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The ROBERTS|JUSTICE Team

Four years ago today, the RJ blog was born ...

We want to invoke the 10th Amendment and place squarely in the hands of state governments, local police and law enforcement agencies the responsibility of law enforcement and the policing of their communities. We want to abolish the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

It was exactly four years ago to the day when our first blog post on ROBERTS|JUSTICE was published. It was at the "Neighborhood Cup" in the City of Aliso Viejo, California one afternoon. I was already homeless and sought a way to tell my story and have my voice heard. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my struggles would last this long, nor did I think that I would be confronted by the questions that I now struggle with. I began my adventures thinking that I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to beat the judicial establishment at their game. Little did I know that I would one day step into a veritable Hornet's nest and become a subject of the FBI's counter-intelligence disruptive operations intent on keeping my story from the public arena. There was not even a slight clue that I would end up chasing information that would lead me to even bigger, substantially more complex and profound questions. For instance, I now grapple with a troubling question that goes to the heart of this country's founding principles - Are we a system of laws or are we a system of powerful institutions and individuals?

One of America's most deserved attribute is the way in which its government is structured. The founding fathers created a system of checks and balances among the branches of government to ensure that not one could amass too much power and influence. They were to be independent of each other and serve as countervailing forces. But after discovering evidence of collusion between the judicial branch and the law enforcement community, the notion of "a shining beacon of hope" was put into question. I was immeasurably disappointed and felt incredibly let down. I had no choice but to fight back and to seek a redress, which I do so to this day. Today, I am not only astounded by the FBI's callous acts of depravity that have accumulated over time but I am also angered by the results of their actions, having done so with absolute impunity. By any definition, they were the embodiment of perfect criminals - committing and then investigating their own crimes, doing so with an air of respectability.

Being that I am an agnostic and a self-proclaimed independent thinker, I genuinely believe that America is my last best hope on earth. So, what first started as mere advocacy for my constitutional rights eventually morphed into a battle for my very existence and the right to lead a life without excessive compromises to meet the designs of the state - that being my freedom of religion or my right to be without. There is simply no other place on this earth that will accept me for my beliefs without much consternation.

So, what began as an education about the law turned into the development of amateur counter-intelligence skills - of spotting and defending against "FBI micro-operations". The study of case laws at public libraries also became field exercises in observing FBI operatives and their operations. Because of my desire to expose their unlawful activities, I was always a subject of their surveillance. I have since learned to deploy some very crude systems of counter-intelligence work. The reading about Marbury v. Madison and the Dred Scott decisions went side by side with learning about law enforcement and  intelligence operation techniques. I often refer to the storytelling of the FBI's most flattering accomplishments by Ronald Kessler in my materials. From all that, I was able to distill certain operational habits that have been passed down from the earliest FBI agents to the modern crime fighter.  

There is a propensity for the artsy and of leaving coded messages about their work for the benefit of posterity. There was a story about a phony FBI business named James Rico Construction Consulting in NY that served as a liaison between the labor-unions and the criminal underworld in the '70s. RICO is a body of laws written to combat organized crime. It stands for Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization. Naming their enterprise in such a manner was a touch of gutsy that stems from a kind of you suffer fools type of a culture, certain they were smarter than the targets of their investigations. That kind of inside-joke, fraternity way of conducting business persists today. I won't name specific individuals. However, to make my point I will name pets belonging to a number of their operatives, which follows along this DNA of FBI ridiculousness - Rico, Oreo, Sadie, Gunner, Vinnie "Joe Pesci lawyer character" (later changed because it's too obvious) - all of which have significance in my life, my work and to their investigations. The undercover names of their agents are even the more bewildering and essentially gives away the farm.

The earliest iteration of the ROBERTS|JUSTICE tagline was "He was an Entrepreneur, until they threw him one wicked curve-ball. Then, he became his own Trial Lawyer." Guess who moves into my small American town looking for baseballs? It was a man who spent the early mornings walking the perimeter of baseball fields collecting used baseballs for sale on Ebay. It was our man Jim who claimed to have received a law degree from UCLA and was hell bent on doing business with me. That short-lived friendship ended in court but have yet to be resolved because he couldn't be served with the complaint and summons. (READ HIS STORY BELOW)

