5 Mondays until Christmas!

Here are some interesting facts from 2019:

Wealthiest country:

Qatar

Poorest country:

Liberia

Wealthiest person:

Jeff Bezos [Amazon]

Wealthiest author:

JK Rowling [Harry Potter]

Wealthiest celebrity:

Oprah Winfrey

Most dangerous job:

Lumberjack

Highest paid job:

Physician

Highest paid job without a degree:

Nuclear reactor operator

Most trusted job:

Nurse

Least trusted job:

Member of Congress

 
 

6 Mondays until Christmas!

Between now and Christmas, we're looking at some Top 10 lists, personalized by me.

Today - My top 10 14 celebrity deaths in 2019, in alphabetical order.

Grumpy Cat – age 7
Real name – Tardar Sauce
Actual cat behind internet meme

Tim Conway – age 85
Hysterically funny comedian
Loved him on the Carol Burnett Show

Darryl Dragon – age 76
Singer/Songwriter
“Captain” from Captain and Tennille

Valerie Harper – age 80
Actress played Rhoda on the
Mary Tyler Moore Show

David Hedison – age 92
Actor – The Fly
Two James Bond movies
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Lee Iacocca – age 94
President of Ford Motor Company
CEO of Chrysler Corporation

Arte Johnson – age 90
Comedian – Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Peter Mayhew – age 74
Actor who played Chewbacca
in original Star Wars trilogy

Toni Morrison – age 88
Awesome author
Pulitzer Prize for Beloved
Presidential Medal of Freedom

Denise Nickerson – age 62
Actress – played Violet Beauregarde in
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Ric Ocasek – age 75
Lead singer of The Cars
One of my favorite bands from high school

John Paul Stevens – age 99
Associate Justice of the
United States Supreme Court

Peter Tork – age 77
Played bass and keyboards for
The Monkees

Rip Torn – age 88
Actor
I loved him in Men in Black!

7 Mondays until Christmas!

Between now and Christmas, we're looking at some Top 10 lists, personalized by me.

Last week we looked at top 10 12 best places to retire.

Today let's take a poll.  Here are 10 locations.  Where would you rather live, either now or in retirement?  Tell us in the comments!

#1 - Ski Cabin

#2 - Farm

#3 - Scottish Castle

#4 - NYC / Big City Apartment

#5 - Mountain Cabin

#6 - Country Cottage

#7 - Beach House

#8 - Desert House

#9 - Redwood Forest Cabin

#10 - Retirement Home / Assisted Living

I'd pick #9, the redwood forest.  Best place in the world!  Next would be #5 mountain cabin and #6 country cottage.  What about you?

8 Mondays until Christmas!

Between now and Christmas, we're looking at some Top 10 lists, personalized by me.

Today let's look at:  Top 10 12 best places to retire.

I compiled this selection from several lists.

USA

Florida

Fort Myers, Sarasota, Port St. Lucie, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Daytona Beach, Naples

Pennsylvania

Lancaster, Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Asheville, Winston-Salem,

Tennessee

Nashville

Michigan

Grand Rapids

Texas

Dallas-Forth Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, McAllen

Non-USA

Portugal

Thailand

Germany

Spain

Costa Rica

Argentina

If you live in any of these places, please give us your opinion!  Do you like living there?  Why or why not?

 

9 Mondays until Christmas!

Between now and Christmas, we're looking at some Top 10 lists, personalized by me. 

Today let's look at:

Top 10 movies from 2019

I'm not much of a movie-goer, so I looked at several [more than 5] lists of 2019 movies and chose 10 12 that I've actually heard of.  If I haven't heard of it, it mustn't be that good, right?!

Let me know your opinion on these, or others.

Apollo 11
Avengers: End Game
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Captain Marvel
How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World
It Chapter 2
Joker
The Lion King
Missing Link
Rocketman
Spiderman: Far from Home
Toy Story 4

10 Mondays before Christmas!

Wake up call!  There are 10 Mondays before Christmas.

For the next 10 weeks, let's look at some top 10 lists.

Top 10 8 most interesting [to me] Supreme Court cases from 2019.

Census citizenship question
Department of Commerce v. New York
Decided: June 27, 2019
5-4
The question of whether the census should contain a citizenship question was sent back to the lower court for review of the Trump administration's plan, leaving in doubt whether the question would be on the 2020 census.

Partisan gerrymandering
Rucho v. Common Cause
Lamone v. Benisek
Decided: June 27, 2019
5-4
The Constitution does not bar extreme partisan gerrymandering, which is a purely political question.

First Amendment - Scandalous trademarks
Iancu v. Brunetti
Decided: June 24, 2019
6-3
Prohibiting trademark protection to material deemed "immoral" or "scandalous" is unconstitutional.

Racial discrimination on juries
Flowers v. Mississippi
Decided: June 21, 2019
7-2
A Mississippi man, tried six times for a quadruple murder and imprisoned for 22 years, deserves a new trial because of the prosecution's racial discrimination in jury selection.

Maryland Peace Cross
American Legion v. American Humanist Association
Decided: June 20, 2019
7-2
A local government's display and maintenance of a nearly century-old WWI memorial cross does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Apple antitrust dispute
Apple Inc. v. Pepper
Decided: May 13, 2019
5-4
Users of iPhones can sue Apple over excessive prices on its exclusive App Store.

Executions and mental disability
Madison v. Alabama
Feb 27, 2019
5-3
The Eighth Amendment does not prohibit a state from executing a prisoner with a mental disability who cannot remember committing his crime, but it does prohibit executing a prisoner who cannot understand the reasons for his execution.

Civil forfeiture
Timbs v. Indiana
Decided Feb. 20, 2019
9-0
The Eighth Amendment limits the ability of police to seize private property used to commit crimes.

What to say – and not say – at trial

Once you've considered all possibilities, type out what you plan to say, and the evidence you plan to bring with you.

If the officer shows up, I'll attempt to speak with him and ask him to dismiss the case.  My focus will be “I was not talking on the phone”.  Do NOT say “I was texting, not talking” because if I admit to doing something illegal, even if it's not the offense noted on the citation, I can still lose.

If trial proceeds and the officer tells the truth, that I was texting, I will point out that I was not charged with texting, but with talking.  Since the officer didn't testify that I was “speaking or listening”, then I am not guilty of the crime charged, and the case should be dismissed. 

I can also argue the two cases.  For the first case, I need to ensure the officer testifies that I was texting while the car was stopped at a traffic light.  If he doesn't say this, I need to ask him on cross-examination - “Was the car moving when you saw me texting?”  For the second case, I need to ask him - “Did you see what was on my phone's screen?  Could it have been a map?”

If trial proceeds and the officer testifies that he saw me talking on the phone [which was NOT true], I will testify that I have ONE cell phone, produce the bill that includes that date, and point out that it does NOT show that any call was made or received at the relevant time.

If the judge finds my guilty anyway, I have the photo of me and my son, and the actual text message, so I can request leniency in my fine.

I wrote all of this information on paper and brought the pages with me, so I didn't forget.

As it turned out, the officer did NOT appear, so my case was dismissed.  You might say that all this work was for nothing, but it was worth it to be prepared for any situation.

Go forth and fight your own traffic ticket!