#(2) is this not illegal don’t they have to bargain in good faith is that just a joke now

[marvelsmostwanted]

Per Deadline and Vanity Fair:

Studio execs making millions publicly admit to their plan to simply wait out the writers’ strike.

[thenuanceddebater]

On Police and Arrests

I made a post last night where I got on my soapbox and yelled at people for their incorrect belief that you can legally resist a so-called “unlawful arrest.” That’s wrong, remains wrong, and I don’t regret doing so. But it does bring-up an interesting conundrum: What CAN you do in a situation where you think you are being unlawfully arrested? How can you avoid those arrests?

I’m not going to be able to give you an answer that can satisfy you. What I have to say is... depressing and likely upsetting. But it’s also true. The only way that you can avoid being arrested is to avoid putting yourself in a position in which you can be arrested. And that’s kind of impossible to do. So, really, you can’t avoid being arrested. Not if the police really want to arrest you. 

Under the Fourth Amendment, an arrest, as a “seizure” of a person, requires both probable cause and a warrant. Probable cause meaning that the police need to have a “reasonable basis”, predicated on evidence, to believe that a crime has been committed, and the person they are seeking to arrest was the perpetrator. The warrant is basically a restatement of the probable cause requirement, as you need probable cause to obtain a warrant, and then a restriction on the persons who can be arrested (just the person on the warrant.) Alternatively, in certain situations police can rely on so-called “exigent circumstance exceptions” to the warrant requirement  fora search or seizure. This means that in specific situations, generally when there is some kind of risk associated with allowing the suspect to go free, police can make an arrest without a warrant and just with probable cause. Some of these circumstances include:

When evidence of a suspected crime is under imminent threat of being lost or destroyed 

When police officers are in hot-pursuit of a suspect

When there is a possibility that the suspect will flee or evade capture prior to a warrant being obtained 

When a person is in need of assistance (usually can’t arrest based on this one, but can enter a dwelling without a warrant)

When entry or arrest is required to prevent harm to another person or the community as a whole. 

Again, these are questions of law that a court will review. In order for an exigent circumstance to apply, the officer in question needs to support their determination not to get a warrant with facts from the case in question. If the judge agrees, then the warrant-less search or seizure was constitutional. If not, then it was unconstitutional, and it’s likely to result in an acquittal or the suppression of evidence uncovered from said search or seizure. 

This is all to say that by the time that police are deciding whether or not to arrest you, it’s not just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Or at least it shouldn’t be. The police should have a reasonable basis to arrest you, and a warrant or exigent circumstance to do so. Nothing you can say or do will prove your innocence at this point. This is why I, and pretty much every attorney I’ve talked to about this, advise you to (1) not talk to the police (save for to invoke your right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment) and (2) not consent to anything that the police want to do. Make them dot their “i”s and cross their “t”s. Because if they fuck up, then you have a much better chance of avoiding charges. But that’s avoiding CHARGES. Not avoiding arrest. Charges are the stuff that send you to prison after a trial or a plea bargain. Arrest is what happens before you’re formally charged. No lawyer can help you avoid arrest (unless there’s some kind of immunity deal, or you consult a lawyer who informs you that you were likely going to break the law and you don’t) once the police have enough evidence to arrest you. A lawyer can stop you from being sent to prison. 

And now you want to say “but TND, I shouldn’t be getting arrested! I didn’t do anything wrong! Isn’t there anything I can do or say that will stop me from being arrested!?” The answer is not legally. If you want to resist arrest, you might get away and avoid arrest for the time being. However, if the police decide to track you down, you will eventually be arrested, and for charges that are more likely to stick. If you try and flee, you’ll likely be tracked-down at some point. If you leave the country, you’d better go somewhere where there is no extradition treaty with the US an lie low. But the hard truth is that even if the police are totally mistaken and you’re 100% innocent, you can absolutely still be legally arrested. Unless you can prove that the police knew or should have known you were innocent (and not “well, the evidence for my innocence was far more convincing than the evidence for my guilt” kind of knew. I’m talking like “I had an alibi, 10,000 witnesses, DNA evidence excluded me, etc. and all they had was a hunch” kind of knew), you can’t prove an unlawful arrest. Instead, the police can argue (and will successfully argue) that they were wrong, but “operating in good faith.” Which is to say that you were innocent and likely should not have been arrested, but they thought you were guilty and there was at least something there to support them. 

