S.Carolina Cop Charged With Murder. Are We Crying Over Spilled Milk?

The man who took the video of the cop accused of murdering Walter Scott in South Carolina was about to erase the video and leave the community of Charleston. Feidin Santana might be from the Dominican Republic, but he's way too brown and street savvy to feel comfortable about his prospect's given the way Walter Scott was treated on his video.

Eventually he heard too many bad reports of what actually happened and read a copy of the officers report himself. The video he wanted so badly to erase told another story. At the risk of his own life, Santana took the crime video to the people who did the crime.

Obviously, not every cop did this crime, but the cop who did it was seeking to save himself from prison, or worse. Listening to the police's version left Santana with the concern that the nation that embodies justice was no better than his crime stricken homeland. If the police in America are corrupt, where do you go with the kind of information he had in hand?

The police are NOT corrupt, but every company has bad workers. After having recorded the actions of one of those bad workers, Santana didn't know who would be interested in justice or committed to saving their own, and their reputation at the same time.

If you think about it, the model for handling police shootings is terribly flawed. Although every cop deserves to be supported, even when they accidentally spill the milk- minorities, and those who love us, are not crying over the accidental spills from policing. Our scream is for the same people who spilled the milk to tell us EXACTLY what happened- but the story is becoming eerily familiar in every case.

I FEARED FOR MY LIFE so I emptied my gun.

Feidin Santana did not record a shooting from a cop who appeared to be in fear for his own life, yet the original narrative told the story exactly that way. South Carolina has an independent review board called SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) that might have eventually turned this narrative in the same direction that the video did first- but who knows. Nothing in the initial reports suggests that anything close to murder had occurred.  South Carolina officials have promised to release their video from the dashboard camera today, which, to avoid further unrest, really needs to be a bad view of the incident.

Feidin Santana recorded the death of Walter Scott.

If the dash-cam is as graphic as the video from Santana, we all will ask, "why did they wait to view it?". What nobody wants to learn from this incident is that the police saw their own video and still reported officer Slager's account of things. That thought is why Santana still fears for his life, and why what Santana is doing now, he's doing from conscious alone.

Why South Carolina police would have a video version that they did not view before releasing a statement is unconscionable. As someone who spilled a lot of milk in my youth, I can relate to  their response.  My typical reaction was always to fix the mess before mom ever found out.  Whenever my spills got divulged, I was reticent to spill the beans on myself and often ended up sharing some half true accounting of things.

The police are creating the spill, cleaning the spill and explaining the spill when life and death- not tears- is at stake.  From this day forward, even a chest camera might not be suitable to explain all the red milk of unarmed black men that continues to spill at the hand of white police officers. If America is simply crying over the inevitable spilled milk of police work, we should at least let an arbitrary reviewer (FBI perhaps) tell us if our tears are justified or not.  With this latest video example of America's policing problem, its clear that the cops have way too much to lose.

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year! End Of Madness Sadness

We're stealing the song and using for the correct season.
Thanks Andy!

Sorry December. Your song has been taken. We've contacted Santa and he will be personally getting in touch with the family of Andy Williams or whoever has the copyright to that Christmas song that he made so famous.  December is notorious for being maddening, but it is hardly the month of the year that we fondly brand with the moniker of "Madness".

This won't be another sharp criticism of the dreaded Christmas season that claims to be the most wonderful time of the year, yet for some involuntary reason, whenever February comes to a close, and March turns the corner, I find myself ballroom dancing all by myself while singing the Andy Williams Christmas classic "Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year".  This year, I accidentally caught myself singing along with another fella who seemed equally oblivious to the fact that it was 65 degrees outside and all the holiday lights had finally been pulled from the trees- which means neither of us live in Boston.  Even the birds seemed to be chirping along like they also knew March Madness was about to begin as well.

Reports say nearly 29 million Americans hummed along to our tune as record numbers tuned in to view the championship final despite the fact that the undefeated lure that we all had snagged in our mouths got its line cut by a pesky badger. The University of Wisconsin proved themselves worthy of their number one seed even though Duke overcame them, captured their 5th crown and proved to the UCONN Huskie's women's coach, Geno Auriema, (who also won his 10th title) that the boys can play basketball too.  Earlier during the tournament, Auriema complained that the boys were light years behind the girls in regards to the quality of game on the court.  He was totally correct, but the boys may never catch up with girls so long as one and done's force teams like Wisconsin to be the only schools in the land that graduate basketball players, allowing them to stay long enough to shake the AAU syndrome.

