First and foremost, I want to start off with sending my thoughts and prayers to the folks in Louisiana, Eastern Texas, and Western Mississippi because they have been through hell over the last 24-hours to say the least. A category-four hurricane is nothing to laugh at. If the winds don’t get you the first time, the will get you after the eye passes. If you still stand up after that, you will be flooded. Much of that water could be used over in California where they fires are burning up day and night, thousands and thousands of acres of land, structures, and causing many people being displaced much like what Hurricane Laura has done and what’s left of her is are doing right now. So please, don’t forget those in California either, nor the people who are in the cities with the riots going on. If God was needed in any point of our time, it is right now. Please continue to be positive, pray for our nation, and for our brave heroes, the men and women fighting against absolute evil, protecting the innocent from harm, and helping everyone during this time of need. We ALL NEED help, it’s just in different ways. Hopefully, it will be over soon and life as we knew it will somewhat return. 

    Tonight is the last night of the Republican National Convention. I caught the first two, but missed last night because I was monitoring the communications going on for Hurricane Laura before and as she was making her way up the Gulf onto land. Over all, it wasn’t something to write home to mom about because it was the direct opposite of what the Democrats said last week at their convention. Although I did notice that the ratings for last week were lower so far than the Republican Convention this week. Without going into politics, I don’t know exactly / for sure why that is because this week it seems that there was a lot more to watch as people were getting ready for Hurricane Laura to make it’s arrival. Still, people glued their eyes to the Republican Convention and so far, so good for ratings. This is all new for all of us watching the convention done via skype, zoom (a chinese run / owned company by the way), or recorded. Don’t get me wrong, some of it was done live in a close off area. However, the Republicans took it one step farther, they had some live outdoor segments that I thought were a little inspiring and uplifting during this time of COVID-19. However, I wouldn’t be doing any justice if I didn’t bring up the interesting survey that was done over the media leading up the the respected National Conventions.

    According to a recent study, Broadcasters Air 150 Times More Negative News on Trump Than Biden (https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2020/08/17/study-150-times-more-negative-news-trump-biden). NewsBusters, a project of watchdog Media Research Center, analyzed ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts from June 1 through July 31. Analysts found that the shows spent 512 minutes of airtime on Trump, nine times more than the 58 minutes they allotted to Biden. But that extra airtime was almost entirely negative toward Trump. Analysts at the center found 634 of 668 evaluative statements about the president were negative, compared to 4 of 12 for Biden. In a typical campaign season, broadcasts would devote time to both candidates. Forty percent, or 23.5 minutes, of the Biden-focused coverage aired Biden’s criticisms of Trump, while just 0.25 percent, or 88 seconds, of Trump-focused coverage consisted of relaying Trump’s criticisms of the presumptive nominee. The study included explicitly evaluative statements about Trump or Biden from reporters, anchors, or nonpartisan sources such as experts or voters. It didn’t include evaluations or comments from partisan sources, or neutral statements. Trump has regularly described many reporters as biased against him. Of course, when asked, ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News didn’t respond to requests for comment on the study.

     But all this pales in comparison to what we now have going on with the riots. It’s a given that the Mainstream Media News cycles are going to beat the “peaceful protests” over your head because it’s constantly evolving. Although these really aren’t 100% peaceful as the Democratic overlords say they are, a better, more fitting descriptive word would be “Demonstrations” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRKzpp7w58o). That word would go beyond the meaning of protests. Why even call them protests anymore? DO these people even understand or know why they are “protesting”? The answer could be a big NO for a majority of them. Seems like the media puts on and interviews people who claim to be there peacefully, but they can’t answer anything more than the keyword phase, “Racial Injustice”. If you ask me, we’ve seen this sort of thing happen before in third world nations, but we never thought it would come here. However, there is a newer “protest” going on in a town between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois. Now the systematic racism war is battling on in Kenosha, Wisconsin. For a little backstory about this area, for more than 100 years, Kenosha was an auto manufacturing center, but it has now largely been transformed into a bedroom community for Milwaukee and Chicago. The city is about 67% white, 11.5% Black and 17.6% Hispanic, according to 2019 Census data. Both the mayor and police chief are white. About 17% of the population lives in poverty.