We've all heard of the long standing promise by the Canadian Mounties - "We always get our man." That also seems to be an operative phrase at the FBI, although not true to its original meaning. The Canadian Mounties are known for their relentless style of investigating that results in a very high percentage of criminal apprehension. To the FBI that saying has a more sinister connotation, however. It means that they will eventually punish their target one way or another and it isn't necessarily for the crime that originally triggered the investigation. One of the most famous recipients of this outlandish style of crime-fighting is Al Capone. After lambasting him in the press as a murderous sociopath, supposedly responsible for killing unknown numbers of individuals, the FBI threw him in jail for tax evasion. None of the alleged murders were ever proven in court. If modern investigative methods were brought to bear, it might very well turn out that his accountant, who cooked the books for the Capone crime organization, was an FBI plant who did so under orders from the FBI office. It also follows that they, the FBI, may have been responsible for the alleged killings as well, through their direction or their own commission. Hence the saying, "We always get our man."

In my case, the FBI organized a clean-up crew from the New York Field Office to keep their illegal activities under wraps. So far they have done their professional best to make sure not a single word about my story gets out. The jamming and misdirecting of my blog entries and published materials are legendary for its sophistication and effectiveness. Our twitter account @robertsjustice is effectively jammed. That account received its last message on 18th November 2011, preventing us from answering questions from our readers. 

If they discovered how the FBI really works, Americans will be so incensed about the waste of tax dollars and violations of the constitution that reforms will certainly be demanded. Large governmental bureaucracies are averse to such changes. And if they get past the initial scare of what might happen if they went against Uncle Sam, Americans may require a reckoning of sorts. For the Bureau that would be an absolute disaster. Opening up their vaults might have unintended consequences they are at a loss to mitigate. It might cause the airing of all their secretive and misguided adventures, a number of which would certainly be the sanctioned defacing of the constitution. Why, for instance, has the Fast and Furious investigation taken substantially longer than the JFK Assassination investigations did? Consider that many Americans now believe President Kennedy's death was not the work of a lone gunman. Which law enforcement organization was primarily tasked with that investigation? Such a tremendous undertaking of collusion and cover-ups require the participation of the FBI. That is why the investigation was handed to an independent commission that essentially rubber stamped the storylines. The same arms-length pattern can be discerned from the Official 9/11 Report. The commission simply took what was given to them by the FBI spin-meisters. Had any one of them walked through the Pentagon or the Pennsylvania field where one of the planes supposedly crashed and did their due diligence, the investigators would have known that large commercial airliners were not involved in those crashes.  

There is ample information in the public domain about individuals of expertise and unimpeachable motives who question the conclusions of these investigations. If the outright lies aren't enough, they've somehow found a way to pass one of the most oppressive body of laws in the history of this country to continue their assault on civil liberties. Oddly enough, they call it the "US Patriot's Act." All these actions triggered two foreign wars, massive expenditures that led to unsustainable debts to the point that neither taxing nor borrowing are enough to clean the nation's balance sheet. The country is now printing money without anything to back it with except the promise of future generations to pay for it. They call this Quantitative Easing and it may prove to be the most difficult challenge this country will ever encounter.

The allure of an adventure is that you'll never know what you'll see until you actually get there. Because of what we have seen so far, we have since expanded our mission at ROBERTS|JUSTICE. When we began our adventures, we sought the complete overhaul of the American legal system by creating systems and procedures of jurisprudence expressly for the self-represented parties. We want, in effect, to level the playing field so that a case is decided on its merits and not by who has the deepest pockets. Because of the enormity of the problems and the wayward system that we discovered, we now amend our mission in hopes of bringing to fruition the spirit and meaning of the US Constitution. We want to invoke the 10th Amendment and place squarely in the hands of state governments, local police and law enforcement agencies the responsibility of law enforcement and the policing of their communities. We want to abolish the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Having said that, we sincerely believe that it will be an amazing next four years at ROBERTS|JUSTICE. And for as long as air courses through our lungs, we will continue telling you our stories.

READ ABOUT JIM MACKEY

READ OUR FIRST R|J POST

TOHOKU QUAKE & TSUNAMI: One Year Later

In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan. (Prime Minister Naoto Kan)

There were warnings. Just two days before, on the 9th of March 2011, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake registered on the Richter scale. It was centered 25 miles from what became the epicenter of the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake on the 11th of March. There were hundreds of aftershocks that preceded the big quake. In the middle of that, residents probably had a foreboding, a sense of some danger looming.

When it struck, the authorities were able to send off an earthquake warning. It was reported that one minute before the quake was felt in Tokyo, an early warning was sent off to millions, enough to save countless lives. The next day, the world saw what nature had done.

