Friday, December 03, 2021

Snyder must face his accusers.

November 5, 2021
By Ron Fonger

Genesee District Court Judge William H. Crawford listens to arguments during a hearing in the criminal Flint water crisis case of former Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 in Genesee District Court in Flint.

The hushed conversation (click here) lasted less than 2 minutes, but Genesee District Court Judge William Crawford made himself clear to an attorney representing former Gov. Rick Snyder earlier this week.

Crawford wants Snyder to appear in person when Flint water prosecutors and his attorneys appear in his courtroom in the future as the willful neglect of duty case against him unfolds.

“Everybody else has to be here,” the judge told attorneys involved in the case after asking the lawyers to approach the bench at the start of a motion hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

Crawford allowed attorneys to argue Snyder’s motion for an evidentiary hearing Wednesday without the former governor present after his attorney, Brian Lennon, said he had been under the impression his client did not need to appear in court.

“It’s very clear now,” Lennon told the judge after the brief conference....

No more slaps on the wrist. They mean it. They will kill.

December 3, 2021
By Mike Martindale and James David Dickson

Pontiac — The lawyers for the parents of the Oxford High teenager (click here) charged in Tuesday's school shooting said Friday that James and Jennifer Crumbley are returning to the area to be arraigned on charges of involuntary manslaughter.

The Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team was searching Friday for the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old Oxford High sophomore charged with first-degree murder of four students and other criminal charges, after county Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the couple had stopped responding to their attorney.

"On Thursday night, we contacted the Oakland County prosecutor to discuss this matter and to advise her that James and Jennifer Crumbley would be turning themselves in to be arraigned," lawyers Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman told The Detroit News. "Instead of communicating with us, the prosecutor held a press conference to announce charges."...

Teachers' Unions

The unions have an obligation to a safe and sane environment for the work their members do. This is a work place issue and the standards administrations are using are not enough to ensure the safe practice of teaching.

Violence in the work place is a huge problem and there is every reason to believe it is making a come back. For awhile a few years ago work place violence was frequent, then it settled down, but, I think it is going to become more common place.

The permission Trump gave to people to commit violence in the name of their country within it's borders is a real problem, not simply a make believe problem. It is real and people are highly aggitated. It is time for unions to again address safe work environments.

Unions can set their own standards and then expect the employer to comply to be sure violence is put in check. 

It seems to me the crowd intent on a coup were sincerely attempting to subdue the Capitol Police to get to legislators.

December 2, 2021
By Robert Snell

A Flint man (click here) dressed in a University of Michigan hoodie assaulted police officers with a baton during the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol, according to a federal indictment Thursday.

Justin Jersey, 31, is facing six charges, including assault, civil disorder, breaking into a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct, violent entry and engaging in physical violence, according to a petition filed in federal court in Detroit. The assault charges are the most serious, punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison....

He probably got the baton from the police. There simply is on doubt this was a sincere effort to end the 2020 elections and the peaceful transfer of power. They were there to instill Trump. They expected to be treated as heroes after Trump maintained office.

The administration needs to be dismissed and new people to take care of the school and students.

December 3, 2021
By Malachi Barrett

Pontiac - Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald (click here) said Oxford High School officials should not have allowed a student who allegedly shot 10 classmates and one teacher return to class after holding a meeting with his parents about drawings of blood-soaked bodies and firearms a teacher found in his possession.

McDonald held a Friday, Dec. 3 press conference to announce involuntary manslaughter charges against James Robert Crumbley and Jennifer Lynn Crumbley, saying they hold partial responsibility for a shooting rampage allegedly carried out by their son. The Oakland prosecutor also addressed the frustration of many in Oxford that school officials did not do enough to pick up on warnings that 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley was planning violence....

This is negligence. The student could have been put on suspension until proper referrals were made to Social Workers for the county and get them services. The child was distrubed and it may have been the household environment. He obviously couldn't handle himself in administering violence to others. What was that all about?

It seems to me the shooter had some serious problems and they were glossed over rather than dealt with to resolve them. This is a really bad reflection on the leadership in that school system.

December 2, 2021
By Izzy Martin

Flint - A teenage girl (click here) may be facing 40 years in prison after making threats to shoot up Southwestern Classical Academy in Flint.

Prosecutor John Potbury says the 17-year-old was riding the school bus this morning when she recorded a video on her phone with a rap-style message in which threats of shooting up the school “like Oxford” were made and subsequently posted to social media.

The assistant principal at the school was alerted of the incident and reported it to Flint police....

The West needs to get serious. Sanctions against Belarus are interesting, but, NATO needs to move troops into the Russian border countries,

There is a lot more at stack than another country in NATO, communists are on the move. The illegitmate president of Russia will invade Ukraine because the Ukraine military remains lightweight compared to what it faces with Russia's border.

As soon as Putin sets down the path of war, China will follow with Taiwan and put The West, including Australia in a multi-front war. There is no doubt Putin must be stopped as well as China. It is better if The West take the initiative to push the Russian troops back from the border with Ukraine and bring security to Taiwan. Once the communists commit to multi-front wars, there is no turning back for them. It is defeat The West or Bust.

NATO along with Pacific allies like Japan must begin the push back before it is even needed. For far too long the communists have been taking incremental movement to TEST how far they can go. China is attempting intimidation of The West by testing it's satellite destroyer that also launches what is most probably nuclear missiles from space. It is time to end the renewed Cold War and stop border incursions anywhere and all together.