Also, keep in mind that “I didn’t do anything wrong” has a caveat. It actually means the following: “To the best of my knowledge, I did not do anything wrong.” That can mean “I actually didn’t do anything wrong” or “I didn’t intend to do anything wrong” or “I didn’t know that I did something wrong” etc. All three of these mean different things in regards to whether or not the arrest was lawful. It’s entirely possible that you did in fact do something wrong, and just didn’t know it. But, ignorance of the law is not an excuse (or a mistake of governing law defense does not hold water in court). So even if you really believe that you did nothing wrong, the arrest still might be lawful. 

And now you might say “but hold on TND. I’m a bit more educated on this topic than the average bear, and I KNOW for a fact that what the police did initially was illegal/ unconstitutional. Doesn’t that matter at all!?” The answer there is it depends. It’s possible that if police got information that would normally lead to an arrest in an illegal way that the arrest could be considered to be unlawful and the evidence will suppressed and the charges will be dropped. However, it’s also possible that the police either had or uncovered a different fully legal path to get to that information, and thus the fact that they also got it in an illegal way doesn’t really matter. Or, it’s possible that too much happened in between the illegal action and obtaining the information that they are using to actually arrest you so that exclusion doesn’t apply. Again, these are legal arguments that lawyers should consider or make. Not stuff for you to throw at the police when they come to arrest you, OR a reason for you to resist arrest. 

No legal argument is going to get you out of an arrest. No action that you can perform is going to get you out of an arrest. Nothing you say to the police when they come to arrest you is going to get you out of an arrest. Resisting arrest might work temporarily, but will not permanently get you out of an arrest. There is no real way to not be arrested. Now will the charges stick? That is the real question. 

TL;DR (but you really should): There is no real way to completely ensure that you will not be arrested. The most you can do is (1) not talk to the police and (2) make them get warrants/ paperwork/ explain themselves. That doesn’t stop arrest, but it does help with charges. Also, get a lawyer. 

[urbanstarzmedia]

What's at stake in Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama, union vote: 5 questions answered

Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are hoping to become the retailer’s first unionized employees in the U.S. AP Photo/Jay Reeves   Several thousand Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are currently voting on whether to form the retailer’s first-ever union. The election has been contentious, with workers complaining that Amazon is using aggressive tactics to defeat the vote, while high-profile figures including President Joe Biden have weighed in on the side of the union. Voting continues through March 29. We asked Raymond Hogler, an employment relations expert at Colorado State University, to explain what’s happening and why it matters.

1. Why do Amazon workers want to form a union, and how do they begin?

In March 2021, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union asked the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer. Some 6,000 workers are eligible to vote by secret ballot about whether they want the union to represent them in their dealings with Amazon. Amazon, one of the largest employers in the world, has no collective bargaining agreements with any of its U.S. employees – though it does in Europe. Workers typically seek union representation for higher wages and better benefits, and a union can provide a higher level of job security through seniority provisions and grievance procedures in contracts. As part of its efforts to avoid unionization, Amazon is holding mandatory meetings with employees and distributing written materials to influence the vote.

peoples world- photo url

2. What happens if the the union wins the election?

Winning the election doesn’t automatically mean workers are unionized and get a labor contract. It means only they have the right to negotiate for one. The employer has a duty under the National Labor Relations Act to bargain with the union, but it does not have an obligation to agree to anything the union proposes. The law states in Section 9 that the requirement to bargain collectively is “the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment.” Of course, Amazon could simply shut down the facility – but it couldn’t reopen the same facility elsewhere to escape unionization. While American employers have an absolute right to close their business rather than deal with a union, they do not have a right to shut down one location and move to a different place just to avoid letting workers unionize, as the labor board has held in cases of so-called runaway shops. And since Alabama is a right-to-work state, workers will be able to decide whether or not to pay union dues. In general, this is one way right-to-work laws impair union strength.

3. What happens if they don’t reach an agreement?

The board has no authority to make an employer agree to a contract. If an employer bargains in good faith but the parties fail to reach an agreement, the union has a right to strike. And if the National Labor Relations Board finds that an employer violated the law during the election, it could order more negotiations.

4. How about if Amazon wins?

If the election is deemed “valid” by the board and the effort to unionize fails, workers will have to wait another year before trying again. This is to prevent unions from engaging in continuous organizing efforts and repetitive elections. But if the employer violated the law, the board has the authority to conduct a rerun election or order Amazon to bargain with the union anyway. An example violation would be if Amazon offered all the employees an unexpected bonus just before the voting begins. The union could argue that this tactic was an illegal conferral of a benefit to discourage unionization.