The images were stunning, the ferocity of the nature’s fury shocking, matched by the number of lives affected by the tsunami that followed the earthquake. The shock lingered, reassured only by images of the steely and disciplined manner in which the people of Japan met the challenge, quietly saying in action, this too shall pass.

One morning they woke up to the usual panorama, a view they’ve been accustomed to - a fishing village, a farming village, a village of people and many things - indeed, a village. By the next day, the lowlands were submerged in water with piles of debris strewn about that the water had carried back returning to the sea. The village was no longer, leaving observers wondering how anything could have withstood such powerful display of nature. It was complete in its devastation. A year later, the World Bank reported it was the most expensive natural disaster in history costing approximately $US235B.

The heroes were the Japanese people themselves, who displayed the very best of human nature - qualities observed in pictures during the Kobe earthquake of 1995. Pictures from print magazines were revealing. There were people standing single-file in long and excruciating wait to use a public restroom. It seemed nobody would dare relieve themselves in public or enter somebody else’s property for the use of a restroom. They stood in wait, in disciplined order.  

For a nation with one of the oldest population in the world, the next generation shined through. There were great expressions of genuine caring and selflessness, of a gentle manner Westerners rarely see, or even experience. There were revelations of personal and national pride. When asked by reporters about incidents of looting, the answer was, those (committing the looting) are not from here.

To which I say, how I wish that I could have been there. I would have been a witness to ...

Perhaps, someday.

UNFORGETTABLE IMAGES

• THERE WAS SILENCE
• THERE WAS PAIN
• THERE WAS INTERRUPTION
• THERE WAS HEALING
• THERE WERE OBSTACLES
• THERE WERE GOODBYES

QUICK FACTS

CASUALTIES
Dead: 15,854
Injured: 9,677
Missing: 3,155

BUILDINGS:
Collapsed: 129,107
Half Collapsed: 254,139
Partial Damage: 365,750
Economic Cost: $235B (Est. World Bank)

NOTE: The author is 1/8th Japanese. His great-grandfather was Scottish who stowed on a boat and landed in America. He signed up for the US Army and on a foreign deployment met his future wife, a Japanese.

Syria: Her anger and pain

What is it about Syria that had so seduced me? I suppose, I found in Syria something gripping - a people’s cry for their future, misery that is substantially more than what I am experiencing in my own life. They are a brave people living through experiences that are unacceptable, revolting and perpetrated by their own government.

With all that was happening in Syria, the last few weeks were spent surfing the web following the developments of the uprising and posting news on my Twitter account. No other war has ever been covered in the way that it has, from what could be gleaned from information available on the web, even as recent as the Gulf Wars. In those days, reporters working for networks were the only people who could afford expensive video recorders. After a day of taping, they would carefully edit their pieces so that images made available to the public complied with FCC rules or that of any other censorship organizations. Today, the video recorder comes with a cell phone and images could easily be downloaded to the world wide web. Whatever gets recorded during an event gets uploaded in its entirety. There’s also the social networking sites that make such things available to everyone.

My opinions about the uprising were shaped over the many months viewing amateur footage uploaded to YouTube, mostly by the participants of the events. Many of the images are too graphic to be shown on television and cable programs. They are raw, unedited and composed of extreme human tragedy. The individuals recording the events were rarely professional reporters, in most cases documenting the injury or death of someone they were close to. In a cruel twist of faith, they congregated to petition the government for a piece of their future that only personal liberty can provide to them. Before the day was over, they were recording on their devises the images of friends or loved ones for the very last time.

What it showed me, in terms that we in America rarely understand, are the potential dangers of government. The extremes to which it can bear down upon a population. The more than year-long popular uprising had unleashed on its people the power of force - trained soldiers, tanks and aircraft throwing down ordinance and destroying anything within its effective destructive range - mangling steel, turning cement into rubble, indiscriminately injuring and killing. It has turned into a lop-sided murderous rampage, there isn’t a fair court on this earth that would acquit the regime of murdering innocent civilians.

