Media Reports on CBS “Big Brother” Series Ignore Fact That Companies Who Terminate Their Employees Because of Their Actions on the Show May Be Violating Labor Laws: Is CBS Also Vulnerable to Legal Action?

Season 15 of CBS’s “Big Brother” series is underway, and it’s got more issues this season than any of the prior seasons.   Racial comments seem to be in abundance, and it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon.

According to published reports, two contestants have been fired from their jobs because of the stupid things they’ve said on the show.  Here’s the catch: the contestants don’t know they are unemployed and won’t until the end of the season because CBS isolates the participants from contact with the outside world until their work for the show is finished.

Last season, one of the participant’s houses burned down and CBS didn’t tell her until she was released from the show.   That was horrifying.  I’d be ready to throttle someone if my house burned down and I didn’t know about it until weeks or months later, or a family member died, or whatever happened and I didn’t know about it for weeks or months.

In the case of these two participants whose jobs were terminated by their companies, their companies have labor laws to contend with, with regards to final paychecks, etc.  For instance, when is the day of termination?  The day the company announced it publicly (also a possible legal problem for the company), or the day that the employee is formally notified that their employment has been terminated?   There will be a legal challenge there.

It would have been better for the companies to announce that they were conducting a review of the employee conduct on the show, and then leave it at that until the employee returned to work, instead of making a political statement and violating who knows how many state and company employee termination procedures.

Now, is CBS vulnerable to lawsuits claiming damages from their contestants for not notifying them of issues regarding home, family, work, etc?  I’m sure CBS requires all contestants to sign waivers up the wazoo, for everything and anything.

Interesting story.

Weiner’s Doing This on Purpose: Look at All the Free Publicity He’s Getting and Name Recognition

If disgraced politician Anthony Weiner wins his election for Mayor of New York, the joke’s going to be on all of us and here’s why: look at all the free publicity he’s getting from all the stupid sex jokes about him.  I’m pretty disgusted by some of the headlines over on Drudge this morning.

I may be off the wall on this, but I think there’s a possibility that this is a carefully crafted strategy by Weiner to defeat his other opponents for the Mayor’s office.  And his wife’s in on it.

Just an off the wall thought, probably wrong.

Department of Justice Should Not Surrender to Mob Mentality Like Florida Prosecutors Did When They Charged George Zimmerman: FBI Didn’t Find Any Evidence of Civil Rights Violations

The Department of Justice needs to stand its ground now, and refuse to knuckle under to political and mob pressure to bring doomed hate crimes charges against George Zimmerman. 

I say “doomed” hate crimes charges because the FBI investigation that they’ve already conducted found no evidence of civil rights violations.  No evidence=no case, unless the DOJ goes forward with an attempt to quell the mob.  

A federal charge would be a victory for mob rule, which is where we seemed to be headed.  

“Jury Delivers Bombshell Decision?” Only to You, CNN

Flipping through the news channels, I couldn’t help but notice the captions at the bottom of the screen.  CNN seems to be taking personal umbrage at the Zimmerman verdict, trumpeting their “Jury Delivers Bombshell Decision” headline with their panel of talking heads, before switching to the “George Zimmerman: Not Guilty” headline.

Truth be told, all the other networks were doing the same thing, but CNN was the only one who seemed to be “shocked” at the decision.   But then again, it’s CNN’s practice to engage in excessive race baiting to the point of rudeness, using labels to divide people and hyphenating to an extreme degree.  And then feigning surprise when their agenda fails in the face of lack of evidence.

And this is the news organization trumpeted as a “news organization” by members of the Obama Administration’s press secretary staff?

OJ Simpson Scenario Likely to Play Out with George Zimmerman: He Won the Criminal Court Case, But Will Likely Lose a Civil Case Against the Family

Assuming that the DOJ doesn’t file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman (which remains to be seen), the next development will likely be a civil suit filed by the Martin family.   I see an OJ Simpson-style scenario playing out, in which Zimmerman will likely be held civilly liable for the death of Trayvon Martin, despite being acquitted of murder and manslaughter.

