Conformational Bias in Action

The Kilmar Abrego Garcia situation is unlike the usual Liberal-Conservative kerfuffle.  For the Trump administration, this is the camels-nose-under-the-tent moment they fear will sap their momentum and undermines their agenda.

Please, put aside what you think you know about this story and consider the following.

The administration admitted that Garcia was mistakenly grabbed up and deported to a foreign prison.  When pressured to bring him back, the President said it was “out of his control” to do so when of course we know that was a lie and in proving that, as pressure grew, magically Garcia was returned.  Critics say he was here illegally.  This is false.  Although Garcia entered the country illegally, a federal immigration judge granted him  “withholding of removal” status, which allowed him to legally live and work in the U.S. indefinitely.

Now embarrassed by the power of the federal judiciary over the Executive branch, the administration mounted a full-on character assassination campaign against Garcia in order to divert the glare of scrutiny from their overall deportation schemes. 

Just give this next question a moment of your thought:

When is the last time you can recall the United State of America arresting people and then sending them off to foreign prisons?

Now after being embarrassed, the administration lied about supposed tattoos on Garcia’s hands signifying gang affiliation.  The images were digitally altered.  Playing on fear, the administration planted the label of   “GANG-MEMBER & MS-13” into the minds of Americans in the effort to vilify him and justify his mishandling.  No court or judge or and legal process has proven any gang affiliation to Garcia.  This is an accusation without proof.  A healthy dose of skepticism should raise a red flag when the administration knowingly offers up false information in order to make their case.  Trusting anything they say about this going forward should be weighed against the lies they have already told.

Next came the allegations of domestic violence which Garcia’s wife disputed, explaining that she had been a victim of abuse in a previous relationship.  Acting on an abundance of caution during a rough patch in her marriage to Garcia 6-years ago, she sought a civil protective order in anticipation of conflict which never materialized after successful couples counseling.  Since then, the couple’s relationship improved and the matter was put behind them, but not before the continued character assassination in the media, pillorying and convicting this man in the public square.  Now in the minds of many American’s who consume main-stream-media, Garcia is not only a gang-member, but a wife beater as well.

This is how an authoritarian administration paves the path to justify their actions by demonizing and dehumanizing.  Once the targeted subject is sufficiently despised in the public’s eye, any means are justified as deserved.

And finally, when all of these schemes failed, the now infamous traffic stop in Tennessee 3-years ago becomes the secret sauce fed to a secretly convened Grand Jury that belches up the federal indictment for transporting aliens for financial gain.  Garcia was stopped for speeding in Tennessee.  He had 8-men in his vehicle, transporting them to a job site.  Go to any Lowe’s or Home Depot parking lot at 6AM and you will find legions of central and South Americans eager for construction work.  This was what was likely happening.   The key to understanding this “Hail-Mary” indictment, some 3-years after it happened, is to know that the Tennessee State Police that made the traffic stop released Garcia and the men without any charges.  The only reason this was elevated to presentation to a Grand Jury is obvious.  The administration was out of accusations.  After scouring the federal courts for similar examples of seeking indictments 3-years after the fact, this looks more and more like an act of malicious prosecution.  Add to this the threat of facing a Ugandan prison and you can see just how desperate and vile this administration is acting.

Here are excerpts from the various federal and state courts about this case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ordered Abrego Garcia’s release on bail.  In her order, Judge Holmes questioned the strength of the human smuggling case, noting that some of the allegations “approach physical impossibility”. She also criticized the government’s lack of proof for its claims of MS-13 gang affiliation, writing that concluding such “would border on fanciful.”

 The Supreme Court ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. and ensure his case was handled properly.  In a concurring statement, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, with whom Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined, criticized the government’s position, writing that it “implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene”. 

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued multiple temporary restraining orders, blocking the government from deporting Abrego Garcia to Uganda.  Judge Xinis told government attorneys that they were “absolutely forbidden” from removing Garcia from the continental U.S. She also set an evidentiary hearing for October 6, where she will consider whether his removal to Uganda would violate his due process rights by placing him in danger of persecution or torture. 

This is just what it looks like; a vindictive, hateful and malicious witch hunt that has taken on proportions far beyond the reasonable scope of legal reasoning.  The most logical and likely explanation for this is to nip in the bud any possibilities of examining these radical processes in a much larger scope.