The evening before her death, Marie Colvin, a war correspondent from the Sunday Times of London, went on CNN to report on the events in Homs, one of the heaviest hit areas in Syria. She spoke about an infant in the lap of death, panting his last precious breaths of air after being struck by shrapnel. In contrast to the shaky videos on YouTube uploaded by residents, hers was a professional dispatch - articulate and succinct. Her voice had the quality that war correspondents have in spare, courage. I was drawn to what later became her last interview with Anderson Cooper, wondering how I might have missed the career of such an immense talent. Her words swirled in my head almost the entire evening:

The Syrian Army is basically shelling the city of cold starving civilians. (Marie Colvin, Sunday Times of London)

In my days as an indigent litigator I’ve spent many evenings cold, sometimes starving. I have experienced my government, through the actions of the FBI, take everything I have, evicted me from my home, taken my cars and forcefully remove me from the spot I chose to sleep that evening. Naturally, I commiserate with anyone who experiences hardships that are not of their own doing. I can hear you loudly, Syria.

RIP Marie Colvin, Remi Ochlick and Anthony Shadid

MARIE COLVIN’S LAST CALL - About a dying child

THE FBI TRICK: Pretending they are the CIA

This is in response to an article that Alan Colmes recently posted via Twitter. Being a long-time subject of FBI operations myself, I can’t help but call attention to his naivete and that of the article he was quoting. In the last four years, the number of years I have been an indigent litigator, I have been a keen observer of the way the FBI conducts its work that I am almost expert at spotting their ridiculous buffoonery.

READ ALAN COLME’S ARTICLE

Alan - That's absolute hogwash. The FBI deflects blame by telling their people to pretend they are from another government agency for purposes of deniability. I know this to be a fact. Their favorite cover is the CIA. The fact is, the FBI, particularly the NY Field Office, have had a long and cozy relationship with Israel's Intelligence Service - the Mossad. There is disturbing information that suggests they’ve been effectively infiltrated by the masterful and crafty Mossad, to the degree that they’ve appropriated “carte blanche” standing to advance Israel’s agenda using FBI assets and resources. In view of its implications, I find that to be absolutely outrageous. For any other country, friend or foe, such actions would be considered “foreign influence” and subject to endless investigations by members of Congress.

What’s more, the FBI systematically turns a blind eye on actionable information that may appear to be Mossad operations on American soil. Their work is disturbingly blatant to suggest operational knowledge and protection at the highest levels of the US government. The facts are convincing enough that US Congressman Ron Paul alluded to the possibility of Israel being behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. There is also ample information in the public arena that points to a sanctioned attack on the Twin Towers by rogue elements of the intelligence and law enforcement community. The Fox interview of Prof. Morgan Reynolds (Economics, Texas A&M University) can be viewed below.

To deflect blame, the FBI has a habit of pointing to the CIA to mitigate exposure - a very effective kind of identity theft. Because the Agency has a policy of neither confirming nor denying its activities, the public is always in the dark on such matters. That's why whenever an event of such magnitude occurs Americans are conditioned to apportion blame to the CIA when in fact the responsibility falls in the hands of the FBI, either by incompetent neglect or direct collusion. The fact is, the FBI works anywhere in the world and have 61 Legat offices worldwide.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not a fan of the CIA. In all, they’ve managed a net-negative result for this country in the last 50 years. They are from a bygone era when political assassinations and coup d’ etats were in vogue. If you want to know how behind the times they are, their website was recently hacked and they’ve been struggling to get it running properly ever since. In light of the fact that we are now living in the digital age, that interesting story is embarrassingly ridiculous. You may read the InfoWeek article below.

As far as the press goes, you are sometimes a part of that system of collusion that either ignores or varnishes over information important to the lives of Americans. As a consequence, the press is partly to blame for what many think is America's diminished standing in the world. The free-press is a critical part of that machinery that permits a genuine balance of power among the branches of government by holding individuals and organizations to account. It is a cornerstone of the Constitution. You are supposed to ask tough questions and report abuses in government. Instead, you occupy the marketplace of ideas with information that distract people from what really matters. Here’s a very short list to ponder and follow it to it's natural conclusion:

• 18 of our veterans commit suicide everyday
• 100 individuals die from prescription drugs everyday
• This nation has unfunded liabilities amounting to $117.7T

What say you, Alan Colmes?

FOX INTERVIEW OF PROF. REYNOLDS
INFOWEEK ARTICLE, CIA HACK
CDC ON PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE
VETERAN SUICIDES (Veterans for Common Sense v. Shinseki)
US DEBT CLOCK - Unfunded Liabilities

A Bittersweet Valentine's Day

I had the money. I had cars. I had the house. I had a husband had the kid ... and none of it really feels ... was really that fulfilling. For a time I was happy. I was happy, but I needed that joy. I needed my joy back … that peace. (Whitney Houston in 2009, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show)

Some of Whitney Houston’s interviews the last few years of her life were a glimpse into the life of a tormented soul. For someone who gave so much happiness to people through her performances, it seemed as though there was a disconnect, there was something wrong and deeply unfair. It seemed that what she offered the world was not bartered in exchange for exactly what she wanted or needed. She got what most people would have given an arm to receive. She had fame, affluence, countless awards from her peers and certain security but she could not find the peace that she longed for.

