Life Happens

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“I’ve learned over and over that life happens on its own terms, not mine.” Kate Walsh

Ms. Walsh is absolutely right in that respect. Life happens as it happens and most times you have no control over it whatsoever. What fun is there in having a crystal ball to show you everything before it comes knocking on your door right? Well, I for one think it might just make life a tad easier but no luck there. Life happens and you’ll just have to deal with whatever comes your way whether you want to or not.

“Life happens,” is an idiom used to express that there are things we can’t control, foresee or prepare for. The future is unknown, and anything could happen.

According to Sarah Pierson of Huffingtonpost, here are some tips on how to make life happen instead of just letting it happen to you.

Create a timeline of the things you most want to experience or accomplish. Basically have some goals and go out and get them done.

Take risks. I’m not a risk taker so this is hard for me. However, taking risks is the way to go according to Ms. Pearson. You need to get yourself out there in order to overcome the fears of facing life head-on.

Invest in people. Investing your time in people is well worth the effort it seems because the rewards are plenty. It is time well-spent, cuts back on loneliness and it gets you out there in this great big world of ours.

Learn to let go of that which you cannot control and to adapt. This is another hard one for me. Letting go has never been my forte and adapting, well, that’s right up there with one of the hardest things to do! I am willing to give it a go.

Seek advice from those who are living life fully. This is a good one. Learning by example is never a bad idea.

Travel

Learn not to compare. If you’re always comparing yourself to someone who has more than you, who looks better than you or someone who just seems to have it altogether, you’ll never get a handle on your own life because you’ll always be hoping and wishing instead of bringing the focus back to you and that is where it needs to be to move forward.

“Be available for life to happen.” Bill Murray

In order for life to happen, you’ve got to start making life happen. If it’s a job you want, make a plan. It’s not going to fall into your lap, you’ve got to move to make it happen. Read up on the best interview strategies. Find out how you can hone your skills to come across as the best candidate for the job. Spruce up your appearance, those old ratty pair of jeans and seen better days t-shirts will have to go. Invest in some good clothes. It matters. Finding a job in this fast-paced and dog eat dog world is never easy and daunting to say the least but with hard work, dedication and effort, you can land the job of your dreams. Never give up and you are almost a winner!

If it’s a relationship you want, get rid of the no gooders. Period. If they don’t contribute to your life, get rid of them. If you’re looking for that perfect someone, it starts with you. Do your homework and find out what it is that you want. There is no such thing as ‘perfect’ but you’ll get pretty close if you’re willing to settle for mutual respect, love and honesty. The rest will fall in place.

If it’s happiness you’re looking for, you’ll have to do the work here as well. Nothing is ever handed to you on a silver platter. Know what makes YOU happy and go out and find it. Easier said than done? Well, yes but there is no other way unfortunately.

“Life happens to all of us. It’s not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us that really decides if we’re going to be victims or if we’re going to get and have everything we’ve ever dreamed of.” Eric Thomas

Finally, get to know yourself. Spend time with yourself to find out what it is that you want. If it’s one or all of the things mentioned above but you don’t know where to start, have no fear because you are fully capable of figuring it out. You know what makes you tick, what makes you happy so don’t just let life happen, make it happen the way you want it. If it scares you, you’re not alone. Join the club!

“No matter what happens, you can get through the day. Inhale. Focus on the word, ‘relax.’ Exhale. Say, ‘I can do this! And then do it.” Ace Antonio Hall

Jealous Much?

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The man of the hour walked up to the podium at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club with some papers held in his hand and a display of food items displayed prominently to his side. These included coffee, milk, cereal and breakfast sausages. However, he opened his mouth and immediately went on a rant and pounced on his main rival and nemesis, Kamala Devi Harris. She’s got him by the ba**s folks and the man is squealing like a pig!