It may surprise you to know that I am a staunch Conservative and that I support President Trump in many, many ways, but not in this case.  It stuns and alarms me that those fellow Conservatives that I in general have admired and followed for years are in near total unison in seeing this matter in the opposite way as I do.  I write what I write generally because I tend to see things a bit different than do most people and I share those insights, hoping to add a different perspective to the dialogue of thinking people, but in this case and in this instance, I am completely baffled by the inability of otherwise smart and thinking people to see this for what it really is.  Let history guide us.

“First the came for the Socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.  Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.  Then the came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew and then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Pastor Martin Niemoller

Standard

Disconnected

NYS Governor Hochul (of all the unlikely people) demonstrated long over-due leadership by banning student cell phone use in public schools.  This begs the question of why local leaders controlling the 731 school districts throughout NYS failed to do so on their own?  Who in God’s name thought it wise to provide kids with another distraction or way to cheat?  Maybe with test scores being so abysmal, school officials hoped that the cell phone induced cheating would improve their numbers?

Did any of the geniuses that manage our schools really believe cell phones would have no negative effect?  As it stands, kids are completely intoxicated by their phones.  For many, their social skills suck, they can’t carry on a reasonable conversation and their attitudes, well they suck as well.

History is a fine teacher and I’m old enough to have a historical perspective based on my own experience and I can tell you this, with certainty.  The overwhelming majority of school leaders from 50+ years ago would have banned cell phones from day one.  This is because back then, leaders actually led.  They didn’t  wait for legislation, regulation or questionnaires to know what was smart and what was stupid and allowing cell phones in schools is on its face stupid.  What passes for leadership in schools today is little more than cowardly custodianship.

Waiting to be told what anyone with a pulse knew was a problem and then applauding the effort demonstrates how leaderless our schools actually are.  You see, the youngest members of the educational establishment just coming aboard are also from the cell phone dynasty and have the same social issues and screen addictions as their students.

And to cap off what is already a colossal joke, the governor allots $13.5 for phone storage bags.

Seriously?

Again, common sense goes something like this.  Kids, you have 3 choices when it comes to your phones.  1.  Leave them home, (best choice.)  2.  If you drive, leave it in your car.  3.  Leave it in your locker with the ringer off.  There you go, common sense solution and $13 million saved.

What the hell is wrong with these people?  This is the best we’ve got?  Talk about phoning it in….  

Standard

NIG***

I didn’t finish it, but you saw and heard it.  Literary suicide by keyboard, but for three letters.  A symbolic stick of dynamite discharging a plethora of problems, dilemmas, social questions while poking at pop culture.  No other word has such irrational influence.  A declaration with no sense, but a thousand meanings.  Dictionary.com calls it, “…the most offensive word in English.”

A force that has the power to end a white career and start a black one.  Kryptonite in the classroom, “street-cred” in the clubs.  Six letters that can destroy a white comedian while popularizing and venerating the black one.  A remark so dangerous that it was renamed, “THE N WORD”, just so it could be discussed without actually saying or hearing it.  A reverberation so sinister that apparently ears can no longer tolerate its very sound.  Two syllables forming an expression so despised that the NAACP declared it dead, held a funeral and buried it, (apparently while still alive.)

A term of endearment in the “hood”, sufficient reason to murder somewhere else.  Hate speech if I say it, a reason to laugh from Chris Rock.  Instantly and permanently ruining the comic Michael Richards while qualifying Samuel Jackson for an Oscar nomination in Pulp Fiction.

In his 1996 groundbreaking live HBO comedy show, “Bring the Pain”, Chris Rock’s Niggas Vs. Black People routine, starts off the 12-minute rant like this:  “There’s like a civil war going on with black people and there’s two sides; there’s black people and there’s niggas and niggas have got to go.”  He goes on to say, “I love black people, but I hate niggas.” 

Rap “artist”  Bobnlarry’s hit, “Nigga,Nigga,Niggga”, has well over 8-million downloads and says, “Nigga”, 98-times in one-minute and eighteen seconds.

Could any white performer succeed doing Rock’s routine or Bobnlarry’s rap piece?

“Nigga” as opposed to “Nigger” is alive and well because its slurred deviation indicates to the black insiders the absence of malice, a term of endearment.  The hard R of nigger:  White hate speech.  The soft “A” of Nigga, the secret signal of acceptance, peace, “keeping it real”…, yea, “real dumb” according to Rock.