What an amazing talent she was, to be sure. She broke new ground for many singers who would follow the path she blazed. Who would have thought that a descendant of a slave would perform for us the most beautiful rendition of our national anthem? And for those of age, who would have forgotten the song for the 1988 Olympics - One Moment In Time - synched with the fluid and slo-mo struggles of athletes going for the gold, giving all that they had and leaving nothing on the field.

Valentine’s Day this year is bittersweet. She was a favorite feature on our Rich & Nina Series over the years. We lost someone whose songs, at least for many of us, were so inextricably connected to the memories of our youth - the friendships, the relationships, the romances, the heartaches and the varying degrees of happiness. In that decade, it seemed that everywhere there was a sharing of good times, one of her songs would be playing.

Her departure from this earth coincided with the freeing of another soul from a different kind of torment. The day of her death, the 11th of February, is also the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. As if on queue, she took her bow and promptly exited stage left. If a picture tells a story, you might inquire what this moment meant to her - of her placing her head on Pres. Mandela’s shoulder with her eyes closed, in a sign of complete deference and kinship. I would argue that she found, if for a fleeting moment, the semblance of peace. (VIEW PICTURE)

Perhaps, the best way to celebrate her life is to enjoy what she left for us. We picked seven songs from a long list of her popular tunes to celebrate her work. We can’t tell you how much we’ll miss you. Happy Valentines Day, Nippy.

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
HOW WILL I KNOW
I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY
WHERE DO BROKEN HEARTS GO
DIDN’T WE ALMOST HAVE IT ALL
ONE MOMENT IN TIME
GREATEST LOVE OF ALL

FBI'S UN Women - Nut’ So Fast II

There are a number of reasons why I turn down offers by people to move into their homes. As mentioned before, I am now and probably forever be a subject of FBI Operations for as long as I have the desire and capacity to write about their misdeeds, misadventures and their predilection to violating the laws they have sworn to protect.

In a continuation of a previous story, new revelation was made that was neither shocking nor unsual for FBI-NY. In fact, it was so predictable it was entirely expected. Some months ago, I wrote about a lady whose identity I have made enormous efforts to conceal. The reason is there are federal laws that protect even the most incompetent FBI agents from being outed by the public, no matter how egregious the effects of their actions.

READ THE PREVIOUS POST FOR BACKGROUND

She has been working on her scheme for a while now. An act of kindness, any other way, should be rewarded. Her offer was made around the Christmas holiday. First, she asked me where I was sleeping. To which I answered that I was still sleeping on the streets. Then, she asked me if I wanted to stay at her place for the next few days - the new place where she moved into. My reflex answer was a polite and grateful no. The number of scenarios and problems that are possible living with a woman under the employ of the FBI and tasked with destroying my reputation is enormous. It may come in a number of things that she may say after she has kicked me out of her place:

• I used to live with him. I had to kick him out. Things started disappearing at my house.
• I walked in on him doing drugs. I told him to get out. I didn’t want that around my son.
• He’s an ingrate. I was being nice and pulled him off the streets and bought him all these nice things. Now he owes me $2000.
• My friends do not visit me anymore. They say he has a very dark, sinister aura.
• I was scared of him. He would talk to himself about strange things sitting at the dinner table with lights turned off. I think he’s mentally ill.
• He’s creepy. He’s been making weird advances - wanting to sleep in my bed. I could only imagine what else he wanted to do to me.
• He told me he loved me and he wanted to marry me. I told him to get a job. He gave me this strange look that said, it wasn’t going to happen. He’s the laziest person I’ve ever met in my whole life.

The combination of unsavory and character smearing things that could be said about me are simply endless. None of which can be examined for accuracy or truthfulness because it will be a subject of rumors - quietly exchanged in private. There wouldn’t be a way for me to know what was said.

If it weren’t for a chance meeting with my son and nephew one afternoon, I wouldn’t have known that the jig was already going on. I was on my way to the local CVS when they rolled into the parking lot. We met inside and after a few minutes of catching up did our goodbyes outside the store. By happenstance, she walks past, catching my attention and allowing me to introduce her to my son and nephew. The recognition was instant. She and my son lived next door to each other. They turned out to be next-door neighbors.

