President Trump's First Week In Office Is A Major Success!

 

I'd say for the average, conservative hardworking man and woman in America who voted for President Trump and who is a taxpaying citizen, we view his first week in office as a major success.

At breakneck speed, President Trump signed several executive orders that will help restore law and order in our country and help protect our national security making good on some of his campaign promises already. On one of them, we are feelings the effects of it already here in Bowling Green, Ky. There was a front page story published this past Friday in our local newspaper, the Bowling Green Daily News, written by reporter Wes Swietek stating the fate of 40 Syrian refugees which were due to arrive in our city this year is now in limbo because our president signed an executive order restricting refugee arrivals, and of one our local officials said he doubted that the Syrian refugees would make it here.
Personally, I am all about our city, state and country helping people from war torn counties with our taxpayer dollars if necessary. I know in years past in Bowling Green that we have taken in Vietnamese, Cambodians, Bosnians and Burmese from war torn countries. They have assimilated here well and they are working, holding down jobs, buying and owning homes and businesses and raising their families in our city. And a lot of them have even become American citizens.


 However, if it's the new arrivals intention to sneak around like rats and chop our heads off or blow us up because of their anti-American and anti-Christian religious beliefs, then I have no use for them and I do not want them here either. Mainly, I probably think like a lot of other millions of other conservative, hardworking, taxpaying American citizens, we need to have an extreme vetting process especially for refugees coming from the Middle Eastern countries where ISIS and Muslim radical terrorist are known to live and originate. We cannot afford to have anymore slaughters and bloodsheds such as Boston, Orlando, Texas, Tennessee or Texas. We need to continue protect our American way of life and values, our states, cities, homes, jobs and mainly our families.



Official: Syrian refugees now unlikely to ever arrive in Bowling Green
WES SWIETEK wswietek@bgdailynews.com
Jan 27, 2017

The fate of 40 Syrian refugees slated to arrive in Bowling Green this year is in limbo as President Donald Trump is reportedly set to sign an executive order restricting refugee arrivals, and one local official said he doubts the Syrians will ever make it here.

In the coming days, Trump is expected to indefinitely bar refugees fleeing war-torn Syria from entering the U.S. The order is also expected to suspend issuing visas for people from several predominantly Muslim countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – for at least 30 days, according to a draft of the order obtained by The Associated Press and other news outlets.

The 40 Syrians were tentatively slated to come to Bowling Green this year through the International Center of Kentucky's Bowling Green office.

That office's executive director, Albert Mbanfu, said he doesn't think the Syrians will make it here at all "until (Trump) changes his mind" – a prospect he isn't counting on.

"I just pray they don't get killed by ISIS," Mbanfu said of the 40 Syrians, who are in refugee camps in the Middle East.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., supports Trump's executive order.

"I think there are two reasons why we ought to put a hold on it. One, we need to make sure that the people coming to our country are coming with good intentions," said Paul, a Bowling Green resident.

"The other thing is we have a lot of poor people already in Kentucky," Paul added, saying he thinks government should focus on taking care of the needs of those who are already here.

Mbanfu said concerns that refugees are not thoroughly vetted are based on a misconception.

"My guess is he does not have an understanding of the process," Mbanfu said of Trump.

"Tell me one thing that's not being done," he said, noting that the vetting process for refugees takes several years and the 40 Syrians who were slated to arrive here have been going through the vetting process for more than a year.

The Washington Post first reported on the proposed order. The order states as the reasoning behind it that “hundreds of foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2001,” The Post reported.

The newpaper noted that most terrorist or suspected terrorist attacks since 9/11 "have been carried out by U.S. citizens. The 9/11 hijackers hailed primarily from Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon – all U.S. allies, and none of which would be affected by the immediate ban."

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Trump said of the refugee ban and his plan to build a border wall with Mexico: “It’s going to be very hard to come in,” to the U.S. “Right now, it’s very easy to come in.”

