I lost the love of my life on Wednesday. It was and will continue to be the worst day of my life. I notified his older sister, who has been the Grand Central Station of notifying everyone about everything, while I was still sitting with his body. At some point the next day I sent her another message saying that she should tell anyone she thought appropriate. She notified his younger son, who apparently had issues that he wasn't notified immediately. I do not have this kid's (Not a child. I think he's 50.) phone number or email address, and he has not bothered to check up on his father in a decade. Death brings out the worst in the living.

 Interesting that it is acceptable to feel that you're a different gender than your outer self but not acceptable to feel that you're a different race. Caitlyn Jenner, fine. Rachel Dolezal, not so fine. I see nothing wrong with either. And the reason is simple. Folks who feel they're not quite in their right skin and who feel a part of a different reality are remembering past lives, lives that were very important to them. So simple when looked at the right way.

Watch What You Say, Read, or Speak

Here is an article containing words that our Department of Homeland Security looks for when monitoring social networking sites. Personally, I value the First Amendment and will continue to speak my mind, whether in person or on the Internet.


It is truly a sad day when spying on Americans has become the accepted way of doing the government's business.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2150281/REVEALED-Hundreds-words-avoid-using-online-dont-want-government-spying-you.html

RIP Trayvon Martin

I was not in Sanford, Florida, on the night that Trayvon Martin died. And much of the rhetoric that we have heard over the last few days comes from emotion and not from facts. As a criminal defense attorney, I cringe at seeing this case tried in the press even as I've gotten swept up in the indignation and anger myself. That is why I thought a careful examination of what we know, as opposed to what we surmise, is called for.
Fact: Trayvon Martin was shot to death.
Fact: George Zimmerman stated that he felt threatened. It does not appear that he has ever said how he felt threatened or why he felt it necessary to use deadly force.
Fact: Trayvon Martin was unarmed.
Fact: Florida's stand-your-ground law does not include taking off after and chasing down a person perceived to be a threat. The law in its simplest form means that there is no duty to retreat. There is no corresponding right or duty to hunt down.
Fact: The police department of Sanford did not do any of the tests that are normally done after a death. George Zimmerman, who admitted to shooting Trayvon Martin to death, was not tested for drugs.
Fact: 911 tapes record a person, later identified as Trayvon Martin, asking for help. Those tapes also record Mr. Zimmerman saying that he was chasing Mr. Martin and was told not to do so by the police dispatcher.
We have an unarmed child shot to death while trying to get away from the person who ultimately killed him. We have an admission from his shooter. We have testimony from neighbors, Mr. Martin's girlfriend, and the 911 tapes all corroborating the facts. There are no disputed facts here.
And that evidence, Dear Sanford Police Department, constitutes probable cause that a crime has been committed.

What's Happening to Our Country?

We are living in scary times when a swat team can break into somebody's home unannounced, shoot 71 bullets at him, and allow him to bleed to death.  This didn't happen in Iraq or Libya or some "rogue" nation, it happened in Arizona.  

It's Not Fair!

Granted, fairness quite often doesn't have anything to do with the law.   I filed an appeal with the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles last week, and the information sheet provided says that appeals can take up to TWO YEARS to decide.  Isn't it stilll true that justice delayed is justice denied?