This Sunday – Potpourri

Caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and all creatures great and small,

Here’s a shout-out an appreciation to our new subscribed followers.  Here’s another shout-out to those on Twitter who tweet out links of our blog posts.  Your support is greatly appreciated.   If you’re not following me on Twitter, my handle is @XenaBb7.

NEED YOUR PRAYERS AND POSITIVE THOUGHTS

Those of you familiar with our writers and comment participants may have noticed that Towerflower has been absent.  She gave me her approval to share this.  Whatever your path, whether prayers, positive thoughts or good wishes, she needs them.  Her sister and her mom both had strokes on the same day.  Her sister is now out of the hospital, but her 89 year-old mother is having problems.  Her mom had been taken off blood-thinners in preparation for a surgery, and that is when she had the stroke.  She has days of speaking clearly, and days of slurring her speech.  There are days when she just sleeps.   Please keep towerflower in your thoughts.

I’m not one who talks much about politics.  However, I did watch the Democratic debates.  In my opinion, it was not a debate as much as an introduction of the candidates.  My mind was made-up long ago that I will not vote for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.  In 2007-2008, she went dirty against Barack Obama and Sarah Palin used some of that dirt when she campaigned.   There is not one Republican candidate I want in the White House.  If by chance that Clinton should win the nomination, it will force me to vote for her.  Truly, I would prefer looking closely at the Independents, but am afraid that a vote for them will take a vote away from the Democratic candidate.

Well, why should I worry?  I’m in Illinois and Illinois always carries the Democratic candidate for president.

You might have noticed that on the right border of the blog is a video.  It took me some looking, but I finally found information by Word Press on how to embed a video on the border.  It will change maybe once a week and is intended for uplifting, and mainly music you can listen to while reading the blog.

Remember Dylann Roof, the guy who thought he would start a race war by killing 9 innocent people in a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church?  Attorney Michael O’Connell has been appointed as his a defense lawyer in the federal case against.  The federal indictment includes hate crime charges that carry the death penalty.  The New York Times reports that Roof wanted to plead guilty but attorney O’Connell would not let him because he does not yet know if the government will seek the death penalty.  The State of South Carolina is seeking the death penalty, against the wishes of the victims’ family members.

In November 2013, we reported on the case of David Castellani.   He is the young man who was put out of an Atlantic City casino for under-aged drinking.  Trying to find where to wait to meet his friends, he spoke with several law enforcement officers, then walked away crossing the street.  The surveillance video does not have sound, and it appears that words were exchanged.  David was rushed by officers, kicked, beaten, and while handcuffed behind his back, a K-9 was allowed to maul him, causing damage to his head and neck.

We can fast forward to January 2015.  A grand jury did not indict the officers, but they did indict David for aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest with threats or use of force or violence, and inflicting harm on the K-9.  Sterling Wheaten, the a K-9 handler, who has been an officer for about 7 years, has been named in at least 5 cases alleging excessive force or assault, and has been the subject of more than a dozen internal affairs investigations and 21 citizen complaints of misconduct.  The internal investigations found that the allegations were unsubstantiated.

In June, against the prosecutor’s wishes, a judge granted David entrance into a diversion program.  As of June, the civil suit filed by Castellani was still pending.

Feel free to share whatever is on your mind.