Public meetings about the proposed resettlement of Syrians here last year drew mixed opinions, but after the meetings and discussions with local school districts, the Barren River District Health Department and other community organizations, The International Center decided in April to resettle 40 Syrians here.

"It's so, so depressing," Mbanfu said of Trump's stance.

"It totally goes against what this country is all about," he said, adding that the first refugees to come to the U.S. were those aboard the Mayflower.

— Follow city government reporter Wes Swietek on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.

Hollywood Grasping For Straws Against President-Elect Trump

"Well, I can see now that a lot of sorry ass Hollywood celebrities will take every chance they can get to dog President-Elect Donald Trump even on award shows holding their little statues in their little grubby hands. Also, I'm sure we'll be seeing them whine and cry in interviews, commercials, music, videos, documentaries and movies in the near future. Get ready for a fight. It's the hard working class people like us across

America who are the consumers of their garbage in the first place. I think the celebrities who are continually against Mr. Trump, it's going to come back and bite them in the ass. Because when the common, down to earth American people have had enough, we've had enough!"-Galen A. Smith Sr.

College Town At Christmas, 2016: Dreams, Technology and The Christmas Spirit

     BOWLING GREEN, KY. _ Today is Friday, Dec. 23, and I am off work for the Christmas holiday until Tuesday morning.

I had a horrible dream last night. So I woke up early telling my wife, Patty, about it while she was still asleep.  She barely listened I suppose.  I don't think there's anything to dreams. And I never do.  I think dreams are merely a way to work out all of the clutter and crap in your subconscious mind.  I know some people call them stress dreams. But I haven't had a whole lot of stress in my life lately. It's almost like your conscious mind shuts down when you go to sleep and your subconscious mind wakes up and drinks his coffee and goes to work as a superhero.  Or so he thinks he's one. Except, this guy is crazy!   He will always take you places far and wide and makes unimaginable things happen.  He's a nut! I don't pay any attention to him or my dreams.  They mean nothing! Absolutely nothing, okay! Lol.

     Anyway, I have to admit that I have been struggling this year to find some inspiration to write my annual Christmas blog called, "College Town At Christmas" which usually centers around our fair city of Bowling Green, Ky., with a population of about 65,00-70,000 citizens now.  Yes, our town is booming!  Our local college of Western Kentucky University is booming too! Our WKU football team just beat Memphis in the Boca Raton Bowl in Florida, 51-31.  Another great victory for WKU and Bowling Green!

    But I will say that this holiday season has been an interesting one for Patty and I.  Mainly, I would say it's about new technology for all of us living in today's modern society.  As we all know, things are not the same and never will be. (Of course, being Republicans, we have been elated that President-Elect Donald Trump won the presidential election recently! I lost 12 Facebook friends on social media because of my beliefs or because of way my way of thinking.  I guess I was an asshole to some of my friends on FB or they were an asshole to me.  I do give them my apologies though-boo hoo!)  But back to technology.  I think the biggest thing I have been thinking about this year is how we as a society are adapting and using all of the technologies available to us in general way.  For instance, Patty and I did all of our Christmas shopping on-line this year mainly with Amazon.  It appears that UPS, FedEx and the USPS are booming these days too!  Our world has become what people have been predicting for years-a virtual high tech society with people communicating in incredible ways and sending each others packages at lightning speed without even having to leave your home or office. And lately, we have been ordering our groceries from Kroger on-line and picking them up too. And Patty and I just received an Amazon Fire table as a Christmas gift from her daughter in North Carolina yesterday.  So we already have WiFi high speed-internet, a desk top computer, iPhone's and now we have the tablets!  It appears that everyone in society is connected to each other in more ways than one these days. Also, I got a new work truck a couple months ago and it came with six months worth of  free Sirius satellite radio.  I have been really in tune with politics lately listening to POTUS and Fox Headline News.  And Patty and I have not even tapped into the new television technologies yet such as Hulu or Amazon.  We're still on Time-Warner/Spectrum but they are coming along with great, new technologies also.