The rant is the same old song and dance. It has nothing to do with policy issues but more to do with Trump’s pet peeve of the moment. How dare a woman of mixed race, he’s not sure if she’s Black or Indian, be in the lead position? His other disgruntled observation is that the woman in question is pretty and he went on to grudgingly admit that they had similar looks, meaning similar to his wife. The problem or rather the truth is, Kamala Harris can run circles around Melania Trump if compared to looks AND intelligence. Harris is a natural beauty with a natural raucous laugh and Mrs. Trump has had many procedures done to hone her looks. She has had lip fillers to boost that pout and Botox for her almost perfect complexion not to mention whatever procedure it took to get those “chipmunk eyes!” Melania got into the US on an Einstein Visa which is usually reserved for immigrants with “extraordinary ability” and “sustained national and international acclaim.” She was a model and dating Donald Trump in 2000 and her visa was approved in 2001. To get an EB-1, you have to meet three of 10 criteria proving excellence in their field.” Which criteria did Melania meet? I am not touching that with a 10 foot pole!

Coming back to the Bedminster rant, there was no structure or meaning to his speech. It was dotted with inaccuracies that bordered on insanity. His usual racist-tinged rant went so far as to warn Americans that under Harris “everyone gets health care” meaning all the murderous and no-good immigrants pouring into the country included. He ranted about windmills killing thousands of birds and destroying the landscape and that he was buddies with the head of the Taliban because the leader once referred to him as, “your excellency.” I bet that pumped up his you know what and I’m not referring to his “tiny” hands either! After ranting on and on, he called Harris the liberal version of Margaret Thatcher. No ifs or buts about it, the man wakes and goes to bed with Harris on his mind. She’s coming on strong and to a man who loves grabbing women by the crotch, this is totally unacceptable. Women are beneath him and the narcissist and self-proclaimed “saviour” can’t stand it! He is throwing the worst temper tantrum ever even as he watches his campaign go up in smoke!

It is chaos all around and it is not going to get any better. The more he sinks in the polls, the more he will come out swinging with UTTER NONSENCE! Do us all a favor and stop giving conferences! It is not helping you but than again keep giving them and you might just give Harris the winning hand! Looking forward to your next rant-filled and nothing more conference!

Been There, Done That!

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How often have you used the words above to describe the “deja vu” feeling of having experienced the exact same event or incident over and over again with the very same and often painful outcomes? I know I have and I’m sure many of you have. So why do we keep repeating the same cycle over and over again? Perhaps, it’s because of this.

“Been there, done that. Then, been there several more times, because apparently I never learn.” Unknown

I’ve done this many times over. This meaning, “I told myself I would never go through this and find myself in the same uneventful place again.” Like dating the wrong person with the exact same habits as the one I left behind. Then I find myself months down the road faced with the exact same situation but with another individual. I told myself I would never do cheaters, liars, control freaks and narcissists ever again but lo and behold, it never fails. They seem to come out of the woodwork as far as I am concerned and I am faced with the self-same situation only to scream, “What am I doing wrong?”

I think we are creatures of habit and therefore love embracing familiarity more than commonsense! What feels familiar is comforting. It gives us a sense of warmth and maybe even a feeling of “home.” You’ve heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is?” Well, not in this case! According to Isabel Buchbinder, “repeating patterns do not happen by coincidence. Repeating patterns are merely lessons which can be seen as an opportunity for us to evolve and grow.” The question remains, how often do you have to fall in order to grasp the lessons you have to learn? Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut answers. Some learn quickly and others not at all. I hope I am NOT in the “not at all” category but it sure feels that way at times.

Here again, Ms. Buchbinder has some good tips on how to break free and to move on to greener and more acceptable behavior traits. She says, “the reoccuring external situation is trying to get our attention so that we focus within and change this internal limiting structure and thus break the pattern. She adds, “don’t bleed on those who didn’t hurt you.” It just means heal yourself first before entering a relationship. This also means, “once you heal your subconscious limitations and traumas, you no longer repeat patterns and you will start attracting life situations which are more suitable for your well-being and more heightened state of life!”