5. What does this election mean for the broader labor movement?

Organized labor views the Amazon campaign as an opportunity to publicize the weaknesses of current law and to create momentum for new legislation that would help workers organize. One such bill currently before Congress, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, would establish a more favorable legal environment for unions by easing rules for union recognition and beefing up penalties for violations of workers’ rights. Advocates for the act claim in addition that reform increase incomes for more working-class Americans and reduces inflation-adjusted average incomes for the bottom 90% of households. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said the new legislation is needed to protect workers because many of them “break the law” during union organizing drives. He said the Protecting the Right to Organize Act “creates a true deterrent, so employers think twice before violating the law.” What's at stake in Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama, union vote: 5 questions answered-Author;

Raymond Hogler, Professor of Management, Colorado State University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Check out more great contributor stories, HERE Read the full article

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

How America's Cops Get Away With Murder

By Marie Berry, Cornell University Class of 2022

July 17, 2020

Breonna Taylor. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Sandra Bland. These names are amongst a seemingly unending list of others, of young Black men and women whose lives were violently taken by police. These names are also those of victims whose murderers are still walking free, have had their charges dropped, have not been convicted of the crime they committed, or have merely been fired.Though the growing response from the public after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor has been national outrage, behind the scenes, police officers continue to be excused and let off the hook. So what is it exactly that is allowing these American cops to continuously get away with murder?

99% of killings by police from 2013 to 2019 in the U.S. have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime.Yet, between 2013 and 2019 American law enforcement officers intentionally or accidentally killed about 7,664 civilians. [1] One explanation for the rarity of police officers being charged for a civilian killing, let alone convicted, can be attributed to prosecutor-police relationships. These two departments have a particular culture, as well as a dependence to each other that continuously allows the suppression of police violence and misconduct on a national scale. Because prosecutors often receive their cases and their information from police, there is an assumption of cooperation and respect between the two. But under that front of trust and honor, there is an expectation for prosecutors to completely defer to law enforcement’s account of events, or to provide “respectful courtesies” for police officers for example.[2]But often, those favors lead to more serious things like not questioning them about or documenting their illegal actions,discarding the witness statements that contradict an officer’s, and “shading” by altering small information about the case in question. [3] Any refusal to cooperate or to blindly accept a police report is viewed as a breach of trust and respect, and in many cases can lead to repercussions such as marginalization, tarnished reputations, by both police officers and superiors who support them, forcing prosecutors to go along with police. [4]

The power dynamics in the prosecutor-police relationship are unequal and a large part of why so much police violence goes unpunished, but the attorneys also have a lot of leniency in the decisions of who to charge, whether or not to charge them, for what crimes, in addition to the organization of plea bargains. [5] This is also known as prosecutorial discretion, and it allows prosecutors to essentially control the outcome of a case, yet instead of using it to charge the guilty police officers—in other words, the criminals— they continuously seem use that power to protect the officers from being charged for their crimes, rather than for actual justice. Instead of punishing criminality, they consistently allow it to go unreprimanded and often unnoticed. Whether they were pressured into doing so by police, superiors, or their own reasoning, they are regularly allowing murderers and assaulters to legally walk free and patrol communities despite their violent crimes.

The deepest irony is that while Black Americans have represented 28% of those killed by police despite being only 13% of the U.S. population, [6]African American adults are also 5.9 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, [7]comparatively to police who almost never get charged for their crimes. Law enforcement targets, criminalizes and incarcerates, and even murders Black people at disturbingly fast rates, all under the protection of the law. In fact, the police don’t only have corrupt prosecutors, high budgets or community trust on their sides, they also have the law. It is used disproportionately to both jail Black communities and protect the police officers who kill them, granting them “qualified immunity” in civil lawsuits, a notion coined by the Supreme Court in 1967 stating that they should not face legal liability for enforcing the law “in good faith and with probable cause.” [8]They even added in 1982 that unless the violation of the defendant’s rights is “clearly established” through a case with the same “specific context and particular conduct,” the official is immune, even if rights were maliciously violated. [9]This standard makes it almost impossible for plaintiffs to win, while shielding officers from liability, giving them an almost airtight defense against liability claims. In fact, in 30 cases spanning more than 3 decades back from 2018, the Supreme Court found that official conduct violated clearly established law only twice. [10]

So, when people say that the cops act like the laws don’t apply, they’re essentially right. There are too many ways that prevent plaintiffs from holding officers accountable for their actions, and therefore give them and the governments that employ them very little incentive improve their practice and follow the law. Amongst many ideas of reforming or defunding police, continuing protests for institutional change and true equality, the losses of so many innocent Black lives are paving the way for a better, more just society.