    But the bottom line as far as I can tell,  is that somehow, somewhere we are still able to find a lot of Christmas spirit in our college town as we muddle through our high tech society which is connected to the world in a much greater way.  People still listen to Christmas music, decorate (probably not as much as they did back in the 60's, 70's and 80's), shop at the mall, wrap presents, give gifts, bake cookies, family members traveling in from out of town, mail Christmas cards, have family Christmas dinners and parties and attend church together.  And the best thing about this year, President-Elect Donald Trump says he going to bring back saying "Merry

Christmas!"  So Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday spending time with your loved ones.  And please don't forget to give your pets some love and Christmas gifts too!  Remember they are you fur babies and are a part of your family also!  God Bless!

A&E's 'Live PD" Lands In Bowling Green, Ky., Featuring The Warren County Sheriff's Office

   Warren County Sheriff Jerry "Peanuts" Gaines posted a comment on his Facebook page this past Friday night that he was proud of his deputies being featured on Live PD on the A&E network for the first time.

    "Proud of my deputies being featured on Live PD on the A&E station tonight for the first time.  The production crew will be with us through March.  If you haven't tuned in, check it out,"  Gaines posted.

(This was the first time I'd heard about it. I only take Wednesday's and Sunday's Bowling Green Daily News these days.  And I tend to listen to a lot of Sirius Satellite radio and Spotify in my work truck.  And it seems the rest of the time, I am either on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter or channel surfing.  So I get most of my local news from either Facebook or Twitter.)  Then cracker jack, crime beat reporter for the Bowling Green Daily News, Debi Highland, also tweeted, "You can see some familiar sheriff's deputies right now on A&E network's Live PD. Warren Co. SO is being featured through March."

   

I had written a blog this past April about a possible police reality show should come to Bowling Green to film because we've have had so much usual criminal activity this past year and local police have done incredible job fighting crime while making headlines in our local newspaper.  Also in that blog, I wrote about a car chase with police that had been reported by Debi Highland in the BGDN where a young guy was chased from Portland., Tenn., all the way to downtown Bowling Green where he was finally stopped by Kentucky State Police and local authorities. I made the suggestion that it would have a made an awesome segment for "America's Dumbest Criminals" and I wondered if their had been cameras recording the chase.http://acriticfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2016/04/recent-bowling-green-ky-police-chase.html

 

Highland also recently wrote a story for the BGDN that was published in yesterday's newspaper. "A film crew began riding along with Warren County sheriff's deputies earlier this week and will continue filming through March."  And then she quotes Warren County Sheriff "Jerry" "Peanuts" Gaines, "It just shows what we do and what different departments do."  Highland wrote that Gaines informed her that the series includes both live and previously filmed segments, along with commentary about what is being shown.  The show follows several departments in each episode. Highland also quoted Deputy Chris Shelton, one of the deputies to be featured on the show and he said he is "looking forward to giving the public real life, front-seat access to police work."

   "From a lot of folks, especially here lately, law enforcement has been painted in a negative light, and this will show that the Warren County Sheriff's Office is very transparent in everything we do, and it gives everybody a chance to see it, not only here but across the country."

    I think it's a great idea to have a national show from a major cable network of this caliber such as A&E to come to our town to set up production and film.  Just think about all of the national and international exposure that Bowling Green and Warren County will receive.  Like Shelton said, the Warren County Sheriff's Department will not be shown in a negative light, but in a transparent way where the world will see where our boys have been doing a damn good job in law enforcement by fighting crime and keeping our county safe here in Southcentral Kentucky!  They already have been making the headlines in our newspaper to prove it thanks to Debi Highland's excellent reporting for the Bowling Green Daily News.  Mainly though, I can't wait to see my first episode of "Live PD" featuring the Warren County Sheriff's Department next Friday night on A&E!

    

Jude, The Australian Shepherd From Bowling Green, Ky.

     He's wild, energetic, spunky and crazy!

