Thomas Morin Arrested In Cottonwood Heights For Child Endangerment And Drug Possession After His Kids Turn Him In For One Ounce Of Pot

The story went out over the wire under the heading of "Kids Turn In Dad Over Pot". It gave very few details, merely reporting that a man's two kids found an ounce of pot in their dad's home, called the police and turned him in. The man is now facing two third-degree felony charges of child endangerment and one class B misdemeanor accusing him of possession of a controlled substance. Absolutely no other details were given.

So naturally, a bunch of us immediately thought the two kids were snitches. I mean one ounce? C'mon, that's not exactly dealer quantities. Fortunately, I found another source providing many more details, and when you read them, you'll no longer consider the two teens to be snitches. The expanded story was published by the Daily Mail, which includes a video from KSTU Channel 13. It turns out that Thomas Morin, the kids' father, is a chronic pot smoker and a drunk, and every time his kids came over for a visit, they smelled marijuana smoke. So they decided to force the issue.

Morin, who is reportedly separated from his wife, had a scheduled visit with the children on Monday July 4th, 2011. When the teenagers, 15 and 13 respectively, arrived, they smelled burning marijuana once again. So they called the cops. When Sgt. Scott Peck arrived, the girl went inside her home and retrieved a small bag of drugs, and continued talking with him in front of the residence. As they were talking, Morin sent her a text message asking her to come back inside. The officers had her send a reply to ask him to come outside. When Morin did, he was arrested. KSTU news video embedded below:

 

Morin is now charged with child endangerment and possession of marijuana. Knowing these additional facts, not only do I think the kids were justified in turning their father in, but I commend them for doing so. This creep had neither the decency nor the discipline to refrain from smoking dope in front of his kids. He decided marijuana was more important than family. He deserves whatever the system dispenses to him, although I would offer him one opportunity to escape the felony collar by taking a drug/alcohol cessation program at his own expense. Upon successful completion of the program, I would drop the felony charges to preserve his employability.

What kind of creep would smoke dope in front of his kids?

Media Goes Ga-Ga Over Dr. David Duke's Interest In Seeking The Republican Presidential Nomination, But Dr. Duke First Announced This In August 2010

All of a sudden, the media has discovered Dr. David Duke all over again, and they're going ga-ga over his expressed interest in running for President of the United States, most likely as a Republican. But Dr. Duke didn't exactly reveal anything significantly new in this latest hubbub.

The Daily Beast started the latest media stampede. In an article disingenuously entitled "White Supremacist Stampede", Eve Conant claims that a "startling" number of white-power candidates are beginning to seek public office. National socialist advocates, Klan members, neo-Confederates, and other representatives of the many wings of the white nationalist community are starting to file paperwork and print campaign literature for offices large and small, citing rising unemployment, four years with a multi-racial (half-Black and half-White, although Obama identifies as Black) president, and rampant illegal immigration as part of a growing mound of evidence that White people need to take a stand. The anti-racist witch hunt recently taking place at Alta High School tends to support that contention.

Naturally, because Dr. David Duke has established himself during the past 23 years as the most prominent, positive, and articulate spokesman for White civil rights in the United States, he's the centerpiece of the article. Dr. Duke says he’s launching a tour of 25 states to explore how much support he can garner for a potential presidential bid; he believes 2012 is already shaping up to be a pivotal year. While he did not identify which states he would initially target, the American Third Position Party, a distinctly pro-White party, is already formally organized in 14 different states (Utah's not one of them...yet), so Dr. Duke would be smart to capitalize upon that embryonic infrastructure and visit those states first. A3P has no official presidential standard-bearer yet.

