Knight Fall (James Maguire Series - Book 4)

Now that the hoopla of the 2016 Presidential Election is finally over, I am pleased to announce that my latest novel: Knight Fall, has been released as an e-book on the Kindle platform.

This is the 4th book in the James Maguire series and the 6th book in chronological order. To see the book progression, please click here.

Thank you for your continued support. I hope that you enjoy this and all my other books.

The 2016 Presidential Election is over!! Hallelujah!!

President (Elect) Donald J. Trump

Okay, as one of the Deplorables, I have to admit that I like the sound of that, but once we get past the basking of our post-election victory, we have to take a hard look at our future.

I am many things, but I am not a hypocrite. Back in 2008 I wrote about moving past the post-election celebration. I followed it up with another post in November of 2012. Now here we are in November of 2016 and I am again warning the country that not only must the politics changes, but so must we!!

Let us be completely frank and admit that the division in this country has only increased over the last eight years. That is what happens when politicians don’t have the answers to your problems. Rather than admit it, they divide us. It is an old and quite effective strategy. By turning ½ of us against the other the politicians get to pretend they are victims to their base. This is nothing but a ploy. One that is exacerbated by a main stream media that has made itself part of the problem, aiding in the political deception, instead of being honest arbiters of the news.

Understand that they are not the victims, we are!

We are victims of a political party system that truly does not care about us; just themselves.

I know the country was divided on the Presidential election, but now that it is over I truly hope that we will be able to put this all behind us. Perhaps now we can take the political slogans and actually make them a reality. Will it be easy? No, it will not.

Let us be honest, we have very TOUGH choices ahead of us.

We are in the middle of a financial death spiral in this country and we are going to have to make hard choices. Many of these choices WILL piss off some people, but they have to be done if we are to survive as a country. In this matter I am reminded of what President John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 Inauguration speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

We must get away from the system of government subsidies and bailouts. We must stand on our own two feet and forge our own way. Assistance form the government should be a last resort and not a first choice. We must learn to own personal responsibility and not look to blame others for our actions or their consequences.

And on that note I would like to personally extend my gratitude to President (Elect) Trump who, last night in his acceptance speech, took the extraordinary step of actually thanking the men and women of law enforcement. It was deeply moving to hear him acknowledge us for all that we have and continue to do for this great nation.

Are we perfect? No, no one is, but there have been a great many lies spread about us, all done for political expediency and support. Remember, the politicians are unwilling to address the real issues, so they pin the blame on us and we become the bad guy.  

In the end, the 2016 Presidential race will go down in history as a landmark event. When a career politician was rejected for an outsider and maybe that is exactly what this country needs. Someone who isn’t going to make political excuses, but force us to see that if we really want ‘hope and change’ then we are going to have to become part of the process. We can no longer remain on the sidelines as spectators; hoping that our political teams will save us. No, we have to shed the burden of reliance on government and play our own game.  

I just hope that it is not too late to create the ‘change’ we truly need. It's time to Make America Great Again!

I’d like to think that in this 4th quarter moment, America is the San Francisco 49’ers of old and we just elected Joe Montana to come into the game to save us.

So, in the immortal words of Knute Rockne: “Win one for the Gipper!!”

Did Hillary Clinton have Classified Information on her Server?

Earlier today, against my better judgement, I got into a social media argument.

I know, like I said it was against my better judgement and I should have just walked away, but I couldn't. Unfortunately it ended with comments like: "I guess i'm that stupid" and "count me stupid too."

Why does it seem that people enjoy making a flippant comment, but when you point out how they are wrong they immediately take things personally? I'm sorry that you are not plugged in to the issues and that you rely on a corrupt media for your talking points.

For the record, yes, Hillary Clinton did have classified information, Top Secret & Above, in her unsecured emails. Information that was so sensitive that even members of Congress were kept from seeing / hearing about it. In fact, Congress was given redacted documents and had to issue a subpoena. Don't believe me, listen to those in charge.

FBI Director James Comey

FBI Assistant Director Jason Herring

Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Charles McCullough

NSA / NGIA / ODNI Hearing

The problem is that we have become so entrenched in our political party system that we have abdicated our responsibilities as citizens. We have put party over ethics, morality and convictions. It's the reason we are in the place we are today and we have no one to blame but ourselves..... oh, and those pesky little talking points as well !! 

Hillary Clinton is not Innocent, She just wasn't Charged

Today, two days before the presidential election, the FBI Director released a follow-up statement that the latest investigation, into Hillary Clinton’s emails, was being closed and that they had found nothing. Not sure how exactly it took them months to digest tens of thousands of emails, but they seemingly went through hundreds of thousands in a mere eight days, but I will leave that up to you to digest.

If I included this story line in any of my books, my readers would (rightfully) burn them in disgust, because I had simply ‘jumped the shark’ and extend the plot line into the land of outright implausibility. However, in 21^st century politics we have learned that nothing is apparently implausible.

I know a lot of people are having problems with this whole Hillary Clinton / E-mail investigation. Most of the loudest cries of ‘Hillary didn’t do anything wrong’ come from folks who’s closest connection to actual law enforcement comes from having watched old episodes of Law & Order while staying at a Holiday Inn Express.