Without that word as a sacrosanct sunspot, would intolerance or racism end?  Without a focal point for the, “I’m empowered by my outrage” reaction this word engenders, might there be less opportunity to blame others and wouldn’t that necessitate a hard look inward?

The content of ones character rests not in our syntax, but in our souls and that word affords for many a convenient divergence from any real self-examination, a justification for being outrageous, an open “dare” to whites to repeat it.  Holding that one card over the heads of all white people, as if it magically induces some kind of super-power?  Nigga; please.

Standard

Remember

Since our nations founding, well over 1-million service members have given their lives in defense of our country.  Unless someone close in your family was one of these patriots, the term “service members” tends to dehumanize the actual toll.  And the further we get from those days of greatest human hecatomb, the more abstract the memory becomes.  Sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers, living, breathing people that through their sacrifice, left behind sorrow, grief, despair, and a lifetime of loss to those scores of the living left to mourn their passing.  The great burden of mourning blocks the light of life from the millions that survive, suffer and remember.

Today, we make that painful effort to force ourselves to invite that old hurt, that sorrow, back into our minds in order to honor their sacrifice and to harden our resolve in remembrance so that we not forget why they died.

They died in their own moment of horror so that we might live.  While not all were called to war, all are called to duty.  That sacred obligation to preserve and protect that which they have died for.  The land of the FREE, and the home of the BRAVE isn’t a clever turn-of-the-phrase ending to a song, it is a clarion call for those of us left behind to do our sacred parts.

While we celebrate today through a veil of tears, let us remember that freedom, liberty and the manifest destiny of mankind rests in all of our hands collectively.  No matter our differences, we share our freedom, important enough to warrant wholesale death.  Let this not be forgotten or forsaken.

Standard

Tough Love

While this is an expose’ about a town here in NY, it is a repeating theme in many areas ruled over by liberals.  If where you live is experiencing this kind of nonsense, feel free to cut-and-paste anything you see here and pepper your local newspapers and media sites with your opinion.

The radical liberals representing constituents here in Binghamton, NY are openly hostile to property owners while grossly indulgent to that faction of renters that are irresponsible deadbeats.

Instead of coddling those that are lazy, game the system, abuse drugs and live in a criminal-centric mindset, we should be encouraging property development that forces this element out of the community.

When these socialist legislators talk about “ultra-affordable” housing, they are fleecing the self-sufficient, tax-paying, honest and hard-working in order to support those who aren’t willing to be responsible, productive citizens. 

This path eventually makes Binghamton unlivable.

In the short term, the goal should be to gentrify Binghamton as quickly as possible.

In the long-term, we should be encouraging intact, traditional family structures based on a religious foundation of belief in almighty God, self-reliance, accountability, education and upward mobility.

Affecting and addressing this generational change will break the bonds of the failed liberal social-science experiment that has been proven to actually foster and promote that which it was originally thought to prevent.

This long-range objective is certainly more forward-thinking than simply indulging and furthering failure that fosters learned-helplessness and offers no solutions.

Liberals exploit those they pretend to help in order to virtue-signal and pose as their saviors.

Conservatives believe in helping people move up and out of hopelessness while liberals feel they aren’t capable.  The tough love of doing that which is hard builds people up.  The pity of liberals, cloaked as help, holds them down, cementing for them a dim future

Standard

From Fright to Faith

Our first brush with fear comes at birth, thrust from the serene safety of the womb into a world of bright lights and jarring noise. For many, that fear lingers, shaping a life of caution.  Learning how to manage our fears is the key to a happier and more enjoyable life.  Once we learn how fear is used to manipulate us, it becomes less powerful.

Fear is used in ways you probably don’t recognize.  If you don’t use our product(s); you won’t be able to sleep/lose weight/be alert/have more energy/better sex/digestion or regular bowel movements.  If you don’t support our cause; puppies/refugees/babies/the homeless and the elderly will die.  In politics, if you don’t support our party, you will be over-taxed/unpatriotic/financially ruined and hated by everyone.

External fears, like those peddled by advertisers or politicians, thrive on our compliance. Learning to question their claims—‘Do I really need this product to be happy?’ negates their power.  Many fear facing tomorrow, their state of health, their financial condition, their relationships, their careers, their futures.  Many more fear anything new; change, making new friends, losing old friends, their neighbors, traffic.  Fear slows us down, undermines our decision-making and causes indecision.  Fear can make us sick, (“I’m sick over this…”)  Fear, at the least, undermine our life’s pleasures and in some extreme cases can even end it.

