Month: October 2019

Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Impeach? Sure. Remove? Longshot.

Posted on October 24, 2019

Let’s cut to the chase.

First, The Trump-Ukraine Marx Brothers Upside/Down Heist-Bungle is an Impeachable Offense. Don’t even worry about it. It’s not even a close call. The House will vote to Impeach on that, at least, and there will be a trial in the Senate. Bet on it. Mitch McConnell has said as much.

Second, Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria is well within presidential prerogatives and not, by any stretch of the imagination, an Impeachable offense.

Third, Trump’s move out of Syria while totally legal and, in my opinion, wise and proper, made a successful vote to Impeach a sure thing. Why is that? The Israel Support Community would like as many American soldiers as possible stationed between any part of Iran and any part of Israel. Any reduction in that number will get their attention and Congress will get an earful and do as they’re told. Just like in Animal Farm, all citizens are equal but some are more equal than others.

Trump’s move of our troops out of Syria left the Kurds, a people without a country, in a position where our soldiers would not be there to protect them, with their bodies, from threats real and imagined. Israel and its supporters love the Kurds because the Kurds are a consistent irritant and threat to Iran and Turkey. The Kurds want a country of their own. They want it on land that is now part of Turkey and Iran. It’s not surprising that those countries are unwilling to volunteer to give the Kurds sufficient land for their country. Does anybody know any state that would? Does Israel want to Donate the Golan Heights to help the Kurds, their new best friends, get started on their new State?

Israel, of course, knows what’s what. It views its interests are being served if Turkey and Iran have to deal with border skirmishes and bad publicity from the American press for not being nice enough to the Kurds. (Israel Firster Richard Engel on MSNBC has gone into full blown hysteria about the Kurds that I’m expecting his next step is self immolation in their honor… RIP Richard Engel, What A Kurd?). Strange he never seemed very interested in the children in Gaza when Israel last engaged in “mowing the grass” in Gaza in 2014. Maybe he didn’t know the term meant killing kids. Oh well, you can’t know everything. Continue Reading……

He may have been Mayor of Pascagoula since mid 2017 but he claimed Homestead Exemption in Harrison County until 2019

That’s right folks Pascagoula Mayor Dane Maxwell was telling a whopper or two about where he lived when he was elected Mayor or he has swindled the Harrison County tax collector. Let’s take a trip back to early 2017 when the topic of Dane Maxwell’s residency first surfaced:

Questions arose on social media last week about Pascagoula mayoral candidate Dane Maxwell and his residency.

The Mississippi Press received a tip about the residency issue, accompanied with screenshots showing Maxwell’s Biloxi address and his being registered to vote in Harrison County. The Mississippi Press spoke with Maxwell, who addressed the questions on Thursday.

“You want to know if I am a Pascagoula resident. Yes, I am a resident of Pascagoula,” said Maxwell, a Republican. “I lay my head every night at the Scranton condos in Pascagoula on the corner of Martin and Ingalls Avenue. I have a lease there and signed it late last year. I own 10 and a half acres of land on 11th Street, and we just completed a small shed and big shop there. I currently have the house plans with me, now that we have finished.”

So in late 2016 Maxwell signed a lease on a condo with the full intent of becoming a resident of the City of Pascagoula in order to run for Mayor. What was Maxwell’s obligation with regard to his existing homestead exemption? Here is what the state tax regulations say:

Before the exemption can be allowed, the applicant must make a written application between January 1 and April 1 of the year in which the exemption is sought. The applicant alone is responsible for making the application. He is required to furnish all information required by the application. It must be complete, true, and correct. It is the responsibility of the applicant to complete the information required within the application. It is entirely his document. It is his sole responsibility. The applicant’s responsibility does not end until the entire application (the original, duplicate, triplicate and quadruplicate copies) has been delivered to the Tax Assessor on or before April 1. The quadruplicate copy is to be signed and dated by the Tax Assessor or his deputy, marked “filed” and returned to the applicant. If a change in the homestead or the applicant’s status occurred since January 1 of the previous year, a new application must be filed between January 1 and April 1.

How do we know that Maxwell claimed Homestead exemption in Harrison County? Simple folks the tax records are online right here:

Here is a screen capture of the link: Continue reading “He may have been Mayor of Pascagoula since mid 2017 but he claimed Homestead Exemption in Harrison County until 2019”

That Pesky First Amendment comes up again…..

Here at Slabbed we’re the proverbial tip of the spear on the topic of other countries trying to force their speech mores on our constitutionally guaranteed rights here in the US. Just a few weeks ago the cartoon series South Park was banned in China because of a side-splitting funny episode involving Randy Marsh selling his Colorado weed there. Very recently the subject reared its head again with the NBA, Lebron and Enes Kanter, again with China and Chinese censors as the focal point. Lebron wants everyone to shut up and count the money while Kanter understands that Freedom is not free. When it comes to political expression (or covering a crooked local politician) I personally don’t give a damn what the Chinese think.

