Checked Out; Playing Now

 Boys of Summer - by Ronzo Weideman

I dipped my feet in the blue pool at my hostel. Next to me, a lady in her mid 60's is doing the same thing. On the recliner is my book. I've read half of it. It's hot here. 80F / 27C. The local dog, a small pug, stays with me - asking to be petted. I left home, again. I had to.

For 8 months now, I've been wanting to leave East Los Angeles, where I was born and raised (unlike Bel Air). 8 months ago, I was in Stockholm, meeting new friends - and partying it up. People were lovely there.

After 8 months though, I just needed a break, especially after working through and solving my last case. In the words of Louis Brandeis - it was time to unstring and restring the bow of the mind again.

Even though I was leaving only for a short while - it was a hard-good bye. People in my boxing gym seemed sad I was leaving. My clients seemed sad too.

And even my cat, Jeh Pan, knew I was going. He refused breakfast and his treats the morning I left. I don't ever remember him doing that. I wondered: How does he know I'm going away? Is it the luggage? Is it that it was early in the morning? Is there an emotional signal of me checking out mentally? He knew, when I was leaving last time. That was in July of 2018.

The night before, I took my mother out to eat. I said my goodbye to her then too. But I'm just going away for awhile, no? Perhaps, I guess one never knows with me. Do I even know with myself?

I packed just one small suitcase. I brought only three books with me. I only bought a one way ticket. I don't know when I'm coming back. It was kind of scary for me to just buy a one way ticket, but I had a strong spiritual sense that was what I was meant to do.

My plane was late by 30 minutes. I wish they let us know earlier. I could've slept more. Sleep is good, and people who know me know I hate mornings - especially really early ones.

The plane was full. A family sat next to me. A little kid sat in the middle. I watched Mary Queen of Scots on the plane.

It was ok. I liked the scenes showing the Scottish Highlands. The movie definitely had a pro-Scottish agenda and portrayed Mary as a martyr - instead of the traditional English view of her as a traitor. Into thy hands, I commend my spirit. I kept wondering why they didn't show her dog, which she hid in her dress, bark in agony, after the axeman chopped off her head. Bloody Mary - they say - for a reason.

And she also wasn't as beautiful as the movie makes her out to be. Historical records say that when the executioner picked up her head, he only picked up her red wig. And the head rolled away from him. Perhaps - the Scots are disputing this account too.

Who knows what really happened? I wasn't there then.

When I stepped out of the plane, the air was warm and humid - not like the cold and bizarre May-weather we were having in Los Angeles.

Oh - there were so many tourists at immigration. That took awhile. But because I didn't have any checked in luggage, I made it out of there airport quick.

I hopped on the local bus. The locals stared at me. I could feel them scanning my skin. I was the only Asian person there. Some Argentinians buskers came in and played music, but it was too loud for me to tip them anything. I didn't enjoy their music.

The police pulled over the bus. We had to change buses. It cost 20 minutes.

Manta Rays (c) Wikipedia

At the hostel, I met an old friend - same one who joined me at the pool later. She's currently processing and analyzing scientific data on Manta Rays.

We talked for hours. It's been years since we saw each other last.

She's a vegan. The local restaurants that served vegan food was closed. So, she made me lentils for dinner.

Then, I told her all about my sabbatical. She told me all about her journeys through Ireland and Holland. She told me all about her role of becoming an elder in society.

She said, "People don't celebrate eldership or peace."

I told her, "Our society worships violence. Not wisdom or peace."

Lentils and broccoli

I think the most important thing she told me so far, was about conversations. She said - "Remember; in a conversation, you're either trying to one-up somebody, or you're trying to share with them. Next time you're in conflict with someone, remember that."

Update on Rafael's and Tuttle's case - Hope Springs Eternal

Superbloom in CA (c) Dana Stein

The heavy Californian winter rains ignited a super bloom of flowers all across our state. Philip Fischer - Warren Buffet's mentor once wrote that there are a burst of flowers, when heavy rain follows a drought. (He uses that analogy to describe buying stocks in drought, easier said than done, though.) The super blooms in California only confirms this phenomenon. Even when you look at our backyard, all the trees are thriving with flourishing green and strong leaves.

We had a wet and dreary winter indeed. And, it was spectacular, the way that California flooded. There was so much rain, the huge sink holes formed in the streets.