There are two distinct forms of fear; the external kinds delivered from others and the internal source, entirely of our own making.  Standing up to the school-yard bully addresses the former, controlling our own mind the latter.

Napoleon Hill said, “Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.”

That said, it is key to know and understand the difference between real, legitimate fear and everything else.  Fearing the dangerous and life-threatening prevents us from death or injury.  This is an appropriate fear, processed in our brains amygdale region which triggers the fight-or-flight response.

Every other form of fear is ours to manage, whether wisely or not.  Learning how to do this means the difference between a happy life and something quite less than that.

A turning-point experience in managing my fears came to me in the form of buying my first motorcycle as a 15-year-old.  The used bike I bought came from the coolest kid in high school.  He had the nicest car, the most radical bike, and the cutest girlfriend in our school.  Everyone loved this guy and I wanted to be more like him.  While I loved motorcycles, I had no clue how to ride one.

 When “Mike” was delivering the bike, he started it up and said, “Here you go, take it for a spin.”  I made some excuse, telling him I trusted him.  Truth was, I feared that Mike would know I was a fraud.  Once he left, I wheeled that bike into the darkened garage and got out the owners manual to see how it worked.  I taught myself how to ride that bike by trial and error.  I faced my fears and I conquered that bike.  Learning about that motorcycle taught me that fear, at its core, often boils down to simple choices—act or retreat, embrace or avoid.

Facing that fear led me to a lifetime of motorcycling.  Mingling the sensation of speed, the in-your-face rush of air, the smells and sights all coincide to push the fear and the danger back into its place as you trade off the uncertainty for the sheer joy of the experience.  I learned that I could be cool too.  The fear was worth the ride.

Fear does not stop death, it stops life.

Fear, in all forms require choices—act or freeze, trust or doubt. This clarity can light the way forward.  For example, you are either healthy or you are sick.  If you’re healthy, you have nothing to worry about.  If you’re sick, consider two things; you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.  If you’re getting better, you have nothing to worry about.  If you’re getting worse, consider two things; you’re either going to live, or you’re going to die.  If you’re going to live, you’ve got nothing to worry about.  If you’re going to die, consider two things; are you going to heaven or are you going to hell?  If you’re going to heaven, you’ve got nothing to worry about.  If you’re going to hell, well is something worth worrying about and maybe the best example of the importance of how we might best prepare ourselves for the future because we all must face our own death.

Simplifying fear into choices helps us act, but enduring peace often comes from a deeper source—whether philosophy, spirituality, or personal conviction.  While not all fears reduce to simple choices—chronic illness or systemic challenges can feel overwhelming—the principle remains: focusing on what we can control shrinks fear’s shadow.

For centuries, wisdom traditions have offered tools to tame fear, from philosophy to faith. In my own journey, I’ve found solace in the Bible’s guidance.  The word ‘fear’ appears roughly 500 times in the Bible, reflecting its dual role as anxiety and reverence.

It is interesting how fear is used as a contronym, both for the traditional meaning indicating anxiety and terror, as well as the non-traditional meaning when it come to God, meaning holding him in awe and reverence, (“fear of the Lord”)  Using it this way, Proverbs says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Overwhelmingly, the Bible tells us, “Do not be afraid.”  And as our faith deepens, we can depend upon and take comfort in passages like, “”There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.”

With faith in God, fear fades when we anchor ourselves in something greater.  Quite simply, fear thrives in the absence of faith. … Belief is the antidote to fear.

What’s your earliest memory of fear? And how does it still shape you today?

Putting our fears into perspective can make them easier to understand and manage.  Going back to our life-and-death story, in those final earthy moments before our demise, I believe our thoughts might be consumed with wondering, did we do enough, are we prepared to face our death, do we move closer to death with faith or with fear?

Faith conquers fear.

Recalling a time of good health, when worries faded, offers perspective for today.  Because we are enjoying our good health and we are alive right in this moment, doesn’t the thought of all this clarify for us the fact that this time, right now, is the time of our lives?  Can not this perspective relieve us all of our fears, if just for a moment in reflection?  Isn’t it true that right now, any of us are free to do whatever we want, if not for whatever fears we allow to persuade us?

Yesterday provides experience and tomorrow is only a hope.  Today is the only certainty. 

