Bradley Manning is acquitted of the most serious charges and thus won't be sentenced to life without possibility of parole.  Eric Holder has promised that Edward Snowden will not get the death penalty.  I think both of these decisions are reasonable.  I don't think that these two guys intended to be traitors and deserve a second chance.  I do think that they deserve some punishment.  How much?  I am not sure.  One thing I am sure is that these two guys are not heroes as painted by their supporters.  Manning was a soldier.  When you are a soldier you cannot unilaterally decide to go against your country even if you believe that it acted irresponsibly.  In Snowden's case, his supporters say that what he did was civil disobidience.  This brings to mind someone who goes against the government but is willing to go to jail to prove his point.  Well, Snowden tried to escape.  And he escaped to China and Russia.  And he is trying to get asylum to places like Venezuela and Bolivia.  Not exactly the bastions of freedom!  So to me these two are not heroes by any means.

Snowden revealed that the U.S. spies on other countries!  That caused a ruckus in Europe against the U.S. for a few days.  Obama came out and said all nations spy.  He is right.  I would not want my country to not spy on other countries.  This is not an ideal world and if we are going to survive we have to protect ourselves.  I hope we act more responsibly and more fairly than other nations.  But I would be upset if my country is not doing what every other country is doing.  Notice there was very muted response from other governments over this revelation.  Even China and Russia had very little to say.  I guess you don't throw stones if you live in a glass house!

Young guys like Snowden and Manning can be more easily manipulated by bad guys than older folks who have more experience in the world.  Unfortunately in cyber wars we depend on young guys who are way more technologically advance that old folks like me.  Right now there are young men in China on computers battling with our young guys over the internet.  In a free society it is very difficult to keep our young guys in line.  But we have an advantage that in a country like China where it is more difficult to take secrets out of the country, the restrictions and monitoring also stiffen the creativity of the young hackers.  So in a sense the two systems may be on trial in this battle over cyber space.

Although not unexpected, there was still sadness when I heard that Detroit has declared bankruptcy.  If I feels strongly that Detroit can turn around after bankruptcy, I would feel much better.  But there is no light at the end of the tunnel even if the legal proceedings go Detroit's way.  The best Detroit can hope for coming out of this is get rid of large amount of debt and decrease its pension obligations significantly.  It still would not bring in the revenue the city needs.  I mean, all the auto makers are raking in good profits this year but it has not done anything for the city itself.  So what happens with next downturn in the auto industry?  It is still a catch 22:  business won't come to the city without great improvement in services but if there is no business to provide taxes, services won't improve.  Dave Bing was a successful businessman but even he couldn't do anything for the city.  What will happen after bankruptcy?

I know they are trying to get rid of abandoned houses, moving people out of certain areas of the city and trying to start urban farms.  I don't know if any of these things would help.  I can't say I have any ideas that would work but I am throwing one out there.  Can they let border cities absorbs some of the neighborhoods near the border?  For example can Livonia, Farmington and Plymouth absorb areas of west Detroit?  Southfield, Warren absorb areas north of 8 Mile Rd.   Grosse pointe absorbs and St. Clair Shores absorb some of the east side of Detroit.  I understand the areas around the River is doing much better.  Renaissance Center, the GM building, Comerica Park, Ford field etc. are already is decent shape.  Just start from those areas and rebuild outward gradually and let the fringes be absorbed by the suburbs.  So the city will be much smaller and the taxes from businesses downtown will sustain the smaller city.  Maybe business will go to northwest Detroit if Livonia police is servicing the area so the response time is not 1hour. I know the suburbs would not like this at all, particularly those that have to absorb parts of Detroit.  But even if the suburbs are doing well now, if Detroit goes down eventually the entire southeast Michigan will deteriorate.  In fact I believe the entire state needs to contribute to Detroit's revival.  I don't think a state can be great without a major city.

While vacationing in Hawaii last week, I tried to use my ipad to write my blog.  However, google noticed that I was trying to write from Hawaii and thought that someone had hacked into my blog.  Well, I am back home now and I am glad that Google thinks that this blog is important enough for someone to try to hack into.  This also shows that Google can keep track of where I am if it wants to.  As I said before, Big Brother may not be the government, but private enterprises.  Or worse, it can be private enterprises in cooperation with the government. 