But as with most dark winters, it does feel like a part of you is dying. The trees lose all their leaves. The hens molt, lose their summer feathers, only to regrow winter feathers. They stop laying eggs.

It's almost like Death's touch ceases and decays everything around you.

But with the spring, we're reminded that hope exists and persists, especially this year.

I've been really busy with two cases. I'd like to share. And end with what I've been learning this spring.

Rafael Valdez's Case

Rafael and Joy Valdez with two children.

I started working on this case on March 25th, 2019. Seven weeks later, I've put in 182.5 hours into it. The labor has been well worth it, and I've mined hidden gems.

The summary of the case is that my client was pulled over in a traffic stop. As a result, he was eventually put into ICE deportation proceedings. He is married to an American woman and has two American children. Because of legal complications, he could not obtain residency.

In September of 2013, he was deported to Mexico. In the meantime, the ICE prosecutor who deported him - was charged with forgery. He's been disbarred and has already served his sentence in prison. In June of 2018, Chief Counsel (the director of ICE prosecution) was convicted of the identities of those he deported for cash - in a complicated scheme that involved getting loans on these stolen identities.

The question remained: Did he steal my client's identity?

My factual investigation has found that it's 99% likely that he has stolen my client's identity.

The next steps therefore is to reopen up this case, and I'm hopeful to get him back.

Tuttle's Case

LA Times here. But the problem in this case, was that I didn't get paid my attorney's fees, which are mandatory.

The three city officials, who sued Tuttle,
Ricardo Pacheco, Monica Garcia, Manuel Lozano
(From left to right)

In this case, if you don't remember, the Mayor Lozano and Council Members Ricardo Pacheco and Monica Garcia sued Greg Tuttle for a restraining order, because he was reporting on how they were misusing city money to go to conferences of corporate lobbyist. They lost the case. You can read about it in the

I appealed. But the California Court of Appeals - in a flawed and disappointing opinion - ok'd me not getting paid, even though I won. Not only that, they allowed the city council to collect costs on Tuttle.

So, Lozano's attorneys - Daniel Barer and Jimmy Gutierrez - filed a memorandum of costs for $1,700 against Tuttle without any proof of why it's so high.

Let me ask you - does this make sense? You win a case against vindictive government officials - who are trying to shut you up - and you end up having to pay them. This is our modern court system.

Retaliation appears to be the trend by Mayor Lozano. For winning the open records case against the City, the City Attorney, Robert Tafoya filed close to 10 failed sanctions motions against Julian Casas - my client. Then, in the second record's case, Tafoya sought costs, which is barred by law. For affirmed appeals, the City attempted to seek $714.32 in costs.

The court gave them $6.56.

But this also appears to be a national and international trend. Government officials use the courts to retaliate against individuals who seek to keep them accountable. Here's a good article on the subject - Governments turn tables by suing public records requesters. Also, a judge jailed an activist for asking for financial records. Even in South Africa, a government official is threatening to sue a renowned journalist for exposing corruption.

There needs to be a change in law, to only allow governments to collect costs in frivolous lawsuits when sued.

In any event, I filed a motion to dismiss these costs yesterday. It took work. But hey - Jesus once said: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I've never really understood this verse, because I don't know what the kingdom of heaven actually is. But I do believe the enemy certainly blesses you; she teaches you what you don't know about yourself. So, we press on.

Insight for This Spring

Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son

I caught up with someone, recently. I took him out to eat. He's returned, after struggling with his own demons. That struggle might not be over.

But he wants to get back on the right track - the road of the straight and narrow. I just listened. Important to listen.

I think I'm learning that life is full of surprises. Hope and promise can just appear out of nowhere some times.

That's it for now. 

On Sociopaths

Blue Crayfish
(c) eliteinverts

This Saturday, one of my fish was dying. He was struggling to live. His swimming made him look weak and feeble, as his fins were fluttering. He looked like a flying plane that lost a wing. I watched with pity, but what could I do to save him? If you think treating sick humans are hard, try treating an aquarium fish.

I suspect he's been dying for awhile. I fed him a dead bee. That was a mistake. A few weeks later, he stopped eating. I suspect that the bee's venom slowly poisoned this fish.

Then, my algae eater came and started nipping at his fins, making him swim even worse. Imagine having someone eat your body, all because your sick.

