UNBIASED - Week in Review: February 6-12, 2023

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

1. President Biden's State of the Union Address (1:31)2. Update on the Chinese Balloon; UFO Shot Down Off Coast of Alaska (10:07)3. Execution of Leonard Raheem Taylor (16:25)4. Execution of John Balentine (22:41)All sources can be found here: www.jordanismylawyer.com.Follow Jordan on Instagram and TikTok for more content @jordanismylawyer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. You are listening to the Jordan is My Lawyer. This is your host Jordan, and I give

you the legal analysis you've been waiting for. Here's the deal. I don't care about your political views, but I do ask that you listen to the facts, have an open mind and think for yourselves. Deal? Oh, and one last thing. I'm not actually a lawyer. Welcome back to the Jordan is my lawyer podcast, your favorite source of unbiased news and I'm not actually a lawyer. and kind of recap that. If you didn't watch it, don't worry, I did, and I will let you in on everything you need to know. The second story is an update on that Chinese balloon, and then actually another object, a UFO, if you will, that was shot down over Alaska in the last few days. And then the last two stories are actually two separate executions that happened within one day of each other, one in Texas and one in Missouri. So we're going to cover those four stories today. And let me just remind you before we get into them to

please leave me a review on whichever platform you listen. It really supports my show and I appreciate it more than you know. So without further ado, let's get into it. On Tuesday night, President Biden delivered his State of the Union address, and we are going to recap it. So he started by congratulating Kevin McCarthy, the new Speaker of the House. He even made a joke saying, quote, Speaker, I don't want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you. End quote. It got a laugh out of a lot of people in the room. He also congratulated the first African-American minority House leader, Hakeem Jeffries. He then discussed how Republicans and Democrats have worked together time and time again, and that he hopes that continues through the new Congress. He talked about wanting to build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out,

not the top down, because as he says, when the middle class does well, the poor have a ladder up and the wealthy still do well. So his first main topic of discussion was unemployment. He mentioned how the unemployment rate is at 3.4%, a 50-year low, saying, we're not finished yet. And this we're not finished yet was a theme throughout the entire night. Every kind of topic he touched on, it was always started or finished with we're not finished yet. So in that discussion of unemployment, he talked about how his administration or the United States has

created 800,000 manufacturing jobs, which is the fastest growth in 40 years. Talked about inflation coming down, gas prices being down $1.50 from their peak, and food prices also going down. He said food prices are down. They're not down enough, but they are down nonetheless. He talked about how over the last two years, a record 10 million Americans applied to start new businesses. He said, quote, we're going to make sure the supply chain for America begins in America, end quote. He then talked a lot about the infrastructure bill that will bring jobs here in America.

He talked about the Chips and Sciences Act, which will boost semiconductor research here in America, since we currently rely on Asia for that. One of the examples he gave of kind of these big corporations and the effects on them from the Chips and Sciences Act was Intel. And he talked about how Intel is building a plant right now on a thousand acres, and that plant alone will provide thousands of jobs, and many of those jobs are for those without a college degree. He announced new standards that require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made here in America. That includes things like lumber, glass, drywall, fiber optic cables. Anything that's used in these

federal projects must be made in America. He said, quote, my economic plan is investing in places and people that have been forgotten, end quote. He then went into medical care and talked about how the new bill that took effect on the first of this year capped cost of insulin at $35 per month for seniors on Medicare. He wants to cap the cost of insulin for everyone at $35 per month, not just those seniors on Medicare. And he also mentioned how that bill will cap out-of-pocket medical costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 per year starting in 2025. He had a long discussion about Big Pharma and how Big Pharma will still make money if, you know,

we work to get these costs down. Medicare was now given the opportunity to negotiate prices, so that will be happening. He then talked about the Inflation Reduction Act. So he called out some of the Republicans for wanting to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. So he called out some of the Republicans for wanting to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and even said a joke that got a laugh out of McCarthy. So he was talking about the Inflation Reduction Act and how, again, some of these Republican representatives want to repeal the act. And he says, as my football coach used to say, good luck in your senior year. And it really got a laugh out of everyone, which was nice to see. Even, like I said, McCarthy was laughing. So that was nice.