The evidence needed to win in a civil case is considerably less, and the self-defense argument won’t hold as much weight in that court.

George Zimmerman didn’t do himself any favors in doing interviews with the media prior to his being arrested for the murder charge.

I can’t see how he will win another victory in court.  And that’s if the Department of Justice doesn’t get involved with the hate crimes charges first.  

This media circus isn’t over yet.

Zimmerman Found Not Guilty: Given the Lack of Evidence and the Supremacy of Stand Your Ground Law in Florida, This is Not a Surprise at All

George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter by his Florida jury, so that aspect of the situation is finally over.

Now the other side is screaming about Obama’s Department of Justice to file charges on whether the victim’s civil rights were violated.  Here’s a thought…whose rights exactly?  

I think there’s even less evidence of George Zimmerman violating Trayvon Martin’s civil rights than there was for this murder/manslaughter trial, but TONS of evidence to support a charge against the government of violating GEORGE ZIMMERMAN’S rights.  After all, it’s been revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request that the DOJ was in Sanford organizing anti-Zimmerman rallies.

This DOJ cannot be trusted to act impartially.  It’s impossible for them to do so now.

With regards to the jury decision in Florida, only a few incidents across the country have been reported by the media as protesters took to the street.   As people wake up this morning, and learn the news if they missed it last night, things may still get ugly. The LA riots in 1992 took place over six days, with 53 dead and 2,000+ injured. 

I hope things stay peaceful.

White House Lackeys Attack Fox News: Call CNN a “News Organization” While Calling Fox a “Wing of the Republican Party”: January 17, 2017, Cannot Come Fast Enough to Get Our Current President and His Minions Out of Washington

President Obama’s attack dogs went after Fox News again, calling it a “wing of the Republican Party” while calling CNN a “news organization.”  CNN is as much an extension of the Democratic Party (and much more than that) as Fox is perceived to be by the other side. 

Can we jump ahead to January 17th, 2017, please, so that this group of individuals goes home? 

Their foreign policy has failed.  Despite the Comrade Obama apology tour, our enemies have multiplied, our allies don’t trust us, certain government employees are committing treason and then running to Russia and China for protection, who then interrogate them for whatever information they have.   The Kremlin’s already announced that it’s going back over to typewriters to secure its secrets, thanks to whatever Snowden told them.

In response, all the government can do is launch blistering verbal attacks on their political enemies and the media, blaming others for their problems while ignoring their own failed policies which have lead them to this point.   That’s not the media’s doing, that’s the Administration’s responsibility.

Prosecution Uses More Force of Personality to Bang Home His Points With Zimmerman Jury: He May Have Hurt His Prosecution Even More By Overselling His Weak Case

He who talks less…wins.

That’s the message coming out of the Zimmerman trial today.  The general feeling that I had was upon watching the entire replay of the prosecution’s closing arguments and listening to the analysis is that he talked too long and bored the jury.  I was bored about halfway through.

I think the defense is going to power slam the prosecution in their closing arguments by pointing to the lack of evidence in the case.   And I think they’re not going to talk as long either. 

The jury will have the case by tomorrow, unless something goes unexpectedly askew.

I’m pretty sure that police departments across the country are going on alert tomorrow as well, if they haven’t already. 

BTW, since when was it racist for police departments to anticipate trouble from a trial, and make plans to deal with any riots that result?  I bet the LAPD wished they had done more planning prior to the Rodney King verdict.   It might have spared some neighborhoods and some people a lot of trouble and pain.

And what’s with the judge telling the attorneys to shut up while she questioned Zimmerman?  The role of the judge is to ensure that courtroom protocols are followed to the letter, and she violated those protocols.  Experts were stunned at what they witnessed.    Perhaps the judge should follow the instructions she gave to the jury and abstain from reading about the trial, watching TV about the trial, talking about the trial and abstaining from social media during the trial.

I hope the judge’s action doesn’t impact the outcome, whichever decision is rendered.