“Life will keep on repeating the same situation through different circumstances until we have learnt the lesson.” Isabel

How do you break this self-fulfilling prophecy? Here are five steps from Isabel, not easy but worth the try.

The first step is to become aware of the pattern.

The second step is to observe the situation but don’t react.

The third step is to identify the lesson it is trying to teach us.

The fourth and perhaps the hardest step is to accept the situation, integrate, heal and let it go. Letting go takes forever in my world and even when I do, I keep looking back with one foot in the past and one foot in front.

The fifth step, if you’re confronted with a “repeating pattern” again, it’s just life wanting to know if you’ve learned the lesson and have fully let go. Lord, have mercy!

Be gentle with yourself, accept what you can’t change, learn from what you can and take the next step in the right direction. If you find yourself faced with the same old stuff from another individual but in a different body, don’t walk but RUN! and don’t look back.

“Break through that imaginary ceiling you’ve placed over yourself.” Unknown

AND

“Life has a way of making you repeat the same patterns until YOU choose to break the cycle.”

Have an amazing day.

The Musk Hoopla!

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Trump’s major interview with Elon Musk almost got derailed because of a huge technical problem but it got back on track after a 40 plus minute delay and when it did, the bromance flourished between the former president and the Space X Founder.

The former president felt so safe in Musk’s presence that he went off-script and unleashed at least 20 false claims. He ran the gamut and let loose his falsehoods with Elon Musk giving him his undivided attention. The former Commander in Chief and all around liar gripped about crime rates, inflation, Global warming (of which he knows nothing about) and anything else he saw fit to throw into the mix. It didn’t matter if they were lies or gross exaggerations. Things like that don’t matter to a seasoned pathological liar and a true narcissist.

According to NPR, he told 162 lies and distortions in his news presser at Mar-a-Lago within 1 hour. The NPR team found at least 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies in 64 minutes and that’s more than two a minute. “It’s a stunning number for anyone – and even more problematic for a person running to lead the free world.” They further added that, “what former President Trump did this past Thursday went well beyond the bounds of what most politicians would do.” The Musk interview was no different.

EU’s commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, cautioned X founder and Tech mogul Musk asking him to censor the interview to avoid “the amplification of harmful content.” He went on to say that Musk “has a legal obligation to comply with the Digital Services Act to fight the spread of misinformation as the man in charge of the platform used by over 300 million people worldwide.”

Musk’s reply went like this. “Take a big step back and literally f**k your own face!” The man is not a novice when faced with censorship. In July, EU charged X for failing to respect its social media laws. He also faced recent criticism for fanning the flames as far-right riots broke out in the UK claiming the perpetrator of the Southport stabbings was Muslim which was an untruth.

How smart is Musk? According to Noam Mendelssohn, a Software Engineer, “Elon Musk is not very bright. He’s an economic and business bully in the same line as Trump, but nothing more. Any engineer worth his salt, any person with basic physics knowledge or computer knowledge can shred his ideas.” He went on to add, “His solar plans are flawed, his calculations on his TED interview are about 100x off, Tesla was not his idea, he strongarmed his way in and his hyperloop idea being even worse.” So how did he make his money? Mendelssohn had this answer. “He has a hype that is believed by simpletons and he is making his money by being a snake oil salesman.” Two peas in a pod? No wonder the bromance took off like a rocket and is till flying around in space somewhere!

Joseph Costello, Harris campaign spokesperson, had this to say about the interview.

“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself – self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”

The interview was a flop in more ways than one. Nothing new, same old lies, exaggerated insults coming from an “old” man who is trying to give his sagging and deflated campaign a helping hand but unfortunately for him, it is going to take more than what he has in that thing he calls a brain to do that!

Joyful Warriors vs. The Weird Duo

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Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz say they are, “Joyful Warriors,” compared to Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance whose campaign smirks of loom, doom and gloom.