I guess the big story from the mainland this past week was George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict in the killing of Trayvon Martin.  Thank goodness there has not be violence breaking out over the verdict.  I had not followed the trial carefully.  After reading about it afterward, I feel that the jury acted reasonably in coming back with a not guilty verdict.  It was a difficult case to prove beyond reasonable doubt given the right to not stand down law in Florida.  The idea that you have a law where you can start something and then claim self defense is absurd.  I mean following this logic: If a small man wants to kill a big man, all he has to do is provoke the big guy, gets hit in the face, claims that he fears for his life, and fires his gun.  Once he got hit by a big guy, it is reasonable that he feels scared for his life.  In fact, what would have happened if Martin had a gun when Zimmerman approached him.  Martin could have claimed that as a black man walking in a white neighborhood he felt his life was in danger when a white man approached him for no reason.  Would Martin have been justified if he shot Zimmerman? 

As I have said before, if Zimmerman was not carrying a gun, he would not have approached Martin.  He would have waited for the police.  Pro gun people believe that guns and self defense laws will save innocent people from danger.  But in this case, Zimmerman was never in any danger.  But an innocent man did die because Zimmerman had a gun.  Ultimately the so called innocent people like Zimmerman will not be safe with a gun and a law backing him.  Once REAL criminals, not a guy just walking down the street, realize that there are regular people carrying guns out there, they will up the ante and carry ak47s.  They may even shoot first before committing the crime.  Worse yet, an innocent person like Martin may walk the streets carrying guns himself.  He may shoot first and talk later.  So eventually we will have "non-criminals" shooting at each other.  It will be the wild wild west again.  So are we an advanced civilization or not?

Will the justice dept. file civil right charges against Zimmerman?  They may do it due to political pressure but I don't think they have a good case.  It is not clear at all that Zimmerman approached Martin because he was black.  This is not like the Vincent Chin case where the killer hurled racial slurs at Chin prior to killing him.  Even that conviction never led to jail time for the killers.  So I don't think Zimmerman will go to jail for Martin's death.  A civil lawsuit will probably successful but the family only can win money from Zimmerman.  It is likely Zimmerman will declare bankruptcy and avoid paying much.  It seems that they should have charged Zimmerman with harassing Martin which would be a no doubter.  Maybe it would not mean much jail time but Zimmerman should have been found guilty of at least harassment.

This is a tragedy and will be repeated in the future unless these so called stand down laws are repealed.  These laws violate the spirit of self defense and lead people to confrontations instead of avoiding confrontations.  The same with the right to carry guns for "protection".  It leads to more unnecessary confrontations and as a result avoidable tragedies.

Dwight Howard chooses Houston over LA.  Not a surprise here as the Lakers are only going to be older next year whereas Houston was going to improve even without Howard as their main guys are all young and have not peak yet.  Don't hand the Rockets the trophy yet though.  I think that they are only going to be #4 in the west.   I think the Clippers, Thunder and Spurs are going to finish ahead of them as I think it will take at least a year for them to jell.  While the Spurs are eventually going to be too old, the Clippers and Thunder are just about as young as the Rockets.  How each team improve will determine who will be the king of the west.  Then, they have to beat the heat and possibly Nets.  So yes, Howard will help the Rockets, particularly on defense, but it is no sure thing that Howard will get his ring in Houston.

So what about Jeremy Lin?  I think it will be better for his career if he is traded.  But that will be hard to do as his contract kicks in big time after next season.  Who wants to pay him 10 million in 2014-15?  If he stays in Houston his role may diminish next season and he won't be able to develop to his capability.  Lets face it, Houston's offense this past season consists of fast breaks, quick 3 pt shots and failing that, Harden drives the lane.  In the half court, Lin stands to the side as the other 3 players while Harden shoots the 3, drives to draw a foul or drives and kicks out to a 3 pt shooter.  Lin's ability to run the pick and roll is of no use when Harden is on the court.  That is why the best game Lin played last year was when Harden was out and Lin scored 38 against the Spurs.  With Howard there Harden will give it up some to Howard inside, but that means even less touches for everyone else, including Lin.

There is talk that Houston is better off with Patrick Beverly as point guard.  Well, if it is the Harden, Howard show then it does not matter who is the point guard anyway.  But Beverly is not as good as Lin if Harden is out.  Beverly will NEVER get you 30 points in any game.  He is a great hustler and is a good backup.  But even his defense, which everyone consider better than Lin, is not as good as it appears.  Remember, Lin plays against the starting point guards like Chris Paul, Russell Westbrooke and Tony Parker whereas Beverly comes in against back ups so he is going to look better in comparison.  In fact, if Houston does not make any more trades, I think it would be better for Lin to come off the bench.  That way, he will run the offense when Harden is out and is going against backups.  He will save energy as Beverly will chase people like Parker.  Lin's total will be down but his points and assists per 48 minutes will increase.  He will actually get more chance to run the team.  There is no shame to be a 6th man, just ask Ginobili, and Jason Terry.