Border incursions are a real reason for troop movement and confrontation. This is what it is going to take to reverse the four years of Trump pandering to communists and dictators and disloyalty to the USA national security. Defeating border incursions is a whole lot better than all out warfare.

Secretary of State Blinken's initatives MUST be backed by strong military decisions. Throughtout the history of the USA out greatest strength was quiet diplomacy backed by a strong military and it's prowess. The Late Colin Powell had The Powell Doctrine and the Late President Theodore Roosevelt stated, "...walk quietly, but, carry a big stick...". This is who the USA is and always has been. 

There is a reason for the USA submarines coming to Australia, there are reasons why the USA left Afghanistan and that was because with communists being emblodened by Trump there is real danger in the world and we cannot afford to be spread too thin. Recently, Israeli leadership stated it felt lonely after the USA left Afghanistan, but, in reality Israel is not looking at the global picture post Trump.

It is time to get real with the communists and push the incursions and troop build ups back behind communist borders.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin, (click here) center, greets President Joe Biden, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the 'Villa la Grange', Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ukraine MUST enlist the support of NATO in it's country now. There can be no delay for Ukraine to become a member of the alliance.

December 1, 2021
By Nicole GaouetteJennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt

Secretary of State Antony Blinken (click here) warned Russia to stand down on its efforts to destabilize Ukraine and said there would be "severe consequences" for any Russian military action.

"We don't know whether President Putin has made the decision to invade" Ukraine, Blinken said in remarks at the end of a North Atlantic Treaty Alliance meeting in Latvia. "We do know that he's putting in place the capacity to do so on short order, should he so decide. So despite uncertainty about intention, and timing, we must prepare for all contingencies while working to see to it that Russia reverses course."

Blinken spoke just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech that the "threat" at Russia's western border is growing. In his own remarks, Blinken noted that the world has already seen Moscow significantly increase troops along the border and deploy misinformation to suggest Ukraine is the aggressor....

A lot has changed in USA-Russia relations since September 11, 2001. The undermining of a fledgling democracy in Russia by Putin, the placement of Putin as the new Zcar forever and the return to communism and expansionism by Putin all are failures of his leadership and must be ended in order for a new generation of Russians to flourish in Russia.

There was also a similar news conference with Bush and Putin after September 11, 2001. The return to old Soviet mandates is obvious under Putin and a complete afront to the trust the Russia people once had in him.


February 24, 2005
Transcript of News Conference from New York Times

PUTIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): First of all, (click here) I'd like to say that we discussed these issues at length, face-to-face, just the two of us.

Russia has made its choice in favor of democracy. Fourteen years ago, independently, without any pressure from outside, it made that decision in the interest of itself, in the interest of its people, of its citizens.

PUTIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is our final choice and we have no way back. There can be no return to what we used to have before. And the guarantee for this is the choice of the Russian people themselves.

No guarantees from outside cannot be provided. This is impossible. It would be impossible for Russia today. Any kind of turn toward totalitarianism for Russia would be impossible due to the condition of the Russian society....

Is a continuing resolution governance? This is more or less a "place holder" until the 2022 elections.

The day-to-day operations (click here) of most federal agencies are funded on an annual basis by appropriations. When those appropriation bills are not enacted by the start of the fiscal year on October 1, Congress uses a continuing resolution, or “CR,” as a temporary measure to fund government activities for a limited amount of time. Continuing resolutions are temporary “stopgaps,” often employed to avoid a partial government shutdown and to give lawmakers more time to enact appropriations for the full year. However, programs deemed as essential services, such as those related to public safety, often continue to operate even in the absence of a CR.

December 2, 2021
By Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Ted Barrett and Ali Zaslav

Congress averted a government shutdown (click here) Thursday evening when both chambers voted to pass a stopgap bill to extend funding through mid-February after party leaders brokered a deal to overcome GOP brinkmanship over vaccine mandates.

The final tally in the Senate was 69-28.

Passage of the stopgap bill ahead of a Friday at midnight deadline ended a standoff that had threatened to trigger a shutdown when a small number of Republican senators who object to President Joe Biden's vaccine requirements had held out the possibility of holding up a quick vote on the funding bill.

To resolve the impasse, the two parties agreed to hold votes on the stopgap bill as well as a GOP amendment to prohibit the use of federal funding for Covid-19 vaccine mandates, which ultimately failed....

Alec Baldwin had no choice but to come forward to talk about the tragic shooting on his movie's set.

Alec Baldwin is an actor, but, in this case he is also a businessman. He has no choice but to come to the public and put things in perspective. I don't think he talked about the replacement of Ms. Hutchins.

Credit...

December 2, 2021
By Suzy Byrne

Alec Baldwin said (click here) he "didn't pull the trigger" on the prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust set — and assistant director Dave Halls is backing him up.

On Thursday's Good Morning America, Halls's attorney, Lisa Torraco, said her client has maintained "since day one" that Baldwin's finger was "never in the trigger guard" when the gun fired on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set outside Santa Fe. Also, Seth Kenney, who had his PDQ Arm & Prop business in Albuquerque searched by authorities this week, spoke out for the first time.

"The entire time Baldwin had his finger outside the trigger guard — parallel to the barrel," Torraco said of Halls's account of the shooting in which director Joel Souza was also shot. "He told me since day one that he thought it was a misfire."

Torraco said until Baldwin said that he didn't pull the trigger, in a preview clip from his ABC News interview airing Thursday night, "it was really hard to believe. But Dave has told me from the very first day I met him that Alec did not pull that trigger."...