________________________________________________________________

[1]https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

[2]http://www.bu.edu/bulawreview/files/2020/05/05-TRIVEDI-VAN-CLEVE.pdf  p.909

[3]^ Id p. 905- 906

[4]https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/why-prosecutors-keep-letting-police-get-away-with-murder.html

[5]https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/what-is-prosecutorial-discretion-.html

[6]https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

[7]U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2016, 8 tbl.6 (June 2020).

[8]https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/qualified_immunity

[9]https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/opinion/Minneapolis-police-George-Floyd.html

[10] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/15/police-misconduct-supreme-court-wont-consider-eliminating-immunity/5282572002/

Photo Credit: Tony Webster

[raisingsupergirl]

It’s Not Easy Hunting on God’s Time

Until recently, I can't remember a single time when I was mad at God. Not even when my dad died. Maybe I had been too numb at the time, but I think I realized that 1) we live in a broken world, so sometimes bad things happen to good people and 2) God works things for his good, so Dad's death might eventually be worked for some good, too. What is meant to happen will happen. But whatever my mindset, I never blamed my heavenly Father. Which is why it seems so ridiculous that inheriting my dad's rifle, deciding to go hunting with it, and then not seeing any deer for a few years would have such a negative impact on my faith. But it did. And it wasn't just a few years. It was seven. In a row. Seven opening weekends of sitting out in the cold, frozen toes and frozen nose, aching back, aching knees, eyes and ears on high alert, finger on the trigger, and… nothing (you can read about my 2016 trip here). If you're superstitious, it was seven years of bad luck. If you're religious, it was seven years of completion. Either way, it left me feeling like a complete failure. And this year, it was all or nothing.

It's hard to describe why such a silly thing was so important to me. I had a great childhood. I've never been seriously sick or impaired. I got into a great physical therapy program at a great college. I have an amazing wife, amazing kids, and an amazing job. Almost everything I've set my heart on, God has given me… almost. But there are two things he's withheld. The first, as I've said, is this pursuit of the whitetail deer. But it's more than that. It's the social aspect of coming back to society every season empty-handed. It's talking to friends, patients, and family so often about this thing that I've never really experienced. It's failing at something so "easy" that so many other people excel at year after year. And then there's the other thing that God has withheld from me: having one of my novels published. And it comes with all of the same emotions and frustrations, except for the "so many other people excelling at" part. Traditional publication is a crazy competitive market. I know that. But it doesn't make nearly a decade of rejection any easier, especially considering the amount of hours and effort I've poured into it.

And so, those two things were tied together in my heart and mind. As an adult, I'm so thankful for everything I have, but I've only really "asked" God for two things: a deer and a book. And before this past weekend, it seemed like he was intent on giving me everything except what I asked for. And I'd become royally fed up. One more year. One more chance to pull the trigger. One more time packing up for deer camp, setting up the cabin, firing up the wood stove, warming up the deer chili, feeding the fire every two hours throughout the night, and still waking up frozen at 4:30 a.m. only to sit in a tree, freezing my butt off while every sane person I knew was still asleep in a warm bed. After this, I was giving up. And I let God know it. So, with the scene set and without further adieu, lets begin the hunt.

I make sure I have a round chambered in my rifle, then click off my safety. This is my first year in this new stand, and even though it's more comfortable than my last one, it feels dangerously unstable—not something I want fifteen feet off of the ground. It's still night, but the moon is full. The woods are quiet except for a far-off rooster. Apparently his clock's a little off. And then I hear it—the first crack of gunfire breaks the silence. Someone has shot a deer before the sun came up. The moon is full, so visibility is good, but I think it's still illegal. And it definitely frustrates me. Another year of sitting, waiting, and listening as the forest rings with everyone else's success.

As the sun's first rays swell over the ridgeline to my right, I don't dare move. My knees are already aching, but I refuse to straighten them. I'm not taking the chance of scaring off a deer. There will be no lingering questions this year. I won't play on my phone. I won't stand up to stretch. I won't…

I jerk my head up and realize I'm leaning forward more than expected. When did I close my eyes? Apparently my body and mind still aren't ready to be awake. Probably has something to do with staying up until midnight catching up with my brother. But that's no excuse. What if a buck walked by while my eyes were closed? What if I had fallen out of my stand to my death? Both possibilities feel equally horrible at the moment. So I straighten slowly, squeeze my rifle a little closer, and start scanning the landscape.

I'm left handed, so the ridge to my right will be the best place for me to shoot, except that the sun has now begun peaking through the distant trees, effectively blinding me to anything in that direction. In front of me, a tangle of brush still hasn't lost its leaves, effectively blinding me to anything beyond it. To my left, another ridge leads down into a valley, and it's alive with squirrels and birds—even one of those huge, endangered woodpeckers, banging its head against tree after tree. I deeply relate to him at the moment. But, as I said, if I see a deer in that direction, I'll have to flip my gun to a right-handed position, which I can do, but not without a lot of noise and movement. And so, the pessimism starts setting in.