To the credit of the Blue Devils, the young guns got it done this time, but they certainly had the support of a Hall of Fame coach to join their ride.  Either Mike Krzysewzki knows how to deprogram modern players from bad AAU habits better than most modern coaches, or he's finally recruiting the top AAU kids that can also satisfy Dukes stringent enrollment standards as well since Duke has grown more "athletic" (code word for lots of black kids) over the years.  Coach K might look back on this years team and consider them among the smartest teams he's ever coached considering the youth of the team as well.  If these really smart Blue Devils decide to stay in college, they will have Kentucky like expectations from the start of next season, although Coach K would likely engineer a loss or two just to destroy the stigma of  another team trying the undefeated run.

In some ways, the tournament has become nothing more than a gamblers dream which is actually generating the spectator frenzy we call madness.  That 12 year old who won $20,000 from ESPN but couldn't collect because he was under age, will probably play the brackets for the rest of time trying to duplicate his near $20,000 feat.  We love the games but we really love choosing them correctly, especially the upsets.  This years tournament was a bit upsetting to our brackets since the higher seeds primarily prevailed all tournament long.  What we are starting to learn is the connection between our brackets and our interest in the tournament- which wanes a bit when brackets go bust. Because so many players leave early, its hard to actually claim an interest in the players anymore.  Whether we actually know the players or the teams before we make our brackets, or we get to know them when the tournament begins, we can always count on a memorable scene or two every tournament season.  Like the Georgia State team with the father and son sharing such a special moment. Or the journey of Kentucky's Wildcats, complete with winning epic battles with Cincinnati and Notre Dame before succumbing to Wisconsin.

This must be the most wonderful time of the year because I start to feel so darn awful once CBS plays that song "One Shining Moment" to conclude it all.  Fortunately, coaching youth basketball allows me to feed on my favorite dish all year round, yet, even I shake my head in dejected acceptance that the NBA is all we high level hoop spectators have left .You know, that league where you are wasting your time and your life if you watch the first two or three quarters?  You know, that league where the game looks a lot like AAU ball most of the time.  One of the greatest reasons to be sad about the end of college basketball is the NBA alternative that remains. Typically, we feel less stressed out when Christmas finally goes away, so how could it be the most wonderful time of the year?

I will stop advancing the virtue of March Madness at the expense of the NBA and Christmas, since hatred will not hasten the wait of the return, when me and that dude in the grocery store will ballroom dance around the lettuce singing our newly adopted March melody.  Unlike Christmas (last dig), every time I think that this tournament is great, the NCAA Final Four tournament only gets better.

Socialism Always Fixes Capitalism's Mess. I'm Just Sayin'

Did you happen to notice how those proud republican capitalist pizza shop owners declared their free market right to refuse their pizza to a gay wedding (does that mean they didn't already serve a single slice to a gay each day?)- but the voice of the free market has forced them to be saved by a virtual "Will Work For Food" sign, the most desperately socialist measure known to man?








   -Just Sayin'

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Iranian Nuclear Negotiations Might Be Littered By Trail Of TPP Money

A close look at the map explains why Iran could be a TPP player.

Opponents of the Iranian nuclear negotiation will tell you that Obama wants this deal no matter what the cost.  My natural tendency to question blind critics gave me pause to this claim. Today I am reconsidering.

We all know that the alternatives are limited (2).  Either we maintain sanctions for the hope of a future negotiation or we wage war to force a nuclear treaty. Our bombs might destroy some parts of Iran's  nuclear technology, but it will never remove their knowledge of creating nukes, thus the war option only increases Iran's incentive to escalate nuclear protection.  To avoid war, negotiations need to be firm, but fairness is an assumption assigned to the word negotiation, which means no one ever leaves them feeling like they totally won. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that Iran can be sanctioned into submission similar to the way Syria was convinced to let go of its chemical weapons.  What Netanyahu seems to forget is that airstrikes lead the brainstormed suggestions of what to do about Syrian violations against humanity.

Netanyahu also seems not to recognize that two of the actors seated at the Iranian nuclear negotiation table are Russia and China.  Despite our significant differences with these nations, especially Russia over Ukraine, Russia and China joined this coalition to establish a nuclear deal that is good for the world but fair to Iran.  The fact that Iran is a perfect geographical trade partner for Russia and China didn't hurt their motivation any.  While these nations continue to describe themselves as communist, they behave as capitalism demands.  Most of Americas issue with China remains over their humanitarian record and their record of sticking it to America relative to trade. Russia, on the other hand, is at odds with Europe and the world over their invasion of Ukraine.  Our differences are not worthy of war, yet just to see these powerful communist regimes seated at this table feels peculiar and somewhat confusing.