According to Harris, they are looking at a future filled with optimism unlike Trump who she accused of being stuck in the past and preferring a confrontational style of politics and folks that is putting it mildly! Furthermore, she added that, “Someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again have the chance to sit behind the seal of the United States.”

Tim Walz is upbeat, energetic and has a perpetual smile plastered on his face and he is the symbol of joy itself. Add Kamala’s raucous laughter and her message of unity, community and working together and you’ve got a winning ticket. Walz coined the term, “weird” to describe Vance and it has taken hold in more ways than one. He also had some choice words to say about Trump saying the former president “mocks our laws, he sows chaos and division amongst the people and that’s to say nothing of the job he did as president.” A takedown like no other!

The two waltzed their way through the swing states, with glee, with humor and a positive message. Walz bowed, he waved, he grinned, he laughed and if he could have, he would have danced the night away. When it came to his turn to speak, he turned to Harris and said, “Thank you, Madam Vice-President, for the trust you put in me but maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.” A breath of fresh air no less!

Donald Trump was looking at a sure second win just weeks ago but when Biden ended his bid for re-election, and handed the reins to his VP, the Democrats were back in command again. Harris nailed it when she asked this question. “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, of compassion, of rule of law? Or a country of chaos, fear and hate?” This was followed by the cry, “We’re not going back.” That was the nail in the coffin. Shawn Fain, president of the United Automobile Workers said, Americans are faced with “which side are you on’ moment” and he went on to say, he was siding with the “badass woman who stood with us on the picket line.”

Badass, she definitely is. More than that, if elected she would be the first female president and don’t let that loud, raucous laughter fool you. She raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after naming Walz as her running mate and that is a record haul. Just as her no-nonsense reply to her protesters, “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” Trump, on the other hand, was experimenting with more nicknames saying, “We’re going to evict crazy Kamala.” Harris is a giant compared to petty, name-calling, size mongering, temper-tantrum throwing Trump. If all he has to offer is just insults and who can hit better below the belt then the man doesn’t stand a chance!

Kamala Harris, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

“My daily challenge to myself is to be part of the solution, to be a joyful warrior in the battle to come. My challenge to you is to join that effort. To stand up for our ideals and our values. Let’s not throw up our hands when it’s time to roll up our sleeves. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not ever.

Years from now, our children and our grandchildren will look up and lock eyes with us. They will ask us where we were when the stakes were so high. They will ask us what it was like. I don’t want us to just tell them how we felt. I want us to tell them what we did.”

The Meltdown!

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He walked onstage as a fire-breathing dragon, his anger showing, his face red or maybe more orange ready to do battle but instead the minute he opened his mouth, it was more of the same. It was one insult after another and lies that no one could keep up with no matter how quickly they did the fact-checking. Trump looked old and feeble as he tried to recapture the momentum he had lost as Harris grabbed the limelight and showed him who’s the boss. He was an almost winner as the bullet grazed his ear which catapulted him to a sure win but alas, Kamala Devi Harris came in like a trojan horse and the man who loves crowd-size more than anything else and of course the word, “HUGE” was left dancing in the dust as he watched his winning streak go up in flames.

Trump held an hour-long conference which was meant to revitalize his downward spiraling campaign but as usual his mouth overloaded any chance he had of coming across as a true leader and instead he zeroed in on his arch rival, the lady who has for some reason got him by the b***s and is not planning to let go any time soon. He might as well have thrown in the towel because he had nothing to offer as to why he is the better candidate but instead he came across as a petulant child in a grown man’s body.

His monologues were rambling and not going anywhere, he was incoherent, his demeanour worn-out, tired and fading just like the man himself and his insults were just that, pure Trump. He didn’t need truth on his side, why would he when he had lies to bolster his confidence. He went on attack-mode and stayed there calling Harris “stupid,” and “incompetent.” It was like watching the pot calling the kettle black, if you know what I mean.