Little humor happening. He promised to veto it if that were to happen. And then he went into talking about wanting wealthy corporations to start paying their fair share, saying, quote, look, I'm a capitalist, but pay your fair share. He says the tax system is not fair. The idea that in 2020, 55 of the largest corporations in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal taxes. Folks, it's simply not fair. But thanks to the bill I signed, these corporations now have to pay a minimum of 15%. God love them. That's less than a nurse pays, end quote. Now, the comment that got everyone talking was he was saying how some Republicans, I'll quote it verbatim. He said, quote, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security

to sunset, meaning some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to go away. This riled up a lot of the Republicans in the room, some calling him a liar. They were not happy that he said that because in their eyes, no one wants to get rid of Medicare and Social Security. And then he responded to all the yelling that was happening in the room saying, I'm not saying it's a majority. Anyone who doubts it, contact my office. I'll give you a copy of the proposal. He got more boos, more yelling, again, more people calling him a liar, to which he said, I'm being polite, not mentioning names, but some have proposed it.

Now, what he was referring to was what I talked about a few weeks ago or a couple of weeks ago. When the United States reached their spending limit, the Republicans didn't want to agree to increase or they don't want to agree to increase the limit unless the Democrats agree to spending cuts. And one of the areas that they proposed cuts was Medicare. They didn't necessarily say they wanted to do away with it. Maybe some of the extreme Republican representatives did, but I didn't hear that. So that's where the president was going with that. But due to the uproar in the room when he said it, he kind of used it to his advantage. And he said something along the lines of, OK, well, you know, it seems like we're all

on the same page that Medicare and Social Security aren't going anywhere. And everyone in the room stood up, clapped, cheered. So he kind of was like, OK, look, you know, we did it. We're all in agreement. It's not going anywhere. And that was that. He then talked about wanting the best education system in the world, talked about how at one time America led the world in education and now other nations have caught up. He kind of funneled that discussion into access to preschool for everyone, public school teachers getting a raise, and some other issues tied to education. He talked about police brutality and police reform. Tyree Nichols' parents were there. And he also made sure to

pay his respects to law enforcement officers who he said, you know, the majority are decent, honorable people and they put their lives on the line every single day. But we need to solve this issue of police brutality. And he said, quote, police officers who violate public trust need to be held accountable. That is an issue that got bipartisan support. So the Republicans and Democrats were both happy to hear him talk about that and say that they all seem to be in agreement. Now, some final thoughts, just some quick hitters, I guess you could call them some

things he mentioned at the end. He asked for assault weapons to be banned. That did not get bipartisan support. Of course, it never does. He asked for immigration to become a bipartisan issue again. He asked for Congress to restore abortion rights. He wants to stop fentanyl trafficking at the border. This was something that kind of got some commotion from the Republicans because they were like, yeah, close the border off, was something that kind of got some commotion from the Republicans because they were like, yeah, you know, close the border off, whatever. Stop big tech from collecting personal data from kids online. That includes imposing stricter limits on personal data companies collect on everyone. He stressed the importance of democracy and he said,

with it, we can do anything. Without it, we can do nothing. Now, he said, quote, we are facing the test of our time. We have to be hopeful, optimistic, and forward thinking. We have to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow Americans. Because the soul of the nation is strong, because the backbone of the nation is strong, because the people of the nation are strong, the state of the union is strong. And that is what he finished with. So it spanned about an hour and 20 minutes. I do have it linked on my website if you're interested in listening to it. The video clip is longer than an hour and 20 minutes, but you can fast forward as you need to. It is on YouTube.

So just go to jordanismylawyer.com, scroll down to the bottom of this week's episode description webpage, and you will find that YouTube link in the sources section. So that takes us to story number two, which is an update on the Chinese balloons. So if you listened to my last episode, or you've just been listening to the news in general, you know that there was this Chinese balloon floating over the United States, and the Biden administration made the decision to shoot it down over the ocean off the coast of South Carolina. Some Republicans were not happy that he waited so long to do so, but his, you know, the president's reason for waiting was because he didn't want to harm anyone on the ground with the debris fallout.