Sorry, but your Facebook Police Academy Diploma does not count in the real world. So, for the sake of aiding you, in this mind-numbing process, I would be happy to lend my fifteen years of NYC investigatory experience to the equation.

I thought I would make the facts of this case abundantly clear to all of you via the new ‘millennial bumper sticker’ format.

In his testimony before Congress on July 7^th, 2014, FBI Director James Comey testified that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not turn over (thousands) of work related emails to the State Department.

18 U.S. Code § 2071 - Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally:

Subdivision (a) - Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

In his testimony before Congress, FBI Director James Comey testified that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton removed work related emails from the system.

18 U.S. Code § 2071 - Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally:

Subdivision (b) - Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term “office” does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States.

In his statement on July 5th, 2016, FBI Director James Comey stated the following regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her work related emails from the system: “…there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. For example, seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received.”

18 U.S. Code § 793 - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information:

Subdivision (f) - Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer - Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

NOTE: For the record, please note that there is no culpable mental state of INTENT anywhere in this passage.

Legal Definition of : Gross Negligence:

n. carelessness which is in reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others, and is so great it appears to be a conscious violation of other people's rights to safety. It is more than simple inadvertence, but it is just shy of being intentionally evil. If one has borrowed or contracted to take care of another's property, then gross negligence is the failure to actively take the care one would of his/her own property. If gross negligence is found by the trier of fact (judge or jury), it can result in the award of punitive damages on top of general and special damages.

There you have it, Hillary Clinton’s extremely careless behavior was the legal textbook definition of Gross Negligence, with the exception that, after making the case, Director Comey CHOSE not to use the exact words.

Understand that if you, or I, committed any of the CRIMES outlined above, we would go to federal prison for a very long time.

She has been cleared, not of wrongdoing, but by a completely personal choice on the part of Director Comey not to pursue this matter, even though it is not his choice to make.

Investigative agencies (in this case the FBI) investigate and present their findings to prosecutorial agencies (in this case the DOJ / Attorney General). It is the responsibility of the prosecutor to determine whether they will proceed. However, in this case the AG, Loretta Lynch, took the unprecedented move of saying she would defer to the FBI, even though the case was still being investigated and she had just participated in a highly questionable meeting, with the subject of the investigation's husband, in a private plane for a social chat.  

Hillary Clinton broke the law and by very nature of the law she broke is disqualified from holding office, but what the above tells you is that she is above the law and that should send a chill down your spine.

November 1st – ACA Enrollment Day

I think I understand why they selected the day after Halloween as the enrollment day for Obamacare. After being visited by all the ghouls and goblins at your doorstep, you probably have a higher tolerance for scary shit. If not, you can always self-medicate with candy.

I wrote about this topic back in 2010 and again in 2013, during my angrier days, so my position has always been clear. I was very critical of it and said why in these two posts: Health Care Reform &  HCR: Why Do I Have A Problem With This, but I wasn’t alone on this topic. A lot of folks, including Dr. Barbara Bellar were also critical. Turns out, we weren’t wrong.

Now, I am one of the lucky ones, as I have coverage through my former employer, so this really doesn’t impact me. However, I thought I would share this comparison with you because it is pretty telling. I’m not going to get into the minutia, because that’s just stupid. Numbers speak for themselves.

From 2010 – 2015, I had BC / BS EPO. I had moved out of New York, so I needed a plan that would give me nationwide coverage. With this plan there were ZERO deductibles, just a co-pay. I went to whatever Dr. I wanted and any facility / hospital I wanted. The monthly price in the beginning was just under a $1k ($12,000 annually) a month. This covered EVERYONE in my family. In 2015 that monthly amount had gone up to just over $1,400 ($17,000 annually) and we were notified to expect an increase. Obviously I don’t have thousands of dollars to waste every year, so we switched back to our old insurance.

Now I pay only a few hundred, but the problem is that it is NYC based medical, everything is out of pocket and I have substantial deductibles. I guess if anything major happens it will be cheaper to fly back to NY to get it taken care of.

Today, just for a laugh, we decided to check out the awesome plans available to us through the ACA.

I would suggest that you grab that leftover bowl of candy and a drink, preferably a (strong) alcoholic one, as you continue to read.

Remember the plan I had back in 2010 – 2015. I assume, based on coverage, that it would be considered either a Gold or Platinum plan. That is important to remember.

After we entered ALL the pertinent information we were happily notified that we had several plans to select from. For the sake of this post, I’m going to stick with the cheapest plan (Bronze) and not bore you with the rest.

Long Story Short: For the incredibly low rate of only $1,800 a month ($21,600.00 annually), my family can enjoy the amazing benefits of medical insurance, which will all be covered, AFTER we meet our annual family deductible of only $14,000.00.

Seriously?

I have to get a job making over $35,000.00 a year just to pay for my medical insurance?

WTF?

I’m sorry, but you mean I could go back to my old (Gold / Platinum) plan, see who I want, when I want, with a minimal ($15.00) co-pay and pay thousands less than the Obamacare (Bronze) plan with a ZERO annual deductible……… ???

Are you people in D.C. smoking Crack ???

This is what you get kids, when your elected representatives don’t read something before they sign it into law. It is the reason that 70% of Americans want this repealed. You were lied to.

I can’t wait to see how they spin this one.