Then I get my first text from my brother at 8:36am: "Seen probably 20 does already! No joke!"

My response: :(

But it galvanizes me. They're here. I'm not like my brother. I'm not waiting for the monster buck. I'll shoot Bambi if he walks in front of me. And those twenty does that my brother saw are only a couple ridges away from me. At least one of them has to come my way, right? Thirty minutes of heavy hunting goes by. I am Deer Slayer. My movements are so slow that they're imperceptible. My ears are sharp, and my eyes are sharper. I'm ready. But, as always, I detect every squirrel and bird for a quarter mile, but no deer. Not one. And then the frustration returns, and it's worse than it's ever been. And now I send up my first prayer. It's not one of praise, thanksgiving, or supplication. It's an accusation. "You delivered Abraham a lamb to sacrifice instead of his son. Where's my freakin' deer?"

I don't know where the thought comes from, but something about it rings true. I don't often ask God for things that impact other people. We have free will, and it seems that God would be loath to infringe on that free will just to answer some selfish prayer from me. And if he did, what if it negatively impacted someone else? But here, in these woods, changing the path of an animal seems so simple. Just make it walk in front of me! What's the big deal?

But there's something deeper going on here. I'm actually angry with God. And that's insane. I'm angry about not getting published yet. I'm angry about not getting a deer yet. I'm angry that it feels like God isn't listening. It feels so cliché—so #newChristianprobs. But it's what I'm going through, and I can't ignore it. Instead, I actually start listening. "Be still and know that I am God." Here I am, God, arms wide open. Listening. Waiting. What is it you've been waiting for? What am I supposed to learn? When will be the right time?

Despite my frustration, the forest is enchanted. It's still and quiet, but also bursting with life. It's ancient and new at the same time. My ears are ringing with the silence. And I'm still waiting. I ask God a question, a supremely honest question, and say, "If you want me to do this thing, send a deer and allow me to shoot it." Yes, I'm making deals with God. I'm still not certain that he's listening. And then I get another text from my brother: 

Are you freaking kidding me? Now God's just screwing with me. And my bargaining gets even more demanding. "Okay, if you want me to do this other thing, send me a deer and allow me to shoot it in the next five minutes."

I'm desperate. I'm borderline hysterical. But I am still Deer Slayer. Four minutes and thirty seconds go by (I know because I'm counting Mississippis). Nothing. And then, up on the ridge to my right—the perfect spot—stands a doe. Electricity shoots through me. My hands are shaking. My heart is a sledgehammer against my ribcage. My frosty breath is ragged. I slowly creep my gun into position. The doe is walking. No, it's gliding, silent like a ghost. Not loud like the squirrels and the birds. My ears will be no help. I will follow it with my eyes. Lead it. Train my sights on the next clearing. The doe walks through the break in the trees, but it's farther away than I had anticipated. No shot. I swing my sights to the last clearing before the ridge turns away at the bottom of the valley. Last chance. I wait. I steady my breath. The doe never comes. I glance back up from the open sights. No movement. My heart stutters. Reality widens from a pinpoint to the whole landscape once again. God is, indeed, screwing with me. 

But a spark of hope remains. There are deer here! And I've heard countless stories of waiting for the buck trailing the doe. So, again, I wait. Watching the top of the ridge. Occasionally glancing down to see if the doe will miraculously wander into my valley. But mostly I watch the ridge. Though, I do take the time to text my brother at 10:08 that I, "had my finger on the trigger for a doe but never had her in my sights L"

I begin to falter again. There's no buck coming. There probably wasn't ever even a doe. I've completely lost it. And now I'm done. At least for now. I’m cold and hungry. And at 10:17, I start texting my brother, "Wanna go back and—"

I glance at the bottom of the valley—the place I'd expected the doe to come out earlier—and I freeze. Another deer. Bigger than the one before. I can't tell if it's a buck or a doe. Too much brush between us. Too far away. Fire ignites within me. Not today, deer. This ends now! My hand shakes as I fumble with my phone and drop it back into my camo coveralls. My gun is already propped on the stand's rail, in position. I slide my hands around it. I slip my finger over the trigger. I take a quick breath. The deer is starting to move. Only a few steps, but it will only take a few more before it disappears. The shot is still not clear, but it's the best it's going to get. Open sights. Just under 100 yards. Put the center prong in the middle of the circle, just behind the front shoulder—the ribs. The heart and lungs. Squeeze the trigger.