So after the Chinese balloon was shot down off the coast, United States officials have learned a bit more since then about its capabilities. The pieces of debris were collected, they were brought to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia for analysis, and this is what we know as of now. So the balloon was operating with electronic surveillance technology, which was capable of monitoring United States communications. That was determined by high resolution images from U2 flybys, so it was not a weather balloon, you know, balloon used for meteorological purposes like China said. It was not that at all. It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications. It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors.

It was part of a fleet that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents. Only evidence that was found on the surface of the ocean has been delivered to Quantico so far. That includes things like the balloon canopy, the wiring, and a very small amount of electronics. The undercarriage of the balloon was actually found on Friday off the coast of South Carolina. It's still largely intact, but it hasn't been recovered. Recovery operations have been suspended until Monday because of rough waters. They are still tracking it though. They are still, you know, monitoring its location to see where it goes. So it's expected that those recovery efforts will be continued on Monday, but it all depends on weather, of course.

Analysts have not yet seen the quote-unquote payload, which is where the majority of the electronics would be. Now, officials held a little meeting with the lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and in that meeting, this is what they were told. The United States has discovered that little new intelligence was captured by the balloon because the Chinese appeared to stop transmitting information once the United States learned of the balloon. Biden's order to shoot it down was given to the Pentagon to do whenever the Pentagon felt it was safe to do so.

So the Pentagon is actually the one who made the ultimate call. As of now, it's unclear whether the Chinese president knew of the balloon. Officials are saying he might not have because these types of balloons are usually controlled and maintained by the Chinese military. And sometimes they will send these things out without notifying the president. apparently. The Biden administration added six Chinese entities connected to the balloon to an export blacklist. Five of those entities were companies and one was a research institute. So that is what we know about the balloon so far. I'm sure we will find out more, especially as that undercarriage is recovered this coming week. But as of now, that's what we know.

Then this past Thursday, another object was detected. This time it was flying over Alaska and it was quickly shot down per the president's order. It's not expected that this is another object coming from China. They actually don't even know what the object is yet. But the reason it was shot down was because it was flying pretty low. It was flying at 40,000 feet. Commercial airlines fly at 30,000 feet. The Chinese balloon, just to give you some reference, was flying at 60 to 65,000 feet. So 40,000 feet is just too close to that commercial flight zone. So that's why it was shot down very quickly. It's unclear what the object was. Like I said, it's unclear who it's owned by.

At least so we're told. Obviously, the government may know things that we don't know. But what we do know is that the object was first detected on Thursday. F-35 fighter jets were sent up to investigate it. And at that point, officials determined that the object posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. They also determined that the object was the size of a small car. It was cylindrical in shape, and it was a silverish-grayish color. It didn't appear to have any maneuverability capability.

It was virtually at the whim of the wind, they say. So as of now, it is considered a UFO, an unidentified flying object. They have not identified it. All we know is that it didn't resemble an aircraft and it didn't resemble a balloon. So again, we'll probably get some answers in, you know, coming days, considering they likely will be able to recover the debris. It was shot down about 10 miles off the coast of Alaska over frozen water. So there, you know, it's expected that because the water was frozen over that whatever debris, you know, would fall onto the ice, not necessarily underwater. So as I said, Thursday, those F-35 fighter jets were sent up

to investigate it. They determined it was a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. Friday morning, more fighter jets were sent up to get a better look at it and kind of assess it. At that point is when it was determined that the object was unmanned. Later that day, at about 1.45 p.m., the object was brought down by an F-22 fighter jet. Same fighter jet, same missile that was used to shoot down the Chinese balloon was used in this instance too. So we do not know what the object was as of now. I'm sure, again, we will learn more in the coming days and maybe by Monday morning when this releases, we have more information. But as of now, as of recording this,