Then one morning, I saw him floating at the top of the water, still alive and struggling. I thought I should put him out of his misery. So I got some ice, put it in a cup with water, and put him inside. But even after all the ice melted, he was still alive. The fish's will to live was something else. The whole episode reminded me of a long and difficult discussion I had my mother about euthanasia, when my last cat was dying. I won't get into the details, but let's say my mother and I had very different ideas about what was right about the last rites of the dying.

Believe me, I felt bad I couldn't save this fish. But in this whole scene, I watched with great interest at this algae eater. It's not the first time I've seen him attack a dying fish. He ate the eyeball out of the last one. Funny thing enough, he also likes vegetables - where as the other fish don't. I was fascinated by his ability to hone in on the dying and the weak.

How does he do it? I suspect it's smell. The dying must give off a kind of smell, but the other fish don't smell it as keenly as he does. I once read about a grim ripper kitty who was anti-social with humans. Eventually, a retirement home adopted him, and he would visit a person two hours before his or her death. Apparently, grim ripper kitty could smell death on them, and he would stay with them until they left this earth.

And why doesn't this algae eater let these suffering fish be? Perhaps they would recover and be reintegrated with the community.

Nope. He goes in for the kill.

He's really the cannibalistic sociopath of the aquarium.

I've thought about getting rid of him, but at least so far, he hasn't attacked the healthy fish. Only the sick and dying.

For some strange reason, I've developed a relationship with him, as Will Graham and Clarice Starling have with Hannibal Lecter. I watch him and study him to see if I get clues into the defendants on my other cases, who I also suspect to be sociopathic. The only insight I have from watching the algae eater is what I've already told you: Sociopaths seem to be attracted to the weak and sick.

I went to the pet store to replace my dead fish. And there, I found a beautiful blue crayfish. I was like a kid at a candy store. I ended up buying four things, when I really should've only bought one.

When I put him into the tank, this blue crayfish immediately scurried around and through the crevices and cracks of the rocks. He knew exactly where to go.

After his journey through new lands, this crayfish pulled out part of a fish's body and started tearing it apart and eating it. He looked back at me with his black eyes.

Believe me; this primitive animal was fully aware I was watching him, and he was looking back and telling me something. He was so proud of what he found, and he wanted me to witness his catch.

We have a new member in the community that I suppose has his own unique role. I would've never found or fished out that carcass. Who knows how long it's even been there? It was eerie to see how happy this crayfish looked munching away at his catch.

Former Baldwin Park Chief of Police Awarded $7 Million

Former Baldwin Park Police Chief,
Lili Hadsell

The jury has awarded Lili Hadsell, the former Baldwin Park Police Chief, $7 million. Council Members Ricardo Pacheco, Susan Rubio, and Cruz Baca voted to fire Hadsell and replace her with twice-fired Chief Michael Taylor. The complaint was based on firing and retaliation for sex and racial discrimination. It appears that both Michael Taylor and Ricardo Pacheco perjured themselves on the stand, as text messages later revealed that they loathed and despised having a female police chief.

Given the high damage award, I predict the city will likely appeal the case. Since having Robert Tafoya as city attorney, the number of lawsuits and resulting damages have increased extraordinarily. He was appointed as attorney immediately after Hadsell was fired.

You heard it here first.

Back on Rafael's Deportation Case

Rafael Valdez has been deported by the United States
government, even though he's married to an American wife and
has two American children.

I'm back on the deportation case of Rafael Valdez. If you don't remember, my client was picked up at a traffic stop around August of 2009. He was ordered to do community service, but twice, his community service officer didn't show up. Thus, Rafael, was about one or two hours short of finishing his service, but by no fault of his own, his parole officer ordered him to spend 24 hours in Ellensberg jail.

According to Rafael, at Ellensberg jail, he was questioned if he was illegal.

He wasn't told his rights about having a lawyer present or his right to remain silent. In fact, his interrogating officer told him that unless he told the truth, his life would be worse. He admitted to being undocumented, and the next thing he knows, along with other Latinos, he was shipped to ICE Detention Center in Yakima. Apparently, Ellensberg is a town that's often targeted by ICE.

From there, ICE began deportation proceedings against him, even though he was married to an American woman and had one child. (A second one would be coming later.) Although all he had was a traffic violation, ICE ordered the low-income family to put up a $10,000 bond. This was a huge hardship on them, as Rafael was a kitchen hand at local restaurant in Kirkland.

The first lawyer applied for asylum, which was subsequently denied by the immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeal in May and August 2013, respectively.