He gripped about Jewish Americans supporting Harris. His exact words were, “They should have their heads examined.” He didn’t add that the lady in question is married to a Jewish man which was all the more comical. The rambling went on and on and so did the insults. He added, “She’s not smart enough to do a news conference.” Really?!! Kamala Harris attended Howard University and graduated with a degree in political science and economics. She has “smarts” oozing out of every pore. Trump, on the other hand, once declared himself as a “very stable genius.” However, he has refused to release his school transcripts and according to presidential historian Barbara Perry, “I think he’s our most cunning president and I think there is a certain amount of intellect that that requires. So, maybe for some presidents, they make up for lack of native brilliance and intelligence with cleverness. And he obviously knows how to work a crowd, so I’m not going to take that away from him.” Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Donald!

All in all, it was a disaster of a news conference. He praised himself, patted himself on the back several times, threw grenades at his opponents, hunkered down in the mud and acted like the spoiled little brat that he is. He proved several things. He doesn’t know when and where to draw the line, doesn’t know how to take it on the cheek and move on AND most importantly, the convicted felon and abuser of women is a sore loser, a wannabe dictator and lastly, he is a disaster in the making and definitely not presidential material!

Trump’s Downward Spiral

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The man with the not so HUGE hands and the perpetual orange face decided to take it one further when faced with questions at the National Black Journalists Association Convention. Shocking is not the word for it but stupidity sure is. His answers did not make sense and his rant, well that is typical Trump.

He went from calling a reporter rude, nasty and wasting his time and as if that wasn’t enough he resorted to racial tropes saying that VP Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black” during her political career as if it was a pre-planned choice.

The man is old, his cognitive skills are declining, his IQ is questionable especially in light of his recent rantings on why Harris, a product of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father should NOT call herself BLACK! His vicious insults hit below the belt and he takes the saying, “When they go low, we go higher,” to a new all-time LOW. The man doesn’t even know what that means. His motto is, “When they go low, I go much lower and stay there to wrestle in the mud!” Perhaps, insults is all he has left of a crumbling political landscape as he watches it take a dive knowing full well that he doesn’t stand a chance against Harris, debate or otherwise.

Harris has made it crisp and clear. “If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.” The gauntlet has been thrown, let’s see if the orange TV personality and former president will accept the challenge. One thing’s for sure, it will be a massacre of the worst kind. Going up against a former prosecutor is a daunting task but pairing it with a much younger individual and you’ve got disaster on your hands. “Old,” “feeble,” and all the other derogatory insults he piled on Biden is coming back to haunt him and rightfully so. What goes around, comes around.

“Ding-Dong,” or not, Harris is ready to trump Trump and not in a subtle manner either. The lady has her wits about her and she knows exactly where to hit to draw the least amount of blood but enough to slay the dragon or rather an “old” and “feeble” man who deserves trumping. She is capable of doing it without so much as an insult or histrionics. The wannable dictator and convicted felon needs to be shown the door and who better than Kamala Harris to do just that.

Harris is well on her way to victory having garnered enough votes to become the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee and having raised $310 million US in July, double the amount Trump did in the same month. She is gaining in strength and popularity and driving Trump off his rocker!

Rihanna said it best in her song, “Take a Bow,” and it goes like this.

“But you put on quite a show

Really had me goin’

But now it’s time to go

Curtains finally closin’

That was quite a show

Very entertaining

But it’s over now

Go on and take a bow.”

Hey Donald, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

Insults Galore

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Biden has dropped out and he has endorsed his VP Kamala Harris to run in his place. The Clintons have endorsed her saying that, “America’s future depends on it.” Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama have also endorsed her saying, “Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.” Those are nice words compared to what is coming out of the Republican camp.

It is a gloves off and let’s roll in the mud mentality combined with an all out assault. Nothing new here but is Trump running scared? Looks like it, doesn’t it? “She’s the same as Biden but much more radical. She’s a radical left person and this country doesn’t want a radical left person to destroy it.” The former President went on to add, “If she becomes president, Kamala Harria will make the invasion exponentially worse, and just like she did with San Francisco, just like she did with the border, our whole country will be permanently destroyed.” Can he go any lower? Oh yes, he can! “I call her Laffin’ Kamala. You ever watch her laugh? She’s crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. She’s crazy. She’s nuts.” Hmm…..takes one to know one uh? I guess her laugh is better than your constipated orange laugh which makes you look like a turtle at times!