The sound rings out like thunder. The deer bleats. The sound chills me. It falls. A second deer—a doe—bolts just in front of me, not more than thirty yards away, from left to right, up the ridge. My senses are confused. Was it the same deer? Did I miss it? No, I saw it fall. That must have been a different one, somehow hidden in plain sight before. How many deer have I just not seen over the years? How many shots has God hidden from my eyes?

But this one is down, I'm sure of it. I'm still shaking. I saw it fall. I heard its death cry. Deer don't do that, at least from what I've heard. My phone vibrates. I hold it in front of me so I can still keep the spot where the deer fell in my vision. The text is from my brother, asking if the shot had been mine 

The rest is a blur. We agree that I'll stay in my stand and watch the spot while he packs his stuff up and heads my way. Doubt creeps in again. It was the same deer that ran up my way after the shot. I missed him. God is screwing with me, yet again. But after years of waiting (eight years now, to be exact), I see my brother's orange hat bob through the woods, and his voice echoes to me like a dream. "Big doe."

I melt. Emotion floods my brain, my heart, my entire being. God wasn't screwing with me. He wasn't bargaining. He was listening. Waiting. And he has delivered me a deer and allowed me to shoot it.

Now, I won't pretend that dragging that doe up the side of the mountain back to camp was anything short of torture (was it Sisyphus whom the gods cursed to roll a rock up a mountain for all eternity? Yeah, I now know how it feels), but after dragging nearly a dozen deer up that very same hill for my brothers over the years, this one was mine, and nothing would stop me. It was my day. My victory. My… oh, how quickly we forget.

It was then that I took a second—sometime between pictures and field dressing—and remembered the conversations I had with God in those woods that morning. The conversations I've had with him in recent years, and since the kill. They're between him and me, but they're important. They're resonant. I've learned things in the silence of the forest over the past eight years. And it took a sacrificial deer—on God's time and with my dad's rifle—to reveal those things to me. At least, to begin to reveal them to me. There's still so much that I don't understand. So much to learn about God's will and about my own life. The past isn't clear to me, and neither is the future, but some questions have been answered. And for now, in this instant, I am content. God is listening. I won't give up. And as my brother said before we left for deer camp this year (after I asked him if he wanted to just wait and come down later, or not at all): "Let's go down tomorrow. You never know what's going to happen. I always believe what is meant to happen will happen."

And he couldn’t have been more right. Some will say, “It’s just a doe. Why didn’t you go for the big buck.�� And those people totally missed the point. They’re walking a different journey than me. And that’s okay. Others will say, “What’s the big deal? It’s a rifle against a deer. Why brag about that?” And... that’s okay, too. I won’t convince them otherwise, and they’ll never go through the trouble of trying to find out for themselves. They’d rather pass judgement from afar. And I’ll be here, smiling ear to ear, wondering where to put the meat.

[martireiber67-blog]

Teaching An Child Related To Fire Fighters

If you are a gamer, you probably already have a PSP handportable. You love it, You love it's games. You want to have as many games as possible. But you have a problem. Games for PSP cost too much. The price can range anywhere from $20 to $40, possibly even higher on newer releases. cheap psp games are hard to come by. You can search the net looking for discounts and bargains. You can even search the games for free, illegally. But the truth is, it's almost impossible. You hate it. You would love to get games more easily . You have a limited budget, and you would love to pay for games you love to play. But the price is just too high. But, thanks to the popularity of the PSP, and popularity of the internet, you can get cheap psp games online. And I'm not talking jst about those crappy little puzzle games or something little that. I'm talking about hottest and newest games! Loads of new cheap PSP game sites have been coming up lately, and the beautiful thing is, you do not have to spend fortune on these sites. You pay quite small one-time-fee for the membership (about the normal price of one game), and you can get access to unlimited amount of games. Simply put: You can download psp games for free after paying the cheap membership fee. Maybe you would love to get games for free. But hey! This is the next best thing. I honestly believe this is the best thing that has happened in the gaming world ever! (one of the best anyways). Imagine, you pay your fee, and then you go and download, say ten games... They're cool. And what did you pay? You paid for the price of one game.(I don't know how they can afford that low price for the membership) and you got ten games! Before you knew about these new kinds of sites, you would have paid yourself to the bankruptcy for that amount of games. If you are a hardcore gamer, and you don't want to lose all your money buying games, there can only be 2 reasons why you wouldn't try this out. You don't want to get dirt cheap psp games, or you are really crazy. To be fair, I think that in both cases you are completely out of your mind. Finally, you can really enjoy the full capability of your PSP without paying your ass off. Thanks to the internet, the competition is so hard these days, that bargains like this sometimes come up. All you have to know where to download cheap psp games and other stuff for your handheld. "Well, girls, whaddya think?" I was actually taking a vote. There are already niche world-wide-web for regular people of Judaism or Luciano faith, regular people who are undoubtedly really into tennis and then people that absolutely like Star Trek. Learn to purchase what individuals are alleging. The is a suitable gift when can becoming given so as to an newborn baby and possibly can be put in place until chances are they'll are 4 years of age or a little older. Published by how the Berkshire Pg . of People should for typically the Preservation plus Appreciation associated with Antique Motor Fire Components in America, the show is open from 15 am on 4 pm hours. To the contentment of the type of little drivers, every key can come to be flicked and even every button can exist pushed.

