Los Angeles, CA — My favorite film of all times is Paul Verhoeven’s, Black Book .  It’s a subtitled German/Dutch film primarily in the Dutch language that’s based on a true story.  The principal protagonist is a sexy Jewish nightclub singer, Rachel Stein that fled the Nazis in Berlin for the Netherlands during the war.  She somehow winds up in the Dutch Resistance for some incredibly dangerous adventures.  It’s also a love story. The leading lady playing that character is my absolute favorite actress, Carice van Houten who won this role of a lifetime.  The role required acting in different languages, singing and some dancing.  Van Houten was magnificent.  This was Verhoeven’s best film ever and the entire cast and crew were absolutely awesome.  Van Houten was jaw dropping terrific! There was no emotion she did not absolutely own in this thriller film.  That kind of talent takes years of serious discipline and hard work to develop a...

Newark, New Jersey -- New Jersey’s biggest newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark that also boasted being one of the nation’s largest is preparing to jettison 167 workers including 40 newsroom staffers.  This paper attempted to transition into the Internet age with a website and addition of video reports. Obviously the problems with the newspaper’s bottom line were not cured.   Traditional media as we knew it is on life support everywhere in the world.   Broadcasters and newspapers have billions invested in presses and broadcasting equipment that has become a stone around their necks.   Anyone can acquire adequate equipment for a few thousand dollars to send quality pre-packaged or live video around the world.   Our new large television screens are rapidly making the transition to bring us web content along with traditional broadcast equipment.   It’s only a matter of time before TV broadcasting towers come down everywhere.   Cable providers a...

Otis McDonald Left and Paul Huebl Right Chicago, IL —I remember getting a call from a gun rights lawyer asking me if I knew any potential plaintiffs with pristine backgrounds and a need to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense.  They were preparing a lawsuit to challenge Illinois ban on the carrying of weapons for self-defense.    The candidates had to be legal residents of Illinois and be in possession of a valid FOID card.   I had some good candidates but these folks felt the publicity would endanger their jobs when their employers learned about the litigation and regretfully declined.    Eventually a group of plaintiffs were properly vetted and the Second Amendment Foundation brought the lawsuit forward in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois.    The case was vigorously fought all the way by the defendant, City of Chicago.   Millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted fighting a something that was settled ea...

Chicago, IL- -I can remember growing up in the Windy City.  The Democrats I was familiar with were the guardians of privacy and liberty.  President John F. Kennedy was a life member of the National Rifle Association .   You could enter any public building or airport without being searched like a criminal.  Back then the so-called Conservatives were the ones complaining about the Liberal Warren Court that struck down most pornography laws.   The court upheld the rights of the accused from being bullied or tricked into making confessions in the infamous Miranda case. The Warren court also set strict guidelines for cops in search and seizure with the Ohio cases involving Mapp and Terry .   That court would later define a controversial new right to privacy with Roe vs. Wade .   The cops were suddenly ejected from physician’s offices.   I don’t think for a second that that Warren Court would have ever accepted the wholesale destructi...

Chicago, IL—FOP Lodge 7 has failed miserably in the past to properly represent the men and women of the Chicago police Department .  The leadership of the FOP has been bedding down with city politicians and a couple of really lame appointed police superintendents. We can only guess what the tradeoffs have been. The department is rapidly shrinking and the position of police officer grows more dangerous by the hour.   Pension funds have been mismanaged, stolen or otherwise compromised.   Officer’s retirement funding is in grave danger as bankruptcy looms. The only real source for news about the matters that affect police officers come from bloggers.   The Second City Cop Blog is the primary source of news cops need to know.   The downside is that the some of the blog content creator/s are anonymous.   Publishing the truth about mismanagement, waste and corruption is hazardous to any working officer.   The FOP should take on a role of reporti...

Chicago, IL —The United States Supreme Court has sent Liberals to their therapists in a panic.  The court made a significant ruling that voids some campaign finance laws that limit contributions to specific amounts. One Liberal friend of mine proclaimed that our nation is suddenly ruined as a result.  Wait a second!  These outrageous and unconstitutional laws did not come about until 1971!   Our nation seemed to be doing fine without them until the Progressives put them on our books.  Sadly it took over four decades to strike some of these laws. Most of our crooked politicians found loopholes or simply laundered money to get around the money limits.  The law seemed to benefit political scoundrels more than anyone!  Free speech is just that.  Nazi. Communists,  Fascists and Progressives will always demand exceptions that limit speech as well as every other liberty.  They first attacked talk radio.  Today’s the Internet free...

Los Angeles, CA —I have a deep and unending love for Europe especially, Germany, The Netherlands, Austria and of course Switzerland.  The culture, art and elegance of Europe are only matched by their terrific and productive people.     The 18 months I spent in Aschaffenburg, Germany in my youth serving as an Army medical corpsman as part of my compulsory military service was nothing less than pure joy for me.  Many of my European friends don’t understand my position on gun freedom.  Some perhaps think somehow I’m perhaps violent because I own, carry and shoot guns.  For me guns insure that there is less violence at least within my eyesight.   My gun is a tool that serves as deterrence rather than a danger.  As a Chicago cop and as a private investigator my gun has saved many lives including my own.  Criminals for the most part are cowards and they nearly always have ended their assaults, robberies, home invasions and suc...

Los Angeles, CA —I spend a lot of time in L.A. when I’m not in Phoenix or Chicago.   The crime rate here is climbing because of prisoner releases by California Corrections and the Obama Administration dictating the mass release of criminal aliens.  I don’t know where this is going yet.  Hopefully, I’m as prepared as I can be if a thug or thugs actually select me for victimization. The good news here is that in two separate rulings the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled the current scheme that bars people from carrying concealed weapons for simple self-defense is unconstitutional.    The current law is now unenforceable.  Some California Sheriffs already began processing thousands of new CCW permit applications because the Supreme Court settled this in McDonald vs. City of Chicago.     The Mugger, Rapist Killer Protection Act (as I call it) in California is about to die a quick death.  The reasonable expectation tha...