Rightwing podcaster, Megyn Kelly threw this out. “She actually did sleep her way into and upwards in California politics and most women (and men) may learn that and see it for what it is: evidence of an unqualified political aspirant getting ahead based on smthy other than merit.” Really Megyn? You do have a smug way about you but your comment or rather insult just goes to show how low on the totem pole you can go. Perhaps that’s why you’re doing a podcast and nothing more.

Harris is smart. She is the first Black woman to be elected District Attorney, the first woman to be California’s attorney general, the first Indian American senator and the first Asian American VP. She is a trailblazer and a prosecutor to boot. She also has a degree in political science and economics and the lady has chutzpah and if that’s not enough, she is all of 59-years-old. She could and would run circles around the former 78-year-old president. He wouldn’t know what hit him except that he got trounced and to the bone.

If you’re wondering about the insults, the hot, heavy and nasty ones, it’s because as Socrates said, “When the debate is lost, insults become the loser’s tools.” It will be Trump’s turn to feel the heat as he faces off with Harris on that debate stage knowing full-well that nothing, not insults galore, not steroids or whatever he is on will be enough to put her in her place and I guarantee he’ll be shaking in his boots or whatever he is wearing. Laffen’ Kamala will be a formidable opponent and that folks is the honest truth.

The Manchester Uproar

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Derek Michael Chavin, a former police officer, murdered George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020 by kneeling on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes while Floyd kept calling out, “I can’t breath,” and slowly snuffed out his life. During his tenure as a police officer, Chavin had 18 complaints against him and was involved in three police shootings and he had received two letters of reprimand for misconduct.

On April 20, 2021, he was convicted on all charges and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. He is just one of many officers involved in the killing of black males and for using excessive force while serving as a police officer. Police officers have always marched to a different drumbeat it seems, that of carrying a gun and a badge but when it comes to paying for their indiscretions, murder no less, they are untouchable or they walk off with a slight reprimand and are free to carry on as if nothing had happened while their victims lay six feet under, their voices silenced forever. Since 2015, police officers have shot at least 135 unarmed black men and women nationwide. At least 75% of the officers involved in the shootings were white. Excessive force and overkill was and is the name of the game. Willie McCoy, a black rapper, was sleeping in his silver Mercedes CLS500 outside a Taco Bell minding his own business when officers, six of them arrived and within minutes they had fired 55 shots in 3.5 seconds killing him. They put it down to “imminent danger,” and self-defense” would be the other and most often used excuse for the killing of unarmed black men.

Fast forward to what happened across the pond in Manchester, UK. A video has gone viral showing a police officer of the Greater Manchester Police kicking and stomping on a man’s head while he lay motionless on the ground. An older woman is seen trying to protect the young man on the ground. The uproar around this situation brings back shades of what happened in the US and the protests that ensued after the killing of black males in the US. As usual everyone especially the police are scrambling to come up with legitimate excuses for use of such excessive force BUT the video speaks for itself. The man has a cyst on his brain according to CT scans and his condition has worsened. Whatever happened before the attack by the police officer has nothing to do with this excessive use of force. The man on the ground was unarmed, motionless and no threat to any of the officers involved. Did racism play a part in this horrific and over-excessive use of force? Definitely.

According to a University of Birmingham report, “Police violence is not just a problem in the United States – it’s a reality in the UK, and at its core is “warrior culture among police officers. Warrior culture is defined as, “police officers defaulting to violence and aggression when conflicts arise.” It is, “largely characterized by aggression, machoism, intolerance, bias, suspicion, and detachment from policed communities,” which creates a ‘us versus them’ mentality. Furthermore, “policing research over many decades has consistently found that misogyny and racism persist in UK street policing culture.