By using quality factors like an alternator might help to extend currently the life towards your car or suv. All of us just came to some video video arcade when people called amount of time. Robinson, the exact movie exactly pointed aside the normal vulnerabilities related tall establishments to that will fire. Just because of your a digital camera camera shoots out in colour, it is progressing not indicate that that can point, shoot and as well as take extraordinary images. Some sort of great work of Spiritual techniques consists to identifying unquestionably the patterns around us. Understand it spurs this special imagination on top of that provides your reason with regard to leave my crib. Rogers District or pay out time with video online flash games that make it easier for you read and learn how for make extremely choices as well as the decisions. 2) Publish the end goal down :: it is usually amazing the way quickly a number of us forget (both parents and furthermore kids) the text the particular target was, when it was made with why the idea was got. This month's movie may be Prince concerning Egypt. Generally, your family want in send a brand new native computer file format that will help your service provider. Fun with randomness and when it comes to your nuggets of information. Or go with a new SpongeBob Lego theme, a Lego fire truck games theme or a law enforcement agency celebration or perhaps even even one beach shower if you chose the Lego Urban centre Coastguard Composition. And the fact that the highest quality teacher entertainers as that coach in the time of the being familiar with process and then not a single know-it-all expounding inflexible solution. If somebody have an logo in addition need that it printed with a special day favor, the item is labeled customized. Have you ever in the future wondered near the systems firefighters choose now , did assist in our past and / or maybe the one of the biggest used across firefighting prior to now motor rv's? When your company are making a Partner Ideas, therefore, why not check out for a particular single precisely. Are you having trouble with your driving? Well, we have here a very unlikely sort of prescription for you. Start playing games. It has been scientifically proven that playing car games can help you drive better in real life. This is the finding of a research carried out to identify whether playing a driving game has any positive or negative impact on a persons driving skills. The research selected a random group of drivers and tested them for factors like driving skill, response time, alertness, etc. Some individuals were then asked to play popular car games daily for some days, while others were not. The tests post experiment found that those who played driving games had better response time and alertness. So if you want to become a better driver all you have to do is start playing games. Isnt that unbelievable? To obtain best results get a car-racing game-pad. This game-pad features a driving wheel and a couple of pedals for accelerator and clutch. If youve got the moolah, you can spend on a force-feedback wheel and have hours of fun playing car games. Remember not to spend all your time on racing games, and include some tamer versions which also have parking games. In fact there are some car simulations available that specifically target making driving as real as possible. You see a first-eye perspective of the road, complete with on-coming traffic. You can also select between different driving conditions. Many car games also feature varying road conditions like rain, snow, etc. These driving games help you understand how to drive differently among these conditions. According to some experts, it would be a good idea to expose everyone who applies for a driving license to a car driving simulation before they drive an actual vehicle. The car simulation should have parking games, and also educate the driver about traffic signs and rules. So now youll have to wait for the traffic light to turn green not only in your real life, but also in car games. The experts have also recommended this therapy for those who have trouble obeying traffic rules. Most of these individuals feel that its fun to go too fast, or to break the signal. By exposing them to car games that penalize them, or have negative points for breaking rules, they can be trained to follow traffic rules better. Whod have thought that driving games can help people be better citizens? But its true! If youve got children in your house, get them a good quality car simulation. One which emphasizes proper driving instead of running people over, or racing while breaking everything in the way like some car games do. These days there are so many car-games available, with realistic cars, roads and driving conditions that youll never be bored playing driving games. Just buy a disc from the market, pick up the joystick, and youre all set to be a better driver thanks to the driving games. Remember, dont get lost in driving alone. Play some parking games too.