    These are statistics that the Mainstream Media will use in both sides of this situation to determine an outcome that is predicted to, what is called, “get ahead of the storm”. If you want to create the winds of change, you have to get people fired up, molding their wills and strengths into something that can be useful as a tool for tasks in the future. Last week, I mentioned “who controls the media, controls the narrative. So if whoever controls the narrative, they control how people think, react, what they do or feel” (https://thebigjohnshow.com/2020/08/20/no-pardon-for-the-narrative/). I also asked who do you think controls it and more importantly, the universal question “why?” 

    Another police shooting happened around 5 p.m. Sunday, August 23rd and this time around, Kenosha police do not have body cameras, but they do have body microphones (https://apnews.com/6435a3f69293c22ace6536e7dad72776?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningwire&pnespid=m_ltraNZGwyN3JHnJn7p__cimicX6sGsHx7RdJBE). However, there was a witness who recorded the situation on video from his house across the street. The man who made the video, said that before the gunfire, he looked out his window and saw six or seven women shouting at each other on the sidewalk. A few moments later, Jacob Blake drove up in his SUV and told his son, who was standing nearby, to get in the vehicle. It was said that Jacob Blake did not say anything to the women. The man filming the video said he left the window for a few minutes, and when he came back, saw three officers wrestling with Jacob. One punched him in the ribs, and another used a stun gun on him. Jacob Blake got free and started walking away as officers yelled about a knife. 

     In the footage, Jacob Blake walks from the sidewalk around the front of his SUV to his driver-side door as officers follow him with their guns pointed and shout at him (https://youtu.be/gDI8soJzVpk). As Blake opens the door and leans into the SUV, an officer grabs his shirt from behind and opens fire while he has his back turned. Seven shots can be heard, though it isn’t clear how many struck him or how many officers fired. The shooting left Jacob Blake paralyzed from the waist down, according to his father (https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/25/21400481/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-shooting-riots-evanston). As it turned out, Jacob Blake did have a knife on the floorboard of his car when he was shot by police, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which also has identified the officer who shot him as Rusten Sheskey (https://www.foxnews.com/us/blake-had-knife-in-car-when-kenosha-cop-shot-him-wisconsin-doj?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20foxnews%2Fnational%20%28Internal%20-%20US%20Latest%20-%20Text%29). Civil rights attorney representing Jacob Blake’s family, said that his client was “simply trying to do the right thing by intervening in a domestic incident” (https://apnews.com/0cbc14762c89304f9f052fd33a1f4445?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningwire&pnespid=0.Y1ufFKChyNtHldkdjmMRB8Ss7ZiUFwa__6m9g9).

     As a result, it sparked civil unrest in Kenosha, a city of 100,000 people. On the bright side, if there is one to come out of this whole mess, is it also shined a light on Kenosha’s delays in equipping its roughly 200 police officers with body-worn cameras, which has made the city fall behind many of its neighbors and similar-sized towns. What I’m about to say next will most likely upset some people, especially those who are pushing for this to get even more out of control, including those with an agenda. Let me make this very clear: I do not like what the police did with shooting the man. With that said, I do not blame the police for defending themselves either.

    If Jacob Blake did what the police asked him to do, which was to comply, this may not have happened. The police was there because they were called to respond to an incident at that address. Part of police training is to assess the situation as soon as they arrive on scene. If there is someone who isn’t going to be cooperative, without violating anyone’s rights, that makes the situation tense. I’m not saying it’s entirely Jacob Blakes fault nor am I saying it’s not the Kenosha Police Officers fault, it is a bad situation all around and without the help of body cams, it’s going to make things a bit murkier and more time consuming to get to the bottom of this terrible situation, but it is NOT, and again I say NOT, the time for destruction, rioting, or demonstrations in the streets. Too many innocent lives have been affected by this horrid situation and my heart goes out to the families of Jacob Blake and the police officers. I’m sure we can all agree how thankful this police shooting didn’t result in another senseless death. Here’s some more history for you about this case unfolding: Blake’s grandfather, Jacob Blake Sr., was a prominent minister and civil rights leader in the Chicago area who helped organize a march and spoke in support of a comprehensive housing law in Evanston, Illinois, days after the 1968 slaying of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