And what’s with the news that the DOJ was organizing anti-Zimmerman protests in Sanford earlier this year?  The DOJ needs to act more professionally than it has the last couple of years.

And CNN using the term “white Hispanic?”  CNN needs to apologize for using racial terms to describe people they don’t like.  For CNN to join the race baiters is disgraceful.

U.S. SHOULD Be Mulling a “Zero Option”: Karzai’s Attitude Suggests Afghanistan Can Go It Alone Without U.S. Backing: He’s Wrong of Course, But Pulling U.S. Troops Out is Good Policy

I’m hoping that the situation that developed in Iraq which lead to the complete U.S. pullout of troops from that country also happens in Afghanistan.  President Karzai seems to going down that path too, which is very good news.  

The situation I speak of is the breakdown of talks over the Status of Forces Agreement (SoFA) in Iraq, which lead to President Obama pulling the plug on the Iraq War, one of his few foreign policy achievements.

President Karzai is unhappy that the U.S. is negotiating with the Taliban and has postponed SoFA negotiations between the U.S. and Afghanistan for post-2014.  I’m liking this development.

The reason why I like this is that Karzai’s attitude has been rude and disrespectful toward the U.S. and coalition forces for a while, especially since there have been a lot of Western causalities in Afghanistan on behalf of his government.  And he’s using the SoFA negotiations as a bargaining chip to manipulate the U.S. into doing things his way.

If Afghanistan is as strong as Karzai says it is and can do the job better than U.S. troops, then by all means, go with the zero option and pull all troops out…at the end of 2013, not 2014.

The U.S. military needs time to retool, rebuild and rest, and see to the needs of the troops who have been wounded, physically or mentally, and to prepare for the next global hotspot, wherever that may be.   We’ve spent far too much time and effort and national treasure on Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Other countries like North Korea and Iran have taken advantage of our forces being tied up in Afghanistan and Iraq for far too long.  While we’ve had two wars going on, they’ve thumbed their noses at us, instead of worrying if they were next.   And there’s both the perception that we have a weak President, and that the U.S. doesn’t attack countries with nuclear weapons, which has lead directly to North Korea openly developing nuclear weapons, and Iran doing the same thing much more quietly.

So, by all means, pull the troops out.  Then we’ll see if Karzai can back up his rhetoric with results.

Zimmerman’s Going to Be Found Not Guilty: Cities Had Better Be Getting Ready for the Promised Mass Riots if the Prosecution Fails

George Zimmerman is going to be found not guilty within a matter of days or weeks, and when it does there will be race riots all over the country.

Some of the tweets that have been circulated in the media from people looking for a reason to start a riot are intensifying, now that experts (I’m not one of them) are predicting that Zimmerman will be found not guilty of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin.  Inciting a riot is a crime, but it isn’t stopping people from wagging their tongues.

I’m glad I don’t live in Chicago, or Los Angeles, or other big cities.  If the experts are right, the idiots will be out in force.

They need to prosecute every single person who has said they’re going to start a riot, and get these fools off the streets.

European Countries Who Are Protesting the U.S. Spy Program Shouldn’t Be Protesting Too Loudly: They Have Their Own Spy Programs Too

EU countries have been making a lot of noise about the U.S. spying on them, while not mentioning their own spy programs. 

News of France’s program, called “vast” by the media, appeared in world press publications today.   French political hypocrites.

Britain has one, too.  The U.K. has been very quiet about their program.

Germany?  They may be planning a program, according to German news organizations.

I don’t side with President Obama on many issues, but he was right when he said that all nations spy on each other.   I wonder how many more European covert spy programs, all similar to the U.S. Prism system, will come to light in the coming days.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Was NOT Moderate, CNN: They Were Extremists and Represented a Minority of Egypt’s Citizens

CNN has an opinion piece out, quoting a prominent Egyptian professor that “moderates will not have a voice in the wake of the military takeover in Egypt.”

This intellectual is wrong.