[mystlnewsonline]

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/lawmakers-seek-deal-on-immigration-border-security/65015/

Lawmakers seek deal on immigration, border security

WASHINGTON/January 10, 2018(AP)(STL.News)— Bargainers seeking a bipartisan immigration accord planned talks as soon as Wednesday as President Donald Trump and leading lawmakers sought to parlay an extraordinary White House meeting into momentum for resolving a politically blistering issue.

Facing a Jan. 19 deadline for averting an election-year government shutdown, negotiators were seeking a formula for reviving protections against deportation that Trump has ended for nearly 800,000 immigrants who arrived illegally in the U.S. as children. In exchange, Trump and Republicans want toughened border protections and tightened restrictions on others trying to migrate to this country.

“I’ll take all the heat you want,” Trump told nearly two dozen lawmakers Tuesday at the White House for a meeting that began with a startling 55 minutes in which reporters and TV cameras watched. “But you are not that far away from comprehensive immigration reform.”

Trump said an immigration deal could be reached in two phases — first by addressing young immigrants and border security with what he called a “bill of love,” then by making comprehensive changes that have long eluded Congress.

That second bill would likely face long odds for passage, considering long-running disagreements over issues like how to handle all 11 million immigrants illegally in the U.S.

Republicans will need Democratic votes to prevent a federal shutdown in 10 days, votes Democrats have threatened to withhold without an immigration agreement. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters talks would begin as early as Wednesday, adding, “And we’ll solve this problem and find common ground.”

Negotiations over the DACA program may be more complicated in light of a federal judge’s ruling Tuesday night to block temporarily the administration’s decision to end the program. In doing so, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco granted a request by California and other plaintiffs to let lawsuits over the administration’s decision play out in court.

Alsup said lawyers in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that the young immigrants “were likely to suffer serious, irreparable harm” without court action. The judge also said the lawyers had a strong chance of succeeding at trial.

Early Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the ruling was “outrageous, especially in light of the President’s successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day.” She said the issue should “go through the normal legislative process” and pledged Trump “will work with members of both parties to reach a permanent solution.”

After Trump and lawmakers spent time meeting privately, the White House and numerous lawmakers said there was agreement to limit the immediate bill to four areas. These were border security, family-based “chain migration,” a visa lottery that draws people from diverse countries and how to revive the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

That Obama-era program has given hundreds of thousands — the so-called Dreamers — a shield from deportation and the right to work legally. Trump ended it last year but gave Congress until March 5 to find a fix, and Tuesday he signaled flexibility.

“I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with,” Trump said during the Cabinet Room meeting.

Trump even flashed some give on his cherished plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico, perhaps his highest profiled pledge from last year’s presidential campaign. That proposal has been strongly opposed by Democrats and many Republicans as a futile waste of money.

Trump said it needn’t be a “2,000-mile wall. We don’t need a wall where you have rivers and mountains and everything else protecting it. But we do need a wall for a fairly good portion.” He’d made similar statements last year, but this time it was in the context of negotiations for actual legislation.

Both parties were already showing signs of divisions over how much to give in upcoming talks. But one conservative foe of giving ground acknowledged the impact of Trump’s support.

“There are scores of Republicans who have shifted their position to follow the president,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. He said while he helped head off a bipartisan immigration effort in 2013, “I don’t want to promise the result will be the same. This is more momentum than I have ever seen.”

Among Democrats, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who attended the White House meeting, said he was open to negotiations on the four issues bargainers will address.

But Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who was not there and like Cuellar is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he favored a narrow bill protecting Dreamers with perhaps something negotiable on border security. “They took the hostage,” Gallego said of Trump’s action that would end Dreamers’ protections. “We’re not going to pay for it.”

One attendee, No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin of Illinois, said, “The sense of urgency, the commitment to DACA, the fact that the president said to me privately as well as publicly, ‘I want to get this done,’ I’m going to take him as his word.”

Underscoring the effort’s fresh momentum, the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Michelle Grisham Lujan, D-N.M., said late Tuesday she was “encouraged” by Trump’s words and would work “in good faith” toward a deal. Some of the group’s members have taken a hard line against surrendering too much in a compromise with Trump.

Conservatives quickly sounded alarms about a process that would lead to a comprehensive agreement on immigration, a path that has long been anathema to many rank-and-file Republicans.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., leader of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said in a text message after the White House meeting he was “generally” opposed to a two-step process “because history would indicate the second step never happens.” He later said that if the first steps included the four areas outlined by the White House, “then I could support a two-step process realizing that step one is the only thing that is guaranteed.”

___ AP reporters Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor and Marcy Gordon contributed.

By Associated Press, published on STL.NEWS by St. Louis Media, LLC (TM)