The uproar is justified, the outrage more so. The officer or rather officers involved in this incident should lose their licence to practice or rather their badges should be taken away from them. They do not belong in a police force that is supposed to be out there to protect and to treat every individual equally and they certainly should not be condoned to go out and unleash the brutality they did. Having a badge and a baton does not give you the right to act with no principles and with such aggression. Shame on you!

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When Murder Comes Calling

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Wade Wilson’s jury voted in favor of the death penalty for the murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz on October 7, 2019. I am not talking about Marvel’s Deadpool character who is described as a wisecracking mutant mercenary. He is fun to hang out with but only in small doses. I am talking about Florida’s strangulation serial killer of the same name and hanging out with this character will silence you forever.

It took five years to bring justice to the case. His own father took the stand and testified that his son not only confessed to the murders but bragged about them. His exact words were, “I’m a killer – there are two people gone who are not coming back.” He further added that when he realized that his victim was still breathing, he ran her over with his car until she resembled spaghetti.

On October 7, 2019, a tattooless Wade Wilson, at least on his face met Kristine Melton 25 and her friend Stephanie Sailors at Buddah LIVE, a Fort Myers bar. They spent time together and later that night, Wilson strangled Melton as she slept. A short time later having killed one person, he was ready to kill again. The evil within him had awakened and he wanted to snuff out another life. He coaxed Diane Ruiz into his car and attacked her, beat and strangled her before pushing her out of the car and running over her repeatedly.

Melton was described as a cat lover and a great friend. Diane Ruiz was the mother of two sons, Brandon Cuellar 29 and Zane Romero, 19. She was described as “the heartbeat of the bar. She always had everybody’s back. She just had that personality that was really magnifying. She has this really loud laugh that you could hear it like a mile away.”

Perhaps that was what attracted Wilson to her or that she was readily available. Whatever it was that hearty raucous laugh came to a standstill later that night when evil in the form of Wade Wilson came calling. Was he remorseful? Not at all, he later told detectives at an interview, “I would do it again.”

The killer would later brag about the murders to the police, three days after the killings. He said his biggest concern after the murders was getting a burger and fries while one of his victims, Diane Ruiz lay silenced in a field, bugs eating her face.

Assistant State Attorney, Andreas Gardiner told the court, “This case was about killing for the sake of the killing. Strangulation is the epitome of life slipping through someone’s hands.” A different looking, Wade Wilson sat in court, his face emotionless, tattoos all over his face resembling Jared Leto’s, Joker character. There was a swastika tattoo on his face and one under his hair but it was that stone-cold look that caught everyone’s attention. He portrayed the killer image perfectly.

Defense attorney, Lee Hollander had his work cut out for him. All he could do was ask for mercy saying, “We are not claiming that he didn’t do it. I suspect the drugs. I’m not arguing insanity, I’m arguing the state is claiming premeditation. I’m arguing he’s whacked out of his mind for any of this.” That didn’t work.

Very little is known of this deadly character and his earlier years. What turned him into this remorseless killer? According to his biological father, both he and Wilson’s mother were teenagers when she became pregnant and Wade was placed for adoption after his birth. There was very little contact between him and his father during the growing up years. Is this a case of nature vs. nurture? “The main argument for nurture is that the environment is what makes us who we are.” It basically says that nurture is more dynamic and plays a more important role in one’s life. However, this debate is still ongoing. What makes a person so evil that taking a life is like eating burgers and fries that it makes you crave for more of the same?

Wilson will be housed in a cell measuring 6 x 9 x 9.5 feet in Florida’s death row at Union Correctional Institution until it is time to go meet his maker. He could choose Florida’s three-legged electric chair, “Old Sparky” or he could choose death by lethal injection when the time comes. If you ask me, both will be easy on the killer. His victims went through a worse fate. When murder came calling, two innocent lives were taken and that is the crux of the matter.