America’s Insane Drug Laws

by | Jun 4, 2021 | Law Enforcement

I was told that Einstein’s definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over while expecting a different outcome. We’ve been repeatedly trying, for over a half century, to stem the tide of illegal drugs using the same failed approach. Yet we probably have more illegal drugs available today, than at any time in recent history. I remember when the head of DEA was on national television a few years ago explaining that on their best days, DEA keeps about 5% of the drugs from coming into our country. Why does America persist in following a strategy which always proves to be a failure? Let me take a moment to point out that I detest those illegal drugs, but I’m smart enough to realize we can’t stop people from using them.

How many times have you seen a press conference where DEA or the FBI announces the arrest of a drug kingpin? The formula is almost always the same. It took them 2-3 years, sometimes longer, to gather enough evidence for a conviction. What they usually leave out of the equation are the millions of dollars the investigation cost the taxpayers. And sometimes, it’s more than money, as lives are often lost during their pursuit of the cartel leader. But in the end, DEA, the FBI, or a local law enforcement agency, makes an effort to proudly tell us the time, money, and/or lives was worth the effort. Really? Only foolish people should believe that BS.

What happens after a drug kingpin is arrested? It’s usually one of two things. Someone in the cartel takes the place of the leader who was arrested, and after a brief period of adjustment, they continue to smuggle drugs into American cities as if nothing happened.

But occasionally the arrest does enough damage to an organization, that they can no longer function at the same level of efficiency. But guess what? If that happens, one of their competitors will take over and we’re right back where we started. However, before that competing gang takes over, there’s usually an extended period of extreme violence, as both gangs compete for the right to earn huge amounts of money, selling drugs in America.

This is a cycle which America has repeated endlessly for the past 50 years or so. Yet, for whatever reason, we keep on doing the same thing over and over. We never learned our lesson from Prohibition, when the Christian right tried to impose their version of morality on America. That was way back in the 1920s and it quickly became a fiasco. It didn’t change our moral values, and it certainly didn’t stop the flow of alcohol into the hands of our citizens. But it did succeed in transforming the Mafia from a group of small, local gangs, into a national powerhouse. The government gave criminals a golden opportunity and they seized that moment in time to change American culture, in a negative manner for many decades. Ironically, Prohibition not only failed in its goal to change morality, it set us on a path which led to the deaths of countless thousands, at the hands of what became much more powerful organized crime syndicates.

Fast forward to the creation of our drug laws and it became a huge opportunity for gangs in every major city, as well as newly developed Drug Cartels in countries outside of America. Much of the violent crime and murders in our cities are gangs fighting turf wars over the profits from the sale of illegal drugs. Chicago is a prime example of a city where the lives of many are extinguished in part because of foolish, futile drug laws. The drug laws have created problems which are far worse than the use of narcotics. The biggest achievement of our drug laws is making the production and sale of illegal drugs a financial bonanza for violent criminals. It sounds just like prohibition, doesn’t it?

Those who watch Fox are obsessed with illegal immigration at the Mexican Border. Many of those people are fleeing countries which are run by violent gangs, fueled by drug trafficking profits. Eliminating the drug laws will almost certainly reduce the level of illegal immigration at our southern border.

Please understand that our drug laws took an addiction/health issue and turned it into a massive criminal problem. More than half of all crimes committed in America are drug related. Imagine what would happen if we changed that equation. I have no sympathy for drug users, but we should understand that drug addicts have the same addiction problem which heavy smokers and drinkers have. Why do we single out drug users and turn them into criminals? Why don’t we treat them as people who need help, just as we do with heavy smokers and alcoholics?

I think you can guess what my approach would be, but how would you change our failed drug laws? It’s obvious that law enforcement has proven to be a total failure over the past half century. Therefore, we need a brand-new  approach, which enables people to get help with their addiction, without becoming criminals and/or dealing with drug dealers. What solutions do you believe would work better? Please keep in mind that whatever you come up with, it couldn’t be any worse than what we’ve experienced throughout our lifetime.

Alcohol Damages Brain Cells (Gray Matter)

by | May 21, 2021 | Health

No Amount of Alcohol is Good For You

Scientists have known for decades that drinking alcohol destroys brain cells (the gray matter used for thinking and logic). Here are the results of major study in the UK. Virtually all of the information below comes from the NPR and CNN websites. There is no such thing as a “safe” level of drinking, with increased consumption of alcohol associated with poorer brain health, according to a new study.

In an observational study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, researchers from the University of Oxford studied the relationship between the self-reported alcohol intake of some 25,000 people in the UK, and their brain scans. The researchers noted that drinking had an effect on the brain’s gray matter, regions in the brain that make up “important bits where information is processed,” according to lead author Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at Oxford. “The more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter,” Topiwala said via email. “Brain volume reduces with age and more severely with dementia. Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing,” she explained.

