I’M THE PRESIDENT…..IT STAYS IN!

I realize I am writing more about politics and world event in recent weeks and less about Key West. A reason therefore. The illness took a lot out of me. Pushing 6 weeks now. Still have extreme tired spells. Ergo, I am watching myself and moving slowly.

I plan on going out tonight. With a date. Will see if Mary is available. I’m in the mood for the Chart Room followed by dinner outside at Pier 1.

Enjoyed doing Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou last night. The show provides the opportunity for me to vent. A multitude of items were covered.

If you have not heard the show, join me next tuesday at 9.  Actually, you do not have to wait till tuesday. Each show is archived immediately. Go to my home page .keywestlou.com. On the page you will find a listing for Tuesday Talk shows. I think it is on the top bar second item in from the left. Click once. Then again on what pops up. Voila! You should be there.

As I look at today’s title, I sense it could be subject to a double meaning. Only one is intended. It involves Ronald Reagan. It can only be good!

Two years ago, I wrote about Reagan and the speech he delivered at the Berlin Wall. Today is the anniversary of that speech which Reagan delivered in front of the Berlin Wall in 1987.

His words etched in stone for history: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

The world knows Reagan’s words. Few however are aware how difficult it was for Reagan to get them into the speech.

Presidents have speech writers. They write and the President goes over the speech making changes. The speech goes back and forth several times before there is a final draft.

His writers were pussy footing around with the strength Reagan wanted the speech to reflect. On his first reading, he added “Tear down this wall!”

The speech went back and forth several times. Reagan would put the words in and his writers would take it out. They thought it was too strong.

Reagan wanted the message to be strong.

The fifth or sixth time around, a young staffer was with Reagan as he went over the speech. The words had been omitted again.

Reagan said to the staffer, “I’m the President, aren’t I?” The staffer responded, “Yes, sir.” Reagan said, “Then it stays in!”

Strange things happen. Especially deaths when a person is in police custody. What follows is one of the strangest!

On April 9, 2018, Everett Palmer was arrested on some insignificant charge. Jailed.

Palmer a veteran and father of 2 children.

A few days later, Palmer died when in his cell. The police report indicated he kept banging his head against the bars and such was the cause.

The family did not buy it. He was not the type to bang his head against bars.

Not satisfied with the police report, the family hired an attorney and an independent pathologist. The pathologist reported Palmer’s body was badly bruised and his heart, throat and brain were missing.

The family was correct in their suspicion. Something stunk in Denmark.

The Police Chief thereafter concluded Palmer’s death was a homicide and would be under investigation as such. The family awaits the determination of the homicide investigation.

Jurors are instructed to follow the law of the case they heard as set forth by the triall judge. In rare instances, a jury will not agree with the law nor the facts as presented. They sense something amiss.

Such is called jury nullification. Defined as when members of a criminal trial believe the defendant may be guilty, but choose to acquit him anyway because the jurors also believe that the law itself is unjust.

An immigration case. Tried by a federal court. After a one month trial, the jury could not agree. It was “hung.”

A criminal defense attorney will tell you a hung jury is as good as an acquittal. Your client walks out of the courtroom, not into a jail cell.

The case can be retried by the prosecution. Some are, some aren’t.

Scott Daniel Warren is a 36 year old geographer. He is also an activist re the rights of immigrants. He is involved with the group Mas Muertes. Translated, No More Deaths.

Warren is highly respected by the people of the Arizona area where he resides. He is referred to as “an apostle of humanitarians.”

He had been charged with 3 counts of human smuggling.

What did he actually do? Two immigrants had come across the desert. He discovered them in the bathroom of the Barn. A building that cared for immigrants. He did not bring them there. He came upon them.

His “crime” was providing them with food, water, beds and clean clothes.

People of Arizona sat on the federal jury. A number did not agree with the prosecution. Nor did they agree with the law. That is why, in the vernacular of defense attorneys, Warren walked.

Justice was served.

Trump’s new toy are tariffs. He uses them as a weapon to gain concessions from other countries.

There is an old adage something to the effect that one should beware of those he steps on while climbing a ladder. He will meet them again on way down.

Trump brought to mind Chamberlain over the weekend.

Chamberlain was Great Britain’s Prime Minister. He went to Munich to confer with Hitler. A last minute desperate attempt to avoid war. He got a signed document from Hitler assuring him there would be no war if certain concessions were made. Chamberlain made them.

There is a famous picture of Chamberlain when he returned to England. He is stepping off a plane waving the agreement. Shouting to the people…..Peace in our lifetime!

It became obvious over the weekend that Trump, pursuant to his usual course of conduct, had not been completely transparent with the American public re the tariff negotiations a few days earlier with Mexico. Trump claimed a U.S. victory. Per his usual custom.

A problem. The Mexican authorities said that basically nothing new was in the agreement. Matters therein had been agreed to several months before.

The media killed Trump for 48 hours following the disclosure.

Yesterday in a hurried news conference on the way to his helicopter to fly off to Iowa, Trump was asked about the agreement, when agreed to, etc.

He replied no problem. He put his hand in his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a one or two page document and waved it at the reporters.. Like Jack Horner pulling out a plum and saying what a good boy am I!

Trump said here is a secret provision in the agreement that clearly makes the U.S. the winner in the negotiations. He would not show the printed words nor tell the reporters what was in the paper he was holding. He said it was for Mexico to disclose and if they did not, he would down the road.

Chamberlain and Trump birds of a feather.

Now comes the best of the best.

The Guardian reported yesterday that Jared Kushner is part of a firm that has taken in $90 million since 2017. The monies coming from unnamed foreign entities.

Goldman Sachs and the Cayman Islands involved.

Kushner prior to Trump becoming President owned more than a 25 percent share in the operation. When his father in law became President, he disposed of a part leaving less than 25 percent in his name. He did this when he went to work in the White House.

It was reported Kushner failed to report his involvement in an early disclosure form.

The Guardian further reported the investments made were legal. However the source of the cash involved “murky.”

Enjoy your day!

 

 

4 comments on “I’M THE PRESIDENT…..IT STAYS IN!

  1. I realize I am writing more about politics and world event in recent weeks and less about Key West.

    That is fine with me Lou, priority dictates. It will be a relief when Trump is out in 2021, the country can get back to the normal pace of politics instead of the daily sh&t circus Trump’s antics provide. Hopefully we all can get back to normalcy.

      • I’m pretty sure America is better than Trump and Trumpism. If America fails to rise to the standard again in 2020 the resistance will continue and the Republican party will continue down the dark hole it dug for itself. Either way, better angels will prevail, soon or later.

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