In this moment, our fears are an illusion. As Plato said, ‘We can easily forgive a child afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when we fear the light.’ Embrace your trust in God, and step boldly into the life awaiting you, today.

Standard

Liberal V. conservative

Kilmar Abrago Garcia was deported mistakenly by the Trump administration, an “administrative error” that has ignited a fierce debate. As a staunch conservative, I believe my side has this one wrong, and here’s why.

The mistake is reversible.  This is really all we need to know.  With a phone call, President Trump could have Garcia back on US soil in hours.  If you doubt the president’s ability to act swiftly, consider the executive branch’s recent displays of broad authority and Trump’s propensity to conspicuously display his power.

Despite the administration’s admission of error, Garcia’s detractors justify his deportation by pointing to these unproven allegations:

  1. Garcia is alleged to be a gang member, but without proof or arrest.
  2. He was accused of domestic violence yet his wife defends him and he was never charged or arrested.
  3. Garcia’s detractors point to an incident where he was driving 8-men from Tennessee to Maryland, accusing him of human trafficking.  He explained to Tennessee State police during a traffic stop that he was transporting the men for a construction job and he was allowed to continue and no arrests were made.
  4. Allegations of tattoos on Garcia’s hands indicating MS-13 gang membership have been widely debunked as digitally manipulated. 

Tampering with evidence regarding Garcia’s alleged tattoos is a federal felony, apparently perpetrated by our own government.  This alone should scare the hell out of every American.  The desperate need for the government to resort to such tactics demonstrates their lack of factual evidence.

Garcia has been in this country since 2011 and although he did enter illegally as a sixteen-year-old fearing for his life had he remained in El Salvador, a federal judge granted a “withholding of removal” order which allows him to live and work in the US legally.  To that effect, he has continually met his obligation to report to Immigration & Customs Enforcement annually.  Garcia is married to a US citizen and together they have three-children, all with special needs.  He is also a journeymen member of a US trade union.

He might hate apple pie and the forth of July but none of that matters to the issue at hand.  The man was illegally seized, deported and imprisoned and those on the right are inflaming the situation by fear-mongering with phrases like “MS-13”, “human-trafficker”, “domestic abuser” and “gang-member”, all unproven and unsubstantiated allegations that are dog-whistle code-speech meant to indict by vilification in the court of public opinion.

In an April 10, 2025 unanimous order of the US Supreme Court in Noem v. Garcia the justices said this, in part, regarding the return of Garcia to the US:

“The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law.  The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong.  The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.  That view refutes itself.”

Those of us on the right pride ourselves on being a “Nation of Laws” however, conservative consensus on this matter suggests otherwise and instead demonstrates the unreasonable concept of the ends justifying the means.  I understand the desire for strict immigration enforcement, especially amid concerns about crime, but Garcia’s case shows how overreach undermines the commitment to due process.  Conservatives pride ourselves on actually defending the rule of law. Let’s demonstrate that by bringing Garcia back, giving him his day in court, and showing the world that our principles aren’t just words. If we can’t admit when we’re wrong, what separates us from the hypocrisy we so often criticize about the left?

The liberals got this one right and as uncharacteristic as it would be for a liberal ever to admit a mistake and side with us conservatives, we can and must admit when we are wrong.  And if ever there was an example to illustrate that, this is it. 

Standard

The Bigots at Binghamton University

During the fall semester of 2024, my friend Andy and I hosted a once-weekly public
affairs radio show on the campus station, WHRW. We were fired for being outspoken
white, older, conservative men.


It began when I announced that we had secured a live, on-air interview with University of
Pennsylvania named chair law professor Amy Wax. Professor Wax had just been
stripped of her chaired position and been suspended for one-year at half pay and publicly
reprimanded. Her story was international-level news in academia and the fact that we
had landed her as a guest was phenomenal, or so we thought.


Students run the radio station. Two young girls, the general manager and the public
affairs manager, began demanding of us transcripts of what we would say in our
interview, even though station guidelines clearly tout an open format and minimal
interference. Following demand after demand, which we fulfilled, the girls ultimately
shut down the interview 10-minutes before air, citing “harm to the listeners.”
We filed an official FCC complaint for discrimination and the suppression of speech,
which is currently pending.