He's Jude, the Australian Shepherd from Bowling Green, Ky!  He even has his own Facebook page. Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/judetheaussie/  Patty and I took Jude, an American Kennel Club Australian Shepherd dog into our pack in May of this year. Currently, he is eight months-old and he is a beautiful Red Merle Aussie with awesome markings.  This is our third Aussie to own.  The first two were Foster, a male, a National Stock Dog Registry Aussie, and Katie Red-Dog, also from the National Stock Dog Registry, who was Foster's mate.  They had two litter of puppies together and gave us many years of pleasure and happiness until they both passed away of health complications at 12 and 13 years-old, about the average life span of Australian Shepherds. Besides Jude's wild side, he has a sweet, calm side. He loves to have his belly scratched and songs sang to him in his ear while holding him on your lap and on his back.  He loves to play with his toys in the backyard especially any kind of game of fetch with a ball or frisbee and he loves to go for long walks while he is on the lease in our neighborhood and on the Greenway which is a wide, concrete bike/walkway path located down the street from our house next to the CSX railroad tracks.  But mainly Jude is a great  friend and protector and gives us lots of love and affection. He is very loyal and protects our home letting us know when strangers come onto the property or ring the doorbell, day or night.  

   

 Most of all, Jude loves going to the "Bark Park," located in our City of Bowling Green on old Cave Mill Road next to Lost River Cave.  There, Jude gets to socialize with other dogs and Patty and I have learned that dog people are crazy just like us!  Many people in our city, regardless of skin color, political background, sexual orientation or social or income status love dogs!  We are very fortunate to have a "Bark Park" in Bowling Green a.k.a. a "dog park" where dogs can socialize and mingle with other dogs in a fenced in area while the dog owners talk amongst themselves about their favorite pet or pets. It's amazing how a dog can neutralize any political affiliation or social status amongst humans where nothing negative in conversation hardly ever comes up because everybody in Bowling Green loves dogs it seems!

As We Honor Our Veterans Today We Still Have Every Right To Be Cautious And Concerned

"When I think of Veterans Day, I think of my late father, Army Major Vester Brooks Smith, and his service in World War II and the Korean War. He made sacrifices to leave his family putting his life at risk. By the grace of God, he made it home alive. If he hadn't, me and my two other brothers wouldn't have been born because we were born after his time in Korean. Also, I think of his time and service he gave to our country while he was enlisted in the Army and the local National Guard in Memphis where I grew up. Although he was not killed in war, he paid the ultimate price by obtaining the dreaded Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD). However, he was a high functioning member of society and went on to get his college degree from Memphis State University and had a very successful career in

accounting and bookkeeping. And as I think of us as American citizens, we pay the ultimate sacrifice too by honoring our veterans and America everyday, working hard and paying our taxes. We were born here legally and because of our heritage of our family member's sacrifice in the military, we have the right to be proud and to be concerned for our country, our homes, our jobs, our community and our families. We have right to be concerned for our way of life, our peace and our freedom from threats and of acts of violence against our citizens and our nation from terrorists such as Muslims extremists and other such terrorists. We have a right to be cautious and leery of these Syrians Muslim refugees that Obama and his administration are bringing into Bowling Green and other small towns across the nation. We work hard, pay our taxes and are law abiding citizens and we have every right to be concerned and on guard. And we do not seek handouts. We pay our own way and apparently the way for others who are not even citizens who have not even made any sacrifices nor have their family members. Nevertheless Happy Veterans Day!"-Galen A. Smith Sr.

Fall In Bowling Green, Ky., Is A Time For Memories

"Fall reminds me of many things living in Bowling Green, Ky. It is a time of reflection into one's own memory-childhood, school, marriage and the raising of children. I notice how the leaves on trees are changing color and falling. I feel the cold temps on my face in the morning while I sip on a cup of coffee. I think of my late parents and friends of the past. This season offers me something much more than the others."-Galen A. Smith Sr., Nov. 5, 2010.