March 2019 - Héctor R. Fernández

The country is going through an opiate crisis of a massive scale and journalist Alex Miceli worries about a journeyman golfer, who has made a healthy $14 million dollars while playing a sport, getting caught doing illegal drugs and getting suspended for it.

To answer Miceli’s question, yes, in my opinion he should have been suspended for six months, not three.

Perhaps Miceli has been living under a rock, but marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law which usage and possession remains a punishable crime.

“Under federal law, it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana in all United States jurisdictions, since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, claiming it has a high potential for abuse and has no acceptable medical use”.

Miceli’s argument suggesting the PGA Tour use WADA regulations regarding marijuana usage on tour is shortsighted to say the least. He argues for the adoption of WADA regulations on tour while advocating for a zero ban on marijuana use. So which one is it?

Most sporting events covered and sanctioned under WADA are not week in and week out competitions like the PGA Tour. Players don’t wait week or months for an event, players are competing on a weekly basis, so golfers who regularly use marijuana would test positive no matter what.

Tim Finchem was correct in his assessment and his postured towards the use and promotion of recreational drugs on tour. There’s nothing outdated about this policy. The sport of golf has a worldwide image, especially among youngsters. It is supposed to be a sport of integrity. What kind of message Miceli wishes the tour to extend to young people? Does Miceli think marijuana usage is acceptable on tour? By his argument it seems he thinks so.

Miceli argues that several states have adopted laws regarding the usage of marijuana, but what he fails to mention states, under the 10th Amendment, have the right to enact such laws. Same with the PGA Tour, the tour has the right to enact their own code of conduct under their rules and regulations.

He states, according to Pew, 62% of Americans approve of legalizing marijuana usage, that may be so, but still a federal crime. The 2/3 of states Miceli refers to are mostly for medicinal purpose, not recreational.

So we go back to poor Robert Garrigus. According to Miceli, Garrigus has made over $14.7 million dollars in earnings in a 14 year PGA Tour career. That’s not a bad way of making a living and I applaud him for it, not everybody has those opportunities. But, Garrigus is also an adult, he knew what he was doing and nobody should feel sorry for him, he should be encourage to seek help.

In my opinion, Robert Garrigus is not an example I want kids to follow and I believe the PGA Tour is right in adopting such a bold anti doping policy.

We haven’t seen the effects on gambling on the PGA Tour as of yet, but I hope they have plenty of gambling counselors around, they will need them.

Since Miceli thinks gambling and marijuana usage are perfectly fitting in the world of golf, the next logical question to Alex Miceli would be, should we install Pot Smoking and gambling sections at every First Tee event?

My case against drugs in golf is, keep them out!

http://www.morningread.com/features/da375c7d-4507-407f-8048-8eeb4bebc250

Illegal immigration has become a hot topic since the election of President Donald J. Trump. The administration has been trying to work on securing the southern border with every Constitutional tool available. Unfortunately it is a heavy task, and without the help of the United States Congress, and its lack of legislation to fix the problem, it is only going to get worse.

In this post, I’m going to briefly look at the issue from a different angle. I will examine it from the prism of the quality of immigrant who are leaving these countries to come to the United States, and also by looking at the amount of foreign aid these countries are getting. I’m going to concentrate on five countries south of our border from which we are getting the major influx of illegal aliens.

By most accounts, the illegal aliens crossing our southern border are mostly low skilled, don’t speak English, and in some cases can’t even speak or write their own native language. So what are we getting here? What foreign aid is doing for us? I would say not much. According to The Center for Immigration Studies, 63% of non-citizens households are on welfare in comparison to only 35% of native households. What happened to the days when immigrants were required to prove their worth to the country?

https://cis.org/Report/63-NonCitizen-Households-Access-Welfare-Programs

Countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras, are not sending us their doctors and engineers, they are sending their sick, old, unemployable, illiterate, and unproductive members of their societies. In a sense it is almost a type of social cleansing.

Our neighborhoods are getting invaded by brutal gangs like MS-13, our schools are getting inundated by foreign born children who have a hard time assimilating and as result American born students are lagging behind, especially in math, science, and reading.

See below chart courtesy of OECD. In all three, the United States ranks below the OECD average and it is not going to get any better.

Drugs continue to pour into the United States via Port of Entries, but mostly by drug smugglers posing as asylum seekers and coyotes who are exploiting the unsecured sections of our southern border. In 2016 an estimate of 17,000 to 19,000 foreign nationals were trafficked into the United States according to figures provided by http://www.fairus.org

These countries get millions of dollars that are supposed to be used to help the population and improve social services for those in need. It seems the money is going somewhere else as shown by the amount of foreign nationals who are leaving their countries and making their way to the United States.

The breakdown and the amount of foreign aid by countries in Central America are astonishing. You would think that with all the money the United States invest in these countries, their governments would be more cooperative in the issue of illegal immigration and securing their own porous borders. Unfortunately they are not and the United States is getting stressed by the influx of illegal aliens. The system can’t handle the amount of family units, nor the asylum claims, which can’t be properly vetted.

When I look at the government officials of these countries in their expensive suits, I really don’t need to be a genius to realize the money is not going anywhere but the pockets of politicians. Why the United States continues to subsidize the “High Life” of these politicians is beyond me.

The amount of foreign aid in fiscal year 2018 is as follows:

Mexico: $29 million, El Salvador: $46 million, Guatemala: $67 million, Nicaragua: $17 million and Honduras: $31 million for a total of $190 million dollars of foreign aid to five countries south of our border. Where’s is this money going?

South of the Border Net Worth

This is the net worth of those five countries presidents as of 2019.

Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina- $400,000

Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega- $50 million

El Salvador, Salvador Sánchez- $2 million

Mexico, Manuel Lopez Obrador- $1.9 million

Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez- “Net worth under review”.

It seems these politicians are living pretty well in comparison to their citizens. You be the judge!

I will bet anything if I asked my congressional representative to give me a rundown of how foreign aid is distributed to Central America, he or she would go completely blank. The United States Congress votes on these appropriation bills and they have zero clue on how is distribute and how it is used by these countries. In my opinion, this is like a bad stock people continue to buy despite the negative returns.

Unfortunately, our elected politicians are part of this human tragedy. They have been bought and paid for by the cheap labor crowd, organizations like The Chamber of Commerce and farming groups. These groups spend millions of dollars lobbying politicians in Washington so they can maintain the influx of cheap labor flowing.

In this great article by Devex, Adva Saldinger, the United States Congress refuses to cut foreign aid despite the administration’s efforts to reign on the waste and abuse by recipients of this aid.

https://www.devex.com/news/congress-again-rejects-steep-cuts-to-us-foreign-assistance-in-new-budget-92403

It is a stunning fact that 6 in 10 Americans on food stamps are considered body-able and are not working. When you think about it, this is ridiculous. These people should be working, and if they are receiving government assistance, they should be mandated to get a job. There’s not such thing as a job Americans don’t want or can’t do with this many people physically able to do those jobs. Our government should do better!

At the end of the day Americans should ask themselves, what are we getting in return for this tax payer funded global welfare program? This is a global welfare program with a fancy name.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, just a little taste of what is going on in America. Hopefully, it will make you think and ask questions of your government.

As always, this is my opinion with a little bit of facts.