we do not know. So with that, let's finish this episode with two executions that happened within one day on February 7th via the lethal injection. Taylor was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Angela Rowe, and her three children in 2004, but he has maintained his innocence from the start of this entire thing. So he actually lived with his girlfriend and her children in Jennings, Missouri, which is a suburb of St. Louis. And on December 3rd, 2004, police were sent to the home to conduct a welfare check because relatives of Angela had become worried because they hadn't heard from her in days. When police arrived, that's when they found all four victims and they had all died from gunshot wounds from a revolver. As for Taylor, he had actually boarded a flight to California to see his daughter on November 26th,

so he hadn't been there and about a week had elapsed between the time that he left and the time that the bodies were found. So here's what's interesting. The initial finding by a medical examiner was that the killings likely happened within a few days of the discovery of the body. Obviously, Taylor would have been in California then. But at Taylor's trial, the state had another medical examiner give expert testimony that the killings could have happened two or three weeks before the discovery of the bodies. Now on top of this, Taylor's attorneys said that one, several people, including Angela's relatives and one of their neighbors, saw Angela alive in the days after Taylor left for California. Two, Taylor's daughter, who Taylor was actually visiting in California, said in a court filing

that she and her dad had called Angela and one of her children during Taylor's visit to California. But as a side note, Taylor wasn't just visiting his daughter in California, he was also visiting his wife. Yes, he was married. His wife is actually the one that bought his ticket out to California, but the ticket was under the name Louis Bradley, a name that Taylor apparently used as an alias. He even had a Missouri license with this name and his picture on it. On the other hand, you have the prosecutor's case. The prosecutor in office at the time of the killings said that these alibis were completely made up and that the evidence suggested that Angela and her kids were killed

on the night of the 22nd or 23rd, which would have been, you know, the day or two before Taylor left for California. The prosecutor also said that Angela typically made around 70 outgoing calls or texts each day, but starting on the 23rd, she made none. There's also this. One, the DNA from Angela's blood was found on Taylor's glasses when he was arrested. Two, a relative taking Taylor to the airport allegedly saw him toss a gun into the sewer. And three, Taylor's brother told police that Taylor admitted to the crime, supposedly saying in a phone call on the night of the 23rd, quote, I killed Angela. I didn't mean to kill her, but she came at me with a knife,

and I couldn't get her off of me. I didn't mean to kill her, but she came at me with a knife and I couldn't get her off of me. I shot her two or three times. So clearly there is evidence pointing in the direction that he did this. Taylor was ultimately found after a nationwide manhunt led authorities to finding him at another girlfriend's home. So he was married and had at least two girlfriends. This time, his girlfriend was in Kentucky, and police had had the house under surveillance and watched him leave his girlfriend's house by lying on the floorboard of a car. When he was found, he was found with fake IDs and pamphlets about creating a false identity, and he was using the alias Jason Lovely at the time. So this man had multiple girlfriends, multiple aliases.

He had a lot going on. Despite the killings happening in 2004, he wasn't convicted until 2008. And in the guilt phase, the jury only deliberated for about four and a half hours before finding him guilty on all four counts of first degree murder and four counts of armed criminal action. In the penalty phase, so there's two different phases, right? You got the guilt phase to determine whether or not someone's guilty, and then you have the penalty phase to determine whether or not, in this case, he gets life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. So in the penalty phase, the state presented

evidence of Taylor's prior convictions. These included things like possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, forcible rape, forgery, stealing by deceit, a lot of different things. The jury also heard testimony from a rape victim and three members of Angela's family, so they kind of, you know, they were trying to put the nail in the coffin, no pun intended. He was sentenced to death, of course, and his death sentence was appealed in 2009, but his sentence was ultimately affirmed. One month before his execution, his attorneys petitioned St. Louis's prosecuting attorney, Wesley Bell, to ask a judge for a new hearing on the innocence claim, but the request was denied. Bell said that he found no credible case of innocence. And then on the Monday before