Confusing that is until it was reported that Apple is working on a move into Iran (along with other western companies).  If you did not already know it, Apple inc. had revenues last year that rank it as the #20 nation in the world.  Let me repeat. Apple has a GDP smaller than only 19 countries in the world.  Apple ranks closely to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in GDP, two Persian Gulf countries that will also be vital to the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) that Barack Obama's is using to take his NAFTA like walk off swing.  The GDP growth that American companies experienced as a result of raping Mexico and other North American businesses of their place in the market made Bill Clinton deity in the hierarchy of  former presidents.  While Obama might be altruistic in many of his presidential dreams, he's pursuing a "show me the money" memory like Bill's because he knows that America judges its presidents primarily by the economy that they leave behind- something that history books can't easily dispute.

The nation of Iran could not be better geographically located for becoming a  TPP go between, and if the news of Apple setting up a few corner carts in Iran is true, I would wager that Obama and Iran are willing to negotiate because of the easing of sanctions against Iran's vast oil market and a dangling Apple as well.

What Will Happen To Mens Golf When We Lose The Roar of Tiger?

Women's golf has its rising star and she is 17 year old Lydia Ko.  She is the Tiger of the women's game and a singular reason to tune in to see the ladies play. In the last couple of years, if you've heard a roar from viewers of men's professional golf, it was likely to be the chant of the name of the games rising star. What seemed a familiar sound was actually the crowd chanting "Rory, Rory," and not that unmistakable roar that only a Tiger can make.

Apparently, the folks at Augusta aren't confused by the roar and neither are the organizers of most tournament events these days- including that tournament organizer named Eldrick Woods.  That's right.  Even Tiger needed Tiger recently in order to insure the viability of his own charity golf tournament, so he announced himself ready to play hoping to keep his tournament viable.  Once again, a seemingly unhealthy Tiger is announcing his intention play in an upcoming tournament, but this time its the Masters.

Can Tiger recapture the days of his youth?

Some guys have the ability to move the needle in special ways. Tiger is the needle.

It might sound conspiratorial to suggest that Tiger is only playing this years Masters for the sake of tournament sponsorship and viewer ratings that increase tournament sponsorship, but the evidence seems rather clear in light of his recent health status and failed attempts to finish a decent round. Tiger's don't hunt like this.  They quietly lay in wait so as not to over exert their energy- and then they overwhelm their prey with cat like agility and speed.  The young Tiger did this with apparent ease while the old Tiger has proven to us all that nothing great is ever truly easy- the great ones just make it look that way.

Tiger could finish his stellar career tomorrow and he will rank among the best to ever do it.  Problem is, he has a chance to be the best to ever do it.  Some think he already is, however, being the best and winning the most tournaments are not always the same accomplishments. As it stands, one modern era player stands in front of Tiger and his name is Jack Nicklaus.  Up until now, Tiger has tracked Jack's path of greatness to the letter and remains on the trail to catch and surpass the greatest. Problem is, he looks to have lost the scent.

What Jack accomplished in 19 years (13 majors)  Tiger did in 11 (14 majors).  Problem is, Tiger  seems to have stalled out since reaching that first resting plateau because when Jack reached 40 years old, he still had a few good wins in the bag.  Right now Tiger Woods is 39 years old. If he follows Jacks trend of 5 major titles after 40 years of age, all will be forgotten during these years of Tiger's malaise.  What can't be forgotten is the enormous impact he still has on the game of golf, an impact that even Jack never had.

Traditionalist who yearn for golf purity may not be happy now that every Happy Gilmore and his ethnic friends have taken to the game of golf.  The decades of opening new golf courses regularly has not returned, but the tide of closing existing golf courses regularly has stemmed while the likelihood of sitting to view a golf tournament on weekend television remains very strong- so long as Tiger says he's playing.

Yeah, yeah. We all like Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler and those cats, but we can get the leader board update when they play, whereas we will sit and watch Tiger wail and flail any day of the week.  Tiger has always been an adventure to watch because he plays for big prizes only.  In the effort to insure you win and not just place, you might find yourself missing the cut in the game of golf.  Some players would love to win the tournament, but are genuinely out there to just keep hold of their tour card and make enough money to call themselves a pro. That's never been Tiger Woods, and given his unwillingness to play mediocre golf, it never will be.  Tiger would actually rather overemphasize (I didn't say fake) an injury versus remaining in a tournament that he has NO chance of winning.  That might sound pitiful from a competitive point of view, but it also might explain why Tiger is a boom or bust (mostly bust) performer right now.