Last week there was a dust up at the Bay-Waveland School District involving a family that is not religious (whose name was mentioned in comments here) and the “establishment clause”, one of the 6 rights contained in the first amendment:

(1) the right to be free from governmental establishment of religion (the “Establishment Clause”)
(2) the right to be free from governmental interference with the practice of religion (the “Free Exercise Clause”)
(3) the right to free speech
(4) the right to freedom of the press
(5) the right to assemble peacefully (which includes the right to associate freely with whomever one chooses)
(6) the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Secular humanist group wants religion taken out of Bay-Waveland school system ~ Cassandra Favre

Some of the complaints listed by Appignani Humanist Legal Center of the American Humanist Association have legal legs as teachers should refrain from sharing their religious views in the school house. Outside of the school house is a different story which would explain why Reverend Reed pushed back so hard against the notion that a voluntary prayer breakfast his church hosts for the football team crosses any lines because it doesn’t in my opinion. Continue reading “That Pesky First Amendment comes up again…..”

It appears to be coming to a showdown

Word is bubbling up that the Compton Engineering Building purchase is coming to a head there in Bay St Louis. I count 3 votes for housing the Bay police in the floodplain and 3 against with Ward 2 Councilman Hoffman leaning against (based on the last council meeting) but otherwise undeclared. We’ll be keeping an eye out for next Tuesday’s meeting agenda.

He’ll not only go down as the most corrupt POTUS of all times but likely as the most inept

How are them trade wars working out for everyone? The latest tariff, a tax on you and me, goes into effect Friday as your favorite imported single malt whiskey will be going up 25% in price:

By now I think we’re all used to having a Blowhard-in-Chief but when it comes out the Gasbag in the Oval orifice is getting his advice from a guy who quotes imaginary friends in his “academic” works on the subject of trade it takes the word STUPID to an entirely new level:

Now for the corrupt part: Continue reading “He’ll not only go down as the most corrupt POTUS of all times but likely as the most inept”

Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Real and Present Danger

Posted on October 1, 2019

The present mess, also known as the Trump Administration, cries out for resolution. Immediately. The Country cannot continue without a functioning Executive Branch. Right now, we do not have a functioning Executive Branch.

We are running the risk of war, by miscalculation, or a crash in World Financial Markets followed by Depression. It’s that serious. I am not an alarmist by nature. I have not felt the sense of real and present danger at any other time.

There is a deal available. It looks like this:

ONE. Vice President Pence Resigns Immediately.

TWO. President Trump Resigns Immediately Following Pence’s Resignation and agrees to accept no pension or Past President’s office or staff.

THREE. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, under the Constitution, succeeds immediately to the Presidency and, as her first acts as President, receives the Resignations of Pence and Trump and immediately issues Presidential Pardons to Pence and Trump for any and all violations of Federal Law that occurred during their respective service as Vice President and President.

FOUR. President Pelosi announces she will not be a candidate for President in 2020.

FIVE. All of the above actions (resignations and pardons) could be accomplished virtually simultaneously at the same time and place. Deal done. Pardons issued. Trump and Pence gone. Continue Reading…….

Southern District PSC Candidate / Pascagoula Mayor Dane Maxwell loses control of City Council

Time is short folks but this latest turn of events bears mentioning as Tuesday’s meeting has now made the news both on WLOX and the Sun Herald. The quote WLOX snagged from retiring Police Chief/new City Manager Kenny Johnson sets things up nicely:

“I think the council stepped up and showed confidence in me to lead not only the police department but to lead the entire city,” Johnson said. “I want to make sure that things are done properly, that we’re running like we’re supposed to run, we’re working within the perimeters of our form of government and make sure that happens moving forward before someone else is appointed to take my place.”

Slabbed corresponded with a member of the audience associated with the Speak Up Pascagoula Facebook page who indicated exactly what Margaret Baker wrote for the Sun Herald that Mayor Dane tried his hand at forcing out the Chief along with two other officers and ended up getting the chief promoted to City Manager. In this type of Mississippi home rule charter the Mayor is essentially the chief councilman at large with ceremonial duties and one vote (not to be confused with the Mayor Alderman “Weak Mayor” form of home rule). Without a council majority Maxwell has been neutered as a political force in Pascagoula.

No meeting account would be complete without a show of bad sportsmanship and according to the Citizen that wrote to Slabbed the award for that would go to Mayor Dane’s wife, who evidently did not react well to the vote to install Johnson as City Manager.

Folks there has been a lot lacking in Mayor Dane’s performance as a politician in his hometown. Maybe that is why he is running for Southern District PSC. The people that know him best there in Pascagoula will be the first to tell you he is no bargain as a politician.

Slabbed will be having a bit more on the Southern District PSC race very soon.