BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
If Donald Trump was caught on video humping a kangaroo in the Australian outback, his political choir of supporters, enablers and surrogates, as expected, would sound like this: “indefensible, inappropriate, degrading, He needs to apologize..etc.”
The next day, they would be out putting more lipstick, rogue, longer false eyelashes, perfume on the Trump pig and come out with statements like this: “Mr. Trump regrets the mistake he made in the outback but they were both consenting adults. Bill Clinton, however…etc.”
Nothing seemed to shock many of the Deplorables and their Benghazi Brigade. Trump bragged that he could shoot another human being in the street and not lose any votes.
Then, the Trump-Billy Bush video surfaced and showed a gleeful Trump rolling in the mud inside the pigpen of his ego and loving every moment of it.
It was sick and disturbing.
Many prominent Republicans have abandoned the Trumptanic and others are looking for the political lifejackets, the nearest life boats and pondering whether they should put as much distance between themselves and this sinking ship.
Others like Ted Cruz and Little Marco are still on board.
Cruz is walking up and down the Trumptanic with a clipboard, taking inventory of who is still staying and who abandoned the ship long ago. Cruz whose wife Trump implied was ugly and accused Cruz’s father of being involved in a nefarious plot that left an American president dead is still weighing on what would be good for his political career.
So far, Cruz and Little Marco seem to hope that the leaky, political ship will be fixed with duct tape, a user-friendly teleprompter and a fat, sincere apology from Trump.
As I wrote this article, another damaging video just surfaced on CNN.
Cruz and Little Marco will jump ship in one, two, three….
“I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.” — Donald J. Trump, at the second presidential debate.
The Deplorables
Steve Cortes, member of the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Donald Trump, said on MSNBC on Sunday that nobody is giving a voice to Trump supporters that’s why they are still clinging to him despite everything.
“Regular Americans feel that no one is their voice, right now and they believe that Donald Trump is their voice. That’s why this isn’t just a candidacy. It’s a movement,” Cortes said on MSNBC on Sunday.
That is BS, and Keith Olbermann summed it up best. He recently made a brilliant commentary titled “Trump Voters Are Angry? Well, Here’s What’s Really Worthy of Anger.”
Prop. 57 and the Fate of California’s Juveniles
The Proposition 57 column written by Ventura County Attorney Robyn Bramson resulted in an avalanche of unique users last week to American Justice Notebook’s website. There were 6,002 unique users that went through 23,326 pages from Oct. 2 – Oct. 8, according to Google Analytics.
To read Bramson’s column click here: Prop. 57
She described Brayleen De La Cruz in very flattering terms, which touched-off criticism via emails that are posted. Brayleen De La Cruz is charged with murder, attempted murder with gang enhancements. She is facing up to life in prison if she is convicted of murder in the adult criminal justice system.
Bramson and Scott Wippert are a legal team who give 110 percent in the representation of their clients, especially juveniles including De La Cruz.
I’ve seen them in court fights looking for every legal nook and cranny that will benefit their clients. So I expected Bramson to put on a relentless defense for her 15-year-old client. That’s what good criminal attorneys do for their clients.
Bramson and Wippert were involved in a high profile case involving Brandon McInerney: Brandon McInerney was convicted of murdering 15-year-old Larry King, a classmate at E.O. Green School in Oxnard California. The sad and tragic shooting drew the attention of the national media.
To read about this criminal case click here: Brandon McInerney.
If Prop. 57, which is sponsored by Gov. Jerry Brown, passes it will only mean that Brayleen De La Cruz will go before a judge who will decide her fate based on the gravity of the crime, the facts and any mitigating circumstances. A judge could decide after weighing the evidence to send her case to the adult courts.
As the law is currently written, prosecutors get to decide which kids are kept in the juvenile justice system and which ones go to adult courts.
I believe Prop. 57 should be passed and this is based on my eight-year experience in covering the Ventura County Superior Courts.
Most prosecutors are hardworking, professionals who take their jobs very seriously. However, in the 18 years I have covered the courts I have bumped into prosecutors who lacked integrity and scruples. They were more interested in pleasing their supervisors by running up the conviction scoreboard, including putting juveniles, especially minorities with bad lawyers, into adult courts with weak facts and circumstances.
California Gov. Jerry Brown along with other officials have said Prop. 57 will put the decision on whether to try juveniles in adult courts in the hands of judges — not prosecutors.
“This is public safety, it’s compliant with the Supreme Court, and the opponents have no alternatives,” said Gov. Brown in a meeting with The San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. “We can’t get out from under the court order unless we have a durable remedy (to reduce the state prison population). And we have evidence-based rehabilitation programs that work.”
The federal courts have ordered California to reduce its prison system or they are going to do it for them. It happened decades ago in Texas. The federal court took over the Texas prisons for nearly a decade after the penal system was ruled to be cruel and unusual punishment.
Putting more people in overcrowded prisons will result in more people being let out early from the state penitentiary.
To learn about the federal court and the California Department of Corrections click here: Prison System
In 2008, I wrote an article about the 170 percent increase in juvenile cases being transferred to adult courts in Ventura County:
“In the past two years, the number of juvenile offenders tried as adults has nearly tripled from 10 in 2006 to 27 in 2007, officials say — a nearly 170 percent increase.
Also, in the four previous years — from 2002 to 2005 — the total number of such cases was just five, according to figures from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.”
To read the entire article click here: Juveniles Sent to Adult Court/Ventura County
I did volunteer work for about three years at Santa Barbara Juvenile Detention Center, which is now closed. Juveniles are now detained at the facility in Santa Maria.
Many of these kids come from broken homes, have been sexually molested or beaten, or have parents who are drug users or alcoholics. Many of them are in a lot of pain, a lot of hurt. I would say most are simply children who have made very stupid mistakes. Kids need the community and volunteers to help put them on the right track.
I was the black sheep of my family and was once arrested for breaking and entering when I was 17 years old. People gave me a second chance, thank God.
Unfortunately, however, there are extremely violent and severely mentally ill kids who commit heinous crimes and should be locked up for as long as possible to protect society.