After becoming licensed as an attorney in June of 2013, I picked up the case. Options were limited for the family, especially because he was already ordered deported. The family was low on funds.

But, I pled with the supervising, under prosecutorial discretion, ICE prosecutor Jonathan Love to let me client go. He refused.

So, I pled with the Chief ICE Prosecutor, Rafael Sanchez. He refused as well.

My client was deported in September of 2013. Because of their family situation, they had to take their new born baby and their daughter to Mexico too. In the meantime, his brother Lorenzo was kidnapped and ransomed.

This wasn't taken into account for his asylum case. Sadly, death and killings surround this family in Mexico. When Rafael was 7, his own father was killed under suspicious circumstances. In April 10, 2010, Rafael's in law was shot in the chest. Reasons are not known.

I visited the family for three days back in August of 2015 to gather evidence of the growing violence near Rafael's hometown. Several people were being kidnapped, and one man was shot in the chest after his house door was kicked down.

He later applied for asylum in September 2015 in San Diego. In December 7, 2015, again, immigration judge Robert McSeveney said that my client didn't establish a probability that he would be persecuted based on his race, religion, or political affiliation.

Remember Jonathan Love, the prosecuting attorney? Then in January of 2016, Jonathan Love was charged and convicted of forging documents to deport a Mexican back.

Remember Rafael Sanchez? In June of 2018, Sanchez was convicted of stealing the identities of those he was deporting in order to take out personal loans and Amazon purchases. In other words, he was deporting people, to get richer through identity theft.

I've been doing Freedom of Information Act requests to see if my client was a victim. Shelly M. O'Hara has been refusing to release records. It appears she's stonewalling me from getting them.

O'Hara states I haven't submitted the authorization form called DOJ361, but I've submitted it to her six times already.

What are they hiding?

A preliminary background search has shown that Sanchez was buried in debt. He lost his Pennsylvania condo in a foreclose sheriff auction back in 2013. Also, at least one Rafael A. Sanchez in Seattle, borrowed over half a million through various credit unions, one of them being the Boeing Employee Credit Union.

How did he do this, when he wasn't a Boeing employee at the time? Why didn't the federal government release these records? How many other victims are out there? The federal government says there are at least 7, but these other findings make this hard to believe.

From Ellensberg to the Seattle deportations, this case appears to be a larger fraud ring, in which deportations were being done for cash.

Who else was involved?

How much did they get?

Where am I now? I'm back on the case. I need the federal records. I plan to file a motion to reopen the case around the end of May.

What can you do? I've been this entire case voluntarily over the five and a half years. I've spent close to over 650 hours on this case. It's a full time case. So, if you can contribute to any of the legal fees that would help.

If you're a person of faith, please pray that we can get the family back together in the United States. If you're moved by the story, please pass this story along so that people know how our federal government is behaving during these times.

That's it for now.

Reply Brief Filed at California Supreme Court

Noon Rest from Work by Vincent van Gogh.

On February 20, 2019, I filed the Reply Brief in the California Supreme Court. It took a lot of work, research, consulting, and revising. That's the reason I haven't wrote in awhile. I've been putting all my energy into brief writing. Statistically speaking, there's only 5% chance that the Court will grant review.

Anyways, I hope they do take it, because even though I've won six cases (one public records act case, three subsequent writ orders, my own temporary restraining order trial, and Greg Tuttle's restraining order trial) against litigating against the City of Baldwin Park, I only got paid on one of them.

In any event, I'm just resting now. It's a lot of mental and spiritual and emotional energy to write a high quality brief. It's hard, and I don't think it ever gets easy. It gets easier with experience, but it's never easy.

I read a book on how Kenyans train to run international marathons. In case you didn't know, they usually win the top 5 out of 6 places; that's the top 3 places in both the men's and women's races. The biggest factor that Westerners notice when they study the Kenyans is that they rest a lot more than Western athletes.

I think my cat already knows the importance of rest. I can take a leaf out of the book of my kitty, who incidentally got sick about 10 days ago. He also got a bite wound from some animal. I haven't figured out how.

He's all better now. I gave him some echinacea and vitamin C. But I think the biggest thing that helped in his recovery is all the sleep he got. Rest is important.

Rest doesn't mean being lazy though. I've been reading, meditating, praying, training, and running quite a bit. I feel richer for doing so. Maybe I'll post a reading list later.

Other than that, in my next post, I should make available all the briefing so far in This Supreme Court Case. 

