Edward Snowden is no hero
by Jesse J. Lewis, Sr.
There are a lot of people in this country who will classify Snowden as a hero and he is doing the Americans a favor by exposing some intelligence surveillance.
What they fail to remember is Snowden was hired as a consultant with the sole intent of stealing confidential information and making it available to whoever would like to have it. I am a firm believer that he did not act alone.
He had already planned his direction to travel; probably had spoken with the Russians to assure him political asylum. There is no organization in America that has been given the assignment to kill Edward Snowden. The only thing the Justice Department is asking is that he return to the U.S. to stand trial. If he is innocent he should do this.
Edward Snowden should be classified as a thief who stole pertinent information that could put American citizens in harm’s way.
Can Chris Christie survive?
Quite the contrary to what a lot of people believe, Chris Christie will not be the GOP nominee for President in 2016. This will never happen. The way it was set up was all the nominees would go through the five of the most conservative states in America, and he would be so far behind after leaving these states, he would have to withdraw.
The Tea Party and the right-wing of the Republican Party detest Chris Christie with a passion. One reason why they hate him so much is because he made a kind remark about President Obama. Barack Obama, in the radical eyes of the Republican Party and the Tea Party group, is the most hated person in the world. Among these people, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hitler was more liked than Obama.
Chris Christie will be completely destroyed politically because of the bridge-gate scandal. Every day another shoe drops and they are dropping closer and closer to him. The point here is, if he knew about the situation before it happened, he should be impeached and if all these things went on while he was in charge, he should resign.
I recall George Wallace telling me, the first thing you should never do, is anything illegal. In the event you have to, do it by yourself. I do not have to tell you how difficult it is to do anything wrong by yourself. We all know that the person who sings first, gets the best deal. We also know that self-preservation is the first law of nature. In plain and simple terms, somebody will start squealing before this week is out. My guess is it will be David Wildstein, the Chairman of the Port Authority, who will be first to sing like a mockingbird.
We remember Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley played collegiate basketball at Auburn before being drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team five times; earned 11 NBA All-Star Game appearances and was named the All-Star MVP in 1991. In 1993, he was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and during the NBA’s 50th Anniversary, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He was a competitor in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games and won two gold medals as a member of the United States’ Dream Team. Since retiring as a ball player, Barkley has had a successful career as a television NBA analyst with Turner Network Television. (Wikipedia)
Here’s what he said about Birmingham:
“I have been frustrated with the City of Birmingham. Going back to the last two Mayors, I’ve asked them for the last 10 years of more, I would like to invest $20 million in Birmingham and both of them said to me, ‘Let’s do it,’ and my phone never rings…and my people live here.
And they’ve had a couple of meetings and it was a waste of my time and my energy… and I’ve been very frustrated with the leadership in Birmingham… because I own a lot of stuff, but I don’t own anything in Birmingham.”
The reality is if he wanted to invest in Birmingham it would be welcomed. He never really even tried. As a general rule, celebrities with name recognition don’t plan to come to a city where they were reared to be helpful. They want the city to pay them for the use of their name. The same scenario as with Magic Johnson. Not only do they want pay for the use of their name, they want to continue to get a percentage of whatever the business produces. In other words, they want something for nothing.
Incidentally, Charles is a personal friend who still owes me $42 from the last time we played golf together.
e-mail: jjlewis@birminghamtimes.com