So, the scheme was to have me move into her place one evening, unobserved, and the next morning be seen by the people whose opinion matter to me the most - my two children.

I would be interested to know what she has already told them. But knowing their sophistication, she would have already created a background story, some sort of build-up. She would have said something like this prior to my arrival: In about a week, I will be having a friend over. He’s a little mentally ill because he’s been living on the streets for a long time. So, I’m going to try to heal him back to health.

So, swirling in my children’s head will be an image of a lunatic - a social worker's casework - a person of uncertain stability that may pose a threat to their safety at some level. There may be some anticipation for an opportunity to pal around with someone potentially dangerous. So, on the morning of the introduction, the meeting will be subdued and awkward without the proper greetings to show a degree of normalcy. The man that she had painted in their minds will be no other than their father himself. Will there be a hugs to go around?

FBI Counter-Intelligence. It isn’t intelligent. It’s comedy.

Pres. Reagan's Birthday (A Tweet Bundle)

A hundred and one years ago today a great president, Ronald Wilson Reagan, was born. A century seems like an eternity, yet in an odd way, we are still learning more about him today - finding, for instance, that his economic policies are still relevant in today’s global and real-time digital economy. To what extent and how it can be applied in today’s dynamics can be debated, but it’s usefulness certainly cannot be denied.

Below are a series of tweets that I posted on my personal account - @robertlacambra. The Time Magazine articles that are a part of this bundle were published a year ago. Timely or not, it depends on your perspective - I will leave it up to you to decide. But if you are in a position of influence, it may offer a perspective on some of the challenges that this country is grappling with today.

• THE REAGAN FISCAL: (1) Reduce Taxes (2) Reduce Spending (3) Deregulation (4) Stable Money - http://j.mp/xbp4Lo

• A YEAR AGO Obama was on the cover of Time Magazine. What did he see in Reagan? - http://j.mp/wBQfAJ  

• TIME COVER FLASHBACK. A year ago President Obama was on its cover posing with President Reagan - Why Obama Loves Reagan - http://twitpic.com/8gigk6

• IS OBAMA MORE like Reagan or Carter? He cites Reagan while taking the country away from Reagan-era policies - http://j.mp/ye8oJk

• ANGER TOWARDS the government on the increase - Silents, Boomers and Gen Xers frustrated at federal gov't - http://j.mp/ysWC3d

A Q&A Session - January 2012

Where do you sleep these days?

Currently, I still live on the streets. I found a public place with roof to protect me from the elements. Until I can figure out a way to make a living in the law, my situation is not going to change. I’ve concluded that if I were to finish all these cases - my fights - I will have to figure out a way to generate income in the a field that is complimentary to the area of the law. Of course, that’s difficult to do without the credentials from the Bar Association or other institutions that confer such.

I have a sleeping bag that is certified up to zero degrees and it has served me well for over 3 years. Fortunately, the weather in Southern California is almost perfect year-round and the winters are mild. That and the precautions I take when sleeping under the stars have prevented illnesses. I’ve discovered that wrapping my head with blankets as opposed to keeping it inside the sleeping bag works best. I wrap a fleece sweater around my head. Then, I wrap two more layers of mini-blankets, almost like a mummy. So far, I’ve only caught a cold three times since my indigence. I think the fresh air also has something to do with it.

How do you make a living?

The best way to explain that is to say that I have a job but not an income. This month I’ve only been able to raise $90 in cash. In addition, there are a couple of food preparers that I have been able to approach for free food in the evenings - left overs that they usually donate. One establishment puts aside a serving of food for me almost every evening. At another restaurant, a manager invites me over for free meals at their restaurant frequently. The names shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

How many alcoholic beverages did you drink last year?

I had exactly 3 bottles of Coors Light and a glass of wine.

Many of the places around town were closed this last Thanksgiving Day. I had the idea that perhaps Panda Panda, the Chinese restaurant in the middle of town would be open. It turned out to be closed as well. But on my way over, I ran into Karen at the parking lot as she was driving around. She’s that lady I helped fight an eviction action several months ago. She gave me a ride and we ended up at Starbucks at the other side of town. I was already on my second coffee but was still falling asleep. I was passing out on one of their couches. Out of the blue she asked if she can make me dinner - a Thanksgiving Dinner with turkey, yams, corn, vegetables and greens. It was a delicious meal that she served with a glass of red wine.