On Compassion

Drops of Rain. Clarence H. White.
1903

Yesterday, the rain splashed against my bedroom window - and the splatter created a drizzled pattern. It looked like crystal pearls formed on my window - as morning dew forms on fallen leaves. This is supposed to be the last great storm coming through Los Angeles this year.

I generally don't like the rain, but it was Saturday yesterday, and because it drove out the crowds - I was grateful for it. When I visited all the busy supermarkets, nobody was there. People are like cats. Cats hate water. They hate water too.

Speaking of cats, I found a new hobby with my cat. He likes to be with me when I read in the living room.

Some time ago, I realized that I wasn't getting through enough reading. Even though my friends, peers, and colleagues think I read a lot, I would say it's not sufficient - for sure. My three topics currently are (1) health and nutrition, (2) criminal psychology (3) misfits and tribes, and (4) compassion and justice. Some of the reading is laborious, and some of it is bedtime reading.

I was getting frustrated with myself, because I wasn't getting through enough. For sure. But how could I read more? For some reason, I realized if I treated some of the books like actual labor or work, I could get through more. Like work, I admitted to myself it's not necessarily all that fun, and I needed a workspace for my most difficult reading. I clocked in like it was job. When I treated the most difficult texts like this and not pleasure, I was able to acquire information faster.

So at night, I choose to read the lighter works, because I'm already mentally exhausted from everything else that's happened in my day. That's improved my reading a lot.

Funny enough, I was reading a book at night, and I fell asleep while the lights were on and a candle was burning. I woke up at 2A, realized what happened, and it reminded me of days in college - where I would read and fall asleep with my textbooks in the living room. My roommate was very nice, and he'd see me and take my blanket from the room and put it over me. I never knew who was doing it, until one day I woke up and caught him.

Going back to my blue Siamese cat, he's learned to be with me. I mean he's really present, not texting someone else, not thinking about something else, no; he's with me when I read in the living room. And by presence, I mean, even though he's not talking (which he can do quite well), he knows how to keep me company.

I do my medium-difficulty reading in the living room. I play some classical music, and Jeh Pan (my cat) lays on the blue rug by the huge aquarium. (I like Bad Bunny too, but it's not the right music for the reading.) It's during these times, I feel like I'm in a French or German saloon. Think about that. My little inner city living room gets transformed into a magical artist gathering place for the time being. I imagine that people around me would be playing the violin, viola, and cello, and other artists would paint, and other writers would write poetry and books - while I read. And of course, Jeh Pan would be there to keep us all company and inspire us.

The blue cat watches the silver fish, while lying on his blue rug. He looks like a little sphinx, and he closes his eyes in pleasure once in awhile. I can't tell if it's from the fish tank or the music, but he's enjoying himself. Perhaps, like a sphinx, his presence is guarding my mind and my space from intrusive thoughts and evil spirits.

The aquarium is beautiful. The water is so clear it looks like the fish are flying in air and not water. Some of them remind me of missiles being launched. The fish look like dwarf tunas - whose bodies are designed specifically to propel with rocket speed across fluid. There are two tetras like this, and they swim together. Once in awhile, when they circle each other they look like they're dancing a waltz with each other.

I have other fish that tend to be more playful and careful and don't dart through the entire tank. Jeh Pan enjoys watching them in fascination - while I read my book. I've been interested in the biomechanics of fish for awhile. Did you know, the streamlined fish, like tuna, can swim ultra fast, but can't swim backwards? Likewise, more nimble fish, can swim backwards, but can't swim so fast.

So, what have I been reading? I've been reading a lot on compassion lately. I think it's changing my life. Now that I'm in the middle of the book, the author's thesis is becoming clearer. He argues that the core problem with poverty is that the poor believe themselves to be worthless. This is the essence of shame. He argues that the problem only gets better when we invite the poor to be are equals - which he calls kinship. I'm moved by his stories of rehabilitating gang members. I'm processing them. I'm thinking about these stories. I wonder if the cat knows I'm reading something important.

I tell Jeh Pan reading time is over. I turn off the lights. I tell him it's time to go to bed. He walks to the garage. I let him in. He finds his bed and sleeps on it.

Some times, I tell my mother what I read on - like why Kenyans are so fast. I tell her about how a three star French Michelin rose to fame, even though he came from an abusive household. She listens.

After our chat, I make a list of what I need to do tomorrow. There's more to learn.