But other than the fact that Dr. Duke has announced he will visit 25 states, there's nothing new about his intentions. In August 2010, Dr. Duke first declared his interest in running for president and outlined his platform in the video embedded below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88AsArwYsTc



Stormfront founder and radio host Don Black, with whom Dr. Duke has a close relationship, told The Daily Beast the strategy is to start from the ground up, where there is a greater chance of winning. Black explained the Tea Party’s influence spurred hopes among his ideological soulmates — but that the initial excitement has given way to a realpolitik sense that the Stormfront crowd will have to go it alone. “Many of our people are involved in the Tea Party,” says Black. “But much of their leadership is skittish when it comes to talking about racial realities. The Tea Party is a healthy movement but many are too conditioned to run like scared rabbits when called racists.” Stormfronters have reacted favorably to Dr. Duke's announcement on this thread, although a few say they prefer to get behind Ron Paul, who has a better chance of getting nominated. There's also a much newer video of David Duke getting interviewed on Russia Today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnlBp4vT_20



For other videos by Dr. Duke, visit his YouTube channel HERE.

Prognosis: While Dr. Duke has little chance of actually winning the Republican nomination, his presence in the race could empower many people who have been alienated and radicalized by 45 years of affirmative action and other anti-White policies implemented in the name of "civil rights". His presence could also force the other candidates to quit tippytoeing around the race issue; perhaps some might even have the stones to declare their intent to outlaw affirmative action in the public sector if elected.

Mexican Citizen Juan Rivera-Aguilar Allegedly Beats Two-Year-Old Girl To Death In Salt Lake City, Has Prior Record Of Domestic Violence

Believe it or not, this guy's classified as "white".

A two-year-old girl who was allegedly beaten by her mother's boyfriend died at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City on July 6th, 2011, and the boyfriend has already been arrested.

On Tuesday July 5th, 32-year-old Juan Pablo Rivera-Aguilar was watching the child and her 4-year-old brother when the alleged abuse occurred. Aguilar reportedly punched the girl in the head five times and in the stomach five times; the provocation was not reported. The four-year-old boy was also roughed up; clumps of his hair were pulled out. Police were called to the home on 1836 S. McClelland Street (1040 East) just before 12:30 P.M. and found the girl not breathing. She was taken to the medical center in extremely critical condition; doctors said she was brain dead and unlikely to survive.

But because the girl was still alive at the time, Aguilar was taken into custody and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of 10 counts of child abuse and two counts of violence in the presence of a child. Now that the girl has died, additional charges will likely be screened when the case is taken to the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office. The four-year-old boy has been removed from the home and is in protective custody. KSL news video embedded below:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Aguilar has a criminal past. He pleaded guilty in 1996 to a charge of providing prohibited items to a minor, a class B misdemeanor, and was also convicted of an amended charge of attempting to violate the conditions of his release after being arrested for domestic violence, also a class B misdemeanor.

But there was a glaring omission from the story. In addition to KSL and KSTU, KTVX Channel 4, KUTV Channel 2, and the Salt Lake Tribune also reported on this story, and not a single outlet bothered to report the fact that Rivera-Aguilar is a citizen of Mexico. That information was obtained from the Salt Lake County Jail inmate roster, a screen shot of which I placed at the top of this post. Since the jail record does not indicate that Aguilar is placed on an immigration hold, we can assume he is legally in this country for the moment. But it seems strange that a Mexican citizen would be in this country since at least 1996 and make no effort to get American citizenship. It didn't take long for some enterprising commenter to the Tribune story to discover the information. Another commenter noted that it takes ICE up to a week to put an immigration hold on someone, so don't be surprised if Aguilar proves to be illegal.

Think Mitt Romney's Not A Real Conservative? 63 Utah Republican Lawmakers Have Endorsed Him

Mitt Romney's conservative credentials have come under consistent attack from a number of sources, most notably the Tea Party. Former Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller has vowed to stop Romney from getting nominated, firing up the Restoring Liberty PAC to promote his message. Barack Obama, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton have all praised Romney for his moderate approach, not because they want to see him get elected, but to sucker the Tea Party into diverting their opposition from Obama to Romney. They've read the polls; they know that Romney not only is the strongest Republican candidate, but in head-to-head pairings vs. Obama, is the only one who could beat Obama right now.