The moderates were never represented in or by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is going to be forced back underground by the military action in Egypt.   There may be an opportunity for the moderates to come out of hiding from the Muslim Brotherhood, who were not open to opinions that were different from theirs.

CNN and the other networks need to quit calling the Muslim Brotherhood moderates, because they most certainly were not.  The non-Muslim Brotherhood members of the government were window dressings for the Brotherhood agenda.

Hopefully the Egyptian people don’t return the people who failed them to power in the next election.

If Snowden Had Simply Revealed Presence of NSA Programs, He’d Definitely Be A Whistleblower; But He Took Four Laptops With Top Secret Information to Chinese Territory, and Then Russia: He Went There to Sell the Information in Exchange for Money and Protection

I’ve gotten some feedback from my last post suggesting that we offer to return convicted arms dealer Victor Bout to Russia, in exchange for their turning Snowden over to the FBI, and I should probably clarify where I stand on his acts.

I’m glad he revealed the existence of the NSA monitoring program; that’s the first step in getting an under-the-radar program under some kind of positive control.  Yes, it’s probably caused irreversible damage to the efforts of our security agencies to monitor what groups like al-Qaeda are plotting next.

That damage aside, Snowden went from simple whistleblowing to something else when he went to Hong Kong with classified materials and began shopping around for a country to take him in.   We don’t know if he talked to China’s intelligence services while he was in Hong Kong.  We also don’t know if he talked to Russia’s intelligence service about the materials in his possession, or if he even has the material anymore.

We need to bring him in, with the stolen material he took, and question him to figure out if he deserves whistleblower protection, or if he needs to be charged with treason and similar kinds of crimes.  I think it falls into the “treason” column myself.  But we can’t do that until someone detains him and turns him over.

He needs to to return to the U.S., involuntarily if necessary, attorney up, and have his day in court.

The Russians Have Snowden, We Have Victor Bout: Offer the Russians a Trade

The Russians were not happy when the U.S. successfully extradited and prosecuted a Russian for selling weapons to whomever could meet his price.  Victor Bout’s story was portrayed in the movie “Lord of War” with Nicholas Cage a few years ago.

The U.S. is not happy with Russia over their allowing Edward Snowden, accused NSA leaker, onto their territory as he has fled Hong Kong and is in Moscow at the moment.

President Obama should call President Putin and offer him Victor Bout in a trade, provided that the Russians turn Snowden over to the FBI immediately, and before he is able to leave Russia.  Putin might go for it…it wouldn’t hurt to try.

New President of Iran is a Step Up From the Last One: Better a Cleric Than a Terrorist and Hostage Taker Like Ahmadinejad Allegedly Was

I’m no fan of Iran’s form of government, but the new Iranian President is a definite improvement over the last one.  This one’s an intellectual who wants to repair relations with the West, where Ahmadinejad wanted to wipe Israel off the map and confront the United States over his nuclear program.

I know the CIA said that Ahmadinejad wasn’t involved in storming the U.S. Embassy in 1979, but his words and actions against the West and against his own people spoke louder than his denials of being a terrorist.

Hopefully the new President is able to carry out his reforms, and his fellow clerics support his restoration of ties to the West, and a lessening of tensions with Israel.

If North Korea CAN Mount Nuclear Warheads on their Missiles, Shouldn’t We Know About It NOW, Instead of When They Nuke One of Our Overseas Bases?

A congressman may have revealed updated U.S. military information on North Korea, which suggests that they may already have the ability to mount nuclear warheads on their ballistic missiles, which goes against what the Obama Administration has been publicly saying about North Korea’s missile capability.

IF North Korea already has this capability, the American people should be informed of it sooner rather than later.   It may raise jitters among the American population for a while, but they’ll get used used to living under another nuclear threat, if they have to. 

But I don’t think North Korea’s nuclear threat will last that long, if things continue to progress as they have.  One of the North Korean generals is going to put a bullet in Kim Jong Un’s fat ugly head, as he doesn’t have their unanimous support, in spite of their shows of public admiration on North Korean media television.