The next day, I ran into an acquaintance - Solomon. I was coming back from one of those walks I usually take and I ran into him at a Radio Shack Store in Aliso Viejo. I haven’t seen him in months and had much to talk about. We ended up at a pizza place around the corner where we both had a beer each. He sent me off with a personal size pizza and he also made a $30 contribution to the cause.

On Christmas Eve, I spent a few hours at the diner of the Chevron gas station up the road. The library and many other establishments I frequented were closed. Fortunately, they were open 24 Hours. The attendant, whom I have known for many years, offered me two bottles of Coors Light. He told me that one of the six-packs fell on the ground and shattered all but the two he gave me.

How much coffee do you drink in a day?

I started getting my coffee from the Chevron Station up the road after I was banned from The Neighborhood Cup. They have a machine that dispenses fresh brewed coffee. It’s tucked away on the other side of their kiosk. I don’t get the ones from the pump-action dispensers. I’ve noticed that I need about 50 ounces of regular-strength coffee a day. They have different kinds of brewed coffee - from French Toast, Colombian to the High Octane hair standing java that can wake up a person that is comatose. I didn’t know I drink this much until I started using their cups that says 20 ounces. I need 2.5 cups through-out the day to keep the faculties working at optimum.

Where do you go for showers and hygiene needs?

My one-year membership for 24 Hour Fitness that was donated by Shagufta, a Muslim friend of mine, expired last November. Another friend, Felix, a disbarred attorney who went to Boalt School of Law - UC Berkeley, heard about it and added me to his membership for $20 per month, which he offered to pay in return for future website and document preparation work. He’s going to try to get his license back and have started writing a number of legislators. That's really the only place in town where I can take showers. I haven't used their facilities for exercising, however. I'm a runner and prefer to do that and plyometrics whenever I have a chance.

Laundry is another part of that caboodle of things that need to be done when living on the streets. Just recently, Felix introduced me to another laundromat in Laguna Niguel. Apparently, it has been there for years but somehow it escaped me as I have been going to other places that are further out from where I generally live.

What is next on the R|J agenda?

This February, we will begin rebuilding all the files and attorney product work that got lost the last few months. We’ve started creating systems to help us with the discovery and  litigation work. Some of these are attempts at replicating the ones I had in my laptop that got stolen. One of the things that we are excited about is a “Litigator’s Toolkit” that we’ve started developing to assist with the work output. We think it might be of great use to other people, as well. So, we’ll put it through real-life situations and tweak it as we go along. The end product, if the development succeeds will be posted on our website for free. It may be useful for people in foreclosure, eviction or in deep financial difficulties - people who need an attorney but could not afford one.

What that means is that we expect to see more of the courts in the next 12 months.

Celebrating the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. (I Have A Dream Speech, MLK Jr.)

I received a Facebook post from my one of my favorite musicians, jazz bassist Marcus Miller a few days ago. He attached a picture of the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. It was a fascinating picture and just in time for the Martin Luther King Holiday.

The picture had an antiquated finish, a faded patina to it that made it quite striking. The image would have been ordinary if it weren’t for the significance of the subject, the spot where a civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., was struck down. It was a picture of a two story structure with two classic cars parked in front. And as I contemplated the politics of the turbulent ‘60s, particularly the events that led to his final fate - crossing paths with an assassin’s bullet, I was struck by the coincidence. The date was the 4th of April, a date that stands out for it’s significance in my own life .

My recent struggles have been dominated by my banishment from a cafe that served as my office for over four years. My indigence poses an extraordinary challenge - the need for shelter during cold mornings, a regular place to work that offered comfort and just the right amount of sensory input to allow for productive writing sessions. The Cup has the clanging of dishes, people’s voices, music and the aroma of brewing coffee that seem to fuel my writing projects. Having a nice place to sit down and be able to fill a computer screen with words is a great luxury for me. It is something that doesn’t quite get replicated in a library.

April 4th marks one of a number of recent events that led to my banishment from the Neighborhood Cup. It is also the date when Dr. King was struck down by a bullet in Memphis. The coincidence does not end there, however. There are a number of other things that I have discovered to have in common with Dr. King. We know that he was the subject of an FBI investigation, from which counter-intelligence activities developed and immense assets brought to bear. He was subject to harassment, sabotage and disruptions of every sort. In all, the Bureau had confused legal political dissent for rebellion and unfounded treasonous activities. He was targeted by prostitutes in the employ of the Bureau, their dalliances recorded for the ears of an intended audience - none other than his wife, Mrs. King herself.