Obviously, Mitt Romney is not as conservative as Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, or Ron Paul. But he's conservative enough to have secured endorsements from 63 Republican lawmakers in one of the reddest states in the Union -- Utah. The list reads like a veritable Who's Who of Utah Republicans. Even some who are not on the list, like Governor Gary Herbert, are favorably disposed towards Romney; the Guv simply hasn't chosen to make a decision yet. The full list was originally published by the Romney campaign as part of a press release and is re-published towards the end of this post. The list encompasses both sides of Utah's contentious HB116 debate, including opponents like Reps. Stephen Sandstrom and Chris Herrod, as well as supporters like Sen. Curt Bramble and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Conspicuous by their absence is Rep. Carl Wimmer and House Speaker Becky Lockhart. Lockhart stirred up a hornet's nest when she bitterly attacked Utah's Congressional delegation for failing to push for the federal waiver necessary to make the guest worker provision of HB116 legal. Utah's Congressional delegation promptly replied and rebutted Lockhart's accusations.

In the final analysis, if 63 Utah Republican lawmakers endorse Mitt Romney, then he must be conservative enough. He doesn't have to be an ideologue; in fact, the recurring polls show that the ideologues have higher negative ratings than Romney. Getting the nomination is only half the battle; winning the election is the grand prize. We cannot tolerate four more years of Barack Obama.

Besides, Romney can select someone like Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann to bring the Tea Partiers on board. Palin's energy and resiliency would spur the ticket to victory. Ron Paul is also a possibility. Jon Huntsman? He'd make a good Secretary of State in a Romney-Palin Administration.

Slow-Moving Landslides Force People From Their Homes In North Salt Lake And St. George, Utah

This is one of the North Salt Lake homes affected. Look at the roofline and you can see how the home has been literally warped

Slow-moving landslides are forcing people out of their homes in two parts of Utah; North Salt Lake, and St. George. The St. George story just broke; 16 condos in The Gardens South are sliding downhill, triggering a condemnation order from the city. The problem was first noticed in 2008, but has accelerated; one building moved four inches during the past month alone (Note that while the St. George Spectrum is a paid subscription site, I was able to back-door free access to the article by Googling the headline).

But the main ongoing story is the slow-moving landslide that has affected Springhill Circle and, to a lesser degree, Springhill Drive in North Salt Lake. Local media outlets have reported on this periodically for over a year. On July 2nd, 2011, other residents of North Salt Lake, joined by people from Bountiful and Woods Cross, took advantage of the opening of a new park in the relatively new Foxboro community to raise money for the affected residents of Springhill Circle with a pancake breakfast and 5K race. All proceeds went to families facing the landslide via the El Nino Foundation. Affected residents are also soliciting donations via the ProjectSpringhill website, which also contains a host of media videos dating back to February 2011 as well as slides of the damage and a map of the affected area:

http://projectspringhill.com/

KSTU Channel 13 news video embedded below:

 

Why are they soliciting donations and conducting fundraisers? First, their home insurance won't cover it. Second, FEMA has refused to help so far. And third, they obviously can't sell their homes, yet some are still stuck with mortgages, and there is also the cost of paying for demolition when the city condemns the homes. Three homes have already been torn down, and 24 others are either affected to some degree or are threatened. The landslide, which had been intermittently moving about an inch per year, has accelerated to an inch per week because of the wet spring. Barry Edwards, North Salt Lake City Manager, offers some hope of future FEMA assistance; he says the city is working with FEMA to secure funds for residents forced from their homes, but it could take at least a year. FEMA will assess the value of the remaining homes this week to determine the amount of money they will allocate.

Disgustingly, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that even as North Salt Lake seeks to condemn more homes, banks are actually trying to sell some of those same homes that have been foreclosed. Neighbors flag down those who come to look at the homes and warn them about the landslide. One home for sale at 402 Springhill Circle is directly within the affected area; another home for sale at 161 Springhill Dr. is only two houses away from the affected area.