On our following show, we had arranged for former University of Pennsylvania trustee
and law school overseer Paul Levy to call in. Because we were ambushed over the Wax
interview, we kept this scheduled call-in to ourselves. Levy resigned from his leadership
position at Penn over the treatment Wax had received and we had a far-ranging very
interesting interview about what had happened. It was the kind of original and interesting
reporting a public affairs show was supposed to produce.


Immediately after that show, the remainder of our shows were abruptly cancelled.
Fast forward to the winter 2025 and spring 2025 semesters. We made no effort to renew
our shows. We aren’t students, we had no other business on campus and we had no
intention of returning to WHRW.


In spite of that reality, the girls began pushing us to avail ourselves to a disciplinary
hearing. When we reminded them that we were gone, didn’t want to return, and have no
relationship with the station or the university, they nevertheless persisted.


Understanding that this “hearing” was going to go on, with or without us, we decided to
present a statement in lieu of appearance, outlined just how unfair and wrong-headed this
whole fiasco was. Quite predictably, we were found guilty of all charges and only
because there is no death-penalty provision in the WHRW Star-Chamber Manual, we live
to fight on.

In the text of the damning documents, we were reminded of our appeal process and
provided a link if we so chose to make that appeal, which we did, surmising that we
might find justice when finally outside of the incestuous radio station hive.


Quite promptly after making the appeal, the Chief Justice of the Judicial Board rejected
our efforts, noting that because we were not students, we had no official standing within
their fiefdom, however, if we could secure the assistance of a student to act on our behalf,
our appeal would live on!


God-Bless the college Republican organization that agreed to push our claim forward.
But just as promptly as the first denial, the second one followed, this time suggesting that
the board had no jurisdiction because this was a management issue. In other words, kick
the can down the road and make sure all feathers stay unruffled, a judicial board
unwilling and maybe unknowing on how to adjudicate, afraid to act.


This is the kind of product our public campuses are producing; autocratic, authoritarian
bullies, not seeking truth and understanding through discussion and debate, but
demanding compliance, enforcing group-think, and rejecting opposing views as they
close their minds to any outside interference. These kids aren’t learning how to think,
they’re validating what to think, without challenge and devoid of a thorough debate that
tends to clarify the issues and expose both the truth and the lie. But for these kids, there
is no point in having the discussion when your mind is already made up and you can
move forward with the knowledge that in their short 20-some years on the planet, they’ve
managed to figure it out, they broke the code, there are no more debates, just their truths
that need to be injected into everyone else, for their own good of course.


Best of luck with that strategy.

Standard

The Second Bite of the Apple

It seems to me that the incentives to commit crime rest mainly in the failure of our legal system to fully utilize creative options for risk/reward considerations, consequences and punishment.

Those who break the law may be dumb in some sense, but they do calculate the risks and the consequences.  Self preservation is a really powerful motivator.  You and I may see imprisonment as a completely sufficient deterrent, but to career criminals and street thugs it isn’t seen as such.  It’s more like a trip to a harsh reality summer camp, but at least you’re with guys who understand your language; that of force, intimidation and fear.  To most in the criminal world, it is the cost of doing business, a break from the outside world with “3-hots and a cot” where you go periodically to get a hard-core make-over and harden yourself for the next phase of your existence.

For example, I had a client that was arrested for a burglary he certainly did not commit.  He did however have the pills in his possession that the actual burglars had sold him, but he was not involved in the actual heist.  He was a career criminal, minor league for the most part, and really not to bright and the reason I know he did not commit that burglary is because the job itself was highly sophisticated, requiring significant knowledge of electronics, disarming alarms etc. and the guy just plain didn’t have the mental horsepower to pull that off.

While we were quite confident we could prevail in a trial, our client took a slightly shortened sentence plea offer because he was afraid of a jury and having his past examined.  When I questioned about this decision he said to me, “I can do 3-to-5 standing on my head.”  So much for the perceived element of deterrent.

The crux of the problem in terms of normal, law-abiding citizens making the rules and determining the punishments is the fact that in the lives of those people, their living conditions, their “creature comforts”, their station in life is significantly better than most.  Accordingly, their sense of the severity for methods of punishment and the conditions of incarceration are completely mis-aligned with the reality of what is tolerable to criminals.  In other words, conditions of imprisonment and the reality of actually, “doing time”, to the mind of normal, law-abiding people is intolerable and out of the question.  When compared to the normal life they live, the notion of enduring prison conditions is overwhelmingly sufficient to deter them.  Because these same people, insulated from that side of society that lives in poverty, crime, drug addiction, mental illness, Godlessness, violence and completely dysfunctional families do not fathom the complete disconnect one group has from the other.