    Something else that needs to be noted about Jacob Blake and I have no idea, nor am trying to spread something that may not be true, but online court records indicate Kenosha County prosecutors charged Blake on July 6 with sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse (https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2020CF000736&countyNo=30&index=0&mode=details). An arrest warrant was issued the following day. The records also show a couple of dates when he had to appear in Kenosha County court for child support in April 2019 (https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2019FA000286&countyNo=30&index=0) and October 2018 (https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2018FA000807&countyNo=30&index=0). There were also several dates that he had to show up in Racine County court for child support, one in March of 2018 (https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2018FA000140&countyNo=51&index=0), then again in August 2018 (https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2018FA000875&countyNo=51&index=0). The common thing here is that these court cases all involved the woman / mother of his child who Jacob Blake was picking up the day he was shot. It was unclear whether that case had anything to do with the event that preceded the shooting. 

    To make it more interesting, the actions of resisting police isn’t foreign to Jacob Blake either. On Monday, September 21, 2015, Jacob Blake, who would have been 24 at the time and living in Racine, Wisconsin was charged in Racine County Circuit Court with one felony count of resisting arrest causing a soft tissue injury to a police officer and one misdemeanor count each of carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a firearm while intoxicated, endangering safety-use of a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct (https://racinecountyeye.com/police-k9-dozer-helps-subdue-man-who-pulled-gun-at-bar/). According to the criminal complaint, Jacob Blake was with two women a tavern called “Brass Monkey” on the night of Saturday, September 19th when he got into an argument with another patron and pulled a handgun, pointing the gun at the other man, and the magazine fell to the floor. The bartender told Jacob Blake to leave, and he did, but then decided to point the gun through the window at patrons inside the bar before walking away on down the road from the Brass Monkey. On a side note, the Beastie Boys would be so proud of that name (https://youtu.be/acY2VSskD80). If you are wanting to look that specific court case up, good luck on that. As odd as it may sound, yesterday the court officials announced that Please note, court officials told the Racine County Eye that “Mr. Blake was not convicted of any of the charges listed in this story. The charges appear to have been dismissed upon Prosecutor’s Motion. The minutes reflect that on 02-20-2018 the prosecutor moved to dismiss the case “due to witness issues and age of the case.” The reason the case is not listed in court records is because of the dismissal they appear to have met the threshold for the cases to automatically be removed from the WCCA website.” I kid you not… The only thing that shows up on his record about that specific case is that he had to pay a fine for “Operate w/o Carrying License” (https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2018CT000482&countyNo=51&index=0&mode=details) which he ended up paying the court $210.80 along with signing a $500.00 bond to get out of jail.

     The Police say they encountered a woman walking on the street who was in the bar with him, but she said she didn’t know what happened and that her friends left without her in a silver SUV. A few moments later, officers were advised that a silver SUV was traveling down that same street with a male subject driving who matched his description, so they initiated a traffic stop. Because he had a gun with him, the police conducted a high risk traffic stop and ordered him to put his hands out the window of the vehicle. Instead, he exited the SUV and started walking toward officers and ignored commands to get down on the ground. Officers forced Jacob Blake  to the ground and ordered him to put his hands behind his back, but when he refused to comply, a K9 Dozer was deployed to force the defendant into compliance. At the time he was taken into custody, he was searched and police say he had a holster on his hip but no gun. A search of the SUV turned up a black handgun on the floor behind the driver’s seat. The police also found a box of ammunition and two loaded magazines in his coat pockets. Afterwards, the police took him to the hospital so he could be treated for the wound he obtained from K9 Dozer. Officers say he refused to answer questions, but he did submit to a legal blood draw to determine his level of intoxication which came back at .144 BAC. He was taken and booked into the Racine County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond. 