What does a golf fade away look like?

Tiger is not failing for lack of introspection.  When you listen to him talk about his woes, he seems pretty clear that he is reaching the waning days of his golf years, and he must develop a fade-away to close out his career like Michael Jordan (his idol) closed out his illustrious career.  To continue in the vein of basketball, no player completes a championship run without experiencing some significant adversity.  Outside of this third quarter meltdown that Tiger is experiencing with his career, the guy would have been on his way to a route of the entire field.

Greatness just doesn't work like that.

Despite being undefeated, nobody will consider Floyd Mayweather the best ever if he doesn't show us his ability to overcome that moment of real adversity in his career. This is Tiger's moment of adversity and his time to prepare for his fourth quarter finale. Whether he succeeds or fails is inconsequential to each of us who are totally hooked on this show and committed to seeing it through to the final episode.  If he stinks up Augusta, we will watch until its clearly time to check back next time.  39 might be old in most professional sports, but not in golf, so Tiger has time to prove all of his doubters wrong and all of his supporters right, or vice versa- so long as he can handle the pressure of knowing that every single one of them is watching his every move.

The question that remains is not whether Tiger is only playing for the sake of television ratings and sponsorship dollars.  The question that remains is what becomes of golf without Tiger?

Will America's Next President Be Forced To Uphold Iranian Nuke Deal?

In America, talks of the finalized negotiations with Iran have been treated like a scorching hot jacuzzi.  For some, the benefit is well worth the pain while others find it a bit too hot to trust and occasionally risky for your health.  In Iran on the other hand, you might think it was a national holiday as citizens are parading the streets celebrating the anticipated relief of removed sanctions.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

 Leaders don't feel the pain of  sanctions until the commoners make them feel it. For Iranians, the incentive for change has primarily come from the bottom up as sanctions against Iran have fully reached the citizens they were designed to impact the most. Ten years ago, these sanctions began under President Bush for the hopes of forcing negotiations.  Actual sanctions against Iran began during the 70's. This time around we were negotiating with a sanction softened Supreme Leader in Ali Khamenei; sanctions that will remain if the deal is not finalized in June.

Despite our negative view of the nation of Iran, Iran is structured democratically enough for some hope of reasonable behavior.  They are called a nation of terror, but their most hostile leaders are still forced to win elections and deal with term limitations.

Remember me?
Former Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a significant role in developing the despotic image that many people have of Iran, but his term ran out, and most people who are fearful of Iran don't realize that Hassan Rouhani replaced Ahmadinejad in 2013.

Fear of Iran has also caused most peripheral viewers to think that only America is negotiating this historic deal with Iran.  In fact, the sanctions that forced Iran to the table came from the world community, as did the negotiations.  In the final hours of the deal, negotiators from every county, except America, worked frantically to iron out the bumps.  Whether we finally sign a deal or pursue the war option, this issue is a matter of international diplomacy and not of domestic politics as MANY in America keep trying to make it.





Many- like several of the so-called presidential candidates for 2016.  Usually we wait until the first televised debate before we invoke the word GRAVITAS upon the people of choosing for our next president, but that litmus test begins now.  In essence, Americans are not only looking for a good president but we are looking for a president who looks and sounds good while doing it.  Being presidential is mostly undefinable because it's one of those things you simply recognize when you see it.  Whether they like it or not, as a direct result of these vital negotiations with Iran, the gravitas analysis now begins for every person who considers themselves a genuine candidate for president of the United States of America.

Our next president will be the person most responsible for nurturing or burning and rebuilding the bridges of diplomacy that were built or missed under Barack Obama.  Already, talks are beginning on the subject of awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to Secretary of State John Kerry for engineering this deal.  It will hardly appear presidential if America's next president unravels peace prize worthy efforts. More importantly, the litmus test for each candidate will be to explain their view of the deal and their plans for upholding or destroying it as president, and to do so without scaring the hell out of would be voters.  Because of this deal and this deal alone, every extreme presidential hopeful should immediately consider themselves disqualified from the task of maintaining the path of peace that the world is building with the Iran nuke deal.

What Should Christians Against Homosexuality Do About Gay Marriage?

Forget for a moment that Christianity is a religion based on tolerance and forgiveness. Lets explore the deeper question of what to do if you sincerely have a religious problem with gay people getting married.

Apparently, the deeper question of morality keeps getting swept beneath the carpet according to those who fought to pass the religious freedom laws in Indiana and now Arkansas, so we shall tackle it now.  Given that these two new variations on the theme have attempted to protect the right of religious bigotry more than any similar law before, it should be clear that some Americans think we are all heading to hell in a hand basket- and its primarily for our acceptance of things like abortion and homosexuality.  Forget, for another moment, that humans are divinely ordained with free will and have chosen to engage in every sin that the bible warned about- including the sin of judging others.

