CHECKING IN

 Let's do a roundup of the news and check in on some old issues. 

The three Alexander brothers went down in the SDNY- a total loss for the defense and total win for the government. Guilty 😢 on all counts. There was a solid Miami contingent involved in the defense. The old "she wanted it and now is greedy and lying" defense did not work. That kinda went out in the late 70's/early 80's. They are all sadly facing life in prison. And while we are on the subject, without in anyway demeaning what the victims suffered, let's consider what a twenty-year sentence would look like. They would be released in the mid 2040's in their 50's. Do you think that would be sufficient punishment with ten years of supervised release? This is not about diminishing a victim's pain. This is about challenging the philosophy of defaulting to life ending sentences for crimes other than murder.  We just don't buy into the lockem up and throw away the key philosophy. We have seen many people mature and change in prison. Life should always have hope. A respectful chat is requested. 

Sharia Law: Remember when this was all the rage, and conservative politicians were ranting against liberal judges desires to apply Sharia law and introducing all sorts of legislation to outlaw the application of such law? We would like our readers to update us. Have you recently had a judge make any reference to Sharia law? Have you ever had a judge made a reference to Shaira law? 

The Border Wall: If anyone can direct us to the appropriate website or US Treasury link where we can make an accurate calculation of how much Mexico has paid for the wall, we would appreciate it. We are working on a project to show how many political promises the current president has made that have been kept showing the amazing benefits to our country. Sadly, at the moment, the data is a bit sparse. But hope springs eternal in Rumpole, ever the optimist. 

The Markets: The markets are mixed at the opening Tuesday. On Monday we saw the market whipsaw from negative to positive territory at the end of the trading day when oil prices fell in response to the president's comments that the war was close to ending. What we don't like is seeing equities yo-yo on cryptic comments which affect oil prices. For the most part a price of a stock that moves on this news is not related to how the company is doing (energy stocks excepted). So what we do in a situation like this is just sit tight and buy some of our favourtie stocks at favourable prices- like anytime Nvidia falls below 180, or Costco below 990. And keep your eye on Amazon. It has recently been beaten down, but it has 30% growth and is currently selling way below recent prices.