     So no, this isn’t Jacob Blakes first run-in with the law. In fact, it seems as if it’s a repeated pattern of disrespect for the police, or anyone for that matter. That being said though, it’s not an excuse to shoot down anyone who doesn’t comply. Nor is this event a reason to destroy innocent people’s property and other lives. This should not be a call to defund the police either. I STRONGLY URGE that people let the investigation play out BEFORE deciding who’s guilty of what. Now is not the time for knee-jerking reactions to things we don’t fully know or understand. Let the investigators do their job before reaching a breaking point that we can’t walk back from. Let’s not make any decision that can be devastating, as in taking one’s life. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a situation develop where a 17 year old boy will be charged with murder for killing two rioters and wounding another for trying to damage property. The 17-year-old boy, of Antioch, Illinois, (about 15 miles from Kenosha, Wisconsin) was taken into custody yesterday in Illinois on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. Two people were shot, but one of them was killed Tuesday night during another night of Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha. More evidence is coming out that it was more of a self-defence as the two people were chasing down the teenager. One of them had a handgun and was firing it being the teen while running. The other hit the teenager and they fell to the ground. When the assailant kept coming after the teen, the end result was in self defense. This story is still unfolding and the details are trickling out. Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said during a Wednesday press conference he believed the 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse might have been part of a group of armed individuals who asked to be deputized and allowed to patrol the streets of the Wisconsin city ahead of Tuesday night’s protests (https://www.foxnews.com/us/kenosha-county-sheriff-says-shooting-suspect-may-have-been-among-group-that-sought-to-be-deputized-oh-hell-no).

     If the demonstrators understood this, they would see this is a direct reason why we should increase funding to the police for technical updates / upgrades like body cams and such. I’m not saying that we need to have a surveillance state, but with all this going violent reactions going on, it’s going to be a very possible end result. Technically, in this day and age, if you own a Cell Phone, use Android or Apple, you are part of the surveillance. Even on your home computer surfing the internet, your ISP and browser are watching you. If you are on social media, public wifi, or where ever a camera is recording you, you are being surveilled already and I don’t feel comfortable with that. Just like that guy who didn’t want to be identified was recording the video of Jacob Blake getting shot by the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, he was surveilling the situation from a distance. Sounds creepy, huh? The media is doing it too and it IS recording your response to each and every single public event. These are the days of our lives during this agenda.

     In a way it does bother me a little because I really do truly love people. I am not afraid to tell someone I love them. I really don’t think people get that about me on here unless they actually know me in person. I even love those who make it a point to constantly disagree (almost violently) with me because of my personal views, but it doesn’t mean I have to help them when they come asking afterwards. I keep an open mind on everyone’s views and opinion, even those who flat out attack me because I post something they want to argue about. I truly love talking about religion, history, current events in general as long as they are ALL backed by facts.

    Conversations is a method of learning about each other and the things around us. If we can’t be truthful about what bothers us, how we see things, how we feel a human being about something, then how are we supposed to evolve? How are we supposed to connect, help, or try to make this who situation better in general if we can’t get along in person, much less on a digital platform? God knows I would LOVE a great conversation with anyone about most anything on my front porch while sitting in a rocking chair and sipping on a cold Pepsi. That’s one of the most important things I miss doing on the radio and it absolutely breaks my heart that I am not able to reach the people like I used to when I worked at KTCS and KICM. I remember having great conversations with folks in between songs. Those conversations turned into great bits and promos.

    There is so much wrong in this (BEEP!)ed up situation, but just having a conversation where you hear a voice or seeing a face can make such a major difference from staring at a screen. Conversations make or break any relationship, but it can also create one of the strongest bonds you will ever have in your life with the people you least expect. And we just don’t do it, we don’t let it happen because we are too afraid to talk or listen to what is really bothering us. To top it off, no one seems to care enough to ask how someone is doing anymore. We are all being trained to ask as polite conversation, but we also give a simple response because it’s too personal to tell someone.

    I admit, about 90% of what I do say on social media is meant to be the verbal “wrench in your gears”, but honestly, if anyone was serious enough to simply ask me to my face or on the phone to ask me how I was doing? There’s no doubt in my mind that I would absolutely break down. And I am willing to bet there are a few others out there just like me who aren’t saying a word. That’s why it’s important to keep a routine going in a time of Bravo Sierra like we are all going through now. I miss that human connection, that feeling of vibing in a brilliant conversation while playing a board game or cards on a porch. IMHO, we would ALL benefit from doing that. No news, no gossip, just analyzing theories that were brought up by brilliant minds before us still waiting to be proven, even if in quantum physics. Some might read this and think I’m lonely, but really, I think all of us are feeling alone right now.