Prison life just isn’t that different from what they are used to.  Accordingly, what would certainly deter the lawmaker is simply a pit-stop for the criminal and not a lot different from his life on the outside.

While our criminal justice system routinely handles all levels of cases, those that enter that arena of civil offensiveness that threatens innocent people require consequences that more accurately fit the nature of crimes that show careless disregard for the safety and the lives of others.  Those kinds of criminals need a special consideration when it comes to deterrents.  They need to feel that same fear of death their victims did.

In matters of violent crime, when the use of deadly force is a justification for thwarting that attack, should the attacker be arrested and brought to justice, adjudicated and awaiting sentencing, the victim(s) should be consulted about their desires for punishment, beyond the concept of a victims impact statement, but indeed provided the opportunity to determine life or death as a consequence.

As an example.  An attacker brandishes what appears to be a gun during a car-jacking.  Fearing for her life, the victim would be justified in shooting and killing that criminal during the commission of that attempt.  But in our example, our victim does not do this, the car is taken and later the perpetrator apprehended.  At the time of sentencing, the victim should be afforded the opportunity to decide if this criminal lives or dies.  After all, our victim had every right to use deadly force during the crime.  Why not give her that opportunity now?

Another example.  A burglar enters a home and at gun point, steals money from the owners.  Again, if they were armed and conditions permitted, those homeowners would be legally justified in shooting and killing those burglars.  Instead they initially get away but later are apprehended, arrested, tried and convicted.  Because that homeowner would have been totally justified in shooting the robber, he should now be given the opportunity to decide life or death as punishment.

Basically, any crime where deadly force would have been justifiable but not used should be revisited as an option after trial, decided by the victim.

In closing, a few thoughts.  I believe that in more than 50% of cases where this was an option, victims would choose sparing the criminals their lives.  I believe that the emotional pressure of having that power of life and death would overwhelm the conscience of most people and I recognize that my theory here is completely anecdotal. 

Second, the knowledge that a life or death possibility exists will certainly serve as a deterrent.  It’s one thing to go to prison, summer camp for the hood, but it is quite another story to play roulette with ones life, whether or not you’re a law-abiding citizen or a hardened criminal, we all have that will to live and that serves as the ultimate incentive no matter who you are.

Standard

A Letter to the President

March 24, 2025

Mr. President:

You are the most transformational president in my lifetime.  I believe God put you here for what may be one day defined as Manifest Destiny 2.0.  That said, you are mortal and men make mistakes; the hardest of which to admit are those made pursuing righteousness.

Illegal immigration coupled with evil intent and ingratitude insult and sully America’s character.  Confusing our kindness for weakness is a condition you fully understand and clearly detest.  Being taken advantage of is the greatest injustice and your job is to recognize it while protecting our great nation.

Many foreign countries betrayed the U.S. by allowing and even encouraging their worst citizens to crash our borders.  Millions have entered unlawfully and a small subset of those form a microcosm of what defines biblical-level evil.  It is righteous to eradicate that group from our midst, not with national fervor or inflaming over-arching fear, but with the system of justice our nation was formed upon.

Mr. President, the world watches and learns from what we do.  When in our history have we sent hundreds of detainees to a notorious foreign prison, without specific charges and before legal hearings in U.S. court rooms?  Doing so seems overtly punitive and retaliatory when simply deporting them to their home countries will accomplish the same goal of protecting America with little to no legitimate criticism.

And separately but simultaneously, as middle-east tensions rose and Columbia University became the epicenter of collegiate protests and student Mahmoud Khalil the face of that controversy, government reaction again seemed over-reaching.  Detaining a political prisoner thousands of miles from their home and family seems retaliatory and mean-spirited, depriving the man of effective counsel and also preventing him access to his wife, about to give birth.  No defensible rationale has been offered about the choice of Louisiana for Kahlil’s detention.

Mr. President, I’m an ardent supporter but not a sycophant.  Getting 90% of policy matters right does nothing to excuse the damage done by the extra-jurisdictional means afforded the remaining 10%.

Mr. President, I believe your intentions are just but you will not be judged by those intentions, you will be judged by the righteousness of those acts.  This can be remedied, if seen through the eyes of a humble man.

Kind Regards,

Bob Kingsley

A conventional letter was mailed to the President today

Standard