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Jevon C. Smith | Motivation | Go to school and finish!

Bill Cosby: 50 women, but no slam dunk for prosecutors

Bill Cosby: 50 women, but no slam dunk for prosecutors

78-year-old comedian Bill Cosby, will have an uphill battle, as he was ordered to stand trial in a sexual assault case brought against him last December.

The alleged victim is Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, has come forward and accused the former Jell-O spokesperson of drugging and assaulting her at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.

This isn’t the first woman that has come forth alleging Cosby of these similar claims. As much as 50 other women came forward and told their stories to whomever would listen. Cosby’s legal team, has continually denied all these accusations against him, and claim that Constand had consensual sexual relations with their client. The only drug that was provided to the accuser was Benadryl. 

This is going to be a high profile case, that will not be easy for both sides to fight. Cosby’s fate is in the jury’s hands, as they will hear both parties argue their case and hear evidence. This won’t be a slam dunk for the prosecution, even though they might think so, because of the many alleged victims that could come forth to testify. The problem with that is, the judge can allow it or not in this trial.

Cosby’s legal team believes cold-heartedly he will be vindicated. Are the odds against Cosby in this trial; yes, because if these 50 women all get to testify, which I doubt they all will, Cosby will have a difficult time defending himself. 

The problem that I’m having with all of these alleged victims, is that they took so long to come forward and speak out. With Constand, she first went to police in 2005, a year after the alleged assault took place. I’m definitely not defending Cosby in any way possible, as I believe that he has a lot of blame in this matter. A money grab seems to be the motivation for many of these alleged victims. 

The comedian was deposed in connection to the incident, and he admitted in a testimony, that in the past he had given Quaaludes to a woman with whom he wanted to have sexual relations with. The prosecution will definitely look to use that deposition in court against Cosby.

The struggle that the jury will have is, did Cosby rape these women or was it consent. That’s the million-dollar question. As viewers, I think we came to our own conclusion on what Cosby has done. Many believe that he drugged these women, but at age 78, do we really want to see him behind bars? I think the answer is no.

Bernie Sanders needs to bow out now, but will he?

Mental illness in America: NYPD officers shot and kill man in midtown Ma...

Bernie Sanders needs to bow out now, but will he?

I can respect a man for his fight and tenacity, by not letting what people say deter him from his mission. Bernie Sanders believes that he still has a fighter’s chance to win the democratic nomination, even though it’s not statistically possible. 

Sanders is now starting to in my opinion embarrass himself, as he’s getting blown out the water by the presumed nominee Hillary Clinton. As just reported, Sanders’ campaign is running low on funds, and he’s making a big mistake by not bowing out.

Many Sanders supporters want to see him go the whole nine innings and not call it quits, as did former republican candidates Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz. First off, Sanders isn’t even a democrat; he’s an independent. 

Listen, Sanders doesn’t have a path to any kind of victory that he’s portraying to his supporters, the media and the super delegates. Hypothetically, let’s just say Sanders does become president; he would be a disaster in my view, but he’ll still be better than Trump. But come on guys, who wouldn’t be better than Trump?

Clinton can only beat herself against Trump in the general election. Out of the three candidates that are left, she is the most qualified and ready to take on the task as Commander in Chief. Yes, Clinton does have her problems, but she would be a damn good president for our country. 

With Sanders still in the race for the democratic nomination, he’s taking away precious time Clinton can have, by strategically finding ways to defeat Trump in November.

We all hope that Sanders comes to his senses, and stop wasting his supporters time and just quit. That doesn’t mean you’re a quitter if you decide to step aside. It will be in the best interest of the party, that you finally realize that Clinton is the better and more qualified opponent. As we would like to say “the people have spoken”. Once Clinton clinches the nomination, then we can focus on the party uniting, and standing behind her, so she can beat Donald Trump.

Trump can play the woman card and go on with his rhetoric all he wants, but that will not win him the presidency. Trump doesn’t understand that Clinton is a bulldog, and isn’t scared of the moment and challenges that she’ll encounter with this cruel man.

Mental illness in America: NYPD officers shot and kill man in midtown Manhattan

NYPD officers shot and killed a man with a knife in midtown Manhattan last week Wednesday morning. The man that was killed was identified by police as 46-year-old Garry Conrad Jr. According to police, Conrad had become very aggressive and belligerent while trying to buy a beer at Food Emporium on West 49^th street and Eighth avenue around 8:30 a.m.

Police were alerted of Conrad’s behavior, and when officers arrived on the scene, violence began to spill out on the very busy Manhattan streets. The perpetrator and an officer got into a scuffle, and while both were on the ground, the four-inch knife that belonged to Conrad fell out of his pocket. Conrad would go on to injure the officer. Then after, everything came to a halt as police demanded him to drop the knife. 

After continuous demands by police, it went on deaf ears. Officers then began to let off rounds of bullets; nine shots to be exact, which then killed the suspect on the scene. Remind you, this is going on in rush hour in Manhattan, where there are a ton of tourist in the area and locals trying to get to work. So I can just imagine how scared, surprised and terrified onlookers were.

This story goes way beyond a man being shot and killed for his attack on a police officer with a knife. It was reported that Garry Conrad Jr. was a mentally ill individual. So this comes as no surprise that a man of his capacity would wield a knife at officers. We as Americans are seeing it more often than not that mental illness has become very prevalent in the 21^st century.

The growth of people that have a mental illness, the numbers are just staggering. This topic isn’t talked about much in the media, as people try to cover it up and think that this problem doesn’t exist in our country. My concerns are the individuals that have a mental illness across the nation and not properly treated; crime, violence and the intent to harm would definitely rise.

The question remains, and many are wondering where is the money going to? Tax payers are in a cloud when it comes to the resources that are supposed to help people with mental illness. If you work or live in New York City, the streets are filled with mentally ill people, and it’s a bit frightening at times just to be in their presence because you don’t know what their next move might be. 

I do hope within the next few years that changes be made by congress to provide more financial assistance in helping people that are living with mental illness. If that happens to be medication, providing housing and food, that’s always a great start to change. What’s currently in place isn’t working, and we want to have rapid change. It’s in the best interest of the safety of the American people.