondering if I am on a different planet.

I will close with this. There is a serious price to be paid for the excesses being practiced by some in this world. God help us.

Ron Scarbro

OPIATES, PLASTIC STRAWS AND OTHER DANGERS

You no doubt have heard all the recent talk about the opiate epidemic. It would appear we are losing thousands of people every day to overdoses of opiate medication. This column will try to put some sense to the conversation.

First of all, opiate medication is an extremely valuable analgesic for the treatment of pain. I have had two recent surgeries and in both cases my surgeon prescribed opiate medication for my post-surgery pain. I took a couple of them but did not care for the effects of the medication so I quit. I found I could get the relief I sought from over the counter meds such as ibuprofen. Now I realize that not everybody has the same reaction to either pain or pain relief. So, if it works for you, marvelous.

I also recognize that some people have chronic pain from arthritis and other maladies. They often seek pain relief from opiate medicines. From everything I can learn, opiate medication is a very important bullet in the arsenal of therapies doctors prescribe for pain.

Here then is where the problem comes in. It seems a number of people don’t necessarily use the medication for its intended purpose, rather using it for “recreational” purposes. Recreational purposes? What’s that all about?

A cursory investigation shows that the majority of opiate overdoses occur in the streets and from illegally obtained drugs. Granted there are overdoses by people using their own prescriptions but by far the biggest problem happens on the street.

So, what do opiates have to do with plastic straws, some may ask. Well I’m glad you asked.

In Santa Barbara, Calif. one can sit on a corner and get stoned lighting up a marijuana joint legally, some say a precursor to hard drugs, but get put in jail for six months for giving someone a plastic straw. By the way, it is six months per straw. So two straws is one year and four straws is two years in jail, etc.

The big problem with these plastic straws is apparently some slobs throw them out on the beach or on the street rather than disposing of them in a proper trash receptacle. That then could be harmful to sea life and generally unattractive to visitors to Santa Barbara.

The brilliant city fathers of this little town decided that because of a few slobs, no one could ever use plastic straws again. It didn’t matter that they were cleaner and more sanitary than paper straws, no one could henceforth have them. The vast majority, who could and probably would use plastic straws properly, would have to be inconvenienced because of a few slobs.

With opiates we have a similar situation. Because of a minute few abusers of this medication, the vast majority of sensible, sane, and proper users will have to be inconvenienced. It is already difficult to get these meds from any doctor. Even when they are prescribed, very few can be dispensed by a pharmacy at a time. If that inconveniences you, that’s just too bad. After all, we have to protect the tiny minority of people who don’t have the judgement or good sense to regulate themselves.

Now you may recall that I said in the title of this piece, other dangers. That primary danger is government regulators seem to be okay with enacting law to regulate millions of law abiding citizens for the sake of a small minority of law breakers and abusers. Some slob throws his plastic straw out on the beach, then no one gets plastic straws. Some druggie decides to dose himself with pain killers and overdoses, then no one gets the benefit of this pain medication.

And of course the final example, some nut case gets a gun and shoots up a school, a restaurant, a movie theater, or just about any gathering, then all law abiding citizens have to pay for his stupidity and lawlessness. We must have gun laws governing everybody to deal with a tiny minority of crackpots. That, my friends is the real danger.

Ron Scarbro

WATCHING THE NEWS ON FRIDAY

Last Friday was a very interesting day. I was doing my normal morning things which included watching the morning news. News has become mostly gossip anymore though.

Of course there was the usual harping about Trump this and Trump that. He apparently must have known about some meeting with some Russian lawyer who promised to give him serious dirt on Hillary. Either he won’t admit that he knew about the meeting or maybe he just forgot. Whatever. If I were running for an election and it was as important as that election and someone told me they had serious dirt on my opponent, I promise you I would have either attended that meeting or at least had someone very close to me attend. So, I don’t care about any of the noise the media is trying to stir up about it.

Next on the “important” news of the day was the report of the possibility that Trump may have had a dalliance with some porn actress several years ago or some Playboy bunny. Again, whatever. When I voted for Trump, I didn’t expect him to be a choir boy. Here’s a billionaire playboy who actually owned a beauty pageant who has been accused of having a sexual encounter with some beautiful lady. I think I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t. You would think, the way some on the left are playing this, that he had actually had this dalliance in the Oval Office with, say an intern. No, wait, that was a different playboy.

Then low and behold, the news became real news with the report that our economy had grown by 4.1% in the second quarter. I remember when Obama told the country that growth like that was just not possible anymore. We had to get used to stagnation. Well I guess Trump didn’t get the memo. Our economy is on fire and it is Trump’s policies and actions that is causing it.

That kind of news put all the other noise that was being reported on the back page. Then more news came out. North Korea had released and sent back the remains of several missing soldiers from the Korean war. In addition to that, pictures were shown of North Korea dismantling missile launching facilities and storage areas. How could this be? After all the media had told us that Trump was incapable of governing our country because he was just a businessman, not a politician. The meeting with Kim Jong-un was a fluke. We shouldn’t actually expect anything positive. Hmmm. It makes you wonder.

But wait. The news wasn’t finished. The European Union sent a representative over here to offer some serious concessions regarding trade. America has had their rear ends handed to them for years on trade issues and Trump decided to stop it. Well that was doomed to fail because the media told us it would. He’s going to start a trade war. He’ll bankrupt the country. Again Trump appears not to have gotten the memo. Our international trade issues are being dealt with now and we will continue to see the benefits of a businessman with moxey, putting America first and the rest of the world getting the message.

I am amazed as I watch the triumphs of not only President Trump but by association, our triumphs as well. This is trickle-down economics and we are seeing it at its best. It will continue. Like most of the country, I am tired of the same old song and dance offered by the Democrats. Their policies have never worked. We are now on a different path.

America is a center-right capitalist country and to be successful we must continue on that course. If the Democrats want to participate they had better reconsider their positions. The midterms are going to be a gigantic eye opener for this country.

Ron Scarbro