“While alcohol only made a small contribution to this (0.8%), it was a greater contribution than other ‘modifiable’ risk factors,” she said, explaining that modifiable risk factors are “ones you can do something about, in contrast to aging,” Type of alcohol doesn’t matter”. The team also investigated whether certain drinking patterns, beverage types and other health conditions made a difference to the impact of alcohol on brain health. They found that there was no “safe” level of drinking. meaning that consuming any amount of alcohol was worse than not drinking it. They also found no evidence that the type of drink, such as wine, spirits or beer, affected the harm done to the brain. 

Keep in mind that certain characteristics, such as high blood pressure, obesity, or binge-drinking, could put people at higher risk, researchers added. “So many people drink ‘moderately,’ and think this is either harmless or even protective,” Topiwala told CNN via email. “As we have yet to find a ‘cure’ for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, knowing about factors that can prevent brain harm is important for public health,” she added.

No safe limit
The risks of alcohol have long been known: Previous studies have found there’s no amount of liquor, wine, or beer that is safe for your overall health.  Alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016, accounting for nearly one in 10 deaths, according to a study published in the Lancet in 2018. “While we can’t yet say for sure whether there is ‘no safe level’ of alcohol regarding brain health at the moment, it has been known for decades that heavy drinking is bad for brain health,“ Sadie Boniface, head of research at the UK’s Institute of Alcohol Studies, told CNN via email. “We also shouldn’t forget alcohol affects all parts of the body and there are multiple health risks,” said Boniface, who was not associated with the University of Oxford study.

Tony Rao, a visiting clinical fellow in Old Age Psychiatry at King’s College London, told CNN that given the large sample size, it was unlikely the study’s findings could have arisen by chance. Rao said the study replicates previous research that has shown there is no safe limit in the level of alcohol consumption for its role in damage to the structure and function of the human brain. “Previous research revealed subtle changes, which demonstrate damage to the brain, can present in ways that are not immediately detectable on routine testing of intellectual function and can progress unchecked until they present with more noticeable changes in memory,” he said. “Even at levels of low-risk drinking,” he said, “there is evidence that alcohol consumption plays a larger role in damage to the brain than previously thought. The (Oxford) study found that this role was greater than many other modifiable risk factors, such as smoking.”

“The interaction with high blood pressure and obesity on increasing the damage done by alcohol to the brain emphasizes the wider role of diet and lifestyle in maintaining brain health,” he added. “Our results show that the safest level of drinking is none,” the report states. “This level is in conflict with most health guidelines, which espouse health benefits associated with consuming up to two drinks per day.”

The study looked at a broad range of risks posed by alcohol consumption, including diseases, driving accidents and self-harm. According to the report, alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths in 2016. It was the leading risk factor for disease worldwide, the study found, accounting for almost 10 percent of deaths among those ages 15 to 49.

Obviously, people will not stop drinking because it’s a lifelong habit. But hopefully, studies like this will motivate them to reduce the amount of alcohol they consume.

Almost 2/3 of Republicans Believe Trump Won the Election

by | May 20, 2021 | Politics

Trump was recently caught in yet another major lie, when he claimed the Arizona voting database was illegally deleted. The AZ Republican, who is the head of the election commission, was outraged by the allegation. He said the 180 people assigned to the commission, work hard and have integrity. He showed the existing voter database to reporters, which literally destroyed Trump’s newest LIE. Come on! Who could possibly be dumb enough to believe someone could delete the state’s voter database and nobody would notice? Only Trump supporters could believe such a stupid lie, and incredibly, they do.

If you’re someone who wants to see proof or evidence before you believe an allegation, you should be terrified at what’s happening in our country. Millions of Americans believe the election fraud allegations coming from the former President of the United States, whom rational people know is a pathological liar.

Let’s examine a number of facts which occurred after the election.

  • The votes in Georgia were counted 3 different times and there were no significant discrepancies.
  • The votes in AZ were counted twice and there were no significant discrepancies.
  • Sydney Powell and Rudy G. lost all 64 court cases, many of them presided over by judges whom Trump appointed. Why did they lose every case? Because when they were no longer in front of the TV cameras and were required to provide evidence of mass voter fraud, they produced ZERO EVIDENCE.
  • Sydney Powell, Trump’s attorney, recently said the following in a court of law. The voter fraud allegations were a BIG LIE. Who could possibly be dumb enough to believe it.

For any rational human being, the above would be far more than adequate to move on with their lives and disregard the big lie. Yet in Trump World, despite zero evidence, they continue to believe one of the biggest conspiracy theories of modern life. And I mean zero, not some evidence. It gets even scarier as Republicans are implementing policies around the country, based upon a false premise.

Let’s examine what happened from another perspective. And that perspective is someone who idolizes Trump and believes every one of his lies. For a moment, pretend you are one of them. You would have to acknowledge that the Democrats, whom Trump and his supporters routinely describe as bumbling, fumbling, incompetent buffoons, suddenly managed to secretly and efficiently organize and carry out their strategy of changing millions of votes in a national election. How did they magically become so skilled? If the Democrats suddenly becoming super-efficient and incredibly organized wasn’t farfetched enough, they haven’t found a single person who admitted they participated in a scheme to change votes from Trump to Biden.