his execution, Governor Mike Parson declined a clemency request, dismissing Taylor's, quote, self-serving claim of innocence, end quote. He made a last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, but that was also denied. His final statement was a written statement, and it read, quote, Oh, you who believe, seek assistance through patience and prayer. Surely Allah is with the patient and do not speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they are live eternally in the hearts of our family and friends. From Allah we come and to Allah we shall return. Everybody will get their turn to die. Death is not your enemy. It is your destiny. Look forward to meeting it. Peace. His last meal was a seafood platter with shrimp. He also had french fries, a cheeseburger, cheesecake, and vanilla ice cream. He was injected with the 5-gram lethal dose of pentobarbital, and he took about 5 or 6 deep

breaths, and he went unconscious. So that was in Missouri. He does get a final meal there. Texas, on the other hand, which is going to be the next execution, does not give final meals. So let's move on to that one. John Ballantyne was executed in Texas on February 8th via the lethal injection. Ballantyne was 54 years old when he was executed, but only 28 when he shot three teenage boys on January 21st, 1998 in Amarillo, Texas. The teenage boys were asleep in their home when Ballanty Valentine broke in and shot each one of them once in the head. One of the victims, Mark Kaler, was the brother of Valentine's ex-girlfriend, and he had been pretty rude about the interracial relationship, often using racial slurs. He even

threatened to kill Valentine at one point, and there was no real question about whether or not Ballantyne did this. Ballantyne confessed to the murders. And the only question became whether or not he should have been sentenced to death because his argument was that he was only sentenced to death because there was racial issues throughout the case. There was racial bias, and that's kind of what he went forward on. He was also part of the lawsuit that I talked about last episode involving the expired pentobarbital in Texas. If you listened to the last episode, you know what I'm talking about. But as we know from that case, the higher court in Texas has said that executions can still go forward, even though a decision on that hasn't

been made. Shortly before his execution, a state district judge in Texas withdrew Ballantyne's execution date and warrant because Ballantyne's attorneys had not been properly notified of the execution date and warrant outlining the lethal injection. This is required under state law, and it did not happen. The execution was to be reset as soon as practical with the proper notice to the attorneys, but thereafter, a Texas appeals court reinstated the execution, which prompted Ballantyne to seek emergency relief at the Supreme Court. His requested relief, again, was based on that alleged racial bias and disqualifying omissions, which he says violated his constitutional rights. This request for relief was denied. There was no dissenters.

It was just outright denied. According to the witnesses at the execution, Ballantyne seemed happy as he walked into the death chamber. He even asked if someone could massage his feet. He had a spiritual advisor present who held his left foot during the execution, and his last words were thanking his family and friends for supporting him, and then he looked through the window to the relatives of the murder victims and said, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. The witnesses present included the mothers of each of the three victims, as well as the sister of the one victim who was Valentine's ex-girlfriend. So that's obviously not an exhaustive list of the witnesses, but those

four were there. Valentine took two breaths as the lethal dose of pentobarbital was injected, snored twice, yawned, and began snoring again until his snoring eventually, you know, it got quieter and quieter and then it eventually stopped. He was pronounced dead 15 minutes after the injection at 6.36 p.m. and the victim's relatives were seen high-fiving one another once he was pronounced dead. So that is the execution of John Ballantyne. Now the next execution is scheduled for February 23rd and it's in Florida. This will be Florida's first execution since 2019. So I will keep you posted on that. I'm also working on a pretty exciting episode for you guys that will release on March, let's see, March 4th, March 6th. So I am getting married on March 4th. I obviously will not be recording a podcast episode

that weekend, but I still want to give you guys something. So I am working on an episode about the history of the death penalty. It's going to be really, really interesting and I'm putting a lot of work into it to make it as interesting as possible for you guys. So I, for those that don't know, the reason that I am so interested in the death penalty is because of my death penalty in the law class in law school. And in that class, we learned about the history, the entire history of the death penalty. And some of the things are really just super fascinating. So obviously, you know, I only have so much time in a podcast episode and that class took

up an entire semester. But I do want to kind of let you guys in on some of the things that have happened over time and how the death penalty has gotten to where it is today. So I'm really looking forward to that episode. Again, that'll be March 6th that that will release and I am very excited about it. So mark your calendars because that will be a great episode. So with that, that concludes a great episode. So with that, that concludes today's episode. Please don't forget to leave me a review on whichever platform you listen, and I will talk to you on Monday.