These are deviant behaviours that we read in spy vs. spy novels, nefarious acts of self-gratification disguised as patriotism. Evidence now bears out that Dr. King was not a spy, but a baptist minister who used peaceful demonstrations to affect change at a time when many would rather keep things as they were. It was as if Hoover’s men had brought their big guns to the zoo instead of a jungle where the Lion King can effectively fend off a free-for-all from marauding protagonists with guns, badges and a compendium of lies and fabrications.

Martin Luther King Holiday celebrates his life and not his untimely demise. Yet, I draw inspiration from his courage and passion for the causes he helped advance, which undoubdtedly led to his death. I have come to appreciate him more after experiencing, not only an FBI investigation but a full-blown operation conducted on my family and I that continues to this day. I think, I now get what he was saying when he said: 

I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.

The 4th of April is my ground zero, the starting point from which we set into motion the beginning of the end for all such secretly sanctioned abuses by federal law enforcement agencies and other law enforcement agencies. Clearly, the tactics that they were using in the 60’s are still being deployed today, only with greater stealth and highly evolved technologies. That must all change if our democracy is to thrive. The troubled state of this nation’s affairs demand it. We must command that every member of this nation’s government think and act like servants, prepared to unshackle all things that limit the potential of the human spirit and unleash the awesome potential of Americans.

Today, on this cloudy day in Aliso Viejo California, we celebrate the rebirth of Dr. King’s long march to the promised land - to personal fulfillment and towards the realization of our dreams.

VIEW THE MLK PHOTO ALBUM
READ ABOUT THE BANISHMENT

WEBSITE OF THE KING CENTER

New Year, New Laws - 760 of them in California

In June of 2010, Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed a bill that required internet-retailers to collect taxes from sales transactions. Immediately after, Amazon.com sent messages severing their ties with approximately 10,000 sales-associate partners so they could not be forced to do so.

When I saw a Facebook post about some 760 new laws taking effect on the first of the year, I wondered what it might do to the economy. It sounded excessive. So, it made me curious enough to go through official sites to see what all this looks like on paper. Objectivity was important, however. I could not develop an objective view unless there is context. A gallon of water in a kettle is one thing. A gallon of water in a vast ocean is another. What California has going for it is that it remains an economic power. What it does not have going for it is that many companies are leaving the state.

QUICK FACTS TO CONTRAST CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA - the 8th largest economy with a GSP of $1.91T
ITALY - the 7th largest economy with a GDP of $2.24T
RUSSIA - the 9th largest economy with a GDP of $1.89T

It is true. If California were a country, it would be the 8th largest economy in the world with a Gross State Product (GSP) of $1.91T. It would place right below Italy, which has a GDP of $2.24T and right above Russia, with a GDP $1.89T. Yet, with all it’s attributes, companies have been leaving for states that are perceived to be more business friendly.

High profile departures of companies in the last three years show the unique challenges that the state grapples with. On one hand it has a pool of highly educated workforce and an advanced infrastructure to support commerce. On the other hand, the state has burdensome taxes and regulations that tend to stifle businesses. Some even claim that the legislature is broken.

Many business owners and executives that have packed up for other states point to the high cost of doing business in the sunshine state. The exact number of departures are elusive because no current and dependable data is available to determine how many companies have actually left the state. Some may have closed. But the trend is clear and could not be ignored, because a percentage of employees who do not move with their companies also end up on the unemployment registry.

A survey taken by Chief Executive.net of 500 CEOs around the country ranked California #50 - as the worst state to conduct business in the entire country. The author said that the poll “considered a wide range of criteria, from taxation and regulation to workforce quality and living environment.”

Another study was recently published by Forbes Magazine ranked California #39 on their survey of the best and worst states to do business in. It took into consideration six different metrics, including costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life, compiled from several sources including data sets prepared by Moody’s.

The list of bills passed were as eclectic as could be expected. There were budgets, elderly laws and updates on traffic laws, to name a few. Have a look:

THE 745 NEW LAWS THAT TOOK EFFECT ON JAN. 1, 2012

OTHER ARTICLES:
LA TIMES - AMAZON.COM DUMPS 10,000 CA ASSOCIATES
LA TIMES - 760 NEW LAWS IN CALIFORNIA
FORBES - WORST & BEST STATES TO DO BUSINESS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE - BEST & WORST STATES TO DO BUSINESS