Please allow me to repeat my question. If one believes the election fraud story, how did every single Democrat across the country, who participated in the scheme, remain silent? That never happens.

Let’s examine some other aspects of the 2020 election. In every one of the states Trump and his supporters complained about massive voter fraud by the Democrats, the election process was controlled by REPUBLICAN state legislators.

But if the facts outlined above aren’t enough, please answer the following two questions.
1. If the Dems magically controlled the ballot boxes, how did Trump manage to get 11 million more votes in 2020 than he received in the 2016 election? As an aside, Biden won the election by more than 7 Million votes.
2. If the Democrats somehow skillfully and secretly manipulated millions of votes, how did so many House Republicans and Senate Republicans surprise everyone by getting elected or re-elected in 2020? There were a number of Republican House and Senate candidates, who won despite the polls predicting they would lose by a significant margin.
3. Why is Trump claiming voter fraud only in the states he lost?

Obviously, requiring proof or evidence is no longer a component of being a modern-day Republican. As a result, you will see polices implemented in Republican controlled state legislatures across the country, only because the former pathological liar in the White House claims something happened. America and our democracy are in big trouble.

Minor Events/Comments/Issues Which Irritate Me

by | May 15, 2021 | Life

Everyone has quirks and/or things which bother them, and possibly no one else. Here are some examples of issues, comments, or actions which get on my nerves.

  • You are standing online at the grocery store checkout and the lady in front of you is paying for her groceries with a paper check. Yes, in the 21st century, she’s using a paper check. But it gets worse. She waits until all of her groceries are rung up by the cashier. Then she opens her pocketbook and starts searching for her checkbook. And of course, she can’t find her driver’s license.
  • When you leave for work 15 minutes early, every traffic light is green and there’s hardly any traffic. But when you leave for work 15 minutes late, every traffic light is red, there’s a school bus in front of you, and/or a motor vehicle accident.
  • You’re working at home and the phone doesn’t ring for several hours. When does it ring? It rings as soon as you step into the shower.
  • People who drive 15 to 25 mph slower than the speed limit in the fast lane.
  • Dangerous people who ride your bumper on the highway. Tailgating will probably save them all of 2 seconds, but they still do it, endangering themselves and you. In my opinion, the majority of accidents on our highways are a result of tailgating.
  • What about those non-stop drug commercials on TV where they show people living a fabulous lifestyle, but only if they use the advertised drug. Do you listen to the caveats in those drug commercials? Use of this drug may result in strokes, heart attacks, and occasionally death. Are you going to use a drug with those potential side effects?
  • Adults on TV talking about a list of reasons, while counting them, using their fingers, as if they are still in the second grade.
  • Why do web designers, or others who create forms, place the area code portion of a phone number in parentheses?
  • Why do web designers make the log in button prominent, but hide the logout button behind an icon?
  • I hate it when someone is talking about something positive happening in their lives, then they say or actually KNOCK on WOOD. What? Do they really believe knocking on wood will continue their good fortune?
  • After talking with somebody for several minutes, they preface their next statement with, “To Be Perfectly Honest With You”. It makes me wonder if much of what they said up to that point in time was dishonest.
  • He was shot in Broad Daylight. Is that different from NARROW daylight?
  • She gave birth to a baby boy.  Thanks for clarifying, or else I would have thought it was an adult boy.
  • It was a gruesome murder. Really? Are there happy, friendly murders? They are all gruesome.
  • NBA players who repeatedly foul jump shooters, especially behind the 3-point line. They probably block one shot for every two hundred fouls they commit. Why don’t coaches take them out of the game for repeatedly committing those dumb fouls?
  • The never-ending commercials in an NFL game. The game itself is only 60 minutes, but it usually takes 3 hours plus to finish it because they have so many commercials.
  • NFL coaches or players who waste a valuable timeout over a possible 5-yard delay of game penalty in the third quarter, or early in the fourth quarter. Don’t you realize that timeout is much more valuable than a 5-yard delay of game penalty?
  • NCAA college basketball, where they stop the game after the first whistle at the 16, 12, 8, and 4 minute mark of the half, for a series of never ending commercials. It ruins the game.
  • What is your reaction when someone says, I saw it with my own eyes. Your own eyes? Really?
  • Instead of saying “First of All” or “Second of All”, why don’t you simply say, first or second?
  • It’s absolutely free, as opposed to just free?
  • I’m writing with an ink pen. Is there another kind of pen?
  • The rear taillight is malfunctioning. Thanks for letting us know the taillight is located in the rear of the vehicle.
  • Things which happen very often by accident, but you couldn’t duplicate it, no matter how hard you try. For example, I recently dropped a quarter on the kitchen floor. What happened? The quarter somehow rolled on it’s edge, right between the very narrow opening between the stove and refrigerator.
  • I waked onto a room with my gym bag on my shoulder and was stopped in my tracks. Why? Because the shoulder strap somehow became wrapped around the doorknob. I repeatedly tried to do that on purpose and never succeeded.
  • Here’s something a little different, which hopefully happens to everyone. You climb the stairs for a purpose, but when you reach the top step, you completely forgot why you came up the stairs.