Early Christian Americans experienced similar concerns over the years of this country's existence while watching the onslaught of liberal influence, especially in the realm of religion.  Puritans sought to impose their view of religion by legislating tough social standards upon one another.  Citizens considered outside of the mainstream were immediately assumed to be demon possessed and a risk to the social fiber of puritanical living.  Since the religious people of this time overwhelmed popular opinion, they also dictated the community response.

If you need to be intolerant because of religious views
then you might need to follow the leaders of intolerance.

We might have stopped burning you heathens, but religion has never been far from the framework of our nation and it has often been used as a tool for social engineering or as an excuse for the failures in this effort.  When America could not endure the stench of slavery, WE needed to legislatively degrade blacks (3/5's compromise) in order to further the abuse against them.  Nothing changed overnight, but eventually the laws and signs promoting racial intolerance came down and the face of racial intolerance covered up in embarrassment.
But it did not go away.

Ushered on by their insistence in a religious justification to their behavior, racial bigots in America who couldn't abandon their hate decided to hide their faces and press forward.  They quickly realized that America was no longer tolerant of such intolerance, so it became necessary to express their protected freedom of speech minus the risk of exposure and retaliation.

In America, bigots are totally free to be bigots.  What they are not free to do is force you and I to buy into that bullshit.  Literally.

What happens if you can't tell their gay?

Homophobia is still alive, but it is far from well.  In fact, its getting green at the gills and sucking for air to breath, but finding very little.  Less than a decade ago you could almost assuredly walk into a Christian church and hear a sermon against drugs, guns and gays, as if homosexuals were threatening to destroy America as much as our culture of  addiction or violence does.  Today the sermons have subsided a bit, but only if you stay away from red state pulpits.  In many of our conservative leaning churches of America, God is punishing us all for allowing gay people to exist so comfortably. In other words, God needs each of us to put on a hood and push those gays towards their own communities and not into the general public where good, God-fearing Christians live and work. Indirectly, the message becomes one of limiting gay freedom and not one of expanding religious freedom at all.

That Klan Man had a plan to go mainstream.

Maybe we should never hide the face of gay disgust but boldly parade it before the electorate of America as an alternative against those who continue to allow for the ruination of America.  David Duke came out from beneath his sheet so that proud bigots could profess their need for white supremacy efforts, since blacks, Jews, gays and somebody else that I can't remember right now, were stealing America away from the white man.

Yet, this effort is different in some ways.  Our history of intolerance has made us indignant towards the things we insist on tolerating (religious freedom) but even more so towards the things that need to change, like intolerance of all kind.  Way too many Americans have found themselves on the bad side of intolerance to allow new intolerance to be ignored.  When the AIDS epidemic reached a peak, it was often said that we will soon live in a world where everyone knows someone who has the disease.  As gay closets open across the world, we already could say the same for homosexuality- meaning that the face of intolerance is frowning at US all.

Few people in the world live untouched by homosexuality.  Some are furious about the role it has in our lives, but few are unaffected.  If everyone is truly touched by someone gay, homosexuality becomes more than a buzz word, but a difficult lifestyle that OUR friends and family are living.  Those who could be more normal and less shunned by the world at large would likely welcome the change.  So the question becomes, who needs to change?

Who Needs To Change?

What should a devout believer who reads the word and understands the statements against homosexuality do?  If they run a business and really feel awful about making a wedding cake that says "Congratulations Adam and Steve" and not Adam and Eve, should they be allowed to reject that customer?  Before gay weddings became the religious discussion, this was an access to contraception debate. Should businesses be protected by their state for ANY religious view they profess towards OTHER people and their lifestyle?

Governor Mike Pence and Indiana said yes- and they did it without a hood on their head or anything to protect them from the outcry. Now they get to deal with the retribution of those who abhor social intolerance.

The message to Indiana, and Arkansas, and everyone in search of freedom of religious bigotry is that WE have already decided on how these things will work out and we draw the line at the marketplace. Religious Bigots are totally allowed in America, but sometimes they need to put on a sheet to avoid marketplace retribution.  Outside of the marketplace everyone can believe as they choose. Inside of the marketplace, you will believe as your customers dictate.  If the religious bigots of  Indiana and Arkansas believe they can survive outside of the American marketplace, they should stand firm behind these new laws.


Otherwise, you bigots need to change. Not US.