Hopefully Kim Jong Un, his uncle and his aunt live long enough to be put on trial for crimes against humanity, in the name of North Korean political prisoners who are in their slave labor camps or are starving to death in the streets while the "fat pig” (a South Korean term of endearment, and one that brings a death sentence in North Korea) leader eats to his heart’s content, with not a care about his starving people.

He’s had plenty of time to get food to his people since taking charge of North Korea, but has instead sent U.N. food meant for the hungry to his military combat units instead.  Shame!!

Women’s Groups Give President Obama a Free Pass on His Comments About California’s Attorney General: If a Republican Had Said the Exact Same Thing, They’d Be DEMANDING His Resignation, Not Saying that He “Displayed Leadership”

Double standard in progress…

President Obama apologized for commenting on how attractive California’s attorney general was, after women’s groups started raising concerns, that the comment detracted from her professional accomplishments.  Some of the groups praised President Obama for “demonstrating great leadership” in apologizing and saying that there’s still a “cultural gap” in how women are professionally treated.

Now, if a Republican had said the same thing, these same groups would be leading the charge to have the offending politician resign.  “Demonstrating great leadership” my afterburner!

More double standards from the left. 

North Korean Generals Need to Get Rid of the Kid Running Their Country: He’s In WAY Over His Head

We really need to get in contact with the North Korean generals around Kim Jong Un and encourage them to get rid of the runt.   That kid has no business being in charge of nuclear weapons.

Venezuela’s President Passes Away: VP Blames U.S. For “Giving Chavez Cancer” and Expels Two U.S. Embassy Officials

Hugo Chavez passed away from cancer today, and his U.S. ultraliberal supporters have been paying tribute to him, Sean Penn among them.   Hearing them sing his praises is like listening to a dying mule moaning.

He may have been popular with the poor of his country, but he definitely didn’t do them any favors.  He stole $2 billion of their money, leaving their currency in free fall, their inflation rate extremely high, food shortages, electrical shortages and housing shortages throughout their country.

His vice president (and current acting president) is still repeating Chavez’s mantra that the United States gave him cancer, while ignoring the fact that it wasn’t the cancer that got him, it was a massive heart attack.  This is according to the head of Venezuela’s Presidential Guard. 

Where are the intellectuals in Venezuela?  They’re in the opposition, in jail, or outside the country where Chavez couldn’t make them disappear, like so many others who dared to speak out against Chavez’s reign.

Venezuela will be better off getting rid of the bus driver who is now their President and putting Chavez into the ground, instead of keeping his body on display like Lenin in a glass box.

Like my reaction to Arafat, I do not extend my sympathies to the people of Venezuela on the loss of their Dear Leader.   I mourn Chavez’s many victims and their families.  That’s more appropriate than the liberals in this country crying for the Mouth of the South.

The Word “Resigned” Isn’t the Right Word to Apply to Benedict XVI’s Actions; The Correct Term is “Abdicated” or “Retired”

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI didn’t resign the throne of St. Peter; he abdicated, which is the correct term to use, or he retired. 

There are a couple of definitions that need to be looked at:

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resign

1. To submit (oneself) passively; accept as inevitable: I resigned myself to a long wait in line.
2. To give up (a position, for example), especially by formal notification.
3. To relinquish (a privilege, right, or claim). See Synonyms at relinquish.

To give up one's job or office; quit, especially by formal notification:

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abdicate

to renounce (a throne, power, responsibility, rights, etc.), esp formally
[from the past participle of Latin abdicāre to proclaim away, disclaim]

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“Abdicated” is the more accurate term to describe Benedict’s actions.  He pledged his allegiance to his successor and vowed to stay out of high level Vatican politics.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there as to why the pope chose to go into retirement; I’m inclined to believe that the job was too much for him to handle, and that a younger back was needed to do the heavy lifting.  I’m hoping that they choose a pope young enough to have a decades-long reign, instead of someone who is already in his late 70s or 80s.