Most of the homes in the area were first constructed in 1975. One long-term resident says the problem first manifested itself in 1998, abated for a while, then resumed last year. The blame game is being played in the Tribune's comments section, with some blaming the developers, others blaming the Feds for telling the banks they would back up risky home loans, others blaming the banks for predatory lending practices, and still others blaming homeowners for not doing their homework before buying. What a mess!

UCSD Study Published In The Journal "Addiction" Indicates One Drink Enough To Impair Driving, And Sean Foard Provides Validation In Utah

Sean Foard (via SLCSO)

USA Today reports that a study recently concluded by researchers at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) shows that drinking even a single glass of beer or wine can raise blood-alcohol concentrations enough to increase the chances of being seriously injured or dying in a crash for those who choose to get behind the wheel.

In the study, published online June 20th in the journal Addiction, researchers analyzed national data on fatal car accidents in the United States between 1994 and 2008. The database, obtained from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), is both voluminous and comprehensive; it included 1,495,667 people involved in alcohol-related vehicle mishaps covering all U.S. counties, all days of the week and all times of day, and all reports on blood-alcohol content in increments of 0.01. Thus the sample size and composition seems to be beyond reproach.

Conclusions: No amount of alcohol seemed to be safe for driving. Even with barely detectable amounts of alcohol in a driver's blood, there were 4.33 serious injuries for every non-serious injury versus 3.17 serious injuries for sober drivers. In addition, the study indicated that accidents are 36.6 percent more severe even when alcohol was barely detectable in a driver's blood. Researchers also suggested that there are three ancillary factors that might explain their findings. Comparing sober drivers to those driving with a so-called "buzz", buzzed drivers are more likely to speed, more likely to be improperly seat-belted and more likely to drive the striking vehicle, all of which are associated with greater severity in an accident.

Recommendation: Researchers seem to be sold on the idea that lowering the predominant U.S. threshold of 0.08 for legal intoxication is the answer, citing lower thresholds in Germany (0.05), Japan (0.03) and Sweden (0.02) as supporting justification.

Alas, just one day before the USA Today story was published, 35-year-old Sean Foard provided additional validation for the study in the Salt Lake Valley. On June 30th, Foard triggered a five-vehicle mishap when he ran a red light at the intersection of 5400 South and 2700 West in Taylorsville. Foard was driving west on 5400 South, ran the red light, struck a southbound vehicle on 2700 West, then veered off and struck the vehicle of Cynthia Davis Eyre, which was northbound on 2700 South. Eyre's vehicle then went airborne and hit a fourth vehicle driven by Scott Smith, who was stopped at the red light. A subsequent KSL story states there was a fifth vehicle affected; no additional details provided. KTVX reports that three of the vehicles ended up piled on top of each other and completely crushed. Initial KSL news video embedded below:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Sean Foard was initially taken to a local hospital to be treated for injuries. He was later released and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of felony automobile homicide, felony DUI causing serious bodily injury and a misdemeanor red light violation. But here's the kicker -- Foard reportedly told investigators that he only had "a couple of drinks of straight vodka" prior to the accident, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. He said he only remembered leaving his house and waking up in the ambulance. However, witnesses in the area report Foard was driving erratically and aggressively before the mishap.

If Foard is telling the truth, then that would tend to validate the UCSD study. Only two drinks may be enough to make you feel "bulletproof" behind the wheel and cause you to drive in a more risky fashion, particularly if it's hard liquor on an empty stomach.

Making DUI thresholds more stringent is not the answer here; instead, punishing egregious violators more severely is necessary. While Foard did not have malice aforethought, he was obviously contemptuous of the public welfare. He may not have intended to take Cynthia Eyre's life -- but he did so anyway. And he cannot resurrect her.

If found guilty on all charges, the most appropriate punishment for Sean Foard would be life in prison WITHOUT PAROLE. We don't have the justification to give Foard's life back to God, but we do have the justification to give Foard's life to the state -- ALL OF IT. Anything less than a natural life sentence for Sean Foard would be contemptuous of the memory of Cynthia Eyre.